Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Sometimes info is easier digested in graphs, at least for me. Check out the website Flip Flop Fly Ball and youâll see what I mean.
Itâs full of neat baseball-related graphs, maps and images that are kinda neat. For my buddy DonS, they even have a video montage of Ichiro Suzuki.
Hereâs a fun boxscore to look over.
| Lake Elsinore | 8 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 33 | 32 | 1 | |
| High Desert | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 26 | 5 |
Yesterday, High Desert had 8 players with a multi-hit game, four players with four rbis and 5 homeruns for the game⌠and they lost.
No, it was the Lake Elsinore Storm who defeated High Desert Mavericks 33-18 in a Class A California League matchup. Storm leadoff hitter Brad Chalk had 9 at-bats in the regulation nine inning game. Six Storm players had four or more hits. Matt Clark and Felix Carrasco combined for 11 rbis.
When the eighth inning started, the score was âonlyâ 22-11. The Storm managed to put across eleven more and High Desert werenât about to give up. However, their seven runs in the last two innings werenât enough.
Looking at the scoreboard today⌠no score yet.
Bats must be tired.
Want Magglio Ordonezâ chopped hair clippings? Me neither. But somebody does. Ordonez cut his hair and itâs being sold on Ebay for a good cause.
If you are itchinâ (poor choice of words, I know) to run your fingers through Magsâ locks, be prepared to pony up because the current bid is $5100.
Magglio post-haircut
The proceeds will go to Imerman Angels which is a foundation which in their words âconnects a person fighting cancer today ("cancer fighter") with someone who has beaten the same type of cancer ("cancer survivor"). The relationship provides a fighter the opportunity to ask personal questions and receive encouragement from someone who is uniquely familiar with the situation.â
The auction winner also gets 18 tickets in his skybox for the September 15th game plus an autographed bat. Act now! The listing will only be up for 10 days.
Great. I drafted a stoner with my first pick in my APBA league last year.
Of course, the media is handling the way they always do. They trot out their trite template they use for articles in these situations. Such articles include the apology from the player (âI fully understand the ramifications of my actions. I have and will accept any and all consequencesâ.. blah blah), how disappointed the team and league is in the player but they will support him and meaningless accolades in this inappropriate time (Asst GM Randy Bush: "I think he would never make excuses. That’s the kind of guy he isâŚ").
Of course in this situation we canât neglect the over-analyzation by countless journalists and bloggers of Soto. Jjust maybe this all might have to do with his year long slump, right??.
ESPNâs Nick Friedell seems to think so.
In all seriousness, though, this news is embarrassing for everyone involved, most notably Soto. The Cubs’ catcher is hitting just .228 on the year and looks like a shell of the player that was the NL Rookie of the Year last season. He doesn’t look nearly as powerful, or as fit, as he did when he clubbed 23 homers and 86 RBIs in 2008. In short, he’s been a disappointment, and now with this news being public plenty of fans will wonder if all the adulation got to his head.
A little over two years ago we had a similar situation when then White Sox pitcher Freddie Garcia was found to have been found to have tested positive for pot at the WBC. We all know what happened to Garciaâs effectiveness after that.
Maybe Friedell has a point.
Good news for baseball fans who use Boxee. MLB games will be coming to Boxee, the streaming video service.
From the Boxee blog:
We are excited to announce a partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB.com) to offer MLB.TV Premium to boxee users.
MLB.TV Premium on boxee means you can now watch thousands of baseball games, live and on-demand in HD (where available). on top of that, MLB.TV Premium offers DVR functionality to pause and rewind a live game. MLB.com represents a big step for boxee as we hope this is the first of many different live sports offerings we can bring to you. We hope other sports follow MLB.comâs lead of giving fans a choice of how they enjoy watching their favorite teamsâŚ.
Iâve never used Boxee but if anyone does, Iâd love to hear how well this works once it gets up and running.
Game one saw LSU overcome five Texas home runs, winning in the 11th inning when Mikie Mahtook singled home D.J. LeMahieu for a 7-6 win. The Longhorns rebounded to win game 2 behind Taylor Jungmann, who pitched a complete game, allowing only 5 hits, & one run, as Texas won 5-1. A five run LSU sixth inning busted open a close game as the Tigers cruised to an 11-4 victory, and the NCAA Baseball Championship.
LSU Tigers drafted were outfielder Jared Mitchell in the 1st round by the White Sox, D.J. LeMahieu a secondbaseman was drafted in the 2nd round by the Cubs, the 152nd player taken was righthanded pitcher Harold Coleman by the Royals, the Blue Jays selected outfielder Ryan Schimpf who was the 160th player taken, the Twins chose outfielder Michael Dean, and firstbaseman Sean Ochinko was taken by the Blue Jays.
Texas Longhorns drafted were Brandon Belt a firstbaseman taken by the Giants and lefthanded pitcher Austin Wood was selected by the Tigers.
The bloodlines were strong in this year’s MLB First Year Player Draft, almost 50 players have some blood tie to a former player. Brett Wallach, a righthanded pitcher, was selected in the 3rd round by the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the White Sox are hoping lightning will strike twice as they reached into the bargain basement, selecting the son of Harold Baines, HB2, in the 45th round.
| 1 | BOS | Reymond Fuentes | Carlos Beltran | Cousin |
| 3 | LAD | Brett Wallach | Tim Wallach | Father |
| 3 | BOS | David Renfroe | Laddie Renfroe | Father |
| 4 | OAK | Max Stassi | Myril Hoag | Uncle |
| 6 | DET | Daniel Fields | Bruce Fields | Father |
| 6 | TOR | Kristopher Hobson | Butch Hobson | Father |
| 6 | TEX | Ruben Sierra Jr. | Ruben Sierra | Father |
| 6 | SEA | Brian Moran | B.J. Surhoff | Uncle |
| 12 | BAL | Steven Bumbry | Al Bumbry | Father |
| 14 | TOR | Lance Durham | Leon Durham | Father |
| 16 | SD | Griffin Benedict | Bruce Benedict | Father |
| 16 | BOS | Luke Bard | Daniel Bard | Brother |
| 18 | DET | Eric Roof | Gene Roof | Father |
| 19 | NYY | Luke Murton | Matt Murton | Brother |
| 20 | DET | James Gulliver | Glenn Gulliver | Father |
| 24 | LAA | Taylor Kinzer | Matt Kinzer | Father |
| 29 | TOR | Zach Outman | Josh Outman | Brother |
| 30 | TEX | Anthony Hutting | Jamie Shields | Cousin |
| Aaron Rowand | Cousin | |||
| 30 | TB | Marcus Proctor | Marcus Jensen | Father |
| 32 | TEX | Reggie Williams Jr. | Reggie Williams | Father |
| 34 | TOR | Jonathan Fernandez | Tony Fernandez | Father |
| 34 | WAS | Shane McCatty | Steve McCatty | Father |
| 36 | BOS | Mike Yastrzemski | Carl Yastrzemski | Grandfather |
| 40 | LAD | Ryan Christenson | Gary Christenson | Father |
| 40 | PHI | Robert Amaro | Ruben Amaro | Uncle |
| 41 | ARI | Cade Kreuter | Chad Kreuter | Father |
| 42 | OAK | Blake Crosby | Bobby Crosby | Brother |
| 43 | DET | Andrew Allen | Rod Allen | Father |
| 43 | CWS | Tyler Williams | Ken Williams | Father |
| 44 | WAS | Hoby Milner | Brian Milner | Father |
| 45 | ARI | Beau Amaral | Rich Amaral | Father |
| 45 | CWS | Harold Baines, Jr. | Harold Baines | Father |
| 45 | BOS | Kyle Arnesberg | Brad Arnesberg | Father |
| 46 | LAA | Philip Bando | Chris Bando | Father |
| Sal Bando | Uncle | |||
| 46 | WAS | Seth Greene | Tommy Greene | Father |
| 47 | SEA | David Holman | Brian Holman | Father |
| 47 | CHC | Joseph Jocketty | Walt Jocketty | Father |
| 48 | DET | Jake Porcello | Rick Porcello | Brother |
| 48 | KC | Kevin Kuntz | Rusty Kuntz | Father |
| 49 | COL | Mark Tracy | Chad Tracy | Brother |
| Jim Tracy | Father |
Youth Sports Parents describes a dramatic comeback at the Tee Ball World Series.
T.J. McCants, 7, slugged a home run. This capped a nine-run rally. And in the championship game, Cantonment upended Northeast Pensacola Blue, 31-29. That’s right – 31-29.
My thoughts:
They have a Tee Ball World Series? They have winners and losers? They actually keep score?
Thatâs a different Tee Ball than the one my kids played.
Either case, congrats to Master McCants and his team. That homerun must have been a sight to see.
For those who havenât noticed, Albert Pujols has done amazingly well with the bases loaded this year. Here are his stats with three runners on.
At this point in the season, Pujols is five for five with 3 homeruns and 16 rbis. Yikes!
If you believe in such stats, some of his other clutch stats are not as juicy, though. Interestingly, he is only 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position with two outs.
It was 98 degrees, with HIGH humidity when we entered the park. The turning point in game one came when Jose Contreras, using a slide step to avoid a stolen base, served up a two run meatball to Brandon Phillips. On a 1-1 pitch Ozzie Guillen called apitchout, but guessed wrong. I just said, I’d double up on another pitchout, instead the two run bomb turned a one run lead into a one run deficit, with Chicago’s anemic bats made look insurmountable, two hits through 8 innings, two 9th inning hits cut the deficit, which had risen to two, once again to one, which was where it ended.
Just killed time on Saturday, before long it was time to head over to the Great American Ballpark for a sellout at the first Civil Rights Game which counted, on hand were celebrities Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby, Frank Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Hank Aaron, and former President Bill Clinton. The first 20,000 fans received a very nice Frank Robinson replica jersey, I gave mine to very nice couple, who’d missed out on getting one.
Almost before I’d settled into my seat Clayton Richard & the Sox were trailing 5-0 to the Reds & their best pitcher Johnny Cueto. The turning point in this game came when Gordon Beckham turned a fastball around for a three run bomb, and turned a blowout into a ballgame, in which the White Sox hit four homers, and won going away. A Red fan had thrown Beckham’s first home run ball back on the field, but remarkably Gordon didn’t want it.
In the morning I packed, ate breakfast, checked my e-mail, and was checking out the Reds Hall of Fame, outside the Great American Ballpark. Several players from the Negro Leagues were on hand, signing autographs, and they had a movie about old Crosley Field, which makes you wonder why they didn’t make GABP a replica of Crosley, GABP isn’t very impressive.
The turning point in the series finale came after Mark Buehrle pitched 7 innings of shutout ball and handed a 3-0 lead over to Scott Linebrink. There was one run in, runners on first & second, one out (a well hit ball to RF), in a now 3-1 ballgame, when the batter lined one to SS on which Jerry Hairston, Jr. was doubled off 2nd to end the inning. Every youngster knows to let the liners go through, especially when trailing by two with less than two out, maybe they should tell JH2. The Sox scored in the top of the 9th to make it 4-1, and Bobby Jenks was brought on in the bottom of the 9th to protect the victory. Gordon Beckham looked like Brooks Robinson at 3B and had a double, single, & walk in four plate appearances on Sunday, after hitting his first longball the night before. But really the sparkplug for the team has been their new/old guy, leadoff man Scott Podsednik, who’s batting .320, and stealing bases.