• Royals at Tigers, 10:05 a.m. PT — First off, Kansas City has taken the first two games of this series, which I’m sure nobody expect. Second, two talented yet enigmatic pitchers square off in this one. Zack Greinke appeared to get his career back on track in 2007 and looks to continue progressing this year, while Jeremy Bonderman tries to solve his first-inning woes and become the front-line pitcher folks have been anticipating.
• Blue Jays at Yankees, 4:05 p.m. PT — Two more young arms — Dustin McGowan and Philip Hughes — hook up in New York this evening.
• Pirates at Braves, 4:10 p.m. PT — Mike Hampton’s last big-league appearance came on August 19, 2005. He gets the start in this one. Working on 958 days of rest, he may be a tad rusty.

Play ball!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• The Mets beat the Marlins, 7-2. The planet’s best pitcher against a Triple-A squad — who could’ve have anticipated such a result? Uh, everyone.
• The Pittsburgh/Atlanta game was insane. The Pirates took a 9-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but the Braves tied. Then the Bucs jumped ahead in the 12th, 12-9, before allowing two runs in the bottom half and hanging on for a 12-11 victory. Xavier Nady, whom I’ve been following since he took home Cal League MVP honors in 2001 while playing for a great Lake Elsinore Storm club (Peavy and Mets left-hander Oliver Perez also played on that team, which went 91-49), knocked two homers, including the game winner.
• The Giants really stink. Good thing they’re paying Barry Zito all that money.
• The Brewers and Cubs ran a clinic on how not to close a game. Locked in a scoreless tie headed to the ninth, Milwaukee plated three runs in the top half off “closer” Kerry Wood, then watched “closer” Eric Gagne cough up three of his own in the bottom half. The Brewers scored in the top of the 10th and hung on to win, 4-3. Who got credit for the victory? The least deserving guy in the ballpark, of course: Gagne. The next time someone tries to tell you that a pitcher is good because of his won-loss record, remind them that the rules dictating how a win is “earned” don’t necessarily correlate with actually contributing to victory.
• Break up the Nationals. With Monday’s 11-6 drubbing of Philadelphia, they’re assured of finishing no worse than 2-160 this year.
• Livan Hernandez pitched well in his Twins debut. Actually, for all the grief Minnesota took in signing him, he matched Johan Santana’s line — two runs in seven innings — and got the win. Not that he’ll keep pace with Santana beyond, oh, right about now, but still…
• The White Sox seem to be a sexy dark horse candidate this season, but I just don’t see it. By my count, they’ve got about three or four good pitchers, depending on whether you believe Octavio Dotel can stay of the disabled list. One of them (Mark Buehrle) got absolutely pounded at Cleveland. Granted, the Indians will do that to a pitcher, but if the White Sox can’t win behind Buehrle, then what are they going to do when, say, Gavin Floyd toes the slab?

Good times, my friends. Good times…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

He was a tremendous mentor to the young guys on our staff. When he said something, you listened. He was the ultimate professional on and off the field. Just a tremendous, tremendous guy — and a big part of everything we accomplished that year.

Cardwell also threw a no-hitter on May 15, 1960, in his debut for the Cubs just two days after being acquired from Philadelphia. It came at Wrigley against the rival St. Louis Cardinals.

My thoughts go out to the family and friends of Mr. Cardwell.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Lessee, the Bucs went out and signed Chris Gomez. That should be enough to keep them right around the 95-loss mark, don’t you think? Honestly, just start wearing mom jeans already.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Even after signing Jose Castillo on Christmas Eve, the Marlins may not be done giving themselves third base options.

Only in Miami, where the Marlins’ owner has trained his team’s “fans” to expect nothing and like it, could this even be in doubt. Castillo hit .244/.270/.335 for the Pirates in 2007. Huh, so he might not be the answer at third?

Other players being considered include Jorge Cantu and Dallas McPherson. Cantu hit .252/.331/.357 last season for the Devil Rays and the Reds. McPherson didn’t play in 2007 due to injury, but hit .261/.298/.478 the previous year for the Angels.

Yep, things sure are looking up in Florida…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Nats and Yankees trade –
Clippard, Albaladejo,
anonymous arms

Cincy trades Buck Coats
to Blue Jays for Justin James –
who are these people?

Cards drop Taguchi –
they are So over that guy,
you wouldn’t believe

Padres sell Terrmel
to Japan’s Pacific League,
where he will fight ham

(Yes, I know, but don’t ruin the joke.)

Brewers sign Riske
to a big three-year contract –
seems kind of risky

(Ugh, they’re getting worse.)

Cincy waives Cantu –
I sure can understand why
they did that, can’t you?

(Seriously, this is terrible.)

Nationals sign Boone –
Aaron, the old third baseman,
is still in the league!

Bucs drop Castillo –
if Pittsburgh releases you,
try a new career

Cleveland gets Carroll
from Colorado Rockies –
I’m out of bad puns

Nats sign LoDuca –
he was real good in ‘01,
as was Kevin Brown

Pads sign Randy Wolf
to incentive-laden deal –
good for 15 starts?

Brewers sign Gagne –
now that he’s in Milwaukee,
are they beer goggles?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

I can’t imagine being unable to perform such a routine activity (and one so vital to my job) for 17 years. It’s great to hear that Sasser, who now is a community college coach (whose duties include throwing batting practice), is good to go again.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

• Rob at Cub Reporter hooks us up with footage from a 1981 game between the Cubs and Reds.
• Dan at Get Up, Baby laments the continued decline of Scott Rolen.
• Pat at FanHouse muses on the Pirates motives behind hiring John Russell as their new skipper.
• Lisa at Astros Dugout discusses the (relatively) recent trade with Philadelphia that netted Michael Bourn.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Mariners at Tigers, 4:05 p.m. PT — Both teams are three games back of the Yankees in the AL wild card race. Miguel “Don’t Let the Career-High 13 Wins Fool You” Batista faces Justin Verlander. Whatever happened to Brandon Inge, anyway? That guy was good for, like, 5 minutes.
• Indians at Angels, 7:05 p.m. PT — First off, we should rename these teams “Europeans” and “Animal Spirits.” Second, why did Cleveland sign Jake Westbrook to a huge contract extension in April? The new Bill Wegman was really good in 2004, but otherwise has been a league-average pitcher. The Angels counter with John Lackey.

National League

• Cubs at Pirates, 4:05 p.m. PT — The Pirates are going nowhere, but Tom Gorzelanny is an exciting young pitcher. The 24-year-old left-hander has scuffled a bit since the All-Star break, but 13 wins on a bad Pittsburgh team is impressive. Another intriguing southpaw, Rich Hill, goes for the Cubs. Jose Bautista is having a decent season at third base for the Pirates, but it’s hard not to wonder how different that franchise might be right now if it hadn’t given away Aramis Ramirez, who has been a force in Chicago ever since. Hey, at least the Bucs got Bobby Hill in the deal. Nobody can take that away from them. Nobody.
• Padres at Rockies, 6:05 p.m. PT — Justin Germano averages 5.70 K/9 for his career. Elmer Dessens checks in at 5.44. Hmmm, good hitters making contact at Coors Field? Dessens is pitching for his fourth team over the past two seasons. Wow, he must be really coveted.
• Cardinals at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m. PT — Have you noticed how good Adam Wainwright has been in the second half? Try 6-2, 2.43 ERA, 3-to-1 K/BB ratio good. I think it’s safe to say that Wainwright’s re-adjustment to a starting role is complete. He’ll face perennial Cy Young candidate Brandon Webb on Friday.

One game? Go with Wainwright/Webb. That has a chance to be fantastic. Happy watching!

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Unfortunately, two of the three games they’re offering on Saturday (12:30 p.m. PT) are complete dogs. Dodgers at Cardinals? Eh, mild playoff implications there. Pirates at Giants. Ooh, the battle for — what’s the opposite of supremacy? — in the NL Central and West, respectively. With luck, you’ll get the Red Sox at Orioles. This still isn’t the best game on tap (that would be Dan Haren and the A’s at Detroit, which counters with Justin Verlander), but at least Josh Beckett is pitching.

My recommendation? The Tigers game doesn’t start until 4:05 p.m. PT, so you still have time to fly to Detroit and see the game in person, assuming it’s not already sold out. Happy watching!

Post from: Knuckle Curve