156 to go: Hoffman is toast
The Dodgers were their typical frustrating selves today passing up multiple opportunities to put runs on the board. Hu, playing for Kent, drove in what proved to be the game winning run.
157 to go: Time to Drink
Penny vs Peavy...just kill me now.
Penny can't beat the Padres and Peavy is the best pitcher in baseball. Today he 2-hit the Dodgers. I watched Penny give up 4 in the first, accepted the fact that they would lose and moved on with my life.
I don't get the Fox Saturday Baseball thing. If they're just going to show a local game, whats the point? I'd rather watch the Dodgers on KCAL or Prime Ticket so I can listen to Vin Scully. No, I get to hear Matt Vasgersian and Eric Karros. Bleh...
158 to go: Kuroda is good
A Friday night at Pooper Scooper Park usually means heavy drinking for Dodger fans, but tonight we unveiled our new secret weapon: Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda went seven, allowing one run on three hits. Per Vin Scully, 16 of the batters he faced saw first pitch strikes. Eventually, the Padres just started flailing wildly.
For eight innings tonight, the Dodgers offense was shit putting up only one unearned run against the latest Cy Scrub, Justin Germano. I don't think Germano threw anything above 80 mph in the strike zone all night. I'm not exaggerating either. When he threw his mighty 83 mph fastball, it was near the batter's head. Fortunately the Dodgers got to face Joe Thatcher and Glendon Rusch in the top of the seventh. Thatcher promptly walked the bases loaded and Russell Martin finally got his first hit of the season to drive in two. Four more runs would follow for LA and they win the series opener 7-1.
Tomorrow afternoon: Penny at Peavy...fuck.
SFWH Card of the Week
Each week I'll dive into my old card collection and pick out ones that I found humorous, memorable, absurd, and/or awesome. I'll then showcase these classics to you the readers.
Make: 1992 Upper Deck
Card: #666Satan Bob Ojeda
Card: #666
Bob appears to be slightly disturbed as Tommy recalls, in detail, his latest trip to the brothel.
159 to go: The Stinging Rain of Defeat
Dodger Stadium covered in a tarp...how depressing. Unfortunately, what happened when the tarp was off was even more depressing. In spite of the Giants making every effort to lose the game, the Dodgers blew it and suffered their first loss of the year Wednesday night 2-1.
First, because of the rain, both Bochy and Torre scrapped their starting pitchers and went with scrubs in anticipation of a 5 inning ballgame. Later, when it looked like the rain had passed, they both came in, only to suffer a rain delay an inning later. That'll teach you to overthink these things.
The Giants' Tim Lincecum is good. In fact, he's too good for that sorry ass franchise. I will soon be spearheading the "Free Tim Lincecum" movement. He deserves to play for a less reprehensible team. In his relief work (sneaky move by Bochy to use his starter in relief, thereby nulifying his crappy bullpen), he shut the Dodgers down, which wasn't hard when guys like Russell Martin stare at a fastball over the plate with a 3-2 count, the bases loaded, and two outs. Three games and no hits so far for Russell. Time to step it up you filthy Newfie.
News and Notes:
- So happy with last night's loss, the team ensured there would be many more to come by calling up the worst Dodger ever, Chan Ho Park. You may remember Park from such highlights as giving up #71 & #72 to Bonds and allowing Fernando Tatis to hit two grand slams in one inning.
- Larry Bowa was suspended by Major League Asshole Bob Watson for 3 games because of Tuesday's tirade and wasn't happy:
"I'm really frustrated with Bob Watson," said Bowa. "He's got an agenda against me for some reason going back to when I started managing and coaching and I have no idea why. He's going to get me any way he can get me."
"Guys have admitted taking steroids and they're still playing and I get ejected and get three games? Something's not right."
Give 'em hell Larry.
Meet The Athletics
Due to the frequently rotating roster of the Oakland Athletics, I have decided to compose a short bio of some of the players that may be unknown to the masses. You never know - you might read one of these bios and find a new favorite player...Or you might think to yourself "Wow - how can I get those 2 minutes of my life back?" Either way, today I'd like you to meet: Infielder Donnie Murphy...
Donald Rex Murphy was born in 1983 in
With Marco Scutaro being traded in the offseason, it looks like Murphy will be used in that utility/sub role for now. He batted .308 in Spring Training this year, which is promising - considering he could become the starting second baseman if/when Mark Ellis is traded. I guess we'll just have to wait and see - since he didn't play much last year. Other than that, I don't have much more to say about Donnie Murphy...So I'll end with a shot of his ass...
TOTAL BS!!!
We all know that Blown Saves happen, even to the best closers. Sometimes it's because of a few bad breaks and broken bat singles. Sometimes your team's closer just sucks. I'm here to try and tell the story behind the BS. Every time one of the teams SFWH covers blows a save, we'll be here to cover it with Total BS!
Victim: Trevor Hoffman, San Diego Padres
BS On The Year: 1
The Situation: Hoffman came in to pitch the 9th inning for the Padres, leading the Astros 6-5. After getting 2 quick outs, Hoffman walked Jose Cruz Jr. (remember him?), gave up singles to Michael Bourne and Hunter Pence, and served up a gopher ball to Lance Berkman. By the time the damage was done, Hoffman had turned a 6-5 lead into a 9-6 deficit.
BS Scale: This one gets a solid 3 out of 5. Sure, the 'Stros are a decent offensive club, and Berkman is a stud, but when you're the greatest closer of all time (by the numbers), you've gotta shut the door in games like this. See that big red "BS!" on Hoffman's picture? You could change it to "DONE!" and I think it would still ring true. Hoffman struggled at the end of last season, and it looks like those struggles have continued. Last night the Astros were teeing off on both his fastball and his changeup. And if you're Trevor Hoffman, you don't really have much else other than that. I would be worried if I were a San Diego fan.
160 to go: Mt. Bowa Erupts
How many times have you seen the third base coach get tossed? It only took two games for Larry Bowa to lose it. God I love this guy. The argument went precisely like this:
Ump: Get back in the coaching box.
Bowa: No. Go fuck yourself.
Larry gets tossed and completely loses it, going so crazy he needs to be restrained by Joe Torre. On his way to the locker room, he knocks over a cooler, which gets a round of applause from Andruw Jones. Bowa promises to be as entertaining as Milton Bradley.
The game...the Dodgers looked terrible. Fortunately they were playing the Bad News Bears. Lowe was his usual half-assed self letting runner after runner reach base, but the Giants couldn't knock anyone in. Their first run of the season came on a bases-loaded walk by Joe Beimel. Their lead evaporated almost immediately thanks in large part to the double steal the Dodgers pulled off in the next inning. In the bottom of the ninth, the Delwyn Young hit a grounder to Ray Durham who threw to the wrong base allowing Furcal to score the go-ahead run. I almost feel sorry for Giants fans right now...
TOTAL BS!!!
We all know that Blown Saves happen, even to the best closers. Sometimes it's because of a few bad breaks and broken bat singles. Sometimes your team's closer just sucks. I'm here to try and tell the story behind the BS. Every time one of the teams SFWH covers blows a save, we'll be here to cover it with Total BS!
Victim: JJ Putz, Seattle Mariners
BS On The Year: 1
The Situation: In the top of the 9th inning, Seattle's All-Star closer JJ Putz comes in and gives up a single to Ian Kinsler. After striking out Michael Young, Josh Hamilton pounded Putz's pitch (alliteration, brah!) into the right field seats.
BS Scale: I'm giving this blown save a 2 out of 5. Sure, Texas has a pretty good lineup, but if you're Seattle and in a "win now" mentality for the season when you aren't even the most talented team in your division, you can't afford to lose inter-division games, especially to the Rangers. I expect Putz to get back on track in his next outing. He did have 2 strikeouts, which is promising.
Daft Funk's West Coast Musings
Hailing from the midwest and now living in the paradise of San Diego, I'm still getting acclimated to baseball on the west coast. From time to time, I'll be updating on things I learn and my impressions of baseball here on the left side of the country.
I've been in California for just over 2 years, with time split between LA and San Diego. So I guess I should start with every impression and experience I have with west coast baseball.
- I've been to Dodger Stadium a few times. The first time was an interleague game against the Mariners. The matchup was Derek Lowe against Felix Hernandez. The Bad: I was cheering for the Mariners solely because King Felix was on my fantasy team. Every time I cheered for him, the Dodger fan in front of me would give me a dirty look. One time he said "If you don't like the home team, why would you come to their game?" What kind of thing is that to say? You can't go to a road game? The Good: After the game, they let us go onto the field and see some free concert by this shitty band called the Pink Spiders. They sucked, but you aren't able to go onto the field and walk around in a historic stadium every day.
- Living with an A's fan, it's easy to hate the Angels. But even before that, I never cared for them. I thought it was cool in 2002 when they beat the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs, but other than that, I never really had any strong felings when it came to the Angels. They're one of the most vanilla teams in the majors. Even their superstars (Vlad, Garret Anderson) are boring as hell.
- At first, I felt bad for Giants fans. I mean, they have to put up with a front office that employs a bunch of guys that can start collecting Social Security by the All-Star break and waste a ton of money on guys like Zito and Aaron Rowand. Now Rowand is a good player and a great guy to have in the clubhouse, but you don't spend $50 million on a player when you aren't going to compete for at least 4 of those years. But then I remembered how Giants fans annoy me because of their love for Barry Bonds. "You have to support your players no matter what!" Bullshit. I hated Sosa as soon as he became an asshole, so at least for me, that's not true.
- I have yet to go to any Padres games. I'll be there for 2 of the Cub games later this year. I hear that PETCO Park has fantastic fish tacos. I see the Padres as the NL version of the Angels: even their best players just seem...boring. Oh, and Jake Peavy will have Tommy John surgery sometime within the next 2 years. Just watch him throw the ball. That delivery is nothing but elbows and shoulders flying around in ways that no one should.
- The Padres are playing the Astros as we speak. Chris Young is a pretty tall dude. He seems like one one of those guys that will always look about 5 years older than he actually is. I have to hate the guy because he tried to punch out Derrek Lee last year, but he sure is good. Because he had such a crappy second half because of injury last year, people forget just how awesome his first half was. How many earned runs did he give up in May of 2007 in 6 starts? 5...total. How about in 5 June starts? 5 total. How about in 4 Juky starts? Just one. And he gets it done with a fastball that usually sits around the 89-91 MPH range. Being tall must be a good thing for a pitcher.So what's next for me to immerse myself into west coast baseball? I'll be picking a favorite team first of all. I'm going to break down each team in a number of categories and see who comes out on top and that shall be my new favorite team of interest. I may not become a hard core fan per se, but they will be the main focus of my attention. So be on the lookout for that.
And again, apologies to Seattle, but I'm all out of time.