Tag: San Francisco Giants (Page 17 of 38)

      Don Mattingly helps Dodgers find new way to lose

      July 21, 2010 /
      Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly watches the action against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 18, 2010. St. Louis won the game 5-4. UPI/Bill Greenblatt Photo via Newscom

      You know things are going badly for your club when Bruce Bochy does something to get the best of you.

      During the ninth inning of the Dodgers-Giants game last night, L.A. hitting coach Don Mattingly walked out to the mound to talk to closer Jonathan Broxton, who had once again gotten into trouble for the second time in three days. With the Dodgers leading 5-4, Broxton allowed an infield single by Juan Uribe to start the inning, then walked Edgar Renteria before recording the first out when Aaron Rowand laid down a sacrifice bunt.

      After Aubrey Huff was intentionally walked to load the bases, Mattingly came out to the mound to lay out the plan of attack with Broxton and his infield. But when he stepped off the mound and into the grass, then went back onto the mound to answer a question from first baseman James Loney, it counted as two visits. Bochy, or “Eagle Eyes” as his drinking buddies like to call him, noticed the gaffe and immediately complained about it to home plate umpire Adrian Johnson.

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      External Sports, MLB

      Will the Brewers trade Prince Fielder at the trade deadline?

      July 20, 2010 /
      Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder eyes a pitch against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on June 18, 2010 in Denver. Colorado beat Milwaukee 2-0. UPI/Gary C. Caskey Photo via Newscom

      The Brewers seemingly have two options when it comes to Prince Fielder: trade him now, or trade him later. Either way, they’re going to have to trade him at some point because Scott Boras is going to make sure that in a year and a half, Fielder is richer than Bill Gates’ personnel chef.

      Fielder signed a two-year, $18 million contract extension with the Brewers in January of last year. Only $4.34 million remains on that contract through the end of the season and then Fielder becomes arbitration-eligible for the 2011 season. After making another $15-16 million in arbitration next year, Boras will ensure that the slugger makes $100 million once he hits free agency in 2012.

      A bidding war over a home run commodity like Fielder isn’t something the small market Brewers are prepared for. They could break the bank in hopes of re-signing the slugger, but the more likely scenario is that GM Doug Melvin will seek a top-pitching prospect in a trade for Fielder now or in the offseason.

      If Melvin waits, he’ll probably have more suitors interested in the first baseman. But if he trades him at the deadline this year, he might find a desperate general manager who is willing to give up a top arm in order to acquire a slugger for the stretch run.

      There are several teams that could be interested in Fielder’s services, although you could make an argument for and against every one of them. The Brewers scouted White Sox pitcher Daniel Hudson on Monday night, but it’s doubtful that he could be the centerpiece in a deal for Fielder. At least not when the Rays (Jeremy Hellickson and Wade Davis) and Giants (Madison Bumgarner and Zach Wheeler) have more highly touted arms and could be interested in Fielder as well.

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      External Sports, MLB

      All-Star Break Rewind: Taking a look back at preseason MLB predictions

      July 13, 2010 /
      May 23, 2010 Philadelphia Phillies' pitcher Roy Halladay leaves the game against the Philadelphia Phillies' at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA. The Red Sox beat the Phillies' 8-3.

      It’s always fun to take a look back and see how many faulty predictions members of the media got wrong in the preseason. It’s even more fun when you look back at your own faulty predictions and provide people the opportunity to all you a moron by laying out how wrong you were.

      Now that we’ve reached the halfway point in the 2010 MLB season, let’s see how my preseason predictions are holding up. (Click on the links provided to read the entire preseason prediction for that division.)

      AL East

      My Predictions: Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Orioles, Blue Jays.
      Current Standings: Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles.

      Not too bad, although I thought that the O’s would be more competitive and without Roy Halladay, I thought the Jays would sink to the bottom of the division. I also underestimated the Rays a tad, but there’s still a lot of baseball to be played. It’ll be interesting to see if Tampa can stay ahead of the Red Sox, Tigers, Twins and Angels in the AL Wild Card race.

      AL Central

      My Predictions: White Sox, Twins, Tigers, Royals, Indians.
      Current Standings: White Sox, Tigers, Twins, Royals, Indians.

      Up until a couple of weeks ago, the White Sox were making me look like a bigger clown then I already am. But they’ve been on fire recently, winning eight in a row and nine of their last 10. The problem of course, is that Jake Peavy appears to be done for the season with a nasty back injury, so who knows how the Sox’s rotation will hold up in the second half. The rest of my predictions look good, although as I wrote in my preview of this division, the Central is a crapshoot.

      AL West

      My Predictions: Angels, Mariners, Rangers, A’s.
      Current Standings: Rangers, Angels, A’s, Mariners.

      Yeee-ikes. I missed badly on the Rangers, who have been the biggest surprise in the AL so far, and I also drank the Kool Aid on the Mariners before the season. I thought that Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee would make up for their shit-show of an offense, but I was wrong – way wrong. The Angels are only 4.5 games back of Texas and therefore could still win the division, but the Rangers are far and away the better team and I don’t think they’ve relinquish the lead. I need a mulligan for this division.

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      External Sports, MLB

      Brian Sabean, Corey Hart and the art of the “fleece”

      July 8, 2010 /
      July 05, 2010- Milwaukee, WI. Miller Park..Milwaukee Brewers Corey Hart continued his hit streak to 20 games today, Hart had 2 hits including a double off of Giants pitcher Dan Ruzler..Milwaukee Brewers lost to the San Francisco Giants 1-6..Mike McGinnis / CSM.

      There’s no way Brian Sabean will overpay for Corey Hart.

      Brian Sabean won’t overpay to get Corey Hart, will he?

      Oh God, Brian Sabean is going to overpay for Corey Hart, isn’t he?

      If the Giants’ GM has taught us anything over the years, it’s that he’ll sell his wife, kids and soul just to get the player he covets. See Edgardo Alfonzo, whom he overpaid for in 2003 despite the third baseman’s well documented back troubles. See A.J. Pierzynski, whom he inexplicably acquired from the Twins in exchange for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser because the Giants needed a catcher. See Barry Zito, whom he gave a $126 million contract to after outbidding himself.

      For as great of a job as Sabean has done building one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, he’s done an equally horrendous job developing position players (Buster Posey being the exception, of course). Because he wasted years signing past-their-prime veterans instead of building through the draft, Sabean has had to overpay when it comes to free agents and trades. So when I read that the Giants are interested in Corey Hart, my palms and forehead get sweaty and the room starts spinning.

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      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      July 3, 2010 /

      Amazingly, we’re only 10 days away from the All-Star break. That means teams will re-charge and start to make a serious run at a playoff spot from mid-July on. And the power rankings haven’t changed much, other than most of the California teams dropping off the list. So without further adieu…..

      1. New York Yankees (48-31)—The Bombers continue to ride their stars to victory, and survived a recent team hitting slump. There’s no reason to believe they won’t win the division again and contend for the title.

      2. Texas Rangers (47-32)—Seriously, how scary has this team become? This past week Vlad gave his former team a taste of what they might be missing this year

      3. Boston Red Sox (48-32)—Barely hanging on to second place in the tough AL East, but only two games separate the Yanks, Sox and Rays.

      4. San Diego Padres (47-33)—Sure, the Rangers are a big surprise. But no team has been as surprising as the Padres, who just keep winning. And here’s a frightening thing for other National League teams—the Pads are now believing in themselves too.

      5. Tampa Bay Rays (46-33)—Thankfully the Rays got off to a hot start, because everyone knows how much talent resides in the AL East. And has Carlos Pena become Dave Kingman? Yikes….he’s batting .196 with 16 homers and 50 RBI.

      6. Atlanta Braves (47-33)—The Braves are a major league best 29-9 at home this year (.763 winning percentage). Too bad no one goes to their home games.

      7. New York Mets (45-35)—With two more games against the suddenly slumping Nationals, the Mets still have a chance to close the gap with Atlanta this weekend.

      8. Cincinnati Reds (46-35)—I’m getting closer to believing, and so are the Reds.

      9. Minnesota Twins (44-36)—They haven’t been playing great baseball, which has allowed the mediocre Tigers and White Sox back into the AL Central race. But there is too much talent in Minnesota to keep the Twins out of the postseason hunt.

      10. St. Louis Cardinals (44-36)—I’m now ready to put the Reds above the Cardinals, and Tony LaRussa’s boys had better start playing better away from home (18-22) if they want to keep pace.

      External Sports, MLB

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