Monday, July 03, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Meta: Late And Sweaty
Trying to get the dogs walked first today before the sauna outside becomes too punishing. Fortunately, I rewired the house for A/C two years ago; one of the best things I ever did for my own sanity, plus I got to learn a good bit of the residential electrical code.Today's Birthdays
Quite a group today:Cliff Curtis BRO b. 1881, played 1912-1913, d. 1943-04-23. Three years ago when the Tigers were horrible — remember that? — Mike Maroth became the first pitcher in 23 years to lose 20 or more games in a season. (In fact, he went 9-21 for the season.) Hall of Famer Al Kaline said of Maroth that, "You've got to be a pretty good pitcher to lose 20 games, because they have to keep giving you the ball." Or, management might just be clueless. Or, they have no better options.
Cliff Curtis was a guy who made you wonder which of the above was true. He was promising enough that people would take a chance on him repeatedly, but never quite good enough to actually win reliably. As a 27-year-old for the last-place 1909 Boston Braves, he went 4-5, the best winning percentage on the team, but he lost 21 games the next year. He finished his career with the sixth-place 1913 Brooklyn Superbas, an 8-9 record that was a career best. At least he went out on a good note...
Jack Dalton BRO b. 1885, played 1910, 1914. He got four hits off Christy Mathewson in his second major league appearance, and how about that?
Art Fowler LAA,LAN b. 1922, played 1959, 1961-1964. An original Angel at age 38, he was the team's closer in 1961 and managed to keep going until 41, which probably says more about how little pitching the Angels clubs of those days had than it does about how good Fowler was. Released by the Angels after only a few games in 1964, he went on to play in Denver's American Association franchise, where he saved 15 games and won nine — as a 48-year-old in 1970.
Luke Hamlin BRO b. 1904, played 1937-1941, d. 1978-02-18. Nicknamed "Hot Potato" because he juggled the ball while warming up on the mound, he also got criticized publicly by Leo Durocher because leads tended to get away from him. He led the league in 1939 with 36 starts; he won 20 of them. Upon seeing an old Lincoln/Hamlin political poster, the ascerbic Durocher quipped, "It proves Lincoln was a great man; he could win even with Hamlin."
Danny Heep LAN b. 1957, played 1987-1988
Ed Roebuck BRO,LAN b. 1931, played 1955-1958, 1960-1963. An anchor for the Dodgers' bullpens of the middle 50's and early 60's, he pitched two scoreless innings in the lost cause of Game 6 of the 1955 series, and pitched in three games of the 1956 World Series, allowing only one earned run in four and a third innings of work. Shoulder trouble cost him a whole year in 1959; he went to Washington and Philadelphia before retiring in 1966.
Howie Schultz BRO b. 1922, played 1943-1947. The man who was Wally Pipp'd for a higher purpose, and a much better player.
Frank Tanana CAL b. 1953, played 1973-1980, All-Star: 1976-1978. Top 100 Angel Tanana was the backbone of the 70's Angels rotations, starting more games than any other southpaw in AL history. A phenominal pitcher whose career just can't be squeezed into such a small space; I commend to you his Rich Lederer-penned biography, linked above.
John Verhoeven CAL b. 1953, played 1976-1977
Roster Notes
- A couple items I missed yesterday: Dallas McPherson will miss his expected return date and probably won't be back until after the All-Star break.
- Casey Kotchman has yet to play any games at Arizona: "[t]here is no timetable for Kotchman's return and playing this season for the Angels remains in doubt."
- Grady Little thinks the team isn't having good at-bats, and so he held a team meeting yesterday to emphasize this:
"I just tried to let them know what I was thinking about," Little said. "I think the effort is there, but we just need to get back into a pattern where people are performing the best they can do. We just didn't get enough quality at-bats put together like we used to do when we were playing good and scoring runs."
I can totally sympathize... I mean, losing to the Angels, f'r chrissakes......
"I just tried to let them know what I was thinking about," Little said. "I think the effort is there, but we just need to get back into a pattern where people are performing the best they can do. We just didn't get enough quality at-bats put together like we used to do when we were playing good and scoring runs."
- Brad Penny made the All-Star team with a 9-2 start that is the best of his career.
- Mark Hendrickson will make his next scheduled start despite getting hit squarely on the forearm by a Vlad Guerrero line drive.
- Just as a side note, Jon points out this Kevin Chavez column in the Whittier Daily News in which Chavez takes the surprising position that paying for back-of-the-rotation junk with high-ceiling prospects isn't a smart move. It's surprising because most of the Dodgers beat coverage out there these days accepts whatever the Dodgers front office says unquestioningly; I'm shocked we haven't had the usual Plaschke weigh-in on this trade of veteran moxie for an unproven rookie yet.
- Mariners centerfielder (and former Dirtbag) Jeremy Reed broke his thumb and will miss the remainder of the season.
- Giants outfielder Moises Alou won't make his expected return date from the DL.
- A trip to the DL is possible for A's third baseman Eric Chavez if he doesn't improve from multiple injuries soon enough.
- Bobby Kielty is probably a scratch for today's game, also.
- Rich Harden should return to the A's lineup around the end of July.
- Good guy Dave Roberts should return to the Padres lineup on Tuesday following a severe bruise incurred in a June 17 game against the Angels. He'll be playing in a rehab game tonight with the Lake Elsinore Storm.
- One of Jim Tracy's favorite toys is broken: Mike Edwards was optioned to AAA Indianapolis.
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