Wednesday, April 26, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Sal Maglie BRO b. 1917, played 1956-1957, d. 1992-12-28. Maglie came up with the Giants in 1945 and to stay in 1950 as a 33-year-old "rookie", playing for them through 1955. Traded to Cleveland late in the season, the Tribe transliterated him into a Bums uni the next year. Maglie, known as "the Barber" for his love of brushback pitches, started and won the first game of the 1956 World Series, but lost game 5; of course, the Brooklyn Dodgers went on to win their only World Series title despite the loss. In 1957, the Dodgers traded him to the Yankees; he was out of baseball following the 1958 season, at age 41.
Packy Rogers BRO b. 1913, played 1938, d. 1998-05-15
Ricky Trlicek LAN b. 1969, played 1993
Hack Wilson BRO b. 1900, played 1932-1934, d. 1948-11-23. Update: What a goombah I am for failing to make mention of this Hall of Famer who played for Brooklyn at the end of an illustrious career. Mostly punching his ticket to Cooperstown with the Cubs, he holds the major league record for single-season RBIs (in 1930, with an impossible 191). He had one good season at Ebbets, a .297/.366/.538 1932 for an unremarkable 77-77 team, and faded away from there.
Experiment Gone Bad: Tigers 5, Angels 2
The Hector Carrasco Experiment has turned out less than successful, but I think of it as Bill Stoneman keeping his word, more or less; it's unlikely to last, but its termination will surely be interesting. Does it end when the Angels get a healthy Bartolo Colón back? I have my doubts as to whether Bart will be healthy this year, or at least, any time soon. If, as has been suggested by Will Carroll, Colón's injury is a holdover from last year, additional rest won't help much. Then, do we begin the Jered Weaver Experiment? Given the wildly disparate results of his last two starts — one bad, one good — it's hard to say how much confidence the front office has with that approach, impressive early season outings notwithstanding.Vlad continues to do jack-all at the plate, and it makes me worry that he's nursing a leftover injury from last year. But, it's going around: the Tigers 3-hit the Angels. Get 'em today, I hope, in a businessman's special.
No Matinee: Astros 4, Dodgers 3
Of the two games played yesterday, this one was by far the most entertaining, if only because I'm a sucker for pitcher's duels. My favorite Dodger game of all time remains Jerry Reuss's June 27, 1980 no-hitter against the Giants. Unfortunately, this one went against the Dodgers — face it, in the other guy's park, it's likely — though I did think it was pretty strange to bring in Odalis Perez, who had struck out only once this year, but had made contact all the other times, as a pinch hitter so late in the game. On the other hand, he's scheduled to pitch today. No doubt the 'Stros will stack the lineup with righties, and with that short left porch, we could see some fireworks. Stay tuned.Roster Notes
- I asked above where the Hector Carrasco Experiment might end, and we have an answer, of sorts, in that now we at least have a timeline for the Experiment's termination. Carrasco will not make his next start, according to Mike Scioscia. Bartolo Colón will not make his next start, either, and so now the team floats names Jered Weaver and — gulp — Kevin Gregg.
- Maicer Izturis is out at least a month.
- Juan Rivera will start swinging a bat this Friday.
- Garret Anderson's plantar fascitis continues to bother him, though he's been able to tough it out in the field so far.
- Lance Carter has ordered his dad to send videotapes of his successful games back in 2003, but maybe he's just a lousy pitcher.
- Cesar Izturis will almost certainly not be with the team in May; he may not even get a minor league rehab assignment until June.
- It's not like you're fragile or anything, Nomar, but... Nomar Garciaparra says his ribcage still hurts, but he's playing through the pain. Expect another stint on the DL any day now. Sheesh.
- Giants starter Noah Lowry will make a rehab start at single-A San Jose on Friday.
- Rangers 2B Ian Kinsler is a couple weeks away from a minor league rehab stint.
- Milton Bradley has sprained his knee and is day-to-day.
- Bobby Crosby has returned to the A's lineup.
There's No Guarantees, Right Mickey?
Steve Bischeff of the Register reminds us that rookies come with no guarantees:The irrepressible Casey Stengel, in one of his final years managing the Mets, was watching from the dugout one day when the franchise's highly regarded catching prospect was preparing to play in a spring training game.Sure enough. Jeff Mathis and Casey Kotchman are pressing, hard, both well below the Mendoza Line. But what's this?Someone wanted to know what he thought of the kid, who had just turned 20.
"Well," mused Ol' Case, "in 10 years, he has a good chance to be 30."
"You've got to work counts," [hitting coach Mickey] Hatcher tells them. "They're not swinging at good pitches. Kotchman keeps swinging at pitches in the dirt. I told him, those guys in the stands (scouts from other teams), they see him do that, and the next team that comes in here is going to do the same thing."Who are you and what have you done with Mickey Hatcher?
"Jack-all" means he did absolutely nothing.
Not a two-pitch pitcher, that one.
: 4/26/2006 06:03:00 PMNewer› ‹Older
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