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A weblog of baseball news and analysis

 
Friday, August 27, 2004
Arroyo pitches in to keep BoSox's surge going. (ESPN.com)

Dark days have hit the road.
Now Nomie is gone and the Sox are 17-8 since he left. This from a team that played .500 baseball for more than 12 weeks, more than 82 games, which is more than half of a season.

Coincidence? I think not. Let's ask the fellas, who returned home last night to take on the improved Detroit Tigers.

Start with Kevin Millar.

"Sure," said Millar. "You start with the guy who said, `Hey, we want Alex Rodriguez!' . . . Actually, only time is going to tell on this deal. We hadn't played so great before the trade happened. Now we're playing better. I don't know what the reason is. It would be unfair to say that trading Nomar is the reason, but is it part of it?

"I think so, yeah."
(Boston Globe)

In Billy We Trust: Billy Beane Visits Athletics Nation Part One.

In Billy We Trust: Billy Beane Visits Athletics Nation Part Two.

In Billy We Trust: Billy Beane Visits Athletics Nation Part Three.

Enigmatic Disappointment to Superstar in 465 At-Bats. Aaron Gleeman on Adrian Beltre. (The Hardball Times)



Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Beltre slams 40th as Dodgers pound Expos. (Yahoo!)

At Age 25: Beltre vs. A-Rod. "If the Dodger salary budget in 2005 were $100 million, how much would you give to Beltre for the first year of his next contract?...Let me rephrase that. How high would you be willing to go?" (Dodger Thoughts)

Aaron Rowand, Sox MVP. "How did this happen? How did Aaron Rowand go from 4th outfielder on the White Sox to arguably the top all-around ball player in the AL Central?" (Chisox Daily)

19 to 21. John Shiffert on Mike Maroth, Jeremy Bonderman, Rick Ankiel, and more. (All-Baseball.com)



Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Santana continues Cy Young roll.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- With each stellar outing, Johan Santana is becoming a top contender for the AL Cy Young Award.

Santana allowed one run in eight innings to win his seventh straight decision, and the Minnesota Twins padded their lead in the AL Central with a 7-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night.

"If he keeps pitching like that, he's got a serious shot,'' Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Santana (14-6) gave up four hits, struck out 11 and walked one to help the Twins win for the seventh time in eight games, stretching their division lead over Cleveland to eight games.
(Yahoo!)

Protecting Their Young. "Looking back on the Twins usage of Santana, one can't help but wonder if the reasons cited by Gardenhire for keeping Santana in the bullpen were genuine. Instead, might the Twins have been determined to protect their young arm that sported those silly strikeout ratios? As well as protecting the young head and heart attached to it? And they did so while still winning two AL Central championships and winning a playoff series the year he wasn't in the rotation." (Twins Geek)

Minute Maid Park Review. (The Book of Mike)



Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Elbow to the Heart. "I desperately want Zambrano to succeed. The poor, quiet kid was thrust into the New York scene in the worst of ways. Nobody wants to be the one any club trades away their hottest hotshot prospect for. But when that club plays in New York, the pressure/expectation dial is turned up to 11 and beyond." (Flushing Local)

Stick a Fork in 'Em. "The worst possible thing that could happen now is for the Phils to start winning, and fall just short of the post-season. With all the injuries, Bowa and Wade would probably get a pass for another year, and we'd have to do this all over again in 2005." (Phillies Fan)

Sully reports from Petco. (The House that Dewey Built)

The Team That Might Have Been Actually Was. Dan McLaughlin on the 1994 Expos. (Baseball Crank)



Friday, August 13, 2004
Martinez fans 10, blanks Devil Rays. Pedro offers you his protection. (ESPN.com)

Plan on them being there. Dan Shaughnessy woke up in a good mood: "At long last, it's happening. The shock of No Nomar is over. The people in place are catching the ball and throwing it to the right people. The pitchers are pitching. The hitters are hitting. The Red Sox are going to make the playoffs as the American League wild-card entry and they are going to meet the Yankees again in the ALCS, then play the Cubs (who's their shortstop?) or Dodgers in the 2004 World Series." (Boston Globe)

Adam Dunn and the Case for the K. "Obvious as it is, it bears saying: There are more important things for a hitter to do than avoiding striking out. Hitting for power and getting on base are first among them. Adam Dunn is among the best in the game at both." (New Partisan)

Changes in Blue Jays Land. Robert Dudek on Carlos Tosca, Josh Phelps, and the outlook for the future. (The Hardball Times)



Tuesday, August 10, 2004
The most under-over-underrated player in baseball. Brian Gunn and Richard Lederer on Jim Edmonds. (Redbird Nation)

So Long, Edgar. Derek Zumsteg:
I didn't understand the hype around Cal Ripken. I didn't get to see him that often, and I looked at the Streak and I wasn't impressed. When I was at the All-Star Game and saw how much people enjoyed seeing him, had come out to the game to see his last appearance at the Mid-Summer Classic, I understood that my not understanding didn't make their love for him any less real, and the fans from Baltimore found something in watching him play for their team for so long that maybe I wasn't ever going to understand it.

Edgar has not been as durable, even as a designated hitter, but for Mariner fans, long-time or newly recruited, it's almost impossible to remember baseball in Seattle without him.
(Baseball Prospectus)

Confessions of a Questec Operator. (Baseball Prospectus)



Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Pained by Numbers. "Baseball loyalists cite the game's legendary numbers—300 wins, 500 homers, 3,000 hits—as evidence of the sport's elegance, beauty, and gravitas. What no one mentions is how wretched and painful it is to actually watch a former star gasp and sputter his way toward a legendary number." (Slate)

The Least Popular Man in LA. Vinay Kumar on Paul DePodesta. (The Hardball Times)




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