Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
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A little tension between Cole Hamels and Brett Myers in the clubhouse during the World Series? Couldnât hurt the chemistry, right?
Myers and a Phillies official both dispute a Yahoo! Sports report that Myers and Hamels had a "tense confrontation" in the Phillies clubhouse following Game 5 of the World Series.
⌠(Phillies director of baseball communications) Casterioto asked Myers if he had seen Hamels.
"He quit," Myers cracked.
âŚHamels is sensitive to the word "quit" these days after he told reporters following Game 3 of the World Series that he couldn’t wait for the season to end. Myers said he was unaware of Hamels’ comments following Game 3, although the comments have upset some players inside the Phillies’ clubhouse.
I donât know about you but thatâs a clear indication that there WAS a âtense confrontationâ.
The big question (which most media will tend to ignore) is whether or not itâs a really big deal. Hamels and Myers are good friends (âHeâs my buddyâ, says Myer of Hamels). Canât we just chalk it up to Series jitters and leave it at that? Or do shall we make it a national story?
If I know the media like I do, theyâll pounce on this like a lion on a juicy bone and weâll hear every analysis of each angle of this story.
The most surprising thing about this story is that it didnât happen in New York. The Big Apple media like to pick on their own.
Chase Utley is playing like a man on a mission. A mission to get the Phillies their second straight championship. Last night, his 2 homerun, 4 rbi performance keyed the Philsâ 8-6 win over the Yankees.
Heâs also playing like a World Series MVP. For the Series, heâs batting .333 with five homers. He could easily get that MVP award assuming Philadelphia wins it all. Not an easy task considering that theyâre down 3-2 going into the heart of the Evil Empire for Game 6.
Cliff Lee was on his game last night despite his linescore. He left the game with an 8-3 lead. Itâs not his fault that the Phillies seem to find value in Chan Ho Park and think he can get the job done. Rumor has it that Lee might be ready for Game 7 should there be one and he might give Chase a run for his money for that MVP award. Lee is already 2-0 for the Series with a 2.81 ERA in 16 innings.
Looks like the frequency and duration of mound meetings by Yankee pitchers and catcher Jorge Posada are giving MLB some pause. Theyâll most certainly be discussing it this winter.
Nice going, Jorge.
The LA Timesâ headline reads Another tight game means big numbers for Fox. Nice sentiment but Iâm giving more credit to the fact that the Series is taking place in two big market cities.
On a related note, Business Weekly notes that World Series TV ratings are indeed up despite the influx of web streaming of the games.
YFSF presents: Reason(s?) Why The World Series Isn’t Over
Finally, who doesnât like a little trash talk?
It was the the Cliff Lee and Chase Utley Show last night. They certainly quieted the pundits who were so giddy over the Yankees chances in the World Series. That includes ex-Cub Mark Grace who was predicting the Yanks would take the Series in 6 games.
While the Yankees came in the Series with all the momentum, it is the Philadelphia Phillies who now gain the upper hand. Former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee was masterful beyond compare. Allowing no walks, he kept the Yanks scoreless until the ninth inning when Jeter scored on a measly groundout.
Chase Utley was the total offense for most of the game (up until the eight inning). Thanks to his two solo dingers. Philly had a 2-0 lead which is all they really needed with Lee on the hill.
Props goes to C.C. Sabathia. Despite the âLâ, he pitched a fair game, allowing just 2 runs in seven frames, good enough for a win in most any other game.
Two observations: Ryan Howardâs line looks pretty good (2 for 5, 2 doubles, rbi) but I thought he looked pretty miserable at the plate for his two strikeouts. Also, the Yanks were obvious pretty anemic with the bat last night but one exception was Derek Jeter. He was 3 for 4 and scored their only run.
Tonight, Pedro Martinez for the Phils and A.J. Burnett for the Yanks.
I checked out PJâs stats and theyâre quite interesting. Not the most durable fellow but itâs amazing how times heâs led the league in certain categories.
Obviously, ERA, five times. Hits per 9 IP, five times, Win/Loss Pct, four times, Strikeouts per 9 IP, four times. walks and hits per 9 IP, six times, and shutouts, 3 times.
Innings pitched, Games Started, and Complete Games⌠eh, not so much.
Go Phillies.
The Angels gave them a pretty good fight considering the outcome of the first two games. But the Yankees won. They won their 40th AL pennant. In a league that is barely a century old, that is quite a feat.
As was the ALCS, yesterdayâs game between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was a whole lot closer than the 5-2 would lead you to believe. The Halos were within one at 3-2 with runners on base in the top of eighth inning. The Yankees were helped by two errors in the bottom of the inning to seal the fate of the Angels and put New York into the World Series for the first time since 2003.
For the series, yeah yeah, there was Alex Rodriguez. 9 for 21 with 3 homer and 6 rbis. The Angels caught on quick to him because he also had eight walks. Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon contributed also to the Yanksâ victory. Both had 2 dingers and Damon had 5 rbis while Jeter scored 5 runs.
No can deny C.C. Sabathiaâs role in the ALCS. In two starts and 16 innings, he only allowed 2 earned runs giving up nine hits.
Vladimir Guerrero overcame his putrid Game 1 to put up some good series numbers. He was 10 for 27 (.370) with 5 rbis. But Jeff Mathis had some interesting stats. He was 7 for 12 (.583) but with only one rbi. He made his one rbi count, though as it was the game winning hit in Game 3.
The award for most least productive for the Yankees goes to Nick Swisher who not only went 3 for 20 (all singles) with 0 rbis, but didnât come through in key situations.
As for the Angels, the goat is Chone Figgins. He started out with a 0-18 streak for the series. Before the dust settled, he went 3 for 23 (again, all singles) with 1 rbi and 2 runs scored.
A frustrating LCS for me. This is going to force me to root for the Phillies.
As Yogi Berra once said, âIt ainât over till itâs overâ. And as my buddy Don, who is an Angel fan said late night, âIf Brian Fuentes had walked Swisher, I think I would have jumped off my roofâ.
Fortunately for the Angels (and Don S), he didnât.
I learned my lesson though. I watched the game on TV at home till the beginning of the 7th. John Lackey had been pitching brilliantly up until then and had a 4-0 lead. Thinking that Big John had things well in hand, I decided to head to local coffee shop and watch the rest of the game on Gameday while I got some work done.
Itâs a 6 block walk to the coffee shop and I was away from the game for 15 minutes, 20 tops. Logging into Gameday, I was rudely greeted with a 7-6 Yankee lead. Refreshing the browser didnât seem to help.
Looking back at it, I had a sneaking suspicion that Lackey was tiring. Mid-inning, the camera crew show him in the dugout and boy, he really looked spent. I remember commenting on that to my kid.
But thanks to a 3-run seventh fueled by back-to-back base hits by Guerrero and Morales, the Angels got back on top for the final score 7-6.
Iâd like to say that was the end of the excitement but the Yankees made the Halos earn their pay Thursday night. Angel reliever Brian Fuentes made things a little too interesting. After a two-out, bases empty intentional pass to Alex Rodriguez, Fuentes followed that up with a Matsui walk and a Cano HBP to load the bases. If that werenât enough, Nick Swisher took him to a full count before popping out to short for third out to end the game.
Fuentes line looked good. One inning, no hits and a save. But that sure didnât tell the story of the game. However, he got the job done.
The Angels got their miracle. Three-Two sounds a whole lot better than Two-Zero or Three-One.
I’m so rope they call me Mr. Roper
When the troubles arise I’m the cool coper
On the mic I score just like the Yankees
â3-Minute Ruleâ by the Beastie Boys
Yeah, the Yankees score alright. Yet, like any team should, the Angels remain hopelessly positive.
"We’ve got a mountain to climb," said Angels center fielder Torii Hunter. "We’ve just got to know we have to go out there [Thursday] and try to get that win. It’s a must-win. It’s not like we’ve got games left. We can’t go out there and let these guys win. If they do, it’s over with. We’re going to come with a different mindset and try to have some fun and get the job done."
But it ainât going to be easy. With the Yankees now 3 games to 1, itâs simply going to be an uphill battle that will take a miracle to overcome.
Up until Monday nightâs win for the Angels, the playoff series for them has been characterized as ugly and full of mistakes. Not Tuesday night. They were simply out-pitched and out-hit and the Yanks won 10-1. C.C Sabathia is doing his best to outdo ARod in his bid to strip him of MVP of the Series.
On just three days rest, Sabathia almost repeated Game Oneâs numbers, allowing just one run in eight innings with just five his and two walks. In Game One, he allowed one run in eight innings as well with four hits. For the postseason, C.C. is 3-0.
Alex Rodriguez led the hitting attack, going 3 for 4 with his fifth homer of the fall and 2 rbis and 3 runs scored. Melky Cabrera chipped in with a 3 for 4 performance and four rbis of his own.
The Angels have to be disappointed with their offense till this point. Up until Tuesday night, the starting pitching has held up pretty well. No Halo starter has given up more than three ER until last night (and if you want to pick nits, Kazmir only gave up four but we wonât go there). Had the offense been a little more productive even a little more timely, it would be a different series now.
Tonightâs scheduled pitchers are John Lackey and A.J Burnett. Donât look for Torii Hunter to have a great night. Heâs 2 for 23 lifetime against Burnett. However, those two hits? Homeruns.
ARod is in pretty much in the same boat with Lackey. Heâs 9 for 51 (.176) lifetime against Big John. Most of those hits have gone for extras though. One double, one triple and FOUR homeruns.
This is first time Iâve said this publically butâŚ
Go Angels!
Bill Clark of the Columbia Daily Tribune writes about how Major League Baseball is entering the realm of DNA testing especially in Latin America.
In an attempt to eliminate cheating on age and identities in Latin America, particularly in the Dominican Republic, MLB has admitted to genetic testing to determine the true identity of players being signed, particularly those receiving big bonuses.
In addition to establishing the identity of players, it is possible to also provide clues to their age.
Federal legislation that was passed last year, will prohibit companies from testing employees (or a family member) on the basis of their DNA. This law will take effect on November 21 of this year. It is unclear how this U.S. law will affect American companies implementing these procedures in other countries.
Here is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 in its entirety.
According to the New York Times, MLB has declined how many players have been tested and whether or not the test results were kept or destroyed. Given the situation with the recent controversy with the 2003 steroid list that was under law supposed to be kept under wraps, you can see where that can lead us.
The whole thing stinks to me. Major League Baseball has no business doing this. If they can find out what they need to know the old fashioned way by forging relationships and establishing communications, then they need to do their homework. DNA testing and the like is one more thing that will set their work down there backwards.
Game 3 of the ALCS started ominously (and quite familiarly) for the Angels. Shortstop Derek Jeter led off the game with a homerun off Halo pitcher Jered Weaver. It was Jeterâs 20th postseason dinger which puts him third behind Manny Ramirez of the Dodgers and postseason superman of lore, Bernie Williams.
Down 3-0, in the 5th inning, things werenât looking much better for the Angels. Things started to click with the help of some questionable decisions by Yankee skipper Joe Girardi. With a decent lead going into the homestretch of of the game, some of his calls just didnât go his way.
Putting Jerry Hairston in left field is somewhat questionable. But the fact that it required removing the designated hitter is beyond me.
Girardi (left) also replaced David Robertson in the 11th after he got the first two outs only to bring in Alfredo Aceves. Girardi justified his move saying that Robertson threw 33 pitches on Saturday. True but many of those pitches on Saturday were on intentional walks.
Too much micro-managing. Girardi just needs to relax and let his boys play ball.
When all was said and done, the Angels came up with the big âWâ, thanks to a game-winning double by Jeff Mathis off Aceves.
Howie Kendrick was 3 for 5 with a homer and 3 runs scored. Vladimir Guerrero went 2 for 4 with a homer and two rbis. Reliever Ervin Santana got the win.
So the Los Angeles Angeles, on the brink of a 0-3 deficit, buck up and take advantage of some weaknesses as the Yankees did the first two games. Now itâs 2-1 and a whole new ALCS.
Miscellaneous news and opinions on the postseason so far:
Somebody get a fly swatter.