The Mets didn’t get what they expected from Kris Benson tonight. Five innings and seven earned runs was not good enough to beat the Braves. Meanwhile, Jaret Wright, who any team could have picked up for a song last year, continues his comeback with seven shutout innings for the Braves. Not a [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:16 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 2 Comments
July 31, 2004
Theo Spins
Theo Espstein was just on NESN talking about the trade. He made the point that the Red Sox had been leading the league in runs scored and ERA over the last three months but were about a .500 team. The reason was the defense. The Red Sox are 41-39 since the start [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:35 pm | Trades | Permalink | 8 Comments
July 31, 2004
Nomar to Cubs?
I saw a headline, but no story on ESPN.com that Nomar has been traded to Cubs. Stay tuned.
Update: Fox just confirmed the trade, although I haven’t heard details.
Update: Now ESPN is saying the trade is tentative. It’s 4:55, how tentative can it be? I would assume the Cubs want a physical.
Update: Ken [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:42 pm | Trades | Permalink | 10 Comments
July 31, 2004
Phillies Leadoff
Why isn’t Jason Michaels leading off for the Phillies? Today, Rollins (.332 OBA) and Utley (.304 OBA) are in the the table-setter slots. Meanwhile, Michaels, with his .387 OBA and .381 career OBA is batting near the bottom of the order. The Phillies have this powerful heart of the order. They [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 3:12 pm | Strategy | Permalink | 5 Comments
July 31, 2004
Mets Moves
The two Mets deals are getting a very negative reaction in the comments to this post. I can sum it up as, “Why are we trading away the future for pitching when we can’t score any runs to support that pitching?”
This New York Times article is a good reference for the deal.
Impersonating the Yankees, [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:35 am | Trades | Permalink | 3 Comments
July 31, 2004
Dodger Deal
When I first heard of the Dodger-Marlins deal, my thought was great deal for the Dodgers. I based that on
The Dodgers get a good, young player for a good old player.
A starter being somewhat more valuable than a set-up man.
The Dodgers getting rid of a poor offensive player.
I watched the Tivo’d Baseball Tonight this [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:11 am | Trades | Permalink | 8 Comments
July 31, 2004
Giambi Tumor
Jason Giambi has been diagnosed with a benign tumor. The type, location and treatment of the tumor have not been noted. It doesn’t sound too serious, but we simply don’t know all the facts. Regardless, this type of disease is still scary, and I wish him the best.
Posted by David Pinto at 8:40 am | Illnesses | Permalink | No Comments
July 30, 2004
Coast to Coast
The Giants and Phillies swap Ledee and Felix Rodriguez. Off the top of my head it seems like a pretty even trade. I’ll have more on all these tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, be sure to check out the Transaction Guy for the latest.
Posted by David Pinto at 11:04 pm | Trades | Permalink | 2 Comments
July 30, 2004
Fast and Furious
It looks like they are all coming at the last minute. The big deal so far has Choi and Penny going to the Dodgers for Mota, Lo Duca and Encarnacion. Off the top of my head, it looks like a great deal for the Dodgers. They may be doing more, so I’ll [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:39 pm | Trades | Permalink | 10 Comments
July 30, 2004
Games of the Day
Will tonight be the final performance of Randy Johnson in an Arizona Diamondbacks uniform? Pitching in Colorado, will he go out with a bang, or will his pitches be banged out of the park? After having only 1 loss to show for 0.82 ERA over his last three starts, you’d think Randy might [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:46 pm | Games | Permalink | 1 Comment
July 30, 2004
Remembering Munson
My old friend Willie Weinbaum inteviews one of the survivors of the Thurmon Munson plane crash on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the crash. It’s the first time either of the survivors have talked publicly about the accident.
Posted by David Pinto at 1:08 pm | Deaths | Permalink | 4 Comments
July 30, 2004
Ranger Danger
The Texas Rangers had the chance to put some distance between themselves and their division rivals, and so far have failed to do so. They started a 12-game stretch against Anaheim and Oakland on 7/21. So far, they are 3-6, and the A’s have regained first place after beating Texas 7-6 last night. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:57 am | Team Evaluation | Permalink | 1 Comment
July 29, 2004
Power, but No Punch
The White Sox lost their fifth game in a row tonight, falling 3-2 to the Detroit Tigers. They’ve only scored 13 runs in that stretch. Amazingly, they’ve hit 7 HR to help score those 13 runs. It seems Thomas and Ordonez were also setting the table.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:10 pm | Team Evaluation | Permalink | No Comments
July 29, 2004
Francis Crick Dies
In a former life I was a biochemist. Francis Crick, along with James Watson, discovered the structure of DNA. Outside the Beltway has the news of his passing. If you’ve never read The Double Helix by James Watson, I highly recommend it. It tells a great scientific detective story.
Posted by David Pinto at 5:26 pm | Deaths | Permalink | 3 Comments
July 29, 2004
Wild Padres
One of the teams I’m quietly rooting for this year is the San Diego Padres. Although he’s not usually recognized as one, Kevin Towers is a Moneyball GM. If you take them out of PETCO (which so far seems to be a pitcher’s park), the Padres have the best road OBA in the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:52 am | Team Evaluation | Permalink | 4 Comments
July 28, 2004
Os for the Oriole
You it’s a bad game for Schilling when he allows as many HR as strikeouts. He got two of each tonight as the Orioles scored four runs off him in seven innings. That might be good enough for a win on most nights, but this evening the Red Sox ran into Dave Borkowski. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 9:24 pm | Games | Permalink | No Comments
July 28, 2004
No Win, No Loss
What a tough game for Jamie Moyer. He pitches seven fine innings, allowing 1 run while striking out 9. But Oakland is able to come back against the Seattle bullpen. The difference; Moyer walked 1 in his seven innings. The pen walked 3 in their 1 1/3. A walk set [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 7:32 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
July 28, 2004
Sweep
The Twins win an extra-innings squeaker 5-4, sweeping the White Sox and extending their lead in the AL Central to 3 1/2 games. Both teams tried to give the game away; if you want to see an example, take a look at the bottom of the 7th.
White Sox seventh. Jo.Valentin walked on four pitches. [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 5:27 pm | Series | Permalink | No Comments
July 28, 2004
Bucky Ball
Bucky Jacobsen is certainly making an impression for the Mariners. He hit his 5th HR in 11 games today. He’ll be 29 at the end of August, so I don’t think he’ll be breaking any career HR records. He’s getting on base and hitting for power, which is just what you want [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 4:50 pm | Players | Permalink | 2 Comments
July 28, 2004
Two Hits Instead of One
Morneau hit what at first appeared to be a HR in the top of the 2nd of the Twins game. It turned out that the ball hit the top of the fence and bounced back into play. The umpires confered and made the correct call. (The play had originally ended with Morneau [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 2:29 pm | Games | Permalink | No Comments
July 28, 2004
Lee’s Artillery
Nice play by Carlos Lee to start off the Twins-White Sox game. Stewart hits the ball between the third baseman and the line. It looks like a sure double, but Lee gets over quickly, barehands the ball and fires a strike to get Shannon at second.
Posted by David Pinto at 2:10 pm | Defense | Permalink | No Comments
July 28, 2004
Sheffield’s 400
Is it just me, or is the media not making a big deal about Gary Sheffield reaching the 400 HR mark? Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that it was big news that Thome reached 400? I remember ESPN had a big picture of Jim and a headline that had the word [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 2:06 pm | Sluggers | Permalink | 8 Comments
July 28, 2004
Games of the Day
The Twins go for the sweep of the White Sox today. The Twins are doing exactly what they need to do, taking advantage of the White Sox offensive injuries to try to bury the South Siders. This one could be a slugfest, however, as Carlos Silva faces Esteban Loaiza. Loaiza has not [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 1:57 pm | Games | Permalink | No Comments
July 28, 2004
Full Colon
I wanted to follow up on this post from last night. Bartolo Colon pitched a brilliant game against the high powered Texas Rangers last night. He went seven shutout innngs, allowing only 1 hit and 2 walks. I almost wanted to list that game as slugfest of the day, and I’m glad [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:01 am | Pitchers | Permalink | 3 Comments
July 27, 2004
One More
Greg Maddux reached 299 wins tonight. He pitched a strong six innings, striking out 6 and walking only 1. Why he came out after only 79 pitches, I don’t know. You would think that if Greg wanted to get the win, he’d want to keep the probability of the bullpen blowing the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:43 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | 1 Comment
July 27, 2004
Return of the Out Pitch?
Bartolo Colon has gotten all six outs so far on strikeouts. Colon’s strikeouts have been down the last couple of years. Maybe he’s finding his groove again.
Posted by David Pinto at 10:40 pm | Games | Permalink | No Comments
July 27, 2004
Red Bird Roll
The Cardinals continue to look like the team to beat in the NL this season. I was going to question pulling Jason Marquis after seven innings. He had a shutout going and only threw 99 pitches. But Calero and Haren each pitched perfect innings, each striking out two, so I’ll give La [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 10:09 pm | Games | Permalink | 2 Comments
July 27, 2004
Hoo-Roy!
Roy Oswalt is pitching a gem tonight. Through six he’s allowed just 2 hits and 1 walk as he’s shutting out the DBacks on 73 pitches. He’s gotten four HR in support as the Astros are drubbing Arizona 10-0. Eight of Houston’s 11 hits have been for extra bases.
Posted by David Pinto at 9:42 pm | Pitchers | Permalink | No Comments
July 27, 2004
OBA Spread
I’m looking at the Atlanta lineup tonight, and I’m wondering why they are still batting Charles Thomas 8th. I understand not wanting to put pressure on him, but this isn’t the Yankees where the offense is so good it doesn’t matter if you bat a rookie like Jeter or Soriano or Johnson at the [...]
Posted by David Pinto at 8:28 pm | Strategy | Permalink | 1 Comment
July 27, 2004
Two Waitresses
Is attendance up at Skydome, or is it just the Yankees visiting? They have two waitresses working behind home plate, when they usually have one. The women who work the luxury boxes behind home plate probably get more television exposure in Cananda than most celebrities in that country.
Posted by David Pinto at 7:54 pm | Games | Permalink | 4 Comments
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