There are a bunch of little things in Colin Dunlap's notebook this morning:
-P- It's come up here before, but since I'd neglected to mention it on the front page: Ronny Cedeno's absence from the lineup Wednesday was, in fact, a benching, due to Cedeno's bizarre decision to stop running to first on what turned out to be a fair ball in Tuesday night's game. It sounds like the fans aren't the only ones losing confidence in Cedeno. Here's Clint Hurdle:
"I don't understand. I've talked to Ronny about it. He just needs to run. ... It's late in the game, you got to run a ball out. Your job is to play, it's not to umpire."
-P- Bryan Morris is on the DL in Altoona with an oblique strain. At least it wasn't his arm or shoulder.
-P- Finally, Ryan Vogelsong, who will start for the Giants on Thursday, about his time with the Pirates:
"I felt like I kind of got labeled as a bullpen guy," said Vogelsong, referring to his 64 relief appearances after being 10-19 with a 6.00 ERA as a Pirates starter. "I just knew that, coming into games, I never quite felt the same, mentally and physically, as I did when I was able to start."
Well, okay, but Vogelsong got 126 innings as a starter in 2004, and posted a 6.71 ERA, with 84 strikeouts and 62 walks. Framing a demotion to the bullpen as getting "labeled" after you perform like that is kind of weird, especially when the one season in which Vogelsong got marginally acceptable results (2005, when he had a 4.43 ERA, albeit still with horrible peripherals - actually, based on his numbers, you could make the argument that he was still horrible at that point, although it didn't feel that way at the time) was the one in which he pitched out of the bullpen for the entire year. He actually should feel grateful the Pirates stuck with him as long as they did. Still, congratulations to Vogelsong on his persistence in getting back to the big leagues.