Goold: All you need is glove: Furcal’s impact on Cards

Breaking down the Cards D…as only the Great Goold can.

One of the subplots to the Cardinals 2011 season has been their willingness to sacrifice defense for offense at several key positions. The Cardinals have not been a good defensive team this season. Forget the numbers, use your eyes and you’ll see that. Many games have been lost because of plays not made (PNMs*) and extra bases given (XBGs*) and other faulty fundamentals (OOPS+*).

* Not real stats, though I really wish we had tracked PNMs ...

Knapp: Now’s the time to give Lincecum some real support

Support Your Local Shereef!

In some fashion this offseason, the Giants will probably make Tim Lincecum the first pitcher ever to receive a multi-million-dollar premium because he couldn’t win 20 games. They owe him that much, and Matt Cain, as well. Someday, they may have to pay the same compensatory damages to Madison Bumgarner.

But for the moment, Lincecum’s concerns take precedence. The look of resignation that briefly crossed his face late in Monday’s 7-0 loss to the Cubs was both ...

Mushnick: Not every HR pose gets same critique

Singy misses…not married to home plate-posing baseball.

The audience insult factor within Yankees TV and radio broadcasts remains tough to endure.

Last Friday on YES, Ken Singleton, during a replay, took a shot at the Orioles’ Robert Andino for jogging through what Andino thought would be a home run, finishing with a double instead of what Singleton said should have been a triple. As noted in this space on Sunday morning, a good on Singleton.

That night, just two days later, Yankee Nick ...

Matt Kemp should win the MVP award and Clayton Kershaw the Cy Young Award

and Bill Plaschke should win the…

This may sound odd coming from a writer who supported Kirk Gibson’s 76-RBI MVP award for the champion Dodgers in 1988, but unless a player is clearly the one difference-maker on a playoff team, I believe the MVP should go to the best guy, period. In fact, instructions on the baseball writers’ MVP ballot read, “The MVP need not come from a division winner or other player qualifiers.”

...I can already hear the Philadelphia Phillies fans crying that Roy Halladay ...

Dale Murphy: Yes on Romney for President, No on Steroids Users in Hall of Fame

Yeah, but setting up the “I Won’t Cheat…On My Numerous Wives!” foundation is taking things a little too far!

Asked if known steroids users should be allowed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Murphy said no.

“It looks like the voters have made that decision in a lot of ways. It seems like if you’re connected to it, whether it’s proven or not, it looks like they’ve made a pretty strong statement,” Murphy said.

“It’s going to be a tough decision,” he added. “For me ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-2-2011

Calgary Daily Herald, September 2, 1911:

[Germany] Schaefer rolled a slow one down the first base line to Hal Chase.  The latter was about to tag Schaefer out, but “Germany” had an inspiration.  He put on the reverse and turned back towards home, with Chase after him.  “Germany” touched home, but didn’t stop.  He set sail for third, Chase still in pursuit.  After rounding third and aiming towards second, the situation proved too much for him.  Holding his aching sides, he stumbled and fell to ...

Kansas City Star: Francoeur reaches 1,000 hits in style

DETROIT | It wasn’t quite a called shot, but Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur, after entering Thursday with 999 career hits, vowed to get No. 1,000 in his first at-bat against the Tigers at Comerica Park.

Francoeur fulfilled his pledge driving an 0-1 pitch from Detroit rookie Jacob Turner just fair over the left-field wall for a two-run homer in the second inning. It was the first salvo in the Royals’ 11-8 victory over the Tigers.

“It was exciting to do it on a home run,” Francoeur ...

AL West race: September 1, 2011

Going by the usual 5 game cutoff (and ignoring the NY/BOS playoff seeding race for now), slim pickings at the moment.

TEX 78-60 [1-0 in SEPT]
LAA 74-63 [1-0 in SEPT] (3.5 GB)

MLB.com: Amply supported Wilson flirts with perfection

Starter C.J. Wilson helped the Rangers take their second consecutive series with a 7-2 win over the Rays at Ballpark in Arlington on Thursday.

Wilson retired the first 15 Rays he faced, but the 16th, first baseman Casey Kotchman, chopped a ball that appeared to ...

MLB: Mickelson takes BP, throws out first pitch

Fore Eyes!

Phil Mickelson was swinging lefty, as he always does on the golf course, but this time, the professional golfer had a baseball bat in his hand.

The winner of four major PGA championships, Mickelson had the thrill of taking batting practice at Fenway Park before Thursday night’s Red Sox-Yankees game.

“To be at Fenway Park and take BP is a really cool experience,” Mickelson said. “I’m very appreciative that the organization let me do this. This is a lot of fun.”

...Mickelson ...

Megdal: Einhorn exits, while the Mets owners wait around for a happy ending

The Unicorndog Killer…

It’s easy to see why the Wilpons may have done this. From their perspective, Einhorn was the distasteful little guy they were compelled to do business with to get through what they were hoping would be a rough patch. Yes, they’d made a deal with him that would let him take the Mets from them if things failed to pick up in the next couple of years, but that was a technicality. It was an affront that Einhorn was so openly, humiliatingly, betting on them to fail.

...

Biz of Baseball: How Did Jim Crane Slip By?

“An Astro-nomical slip up!”

But, the media, and possibly MLB, slipped on Crane’s background. After all, he was on the precipice of owning the Astros in 2008 when he backed out of the deal with McLane. He was part of number of suitors for the Chicago Cubs in 2009. And, last year, he quickly married up with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to be part of the bankruptcy auction process that had them pitted against a group assembled by Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg to own the Texas Rangers.

...

Keith Hernandez Harassed For Crossing Picket Line

KEITH: [mindless] I’m Keith Hernandez.

The former Met (and current broadcaster) was eating at the Central Park Boathouse with a female friend when he received some harsh criticism on his way out of the establishment.

Hernandez, who helped the Mets win the 1986 World Series, left through a side door and walked right past striking workers from the restaurant.

One Boathouse worker, after berating Hernandez for crossing the picket line to have his meal, shouted, “Mark Teixeira is a better ...

L.A. Times: Frank McCourt is offered $1.2 billion for Dodgers

Frank McCourt has been offered $1.2 billion to sell the Dodgers, The Times has learned.

The bid is headed by Los Angeles Marathon founder Bill Burke and funded in part by Chinese investors, according to a letter sent to McCourt on Tuesday. The letter was disclosed to The Times by two people familiar with its content but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The proposed sale price would set a record for a Major League Baseball team.

In a brief telephone interview, Burke declined to discuss ...

OT: The Soccer Thread: September 2011

Are You Ready for Some Football!

Notable European Matches:

Barcelona vs. Milan (Sept. 13)
Birmingham City vs. Braga (Sept. 15)*
Bayern Munich vs. Man City (Sept. 27)

*This notable for being, I think, the first team a Championship side has played in Europe since Millwall in 2004-05

And of course, let’s not forget that West Ham looks to continue their strong start to the season, hosting Portsmouth (Sept. 10), Peterborough (Sept. 24) and Ipswich Town (Sept. 27). Hammers should be hoping for ...

David Einhorn Reacts To Dissolution Of Potential Mets Ownership Deal

“I am disappointed to announce that I will not be purchasing an ownership interest in the New York Mets baseball team at this time. It is clear that it will not be possible for me to consummate the transaction on the terms that the Sterling-Mets organization and I originally agreed to several months ago. The extensive nature of changes that were proposed to me at the last minute has made a successful transaction impossible.

  “I want to thank the entire Mets organization and Major League ...

Pitchers & Poets: In Defense of Outliers

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”

But was Brady Anderson’s 1996 a miracle?  Is Jose Bautista’s ascension?  Voltaire wrote on the subject of miracles in his Dictionnaire Philosophique, defining a miracle as “the violation of those divine and eternal laws.  If there is an eclipse of the sun at full moon, or if a dead man walks two leagues carrying his head in his arms, we call that a miracle.”  This is the ultimate condemnation of Brady Anderson and Jose ...

Malcolm: FIXING THE AL MVP RACE

Co-starring Don Malcolm as Grantland Rice!

Bautista (home runs, OBP, SLG, OPS+)
Gonzalez (RBI, batting average, doubles, OBP, playoff team)
Granderson (home runs, triples, XBH, runs scored, RBI, stolen bases, playoff team)

...At this moment, they are each MVPs.

The best thing we can tell the writers to do is to rig the vote. That’s right, rig it.

...Anyway—we’ve grown up a lot since 1979. We know better now. So we should just agree right now that the MVP candidate pool is too big to fail ...

Feds drop remaining charges against Bonds

3-Drop Lounge: Tejada, Rowand Bonds.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday dropped all the remaining charges against Barry Bonds, days after a judge upheld the slugger’s conviction on an obstruction of justice count.

The U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco filed court papers informing U.S. District Judge Susan Illston it was dismissing the three charges of making false statements still pending against Bonds, Major League Baseball’s all-time home runs leader. A jury deadlocked on the three ...

NYT: Four-Hour Games? At Least One Yankee Sympathizes

Blowfish, blow!

If you feel guilty for falling asleep on your couch as you watch the Yankees play the Boston Red Sox, don’t. Mark Teixeira forgives you.

“It’s brutal,” said Teixeira, the Yankees’ first baseman. “I can’t stand playing a nine-inning game in four hours. It’s not baseball. I don’t even know how to describe it. If I was a fan, why would I want to come watch people sitting around and talking back and forth, going to the mound, 2-0 sliders in the dirt? Four-hour ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-1-2011

New York Times, September 1, 1911:

The National Baseball Commission to-day not only rejected every demand made upon it by the American Association, but went further in stating that if the American Association decided not to operate under the rules of organized baseball teams would be placed in every city on that circuit.  While no mention of a league to do battle with the American Association was made, it was implied to an extend that could not be misunderstood.

Oh snap!

The AA wanted more ...

D Backs Win 9th in a row, 12th straight at home

But did you hear what happens if the Diamondbacks win their 10th game in a row when they resume play Friday night to start a three-game series in San Francisco?

The last time the Diamondbacks were there, team President Derrick Hall and General Manager Kevin Towers apparently made a little pact with manager Kirk Gibson.

Hall shared it publicly with a post on his Twitter account Monday:

“KT and I promised Gibby in SF that we would shave our heads if we ever win 10-straight this year.”

Yeah, ...

N.Y. Times: Humility by the Pack

In this tradition-bound sport, in which managers wear the same uniforms as the players and Cracker Jack can still be bought at concession stands, a hazing ritual that has gone on for years seems to have reached a new level of absurdity at major league ballparks: rookie relievers are being forced to wear schoolgirl backpacks — gaudy in color, utterly unmanly — to transport gear.

“Everybody laughs at me,” said Bryan Shaw, a 23-year-old rookie reliever for the Arizona Diamondbacks. ...

A’s trade Conor Jackson to Boston

The A’s have traded Conor Jackson and cash to Boston for Jason Rice. The team announced the move via Twitter after Wednesday night’s game against the Indians.

al.com: Former Olympic baseball player charged with making meth near Loxley school

It’s B.J. Wallace.

Billy Lyle “BJ” Wallace Jr., 40, and Amber Sheree McKenzie, 29, were being held in Baldwin County Corrections Center as of Wednesday, both charged with first-degree manufacturing of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Wallace, a Monroeville native, pitched for the U.S. team in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and the Montreal Expos picked him third in that year’s amateur draft, signing the left-hander ...

Kimbrel becomes all-time rookie saves leader

A record they said would never be

Craig Kimbrel does not close like a rookie.

In fact, no rookie closer has ever closed like Kimbrel. Certainly none have ever done it better.

When the Braves’ 23-year-old fireballer closed out Atlanta’s 3-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday at Turner Field, he recorded his 41st save of the season, setting the major league rookie saves record.

The previous mark of 40 had been set only last season by the Rangers’ Neftali Feliz, coincidentally, ...

NP: Jays looking to future with Latin American additions

Maybe even including some of those real emotional ones!

Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos continued shaping the future of the franchise on Tuesday by acquiring seven international free agents from Central and South America.

“Our commitment to Latin America, our commitment to get the best available players in Latin America, has been in existence now for quite some time,” Marco Paddy, Toronto’s director of Latin America operations, said on an afternoon conference call.

The new ...

Fitch Rates MLB Club Trust Securitization Notes ‘A-’; Outlook Stable

- Fitch Ratings has assigned an ‘A-’ to Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Club Trust Securitization consisting of $70 million series 5 term notes (due 2019), $83.1 million series 6 term notes (due 2021) and $46.9 million series 7 term notes (due 2021). Additionally, Fitch has affirmed the ‘A-’ rating to the outstanding $645 million term notes (series 1 - 4) and the outstanding $200 million syndicated revolving credit facility. The Rating Outlook is Stable.

KEY RATING DRIVERS:

—MLB’s premier ...

Yahoo: Braves acquire IF Jack Wilson from Seattle

The Atlanta Braves have added middle infield depth for the final month of the regular season, acquiring Jack Wilson from the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night for a player to be named.

The Braves, who acquired outfielder Matt Diaz earlier Wednesday, also obtained cash from Seattle in the deal.

Wilson was hitting .249 in 62 games for Seattle and has been on the 15-day disabled list since Aug. 19 because of a bruised left heel.

Girardi eager to see what [Jesus] Montero can offer

Jesus Montero could break into the big leagues with a crash course on the Yankees’ rivalry with the Red Sox, as the power-hitting catcher is expected to headline New York’s first callups from the Minor Leagues on Thursday.

The 21-year-old Montero, ranked as the No. 6 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB.com, would join the Yankees as a reserve catcher and another option at designated hitter as rosters expand from 25 players to 40…

Montero is hitting .288 with 18 home runs and 67 RBIs ...

Seattle Times: Mariners announce multi-year extension for GM Jack Zduriencik

The Mariners like what they’ve seen from GM Jack Zduriencik thus far and today rewarded him with a multi-year contract extension. Terms were not disclosed, but it’s for more than one year—not one year plus and option as some rumors out there now have it.
...
“When I took this job three years ago, the thing that we said we were going to do is try to build this thing from the ground up and try to accumulate talent in every way we can. I think if you look at what’s on the field here, I think we’re ...