(4-4) SOX AT (4-2) INDIANS
F Vazquez (1-0, 0.00, 73 Last) v. Carmona (1st start 07, 2006 1-10, 5.42)
SA Danks (0-1, 4.50, 56) v. Byrd (1st start 07, 2006 10-9 4.88)
SU Contreras (1-1, 10.29, 60 Last, 34.5 Avg) v. Sabathia (2-0, 2.77, 54 Last, 49.5 Avg)
INDIANS WHO'S HOT
-Grady Sizemore has 4 home runs in 22 at bats so far in 07.
- Trot Nixon has hit very well in his first week as a Tribesman. He is at .353 with 3 doubles.
- Jhonny Peralta had a terrible 06, but has looked good in 07 with a 1.019 OPS.
WHO'S NOT
- The defense. The Tribe has made 8 errors in 6 games this year.
- The bullpen. Roberto Hernandez and Joe Borowski, who are supposed to be the 8th and ninth inning guys, are both getting knocked around pretty good. Hernandez had to leave yesterday's game with an injury.
The Sox hope to get off to a fast start in this series by taking advantage of a favorable pitching matchup in the opener. Javier Vazquez was brilliant in his first 07 outing, shutting down the Twins over 7 innings in frigid temperatures. Meanwhile, the Tribe starts Fausto Carmona, who is filling in for the injured Cliff Lee. Carmona was 1-10 last season, but the Sox have been making some mediocre hurlers look like All-Stars in the past week, so let's hope Carmona isn't a beneficiary of that.
AL CENTRAL ROUNDUP
INDIANS 4, (6-4) ANGELS 2
The Indians get the defensive yips in the seventh inning to fall behind, but are saved by Travis Hafner and the long ball in the bottom half of the inning. Cleveland scored all their runs via the home run in this game. I repeat this mantra seemingly every day, but I've seen too many White Sox teams that had the formula of a lineup with 9 cleanup hitters, bad defense, and mediocre pitching, and I've seen how those teams underperform. The same thing is going to happen with this Cleveland team.
GAME SCORES
LAA- Mosley 59, CLE- Sowers 64
(6-3) TIGERS 5, (5-4) BLUE JAYS 4
The Blue Jays trot out Tomo Ohka as their starter in this game, and since they are not the Twins he pitches like the bad pitcher he is, and the Tigers get out to an early lead and hang on for the win. This game was made close by the Tigers choosing to let Jose Mesa pitch for them with a 5-2 lead. This is the second time in as many weeks he has helped make a not close game close, and I don't see him sticking around much longer.
GAME SCORES
DET- Maroth 46, TOR- Ohka 39
(6-3) TWINS 3, (3-6) DEVIL RAYS 2
The Twins impregnable bullpen coughs up a 2-0 lead in the 8th, then is on the verge of giving up the lead in the ninth before the Rays start playing bumper cars with each other on the basepaths to comically run themselves out of an inning. Actually, let me lay it out for you
- Top of the ninth, 2-2 score. Joe Nathan on for Minnesota
- Leadoff batter Ben Zobrist singles to left field.
- Carl Crawford is up next, and doubles over the right fielder's head. Zobrist holds up at third, but Crawford keeps right on a runnin past second.
- Seeing that Crawford is heading to third, Zobrist starts waddling towards home like a cow being led onto the killing floor, even though the ball is in the infield.
- Mauer runs Zobrist back to third base, and Crawford, who is standing on third base at this point, forgets he is playing baseball and not cricket and decides to run back to the base he just came from.
-Mauer tags Zobrist out, and throws Crawford out by 4 steps at second base, and now instead of having second and third with no outs, there is nobody on with 2 outs.
- Morneau hits a leadoff homer in the bottom of the ninth to win the game 3-2.
Seriously, it's like our primitive computers cannot measure how far the horseshoe is actually shoved up the ass of this Minnesota team.
Game Scores
TB- Fossum 59, MIN- Silva 62
(4-6) ORIOLES 2, (3-7) ROYALS 1
The 2nd smallest crowd in the history of Camden Yards attended this game. If Steve Trachsel can't put asses in seats, I don't know what can. As for the Royal, they have a nice little 1-2 combination with Meche and Greinke, but the bullpen is awful and nobody is hitting. Certainly not Baseball Prospectus centerfold Alex Gordon, who is clocking in at .091 in his first few miles on the road to being the next George Brett.
Game Scores
KC- Meche 62, BAL- Trachsel 67
TODAY'S SWEET ACTION
ROYALS (Duckworth, 0-0, 0.00, Last 66 v. DET) at ORIOLES (Bedard, 1-1, 6.94, Avg GS 40.5, Last 60 at NYY)
TIGERS (Bonderman 0-0, 3.75, Avg 54, Last 57 at KC) at BLUE JAYS (Halladay, 1-0, 3.46, Avg 54, Last 55 at TB)
DEVIL RAYS (Kazmir 0-1, 6.75, Avg 41.5, Last 57 v. TOR) at TWINS (Santana, 2-0, 2.77, Avg 63.5, Last 81 at SOX)
GAME SCORE CORNER
Yesterday's Best
74 Jason Bergmann WSH at ATL
25 year old rookie non-prospect converted reliever bamboozles the Bravos over 6 scoreless innings with 8 Ks. National League Baseball!!..It's Craptastic...
Yesterday's Worst
39 Tomo Ohka TOR v. DET
And this against a team that couldn't score against the ORIOLE until the 13th inning the night before...
Top 5 Average Game Scores by Team
1. Atlanta 58.8
2. Houston 58.4
3. Oakland 57.7
4. NY Mets 57.0
5. Colorado 56.6
Bottom 5 Average Game Scores By Team
30. Yankees 39.5
29. Devil Rays 40.3
28. Nationals 42.9
27. Rangers 43.0
26. Blue Jays 44.1
AL Central Average Game Scores by Team
1. Tigers 53.6
2. Twins 53.3
3. Royals 52.4
4. Sox 51.0
5. Indians 50.0
Top 5 Average Game Scores by Pitcher (Minimum 2 Starts)
1. Felix Hernandez SEA 87.5
2. Roy Oswalt HOU 71.5
3. Justin Verlander DET 69.0
4. Josh Beckett BOS 68.5
5. Rich Harden OAK 67.0
5. Jake Peavy SD 67.0
No comments:
Post a Comment