disarcina

Yadier Molina goes down for 8 to 12 weeks. AJP a possibility there? The Cards suddenly need a veteran, experienced catcher. probably better alternatives out there --- Yadier to AJP a significant drop. Well before AJP's incident vs. the Halos in the playoff game, he was the SF Giants catcher for ONE year -- his reputation with the SF Giants pitching staff was terrible......the pitching staff did not like him at all.......not sure if the starting staff of the other teams he played for after that felt any differently.......where was he before SF? Minnesota??? anyway, at both of those places, he wasn't not the favorite of the pitching staffs..........that alone may eliminate him as a possibility in St. Louis. Cardinals are really going feel the loss of Yadier.........he's pretty much carried the team this year (and in the past).

as for Tanaka -- great first half -- now out -- SIX weeks? I agree with the earlier post -- more like TJ surgery and out all next season, too.

Selig ? Third W/C -- NO -- just another play in game -- Boston vs. NY -- winner advances to ALCS.

read in today's paper (LA TIMES?) that Halos were looking at closers (Street of Padres being one of the primary targets) but that they were NOT interested in Papelbon. seems Paps has lost effectiveness......hard to say. Phillies (like Texas) another team making a rough fall landing this year....... can't believe it but Texas are now behind the LASTROs in the standings..........

switch to the Dogs game........Kershaw through 4 has another shutout going. has that consecutive scoreless string going -- up to 40 innings now.

Lewis is from California (Bakersfield).

light up the halo. poor new guy Rucinski -- team celebrates win and offense. new guy makes debut but gives up 4 hits 2 runs, HBP and ends game with bases loaded........tough to celebrate that debut. oh well, the butterflies are out, I guess.

is this game being played at Tempe Diablo?

four hit inning........now they've got a guy up in the pen. can a guy who gets called up for some pen help for the weekend before the ASG break get sent back out on Saturday? could happen. Halos pretty close to AA Arkansas, they could send him back Greyhound. HBP now. Bases jammed -- earlier post predicting Grand Slam not as funny now as it was when posted.......

15 to 6 now.

making debut in a 15 to 4 game -- that's bad enough........giving up a couple of runs in the 9th of a 15 to 4 debut game.......that's worse.

well, hold on........we haven't quite won this one yet. please don't turn this into a save situation..........

didn't realize it but Texas has now fallen BEHIND the LASTROS in the AL West. what's happened to the Rangers -- tough drop from last year......

I always gave AJP the boo bird treatment when he played in Anaheim but that was all in fun. overall -- I still think the while AJP deal in that Angels playoff game was a heads up play on his part and a very dumb move by our catcher (Paul?) behind the plate. our catcher played ump -- something players are told never to do -- even if the homeplate ump (another one of our favorites) signaled out -- oh well......that chapter is now deifinitely over. don't see AJP signing elsewhere -- could be wrong but doubt it.

Kolten Wong had the walk off HR?? GEEZ -- not that's terrible for Frieri. Should have intentionally walked Wong and then picked him off first base -- just like the World Series a year or so ago....

I figured Saunders would get a minor league deal --- and it's a pretty good flyer -- sort of surprised it's KC -- they have a good pen and some good young arms -- but everything helps. the question is, will KC call him up August 31 to make him playoff eligible (Yes, KC is in the W/C hunt and also 4 games back in the AL Central) or just as a September stretch guy. Good move -- no harm. no foul, can't lose much if anything......if he doesn't perform well...........oh well.

going to be tough to beat out ChiSox Sale for the final spot.

IMO -- this is a temporary move to get through the weekend..........Green back up after the ASG break -- also - it is common (or used to be ) to send younger players down during the ASG break so they could get every day / starting line up playing time..........so that's part of this as well.

yes. but ASG break is good news/ bad news. good news - gives Weaver some time to recover. bad news -- sort of can't stand to see a break right now with the Halos playing fairly well, momentum on their side and then suddenly you break it up for about a week........ when you're hot, you're hot -- no time to stop.

SoCALkid -- I liked the trade (with Tampa Bay) at the time -- didn't know about his 'work ethic' issues -- just saw that his strike out totals seemed to always be among the league leaders for a 2 or 3 season stretch there and then there was that hype when he was a NY Mets up and comer. But I have to agree with your characterization of Kazmir -- that's pretty much how I saw him without much documented support for it, other than what I saw of him pitch during his struggles with the Angels......just looking at him pitch, he didn't seem to have his heart in the game and had a real nonchalant attitude -- 'oh well, I got bombed again, at least my checks are still rolling in' it was the attitude that got me the most........I root for most ex-Halos -- there are exceptions over the years (Mo Vaughn, Scott Schoeneweis, Mark Teixira, John Lackey and a few others) but Kazmir's attitude with the Halos pretty much was it for me...........I am actually kind of ticked he's on the All Star team and, so far, Richards is not.

not good. Santiago back in rotation again? One day or even less than being sent back to the pen?

It is just me or does MLB make the final All Star Game voting tallies difficult to locate -- on line or anywhere? Each year I like to see the actual vote tallies - the final vote totals -- each year it seems like the information is elusive and more difficult to find. Used to be that when the ASG starters were announced, the newspaper would run the final vote tally in the sports section with all the other small type information usually found there -- box scores, transactions etc. And I mean the actual vote totals listed for each player, each position -- that's what I like to see........to see how many votes each player received. No more. And it's tougher to find on line, too? anyway know of a link?

didn't know about the drinking stuff with Tanana........makes sense in retrospect.....but Tanana injured his arm and the turnaround/ comeback was pretty amazing.

Have not really watched any of Kazmir's starts this year for the A's --- has he regained the velocity he once had? My take on Kazmir when he lost his velocity and the Halos were trying to work with him to become a real pitcher as opposed to the fireballer thrower he had always been from before even his prospect days with the New York Mets, but Kazmir didn't seem to have the work ethic and disciplined mind to successfully make the conversion......... one of the best examples (ever, IMO) of a pitcher successfully making the conversion from a fireballing strike out pitcher to finesse pitcher with enough velocity left to mix and match well with a change of pace pitch and hitting spots was Frank Tanana.......Frank Tanana wound up with something close to 250 MLB pitching wins.......many of them after he hurt his arm.........not sure if Tanana had Tommy John surgery or not, that would have been about the same time the procedure would have been performed on Tommy John -- but Tanana had an amazing Tommy John like career : Fireballer days and then post-injury finesse days and he may have won more games after the injury.........Tanana was a hard worker......he learned to pitch rather than throw and really had a great career. His career numbers stand the test of time and look even more impressive today........

I think it's the first time at .500 since 1961 when the Halos were 1-1....... it's taken about 10 years of competitive teams to get to .500 and the last three years sort of delayed the Halos getting there.