AL East Roundup: Chase Wright Should Have Tanked His Major League Debut

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Toronto Blue Jays	8	5	–	7-3	W2	—
Boston Red Sox	7	5	0.5	6-4	L1	150
Baltimore Orioles	7	7	1.5	6-4	L1	148
New York Yankees	6	6	1.5	5-5	W1	149
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	6	8	2.5	4-6	W1	147

Blue Jays 2, Red Sox 1. The Jays entered this game, with half their roster on the DL, a half-game behind the Sox and Diasuke Matsuzaka on the mound. No worries. Gustavo Chacin became just the latest pitcher to say “Sashimi!” as he shut down the Pink Hats for 6.2 innings. Jason Frasor came on in the 9th to close it out in the stead of BJ Ryan. Matsuzaka struck out 10 in 6 innings, but two runs on two hits and three walks in the 4th inning was enough for the Jays.

Yankees 10, Indians 3. The Yankees sent to the mound Chase Wright, who was only making his third career start above A-ball. He worked 5 innings and gave up only 3 runs. This is terrible news for the Yankees. At this point the Evil Empire needs a starter for Sunday night’s nationally televised game against the Red Sox in which Daisuke Matsuzaka will be going to the mound for the Sox. It will be Dice-K’s first appearance on national TV and his first shot at the Yankees. Currently Chien-Ming Wang is on the DL for the Yankees but he has pitched in extended spring training games and been effective. If Chase Wright had struggled last night, the Yankees likely would have called up Wang to pitch on Sunday. Since Wright was good in his first major league start, now it looks like his second will be on Sunday night, on national TV facing Dice-K. Good luck with that one.

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Jeff Karstens is likely to pitch against the Red Sox on Saturday for the Yankees, while Chien-Ming Wang should return from the DL to face the Rays on Tuesday.
• With all the injuries that the Jays have suffered recently, it is only appropriate that they had “Organ donor awareness” night last night. Of course with the Red Sox in town they could have called it “Help JD Drew” night.
• Wow! All of the sudden they love Alex Rodriguez in the Bronx. He is going to be laughing when he opts out of his contract. So will we.
• Nothing like brainwashing your child into rooting for the Red Sox. It is only fitting that one of the Kings of Unintentional Comedy, Ben Affleck is starring in this little diddy.

AL East Roundup:The Devil Rays Bullpen…Not So Good

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	6	4	–	6-4	W2	—
Toronto Blue Jays	6	5	0.5	5-5	L1	152
Baltimore Orioles	6	6	1.0	6-4	W3	151
New York Yankees	5	5	1.0	5-5	W1	152
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	4	7	2.5	4-6	L1	150

Yankees 4, A’s 3. Jason Giambi won the game in the 13th inning with a home run against his former team. Here is a sentence we will never write about the Devil Rays…The Yankees bullpen pitched 7.2 shutout innings. That was more depressing to type than it should have been.

Red Sox 8, Angels 0. Curt Schilling pitched 8 shutout innings and now has pitched 14 consecutive scoreless innings. After struggling his first outing of the season against the Royals, Schilling looks to be on top of his game which will go a long ways to getting the Red Sox back to the playoffs. David Ortiz had 4 RBI on 2 hits including his 3rd home run. The win vaults the Sox past the Blue Jays and into first place of the AL East. The Red Sox bullpen pitched 1 shutout inning. *feeling sad*

Orioles 6, Royals 4. The Orioles are getting well at the expense of the Royals, as they have now won 3 straight and have evened their record on the season. A grand slam by Chris Gomez in the 6th gave the O’s the lead and they held on for the win. The O’s bullpen pitched 4 shutout innings. *crying hysterically*

Tigers 10, Blue Jays 7. The Jays bullpen gave up 6 runs in 3.2 innings. We feel better now.

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST….

• Chien-Ming Wang pitched 5 hitless innings during an extended spring training game against Devil Rays minor leaguers. Wang is on the DL and is expected to make one more rehab start before returning to the Yankees.
• Carl Pavano is the latest Yankee to miss a start due to an injury.
• Kei Igawa and baseball fans in Japan are realizing that Yankees fans can be less than forgiving.
• The Blue Jays called up one of their top prospects, Adam Lind.
• JD Drew is off to a hot start in Boston. That should not be surprising as he has always put up strong numbers when he is healthy. Still, Red Sox fans must cringe every time he runs down a fly ball and every time he starts running out of the batters box.
• Cal Ripken would like to follow in his fathers footsteps and manage after his children have grown.
• The Red Sox had an opportunity to sign Jackie Robinson but racial attitudes in Boston and withing the organization at the time
  may have stopped them from doing so.