Posted 3:24 PM by Sean
Here we sit, broken-hearted. Okay, maybe not entirely crushed, but that last loss to the Red Sox on Sunday night - in 14 innings - wasn't helpful. The Angels had what has to be considered the toughest schedule in all of MLB for the first 25 games: the AL West round-robin, then series with the Yankees and Red Sox. Eleven wins and fourteen losses against that competition isn't terrible, but it sure ain't championship caliber - or even playoff-caliber, really. It's somewhat cold comfort that the Angels came excruciatingly close to winning that Sunday game a couple of times, and thus nearly finished 12-13, which would somehow seem a lot better than one game.

No matter. Tonight, the bloodbath hopefully ends, and the Angels can get started doing what they did so well last year - take care of the teams that make up the also-ran portion of the AL. The Angels take on Cleveland, the team that Bud Black could have managed this year. And the first step towards getting back into the playoff is to have Ramon Ortiz mow down the now Thome-less Indians. The Indians will start Ricardo Rodriguez, who was fairly mediocre as a late-August callup for the Tribe last year but has pitched very well indeed in his starts this year. His worst start was his most recent, against Seattle, in which he went seven innings and gave up four runs on five hits.

Last year, the Angels went to Cleveland after their 6-14 start and righted the ship with a 21-3 win in the first game and a sweep of the series.

Posted 12:21 PM by Sean
All right, all right, so it's been a while. I have a life, you know.

Anyway, it's been one damned thing after another with the Angels lately, specifically one damn injury after another. Kennedy returned the other day, but let's toll the list at the moment:

Frankie Rodriguez is on bereavement leave, so that he can attend his grandmother's funeral in Venezuela. I didn't even know there was an official bereavement leave policy in MLB; turns out you have to be gone for at least three days. He's expected back this weekend.

Erstad's hamstring continues to keep him out of games. He underwent an MRI on Monday that showed no signs of a tear, but continues to be unable to play and now it looks like he left last night's game with an infected foot, a recurrence of a problem he had a couple of weeks ago. Last time, he missed two games; no word yet today on whether he'll play tonight.

Kevin Appier is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained muscle in his right forearm. Scot Shields is expected to start tonight in his place against the Red Sox.

Let's see...am I missing anyone? Oh, right: Tim Salmon, despite an uncharacteristically hot start, is playing with leg pain and will be moved to DH when the Angels play in Toronto.

Ye Gods. Typical Angel luck, of course, and I assume they'll spend all their time in Toronto--on and off the field--wearing those absurd surgical masks to protect them from SARS. I mean, wouldn't you?

Posted 11:35 AM by Sean
Bill Shaikin and Ross Newhan's article in the L.A. Times today points out one potential pitfall associated with the mid-season change of ownership: Stoneman's hands will pretty much be tied when it comes to handing out contract extensions or making deals at the trade deadline. Last year, the Angels went out and got Ochoa, who wasn't the biggest impact player in the world but did contribute. This year, Stoneman will have to get permission from both Disney and Moreno before making any deals.

Posted 11:33 AM by Sean
The baseball gods taketh away, and the baseball gods giveth. Or vice-versa if you're a Rangers fan.

Last night was dollar hot dog night at the ballpark, and I think the Rangers must have gotten a good deal on baseballs, too, because they sure didn't seem to concerned about losing them via the home run. Lackey gave up three, one each to Teixeria, Everett, and Rodriguez, and then A-Rod got his second of the night off of Percival. Fortunately, those four home runs drove in a grand total of five.

Lackey looked mediocre - he probably shouldn't have started the seventh, which he opened by striking out Christensen, then giving up back-to-back home runs before leaving with 6 ER against him. Rodriguez had some control problems finishing the seventh, but was terrific in the eighth. And Percival...well, Percival had an absolutely typical Percival save. Ahead by three runs? What for? The game's much more interesting with a one-run lead and the winning run at the plate, don't you think? Percy's problem may be rust - the Angels just haven't been in many save situations this year - but it'd be nice if he'd spare us the drama occasionally.

The offense was again somewhat frustrating, although the problem wasn't so much lack of timely hitting as it was hitting the ball on the screws right at someone. Just as in Tuesday's game, Wednesday night there were a few hard-hit balls that seemed to find gloves. That's not a bad sign, however, and late in the game the Rangers magic ran out.

The play that everyone mentions came in the eight inning, after Molina, Eckstein, Erstad, and Salmon had all singled to cut the Rangers' lead to 6-4. With Erstad on third and Salmon on first and one out, Anderson hit a double-play ball to Rodriguez, who chased Salmon and tried to tag him before throwing Anderson out at first. From where I was sitting, it looked like Rodriguez missed the tag, but that Salmon slid into the infield grass, which would put him out of the baseline and mean he was automatically out. The second base umpire, Jerry Layne, never made that call, however, and Salmon ended up on second. The no-call allowed Erstad to score and the inning to continue, and (with the additional help of a Michael Young error), the Angels tacked four more on to go up 9-6. Even after Percival's adventures in closing, the final was 9-8.

All in all, a sloppy ballgame by both sides, though the Angels sloppiness was spread across a number of pitchers, while the Rangers' version was on defense and Wilfredo Cordero.

This afternoon, the Angels and Rangers finish their four-game series, and not a moment too soon. The Angels have had all kinds of trouble with the Rangers, especially here in Texas. Today Mickey Callaway, who's pitched very well so far, will face Ryan Drese, who got creamed by Seattle for five runs in 0.1 innings pitched in his only start so far. In one of those wacky statistical anomalies that can only happen at the beginning of the season, Callaway's ERA is a full 132.62 runs lower than Drese's.

Posted 10:41 AM by Sean
Here's a bit of unhappy serendipity: a few days ago I mentioned Babe Ruth getting caught stealing to end the 1926 World Series, and last night Eric Owens is caught stealing to end the Angels-Rangers game. Owens was caught on the first pitch of a 2-out, top-of-the-ninth at-bat by Garret Anderson...who led the majors in doubles last year.

All in all a rather frustrating night (though I didn't drive to the Ballpark and attack an umpire because of it). The Angels looked like they would blow it open early, but just couldn't get that pivotal hit when they needed to - up 2-0 in the third, with runners on the corners, Fullmer grounded into an inning-ending double play, and that seemed to set the tone. Which would have been fine, but for Washburn's one inning of trouble: the fifth, in which Texas scored all five of their runs, four of them on consecutive two-out base hits.

Tonight your humble correspondent takes to the stands. It'll be John Lackey vs. Chan Ho Park, both of whom have been a little schizophrenic this season in terms of their performance, so anything could happen.

Posted 10:27 AM by Sean
What in God's name is going on in the South Side of Chicago? Forget it, I already know the answer: they're bored, stupid, frustrated, and drunk.

I lived in Chicago for ten years, and when to White Sox and Cubs games in about equal measure. While folks at Wrigley are harmless, if not particularly well-informed, there's a much higher jackass-to-legitimate-fan ratio at Comiskey, and the jackasses stand out much more because the attendance is so much lower. You know who they are - the guys who'll scream at players hundreds of feet away, who have no chance at all of hearing them, for the purpose of "entertaining" the fans around them. Let me tell you: if you do that, you are not funny. You are a jackass. If you scream "BALK!" every time the opposing pitcher steps off the rubber, you are a jackass. If you remain standing while the ball is in play without checking to see if you're blocking anyone's view, you are a jackass. If you lean over the wall to grab a fair ground ball hit down the line, you are a jackass.

And if you run out onto the field, unless you have the guts to do it naked, you are a jackass. Naked is funny. Not naked = JACKASS.

Obviously, people who run out onto the field to assault someone need to be kicked in the jimmy and put in jail, with or without clothes.

Posted 9:28 AM by Sean
It looks like the Angels finally have a buyer, Arturo Moreno. I've shied away from talking about potential buyers for the Angels, because there've been a bunch of them over the past couple of years, and I got tired of reading about guys who seemed like front-runners who faded away after a couple of months. But Reuters is reporting that Moreno and Disney have reached a $180 million deal for the Angels, subject to the approval of the other MLB clubs (which shouldn't be a problem).

I don't know much about Moreno except that he's Hispanic, made his money in billboard advertising, and is supposedly worth enough to weather the kind of operating losses the Angels usually have. In terms of his plans for the team...there's not much out there. Supposedly he intends to keep things pretty much the same, but once the sale goes through, who knows? Angels' GM Bill Stoneman's contract is up in November, so that would be the first real test.

Posted 2:58 PM by Sean
Well, Ismael Valdes picked a fine night to transform into Cy Young. The Angels helped him out a bit last night, appearing to have something less than their usual patience at the plate in a 4-0 loss to the Rangers, but Valdes nonetheless pitched eight very effective innings. He started the game by walking Eckstein on four straight pitches, then gave up only one other walk while striking out seven - and striking out seven Angels is pretty much unheard-of these days. Appier actually picked pretty well, too - 6.1 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB - but it just wasn't his night.

Since there's not much to talk about regarding last night's game, let me tell you how much of a fan I am when it comes to MLB's Gameday Audio service. For twenty bucks, you get access to streaming audio of every broadcast of every game throughout the season; at the moment, I'm at work, listening to the Cubs-Reds game, in which Shawn Estes (Shawn Estes!) is taking a no-hitter into the sixth. That's pretty cool. Obviously, I also spend a lot of time listening to the Angels.

MLB also has an "MLB TV" service, which streams the television broadcasts and is about eighty dollars a season, but from what I can tell the picture quality isn't what I'd need before paying that much money to watch games on my computer. Don't get me wrong, you can definitely see what's going on, but in full-screen mode it kind of looks like the game is taking place behind a sheet of water. I'd expect they'll have those kinks worked out pretty soon, though.

In addition, they've got a whole suite of additional products, none of which interest me very much except for the Press Pass, the multi-page documents provided to members of the press before each game that detail the pitching-hitting matchups, current streaks, and other statistical trivia that announcers pepper their broadcasts with (what, you thought they just knew that stuff off the tops of their heads?). Unfortunately, it's only available as part of a larger package, and I refuse to pay for access to that extra junk when I don't want it. Memo to MLB: make all this stuff available a la carte!

Kelly Stinnett just broke up Shawn Estes's no-hitter. My world makes sense again.

Tonight, the Jarrod Washburn looks to build on his excellent start in Seattle, where he pitched eight scoreless innings. The Rangers will pitch Colby Lewis, who had some kind of meltdown against Oakland in his most recent start - 3.2 IP, 4 ER on 4 hits and eight walks, 103 pitches. Texas is slightly subpar versus lefties, particularly in their .311 OBP, while the Angels are middle-of-the-pack versus righties. Lewis really has yet to prove himself on the major-league level; I'd guess that the Angels' hitters will be a lot choosier about their pitches tonight.

Posted 10:03 AM by Sean
Of course, a sweep would be nice, too.

Talk about turning the tables...the Angels' sweep of the A's in Anaheim this weekend was just about the polar opposite of their performance in Oakland a week ago. They were able to both get runners on and get them in, while getting solid pitching performances from nearly everyone they sent to the mound. In easily the most impressive offensive series so far, they hung 26 runs on Hudson, Halama, and Zito, climbing back into a tie for first place.

Individually, the Angels got some reassuring contributions: Eckstein, singled out in this space on Friday for his sub-.100 batting average, not only found the on-ramp but actually found the Mendoza line briefly before grounding out during his last two at-bats Sunday to finish the weekend at .190. Glaus, who by all accounts is playing with a sore hamstring, went 3-for-12 with a home run, Erstad went 5-for-11, Figgins went 4-for-11, Wooten went 3-for-4, and Salmon continued his first-ever hot April by going 4-for-11 with three home runs. Meanwhile, Garret Anderson slacked off with a 3-for-9 performance, dropping his batting average to a paltry .467.

Eric Owens, the only new-for-2003 Angel to be getting significant playing time, provided a couple of bright spots, too, breaking ties on both Saturday and Sunday with two-run singles - a great way to fit in on this team. He has 19 at-bats so far, which projects out to 257 for the season - six fewer than Orlando Palmeiro had last year - and while his .666 OPS so far is lower than OP's in 2002 (which was somewhere around .720), it's early yet, and Owens's 4 stolen bases so far make up for a fair bit of that discrepancy.

Tonight, the Angels come to Texas to start a four-game series with the Rangers - a team that allowed stolen bases to the first eight runners who attempted it. Appier will pitch tonight, meaning I'd better have the family-sized bottle of Xanax ready, and the offense will get another crack at Ismael Valdez, who kept them bottled up pretty effectively on opening day. The Rangers are pretty much in the middle of the AL pack when it comes to drawing walks, and strike out a lot, so hopefully Ape will be able to get away with his corner-nibblin'.

Posted 11:04 AM by Sean
Troy Glaus returned to the lineup last night for the Angels 3-0 victory over the Mariners, in which he went 1-for-4. Glaus's return is important not just because he's a good third baseman and an important part of the offense, but also because it allows Spiezio to return to first, which is critical to this team's success. Spiezio was robbed of a Gold Glove last year - his ability to scoop balls out of the dirt on a routine basis saved them countless runs, and is the primary reason they've been able to get away with having the relatively weak-armed David Eckstein at short.

Speaking of whom, Eckstein's offensive numbers are beginning to be something of a concern. Eck fell off the highway last night and is starting to hit for bingo numbers, dropping to .097 in batting average with a .275 OBP. The Angels options for other leadoff hitters are somewhat limited in the event that they decide to move him down to 8th or 9th. Eric Owens is probably the best option, but only realistic so long as Salmon is out of the lineup, which hopefully won't be for long. Chone Figgins could get a one- or two-game tryout, but he's still finding his sea legs at the major league level. In the realm of distant possibility would be Erstad returning to a leadoff role or Gil taking over at second, but Ersty did poorly in that role and Gil apparently is having back spasms lately.

Anyway, Jarrod Washburn pitched a terrific game for the Angels last night, and deserves to have been mentioned before now. Eight complete innings, no runs, five hits. He's never thrown a complete game before, and didn't get the chance last night (Percival pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season), but it looks like it's just a matter of time. I'd say he definitely bounced back from his first start.

Tonight, let's hope for more of the same from John Lackey, who's had two notso-hotso starts this year, surrendering five runs in five innings against Texas on opening day and then four runs in five innings against the A's last weekend. I guess the good news is that, if the trend continues, he'll give up three runs in five innings tonight, which would be acceptable, I suppose. Then again, of course, "acceptable" is probably aiming too low with the guy who won Game 7. Tim Hudson will pitch for the A's, so the bats are going to have to come through, too. With a lefty on the mound, we'll see if Gil's back spasms are serious enough to sideline him again, since he'd normally be in the lineup even if Kennedy was healthy.

Saturday, it'll be Callaway vs. Halama; Sunday will see Ortiz vs. Zito. Playing at home against a tough Oakland team, the Angels will need to win 2 of 3 to stem the perception that the A's are running away early.

Posted 10:30 AM by Sean
Apparently, the Mariners suspect Appier of doctoring the ball during his start Wednesday night, which the Angels won 5-1. Appier and Scioscia, of course, deny the charge, and it seems like it's pretty much a non-issue - the M's don't intend to file a complaint, and I couldn't find anything about it in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's coverage.

Posted 2:47 PM by Sean
Your daily dose of absurdity: the Hall of Fame has cancelled a 15th-anniversary celebration of the movie Bull Durham because Dale Petroskey, the Hall President, believes that statements made by Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon - who were scheduled to appear - about the war in Iraq "ultimately could put our troops in even more danger." Look, I think we're doing the right thing in Iraq, and Robbins and Sarandon are two of the most puerile of the celebrity activists (a breed not know for its sophisticated grasp of global events), but this is stupid. It'd be one thing if Petroskey were saying that he was worried about Robbins and Sarandon using the event as a platform to spread their views, but he's clearly saying that it's the couple's past statements that he takes issue with. Their stance on Iraq alters not one whit the nature of the movie they made in 1988, nor does it make it any less worth commemorating. I love the Hall of Fame, but shame on Dale Petroskey.

Posted 2:34 PM by Sean
Angels 5, Mariners 1. Cheryl Neuberg gets it right when she calls this one not a "must-win," but "certainly...a nice-to-win." The Angels did a good job of taking advantage of Pineiro while he was wild early, and hung on well, making no errors (for once). Appier looked all right - he pitched himself into and out of trouble all night. Maybe it's just his style, but he always looks to me like he's on the verge of total panic: sweaty, fidgety, and prone to falling behind hitters.

In other news, the injury parade grows ever longer, as Salmon left the game in the sixth inning complaining of tightness in his groin. Add him to the list, which now includes Adam Kennedy (who was officially placed on the DL) and Troy Glaus. The Angels' infield alignment last night included Shawn Wooten at first, Chone Figgins at second, Eckstein at short, and Spiezio at third. Tonight, we'll probably see the same thing, plus Eric Owens in right.

Tonight's game features Jarrod Washburn, who will be trying to come back from a poor outing against Oakland, versus Ryan Franklin, who has absolutely crushed the Angels (2-1, 1.78 ERA in seven appearances (four starts)). With both Figgins and Owens in the lineup, we can expect some aggressive base running from the Halos tonight.

Posted 1:39 PM by Sean
The Angels fell to 2-5 last night, losing to Seattle 5-0. I didn't see the game, or any of the Oakland games other than the ESPN telecast on Sunday night, but apparently we're looking a little...sloppy might cover it.

But let's put some things in perspective. Leaving aside that the Angels started 6-14 last year and still won the World Series, we're looking at a 2-5 record here, which, last time I checked, totaled seven games. Seven games is just over four percent of the season. If it takes seven, or ten, or fifteen games, the Angels will shake themselves out of this - they did it last year, and they'll do it again. Of course, it means they're in a little bit of a hole so far, but 96% of the season remains for them to climb out of it. Let's not go pushing the panic button just yet.

Tonight, the game's on ESPN again - Kevin Appier v. Joel Pineiro. Ape got smacked around by Oakland last Friday night, and I can't be the only one thinking that he has a lot to prove in his next few starts. Pineiro, by contrast, pitched reasonably well against the A's the night before Appier's start, giving up three earned runs in six innings. Pineiro is also more than ten years younger than Appier. Objectively, the Mariners should probably be considered the favorites tonight, so an Angels victory would go a fair way towards stemming the undercurrent of pessimism that I'm seeing from the writers. Not that I'm blame-free in that regard; despite what I wrote above you don't follow this team without a well-honed sense of disaster. But I still believe that this team will be a good, fun team to follow in 2003.

Posted 12:54 PM by Sean
This is absurd - an Angels staff employee has lost his job for attempting to sell his championship ring on eBay. What do the Angels care if some computer programmer would rather have the money? I think it's great that they're willing to hand out the rings (which are valued at $10,000, or $5,000 less than the ones the players got) to their staff, but at that point it's really none of their business what happens to them.

Posted 12:49 PM by Sean
Tonight, it's Kevin Appier vs. Ted Lilly as the Angels visit the Oakland A's. Both teams are 2-1, tied for first in the AL West. This will be a pretty big game for Appier, who still has two years left on his contract but seemed to tire towards the end of last year. It's also important, of course, for the Angels to establish themselves early with all these intra-division games; no one expect that they can get off to another 6-14 start and still make the playoffs. Fortunately, the A's used Hudson, Mulder, and Zito against the Mariners, so we'll be facing Lilly and Halama - who are no slouches either, but definitely beatable - before getting Hudson for the Sunday game (which will be on ESPN). Saturday's contest will feature Jarrod Washburn's first start of the season, which was pushed back due to a shoulder injury he sustained during spring training. We should see three excellent games.

Posted 12:36 PM by Sean
A couple of Angels-related columns at ESPN.com.

First, Peter Gammons says that Eckstein and Barry Bonds became mutual fans during their tour of Japan with the MLB All-Stars last fall; Eck apparently helped Barry with his swing. Thanks, Eck. Bonds is quoted as saying some pretty nice things, including "He's special. I watched him make one great play, and it brought a tear to my eye to think that someone could will himself to be a winning major league player. We can all learn something from him."
Good grief.

Second, Tim Kurkjian has a pretty funny column about the various ways in which the team "stays loose." They must be the only team in the majors that hands out research assignments, including making presentations on restraints in stock cars and covering a local ostrich festival. I couldn't make that up if I tried. Considering that I do research for a living, I wonder if they'd hire me as a consultant?

Posted 12:28 PM by Sean
A little more on Fullmer. He and Mickey Hatcher say that Fullmer's hot start is due to a "quieting" in his stance. I actually have noticed a difference - he almost looks like a mirror image of Salmon now, without quite the exaggerated bending of the knees. I can't help thinking that Fullmer will cool off to some extent, but if there really is a fundamental change in the way he approaches the ball, very good things could happen.

Posted 12:18 PM by Sean
First the monkey, now the chicken? Hooter's is giving away 10 free wings to any fan in attendance when the Angels score 10 or more in a game, which of course the Angels were only too happy to do on Tuesday and Wednesday. The fans are responding by chanting "wings, wings!" and doing the Chicken Dance when the Angels get close to the magic number.

Posted 4:59 PM by Sean
So here it is an hour and a half after my last post. During that time, Bengie Molina has doubled twice. Mmmmmm, crow sandwich...

Posted 3:24 PM by Sean
Angels 10, Rangers 0. That's entertainment! The Angels received their rings before last night's game, big ol' chunks of gold, ruby, and diamond that are reported to be worth an estimated $15,000 apiece (you can see a picture of the ring here, at least for now). A might fine piece of jewelry, to be sure, but the Angels seem to be a bit weary of all the hoopla - their comments have all seemed to be along the lines of "we're ready to put last season behind us and concentrate on playing baseball." It's funny how that sounds different than it usually does...

Anyway, I got a chance to watch last night's game via the magic electrical box in my living room. The Angels looked almost exactly like they did last year, getting on base, getting hits in bunches, being aggressive on the base paths, the whole nine. They absolutely broiled Chan Ho Park (2.2 IP, 6 ER), who started for the Rangers, and scored runs off C.J. Nitkowski with a workmanlike efficiency. Amid this team performance, a few individual items stand out:

Mickey Callaway - you'd be hard-pressed to find a better example of a pitcher settling down after a rocky start. Callaway left the bases full in the first, two runners on in the second, one on in the third, and then allowed no one to reach base for the rest of his time on the mound (he lasted through the sixth). His by-inning pitch count was something like 30, 23, 12, 8, 10, 9. Not bad at all.

Scot Shields threw two terrific no-hit innings.

Ben Weber was a little shaky, finishing the game with a ninth inning that included a hit, a walk, and a couple of other hard-hit balls. Weber worries me, a little.

Darin Erstad went 3-for-3 with 3 runs scored. He looks slightly heavier than he did last season, but also managed to steal a base (albeit off of Chad Kreuter).

Tim Salmon went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. I can't stress this enough - if Tim Salmon hits in April and May the way he usually hits in July and August, the Angels are in great shape.

Garret Anderson. Dude was 4-for-4 with a walk. You hear a lot of talk about how the Angels don't have a "legitimate superstar," whatever that is (who's an "illegitimate superstar?"). The people saying that are not paying attention. GA's first three hits last night were flares, and you could sense that he's still finding his stroke, but then he just smacked one into the right-center alley that put him on second base, the first of what will be many, many doubles this year.

Brad Fullmer is saying that he's hitting better right now than he ever had in his career. He golfed the Angels' first home run of the season over the center-field fence last night to prove it.

Bengie Molina ended Pudge Rodriguez's string of 10 Gold Gloves last year, and deservedly so. But Lord, he is the slowest land mammal around. He hit into a double play last night, and I swear that Michael Young made a cell phone call to check on his dinner reservations before turning it. Of course, Molina later hit a two-bagger, the first of what will be three doubles this year.

Troy Glaus went 0-for-5, although he was robbed of a double by Hank Blaylock, who made a fine play on a line drive. Glaus was clearly frustrated, but hopefully will shake it off - he doesn't hit well for average, and is pretty streaky. His situation will bear watching.

Because the game was a laugher, a lot of guys got in during the late innings - our old friends Shawn Wooten, Benji Gil, and Julio Ramirez got some PT, as did the only new Angel on the roster, Eric Owens. Owens hit a medium grounder to second and damn near beat the throw. Dude has some jets.

The Angels finish their series with the Rangers starting...well, now. Time to see which Ramon Ortiz we're going to be treated to today!

Posted 1:24 PM by Sean
Well, lookie here! The Orange County Register has started a page devoted solely to Angels news and commentary! I'm impressed by their commitment.

It's actually a pretty good page, all things considered, although they could use a little more time memorizing the roster (see the first item under "Angels Video"). It's Bengie Molina and Benji Gil, guys.

Posted 11:56 AM by Sean
Derek Jeter's injury last night was pretty ugly. It's pretty clear that it was a clean play - Blue Jays' catcher Ken Huckaby tried to go to his knees to block Jeter from getting to third, which is a textbook catcher's play - but good Lord, did that look bad. Huckaby's left knee was driven into the top of Jeter's shoulder (and subsequently his neck), and it looked like his right knee got him pretty good in the ribs, too. Jeter will go on the disabled list, of course, meaning the Yankees will have to do without his services for at least two weeks (and, according to this story, probably two to four months, even in a best-case scenario).

Another interesting facet of that Yankees-Blue Jays game: apparently the Jays had taken out an ad urging fans to boo Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui, the Yankees' latest gazillion-dollar addition. The ad was subsequently modified to remove the reference to Matsui, and Blue Jays' manager Carlos Tosca apologized to Yankee manager Joe Torre. Uh, why? Fans have a long and storied history of picking on particular opposing players, particularly ones from New York (Daaaaaaaaryyyyyl....Daaaaaaaaaryyyyl...). Given that Matsui has become sort of a poster boy for Steinbrenner's screw-the-salary-cap mentality, it makes perfect sense to me that less profligate clubs would single him out for special attention. That's not to say fans should be physically abusive or obscene, but a few extra "Godzilla sucks!" chants ain't gonna hurt nobody.