If you haven’t haven’t heard already, Albert Pujols played second base today for the St Louis Cardinals.  No, it’s not one of LaRussa’s crazy moves though when I first heard about this, that’s the first thing that crossed my mind.  No, to put it simply, injuries forced the move.  From MLB.comS:

The game ended with Pujols playing second base, the result of an injury to Cesar Izturis. The shortstop was hit by a pitch in the top of the ninth, and had to come out of the game. Because the Cardinals had only Yadier Molina left on the bench, Molina came in to catch, Jason LaRue played first base, Pujols moved from first to second and Aaron Miles moved from second to shortstop.

I got a few emails about this today.  See, Albert is on my APBA league team and his appearance at second base today will allow me to do the same next year.  Good.

In 2002, Pujols played two innings at shortstop so playing middle infield is not new.  That said, he was lucky enough not to have the ball hit to him then.  Apparently today, he had one total chance (and no error!).

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No more free sweets for the Yankee players. 

Because Joe sez so.

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I tuned into the Dodgers/Giants game last night to watch Tim Lincecum pitch for San Francisco. When I turned the game on in the 2nd inning, neither Chad Billingsley nor Lincecum were pitching for their ballclubs. I was wondering, what the heck is going on?

As I watched further I realized there was a thunderstorm that was supposed to have hit LA a little after the game began. So both managers decided to start the game with relief pitchers and bring in their prized young flame throwers after the rain delay.

However the rains didn’t come and the waether forecasters predicted there’d be a two hour window in which to get the game in. Bruce Bochy brought in the Franchise to face the Dodgers in the bottom of the 4th of a zero-zero game, James Loney got the kid for an opposite field RBI single.

It should be noted the rain started coming down just as Lincecum took the bump. Rather than paying attention to what was going on in front of his face, manager Joe Torre followed suit by bringing on Billingsley to face the Giants in the top of the 5th. Chad allowed SF to tie the game when the umpires called for the tarp before the Giants could complete turn at bat. Perhaps the Dodgers would have been better served if Torre had brought on his closer to close out the fifth with a 1-0 lead, then if the game couldn’t be completed it would have been a Los Angeles win.

The delay lasted about an hour. Surprisingly Bruce Bochy put the Franchise back out there after the rains had stopped. Why would you jeopardize such a talent in a meaningless game of a meaningless season for the Giants? San Francisco is going nowhere this year! Maybe Bochy got away with it, perhaps Lincecum will have no ill effects from this folly, but this is what separates the good managers from the bad. Joe Torre decided not to return his young hurler to the mound in a season where it’ll come down to the wire in LA.

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I was watching the end of the Cincinnati/Arizona game last night on the MLB package, only on DirectTV. Brennaman & Brantley were doing the game for the Reds, the game was in the bottom of the 9th, two on, nobody out, Diamondbacks up two, with Edwin Encarnacion at the plate facing closer Brandon Lyon.

The announcers are debating whether the runners should be advanced with a bunt. Brennaman is saying EE has never successfully sacrificed in his career and his stats show him to be a clutch performer. Brantley counters that according to the book you’ve got to bunt and if Encarnacion can’t bunt then they should send somebody up there who can. And besides that states Brantley, Edwin is not clutch.

In the meantime Dusty “Play it by the Book” Baker wants the batter to bunt. I’m SCREAMING at Baker through my TV set, “He can’t bunt! Use your friggin brains!” But alas Dusty can’t hear me or he’s paying no attention to what I’m saying.

No matter, as Encarnacion is now in the hole 1-2 after two futile bunt attempts, then there’s a breaking pitch in the dirt. As Lyon comes home with the pitch, Brennaman & Brantley continue the debate. Brennaman says Edwin is clutch, Brantley yells as the sphere is headed plateward, He is not clutch!

Of course the batter connects sending a screamer into the leftfield stands for a game winning home run, Brennaman asks will it be deep enough? Is he clutch? Brantley comments that he has never been so wrong. Brennaman mutters something about, well according to the book, probably thinking to himself he has to work with this goofball all season long.

Classic: Brennaman signs off with, “That’s all from Cincinnati. Final score Arizona 6, Reds 5″.

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Pinch hitter Delwyn (everyone calls me “PeeWee”) Young delivered in the bottom of the 9th with a two out infield hit. Rafael Furcal scored from secondbase as Giants secondbaseman frantically tried to throw out the blur that was Young streaking toward firstbase. Durham’s throw was late and by the time firstbaseman Rich Aurilia threw home, a hustling Furcal was under Benji Molina’s swipe tag with the winning run.

San Fran had taken the lead in the top of the 7th, but beleagured reliever Brad Hennesey spit it right back out when Furcal got him with two RBI’s in the bottom of the frame.

Two Japenese imports figured in the decision, Saito got the win and Yabu picked up the loss.

It was interesting earlier in the game when Bruce Bochy removed pitch count challenged SF starter Matt Cain in the bottom of the 6th, in a nothing-nothing game, Cain had thrown 114 pitches. Wisconsin native lefthanded reliever Jack Taschner was brought on to face Juan Pierre with the bases loaded and two outs. Joe Torre went with the book, sending Matt Kemp up to pinch hit, even though Taschner was much more effective against righties than lefties last season. Of course, Matt Kemp struckout, where are you Bill James?

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There is something fundamentally wrong with America’s Pastime opening in Japan. You’d be hard pressed finding somebody who loves baseball more than I do. Since last year’s World Series I’ve already seen six games in the Arizona Fall League, five Grapefruit League games, and seven Cactus League games. In off seasons gone by I can remember watching Winter League games in Spanish via a very fuzzy UHF signal.

The excitement surrounding Opening Day was unreal! Trying to get a radio signal from Cincinnati in Chicago to catch the first pitch was a yearly challenge. Somehow opening MLB in Japan seems surreal to me, especially while 28 teams are still playing exhibition games. It doesn’t seem right that I should have to wake up at 5:00 AM, and frankly it doesn’t seem worth it. There used to be something special about Opening Day when all teams started off equal. And don’t even get me started about advertisement on the uniforms, likening MLB to NASCAR is very disturbing.

A note to MLB, bring back our national pastime, bring back Opening Day, to America, to Cincinnati, where it belongs!

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These are my predictions for the 2008 season. 

-TB

American League

National League

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Leo Mazzone has been fired as pitching coach of the Baltimore Orioles.  He had one year left of his contract which the Orioles are responsible. 

Mazzone, who it seemed, could do wrong with the Atlanta Braves, had mixed success with the Orioles.  No one can argue with what he accomplished with Erik Bedard.  Yet the Baltimore staff finished with a 5.17 ERA in 2007. 

Did they give Leo enough time?  With young hurlers like Adam Loewen, Jeremy Guthrie, it’s hard to tell.  He had quick success when he came on with the Braves and maybe the Orioles expected the same.

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…nice and yummy.

Former bigs SS Jose Offerman goes Marichal on an opposing pitcher in a minor league game and gets charged with second degree assault - AP News

Your Taco Bell cup may be worth a trip to the World Series - Media Post

First the Cubs have a contest for a fan to sing TMOTTB… now you can throw out the first pitch.  Will Ohman need not apply. - MLB.com

Everybody loves a list… Today, MLB’s least durable starters. - Covers.com

Put it in the books… Cox has been ejected 132 times. - USA Today

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Putting fan allegiance aside, HERE’S a storybook homer. 

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