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I honestly didn't think anyone thought Peavy would pitch well coming off that foot injury.
He had three starts last September where he pitched well though. *shrugs*
Back from the storm: Astros ace Roy Oswalt was away from the team earlier this week, having gone home to Weir, Miss., where his childhood home was ripped apart by a tornado last weekend. "The house had been there 40 years," Oswalt told The Associated Press. "It was the only thing I've known. All the stuff that we collected over the last 32 years of my life was pretty much gone. We found some pictures and some ... clothes. But everything else was pretty much gone. ... The biggest thing is that my mom's alive. The other stuff you can replace, it's materialistic stuff." Oswalt said he found game-worn jerseys from his rookie season hanging in trees, and his 2005 NL Championship Series MVP Award was broken to bits.
Suzuki, Ellis and Buck all injuredOriginally Posted by Nowitness41Dirk
Harden DEALING tonight...
The Rangers have held a lead at one point or another in all but 2 games this year.![]()
by Jim Caple
Eric Byrnes had an interesting weekend.
Because it was the last day of the month, Byrnes likely received his twice-monthly paycheck of roughly $917,000 (he's in the third year of a three-year, $30 million contract Arizona inexplicably gave him and is still largely reponsible for). That evening, he had an at-bat that was among the most ridiculous I've seen. With one out, the game tied 0-0 in the 11th inning and Ichiro Suzuki on third base, Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu called for a squeeze. Byrnes offered at the pitch but for some reason pulled his bat back and left Ichiro out to dry. Worse yet, Byrnes apparently realized his mistake and weakly attempted to bunt again after the pitch had already crossed home plate!
The whole thing was so astounding that Texas manager Ron Washington got ejected for arguing that the pitch should have been a strike because Byrnes had tried to bunt. When the umpire told him that Byrnes had pulled back the bat, Washington refused to believe him and continued to argue. He said that in all his years in baseball he had never seen anyone pull back the bat on a squeeze. He said he couldn't even fathom it. It was impossible. So he continued arguing and was ejected. (He needn't have bothered arguing. A couple of pitches, later Byrnes struck out looking anyway.)
But that wasn't the most amazing thing. No, the most amazing thing was that minutes after the game, Byrnes exited the clubhouse and rode his bike through the hallway past reporters and Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik! Really, he did. He dodged his GM and continued riding down the hall, presumably on his way out of the stadium and into the dark and rain.
Now, I'm a huge fan of cycling. I occasionally ride my bike to Mariners day games. But to ride through downtown Seattle in the dark and the rain and the traffic mess and the drunken crowds after a Friday night game? Wow. It kind of explains Byrnes' carefree attitude toward crashing into outfield fences.
Byrnes had Saturday off, but he was in the offense-challenged Mariners' lineup again Sunday. In his first trip to the plate, Milton Bradley was thrown out trying to steal second base to end the inning. That meant that in two consecutive trips to the plate, Byrnes had only one plate appearance but was part of three outs without putting the ball into play. He struck out looking with the bases loaded in his next at-bat and finished the game 0-for-4 with a .094 batting average.
The Mariners released Byrnes after the game. But the good news is he'll still get the rest of his $11 million salary regardless of whether he plays again. Better yet, he's now free to enter the Tour de France.
Originally Posted by briannnnn
Kinda feltfor Oswalt after reading this, but at least his mom is alive:![]()
Back from the storm: Astros ace Roy Oswalt was away from the team earlier this week, having gone home to Weir, Miss., where his childhood home was ripped apart by a tornado last weekend. "The house had been there 40 years," Oswalt told The Associated Press. "It was the only thing I've known. All the stuff that we collected over the last 32 years of my life was pretty much gone. We found some pictures and some ... clothes. But everything else was pretty much gone. ... The biggest thing is that my mom's alive. The other stuff you can replace, it's materialistic stuff." Oswalt said he found game-worn jerseys from his rookie season hanging in trees, and his 2005 NL Championship Series MVP Award was broken to bits.
[/h3][h3]STRIKE TWO -- IF IT WEREN'T FOR BAD LUCK DEPT.[/h3]
Has a pitcher ever filed suit against his own team for abandonment? Zack Greinke ought to think about it.
I used to think Matt Cain was the unluckiest pitcher of modern times. After Greinke's 1-0 loss to the Rays on Sunday, I'm stopping this fight. He's your runaway winner. The facts, please:
![]()
Greinke
• Here's a stat that should be impossible -- even for the Royals: Greinke has a 2.17 ERA over the last two seasons. Somehow, the Royals are 18-21 in his starts.
• Over those two seasons, Greinke has made nine starts in which he went at least six innings, gave up one earned run or none and didn't win. No one else in the big leagues has more than seven non-wins in starts like that.
• Over those same two seasons, the Royals have managed to keep Greinke from winning 13 starts in which he pitched at least six innings and allowed no more than two earned runs. No one else in the American League is even in double figures.
• Want to expand this to quality starts not won? Greinke has 16 of those over the last two years. Next most in the American League: 13, by Felix Hernandez.
• Finally, only five starting pitchers in baseball are even within a half-run of Greinke in ERA over the last two years. Check out their teams' records when those guys have pitched:
Tim Lincecum (2.31), 23-14
Chris Carpenter (2.34), 23-11
Adam Wainwright (2.56), 27-12
Roy Halladay (2.56), 22-16
Felix Hernandez (2.5, 29-11
And Zack Greinke's team is 18-21. I've seen a lot of incomprehensible stats in my day. But for sheer degree of insane difficulty, that one might be Numero Uno.
IF the Twins make the playoffs, there's almost zero chance they play the Athletics in the ALDS. It's already obvious (as it was before the season started) that the Wild Card will be coming out of the AL East. Which means in the first round the Wild Card in the AL East and the Division Winner in the AL East cannot play each other. One of those two will play the AL West winner (right now Athletics) and one of them would play the AL Central winner (right now Twins).Originally Posted by djaman
I have to agree, though if any team isn't a pretender, it's Oakland. Pretty good pitching staff. I like to think Minnesota would handle them if they met in the playoffs. Of course Tampa Bay and New York would. But the Blue Jays, Padres and Nationals are certainly pretenders.