Archives › 2009 › November

Anyone who saw the results of the “Hank Aaron Award” yesterday knows to take the results of any award voting with a grain of salt, particularly if fans are involved. (No offense to the masses, but when Derek Jeter beats out Joe Mauer for a hitting award, something is wrong.) Some awards, though, are worth…

World Series Game 5 live chat

We’ll find out tonight. One thing for sure, the fans are going down kicking and screaming … and punching and wrestling. Hey, I guess if you can’t beat ‘em … beat ‘em. Enjoy some idiots having at it in a parking lot. Thanks goes out to The700Level.  

It was the obvious issue when GM Ruben Amaro opted for Raul Ibanez over Pat Burrell last winter: the Phillies would have big problems against left-handed pitching with so much of their power coming from the left side. It turned out to be a non-factor during the regular season. Ibanez, who went into the year…

Placido Polanco turned 34 years old last month and has naturally lost a step on both sides of the ball, but still hit .285/.331/.396 this season while ranking among MLB’s better defensive second basemen according to both reputation and Ultimate Zone Rating. He rarely walks and has modest pop, but Polanco makes as much solid…

* Jeff Francoeur underwent surgery this morning to repair a torn thumb ligament suffered while making a diving catch on August 23. He played through the pain and hit .319/.342/.493 over the final five weeks, finishing at .311/.338/.498 overall in 76 games with the Mets after hitting just .250/.282/.352 in 80 games with the Braves.…

Diamondbacks reliever Clay Zavada recently won an award, but surprisingly it wasn’t for posting a 3.35 ERA, 52/24 K/BB ratio, and .236 opponents’ batting average in 51 innings as a rookie this season. Instead, he’s been named “Mustached American of the Year” by the American Mustache Institute. Seriously. Other finalists included US Airways captain Sully…

Here’s a video recap of postgame interviews from all the key Game 4 contributors, including Joe Girardi, CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Charlie Manuel, Brad Lidge, and Jimmy Rollins: Of particular interest: Rodriguez talking about the biggest hit of his career and Lidge explaining the approach he took to facing A-Rod.

Melky Cabrera injured his left hamstring last night while running out a ground ball in the sixth inning. He initially tried to stay in the game, but was replaced defensively by Brett Gardner in the next half-inning and is now considered “doubtful” for tonight’s Game 5. Cabrera has started every playoff game in center field,…

Based on precedent anyway: [The Phillies] are the 44th team to lose three of the first four games. Of the previous 43 teams, 41 played in a best-of-seven series. (The others were Boston in 1903, who won the next four games to take the Series, and the 1919 Reds, who won over the Black Sox).…

Not long after saying that there was “no chance” that Milton Bradley would return to Texas, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan changes his tune: A month ago, it seemed impossible that the Rangers would bring back Bradley. Now there seems some hemming and hawing. The Rangers know that the Cubs are eager to unload Bradley, who has…

My hyperbole this morning aside, it seems that Johnny Damon’s double steal as a result of the overshift is not a first.  From reader Jonathan Fellows: Willie Mays on September 30, 1971 — a game the Giants had to win to avoid a playoff — stole 2nd and 3rd on the same pitch.  Willie McCovey…

There’s obviously still baseball to be played, but it’s never too early to look to the offseason and beyond.  To that end, incoming MLBPA head Michael Weiner held court over the weekend and had some interesting comments on a number of subjects: Collusion:  After an offseason in which many big names signed for short deals and…

Going to the highest bidder: This is a 1983-85 Robin Yount Louisville Slugger Professional Model Game Used Corked Bat. This bat dates to the 1983-85 period based on the Louisville Slugger centerbrand period, and the Louisville Slugger factory records, which indicate that Yount ordered the P72C 35″ no finish model bat during the entire 1983-85…

On the one hand, the double steal by Damon in the 9th doesn’t really matter, right? He’d be on second base before the A-Rod hit and still would have scored, even if someone had thought to cover third. On the other hand, Brad Lidge was on the mound, and that guy is something less than…

It was fun while it lasted. Lidge opened the postseason with five straight scoreless appearances. He put together that kind of streak just once during the regular season, when he saved five in a row from May 26-June 1. Of course, he finished the regular season 0-8 with 11 blown saves and a 7.21 ERA.…

World Series Game 4 LiveBlog/Chat

- Cliff Lee thinks he could have started Game 4, but Charlie Manuel says he didn’t have to think very long before going with Joe Blanton. – Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse reports that MLB has made sure that Fox will move the right field camera back so we won’t have a repeat of Alex…

With Game 4 of the World Series just a few hours from first pitch, here’s a few items of interest from around baseball: – John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle thinks the “desperate-for-pop Giants” would consider outbidding the Red Sox for Jason Bay. Jon Heyman of SI.com reported last week that the Red Sox…

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wonders why a right-handed power hitter like the Mets covet — i.e., Jason Bay or Matt Holliday — would want to play in Citi Field, calling it a “death valley for righthanded hitters.” Cafardo is surely using David Wright as his case-and-point, which is just lazy journalism when you…

With the offseason just days away, Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune is back with his latest batch of rumors to preheat the Hot Stove. Among them, he floats Javier Vazquez as a possible trade candidate now that Tim Hudson is expected to finalize an extension with the Braves this week. Vazquez had one of…

The Phillies are down 2-1 with CC Sabathia awaiting them in Game 4 on Sunday night. Sounds pretty ominous, right? Not if you’re Charlie Manuel. He still plans on sticking with Joe Blanton. The Yankees are no-doubt licking their chops to face Blanton, who hasn’t appeared in a game since October 19. Here’s just a…

Much has been made of Alex Rodriguez’s World Series struggles, but after his two-run blast on Saturday night, the focus has now shifted to Ryan Howard, who is just 2-for-13 with nine strikeouts over the first three games of the series. Howard struck out in six straight at-bats between Game 2 and Game 3. He…

“I can’t wait until it’s over. It’s been mentally draining.” – Cole Hamels can’t wait for the season to be over. If the Yankees grab a 3-1 lead after Game 4, he might just get his wish. “Because we cannot control what the [Fox] camera man does with the camera, one of the specific ground…

It seems like the story has been repeated several times this year. Cole Hamels came out firing again Saturday, keeping the Yankees hitless through three innings. The only one of the first 11 hitters to reach did so on a HBP. And then it all fell apart, too quickly for Charlie Manuel to do much…