The Art Neuro Weblog

'El Duque' The Slayer
Our Favourite Magic Cuban Orlando Hernandez continues to surprise with his comeback season, beating the Baltimore Orioles for his 8th win. Hernandez pitched 7 innings of 5 hit ball, giving up only 1 run on a solo homer; he struck out 4, walked 2, whihc are not great numbers in of themselves, but the Yankees got their 5 runs and the rest went into the record books for yet another win in El Duque's loss-less season. Runs this amazing don't come that often, so we should stop to consider this pitcher was wanted by nobody except the Yankee family as he came into the 2004 season.

"I knew when we signed him in the spring that if anybody's going to be able to make it back, he's going to do it,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "He's been terrific, he really has.''

Hernandez has proven to be a savior to a rotation that had to endure injuries to Kevin Brown and Mike Mussina; New York is 11-1 in games he starts.

"He certainly has picked up the slack with Brownie down and with Moose down for a time,'' Torre said.

Even the New York Times who have expressed nothing but doubt have concceded that Hernandez is the man on the mound right now.

Hernández is not too proud to avoid the most dangerous hitters in a lineup, pitching them carefully enough to concede a walk and go after a hitter less likely to hurt him. He walked Mora on four pitches, but standing in next was Tejada, one of the most productive hitters in baseball.

Tejada does not hit Hernández especially well, with 6 hits in 24 career at-bats after grounding out in the second inning. Catcher Jorge Posada went to the mound before Tejada hit, and with a 2-2 count, Posada made another visit. Hernández spun a slider and Tejada swung and missed for strike three, ending the threat. It brought about
the burst of excitement from Hernández, who again showed the kind of survival instinct that seemed missing with José Contreras.

What's interesting about this described scenraio is how Hernandez works himself into a 2-2 count on Tejada. Posada goes to the mound to remind or check with him that Hernandez has to throw his 'money pitch'. Hernandez does not hesitate to throw his one big amazing pitch, his slider on the outside low part of the plate even if Tejada is looking for that pitch. The chutzpah of the guy is astounding.

And Now For the Space News
A group of European astronomers have released the first photograph of a planet outside of our solar system. The article is here.

"Although it is surely much bigger than a terrestrial-size object [like Earth], it is a strange feeling that it may indeed be the first planetary system beyond our own ever imaged," said Christophe Dumas, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory.

Otherwise, all the other known planets, which now number 120 have been detected indirectly.
NASA also has an image of a distant object that could be a planet, but they have not confirmed.
Still, it's exciting to see 2M1207, so I'll post up the pickie shortly.

- Art Neuro