Archive for May, 2009
Hey, I could get up and back, right on track
(Is that gonna get you back?) It’s right on track, is that gonna get you back?
Casey Janssen had more close calls than Dr. Richard Kimble but he wiggled his way through seven innings to lead the Jays to a 6-3 win over Boston Friday night at Rogers Centre.
If there was ever a time for Janssen to earn his first victory as a starter since 2006, this was the night to do it as the Jays put an end to an ugly nine game losing streak. The 27 year-old righty knew he was going to be in for a struggle when he got into a bases loaded jam in the first. However, he had enough raspberry to keep the ball in the park as David Ortiz’s blast to center died at the warning track and into the glove of Vernon Wells to end the inning. Alas, the Jays were jammed themselves in the bottom of the first when Adam Lind hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases drunk.
The Red Sox got on the board in the second when Jacoby Ellsbury doubled home a run but Julio Lugo was left stranded on third. In the home half of the second, Lyle Overbay and Kevin Millar drew one-out walks and moved to third on a passed ball but the Jays would not score. Janssen gave up a leadoff single in the third but his defence bailed him out as the hit was erased on a 6-4-3 double play and then Overbay made a nice snare of a Big Papi liner to end the frame.
Toronto tied the game when they strung together a trio of two-out hits, capped out by a Scott Rolen double to score Wells. However, Lind was left at third when Millar struck out. The tie was short-lived in the fourth when Ellsbury knocked home his second run of the game with a single to score a double by Scarborough’s George Kottaras. However, another 6-4-3 double play got Janssen out of another jam. The Fugitive also navigated his way through the fifth by stranding a two-out two-bagger by Jason Bay.
Then the Jays offence got the bats going as they strung together a big two-out rally. Back to back RBI doubles by Rolen and Overbay put Toronto ahead 3-2 and Rod Barajas followed with a two-run single. In A Wide World of Sports moment (cue music here), Barajas rumbled 270 feet around the bases to score on a Marco Scutaro double to make it 6-2. Hopefully, Barajas will have caught his breath by the time you read this. After that, Tim Wakefield was pulled from the game and replaced by fireballer Daniel Bard.
Janssen did not have a clean inning all night but the only other run he gave up was a seventh inning solo blast by J.D. Drew to cut the Toronto lead to three runs. However, the bullpen was perfect as Brandon League and Scott Downs retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth respectively to preserve the ”W” for Janssen. Janssen was able to effectively scatter 11 hits and two walks in seven frames and struck out a pair. The only downside for the 32,000-plus in attendance was no pizza as League had the other Jays strikeout. Janssen also got 10 ground ball outs to go along with nine fly outs.
The Toronto offence collected 10 hits and five walks and got two-hit nights from Rolen, Barajas and Scutaro. Wells was on base three times with a hit and two walks and Millar also earned two bases on balls. They were 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on.
This afternoon, lefty Brian Tallet goes to the hill for Toronto and Brad Penny will do the same for Boston in a 1:07 p.m. first pitch at the Concrete Cave. This was supposed to be Scott Richmond’s start but the Canadian righty will be in the pen instead this weekend. Roy Halladay will pitch Tuesday in their series opener against the Angels and he’ll be followed by Janssen Wednesday.
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In other TDIB notes….
* The Matt Wieters era begins in Baltimore with a 7-2 win over the Tigers.
* The Jim Tracy era begins in Colorado with a 3-0 win over the Rockies.
* Yankees upend the Tribe 3-1 and set a record in the process.
* The Rangers take two from the A’s.
* The Brewers Braden Looper gets a win under trying circumstances.
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I have always been a fan of Wells, I have to say, seeing stuff like this gives me mixed feelings.How do you think this news will affect the team this season?
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Harris hasn’t really made me a fan. I think we’d be better off if he were with another team -
4 1/2 games up after the sweep yesterday and Anaheim’s loss to the M’s.
Evan Grant says Scott Feldman had some mechanical issues yesterday, but managed to work through them to give the Rangers six solid innings in the nightcap.
Jeff Miller writes that Tommy Hunter didn’t get the win in game 1, but did his job in terms of giving the Rangers some innings and keeping them in the game, allowing them to come back in the late innings to get the win.
The Rangers made room for Hunter by putting Matt Harrison on the disabled list, but Vicente Padilla says he feels good and will be ready to make his start on Tuesday, which allows the Rangers to just slide Padilla into Harrison’s spot in the rotation, with Derek Holland remaining in the rotation for now.
Miller also has a piece up about Ian Kinsler sparking the offense by working the count and drawing walks in game 1, which allowed him to get on base despite his recent struggles with getting the ball to fall in.
Ron Washington says Andruw Jones is going to keep playing against most lefties — he’s missed only one start against a LHP this year — but may start getting a few more ABs against righties. With both Hank Blalock and Chris Davis having offensive issues so far this year, Jones’ presence and production has been huge.
T.R. Sullivan says that with the Rangers facing five lefties in the next 7 days, Hank Blalock could find himself riding the bench quite a bit in the next week. Blalock is hitting .163/.182/.256 against LHPs this season.
Jean-Jacques Taylor has a column up about chiding those who think the Rangers efforts to make their starters throw more innings will lead to injuries, saying that pitchers will adapt once they aren’t babied, and besides, if a pitcher can’t handle the workload, well, the Rangers don’t need him anyway.
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What do you think?
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Johnson hasn’t really impressed me so far. I think everyone would be fine without him:
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What did I say? If I had time I would definitely go through and see what our record and runs scored is with Chipper, Escobar and McCann all in the lineup vs when we are missing at least one of them. Don’t get me wrong, we still need another bat (we picked up 11 of our 13 hits in the first 5 innings and put no runs on the board after the 4th), but it is funny to me how much worse we are when just one of those guys isn’t in there.
Jurrjens got the win even though pitched what was easily his worst start of the season. Maybe we should stick to giving the guy 1 and 2 run leads? He seems to be more comfortable that way. The bullpen was pretty solid in this one (you know… besides Moylan) and Gonzales even struck out the side. Which is good.
Anyways, good win for us, lets win the next two and take the series.
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I bet everybody saw that coming! Any thoughts?
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Thoughts and get well wishes go out to our friend Big Al Beaton, who underwent back surgery at the University of Michigan hospital yesterday. If you know Al at all, you know what he’s been through with his health. So while this procedure and recovery will be grueling for him, it gives him a chance at a better quality of life.
Let’s just hope this doesn’t make him less crabby during the Lions’ season.
Yahoo! Sports‘ Jeff Passan writes about the impressive season Rick Porcello has had so far, along with another Tiger who found himself pitching in the majors at the age of 20, Edwin Jackson. How did the two players handle their respective early success?
(Thanks to Kmann for posting this in the FanShots)
And while we’re talking about Porcello, I never thought I’d see him in the same sentence with John Doherty. But Mack Avenue Tigers found one. The rookie is the first Tigers pitcher with five wins in May since Doherty did it in 1994.
Peter Gammons praises Mike Ilitch for doing all he can to keep the Tigers competitive and give fans a diversion during rough economic times in the state of Michigan. Defying Bud Selig’s wishes to follow salary slots for draft picks with the contract he gave Porcello is a great example of that.
With all the hullabaloo surrounding Matt Wieters‘ debut for the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, MASN’s Roch Kubatko is also excited about another rookie starting for the O’s tonight. Pitcher David Hernandez has thrown 60 strikeouts in 43.1 innings for Triple-A Norfolk this season.
Hazaa points out that this 2009 Tigers pitching staff is on pace to break the franchise record for strikeouts. The 1968 team struck out 1,115 batters.
Get well wishes also go out to Tigers radio play-by-play announcer Dan Dickerson, who had surgery to repair a ruptured quadriceps tendon in his left leg. Dickerson suffered the injury in a fall while jogging on Tuesday in Kansas City. (I’m going to add this to my list of many, many excuses for not jogging. It’s a very comprehensive list.)
No word yet as to who will fill in on play-by-play for the Tigers’ series in Baltimore, or if the Tigers will continue to go with Jim Price, assisted by FOX Sports Detroit’s John Keating.
Want to ask a Tigers prospect about life in the minor leagues? Pitcher Andrew Hess, currently with the Lakeland Flying Tigers (and also a former Michigan Wolverine), is taking questions from Tigers Minors readers on any subject they’d prefer.
(via TigerBlog)
And, of course, congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings for making it to the Stanley Cup finals for the second straight year by beating the Chicago Blackhawks (sorry, ‘Duk) 2-1 in overtime. (I love the Wings’ superstition about not touching the Clarence Campbell trophy.)
How much will Pittsburgh hate Detroit if when the Wings beat the Penguins again (and after Marian Hossa left the Pens to join the Wings this season)?
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I have always been a fan of Hernandez, I have to say, seeing stuff like this gives me mixed feelings.This might be shocking news for Hernandez fans, but some of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I’m pretty surprised. Hernandez is cool, I really hope this doesn’t affect the season.
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I like it when I see headlines about young,
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From the very beginning of the year, I have said two things:
The Lakers won’t win a championship because Kobe isn’t Michael Jordan, and won’t be able to carry the Lakers unless Andrew Bynum becomes a key part of their offense.
The Cavaliers won’t win a championship because they don’t have that second star to compliment LeBron.
Even as the Cavaliers and Lakers both dominated opponent after opponent on their way to the two best records in the NBA, I still wasn’t satisfied.
As I have said many times, being great in the regular season doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be great in the playoffs. Certain teams are built for the playoffs, and I didn’t believe the Lakers and Cavaliers were.
However, before the playoffs, I started wondering whether my predictions weren’t going to come true. The Lakers and the Cavaliers were almost everybody’s favorites to clash in the finals, and I wondered if I was just afraid to take my predictions back.
Throughout the season, most Cavaliers fans have accused me of not actually watching the games, being biased, or not realizing how good Moe Williams was.
I would tell them that I actually liked the Cavaliers, but respected the history of basketball and believed that Moe Williams was not a true superstar. Besides Hakeem in 94, history has shown it is impossible for one man to carry a team on his back to a championship.
LeBron needs that second guy that he just doesn’t have. So far Moe Williams has shown that he is no Scottie Pippen, as he has shot poorly all series long.
Most Lakers fans have failed to see the lack of mental toughness the Lakers have. Besides Kobe’s horrid shooting (.405 FGP) in the finals last year, the main problem for the Lakers was that they couldn’t handle the Celtics physical play.
When Andrew Bynum got hurt, I immediately pronounced that the Lakers weren’t going to win a championship. Bynum brings that big physical presence that the Lakers need in order to win a title.
However, once he came back before the playoffs, I was no longer sure the Lakers weren’t going to win it all.
Obviously, I knew it was going to take Bynum a while to get back to where he was before he got injured. However, even so, I expected him to be a key contributor, especially deeper in the playoffs.
However, the Lakers haven’t let Bynum play enough. And when is playing, he is not getting the ball enough. For a young player like Bynum, it is very important for the Lakers to let him get in rhythm.
However, when he has started off poorly, the Lakers foolishly tend to ignore him the rest of the game. If the Lakers do lose to the Nuggets, it’s because they never tried to get Bynyum going.
As it stands, the Cavaliers are down 1-3 to the Magic, with the series likely over. The Magic just have too many weapons and the Cavaliers frankly don’t have enough.
Although the Lakers are tied with the Nuggets 2-2, the series could very well be over already.
The Nuggets, after leading in both 4th quarters of the game one and three, basically gave both games away.
This series isn’t like the Rockets-Lakers series, because there is no underdog. No team is at a disadvantage at any position, like the Rockets were down low.
The winner of this series will just come down to who is playing better. Right now, I don’t see how you can’t say that the Nuggets are playing better than the Lakers.
Right now, my predictions from the beginning of the season look accurate.
Sorry David Stern, but no Kobe or LeBron in this year’s finals.
.:”
Tell us your opinion!
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A lot of fans really love this guy. I think young is great:
Freddy Sanchez went 6-for-6 with a homer and a double in a rollercoaster win against the slumping Cubs on Monday, and Andy LaRoche and Jason Jaramillo both added three hits apiece. Matt Capps left the game after being struck by a line drive, however, and Sean Burnett got the save. With Capps presumably on the shelf, the closer duties might go to… Jesse Chavez? Evan Meek might be the Pirates’ closer at some point in the future, but right now his walk totals are awful. Chavez has been the Bucs’ best reliever so far this year, and he has good stuff. If Capps misses a substantial amount of time and the PIrates actually pick a closer (and I’m not sure they will), Chavez probably should get the first shot at the job. A few other notes: -P- Virgil Vasquez had a great start for Indianapolis against Gwinnett County today, with six strikeouts, one run and no walks and six innings. His overall numbers are now downright decent, with 42 strikeouts against only six walks so far. Unfortunately, he has allowed a ton of homers, and he’d probably get lit up like a Christmas tree if he were called up. -P- Vasquez was pitching against Todd Redmond, who pretty much is Vasquez but three years younger. Redmond has solid control, but he’s posting a 4.98 ERA against AAA hitters so far because he’s allowed a bunch of homers. He’s a pretty extreme flyball pitcher, so I think it’s pretty likely that he ends up stuck at AAA for a few years, gets pretty good at pitching there, and then never really makes the leap to pitching successfully in the majors. I wasn’t a big fan of the Tyler Yates trade, but I’m not sure losing Redmond will turn out to be a big deal. -P- Robbie Grossman went 0-for-2 with four walks today for West Virginia against Class A Lake County. Grossman has had trouble making contact so far this year, with 54 strikeouts in 141 at bats, but at least the walks are there. He has a .388 OBP so far. Those are extremely interesting numbers for a 19-year-old, but I wonder if he’ll have to make adjustments at higher levels, maybe by being a little more aggressive and looking for good pitches to hit earlier in the count. Anyway, Rudy Owens also played well for West Virginia today, striking out eight batters in five innings. .
Any tThoughts?
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Brian Tallet and the Jays came out on the wrong end of a pitcher’s duel at Fenway Park as they lost 2-1 to Tim Wakefield and the Red Sox Tuesday night. 
The first indication it was not going to be the Jays night came in the first inning when Alex Rios was caught stealing against the knuckleballing Wakefield as he was thrown out by Scarborough native George Kottaras at second. The Red Sox got all the offence they would need in the second when they made Tallet throw 31 pitches. Mike Lowell singled and J.D. Drew got aboard by drawing a nine-pitch walk. They were driven in by the number eight and nine hitters in the Red Sox lineup. Jeff “Beetle” Bailey sent a 1-2 pitch to left-centre to plate Lowell and Kottaras’ sac fly scored Drew after a seven-pitch duel. After that, Tallet shut down the Sox and got through six innings, giving up just four hits and two walks while whiffing five. Jason Frasor worked a scoreless seventh with one strikeout and B.J. Ryan fought through a double and single to hold down the Sox in the eighth thanks to Raul Chavez throwing out Jacoby Ellsbury trying to steal third.
The Jays only managed five hits and two walks in this one. Kevin Millar accounted for the only run by lifting one over the Green Monster against Wakefield in the fifth. Their best chances to score came in the third and eighth. They stranded a pair of one-out singles by Rod Barajas and Marco Scutaro in the third and had another two runners aboard on a Barajas walk and Aaron Hill pop up single to first. “B.A.” was the only Jay to get aboard twice on the evening. The number four through seven hitters (Wells, Adam Lind, Lyle Overbay and Scott Rolen) were a combined 0-for-15 with Rolen drawing a second inning walk.
Toronto will turn to rookie lefty Brett Cecil as he takes on Brad Penny in another 7:10 p.m. first pitch at the Fens. The game can be seen on TSN2 again if you’re a Rogers customer after finally adding the channel this week! Last night’s game marked the TSN2 debut for the Jays but they decided to carry the NESN feed from Boston instead. I just wish Jerry Remy was with Don Orsillo last night because they’re a terrific broadcasting tandem. Maybe the best in the bigs! Hopefully, the Remdawg makes a speedy recovery in his battle with cancer. Because my favourite number is two, here’s the snazzy TSN2 logo for your viewing enjoyment.
In other TDIB notes……..
* The Yankees pound the O’s 9-1 to win their seventh straight.
* The “D-Train” is back on track as the Tigers beat the Rangers 4-0 at Comerica Park.
* The Royals score four in the ninth to trip up the Tribe 6-5.
* Todd Helton gets his 2,000th hit but the Rockies get crushed by the Braves 9-1.
* On the former Jays injury front, the Mets Carlos Delgado is out for 10 weeks with a hip problem and the Dodgers Orlando Hudson is day-to-day with a sore shoulder.
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I have always been a big fan of Wells, but I have to say, seeing news like this gives me mixed feelings.This might be shocking news for Wells fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming. I can’t say I’m all that surprised though. Wells is awesome, I hope this doesn’t affect the rest of the team.
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Noone can top Wells these days -
The Red Sox went deep five times against Brett Cecil and that was the difference as they pounded the Jays 8-3 Wednesday night at Fenway.
Surprisingly, Cecil only tied the club record for most dingers allowed in a game. It happened to Pat Hentgen not once, but twice in 1997 and ‘98. The rookie lefty started off well with five ground ball outs, two of them on an inning-ending double play in the second. However, Cecil gave up a Jason Varitek homer to start off the third and gave up a second run on a double play ball off the bat of Dustin Pedroia, aka Mr. “Integrity”. He only gave up a walk in the fourth while punching out two but in the fifth inning, he was punked for six runs on homers by Varitek, David Ortiz (you just knew he was saving his first of the year for the Jays!), Jason Bay and Mike Lowell. It could’ve been seven runs in the inning but Jacoby Ellsbury was thrown out at the plate on a 9-4-2 putout initiated by Alex Rios. Shawn Camp came in to the game after Lowell’s poke and was greeted by a Rocco Baldeill triple but got the final out when he rung up Varitek. Camp worked through the sixth, Brian Wolfe escaped a bases loaded pickle in the seventh and B.J. Ryan gave up a double but struck out a pair in a scoreless eighth.
The Jays broke Brad Penny’s shutout bid in the seventh when Lyle Overbay tripled and came home on a single off the Green Monster by Rod Barajas. Barajas went to third on Travis Snider’s single and scored on a rally-killing double play off the bat of Marco Scutaro. The Jays added their final run in the eighth on Overbay’s double off flamethrower Daniel Bard to score a Vernon Wells base knock. Overbay and Adam Lind would be left at second and third as Bard and lefty Hideki Okajima got Barajas and pinch-hitter Kevin Millar to pop out. Rios and Wells each singled in the ninth but they were stranded by Takashi Saito. Despite the lopsided score, the Sox only outhit the Jays by one at 15-14. Every Jays starter got on base at least once and only Scutaro failed to get a hit. Usually, that would be a good thing but baseball’s a funny game! They were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on.
Let’s hope Robert Ray can pull a Doug Linton special and try to salvage one against the Sox tonight as he faces lefty Jon Lester in another 7:10 p.m. EDT start in Boston. The Jays hope to get their first win in the TSN2 era after an 0-2 start.
In other TDIB notes……..
* Yankees smoke the O’s again 11-4 to win their eighth in a row. They’re undeated since the “Doc-you know who” showdown.
* Jake Peavy is deciding if he wants to play ball in the South Side of Chicago.
* The Astros overcome a lineup screw-up to beat the Brewers 6-4.
* Condolences to former Jay Scott Schoeneweis, his family and friends as his wife was found dead in their Arizona home Wednesday.
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Post your replies.
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Check out who is making news again, Johnson! This time, Yeah I Don’t Know the Answer Either, Jays Loss to Braves. To make things easier:
Jays 3 Braves 4
Against the Red Sox we were getting lots of just no runs. Last night, not much for hits. Tonight we had some hits (7) and some walks (5). We even had a lead for a moment when Scoot drove in 2 with a double in the 3rd but the Braves got them back in the bottom of the inning. Braves got 1 more in the 4th on an RBI single by Derek Lowe. Yeah the pitcher, he was 2 for 3 today. Braves got an insurance run on a Kelly Johnson home run off BJ Ryan. It looked like a decent enough pitch, inside, but Johnson, a left handed batter is killing lefty pitchers, that was his 3rd homer off lefty pitching in 36 at bats. If Cito was gaining any confidence in BJ it’s gone now.
Jays didn’t do much else offensively till the 9th. Lind doubled, Rolen walked (now I complained about umps in yesterday’s game, today Rolen got a ball on one I thought he swung at, and the other balls were very close to the strike zone, but Scott showed a good eye). Overbay, allowed to hit against the lefty reliever singled, driving in Lind and Rolen went to 3rd, just barely getting in safe. Barajas walked on 4 pitches, not one pitch close to the strike zone. So we had bases loaded, one out.
Millar pinch hit, Braves brought in a right handed pitcher, but Millar is hitting much better against righties (.320/.370/.600) than lefties (.280/.308/.420). We needed a fly ball, but Millar struck out, not coming close on the swinging strike 3. Hard to get on him, cause he has done well, but man I wanted that fly ball. Then with 2 out Scutaro gave us that fly out. But with 2 outs already it was less good.
Janssen was good, not great, 6 innings 3 earned, 14 ground outs. Lowe did much the same job going 7.1, 2 earned and 16 ground outs, so he won the battle of the ground outs. Jay of the Day Lyle Overbay (.217 WPA). Suckage Jays are Millar (-.224), Scutaro (-.190), Rios (-.156) and Wells (-.129). I thought Rios had pulled out of his slump, he had been hitting great in May but he looked lost today. And so did Wells.
Yeah I don’t know what to do about the offense right now and I am sure Cito is not laying awake thinking ‘what would Tom do to pull us out of this’. Cito is a terrific batting coach, but me….I’d give the guys a couple of days off batting practice. I guess since tomorrow is a day game batting practice won’t be happening anyway. I think I’d also give Wells the day off tomorrow, but Cito has publicly stated he doesn’t believe in that. Maybe I’d take them all out to the bar tomorrow night and get them good and drunk.
Good news is thanks to a Papelbon blown save (couldn’t happen to a nicer guy), we are still in first. But we really could start winning again any time. Like tomorrow maybe?
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This might be shocking news for Johnson fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I’m pretty surprised. Johnson is cool, I hope this doesn’t affect the season.
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I wonder how Guzman’s serious fans feel:
The O’s won their second straight low scoring game in a row against the Nationals. While the offense was pretty much non-existent, the Orioles bullpen turned in a gem of a game to keep the Nats to just one run. Koji Uehara had to leave the game after pitching just three innings. In game it was described as a hamstring strain, but as Jim Palmer and some posters in the game thread speculated, it turned out to be more of an issue of dehydration and cramps. In his post game interview, Dave Trembley confirmed that Koji was feeling ill and crampy due to dehydration and that they’ll have to watch him closely in the future as he had the same issue in Spring Training. Washington’s starter Ross Detwiler handled the Orioles easily for 6 innings. His only trouble came in the third inning, when he’d give up his only run. He had no control and walked Zaun, Koji(!), and Brian Roberts. With one out and the bases loaded there are no two batters you’d want up on the O’s more than Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, but they were unable to break it open. Detwiler made Adam Jones look just silly as he blew fastballs by him for the strike out. Nick couldn’t get a good swing either, but managed to chop an infield hit to the hole between SS and 3B which knocked in Zaun. Melvin Mora flied out to right to end the inning, and that would be the last time the Orioles would get to Detwiler. He pitched three more innings without allowing a hit. Luckily, the Nats bullpen took over in the 7th. Aubrey Huff, who had been given the day off, came up to pinch hit with Cesar Izturis at first and two outs. He drilled a ball to the deepest part of Nationals Park. I thought for sure it was going to be a home run, but it hit off the top of the wall. Izturis raced home with the go ahead run and Aubrey huffed and puffed his way into third base with his first triple of the year. Brian Roberts stranded Aubrey at third, but the O’s wouldn’t need any more. After Koji’s early exit, the bullpen put together six excellent innings. Mr. Reliable Kevin Bass pitched innings 4, 5, and 6 and allowed the Nats only run on a solo HR by Cristian Guzman. Matt Albers, Jim Johnson, and George Sherrill each pitched one inning to close it out. Only JJ had any troubles as he gave up 1 H and 1 BB. It was surprising to see JJ as he pitched 2 innings last night, his longest outing since June 29th of last year. George Sherrill continues his recent awesomeness by striking out the side in the 9th. Notes:
what do you think?This might be shocking news for Guzman fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming. I’m pretty surprised. Guzman is cool, I really hope this doesn’t affect the rest of the team.
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