Felix Hernandez seemed a bit rusty in his first start for the M's since April 18th. He went 3.2 IP allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5. Felix only used his strong slider a couple of times in this start. His curve ball was shallow and rolled and his fastball lacked life ... "Other that that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" ... The Angels chose to wait Felix out, taking 15 of the first 19 pitches he threw. The big news and important news is that he had his outing, threw 78 pitches, got his fastball into the mid-90s, and left the mound without injury This is a good illustration of why I rarely recommend return starts. We'll keep track of the between-start news for you and try to handicap his next outing. One thing we know already about that outing is that Felix will be on a pitch count of 85-95 pitches.
J.D. Drew rammed his back awkwardly on the bullpen fence at Fenway in last night's loss to the Tigers. He jumped to try and reel in a Brandon Inge homerun and landed on his lower back on the top of the railing. J.D. stayed in the game for 4 innings after the play but did leave the game eventually, and there is no official word yet about his status for today. We will be watching this while keeping in mind Drew's reputation for being less than a warrior when it comes to playing hurt. He played tough by staying in last night's game but it seems probably he gets tonight off at least. We'll know more when the teams get to the park today.
It was a rough outing for Kelvim Escobar in Seattle last night as he allowed 8 runs, 6 earned, in 2.1 IP on 8 hits and a walk while striking out 1. He threw just 37 strikes in 64 pitches. The Angels had three defensive miscues in the first inning that derailed this one and for his part Escobar offered no insight into his struggles "It seemed like everything I threw, they hit," Escobar said. "I don't think there was much I could do." Kelvim had allowed just 1 run in his last two starts and entered the game with the league's 4th best ERA, but he coughed up his shortest outing since July of 2003. For now we'll look at it as a bump in the road. He remains a must-start in all formats while he is still healthy.
Houston Street was placed on the 15-day DL on Tuesday with an irritated right ulnar nerve. He is schedule to visit Dr. Lewis Yocum today. That makes it too early to speculate on a return estimate. We will wait until the good doctor completes his examination.
Meanwhile, the A's bullpen could not hold Joe Kennedy's 4-1 lead in the 9th inning on Tuesday. Kiko Calero got his out, but Alan Embree and Jay Witasick gave up three runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. With Justin Duchscherer iffy with a hip, you would think that Calero would be the first option in the bullpen but that was not the case last night. To be more precise, it was curious that Bob Geren went away from him after the first out. In any event as long as Duchscherer can go on that hip, he will get the save opps in Street's absence.
This just in from www.addinginjurytoinsult.com, Rocco Baldelli grounded out to first base in the first inning stretching his current skid to 1- for his last -40. Then his hamstring just couldn't take it anymore and mercifully decided to strain itself. Rocco left the game and he is day-to-day but I'm guessing he gets the night off. We will keep you posted.
Jesse Litsch was pretty reasonable facsimile of Roy Halladay last night against Baltimore, holding the O's to 1 run in 8.2 IP on just 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 1. Now if you have been paying attention in class here you are probably not surprised that the reason he was so successful while giving up three walks and striking out just 1 is that he threw 18 GBOs including 3 GIDPs. The former Devil Rays bat boy was 5-1 with the AA Fisher Cats this year with an 0.96 ERA in 6 starts. He faced Chris Gomez and Aubrey Huff, players he used to hand bats too in Tampa. "It was a little strange but I'm happy for the guy," said Huff, who went 1-for-3. "He threw a good game. It's too bad it was against us. It's probably one of the special days of his life." Even his performance in Manchester for the Fisher Cats is a bit outside of what we might have expected this year and his indicators suggest this will not continue (85 hits in 69.1 IP for the Cats against 54 strikes). Of course the indicators don't always tell the story with a guy who is adept at throwing ground balls. Still, I'd be especially skeptical of using him in Philly on Sunday if that's where he is slotted next. The Jays have two days off in the next 7 days so their rotation plans are probably fairly fluid.
There are over 100 player news blurbs posted in the member area each morning, members can read the rest of today's player news by clicking here: www.fantistics.com/baseball00/. Not a member? Join today: www.fantistics.com/join/join.php3
