9 May 2007: You Need to be Committed

Wednesday, May 09 2007 @ 09:32 AM EDT

Contributed by: Magpie

The Jazz Singer wasn't the first "talkie" but it was the first film with sound to enjoy widespread commercial success. In the first spoken line in the picture, Al Jolson says "you ain't heard nothing yet."

In a moment of Supreme Snark, Gore Vidal suggested that this was "possibly the most chilling line spoken in the history of cinema."

Prepare to be chilled some more. After last night's not so excellent game, John Gibbons said:

We're committed to [Zambrano.]

Possibly one of the most chilling lines in the history of this franchise.

Of course, this would be a lot more alarming were it not for the fact that it was Blue Jays management speaking. Gibbons once said "If you jumped ship on everybody every time they go bad, you'd never field a team in this league." This was about twelve hours before dispatching Dave Bush to the minors. So our Question for the Day is:

Who's really going to start against Tampa Bay on Sunday? The candidates:

Victor Zambrano (at this moment, he's scheduled to go)
Shaun Marcum (it keeps him away from the late innings)
Casey Janssen (he's found a role, he's been effective, time to move along)
Josh Towers (should still be more or less stretched out)
Brian Tallet (hey, they gave him an emergency start last year and won the game, look it up)
John Thomson (pitched very well for Syracuse on the 3rd, but if he makes another AAA start he probably won't be available Sunday)
Pat Hentgen (still employed by the organization)

In the aftermath of last night, Bauxite tstaddon wrote:

I actually felt bad for Zambrano. He's worked his butt off and done what's asked of him, probably before he was ready to... the man should be in AAA trying to find himself, not here.

I couldn't agree more. Zambrano's recovery has been very impressive, but it's still ongoing. There is no reason on earth for it to be happening at the major league level. None whatsoever.

I would like to draw your attention to some interesting matchups happening today. Right here at the old Dome, we have the Ohka-Matsuzaka showdown. T.O. with something to prove. I'll be in the house, me and the entire Japanese press corps, no doubt. It will be the first time two Japanese pitchers have faced each other in a major league game since June 19, 2002. On that occasion, Ohka defeated Mac Suzuki of the Royals 6-3 - it was the last start of Suzuki's undistinguished career. Ohka, in the midst of his best major league season, improved his record to 7-3.

In Kansas City, Danny Haren of the A's opposes Gil (Ga) Meche of the Royals. The ERAs of the two starters, added together, is 3.98, which would be pretty good for either pitcher. Of course, we'll probably get a 12-11 ball game tonight.

The Mets, locked in their death match with the Braves atop the NL East (both teams are 20-12), send unbeaten John Maine (5-0, 1.37) against Barry and the Giants. Matt Morris (4-1, 3.20) goes for San Francisco, who have been a whole lot better than I thought they'd be.

And best of all - the Padres are in Atlanta tonight. Greg Maddux vs John Smoltz. Maddux hasn't been quite as great as Clemens over his career, but he's been a whole lot easier to enjoy. Smoltz now needs just three more wins to clear 200 for his career. One assumes they'll have many more reunions in the years ahead, in upstate New York.


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