Rejoice! Your ball club, led by newly appointed GM Ned Coletti, has taken two big steps towards getting back in the ring for the rematch against your cross-town brethren, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, whom you once had stuck in a headlock for so, so long. Not only have your beloved boys in blue signed one of the most underrated free agents on the market this off-season (how A.J. Burnett all of a sudden became the savior of baseball is beyond me) in 2003 AL Batting Champ 3B Bill Mueller; but you also picked up the first real leadoff threat to come to DodgerTown since Brett Butler in SS Rafael Furcal. So not only have you added some real pop to your lineup with the switch hitting antics of Mueller and the dynamic Furcal, but you've also upgraded the left side of your infield considerably. Add that to the fact that once Cesar Izturis comes back from Tommy John elbow surgery after the All-Star Break, he'll probably take over at second base, shuffling Jeff Kent over to first; you'll have 4 All-Star caliber players patrolling your infield. In addition to all of that going on, the Dodgers are also said to be in the running for landing Nomar Garciaparra, who apparently now can play any position on the baseball diamond--any position but shortstop.
]]> http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/12/15/232414/73     We all know, or at least should know, by now that Oakland Athletics GM Billy Beane is one of the best, if not the best, in baseball. The only argument one would have against him is that he hasn't won anything yet; and sure, winning is the biggest criteria when judging the performance of just about anything in sports. Whether it be playing the game, coaching, managing, anything--the first thing people look at are the wins and the championships. While Beane obviously doesn't have any rings or trophies just yet, the one thing Beane can claim is the fact that he's perennially put together a young, exciting team that has finished no worse than second in the AL West since 1999, Beane's second year on the job; winning the division 3 times in 4 years. What's more is that Beane has done this with a payroll of practically peanuts; forcing Beane to try and squeeze what he can out of all his players in the 3 to 4, sometimes 5 year timeframe--often having to either trade away his prized superstars for younger, more raw talent or just let it walk when the time comes for the respective player's big payday (see: Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Tim
Hudson, Mark Mulder, Keith Foulke, Johnny Damon).
]]> http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/12/10/235556/13 Alright, so it's a cheap shot. Calling Alfonso Soriano "Alfonso Sorry-ano", I mean. It's really not fair--making fun of a man's last name. It's not like he can help it. But the truth is I've never liked Aflonso Soriano. "Boy with Man-Head", I used to call him. Ever see the frame on that guy? He looks like something from the X-Files. It's probably why he runs so well--he's spent half of his life running from David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. But I digress... there are more reasons for me not to like Alfonso Soriano than just the fact that he looks like an orange stuck on top of a pencil (zing!). He always does well against my Red Sox, especially when he was a member of the hated Yankees.
]]> http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/12/8/233924/210     In an article in the Boston Globe this morning prior to the announcement of the Edgar Renteria trade, Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield openly pondered things like, "What the heck is our team going look like next year?" and "Why are they dismantling the whole team? The whole starting infield is gone. Manny will be gone. If they don't sign Johnny, he'll be gone. If they trade Trot, holy cow, the only guys left will be [Jason] Varitek and I and [David] Ortiz."
]]> http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/12/6/22818/2181     The 2005 Philadelphia Eagles were pronounced dead late Monday Night; after being found in their snow covered home at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia after being on life support for months. ]]> http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/12/5/1142/03907 This past week, rumors ran rampant about a possible deal between the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies involving two little-known journeymen outfielders, Manny Ramirez and Bobby Abreu. Apparently they both have some offensive potential; one's a Gold Glove winner, the other a former World Series MVP... or something. I didn't even know that the Red Sox had won a recent World Series. I'm even told that the A-brew kid won a Home Run Derby somewhere--I don't know, I'm not even that into baseball.
]]> http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/12/1/11117/6740 If you're feeling like new Phillies GM Pat Gillick has done more in the past month that he's been in office than former GM Ed Wade did in the past eight years, you certainly have good reason. In the four weeks since Gillick replaced Wade in South Philly, he's made some shrewd moves that seemingly already outshine what his predecessor accomplished in close to a decade in charge.  Let's recap, shall we? In the past week alone, Gillick has...]]> http://www.sportscolumn.com/story/2005/11/30/0912/5049     When heading into writing anything as a journalist, you're supposed to remain objective; to write the piece without bias or slant. But also in writing, especially in sports writing, you should have some passion about your subject. In this particular case, the latter is keeping me from maintaining the former--I have such great passion, or at least emotion, about the subject that I am about to talk about that its hindering me from keeping a balanced perspective. I'll do my best to adhere to the strict rules of journalistic writing, but I'm not making any promises.

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