The Rap - About Baseball & More...

The "Rap" .......

	It's Getting HOT! Pennant Races Get Interesting August 31, 2007 August is nearly over, and the story lines are start to become truly compelling. Take the Mets for example. With one of the best lineups in all of baseball, with surprisingly good pitching and arguably one of the best managers in the game, they look vulnerable right now. Having dropped four straight to Philadelphia and clinging to a 2 game lead in the NL East , it is their pitching that is letting them down, and specifically closer Billy Wagner’s complaint of a ‘dead arm’ is significant. READ MORE....
	Mid August - The Races Take Shape.... August 20, 2007 The young Brewers are fading, possibly, and not only are the players feeling the heat, I have a feeling their young manager too feels some of the pressures. Aside from having a ‘fight’ with catcher Johnny Estrada over the manager openly chastising one of the players for a mistake, the lineup changes, in part dictated by a devastating injury to utility man, Tony Graffanino, seem peculiar. This is a team with TALENT, and watching players like Cory Hart intimidate the opposition provokes me to wonder how you can take him out of the lineup at times and, on other occasions, place him deep in the order. READ MORE...
	Now It Starts to Get Fun - Mid August Heat.... August 10, 2007 It is August 10, and the pennant races are getting REAL interesting as the finish line to this unique sports marathon comes into focus. The Braves just took two out of three from the Mets, in NY. The young Mets, with all their talent might be feeling the heat that the Braves are putting on them. The acquisition of Mark Texeira may prove to be the lightning in a bottle formula that general manager, John Schuerholz, was seeking to spark this team. READ MORE..
	It's Done, He Did It! Finally.... August 8, 2007 So it’s done, finally. Barry Bond is the home run king. And while I have thought the quest had grown to be an anti climax, a macabre chase for history while the team languished, with reporters all over a sullen club house after yet another loss (like last night), but now it is over.And it was a great moment. Bonds clearly had regained his stroke, through hard work and determination, went 3 for 3, including a double that one hopped the wall in “triples alley” at ATT Park. “Triples alley” becomes doubles alley for 42 year old sluggers and Bonds eased into second base, satisfied. READ MORE...
	Diamond Notes... August 7, 2007 So Tom Glavine wins his 300^th game, with his family in attendance, at Wrigley Field on the ESPN Sunday night game, amid speculation that he will be “the last 300 game winner” in all of baseball, forever. Seems to be just an angle on a story that the journalists who cover everything in our culture need to fabricate in order to be clever, original, controversial, or (you fill in the blank). There are pitchers out there who have a chance, given their talent, but the wild card is always health oriented or, in the case of the overpaid ball players of today, desire to continue. READ MORE
	The Dog Days Start - - - In Earnest! August 1, 2007 The beginning of August marks a period known as the ‘dog days’. With the summer heat and the daily stress of playing games for the previous four months, players and entire teams occasionally break down, while others display the resolve of a champion. It was in August that the 1951 NY Giants rallied to overcome the Brooklyn Dodgers and win the pennant. It was also the month that the 1993 Giants lost 8 straight games, ceding a four game lead over the challenging Braves and found themselves looking up from a four game deficit. READ MORE...
	Notes from the Ball Park.... July 2, 2007 The season rolls on but for some teams, it seems to be just an exercise of going through the motions. Another losing season looms for many clubs, including the usual suspects. Fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates plan a walk out in mid game this coming week, or at least they will temporarily abandon their seats and take refuge in the concourse without buying anything. The Kansas City Royals are again mired in the cellar of the AL Central, but with no clear resentment from their fan base, as they have company this year. READ MORE...
	Random Notes - Approaching the All Star Break June 17, 2007 The debates raging in the press as to WHO should be the starting pitcher for the AL all star team seems a bit ridiculous. With a bevy of bona fide candidates, ESPN has chosen CC Sabathia as the hands down winner. I see some fault to this line of thinking and though I may be biased, I have been watching the emergence of Dan Haren in Oakland. This guy hits his spots and rarely if ever gives in to the hitter, insisting on pitching to the corners and hitting them too! His stats are unbelievable, only 68 hits in 104 innings pitched. READ MORE.....
	Summer Starts.... May 28, 2007 The Memorial Day weekend is the traditional start of summer when it comes to baseball. The pundits usually discount whatever the early trends may indicate, tending to wait until ‘summer starts’ before lending any credence to how any one team or individual player may be playing. So now, I will check in with a few observations, by no means a complete survey, but rather a cursory impression of what has happened and what we may expect to see play out in the next few months. READ MORE...
	Pre Season Peek March 28, 2007 Predicting the final outcome of a major league season is nearly impossible. For example, who could have imagine the turnaround engineered by Jim Leyland in Detroit in his first year at the helm. Everyone had picked the White Sox to repeat in that division, but no one foresaw the breakdown in their pitching staff and the fall off of Mark Buehrle. READ MORE..
	Winter Notes ....... Jauary 11, 2007 So the long winter of waiting (and hoping for most fans) is nearing an end with spring training due to start in five short weeks with pitchers and catchers reporting in mid February. Some clubs have been very active, some players have cashed in on career years while moving to new clubs, and others have fallen off the radar screen Ripken and Gwynn are in and McGwire is gone, probably for good. READ MORE...
	Notes from the World Series DirtGate October 24, 2006 The idea that Kenny Rogers was not ‘cheating’ is absurd. Throughout the history of baseball, attempting to get an advantage has been part of the game. Pitchers are the primary culprits in this game with the game, and it has been an integral part of baseball forever. Applying foreign substances to the ball were once a part of the game, but were banned in the early part of the 20^th century. READ MORE
	New York - Stunned! Yanks Eliminated, Mets No Longer Mutts October 8, 2006 A stunning day for fans of New York baseball, as the mighty Yankees bowed their heads and left the field in Detroit and the Mets, led by two ex-Dodgers, Paul LoDuca and Shawn Green, celebrated on the oldest field in the National League aside from Wrigley Field. READ MORE....
	Junior Circuit Sizzles - The AL Playoff Picture October 7, 2006 Play for pay is how many would judge the baseball players of this era, a rather mercenary lot who change teams more often than any casual fan can keep up with. The Yankees, the hated (in some circles) Yankees, the team that ruined many a childhood dream for young fans in the past, find themselves on the verge of elimination to a team of virtual nobodies. America has been wondering who these Detroit Tigers are. READ MORE....
	"It Ain't Over Till It's Over"- *Or Is It?* September 21, 2006 The truth of the classic Yogi-ism, 'It ain’t over till its over' is recalled whenever it applies in those exceptional cases, but it’s been over for the Giants for some time now. The Cain dominance for more than one month, the improbable surge to overtake the Padres in the Wild Card race, Bonds’ revival with musings on the home run record next year in SF, all of this has been grist for the entertainment mill of the standard press and the casual but energetic fans who hold out hope against all odds. READ MORE....
	Post Season Props - *NL Rookies Raise the Bar* September 13, 2006 The NL Rookie of the Year award should be one of the more fiercely contested races outside of the one for the increasingly wild Wild Card spots in both leagues. The MVP choices are clear cut and not very debatable. READ MORE....
	Cain Can Do - *Giants Confidently Play It Out* September 9, 2006 With Giants brass scratching their heads, wondering how an entire season could be won or lost in the last 20 games of the 162 game marathon, the Giants scratched out a win over the Wild Card leading Padres last night, a convincing 4-0 victory. Led by rookie, Matt Cain who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, the Giants scratched, clawed and won convincingly. READ MORE.....
	Senior Circuit Short Circuits - Divsion Races Settled but Wild Card Drama to Come September 4, 2006 The National League has traditionally been known as the “Senior Circuit”, a reference to their long history, predating the emergence of the renegade American League in 1903 as a constituent member of Major League Baseball. READ MORE ....
	Survival Instincts August 10, 2006 The long season, the marathon as the major league baseball season is known, is designed to weed out the pretenders and the streakers. The weaknesses of a team will become apparent over the long haul as will the apparent strengths. The Yankees have been built to win, from the head down. Manager Joe Torre is flanked by an array of assistant coaches, all of whom have experience managing a team. READ MORE....
	Random Notes....The Dog Days Arrive August 3, 2006 The Giants have cause to celebrate? Ending a nine game losing streak, they find themselves a mere 3 ½ games off the pace in the NL West. Do they have a chance? Mathematically, yes. In reality, no chance at all. This team is going no where fast and face some very tough decisions in the off season as Bonds will surely be gone, Moises Alou will probably go elsewhere if his father retires (which he probably will), Ray Durham is a free agent along with Pedro Feliz (their most productive hitter, in spite of his oft bad pitch selection). READ MORE.....
	Approaching The Dog Days of August July 26, 2006 July is almost over, the half way point in the long season is past, and the landscape of the standings in major league baseball are being readjusted. The nature of this marathon is to weed out the pretenders, enabling the best teams with the all elusive quality of chemistry to prevail. The Dodgers are failing miserably at this. READ MORE.....
	Mid Season Gut Check July 3, 2006 Called the mid season classic, the precise half way point in this marathon called a baseball season was reached this weekend. The identity, failings, and strengths of every team are clear at this point in time. A look at the division races and wild card possibilities – NL West. - A free for all, with mediocrity being the theme continued from last year when the Padres won the division crown with an 82-80 record.READ MORE......
	The Long Summer Starts to Get Longer for Some June 25, 2006 The Giants snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat with Ray Durham's first walk off home run of his career. Batting 5^th in the lineup, protecting Bonds with his .240 average and 7 home runs, the Giants line up is woefully short on offensive threats to sustain themselves over the course of an all revealing 162 game schedule. ....First to 50..the Detroit Tigers! True baseball fans should really enjoy this battle as the season moves along. Not yet July, the Tiger have the best record in baseball under Jim Leyland’s leadership (who says a manager cannot make a difference?), and the White Sox, argueably the best team in baseball, trail by a half game on the heels of winning nine straight games! READ MORE
	The Big Mo June 15, 2006 The very concept of “momentum” in the life of a professional baseball team seems to be an elusive reality for the SF Giants. The energizing effect of Jason Schmidt’s record tying perfomance Tuesday night has been followed by losing three of the next four games. Losing is one thing, but in the maddening fashion which the Giants floundered. READ MORE
	Joy for the Game - A Season of Ups ... & Downs June 10, 2006 One day doth not a season make nor a trend. But it can provide a lift, if only momentary. Jason Schmidt’s performance against the Marlins on Tuesday night was an eye opener, not only for the fans and media, but for his own teammates. They were literally wide eyed on the field after he struck out the last three hitters in the 9^th inning, with men on second and third. Manager Felipe Alou apparently believed more in Schmidt than he did himself as he reportedly was thinking to himself, “How am I going to get out of this one??”READ MORE.....
	Forging an Identity June 5, 2006 Fifty five games into the season, on the heels of being thrashed by the fledgling Marlins in Florida, the Giants hit the BIG City (even though the natives of the Bay Area fondly refer to SF as The City), and finally their team is starting to take on a recognizable form. Sort of. READ MORE
	Week 4...... Reflections, Questions & Trends April 27, 2006 Greg Maddux is 5-0 for the first time in his career? Unbelievable that he never started out so well previously, but his new found resurgence, aside from being due to his off season work out regimen, is the re-tooled bull pen which the Cubs management put together in the offseason. Scott Eyre, former SF Giant bull pen horse, has an 0.77 era proving that his dominance was no one season, free agent year to be aberration. READ MORE.......
	Week 3 - Notes from Afar.... April 20, 2006 The Giants experiment with Ray Durham batting 3^rd in the lineup has apparently ended. At .156, his average hardly merits such a lofty status and he is now lower in the order at the six spot. Still the Giants lineup is in a state of flux with Bonds not hitting his lofty weight (.190 vs perhaps 250 lbs) and others languishing below the ignoble Mendoza line (Pedro Feliz - .173 & Mike Matheney - .195). The Giants can and will survive without Matheney hitting, but Feliz and Durham must produce. Bonds will probably not finish the season, and as one talk show host in SF said yesterday, to see him run one must think he will not last another month! READ MORE......
	Random Notes.... Week 2 April 15, 2006 Player of the week a young 3b with upside potential rarely seen. David Wright of the first place Mets who have the best record in baseball. No. Ryan Zimmerman, the highly touted 3b for the Washington Nats? No chance. Garrett Atkins of the Rockies? Who??? Yes. A hitter out of UCLA, in only his 3^rd major league season has emerged from obscurity to be the NL Player of week 2. Batting .432, he has helped power the Rockies out of their traditional cellar spot to #1 in the West (actually a 1/2 game out as of last night), an honor of little weight considering it is known as the mild, mild West. READ MORE......
	Unfashionable Trends Surface April 7, 2006 A few days into the season, a couple of trends are starting to develop, magically, out of nowhere. Ned Colletti, taking a page from the Brian Sabean book of assembling a team is a bit worried as some of his stars are dropping out of the azure SoCal skies. Kenny Lofton, a mediocre centerfielder, is starting the season on the DL. READ MORE......
	Real Opening Day Observations.... April 3, 2006 Given the steroids controversy and the fact that pitchers are usually ahead of the hitters during the earliest part of the season, we saw some very inflated scores yesterday. The Cardinal smashed the Phils 13-5 and if there are any questions whether Scott Rolen will recover from a shoulder injury that sidelined him last year, I think he lay those to rest with a grand slam, going 3 for 5 with four RBIs READ MORE....
	Opening Day Comments, Predictions(?) April 2, 2006 Bud Selig, in response to the new book on steroid use and Barry Bonds has commissioned former Sen. George Mitchell to conduct an inclusive inquiry into the history of steroid use in major league baseball. It is all fine and good, but there is one question that comes to my mind... Why bother? READ MORE......
	HYPOCRISY! - in Baseball, in America January 24, 2006 The sexual crisis in this country is just that, a crisis steeped in hypocrisy, guilt and ignorance. Kris Benson was just traded from the NY Mets because they do not like his wife. They liked HIM well enough last year to offer him a multi-year expensive contract but cooler (?) heads prevailed and he was shipped off to Baltimore for a couple pitchers. READ MORE...
	Going Bananas! Winter Meeting Madness December 8, 2005 The brain surgeons who run major league baseball never cease to amaze me with their acumen or extreme lack thereof. The Washington Nationals trading for Alfonso Soriano? Why is the only word that came to my mind as I heard the news early this morning and apparently others feel the same way, including Tim Kurkjian of ESPN. READ MORE
	Hot Stove League Simmers - Slowly November 17, 2005 As the winter season inexorably approaches, as college bowl matchups start to become more clear and NBA prima donnas exorcise their demons with on court athletic antics, the general managers of baseball sit down to re-make, re-tool their teams for the coming year READ MORE.
	Dye-ing for Redemption - Jermaine Jolts the Astros October 27, 2005 Signed as a free agent, cast off from the A's who decided to embrace MoneyBall and go young with Nick Swisher, Jermaine Dye signed for a mere bargain, ONLY $5 million for the year. After having played for twice that amount with the A's, some considered it a big step down for the player who was once regarded as a future superstar when he signed with the Atlanta Braves, drafted in the 17 round out of Consummes Jr. College in Sacramento, CA. But soon after he broke into the Braves line up, he was traded, exiled to anonymity in Kansas City where he excelled, before landing in Oakland and helping to propel the A's into the playoffs, with 59 rbis in the final 61 games of the 2001 season. READ MORE......
	Game 2- Notes from the 101st World Series October 24, 2005 For no reason at all, for reasons I cannot explain for the life of me, I am 'rooting' for the Astros to win the World Series. I am baffled as to why, but I pumped my fist in the air when Jose Vizcaino promptly slapped the indomitable, unbeatable Bobby Jenks fastball into left field to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning, but groaned when Paul Konerko hit a grand slam home run to put the White Sox in the lead READ MORE.
	Playoff Notes - *White Wash in LA, Astros Flying High - Then A Crash Landing* & *Umpires Stinking Up the Joint!!* October 18, 2005 So much for MY thoughts that the Angels would win: they disappeared after game 1, but one must give the Sox credit where it is due. In NO playoff series have I seen that I can recall a bull pen that pitched only 2/3 of an inning! No where, at NO time has that ever happened, four straight complete games in one series as we just saw the starting pitchers for the Sox perform. READ MORE......
	The Long Season Becomes Short - Notes from the AL Playoffs Oct. 8, 2005 Disregarding last year's ALCS between the Red Sox and Yankees, which was truly the most compelling bit of baseball that I and many people had, perhaps, EVER witnessed, the playoffs are good, but the drama of the long season, the ebbs and flows of the marathon, is a truly compelling story. READ MORE....
	The End of the Line for Some - A New Beginning for Others Oct. 3, 2005 The end of the marathon has arrived, with a stunning finality. The door slammed shut on the playoff hopes of some, but those teams are the lucky ones. For most teams those hopes ended long ago. The Indians, stunned but not shunned by their adoring and understanding fans, dragged themselves off the field after an utterly disappointing final run at the AL wild card. READ MORE........
	Down to the Wire Sept. 30, 2005 With merely three games remaining in the regular season, the drama builds in the AL East, as the Red Sox, seemingly in control of things until recently, managed to scrape by the Orioles in a 9th inning rally and tie the Yankees for 1st place in the division. In the past, the loser knew they could advance to the playoffs, as no other teams in the rest of the AL could match them on the field or on paper. But this year is different. The Indians, predicted to be a force in spring training stumbled out of the blocks in April and only regained their footing when their team MVP, Victor Martinez, started to finally hit. READ MORE......
	Changing of the Guard - New Faces in Major League Baseball Sept. 12, 2005 The so-called changing of the guard in major league baseball is always heralded with the arrival of a few players who seem destined for greatness. Albert Pujols is frequently cited as a future hall of fame player, someone 'new' to the casual fans, but now his tenure has reached five years and he is what is known as a veteran player, if not in actual years, certainly in stature. READ MORE...
	Raising Cain in SF As Street Sweats in Texas Sept. 10, 2005 The future may be now in SF, as Matt Cain proved to dominant against the Chicago Cubs. Though not a powerhouse team, the Cubs more than proved their point the previous evening, vanquishing the home team 5-3. With names like current triple crown threat, Derek Lee, and former AL batting champ, Nomar Garciaparra, in the line up, they are certainly not a pushover. Though their record indicates an underachieving team, the myth that any team in the major leagues is an easy win is sadly mistaken. Just ask the Yankees about their season series with the Devil Rays. READ MORE..
	A Return to Reality Another Losing Streak & Barry Bonds Gets Ready Sept. 8, 2005 In ancient India, life is regarded as “maya”, an illusion. The Giants season has been all too revealing and painfully real for more than five months and for a few days, the illusion of contending was entertained like a mass hallucination at a 60's rock concert. READ MORE......
	A Departure from Tradition - "Da Bums" of ....Los Angeles Sept. 7, 2005 The Dodger franchise, once one of the most storied, as well as respected organizations in all of baseball, have truly sunk to depths unthinkable until the past few years. The sale of the team by the O'Malley family to FOX was a grievous error in judgement, a business mistake as well as unfair to the Dodger “family” (ie. ex-players & coaches) as well as to their fans. Given the traditions that were practiced by the Dodgers in the past, having signed Jackie Robinson as the first African American major league player, the current Dodgers hardly carry themselves with the class or élan that has been a trademark of the franchise through the years. READ MORE.......
	The Strange Saga Continues A Season That Has Truly Been a Long, Strange Trip Sept. 5, 2005 The strange saga continues in the NL West as the San Francisco Giants passed yet another team in the standings and find themselves looking directly up at the San Diego Padres. With only one team in front of them, suddenly the impossible hopes of management, players and the fickle fan base in the Bay Area have been buoyed. What seemed impossible a week ago, improbable just three days before is now coming into sharp focus as an attainable goal - the NL West title. READ MORE........
	110 Degrees in the Shade - Giants Warm Up in the Valley of the Sun Sept 3, 2005 110 degrees in the shade in the Valley of the Sun, but inside the BOB, a cool 77. Phoenix in the fall? HOT! But the D-Backs are not. With one of the most porous bullpens in the bigs, the Diamondbacks are languishing in NL West, a difficult division in which to actually languish given the fact the Padres are “running away” with a 67-66 won/loss record. Very peculiar. READ MORE..........
	The Stretch Run Starts - Baseball in September Sept. 2, 2005 September baseball… does it get any better than this? Yes.. maybe in October, but there is something very special about September. Usually a month marked by the return to one's life, to one's work, the kids are back in school and the weather is just starting to change, just beginning to reveal perceptible change as the sun comes up slightly later and retreats past the western horizon a shade earlier too. READ MORE...........
	Jim Rome - Personifying Much of What Is Wrong With American Sports Media Aug. 31, 2005 Mediocrity in the print baseball media is not the only medium that, at times, I find actually offensive and often alarmist, playing to the lowest common denominator. Lately, with an allotted period of time I take every morning to walk the dog, I find myself taking a small radio with me to listen to the only sports program on the air at that time of day, Jim Rome READ MORE.........
	The Giants Reluctantly Waving the White Flag - Looking Forward to Next Year - Aug. 28, 2005 The feeling in SF is that their team has been in a temporary swoon, reeling from the absence of one of the most prolific hitters in baseball, and playing under their potential, an ideal that was still attainable in time to right what has been a decidedly disastrous season on many levels. READ MORE.......
	Discord in Dodger Town.... Again! Aug. 25, 2005 Jeff Kent in the middle of another controversy… again. Milton Bradley portrayed as the innocent victim in yet another Dodger melt down. Who to believe? Personally I have never heard of Kent dissing teammates to the point of racial slurs, berating a teammate for lack of effort and/or execution, yes but not racial slurs. READ MORE........
	Random Thoughts..... The Fans Miguel Tejada - The REAL Core of the A's Aug. 24, 2005 The A's, as a small market team with fewer sources of supplementary revenue than many teams (though the small market assignation is somewhat misleading, the Bay Area has over 6,000,0000 residents) had to make a choice at one point. They cut Giambi loose, refusing to grant him a no-trade clause in contract negotiations. Then they let Miguel Tejada go, with not one offer, in the aftermath of an MVP season. A curious decision coupled with the fact they subsequently signed 3b Eric Chavez to an extended contract worth $66 million.READ MORE...
	Hall of Fame ?? ..... or Bust(ed)!! Aug. 22, 2005 Needless to say the end of the story about the impact of steroids on baseball has yet to be written, nor is it very near. The peculiar reception of Rafael Palmeiro by his own team (not teammates, but ownership and management) is extremely noteworthy. His role has diminished to the point of near invisibility. Curiously it is these same Orioles who currently employ another prime suspect in the steroids scandal (and yes, it IS a scandal at this time, not merely another story or blemish on the game) in the name of Sammy Sosa. READ MORE.....
	The Home Stand Aug. 2, 2005 It may be “ less than a division” according to manager Felipe Alou, but the Giants have a mountain to climb. That mountain is not their competition for the division, but themselves. Not to denigrate the three clubs casting their shadows over the lowly Giants, but the hometown nine holds their future, their destiny, squarely in their hands as they open a six game homestand against the lowlier Rockies, and the formidable Houston Astros. READ MORE...