Dan Gould

If the Rays keep up their bullpen performance, there is no reason why they should not have a good season, which will qualify as a great season by Rays standards (I'm talking 83-88 wins). Last year all it took was to get the starter out (who was often mediocre at best anyway) and then pound on the worst bullpen in the league. This year it is a completely different situation, with the pen protecting leads, and the starters pitching, in general, far far better - and that is without Kazmir to date. The Red Sox have the top or second best offense by runs scored in the league, and its a good thing too because the pitching has been mostly to almost entirely lacking, particularly the bullpen. Papelbon is even better than before (for instance, he walked the first batter he faced but hasn't given up another in something like 34 ABs since, and his strikeout rate is through the roof) and Okajima has been fine. But Timlin and DelCarmen have been mediocre to horrifying, and the rest of the 'pen is even worse than them. I am encouraged by the trends for the starters - Beckett, Buchholz and Lester have pitched gems in succession, and Dice-K has an ERA just a hair over 3. The pen may improve if all of the starters continue to go deeper into games, and particularly it will improve if they bring up Masterson and Hansen sooner rather than later.

Yeah, too bad three straight gems by the starters has only resulted in one win. But if Buchholz, Beckett and Lester can keep pitching like this, I like our chances. The pitching has to improve if we are to have a chance to repeat, and it starts with the starters so that we can avoid the dregs of the bullpen. On the other hand, its nice to see our two young guys have great starts when the Yankee youngsters are holding up the bottom of the league with shortest average starts, and they are both still looking for their first wins.

Well, Neil Diamond is kicking the young 'uns asses tonight, I'd say. (Why he would be selected, and slotted for this week is beyond me). And that performance of "September Morn" by the dude in dreadlocks - he sure as hell looked and sounded stoned on that one. I'd say the boy band and the rocker are probably safe - the rest all deserve to go in one fell swoop.

Well that didn't take long. 24 hours after Rusty declared that Clemens had no "inappropriate" or "sexual" relationship with the country singer, the NY Post has an interview with her father confirming the affair (he says that it didn't become physical until after she split with Dean Cain) and the Daily News has McCready herself saying "I can't refute anything in the story". It must really suck trying to defend a man who is incapable of telling his lawyer, or anyone else, the truth.

And now according to Buster Olney, Zito is the 126 million dollar long reliever!

Might be interesting if the McCready story leads Deb to kick the big lug out and then come clean on the true circumstances of her HGH use. But he's been her meal ticket for so long, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew all along about what was going on between them. But a 28 year old interested in a 15 year old? The story doesn't say that the "intimate" relationship started then but the implication is sickening. What I don't quite grasp though is the idea that this could help McNamee because it calls into question Clemens' character. If the point is that McNamee slandered him, isn't it his public image at the time of the slander that is germane?

Who is this motherfucking umpire in Tampa? Fucking pitches that trail directly over the chalk of the opposite batter's box being called strikes is fucking outrageous. Is this fucking Eric Gregg's ghost? As if this fucking pitcher needs the help anyway. It probably doesn't matter in the end but it sure as hell is fucking infuriating. Not nearly as infuriating as being swept out of Tampa in the most horrific, monstrous embarrassment I've ever witnessed. Yes, it equals the last "Boston Massacre".

Conrad, a PM is incoming.

Now that I've seen the care instructions, its going to be even longer than I thought. More like 8 weeks before he can even be allowed off the leash or to climb the stairs and 12 weeks before he'd be allowed to play with Gracie. And speaking of, she is just such a sad creature, moping around the house. She just misses her brother terribly. The only good thing is that now she has stopped looking for him, or going up and down the stairs. She just stays glued to my side.

Thanks for the description; I'll confidently cross this book off of the list. I'm interested in learning about Hank's "life and thoughts" - I'll listen to the music rather than read what someone thinks of it.

And let me just add that the game should have been tied since Navarro by all rights should have been rung up on the pitch prior to his single. That pitch wasn't even fucking borderline, it was without a doubt strike three. Ten out of eleven and then four fucking losses, and if Baltimore sweeps their doubleheader, percentage points out of first. And how sad for Buchholz who was as dominating as he had been during his no-hitter, and because the offense is completely asleep, he has no margin for error. Fuck it all to hell.

Well that was the most motherfucking infuriating loss I've ever seen in my fucking life. And with Beckett going tomorrow, I hope Iwamura doesn't dig in too much. He's going to get dusted at least once for flipping the bat like he's fucking Babe Ruth.

I think most Tribe fans would disagree, but hey, if the midges changed your luck, I say, carry on!

Hey Cleveland fans - nice win at the Jake, especially the way the umpires had it in for you. I was sure the Yanks were going to take it after that pathetic call at second base, but then Kobyashi got Jeter to hit into the double play with the go ahead run at third. I didn't listen to the broadcast much but I assume that Joba is still hurt, and that surely helped in the end. Tomorrow should be great with Wang facing C.C. and then you get to remind Mussina that he's 39 and barely doubles his age on the radar gun. Sweep! Sweep! SWEEEP!!!!

My vinyl copy has the cover with the girl on it, and interestingly enough the picture of Chuck on the stool is on the flip side. That kind of suggests to me that the girl cover is the original issue, and maybe the second one came out on a subsequent reissue after the boomlet in cheesecake covers had faded. I do find it strange though that two covers would exist for the CD reissue. If it matters, there's a 203 S. Washington Ave, Bergenfield address on the label and the flip side of the cover.

You may like the offense but your defense won the game. Any of those line drives get down, its a completely different game. And I guess its a different Rays team because of the bullpen - last year it would have blown the game up.

won't know til late this afternoon, and he won't come home til Sunday. But the doctor told my wife that it will be really be quite a while, probably 8 weeks minimum before he can be allowed off the leash or to climb the stairs.

You gotta stop thinking in terms of wins and losses and look at those peripheral stats - speed on the fastball, strikeout rates, walk rates, runners allowed to reach base. Sure he's going to win one or two now and again - but wins aren't the best measure of a pitcher anyway because too many things come into play that a pitcher can't control. Its like we said about Cain and Lineceum - with that offense, they could go 5-17 with an ERA under 3. It stands to reason that a mediocre pitcher could do the same thing but have an ERA of 5.

I don't at all believe he should be a reliever. In a single start, he showed more consistently effective pitches than Jon Lester has in 2+ years. He instantly goes just behind, or possibly even with, Clay Buchholz in terms of potential starting stardom. Maybe he needs to work on his secondary pitches, I hear that his slider and change need it, but I agree with the D-Lowe comparison except that I think he could be a more effective starter for a longer period of time. I don't have a problem if he is called on to help out the bullpen this year (which is already a major disappointment so far) but his future is as a starter. I'd also like to see Craig Hansen get the call - he looked 100% better than he ever has before, even though he was the losing pitcher on Wednesday. But I'm frankly worried that MDC, Lopez and Timlin are all losing it. And I've supported MDC a lot more than you have! But I'd love to see Masterson live up to the nickname he's gotten - 6 and a half feet tall --> call him MONSTER-son.

You have got to be kidding me. The NL West has been an offensive wasteland for years, not least because Petco, Dodger Stadium and Pac Bell all are strong pitcher's parks, and the humidor in the Rockies has brought that stadium back to earth, too. Zito is no head case and the AL West, with DH's and smaller parks, for Christ sake, is not weak offensively. Zito has been declining since his Cy Young season, and everyone knew that except your GM. Why do you think it so long to get him signed? You had no competition but you couldn't stand up to Scott Boras and he snow jobbed you into a record breaking contract for a league average pitcher.

Good timing for this thread. Just two days ago I noticed a report on CNN.com about this device, and brought it to the attention of the President of our Homeowners Association. We have a serious problem with young punks in the park/pool area particularly at night, and for $1500 I am going to strongly push the board to investigate these devices as a way to ensure that the area (which also features drug deals and thrice weekly assaults) is cleared from dusk until dawn. I suffered a significant hearing deficit as a young child and couldn't hear a damn thing from any of those downloads.

The only team worse than the Rangers is the Washington Nationals. That irony is not lost on me one bit. And so goes yet another wonderful baseball season here in Loserville, TX. But Al - I just read that Baseball America says Texas has the fourth best farm system in baseball. If they are big sellers in June, they should have an even better group of prospects in hand - and that usually means that better times are near.

I wish I could and if I'd been on top of things I would have bought tickets earlier since this is the only weekend series in Tampa, but its just as well that I am not going - Coltrane's surgery is Saturday morning, so I probably would have canceled anyway. All good things must come to an end but it really sucks when the killer flu bug knocks out yet another starter (Dice-K this time) forcing Lester to start on three days rest, and they still have multiple chances to win. Now to take the series, they've got an afternoon game against the Angels best pitcher to date, Saunders, and they have to call up another rookie to pitch on short notice. Oh wait. This is Justin Masterson making his ML debut? You mean the guy who has a ground out to fly out ration of over 4-1? The guy who struck out 10 in his last AA start, allowing no runs in five innings to lower his ERA under 1? You mean the guy who throws a Wang-like sinker anywhere from 82 to 95? The guy that his San Diego State coach, Tony Gwynn, predicts will be a star? He may not win, but I am very interested to see this guy pitch today.

I agree with MG, Pygmy and Blue Lights are the best of the lot.

How about, he's a pitcher who has been declining steadily since 2002, his "fast"ball is somewhere between Mike Mussina and Jamie Moyer ... and you've got him for what, seven more years? That was a horrible signing a year and a half ago, and it will get worse every year until he's gone. Pretty much everyone knew that Zito was getting worse, not better. No pitcher is worth such a long contract, but at least the Mets signed someone at the top of his game. The Giants signed a piece of garbage who has only continued to stink.