Great googly moogly!

[Steve Buffum]

Grand slam by CASEY BLAKE!

Life is strange.

[pup]

People are strange

[Beanpot]

I found it especially terrific that Blake hit the granny exactly one inning after I silently ripped on Blyleven for comparing Blake to Hafner.

Bert's partner had a pretty good line while explaining that Byrd was removed after throwing exactly 100 pitches - "For fear of having him blow up."

Just a great game all around.

[consigliere]

Wow. The Killer Bs are off to a good start. Only 4 games and a long way to go, by geeze, getting off to a good start HAS to mean something for their psyches, no? We saw what getting off to abominable starts last year did to them....

Byrd was solid yesterday. He had trouble with his control somewhat, which led to a few walks which is a rarity for him. I believe 2-3 of those walks scored.

[swerb]

Byrd was solid yesterday. He had trouble with his control somewhat, which led to a few walks which is a rarity for him. I believe 2-3 of those walks scored.

Good column in this mornings PD about Byrd being disgusted with those walks.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plainde ... xml&coll=2

Allowing three walks annoys Byrd

Saturday, April 08, 2006
Burt Graeff
Plain Dealer Reporter

Nothing rankles Tribe pitcher Paul Byrd more than coughing up walks.

"I pride myself on making you earn first base," he said.

Byrd knows the Tribe's offense helped him get away with walking three Twins in Friday's 11-6 victory at fog-shrouded Jacobs Field in the home opener.

"I'd really be hurting today if we had lost this game, 5-4, but everyone really picked me up," said Byrd. "Hopefully, I can repay them."

Walks indirectly led to four of the five runs Byrd surrendered in his Tribe debut.

A one-out walk to Shannon Stewart in the fifth helped set up Joe Mauer's two-run double that cut the Tribe's lead to 4-3. Byrd walked Torii Hunter to open the sixth, and he scored on Justin Morneau's home run.

Surrendering three walks to the 27 batters he faced was out of character for Byrd, signed to a two-year, $14.25 million free-agent contract in December. In 22 of 51 previous starts, he did not walk anyone.

In 83 previous starts dating through the 2002 season, his game-high for walks was three - six times.

"Walking three guys is unheard of for me," he said. "I did think I made some good pitches that were not called [for strikes]."

Byrd (1-0, 7.50 ERA) departed with the Indians leading, 9-5.

Casey Blake's bases-loaded home run in the fifth broke the game open, giving the Indians (3-1) an 8-3 lead.

Byrd got more than offensive support. In the second inning, center fielder Grady Sizemore made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Morneau of at least a double. Morneau wears Byrd out - as a career .500 (6-of-12) batting average indicates.

"Grady's catch was huge," Byrd said. "At first, I thought it was out of the park.

"I saw Grady going for it, and then I thought it would be off the wall. [Sizemore] is a great athlete who made a great catch."

Byrd made sure he gave Sizemore a high-glove when the two met at the dugout at the end of the inning.

Left fielder Jason Michaels was not able to come up with Morneau's sinking line drive in the fourth, but Byrd was thrilled with the diving effort. "Even though he did not make the catch," Byrd said, "he dove hard.

"My performance was frustrating. [The Twins] were hitting balls all over the place until I finally struck someone [Rondell White] out in the fifth."

[swerb]

Blake another 3-4 day today, another 2 out RBI. Hitting .471 on the season.

He just looks like a different player to me this year. He looks like hes in great shape. Swinging the bat confidently and with a purpose.

Not doing this with runners on base:



After two years of defending this guy, Regano finally gets justice.

[pup]

But his review will still be based on Dolan's cheap ass

[Lebowski]

Why put a pic of Broussard in a post about Blake?













(FWIW Ben is playing well too)