Teddy Ballgame | The Baseball Zealot

4/13/07 BONEHEAD PLAY: SHANE VICTORINO

Shane Victorino It’s probably not right to hang this bonehead play on Shane Victorino. Shane was just playing the good soldier, listening to his thirdbase coach Steve Smith, when he tried to score in the 8th inning with the Phillies down by a pair. Philadelphia had runners on 1st & 2nd when Ryan Howard lined … Continue reading “4/13/07 BONEHEAD PLAY: SHANE VICTORINO”

Shane Victorino

It’s probably not right to hang this bonehead play on Shane Victorino. Shane was just playing the good soldier, listening to his thirdbase coach Steve Smith, when he tried to score in the 8th inning with the Phillies down by a pair. Philadelphia had runners on 1st & 2nd when Ryan Howard lined a single to Houston rightfielder Luke Scott. Scott threw a laser to catcher Brad Ausmus, Victorino bore down on Ausmus and tried to dislodge the baseball, to no avail. Of course Pat Burrell hit into an inning ending doubleplay after the play. And the Phillies lost the game 9-6. Never a good idea to make the first out of an inning at the plate.

4/13/07 LINESCORE OF THE DAY: EL CABALLO

carlos%20lee.jpg
Carlos Lee

Carlos Lee, 3 HRs, 3 runs, 6 RBIs, .324

The Philadelphia Phillies learned first hand pitching around Lance Berkman is not a good idea. It’s especially not a good idea when El Caballo’s hotter than a firecracker, batting behind Berkman in the order, protecting him. Lee proved stronger than a double strength condom when he hit a solo blast leading off the 2nd, a two out grand slam an inning later, both off Brett Myers, and then a two out homer in the 9th with nobody on off Madson to cap off his night.

GREYBEARD SOUTHPAWS MATCHUP

Jamie Moyer

Tom Glavine

44 year old Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies was matched up against 41 year old Tom Glavine of the New York Mets in a battle between the oldest lefties ever to square up against each other in baseball history. It was a match up that featured the oldest starting pitchers in a game since knucleballer Charlie Hough of the Florida Marlins was pitted against Frank Tanana of the NY Mets. It was said of Tanana, he threw in the 90s in the seventies and in the seventies in the 90s. Neither Moyer nor Glavine ever threw in the 90s, but they surely know how to pitch.

Despite two homers by Jimmy Rollins, Glavine got the better of Moyer on this night as the Mets beat Philadelphia 5-3. The last batter Jamie faced was Carlos Beltran with two outs & the bases loaded in the 6th. Beltran slammed his helmut down in disgust as Jamie blew a 78 MPH 3-2 heater passed him for strike three, swinging.

A DOUBLE & A DP

Carl Crawford On the day before Friday the 13th, Ben Zobrist got a leadoff single to left off Joe Nathan in the 9th inning of a tie game. The Rays next batter was Carl Crawford who lined a triple into the rightfield corner. Only thing was, Zobrist wasn’t fast enough to make it all the … Continue reading “A DOUBLE & A DP”

Carl Crawford

On the day before Friday the 13th, Ben Zobrist got a leadoff single to left off Joe Nathan in the 9th inning of a tie game. The Rays next batter was Carl Crawford who lined a triple into the rightfield corner. Only thing was, Zobrist wasn’t fast enough to make it all the way around the bases. Ben stopped at 3rd, Carl motored into 3rd, Michael Cuddyer hit Luis Castillo with the relay throw, he in turn threw it to Joe Mauer, who ran Zobrist back to third, and tagged him out. To make matters worse, Crawford attempted to go back to second, Mauer threw to shortstop Alexi Casilla who applied the tag. In a strange turn of events Carl Crawford got a double & a doubleplay in the same at bat.

So instead of having runners on 2nd & 3rd with nobody out, TB had two outs, and nobody on. Nathan, the Twins, and the fans were psyched, and got the third out on a grounder. Of course you guessed it, in the bottom of the 9th, the 2006 AL MVP was the leadoff man for Minnesota, and Justin Morneau lined a game winning home run just over a leaping Carl Crawford in left.

4/12/07 LINESCORE OF THE DAY: PRONK

Travis Hafner, aka, PRONK

Travis Hafner was given the nickname PRONK, which is a combination of Project and Donkey for the way he runs the bases. Well on Thursday afternoon in Milwaukee the big guy didn’t have to run the bases after connecting with a Scot Shields pitch. He turned it and the game around in a hurry, sending it way over the centerfield wall. It was estimated at 425 feet, but it seemed like it went at least 440. It cleared the stands beyond the wall and almost bounced off the glass that encloses the dome around the stadium.

What made it all the more incredible was that it snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, the three run blast changed the game from 2-1 Halos, to 4-2 Tribe. The Angels were just sailing along, when BOOM!

4/11/07 LINESCORE OF THE DAY: FELIX HERNANDEZ

King Felix Hernandez

Hernandez (W 2-0) 9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 0.00 ERA

Everybody came out to see Dice-K, but King Felix stole the show! Hernandez lost his bid for a no-hitter when J.D. Drew got an eighth inning leadoff single up the middle that eluded Felix and a diving Jose Lopez. “I asked Jose after the inning, ‘Why didn’t you catch that, bro?'” Hernandez said. “I was just kidding.”

The King was dealing and has yet to allow a 2007 run in two starts. Ironically he may have had a better game in his first start against Oakland when he K’d 12 A’s and got 12 groundouts over eight innings, he didn’t even need an outfield, although he was roughed up for three basehits.

WAIST NOT, WANT NOT

Mike MacDougal After watching the Cubbies lose at Wrigley and watching the Bulls humiliate the Knicks & Isiah Thomas at the UC, it was time to turn on the TV and watch my White Sox do battle with the A’s in Oakland. Ever since the dynasty years of the A’s it has never been a … Continue reading “WAIST NOT, WANT NOT”

Mike MacDougal

After watching the Cubbies lose at Wrigley and watching the Bulls humiliate the Knicks & Isiah Thomas at the UC, it was time to turn on the TV and watch my White Sox do battle with the A’s in Oakland. Ever since the dynasty years of the A’s it has never been a good experience playing in Oakland, not better here, truth be told. So I don’t know what I was expecting, there was some doubt, but after the night before’s grinder-like win, who knows.

Chad Gaudin & Jon Garland were locked in a pitcher’s dual. Just as I pulled into my driveway Chris Singleton was describing how Juan Uribe hit it, just like it was pitched, in delivering his RBI basehit past Nick Swisher. Then when I got inside the house I saw Garland strand a leadoff triple, and things were looking good. It looked like the Sox were going to add to their lead when the laid back Alex Cintron hit a popfly off Mark Ellis’ glove, the ball bounded away, and remarkably Cintron was on 3rd with nobody out, but he was stranded there, so much for little ball.

Garland was really on his game, surrendering three hits over seven scoreless innings, before giving way to Mike MacDougal. MacDougal worked a perfect 8th, before BIG BAD BOBBY JENKS entered the game to close it down in the 9th, or not.

Jenks hasn’t hit above 92 MPH on the radar gun this year, and although neither Hawk nor (his sidekick Charlie McCarthy) DJ will admit it’s a problem, it is. When Jenks is throwing 100 mile an hour fastballs, it’s intimidating, when he’s not, he’s very hittable. Milton Bradley drove a single up the middle, Mike Piazza followed with a basehit to left, but then Jenks bounced back to fan Eric Chavez & Nick Swisher. Then old nemisis Todd Walker, the former Minnesota Twin, pinch-hit for Bobby Crosby, and came through with a game tying base knock to left. Scott Podsednik charged the ball, threw home, but really had no chance to get the runner at the plate. Both Marco Scutaro (who was running for Piazza) and Walker moved up on the throw. Travis Buck was walked intentionally, setting up Mark Ellis’ game winning drive off the leftfield fence. In 2/3 of an inning Jenks allowed four hits, walked one (intentionally), struckout one, and let up two runs (all they needed to win).

I said this to anyone who would listen as I watched Bobby struggle in spring training, Jenks will be out as the Sox closer before 40 games this season. The only way for this big guy to be effective is to blow people away with his 100 MPH heat, 92 just doesn’t cut it. Mike MacDougal, who has closed for KC in the past (27 saves in 2003 & 21 saves in 2005), should be able to step in and get the job done. The sooner, the better, in my opinion.

BACK TO THE BLEACHERS

At the last minute I decided to go to the Bleachers Tuesday to see the New Look Swagger Cubs, under Uncle Lou. I had a ticket for Wednesday’s game, but when the weather looked halfway good for Tuesday (at least there wasn’t snow), I hopped on the bus and ventured southeast to Wrigleyville. Luckily my seat was in the Bleachers, cuz the rest of the ballpark looked kinda cold. In fact one hour before game time about the only fans in the park were in the Bleachers. I sat back, relaxed, fell asleep, but luckily a fan behind me woke me in time for the Star Spangled Banner.

I’d almost forgotten how dumb the Bleacher Dumbs are. But was reminded once the Houston Astros took the field. LF SUCKS, RF SUCKS, CHRIS BURKE SUCKS, LUKE SCOTT SUCKS, THE WHITE SOX SUCK!!! Then in the 9th inning a female Houston Astro fan who made the unforgivable sin of wearing her team’s jersey to the Bleachers had to be escorted from the Friendly(?) Confines, all the while having debry & beer thrown at her and told SHE SUCKED!

Getting back to the game… There are three ways a player can commit an error; 1) on a throw, 2) fielding a ball, or 3) on a catch. Cesar Izturis made all three types of errors in this one game. Izturis is one of the players in the Cubs lineup in their for his glove, the other being Derrek Lee, but he’s a pretty good hitter as well. The Tribune spent alot of money on the new-look Cubbies, but they have alot of the same old problems as the old-look Cubbies. One of those problems is defense, on this day it was Izturis, but on most days it will be the outfield. The Tribune has put together on of the worst fielding outfields ever! Alfonso Soriano was barely adequate in LF last year for the Nats, after stinking it up for years at secondbase, now he’s the Cubs centerfielder, the captain of the outfield. Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but this captain is lost at sea. Then there are Matt Murton & Cliff Floyd in left. Murton doesn’t have an arm and has Ron Cey’s range, only Matt plays the outfield. Floyd is one of the worst outfielders in the game today, can’t think of any worse at the moment, and that includes Carlos Lee. As far as Jacque Jones is concerned, I don’t know why cutoff men even bother setting up for his throws, as he never hits them. I know Sammy Sosa never did either, but Sammy could flat out mash! Then there’s Mark DeRosa at secondbase, he’s only played 114 games at second in the majors in his life before this season. Last year he played RF for the Texas Rangers.

I’m having a tough time focusing on the game, maybe it’s all the SUCKS rolling around in my head. Almost glad it’s raining/snowing outside and today’s game has been called off. Luke Scott knocked in three runs on the day, starting with a two run first inning double. Chris Sampson, making his first start of the year for the Stros, shutdown the Cubs on three hits over five innings, then handed the game over to Rick White, Chad Qualls, and newly annointed closer Dan Wheeler. “Newly Annointed” almost gave the game to Chicago by allowing four hits & two runs in the 9th, to close the gap to 4-2. Brad Lidge had better get his act together quickly!

4/8/07 LINESCORE OF THE DAY: 21 ShO INNINGS

Goose Eggs Galore

Four different pitchers qualify for today’s Linescore of the Day. They are Johan Santana, Kip Wells, Livan Hernandez, & Lee Gardner. The first three hurlers threw up seven scoreless innings, and Lee Gardner pitched 2/3 of a scoreless frame notching his first major league save at age 32.

Let me talk about the feel good story of the day first. Lee Gardner made the Florida Marlins roster by not allowing an earned run in spring training. Gardner has had two previous cups of major league coffee with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Last year he saved 30 games in Triple-A Toledo, Detroit Tigers. Just before the 2007 season the Florida Marlins acquired Jorge Julio to be the team’s closer. Julio blew his first save opportunity and loaded the bases Sunday, getting only one out on a hard-hit drive to left, before giving way to Gardner. Lee got Carlos Ruiz to pop out on his first pitch and then struckout Michael Bourn on three pitches to preverve the two run Fish win, 6-4.

I know just about every starter going up against the Nats might be a Linescore of the Day guy, but Livan Hernandez of the Arizona Diamondbacks was lights out on this Easter Sunday against Washington. Livan allowed three hits and three walks, while working seven innings of scoreless ball. Arizona beat Washington 3-1.

Here’s another feel good story, Kip Wells. Wells was once a hot-shot prospect with the Chicago White Sox. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates where he had a couple of good years, before falling to 8-18 in 2005. Then last year he had some arm trouble, only starting nine big league games, with an ERA over 6.00. This season the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals grabbed Kip off the scrap heap. All Kip Wells did in his first start under pitching coach Dave Duncan was to allow no runs, one hit, one walk, while striking out seven, over seven innings of work against the Houston Astros. The Cardinals plated seven runs in the last two games to ice it, 10-1.

The last Linescore of the Day guy was to be expected, although I didn’t want to admit it, was Johan Santana. Santana was matched up against John Danks, in his major league debut, and my beloved White Sox. Johan worked on his change alot more in the preseason to prepare him for the new year. Whatever he did, worked, as he didn’t work up a sweat, allowing one hit, walked three, and struckout nine, over seven innings. The Twins got all the runs they needed when Justin Morneau connected for a 4th inning three run big fly, final score 3-1.

4/7/07 LINESCORE OF THE DAY – AROD

AROD MVP

Alex Rodriguez 3 for 4, 1 BB, 1 2B, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, 4 runs, 1 WALKOFF GS, .389 BA

The Bronx is a tough place to play baseball. The House that Ruth Built was the setting for Saturday’s heroics. The New York Yankees were center stage. The Yankees, you either love them or you hate them. The highest paid baseball player was at the plate. The richest millionaire on a team of millionaires. Alex Rodriguez, you either love him or you hate him. There is always the pressure you must come through when you are the best, it is what is supposed to happen, you are supposed to come through, always. You are expected to win championships, always.

But sometimes circumstances get in the way of what is supposed to happen. Alex Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees. It was a match made in heaven, the best player money could buy, going to the best team money could buy. But sometimes money is not enough. And when championships did not happen, disappointment set in. The NY press & the Yankee fans took it out on ARod, after all it was his fault.

On this early spring Saturday when all things were possible Alex stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded. All eyes were on him, the weight of the world was on his shoulders. George Steinbrenner’s team trailed the Baltimore Orioles with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, as reliever Chris Ray hurled the sphere plateward.

This time the Mighty Casey did not strike out, it happened as it is supposed to happen, Rodriguez connected on a mammoth drive, that kept carrying, back, back, back, GONE over the centerfield fence. The statues of Yankee greats did not seem to mind the interruption as Yankee Stadium erupted in jubilation.

Maybe it’s too early, but the chanting has begun… MVP MVP MVP
along with… LET’S GO YANKEES!!!
Things have a way of happening the way they are supposed to… World Championship 27