Thursday, August 03, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves, Lunchtime Edition
Today's Birthdays
Sid Bream LAN b. 1960, played 1983-1985. Another guy for whom Albuquerque and the high-altitude stadia of the PCL played horrible tricks on the Dodgers, Bream was a career .329 hitter in AAA, but never managed to be anything other than lame for the Dodgers, a .159/.264/.265 batter. But for the Braves, why, he'll always be known for The Slide in the deciding 1992 NLCS Game 2; Atlanta moved from a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth to a bases-loaded, nobody out jam. A sac fly from Ron Gant got the Braves to within one. Catcher Damon Barryhill then walked to re-load the bases, but pinch-hitter Brian Hunter popped out. With one last out remaining, and still trailing by a run, third catcher Francisco Cabrera singled to left — where Barry Bonds fielded the ball. The single immediately tied the game, but at question was whether the Braves could win it with the slow Bream still trying to score from second. Bonds' throw was on the mark and on time, but Bream avoided the tag. The Braves advanced to the World Series, where they lost to the powerhouse Blue Jays, four games to two.
Kevin Elster LAN b. 1964, played 2000
Gus Getz BRO b. 1889, played 1914-1916, d. 1969-05-28
Troy Glaus ANA b. 1976, played 1998-2004, All-Star: 2000-2001, 2003. If you want a controversial figure in recent Angels history, there's no better place to start than Top 100 Angel Glaus. 2002 World Series MVP and one of the two big heroes of Game 6 for his booming double that drove in the winning runs, his subsequent exit from the team came at a particularly difficult time; with Dallas McPherson seemingly ready to take over at third, the Angels didn't re-sign Glaus, and ever since, third base for the Angels has been a merry-go-round of mostly slap-hitters, as McPherson hasn't been able to stay healthy.
Jim Gott LAN b. 1959, played 1990-1994
Roger Repoz CAL b. 1940, played 1967-1972. A Top 100 Angel, he's the synonym for "failed prospect" who yet found some measure of success with the Angels despite the letdown he got from failing to be the next Mickey Mantle in New York. Darren Viola at BTF posts under the nickname Repoz, with some irony perhaps.
Only Slightly OT: Flip4Mac, Intel
Okay, probably not a big deal for most of you reading this, but thanks to Will Carroll for pointing out that the next Flip4Mac Intel is available for those of us using Intel Macs (read: MacBook Pro). What this means is video for MLB TV and MLB Gameday Audio on the Mac should work once more if you've updated to the most recent version of OS X. About time.Roster Notes
- John Lackey was named AL Pitcher of the Month.
- Mike Scioscia thinks Bartolo Colon may have to reinvent himself as a pitcher thanks to repeated injuries. How's this for a plan: shut him down for the rest of the year, let him rest up, and let's try this dance again in spring training.
- Jered Weaver took Scot Shields' blowup that cost him a victory in the Boston series pretty hard:
Weaver was in position to win Saturday's game until relievers Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez coughed up the lead. Shields expressed remorse for letting Weaver down that day and wants to be in a position where he can redeem himself.
Update: I think Seitz in the comments is right, Shields took it harder than Weaver."Hopefully he knows that won't happen too often," Shields said.
"After a little while that night he was joking around with me about it. He got over it and that was good to see because that was pretty tough on me for a while."
- Mike Scioscia calls Howie Kendrick "a work in progress" at first base thanks to his erratic defense.
- Mike Napoli thinks he's been too pull-happy lately, explaining his lack of success lately.
- Brett Tomko wants to close? Apoplexia takes over...
- Greg Maddux will take the ball for the Dodgers, and of course they're hoping for good things. But did they mention that he has his worst career record against Cincinnati for any club he's started against 40 times or more in his career (3.62 ERA, yet 20-16)?
- Bobby Crosby may go on the DL and possibly miss the rest of the season thanks to an injury that may be a stress fracture in his back.
- Update: Former Dodger Duaner Sanchez feared for his career after his taxicab accident:
"I called my mom and my girlfriend immediately," Sanchez told the newspaper in his first public comments since the accident. "I could see the bone on the top of the shoulder. I started to cry. I knew it was bad."
Sanchez expects to be throwing again in December.Sanchez, riding in the back seat, put his right arm up against the cab's partition to brace himself and suffered a severely separated shoulder.
"All the pressure went to the top of my arm," the 26-year-old setup man said. "My arm jammed up."
- Need an outfielder? Andruw Jones is on waivers. (Hat tip: Ty Webb.)
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