Friday March 2, 2007

I would first off like to send my prayers to the baseball team of the University of Bluffton, anyone associated with the school and the families of the players. It is awful to see a crash like that happen, especially to a group of young men that have such a full and bright life ahead of them. I will now take a few lines of silence for six people that died.

A few notes from pitchers around the league:

Tim Hudson said "I pitched last year like about a No. 5 starter, if that. I expect to pitch like a No. 1 starter. I think that's what I am. That's what I plan to get back to." Hudson went 13-12 with a 4.86 era last year, basically he pitched like shit. It is nice to see a player take the blame upon himself instead of finding some excuse. Look for Hudson to improve upon last season’s numbers. His amount of wins should definitely increase since there is actually a bullpen to close out games for him. Also look for a drop in ERA to about 3.50. He could be a steal in the later rounds, so pay attention to his spring training performances.

Beginning tomorrow Pedro Martinez can start throwing, the next step in him coming back from rotator cuff surgery. The medical staff is being very conservative with him and expects him to be back by August. I would not draft him but make sure you are sitting on the waiver wire when you start hearing about him coming back.

Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first pitch ever in spring training was a double by a junior at Boston College, yes a college player. It is ok, after that he pitched very well. He retired the next six batters he saw and 19 of the 25 pitches he threw were strikes. I don’t know if he threw the “gyroball” because I did not see the game and haven’t seen any highlights. But if this “gyroball” exists I think it would be nuts, supposedly it was derived in a lab somewhere in Japan. It is suppose to break like 3 feet. All I say is let’s see it.

A few notes from box scores around the league:

Carlos Zambrano, or as I like to call him Big Z, pitched 2 innings allowed 1 hit and had 4 strikeouts, impressive.

Howie Kendrick, one of the 2b that the other writer in this blog loves, went 2-3 with 2 runs and 1 rbi, well done.

Gary “I’m on steroids” Matthews Jr. went 1-3 with a homerun. I expect 2 a day if you are going to take ‘roids Gary.

Matt Murton went 3-3 with 1 run, 4 rbis and a homer. Murton should be batting out of the two spot in the Cubs lineup, so if he can get on base he will have a good chance to be driven home with all that power batting behind him.

Chone (pronounced Sean, I have no idea why) Figgins went 3-3 with 2 runs, 2 rbis, 1 homerun and 1 stolen base. Way to fill the stat sheet Sean.

The Milwaukee Brewers scored 21 runs. Two players had 7 rbis a piece, I have never heard of neither of them, H Iribarren (2b) and J Closser (c). 5 of the runs were off Matt Cain and 4 were off Brad Hennessey.

Detroit Tigers had 4 homeruns as a team. One was off Brad Lidge who gave up 4 earned runs in 1 inning.

One of my favorite players from last year, Ryan Zimmerman went 2-3 with 2 runs, 3 rbis and 1 homerun.

Ryan Howard picked up where he left up hitting a homer.

Well it is Friday so I better go drink……