Pitchers who rake —a dying, underappreciated art

The chatter around the Cold Stove League today is that Major League Baseball is likely to allow a universal designated hitter for whatever shortened season we get in 2020 as well as 2021 and, inevitably, forever after. For years, I’ve been expecting this change to come, all the while fervently hoping it wouldn’t. Metaphorically speaking, […]

Keeping the Tiger team intact

When your season is unexpectedly cut short by a pandemic, what’s a college coach to do? At Princeton, Scott Bradley has turned to virtual tools to keep coaching. Through the university’s athletic fellows program, I’ve had a glimpse of how the head coach and his assistants have managed to keep the team together and inspire […]

My National League West prediction for the 2012 season

With a heaping helping of faith and wishful thinking, I’m picking the San Francisco Giants to win the National League West this year. Even as I typed that sentence, the nagging voice in my head was saying, “What about the Diamondbacks?” The pick comes down to arms versus bats, and the Giants have the better […]

The West Coast: A wasteland for baseball offense

AL, NL, all around the game: the West Coast is a barren landscape for hitters in Major League Baseball. I’m most acutely aware of the offensive struggles of the San Francisco Giants, the defending world champions who rank last in runs, 28th in hits and 25th in home runs. The Giants play a lot of […]

Adrian Gonzalez in the American League East: This should be interesting

Is this guy eager to play ball or what? Adrian Gonzalez checked in to the Boston training camp in Florida yesterday, the first Red Sox player to do so. It will be fascinating to see how Gonzalez does in his first season for the BoSox after five seasons with the San Diego Padres. I have […]

Blowing the NL West notwithstanding, Bud Black wins NL manager of the year

Here’s how the story should read: “Bud Black, who guided the San Diego Padres on a 10-game losing streak that cost them the Western Division title, was named National League manager of the year on Wednesday. He edged Dusty Baker, whose Cincinnati Reds took the Central Division but didn’t win a playoff game, by one […]

Joy in Mudville-by-the-Bay: San Francisco Giants win the NL West

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Giants&iid=9908391″ src=”http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9908391/san-francisco-giants/san-francisco-giants.jpg?size=500&imageId=9908391″ width=”500″ height=”329″ /] It was a Sanchez-Sanchez kind of day at AT&T Park. Jonathan Sanchez got the victory, pitching five shutout innings. Maybe even more important, he tripled and then scored what turned out to be the winning run on an RBI single by Freddy Sanchez, who came in to […]

Barry Zito crashes and burns as the Giants’ collars get tighter

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=barry+zito&iid=9900232″ src=”http://view1.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9900232/san-francisco-giants/san-francisco-giants.jpg?size=500&imageId=9900232″ width=”234″ height=”277″ /] I wanted Barry Zito to excel to today. To put the horrid outings behind him. To justify his gargantuan salary. To redeem himself, to be the hero, to be the man as the San Francisco Giants clinched the American League West title and advanced to a glorious […]

Does the term ‘pennant race’ mean anything any more?

“Pennant race” conjures images of clutch hits, great catches, overpowering pitching and long shadows slanting across the diamond. But with baseball’s division structure, there isn’t a true pennant race left. Right now, the team I follow — the San Francisco Giants — has a slim lead over San Diego and Colorado in the National League […]

A couple tips of the cap: To Jonathan Sanchez and Jamie McOwen

A tip of the cap to Jonathan Sanchez of the Giants, who last night pitched the first-no hitter at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The accomplishment was especially sweet for Sanchez because, after having been dropped from the starting rotation, he got the no-no while making a spot start in place of the injured Randy […]