Not walking Manny appears crazy, but I am reasonable sure Moose convinced him that he could get Manny out. If I was Joe, I would not have believed.
I would like to point out that injuries suck. The Tigers are EXTREMELY dinged up already. I’m still eager to see how this season unfolds. April can’t get you into the playoffs, but it sure can knock you out of them. We need a very strong month to just get back to .500.
sigh
So on Saturday night, the Dodgers’ pitching staff pitched brilliantly. A handful of hits and only one run surrendered.
On Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers’ pitching staff pitched brilliantly. A handful of hits and only one run surrendered.
So how is it that on Saturday night, the Dodgers’ offense managed 11 runs, and on Sunday afternoon, they come up with a giant goose egg? Andruw Jones’ average has dropped to a lovely .100 even. You can see Russell Martin (.146) cursing at himself after every at-bat. Give the Padres some credit for pitching very well yesterday, but still.
Oh well, it’s only two weeks in and we’re 5-7. I’m not desperate yet.
ETA: Oh, and I’m probably a little bitter because I had tickets to yesterday’s game, of course. You know, when it hit 99 degrees by 2:30pm.
Didn’t help as I was watching the game without sound at a place that didn’t have cable. :mad:
Two crazy Sunday afternoon games.
Cleveland beat Oakland in a game played during snow.
Colorado spanked the Diamondbacks.
I love day games, but Sunday afternoon games seem to be weird. Teams that have been losing will have a big day.
Last night at Fenway was the coldest night I ever experienced at a baseball game. I had three hot chocolates while wearing my winter coat and gloves and a wool hat all game. When I say coldest night, it means a little too, I have been to a night baseball game in Wrigley in April and many October nights in the Bronx. It was bitterly cold.
Stubhub also really let me down and will do nothing to make good on it. I got a pair of tickets that did not list as obstructed view, that had the support pillar between the seats and home plate. I call stubhub immediately and the person I talked to was nice and it sounded like everything would be taken care of in the morning.
I called back today and got the run around, they won’t let me talk to a supervisor and the way of making good is to send me a coupon for $30 off my next purchase. This was on two tickets that went for $300 total that lists at $30 each. I lodge a complaint and don’t expect anything good to come of it. This is really a shabby way to treat a good and repeat customer. I might pursue action via Mastercard as I know the BBB is useless in these cases. I suspect I will get no satisfaction and the whole thing combine with the bitter cold (and the loss) really ruins my Fenway experience.
Back to the long cold game, I don’t think either starter could feel the ball, I doubt either one ever pitched in conditions like last night before.
With regard to the weather only, I would gladly have traded you. 
I would like to point out that injuries suck. The Tigers are EXTREMELY dinged up already. I’m still eager to see how this season unfolds. April can’t get you into the playoffs, but it sure can knock you out of them. We need a very strong month to just get back to .500.
Hey, I’m now down both Catchers and a Captain, injuries suck, but they are part of the game.
If you didn’t hear, Posada is still not cleared to throw and Molina pulled his hammy last night and is going on the DL. Insult to injury is the fact he was hitting great, #2 so far in the young season.
Oh yeah, injuries are part of the game, but it wasn’t until today that I realized the extent.
Granderson is/has been out, Polanco is dinged up and was out the last couple games, Sheffield is playing hurt, Cabrera is playing hurt, Willis is hurt, Rodney is hurt, Guillen is dinged up, and Zumaya is out.
That’s 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 in the lineup, the number 3 pitcher, and the two best setup men. Yeah, injuries are part of the game and everyone gets them, but that many, this early? Damn.
On the plus, Bautista has a live arm, Bazardo has been better than I’ve expected, and Clay Rapada looks pretty good. There hasn’t been much dropoff in the leadoff spot cut to Clete Thomas (Who? Yeah. Exactly.) so that’s definitely not the source of our problems.
Joe Borowski was brought to this Earth to make me angry, wasn’t he? That’s the only excuse, right?
It’s an adventure when he’s on the mound.
Adventure? Only if you can say the red-shirted schmuck who goes along with Captain Kirk is on an ‘adventure’, too.
Little late to the party, but better late than never, as the anonymous “they” always say.
10-4 for the D-Backs, and a really hot 8 game win streak there to boot. The team is on fire, hitting and pitching, everything is working right now. Brandon Webb is back to being his usual dominant self, and Dan Haren has been just as good as advertised (we’ll see about how he does after the All-Star break). Even Randy Johnson looked really good. He typically has better control, so once that comes, this team looks to have a really solid 1-3 group of starters. And their fourth starter, Micah Owings, is 3-0 with a 2.29 ERA. This looks to be a really, really good starting rotation.
Their bullpen seems ridiculously bad. Only two members of the pen have an ERA under 5, and their closer seems like he might be signed with every team in the league. Someone check under his jersey, you might find the opponent’s underneath. The pen will be what will keep this team down. I didn’t pay much attention this offseason, but why did the D-Backs get rid of Jose Valverde? He had a good season last year, was it just the price of resigning him?
The hitting has been really good, but can someone explain to me how Chris Young is a leadoff man? I’m not saying he’s terrible, far from it, but he lhas a terrible average and only a decent OBP so far this season. Last year he had a terrible OBP. Shouldn’t it be Eric Byrnes or Orlando Hudson?
Great googly moogly, did anyone else catch that Cubs game tonight? That’s some baseball right there boy, even though 'Sorry"ano seems to have hurt himself catching a ball we looked…dominant. Dempster is looking to be a great addition to our starting rotation and Wood was lights out sealing the deal, never mind the hit fest that our lineup hosted tonight. If we can turn in performances that are even half of that on a regular basis the NL Central is ours for the taking. Just beautiful baseball and tons of fun to watch.
With all the respect I can muster for a Cubs fan, Cluricaun, I must respond phhbbbbbt! True, we Cards fans wet our collective pants when Pujols grabbed his wrist in pain after a tag last night, but he seems to be OK. The Cards’ starting pitching and bullpen have both exceeded expectations, and their offense is looking solid. I believe my beloved Redbirds are atop the Central as I type…
And as begrudgingly as it comes from a Cubs fan… the Cards look really good this year. I expect that our meetings this year will go beyond the usual rivalry and actually be some of the most important games of the year for both clubs. I’ve never been one to root for injury, nobody wants to see Pujols hurt and I’m glad that he looks alright. It’ll be worth more when we do take you out if we do it when you’re full strength. 
Yes, this looks like a good year for the Cards/Cubs rivalry, and I eagerly await the first meeting between these two historic squads.
I know that, before the season even started, there were folks predicting that this would be the year the Cubs finally win the World Series, but I suspect these are the same people who watch cartoons and predict this is the time the coyote finally catches the road runner.
Great series IMHO, of course it’s a lot easier for me to say such because Boston took the series 2-1. But even in that loss I saw some good signs.
**Friday: Yankees 4, Boston 1
**
This was the game we lost, but some really good things happened. Buckholz didn’t throw a no-hitter, but he doesn’t have to, he pitched an impressive performance, but was unfortunately out-pitched by Wang who tossed a complete game. The kid didn’t blow up, just pitched a good game with mixed strikes and balls.
Also JD homered, he’s showing a lot of great signs that he was simply slumping last year and that this year he might break out a little. Also, Caset doesn’t stink as a utility guy in first base. And Youk can still play third (he came up in the minors as a third baseman).
Pet peave: Both Fox Sports and ESPN front pages had Giambi as the headline when the Yankees won. G’dammit! Did Wong not just pitch a complete game?! One homerun is a good thing for the team, especially considering the guy is hitting below .100, but Wong beat us that day, not Giambi.
Saturday: Boston 4, NY Yankees 3
Manny Ramirez has stepped into the role quite comfortably of being the Yankees-killer. He’s had to with Ortiz slumping. In fact, Manny is just about killing everyone this year.
I already said, I think Girardi made a couple very silly moves. I don’t want to declare them as “bad” decisions, because frankly I haven’t seen the guy coach enough. I’m comfortable with saying that I thought Torre was a very good manager, because I watched those games for years. And frankly I like it when managers make bold and non-traditional calls, but in this game (and the next, they didn’t really work out).
The two and a half hour rain delay was huge. Eighth inning, two outs. For two and a half hours both Papelbon and Rodriguez had to sit in their lockerooms and think, “I’m going up against _________” when this game starts. Two of the handful of most feared players, both in pitching and hitting, and the mental game going for them both.
After warming up three times, and waiting two and a half hours, Papelbon blows Arod away with a first pitch 97mph. Then bizarre enough Girardi sends the runners distracting Arod on the second strike. Paps struck out Arod, and the next two batter, then got a groundball for the out.
(Then there was the much ado about switching the broadcast in the ninth with two outs and two strikes 
)
Sunday: Boston 8, NY Yankees 5
What? Another four hour Yanks/Sox matchup? Who’d a thunk it?
Daisuke’s worst performance of the year possibly, and he still didn’t look bad. Hughes puzzled me though. Watching him pitch on a huge HD television, his pitches looked pretty good, with plenty of velocity and movement. He obviously wasn’t getting the job done, but I couldn’t decipher how Boston was able to pick him off so early. Still nice getting to see him and Ohlendorf though.
Then Hawkins and Farnsworth? Two guys I used to love a lot even though they would always let me down in the end. I’m talking waaaay previous to Yankee roster days.
Lot’s of SB’s for both teams that day. Johnny showing off how fast he still is and Posada under orders not to throw runners out (3rd Girardi :smack: ).
Oh, and Jim I’m sorry that your Fenway experience wasn’t as good at it could have been. And don’t worry, even if you accepted my “bet”, there’s no way I would have let you pay for dinner, not when you’re the guest in my city.
Is the Cleveland relief staff this bad? They looked horrible these two games.