Sunday, February 18, 2007 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
Kyle Abbott CAL b. 1968, played 1991, 1996. An ex-Dirtbag and a first-round pick (9th overall in the 1989 draft), he had a four-year career in the Show; the Angels shipped him off to Philadelphia for the soon-to-be-washed-up Von Hayes in December, 1991, in a move typical of the Angels' front office then, moving prospects for established veterans. Hayes had a dreadful 1992, and got Wally Pipp'd for Tim Salmon. In that sense, Abbott's story had a happy ending, even if his return to the Angels in 1996 wasn't successful.
Bruce Kison CAL b. 1950, played 1980-1984
Bob Miller LAN b. 1939, played 1963-1967, d. 1993-08-06
Manny Mota LAN b. 1938, played 1969-1980, 1982, All-Star: 1973. Ah, the ageless, incomparable Manny Mota: the Dodgers' late-innings not-so-secret weapon who could knock in a single for you with the game on the line. Mota once held the major league record for pinch hits (150), but has since overtaken by Lenny Harris; he also led the Los Angeles recordbooks in average with a career .315 mark for the Dodgers, since exceeded by Mike Piazza. He retired — three times — and the Dodgers activated him twice late in his career. Father to ex-major leaguer and current Angels broadcaster Jose Mota, and Andy Mota, he runs the Manny Mota Foundation, whose goal is to help youth through baseball.
Syd O'Brien CAL b. 1944, played 1971-1972
Sherry Smith BRO b. 1891, played 1915-1917, 1919-1922, d. 1949-09-12
Kevin Tapani LAN b. 1964, played 1995
God Is A Bullet
- Eric Gagne's done with the Dodgers, but he allows as to how the team might cross paths again.
- The Dodgers signed reserve catcher Kelly Stinnett to a minor league deal. Stinnett is 37, and has played for the Yankees, Mets, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Reds, Phillies, and Royals, mostly in a reserve role.
- Takashi Saito suffered a minor injury; he won't be involved in any running drills for now.
- Andy LaRoche says he feels fine in his surgically repaired (left, non-throwing) shoulder.
- Darren Oliver's new role in relief is unfamiliar to the former starter, but he needs to adjust:
"He can give you length, but I think Darren is too valuable as a situational guy to use" as a long reliever or spot starter, Scioscia said. "To neutralize some lefties in key situations, you want to have him available. You don't want to burn him for four innings one night when you might need him the next two nights."
What? A Mike Scioscia-designed bullpen containing a LOOGY? - At John Lackey's advice, Joe Saunders is going to throw less between starts to help keep him fresh during the season.
"This is the first year that I've had a spot, but I don't want to put any bad thoughts in their minds," Saunders said. "I know I need to go out there and perform and improve, and I need to get some hitters out in spring training. There's a little bit more, I'd say, pressure to do well in camp."
Aside: I'm pretty optimistic about Saunders. I'm hoping he'll turn into Kenny Rogers Lite. - K-Rod had a minor hamstring pull and his going carefully about his business.
- Speaking of Frankie, the Angels have been unable to agree on a multiyear deal with his agent, Paul Kinzer. Neither, for that matter, have the Angels been able to come to terms with Scot Shields on a long-term deal.
- Jered Weaver's still having biceps tendinitis problems and won't be throwing off a mound until next week. An MRI came back negative last week. Weaver rested his shoulder longer than usual after his 2006 campaign, the longest he's ever pitched in his career.
- Kendry Morales arrived in camp yesterday and was taking batting practice.
- Dusty Baker's being a tourist at Disneyland this week; he's recently returned from a goodwill trip promoting baseball in Africa, and is building a house in Sacramento. Of course, he still wants to manage.
- "We cannot eat here": Finally, a story about Yankees pitcher Kei Igawa adjusting to life in the States; he's learning to tolerate U.S. food, and I can wholeheartedly understand that. Some years ago, my mother-in-law went on a tour of Japan at the invitation of one of her employees and their family in Osaka. Before they went out, she asked her hosts to avoid eateries that would offend her southern sensibilities; in particular, she wanted to find places where they could get something besides fish.
The story goes that they were in a large, multistory shopping mall when lunch hit, and her hostess, Mariko, started looking for food. A quick scan of the menu on the door. "We cannot eat here." Next place. "We cannot eat here."
Next floor. "We cannot eat here." "We cannot eat here". Lather, rinse, repeat, until the seventh floor, at which point they finally found something, all parties now being thoroughly exhausted. It was a Lesson.
I'm not completely clear on what you meant by this. What sort of eateries would "offend her southern sensibilities"? And when you say "...and in particular places where they could get something besides fish", you didn't really mean she wanted to avoid places where they could get something besides fish, did you? (Or did you?)
I'm assuming you meant she wanted to avoid places where they couldn't get something besides fish, right? So, since you haven't mentioned any other no-nos, does that mean that all the restaurants on floors 1-6 had nothing else besides fish? Is that the point of your story? (Do you think it's possible that the Japanese also added a few other "non-American" foods to the list of what they thought your mother-in-law would not like, in addition to fish? Maybe they thought that they'd better look for a "Western-style" restaurant , with hamburgers, etc., to play safe? Odd that there was no steak restaurant.)
Or did you mean (as you actually said) that she trusted only places that had nothing but fish, since (presumably) Japanase meat (and vegetable?) dishes might be too weird for a southerner? In that case, couldn't she just order fish, no matter what else was on the menu? That's why I'm thinking you couldn't mean what you said here.
So I'm puzzled. Curious minds want to know. ;-)
: 2/18/2007 12:08:00 PM : 2/18/2007 12:28:00 PMThough she did say she was glad she went to Japan, the people were all very nice, her hosts were most gracious, and the places they visited were beautiful and very interesting.
We were talking just last night about how hard it probably was for Mariko to adjust to food here in the US - it's got to be just as difficult a transition to go the other way as it was for my mom to spend time over there. It's quite an achievement for anyone to change cultures that drastically. To do so while in the spotlight the way Japanese baseball players are is amazing.
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