Still had to work today, so I went in a few hours early... Now I'm done and ready for the first game of the season in a couple hours!

It's April 5th and my Pads are already out of it.

SO glad I had the PVR set to record the Jays game! I worked through the first hour and a half of the game, but I'm caught up now. God I hope the Jays can complete this comeback

16 fucking innings and counting!

4-0 Indians when I check in the 3rd inning. Figure it's the typical Jays way, dominate the Spring and then tank the first game. Do some shit around the house, have dinner, check for the final score. Bottom of 16th, 7-4 Jays. I don't know what to think about this damn team anymore, but I have a feeling this is going to be a heart attack inducing season

the homer that Arencebia hit earlier in the 16h was just awesome! God I hope Santos can close this one out...

Well thank god they picked up Santos. I mean, at this point anything is better than Jon "Meatball down the middle" Rauch and Frank fucking Francisco. 25 blown saves in a season, jesus christ it was hard to watch late in games last year.

Chris Perez is not my favorite person.

Tell me about it! I was at the Canada Day game when Bautista hit that 8th inning homer to get the lead, only to watch them blow the save in the 9th

I can't believe they kept him in as long as they did, really.

He's the closer. That's his job.

The problem is that he only got three appearances in the spring due to an oblique strain. But there was absolutely no reason for Acta to pull Masterson with the way he was dealing.

You got 10 strikeouts in the pool. Don't be greedy

I'll always prefer the real win.

This time of year it's extremely important not to overuse pitchers, even if they're doing well.

Unless a guy is at like 85 pitches through 8, very very seldom do you see pitchers throw a complete game their first time out for the season.

He was at 99 pitches, so he could have.

In that case, a wise move by Acta. 99 pitches is plenty this early in the season. No need to risk damaging his arm. You need to let pitchers ease into the season. You'll notice that Justin Verlander and Jon Lester were pulled around the same time despite having had outstanding games.

Twins game on at noon today. Looks like I'll get to listen to the first hour on my lunch break.

It was an easy 99, though. He had absolutely no duress all game, and Bautista's homer was helped by the wind. But the fact of the matter is, Perez didn't do his job.

Well yeah, if Perez gets his job done we wouldn't be discussing this at all.


Either way, while it's frustrating to see guys pulled "early", teams have been doing this in April since for a couple of decades now.

In April? More like all the time. Bringing in you're closer with a 3 or less run lead in the ninth is just how it's done now.

But yeah, managers are even less likely to let guys go for the complete game this early in the season. Hell the Phillies pulled Doc yesterday after 92 pitches and he's the complete game king these days.

... I was specifically talking about pulling guys "early" their first couple of starts of the season, I didn't say anything about closer usage.

BH thought the starter should have been left in. I was responding to that, not anything else.

hi BH

Brett Lawrie is freakin' awesome.

The "Bullpen Mafia" is still stuck in Arizona.

Really liked what I saw out of Jimenez, though. That was the guy they traded for.

Josh Beckett is Apollo Creed and Fielder and Cabrera are a two-headed Ivan Drago.