Patrick

I don't believe I'm typing this, but Paul Byrd!!! 7.1 IP, 0 ER, 7K, 0BB. Cleveland starters have allowed a grand total of 1 run in their last 39 innings pitched. If only Betancourt wasn't trying to do his best Borowski imitation. Kobayashi gets his first save tonight.

Mike Brown is not getting fired any time soon, and why should he? He wasn't the one that got hoodwinked by Carlos Boozer, or that thought guys like Larry Hughes, Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, were the answer. Cavs missed a lot of player-games to holdouts and injuries, and made a blockbuster trade that did not cost them either of their valuable, potentially available, young players (Gibson, Varajao). Joe Smith has been a pleasant surprise (not missing Drew Gooden who for a long time I felt had a chance to be an excellent power forward). Wally and Ben are old, but they contribute as much as Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall. And Delonte West has a chance to be an effective point guard (we shall see). Brown does need an offensive ass't coach real bad, but one could do a lot worse. Q: Is Doc Rivers still a coaching genius? Pistons fans have to be feeling pretty good right now. Even if Boston survives Cleveland, Detroit has got to like their chances against the Celtics' not so big 3. Jeff Van Gundy is a brutal tv commentator--we are seriously into Bill Walton territory here (who I find to be rather amusing in a sick way). Give me Hubie, or Fratello, or Mark Jackson. Send JVG off to be the towelboy in Orlando, please...

Fausto Carmona!!! Cliff Lee!!! (ERA dips to 0.67, 9 inning no decision) Asdrubal Cabrera (responsible for 2/3 of the offense in a doubleheader, and the unassisted triple play)!

Another solid start for Sabathia against Jays, 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 9 K, 2 BB, a win, and the ERA tumbles down to 6.55. Clutch pinch hit by Ben Francisco who has already contributed more than Jason Michaels had all season.

Yeah, too bad he has to be followed by Paul Byrd. And too bad that Jason Giambi doesn't get to hit off Byrd every day. I saw on a Yankee blog an analysis where he divided pitchers into "finesse" "power" and "in-between" and showed how, for the last two years, Jason Giambi has done all of his damage off of "finesse" guys, of whom Byrd is a perfect example, and can't hit power guys to save his life any more. So every time Giambi says he that he feels great and is ready to bust out, check the schedule for who he's going to be facing. And remember, too, that in 250 ABs from last May to this May, he is hitting .180. Yes, Byrd has been brutal this year. This is what I thought they signed way back when, perhaps a serviceable 5th starter. Nothing to get too excited about. But after getting healthy, he was a pleasant surprise last year. Stunning that he performed so well as the 3rd guy in the rotation for much of last year, after Westbrook and Lee missed most/all of the season. I won't get too upset if the "Paul Byrd era" ended sooner rather than later. [Arguably, it already has ended.] And the anemic Indian offense has now twice made Moose look five years younger. And I fear that Travis Hafner may be turning into the next Cory Snyder. To get to .500 in May...

Yeah, too bad he has to be followed by Paul Byrd. And too bad that Jason Giambi doesn't get to hit off Byrd every day. I saw on a Yankee blog an analysis where he divided pitchers into "finesse" "power" and "in-between" and showed how, for the last two years, Jason Giambi has done all of his damage off of "finesse" guys, of whom Byrd is a perfect example, and can't hit power guys to save his life any more. So every time Giambi says he that he feels great and is ready to bust out, check the schedule for who he's going to be facing. And remember, too, that in 250 ABs from last May to this May, he is hitting .180. Yes, Byrd has been brutal this year. This is what I thought they signed way back when, perhaps a serviceable 5th starter. Nothing to get too excited about. But after getting healthy, he was a pleasant surprise last year. Stunning that he performed so well as the 3rd guy in the rotation for much of last year, after Westbrook and Lee missed most/all of the season. I won't get too upset if the "Paul Byrd era" ended sooner rather than later. [Arguably, it already has ended.] And the anemic Indian offense has now twice made Moose look five years younger. And I fear that Travis Hafner may be turning into the next Cory Snyder. To get to .500 in May...

Cliff Lee!!!!

How often did AEC perform at the Jazz Showcase? A little surprising to me given my perception of Joe Segal's tastes (but what do I know). Anyone recall those shows in April '77?

Happiness!!!

Isn't baseball season just great!!

As lame as Flip is, the last thing any team needs is Larry Brown. You'd be much better off with Mike Fratello, or Hubie Brown, or several other retreads. Yeah, NYK is the perfect spot for Larry Brown.

Yes. Five in a row and in second place behind Chisox. Byrd served up three gophers but survived last night. Sowers pitched well this afternoon--Jensen Lewis couldn't survive the seventh. And why weren't the Indians running at will against Jorge today? Sizemore got gunned down, after staying attached to first for two outs. Oy. NY fortunate to avoid the dominant AL starter Cliff Lee!!! Victor Martinez as steady as ever. Offense otherwise not really clicking. Dellucci/Michaels in left remains brutal. Starting pitching (besides CC until his most recent start) has been solid. JoeBo and Westbrook to miss a month each. Hopefully Laffey will follow Sowers with another solid start. Nice to have 7 major league starters. Hopefully CC will repeat his most recent performance, and not the rest of 2008 (or 2007 postseason) against Wang.

Happy Birthday Mark!!

I was there as well. First time ever to experience Mr. Rollins in person. Initially fearful that it would be extremely short--only played for about 20 minutes before taking a break (much like Tyner earlier this year), but played for an hour plus after the break. The guy is still having fun, and sounding as vital as ever. Fairly full house too (many DC class trip student groups).

congrats to the quartet. The joy--and the mayhem--continues, hopefully with a lot of smiles!!

In my alternative Indians bullpen universe, Joe Borowski is the long man. Maybe closer by committee, or give it to Betancourt. Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis, Masa Kobayashi, and to a lesser extent Jorge Julio are the setup guys. Of those guys, the only one that you can make a legitimate argument is weaker than Borowski is maybe Julio (based on age, injuries), or possibly Kobayashi (unproven in MLB). Good news is that JoBo just got placed on the DL with a strained right biceps muscle. Tom Mastny, the last bullpen cut, was promoted. I suspect Betancourt will get first crack at the closer role. Briefly to other positive things. Travis Hafner, while not totally locked in averagewise, is presently not in the shackles of last year. Jake Westbrook was solid and steady again. If Cliff Lee can continue to pitch at the level he was pitching a few years ago, then Paul Byrd can rightly reclaim his spot as the fifth starter (behind CC, Fausto, Westbrook, and Lee) instead of the third starter (much of last season). Sabathia has been brutal so far, but I remain confident during his contract year. Most of the time, Manny Ramirez in a foreign uniform does not bother me. The guy can swing, and doesn't seem to take himself too seriously (usually). Occaisionally he does deserve a knockdown pitch following the posing at home. Manny was Manny, but it was Youk that I had a bad feeling about before the game started. That guy just kills the Tribe. And first pitch was thrown by Mudcat Grant. Accompanied by Al Downing, and JR Richard, two other African American 20 game winners. Hot stove league may be over, but let's keep the stove hot in Cleveland (...and a few other places) for at least a few more weeks.

It's painfully obvious now. Joe Borowski must have comprising pictures of Eric Wedge and/or Mark Shapiro together or with farm animals or ... already two blown saves, velocity is down. A stacked bullpen. How much longer??? Hey Red Sox Nation, enjoy the gift you received tonight.

TBS has dropped the Braves. They have a national Sunday afternoon broadcast now, and I believe that they will have the NLCS as well. Cool. Did not know that. Just shows how much time I spend clicking by WTBS. I haven't been watching much baseball yet--though enough to notice Sabathia is off to a lousy start, Borowski is still terrible (and maybe injured), but Westbrook and Lee are pitching well (at least against Oakland).

I'm confused. Nats/Braves on a DC sportstation, flip over to TBS to see what's up there, and they are showing Cubs/Phillies. Why? Does TBS have a general NL deal? Or are people concerned that the lovable Cubs just don't get enough nationwide exposure on their own superstation? Or is it a Caray thing (...and I wouldn't understand)?

After last night's lost to the Cavs, in which the Pistons got to the freethrow line a grand total of three times for the whole game (yes... three times), you may be right. So the Pistons were only 6 of 7 from the line, and the Cavs had 9 more FT attempts (12/16). Refs were letting them play, at both ends. Did you watch the game? I only caught the second half and saw a whole lot of missed jumpers by Detroit--especially Rip and Chauncey. Sheed ended up getting his points (16) but Ben made him work at it, and toward the end (when the game was still very much in reach) Sheed was just launching 3's. Fine outside shooter for a big man, but good luck with that. Forget about going to the line, when you only shoot 39% from the field and 28% from 3-point land, you're probably going to lose, even when you hold the opposition under 90. Cavs are a talented team, playing their division rival, at home, with rest. The real explanation for the outcome is that Detroit played a barn-burner in Denver the night before, and the Cavs had an offday at home.

Please. If you can look past the travelling by Kobe, Shaq, Iverson, etc., etc., etc., you can look past LeBron. Try it. It's not hard. It's been the NBA way of life for at least 20 years... :bwallace2: Pistons slight favorites over Boston in the East. Cavs have a chance if they can get everyone playing together--new guys (Wally, Ben, Delonte, Joe Smith) and their injured (or recently off the injury list) players (Ilgauskas, Gibson, Pavlovic, Varajao). I'm actually pessimistic about this happening in time, but we shall see. They have a few games against Detroit and Orlando, but much of their remaining schedule is fairly soft. Ben Wallace appears to be damaged goods, but I've never been that high on him, and I think Cavs will get as much contribution out of him as they did Larry Hughes (who is genuinely happier scoring in Chicago rather than winning (and earning bonuses) in Cleveland). In early games it looked like Ben and Z were playing well together (even getting more D out of Z!), but now Ilgauskas is on the shelf. Best part of the trade so far is Joe Smith who is easily contributing as much as Drew Gooden (while being better at the defensive end and at the line). Other best part of the trade is that Daniel Gibson and Anderson Varajao are still in town (for now).

Last night I caught McCoy Tyner trio performing with tap dancer Savion Glover. Interesting idea that went over very well with the Kennedy Center crowd. Only obviously "tappable" tune was Duke's "In a Mellow Tone". Some feedback, perhaps from Glover's micced floor panels, kind of ruined the two tunes the trio played without Glover. Perhaps the saddest part was that they played two 30 minute sets (if that). I know McCoy will be 70 this year, and he certainly is not as vigorous as he's been in recent years, but is this guy just cashing checks now? [...I had a similar but less strong feeling following his fairly short performance at Univ of Maryland last October.] I knew that this was a possibility, and I'm not upset--just wonderin'.

Close game until Manu totally took over in the fourth--for the game, eight 3-pointers, ouch. Cavs playing reasonably well through a tough part of their schedule. Still missing Varajao, Pavlovic, Gibson. After tonight, Cavs only have 3 games left with western conference teams with .500+ records (Houston, Portland, New Orleans). They won't catch Detroit, so they won't rise above the 4 seed. Hopefully they'll get their guys back and make another run... And check Larry Hughes' recent production: averaging 18.8 ppg over last 10, including 26 against Spurs and 40 against Magic. Finally some signs of life (...cue the medical staff). Recent report has Devean George vetoing the Kidd to Mavs deal. We'll see if DAL/NJ can work around this.

A sex worker weighs in on the etymology, suggests WJC is the real pimp... http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tracy_...imping_who.html

Happy Birthday! Enjoy your contributions here, as well as Soul Journey .