Francis, Beckett and Webb Win...Lack of BALCO news
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by Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Jeff Francis Shakes Off Back to Back Home Runs
Jeff Francis showed he was not intimidated by the powerhouse lineup of the Philadelphia Phillies as he shut down the first four batters in the Phillies' lineup, as they went 0 for 15. In the fifth inning, it was looking like Francis was about to unravel after giving up back to back homers to Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell, but he regained his composure and got out of the inning without any more damage before being removed in the seventh inning. The first four hitters struck out 9 times in those 15 at bats. Matt Holliday hit a eighth inning home run to give the Colorado Rockies the eventual 4-2 win.
Cole Hamels allowed three runs in second inning, but came back to pitch well before being removed in the seventh inning. Hamels showed me a lot by pitching his way out of what could have been a Rockies blowout. However the Phillies offense outside of Rowand and Burrell were unable to get untracked and reward Hamels for his stellar pitching after the second inning.
Kyle Kendrick can beat the Rockies, but the Phillies' offense is going to have to come alive today to prevent the Phillies from being one game from being eliminated by the Rockies.
Beckett in Top Postseason Form
Josh Beckett pitched a 4-0 complete game shutout over the listless Los Angeles Angels, who could only muster four singles in the game. The first six Angels hitters were 3 for 22 with Vladimir Guerrero picking up two of those hits. This team is way too dependent on Guerrero. If not for three double plays, the Angels may have lost by a bigger margin. Beckett improved his postseason record to 3-2 and pitched his third complete postseason game. He has now allowed only two runs in his last 25 innings of postseason pitching.
Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz homered in the Red Sox win. J.D. Drew was 1 for 3, but hit into a rally killing double play in the third inning and showed again how the Red Sox got snookered by Scott Boras into signing Drew whose 11 home runs is listed 170th at mlb.com on their home run list and his 64 RBI's are good for being ranked 124th in RBIs in the majors. Drew should wear a disguise going to the bank to cash his checks because he sure hasn't earned the $14 million he made this season. Not a bad gig: being paid $14 million for being nothing more than a journeyman player at best. Drew is a reason baseball should pay all players a minimum wage and then if they had a good season get paid more and if they play like Drew not get paid one penny more.
Cubs-Diamondbacks
The other Drew in the majors Stephen Drew homered to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning against Carlos Zambrano, who had the only extra base hit in the game for the Cubs and allowed only one run in six innings, but Carlos Marmol gave up two runs in the seventh inning, including a home run by Mark Reynolds. Marmol had a 1.43 ERA this season but left the game last night with a 18.00 ERA for the postseason.
Brandon Webb pitched his usual excellent game allowing only one run in 7 innings. The first five Cubs in the batting order finished the game with a 1 for 20 night. The Diamondbacks hurlers were able to take the heart of the Cubs order out of the game. When the pitcher Zambrano has the only extra base hit of the game it was not a good sign. Hopefully for Cubs fans, Ted Lilly can pitch well today since he has won only two games since August 9th. Franklin Morales will start for the Diamondbacks and has won three of his last four starts against the Phillies, Marlins and Dodgers, and in the game when he didn't receive a decision, he held the Padres scoreless in six innings while allowing only one hit.
Balco Bonds: Latest on BALCO Case
Looks now like Balco Bonds may never be prosecuted for perjury for testimony he gave to grand jury investigating BALCO. The case is dragging into its fifth year and it is looking more and more like that Greg Anderson talking is the only hope of prosecutors to pin anything on Bonds. Anderson has shown he is not going to talk and may stay in prison forever if he has to so he won't have to implicate Bonds. New York Times is saying the case has reached a standstill and it is looking more and more like unless Anderson talks there is no case and in my book there is about as much chance of Anderson talking as there is of J.D. Drew returning the $14 million he stole from Red Sox this season.
Bonds is fortunate to have a friend like Anderson who would rather rot in prison than rat out Bonds. Michael Vick wishes he had friends like that who instead looking out for themselves implicated Vick to get reduced sentences for themselves. Am in no way condoning what Vick did in the dog fighting operation he was a part of but any chance of him going to trial and being found not guilty went out the window when the others turned on him.
Now Bonds former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, is again talking to the press about how Bonds changed his demeanor after getting on steroids. She tells of Bonds and Greg Anderson going into a locked room with a satchel and almost certainly taking steroids. She says after he was on the steroids he became violent and threatened to cut her head off and throw her in a ditch.
Apparently the tax evasion case against Bonds is still going on but little has been said publicly about it. After all this time it is beginning to look like Bonds may never be prosecuted for lying to grand jury or tax evasion. The tax evasion revelations have been public for over two years and still Bonds as far as I know has not been indicted. We may never see Bonds in a courtroom the way things are going. If he walks free then it is a injustice to every person who spent years in jail for perjury and tax evasion convictions. The wheels of justice seem to be turning slower and slower for Bonds and eventually the wheels will stop turning and he will probably be playing baseball for an American League team next season trying to get his 3000th hit and his 2000th RBI.
