Ca fait un bout de temps que je n’ai pas ecrit sur mon blog…quelle deception hier pour les fans des Twins! Les deux premieres manches lancees par Liriano resemblaient a un jeu de Playstation, ou on selectionne le niveau de jeu "difficile" et ou l’on arrive meme pas a faire contact avec la balle! Parole de connaisseur! Les frappeurs des A’s avaient l’air de debutants face a ce jeune prodige…c’etait tres marrrant a voir; balle glissee, balle rapide de feu…On se doutait que Liriano etait limite de par le pitch count impose par Gardenhire mais on commencait a rever "Ce gamin va au moins donner 5 ou 6 manches blanches et la force de frappe et l’enclos fera le reste…"voeux pieux! D’autant plus que les Tigers ont perdu aussi…mais bon la saison n’est pas finie et les "petits pirahnas" ont plus d’un tour dans leur sac. Soulignons toutefois l’excellent travail au monticule de Matt Garza. Bon d’accord il savait deja avant d’arriver au stade hier qu’il allait lancer en releve de Liriano, mais aussi tot? Jamais de la vie! Je me suis toujours demande comment un lanceur approche ces situations; le fait d’etre jete dans l’arene lorsque l’on s’y attend le moins, de devoir s’echauffer sur la butte devant tout le monde. Le reglement stipule que l’arbitre doit laisser tout le temps dont le lanceur a besoin pour etre pret. Quand meme, c’est jamais facile de devoir lancer ses premieres balles dans cette situation. Je crois en la determination des Twins et j’espere les voir en playoff dans quelques semaines!

It’s been almost a month since the season started and I can honestly say that the games for the most part are close affairs and exciting. Game-winning rallies, clutch homeruns, timely base-hits and heartbeaking "double-plays to end the game with the tying run on base" variety. Great mix of power, speed defense…all the elements that make the game of baseball exciting! How about all those homeruns! Wouldn’t it be something if Albert Pujols gets closer to the single-season homerun record by the end of September! We never know; this game is full of suprises!

A game full of athleticism, skill, reflexes and…headwork…I love it…

It’s been almost a month since the season started and I can honestly say that the games for the most part are close affairs and exciting. Game-winning rallies, clutch homeruns, timely base-hits and heartbeaking "double-plays to end the game with the tying run on base" variety. Great mix of power, speed defense…all the elements that make the game of baseball exciting! How about all those homeruns! Wouldn’t it be something if Albert Pujols gets closer to the single-season homerun record by the end of September! We never know; this game is full of suprises!

A game full of athleticism, skill, reflexes and…headwork…I love it…

I was amazed at that ever so rare pitchers’ duel at Yankee Stadium yesterday. That nail-bitter of a game had everything; power (Giambi’s homerun, R.Johnson’s fastball), finesse and precision (T.Wakefield knuckleball) and speed (B.Crosby’s triple). These two pitchers are so opposed in style yet they both kept the powerful bats from making any solid contact and that was a treat to watch! That knuckleball is sooo slow yet impossible to hit. When D.Ortiz broke his bat in the 8th my dad thought how can a bat break! He doesn’t know baseball and I told him about the thin-handled bats, Mariano’s cutter and all that…I told him about the power involved in the confrontation between the hitter and the pitcher! I don’t know if he got it all…

Another nail-bitter at Shea yesterday. Proves once again baseball is a wonderful game of inches, reactions and split decisions with Tom Glavine bobbling the ball in front of the mound in the 1st inning. I think I haven’t seen anybody as fast as Jose Reyes…I bet this guy will have a shot one day at Sam "Yahoo" Crawford record of triples hit in a single season. I wish I could see stolen bases and triples records broken instead of strike outs and homeruns (OK, homeruns are down and Barry’ s record should be safe for quite some time…). The triple he hit down the right field line was quite something…For every other Major Leaguer (maybe not Juan Pierre or Jimmy Rollins) it’s only a double…

When I watch a game I’m more and more hoping for a tight pitchers’ duel with tremendous defense behind the pitcher, clutch pitching and hitting, great drama with every pitch being of the utmost importance. I used to like slugfests with loads of homeruns but now I wish speed to be an important part of the game again.

At least the 2005 baseball world cup is upon us and for me who’s living in France I’m planning on taking a trip to nearby Holland to catch a glimpse of Davey Johnson and his squad. Tickets are rather cheap ($25.00 on average) for such a top-flight baseball competiton. Good baseball is expected in Bert Blyleven’s homeland!

Just got started on MLBlogs…I’ll start by a tribute to baseball …the greatest game on earth; it’s power, speed, athleticism, strategy and daily drama unfolding. I live in France so of course no ESPN and no web gems but hey, MLB.tv is there to fullfill my need of diving catches, towering homeruns, stolen bases, 90mph fastballs…

Check out those wild card standings…really, really wild indeed!