OAKLAND (September 23) – ESPN re-wrote the script on Milton Bradley’s ejection before MB even got to the showers last night after being tossed by home plate umpire Ron “Mea” Kulpa, in the eleventh inning of a game eventually won by Oakland in twelve, 5-4.

And apparently Josh Suchon, the ordinarily level-headed and highly capable Athletics’ beat writer for the Oakland Tribune, was watching a different game than I was, or not watching at all, if he really agreed with “The Leader in World-Wide Sports Coverage” that Kulpa only threw out Bradley after MB threw his bat.

This morning I wrote the following to Suchon:

Check below for the letter and more! [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan

OAKLAND (September 18) – If Oakland and Minnesota face each other in the first round, the winner of that series is my pick to win the World Series. And I’ll tell you later in my column which team I happen to think would win this match-up.

I’m jumping the gun a little on the post-season. Shortly, you’ll be inundated by the predictions of all the usual suspects–ESPN, our own Marty Lurie, the Sporting Green, the handicappers in Vegas, George Steinbrenner, your uncle Ralph–you name it.

I wanted to draw first blood.

And don’t forget you heard it first here!

Click below for Rick’s Picks. [Read more →]

In 1956 the New York Yankees played the
Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series.
Forty-four years later in 2000 the New York
Yankees played the New York Mets in the
World Series.
Both of these teams could make a return
to the October Classic 2006.
There is really nothing to compare to a
World Series among two New York teams.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez [Read more →]

Forget the A’S or the Twins,
the Marlins are the ultimate low budget
kings of baseball.
With a total payroll of $15 million they
might even make it to the Postseason.
If you like to get the most bang for your buck,
like tax cuts, like management that can
get the most for the least, do not believe
throwing money at things to make them better is the correct philosophy, or you don’t think minimun wage should be raised, then you have to
like the 2006 Florida Marlins.
Under the circumstances nobody does it better.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan

OAKLAND (September 12) – Anonymity and unpredictability often trump celebrity and previous success in the post-season. That’s what makes fall baseball so hard to handicap (predict).

The outcome is a roll of the dice as often as not.

You don’t think so? You said MVP Pat Borders would carry the Blue Jays to victory in the 1992 World Series? And that a virtually unknown Marlin hurler, Josh Beckett, would totally dominate the Yankees in 2003 and win the award for Most Valuable Player?

Click below for more! [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan

OAKLAND (Sept. 5) – I’m not a baseball insider.

I don’t have access to the locker room or the up-to-the-minute injury reports. All I know is what I see on the TV or, occasionally, from the stands.

So, when the KICU speed gun tops out at 85 yesterday against Texas, that’s as much as I know about how hard Barry Zito is throwing. Especially since the Coliseum gun was mysteriously “broken” last Wednesday when I watched Barry coast against a very hittable Curt Schilling, as the A’s raked the Bosox, 7-2.

As a matter of fact, even 85 MPH was rare yesterday. It was usually more like 82 or 83 in fastball counts.

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The jobs of General Manager Bill Bavasi, field manager Mike Hardgrove and most of his coaches
could be in serious jeopardy as the Seattle Mariners a franchise who only five years ago won 116 games and a Western Divison title is on the way to a last place finish for the third year in a row.
The month of September could decide the fate of some people in decision making positions.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

Underachieving is the key word again in Seattle
this season. A team with a player payroll almost twice of the first place Oakland Athletics has no
chance in this Division. We can see it again. It is not how much you spend, but how you spend it and what kind of talent evaluation you get from your top people on how your organization performs.
If it was left to the total amount you spend, then the
Yankees should have won the World Series every year since George Steinbrenner bought the team.

The 2006 Mariners season can be summarized in
one sentence: “They (Mariners)beat everybody, including the National League but nobody in their own division”.

Click below for more of Amaury’s analysis. [Read more →]

The only sure thing about the Oakland A’s lineup this season: it’s sure to be a surprise. Ken Macha gifts us every game with a revamped order, apparently reveling in tossing his players’ names into the air and playing a little 9-card pickup. Now towards the end of August, the lineup is finally beginning to fall into place.

For a long time, injuries propelled the veritable batting order shakeup—Frank Thomas, Milton Bradley, Bobby Crosby, Eric Chavez, and/or Mark Kotsay. Now there’s something else to it. When Eric Chavez volunteered to bat 9th during his tendinitis-induced slump, he exemplified what makes the A’s so much fun to watch right now: this team does not revolve around a single, high-priced MVP. Can you picture Manny Ramirez volunteering himself for the bottom of the order if he ever hit the skids?

Click below for more! [Read more →]

Marty: The Giants are within striking distance of first place in the division and/or the wild card. This, after an up and down season to date, a year in whch they have endured lengthy losing streaks coupled with a recovery in which they managed to overtake the pack mid-season for a game or two but quickly went into a lengthy losing streak that deposited them at the bottom of the division. Rising from that low level, today they look back at a fourteen game period during which they have won eleven games, largely the result of great starting pitching.

Click below for more!
[Read more →]

OAKLAND (August 28) – I hope you don’t read my column before you head for the sports book at Vegas. It could be confusing.

My brother told me: “You change your mind every three weeks about who the best players and teams are.”

He was wrong. It’s more like every three days. Or, when I was spending some ill-advised time and money at Tahoe and breathlessly watching the ticker, every three innings.

My brother happened to be specifically referring to my opinion of Eric Chavez at the time he made that comment. It was during the winter a few years ago, and I was starving for a baseball argument.

So, I started up with him. “I don’t understand Chavez getting the Gold Glove again. He’s not that good.”

Click below for more! [Read more →]