MLB Weekend In Review 4/11
-Kerry Wood, Rafael Betancourt, Chris Perez; no matter who the Indians try in the 9th inning role fails. After getting to Justin Verlander, who got bombed again, Detroit scored three in the 8th and two in the ninth of Rafael and Chris Perez for their 5th straight win. So far, so good for rookie Austin Jackson, who is defying all prognosticators with surprising patience for a youngster.
-Vernon Wells? Alex Gonzalez? Toronto? The Blue Jays have been throwing it back all season so far, and their fifth straight win came via the longball again, and the back end relief that was viewed as a weakness was an enormous strength during the first week with Jason Frasor and Kevin Gregg holding down the fort. Shawn Marcum has resumed his 2008 form and Toronto rides high atop the AL East.
-Arizona scored 13 runs in the fourth inning in what has to be one of the most crooked numbers we’ll see as the Snakes bit te Pirates 15-6. Edwin Jackson started the game off poorly, but certainly helped his cause with a two-run, 417 foot bomb off Jack Taschner to close out the frame. Josh Byrnes must be thrilled with his signing of 2B Kelly Johnson after a three home run first week. Johnson fell out of favor in Atlanta and was displaced by the dynamic Martin Prado, but has settled in nicely thus far in Phoenix.
-Nothing is sweeter than revenge, and Livan Hernandez got his against the Mets on Sunday. His seven shutout frames bested Johan Santana and Washington took two of three in New York with a 5-2 win. Josh Willingham provided the offense, hitting a grand slam in the first inning and driving home all five Nationals runs. The Mets now head to Colorado and St. Louis, and beat writers like Bob Klapisch are already forecasting some trouble for manager Jerry Manuel.
-Yet another DL stint for Chris Young, who once showed so much promise along with Jake Peavy atop the Padres rotation. Now Peavy is gone and Adrian Gonzalez will likely follow him in San Diego’s youth movement, and it’s sad because we’ll never know what could have been in such a beautiful city and ballpark.
-”It’s not a baseball stadium. You can’t have balls going all over the place. Really. That’s sad.” Jorge Posada said that talking about the Tropicana Catwalk Circus Tent after a foul ball hit a catwalk but was called a base hit in what could have changed everything in New York’s rubber match against the Rays. But AJ Burnett pitched out of trouble and the Yankees powered their way to a 7-3 win. Having that stadium represent such a talented team is truly a travesty. For baseball to ever be taken seriously in the Tampa/St. Pete area, they need some new digs stat.
-In the anomaly department, how about career journeyman knuckleballer Charlie Haeger striking out 12 Marlins on Sunday for the Dodgers? How about two starters walking 7 guys in a game and both of them allowing just one earned run and both having their teams win games? Derek Lowe earned the win for the Braves on Saturday and Matt Leake’s Reds rallying late to beat Chicago on Sunday.
-In the “don’t mess with a good thing” department, Tim Lincecum is wearing a different baseball cap for the first time in his career, and then proceeded to give up a two-run jack to Atlanta’s Brian McCann in the first inning after he didn’t give up a single home run at home last season. I’m a superstitious guy, so I’ll ignore the fact that there was a four-hour rain delay at AT&T. It’s gotta be the hat.
