My A’s are down 4-2 in the bottom of the 9th, bases empty, 2 outs against Mariano Rivera. I don’t want to see the yankees celebrating a victory, so I turned it off. Good god I’m kicking myself.
So, I missed Todd Walker hitting a single, Kendall walking, and Marco Fucking Scutaro hitting a walk-off 3 run homer! Heh, the funny thing about Marco Scutaro, backup infielder for the Oakland Athletics, is that the fans LOVE him because he always seems to come through in times like this. He even has his own fan-chant now. MARCO <clap> <clap> SCUTARO <clap> <clap>
Hirka, glad to hear Huddy’s doing well this year. I always thought he should have been the one we kept rather than Zito.
I went to see the Mariners play the visiting Rangers yesterday afternoon. And wasn’t that a shit-sloppy game.
The M’s are definitely mediocre (their current first-in-the-division standing isn’t going to last very long), but holy cow, the Rangers stink on ice. The Mariners don’t have a hope of contending against the two A-teams in the AL West over the long haul, but staying out of the cellar suddenly looks like a real possibility.
(And this after Ron Washington made such a good impression in spring camp.)
Well, the Royals are in mid-season form. Intended closer injured, jerry-rigged bullpen blowing saves. Offense struggling - how deep in the cellar will we have to be before Shealy, Teahen and Gordon find their swings? And when will someone remind Buddy Bell that Joakim Soria was a starter in the minors - he pitched a freaking pefect game in the Mexican League this winter!!! Why are we wasting his talent an inning at a time?
Well, the Yanks had a huge disappointment Sunday night when the Great Mariano, failed in his first Save attempt.
We have 4 starters on the DL and called up a 24 year old Lefty from AA Trenton Thunder Chase Wright, who pitched and effective 5 inning major league debut. He scattered 3 runs over the 5 after the Yanks staked him 8 runs. A-Rod remains red hot and Jeter decided to stop making errors and made a great play going towards second. The Bullpen was great again last night.
There are hopes that Wang and Karstens will both be back this weekend up in Boston. Matsui is also getting close to returning. Moose is expected to be a short DL stay and Pavano is Pavano and I suspect, he may take a long time.
After a sweep of the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers are 1.5 games ahead in the NLWest. Furcal is back and strong, Penny has decided to actually try to pitch instead of just throw, and Pierre is hitting anything anywhere near the plate. Now if we can just get Schmidt back and healthy, and crush the Rockies in the process, I’ll have a happy April.
Astros started off 0 fer 4 but have won 6 of their last 8. I don’t know what Clemens is going to do. I kinda wish he’d haul ass though as he always strings us out for so long before committing.
Rangers were a pleasure to watch last night, seeing as they whooped up on the team that beat the Astros in the WS. In Chicago, the Sox pitched around Teixeira to get to Swingin’ Sammy who on an 0-2 pitch amid the jeers went yard. Heh.
Yanks slaughtered the Indians 9-2 and are 7-6 now despite a lack of starters.
In **Kei Igawa’s ** 3 starts the Yanks have scored 23 runs. Last night was his best start by far going 6 innings and giving up 2 runs and getting 5 Ks to 1BB.
Alex Rodriguez hit another 2-run shot and now has 9 homers & 23 RBIs to lead the majors and a .365 BA and .981 SA. He has hit in all 13 games and has extra-base hits in all but one.
**Karstens ** is returning from the DL for Saturday’s game.
**Matsui ** is scheduled for minor-league games Friday & Saturday, he should rejoin the Yanks Monday.
**Wang ** is scheduled to come off the DL on Tuesday and start that night in Tampa.
**Pavano ** has not been cleared to start throwing, though that might happen “in a couple days,” I will believe it when I see it.
**Mussina ** will need at least one rehab game.
This Weekend the Yanks play in Boston.
Pettitte, Jeff Karstens vs. Beckett (3-0 1.50 ERA) and Lefty Chase Wright vs. Dice-K (1-2 2.70 ERA)
Mets still rolling along at 9-4, having just hammered Dontrelle Willis all over Florida last night and watched John Maine - yes, John Maine - take a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Jose Reyes is out of his mind right now - how often is your team’s *leadoff * hitter issued two intentional walks in a week? - and the Maine/El Duque/Pelfrey Thing that was supposed to be so awful has been quite good.
Weirdest stat of the year is that the Mets have made it to 9-4 in spite of the fact that their #4-#6 hitters (Carlos Delgado, David Wright, Moises Alou) have a combined 2 home runs, both by Alou and both in the same game.