Without it, it’s only runner at third one out and there’s a lot less pressure on Gio than first/third nobody out. That being said, the leadoff walk was bad and Gio didn’t rise to the occasion following the error. My problem with the error was it was such a stupid one – not bothering to follow through on a routine throw.

I noticed Gio’s changeup came in around 84 MPH. That’s too close to his fastball (90) – it was a changeup that Lopez hammered for the key double.

First score some runs consistently, then worry about winning.

Frank Thomas and Zooks were beaned

“Beaned” = hit in the head.

How would that really affect his batting or his fielding?

They beat Japan 8-4 for the bronze medal!

Not bad considering how dominant South Korea and Cuba have been in the tournament.

Brett Anderson pitched 7 strong innings for the USA. 3 hits, was victimized by a 3-run homer after a little wildness early, but he settled down and finished very well.

they’re almost fun to watch. Just to see how they’ll manage to lose. Now, I won’t pay to go see their antics live at the ballpark, but it’s good comedy on TV.

Maybe it’s because we’ve already seen almost everyone who would’ve been considered for a call-up.

Frank Thomas and Zooks were beaned to lead off the inning, and Daric Barton and Pennington eventually followed with back-to-back, opposite field, check-swing, bloop RBI singles – which is about common as the five-hyphen sentence.

Technically, your sentence only has four hyphens and one dash. They’re two different punctuation marks. (Random aside: One of my favorite scenes from The West Wing is when they were trying to figure out the fourteen types of punctuation in English grammar. I am, in fact, a total language dork.)

is that how you spell it? If we don’t have him, I want to know why Billy didn’t draft him or trade for him.

At their show tonight in Golden Gate park, the intro to National Anthem had overlays of Ken Korach and Vince calling the game.

I thought it was interesting that Mike Sweeney went on a rehab assignment and Frank basically said, “I don’t need one,” and that Frank didn’t go. You could argue that with his career numbers and his age, he’s earned that right, especially since he didn’t need to practice playing the field. Or you could argue that he and Sweeney really aren’t that different, and if one guy went on a rehab assignment, they both should’ve.

I also will be interested to see how many ab’s Mike Sweeney and Thomas get in September. If Thomas continues for the next two weeks to hit like he has since he came off the DL, I hope the team uses the opportunity to get more at-bats to someone else – someone like Baisley or Cunningham, while still playing Pennington/Petit/Patterson as much as possible in the field.
From a “developing for the future” perspective, it makes almost no sense to give Thomas and Sweeney much action. But that wouldn’t sit will with the two older guys who have worked hard to rehab for months, only to sit when they’re finally healthy.

What do you guys think? And how will it play out?