But The Game Is On

The Cleveland Indians have announced that Jamey Carroll will miss 4-6 weeks with an injured hand.

From Ohio.com:

The Indians’ No. 1 utility player will be out four to six weeks with a fracture of the fifth metacarpal of the left hand, a consequence of being hit on the hand with a pitch by Houston Astros reliever Doug Brocail in Saturday’s exhibition game in Houston.

”Jamey felt like he was OK two days ago,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ”He stayed in the game and was able to grip a bat. Yesterday, I saw him in the lobby [of the team hotel], and the hand was still a little blown up, so I knew he probably was going to have to take X-rays. When he did, they saw something.”

Tony Graffanino will take Carroll’s place on the roster.

The main goal for the Chicago White Sox this season? To have each of their starters throw 200 innings, so says pitching coach Don Cooper.

From the Chicago Tribune:

During that span, they’ve had four starters make at least 32 starts, with their disastrous 2007 season an exception when only since-departed Jon Garland and Javier Vazquez each started 32 games.

But Cooper doesn’t envision any limitations on a pitching staff that averages slightly over 32 years old.

“I want all five guys to make 33 starts and pitch at least 200 innings,” Cooper said. “That’s the goal.

That feat would be nothing new for staff ace Mark Buehrle as he has exceeded 200 innings in all 8 of his full seasons. In his first full season in the majors, which was last season, Gavin Floyd reached 206 innings. Third starter John Danks has had two seasons in the majors, and his highest total is only 5 innings away from 200 innings at 195. Rounding out the rotation are veterans Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon. Contreras had 205 innings in 2004, making for his best total. Colon has reached 200 innings 6 times in his career, with 222.2 IP in one season being his career high.

So, it certainly isn’t impossible to get those guys to 200 innings a piece. However, the biggest challenge won’t be getting them the innings, it will be keeping them healthy in order to get the innings.

The White Sox will start the season tomorrow at home against the Kansas City Royals since their game scheduled for today was postponed.

Joey Devine was expected to share time as the closer for Oakland this season, but instead, he will be spending most of the season on the DL.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Devine, expected to at least share the closer’s role this season, was placed on the 60-day disabled list after missing a good deal of the spring with elbow soreness. He suffered a setback Monday and was eventually diagnosed with a sprain that was expected to keep him out a minimum of three weeks.

The Atletics also placed starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer on the 15-day DL as he recovers from arthroscopic surgery that he had on his right elbow a week ago.

Despite having a hurt chest muscle, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Vladimir Guerrero set an Opening Day record for career RBIs. He got his 19th RBI on an infield single that scored Chone Figgins. He had previously been tied with Frank Robinson, who had 18 Opening Day RBIs.

ESPN noted that Angels outfield Vladimir Guerrero, who normally starts in right field, is at DH tonight because of chest discomfort. Vlad has one of the best outfield arms in the game, so his defense will be missed. It is not clear how many more games he will DH in instead of playing the field.

For those of you that were wondering why Brandon Webb did so poorly today like I am, then you may have found your answer. Shoulder stiffness.

From MLB.com:

The stiffness, he said, limited his effectiveness in the fourth inning, which began with Troy Tulowitzki and Chris Iannetta hitting back-to-back homers on Webb’s first three pitches. An inning earlier, Webb walked the bases loaded with two out and allowed Brad Hawpe’s bases-clearing double. Webb was lifted by Arizona manager Bob Melvin after the fourth inning.

“You try to keep [the shoulder] loose as best as you can,” said Webb, who gave up six runs on six hits, including the two homers and two walks. “Sometimes you can do it. Sometimes you can’t. I tried to get some extra pitches in before the [fourth] inning and I felt a little better toward the end of it.”

Webb said that he was not concerned about it right now, but if it continues, he will seek an opinion. Lets hope he doesn’t have to do that.

The Toronto Blue Jays have really beat up Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander tonight. In just 3.2 innings of work, Verlander gave up 8 hits, 8 earned runs, 2 walks and a homerun on 80 pitches. Right now his ERA sits at 19.64 for the year.

On a semi-positive note, Verlander got his fastball up to 98mph.

Emilio Bonifacio came to the Florida Marlins in a trade that sent Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham to Washington in return for himself and two other prospects. This spring, Bonifacio won the third base job which the forced the Marlins to drop third baseman Dallas McPherson who lead the minor leagues in homeruns last season with 42.

In his first AB as a Marlin, Emilio singled to right field. He then preceded to steal second base and score on a Jeff Baker double. In his second at-bat in the bottom of the third, Bonifacio singled to right and stole third before being drove in by Hanley Ramirez on a double. In his third at-bat and with Cameron Maybin on second base, Emilio hit a deep fly ball to center field that Lastings Milledge couldn’t catch up too and sped around the bases for the first inside-the-park homerun on opening day since 1968. But he still wasn’t done. In his 4th AB of the game, Bonifacio bunted to the left side of the infield for a base hit. He then stole second before Hanley Ramirez drove himself and two others in on a grand slam.

Not a bad day for a 23-year old who has little starting experiance to this point in his career.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRusa decided to give rookie closer Jason Motte the ball with a two run lead against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Little did he know he would not do what his job title implied and close the game. In his one inning of work, Motte gave up 4 hits and 4 earned runs, finishing the inning down two runs instead of up 2 runs. Matt Capps came on and closed the game for the Pirates, giving Motte the first loss and blown save of his career.

When Brandon Webb is on the mound, you probably don’t expect to see a 9-8 final score. Well that is what happened when the Arizona Diamondbacks collided with the Colorado Rockies earlier this afternoon, with Arizona picking up the W. Felipe Lopez gave the D’backs a 1-0 lead after he hit a leadoff homerun in his first at-bat with the team. In the second inning, catcher Chris Snyder hit an RBI double that brought in Conor Jackson. At that point, I thought the game was over. Webb was on the mound and he had a 2-run lead, whats not to like? Well, his third inning was something not to like. A Seth Smith RBI ground out and a Brad Hawpe 3-RBI double, gave Colorado a 4-2 lead. But Arizona would answer with 4 runs of their own in the bottom in the third, coming on a Chad Tracy RBI single, a Eric Byrnes sac fly and a Tony Clark two run homerun. Entering the top of the fourth Arizona was up 6-4, but Webb would give up that lead as well, giving up back to back homeruns to Troy Tulowitzki and Chris Iannetta, tieing the game at 6. Felipe Lopez would brake that tie to begin the bottom of the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer. The Rockies would fire back with an Ian Stewart RBI single that scored Brad Hawpe, tieing the game 7-7. The teams would then trade solo homeruns again, with Tony Clark hitting his second of the game in the fifth inning and Seth Smith hitting his first of the season in the seventh inning. The games final run would come off the bat of Chad Tracy in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he bashed a solo shot to right field. Chad Qualls came into the game in the ninth inning a racked up a perfect save.