After three weeks of playing the same teams the major league schedule turns the corner as all the teams get to play new opponents.

How will the AL West fare against the rest of the American league after beating each other up for 19 games?

How will the Giants do on their first trip to Pennsylvania to take on the Pirates and Phillies?

Boston takes their bull pen by committee to Texas and the Yankees take their undefeated starting pitchers to Anaheim to face the Angels, the team that chewed up their pitching staff last October on the way to the World Series.

Click read more and let’s see. [Read more →]

The other day I mentioned that I thought the nature of how a baseball game is played today adds to the fans violent reactions twoards umpires and players.

Here’s what I mean.

The pitchers used to brush back batters routinely as part of the game until the last ten years or so.

Now, if a batter is merely moved off the plate with an inside pitch he glares at the mound. If the batter is actually hit by the pitch, then he takes a menacing step towards the pitcher and motions toward the shocked moundsmen with his fist or even his bat.

Fans see this and get in the spirit of wanting to club the pitcher or the batter depending on where the incident takes place. By the time this scenario is repeated two or three times during the game, the fans are now part of the action taking place on the field.

No wonder with drinking in the park by the later stages of the game, someone from the stands vents his frustration and jumps the fence or throws something at the player.

If the players would play good ole country hardball and not flip out every time the ball comes close to the batter, I think the fans would be calmer and you’d see fewer incidents.

Just an observation, but watch the batter and how he threatens the pitcher when he is brushed back and watch the crowd reaction at the same time.

Now, back to the game. Click below. [Read more →]

Barry Zito raised his lifetime record against the Texas Rangers to 9-0 Friday night with his fourth career shut out, beating the bumbling Rangers 9-0.

The A’s offense came alive and once they had Rangers starter John Thomson on the ropes, they didn’t let up.

Roger Clemens is on a mission. The Rocket notched victory number 296 against the Twins Friday and could be going for number 300 in Oakland during the Yankee-A’s series May 9, 10, and 11th. Now that would be something to see.

Kevin Brown no longer has a hex over the Giants. Brown no hit the Giants in 97 and beat them regularly over the next four years, but now the righty has given up 28 runs in his last 29 innings against SF after last night’s five inning five run start.

If the Mets win today against Miami (I like that better than Florida) it will be Art Howe’s 1000th win as a major league manager. Art is putting Steve Trachsel on the hill against hard throwing righty AJ Burnett.

More baseball news below. [Read more →]

Even though the A’s are not winning right now Thursday’s game provided a glimpse of what the summer may be like for the defending AL West Champs.

The bull pen appears to be in good hands, a sure sign of many wins in the summer months. Chad Bradford came in and in a very efficient fashion quelched a Mariner rally that would have iced the game.

Ricardo Rincon followed with a very capable two innings from the left side. He appears to have turned the corner from early season woes.

Jeremy Fikac (great change up) followed, got two quick outs, then started nibbling, walked two and gave up the game winning hit to Mark McLemore, who proved there is a baseball god.

McLemore made a critical error with two out in the ninth to allow the A’s to tie the game and send the contest to the tenth inning. McLemore came up with two on and two out and placed a single to left to win the game and send the As’ home with a 3-7 mark on the trip.

All in all, once the big four starters (I’ll include Ted Lilly for now) get in their groove this bull pen is going to be a major asset, plus Jim Mecir is due back this weekend to further add to the opponents worries.

Are the A’s batters mature confident hitters? Not yet, but we’ll follow that story to see if and when they reach that point.

More on baseball, click below. [Read more →]

What makes the Cubs scary in the NL Central is the back end of their rotation. Today, they flip the deck and start off with their number one, Kerry Wood. The last two days Shawn Estes has returned from the missing pitchers list and young righty Carlos Zambrano continued his 2003 success with six strong innings against the Reds.

After Wood, here comes Matt Clement and Mark Prior, three very hard throwing righthanders, when you look at the group.

Starting to sound a lot like the Oakland A’s.

Can the Cubs stay in the race? Absolutely!

They will need to get big seasons from Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou. They are getting major contributions from Damian Miller, Mark Grudzilenek, Alex Gonzalez, and Hee Seop Choi, if this continues Dusty Baker will have a happy first summer in Wrigleyville.

More baseball today as those important fifth starters are on the hill as well as some of the big boys.

Click below for more info. [Read more →]

Someone asked me last night if I thought the Diamondbacks were through in the NL West race.

Not yet, and short of the Giants opening up 25-3 and the Diamondbacks falling to say a 6-20 mark, there is still plenty of season left to right the ship.

If today was September 16th instead of April 16th, then yes, Arizona could pack up the bats and wait until next year.

One winning streak of seven games (one week) coupled with a Giants losing streak of similar proportions and we have three or four games separating the teams in April or May or June or whenever. The key is not to fall 15 to 20 games behind, anything else is workable.

Having Miguel Batista pitch tonight against Colorado instead of the injured Big Unit doesn’t help things in Phoenix.

Arizona needs to trade some young pitching for an established hitter and get some offense on the field. Until they do that they will be a.500 team or slightly better.

Mike Mussina, a perrenial Cy Young candidate, won his third game last night. Maybe this will be his year.

More baseball just click read more. [Read more →]

Other than a handful of pitchers around major league baseball, the rest of the moundsmen are off to the typical slow starts that plague pitchers every season.

Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux have struggled well beyond anything expected in early season starts.

The A’s starters are inconsistent and their offense isn’t picking up the slack. Hence, a five game losing streak.

Same trouble applies to Arizona, Toronto, Atlanta, Minnesota, Boston, and Seattle. You never know what you will get when they take the field.

Everyday is a new day in baseball so let’s take a look. [Read more →]

Two distinctly different weekends for the Bay Area teams.

The A’s came back to earth in Anaheim falling to the Tunder Stix, the rally monkey, and a good veteran line up that punished the A’s pitching.

One only has to look at the ERA’s of the big three to see why the team is in a four game funk. Tim Hudson 4.74, Mark Mulder 6.55, Barry Zito 4.50 and even Ted Lilly 3.95.

The Dodger – Giant games were close affairs. Last night the Giants prolonged the game with outstanding defense and pitching long enough to get LA’s malcontent reliever Andy Ashby in the game in the 12th inning. The taciturn Ashby blew the game for LA by his fourteenth pitch.

More on him later but there is a lot of baseball to catch up on, click below. [Read more →]

Quite a weekend already as the Houston Astros spoiled Tony LaRussa’s strategy for the second consecutive series.

Remember Tony took Matt Morris out of a 1-0 game in the eighth inning last weekend against Houston only to see the bull pen blow the game after a valiant 100 pitch effort by Morris.

Fast forward to Friday night, Morris has a 2-1 lead over the Astros going into the ninth, La Russa leaves his ace in to finish the game even though his pitch count has exceeded 110 (he finished with 119).

Morris gets two outs, gives up a single to Lance Berkman, then Jeff Kent, my MVP candidate in the NL, smacks a two run homer to win the game 2-1.

What’s a genius to do? Wait for Jason Isringhausen to get better, then let him pitch the ninth, until then, pray that Steve Kline can can be the closer.

More news ahead. [Read more →]

The Expos finally get to go home. Only problem is the team plane missed Montreal by about 3000 miles. They play the Mets today in San Juan in the first of 20 or more “home games” in Puerto Rico.

Why? The only viable reason is MLB is being sued by the former minority partners of the former owner Jeffry Loria, and the moguls can’t sell the franchise to anyone until that lawsuit is settled. MLB has indicated they will choose a new home for Montreal’s team by the All Star game, so the lawsuit is probably going to be settled shortly.

Meanwhile, the Mets blew another ninth inning lead and now go to Puerto Rico to open the Expos Caribbean schedule.

The opposition is running on Mike Piazza every chance they get. Expect more this weekend. Piazza’s day as a ML catcher is over, he needs a new position even if it means not breaking the home run record for backstops.

A lot more baseball this weekend. [Read more →]