Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
My kids and I settled down to watch the Cubs-Cards game on TV Thursday night. My son, wearing his Cubs t-shirt, surprises me with a new revelation. “Daddy, I’m rooting for the Cardinals.” Now, our family is a Cubs household and always has been. Where in the world this came from, I had no idea. … Continue reading “Logic”
My kids and I settled down to watch the Cubs-Cards game on TV Thursday night. My son, wearing his Cubs t-shirt, surprises me with a new revelation.
“Daddy, I’m rooting for the Cardinals.”
Now, our family is a Cubs household and always has been. Where in the world this came from, I had no idea.
“But honey, I thought you were a Cub fan. We always root for the Cubs!
“Dad, I’m rooting for the Cardinals because they have the best player of all time, Albert Pujols.”
Dang.
Jake Westbrook, Cleveland Indians 8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, Loss Poor Jake. He can’t catch a break. With this kind of performance, he certainly deserved the win. It’s been going like this all season for Westbrook. He has a repectable 3.81 ERA and while he isn’t … Continue reading “4/20 Linescore of the Day”
Jake Westbrook, Cleveland Indians
8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, Loss
Poor Jake. He can’t catch a break. With this kind of performance, he certainly deserved the win. It’s been going like this all season for Westbrook. He has a repectable 3.81 ERA and while he isn’t overpowering, he’s held the opposing hitters to 8 walks in 26 innings. Yet he is 0-4 right now.
Wednesday was an exceptional day for leadoff men. Of all those in the #1 spot that day, only 6 were oh-fers. On the other hand, 13 had multi-hit games. And one of those with one hit made it count by hitting a homerun. The more spectatular performances by leadoff men Wednesday: Furcal 3 for 3 … Continue reading “Lead Me to the Promised Land”
Wednesday was an exceptional day for leadoff men. Of all those in the #1 spot that day, only 6 were oh-fers. On the other hand, 13 had multi-hit games. And one of those with one hit made it count by hitting a homerun.
The more spectatular performances by leadoff men Wednesday:
Furcal 3 for 3
Everett 3 for 4, 2B, HR, 2 runs, 2 rbi
Lawton 3 for 5, rbi
Jeter 2 for 5, run, rbi
Crawford 3 for 6, 2B, 2 runs, 2 rbi
Kotsay, 2 for 4, 3 rbi
Podsednik 3-5, 2 runs
Ooh! This one had to hurt. Illinois had Illinois State down to its last strike with a one-run lead but once again, fielding mishaps proved to be costly. A base hit, a throwing error by the catcher, and a wild pitch pretty much handed the Cardinals the tying run. Another hit and a throwing error … Continue reading “College Baseball- Tough Loss for Illinois”
Ooh! This one had to hurt. Illinois had Illinois State down to its last strike with a one-run lead but once again, fielding mishaps proved to be costly.
A base hit, a throwing error by the catcher, and a wild pitch pretty much handed the Cardinals the tying run. Another hit and a throwing error put the winning run on second primed for the inevitable game winning hit.
The Illini head to Indiana this weekend for a four-game series.
Cub fans everywhere let out a collective gasp as Nomar Garciaparra was carried off the field with a groin injury during the third inning of today’s game. To say that Nomar has been slumping, would be a misnomer since he has been off his Wheaties all year. He is hitting .157 with no homeruns and … Continue reading “No More Nomar”
Cub fans everywhere let out a collective gasp as Nomar Garciaparra was carried off the field with a groin injury during the third inning of today’s game.
To say that Nomar has been slumping, would be a misnomer since he has been off his Wheaties all year. He is hitting .157 with no homeruns and 4 rbis.
At this point, with Todd Walker and now Garciaparra gone, it looks like Jerry Hairston and Neifi Perez will need to step up and fill in at the middle infield positions.
The way Neifi has been hitting, that can’t be all bad.
Every fan of baseball history knows the story of Merkle’s Boner. The 19-year kid who failed to touch second base on the game winning hit which forced the one-game playoff between the Cubs and Giants back in 1908. But what is lesser known is that if Merkle had touched second and the Giants had won, … Continue reading “The Rest of the Story… Merkle’s Boner”
Every fan of baseball history knows the story of Merkle’s Boner. The 19-year kid who failed to touch second base on the game winning hit which forced the one-game playoff between the Cubs and Giants back in 1908.
But what is lesser known is that if Merkle had touched second and the Giants had won, that would have given Christy Mathewson the victory. He would have ended up with 374 wins which would have given him sole possesion of 3rd place on the all-time wins list.
As it turned out, he is tied with Grover Alexander with 373.
Mark Prior, Chicago Cubs 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K I couldn’t resist. As a Cub fan, it pleases me to no end to see Prior come back the way he has. In his 2 starts, he is 2-0 and has yet to give up an earned run. With … Continue reading “4/19 Linescore of the Day”
Mark Prior, Chicago Cubs
7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
I couldn’t resist. As a Cub fan, it pleases me to no end to see Prior come back the way he has. In his 2 starts, he is 2-0 and has yet to give up an earned run.
With Maddux and Wood pitching the way they are, the Cubs need all the help they can get in this department.
Consider this scenario: The traditional favorites New York Yankees are facing the the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Yankee Stadium. Going for the Yanks is future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. Pitching for Tampa Bay? Hideo Nomo whose ERA is higher than the sun and just gave up 8 runs in 2 innings in … Continue reading “Not Meant To Be”
Consider this scenario: The traditional favorites New York Yankees are facing the the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Yankee Stadium. Going for the Yanks is future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. Pitching for Tampa Bay? Hideo Nomo whose ERA is higher than the sun and just gave up 8 runs in 2 innings in his last start. To top it off, New York is just coming off a huge 19-8 defeat of Tampa Bay the day before.
A certain recipe for victory for NY?
Wrong!
Hideo managed to hold the Yanks to one run in 5 2/3 innings for his second win of the season. Johnson, on the other hand, was lit up for 6 runs in 7 1/3 innings thanks in part to Eduardo Perez’ 2 HRs.
After his fantastic night, ARod was 0 for 4 with 3 LOB.
Who knows? I may be wrong about Nomo. This is his second start this season where he’s only given up one run.
I have a friend who attended the White Sox/Mariners game on Sunday. Here’s his take on Sox fans’ appraisal of their right field situation. I was sitting in RF yesterday, 6th row to see Jermaine Dye drop the ball & give the game away. Needless to say, he was heckled for the rest of the … Continue reading “Sox fans missing Mags”
I have a friend who attended the White Sox/Mariners game on Sunday. Here’s his take on Sox fans’ appraisal of their right field situation.
I was sitting in RF yesterday, 6th row to see Jermaine Dye drop the ball & give the game away. Needless to say, he was heckled for the rest of the game. Sox fans are understandable ticked off that Magglio Ordonez is gone.
Give ’em time. Sox fans are known for being hard asses who can’t let go of a grudge forgiving fans who are willing to give someone a second chance.
There’s a new baseball database online that’s quite extensive and powerful. You can access daily hitting and pitching logs as well as compare them to other players. You can sort by home-road, by park, vs. team etc. It uses data from Retrosheet and uses an engine designed by Statguru over at Baseball Musings. Click here … Continue reading “Day-by-Day Database online at Baseball Musings”
There’s a new baseball database online that’s quite extensive and powerful. You can access daily hitting and pitching logs as well as compare them to other players. You can sort by home-road, by park, vs. team etc.
It uses data from Retrosheet and uses an engine designed by Statguru over at Baseball Musings.