Everything's Gone Wrong Since Canada Came Along

Another day, another loss. But at least Marlon Anderson can bat. Too bad he didn't save it for when it was actually useful.

But the joke's on Toronto. Those happy Canucks probably think they have dominant pitching. Little do they know, it's our impotent bats! Ha! Take that, overconfident Looney-lovers! (Actually -- and not that you care -- the Blue Jays are my darkhorse AL Team. I wouldn't surprise me to see them make a move in the second half.)

The story of the game, though, was John Patterson. He had nuttin'. And he left the game with *gulp* an injury.

He's claiming it's a 'dead arm' -- basically a period of fatigue that most pitchers have about 2/3 of the way through spring training. I'm not sure I'm buying that. His fastball was on, but his breaking pitches were poor. None of them had any bite, sort of rolling to the plate without the crispness we're used to seeing.

As I've said far tooooo many times, the forearm injury he had was going to affect his breaking pitches. Since his fastball was working (even if he didn't have as much control), I'm inclined to not trust what he's saying.

But we'll find out in his next start. You get through a dead arm by pitching. You don't get through tendinitis by pitching. Time'll tell.

Special mention should go out to Jose Vidro, who hit into another double play. He's now second in the league, and it's brutal watching him with men on base. He hits so many grounders, and he runs so slowly, it's almost inevitible. He gets the Duck, just for the hell of it -- well, that and all the rallies he kills.

Frank had mentioned something about shaking the lineup out. This wasn't much of a shakeup. But one possibility he had raised was hitting Vidro leadoff. That might be a good idea. He still gets on at a decent clip -- even if it's all batting average and no walks -- and he'd have fewer runners on in front of him to wipe out with grounders. Go for it, Frank!

Livan Hernandez hurt his knee while shagging (presumably fly balls). Good news though! It's in a different spot than where he had surgery -- the surgery that he's done so well recovering from. Ugh.

Shawn Hill's elbow is stiff.

MLB helpfully provides the Stat O' The Day:
With his 1 1/3 inning outing on Wednesday, Washington reliever Mike Stanton moved into a tie with Hall-of-Famer Hoyt Wilhelm for fourth on the all-time appearance list. Stanton will tie another Hall-of-Famer, Dennis Eckersley, for third place all-time with his next appearance.

Everybody sing! One of these things is not like the other! One of these things is just not the same....

Stan Kasten gave a speech and reading between the lines, there's more indication that they're going to do things on the cheap. Hey Stan, are you going to run this team like a big market, signing stopgap free agents to put a semi-competitive team on the field seeing how there's no minor league depth, and you wouldn't be taking developmental time away from anyone valuable? "[T]he answer is no. It doesn't work. In my mind, there's a time and place for it. But it's the last step."

I'd like Kasten a lot more if he came with Ted Turner's wallet/competitive instinct.

Boswell says that the NL is teh suck.

Primates say that Boswell is teh suck.

You can tell Boswell that he's teh suck at 11 today.

Anagram(s) O' The Day, John Patterson:
Jot Harp Sonnet, Jars Net Photon; 'Neath Jots Porn