AL East Roundup: Yankees Spent $46 Million On Single-A Pitcher

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	20	10	–	7-3	W1	—
New York Yankees	14	16	6.0	6-4	L1	127
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	14	17	6.5	5-5	L1	126
Baltimore Orioles	14	18	7.0	3-7	L2	125
Toronto Blue Jays	13	18	7.5	2-8	L6	125

Mariners 3, Yankees 2. Instead of spending $28 million on a 45-year old starting pitcher, maybe the Yankees should find a new set up pitcher. Kyle Farnsworth, the man with a very fast, and very straight fastball has given up a run in 5 appearances this season. The latest was the tying run in the 8th with New York up 2-1. Mo Rivera than gave up a solo shot to Adrian Beltre in the 9th for the loss.

Indians 10, Orioles 1. The O’s are in prime form as they get ready to host the Devil Rays at Camden Yards on Tuesday. Steve Trachsel gave up only 1 run in 6 innings, and was pulled before the 7th inning. 4 relievers combined to give up 9 runs over the next three innings, in a very Tampa Bayian performance. Of course the difference is the Rays bullpen cost about $26 while the Orioles spent about $50 million on theirs.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• The Yankees spent $46 million on Kei Igawa, and now he is the richest guy in single-A, as he was optioned to Tampa. This is the beauty of the Yankees. And by “beauty” we mean shitty. It is not that they can afford to pay Roger Clemens over $8,000 per pitch. No, the problem with baseball is that the Yankees can send a $46 million pitcher to the minors. How many other teams can afford to swallow high-priced mistakes.
• Of course the biggest question we have is, “Who were the Yankees bidding against?” The Astros are going nowhere and the Red Sox didn’t need him.
• This is why Yankees fans are crazy. They and their reporters suggest idiotic things LIKE THIS. Sure, let’s make Roger Clemens a reliever because Mo Rivera may be struggling. He hasn’t done it since college and I’m sure that is why the Yankees are paying him $28 million. Great idea. *banging head on desk*
• Joe Torre was suspended for last night’s game and Scott Proctor was suspended for 4 games following an incident in Sundays game with Seattle in which Proctor threw at a batter. Proctor is appealing his suspension.

AL East Roundup: Red Sox Threaten To Run Away With Division

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Boston Red Sox	19	9	–	7-3	W3	—
Baltimore Orioles	13	16	6.5	2-8	W1	128
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	13	16	6.5	5-5	L1	128
Toronto Blue Jays	13	16	6.5	4-6	L4	128
New York Yankees	12	15	6.5	4-6	L1	129

Mariners 15, Yankees 11. “Mariners flash May power” reads the headline. See what they did there? May Power. Don’t you just love how they tried to give the headline a real-word double meaning by tying the 15 runs in with the current holiday season. Meantime, Kei Igawa was staked to a 5-0 lead and by the time the 5th innings was over the Yankees were getting pummeled 14-8. We know a lot of Yankees fans are loathing the Igawa signing but seriously, what do you expect if the Yankees don’t give him any run support?

Red Sox 2, Twins 0. We have to reach deep into the recesses of our alcohol-ladened mind to try and remember David Ortiz as a Minnesota Twin. We are told it really did happen, and we can hardly blame the Twins fans if they don’t recognize the prodigal son when he returns every year. The “not-familiar” part is of course, every time he hits a home run as he did last night. His solo shot in the 6th was that Tim Wakefield would need and all of the sudden the Sox have a 6.5 game lead and we don’t see anybody in this division that will be able to catch them.

Orioles 3, Indians 2. The Orioles got 2 runs when they most desperately needed them. Having lost 8 of 9 and trailing 2-1 in the 8th, Nick Markakis got a sac fly to tie the game and then next time up in the 10th won the game with a walk-off single.

Rangers 7, Blue Jays 1. All of a sudden the Jays have lost 4 in a row.

NOTE FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• Carl Pavano is paying a visit to Dr. James Andrews. Pitchers only go to Andrews for one reason. Surgery and usually of the season-ending kind, not that Yankees fans would mind that.
• When the Yankees landed Kei Igawa, The Yankees thought they got the consolation prize when they failed to land Daisuke Matsuzaka. Turns out he isn’t even the second best Japanese pitching import this year. In fact the Red Sox landed the top 2 with Hideki Okajima in the bullpen and Igawa looking an awful lot a reincarnation of Hideki Irabu.
• A statistical breakdown of the AL East. Like we need to be reminded how bad the Rays bullpen is *commence with banging of head on desk*
• Another AL East pitcher heads to the DL. This time it is the O’s Adam Loewen, who will miss two months with a stress fracture in his elbow. We are getting a little tired of the other teams hogging all the starting pitching injuries. Is there some way we can get Jae Seo or Casey Fossum some of what they are having?
• It doesn’t end there. The Sox placed Mike Timlin on the DL for the second time this season.

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.

AL East Roundup: Yankees Can’t Get Out Of Thir Own Way

AL EAST	W	L	GB	L10	STK	E#
Toronto Blue Jays	3	2	–	3-2	W2	—
Boston Red Sox	3	3	0.5	3-3	W1	157
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	2	3	1.0	2-3	L2	157
New York Yankees	2	3	1.0	2-3	L1	157
Baltimore Orioles	2	4	1.5	2-4	W1	156

Orioles 6, Yankees 4. The Boss is getting ready to make some heads roll. After splitting a season-opening series against the Devil Rays, the Yankees turned around and lost 2 of 3 to the O’s. All at Yankee Stadium. Alex Rodriguez hit his third home run in 2 games and fourth of the year to give the Yanks a lead in the first inning. However, in the eighth, with Bobby Abreu on first, down by two, A-Rod was only able to draw a walk. Yankees fan can now resume their natural hatred of the best hitter in baseball.

Red Sox 3, Rangers 2.Big Papi supplied all the offense with a solo home run and a 2-run shot. Curt Schilling rebounded rfom his poor opening day start to go seven strong innings and pick up the win. As far as we know, JD Drew still had all his limbs intact after the game, although Red Sox fans shouldn’t feel safe until he is tucked in bed tonight.

NOTES FROM AROUND THE AL EAST…

• The Yankees Hideki Matsui was placed on the DL with a strained hamstring. That is the second outfielder for the Yankees to miss action already this season. GM Brian Cashman has stated that they will not invite Bernie Williams to play this season, but we could see George Steinbrenner smacking Cashman around a little bit and telling him to go find Bernie.
• Buster Olney points out that in Kei Igawa’s major league debut, he threw 26 pitches that were not fastballs. Of the 26, there was only 1 called strike and nobody swung and missed. So far Yankees starting pitchers have pitched 21.2 innings in 5 games and given up 36 hits and a 9.97 era. That’s DevilRays-esque.
• While the Yankees starters are struggling in the cold weather, the answer to those problems could lie in the arm of AAA right hander Phillip Hughes, one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. Yes, the Yankees do occasionally develop their own talent, and sometimes they even decide not to trade them.
• Joe Torre is not worried about the pitching. But you can tell he is starting to stir a bit.
• We don’t need no stinkin’ graph to tell us that Mo Rivera is the Yankees most valuable player.
• The Red Sox offense is struggling. Before Sunday’s 2-home run performance, the Red Sox had one home run as a team.
• The Orioles placed catcher Ramon Hernandez on the DL, with a strained oblique.
• Camden Yards got a little bit of an off-season make-over.
• Leo Mazzone is trying to rediscover his Atlanta Braves’ magic. Maybe trading for Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine will help.