Friday, July 14, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
John Dopson CAL b. 1963, played 1994. Bill James had a "garbage" stat he called the Index of Self-Destructive Acts that summed a pitcher's wild pitches, hit batters, errors, and balks. In his first year with Boston, Dopson had fifteen balks, including a June 13, 1989 game against Detroit in which he balked four times, twice in one inning, one of which drove in a run, and two of which put men in scoring position who did, in fact, score. He finished his career with the Angels with a 1-4 season over five starts and 21 appearances.
Pepe Frias LAN b. 1948, played 1980-1981
Darren Hall LAN b. 1964, played 1996-1998
Jose Hernandez LAN b. 1969, played 2004, All-Star: 2002. He hit 24 dingers in his All-Star year, too, pretty good for a second baseman, but he also led the league in strikeouts (188). A nice little pickup by DePo for the 2004 bench, that memory is polluting the Pirates' lineup to the tune of .240/.296/.360. Jim Tracy does have his favorites.
Ed Hug BRO b. 1880, played 1903, d. 1953-05-11. Along with Ed Ott, holds the distinction of having the shortest name in the major leagues.
Gene Schott BRO b. 1913, played 1939, d. 1992-11-16
Billy Smith CAL b. 1953, played 1975-1976
Happy Smith BRO b. 1883, played 1910, d. 1961-02-26
Robin Ventura LAN b. 1967, played 2003-2004, All-Star: 1992, 2002. A classy guy and a great player; when he was on the Dodgers, he led the majors in career grand slams. Yet, what I remember him for was not his slams (he had two, one against the Mets and one against the Snakes) but one game in San Diego. With the game tied in the twelfth and Eric Gagné having pitched three whole innings, the Dodgers sent up Robin Ventura to pinch hit for him. He homered into the deep part of the park — the sandbox in center — and thanks to a scoreless frame pitched by Darren Dreifort (one of the last good performances that the Dodgers would get out of him), the Dodgers won. It sent the Padres reeling, and they got no closer than five games out the rest of the season.
Danny Walton LAN b. 1947, played 1976
Max West BRO b. 1904, played 1928-1929, d. 1971-04-25
OP! Huh! What Is He Good For? Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2
Absolutely nothing? Well, there's hardly any shame in giving up a home run to a future Hall of Famer. But... why not walk him? Well:Little said there was no thought of walking the Cardinals slugger, although Perez said the 3-and-1 changeup that ended up deep in the left-field stands for Pujols' 30th homer was supposed to be outside the strike zone.ESPN Box • Recap"When you go out there with no confidence, things like that happen," said Perez, who was the fifth reliever used by Little.
"It's hard to come every day and see people say, 'We don't believe in you anymore,' " he said. "I've been here five years. If I've done something wrong, let me know."
Roster Notes
- Jeff Kent rejoined the Dodgers. To make room, Lance Carter was removed from the 40-man and outrighted to Las Vegas; he cleared waivers.
- Cesar Izturis may leave the club thanks to his wife giving birth, which may be induced Monday if she still hasn't done so by then.
- Toby Hall is still cranky about not being a starting catcher.
- Brett Tomko will throw off a mound in the next few days.
- Jason Repko will start a rehab assignment in Las Vegas on Thursday.
- Casey Kotchman and Dallas McPherson have started rehab stints at Salt Lake (see also last night's game recap); McPherson is expected to return before Kotchman.
- Darin Erstad has also been performing "light" baseball activities. Just have the surgery, Darin.
- Garret Anderson will finally, finally, finally be getting more DH time as Juan Rivera takes his place in left.
- Even if Tim Salmon doesn't make it to 300 homers, he's retiring at the end of the year.
- The Angels will pursue Japanese pitchers Koji Uehara and Daisuke Matsuzaka when they become available, either through free agency or the Japanese leagues' posting system. Uehara led all pitchers in strikeouts in the World Baseball Classic.
- The press conference announcing the signing of Young-il Jung was quite the event:
"They just snapped away as if it was Halle Berry or something," [Angels scouting director Eddie] Bane said. "I don't think we had that big a press conference when we signed Vlad," referring to All-Star Vladimir Guerrero.
Jung signed for a $1M bonus; he's the first Korean prep pitcher to sign with the majors in five years. The Angels are out of visas, so he'll get his first professional experience in the fall instructional league. - Rich Harden will see Angels team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum for a second opinion about his elbow.
- Eric Chavez will miss the entire Boston series.
- The A's have reactivated Milton Bradley, sending down Dan Johnson to make room. Nick Swisher was moved to first.
When they put GA on the DL, then I'll know they are COMMITTED to winning this year.
: 7/14/2006 09:53:00 AM
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