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Saturday, May 27, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Snapped: Nationals 10, Dodgers 4
While at last night's Dirtbags game (which the Dirtbags lost, along with the Big West title, to CSUF, 2-0), I was chatting with Rich Lederer as to how the Dodgers weren't as good as they have played lately, and how the Angels weren't as bad. In particular, it seems to me that the Dodgers have a pair of rotation slots they'll have to fill by year's end; neither of Sele nor Tomko can be relied upon to be as good as they have been. Sure enough, Tomko served up the winning runs last night, and the Dodgers' offense, while not stymied, came up short.When Ken Rosenthal went on about how the Dodgers "stole" Andre Ethier from the A's, he had to include in it a bit of a snark at Paul DePodesta, and some undeserved love for "old-school" GM Ned Colletti:
The Dodgers' $99.1 million payroll is the highest in the National League West by nearly $10 million. But it's the team's shrewd gathering of low-cost talent — players developed in the farm system, acquired on scouts' recommendations and mined from previous relationships — that is distinguishing Colletti's first year as GM.Oh, so wait a minute. Colletti gets points for calling up Willy Aybar (drafted in 2000 under the watch of "New Sheriff" Kevin Malone) and Jonathan Broxton (drafted in 2002 under Logan White's watchful eye), yet the same options were not available to Paul DePodesta — whose principle failing was that his best options were playing for AA Jacksonville. It doesn't count among the worst abuses we've seen of the Dodgers' former GM in the press — for that, you'd have to head over to the poison pens of Plaschke or Simers in the Times. It does, however, serve as a reminder that there's not a lot of interest in honestly reviewing the records of men the press finds objectionable, i.e. the Barry Bonds effect.
Inside-The-Park: Angels 5, Orioles 2
"He did. [Dino Ebel] did hold me," Guerrero said through an interpreter. "But I saw the arch of the throw. My job is to be a baserunner and to score."Ah, the irrepressable Vlad. Stubborn man, he's banged himself up to the point of ineffectiveness in the past, ignoring the counsel of Garret Anderson types whose go-slow, baseball's-a-marathon advice ill suits his borderline reckless play. Angels fans are, for once, grateful for the effort; I saw it this morning on my Verizon phone video and what a piece of amazing baserunning it was, too. (Incidentally, why is it that I have to wait until the next freaking day to see a day's great plays? It's just wrong, I tell you.)
Of course, the reason for Vlad's inside-the-park'er was the injury to a lumbering Jay Gibbons. Unable to field the ball cleanly, he only got off a weak throw back to Kevin Millar, and Millar's throw in turn was offline.
But if I had to pick one offensive moment of real importance for the team, well, what else but Dallas McPherson's home run? The kids need to get going; this is where they do. Let's go, (young) Angels.
Bullety Stuff
- Pat Borders has retired.
- Casey Kotchman is irked at the Angels for failing to send him to see specialists until months after he was diagnosed with mono, and well after the regular season started. He was on hyperbaric chamber treatments and taking intravenous fluids three times a week when he was with the Angels.
"I'm just now seeing a specialist. They're the ones who told me I had mono," he said. "You guys make your own [conclusions]…. If you wait to treat something, it might take longer, and you might have relapses.
"It's nice to get medicine three months after your diagnosis," he quipped, but sarcasm in print isn't the best medicine for your career, either, Casey."I just want to get my health back. My quality of life has been brutal."
- The Angels for now assume Jered Weaver will return to Salt Lake when Bartolo Colón comes back from his DL stint, but Mike Scioscia allowed as to how he could win a job, which might mean moving brother Jeff to the bullpen, or trading a starter. Brother Jeff recommended he bring a week's worth of clothes; "If all goes well, you can have the rest shipped out."
- Logan White, Jr. is a big Russell Martin fan back in Arizona, and now we know at least one element in the Dodgers front office who might have a personal reason for wanting their spring training facilities moved.
Comments:
another bullet from last night:
Troy Glaus made his first MLB start at shortstop last night and had a helluva game to boot.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260526114
Troy Glaus made his first MLB start at shortstop last night and had a helluva game to boot.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260526114
That's right, Depodesta's failing was not rushing the prospects to the bigs and not trading them away when the going got rough. Now Colletti is reaping the benefits of it while complaining about spending money on the draft. I swear, Colletti may have the connections but its his development system that is doing a bang up job. Repko, Ethier, Broxton, Martin and Aybar are from the system. Colletti brought us Kenny Lofton, Daqnys Baez, Lance Carter and Ramon Martinez. Which group has been more instrumental? I applaud Colletti on managing the resources but he has to learn to acquire those resources too.
# posted by 
: 5/28/2006 02:58:00 AM
: 5/28/2006 02:58:00 AM
It does, however, serve as a reminder that there's not a lot of interest in honestly reviewing the records of men the press finds objectionable, i.e. the Barry Bonds effect.
I have never seen the point of paying attention to ethics lectures from a class of people who recieve free food from the organizations they cover.
I have never seen the point of paying attention to ethics lectures from a class of people who recieve free food from the organizations they cover.
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