Category: MLB General

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Are we sure this kid’s birth certificate is real?



Is that Ryan Howard?

Aaron Durley, the 13-year-old first baseman for Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, is 6’8″ and 256 lbs. In the history of Major League Baseball, only 8 players have been taller than he is. This also means that he is 6 inches taller and 10 pounds heavier than your average NFL player. Talk about a big target at first base. His entire infield could have worse aim than Dick Cheney and still be able to get the out.

The question is why isn’t he on a basketball court? He’s almost the same size as Glen “Big Baby” Davis. Could you imagine playing in the youth leagues and having to go up against this guy clogging up the middle?

Links:

[SI]: 6-foot-8 player towers over opponents at Williamsport

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The Full Count: Yankees show em who’s boss


1. One-sided rivalry: Everyone said the Yankees-Red Sox series would tell us a lot about where these two clubs stand. And it has. The Yankees are clearly much better than the Red Sox. New York over Boston was the result all weekend as the Yankees won 4 games in 3 days. This series has showed just how good the Bronx Bombers are: they have scored 47 runs in the four games, including three double-digit games to get the series rolling. Last night the result was 8-5 in 10 innings of Sunday Night Baseball, and the game was decided by their bullpens rather than the Schilling-Mussina pitching matchup. Derek Jeter hit an RBI single off Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th to tie up the game, while Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada homered in the 10th to win the game. Giambi’s homer gave him 2 on the day as he drove in 5 runs. David Ortiz hit his 44th homer of the season for the Red Sox and Manny Ramirez hit his 100th RBI. But it wasn’t enough as the Yankees extended their divisional lead to 5.5 games.

2. The wins keep on comin’: If Roy Halladay can do anything, it’s win ballgames. While no NL pitcher has even won 14 games, Halladay captured his 16th of the year yesterday. He was perfect through five innings but eventually allowed two runs as the Blue Jays defeated the Orioles. He is now 16-3 on the season, giving him a league-leading win percentage in addition to his second-best WHIP and innings pitched totals. Could Halladay win 20 games and a Cy Young? He’ll have to defeat this next guy to do that:

3. It’s easy to be dominant: Or at least it is for Johan Santana. The pitcher won his 6th consecutive decision last night as the Twins beat up on the ChiSox. It was his 15th win of the season as he allowed just one run in 7 innings. He now leads the American League in ERA, innings pitched, strikeouts, and WHIP and could capture his second career Cy Young award. It will be a great duel to the finish between him and Halladay, but as of now Johan is leading. He ranks better than Roy at everything but wins and, as described last week, is an animal down the stretch. The Twins won the 20th game in a row he started at the Metrodome, a modern record according to ESPN.com. The Twins took the series and now are just one game back from Chicago in the divisional and Wild Card races. This one could get nasty down the stretch.

4. No signs of fading: The Cincinnati Reds have held the NL Wild Card lead for a long time, and despite increased challengers they keep on winning. Yesterday they topped the Pirates 5-1 in front of their home crowd, as Aaron Harang easily shut down the opposing offense. Harang struck out 9 and allowed just a solo Jason Bay homerun to Pittsburgh while winning his 13th game of the year. That ties him with multiple players for the National League lead. Adam Dunn (37) and Scott Hatteberg (12) both homered in the third to give the home team an early cushion. Dunn is now only 3 away from his third consecutive 40-homerun season and has been a machine for the Reds in every offense category but batting average, strangely enough. Cincy now has a two-game WC lead and is only two games back of the division-leading Cardinals. The Astros, at 7.5 back, have yet to make a push.

5. Pitching problems: Pitcher after pitcher has gone down recently. The A’s and Reds will face bullpen problems over the next few weeks, as both Huston Street and Eddie Guadardo will be put on the DL. Street was feeling groin pain and will be temporarily replaced by Ron Flores, who was called up from Triple-A and has already had three stints with the A’s this season. Guadardo, who had saved 8 of 10 chances since being acquired by Cincy, was also put on the 15 day list and has forearm problems. But both those pitchers got off easily compared to Tom Glavine. He is being examined for a blood clot and could either return next week or miss the rest of the season. The Mets could be without their top two starters, Glavine and the 15-day DL Pedro Martinez, for a while.

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MLB Power Rankings Roundup for Aug 18 2006

Despite their recent troubles (4-6 in their last 10) most sites still deem the Tigers to be the best team in the league. Meanwhile the Yankees, Red Sox, and White Sox all fit somewhere in the top 5 yet one of those teams won’t make the playoffs. This should be a very interesting race down the stretch.

Here are your Top 10 MLB Power Rankings this week:

Rank Sportscolumn ESPN FoxSports Sportsline USA Today TSN.ca
1 Tigers White Sox Tigers Tigers Tigers Yankees
2 Mets Tigers White Sox Mets Yankees Dodgers
3 Yankees Yankees Yankees Yankees White Sox Tigers
4 White Sox Mets Twins White Sox Mets Red Sox
5 Twins A’s Red Sox A’s Red Sox Angels
6 Red Sox Twins Mets Red Sox A’s Reds
7 A’s Dodgers A’s Twins Twins Mets
8 Cardinals Red Sox Blue Jays Dodgers Blue Jays White Sox
9 Blue Jays Angels Dodgers Blue Jays Dodgers A’s
10 Dodgers Blue Jays Twins Cardinals Cardinals Blue Jays
11-30 more more more more more more

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The Full Count: Royal pain in the ass


1. Beating the Royals: We’re not sure whether defeating Kansas City is getting harder or if teams are just taking them lightly. Either way, the Royals, who swept Boston last week, were in position to take a four game series against Chicago yesterday. But the White Sox won to split the series at two games a piece. Mark Buehrle was victorious for the first time in 9 starts, with two earned runs allowed in a quality start. Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, and Jermaine Dye each drove in runs for the White Sox, who held onto the Wild Card lead with the 5-4 victory. With a Minnesota loss last night they lead the Twins by 2.

2. Embarrassment avoided: The Mets hadn’t just been beaten by the Phillies for three straight games, they had been crushed. Philly won the first 3 games of a 4 game set by a combined score of 27-4, including two shutouts. But the Mets retaliated with a little offense and slick pitching of their own in a 7-2 victory. Their 3-4 punch of Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado was very effective in the win. Beltran went 4-5 and hit his 34th homer of the year. He now has a team-high 99 RBIs on the season. Delgado was even better, with 2 homeruns and 4 RBIs on the day. He has a respectable 28 and 78 this season. Pitching-wise, John Maine was effective again, with 6 solid innings and two runs allowed. The runs were because of Ryan Howard’s 42nd shot of the year, tying him with David Ortiz for the ML lead. With the win the Mets kept a 13-game lead in the division.

3. Lack of focus?: Maybe the Yankees couldn’t concentrate with all the hype that is already surrounding their upcoming 5-game set with the Red Sox. Whatever happened, they didn’t look like themselves in their 12-2 loss to Baltimore. While their offense could only muster two solo shots against pitiful starter Rodrigo Lopez, the Yankees’ pitching was even worse. Jaret Wright, who is very inconsistent, had one of his worst days yesterday with 5 earned runs allowed. He also allowed a homerun for the first time in over 50 innings, snapping a major-league long streak. Octavio Dotel, in his second appearance of the season for New York, allowed 3 runs in less than an inning. New York now heads into the Red Sox series with a 1.5 game lead over their heavy rivals.

4. What happened?: The Padres had seemingly captured the division lead until the Dodgers went on their tear. Now it seems like San Diego can’t even win a game. They just took a four game sweep to San Francisco and have lost 8 of their last 10. Jake Peavy lost yesterday to bring his record to an outstanding 6-12, the second most losses of any NL pitcher. He didn’t even have a bad start, but the Padres failed to support their staff until a pinch hit grand slam in the 9th inning by Josh Barfield. Suddenly the Padres, who had led the NL West for about two months, find themselves with a losing record and in 3rd place.

5. You’re out!: As suspected, eight members of the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels were suspended for their roles in Wednesday’s brawl. Managers Mike Scioscia and Buck Showalter were among those who will miss some action. Showalter will miss four games, while Scioscia will only miss three for some reason. Adam Kennedy, who started the fight by charging the mound, will only get 4 games compared to reliever Scott Feldman’s 6. Feldman did hit Kennedy with the pitch, but we think that the person who actually started the fighting should get a more severe punishment. A few other players won’t see action over the weekend for both teams.

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August 18th in Sports History: Cheating in Little League


In 2001: “12-year-old” Danny Almonte of the Bronx pitched a perfect game against Apopka, FL in the Little League World Series. Almonte’s team, however, would be stripped of their victories when it was found out that the star pitcher and other players on his team were too old to be participating in the games. Almonte went on to become a top prospect in high school (although he went undrafted) and in 2005 married a 30-year old hairdresser.

In 1967: Almost 47 years to the day Ray Chapman was killed by a bean ball, Boston Red Sox outfielder Tony Conigliaro was severely injured when he was struck on the cheekbone with a fastball by Jack Hamilton of the California Angels at Fenway Park. Tony C., one of the most popular Red Sox of the sixties, would miss the rest of the 1967 season and all of the 1968 season due to loss of vision. The 1964 Rookie of the Year was a talented player who was often beset by injuries throughout his career. He was named Comeback Player of the Year in 1969, but never really recovered from the beaning and retired early in 1971 and made an abbreviated comeback attempt in 1975. He suffered a massive heart attack in 1982 and died in 1990 at the age of 45. Many New Englanders (where Conigliaro was from) blamed his hard luck story on the Curse of the Bambino that supposedly befell the Red Sox for decades. baseballlibrary.com

Today’s Birthdays: Roberto Clemente was born on this day in 1934 in Puerto Rico and RJ Warner was born sometime during a rowdy bicentennial celebration in Pittsburgh.

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A competition where no one wins


The Mahoning Valley Scrappers have a promotion this Sunday with a “Harriest Back Competition” sponsored by a laser hair removal company. The Scrappers don’t provide much detail on their promotions site so we don’t really know how the winner would be judged. Do they spray something on the backs of these men and see who has the most absorbancy? Will it be on the jumbotron? Will any women enter? What about ass hair? Is that considered the back? Finally, when will the “Maurice Clarett Vodka and Firearms” night take place?

Links:
[MiLB.com]: Top 10 upcoming promotions

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MLB General

The Full Count: Brawlin’ in Arlington


1. A good ol’ fashioned basebrawl: The Texas Rangers and LA Angels actually played yesterday, but few will remember this game for Texas’ 9-3 victory or 8-run third inning. That’s because in the bottom of the 9th with two outs, Adam Kennedy was hit by a pitch and charged the mound, setting off a benches-clearing brawl. Two Rangers had been hit the inning before, leading to the ejection of Angels manager Mike Scioscia. Rangers manager Buck Showalter was tossed after the fight as well as Kennedy. This type of thing can only be explained by watching, so watch it here.

2. Closing in: Watch out, St. Louis. Your usual huge lead in the NL Central division has all but disappeared this season. Now, after a defeat to the Reds, Cincy is closing in on the defending division champs. Yesterday they mauled the Cardinals at the New Busch by hitting 5 homers in a 7-2 win. Third baseman Edwin Encarnacion hit two big flys in the first three innings to give the Reds a 4-0 lead. That was followed by Adam Dunn (36), Ken Griffey Jr. (24), and Rich Aurilla (17) homeruns. Bronson Arroyo, who had been winless since June, finally emerged victorious by holding St. Louis to 1 earned run. Now the Reds are just 1.5 games out in the division, and they could possibly lower that to a half-game by tomorrow.

3. Reaching 70: Only one team in the National League, the Mets, has reached 70 wins. The AL East and West combined feature one 70-win team as well, the Yankees. Amazingly, the AL Central has three teams that have reached that plateau after the Twins did it last night. Minnesota beat up on Cleveland 7-2 last night for the win. Joe Mauer had 2 RBIs, Jason Bartlett went 4-4, and Michael Cuddyer drove in three runs to lead the team. Carlos Sliva got the win and is 4-1 with a 4.73 ERA since the All Star break, good considering his horrendous first half. Now Minnesota is just 1 game away from the Wild Card leading White Sox, who lost again last night to the pitiful Royals. The teams will play in a weekend series that will give one of them bragging rights in this tight race.

4. Cabrera’s day: Though Miguel Cabrera doesn’t really get mentioned among some of he elite hitters in the game, his all-around play over his short career has been truly extraordinary. Yesterday he led the Marlins to a surprising 15-4 crushing of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had won 17 of 18 coming into the game. Cabrera hit two homers, his 19th and 20th on the season, while compiling 5 RBIs, 3 hits, and 3 runs. His performance raised his average to an outstanding .337, which ranks second in the NL. He also ranks second in on-base percentage and sixth in OPS. He is having the best of his 3 standout seasons, with career highs in each of the above percentage categories. Cabrera is truly a young stud, and incredibly is only 23. He is the leader of a young, surprising Marlins team that is only 8 games below .500 despite a minute payroll.

5. We’ll play anyone but Oakland: The Seattle Mariners have just slightly struggled against the A’s on the year. Make that mightily struggled. The team lost their 15th consecutive game against Oakland last night as they fell 4-0. That means Seattle is 55-49 against every team but the A’s and 1-15 against them this year. This is the longest streak since 1974 by any team against a divisional opponent, Elias Sports says. Dan Haren won and struck out 8 while the bullpen held their ground. Now Oakland, after sweeping the Mariners, has won 6 games in a row and 10 of 11 overall. Their streak is similar to the Dodgers’ but has received much less acclaim.

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The Full Count: Can Johan Santana pull off the Pitching Triple Crown?


1. After-break ace: Johan Santana, always an ace after the All Star break, is at it again. He improved to 5-0 after the break this year with a win last night over the Indians. He had a fantastic game, tossing 8 innings of shutout ball against one of the league’s toughest offenses. Santana struck out 9 to elevate his major league-leading total to 187. With a 14-5 record and 3.10 ERA to go along with those strikeouts, Johan has a realistic shot at the Pitching Triple Crown. He is 3rd in ERA (with two rookies ahead of him) and trails only Roy Halladay in wins. He helped the Twins roll along to 20 games above .500.

2. Detroit wins Duels: With the Tigers’ outstanding pitching and efficient offense, they can win just about any game in a pitchers’ duel. That remained true last night, when they ousted the Red Sox 3-2. Jeremy Bonderman and Curt Schilling each pitched very well for their teams. Strikeout specialist Bonderman mowed down 8 Sox in seven innings while only allowing 2 runs. Schilling didn’t walk anybody but allowed 9 hits and 2 runs in seven. The game wasn’t decided until the ninth inning, when Mike Timlin–who was oddly in the game instead of closer Jonathan Papelbon–allowed an RBI single to Craig Monroe. Then Todd Jones was able to save his 16th save chance in a row without blowing one. He has 33 on the year. The Tigers moved to 6.5 games ahead of the White Sox (who lost), while the BoSox fell to 3 games back of the Yankees (who won). Both teams will play their main rivals later this week.

3. Enough of 18: You could call the Houston Astros the most worn-out team in baseball, or you could call them the most dramatic. Whatever the case is, they always seem to be playing in extremely long games. Yesterday they went 18 innings against the Cubs, their third game of such length in the past year. Houston’s Roger Clemens, who has been an automatic quality start so far this year, allowed a season-high 5 runs but still almost got a win. The only reason he didn’t was because of the Cubs’ Matt Murton, whose homerun in the ninth tied the game at 6. it stayed there for a while, for 8 more innings in fact. The tie was finally broken in the 18th, when it was Murton who drove in the winning runs. So the Cubs won, but it is Houston and their sense to play in extremely long games that has us puzzled. Their pitching staff has now thrown an MLB-high 1081 innings on the year, about thirty more than most teams. Could this wear and tear affect them as they try to make another run down the stretch? We’ll see.

4. Another 18: In one of most coincidental twists in the entire MLB this year, another 18-inning game was played yesterday. It was the first time that two games of this length had ever been played on the same day. The other victims were the Diamondbacks and Rockies, who played the longest game in the history of Coors Field. It lasted almost 5 and a half hours and featured 15 pitchers (still short of the Astros-Cubs’ whopping 18). This one was lower scoring from the get-go. The Rockies’ Jason Jennings had another great start with 8 innings pitched and just one run allowed. Miguel Bautista of the D-Backs pitched 6 and also allowed one. That set the stage for an enormous drought in scoring. For a mind-blowing 12 straight innings, neither team put a single run on the board. The 1-1 tie was finally broken in the 18th, when Luis Gonzalez delivered his only hit in 8 at-bats: a single that drove in the winning run. So that was the second 18-inning game on the same day! This might never happen again.

5. LA Law: Los Angeles is “laying down the law” on opposing teams, with 17 wins in their last 18 games. The streak is now reaching the historic. They are only one of two teams in the last 100 National League seasons to have a streak of such magnitude. According to baseball-reference.com, the streak is better than any in Dodgers history over an 18-game period. It is better than any run since the A’s magical 20-game win streak in 2002, a record that might never be broken. LA now leads by 3.5 games in the NL West, and they have the best home record (39-25) in the National League. Can they keep it up? Considering their weak division, yes.

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August 16 in Sports History: Sports Illustrated first issue


In 1954: Sports Illustrated appeared on newsstands for the first time. The first issue was titled “Night Baseball” and it featured Milwaukee Braves slugger Eddie Mathews on the cover. There were 146 pages and it also featured trading cards of baseball All-Stars including Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays and Ted Williams. The first swimsuit model would appear on the cover two weeks later. Many subsequent issues in those early days featured yachting, hunting, golf and rodeo.

In 1948: Baseball legend and Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth died at the age of 53 of throat cancer. Ruth is considered by many the greatest player of all time. The one-time orphan hit 714 career home runs, fashioned a .342 lifetime average, was a dominant pitcher early in his career and reached almost mythical status worldwide. His body would lay in state at Yankee Stadium for the next two days, and more than 100,000 people passed by to pay their respects.

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The Full Count: Chipper comes off the DL with a bang



3 HR night

1. Chip off the old block: Chipper Jones wasted no time returning to form after his stint on the DL for the Braves. Jones hit 3 homeruns at RFK stadium against the Nationals in just his second game back. It was his first career three-homer game and brings his career total to 350. Chipper went 4-5 to up his title-contending average to .339. Also for the Bravos, Matt Diaz went 4-5 and at one point had a hit in 10 consecutive at-bats. Diaz had gone 2-2 on Saturday and 4-4 on Sunday. His 10 hits in a row streak tied an NL record. The Braves won 10-4. They are still a whopping 16 games back in the division but trail by only 5.5 in the Wild Card race.

2. Run over by a train: We’re not sure if Pedro Martinez and the Mets were altogether ready for last night’s game against Philadelphia. While they lead the Phillies by more than a dozen games and have practically guaranteed themselves a playoff berth, the Mets still need to put on better showing than they did yesterday. They were dominated 13-0 by the Phils. Pedro Martinez only lasting the first inning, in which the Phillies scored 6 runs. According to ESPN.com, it was the first time in 10 years that Pedro had not gone at least 3 innings in any given start. Leadoff man Jimmy Rollins continued his hot streak by going 3-3 with 3 RBIs. Chas Utley added two more ribbies, while Abraham Nunez drove in three himself. The Phillies also got an excellent start from Cole Hamels, who put together his fourth consecutive quality start. He is 3-1 during those starts with 34 strikeouts.

3. Mean streak: The schedule-makers did not give the Detroit Tigers a very easy ride in August. After series last week against the Twins and White Sox, they now travel to Boston to face the Red Sox. They had lost five straight games, their longest such streak of the season, before last night’s much needed 7-4 edging of the BoSox. Sean Casey drove in two runs while Dimitri Young added three hits. Starter Nate Robinson picked up his 11th win with a quality start. For the Red Sox, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez combined to go 1-6, which is probably the reason they lost. The Tigers still lead the charging White Sox (who beat the Royals 12-2) by 5.5 games.

4. Making their run: Has there ever been a season that the A’s haven’t performed well in the second half? It’s certainly hard to remember, as there has been more of the same this year. The A’s have quietly won 9 of their last 10 games. They are now 14 games over .500 and lead their division by 5.5 games. This is all despite having narrowly outscored their opponents on the year, 530-525. in fact, the A’s offense simply stinks; that total is the second-lowest runs scored of any team in the AL. But when your pitching staff has a 4.16 ERA, you don’t need to worry about trivial matters like hitting. It looks to me like the A’s, who won 5-4 yesterday with Frank Thomas and Nick Swisher homeruns, will return to the playoffs this year.

5. Combined effort: Most shutouts might involve one or two pitchers. Not with the Giants yesterday. Starter Brad Hennessey was taken out after 5.2 innings and 70 pitches, but five relievers held up the 0. Armando Benitez, who had blown three consecutive save opportunities, held up in this one.