TruffleShuffle

mickelson just got boned over by some crap falling on the 2nd green... had a fairly short putt and something flew right into the ball path and caused it to miss to the left.

much like game one of the series, we are the chicago LOBs

strasburg has allowed 2 hits and 1 run in 2 innings, but has 3 k's. according to keith law's twitter, his slowest fastball has been 97 mph.

jim nantz just said for at least the fourth time that choi and woods shot the same scores in every round, which is still completely untrue. someone tell him to stop saying this.

i find it amusing that everyone else in the lineup is walking and vitters has two doubles.

with a guy who had 2 hits already. we must be possessed by the spirit of don baylor.

i'm excited to see how archer does. he made some progress with his control last year and definitely has big-league stuff. he gave up 2 hits, 1 walk and 1 hbp (and 1 run) in the 2nd inning, but also had 2 more strikeouts.

i bet marc savard has watched the video of that fight about 100 times already.

the bruins scored 3 shorties on the same penalty... never happened before in nhl history.

nagel gave up 4 straight hits in the 4th and was pulled. the babip fairy was not so kind to him (.750).

do they have radar at the ballparks in the mwl? if so, i'm wondering what sort of velocity jon nagel is showing in his start tonight.

good start for alberto cabrera today (not sure if he's done), although the BABIP fairy was kind to him: 6 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 bb, 2 k, 8/8 GO/FO. thomas diamond has been pretty good - 4 ip, 3 h, 1 r, 1 bb, 4 k. so far jon nagel has been good - 3 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 bb, 6 k. i'm interested to see how he does this year... last year was his first one off TJS; by now he should have his stuff and command back to where they were before the operation.

i understand that it's hard to be enthusiastic about an overpaid, aging roster that isn't all that talented, but there are ways to turn things around without it lasting "several seasons." the mariners won 61 games in 2008 with a payroll over $100M; that roster was pretty bereft of talent (with a few obvious exceptions, like ichiro, jose lopez and king felix). last year they won 85 games and now look pretty well positioned for the future. so what needs to change? 1. stop giving bloated contracts to non-impact players. if you're going to pay someone like a superstar, they'd better produce like one (not soriano). 2. stop spending money on veterans who represent, if anything, very marginal upgrades over in-house options. examples of this include henry blanco, aaron miles, john grabow. 3. exploit market inefficiencies to find bargains and under-appreciated players. this is what has impressed me most about zduriencik (mariners gm). he signed branyan to a 1 year, $1.4M contract, realizing that his strikeouts were not that big a deal and he could hit 30 homers with some walks if given a chance to play regularly. he also recognized that franklin gutierrez was an outstanding fielder who should be in CF, and could cover a lot of ground in spacious safeco. the mariners have been built into a great defensive team that plays to their home park. 4. show more patience with the young kids, trusting the scouts and their minor league production rather than panicking every time they have a few tough games. 5. spend liberally in international free agency and the draft, but spend more wisely - don't drop $10M on jeff samardzija, $1M on drew rundle, etc. i'm all for buying guys away from college, but we've spent big dollars on guys who weren't regarded that highly by others outside the organization. 6. continue to upgrade the player development program.

someone should really tell jim nantz that woods and choi haven't shot the same scores in each of their three rounds. he's said it three times in a half hour.

yeah don't do it, your outfield isn't that good relative to your pitching. i'd hang onto upton unless there's a great deal to be had.

haha mickelson just sent a missile into the crowd on 18. westwood is going to take the lead but the last two holes are playing very tough.

kelly shoppach broke it up with 2 outs in the 8th. would've been interesting if he hadn't given up the hit, because otherwise he was looking at a 130 pitch outing in his second start of the regular season.

c.c. needsabathia has a no hitter through 7 against TB.

ok never mind, mickelson eagled the par 5 13th and then holed a 9 iron from the fairway on 14 for another eagle... he's one back of westwood now. mickelson looks really locked in... this is fun golf.

he wants to remind people that the cardinals are winning (i.e. trolling)

lee westwood needs to choke... he's getting too far ahead. i want an interesting sunday.

The team in general is playing longball thus far. 70% of our runs have come via homers. It would be nice to see an inning or two of sustained offensive output. Damn rally killing home runs. it would be helpful if more people would get on base so that these home runs yield 3 or 4 runs. too many solo shots.

baseball prospectus said that marmol couldn't throw a ball straight if he tried, which is pretty true.

free-swinging dusty-ball does not match up well with carlos marmol

arthur rhodes? this guy has to be 75 by now.