Brandon Duckworth, RH Erik Bedard, LH (0-0, 0.00) (1-1, 6.94) CF D DeJesus 2B B Roberts 3B E German 3B M Mora 2B M Grudzielanek RF N Markakis DH M Sweeney SS M Tejada RF R Sanders 1B A Huff LF E Brown LF J Gibbons 1B R Shealy DH K Millar C J Buck CF C Patterson SS T Pena, Jr. C P Bako
BUH DARD. Erik B against the Twins wasn't good. Erik B against the Yankees was pretty good. Now he gets his first home start of the season, and he went 9-4 with a 3.03 ERA last season. I like the matchup today.
Duckworth came up with a silly last name in 2001 with the Phillies, making 11 promising starts that he never was able to duplicate again. He was a full-time member of the '02 Phillies rotation, making 29 starts, and fell out of favor for good in 2003. He wound up doing spot starts in Houston before arriving in Kansas City in 2006.
Duckworth's first start of the season came against Detroit, and he threw 6 1/3 shutout innings with four hits allowed, two strikeouts and a walk. In other words, he looked really good. The Royals lost that game when Pudge Rodriguez hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning to give Detroit a 3-2 win. Sounds a lot like Gil Meche's performance from yesterday.
Right now, if the Orioles can actually get their bats going, they could do some damage with the way the team is pitching. The lineup is, again, overrated by management. Management, again, seem to think this is one of the league's best lineups. And, again, this leads me to believe that management doesn't look at anyone else's rosters.
In the last seven games, O's starters have a 2.49 ERA. We have just got to start hitting, not only to support this staff while it's pitching well, but to be able to have its back when, eventually, they aren't a combined Greg Maddux.
Note: If we hit 300 comments tonight, this post's thread will end as soon as we reach the middle or end of an inning. I'll then put up a new post so that everyone doesn't have to scroll all over the place and we don't get that collapsed threads stuff.