Can we get a third baseman already? Geoff Blum is no different from Vinny Castilla — by all accounts a great guy, but not someone you want in the lineup every day. Don’t mind me, I’m just in a pissy mood after Thursday night’s meltdown at Coors Field. If you’re ever wondering why nobody takes [...]

I’ll be flying my freak flag at Comic-Con this weekend, so forgive me if I’m not able to participate in the festivities as much as usual. Meantime, bring on the links! July Trade Rumors (of course) (Brew Crew Ball). One of the alleged possibilites to replace the recently departed Vinny Castilla is Milwaukee’s Bill Hall. [...]

Several folks have asked about the recent Baseball Prospectus Pizza Feed at Petco Park. This wasn’t a media event and the handful of bloggers in attendance were asked to keep stuff off the record, so there’s not a lot I can tell you beyond what Gaslamp Ball has already mentioned. They’ve pretty much covered it [...]

That has got to be just about the stupidest way to lose a game. If you walk a guy hitting .082/.167/.184 with the bases loaded in the 14th inning, you’re not seriously trying to win. On to the links: Mid-Season Blockbusters: June (Part Three: 1975-2005) (Hardball Times). The analysis of Gary Sheffield for Trevor Hoffman [...]

A handful of days each year I am absolutely crazy busy at work. Today is one of those days, so this will be brief: Woody Williams strikes out five as Storm topple Quakes (North County Times). Williams, out since May 12 with an injured left calf, needed 42 pitches to get through 3 innings. He [...]

Okay, I’m still backlogged from my Hawai’i trip so you’re getting an extra helping of links today. Some of these have been out there for a while, but they’re all good. Enjoy. Mailbag: A catching conundrum? (Padres.com). Lyle Spencer talks about everyone’s favorite three-headed monster, as well as backstop of the future George Kottaras. He [...]

Past, present, future. We’ve got it all. On a personal note, I’m off to Hawai’i first thing Saturday morning for poke, laulau, and a whole lotta hanging around doing nothing, so posting may be light over the next week or so — I’ll queue up the IGDs in advance, but once I’m over there, I [...]

Nice job picking up the slack for me yesterday and getting some good discussion going. One of the things I had on my plate Thursday was an appearance on AOL’s Sports Bloggers Live with Jamie Kottram and friends. I come on about 15 minutes in — here’s a direct link to my segment — but [...]

Happy Friday! At the risk of sounding like one of those obnoxious people who is telling you how incredibly busy they are, I’ve been incredibly busy. I know I owe a bunch of you e-mails, and I’m getting there. Hang tight, folks. Meantime, we’ve got linkage… Sutcliffe gives slurred interview on broadcast (MSNBC). Yep, Rick [...]

Man, if you needed an excuse to get behind Clay Hensley, I’d say that Thursday night’s start against the Dodgers is as good as any. Dude gets hit in the back of the head by a broken bat in the second inning, and after a few minutes’ delay to stop the bleeding, goes out there [...]