Drew Doughty

That's not true at all. A pitcher could theoretically allow 27 hits over 9 innings and pick up a shut out. That would be insanely lucky. Okay, I would still rather him not get into the situations that require him to have to make a big pitch. It's not. Who was suggesting otherwise? I don't know what you're getting at here. Good defense is a part of the game, sure. But if you rely on it all afternoon, it means you might be having a lucky day. Reversing the situation, I'm sure you would think a guy like Looper would be lucky had he have pitched the game he did today. You would liekly be complaining that we left runners on all day, etc.

If he was lucky (and he probably should have given up a run or two today) then it's the Cardinals hitters fault. It's not like they hit it hard right at people all day-pretty much every time they got runners on, they either struck out or hit a soft ground ball. So Pujols should be more concerned about that than anything Marquis threw. How many good starts in a row does Marquis have to have before we stop saying "lucky"? when he has good starts that don't feature several innings with several runners on base. from the sound of things early, he should have given up a run or two, but the cards offense is dead right now so he was able to escape. So? He escaped those innings. So you are saying he can't keep doing that. You are probably right. But even if he didn't he would have given up a run or two. And that would STILL be a good outing. well, if he doesn't escape those innings, you don't know what happens afterwards. the point is that it was still a lucky start, and had he given up a few runs, it would have been 3 over 5-6 innings instead of 7, which isn't nearly as good. He lived on the edge today and got away with it. I question his ability to do it consistently.

so uh...how long until he's the second set up man behind brett myers?

Stars win 2-0. Things got...interesting, late. Similar to the Flames game, though not nearly as bad. So we have 1 game 7 in the first round. I would love for the other two series' to see the same fate.

If he was lucky (and he probably should have given up a run or two today) then it's the Cardinals hitters fault. It's not like they hit it hard right at people all day-pretty much every time they got runners on, they either struck out or hit a soft ground ball. So Pujols should be more concerned about that than anything Marquis threw. How many good starts in a row does Marquis have to have before we stop saying "lucky"? when he has good starts that don't feature several innings with several runners on base. from the sound of things early, he should have given up a run or two, but the cards offense is dead right now so he was able to escape.

This is false.. borderline ridiculous. miller is AAA quality. Marquis certainly has the ability to suck and from the sounds of things lucked out on the crappy cards offense today. Zambrano has been awful so far. So...care to back up your post?

In that case then, can you pinpoint what is wrong with him this year? His bat seems slow through the strike zone to me and he has a lot of check swings and weak swings and seems to seldom hit a ball hard. cold streak, perhaps? players have them.

mclennan smacked franzen in the stomach pretty hard. and just to show that the message playfair was trying to send didn't sink in, detroit took a goaltender interference penalty. nice.

anyways... Game 5 of the Wings/Flames series is in about an hour on NBC. Game 6 of the Nucks/Stars series is at 8 EST on Versus.

I believe that Murton is a good player, but he really needs to take pitches. Enough with the first pitch swinging crap. more fun with stats: Murton is seeing 3.8 pitches per plate appearance compared to 3.7 last year. It seems bad right now because a few instances stick out, but for the most part he's being about as patient as normal. The issue is that he's not getting hits. Plus the aforementioned bad timing with his 1-pitch ABs. While that may be true, I think it's more of a situational thing. It seems like he's swinging at the first pitch when there's either RISP, or in the 9th and we're down by one and need baserunners...those kind of things. It could be false perception, but that's what I've been noticing. That said I still want him to get playing time because I think he's got a lot of potential. Right, which is why I included the bad timing bit. I agree that it certainly *feels* like he's seeing fewer pitches (much like it *feels* like the cubs bullpen sucks), but he's really just timed his 1-pitch ABs poorly. I think this is where pitches per plate appearance and patience might be somewhat exclusive as well. For example, on Opening Day Murton saw 3.75 pitches per plate appearance. I don't think anyone would call him anywhere near patient that day though, as he struck 3 times, at least twice on terrible pitches. So it's not just that he's swinging early in the count-but he's swinging at many more balls then he used to as well. well, he's walking at near the same pace too. his ISoD is about right. he is striking out more, but I don't think that's for a lack of patience. my guess would be that consistent playing time would mean better numbers, but I don't know.

I believe that Murton is a good player, but he really needs to take pitches. Enough with the first pitch swinging crap. more fun with stats: Murton is seeing 3.8 pitches per plate appearance compared to 3.7 last year. It seems bad right now because a few instances stick out, but for the most part he's being about as patient as normal. The issue is that he's not getting hits. Plus the aforementioned bad timing with his 1-pitch ABs. While that may be true, I think it's more of a situational thing. It seems like he's swinging at the first pitch when there's either RISP, or in the 9th and we're down by one and need baserunners...those kind of things. It could be false perception, but that's what I've been noticing. That said I still want him to get playing time because I think he's got a lot of potential. Right, which is why I included the bad timing bit. I agree that it certainly *feels* like he's seeing fewer pitches (much like it *feels* like the cubs bullpen sucks), but he's really just timed his 1-pitch ABs poorly.

I believe that Murton is a good player, but he really needs to take pitches. Enough with the first pitch swinging crap. more fun with stats: Murton is seeing 3.8 pitches per plate appearance compared to 3.7 last year. It seems bad right now because a few instances stick out, but for the most part he's being about as patient as normal. The issue is that he's not getting hits. Plus the aforementioned bad timing with his 1-pitch ABs.

no they won't. they'll get to see the red sox and yankees.

Sabres eliminate the Islanders though NYI definitely didn't go down without a fight. I thought they had tied it up but Miller made the save of the playoffs to keep Buffalo ahead. Sharks eliminate the Preds. I'm definitely on the Cheechoo Train, they're a very impressive team. As was mentioned, the Devils beat the Lightning 3-0, Brodeur finally showed up for a game in this series ;)

ALSO: Islanders defenseman Sean Hill has been suspended 20 games for a violation of the substance abuse policy issued by the NHL. So pretty much, he's out tonight and for 19 games to start next season. Sorry Islander fans.

pretty awful start to the day. hopefully hockey will be more entertaining than listening to the cubs was today. Sabres and Islanders meet up on Versus at 7 EST. Sabres going for the sweep. Tampa Bay and New Jersey will also be playing at 7 EST. That will be streamed live by Yahoo. And then the game I'm looking forward to, Sharks/Preds play game 5 tonight, also on Versus.

seriously, how does he get left on the bench in this situation? Him and Barrett both should have come into the game in the 9th to pinch run and pinch hit.

yes and he had a wonderful day what with his 0-4 line and shoddy defense in left field.

here's where lou gets ejected

our bullpen isn't terrible though. our 3.26 bullpen ERA is 9th in the majors. howry, eyre, and ohman have struggled, the rest of the bullpen has been outstanding. "feast or famine" was used to describe it a few days ago, and that fits the bill perfectly.

pretty much what i was thinking. it's far from the lineup that featured bynum, neifi, and pagan in the same game.

watched bits and pieces of the sens/pens final game, but my attention was towards rich hill at the time. Ottawa looked very good. Pittsburgh didn't. No surprises there. Ottawa wins the series. watched a fair amount of calgary/detroit, and though the flames controlled the play. then again, they were playing on home ice, and they always look good at home. Next two games should be interesting. As a Kings fan, I have fond memories of a series that the Wings blew back in 2001, I would love for the Flames to do the same. minny/anaheim has been very exciting and very chippy. nucks/stars going to OT again.

zambrano has still been better than miller by a good margin. and i expected marquis to be better than miller (whose sack of crap is lighter, etc), but maybe that's just me.

Ottawa tries to finish off the Penguins on Versus tonight at 7 EST Calgary is trying to even things up before going back to Detroit. This is also on Versus at 9:30 Vancouver tries to wrap things up at home tonight. The end of this game will also be on Versus. The game starts at 10. The Wild try to avoid elimination in Anaheim tonight at 10:30. The game will be streamed on Yahoo.

MLB needs something like the vote for rory campaign the NHL had this year i say...vote for ronny!