Baseball fans never get a day off from following and speculating about their favorite teams.

The last two weeks have been something to watch. More is expected, but let’s see what has transpired so far.

The A’s continued their march towards creating a budget that will be one of the lowest in baseball when they dispatched Cory Lidle, one of their few marketable players, to Billy Beane’s best friend and adviser on life affairs, Toronto’s JP Riccardi, for a bucket of balls and two broken bats.

Talk about a one sided deal, this one makes the Ted Lilly deal look like one of the best of the century, any century.

Click “read more” for more views on the game. [Read more →]

Talking about unpredictable stories !

The San Francisco Giants replaced

popular manager Dusty Baker with

(in my opinion) the man they needed

in “life-after-Dusty,” Felipe Alou.

Brian Sabean, again, worked his

magic as General Manager of the

San Francisco Giants.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Miguel Tejada received

his greatest accomplishment

today, November 12,2002.

The American League

Most Valuable Player.

A most deserved MVP trophy

for the Dominican shorstop.

¡Felicidades Miguel!

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Although baseball is accredited
to have been invented by an
American, the one country that followed the United States in baseball and spread the game to the rest of Latin America
was Cuba.

Here is a brief history of Cuba, the largest
island of the Caribbean and the heritage
of baseball in that country.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

I know I wrote the story over one month ago, but it is hard to believe that the Bay Area has lost both Art Howe and Dusty Baker.

Both franchises will soon learn that it isn’t that easy to manage successfully in the big leagues. Baker and Howe both learned through many tough ball games what it takes to be a winner in the dugout.

So, now we have Eric Musselman, Bill Callahan, Ken Macha, Buddy Teevans, and Jeff Tedford as skippers in Northern California.

We lost Baker, Howe, Jon Gruden and Tyrone Willingham for truthfully no valid reason.

Rich club owners are not used to hearing the word “No” from any employee and Dusty Baker made it quite clear to everyone within fifty miles of him that he was not interested in coming back. Peter Magowan never took Baker’s threat of departure seriously.

The Giants now will look for a replacement.

Click Below for more. [Read more →]

As much as I hate to say it, I think Dusty Baker
will not return as manager of the San Francisco Giants.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

The 2002 baseball season came to a close Sunday night in Anaheim. The World Series effectively ended Saturday night when the Angels came back to win game six, 6-5.

Going into the Giants clubhouse after the game, the players all put up a brave front saying that the late inning loss wouldn’t carry over to Sunday night.

They were wrong. The Giants came out flat, notwithstanding the poor pitching by Livan Hernandez, the team didn’t hit at all and barely resembled the machine that scored 16 runs on Thursday night.

Saturday night’s comeback win was one of the top ten games I’ve ever seen and definitely made me feel what a world series really was .

Now, the A’s have a new manager, Ken Macha, and the Giants will probably have a new boss next week.

Click “read more” for some baseball talk. [Read more →]

While era of Randy Velarde’s ties with baseball and the Oakland Athletics are over, some may feel sad because he never received the World Series ring he wanted before his retirement. Even while he had a brief stint with the Yankees in 2001, it was spoiled by a Luis Gonzalez broken bat blooper over the head of one Derek Jeter.

Although Velarde’s tenure with the A’s was only about 2 and a half years, he became a fan favorite here in Oakland. Whether it was his “Movie Star” l looks, chiseled physique, or his hard-nosed-hustle, he was a player you pulled for.

Velarde was one of the hardest workers on the A’s. Spending countless hours in the weight room and on the field, you knew he just didn’t want a paycheck, but another motivation was stirring in the 40-year old veteran–a world series championship.

Randy had some great moments here in Oakland. From his unassisted triple play against the Yankees in New York, to his game winning homer to clinch the A.L. West in 2000 againts Texas, causing tears to flow down the eyes of his wife in the stands; to hiiting the first pitch he saw after coming back from the disabled list this year for a homerun against the White Sox.

When the A’s signed Velarde this off-season he stated, “Me and the A’s have some unfinished business.” Velarde remembered how the A’s came so very close to beating the Yankees in 2000 and thought 2002 was the year to finally do it.

A big off-season move I questioned after the 2001 season, was trading the Velarde to the Texas Rangers. The A’s wanted to give a shot to the still struggling rookie Jose Ortiz, but we all know how that panned out.

Even during the 2001 stretch run, sources said the A’s were trying to require Velarde from the Rangers again. I was very excited and thought that acquiring him would set the team over the top. However, the Yankees knew how he would help the A’s in the post season and literally stole him from us and never utilzed him at all.

To this day, I still think Randy Velarde would have taken the team over the top in 2001. Just look how Frankie Mennechino did in the playoffs that year.

Excitement was in the air opening day 2002, when Velarde was in the starting lineup, but in his first at bat he was hit on the wrist by a fastball thrown by Chan Ho Park. He was immediately put on the disabled list and Velarde’s playing time was never the same.

Even when Randy came back, the emergence of hard-nosed rookie second baseman named Mark Ellis elimated his playing time. Although he could have been complaining about not playing, he always looked positiive and was always intently prepared for the critical time Art Howe may need him.

Finally, after the A’s lost game five this year to the Twins, Randy was a class act and answered all questions about his retirement and the palyoffs with dignity and professionalism.

Thanks for your stay here in Oakland Randy. Too bad things couldnt work out.

Dale

[Read more →]

The Media came from all over the world.

2002 World Series was in 14 different

languages for 200 countries. And two

California teams took center stage.

Games #1 and #2 were in Anaheim,

#3,4 and 5 at Pac Bell in San Francisco

and #6 and 7 back in Anaheim.

Overall it was a very entertaining

series. Especially if you like hitting.

By Amaury Pi-González

[Read more →]

Game Six is the third critical game in a seven game series. Already we have seen the Angels win game two in Anaheim evening the series at one game each.

Next, The Giants won the second critical game, winning game four, evening the series at two games each.

Now, the Angels try to even the series at three each, forcing a game seven.

The sixth game is a beautiful game to watch in any series. If the trailing team in the series wins the game, then the ultimate takes place, one baseball game for the championship, game seven.

If the series ends after six games, a sudden chill permeates the air as we realize baseball is gone until the flowers bloom and the sun shines brightly over head next spring.

Let’s take a look a some of my favorite game six stars from past World Series games and figure out what will happen this year. [Read more →]