Archive for May, 2009
Smith is in the headlines again:
Slowly the iceberg is splitting and the fans are going elsewhere…
The attendance at Friday’s Angel game was announced as 38,492 tickets sold. An actual turnstile count would be less.
Sure, lots of people stayed home to watch the Lakers (although their game on the road should have yielded some of the Staples Center faithful into the Big A) and sure, it was the Mariners, a low-draw team from the day they were conceived …but still … is it the absurd StubHub ticket surcharges? The fact that obstructed view seats are over $25 each? Has listening to the nightly Steve Physioc improvisation about baseball, the opposing team being so grand and his daughter graduating from Champman college turned you off the product on the field?
The season is now 29% over and this team is not looking as interesting as previous incarnations. They play hard, sure, and they are a good group, but nothing has gelled, we are just above .500 and the pitchers we were waiting to get back both coughed up terrible games over SIMPLE opponents this week. The future Hall of Fame hitter we waited to get back has not got even half of his legendary swing or timing back and other than three inspiring players (Torii Hunter, Joe Saunders and Jered Weaver) this team is Mike Scioscia and the Clockpunchers.
We are a long way from the paltry Oakland attendance figures, but mark the date of May 29 in your Angels diary… it is not the day that the air started leaking out from the fanbase… that day has long passed. It is the day we all finally heard the hiss.
Will Scioscia and Reagins be able to patch it up with an improved on-field product? Will Terry Smith patch it up by slamming down more idiot callers? Will Rory Markus patch it up with superior play-by-play to make us forget root canals and Physioc monologues? Or will Arte and the boys be forced to serve up $5 ticket specials for the remainder of the season as a patch on the slow leak that is Southern California’s waning passion for this team?
Sure, the hardcore, jersey-buying base will always be there, although not at every game. But the casual fan will fill the stadium in good times and bad if the product is presented as great. With a telecast that is less major league in its presentation than the region’s National League team, we got disappearing fans and a bad infomercial out there trying to dig up replacements.
There is a hissing air of cars whizzing past the stadium in the fast lane, never veering to the Katella exit. It is growing. Will the hiss be stopped? Will the leak of fans be patched?
Better hurry… win or lose, the Lakers have another two weeks left in their season, tops. The Dodgers are grabbing the Times headlines with a cakewalk division battle and Bruin/Trojan football preseason starts in about two months. No matter what Arte’s discount will be, what was 7,000 unsold tickets tonight will be three times that by this August if the team plays like they did tonight.
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Take a peek at a video of Smith doing his best work:
Aaron Smith 2 (Baseball)
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Check out who is in this news: choo! The Riot Hits Pay Dirt, While Robnett Gets Released. , we have a summary: Cubs SS Ryan Theriot officially qualified for post-2008 salary arbitration yesterday, and Aaron Heilman hit five years of MLB service time a week ago, meaning that although he has two minor league options left, he can’t be sent to the minors without his permission.
Also, the Cubs have released OF Richie Robnett from AAA Iowa and RHP Jesse Estrada from AA Tennessee, and have signed minor league FA OF John-Ford Griffin, with Griffin replacing Robnett as the “4th OF” at Iowa.
Robnett was one of two players the Cubs got from Oakland for Michael Wuertz in February. The other one (INF Justin Sellers) was traded to LAD at the end of Minor League Camp for a PTBNL (or ca$h) and is presently at AA Chattanooga. I wonder how Wuertz is doing at Oakland?
Now 28, Griffin was the Yankees 1st round draft pick out of Florida State in 2001, and was rated by Baseball America as a Top 100 prospect and one of the Yankees Top 10 prospects in 2002, and one of the A’s Top 10 Prospects in 2003 after he was traded to the A’s along with Ted Lilly in the deal that sent 1B Carlos Pena and RHP Franklyn German from OAK to DET and RHP Jeff Weaver from DET to NYY.
Griffin hit 310/386/527 at Las Vegas (Dodgers AAA) in 2008, but was released by the Dodgers recently after hitting only .122 with 13 K in only 41 PA in his first 16 games in AAA in 2009. He has logged 13 games in the big leagues (with Toronto 2005-07), and he will be a Rule 55 minor league FA post-2009 if he is not added to the Cubs 40-man roster by the end of the World Series.
In addition, LHP James Russell has been promoted from Tennessee to Iowa and LHP Jayson Ruhlman has been demoted from Iowa back to Tennessee, and RHP Marco Carrillo has been promoted from Daytona to Tennessee (replacing Estrada). The son of ex-MLB closer Jeff Russell, James Russell was the Cubs 14th round draft pick of out the U. of Texas in 2007, although he got “3rd round money” to give up his college career (he dropped to the 14th round only because he was considered to be a “tough sign,” because he was telling everybody that he wanted to return to Texas for his senior season). Along with 2008 draft picks RHP Jay Jackson and RHP Casey Coleman (who is also the son of an ex-MLB pitcher), Russell is one of the more-polished pitchers in the Cubs system.
Drafted by the Cubs out of a Texas JC in 2004 but signed as a “Draft & Follow” in May 2005, the now 25-year old 6′8 300+ Estrada progressed steadily through the Cubs system over the past few seasons, and was considered enough of a prospect that the Cubs sent him to the AFL last fall, and he looked OK there. But he was not added to the Cubs 40-man roster in November, and then he pitched poorly at Minor League Camp in march with Iowa, where he was given every opportunity to nab a spot in the I-Cubs starting rotation. So instead he began the 2009 season in the Iowa bullpen, but he was demoted to Tennessee earlier this month, and he continued to perform poorly when given a chance to start at AA.
Besides the PTBNL the Cubs are yet to get back from the Dodgers for Sellers, the Cubs are stilled owed a PTBNL from BAL (for LHP Rich Hill) and a PTBNL from OAK (for RHP Rocky Roquet), although I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cubs will get ca$h instead in both cases (probably around $20,000, which they could use to claim a player off waivers at a time & place of their own choosing).
And Rule 5 LHP Donald Veal is still on the Pirates 25-man roster. although he has appeared in only one game in the last three weeks (and he has pitched in just five games & logged only 6.1 IP so far in 2009, although he did throw two innings in relief versus the Astros last night).
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How do you think this news will affect the team this season?
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Tonight was going to be, like, the most important night in the history of the West Virginia Power. It marked their first-ever bobblehead giveaway, and they decided to honor the occasion with an Obama-playing-basketball-in-high-school toy. Too bad the dolls got stuck in some reincarnation of Gitmo.
This — this! — is the worst type of government corruption, the kind that I thought had been hoped and changed out in November. Because even though the Power ordered the bobbleheads from an “unknown country,” they were held up in U.S. Customs and Border Protection for nine days. Do you know how much President Obama did in nine days? A lot! And it’s unjust not to allow his bobbleheads to do the same. This is America, after all.
The Power, consequently, had no idea what to do, so they called the White House. No dice. And just before shit got real weird, the team learned yesterday that the dolls had been released from detention, even if they likely won’t make it for tonight’s scheduled giveaway to underscore the night’s theme of “fitness and a healthy lifestyle.” To compensate, the first 1,000 fans instead will get “golden tickets” — they’re actually called that — and, in addition to a detained bottlehead that may or may not have been tortured in captivity, will receive snozberries, everlasting gobstoppers and an Oompa-Loompa.
Obama bobblehead dolls released from captivity — no one harmed The Vote Blog
Obama Bobbleheads Red Flagged At Customs Steady Burn
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I have always been a big fan of choo, but I have to say, seeing news like this gives me mixed feelings.This might be shocking news for choo fans, but some of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I’m pretty surprised though. choo is interesting, I hope this doesn’t affect the season.
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No matter what anybody says, I can’t stop thinking sipp is interesting,
Stephen Strasburg, who almost every scouting executive in the world cites as the most can’t-miss prospect ever, struck out 15 last night in the NCAA tournament, but took the loss by allowing two earned runs in a 5-1 loss. The defeat likely ended his college career. It was 3-years-old.
Virginia — which, for the record, was absolutely hosed by the selection committee — jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first with a 400-foot homer and secured a second run in the second off Strasburg, who bore down in his final five innings to surrender just three more hits and walk none in the entire game.
So now Strasburg will be drafted by the Nationals, and he should probably accustomed to losing a lot. Here’s one hint: Don’t make silly excuses for giving up two runs in seven innings.
“Everybody had the jitters,” Strasburg said. “It was tough playing a team we’d never heard of. There was no scouting report to rely on the first time through the batting order. We thought they were tipping our pitches when catcher Erik Castro set up so we changed it up a little after the first two innings. We went more to sinkers, sliders and the changeup earlier in the count.”
San Diego State had never heard of Virginia? There was no scouting report for the Cavaliers? They were tipping Strasburg’s pitches? Come on. Virginia just plain-old beat the best pitcher in the country by hitting a few bombs. Give the team some credit.
In other ping-related news, Southern Mississippi beat Elon 17-15, Gonzaga beat Georgia Southern 19-10 and Georgia beat Ohio-State 24-8, thanks in part to Knowshown Moreno’s 210 yards and three touchdowns. But nope — metal bats are the way to go.
Cavalier attitude Baseball America
Strasburg should get used to struggle Yahoo! Sports
Friday Recap, Saturday Preview Baseball America
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Any tThoughts?
Every day can be opening day when you open up your check-book and see the logo of your favorite MLB team proudly displayed. All 30 teams available. Matching labels and cover are also available. These baseball checks are only $27.90 at DesignerChecks.com
Look who is making news again, Francisco! Game 46 Recap - Giants 5, Braves 3. In the interest of saving time:
So thats a pretty big kick in the face. After getting a huge sweep of the (former) best team in the toughest division in baseball, we get swept by a team from the NL West. Come on now. The NL West hates us pretty badly this year. The Braves have a 3-6 record against the Diamondbacks, Giants & Rockies, with a -9 run differential. Thats pretty embarrassing, considering none of those teams are even leading the division.
The team just couldn’t get anything going against Randy Johnson, getting a whopping 3 baserunners in 6 innings. Kenshin Kawakami on the other hand, had one of his weird starts, allowing 14 baserunners in less than 6 innings, but he was actually only one out away from a quality start…haha. When he only gets 2 strikeouts, you know its going to be a long night. In the pen, Eric O’Flaherty had his worst start of the year, and I have no idea why he stayed in the game as long as he did. Eventually, Manny Acosta (Manny Acosta!??!) came in to record the final 5 outs…perfectly…on 13 pitches. What kind of alternate universe IS this?
On offense, no one did a whole lot. Garret Anderson had a pinch 2 run single to earn a place in all of our hearts…Jordan Schafer singled and scored, while Matt Diaz walked and scoerd. The right fielder went 0/4, and Brian McCann doubled and walked coming into the game for David Ross. And the savior of the team, Chipper Jones? Yeah, he hates Randy Johnson…0/4 with 4 strikeouts. Thats tough.
Look how close that is folks…kinda scary, isn’t it?
SBNation is acting weird…the winner was Johnson (4-4), the loser was Kawakami (3-6), and the save went to Brian Wilson (his 10th).
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This will be shocking news for Francisco fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming. I’m pretty surprised though. Francisco is spectacular, I really hope this doesn’t affect the rest of the team.
Every day can be opening day when you open your check-book and see the logo of your favorite Major League Baseball team prominently displayed. All 30 teams available. Matching labels and cover are also available. These baseball checks are only $27.90 at DesignerChecks.com
Check out who is making news, DeRosa! Just Win, Baby: Cubs Break Losing Streak In Rain-Shortened Game, 6-1 Over Pirates. In the interest of saving time, we have a summary -
Looking at weather radars late yesterday afternoon, I wouldn’t have given real good odds that the game would have been played at all — the Chicago area seemed surrounded by thunderstorms and more were heading north from downstate.
But the area got just enough of a break from the weather — it was mostly dry from about 5:00 until a downpour hit just before 9:00 — for the Cubs and Pirates to get an official five innings in before the umpires finally called everyone off the field with a 1-2 count on ex-Cub Craig Monroe in the top of the sixth. Result: a 6-1 rain-shortened Cubs win over the Pirates, the second game of the year that went into the books with fewer than nine innings played, and the eight-game losing streak is history. The Cubs returned to the .500 mark and with the Cardinals’ 8-1 win over the Brewers, crept back to four games out of first place (three in the loss column).
With only five innings played, both Sean Marshall and Ian Snell, the game’s starting pitchers, get credit for complete games; Marshall threw perhaps his best game of the year, allowing only four hits (all singles), striking out six, and making two slick defensive plays — catching a line drive and also snagging a sharply hit grounder up the middle for an easy 1-3 putout.
Meanwhile, the Cubs offense continued its awakening from the dismal road trip; Kosuke Fukudome hit his first home run in a month. Micah Hoffpauir drove in a pair of runs with a double, and Marshall, who has turned himself into a pretty good hitter (3-for-12 this year with two RBI), singled in a run. The club also resumed its patient ways, walking four times in only five innings of batting.
How baseball has changed: I remember a game day around this time of year in 1978, when a game was called at 10 am because of the mere threat of rain. Of course, that was in the days where the average attendance was about 18,000 and the average ticket price was about $5 (yes, seriously, $5 — even box seats weren’t that pricey), so the team’s financial exposure wasn’t that high for a postponement. Today, with the price of an average ticket approaching $50 and virtually every game a sellout, a rainout could cost the Cubs somewhere in the range of $1.5 million to $1.8 million — or, to put it in another way, about the cost of Aaron Heilman’s salary for 2009. In addition, there are other pressures, such as tight schedules with no scheduled doubleheaders (and no, I’m not arguing in favor of that — there’s no way the owners are giving up the revenue to give two games for the price of one, not to mention the fact that you can’t get a regular DH finished in less than seven hours these days) and the rule requiring a day off at least every 20 days.
That’s why we see games like last night’s, played in part in very difficult conditions — the last inning was played in a pretty hard downpour and you could just imagine fielders saying to themselves, “Please don’t hit me a popup!” — pushed to at least be official games. A little more than half of the listed paid crowd, 38,303, actually showed up to brave the rain and almost all of us, myself included, ducked out when the delay was called just before 9:00. After an hour and six minutes, the result was made official at 10:05. Strangely enough, at the 7:05 scheduled game time, it was not raining — though it had much of the time when batting practice normally would have been held — the field was uncovered, and pitchers had warmed up, but no one, not even the umpires, had appeared. Finally, about 7:10 the umpires came out of the dugout — one of the few times you’ll ever see umpires applauded — and the first pitch was thrown at 7:12.
The Cubs will take them, these days, any way they can. The offense seems to have awakened and if the pitching can settle back into the groove it had even during the road trip portion of the losing streak, things can turn around quickly. The two teams will try again this afternoon, weather permitting:
Today: Today: Showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Patchy fog before 1pm. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 69. North northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Notes: sources tell me, despite me and some others wanting the Cubs to go after Mark DeRosa, the Cubs will not seek his return, nor are they at this time looking for help outside the organization; and, further, there are no immediate plans to call up Jake Fox. If the team keeps hitting the way they have the last two games, a turnaround could come as quickly as the losing streak did.
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This might be shocking news for DeRosa fans, but some of you who will say that you saw it coming from a mile away. I can’t say I’m all that surprised. DeRosa is fantastic, I really hope this doesn’t affect the season.
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I wonder how Smith’s fans feel - “The Nuggets/Lakers series is all tied up after the Nuggets ran roughshod over the Lakers Monday night despite Carmelo Anthony suffering from the flu and having a bum ankle.
Chauncey Billups and JR Smith both had 24 points while Kobe Bryant dropped in 34.
Source: espn.go.com”
what do you think?This might be shocking news for Smith fans, but some of you who will say that you saw it coming. I’m pretty surprised though. Smith is fantastic, I hope this doesn’t affect the rest of the team.
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Lee is featured in todays news -
After losing to the likes of Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Jake Peavy earlier in the current losing streak, the Cubs fell Saturday night at San Diego to young Josh Geer, who came into the game with a 5.61 ERA and no victories in five starts.
Cubs starter Randy Wells, subbing for the injured Rich Harden, pitched well enough to win (again). He yielded 3 runs on 5 hits and 1 BB over 7 innings.
Some of the Cub hitters even showed signs of life: Derrek Lee and Mike Fontenot had two hits each: Milton Bradley had a hit and a first-inning rocket that died deep in Petco’s cavernous centerfield.
Still, going into the final inning, Lee’s solo home run in the second inning accounted for all the Cub scoring. Then, in the ninth, Bradley and Lee stroked back-to-back singles, and the Cubs had the tying runs at first and third with none out against Padres closer-for-a-night, Edward Mujica.
Micah Hoffpauir then ripped a hard ground ball at Padres first-baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who touched first, looked Bradley back to third, and fired to second to double up Lee.
Geovany Soto was the Cubs’ last hope, and worked the count full before watching a belt-high fastball pass for strike three.
Ted Lilly (5-3, 3.35) gets the start Sunday against Chris Young (3-2, 5.07) as the Cubs try to avoid getting swept at San Diego and concluding the six-game road trip without a victory.
1984: The Padres honored the members of their ‘84, Steve Garvey-led National League Championship team before the game, so those of us who lived through that horror had a chance to be reminded of it before the fun of the actual game began.
Coming attraction: The Cubs’ next opponents, the Pirates, were blanked for a second consecutive night by the White Sox in their interleague series at U.S. Cellular Field. Pirates’ offense vs. Cubs’ offenseâshould be a matchup for the ages.
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What do you think?
Every day could be opening day when you open up your checkbook and see the logo of your favorite Major League Baseball team prominently displayed. All 30 teams available. Coordinating labels and cover are also available. These baseball checks are only $27.90 at DesignerChecks.com
Because the game balls from the past week were sent to Pooperstown, amirite?
Nate Schierholtz’s at-bat in the 7th inning was a wretched, sordid affair that has to rank among the worst at-bats I’ve ever watched in my life, and I watched Wesley Snipes pretend to know how to swing a bat in two separate movies. I can picture Schierholtz sitting in the dugout, looking at the guy next to him and saying, “Did you know Miguel Batista’s fastball had movement?.”
I almost turned off the TV. I should have, really. The Giants squandered yet another bases loaded opportunity — the 4,206th time the Giants have failed to score with the bases loaded and less than two outs, which is especially impressive for a team that only averages about two baserunners a game.
Then came Juan Uribe. Blessed is he who breaketh the slump with bases loaded aplomb. Woe be to he who ever doubted thy utility infielder.
/ lights candle in honor of Juan Uribe
Of course, other hitters did their part. Manny Burriss worked a great walk, Randy Winn had a solid single, and Fred Lewis added some insurance runs. Really, though, we just watched what it must be like to follow a normal team. Five runs is, uh, almost the very definition of average. Don’t care right now. Maybe tomorrow the irony will hit me.
Matt Cain is the new lucky charm for the Giants’ offense, which sounds great until you realize that we traded one guy getting consistently hosed for 80% of a rotation getting consistently hosed. Maybe having a sacrificial lamb wasn’t a bad idea.
More importantly: Cain pitched ridiculously well. For once, Bruce Bochy was correct to leave a starting pitcher in when other managers might have gone to the bullpen. Sure, it’s the Mariners — it’s not like Lookout Landing is going to pen flowery odes to Jason Vargas and Garrett Olson just because they dominated the Giants — but a complete game, no walk victory is always fun to watch.
Also, Jason Vargas and Garrett Olson dominated the Giants. Good win, but nevar forget.
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I have always been a fan of Lewis, but I have to say, seeing news like this gives me mixed feelings.How do you think this news about Lewis will affect the team this season?
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Cabrera hasn’t really impressed me so far. I think we’d be better off if he were with another team:
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Jason Marquis lasted 7.2 innings, allowing only 2 earned runs on 6 hits as the Rockies (17-25) outlasted the Tigers (24-17) 4-3, notching just their second one-run victory of the season. Marquis walked only one batter and struck out four, as he kept the Tigers off-balance all night, aside from the occasional hard hit ball mostly by guys named Miguel Cabrera and Gerald Laird. Randy Flores made an appearance in relief of Marquis in the bottom of the 8th and struck out the only batter he faced in Clete Thomas with nobody on base. Huston Street came on for the ninth and earned his 100th career save, becoming the second Rockies closer in as many seasons to accomplish the feat. Street walked two batters in the inning, but was able to notch a strike out of red-hot Gerald Laird to end the game.
In addition to the strong pitching performances across the board, the Rox were also able to find their sticks. Before leaving the game with a hamstring injury in the top of the sixth (more on that later), Chris Iannetta hit a solo home run and smacked a double down the left field line to raise his batting average to .231. The long ball was quite beneficial to the Rockies again when Todd Helton crushed a 3-0 offering from Armando Galarraga deep into the right field seats to break a 3-3 tie. Plus, Dexter Fowler had a good night at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored.
As for Iannetta’s injury, it occurred while he was rounding third and trying to score on a hit (!) by Garrett Atkins. He has been officially listed as day-to-day, but could be placed on the DL due to the need for two catchers to be on the active roster at all times. Hopefully, Chris will recover quickly. However, the Rockies (as much as you’ll all hate me for saying this) will be in decent hands with Yorvit Torrealba taking over the starting job while Iannetta’s out.
Jason Hammel will be in search of his first victory tomorrow in the rubber match of this series, as he’ll oppose a rejuvenated Dontrelle Willis at 11:05 AM MT. How about a series win, Rox?
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What do you think?
Take a peek at a vid of Cabrera:
Marlins Trade Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera
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