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Saturday, April 08, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Lady Baldwin BRO b. 1859, played 1890, d. 1937-03-07 -- "Lady" pitched mainly for the Detroit Wolverines where he was the number two on the 1887 staff that won the World Series. He was a number two because the year before, he threw 56 games, all of them complete, and functioned as the ace of that club on a three-man rotation. With that nickname, one wonders what his other functions might have been.Gary Carter LAN b. 1954, played 1991
Pete Cassidy BRO b. 1873, played 1899, d. 1929-07-09
Turk Farrell LAN b. 1934, played 1961, d. 1977-06-10
Kirby Higbe BRO b. 1915, played 1941-1947, d. 1985-05-06
Damned, Yankees: Angels 4, Yankees 1
Angels win, just because the Angels always beat the Yankees in the playoffs.And, they beat them in the regular season, in no small part because of great fielding plays like Figgy's incredible 5-6-3 DP that got Sheffield to end a Yankees bases-loaded threat in the eighth. Scot Shields may have had rough outings in the spring (8.10 ERA in 3.1 IP), but it's moments like this I could kiss him, in a figurative, mancrush kind of way.-- Ken Arneson
The Halos hoisted the AL West pennant -- and apparently, to some onlookers they appeared "bored and unsatisfied". Then they showed a video clip of the Halos winning the ALDS, and then forgot about the thing that killed them last year -- the offense. Odd signs of the same thing cropped up again, with Vlad going 0-4, and Cabrera 1-4 aside from his game-winning tater. But if the Angels haven't gotten their offense straightened out, if tonight's game is any indication, the Yankees have assembled a tolerable good bullpen, one that blanked the Angels over four and a third before a record crowd of 44,221. Outside of Rivera, there's no greatness waiting there; and neither in the rotation, despite the presence of an aging Randy Johnson. Into that void stepped the Angels, though today he may blank the Angels in the balmy California night; let's see him do it again in October's cold.
Tomko Makes His Annual Win Quota: Dodgers 5, Phillies 3
Is it enough to notice that Brett Tomko is 32-31 over the last three years with the Cards and Giants? His win came as a birthday present to himself, managing to get four strikeouts; and the Danys Baez trade turned out to bear immediate fruit. The offense has been the part of the team that's most likely to be injured, and has been so far; and that part of the offense that wasn't injured but was expected to produce -- the two, three, and four hitters -- had a 0-10 night, and James Loney's 1-5 evening begins to make me wonder just how useful he's going to be as a callup for Nomar. Loney's already well below the Mendoza line in small samples at .182; we certainly need to give him more time to prove himself, but simultaneously, I worry about hurting his development by this rushing him.According to Rick Monday in the radio broadcast, today's game has been rained out, and will be rescheduled early tomorrow.
Roster Notes
- Bronx Banter notes the passing of former Angels minor leaguer Wil Nieves from the Yankees' 25-man roster, to be replaced by former Dodgers prospect Koyie Hill.
- Travs manager Tyrone Boykin on Brandon Wood:
Arkansas shortstop Brandon Wood had never faced Double-A pitching, but it didn't seem like too much of a hazard. Wood went 2-for-4 with a double, homer and a walk in his Travelers debut. "He knows what he's doing up there," Travelers manager Tyrone Boykin told the Springfield News-Leader. "He can hit all pitches. When you are able to get guys on base, you have guys that can drive in runs in Wood, (Matt) Brown and (Bobby) Wilson and (Greg) Porter."
- Real Men Do Yoga: No, I'm not making that up. Tim Salmon credits a book of that name for his ability to even appear on the 25-man roster this year. "My wife got me to try it out," Salmon said. "It's been tremendous."
- Update: The Blue Jays DFA'd Jason Phillips after Phillips made only one start.
- Kelvim Escobar pitched the last four innings of yesterday's game with a split finger. If he goes down for any period of time, expect Jered Weaver to get the callup. Thanks to SABRjoe for the heads up.
- Update 2: "Why I Like Brandon Wood", by John Sickels. Thanks to the Rev for the note.
New Mets Ballpark
I seem to remember seeing something about this from BTF a few days ago, but the Mets have announced their new ballpark, which looks startlingly, to my eyes, like Coors Field, which itself takes a number of architectural cues from Ebbets Field.OT: What Else The Internet Is Good For
Besides baseball stats, I mean. NSFW and charming all at once. Hosted in one of those countries where they don't care much about the Berne Convention and all that copyright jazz, but just for fun I went out and bought the Avenue Q soundtrack, which looks like it ought be a lotta larfs.Update: And apparently the live show is in Vegas now.
Comments:
Should Escobar be unable to go in his next start, do you really think the Angels would call someone up? I mean, if it's just one start, is it worth disrupting the AAA pitching staff this early in the season, when everyone is still working things out, for one start? I would think using someone like Carrasco for a game would be a better idea.
# posted by 
: 4/08/2006 07:48:00 PM
: 4/08/2006 07:48:00 PM
Avenue Q will be closing in May, so if you're planning on catching it in Vegas, now would be the time.
# posted by : 4/09/2006 10:47:00 AM
: 4/09/2006 10:47:00 AM
Avenue Q is a great show, I can't recommend it highly enough. "Everyone's a little bit racist" is the most cogent statement on racism in America I've heard. And there's great puppet sex.
That new Mets park looks ok but the problem with Shea isn't the park, it's the horrible location, right under the LaGuardia Airport takeoff pattern. I guess Mets fans get used to it but I couldn't deal when I saw a game there in 01.
That new Mets park looks ok but the problem with Shea isn't the park, it's the horrible location, right under the LaGuardia Airport takeoff pattern. I guess Mets fans get used to it but I couldn't deal when I saw a game there in 01.
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