You gotta be kidding me? They postponed the game in Chicago because the forecast was for “cold and blustery” weather? They made this decision in the late morning or early afternoon? I just checked three different reports and not one of them said anything about rain. Come on. It’s April. It’s the freaking Windy City. … Read more
God almighty, did you see poor J.D. Durbin’s pitching line for the Diamondbacks last night? It was mind boggling: two-thirds of an inning pitched, seven hits, seven earned runs, and a walk (2007 ERA: 94.50). This wasn’t a mop-up performance, by the way; Arizona brought Durbin into the game in the eighth, trailing 4-2. It’s … Read more
Ugly game for Baltimore: six walks, eleven hits, three errors (should have been four); a horrendous start for Jared Wright, and an even more horrendous start for the Orioles, who started a season 0-3 for the first time since 1995. This team looked bad enough in this series to challenge the 1988 O’s, who lost … Read more
I’m using some new-fangled technology to write this swill live from the Dome. I’m pretending to be a real writer, in other words. Some sort of big white creature –it appeared to be a dog, with a Target logo on its chest– threw out the first pitch. I guess I wasn’t aware that Target had … Read more
This just seems so wrong on so many different levels. I mean, seriously, what the hell?
Well, other than a nine-pitch first inning Johan’s performance wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was more or less in keeping with the way he usually starts the season. Kind of a strange pitch selection in the early innings –Santana just kept pounding away with the fastball, and didn’t go to the change-up until the Orioles … Read more
I spent part of the weekend kicking around thoughts on the coming season with Britt Robson and David Brauer over at On the Ball, Britt’s new home on the world wide web (or whatever the hell you want to call this impossibly dense and increasingly confusing constellation of monkey business). Go check it out. I’ll … Read more
I just got word that Herb Carneal has died. I’m sure the basic information is up at the Star Tribune by now. I honestly don’t know what to say. Going back to my childhood the man’s voice has been a permanent fixture in my life, and he was always a model of modesty, decency, and … Read more
To me, one of the great mysteries of 2006 was how Joe Mauer, a guy who had an on base percentage of .429, somehow managed to avoid scoring or driving in 100 runs. Three guys who hit behind him combined for 337 RBI (Morneau: 130; Cuddyer: 109; and Hunter: 98). Mauer had 86 runs scored … Read more
I know it’s all about money, but today’s decision to send Matt Garza to Rochester nonetheless stinks to high hell from a fan’s perspective. Someone tell me: how exactly is J.D. Durbin worth protecting? The guy is 25 years old and out of options. I say send him packing and if somebody else wants to … Read more