Moylan action from Thursday

Peter Moylan faced 2 batters today in 0.1 inning of work. He drew a ground out and walked one, before being replaced by LOOGY Royce Ring.

Bad news for Mariners; Good news for RRS?

MLB.com reports today that the Mariners have today placed their number 1 closer JJ Putz on the disabled list for 15 days. He is suffering from some inflammation of his ribs. This is bad news generally for Mariners' fans, as Putz was an all Star last year. However, it could mean more opportunities for Ryan Rowland-Smith. We will have to wait and see what happens today as the M's face Texas.

A few bits and pieces

So the season has kicked off, and there's some action about. Here are some updates from around the place:

• After three games, Rich Thompson hasnt had a pitch yet. Darren O'Day has got the ball in relief twice but there really hasnt been any need for RT to pitch. The Angels killed the Twins in game 2 (9-1), and got 8 innings out of Garland, and they lost by one on opening day. Similarly, today they got 8 innings out of Joe Saunders. So we will have to wait a bit longer to see Rich in action.
• Ryan Rowland-Smith has yet to get a throw. However, the Mariner's bullpen was not great on Wednesday, with JJ Putz blowing a save
• I am still trying to track down Trent Oeltjen, who signed a minor league contract with the diamond backs on 31 January, and saw a lot of time during spring training - dont know where he is, but it seems he will play with the D-Backs' minor league affiliates
• Craig Anderson has been confirmed on the roster of Triple-A Norfolk Tides
• Some info about Grant Balfour's situation - what a difference a day makes. In this article, Balfour was optimistic about making the team, suggesting he felt he was in the team, and looking at the spring stats of his main competitor (Dohrmann), it would have seemed Balfour could be confident. However, this article from a day later shows the frustration felt by Balfour at not making the roster.
• Chris Snelling went deep in the IronPigs final tune up before the season (box score here)

More news as it comes to hand!

Huber relishing fresh start

MLB.com has posted a short report regarding Justin Huber's fresh start at the Padres. As with a lot of the stuff that was coming out of the Royals through spring, Huber seems a confident but grounded guy. The article suggests he may get some time in left field as well as off the bench. Huber says:

Whatever my role it is, I'm looking to take it by the horns and run with it. I
believe in my abilities

Read the full article here.

Updates on Snelling and Blackley

Chris Snelling and Travis Blackley have been confirmed on the Phillies' triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs roster. The Iron Pigs played an exhibition game against the Phillies over the weekend, in which Snelling played. He played a full game in left field, going 2-for-3, with one walk. What can you say about those stats? Pretty good eh? What happened during spring training? Who knows...you cant read much into it I suppose, it was only an exhibition game, but we will have to wait and see. Hopefully he can keep these sort of numbers up over the season, which is due to kick off tomorrow. For more info on the Iron Pigs, check out their website.

Opening Day (finally the real one) - Aussie(s) in action

So we have had two games in Japan, and a game in Washington last night. But really, do they count? Today is the real deal. Today is really when things kick off in MLB, with 14 games underway. Today we see some Aussies in real opening day action, some of them for the first time.

After yesterday's unfortunate outing, Bobby Cox showed a bit of faith in Peter Moylan and handed him the ball again. Cox threw Moylan into the action with one out in the top of the 7th, with a runner on third. Moylan faced Pirates' second baseman Freddy Sanchez, and drew a 6-3 groundout after two pitches. Moylan then faced Pirates' power hitter Jason Bay. Bay also hit to shortstop, but reached on a throwing error, which also allowed the run.

So, things didnt turn out too hot today for Moylan either. But he could have done with a bit of support from Escobar at short. With a lefty coming up next in Adam LaRoche, Cox yanked Moylan and put in lefty Royce Ring. Good to see that Pete could turn in a positive performance backing up from being the villain last night.

For a bit of background info on Moylan, check out these posts from Braves Love. They have some good pics of Moylan's tatts and some info about his history.

At the time of writing this post, the Mariners have beaten the Rangers 5-2 and Rowland-Smith was not used; and the Angels lost to the Twins 2-3, with Rich Thompson not involved. San Diego have just started their game against the Astros, so we will see if Justin Huber gets a run later in the game.

Moylan's thoughts on game one

Following yesterday's unfortunate loss in Washington, Peter Moylan reflected on the game. MLB.com reports:

"You can't dwell on it," said Moylan, who had retired the previous four batters
he'd faced after entering with one out in the eighth. "I'll think about it for a
while. But tomorrow is another day."

Probably a good idea Pete. Maybe you can take some solace in Jeff Francouer's comments:

"Sometimes it's just not meant to be," Francoeur said.