Woke up at 5:15 a.m. this morning (not on purpose). Decided to get up and check the Reds, who had already lost. Ended up watching the White Sox/Twins contest mostly because I picked up the Twins Nick Blackburn in a league. He was ok, but I’m really impressed by the White Sox over the past couple days. I don’t know if the team will keep it up, but I like the lineup with the additions of Nick Swisher and Carlos Quentin. Plus all that beef in the middle.

I watched some of the Cubs comeback over the Pirates as the sun came up. Fukudome continues to amaze me. Not because I didn’t think he was a good player before, but he’s looking so comfortable at the plate. Could he challenge for the batting title? I don’t see why not.

The 42nd annual President’s Cup is happening at the end of April and it’s going to be a beacon for MLB scouts. I recently read an interview with a scout for the Samsung Lions, talking about how his wife hates his job because he spends so much time away from home. It’s funny because in the short frame of time I’ve been doing this job I managed to see that guy at a game. Now whenever I see him I’ll think of his wife being angry at him.

The Mariners getting swept in Baltimore has to be the biggest surprise of the season thus far. Even more surprising than the Tigers losing six straight. At least the Tigers lost to the White Sox and Royals. At least. Plus Curtis Granderson is out. But losing four straight to the Orioles is inexcusable for any team at any time this year.  This  ESPN writer says the Mariners should sign Bonds post haste. I like the idea and I think as the season wears on, more teams will have a reason to sign Barry. If the Mariners pulled the trigger now, they might get a nice deal. I wonder what Ichiro would say to that. If he’s ok with it, I say do it.

I ordered Tonkatsu  for delivery to watch the end of the Angels/Indians fiasco. Why? Because I picked Joe Saunders after my much contested (and ultimately denied) drafting of Koji Uehara.  Saunders has been solid in his first two starts of the year and  his spring ERA was under 2.00. K-Rod blew it in the 9th and seems to have some strange injury related to both his ankles due to his unorthodox windup. Scot Shields has also been dicey going back to the end of last year. Could be the end of a mini-era for those two. Joe Borowski has always been dicey. Indians pitching coach Carl Willis looked like he was going to take Borowski’s head off once Joe loaded the bases, just prior to giving up the game-ending slam.

Speaking of Uehara he was on the tube tonight versus Yokohama. He was so-so, but the weather was terrible. He announced somewhat quietly on Monday  that he’ll attempt to play in MLB next year. He’s 33, but I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t command more than Hiroki Kuroda did when all is said and done. I suppose the Uehara market will be somewhat affected by what Kuroda does this year, but Uehara has been more consistent, and in general a  better, pitcher over his career. Kuroda will take on Micah Owings and the Diamondbacks in his next start on Wednesday.

The Yokohama/Yomiuri game ended in a 3-3 tie. Fun. The BayStars had runners on first and second, none out in the bottom of the ninth, and ended up with a runner on first with two out after  an utterly boneheaded popup bunt double play. The bunt was terrible and there was no reason for the runner to get hung out to dry on a bunt anyway. It looked like an awkward  safety squeeze.

Lee Dae-ho massacred a ball tonight…427 ft. was the measurement and it went out of the stadium in Daegu. Not to be a killjoy, but I don’t think Lee could never take his swing and stance to the U.S. He holds the bat way too far back and down and would have trouble getting around on, say,  a 98 MPH fastball that tails up and in. But man is he fun to watch in Korea. He’s usually smiling and he jiggles around the field like a Korean Santa Claus. The Giants took Game 1 of its series with Samsung 9-5.

Former Brave Doug Clark had a great game for Hanwha tonight. He tripled off Kim Sun-woo (who lost his second for Doosan) and then scored on a sac fly to center. In truth, he left too early and could have been called out, but Doosan didn’t catch it. He later legged out a single and scored again on another sac  fly to center. Then, in the bottom of the eighth he made a run-saving, fully extended catch, again  in center. Hanwha won the game  4-3. Seo Jae-weong also made his first start of the year, going eight innings, and allowing just one run. But Kia lost in 10 by a 2-1 score.

Johnny Cueto, Brian Bannister and Dice-K all get starts tomorrow. Looking forward to all three. I’ll go ahead and say Detroit will lose it’s seventh straight.