Old English D Does Lakeland

Well, not exactly "does" Lakeland. More like blows in and out of town. I was staying on Anna Maria Island, almost an hour and a half away. We had four kids in our group and almost had mutiny on our hands trying to tear the kids away from the ocean and the pool to go to the game. Consequently, I missed all the pre-game warmups and whatnot, which are kind of important at Spring Training games....sigh.

Roy Halladay started for the Phils, and it was great to see him. He did not have it all together (thankfully, as we scored our three runs off him in the second inning). The best part of seeing him was not his pitching, however. You may be aware that he legged out an infield hit! off Ni. It was most AMAZING to behold. First, it was great that the Phils went without the DH because Halladay needed to get some batting reps in. Then Halladay gets the infield single. I swear, our whole section was giddy and giggly with delight when that happened. There were a lot of Phillies fans at the game, as the Phils play in Clearwater, not that far away, and I saw at the Tampa airport that there was some kind of Phillies group tour thing going on that weekend, so they probably hit a bunch of stadiums. Sadly, Polanco did not play due to the tweaked knee, but Phils fans assured me that he is adjusting well to third base. Best of all the best to you, Placido!

Anyway, Ni pitched well, Bonine pitched well, Ramon Santiago hit a triple, Carlos Guillen made a sliding catch in left, the weather was glorious. I could go on, but I'll let a few snapshots do the talking. Look how crowded the berm was. I just saw that the crowd was the fourth largest ever for a Spring game at Joker Marchant.

I just have to point out on an unrelated note, that Luke Scott, noted Tiger killer, got attacked by some seagulls! This is just too good to be true. But, the photo evidence does not lie...unless it was photoshopped. Oh well. I take it at face value. You should too. Enjoy!

Off Day Offerings

Here are a few good links for an off day.  Enjoy!

Big League Stew points out a web site dedicated to the over-hype of Matt Wieters.   Here is just one of the many "facts" posted there:  "Matt Wieters Is A Six-Tool Player- The Sixth Tool Is AWESOMENESS."  We need more about him, don't we?  Thank goodness there's no such Luke Scott site.  Actually, maybe there is, I just don't want to know about it.

Hazaa author J. Ellet Lambie gets the ultimate get:  an informal/impromptu chat with Milt Wilcox.  Jealousy rears its ugly head.

Baltimore Sun blogger Peter Schmuck agreed with me about pitching to Luke Scott:

"I'm pretty sure Tigers manager Jim Leyland has told his pitchers that the next fastball strike anybody throws to Scott will result in some particularly gruesome form of corporal punishment."

I was hoping for a series of intentional walks to Scott on Sunday, but instead Jackson showed him who's boss.   That works too!

 Verlander is up for Clutch Performer of the Month--from Beck's Blog.  Vote early, vote often.

Boston tomorrow.  Who's ready?

Splitsville

Whew, I'm relieved the Os didn't sweep this series, because I would've lost a little wager, and been forced into sporting an Orioles window cling in my car for the next week, in place of my Old English D.  That was a little too close for comfort--losing the first two games, getting scalded by Luke Scott.

Edwin Jackson just tore it up today.  Two hits?  Eight innings, 102 pitches?  In Camden?  Not too shabby.  Good thing, too, since the Tigers managed all of three runs.  He's learned not to count on run support this season.

Well, Magglio's 16-game hit streak came to an end, but he sure gave in gracefully, not forcing anything, taking a walk in the 8th.  I'm just happy he's raised his average to .280.  Mario mentioned that McClendon's been working with him on keeping his hands up, and it seems to be working.

We finally managed to contain that imaginary Oriole Luke Scott, who naturally went 0-3, because he doesn't exist.  I'll admit, I was hoping for Jim Leyland to call for the intentional base on balls each time Luke Scott came up to the plate, but for once, it worked out pitching to him.   Hmm, well what do you know about that?  All the same, I'm pretty overjoyed the Os are not in the AL Central.  We'd have to make some ridiculous unequal trade to obtain him, or pay some thug to take a lead pipe to his knees.

Luke Who?

I've never heard of Luke Scott.  Luke Skywalker, Byron Scott, yes I've heard of them both, but Luke Scott?  No.  I disbelieve in his existence altogether.  Denial is self-preservation.  I advise you to try it.

Also, visualize world peace?   No, visualize the destruction of the non-existent Luke Scott--before tonight's game if at all possible.

Thankfully, I was spared first-hand knowledge of last night's debacle due to my son's game (also a loss, although to be fair the other team looked like it was on some killer designer steroids) and cooking dinner for some friends.  Trust me, the box score was grisly enough for me.

I trust that tonight's game will have a less spectacularly gruesome outcome.