Byrd vs. bird

Waiting for Next Year undoubtedly gets many more hits per day than Of Fair Hooker, which makes sense because they have nine regular posters, while I have just me. And they do a fine job. So it probably doesn't make much difference to them to have me sending people over there to view their posts. But I just have to alert my readers to this post, which is a boxing-style "tale of the tape" between Paul Byrd and the bird Shin-Soo Choo's game-winning hit bounced off of the other day. It made me laugh out loud.

Offensive explosion (and pitching trouble)

I spent some time looking through snowstorm photos yesterday, and the above is my favorite (it's from Saturday, so it's now 20 days until Opening Day).

The Indians scored nine runs in the fourth yesterday against the devilish Rays, on their way to a 12-10 win. They got two hits each from Travis Hafner, Jason Michaels and Jamey Carroll, and AAA catcher Wyatt Toregas homered in his only at-bat.

But Paul Byrd struggled on the mound, giving up five runs in four innings. Byrdie walked two hitters, which is uncharacteristic. And Tom Mastny, who was dominant in one inning Sunday, was anything but on Monday, giving up four runs on five hits in his one inning of work. Jorge Julio, who's fighting for a bullpen spot, gave up one run on two hits and two walks in one inning, and Rafael Betancourt and Jensen Lewis each contributed a scoreless inning.

It's tough to write anything insightful about a game I didn't see, though. I hate that most spring training games aren't on TV. Today's game against the Tigers is on SportsTime Ohio, however, and I'll be DVRing it. And boy howdy, am I looking forward to seeing it, even if I don't get a chance to watch it until this weekend.

All right, here's my second-favorite storm photo, because I'm such a softie:

Byrd on a wire

Will Paul Byrd be suspended for his admitted use of HGH? I'm guessing not, but the fact that it hasn't been announced yet, with spring training upon us, is not encouraging. But if Byrd misses a couple of starts, there are plenty of young arms available to take his turns in the rotation until he's available to come back. Paul Byrd's a veteran, and this isn't going to keep him down.