Bulls in the Pen

Interleague play begins again today, and I can't say I'm a big fan. It brings fans to the stands, but it screws with teams. NL bench players get to DH, AL starters take batting practice, and AL lineups gets screwy as full time DH stars like Thome, Pronk, and Papi have no place to play and are likely to sit down one or two games. These three players are the best offensive players on their respective contending teams. Leaving them on the bench for PH duty just seems like a waste. You think the Philly fans really want to watch Matt Clement hit?

Here's a roundup of a few of Friday's games, with a focus on the relievers.

Yankees 6, Mets 7
Unit and Jeremi Gonzalez both get lit, and the pens are in full force by the 6th.

Scott Proctor's been pitching great for the Yankees, taking over the role for Sturtze the last couple of years in the middle innings. His stuff is decent with a mid/low 90's fastball, and mediocre off speed stuff. But he can throw all of his pitches for strikes. He may be prone to a few 4 hit innings here and there, but you won't see any 0.1 IP with 4 BBs in the boxscores anytime soon. That is, until Torre works him to death and he winds up with a partially torn rotator cuff.
Line: 2IP, 0H, 1BB, 1K, 25-16 (pitches-strikes).

Aaron Heilman has been doing an even better job for the Mets, with a 1.48 ERA and 23Ks in 24.1 IP and no HRs allowed. The guy pounds the strikes zone with his fastballs and changeups. He wants to start, but management has resisted because he's been so valuable in the bullpen since the middle of last year. Yesterday was the first time he's thrown more than two innings. Could the Mets be gearing him up for a spot in the rotation? Duaner Sanchez has usually been the guy in the 8th for Willie. Might be something there. On the other hand, he'd thrown only around 20 pitches in his first two innings, and 33 for the outing. I wouldn't be surprised if he were available this afternoon.
Line: 3IP, 0H, 0BB, 3K, 33-26.

Kyle Farnsworth takes over for Tom Gordon in the Yanks' pen. He's been doing almost exactly what's been expected of him. His evaluation is on hold until he gets through a tough series with the Sox. I don't think he has it in him. But he is the one Yankee pitcher who's willing to hit batters in the back, something they haven't had this decade.
Line: 1IP, 15-11.

Billy Wagner comes on in the 9th as there's no save situation possible. While his numbers look good, he's given up a few runs in tight situations and has blown 3 saves this year. But no worries, he's been as dominant as ever. By the end of the year, he's sure to have 40 saves and an ERA around 2. Something did strike me though. His slider used to be a hard slider going around 89-90; now, he's featuring it more as a changeup, throwing it to righties at 85 or so. He was absolutely unhittable tonight.

Here's his pitching sequence:
Jiambi:
fastball missed low and away, 1-0
fastball up, fouled back, 1-1
slider, fooled jiambi, 1-2
slider, down, swinging K, had no chance
Arod:
slider, high and away, 1-0
fastball, down and in, fouled grounder, 1-1
slider, outer half, 1-2
fastball, down the middle, swinging K
Stinnett:
slider, high and away, 1-0
slider, swinging strike, way out in front and the pitch acted like a straight change, 1-1
fastball, 96, missed the target outside, but hits the inside corner, 1-2
fastball, 97, outside corner, swinging K
Line: 1IP, 3K, 12-9

Mo shows up in the tie game. It ends when David Wright hits a long fly over Damon's head with two men on. Damon probably catches it if he wasn't playing so shallow. A better defensive CF catches that ball regardless.

One bit of good news for the Bombers, Posada seems to be okay. But the NY papers have got to really stop jinxing him.

Red Sox 5, Phillies 3
Ho-hum, Papi, Cap'n, and Lowell hit homers off Lieber, hand it over to Foulke, Timlin, and Papelbon, game over. Saw this game on the Phillies broadcast. Their radar gun showed Timlin throwing at least three fastballs at 95, 96, and 97, and striking out Howard on a 93 cutter. Papelbon managed to hit 98 on the gun. Um, yeah, and I am 6 foot 5. Drop the gun about 5 mph please. Which means that Cole Hamels is not breaking 90 with his fastballs. That seems about right.

Giants 0, A's 1
Haren and Lowry pitch great, setting up Street v. Bonds with 2 outs in the 9th. Yee haw!
fastball, runs low and away, 1-0
fastball, outside corner at the knees, unhittable pitch, 1-1
fastball, belt high down the middle, MISTAKE! vicious cut by Bonds, fouls it into Kendall's mask, he just missed it, 1-2
changeup/slider, down and in, swinging K
The pre-2005 Bonds smacks that 1-1 meatball into the bay. Even from Oakland he does. This year, a foul ball.

Braves 9, D'Backs 10
Weird game full of bad pitching. It's 8 all going into the ninth. Valverde gives up 1 in the top half, in comes Reitsma to close it out. He's already given up the tying run, and with men on 1st and 2nd, he faces Tony Clark pinch hitting.
change, down, swinging strike, 0-1
change, down, same location, same result, 0-2
At this point, Mark Grace, the color guy for Zona is telling Reitsma to throw that pitch again. What happens?
fastball, catcher sets up in, Reitsma misses off the plate, as he's supposed to do, but manages to hit Clark in the thigh, HBP
Bases get loaded, and eventually the D'Backs win.

Here's what I don't get. Why is he throwing that fastball? It makes no sense. Throw that changeup three more times in a row. There's no need to waste a pitch or back him off the plate or show him something else! He cant hit the change that you're throwing him. And it's your best pitch! Stupid shit like this makes me mad. Who called for that pitch, I don't know, but whoever you are, you're an idiot. You're probably the reason for this:

AL Batting leader, Casey Blake: .364, NL Batting leader, Brian McCann: .353

(And no, it wasn't McCann; he was pinch run for earlier. Pratt was catching at the time.)