Monday, August 07, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Rocky Bridges BRO,LAA b. 1927, played 1951-1952, 1961, All-Star: 1958. Both an original Angel and a Brooklyn Dodger, Bridges never hit well enough to be a regular anywhere; his 1958 All-Star appearance was therefore of the "everybody's gotta have at least one" category for the Washington Senators. As a minor league manager and a big league coach, he later gained some measure of notoriety for his quotable epigrams, including "Tommy Lasorda's curve had as much hang time as a Ray Guy punt", "There are three things the average man thinks he can do better than anybody else: build a fire, run a hotel, and manage a baseball team", and his quip upon learning that Jose Gonzales was changing his last name to Uribe (his mother's maiden name) that he "really is the player to be named later."
Tom Drake BRO b. 1912, played 1941, d. 1988-07-02
Jason Grimsley CAL b. 1967, played 1996. Much in the news lately for his possession of hGH, otherwise undetectable in urine, he's infamously been supposed to be the final missing link in the evidence chain that will once and for all put Barry Bonds behind bars, etc. I'm not buyin' it. Meantime, Grimsley strikes me as one of those guys who's just talented enough to stay in the majors but not good enough to be anything other than a guy who gets left in as a tackle dummy at the back of a non-contender's rotation.
Adonis Terry BRO b. 1864, played 1890-1891, d. 1915-02-24. Pitched for Brooklyn back when it was an American Association team as a 19-year-old and managed to hold his own. When not pitching, he would often play outfield, first, and rarely, short, and hit elsewhere besides ninth, even as a pitcher. Born William H., he was reported to be unusually handsome, and a mound appearance by Terry was enough to get the ladies into the stands. Not a bad life if you can get it.
Roster Notes
- Kelvim Escobar, who will start tonight's game against the White Sox, isn't mad at that team for the events of last year's postseason.
- Tim Salmon is inhaling the ballpark experience now that he can see the end of his career coming, 300 homers or not.
- The Dodgers will put Jeff Kent at first, with Aaron Sele or Giovanni Carrara going through waivers to Las Vegas.
- Andre Ethier thinks the Dodgers' 10-game winning streak was the result of learning how to win again. Do they teach that at Dodgertown?
- Elmer Dessens sprained his ankle and was not available for Sunday's game.
- I got a mess of hits on my site this morning looking for "Sonia Lo Duca", and now I find out why: she's filed for divorce on charges of adultery. Heart and soul and ... what?
- Edwin Jackson has been demoted to AAA Durham, where he will serve as the team's closer.
- Update: Thanks to Bob Timmermann for passing along the news that Livan Hernandez has been traded to the Diamondbacks, for a pair of minor league pitchers, RHP Garrett Mock and LHP Matt Chico.
UTK On Jeff Kent
Will Carroll's latest:The Dodgers aren’t playing like they’re missing a key offensive cog in their machine. Their streak belies the injuries they’ve had and shows that, at least in the short term, the deadline deals helped the team. Getting Jeff Kent back can in no way be considered a negative, though it will force some interesting choices. Kent is still coming back from a Grade 2 oblique strain and memories of his last comeback is causing the team to sound conservative, at least publicly. Kent is pushing to get back in the lineup while the team is saying that it’d rather keep him out a few extra days if that’s what it takes to be sure there won’t be a recurrence. Grady Little faces a challenge with this, though the streak should give him a little bit more leeway with all sides.Apparently he doesn't read Jon, who notices that it's the team's existing players who started figuring it out rather than the recent acquisitions making a big difference.
That's one of my favorite stories. Who'da thunk this guy would turn out to be a CHEATER!
: 8/07/2006 02:54:00 PM
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