AL East Roundup: Dice-K Might Be Talking Trash…Or He Might Not

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	26	11	–	8-2	W3	—
New York Yankees	17	19	8.5	5-5	L1	118
Baltimore Orioles	18	21	9.0	5-5	L3	116
Toronto Blue Jays	16	22	10.5	3-7	W1	115
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	15	22	11.0	3-7	W1	115

Red Sox 7, Tigers 1. Diasuke Matsuzaka said “I got your #3 starter right here.” Of course the interpreter might have mistranslated. Up to this point, Dice-K has been effective, if not over-powering. Last night, the Sox began to see return on their investment, as Matsuzaka pitched a complete game against the defending AL champs. He allowed only 6 hits, struck out 5 and did not walk a batter.

Blue Jays 5, Orioles 3. Troy Glaus drove in three including a 2-run home run in the 8th that proved to be the game-winner off of Danys Baez. Meantime, the Jays may have finally found a suitable replacement in the bullpen as Jeremy Accardo converted his second save and is yet to allow a run in 17.2 innings.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Melvin Mora and Jay Payton nearly came to blows in the dugout following last night’s loss. Mora became heated when Payton mocked Sanjaya from American Idol*.
  
• Miguel Tejada’s excuse for only hitting two home runs this season? He is not a home run hitter of course. Maybe he forgot to take his “B-12” this season.
• Remember all the talk about the Yankees scoring a 1,000 runs this season? Not so much anymore. Alex Rodriguez has 1 home run in May. Bobby Abreu is in such a bad slump, that he has tried to bunt for a bas hit on several occasions in the past few weeks. Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano are both struggling. $200 million just doesn’t go as far as it used to.
• Roger Clemens had his first workout for the Yankees in Tampa. Must be a slow news day in the AL East.

* Might not be true.

AL East Roundup: There Is A Chink In The Armor Of The Great Mariano

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	10	5	–	8-2	W3	—
Baltimore Orioles	9	7	1.5	7-3	W2	146
New York Yankees	8	7	2.0	6-4	L1	146
Toronto Blue Jays	8	8	2.5	4-6	L3	145
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	6	10	4.5	4-6	L2	143

Red Sox 7, Yankees 6. This was as bad a loss for the Yankees as one can imagine this early in the season. With Andy Pettite on the mound and two rookies to follow in the next two games, this was the Yankees best chance for a win and they let it slip away. With the Red Sox wearing their Christmas uniforms in honor of the Celtic’s Red Auerbach, scored 5 in the 8th to overcome a 6-2 deficit. Two of the runs came off of Mo Rivera who has now blown two consecutive saves for only the seventh time in his career. But the worst part for the Yankees had to have been the performance by Alex Rodriguez. A lot of Yankees fans today will tell you that this game summed up A-Rod’s stint as a Yankee perfectly. With two home runs early off of Curt Schilling, Rodriguez lined out softly to the second baseman in the 9th inning when it “really mattered”. Also questionable was Joe Torre’s decision to go with Jose Vizcaino in the 8th with a 4-run lead rather than his usual set-up man Kyle Farnsworth.

Orioles 5, Blue Jays 4. Don’t the O’s know they are not supposed to be winning? Baltimore overcame a 4-2 deficit with 2 runs in the 8th and 1 in the 9th, on a walk-off single by Nick Markakis, his third hit of the game. The O’s are now 2 games over .500 for the first time in 87 years, while the Jays are in full survival mode while BJ Ryan is on the DL. Baltimore has now won 6 of 7.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST...

• The Red Sox Times breaks down Curt Schilling’s blog entry following his first start against the Yankees last night.
• Apparently Jonny Damon has a hamstring.
• Joe Torre promised not to use Mo Rivera in the 8th inning this season. Well, that lasted a whole 3 weeks. So, is this the end of the Great Mariano?
• Mariano Rivera may well be the greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball and has sustained his greatness over 10 years, a t time when relief pitchers rarely have more than one or two dominant seasons.
• BJ Ryan, on the DL with elbow pain, will miss 4-6 weeks.
• Hideki Matsui went 1-3 in his first single-A rehab start with the Tampa Yankees.
• This just in…Red Sox fans are not so classy.
• Jay Payton was activated for the first time this season for Baltimore.

Tidbits: Devil Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles

The Devil Rays come home to face the Baltimore Orioles for three games in what is the most important series so far in this young season. If the Rays want to show they have improved they need to be competitive in the AL East. That means they have to beat the team that they have the best chance of finishing ahead of this season. With the offense clicking on most cylinders right now and James Shields and Scott Kazmir going to the mound, the Rays must win at least two games in this series if they want to start moving up the standings and possibly reach 81 wins.

• The Orioles are 6-6 after taking 3 straight from the Royals before having Sundays match rained out. Baltimore was 13-6 against the Rays in 2006 including 6-4 at Tropicana Field.
• Center fielder Jay Payton and catcher Ramon Hernandez are on the DL. Hernandez is eligible to come off the DL for this series. Outfielder Corey Patterson will miss the first two games of the series after the death of his grandfather.
• The Devil Rays return home and will begin a stretch where they will play 30 of their next 44 in the state of Florida.
• Aubrey Huff will return to the Trop for the first time since being traded to the Astros. He does not regret playing for the Rays, but he doesn’t regret leaving either.

But in the end, it started getting old for me as far as the losing. It was time for a change of scenery for me. — Aubrey Huff

We are curious. Is Huff aware that the Orioles haven’t had a winning record in 10 years? That is the third longest streak in baseball.

• The Rays have homered in all 12 games. The record for most consecutive games with home run to start the season is 14, set by the 2002 Cleveland Indians. The overall record for consecutive games with a home run is held by the 2002 Texas Rangers (27).

PROBABLE STARTERS
Monday, 7:10 et
Baltimore Adam Loewen, LHP (1-0, 1.80)
Devil Rays James Shields, RHP (1-0, 4.61)

Tuesday, 7:10 et
Baltimore Steve Trachsel, RHP (0-0, 2.63)
Devil Rays Casey Fossum, LHP (0-1, 7.59)

Wednesday, 3:10 et
Baltimore Eric Bedard, LHP (2-1, 5.09)
Devil Rays Scott Kazmir, LHP (1-1, 4.59)

AL East Roundup: King Felix Sashimis All Over The Red Sox

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Toronto Blue Jays	5	3	–	5-3	W1	—
Boston Red Sox	4	4	1.0	4-4	L1	154
New York Yankees	4	4	1.0	4-4	L1	154
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	3	5	2.0	3-5	W1	153
Baltimore Orioles	3	6	2.5	3-6	L1	152

Mariners 3, Red Sox 0. Felix Hernandez says “where’s my $100 million?” All the talk last night was on Daisuke Matsuzaka’s Fenway debut and his matchup with Ichiro. However King Felix had other ideas as he took a no-hitter into the eighth and pitched a complete game 1-hitter, screaming “sashimi!” after each of his 6 strikeouts. We might have made that last part up. Dice-K gave up 8 hits and 3 runs as the Mariners looked decidedly less Royals-ish.

Tigers 4, Orioles 1. You can always tell major leaguers don’t get paid overtime. Once two teams hit the 9th inning of a tied game, everybody starts swinging for the fence. After all, how many opportunities will the Tigers players have to hit the nightlife in Baltimore? The O’s and the Tiggers were scoreless through 11 last night before Craig Monroe hit a 2 out grand slam.

Blue Jays 7, Royals 4. In danger of losing a 3-game set to Kansas City at home. Gustavo Chacin and his cologne pitched just well enough to hold off those scrappy Royals. Scrappy is code in sports for “not very good”. Troy Glaus hit a home run.

Twins 5, Yankees 1. There is a reason why Kyle Farnsworth never became the great closer that many had predicted. Sure he throws hard, but he throws straight. A 95-mph fastball isn’t a great weapon in the major leagues if it doesn’t move and you don’t have an off-speed pitch to compliment it. Last night, the twins scored 4 runs in the 8th of of Farnsworth, to break a 1-1 tie.

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Mike Mussina became the latest Yankees pitcher to be injured. He injured his left hamstring in the third inning and had to leave the game versus the Twins.
• Jose Guillen invited Red Sox reliever Brendan Donnelly to throw down after the game. Jose Guillen has never been the most mature of major leaguers.
• Four Yankees will wear #42 on Monday including Mo Rivera who wears the number normally.
• Jay Payton was signed as a free agent this off-season by the Orioles. He is yet to play with Baltimore, having started the year on the DL. Now his return has been delayed at least another week.
• The Orioles have a pretty decent prospect, in Hayden Penn, if Jaret Wright must go on DL.
• The Red Sox made several roster moves yesterday.
• Fans in Toronto had other things on their mind last night (playoff hockey, snow) an
  d the crowd showed.