Not Exactly One For the Ages

This is gonna be a short post, because I have to go to work soon, but I really don’t have a lot of insight on this one anyways. I spent the first few innings on the phone with the game kind of in the background, and then I spent the ninth inning watching the FS Florida feed on MLB.tv because Roy Halladay was throwing a perfect game (just wish it was against the Twins and not the Marlins). At any rate, Rick Porcello was having trouble getting the sinker down, as evidenced by the large number of fly ball outs (He kept Magglio busy in right field, that’s for sure), but he pitched well enough to win. He just didn’t get any run support. The bullpen seems to have gone into somewhat of a rut, because they’ve given up multiple runs in three straight outings now (Hey guys, can we not slump together? One at a time, okay?). Meanwhile, there was nothing doing against Brett Anderson or the A’s bullpen. It seemed as though there were a lot of balls hit hard right at people, particularly Gabe Gross and Kevin Kouzmanoff. And for some reason, the baseball gods hate Gerald Laird this year. He just can’t catch a break, getting robbed of a home run in his first at-bat (Gabe Gross finally gets revenge for Justin Verlander’s no-hitter, I suppose), then hitting a couple of hard ground balls right at guys in his other two at-bats. With the tying run at second base in the sixth inning, Magglio ripped a line drive right into Kevin Kouzmanoff’s glove. That’s kind of how it went all night.

So today, it was supposed to be Armando Galarraga’s start (just like I was supposed to have the day off), but instead, Max Scherzer will be called up. However, Galarraga is still in the rotation, as it is Dontrelle Willis who has gotten the heave-ho. To tell you the truth, they actually got more out of him than I thought they would this season. I had hoped he’d be able to redeem himself this year, because I like him as a person, but it was not meant to be. And from a personal preference standpoint (nothing to do with results), I like Galarraga better. So anyways, Scherzer’s been tearing it up at Toledo. I saw his first start with the Mud Hens. In the early innings, he was in a lot of 3-2 counts and got the hitters to swing and miss at pitches that were way out of the strike zone. I’m not sure big league hitters would swing at those. However, he looked on top of his game in the later innings. I did not see his other start. The important thing is that his velocity seemed to be back, thanks to a mechanical adjustment. We’ll see if it can translate. The A’s have Dallas Braden going. Braden didn’t get to ride his perfect game publicity train very long before Roy Halladay stole his thunder. Right now Braden is dealing with a sprained ankle, but he will try to pitch through it. And I’ll be at work, so odds are tomorrow’s post will be short as well.