Runaway

So ... it's 11:47 ... it's time for bed. I obviously have work tommorrow and i need to be up at 6 am .. but there is no way .. NO WAY after that game.

First of all let me say that Kevin Millwood PITCHED HIS HEART OUT! Very much like Jarrod Washburn i don't believe he will maintain his ability to pitch the way he has the first month of April and now a week into May. I just don't think it's possible for him to play at a level this high over a sustained period of time. It's not a knock on the pitchers it's just reference of their talent levels.

Regardless of weather or not he'll eventuall regress, he pitched like an Ace tonight and i'm throughly impressed. He was one of my orignal top 5's and i was initially pretty amazed, but now i'm flabberghasted. CJ "Rick Vaugn" Wilson pitched well to Russ Branyan (who is continued to hit the cover off the ball)

The pitching between frankie and the seattle batters was awesome. Just a game of cat and mouse.

However... the game of cat and mouse WAS RUINED... ABSLOUTELY RUINED!!!! BY PAUL EMMELL the FIRST BASE UMPIRE.

Now i watched and reviewed the call FIVE DIFFERENT TIMES FROM FOUR DIFFERENT ANGLES...Davis(who is a great defensive firstbasemen) DID NOT ... i repeat that DID NOT HAVE HIS FOOT ON THE BASE. IT WASNT TOUCHING IT .. it came off to make the catch ... the catch didn't even beat the runner.


NOW, please do NOT, misunderstand what i'm saying. Because i realize i'm going to have an influx of texas ranger fans to my site shortly to spew their crazy non-sense like greffity let me make this PERFECTLY CLEAR.

Andrus made AN INCREADABLE PLAY ... AMAZING STOP.... GREAT THROW...

Davis showed GREAT AWESOME WONDERFUL RANGE to make that catch.

Here is where the point is ... the throw DID NOT.. beat the runner... the firstbasemen's foot... WAS NOT on the bag. Johjima was safe.

It takes alot of Wak to come out of the dug out and argue the call. I am not sure if it's allowed but i wish we could have had a home plate appeal. I know they allow it in High School play but i'm not sure how it goes down in the Majors and that in and of itself is a huge diss if another umpire over rules you on your own bag during an MLB game.


My point to this run away blog is that a beautifully battled, wonderfully played, ball game but two amazing clubs was ruined by Paul Emmel when he made a snap decision and did not even pay attention to the play.

If joh was safe and not out... runner on first... Gutz looper down the right field line is suddenly HUGE .. because it would have taken joh to third. now with 1st and 3rd and yuni at bat with only one away. if he STILL walks yuni (which let me say THAT was the first time i've seen him take TWO pitches in a row EVER in a game), now ichiro comes to hit with the bases loaded. That line fly out to Byrd brings home Joh and we have a tied up ball game.


Now again time for clairfication i'm not saying we lost because of that one call. Felix pitched very poorly and texas capitlized off several mistakes that King Felix left up in the zone and that happens. he still struck out 9 of 18 outs.. which is awesome and the bull pen was solid for the three innings they were there. I am tottally a fan of Denny Stark and i'm loving his pitching right now.

I really feel we had a chance to do some damage and chase millwood from the game there in the fifth and we rolled over and let him work his way out of it. we swung at bad pitches and he came out attacking hitters. i don't remember him starting off very many counts 1-0. he was just pounding the strike zone tonight and it worked out very well for him tonight. Overall, we had some oppertunities that we didn't cultivate and in the end we lost because of it.

I just hated to see such a wonderfully matched game end the way it did....


Thanks alot, Paul Emmel

The quiet things that no one ever knows

Well, the life has been crazy of late. Just havn’t had time to write as much as I would have liked in the past week. BUT, I’ll try to play some catch up with some observations that I havn’t seen made and maybe some that have…


#1 Derek Holland was called up by Texas

This guy is is considered to be their #2 SP prospect and #46 in the entire MLB. This has to be a sign that the Rangers think he’s ready. I guess they just wanted him to get some work at OKC before coming on up. He’ll be in the bullpen to start off but I gotta think that if he shows any signs of being able to handle major league hitters he’ll be thrusted into the pitching rotation.


MLB article here

Holland, a lefty could very easily take Benson, Padilla or Matt Harrison’s spots should they continue to struggle. I think the aging Padilla or Benson is more likely. As Harrison 23, is still young and learning his way around the biggs. I would think that Benson is on his last leg at this point, while Padilla is a has been Benson at this point is a #1 pick. That has show signs but never fully panned into the pitcher he was thought he could become.

In 10 years Benson has only hit 200 IP twice. He has been injury prone and has been with 4 Other Major League Clubs in 3 years. I gotta think the Rangers can only allow this experiment go on for so long. Even after a slow start the Angels and Athletics have been brought down to a new low-level and the division is up for grabs. I would love to see Benson succeed but I just don’t see it happening with Holland now in the bull-pen


#2 Pedro Martinez STILL is unsigned

Are you kidding me?! Did anyone see this guy pitch. I know it’s 3 weeks into the season. But with teams taking interest in Ben Sheets, John Smoltz, and Chris Carpenter. How do you not take alittle interest in one of the best pitchers of the decade?! This is a shocker to me and it leaves me a bit curious as to who is going to be the one team falling all over themselves come time that division leaders start to pull away. MARK MY WORDS~ this will end up impacting a division race this year in a huge way.

#3 Kevin Millwood and Jarrod Washburn have 1.17 and 1.29 ERAs

I was looking at League Leaders and this stood out to me. Um… I really didn’t want to do another post on the Rangers again and I’ve been thinking about Washburn and with all the pressure there is to perform on him and then Hayden and I started talking about Millwood the other day it got me thinking these two are in a very similar boat right now. ON TOP of the fact their teams both needed them to earn their contract with economic times getting tight.

I just think this is amazing. I totally don’t think either one can keep this up. It’s the very definition of sell high. However the huge difference between the two pitchers is that Millwood was once an arguable #1 or 2 pitcher and Washburn has always been a #3 starter. But I guess the M’s could very well get a 200 inning season out of Washburn the same with the Rangers and Kevin Millwood.

Anyone else curious on the lines of each player getting Injured before their 10th Start or even which pitcher lasts the longest?? It would be an interesting bet for sure!

#4 Matt Holliday is hitting .267/.313/.400 (BA/OBP/SLG ) /w 0 Hr’s and 9 RBIs

Wow … so this is the guy that’s going to be the next 200 mil guy? Yeah right. I said he was going to flop moving to the AL and so far in TWO WEEKS I WAS RIGHT! LOL, okay maybe it’s a little too soon to call it a flop. He does have 9 RBI’s but .. I mean Compare him to Griffey right now, .206/.357/.382 /w 2 Hr’s his monstrous 2 RBIs. He also is has 13 more Abs and is well.. atleast 50 years younger. With that said I don’t see him having another +30 HR season. I know there was some issues last year that really prevented him from being his best and he’s only 29. BUT! I just don’t see this guy hitting 15+ homers in Oakland.

Check out holliday’s batting splits…



in 1378 ABs he has 84 HRs at home
in 1323 ABs he has 44 HRs on the road

that’s a huge decline! And something that people need to start looking at, a team is going to completely over pay for him after he declines and hits 23-27 homers this year.

Please don’t mistake this for a flaming I hate Matt Holliday post. I think this guy is a great hitter.

he has declining stats in more than just HRs on the road to include walks, hit and increased strikes outs. It maybe that Matt Holiday does not play as good on the road than during a home stand where he gets to sleep in his own bed. He’s not the first and not the last. But I do believe that his “home run power” comes from the majority of the parks he plays in.

time will only tell if come July he is sitting around 10-15 home runs and hitting around .280-90 that Coors field had a bigger impact on his hitting than people care to admit.


#5 The Dodgers, Blue Jays and Marlins are the first teams to 10 wins

Wow .. just an observation..Oh, and I totally called the Marlins before the season starts. Ask Hayden.


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My most recent favorite headline…




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cool place to watch home runs hit at Safeco field





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Yet proof that I could go from the Air Force IT to working the MLB!!!