Wild Side of MLB

Jared Diamond's article, "Birds, Mammals, Mike Trout: Who Would Win?" in yesterday's WSJ was right up the alley of this blog's readers:

On Tuesday, 20-year-old Angels phenom Mike Trout will play in his first All-Star Game. But Trout, who leads the American League with a .341 batting average, is already a prominent member of a far more exclusive club: the All-Star team of fish.

Of the thousands of players in Major League Baseball history, only a select few had names (or overwhelmingly used nicknames) that were the same as a type of fish. Trout joins ex-Angel Tim Salmon and former All-Star Kevin Bass in the aquatic outfield. Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter—arguably the top fish ever—is on the mound.

The Fish do have some competition from around the animal kingdom. Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Goose Goslin highlight a powerful lineup of Birds. But their pitching takes a hit with Craig Swan taking the mound in place of Goose Gossage. (Our selections barred teams from having duplicate creatures.)

And then there are the Mammals, a solid squad led by Nellie Fox and Rabbit Maranville. Rob Deer provides power in the middle of the lineup, while Randy Wolf and Robert Person round out the pitching staff.

Left out of the animal-kingdom All-Stars was outfielder Marlon Byrd, who could have had dual citizenship if only he spelled his name differently.

Looks like former Dodgers are well represented on Team Mammalia!

Game 80 Thread: June 27 @ Twins, 5p

"Do the Twins have a worse record than the Dodgers?"
"No...?"
"You're lying!"
"Yes."

Chad Billingsley (6-6, 4.48) vs. Nick Blackburn (6-5, 3.15).

Hunky Joe is correct: shockingly, the Twins are 32-44 while the Dodgers are 35-44. But this is interleague, where NL dreams go to die. To wit: who will be the Dodgers' DH today? Jay Gibbons? Nope, in the minors. Rod Barajas? Nope, on the DL. Marcus Thames? Possibly, but he's day-to-day. Here's an idea: Clayton Kershaw! Why not? His .297 BA is loads better than most of the Dodger hitters.

Dodgers Roster Switcheroos

Dodgers roster moves as of this afternoon:

In:

• Marcus Thames
• Blake Hawksworth
• Juan Uribe
• Dee Gordon

Out:

• Jay Gibbons (DFA)
• Juan Castro (DFA)
• Ivan De Jesus (optioned to triple-A)
• John Ely (optioned to triple-A)

All moves are effective today and are ready for today's game.

Post-Game 50 Thread: A Night of Firsts

DODGERS 5, ASTROS 4

Jay Gibbons hit his first home run of the season.

Jerry Sands hit his first career grand slam in the third.

Rubby De La Rosa made his Dodger debut, pitching a scoreless eighth.

photos: AP

Post-Game 45 Thread: The Big Tease

GIANTS 3, DODGERS 1

What. Is. The. Point? Why even go through all the motions to have one's hopes lofted when Jerry Sands doubles in Rod Barajas, notching the Dodgers' first run of the game in the ninth inning (only one Dodger, Russ Mitchell, had reached third base all game--and that was in the fifth inning)?

And then seeing Bruce Bochy call for Brian Wilson, a precarious disaster of a closer (and believe me, we know that type well)? Just to watch Jay Gibbons, who can't even see the ball, get walked by Wilson on five pitches? And then watch James Loney, pinch hitting for Ramon Troncoso, also get walked on five pitches to load 'em up?

So up comes* Jamey Carroll, one of the three Dodgers hitting north of .300, with two out and rancho ardiendo? But of course, it's a tease. Carroll's bloop to right field didn't drop. And the Dodgers didn't win. In fact, we gave a Giants pitcher his first win of the year. And we drop to five below .500, wrapping up a solid 2-5 homestand.

At least, I suppose, this loss goes down easier than last night's game-tying rally in the eighth (only to lose it right after that in the ninth).

But SoSG is here to give you upside, in the form of other teases that aren't late night talk show hosts wearing kilts. Enjoy, readers!

(*) Yes, I'm changing tenses all over the place. I'm pissed off. And, I'm pissing off. And I am to be pissed off.

Gibbons' Return Still Blurry

Jerry Sands may have relegated Dodger outfielder Jay Gibbons to the realm of the irrelevant, but according to the Daily Oklahoman, Gibbons' vision issues don't portend a major-league call-up anytime soon:

The Dodgers assigned Gibbons to their Triple-A club in Albuquerque where he hit .347 with 19 home runs before calling him up in August. With the Dodgers, Gibbons hit five home runs and 17 RBIs in just 75 at bats.

Gibbons played so well he was projected as a starter in the Dodgers outfield entering this season.

However, vision problems forced the career .260 hitter with 126 career home runs to start the 2011 campaign in Albuquerque.

Gibbons said following Saturday's game against the RedHawks that he wasn't sure when he could return to the Dodgers. He is scheduled to finish his rehabilitation assignment with the Isotopes on April 26.

“If I tell them my vision is good and I can string together a few games, I'm back,” Gibbons said. “But there is no reason to go back if I am not able to hit pitching down here.”

Gibbons, 34, was hitless in the first two games of the Isotopes' series against the Oklahoma City RedHawks on Friday and Saturday. [...]

His vision problems began over the winter when he had an eye procedure done to correct a 2004 laser surgery. “I had a touch-up this offseason because my vision was a little off last year,” he said. “It didn't go very well. They overcorrected me.”

Gibbons wore glasses last year. He had the corrective procedure to keep from wearing glasses this season.

“I went through all the pros and cons, and I was told the worst case scenario is you are just wearing glasses again,” he said.

“Unfortunately, I am not able to wear glasses (now) because he overcorrected me so much. So we are trying contacts now. ”

The contacts haven't improved his eyesight.

“If it's not blurriness, it's depth (perception) issues,” he said. “Lately, it's been blurriness. In spring training I was having problems with depth and just picking up any kind of spin.

“We are just having trouble finding the right combination. If it's clear, I can't see depth. But if it's blurry, I can. So it's just been a really bizarre situation.”

I do feel for Gibbons; this is a tough way to exit the game. On the other hand, this situation might not be entirely "bizarre," according to National Geographic studies about monkey and human vision differences:

Monkeys and their human cousins don't necessarily see the world the same way, according to new research from the Peruvian Amazon and a clever experiment from a lab in Scotland.

In fact, some monkeys, even within the same species, see things differently from one another. The research suggests that various forms of sight may confer a range of survival advantages.

Humans have so-called trichromatic, or three-color, vision. So do Old World species such as chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Trichromats have three types of light sensitive cells in the retina, fine-tuned to wavelengths that appear blue, green and red.

But New World monkeys have a broad range of vision types. Every howler monkey, for example, is trichromatic. The owl monkey is monochromatic, seeing only in black and white. Among tamarins and spider monkeys, all males are dichromats—they can't perceive reds or greens. But females split 60-40 between three- and two-color vision.

Maybe Gibbons just needs trichromatic, monochromatic, or dichromatic contact lenses. That's the ticket.

Gibbons (not t-shirt) photo: AP / Nam Y. Huh, 3/24/11

Gibbons And His Contact Issue

It's funny, reading Tony Jackson's headline, "Gibbons hopes contact issue solved" over at ESPN.com. Could this be about Jay Gibbons' horrible spring 2011, in which he's batting 2-for-22 (.091) with 5 Ks? No, it's not that contact; it's a contact lens:

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Jay Gibbons returned to the team's spring-training facility Thursday with a sense of cautious optimism after dealing with a contact lens issue.

Gibbons, whose lens repeatedly popped out of his left eye during games, left camp Monday to visit an eye doctor in San Francisco, and came back with a stronger prescription and a flatter lens that better conforms to his cornea, which was flattened somewhat by the PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) surgery he underwent last fall. That procedure was a touch-up to the Lasik procedure he underwent in 2004.

"It went well," Gibbons said. "One thing I found out was that I was wearing the wrong prescription and the wrong size contacts. As long as it stays in, I think I'm cured, and I'm optimistic it will. Wearing it and walking around with it, it isn't really moving around. Now, we'll see what happens when I go on the field and dive and play with it in."

We don't need any more injuries, even in the heavily-trafficked left field, so let's hope Gibbons' contact stops monkeying around and he starts seeing some pitches better.

Guess The Context: Rib, Eye, Special

The Dodgers are falling this spring about as fast as we can post about it, to the point that we may want to put a conveyor belt straight to Stan Conte's door. And though when most of us hear the phrase "Rib Eye Special", we think of a mouth-watering deal at Morton's Steakhouse--in the Dodgers' case, it refers to three new ailments from three aging Dodgers:

Three of the Dodgers' 30-something veterans -- Jay Gibbons, Casey Blake and Juan Uribe -- were topics for manager Don Mattingly in Monday's medical update.

Gibbons, experiencing continuing left eye problems after offseason laser surgery, will miss several games while undergoing "extended tests," Mattingly said. Gibbons was able to participate in pregame workouts.

Mattingly added that 37-year-old third baseman Blake had an MRI scheduled Monday to define the extent of his rib cage injury, which originally was described as back spasms. Results of the test were not expected to be discussed until Tuesday.

And second baseman Uribe left Sunday's game in Las Vegas after two at-bats as a precautionary measure after reporting "tightness" on Saturday. Uribe also participated in pregame workouts on Monday and is expected to play on Tuesday, Mattingly said. [...]

Mattingly said that Uribe had "tightness," without specifying where, in explaining why he played only four innings on Sunday in Las Vegas. He said Uribe was expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday, but would probably play fewer than the seven innings he hoped to get from his other position players.

We still have two and a half weeks of spring training left. Can we afford to play any games, at this point, without wrapping the remaining players in bubble wrap first?

Karina Updates Us on Dodgers in Venezuela

Big thanks to SoSG fave, Aguilas de Zulia superfan Karina, for this update on Dodgers playing in the Venezuelan Winter League:

Bravos de Margarita, on their playoff roster, have Carlos Monasterios and Ronald Belisario, and they added Jay Gibbons for the postseason. Alberto Bastardo, Dodgers minor leaguer (I think he was with the Isotopes), also is a relief pitcher with that team. If the Bravos make it to the Finals, I'll think someone is mocking me! ;)

Hector Gimenez was playing with his team, the Tigres, against my Aguilas in Maracaibo on Sunday and Monday, but he was bad. His numbers in two games: 8 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI, 5 K. My Aguilas just won the first two games of the playoffs! I'm so full of faith I can't believe myself ;)

Go Aguilas! Rancho Ardiendo on to victory!

Keeping Up With The Gibbons

Maybe it's because of the chimpanzee we keep around the SoSG offices, but we can't get enough of Jay Gibbons. Or at least, I can't get enough of Jay Gibbons. Which made today's LATimes feature article on Gibbons, by multimedia superstar Dylan Hernandez, a nice treat:

There was a time when Jay Gibbons was so desperate to find a job that he wrote a letter to every major league team promising to donate his salary to charity if they signed him to a contract.

That was in 2008.

Asked if he still intended to do so, Gibbons smiled.

"I'm going to hold on to my money now," the outfielder said. "I've got kids now. I think three years of not playing is punishment enough."

Gibbons' average may have dipped to .444 after his 0-for-4 showing Wednesday (his OPS is down about half, to 1.222), but it's still exciting to see a Dodger reserve outfielder up there who has a shot at actually hitting the ball. It's nice to see that he's making the most of this bonus opportunity and he's gibbon everything he's got. Keep up the hot bat, Jay!

photo: Barbara Johnston / U.S. Presswire