Insider: Patchwork Reds try to hold it together down stretch
The blazing Texas sun can wear on a guy even more than country music, and perhaps Rogers, at 41, can discover a sort of Fountain of Youth here in late summer simply by no longer working in Longhorn country.
"It makes a difference," says Rogers, who was 11-3 with a 3.85 ERA this season before the All-Star break and is 3-3 with a 4.44 ERA since. "People don't realize that. I really felt it would be an added benefit (pitching in Detroit in the late summer).
"You look at everybody's numbers in Texas, and it's hard not to tail off. You don't want to. But it's such a physically demanding place to play.
"I've seen everyday players lose two steps of range. It's 110 degrees, it's as humid as it gets.
"I do what I can do. I'm me."
He's him -- and, going into Friday's start against the Angels, Rogers has allowed only one earned run over 14 innings during his past two starts -- and three in 19 innings in his past three.
Weren't you voted most likely to never stop talking?
White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen on why he hates attending the winter meetings in December: "I hate the winter meetings. It's like a high school reunion. People go around saying, 'Hi, nice so see you! How have you been? Good luck!'
"They don't mean it."
The lineup
Recently acquired Cincinnati reliever -- and, before this, lifelong American League pitcher -- Schoenweis lists his three favorite things about moving over to the NL. ...
1. "Quicker games. Well, I could have said that until (Tuesday) night (when the Reds and Dodgers played 16 innings)."
2. "You get to hit as a pitcher, although being a reliever, there's less of a probability of that. I think they probably avoid that at all costs for most of us relievers."
3. "No DH. You don't have, like, a Robinson Cano hitting in the nine hole."
... And Schoenweis lists one reason why he doesn't like moving to the NL as a reliever. ...
1. "In the AL, when you warm up, you're usually going to get into the game. And if you warm up once or twice and don't get in, you're probably done for the night. In the NL, because the pitcher's spot bats, you can warm up quite a bit -- they're like, 'OK, you've got it if we get to a certain spot in the order.' There are a lot more situations for you to come into a game. For me, as a left-handed guy in the AL, there's usually a spot in the lineup where, if the game gets to a certain situation, you know you're going to get that spot (for example, against a specific opposing lefty, such as Boston's David Ortiz). And if the lineup doesn't get to that spot, you know you're going to get to that next inning.
"I've always had a lot more respect for NL relievers than AL relievers, because you can tell by looking at pitchers' appearances, it's way up over the AL leaders."
He's right -- this year, at midweek, four NL relievers had worked in at least 70 games -- Pittsburgh's Salomon Torres (79), Pittsburgh's Matt Capps (72), the Cubs' Bobby Howry (72) and the Giants' Mike Stanton (70). The Yankees' Scott Proctor led the AL with 66 appearances.
