Everyone will notice immediately that Wells is getting a day to ponder and reflect on his failings. In Texas, yet. Very interesting.

Many disgruntled grumbles are emanating from the Bronx these days. Does anyone here actually think the Yankees may be in a bit of trouble? I myself don't know what the hell Joe Torre's doing with his bullpen. Tanyon has worked in 7 of the first 11 games - no wonder he got beat up yesterday.

And he fixes it before I can even get my smart-ass comment posted. This guy's good...

Heh. I have this inability to proofread my stuff until *after* it's been posted. Even then I tend to only catch one mistake in 5.

This is one of those games where it would be really handy to have Gabe Gross around. I don't like starting Reed against a righty since he has a fair amount of trouble against them. By starting Reed it also leaves the bench short one of their better tactical options.

And calling up Gross to fill the roster spot. It may be necessary to do *something*. Wells obviously doesn't want to stop playing because of the injury (I recall an interview to that effect), but I'm not sure that he is being objective about it.

Not that I've heard, but we were all pretty surprised last year when Delgado went on the Dl for a month. With a rib problem.

Melvin Mora takes Kevin Brown deep. Violence, anger, the Bronx. It's just the natural way of things.

My God. Cliff Young is enormous.

But -- full-scale cut-away adverts during the inning? Appalling. Even Fox Sports Net keep their in-game adverts to a small part of the screen. Truly awful.

Anyhoo, my prediction today is a big game for Russ Adams. I'll leave it to you guys to determine what counts as a "big game".

Ribcage injuries are notoriously difficult to diagnose -- they can linger for ages or they can feel better after a night's sleep. The Jays aren't going to DL Wells and lose him for two weeks unless that injury is really bad, and I've seen no indication that it is.

Interesting to see Alex Rios slide all the way up to the 5th spot. Gibbons really doesn't want to touch Eric Hinske, does he? With Hinske's rejuvenation continuing apace, I can't blame the manager for wanting to let sleeping Dudes lie.

This is one of those games where it would be really handy to have Gabe Gross around.

Bingo. Or, as I've said before, Eric Crozier, who can back up in the oufield and at first base. Never mind the discussion about an 11-, 12- or 13-man pitching staff; the Jays have no business carrying just four outfielders.

OK, a prediction. Myers gets a batting average!

And just as he typed those words, Miguel Tejada hit a GS off Brown to put the Orioles up 6-0 in the second.

This Texas club can hit a little too. But they're really not that good an offensive team - this ballpark (and US Cellular or wherever the hell the White Sox play) skews the numbers, big-time.

Well, today's going to be their day. Towers margin to succeed is always a little fine, and sometimes days like this are going to happen.

Sparky's been hit 8 times now, and has yet to draw a walk. I'm wondering how many times a guy gets on base more often by HBP rather than BB. As a rookie, Sparky went 20-20; last year he had 28 BB and "just" 12 HBP. For his career, he's now drawn 48 BB and been drilled 40 times.

Well, let's look. Ron Hunt didn't do it, not even when he was hit 50 times. No, not Charlie O'Brien or Ed Sprague. Or Don Baylor. Craig Biggio, the active leader hasn't even come close. Neither has Jason Kendall.

Hugh Jennings, who holds the single season record of 51, managed it three years in a row: 1895-97.

For all I know, we may be seeing something historic...

Now that's a big inning.

Ah - a challenge!

Start with 50
Add 1 point for every batter the pitcher retires: +6, 56
Add 2 points for each inning the pitcher completes after the fourth inning: 0, 56
Add 1 point for each strikeout: 0, 56
Subtract 1 point for each walk: 0, 56
Subtract 2 points for each hit: -16, 40
Subtract 4 points for each earned run: -24, 16
Subtract 2 points for each unearned run: 0, 16

Game Score = 16

Not so good.

You're saying he didn't need an athletic scholarship to go to Princeton.

I wanted to go to Cornell myself. Sigh.

Nice school, but if I had to live in Ithaca for four years, I think I'd shoot myself.

Mind you, this is coming from a guy who quite enjoyed living in Rochester, NY.

I was wondering myself, and went straight to the 3 year splits. Against LH, Zaun has a better BAVG (.291 to .268) but Menchino has way more pop - 9 HRs over the three years. Zaun has 0 HRs batting RH.

Of course, when just a hit is pretty good... Anyway, Frankie drives one in. But I don't understand McDonald hitting. Zaun has to come into the game, and he's a better hitter than McDonald.

Maybe he hadn't made it into the dugout yet...

But if Zaun PHs for Adams, then who plays SS? O-Dog?

Well, you could either leave Menechino there, hitting 8th and playing SS or put in McDonald for Menechino. Something went wrong there.

I would have used him instead of McDonald in that situation.

You're more patient than I. I probably would have put in Wells instead of Menechino; and Wells probably would have swung at the first pitch... Menechino does draw clutch walks.

But really, why wasn't Vernon ready to PH? I saw a shot of him in the dugout and he wasn't even wearing a game jersey. Even if you're giving a guy a day off, you'd like to keep all your options open...

Menechino can play SS can't he? But putting McDonald in gives you better defense which is important in a close game. I suppose it's a matter of weighing the value of 3 innings of superior defense at SS vs the value of Menechino getting (likely) one more AB and having McDonald on your bench to use later.

Zaun's been pretty hot himself. I wonder if he was in the bullpen when the inning started. I wonder how long it takes to get to the dugout. The duration of the Menechino at bat?

I'm accepting no other explanation!

This year, he seems to have decided Quantrill is a bum. Q, as we all remember, is much better when he works a lot (but not when he works as much as Torre worked him last year.) Anyway, Q finally gets into a game today and, being rusty, gets hit (retired one of four batters) which should guarantee that he doesn't pitch again for another five days. Stanton, an old Torre favourite, comes in for the second day in a row to get the LH. For the second day in a row, he walks the guy on five pitches. Steve Karsay comes in, for just the 3rd time this season, and gives up an RBI base hit. Yankees throw out the second runner at the plate, and then Karsay gets the third out.

He's lost it, old Joe. Your manager has lost his mind!

Aw crap. Does Teixeira make that play?

Burnett throws his second straight CG this afternoon, just 105 pitches. So far, so good.

Good inning for Schoeneweis - he's looked better when he's had a little rest.

Of course, Co-Co looked just filthy the other night. He may have solved his problems.

An unfortunate start for anyone who must write a Game Report while sitting in a desk in room 303.

It's actually something to do with the Boston Marathon and Patriot's Day in Boston.

A fifth outfielder on the roster would give the manager the flexibility to deal with lefty-righty matchups late in the game, especially when the starting CF is getting the day off. The Jays should at least consider it.

I guess it depends on whether the starting pitching is going to remain reliable, or whether there are going to be more outings like today's. A team doesn't really ever need 12 pitchers; it either needs 10 pitchers (if the starters are going well) or it needs 13 pitchers (if they're getting bombed).

I only listened to the first and last innings of this game. Nice to see the Fighting Jays make a game of it, and there's nothing wrong with splitting a 4-game series in Texas.

Steinbrenner:

Enough is enough. I am bitterly disappointed as I'm sure all Yankee fans are by the lack of performance by our team. It is unbelievable to me that the highest-paid team in baseball would start the season in such a deep funk. They are not playing like true Yankees. They have the talent to win and they are not winning. I expect Joe Torre, his complete coaching staff and the team to turn this around.

AND WHERE DID THOSE CRAZY PUPPETS COME FROM?

Agreed. It seems the marketing campaign is all over the map. The puppets are just bizarre.

And I thought they were going to be marketing to women this year. Then the strange puppet ads and appearances by Slash and The Trailer Park Boys at the home opener. This all appears to be aimed at guys.