Tag: baseball

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San Francisco Giants

Going to get a beer every time Bonds is at bat


CBP during Barry’s 715th homer

A few years ago, figuring out when Bonds was going to hit another 2 to 3 homers was pretty easy — just give him about a week. Well, he’s now 2 away from tying Ruth’s record and 3 from breaking it, and there’s a 3 game series at Philly over the weekend. He could do it in Philly or it could take him the rest of this month to jack up another 3. But unless he’s in the friendly confines or Willie Mays Park, there’s no telling the reaction he’ll get.

Philly is probably the last place you’d want to break the record if you were Bonds. Not only would you not get any cheers, you’d get roundly booed. Or, if some people get their way, you could hear a pin drop. Yes, some folks are saying that every time Bonds gets up to bat, the entire stadium should make a concession run. Theoretically, you’d have to start the mass exodus during Steve Finley’s at-bat. But you’re smart folks, you’ll figure it out.

If you truly think Bonds cheated and he doesn’t deserve to beat Ruth on the home run list, a deafening silence is more effective than any vitriol you can hurl Barry’s way. Hell, Barry loves being hated. If the stands were completely empty, Barry just might just curl up in a fetal position and cry. And that makes this potentially the most brilliant idea ever in protest. It would certainly make history.

Or, alternately, just start throwing feces onto the field.

Links:
[SI]:
Lidle: Bonds’ chase not ‘legitimate’
[Yahoo]: San Francisco Giants May Schedule

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MLB General

Full Count for May 4 2006: Evil Empire is back in 1st

1. A-Rod: clutch?: Alex Rodriguez has taken many shots over his career about not being able to come through in clutch situations. This year, he is only hitting .242 with runners in scoring position. But last night, he won the game for the Yankees with a 10th inning RBI single. The Devil Rays chose to pitch to the slugger with runners on second and third and walk Hideki Matsui, but their plan backfired. The hit broke A-Rod’s 0-12 slump, and the win sent the Yankees to first place for the first time this season.

2. Showing his age: Greg Maddux has really had a spectacular season so far. At age 40, he started the year out 5-0, his best-ever start to a season. But he came back down to Earth on Wednesday, as he lost to Arizona. Maddux’s career record versus the D’Backs dropped to 1-9, his only losing record against any NL team. He was ripped for 5 runs and 10 hits in only 5 innings pitched in his worst performance of the season. Arizona’s Chad Tracy did most of the damage, with a homer and 4 RBIs. Miguel Bautista picked up the win, and surprising Jose Valverde achieved his 8th save of the year. The D’Backs are a game back of the Rockies for the NL West lead.

3. A week to remember: Only three games into this week, Travis Hafner has already put up unbelievable numbers. His homerun and 4 RBIs in the Indians rout of the A’s marked Hafner’s third straight game with these totals. So, in his last three games, he has 3 homers and 12 RBIs. The entire Indians lineup did well in a 14-3 win on Wednesday. Up 5-3 entering the 8th inning, the Indians ruined the A’s bullpen for 9 runs. In fact, no Oakland pitcher on the night allowed less than two earned runs. Indians starter Paul Byrd turned out one of his first decent performances of the year, with 3 allowed through 7. Cleveland is still 5 games back of the White Sox in the AL Central.

4. Back to 2003: Jason Schmidt has struggled ever since his magnificent 2003 and 2004 campaigns. Last night, he took the first step to getting back on track, with a shutout against the Brewers. He allowed only 5 hits and did not walk a batter on the night. This was Schmidt’s first shutout since August 2004. In other news, Barry Bonds failed to homer, going 0-4 on the night. He remained at 712 for the season. The Giants (14-13) are right in the middle of the packed NL West division, in which every team has from 12 to 16 wins.

5. Staying in Miami?: The Marlins, who have the lowest attendance and payroll in baseball, have talked about moving to a different city this year. San Antonio would certainly be a possibility. An amendment was approved by the Florida Senate that could give the team a new stadium. This is good news for a team that has the third lowest record in baseball and is in last place.

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MLB General

Full Count for May 3 2006: Nothin’ But A Good Time


1. CC’s back: The Cleveland Indians have played without their best pitcher CC Sabathia so far this season. On Tuesday, he returned from the DL to give the Indians a much-needed win. He pitched 5 solid innings, only giving up 1 run. Opposing pitcher Mark Buehrle threw his worst game of the season, with 7 runs and 13 hits allowed to the Indians. Travis Hafner led Cleveland on offense with a homer (9) and 4 RBIs. The Indians were in danger of falling under .500 had they lost.

2. Just two more: The Giants fell to the Padres on Tuesday, but this game was all about 712. That’s Barry Bonds’ homerun total after his solo shot in the eighth inning. Now Bonds is just two away from tying Babe Ruth on the all-time list. The Giants’ next two series are at Milwaukee and Philadelphia, so there is a possibility Bonds will hit his tying shot on the road. The loss sent the Giants to .500, but the Padres are still in last in the NL West.

3. Clear the benches: One of the fist major fights of the season occurred in the Oakland-Los Angeles game yesterday. John Lackey was pitching to Jason Kendall, and a pitch went high and inside. Lackey apparently insulted Kendall, resulting in the A’s catcher charging the mound. The two started fighting, which led to the clearing of both dugouts. No one was ejected because of the incident. The A’s ended up routing the Angels 10-3, including 6 9th inning runs to put the game out of reach.

4. Leading off: Marcus Giles had high expectations when he was named Atlanta’s leadoff hitter before the season started. He has been a disappointment, but he played like a star in the Braves game against the Rockies. Giles went 4-5 with an RBI and a run, and Andruw Jones recorded two RBIs for the Braves. Shortstop Edgar Renteria set an Atlanta record by extending his hitting streak to 17 games at the start of the season. The Braves won 5-4 against Colorado, and despite their 12-14 record they are in second place.

5. Minor league cheater: Though no major leaguers have been suspended for steroids this season, a few minor league players have been caught on the juice. The latest was Tampa Bay minor leaguer Matt Rico, who was suspended for 100 games for his second drug violation. Tampa Bay’s minor leagues are worse than the major league team this season, with this on top of Delmon Young’s bat-throwing incident.

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MLB General

Full Count for Tues May 2 2006: From you, dad. I learned it from watching you!



That’s my boy!

1. Like father, like son: Pete Rose Jr. didn’t exactly have the best fatherly influence growing up. His dad was infamously banned from the Hall of Fame for betting on baseball, and Rose Jr. has now been arrested for selling illegal drugs to his minor league teammates. The drug is a known steroid alternative. Rose was sentenced to one month in prison and five months of home detention, though the crime could have warranted a $1 million fine.

2. Guess who’s back: The first Red Sox-Yankees game of the year was highlighted by Johnny Damon’s return to Fenway Park. Damon, once beloved by Red Sox fans, was booed for thirty seconds in his first plate appearance, and he went 0-4 on the night. David Ortiz, possibly the best hitter in the AL, led the Red Sox to a 7-3 victory with his 3-run homerun in the 8th. It was Ortiz’s 11th homer of the year, giving him the tie for the AL lead. Decent pitching performances for the Red Sox were turned in by Tim Wakefield, Mike Timlin, and Jonathan Papelbon.

3. Unwanted at home: While Damon’s boos in his return to Fenway were expected, we at least thought Jim Thome would get some respect back at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. Thome did hit over 300 homeruns in his career for the Indians. But he got even worse treatment than Damon, as he was booed throughout the game by Cleveland fans. Thome went 1-5 with an RBI, but it was Scott Podsednik and Paul Konerko who led the Sox to an 8-6 victory. Konerko hit a three-run homer in the first inning, and Podsednik went 4-5 and added a stolen base. For the Indians, Travis Hafner hit his 8th homerun of the year, a grand slam. But it wasn’t enough for Cleveland, who fell to 5.5 games off the White Sox’s lead.

4. Going all the way: Two complete games led two NL teams to wins on Monday. Tim Hudson of the Braves, who has struggled so far this year, had likely the best pitching performance of the season with a one-hitter against the Rockies. The only hit Hudson allowed was ironically to the opposing pitcher, Jason Jennings. Hudson had a hit of his own, which drove in one of the Braves’ two runs. The other complete game was tossed by Bronson Arroyo of the Reds, who allowed four hits and a run in the Reds’ 6-1 win over St. Louis. Arroyo, who is 5-0 on the year, held Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds to a combined 0-7 on the night.

5. Texas hold `em: The Texas Rangers are not known for their pitching. In fact, their hurlers have probably been the only thing holding them back from making the playoffs the last few years. But last night, their pitchers carried them in a 3-0 shutout of the Devil Rays. Kameron Low got the start and the win, with only 4 hits allowed over 7 innings. Francisco Cordero, who has allowed a run in every appearance since April 20, pitched a perfect inning. Akinori Otsuka, now apparently the closer for Texas, got the save. This was the first shutout of the year for the Rangers.

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MLB General

Full Count for May 1 2006: What are the Tigers doing here?



  Who knew?

1. The Tigers, dominant?: The Detroit Tigers have been one of the worst teams in the majors for a while now. Their 43-119 record in 2003 was an absolute disaster to say the least. But in 2006, the Tigers have been one of the best teams in baseball. They have a 16-9 record, the second highest win total in the major leagues. And their dominance of the Minnesota Twins was hard to believe. In the Tigers’ three-game sweep of the Twins, the combined score was 33-1, one of the 5 highest margins in the past fifty years. They completed the sweep with a 6-0 victory on Sunday, in which Kenny Rogers (4-2) continued his quiet yet effective season. The other games in the series were won 9-0 and 18-1 by Detroit, who faces the Twins two more times in the next three weeks.

2. More than a blown save: We’ve seen a lot of horrendous bullpen play this year. Usual ace closers such as Brad Lidge, Francisco Cordero, and Eddie Guadardo have each blown multiple saves. But in the Dodgers’ 10-inning loss to the Padres, the bullpen had a memorably bad outing. Los Angeles was up 5-0 in the ninth with reliever Lance Carter in, but he was blasted for 3 runs without recording an out. Danys Baez, the usual closer, was put in next but allowed two runs to send the game to extras. Baez had been a reliable closer until this point for the Dodgers, as he had a 0.00 ERA coming into the game. But he blew the save, and in the 10th inning Mark Bellhorn recorded a game-winning single to end the game. The Dodgers would have swept the Padres had they won, but thanks to the relief pitching they fell to 12-13 on the year.

3. Shilling, a loser?: Coming into Sunday’s game against the Devil Rays, Curt Shilling had had a perfect season. He was 4-0, looking to become only the third Boston pitcher ever to win 5 games in April. But the Devil Rays brought out one of their best efforts of the season to defeat Shilling and the Sox 5-4. Shilling allowed 3 runs in 6 innings, far from awful but still his worse outing of the year. He was outplayed by Scott Kazmir, who struck out 10 and allowed 2 in 7 innings. With a 5-2 lead entering the 9th, Tampa was barely able to hold on to their lead as their bullpen almost blew it. The Rays are now 11-14, still last on the AL East but only three games of the Red Sox, who are still the division leaders.

4. Victory at last: The Atlanta Braves were glad to be winners again on Sunday, avoiding their second series sweep in a row (which would be their first such streak since 1985). They defeated the Mets 8-5, and Jeff Francoeur recorded 5 RBIs and a home run for the Braves. The Mets (16-8) have never swept the Braves at Turner Field since 1996. They are 22-52 all-time at the stadium. The Braves finished April 10-14, although they seem to always have a losing record in the first few months. The Mets look to end the Braves’ remarkable streak of 14 straight division titles.

5. Ridiculous on pace numbers from April: If the season continued exactly like it has:
1. Albert Pujols would finish the season with 91 homers and 207 RBIs.
2. Jonathan Papelbon would record 68 saves without allowing a run.
3. Pedro Martinez would have a 32-0 record.
4. Miguel Tejada would break the all-time batting average record with .422.
5. Barry Bonds would have a .547 on base percentage despite a .277 batting average.

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MLB General

Full Count for Fri Apr 28 2006: Eight is Great

1. Lucky number 8: When a team’s offense is as loaded as the Cleveland Indians’ is, every once in a while it will explode in an outburst of runs. That is what happened on Thursday night when Cleveland smashed Josh Beckett and the Red Sox in a 15-3 rout. Beckett had one of his worst career outings, allowing 8 runs in 3.2 innings pitched. On the other hand, Ben Broussard had a career-best game. He went 4-5 with 2 homeruns and a MLB season high 8 RBIs. Broussard’s grand slam in the first inning opened up the scoring for the Indians, and his solo homerun later in the game reached the upper deck. Victor Martinez also homered for Cleveland, his 5th of the year. The Indians have now regained their major league lead in most runs scored, with 142 on the year. Beckett’s loss was his first of the year, and his ERA shot up from 2.54 to 4.50.

2. Santana returns to form: Johan Santana has been way off his 2004 form so far this year. Before last night, he had yet to win a game or throw 10 strikeouts in a game. On Thursday, he accomplished both in a 7-3 Twins win over the pitiful Royals. He pitched a season-high 8 innings and allowed 3 runs. Many Royals said his pitching was particularly baffling. Manager Buddy Bell said, “We weren’t able to do anything mainly because he was pitching so well.” Unfortunately for Royals fans, that is true for almost every pitcher they face. They have the lowest runs and homeruns totals in the majors.

3. Prolific Ponson?: It seems like every pitcher in a Cardinals uniform pitches better than they would elsewhere. This is true for Sidney Ponson, who, after two awful seasons, is 3-0 with St. Louis. His win last night against the Nationals sent his ERA down to 3.13, about half of last season’s total. Ponson got some help from the Cardinals offense in the 6-2 win. Jim Edmonds, who has been silent so far this year, hit a 3-run homerun in the first. That was all the support Ponson needed, as the Cards rolled to a 15-7 record.

4. Not that this implies anything…: Barry Bonds is in a lot of trouble right now, thanks to the fact that about 99.9% of America believes “Game of Shadows” instead of him. However, he about to pass Babe Ruth on the all-time homerun list, something that will require a celebration from the MLB, right? Wrong. Selig said that the MLB “will not celebrate” Bonds breaking Ruth’s mark, saying that “we don’t celebrate anybody the second or third time in.” Or maybe this has to do with the fact that Bonds is detested by about everyone besides himself. Anyway, Barry will have to pass Aaron to get any kind of celebration from the MLB.

5. Maybe he and Ron Artest will get along: Everyone knows by now about Devil Rays minor leaguer Delmon Young throwing the bat at the umpire after striking out. We said yesterday that Young “deserves to be punished for his actions.” Well, we got our wish, as AAA suspended Young indefinitely. The length of the suspension was not revealed, but it will likely be in the territory of Ron Artest’s season-long suspension after the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl. Unfortunately for Young, he doesn’t have a rap album to promote while he is serving his suspension.

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MLB General

MLB Power Rankings Roundup for Apr 28 2006

Everyone agrees that the White Sox are the best team in baseball. That is, except TSN who have the Tigers in the #1 slot. Since this isn’t a joke, we have to wonder what they’re thinking. Although last week, they were the only people to have the Reds in the top 10. This week, the rest of the crew is catching up and the Reds have moved up in most power rankings after leading the league in offense.

Rank Sportscolumn ESPN FoxSports Sportsline USA Today TSN.ca
1 White Sox White Sox White Sox White Sox White Sox Tigers
2 Astros Cardinals Red Sox Red Sox Mets White Sox
3 Red Sox Mets Mets Cardinals Astros Mets
4 Mets Indians Cardinals Astros Red Sox Astros
5 Cardinals Astros Yankees Mets Cardinals Cubs
6 Reds Yankees Tigers Angels Yankees Reds
7 Yankees Blue Jays Blue Jays Yankees Indians Red Sox
8 Cubs Red Sox Astros Giants Tigers Cardinals
9 Angels Angels Cubs Indians Blue Jays Yankees
10 Giants Reds Reds Braves Angels Blue Jays
11-30 more more more more more more

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MLB General

We want… no… NEED this CD

Why pay $3.99 for TO’s rap song when you can get an entire album of Major Leaguers singing for $17.99? Good Sports Recordings has unleashed “Oh Say Can You Sing” on the American public.

Their web site says that it “is a COOL project with no cheesy or campy elements allowed!” We’re going to go ahead and ignore that marketing copy. When you have Coco Crisp rapping an “original track”, there’s something very wrong. Still, on 11 tracks, there must be some good stuff here right? Besides Matt Ginter of the Tigers playing banjo on a song we’ve never heard of, that is. Actually, what we really want to hear is Matt Ginter rapping.

It’s for a good cause so we won’t make fun of it too much. However, they missed a golden opportunity on a can’t miss song that would make this a bestseller. How do they not have a duet of Enter Sandman with Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner? That’s gold, jerry, gold!

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MLB General

Full Count for Thur Apr 27 2006: Babe-3



Getting ready to roll over

1. 7-11 closes at 11: It looks like Barry Bonds is trying to prove everyone wrong who said that he couldn’t play at a high level anymore. The former MVP (and steroid user) bashed his third homerun of the season on Wednesday, giving him 711 on his career. This was his second round-tripper in his last two games, and it left Bonds only 3 shy of Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list. However, the Giants lost to the Mets in a high-scoring 11 inning game. Carlos Delgado homered for New York in their 9-7 edging of San Francisco.

2. “There’s a first time for everything”: Those were the words of Ben Sheets after the Brewers swept the Braves for their first time in franchise history. Sheets achieved his first win of the season, striking out 9 in six innings of work. Derrick Turnbow picked up his eighth save of the year, and his 3rd of the 3-game series. Jorge Sosa, who was one of the best pitchers on the Braves’ staff last season, lost the game to decrease his record to 0-4. The four losses are more than he had all last season. The Braves dropped to 9-12, five games back of the Mets in the NL East. The Brewers are now 12-10.

3. 6 up, 6 out: Kevin Mench wasn’t expected to carry the Rangers with his bat this season. Mark Teixeria and Hank Blalock were supposed to be the power hitters for the Rangers. But after yesterday, Mench is leading the team in RBIs and is second in homeruns. His 6 game in a row with a homer set a new Texas Rangers record, and all of his 20 RBIs have come in the last 7 days. However, thanks to another blown save by Francisco Cordero, Oakland defeated Texas 6-4 in 10 innings. Cordero’s 5th blown save set a major league record for the month of April, and Cordero’s ERA ballooned to a pitiful 11.70. Both teams trail the LA Angels in the AL West.

4. They are Lackey-ing some runs: Remember when the Detroit Tigers were the hottest offensive team in the majors? Chris Shelton was hailed as the Next Big Thing, and the Tigers were the talk of the major leagues. Shelton and the rest of the team have stumbled recently on offense, and that was showcased in their 4-0 loss to the Angels. John Lackey shut them down, with only 1 hit allowed over 8 innings. His ERA dropped over a point to 3.09, and he recorded 8 strikeouts as well. Vladimir Guerrero provided some offense for LA, with his 5th homerun of the season. Tigers pitcher Mike Maroth came into the game with an unbelievable .49 ERA, but after four earned runs it rose to 1.85.

5. The Royals don’t even have to deal with this: It’s not like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays needed any more problems to deal with. They already had more rebuilding to do than Bill Parcells’ wardrobe designer. But now, one of their top minor league prospects is getting himself into behavioral issues. Delmon Young, a former #1 overall draft selection and minor league player of the year, was ejected for throwing a bat at an umpire after striking out. Behavior like this belongs in Little League, not a professional organization. Young should be fined and further punished for his actions. We almost feel sorry for the Devil Rays.

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MLB General

Full Count for April 26 2006: Barry inches closer


1. Bonds on Babe: Barry Bonds is now only 4 homeruns behind the one and only Babe Ruth after his shot Tuesday night. Bonds took a pitch from Steve Trachsel into left field and even received chants of “Barry! Barry!” from the home crowd. His second home run on the season turned out to be the only San Francisco run in their 4-1 loss against the Mets. Xavier Nady and Cliff Floyd both homered for the 13-7 Mets, and Floyd’s shot reached McCovey Cove.

2. 14 innings, 14 wins: The Astros NL-leading 14th win of the season was much harder to obtain than their previous 13. Though they lead through 8 innings thanks to Preston Wilson’s run and RBI, Brad Lidge blew his second straight save for Houston, sending the game into extras. Of course, extra innings are nothing unusual at Minute Maid Park, as two playoff games there last year went at least 14 innings. Anyway, Preston Wilson proved to be the hero, with a 14th-inning sacrifice fly to end the game. The game lasted 4:41.

3. A new trend has started: On Monday night, Nomar Garciaparra hit a game winning grand slam in his second game off the DL. Last night, in his first game off the DL, Atlanta’s Chipper Jones hit a 2-run homer against the Brewers. However, those proved to be the Braves only runs of the night in a 4-2 loss. Geoff Jenkins homered for the host Brewers, and Prince Fielder hit a go-ahead RBI in the 6th inning. The Braves fell to 9-11, four games behind the division-leading Mets. The two teams will play at Turner Field over the weekend.

4. A baseball shootout: In a matchup of two of the best offenses in the majors, the Red Sox prevailed over the Indians by a score of 8-6. The Indians had a 4-2 lead after 3 innings thanks to Travis Hafner’s RBI double. But the Red Sox big bats proved to be too much, as both David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez homered. Ramirez’s 3-run blast in the 8th gave Boston a lead they wouldn’t give up. Curt Shilling was hit with his first non-win of the season, with 5 allowed in 6 innings. Keith Foulke was the one who picked up the win, and Jonathan Papelbon got the save.

5. Show us the money!: Minor league umpires have begun a strike, and major league umpires are protesting with them. These umpires are upset because AAA umps only make around $15,000 a year, while major league umpires make from $92,000 to $375,000, according to USA Today.com. The strike, which began March 24, has resulted in college and some high school umpires calling minor league games.