AL East Roundup: Somebody Had To Take Blame In South Bronx

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	17	9	–	6-4	W1	—
Toronto Blue Jays	13	14	4.5	5-5	L2	132
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	12	15	5.5	5-5	W1	131
Baltimore Orioles	12	16	6.0	1-9	L4	130
New York Yankees	10	14	6.0	2-8	W1	132

Red Sox 6, A’s 4. Josh Beckett has 6 starts. Josh Beckett has 6 wins. Roger who?

Tigers 3, Orioles 2. Gary Sheffield is warming up and we couldn’t think of a better team for it hapen against than the O’s. A few days after being benched because of a slow start, Sheff went 4-4 with his 3rd home run. Steve Trachsel gave a rare strong performance by a Baltimore pitcher as he lasted 7 innings. Somehow Trachsel pitched 7 innings and the game last less than 6 hours.

Indians 7, Blue Jays 6 (11 inn). Victor Zambrano made his first start of 2007 and the Mets fans are still angry. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in just 2.2 innings. Travis Hafner won the game in the 11th with an RBI double against a defensive shift.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Things aren’t going so well in the South Bronx. Two days after giving the GM and the Manager a show of support, the Yankees fired their strength coach. The coach had zero experience with professional baseball players before the season and many of the players had already complained publicly. The hamstring injury to Phillip Hughes while in the midst of throwing a no-hitter, was the final straw.
• Last season Roger Clemens signed with Houston on May 31. This year with all the pitching injuries on the Yankees roster, he may not be able to wait that long.
• JD Drew missed a game with “viral symptons“, also known as “just being JD Drew”.
• Adam Loewen is the latest AL East pitcher to feel pain in his arm. He is scheduled to see a doctor to determine the extent of the injury.

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.