caulfield12

Please do not put in Zach Stewart. One scoreless inning yesterday is not convincing enough. That'll work, hopefully we can score in the bottom of the inning and get Crain for the 7th.

Roger Bossard-induced single for Alexei. Now a blast? Or not. Would have preferred to see Alexei try to steal 2nd base there or a hit-and-run. Beckham showing warning track power and machete follow-through. Almost a bit like Frank Thomas, Hrniak style. I can't accept the idea they'll use Ohman here. 111 and counting for Humber, here. Playing with fire. 115 pitches, 69 strikes, struggled, but gutsy performance. In the second half last season, those type of innings were turning into crooked numbers consistently. Now to Ohman?

More worried about Ohman/Stewart/Jones for the 6th. If we can get to the 7th, then we have Crain at least, or Thornton. Maybe Reed.

Get the bullpen warmed up, Humber's only going to be able to go one more inning unless he REALLY keeps his pitch count down in the top of the 5th. So who do we go to this early? Jones, Stewart and Crain are the options.

That ball tailed right back over the plate at the end. Lucky we only gave up 1 run so far. Need another K. Huge strikeout, but don't let up now, need to keep it tied with how our O has been going. Playing with fire, Chavez has been cold so far but eventually his luck has to turn.

This is not looking good. Time for the DP grounder. Or K.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 08:01 PM) Who you want playing there? I like AJ in 5spot with what he has shown lately. Ramirez. But that doesn't leave much protection down in the order, just Dayan.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 08:00 PM) You're in for a long season. Dunn and Rios both in the 220's and they're mostly out of hot water compared to Beckham and Morel's awful starts offensively.

Okay, that HAS to be the end of the Morel in the 2 spot experience. Please, Robin?

Gas, he gown. That 2nd strike was right across the heart of the plate, not a chance for Beckham. To Charlotte, goeth thee former Sir Beckham, joineth the Knights and regain thy mojo.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 07:54 PM) best number five in the divison. With how the AL Central looks so far, not sure that's saying much. Overall, you'd absolutely have to take Verlander/Scherzer/Porcello and a healthy Fister, but they definitely have some issues at the back of their rotation for the time being.

Here comes dreaded Sox killer Nick Markakis. Thankfully AJ backhanded that earlier bad pitch. Good job by Phil, got ahead of the count on Markakis, didn't want to be forced to come with a FB behind in the count.

Gotta lay off those outside pitches, but hopefully Dayan can make some adjustments. Seemed he might be completely overmatched by the FB over the plate (Konerko missed one, even) but he at least made contact once or twice. That's typically the way pitchers always go after Uribe and Ramirez with 2 strikes as well. Twins leading our old friend Sweaty Garcia 5-3 in the middle innings, @ Fort Apache the Bronx.

AJ early season Sox MVP. Sign him to another extension, KW. Who knows, stranger things have happened, but there's so much wear and tear, he's got to break down sooner or later, doesn't he?

Those are some god-awful boots some of the Orioles players are sporting. Nick Johnson with that porn-stache looks like Billy Zane's (Titanic) diabolical brother. 6 up, 6 down for Phil. Looking good, so far. Let's not have Andino beat us this year, please. Surprisingly, the Royals have scored an early run against Verlander and threatening to take the lead back.

Nice recovery, Jones, Wieters and Chris Davis have been their best hitters so far.

Poor Adam. Frozen on the hook. Morel really pulled his head off that ball, cued it to the right side. What's new? Austin Jackson continuing his nice start, homer for the Tiggers. There's your early run, Mr. Verlander. (Of course, with the way the Royals pitching has been going, 7-13 runs isn't unanticipated).

Phil bringing the heat. I don't remember him consistently throwing 92-93 MPH in the 2nd half last year. Still has that dreaded Uncle Charlie, too. Hard to blame the fans too much, it's the Orioles, after all. They showed up this weekend, especially on Sunday. But April games (weeknight) are always difficult.

If Morel and Beckham both struggle again tonight, you might see changes Tuesday. Depends if we win or not, partially. Managers can be so superstitious with line-ups when the team wins, despite how the individual players perform.

Saladino and Wilkins hopefully breaking out today, Tyler with a triple, Andy with a double in their first AB's. Carlos Sanchez 1 for 2.

Twins coming into their own personal House of Horrors, Yankee Stadium....sporting an ugly 2-7 record. BTW, Carlos Lee's next homer will be #350. Konerko just a handful away from 400.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 04:16 PM) If he keeps this up, he could be in Charlotte by June. I'll be amused when we have to move Viciedo back to RF when we put Mitchell in left. Hopefully it will mean the end of Alex Rios.

Who wants to play Battleship? One of the flimsiest game/source material/action figure connections ever made, trumping GI Joe and Transformers. So far, the movie has performed well overseas, coming out May 17th stateside. It's becoming known as one of the loudest movies ever made. Interesting cast, with the Rihanna supposedly holding her own, Brooklyn Decker (yes, last seen in an Adam Sandler movie wearing, who guessed it, a bikini?) and Taylor Kitsch, who went from FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS to two of the biggest and most controversial movies of the year, Battleship and John Carter. Interesting directing choice in Michael Bay...err, Peter Berg (yeah, the same guy who used to be on Chicago Hope as a doctor) and has gone on to a surprising directorial career.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 02:34 PM) Giants lock up Bumgarner to a 5-year extension. Now it's Lincecum's turn. I wouldn't think of giving Lincecum that deal until he proves he's 100% healthy. Daniel Bard experiment continues in Boston....strong through six, but ended up walking 7 guys (7 K's) and the last walk pushed the go-ahead run in. He was pushed well over 100 pitches at that time, probably because Valentine's become a bit shy about going to the pen early, plus, he hadn't given up a run. Definitely ran out of gas, although hindsight's always going to be 20/20, Bobby will be an easy target for his detractors today. Not having either Crawford or Ellsbury in that line-up of theirs really makes them a station-to-station team. And it looks like David Ortiz is drinking from the same Fountain of Youth sports beverage as Paulie. Think Shields was something like 1-9 with nearly a 7 career ERA at Fenway coming into that game. Strasburg throwing 97-98 MPH in the first inning. Amazing what doctors today can do, unless you have shoulder problems. With that change-up and curve, he has all the tools to be as good as, if not better than, Verlander.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 01:04 PM) I've been at 78 wins all year. But I can see a path to the mid 60's. Get off to a bad start driven by a number of guys, sell off a couple of the more reliable pieces (Floyd, Peavy) to save wahtever money can be saved, call up youth to replace them even if they're not ready (Molina), and then have Sale and Humber tire out in the 2nd half while playing other kids. And if that happened, KW should still keep his job, because that would be a necessary step in a rebuilding process. Definitely, add to that AJ (so you can see more of Flowers and maybe Phegley) and Crain or Thornton going to a playoff contender, a completely viable scenario.