[cknox0723]

Originally Posted by The Funk

What the hell does all that mean?

It means we have an off-day. Also that I had an 11-hour shift to work.

7/26

The concern for Pale Hose faithful should be with division rivals Cleveland, who won a drawn-out pitcher's duel two to one over New York today on a thirteenth inning double steal followed by a sacrifice fly by fifth outfielder Coco Crisp. Our idleness allows the red-hot Tribe to slide within three-and-a-half of first place, the closest they've been since the calendar read June.

I'd be a fool not to be a little anxious that we're about to blow this thing, but I am the guy who thought it was a good idea to sign a 38 year old Piazza, after all. So instead I am preoccupied with giving thanks...

- Thanks, OOTP gods, for going all Iowa Baseball Confederacy on the Empire and not on our team. It's bad enough that the Yankees lost a long one to Cleveland, but it's borderline pitiful when you consider they were on the short end of a 21 inning game in Texas one day earlier.

There was a ballgame improbable enough after nine frames; the visiting Yankees erased an eight-three seventh inning deficit with four in the eighth off of a quartet of relievers and three more in the ninth, all off of Proven Closer (TM) John Smoltz...and then occasional closer Jay Powell blew it in the bottom of the ninth. All-Star 1B Teixeira connected on a one-out, run-scoring double and pinch-hitter Andrew Wishy, the 24 year old backup outfielder, cracked a line drive to right-center to tie the game two batters later. Another pinch-hitter, the young infielder Micah Furtado, stepped in then and there with the chance to win it, but his bouncer to second sent the game to extra innings.

Twelve innings later, somebody press the reset button and Furtado got his chance at a do-over in his fifth at-bat of the game, facing 24 year old southpaw Frederick Banta with Dave Dellucci at second representing the winning run. On a 2-1 fastball clocked at 87 miles per hour, the youngster took his hack and socked a line drive over shortstop; left fielder Randy Winn's throw was predictably feeble and Dellucci slid into home to give the home team the W in your garden-variety 11-10, 21-inning ballgame. Right-hander Dewon Brazelton threw nine shutout innings in relief to improve his record to eight and seven. Banta's first major-league loss came in a relief outing where he battled his control terribly, walking eight...while pitching seven-and-two-thirds innings. Mark Teixeira, the number five batter for Texas, was more productive in one ballgame than I think Juan uribe was for the Pale Hose all last year - the Texas 1B was five for ten with a double, a home run, and five runs batted in. Shortstop Fred Bynum was oh-for-nine with three strikeouts to lower his season batting line to .181. 1B Jason Giambi was four for ten for the Empire, coming a triple short of the cycle, but despite his ninth-inning heroics (a go-ahead two-run HR off of Smoltz), the Yankees still fell short. It just took the length of two-plus regular ballgames to earn that one loss. And then the thirteen-inning loss to Cleveland.
Karma.

- Also, I must thank the OOTP gods for not allowing the 24 year old southpaw Jay Marshall of Seattle to become a star. Sent to the left coast in the trade that ridded us of craptastic infielder Juan Uribe and gave us next to nothing (AAA 3B Shea Hillenbrand) in return, Marshall was just a young, left-handed afterthought. And why not? Certainly a man who has never pitched to better than a .500 record in three years at AA would be a beforethought, and even if his strikeout rate had improved, this kid allowed 37 runs in 39 innings (8 starts) in a late-season AAA call-up. Not worth a thought in the slightest.

But spring-training work with pitching coach Rod Metzger gave Marshall a new weapon this year, a circle changeup, and his always-solid control remained while the hit rate dropped precipitously as batters had to contend with something besides flaming cheddar and still-steaming splitters. In 18 AAA starts, Marshall's won-los was a lukewarm 8-7, but his earned run average was a dazzling 2.39, second in all of mythical AAA land behind only San Diego's Matt Bruback. Finally tired of journeyman John Halama's piddling results, the major-league version of Jay Marshall was born on the fourth of July and there were fireworks a'plenty after his dazzling debut over Oakland, seven innings of shutout ball with seven strikeouts, more than enough for the W.

Since then, Marshall's made three starts and not made it through five innings in any of them. It is not a lack of stamina, but a lack of precision, as the left-hander has been forcibly removed thanks to an inability to control the big hit - five home runs allowed and five doubles in 90 or so batters faced. Sure, the kid is four starts into his young career and could still be an astronaut for all we know, but it would have been awfully painful to watch him carve up the American League at the very beginning of his career.

- Last but not least, thanks to the OOTP gods for not forcing me to watch Chris Scarborough carve up the league at the very beginning of his career. The former #3 overall pick, traded just a few short weeks ago in an all-in move to gun for the pennant, got a win in his ML debut with five-plus shutout innings and seven Dodger strikeouts, but as the kid proved in his second start, he is not really the Milwaukee ace, not yet. He put his ballclub in a quick first-inning hole against Saint Louis thanks to two walks and two stolen bases, and then left a hittable fastball out over the plate to cleanup man Jose Guillen, who thumped it to left-center to make it 2-0, visitors. Right fielder Trot Nixon followed suit with a liner into the corner and 3-0 was a hole that had grown to 4-0 after two innings, again catalyzed by Marlon Anderson getting on base and then stealing a base. This time the other Saint Louis outfielder, veteran Mike Tucker, got the RBI, though his was just on a simple looper over the infield.

Milwaukee battled back in the bottom of the second, aided by a fielding error by Guillen, and Scarborough's first major-league hit, a two-out single, cut the lead in half. And then suddenly it was all gone, as another former Pale Hose guy in right fielder Brian Anderson had jumped all over a hanging breaker and crushed it to straightaway center for a two-run tater. Third baseman Casey Blake poked a single to keep the inning alive, #3 hitter and Ordonez soundalike Geoff Jenkins cracked a double to right-center, and the home team had the edge, five to four. Scarborough breezed through the third, fourth, and fifth without pause, retiring nine in a row and allowing just one ball out of the infield, a harmless fly out. But an Alex Gonzalez double with one out in the top of the sixth would be followed by a Scott Rolen long ball to left, chasing Scarborough from the ballgame for good with his team again behind. They'd come back to tie in the ninth and actually win it in the tenth on a second error by Jose Guillen, but it's apparent that Milwaukee's dividends from the big trade won't begin to really pay off for some time.

P.S. Thanks of course to Vris and The Funk, spuds and BadluckinOOTP, orin2 and zukes and Y0DA and all of the other great folks who come up with such great and frequent replies.