A night after being bailed out in a save situation, Cubs' reliever Carlos Marmol closed out the Rockies for his first save. With Ryan Dempster on the D.L., any team in need of saves should get Marmol. Manager Lou Piniella admired the fire Marol showed after being pulled the night before. No way that didn't work in Marmol's favor.
Pat Burrell found himself on the bench again in favor of rookie Michael Bourn. Unfortunate for the rookie, he left in the 4th inning with leg cramps and was replaced by Greg Dobbs, who proceded to go 3-3. If not for the awfulness of Wes Helms, I'd say that would have worked against Bourn.
Not only can't A's 3B hit for average (his .243 matches last season's AVG), he is no longer taking walks (a .305 OBP versus .351 last year.) What is a .240 hitter with 22 HR potential worth? Sticking with the A's, rookie catcher Kurt Suzuki homered last night for the second time this season. Just as James Loney is a huge improvement over Nomar in LA, Suzuki is the same over Jason Kendall.
Is 47 ABs enough to lock Joey Gathright into the everyday line-up? A .340 AVG and .446 OBP defintiely wants an affirmative response. With Mark Teahen starting for the third game in the last four, it is increasingly clear that those ABs are coming from Ryan Shealy, who looks like he'll be sent down when Ross Gload returns next week.
Matt Cain fell to 2-9 with yesterday's loss. There is almost no chance he can finish with a .500 record, but anything close to that will mean he helped carry his fantasy owner up the Wins category in the second half. I noticed Brad Hennessey pitched in the 8th yesterday. With two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, he walked the first batter he faced. He did not come out to start the 9th. Vinny Chulk did.
FBB with Tristan Cockcroft at 11AM.
NBA with Chad Ford at noon.
FBB with Matthew Berry at 3PM.
Football Scientist K.C. Joyner at 4PM.