...And on the mound tonight in Chi-town: Chien-Ming Wang!!!

["Tiger's" pitching for the Blow Jays]

That is an awful amount of weight the mound will have to withstand. At least A-Rod's not around to run across it.

[1] That's the game I'll watch. I hate west coast weeknight games.

i love west coast weeknight games. i can actually follow half the game live when i get home from work! : )

[2] Awesome.

Michael Piñeda is moving up to AA.

And Jon Lester walked three and gave up a single in the first inning... but only allowed one run. Very fortunate. Let's see if he settles down now.

[6] You have such faith in Pineda appearing in the bigs. I'm still certain the inevitable "shut down" is looming.

[7] Oh, my attitude isn't faith. I'm a skeptic (meaning I'm not certain of anything, and an atomist (meaning I don't think anything is inevitable).

You are a fatalist, as Mo is a Christian; I envy both of you your faiths.

[8] :)

Pineda coming back would be a nice surprise.
Late start..guess I'll b moving back and forth between the game and Heat-Spurs Game 3 while 'working'.

Geez, the Rays have now scored in all four innings. In two of those they left the bases loaded, and in the other two they got homers. If only they had mixed things up a little they'd have 8 or 9 runs instead of 5. Still a close game.

My brother thinks we should be rooting for the Sox to beat the Rays, because the Rays are going to be a lot better than Boston in the last third of the season.

[7] I think of myself as more sacramental than fatalist. The Britt Burns trade left an indelible mark on my soul.

The Red Sox are just loaded with bald guys wearing hideous beards. I guess they need seven or eight of those guys to make up for the loss of Youk.

[11] HAHAHAH! MP, google a picture of Britt Burns as he looks today if you want to feel old.

Kenny's name drop of Sergio Mitre the other day had me in hysterics as well for some reason. Rainy Season Fever I guess.

[11] Ah, of course. And now they went and traded Jesus himself! No wonder you are so fatalistic. Michael isn't Michael; he's James the Supplanter.

(But Jesus has a .590 OPS, in case you hadn't been following.)

Well, Matt Joyce drives Lester from the game with a 2-run dinger.

I was actually at the last Yankee game in Oakland, another CC-Bartolo affair.

It ended poorly, but the game was fun.

I'd like to see Pineda show up in mid-August and be damn good.

Weird game for Chien-Ming Wang, who started for the Blue Jays tonight.

Pinéda. Just testing. : )

Coco Fucking Crisp! FUCK!

[20] What can you do...he's having a Brady Anderson season.

[18] Why did the Yankees bother helping Wang get back to the majors if they were going to gift him Toronto. Puzzling.

I always wondered this but never stated it. Who would name their son Coco Crisp. I hope that's a nickname.

That is a crime against humanity.

Listening, not watching, but one of my complaints of the past few years is that the Yankees are one of the worst defensively positioned teams in baseball. They sort of do dramatic shifts when its unnecessary. Was that the case there?

[23] "Covelli"

So Coco is a marked improvement.

[22] He had a player opt-out clause on his MiL contract. When the Yankees decided not to bring him up to the bigs, there was not much they could do to keep him.

[23] Baseball-reference is your friend: Covelli Loyce Crisp.

Holy shit. I just googled Britt Burns. Those old cards take me back. lol..

cc seems to pitch terribly in his hometown.

i have a few of those britt burns cards.

loyce? good lord. asdrubul still takes the cake.

This game sucks.

Why not get CC some rest now? Is Eric Plunk available for 3+ innings?

[29] Hey, Asdrubal is simply a variation of the old Carthaginian-Phoenician name Hasdrubal, meaning "Help of Baal." Hasdrubal was Hannibal's brother. Don't bad moth (H)asdrubal. Don't Meanwhile Loyce appears to be a variation of Louise, the female form of Louis.

[32] Nice one! I actually think 'Azdroooobaaaal' sounds great. Loyce on the other hand..lump it in with 'Laird', 'Lance' and 'Lavernius' under failed 'L' names.

[33] Wow..this game is so boring I'm reduced to comments like that..time for some jazz blogs. Have a great night, Banter!

[32] yeah, i remember someone here - you, prolly! - gave the history behind his name the other year. still, all i hear is "ass dribble", so that's the worst name ever to me.

I have to say, I'm really enjoying following the fierce competition between Ichiro, Overbay and Wells for those corner OF spots.

Mad fireworks in the D-Backs-Dodgers game. WOW!

McGwire and Kibson were tugging on each other's shirts like a hockey game. Mattingly and Baylor all fired up. Ian Kennedy drilled someone in the helmet.

[38] holy crap.

i hope whoever got hit is OK.

Oh shit. It was Greinke that was drilled the helmet. He seemed okay after. It was close to getting real ugly.

[38] Don Baylor and Kirk Gibson..that would be an old-skool fight.

Mattingly tossed someone down. Holy shit.

[42] Whoa! Donnie Baseball getting heated..going to have to watch this one later. What kicked it off?

shit. he hit greinke. i think it was his 3rd HBP in the game, though i'm not positive about that one...

i'll have to watch "highlights" of this later. i hope no one is hurt.

[43] Kershaw drilled someone earlier in the season or last year against the Dbacks and got tossed. Everyone got all fired up. Tonight Greinke was nailed in the helmet by Kennedy and all hell broke loose. When all is settled and play resumes Greinke tried to wipe out the 2nd baseman on a force play. lol....

[46] Thanks. For someone often written about as 'delicate' Greinke seems to get into a lot of fights.

go yard, tex.

please!

Oh, and Puig had his nose buzzed in the 6th and Greinke drilled someone top 7. And the benches cleared for the 1st time. Have I mentioned lately how much I love the MLB Network?

[47] Looking at the highlights, there was some back and forth. IPK hit Puig in the face with a pitch. Greinke later drilled the Dbacks catcher in the back and the benches cleared. Then an inning or so later, IPK beaned Greinke in the head and the benches cleared again. Then McGwire had a brief steroids induced flashback.

OK, I maybe made that last part up.

jeesh.

well, at least we strung together a few hits and scratched out a run.

now monkeypants' favorite player is up!

And Vernon Wells reclaims the lead [36] !!

mp - you either won't like or won't believe this: vernon hit an rbi single.

[53] See..that's what clutch players do. This is what those stat nerds don't get, how RBIs can rally a team, get those guys in the dugout going. Right Krukie...right??

[54] remember, Vernon is not just playing for tonight, or even for the rest of the season. A few more well timed singles and he's the starting LF next year!

Do Oakland fans have to wear coats all summer to night games? I've never been out that way.

snakes take the lead in teh 8th.

[56] i know it definitely gets chilly at night out by the bay in SF, so i imagine jackets in the summer are indeed a requirement.

oh good, it's joba.

a's will reach double digits...

[59] Hey, remember that you are talking about one of the most feared middle relievers in the game today.

[60] shush!

[60] SO if Joba ever faced Jim Rice in an exhibition game..

[62] Yep...FEAR. F-E-A-R. http://youtu.be/PzDBGT00Tlo

aaaaand...the dodgers come back. shit backs walked the bases loaded and they were cleared with a double.

5-3 mattingly

[63] Subtle NSA dig there from way up north?

I'm almost ready to tune in to the Dodger game..Mattingly apparently slammed Alan Trammel to the turf in the brawl!

single-double-single.

tex knocks in 2.

6-4, down to our last out. last strike... c'mon Pronk!

howza bout a game tying 2-run longball?!

Rats!

feh.

pronk came close...

That LA-Arz fight wasn't so heavy but was surprising to see Mattingly and McGwire get so heated. They both strike me as fairly gentle guys..