Yeah, yesterday was an ugly game. Vicente Padilla went south all of the sudden in the 4th, after having me thinking no hitter possibilities after 3 innings because of how good his stuff was. Poor defense. Bats could have been better. Bah.
And the pitching matchups the next two days aren't real encouraging. Bah.
Still...the team is at .500 right now. It could be worse.
Richard Durrett's game story focuses on the defensive miscues. Bah.
Dustin Nippert is supposedly heading to the d.l. to make room for Luis Mendoza today. He really looked hurt yesterday, I know. Eddie Guardado and Jamey Wright are also d.l. possibilities.
Scott Feldman gets the start on Sunday, and Josh Rupe is expected to be sent down to make room for him.
I know there's been a lot of complaining about Feldman coming up, but think about it...who are the other options? Sidney Ponson and John Patterson aren't on the 40 man roster. Neither is Eric Hurley, who has struggled in his first 2 AAA starts. A.J. Murray, up until this season, hasn't started regularly since 2005, and had command issues in spring training (and before you make the "he's young and we're supposed to be rebuilding" argument in favor of Murray, keep in mind he's a year older than Feldman).
And Feldman has a stellar minor league track record, and coming into the 2007 season, had a career 3.38 major league ERA in 50 innings, with 34 Ks against just 12 walks.
It seems as if Feldman's awful 2007 season -- and no doubt, he wasn't good last year -- has people ready to write him off as useless, which I think is real premature. Calling him up for a spot start, given how well he pitched late in spring training and for Frisco, makes sense, I think.