The peaches are on the trees and soon will be in the stores in California, this is the time that the baseball season starts to take on a more serious look.

With the NL teams coming into the AL parks, expect he American league teams to play better baseball since their favorite toy, the DH is back.

Each day I’m going to publish the wild card standings because the Angels showed last year that the goal for any team should be to just get into the playoffs and then anything can happen.

With many teams feeling insecure in the division races, the wild card absolutely is something to keep in mind.

Today here’s how it looks:

AL

New York…

A’s 1/2

Toronto 2

Angels 3 1/2

NL

Montreal….

Cubs 2

LA 2 1/2

St. Louis 3

Philadelphia 3

And more teams can still get close, so it is too early to panic,

Let’s look at more baseball now below! [Read more →]

Check back next week as I will take a few days off to watch interleague play.

thanks,

Marty [Read more →]

Hello Gang,

According to an article in this morning’s hard copy edition of the NY Post, George is again on a rampage but this time it has surgical overtones which will be explained later.

The article mentions that in April the Yankees were 21-6 which of course was awesome. But in May they fell to 11-17 which wasn’t.

George is now in Cincinnati as a prelude to the Yankees interleague jaunt which will become magnificent this weekend as “The Rocket” goes for lifteime win #300 for the 300th time-this time against fellow “Rocket” Kerry Wood of the Cubs. The Yanks’ “Rocket” throws baseballs and bats with equal alacrity while the Wrigley “Rocket” seems limited to just baseballs.

Getting back to “The Boss,” his dissatisfaction was just expressed by the following, “We will get it fixed. Don’t bet against us getting it fixed.” I certainly hope he wasn’t referring to the neutering of certain 2003 underachievers.

Yours in Green and Gold,

Charlie in New Jersey [Read more →]

It’s always rewarding to read Amaury’s remarks. I just caught up with his most recent Giants analysis. I feel much the way he does about almost all of his comments. I think the Giants are going all the way as far as the division title is concerned. Can they go farther? Yes, if their pitching holds up. I have some disagreement with his evaluation of Moss and his comparison of Moss with Rueter. Rueter is invariably around the plate, When he isn’t he gets lit up. Moss is all over the place but has good stuff and gets away with it up to this point. I wouldn’t want him pitching with all the marbles on the line whereas Rueter does inspire some confidence. Frankly, I would much prefer seeing Schmidt out there in an important game than either of them. I agree with his comment about Feliz. He may be playing there sooner than expected. The big roadblock is the Alfonzo contract. Would Sabean enjoy seeing Alfonzo sitting on the bench? The Giants do need to do better against the American league than has been the case in the past, if for no other reason than simple pride and the obligation to hold up the National League banner. How can you allow teams from a league which shows such disrespect for the game by it’s use of designated hitters beat you? Amaury is right on about Santaiago. There is no way Dusty will forget about him when the AllStar game comes around. All in all, it’s always a delight to be exposed to Amaury’s thoughts and have a chance to react to them. That’s what baseball is all about, not only going up there to see the game but being able to talk with friends about what’s going on.
Ed Stern [Read more →]

Marty:

I am provoked by your A’s report card.

Can the Giants be far behind? So here goes.

Fans Click Read More for another terrific analysis of the Bay Area’s other team, the SF Giants, penned by baseball expert, Ed Stern.

Thanks Ed,

from Marty Lurie [Read more →]

The A’s released Thad Bosley yesterday. Perhaps the most intriguing comment was in today’s Chronicle when the reporter wrote that it was unclear if Bosley would be paid for the remainder of his two year contract.

I haven’t seen the contract, but if Bosley refused to be reassigned to another position in the organization, and if the contract allowed for such a reassignment, then the A’s could be off the hook for the balance. Otherwise, they have to pony up for the remaining two years salary.

Anyway, the entire affair was unnecessary and truly should have been avoided. Bosley is a former major leaguer who carried himself with confidence and wanted to be recognized by management as the man who coached two MVP’s and a silver slugger.

It wasn’t to be. Ken Macha and Bosley had a falling out and the manager prevailed. A failure on both men’s part which should have been avoided.

Thad Bosley is a pro and a good man who coached his hitters well enough to see them win 205 games in 2001 and 2002. I’ll miss his presence on the team.

Wasn’t his replacement Dave Hudgens released from the major league staff last time because the players wouldn’t listen to him?

Click below for more baseball news this Sunday morning!

[Read more →]

The A’s are playing like a distracted team which is not unusual when one of the teams most important staff members is on the verge of being removed from the major league staff.

When Ken Macha was hired to manage the team in October, he inherited his coaching staff, other than being permitted to bring in his friend Terry Francona as his bench coach.

From the comments in the news over the last few days, it is clear Macha does not want hitting coach Thad Bosley on his staff. At no time has Macha defended Bosley or has he indicated his support of the A’s hitting coach. The public evidence seems clear, the two men don’t see eye to eye.

As I said earlier in November, Macha’s test as a manager will come when the team faces adversity, that time is now.

Clearly, the general manager will act soon. The team has not played up to its potential over the last few weeks.

Whenever the A’s pitching is less than spectacular, they are in for a rough day. It is not easy to play 162 games under those conditions.

So, someone needs to be blamed for the offensive woes. With Art Howe in NY (the usual scapegoat in the spring), the annual May fingerpointing points toward the hitting coach since the manager just got hired and it is too early to look in his direction.

So, it it is May and you are in Oakland, and the team is struggling, it is someone’s fault, and Thad Bosley, sorry, but the wheel just stopped on your number.

Forget the fact that Bosley has had two rather undisciplined hitters to work with as his main offensive weapons (Miguel “MVP” Tejada and Eric “If they would only let me hit against lefties I’d be fine” Chavez) the past two years.

The manager wants his own guy, he blames the hitting coach for the lack of offense, the hitting coach responds to the criticism, they clash, so guess who goes?

Now is the time for Macha to be the leader of the team, let’s see how he responds when Bosley leaves.

What an unnecessary distraction.

Anyone see Seattle’s record lately.

Click read more for more.

[Read more →]

With the Athletics sitting four games back of the Mariners in second place in the AL West, it is time to assess the players and give them grades for the first 52 games of the 2003 season, about one third of the year now in the books.

Mark Mulder is getting better every time out on the mound. Thursday night, the big lefty completely dominated the Royals enroute to his eighth win of the year. As I said two weeks ago, unless something happens to Mulder, he will start the All Star game in Chicago for the American League.

Mulder gets an “A” for his work in 2003.

Click below for my take on the rest of the team. [Read more →]

Fans click below for a truly enjoyable review by Ed Stern, one of the best baseball fans I know, of Stephen Jay Gould’s book, “Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville”. Gould’s book has been acclaimed by baseball enthusiasts as one of the most genuine collection of baseball essays in years.

Ed also gives his thoughts on the American League race and continues with his season long look at the Giants strengths and weaknesses.

Thanks Ed for your expert look at the game.

[Read more →]

At the time of this article the Giants

had a 2 game lead on top of the

NL West. Last year at this time

the Giants were in second place

2.5 back of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Giants are in good shape, considering

this weekend will mark the first

one-third of the 2003 season.

By Amaury Pi-González

[Read more →]