Another Day

James Shields settled down marvelously against the Tigers today continuing to show that he may be the ace of that staff as Kaz continues to struggle, now if only the backend of that rotation was even halfway decent.

Yesterday I forgot to mention, Delmon Young's arm is magnificent, he threw a strike to third that was insane.

Hindsight Trade Stats:
Horacio Ramirez for Rafael Soriano
Ramirez: 40.1ip, 4-2, 6.47 era, 14 k, 1.88 whip
Soriano: 24ip, 1-0, 2.63 era, 5-5 sv/opp, 24 k, 0.63 whip, had a stretch of 10 1/3 inn without letting up a hit.
I'm gonna go with the Braves making out better on that one.

Nate Robertson and Chuck James are two lefties that are both great pitchers that can't seem to make it out of the sixth inning. Nate might just need a haircut but I don't know what is going on with Chuck.

A-Rod being A rod? Calling "I got it" to confuse the Toronto Blue Jays infielders takes guts and he proves that he will do what it takes to win a game, at least someone on the Bronx side of New York does.

A Few Things:
All the grass is dead in Miller Park, Hudson was getting the ground ball like it was his job.
Shields off the hook, and didn't need to let his bullpen blow it, well Reyes could've got the save.
Bush pitched pretty good. Turnbow didn't, I really thought they would go to Cordero for the last 1.2 in a bases loaded 1 out situation, he has done some 1.1's one place I don't agree with Yost.
Byrd was throwing strikes and getting outs, behind C.C and Fausto he's why they are on top.
Pujols almost to .300.
Dice-K slacked.
Ichiro's streak vs. Youkilis's? I think Ichiro's will last longer.

Allstar Balloting notes:
I'm getting tired so I'll only cover one today- Ortiz, Hafner, and Giambi are all in the top 5 for first baseman. That is why the NL is better. Play a position or deal with the fact you should only make the allstar game when it is in an American League park.

Addendum 1

I forgot to mention how insane Prince Fielder is hitting right now. Also, looks like the Twins might be trying to make it a 4 team race.

Our man, doh! (Benitez)

Got to love when you go back to face your old team and can't handle the pressure of being back at your old stadium where the fans hate you. First Off, balks are sweet, one of the most entertaining things to watch in baseball because most of the time a pitcher balks you know that everything is falling apart. But when there are two balks in the same inning where the second one ties the game in the bottom of the 12th, blowing the save and setting the stage to lose the game, thats priceless. On another note of pricelessness- Stealing home- a lost art of the game, as much as I don't care for the Blue Jays and feel they should probably switch to hockey, stealing home deserves some respect. Which if I give the manager some respect for that it makes the second time in the past two weeks where he has earned respect for decisions he made (see: taking Marcum out of the game even though he had a no hitter going because he was 30 pitches over his season high).

Recap of yesterday:
Sheets still not as dominating as he should be.
Smoltz hopefully be okay for his next start.
Lincecum dominating as all hell.
Oliver Perez pretty damn good, too bad Pirates dropped the ball on him, they kind of need pitching.
Delgado de-slumpified.
Francisco Cordero is making Brewers games 8 innings long.
Pitchers realizing they don't need to pitch to Vlad.
Pirates with two legitimate aces, Gorzelanny and Snell wonder if they will end up anywhere at the trading deadline Pirates fire sale.
Ichiro hit streak, did I just jinx it?
Josh Beckett going 30-0 this season?
Seems like a pretty weak year right now for ROY.
Yes I know, Our Man, Doh is pretty lame.

Mike Gonzalez meets Tommy John.

Might as well make the first post a depressing one. With the loss of Mike Gonzalez for the season the Atlanta Braves bullpen lacks the depth needed in order to take the division. A Wildcard win is not out of the question but battling San Diego / LA / Philly is going to be tough. San Diego with some offense would be the best team in the NL, but instead will have to be satisfied with having a solid pitching staff from front to back and a bullpen that opponents will be lucky to score on. LA falls into the same category but with weaker bullpen and less strength throughout the rotation but make up for it by having a slightly better offense than San Diego. Philly has a terrible bullpen, a great offense with Rollins, Howard, Utley, and what else do you need when you have Cole Hamels. The Braves aren't out of that race yet as long as Chipper can stay in the lineup the rest of the year. Also it is time that Joey Devine gets another chance to see if he can cut it on the major league level. Paronto and McBride are clearly not getting the job done. Renteria for Linebrink?