It was only appropriate that the Oakland Athletics
would clinch the Division title againt the Seattle
Mariners. After all,they have owned the Mariners
since April.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
Seattle,Washington [Read more →]

Inside Baseball with Marty Lurie & Shooty Babitt – Post-Season Play: A’s flying under the Playoff radar?, Tigers or Twins: who’s the bigger 1st-round test?, Harden: Great Comeback Start, Playoff Starting Pitching: 3-man Rotation or 4-man?

: Marty, Shooty, Vince Cotroneo & Bruce Magowan.
Segment two : Marty, Shooty, Bruce, Robert Buan & Vernon Glenn(from KRON4).
Segment three: Marty, Shooty, Vince Cotroneo & Robert Buan.
Segment four : Marty, Shooty, Vince & Robert.
Segment five : Marty & Shooty. [Read more →]

In 2006 an old baseball maxim rang true. The best teams survived the grueling 162 game regular season. The cream rose to the top. Twenty-two teams are packing for the winter.

Thanks for playing. We’ll see you next spring.

This year’s playoff teams come as no surprise. Let’s see why the most deserving teams are headed to October baseball.

Click below for more! [Read more →]

OAKLAND (September 23) – ESPN re-wrote the script on Milton Bradley’s ejection before MB even got to the showers last night after being tossed by home plate umpire Ron “Mea” Kulpa, in the eleventh inning of a game eventually won by Oakland in twelve, 5-4.

And apparently Josh Suchon, the ordinarily level-headed and highly capable Athletics’ beat writer for the Oakland Tribune, was watching a different game than I was, or not watching at all, if he really agreed with “The Leader in World-Wide Sports Coverage” that Kulpa only threw out Bradley after MB threw his bat.

This morning I wrote the following to Suchon:

Check below for the letter and more! [Read more →]

Inside Baseball with Marty Lurie & Shooty Babitt – Rich Harden: Is he ready for a start this week?, Frank Thomas,10 home runs this month: A September for the ages?, Derek Jeter: League MVP?, Mets: Going all the way?
Segment one : Marty, Shooty, & David Feldman.
Segment two : Marty, Shooty, David Feldman &
Rick Hurd(National Baseball writer for the Contra Costa Times).
Segment three: Marty, Shooty, Vince Cotroneo & David Feldman.
Segment four : Marty, Shooty, & David Feldman.
Segment five : Marty, Shooty, & David Feldman. [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan

OAKLAND (September 18) – If Oakland and Minnesota face each other in the first round, the winner of that series is my pick to win the World Series. And I’ll tell you later in my column which team I happen to think would win this match-up.

I’m jumping the gun a little on the post-season. Shortly, you’ll be inundated by the predictions of all the usual suspects–ESPN, our own Marty Lurie, the Sporting Green, the handicappers in Vegas, George Steinbrenner, your uncle Ralph–you name it.

I wanted to draw first blood.

And don’t forget you heard it first here!

Click below for Rick’s Picks. [Read more →]

In 1956 the New York Yankees played the
Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series.
Forty-four years later in 2000 the New York
Yankees played the New York Mets in the
World Series.
Both of these teams could make a return
to the October Classic 2006.
There is really nothing to compare to a
World Series among two New York teams.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez [Read more →]

So much will be decided over the next two weeks of the season.

Post season awards. Playoff teams.

The most significant of all the postseason awards is Most Valuable Player.

Why is the MVP more important than the outstanding pitching award?

A position player contributes to his team’s success on a daily basis. A starting pitcher works every five days, a reliever every two to three days at best over the course of the 162 game season.

The MVP is the player who if removed from the team changes the squad from a championship team to an also ran.

My MVP must be a carrier, a difference maker, not just a contributor to the cause.

In the American League certain players stand out. Here are the contenders:

Click below for more! [Read more →]

Forget the A’S or the Twins,
the Marlins are the ultimate low budget
kings of baseball.
With a total payroll of $15 million they
might even make it to the Postseason.
If you like to get the most bang for your buck,
like tax cuts, like management that can
get the most for the least, do not believe
throwing money at things to make them better is the correct philosophy, or you don’t think minimun wage should be raised, then you have to
like the 2006 Florida Marlins.
Under the circumstances nobody does it better.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan

OAKLAND (September 12) – Anonymity and unpredictability often trump celebrity and previous success in the post-season. That’s what makes fall baseball so hard to handicap (predict).

The outcome is a roll of the dice as often as not.

You don’t think so? You said MVP Pat Borders would carry the Blue Jays to victory in the 1992 World Series? And that a virtually unknown Marlin hurler, Josh Beckett, would totally dominate the Yankees in 2003 and win the award for Most Valuable Player?

Click below for more! [Read more →]