nick23

Pretty obvious the plan wasn't for him to only pitch to one batter in the 5th. How was it obvious? He threw three pitches. The fact that he started the inning makes it pretty clear Quade was trying to sneak one more inning out of him. Then he overreacted and yanked him after giving up a monster home run. One terrible manager decision begats another. I think i hate Quade.

Pretty obvious the plan wasn't for him to only pitch to one batter in the 5th. How was it obvious? He threw three pitches.

Umm...why was Russell batting with a man on if he was only pitching to one batter the next inning?

Castro has taken a couple of horrible swings in hitter counts.

I heard second hand from a friend in Memphis that the radio commentators said Jackson was throwing 91-93 mph throughout his outing. They would've had to have been looking at a different gun. I never saw the stadium gun hit 90. At least not in the first 4 innings. I hope it's true though. Do they display the stadium gun on the scoreboard or something? The outfield wall.

I heard second hand from a friend in Memphis that the radio commentators said Jackson was throwing 91-93 mph throughout his outing. They would've had to have been looking at a different gun. I never saw the stadium gun hit 90. At least not in the first 4 innings. I hope it's true though.

Yeah, this always works with the wife. "No, I didn't call you crazy, I said you're acting crazy". But, like Luke Scott, I really was calling her crazy.

Memphis is a really bad matchup for us. ZBo and Gasol eat us up. I'd say the Mavs are the favorites at this point. If not for that bizarre collapse, they would have won that series 4-1. Memphis took 3 of 4 against them i beleive. That was all without Perkins though. If they both advance it should be a really good series. I like the fact that we have Tony Allen/Battier/Sam Young to throw at Durant. Those are three pretty good 1 on 1 defenders.

I just got back from the Iowa game. I caught the first 4 innings. Jay Jackson looked pretty good. Mostly fastball/slider. Some of those sliders could've been changeups i guess. Fast ball was between 84-89, I didn't notice it touch 90 once. His offspead pitch was 78/79. I would say the gun was possibly slow but some guy named Lance Lynn for the Redbirds hit 90 a couple of times. He had only given up 1 hit when i left but that Redbirds line-up is pretty awful. Freddy Bynum is hitting clean-up for god's sake.

I know every organization has a JR Mathes or 2 or 3 stashed in their AAA affiliate, and we have 3, but It does frustrate me that we have him, Diamond, and B-D in the rotation with an actual prospect in Chris Carpenter in middle relief. And then the Iowa rotation was made even more pointless with the Ortiz signing. Maybe the assumption is that he would be more useful as a reliever if needed for the big league club, but as we found out early this season, you can never have too much starting pitching depth. The only big league ready starters we really had on the farm were Carpenter and Jackson, and Jacksons either injured or working out some kind of issue at Fitch. Have we been given a definitive answer as to why Carpenter is in the pen? Carpenter isn't in the pen because he's blocked by guys like Mathes. He's in the pen because: 1.) His stuff plays way up in relief. 2.) His lack of a good third pitch becomes less of a problem in relief. 3.) He's got significant durability concerns. 4.) His control issues were leading to high early pitch counts and therefore an inability to work deep into ballgames. It was the right thing to do to have a good prospect like him start his career in the rotation. Regardless of whether or not the Cubs thought he was going to end up a starter, it wasn't a bad idea to give him extra reps to work on his control and maybe develop a good changeup. But ultimately this was always the most likely outcome. The good news is that the fact the Cubs have bothered to officially convert him to the pen means that they likely see him as being close to major league ready. If they thought he would still need all the extra reps, they wouldn't have made the conversion this soon. Also weren't there reports of him consistently pitching in the upper 90's out of the pen in the AFL?

From BP: batts40 (IL): How optimistic should we be about Vitters' hot start? Jason Parks: Well, its better than a bad start, so at least its something to be optimistic about. Vitters has bat speed that can't be taught, so if he can work himself into more favorable hitting situations and avoid bailing pitchers out, his hit tool could reach its potential. I still like Vitters, and the start is promising, but I'm curious to see how he adjusts after pitchers start adjusting to him.

Speaking of Reed Johnson, he sucks.

Web gem. The best you'll see all year? I kid.

He is, but Hendry probably wants to save his own ass and have Silva start the year as the #5 starter and Hendry will probably win out. Hopefully they are smart enough together to have Cashner start at AAA instead of wasting him as the 6th inning guy in Chicago. Haven't they already said if Cashner doensn't make the rotation he's going to the bulpen? I don't see any scenario where he's sent down.

First of all, I don't have the time to make multiple accounts in an effort to amuse you like some sort of birthday clown. Second of all, I will no longer encourage your efforts in shifting this topic from Big Z to your 5 seconds of internet stardom on my behalf. And that's all I have to say about that. Yours Truely, ****RAWDOG 4 EVA**** I fully expected "WINNING" to be at the end of this.

lovely

Error number 4.(Aramis)

After his stupid comment about not having to win a spot and now this.

Looks like it was Silva v. someone(s). Can we please just get rid of him. Cut him a check and release him.

Maybe silva isn't treating these games as an audition and is just doing what pitchers whose spot is secured do, which is work on their pitches Pitchers with a 6.00 ERA over the last 4 seasons probably shouldn't do that.

Another error for Castro.

I really like this trade for the Pacers I don't know what to think of this deal. Didn't Mayo punch a teammate on a plane and get busted for roids? And he's shooting 41% on the season? Someone inform me please. I admittedly haven't seen Mayo play much but I don't quite get this deal either. It feels like an overreaction to having Dunleavy break his thumb the other night. The Pacers already have Granger, Rush, George, and Jones at the wings. They have a somewhat small offensive first point guard. Why get a shooting guard that is also somewhat small and offensive oriented? And who are they going to play at power forward other than Hansbrough? On a talent level I get this deal. Mayo has more upside than the first round pick the Pacers were likely to get. I just don't see how he fits the team at all. It looks like it's not going through anyway. Missed the deadline. As a Grizzly fan I'm happy.

And Thabeet + 1st rounder for Battier.

When you play basketball for John Calipari, you don't have to be a student. He had three one and dones in his 10 years at Memphis.

I don't really give a poop. He shouldn't have had to go to college for a year anyways when it was clear he didn't want or need to. But let's not make him a saint or anything because he's really good at basketball. He didn't go to college, he went to Memphis What does this even mean?