ESPN’s Week in Baseball

Following are highlights from this week’s Major League Baseball coverage on ESPN:

Perez and Showalter demonstrate proper catching technique Baseball Tonight analyst Eduardo Perez, a versatile defensive player during his 13 years in the Majors, demonstrated the correct way to block home plate with analyst Buck Showalter.

Winfield explains how Pujols is in Triple Crown contention
On Baseball Tonight’s demo field, Hall of Famer Dave Winfield stepped into the batter’s box to show why Albert Pujols is so dangerous at the plate. Baseball Tonight used an on-screen graphic to show Pujols’ “hot” and “cold” zones.

Sunday Night Baseball interview with Mets manager Manuel
Sunday Night Baseball commentators Jon Miller, Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips interviewed Mets manager Jerry Manuel during their game against Atlanta (July 19). Manuel talked about overcoming his team’s lingering injuries and the trade for outfielder Jeff Francoeur. The Sunday Night Baseball crew also interviewed Braves hitting coach Terry Pendleton.

Gammons gives his Inside Pitch on the Halladay trade rumors
Hall of Famer Peter Gammons spoke with Baseball Tonight host Karl Ravech about Roy Halladay’s most likely destination – Philadelphia – and what other general managers around the league are saying about the possibility of Halladay changing teams. Gammons also wrote a recent ESPN.com column about the topic. Analyst John Kruk shared a similar scenario from his playing days, which is transcribed below.

ESPN’s 20th Year All-Star Team Voting Continues
ESPN continues to celebrate 20 seasons of MLB coverage with fan voting determining a 20th year All-Star Team. ESPN viewers have voted throughout the first half of the season to narrow the list of 10 candidates per position down to three finalists in each category. This week, the fan vote will determine their favorite designated hitter over the past 20 years. The winner – Edgar Martinez, David Ortiz or Frank Thomas – will be announced during Sunday Night Baseball July 26. Last week, Mariano Rivera won the fan vote with 68 percent over Dennis Eckersley (19) and Trevor Hoffman (14) as favorite closer. Next week’s vote will determine the fans’ choice for catcher over the previous 20 seasons.

Kruk, on Phillies need to acquire Roy Halladay:
“I remember in 1993 we knew we were going to the postseason, we had a great team. At the trade deadline, they (the Phillies) pretty much had convinced us, ‘We are getting Randy Johnson. He is going to be a Philadelphia Phillie at the trade deadline. We just have to wait for the game in Seattle to end so we can make the announcement’. About 10 minutes after 12, the GM, Lee Thomas (and) Jim Fregosi, the manager, came out and said look, ‘We’re not getting him. We couldn’t get the deal done.’

“It was demoralizing. Yes, we went to the World Series, but we think we could have won the series if we had Randy Johnson. I think that’s the same way the Phillies players are going to look at this. ‘We had a chance to get him for prospects that we don’t know how good they’re going to be for a guy that’s established, and we’re going to have him for next year also.’ You’re looking at (Chase) Utley, (Ryan) Howard, (Jimmy) Rollins, these guys are in the prime of their careers. You get this guy for another year, who knows? The Phillies could win two or three World Series in a row with Roy Halladay, that’s how good he is. I make the deal if I’m the Phillies. I try to get the ace, put him with (Cole) Hamels, and try to run this postseason and next and win three in a row.”