Results tagged ‘ Toronto Blue Jays ’
A.J. Burnett will beat you in a foot race
A little while back, we wrote A.J. Burnett a letter of apology. Basically for calling him a waste of $55 million. In the letter was a well-hidden clause, stating that "a reversion back to your early-season form will result in immediate rescindment of this letter." A.J. left his very next start with a sore shoulder. And now he’s on the DL. In all fairness to A.J., this DL stint might not be 100% his fault. Itmight be the guy that threw him out for 118, 103, 103, 125, 117, and
130 pitches in his previous 6 starts. Way to go, Gibbons. But the dude is still looking to compete, and we can’t knock him for that. First place finish too, clearly.
Blue Jays Injury Woes
Hey guys, sorry about the lack of material lately. We had finals and then straight into some summer classes so this is the first chance I’ve had to really sit down and punch out some good material. I hope. We’re going to try to cover a variety of topics in the next couple days. We’ll start with this.
Who cursed the Blue Jays?
If you live in Toronto and you see a dark-haired man of average build, a shade under 6 ft, with a goofy smile and even goofier glasses, look out, because Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi has got to be homicidal at this point. The Jays finished a strong 2nd in the AL East last year, as I predicted. This year, they were looking to improve on that. Everything was falling into place for them. A healthy A.J. Burnett who wasn’t missing his first 10 starts of the season. A strong Cy Young candidate in Roy Halladay. A closer in B.J. Ryan who was automatic last year – a 1.37 ERA and 38 saves. They brought in the aging Frank Thomas, who defied everything we know about time and had a pretty decent year in Oakland in 2006. Reed Johnson and Alex Rios were both coming off career years. Victor Zambrano, Tomo Ohka, and John Thompson were brought in to shore up the back end of the rotation – a risky move at best, but cheap. And on top of all this, the Yankees looked like it was their year to fall, with a struggling pitching rotation.
And then it started… and quickly turned into a cascading disaster. The Jays now have 9 players on the DL, 7 of them key members of the team. LF Reed Johnson – out until at least July with a whacked up back. B.J. Ryan; Tommy John, out for the remainder. SP John Thompson; tendinitis, no return date set. RP Brandon League is on the DL for throwing too slow – literally. SP Gustavo Chacin; sore shoulder. SP Victor Zambrano; sore forearm. Starting catcher Gregg Zaun; non-displaced fracture in his pitching hand. No one knows why reliever Davis Romero is on the 60-day DL, and Roy Halladay is out for about 6 weeks after an emergency appendectomy. These are all serious injuries. Why go through the trouble of listing all of them?
Because the majority of these have not been freak accidents. Sure, you can’t prevent Roy Halladay’s burst appendix or Gregg Zaun fouling a ball hard enough off his hand to break it. But you can prevent the various forms of tendinitis and soreness, which accounts for Romero, Thomson, League, Zambrano, and Chacin. Johnson and Ryan may have just gotten unlucky and it may have only been a matter of time for them. But when the Jays signed Zambrano and Thomson, they knew they were getting injury-prone pitchers that, even if they were healthy, wouldn’t contribute a whole lot to the team. The question is, did the Jays make this move out of desperation because they had no one else to fill up the rotation? Or did they really think these guys would help them win? Either way, they needed to prepare for the likelihood that someone else would have to be pitching. Now the Jays are stuck with 4 injured starters and 3 injured relievers. I’ve seen this point made by other general managers – namely Jim Leyland – that you must have the capacity to fill up holes in the rotation from inside the organization. Take notes, J.P.. This means that, at the start of your season, you should be able to throw out the names of at least two pitchers that you’re confident you can bring up from AAA to fill in, because that’s the reality you are going to face at some point in the season. Very, very rarely will you not need a spot starter all year. The key to this is that these guys have to be ready, or close to it, because you’re going to pay about 5 times what you should if you try to acquire a decent pitcher mid-season. And of course, it doesn’t make sense to bring up a guy if he’s only going to kill his confidence.
Additionally, it seems like someone has to be keeping a closer eye on the pitching staff. There are numerous ways to prevent tendinitis and soreness. Sometimes you’re going to get sore because you push yourself too hard – but it’s the trainers and coaching staff’s job to make sure you don’t.
Alright guys… I have some things in mind for a post in the next day or two. Stay tuned and leave some comments, as always.
Memorial Day Wrap
Well, this wasn’t the summer I was expecting. I don’t mean to complain – because, certainly, there are worse things that could happen to people – but I’ve been working too much. 50 hours in seven days. Which is exactly why we haven’t been seeing all-star caliber writing on here of late. I apologize. Anyway, I caught the last 5 innings or so of the Red Sox at Blue Jays tonight, after I got home from work and a nice BBQ. Anyway, some thoughts on that game – Roy Halladay didn’t get the win, but he deserved it. He went 7 innings, giving up only 3 runs (all on 2 HR,) and left the game 6-3. Then the bullpen came in and blew it for him, only to come back and win the game 7-6. So, technicalities aside, Halladay would have his 7th win right now. See, I’ve never liked that rule. I feel like, if the pitcher leaves the game – especially in the 7th inning – with a 3-run lead, and his team still wins the game, he should get the win. Especially when the opposing team only ties the game, instead of taking the lead and giving it back up. For this, I’m suggesting a new statistical category – Starter Wins. Call it whatever you want. But whenever a pitcher leaves the game in the 6th inning or later with the lead, he earns a starter win, regardless of the outcome of the game. Of course, if a pitcher leaves the game 6-5, with three runners on, and they score, he doesn’t earn the Starter Win because those were his runners. Well, that’s just what I think.
Remember when the Reds were good? There was that brief period earlier in the year when they were considered the surprise team of the NL. Then they went out and starting losing games again. Bronson Arroyo stopped pitching 7 innings and giving up one run. He stopped hitting Home Runs. Brandon Phillips cooled off. The list goes on. Either way, it resulted in some more losses. Since getting swept by Philly on May 12, the Reds are a typical Red-like 5-11. What, you didn’t see it coming? They’re now 5 games back of the Albert Pujol’s and just 2 games up of the Brewers.
What do you think of SI’s "2nd best team" getting beat by the Royals? That’s right, one of my beefs with SI – besides the fact that, despite the address change I delivered to them, I’m still (apparently) receiving my issues at school, where, since it’s summer, I no longer reside – is that they called the A’s the 2nd best team in baseball in their annual baseball preview edition. They called the Reds the 3rd worst team, and that’s another problem I had at the time. Anyway, they A’s lost 7 in a row, beat the Rangers 6-3, lost again to the Rangers, and then lost to the Royals tonight. Certainly not a way for alleged the 2nd best team in the league to go about acquiring their championship. They’re now 23-28. But, good news, they’re still in the AL West, and only 4 games back of Texas, the division leader. Somehow, don’t ask me how. Weird.
Alright, I’ll be heading to the Yankees game tonight (Tuesday) and tomorrow. I’ll be taking pictures and writing detailed gameday-style accounts. Now, I need to be up for work at 6.50am tomorrow – see you all tomorrow night.
Kazmir, Cubs, C. Duffy, and College Baseball Lying
Didn’t have the time to punch out a post last night and so tonight, with a light day in baseball, we’re going to cover two nights at once. Lucky treat. On the slate from last night: Scott Kazmir learns to throw – kinda, the Tigers have the best record in MLB, the Cubs are getting balls thrown at them, and Barry Bonds is forced to dodge bullets at the plate. As for tonight: Chris "The Liar" Duffy is bent that the Pirates sent him down to Triple-A. Meanwhile, the Reds are back to their old M.O. – losing games, a minor leaguer attempted to convince an umpire that he was hit by a pitch, while the Angels hand the Blue Jays a game.
Scott Kazmir learns to aim - well, at least he’s better at getting away with not doing so.
Now, Scott Kazmir of the Devil Rays has always – since his 2004 MLB Debut – had ‘good stuff.’ One problem, he can’t exactly tell that good stuff where to go. So he walks guys, a lot. In his first full season last year, he walked 100 batters while striking out 174 batters in 186 innings. He also had a 3.77 ERA and went 10-9 on a Devil Rays team. Anyway, Kazmir had a hot start last year, but he started off slow this year – and now he’s back. He’s 6-2 with a 2.73 ERA, 56 K’s and 20 BB’s. Despite the fact that he has given up 20 walks – still 3/5 off the pace he was running last year – his WHIP is a respectable 1.375. Not amazing, but pretty good. Especially when Randall is trotting out his shiny 2.00 WHIP in the last seven games or something.
When you have 4 wins in your last 19 games, people are gonna chuck stuff at you
Turns out, Life Without Lee is just as impossible as Cub fans thought it would be. That is, they can’t score runs, and their pitching is still unruly. But on Tuesday, things reached a new low. The Cubs won, 4-0, but that didn’t stop a "drunk woman" at Wrigley from slinging a ball at the struggling – I mean, bad – Jacque Jones. The ball missed and Jones escaped without harm. Here’s the thing, though. Jones is acting like it’s an isolated incident, and he "won’t let one incident ruin what I came here to do." But understand this – maybe most of Chicago won’t throw a baseball at your head. But most of Chicago is pissed that, while the team’s offense, pitching, defense, and baserunning are all in the tank, you’re being paid $16 million over three years for harming the team in three of those areas. You have a .264 avg, a .967 fielding percentage, and you just got doubled off that night and couldn’t even think of a post-game excuse for why. Here’s the deal; the Cubs are just bad this year. Again. We’ve talked about why, most recently on Tuesday.
Turns out, cheating doesn’t win you any friends.
Barry Bonds got nailed on Tuesday night, as we all know by now. I’ll forget, for a second, that it took Russ Springer five tries until he finally was able to hit Bonds. As I said last night, you might not like the guy, but that doesn’t mean you can cheer when a
pitcher intentionally hits him. The pitch that ended up hitting Bonds
was not that far from his head – see above for video. I’m the
last guy to stick up for Bonds, and fans can boo him if they don’t like
him. But it is not ok for a player to throw at Barry Bonds because he doesn’t like him, for whatever reason. Especially when you know – as Russ no doubt did – how it would be interpreted by the fans. That
is, with cheers. Retaliation is ok, to a point. But to throw a baseball at a guy because you don’t
like him – that’s assault, not sport.
The Tigers have the best record in MLB
Alright, if I’ve said it once I’ve said it 500 times – I knew the Tigers would be good, but I didn’t think they’d be this good. 27-13? The best record in MLB, 40 games into the season? 4, maybe. But 40? How? Well, tomorrow is my day off, so we’ll be taking an in-depth look at what’s going right for the Tigers. And then I’ll be attending the Tigers-Reds game tonight with Soifer and Kevin. But, for a look at a team where everything is going wrong…
Chris Duffy thinks his .194 average is too good for AAA
Well, besides the fact that .200 is the Mendoza Line which, by definition, is when it becomes not ok to be in the Major Leagues, Duffy might just be in the right here. But the Pirates disagree, and placed him in the Restricted List after Duffy decided not to report to AAA ball upon his demotion. Recall that Duffy single-handedly lost a game for the Pirates earlier this year, and not accidentally. That is to say, he told a fib, and he got in trouble for it. Of course, the kicker will come if Duffy announces that he is commencing Operation Shutdown because, hey, he’s never had to compete for an MLB job before, and if there’s competition, someone better let him know. If there’s competition, they should just eliminate him right now because he ain’t never hit in April or May and he never will. Next to the Royals and Cubs, no team has ever made losing this much fun. Ever.
Good, someone found the real Reds.
I was getting worried there for a moment. I thought the Reds might have been a legit good team. I still maintain that they’re not the "3rd worst team in baseball" as SI claims; far from it. The Reds might still be 4-6 in their last 10, just 2 games back of first, and have a 24-17 record – but the writing is on the wall. Well, let me have Bronson Arroyo, who lost to the aforementioned Pirates 7-2 last night, explain it to you:
I felt like I was embarrassed to get behind 4-1 early
in a game like that. It’s not a secret. They don’t
have a bunch of All-Stars in that lineup… I was embarrassed to be beaten by
those guys. That’s not to say you can’t be beat on any given day, but I
thought it was a horse (****) outing, especially against a team like
that. I mean, they are one of the weakest teams in baseball… This can’t
happen, period. If I can’t stand on the mound and feel comfortable
against that lineup, then something’s wrong with me.
Bronson… you do know that pitchers have to bat in the NL, correct? Strap on the elbow protector next time you step up to the plate against the Pirates next time. But the fun doesn’t stop here. Last night, the Reds finally went over on the Pirates to snap their 5-game losing streak. But, it didn’t start well. The Pirates jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first, (sound familiar, Texas? Minnesota?) only to watch the Reds slowly chip away at that lead as the game wore on. Final score, 9-8, Reds. The AP’s Alan Robinson had this to say about the win: "The Cincinnati Reds seemed out of this one early… Then maybe they realized who they were playing." Basically, if you lose to the Pirates, someone is going to get after you for it.
You have to see this – "Unbelievable!"
Your team is down one run, in the third inning. You don’t know how else to get on base, so you think that maybe getting hit by a pitch is your best bet. Problem is, the ball has to actually hit you before you get that free base. And if the ump tells you that it didn’t hit you – while the fans confirm as much – you don’t have the right to threaten him. You’ve got to love College Baseball. It doesn’t look like Mr. Walker has much of anything under control here. Maybe the Cubs will draft him in the first round.
The Angels just handed a game to the Jays
The Angels had this game won. Bottom of the 9th, no outs, 4-4, Chone Figgins on 3rd base. You can’t lose, can you? Actually, you can, and they did. The Angels managed to get themselves out of that inning without scoring a run, and then the Jays came back to score 3 in the top of the 10th to pretty much seal the victory. I’m not going to watch the rest of the game, but I’m assuming the Jays will win. Of course, that’s what happens when you miss two chances with speedy guys on 3rd and less than 2 outs in the late innings. That also happens when you give the opposing team 5 outs in one inning, which happened when, A) the Angels 1B forgot to pick up the ball when he went to toss it to the pitcher covering the bag, who then collided with him and nearly knocked him down, and B) Vlad catches a routine pop up, but not really, as it rolls out of his glove. The entire night, the Angels gave the Jays every chance they could to win the game. You can’t do that if you want to win baseball games. Then again, the Angels haven’t been doing much of that lately, so it looks like we’re straight. UPDATE: Another ball just flew by Vlad in right field, allowing another run to score for the Jays, 8-4.
Thanks for reading. Sorry about the posting mix up last night. Devin – it’s good to see that you’ve finally got a blog. You’re one of the more frequent readers here on BHGM so that’s always a nice thing to see. I’ll check it out tomorrow. Your comment is reasonable – that Posada isn’t exactly over performing as he isn’t putting up mind-blowing numbers. I’m just saying that he won’t be able to keep that pace up for a whole year, because he hasn’t done so in the past, and he’s only gotten older. He won’t go into a major slump for the rest of the year, he just won’t produce at the level he’s doing so now. See you guys tomorrow.
Roy v. Johan, Round II
Well it’s the weekend, which typically means a short post. Tonight is no different. It’s good to see that the Chatbox on your left has gotten some positive run, but don’t let it replace comments. I still want to see those comments on and about the posts; the chatbox can be a sort of secondary means of communication between all the readers and myself. That said… do whatever you want.
Roy Halladay is, in fact, still very good.
And still my pick for the AL Cy Young. Made that prediction about two months ago. Of course, I also made it about a year ago, and I would’ve been right had Halladay not been felled by a freak line drive to the leg that was, obviously, not his fault. Check out his stats before his 2005 season ended. I’ll admit – I was a little frightened when Halladay was skipping starts earlier in the season, but now we’re good. How is that, you ask? On Monday, May 8th, Halladay pitched a complete game, 4-hitter against the Angels. I then proclaimed that, despite the fact that the Angels had been struggling, Halladay was back. And it’s true. Tonight, he 3-hit the Devil Rays, striking out three and walking one while allowing one run in his 9 innings. So, 18 innings, 2 wins, 9 K’s, 2 BB’s, 7 hits. Good job, Roy. Now, I know it was the Devil Rays and Angels – two of the most anemic offenses in the AL – but, as I’ve said here time and time again, bad pitchers can’t – but in the rarest of cases – look amazing just because they’re facing bad hitters. In fact, usually when a pitcher is going to have a good outing, it doesn’t matter who he’s facing. For example, Don Larsen’s Perfect Game in the 1956 World Series. Do you think the Brooklyn Dodgers – Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges – were just ‘bad hitters?’ Obviously not. Don Larson was on his game that night, and he was gonna throw a perfect game, whether he was facing a virtual All-Legends, Worldburning team or not. Same thing with Halladay. Maybe he isn’t as dominating if he faces the Yankees, but you get the point. He’s not going out and making 80 pitches and bailing like he was earlier in the year.
Can Johan Santana go back to not being good again?
Call me crazy, but I’m not a Johan fan. This is 100% due to the fact that Johan takes away votes from Roy in the Cy Young voting. But, I have to give credit where credit is due. After all, Santana has killed 40 batters on strikeouts in his last four games. In those four games, he’s dropped his ERA a full 1.5 points, from 4.81 – very un-Santanian – to a more earthly 3.38. Better than Halladay’s 2.74? No. But we can’t all be the best, can we? Note that Halladay, despite missing one start, is still 5-1. Johan is 4-3, but this is largely due to the fact that the Twins were not doing so hot earlier in the year, and that Johan was allowing runs to plate at the rate of about four per 5-inning outing for awhile. Either way, Johan is your man for strikeouts. Halladay is your man for just about everything else. He can strike out plenty (but not lately – give him a couple more starts to get more strength back,) but he’ll also walk very few batters and give you at least 7 innings every night with 4 or 5 complete games a year. Heck, dude doesn’t even make many wild pitches. He’s really good. And we’ll continue to follow point-counterpoint between Halladay and Johan throughout the year. You’ll probably see me compare the two at least once a week till the hardware is handed out.
Tanyon, do not even try it.
Tanyon Sturtze has pulled a Hideo Nomo on us. I won’t be fooled. You will recall that Hideo was last seen trying to make the Yankees as a long reliever this year, but pretty much never had a chance. Anyway, in 2004, Nomo was really bad. There’s really no way to describe it, other than saying that he was 4-11 with an 8.25 ERA. Yet, the Dodgers – who we just mentioned yesterday, do not have amazingly fine management tactics – kept sending him out there for 18 starts. Finally, the medical staff grew "increasingly suspicious" that something was wrong, and threw him on the DL. They hunted down a cause, and found a shoulder joint that looked a little inflamed. Of course, this was likely the result of a recent surgery Nomo had to clear up the joint. In other words, Nomo was placed on the DL because he was too bad to play on the team. And that’s what Sturtze is doing right now. "Look Joe, I need some time off, think you can tell the guys my shoulder is hurting?" "Dude, that’s a win-win. You bet."
Can we get enough Jeff Kent?
Well, some of us can. In my Roto 5×5 fantasy league, someone dropped him. I got him off waivers this morning, which was amazing. Yesterday I detailed the return of Jeff Kent, although he was never really gone. Today, he hit another home run, over the head of one ‘Barry Bonds’, no less. That makes four since Tuesday. Keep it up, Jeff, and stay off those motorcycles.
Royals Live-Blogging? Anything better?
Tiffany over at "Party like it’s 1982" is looking for a live-blogging partner for an upcoming Cardinals series. She mentioned that the Cards play the Royals soon, and, quite frankly, I can’t think of a game I’d rather watch. I’ve done a few brief live-blogs on here, (Yankees v. Jays, Tigers v. Mariners,) but this would be real. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than talk about Mark’s War for an entire game. And who better to do it against than the St. Louis Albert Pujols… count on seeing that soon.
Thanks for reading. Remember, we’re still looking for comments – although for those of you without MLB accounts, Chatbox comments will suffice – from all you regular readers out there. Especially whoever’s hitting the site from Rutgers… who are you? Also, just for fun really, I bought up the domain name www.bihgm.com, as www.bhgm.com was already taken. Anyway, if you go to www.bihgm.com, you’ll be automatically redirected to here. In case you don’t like bookmarking things, (press control D if you do…) that’s an easier site to remember. See you all again tomorrow, and Happy Moms Day.
Finals Edition: Biology and Calculus
Well, BHGM returns. You thought we were dead? I know, me too. But I’m finally done with what they call ‘higher education’ and I’m back to the real world. At least until next August. Now don’t get me wrong, college is great. I love it. But when it’s the end of the school year and you’ve got chemistry, psych, bio, and calc finals – you just want to go home. Anyway, this will be the last post that fails to focus on much baseball, because starting now I’ll be able to watch games again and make those nightly posts. Actually, I’m watching the Jays – A’s game now. But before I dig in, there are a few questions I have. There’s someone who visits the site multiple times a day from Rutgers University, but they never leave comments. Dude – get an MLB account, sign in, and leave a comment – just so I know how you are. Same goes for the people from ‘Ames, Iowa’, ‘Corinth, Mississippi’, Uruguay, Spain, a bunch of you New Yorkers, and ‘Reston, Virginia’. Actually, I’d like if everyone who’s a regular reader could comment on this post, even if it’s just a "yo, I’m the dude from Rutgers," just so we can actually see who you are. Just do it. Thanks.
Biology: Ecology, Evolution, Biodiversity – Calculus I
So, how do we tie this into baseball? It’s another weak link, really. I’m starting to think that this wasn’t such a good idea after all. But here. If solving baseball calculus problems is your thing, check this out. As for the biology portion, there a few quick hits. By the way, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or ALS, is not primarily a genetically inherited condition. That is to say, an inherited genetic defect accounts for only 5-10% of cases of Familial ALS. For more information on ALS, check here. Well, that concludes our finals edition. It will be a lot more exciting in December, when we’ll be doing Organic Chemistry, Intro to Theater, Research Design and Analysis, and Developmental Psychology. What can I say, I’m a slacker.
Red Sox v. Yankees, (Wednesday Night)
Well, this game was basically the only contact I had with baseball all day, as I was moving back home and all. So I caught everything until the bottom of the 5th, when we busted it open. That is to say that I saw Alex jerk Curt way out of the yard. Anyway, between the fact that I was about to fall asleep and the game was being carried on ESPN, (albeit ESPNHD,) it wasn’t a terribly exciting game. I mean, it was pretty predictable. ESPN blabs about how awesome Curt is and how the Yankees can’t touch him, and then the Yankees touch him up for a few deep bombs. And that’s that.
Blue Jays v. A’s, (Thursday Afternoon)
Nothing like waking up to find a baseball game already starting. Being as the Jays/A’s were "the only game in town," that’s what I was watching. And really, they’re both two of my favorite teams. And a short memo – the Jay’s announcers, (radio and TV,) are some of the best. They’re not annoying and they don’t digress so far that you think you’re just listening to two people talk about baseball, as ESPN does. Anyway, the game. The Jays basically made the A’s look like the Washington Generals. That is, the Jays would keep going up on the A’s, leaving them with this impressive look of, ‘wow, I just got burned.’ And although the Box Score says that Glaus only had two home runs, I’m pretty sure I watched him leave the building about five times. Zaun also had a solo shot. Swisher went deep twice for the A’s with two solo shots. For those of you tracking RBI’s for the Jays: Glaus – 4. Adams, Johnson, Zaun, and Catalanotto – 1. Glaus might be a lock to finish the year below .260, (he’s only finished higher once, in 2000 with the Angels,) but he’s got some pop. And Alex Rios, breakaway star, is currently batting in the 3-hole for the Jays. For those of you who don’t know Alex’s story, it goes like this. In 2004 and 2005, he hit .286 and .262, respectivly. He now leads the league with a .379 average. He’s also on both of my fantasy teams. Despite the fact that Rios’ average is so high, his all-important OBP is an average .389. Alright, that’s on the high end of average, but not really, considering that it’s only 10 points higher than his batting average – that’s what happens when you walk four times. But it’s good for #41 in the league. Meanwhile, Giambi is walking around with a .531 OBP, while everyone’s favorite player – Barry Bonds – shows off his .495. Albert Pujols follows with a .466. Take away all the intentional walks Barry gets, and Giambi’s OBP is 65 points higher than the league’s #2 man. He’s back, people.
What’d you do with the Royals, and who are these people?
Here’s a tough one. The Royals just swept the Indians. On Monday, it was 4-3, Royals. Tuesday, it was 10-7, Royals. Wednesday, it was 10-8, Royals. I mean, keep in mind that they came away with the slimmest margin ever, 1, 2, and 3 runs. But the Royals are now 10-22, which means that they’ve gone 5-2 after we chewed them out bigtime. Are you kidding me? Not only is it beyond our comprehension for the Royals to have won 5 of 7, but it seems that we’ve got some freaky curse/blessing going on here. First, we had the Padres. The Padres scored 6 runs in 2 innings to get a miracle win over the Dodgers, and we wrote a whole post about it. And then what? The Padres win 9 straight games, with win #1 being the previously mentioned. I don’t think I can take credit for the Tigers getting off to a great start after I said they would about 700 times, that was just too big. Then there was the Santana-Halladay matchup in the beginning of the season where I said, ‘Halladay, your future Cy Young winner, will out-duel Santana.’ Just in case you doubt that those blanks really did mean ‘Roy Halladay,’ know that I’ve been calling him our Cy Young winner since February. How about when, on April 26th, I talked about Dusty Baker being crazy. Then, the Cubs have gone 3-11 since that post. That’s about all I can come up with for now. But how crazy is that?
And that’s gonna close us out for now, but we will be back tonight, which will start us off on our nightly post routine again. Plus a few during the day when we have a chance. Basically, we’ll be back in our prime. As for the comments, thanks Rob. I did know that David had been in the tank for awhile, but I didn’t know about what the divers were really doing down there. Thanks for being an alert reader. (Check out Rob at http://robpage.mlblogs.com/.) Lucky Leftie, good to see you here from the BPS. And Jason, your excuse is understood and accepted. If there is one person who will understand the ‘no free time’ argument, it’s got to be me, lately. Anyway, remember – I want to see one comment from every regular reader, to this post or the one that follows tonight. That’s all of you. If you don’t have an MLB account, get one. It’s not a big deal, and they’re not going to bother you with junk mail as long as you uncheck that small box at the bottom. In the two years I’ve had my MLB account, I haven’t gotten one spam e-mail on that address. Plus, after you sign up for an MLB account, you can just sign up for your own team email. Since you’re not gonna tell any of your friends to email you at "brian83583@yankeesmvp.com," you don’t really have to worry about getting any unwanted email, since you won’t even need to check that address. Have a good rest of the day, folks.
Yankees v. Blue Jays
Alright, so I’ve been watching the whole game but as I start this, we’re tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth. On back to back plays, Bernie screwed up. First, he missed a ball bouncing off the wall and allowed Alex Rios to score. But really, Rios might’ve scored anyway. But still, you can’t play a ball of the wall if you let it bounce past you. This resulted in a Frank Catalanotto RBI double. Next pitch is out to right field, (where Bernie is in for Sheffield,) and Bernie throws it to third in an attempt to hold Frank at 2nd. But Frank knows what he’s doing and makes a run for 3rd, and Bernie’s throw is seriously about 10 feet off. Again, even if it was perfectly on, it might not have made a difference. Bernie’s a great Yankee. I’m just saying, he’s getting old and it isn’t pretty. But would you rather have Bernie’s throw miss the bag by 10 feet, or Bubba Crosby overshoot the bag by 10 feet? Tough call. Recall when Bernie played a 20-second game the other night.
Ok. Bases juiced, 2 outs, A-Rod up. Now, some background information on the strike zone today – it’s pretty much non-existent. As I’ve said before, I’m a baseball fan before I’m a Yankee fan, (but not by much.) So I’ve got to be fair here. The truth is that this strike zone has been all over the place, even the broadcasters are admitting as much. Now, this isn’t a case of a couple bad calls. This has turned into the kind of game where you can’t really tell if a pitch is gonna be a ball or a strike until the ump calls it. Anyway, Chacin ends up walking A-Rod, which forces Damon home. And Jays manager John Gibbons just goes nuts. Not fair, he says. And of course, he gets thrown out, which followed Torre’s ejection just a couple innings earlier. In any case, it’s 2-1 Yankees.
Update: Bottom of the 6th, 2-1.
Well Moose has been lighting it up lately. Over 6 innings, he’s allowed 7 hits and struck out 7 while only walking 1. His seasons ERA is now sitting at a solid 2.31. Doin good, Moose. So good that I just picked him up in my 5×5, 7-team Roto league in exchange for the struggling Jake Westbrook. I’ve always thought Westbrook was just lucky to get the wins he got. I’m last place in ERA and WHIP, and Westbrook is doing all he can to keep me there. Another thing, this game has been exceptionally hard to follow without being totally focused. This is because MLB.TV is broadcasting the YES feed, but without the graphics, and using the radiomen as the audio feed. So there’s no scoreboard, nothing. What would I do without Gameday?
Update: Top of the 7th, 2-1.
Mussina just got pulled for my man Kyle Farnsworth. You can read that post right there for more info. And by the way, the 2nd most popular search that leads people to this site, (behind the "Manny cutoff throw" of course,) is "Kyle Farnsworth fight." Now, Posada just gunned down Alex Rios. And then we’re waiting for about 5 seconds before we get a call. And of course, by ‘call’ I mean Rios just leaves the field. Apparently the ump said something, like, "you’re out." And then Blue Jays replacement manager comes out to make a scene but thought better of it. And Farnsworth just struck out Frank The Cat. Vernon Wells up, 2 outs, bases empty. And Wells is down on 3 straight strikes. Yikes.
Some quick notes during the commercial break: the Tigers just beat the Twins, 6-0. Kenny Rogers, first-half star, pitched 8 innings, giving up 2 hits and 1 walk. How nuts would that be if Rogers threw another Perfect Game, and for the Tigers? Anyone who has seen "For the Love of the Game" knows what I’m talking about. But in any case, can you imagine throwing two Perfect Games in one career? Nuts. Of course, the best part is that we just swept the Twins, and outscored them 33-1. That’s really, really bad if you’re the Twins. We all know that their pitching is struggling, and we all know that they’ve never been famous for their offense. But 33-1? No way.
Update: Bottom of the 7th, 4-1.
Jeter doubles, and while the broadcasters are talking about Giambi being 0-12 against Jay’s reliever Pete Walker, Giambi takes him deep for a huge 2-run shot. And I mean deep. Walker left a pitch way over and Jason deposited it in the right field bleachers. Good job.
Update: Top of the 8th, 4-1.
Farnsworth just struck Troy Glaus again. Now he’s got 3 K’s in 1.2IP. And now they’re bring in Mo. Mo’s doing the old 1.1IP thing again, which reminds me that I forgot to ask you guys about why B.J. Ryan has been pitching 2IP every game. Why? Anyone have an answer for me? Thanks. And Greg just told me that, "Guess how long a pencil can draw, one line. Guess. 35 miles. One pencil, 400,000-some thousand. Think about how many miles you’ve written in your lifetime." I don’t use pencils though, I hate them. And Rivera just got Zaun to fly out to Phillips at first. Here comes the bottom of the 8th.
Update: Bottom of the 8th, 4-1.
So Matsui just got caught in a rundown, out between 3rd and 2nd. But he got Posada to 2nd, so it was ok. In any case, we’re still up by 3.
Update: Top of the 9th, 4-1.
So Rivera is doing his thing. And the Yankees win, thhaaaaaaa Yankees win! Alright, I hate hearing that. And the Red Sox just lost to – who else – the Devil Rays. Which means that we’re even on the standings now, finally. It wasn’t enough to better in nearly ever statistical category, we had to have to be better in W-L too, because, of course, that’s all that really matters.
PS:
Thanks for the comments Mike. Everyone should check out Mike’s Tiger’s podcast at www.dailyfungo.com. Again, this is similar to what Kevin and I hope to have up in a couple weeks. I know it seems like it’s always been a "couple weeks," but it’s always been "sometime after May 10th," because that’s when I’m done with school.
Anyway, as you all know, yesterday (April 29th,) was BHGM’s birthday. I plan on making a post sometime in the future that will be a little smattering of all the good posts we’ve seen. And I want your suggestions. So, if you had a favorite post or topic, email me or leave a comment at this post and I’ll try to include it. You can ask for Manny’s Greatest Play of All Time, but I’m already including it. You can jog your memory by clicking on the Classic Posts link on the left sidebar. Anyway, you don’t need to give me a post, just give me a topic.
Bruce Bochy, Burnett, and Games
Bruce Bochy – Word Inventor
The more I learn about Chris Young’s ‘injury,’ the scarier it gets. When I first heard about it, I was led to believe that he merely had some pain in his thumb that had been bothering him. Next, I thought there might be some structural damage done, because I heard he was gonna get an MRI today. But now I’m scared. Padres Manager Bruce Bochy said,
I’ve never seen anything quite like this. It is hard to figure out what is going on. It has us buffaloed.
Buffaloed? What does that mean? Stumped? Are you left guessing as to the nature of the injury? According to urbandictionary.com, ‘Buffaloed’ means "to have your spirit broken." Does that mean your chances of finishing on top of the worst division in the history of sports have decreased from 0 to 0, and now you’re depressed? Now, it’s possible that I’m the one under the rock here. Maybe people walk around saying buffaloed to each other all day, and it’s a regular in the American lexicon. Maybe. Why do I bring it up? Because it will probably end up being the most exciting thing that happens to San Diego all season, as they continue to duke it out in their mile-long park and crappy division.
A.J. Burnett and the Info Mask
According to "noted orthopedic surgeon" (Medical Note: these guys tend to be real jerks,) Dr. James Andrews, A.J. Burnett has no structural damage in his arm. Instead, he’s suffered a ‘reoccurrence’ of his Spring Training injury – the whole scar tissue thing, the one that, with some rest, would be good for another two years or so. Interesting. You see, there’s nothing wrong with him. It’s normal to make just two short starts between DL stints. Is this the same Dr. James Andrews that works for Cubs Pitching and Co.? I can understand Roy Halladay being "fine" but still missing two of three scheduled starts, but I don’t understand Burnett having "no structural damage" yet not being able to pitch. Of course, that’s not as bad as Prior having "no elbow injury" but being unable to throw a baseball. Or Kerry Wood being "right on track" but with no timetable for a return. This is why the Cubs will always be my favorite team to take shots at – they make it so easy. In case you haven’t been paying attention, I’ve probably beat up Larry Rothschild and Dusty Baker in each of my last 20 posts.
Bank of America Presents the National League Player of the Week Brandon Phillips
That’s commercial he11 right there. But it gets better. The last sentence of this ‘article,’ or advertisement, was so crowded I had to re-read twice to understand it. And even then, I knew something was wrong, so I read it a couple more times and then finally deciphered it. Here, it’s your turn, codebreaker:
In recognition of this honor, Tourneau, the world’s largest watch
store, is proud to award the Bank of America Presents the National
League Player of the Week Brandon Phillips with a Tourneau luxury Swiss
timepiece.
Ok? Is Brandon Phillips a dude or a corporation? And did you know that Bank of America – one of the largest banks in the world – started out as an immigrants "Bank of Italy," and took off after the Great San Francisco Earthquake, somewhere around 1911?
Boring…
When I got back from a long, hard day playing Butcher and dissecting little pigs, I decided to flip to The MLB.TV and see what was on. Turns out, jokes’ on me! No games on. I mean, unless you count Cincinnati v. Washington, Colorado v. Philadelphia, and Florida v. Chicago. If you watched or went to any of those games, you’re a real fan. Not to take another shot at Bobby’s Fish, but especially the Florida v. Chicago game. Is there a worse matchup then the undisputed worst team in the league (Florida,) minus their DL-riding "Rookie of the Year" v. the Prior-Wood-Miller-Lee-less Chicago Cubs? Probably not. The only exciting thing about this is Carlos "I’m about to lose control" Zambrano. Despite the fact that he managed to give up 3 runs to the Marlins in 7 innings, he has 12 K’s. This is not as cool as it seems, as one half (yes, .5, or 1/2) of the Marlins 8 starters in the lineup are hitting below the Mendoza line. For those of you unfamiliar with the Mendoza line, it’s .200.
It’s generally accepted that if you hit below the Mendoza Line, you shouldn’t be in the Major Leagues. Then again, that’s irrelevant as the Marlins don’t really seem to be in the Major Leagues anyway. Oh well. And Zambrano has only thrown 116 pitches through those 7 innings. At this rate, he’ll still have enough bullets left at the end of the game to pitch two innings tomorrow. At least, that’s what Dusty tells me. Meanwhile, Marlins starter Jason Vargas held the Cubbies to just one hit, walking four in 6.1IP.
Justin; I don’t really think the Tigers will put it all together this year. They need at least one winning season before they make it to the Big Time. But, if by ‘put it together’ you mean, ‘get above .500,’ then yes, I do believe this is their year. I think their offense is a lot more set than the pitching, however. We could use one more #3-caliber starter, but I’m not gonna push it. One more thing for all you commenters out there – leave your website address at the end of your posts. I want to be able to check out your sites as well, (I really do mean this.)
If I see any games tonight I might be back. But it’s gonna be a busy next two weeks, culminating in a Calculus and Biology final on May 10th. Post May 10th, I’m headed back home. A couple weeks after that, I’ll hope to have to podcast up and running on www.baseballradioshow.com. Until then, check out Mike’s Tiger’s Podcast at http://dailyfungo.mlblogs.com.
Yankees/Unit, Halladay, and Tigers
Yankees v. Orioles and the Redneck
Looks like Randy Johnson is back in typical mad, red-*ss form. He just went 8 innings, giving up only 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run while striking out 5. C’mon, 5 strikeouts, that’s it? And all of those 3 hits were off Tejada. There were "whispers" that Randy’s back was in trouble, despite the fact that neither the Yankees nor the Horse himself had revealed as much. So either Johnson is even crazier than any of us thought, or his back is fine. And I have to bring this up because I still think it’s one of the funniest things of all time. Recall that, in 2004, Randy Johnson was still pitching for the AA Arizona Diamondbacks who went 51-111 that year. Here are Randy’s stats for that year:
245 IP (35 starts), 2.60 ERA, 290 K’s, 44 walks, and 4 complete games, including one perfect game.
If you look at that line, you’re thinking, I dunno, 24, 25 wins at least. He averaged 7 innings a game, so there probably weren’t a lot of no-decisions in there. So you’re thinking that he probably went say, 24-6 or something wild like that. Here’s the thing – that would mean he won half of the Diamondbacks’ games, and while that would be cool, it’s also highly unlikely. See, Randy was only able to pull 16 wins. And 14 losses. Despite the fact that he had the 2nd best ERA in the league, he had the 9th most losses. At the end of the season, Johnson had the following game log:
8IP, 15K’s, 1 ER, and a no decision. This was directly on the heels of him going 8IP, 11K’s, allowing 2ER, and getting a loss. That, in turn, was on the heels of going 7.2IP, 14K’s, 1ER, and getting a loss. So lets recap those three games: Johnson went 23.2 innings, racked up 40K’s, 4ER, and walked just 5 guys. His record? 0-2. Imagine if he had been on a good team – he might’ve recorded one of the best pitching years since the 60′s.
The Yankees just beat the Orioles. I was only able to watch the last inning, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t funny. See, Gary Sheffield was chasing down a foul when he ran straight into the foul wall. I mean, he didn’t slow down, and he didn’t rotate his body or anything, (not that it would’ve been a good move, with his bum shoulder and all.) In any case, he acted like he didn’t even know the wall was there. I’ve never played Right Field in Yankee Stadium, and I know right where that wall is. So quite frankly, that was a dumb thing to do. It became about 7 times dumber when he walked away with a, "Uh, I think I just kicked a toe" limp. He was hopping all around, and the crowd was pissed, and it was generally a bad scene. What made it even worse was that it looked clear – to me at least – that Sheff wasn’t in any actual pain. I can’t explain that, but he just looked like he wasn’t hurting – yet he wouldn’t give up the jig, and kept limping around. Strange because Sheff is obviously one of the craziest and baddest guys in the game. He has a gunshot wound in his left shoulder that came from thwarting an attempted carjacking when he was 26, and he also produced one of my favorite quotes of all time. When he was hitting only .265 with just 3 HR’s in the first 44 games of the 2004 season, he had something of a pep talk behind closed doors with Joe Torre. When he came out of the office he said, "They ain’t seen me hit yet, but I’m about to get started. It’s time to put all the women and children to bed." Put all the women and children to bed? Priceless. So anyway, the trainer heads out to right, and you know he’s pissed. ‘C’mon Gary, man up. You’re making me run about 300 feet for no good reason.’ Just livid, straight-up pissed. Then Bernie Williams comes out of the dugout, apparently to replace the now-wimpy Sheffield. But wait! Now Sheff is fine. He waves Bernie off, and the trainer heads back. Bernie smiles, aborts, and heads back to the dugout. He even got a standing ovation. Good job Bernie, you played a good game today. Also, note that the picture to your above-left is of Derek Jeter and has nothing to do with anything previously discussed – but how sweet is it? Look at those hops!
"Roy Halladay is fine; will not make next scheduled start" …???
And I mentioned previously that the Jays are gonna have to come up with a good reason for why Roy Halladay pitched only 5 innings and 80-some pitches Saturday against the Red Sox. Well, I was half right. Turns out Halladay is fine. So he’ll make his next scheduled start, right? Wrong. They’re gonna give him an additional day off. Yet, he’s fine. See, that’s just not right. That’s Larry Rothschild-esque. He’s obviously not fine if he got pulled early from an otherwise successful start and is being given an extra day of rest, despite the fact that he missed his last start entirely. Halladay can throw 130 pitches a game, week after week after week when he’s healthy. So if he’s making 80 pitches in two and a half weeks, he’s not "fine." Thanks for the lies, Gibbons.
Tigers v. Mariners
I’m currently watching the Tigers v. Mariners. And it’s Verlander v. Hernandez. Now, the Tigers have won 4 straight going into this game. That’s a big deal for this team. A 5-game and 4-game-in-progress winning streak just 3 weeks into the season? We were lucky to put together that lengthy of a streak all season in the last few years. I like Verlander, and I like Hernandez. They’re both young and they both need to learn how to pitch instead of just throwing. Cliche and overused, but I’m saying it anyway. That said, Verlander will light you up at 101mph. I said before that the fastball alone is an easy pitch to hit, but the difficulty increases exponentially as the speed increases. Once Verlander learns how to pitch and integrate his other pitches, he’ll be an amazing pitcher. Also, why is there an FSN Detroit commercial that has Ben Wallace (of the Pistons) asking me who my Tiger is? Isn’t that a weird little juxtaposition? Ben has 
nothing in common with anyone on the Detroit Tigers. …Hernandez just tried a leaping barehand catch with his right hand. He’s walking around the mound ******* on his finger and waving the trainers away. Yesterday, Halladay almost tried a kick-save on a comebacker before thinking better of it. Hernandez is back, and Shelton is up to bat and took a huge swing at the first pitch. I mean, huge. He was so off balance that he tumbled 6 or 7 feet out of the box – forward. So weird. Anyway, now we’re in the top of the fifth and Vance Wilson just got a hit. Wilson – the backup catcher – now has exactly two more hits on the year than I do. Anyway, the Tigers are up 3-0 in the middle of the 5th, but I have to close this post out sometime. I’ll update with a final or in-game progress. One thing I did not realize until now was that Verlander just (2 outs, bottom of the 5th,) allowed his first hit. Good job, guys in the booth. Keep me in the dark about the no-hitter, because that’s what I want.
Update, end of 5th, 3-1.
Lopez just hit one down the Left field line, knocking in one run. Ichiro decided he’d turn on the wheels and head home from first as well. Well, apparently Craig Monroe is not only adept at stealing belts, he’s also got a cannon. Who knew? He guns the ball to Vance Wilson, and Ichiro just tumbles into him. Out! Good job, Vance.
Update, top of 8th, 6-1.
Craig Monroe just hit a 3-run home run to bust the game open, 6-1 in the top of the 8th. The booth went wild. I thought there was a no cheering rule in the press box? "Huge! That’s huge! Sometimes you just gotta throw that batting average out the window! Gimme someone who’s in scoring position when they step up to the plate, any day!" There’s no way you just said that, not if you’ve ever really seen a Tigers game. And the feed was from the Tiger’s team as well. Let’s get something straight. Monroe is one of the worst clutch hitters on the team. He’s the definition of a rally-kiler. It’s possible that he leaves more men on base than anyone else in the league, at least thats how it seems. On top of that, Monroe is the anti-"scoring position when he steps up to the plate." He’s not as bad as Vance Wilson, who is less likely to make contact than he is to blast off on a trip to the moon right out of the box. But he’s bad. Last year Monroe had 20 homers, a .277 average, a .446 slugging percentage, and 95 K’s. Yet he somehow managed to knock in 89 runs, which is insane, because it’s good for 39th overall in MLB.
As for the comments – I mean, comment. I know it’s the weekend, and that’s why I’m giving you guys those days off. Anyway, Steven Peters noted that I filed in the entire US on my Visitors List map – but have I actually gotten hits from each state? Of the 4,000-some stateside hits, I can only hope that each of the 50 states of the Union managed a shot. However, my hit counter code just stopped working. The hits are being recorded but the details are not – does anyone using the statcounter.com have the same problem? It started around 9am today.
Blue Jays v. Red Sox
I’m currently watching the Red Sox v.
Blue Jays game, but as soon as Halladay comes out I’ll probably switch
to the Yanks game. The only reason I’m not watching that to begin with
is that I have yet to see Halladay this year and I do need to scout out
the Enemy. However, the game is being carried on NESN. If I have to
keep seeing those commercials with ‘average Joe’ Bostonians telling me
things like, "I mean did you see that catch Coco made?… Throw
Wakefield in and they’re unstoppable!… Schilling and Clement in the
same rotation?… Manny being Manny?"
There was your link, John. Anyway, if I see another one of those
commercials, I might go into Operation Shutdown on the Red Sox. Sorry,
I couldn’t help it. In any case, check back throughout the day for some
in-game updates, of this game and others. This will be about the first game I watch in five days
or so, which means we’ll be back to hearing about baseball. Fantastic.
Bengie Molina just homered off Red Sox starter Lenny DiNardo. The Jays
are up 4-0 in the bottom of the 1st, with one out and one man on.
DiNardo looks like he’s about to cry. As does Francona. Here’s the
thing – the Sox played 12 innings last night, and now they’re in a day
game. They’re playing against Roy Halladay so they need all the help
they can get. Yet their starter manages to throw 29 pitches and get one
out… and then the Sox just got really lucky. With one pitch, DiNardo
struck out Overbay and caught Hillenbrand trying to steal 2nd, by about
a mile. Way to kill an inning, Hillenbrand. Dude was seriously out by
about 20 feet. And a 30-pitch inning for DiNardo. DiNardo ER count – 4. Again, check back for
more.
As for A.J. Burnett, that is a huge problem. He’s back on the
DL, and it looks like it isn’t a scar-tissue problem after all. Recall
that when the Jays first placed him on the DL, I said that they should
be concerned about a recurring injury, but that these tend not to be
one-time deals. Unlike Josh "Blister" Beckett. In any case, there’s no
telling what the problem is now, but that can’t be good. On top of
that, Roy Halladay is clearly not 100%, and the announcers agree. Now,
Halladay at 80% is better than a lot of guys at a 100%, but you need to be
careful with him. He’s still a young guy and you’re trying to build a
contender here, so you need to make sure that he can pitch healthy in
2008 and 2009, even if it means sitting out part of 2006. His pitches don’t have that cut on them, and they’re not tricking batters like they should. He’s not dominate and intimidating either. He’s grimacing on the mound and not striking guys out like he should. Maybe he’ll be perfect in a few starts; maybe he didn’t get enough work in Spring Training (likely) and missing his last start didn’t help, and when you combine that with the forearm problem, you’re in trouble. But hopefully he’ll be better soon.
Now we’re in the bottom of the 2nd, and the Sox just cannot get a guy out. Sure, they have two outs, but there are also 2 Jays on and the score is 5-0, Jays. DiNardo ER count – 5. And like I said earlier, what are the Sox gonna do? DeNardo is halfway to 100 pitches and he just made it out of the 2nd inning. The bullpen is depleted after that 12-inning fight last night, so it looks like this game is pretty much decided. I’ll watch it to gather some more intel on the Jays, Sox, and Halladay. Besides, the Jays play some pretty exciting baseball, to tell you the truth. I’ll keep updating this post for a bit of "live blogging" as long as I continue to watch this game if anything remarkable goes down.
First, Nixon orchestrated a massive failure. He had the Sox first hit of the game in the bag after his infield single was thrown right by Overbay at first. But then he took the slightest ever turn towards 2nd after he passed the bag. And I mean, you had to hunt for it, it was seriously one step on the inside of the line. But that’s all it took. Nixon started walking back to 1st, but Bengie Molina was playing some real heads-up baseball. He was already partway down the line and when he saw – don’t ask me how – Nixon’s step out, he retrieved the ball and chucked it to Overbay, who was waiting for Nixon at the bag. Nixon had no idea he was out either. That was really a Little League mistake; I honestly remember having two problems in Little League: 1) Slowing down before I reached 1st base because, 2) I would stop right after the bag instead of utilizing the 20ft runoff in foul territory. Welcome to Baseball 101, Trot.
Update, Top of the 4th. 5-1.
Well, Trot Nixon just doubled Manny Ramirez home. Bummer. Right now Nixon is standing on 3rd with 2 outs and Dustan Mohr up at the plate. And Halladay just got his first K of the game. This one was nuts. 2-2 on Mohr, and he launches one of those mean pitches that only Roy Halladay throws. It’s a cross between, (and trust me, it is,) a curveball, slider, palmball, and changeup. That is, it’s coming towards the plate when, all of the sudden, it slows down and, without really dropping in height, curves about 5 feet of the plate. Mohr swung and didn’t even reach out, because I don’t think he knew the pitch was gonna do that until after it did. Nuts.
Update, Bottom of the 4th, 5-1.
Well DiNardo allowed two more hits by Aaron Hill and John McDonald, who are presently standing on third and first, respectively. Needless to say, there were still no outs. So Francona made the smart choice and yanked DiNardo. Now this guy named Jermaine Van Buren is pitching in his Red Sox Debut. I guess he was their Minor League Pitcher of the Year last year or something. Surprise, I’ve never heard of him. He started out with two balls to Reed Johnson that were… really far off. So far off, in fact, that he laughed and thought it was funny. And McDonald just stole 2nd base. Does it count as defensive indifference if the pitcher takes about an hour to get the ball from his hand to the catcher’s mitt? He just walked Johnson to load them up. With no outs. And Alex "White Hot" Rios up. Dude’s hitting .409 with 5HR and 15 RBI’s so far. This is now the Blue Jay’s game to lose, and I think they’re gonna play it a lot like a Spring Training match. Won’t be surprised at all to see Halladay come out right around the 100-pitch mark, unless he really turns it up. Then they might give him another inning. Sac Fly, Jay’s up 6-1. And now Vernon "I’m really good in MVP 2004" Wells is up with 2 on and 1 out… Well’s swung and missed while Hill stole third. Then he drove a triple to the left-center gap. It might’ve been a double if Manny had read it and actually run after it, instead of walking. Toronto up, 8-1, 1 out. DiNardo ER count – 7, and his line is done.
Top of the 5th, 8-1.
And apparently the Second Coming of Keith Foulke – Papelbon – lost a bet and shaved his head into one of the ugliest mohawks you’ve ever seen. Someone bet him that if he pitched 10 scoreless innings to start the year, he’d have to go with a Mohawk. Halladay has got runners on 1st and 2nd with two out, and Scott Downs has been warming in the pen. He’s only loosed 84 shots, so it’s hard to say if they’ll take him out now or if they give him another inning. But if they take him out before the 6th, there’s no hiding it – Halladay is in trouble. You just put Burnett on the DL, so now you’ve got some explaining to do. Halladay just got Ortiz to swing at a pitch way outside, and then gave him the same pitch, tailing out, for a strike that Ortiz watched. Well, that pissed Ortiz right off. He took a step out of the box, tossed out some spits, glared at the ump, and shot a fire-stare at Halladay. Grow up. Halladay nailed you fair and square, sit down David. And then he took a huge cut at another Halladay trickster and missed straight up for the K. Did anyone thing Roy was gonna allow Ortiz to prove that if he’s wronged, he’ll jerk you out? Not a chance.
Update, Top of the 6th, 8-1.
Well they just yanked Halladay out after 80-some pitches and 5 innings, and now Downs is in the game. Needless to say, I’m worried about what this means. Like I said before, maybe Halladay will be fine and he just needs a couple starts to get back into his groove. I suspect that J.P. or someone in the Jays organization is going to have to provide some kind of explanation for this after the game, because you don’t yank out your star at sub-90 pitches if he’s "doing fine." And the NESN crew seems more focused on the NHL playoffs than they do on the game. I really don’t like the NHL at all. I mean, what’s to like? With that, I’m signing off. I might be back a little later with some more thoughts on some other games, but we’ll see how that shapes up.
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