DBAHO

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 15, 2006 -> 04:50 PM) Frank jacked one tonight. I think that's career #450. Congrats to the Big Hurt. Yep, well done to Frank. The A's though have really come out of the blocks slow. They're not getting good pitching from their starters, and their offense isn't built to win games single handledly for them either.

I'm going to take the ball and start rolling on this one. First game thread of the year. Buehrle takes the hill against A.J Burnett in his 1st start of the season. In 6 games started against the Jays, Mark's only won 1 but has a 3.97 ERA against them. We've only faced Burnett once before, and he owned us pretty good, we didn't score a run off him. He's moved away from the friendly confines at Pro Player, and he's not the best pitcher in away games, so hopefully we can get onto him. Quite confident going into this one. Time to get this series back on track.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Apr 15, 2006 -> 02:19 AM) Garland is a sinkerballer, he wants guys to put the ball in play. The end. Yeah god forbid for pitchers like Brandon Webb to ever be sucessful because they want to put the ball in play.

How could you not go past Bob Howry. He just LOVES us so much you know. I went for A-Row. Epitomizes the "Grinder" philosophy. Glad to see him off to a good start in the #2 spot for the Phillies as well. He's in a good situation there.

Just like Chad Sexington right?

Considering the fact that Crede is usually a 2nd half hitter, we should be stoked with the way he's carried on his form from the playoffs into this season. It looks like he may be finally coming into his own as a hitter.

Charlotte lost to Pawtucket 5-4. Heath Phillips started gave up 4ER in 5IP. Tracey had some control problems in relief with 4BB/3K. Fields homered for his 1st of the season, Owens 0 for 5 with 3 K's, Sweeney 1 for 3 with a BB. Charlotte Box B-Ham lost to Huntsville 4-3. Very promising start by Corwin Malone, 6IP, 1ER, 0BB's and 6K's. Rusty Tucker gave up 3ER in 2IP to take the loss. Nanita had 2 hits, Myers homered. B-Ham Box Winston - Salem beat Kinston 8-3. Torres started gave up 1ER in 5IP to take the win. Lucy 2 for 4, Gomes 2 for 4 with a 2B and 3RBI's, Kelly had 2 HR's (he's been raking the ball early). W-S Box Kanny got thumped by Asheville 12-1. Richard Brooks had the start, gave up 7R's, but only 3ER's in 4.2IP. Paulo Orlando was 2 for 4 in the leadoff spot and homered. He's hitting .433 at the moment. Cunningham 2 for 4 with 2 2B's, Hernandez 1 for 4. Kanny Box

The Bulls pulled out yet another close win. Unless the Raps can beat em on the last day of the season, we're done.

QUOTE(3RDBASE @ Apr 15, 2006 -> 12:45 PM) yeah...i guess so...its not the server's fault BA sucks! He's also not going to hit .138 forever. These are the kinds of lumps you have to take when you're playing a rookie in your lineup.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Apr 15, 2006 -> 12:43 PM) The server must hate it when people hate on BA. Well he does have that kind of effect ya know.

Well I think it's safe to say we won't be seeing Vazquez back next inning.

Some big pitches coming right up here.

Much needed 4 day weekend for me. But then I get another day off work for another public holiday the week after, so I think I'm doing pretty well.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 11:47 PM) Guys, a pitcher with that low a K/9 total over an entire season/career is not going to be able to sustain an elite ERA or WHIP. Really, this is elementary statistical analysis. He was 37th in qualified pitchers in the AL in K/9 in 2005, yet he had one of the lowest ERAs. That, my friends, is a fluke. Well you could argue that Mark Buehrle isn't a big strikeout pitcher either (although he does have a little more K's than Garland), and his ERA has been good for the last few seasons. Being a damn good strikeout pitcher isn't the end all to be all to be a good pitcher. One of the main reasons Garland was so good in 2005 besides walking hitters less, was the fact that he gave up 8 less home runs that he did the year before.

QUOTE(Felix @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 11:38 PM) BMac did have issues in his first major league run in 2005, but then he went back to AAA and fixed a flaw in his pitching motion. When he came back up, he dominated (even moreso than Count). Given his age, talent, and minor league track record, I have no doubt that BMac would do well this year as a starter. What would be your expectations of B-Mac in terms of ERA and WHIP if he was starting for us this season? I think he would a pretty good job for us as well (not as good as the 2nd half in 05, but still good nonetheless), but he seems really valuable in a Scott Shields type of role in that bullpen right now, which is really quite big for this team cinsidering all the question marks we had on this pen going into the season.

QUOTE(Felix @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 10:26 PM) I don't exactly have a list of the relievers that we could have gotten, but yes, I do think that BMac + Heilman would be a better combination than BMac + Garland, and if we traded for Heilman, we would have also been able to bolster the farm system in the same trade. First of all we don't know how Brandon McCarthy will have done as a starter for a whole year. He's never been in that situation in the majors before, and being that it would be his first full season doing that, he would hit some bumps along the road. Remember he did have problems with the longball early on (although it was much better in the 2nd half) At least Garland has the runs on the board, and Coop knows how to get him pitching well. I'm sure he'll get him turned around sooner rather than later. Also have to remember, Heilman would be moving from a pitcher's park at Shea to a hitter's park at U.S Cellular. He put up a 3.17 ERA so you would expect that to rise, and he wants to be starting as well.

Just bumpin this; Ross Gload has had 3 AB's so far, for those who are counting. With Pods still strugglin, we may still see some activity on this front (I'll include relievers as well for this post); Jim Bowden made quite a few moves with Washington yesterday, and there might be more on the way. Ryan Church just got promoted as well. Still one to watch, but the Nats seem to have a few outfield guys who are nothing more than tweeners. Ryan Wagner has a 4.91 ERA down at AAA at this stage. If you're going to get him cheap, now would probably be the time.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 10:01 PM) I love the phrase, at least it's a dry heat. My oven is a dry heat. Stick your head in there and turn your hair dryer on high, and you have a lot of days in Texas. If you don't love the heat, this isn't the place for you. 103 >>>>> -10 Yeah gimme the heat any day of the week over the cold. Although I prefer the "dry heat" you get in a place like Phoenix, compared to the 100 temp days we get down here in the summer. Usually that heat comes from the wind, and it ain't that good of a feeling outside when you've got a heat vacuum blowing right at you.

No offense Wite, but Buffalo could seriously have the worst record in the NFL next season. Tom Donahue looks like a godly GM compared to some of the moves Marv Levy has made.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 02:52 PM) Im pretty sure I said something around the lines of how its funny you predict the best case scenario for the magic and worse case fo bulls/sixers.... . Anyways you better enjoy watching us for 4 games like I said Well the Bulls and the Sixers still have to win 2 games out of 4 to definitely knock us out. If you looked at the teams they were playing and the form they were in, what I suggested was definitely possible. Who would have predicted the Bulls and Sixers beating New Jersey after the form that the Nets have been in for the past month or so? And those 4 games, well have fun watching us have a dynasty for the next 10 years. On another note, the Mavs are wasting an oppurtunity to catch the Spurs at the moment. Down by 10 to Phoenix in the 4th at the moment. Thomas moves back into the starting lineup for the Suns and they're instantly a better team with James Jones on the bench. If they get Kurt Thomas back, they could still cause quite a few problems for some teams, but Nash has to get 100% healthy, if they're going to have a chance.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 02:43 PM) DeShawn Stevenson is nothing more than a bench player for a good team. However getting Roy or Brewer could solve that problem at the 2 that is currently existing, those 2 are ballers. And Grant Hill really needs to retire. I can live with Hill for one more year off the bench. Then it's capspace time. Who knows if he's going to play next season or not. Hedo Turkloglu deserves to be the starting SF from here on in now though. Stevenson doesn't have much of an offensive game. He's got an average jump shot at bench, doesn't shoot 3's, and misses layup after layup. But he's worked hard at his game, and coach Hill seems to like him. Would I like to seem him starting next season? No, but I don't think it will hold us back as much as people think. Getting him for Gordon Giricek ended up being a fairly good trade though.

QUOTE(Felix @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 12:55 PM) I agree with that, but thats not the only thing to look at. I think that the combination of BMac starting and the reliever that could have been acquired would have been better than the combination of Garland starting and BMac in the pen. And what relievers could we have gotten for Garland? For example would you be saying a combination of B-Mac and Heilman in the pen would be better than Garland and B-Mac in the pen?

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 01:59 PM) Man you love that Orlando Kool Aid.... ill be laughing at you for 4 games You said Orlando would not win their last 6 games. We're halfway there so far. This is a team on the rise, and I think we're better than a lot of the bottom 5-8 teams in the East playoffs right now. We've got DeShawn Stevenson at the 2 at the minute. He's fairly good defensively, which has kept him in the starting lineup, and he's played on a bum knee all year so he's got pretty good toughness. But if the Magic get the chance to draft a Roy or a Brewer, they should jump at it.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 14, 2006 -> 01:12 PM) Man Orlando is on fire. They could make somebody awfully nervous if they get in, but it appears the presence of Stevie Franchise earlier this year and it's affect were just a bit too much to overcome. I would just love to get in to see what we could do against Detroit. I don't think anyone would argue they would do a better job against them then teams like Chicago and Philly who would probably be hardpressed to win a game against them. But I think we're a definite playoff team next season. We've got quality depth on the bench in Arroyo, Dooling, Ariza and Milicic, Grant Hill could be back, and we've got one of the better 3 headed monsters in the league right now in Howard, Hedo, and Nelson. But isn't it ironic how good this team has played since the exit of one Steve Francis. Good luck getting your next contract.

Well there you go, we've beaten the Spurs on their court after playing last night 92-80. That's 7 in a row now, and we're 2 1/2 back of Chicago and Philly. We need to win our last 3 games (should be very achieveable with games against the 76ers, Bulls and Pacers), and to have Philly and Chicago only win 1 of their last 4. Doubt the latter will happen, but there's still a smidgen of hope.