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.

The Hangover: Devil Rays Earn Split With Yankees

• The Rays earned a sweep against the Yankees with a 7-6 win on a snowy night in the Bronx. One of the Yankee announcers last night mentioned that the Rays were beating the Yankees at their own game. We think it was the other way around. New York committed 3 errors, had 3 wild pitches, 1 passed ball and blew an early lead. The Yankees lost to the Rays at their own game. Elijah Dukes hit a home run that might have killed somebody in the left field seats. It might have been the single hardest hit home run we have ever seen. Jae Seo gave up 11 hits but only walked 1 and did a good job of working into the 7th inning despite not having his best stuff. And we saw a rare site last night. The Rays had a 1-run lead in the 9th and a pitcher (Al Reyes) came on for a 1-2-3 inning to close it out. We are contacting Cooperstown now. They will want his glove. Joe Maddon argued a call for the second straight game, matching his entire 2006 total.
• The cold weather kept Rocco Baldelli and Dioner Navarro out of the lineup. Jonny Gomes made his first appearance of the season at DH and Josh Paul was behind the plate.
• Today is the home opener and the Trop will debut its signature hot dog, the “Sting ‘Em Dog”. Umm…ok?
• In more important news, the home opener is a sell out.
• Stuart Sternberg is still hoping that today will be the first of 50 home wins this season. Does he realize that only four teams accomplished that feat last season? In the same piece we learn that Carl Crawford will be the Ray to wear #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson on April 15.