Category — A’s

Why not? Bet she wouldn’t have traded Mike Napoli.
L.A. Times

We love this picture. It says “what the funk did I tell you!”
Rangers 15, Tigers 5.
Back-to-back.
Wasn’t the Rangers bankrupt just a little while back? Maybe there’s hope Dodger fans, but we seriously doubt it. Besides, imagine how Angel fans feel watching Texas advance to its 2nd straight World Series. We’d probably wager the Rangers win it this time too.
Star-Telegram

Nelson Cruz has developed into Mr. Clutch in the postseason. Three years ago, the Rangers put Cruz on waivers, but every other Major League club passed on him. Now he’s inflicting major damage on any club standing in the Rangers way of a World Series title.
N.Y. Times

They’ve got that look.
Take a bow Adrian Beltre. He and the Rangers, a dangerous bunch, are back in the ALCS again.
Dallas Morning News

If ever there were a group that needed a fresh start it is the Dodgers. For them, the All-Star Break is already too late.
Their season is flushed down 1 toilet while the franchise itself circles yet another. A once proud organization is now left in the rubble of an ugly divorce, a joke of an ownership and a horrible product on the field.
We have played just over half the season and it is difficult to generate any positive reviews out of the Dodger camp. The Angels? Where do we start? As expected, they are in a race with the Rangers.
For the Dodgers though, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, who is having an MVP-type season, have hit well and Clayton Kershaw has delivered on the mound, but that’s it.
The Boys of Summer are now the Boys of Blunder.
While the Dodgers are the worst story so far, the Pirates are the best.
The Pirates, a joke since a thinner Barry Bonds left and doubled his hat size in San Francisco, have been a blast. They are in a playoff race—only 1 game back of the Cardinals and Brewers in the NL Central—and 2 games above .500. This is unheard of in almost 2 decades.
Behind new manager Clint Hurdle, the Pirates have taken their low-budget brand of baseball to new heights. While they may not win a championship, or even a division, at least they are entertaining for all the right reasons, unlike the Dodgers.
Pittsburgh is young, fun and exciting. It will squeeze in a winning run 1 day and jack a game-winning 3-run shot on the next day. And they are doing it with a group of relatively no-names and even fewer big contracts.
Arizona is another feel-good story. The Diamondbacks are just 1 decade removed from greatness, but have now have a young and exciting team, giving the Giants a run in the NL West.
Where once they used big-name, high-priced veterans to win a title, this group of desert dogs is doing it much cheaper.
Both teams are showing us how to be creative and win games.
Sure, the Yankees and Red Sox are among the best in baseball with their huge budgets and the ability to pay players more than anyone, but that no longer is a guaranteed formula for winning.
The punk-ass Cubs spend big money. And what have they won? The White Sox added big contracts and still can’t beat the Twins or practically anyone else in their division. Look at Cleveland. The Indians are another great story, making a run for the AL Central title as well.
The Mets? Well at least they are playing better, but they will fade in the 2nd half. Heck, even the Nationals are looking good and the future is bright for them. Just what the game needs.
For the 1st half, baseball gave us all hope. Maybe the little guys do have a fighting chance.
There will always be the big boys winning more than their share. The Yanks, BoSox and Phillies frequently shop for big deals and primo talent and attempt to buy a title every season, but hope comes from the Pittsburgh’s, Arizona’s and 1 day maybe the Royals. OK, at least we can hope.
And let’s hope for an even better 2nd half.

The man rarely gets cheated on a swing, particularly when it’s Home Run Derby.
NL 5, AL 1.
Fielder silenced the classless fans tonight in Phoenix, where the National League won its 2nd straight All-Star Game.
“I didn’t take it personally,” Fielder said of Arizona fans constantly booing him for failing to pick Justin Upton for the Home Run Derby. “I think these guys (his kids) took it more personal than I did.”
Fielder’s 3-run shot in the 4th was the difference, earning him MVP honors. He also became the 1st Brewer to homer in an All-Star game. The D-Backs are now the lone club that hasn’t had a player homer in the contest. Seems appropriate, no?

Now this brings back some laughs and great memories.
The A’s will hand out M.C. Hammer bobbleheads on July 17, when they host the Angels. Though the bobblehead looks nothing like Hammer, it’s still a good look.
Why Hammer? Well the kid formerly known as Stanley Burrell, a native of Oakland, worked for the A’s as a batboy in the ’70s. He also was a snitch for former A’s owner Charlie Finley, who later made Hammer “Executive Vice President” of the club when he was only 13 or so because he became so good at his job.
Some of the A’s on the club at that time began calling Hammer “Pipeline” because they knew he was Finley’s personal snitch.
Reggie Jackson claims to have dropped the Hammer nickname on Burrell. Jackson said he resembled Hank Aaron.

It is so easy. Too easy.
All 1 has to do is pick the Phillies to win the National League and the Red Sox the American and let them go at it in the World Series. Ah, but sports is never that easy to predict.
Don’t believe me? Check out your NCAA tournament bracket. I haven’t seen that much red on a sheet of paper since my last math test in high school.
While Boston and Philadelphia loaded up in the offseason and look on paper to be the best, games are played on the field. And more often than not, injuries play a big part in the outcome of pennant runs.
We already have the biggest upset in history taking place and the season hasn’t even started. Nobody ever would have believed that in all the 4 major professional team sports in America, baseball has the most solid labor relations between the union and owners. That alone is reason for hope this spring.
There are givens heading into this season. First, or most obvious, we know the Royals and Pirates have no chance. Pittsburgh hasn’t had a good team since Barry Bonds left for San Francisco’s riches and BALCO juices.
Kansas City’s summers of discontent go back even further, to when George Brett was playing 3rd base, Ronald Reagan was the president and lap dances were still more popular than laptops. That’s 1985 for those scoring at home.
This summer will be no different. Both teams claim to have good, young talent. However, if the past is our guide, those young studs are really just about to hit the open market as the 2 clubs continue to be training grounds for big-market clubs.
We also know that Derek Jeter is closing in on 3,000 hits. It should come by mid-June even if he isn’t as good as he used to be. But the Yankee captain is not a happy camper, even if he might now be the most overpaid player in baseball.
The team most fun to watch could be the Tampa Bay Rays. At least they will be must-see TV on the days when Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez are starting in the outfield, which brings us right back to Boston.
The Red Sox did everything right in the offseason. They signed the best free agent, Carl Crawford, got the best 1st baseman available in Adrian Gonzalez and filled in all the other pieces nicely. They watched while the Yankees foolishly refused to fill their holes at starting pitching. Remember when this rivalry was the other way around?
With all the spending Boston has done over the years to catch the Yanks, you have to wonder which 1 of those franchises really is the Evil Empire.
But the Red Sox are set to make a run at it all. I just don’t think they will get there. Something always goes wrong. Boston will win its division, but the World Series will be left to others.
The Phillies are loaded with mounds of talent. They have 4 aces and could run away with the National League East, but they won’t. Too many injuries, especially at the start of this season, look to slow them down. They will win the East, but the Braves will chase them all the way to the playoffs.
The NL Central is the division really up for grabs, or maybe it’s a case of who cares. The Cardinals will be lost without Adam Wainwright, and the Albert Pujols contract discussion will keep them from the postseason.
The Milwaukee Brewers will win the division thanks to their power and just enough pitching. For you punk-ass Cubs fans, just another year of frustration.
The West will crown the Colorado Rockies as champs, but most eyes will be on the divorce in Dodgertown that has kept the owners of this once-proud franchise bickering over the club like it was good china or the family dog.
And just who wins the National League? Watch for the Braves to win it from the wild card.
The American League is even more muddled. I don’t see 2 teams coming out of the AL East, just too many in-division losses. The schedule does in the Yankees, who miss the playoffs for the 2nd time in 4 years.
Boston does win the division, but not in a landslide, however comfortably.
The AL Central goes to the White Sox instead of the Twins, thanks in large part to barbequing Kansas City all summer. The Twins will earn a wild card. Nothing fancy about either team but with Cleveland and the Royals on your schedule, it does make things easier than in the East.
In the AL West, the Angles will rebound but not enough. The Athletics will improve, but not enough. The Mariners will stink. That leaves us with the defending champion Rangers to capture the division again.
While Boston seems to have it all, it will stumble and it will be the White Sox standing when it is all over.
The World Series will be the Braves in 6 games.
So there you have it, but what do I know. I had Notre Dame playing Ohio State for the national title in my bracket.
At least we know with the start of baseball, spring is here and summer is coming. That’s 1 thing we all can agree on.

Finally, someone other than us has come out to question the ongoing bias by the L.A. media, the former world champion (a.k.a. the Los Angeles Times) in particular, regarding Matt Kemp. Bob Timmermann is one of the few writers to have the balls to come to Kemp’s defense, wondering why the Times continues to frequently pile on Kemp and make him the scapegoat for all of the Dodgers’ woes. Where’s Casey Blake when you need him? James Loney? George Sherrill and Jonathan Broxton? Frank McCourt?
Sunday’s piece by T.J. Simers regarding Kemp, and more directly Dave Stewart, was another hack job. Typical Simers though. For a while, it was all fun and games with the sarcastic and acid tongue Page 2 columnist, who left San Diego years ago in another attempt by the Times to fill the void left by the late Jim Murray, at a tune of more than $160,000 per year (what does inflation blow that up to now?).
We all got a good laugh with T.J., but like any comic, the laughs get old. Simers, like the Tribune doorknobs who employ him and the ones who have run Times into the ground, has a leash with no bounds. And for the past year or so, his stitch has become jaded, even with readers who found the act funny but now could care less. We were one of them.
In Sunday’s hatchet job of Kemp’s agent Stewart, Simers sarcastically referred to an incident involving of an arrest of Stewart 25 years ago for soliciting a prostitute, who happened to be a transvestite.
All is fair in love and war, right?
On Aug. 19, Steve Dilbeck, the Times’ emotionally-lacking (yep, sarcasm indeed) baseball blogger, upped the ante with this gem regarding Kemp: “Is it even possible for anyone to say or write anything remotely critical of Matt Kemp without his hoard of oversensitive defenders screaming: ‘They’re making him a scapegoat! It’s unfair! He’s being singled out! They only yell at Matty!’
“Wah-wah-wah.”
Yep, cry me a river. Dilbeck went on to defend Simers’ piece. But since he’s playing defense attorney for the home team, let the record show that Dilbeck got his job at the Times because of Simers. Plenty of writers were more qualified. But in sports journalism, it’s who you know, not necessarily who or what you’ve done.
While the Times was laying off writers and editors left and right, Simers wrote a real tear-jerker about the L.A. Daily News laying off Dilbeck. We’d be the first to tell you how the newspaper business sucks and those in charge have no clue about their most productive employees, but to write a column on a friend and not defend your co-workers is lame in our book. How about that for a teammate?
We’ll let Mr. Timmermann tell the rest of the story. We’re getting a bit nauseous.
L.A. Observed.com

With their 3-game sweep of the Padres, the Dodgers are the hottest team in baseball. Imagine that. They left their bats somewhere in the bars and restaurants of the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego, but it didn’t matter Sunday. Russell Martin’s RBI single in the 6th gave the Dodgers all they needed in 1-0 victory over the Padres.
Chad Billingsley (4-2) stifled the Padres’ bats, giving up just 4 singles, striking out six and walking 1, as the Dodgers won their 7th straight contest to pull to within 2 games of the first-place Padres.
Angels 4, A’s 0: The Angels completed a sweep of the A’s behind a 4-hit complete-game shutout by Joe Pineiro (3-4). He struck out 5 and walked 1, throwing only 98 pitches. Bobby Abreu hit a 2-run homer.