disarcina

Weaver, Richards, CJ Wilson for a short stint followed by Shoemaker -- game three would be a LaRussa (or ST) type start -- Wilson for 3 or 4, Shoemaker for 2 and let the pen take over.

I like the deal........it's good for the Halos

St, Louis signs him and he gets three hits today....... I don't think he's really a good fit in St. Louis but they need a veteran catcher who's been there, done that to fill in while Yadier's out. AJP is a gamer -- he's a tough competitor -- so that's very St. Louis like -- but where Yadier gets along really well with his pitching staff and makes them better pitchers -- AJP has never really had a smooth working relationship with his pitchers -- when he was with SF, I think the pitching staff (and a pretty good one at that) ran him out of town......they couldn't work with him. But St, Louis -- after winning a few games right after Molina went down, promptly began to see what it was going to look like without Yadier (losing streak and suddenly 3 games back and in THIRD PLACE) and I think they took a second look at AJP and said 'why not?'

I'd play McDonald over Freese in certain games...... Freese has been a disappointment at the plate, is slow a-foot and a terrible base runner, and is weak defensively at 3rd. McDonald is a smooth fielding 3B who is used to playing MIF positions and is going to make every play down there and some that will save runs. He can't hit much but has hit better starting off the year and has tailed off in the past month......McDonald is a defensive guy who if he hits .250 is worth playing in the line up. McDonald can also be counted upon to move runners over with a sac bunt and/or the well placed ground ball behind the runner.........Freese's middle name is GIDP. So, YES, I would play McDonald over Freese and others in certain games at this point of the season......

deal made sense for both teams and was not a major trade even though Halos front office made it sound as if we had finally found a power hitter third baseman. not true. Freese has spurts of power but is sort of a 15-20 a year (maybe) HR guy. He's terrible on defense and pretty much should not be on the field at 3B after his second or third AB of the game. Freese is very slow on the base paths and is Mr. GIDP with runners on base. Bourjos got off to a slow start with St. Louis and then got hurt.........one poster said St. Louis fans don't like him -- I find that difficult to believe -- Bourjos is a St, Louis, true small ball type NL player and is perhaps the best defensive CF'er in MLB today.......I'm hoping Bourjos turns it around, gets more playing time in the second half and does well. Salas has pretty much done what we have asked of him and as others here have said is a serviceable pen depth guy -- that's pretty much what we traded for and that's what we got, Grichuk is probably a future 4-A player at best. so the deal was OK on both sides..........wasn't a major deal at the time and has proven that to be the case.......... Still, I am hoping for Bourjos to do well and show MLB fans the talent that he has.........every Halos fan should want Bourjos to do well.......he was great for us and went all out, his plays in CF were amazing.......

I'd like the KMPC Angels theme song..........the classic Angels theme song that they still play a bit of it at the start of the radio broadcasts......... to me, hearing that theme meant Angels baseball is on the air..........

Yankees gave up Y. Solarte........GEEZ if you think Headley's fall was steep at least it was somewhat gradual compared to Solarte who was going great for the Yankees earlier in the season, could play OF, 3B even some 2B (none of them very well, apparently) and was hitting .350 during the first month he was up with the club, even stole some bases -- was sure a stud for the fantasy league stats..........then he tailed off big (must have been the second time through the league stuff) and next thing you know he is shipped out to AAA (where's the Yankee's affiliate? Used to be Rochester) and now he gets dealt as part of the Yankees two month lease of Headley..........

and if he doesn't make the roster, his name is John so we can call him Jack and put him in the booth with Terry Smith.......

Hey -- this guy can help come September -- he's a catcher with some pop......nice guy to have on the bench during expanded roster time...... and he will have a real incentive to play well to catch on with the Halos or some other team for 2015. He's a DH/ C type that I think works well on an AL roster if the team has room.........heck, we carried about three DH/ OF types on the 25 man roster on Opening Day. Couple of them gone now.

And the A's show no sign of letting up on their 'refuse to lose' way of playing........ they've had a great first half and Billy Beane has positioned them well for the second half and down the stretch. A's are going to be tough to catch -- we have to do well in the head to head match ups....... this is going to be a lot like the stretch run in 2002 when the two hottest teams in baseball where the first place A's and the second place Angels. Angels played something like .625 ball down the stretch in late August/ September and picked up about two games on the A's in the standings. this year, who-ever does not win the AL West title and slips to the Wild Card has a tougher road than the 2002 W/C Angels team had to the World Series title.

Bourjos just stole third off the Dogs -- without a throw!!

Bourjos just led off the bottom of the 8th with a base hit single, then stole second slapping the glove of Gordon (2B) on the throw forcing Gordon to drop the throw from catcher Ellis. Bourjos now taking a huge lead off second rattling Brian Wilson, Dodger reliever......... love the way Bourjos plays the game.........exciting player in the field and on the base paths (if he can get on base-- always an issue with him). Halos front office did the right thing trading Bourjos for Freese and Salas even I am not a fan of Freese (who I think is very slow a-foot making him a terrible base runner and a potential rally killer GIDP ever time he's up with a guy on first) and IMO very weak defensively to the point he's almost played himself into a DH player........Salas gave us some pen depth -- Bourjos wasn't going to play in Anaheim so its great we moved him to a team and city that appreciates the way he plays ball and now if he can just stay healthy, hit just a bit, flash that glove in CF and run the bases.....he's a player who can make a real difference in a game and in a series like a playoff series..... standing on second now with the go ahead run (two outs)......don't think there's too many other MLB players I'd want on second with the team's potential go ahead run........

Peter Bourjos just hit a HR off Clayton Kershaw in the 6th inning of the St. Louis- Dodgers ESPN Sunday night game at St. Louis. After some injures and a slow start this year, it is nice to see PJB getting some playing time and making the most of it. Have always liked Bourjos -- though he played all out, all the time for us and really liked the way he covered CF -- I thought he was a better fielding CF'er than Trout when he was with us last year. Good for Bourjos. Both the Cardinals and the SF Giants could use a Cards win over the Dogs tonight.

on the other threads one of the posts says that an M's player (Zunnio?) said that Rodney lost track of the innings, thought the 8th was the 9th and that's why he did that --- sort of dubious explanation and if possibly true, makes Rodney look even worse (if that's possible). the ESPN site has a story quoting Rodney saying he did that for the Anaheim fans because they booed him was he was announced to enter the game...... oh well. meanwhile the Rodney we saw on the mound was sort of a flashback from when Rodney was on the Halos -- Mr. High Wire act who made even his successful saves seem like defeats.

oh well, that worked well. it should have been Gene Autry singing Back in the Saddle Again.........

Don't mess with the team started in S. Cal by Public Cowboy Number One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80NoPLp-210 http://www.youtube,com/watch?v=KXZ9YmxZPgo

I don't think we expected him to be a Number 2 rotation guy........ He was expected to be a number 4 guy at best and perhaps a guy who needed a year at SLC to get there. In today's game he pitched pretty well -- and with the new pen additions, well, I probably would have pulled him at the 90 pitch mark with guys on base......... I might NOT have done that two/ three weeks ago--- but now we have reinforcements in the pen -- of course, we've also just played two consecutive extra inning games -- so 28 innings over the past two games........... Skaggs has pretty much done what we've asked........he wasn't an ace, not a number 2 or even 3 guy - asked to keep us in games through 5/6 as the number 4/5 guy --- I think he's done that. Skaggs and Santiago were the low cost alternative chances we were taking with the rotation........you get what you pay for.

laagamer "bunting is for the weak, read NL" OK -- so I guess then the AL game can be described as "Response to shift: GIDP"

on this kind of stuff -- jearlier this month was up at two games up at AT&T Park -- St. Louis vs. the Giants. Hunter Pence, good ballplayer / RF'er for the Giants.......at AT&T he is shifted to Right- Center, pretty much playing the power alley (on virtually every play --regardless of the hitter (Lefty or Right), regardless of the pitcher (fireballer vs. hitting spots kind of hurler) -- Pence is fast and can get to baseballs but not when the shift is so pronounced -- but in the games I saw, St. Louis (Matheny learned something from La Russa) had several shots into RF (some at the line) that either would have been OUTS if Pence would have simply been positioned straight away OR would have been SINGLES instead of one/two run scoring doubles........ I watched Pence's positioning the entire game..........on a very few hitters (not often) he might shift a step or two to his right but not much. I don't get it. Cards won the games and the hits to RF helped make the difference.......I was rooting for the Cards so I was pleased, Giants fans less so.

shift the stance a bit and wait for an outside pitch to push to the left side of the infield and into LF........... I'm wondering - did they pull any sort of shift on Tony Gwynn when he was playing? NO -- (the SS might have moved over and cheated toward the hole as opposed to up the middle a bit) because it they did, Tony Gwynn would pull a Wee Willie Keeler (now that goes way back) and 'hit it where they ain't" Halos should spend a lot of time on this kind of stuff at Tempe.

translation -- trophy is on display elsewhere because the compensation for display fee was higher.........

geez -- that's some video of the bar scene incident. perhaps the unauthorized Mascot guy can respond to the Cubs agreeing to cease and desist wearing the fake Mascot get up as soon as the Cubs win the World Series........ that should buy him another century or two of wearing the costume. the way the Cubs are playing this year, perhaps the guy should make a counter claim saying the Cubs should be paying HIM to wear any of their stuff.

yeah -- prior post is correct -- first start was a loss but stats not that bad -- the trouble with the first start is that I think the two runs were scored in the first inning or so. and as for Hammel's start vs. O's-- it was his former team so they knew what his pitches looked like and pitch mix. as Vin Scully often stated on the Dogs broadcasts (back when you could get them) a catcher who caught a pitcher who was then traded to another team would say: "If I caught him, I can hit him"

swung at ball four again........oh well.........need to win tomorrow.

that was ball four no doubt.........but gotta protect