Beaneater

Recent days have shown pretty clearly that Bailey/Hanrahan is the best 8-9 combo in baseball. Hey, Bailey got the win yesterday! The win, do you hear me?

And yet we've had a reliever give up 5 runs in less than an inning! Huzzah!

Off-topic, but are the Braves going to lose again this year?

Good stuff. We can criticize Doubie for throwing too many balls, walking guys, driving up his pitch count, and not going deep into the game. But (at the risk of jinxing things) we still haven't had a starter implode this year, and that's a good thing. Last year it definitely would have been the other team scoring more runs than they got hits. This year, it's us. I'll take it.

Well, he's got plenty of the SO...

I was thinking the same thing (except for the "terrible" part, because I don't know the first thing about the Cleveland bullpen). I don't know whether to hope they're just loafing up there (not a good show of character) or actually overmatched by these relief pitchers (not a good show of, uh, baseball).

15 BB and 22 SO in this game so far. Weird.

It really has me wondering about the questions people were posing upthread about the mound. I can't actually watch the game, but 12 walks (and counting) does seem a bit excessive.

C) Clanked off a bird for a ground-rule double D) Been caught, but then overruled on catcher's interference E) All of the above

Wikipedia tells me that the main character of the Steven King book Firestarter is named Charlie McGee. A couple more 9th inning meltdowns and that's going to be Hanrahan's nickname...

I liked the headline from si.com about the Yankees game: "Yankees destroy Guardians". Sounded like a very out-of-date and very-un-PC headline from 19th century America.

Will-da-Beast is not bad. It at least gets some consideration. Ironsides and Lone Wolf are awful. Sorry, NESN. I mean, unless they're supposed to be tongue-in-cheek or something. YotN, Napster is acceptable in my book. And as far as I'm concerned, Drew is now officially Electric Boogaloo. I was thinking about The Leather Channel for Iglesias. Except it sounds like it could be a questionable pay-per-view station, rather than a nod to Iglesias' glovework. One or two more late-inning bombs and I'm going to start calling Nava The Babyfaced Assassin.

Many of the guys who have been on the team for at least a year or so have a serviceable nickname: (Big) Papi, Laser Show, Salty, etc. Some of the returning guys and most all of the new guys could use a nickname, though. I mean, when Gomes hits a big HR (assuming that happens at some point in the season), I don't want to be jumping up and yelling, "Good job, Johnny Gomes!" So here, in no particular order, is a partial list of the guys who either don't really have a nickname or could use an upgrade. I'd be happy to hear any clever ideas that you might have on these guys or any other players. Gomes: nothing Victorino: Vic (which is pretty blah), the Flyin' Hawaiian (better) Middlebrooks: WMB (initials don't make a nickname in my book). Now if we called him WMD that would be more acceptable. Iglesias: Iggy (sort of blah) Nava: nothing Bradley Jr.: JBJ (but as stated earlier, initials are pretty lame as nicknames) Drew: nothing Dempster: nothing. Obviously on days when he pitches like garbage he'll be Dumpster, but that's not a very complimentary full-time nickname. Napoli: Nap, Naps. I suggest Napples. It's got a good ring to it that would sound suitable shouted after a walk-off hit. As a bonus it sounds just a bit off-color. Doubront: Doubs, Doubie. Considering how fat he was coming into spring training, I suggest Doubrontosaurus.

I just saw the HR now for the first time, too, Dojji. That was indeed a serious blast. He's a strong kid. I'm with you on Nava, for what it's worth. I know you're supposed to root for the name on the front of the jersey, but it's nice to be able to root for a guy both because he's on the Sox and because of who he is. Nava seems like a good kid and he's got a great backstory. The fact that he's gone from being a 5-foot-nothing guy in some independent league backwater to being a serviceable major leaguer honestly makes it more fun to root for him than it would be for, say, Barry Bonds in a Boston uni.

What I meant to say is that Bailey and Uehara will give opposing batters fits and apparently Hanrahan will give us fits...

Yeah, BornToRun, we certainly have our share of headcases and other various questionable guys in the pen, but the best guys there are going to be good. Uehara, Bailey, Hanrahan are going to give people fits in the late innings.

Even less time to make up those 3 runs now. Bailey made pretty quick work of them there.

Dude, Nava should be our clean up hitter!

Heck of an outing for Buck. More walks than you'd like to see, but the 8 Ks in 7 shutout innings we'll take anytime. If Buck and Lester are going to be this good...

That's what I thought when I read that lineup. It's basically Cano plus 8 random spectators from the crowd. And I'm OK with that. (until they put up the 7 runs that you mentioned...)

Yep, that is a good outfield. Now just imagine Reddick in RF. Drooool... assuming he would do here what he's done in Oakland. Big assumption, I know.

Or just let that happen, I guess.

Double steal!!!!1!

I love speed.

That's our specialty. On any given night, we can light up Verlander or Halliday for 6 runs. But give us an unknown scrub lefty and we're doomed.