Lazy

The weekend is when everyone actually sits down to watch the serious sports anyway.

Big news of the day (other than that Bonds guy being two away from tying Hank Aaron's record) is that the contract of DH Shelley Duncan is being purchased from Yankees AAA-affiliate S/WB. As of the time of update, it's unclear who is being sent back down and who will be removed from the 40-man roster to make room for Duncan. The best guesses would be OF Kevin Thompson or RHP Edwar Ramirez, although they could pull a shocker and announce that Johnny Damon is going on the 15-day DL...

Nah, that won't happen.

The announcement comes at a strange time, given that the Yankees are scheduled to play a double-header against the Devil Rays on Saturday at the Stadium. With RHP Matt DeSalvo scheduled to be called up from AAA, the prevailing opinion was that Ramirez would be sent down after Igawa's start Saturday afternoon to make room on the 25-man. Ramirez being sent down one day early would be surprising, despite his lack of use over the last few weeks, because one would think the Yankees would want to have some depth in the bullpen on a day where two highly inconsistent starters are pitching. Igawa never goes long into ballgames, and DeSalvo was either very good or very bad in his appearances on the major league roster this season. He has, however, been more consistent for Scranton. And while offense is the strength of the Devil Rays club, facing Tampa Bay is not exactly the same thing as facing - say - the Red Sox or Tigers. Hopefully he can go at least five or six.

Sending down Thompson would be the logical choice, except for the fact that Duncan is known as a below average fielder. (Duncan can play some outfield and can also play some first base, but anyone thinking he would be a logical replacement for Andy Phillips is kidding themselves.) Removing Thompson makes Johnny Damon the team's backup outfielder (unless one wants to make an argument for using Cairo), and unfortunately Damon in the outfield has become a liability this season. I suppose they could send down Thompson today for Duncan, send out Ramirez for DeSalvo Saturday afternoon, and remove DeSalvo for someone like Kevin Reese on Sunday night. Thompson has more speed and is generally considered the better player of the AAA-Kevins, but Kevin Reese is a similar player who put in some time as a backup outfielder last year for the Yankees.

I'm interested in seeing what Duncan can do for the club. I'm also interested in seeing how much time he actually gets to play. It seems painful for the coaching staff to give a rookie pitcher out of the bullpen chances. I'd imagine a rookie DH will be an even harder pill to swallow, especially since it will mean sitting a name like Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, or Bobby Abreu out of the line-up for a day. Even Melky Cabrera or Andy Phillips, assuming Damon is able to play some first base. Duncan can play some first base, but from what I've heard and seen, Shelley Duncan at first for a long period of time might make Yankee fans long for the days of gold glover Josh Phelps.

On tab for tonight:

RHP Mike Mussina ((4-6, 4.61 ERA) vs. RHP Edwin Jackson (1-9, 7.14 ERA)

The Yankees begin another four-game series against the Devil Rays tonight, this time at Yankee Stadium. One could either choose to be encouraged by the fact that the Yankees took 3-of-4 from Tampa Bay in Florida last weekend or discouraged by the fact that Kei Igawa and Matt DeSalvo are part of this weekend's series - as opposed to Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Chien-Ming Wang, the three pitchers who preceeded Mussina last weekend.

Mussina was so-so on Sunday but is looking to improve in an important game for the team. Not only do the Yankees want to get back to winning after dropping their final game against the Blue Jays last night, but with Igawa and DeSalvo going Saturday this Friday night game is a crucial win if the Yankees want a good chance of winning this series.

Despite picking up the loss in his last outing against the Yankees, Jackson did a good job of matching Mussina until the latter half of the game, where some hard luck and mistakes caught up with him. The Yankees are hoping that he lives up to his numbers this time around.

Also on the schedule for tonight:

LHP Billy Traber (2-0, 4.50 ERA) makes an emergency start (his first of the season) tonight in RFK as the Nationals look to make it two in a row against right-hander Aaron Cook and the Rockies. Jason Simontacchi was scheduled to make this start but was scratched with elbow tendinitis. Traber has been used both in long-relief and as a lefty match-up out of the bullpen this season. I liked Traber's outings in Spring Training this season and thought he had an outside chance of making the Nationals' wide-open pitching staff. Since seeing him in the majors this year, I agree with Acta's assessment of him as more suited to a bullpen role. Of course, the way this season has gone, they might as well stock their bullpen with potential starters given how injury-plagued the starting rotation has been. Four or five innings would probably be on the high end of expectations for Traber tonight, but we'll see.

LHP Erik Bedard (8-4, 3.22 ERA) looks to continue his string of good performances as the Orioles travel out west to take on righty Joe Blanton and the Athletics. Bedard was scheduled for a Wednesday start but was pushed back to tonight with a stiff neck.

Intriguing match-up in San Diego tonight as former-Philly RHP Justin Germano (6-3, 3.55 ERA) takes on his old team, led by righty Adam Eaton. Germano was claimed off waivers by San Diego before the start of the 2007 season. Not much was expected of him for this year, but he has become an important addition since injury problems began for right-hander Clay Hensley. Germano has struggled of late, but his last outing against the Diamondbacks was impressive: a 6 1/3 inning shutout victory.

Following the insanity of last night's score-fest in LA, the Mets look to make it two in a row as they send LHP Oliver Perez (8-6, 3.13 ERA) to the mound against righty Brett Tomko and the Dodgers.

A lot of fun games yesterday. The Mets-Dodgers affair had a 13-9 final that saw Glavine exiting in the third inning. That's not the way to get to 300 wins...

The Yankees lost a 3-2 heartbreaker after Chien-Ming Wang faltered in the 7th inning, losing a 2-0 lead that the Yankees couldn't recover from. There was a group of fans keeping a ground ball count for Wang on the facing of the upper deck at the Stadium yesterday. You know, instead of a K-count? There are some creative fans out there. You have to give them credit.

Quite the pitchers' duel in San Diego last night as Chris Young bested the Phillies' Cole Hamels. Both pitchers went seven innings. Hamels allowed one run, Young allowed none, and that was the difference. Tough loss for Hamels, as Hoffman followed a good inning of relief from Heath Bell to close it out and pick up his 27th save. Young is now 9-3 with a 1.85 ERA, the best ERA in the majors. Were his record a little better, you'd be hearing a lot more about Young as a serious Cy Young candidate than you are. He's been just as dominant as Jake Peavy this season. I'm telling you, if only the Padres would go get a bat...

The Nationals beat the Rockies in extra innings last night on a pinch-hit RBI by one of the most unlikely heroes you could find: D'Angelo Jimenez. Matt Chico was okay, with four earned runs over six innings. He was in line for the loss until the Nationals rallied in the 8th inning against Kyle Farnsworth's best friend Jeremy Affeldt. The Nationals bullpen was brilliant, with four perfect innings from Ayala, Cordero, and Rauch. Rauch picked up the win after a hitless 10th inning, with two strikeouts.

I'm telling you, people are going to be talking about Chad Cordero as a trade chip for the Nationals this season as they always do, but you're going to have some teams really taking a hard look at Jon Rauch. Were the team not possibly scared off by the high number of appearances Rauch has logged so far this season, I'd suggest that the Yankees take a long look at him and see how much it would take to pick him up. Cordero is a bulldog, but there's a reason why he's picked up the nickname "Cardiac Kid" (affectionately, of course) from Nationals fans. When he's on, he's unhittable, but he's also inconsistent. If you're a team like the Yankees, the last thing you want is to give up too much for a pitcher who doesn't give you consistent 1-2-3s. Although Cordero wouldn't have the pressure of closing on his plate, with Rivera going nowhere in the 9th.

Rauch's 3.91 ERA is a bit misleading. He had his struggles a few weeks ago but has been untouchable lately. He's a big, intimidating presence on the mound, at 6'11" (the tallest pitcher in the major leagues), and he's known for pounding the strikezone. And because Rauch is less of a name than, say, Cordero or other prized targets out there like Eric Gagne, a team like the Yankees could be able to pull him from the Nationals for more of a bargain price than they would get for a star player.

So we're two away from Barry Bonds tying the most cherished record in all of baseball. One of the faces of the NFL is indicted for dog fighting. And now, today, an NBA official is accused of gambling on games and making calls that affected point spreads. It's an interesting time to be a sports fan in this country, that's for sure.

Edit 4:02pm: It's Kevin Thompson who was optioned back to AAA to make room for Shelley Duncan. Duncan is in the line-up tonight, according to Peter Abraham, and will be batting 9th as the DH. Melky gets the night off. No idea if this has anything to do with the pain Melky seemed to be experiencing in his side during his first at-bat Thursday. Johnny Damon leads off, as usual, and will be in CF. As expected, the pitcher-catcher combo of Mussina-Nieves has been broken up. It will be Jorge Posada back in the line-up tonight and catching Mussina.

Edit 5:47: Just saw Joe Torre on Mike & the Mad Dog. Melky is indeed sitting out because he felt sore today. The original plan with Shelley Duncan was to sit Johnny Damon down for a few days because he's been struggling so much.

Edit 6:29: Some word from Barry Svrluga's Nationals Journal blog on The Washington Post's website - Dmitri Young is a last minute scratch from the Nats' line-up tonight. He has a left heel bruise, apparently from stepping on a base wrong during the Houston series, and is listed as day-to-day. Robert Fick will take his place at first base.

I really should do a different post for each team on a given day. These things are getting ridiculously long.