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Fister is Back, And in More Than One Way
A much missed familiar face is back in Safeco Field, but not in the dugout most Mariner fans would like.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Doug Fister will make his first start since April 7th, when he was injured during his season opener with a strained costochondral muscle. To say that he’ll be back is a tad of an understatement though as not only will he be back from the DL, but also back in Seattle for the first time since being traded at the last minute to Detroit in July. Once traded, Fister helped lead the Tigers to the American League Championship series by pitching a record of 8-1 with a more impressive 1.79 ERA. In comparison, Fister’s final season with Seattle before the trade he pitched for a record of 3-12 with a no less impressive ERA of 3.33. Wow!
M’s Fans, Bring Out the Brooms
The Mariners finished sweeping Detroit today and to the surprise of most, it was not community service.
The Seattle Mariners swept the three game series with the Detroit Tigers today with a 5 to 4 victory. Mariners leftfielder Chone Figgins hit an RBI double in the seventh which was good for his third hit of the night, and more importantly, the go-ahead run for the surging M’s. As opposed to the previous two games which saw the Mariners offense show some life, today’s win was won primarily by the bullpen. Starter Hector Noesi ran into some trouble in the sixth inning and left the game with 5.0 innings pitched, five hits and fours run while only recording two strikeouts. Luckily for Noesi, a combination of five different relievers kept the game in Seattle’s favor and Brandon League recorded his seventh save of the year.
Ready To Take The Last ‘Chip’, Brave’s Third Baseman Decides To Call It Quits At The End Of The Year.
If you were a baseball fan back in 1990, you may remember the hype about a prospect named Todd Van Poppel. He was a big, laser-armed high school kid from Texas, the consensus No. 1 draft pick. But he had committed to attending the University of Texas.
The Atlanta Braves, coming off a 97-loss season, held the top pick. They weren’t willing to take a gamble on Van Poppel. Bobby Cox, the team’s long-tenured general manager, made a last-ditch plea to sign Van Poppel. Poppel said he was going to school, but team’s knew someone would select him. Read More >>
Slow Start? What Slow Start?
OK, time to stop the MLB nonsense about whether the Indians are for real.
They’re as real as Justin Masterson’s sinker, Shin-Soo Choo’s right arm, Carlos Santana’s batting eye, Orlando Cabrera’s experience and Asdrubal Cabrera’s talent.
Try this for real: The Indians own a majors-best 66 run differential and an MLB best 18-4 home record. They’ve scored the second-most runs in the A.L. and have the fourth-best ERA. They’re 7-2 against the A.L. East with the revived Red Sox returning to Cleveland looking for revenge after that three-game sweep they absorbed in the season’s first week.
Ron Washington knows they’re for real. Asked if he knew the Indians would be in first place when in spring training he asked Manny Acta to be an MLB All-Star coach, the Rangers managed replied, “I knew the Indians would be tough. They have some talent.”
Washington might have been one of the few to believe that two months ago. But he’s no longer alone. The Indians sit atop the MLB Power Poll for the fourth consecutive week. The Poll is convinced.
1. Indians (1). You can ask the Reds if the Tribe is for real. The Indians’ weekend sweep was first over Reds since 2004.
2. Cardinals (14). When talking about N.L. MVP candidates, Matt Holliday would be the place to start. Unless you started with Lance Berkman.
3. Red Sox (13). About that 2-10 start, perhaps the Red Sox just wanted to play fair and give the rest of the league a head start.
Adrian Gonzalez has provided the offensive punch the Red Sox were hoping for when they traded for him this offseason. (AP Photo)
4. Giants (6). Latest wrist injury to Mark DeRosa could be the end, making his the saddest in a season that has seen more than its share of injuries.
5. Phillies (4). Chase Utley is back in time for rematch of last year’s divisional series against the Reds. Time for the rest of the Phillies’ offense to return, too.
6. Yankees (15). What a debut: Right-hander Hector Noesi gives Yankees four scoreless innings to win 15-inning marathon in Baltimore, providing the difference between a so-so and a good week for the club.
Thanks to stronger defense, Padres can field another contender
Nobody expected the San Diego Padres to begin the final day of last season with their MLB playoff lives on the line.
Yet there they were, finishing as a 90-win team.
Coming off a 138-186 record in 2008-2009 with a relatively microscopic payroll, and as a trade of their best hitter loomed, the Padres were expected fall out of contention just after spring training in 2010.
Instead, they led the NL West for a good chunk of the season thanks to their pitching staff and an impressive ability to get to, catch and throw the ball.
And the only difference this season — other than the loss of starter Jon Garland — is that the defense, among the best in baseball last year, will be better.
The Adrian Gonzalez trade didn’t happen last season because the Padres contended, only falling short of the postseason after losing game No. 162.
But general manager Jed Hoyer pulled the trigger this winter, dealing Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox for prospects. Brad Hawpe and Jorge Cantu will take over at first base.
Outside of that move, the Padres bolstered their defense, adding shortstop Jason Bartlett to replace Miguel Tejada, Jerry Hairston and Everth Cabrera. Those three combined to give the Padres solid play, but overall they were middle-of-the-pack at the position.
Bartlett is a steady defender and could be an upgrade. However, his Ultimate Zone Rating, a defensive metric designed to communicate how many runs a player saves or gives up, has fallen each year since 2006. That downturn, though, isn’t because of unsure hands or poor throws. Knee and ankle injuries have hampered Bartlett’s range and caused his UZR, which hit a career-low minus-10.4 last season, to drop drastically. For his career, though, Bartlett has compiled an 18.7 UZR.
The Padres signed Bartlett’s new double-play partner, free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson, to a two-year deal. Hudson is a four-time Gold Glove winner and a major upgrade compared to David Eckstein (minus-7 UZR).
Steelers’ Super Bowl Loss Leaves Sour Taste for Padres Pitching Coach
Even as our NFLWest Coast guys Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews III and Desmond Bishop celebrated the Super Bowl victory, West Coast Bias fretted on late Sunday.
I feared for Padres MLB pitching coach Darren Balsley, Steelers fan deluxe.
Spring training opens next Sunday, so it’s best that Bud Black fly to Balsley’s home in Tennessee today. Or else the pitching guru might stay in his man cave, clutching his Terrible Towel, for weeks.
Steeler fandom being what it is, we all know at least one wacko Steelers fan. Balsley’s my guy.
Trust me, if more folks cared an eighth as much about the Padres as Balsley does the Steelers, I’d never write another pennant race article likening Petco Park to Switzerland.
My favorite part of Super Bowl week was our phone chat 24 hours before kickoff, Balsley as intense as Mike Tomlin, riffing like only the psycho fans do.
“I don’t like that we’re wearing the white jerseys,” he told me, right out the chute.
His wife planned to have friends over for the game, adding to Balsley’s pre-kickoff angst. How can one cheer his Steelers to victory and play the role of doting host?
West Coast Bias was pulling for the Packers, who’d be nothing without Pac-10 alums such as Rodgers (Cal) and Matthews (USC). Balsley had called early in Super Bowl week to suggest a friendly wager. We decided on a story written by the fan whose team won.
But 24 hours before kickoff, he wanted to go over his ground rules. Ground rules?
“Don’t text me during the game,” he said. “I don’t want to hear any gloating, or if the Packers are losing, no concession messages.”
San Diego Always Feeds Boston
Where would the Boston Red Sox be without San Diego to prop them up every few decades or so?
First we gave them Ted Williams.
Now we’re giving them Adrian Gonzalez, another sweet-swinging ballplayer, San Diego born-and-bred.
Between sending the MLB Sox those gifts, San Diego also gave to Boston baseball executives Larry Lucchino and Theo Epstein.
Lucchino and Epstein would hire several able scouts formerly of the Padres. They also would hire Bill James, a fellow brainiac, and together with owner John Henry would build The Matrix on Yawkey Way. Two World Series championships followed, giving all those self-important Sox fans actual reason to be self-important.
So if the baseball gods are fair, the four Sox prospects who went to the Padres for Gonzalez will become stars on the West Coast.
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