What's the Buzz? 9/19/06
With the Mets clinching the NL East yesterday, manager Willie Randolph took the immediate opportunity to rest his players. In a victory over the Marlins, the Mets served up a lineup that looked more Norfolk than it did New York. Every regular sat today with the exception of some 8th inning pinch hit appearances by Jose Reyes and Jose Valentin. Neither one got a hit. On the other hand, Anderson Hernandez was so excited for the opportunity, he smacked his first major league home run. Go get 'em, kid.
Now, Willie isn't going to keep them out until the playoffs start, but they will get more rest than usual. He wants to keep them fresh without breaking their momentum. You're going to have to start tracking this daily if you're moveable in any offensive categories. You don't want to lose a point because you're getting less at bats now.
In the news today...
Some bad news for the Marlins as pitcher Josh Johnson will probably miss the rest of the season with a strained right forearm. Just sad to see another great young arm go down with an injury; Rich Harden, Francisco Liriano, Jonathan Papelbon just to name a few. It's probably for the best for Johnson. It would have been tough to grab the wild card this year, so there's no reason to risk further damage to a pitcher with such potential. Nothing's etched in stone yet, but we're like 99.9% sure.
So how about the day to day list now? Some guys whose condition you're going to need to check before activating include: Reed Johnson (legs), Jason Frasor (leg), Torii Hunter (foot), Bill Hall (back), Brandon Phillips (eye), Jarrod Washburn (calf), Kevin Youkilis (neck strain/shoulder), Williy Taveras (shoulder), Ken Griffey Jr. (toe), Chris Widger (shoulder), Johnny Damon (hand), Derek Jeter (hand), Jason Giambi (wrist), Joe Borowski (elbow), Stephen Drew (groin), John Buck (hamstring), and Mark Grudzielanek (leg).
So the Braves did rebuild him after all. Today the Braves activated 3B Chipper Jones (a.k.a Col. Steve Austin) from the disabled list. He went 1 for 3 tonight and looked pretty good swinging the bat. Traditionally, Chipper comes off the DL strong, so you will probably want to activate him.
Also activated today was Yankees OF Gary Sheffield. With Bobby Abreu entrenched in right, look for Sheff to flip flop with Jason Giambi at first base and DH. Hideki Matsui will also be in the mix, so someone's gonna be left out somewhere. But these are not guys you sit. Even in a smaller number of at bats, these three are capable of generating some great numbers over the next two weeks.
It looks like the Astros should have both Andy Pettitte (elbow) and Roger Clemens (groin) on the mound this week. Well maybe. Clemens threw a side session yesterday and said he was ready to go on Wednesday. Pettite, who already had his start pushed back to tonight due to elbow stiffness, actually missed it so that he could be with his father during a surgical procedure. He is slated for Thursday, but you should keep your eye on his condition. I'm sure his father actually had a procedure, but to push him back to that day, probably just meant they were looking to buy him some more time. I say yes to starting Clemens, no to Pettitte.
Once again, some great power out of Rockies 3B Garrett Atkins who had 4 hits tonight, the second 4 hit night in a row. Two of his hits tonight were home runs and he also had a triple. He's got 10 RBI in the last 2 games. He has most definitely established himself as a top of the line third baseman with his 27 home runs and his 114 RBI. He should be higher up on draft boards next season than he was this year.
Pretty funny that two of the pitchers in my Rookie of the Year article got rocked tonight. Murphy's Law, I guess. My pick for the AL, Justin Verlander got tagged for 6 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings while NL runner up Matt Cain gave up 7 runs on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. At this point you just have to throw your hands up in the air. really...what can you do?
And finally, a big night for Padres closer Trevor Hoffman tonight. Not only did he record his 40th save of the year which marked his 8th 40 save season (an extension of his own MLB record), but it gave him career 476 saves just 2 behind all time saves leader Lee Smith. Looks like a safe bet that he's going to move into the career lead by season's end.
Catch you next time...
Now, Willie isn't going to keep them out until the playoffs start, but they will get more rest than usual. He wants to keep them fresh without breaking their momentum. You're going to have to start tracking this daily if you're moveable in any offensive categories. You don't want to lose a point because you're getting less at bats now.
In the news today...
Some bad news for the Marlins as pitcher Josh Johnson will probably miss the rest of the season with a strained right forearm. Just sad to see another great young arm go down with an injury; Rich Harden, Francisco Liriano, Jonathan Papelbon just to name a few. It's probably for the best for Johnson. It would have been tough to grab the wild card this year, so there's no reason to risk further damage to a pitcher with such potential. Nothing's etched in stone yet, but we're like 99.9% sure.
So how about the day to day list now? Some guys whose condition you're going to need to check before activating include: Reed Johnson (legs), Jason Frasor (leg), Torii Hunter (foot), Bill Hall (back), Brandon Phillips (eye), Jarrod Washburn (calf), Kevin Youkilis (neck strain/shoulder), Williy Taveras (shoulder), Ken Griffey Jr. (toe), Chris Widger (shoulder), Johnny Damon (hand), Derek Jeter (hand), Jason Giambi (wrist), Joe Borowski (elbow), Stephen Drew (groin), John Buck (hamstring), and Mark Grudzielanek (leg).
So the Braves did rebuild him after all. Today the Braves activated 3B Chipper Jones (a.k.a Col. Steve Austin) from the disabled list. He went 1 for 3 tonight and looked pretty good swinging the bat. Traditionally, Chipper comes off the DL strong, so you will probably want to activate him.
Also activated today was Yankees OF Gary Sheffield. With Bobby Abreu entrenched in right, look for Sheff to flip flop with Jason Giambi at first base and DH. Hideki Matsui will also be in the mix, so someone's gonna be left out somewhere. But these are not guys you sit. Even in a smaller number of at bats, these three are capable of generating some great numbers over the next two weeks.
It looks like the Astros should have both Andy Pettitte (elbow) and Roger Clemens (groin) on the mound this week. Well maybe. Clemens threw a side session yesterday and said he was ready to go on Wednesday. Pettite, who already had his start pushed back to tonight due to elbow stiffness, actually missed it so that he could be with his father during a surgical procedure. He is slated for Thursday, but you should keep your eye on his condition. I'm sure his father actually had a procedure, but to push him back to that day, probably just meant they were looking to buy him some more time. I say yes to starting Clemens, no to Pettitte.
Once again, some great power out of Rockies 3B Garrett Atkins who had 4 hits tonight, the second 4 hit night in a row. Two of his hits tonight were home runs and he also had a triple. He's got 10 RBI in the last 2 games. He has most definitely established himself as a top of the line third baseman with his 27 home runs and his 114 RBI. He should be higher up on draft boards next season than he was this year.
Pretty funny that two of the pitchers in my Rookie of the Year article got rocked tonight. Murphy's Law, I guess. My pick for the AL, Justin Verlander got tagged for 6 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings while NL runner up Matt Cain gave up 7 runs on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. At this point you just have to throw your hands up in the air. really...what can you do?
And finally, a big night for Padres closer Trevor Hoffman tonight. Not only did he record his 40th save of the year which marked his 8th 40 save season (an extension of his own MLB record), but it gave him career 476 saves just 2 behind all time saves leader Lee Smith. Looks like a safe bet that he's going to move into the career lead by season's end.
Catch you next time...
posted by Howard Bender at
10:58 PM
