When asked that, I just “shrugged.”  If I have to explain that… well, I won’t!

Booooooooo Yaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

The real question is, “Who is Jon Link?”

John Link was acquired in the Juan Pierre trade along with John Ely.  Both are RH pitchers with Ely being the ChiSox 12th best prospect (according to Baseball America) and Link being the 28th best prospect.   Here’s what BA says about Jon Link:

“After leading the minor leagues with 35 saves in 2008, Link was positioned to reach the big leagues last season.  Instead he took a step back. mostly because it took until July for him to throw his slider with the depth and command that he showed previously.    While it wasn’t as consistent, the slider remains one of the best in the organization, but Link seemed to lose confidence in it too quickly and went to his low-90′s fastball more often.  He can be hard on himself when he isn’t having success.  Though he struggled at times against Triple-A hitters, he still finished with more than a strikeout per inning.  His command improved later in the season, after his big league window had closed, but he took advantage of a chance to work as a closer in the Venezuelan League, going 2-0, 2.95 with seven saves in 21 innings of work.”

Jon Link is a student of the game and is pitching coach material once he retires.  He was hit pretty hard at AAA this year, but don’t read much into that.  Watch what he does in the Majors.  I have no clue what that might be.  We will find out soon enough…

Sunday’s Game:  Giants Suck, Giants Suck, Giants Suck!

They said Clayton wasn’t ready to be an Ace.  Who are “they” anyway?

They said “Manny was washed up.”  They?  Who?

P.S.     I have another new writer coming to the blog.  Jared is pretty good isn’t he?   There will be another one soon.  He’s good too!

P.S. 1  There will be a Three Game Series in Cincinnati starting Tuesday.  I’ll be there with my cameraman (son-in law) and my two sons.  It will be a blast.

P.S.2  Vin Scully – 60 years on the same job?  Crazy & Amazing!

P.S. 3  9 Months post-op of having my hip replaced and I moved a Tri-Ax full of Top Soil today.   I feel so Goooooddd (damn, I’m sore)!  My 23 year-old son and my brother who is 9 years younger than me plan to play softball together this year.  I have never played with either one.   It should be fun, although I can’t run very fast right now…

P.S. 4  Troy, cut your sideburns and wear a fedora.  I’ll see you in Cincy!

P.S. 5  Remember Sunday’s win.  It’s one of the best regular season wins in Dodger history.  Understated, quiet, astounding!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE:

People were lauding the Giants Madison Bamgarmer, who was rated Baseball America’s #14 Top Prospect.   Well, times change.  Read this report from ESPN’s Rob Neyer:

Certainly plenty of 19-year-old pitchers tire late during a season, so Baseball America ranked him as the game’s 14th-best prospect this season and Bumgarner’s declining velocity wasn’t a huge story until he showed up at spring training to compete for the fifth spot in the Giants’ rotation. His fastball rarely topped the mid-80s and he predictably got rocked for a 6.43 ERA while handing out seven walks with zero strikeouts.

Read the rest of the article – it gets worse.

The Giants pitching, while pretty good, will not be as good as it currently is, and ours will get much better too.  Kershaw, Kuroda and Padilla have had good starts.  Bills is up next.  The question is Charlie Haeger.  I look for Kuo to activated tomorrow.  The question is whether Link or Ortiz will be gone…

Over the past several years, I have ran into Troy Sexton (Troy from West Virginia) at several Dodger games and Spring Training.  I think I first photographed him before he became Troy from West Virginia.  This first photo was taken by me at a Cincinnati Reds/LA Dodgers Game in 2007.  This was before he acquired the “Troy from West Virginia Persona.”

I had watched his videos on the internet and then in 2008 in Cincy, I ran into him again and we talked before a game.  A Dodger film crew interviewed us about the Dodgers chances and mid-way through the interview, someone flipped a switch and Troy went crazy in the interview.  My son asked me after it was over “What is wrong with him?”  Later that night he was arrested and escorted from Great American Ball Park after an altercation.  The end result was that he was banned for life from Cincinnati.  

I saw him again at Camelback Ranch in the Spring of 2009, and he had a cult following.   Troy is bigger than I am (and I’m pretty big) and about 20 years younger.  He intimidates most people, but not me.  He’s just another goofy guy to  me, but I have been concerned about his conduct for some time now.  Well, here’s the latest from http://www.roguegovernment.com/Ridiculous_News_Update_On_Troy_From_West_Virginia/18942/0/12/12/Y/M.html:

A Hurricane man arrested last year for his conduct at his sons’ midget football practice was removed from a high school basketball game last month for directing a racial slur toward Winfield’s chief of police, a Putnam County prosecutor said Tuesday.

Troy Sexton, 36, was removed by a Winfield police officer from the Winfield-South Charleston boys basketball game on Dec. 22 for making several “loud, vulgar and offensive remarks” about Police Chief Harrison Lucas, Putnam County assistant prosecutor Jennifer Scragg said Tuesday.

Sexton also allegedly offered the Winfield officer a T-shirt from his car that he had made with Lucas’ picture and the words “dumbest cop of the year.”

Sexton pleaded no contest to two counts of domestic battery on Dec. 4 in Putnam County Magistrate Court, and was sentenced to six months in jail and given a suspended one-year sentence and two months of probation. He was arrested in August after holding one of his sons upside-down by the ankle and pushing another to the ground at the boys’ midget football practice at Winfield Elementary School.

Sexton appeared in Putnam Circuit Court on Tuesday to appeal the six-month jail sentence levied by Magistrate Kim M. Blair. Scragg’s remarks came in response to Sexton’s request for probation.

Sexton’s lawyer, Thomas H. Peyton, argued Tuesday the jail sentence doesn’t compare to other domestic battery sentences in the county.

Since 2005, there have been 265 criminal cases in magistrate court where the defendant has been sentenced for domestic battery or assault charges, according to Sexton’s petition for probation. Of those, 19 were sentenced to jail.

Many of the defendants who received alternative sentencing, including probation or fines, were accused of stabbing, slapping and pulling a knife and/or gun on the victims, the petition states.

“While [Sexton's] conduct was highly inappropriate and admittedly criminal, the children did not suffer any serious injuries or long term effects,” the petition states. West Virginia Child Protective Services also found no signs of abuse or neglect in the Sexton home.

Christie Sexton, Troy Sexton’s wife, asked the court Tuesday to allow her husband to return home and receive probation instead of jail time. She said her husband has underlying mental-health issues and has been taking medication for about five years.

Sexton has been diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder and has been seeing a counselor, Peyton said.

Sexton told the court Tuesday he had not consistently taken his medication while on vacation prior to his outburst at his sons’ football practice in August.

“I’m extremely sorry for what happened that day,” he said Tuesday. “I handled it in the most inappropriate of ways, humiliating my children and making a whole bunch of children uncomfortable and a bunch of other parents uncomfortable.”

Putnam Circuit Judge O.C. Spaulding did not make a decision Tuesday, and instead referred the matter to the county probation office to review Sexton’s mental health, and the recent allegations at the Winfield basketball game.

Prior to the basketball game, Winfield’s chief of police had had no contact with Sexton. The outburst was apparently related to the town’s investigation and charges against Sexton, according to prosecutors.

“[Sexton] chose again to exhibit bad behavior at a local sports event where children were in attendance,” prosecutors said in their petition. Several students overheard the remarks and mistook them for a racist attack on some of South Charleston High School’s basketball players, according to the petition.

The Winfield officer who removed Sexton from the basketball game last month was the same one who arrested him at his sons’ football practice in August, according to prosecutors.

Sexton has a cult following on YouTube where he has posted more than 70 videos under the name “Troy from West Virginia.”Most of them focus on sports, more than 20 on Sexton’s admiration for Joe Beimel, a major-league pitcher with the Colorado Rockies.

Sexton also wrote a 1,289-word “Arrest Manifesto” appeared about a week after his arrest on the blog bustedcoverage.com, which bills itself as “Booze, Ladies and Football.” The manifesto is from a YouTube chat Sexton had with a blogger from the Web site.

Here’s his MANIFESTO:

http://www.bustedcoverage.com/?p=18577

This is a sad case.  Troy is a nice enough guy, but has been out of control due to the development of his alter ego “Troy From West Virginia.”

I hope it all works out for him.  I hope that his Kids and Wife are good and he is good. 

Troy – Chill!  There are more important things in life & Take your medication.