By the way, a guy who strikes out fifteen in a perfect game and gives credit to his defense, like Wasdin did, is a class act.

Wasdin's stats suggest he's better than a lot of fringe major-leaguers, and as Doug Linton has proved this spring, it's never too late to get another chance. Getting his name in the papers (and in Batter's Box) can't hurt him, and he'll remember this forever. Anyone know how he fared in Japan last year? Here's the box score (scroll down) -- I don't care if it's in Little League, that "27 0 0 0" line gives me goose bumps.

Last year, I avoided the Blalock/Burroughs hype, and grabbed Hinske cheap, but this year I own Teixeira in a couple of leagues, and I'm very disappointed in the way he's being used. From the moment he was left out of the opening day lineup, I started to worry, and judging by his 0-for-12 start, so did Mark. I don't understand how it helps a young player's development to keep him confused about his status. Unless he snaps out of it soon, I'm going to have to waive him in my ESPN league, and fortunately, he's on my prospect list in my AL Roto pool, but I came this close to promoting him too soon and trading one of my starters at the corners/DH.

Before someone mentions Jayson Werth as if I'm contradicting myself, I think his proposed 2003 role -- platoon in RF, backup CF and LF, late-inning "D" and (sorry, Huck) third C -- is just fine, as long as the player knows it and accepts it. In fact, that's probably Jay's long-term job, with superior hitters Gross and Griffin rapidly catching up to him on the organizational depth charts. I think Werth will peak as a 300-400 AB kind of ML player; Tony La Russa would love him, and so will Carlos Tosca.

Regarding Tampa: Huff can't be much worse than the statuesque Grieve in RF, and who knew Piniella was so impatient? What the D-Rays really need is John Wasdin.

Ben Grieve in right field displayed as much mobility as Bob Denver in the Quicksand episode (for you old people) or Uter when he was full of chocolate (for you young people or you old people who get the Simpsons). Huff can't be much worse.

With Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli's respective wheels, I don't really think Tampa's D is going to be negatively affected. They should still win at least 40 games.

Hey. John Wasdin's Japan League stats can be found at http://www.npb-bis.com/ just search for players "outside Japan".
He was 1-4 with a 4.74 e.r.a, 10 games, 7 starts, 31 K's and 9BB's in 37 innings. He played for the Giants.

Wasn't Wasdin once traded straight up for Jose Canseco?

Has anyone here ever seen a no-hitter live? At any professional level? That's my one great wish as a fan. I saw a guy take a no-no 8.2 IP (and lose it to a clean single) for the Toledo Mud Hens at the old Ned Skeldon Lucas County Stadium about 10 years ago. And -- I still grate at this -- I had my choice of tickets to a Friday night or Saturday night game at Riverfront in Cincinnati once and took the Saturday tix ... only to miss Tom Browning's perfecto.

I have a friend at work who left Kenny Rogers' perfect game in the sixth to beat traffic because "there's no way ... this is Kenny Rogers, after all."

I was at SkyDome for Dave Stewart's no-hitter. It wasn't as much fun as it sounds. I don't remember it very well and I suspect that it was a blah kind of game and that I had a splitting headache (which I often get at the ballpark unless I take a preemptive Vitamin T). I also saw one of Ryan's near-no-hitters - it was the one at Exhibition Stadium that was broken up in the ninth by (as I recall) Liriano and Moseby.

Hmmm. Your professional playing time largely depends on how well you do in an upcoming series. You are 0-for-12 and will be in the line-up facing Zito and then Mulder in front of your home crowd. If Teixeira breaks out this week he will be something special.

If not, the Gorillas will have three guys in AAA.

Wasn't Wasdin once traded straight up for Jose Canseco?

Well, Wasdin and some Benjamins went from Oakland to Boston for Jose, yeah.

I saw Frank Viola pitch a one-hitter against the Jays back in 1992, I think that was the year. The part I remember is that Viola had a no-hitter into the eighth inning and fans were leaving!! I remember that more than the specifics of the game.

I was at the Ex for Dave Stieb's second consecutive 8 2/3 inning no-no, broken up by pinch-hitter Jim Traber of Baltimore in the last series of the 1988 season. It was especially agonizing for those of us who saw the previous one on TV; Julio Franco (even then a veteran 2B, hard to imagine he's still around) was the culprit in that one. Two years later, I was looking forward to a planned Lake Erie road trip (it was Labour Day weekend and the Jays, in a pennant race, were playing in Cleveland and Detroit) but my friend had to cancel at the last minute. We would have seen Stieb finally get that elusive 27th out against the Tribe.

That's only my second-biggest regret among trips not taken; in the summer of '69 -- many of you may have heard of it -- I was working at Fort Erie racetrack and my cousin was a caddy at a private club in Ridgeway. In part because we'd already seen The Who unleash a plugged-in Tommy that summer, we decided we couldn't afford the steep $24 tickets, or to lose the three days of work, so we passed on a concert that was being heavily advertised on our favourite Buffalo radio station and would have been a mere four-hour ride on Joe's trusty Honda 90 -- the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair.

I was at an A's game when Al Leiter (then with the Yanks) was knocked out on the very first pitch of the game by a Carney Lansford line-drive. Neil Allen then came in and threw 7 2/3 innings of no-hit ball before someone dumped a single into left field. Had Allen finished the game without allowing a hit, he would have been credited with the no-hitter. Then there was the day I went hiking at Will Rogers State Park in Los Angeles, a delightful expeirience, to be sure. When I returned to my house there was a message on my answering machine. "Gitz, if you want to come to the Dodgers' game today, there are two tickets waiting for you at Will Call." It was the Dennis Martinez perfect game (two days after Stewart's no-hitter, I believe). Grrrrr.

As for Texeira, Coach, you're right on the ball. Why did Texas break camp with both Blalock and him? Texeira has already lost some development time to injury, both in college and in his brief pro career; he can't lose time now due to capriciousness by Rangers' management. Either he plays every day in the majors, or he plays every day in AAA. It's pretty simple. I'd still rather have him than Hank, despite Blalock's fast start; Texeira is Chipper Jones without the speed.