The A’s placed Jason Giambi on the DL today with a strained quad. Considering the injury, his age (38) and his batting average (.193), it is reasonable to wonder if we’re ever going to see Jason Giambi on the field again.
That’s a bit of an exaggeration. He’s not going to retire before he’s activated from the DL (I don’t think), but I also don’t think we’re ever going to see him be productive for an extended period.
In any case, I think the A’s need to put him at DH 90 percent of the time when he comes back, if they want to get anything out of him at the plate.
Went to the A’s game today to get some stuff for an Angels feature. I got all I needed before the game, so I decided I’d leave as soon as each team got a hit.
I was still there in the seventh inning.
By the time Brett Anderson lost his perfect game, it was a 0-0 game in the seventh. I figured I’d stayed this long, might as well stay till the end to see how it turns out. And since I’d been there the whole game, figured I might as well write a story about it. So I wrote this piece on Brett Anderson’s improvement.
I think it’s very interesting how each of these young pitchers (Anderson, Trevor Cahill and Vin Mazzaro) have taken turns looking like the best of the trio. When the season is over, I’m going to do a survey of as many baseball people as I can find to get their opinions on which one is the best.
In the meantime, here’s a poll, and you can let me know what you think.
Guess I’m the dope today, huh? As my loyal readers know, I’ve been pretty hard on Jonathan Sanchez ever since I started this blog. I’ve been skeptical that he’d ever really turn that potential into consistent performance.
One game certainly doesn’t mean he’s figured it out and he’s going to be good from now on, but this is his day, so I’ll refrain from bashing him. He did pitch a great game.
Angel Villalona, one of the top hitting prospects in the Giants system, strained a left quad during Wednesday night’s game and will be out four to six weeks. That means he’ll also miss the Futures Game.
Villalona,18, was hitting .267 with nine homers and 62 RBIs for Class-A San Jose.
Villalona will be replaced by Braves prospect Barbaro Canizares.
It looks like they are going to take the Steven Zaillian script, which was entertaining, and have Aaron Sorkin (of West Wing fame) re-write it, presumably to address some of the authenticity issues.
As I wrote before, I think the Zaillian script was pretty good, just not accurate. I think it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with this time. Hopefully the script will leak again, but I assume that only happens to rejected scripts.
John Bowker is up with the Giants today, and he’s starting in left field. Bowker said he’s had a new approach at the plate this year, evident by his 53 walks in 344 plate appearances, good for a .448 on-base percentage. Last year in the big leagues he had 19 walks in 350 plate appearances, a .300 on-base percentage.
“I think it’s just a pitch-by-pitch mentality,” Bowker said. “Just focus on every pitch.”
Well, that sounds simple. It probably also makes a difference that this year’s numbers are at Triple-A and last year’s were in the majors. There’s a bit of difference in the quality of pitching.
Bowker came up to replace pitcher Ryan Sadowski, who isn’t needed till after the All-Star break. It remains to be seen whether Bowker stays after Sadowski (or another fifth starter) is needed again. Manager Bruce Bochy said Bowker will play everyday, sometimes at first and sometimes in the outfield. As long as he hits, he’ll stay here.
by Jeff FletcherFiled under: Reds, NL CentralThe Reds may be the best losers in the major leagues. In a bit of a twist on the "learning how to win" meme that we hear so often when describing good teams, this year's Reds are perhaps most notable because of the way they lose. The Reds have bounced back from some of the most disheartening games a […]
by Jeff FletcherFiled under: Braves, Giants, Phillies, Red Sox, White Sox, YankeesAs Manny Ramirez goes through September in his new White Sox uniform, the eyes of the baseball world will be upon him. It won't just be the normal slow-down-to-gawk-at-the-car-wreck curiosity with which we normally watch Manny. We are going to be eager to see if the old Ma […]
by Jeff FletcherFiled under: Dodgers, White Sox, MLB TransactionsManny Ramirez is finally a member of the White Sox, with the Dodgers officially letting the slugger go to Chicago via a waiver claim on Monday. Ramirez is expected to make his White Sox debut on Tuesday night in Cleveland. "We had a few targets, but certainly Manny was on the list," W […]
by Jeff FletcherFiled under: Reds, MLB TransactionsWith the deadline for postseason eligibility coming up on Tuesday, there is plenty of speculation about what last-minute promotions teams may make to get players on the big-league roster in time. Yahoo's Jeff Passan tweeted that the Reds planned to call up Aroldis Chapman on Monday or Tuesday to make hi […]
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