My Favorite Pitch Sequence Ever

You know what you haven’t tried yet, Jarrod? That 85-87 MPH fastball. I bet that will fool them. Try it again.

Read The Full Article:
http://ussmariner.com/2008/05/21/my-favorite-pitch-sequence-ever/

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IGD: Padres vs Cardinals (21 May 08)

Padres (17-30) vs Cards (27-21)Chris Young vs Braden Looper7:05 p.m. PTChannel 4SDAM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 187MLB, B-RThe Padres look to extend their one-game winning streak.Advertisement: Knuckle Curve Like Ducksnorts? Read more of Geoff’s thoughts[...]

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http://ducksnorts.com/blog/2008/05/igd-padres-vs-cardinals-21-may-08.html

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Braves SS Escobar sits out (PA SportsTicker)

ATLANTA (Ticker) - Atlanta Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar sat out Wednesday’s game against the New York Mets with a bruised right knee.Read the full story.

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http://mlbnewsblog.com/2008/05/21/braves-ss-escobar-sits-out-pa-sportsticker/

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Game 47: Reds at Dodgers

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Next Game

Cincinnati Reds
@ Los Angeles Dodgers

Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 10:10 PM EDT
Dodger Stadium

Johnny Cueto vs Hiroki Kuroda

Clear. Winds blowing out to right field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 70.

 

Complete Coverage >

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Ron Kuenstler/AP (Cueto), Chris Pizzello/AP (Kuroda)

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W-L ERA WHIP K BB 2008 - Johnny Cueto2-45.751.215313

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W-L ERA WHIP K BB 2008 - Hiroki Kuroda1-33.671.333116

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The Reds have to get out of Los Angeles with a win.  There is no debate about this.  Dusty, please stop putting 3 virtually automatic outs in the 1-3 spots in the lineup.  Please.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.redreporter.com/2008/5/21/524493/game-47-reds-at-dodgers

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Rangers let German go, recall Loe from minors
(AP)

Right-handed reliever Franklyn German was designated for assignment Wednesday by the Texas Rangers, who recalled right-hander Kameron Loe from Triple-A Oklahoma to take his place. German had a 2.08 ERA in 21 2-3 innings and was out of options. The Rangers have 10 days to trade, release or outright the 28-year-old to the minors.Read the [...]

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http://mlbnewsblog.com/2008/05/21/rangers-let-german-go-recall-loe-from-minors-ap
/

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It could be worse

Imagine how badly Washburn would have pitched if McLaren didn’t give him a catcher he felt comfortable working with, who could communicate well with.

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http://ussmariner.com/2008/05/21/it-could-be-worse/

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Red Sox call up Colon for first outing of season

The Boston Red Sox called up Bartolo Colon from Pawtucket and sent right-hander Justin Masterson to the Triple-A team on Wednesday.Colon, the AL Cy Young award winner in 2005, started Wednesday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals.The Red Sox signed Colon to a minor league contract in spring training after he became a free [...]

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http://mlbnewsblog.com/2008/05/21/red-sox-call-up-colon-for-first-outing-of-seaso
n/

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Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM CDT

RUBBER GAME!

 

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Current Series

3 game series vs Cubs @ Minute Maid Park

Mon 05/19WP: Ted Lilly (5 - 4)
LP: Brian Moehler (1 - 1)2 - 7 lossTue 05/20WP: Chris Sampson (3 - 3)
SV: Jose Valverde
LP: Ryan Dempster (5 - 2)4 - 2 win

Chicago Cubs Bleed Cubbie Blue
@ Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes

Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 7:05 PM CDT
Minute Maid Park

Sean Gallagher vs Shawn Chacon

Clear. Winds blowing out to center field at 15-20 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 80.

 

Complete Coverage >

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W-LGGSCGSHOSVBSIPHRERHRBBKERAWHIP2008 - Sean Gallagher1-042000014.1147717104.401.47

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W-LGGSCGSHOSVBSIPHRERHRBBKERAWHIP2008 - Shawn Chacon0-099000054.1532925927354.141.47

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Anyone think Chacon will actually get a decision tonight? 

 

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2008/5/21/524440/chicago-cubs-at-houston-as

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State of the Offense

After ranking near the bottom of the league in runs scored last year, the Twins front office took major steps to improve the club's offensive output in the 2008 season. The overhauled Opening Day lineup featured five new faces, some of whom were youngsters with loads of potential while others were veterans with established track records. The improvements provided by these added players, along with full healthy seasons from the likes of Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel, would seemingly render the Twins a lock to exceed their run production from a year ago.
Little has gone right for this offense so far. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are having successful seasons, but the rest of the lineup is littered with disappointment. Brendan Harris' weak numbers, along with his defensive inadequacy, have pushed the manager to the end of his wit. Adam Everett has been even worse than his paltry career numbers had suggested he would be. Jason Kubel has flashed power, but has displayed a poor plate approach on his way to a .289 on-base percentage. Carlos Gomez has been a strikeout machine. Delmon Young, who was brought in to provide a power jolt in the absence of Torii Hunter, has watched his slugging percentage dance around .300 for much of the season. Mike Lamb has belied his successful track record by putting up a hitting line that would make Nick Punto proud. The Twins have averaged 4.47 runs per game -- barely an upgrade from their 4.43 average last year.
Yet, mixed in with all these negatives are some burgeoning reasons for optimism. The Twins offense got off to a truly abysmal start, averaging just 3.8 runs per game in April while getting disappointing performances nearly across the board from their hitters. Thanks to some solid pitching and a good bit of luck, the Twins were able to hang around .500 despite the offensive struggles, and much improvement was expected from this lineup in the month of May. We've been seeing some of that.
After hitting just .260/.305/.362 as a team in the month of April, the Twins entered last night's contest with a .272/.333/.407 hitting line for the month of May, good for an 80-point increase in OPS. Finally some players are finding themselves at the plate. Jason Kubel has gone 8-for-20 with four extra-base hits, four walks and two strikeouts over his past eight games. Delmon Young has ripped three doubles and three triples in his last six games after managing just four extra-base hits in his first 40 games. The offense as a whole has averaged 5.3 runs per game in May and has avoided any shutouts after being blanked four times in April. This is the improved offense we'd been expecting.
Another thing that's worth noting is that while -- as I noted above -- the Twins aren't necessarily scoring much more than they did last year, this isn't such a bad thing when looked at in context. The Twins' average of 4.43 runs per game last year ranked them 12th out of 14 AL teams; and while the 4.47 runs they've averaged this year doesn't seem like much of an upgrade, it actually ranks them seventh in the AL thanks to a league-wide decrease in scoring.
So, along with what I imagine will ultimately be a middle-of-the-road pitching staff, it looks like we've got a pretty average offense on our hands here. That's nothing to brag about, but it is a significant upgrade over last year. An average offense and an average pitching staff, combined with a few lucky breaks, could make the Twins a contending team, particularly if the Central division's mediocrity holds up.

Read The Full Article:
http://twinsfanatnicks.blogspot.com/2008/05/state-of-offense.html

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Pickoff Moves, Bedtime Edition

Vlad Finds Bat, Carries Team: Angels 4, Blue Jays 3

Let us get the obvious out of the way first: Vlad won this one all but singlehandedly with his four RBIs on a pair of homers, and this despite Jon Garland's presence on the mound. One of the big reasons why is one of Toronto's big weaknesses this season, their league-leading proclivity for hitting into double plays — 55 at the start of the game, and 58 at the end of it. What's even more incredible is that starter Jon Garland got only one of those three; rookie Jose Arredondo and Scot Shields got the other two, and both in outings that made me mighty nervous. Nevertheless, it's pretty clear that Jose's going to get a lot of chances until he Peter Principles his way out of the high leverage situations, and that's mainly because Mike Scioscia's other options have hardly proven themselves bulletproof.

Similarly to the two other relievers, Frankie's save was scary, involving a line out to left that Anderson somehow caught up with, but not as scary as Tuesday's save (i.e., no bases-loaded jam). With that, the Angels win a series at the Rogers Centre for the first time since 2002, and though this team doesn't seem to have the same kind of mojo that one did, it does look like a postseason run is still a good prospect.

Yahoo box • Recap

Dusty Baker, Still Wrong About Walks: Dodgers 5, Reds 2

Dusty isn't dumber, but his bosses areBack in 2004, when the Angels were playing the Cubs in interleague, Dusty Baker was working his way out of Chicago with his insane drivel that passed for Veteran Baseball Knowledge, some of which went like this:

"I think walks are overrated unless you can run. If you get a walk and put the pitcher in a stretch, that helps, but the guy who walks and can't run, most of the time he's clogging up the bases for somebody who can run."

In the ensuing period, I have yet to read or hear of any comment from Baker retracting this piece of anti-knowledge. As then, his pitcher gave up walks, and as then, they played a key role in the opposition scoring. In the second, James Loney walked and eventually scored; and in the fourth, a two-out walk to Andre Ethier allowed the inning to continue while setting the stage for a scoring wild pitch during Russell Martin's at bat.

Nevertheless, in some fairness to Baker, I should also mention that the Reds are 14th in offensive strikeouts, ninth in walks, and ninth in runs scored, a figure they no doubt arrive at because they're also hitting .268 with runners in scoring position, good for sixth place. That is, they are, with limited success, following the Angels mold of "get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in", though with somewhat limited success.

The Dodgers didn't exactly wreck Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto — after all, he only gave up a pair of earned runs — but his own defense really lost the game for him, one on the aforesaid wild pitch, and another on his own throwing error in the fifth on a pitchout. Hiroki Kuroda pitched eight innings, an amazing feat considering the flags were flying straight out toward right field thanks to an 18 MPH wind blowing through most of the first six innings. Russell Martin surveyed the net Dodger offense, and wasn't all that impressed:

?We didn?t really produce that many runs. But when a team makes mistakes, you?ve got to capitalize,? Martin said. ?Sometimes you?re going to win when the other team kind of gives you the game, and tonight was one of those nights.?

I should also mention Chin-Lung Hu's wonderful suicide squeeze that not only brought in Matt Kemp from third, but allowed Hu to reach. It's a pity they didn't rule it an infield single.

The Reds leave town all bloodied; they haven't won a series at Dodger Stadium since 2004.

Update: Good point by DT commenter dzzrtRatt:

So... I wouldn't want to be Ned right now trying to figure out what to do about Andruw.

You couldn't have a better contrast. In Anaheim, with Andruw, we lose two of three and look feeble. In LA with Ethier-Kemp-Pierre, we sweep. Sure, ANA has better pitching. But it couldn't be clearer: We don't need Jones unless he's going to produce at 2006 and previous levels, and he just isn't.

Yahoo box • Recap

Roster And Other Notes

• The Angels sent down Matt Brown and recalled Brandon Wood.
• Joe Saunders will miss tomorrow's start, and the Angels will move Ervin Santana to start tomorrow instead. Because of the day off Monday, Santana will be on normal rest.
• Albert Pujols took out both ends of the Padres battery tonight, as he hit a line drive at starter Chris Young that hit him square in the nose, and injured catcher Josh Bard in a play at the plate. The Padres lost, 11-3, with Old Friend Troy Glaus going 2-for-4 and driving in three.
• Speaking of Old Friends, Bartolo Colon won his first appearance in a Red Sox uniform, beating the Royals 6-3.
• On the plus side of that equation: Jarrod Washburn blew up today, failing to get out of the third and giving up nine runs, all earned, as the Tigers mauled the Mariners 9-3. The implosion was highlighted by a Marcus Thames grand slam. Washburn has had only three quality starts so far this year.
• Dodgers Old Friend Eric Gagne has been shut down until further notice with a stiff right shoulder.

Read The Full Article:
http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2008/05/pickoff-moves-bedtime-edition_21.html

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