This Week in Baseball 7/30 - 8/5

[KingPK 0]

The Gagne deal I DO like. Gabbard was expendable and they struck while the iron was hot.

 

Damn team needs to hit now.

[Darthtiki 0]

Barry Bonds tweaked his knee again and won't play tonight in LA. What bad luck he has :(

Good thing I didn't buy a ticket. I wonder if he'll end up on the "DL" so the record will be broken at home.

 

Likewise and yeah I figured they'd hold off until they get back to SF

[Guest]

I was at Dodger Stadium tonight. Relatively shitty game, wish I would have sold the tickets for the exorbitant price I knew I could have received.

 

Had the tickets forever and I thought that Bonds would have already hit 755. Wrong. Traffic was great because the game was so shitty. Had no problem getting out. I don't care about Bonds, he wasn't the reason I went. Should have sold the tickets...

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I kept switching back and forth to the Angels and the Dodgers game. Jeff Weaver actually made the Halos believe they have some offense.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

If you're interested, the Yankees unveiled the logo for the 2008 All-Star Game.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I like that "MLB" is nowhere to be seen but "Yankees" is front and center.

[mike546 0]

http://www.sportslogos.net/team.php?t=481

 

Basically every single logo from every allstar game shows the team/city where the game is being played. Its the last year ever of Yankee Stadium and it's not even over the top, I think it's realy well done.

 

edit: Thats the wrong logo anyway. This is the real one - http://www.sportslogos.net/logo.php?lo=k1ql4blramyr5fj8lbkq

 

 

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

That's why I like it. It looks nice.

 

edit: The real one looks okay.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Why does anyone even care? It's just a logo.

[Slayer 0]

Starting with the 50's and going up to the late 90's it looks like nearly all the logos captured the individuality of the host team.

 

All the logos from this decade have been really sterile, so the Yankees logo for next year is actually quite refreshing

[Longdogger_Pete 0]

Bonds *did* play last night. He just didn't produce.

 

So Julian Tavarez is pitching tonight in Gabbard's spot, just keeping the spot warm for Schilling, who has been scoreless in three rehab starts for Pawtucket. Gagne should be available tonight.

 

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

They had an off day on Monday. Why not just move everyone up in the rotation and slot Schilling back in next week?

[CanadianChris 0]

Meet the Yankees' next big offseason acquisition, Mr. Johan Santana:

 

Terry Ryan said he didn't read the critical and skeptical comments Twins players made Monday after he traded Luis Castillo to the Mets.

 

"I've got to keep blinders on," Ryan said. "I've got a job to do. I've got to keep focused on the job the general manager of a baseball team is supposed to do. I can't let reaction out of a clubhouse affect the overall landscape of an organization."

 

Yes, Ryan is responsible for the organization's future. So this time, he might want to listen.

 

These were Johan Santana's words Tuesday after the non-waiver trade deadline passed without another trade: "I'm not surprised. That's exactly how they are. That's why we're never going to go beyond where we've gone."

 

The Twins acquired two minor league prospects for Castillo, saved $2 million in payroll and did nothing to bolster this year's chances.

 

"It's not just about hope," Santana said. "In a realistic world, you have to really make it happen and go for it.

 

"You always talk about future, future. ... But if you only worry about the future, then I guess a lot of us won't be part of it," Santana said.

 

The two-time Cy Young Award winner wasn't smiling.

 

"Why waste time when you're talking about something that's always going to be like that? It's never going to be beyond this point. It doesn't make any sense for me to be here, you know?"

 

Torii Hunter will be a free agent at season's end. Santana and Joe Nathan will be free agents after 2008. Asked what message Ryan's latest decisions had sent to that trio, Santana continued firing.

 

"I've been here for eight years, and I've seen a lot of those kind of things," he said. "I've seen a lot of those guys [like Castillo] come in and leave. [The decision makers] don't care. They always talk about caring about it; I don't think they care.

 

"Because if you're always talking about having young players -- that's the philosophy the team has, and I respect all that -- but it's been proven that it's not enough to go all the way to the World Series."

 

The Twins had chances to add another hitter. Houston acquired Ty Wigginton. San Diego acquired Morgan Ensberg. Atlanta acquired Mark Teixeira.

 

Once again, Ryan decided it wasn't worth the risk, even with his team starting Tuesday six games back in the wild-card race.

 

"We've got some problems," Ryan said. "Detroit and Cleveland are awful good, and then if you look at the other things that are going on in our league, we've got an awful lot of work to do."

 

In other words, one more hitter might not have been enough to put this team over the hump and justify the cost to the organization's future.

 

But for Hunter, Santana and Nathan, the future is now.

 

"We've been close," Santana said. "And in all those times, we seem to be a couple players away from winning it all. So I respect all the decisions they make, but I won't say that they're right all the time.

 

"They protect their young players. They protect their organization, their roots, everything. But I guess I won't be a part of it. A lot of guys don't feel like they can be part of it, and they have to move on."

 

Santana, Hunter and Nathan all said Tuesday that they won't let their trade deadline disappointment distract them from winning.

 

But without Castillo, who had two World Series rings and played through constant pain in a quest to win another, it will be different.

 

"I never give up," Santana said. "Me, personally, I never give up. It's over when the last game of the season's over. I don't know how these guys upstairs think. I'm expecting everybody else to do their jobs and help us win games because I've been so close to being in the World Series.

 

"A lot of these guys, they don't know. They're just happy to be here. Maybe that's how they like it upstairs, but I don't like it."

 

It was almost time for Santana's bullpen session.

 

"Every time I'm out there, I'm trying to win," he said. "And from seeing that we're not even trying from the top to the bottom -- I don't think it's a good sign. I don't think it's good at all."

 

http://www.startribune.com/179/story/1336318.html

 

Cashman has to be drooling over this article, especially since he didn't give up any potential trade bait at the deadline.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

I'm just realizing that I will be missing Glavine in Chi-Town. Ah well. Going home Sunday so I can catch the ESPN telecast.

 

Am I the only one that thinks Willie Randolph sent a not so subtle message to Omar Minya about the state of the Mets bullpen, and lack of pitchers in general with sending Thursday's starter Jorge Sosa out there last night?

 

Speaking of which, why is Carlos Beltran not on the DL as of yet? Right now I'm still feeling good about our divisional chances, with the Braves 4 back in the loss column, but if the Braves do well this coming week at Shea and our bullpen falls apart against them, I will officially be worried.

 

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Meet the Yankees' next big offseason acquisition, Mr. Johan Santana:...

 

 

Cashman has to be drooling over this article, especially since he didn't give up any potential trade bait at the deadline.

 

F the Yanks, Omar had better read that and realize Santana would look quite nice in Blue and Orange.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Meet the Yankees' next big offseason acquisition, Mr. Johan Santana:...

 

 

Cashman has to be drooling over this article, especially since he didn't give up any potential trade bait at the deadline.

 

F the Yanks, Omar had better read that and realize Santana would look quite nice in Blue and Orange.

 

The Yankees, Red Sox and Mets all have the talent and resources to make a huge deal for Santana and give him the $200 million extension he will want to avoid free agency. The Twins will have an excellent opportunity to trade Santana in the offseason if they choose to do so.

 

Santana is the face of the franchise and in another world as a starting pitcher, but it might be in the best interest of the team to move on. They could have a rotation next year of Liriano, Bonser, Garza, Baker and Slowey before seeing what sort of talent they could get. That's not bad. Throw in two big leaguers and two premium prospects and they might be back in the running for the Central crown.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

100 years since The Big Train made his big league debut

 

 

Hank Thomas, Johnson's grandson, still lives in the city, and will throw out the first pitch Thursday as the Nationals celebrate "Walter Johnson Day."

 

Thomas hopes to bring along his mother, Carolyn Johnson-Thomas. She helped with publicity in 2004 when the city lobbied for a Major League team, but has not yet been able to attend a game at RFK Stadium. The 84-year-old, who describes herself as "the biggest Nats fan in the world," will try to make it out for Thursday's ceremonies, and looks forward to meeting her favorite player.

 

"She loves Dmitri," Thomas said. "I can't wait to introduce my mother to Dmitri Young."

 

I wonder if the Twinkies are planning anything.

[Failed Bridge 0]

Melky Cabrera; So good defensively he turned a would be single by Trot Nixon into an inside the park homerun.

[devo 0]

Speaking of which, why is Carlos Beltran not on the DL as of yet?

 

Actually, he was placed on 15-day as of yesterday. It's retroactive to July 25th, so he'll be eligible to come off of the list on the 10th.

[Guest •]

Starting with the 50's and going up to the late 90's it looks like nearly all the logos captured the individuality of the host team.

 

All the logos from this decade have been really sterile, so the Yankees logo for next year is actually quite refreshing

The Pop Art-styled package for Pittsburgh (Andy Warhol's hometown) was really well-done and interesting (though the variations without the crossed bats look better), as was the old-time poster art for San Francisco this year. 2002's implementation of the Miller Park architecture was well-done. Houston's was especially half-assed, Detroit's awful as well, and Chicago's suffers from that horrible beveled text effect but otherwise they did the best they could with what they had, which is notoriously very little, by putting the exploding scoreboard and pinwheels in. I don't remember anything prior to 2002. Whatever. Just my two cents as someone who counts graphic design as a hobby.

 

EDIT: As for the Yankee Stadium ASG logo itself, which I failed to dissect, it's good, superficially, as it implements the frieze and the pinstripes, but the lettering doesn't match. "All-Star Game" is in a good classic serif typeface, then everything else is in a more modern typeface, which not only clashes with the main title, but doesn't fit the classic motif that is the whole raison d'etre for sticking this thing in the dumpy old Bronx anyway. Moreover, there's some red-orange in there, which doesn't really fit. The Yankees don't seem to really associate themselves with a color in the same way that most teams do (Cubbie blue, the Cardinals' sea of red; maybe this whole red-good-blue-bad mentality so embraced by St. Louis is too simplistic for East Coasters), but it seems like their colors are midnight blue and light grey, inasmuch as that's what is on their uniforms. I'd have used silver over red. Again, on a superficial basis, it's pretty good, but if you've tried to do any graphic design, or been with people who have done graphic design (hi Dad), it's quite imperfect.

[Brett Favre 0]

Melky Cabrera; So good defensively he turned a would be single by Trot Nixon into an inside the park homerun.

 

What's next? Bill Buckner so good defensively he missed a grounder? That shit was like two years ago.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

http://www.sportslogos.net/team.php?t=481

 

Basically every single logo from every allstar game shows the team/city where the game is being played. Its the last year ever of Yankee Stadium and it's not even over the top, I think it's realy well done.

 

edit: Thats the wrong logo anyway. This is the real one - http://www.sportslogos.net/logo.php?lo=k1ql4blramyr5fj8lbkq

 

It's been placed on the facade at the Stadium.

 

 

[CanadianChris 0]

Who's the guy in the suit in the middle (in front of Jeter)?

[Brett Favre 0]

Mayor Bloomberg.

[Failed Bridge 0]

Melky Cabrera; So good defensively he turned a would be single by Trot Nixon into an inside the park homerun.

 

What's next? Bill Buckner so good defensively he missed a grounder? That shit was like two years ago.

Bill Buckner was an over the hill hobbled cripple at that point while Melky was an idiot. Melky is an average defensive OF. He's not terrible out there by any stretch but from the sounds of the Yankees fans here you would think he's in the top 5 at his position. Looking around baseball-reference.com the closest player I could find to matching Melky in the majors right now is David DeJesus.

[Steve J. Rogers 0]

Speaking of which, why is Carlos Beltran not on the DL as of yet?

 

Actually, he was placed on 15-day as of yesterday. It's retroactive to July 25th, so he'll be eligible to come off of the list on the 10th.

 

AHHH wonder why I didn't see it when I was purusing the transactions on Mets.com Hmmmm Or I just missed it most likely

[Brett Favre 0]

Melky Cabrera; So good defensively he turned a would be single by Trot Nixon into an inside the park homerun.

 

What's next? Bill Buckner so good defensively he missed a grounder? That shit was like two years ago.

Bill Buckner was an over the hill hobbled cripple at that point while Melky was an idiot. Melky is an average defensive OF. He's not terrible out there by any stretch but from the sounds of the Yankees fans here you would think he's in the top 5 at his position. Looking around baseball-reference.com the closest player I could find to matching Melky in the majors right now is David DeJesus.

 

He's an above average defensive center fielder (strong ass arm, very good range), and he's solid with the stick at the age of 22. Last I checked, DeJesus is not 22.

[Failed Bridge 0]

they're close enough in age. Its not like we're comparing a 22 year old with a 32 year old here.

[Brett Favre 0]

Yes, but DeJesus is hitting his prime, while Melky still has like 5 years to get there.

[Failed Bridge 0]

I was also comparing DeJesus' numbers from a couple years ago to now.

 

pull up baseball-reference.com and take a gander if you have a minute.

 

I accidently hit on Miguel Cabrera at first and was shocked to see the player most similiar to him through this age was Hank Aaron.