6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

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Labels: angels, wow

Lead By Rookie Amarista, Angels Offense Back In High Gear: Angels 8, A's 3

Alexi Amarista continued the torrid hitting from AAA with an RBI double in his first major league at-bat, and also collected a sac fly in the eighth to drive in three runs, pacing the club on his maiden game. The sad part, of course, is that his father couldn't be around to see it, having been killed last November in a home invasion robbery.

Tyler Chatwood wasn't sharp, immediately giving up the 2-0 lead his offense gave him in the bottom of the second. After walking leadoff man Ryan Sweeney to start the fourth, it appeared as though another see-saw game was in the offing; but he settled down and retired the rest of the batters he faced in order (and nearly got a double play on the next one).

Unconventional as it was to see Howie Kendrick at first, he went 3-for-4 in the sixth slot, and Torii Hunter came out of his slow start to go 3-for-5. In all, a great effort by the team's offense — save for Vernon Wells, whose horrible April has been well-documented.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

No Horns For Broxton As Kershaw Takes The Loss: Marlins 4, Dodgers 2

Really, not a fun game to listen to, as the Dodgers blew this one fairly early, so Jonathan Broxton didn't have a chance to be a loser again. The Dodgers enjoyed short-lived leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but Kershaw ultimately gave up an RBI single to Mike Stanton, one of the most storied prospects in the game. No shame in that, but it doesn't mean the loss counts for any less.

ESPN Box • Dodgers recap

Bullety Stuff

• The Dodgers aren't the only ones to have trouble with their relief pitching; the Yanks are getting hammered by their problems with Rafael Soriano, to whom they owe $35M over three years. Whatever issues Broxton has, he will not be a Dodger in 2012, and for that we may be grateful.
• Speaking of the Yanks, any time they lose it's a good day, and especially, if they lose in dramatic fashion at home. If you haven't seen Jeff Sullivan's animated GIF of Brent Lillibridge's back-to-back game saving catches in the Bronx, you're missing a real treat.
• Don't forget that today's Dodger game has a 9:05 PDT start time.
• Dylan Hernandez tweets that Casey Blake is likely headed for the DL with an elbow infection, reporting fever and swelling.

Labels: angels, athletics, dodgers, injuries, marlins, recaps, transactions, wow

Recognizing that dynamic ticket pricing is still something of a new idea in the majors, it is shocking to see discounted tickets at Goldstar for opening day weekend at Dodger Stadium.

Update 3/11: Oops, not Opening Day, but that weekend. Still.

Labels: dodgers, wow

6-4-2 World Headquarters has been a rather dismal place lately, with all three teams this household cheers for having losing records. Shaking things up, Cubs GM Jim Hendry called up Cubs rookie Starlin Castro yesterday from AA Tennessee. What a first game in the Show did he have! He drove in six, getting a three-run jack in his first plate appearance, the third-youngest player to do so, and a bases-loaded triple. And did I mention the kid plays shortstop? Wow.

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Labels: cubs, recaps, reds, wow

In a duel of sub-aces, Barry Zito and Jason Marquis, both left after pitching well despite getting into a jam or two. Both sides were locked at 1-1 going into the ninth, and both teams had a man on second with no (the Giants' Ryan Garko hit a leadoff double) or one (Ian Stewart worked a leadoff walk and was sacrificed over by Yorvit Torrealba) outs; neither scored.

That set up a pretty long string of extra innings that consisted mainly of flubs and squandered chances; Troy Tulowitzky, for instance, tried to stretch a single into a double in the bottom of the tenth, and got thrown out for his trouble. Randy Winn reached second in the 13th, and he couldn't score. Combined with one of our new dogs biting my ankle — for reasons I still don't entirely understand — it was a frustrating night. I decided to go for a walk right about the middle of the 12th.

That was actually too bad, because two innings later, the Giants finally broke through with pair of triples and a walk — not in that order — the big damage coming on Eddie Velez's three-bagger. A Juan Uribe groundout later, and San Francisco had a tidy 3-run lead.

However, they also had a badly depleted bullpen, and when the normally speedy Dexter Fowler — I say "normally" here because he fouled off a pitch on his right knee in this at-bat — worked a leadoff walk, it looked like good things for the Rocks might be in store. (Fowler will miss the Dodgers series for sure, and the Rocks are looking seriously depleted in the outfield right now.) But they would need a lot more baserunners to even tie it, and when Clint Barmes popped out harmlessly to right field, you began to wonder whether the Giants might be leaving town with a series split.

Nope. A Chris Ianetta single and a Tulo walk later, the bags were juiced for Adam Eaton, who had just given up the go-ahead runs and was batting for himself. Now, Jim Tracy had instructed Eaton not to take the bat off his shoulders (something Tracy mentioned in a postgame interview on the Rockies home page under the "Video Corner" on the upper right), and after he worked a walk, that brought up Spilborghs. Spilborgs had personally stranded four baserunners on the night, but not this time, and wow grand slam. He ran around the bases like a man late for a train, the first walk-off grand slam in team history. What a finish!

Postscript: Jon correctly notes that this will leave the Rockies' pitching staff very weakened for tonight's game.

Purple Row is suitably ecstatic. I wonder if Mark T.L. Donohue has changed his mind about this:

I know for a fact the Rockies aren't going to contend again so long as this ownership/management regime holds sway.

Huh. I miss Bad Altitude at moments like this.

McCovey Chronicles:

10:35: Miller walks the pitcher. Tying run at second. Winning run at first. Thanks for the surprisingly productive work this year, Justin, but I'd just as soon never watch you pitch again.

10:39: The season is over.

The season is over.

The season is over.

That's the worst game I've ever seen.

The Giants are now four games back of the Wild Card.

Update: Check out the Rockies' remaining schedule:

3 vs Dodgers
6 @ SF
3 vs Arizona
3 vs Cincinnati
3 @ San Diego
3 @ Arizona
3 vs San Diego
3 vs. St. Louis
3 vs. Milwaukee
3 @ Dodgers

The division is within sight. The Dodgers have

3 @ Colorado
3 @ Cincinnati
4 vs. Arizona
3 vs. San Diego
3 @ Arizona
3 @ San Francisco
3 vs. Pittsburgh
3 vs. San Francisco
3 @ Washington
3 @ Pittsburgh
3 @ San Diego
3 vs. Colorado

So it becomes a battle of whupping the bad teams, with perhaps a slight edge to the Dodgers, who will see Pittsburgh twice in that span.

Yahoo box • Rockies recap

Labels: giants, recaps, rockies, wow

CG Weaver — Again: Angels 3, Indians 0

I'm frankly shocked that Jered Weaver has four complete games this year, which is four more than he had in his career prior to this season. It's also his second CG shutout, which, wow. The offense — mostly Howie Kendrick on an RBI single that drove in Mike Napoli and Kendry Morales — all occurred in the fifth, and that was all Weaver needed.

Preemptive warning: in starts following two of his three prior complete games, he was not able to get a quality start. Jes' sayin'.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

The Persistence Of Memory: Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2

Repeat after me: the Dodgers offense failed.

That's right.

Jonathan Broxton gave up a single run to the best hitter in the game, Albert Pujols, and a hitter who's OPSing 1.033 in his career against the Dodgers, Matt Holliday.

The angry reactions to this game are about two things:

1. The sense that the Dodgers aren't as good a team as they looked back in April and May. Combined with a 5-4 Colorado win over Washington, the Dodgers are only 3.5 games ahead of the Rockies in the West, despite the fact that they have the best record of any team in the NL. 7-11 in August. And they'll be facing the Cubs at home (against whom they're 2-2 so far this season) and the Rockies on the road coming in their next two series.

   But let me put that away for the moment, because really this is about...

2. ... the memories of Eric Gagne's 2003, when he was invincible, perfect.

I don't like losing to the Cards. Especially, I don't like losing when the Dodgers' offense came up with a pair of dramatic home runs to tie the game. But why is nobody complaining about Tony LaRussa's pitcher, the porcine ex-Dodger Dennys Reyes, plunking Andre Ethier with the first pitch? Ethier homered in his prior at-bat and has been the Dodgers' hottest hitter lately. And on the first pitch? Tell me that wasn't intentional, Tony.

There's something about all of this, coming as it does on the heels of signing Vicente Padilla, admittedly a possible desperation move, that smells like the team has started to really question its makeup. There's good reason for that. We'll find out an awful lot more about that over the next week, and maybe then, as Al Yellon did earlier in the week with Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella, we'll be writing jeremiads against Dodger management. We'll see, won't we?

Update: Rob Neyer makes the important point that Pujols stole second in that crucial ninth inning; not only that, but the outfield screwed up by failing to come in for the ball until long after Russell Martin's bad throw got away into center field, allowing Pujols to easily reach third. Sure, Broxton takes the loss, his first of the season. But his name just happened to attach to a list of other failures that didn't show up in the box score.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Labels: angels, cardinals, dodgers, indians, recaps, wow

The Cubs sent Pirates starter Charlie Morton to the showers after giving up four runs in the first, and topped that by scoring ten runs in the second inning against former Angel reliever Chris Bootcheck. It's now 17-2 Cubs after a bases-clearing Derrek Lee double in the fourth, and the Cubstitutions have started, with Lee and Alfonso Soriano pulled from the game. Lee's seven RBIs tied a career record set earlier in the year in a a 9-5 drubbing of the Brewers on July 2.

Update: Neither side scored again, though the Cubs managed to strand seven baserunners, including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh. 17-2 Cubs, final.

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Labels: cubs, ex-angels, live blogging, pirates, recaps, wow

Amazing.

Yahoo box

Labels: rays, recaps, white sox, wow

Iran is the only Middle Eastern country with an independent baseball league, claims a writer to Andrew Sullivan's blog, but I believe Israel has or had one at one point. Women play softball, but with the hejab.

Labels: wow

Thanks to an overloaded schedule that included the usual Mother's Day festivities, and Shane Loux's long, slow, bad outing that delayed the end of the game, we missed this:

This, too, shall pass in a few days (after MLB scrubs it off the interwebs, though for now you can see the video on their website too), but wow.

Loux, as mentioned above, had a crummy game, got behind just about every batter he faced, and left in the fourth. Amazingly, the Angels brought in Darren Oliver; the thought must have been that they had that luxury with a day off tomorrow. But what we did stick around for was an incredible seventh, one that narrowly didn't happen: if not for a dreadful throw by Jamey Wright on what should have been a 1-6-3 inning-ending double play. That opened the door, and the Angels bulldozed Wright for the tying and go-ahead runs, a slate that even included a two-run single by Jeff Mathis, and a safety squeeze by Chone Figgins. It was a rousing finish for a team that's needed a sweep, their first of the season, and a win that takes them two games over .500 for the first time this year.

Update: Torii felt compelled to write a coda:

Man, that was awesome. It's a very special win, coming back the way we did with three runs in the seventh, the bullpen doing a great job. Something like that can do a lot for a team.

When the game ended, Bobby Abreu and Gary Matthews Jr. came over and I was expecting the usual high-fives, but they both threw themselves into me and we had a three-way hug out there. It was just an expression of how great it felt, for all of us.

More, this on a play that I had forgotten but was just as critical, considering how badly Loux was flailing:

There was another play I made earlier in the game that was unusual. They had a man on first, Mike Jacobs, and Alberto Callaspo hit a sinking line drive. I came up and played it on a hop and got rid of it as quickly as I could, and we got the force out at second.

There's an art to that. It takes a lot of practice. I threw that one three-quarters, and sometimes, if necessary, I'll come sidearm with a throw to get it there in a hurry.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, royals, wow

Selected moments from a day featuring three complete games:

• Kendry Morales belts a double to right. He's the fifth batter Greinke's faced, and the fourth one to go to a full count. The Angels strand him at second, but you sense that Greinke's not entirely on his game tonight.
• Gary Matthews, Jr. hit a one-out double down the right field corner. It was the second extra-base hit of the game, but Erick Aybar nudged him to third on a successful sac bunt, and Figgy whacked him home on a sac fly to right. 1-0 Angels.
• Erick Aybar hits a leadoff double in the sixth — and Figgins bunt pops out to the catcher. Get that bunt down, and Aybar scores, because Izturis' groundout to first would have scored him.
• David DeJesus comes to bat in the sixth, a man on first. He bounces an 0-1 pitch to short to immediately abort the nascent rally, one of two the Royals would hit into in this game.
• Willie Bloomquist hits a high fly ball drifting slowly foul to lead off the eighth. Gary Matthews, Jr., in hot pursuit arrives just before the ball does — and lets it fall at his feet. Bloomquist then smashes the ball right at Erick Aybar, who nearly throws the ball away; it's all Kendry can do to hold on and keep it from going into the seats. E6, and another rally opens up. The weak-hitting Miguel Olivo turns up the pressure with a single that pushes Bloomquist to second, and Mike Aviles bunts both of them over to second and third with only one out. But Coco Crisp hit a smash to third; Figgy tagged out Olivo, who had alone decided to run to third. The delay cost him a 5-3 double play, as he threw but missed the first base end of the twin killing. No matter; Saunders got DeJesus on a grounder to third that required a magnificent play and a tremendous arm. Figgy had both, in the bag.
• Jose Guillen steps to the plate in the top of the ninth, one out. The crowd's still booing him, remembering his ill-mannered 2004 season. Joe quickly gets him to 1-2 but then Guillen works the count full. Guillen strikes out. Two down, and the team's cleanup batter is out of the picture with only 99 pitches on Joe's arm-odometer.
• Butler flies out. Ballgame. Shouting, hysteria, release. 1-0. Joe's outpitched the hottest starter in the league.

And three complete games, of which only two count. Funny how baseball works.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, royals, wow

Wow. A CG shutout by Eric Stults, the pitcher the team just can't seem to trust, and after two straight losses, one of the team's near-afterthoughts coming to save the day.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Labels: dodgers, giants, recaps, wow

Just too busy entertaining a friend Thursday night to write about Jered Weaver's one-run complete game victory over the Blue Jays, the first CG of his career, and approaching a year after he embarrassingly lost 1-0 to the Dodgers despite allowing no earned runs. Yesterday's was probably one of his top three or so games in the majors to date, if not his acme; the bullpen needs to keep its nose out of as many games as possible considering the stink it's posted so far, in the main. I've been unhesitatingly critical of him in the past for letting things get to him too easily, but praise — and enthusiastic praise at that — is due for efforts like that. Bravo, Jered, and here's to many more like it. (But not too many more, lest your shoulder get blown out.)

So, once more, the Angels turned to Matt Palmer, who, along with Shane Loux, has been bopped by the Pitching Fairy and suddenly turned from nothing into something. At any moment either could fall back into the AAA dust whence they came, especially so with Palmer; 30-year-old rookies being what they are, I expect him to exit the game with the bags loaded four outs into a start, and then lather, rinse, repeat until DFA'd or optioned.

And yet, no. Palmer, when he could find the plate today — and he admittedly had a hard time with it — managed an obscene number of strikeouts, five in all, almost one for every frame he appeared in. That's maybe not a surprise; he started his career in the Giants system as a closer, won a 2003 minor league All-Star nod, fell off the horse after injury, and last year switched to starting, where he struck out nearly a batter an inning for AAA Fresno. Frustrated with the Giants, he drifted into the Angels organization after becoming a minor league free agent. His 2009 started horribly:

For Palmer, the first big change came in Triple-A Salt Lake, where he'd been sent, having signed a Minor League Angels contract, to get ready for an emergency in Anaheim with a pitching staff in disrepair.

His Salt Lake team was in a collective daze, absorbing the aftershocks of the death of their former teammate Nick Adenhart a few days earlier, when Palmer made his first start -- and got hit hard.

"That was horrible, just horrible," Palmer said. "With what had happened, I don't think anybody was in their right mind. I was all over the place."

Pitching coach Erik Bennett pulled Palmer aside in a bullpen session and recommended an adjustment in his mechanics. Voila!

"My second pitch in the bullpen, it felt right," Palmer said. "Basically, it was about using my legs to push toward the target, not my upper body.

"When I got to Anaheim, I made another adjustment with Butch [pitching coach Mike Butcher] focusing on driving more directly toward the plate. That's made a big difference, too."

Whatever it is, he's been a shot in the arm for a team that's desperately needed one in the wake of both Adenhart's death and the steady stream of injuries besetting the team. While he wasn't exactly the picture of control — he also walked three — he had a one-hitter going into the sixth, and it feels like Christmas every day he's on the mound and doing this well. As the article above says, the Halos will have some decisions to make when the pitching staff on the DL starts returning, and those are the good kind.

Of course, after rambling on and on about Palmer, I can't miss the real highlight of the game, Howie Kendrick's inside-the-parker. After the Angels scratched out a run on a couple of singles on a two-out rally in the third, the Halos took a shaky 1-0 lead into the sixth. Juan Rivera set the table by hammering a one-out double, bringing Kendrick to the plate.

Howie's at-bat started oddly: he showed bunt, and fouled off the first pitch. It was almost as though he had no confidence in his ability to get the job done, because he's been pushed down in the lineup, and Royals starter Gil Meche had struck him out in the second on a 1-2 count. There has been a sense of anxiousness with his at-bats this year, and so when he welted one down the right field line, it looked at first as though it had a chance. Then, Jose Guillen appeared to run it down — only, not, and the ball skipped off his glove as he slowed, misjudging the ball by that much. Compounding matters, he had to change course by about 110 degrees — slightly behind him, so he was slow to get to the ball.

Subsequent video showed that even Kendrick clearly expected Guillen to catch it, as he slowed down a bit once he approached first base, but then when he missed it, Howie poured it on. Rounding second, he saw Dino Ebel in full windmill mode, and then the fireworks from the rocks, even though it took a couple heartbeats for the official scorer to determine what everyone else in the park already knew. Everyone, that is, except Gil Meche: "If you want to call it an inside-the-parker, you go ahead, but I'd rather not even comment on that one." Well, as you like, Gil. Who knows, maybe the official scorer will change his mind — it's been known to happen — but it's the first and only time I've ever seen an inside-the-park homer live. What a thrill!

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, royals, wow

The Brewers have fired Ned Yost (also via AP). With the Brewers still in first place for the Wild Card (albeit tied with the Phils), and the Cubs leading Houston 6-0, this is simply incredible.

Dale Sveum, the Brewers third base coach, will take over in an interim role as manager for the remainder of the season. Bench Coach Ted Simmons has been reassigned to an advisory role. Any other coaching changes will be announced later.

Update: Ned Yost "didn't see it coming". Insane.

Update 2: Joe Sheehan on why.

Yost has to take a big part of the blame as well, after making some of the worst tactical decisions you'll see. In the eighth inning of yesterday's first game, the Brewers were tied 3-3. Guillermo Mota allowed a leadoff single to Jayson Werth, and was lifted for Brian Shouse so that Shouse could face Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. (Charlie Manuel's refusal to always put a right-handed batter between those two is a big reason why the Phillies will have trouble winning a short series.) Utley sacrificed Werth to second, setting up Shouse versus Howard.

Yost elected to walk Howard to face Pat Burrell. This was... well, it strains my vocabulary to find the right word for it. Howard cannot hit left-handers, and would be a platoon player if performance mattered anywhere near as much as reputation does. Or if he had a competent manager. Howard is at .228/.313/.458 against lefties in his career, .212/.287/.410 this year. Howard. Can't. Hit. Lefties. Shouse, on the other hand, is in the major leagues for exactly one reason: lefties can't hit him, to the tune of .175/.192/.289 this year, and .211/.263/.325 for his career, which includes a bunch of years when he was barely a major leaguer. Manuel sending Howard up against Shouse was a continuation of a theme for the Phillies: not hitting for Howard when he has little chance of doing something good. He was giving Yost an out, and Yost gave it right back.

Update 3: BTF thread, which inexplicably didn't show up on the main page (maybe because it didn't have the General tag on the story?).

Labels: brewers, front office, wow

Speaking of improbability fields, how in the Sam Hill did John Lackey suddenly figure out how to bamboozle the Red Sox through eight and a third innings? It's crazy enough he got a complete game win, but to do it against the Sawx in Fenway — that's something special. The only two hits of the game were Dustin Pedroia's single and Kevin Youkilis' ensuing homer; Lackey retired David Ortiz, walked Manny Ramirez, but got Mike Lowell in order to end the frame and the game.

The Angels offense took advantage of a wobbly Clay Buchholz, scratching out a couple runs in the third on Alex Cora's fielding error of Chone Figgins' grounder, and a bases-loaded walk. GA got two more in the fourth, picking up Torii Hunter with a home run to right. Finally, the squad picked up a couple in typical Angel fashion in the seventh, with a Howie Kendrick sac fly and a scoring infield single.

Coming on the heels of a pretty sizeable earthquake, and the Teixeira trade, it was pretty amazing. The Angels finish the day 66-40, the best record in baseball (still) and own a twelve game lead in the division, the largest lead in franchise history. Update: Back to 11.5 games after an 11-10 Texas win over Seattle.

Yahoo box • MLB.com recap

Labels: angels, recaps, red sox, wow

I gave up on this one right after the Angels lost the lead 2-1 on Manny's RBI single, but for all that, Jered Weaver came within one out of a quality start against a lineup that, let's face it, is pretty fierce one through nine. Somehow Kotchman and Hunter blasted a pair of jacks for five runs in the sixth that I still don't quite understand how they did it. As far as I'm concerned, this series is already a success because I expected they'd get swept at Fenway, and that even despite a Manny homer against K-Rod on the very first pitch (a pretty good curveball, too). Dayam.

Yahoo box • MLB.com recap

Labels: angels, recaps, red sox, wow

Carrying a perfect game through seven, Hiroki Kuroda finally succumbed to a Mark Teixeira double down the right field line in the top of the seventh, but Kuroda kept the shutout and the win, provided thanks to a two-run homer by Nomar Garciaparra. A gorgeous play by Blake DeWitt on Gregor Blanco's bunt attempt squelched an infield single attempt to lead off the seventh, and Angel Berroa saved another in the ninth on Greg Norton's scorcher deep in the hole, a twisting, flying play.

With the Diamondbacks idle, the Dodgers end up tied for the division lead, and as Jon pointed out, it's the second time in three years that a Nomar home run has given the Dodgers a division lead (the 4+1 game).

Mandatory references: the last Dodger one-hitter was Derek Lowe's one-hit CG shutout of Chicago on August 31, 2005; and of course, the last perfecto was Randy Johnson's against the Braves on May 18, 2004, a 2-0 victory for the Snakes.

And congratulations to Hiroki Kuroda!

Update: It's worth mentioning that the Braves came off a marathon 17-inning game in which they beat the Astros 7-6. That might just have affected their ability to get things done offensively, but still, the box score is what it is.

Yahoo box • MLB.com recap

Labels: braves, dodgers, recaps, wow

The ball girl for the Fresno Grizzlies (the Giants' AAA PCL club) makes a spectacular catch:

The Grizzlies' left fielder should be embarrassed. Hat tip to Al at BCB, who had it as a .mov, but it's easier to show from YouTube.

Update: Looks like I've been hoaxed. Sheesh.

Labels: funny, hoaxes, minors, wow

Mike Scioscia, Who Changed Everything

Tim Brown on Mike Scioscia, guardian of the Angels:

Scioscia knew a little about Schoeneweis, mainly that the Duke product was talented but so cocky as to be nearly uncoachable. In his first team meeting, the “Hi, my name is Mike and I’m the new skipper” meeting, Scioscia asked players to stand up and talk, answer a couple questions for the group. But this was no random exercise.

Midway through, he pointed to Schoeneweis, then a 26-year-old prospect who had glided through the Angels’ farm system, made 31 big-league appearances the previous season and was on the verge of winning a place in the starting rotation.

“Hey, Scott,” Scioscia said, “you were in (Triple-A) Edmonton some last year, right?”

Schoeneweis stood and nodded.

“Tell me,” Scioscia demanded, “who was the biggest jerk on that team?”

Only he didn’t say “jerk.”

Schoeneweis reddened.

“Uh,” he began.

The room demanded an honest answer.

“Probably me,” he finally said.

The room was satisfied. Players burst into knowing laughter. Having established exactly where he stood with the new manager, Schoeneweis sat down.

...

“The day they hired him, that’s when things changed,” [Garret] Anderson said. “The attitude changed. How we go about our business changed. How we’re viewed as an organization changed. He played in L.A. They won. They were an arrogant bunch of guys who knew they were going to kick your behind every night. That works in this sport. You hear it enough, you start thinking, ‘I guess we’re going to get it done.’ You have no choice.

Tim Brown On Midseason Trades

Rank speculation if that sort of thing gets you excited:

The coming month will tell, but as of now the Dodgers, Mets and Giants are in need of a big, strong, run-producing corner outfielder. That’s Holliday, who is this July’s Mark Teixeira. He can become a free agent after next season, could be too pricy for his current ballclub and is represented by Scott Boras, who values free agency well above contract extensions. Holliday is back from a left hamstring injury and could bring the kind of pitching the Rockies so desperately need. On the other hand, they could get shortstop Troy Tulowitzki back shortly, reenact September in July and hold onto Holliday for at least a few more months.

Something You Don't See Every Day

• Carlos Gonalez of the A's stole home on Sunday, the second time this year the A's have done that. They're a faster team than they used to be, those A's, and they're not married to the station-to-station offense like they used to be.
• Felix Hernandez hit a game-winning grand slam in yesterday's Seattle 5-2 victory over the Mets; it was the first grand slam by an AL pitcher since Steve Dunning went yard off Diego Segui in a 7-5 Cleveland win over Oakland, and the first home run for a pitcher in Mariners history. Hernandez sprained his ankle later in the game following a scoring wild pitch and had to leave the game with assistance, but is expected to make his next start.

Everybody Loves Jaime Jarrin

Two pieces about Dodgers broadcaster Jaime Jarrin, one by Eric Enders at Dodger Thoughts and another at the Times, both no doubt prompted by the team's plan to honor Jarrin before tonight's game.

Labels: angels, dodgers, managers, rumors, trades, wow

The Cubs are busy setting team records today, with Jim Edmonds homering twice in the same inning, something that's only happened twice before in team history, most recently by Mark Bellhorn on August 29, 2002 at Milwaukee. Jose Contreras simply melted down in the fourth, chased by Aramis Ramirez' three-run homer, one of four in the inning.

Update: Carlos Marmol had his second weak outing in a row, giving up a run, as did Bobby Howry, but the Cubs held on to win.

Another note about that big fourth inning: the Northsiders hit back-to-back shots twice. The nine runs scored in the fourth was the biggest single-inning outburst from the Cubs since a ten-run inning against St. Louis at Wrigley on June 10, 2004 against Dan Haren.

ESPN Box

Labels: cubs, recaps, white sox, wow