Tag: MLB

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Streaking Giants move into first place


1. Eight is Great: One of the more surprising teams this season has been the San Francisco Giants. Expected to be one of the worst teams in the NL by many, they have moved up to first place with a league-high 8 consecutive wins. They just swept the Dodgers, who gave up their division lead. Bonds didn’t go deep on Thursday, but Ray Durham and Bengie Molina each had two RBIs, and starter Russ Ortiz somehow found a way to pitch well. Brad Penny (3-0, 1.95 ERA) continued his success for Los Angeles, but the bullpen blew a 3-1 lead for him. The Giants, who have the highest winning streak in the majors so far this year, will look to extend it as they face division foes Arizona and Colorado over the next week.

2. Bartolo is Back: Remember when Bartolo Colon won the Cy Young in 2005? Most people probably don’t due to his injury-riddled 2006. But now, after two starts this year, Colon looks to be an ace again. He improved to 2-0 after shutting down the Devil Rays. He pitched 7 innings, with one run allowed and 11 strikeouts. The Angels offense gave him plenty of support, with 11 runs, including a homer by Vlad Guerrero. The Angels were struggling at the beginning of the year, but now after three straight wins, they’re in first place. Their rotation, when healthy, could be the best in baseball: Colon, John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Kelvim Escobar, and Jered Weaver.

3. Still no pitching: Desperate in their search for capable starting pitching, the Yankees gave one of their best prospects, Phillip Hughes, a major league start. While you can’t draw conclusions based on one outing, Hughes doesn’t seem to be much of an improvement over the other guys they’ve tried out. He only lasted 4 innings against the Blue Jays, allowing 4 runs and throwing 91 pitches. But for Toronto, AJ Burnett gave his best start of the year against the Yanks’ great offense: 7 innings, 5 strikeouts, no runs allowed. The 6-0 win for the Blue Jays was New York’s sixth straight loss after getting swept by the Red Sox and Devil Rays. They are currently in last place.

Player of the Day: Josh Beckett, Red Sox: 8 innings, 2 runs, improved to league-best 5-0 in a 5-2 win over Baltimore.

Stat of the Day: Sammy Sosa’s two homeruns against the Indians made Jacobs Field the 44th park he has homered in. That is a major league record.

Categories
Minnesota Twins

Torii Hunter takes a pitch to the choppers

Anybody who has played baseball at any level has probably felt the pain of a fastball shot to the body. And for an unlucky few of you out there, you’ve even felt the sting of a ball to the head. Well, add Minnesota outfielder Torii Hunter to that list.

In the second inning of yesterday’s game against the Royals Hunter took a nasty pitch to face from Zack Greinke. For a second it looks like Hunter is ready to rumble over the beaning but as he heads to the mound the pain must have reached the neurons and receptors in his brain and he did a pretty little pirouette before dropping to his hands and knees. It was all very Wile E. Coyote-ish. But Hunter shook it off and walked off the field under his own power before getting three stitches to repair a cut on the left side of his mouth. Are you learning anything from this, D-Wade?


Bonus photo of Torii Hunter after the doctor stitched him up afterr the jump.

Continue reading “Torii Hunter takes a pitch to the choppers”
Categories
Boston Red Sox

This bloody sock needs to die already



The famous sock on display in
Cooperstown

On Wednesday night Curt Schilling torched the Orioles en route to a 6-1 Red Sox victory, but that wasn’t the only story of the evening. That’s because the play-by-play voice for Baltimore Gary Thorne started yapping about Shilling’s bloody sock that he made famous during Game 6 of the 04 ALCS against the dreaded Yankees, and claimed that he was told by Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli that the sock was actually painted to give a dramatic effect to the game.

The great story we were talking about the other night was that famous red stocking that he wore when they finally won, the blood on his stocking,” Thorne said to broadcast partner Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame pitcher, in a conversation that had begun with a discussion of Schilling’s blog.

“Nah,” Thorne said. “It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR. Two-ball, two-strike count.”

Palmer: “Yeah, that was the 2004 World Series [sic].” Thorne: “Yeah.”

During a break two innings later, Thorne confirmed that’s what he said, and that Mirabelli had told him so in a conversation “a couple of years ago.”

“Go ask him [Mirabelli],” Thorne said.

Mirabelli was shocked, then angry, when relayed Thorne’s comments.

“What? Are you kidding me? He’s [expletive] lying. A straight lie,” Mirabelli said. “I never said that. I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood.

Now, this isn’t the first time that Schill has been accused of not bloodying the sock personally, but this is the first time that the source was linked personally to the pitcher. Not that any of this really matters, regardless of whether it was blood, paint, ink or anything else, all that matters is that Schilling put on a show that night and carried his team to victory in dramatic fashion. Just ask the Theo Epstein.

You’re kidding me, right?” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein wrote in an e-mail last night. “I’m the GM of the team, not Jerry Springer. I couldn’t give two [expletives] about what was on his sock, I care that we won the game.

It is pretty stupid to still be talking about a damn sock three years after the fact. It’s time to move past all this nonsense and focus on something that is far more pressing subject matter. To be specific, was the 1985 NBA draft lottery fixed?

Links:

[Boston.com]: Bloody mess

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Bad + Bad = extra innings Bad



Hell, even Garner looks bored

1. Longest Game of the Year: There have been quite a few extra-inning contests this year, but none as long as the Astros-Pirates game on Wednesday. The Astros always seem to get involved in the really long games, and this one lasted 16 innings. The winner of this marathon was the Pirates after Adam LaRoche hit a walk-off single. It was his first career hit at PNC Park, and only the 7th hit overall this year for LaRoche, who has been in a slump since the season started and is only hitting .106. The teams combined for 15 different pitchers, 30 different hitters, and 476 pitches thrown.

2. Man on Fire: Bonds hasn’t been this good since 2004. He hit a first-inning, three-run homerun on Wednesday against the Dodgers, giving him 7 on the year and 741 for his career. Barry Bonds has now homered in three of his last four games, and leads the league in homers, slugging, and OPS. He’s 14 short of the career homers record, and he Willie McCovey as the Giants’ all-time RBI leader. The Giants won 6-4 over the Dodgers, with Noah Lowry getting the win and Armando Benitez the save. For Benitez, it is his 6th save of the year with an ERA of 2.45.

3. Dueling Complete Games: You wouldn’t expect a matchup between Jarrod Washburn of the Mariners and Joe Blanton of the A’s to turn into a pitcher’s duel, but it did. Both hurlers threw complete games, but Blanton allowed two solo homeruns while Washburn shutout the A’s. Jose Guillen and Kenji Johjima both went yard, supplying all the offense the Mariners needed. Oakland’s loss combined with the Angels’ win over Tampa results in a tie atop the AL West standings.

Player of the Day: Jake Peavy, Padres: 7 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 16 strikeouts. He struck out nine straight from the second to fourth inning.

Stat of the Day: Joel Zumaya hit a batter and then walked four straight against the White Sox. It is only the second time a reliever has issued a free pass to five straight batters in the last 40 years, according to Elias Sports.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Losing the Arms Race


1. All Bats, No Arms: The Yankees have a problem. Their lineup is great — probably the best in the majors — and Alex Rodriguez is already breaking records this season. But, due to injuries and bad trades, they have awful pitching. After allowing four homeruns in a row in a Sunday loss to the Red Sox, the Yanks were torched by the Devil Rays on Monday night. Kei Igawa allowed 7 earned runs and could make it out of the 5th inning. His ERA in four starts is 7.84. Rocco Baldelli, BJ Upton, and other youngsters took advantage as the D-Rays continued their offensive success with a 10-run performance.

Even in a winning effort, the Devil Rays could not stop Alex Rodriguez. He hit two homers, giving him 14 on the year. That ties Albert Pujols’ record for homers in the month of April (set last year), and A-Rod still has six games left in the month. He also now has 34 RBIs, one short of the record. But still, despite scoring 8 runs, the Yankees lost their fourth in a row and are now just a half game ahead of Tampa for last place in the division.

2. Fluke or no Fluke?: Could the Brewers actually be a good team? At 12-7, they lead the NL Central division easily and have won 4 out of their last 5 games. Milwaukee beat the Cubs on Monday in 12 innings. They were down 4-0 but rallied back to tie the game in the eighth. Then Prince Fielder had a solo homerun to win the game, his second of the day. Shortstop JJ Hardy homered, giving him 6 on the year which ranks second in the league. I’m still not sold on this team, but their upcoming series against the Astros and Cardinals will help show if they are for real.

3. AL Central Delivers: The division race that seemed exciting even before the season started — the AL Central — has not disappointed. The top four teams (the Tigers, Twins, Indians, and White Sox) are all within a half-game of the division lead. On Monday the White Sox and Tigers beat the Royals and Angels, while the Indians beat the Twins. Minnesota has led the division most of the season, but they just lost a series to the Royals. Maybe when Johan Santana pitches tonight they’ll do better. Upcoming interdivision series include Tigers-White Sox and Tigers-Twins.

Co-Players of the Day: Alex Rodriguez, Yankees: 4-5, 2 HR (14), 3 RBIs in 8-10 loss to the Devil Rays. Jimmie Rollins, Phillies: 4-5, HR (7), 4 runs, 2 RBIs in an 11-4 win over Houston.

Stat of the Day: The Yankees starting pitchers have averaged 4.8 innings per start, the worst mark in the majors.

Categories
MLB General

Big Papi has a message for you Yankees fans


Have you ever been sitting around the house just wondering about what would be the best way to inform your friends and family about the partnership between MLB and XM Satellite Radio? Yea, we didn’t think so, but we figured that you might want to know about the duo’s latest promotion.

XM Radio has now created a service that allows you to create unique and personalized messages from David Ortiz, Derek Jeter, or Cal Ripken Jr. that can be sent to your friends. Personalized phone calls from celebs seem to be all the rage in sports marketing but we think it’s more fun to use these tools to annoy your friends. What Red Sox fan wouldn’t love to have Big Papi tell some Yankee loser to listen to him on XM Radio?

So don’t delay, start piecing together your insulting messages today. XM and MLB thank you for your support.

Fun with Derek Jeter and A-Rod:

Links:

[XM MLB promotion]: Call Stars

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Need run support? How about 4 HRs in a row?


1. Streak to a Sweep: Daisuke Matsuzaka was pitching for the Red Sox, but he was completely overshadowed by the team’s offense in a 7-6 win over the Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball. Boston tied a major league record with four homeruns in a row in the third inning, all off Yankees rookie Chase Wright. Manny Ramirez started the streak with a deep shot over the Green Monster in left-center. Then JD Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek each hit shots of their own, two of which also went over the Green Monster. That got the fans going at Fenway and sent Chase Wright out of the game. Still, the Yankees were leading 5-4 in the 7th inning, until Lowell hit another homer, this one a three-run blast. Dice-K got the win for Boston despite allowing six runs in seven innings. Ironically, he had come into the game as the pitcher with the least run support in the AL. This game marked only the 5th time in major league history that a team hit four homers in a row, and the first time in 43 years for an AL team. The Los Angeles Dodgers did it last September against the Padres, in a streak that also featured JD Drew. Boston swept the Yankees over the weekend, but New York will seek revenge next week at Yankee Stadium.

2. Bonds is Back: Barry Bonds may be 42 years old and well past his prime, but he can still mash. The slugger hit solo homeruns on Saturday and Sunday, providing the majority of the Giants’ 3 runs in those games. The team still won both games due to back-to-back complete games by Barry Zito and Matt Cain. The Bonds homers gave him 6 on the year and 740 for his career, 15 short of Hank Aaron’s record. He is tied for the NL leads in homers, and ranks first in on-base percentage, slugging, and OPS. At this rate, we might see baseball’s most prestigious record fall before the All Star break.

3. Back on top: For those who thought the Braves’ early season success is a fluke, it’s time to reconsider. The team has played the Mets twice and won 4 out of those 6 games. On Sunday, a Glavine vs. Smoltz pitching matchup turned out to be a game filled with offense. Atlanta’s Kelly Johnson hit two homers, including a shot to leadoff the game and a three-run blast that won the game for the Braves. Smoltz and Glavine allowed a combined 9 runs as the Braves came out on top 9-6. For the Mets, Jose Reyes continues to be the National League’s best player. He is hitting .370 with league-leading totals in runs and steals. The Braves now lead the division by a half-game.

Player of the Day: Scott Rolen, Cardinals: 5-6, HR (2), 3 runs, 3 RBIs in a 12-9 win over the Cubs.

Stat of the Day: Albert Pujols has 5 homers and 12 RBIs this year. Oddly, 4 of his homers and 10 of his RBIs have come on Sunday. He is hitting .438 on Sunday, as compared to .166 on all other days.

Categories
San Francisco Giants

Joe Buck paints a picture of Bond’s record breaker

Joe Buck was on the Dan Patrick Show earlier this week and, inevitably, the topic of Barry Bonds and his 756th homer surfaced. Patrick lobbed Buck a potential long ball when he asked the distinctly recognizable voice of the MLB to describe exactly how he would make the call if he were on the mic when Bonds passed Hank Aaron for the all-time home run record.

For some reason, we don’t think that Buck is real thrilled about the idea of Bonds moving up the ladder. Perhaps it’s the way Buck had Bonds foul a pair of balls off his stick before he finally goes yard. Or maybe it was the less than enthusiastic “Yea, Barry Bonds is the new home run king.” You can just imagine the uninterested Buck looking through the funny pages of the day’s paper and sipping on a cup of coffee while he makes the call.

Categories
MLB General

2007 MLB franchise valuations


A lot was made recently about about Bud Selig’s $14.5M salary in 2006 but when you look at the financial numbers for baseball as a whole, he deserved every penny. (Holy crap we just defended Bud Selig.)

Forbes published their annual “Business of Baseball” feature and despite everything, MLB is doing pretty damn good for themselves. The total valuation for all baseball teams went up $1.6B to $12.9B, a gain of 15%. Meanwhile, no team lost value last year — even the Nationals went up $7M in value.

Leading the way as usual are the New York Yankees, valued at $1.2B, adding $174M in value. Curiously enough, the Yankees were the only team that posted an operating loss last year (-$25M).

There’s a huge difference between the Yankees and everyone else though. Second on the list are the Mets who leapfrogged the Red Sox and are now valued at $736M. Want to buy the Red Sox but don’t have $724M lying around? Don’t worry, the Florida Marlins can be had for a cheap $244M.

The complete list of MLB franchises and their 2007 valuations after the jump.

Continue reading “2007 MLB franchise valuations”

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: See NY? This is what happens when you don’t boo A-Rod



Boo me now, bitches!

1. Who’s Booing Now?: Alex Rodriguez getting booed at home was not a newsworthy event last year. But this season, he’s been the only reason the Yankees aren’t in last place. A-Rod has been absolutely sensational to say the least, and he continued on Thursday with a walk-off three-run homer. The blast was his 10th of the year; he has 26 RBIs and leads the majors in almost every major category. Rodriguez’s game-winner simply put an exclamation point on an already impressive comeback by New York. The Yanks were down 6-2 to start the ninth, but Josh Phelps hit a solo homer, then Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu each hit RBI singles. A-Rod’s shot won the game, sent the Yanks to second place, and ruined Joe Borowski’s ERA.

2. MVP vs. LVP: Another player who has proved invaluable to his team this year is Cubs starter Rich Hill. While Chicago stands at a mediocre 6-9, they would be even worse if it wasn’t for Hill, who has won half their games. He pitched 8 innings against the Braves, allowing no runs to bring his ERA down to 0.41. The Braves’ starter, Mark Redman, gave a much better effort than his first two starts of the year, but was not supported at all by the offense. Redman is now 0-3 on the year, accountable for the majority of the Braves’ 5 losses. Hill seems like he’s an All Star selection right now, while Redman could be demoted from the rotation unless he improves.

3. Manny’s Back: Many stars have struggled this year, and Manny Ramirez was one of them. The slugger had no homeruns in the team’s first 13 games, and was hitting under .200. But last night his first homer was huge for the Red Sox. The Blue Jays were up 3-1 entering the eighth inning, when Manny launched a two-run shot to tie the game. Then the Sox scored two more runs in the ninth, and Jonathan Papelbon sealed the deal for his fourth save. Boston is now 9-5, good for the division lead. But that all could change when they face the Yankees at Fenway for a three-game set this weekend.

Player of the Day: Rich Hill, Cubs: 8 innings, 9 runs, 7 strikeouts in a 3-0 win over Atlanta.

Walk Off: Here are the division leaders right now: Boston, Minnesota, Oakland, New York, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles. Of those, five have been perennial contenders the last few years. But how is Milwaukee so good? They were a sleeper pick to start the year, but do they have any potential to continue their success? The answer lies in their pitching. In six of their nine wins, the Brewers have allowed 3 runs or less. Francisco Cordero hasn’t given up a run in 5 saves, but beyond that, their pitchers have simply been lucky and/or inconsistent. Chris Capuano hasn’t made it out of the fifth inning but is 2-0. Jeff Suppan has been good but not dominant, while Ben Sheets and Doug Davis have only been good one out of their three starts. Of course Sheets has ace potential, but the rest of the rotation seems mediocre. I don’t think this team will last–their above average hitting will regress as well. I still think St. Louis is the team to beat in the division, even though they’re in last right now. If they can’t do it, Houston will take advantage and win the division.