I've been thinking a lineup change might be in order for a while now.  I know many people were calling for Alvarez in the cleanup spot.  For my part, I was getting concerned about the Jones/Alvarez lefty/lefty meat of our lineup.  Nice when there's a right-handed starter maybe, but it allows the opponents to make an easy decision when it comes to late-game matchups.  One idea I came up with was Tábata, Walker, Jones, McCutchen, Alvarez.  Tábata and Walker are two of our top three in OBP (along with Cutch).  Tábata definitely has the speed for a leadoff hitter.  McCutchen hasn't been getting much chance with runners on base, and he would probably see more of that in the four hole.  Plus, he breaks up Jones and Alvarez...nice matchup dilema for the opposing manager.

Well, Russell et al decided it was indeed time to change the lineup.  According to Dejan, today's lineup will be:

1. McCutchen
2. Jones
3. Tábata
4. Alvarez
5. Walker
6. Doumit
7. Clement
8. Díaz
9. Maholm

Now, I'm pretty sure Doumit, Clement and Díaz aren't being anointed starters here, but rather we'll probably see Snyder, Milledge and Cedeño at the bottom most often--it's the first five where the new stuff is.  This is a little different than my idea, but I definitely like it.  Tábata can certainly drive in runs.  Jones is out of the four hole, and with a little less pressure maybe he'll hit better (not that he hasn't been pretty good driving in runs this season).  Plus, he provides nice protection for McCutchen.  Walker was quoted as liking it because he spent a lot of time in the five-hole in the minors.  Finally, the lineup puts Alvarez in the cleanup spot.  Obviously he has a lot of power, but he's also been just plain getting on base well lately, and I think seeing him stranded, what, three times in last nights game by the bottom of the order made Russell finally pull out the new lineup.

This lineup was apparently crafted by Russell, Long and Bannister together, and Russell says it certainly isn't permanent if they don't like how it is functioning.  I for one am all for it, might as well shake things up a bit this time of year.

Makeup game starts early today.  Lineups:

Cubs

1. Theriot 2B
2. Baker 3B
3. Lee 1B
4. Nady RF
5. Byrd CF
6. Soriano LF
7. Soto C
8. Castro SS
9. Silva P

Pirates

1. McCutchen CF
2. Walker 2B
3. Young RF
4. Jones 1B
5. Milledge LF
6. Crosby 3B
7. Jaramillo C
8. Cedeño SS
9. Eveland P

So did Young earn some starting time by playing poor defense and pinch hitting well?  I guess choosing between Clement, Young and Church is a pretty much "meh" any way you go.

I believe Charlie predicted this yesterday. The constant need for spot starters and relievers to be called up from Indy has forced the management to DFA John Raynor to make room for Jeff Karstens, who will start tonight in Milwaukee.  Our prospects of winning this one were already slim given that the entire team is playing well below their career averages or has been fighting injury (or both), but you've got to think Karstens doesn't help those odds.  At any rate, whenever we do bust out of this slump, I have a feeling it is going to happen all at once and we will be on the other end of a 23-2 victory.

If Raynor clears waivers, the Pirates will attempt to work out a trade to keep him here, as the management stated they still want him in the organization.

Here's a full writeup by Jen Langosch.

Colorado Rockies president Keli McGregor died at age 48 in his Salt Lake City hotel room this morning.  There are apparently no signs of foul play and the investigation has been turned over to the medical examiner's office.

Keli McGregor was a second-team All-American TE for Colorado State in 1984.  He was more recently inducted into the CSU hall of fame as well as being voted to their all-century team.  He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1985 draft by the Broncos.  He appeared in only two games for the Broncos and six for the Colts, but also played for the Seahawks as well.

Despite his breif Broncos career, there is no doubt of the mark McGregor left on Colorado sports in multiple capacities.  The community at Mile High Report extends its condolences.

Read the associated press article for more details.

Hello everyone, long time lurker, first time poster here.  I will probably go back to lurking after this since I already spend too much time posting on the Pirates' blog, I probably don't need to be posting here too.  Anyways, this is a great blog and I'm really glad for the work you all put in.

I'm starting to get pretty fed up with all the fanfare regarding the end of the OKC game.  In the wake of the NBA announcement, I keep hearing people say how OKC got the shaft and how poor Durant and OKC don't get any calls.  This Deseret News article put me over the top.

First I will say this:  I don't think that there should have been a foul called.  I don't think it should be a foul when a defensive player holds his hands straight up, makes contact with the ball and blocks it, and then is contacted by the offensive player's follow through.  Now, I know plenty of people, the NBA included, will tell me what they think about what I think.  I also know that in the NBA the offensive player is going to get that call about 95% of the time (except for Paul Milsap).  So to sum it up, I saw nothing wrong with that play, however, in terms of NBA referees, that is a foul.

Now is the part where I'm wondering if I'm crazy.  Did anyone see the end of the Laker's game?  The game ended almost the exact same way the Utah/OKC game ended with a few key differences:

1. Derek Fisher shot a three which was blocked by Carmelo Anthony, and Fisher's follow through contacted Anthony in almost the exact same way the Durant play went down.  I had to wait for the end of the broadcast to see a closeup replay, and it flabbergasted me how similar the shot was.
2. Derek Fisher did not cry and moan, he just was disappointed that he blew it (worst end-game sequence I've seen all year BTW, from the thrown away outlet pass to that possession).
   
3. Fisher did not have to be restrained and escorted off the floor by his own team because he appeared like he would physically attack a ref.
4. Phil Jackson didn't appear to complain.

Now, Fisher has far more star power than CJ in the eyes of the NBA, but the fact of the matter is that Carmelo, the defender, is a top ten player in terms of the NBA's poster children (Bryant, James, Anthony, Durant, Howard, Wade, you get the idea) and thus greatly "outranks" Fisher in star power.  So the offense/defense role was reversed.  Also, the offensive player and coach stayed relatively calm and just accepted the outcome.  Is that all there is to it?  Is simply because the star power was on the other side of the ball, and the offensive player didn't cry like a little girl that no one is up in arms over this?

There is plenty of video evidence of the Utah/OKC game (like this), since it was a controversy, but I don't have a good shot of the Lakers/Nuggets final shot.  The nba.com highlights only show it once, and quite a wide shot at that.  Can anyone who saw the game help me out here?  Is my judgment just clouded by fandom?

Also, did everyone just plain forget that with 43 seconds left in overtime, there was a completely phantom foul called for Durant?  Go ahead, try and find video of that on the web.  No one is going to show that, because that would just show that the NBA's newest foul-magnet already didn't deserve the call in the first place.

Go Jazz!

Good monday.  Here's the shiny new lineup, as has been reported by the PG and Langosch.

Astros

1. Jeff Keppinger 2B
2. J.R. Towles C
3. Hunter Pence RF
4. Geoff Blum SS
5. Jason Michaels CF
6. Chris Johnson 3B
7. Chris Shelton 1B
8. Edwin Maysonet LF
9. Gustavo Chacin P

Pitching:  Gustavo Chacin, Brandon Lyon, Sammy Gervacio, Wilton López

Pirates

1. Akinori Iwamura 2B
2. Andrew McCutchen CF
3. Garrett Jones RF
4. Ryan Doumit C
5. Lastings Milledge LF
6. Jeff Clement 1B
7. Andy LaRoche 3B
8. Paul Maholm P
9. Bobby Crosby SS

Pitching:  Paul Maholm, Javier López, Jack Taschner, Evan Meek, Octavio Dotel

Two games today, the Phillies game is on Philadelphia TV so I'll be watching it. Lineups:

Pirates

1. Akinori Iwamura 2B
2. Andy LaRoche 3B
3. Lastings Milledge LF
4. Ryan Church RF
5. Steve Pearce 1B
6. Ronny Cedeño SS
7. Erik Kratz C
8. John Raynor CF
9. D.J. Carrasco P

Pitching:  D.J. Carrasco, Brian Bass, Anthony Claggett, Steven Jackson, Javier López, Evan Meek, Jeremy Powell, Jack Taschner

Phillies

1. Jimmy Rollins SS
2. Placido Polanco 3B
3. Chase Utley 2B
4. Ryan Howard 1B
5. Jayson Werth RF
6. Shane Victorino CF
7. Ben Francisco LF
8. Carlos Ruiz C
9. Joe Blanton P

Pitching:  Joe Blanton, David Herndon, Antonio Bastardo, Ryan Madson

I won't be around for this one, but I'll start up a thread if anyone wants to discuss it.  Lineups:

Blue Jays

1. José Bautista 3B
2. Aaron Hill 2B
3. Jeremy Reed RF
4. Kyle Phillips 1B
5. Edwin Encarnación DH
6. Chris Lubanski LF
7. Alex González SS
8. José Molina C
9. Joey Gathright CF

Pitching:  Brian Tallet

Pirates

1. Akinori Iwamura 2B
2. Andrew McCutchen CF
3. Garrett Jones RF
4. Ryan Doumit C
5. Lastings Milledge LF
6. Jeff Clement 1B
7. Andy LaRoche 3B
8. Daniel McCutchen P
9. Ronny Cedeño SS

Pitching:  Daniel McCutchen, Evan Meek, Brendan Donnelly, Jeff Karstens, Anthony Clagget, Stephen Jackson

I guess Russell decided he couldn't have two McCutchens hit in a row.  I really dislike Andrew in the two hole.  I think he's either leadoff or three hole, I really don't see any advantages of having him hit second.  Oh well, just ST.

Hello everyone!  We've got our opening day starter on the mound, here's hoping we can find some consistent offense throughout the game today.  At least a few hits, we've just been so quite with the bats (yesterday's late-inning rally notwithstanding).  Lineups:

Pirates

1. John Raynor CF
2. Delwyn Young 2B
3. Lastings Milledge LF
4. Garrett Jones RF
5. Jeff Clement 1B
6. Bobby Crosby SS
7. Ramón Vázquez 3B
8. Jason Jaramillo C
9. Zach Duke P

Pitching:  Zach Duke, Anthony Claggett, Jack Taschner, Javier López

Astros

1. T.J. Steele CF
2. Jeff Keppinger 2B
3. Jason Michaels RF
4. Carlos Lee LF
5. Geoff Blum 1B
6. Pedro Feliz 3B
7. Edwin Maysonnet SS
8. Humberto Quintero C
9. Roy Oswalt P

Pitching:  Roy Oswalt

Finally our Pirates are back.  Seemed like a long time ago they played, especially with the rainout infuriatingly corresponding with a televised game.  Looks like the opening day lineup to me, although it might be Maholm getting the start on opening day.

Astros

1. T.J. Steele CF
2. Kazuo Matsui 2B
3. Jason Michaels LF
4. Pedro Feliz 3B
5. Chris Shelton 1B
6. Edwin Maysonet SS
7. Humberto Quintero C
8. Drew Locke RF
9. Felipe Paulino P

Pitching:  Felipe Paulino, Brandon Lyon, Shane Loux, Gary Majewski

Pirates

1. Andrew McCutchen CF
2. Akinori Iwamura 2B
3. Garrett Jones RF
4. Ryan Doumit C
5. Jeff Clement 1B
6. Lastings Milledge LF
7. Ronny Cedeño SS
8. Andy LaRoche 3B
9. Ross Ohlendorf P

Pitching:  Ross Ohlendorf, Anthony Claggett, Steven Jackson, Jeremy Powell

Where are all the Astros?  I know Berkman is hurt, but seriously, Feliz in the four-hole?  Where are Lee and Pence?

Dejan is reporting that Javier López, who was scheduled to pitch today, has left the team for the birth of his child.  In an apparently unrelated note, Daniel McCutchen and Zach Duke have been swapped tomorrow, so Run DMcC will get the start and Duke will come in in relief.

Pirates

1. Andrew McCutchen CF
2. Delwyn Young 2B
3. Ryan Church RF
4. Garrett Jones 1B
5. Ryan Doumit DH
6. Bobby Crosby SS
7. Brandon Moss LF
8. Neil Walker 3B
9. Luke Carlin C

Pitching:  Charlie Morton, D.J. Carrasco, Jean Machi, Jack Taschner

Orioles

1. Felíx Pié LF
2. Adam Jones CF
3. Nick Markakis RF
4. Miguel Tejada 3B
5. Luke Scott 1B
6. Matt Wieters C
7. Nolan Reimold DH
8. Ty Wigginton 2B
9. César Izturis SS

Pitching:  Brad Bergesen

Haven't been around too much the last few days, sorry about that folks.  Lineups:

Red Sox

1. Mike Cameron CF
2. Dustin Pedroia 2B
3. Víctor Matrínez 1B
4. David Ortiz DH
5. Jason Varitek C
6. Jeremy Hermida LF
7. Bill Hall SS
8. Tug Hulett 3B
9. Josh Reddick RF

Pitching:  Josh Beckett, Scott Atchinson, Brian Shouse, Junichi Tazawa

Pirates

1. Andrew McCutchen CF
2. Ronny Cedeño SS
3. Akinori Iwamura 2B
4. Garrett Jones DH
5. Ryan Doumit C
6. Lastings Milledge LF
7. Jeff Clement 1B
8. Andy LaRoche 3B
9. Delwyn Young RF

Pitching:  Paul Maholm, Vinnie Chulk, Brendan Donnelly, Evan Meek, Brian Burress

This is a real interesting lineup.  All the projected starters, plus Delwyn because we have a DH.  I think if anything I might just rather switch Cutch and Iwamura in this lineup.  I'm OK like this too though.  Who are all these Red Sox?  I had to look if they've got a split squad today (they do not).  You've got to imagine they are evaluating the bottom half of this lineup still?  I know their lineup is weaker this year, but this one doesn't even make me blink.  Pedroia should probably be in the cleanup spot.  Anyways, lets wake up the bats, guys!

Well, MLB finally gave me the game instead of some terrible, terrible popular music station.  Lineups:

1. Clete Thomas CF
2. Don Kelly 3B
3. Carlos Guillén LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Ryan Raburn RF
6. Brandon Inge DH
7. Alex Avila C
8. Scott Sizemore 2B
   
9. Ramón Santiago SS

Pitching:  Nate Robinson, Eddie Bonnie, Fu-Te Ni, Zach Miner

1. Andrew McCutchen CF
2. Akinori Iwamura 2B
3. Garrett Jones DH
4. Ryan Doumit C
5. Bobby Crosby 1B
6. Ryan Church RF
7. Andy LaRoche 3B
8. Brandon Moss LF
9. Ramón Váquez

Pitching:  Kevin Hart, D.J. Carrasco, Vinnie Chulk, Brendan Donnelly, Evan Meek

We continue to draw big guns in the pitching deparment with Roy Halladay on the mound.  Halladay is the perfect example of why the Pirates can't just go out and get some starting pitching.  He's making $20 million per year.  No way we can afford to pay that much to just one person.  Lineups:

Phillies

1. Jimmy Rollins SS
2. Plácido Polanco 3B
3. Chase Utley 2B
4. Ryan Howard 1B
5. Jayson Werth DH
6. Ben Francisco LF
7. John Mayberry Jr. CF
8. Ross Gload RF
9. Carlos Ruiz C

Pitching:  Roy Halladay

Pirates

1. Andrew McCutchen CF
2. Akinori Iwamura DH
3. Garrett Jones RF
4. Ryan Doumit C
5. Lastings Milledge RF
6. Jeff Clement 1B
7. Andy LaRoche 3B
8. Delwyn Young 2B
9. Ramón Vázquez SS

Pitching:  Zach Duke, Evan Meek, Jeremy Powell, Javier López, Jack Taschner

Looks like the weather will be much better today.  This one is televised on NESN for the New Englanders (and mlb.tvers) and is on the radio in Pittsburgh.  Most of the guys that were going to pitch yesterday are set to pitch today, with Brad Lincoln and Vinnie Chulk pushed from today to the recently scheduled "B" game vs. the Orioles at 10 AM EDT tomorrow.  LIneups:

Pirates

1. Delwyn Young 2B
2. Andy LaRoche 3B
3. Garrett Jones DH
4. Jeff Clement 1B
5. Lastings Milledge LF
6. Brandon Moss RF
   
7. José Tábata CF
8. Jason Jaramillo C
9. Argenis Díaz SS

Pitching:  Paul Maholm, D.J. Carrasco, Jack Taschner, Chris Jakubauskas, Javier Lopez, Jeremy Powell

Red Sox

1. Jacoby Ellsbury LF
2. Dustin Pedroia 2B
3. Víctor Martínez C
4. Kevin Youkilis 1B
5. David Ortiz DH
6. J.D. Drew RF
7. Adrián Béltre 3B
8. Mike Cameron CF
9. Marco Scutaro SS

Pitching:  Clay Buchholz, Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, Boof Bonser, Brian Shouse, Michael Bowden

The Red Sox have a new look lineup, but it sure isn't as formidable as last year.  Basically they trade Bay's bat for Cameron's (downgrade) and I really don't see how Béltre is supposed to be better than Lowell, even at this injury-riddled stage of his career.  Unless Béltre somehow recaptures the magic of that one year.  Surely Ortiz isn't going to come back?  He's pretty old at this point.  He's useful but a shell of what he used to be.  At any rate their rotation should keep them in the running for the AL East yet again.

This one is supposed to start late at 1:30 EST.  The radar looks like the rain should be clearing up for a while, but Dejan says the field is a bog.  Interesting that today of all days they would have the pitchers hit, considering the conditions.  Lineups:

1. Andrew McCutchen CF
2. Ronny Cedeño SS
3. Garrett Jones RF
4. Ryan Doumit C
5. Ryan Church LF
6. Bobby Crosby 1B
7. Neil Walker 3B
8. Ramón Vázquez 2B
9. Ross Ohlendorf P

Pitchers: Ross Ohlendorf, Brian Bass, Jeremy Powell, Javier López, Chris Jakubauskas

1. Martín Prado 2B
2. Nate McLouth CF
3. Chipper Jones 3B
4. Troy Glaus 1B
5. Brian McCann C
6. Yunel Escobar SS
   
7. Jason Heyward RF
8. Matt Diaz LF
9. Jair Jurrjens P

Pitchers: Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, Jesse Chavez, Jo-Jo Reyes, Mike Dunn

One day on, one day off for the bats?  We'll see if the trend continues.  Lineups:

1. Sean Rodriguez SS
2. Carl Crawford LF
3. B.J. Upton CF
4. Pat Burrell RF
5. Dioner Navarro C
6. Dan Johnson 1B
7. Kelly Shoppach DH
8. Reid Brignac 2B
9. Elliot Johnson 3B

Pitching:  Wade Davis

1. Akinori Iwamura 2B
2. José Tábata CF
3. Lastings Milledge LF
4. Ryan Doumit DH
5. Jeff Clement 1B
6. Andy LaRoche 3B
7. Ronny Cedeño SS
8. John Raynor RF
9. Héctor Giménez C

Pitching:  Kevin Hart, Jeff Karstens, Jack Taschner, Evan Meek, Donnie Veal, Jean Machi and Jeremy Powell

Doumit gets a back-to-back in the DH spot, but I think everyone else is different from yesterday.  Not surprising with the quick turnaround time.  Go Bucs!

Here we go at George Steinbrenner field again.  With as dead as the bats went yesterday (Alvarez, Tábata and Friday notwithstanding), I wonder if we can get anything going against Sabathia?

Pirates Lineup

1. Andrew McCutchen CF
2. Ronny Cedeño SS
3. Lastings Milledge LF
4. Garrett Jones RF
5. Andy LaRoche 3B
6. Jeff Clement 1B
7. Bobby Crosby DH
8. Delwyn Young 2B
9. Jason Jaramillo C

Pitching:  Charlie Morton, Brian Burres, D.J. Carrasco, Donnie Veal, Bryan Morris

Yankees Lineup

1. Derek Jeter SS
2. Nick Johnson DH
3. Jorge Posada C
4. Alex Rodríguez 3B
5. Curtis Granderson CF
6. Nick Swisher RF
7. Randy Winn LF
8. Juan Miranda 1B
9. Kevin Russo 2B

Pitching:  C.C. Sabathia, Boone Logan, Dustin Moseley, Héctor Noesi, Royce Ring, Romulo Sánchez

It will be good to get more looks (listens) at Morton, Morris and Veal.  I also want to see how Clement continues to fare at first base, and you gotta love the Cutch!  Does anyone know what the deal is with Canó?  Is he injured or have we just happened to play the Yankees when he hasn't played?

If there's anyone out there listening to this one, here's a place to talk about it.  Both the Yankees and Pirates are fielding a split squad for this one, the other half of the Pirates are playing Tampa Bay.

Yankees Lineup

1. Derek Jeter SS
2. Curtis Granderson CF
3. Randy Winn RF
4. Alex Rodríguez 3B
5. Juan Miranda 1B
6. Mike Rivera C
7. Jamie Hoffmann LF
8. P.J. Pilittere DH
9. Reegie Corona 2B

Pitcher: Alfredo Aceves

Pirates Lineup

1. Andrew McCutchen CF
2. Akinori Iwamura 2B
3. Garrett Jones RF
4. Ryan Doumit C
5. Steve Pearce 1B
6. Brandon Moss LF
7. Bobby Crosby SS
8. Brandon Jones DH
9. Neil Walker 3B

Pitchers:  Paul Maholm, Jeremy Powell, Steven Jackson, Javier Lopez, Virgil Vasquez, Bryan Morris, Justin Thomas, Ronald Uviedo

Pirates Lineup:

1. Iwamura 2B
2. Tabata LF
3. Jones RF
4. Doumit C
5. Pearce 1B
6. Moss DH
7. Cedeno SS
8. Walker 3B
9. Raynor CF

Orioles Lineup

1. Jones CF
2. Andino SS
3. Markakis RF
4. Tejada 3B
5. Weiters C
6. Scott DH
7. Atkins 1B
8. Tucker LF
9. Davis 2B

So that's where Garrett Atkins ended up.  Zach Duke and Daniel McCutchen should be pitching two innings each, and Virgil Vasquez, Evan Meek, Javier Lopez and Jeremy Powell will also see the mound.

Should be interesting to see what Tabata and Jones do, as well as how Meek fares.  I will assume that after VV pitches the game is out of reach.

According to pittsburghpirates.com, SS Bobby Crosby had a physical this morning and his signing has been announced by the Pirates.  The deal is worth one million dollars for one year, but it apparently has incentives.  No word on whether this is a major- or minor- league deal, but Crosby did say "They're going to give me a chance to compete. At this point in my career, that's all I want."  Don't know if that means anything.  He comes quite a bit cheaper than he did for Oakland, who signed him in 2005 for a 5-year, $12.75 million deal.  Sometimes those "sign your young guys for relatively cheap before they demand more than you can afford on the free-agent market" deals just don't work out.

While Crosby has not been that exciting beyond a decent showing of power in his rookie year, Cedeño hasn't really been any better.  However, since depth behind Ronny basically consists of either Brian Bixler or a Barry Bonds cardboard cutout positioned at double play depth (Bixler has the edge defensively, but the cutout has the better bat), it is nice to at least have two borderline major-league talents at SS.  In other words, it is kind of like signing a 34-year-old starter for AAA:  not really very exciting, but you need to fill out the roster and provide some competition to the existing players.

I got to thinking the other day, and I realized that off the top of my head I couldn't positively name a nickel cornerback from any NFL team besides the Broncos.  Perhaps Karl Paymah is Minnesota's nickel, at least assuming Winfield is healthy.  I've been looking at some depth charts, and really I've barely even heard the names of many of these guys.

It seems like the position is generally a training ground for young corners, or a place where old corners go to die (ahem, Ty Law), so it is a position of flux, which makes it all the more difficult.  What do you guys think?  Who is the best nickel in the NFL?  Or, at least, who are some good nickels?

So during the broadcast on Sunday, one of the announcers said something about "we were wondering if it was MoRAYno or MoREEno, and Knowshon straightened that out for us".  What's the verdict?  Apparently, Knowshon told them that his name is pronounced MoRAYno.

Continue reading this post »

So we have two division rivals tonight on MNF.  I think it would be very apropos if anyone would like to discuss it a bit.

So far the Charger defense is nowhere to be found.  Getting gashed on the runs, and save Jamarcus not looking off a rookie receiver they probably would have already scored.  Now they are knocking on the door again, and Russel is looking alright.

And there it is, Bush runs in a TD.  I personally would care to root for the Black for this week!

To me, I have seen an excellent trend in our games this year, and it has to do with a single stat:  passes defensed.  The first game of the preseason, at San Francisco, we only defensed two.  The second game, at Seattle, we only defensed four.  This was troubling, because with the revamped secondary and increased pressure we were seeing up front, I expected us to be swarming to the ball and breaking up far more passes than last year.  In our historic three-game collapse last year, we managed four, two, and zero passes defensed against Carolina, Buffalo, and San Diego, respectively.  This is in line with our overall stats last year, since we were second to last only to the pitiful Lions with 57 passes defensed in all of 2008.  This compared to the league-leading 125 of the Ravens.

Now, with the third  game(the third game interestingly enough corresponding with the debut of Dawkins), we defensed seven passes.  Follow that with last nights performance, an eye-popping 14 passes defensed!  Average all four preseason games, we broke up 6.75 passes per game, extrapolate that over 16 games that would be 108 PD.  I know, we can't reliably take stats from meaningless games and predict the meaningful ones, but I'm still extremely encouraged by the defense so far.  We've done great job shutting down the run (97.5 yards per game), especially while the first team has been in, and the increased QB pressure and batted passes shows me this defense should be quite improved from last year.

Through this Brandon Marshall what-have-you I have become extremely annoyed with a little factoid (used correctly in this case) that is being thrown around.  Nearly every article I read about Marshall claims that Cutler demanded to be traded and "forced his way out of town".  Why is this taken as fact?  The idea of Cutler asking for a trade is not necessarily causally linked to Cutler being traded.  In actuality, the facts point in the opposite direction:  Cutler pitched a fit because the Broncos were listening to trade offers.  So when they follow through on these discussions, it means they caved to his demands?  Non sequitur, I claim.

José Tabata returned to the Altoona lineup this morning.  He was 0-2 with an infield popup and a centerfield flyout, while Altoona went down 1-3 to New Britain, and Daniel Moskos actually had a pretty good outing (7IP 2ER 1BB 3K) but got the hose on the loss.  He's now sitting on a pretty remarkable 2.55 GO/AO ratio, but he can't strike anyone out.

Tabata was replaced by Gorkys Hernández, who also went 0-2, presumably just to ease him back into the game.  Hernández didn't start, probably with this plan in mind in a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone approach since he has been slumping since joining Altoona.  I for one will be interested to see who moves out of CF when Tabata is back at "full strength".

Hopefully these two both start hitting and make Altoona a little more interesting (than watching paint dry), especially since Lincoln has been promoted.

I just wanted to find out if anyone knows about Sánchez's contract:  635 plate appearances he must get to automatically vest the option, unless he is an All Star, in which case there is a 600 plate appearance--virtually guaranteed--threshold.  I don't think he is going to get voted in, but without McLouth I don't know if there is anyone else on the team more worthy of an All Star spot.  Does it matter if he gets voted in or if he is an "All Star by default"?

Donnie Veal was apparently placed on the 15-day disabled list today with a "groin pull" that occured when he pitched for fifth time of the season on Friday.  By "groin pull" I mean "we need our roster spot back for a while", not that there are really any better options in AAA.  Dejan speculates that V V and Steven Jackson are the likely candidates, although I think it could be Chris Bootcheck.  His era is fairly poor, but they were pretty close to keeping him in spring training and his 32K/4BB in 23.1 innings is tremendous, which perhaps speaks to the idea that a couple of bad outings hurt his ERA (as can happen easily with relievers).

At any rate, it doesn't really matter who we bring up, they aren't going to be all that much better than Veal, but the difference will be that we won't be working with a six man (or five man as the case has been since Capps was beaned) pen.  It's nice to try and find a live lefty arm through the Rule 5, but when he simply can NEVER pitch it hurts, and I question how much value Veal himself is getting from nothing but bullpen sessions.