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Today around MLB:

Ted Lilly, Walking Man...undefeated and winless teams remain undefeated and winless...Kenny Rogers, Back Home Again...and it's "Don't Trust Anyone Under 30 Day" at AT&T Park.


Yesterday's Game

Just when you thought he'd done everything possible, Ted Lilly walked six batters, including four in the third inning. He didn't make it through the third, and Brian Tallet had to save the day. Gregg Zaun put the Jays ahead for good with a two-run shot with two out in the fifth. As always, Jordan Bastian has the full story.

Star of the Game: Tallet, who not only recorded eight outs in relief of Lilly, but he stranded all three baserunners, cleaning up Lilly's walks quite nicely. Honourable mention to Zaun.

Unsung Hero: Frank Catalanotto went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs, and didn't leave anyone on base. He reached base four times, as he was confused for Reed Johnson and got hit by a pitch.

Defensive Play of the Game: This has to be Aaron Hill's neat little flip to Russ Adams for the forceout in the third to nab the speedy Gathright at second. It's linked from the story above, as "Hill's great stop."

Today's Game

Roy Halladay. That's all I really need to say. He's against Scott Kazmir, and the game starts at 1:07.

Elsewhere

Curt Schilling has had two great starts to kick off the 2006 season. I watched some of yesterday's 2-1 win over Baltimore on Gameday and when he pitched to Kevin Millar, I had no idea what outcome to cheer for.

Barry Bonds was kept off the scoreboard as the Giants scored 12. Bonds did have a single and two walks, but the closest he got to having an effect on the scoring was this play: "With Barry Bonds batting, wild pitch by Joey Devine, Omar Vizquel scores." That made it 10-4 for the Giants, who won 12-6. Tim Hudson was the unlucky stiff getting knocked around for eight runs in four innings. The Giants also had the oldest starting outfield, ever, as well as nobody under 30.

Milwaukee is still undefeated and Pittsburgh is now 0-6. The Brewers got a single from Carlos Lee to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, while the Pirates gave up 11 to the Reds. Jason Bay went 3-for-4 with a double, though.

The first doubleheader of the season comes today at 1:05 as the Phillies and Dodgers make up for their rainout yesterday. Philadelphia is still looking for their first win of the season -- though, really, four games in is not very many. All of this "undefeated/winless" stuff won't matter in a couple of weeks.

Even so, the Tigers are the only undefeated team in the A.L. and Kenny Rogers returns to Texas as Detroit looks to get their sixth win, or approximately 33% of their win total from 2003.
TDIB: Sunday, April 9th | 25 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 09:45 AM EDT (#144741) #

Justin Verlander's debut was memorable.  A first outing in Texas is not the easiest beginning, but Verlander threw 7 innings of 2 hit-ball with 7 strikeouts and only 2 walks.  With Zumaya looking very good in the bullpen, Detroit's start is not entirely a fluke.  Yes, they have been facing KC and Texas, but it is certainly within the realm of the possibility that their young players (Bonderman, Granderson and Shelton, in addition to the 2 rookie pitchers) take a big step forward and propel them well above .500. 

Jon Papelbon was in the closer's role again last night for the Red Sox, and was perfect. 

StephenT - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 02:37 PM EDT (#144753) #
2006 Final Standings, as predicted by Team Payroll:
NYY $195m, BOS $120m, BAL $73m, TOR $72m, TAM $35m
CHW $103m, DET $ 83m, MIN $63m, CLE $56m, KAN $47m
LAA $103m, SEA $ 88m, TEX $68m, OAK $62m
NYM $101m, ATL $ 90m, PHI $88m, WAS $63m, FLO $15m CHC $ 94m, HOU $ 93m, STL $89m, CIN $61m, MIL $58m, PIT $47m LAD $ 98m, SFG $ 90m, SDP $70m, ARZ $60m, COL $41m

The Jays are listed 16th of 30 overall, 8th of 14 in the AL, and 4th of the 5 in the AL East. Source: http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/totalpayroll.aspx?year=2006

However, I'm not sure of the details of the calculations. e.g. Burnett is listed at just $2.2m at http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/teamdetail.aspx?year=2006&team=14&order=Salary+desc

King Ryan - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 06:13 PM EDT (#144759) #
On the other hand, I really liked John Gibbons decision to bring in BJ Ryan in the 8th inning to get the Jays out of a jam.  I would like to see that sort of unorthodox closer usage more often around Major League Baseball.
6-4-3 - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 06:34 PM EDT (#144762) #

I didn't really like the move, because the game was already (effectively) lost by the point Ryan came in. 

According to the win expectancy finder, the Jays had a 3.5% chance of winning the game when Ryan came in.  When he got out the bases loaded jam, the Jays had a 6.7% chance of winning.  So he gave the Jays a slightly better chance to win, but even his best didn't significantly improve the Jays chances, compared to say Chulk coming in and giving up a run.. 

Even though Halladay had only thrown around 77 pitches going into the 8th, I was surprised that no-one was warming up as the inning started.  I know that there wasn't many pitchers avaliable to go today, but somebody should've been ready to go if Halladay got into a jam, because the Jays were only up by one.

Pistol - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 07:21 PM EDT (#144767) #
I really liked John Gibbons decision to bring in BJ Ryan in the 8th inning to get the Jays out of a jam.

I would have liked it more if Gibbons brought in Ryan when it was 2nd and 3rd with one out in the 8th.  Halladay tired in the 7th against the Twins before getting pulled in the 8th.  Today he gave up a home run in the 7th, hit the leadoff batter and then gave up a hard double (with a sacrifice in between).  To me that's screaming that he's run out of gas.  The situation called for a strikeout and Ryan is the best guy on the team for that, hadn't pitched in a couple games, and the Jays have an offday tomorrow.  Plus, Russ Branyan is one of the best guys to strike out - he's struck out 40% of the time over his career.  You strike Branyan out you have two outs and then have to retire Huff to keep it 2-2 going into the bottom of the 8th.  In that case I'll take the Jays going up against the Rays bullpen than vice versa.
robertdudek - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 09:00 PM EDT (#144768) #
Except that Ryan wouldn't have faced Branyan, but Eduardo Perez instead.
Mike Green - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 09:01 PM EDT (#144769) #

Yes, Ryan has pitched superbly in his 3 appearances, but they've all been low leverage.  Hopefully, he'll be sent to the mound in more important situations and continue his fine pitching.

For myself, I will be glad when the modern closer role fades into oblivion.

Mike Green - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 09:04 PM EDT (#144770) #
The other game Ryan could have gotten into this series was on Friday.  Down by 1 run entering the top of the ninth, there was going to be no shot at the save anyways, and with Tampa well into their bullpen in an 8-7 game, it was a moderate leverage situation.
Geoff - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 09:09 PM EDT (#144771) #
Except that Ryan wouldn't have faced Branyan, but Eduardo Perez instead.

That would be bad, but also phenomenal. Perez already had a HR today against the Twins. Gibbons would wisely want to avoid having B.J. face him today.

Mike Green - Sunday, April 09 2006 @ 09:22 PM EDT (#144774) #

The Boston Globe has an interesting discussion on whether Papelbon or Foulke should be the Sox closer.  Registration, if required, is free.  The consensus appears to be Papelbon, at least for a while.

robertdudek - Monday, April 10 2006 @ 04:07 AM EDT (#144790) #
Oh cripes! I forgot they got rid of Eduardo. Anyway, some righthander would come in to pinch hit  for Branyan.
Craig B - Monday, April 10 2006 @ 10:16 AM EDT (#144807) #
The available bench for Tampa Bay was Hollins, Green, and Ordaz, so it would have been Hollins. I'd rather face Hollins with Ryan than Branyan with Halladay in this situation; not only is Russ a better hitter but Hollins is considerably more likely to hit into a double play, since Branyan doesn't hit it on the ground much. Either was a defensible call.
TDIB: Sunday, April 9th | 25 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.