Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

So, last night I went and saw Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Pretty good, I enjoyed it. The evening was only enhanced when, about two-thirds of the way through the movie, my phone buzzed with the text message that we'd won. Always a bonus.

Another good game last night, Brad Halsey put up 7 good innings, we had *another* good rally late, and Brandon Lyon took his- this sentence still seems weird to type- league leading 11th save of the year. I was a little disappointed that Halsey didn't get the win, but I'm at least glad the team did. We're in the same place we were two games ago- 1.5 games back from LA, and 1.5 ahead of the Giants. If we can win tonight, we'll hit a four game stand against the 9-16 Pirates on a nice roll. We've got Webb taking the mound tonight, so we've got a good shot. I think he can recover from his last start at San Diego, and we'll hopefully be able to rattle Tomko around.

Barry Bonds announced that he had surgery on his knee again. So far I haven't seen any reports on when he's supposed to be back, because I'm not sure anyone knows. For which I'm, honestly, somewhat grateful. Not just because I dislike Barry Bonds, but because they're doing pretty well without him. And even though Feliz, their current left fielder, is leading the team in several batting categories, they're not Barry Bonds numbers. If Bonds had been able to play at his full strength, or even 85% or 90% of last year, they would be doing better. The Giants have lost four games by 1 run, two to Arizona and one to Los Angeles. Definitely times they would have liked to have Bonds in, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, how glad do you think Halsey and Javier Vazquez are to be in Arizona rather than New York? The Yankees are 11-16 so far, and you can just sense it is taking a fair bit of restraint on Steinbrenner's part to keep from taking off heads. Halsey and Vazquez are a combined 5-2 so far this season, while the Big Unit is 2-2. Granted, Randy Johnson's record is part due to his teammates, but a 3.74 ERA isn't what Steinbrenner wanted to trade for.

But it looks like there'll be other trouble there. Randy's already complaining that he's being kept out of a start. From my impression when he played here, he was a tempermental pitcher, and didn't take too kindly to being pulled when he wanted to pitch. That'll be an interesting clash of egos when it happens. Wow, and Randy's being pulled ot start a pitcher who just got called up from their Double-A ball team? Yikes. That seems a bit desperate.

Fact of the Day: Luis Gonzales' middle name is Emilio.
"Fact" of the Day: So is Bob Melvin's.