=== Brad Bergeson ===

Came in sporting an 11.74 ERA.  The M's increased it for him.

Let's not forget, though, that the M's score-by-innings went 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 or something like that, and the 7 would have been a 1 except that Wigginton mangled a pregame-fungo ball that would have ended the third inning.

Wigginton pulls that grounder into his belly button, sets, and flips to second, the ball then beats JLo to first by six steps, and Doogie would have had to win 1-0.

............

I'm just saying; it's not like the M's didn't have 7 singles, 4 doubles, and a homer.  But as a fan, my mood is a game of inches :- )

............

Bergeson is about an easy as a matchup gets in the AL, but that doesn't mean he's a piece of cake.  Most PCL and International League pitchers are verrrrrrrrry good.  Send Franklin Gutierrez to AAA, and tell him he has to hit .350 against those guys for a month to get his job back, and see what happens.

Sense of proportion:  Bergeson isn't quite as good as, say, Joel Pineiro.  But he is one of the Orioles' five best, so I'll take our 23 bases, thanks very much.

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=== Kotchman ===

Early-game popup down the RF line ... Ichiro and Chone tore off after it.  This is the play, right in front of the ball girl, on which you determine whether your second baseman has range.  Figgins juussssssssst got there in time...

... to glance off Casey Kotchman, who caught it at glide speed.  My daughter, sitting next to me, complained (I kid you not) "I used to like him.  Not any more.  What a glory hound.  Taking the second baseman's ball away from him.  Mitt real high, look at me, I'm fast."

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=== Jack Wilson ===

Really stung the ball hard, two or three times.  This was a mammoth relief to Dr. D, who was beginning to wonder about that 26 OPS+.

Wilson has always had good CT rates, so we'll trust to BABIP to ensure the 75-80 OPS+ that cements him as a pennant-class shortstop.  Let’s downgrade the blogpanic to DefCon2 on the bat.

Man.  That one four-bouncer up the middle, I couldn't even see Wilson's hands move as he re-vectored the baseball.  Never saw an infielder exactly like this man.

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Part 2