“I know Matsui plays second, Tejada plays short,”  Keppinger told reporters in Sarasota, Fla. “I don’t know who plays third base. I know Wiggington played there last year. Blum? I’m not sure, I have no idea. I’ll find out in a couple of days.”

Wade likes him because
“He doesn’t strike out a lot,” Wade added. “He’s a rare player who has more walks than strikeouts every season. He’s a contact hitter, a blue-collar player and he fits perfectly on our club.”

“I’m not prepared to say Chris Johnson is not going to make the club or anything of that nature,” Wade said. “I think we need to let this play out. But from the standpoint to be able to go out and find somebody who fits the role that Boone was going to fit and then some, I don’t think we could have done any better than Keppinger.”  Link

A couple of days ago, 3/29
“There’s lot of different ways to go,” Wade said. “We don’t have to carry a pure shortstop because (Class AAA) Round Rock is only a couple of hours away, and if somebody goes down, other than (Miguel Tejada) getting a day off and putting Blum over there — we can grab somebody. We have some decisions to make.” Link

Tell it to David Newhan.

Oswalt pitched six innings, with Rodriguez catching all 96 pitches.

Read More

For Miguel Tejada and Aaron Boone

Read More

That’s Japanese for baseball.

“This will some day be just absolutely huge.” Bud Selig.

In Seoul, thousands skipped work and school to watch a large-screen broadcast of the game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, tossing confetti, waving banners bearing the names of their favorite players and chanting through the championship.

Special issues of newspapers (remember those) were printed in Japan, everyone was glued to their cellphones watching the game.

Jake Peavy says it was a bad time to schedule the games,
“I just wish it were played after the season, the same time as the Japan trip I made in 2004. When we took our best players to Japan, we beat them pretty handily. It’d be different if we played Japan with our players in season form.”

“American players were not up to speed. The Latin players were coming out of winter ball. Japan and Korean had been working out. It’s a little different timing for American players. And I understand why some of them felt it was too early.”

Derek Jeter says, for the US to compete, “I don’t know how it could happen, but it would be an ideal situation to play every day.”

Maybe it’s not just the conditioning,
“Their style is different,” Jimmy Rollins said. “A lot of things they do, you know, we will get criticized for if we did them back home during the regular season. But that’s the way they play. They don’t worry about the big things. They do things right. And if there is anything that we can take away from what we’ve seen is to take advantage of another team’s mistakes.”

Jeter marveled at the speed with which the Japanese hitters raced down the line after they put the ball in play. “They don’t strike out,” he said.

“Everybody puts the ball in play. They all run. The left-handers are halfway down the line when they put the ball in play. If I could do it or teach it, I would.”

Fidel Castro spotted the flaw in the Cuban’s game
“Nowadays we have enough young pitchers and batters with magnificent sports qualities. In a nutshell, we have to revolutionize the methods for the preparation and development of our athletes, …. ”
Link

Bud Selig thinks the owners need to let their best players play,
“We have to find ways to pick up the intensity for the United States,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to get our best players and make sure they’re on the field.
Link

Bill Rhoden from the NY Times says, you get what you pay for,
It was as if the United States was being reintroduced to a game it invented. The American game, for better or for worse, has moved to lavish new stadiums and supports lucrative player contracts. It is built on power and entertainment — a deadly combination, we’ve discovered, in an era of performance-enhancing drugs.
Link

Which could turn out to be a dead end, Link just look at the charts, don’t read the commentary.

Link

Link

Link

(Ortiz notes) the Astros will go with a four-man rotation for the first turn in the rotation. The fifth starter won’t be needed until April 15.

Footer speculates that would mean the 5th starter, probably Russ Ortiz, would make one start in the Minor Leagues.

But maybe not,
Wandy Rodriguez will be pushed back to Tuesday because of a bruised left index finger, ..

“It just hurts a lot and feels like it’s going to bleed when I throw my curveball. I even tried to [poke] it with a needle (Saturday night) to get the blood out of there, but the blood is still on the tip.”

“I tried to throw my curveball in the bullpen without putting the pressure on the finger, but I didn’t even reach it to the plate,” he said. “It bounced way before it got there.”

Speculation is that Wandy wont have enough starts left to be ready for the season, so he might need a start in the minors also, which makes Mike Hampton on schedule as number 2 in the rotation.

And Footer says
The way things are going, I wouldn’t be at all shocked if Wandy was not ready to start the season, which would allow for both Ortiz and Jose Capellan to make this team.

Moehler seems OK,
Struck by a line drive in his last appearance, the official diagnosis is a contusion — a bruise — of the right shoulder, but Moehler said he would be surprised if he didn’t make his next start. Moehler’s only regret was that he threw only 27 pitches, falling for short of the 85-pitch mark he planned to reach in this outing.

“That was my concern,” Moehler said. “I told [pitching coach] Dewey [Robinson], I didn’t get a lot of pitches in today, but he said I’ve got two more starts.”

Which is good because Backe isn’t an option
Brandon Backe will start the season on the disabled list, general manager Ed Wade confirmed late Sunday morning.

It’s no surprise that Backe will not be ready for the regular season, but the club had two options regarding the right-hander: place him on the disabled list, or, if he had healed from his injury and resumed pitching by April 1, release him and only be responsible for a portion of his $1.55 million contract.
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link

The utility infielder spot has come down to either Jason Smith or Edwin Maysonet. The Astros want someone who can play short, not just play at short. Both can be sent back to the minors.

Read More