Tag: MLB

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MLB General

Full Count for May 9 2006: Who are people I couldn’t pick out of a lineup



Name this player

1. Who dat?: Some of the names atop the leaderboards this season are in unfamiliar territory. The AL batting leader so far is…drum roll…Alex Rios! He is hitting .384, exactly 100 points higher than his career average. While usual stud Edgar Renteria leads the National League in batting, the next three in this category are Brad Hawpe, Brad Ausmus, and Brian McCann. Who??? And while the NL homers and RBIs lists feature a lineup of past and present superstars, the AL lists feature a certain Tampa Bay duo. Johnny Gomes is second with 12 homers and Ty Wigginton is also second with 30 RBIs. If anyone outside of Tampa Bay has heard of these two before the season started, you are probably a writer for the Baseball Encyclopedia. Actually, considering Tampa’s fan base, I don’t think anyone in Tampa has heard of them… By the way, the Yankees probably wish they had kept Jose Contreras, who is 5-0 with a league-leading 1.41 ERA.

2. Time for a Holliday…: The Rockies and Cardinals might seem like one of the biggest mismatches in the NL, but actually the teams have identical 20-13 records. When the two teams met in front of another sellout at Busch Stadium, the Rockies prevailed, 6-2. Behind strong pitching from Jeff Francis, who allowed one run in 7 strong innings, the Rockies were able to shut down Albert Pujols and company. Francis is 2-2 this year with a 3.16 ERA, production the Rockies haven’t seen in a while from a starting pitcher. The offense was powered by Matt Holliday, who hit two solo homeruns to give him 9 on the year. More good news for the Rockies: Todd Helton was back in the lineup on Monday night (though he was held to 0-5).

3. …and for a Halladay: On Sunday, Johan Santana took a no-hitter through seven innings. Yesterday, it was Roy Halladay’s turn, as he allowed his first hit in the sixth inning in a complete game performance. On the night, Halladay allowed one run and only 4 hits, leading the Blue Jays to a 4-1 win over the Angels. The win gave Toronto a 3-1 series win over the struggling Angels (14-19), who are nearly last in the AL West. Meanwhile, some of those offseason acquisitions have helped Toronto to a decent 17-14 record, only two games behind the deadlocked Red Sox and Yankees.

4. San Diego…Super Padres: After a down start in which their pitching was as bad as Ron Zook’s coaching, the San Diego Padres are back in the hunt for the NL West division lead. After an 8-3 win over the Cubs last night, they have won 9 in a row. They are still behind the Rockies and Diamondbacks for the division lead, but that is expected when you start out a horrendous 8-15. Brian Giles and Mike Cameron drove in 3 runs apiece against the Cubs, and Dave Roberts even swiped 3 bases. Greg Maddux, everyone’s darling after a 5-0 start, was hit with his second straight loss after allowing 7 runs in less than 4 innings pitched. The Cubs (14-17) are back at 5th in the loaded NL Central.

5. Bonds sits, Giants win: The Giants didn’t need a Bonds homer to power them on Monday, as they were just fine without the slugger in a 7-5 win over the Astros. This game wasn’t even supposed to be played; it was rescheduled due to two earlier rainouts in the season. Pedro Feliz hit a homer and 3 RBIs. Bonds will have to wait for upcoming series against the Cubs and Dodgers (both at home) to get 714 or possibly 715.

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New York Mets

Odds and Ends for Mon May 8 2006: Billy Wagner and Kobe need a hug

Just in time for this week’s three game series between the Mets and the Phillies, Billy Wagner told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was not well liked in the Phillies clubhouse, that they wanted him to fail, and that Pat Burrell called him a rat. Poor Billy Boy. Like the Phillies wanted him to blow a crucial late season game against the Astros.

In other news…

[NBA.com]: Raja Bell’s mom talks trash to Kobe: “Need a hug, Kobe?” Ouch.

[ESPN]: Javon Walker called Favre a two-faced in an interview with Sportscenter. The gods reward him with a $40M contract.

[Balls Deep Sports]: ESPN covering Bonds too much? You don’t say

[Miami Herald]: Ahhh, good ole Miami, where athletes go to get robbed.

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MLB General

MLB Power Rankings Roundup for 5-5-06

Has a team every gone wire to wire as the best consensus team in baseball? And will the White Sox be able to pull that off and win the World Series? Should be interesting to see if this team hits any rough patches during the season. They have to… right?

Meanwhile, the Tigers and their league leading 3.17 ERA pitching staff are the darlings of this week’s rankings climbing. But don’t tell that to TSN, who already had the Tigers #1 as of last week. The Tigers are doing well, but #1? Is the guy who writes the rankings for TSN related to Jim Leyland?

Here are your power rankings from the major sites this week. **Note that there is no update from USA Today. They must be busy writing the news for 4th graders…

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

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MLB General

Full Count for May 5 2006: Brotherly love for Bonds


1. Welcome to Philadelphia, enjoy the boos: Barry Bonds heads into Philly for a three game stay and if the only thing that hits him in that giant noggin of his is an errant baseball, he’ll be relatively lucky. As Ashley Fox puts it in the Philly Inquirer, “No matter what the Phillies do for security, or how many undercover cops are in the stands, or how many uncomplimentary signs are confiscated, someone is going to do something stupid.” Remember, Philly fans, we want clever, not stupid. Calling Bonds a steroided up freak is obvious. Throwing a syringe onto the field was clever. Now, we expect you to step it up and do something even better. May we suggest a huge paper mache Bonds head with planets revolving around it?

2. Can anybody stop these guys?: With their 4-1 win over the Mariners, the White Sox improved to 20-8 on the year. They became the first AL team to reach the 20-win mark, and look even more unstoppable than they were last year, when they won the World Series. Jose Contreras improved to 5-0 on the year, and dating back to last year he has won 13 in a row. Jim Thome’s 3-run homer provided most of the offense for the White Sox, and was his 11th shot of the year.

3. Big Unit gets ripped and still wins: Randy Johnson has probably had the best luck of any pitcher in the majors this year. Despite an ERA over 5, he is 5-2 on the season. On Thursday, he allowed 5 runs to the Devil Rays, but the Yanks still won the game. The Yankees were powered by homers from Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon on offense, and the bullpen was almost perfect in the win. New York remained in first place at 15-11, while the Devil Rays are at 11-18.

4. Winning away from home: The Royals, who have the worst record in the majors at 6-20, came into Thursday’s game against the Twins with an 0-13 road record. This tied them with the 1969 Astros and 1988 Orioles for the worst road record ever to start a season. After they edged the Twins 1-0 in Minnesota, the streak is now over. Four Royals pitchers combined to allow only 5 hits in the game, and Paul Bako hit an RBI single to provide the only score of the night.

5. Not used to being here: The Braves, after 14 straight division titles, are accustomed to being in first place in the NL East. After they lost to the Phillies last night 6-3, they dropped to third place, ahead of only the pitiful Marlins and Nationals. The Phillies completed a sweep of the Braves and won their 5th straight game. At 14-14, they only trail the Mets in the division. Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins had homers for the Phillies on the night.

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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 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