THE NEWBERG REPORT — AUGUST 22, 2007

Righthander Edinson Volquez took the hill last night in New Orleans rather than in Baltimore, and to his credit he responded well to a situation in which a young player whose head wasn’t right with ball might have cratered, improving his AAA record to 6-1, 1.60 as he shut the Zephyrs out on two singles (one of which was bunted) and three walks in seven innings, punching out eight. His groundout-to-flyout rate was a misleading 7-to-6; four of the “flyouts” were popped up to the mound or the catcher. In other words, two of his 21 outs left the infield.

I think Erik Bedard had a dozen or two strikeouts in that game, too.

P.S. There are actually four offenses in the American League whose OPS against left-handed pitching is lower than that of the Rangers. Even more astounding is the fact that two of them belong to Baltimore and Minnesota, given the fact that they get a reprieve from having to face one of Bedard or Johan Santana.

You can read more from Jamey Newberg at www.NewbergReport.com.