So … how about those Mariners?
The Cards seem to be building up some steam. Pujols knocked in seven RBIs yesterday. Lohse threw a complete game gem today. They’ve got an early claim on first place. Not too shabby for the first week.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised, but then half the offense is new. Also, a new bullpen.
While the point stands regardless, it was Bobby Jenks, an unproven 24 year old who nobody had ever heard of, who closed for the White Sox during their playoff run, and that Marlins team did trade a decent prospect in Adrian Gonzalez for Ugueth Urbina (who was pretty hot shit at the time, pun sort of intended) to be its closer.
Of course, the really tough thing is that if you’re looking for “an Eckersley or a Rivera” as your closer you’re pretty much bound to be disappointed since you’re talking about the absolute no argument best and most likely the next best by a wide margin, while there have been so many closers who were just barely adequate who worked out fine.
From my perspective, the reason that a repeated failure at closer is such a backbreaker isn’t that having a capital C-Closer is really important, but that if you’re trying to close games with a stiff, it probably means you don’t have much talent in your bullpen. Any team with a hotshot setup guy and a bum closer, if the closer’s that bad and the other guy’s that good, is eventually is going to make the switch. If you don’t have any other options, it’s going to look like your closer keeps costing you games, but it isn’t that there’s a position called Closer that you haven’t been able to fill so much as it is that your best reliever sucks. So if you get a couple or three good arms to put in the bullpen, you’re probably reasonably set at closer.
The Phillies example is a good one because for years they had “the guy” in Billy Wagner, and never won anything. Then he got too expensive and it looked like they were going to have to go with a retread until their old GM took the job in Houston and was willing to take some of his old projects in exchange for Lidge, who as RickJay said was viewed as as being some combination of psychologically and physically shot. In retrospect, since the whole bullpen had such a fantastic year and Lidge was pretty much untouchable, it looks like the Phillies had this straightforward intention of getting A Closer and it all worked out, but that’s really only in retrospect.
Also, as a Phillies fan, I have to admit that the rest of the NL East looks really good and disturbingly likeable. I mean, the Mets can all fuck themselves, obviously, but I really like those freaking Marlins, and the Braves somehow don’t make me that sick to my stomach this year.
Tigers in first place. Yankees,Red Sox and Cleveland below 500. All is well. sorry Yanks are now at 500. Bummer
Went to the Giants-Padres game today. It was my first visit to Petco Park, and i must say it’s a really nice place to watch a game of baseball. While living in Baltimore and then San Diego might not give you a chance to see too many pennant races, you at least get to sit in a nice ballpark.
It promised to be a real pitchers’ duel, with Giants’ #1 starter Tim Lincecum against Padres #2 Chris Young. Young lived up to the hype, allowing 1 unearned run on 4 hits over 7 innings; Lincecum wasn’t so good, allowing 10 hits and taking the loss, although he got let down a bit by his outfield on a couple of plays.
Anyway, Padres sit on top of the NL West at 5-2. Not likely to last long, but the home town crowd was happy today. At least, the Padres fans were; it seemed that Giants fans made up almost half of the crowd.
BTW: Did you see the triple play in the Pirates-Reds game?
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4112501
(I don’t think you need to be an MLB subscriber to view the highlight videos)
Gregg just gave up a 2 out home run and a double to deep center. The Cubs go into the ninth with a 4 run lead, now the tying run might come to the plate.
This after Marmol goes 1-2-3 the prior inning.
I hate this… :mad:
Whew!!
Terrific win for the Jays, coming back from 6-3 to win 8-6. they picked up Jesse Litsch big time. I’ll enjoy first place while it lasts, which I’m guessing will not see the light of the May long weekend, if it sees May 1.
I continue to be impressed by Travis Snider, who everyone assumed would become a regular by, oh, next year maybe, and is playing very fine baseball right now.
I continue to be unimpressed by B.J. Ryan, who got the save tonight via sheer luck; the Twins just did not swing the bats well against him and they still got a couple of hits.
Crazy game in Texas tonight. The Rangers came back from 10-4 and did a double steal in the 9th inning with two out. Nice play! But, still not quite enough as they ended up losing to the Orioles 10-9.
The Padres managed to take care of the Mets in the first game at Bailout Ballpark. Even seeing the “Citi” just makes me ill.
I’m with you, RickJay. I’d be quite happy if the AL East leaderboard stayed in its current configuration for the rest of the season, but i don’t think it’s going to happen.
The Orioles won a wild one tonight against the Rangers, 10-9. It was the sort of game you’d expect from two teams with decent hitting and bad pitching, which is pretty much a perfect description of Baltimore and Texas.
Andruw Jones looked pretty good at the plate tonight. I wonder if he can make a comeback of sorts this year?
The Mariners are sure impressing so far. Bedard was brilliant against the A’s the other day. Looking forward to Griffey’s homecoming tomorrow 
New catcher Rob Johnson is interesting - both of the games he’s caught so far have been shutout wins. Hmmm. Couple of nice finds in pitchers Chris Jakubauskas and David Aardsma.
The Yankees got smoked yesterday. That’s two really bad outings for Wang in a row, coming back from his injury. I hope it’s just an adjustment thing.
I was there. It was a thing of beauty. The strangest thing might have been when a chant started from the other side of the stadium, then got picked up and carried through the (by then half empty) stadium. Very loud. “YANKEES SUCK!” I actually don’t really go for stuff like that. I think it’s classless to boo opposing players just because, although I’ll grant and exception for someone like AJ Pierzynski*. Still, this was kind of amusing.
*Pierzynski was involved in an incident where he cheated on us last year and it probably cost us a game. IMO people who cheat are fair game for the boo birds. Players who just play hard and beat you are not.
Should be interesting to see how the game turns out tonight with two good pitchers going at it.
It will be a fun year for the Rays. Just getting to watch Longoria play every day would be cool.
Where is dalej42? I want to hear his thoughts on the “four out” play from last night, that allowed a Dodger run which could have been taken off if the D-backs had appealed properly. 
Just like the tv announcer said, “Joe Torre knows the rulebook, Bob Melvin doesn’t” I was hosting an Easter Brunch, so I wasn’t able to spend too much time watching it. The D-backs have stumbled at the start of the season and they’re looking a lot like the team that played last September. We’ve got no offense and Webb being hurt early in the year doesn’t help.
On a more serious note. The Bird passed away yesterday. I think all baseball fans of a certain age flipping through and seeing Sportscenter last night probably recognized the pictures of him in his rookie season instantly. I have rarely thought about him in the last two decades but once upon a time he was the most amazing shooting star I had seen. Rest in Peace Mark Fidrych.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/04/14/fidrych.obit/index.html/?eref=T1
Great link, What Exit?. Thanks.
AJ Burnett is pitching lights out against the Rays tonight. Garza also pitched well, but not as masterfully as Burnett.