Okay, this feels more like a ballgame. Before last night’s victory I had that horrible, tense feeling and sense of dread that I frequently have had the past few years. The “oh my gosh, who am I going to talk to tonight after another loss” feeling that it is way too early to be having. If I felt that way it is hard to imagine how the guys felt. Hopefully things are back on track.

It’s not so much that they need to win as much as it is, they need to look like they are on the right path. Circus-like innings, bullpen meltdowns and batting less than your weight just does not set things going in the right direction! Hopefully we won’t have to talk about those kinds of things.

So last night’s postgame was fun. I chose Richie as my off the field interview. I get second pick behind FOX but was happy to get the big fella. It was just stuck in my head that he had failed to come through in a critical situation with bases loaded at home last week and his reaction was that he got too amped up trying to do too much. Then he wanted to hit the five run homer. Last night it was the little things in that same situation that got the job done. He walked in a run and hit a 2 run flare the second time.

Walks believe it or not are a big deal for Sexson. He sets 100 as a goal each year and believe it or not has a pretty good eye. I think the biggest problem with his strike outs is that he is a guess hitter. A lot of his really ugly swings look to me like he made his mind up to swing early, rather than see the pitch. Another problem I am convinced he has had in the past is getting the low strike called more often than it should. I think this is a by product of being 12 feet tall. In the past he has had what seems to be a rather large number of bad low strikes called on him. It seems to me that in the spring and the early going of the regular season, this is not happening as much.

As for the pitching, well, I would say Bedard was not exactly dazzling, but was okay. Good to see him keep it together in that disaster of a fifth inning then come back out for a sixth. He doesn’t appear to always get the inside corner, but he keeps going back there. The fastball is not what I thought, but the curve is darn good. I have to keep telling myself that he is not a power pitcher. I keep expecting to see 95-96 and it is just not going to happen.

Roy Corcoran, how bout him? Talk about earning a spot. He is exactly what this bullpen needed after imploding a bit. Just go out there and go after the hitters. He is not just getting by on guts and guile however. While he isn’t exactly lighting up the gun he gets a lot of movement on his pitches and hides the ball well. Apparently it gets on the hitters very quickly. It’s funny how Mac said at the beginning of spring training that even though it looked like the positions were pretty much set he was hoping that they would find a “surprise”. Well, after JJ’s injury, it looks like the “surprise” found them.

JJ threw from flat ground today for the first time since the injury. He said he felt nothing while throwing and if he feels good tomorrow it looks like he will be on a path to come back soon. He is due to come off the DL April 17, but as good as things are looking now, with the work that he needs to get in I think it is a very long shot for him to be back then. Mac today said that no decision has been made on whether or not to send him on a rehab assignment but I have to think that it would be a good idea especially considering the adrenaline factor with JJ. That cannot be duplicated in a bullpen.

The M’s had a special visitor before the game. 12 year old Pat Pedraja was a guest of Miguel Batista. Pat is currently being treated for leukemia and is quite an inspirational person. He won the Viewers Choice Award in the 2007 CNN Heroes contest for his work in registering bone marrow donors. Batista met Pedraja when both were guests on a Spanish language talk show in L.A. He’s a special kid. The morning after his diagnosis he told his mom that there had to be a reason that he had the illness and he was going to make something good come of it. Well he has, taking his message to 31 cities and registering over 6000 donors. So far there have been 4 matches. The story will run on my Beyond the Baselines tomorrow, but if you like you can read more about Pat on drivingfordonors.com.

Well, this has got to be a good sign, Jamie Burke has just hit his second big league home run. I better get going!