Category: General MLB

St Louis and Baseball

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A shot of Busch Stadium taken from the Arch

It’s been said before and I’m not going to deny it, St Louis is a baseball town.

I just spent two days there and though time prevented me from attending a ballgame, it’s obvious that St Louisans take the sport seriously.  Throughout town, I saw countless families who were ALL dressed in Cardinal red.  Dad, Mom, kids, everyone. 

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“Albert Pujols” and his mini-me

They always say they Chicago is lucky to have two major league ballclubs and I suppose that is true.  The Sox and Cubs appeal to different audiences and draw well. 

Coming from the Chicago market (I actually live three hours south), the concept of one city, one team is quite foreign.  I have to admit it does sound quite appealing.  Encountering a fellow baseball fan on the street, it must bring some solace and comaderie to know that chances are high that he’s rooting for your team and that FIVE is his favorite number too.

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I zoomed in on the field.  It looks like some of the ground crew were beginning to start work.

Tour Photos of Fenway Park

My friend from work, Steve Z, sent me these photos he took of Fenway Park. They were taken during a tour during an off-day. 

(Click to enlarge the photos)

 

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Steve writes:

Here are some shots from my tour of Fenway Park on July 4th. The place looks like it was built last year. Exceptionally good condition, but I guess that’s what a couple of Championships will do for money! The Green Monster seats are cool. They are divied up by a lottery system…over 500,000 people are on the list! The same with the budweiser pary section in right field (don’t know the lottery numbers there). Hope the blog readers enjoy one or more of these. Can’t wait to get back to Boston for a game!

Oh, in the second photo, note the red “Williams” seat which shows where the 502 ft. longest blast in Fenway park history was hit by Ted Williams!

Here’s a close-up of Williams seat

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Thanks, Steve!!

Big Series at Tropicana

One series I’m keeping my eye on is the Red Sox-Rays matchup in Tampa.  With Tampa on top of the AL East, that’s gotta be one a lot of people are keeping their eyes on.

I can’t help but quietly root for the Rays this year.  Aside from the fact that any others in their division who have a shot (NY, Boston) have already seen their fair share of post season action (and all else equal, I tend to root for the underdog), it’s the Rays’ time to shine.  For the last 5-10 years, I’ve alays felt Tampa had plenty of young talent.  But for whatever reason, they couldn’t put it together.  Either it was lack of experience or lack of leadership from their management or both.

Last night, Tampa held off a Sox rally in the ninth to squeak by 5-4.

Roger Mooney writes an illuminating article in the Bradenton Herald detailing the history of bad blood between the Red Sox and the Rays.  According to him, 27 players have been ejected in games between the two teams since 2000.

The AL East is up for grabs.  I guess only time will tell if the Rays are for real.

IT’S HARD TO FAULT A-ROD

I’ve been a fan of Alex Rodriguez since he played Class-A ball for the Appleton Foxes. Went to Appleton to see the kid play there, it was Alex Rodriguez poster night, and even got him to sign a baseball card, which is still on my desk. That was way back in 1994, Alex was the first player chosen in the draft, and this 18 year old kid was performing well on the field. Rodriguez batted .319 in his brief 65 game stay in the Midwest League, hitting 14 home runs there, before playing 17 games in Double A, 32 games in Triple A, and before the season was through 17 games in Seattle with the Mariners. But on this night I got to see what all the fuss was about, in person. He could do it all. It was obvious Alex would be a star. This skinny 6’3″ youngster had power, speed, and could pick it at shortstop.

The awards Alex Rodriguez has won since showing up on the scene are too numerous to mention. He was named the AL MVP in 2003, 2005, & 2007. In 1996, 2002, & 2007 he was named the ML Player of the Year. The AL Hank Aaron Award was bestowed on him in 2001, 2002, 2003, & 2007. He has won nine Silver Slugger Awards (7 at SS, 2 at 3B). In 2002 & 2003 he won Gold Gloves for his play at SS. In 1996 he led the AL with a .358 batting average. He’s led the league in home runs five times, total bases four times, RBIs twice, runs scored five times, and slugging percentage three times. Eleven times Rodriguez made the AL All Star team.

His statistics speak for themselves. In 1,941 games played A-Rod has hit 526 homers, knocked in 1,552 runs, scored 1,524 times, 407 doubles, an onbase percentage of .389, 271 stolen bases, while batting .306. It’s no wonder he is the highest paid player in the history of the game, no doubt, he is the best!

It should come as no surprise that when I had the chance to get Alex to play for my Illowa APBA franchise I jumped at it. The Northside Hitmen drafted Rodriguez as a rookie, but after years of me badgering him, CLuke FINALLY relented, and traded him to me in exchange for Miguel Cabrera. In APBA A-Rod’s been a winner, playing with the Hitmen, with the likes of Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, & Roberto Alomar, championships didn’t elude him.

There is more to it, than this is a game played with cardboard players & dice, rather than real players made of flesh & bone. There is the matter of money. When you tie up that much money in one resource, there just isn’t enough to go around for the rest of the ballclub, even if you are George Steinbrenner, and you own the New York Yankees. Rodriguez’ teams have finished in first place five different times, but never a championship.

Will he ever win one? That is the question being asked here. I’d have to say, no. Just too much money invested in one ballplayer. But that doesn’t it mean it can’t happen or that I won’t be rooting him on. Even though I’m a White Sox fan through and through, I’ll always be a fan of Alex Rodriguez.

Oh yeah, and that poster I received in 1994, is still hanging on my bedroom wall, after all these years.

PADRES REUNITE SAN DIEGO GONZALEZ BROTHERS

It happened right here in Chicago at Wrigley Field, the San Diego Padres called up 29 year old Edgar Gonzalez. This all happened over the Mother’s Day weekend, Adrian Gonzalez’ older brother was called up to join the Padres. Edgar was hitting .293 with 4 homers in 82 at bats this year in Triple-A when the call came. Both brothers are extremely happy as you can tell in this story you can read here.

Both brothers played at Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, CA and both are now with their hometown San Diego Padres, but in between their careers were TOTALLY different! Both were drafted in the 2000 Amateur Draft, Adrian by the Florida Marlins with the first pick in the draft, while older brother Edgar was taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 30th round (886th player chosen).

How did these guys drafted by Sunshine State teams make it across the country to San Diego?

Adrian was traded in 2003 by the Fish to the Texas Rangers in exchange for reliever Uegeth Urbina. As luck would have it Texas had a pretty good firstbaseman at the time, in Mark Teixeira. So the Rangers sent him packing along with pitcher Chris Young and outfielder Termel Sledge in exchange for pitcher Adam Eaton and reliever Akinori Otsuka in 2006. It didn’t take the Rangers long to see the error of their ways as Young moved into San Diego’s rotation and Adrian developed into a superstar, while both Eaton & Otsuka developed arm problems. In three years with the Padres Gonzalez has posted the following numbers; 2006: 38 2B’s, 24 HR’s, 82 RBI’s, .304, 2007: 46 2B’s, 30 HR’s, 100 RBI’s, .282, and only 52 games played thus far in 2008: 13 2B’s, 14 HR’s, 43 RBI’s, .282.

The Texas Rangers selected brother Edgar from the Devil Rays in 2003 in the Rule V Minor League Draft. Then he was again selected in the Rule V Minor League Draft in 2004 only this time by the Montreal Expos. Then in November, 2007 he signed a Minor League contract with the San Diego Padres. Edgar is not the hitter, nor the prospect, that his younger brother Adrian is. Still he was one of the last cuts in spring training. The elder Gonzalez has nearly a .300 batting average in his nine years in the minors. Edgar, here’s to a long stay in the big leagues!

Brothers, reunited, playing in the majors for their hometown team, what every boy dreams about!

MR. ROBERTS THE MAN OF THE HOUR

What a ballgame! After five innings the score was tied at eight. There was a 1 1/2 hour rain delay. The highest paid baseball player in the game ARod came up in the top of the 11th, with the bases loaded, and nobody out.

The infield was in when Rodriguez hit a screamer to second, just inches off the ground. Brian Roberts made a miraculous play on what turned out to be a grounder, scrambled to his feet, and fired home, in time for the out. Then the O’s catcher threw to third to double up Derek Jeter. Hideki Matsui singled in the two out go ahead run, 9-8.

But Alex Cintron drove in the game winner in the bottom of the 11th after the Birds had tied the score. Final score Baltimore 10, Yankees 9.

Albert Pujols plays second

If you haven’t haven’t heard already, Albert Pujols played second base today for the St Louis Cardinals.  No, it’s not one of LaRussa’s crazy moves though when I first heard about this, that’s the first thing that crossed my mind.  No, to put it simply, injuries forced the move.  From MLB.comS:

The game ended with Pujols playing second base, the result of an injury to Cesar Izturis. The shortstop was hit by a pitch in the top of the ninth, and had to come out of the game. Because the Cardinals had only Yadier Molina left on the bench, Molina came in to catch, Jason LaRue played first base, Pujols moved from first to second and Aaron Miles moved from second to shortstop.

I got a few emails about this today.  See, Albert is on my APBA league team and his appearance at second base today will allow me to do the same next year.  Good.

In 2002, Pujols played two innings at shortstop so playing middle infield is not new.  That said, he was lucky enough not to have the ball hit to him then.  Apparently today, he had one total chance (and no error!).

PUTTING THE FRANCHISE IN JEOPARDY

I tuned into the Dodgers/Giants game last night to watch Tim Lincecum pitch for San Francisco. When I turned the game on in the 2nd inning, neither Chad Billingsley nor Lincecum were pitching for their ballclubs. I was wondering, what the heck is going on?

As I watched further I realized there was a thunderstorm that was supposed to have hit LA a little after the game began. So both managers decided to start the game with relief pitchers and bring in their prized young flame throwers after the rain delay.

However the rains didn’t come and the waether forecasters predicted there’d be a two hour window in which to get the game in. Bruce Bochy brought in the Franchise to face the Dodgers in the bottom of the 4th of a zero-zero game, James Loney got the kid for an opposite field RBI single.

It should be noted the rain started coming down just as Lincecum took the bump. Rather than paying attention to what was going on in front of his face, manager Joe Torre followed suit by bringing on Billingsley to face the Giants in the top of the 5th. Chad allowed SF to tie the game when the umpires called for the tarp before the Giants could complete turn at bat. Perhaps the Dodgers would have been better served if Torre had brought on his closer to close out the fifth with a 1-0 lead, then if the game couldn’t be completed it would have been a Los Angeles win.

The delay lasted about an hour. Surprisingly Bruce Bochy put the Franchise back out there after the rains had stopped. Why would you jeopardize such a talent in a meaningless game of a meaningless season for the Giants? San Francisco is going nowhere this year! Maybe Bochy got away with it, perhaps Lincecum will have no ill effects from this folly, but this is what separates the good managers from the bad. Joe Torre decided not to return his young hurler to the mound in a season where it’ll come down to the wire in LA.