Deadspin
There's no way to sugarcoat this so I'm just going to say it: We live in a world where the Rays and the Marlins are both in first place. It's a world where James Shields outpitches Josh Beckett, where Sweet Caroline is played at Tropicana Field, and where Manny Ramirez is stealing bases. Me no like Bizarro World. Neither do the Red Sox, 3-0 losers to Tampa Bay on Sunday, which completed a three-game sweep.
The Rays are now tied with the Orioles atop the East, and just to confirm what your Far Side desk calendar has already shown you, it's April 28. That means you only have two more days to say "Tampa Bay is in first? Ah well, it's only April." Tampa Bay in first place in May has never occurred in the history of mankind, so get ready. The Rays have won six straight and are not to be trifled with. Shields threw a two-hitter for his first career shutout and Evan Longoria homered for the Rays' first three-game sweep of the Red Sox. Beckett (2-2) struck out a career-high 13 and walked one over seven innings. Of course no one is surprised by all of this more than Rays fans themselves; for the third straight game on Sunday, Red Sox fans outnumbered them at Tropicana. Hope they work that out for next time.
• Who Is The Better Pitcher? Arizona's Brandon Webb (6-0, 1.93 ERA), or the Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang (5-0, 27 strikeouts)? Discuss.
• Your Barry Zito Update. 0-6, 7.53 ERA. He lasted less than four innings for the Giants, while Edinson Volquez (4-0) struck out a career-high 10 over seven innings in the Reds' 10-1 win. Figuring their respective salaries, at the current rate of exchange you can buy 86 Volquez's for one Zito.
• What Can Brown Do For You? Joe Blanton outdueled Felix Hernandez as the Athletics ascended to first in the West, beating the Mariners 4-2. Emil Brown's two-run single in the eighth broke it open against Hernandez, who struck out 10 and allowed four hits.
• The L's Are Silent; Like The Twins' Bats. A shutout at Rangers Ballpark? Wha? Vicente Padilla (3-2) gave up seven hits and Milton Bradley had a three-run homer as Texas beat Minnesota 10-0.
• Blame It On Rios. Alex Rios four hits to help the Blue Jays break a six-game losing streak, 5-2 over the Royals. Rios scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on Scott Rolen's single to left, coming home when left fielder Jose Guillen threw to second base instead of hitting the cutoff man (comical sound effect).
Comments
Might be better to just 86 one Zito.
Scott Rolen and Troy Glaus had their first homers for their new teams on the same day. It was Rolen's 3rd game as a Blue Jay and Glaus's 26th game as a Cardinal. Hmmmm...
Thank God no mention Delgado's resurgence.
Would like to point out that the Rays are only tied for first. The team they are tied with...the powerhouse O's
Ho-kay...who forgot to feed ODL this weekend? Ape?
Holy crap! The Orioles are in first place?
Motion to remove the Tigers from Sunday Night Baseball until the team actually gets over .500...
Webb & Wang will make for a compelling first 3 innings of the All Star Game this summer.
Oh who am I kidding, All Star Games can't be compelling.
In this world are 30+ year old pitchers allow to sleep with 15 year old wannabe country singers? If so, Mr. Clemens would like to take up residence there.
The Atlanta Braves went 0-2 in two games where Hudson and Smoltz went a combined 7 innings.
Too bad that's not really the problem right now. They can't hit their way out of a brown paper bag and they're 0-8 in 1-run games.
Uh...Webb.
Seriously, the Braves remind me of the Buffalo Sabres, how they can score 10 runs in one game and 0,1,2, or 3 in the next 8.
Inconsistency is the DEVIL
If Barry Zito loves garlic fries as much as I do, God help us all.
[www.sfgate.com]
@Afino: Hey man, when Raul Casanova's on, he's ON, SON!
@Afino: And sadly, it's not all on the pen in those games. It's feast or famine in the ATL...which will mean the Braves will wind up right at .500 unless they figure it out.
If the Giants had allowed Barry Zito to throw 129 pitches like KC did with Meche yesterday, they'd have trailed 66-0 like Kawamato Technical High School.
@Lady Andrea: I blame the pink eye.
@ghostsoftheSCupcountry:
They did manage to break up Billy Wagner no hitter. Man finally gave up a hit after 9 1/3 innings of hitless relief to start the season.
Jimmy Shields? Did he play for USC in college?
@Carlton_Whitfield: after stranding 6 men in two at-bats, when he got pulled for "watering right eye," my friend asked, "Isn't 'watering right eye' just another way to say 'sobbing?'"
@MattinglysSideburns: I negotiated to receive my salary in lottery tickets. Had this garlic fry angle come into play at the time I woudl have had a real head scratcher.
@Afino: Joe Morgan is finally getting through to someone.
@pr0FF3ss0r_j3rkwh3at: motion seconed
@Lady Andrea: +1 to your friend. And I'm glad that so far we're all ignoring "likely past steroid use" as a reason for the slow start.
Scott Rolen is still alive?
Not surprised about the Rays' sudden deadliness at all: Steve Ir... ah, you know the rest.
@ghostsoftheSCupcountry: No worries about Smoltz and Hudson throwing 5-10 mph slower than normal?
And welcome back Carlos Delgado. I wouldn't have come out of the dugout either.
@pr0FF3ss0r_j3rkwh3at: Second.
So which "Ray's" does Jimmy Shields play for? Ray's Original, Famous Ray's or World-Famous Original Ray's?
@Hustler of Culture: @Chones_Chonies: Shhhh. Dont jinx it.
@crazyjoedavola: Shoulda came out smiling and waving, and then done the DX crotch chop. Also, with Smoltz and Glavine going 4 or 5 innings a pop, I can't wait to see what the Braves bullpen will look like in August.
@Doyle McPoyle: Everytime I heard his name all I could think of was American Pie. "My friends call me Nova, Cassanova. Suck me, beautiful!"
@UkraineNotWeak: Sweet Baby Ray's? Rachel Ray's?
@crazyjoedavola: JoBoo told him not to.
@Carlton_Whitfield: hey, if he's off the juice now...good for him.
Figuring their respective salaries, at the current rate of exchange you can buy 86 Volquez's for one Zito.
only if you're name is larry beinfest
@Afino:
Or Fooseball is the Debil...
it's one of those.
@crazyjoedavola: Please, one thing at a time.
@pr0FF3ss0r_j3rkwh3at: @Yostal: Third. And I really should bar myself from any home games until we are over .500 as well.
@ghostsoftheSCupcountry:
Well that was my point with the second comment. They are T-3 in the NL in runs scored, 3rd in runs allowed, but are 12-13 because of inconsistency.
At least for the last two weeks, it hasn't been the bullpen's fault.
@Afino: Yeah, but Doyle's right/ Bobby will burn up the pen if our 1 and 2 can't give us 6 or 7 strong. And the offense...ick. Yes, it's still April, but mercy, even out quick.
@crazyjoedavola: @UkraineNotWeak: @Doyle McPoyle: @Afino:
It would also appear that Frank Cashen's plan behind the scenes to ruin the Braves is finally working. Second Spitter is doing a bang-up job as pitching coach wasting the pen and making the starters inneffective and frequently injured.
I for one welcome our new vented-can overlords.
Yet, oddly enough, in this Bizarro World, Boston fans are still racist.
@kayceebk: No doubt. Who decided Roger McDowell was coaching material anyway?
The A's are in first which means the Moneyball critics will be eerily silent. Good news for Oakland, bad news for FJM.
it's because they exorcized the devil
Does Jimmy Shields enjoy the vented wide mouth can that Deadspin is advertising?
He seems like a piss beer kind of guy.
@ghostsoftheSCupcountry:
Rock and Jock.