Now That's Something To Build Off Of

post from Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog on 21 May 2008 06:43:00 PM. © Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog

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Nice win tonight at the big ballpark in the Bronx. The Yanks snapped their 4-game losing streak tonight with a 8-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Darrell Rasner started and continues to surprise everyone. Rasner pitched 7 strong innings, he allowed no runs (obviously) on just 5 hits. He walked 1 and struck out a career high 6 Orioles. The guy continues to throw strikes and get ahead of hitters, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes should watch him pitch, because that's all they need to do to be effective major league pitchers.

Joba Chamberlain pitched the 8th and 9th and also didn't allow a run. He allowed just 1 hit, walked 2 and struck out 3. The big news about Joba came after the game when manager Joe Girardi told the media that process to move Joba into the starting rotation has begun. (I will post more about this later.)

IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Rasner (W, 3-0) 7.0 5 0 0 1 6 0 1.89 Chamberlain 2.0 1 0 0 2 3 0 2.66
ORIOLES PITCHING

The offense actually looked the Yankees offense tonight pounding out 8 runs on 13 hits, which like Rasner was a pleasant surprise. They scored their first 3 runs in the 2nd on an RBI double by Robinson Cano, and RBI single by Chad Moeller, and an RBI ground out by Derek Jeter.

The Yanks added 3 more in the bottom of the 3rd. Alex Rodriguez started the inning off with a solo HR. Later in the inning Johnny Damon drove in two with a single to make it 6-0.

A-Rod drove in another run in the 6th on what should have been a 2-run homer, but turned into an RBI double due to yet another mistake by the great MLB umpires. Instant replay anyone? The 8th and final run was driven in by Shelley Duncan on an RBI groundout.

Five Yankees (Damon, Abreu, A-Rod, Cano, and Moeller) had multi-hit games.

NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Damon, LF 4 0 2 2 1 0 1 .256 Jeter, SS 3 1 0 1 1 1 4 .306 a-Gonzalez, PH-SS 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .220 Abreu, RF 5 0 2 0 0 2 3 .289 Rodriguez, 3B 4 2 3 2 0 1 1 .306 b-Ensberg, PH-3B 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 .208 Matsui, DH 3 1 0 0 2 1 1 .297 Duncan, S, 1B 5 1 1 1 0 1 3 .190 Cano, 2B 5 2 2 1 0 0 2 .206 Moeller, C 5 1 2 1 0 1 3 .262 Cabrera, CF 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 .253 Totals 38 8 13 8 5 9 24

a-Struck out for Jeter in the 7th. b-Struck out for Rodriguez in the 7th.
BATTING
2B: Cano (6, Olson), Rodriguez 2 (9, Sarfate, Cormier).
HR: Rodriguez (6, 3rd inning off Olson, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Damon 2; Abreu 2; Rodriguez 8; Duncan, S; Cano 3; Moeller 2; Cabrera.
RBI: Cano (13), Moeller (5), Jeter (22), Rodriguez 2 (15), Damon 2 (19), Duncan, S (2).
2-out RBI: Damon 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rodriguez; Abreu 2; Jeter; Duncan, S; Ensberg 2.
Team LOB: 12.

BASERUNNING
SB: Abreu (3, 2nd base off Olson/Hernandez, R), Jeter (2, 2nd base off Cormier/Hernandez, R).

ORIOLES OFFENSE

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Darrell Rasner (7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Alex Rodriguez (3-for-4, HR [should have been two], 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI)

The Yanks look to take the 3-game series tomorrow night with Ian Kennedy on the mound, and Left-hander Brian Burres gets the start for the O's. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game can be seen on YES and heard on WCBS 880.

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o-build-off-of.html

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Randolph apologizes for racist claims (PA
SportsTicker)

post from MLB News Blog on 21 May 2008 06:40:13 PM. © MLB News Blog

New York Mets manager Willie Randolph apologized Wednesday for his recent comments in which he hinted that race played a part in the way the media has covered him.Read the full story.

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http://mlbnewsblog.com/2008/05/21/randolph-apologizes-for-racist-claims-pa-sports
ticker/

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Eveland, Cust help As crush Rays

post from MLB News Blog on 21 May 2008 06:38:09 PM. © MLB News Blog

The Oakland Athletics suddenly have found some power - and Dana Eveland did a stellar job shutting down Tampa Bay’s talented lineup.Eveland pitched a three-hitter for his first career complete game, Jack Cust homered twice and the A’s avoided being swept a home by the Tampa Bay Rays for the first time with a 9-1 [...]

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http://mlbnewsblog.com/2008/05/21/eveland-cust-help-a%e2%80%99s-crush-rays/

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Willis coming back to the bullpen

post from MLB News Blog on 21 May 2008 06:37:49 PM. © MLB News Blog

The Tigers expect to get pitcher Dontrelle Willis back Thursday, but will use him out of the bullpen at first.Manager Jim Leyland said Wednesday the club expected Willis to come off the disabled list before the following day’s game against Seattle. Right-hander Armando Galarraga - the man who replaced him - will remain in the [...]

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http://mlbnewsblog.com/2008/05/21/willis-coming-back-%e2%80%a6-to-the-bullpen/

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Fuentes Fouls Up

post from Baseball Musings on 21 May 2008 06:36:00 PM. © Baseball Musings

Ubaldo Jimenez pitched seven shutout innings for the Rockies this afternoon. He limited the Giants to three hits and two walks, despite only one strikeout. The Giants put lots of balls in play, but just couldn't string this together. Buchholz...

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http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/026790.php

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Cubs Fall to Astros, Head to Pittsburgh for Day
Off

post from Cubs f/x on 21 May 2008 06:31:00 PM. © Cubs f/x

Other than the first inning, and Micah Hoffpauir, there was nothing but silence from the Cubs'[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Cubsfx/~3/295552566/cubs-fall-to-astros-head-to-pi
ttsburgh.html

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Game 47, Mariners at Tigers

post from U.S.S. Mariner on 21 May 2008 06:22:00 PM. © U.S.S. Mariner

Washburn vs Rogers, 4:05 pm.

Before the game, McLaren announced that Jamie Burke is now going to be the personal catcher for both Jarrod Washburn and Erik Bedard, meaning that Johjima and Burke will split the catching duties 60/40.

“You’ve got to look at it two ways,” McLaren said. “If a guy is having success with one guy, you’ve definitely got to really weigh that heavily. That doesn’t lie. We’ve got kind of that situation with Burke and Bedard. It’s been a good combination and so we’re going to stick with it for a while.”

In this paragraph, John McLaren reinforces that he doesn’t have any idea how statistical analysis works. He sums up about 34 logical fallacies in a few sentences. He demonstrates ignorance of all the research done on the relationship between a catcher and a pitcher’s performance (there’s almost none), his inability to understand that the “hot hand phenomenon” is a horrible way to make decisions, and his remarkable lack of leadership.

Jarrod Washburn sucks. He’s a replacement level starting pitcher, not much better than guys sitting in Triple-A riding buses from Toledo to Durham. Jarrod Washburn doesn’t like pitching to Kenji Johjima, who the team is committed to as their starting catcher through 2011. A real manager, one with some semblance of authority and a willingness to do whats best for his team’s record, would tell the replacement level starting pitcher to learn how to like throwing to Kenji or sit in the bullpen and not pitch.

No other team in baseball would let a replacement level starter dictate the benching of their starting catcher. Not one.

John McLaren doesn’t deserve to be fired because this team is 18-28 or because they’re losing ugly. He deserves to be fired because he’s massively unqualified for a job that requires both real leadership and an understanding of how baseball works. Those are his two jobs; motivate his players and put the best team on the field. He’s incapable of motivating grass to grow and has no idea what his players can and can’t do. He neither leads nor understands, and it’s only in a backwards organization like this one that this guy could have ever been hired in the first place.

Go M’s.

Read The Full Article:
http://ussmariner.com/2008/05/21/game-47-mariners-at-tigers/

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Game 46 Open Thread - Royals (21-24) at Red Sox
(29-19)

So Bartolo Colon is still alive, huh?

He'll square off against Brett Tomko (5.32 ERA). For the first time ever, I wish Runelyvs (never learned how to spell his name, not gonna double check now) was still around. Hernandez-Colon would have been a fun matchup.

Speaking of has-beens, is anyone else completely stunned that Odalis Perez is still pitching?

W-L ERA WHIP K BB 2008 - Odalis Perez1-44.341.544122

Between Odalis, Livan Hernandez, Sidney Ponson, Shawn Estes and now Bartolo Colon improbably hanging around, it's been a banner year for, um, the year 2003. Do we play the Padres in interleague? I'm sure Estes will shut us down like Livan and Sir Sidney did...

But back to tonight's game. Since Boston is such a cursed sports city and all, I expect Colon will flame out. Oh, wait...

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http://www.royalsreview.com/2008/5/21/524716/game-46-open-thread-royals

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REPORT: Dontrelle to the Pen

According to WDFN 1130, Dontrelle Willis will return to the Detroit Tigers in the next day or two. But, in an interesting twist, Willis will be joining the team’s bullpen.Read the full story.

Read The Full Article:
http://mlbnewsblog.com/2008/05/21/report-dontrelle-to-the-%e2%80%98pen/

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Hitting Afternoon

The Oakland Athletics are having no problems with Andy Sonnanstine this afternoon. They've scored seven runs in six innings, with seven players collecting nine hits. Hannahan and Cust each homered, a fairly rare occurance for Oakland as they only hit...

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http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/026789.php