Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Curveballs for Jobu 5/18/11

Curveballs for Jobu is Offbasepercentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy is Rico Rossy.

















Braves 3, Astros 1 (11).
Brian McCann had the most impressive day off since Ferris Bueller in 1986. Down 1-0 with 2 outs in the 9th, McCann came off the bench to hit the game tying home run. Then, for good measure, McCann hit the game winning home run in the 11th inning. McCann's heroics spoiled an impressive 8 shutout innings of work from Wandy Rodriguez. The one bright spot for Houston this season is that they aren't Minnesota.

Rockies 5, Giants 3.
Ubaldo Jiminez threw 116 pittches (72 strikes) over 8 innings, allowing 3 earned on 8 hits. He struck out 7 while only walking 1 batter. I haven't seen any data on his velocity but this was at least an encouraging start. And it came just a day after Troy Renck shot down my idea to phantom DL Jiminez to get some rehab starts out of him. Blog favorite Buster Posey went 2-4 and is hitting just .271/.355/.376 taking a huge dip in his slugging percentage from last year.

Reds 7, Cubs 5.
Milli Vanilli's 1989 smash hit Blame It On The Rain was the Cubs' theme for Tuesday's game. A steady rain in 50 degree weather led to 4 Cub errors and all 7 unearned Reds' runs. The Reds have won 5 straight and 8 of their last 10. What was wrong with 1989? How could the same year produce Blame It On The Rain and Young MC's instant classic Bust A Move?

Oakland 14, Angels 0.
Gio Gonzalez and the A's humiliated the Angels Tuesday night. But, as an Angels fan, I was able to take two small victories away from this one. Fernando Rodney didn't play a role in the loss. Oakland scored exactly enough to give the Angels a -1 run differential. At 22-21, the Angels are once again outperforming their Pythagorean record (however so slightly).

Indians 7, Royals 3.
Another day, another win for the Tribe. Travis Hafner went 2-4 with 2 doubles and is hitting .345/.409/.549 for the year. Pronk! Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera both went yard to help the Indians keep the best record in baseball. Kansas City messiah Eric Hosmer went 2-4 with a triple.

Twins 2, Mariners 1.
Francisco Liriano pitched 7 innings and gave up just 1 run on 3 hits. He struck out 9 while only walking Miguel Olivo. That's the good news. The bad news is Liriano pitched well against an offense featuring two major league hitters. Justin Morneau went 0-4 for a .223/.294/.323 line. I don't know if Ron Gardenhire is trying to lose 100 games but, at some point, Morneau should probably be displaced from the clean-up spot/lineup.

Other games, but down here...
Pirates, Nationals PPD.
Marlins, Mets PPD. Mets find a way to not lose or get any players injured.
Cardinals 2, Phillies 1.
Diamondbacks 6, Padres 1.
Dodgers 3, Brewers 0.
Yankees 6, Rays 2.
Blue Jays, Tigers PPD. Jose Bautista homers 0
Orioles, Red Sox PPD. Lackey joined Dice-K on the DL.
White Sox 4, Rangers 3.

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