It was the eighth inning last night and Brad Bergesen came running in from center field to pitch. He was going to make his first-ever Major League relief appearance. It just didn't look right, seeing Bergy as a reliever. I am not sure if that's the right role for him. He's become somewhat of the odd man out right now. He's in the pen for a couple of reasons. One, he wasn't pitching consistently well as a starter (16 ER over his last 14 1/3) and two, right now the other five starters...

I guess it's worth repeating. Interim manager Juan Samuel was asked after last night's game whether he's given any thought to moving Miguel Tejada to short. Samuel is giving the same answer we've been hearing, from the front office and former manager Dave Trembley, since the winter. "It never crossed my mind," he said. OK, that's not the exact same answer, but the message is a duplicate. Tejada will not be replacing Cesar Izturis. That wasn't part of the equation when they signed...

The Indians beat the Nationals 7-2 Friday night at Progressive Field behind a dramatic 2 home run 4 RBI performance by their former teammate. Austin Kearns blasted a 3-run shot in the 1st inning that quickly erased an early Nats lead. Then in his second at-bat, Kearns lauched another Luis Atilano (5-3) pitch over the left center field wall for a 4-1 Tribe advantage. Jake Westbrook (4-3) befuddled the Nats after they started the game with three consecutive base hits, going seven and...

Some notes from the Mets 5-1 win over the Orioles on Friday night and some post-game quotes from Jeremy Guthrie and Brad Bergesen. Guthrie on the Chris Carter three-run homer in the fourth: "I wouldn't say it was a bad pitch, it was a wrong pitch. He did a good job on it. Chris is a former teammate of mine, we played at Stanford together. He did a nice job, drove that pitch and hit a homer, it was a big difference. "I felt very comfortable out there. Had decent command of the...

The Orioles collected 11 hits tonight and scored one run. That won't win you many games. "Tonight, we faced a very tough, a different type of knuckleball," interim manager Juan Samuel said, referring to Mets starter R.A. Dickey. "It was a little bit unusual to see a knuckleball with that kind of velocity. We had a situation where we could have scored some runs there, loaded the bases, and I think he added a little velocity to that knuckleball and made it tough for our hitters. "We got...

Well, this felt like 1969 all over again. R.A. Dickey, reminding one of Tom Seaver or Jerry Koosman, shut down the Orioles Friday night as the Mets beat the Birds 5-1 in the opener of the weekend series, in front of 28,554 at Camden Yards. They were amazin'. Just kidding, although he did shut them down, allowing just a run over seven innings and is now 4-0, 2.78. It's not like the O's didn't have their chances. They had 11 hits and went three for 17 with runners in scoring...

Let's get the important stuff out of the way first: The O's/Ravens caps will be handed out tomorrow night, as I wrote earlier. Trust me on this one. OK, now about Brad Bergesen... I wrote earlier today that interim manager Juan Samuel wanted to get Bergesen into a game because it had been too long, but he didn't want to use the right-hander in the late innings. Things do change quickly around here. That was Bergesen on the mound in the eighth, giving up a run that increased the Mets'...

Former Nationals outfielder Austin Kearns is getting some early revenge against his old mates. Kearns smacked a 3-run HR off of Luis Atilano in the 1st inning, giving the Tribe a 3-1 advantage. Then, in the 4th inning, Kearns got a hold of another one, a solo shot to deep left center and the Indians led 4-1. It was home run #s 6 and 7 on the year for Kearns and marked the first time since June 4, 2006 he went deep twice in the same game. His average now up to .311. the only regular Tribe...

Jeremy Guthrie gave up a run in the top of the first inning on a leadoff double by Jose Reyes and one-out single by David Wright. The damage would have increased if not for a spectacular diving catch by Adam Jones in left-center field that robbed Jason Bay. Wright would have scored easily. Bay might have joined him if the ball got past Jones. My second-favorite moment of the game: Tejada making a nice stop on Tejada's grounder in the hole, but Tejada's late throw allows Tejada to reach...

Cleveland, OH -- Nats manager Jim Riggleman puts Ivan Rodriguez in the 2 hole for Game 1 vs. Cleveland. Riggleman said he wanted the 9, 1 and 2 spots to be mixed up a little bit and not all left handed hitters. Riggs also said they thought about putting Rodriguez in the 2 hole as early as spring training. He also said they can hit Ivan in many different places besides his usual 6 spot. It also turns the 3-4-5 power and makes it a lethal 2-3-4-5 barrage for the Indians to face. The...