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Archives for November 2004

Monday, November 29, 2004

By Carlos Fragoso [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 09:08 AM EST

Friday, November 26, 2004

By Carlos Fragoso [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 02:47 PM EST

Monday, November 22, 2004


By Carlos Fragoso [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 03:23 PM EST

By Carlos Fragoso

Yaquis leading in standing,batting and Pitching [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 09:50 AM EST

Friday, November 19, 2004

Updates to Japanese baseball stats, new article on Japanese free agents [more]

Posted by Jim Albright @ 04:26 PM EST

By Carlos Fragoso [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 08:45 AM EST

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

By Carlos Fragoso [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 06:05 PM EST

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

2004 Taiwan Series Game-by game Results [more]

Posted by Paul Huang @ 10:59 PM EST

Saturday, November 13, 2004

By Carlos Fragoso

Another one bites the dust, Manager Dan Firova [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 03:16 PM EST

Thursday, November 11, 2004

By Carlos Fragoso [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 09:51 AM EST

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

By Carlos Fragoso
1988 a year to Remember by Curt Schilling [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 09:27 PM EST

[more]

Posted by Henry Lu @ 01:30 AM EST

Monday, November 8, 2004

By Carlos Fragoso

A new league´s record in HR´s [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 02:09 PM EST

Sunday, November 7, 2004

New Articles, 2004 Updates and Japanese Players of the Week, 11/8-11/14
by Jim Albright [more]

Posted by Jim Albright @ 09:20 PM EST

Saturday, November 6, 2004

Phillies Journal - 2004
by Max Blue

http://maxblue3.com/darkblue [more]

Posted by Max Blue @ 09:52 AM EST

Phillies Journal - 2004
by Max Blue

http://maxblue3.com/darkblue


POST MORTEM
Indeed it feels like the Phillies are dead. What began two years ago in bubbling excitement when Jim Thome and Kevin Millwood were signed has ended with yet another failed attempt to make the playoffs.

Final Standing of the Clubs – 2004
National League East
Atlanta (what else is new? 96 66
13 straight division
titles)
Philadelphia 86 76
Florida 83 79
New York 71 91
Montreal 67 95
National League Wild Card
Houston 92 70
San Francisco 91 71
Chicago 89 73
San Diego 87 75
Philadelphia 86 76

The Phillies fired Larry Bowa two days before the season ended and hired Charley Manuel a couple of days ago, passing up the chance to hire Jim Leyland who insisted that he really wanted the job. In his post-interview press conference Leyland said the biggest problem with the Phillies was they swung and missed too much; they had too many poor at-bats. Does anybody think a new manager will fix that?
In his press conference after he got the job, Charley Manuel said, “I’m the right guy for this job because I’m a motivator.” Does he think he can motivate his guys to not swing and miss so much?

But guess what? With all due respect for Jim Leyland and Charley Manuel, the reason the Phillies lost had nothing to do with hitting—big surprise—the problem was pitching. Wagner, Madson, Millwood, Padilla, and Wolf all missed major time on the disabled list. Eric Milton managed to win 14 games even though he gave up 43 homeruns—43!! Who did he think he was, Bert Blyleven? Robin Roberts? Right. You can make the Hall of Fame even though you give up a ton of homeruns. But don’t look for Eric Milton to make the HOF. Brett Myers was painful to watch—there were days when he was terrific followed by performances so bad you wanted to cry.

Speaking of crying. Pat Burrell must have the worst approach to hitting of anybody who has ever played the game. Don’t get me started on Burrell. Let’s talk about Jimmy Rollins, Polanco, Abreu, David Bell—all had great numbers. Jim Thome and Mike Lieberthal were pathetic with runners in scoring position, probably costing the Phillies a pennant. Sure, Thome had 42 homeruns and 105 runs batted in – he should have had 150. He started the season with a broken finger and a strained thumb and probably played all year with sore hands, but he didn’t want to make excuses and we never knew for sure except for the many times he checked swing and shook his hand hoping to stop the pain.

Chase Utley. You have to talk about Chase Utley. The ninth inning homerun off John Smoltz to tie a game the Phillies won in ten; a 95 mph fastball just below the knees that Utley slammed 400 feet over the centerfield fence—WOW! Fourteen homeruns and 53 RBIs in less than 300 at bats. He plays second base with grit, determination, and increasingly with skill. So now what? We already have a great second baseman in Placido Polanco. Polanco is a free agent; should we let him go? I don’t think so.

And what about Ryan Howard? Here is a kid who hit almost 50 homeruns between AA Reading, AAA Scranton-Willkes Barre, and the Phillies. He played enough in the Bigs to show he’s no fluke. A big raw-boned lefthanded slugger with a pretty good glove at first base. A young David Ortiz. But he’s not going to replace Thome. We’re told they might try to make a leftfielder out of him. Wouldn’t that be something? We wouldn’t have to watch Burrell’s frantic hacks.

So there it is. It’s over. We lost. The future is fogged.

Max is Blue
November 6, 2004.

Posted by Max Blue @ 08:39 AM EST [Link]

Friday, November 5, 2004


By Carlos Fragoso [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 03:27 PM EST


By Carlos Fragoso [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 03:23 PM EST

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

[more]

Posted by Henry Lu @ 12:33 AM EST

Monday, November 1, 2004

By Carlos Fragoso

Culiacan Tomato Growers leading the League [more]

Posted by Carlos Fragoso @ 05:51 PM EST

Taiwan Baseball News: Sinon Bulls edge out Elephants for CPBL second-half title
2004-11-01 / Taiwan News, Contributing Writer / By Jason Pan [more]

Posted by guru @ 01:19 PM EST

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