Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
//

Diamondbacks Show Life, Rocket Goes for 298


Major league teams change partners once again this week, facing new teams across the board.

The Cubs come into SF after losing two of three to the Rockies in Colorado.

Are the Rockies for real? Once they show they can win on the road, then they will be taken seriously. Of course, if they won 67 home games, a record on the road of 24-57 would give them 91 wins and make the NL West nervous. Nah, won’t happen.

Roger Clemens pitches against Seattle, a team he has handled in the past. Mariano Rivera is due back tonight which will settle the NY bull pen which is showing some signs of wear and tear.

Joe Torre even let a lefty (Randy Choate) face A Rod with the bases loaded in a one run game Sunday and then had to watch as Rodriguez iced the Rangers win with a three run double.

Chan Ho Park, struggling with a 7 plus ERA lost his personal catcher when Texas released Chad Kreuter after Park’s Sunday debacle (nine straight balls to open the game).

Much more to talk about, Click Read more.

Arizona coming off its doubleheader sweep of the Mets, continued to hit last night beating the exhausted Marlins. Craig Counsell is a table setter for Arizona and is finally rounding into form after his off season neck surgery.

Marlin pitcher AJ Burnett is through for the year with an elbow injury. Shows what a fragile game this is. Mark Redman, all of a sudden striking out 10 per game, goes tonight for Miami.

The Cubs are in SF and believe me, would like to sweep the Giants for manager Dusty Baker who is still bitter from last year’s post world series dismissal. Kerry Wood has pitched well in Pac Bell Park, a notorious pitchers park and the Cubs have hit Kirk Reuter before, especially Sammy Sosa who sees the ball quite well against the soft tossing lefty.

The White Sox have played well at home the past two seasons. They come off a morale boosting sereis win over their bitter rivals the Twins. Minnesota is not hitting a lick right now, so Chicago’s pitching may be overrated, but I will tell you this, other than Billy Koch, the White Sox bull pen is getting the job done.

In the past, the A’s have found a way to beat Bartolo Colon, but this game will be close because the A’s are not hitting the ball up and down the line up in case you haven’t noticed. Barry Zito has been so so against the ChiSox and needs some runs tonight.

With Miguel Tejada still pulling off the ball, Eric Chavez still hampered by his sore shoulder, and Jermaine Dye on the DL, the burden continues to fall on Erubiel Durazo for the big hit.

Jerry Manuel didn’t treat Keith Foulke very well last season when he removed the righty from the closers role. Billy Koch was traded by the A’s after he saved 44 games last year, so this series will pit two closers who want to show their former teams that they made mistakes moving them.

When it’s all over, the team that plays the best overall baseball will win this series, the White Sox claim their defense has improved, I’ll believe it when I see it.

The Yankees face the A’s on the weekend in NY with David Wells and Jeff Weaver starting the first two games for the Yankees. Both pitchers got rocked in their last starts, so make a note especially if next Sunday’s starter Roger Clemens, doesn’t pitch effectively tonight.

Fifth starters usually are skipped on off days, but both the A’s and the Mariners think so much of Gil Meche and John Halama, that they will stay on their regular turns this week. How about Ichiro and Matsui on the same field tonight? Pretty cool.

Can Jeremy Bonderman do it again. His wind up is funky with runners on base, the Orioles don’t put too many on against anybody so here’s a vote for Bonderman tonight in a close game with rejuvanted Jason Johnson.

Speaking of Jasons, Giambi is hurting in NY with thumb and hamstring problems.

The Mets have beaten Matt Morris before and throw their best pitcher Al Leiter tonight. The Mets don’t make contact often enough to offset their fielding woes, so it may be a tough series against the Cards who will run wild against Mike Piazza.

The Astros are coming off a 4-9 trip which was worse than that. They didn’t hit, other than Jeff Bagwell, and tonight’s starter Roy Oswalt was off his game too. Greg Maddux and the bull pen may be too much for Houston tonight even in Minute Maid Pinball Park.

Adam Eaton struck out 12 Cubs in his last start, the Pirates may cooperate as well in San Diego today.

KC gets its first road test against a superior team in Boston. The Red Sox may have found a bull pen stopper in Shiel who looked extremely good throwing a power sinker Sunday night in Anaheim. Tim Wakefield will be a very tough cookie for the Royals to beat. I know it is early, but KC needs a confidence booster after Sunday’s melt down in Toronto when they blew an 8-2 lead.

Nomar Garciaparra is in the worst slump of his career and has basically stopped talking to the press, like that will help.

Once the Dodgers find a way to score some runs, they will be tough to beat because their pitchers are doing the job. Is Kevin Brown back? I’ll tell you around July because I want to see him throw 130 innings without breaking down, but for now he will keep the Dodgers in the game against the Phillies.

Dusty is back in SF, what a show this will be tonight. The AL West heads East for the first time, and the first month of the 2003 season is just about history.

Pretty good for a Tuesday.

0 comments

There are no comments yet...

Kick things off by filling out the form below.

You must log in to post a comment.