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Hey Tin Man, what are you looking at?

I think it is time for people to acknowledge how overrated Mr. Ripken is in the sense of humanity as well as athleticism.

Being a product of the commonly perceived pre-steroid era, Ripken’s performance has slipped under the radar while his impeccable durability ultimately suggests the assistance from PEDs.

Ripken is known for his reserved nature with the likelihood for skipping autograph sessions and now this?  http://bases.newsvine.com/_news/2009/05/15/2821077-cal-ripken-takes-the-money-and-runs?category=spor  Simply absurd.

The former Orioles slugger is pompous and self-righteous in his actions to write and sell a text referencing the human condition.  Maybe he should stick to a Johnny Damon-like novel/theme, such as ”Idiot”.

Case closed.

“Bloop”

I’m starting to lose track of how often that word is thrown around by those few fortunate commentators of the Rangers opposition who undoubtedly bear a mile-wide grin upon the utterance of the word. Naturally, this is followed by the excited roar of an away crowd or the all-too-often heard cry in disbelief from the home cats.

Today the Rangers were looking to avoid falling victim of a sweep to the Tigers, “looking” being the key word. What they found was another well executed exercise in what are blatantly their two most glaring weaknesses: pitching, and defense.

Kevin Milwood started for the Rangers, he faced Edwin Jackson. I’m not going to lie; I don’t really know anything about Jackson so I won’t go into too much depth on him. Comerica Park would see a classic Milwood performance on the mound; all said and done he would throw 112 pitches, 70 of which were strikes. Seven innings of shutout baseball, in addition to a productive early offense primarily provided by Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Elvis Andrus, and Josh Hamilton; each scoring a run in the first three innings. Both Hamilton and Kinsler would knock two-run homers over the fence.

Apart from the chilly 49 degree weather, not much seemed to be able to faze the Rangers, who played pretty well most of the game (at least the part of the game with Milwood in it). Of course, inevitably a single pitcher can’t carry a whole game on his back, so it was time for some relief on the Ranger mound. That relief came in the form of CJ Wilson who in just 24 pitches allowed 6 runs. Yeah, you heard me right: six runs in twenty-four pitches. I know; I couldn’t believe it either! If it weren’t for an easily avoidable error by the rookie Andrus the blow might have been softened, but then speculation never really ends in anything productive. The fact is; the guy on the mound just didn’t perform. Warner Madrigal was called in to try to get the Rangers out of the inning, which he did successfully in twelve pitches, but the damage had been done.

The Rangers would see their last three at bats, but they couldn’t seem to break through the embarrassment they rightly bore on their shoulders. It seemed they had given up.

It’s going to be a long trip back to Arlington, but there’s no rest for the mediocre. Tomorrow is another day, another game, another opponent: the Orioles of Baltimore.

There were three things that made me happy today. The first was the progress Lowell is making in returning from his hip injury. The second was Clay Bucholz’s three perfect innings. The third one was Tim Thomas having to play with Manny Fernandez’s mask for a few minutes of the Bruins game, but that one was more a comedic thrill than anything.

Lowell DHed in the game, going 1 for 3 with a single in his last at-bat. Bucholz threw three innings without allowing a base runner while striking out two. Papelbon threw a scoreless fourth inning. The Orioles struck for runs late in the game, topping the Red Sox 5-1.

The Red Sox’ spring struggles continue, but with so many players out with either injury or playing in the WBC, this shouldn’t be a sign of things to come.

The Red Sox have a day off on Wednesday then they play the Cardinals at 1:05 on Thursday. Josh Beckett will be on the mound for the Sox.

Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield, and Jonathan Papelbon all were excellent on the mound. Beckett did not allow a hit over two innings, Wakefield allowed just one hit and one walk, and Papelbon pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning.

The two representatives of the Red Sox on the United State’s WBC roster provided the offense. Dustin Pedroia put the Sox on the board in the sixth with a sacrifice fly and Kevin Youkilis belted a solo home run in the seventh to put the Red Sox in front.

The Red Sox head to Fort Lauderdale on Monday to face the Orioles at 1:05. Justin Masterson is expected to pitch. With the win against Minnesota, the Red Sox evened up the Mayor’s Cup series 1-1.

It’s finally here! The 2009 season has started (sort of). The Mets started off in very good fashion! Here is what the starting lineup looked like:

Castillo, 2B
Murphy, LF
Pagan, CF
Church, RF
Castro, R, C
Cora, SS
Evans, 1B
Valentin, Jo, 3B
Martinez, F, DH

I have to say, I was quite impressed with Church, Castillo (Yes I said Castillo), Murphy and Pagan. The Mets took this game 9-3 and banged out 15 hits.

In order for this team to have any success, this lineup is going to have to produce…especially in those late innings!

As for the pitching, Right-hander Sean Green started for the Mets and was gone after just two outs, a victim of a cut nail on the middle finger of his pitching hand. Southpaw Pedro Feliciano got four outs without allowing an earned run, and veteran Duaner Sanchez pitched an inning and allowed three baserunners and one earned run.

Anyways, this was just a quick update, Let’s Go Mets in 2009!

January 21, 2006: New York Mets traded Kris Benson to the Baltimore Orioles for John Maine and Jorge Julio.Ok let’s forget the Jorge Julio part. Looking back on this, I rate this as the # 3 best move Minaya made as the Mets GM. At the time, it didn’t look all that groundbreaking, but in retrospect, the Mets clearly got the better half of this one.

John Maine is now an integral part of the Mets starting rotation. He has the ability to step up his game and show some Ace like stuff many times throughout a given season. Granted, last year was unfortunately cut short for Mr. Maine, but I feel 2009 will be another amazing year for this incredible young starter.

in 2007 Maine went 15-10 with a 3.91 ERA and in 2008 Maine went 10-8 with a 4.18 ERA. Like perez, these numbers aren’t staggering. They are however something I feel will improve this year and next. For the Win column, I know that more of his games (and Johans) will end in W’s and not a big ND!

Finally, I feel Maine will win betwen 18 and 21 games this year. Not to menton the projected 18 – 21 for Mr. Santana as well. I have the highest of hopes for our starters this year. Anyways, Minaya made a solid move here, giving up next to nothing for a blooming young pitcher by the name of John Maine.

Stay tuned for # 2 on the list…I’ll give you a hint, his name wasn’t mentioned in this post…