Los Angeles Dodgers Announce April Winners of
Dodger Pride Awards

Read The Full Article:
http://www.ladodgertalk.com/2011/05/los-angeles-dodgers-announce-april-winners-of
-dodger-pride-awards-2/

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Curtis Granderson: A Gentleman and a Scholar

As per Mitch Abramson:

For moment, South Bronx HS baseball player Martin Perez felt like superman.

During batting practice on Wednesday, Perez swung at a pitch from teammate Corey Palmares and shredded his 33-inch Marucci bat into pieces.

The damage was so severe that fragments of the bat landed beyond third base.

At first, Perez, the starting catcher, was impressed with the "feat."

Then, he realized the cost: He'd just lost the $110 that his father had plunked down to buy him the bat.

"All that money down the drain," Perez said, shaking his head. "I just knew my father was going to give it to me for that."

Ever since the city banned the use of metal bats in high school leagues in the spring of 2007, players and teams have been coping with the myriad issues that accompanied the switch to wood: how to manufacture runs with a less potent weapon; how to raise money to buy wooden bats, which tend to break easily; and how to mollify parents who dip into their wallets to buy wooden bats only to see them demolished with one swing.

"It makes you want to swing more carefully," Perez said with a laugh.

Enter Curtis Granderson. Searching for a way to help city kids, the Yankees' center fielder contacted the PSAL and discovered what coaches, players and schools across the city have known for years: There's a shortage of bats and not just in baseball.

Standing next to newly installed schools chancellor Dennis Walcott at South Bronx HS Thursday, Granderson announced that he had donated 300 Louisville Slugger bats to the baseball and softball programs in the PSAL.

The contribution is worth approximately $50,000, according to a PSAL official, Tyrone Parker, who listed metal bats at a retail cost of $300 apiece and wooden bats at $60.

The topic of metal bats in softball has also become a hot-button issue as the price of bats - some retail for upwards of $300 - has risen too much for teams to afford.

"It's tough when you're using a rusty bat," said Soledad Moya, who plays second base on the South Bronx softball team.

"Some of our bats are messed up," she added. "You try to do what you can do, but it does make a difference, with the kind of bat you have."

Judging by the reaction he got from students as he walked into the gym at South Bronx HIgh at 2:04 Thursday afternoon, Granderson, dressed in dark slacks and a pinstriped shirt, may as well have been trotting around the bases.

Granderson made the donation in conjunction with Louisville Slugger, a sponsor and his Grand Kids Foundation.

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Decision Making Behind Hosmer's Call-Up Is Flawed

It is hard to know the true motive for why Eric Hosmer was called up. Does Dayton Moore think he has nothing left to prove in AAA? Does Moore truly think we can contend this year? Does Moore think Kila is a lost cause? I have no way of definitively proving anything, but based on the information available, I think some conclusions could be drawn. I believe Moore wanted to keep Hosmer in AAA for another month, but truly believes that this team can contend all season long, and has already given up on Kila Ka'aihue as a hitter. Moore has shown in the past that if you are not "his" guy, you have to prove your worth to him. In my opinion, this is similar to countries where a defendant has to prove their innocence, instead of the burden of proof being placed on the prosecution. I believe the Royals assumed Kila is bad, and since Kila didn't "prove" otherwise, they continue to assume he is bad.  If this is the end of Kila Ka'aihue as a Royal, the Royal's thought process behind banishing Kila to AAA forever is flawed, regardless of how well he performs for the rest of his career. 326 PA is not enough time to determine if someone can hit at the major league level.

If you look at player's rookie seasons, they are not good at predicting how well players will perform during there career. Just because someone is bad as a rookie doesn't mean he will be bad forever, and vice versa. Thanks to Fangraphs, we can now easily compare players rookie seasons to one another. Here is a table comparing some players and there early season statistics.

This is a small sample, but you can go look for yourself. While more players who struggled early ended up being bad, and more players who dominated early ended up being good, the numbers are simply all over the place. You cannot draw any firm conclusions about how a player will perform in his career from so few PA. It's not like Kila Ka'aihue hasn't hit in the minors, the man has a .285/.424/.581 career triple slash line in AAA. If this demotion was about Kila needing to go down to regain a little bit of confidence, I would feel a little better about it. If Hosmer had more than 117 PA in AAA, I would feel better about it. If the Royals team pitching staff ERA wasn't 4.43 (7th worst in the league) with a K/BB ratio lower than 2:1 I would feel better about the team's chances of contending this season.

The way I see it, the decision making is flawed, no matter what angle you want to take. If Dayton Moore truly thinks Kila Ka'aihue is bad, then he doesn't (or is selectively choosing not to) understand that it takes time for players to get adjusted to the major leagues. If Moore truly thinks Hosmer has proven all that he needs to prove in AAA and is ready for the majors, then he again is not (or is choosing not to) understand small sample sizes. If Dayton Moore truly thinks that this team can contend, regardless of how the rest of our division is playing, he again doesn't understand small sample sizes, or has overrated the collection of talent he has assembled, especially on the pitching staff. Calling up more prospects won't necessarily fix the problem either. Montgomery and Duffy could get called up and dominate, or could get called up and struggle. Both would be rushed to the majors if called up right now, which would further indicate flawed logic. Plus, both pitchers might not have the arm strength to pitch a full season in the big leagues, and if they hurt their arms pitching this season for a team that has little chance of contending, Moore potentially could ruin their careers before the Royals have a true chance to contend.

I know this article is negative, but I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't excited to see Hosmer. I plan on driving up from Lawrence after my classes are finished tomorrow to witness his first Major League game. I will, however, save the Hosmer hoopla for tomorrow. Tonight, I am more worried about the logic behind why Dayton Moore made the decision to promote Hosmer, and what that could mean for the Royals future. If Dayton and Ned are consistently promoting, demoting, and benching prospects based on how well they perform after a small sample size, then they will hurt the development of the young players. If Moore and Yost truly believes this team can contend, then I don't believe they have the knowledge of baseball and the ability to not get caught up in the moment like a fan that I would like out of my GM and Manager. So I am happy for Hosmer, hope he hits .400 the rest of the season and helps keep this team in a pennant race all season. I am, however, worried about the decision making behind the promotion and what that might mean for the future.

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Beachy, Prado help Braves sweep Brewers (AP)

Brandon Beachy picked up another no-decision Thursday night, and that was just fine with him. It was enough to be on the winning side in an impressive four-game sweep. “Sweeping a team is never going to get old, no matter how you do it,” Beachy said. Beachy pitched six impressive innings and Martin Prado hit [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/05/06/beachy-prado-help-braves-sweep-brewers-ap/

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Halladay Ks 10 as Phillies sweep Nats (AP)

Roy Halladay struck out 10 in seven sharp innings, Raul Ibanez and Shane Victorino homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies completed a three-game sweep with a 7-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night. Halladay, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, allowed two runs and six hits to win his 10th straight decision against [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/05/06/halladay-ks-10-as-phillies-sweep-nats-ap/

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Prados HR helps Braves sweep Brewers (AP)

Martin Prado hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning and the Atlanta Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Thursday night to complete a four-game series sweep. Prado led off the eighth with a drive to left off Kameron Loe (2-3) for his third homer. Prado was Loe’s first batter in relief of Shaun [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/05/06/prados-hr-helps-braves-sweep-brewers-ap/

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Stinko de Mayo: Sanchez bombed in 5-2 loss to
Mets

Jonathan Sanchez walked six batters and gave up five earned runs, including a home run by Carlos Beltran as the San Francisco Giants fell to the New York Mets 5-2 Thursday.

Mets starter Mike Pelfrey threw 7.2 solid innings and the Amazin's avoided a three-game sweep.

Jose Reyes added a two-run triple for the Mets, who had lost five of six and were in danger of being swept by San Francisco for the first time since 2002. Mike Fontenot homered and Sanchez drove in a run for the Giants, who finished their 10-game road trip at 5-5.

San Francisco loaded the bases against Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth, but the excitable closer got pinch hitter Buster Posey on a groundout to finish off a four-out save.

The Giants, owners of the second-worst offense in the National League, were held in check by the struggling Pelfrey (2-3). The righthander entered the day with a 7.39 ERA, but allowed just two runs -- one earned -- and four hits in his longest outing of the season. He was perfect through 3.2 innings until Fontenot drilled a solo homer into the right field upper deck.

Pelfrey shook that off and led 3-2 after five innings. Beltran then extended the lead with a blast in the fifth off Sanchez (2-2) that just cleared the 15-foot wall in left-center field. Beltran has a nine-game hitting streak at Citi Field, with three homers and eight RBI.

New York entered hitting just .108 with runners in scoring position, but Reyes' two-out triple in a three-run third got the Mets off on the right foot.

Notes:

• Fontenot batted third in the lineup for the third straight night.
• The Giants were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position Thursday and are 4-for-21 (.191) with RISP over the last two days.
• Twenty-five of the Giants' 31 games (81%) -- and currently 13 consecutive games -- this season have been decided by three runs or less, which is most such games in the Majors. San Francisco is 12-13 (.500) in these type of games this year.
• The Giants have already played just over 1/4 of their road schedule this season, having played 22 of 81 road contests already.

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Open Thread 5/5: Braves vs. Brewers #2

1-1 in the 8th. Let's get the sweep!

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Braves Sweep Brewers Behind Brandon Beachy's Big
Night

The Atlanta Braves are now 5-0 in the month of May and they just swept one of the National League's most talented teams.

This is fun.

Full recap to come.

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Royals Take Series From Orioles; Tillman Just
Plain Awful...

It was an ugly showing for the Baltimore Orioles as they got trounced by the Kansas City Royals, 9-1, this afternoon.

They only got four hits ? all singles ? and Chris Tillman, who started the game on the mound for Baltimore struggled. Again.

Adam Jones drove in the only run for Baltimore during first inning and the offense was putrid. Enough said.

I don?t know what to say about Tillman. He has the look of a guy who should be stud-like on the mound; however, he?s been so inconsistent as a pitcher in the majors. There have been times Tillman has looked brilliant; meanwhile, during others, he looks like a guy who has no confidence on the mound, or a clue as to what to do when in trouble.

He allowed eight runs in 3 2/3 innings of work and it?s time to wonder if he ? instead of Brad Bergesen ? will be the odd man out in the rotation, if and when Brian Matusz returns.

At the moment, manager Buck Showalter has given the dreaded seal of approval -- to an extent.

>>> Read More

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