This Week in Baseball 4/23 - 4/29

[CanadianChris]

Even better -- the night I'm looking to go is Lee Mazzilli Bobblehead Night. That cinches it.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Umpire behind the plate for the plate for the Nats/Phillies game is Adrian Johnson. I've seen several players make the bigs from AAA, but this is the first umpire I can recall.

 

May 26th at Lakewood, NJ is Michael Bourn bobblehead day, plus King Kong Bundy is signing autographs. If you can brave the Garden State Parkway, it's worth the trip.

[the pinjockey]

The Phillies agreed. Matt Smith sent to the minors, Fabio Castro brought up.

 

Now they just need to dump Barajas. Why he is stealing any at bats from Ruiz (outside of the standard 30-40 games worth of backup catcher ABs) is beyond me.

[CanadianChris]

The Blue Jays' most underrated good move of the offseason was not signing Barajas. If they'd gone through with that, I would've been disgusted.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh]

Rod Barajas sucks so much. Um, can we get Chris Coste back, please?

 

3-0 Nats over Phils in the 6th. Sean Hill is a pretty damn good opponent for Cole Hamels and is outpitching him. Cole has loaded the bases in the 6th and given up 2 runs so far. Damn.

[Spaceman Spiff]

May 26th at Lakewood, NJ is Michael Bourn bobblehead day, plus King Kong Bundy is signing autographs. If you can brave the Garden State Parkway, it's worth the trip.

I went to a Lakewood game 2-3 years ago, and it was Jerry Lawler night.

 

Rod Barajas sucks so much. Um, can we get Chris Coste back, please?

Hey, yeah, where is Coste? Is he still hurt? I agree - Barajas is terrible.

[the pinjockey]

That is the worst part. Yes, Coste was likely the beneficiary of a small sample size last year, but christ he at least deserved the chance to prove it. If you were bringing in a legitimate ML catcher is one thing, but dumping the feel good story of last season for Barajas just blows.

 

Spiff: Coste is currently stinking up AAA.

[vivalaultra]

The Astros lost like their 18th in a row. They've left about 300 men on base during this three-game sweep by the Pirates. Rick "Double Balls" White went on the DL. The Astros called up Stephen Randolph, who is both black AND Japanese, so hopefully that gets Joe Morgan off of their back.

[Hawk 34]

The Astros lost like their 18th in a row. They've left about 300 men on base during this three-game sweep by the Pirates. Rick "Double Balls" White went on the DL. The Astros called up Stephen Randolph, who is both black AND Japanese, so hopefully that gets Joe Morgan off of their back.

 

"Being half black isn't enough. They can't get a real black man. Shame on the Astros".

[The Man in Blak]

"I think you have to appreciate the Astros' attempt to introduce diversity into their roster, but they still come up short unless they have somebody that can communicate with them. And there are candidates out there, candidate that have had success elsewhere. Somebody like Dusty Baker could come in here and relate to these players and bring about a culture of winning."

[vivalaultra]

The Astros do have a pretty diverse roster. They have clean-cut white guys from all parts of the United States.

[Dobbs 3K]

The Astros lost like their 18th in a row. They've left about 300 men on base during this three-game sweep by the Pirates. Rick "Double Balls" White went on the DL. The Astros called up Stephen Randolph, who is both black AND Japanese, so hopefully that gets Joe Morgan off of their back.

 

"You look pretty exotic. Was your dad a GI?"

[CanadianChris]

"I think you have to appreciate the Astros' attempt to introduce diversity into their roster, but they still come up short unless they have somebody that can communicate with them. And there are candidates out there, candidate that have had success elsewhere. Somebody like Dusty Baker could come in here and destroy these young starting pitchers and bring about a culture of not clogging up the bases."

That's better.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Dusty would be miserable with the Lastros. Other than Burke, all those guys clog up the bases.

[vivalaultra]

Burke doesn't reach base enough to clog the bases. He's Dusty's kind of player, for sure.

[Guest Richard McBeef]

Timmy Kurkjian thinks MLB should do everything in its power to make sure Bonds breaks the record at home. What a dope.

[vivalaultra]

I'm not concerned about Tim Kurkjian's opinion on Bonds. The only one that matters in that regard is Pedro Gomez. How could anyone ever forget 'Bonds Watch: 2006'?

How would MLB go about making sure that Bonds breaks the record at home? They can't force the Giants to not play him in road games, huh?

[Hawk 34]

I really want to see Bonds break the record (and he will) in Atlanta just for the intense negativity from that crowd but SF doesn't visit Atlanta until mid-August and I assume Bonds will have already reached that mark by then. He'd get a horrible reaction everywhere aside from The Bay Area, so it doesn't matter really but the reaction from Atlanta or perhaps LA would be best.

 

Here's another factor, how many walks will this guy see once he ties the record? No pitcher will want to be the guy that gave him that record.

[vivalaultra]

That would be something if he gets to within one of the record and just gets an IBB every at-bat for the rest of the season.

[Hawk 34]

I do think that is the only course of action to keep the record intact. Doing that wouldn't taint it anymore in the eyes of the public then it already is. Leave him sitting at 754 would be tremendous but I can't see that actually happening.

[MarvinisaLunatic]

Its good to finally see a completely healthy Os lineup with Payton and Hernandez finally playing.

[Guest Richard McBeef]

I have to check the schedule: can Bonds break it at Wrigley? Our preening fratboy douchebags know how to throw some serious garbage.

[MarvinisaLunatic]

I really hate looking away from the TV and hearing a cheer from the crowd and realizing its the fucking red sox fans and they just got a hit..not a great Os defensive play.

 

Its flat out embarassing the Red Sox fans are louder than the Os fans in their own damn park.

[vivalaultra]

The Giants are on the road in Philly the first week of June. I'd LOVE to see what would happen if Barry hit 756 there.

[Guest Richard McBeef]

The Giants are on the road in Philly the first week of June. I'd LOVE to see what would happen if Barry hit 756 there.

Oh, God.

 

Hot.

 

Shit.

 

This could be one of the all-time great moments.

[MarvinisaLunatic]

I wonder if Bonds will get death threats like Aaron got, cept his is for being a steroid addict.

[vivalaultra]

The difference between Aaron and Bonds is that Aaron got death threats from narrow-minded bigots because of something he had no control over and shouldn't have been an issue; Bonds gets death threats from baseball fans because he's an obnoxious ass that had complete control over his actions. The sad thing is that he probably would've gone down as one of the top two or three players ever in the game even without his copious alleged steriod use.

[MarvinisaLunatic]

Beckett sucks when he doesn't get his 11.5 runs a game support from the Boston offense..

 

Ok..maybe not suck..but he's losing 2-0 in the 6th and so far Adam Loewen is outpitching him.

 

IM A HUGE JINX! YAY!

[CanadianChris]

Hughes looked pretty good for a 20-year-old. Too bad for him that the Yankee offence hasn't yet shown up.

[snuffbox]

Ben Sheets is probable for his next start, scheduled for next Tuesday at home vs. the Cards.