More games? Okay, if you insist:

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 12:40 p.m. PT — Hiroki Kuroda looked outstanding in his North American debut. I expected the funky delivery that is characteristic of pitchers who come over from Japan, but the velocity caught me by surprise. He was pumping 93-mph fastballs against the Padres. Micah Owings gets the call for Arizona. He dominated the Rockies in his first start of ‘08 (although he only went 1-for-4 at the plate, LOL). Wasn’t there talk that the Snakes might stick Owings in the field at some point? I think that’s crazy, but it would be …read more

Not a lot of great pitching matchups today. Eh, that happens…

White Sox at Tigers, 12:55 p.m. PT — At 0-4, Detroit is the only team without a win so far this season. Baseball is a strange game. Dontrelle Willis makes his Tigers debut. For a guy who should be in his physical prime, Willis sure has fallen fast. Where’s Steve Avery when you need him?
Dodgers at Padres, 12:55 p.m. PT — This is by far the best matchup of the day: Brad Penny goes up against Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Penny is 0-2 with a 6.67 ERA over …read more

We’ve got our staff predictions up at Hardball Times. I go into greater detail about Padres-specific items over at Ducksnorts.
At THT, I’ve gone with the popular pick except for AL West (I chose Mariners over Angels), AL Wild Card (Indians over Yankees), and NL Cy Young (Jake Peavy over Johan Santana — there’s my Padres bias kicking in because, hey, someone’s got to have a Padres bias).
I also have the Diamondbacks beating the Tigers in the World Series. We’ll see what happens…
How about you? Any predictions you’d care to share?

I got out to my first game of the spring on Friday. San Diego Padres vs Arizona Diamondbacks at Peoria Stadium. Even managed to catch a foul ball (first time ever, thanks for asking).
Anywho, I took a bunch of photos. Enjoy!
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
See full photo set at Flickr.

Sounds kind of kinky, don’t it? Yeah, well, it’s not:

Jim at AZ Snakepit wonders about the Diamondbacks pitching staff.
Eric at Philliesflow searches for hidden gems in right field.
Harper at Oleanders and Morning Glories reacts to news of Paul LoDuca’s inclusion in the Mitchell Report.
Kurt at Goat Riders of the Apocalypse muses on the nature of hypocrisy in sports, specifically as it relates to the current steroid flap.
Lisa at Astros Dugout rejoices in the signing of right-hander Jack Cassel.
Dave at U.S.S. Mariners fantasizes about how much better the world would be if he ran the Mariners.
Eric at Rays Anatomy calls for …read more

Still in desk-clearing mode. Back to regular columns soon…

Jon at Dodger Thoughts reminds us that rumors are, well, rumors.
Jim at AZ Snakepit transforms a couple Diamondbacks into South Park characters.
El Lefty Malo talks about Barry Bonds.
Mark at Bad Altitude complains that Troy Tulowitzki should have won the NL Gold Glove at shortstop over Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins. He’s right, of course.
Speaking of shortstops, MB at Friar Forecast presents the relative merits of Khalil Greene.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Knuckle Curve and you’ll never miss another article…

I haven’t done one of these in a while. Time to turn the electrons over to you; here’s what y’all have been saying at Knuckle Curve over the past couple months or so:

My latest article is up at Hardball Times. It breaks down Colorado’s sweep of the Diamondbacks. Enjoy…

{democracy:26}

You thought I forgot. Go ahead, admit it. You noticed that we didn’t run a poll yesterday, and you thought that I’d forgotten about NL Manager of the Year.
Now, why would I do that?
Right, I wouldn’t. I also wouldn’t vote for anyone other than Clint Hurdle or Bob Melvin for this award. I suppose you could make a case for Charlie Manuel or Ned Yost, maybe Bud Black.
I kinda liked Willie Randolph before The Collapse (TM). Lou Piniella? Not so much for me. His bosses went out and bought the best team money could buy, and he barely managed to …read more

Jim at AZ Snakepit complains that the Diamondbacks aren’t getting their due thanks to a poor regular-season run differential:
Ah, yes: the old “the Diamondbacks were just lucky” argument. First, this demonstrates a basic misunderstanding, very common among statheads, about the game of baseball. It’s not about having the highest team batting average. It’s not about posting the best run-differential. The game is decided simply by scoring more runs than your opponent on the day. That is the only measure of “best” which actually means anything, because playoff spots are not awarded on the basis of Pythagorean Projections.
Bingo. Dismissing a team’s …read more