Tuesday, July 05, 2005 |
Pickoff Moves
Twins 7, Angels 5
God, what awful pitching. Lackey just couldn't hold on for the win, the Angels were chronically behind, no thanks to some stupid-aggressive baserunning (thank you, Adam Kennedy and Ron Roenicke). Lack constantly fell behind in the count, couldn't get the third out -- in other words, reverting to his old, bad, pre-May self. It reminds me of the Dodgers' 2004 rotation: lots of depth, but nobody you'd really call a stopper. You'll win a lot of regular season games that way, but get the boot in the first round of the playoffs.This game should have been winnable. You don't just score five runs and lose; your pitching staff has to let you down.
Battle Of The AAA All-Stars: Dodgers 4, Rockies 3
This was like watching two triple-A teams play on the moon; lousy fielding, Colorado's pitching better than it should have been thanks to the enfeebled Dodger attack, and neither team really able to get much in the way of traction. It tells you something when Oscar Robles has a 5-6 day and both clubs go to extras: this team is doomed. There, I've said it (again); the rest is playing out the string, and auditioning for the 2006 bench.Matt Trumbo Interview
Angels 2004 18th round pick Matt Trumbo is learning the ropes at first base after pitching in high school. How's he doing so far?Through Sunday and after 12 games, Trumbo had two home runs and a league-leading eight doubles. Although it's still early in the season and concerns exist about his proclivity for striking out (he's already punched out 15 times), Trumbo has thus far produced the kind of power numbers that the Angels envisioned when they signed him....
His substantial net worth aside, Trumbo favors frugality over excess because there's no guarantee that he'll ever draw a big league paycheck.
"The biggest thing I've done is leasing a car," said Trumbo. "I try not to spend too much. There's no point to going out and making frivolous purchases. I try to invest it wisely; I have people working on that for me."
The Slow, Painful Wasting Disease Of Brian Sabean
Are the Dodgers injured, replaced with the mere simulacra of major league ballplayers as if by alien abduction? Well, one can reasonably say that DePodesta couldn't have foreseen it. But imagine the pain of being a Giants fan. Imagine, for instance, being thirteen games under .500 and ten games out of first. (Ah, but no team in the NL West, save the Padres, has a winning record, you respond. Shush.) Imagine watching Brian Sabean systematically dismantle a championship team:The Giants offense '02 was built around a core of Bonds, Kent, and Aurilia, (all of whom were among the best at their positions in the league) and only Bonds is still around. Not one player the Giants have signed since '02 could be considered a top player at his position. Not one pitcher, not one hitter, not one. Not one replacement, at any position, could be considered an upgrade over who was manning the spot in 2002.I forgive him his ignorance of what happened last year with Bartolo Colon and his mediocrity, not to mention his utter collapse in the postseason; but it's hard to understand what he means by "top talent" in the case of a fading Mark Mulder (4.63 ERA, 9-5). The Cardinals were had, and every bit as much as the Giants, whose unreasonable ejection of Jeff Kent he rightly castigates, when they acquired aging, over-the-hill veterans. It's suicide by design, fueled partly by an inability to pay for everyone on the roster, but also by Sabean simply making a long ugly string of misjudgements that started right after the fireworks went off in Anaheim on October 27, 2002....
And I haven't even talked about the team that beat the Giants in the World Series. The Angels followed the Cardinals path, in that they too got younger, and better. Bartolo Colon, Vladimir Guerrero, two young All Stars, were added to the team that was already good enough to win it all.
Meanwhile, the Giants added Michael Tucker and Brett Tomko and Damian Moss and Jim Brower and Matt Herges and Mike Matheny and Edgardo Alfonzo and Ray Durham and one old, decrepit stiff after another. Every single player the Giants signed was flawed in some way; too old, bad hands, no stick, inconsistent, injured, too young. On and on and on.
Millions and millions of dollars thrown away, and now we're told that the 2005 season is still in play. It's not. And we all know why.
: 7/05/2005 11:49:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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