Sunday, June 27, 2010

Hey Announcers: Call the Damn Game

I am very well aware that baseball is a slow sport. At times, it is agonizingly slow. So sometimes, announcers have to talk about something else so they aren't stuck saying nothing. I understand that. These days, however, I feel it's going too far. Right now, I'm watching the Yankees-Dodgers game on ESPN. It's the top of the third inning, a man on second, Jeter is at the plate, looking to get his team on the scoreboard in what is currently a scoreless affair. So what are John Miller, Joe Morgan, and Orel Hershiser talking about? Whether Stephen Strasburg should pitch in the All Star Game. Throughout the entire inning. And in the opening of the inning, they were talking about Joe Torre's job security...even after Brett Gardner was hit by a pitch. And an inning before, they spent most of the time talking about the latest injuries to the Boston Red Sox. Are these announcers, or are these just a bunch of guys talking about baseball in their living room? (Over paid guys, at that).

Of course, ESPN is not the only network guilty of this. YES does it a lot, Fox is almost absurd in the way they do it, and many, many other stations do it as well. The only person I know of who doesn't do it all that often is the great Dodger's announcer Vin Scully. Watching games these days really makes me wish he did every game I saw. Because it's getting to the point where I'm having to mute the games a lot because these guys just are giving me no information about the game...you know, the game they are supposed to call.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Edwin Jackson No-Hits The Rays...With 8 Walks

UPDATE: And MLB Network answered my first question. The Padres were the last and only team (in the modern era) to be no-hit twice in one season. That was in 2001 when AJ Burnett (who walked 10 in that game) and Bud Smith no-hit them.

Has a team ever been no-hit twice in the same year? Well, apparently the 1898 Boston Beanbeaters were, but I'm not sure if that counts. Either way, though, the Rays became the first team (this year, anyway) to be no-hit twice after Edwin Jackson of the Dbacks hurled a no-no against them tonight; Dallas "get off my mound" Braden threw a perfect game against them on Mother's Day. This wasn't your typical dominant no-hitter--Jackson walked 8 batters--but in a way, that is what made it all the more impressive. He made some great pitches in hitters counts, and he worked out of a bases loaded no out situation early in the game (third inning, I believe). He also threw a whopping 149 pitches. There was certainly a case to be made to take the young hurler out of the game, but the Dbacks aren't going anywhere, and I thought it was the right call by AJ Hinch to leave him in.

So counting Armando Gallagraga's near perfect game, there have been five no-hitters this year. This certainly is the year of the pitcher.

Insanity of the Day

The Blue Jays are playing the Phillies tonight. It's Roy Halladay against his former club. It's a home game for the Jays, so Doc will also be facing the Toronto crowd, it will be interesting to see how--wait, what? They aren't playing in Toronto? That's right, the Jays are playing a home game...in Philadelphia. Why, you ask? Well, it's because of the G20 summit! So get ready for DH in a National League park! It's going to be funny if there is a walk off for the Jays. I wonder how the "home crowd" will handle that.

Here's what I want to know...why was this game even scheduled at home? I'm pretty sure that they knew the G20 summit was going to be in Toronto. Did they not think it was going to be absolutely crazy? Also, funny note: the Phillies were actually known as the Blue Jays for a short period in the late 40s (1948, I believe).

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Epic Wimbledon Match Comes to an End

I have to take a break from baseball right now to write about the absolutely epic Wimbledon match that just ended. John Isner, the American, just defeated Nicolas Mahut, the Frenchman, 70-68 in the deciding fifth set. Now as much as I love baseball, I love tennis just as much. I've watched (and played) a lot of games inn my days, and this was definitely the best I have ever seen. Over 11 hours long; 193 aces between the two players. It was just an epic in every sense of the word. And both players gave their all. Watching each man just absolutely put their entire being into the match was just a sight to behold. And when Isner hit that winning backhand past Mahut, three days of magnificent tennis was summed up by an exhilarated John Isner falling back first onto the grass court. What an incredible game.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Baseball is Screwy Sometimes

So the Red Sox manage no runs, NO RUNS, off rookie pitcher Jhoulys Chacin last night. Now they already have five off Ubaldo Jiminez, who entered the game 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA. I also think it is pertinent to note that Daniel Nava drove in three of those runs. Also, he allowed a game tying home run to Darnell McDonald. Also, he just allowed a double to John Lackey. Sometimes it's best not to predict this game. Yet it's unpredictability is what makes it such a fun game.

Marlins Fire Gonzalez...Really?



The Florida Marlins are 34-36, good for fourth place in the competitive NL East; they are 7 1/2 games back. Certainly they have underperformed this year a little bit, but I would hardly say they are horrible. So what does the Marlins ownership do? They fire him and replace him with AAA coach Edwin Rodriguez. I gained a lot of respect for Gonzalez when he had the courage to bench star shortstop Hanley Ramirez for not hustling for a ball that he booted in the field. I also like how he benched him for a second game. No player should be immune from being benched for being lazy, and Fredi's move showed something to me, as well as to his players I think.

And it's not as if the Marlins have been terrible recently, either. Yeah they are only .500 in their last 10 games, but they took two of three games from the Rays, and they had just beaten the Orioles (yeah I know, big accomplishment) when the news broke. I have to wonder if this move was solely to appease Hanley. He wasn't pleased, to make an understatement, about being benched. Jeffery Loria, the owner of the Marlins, is very close with Ramirez (he even made him a nifty necklace last year to celebrate his batting title). No party is going to admit this, but I am willing to bet this firing is because Mr. Ramirez doesn't care for Gonzalez. And that is just a sad statement, indeed. At what point do players become accountable to their performance on and off the field (I'm looking at you, Orioles).

Monday, June 21, 2010

Slow Day

Only three games on the schedule today (including the Yankees vs. the Dbacks). Does anybody else think the coverage of Manny's return to Fenway was overblown? I even heard someone on the MLB Network say "who cares?" when they asked "what is Manny doing now?" when looking at a ballpark cam view of Fenway. I mean maybe the first day was warrented, but they were obsessed with this all through the series. And now I'm watching this overdramatic recap of his series, complete with generic adventure music. I know that's the state of our media these days, but damn, but it's starting to get obnoxious. I mean, the third start of Stephen Strasburg, a much more exciting player than Manny, was interrupted so we could see Manny's first at bat. Really?

Another thing that is starting to annoy me is the constant interruptions during the game. By this I mean sideline reports about things that have little to do with the game on the field (YES is especially guilty of this) and guests to the booths. These are nice now and again, but do we really have to have Curt Schilling's perspective on the game? Why not, I don't know, just call the game instead of talking to Curt Schilling about games that were played six years ago? I'm more interested in hearing what is happening on the field, not what happened in the past.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Quick Note

Here's a quick thought for you: Marlins announcers are probably the biggest homers I have ever heard. Yes, even more so than Nationals play by play guys.

Is it the Pitcher or the Hitters?

Watching some of the struggles the Yankees have had the last few days (today notwithstanding, although they still only hit 1-8 with runners in scoring position) made me think about what are the root causes for these kinds of slumps. Is it the hitters just really struggling or should we give credit to great pitching? Or should we do a cop out and say it's a combination of both?

In the case of the Yankees, I think I actually will go the cop out route and say it's both. I say this because yesterday, when they were shut out by Hisinori Takahashi, they actually did get 8 hits. Yet they had none with runners on. To me this says they were pressing in those situations. And frankly, the body language for the hitters was not great. There were not many comfortable swings, and I saw a lot of chases of pitches out of the zone. I saw that today at times, too. I wasn't really able to watch the two losses against the Phillie's so I can't comment on those games. But in general, and this is for all teams, I think a great way to see who is to blame for hitting slumps. That is, look at the body language. And to some extent, look for disparities with runners on and off base.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Michael Kay: Not Very Smart

So I'm watching the Yankees-Mets game, and Christ Carter is at the plate for the Amazins. Michael Kay, the YES Network's play-by-play man, tells us that Carter graduated from Stanford in three years. That's pretty impressive. However, Kay then goes on to tell us he thinks Carter majored in stem-cell research. I don't know much, but I'm pretty sure you cannot major in an area of research. Maybe he studied it, but you certainly can't major in it. Still, this isn't quite the stupidest thing Mr. Kay has ever said.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

"Baseball's a Funny Game"

As the hopelessly inane John Sterling likes to say, "baseball's a funny game." There is no greater example of this than last night's game between the Phillies and the Yankees. Coming of an absolute whipping of Roy Halladay, the Yankees found themselves unable to solve 47 year-old Jamie Moyer (who I'm pretty sure is the result of some sort of black magic), who was coming off his worst start in his long career. Meanwhile, AJ Burnett was unable to get through three innings, giving up 6 runs.

Yet less you think this was a turn around game for the struggling Phillies offense, think again. Because after Burnett left the game, they were actually no-hit by Boone Logan and Chad Gaudin, of all people. Still the early outburst against AJ was more than enough to propel the Phils to a 6-3 lead. The rubber game of this World Series re-match is tonight, with Andy Petitte (another ageless wonder) taking the hill against Kyle Kendrick.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Yanks Crush the Doctor

This was supposed to be a pitching duel. CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay were set to square off on a cool evening at Yankee Stadium. If each pitcher pitched 8 innings of shut out ball, nobody would be surprised. But as the final out was recorded, only one pitcher would live up to the billing. And it wasn't Halladay. Instead, the good Doctor was unequivocally smacked around for 6 runs in what was certainly one of his worst starts of this season (he was also touched for 6 in a start against Boston a few weeks back). Sabathia, on the other hand, pitched great for 7 innings giving up 3 runs and striking out 7.

Although I wasn't able to actually watch this game (I was in the city for a film critique class), I was told by MLB.com's lovely wrap up that Sabathia dominated for the three four innings before being struck by a come backer on his pitching hand by Sabathia-killer Chase Utley. After that he allowed 3 runs in that frame, but he settled down the rest of the way.

Offensively, the Bombers hit three homers, including a solo shot from the struggling Mark Teixera. But the story here has to be Doc's terrible outing. So far, his two worst starts have come against hard hitting AL teams. Normally you would chalk this down to the old AL is better than the NL cliche, but we have to remember that Halladay was on the Blue Jays his entire career until this season. And he has historically dominated the Yankees. He just obviously didn't have it tonight. Not seeing the game I can't comment on his stuff. But from the highlights I saw, it just looked like had terrible location. His ball to strike ratio seemed pretty good (100 pitches 68 strikes) but it seemed to me there were a lot of breaking balls in the middle of the plate. And according to hitting coach Kevin Long, the Yanks only chased four pitches out of the strike zone. Since they weren't chasing, it seems Doc was forced to be in the strike zone, for the most part. And that's why they had the success they had tonight, it seems.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Rainy Day Win!

Just got back from the Yankees game. They completed the three game sweep of the Astros, winning 9-5. Phil Hughes wasn't great today, but he did good enough to get his ninth win. You could tell from the first inning that he didn't have his best stuff. In that inning, he gave up one run on a sac fly. They also hit a couple of balls pretty hard. Overall, he pitched 5.2 innings giving of five runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out nine. His real trouble came in the sixth inning when he gave up a two RBI hit to Tommy Manzella (who can apparently only hit Yankees pitchers) and a long home run to Kevin Cash, of all people.

On the offensive side, Jorge Posada crushed his second grand slam in two days. Robbie Cano also hit his 13th home run. The rain really made this game annoying, but it was still very enjoyable. All in all, a great win for the good guys.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Welcome to the Show

As much as I despise the Red Sox, this just made me smile. Daniel Nava, called up to replace Jeremy Hermeida in left field, became only the second player to hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues from the Phillie's Joe Blanton. This kid's story is pretty incredible. He was cut from his college club and ended up being their equipment manager. He ended up signing with an independent league. His contract was eventually purchased by the Sawx for a measly $1. He went 2-4 in his debut with that grand slam and a double. Watching his father video tape his son's unlikely debut from the stands in Fenway really was a sight to see. Stories like this is what makes baseball such a fantastic game.

Thames Leaves Game With Unknown Injury

UPDATE 3:38: Thames left with a strained hamstring. He is currently undergoing an MRI.

UPDATE 6:00: Annnnnnd he's on the DL. MRI was negative but I guess they wanted to give him the time to heal without wasting a roster spot. Via River Ave. Blues, the Yanks called up Chad Huffman, who they claimed off waivers from the Padres in April.

The Yankees injury train rolls on as LF/DH Marcus Thames left the game in the fifth inning with an as of now undisclosed injury (at least I would think it was an injury). He was replaced with the banged up Brett Gardner, who is dealing with a thumb issue. Of course, the Yankees are dealing with a lot of injuries including A-Rod's hip/groin issue. As much as Yankee fans (including myself) might not miss a player like Thames, he does provide good depth to the team and he can hit a little bit. Let's hope it's nothing too serious.

Game Recap, 6/11/10

Here is a quick recap of three games I was interested in:

Yankees 4 Astros 3

This wasn't a particularly fascinating match up, but it's my team so I have to be interested in it. Andy Pettite, as is his norm this season, was absolutely brilliant over 7.1 innings. He gave up only 4 hits, two earned runs, and struck out 4 while walking one. It was also a milestone win for him, as he won his 200th game as a Yankee (it was also his 8th win on the season). There wasn't much offense to speak of, as most of the damage came in the first inning for the Bombers, with Francisco Cervelli hitting a big two out RBI single with the bases loaded to give them a 3-0 lead at the time.

The Astros got a two RBI hit by Tommy Manzella in the second inning, as well as a sac fly by Jeff Keppinger off Joba Chamberlain in the 8th. The biggest out came when Chamberlain struck out Lance Berkman the very next batter with the tying run on third base. It was a questionable check swing call that got the K but hey, I'm not complaining.

Mets 5 Orioles 1

I was mainly interested in this because of the fact that the Mets are such a bad road team, yet the Orioles are such a bad team in general. Something had to give, and it was the Orioles. R.A. Dickey continued to be a revelation for the Mets, winning his 4th game with no losses after 7 excellent innings. He also set a career high with 8 strike outs. The Amazins benefited from Chris Carter's first career home run, a 3 run blast that changed a 1-0 advantage to 4-0. Although 4 runs is very much doable in today's age, it seemed like a ten run advantage against the hapless O's. Their only real threat came in the 4th when they had the bases loaded with nobody out. The result? No runs. Dickey struck out Luke Scott and Adam Jones, and then retired young catcher Matt Wieters on a pop-up. The Orioles simply cannot hit with men in scoring position. As one of the Met announcers said, even when they get hits, the runners never seem to score.

Rockies 5 Blue Jays 3 (6 innings)

This was supposed to be a fantastic pitching match up, but mother nature had other plans. Playing in a torrential downpour for most of the night, the seemingly invincible Ubaldo Jiminez "struggled" giving up 3 runs in a 6 inning complete game (the game was called after). That's a quality start, according to rules, but when you have a 0.93 ERA coming into the game, giving up more than more than one run is alarming. I saw for myself the weather they were playing in, and I chalk his struggles up to that. Of course, facing an AL line up for the first time might have had things to do with it as well. But the usually dominant Ricky Romero also struggled, giving up 4 runs in 5 innings. So count the Rockies lucky that they were able to give Jiminez his major league leading 12th win of the season. This guy might just win 25 games this year.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Starcraft II Commercial

And here's one of those non-baseball posts. I'll be back later in the night with brief recaps of three games I was interested in tonight.

So during the NBA finals, the commercial for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty was debuted. Here it is:



In case you have been living under some mighty large rock, Starcraft II is the sequel to the best-selling Real-Time Strategy game by Blizzard Entertainment. I was in the beta test (which is currently on hiatus). It's a real fantastic game, and I can't wait until it comes out on July 27th. To put in perspective how long fans have been waiting for this, the expansion pack to the first game came out in 1998. It's 2010 now.

Enter Santana

Holy crap, the Cleveland Indians have called up Carlos Santana!



Oh, not that Carlos Santana. This Carlos Santana

So this year must be the year of the phenom. We have Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals, obviously. But then we have Mike Stanton of the Marlins, Jake Arrieta on the Orioles, and now the 24-year old Santana. Santana, a catcher, is the top prospect in the Cleveland organization. In AAA Columbus, Mr. Santana hit a robust .316 with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs already. In his career in the minors, he 1.044 OPS (which I alwasys thought was a stupid stat, but people seem to like it). Like all prospects, it's unsure whether all this will translate to the big leagues. It certainly did for Strasburg in his debut. Switch-hitting catchers with power are always a valuable commodity for teams. We've all seen what catchers like Jorge Posada and Victor Martinez have done. Of course, the Indians saw that first hand with Martinez, who was their catcher/first baseman before they traded him to Boston last year. They certainly hope Santana can bring that kind of power to a struggling (despite dropping 11 runs on Boston Wednesday, and 8 last night) offense.

Unlike Strasburg, I'm not sure there is too much pressure riding on Santana. They are certainly expecting a lot for him, but I don't think he is expected to be the Jesus of the franchise like Strasburg is. Now if he can hit home runs and play the guitar like the other Santana, he might actually be Jesus.

Interleague Begins (again)

Well it's that time of a year again. Yup, it's time for interleague play to begin...again. I never really understood why they play one series of interleague games before the real interleague match ups begin, but that's for another day. So there are certainly a lot of boring match ups out there: Yankees and Astros should be a mismatch (but you never know). And Mariners and Padres? Jeez, there might be like 3 runs scored in that entire series. But one match up for tonight that intrigues me: Blue Jays and Rockies. This is not really because of the teams, though. It's because of the pitchers. The pitching match up for tonight? Ricky Romero and Ubaldo Jiminez.

Now if you look at their stats side by side, Ubaldo certainly is the better pitcher. At 11-1 with an absurd ERA of 0.93, he is clearly the best pitcher in baseball right now (sorry Strasburg). But Romero is no slouch, either. In his second season in the bigs, Romero has a 5-2 record with a 3.06 ERA and 86 Ks in 85.1 innings. In his last start against the Yanks, he dominated, going 8 innings giving up only 2 runs. He was certainly very impressive.

Besides the great pitching match up, it should be intriguing how Jiminez does against such a home run happy club like the Jays. I saw first hand what they could do when they played the Yankees. I also noticed that they seemed to have a real hard time hitting really good off speed pitches. Andy Pettite racked up a season high 10 Ks against them using mostly his curveball, and Javy Vazquez got 9 using a variety of change ups, curves, and sliders. Jiminez is known for his 100 MPH and great sinker and splitter. He does have a slider and change up so it will be interesting to see if Cy Jiminez uses a lot of those pitches.

So that should be a great match up. And another interesting interleague match up? Mets and Orioles. Mets, a terrible road team; Orioles, just a terrible, terrible team. Should be interesting.

First Post and Welcome

Welcome to my blog. So for the most part this blog is going to be about baseball. Although I am a Yankees fan, this is not a Yankees blog. Yes, I will talk a lot about the Yankees but I'm going to focus on all things baseball. Thanks to the wonderful MLB Network, I am able to see a lot of different games. Occasionally I will write things unrelated to baseball (mostly video game stuff) but this will not be too often. So I hope you enjoy this blog.