Around The Horn: News and Notes this Friday
- Dexter Sports
11:48 AM
Dexter-Sports Inbox
Here are some news and notes around the league for this wonderful Friday:
11:48 AM
Dexter-Sports Inbox
Here are some news and notes around the league for this wonderful Friday:
- Part of the Astros' recent success has to be credited to advancing runners on stolen bases. In their last series against the Nationals Houston went 7/7 in stolen base opportunities. The Astros will send veteran reliever Brian Moehler to the mound in a spot start tonight against Derick Lowe and the Dodgers.
- Speaking of stolen bases, Red Sox Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury has yet to be caught on the base paths this season. He is 13/13. Looking more into the numbers, Jacoby Ellsbury has never been caught in a major league uniform. Going back to last season, Ellsbury is 22/22. The Red Sox themselves have been very hard to track down. The team as a whole has only been caught stealing 4 times this season.
- According to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun, Freddie Bynum has taken over as the starting short stop, making Luis Hernandez the Utility man of the bench. The Orioles looked solid against Kansas City in a 4-1 win last night. Daniel Cabrera went the distance (not a joke) and Nick Markakis accounted for all four runs. Markakis blasted a 3 run dinger to propel the Orioles to victory. What surprises me is the switch at short was a defensive move. Many figured Luis Hernandez would be booted from the lineup for his offensive woes.
- Ian Kennedy looked great for AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last night. Kennedy went 7 1/2 innings and only gave up one hit on 8 strike outs. What does this mean for the Yankees? The sooner he is up the better. The Yankees start a weekend series with Detroit today. Kei Igawa will make the start. See it is like I said, the sooner the better.
- Metsmerized looks at the option of calling up Matt Carp if Angel Pagan goes on the DL, to explore future options at first base. Not a bad move, especially if the Mets decide to release Delgado if he continues to struggle.
- Minor League Ball looks at the best pitchers of the 2008 Draft.
- LA Times writer Kevin Baxter wrote a nice piece on current Rays closer Troy Percival. It's a good read and tells a lot about Percival's outlook on baseball. Percival blew his first save as a Ray last night.
- Finally, Fred Bierman, of the New York Times looks at the history of the stirrup. For those baseball purists out there, this article should hit home. Stirrups are rarely seen in this age of baseball.
