DHonks

I still remember it at 3-0. The point though, is that Chuckie just hacks

Palmisano was also a Pioneer League MVP. Cain was Arizona League MVP

I blame myself. I decided to listen in, and it didn't take long for the no-no to disappear

I heard a word, then the guy clicked off, and then a woman's recorded voice came on telling me that the streaming audio is unavailable

and you guys are listening to dead air from Helena? 1-0 baby. It may be quiet, but the Helena bats will once again be loud. Good start to the season with Chapman leading off with a triple. And Mass, thanks for the Huntsville updates. He's been someone I've been intrigued by for a while. Come on Tim and Roque.

Doug, you missed Mercedes strike out Gerardo Parra. What a shame, what a shame. I've heard about three blips of noise, but nothing permanent yet. as I'm sitting here clicking "reload" every 30 seconds, hoping there is a boxscore update, I can't help but think of how funny it is that we have at least 3 of us in very different parts of the country, fretting over this Helena debut. For some reason the Helena club is usually my favorite team to follow (is it cause they usually win?), despite how the '04 squad has really stunk it up in full season ball. Toby, have you ever seen Mercedes or Pascual or them? I haven't, and my insider with the club only sees the guys in big league games, so he hasn't given any glowing reviews. Also, what about Perierd? For some reason the young Canadian excites me.

Dillard hitting .350...can he still catch? Just kidding...or am I? Any thoughts Clancy? and Iribarren with a hit, walk and a steal. Anyone else hoping he gets upgraded to a tropical depression soon?

getting nothing but dead air. Please chime in if that changes for anyone well, at 9:16 your time, Mass, I heard a noise. Of course, listening to dead air while eagerly awaiting a Mercedes strikeout is something like being 12 and watching the scrambled pictures, hoping to see some nudity, and hoping it's a female.

Mercedes must have thrown well in AZ if he's the Helena opening day starter over several others.

well, might be about time to get Barnwell, Hart, and Gross in there to give Jenkins, Lee, and Hall a little break.

Yo did pitch in the all-star game

nice to see the injured trio of Parra, Jones, and Narron all throw well.

the good news is we have a hit off this guy. I wonder if Beane is still pissed about drafting Bonderman?

interesting to read that. I haven't seen Humber, but I sure remember being scared of Niemann and Townsend based on mechanics. At the time, I felt Baker would have the best career of the 4

could this be Parra's last start in Brevard County?

Interesting. You certainly have taken a different approach viewing their drafting efforts this year. I remember having a similar conversation with you last year in which you praised the D-Backs '05 draft (as you mention) and give their pitching depth quite a bit of credit I want to wait till the end of the year with them. I really liked the adding of college pitching to their system, since it attempted to fast-track high ceiling arms that don't need to be babied like HS picks. However, I'm more a fan of HS pitchers, taking the 5 year plan rather than the 2-3 year plan. I was never a huge Neighborgall fan. It doesn't matter if you throw 100 mph, you gotta throw strikes. It said a lot when I helped out in Dbacks minor league camp, and the trainers warned me not to go near the backstops when Neighborall is pitching. Seeing him assigned to extended spring training as what, a 23 year old. I hope the '05 and '06 drafts work well. Like I said, I really like the Anderson drafting. We'll see what happens. Later tonight I'll look up how their '05 arms are doing, but when I checked around May 1st it wasn't what I'd hoped. Edit: Okay, they're doing better than I thought. Torra hasn't pitched yet this year. But Owings has done well in AA, reaching hitter friendly Tucson where he's led them to a win. Smith has done very well so far in A+, and Green has been yucky. As mentioned before, Neighborall doesn't exist on paper really. Pretty crazy that they have Owings in AAA already. So that quickly changes my view of the draft more towards last year. If another arm or two can step up, then it could go down as a fantastic one. Still, I wonder why they took so many pitchers again. Their previous success has been in drafting guys like Carter, Quentin, Hairston, etc. So why suddenly stop taking hitters high in the draft?

wow, that one from Jenkins there was like in tennis, when you try to put tons of spin on the ball. His ball landed fair, then spun about 10 feet straight left.

They don't pinch-hit for Jackson, but they relieve him anyway. Nice. He must handle the bat alright, since he's been robbed of a few hits in his first 2 starts. Throw in that we have a short bench, then it makes sense IF he's decent with the bat And why is Gonzalez' first name spelled "Geremi" now? Because he asked them to spell his name that way. It was mentioned either in the journal sentinal or on the Brewers' site on Friday or Saturday

Koskie with a nice jack there. I know others don't like him hitting second, but I like his combination of contact, OBP, and power. He is a good hit and run guy (except the other day with Brady running), and can do what he just did. He's kind of a mini-#3, and I'd rather have that hitting 2nd than 7th

80 pitches through three innings, and only 2 runs scored. I'll count my blessings, I just hope the pen is up to a challenge well, I was about to question why Jackson was hitting, other than that he's had several good at bats. Gonzalez is up in the pen, and Jackson's innings haven't been easy. But maybe they think he can get them through two more shutout frames

just a reminder to folks that the In Game Thread is to be used for discussing the game. having posts that say "another hit" are just as useless as the posts like this that attempt to re-focus the thread. The reason for not wanting a running play-by-play is that the IGT can become 9 pages long with 99% of it being fluff, and user's questions, comments, and discussions can easily be lost within the thread.

Jackson is scuffling out there. Come on Houdini And Brady with a nice throw from CF, just his mechanics take so long to throw it, and he took an extra step, so that's the only reason the run scored. So does this mean Villanueva now starts, with the possibility that Jackson could be sent down?

Toronto has left.... 22 on base through 5. very misleading. There's two ways to calculate LOB. There's team LOB, and individual LOB. With the bases loaded and no outs, if all three hitters strikeout, then the team left 3 on base, but each player will show 3 LOB.

wow, crazy one for Fla vs Tor. Johnson has allowed 6 hits, 6 bb, and 1 hbp in 5 innings...only 1 run!

way to catch them napping boys. Fielder's steal just put me in a tie in that category in a fantasy league!