Sidney Ponson, RH Rob Bell, RH
(1-0, 6.35) (0-0, 3.00)
2B B Roberts LF C Crawford
CF D Newhan SS J Lugo
3B M Mora CF A Sanchez
SS M Tejada RF A Huff
RF S Sosa DH J Phelps
DH R Palmeiro 1B T Lee
C J Lopez 2B J Cantu
1B J Gibbons C C Johnson
LF L Bigbie 3B N Green
Get out the brooms! Tonight's game is at 7:15 and can be seen on CSN. Ponson was good against the Rays last year (1-0, 1.72 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, .135 BAA in two starts) and is pretty fair against them in his career. He's strong at Tropicana Field lifetime, too: 5-3, 78 H in 83 IP, 3.36/1.22, and almost a 3-to-1 K-to-BB ratio in 12 starts career.
I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was a game against the A's when they showed numbers on TV about Baltimore's record when Brian Roberts scored a run last year versus their record when Roberts didn't score a run. Obviously, what I'm getting at is they were a lot better when he scored than when he didn't. I do remember they were 21-4 when he scored twice.
So it concludes that if Brian Roberts is hitting .394 with power, the team is going to win. I say he should continue.
The Kline thing is blowing over rather quickly, although the Baltimore Sun got in some op/ed pieces while they had the chance. He got the win yesterday by striking out the only batter he faced, so that's a nice second step after apologizing to the team. I kind of hope Kline gets a good ovation when he first comes into a game when the team gets back to Camden Yards, just so he understands that we are happy to have a guy of his caliber in the bullpen, and that all we really want is the results he's capable of giving.