TDIB Saturday: Be-Devilled
Saturday, May 13 2006 @ 02:30 AM EDT
Contributed by: Magpie
You can not sweep the series when you lose the first game, and you can not win the first game if you do not hit. And when you do not hit, there will be Frustration. And Irritation.
I had the radio on, and round about the seventh inning Warren Sawkiw was waxing ecstatic about John Gibbons' decision to start John McDonald at shortstop. And while McDonald is a very fine defender, and made a very memorable play last night, there's a reason he's never been a regular in the major leagues. He is pretty much overmatched by major league pitching in general, and right-handed pitching in particular. On a night when the Jays could push but a single run across the plate, innings two and four ended with McDonald striking out with runners on base.
Irritation and Frustration.
Star of the Game - The Jays managed naught but eight scattered singles last night. Gregg Zaun had two of them, and threw out out two Devil Rays trying to steal, one of them Carl Crawford himself; he also coaxed a somewhat shaky Casey Janssen through seven semi-decent innings.
Unsung Hero - Well, Janssen did soak up seven innings...
Defensive Play of the Game - John McDonald hustled out into left field and alertly caught Jonny Gomes fly ball when it escaped the overhanging catwalk and finally plummetted to earth.
Defensive Misplay of the Game - Nothing too egregious, but Rios threw to the wrong base on Lugo's double, which pretty much eliminated any chance of catching Gathright at home. Aaron Hill threw home anyway, which allowed Lugo to take third, from where he scored on Janssen's wild pitch.
Boxscore - You want to see this? OK.
Elsewhere - Carlos Delgado got reacquanited with Dave Bush last night. Carlos walloped a solo homer to put the Mets up 2-0 in the top of the first, and singled his next time out. But Bush worked six innings and got the win. Jose Lima was starting for the Mets, so the final result couldn't be too surprising...
Barry Zito and Chien-Ming Wang hooked up in the night's best pitcher's duel. Barry Zito's Run Support ranks 102nd out of 107 eligible pitchers, so what ensued was probably easy to foresee. Oakland last night managed a measly four singles, while grounding into five double plays. How often does a team hit into more double plays than hit into... hits?
I guess it's not April anymore. In his last four starts, Johan Santana is 4-0, 2.17 and has struck out 40 batters in 29 IP.
Cole Hamels made his much-anticipated debut for the Phillies and shut out the Reds for five innings. He struck out seven and allowed just one hit, although he did walk five. Ryan Madson instantly gave up a pair of solo homers to cough up the lead Hamels had turned over to him, but the Phillies won anyway. The Phils have won 11 of 12 - hey, didn't someone around here pick them to go to the post-season?
This only means that the Phillies are almost as hot as the Padres, who have won 12 of 13, and caught up with the Rockies at the top of the NL West. Just so you know - San Diego is going to blow this division apart, not that anybody cares..
Back when people were making their predictions for NL rookie of the year, did the name Josh Willingham ever come up? Not that I remember. He tore up the PCL last year, hitting .324 with 19 HR in just 66 games - but it was the PCL, he was 26 years old, and he didn't have a position - he had bounced between catcher, first base, third base and left field as a minor leaguer. The Marlins have settled on left field for him and in the majors this year, he's hitting .305 with 7 HR and 28 RBI. I of course have a reason to root for him - Willingham turned 27 this past February, on the very same day that I turned... well, older than 27. Me and Michael Jordan and Jim Brown. And Mike Green's mom, of course. All of us older than 27, so I would be grateful indeed if you would restrain yourself from carping that Willingham is an "old" rookie. Spare me. Please. Pretty please?
In fact, ... I would be grateful if you would say this with me, and keep saying it all weekend long:
Go Josh!
We can all agree on that, surely.
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