Sunday, April 23, 2006

Who's THIS guy?

Hi, Brian Wilson.

A sure-fire way to impress me in your first big league action is to come into a game throwing in the 89-95 mph range, staying almost completely in or around the strike zone and getting a bunch of swingthroughs and strikeouts in two innings of work.

Consider me impressed.

I'm also impressed that Rockies manager Clint Hurdle is pitching to Barry Bonds in the 9th inning of a tie game with a man on base. 'Course, this could feed into the bit of the buzz around the league that Bonds is no longer Bonds -- dangerous hitter, sure, but not superhuman.

Bonds struck out, inning over. Could be something to that buzz.

The game is currently resting on the arm of Jeff Fassero, who thankfully is going clean-shaven today (his three-day unshaven look has that ol' alcoholism look, to me).

UPDATE: Losing two of four games in a series on the road isn't a bad thing, but losing those two games in the 9th inning and extra innings, respectively, really bites sweaty jockstrap. The fact that this game was lost on the pitch directly after the third strike and last out of the inning was not called by the home plate umpire, and it stings just a wee bit more.

The umps' handprints were all over this game, though, and it was one of those rare games where it was almost as much about their judgement than the game between the lines. The umps threw out two pitchers who likely didn't deserve it in Matt Morris and Ray King (although it's difficult to fault them too much after Jose Mesa set the tone yesterday with the beaning of Omar Vizquel), then the questionable no-call at the end of the game.

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