All Entries in the "NL West" Category
2011 Diamondback’s Year By The Numbers
2011 was an amazing year for the Diamondbacks. After going 70-92 in 2009, and 65-97 in 2010, the D-Backs went 94-68 in 2011, finishing first place in the NL West for the first time since 2007. In 2010, Arizona had one of the worst pitching staffs in the league, with an ERA of 4.81 and [...]
Will the Real San Diego Padres Fans Please Stand Up
Will the real San Diego Padres fans please come forward? In my opinion, this question is usually answered after the second game of the teams opening season series home stand. Those who show up, besides those who are employed by the team, are the fans that didn’t score opening day tickets or just wanted to [...]
A New Twist in the Dodgers Ownership Sale
While the Bankruptcy Court ordered sale of the Dodgers proceeds, a very interesting development occurred Wednesday when Joe Torre suddenly resigned his position with MLB as Vice President of Operations overseeing such things as discipline and umpiring. Late word is that Torre who managed the Dodgers to back to back NLCS appearances in 2008-2009 is [...]
Arizona nabs Cahill and Breslow, send Jarrod Parker and others to Oakland
Billy Beane decided to essentially toss any hope for A’s fans out the window yesterday when he dealt young ace in the making Trevor Cahill and effective RP Craig Breslow to the Diamondbacks for SP prospect Jarrod Parker and two “prospects”. This move is significant for the D’backs as their outlook on 2012 takes a [...]
What Can Padre Fans Be Thankful For This Holiday Season
This (past) Thanksgiving (2011) there is plenty to be thankful for. Here at Baseball Reflections we talk about baseball and usually the world baseball fans live in is a bit different from what else is going on in the world or in our lives. Yet for some of us, baseball is our lives… it’s our [...]
A Padres Fan’s Reflection on Baseball and the 2011 Season
Let me make this clear. I love baseball. As a kid growing up the other sports seasons started when baseball ended. If there was no game seven of the World Series, whatever the date the last game of the series was to be played was the end of the baseball season. Yes, I watched the [...]
Reflections on the Dodgers: LA Blues Continue
After a horrendous finish to the 2010 season, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti attempted to make the moves that appeared to address some of the Dodgers biggest needs heading into the 2011 season. Joe Torre and his cadre of “old school” coaches were shown the door, Juan Uribe was signed away from the rival World Series [...]
Arizona Wins the West
For all intents and purposes, the NL West race is over. Improbably, the Diamondbacks sit at the top of the division, a year after finishing dead last in the division and 27 games out of the playoff picture. Back in June, I said that I expected the D’Backs to stay in the race, but at [...]
Reflecting on the Giants: September and Beyond
Well, it looks like the 2011 NL West Champions will be the surprising and over-achieving Arizona Diamondbacks. I think that it would take a miracle for the Giants to repeat as NL West Champs and make the playoffs. If the Giants did repeat as NL West Champs, I honestly do not believe that they would [...]
Reflecting on the Giants Midseason Trades
I love baseball trades, especially in midseason. They are exciting! You just do not know what you are going to get. of course, it also depends on whether your team is a buyer or a seller. Is your team competitive and trying to build for the post season? Or, is your team auctioning good players [...]
A’s Trade Ellis to Rockies
Midday Thursday, just about 12 hours before the calendar turned to July, we finally witnessed the first significant trade since the start of the 2011 season. The Colorado Rockies acquired second baseman Mark Ellis from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for pitcher Bruce Billings and a player to be named later. Colorado will also receive [...]
Dodgers Fans Show No Love For Their Team
I’m finally back from my trip to Los Angeles for a Muscular Dystrophy study. Sorry for the lag in articles, but no laptop and no home = no articles. But all was not lost, my friends. My trip to sunny California gave me a chance to compare Phillies fans and Dodgers fans. I [...]
One Fan’s Take on Posey & the Giants
Injuries are just part of baseball. They are part of what makes it so difficult for a good team to repeat the success of their prior year. I do think that most ballplayers expect to either play hurt or be injured at some point in their professional career. I do think that this is an [...]
A Giant April
Well, the month of April is over for the Giants. I do not feel the same hopeful optimism that I felt last year. However, I do also recognize that it is early in the year. I find the Giants’ lack of offense of great concern, but this was the same situation they were in last [...]
Opening Day 2011 at A T & T Park for the World Champion San Francisco Giants
Ah, Opening Day. To me, there is nothing more special than Opening Day. I just love the smells of the ball park: the freshly cut grass, the hot dogs and the fraternity of fans who are banded by their love of baseball now coming together for another new season. It is, like seeing friends that [...]
The San Francisco Giants in Winter
So, what did I do in the winter aftermath of the 2010 Giants winning the World Series? I enjoyed the victory parade down Market Street. I got to see the World Series Trophy at City Hall in San Francisco. I went to the Giants Fanfest, which was packed with an enormous turnout. And [...]
A Fan’s Perspective on the World Champion SF Giants Off Season
A few weeks ago, one of my dear friends e-mailed me to ask what had happened to my enthusiasm for the Baseball Winter Meetings. I think that my feelings for the Winter Meetings changed when it went from being an opportunity for teams to trade players to try to shore up their weaknesses to being [...]
2010 SF Giants World Series Victory Parade: A Fans-Eye View!
The Giants’ World Series victory was spectacular!! I had spent the previous day working at the Polling Booth, starting at 6 am until 9 pm. I was utterly exhausted, but I wasn’t going to miss the parade. I kept waking up in the middle of the night trying to avoid my worst nightmare of oversleeping [...]
SF Giants Championship Parade Video & World Series Prints to Buy
Congratulations to the Giants who have now won World Series Championships in both New York and San Francisco! From the perspective of a non-Giants fan, someone who hasn’t had the priveledge to see them play very often if at all, I’d have to say that I was impressed by the pitching in general on this [...]
A Giants Fan’s Elation on their 2010 World Series Championship
The San Francisco Giants are the 2010 World Series Champions, the champions of the baseball world. They are the champions for the first time since 1954, and for the first time in San Francisco. Nothing can ever take this away from them. Wow!!! I cannot think of anything that more that can express my feelings [...]
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CIVILITY?
In the wake of the surprising but deserving San Francisco Giants winning the World Series came word that numerous riots broke out on the city streets. Is there any plausible reason for this adolescent behavior? What have fans become? Why, after a big victory in sports do fans have to act like idiots (Here’s a [...]
The Giants First World Series Victory in San Fransisco
Congratulations to all SF fans… This must have been a close series MVP race between Renteria and Lincecum! If Renteria actually does retire, what a way to go! I was also impressed with the post season play of rookie catcher Buster Posey and OF Cody Ross who was a waiver wire pick up! The Giants [...]
The Giants are in the World Series!!
Image by Getty Images via @daylife The Giants eliminated the Phillies in six games to win the 2010 National League Championship to go on to the World Series to play the Texas Rangers. I must state that I did get tired and annoyed with the announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, who frequently derided the [...]
Out With the Old And In With the New in Arizona for the D-Backs
Have you lost track of who is doing what for the Arizona Diamondbacks these days? You are not alone. In the month since Kevin Towers has been named the new general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Towers has certainly put his stamp on the ballclub. In addition to removing the interim tag from manager Kirk Gibson‘s [...]
It’s an Orange October in San Fransisco
Wow!! Is this an Orange October or what?! So much has happened for the Giants that it has been absolutely incredible!! I am sorry that I haven’t written sooner, but I am just beside myself. It all started with the end of the season, and the Giants needed to win one game out of three [...]
American and National League Divisional Series Prediction
OK, this is my first attempt at a webcast so it’s bound to be a little rough around the edges. I now see that it is much easier doing one of these with at least one more person like on the BBA Baseball Talk podcasts or online with the guys over at Pro Rumors TV. [...]
The San Francisco Giants Down the Stretch
Giants in September There is nothing to love more than meaningful September baseball, especially for teams in contention like the Giants. This is when every game, every pitch and every play is meaningful. It is the difference between your home team being on the couch in October versus being in the playoffs, trying to go [...]
The Giants Playoff Picture?
The Giants’ baseball season is now down to less than thirty games and a month left in the calendar year. August was another roller coaster ride, especially when your ace, goes 0-5 with an ERA over 7.00. On the other hand, I did see the offense get white hot against the Cincinnati Reds. The Giants [...]
Vin Scully Isn’t Done Yet
When I heard Sunday morning that Vin Scully had called a press conference for prior to the Los Angeles Dodgers game against the Cincinnati Reds, my heart sank. Could this be the end for the last of the legendary broadcasters from the golden era of baseball? Fortunately, instead of announcing his retirement, Scully announced that [...]
SF Giants Step it Up in July
The Giants are the hottest team in baseball!! Now, say that “Three times fast. July was a great month for the Giants. At one point, the Giants won twenty of twenty-five games, something that they’ve done only three times since they’ve been in San Francisco (1965, 1978, and now, 2010). I was concerned with how [...]
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