Where are they now? Sid Bream
ATLANTA -- Former Braves first baseman Sid Bream said without hesitation that he launched a successful career off The Slide.
You remember: Game 7; 1992 National League Championship Series; Barry Bonds firing home from left field; a lumbering Bream eluding the sweeping tag.
"In all truthfulness," Bream said, "there's that one play and that's a great thing. But the overall time I was in Atlanta and watching a team go from last place to first place, watching their minds change and watching the city come to life was such an exciting time.
"Yes, there's the play. But it was a platform for me to do a lot of great things."
And that journey has taken Bream, who will turn 48 on Sunday, to University Park, Pa., where he is in his first season as the hitting coach for the State College Spikes, the Pirates' Class A affiliate.
The results haven't been what Bream would have liked -- "I can't stand to lose and we've been doing an awful lot of that," he said -- but the experience has been rewarding.
"He loves coaching," Sid's wife, Michele, said. "He loves the interaction. I always thought he had a gift for coaching."
It has been a hectic couple of weeks for the Breams. Sid's middle son, Tyler, 18, received a baseball scholarship to attend Liberty University, Sid's alma mater, in the fall.
"He's really excited about it," Sid said. "Seeing some of the talent in this organization, there's no doubt my son could be playing here now. ... Who knows where my life would have been without going to Liberty, and I'm glad that he'll be under that same umbrella for several years."
Sid's oldest son, Michael, recently graduated from Liberty and was married over the summer.
"Now we can relax a little bit," Michele said.
Sid has especially enjoyed the time he has been able to spend with his youngest son, Austin, who is the bat boy for the Spikes. Clubhouses were usually closed to families when Sid played with the Braves in the early 1990s, so both Michael and Tyler were unable to experience life as a big leaguer. The same can't be said for Austin, who is already on the Pirates' payroll at age 14.
Sid has also used his professional career to tour the world and pass his faith-based messages on to the masses. He has even traveled to Kosovo to speak with the troops overseas.
"These are big-time opportunities," he said.
Also a big hunter, Sid has twice traveled to Africa and is hoping to make a trip to New Mexico during the offseason.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Hanley's homer sends Marlins to wet win
MIAMI -- In trying to right a downward trend for the Marlins' offense lately, Hanley Ramirez snapped a negative streak of his own.
Coming into the second of a four-game series against the Cardinals on Tuesday night, Ramirez had just one hit in his past 19 at-bats with runners in scoring position. But his 20th plate appearance almost made it worth the wait.
Ramirez drilled a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the second inning to give the Marlins a one-run lead they wouldn't relinquish in a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals in front of 14,211 at Dolphin Stadium. The game was interrupted for nearly two hours by a downpour in the fifth inning.
"That was a huge win," said Marlins starter Chris Volstad, who was the winning pitcher after bouncing back from a rough first inning to shut down the Cardinals for four frames prior to the rain delay. "That's uplifting when you see your team back you up and put runs on the board."
With the win, the Marlins pulled to within 1 1/2 games of the Phillies in the National League East. Florida is still in third place in the division, a half-game behind New York.
Down by two runs with runners on second and third and two outs in the second inning, Ramirez got a 2-0 offspeed pitch from Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse and blasted it way over the left-field scoreboard to give the Marlins the lead. It was the second straight day the All-Star shortstop has stepped up for Florida's stagnant offense. On Monday, Ramirez reached base four times, while his teammates combined to go 5-for-28.
Over his past seven games, Ramirez has gone 10-for-30 (a .300 average) with a home run and five RBIs, while his team has batted .258.
"When I was hitting, I told myself to be patient, see some good pitches and hit it hard somewhere," Ramirez said. "I think it was supposed to be away, and it just hung there, middle-in.
"It's a long season. You're going to be up and down. You just have to stay humble and try to help the team in any way you can."
Volstad has been pitching pretty well in his rookie season.
Too bad his family hasn't had a chance to witness his success in person.
Going into Tuesday's start, which produced his first win at home, Volstad was 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA when pitching at Dolphin Stadium, about an hour away from his native Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. On the road, he's 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA.
It didn't look like it was going to be an easy night for the right-hander at first. The Cardinals loaded the bases to start the game, and Ryan Ludwick followed with a bases-clearing double before the 21-year-old could record his first out.
But after that rough patch, Volstad settled down, giving up just two hits and one walk in the next four frames and retiring the last six batters he faced before exiting the game because of the rain delay.
"For me, those are the things that you look for in a young player," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He settled down. And you wish there hadn't been a rain delay to see how long he can go, because his stuff just kept on getting better and better."
The Marlins got on the board in the bottom of the first with a couple of two-out hits. After Jorge Cantu -- back in the lineup after getting an off-day on Monday -- singled to left field, Mike Jacobs hit a double to the left-center-field gap to score Cantu from first. It was Jacobs' fifth RBI in his past four games.
Then, with one out, nobody on and Ramirez batting in the bottom of the fifth, hard rain began to fall.
After a one-hour, 53-minute rain delay, it was up to the Marlins' bullpen to preserve the lead.
They did just that.
Mark Hendrickson, Renyel Pinto and Arthur Rhodes combined to pitch three shutout innings after the delay. Then, in the ninth inning, Kevin Gregg quickly retired the Cardinals in order to record his 26th save (and his 11th straight) to finally get Volstad off the schneid at home.
"The whole year [the bullpen has] been doing well, and again tonight, they picked it up, and those guys are awesome right there," Volstad said. "That first inning, it didn't seem like it was going anywhere, but I was able to settle in, and after that, I was good."
Copyright 2008 Sporting Life UK Ltd, All Rights Reserved.
Webb talks about deal that wasn't done
PHOENIX -- Brandon Webb wanted to set the record straight.
The right-hander heard on the radio driving to the ballpark Tuesday night -- a start he made and won in a 3-1 complete-game effort against the Pirates -- that the reason a contract extension with the D-backs did not get done two months ago was because he was asking for too much money.
In fact, he said the two sides had agreed on the years and total dollar amount.
A source with knowledge of the negotiations told MLB.com that the extension would have been for three years and would have added $54 million to his existing deal. There would also have been a club option for a fourth year in 2014.
"As far as right now, it's tabled," Webb said. "We actually had agreed on terms. We were right there. Things just didn't pan out. I just want to let fans know that I'm not the one that pulled it off the table, that we just didn't see eye to eye on a couple things and that was it."
Webb, who is signed through next year with a club option for 2010, made it clear that his preference is to stay in Arizona longer than that.
"I love Arizona, and this is my first choice," he said.
D-backs GM Josh Byrnes declined to reveal why the two sides were unable to agree.
"Can't go into detail," he said. "There were a lot of points that we agreed on and just couldn't quite get there so we decided not to let it drag on throughout the whole year. We've had discussions with Webb. At this point they're tabled, but we have a lot of time to revisit the topic."
Webb's agent, Jonathan Maurer, also declined to get into specifics.
"We were close, it didn't get done and there are no talks going on right now," Maurer said. "We're going to let Brandon focus on the rest of the season and hopefully the playoffs."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Griffey moves from Reds to White Sox
CINCINNATI -- In the weeks leading up to Thursday's Trade Deadline, Ken Griffey Jr.'s name never surfaced once among the flotsam of rumors and speculation around the Majors.
That's why the trade of Griffey was a stunner. The superstar outfielder approved a deal that sent him to the White Sox on Thursday in exchange for right-handed pitcher Nick Masset and Minor League second baseman Danny Richar. Teams had until 4 p.m. ET on Thursday to make deals without having players required to clear waivers.
It didn't take very long for the deal to come together.
"They approached me [Wednesday] afternoon," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. "We didn't have a lot of time to get it done, so it tends to move a lot faster the last 24 hours. I was surprised. They obviously had a need for another bat in their lineup and a need for another outfielder. I know [White Sox GM] Kenny Williams had interest in Junior in the past, and looked at this as a good opportunity to add him to his club."
Players with at least 10 years in the Majors, the last five with one team, can veto any trade. Griffey, 38, held those 10-5 rights as a 20-year Major League veteran who was in his ninth season with the Reds.
Once Williams called around midday Wednesday, he and Jocketty spoke through each team's games that night. Jocketty sought manager Dusty Baker's opinion, while Williams talked with his manager, Ozzie Guillen. After Reds owner Bob Castellini signed off, the proposal was brought to Griffey after the game against the Astros in Houston.
"He was a little bit surprised, maybe," Jocketty said. "He thought about it and said he wanted to talk to his family about it. I think it's a very good opportunity for him. They obviously wanted him, pursued him and came after him. That's got to be a good feeling for him, I guess."
The trade had to also be approved by the Commissioner's office, presumably because of the amount of money that will change hands in the deal. The Reds, which had a scheduled off-day in Washington on Thursday, are splitting the remainder of salary in Griffey's contract that pays him $12.5 million this season and the $4 million buyout on his option year.
For Griffey, he goes from a non-contending 51-58 Reds team that's 13 1/2 games out of first place to a White Sox team fighting in a pennant race. Chicago (60-46) entered Thursday leading the American League Central by 1 1/2 games over the Twins. Griffey will also likely return to playing center field, which he hasn't done since 2006.
Griffey has never played in a World Series during his Hall of Fame career.
"He's a legend in baseball and this is an opportunity for him to be in a World Series," Castellini told MLB.com. "I think it's a good opportunity for him. You have mixed emotions when you lose a guy like that, no question. He's a Hall of Famer, a Cooperstown man and a Cincinnatian. You don't do something like this without having a lot of different feelings."
The departure of Griffey from Cincinnati came almost two months after he was regaled for hitting his 600th career home run. He hit No. 608, his final homer for the Reds, in Wednesday's 9-5 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park. He ranks one homer behind Sammy Sosa for fifth place on the all-time list.
This season, Griffey is batting .245 with 15 home runs and 53 RBIs but finished his Reds career riding a 12-game hitting streak. He was expected to become free agent this winter after he completed the final year of a nine-year contract. The Reds held a $16.5 million club option for 2009 that was widely expected to not be picked up, even by Griffey.
"We were not going to exercise the option," Jocketty confirmed.
Masset, 26, was acquired by the White Sox from Texas in a 2006 trade that sent pitcher Brandon McCarthy to the Rangers. Expected to join the club on Friday when the Reds open their series with the Nationals, he can both start and work from the bullpen.
"We're really short on starting pitching," Jocketty said. "It gives us a little more depth. He'll be used initially out of the bullpen but he can also start."
Richar, 25, has not played in the Major Leagues this season. As a rookie in 2007, he hit .230 with six home runs and 15 RBIs in 56 games. He has spent the better part of six seasons in the Minors, most recently with Triple-A Charlotte, with which he was batting .262 with nine homers and 39 RBIs in 62 games.
Following a prolific 11-year run with the Mariners from 1989-99 that saw him emerge as one of the game's all-time greats, Griffey asked for and received a trade to his hometown Reds on Feb. 10, 2000. Although he hit 210 homers with Cincinnati, it was a star-crossed stay.
There were numerous serious injuries took their toll on Griffey's production. He never achieved the kind of success with the Reds that had he enjoyed in Seattle.
The Reds have already begun the process of paying tribute to Griffey at Great American Ball Park. For the time being, a giant banner saluting his 600th homer will remain on display at the stadium's entrance, but with a thank you sign added. His home run counter in right-center field will also be altered to salute his time in Cincinnati.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Two-run 10th extends win streak
CHICAGO -- The stage was set for arguably Orlando Cabrera's biggest moment as a member of the White Sox during the 10th inning of Tuesday night's contest against the Indians at U.S. Cellular Field.
And before Cabrera delivered a single to center to score Dewayne Wise with the deciding run in a 3-2 victory, the White Sox sixth straight win, manager Ozzie Guillen predicted the hit was coming.
At least Guillen made that particular claim during his postgame press conference.
"I was talking with [bench coach] Joey [Cora] during that at-bat, and I said that I remember this kid in Montreal and he was the best clutch hitter I had ever seen," said Guillen of his dugout conversation with two outs in the 10th. "Joey said he did it in Anaheim, too. All of a sudden, he got the base hit."
Cabrera produced the team's fifth last-at-bat victory of the season, getting the big hit off of Joe Borowski (1-3). But Cabrera certainly did not stand alone in the winner's circle for the White Sox (48-35) on this night.
Cleveland (37-47) took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th on Casey Blake's solo home run to left off Matt Thornton. After singles from Ryan Garko and Kelly Shoppach put runners on first and second with two outs, Guillen opted to go to rookie right-hander Adam Russell to face Franklin Gutierrez.
In Russell's fourth career appearance, he fanned Gutierrez and then watched as his first Major League victory arrived.
"We cannot rely on the same guys every day," Guillen said. "With Russell, I just took a chance with him. That's the way you start learning [how] to pitch in the big leagues."
Borowski set down Joe Crede and Jermaine Dye rather easily to start the bottom of the 10th, before falling behind with two pitches outside the strike zone thrown to Alexei Ramirez. The Cuban Missile found liftoff on the next pitch, lofting a drive into the left-field stands for his sixth home run and a 2-2 tie.
Left fielder Ben Francisco looked as if he had a shot to haul in Ramirez's towering fly ball. But Francisco ran into the wall and, in turn, ran out of room.
"Until he jumped and the ball landed, I wasn't sure," said a smiling Ramirez through interpreter Ozney Guillen. "I was just looking to make contact and the count was in my favor. I knew I hit it hard, but I hit it so high that I wasn't sure."
"Cuban Missile is making a lot of adjustments right away," Guillen added. "You can pitch him a different way, then late in the game, he looks for a pitch to drive. He's [gotten] the big RBIs for us all year long."
Wise was next on the list of heroes, lining a 1-2 pitch to right for a single. He quickly picked up his fourth stolen base of the year and came home on Cabrera's line shot on a 2-1 pitch from Borowski.
Much like the storyline of 2005, all 25 men on the White Sox are contributing to their winning ways.
"Pinch-hitting is one thing I know I have to do," Wise said. "If I get a hit, I know my job is to try to steal a base. Ozzie already has shown confidence in me before, so I was relaxed and just looking for a good pitch to hit."
"If we want to win, that's what we have to do," added Guillen of getting contributions from his entire roster.
Tuesday's contest primarily played out as a pure pitchers' duel between John Danks and Cliff Lee, with each pitcher allowing one run over eight innings. Danks, who yielded a home run to Shoppach on the first pitch of the sixth, matched career highs with eight strikeouts and by working eight innings.
Lee, meanwhile, allowed Ramirez's sacrifice fly in the second and nothing more, making for a little greater challenge than usual for the White Sox southpaw Danks.
"You know who you're going up against," said Danks, who walked one, threw 63 of his 98 pitches for strikes and lowered his ERA to 2.50. "Cliff Lee has been the best pitcher in the American League all year. I knew that I was one pitch away, you know, to give them a one-run lead. ... Unfortunately, I gave the run back, but the offense picked us up."
Danks celebrated in the clubhouse with reliever Scott Linebrink, who pitched a perfect ninth, when Ramirez tied the game. They were still there when Cabrera came through two batters later, missing Wise getting nailed by a Toby Hall shaving cream pie sneak attack during the post-celebration interview.
It's all fun and games on the South Side of Chicago right now, as the White Sox maintained their 2 1/2-game lead over the Twins in the American League Central with their eighth straight home win, and dropped the Tigers to six games behind. It's a different key contributor every night for the White Sox, and Tuesday ultimately belonged to Cabrera -- Guillen's version of Mr. Clutch.
"Everybody did their part, and the pitching was great," Cabrera said. "You just get lucky sometimes. You know, you get a good pitch and you put a good swing and the ball fell. I just got a good pitch to hit today."
"Anytime you can win a game late, it's fun," Danks added. "At no point, even when we were down in the 10th, did we think we were out of the game."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Zumaya yet to find accustomed form
DETROIT -- Just because Joel Zumaya's 99-mph fastball is back doesn't mean his command has gone along with it.
While the Tigers walked off with a win in Wednesday's rain-delayed game, it came after the Cardinals twice pulled ahead.
Both go-ahead runs from St. Louis scored with Zumaya on the mound, but manager Jim Leyland cautioned against expecting Zumaya to be in midseason form after being activated from the disabled list last Friday.
"I can understand a little bit with Zumaya," Leyland said. "I think we warned everybody. He's not right yet. He's healthy, but he's not right yet, because he hasn't been out there. That's not his fault. I don't mean that as a negative. I just mean that it's going to take time to get him and [Fernando] Rodney back in sync.
"Obviously, we're tickled to death that they're back, and it's going to be wonderful for us, but it's going to take a little time."
It's not a health problem. Otherwise, the velocity wouldn't be there. It appears to be more a matter of mechanics, and a matter of time.
Some of Zumaya's fastballs looked like they were two-seamers the way they darted towards the dirt, but many of them were simply low. After entering with two runners on in the seventh inning, he gave up back-to-back walks to Chris Duncan and Yadier Molina before ending the threat. He left with two outs in the eighth after Brendan Ryan walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on an Aaron Miles bloop double.
Everything else about Zumaya's outing was strong. He topped out at 99 mph on a handful of pitches, but he also mixed in his changeup effectively on the occasions he used it, including a solid offspeed pitch in the dirt on a 1-2 count to send down Skip Schumaker swinging. He'll need that to throw off hitters occasionally as they gear up for his fastball.
The outing more than doubled his walk total to five in 2 2/3 innings over three outings since coming back. However, he walked just two batters over four innings in four outings during his time in Triple-A Toledo as part of his Minor League rehab assignment earlier this month.
"Right now his delivery is not exactly what we need it to be, but that'll get straightened out," Leyland said. "I'm not worried about that. The health is there, and that's the thing I'm happiest about. The rest will take care of itself. He's just not in total sync with his delivery, but he will be."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Six homers lift Athletics, Duchscherer
PHOENIX -- The Oakland Athletics found out on Tuesday night what it was like to take batting practice off a former Cy Young Award winner.
The A's pounded Diamondbacks ace Brandon Webb and just about every other pitcher in the state of Arizona, on their way to a 15-1 victory at Chase Field. The A's tagged Webb for seven runs in 3 1/3 innings, as he had his earliest exit of the season in his first outing against an American League team.
Oakland had all sorts of season highs in the game, including six home runs and scoring 15 runs for the second time this year, as the A's extended their winning streak to four.
"Our offense was the best performance of the year," said A's manager Bob Geren. "We had [six] homers, five doubles, nine walks. That's obviously a pretty good recipe to score runs."
Webb (11-3), the 2006 Cy Young Award winner, entered the game leading the Majors in wins, with 11, and was fourth in the National League with a 2.73 ERA. It was the most runs he's allowed since Oct. 1, 2006, and his five walks tied a career high.
Justin Duchscherer (7-4) tossed eight innings, allowing just one run on five hits, lowering his ERA to 2.08. He was efficient, throwing only 93 pitches, 67 for strikes. He didn't need much run support, but he got it early on as the first two batters of the game, Mark Ellis and Ryan Sweeney, scored.
"Early we scored some runs, and it gave me a little bit of a cushion where I felt like I could go out there and really pound the strike zone and let my defense do its job," Duchscherer said. "They made some great plays behind me and they just kept adding on."
It was a different story at the dish for Duchscherer, who batted in just his second game of the season, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. Duchscherer had a bit of a scare in an early at-bat when he thought he tweaked his hip while swinging at a Webb pitch.
The A's scored in each of the first five innings and got two homers from Ellis, and one each from Eric Chavez, Kurt Suzuki, Bobby Crosby and Rajai Davis, ending a six-game drought without a long ball, their longest such drought since 1983, when they went nine games without a homer.
Ellis batted leadoff for just the ninth time this season and went 3-for-4 with two homers and a double, four RBIs and four runs. The second baseman also had two of the A's nine walks.
"We felt good," Ellis said. "We're swinging the bats pretty well. This is the time of the year where we usually start swinging the bats better."
No. 2 hitter Ryan Sweeney joined Ellis in the 3-for-4 club at the top of the order, as he hit two doubles, scored four runs and had two walks. Sweeney has an eight-game hitting streak.
"I'm just trying to move [Ellis] over, and then [Jack] Cust and Chavez can drive them in," Sweeney said. "That worked out well tonight."
Crosby also had three hits.
Former D-backs farmhand Carlos Gonzalez, who was acquired by the A's as part of an eight-player deal with Wednesday's starting D-backs pitcher, Dan Haren, made an outstanding catch at the wall to rob Arizona's Stephen Drew of at least an extra-base hit, ending the eighth inning.
"I'd love to see it over again," Geren said. "I look forward to seeing that. That will definitely be on TV. I can't imagine 10 better plays there on 'Baseball Tonight' than that. If there are a better 10 plays, I really want to see the other 10."
Ellis said the final score definitely wouldn't reflect the perception of the game heading in, with two strong pitchers going at it.
"You kind of expected more of a pitchers' duel tonight," Ellis said. "We were able to take advantage of some pitches."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
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