Tuesday, August 24, 2004 |
Pickoff Moves
Nomo To Return To Rotation, Penny Out 'Til Mid-September
Hideo Nomo will absolutely return to the rotation if Ishii implodes, writes Bill Shaikin in the Times. "Manager Jim Tracy said the Dodgers would not hesitate to replace [Ishii] in the rotation with Hideo Nomo."Penny won't be back 'til mid-September or so. "[N]erve irritation from the injury did not abate as the strain healed, with the resulting pain and numbness in the arm delaying Penny's recovery."
Angels, Dodgers To Draw Seven Million Fans
According to ESPN's attendance log, the top three draws in baseball are
| Team | Attendance |
|---|---|
| Yankees | 2,998,154 |
| Dodgers | 2,760,635 |
| Angels | 2,555,378 |
which is to say, Southern California is baseball's top market. With the Angels averaging 93% capacity crowds, the team's on target to yet another 3,000,000-plus year.
"If we did fill the seats back in the day, a lot of them were rooting for the other team. You don't see that around here anymore," Percival said. "And we get more people out here from more areas now. In Riverside, everywhere I go, people say, 'I was at the game last night.' "Despite that footnote, the Dodgers and Angels could amass 7,000,000 attendance, the best combined market in the big leagues. Not that shedding payroll will necessarily have a negative effect; the Angels will lose Troy Percival, and the Dodgers Todd Hundley (remember him?)....
Moreno also built a reservoir of goodwill by committing nearly $200 million to lure free agents, including superstar Vladimir Guerrero, and retain outfielder Garret Anderson. However, Moreno and McCourt each plan to cut payroll this winter, a delicate challenge for championship hopefuls.
Giants' Schmidt To Skip Next Start
Something to keep an eye on: Jason Schmidt has a sore groin, and will miss his next start. I've made a lot of the Giants' easy schedule down the stretch, but losing Schmidt could prove catastrophic, Noah Lowry or no.Incidentally, Lowry, the phenom who held the Cubbies to two earned runs early in August also imploded against the Phillies to the tune of six runs, all earned. I wrote earlier that he might be one of those pitchers the Giants can ride into the postseason, but maybe he's not the Giants' answer to K-Rod.
Thanks, Gary
Gary Sheffield announced last Wednesday that he wouldn't get surgery on his shoulder. After a three-game series with the Angels in which he netted a double and a home run in addition to going 5-12, I can't say the Yanks aren't getting their money's worth, but at least his injured wing didn't hurt us too much.
The Angels can afford to cut their payroll because (as you pointed out) they have several inflated contracts that are soon to come off the books and a glut of prospects ready to step in to fill the void left by the absence big free agents. The Dodgers don't have that second luxury.
And of course the biggest loss the Dodgers are going to suffer is Beltre. Ouch.
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