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Baseball
Instead of Something Old, Something New
This past week, the Giants did something they haven't done in a very long time: they brought a young position player up from the minors to fill a hole in the lineup -- and they did it at the right time, not five years later. More
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Baseball
Cesspool on the Potomac
First things first: say it with me: "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Jim Bowden has got to go!" It was bad enough when the other 29 teams treated the Montreal Expos as their personal punching bad, even going so far as to prohibit the team from making late-season call-ups. That was all supposed to change when the Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals. Who would have thought things would get worse? More
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Baseball
Small Sample Size
Seems like some ex-Giants have been making the news all over the place lately: "A lot of teams in the big leagues need a guy like me." – Edgardo Alfonzo, on his reduced playing time behind Chone Figgins and Adam Kennedy in Anaheim. Really? The prospects out there are pretty poor for a weak-hitting third baseman with below-average defensive skills. More
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Baseball
Starless yet Promising
Is this the best team in baseball? After a "re-building" year that saw them win 88 games, that's the question the Oakland A's are going to have to answer this year. They picked up some potentially big bats in Frank Thomas and Milton Bradley, got themselves eight starting pitchers, put together the best defense in the majors and can expect some real growth from a number of young regulars. Injuries typically haven't been a huge problem for the A's, and that's no different this year -- rather than concentrating their production in a few players like the Cardinals, Braves, Yankees or Red Sox, the A's spread it around. More
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Baseball
The Season Begins, with or without Barry
You can be excused if you thought Barry Bonds' only contribution to the San Francisco Giants is his hitting (it's clearly not his fielding or his baserunning). Obviously Barry's hitting is so good that it makes it easier for the Giants to put together a winning team. Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Manny Ramirez all pull in something in the neighborhood of Barry's $22 million per, but he puts more runs on the board than any of them. The bottom line is that when you've got Barry Bonds in the lineup, it's tough to lose. More
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Baseball
Los Angeles, the New San Francisco
I spent the last week in cold and rainy Los Angeles, which gave me a lot of time to read the LA Times Sports section (I know, why would I do a thing like that?) Ned Colletti's first month on the job has been, at the very least, a PR success. People have forgotten about the Angels, which is good, because they suck. As much as I liked Paul DePodesta's constant retooling of the roster, his tenure coincided with the rise of the Angels. More
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Baseball
Buy High, Sell Low
Just three years removed from Game 7 of the 2002 World Series, the Giants finished the 2005 season 75-87. An astute San Francisco Giants fan might ask, "How did we get here?" Let's take a look at some of the highlights of Brian Sabean's "rebuilding" strategy, starting with the best moves. More
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Baseball
Bye Bye Angels
Once again, the Angels didn't make it back to the World Series. You can't blame it on the pitching -- against the White Sox average offense and the Yankees' potent one, the pitching staff put up the same ERA and strikeout rates as they did during the season. No, the problem was hitting. More
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Baseball
This Ain't T-Ball
Wow. Were the 2005 Giants ever bad. Losing Barry Bonds for most of the season cost them 100 runs, and the rest of the lineup was much worse than in 2004. The pitching staff struggled through the first half of the year, but Noah Lowry, Brad Hennessey and Matt Cain put together very good performances after the All-Star Break, making sure the Giants didn't go from 100 wins to 100 losses in just two years. More
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Baseball
Report Card
I'm writing this on Monday morning. The A's are four back with seven games to go, including a four-game series against the Angels. By the time the column is published on Friday, we'll all know the outcome. I will not jinx the A's by discussing their plight! More
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