In the first inning, Strasburg retired the Tigers in order. He was mixing in his four-seam and two-seam fastballs. His pitches were clocked no lower than 96 mph. In the second inning, Strasburg faced the toughest part of the order. He threw two 81-mph curveballs to Miguel Cabrera before striking out the slugger on a 98-mph fastball. - link
It’s no secret the fan base needs to be energized. Even the acquisition of Jason Bay hasn’t turned around the cynics. They have seen Omar acquire the big fish, but yet to see him inject their team with homegrown talent. The “New Mets” have become the “Recycled Mets” under his watch. The enthusiasm of kids trying to establish themselves is something Mets fans always have gravitated towards. Instead of filling out the roster with mercenaries that may, or may not, produce as advertised, let them root for an emerging product. If the said group of kids are as good as advertised, they will make for at least complementary pieces to the Mets collection of stars. That very well could be enough to contend now, while still building towards a better future. - link
"It's a little sore, but it's a lot better," Pelfrey said. "It's tolerable. Luckily I have two more days to fully get better." Toward the end of his bullpen session, pitching coach Dan Warthen made Pelfrey test the knee by hitting grounders to him after each pitch. "They said, 'If you want, we can push it back,'" Pelfrey said. "I said, 'No, no, no, I'm good." - link
In one of the most maligned franchise relocations of all-time, Walter O'Malley broke hearts all over Brooklyn when he demolished Ebbets Field and moved the Dodgers to the west coast. To hear old Dodgers fans talk, one would think that Brooklyn sold out every game and that there was no reason for the move. A look at the graph below shows that after a mediocre first 20 years as a franchise, the Dodgers did become one of the premier draws in the National League through WWII, despite being a fairly poor team for much of that time. During this period, Brooklyn drew nearly 50% more fans than a comparable team would have. However, after the war, for whatever reason, attendance dropped. The team was very good, but attendance was not as high as one would expect. During the 1950's Brooklyn drew only about 90% of their expected attendance - link
Freddy Garcia pitches as a starter for the Chicago White Sox. Garcia started reliably during the early part of his career, making at least 31 starts in seven of his first eight seasons. Over the last three seasons, injuries limited him to just 25 starts total. His decline started in 2005, however. Through 2004 he struck out 6.9 batters per nine innings, walked 3.2 per nine innings and gave up 22.2 home runs per 200 innings. That resulted in a 3.94 ERA. Since then, his K rate dropped to 6.0 per nine and his HR rate rose to 26.9 per 200 innings. His walks improved to 2.3 per nine innings, but his ERA rose to 4.38. Garcia is healthy for the first time in a while and is vying for the fifth starter role on the White Sox. With his better control, he should be an effective fifth starter. - link
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