Friday, June 3, 2011

Notes

-- The Bucs are back home. Jeff Karstens takes on Cole Hammels tonight at 7:05 PM, and the game will be broadcast on Root Sports. The Three Rivers Arts Festival is opening, the weather is great, the Phils are in town - it should be a busy weekend downtown.

-- The lineup: Jose Tabata LF, Josh Harrison 3B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Neil Walker 2B, Matt Diaz RF, Chris Snyder C, Lyle Overbay 1B, Ronny Cedeno SS, Jeff Karstens P.

Harrison stays at third; we're curious to see who gets the start in right against upcoming righties Kyle Kendrick and Doc Halladay.

-- The Phillies activated Shane Victorino from the DL today as expected. The mystery was who they would send down to open his spot; it was John Mayberry.

-- The Pirates are still only 4 games back in the loss column from the top spot in the Central. So far, so good; we'll see where they stand on July 4th. If their pitching holds up, they could still be hangin' around and that's when it'll start getting interesting.

-- Steve Berthiaume of ESPN defends Kevin Correia against the sabermetric gangstas that downplay his eight victories. As he says, "HE -- WINS -- GAMES ... HELLO????"

-- Jim Schonerd of Baseball America said in a chat that if he had to build a MLB rotation out of five minor league pitchers, Jameson Taillon would be one of the hurlers.

-- Draft day is almost here; it starts Monday, June 6th. Betting line? The odds tilt slightly toward RH power pitcher Gerritt Cole at the moment.

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