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Wednesday, July 12, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Artie Dede BRO b. 1895, played 1916, d. 1971-09-06
Ron Fairly LAN,CAL b. 1938, played 1958-1969, 1978, All-Star: 1973, 1977. Along with Paul Popovich, one of the two guys used to get a second helping of Maury Wills and legendary pinch-hitter Manny Mota. A solid hitter but not such a good runner, he was once asked whether he'd lost any speed with age; he replied, "There was nothing to lose."
Al Glossop BRO b. 1914, played 1943, d. 1991-07-02
Ray Mowe BRO b. 1889, played 1913, d. 1968-08-14
Mike Munoz LAN b. 1965, played 1989-1990
Jim Pastorius BRO b. 1881, played 1906-1909, d. 1941-05-10
Kelly Wunsch LAN b. 1972, played 2005. And he still isn't back into a bullpen that could probably use a mediocre reliever. Too bad he's got an 8.31 ERA in Vegas.
Plaschkean Malpractice Again
The world hasn't been subjected to the incompetent typings of Times hack journo Bill Plaschke in over a month, and yet what do we read today but another inane hatchet job on the trade that brought one of the Dodgers' two best pitchers into town. As usual, it's riddled with easily verifiable errors and readily dismissed claims:- No, Gagné wasn't overused post-Mota, as he pitched the exact same number of innings in 2004 as he did in 2003.
- Even if you believe he shouldn't have been allowed to pitch more than two innings, wouldn't it have shown up in his stats that year? Sure, his August, 2004 numbers were worse than usual (4.24 ERA), but he came right back in September to post a 2.08 ERA. If that's supposed to tell a tale of abuse, well, it's not working.
- Guillermo Mota's currently posting a 6.12 ERA for the Indians and getting opportunities to pitch mostly in mopup situations. Would that same guy still be Gagné's wingman? It's highly unlikely.
- And finally, the Mets are paying Paul LoDuca $6M a year for the privilege of having a banjo-hitting catcher with a well-known tendency to melt down in the second half (.302/.356/.426 in the first half over the previous three full seasons, vs. .249/.307/.345). With Russ Martin in the wings, wouldn't the Dodgers have likely had to move Lo Duca anyway?
- Update: Yes, Hee-Seop Choi is hitting .207 in AAA Pawtucket. Got me there.
BTF snark here.
AL 3, NL 2
Zzzz. Actually, Trevor Hoffman's blown save was the most exciting thing I can remember at any All-Star game of recent vintage. And so, back to the regular season, already.
Comments:
Seriously, how dumb is Plaschke? Do the editors not read his drivel? I could understand why, but come on. How is it that they let the guy continue to write things that are just flat-out false?
# posted by 
: 7/12/2006 09:43:00 AM
: 7/12/2006 09:43:00 AM
Hank Blalock's blast off of Gagne was pretty exciting. The whole 2003 game was pretty good with GA getting the MVP.
Speaking of which, why is GA never mentioned as a guy who may have been juicing? Not saying he was by any means, but he kind of fits the profile. Late career power surge, regression under the new testing regime, mysterious injury, etc. You never hear his name brought up, though.
Speaking of which, why is GA never mentioned as a guy who may have been juicing? Not saying he was by any means, but he kind of fits the profile. Late career power surge, regression under the new testing regime, mysterious injury, etc. You never hear his name brought up, though.
man, i pretty much hate the AL. except for my A's and certain other individual players who are awesome. i'm getting really sick of the league disparity.
I've wondered about GA as well, who also looks a bit skinnier all around than he was in, say, 2002 or 2003.
But really, we can all speculate until the proverbial cows come home. What's the point?
We know for a fact that Bonds, Sheffield, Giambi & Derrick Turnbow used steroids because they've admitted it in one way or another. And of course, the guys who were actually caught like Palmeiro. But otherwise, who knows?
But really, we can all speculate until the proverbial cows come home. What's the point?
We know for a fact that Bonds, Sheffield, Giambi & Derrick Turnbow used steroids because they've admitted it in one way or another. And of course, the guys who were actually caught like Palmeiro. But otherwise, who knows?
# posted by : 7/12/2006 10:06:00 AM
: 7/12/2006 10:06:00 AM
To my knowledge, Turnbow didn't use steroids or anything prohibitted by MLB, at least at the time. The supplement he used was on the banned list by international baseball, and it showed up in a test before an internation tournament. I don't believe he was ever suspended by major or minor league baseball.
G.A.'s has ahad a late-career regression, not a power surge.
Brendan Donnelly was the winning pitcher in the 2003 All-Star Game, GA the MVP , Scioscia the wining manager, and A.L. President Jackie Autry the League winner.
Ron Fairly called Angels games on television in like 1980 and he was terrible - imagine Rex Hudlerand all the dumb ex-jock attitude - but instead of having a dorky side that wanted to appeal to kids, Fairly had a hypercompetitive jock side that reminded everyone he could still kick your ass because he had played the game, you lil' punk.
Brendan Donnelly was the winning pitcher in the 2003 All-Star Game, GA the MVP , Scioscia the wining manager, and A.L. President Jackie Autry the League winner.
Ron Fairly called Angels games on television in like 1980 and he was terrible - imagine Rex Hudlerand all the dumb ex-jock attitude - but instead of having a dorky side that wanted to appeal to kids, Fairly had a hypercompetitive jock side that reminded everyone he could still kick your ass because he had played the game, you lil' punk.
# posted by : 7/12/2006 12:24:00 PM
: 7/12/2006 12:24:00 PM
Seitz, GA picked up his injury in 2004, before testing actually began (granted, they were doing exploratory testing to see if they would test in the future, but no consequences for an individual). He was hurt much of Spring Training, still started the season, got his 4 year contract extension and then went onto the DL to figure out what the hell was wrong with him. It certainly is possible that something fishy went on there, but I think that the loss of power is entirely due to the arthritis and not really because of a loss of muscle.
Seitz: correct that Turnbow's positive test was not the product of testing pursuant to either MLB or the minor league testing program, but rather an international tournament (Olympics?). Here's a link to an article in Baseball America (written by Bill Shaikin of the LAT).
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/040107turnbow.html
"Steroids" has (unfortuntely, for those including myself who like to be accurate) become the generic term for any type of performance enhancing substance, including steroid "precursors."
I actually just found another BBA article (from January 2003, about Termell Sledge), but it includes this specific info. "Turnbow acknowledged taking an over-the-counter nutritional supplement containing 19-norandrosterone, known in gyms as "19-nor[.]"
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/040114sledge.html
I suspect that this substance is now banned by MLB, but wasn't at the time.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/040107turnbow.html
"Steroids" has (unfortuntely, for those including myself who like to be accurate) become the generic term for any type of performance enhancing substance, including steroid "precursors."
I actually just found another BBA article (from January 2003, about Termell Sledge), but it includes this specific info. "Turnbow acknowledged taking an over-the-counter nutritional supplement containing 19-norandrosterone, known in gyms as "19-nor[.]"
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/040114sledge.html
I suspect that this substance is now banned by MLB, but wasn't at the time.
# posted by : 7/12/2006 03:24:00 PM
: 7/12/2006 03:24:00 PM
not much comment about this All-Star game?
Angel v Dodger .... and Vlad hit's a remarkable HR
The NL talent was the Mets and vice versa - plus they had some cool helmets.
AL, down to their last strike, pulls it out!! .... and makes it 10 games undeafeated!
i thought it was a decent game of pitching, and the throw from Wrells was pretty cool too.
Angel v Dodger .... and Vlad hit's a remarkable HR
The NL talent was the Mets and vice versa - plus they had some cool helmets.
AL, down to their last strike, pulls it out!! .... and makes it 10 games undeafeated!
i thought it was a decent game of pitching, and the throw from Wrells was pretty cool too.
Paul Popoovich played in the backcourt of the West Virginia Team that had Jerry West on it.
# posted by : 7/12/2006 07:38:00 PM
: 7/12/2006 07:38:00 PMNewer› ‹Older
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