CaliforniaRaisin

Mesa has 2 guys picked off in the 5th inning, the second to end the inning while Pagan was up to bat. In the 6th inning, 18-year old Julio Castillo gives up 2 hits but gets out of the inning unscathed thanks to a 4-6-3 DP.

Mesa is losing to the AZL Angels 2-1 in the middle of the 5th. Angels first round pick Hank Conger is 1 for 2 with an RBI triple. Mesa scored their only run of the game when Valerio Heredia reached on a bunt single, stole second, advanced to third on a Mario Mercedes grounder and then stole home. I wonder if MiLB.com's game log is lying to me on that one... Phil Norton went 2 IP and gave up both the runs. Leonel Perez threw 1 shutout inning and thus far, Ronald Clipp (2006 33rd rounder) has thrown 2. Angel Pagan is 0 for 2 so far: Bottom 1st: Angel Pagan grounds out, second baseman Alex Fonseca to first baseman Matt Ryan. Bottom 3rd: Angel Pagan flies out to center fielder Jeremy Moore.

Angel Pagan is rehabbing with Mesa today. Mesa goes with this lineup: CF Angel Pagan SS Valerio Heredia C Mario Mercedes 3B Blake Parker 1B Adam Hackstedt RF Jeremy Williams LF Cody Gilbert (2005 34th rounder) DH Wilson Inoa 2B Pedro Lopez

It's the first time this season.

I can't believe I'm going to defend Dusty and the rest of Cubs management but the people on this board and others would have had a heart attack and probably would have burned Wrigley to the ground if the Cubs had shut Prior down in September with the division title within sight. Everyone would have been screaming for their heads. We can't have it both ways. 2003 is in the past and now we're paying the piper. Such is life. I didn't say shut him down, did I? Limit his pitches and innings.

The Yankees hold club options on Mike Mussina and Gary Sheffield in 2007. If they choose not to exercise either player it would free up $28.5M. Even if they choose to keep one, it still gives them $13-15M to instantly spend. If Zito decides to stay in the AL, I think it's high probability that the Yankees get him. Although, if Zito has a preference for California, the Angels have the offseason money ($20M free with Erstad, Weaver and Kennedy off the books) to get it done too, if they prioritize pitching. My thinking still is that the Angels will use the money to go after Soriano. And while the Mets could get into the bidding for Zito, my dark horse pick in the NL is the Giants. The Giants potentially have their 5 top salaried players all coming off the books (Bonds, Schmidt, Durham, Finley, Alou) for a potential of $50M available to spend. Plus, Zito has said many times that he loves the Bay Area. Zito has shown a desire to stay on the West Coast a few times.

I think it's gotta be. Who do you want replacing him?

Please, don't get us mixed up with Red Sox fans. They do. You combine a soccer game, with 400-year old bitter history's, a few pints of beer, and you've got a riot on your hands. Err...right. And all Cubs fans are cell phone-talking yuppies...

I'll blame Dusty for some things, but I don't know if I can go as far and say he and/or Rothschild hurt Prior. Starting in 2003, when Dusty took over here are Prior's Innings pitched and pitchers per game. 2003: 211 113 2004: 119 98 2005 167 104 Those number aren't that crazy. If Prior can't throw 100 pitchers per game without getting hurt it isn't going to matter who is managing the club. Wood's numbers look like this 2003: 211 110 2004: 140 101 2005: 66 88 My point is I don't think it is ALL Dusty/Rothschild's fault. These two guys seem to be extremely brittle. Wood has more of an injury history than Prior so he is a little easier to figure out. Not sure what the deal is with Prior, sure he threw 200+ innings in 2003, but most elite pitchers will throw 200+ innings in a year. Average number of pitches per start doesn't tell the whole story, I'm afraid. It has a lot to do with how many pitches they're being run out there for in certain starts. Just look at the PAP data. In 2003, Prior made 30 starts. Of those 30, 20 were 110 pitches or more. Of those 20, 9 of them were more than 122 pitches. Wood made 32 starts and also had 20 starts over 110 pitches, 8 of those over 122, and 1 of them over 133. Livan Hernandez, widely regarded as the most abused pitcher in baseball because of his "rubber arm," made 17 CAT3+ starts in 2003 (and finished 3rd in PAP - 1-5 was Vazquez, Wood, Livan, Prior, Redman, with Zambrano sitting at 11th). Average pitch counts can be helpful, but to say Dusty and Rothschild aren't highly responsible for Wood and Prior's troubles is ignoring the truth. How come Vazquez, Livan, and Redman have all pitched a lot since then? They aren't injured. But their managers abused them, how can that be? Vasquez ERA: 2003: 3.24 2004: 4.91 2005: 4.42 2006: 4.43 Redman ERA: 2003: 3.59 2004: 4.71 2005: 4.90 2006: 5.95 Yeah that 2003 abuse seems to have left them in pretty good shape after in the years following. They are really tearing it up. And Livan hasn't been that good since.

I'll blame Dusty for some things, but I don't know if I can go as far and say he and/or Rothschild hurt Prior. Starting in 2003, when Dusty took over here are Prior's Innings pitched and pitchers per game. 2003: 211 113 2004: 119 98 2005 167 104 Those number aren't that crazy. If Prior can't throw 100 pitchers per game without getting hurt it isn't going to matter who is managing the club. But with Prior and those 211 IP in 2003, it was his first season throwing over 138 innings (his soph year at USC). Given he was 22 for most of that season and that he hadn't thrown anywhere near that many innings before, it would have been nice to see him be pushed a bit slowly rather than immediately go have a 200+ IP season with 113 pitcher per game (the 113 pitches/game is more than Z has ever done, mind you). Young arms should be broken in and can be very fragile when they're throwing more pitches than they have ever done before. And this does ignore the two freak injuries Mark has had.

Yeah, that's what I meant with my previous post.

Dribbles in the box and then cuts it back out. My God... So much for our coming out party. If not for the fans or the team, at least do it for the sake of soccer in the country. Once again, the US is just a team the rest of the world has no problem playing. No credibility. ARGH! Even just advancing to the next round would have meant so much to soccer in the country.

Hopefully this is it for Arena.

Pathetic.

Donovan is awful.

Understatement of the day. Donovan didn't show up to Germany.

Argh, too many close ones not going in. At least they're being more aggressive.

Probable Starters: Iowa: LHP Ryan O'Malley (3-3, 3.94 ERA, 61.2 IP, 43/15, 1.31 WHIP) vs RHP Denny Bautista (0-1, 5.00 ERA) West Tenn: LHP Chris Shaver (4-4, 2.57 ERA, 70 IP, 57/28, 1.27 WHIP) vs RHP Matt Wright (7-2 1.90 ERA) Daytona: RHP Mark Holliman (4-4, 3.16 ERA, 74 IP, 71/32, 1.14 WHIP) vs LHP Jonathan Figueroa (0-2, 10.64 ERA) Peoria: RHP Wade Miller (rehab) Boise: RHP Brett Jackson* (2005 @ Mesa: 1-0, 5.91 ERA, 10.2 IP, 9/6, 1.59 WHIP) vs RHP Rolando Valdez Mesa: LHP Phil Norton (2005 @ AAA Round Rock and Iowa: 3-5, 6.54 ERA, 63.1 IP) - yes, that Phil Norton *2005 13th round pick.

And we've scored 1 goal in about 130 minutes thus far? Doesn't look good. 230? Right, that's what I meant. Actually I suppose it would be about 240 minutes. You can only complain about the officiating so much, neither of those goals would have been scored if they would have taken care of the ball and done a decent job of clearing it. Good point (same can be said for the U.S. goal), but that doesn't change the fact the penalty kick should never have happened.

Don't worry guys, FIFA will say these refs did the right thing.

Awful call.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, momma's boy.

I hope they can hear me swearing all the way from LA whenever they do that.

They should have pushed it there.