Sunday, August 08, 2004 |
Pickoff Moves
Angels 6, Royals 4
Hot dog, we swept, but God help us if we ever see real pitching. Like, you know, the A's. And what is with the no TV thing? Man, was that lousy. But, here's some positives we can take away from this:- Anderson hit two doubles in the series. He hasn't hit for extra base hits in consecutive games since June 13-15, when he hit two home runs in consecutive games against the Cubs and Pirates.
- Quinlan continued his hypnosis-induced trance that has caused him to hit like, you know, Salmon should be, going 4-11 on the series.
- Figgins looks to be returning to form, coming out of a Twins-induced slumplet.
- Look, just because Josh Paul has a .286 average doesn't mean anybody will take it seriously. Two strikeouts against this club's woeful pitching is like Don Rickles coming after a fat guy in a nightclub: it's an easy mark.
- Hey, we're a game and a half back of Oakland and in a three-way tie for the Wild Card. Woot!
Phillies 4, Dodgers 1
First off, I should mention that I'm working on a summary of all the contenders' pitching situations that I hope to have done by Wednesday. I hadn't planned on evicting Brad Penny from the Dodger rotation, but it might happen anyway, as Penny got pulled for a strained right bicep. I won't believe that this nullifies the value of DePo's trade as constituted, but if you're the Fish, right now you exhaled. (Stay tuned tomorrow, when we get the MRI back.) Thanks to Dodger Thoughts reader The Ghost of Tom Niedenfuer for forwarding this Will Carroll column about Penny:On the other end of this deal is Brad Penny, one of the three walking, tossing poster children for pitcher abuse in the Florida rotation. Penny avoided his usual overuse by coming up with a lame elbow in mid-May as well as dealing with Beckett-like blisters later in the season. Rumors circulated fairly regularly last season that Penny's elbow was not the only concern, but that his shoulder had come up abnormal during an MRI. While tears were not seen, sources indicated that Penny had some lesions inside his shoulder capsule and according to some reports he may have the dreaded Hill-Sachs lesions that would imply rotator cuff problems.Well, isn't that special?Penny, as a power pitcher with a history of overuse and questionable mechanics, is as close to a ticking time bomb without setting off the new detectors at airports as a player can be.
Awful game today; the best thing to come of it was Carrarra's great pitching in relief. He's much improved from the last time I remember seeing him for an extended stretch, back in 2002. Too bad the Dodgers were hacking at everything.
Somehow the Padres found a way to lose, and the Giants found a way to beat a very shaky Kerry Wood. Through whatever miracle, we're still six and a half up. Our luck right now is unbelievable. Even so, I have the unquenchable feeling the Dodgers will get absolutely creamed by one of (a) the Braves or (b) the Cards once we collide. The Cards we'll get to see in September.
If we lose tomorrow night, I'll know where to look...
Bob -- our SD friends with Pads season tickets say their OF defense is really weak, with guys switching off between 1B and OF, or something like that. Aside from a punchless outfield, they also suffer from last-year-of-a-former-great syndrome in David Wells and Rod Beck. A pretty good team, far superior to the 2003 Padres, but not a great one -- or one even really capable of getting out of the NL West.
Newer› ‹Older
 |
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.