Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
I was cruisin’ the blogs tonight and ran across this entry on one of my personal favorite people in baseball, Don Zimmer. I found it on WasWatching.com a Yankee site. It’s a backhanded homage to the Zim and calls into question whether he might have been one of the brains behind the Yankees dynasty. Still … Continue reading “A Yank’s Take on the Zim”
I was cruisin’ the blogs tonight and ran across this entry on one of my personal favorite people in baseball, Don Zimmer. I found it on WasWatching.com a Yankee site.
It’s a backhanded homage to the Zim and calls into question whether he might have been one of the brains behind the Yankees dynasty.
Still trying to figure out what PITA stands for, though.
Behind the pitching of Livian Hernandez, the Washington Nationals have won their season-best seventh in a row. This is the latest a Washington baseball team has been in first place since 1933. A headline I saw: First in war, First in peace, First in the National League East Well, two out of three are right.
Behind the pitching of Livian Hernandez, the Washington Nationals have won their season-best seventh in a row.
This is the latest a Washington baseball team has been in first place since 1933.
A headline I saw:
First in war, First in peace, First in the National League East
Well, two out of three are right.
Pedro Martinez, New York Mets 9 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 1 HR Pedro allowed 2 hits, including a Chris Burke homerun. Nonetheless, a fine performance racking up 12 Ks. Martinez has the best Strikeout-to-Walk ratio of any post-1900 pitcher (4.314). Curt Schilling is second and Jon Lieber is … Continue reading “6/7 Linescore of the Day”
Pedro Martinez, New York Mets
9 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 1 HR
Pedro allowed 2 hits, including a Chris Burke homerun. Nonetheless, a fine performance racking up 12 Ks.
Martinez has the best Strikeout-to-Walk ratio of any post-1900 pitcher (4.314). Curt Schilling is second and Jon Lieber is third.
For those who haven’t heard about Wild Bill Holden’s adventures, it’s quite a story.
Wild Bill has pledged to walk from Arizona to Wrigley Field… all 2100 miles of it. Inspired by the story of former Cub Ron Santo, he’s doing it to raise money to help fund research to find a cure for juvenile diabetes.
He’s made it all the way to Illinois… and he’s raised $75,000 in the process.
Not bad for a 56 year old man with two bum knees.
He’ll be in Morton, IL for an event this Friday. As it is, I’ll be passing through there so I’m planning to stop by to see him.
Matt Morris, St Louis Cardinals 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K Morris remains perfect at 7-0. Only 1 K, but he got the job done.
Matt Morris, St Louis Cardinals
9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Morris remains perfect at 7-0. Only 1 K, but he got the job done.
Well, the draft is done. To no one’s surprise, Arizona picked high school shortstop Justin Upton. As a matter of fact, 35% of the draftees came from the high school level. Number Two was Alex Gordon, a Cornhusker third baseman. There were some familiar names in the draft. This is from mlb.com’s web site: The … Continue reading “MLB Draft Summary”
Well, the draft is done. To no one’s surprise, Arizona picked high school shortstop Justin Upton. As a matter of fact, 35% of the draftees came from the high school level.
Number Two was Alex Gordon, a Cornhusker third baseman.
There were some familiar names in the draft. This is from mlb.com’s web site:
The Cardinals chose Jesse Schoendienst, the great nephew of their Hall of Fame infielder and former manager Red Schoendienst, in the 40th round, while the Twins grabbed Toby Gardenhire, son of skipper Ron Gardenhire, in the 41st round. Seattle grabbed Andrew Hargrove, son of manager Mike Hargrove, in the 47th round while the White Sox grabbed John Wolff, the grandson of Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Wolff, in the 47th round.
Toby Gardenhire?? Wait a minute… I know that name!! He’s the slick fielding shortstop from our own University of Illinois! Way to go, Toby!
As it was, five Illini were chosen in this week’s draft. Not surprisingly, Chris Robinson was chosen pretty high. Robbie was chosen in the 3rd round (90th overall) by the Detroit Tigers.
From fightingillini.collegesports.com, here is the list of Illini that were picked in the MLB draft.
Illini Picked in the 2005 MLB Draft
Chris Robinson – 3rd round – Detroit
Jimmy Conroy – 19th round – New York AL
Drew Davidson – 22nd round – San Diego
James Morris – 23rd round – Cincinnati
Toby Gardenhire – 41st round – Minnesota
Congrats to them all!
ESPN/Baseball America has a scouting report of the top draft picks. Check it out.
Cliff Floyd, New York Mets 3 for 4, 2 HR, 3 runs, 4 rbis Around since 1993, Floyd has never really blossomed into the superstar they thought he might be but for the most part he’s been a solid hitter. He did put a few good years together. In 2001, he batted .317 with 31 … Continue reading “6/5 Linescore of the Day”
Cliff Floyd, New York Mets
3 for 4, 2 HR, 3 runs, 4 rbis
Around since 1993, Floyd has never really blossomed into the superstar they thought he might be but for the most part he’s been a solid hitter. He did put a few good years together. In 2001, he batted .317 with 31 homers, 44 doubles while scoring 123 and driving in 101.
Not too shabby tonight either.
Tomorrow the 2005 MLB Draft will commence. The Arizona Diamondbacks have the first pick and claim to have narrowed their pick to three pitchers and some shortstop named Justin Upton. Maybe this one can field. As for myself, I will be watching to see what happens to catcher Chris Robinson. He will most likely be … Continue reading “MLB Draft Begins Tomorrow”
Tomorrow the 2005 MLB Draft will commence. The Arizona Diamondbacks have the first pick and claim to have narrowed their pick to three pitchers and some shortstop named Justin Upton.
Maybe this one can field.
As for myself, I will be watching to see what happens to catcher Chris Robinson. He will most likely be the top Illini picked. Here is what mlb.com has in their scouting report:
Sturdy, durable catcher’s body. Stocky, broad shoulders. Barrell chest, strong lower half. Great opposite field power. Line drive stroke. Excellent, vocal leader that takes charge of the pitching staff. Exceptional make-up.
From what I have seen of him this spring, it’s all true.
Other Illini that have good chances to be picked are Dusty Bensko, Ryan Rogowski, Jimmy Conroy, and Drew Davidson.
The latest to succumb to injury is hot Colorado shortstop Clint Barmes who has fractured his left collarbone. This was due to a “dummy” injury which I categorize as any injury I could easily inflict myself. See Moises Alou and the treadmill incident a few years back. It’s reported Barmes who was carrying groceries, couldn’t … Continue reading “Barmes injured during food run”
The latest to succumb to injury is hot Colorado shortstop Clint Barmes who has fractured his left collarbone. This was due to a “dummy” injury which I categorize as any injury I could easily inflict myself. See Moises Alou and the treadmill incident a few years back.
It’s reported Barmes who was carrying groceries, couldn’t wait for the elevator then tripped while walking up the stairs.
Barmes will likely be out for 12 weeks.
There was an article about the Urbana High School baseball team in our local News-Gazette’s Commentary (not the Sports) section I found interesting. I wish I could provide a link but the N-G doesn’t put many of their articles on the web. Anyway, I’ll summarize. The Tigers posted an 11-19 record this year. Pretty dismal … Continue reading “Urbana HS Baseball… Full o’ Smarts”
There was an article about the Urbana High School baseball team in our local News-Gazette’s Commentary (not the Sports) section I found interesting. I wish I could provide a link but the N-G doesn’t put many of their articles on the web. Anyway, I’ll summarize.
The Tigers posted an 11-19 record this year. Pretty dismal unless you consider that 11 of those losses were by two runs or less.
But that’s not the point of this article. Apparently, all 17 players won Big 12 Conference Scholar Athlete awards. To win this award, one must be a sophomore, junior or senior, earn a varsity letter and have a 4.0 grade point average.
In addition, 14 won Illinois High School Association scholastic achievement awards. These go to juniors and seniors who maintain a 4.5 GPA.
Very impressive. Kudos to Coach Steve Waller who understands priorities of young student-athletes. In his words:
“As a coach, you always stress that schoolwork comes first, that without school, there is no baseball. That’s what is going to carry them into the future. These guys know that academics is serious.”