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Sunday, September 16, 2007

Pickoff Moves

Traction: Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 2

Whirr. I came into this one just as Luis Gonzalez and the rest of the Dodgers were pounding Livan Hernandez for four runs in the first inning. Derek Lowe almost did the rest by himself (okay, forget about the last two innings and Beimel, Broxton, and Proctor). I'm on the precipice of going to the park today, but with Esteban Lousy Loiaza toeing the mound, I'm not so sure I want to pay to see a loss. On the other hand... Edgar Gonzalez? Hm...

The Dodgers now find themselves only a game and a half back of the Padres, and three and a half back of the division. Given their August, I never thought I'd see it.

RecapYahoo Box

Gonzo Wants A Job, Any Job

And we know the reason why:
"Honestly, I don't think I'll be here [next year] unless things change dramatically," said Gonzalez, after his latest team prevailed, 6-2, to pull within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Diamondbacks in the National League West with little more than two weeks left to play. "They're playing young players here who are going to take over. They're going to be here for a long time.

"I've been around a long time. I can read the writing on the wall. I know what's going on around here."

Gonzo has been a pleasant surprise for the Dodgers, though I don't think he's quite earned his $7.5M keep. Nonetheless, he's not likely to find a starting job anywhere (maybe on a non-contending team like the Giants or Orioles), which in my mind makes his return maybe a little more likely.

Giants Take Third Straight Losing Season: Padres 6, Giants 0

The Giants lost last night to a clearly superior Padres attack, who mostly feasted on the San Francisco bullpen. Matt Cain took a tough-luck loss (one run on one hit and six strikeouts). Barry Bonds sprained his toe.

Bruch Bochy thinks the club has some good young talent, and with guys like Cain, he's right. But the team's position players need complete overhaul.

With this loss, the Giants will suffer their third straight losing season, and have been eliminated from the NL West, the first team in the division to be eliminated. They also have an elimination number of one for the Wild Card, which means they will likely be playing out the string by the end of the day today.

Yahoo Box

AL West Elimination Dates

I forgot to mention that more and more teams are being eliminated aside from the Giants; the A's went down with yesterday's Angels victory despite a 7-3 thrashing of Texas. Texas was themselves knocked out following a 6-5 loss to Oakland at home on Thursday. The Angels' magic number is seven, and they lead today's game against Chicago 3-0.

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Comments:
RE: the Giants

1. Did Bochy get more $$ from SF? Put another way, why in the world did he leave SD?

2. Do the Giants fans really hate Jeff Kent? (as alleged by a SF resident at HH) - since they've lost him, they've done nothing.

Throw in the A's and this has to be the worst season in Bay Area baseball in a decade or so, doesn't it?
 
Padres new management (read Paul DePodesta and Sandy Alderson, though GM Kevin Towers was still in place at the time) refused to extend him past 2006. The Giants needed a new manager with Felipe Alou retiring, and so the Pads gave him permission to interview with San Francisco. Call it a vote of no-confidence.

Since they lost Jeff Kent, they have also failed to develop a single starting position player, though I understand that may be changing.

The A's failures were somewhat predictable, yeah. You can't draft high every year.
 
Clarification: you can't draft high every year unless you're the Devil Rays or Pirates, and then you piss those slots away.
 
i think in general the Rays have done a fine job with the draft. Not great mind you, but their 1st round picks have been fine. If they spent some money to get FA pitching or Nieman/Townsend/Jackson comes through as well as Kazmir, they'll be able to compete in the East. Price was a good choice, and you know about Longoria, Upton, Young.

I definitely wouldn'y say they've pissed the perrenial #1 choiuce away. Even Badelli was a good choice.
 
the Bucs on the other hand ......
 

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