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Funny thing was when I was at the Cell, DawnS, DonS’ sister in law was in the Philippines, and she was signaling for Bobby Jenks about the same time Ozzie Guillen was bringing Jenks into the game. Weird, huh?

It was Dollar Dog Thursday out at the Cell! Jose Contreras was up to the challenge besting the Mariners 4-1, walking in a run in the 6th. Contreras became the first 5-0 pitcher with a nifty 1.41 ERA. Ozzie Guillen came out to talk to his big righthander, but stuck with him till he got out of the jam. Then he brought on Neal Cotts to gain the lefty pitcher matchup and brought in Bobby Jenks to close it out. This day was a preview of summer. It was really hot (the girls) in the Bleachers, and the weather was too. Got out of the sun after a couple of innings in the outfield and shifted to behind the plate. I know first hand the girls at the Cell have it all over the women of Wrigley. Right next to organist Nancy Faust is a great place to stand and watch the game. If you’re ever at the Cell stop over and say hi.

It wasn’t even fair! There was Angel Guzman making his first major league start against Cub killer Zack Duke. Guzman allowed two first inning runs to the Buccos. I was there with the Bud Lite Bleacher Bums. It was a beautiful 70 something degree day with a soft breeze coming out of the North. Former Cub Jeromy Burnitz cut through that breeze with a screamer just inside the RF foul pole. But the story of the game was Zack Duke who shut down Chicago on three hits and one walk for a complete game shutout. In 32 career innings against the Cubs, Duke’s allowed only two runs. Final score 8-0.

Tom Glavine did it again.  He threw seven shutout innings with ten strikeouts against the Pirates en route to a 6-0 win for the Mets.

Do a search on Glavine on the ‘net and it’s full of stories of “he’s not a strikeout pitcher” and “what’s gotten into him?”.  Of course, this is all referring to his newfound ability to strike batters out. 

Yes, it’s true.  Glavine never was a strikeout pitcher relying on finesse and location (and forgiving umpires).  The last three years (all full seasons), Glavine struck out 82, 109, and 105 batters respectively.  After 46 1/3 innings this season, he has struck out 41.  That’s a pretty formidable number.

Now Tom Glavine is on my APBA team and therefore one of my favorite pitchers so I’m not trying to take anything away from him.  But maybe we’re barking up the wrong tree when we’re trying to find the answer to this interesting question. 

Consider the teams that Glavine has faced up until this point.  Of the seven teams that Glavine has faced, four are in the top 3 in batters’ strikeouts (he faced Atlanta twice).  Pittsburgh is seventh.  Only Washington’s (13th) and San Francisco’s (26th) hitters are less prone to strike out as a team.

Could it be that he’s just faced those hitters with a higher probability to strike out?

 

This is for DonS who recently wrote about the futility of the Royals. Apparently, he’s not the only one who feels this way.    Chad Carroll  auctioned off 25 years of loyalty to the Royals.

Frustrated with the Powder Blue?  Sure sounds like it.  Carroll used Ebay to auction his long-time loyalty off.

What amazes me is that he actually found a bidder.  According to the Star, a group of nine friends pooled their money and raised $278.47 and were the winning bidders.  Carroll was happy.

“It really does feel like a big weight has been lifted,” said Carroll, 34, who lives in Maryland. “I can’t tell you how good it feels. I really can’t.”

Yeah, I’ll bet.

Carroll plans on giving up all memorabilia including signed baseballs and a signed Brett jersey to his brother who remains a KC fan.

/hat tip Baseball Musings for the link

Kerry Robinson had to leave a minor league game due to a laughing attack. Kansas City Royals farmhand Robinson was playing a game with Omaha and there was an on-field promotion where some kids were doing some funny stuff. Kerry starts laughing, the next thing you know he’s having chest pains, and has to leave the field. Check out No Laughing Matter.
Hopefully Robinson will not have another laughing fit now that he’s been called up to the Royals, KC’s season has really been a joke, although it’s nothing to laugh about.

I just got done doing my civic duty by voting 25 times (Chicago style) at MLB.COM for my favorite players for the MLB All Star Game. The game will be at my favorite new ballpark PNC in Pittsburgh July 11, 2006. This year instead of voting for the most deserving candidates I decided to vote for members of the Chicago White Sox, past members of the Pale Hose, and guys who are on my APBA dice baseball team. AL: 1B – Paul Konerko, 2B – Tadahito Iguchi, SS – Juan Uribe, 3B – Joe Crede, C – AJ Pierzynski, OF – Scott Podsednik, Jermaine Dye, Grady Sizemore. NL: 1B – Lance Berkman, 2B – Jose Castillo, SS – Jimmy Rollins, 3B – Miguel Cabrera (my former APBA guy & only major leaguer with Florida), C – Brian McCann (really like him and have Victor Martinez on my APBA team, OF: Aaron Rowand, Carlos Lee, Brian Giles. It would be interesting to hear whom you’re voting for and why. Now get out there and vote! And if you get to the Burgh for the All Star game I’ll meet you for some drinks over at Club Royale on Liberty Avenue.

Albert Pujols, a day after breaking the record for homeruns in April, wasn’t given much of a chance to add to his record today.  He was walked 4 times by Nats’ pitchers.  In the bottom of the first, they pitched to him.  He grounded into a double play.

Near as I can tell from reports (I didn’t see the game), they weren’t straight-out intentional walks.  My guess is that Nats pitchers didn’t give him much to hit (someone can correct me if I’m wrong). 

Diamond Jim Edmonds on the whole issue (from a USA Today article):

”Eventually you have to come through,” he said. ”If they want to walk Albert all year long, I’ll be happy to hit behind him.”

That’s a positive spin on the whole walking-Pujols thing.  But quite honestly, folks don’t pay the ticket prices or watch the TV to see Pujols walked.  Let’s just not get caught up in the “walk the current big slugger no matter what”. 

Now that Bonds, whose walk totals reached embarrassing records, has faded out of the picture slightly, let’s not replace him with Pujols. 

 

 

Ramblings:

The Kansas City Royals just completed a particularly inept series (even for THEM). KC scored ONE run in the 3-game series. In two of the three games, Kansas City got only one hit against the opposing starter.

This season, the Royals are 2-12. No Royal starting pitcher has won a game. They have currently lost ten in a row, and NONE of their losses this season are one-run losses. They can’t even stay in the games.

Royal wins: One of their wins was a “Slow Pitch Softball”-type game, where the opposing starter pitched poorly enough to get removed early, both bullpens were bad, and the ROYALS had “last bats.” In their other win, they managed to overcome 6 walks and a wild pitch to win, 4-3, using 5 pitchers in the process. In 2 1/2 weeks, the Royals have not won ONE game in which they played well and earned the win. In my estimation, they don’t have ONE Major League pitcher. And, lately, they keep getting one hit.

Think about this: If the Royals were disbanded and all of their players were made free agents, is there anybody who would catch on as a a major league regular on another team? Mike Sweeney, definitely, if healthy. Mark G, probably. Matt Stairs might platoon if the team he joins is weak enough. Anyone else? No one comes to mind.

I’m sure that these are nice kids; major league players, they are NOT.

Is the Mets’ loss record (40-120) in danger?

The Money Question: How many years must this go on before MLB throws the Kansas City Royals out of the Major Leagues. This team is getting WORSE every year, and it’s obvious to me that they aren’t even trying.

Clarification: The PLAYERS are trying, but the ORGAN-I-ZATION is not trying.

Here’s Another Thing: Lesser players are sent to the minor leagues all the time, replaced by guys who might be better. Why can’t the same thing happen to complete teams with bad ownership? Why can’t major league TEAMS be sent to the minors, replaced by owners and players who might be better?

As an aside: The reason The Boss is against the luxury tax is because bad owners don’t put the money back into their teams. The money goes into the owners’ pockets, because the owners are NOT TRYING TO WIN. The team is a “Money Machine” to these guys, and the lower the salaries are, the more money they make.

Another point: Would the value of minor league franchises skyrocket if potential buyers knew, “If we run our Organ-I-zation well enough, we might get promoted to the big leagues?” Would that be good for baseball?

Something to think about?

DonS.

Went to the Cell last night with Rob T & Nicky V. In the 3rd inning Nicky V asked if either of us had ever witnessed a no-hitter. Rob T & I think we were at the Joe Cowley no-hitter, but he lost that game. Nicky V & I were at the Alex Fernandez one hitter against the Cubbies a few years back when Alex was with the Marlins. And the first game that I ever tried to buy tickets for was when Ken Holtzman no-hit the Braves, but it was sold out (ended up seeing the Reds a week later). Of course the 1st game I attended was at County Stadium in Milwaukee the Boys Benefit game between the White Sox & Cubs in 1968, but faithful BZ readers already knew that.

On this night Jose Contreras was dealing and the KC Royals were hopeless. It was 5-0 after one as Paul Konerko launched a three run blast and Joe Crede nailed a two run shot. Crede’s came after Angel Berroa held the ball and then fired late to 1st rather than turning the easy DP on AJ Pierzynski. The Sox added four more runs to make the final 9-0 Good Guys. Mark Grudzielanek got the only hit of the night, a one out double in the 4th inning, just inside the thirdbase bag. John Buck later walked, but was nailed trying to steal a base despite his team trailing by a ton. Nicky V wasn’t the only guy who thought Contreras was throwing no-hit stuff up there, see Paulie Konerko’s comments.

Jose Contreras W 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO
Boone Logan 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
Cliff Politte 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO