Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Let's hope Duke is no Fluke

Aaaaaaaaaah, 10 minutes until Zach "6-0, 1.87" Duke takes on Jason ".958 OPS" Marquis and the Cardinals at PNC Park. I envy my friends that are there. For now, I'll be glancing at the ESPN Gamecast every few minutes while I finish up work. Aaaaaaaaah.

Lots of good games to follow today:
  • Clemens vs. Peavy in San Diego as Houston tries to hold the Wild Card
  • David "Boomer" Wells vs. Zach "Saved by the Ball" Greinke as the Royals try to actually win three in a row after breaking their 19-game losing streak
  • Freddy Garcia vs. Johan Santana as the Twins and White Sox mambo around the AL Central
  • Jarrod Washburn against Eric Dubose in Baltimore, as the Fallen Angel prays for run support*
  • Phillies vs. Giants - Help us, Obi-Vin Padilla! You're our only hope!
  • Oh yeah, and Jamie Moyer gets on the mound against Chris Young as the Mariners take on the Texas Rangers. Would it be bad for me to label this game "Old faces Young"?

* - I was remembering an article about Washburn that I read a bit ago:
He wouldn't complain about receiving the fourth-worst run support in the league, even after he was stapled with the Angels' 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees.

"What good is that going to do you?" he said. "All that does is tick off your teammates, and I like most of my teammates."

Wiser words were never spoken. Certain Mariners starters could learn from that. I'm not saying we necessarily need to sign Washburn and his beautiful blue eyes to play in Seattle next year, should he go on the market, but it wouldn't hurt.

Then again, I'm also a big fan of Kevin "Anything but rap" Millwood joining us next year as well. Of course, he and Felix would probably get into a big argument over who'd be sniping #34 away from Bryan Price. On the other hand, that could be pretty fun to watch. Hmm.

Yay! Game time! Let's go Bucs! Let's go Duke!

4:13pm - Duke so far: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 15 pitches thrown
4:32pm - Marquis so far: 1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 35 pitches thrown. Yuck. The first three batters got hits. 4-0 Pirates as Ty Wigginton hits a 3-run triple.
4:39pm - Duke so far: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 30 pitches thrown. This kid rules.
4:48pm - Marquis so far: 2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 46 pitches thrown. He gave up a single to Zach Duke. Oh, the implosion. Still 4-0 as Jason Bay strikes out to end the inning.

4:50pm - SALOMON TORRES REPLACED ZACH DUKE? WHAT? WHY? Dammit, Gameday doesn't work here and I can't listen to the radio. I think I might cry. I wonder what happened to him. (5:05pm - I see that DMZ says that Zach Duke "felt something pop" when he rolled into second. I *am* going to cry. Well, not really, but you get the idea.)

4:54pm - Torres so far: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 7 pitches thrown.
5:07pm - Marquis so far: 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 1 HB, 2 K, 71 pitches thrown. After hitting Doumit and walking Wigginton, Jumpin' Jack Wilson singled in a run. 5-0 Pirates.
5:18pm - Torres so far: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 26 pitches thrown. Not bad. Ichiro led off with a home run for the Mariners, so it's 1-0 over there.
5:25pm - Marquis lets Nate McLouth hit his first major league home run. Pirates lead 7-0. Aaaand... he GAWN. His line: 3 IP (+ 2 batters), 8 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 1 HB, 2 K, 1 HR, 79 pitches thrown.

5:28pm - Randy Flores mercifully replaces Jason Marquis.

5:31pm - Flores so far: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 15 pitches thrown. Holy shit, he came in and struck out the 3-4-5 batters in succession.
5:38pm - Torres so far: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 36 pitches thrown. Whee.

5:40pm - Julian Tavarez comes in to pitch for the Cards. I *HATE* this guy.

5:44pm - Tavarez so far: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 7 pitches thrown. Wilson and Torres both singled, but Duffy popped out to end the inning.

5:47pm - In the 6th inning, Yadier Molina singles for the first Cardinals hit of the evening. Hoooray. Screw this game, I'm going home. Let's go Bucs! I guess I'll post again after the dust settles.

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