San Diego Padres

It was nearly 20 years ago that Rickey Henderson took that first step towards second.

In a Sunday afternoon game against the Texas Rangers, the Athletics left fielder started his career off with a double.  But two innings later, Henderson would do one of the many things he became known for -- a single followed up by a stolen base.

Continue reading "Rickey Henderson Slides in Easy -- ..."

This could be a short post.  No, no one will bite and claim Bobby Crosby and his $5.25 million contract.  For the sake of completeness, though, let's run through who might conceivably pick up Crosby. 

Continue reading "Bobby Crosby on Outright Waivers...Will ..."

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

Hello Everyone!

If we haven't talked yet, my name is Zach "Z.V." Sanders and I have been writing here since May.

This past January I set up another sports site called 24/7 Sports Stop as a side project of mine. My current writing staff has gotten lazy and stopped posting, and I am looking to add new writers.

Continue reading "To All Bloggers"

Been a while since I posted, in part because I was out of town last week at a trade show in San Diego. Not a bad place to go for a working vacation, and a week ago we got to take in a game between the Padres and the D-backs. My dad's a rabid D-backs fan, beside which my fandom (or fanhood, as the ESPN ads call it) seems rather small. He brought his own logo-coordinated Arizona hat and shirt, having overcome his anger at their change in colors and logo, which seemed to him (correctly) to be an effort to boost merchandising sales.

Continue reading "A Night at PETCO"

Recently, I also did a rundown of a few of the teams that could be the busiest come deadline day. Now, a look at the specific players that could be moving:

Catcher

Bengie Molina, Giants: Both the Yankees and Marlins have been said to approached the Giants about the catcher. Both of those teams have had injuries to the position lately, and could be looking for an immediate replacement. The price has been said to be turning some off of the idea. You have to remember, you are not just getting a replacement catcher, you are getting one that can hit and knows what it takes to win a title. I'm secretly rooting for the Yanks to acquire him, because who doesn't want an all Molina catching squad? Now if only Yadier was for sale.....

Continue reading "The Trading Post: Player Edition"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

For some of you who don't know, I am a fantasy sports fanatic. I enjoy the crunching of number, and the drafting of players. This is an example from one of my leagues (my team is SPeff Starz, having an unusually bad season for my standards.)

Continue reading "All Stars and Winning Fantasy Baseball: Relation?"

All right. Are you ready for this? As the All-Star break approaches, the Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in baseball. That’s right. At 49-32, they’re a half-game ahead of Boston, the Cubs, and Anaheim. Whoa. Is this one of the signs of the apocalypse?

Continue reading "Hold On To Your Hats"

will likely have to rely more heavily on Kemp, Loney and Laroche then they might otherwise like.

San Diego Padres

Will Kevin Kouzmanoff preform at his pre or post All Star levels?

Kouzmanoff was added last year in a trade with the Cleveland Indians in hopes of providing some badly needed offense. Coming over as one of the more highly touted offensive prospects in the game, the thirdbaseman put up respectable numbers as a rookie hitting .275 with 74 RBI and 18 home runs in the cavernous Petco Park. Prior to the All-Star break, Kouzmanoff was hitting only .228 and was in danger of losing his job. He finally settled in and hit .317 along with 11 of his 18 home runs after the break.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Preview Part One: National League West"