Baseball Beat: Thursday, April 12th

Here is the rundown for the Thursday, April 12th edition of Baseball Beat with Charley Steiner:
(All Times Eastern)

1:05 p.m.
Guest: Bob Nightengale, USA Today Sports Weekly
1:25 p.m.
Guest: Marty Noble, MLB.com (New York Mets Beat)
1:45 p.m.
Guest: Jim Souhan, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
2:05 p.m.
Guest: Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald
2:25 p.m.
Guest: Steve Gilbert, MLB.com (Arizona Diamondbacks Beat)
2:45 p.m.
Guest: Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle (Oakland A's Beat)

Guest Summaries:
Nightengale discussed the on-going non-roof situation in the Minnesota Twins ballpark design, which was unveiled by the Twins prior to the show. He also discussed his interview about Jackie Robinson being honored and how it seems to be overdone now that entire teams are wearing 42 on Jackie Robinson Day without necessarily understanding all that's behind it. Bob also discussed the injury to Mike Mussina and the need for starting pitching on the Yankees. Noble discussed the poor performance of Oliver Perez yesterday and the pitching woes of the New York Mets. He also said that for all intents and purposes, no one should bank on Pedro as the savior of the rotation, since you don’t know what you are getting when he returns to the team. Souhan discussed the lack of a roof in the Minnesota stadium designs, and basically chalks it up to “building the stadium they could get”. Massarotti discussed Matsuzaka’s Fenway debut and talked about how it was a bigger deal in Japan than it was here, because now that it is over, it’s just another baseball game. He also touched on how impressive JD Drew has been in Boston thus far and how unimpressive Coco Crisp has been. Gilbert discussed the young Diamondbacks still adjusting to the league, positive news on Randy Johnson returning, and that Chris Young’s injury is improving and he is expected back tomorrow. Slusser talked about Bobby Crosby starting slow and experiencing back spasms, the hot start for Mike Piazza, and the overall typical-A’s start to the season: sluggish bats and no run support for the starting pitching.