All right, all Angels deserving of a win tonight, step forward.

Not so fast, Arredondo, Oliver and Shields! :mad:

I hate losing to the Red Sox. And I hate losing games we should win even more (to anyone).

Giants win on a Pablo Sandoval line-drive HR, after blowing a 5-1 lead. WOO HOO!

The last time the Blue Jays were even remotely relevant, I was in middle school.

I'm not getting ahead of myself, as the season is long. But...I'm really happy with how they're playing so far.

Of course he isn't and the strawman you're claiming said that doesn't exist. Hochaver is a very good pitcher and makes the Royals starting staff one of the best five in baseball. He's a guy that most other teams only wish they had as their 5th starter.

In previous outings he has had the state of mind to switch it up if the fastball isn't working. I wonder how much having Nieves behind the plate instead of Flores affected those decisions. But the kid is only 22 and is really showing a lot of promise. A 2010 rotation of Martis, Zimmermann, Lanan, Strasburg and... someone.. could be very, very nice.

Unfortunately the bullpen blew it again. Beimel got the blown save today. 0.2 IP 2H 3R 1BB a HR and a throwing error attempting a pickoff.

Zimmerman (one "n"), is just on fire. I hate to talk much about it, for the jinx factor, but he's now on a 30 game hitting streak (only went hitless in the second game of the season), has a .364 AVG and 8 HR (14 HR last year in 106 games).

Chan Ho Park got his first win against the Dodgers...

HA HA (Nelson Laugh)

I'm wondering what you're basing this on, because it certainly isn't his MLB production.

His stuff and projections are well-regarded. There's very few teams that would turn down the opportunity to put him in their rotation. A quick viewing of what some of these staffs are putting out there for their 5th starter gives a pretty clear indication just how weak starting pitching is currently in the league.

Of course, this discussion isn't well-timed given his performance last night, but it doesn't change the fact that he'd be a starter on the majority of MLB teams right now.

You could say the same thing about countless prospects. Fact is, in ~150 major league innings, Hochevar has not looked like a particularly good pitcher. The guys gets no strikeouts at all. He's also 25, so it's pretty much time for put up or shut up with him.

Adam Jones = really, really good.

That wasn't directed necessarily at you. There were a lot more vocal advocates of him out there in KC, just not on this board. Tho it does validate my statement earlier: "He’s not some magic cure all panacea. He’s going to be, at best, our number 3- not some magic Greinke-esque pitcher." And, again, if they threw away his arbitration clock to "shake things up" like a lot of people were wanting, just for 2 or 3 starts at most- it's just stupid. I don't get how people can be so short sighted. That's not fiscally responsible and the Royals have to be in their market.

If we needed someone to go out there and be bombed by an anemic A's lineup, we could have just thrown Sir Sidney last night. Oh wait, we did. He gave up 4 in 2 innings compared to Luke's 8. A stellar night for both *sigh*

(And it's Hochevar- I know it doesn't make sense and I've misspelled it quite a few times, too)

SI

I'm still kicking myself for waiting on him one round too long in the FOFC Hardcore league draft :(

SI

If we could get Hochevar to pitch around a 4.00 ERA, that would bode extremely well. That's what I hope the Royals can get from their #5 starter. Obviously, he's going to need a few shutout innings to reverse last night's hiccup.

It didn't help much last night that the Royals had the chance in both of the first two innings to rattle the A's pitcher and failed on both occasions. If the Royals get a 2-3 run lead early, it could have easily deflated that team. Instead, their pitcher gets out of big jams in both innings and they have some positive vibes which translate to the big run output.

Actually, looking at his Baseball Cube page (Luke Hochevar - The Baseball Cube) he really hasn't had much success as a pro at all, outside of short stints this year and last.

He was a college pitcher. In addition, he had the year-long debacle where he chose to not sign a contract and re-enter the draft. It's been an odd road, but this year is really the first year that anything should be expected of him.

You expect your #5 starter to get a 4.00 ERA? Look MBBF, it's not 1985 any more. Most team's #5's can barely keep it under a 5.00, let alone a 4. The MLB average team ERA is right around a 4.5 right now. I would say you should be wildly happy with a 4.50.

Given that KC has the best ERA in the league, it's going to take a 4.50 ERA from that 5th starter to even get a spot in the rotation. We're not talking about an average staff in this situation.

Your point also plays into my statement that most teams would welcome a talent like Hochevar into their rotation without any hesitation.

OMG HOCHEVAR NEEDS TO PITCH LIKE PEDRO TO BECOME THERE SPOT STARTER 4 LYFE!11@1!

OK, I don't follow every team closely -- I'm trying to look up Hochevar, and it looks like he has pitched 2 innings this year with a 36.00 ERA? And he pitched 129 last year with a 5.5 ERA?

Correct. Last year was his first year in the bigs. He's had one start this year.

I know it's early and you're excited, but even if KC ends the season with the best staff in the league, 4.50 ERA for the 5th starter is probably a min. Last season, the Rays had the 2nd best ERA in the AL and Edwin Jackson put up nearly a 4.50 ERA. The Jays had the best rotation and Purcey/McGowan put up a combined 4.75 or so. The league average was 4.30 or so, so even if the current Royals are below it (as LAA were last season), they still had Garland with 4.90, Weaver with 4.33, and Moseley with 6.79 (in 12 starts).

As was said earlier, I hate to bring reality and this amazing new concept called sample size into your world, but it's highly likely that a 4.50 ERA would be welcome for a 5th starter on any team and anything better is most likely not that much better...and gravy.

Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to. Please carry on with your ridiculous expectations, while the rest of us debate facts in the real world.

I'm not really sure, based on this information how even the Nationals would prefer him over their fifth starter. There are a lot of guys with potential to be a good #5 starter out there. I'm not as knowledgeable on baseball as most people here, but... Granted, I would take anyone over Daniel Cabrera who I believe is somewhere in the top 3 of the rotation. :)

In my opinion, the most important thing from a #5 starter is innings. If you've given up 4 runs but got me through 6 or 7 innings so I don't have to tax my pen (compared to a guy who gave up 2 but could only go 5) I'll take that every single time out.

That's why bringing in Livan Hernandez for the 5th spot was one of the moves I most agreed with the Mets making.

Yup. More proof of the benefits of Carlos Ruiz.

BTW, I was at the game yesterday (Dollar Dog Night = yum), and the Jayson Werth show was as ridiculous live as it was in person.

Hochevar is THE definition of a fifth starter. MBBF is just being retarded and/or inventing reality.

OK. I'm sorry. You can't intentionally walk a guy with a 30 game hitting streak in his fourth AB. That's fucked up.

Better hope they score off Merkin Valdez to force extra innings. Or more correctly, the Giants force extra innings.

Well, the Nationals just have to get one man on base to get another AB. Extras would be if he doesn't get on in his 5th AB :)

we had too. Anyway, its good to see Sabean's idiocy (Sharon Martis was traded by us for .... Mike Stanton) come back to bite him on the ass again.

Sorry, but no. The game situation definitely called for it.

I'd probably quibble with that statement from the standpoint of his upside is better than a lot of fifth starters. His performance to date is pretty fifth starterish, maybe even his 2009 reasonably projected performance, but not his overall potential, so I'm not sure he's quite the prototype of what a "fifth starter" is.

I mean, if the Braves call up Hanson & stick him out there at the end of the rotation (or if the Nationals had done that with Zimmerman a little too soon) I don't think I'd call either of them the definition of a fifth starter. Sometimes it's a just a current role, not a permanent condition.

Yes, but I'm a homer. :)

Elijah Dukes has had some serious base running issues this year.

Well, congrats to Zimmerman! 30 games is a great accomplishment. I'm sure he will tell the reporters that the win is what is important to him.

I think if that game went into extras he would've found a way to steal first base. His steal of home got me more excited than anything in baseball since Game 5.

*Fist Bump* to all other Reds fans.

Amazing to see what happens when Tavares actualt has a good OBP.

With their starting pitching I think they will be there all year, really a fun club to watch. Wish they were this good when I lived in the Nati

With the hitting coming around it is a beautiful thing to watch. It's hard to accept that the whole season won't go this way but I am still having doubts lingering.. I mean.. what have we seen the past few years other then hot starts petering away. But I'm believing right now..


The pitching of the Reds.. Wow.

dola -

and the bullpen is being overlooked by the young starters thats for sure. They have been stellar.

EDIT: And yea, GABP has definitely always been an enjoyable trip, but right now, it is awesome...

Is there a more over looked superstar the Adrian Gonzalez?

The pitching is what they have this year that they didn't have in other years, that makes me believe they can hang in all year. However, their offense is playing above their head right now, which makes me think a losing streak is around the corner when everybody reverts to their .240 average selves.

I think the Central could end up being a good four-way race. The Cardinals, Brewers, Reds, and Cubs are all pretty good but each have flaws.

The Reds pitching is sick. The Brewers hitting is sick. The Cardinals have Albert Pujols and Dave Duncan. The Cubs have a star studded cast.

The Reds hitting is questionable. The Brewers pitching is questionable. Everything outside of Pujols for the Cardinals has a chance to regress. The Cubs can't stay healthy.

Should be a fun race. I know I really enjoy watching my Brewers knowing that when they are down 4-1 they are still right in the game. Home run after home run. Rickie Weeks is tearing the cover off the ball (finally!). Ryan Braun is Ryan Braun. Prince Fielder must've cut twinkies out of his vegetarian diet because he's not the behemoth fat blob he was last year. When Yovanni Gallardo is pitching, the only hole in the lineup is Jason Kendall and he can at least take a walk.

So, uh, yeah- Royals happy to be home after that debacle of a road trip. They limp home 0-5 after scoring a whopping 9 runs on the road trip. The starting pitching was good except for the Luke/Sidney game- they only gave up 8 in the other 4 games and that includes 2 from the "inside the park erro-- home run" but with no run support, well, that's how you have that kind of starting pitching and end up 0-5 :(

Tonight starts 4 against the O's and the first is on MLBN so I'll get one of my very rare chances to see them this year on tv

SI

I'd agree except to use your examples, Hanson is filthy and Zimmerman is at least average. Hochevar is a right handed Mark Hendrickson which means he might luck into a good year or two, but minus some additional movement or speed on his fastball or marked improvement on his other pitches, he is what he is.

Anyone see the Tigs/Twins game?

Joe Crede walk off grand slam in the 13th after Jesse Crane balked in Curtis Granderson in the top half of the 13th to give Detroit a lead.

But the big story was the ump giving Magglio a little tap to push him towards the dugout causing Leyland to explode. While it wasn't a lot, if he did it to the ump he'd have been suspended for sure. I wonder if any action is taken against the ump.

Leylands comments post game were classic:

I think he wants them to write something.

Leyland was moving quickly for an old man when he went out to argue.

So, any of you Mariner fans still alive out there?

As a lifelong Rangers fan who has had to put up with crap the last 10 years, these last 2 weeks have been glorious. And yeah, I know its just May and all.

I hope Walt doesn't wait too long to trade for a bat. The pitching won't stay this good and they'll need at least one more hitter to stay in the race. I'd give Bailey or Arroyo + prospects for a good LF or 3b.

Hochevar is going to win the console race for Sony!

I think Hochevar has the potential to be a no 3 type, above-average SP, but I don't want to take away from the assertion that MBBF is still an idiot. :D

Potential being the operative word.

Wow. Nobody can say there's not something wrong with Ortiz now. He needs to sit like...two weeks ago.

This just in from today's 12 inning game:

Boston slugger David Ortiz went 0 for 7 and stranded 12 runners. He struck out three times, once with the bases loaded in the fourth, and left the bases loaded again in the 12th with a dribbler in front of the plate as his average plummeted to .208.

I got a kick out of this. Mets/Giants game, Maine fouls a ball off Molina's leg, he's clearly in a great amount of pain, having trouble putting any weight on the leg. Maine has 2 strikes on him, and there are 2 outs. After a couple minutes, he decides to stay in the game and they say they are gonna give him a few warmup pitches and he's just like nah, lets just get to this, just throw it down the middle and get me out of this inning. Maine lines a base hit and now he walks Castillo. Kind of the thing you had to see, just funny watching Molina's reaction to the idea of a couple warmup pitches.

He's returned to David Arias form.

They brought this up tonight on Sportscenter, and pointed out that Ortiz had more LOB on his own than any team today (besides the Red Sox, of course). Cubs were tops with 11. Ouch.

Not a great performance from Santana today, but it was enough. He'll have to work his way back into midseason form, but I am not concerned.

Lackey is finally back on Saturday, and Escobar is in extended spring training, and probably due back within a month (although the way Palmer's pitching, I am almost wondering if they'll try Escobar in the pen first to try to help the Angels out there). Vlad could be back DHing during the next homestand.

Angels have won 9 of 11, despite the injury issues, and now get a series with the first place Rangers. The Rangers are hot, so it's not going to be easy, but if the Angels can take two of three, they are tied for first, and a sweep puts them on top.

This should be an interesting night at the ballpark. Royals Stadium is sold out both Friday and Saturday along with a big crowd expected for Sunday afternoon. I'm headed out there tonight with my friends. Greinke on the hill tonight. If there was ever a 'must win' for the Royals, tonight is probably the night. They gave back the 6 game winning streak by losing the next 6. Greinke needs to right the ship tonight.

How come ticketing at Royals.com says I can still buy 2 tickets Dugout Plaza Aisle 221, Row SS, Seats 22 & 23 for tonight's game?
And 2 tickets Dugout Plaza Aisle 217, Row EE, Seats 10 & 11 for Saturday's game?


I don't think these words mean what you think they mean.

The way Arroyo has pitched so far this year, he won't fetch much. But we have a bunch of mid-range to high-level prospects who have decent market value. Not all of them are going to end up with the big club, so the time is NOW to cash in. Todd Frazier, Chris Valaika, Drew Stubbs, Adam Rosales, Juan Francisco, the list goes on... the only untouchable is probably Yonder Alonso... but he plays 1B only from what I understand so there is a bit of a logjam if he gets ready for the majors in a couple years and if Votto maintains form and develops into a star as it appears he will.

Where's Todd Frazier's value in that spectrum? Just curious, since he's a Rutgers guy and also famous throughout my area for carrying Toms River to the Little League World Series.

On last night's telecast, they said tonight's game is sold out. I know that they do hold some lower-level seats on the visiting side. They may have released those last night. They also said that Saturday has very few tickets and they expect it to sell out as well. So it may not be for Saturday right now, but they said it will be by game time. I'm going to trust the local announcers on this one. I've heard 'still seats available' many times in past years. They wouldn't say it's sold out unless they truly expect it. Otherwise, they're turning away customers and the Royals are in no position to do that.

Frazier is consistently listed as one of the top 3 prospects in the Reds system... he and Valaika are usually the top 2, though Alonso shot up the charts after his 1st round selection last year.

Frazier is playing for AA Carolina this year and hitting .273 so far, with 1 homer and 15 doubles out of 36 hits. He is playing outfield for them right now... the Reds have a glut of middle infielders, so they are probably trying a new position out on him down there.

I think we should all chip in for a round trip ticket between Middle GA and Kansas City, plus one of those dugout plaza tickets still available, so Jon can go and count the number of empty seats in the stadium.

I feel confident he would perform this service for the board...especially if there are designated smoking areas inside Kaufman.

Lots of tickets available for tonight in many different sections. For tomorrow's game you can still get 14 contiguous seats in multiple sections.

First, there are designated smoking areas, though I never visit them personally.

Second, he'd be better off not getting a ticket. Then he would end up like the 4-5K people who got turned away from the last Friday game at home. Most were college kids, who likely just went out to their cars and drank beer. Probably saved a lot of money by drinking in the parking lot instead of the stadium. I'm floored every time I see someone plop down $7.50 for a bottle of beer. That's nuts.

This is great. KCRoyals.com will see site traffic increases of 200% thanks to FOFC members. :)

It may sell out, and if it does that's great ... but that's not what you claimed.
They could certainly use it given their attendance so far this year, which is less than 1% of capacity different than last season or even the 93 loss season of 2007.

And it's not as though I'm usually one to bust on anybody about their attendance, I'm in the Atlanta market for crying out loud, one of the worst pro sports towns ever. The apparent embellishment just really seemed unwarranted but I guess I'll assign the blame to announcers getting ahead of themselves.

Like I said, I'm heading to the game tonight. I'll be sure to provide the actual attendance. They have the Buck Night tonight, which always draws a huge walkup. Tomorrow night is a promotional night and the weather is supposed to be good, which should also draw a huge walkup. The revenue generated for games this year is way up, due to the increase in ticket prices after the renovation. So even if they sell the same number of tickets as in previous years, they're still making way more than they did before the renovation. In KC, you can sit behind the plate for $125 with seat-side service. Compare that to $2,000+ in Yankees Stadium. It's a great deal.

Also, it should be noted that although the number of seats was reduced slightly, they do have around 750 standing room only tickets that sell well that make up the difference. Those tickets let you into the ballpark where you can stand out on the 'Party Patio just above the right field wall. That patio is often packed while seats near home plate remain unsold during the weekday games. The drinkers just buy those tickets and hang out there.

Hm, so if Jon and I both went, and the traffic increased 200%...

At least you got the joke. Kudos.

If they turned 'em away, it wasn't because of a sell out.

Attendance was only 36,363, more than 2000 short of the new listed capacity of 38,177 (even less than the 40k + figure that most sources still cite). Hell, they drew 37,647 the next night, so unless they had 1300 seats closed on Friday that suddenly opened up on Saturday, that doesn't even make sense.

More likely, given the nature of the turnaways you cited, the problem was that they ran out of the $7 general admission seats & the kids chose not to buy a more expensive ticket. But running out of cheap seats is not the same thing as a turnaway crowd.

I will give you this though, even the KC Star is claiming that "If you don’t have a ticket for tonight’s game, chances are you aren’t getting one. You can stand in line for the 400-or-so seats that sell only on game days or you can pay a scalper."

Of course we've sat here & proven that's bullshit with less than 5 minutes effort but apparently that doesn't prevent it.

Heck, maybe it's fun, let me try. Let's see here, hmm, wait, I've got it.
"There are no tickets available for tonight's Atlanta Thrashers playoff game. Every available ticket for the game has been sold."

I'm having a bear of a time getting tix to see the Gwinnett Braves. Hotter ticket than the real team.

Oh, and as I said earlier...Garrett Anderson sucks.

I haven't even bothered trying. I figure it'll be like the Rome Braves were, a real pain for at least the first year, more manageable after the new wears off a little bit.

It's been interesting for me to notice how hard they marketed them team to the college kids in Athens though. Nobody else has really done that, or at least not that I've noticed, but they've pushed pretty hard on local radio in the opening weeks of the season.

Reminds me of when I lived in Boston and the Revolution would rope off 3/4 of Foxboro, sell the remaining 1/4 and call it a sell-out .

Taking a look at the attendance numbers, I'm fairly surprised that Milwaukee is 9th in all the MLB with 35,953 per game.

Not bad for a team many felt should have been contracted when contraction was on the table.

Was Milwaukee actually a serious contender for contraction?

No, not at all. But it was more backlash against Selig because the Brewers were his team and in one of the worst (if not worst) major league markets.

Wow. Gardenhire and Girardi almost got into it in the Twins-Yanks game

SI

Milwaukee isn't a terrible major league market. If you read "Forever Blue," one of the things it mentions is that the success of the Braves in that town is really what opened up the West for the move of the Giants and Dodgers to California.

It's something O'Malley might not have considered if the Braves hadn't previously proven it could be done.

But it was home to a pretty terrible franchise that didn't seem to be making serious effort to compete for a while. It's one thing to support the hometown nine when they're down. It's another thing to support them when they don't bother trying to get up.

Royals-O's just got underway with a 2 hour rain delay. Greinke on the mound.

SI

I went to that Tigs/Yanks game a while back when they started at like midnight. Unreal. They let people leave the stadium, so a lot of people went to the bar and got shitfaced. My buddies and I went there just to see if we could get into the game and a guy gave us tickets because he had to catch an early flight.

Most fun MLB game ever. Fights everywhere. Just a great day that ended around 3 AM.

Dola, Tigs hit 2 grand slams tonight. Inge and Raburn. First time for Detroit since 1968.

Luis Vizcaino gives up a walk-off HR in his Indians debut. Welcome to Cleveland, kid, you'll fit right in.

Rangers hang on to win again. If they split the weekend with the Angels, they'll be in good shape.

Zack has some control issues in the first couple of innings but then settles down. He's gone 7 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 K and his ERA creeps up to 0.60 (from 0.54) thru 8 games

SI

38K and change the announced attendance in Kansas City. Not nearly that many there now after the 2 1/2 hour rain delay

SI

And the Mets once again win a close one in late innings. Man, what a difference from last year!

Yeah, I seem to remember the Jaguars having mysterious Teal covered areas that weren't counted towards avoiding a blackout.

Pirates offense and bullpen looking good in early season.

[rant]
FUCK....HOW MANY MORE GODDAMN QUALITY STARTS IS THIS TEAM GOING TO BLOW WITH 1-2 RUNS. OR BULLPEN TARDEDNESS.

[/end rant]

Royals finally break the streak at 6. Zack goes 7, Royals bats wake up and they win 8-1. Now that's out of the way and it's time to start a new good streak :)

SI

All of them?

I don't expect the team to be that great, but snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is getting to be too much. Like if you get 6 innings and 3 runs allowed out of the #5 starter, you should probably win that game. Or if your #1 pitches 7 scoreless, you should win that one too.

I haven't been a Pirates fan/interested viewer for long, I don't know how much more emotional investment I can make into this.

sigh.

If you guys haven't seen the Rangers play this year, they just seem different. I haven't seen a shortstop like Elvis Andrus in a really long time. He makes some plays you just can't believe!

Hang on is right. Damn, for a while there, I thought the Angels were going to do it.

For anyone not following along, the Angels were down 10-3 with two outs in the ninth--and then scored five runs, with the tying runs on at first and second at the end, when Kinsler made a terrific play to Andrus to barely get that third out.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that 2 guys who were integral to their teams' post-season runs last year are going to end up on the DL within the next few weeks - Scott Kazmir and Brad Lidge. Something ain't right with either of them.

Agree on Lidge. I think his leg is really affecting his delivery. He needs to go on the DL and have Madsen close for a while.

And the Nationals bullpen (and bullpen management) loses another one.

Speaking from experience, as a long suffering Brewers fan, I'd tell you to hang on.

But don't get too emotionally invested in Pirate games at this point. It's not worth it. When your team stinks, it just does not pay to get too uptight about the actual games themselves. Don't necessarily get too attached to any of the players unless they are rookies or otherwise young players. Get acclimated with some of the young prospects in the system.

I do believe the Pirates' management is on the right path but they haven't been on the job long enough to make a meaningful impact. But everything I've heard about the Pirates GM and what he has said makes me believe that he is philosophically on the right path. The management at least isn't delusional that they are going to be winning with this group and trading off young players for marginal help.

It'll take time, but sitting through these years will make eventual winning more sweet. Just don't get too worked up about things early in the process.

They have no projectable major league pitchers in the system. And probably 3 position players that rate as every day players. It could be 5 years or more.