The Baseball Zealot

by Teddy Ballgame

Finally got out to see my cousin Kevin Kaminski play baseball for Harper College. It was a cold day with the north wind whipping as we pulled up to Oakton College field in Des Plaines, IL. As I approached the stands the first batter #18 for Harper hit a shot into the hole for a base hit and later that inning Kevin scored the first run of the game on a sac fly. Going into the bottom of the 1st Harper had a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the frame Oakton’s first hitter ripped a screaming meanie ticketed for centerfield, but secondsacker Kaminski dove full out, punched the batter’s ticket, & threw him out at 1st. Sadly Harper went on to lose the game 3-2 with the go ahead run scoring on a squeeze play. Kevin got on two other times in the game, once when he took one for the team (HBP) and once on an error on a hard hit ball to third. He moved a runner along on a hit & run groundout in another plate appearance. He also showed a good arm turning a nifty 6-4-3 DP. Kevin Kaminski is doing quite well at Harper, but hasn’t decided where his baseball life will take him next. It should be noted Kevin launched one over the wall at the Metrodome earlier this season. Who knows someday we might be watching him play at Wrigley Field.

Chase Utley hit a homerun for the Philles Friday night in a 6-4 loss. Unfortunately this has been a somewhat rare starting spot. To be fair, he’s been starting about half the time but my sources say that Utley is the real deal.

In 16 games, Utley is hitting .292 with 3 homers with a .500 slugging pecentage. Right now, the Phils are playing Placido Polanco for most of the balance of the games at second. I’m wondering what the Phils are waiting for.

Much has been made in the sports media of the Maddux/Clemens matchup aka “The 300-somethings” on Friday.

Not so much has been made of the combined season total of wins of both pitchers going into Friday’s game.

That would be a long skinny one.

As you probably know by now, the Cubs and Maddux won. I found the trailer to ESPN’s coverage of the game rather weird. Something to the effect of Maddux won Friday’s game but Clemens gets bragging rights.

This was due to Clemens going 2-2 against Maddux.

As Clemens made very clear in his post-game interview, that’s not why he’s being paid. At least he understands that if the media doesn’t.

On Friday, Livian Hernandez won his 3rd game of the year for the Nats allowing one run in 8 innings against the the Mets.

Not content to just contribute with his arm, Livian put out with the bat as well. He hit a solo shot in the 5th inning against Jae Seo.

The Brewers managed to win the last game against the Cardinals to avoid a three-game sweep. Facts of note:

-Despite the loss, the Cardinals managed to tie the team record for wins in April with 14. The 1963 Cardinals also won 14 in April.

-Chris Capuano, the winning pitcher for the Brewers, had not won a game since August of last year.

-Russell Branyan had a homerun in the game. Branyan, known for his knack for either hitting the long ball, striking out or drawing a walk, has 3 homeruns in the last 5 games. For the year, he’s hitting .326 with 5 homeruns.

-Finally, Albert Pujols has reached base 28 straight games dating back to last year.