What to watch on a Friday?

Yankees at Red Sox, 4:05 p.m. PT — You’ll be watching this one whether you want to or not. It’s what pays the bills, eh? Chien-Ming Wang goes against Clay Buccholz.
Angels at Mariners, 7:10 p.m. PT — Jered Weaver and Felix Hernandez… Vlad and Ichiro!… Monkeys and mooses (meese?)… This one’s got it all. Here’s your game of the day.
Padres at Dodgers, 7:40 p.m. PT — Jake Peavy and Brad Penny hook up for the second time in a week. The big story — at least among people who don’t know much about baseball — …read more

Small Sample Hero? Control Freak? Flamethower? Sounds like a comic book convention gone horribly wrong…

Phillies at Reds, 9:35 a.m. PT — Fire up a pot of coffee and sidle on up to the Internet (really, I’d like to see that). Cole Hamels and Bronson Arroyo square off in Monday’s first game. Plus you get a chance to watch Jeff “Offensive Beast” Keppinger in action. Honestly, I always thought that guy could be useful if given the chance, but .435/.480/.826 through the first week? Man, I love small samples. They’ll show you just about anything you want to see.
Mariners …read more

We’ve got our staff predictions up at Hardball Times. I go into greater detail about Padres-specific items over at Ducksnorts.
At THT, I’ve gone with the popular pick except for AL West (I chose Mariners over Angels), AL Wild Card (Indians over Yankees), and NL Cy Young (Jake Peavy over Johan Santana — there’s my Padres bias kicking in because, hey, someone’s got to have a Padres bias).
I also have the Diamondbacks beating the Tigers in the World Series. We’ll see what happens…
How about you? Any predictions you’d care to share?

Sounds kind of kinky, don’t it? Yeah, well, it’s not:

Jim at AZ Snakepit wonders about the Diamondbacks pitching staff.
Eric at Philliesflow searches for hidden gems in right field.
Harper at Oleanders and Morning Glories reacts to news of Paul LoDuca’s inclusion in the Mitchell Report.
Kurt at Goat Riders of the Apocalypse muses on the nature of hypocrisy in sports, specifically as it relates to the current steroid flap.
Lisa at Astros Dugout rejoices in the signing of right-hander Jack Cassel.
Dave at U.S.S. Mariners fantasizes about how much better the world would be if he ran the Mariners.
Eric at Rays Anatomy calls for …read more

Former big-league catcher Mackey Sasser, who played with the Giants, Pirates, Mets, and Mariners from 1987 to 1995, has finally conquered the throwing problems that plagued him during his big-league career. The problems apparently resulted from trauma incurred in a collision with Jim Presley at home plate in 1990.
I can’t imagine being unable to perform such a routine activity (and one so vital to my job) for 17 years. It’s great to hear that Sasser, who now is a community college coach (whose duties include throwing batting practice), is good to go again.

I haven’t done one of these in a while. Time to turn the electrons over to you; here’s what y’all have been saying at Knuckle Curve over the past couple months or so:

{democracy:25}

Happy Monday, and welcome to our latest poll. Manager of the Year is always a tricky one for me. What criteria should we use to determine the winner? If we look only at total victories, we ignore factors such as improvement from one season to the next. If we consider improvement from one season to the next, but overlook the fact that management spent an obscene amount of money to put itself in that position, we still miss a big part of the picture.

More Polls
Talk to me…

AL MVP
NL MVP
AL Cy Young
NL Cy Young
AL Rookie
NL Rookie

I usually try to balance overall …read more

Happy Labor Day. Watch your favorite team on television today, assuming the powers-that-be allow you to do so…
American League

Mariners at Yankees, 10:05 a.m. PT — Good thing folks in Seattle like coffee; this one’s kicking off good and early. The Mariners start the day two games back of New York in the AL wild card race. Felix Hernandez gets the start against a man twice his age, Roger Clemens. Hernandez was born three days before Clemens’ 37th big-league start. Interestingly, their age 21 seasons are kind of similar. Both got hit harder than you might expect for guys with such …read more

Ack, more games! Why wasn’t I informed…
American League

Red Sox at Yankees, 10:05 a.m. PT — This series doesn’t need any more hype. Either you love it or you don’t care. Watch (or don’t) accordingly.
Mariners at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT — Playoff implications in this one, plus a potentially volatile pitching matchup. Two finesse lefties — the execrable Horacio Ramirez and the too-unknown-to-have-an-unflattering-adjective-attached-to-the-front-of-his-name Aaron Laffey — hook up in this one. Philosophical question for the day: When does batting practice end and game begin?

National League

Mets at Phillies, 10:05 a.m. PT — We’re all anxious to know whether Philadelphia can reach the …read more

Somehow I got out of the habit of doing these. With the pennant races heating up, I reckon it’s time to bust out the previews again:
American League

Mariners at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT — How are the Mariners doing it? Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre, and Jose Guillen all are having decent (not great) seasons on offense. The starting pitching has been okay. The relief pitching has been pretty darned good. They score about as many runs as they give up, and yet, they’re a game out of the AL wild card. Felix Hernandez starts tonight, which is always a good reason …read more