MLB FanHouse

AL Rookie of the Year: A's Andrew Bailey

Jeff Fletcher — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST

For the second time in five years, an A's closer has won the American League Rookie of the Year, but this one came as a bit of a surprise.

Andrew Bailey, who was a longshot to even make the team out of spring training, followed 2005 winner Huston Street in taking the award. Bailey had 26 saves and a 1.84 ERA for the A's, earning an All-Star berth along the way. Despite those numbers, he was considered by many to be behind Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus and Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello in the race.

Bailey earned 13 first-place votes among the 28 ballots cast, from two writers in each of the 14 American League cities. Based on a 5-3-1 voting system, Bailey totaled 88 points. Andrus came in second with eight first-place votes and 65 points, followed by Porcello, with seven and 64.

More Coverage: Marlins' Coghlan Wins NL Award

Bailey, 25, was the only rookie in the league to have more than two saves. He led all rookies in ERA, and he allowed opponents to hit just .167. He struck out 91 and allowed 47 hits in 83 1/3 innings.

How They Voted
Voting for 2009 AL Rookie of the Year (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third):
Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
Bailey, A's	13	6	5	88
Andrus, Rangers	8	6	7	65
Porcello, Tigers	7	8	5	64
Niemann, Rays		5	6	21
Beckham, W.Sox		2	4	10
Anderson, A's		1	1	4

Bailey, a sixth-round pick in 2006, had pitched just one game above Double A coming into this spring. He was not considered one of the A's better prospects, and he was struggling as a starter in June 2008 at Double A, but then he learned the cut fastball from A's roving pitching instructor Gil Patterson, who had been with the Yankees when Mariano Rivera developed the pitch.

Bailey and Rivera were teammates at the All-Star Game in St. Louis. Bailey had hoped to talk to Rivera about the cutter, but he told FanHouse's Ed Price in July that he didn't get the chance.

"I just kind of sat there and was listening to his conversation with the other guys," he said. "I didn't want to bother him.

"I didn't get a chance to pick his brain. But hopefully there will be a chance down the road. ... We were there to have a good time and experience that."

Andrus, who joined the White Sox Gordon Beckham as the only postion players to receive any votes, led all AL rookies in hits (128), runs (72), triples (8) and total bases. One of the players acquired in from the Braves in the 2007 Mark Teixeira deal, Andrus also established himself as an excellent defensive player. The Rangers thought enough of him to move All-Star Michael Young to third before the season began.

Porcello was the best starting pitcher among the AL rookie class, going 14-9 with a 3.96 ERA at age 20.

Bailey is the third A's player in the past six years to win the Rookie of the Year, joining Bobby Crosby (2004) and Street. The A's have now had eight players win the Rookie of the Year, tying the Yankees for the most in the American League. Other closers to win the award include Street, Baltimore's Gregg Olson in 1989 and Seattle's Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000.

AL Rookie of the Year: A's Andrew Bailey originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starting Five: Thome Finally Arrives, Helps Dodgers Clinch

Jeff Fletcher — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, Nationals, Red Sox, Yankees, Starting Five

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Jim Thome picked a good time to finally make his first significant contribution since the Dodgers got him to be their star pinch-hitter. Thome's two-run pinch-hit single keyed a four-run inning in a come-from-behind 8-4 victory over the Pirates that locked up a playoff spot for Los Angeles.

Thome had been 2-for-11 pinch-hitting for the Dodgers, with no RBI. He came up just after the Dodgers had taken a 5-4 lead and delivered a two-run single. Just a day earlier, Thome had an injection in a sore foot that has hampered him for a couple weeks.

After the Dodgers won, they had a subdued champagne toast -- no dumping or spraying -- to celebrate the team's third postseason appearance in the past four years. They are holding off on the big party until they close out the Rockies. Their magic number to win the NL West is two. They could do it as soon as Sunday.

More Coverage: Scoreboard | Standings | Statistics

From The Trainer's Room ...
Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina was hit just above his left knee by a foul tip, suffering a bruise that forced him out of the game. Losing their All-Star backstop could have been disastrous, but Molina said after the game -- while doused in champagne from the division-clinching win -- that he was OK, and might just miss "a couple days." Molina probably would have sat out Sunday under any circumstances, and the Cardinals are off on Monday.

Numbers Game ...
The Angels became the last team in baseball to suffer a four-game losing streak, and they did it in particularly ugly fashion. They blew a seven-run lead in a 15-10 loss to the A's. The stunning victory for the A's came against Angels starter John Lackey, who had been 16-4 with a 2.54 ERA against Oakland. The Angels' magic number to win the AL West is still four. They open a series with second-place Texas on Monday.

In Their Own Words ...
"If it could go wrong, it went wrong. Freakish things are happening." -- Nationals manager Jim Riggleman, after his team made three errors in a loss to the Braves. The Nationals lost their 102nd game, allowing the Braves to win for the 13th time in 15 games as they pulled within 2 1/2 games of Colorado in the wild-card race.

Advance Scouting ...
The Yankees have a chance to clinch their first AL East title since 2006 -- can you believe it's been that long? -- if they beat the Red Sox Sunday (1:05 PM ET). Andy Pettitte starts for the Yankees against Boston's Paul Byrd. The Red Sox still have a magic number of three to clinch the wild card.

Starting Five: Thome Finally Arrives, Helps Dodgers Clinch originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 27 Sep 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A's Show Signs Of Life, but Is It Sign of Bright Future in Oakland?

Jeff Fletcher — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics

OAKLAND -- The A's rebuilding plan may appear to be progressing quickly with the team's hot streak, but don't expect GM Billy Beane to make any big splashes on marquee players this winter to fill out the picture.

He tried that last winter. Didn't work.

Only after the A's got rid of Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi and Orlando Cabrera, essentially handing the wheel to the young players, did the team start to win. So the youth movement will continue.

"We'd look to add some guys, but we're going to be very disciplined," Beane told FanHouse. "We're trying to build something. We're not going to go crazy in the offseason."

That means the big power bat -- or bats -- that the A's seem to need to get to the next level are probably not going to come from outside the organization. It means they'll probably be waiting for guys like Ryan Sweeney and Kurt Suzuki to develop some more pop, or waiting for minor-league star Chris Carter (67 homers in his two seasons in the minors) to make his mark in the big leagues.

The A's also think Brett Wallace, acquired in the Holliday trade, can be a middle-of-the-order power hitter someday.

In the meantime, Beane is taking satisfaction in that a miserable season seems to be closing on a good note. The A's, who have been in last place every day since May 3, started turning it on slowly in the second half, and have been on fire for most of September.

They have won 12 out of 15, the best record in the majors in that span. Since June 29, the A's are 40-36.

"It's very encouraging," Beane aid. "I think it says a lot to have a young team in last place playing the way they are. I think it says a lot about the environment and the staff."

Is this really a sign of good things to come? Or simply a mirage? The Reds, you'll recall, won 13 out of 14 a few weeks ago.

Two of the A's rookies who give them hope that this is the start of a franchise turnaround are pitchers Brett Anderson and Andrew Bailey, the latter is among the front-runners for Rookie of the Year. Bailey, an All-Star, has 25 saves and a 1.95 ERA, after pitching only one game above Double-A.

"If you'd told me in spring training that this is what he'd be doing, we'd all tell you we'd be surprised," Beane said. "But once he got in a couple major league games at the beginning of the year, we all realized we had something pretty special. The second half he's been phenomenal."

Anderson is 10-10 with a 4.21 ERA, and he has a 3.72 ERA in the second half.

"He just keeps getting better and better," Beane said. "We think he's got a chance to be one of the better guys in the league."

Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez and Vin Mazzaro have been a cut below Anderson. Each has shown flashes of potential, mixed with some rough games. Josh Outman and Dallas Braden were the two best starters in the first half, but both got hurt. Outman had Tommy John surgery and will be out until the middle of next season.

The A's seem to have enough quantity of arms that they'll likely let the same group roll into next year. The tough issue for Beane is going to be deciding which of the position players that have carried the team in September are going to be here for the long haul.

Shortstop Cliff Pennington, who took over after the Cabrera trade, appears to have won a job for 2010. Suzuki, a potential All-Star, also has his spot locked up next year, as does veteran second baseman Mark Ellis.

The most interesting case is center fielder Rajai Davis. He's 29 years old, having been a fringe big-leaguer for the past two years, but he's hitting .316 with 40 stolen bases. Over the past 25 games he has hit .381. The A's will go into the winter planning on bringing Davis back as the center fielder in 2010.

"He's taken the opportunity and, for lack of a better term, has run with it," Beane said. "He's a major reason we've played so well in the second half."

A's Show Signs Of Life, but Is It Sign of Bright Future in Oakland? originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starting Five: Time to Count Marlins Out?

Andrew Johnson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Astros, Angels, Athletics, Marlins, Rangers, Rays, Red Sox, Starting Five

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That you can add the Marlins to the list of fringe contenders fading away with three weeks to go in the season.

Florida wasted an opportunity to gain on wild-card leading Colorado, which lost in San Francisco, in an 11-6 loss to the Cardinals. The Marlins fell behind 4-0 in the first, but managed to take a 6-4 lead by the fourth inning, only to squander that lead in large part due to Ricky Nolasco's five-inning, seven-run outing.

Poor starting pitching has been a big reason why Florida hasn't been able to make a run.

More Coverage: Scoreboard | Standings | Statistics

From the Palm Beach Post's Joe Capozzi:

The Marlins haven't had a starter pitch at least seven innings since Aug. 18, when Nolasco threw a complete game.

"For us to get back into this thing and go forward and get into the playoffs, we need to improve it right now, as soon as possible," [Marlins manager Fredi] Gonzalez said.

Florida is 5 1/2 games behind the Rockies with 18 left to play.

From the Trainer's Room ...
A severe fever forced the Astros to quarantine closer Jose Valverde in the team's clubhouse Sunday and also kept him from joining the club on the first day of its road trip in Cincinnati. Valverde had a temperature of 101 degrees over the weekend.

"They're treating him, and he has some type of virus," [Houston GM Ed] Wade said. "Hopefully it will run its course and he will be able to get here [Tuesday]."

Numbers Game ...
Believe it or not, Oakland's Brett Tomko is a 100-game winner. The journeyman, who has played for nine different teams, reached the milestone by throwing a five-hit shutout against the Rangers, dealing another blow to Texas' rapidly shrinking playoff hopes.

"We want to put ourselves in as good a position as possible and we haven't done that the last two days," [Rangers losing pitcher Scott] Feldman said. "Regardless, we're still in this thing. We just need to show the character we've shown all year and move on."

Texas is now 4 1/2 games back of Boston in the AL wild-card race. The shutout was just the second of Tomko's career and his first since 2004.

In Their Own Words ...
"Sleep is more tranquil, food tastes better and I like my dog a whole lot more." -- Rays manager Joe Maddon after his team avoided becoming the first team to lose 12 straight games the year after appearing in the World Series by beating the Orioles 8-4.

Advance Scouting ...
In a potential ALDS preview, the Angels head to Fenway Park for a meeting with the Red Sox (7:10 PM ET). Los Angeles' starter, John Lackey, has thrown back-to-back complete games and appears to be rounding into form, but his struggles in Boston -- he has a 6.34 career ERA there -- are well known. Lackey will take a backseat in the intrigue department to Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, though. The enigmatic Matsuzaka has an 8.23 ERA this season and hasn't appeared in a Boston uniform since June, but with a strong finish to the year, it could still be possible for him to work his way into the Red Sox playoff rotation.

Starting Five: Time to Count Marlins Out? originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Baseball Brunch: Meet the Rarest Breed

Ed Price — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Angels, Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Rays, Royals, Tigers, Twins, Yankees, MLB Awards, MLB Biz, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Cody Ross blames his mom.

"My dad was a really good athlete (Kenny Ross, who played safety at New Mexico in the late 1960s)," said Ross, the Marlins' right fielder. "My dad was all right[-handed]. My mom's a lefty, so maybe I got that gene from her."

Ross and St. Louis' Ryan Ludwick are the only two active position players who throw left and bat right. Just 14 such players in baseball history have gotten as many as 1,000 at-bats -- and that list now includes a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson.

"He kind of put us on the map," Ross said.

Some of the other names are recognizable -- early 20th-century Yankees star Hal Chase, Mets outfielder Cleon Jones, and more recent players Mark Carreon, Brian Hunter and David McCarty.

Some aren't -- Rube Bressler, Johnny Cooney, Al Nixon and Delos Drake.

"I think it's something that's kind of cool, something to be proud of," Ludwick said. "It's kind of an honor to be able to be in such little company."

Why so rare? There have certainly been plenty of players who throw right and bat left (582 with 1,000 or more at-bats), so it can't be that it's hard to be opposite-handed for hitting and throwing.

The simplest explanation is that a left-handed thrower can really play only four of the eight positions -- outfield and first base -- and is even less valuable if he bats right-handed, since lefties are less common and have the advantage against right-handed pitching.

"I think being a left-handed hitter is viewed as having an advantage," Ludwick said, "so you see a lot more people who throw right and are taught to hit left because it's an advantage."

Nether Ross nor Ludwick could explain how they ended up batting right and throwing left.

"It just happened," said Ludwick, who last year joined Henderson and Jones as the only bat-right/throw-left players to make an All-Star Game. "Natural."

Said Ross: "I have no reason why I do it. Nobody ever taught me to do it."

Both tried switch-hitting as kids -- "for a minute," Ludwick said, "but I was so much better right-handed."

Said Ross, "My dad tried to get me to switch-hit when I was younger. I did for a little while. But I realized really quickly that I had a lot more power from the right side and I didn't want to waste an at-bat [left-handed]."

It's not like Ross and Ludwick can't play. Ross, 28, is third on the Marlins with 22 homers and 83 RBI. Ludwick, 31, has 20 home runs and has driven in 87 runs, both second on the Cardinals.

"I feel like you see a lot of left-handed hitters that are right-handed throwers that have a lot of pop because they're right-hand-dominant, so they can really pull that bat through the zone," Ludwick said. "So I feel like being left-hand-dominant, I can [do the same]."

The bottom hand provides the power in a swing, and some recent boppers who throw right and bat left include Jim Thome, Prince Fielder, Larry Walker, Tino Martinez, Carlos Delgado, Adam Dunn, Jason Giambi and Mo Vaughn.

But those guys who throw left and bat right -- they don't get the love.

Ludwick was a second-round draft pick out of UNLV in 1999, so he never felt a bias because of his bat/throw combination. But Ross, a fourth-rounder in the same draft out of high school in New Mexico, said it worked against him. (Louie Medina, who played 51 games in the majors while throwing left and batting right, scouted both players for that '99 draft. Medina, now a special assistant to the GM in Kansas City, was then a scout for Arizona.)

"You have scouts come to watch you," Ross said, "and I was already challenged because of my height and I wasn't your prototypical baseball player, pushing 5-10. And also throwing left and hitting right, that's a lot against you going into pro ball. Or even college. So I think it affected me a little bit when it came to drafting and stuff like that.

"It's one of those things I knew I had to overcome, and I just did. A little bump in the road."

Both Ludwick and Ross didn't get a chance to become regulars in the majors until they had gone through multiple organizations. Ludwick was traded from Oakland to Texas to Cleveland and then had to sign on with Detroit and St. Louis as a minor-league free agent.

Ross was traded from the Tigers to the Dodgers to the Reds to the Marlins, including being traded twice in 33 days in 2006.

But he didn't blame that bouncing around on throwing left-handed and batting right-handed.

"I think once I got into pro ball, I think all of that kind of goes out the window," he said. "If you can play, you can play, and they'll find a spot for you."

Overheard and Understood

-- If you think Derek Jeter's pursuit of the Yankees' franchise hits record was overblown, wait until next spring training. Because the Yankees seem intent on letting Jeter go into 2010 without a contract beyond this year, and it will be a season-long storyline next year: Is this the Captain's last year in pinstripes?

Chart of the Week
Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria became the ninth player to have 40 doubles, 30 homers and 100 RBI in a season before the age of 24:
Player	Year
Hal Trosky	1934/36
Ted Williams	1939
Alex Rodriguez	1996
Scott Rolen	1998
Eric Chavez	2001
Aramis Ramirez	2001
Albert Pujols	2001-03
Miguel Cabrera	2005
Evan Longoria	2009
Source: Rays

While it might seem good public relations and, emotionally, a no-brainer to try to lock up Jeter long-term this winter, that wouldn't be good business for the Yankees. Not that they don't want him, but Jeter will be coming off his best season in at least three years, maybe 10. So in any contract negotiations this winter, Jeter would have the upper hand. The Yankees couldn't tell Jeter they have an alternative in mind, since both sides know he'll be the team's shortstop in 2010.

And it's not like the Yankees have ever gotten any kind of hometown discount from Jeter; the sides went to arbitration in 1999, avoided arbitration in 2000 with a $10 million salary and then worked out his current 10-year, $189 million deal in February 2001. Considering what he means to the franchise -- and its fans -- Jeter now could have every right to ask for more than Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia.

The only way an extension would get done before Jeter's contract is up (or close to up) is if ownership -- the Steinbrenner brothers -- steps in. They did in the fall of 2007, after the Joe Torre fiasco, to bring back Rodriguez (after his ugly opt-out), and with Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera on above-market deals. But the Steinbrenners may realize now they overpaid then and hold firm on Jeter.

Which will make for a fascinating winter of 2010-11, because the next negotiations will determine how much Jeter makes compared to A-Rod, whether he will be signed for the same length of time (through 2017!) and -- as part of the whole equation -- whether he ever moves from shortstop, and when, and where.

-- With a new ballpark opening next year, the Twins plan to spend more this winter than in any recent offseason. They "won't be picking up the scraps" of free agency, as one person put it.

-- Washington (including its Montreal years) is the only franchise never to have had two teammates with 100 RBI in the same season, but that could be corrected this year as Adam Dunn has 99 RBI and Ryan Zimmerman has 94. Tampa Bay got its first 100-RBI duo this year, with Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena.

-- The Angels could be the first team since the 2005 Cardinals to make it through the season without a four-game losing streak.

-- Figure this: Seven of the Dodgers' final 18 games are against the Pirates. Three others are against the Nationals.

-- Arizona's Chris Young last Sunday became the first player to go into a game batting less than .200 and then hit three homers.

-- The Cubs did not gain ground on the Cardinals in any day from Aug. 3 through Thursday.

-- If the A's, who have 85 errors, can finish with fewer than 100, they will set an all-time record by doing that for the sixth straight year. The Phillies had double-digit errors from 2001 to 2005.

-- Attendance at the Mets' new Citi Field on Thursday, for a game against the Marlins, was 37,620. But the Mets estimated 20,000 no-shows and about 17,000 in the stands.

-- The Rays are promoting right-hander Jeff Niemann (12-5, 3.57 ERA) for AL Rookie of the Year. They cite that he is in the top 10 all-time for winning percentage by an AL rookie starter; the first rookie to beat Roy Halladay twice; the first rookie in 55 years to lead the defending AL champs in wins and ERA; and that he could have three more wins but for two blown two-run leads and a blown three-run lead by his bullpen.

-- Since the start of last year, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, just two AL teams have swept four series from the same opponent (three or more games). It figures that the Yankees swept the Orioles five times, but not that the Royals have swept the Tigers four times.

-- Detroit's Brent Dlugach, called up Sept. 1, is the first big-leaguer ever whose name begins with "DL." Unless you count Mike Hampton.

Baseball Brunch: Meet the Rarest Breed originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Baseball Brunch: Senior Circuit Resembles Rest Home for Pitchers

Ed Price — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Angels, Athletics, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Rangers, Red Sox, Rockies, Tigers, Twins, Yankees, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Ahhh, the National League -- where pitchers can play out their golden years without a care in the world.

Think of the NL as baseball's rest home.

Just in the past few weeks, Brad Penny and John Smoltz have reached the legendary fountain of youth that Ponce de Sabathia discovered last year in the wilds of Wisconsin.

"In reality, it's a little tougher to pitch in the American League than it is the National League," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who formerly managed in Seattle and Tampa Bay.

At least he admits it.

Others asked about the difference between leagues tried to downplay it.

"If you make pitches, you're going to get outs," Penny told FanHouse a few days after joining the Giants. "When I got hit in the American League, it was because I didn't make pitches.

"Obviously the American League's a little harder, but it's not as big of a gap as everyone would think."

As Red Sox this year, Penny and Smoltz combined to go 9-13 with a 6.24 ERA and a .310 opponents' average.

Thus far, back in the comfy NL, they are 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and .205 opponents' average.

Then -- in perhaps the ultimate indignity -- Jose Contreras, who went 5-13 with a 5.42 ERA this year for the White Sox, held the Diamondbacks to one run in 6 2/3 innings in his NL debut for Colorado.

Sounds like a pretty big gap.

"I don't see how it could be," Cubs GM Jim Hendry said. "How many American League lineups are better than the Phillies?"

Point taken, and for Penny to shut down the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park was pretty impressive.

Ted Lilly, who went from the Blue Jays to the Cubs two years ago, would admit to only noticing "a little bit" of a difference between leagues.

Penny said Smoltz wasn't bothered by the AL as much as he wasn't fully recovered from shoulder surgery.

"He was trying to rush things," Penny said, "and got back out there probably a little too soon."

Phillies right-hander Joe Blanton also claimed to notice no drop in class when he switched leagues.

"Hitters are hitters," said Blanton, who was 47-46 with Oakland and has gone 13-6 with Philadelphia. "I mean, other than facing the pitcher, hitters are hitters."

It's not just the presence of the DH that makes the AL harder on pitchers. Lineups are deeper, ballparks are smaller and the style of play different.

For example, through Friday's games, according to STATS LLC, American League No. 8 hitters had combined for a .400 slugging percentage and a homer every 33.4 at-bats. In the NL, No. 8 hitters had a .374 slugging percentage and a home run every 52.4 at-bats.

The National League has pitcher-friendly parks in San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Florida and Los Angeles. The AL has Seattle and Oakland -- and hitter's havens in New York, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago and Texas.

"I think the teams are put together a little differently," Piniella said. "The [AL] teams are put together with a little more offense in mind."

More AL teams, notably in Boston and New York, seem to emphasize patience at the plate and building opposing pitchers' pitch counts.

"I think that the lineups in the American League are more powerful," said Johan Santana, in his second year with the Mets after winning two Cy Young Awards for the Twins. "You see more guys with longer swings than you see here in the National League. ... You don't see that many bunt plays, you don't see that many hit-and-runs in the American League.

"What I found out here, is that here they make a lot of contact and they put the ball in play. In the American League, there are more swing-and-misses."

In any case, it seems not to bode well for Jake Peavy, who (eventually) will make the reverse trip, from a team that plays in one of the NL's top pitchers' parks to an AL team that plays in a home-run den.

Maybe, for Smoltz and Penny, it was just getting out of the AL East. Scott Kazmir stayed in the league but left the division when he went from the Rays to the Angels, and he allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings in his first start after having a 5.92 ERA in Tampa Bay.

Or maybe Smoltz and Penny will eventually revert to their Boston form.

"Well, let's wait and see how it goes," Lilly said. "Four games, that doesn't give you much to go on."

Overheard and Understood

o. The early AL MVP talk -- and it's early, since September performance can swing the race -- has focused on Twins catcher Joe Mauer and Yankees teammates Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter. But I see drawbacks with all three.

Mauer (back) and Teixeira (.200 average, 10 RBI) took April off. Jeter recently bunted against Contreras with two men on, a 2-0 lead in the second inning with Sergio Mitre pitching for his team. Jeter is a great player having a great year, but that's not an MVP play.

Chart of the Week
Seattle's David Aardsma has 34 saves -- sixth-most all-time for a pitcher who had zero career saves coming into that season:
Pitcher	Team/Year	S
Eric Gagne	'02 Dodgers	52
Derrick Turnbow	'05 Brewers	39
Kaz Sasaki*	'00 Mariners	37
Shawn Chacon	'04 Rockies	35
J. Papelbon	'06 Red Sox	35
Kerry Wood	'08 Cubs	34
David Aardsma	'09 Mariners	34
Chris Ray	'06 Orioles	33
Billy Koch*	'99 Blue Jays	31
* - First year in majors Source: Mariners

So let's expand the discussion. Detroit's Miguel Cabrera is in the top five in slugging and on-base percentage for a first-place team. And as the Angels went on a 44-16 tear from June 12 to Aug. 19, Kendry Morales led the league with a 1.083 OPS over that span (.345, 18 homers, 47 RBI).

o. A friend of Bobby Abreu's said Abreu would be open to remaining with the Angels, but if there have been talks about extending him past his current one-year deal, they have not progressed significantly.

o. Interesting managerial matchup last week when the Diamondbacks played the Dodgers. Arizona manager A.J. Hinch was born on May 15, 1974 -- at which point counterpart Joe Torre already had won an MVP, been an All-Star nine times, and accumulated 2,035 hits. Torre managed his first game, as player/manager for the Mets, 16 days after Hinch's third birthday.

o. The Giants have that rare combination of neither power nor speed. San Francisco is on pace for 118 homers and 78 stolen bases. But give the Giants credit for somehow being in contention anyway. Since the three-tiered playoffs began in 1995, four teams have failed to have either 80 stolen bases or 120 home runs -- the 1995 Phillies and Cardinals, the 2005 Nationals and the '07 Royals -- and none had a winning record or finished higher than third place.

o. One scout, using the 20-80 scouting scale, rated San Diego shortstop Everth Cabrera, 22, an 80 on range and a 75 on arm. A year ago, Cabrera was with Asheville, N.C., in the lower-level Single-A South Atlantic League. Then the Padres took him from the Rockies in the Rule 5 draft. "Within a year or two," the scout said, "he's going to be the best defensive shortstop in the National League."

o. Oakland has used a starting pitcher age 23 or younger 85 times this year and could wind up with the most such starts since the woeful 1998 Marlins had 135. (Livan Hernandez and Ryan Dempster turned out OK; Brian Meadows, Jesus Sanchez, Rafael Medina and Joe Fontenot are not as easily remembered.)

o. The Rangers have clinched home field for a playoff tiebreaker game against the Red Sox or Rays and need one more win over the Angels to have an AL West playoff, if needed, at home.

o. The Division Series with an extra day off -- the one that allows teams to use a three-man rotation without anyone going on short rest -- is in the American League this year. The AL team the finishes with the best record has the choice of whether to play in the seven-day series or the eight-day series.

Baseball Brunch: Senior Circuit Resembles Rest Home for Pitchers originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barry Zito Doesn't Believe Pitch-Tipping Allegation Against Tejada

Jeff Fletcher — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:06:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics

SAN FRANCISCO -- At least one of Miguel Tejada's former teammates doesn't believe that he tipped opponents off to pitches while playing for the A's in 2001, as reported this weekend by the New York Times.

"He's not that kind of player, I don't think," Barry Zito told FanHouse on Sunday morning. "I don't think he's the kind of player who would take his Latin pride over his teammates."

Zito, who played with Tejada in Oakland from 2000 to 2003, said he did not even remember the reported meeting in which the A's discussed their suspicions of Tejada. Zito suggested that he might not have been involved in the meeting if the was the starting pitcher that day.

Tejada, now with the Astros, denied the allegations in 2001, and again on Sunday to mlb.com.

"I've never tipped pitches," said Tejada. "I love this game and that's not the way I play it. I'm a proud player. I would never do such a thing. It's tough to get a hit. And for me to tip pitches to anybody, that's crazy. I play for my team."

The Times cited several players from the '01 A's who recalled the meeting. They said there was no proof, but players became suspicious that, in lopsided games, Tejada was helping his friends by tipping pitches and failing to go after balls they hit. The story specifically mentioned a series against the Blue Jays in which Tejada and fellow Dominican Tony Batista each had big games.

More significant in the eyes of some of the players was an incident in the second game of the series. Tejada did not get to an easy ground ball Batista hit off reliever Mark Guthrie with the Athletics leading, 8-2. When the inning was over, A's players fumed on the bench.

Former A's infielder Frank Menechino told the Times that veteran Ron Gant helped calm the situation by bringing the issue to the forefront.

"I think Ron Gant calmed it down before it snowballed into anything big," said Menechino, now the hitting instructor for the Class AA Trenton Thunder. "Like: 'Hey, man, we can't worry about what the other teams are doing in this league. But we can't pull the Dominican guys out of our team and suspect them of anything until we catch them.' He basically calmed everything down. Everything was fine after that. I seriously can't prove, say, yes or no, that guys were doing it. But who knows?"

Similar allegations were levied against Alex Rodriguez in Selena Roberts' book, "A-Rod."

Barry Zito Doesn't Believe Pitch-Tipping Allegation Against Tejada originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:06:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bobby Crosby's Dad Rips Billy Beane

Jeff Fletcher — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:56:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics

Remember Bobby Crosby? Guy won the Rookie of the Year in 2004. Looked like a star in the making. Frankly, it was his presence that pushed the A's toward letting Miguel Tejada go and instead signing Eric Chavez to a long-term deal.

Now that Crosby is finishing out the final year of his five-year, $12.75-million deal, his father, Ed, has unloaded on the organization that employs his son and used to employ him. A former A's scout, Ed Crosby told the Long Beach Press-Telegram that the A's, specifically general manager Billy Beane, have treated his son unfairly.

"My feelings are that he has been messed around with, and that Billy Beane has done a number on him," says the 60-year-old Crosby, a retired major league scout who resides in Garden Grove. "Right now Bobby's on the disabled list, and he's not even hurt. He had a twinge in his left calf, but it wasn't serious enough to put him on the DL. But they were just looking for an excuse. Bobby's not hurt, period."

And...

"I know I'm Bobby's father, and I'm biased when it comes to him," concedes Ed Crosby. "But I also know he hasn't been treated properly by Billy Beane. They're supposed to be making a movie about Billy Beane with Brad Pitt starring. What's it going to be, a comedy?"

As for the A's whole philosophy of being disciplined at the plate...

"The A's take the bats out of their players' hands from the time they're in the minor leagues," he says. "Bobby was taught always to take the first pitch. They take all the aggressiveness out of their players. Look how much better guys like Eric Byrnes and Nick Swisher and Marco Scutaro have become once they got out of Oakland."

Beane chose not to respond to the allegation when contacted by two Bay Area reporters. Crosby said he's planning on playing elsewhere next year, hopefully as a shortstop.

It's nice that Ed Crosby is willing to stand up for his son, but in this case it seems a bit much. To say the A's didn't give Crosby a chance to show what he can do is just false. Crosby was hurt again and again in 2005, '06 and '07 and the A's continued to count on him as their long-term answer at shortstop. Last year he stayed healthy and the A's ran him out there in 145 games, giving him 605 plate appearances.

Crosby hit .237 with seven homers. Defensively, he was average, at best.

So, yes, the A's tried to upgrade the position in 2009, first with Rafael Furcal and then with Orlando Cabrera. They didn't get Furcal, but got Cabrera for a bargain-basement deal. (For less than they were paying Crosby, actually.) Cabrera was good, and he got traded to a contender. After the trade, the A's put rookie Cliff Pennington at short, to see what he could do. Crosby was miffed he didn't get his old job back, but why would the A's do that? He's not going to be their shortstop in 2010, so the A's gave the opportunity to someone who might be.

There are plenty of reasons to be critical of Beane for the A's failings. Certainly there are anti-Beane folks out there who love the fact that someone is going after him. However, this is not the right battle to pick.

Bobby Crosby's Dad Rips Billy Beane originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:56:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starting Five: Who Needs a Green Monster? The Yankees Have Godzilla

Andrew Johnson — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, Marlins, Mets, Rangers, Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, Starting Five

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That now it's the Red Sox who can't get out of their own way against the Yankees, as opposed to the other way around.

After going 8-0 against New York to start the season, Boston has now lost five straight to its rivals following a 20-11 drubbing at Fenway Park.

Hideki Matsui was the standout offensive star among many on Friday night, homering twice and driving in seven runs to pace the Yankee attack. Matsui and his teammates have made it very obvious that whatever hurdle there was to playing the Red Sox early in the year has now been cleared.

More Coverage: Scoreboard | Standings | Statistics

"We lost three games in a row twice here this season," Matsui said through a translator. "In that sense, it was very important for us to set the tone."

And set the tone they have.

From the Trainer's Room ...
Justin Duchscherer, on the disabled list all year, will miss the rest of the season as he battles depression. Duchscherer's agent, Damon Lapa, described it as "a very treatable form" of depression.

"It's something I think he's been battling for some time, and he recently made the really difficult decision that he needs to put his career on hold for the time being and focus 100 percent of his efforts on his recovery," Lapa said.

The right-hander, who went 10-8 with a 2.54 ERA last year, is due to be a free agent this winter.

Numbers Game ...
Jeff Francoeur had three hits, including a home run, as the Mets edged the rival Phillies. The enigmatic right fielder, who was traded to New York last month, has begun to look more like the player he was over his first few years with the Braves than the player who lost his way in recent years. Francouer is hitting .308 since he joined the Mets and has six home runs and 23 RBI, numbers which project out to a 26 homers and 100 RBI over a full season.

In Their Own Words ...
"I was just trying to throw strikes. I wasn't thinking about a no-hitter. I just tried to keep the game close. It was a big game for us battling with Atlanta, Colorado and San Francisco." -- Florida's Anibal Sanchez, who flirted with the second no-hitter of his career by carrying one into the sixth inning in his first start since June 2. Sanchez, who has spent time this year on the disabled list with a sprained right shoulder, picked up the win to keep the Marlins three back of the Rockies in the NL wild-card race.

Advance Scouting ...
The Rangers send Tommy Hunter to the mound (7:08 PM ET) as they continue a key series in the AL wild-card race against the Rays. Hunter has been on a roll since rejoining Texas in late June, going 6-2 with a 2.41 ERA over his last nine starts. Tampa Bay counters with Matt Garza.

Starting Five: Who Needs a Green Monster? The Yankees Have Godzilla originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starting Five: Daring Tulo Makes History As Rockies Roll Into Wild-Card Lead

Ed Price — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Astros, Angels, Athletics, Marlins, Orioles, Rockies, MLB Injuries, MLB Milestones, Starting Five

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Colorado has cycled back to the top of the NL wild-card standings.

Troy Tulowitzki hit for the cycle Tuesday as the Rockies bashed the Cubs, 11-5. By taking three of four in the series, Colorado moved a game ahead of San Francisco.

According to STATS LLC, Tulowitzki joined John Valentin as the only players ever to hit for the cycle and turn an unassisted triple play.

Tulowitzki ended up 5-for-5 with a career-best seven RBI, and he nearly had a two-homer cycle but replay upheld a foul ball ruling.

More Coverage: Scoreboard | Standings | Statistics

He homered in the first inning, had a potential grand slam in the second ruled foul upon review before settling for a two-run single and then doubled in the fourth.

So he came up in the plate needing a triple. And he got it.

"We were sitting on the bench together and [teammate Brad Hawpe] was telling me, 'If you get anywhere close to getting a triple you better go,' " Tulowitzki said. "I honestly think if it weren't for him I would have stopped at second."

... "I don't know if I'll ever have a game like this ever in my career," he said. "Not too many people can say they had a cycle in the big leagues."

Tulowitzki also singled in the eighth inning.

It was the sixth cycle in the majors this year, the fifth cycle in Colorado's 17 seasons and the eighth all-time at extra-base friendly Coors Field.

From the Trainer's Room ...
In his first game action since March 27 open-heart surgery, Aaron Boone played five innings at third base for Double-A Corpus Christi (Texas). Boone, who is working toward a September return with Houston, went 0-for-2 with a foul out and a popup and handled two chances in the field.

Numbers Game ...
The Angels' Kendry Morales had his third two-homer game in two weeks as Los Angeles outlasted Tampa Bay, 8-7. Morales has 10 homers since the All-Star break, most in the AL, and 25 on the season. The Angels record for homers by a switch-hitter is 28, by Chili Davis in 1996. Vladimir Guerrero also homered twice Monday, giving him 400 for his career; his .322 career average is the highest for a 400-homer player since Stan Musial.

In Their Own Words ...
"I was sitting in the tunnel the whole time, trying to get away from that heat. It was like fighting fireballs. I was throwing water on my face, ammonia towels, trying to cool down a little bit.'' -- Oakland's Gio Gonzalez, who pitched six scoreless innings for a win at Baltimore, where it was 93 degrees at game time

Advance Scouting ...
The Marlins, just three games out in the NL wild-card race, will try tonight for their fifth straight win, at home against the Astros (7:10 PM ET). A victory would give Florida its first 14-6 stretch since May 2008. For Houston, the game marks the return of ace Roy Oswalt, who has not pitched since July 28 because of a sore back. Over his past seven starts, Oswalt is 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA and .180 average allowed.

Starting Five: Daring Tulo Makes History As Rockies Roll Into Wild-Card Lead originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Baseball Brunch: Under-the-Radar Jackson Deal Pays Huge Dividends

Ed Price — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, Diamondbacks, Indians, Marlins, Mets, Orioles, Phillies, Rangers, Rays, Rockies, Royals, Tigers, AL Central, MLB Media Watch, MLB Milestones, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

The most significant trade of last winter barely caused a ripple at the time.

The same day the Mets signed Francisco Rodriguez and traded for J.J. Putz, and the day after the Yankees came to terms with C.C. Sabathia, the Tigers sent outfielder Matt Joyce to the Rays for right-hander Edwin Jackson.

Or don't you remember?

Eight months later, Jackson is second in the AL with a 2.62 ERA and leads the league with a .217 opponents' average. Ignore his 8-5 record; Detroit has scored three runs or fewer in 10 of his 22 starts, and more than five runs just twice.

"We liked him," Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski told FanHouse. "We thought he'd be one of our starters. But to say we thought we'd be trading for an All-Star starter, I would not ever have projected that."

While it may seem that Jackson is one of those pitchers who had plodded along forever, doing nothing special, and has put together a fluke year, it should be noted that he is just 25.

Jackson's unusual career is the result of getting to the big leagues too soon. He made his debut with the Dodgers on Sept. 9, 2003 -- his 20th birthday -- winning against 40-year-old Randy Johnson.

But Jackson then bounced back and forth between the minors and majors, understandable since he was still in his early 20s. He was traded to the Rays in January 2006 and by 2007 he was out of minor-league options despite being only 23. He went into that season with an 11-19 career record and a 5.64 ERA.

In other words, much of his development took place in the majors.

"When I did struggle it was in the limelight," Jackson said. "It wasn't like I was in the minor leagues and had a chance to struggle under the radar.

"I think it all just worked out to make me a stronger person at the end."

And Detroit caught him on the upswing.

"He's been tremendous for us," Dombrowski said. "I don't think anybody could anticipate he'd be good to this extent. I think everybody in the game has been aware of his ability. That goes back for a long time. He's always had great stuff. It was just one of those things where sometimes you get a guy at the right time."

It's not like Dombrowski set out to steal Jackson from Tampa Bay.

Jackson went into last winter eligible for arbitration, meaning he was in line for a big raise from his $412,700 salary (it wound up being $2.2 million this year). With top prospect David Price and others, the low-payroll Rays had some pitching depth, so trading Jackson was a way to save some money that could be spent elsewhere.

It was Tampa Bay that approached Detroit first, Dombrowski said.

"They liked Matt Joyce a lot," Dombrowski said. "And we liked Matt Joyce a lot. I still think Matt Joyce is going to be a good player."

And Jackson didn't take it personally.

"A trade is a trade," he said. "That's the business aspect of it. ... As long as a team wants me, I don't have a problem.

"Without the opportunity [the Rays] gave me, I wouldn't be [an All-Star]. But at the end of the day you can only do so much with a player. You have to kind of let them go out and find themselves. That's what I went through when I had my struggles."

Jackson has thrown more strikes, going from 4.9 walks per nine innings in 2007 to 3.8 last year to 2.9 this year, and success has followed.

"I was just trying to continue to do the same thing I did last year," he said. "I just wanted cut down on my walks, attack the strike zone more. You make the hitters put the ball in play, good things happen for you."

Another reason Jackson took time, as former Rays teammate Carl Crawford noted, is that when the Dodgers signed Jackson out of Columbus, Ga., he was a pitcher and outfielder.

"So he's still learning," Crawford said. "He's not gonna do nothing but get better. He's going to be a dangerous guy for a long time."

But Jackson said he won't mind if, like when he was traded to Detroit, not too many people notice.

"It's not a bad thing to fly under the radar," he said. "It makes life a little easier."

Overheard and Understood

o. Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said ace Dan Haren excels at, as Hinch put it, breaking a game down into 110 one-pitch games -- i.e., focusing on one pitch at a time. But Hinch is also monitoring the mental and physical strain from putting so much effort into every delivery. Including Saturday at Washington, Haren has failed to get into the seventh inning in four of his past seven starts. "He executes that one pitch at a time," Hinch said, "and he exhausts about every bit of energy that he has on every one of his pitches."

o. The Twins' best chance to win the AL Central lies in their schedule. Of their 52 remaining games, 35 are within the division -- including 12 against Kansas City, nine against Cleveland and eight against Detroit (which is 3-7 against Minnesota).

o. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Orioles are the first team in 121 years to have five pitchers (Brian Matusz, David Hernandez, Jason Berken, Brad Bergesen, Koji Uehara) start and win in their major league debut. The only other team to accomplish that was the 1888 Chicago White Stockings.

Chart of the Week
The Mariners are 27-14 in one-run games, putting them on pace for 40 one-run victories this season. That would rank tied for fourth all-time and the most since 1978:
Team	Record
1978 Giants	42-26
1969 Mets	41-23
1940 Reds	41-17
1974 Orioles	40-21
1970 Orioles	40-15
1979 Astros	39-27
1985 Reds	39-18
Source: Mariners, baseball-reference.com

o. The trade of Carl Pavano to Minnesota left Cleveland with just 11 players on its 25-man roster who were on the Opening Day roster or disabled list. Only four players have made it all season on the Indians' active roster: Kerry Wood, Kelly Shoppach, Jhonny Peralta and Shin-Soo Choo.

o. Colorado's Todd Helton reached 500 doubles in 1,749 career games -- third fastest all-time after Joe Medwick and Nap Lajoie.

o. Since Luis Castillo's game-losing dropped popup against the Yankees on June 12, Rodriguez has a 7.71 ERA, four blown saves in 12 chances, and 17 walks and four homers allowed in 18 2/3 innings.

o. Because Dallas Braden is out with a foot infection, Oakland has started a rookie in eight straight games, with Brett Anderson scheduled to make it nine Sunday. The last team to use a rookie starter in nine straight games was the 1997 Cardinals, who used rookies Manny Aybar, Rigo Beltran, Matt Morris, Sean Lowe, Mike Busby and Brady Raggio over their final 19 games.

o. Darren O'Day retired 18 straight batters before walking the first man he faced Friday and has a 1.91 ERA for the Rangers. The Mets took him in last winter's Rule 5 draft but, shortsightedly, opted to cut him in April when they called up Nelson Figueroa for a spot start.

o. Bruce Chen's win Thursday for Kansas City was his first since Oct. 2, 2005, for Baltimore against Tampa Bay. In between Chen's wins, Roy Halladay and C.C. Sabathia each won 63 games.

o. Florida's Dan Uggla joined Joe Gordon as the only second basemen ever to begin their careers with four 20-homer seasons.

o. The Phillies broadcasters have created a sports-broadcasting scholarship for Philadelphia-area college students, called the Kalas Award, in memory of their late colleague Harry Kalas. Scholarship applications and the eligibility requirements are available at www.phillybroadcasters.org.

Baseball Brunch: Under-the-Radar Jackson Deal Pays Huge Dividends originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starting Five: Shoe Is Now on Other Foot In Bronx

Matt Snyder — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, Rockies, Twins, Yankees, Starting Five

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
The New York Yankees started the season 0-8 against their despised rival Boston Red Sox. After a 5-0 win Saturday, the Yankees have now won three straight against Boston and six straight overall. They have built a commanding 5-1/2 game lead in the vaunted AL East. As much as the games count, the mental gain made this series for the Bronx Bombers has to be immense.

As for the Red Sox, talk about a role reversal. They went from owning the Yanks to not being able to score a run. In fact, they've now gone 24 innings without crossing the plate.

More Coverage: Scoreboard | Standings | Statistics

From the Trainer's Room ...
Oakland A's starting pitcher Dallas Braden has been placed on the disabled list with a ... rash? Braden, a 25-year-old left-hander who is 8-9 with a 3.89 ERA for the A's in 22 starts, is suffering from a rash on his left foot. The uninspiring Chad Reineke will keep his rotation spot warm for the time being, not that it matters. Oakland is well out of playoff contention for 2009.

Numbers Game ...
Mark Reynolds went deep again Saturday night. He now has 35 home runs, trailing Albert Pujols by just one for the major league lead. No one else even has 30. He even seems to be picking up steam. He had five homers through April, and then hit eight in each month thereafter until August. So far this month, Reynolds has left the yard six times in just seven games. Keep watching, because the 26-year-old is on pace to hit 50 this season. Only 11 times in baseball history has a player 26 or younger hit 50 or more home runs. The last time it happened was just two years ago, though, when 23-year-old Prince Fielder accomplished the feat.

In Their Own Words ...
"I thought the ball was a little higher than I'd like, but I was able to make some adjustments ... I kind of pride myself on my command. I want to control both sides of the plate and go from there." - Carl Pavano, being his own harshest critic after summarily shutting down the Tigers. Pavano, in his Minnesota Twins debut, worked seven scoreless frames and only allowed five hits. He struck out five and didn't walk anyone. Considering he lowered his ERA to a still-hefty 5.09, it's a bit odd he'd be dissatisfied with anything.

Advance Scouting ...
Big game for both the Cubs and the Rockies in Denver (3:10 PM ET). The Cubs trail division-leading St. Louis by a game, and the Cardinals are playing the hapless Pirates. The Rockies trail the Giants by a game in the Wild Card race, and the San Francisco is sending Matt Cain to the hill against the hapless Reds. Randy Wells takes the ball for the Cubs, and he's been as good as they have in the rotation this season (8-4, 2.73). He's 8-1 with a 2.85 ERA in his last nine starts and has never faced the Rockies (which means advantage pitcher). Opposite Wells is Jason Hammel (6-6, 4.62). Hammel had a brilliant June but struggled in July. He is coming off a victory in which he worked 6 2/3 innings and allowed just three runs against the Phillies' stacked offense, and the Cubs have never seen him.

Starting Five: Shoe Is Now on Other Foot In Bronx originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jason Giambi Released by Oakland

Matt Snyder — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:08:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, AL West

After signing a free agent deal with the Oakland A's prior to the start of the 2009 season, Jason Giambi has endured a rough season. It just got a bit worse, as Giambi has been released by the A's. He had been on the disabled list with a quad injury since June 20, before which he had compiled a league-worst -- among qualifiers -- .193 batting average.

Giambi, 38, has 407 career home runs and a lifetime .282 batting average. In his eight seasons with the A's, Giambi put up numbers as solid as anyone in Oakland franchise history.

On a conference call with media members, A's general manager Billy Beane said, "At the end of the day, where we are headed, there are some young guys we'd like to see the rest of the season."

Simply put: The A's aren't going anywhere this season, so there was no reason to bring Giambi back and play him instead of seeing what they have in others who can contribute in the future. In fact, the move could be construed as a help to Giambi, who still has a chance to catch on with someone else who might want a left-handed power bat for the remainder of 2009.

If not, Giambi may be forced to retire. Though he had some good seasons in the Bronx, his best work was done during his first go-round in Oakland.

He ranked first in batting average (.300 for the A's), second in slugging percentage, second in on-base percentage, third in doubles, fifth in home runs and sixth in RBI in the Oakland team record books.

Jason Giambi Released by Oakland originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:08:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starting Five: Tough Tigers Roar Back Against Orioles

Ed Price — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Astros, Athletics, Nationals, Orioles, Pirates, Rangers, Rays, Red Sox, Tigers, MLB Injuries, MLB Milestones, Starting Five

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Justin Verlander and the Tigers are pretty tough.

They spotted the Orioles five runs Monday in the top of the first inning but somehow came back to win, 6-5, on Clete Thomas' ninth-inning home run.

"I've never hit a walk-off homer before - not at any level," he said. "When I was rounding first and realized it had gone out, I didn't know how to react. It feels better than you even think it will -- and that's something you always dream of doing."

More Coverage: Scoreboard | Standings | Statistics

Verlander gave up hits to the first four batters he faced in the game and seven of the first 10. But he followed the first with seven scoreless innings to give Detroit a chance.

"I think we [ticked] him off after the first inning," [Aubrey] Huff said. "Certainly, you get five in the first against Verlander, you hope to win the game, but it didn't happen."

From the Trainer's Room ...
Roy Oswalt is still not recovered from a sore back, and his next start won't be until Saturday -- if he doesn't end up on the disabled list.

Oswalt left his start last Tuesday and threw a bullpen session Monday.

Oswalt said he would meet with doctors on Tuesday and throw another bullpen session on Wednesday.

"I'm not 100 percent," Oswalt said. "I just don't feel good."

Numbers Game ...
Neftali Feliz -- yet another player Texas got from Atlanta in the 2007 Mark Teixeira deal -- became the first pitcher since 1962 to strike out the first four batters he faced in his big-league career. (Pete Richert of the Dodgers struck out the first six Reds he faced on April 12, 1962: Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, Gordy Coleman, Wally Post, Johnny Edwards and Tommy Harper). Making his debut at Oakland, Feliz pitched two perfect innings and hit 101 mph on the radar gun.

In Their Own Words ...
"I was kind of sitting on a pitch, and I got totally the opposite of what I was sitting on. I have no idea how I hit it out. I just was late; that's why it went over there. By no means was it a good piece of hitting; it was very good pitching. If I'm not sitting on changeup and I'm sitting on fastball there, I probably pull it into a double play." -- Washington's Adam Dunn on his three-run homer off Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton

Advance Scouting ...
It's almost must-win time for the Rays. Tampa Bay trails Boston by five games in the AL wild-card chase, and the Red Sox open a two-game series at Tropicana Field tonight (7:08 PM ET). Tampa starter Matt Garza is 5-1 with a 2.98 ERA in 10 career starts against Boston, not even including two wins in last year's ALCS. Red Sox lefty Jon Lester this year is 0-2 against the Rays, with a 12.54 ERA.

Starting Five: Tough Tigers Roar Back Against Orioles originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Baseball Brunch: Off to the Races

Ed Price — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Angels, Athletics, Blue Jays, Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Marlins, Mets, Padres, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, Reds, Rockies, Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, MLB Playoffs, Minor Leagues, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch, MLB Trade Deadline

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Now that the hands are dealt -- expect for one or two more this month -- we can examine the pennant races to come.

There wasn't much point in assessing the races until after Friday's non-waiver trade deadline, when we know what we're dealing with. Some important pieces will change hands after they clear waivers this month, but they probably won't be difference-makers.

Before we get to the predictions, though, let's talk about one trade that didn't happen.

Toronto held on to Roy Halladay. The Blue Jays had every right to ask for a boatload of prospects for him, as Halladay may be the most reliable pitcher in the game.

The strategy was to either use Halladay for a quick rebuild or keep him and make a run in 2010. An official from another team told FanHouse that strategy comes "right out of the Oakland playbook: load up for a year, take your shot. If it doesn't work, start over."

Remember, Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi came from the A's.

There's one problem, and that's Halladay himself. He was said to be quite motivated to move on, because his goal -- stated publicly -- is to get a chance to pitch in the playoffs.

That won't happen this year. And now that he's been teased with the proposition of moving to a contender, he may itch even more to get out of Toronto. He may be more vocal about what he really wants, which is a shot at October.

One person familiar with the situation assured FanHouse that trading Halladay will get revisited over the winter. He won't be worth quite as much then as he was last week, since the acquiring team gets him for just one season rather than one plus part of a second, but there may be more clubs involved in the bidding.

Halladay and Ricciardi have a good relationship. If Halladay makes it known he's unhappy, Ricciardi may accommodate him.

Until then, though, we have to play two months plus the postseason.

The most compelling race should be in the division that was most active in July trading. And while Cleveland was trying to re-stock its farm system, contenders Detroit, Chicago and Minnesota were all making a move for this year.

Edge to the Tigers.

At least for this year. They figure to get about 12 starts from Jarrod Washburn, which gives them the best one-through-four starting pitchers in the AL. Meanwhile, Jake Peavy figures to make seven starts max for the White Sox because he has to work back from an ankle tendon problem.

That five-start gap is enough for Detroit to hold onto its division lead.

The other three AL playoff teams should be the Red Sox, Angels and Yankees -- even though the latter two didn't make a significant move.

Boston recognized its offensive deficiencies and addressed them with the addition of Victor Martinez. The Angels should hold on because the Rangers seemed to be fading and couldn't pull off a booster deal.

The Yankees have an issue in rotation depth, and maybe some back-end starter will pass through waivers. They need to do something, because if they don't, then if Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett, Joba Chamberlain or Sergio Mitre has any kind of issue the rest of the way, the Yankees will have to subtract from their bullpen to fill the hole.

In the NL, the race for two spots between the Rockies, Giants, Cubs, Cardinals, Marlins, Braves and (perhaps) the Mets should be fun.

All but the Mets made some kind of move. The suspicion here is that San Francisco grabs the wild card because all it needed was a little more offense to supplement its pitching. Since the All-Star break, the Giants have lost eight games, and five of those were by the scores of 2-1, 2-0, 4-2, 4-2 and 5-1.

The Phillies will hold on in the East and the Dodgers in the West, leaving the jumbled Central. Like with San Francisco, St. Louis addressed its offensive need and seems OK in the pitching department, so that's the pick.

That gives us a postseason first round of Philadelphia vs. San Francisco and Los Angeles vs. St. Louis. We'll go with a Phils-Cards NLCS and the Phillies back in the World Series.

In the AL, the Angels would play the AL East runner-up (we'll say the Yankees) and the Tigers the AL East winners. We know the Yankees can't beat the Angels, and we'll take Boston over Detroit.

But the Angels aren't quite that good, so they fall to the Red Sox -- meaning a Boston-Philadelphia World Series.

Who wins? Get back to us in October if these predictions are correct.

Overheard and Understood

o. Lost in the shuffle after the bungled news conference to announce the decision is the impact of the Mets' firing of Tony Bernazard, who was supposedly overseeing their farm system. Bernazard had detractors inside the organization as well as in the media, but sources said he had ingratiated himself with GM Omar Minaya and COO Jeff Wilpon. One source said Bernazard ran off a number of good minor-league instructors (which has manifested itself when the players have reached the majors) and Gary LaRocque, who at one point ran the scouting and player development departments. LaRocque, the source said, brought a sense of organization to the front office, making up for one of Minaya's weakness -- and that too has been exposed in recent years. "We do a number of things by the seat of the pants," the source said. [LaRocque] was a structure guy. [Minaya] knows he needs a structure guy." Now Minaya has a chance to correct that.

Chart of the Week
It's a lofty comparison, and not a prediction, but look at Mike Schmidt's statistics from his 23rd birthday (July 27, 1972) through his 26th birthday compared to Mark Reynolds' numbers since his 23rd birthday (Reynolds turns 26 on Monday):
Stat	Schmidt	Reynolds
G	404	365
AVG	.244	.262
OBP	.362	.342
SLG	.470	.503
OPS	.832	.845
HR	74	75
RBI	227	229
SO	401	476
BB	234	153
Source: Diamondbacks, STATS LLC

o. While getting Cliff Lee, the Phillies kept most of their top young players. "They don't want to give up [lefty J.A.] Happ, and I don't blame them," one scout said. "He's come up with a really good changeup. He throws across his body but is able to get the ball back inside. If you can do that, you're going to be successful." Another scout called outfielder Michael Taylor, now in Triple-A, "the best player in the [Double-A] Eastern League. Plus, plus power. For a big kid, he doesn't strike out a lot. Good pitch recognition. He has a chance to hit for average and power. He can run and throw."

o. Four rookies have nine wins: Rick Porcello, Ricky Romero, Jeff Niemann, Matt Palmer. There haven't been four rookie 13-game winners in the same season since 2002 (Ryan Jensen, Kaz Ishii, Rodrigo Lopez, Jason Jennings).

o. Philadelphia went 20-7 in July, its most wins in any month since going 20-8 in May 2001, and its winningest July since 1963.

o. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, when San Diego beat Cincinnati on Wednesday, it marked the first time since the rookie rule was established in 1957 that three rookies combined on a one-hitter (Mat Latos, Greg Burke and Mike Ekstrom).

o. Enough already of people ripping the Pirates or bemoaning the breakup of the team. This isn't the selloff of the 1997 Marlins. At least Pittsburgh is trying, by using what players had value to restock and start all over.

o. Colorado has rocketed into contention under interim manager Jim Tracy, but one NL scout said first baseman Todd Helton deserves a lot of the credit. "He's this decade's [Jeff] Bagwell," the scout said, "the star player in the clubhouse who puts the team on his back. He's part of the reason they've recovered."

o. Unless there's a rainout, Oakland will play a franchise-record 28 straight days after the All-Star break (July 16-Aug. 12). In fact, the A's have just five off days in the second half because of makeup games.

o. Toronto's Marco Scutaro is on pace to be just the fourth shortstop to field .993 or better and average more than three assists per nine innings, after Rey Sanchez in 2000, Mike Bordick in 2002 and Omar Vizquel in 1998.

o. When Kansas City got double-digit strikeouts games from starters two nights in a row last weekend (10 for Zack Greinke and 13 for Luke Hochevar) it marked the first time that happened for the Royals since Tom Gordon and Kevin Appier in 1993.

Baseball Brunch: Off to the Races originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 02 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A's Trade Orlando Cabrera to Twins

Jeff Fletcher — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:58:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, Twins, MLB Trade Deadline

The A's completed the long-rumored trade of Orlando Cabrera to the Twins, acquiring minor league shortstop Tyler Ladendorf, a source confirmed to FanHouse. The A's are also sending cash to the Twins.

The Twins, seeking middle-infield help, reportedly focused on Cabrera and San Diego's David Eckstein. Cabrera, 34, has raised his average to .280 by hitting .354 since June 16.

The A's had little incentive to keep him because they agreed when they signed him not to offer him arbitration, so they would not have gotten any compensation picks for him if he left as a free agent.

The A's are likely to promote Cliff Pennington and have him play shortstop for the rest of the season.

Ladendorf, the Twins' second-round pick last year, was hitting a combined .322 at Rookie-level Elizabethton and Single-A Beloit this season.

A's Trade Orlando Cabrera to Twins originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:58:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starting Five: Tremors of Trouble in LA?

Ed Price — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: Astros, Athletics, Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Dodgers, Mariners, Marlins, Red Sox, NL West, MLB Injuries, Starting Five

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Dodgers have finally lost three in a row, falling 10-0 Tuesday to the Cardinals.

L.A. is the last team in the majors to have a losing streak longer than two, and by not doing so until games 98-100, it set a franchise record.

And while the Dodgers' lead in the NL West is still eight games, there are causes for concern. In two losses at St. Louis, Los Angeles has had 20 hits -- but scored just one run. The Dodgers went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position in those games and had only three extra-base hits, all doubles.

More Coverage: Scoreboard | Standings | Statistics

"We've won a lot of close games, but to go this long only losing two in a row is pretty unusual," manager Joe Torre said. "But we have to get ourselves righted right now."

Someone who doesn't have to get righted is Cardinals third baseman Mark DeRosa, who homered for the sixth time in eight games.

From the Trainer's Room ...
Two NL Central Opening Day starters are on the shelf. Houston ace Roy Oswalt left his start at Wrigley Field in the second inning with a lower left back strain. He will likely miss at least one turn in the rotation. In Milwaukee, Jeff Suppan underwent an MRI that showed a strained left oblique. Although no decision has been made on his status, the already-thin Brewers rotation cannot afford much more damage.

Numbers Game ...
Oakland became just the second team in more than 25 years to get 21 hits at Fenway Park -- and no homers. The A's rallied from a four-run deficit to force extra innings and they beat the Red Sox 9-8 in 11 innings. Adam Kennedy had five of the hits, a career high and one fewer than he had in his previous six games total. In June 2006, Texas had 22 hits and no homers at Boston, and before that it had not happened since the Brewers did it in 1983.

In Their Own Words ...
"I was watching one of the monitors in the hallway in the bowels of the stadium. I came running back in here and started high-fiving guys." -- Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez, who was suspended for Tuesday's game, which the Marlins won on Ross Gload's two-run walk-off homer to get to four games over .500 for the first time since they were 14-10.

Advance Scouting ...
Is this it? Roy Halladay is scheduled to start for Toronto at Seattle Wednesday (4:40 PM ET), and it could be his last outing in a Blue Jays uniform. Halladay is the biggest catch on the trade market, but he may not be dealt. With 142 wins, Halladay is second in franchise history to Dave Stieb (175).

Starting Five: Tremors of Trouble in LA? originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Baseball Brunch: Youth Served in L.A.

Ed Price — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, Braves, Brewers, Dodgers, Giants, Indians, Mariners, Mets, Nationals, Padres, Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, MLB Draft, FanHouse Exclusive, MLB Inside Scoop, Baseball Brunch

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Yes, the Dodgers' solar system revolves around Manny Ramirez. He's their star on the field and their main attraction.

But they wouldn't have Ramirez, nor many of the players who carried the team in his absence, were it not for a farm system that has been remarkably productive.

"It's nice that management kept us all here," ace Chad Billingsley told FanHouse. "There's some teams that maybe just start trading guys away. And believing in us, that's a huge thing."

In the 2002-03 drafts, Los Angeles took Russell Martin, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp and Billingsley. Those five players made their big league debuts within an 11-month span, from July 2005 to June 2006.

And they aren't the only homegrown products on the roster. Clayton Kershaw came in the 2006 draft, James McDonald was part of that '02 draft crop and Ramon Troncoso was an international free agent.

"We've been fortunate to have great scouts," Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said. "We have Logan White as scouting director and great scouts with him. They have an eye for talent and pick the right players. And player development people have taken it from there."

It's not just the guys in L.A. who have had an impact.

Catcher Carlos Santana, signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2004, and Jonathan Meloan (2005 draft) were traded to the Indians for Casey Blake. And third baseman Andy LaRoche (2003 draft) and Bryan Morris (2006 first-rounder) went to the Pirates in the three-way deal that brought Ramirez to what is now Mannywood.

Still, the Dodgers kept together a pretty good group. Martin, Loney and Kemp account for 31 percent of the team's RBI. Kershaw and Billingsley have 18 of the team's 61 wins, and Broxton has 23 of the 29 saves.

"It shows a lot about the front office and the scouting," Kemp said, "how good they are and basically just having the faith in us and letting us come up here and show our abilities."

White shared credit with his scouts and the player-development people, but he has certainly had an impact since coming from the Orioles, where he had been the west-coast scouting supervisor.

"When we completed that (2002) draft," he said, "we had a feeling we had something special. Maybe because it was my first. We were surprised at the depth and players we were able to get."

The players say their path to the majors, and their adjustment to the big leagues, was made easier because they did it pretty much as a group.

Billingsley and Martin met a their first day together on a rookie-ball team in Ogden, Utah -- not long after Billingsley was drafted in 2003.

"We all kind of broke in at the same time," Billingsley said. "It's pretty much like a brother relationship. Being in minor-league ball, you get to know each other with 10-hour-plus bus trips, the hotel rooms, not a whole lot to do in some of the cities."

White said Kemp and Loney pushed and fed off each other on the way up in a friendly competition, as did Billingsley and Broxton, who began as a starter.

Then they arrived in the majors virtually together.

"I think usually when a rookie comes up," Kemp said, "he's the only rookie and you've got all the older guys picking on him. When I came up there I think there were eight rookies, and we all knew each other. So it kind of made it more comfortable in the transition."

Every team knows the value of young players, whose salary can be controlled for three years and can't be free agents for three more. The money saved there can be spent on free agents or players with big contracts, such as Ramirez.

"I think we've been patient, as patient as we can be," Colletti said. At times we've probably fast-tracked a few of them and went through some growing pains because of it. But here, 3-4 years later, they've been in the postseason two out of three years, most of them."

A productive farm system had been the staple of the Dodgers franchise going back to Brooklyn, and it seems to be back that way.

White said he had almost the same feeling about his 2008 draft as that '02 crop, with right-handers Ethan Martin, Josh Lindblom, Jon Michael Redding and Nate Eovaldi, power-hitting outfielder Kyle Russell and speedy shortstop Dee Gordon (son of Tom Gordon).

"We have some pretty good players in the system still," White said. "That's the thing I'm happy about."

Overheard and Understood

Chart of the Week
Just because the Rays were the victim of a perfect game Thursday doesn't mean they can't make the postseason. Two teams on the wrong end of perfect games -- both by lefties, as happened to Tampa Bay -- reached the playoffs. Here's how teams that were victims of a perfect game in the past 50 years ended up:
Team	Perfect Pitcher	Finish
'04 Braves	Randy Johnson	96-66, 1st
'99 Expos	David Cone	68-94, 5th
'98 Twins	David Wells	70-92, 4th
'94 Angels	Kenny Rogers	47-68, 4th
'91 Dodgers	Dennis Martinez	93-69, 2nd
'88 Dodgers	Tom Browning	94-67, 1st
'84 Rangers	Mike Witt	69-92, 7th
'81 Jays	Len Barker	37-69, 7th
'68 Twins	Catfish Hunter	79-83, 7th
'65 Cubs	Sandy Koufax	72-90, 8th
'64 Mets	Jim Bunning	53-109, 10th

o. The Mets' lineup is so filled with backups that before one recent game, as the batting order was being announced, an infielder from the other team turned to an umpire and said, "Did they clinch the division last night?"

o. Milwaukee believed as of late last week it was a player in the Roy Halladay drama. "Toronto likes our players," one Brewers person said. "It's just a matter of can we make it work. I don't think money's a problem. We don't have young pitching, that's the problem. I think we'll be in the mix." Milwaukee also has its "toes in the water" on Cliff Lee.

o. The Red Sox weren't looking into Halladay just to block the Yankees. In fact, the Sox felt they won a battle in the never-ending war over the winter when the Yanks doled out three free-agent contracts of five-plus years worth a combined $423.5 million. The Yankees aren't interested in giving up what the Jays want for Halladay, nor do they want to add to their luxury tax.

o. Scouts say Seattle lefty Jarrod Washburn (recently scouting by Philadelphia) is a different pitcher this year. He has added a sinker and split-finger pitch to his repertoire. Before, he had trouble going anywhere but inside on right-handed hitters with his below-average fastball. Now he can work them away and work down. As a result, a career-low 5 percent of his fly balls are going for homers, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is a career-best 2.6 and he has a 2.71 ERA.

o. If Tampa Bay is to make a charge in the AL East, it will have to earn it. The Rays have 63 games left, with 10 against the Yankees, eight against the Red Sox, and six each against the Rangers and Tigers.

o. Mark Buehrle's perfect game was his first, of course, but it was the third time in his career he pitched nine innings and faced the minimum 27 batters (a no-hitter with a walk and a pickoff and a two-hitter with two double plays). No other pitcher in the past 55 years has done that three times, according to baseball-reference.com, and the only pitcher with two such games in Sandy Koufax. The White Sox said the quick-working Buehrle spent just 32 minutes on the mound in his perfect game.

o. The Indians have averaged 3.5 runs a game when Lee starts and 5.5 runs per game for all their other starters.

o. Last week's series between the Mets and Nationals was the first in the majors since July 2004 in which all three games lasted 2 hours, 20 minutes or less (2:16, 2:09, 2:20).

o. Despite playing in Petco Park, the Padres have gone 531 games without a complete-game shutout (the last was by Chan Ho Park on June 2, 2006). That's the second-longest streak ever, behind the 2001-05 Rockies, 645.

o. The Athletics call the first three pitches of a plate appearance "conversion pitches" and consider them crucial for pitchers. That's because batters have a .832 OPS after getting ahead 2-1 but a .520 OPS after falling behind 1-2. So, according to Oakland manager Bob Geren, the goal is two-thirds strikes on those first three pitches. "We stress it here," he said, "from the minor leagues all the way up. We track it and we teach off of it."

o. No Brewer has ever had 100 walks in a season, but Prince Fielder has a shot, with 72 so far.

o. Eric Hinske joined Dave Kingman as the second player to hit four homers in his first five games as a Yankee. Kingman's streak started Sept. 17, 1977 -- 43 days after Hinske was born.

o. Where did the Braves spend the All-Star break? Atlanta hit 68 homers in 88 games before the break and have 15 in 10 games since (four by Yunel Escobar and three by Chipper Jones).

o. Dan Rohn of the Giants' Triple-A Fresno (Calif.) team earned his 1,000th win as a minor-league manager last week.

Baseball Brunch: Youth Served in L.A. originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Dugout: Stop, Thief

Jon Bois — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, MLB Hall of Fame, The Dugout

On Sunday, Rickey Henderson will be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. We're happily anticipating the induction speech of one of the most colorful players in the history of baseball, sure. It never seemed, though, that he would ever stay retired long enough for us to drag him into the Hall.

We've caught the thief, but we all know he's good for another thousand stolen bases. Saturday's Dugout is after the jump.

The Dugout

	RicePilaf: Mr. Selig? I'm here in Cooperstown, and
	bud_is_wiser: Okay, sorry, who are you?
	RicePilaf: Jim Rice.
	bud_is_wiser: Hmm. Okay, I remember you were a big happy black guy who played in the 80s.
	RicePilaf: Yeah. There are like 50 guys who fit that description, though.
	bud_is_wiser: aaahh this is like playing a game of Guess Who where everyone looks exactly like Dave Henderson
	RicePilaf: I'm the one that's in the Hall of Fame.
	bud_is_wiser: Okay, Rickey Henderson was a skinny happy black guy, so you're not him. Are you Randall Simon?
	RicePilaf: I
	RicePilaf: Anyway, I'm here at the Hall of Fame, and there's no sign of Rickey anywhere.
	RicePilaf: Anyway, I'm here at the Hall of Fame, and there's no sign of Rickey anywhere.
	bud_is_wiser: Well, he's not easy to spot. He's faster than Superjesus Carl Lewis Roger Bannister. And he crouches low to the ground as though he's perpetually in the office from Being John Malkovich. Keep that in mind.
	RicePilaf: That's not all. I'm looking in his dressing room now. On his desk there's a Trapper Keeper that has "HALL OF FAME SPEECH" puff-painted on it in cursive.
	bud_is_wiser: That's against regulations! We issue regulation Hall of Fame speeches.
	RicePilaf: I was meaning to talk to you about that. The speech I was issued is just a shoebox full of little scraps of paper. One says "I want to thank," another says "My old hitting coach used to say," another says "HUMILITY RESPECT INTEGRITY," another is "It really puts things in perspective"
	bud_is_wiser: That's right. Pick one out, read it, cry, pick another out, read it, cry, repeat for 15 minutes, smile, leave the public consciousness forever. If you need help with this, watch Bruce Sutter's speech.
	RicePilaf: Who's Bruce Sutter?
	bud_is_wiser: /shrug
	RicePilaf: The thing is, Bud, Rickey's speech is an 884-page manifesto written on crackled parchment.
	RicePilaf: The first 100 pages say "RICKEY HENDERSON."
	RicePilaf: Then there are a bunch of schematics or something. One of them is...I mean, I could be wrong. I can't make sense of this drawing. But I get the impression that it's a windmill-looking apparatus that produces wind energy and uses it to power a headless mechanical horse that runs in circles.
	RicePilaf: There's a speech bubble coming out of the horse that says "RICKEY THE BEST."
	bud_is_wiser: Wow. You know, I always had the impression that if Rickey had stayed on his home planet, he would have been a successful patent attorney. This bolsters my theory.
	RicePilaf: But how is this a speech? Is this even a speech? I mean, the last 600 or so pages are random scribbles and unfinished letters addressed to Kublai Khan.
	RicePilaf: Beyond that, I'm worried. It looks like he has a bunch of props sitting around. Are we allowed to have props for our speeches?
	bud_is_wiser: sure, Bruce Sutter was a prop
	RicePilaf: He's got a watermelon and a mallet. Is he going to do the Gallagher bit?
	bud_is_wiser: I don't know. We've got to track him down and ask him what all this
	OnlineHost Rickey Henderson has signed a contract with the Oakland Athletics.
	bud_is_wiser: ohhhhh damn it we've been trying to induct that son of a bitch since 1996 and EVERY TIME this happens
	OnlineHost Welcome to Oakland Athletics Chat!
	BeaneBall: Glad to have you on the team, Rickey. That Holliday punk had nothing on you.
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: Matt Holliday! Let Rickey tell you something about Matt Holliday. Matt Holliday respect the game, respect the game. But Rickey Henderson say, if Matt Holliday were a holiday he'd be Halloween. He's spooky. Rickey Henderson ain't spooky. Rickey Henderson steal your bases in the nighttime, you wake up the next morning, brush your teeth, make some eggs, stab them eggs with a fork, put them eggs in your mouth, get up, swallow your eggs, walk outside, your bases ain't there 'cause Rickey Henderson took your bases, you go home make more eggs nothin you can do, you eat more eggs.
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: You know how Rickey learned to steal bases?! Rickey lived in the woods. For 3000 years Rickey lived in the woods. Talked to the Great Tree of the Forest. Great Tree said, "Rickey Henderson, if you ain't steal 1000 bases, I'm turn you into a goat." Rickey ain't wanna be a goat! Rickey look like he wanna have big old horns and gallop around like some kinda doofus! No! Rickey don't!
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: Rickey got real good at stealing bases. The other day I went to throw my almonds in the laundry. You know, laundered almonds. Real good. Got back from the laundry room and saw 20 bases were stacked there, real neat like. Rickey didn't even remember stealing the bases. 20 years late Roger Clemens says to me, he says, "Rickey, you steal another base from me I'll put a baseball in your ear." Rickey Henderson said, "Shut up. Plus, you are a fat man."
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: One time Rickey Henderson ran so fast that Rickey Henderson went into the future. Nah, Rickey just kidding about that. Can't do it. Can't travel through time, it's impossible. That's what the aliens said when Rickey ran to Alpha Centauri. They said "Naw, Rickey, Hell you thinking, you watch too many rated R movies." And maybe that's true, maybe Rickey do. But Rickey have few regrets. Rickey have few.
	BeaneBall: Aren't you ever going to retire?
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: Naw, Rickey like them, what you call them, vampires. Rickey never age. Rickey a base vampire.
	BeaneBall: Sure, but you're going to have to produce. There are people out there with a lot of questions, and you're going to have to answer them on the field. Do you really think you can
	OnlineHost Rickey Henderson has stolen 26 bases.
	BeaneBall: produce at the level that you
	OnlineHost Rickey Henderson has conducted insider trading and leveraged his bases to steal 82 more bases.
	BeaneBall: did when you were younger?
	OnlineHost Rickey Henderson has accidentally stolen an old lady's purse.
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: oops
	OnlineHost Rickey Henderson has returned the old lady's purse.
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: Rickey Henderson ain't always perfect.
	BeaneBall: So many people were looking forward to your Hall of Fame speech tomorrow. You're disappointing a lot of people, you know?
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: Rickey gotta play. Rickey Henderson always gotta play.
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: Hugs and balloons and plaques and genuflection and all that s***?
	RickeyAndTheHendersons: Rickey have time for that s*** when Rickey dead.

Photos link to player info. WordUpThome.com Photo Credit: Getty, Creative Commons

The Dugout: Stop, Thief originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Matt Holliday Officially Headed to Cards

Pat Lackey — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:22:00 EST

Filed under: Athletics, Cardinals, AL West, NL Central, MLB Transactions

The Cardinals have officially landed the biggest prize of the 2009 trading season so far, acquiring left fielder Matt Holliday from the A's in exchange for three minor-league prospects.

FanHouse's Ed Price and Jeff Fletcher first confirmed the deal early Friday afternoon, with sources from both clubs indicating that initial reports from ESPN's Tim Kurkijan and FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, were "on the money."

"We are extremely excited to have acquired Matt Holliday," Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said in a statement. "Matt is an impact player who gives us an instant added threat in the middle of our lineup. These types of opportunities are rare. The price to complete this deal was steep, but our organization feels that it should greatly improve our chances to compete for a postseason berth."

The A's will get three minor leaguers -- third baseman Brett Wallace, outfielder Shane Patterson and right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen -- in return for the slugger. The A's are also expected to send cash to the Cardinals to help pay some of Holliday's remaining $6 million in salary this season.

Holliday has been on fire for about a month now, hitting .331/.410/.557 since June 26. Coupled with Ryan Ludwick, who's crushing the ball to the tune of a 1.130 OPS in July, the Cardinals finally have the lineup protection they desire for Albert Pujols. Making the deal without giving up anyone from their current big-league squad likely makes the Cardinals the favorites in the very tight NL Central.

The teams had been serious about a Holliday deal a few weeks ago, but at that time the Cardinals were unwilling to move Wallace. Wallace was likely a key to the trade from the A's perspective, because the team is bereft of top hitting prospects who are close to the majors. The A's also have voids at third and first base in the long term.

"It became apparent to us a month ago that St. Louis was interested in Matt and they were definitely the most motivated. And Brett Wallace is the type of guy we were looking for," A's general manager Billy Beane said in a conference call. "Brett is a guy were familiar with, a guy we had longed for. Last year at draft time we had a difficult choice between him and Jemile [Weeks]. Now were pleased to have both."

Wallace is an awfully steep price for Holliday. He has crushed the ball at almost every level since being drafted by St. Louis last June. He's slowed down a bit in Triple-A, but the fact that he's in Triple-A so soon after being drafted is indicative of his potential as a hitter. His glove isn't great and he'd likely be better off as a DH or first baseman (two positions the Cardinals have no need to fill) than his current third base, but giving him up for two or three months of Holliday seems like a bit much, even if it does thrust them to the head of the National League class.

"We think [Wallace] will be a middle-of-the-order power guy," Beane said. "We're going to have him play third. We'll leave him over there and see what he does."

Mortensen is a 24 year-old pitching prospect at Triple-A Memphis, and Peterson is a 21 year-old outfielder at Double-A Springfield. Peterson has shown some impressive plate patience for such a young player and Mortensen racked up some big strikeout numbers early in his minor-league career, but they're both regarded to be much lower down the Cardinals' prospect ladder.

Oakland will call up outfielder Eric Patterson to take Holliday's spot on the roster. Wallace is not expected to reach the majors this season.

Matt Holliday Officially Headed to Cards originally appeared on MLB FanHouse on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:22:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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