Remember, no PBP in these threads and keep the chatter on topic (if it is about something other than this series, talk about it in another thread). 8-18 Ricky Nolasco, RHP (8-8, 5.44) vs. Bud Norris, RHP (3-0, 3.00) 7:05 on FSN 8-19 Sean West, LHP (4-4, 4.57) vs. Yorman Bazardo, RHP (0-0, 5.06) 7:05 on FSN 8-20 Josh Johnson, RHP (12-2, 2.85) vs. Wandy Rodriguez, LHP (11-7, 3.05) 7:05 on FSN
I hear one of Cheech's uncles is pretty good. Don't take the Marins lightly! On a serious note, that Marlins offense is on a tear. 13 consecutive games with 10 hits or more.
At this point results may be irrelevant but still want the Stros to do good. GO STROS!!! Side Note - I want Maysonet to get plenty of time at 2nd base in September. I know his AAA numbers are ugly but he gave the club enough of a sample size earlier in the year to get a shot for the remainder of the season.
From Twitter... alysonfooter Astros placed LHP Mike Hampton on 15-day DL with left shoulder strain. Recalled RHP Felipe Paulino, who will be here tomorrow.
Brownie says, "Stay tuned, we'll find out what's in Lance Berkman's pocket." As they say that, they have the camera on Berkman and he's digging in his nose. Hopefully he has some tissue in his pocket.
Nobody in the game threads, nobody in the stands. sucks when the season is over in August. they really had me going after the sweep of the Cards.
Let's see if we can hold the Marlins to under 10 hits. They only need 1 more with 3 innings to go. That would be an accomplishment, right?
Check out the batting averages of all the Angels in the lineup tonight: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gamecenter/live/MLB_20090818_ANA@CLE
I've seen some whacky setups/windups. Rafael Betancourt does something very similar. It's rare though, as is the sidearm delivery. Put them together... really rare and awkward-looking.
Here is my logic for the reasoning: Gervacio's pitches break a little bit like a screwball. For a righthanded hitter, the pitch breaks down and in. With Gervacio's sidearm/submarine delivery, if he stood on the center of the rubber and threw strait off, from the perspective of a right handed batter the pitch would appear to come from way over on the third-base side of the mound, crossing towards the first-base side as it crosses the plate. But because of the "screwball" effect, the ball would be breaking down and back towards the third base side. The pitch would be comming at him from third to first, but would be breaking back from the first base side to third base side. From the perspective of the hitter, the source angle of the pitch and the lateral break of the pitch would somewhat cancel each other out and make the lateral motion appear somewhat flat. By getting way over on the side of the rubber and falling off, the pitch effectively is released from a point above the center of the rubber. This would make the horizontal break appear much more pronounced from the perspective of a right-handed batter - it would appear to be comming straight down the plate, with a pronounced tailing effect towards the batter's hands. In other words, the release point combined with the angle of delivery gives him an angle of attack that maximizes the natural lateral tailing motion of his pitches. For quite a few ground-ball pitchers, that tailing motion is important in making sure that even if a hitter makes contact, he won't get the meat of the bat on the ball, and a little dinky roller will result.
Interesting offseason. Nothing too exciting on the free agent market for the huge holes on the team Starting pitchers Brandon Backe (32) Miguel Batista (39) Josh Beckett (30) - $12MM club option with a $2MM buyout Erik Bedard (31) Kris Benson (34) Daniel Cabrera (29) Chris Capuano (31) Bartolo Colon (37) Jose Contreras (38) Doug Davis (34) Justin Duchscherer (32) Adam Eaton (32) Shawn Estes (37) Josh Fogg (33) Freddy Garcia (34) Jon Garland (30) - $10MM mutual option with $2.5MM or $1MM buyout Tom Glavine (44) Mike Hampton (37) Rich Harden (28) Mark Hendrickson (36) Livan Hernandez (35) Tim Hudson (34) - $12MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout Jason Jennings (31) Jason Johnson (36) Randy Johnson (46) John Lackey (31) Cliff Lee (31) - $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout Braden Looper (35) - option Rodrigo Lopez (34) Jason Marquis (31) Kevin Millwood (35) - Rangers can decline $12MM salary for '10 unless he reaches 180 innings in '09 Brian Moehler (38) - mutual option Brett Myers (29) Vicente Padilla (32) - $12MM club option with a $1.75MM buyout Chan Ho Park (37) John Parrish (32) Carl Pavano (34) Brad Penny (32) Odalis Perez (33) Andy Pettitte (38) Joel Pineiro (31) Sidney Ponson (33) Mark Prior (28) Horacio Ramirez (30) Jason Schmidt (37) John Smoltz (43) Tim Wakefield (43) - perpetual $4MM club option Jarrod Washburn (35) Brandon Webb (31) - $8.5MM club option with a $500K+ buyout Todd Wellemeyer (31) Kip Wells (33) Randy Wolf (33) Third basemen Rich Aurilia (38) Adrian Beltre (31) Geoff Blum (37) Aaron Boone (37) Craig Counsell (39) Joe Crede (32) Pedro Feliz (35) - $5MM club option with a $500K buyout Chone Figgins (32) Nomar Garciaparra (36) Troy Glaus (33) Mike Lamb (34) Melvin Mora (38) - $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout Pablo Ozuna (35) Robb Quinlan (33) Juan Uribe (31)
Man I am jealous. That is a first class organization right there. Looking forward to Yanks vs Angels ALCS. Speaking of the Angels, I would love to have Lackey as a #2 starter and Figgins as our 3B next year.
