De Pere, WI native Jason Berken took the mound against the White Sox Sunday at US Cellular Field. The Orioles righthander won his debut the end of May against the Blue Jays, but winning has been a long time coming, 2-11 coming into today. He brought his own rooting section, about 25 vocal friends & family members were on hand to back up this cheesehead. They almost came on the field after Robert Andino & Melvin Mora, who committed first inning errors. But this rookie has learned to overcome adversity, coming to the majors after Tommy John surgery, and today was no exception, as he bested Mark Buehrle & the White Sox for his 3rd win of the year, 5-4. In addition to myself, Dick & Bea, Steve, Roland, Debbie & George, Nancy Faust, and Caramel Corn Mike, were all in the house, the sad house.
John Danks controlled the O’s lineup Saturday night, with a little help from Gordon Beckham’s robbery of a couple of Brian Roberts shots, despite walking six. I wasn’t in the bathroom for Carlos Quentin’s big fly, the three additional runs were the difference, as the bullpen (Matt Thornton, Octavio Dotel, & Bobby Jenks) held the lead for a 4-1 White Sox winner! I’d bought a ticket, even though Kevin had a freebie for me, the Sox box office refunded my error, very nice. Lisa, Dick & Bea’s dog groomer, was also there for the post game fireworks Saturday night, the fireworks & Lisa, both very nice!
My Dad doesn’t really follow baseball all that much, but asked me after the Sox lost 2 of 3 to Baltimore, aren’t the Orioles a bad team, in last place? Yes to both, shaking my head.
Last night was Elvis Night at the Cell as the White Sox hosted the Orioles. Big Elvis was not there, but something you should see before you die is waiting for you at the Barbary Coast in Vegas. Jamie Aaron Kelley performed outside Gate 4 before the gates opened (then did the National Anthem & performed on the field after the game), all of his fans braved the raindrops as he sang Kentucky Rain, and thanked him very much before going inside the ballpark. Flying Elvises (or is it Flying Elvi) dropped out of the sky with the American Flag to America the Beautiful, quite inspiring, even to a non-patriot like myself. Then after the game there was a terrific fireworks display done to Elvis songs, the rain waited until after the game, but got quite wet while ewing & awing.
When Nate Colbert was a boy growing up in St. Louis his father took him to a doubleheader in which Stan Musial hit five home runs in a doubleheader in 1954. Young Nate turned to his father and said, “Someday I’m going to do that”.
In last night’s baseball game between the Red Sox and the Blue Jays in Toronto, rookie lefty Brett Cecil did something so stupid, Little Leaguers were shaking their heads. The umpires were so stupifide that they had to meet before deciding what to do. Cecil had just walked Jason Bay when he noticed a scuff mark on the baseball, so he wanted a new ball, most pitchers would rather just use the scuffed baseball to their advantage, making the ball do pretty much what they wanted it to do, but that wasn’t even the dumb part. Rather than asking the umpire for a new baseball and exchanging spheres with him, Brett simply rolled the live ball into the Jays dugout, without getting timeout. The umpires originally sent Bay to secondbase, but after meeting, decided he should be awarded thirdbase. Jason would score on a one-out single by Mike Lowell through a drawn in infield. Everything seemed to fall apart from there as Toronto committed three errors, as Boston went on to win 8-1.
Although I am a diehard White Sox fan and have loved them for over forty years, I couldn’t help thinking about how a couple of trades might really help the Chicago Cubs. Kevin Gregg has been a disaster as the team’s closer, with Carlos Marmol not doing much better. Perhaps Angel Guzman should be given a shot, but what this team really needs is a proven closer. Enter Billy Wagner, the going nowhere fast, New York Mets just brought Billy the Kid off the disabled list, and he looked like he’s still got it. Only thing is, the Mets signed KRod as their closer in the offseason, and are paying Wags bigtime closer money, even though he’s not closing. It might be a gamble, trading away a good young arm, but I would trade Angel Guzman for Billy Wagner. Next I’d be knocking on the Cleveland Indians door looking for a proven lefty relief specialist. Sure Sean Marshall has looked okay in that role from time to time this season, and Rafael Perez has been lousy all year. But I’d trade Marshall to the Tribe in exchange for Perez & his lefthanded nasty stuff. Wondering what you Cub fans think of my proposed deals, if you agree, contact Jim Hendry. I can’t believe I’m actually trying to help the Cubs. Sheesh, what’s next, a snake & a mongoose sitting down to tea?
Wilver Stargell was a menacing figure when he stepped into the batter’s box in the 70s, windmilling his bat around, as he waited for the pitcher to summon up the courage to send the sphere plateward. Stargell played 21 seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he hit 7 of the 16 balls hit completely out of Forbes Field and several into the upper tier at Three Rivers Stadium. Willie finished his career with 475 homers and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988.
Catcher/firstbaseman Victor Martinez of the Cleveland Indians was swapped to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for pitcher Justin Masterson and minor leaguers Nick Hagadone & Bryan Price. Masterson will pitch out of the bullpen for the Indians, while Martinez will play firstbase for Boston this year, and eventually will probably take over for Jason Varitek behind the plate for the Red Sox.
Cliff Lee was involved in one of the best trades the Indians ever pulled off, when he was traded from the Expos, along with Grady Sizemore, & Brandon Phillips. Now Cleveland is hoping lightning strikes twice, swapping Lee & Ben Francisco to Philadelphia for four top notch prospects.
I was going to be in Chicago, that was the original plan, but decided to stay in Santa Barbara with my brother Todd, while he put a new roof on my brain injured friend Lee’s house. It was still before noon when I turned on the live scoring feature for my CBS Sportsline fantasy baseball team, WTLNXTYR, and noticed the White Sox were playing a 1:05 PM game, hosting the Rays, at the Cell. It all came back to me, I’d have been at this game, probably with Rob, as we feel like we’re getting away with something, going to a day game in the middle of the week. With me not working, I don’t know what I’m getting away with.
There has been some talk about whether Alexei Ramirez is a good baseball player or a bad baseball player. One thing for sure, this 27 year old kid, signed by the White Sox, out of Cuba, is a baseball bargain at $1,000,000 per year, over four years. Other than the White Sox, there weren’t alot of takers out there last year for this talented SS-OF, the thinking was he couldn’t hit a fastball or his frail frame wouldn’t be able to withstand the rigors of a full major league season, for sure he’d need some seasoning in the minors, some years to develop, and at 26, when would he make it to the majors?