Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Greg Maddox notches his 350th win Saturday against the Rockies with help from a three-run homer from Adrian Gonzalez and a save from all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman.
Looking back at Maddux’ career, he was an amazingly consistent pitcher. He pitched well no matter what the time of year, who he was facing, and no matter what the situation.
(AP Photo) Brandon Webb: 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (Win) Orel Hershiser’s record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings in 1988 has been considered one of the more “unbreakable” records in baseball. At one point, ESPN’s Page 2 column listed it among the records that “may never be beaten” Should Orel be … Continue reading “8/17/07 Linescore of the Day: Brandon Webb”
(AP Photo)
Brandon Webb: 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (Win)
Orel Hershiser’s record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings in 1988 has been considered one of the more “unbreakable” records in baseball. At one point, ESPN’s Page 2 column listed it among the records that “may never be beaten”
Should Orel be worried?
Granted after last night’s complete game shutout of the Braves, Brandon Webb is only tied for 12th on the list (with Rube Foster) with 42. But consider this… he is only two complete game shutouts away from Hershiser’s record.
Time will tell. Meanwhile, I’m impressed that Webbie is doing in style with a complete game shutouts and not 6 inning stints. His last 3 starts were complete games and the two before that he last seven. Any fantasy leaguers who own him must be quite pleased.
In a season where we have seen plenty of records and milestones broken, will we see one more?
No waiting for Glavine,
Today, those us in the Illowa APBA League were trying to nail down a date for our annual All-Star game. I tacked this on the end of one of my emails:
By the way, God Bless Tom Glavine. I rooted for the Cubbies the whole
way and swore a blue streak when Ohman essentially put the game out of reach. But when the game was over I felt good for Tom G.Glavine has been on my team for 17 years, more than any other player.
His career record in the IAL is 229-174. Not only that, he is getting
better with age, in the last two years (06-07), he is 28-7.Way to go, Tommy! I’ll be there at Cooperstown when you get inducted,
buddy.
Speaking of the IAL All-Star Game and Glavine, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he makes a showing. He’s in the running for the starting role. Through 87 games, he is 10-2 with a IAL leading 2.42 ERA.
Sunday’s game between the Cubs and Mets was full of sub-plots and storylines as if Glavine’s quest for 300 wasn’t enough. Alfonso Soriano pulled up short with a strained quad muscle on his way to third base. Anyone who saw that surely had sympathy pains.
Kerry Wood made his first appearance for the Cubs this season. Luis Castillo got injured and had to be pulled. Even the home plate umpire (whose name escapes me) appeared to suffer a concussion from a foul ball to the face mask. Blurred vision almost took him out of the game but since when was sight a requirement for umping? Hwe was back after 5 minutes. (That was a shot at our resident ump, Todd).
Congrats to Glavine! Despite the Cubs loss, it was nice to see a milestone accomplished that everyone (including MLB and ESPN) could get behind.
Finally, if you’re interested, here’s the audio for Tom Glavine’s press conference from MLB.com Also includes ARod’s and Bonds’ press conferences, too.
Tom Glavine’s 2005 APBA card At 7:05pm CT tonight, Tom Glavine will face the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field to make his attempt at 300 wins. It will be a difficult game for me to watch. Of course I’ll be rooting for the Cubs. That’s what makes it so difficult. Tom Glavine has been a … Continue reading “It pains me to say it… 300 must wait for Glavine”
Tom Glavine’s 2005 APBA card
At 7:05pm CT tonight, Tom Glavine will face the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field to make his attempt at 300 wins. It will be a difficult game for me to watch.
Of course I’ll be rooting for the Cubs. That’s what makes it so difficult. Tom Glavine has been a favorite of mine for a long time. You see, Tom Glavine is on my team in the Illowa APBA League
I hear some of you snickering out there. Before you judge, consider this. This is no fly-by-night web-based fantasy league. I’ve had Tom Glavine on my Twin City Thunderchickens since he was a throw-in in a trade in 1990. I traded Kirk Gibson (near the end of his career) and Pete Smith (who?) for Glavine. I think Melido Perez was the other player involved on my end.
Of those players, Perez and Gibson played until 1995. Smith didn’t even last a year. And Glavine… well, it’s 16 years later and he’s still a Thunderchicken.
Since then Glavine has become a favorite of mine.
So me being a Cubs fan, you see how difficult this is for me. It would have a hard enough time any other year. But tonight with the added factors of Glavine going for 300 plus the Cubs being 1/2 games back. Yikes!
Oh, Glavine’s career IAL record? He’s 229-174.
Go Cubs!
(Photo: Lenny Ignelzi/AP) Bonds is tied in career homers with Aaron at 755. If you are a baseball fan of any sort, that’s not news. Chances are you’ve seen the video clip and read a few news articles about it. Maybe I’m jaded but so many mainstream news articles are filtered with the “right” things to … Continue reading “755”
(Photo: Lenny Ignelzi/AP)
Bonds is tied in career homers with Aaron at 755. If you are a baseball fan of any sort, that’s not news. Chances are you’ve seen the video clip and read a few news articles about it.
Maybe I’m jaded but so many mainstream news articles are filtered with the “right” things to convey they don’t capture the essence of the moment.
On the other hand, I did enjoy this short posting on McCovey Chronicles. It’s written by a Giant fan who works as a Padre employee and saw the whole thing. Despite the controversy, despite the scandal, he saw the magic in the whole event.
While on the topic of Bonds and Giants fans, here’s a Giants fan, who tongue in cheek advocates for an asterisk by Bonds homerun stat. Read his posting and find out why.
And finally, here is an interesting factoid. Clay Hensley, the pitcher who gave up #755, was tested positive for steroids in 2005. The irony… you can cut it with a knife.
With the subject line “College Records”, Justin writes:
Who holds the record for most stolen bases in a season and how many?
I’ve been having this argument with a colleague and we need an answer.
Justin
I honestly didn’t know the answer though I did know that Shawn Roof now holds the record for single season steals in the Big Ten. For all of NCAA, I turned to Brian Foley of The College Baseball Blog.
Brian came through with the answer in short time:
I would think Boomer Whiting would hold the record as he had a ton this season but that is not true. The person who holds the single season record is Dan Guillot from Texas-Pan American in 1987 with 107 in 60 games and the record for a career is held by Phil Stephenson from Wichita State with 206.
Brian
Thanks for writing, Justin and thanks for the timely answer, Brian!
July is All-Star time not only for the Majors but also for the college leagues. University of Illinois is well represented on a few All-Star teams throughout the country. Scott Shaw and Joe Bonadonna faced off against each other last Wednesday in the Northwoods League All-Star Game. Shaw, who is 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA … Continue reading “Illini All-Stars”
July is All-Star time not only for the Majors but also for the college leagues. University of Illinois is well represented on a few All-Star teams throughout the country.
Scott Shaw and Joe Bonadonna faced off against each other last Wednesday in the Northwoods League All-Star Game. Shaw, who is 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA made the South Division team and Bonadonna with his 31 steals in 38 games, represented the North Division. The North Division won 3-2.
Meanwhile, infielder Dom Altobelli and pitchers Ben Reeser, and Aaron Martin have been selected to the American League All-Star team of the Coastal Plain League. All three play for the Fayetteville Swampdogs.
With similar stats, Reeser and Martin have been simply dominating this summer. Reeser is 5-0 with a 0.94 ERA. Martin, believe it or not, has him beat. He is also 5-0 with a 0.83 ERA. Altobelli is batting .297 with 33 hits and 33 rbis.
The Coastal Plain League All-Star Game is scheduled for July 17.
A Familiar Name
Bonadonna is on pace to break the Northwoods League for steals in a season. He needs 13 more to break the record of 44. Who holds that record??
Former Illini Ryan Rogowski
Turns out Ben Reeser and Aaron Martin aren’t the only Illini doing well this summer. Take a look at Joey Bonadonna who is spending his dog days playing for the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods League. Bonadonna has already broken the team single season record for stolen bases. He did it in style by stealing … Continue reading “Os-Kee-Wow-wow hardball news”
Turns out Ben Reeser and Aaron Martin aren’t the only Illini doing well this summer. Take a look at Joey Bonadonna who is spending his dog days playing for the Duluth Huskies in the Northwoods League.
Bonadonna has already broken the team single season record for stolen bases. He did it in style by stealing nineteen bases in his first nineteen games. Primarily, a left fielder for the Illini in 2007, he is the starting second baseman for the Huskies. He currently has 21 thefts and leads the league.
Word from fightingillini.com is that Bonadonna will be featured on Northwoods Baseball Weekly show on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. (Central Time) on Thursday, June 28.
In Frontier League action, former University of Illinois pitcher Brian Blomquist got his first professional win Sunday. The Southern has the details. Blomquist pitched six strong innings as his Southern Illinois Miners won 13-3 over Slippery Rock.
I never understood the “hatin’ on Sammy” thing. Many of my Cub fan friends are bound and determined to think ill of Sosa since he left our team. Not me. Let’s make one thing clear. While I think it’s great Sammy has reached his milestone, I sure wouldn’t have minded if he had waited till … Continue reading “Sammy Sosa and 600”
I never understood the “hatin’ on Sammy” thing. Many of my Cub fan friends are bound and determined to think ill of Sosa since he left our team. Not me.
Let’s make one thing clear. While I think it’s great Sammy has reached his milestone, I sure wouldn’t have minded if he had waited till the Texas’ series with the Cubs was over. The media had a field day with it but I didn’t.
That said, I guess it’s hard for me to get down on any player who contributed as much to my favorite team despite the manner he left it. Let’s face it, in the thirteen seasons he played for the Cubs, he gave us 545 homeruns, 1414 rbis, and 1245 runs. All that for ONE team. My team.
Not to mention he was involved in one of the most exciting homerun races in recent history albeit one that has been tainted slightly. Sosa has recently been maligned about how he handles the press but let’s not forget how exciting he was back then and the press ate him up. He handled that well.
For all that, I’m willing to give Slammin’ Sammy a mulligan for his transgressions in his time near the end with the Cubs.
It is said that Sammy Sosa has big ego. Those who actually know him would say that he is a proud individual. A fine line maybe. Either way, I’m happy for him.
But couldn’t he have waited just a couple of games?
I’m finally coming down a bit from Sunday’s incredible comeback by the Illini over Michigan State. It’s not often you see a team come back from a 7-0 deficit to win 8-7 in a must-win game. But I’m sure the Illini baseball team isn’t looking back… they’re looking forward. Forward to Wednesday at 11:05 (Central) … Continue reading “Looking ahead to the Big Ten Tournament”
I’m finally coming down a bit from Sunday’s incredible comeback by the Illini over Michigan State. It’s not often you see a team come back from a 7-0 deficit to win 8-7 in a must-win game.
But I’m sure the Illini baseball team isn’t looking back… they’re looking forward. Forward to Wednesday at 11:05 (Central) when they take on Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
For the record, Iowa is 17-13 (31-21 overall) good for fourth place in the Big Ten. Head to head, Iowa had the advantage winning three of four at Iowa City.
Word has it that the players left Champaign-Urbana Monday at noon. Hopefully they will get some rest before tomorrow’s practice day. They deserve it.
Here is the Big Ten Tournament web site.
Closing out the regular season
A couple of things are worthy of note before going on to the Big Ten Tournament:
First, congrats to closer Jake Toohey who won Big Ten pitcher of the week. He recorded a save and a win in Illinois’ series against Michigan State. The win, of course, was Toohey’s 4 1/3 inning appearance on Sunday where he allowed no runs and allowed the Illini to come back and win the game.
Somewhat lost in the shuffle this weekend was the fact that Shawn Roof has broken Andy Small’s career HBP record for Illini. Roof had two over the weekend giving him 45.
Finally, catcher Lars Davis finished out the regular season hitting .415, second in the Big Ten. The thing is, his batting average only tells part of the story. Without him, the team wouldn’t have made the Tournament. Nicely done, Crash.
Tomorrow is a travel day for me. I’ll be getting into Ann Arbor around 11:30pm.
Go Illini!!