Mark Mulder Comeback

Mark Mulder to Try MLB Come back with Anaheim Angels

 

OK, I hate writing sports articles, because I love the game so much.  In my not so distant pass I could name almost every starting 8 for every team in the Majors as well as their 5 starters and their closer.  That's a lot of useless data for someone that doesn't work in the front office of an MLB Franchise.  It is a source of living vicariously through those less than half your age.  At a certain point you find yourself "watching" more than "doing" I'm sure Charles Krauthammer would agree.

 

Soon, you start becoming critical of the general manager and the scouts of your favorite team.  Then you criticize the Team Manager for over using your  favorite pitcher.  Actually, once you get to the point of being a Baseball super freak, you don't really have a  special team anymore.  Rooting for the Home team clouds your ability to appreciate the skills of great players from other teams.  So I guess although I wear a S.F. Giants Cap and was a Fan of Buster Posey since his college days, and still run into Willie Mays every now and then, I still love to watch Felix Hernandez of Seattle Pitch, I love watching Yasiel Puig of the Bums (Dodgers) make magical catches in the outfield and I can enjoy a 1-0 pitching duel. No matter who the teams are.  In fact, I enjoy......No!, LOVE watching little league games.

 

This brings us to Mark Alan Mulder.  Mark was a two time All-star for the Oakland A's. He finished 2nd in the Cy Young Award voting in 2001 with 21 wins.  He was one (And some say the best at the time) of the "Big Three" Starters for Oakland in the early 2000s which included All-star Tim Hudson and Barry Zito.  Towards the end of the 2003 season, Mark started suffering shoulder pain.  His performance went down and his ERA (Earned Run Average) went up.  He continued to produce for the A's in All-Star fashion but was hurting.  The A's general manager "Billy Beane", author of "Money Ball" traded the left handed starter to St. Louis for the young prospect "Dan Haren" at the end of the 2004 season. 

 

In 2005, Mulder brought his American league ERA of 4.46 down to 3.64 which is not unusual for an A.L. pitcher when he makes the transition to the N.L. as he no longer has the DH to pitch to.  But the previous/mysterious pains and unidentified injuries would lead to a rotator cuff tear.  His career was never the same.  His last outing was a 16 pitch start in 2008 as he threw 8 straight balls before he left the mound in pain wearing a Cardinal uniform.

 

In 2010 Mulder officially declared his MLB career over.  He became a broadcaster for ESPN.  While covering a Dodger game for ESPN, he noticed the throwing motion of Dodger pitcher Paco Rodriguez.  When he attempted to copy the Dodger pitcher's delivery, he found that he could do it without causing any pain in his shoulder.

 

At a recent Birthday party for one of his daughters, Mulder got a chance to throw to his friend and former catcher Kyle Lohse.  Mulder was in fact able to throw hard without pain (using Rodriguez's pitching style).  In November the 36 year old former All-Star got himself in shape and threw off a pitching mound in front of several scouts at the winter meetings in December.  The Angels saw him throw a 90 mph fastball on two separate occasions. 

 

So Anaheim offered Mulder a chance to compete for a spot on the Angel pitching rotation this spring.  America loves a comeback story and if Mark can make it work, he'll have middle aged men across America rooting for him.  Or at least in southern California.  I've met Mark and he's a wonderful person.  I'll be pulling for him.  I only wish he could have been re-united with Tim Hudson who signed a contract with the San Francisco Giant's organization this past winter.  We will be watching and rooting.

The 2012 GIANTS glaring weakness

I'm not going to beat a dead horse.  But ! If the SF GIANTS want to compete this year, they need to get a replacement for the dead horse (pictured above) before June.  Just as the 2010 GIANTS brought up Buster Posey in early May, the GIANTS must put a sure handed SMART outfielder in center with leadership ability.  I think Colby Rasmus in Toronto would be a nice fix. 

The GIANTS have the all the parts in place with the exception of a strong centerfielder.  A strong centerfielder will carry marginal defensive corner outfielders.  In Pagan's case, he's a weak hitter AND a BAD OUTFIELDER.  He lacks the tools to play centerfield.  Clubs can look the other way when a Carlos Gonzalez misses a play because he  MORE than makes up for any defensive weakness with his bat and speed. 

On the other hand, if your centerfielder only hits .250  11 81 but has the arm and intuitiveness of an Ichiro Suzuki, it's going to make your pitching staff twice as effective.

The Giants have lost their second game due to BAD DEFENSE.  They can't afford to keep running Pagan out into centerfield.

God Bless Obama, The Dodgers and other Enemies

I’m a born again Giants Fan. Yep. I was raised on Willie Mays (Met him several times) Willie McCovey, Dave Kingman, Ron Hunt, Hal Lanier, Jim Ray Hart, Ken Henderson, The Alous Trio, Bobby (NOT BARRY) Bonds, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, and Dick Dietz.

In the early 70’s, Horace Stoneham had to deal with free agency as did all the ML general Managers. This changed the face of major league Baseball. Most teams started doing their own version of “Money Ball” out of necessity. As for “MY GIANTS” Willie Mays got traded to the Mets for Charlie Williams (WHO?) and $50,000. Willie was replaced by Gary Maddox who proved to have a decent career over the next 16 years, mostly with the Phils, but he basically kept centerfield warm for the supposed 2nd coming of Mickey Mantle from Oklahoma, a gentleman named “Bobby Murcer”. There is one truth in baseball, “potential” can not hit for you. The Giants have never had a centerfielder even come close to the caliber of Mays since he last grazed the centerfield grass of Candlestick Park in 1972. (But I digress)
The Fire sale continued as Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry was traded to Cleveland for “Sudden” Sam McDowell. (Who left his heart in SF and his pitching arm in Cleveland) Jim Ray Hart went to the Yankees, Ron Hunt went back to the Dodgers and Willie McCovey became the Big Mac, not because of his 6’4” 210 lbs, but because he was traded to San Diego (owned by Roy Krok/McDonald’s)
I recognized nobody. I did however live just minutes from the Oakland Coliseum. During the late 70’s the A’s were known as the “Boat People” of the American league. You could buy a 3rd deck ticket for about 3.00 bucks and sit right behind the plate. So my baseball paradigm changed in 1977. I learned to love Baseball, not just the home team. My kids were raised on green and gold and got to meet all of the players. I met Tony La Russa several times at his animal care foundation in Danville.
After the great 1988, 1989, 1990 Championships The A’s would exercise the principles of the book “Money Ball” and talent came and went. We as fans, knew never to get attached to great rookies because it was in the system to have their replacement groomed by the time they reached free agency status. Part of understanding Love is allowing the loved one the freedom to pursue greater opportunities in the free market.By the end of the century, I had developed a love for the game.

I can watch any game on T.V. and tell you who the talent is, who the great prospects are and who’s probably going to be released or traded. But in doing so, I started to notice what intrigue I had for the San Francisco Giants minor league system. They had drafted young guns like Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgardner and of course “BUSTER POSEY”. They had just let go of their national embarrassment “Barry Bonds”. So in 2010, it was sort of OK to be a Giants fan again. I think many who left in 1973; then again in 2003 (Steroids) felt the air had cleared.
Love forces you to think about the big picture. My love for baseball doesn’t hinge on who the Giants or A’s sign or put on waivers. The Bible says Love covers a multitude of sins. Love also gives you an abundance of appreciation for that which you would otherwise consider miserable, painful, annoying and disgusting. John Lennon wrote: “All you need is Love”.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

What would the Giants be without the Bums. (The Dodgers) Would America have ever appreciated the free market, liberty, freedom and American exceptionalism had it not been threatened by Barack Obama? Many have said that John McCain would have lead us down a road of slow death. Obama's power grab is waking us up (Hopefully) in time to feel the boiling water. Unlike McCain who would have gradually increased the temperature of the water in the pot that killed the frog.

Have Love in your heart as well as your entire physical incarnated body. Then and only then will you enjoy life AND stand a little closer to God.

San Francisco Bull Pen has been abused

A closer should be indicative of the finish line for most teams. "If they can just get the ball to Lee Smith", "If they can just get the ball to Dennis Eckersley", this game is over. In the bag, one in the win column.

Brian "orange shoes" Wilson seems to long for more work. He doesn't like the simple walk off appearance. (it was the Eck that coined the term "walk-off") Eck would come in with a one run lead, two outs runners in scoring position and strike out anyone in the batter's box and "walk off" the mound with a save. Wilson thinks he gets paid by the pitch I would guess. It's been Wilson's routine to load the bases before getting the final out. (or blowing the save/lead)

The Giants need to think long and hard about making Chris Ray the 8th inning guy and Dan Runzler the Closer. It's my opinion that unless Wilson is sent a message about his role as closer, he won't be reliable for another 4 years. A typical SF scenario is where Wilson gets traded to Tampa. Tampa sends him to AAA to humiliate him, then brings him back up and he becomes the Eric Gagne'ish closer we expected. But until he cans the orange shoes and takes his role as close seriously, you can expect more unnecessary drama in the ninth.

It was good to see Don Mattingly on the field

Sort of......

I have respect for the game of baseball. I loathe injustices such as the memory of Bill Buckner. Bucker was a great player. He should be remembered for his years in Wrigley where he hit over .300 but he'll mostly be remembered as the cripple that lost the 86 World Series for Boston. With out Buckner's 18 home runs and 102 RBIs Boston might not have made it into the World Series as they finished the regular season only 5 games in front of New York and had to struggle to beat the Angels in game 7 of the playoffs.

Don Mattingly put up one of Baseball's finest set of stats that same year. He hit 31 home runs (sans steroids) 113 RBIs, 53 doubles batted .352 and only struck out 35 times in 742 plate appearances. I've always wondered how many of those doubles would have been home runs had he played for Texas or Colorado. Hopefully history will be kind to Donnie Baseball and his inexperience in trips to the mound will not be his baseball epitaph.

The real winner in Tuesday night's game against the Dodgers was the home plate umpire Adrian Johnson who tossed Clayton Kershaw in the top of the 7th. It was his duty to do so as Kershaw retaliated with a beaner in Aaron Rowand's left Gluteous Maximus. This was a MAJOR turning point.

If Kershaw cruises to the end of the 7th inning; Hong Kuo (who has been lights out against anything orange and black) would have probably taken the mound in the 8th and possibly the 9th inning. There is little question in my mind that Kuo is San Francisco Kryptonite. Posey, the Giants most prolific (and inspiring)player has struggled like most of the league against the Status Kuo. Kuo left the game in the bottom of the 8th after lowering his era to .095.

If Rowand doesn't take one for the team; Giants lose 5 to 4. But ugly is as ugly does and the 9th got ugly. Broxton was not on his game. His command was taking the night off. Then the Buckner....... uhmmm Mattingly boner. (yes that's actually an old fashion baseball term for mental error) This set the table for Posey vs. Schlichting aka MEAT. Giants win 7 to 5 . It's important to give credit to Jeremy Affeldt for another solid outing after last night's great performance.

These are the kind of games the casual fan takes pleasure in celebrating. The fan of the game sees this kind of game as a 33% game.

Every team is going to win 33% of their games no matter how good or bad they play, while the same team will lose 33% of their games no matter how good or bad they play. The other 34% determines the Champions from the high draft pickers.

Ugly is as Ugly does.

Honor the Unsung Heroes

The usual suspects contributed in tonight's win over the Dodger Blue. Posey and Panda drove in runs, but what was great to see was Nate Shierholz driving in Travis Ishikawa with a 2 run homer. We need to stop and appreciate from time to time that Baseball is a TEAM SPORT.

On the other hand, I was most impressed with the pitching performance of one Jeremy Affeldt. Affeldt came in to the game with the bases juiced in the bottom of the 7th with 2 outs in relief for Sergio Romo and got Andre Ethier to ground out to 1B. In the 8th Affeldt allowed one base runner after retiring the first two batters he met. He gave up a single to Matt Kemp then got Belliard swinging. A great solid performance by a middle reliever should always be appreciated.

Bochey chose to go with a tired B.Wilson in the ninth. Wilson loaded the bases before he struck out Casey Blake to end the game. Wilson pitched his fourth game in a row with out a day's rest. In doing so Wilson set himself up for a walk off situation. This writer questions Bochey's reluctance to go with a rested Chris Ray. Sitting on a three run lead tonight, you wonder who Bochey is going to call on tomorrow if they're trying to save a 1 one lead in the ninth?

Again, Bochey shows a lack of faith in his players. They may have won tonight's game, but now the GIANTS Bull Pen is without a closer for game #2.

Hanging out with Tony and D-Train

I really hope Dontrelle can get his command back and contribute to the Giants organization. He's so talented yet he was used, abused and left confused. We love ya D.