Braves 11, Mets 4: On Monday, Willie Randolph went and brought up race, which complicates things when you're thinking about firing a guy. Sure, the race thing is all baloney in this context, but no one wants to wade into that stuff if they can avoid it, and holding off on 86ing Randolph is one way to avoid it. Yesterday, however, Randolph backed off of it and said "It's about winning ballgames." Now there can be no excuse for not firing him, right? As for the Braves: it's a wonder what a day off can do for a guy (Francoeur: 3-4, 3B, HR, 4 RBI).Marlins 3, Diamondbacks 1: Brandon Webb was going to lose eventually, right? He still pitched pretty well, though (7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 7K, 0BB). It's just that Ricky Nolasco pitched better (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7K).
Red Sox 6, Royals 3: Bartolo Colon is back. Nothing special -- 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER -- but that's often enough with the lineup behind him and against the lineup he had in front of him. Now that I think about it, having Brett Tomko as the opposing pitcher is pretty helpful too. Let's just call it a perfect Bartolo storm.
Yankees 8, Orioles 0: Man, they needed that. Rasner impresses (7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER). Chamberlain pitches two innings of relief as a means of stretching out his arm so as to get him ready for starting. So basically, Kennedy/Hughes is Rasner/Chamberlain, and could have been Rasner/Chamberlain/Santana, but I suppose we're past that now. In other news, a crew working the Yankee game gets the second home run call wrong in four nights -- this time robbing A-Rod -- so keep your replay talking points handy.
A's 9, Rays 1: We're just over a year out from Jack Cust's coming out party, and here he is heating up again (game: 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI; month of May before last night's hit parade: .328/.473/.586).
Brewers 4, Pirates 1: Ben Sheets throws a 123-pitch complete game. I can't think of anything that sends a clearer message regarding how little you trust your bullpen than sending out your somewhat injury prone messiah for the ninth inning with a three run lead.
Rangers 10, Twins 1: They say that revenge is a dish best served cold. Sidney Ponson prefers his served warm with hot fudge, nuts, and caramel sauce on it, but it's still revenge to him: CG, 6 H, 1 ER against the team that released him a year ago.
Phillies 12, Nats 2: It has to be frustrating as hell to be stymied by someone old enough to be your dad (Moyer: 6 IP, 7 H, 0 ER).
Tigers 9, Mariners 4: starters Jarrod Washburn and Kenny Rogers combine for 7.2 IP, 20 H, and 13 ER. Sounds like crisp little humdinger of a game they had there.
Cardinals 11, Padres 3: Albert Pujols was a one man wrecking crew. Literally: he broke Chris Young's nose with a line drive and sprained Josh Bard's ankle two batters later when he slid into home plate. Tony La Russa on Young: "If he weren't so tall, the ball would have gone into center field." You know Tony, we were all thinking it, but you didn't have to say it.
5 comments:
DBacks offense is a joke right now.
Rasner is this year's Aaron Small. Of course, this flash-in-the-pan means that good old Hank will be more eager/pushy to deal Hughes (and Melky) to get Sabathia or Teix at the deadline...
Joba Chamberlain.
Sorry.
APBA Guy-
As we head into Memorial Day, when traditionally we can start to assume that season statistics are meaningful, which of the following LH pitchers is a $ 20M a year starter?
A: 10 GS, 62 IP, 2.90 ERA
B: 9 GS, 56.2 IP, 3.18 ERA
C: 9 GS, 60 IP, 3.30 ERA
That's right, it's C, Johan Santana. A is Dana Eveland and B is Greg Smith, both rookies with Oakland. And I have to say it (broken record alert) Smith's ERA would be 2.86 without Mr. E Brown's stellar fielding contributions.
I don't think anyone is ready to build their team around Smith or Eveland yet, but it's interesting to note their success in small market Oakland versus the issues Hughes and Buchholz have had in the pressure cooker atmospheres in the Northeast.
As much as we succeed in quantifying actual performance, and relate that to predictive performance, there is still a huge psychological element involved, especially in younger players, I believe.
The EPL has a concept of loaning players to let them develop in less pressurized situations. You wonder how Hughes and Buchholz would do pitching for KC or Florida for a couple of years, then coming back to NY and Boston at 25 or 26.
That will never happen in reality. For us A's fans, we can look forward to Beane separating Eveland and Smith in the rotation to enhance their effectiveness further, and getting better fielding outfielders into the everyday lineup. Meanwhile the big team fans can hope that their young pitchers development is enhanced by the presence of all that "veteran leadership."
Sidney Ponson prefers his revenge served with six or seven Bud Lights.
Post a Comment