caulfield12

And Matt Thornton continues to get decimated by the Oakland A's. Tough luck possible loss for Gavin Floyd here. Did Ventura really want to face Suzuki there? I mean...he's under 200, but one of their better clutch RBI guys. 2 Aprils in a row for Matt against the A's.

PUT IN THORNTON!!!! I guess Ventura will say he was waiting for them to pinch-hit Kai'ahue, but we didn't need to put the leadoff hitter on base. Luckily Hughes didn't learn any bunting fundamentals with the Twins...maybe part of the reason he's no longer on Gardy's team.

A's with no sacrifices yet this season. 18 stolen bases, though.

This game is annoying. No bullpen. Then we have to face that prick Balfour as the closer if they take the lead.

Tweet/retweet? Jermaine Dye? What did Dye say now? Something about Rios or Dunn? Hello, why no Thornton? This guy's already doubled off Gavin and he's in the 110's now. Jarrod Parker grew up a big White Sox fan in Indiana.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 09:37 PM) you guys should not fear the Twins starting pitching this year We're 4-1 against the Central this year, but until we prove we can beat both the Twins and Royals (yeah, I know they've lost 12 in a row but they've played us very well the last 2-3 seasons), then we can't claim to be a true contender. Too bad you guys didn't keep the Red Sox cooled off before their arrival Thursday in Chicago. Ever since Bard got Mauer out last night, it has been all downhill.

Recall that the Royals tried to pry away Lowe from Atlanta in the offseason but were out-bid by the Indians, who agreed to eat about an extra $1 million in salary on Lowe’s existing contract. It was that inability to get Lowe that led, in no small degree, to the Royals’ decision to acquire Sánchez from San Francisco in early November with minor-league pitcher Ryan Verdugo for outfielder Melky Cabrera. The Royals made that deal knowing Sánchez was the proverbial box of chocolates: an enigma of inconsistency. And this, Tuesday night, was the wild Sanchie, who opened the first inning by hitting a batter (who eventually scored) and twice walked the bases loaded. Sánchez, 1-1, escaped a three-walk second inning but paid dearly in the fifth when Shelley Duncan delivered a one-out sacrifice fly before Jack Hannahan gapped a two-run double to right-center. “That was a good pitch,” Sánchez insisted, “but he put his bat on it and got a double. It wasn’t a hanging pitch. It was the right pitch.” Maybe so, but the final numbers were grim. He walked seven in 42/3 innings while throwing just 56 of his 115 pitches for strikes. Tony Sipp worked a one-two-three seventh for Cleveland before Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez wobbled through the final two innings in closing out Lowe’s victory. Perez got his seventh save. So here we are. The Royals, at 3-14, have the majors’ worst record and find themselves saddled with a 12-game losing streak that ties for the third-longest in franchise history while still searching for answers. “There have been a lot of missed opportunities,” Yost said, “but I felt our at-bats tonight were better with runners in scoring position. The way these kids continue to get after it, it’s hard for me to believe that we’ve lost 12 in a row.” The Royals were four for 13 with runners in scoring position after going zero for 10 in Monday’s 4-1 loss to Toronto and a combined nine for 60 over the previous seven games. Even so, they left 11 runners on base in Tuesday’s loss. The franchise record for consecutive losses is an appalling 19-game skid in 2005 that featured then-manager Buddy Bell’s memorable line: “Don’t ever say it can’t get worse.” There was a 13-game slide in 2006 and 12-game droughts in 1997 and 2008. This streak already includes 10 straight losses at home, which ties the 1913 New York Yankees for the longest home skid at the start of a season. The Royals had hoped getting away from Kauffman Stadium might provide a path to firmer footing. Nope. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/24/35743...l#storylink=cpy

100 pitches for Gavin now. Gotta figure out a way to win this game somehow offensively... Gotta get someone up. Gomes can give them a 2 run lead in one swing.

LOL at LaHair being intentionally walked to face Soriano. It's a good story, 29 year old journeyman with his 15 minutes of fame. Guess the Matheny honeymoon period is over for Cardinals' fans to lose two games like that to the Cubs.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 10:18 PM) Viciedo's a joke It's 49 at-bats. Relax. It's not like anyone in the majors has been hitting this guy so far, at least not that well. He's still got an OPS hundreds of points better than Beckham and Morel. And he's played better defense than Brent too this year. Finally and, he's much younger than both those guys.

Well, you knew that one was coming with how Viciedo's been struggling. Why wasn't Alexei Ramirez in motion? So much for that...at least it's a quick game, even without Mark Buehrle.

Got just a little bit of extra velocity and got it in on his hands so he couldn't extend. Good job so far for Gavin, 61 pitches through 4. More of our "opposite field" attack. Good approach on low-and-away cutter.

Got just a little bit of extra velocity and got it in on his hands so he couldn't extend. Good job so far for Gavin, 61 pitches through 4.

Got him to fish on that outside curveball....good location, not out over the plate.

Double no-hitter? When's the last time that came close to happening, where two pitchers both had no-hitters through at least 7 IP in the same game, facing each other?

LaHair involved in another Cubs' 9th inning comeback. Seems to be in the right place at the right time, this time with a solo homer to tie it up. Poor Royals! Poor Ozzie/Marlins. Reddick's really got to pick it up for the A's or nobody will pitch to Cespedes. So many holes on that team. Ironic that Ryan Sweeney came into today 6th in MLB OPS. Millone pitches 1-45, .176 avg. for opposing batters 45+=.238 Makes sense, takes at least one at-bat to adjust and he loses his stuff as the game goes on, but not by much.

Shades of Mark Johnson and Royce Clayton. At least we have five hitters who are raking, and Alexei's a slow starter and hopefully Viciedo will be okay. 7 straight and 9 of 10 retired, despite the righty-dominant line-up. Just the ball that Hughes messed up. That's three errors in 2 nights...and the jet lag excuse isn't going to fly for very long. BTW, Sogard is the ONLY player in all of MLB to wear prescription eyeglasses on the field or at the plate. Lasik eye surgery has come a long way. That, and most players have very good vision by birth, at least hitters.

It's amazing how many more runners we've thrown out this season compared to last. Nice play, Alexei. Tyler's 3/3 in throwing out runners, I think.

Dammit Morel, at least play good defense. Cespedes can actually run down the line.

Would those balls that Alexei and Dayan hit have been out at USCF?

Webb and Olacio got beaten up a bit. Walker 0/4 with 3 K's but still at .281

It's the players who failed, not Ozzie. Thanks, Greg.

Rios has an 11 game hitting streak coming into tonight's game. Mariners threatening to give another game away the Tigers. Up 6-4 in the bottom of the 8th, but Cabrera and Fielder have started the inning with 2 consecutive singles against Wilhelmsen, who didn't look all that great against us out in SEA. Boston crushing the Twins again, already up 7-1 in the 4th. Looks like our timing was one week off with them. They might have turned the corner with last night's dramatic win. Got out of it, Young and Peralta are struggling this year. That Gameday Scout feature actually predicted Wilhelmsen would go after Avila with curveballs instead of loading the bases for Austin Jackson (with the theory that Jackson had a higher OPS by about 300 points and that it would have put the go-ahead run on base). So what does he do, down in the count. Throws 2 curveballs in a row, and eventually gets the K on a very tough hitter.

Can Cooper also fix Dontrelle Willis? Seems like he would be a better option than Wil Ohman at some point in the future. BALTIMORE -- Dontrelle Willis filed a grievance Tuesday afternoon against the Orioles. He left the team's Triple-A Norfolk affiliate without the organization's permission after being placed on the Minor League restricted list. Matt Sosnick (same guy who was Josh Hamilton's original agent but was essentially fired for not being Christian later...Sosnick is Jewish) is Willis' agent and told MLB.com on Tuesday that the pitcher wanted to get back to being a starter and not come out of the bullpen. "We have not been contact[ed] by one team," Sosnick said. "We don't have a job lined up ... all we want to do is find a job in Triple-A where he can start. Out of respect for the process and the rules, Dontrelle never would have left if they told us he couldn't. He's having a really hard time going through the process of relieving. He's much more comfortable starting and going through the process of starting." Johnson earns the save00:00:314/22/12: Jim Johnson strikes out Howard Kendrick in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Orioles a 3-2 victory over the AngelsTags: More From This Game, Jim Johnson, Baltimore Orioles, pitching, save, highlightShare: Twitter Facebook Email Related Video Johnson seals the winReimold's two-run dingerAndino's terrific catch Willis asked for his release last Wednesday or Thursday and has been gone since Thursday. O's executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette confirmed to MLB.com on Monday that Willis had left Norfolk, and there were no plans to grant Willis his official release. At the time, Duquette also told MLB.com that he hasn't spoken with Willis since the pitcher left Norfolk. The 30-year-old Willis sat down with Duquette while the team was playing at Gwinnett (Ga.) on Thursday, and Duquette said the organization laid out a plan to get Willis the innings he needed to build him up to be a successful reliever. Duquette said Willis didn't have a problem with the plan at the time, and the organization is still holding out hope that Willis will return. Signed to a Minor League deal by Baltimore after being released this spring by the Phillies, the plan from the get-go was to have Willis learn to become a lefty specialist. He suffered a left forearm strain April 12 and was placed on the restricted list -- with no specific reasoning for the move -- on Sunday night. www.mlb.com

Mitchell with yet another walk. Saladino finally back up over .200 (let's hope Morel and Beckham can follow soon). Leesman pitching quite well tonight. Brian Omogrosso, not so much. Might not be long with the White Sox at this rate. Seems the injuries really set him back and he's never gotten his stuff or his control back to 100% like he was 2-3 years ago.