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May 7, 2008
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THE VIEW: Ask the Tigers and they'll tell you they're in a slump. (Detroit News) Ask the Red Sox and they'll tell you Tim Wakefield (above) was brilliant. There's truth on both sides, and Steven Krasner tells us how the Sox saw last night's 5-0 whitewashing in Detroit: As a brilliant pitching performance by the 41-year-old Wakefield, who scattered two hits over eight innings (retiring 17 in a row at one point) without walking anyone. He had help, ranging from personal catcher Kevin Cash, who, reports Krasner, had a good night both offensively and defensively; to Manny Ramirez, who moved one home run closer to career homer No. 500 (Boston Herald); to David Ortiz, who homered one pitch before Ramirez hit No. 497. (Boston Herald). And not that it means anything, necessarily, but the Sox now have the largest lead of any first-place team in baseball, at 3 1/2 games. (Projo Stats)
BACK TO WORK: Krasner reports on Curt Schilling's first throwing session of the season, which consisted of playing long toss with John Farrell. Schilling himself talked about it before it happened on his blog (38pitches.com), then said afterward that, basically, it was the first step in a thousand-mile journey. (Boston Herald)
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW: Alex Cora and Sean Casey will be making rehab appearances in Pawtucket later this week. Krasner has the details. As for the PawSox, Shalise Manza Young reports they wasted a fine pitching performance by Davern Hansack in a 3-0 loss to Durham. She also has a feature on surprise leadoff hitter Jeff Bailey.
LOST IN AMERICA: Krasner reflects on Julian Tavarez, who hasn't pitched since April 24.
ON THE FLIP SIDE OF THE COIN . . . Jim Leyland exploded at the Tigers when they were floundering a few weeks ago. But now that they're floundering again, he's taking a different tack. (Detroit Free Press)
FABULOUS FREDDY: Joe Posnanski, who has consistently come out against Jim Rice's Hall of Fame candidacy, makes the case for Fred Lynn being enshrined. (joeposnanski.com)
NOW THAT'S A PIECE OF MEMORABILIA: Bob Feller and Carl Yastrzemski once wore the same uniform jersey -- for the Raleigh Caps -- and one of the team's former batboys now owns it. (Charlotte News and Observer)
AP Photo
BREAKING THE RULES: "Cut into Joba Chamberlain's skin," writes George King of the New York Post, "and he bleeds." It might not have seemed that way through his whirlwind first few months as a big-leaguer, but Chamberlain proved as human as anybody else last night as -- for the first time in a regular-season game -- he blew a late-inning lead, allowing a three-run, eighth-inning homer to David Dellucci that gave the Indians a 5-3 win over the Yankees. (The picture above captures his reaction.) His only previous blown save had come in the playoffs last year in Cleveland; this time, though, there was no swarm of midges to blame. What's to blame, writes the New York Daily News' John Harper, was a change in pitching philosophy as, in his own words, Chamberlain "didn't attack the zone as much as I should have." He was mixing in sliders and curveballs -- even though Dellucci did hit a fastball for the home run -- and Harper wonders if the expansion of his pitch repertoire was the first step toward a move into the starting rotation, where you can't just fire fastball after fastball at hitters for six or seven innings. Kevin Kernan of the Post says now we'll see how well Chamberlain reacts to the inevitable failure that, though it had eluded him to this point, every big-leaguer experiences. The reaction at Yankee Stadium was inevitable: Some of the fans actually booed Chamberlain, for which they were taken to task by Peter Abraham. (LoHud Yankees Blog)
JOBA TO THE MAX: SI.com's Tom Verducci says the Diamondbacks may have the new Joba Chamberlain -- he's already old?? -- in Max Scherzer.
MINOR MIRACLE: Down on the farm, Ian Kennedy transformed himself back into the prospect the Yankees think he is with 7 1/3 one-hit, shutout innings in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's win over Charlotte. (New York Daily News)
NO 42 MEDIUM: MLB has retired Jackie Robinson's No. 42 in honor of the player who broke baseball's color line, but SI.com's Bryan Armen says the best player in history to wear the number is Mariano Rivera.
GROWING UP: The New York Sun's Tim Marchman thinks that, unlike most, Chein-Ming Wang is still evolving -- as a pitcher, that is -- at age 28.
'DADDY DEAREST': That's the New York Post headline over its story on Koby Clemens, who stands by his embattled father and says his family remains strong and united in spite of all the recent negative press.
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: Suzyn Waldman, who was a target herself last year after her over-the-top reaction to Clemens' re-signing with the Yankees, says the only thing that surprises her about this year's Clemens Saga "is the glee with which people are going after Roger." (Newsday)
HELLO, DOLLY: Under the category of There's No Molehill Small Enough That We Can't Make Into A Mountain, MLB expressed its displeasure over the White Sox' inflatable-dolls-in-the-clubhouse incident. (Chicago Sun-Times) The White Sox brass didn't exactly apologize, though it called the whole thing "a little bit of a disappointment" and promised the issue was being "addressed." Ozzie Guillen, however, continues to be defiantly unapologetic (Chicago Tribune), and the Sun-Times' Rick Telander, an ex-athlete himself, says that's no surprise; ballplayers, in his words, "are adolescent boys," and always have been, and tells us "major-leaguers throughout history have done ludicrous things to break slumps." But he also tells us we're in a different era and Guillen has to watch his step, because "this beast . . . has the power to eat him up and spit him out." It was all a batting-practice fastball to the Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti, whose anti-White Sox venom bubbles in the calmest of times. Now, it's spilling onto a whole new plane.
SORRY, BUT THAT CAN'T BE IT: Refusing to believe they're unemployed simply because no one wants to deal with the baggage they carry, the MLBPA is opening an investigation into whether a collusion case can be made for Barry Bonds, Kenny Lofton and a few other still-unsigned free agents. (ESPN.com)
I WANT TO GO HOME: Ken Griffey Jr. all but told USA Today he wants to finish his career where he started, in Seattle, and the Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Dougherty thinks the Reds should grant him his wish and trade him to the Mariners. But new Reds GM Walt Jocketty called Griffey trade talk "premature." (espn.com)
I WANT TO STAY HOME: The suddenly resurgent Pat Burrell is a free agent at the end of the year, but he'd love to re-sign with the Phillies. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
LOCAL BOYS: Chris Iannetta lifted his average to .362 with a homer and a double in the Rockies' 6-5 loss to the Cardinals (Denver Post), and the Rocky Mountain News' Dave Kreiger calls Iannetta's surge one the few rays of sunshine in Colorado. That's the good news. The bad news is that ex-Providence College star John McDonald had to be taken off the field in a golf cart after hurting his ankle in the Blue Jays' loss to the Rays. (National Post)
BACK FROM EXILE: The Giants are moving Barry Zito back into the starting rotation. (mlb.com)
YESTERDAY'S BEST: Lost in the noise of inflatable dolls was news that Gavin Floyd nearly no-hit the Twins for the White Sox (mlb.com) . . . Sidney Ponson made his third consecutive strong start as the Rangers beat the Mariners (Dallas Morning News) . . . The Astros came from behind no fewer than four times to beat the Nationals (Houston Chronicle) . . . Scott Olsen just missed pitching the Marlins' first complete-game one-hitter in almost five years, but he was still good enough to lead Florida to a shutout of the Brewers. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
WHISPERS: Josh Fogg -- "rotting in the Reds bullpen," according to the Denver Post -- could be headed back to Colorado . . . The Marlins are interested in Jacque Jones, who was cut loose earlier this week by the Tigers. (mlb.com)
OLD FRIENDS: Not only do the Brewers have no plans to replace Eric Gagne as closer, they claim they're not at all worried about his five blown saves, 6.14 ERA and .382 batting average allowed (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) . . . Wil Ledezma is moving into the Padres' starting rotation (mlb.com) . . . Justin Duchscherer pitched a strong game for the A's (San Francisco Chronicle) . . . They're not crazy about ex-Blue Jay Eric Hinske in Toronto -- the fans are angry he never lived up to what they thought was his potential after he won the 2002 A.L. Rookie of the Year award with the Jays; their feelings about him are summed up rather nicely by our pal the Tao of Steib -- and he continued to give them reason to hate him by homering in Tampa Bay's 5-4 win at the Rogers Centre (Tampa Tribune) . . . Nor are they crazy about current Blue Jay David Eckstein (National Post), who's been struggling this year; he had to leave the same game because of a strained right hip flexor. (mlb.com)
-- ART MARTONE
Posted by Art Martone 
at 6:49 AM | Permalink
