Deadspin
Notes from a day in baseball:
• Help, Superman! Yes, we know it's early; but we thought that it would be fun anyway to go through the five stages of grief with some of our favorite struggling teams, via those who cover them.
‣ Denial. San Francisco Giants (1-5): They christened the season with a 7-0 loss to the Padres and closed a 1-5 homestand with Sunday's 10-4 loss to the Dodgers. The Giants know they need to change their results. They insist they don't need to alter all that much else. "I'm not gonna panic and start moving the lineup back and forth all the time," manager Bruce Bochy said. "I don't want to do that. I want these guys to get settled in." ... "Nobody's panicking. Nobody's worried," outfielder Randy Winn said. "We just have to go out and play like we're capable of." [SF Gate]
‣ Anger. Houston Astros (1-5): Gotta love Trever Miller for adding the most to our chances of winning by getting the one guy he was asked to face. Worth all of seven-one thousandths of a victory. Congratulations, Mr. Miller, you are at the top of the Delta pledge class. [Houston Crawfish Boxes]
‣ Bargaining. Baltimore Orioles (2-4): Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone. Erik Bedard gets a chance to get his season in gear after an iffy first start on Opening Day. It happens, you know? And really, I didn't think Bedard was all THAT bad. He never seemed comfortable or in a rhythm, but the two homers he gave up were back-to-back and just two really bad pitches. You have to minimize those, obviously. I'm a real scientist. He'll be fine. I'm not worried about BUH DARD. Go O's! [Camden Chat]
‣ Depression. Philadelphia Phillies (1-5): Are you getting worried about the Phillies? "Yes" 68.1 percent. (Poll) [Philadelphia Inquirer]
‣ Acceptance. Washington Nationals (1-6): There is no panic button stashed away inside the home clubhouse at RFK Stadium. No locked box with an abort code inside. No cabinet with a small hammer dangling from it and a message instructing players to "break glass in case of emergency." The Washington Nationals just completed a wretched homestand to open the season, capped by yesterday's 3-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and anyone not employed by this club is ready to give up on 2007. The Nationals don't care. So what if they just got swept in four by the Diamondbacks to fall to 1-6 for the season? So what if their offense just went through an 0-for-30 stretch with runners in scoring position? So what if not a single Washington pitcher has taken the mound holding a lead in seven games this season? [Washington Post Times]
• Papi's Home, Kids! And all of a sudden the sun broke out in Boston, as David Ortiz hits two home runs and Curt Schilling got an impressive win; the Red Sox beating the Rangers 3-2. Schilling (1-1) allowed one run and four hits over seven innings with six strikeouts and a walk. He retired his last 10 batters.
• Santana Rocks. Johan Santana allowed one hit over seven scoreless innings to lead the Twins to a 3-1 win over the White Sox in Chicago, where Justin Morneau hit a three-run homer in 31-degree weather.
• Pirates Duke It Out. Freddy Sanchez had two hits and an RBI in his first game since coming off the disabled list, and Zach Duke pitched six shutout innings before faltering in the seventh. The Pirates held on to beat the Reds 6-3. Ken Griffey Jr. moved into 21st place on the career RBI list with 1,610, passing Goose Goslin, who had 1,609.
Comments
Nobody hits walk-off homers in April like A-Rod. Nobody.
What's sad is my dad's senior slow pitch softball team has a better bullpen than the Phillies.
I see Brad Eldred listed as "rf" in the box score this morning, and all I can think about is that Munsters episode were Herman tries out for the Dodgers.
Denial: Paul Byrd's 4 2/3 no-hit innings never happened.
Anger: It's Mike Hargrove's fault.
Bargaining: Just let the snow go away. You can let the Browns suck for a couple more years.
Depression: We're not gonna have Opening Day for a couple weeks, now are we?
Acceptance: There's always next year.
Major League Baseball's most "brilliant" ideas of the past 10 years:
10. Giving a permanent contract as commissioner to an ex-used car salesman.
9. The World Baseball Classic.
8. Letting Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa become icons during 1998.
7. Let's move the Expos...to Washington D.C.!
6. Interleague play.
5. The unbalanced schedule.
4. Leaving the 2002 All-Star game as a tie...
3. ...and giving home-field advantage in the World Series to the League that won the All-Star game.
2. Steroid testing? We don't need no stinking steroid testing!
and #1...
Let's play a nice long homestand. In Cleveland. In early April!
I'm having flashbacks... I thought I saw Albert Pujols hit another moonshot HR at Enron Field. But this time Brad Lidge wasn't pitching... and yet Lidge is sporting a tidy 35+ ERA right now.
something isn't adding up.
about that whole Papelbon staying in the bullpen thing... probably a good idea
hey hey hey, respect The Plan
Bud Selig doesn't care about lake effect snow.
I experienced anger after clicking that WaPo link only to wind up at the Times website...bad mojo.
Jorge Julio.
worst closer in baseball? or worst closer ever?
Bargaining: Please, Phils, just win one of three in New York, before I start setting things on fire.
Love,
85
Pirates still in first place, just tied.
Hey - we'll take a week
The O's and the Nats are trying very hard to suck the worst.
I am tempted to visit the Pittsburgh Pants Party on Friday to boo Barry, but I was also invited to the Tribe Game Friday...anyone else here want to help make it a Midwest Snow Pants Party?
The Canadian Crusher laughs at 31 degree weather.
@lieutenant winslow:
yes, I pooed a little after last night's outting.
@MitchKayak: @lieutenant winslow: Ditto.
@soozycue: Danks for the memories.
@lieutenant winslow: Julio may be bad, but he still can't touch the horror of Heathcliff Slocumb.
For what it's worth, the shellacking Julian Tavaras took in Texas a few days ago would have been Papelbon's spot in the rotation.
Still feel good?
Those clowns in Washington are at it again!
@SlickBomb: As long as Pavano is 'anchoring' the Yanks' rotations along with a rapidly aging Moose, I don't feel all that bad, honestly. Think we can deal with a toss-up like Tavarez every 5th day until Lester comes back.
the phillies reek worse than my nuts do
over/under on # of days before Phillip Hughes gets called up?
6.5
the cool thing about being a phillies fan is that at least we always know what's going to happen.
@Unsilent Majority: is it possible that Will has been kidnapped by the Moonies and they have forced him to link the Times? That's the only reasonable explanation.
@TMC: Let's remember that in August when they inevitably win 12 of 15 and get to within 2 of the wild card. Because we'll certainly remember it in September when they're eliminated on the last weekend.
Why the Reds don't pinch hit Josh Hamilton is a quandary just below "Why is Isiah Thomas still employed?" on the confuse-o-meter.
@lieutenant winslow: last night's 15 pitch 5 out save (with a runner on third no less) was probably the first time I've felt this fired up about a moment in baseball that wasn't in the heat of a pennant race. Just thinking about the look on Papelbon's face staring down each batter is still giving me chills.
@Zizou's Steel Plate: That is also just above the musical question: "Scott Hatteberg and Jeff Conine? Really?" So, y'know, enjoy the relief pitchers all three will bring in trade.
@1 Speed Bike: i think i got wood watching him close out that game last night
yeah, i've totally been fagging out about that save all morning. Makes me forget that when he opens his mouth he's just a big dumb country boy who I'd probably hate if I met.
@lieutenant winslow: You had a Papelboner?
(my apologies in advance)
Somewhere Jimmy Rollins is eating his words.
So the Red Sox finally decided stopping Sammy Sosa was a good idea
Do Not Taunt "The Plan"...eat your brisket and be happy.
@OchentaYcinco: Please don't remind me. I watch every September game like I'm Schilling in game six of the '93 series.
@Juancho: [chanting] Pittsburgh! Pants! Party! Pittsburgh! Pants! Party!
@OchentaYcinco:
Unfortunately, one of the uncool things about being a Phillies fan is that, even though we know what's going to happen, we always manage to forget anyway.
I'll be right there with you in mid-August calculating magic numbers and rationalizing everyone's play. "If Rowand just goes 3-4 in every game the rest of the way, he'll finish around .270, and if Garcia comes off the Dl, and Gordon starts pitching like he did in '05, and Steve Bedrosian comes out of retirement..."
@JD: I KNOW!! The game is two hours away and my stomach is already churning.
Let's call him "Pap". Can we call him "Pap"?
@Clare: The Pirates' home opener starts in 2.5 hours. Commence drinking in 5 ... 4... 3 ... 2 .... 1 ...
Aahh, Straub, you are the nectar of the gods, even in 32-degree weather.
@Clare: I really would like to go down there (both sides of my family are originally from the Burgh, it's like a 2nd home), but I have to work Sat/Sun this week, so it doesn't look good.
@Sarcastro: Straub...heaven on earth...I miss the plastic drawstring bags!
@1 Speed Bike: so intens
Wow. ONE WEEK into the baseball season and some are already grieving. I don't know what's more amazing: that, or the fact that it contains no mention of the Rockies.
Just wanted to give a shout-out to my Phillies, who as of this afternoon are officially the worst team in major league baseball.
pap's fastball was nasty last night...i heard the last two innings on WEEI..i thought Castiglione was going to pop a few blood vessels in his throat.
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