Barry Bonds was back playing ball yesterday and, in what has become a typical fashion, provided the hit that won the game in late innings. This morning’s Chronicle devoted most of it’s story on the Giants to an interview with Bonds in which he described the physical symptoms which led to his overnight hospitalization, his reaction to what he was told by doctors treating him, and included a statement by trainer, Stan Conte, to the effect that Bonds “doesn’t need medication but will continue to be monitored and see a Bay Area cardiologist this week.”

Continue Below for more of Ed’s excellent perspective on this situation. [Read more →]

Every game the Red Sox play these days seems to be the one that will define the rest of their season. Yesterday, the Sox came back to win with a six run ninth against the Phillies.

Of course all the heroics, topped by Trot Nixon’s grand slam off Turk Wendell, were set up by the Boston bullpen, which once again proved that on a day to day basis it cannot hold a lead.

Mike Timlin, Scott Sauerbeck (it may be time to worry about him), and Alan Embree simply were awful at crunch time. Only Byung Hyun Kim seemed to have his stuff Monday and you now how he has pitched lately.

Damian Jackson who pinch ran for David Ortiz in the eighth inning, came up with a big single to keep the budding rally alive in the ninth. It looked like Grady Little had outmanuvered himself, but Jackson a low .230s hitter got the hit to keep things cooking.

Jose Mesa became unglued and it got uglier for the Phillies from there.

Today it is on to Chicago where John Burkett and Bartolo Colon recreate their matchup of June 17th, when the Red Sox beat Chicago 7-4.

The Cubs got the pitching performance from ace Mark Prior that they were looking for yesterday. Prior’s pitches seem to float through the strike zone effortlessly, but are untouched by the hitters. He struck Albert Pujols out on an untouchable pitch.

Sammy Sosa came up with a big base running play, going from first to third on Jim Edmonds, who seemed to hold on to the ball too long. I said last week that Edmonds likes to grandstand from time to time, and this time it hurt his team as the run that Sosa scored got things rolling for the Cubs. Otherwise, Edmonds is the best overall centerfielder in the game today.

Today it’s Jason Simontacchi and Matt Morris against Carlos Zambrano and Kerry Wood. Does it get any better than this in September?

Only if this was the last weekend of the season.

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After all these years since they
have been playing in San Francisco
(1958)without a World Championship
compared to four (4) for the Oakland
Athletics, who got here 10 years
later, why are the San Francisco
Giants the Bay Area’s favorite
baseball team ?

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Labor Day is another marker along the road to the finish line during the major league season.

With September first officially here today, the race to the end becomes a tight, daily grind. One cannot afford too many missteps along the way or the dream will end abrubtly.

The Phillies won three in Ny over the weekend despite their players obvious dislike for the manager.

Larry Bowa held a meeting Thursday, telling his team he was basically through with them, that they were now on their own. The players responded with a meeting of their own and then went out and swept the Mets behind good pitching from Vincente Padilla, Randy Wolf and Kevin Millwood among others.

It’s always a good idea to have a meeting before playing games you should win. The Phils picked a good time for theirs because even though the Mets have been playing well, they really don’t match up with the talent on Philadelphia.

Today, the Phils meet the Red Sox in the Vet in a makeup of a rained out interleague game from June. Jeff Suppan who had success in the NL goes against Brett Myers, in a game Boston needs alot more than the Phillies.

The A’s have won nine in a row. Sounds familiar doesn’t it.

Click below and I’ll tell you why I like this team better than last years AL West champs. [Read more →]

The A’s continue to play world championship defense in the infield with the exception of Scott Hatteberg who is trying his best to master a position that is not that easy to play.

In any case, any mistakes that the A’s pitchers make are being turned into routine outs by Mark Ellis, Miguel Tejada, and Eric Chavez who by the way is really impressing me with his particular Brooks Robinson like defense at third.

Ted Lilly looked the sharpest he has been all season last night. He had no hit stuff against the Devil Rays.

I always say the Devil Rays surprise you once per series, well, today is the only day they have left against Oakland.

To put the race between Oakland, Boston, and Seattle in perspective, the three teams vying for two spots in October are only 2 1/2 games apart with 26 left to play.

Nothing is settled yet, baseball history is full of teams blowing leads with ten games to go, and we aren’t even close to that yet.

Today, it is youth versus youth as Rich Harden throws his 95 MPH gas against the young Tampa hitters, should be fun to watch.

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The Mariners looked like they were going down to another lifeless defeat at the hands of a tailender when their offense woke up and scored three times in the ninth inning to beat the Orioles 3-2.

Ichiro continued his slide last night, in fact, some of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays I talked with yesterday observed that the Mariners catalyst is swinging a very slow bat these days and chasing pitches all over the strike zone.

Same thing happened with Ichiro last season as he ran out of gas when the Seattle ballclub most needed his bat. Bret Boone has the weight of this team on his back and until someone else stands up and hits with authority I think you are going to see more games like last night’s for Seattle the rest of the way home.

John Olerud ripped a potential double play ball at Oriole secondbaseman Brian Roberts with one out in the ninth last night, but Roberts couldn’t stop the ball and two runs scored on the hard smash winning the game.

You could hear the sigh of relief from the Seattle ball club all the way to Oakland.

Today the Mariners send out Gil Meche who has been one good, one bad all month against the Orioles best pitcher Damian Moss. Moss walks so many batters that Seattle may put some runs on the board today, but who knows what Meche will give his team.

The Red Sox showed once again two things:

One, they can pound the ball at home, and two, the Yankees pitching, a problem all season, is still a problem the Bombers will have to deal with in September and October.

Today, things should look different in Fenway with Pedro Martinez facing lefty Andy Pettitte.

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With things going swimmingly well in Oakland, all eyes turn back to the East where the Yankees go to Boston to renew one of the most dramatic late season rivalries in the game.

The Yankees have broken the hearts of Red Sox fans repeatedly over the years. Whether it is 1978, 1949, or 1950, the story is always the same. The Sox are on the verge of playing in October, and then the Yanks knock them out in an excruciating series.

This six game set has implications once again. Boston trails NY by 4 1/2 games. The Red Sox lead Seattle by 1/2 in the wild card.

Boston looks to Derek Lowe and his blisters to shut Cuban rookie Jose Contreras and the New Yorkers down in game one.

The Yanks ain’t what they used to be. In fact, the White Sox took two of three from NY, knocking the Bombers pitching around in the process. The Yanks can hit, but so can Boston. Who can pitch better? Both teams rely on at least three pitchers from their bullpen every night.

The difference might be Byung Hyun Kim versus Mariano Rivera and you know who will win that one.

So, if I’m Boston, just split the six games and hope Seattle continues on their yearly slide into the Pacific.

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The A’s are in that part of their schedule when they play teams that are vastly inferior to themselves. The Orioles don’t hit very much against Oakland and seem to be waiting for the inevitable mistake which will sink their game.

I must say that Pat Hentgen didn’t show much last night, but then again most pitchers are having trouble navigating their way through the A’s lefthanded hitting lineup and their one fabulous righty, Miguel Tejada.

Which brings me to Tejada. He is the reigning MVP. He has played like the MVP for over two months now and has carried the team on his back. He is fabulous to watch every day.

I know Bobby Crosby is the phenom of the future, but if you watch these games, Miguel is the straw that stirs the A’s drink on the field.

The A’s couldn’t have asked for better matchups, facing righthander after righthander, giving Ken Macha a set lineup every night. Eric Chavez has benefited more than anyone. He gets great hacks off of righties, hitting .324 with 16 homers as opposed to .186 with 7 homers off the lefties. Now Chavez can hit third with confidence knowing he will get a good swing virtually every time up. It also helps his concentration in the field because he isn’t worried heading to third base because he knows he will get another nice at bat very soon.

Trust me, having Chavez as your number three hitter batting .324 helps more than having your number three hitter hitting .186.

The A’s will only see Joe Kennedy Friday, Jarrod Washburn down the road, and Jamie Moyer from the left side over the last 29 games. Eric Chavez must have done something right to deserve this gift.

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Marty- It is time to draw some conclusions with respect to the Giants performance this season. This is a team which has gone wire to wire. Only good teams do that.

How good are the Giants, let Ed explain. [Read more →]

As one goes through the baseball season at times one forgets the most important rule when analyzing the current game.

Starting pitchers go seven innings at best, relievers decide the games.

The strength of a pitching staff is judged from the back end forward.

The A’s bullpen gets batters out with amazing regularity. The Red Sox bullpen is an adventure every night.

The Red Sox hit the ball with much more authority than the A’s, no doubt about it.

The A’s hit the ball when the game is on the line. The A’s work the pitchers the entire game. When Terrence Long is 1-5 which is often these days, that one hit may decide the game.

The Red Sox are a gritty bunch, my standard for postseason play, but that bullpen is going to be tough to overcome as they chase the Yankees this month.

Scott Williamson when with the Reds was a power closer. Today, as a Red Sock, he is 86-87 MPH and leaves the ball up.

If Scott Sauerbeck is only effective when tired, I suggest the Boston staff use him every day because what he is throwing out there now won’t make it. He blew the game against Oakland last week, walking two batters in a crucial situation and did the same gasoline on the fire job last night against the Blue Jays, who will hand you the game if you let them.

Today the A’s see Pat Hentgen who would welcome a trade to Oakland. The Red Sox see Roy Halladay who is vying for the Cy Young with Esteban Loiaza, Andy Pettitte, and Tim Hudson. The Mariners face a rookie with Tampa Bay.

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