"This one a long time have I watched.
All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon.
Never his mind on where he was, what he was doing." - Master Yoda, 1981
So while everyone else ran off to see the Angels pitcher of the future Jered Weaver make his pro debut, I drove to Anaheim and kept my mind on the present, the here and now, the Paul Byrd Complete Game, the widening of the first place lead. Also on hand to watch Byrd instead of Jered were Arte Moreno, Bill Stoneman and Scott Boras.
Byrd got first pitch strikes so often that the Arlington Showalters were reduced to hackin' away at the thin dry summer solstice air.
Although we made quite a few baserunning mistakes, as well as 3-0 greenlight batting miscues, I am in a forgiving mood, so perhaps having been reckless and still winning in the first game of a three game series puts the Texas Mullets on edge, shakes them up, or as Scioscia would say, "pressures the defense..."
Memo to Mike
If you are not going to bench Steve Finley, at least bat him 8th . If you want a lefty batting 5th after Garret, give McPherson the chance. If you want a big bat, Bengie has had a hot stick all season.
Memo to Major League hiring committees
Joe Maddon took all the credit for recommending and pursuing Finley, so scratch the geezer off of your managerial interviewing lists.
Memo to Bill Stoneman
Great pickup of Izturis and Rivera - they should replace Cabrera and Finley - too bad about that flushing of $60 million down Arte's toilet, which you will likely be cleaning at some point late this season.
Memo to Frank Robinson
You are a hall of famer but you were held accountable for being a noxious prick and had to serve a suspension like all of the commoners. When Scioscia said he was going to challenge your pitchers you could have been a big man and said "be my guest, fatso" but you haven't been spoken to like an ordinary man for some time. Too bad about all that disciplinable steroid use during the decade you were in charge of Major League Baseball's disciplinary body.