6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: Pickoff Moves

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Monday, March 27, 2006

Pickoff Moves

Today's Birthdays

Bill Collins BRO b. 1882, played 1913, d. 1961-06-26
Wes Covington LAN b. 1932, played 1966
Newt Kimball BRO b. 1915, played 1940-1943, d. 2001-03-22
George Magoon BRO b. 1875, played 1898, d. 1943-12-06
Adam Melhuse LAN b. 1972, played 2000
Vince Sherlock BRO b. 1910, played 1935, d. 1997-05-11
Bill Sudakis LAN,CAL b. 1946, played 1968-1975

Roster Notes

Barry Bonds says his elbow is just a little sore, and shouldn't cause any problems. Giants trainer Stan Conte put Bonds on anti-inflammatories and he responded almost immediately to the treatment, regaining full motion with no pain.
Update: A conflicting report from the AP says he won't swing again in the Cactus League.
Former Dodger prospect Mike Nixon reinvents himself as an Arizona State safety. No, he doesn't miss spring training.
High comedy using Jeromy Burnitz as a punchline: "At least now, he doesn't have to face the Pirates' pitching." Or maybe, not (.213/.294/.410 vs. the Pirates' staff's .267 average against the league).
Hee Seop Choi may end up at AAA Pawtucket.
My lousy lefty for your rotten righty: The A's traded RHP Juan Cruz to the Diamondbacks for LHP Brad Halsey.
It's official: Ian Kinsler is the Rangers' starting second baseman. Mark DeRosa will be a bench player.
Frank Thomas struck out in his first at bat in an A's uniform, but he homered in his second, against Rockies starter Josh Fogg.
Brendan Donnelly has added a split-fingered fastball to his repertoire.
Ramon Martinez has made the team over Oscar Robles; Robles' role with the Dodgers is now unknown, although he could still make the club if the team goes with 11 pitchers instead of 12.
Eric Gagné's fastball was clocked at 89 MPH in Sunday's game; he collected a win and a blown save.
Update: Edwin Jackson got shelled in Saturday's game against the Yankees, surrendering six runs, four earned, in 3.2 IP.
The A's are looking to move Freddie Bynum, who might end up with the Phillies or Marlins as a super-U type guy.
The Rangers are also shopping David Dellucci.
Jake Peavy denied ESPN reports that he had laser eye surgery (can't find the ESPN story this refers to, though).
Antonio Perez will miss a couple more days, as he's still reporting dizziness since taking a foul ball to the nose.
Rotoworld speculates that former Angels prospect Steve Andrade might have sewn up a spot in the Padres bullpen with his spring performance.

Baseball Analysts' Two-On-Two AL West Preview

In which I, Blez, Bryan "this clown" Smith, and Rich Lederer engage Option J, with the referent being our crystal balls (ahem) regarding the AL West. No surprise that we all picked the A's to win the division.

Jon Weisman's Hardball Times Dodgers Preview

It's that time again, and Jon does the honors at THT for the Dodgers.

Dodgers 3, Braves 2

Any time Aaron Sele throws three scoreless innings, you have to fear he's going to make the team. No such worrisome noises have come out of Grady Little's mouth just yet, but. I'm just saying.

Rafael Furcal drove in all the Los Angeles of Los Angeles runs. Yay. Oh, get here soon, regular season, I'm tired of not caring about the results of games save that they let one or the other incompetent fifth bullpen pitcher on the team.

Recap

Angels 15, Mariners 3

The Angels put up a conga line of hitters in this one, mostly against Mariners scrub relievers. The game was all about vetting the last couple places in the Mariners' bullpen; according to Jeff at Lookout Landing,

There's one good ERA in the entire group, and it scares the hell out of me. ... The other way to look at it, of course, is that while the guys near the bottom of the depth chart have had awful springs, the locks have been anywhere from acceptable to terrific, with Julio Mateo being the only pitcher guaranteed a roster spot to have an ERA over 4. And while I realize that ERA is an awful way to judge performance, particularly over such limited samples, it's really quick, and shut up. In case you were curious, Hernandez/Moyer/Washburn/Pineiro/Meche have combined for an FIP right around 4.00 with a decent K/BB. I'm not thrilled, but I'm certainly not disappointed.

For the Angels, it was hopefully a last look to see whether Jeff Weaver was lying when he told us a couple starts ago that he hadn't mixed in any breaking stuff to his repertoire and that was the reason for getting shelled. Giving up eight hits over six innings wasn't the most compelling outing, but neither did he walk anyone. As a result, he's been dubbed the team's third starter, which would mean the staff should shake out Colón-Lackey-Weaver-Escobar-Santana, unless something should happen to Colón that would make it impossible for him to take on the role of first starter.

Like his buggered up shoulder.

Shields' horrible outing is something to monitor; I don't remember when he looked so bad, save after last year's painful stretch following the August Blue Jays series. Anyway, Angels bats were all over the garbage end of the M's staff, and reacted accordingly, with every Angels starter collecting at least one hit. Perhaps most importantly, Tim Salmon got a homer, and he played as the DH -- while Anderson played left, a huge development. Anderson made at least one really nice catch against the wall, and hopefully he can continue to do that. Garret thinks if he can run the bases, he can play the outfield, and whether that's true or not, he's also not 100% by his own admission.

Recap

// posted by Rob @ 8:07 AM link // 0 comments