Ya, there's no special rules about being a pitcher when it comes to substitutions, they're just like everyone else. Once they leave, they're gone. But managers can move guys who are in the game around at will, with no limitations.

This technique definitely happened a lot more in the 80s - these days, with deeper, more specialized bullpens, it makes more sense to just pull the guy. And the defense shortcomings CAN be pretty great, depending on the skill of the batter, fielding skills of the pitcher. If you put Todd Jones out in right field, a good hitter can just send a routine fly ball out there and it'd be an adventure.

make your pitchers take fly balls once a week. Shit...they all did it in little league i'd be willing to bet

I would think it could be an injury concern, I wouldn't want my pitcher running into the wall or pulling a hamy

*dances a jig about the Royals* :D

SI

Hey, I recall discussing with you that I think Greinke's going to be great this year. Control like he has is simply unnatural, and the fact that he has the stuff to go with it...

I was watching the Pirates feed of the game at the time, and a good question was posed - actually, the question came off-camera from Kent Tekulve - was it proper for the pitcher to be permitted additional warm-up tosses after he came back to the mound? It wasn't the beginning of the inning, it wasn't his first time in the game, and there was no injury. Not sure he should have been. If the Braves are going to try this more than once, someone ought to answer the question.

:D

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3328114


LOL

Even though I do like A-Rod and think of the Red Sox as Yankees Lite, this story amused the Hell out of me.

She took it better than ARod would.

JR Towles, the 'rookie' catcher for the Astros gets a 2 run homer to give them the lead over the hated Cubs. WooHoo. CF Bourn then gets all three outs in the bottom of the inning, with one a nice diving catch.

Those two are becoming two of my favorite players very quickly. I am loving the Astros more then ever with those two guys and Pence giving some new blood to the team. Berkman, Tejada, and Lee are good guys too. ;)

Just need some pitchers beside Oswalt to like now, hopefully someone steps up.

Since when do the Astros and Cubs have some big rivalry? Or do you just hate the Cubs?

I hate the Cubs, and pretty much the whole city of Chicago and anything to do with it. :D

+1, not the whole city and while there are good people there, I despise Cubs fans. :D

I consider any divisional opponent a rival, and that bastard Pyrzisnki(sic) is beyond hot...

Too bad for the kittens...that pitching staff is going to sink them...

Yeah, Greinke has incredible stuff and I hope he's finally turned the corner. His numbers since the All-Star break last year and very strong. I've got him on my fantasy team and I suggest some of you guys do the same. I hope this is finally his breakout year!

Gonna have to wait another day to see my boy John Maine pitch

Huh?

Ian Kennedy getting hit hard...but the ump was absolutely screwing him on some pitches. Not that I'm complaining!

K, remind me again. Are you pro-Rays or anti-Yankees (or both)?

Definitely anti-Yanks. I think I'm going to enjoy watching the Rays - good young team. But even so, Kennedy was on the ropes and the ump absolutely hung him on a couple of pitches. He had a 2-1 pitch right down the middle called a ball, and with the bases loaded, he grooved the next pitch and the dude hit a bases-clearing double.

Decent pitcher's duel in Toronto right now.

Good start for the Royals here, lets keep this sole undefeated team in baseball going another day.

Frick nice catch by Rolen's replacement!

bwahahahahahahahahaha...yankees bullpen.....bwahahahahahahahaha.....latroy hawkins blows....bwahahahahahahahahaha.

As a Yankee Hater, I know I'm going to have far more lows than highs this year. But tonight's one I'm glad to be watching. 6 runs off of Kennedy, then Sonnanstine immediately gave back 4, but he settled down and the Rays put up 7 (and counting) in the 8th. Haha!

*virtual high five*

the umps in this game have been horrible the entire game....the guy behind the plate has no idea what the strike zone is, and the upton "tag out" at first was an utterly horrendous call.

*virtural buys round of beers for other anti-yankees*

Yeah, Carlos Pena got screwed on a few calls, too. At one point, the Yankees announcers just gave up trying to pretend the calls were strikes and admitted they weren't.

Interesting that Tekulve asked that question; since he was involved in such a situation during his career with the Pirates.

Here's a link to other examples: http://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/175

which blows...its one less game i will get for free...i may end up buying extra innings...i realized during the week that i am gonna be home every monday through thursday night all season long...do you have 200 bucks i can borrow?

Yeah, the comment from one of the announcers was, "He should know."

no but I will be getting the internet package wink wink

also always nice to see the yanks lose, point at your wife and laugh for me

Married to a Yankees fan? God Lord, man! Have you no standards?!

with the exception of that obvious charecture flaw I love her like a sister

she gave you the finger

its tough...her dad and her brother are fanatics too...we didnt speak at all for 2 weeks in october 2000.

I take back my previous comment

glad you arent from west virginia.

Ha! I met my wife in South Florida. Lucky for her, she was an FSU fan and not a Hurricane fan. I probably wouldn't have agreed to the first date if she rooted for Miami.

Royals bats not great tonight and Bale gives up 4 in 6 and change, so there are no longer any unbeaten teams with the Royals losing 4-3.

SI

Of course Greinke has the ability. Need to see how his head is, tho. He could go anywhere from 7-15 with a 5.50 to 18-5, 2.50 and neither would surprise me. Nor would "walks off the mound in the middle of a game and decides he wants to sell stadium hot dogs for a living".

SI

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Well if you are going to get all sensative (and give me more fuel for the fire), then I will ease off a little and say I am sure there are a couple decent people there.

Ugh. The Nats left THIRTEEN on base.

We're not going to win this game, but it's fun to see my team try to come back from 11-0 in the ninth. 11-6 now (2 outs).

So is Billingsley now a MR pitcher?

The Dodgers new pitcher pitched pretty damn well tonight. 1 run, 3 hits over 7 innings?

He better not be. I didn't draft him to be a MR.

Hunter got a single, Willits to third. GA flies out to deep, deep RF. Little more and it would have been 11-9. Fun while it lasted.

I think Torre was just trying to get him work after he was scratched yesterday. As of right now he's still scheduled to start Tuesday.

Corey Patterson has a walk, a stolen base, and a homer today. Dusty now has him penciled into the leadoff spot until at least the all star break.

Maine getting squeezed early

how about it....i couldnt believe some of those calls...that said, he seems to be having a hard time getting anything but the fast ball over the plate.


and oh yeah....ballgame over, rays win, thhhhhhhhhhhhhhe rays win!

can they please STFU about Reyes handshakes

damn him for having a personality

maine just doesnt seem to have it today...he cant throw any breaking pitches, so the braves are just sitting dead red and waiting for the fastballs

Maine looks like he has really good stuff. Nice movement on his fastball and a nasty changeup. I think this is the year he becomes a top line starter and wins 18-20 games.

Maine is reguarly hitting 95 on the gun, I don't understand why he isn't using his changeup more for an outpitch.

Inge is making the most of his playing time

are you fucking kidding me they called that a catch????

what a fuck job, fucking joke

at least they got it correct but it still costs us a potential run

Love that 4 run 6th inning. :)

Willis was absolutely pissed when that 3rd run crossed the plate.

that call still cost the Mets a run, game should be tied

Oh, I'm watching the White Sox game. :)

That Peavy guy is pretty good

HR by Dye for the insurance run!

5-3 White Sox going into bottom of 8th. :)

Here we go... BOBBY JENKS TIME! :D :)

:)

White Sox win 5-3!

Yay! We're above .500! :)

Gil Meche a bit shaky today. He's getting back to nibbling, it looks like and that needs to turn around.

SI

First time through, and at least the Jays' starting pitching has looked good.

Houston blew it today. Glad our ace pitcher has two bad starts and likes to give up RBI hits to the opposing pitch in each game. Yay for Oswalt.

Justin Upton, Conner Jackson and Chris Young did some serious damage against the Rockies today. If those three can get it together this year, the DBacks could be a very good team.

Twins fans need to give the Royals pitching staff a fruit basket or something for getting Morneau going.

SI

this home plate ump has been horrible in the Mets -Braves game

********ATTENTION EVERYONE...I HAVE BREAKING NEWS*******


Barry Zito sucks.

Oof... I mean, I figured maybe the Giants would get, at worst, a league average pitcher for their insane investment. But this is horrible.

SI

I was talking to my SF brother and he said that the season would be considered a success if they don't lose 100.

Ah, so that's like the Royals standards. Tho this year, hopes are a bit higher.

SI

Yea, that was pretty bad. Seemed like the Braves were getting squeezed much more than the Mets, too bad they couldn't take advantage. Mets offense looked like they were just going through the motions up there.

agree 100%. I really hope these guys don't think they can take off every fifth day because Santana is pitching, he didn't deserve that effort they gave today

Royals salvage game 3 with the Twins to come home 4-2 after a sweep of the Tigers and then 1-2 vs the Twins. Great defense and good pitching keys the 3-1 win today.

Now it's time for Opening Day vs the Yankees Tuesday on Greater Kansas City Day. I'll be at the game Wednesday night if anyone else is going to be there :)

SI

Ping Astros Fans:

:)

I know its early but Cubs fans have to be pleased with Kerry Woods start

Alas, what a weekened to forget for the Red Sox. :(

I don't care if he's not what he used to be, you don't load the bases when Frank Thomas is on-deck...

/tk

Also, Brett Myers. 2 starts unimpressed.
I'll give him some leeway though, last year a closer, this year back in the rotation.

Yep, great to see the Royals do so well on the opening road trip.

Depending on what happens tonight in the championship game, you may need to adjust your plans accordingly. They may have to cut a hole in the fences to get all the big-headed beaker fans in the stadium. :)

Okay, just start to erect the Torii statue in centerfield right now. :D

BTW, Hunter saved what I think is a pretty impressive streak. We entered the ninth with a chance to extend what is now something like a 160 game winning streak when leading going into the ninth. Obviously, that's a situation that lends itself to victories, but a whole season's worth of wins without a loss? Pretty damn impressive.

K-Rod tried to blow it tonight, but Torii totally saved the Halos.

Christ! What is it with the Yankees and rain for home openers? First, they have their own home opener rained out. Now, they come to KC for their home opener and it's expected to pour cats and dogs most of the day.

He's a good player and has always played well against the Tribe. I can't take much more of Joe Borowski, though. :(

So, should we all be rushing to pick up Carlos Quentin in our fantasy leagues? Why did the Diamondbacks cut bait on this guy? His minor league numbers are about as impressive as they come...

Thank goodness Andruw Jones will only be a Dodger for one more year after this one

This was meant for me wasn't it mofo? :mad:

Astros tried to blow their home opener against the Cards yesterday just as they did the Chicago series. Wandy Rodriguez had a great game pitching yesterday and then new Houston closer had a brilliant first showing in front of Astros fans by blowing it completely. Thankfully it was homerun Monday for the Astros hitters yesterday and Tejada got one to win in the bottom of the ninth.

This season is going to kill me, I might need to go back on the truck.

Quentin had a hot month, but then struggled with injuries and consistency for over a year. He was going to be part of the Haren deal, but Oakland wanted someone from Chicago instead, so the DBacks sent him to the Sox and used that player in the Haren deal.

I've always liked him, but he had some injury concerns, his FA clock was ticking and he wasn't going to play over Chris Young, Upton or Byrnes - so they dealt him.

I love the Tigers, but even as a huge fan, I'm getting a sick, twisted sort of delight watching a team with a $130 payroll getting thumped, and looking confused.

I still think they'll pull out of it.

One hell of a set of games yesterday between the Cubs-Pirates and then walkoffs by the Astros and Angels.

SI

Fortunately no rain interrupted the game and the Royals won their home opener 5-2. As an aside, the rain put a damper on Greater Kansas City day- I was trying to get a couple of copies of the Star and I couldn't find anyone selling any anywhere.

SI

Understand now why I shed no tears when he left Atlanta?

For those not following, he's hitting .115, .179 OBP, .154 SLG, with 8 strikeouts.

Pretty smart extension by the DBacks on Chris Young (5yrs - $28 mil):

"Young will get a $1 million signing bonus plus $1.75 million in 2009, $3.25 million in 2010, $5 million in 2011, $7 million in 2012 and $8.5 million in 2013. There is an $11 million option and $1.5 million buyout for 2014. Young became the first major league rookie ever to have at least 30 home runs and 25 stolen bases last season, with 32 homers and 27 steals."

I think he's going to be a 30-30 stud and getting him for the next 5-6 seasons after this for an average of under $6 mil is a great move for the DBacks.

How many years of free agency did they buy out? Just 1 and a bunch of arby years?

SI