April 16 - Just Some Random Baseball Thoughts

Baseball Observations – It was a great week for Derrick Lowe who picked up his world championship ring on Monday and his first win as a Dodger last night. Lowe blanked the Padres with a 108 pitch three hitter last night and he looks like he has some of his 2002 confidence back. While Lowe is off to a nice start, the Dodgers other big off-season import – J.D. Drew – has been dreadful. Drew is off to a 4 for 35 start with no extra base hits. I am sure GM Jerry DePodesta thought he was getting something better that Rafael Belliard when he signed Drew for $55 million over the off-season. If Jeff Suppan were allowed to throw all of his games on the road, he would perhaps be as good as his deranged fans claim. Suppan, who for some reason cannot pitch at Busch, threw eight scoreless innings at Milwaukee last night as he out-dueled Ben Sheets. If I were the Cardinals, I would make Soup sleep at a Hotel before every game he pitches, including those in St. Louis. Who is colder right now – J.D. Drew or Scott Rolen? There was a black out in Queens last night after Arron Heilman turned off all the lights around Shea. Heilman, who is two steps away from tossing for the Tokyo Giants, threw a one-hitter against the Fish and Josh Beckett. Was there anyone in this country who thought the Mets were going to win that game? With Pedro going today, the Mets are looking at a half-dozen game winning streak. How long will it be before Dusty drops Nomar down to the six slot? Dave Wells looked a little better last night, throwing seven scoreless innings, but the win did come against Tampa so let’s not go crazy. Manny continues to be mired in a terrible slump and the funny thing is – I don’t think he cares. Does Johan Santana ever throw more then six innings a game. I know he moved to 3-0 last night, but is it too much to ask that this guy make it to the seventh inning stretch once in a while. What the hell is wrong with the Spankees? Losing to the Red Sox is one thing. Losing to Bruce Chen is another thing entirely. Carl Pavano looked incredibly ordinary last night but I have got to ask where all those vaunted bats are hiding. We all know Bernie and Tino are done, but when did Arod and Jorge become such easy outs. Here is a message to Yankee fans – If you can’t hit Bruce Chen, you are in for a long season