In a year where umpires like Joe West and Bill Hohn are doing all they can to show they are far from perfect, Jim Joyce went one step further by having his imperfection blow someone else’s perfection. It’s like that O. Henry short story where the poor wife cuts off her hair and sells it to buy him a pocket watch accessory and the husband laughs at her bald head. For all intents and purposes, Armando Galarraga pitched a perfect game yesterday. The Governor of Michigan is declaring he pitched a perfect game. Unfortunately for Galarraga, the Governor’s previous proclamations that ‘Detroit is the pearl of the Midwest’ and ‘Kid Rock is STD-free in my book’ were never accepted by the tourism and medical industries so it’s unlikely MLB will honor her request. Who I really feel bad for? Harvey Haddix. Now he has to share his asterisk. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Chipper Jones – Glass Chipper left the game with an injury. Shocker! No way! C’mon!
Derek Lowe – 8 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 7 Ks. Came into this game with a 4.86 ERA and guess how many wins. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Nope, higher. Higher still. No, not 30. Lower. No, not 29! Came in with 7 wins. Now has 8. While I have guys like Jonathan Sanchez with 3 wins and a 2.90 ERA. Why can’t I ever get any good Win karma?
Josh Beckett – Will have his rehab slowed for 10 days while they figure out how to fix his delivery. Probably will push his return date back about three weeks, at least. If you have room on your DL, I’d continue to hold him since it’s not an injury, it’s a brain fart.
Vladimir Guerrero – Day-to-day as he left practice with a left eye injury and went to the hospital. Last athlete that happened to was Andre Rison.
Miguel Olivo – Out until Friday with a broken fingernail. Last athlete to miss time with a broken fingernail was Michelle Wie.
Kevin Gregg – Gaston said Gregg would get off Wednesday. Maybe he saw he ordered The Spice Channel… Oh, “get off” as in rest. See, misread that. If there was any doubt that Gregg’s still the closer, Frasor and Downs did what they could to confirm it yesterday. Frasor didn’t record an out, walking Upton then Downs gave up a grand slam to Crawford. It seems appropriate that the less Gregg pitches the better his hold on the closer job becomes.
Kevin Slowey – 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 3 Ks. Sticking with the Kevin theme, Slowey actually made it out of the 6th inning. Wonders never cease. Wasn’t a particularly dominating performance against a poor offense in a pitchers’ park. He gets the Royals next, so last night’s start might’ve been a ploy for him to build trust so he can crush your hopes and dreams next time out.
David Price – 8 IP, 0 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks. I see your hot hitting Blue Jays and I raise you an ace in the making.
Daisuke Matsuzaka – 6 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 10 hits, no walks, 7 Ks. The time before, 8 walks and 1 K. That Dice-K always finding ways to keep his WHIP obscene. There’s absolutely no consistency with Dice-K, which makes it impossible for me to recommend him.
Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks – 2 straight games scoreless after nine innings. I understand the World Cup is right around the corner, but why are they playing soccer? On Tuesday, Kemp scored in penalty time. Yesterday, the Dodgers won 1-0 again. Is it the LA Galaxy vs. the Arizona Borderjumpers? Next thing you know, LA will be trading for (Gordon) Beckham.
Carlos Monasterios – 5 IP, 0 ER, 2 baserunners, 3 Ks. Worth a look in NL-Only leagues, but he’s a Rule 5 guy and his stuff only looked good yesterday because of the Diamondlacks.
Garret Anderson – 1-for-6 as he bats .157. Many a great OF has returned to his original city to play his last year or two for another team in the same city. Babe Ruth playing for the Boston Braves. Willie Mays for the New York Mets. Hank Aaron for the Milwaukee Brewers. Garret Anderson for the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s like a Mount Rushmore of outfielders if Teddy Roosevelt were replaced by Chester A. Arthur.
Edwin Jackson – 9 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks. Only Dodger player to get a hit on Edwin was Jamey Carroll. Edwin was featured in the FIP post in March that said you shouldn’t draft him, then he was featured again in the FIP post in May that said he should be better. Now he’s pitching as he should be? Well, not quite, but he should still be a 4 ERA guy and he’s over 5.
Gavin Floyd – 2 2/3 IP, 6 ER, 11 baserunners, 1 K vs. the Rangers, not a good road hitting team. Nothing says I hate your freakin’ guts like a pitcher who pitches well in two straight starts then does this. This is the kind of start that makes me want to avoid him completely. Or break his kneecaps.
Paul Konerko – 3-for-4, 4 RBIs and 2 homers to bring his total up to 16. Feels like he hasn’t hit one in a month. Cust kayin’.
Wandy Rodriguez – 5 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 8 Ks. He needed 115 pitches through 5 innings, so I wouldn’t go as far as saying Wandy is back. It’s a nice sign in the right direction. Unfortunately, he gets the Rockies in Coors next, so any forward momentum on the Wandwagon may be short-lived.
Jorge Posada -1-for-3 as he returns from the DL to DH. Symmetry, I know. The Great Gazoo will see the majority of the starts behind the plate since Posada still can’t catch.
Robinson Cano – 3-for-4 with his 12th homer. You know a guy is having a special season when he goes cold, as he did in May, and is still hitting .373 on the year.
Chad Gaudin – The Yankees signed Gaudin. While it’s understood that a bullpen facing a major crisis would turn to Gaudin, you’d expect the Evil Empire would find someone more fitting like Mephistopheles McMoneybags or Vinnie Yonkers.
Ken Griffey Jr. – Retired today – as in the ‘I’m going to retire and not playing any more’ vs. ‘I’m going to retire to the clubhouse for a nappy-poo.’ He leaves the game as the best all-around CF since Willie Mays, the best all-around ‘Kid’ since Billy, and the best Ken Griffey since Ken Griffey.
John Axford – Got his third save. As Trevor Hoffman buries his head in the sands of time, Axford is quietly walking away with the closer job. This thing isn’t figured out just yet, but for now own Axford and Hoffman.
Adrian Gonzalez – 4-for-6, 4 RBIs and his tenth homer. Would love to see this be the start of one of his crazy homer binge streaks. That is all.
Clayton Richard – 6 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 5 Ks. I joke around about hodgepadres, but you guys (and three girls — hey, ladies!) do realize the Padres have a 2.56 ERA at home, right? Across all of my teams, I own every single hodgepadre at least once. Ya’ll should too.
Jose Contreras – 2/3 IP, 1 ER. The Phillies said Lidge will be returned to the closer role any day now. Since Contreras came in two consecutive games that were not save situations, I’d say Lidge’s time is very soon. (BTW, the monthly look at all closers is coming this afternoon. No, you can’t wait!)
Jayson Werth – 1-for-3 as he hit leadoff. When reporters asked Charlie Manuel why he batted Werth leadoff, he said, “Look, if I’m going to fall off the turnip truck, I’m going to bring some turnips with me and fashion a turnip gun out of the tailpipe. And as any good turnip marksman will tell you, you’ve got to fire off a few stray turnips before you’ve hit your target. Any more root vegetable queries before I hit the showers?”
