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

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Sunday, April 16, 2006

Pickoff Moves

Today's Birthdays

Sergio Robles LAN b. 1946, played 1976
Paul Waner BRO b. 1903, played 1941-1944, d. 1965-08-29

Not much of a list, is it?

Roster Notes

Virtual Mike Edwards Alert: Grady Little "loves" Cody Ross, and so the Dodgers have six outfielders. Trade? Release Kenny Lofton? Mmm.
Rafael Furcal has been playing for the last week with a jammed finger, according to the Daily News.
Grady Little says he likes what he's seen so far from right-hander Takashi Saito, but "[h]e has to do it for a length of time before I put a label like [designated setup man] on him. He is working himself into" the setup role.
Nomar Garciaparra took swings yesterday, at a level Little called "85 percent". He'll need at least two straight days of hard batting practice and more fielding practice time before he can return to full baseball activities.
Not directly related to the Dodgers or Angels, but the Pirates disabled Sean Casey for two months as the result of a collision at first base. It didn't look like much of a hit in replays, but he got knocked on the spine and apparently fractured a pair of vertebra.

Another Adjustment Wood Has To Make

They just aren't going to give him anything to hit:

“I have been talking to him about it even coming into the year in spring training,” said Boykin, who was Wood’s manager all of last season. “I told him last year in the California League — they didn’t pitch around him a great deal; they gave him a free pass here and there if they had an open base or whatever — but I told him, ‘I guarantee you, you get to Double A and it’s going to happen a lot more than you’re used to.’ ”
After Wood went 4 for 5 with a home run and a double in Tuesday’s 7-4, 10-inning victory at Wichita, Wranglers reliever John Gragg nibbled the plate and walked Wood on four pitches in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game.

That's funny, because Wood's only had six walks in 40 plate appearances. It's a sign that he may stay at AA a little longer than this story anticipates:

Wood opened the season with a home run in his first game at Springfield, and he was 4 for 5 with a home run in Tuesday’s 7-4, 10-inning victory at Wichita. But Boykin has seen enough player movement in his two previous stints at Arkansas — in 2003-2004 — and last year at Rancho Cucamonga, to know he can’t count on Wood’s bat all year.
Promotions frequently come at the midseason All-Star break. The Texas League first half ends June 18, and the All-Star Game is June 20 at Ray Winder Field.
“It all depends on what happens up top and if these guys continue to have the years they’re capable of, the halfway point, there’s a very good chance we won’t see them,” Boykin said. “If they start the second half with us — who knows? — they may be out of here within a week. That’s usually how it goes.”

// posted by Rob @ 10:37 AM link // 1 comments