Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

(OAKLAND May 2) – Jae Seo (0.64 ERA, 14 inn., 7 hits) and Chan Ho Park (0.00 ERA, 10 1/3 inn., 7 hits) were ‘lights out’ pitching for Korea in the WBC. However, they’ve both cooled off, and the change has been like night and day for them since the opening of MLB.

Seo has a 7.64 ERA and Park is at 4.62.

Esteban Loaiza of the A’s had some modest success in the WBC, having a good start against Canada, but got knocked out by Japan and finished the Classic with an ERA of 5.0. And somewhere between the WBC and Opening Day of the regular season he mysteriously lost nearly 10 miles an hour off his fastball, just yesterday going on the DL with an ERA over 8.

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Barry Bonds: Still the Catalyst for Giants
by Glenn Dickey
May 02, 2006

BARRY BONDS will be a mixed blessing for the Giants this season.

Bonds now looks a lot like Frank Thomas with the A’s, but the A’s can use Thomas as a designated hitter and not have to play him in the field. The Giants have to put Bonds in left field and just hope that he doesn’t have to make any tough plays.

The Giants can put together a very good defensive outfield when Bonds doesn’t play, with Randy Winn in left field, Steve Finley in center and Moises Alou in right, with Jason Ellison in reserve. The versatile Winn is best in left field, and he made two sensational catches to save a win last weekend. At 41, Finley is still an outstanding defensive center fielder, though his bat isn’t what it was. Alou is off to his best start in years at the plate, and he does a good job in right field, too.

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[Read more →]

– Inside Baseball with Marty Lurie and Shooty Babbit – breaking down the A’s rotation, the Royals, and the Divisions: past month in review.

Segment one: Rick Hurd(from the Contra Costa
Times), Marty and Shooty

Segment two: Rick Hurd, Marty and Shooty.

Segment Three: Mark Gonzales(from the Chicago
Tribune), Marty and Shooty breakdown.
[Read more →]

With April drawing to a close, some teams are smiling, while others are wondering if their April woes will continue into May.

Let’s take a look at the American league and check the ups and downs from the first month of play.

Angels: Injury to Bartolo Colon beginning to take toll on the staff. Starter Jeff Weaver very erratic. Angels bull pen working smoothly so far. The Halos don’t hit for much power, but find a way to score runs. Club has problems at catcher and first base. Rookies Jeff Mathis and Casey Kotchman soon heading to the bench. [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (April 29) – Barry Bonds has more money, fame, and home runs than any of us can even dream of. He is a baseball legend who owns seven MVP awards. He is feared as a slugger like no other, and included by most observers among the top five players of all time.

Yet, he is apparently hated as a person.

By the same fans and experts that acknowledges his greatness as a player.

Why? Because he used steroids? Because he lied to a grand jury? Because he is surly and uncommunicative? Because he is on the verge of shattering sacred home run run records with the help of performance-enhancing substances?

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One of the youngest and most talented players to leave Cuba recently is playing great shortstop for the Seattle Mariners on a regular basis. He will be
very well known by the time this season ends by
everybody in the American (and some in the National League) who sees this young man play.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (April 26) – I can almost hear Roy Steele on the PA at the Coliseum, “. . . and batting fourth for the Athletics, Larry Davis.”

Davis, the A’s trainer, may be the most important man in the dugout right now. More than anything else, injuries at this early juncture of the 2006 season are having a huge impact on Oakland’s success.

Already Bobby Crosby, reminding us of his 2005 routine, in which he suffered a broken rib on opening night and a broken ankle on August 28 (effectively ending the A’s season) In 2006, he already has been out of the line-up a total of five games following two separate mishaps, and hampered, even while playing, to one degree or another during the remainder of the contests.

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Marty: It was the intention today to write about the past three weeks of play, citing the encouraging developments the Giants could point to, as well as mentioning problems which may or may not have been anticipated. This morning’s headlines, which announced that Greg Anderson, Bonds longtime friend and trainer, had been subpoenaed, overshadowed that intention.

The Giants’ baseball fortunes need to relinquish the spotlight for the moment. It may not be an overstatement to say that there is a personal tragedy pending, the indictment by the grand jury of Barry Bonds for lying under oath when he advised another grand jury that he had never knowingly used steroids.

Click below for more from Ed.
[Read more →]

Charlie Dressen, one of the most astute baseball managers of all time managed the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks for three seasons. Dressen piloted the Oaks during the 1949-50 campaigns, before returning in 1954.

In between his stints in the PCL, the colorful Dressen headed the Brooklyn Dodger club three years, winning NL pennants in 1952 and 53.

Dressen had a favorite saying. He would tell his players in a very brash way,
“Fellas, just hold ‘em for seven innings and I’ll think of something”.

In 2006 the managers in the AL West may soon be echoing Dressen’s confident words. [Read more →]

Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (April 22) – I recently had the opportunity, during the break between the end of the World Baseball Classic and Opening Day of the regular season, to travel to the lovely Finger Lakes region of New York State and the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Expecting a quiet retreat filled with ritual reflection over revered artifacts such as Honus Wagner’s tattered spikes and Babe Ruth’s 54 oz. lumber, I was met instead by the buzz of commotion in this otherwise sleepy village over plans for a controversial new museum – devoted to an honest view of the seamier side of the history of our National Pastime – being planned for a lot adjacent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

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