And That Happened

Rockies 5, Braves 1: The word “outdueled” should not appear within 50 yards of Jason Marquis, but there it is in the AP writeup. Even when he pitches well he sort of just bulls his way through the game, with none of the grace implied by a word like “dueled.” As for the Braves, Mac Thomason — who, though I hate that it’s true, is always more interesting to read when the Braves are stinkin’ it up than when they’re playing well — notes the inherent unfairness in the fact that Derek Lowe was probably the best one out there for Atlanta last night, but he’s the one who gets the loss.

Dodgers 3, Mets 2: I think the only way the Mets could have done more to give the Dodgers this game is if they had shipped it to them at their homes thereby keeping them from having to come to the ballpark. One of the key mistakes was a Carlos Beltran error in the 11th. Beltran:

“I called for the ball like six times, But Pagan stood in the middle and I couldn’t put my glove on the ball. On a ball like that, I have priority. If Pagan would have called for that ball, my job is to get out of the way. He’s been in center field before, so he knows that when the center fielder calls for the ball, everyone has to get out of the way.”

He’s right, but I’m sure that won’t stop Steve Phillips from struttin’ around crowin’ about how Beltran doesn’t know how to win or lead or live or something.

Rays 13, Athletics 4: Lots of fun stuff in the game story. Such as the tidbit that Oakland has been outscored 47-13 in the past four games. This one was fun too: The Rays had at least one stolen base in each of the previous 19 games but didn’t steal one here, breaking the longest such streak in the AL since 1914. If you put a gun to my head I’d say that the NL record is held by a mid-to-late 80s Cardinals team, with the mark being somewhere in the vicinity of 75 games. At least it seemed that way.

Pirates 12, Nationals 7: It’s games like these that make me worry about only going to a small handful of live ballgames a year. Nineteen runs? Four errors? Three and a half hours capped by a bullpen implosion? What if this was the only game I went to in the span of three months? If you have season tickets at least you can come back tomorrow and expect a better product.

Yankees 7, Twins 6: R.A. Dickey shuts the Yankees out on three hits in four and a third, but gets no help from anyone else and thus is denied the win he so richly deserved. Typical anti-knuckleballer stuff.

Blue Jays 3, White Sox 2: The sweep of the little Sox out of the way, Toronto finally has its first big AL East test of the year as they face off against the big Sox in Fenway starting tonight.

Brewers 8, Cardinals 4: Matt Gamel hits his first home run, a three-run shot that gave the Brewers a 4-0 lead. But because there is so much yang to his yin, we have to mention that he got his first error too, and now the race is on to see if he racks up more of the former than the latter in games in which he plays defense.

Angels 10, Mariners 6: John Lackey gets the win. It was his second start in three nights. Which seems insane to me for a guy coming off the DL. Someone in Anaheim ought to be fired over this.

Diamondbacks at Marlins: Postponed: sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI . . . naiR . . . enihsnuS . . .


22 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
J.W.
14 years ago

Tad—

Indeed I think we do. I believe it has to do with Roy Halladay’s sheer force of will, but even that has its limits.

Ross
14 years ago

“John Lackey gets the win. It was his second start in three nights. Which seems insane to me for a guy coming off the DL. Someone in Anaheim ought to be fired over this.”

I’m guessing you’re going with the sarcastic angle, but it’s a little hard to tell on this one.

King Rat
14 years ago

Not to be an overly defensive Jays fan, but Toronto hasn’t been this good to start a season since ever. We don’t go through this with the Jays each year, largely because the usual pattern is for them to be overrated in Spring Training followed by an epic flop in April and May. This year it’s the opposite. Will it hold up? Who knows? But I will admit that I’m alternately amused and annoyed by the chorus of pundits who’ve been predicting their imminent demise for weeks. It might happen. Or they might surprise everyone-it does happen, sometimes.

That Yanks series? One Yankees blowout, one solid Jays win, one Yankees close one. It was hardly occasion for declaring them exposed as paper tigers, unless we’re saying that the Yankees themselves are utterly out of it because they’ve yet to beat Boston. I suspect that the Red Sox will likely win the upcoming series-it’s in Fenway, after all-but I still expect the Jays to be leading the division when the Bosox come to Toronto at the end of the month. In any event, I don’t really care if this is sustainable-this is the most fun Jays baseball has been in more than a decade.

dtro
14 years ago

King Rat,

I think you’re right. Isn’t the general pattern for the Jays to start ouy slow adn fall out of the race, then get hot in August-September to get in the 85-90 win range followed by people expecting more of them the next year.

tadthebad
14 years ago

Rat, Perhaps I’m peddling some talk radio based chatter, bc every year I hear how great the Jays’ pitching/defense is, and every year they’re a non-factor.  And by non-factor I mean that they beat up on the Sox but finish well out of the playoffs.  I meant to speak more to the fact that, at least around the Boston area, there is “Jays are for real” chatter every season in the early going.

And, you’ll note, I covered my ass nicely with the “sure seems like it” phrase.  That’s some savvy commenting, no?

J.W.
14 years ago

King Rat—

Of course you’re right. My original comment was more intended to be a little poke at Craig for suggesting that the Red Sox represent the FIRST AL East test for the Jays, not to suggest that the Jays have already been proven inferior. The Jays are a good team with enviable roster composition, and 2 losses to the Yankees certainly doesn’t mean that the Yankees are the better team. Nor would losing a series to the Red Sox make the Sox the better team. (Though I think you’re wrong in your prediction; the Jays will take the series, Fenway or no Fenway, IMHO.) To suggest that the division leader on May 19th is a team that can or should be ignored would be the height of arrogance and stupidity. So (and I say this as a die-hard fan and with all due respect) that would probably be par for the course for us Yankee fans (least the arrogance part, anyway).

Rob
14 years ago

To be completely fair to Gamel, yes he made an error, but he also made a great diving stop down the line. So, he had a great play too.

Melody
14 years ago

Re. the Mets, there were SO many errors it’s actually difficult to pick the worst one.  But I’d say it comes down to either Reed throwing away a tailor-made inning-ending double play ball and allowing the winning run to score… OR (although it’s not an “error” in the traditional sense) @#$%^ Church MISSING THIRD BASE and having the go-ahead run taken away in extra innings.  What the $%(%**#?? 

Also, as one who watched this game on MLB.com (mostly to avoid doing other work I should have been doing instead), I must note that the Mets’ performance drew repeated comparisons to the 1962 Mets from the Dodgers announcers.  That’s never a good thing.

Jason B
14 years ago

As a Jays’ fan I think dtro had the course of the past few seasons nailed down pretty firmly – we seem to see some semblance of a second-half surge, after the Jays are well out of the race, that leads folks to believe “next year” may be the year they take that next step forward.  “Next year” just hasn’t ever arrived, but this year is shaping up to be “next year” 1/4 through the season.

Which is kind of odd—I never expected this to be the year that the jays would challenge for anything.  The offense was pretty sorry last year, and I didn’t see any additions that would make it appreciably better during the offseason (although the continued development of Lind and Snyder certainly were expected to help).  Meanwhile, they *did* have the AL’s best rotation last year, but lost Burnett to free agency, McGowan and Marcum to injury, then Janssen, and on and on.

I’m cautiously optimistic, but I still think the Jays will fade sooner or later.  They’ve only played six division games so far, and I think the AL East contains 3 of the 4-5 best teams in the league.  Although I would *LOVE* to see some postseason baseball at Skydo…URR..Rogers.

Here’s hoping for the best—40 down, 122 to go!

Timmy
14 years ago

The Braves sucked it up last night.  I was unfortunate enough to be at that game.  What a bunch of bums.  It’s a shame when the highlight of your evening at the ballpark is informing Garret Anderson of your thoughts on his rally-killing 3-6-1 DP.

I’ve pretty much decided I’m not wasting any more of my money at Turner Field as long as Jeff Francoeur is employed there.  This guy is historically pathetic, the fact that he’s held up as a star in Atlanta just makes me sick.

This pretty much sums it up for me.

http://www.braves-nation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15601

Daniel
14 years ago

To echo someone else…you WERE being sarcastic with the Lackey comment, yeah?  Because he only threw two pitches the other night.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Ross and Daniel:  To be clear, yes that was meant as sarcasm. Or snark. Or one of those things. I probably should have added a “gee,” or a “or something” sarcasm signifyer in there somewhere because it did come off as dry even by my standards.

Ross
14 years ago

To give you credit, at least our first reactions weren’t, “Craig, you’re a douchebag.”

APBA Guy
14 years ago

Craig-

Thanks for continuing to include the A’s in your recap of major league games. Given that the A’s shuttle bus to Sacramento (home of the AAA River Cats) is now running 24 x 7, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the product the A’s put on the field for their AAA club.

Also, the A’s starters, in addition to having surrendered the bulk of those 47 runs the last four games (11.75 rpg) have managed to do so in a cumulative 12 innings over that span.

The A’s fan blog is running about 450 comments per day now, with an ever increasing hostility index, along the lines of:

– How’s the youth movement working out now, Billy?
– If the average age of an A’s starter is 21 (same as Stephen Strasburg), why are we surprised that they can’t get anyone out?
– When is Giambi’s retirement party?

Only, they aren’t so nice about it. Can’t say that I blame them. I’m not actually going to the games this year. If I had spent money to see batting practice for the opposition I might be a lot more hostile as well.

dtro
14 years ago

“If you have season tickets at least you can come back tomorrow and expect a better product.”

Not if you have Nats tickets.

Jason @ IIATMS
14 years ago

Of course, Dickey pitched ONLY after Glen Perkins allowed 6 runs in the first.

t ball
14 years ago

I see what you did there with an underrated Beatles B-side.  I’m not really sure the Nats season ticket holders can expect a better product the next day.

Alex K
14 years ago

I wonder if that nasty collision with Cameron flashes through Beltran’s mind when he’s getting close to another player.

J.W.
14 years ago

What about the Jays’ AL East test against the Yankees? You know, the one where they lost both games not pitched by a guy named Roy.

tadthebad
14 years ago

JW,

    Well put.  Don’t we go through this every year with the Jays?  Sure seems like it.

Gerry
14 years ago

Over at bbref StatOfTheDay there’s a piece confirming your suspicion that a mid-80s Cardinals team holds the (since 1954) NL record for consecutive games with a steal, but 75 games was a bit of an over-estimate, the actual figure being 29. Still, well speculated.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

I’ll be damned. Blind squirrel/nut.