Much better notes than mine are available, you know. Also, check out the Score Bard's main page for his "The Chat Wrap of J. Morgan Prufrock", possibly his greatest poem to date.
Well, Jose Lima managed to avoid complete annihilation in his direct jump from the Atlantic League to the American League, as he threw six innings and got a no-decision as the Royals lost to the Giants. He gave up a dinger (predictably, to Barry Bonds) and only struck out one man, but survived with only four earned runs. Still, this can't work out well for the Royals (FREE TERRMEL SLEDGE!), who have officially begun their yearly panic.
Those wacky Marlins (the Clampetts of MLB) are stirring up trouble again; this time in Japan, where a number of high school and college players may be suspended or otherwise disciplined after they attended a Marlins tryout camp - a no-no under Japanese amateur rules.
Fantasy players, even in non-keeper leagues, might want to think about Jose Reyes. I wouldn't normally recommend a 20-year-old shortstop to anyone, but Reyes had himself (FREE TERRMEL SLEDGE!) a pretty nice day yesterday, 3-for-4 with a grand slam and a stolen base. He'll get some steals, and he looks to hit for a little bit of average.
I know that no reporter in history has ever supported a cautious approach to anything, but the growing chorus in favour of moving Rick Ankiel to the outfield (the latest voice is Peter Gammons in his most recent column) is utterly ridiculous. Rick Ankiel is 23 years old. He has had some minor control problems (major in severity, minor in duration). He is struggling at AA, but he is still striking out 10.75 batters per nine innings. He was devastatingly effective as recently as *his last full year*... it was in Rookie ball, but he even displayed good control there. People want to pull this guy, who has proven that he can strike out big-league hitters on a consistent basis, into a role for which he isn't suited - he's not that good a hitter - just because they are panicking and need to do "something"? Wow.
Larry Bowa has said he wants to run more, which should do wonders for the Phillies' struggling offense. The problem with turning over a $100 million high-performance machine to a ragged idiot is, he still thinks it's a goddamn pitchfork.
I said last week that Rich Harden may be up this week; it's still in a holding pattern. It looked as if the A's might have brought him up, but he didn't have his command in his last start according to Ken Macha... and I’m not going to start on why anyone would ask the field manager about decisions that the GM is actually making. The decision whether to call up Harden will be made on Tuesday. Harden started yesterday against Edmonton, featuring FREE TERRMEL SLEDGE!, who homered off Harden in the first. Harden’s line? Two hits and two walks leading to two runs in 5 2/3 innings, with six strikeouts.
Incidentally, FREE TERRMEL SLEDGE! is hitting .418 in his last 24 games.
Finally, Felipe Lopez is about to go back to the minors. The Reds are winning, but the fans have turned against Lopez already... they boo him all the time. Let the Batter's Box arguments begin...
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030616021130999