Blast from the Past: Arizona Dreamin’

Monday, November 24, 2008
by Geoff Young
I usually make one or two trips out to Phoenix each year. Spring training has become a must, and I always enjoy taking in some Arizona Fall League games. Today, we're all about the AFL... and whatever else happened to come with it on a particular journey... and whatever else that triggers in my mind, which you may recall is a scary place to be: In 2001, I was impressed by a kid from Rancho Bernardo named Hank Blalock. Incidentally, his name used to appear at Ducksnorts with some regularity. The following year, while comparing a young Adam Dunn to Brian Giles and a young Albert Pujols to Manny Ramirez, we tossed around the possibility of acquiring Blalock to play second base to accommodate ...
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Posted in Travels | No Comments »

Partly Focused, with a Ten Percent Chance of Useful

Thursday, September 11, 2008
by Geoff Young
Like that new Metallica song, I'm scattered and unfocused today, with hopefully a touch of good stuff in there somewhere... Folks have been singing the praises of Cha Seung Baek because his fastball actually creeps into the mid-90s. I look at his track record and apparent disinterest in attacking hitters, and have concerns, but Monday night against the Dodgers he made Manny Ramirez look terrible twice. In the fourth inning, Baek kept pounding fastballs in on Ramirez, who eventually popped weakly to the right side of the infield. Then in the sixth, on a full count, Baek got Ramirez to chase a fastball out off the plate. ...
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Posted in Notes and Links | 14 Comments »

Padres tickets  Chargers tickets  Sports tickets

It’s Funny Because It’s Truthy

Monday, September 8, 2008
by Geoff Young
Reader Malcolm forwards an inspired piece penned by Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers that sings the praises of Dodgers GM Ned Colletti. Ken Tremendous at Fire Joe Morgan picks the article apart nicely (F-bomb warning) and is left wondering whether it is parody or straight reporting. This, of course, is the best kind of humor. If it's easy to understand, the joke just isn't that funny. But when you're left kind of scratching your head and maybe a little unsettled, the person telling the tale has done a masterful job. I love this passage: ...Colletti looked like a goner before [Casey] Blake and [Manny] Ramirez ...
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Posted in Baseball | 18 Comments »

IGD: Padres @ Mariners (18 May 08)

Sunday, May 18, 2008
by Geoff Young
Padres (16-28) @ Mariners (17-27) Shawn Estes vs Felix Hernandez 1:10 p.m. PT Channel 4SD AM 1090, FM 105.7, XM 181 MLB, B-R Seven useless facts about Estes: His first name is Aaron. He shares a birthday with Jerry Morales, a member of the 1969 Padres. The Mariners selected him with the 11th pick overall in 1991, three picks after the Padres took Joey Hamilton and two before the Cleveland Indians nabbed Manny Ramirez. Deion Sanders was the center fielder behind him in his first big-league start. He wore #36 on first arriving in the big leagues, but soon switched to #55, which he has donned since 1996. He once was traded for ex-Padre Desi Relaford. He later was traded for ex-Padre Brady Clark.

Posted in In-Game Discussion | 76 Comments »

Do Everything

Wednesday, January 2, 2008
by Geoff Young
The idea was that I'd take some time off between Christmas and New Year to relax before pushing hard to finish the book. The reality was that I found myself involved in three other projects: I'm honored to announce that I'll be writing at Baseball Digest Daily in 2008. Joe Hamrahi and company do awesome work over there, and I'm proud to call myself a member of their team. This doesn't take the place of any of my current projects, but rather augments them all. When in doubt, do both, or in this case, do everything. Houston Astros outfielder Hunter Pence is now blogging at Inside ...
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Posted in Off-Topic, Open Thread | 11 Comments »