Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Cubs Get Even, Willis vs. Millwood, Astro Bullpen Collapse


The Chicago Cubs got the lift they needed Monday as the Giants knocked the vaunted Houston bullpen around enroute to a 6-3 win.

First, Brad Lidge couldn’t find the plate walking two on eleven pitches, then after Octavio Dotel settled things down, Billy Wagner came in and Pedro Feliz took him out for the game winner. Feliz who killed the A’s in June is a valuable player for the Giants. He hits homers and doesn’t seem to be fazed coming off the bench. He will hurt some lefthanders in the playoffs, just watch because Wagner is one of the best around and Feliz wasn’t fazed one iota.

The A’s and Barry Zito (12-0 lifetime) continued their dominance of the Texas Rangers. It got so bad for Texas that they even pulled their superstar A Rod after he jogged to first on a ground ball out late in the game.

Of course, with the game no longer an issue Rafael Palmiero homered in the ninth to reduce the Rangers deficit to 7-2. Up to that point, the dynamic two were 0-5 and not a factor against Zito.

Looks like the A’s are going to go with a three man rotation in the playoffs. Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and then Ted Lilly. The A’s braintrust had been reluctant to bring Zito back on three days rest in the past because of the high stress he puts on his arm (something about torque on the curveball), but with the prospect of facing Pedro Martinez twice, the now get tough A’s may ask Zito to do what Lilly did Sunday and that is extend himself at the most critical time of the year.

Well, I guess you have to grow up sometime as a player and this may be the time for Barry Zito to step up and pitch like the greats of the past Octobers.

Tonight the A’s can nail the West with a little help from Anaheim and Scott Shields who will be facing Freddy Garcia. The scouts all agree that Garcia has the best arm on the Seattle staff, it’s just the rest of his game that continuously befuddles them.

The A’s bring Rich Harden out of his chiropractor’s office to face Ryan Drese. Drese is notorious for giving runs up early and tonight should be no exception. I think the toughest game is tomorrow when Hudson faces Joaquin Benoit, so the A’s would like to take care of business tonight, then they can rest the staff for the playoffs.

Click below for more!In his weekly ESPN column, Peter Gammons actually had wrote that Keith Foulke should get MVP consideration over Miguel Tejada on the Athletics.

Simply ridiculous. If Gammons watched the A’s he would know that Tejada is the heart and soul of the soon to be West champs. Foulke was terrific, but as a pitcher his one inning cannot qualify for MVP status because it takes a whole team led by Tejada, Chavez, and a few other pitchers to get the ball to Foulke in the ninth. Chad Bradford has been as valuable as Foulke in my opinion to this team. How many tough saves (one run) has Foulke had?

Don’t get me wrong, I admire Foulke’s work, but to overlook Tejada and Chavez, (for that matter over his last two months), is wrong.

But we expect that from Peter who is fed his info from someone on the A’s. This time someone who must not want to promote Miguel for MVP (tougher to resign perhaps if he is MVP again). I wonder who that could be?

I’ll be anxious to see Peter’s columns after Pedro throws 130 pitches in his first playoff start in Oakland next week.

Jeff Suppan pitched a nice game last night, but don’t put him in the postseason rotation. His job was to be a fifth starter and help get the team to October, after accomplishing that let him enjoy the view from the bench.

In Boston, the pen came in with a 6-2 lead and threw three innings, giving up three runs and seven hits. But, hey, they didn’t walk anyone.

Today it is Tim Wakefield, a real pro, against soft tossing lefty Eric Dubose for the Orioles in Fenway.

Kenny Rogers can nail it down for Minnesota tonight against Cleveland. All of a sudden everyone is taking notice of the Twins especially the Yankees. NY is 7-0 against the Twins this season. They knocked Brad Radke around early in the year and were rude to Kyle Lohse as well. This is a different Twins team now, but we have seen playoff baseball in the Stadium and strange things happen to even the best opponents who come into the Bronx.

Minnesota will need to win one of the first two games against either Mike Mussina or Andy Pettitte. Perhaps Radke or Johann Santana can get it done, but the Twins will need to hit and play flawless defense under the toughest circumstances imaginable. Without a doubt, they would rather face the A’s in the first round.

The Cubs throw Kerry Wood against Seth Etherton. Cincy has won some bullpen games lately, Chris Reitsma looks like he can close for the Reds. Now with Barry Larkin playing his last games as a Red, the home team has some incentive to send him out a winner this week. Wood is a throwback to the tough pitchers of the past and he will not come out of this game until he throws 130 pitches if he is needed to go that far.

Houston has ace Wade Miller going against Jason Schmidt, who is still fighting for a possible but slim chance at the Cy Young award.

Cubs need to get the lead because the Brewers come in for four to end the season in Houston while annoying Pittsburgh will be in Wrigley.

Friday in Wrigley Mark Prior, followed by Kerry Wood Saturday, and Carlos Zambrano Sunday. Wow!

The Marlins put it on the line with rookie Dontrelle Willis tonight in Miami against the Phils and Kevin Millwood. Mark Redman beat Atlanta and all its righthanded power in his finest moment yesterday.

Marlins have a one game lead. If these teams split their final six games, then Houston or Chicago will sneak in over the weekend.

Watch Jim Thome this week, he is a clutch player.

John Smoltz gave the Braves one inning Monday, good news for Atlanta fans.

In an informal secret ballot in the Oakland press box last night eight voters ranked the AL MVP candidates one through ten. Twenty two players received votes with Tejada first, Delgado second, A Rod third, and Manny fourth, in a very close vote. I realize there is regional bias here, but you can see how wide open the AL vote will be, probably the most wide open in years.

We did the same thing for NL Cy Young and Eric Gagne just nosed out Mark Prior and Jason Schmidt with Russ Ortiz a distant fourth.

Wilson Alvarez has been awesome for LA, he pitches tonight. Can he do it again? I’m interested to see what happens against the Padres who can hit the ball, but are lefty heavy.

I said last month the Tigers would lose 122, they may lose more.

Jeff Weaver will not be on the NY postseason roster, not after last night’s pitch to Magglio Ordonez which he hit out for a three run homer, thus delaying the Yanks clinching party.

Nice season for KC, I respect what they accomplished. Joe Randa, Raul Ibanez, Jeremy Affeldt, Carlos Beltran, Mike Sweeney, Angel Berroa, and Darrell May have alot to be proud of this year.

So champagne tonight in Oakland. I think tomorrow, is more likely for some reason.

Another night for scoreboard watching.

Enjoy it!

0 comments

1 Anonymous { 09.23.03 at 12:00 pm }

From 1987 to 1991 , the Rivalry between the A’s and Twins was one of the best of all time.They
Twins won 2 pennants and 2 world series and the A’s 3 pennants and one Series. Those guys were
good and dun to watch and it carries over to the
current teams. The Twins have the A’s number right now and A’s fans should be thankful the Twins are going to New York. One thing is for sure,
Kenny Rogers will not pitch in New York. The fans will not let him forget his failures with the Yanks and Mets fans remember his performance in the playoffs in 1999.

The Red Sox series with the A’s should be a fun series. The Sox have a lot of hitting but Hudson shut them down and if Zito and Lilly pitch
as well as they have done in the past it could get the A’s past the 1st round. One of the lefties will pitch in Boston and that place can be difficult for a left handed pitcher.
On the plus side for the A’s is the fact that they have a lot of left handed hitters and Fenway has always been a good place for lefties to hit.

Regarding Tejada, I and others , have said that
Miggy is the man. The owners have not responded properly but they should sign him.
Bobby Crosby is but a promise while Miggy is the real deal. Miggy’s play is inspirational. He never lets up and gives his team 150 percent every day.The club has drwan over 2 million
and there should be money and at age 27, miguel will be around for a long time and come back to haunt the A’s if they don’t sign him.

Jerry F

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