Folks, the Daily Dish will return on Monday.

Have a nice weekend,

Marty Lurie [Read more →]

Another amazing day of baseball on Wednesday.

The Cubs rallied from a 6-0 deficit to knock the Cards off 8-7. Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker are not getting along. They both live in the Bay Area, see each other from time to time at other sporting events during the winter, but during the season they fight like cats and dogs.

We all know how much Tony cares about our four footed friends (cats and dogs), but he is fanning the competitive flames with his comments about Baker and the way the Cubs pitchers play the game.

The Card’s manager challenged Baker to a fight yesterday after Matt Clement and Dan Haren took turns hitting one another with pitches.

Last year in the playoffs, Tony chastised Kenny Lofton and Dusty ( then with the Giants) for the way they play the game. Now Tony is critizing Kerry Wood and Mark Prior for pitching up and in, and claims that the Cub batters wiil be “dealt with” accordingly. Tony played with the toughest pitcher of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s in KC in 1963, Hall of Famer Early Wynn, who would knock his mother down at the plate if she dug in, I wonder if Tony critcized Wynn, a 300 game winner, back then.

In the midst of all this, these two teams are fighting it out with Houston for first place in the NL Central.

Both bullpens are spent. After four excruciating games, they face each other again today with Shawn Estes who has trouble going five good innings facing the more capable Brett Tomko for St. Louis.

These two teams have been bitter rivals for over 100 years, this series is absolutely special not only because of the Cardinals lineup and the Cubs starting pitching plus Sosa and Alou (five hits Wednesday), but because two of the best managers in baseball are trying to knock each others block off and I like the action.

The Cards have a better chance of winning today simply because Tomko can win and Estes is so inconsistent that the Cards should have plenty of runners on base, not a good formula for success.

Click below for more! [Read more →]

L: I’m joined by one of the top rookies in the American League, and that’s Rocco Baldelli of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I say that name, and it brings back John Boccabella, names like that. Do any of the PA announcers around the league have fun with you with the name?

B: Yeah, I think a couple of them do. I think our home PA announcer in Tampa Bay probably has the most fun with it. He takes a long time to say the name. [Read more →]

Eulogy by Bill Gould

Eulogy by Rabbi Janet Marder

[Read more →]

L:I’m here with one of the legends of broadcasting, and that is Keith Jackson.  Keith is working the game tonight.  What do you think of this, coming back, how ESPN has brought some of the great voices back to the game?

J:I don’t know if I agree with it (laughs).  But I think it’s fun probably for old-timers, anyway.  I haven’t done a baseball game since 1986, and I haven’t been to any, either.  The last game I did was the Houston-New York Mets, that 16-inning thing in the dome.  But it’ll be fun.  I haven’t been here in a good long time, either, and it’s pretty fancy trappings now that they finally got it fixed.  But we were doing games when they had the hammer throwers here, and Reggie and all those guys, the Joe Rudi’s and what have you, and we live in British Columbia now in the summertime, so we watch the Mariners quite a bit up there.  They’re entertaining.  These are two of the most entertaining teams in baseball. [Read more →]

Newly added Audio Interviews:

Steve McCatty

Buck O’Neill

Larry Doby

Joe Falls

Ernie Harwell

and more! [Read more →]

Marty Lurie announces that he and former Oakland Athletic second baseman and current Arizona Diamondbacks major league scout Shooty Babitt will cohost a new one hour unique baseball show each Saturday night on KFRC 610 AM Radio immediately follwing the conclusion of the Oakland Athletics Extra Innings call in show.

The show will premiere on July 19th, 2003 originating each week from Crogan’s Montclair, popular sports restaurant/bar located in the Montclair section of Oakland. [Read more →]

I’ll be starting my all star break on Saturday, so the Daily Dish will regroup and return on Thursday July 17th.

But, now let’s talk some baseball.

Last season Lou Piniella was managing the highflying Seattle Mariners. Heading into the 2002 all star break Lou had the lead in the AL West, but the A’s and the Angels were showing signs of life.

Lou realized that his team had some trouble on offense and implored his bosses to pick up another big time hitter, preferably a left fielder.

The brass disagreed, leading to an irrevocable split between Lou and his GM.

Lou now resides in Tampa Bay and brings his lowly Devil Rays into Safeco Field this weekend.

This season the Mariners are off to another good start. Guess what? Even though Ichiro is hitting .350 and Bret Boone looks like an MVP so far, they still have trouble on offense.

Tampa Bay is no great shakes either, but Lou’s team will play some close games with the Mariners starting tonight.

The A’s miss Baltimore’s best pitcher Sidney Ponson who added to his top billing by throwing a complete game against Seattle last night.

The Angels get the hapless Twins for the weekend.

This AL West will tighten up very quickly after the break, you watch and see. Seattle is very much the same bunch Lou analyzed very well at the break last year. Great defense, solid pitching, but an offense that won’t put anyone away, and if the pitching slips they become a very catchable team.

Click below for more! [Read more →]

Many of my friends have no

idea how the Giants keep

winning. Some tell me

“…they are playing weak

teams…” or …”they’re a lucky

team…”

Well, recently they beat the

Cardinals 3 of 4 in St Louis.

The Cards are the only team

in baseball that have 4 guys

that could drive in 100 or more

runs this season.

By Amaury Pi-González

Click below and I’ll explain why. [Read more →]

The Giants beat the A’s 6-0 and when you see the score you will probably think the Giants had the game all the way.

Ted Lilly did just enough to lose the game, but he had his moments, let me explain.

Lilly is still a very young starting pitcher in terms of his major league experience. His plan Friday night was to go away from the big hitters, trying to keep them in the park.

Jose Cruz, Jr. homered for the Giants first run on a pitch low and on the outside of the plate. Chalk one up for Cruz.

Then the fun started for the A’s lefty. With a runner on first, the first base umpire called a delayed balk on Lilly for not stopping long enough (he should have counted one Mississippi) in his delivery on a pitch that Barry Bonds lifted harmlessly to centerfield.

Bonds returned to the plate, where Lilly who seemed unnerved by the call, walked Bonds. Next Santiago flied to medium deep center field. Both Grissom and Bonds tagged, Byrnes without much of a chance threw to third to try to cut Grissom down. Too late, Grissom slid around Chavez and Bonds took second on the throw.

Now, here’s where Lilly learned a valuable lesson which may help him later on this season. After working very hard and staying with breaking stuff, Lilly struck out Andres Galarraga. Now, with Pedro Feliz at the plate, a batter who is notorious for chasing pitches out of the strike zone, Lilly threw a weak breaking ball over the plate on the first pitch, boom! single two runs scored and the Giants were on their way home with a 3-0 lead.

Why Lilly didn’t bounce one to Feliz only he can answer, but his mistake effectively ended his night on the mound.

Click below for more!

[Read more →]