Baseball

Those who know me, those who follow my "Sound Offs" on "Vegas Unwrapped", or on these and other hallowed Blog pages know if nothing else, I rarely hit the panic button. Nor do I demand change for the sake of change only or because of one incident alone.

Someone needs to tell the Rockies that it isn't spring training anymore. These games count.

What's not to like about Eugenio Velez? He's got speed, power and likely, ADD. His attention span can be short on the field but his athletic abilities are superior to those of his teammates - Bowker, Torres, Schierholtz - who would also like to have more playing time. And who amongst the Giants starters will get even with Padilla? I vote for Jonathan Sanchez.

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Mariners 11, Tigers 3

The Good:

It only counts as one game in the standings.

The Bad:

No comeback this time. After giving up three runs in the third, it appeared that the Tigers were going to get right back in the game when they scored two in the fourth. But the comeback bid was stamped out by the M's answer of two runs in the bottom of the fourth and six runs in the fifth.

Swings and misses:

Caption: From this point forward, bone-headed decisions by third base coaches that send baserunners home to be thrown out by a country mile will be referred to as a  “Bogar.” Wendell Kim is now off the hook.

Tonight’s game between the Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays was suspended by rain with the score tied, 1-1, after 8 1/2 innings. The game will be completed tomorrow night at 7:10 PM, prior to the start of the regularly-scheduled game between the clubs.

As expected, the Yankees have put relief pitcher Chan Ho Park on the 15-day disabled list after he pulled his right hamstring warming up in the bullpen yesterday. Taking his place on the roster is left-handed pitcher Boone Logan.

The American League East has been competitive ever since the Tampa Bay Rays stepped up and started challenging for the pennant recently.

The Rays will need daily excellence to dethrone the Yankees and Red Sox this season.

If you ask any San Diego Padre fan on the streets of San Diego, most would tell you they don't want to see the last of their fan favorites leave their city. They don't want the team to trade an All-Star, their leading offensive player, and a Gold Glove first baseman.

But, the San Diego Padres may not have much of a choice but to do just that, especially if that aforementioned first baseman is looking for the kind of money that one Mark Teixeira got from the Yankees. I'm speaking of course about long time Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

Much has been made of Milwaukee's lack of pitching and depth in the bullpen (it's Hoffman, Hawkins, then everyone else..), but there are some performances that should not go without praise in the early going this season.

Starting today, (April 18th) I will begin a bi-weekly series of stock up/down articles summarizing the Brewers' top performers in both the batters box and on the pitching mound, also including a rundown of players struggling as of late.

So, without much further ado, let's begin the way-too-early-to-mean-anything-by-September hasty generalizations!

I wanted to give my opinion on Joe Girardi wanting to pull CC Sabathia before the ninth inning of last Saturday's game at Tampa Bay.

Sabathia was cruising along with a no-hitter into the 8th inning, when with two outs Kelly Shoppach, a former teammate of CC's at Cleveland, singled to left.

Even before the ball landed, Girardi was out of the dugout to remove Sabathia.