And That Happened

Angels 11, Rangers 0: The Angels clinch the West, and in a fit of wrongheadedness so comically tragic that it strains credulity, they soak the jersey of a victim of a fatal drunk driving accident with beer and champagne in celebration (photo here). Here’s hoping that someone in Angels’ management was passing out cab vouchers last night.

Tigers vs. Twins, POSTPONED: I usually put rainouts last, but this rainout was more significant than most of the actual games that were played last night. Not sure whether a doubleheader today gives either team a big advantage. The Twins have a better bullpen, but the Tigers are going with two starters — Porcello and Verlander — who will make their own bullpen less important by comparison. All I know is that if I was in Detroit tomorrow I’d probably be skipping work. Heck, the wine I ordered when I was out in California last week is getting delivered today, so I may skip work anyway.

Pirates 11, Dodgers 1: John Russell lifted Zach Duke with one out to go for a complete game. Russell’s explanation: that he wanted to give Duke a standing ovation as he left the mound. Sorry John, this ain’t basketball and I ain’t buyin’ it. My guess: Russell is in a fantasy league in which CGs are a stat and the guy he’s battling for first place owns Duke. It’ll be a scandal if people can ever prove it. Like the Pete Rose thing, but boring. As for the rest of the game: Andy LaRoche homered twice, doubled twice and singled, driving in six runs. Some genius once told me that homers were rally killers. They’re also cycle killers, so your failure was two-fold, Mr. LaRoche. So, L.A.? Is this how you’re gonna bring it against Philly or Atlanta or whoever you get next week? Good luck with that.

Braves 4, Marlins 0: I don’t know if the Rockies are going to cooperate and lose two or three games before Sunday, but if they do, ain’t nobody gonna want to face the Braves in the playoffs. Based on some stuff I read yesterday, there are still some people who don’t quite appreciate how awesome Jair Jurrjens is (“middle of the rotation starter?“). I wouldn’t trade the dude — who shut the Marlins out over seven — if the money for Fielder was dead even.

Astros 8, Phillies 2: Well, I suppose it’s possible that the Braves AND Rockies could make the playoffs. Such a collapse would be damn nigh historic as far as collapses go, but as I sit here this morning anything seems possible. I thought the 1987 Blue Jays had the division wrapped up too.

Rays 7, Orioles 6: If the Rays were to move from St. Pete after building a new stadium in Tampa or Branden or Riverview or something, could they change their name to the East Bay Rays? Because that would be cool.

Blue Jays 11, Red Sox 5: This one was called in the seventh inning because of rain and the mercy rule and the fact that three-fourths of the Red Sox roster is having spasms of some kind this week. Michael Bowden gave up seven runs on seven hits and a walk in a spot start for Beckett. In this he was like the substitute teacher who would just put on the “Free To Be You and Me” video, read her Better Homes and Gardens magazine and let the class run amok the entire period. Not that we all didn’t stop when Rosey Grier sang “It’s alright to cry,” some of us because we were touched, others because we couldn’t believe our frickin’ eyes. Man, being born in the 70s sucked.

White Sox 6, Indians 1: It blows my mind that, despite how nightmarish a season it has been for the Royals, they could once again finish out of the cellar and ahead of a team everyone thought would go to the playoffs when camp broke. But here are the Indians, losing again and letting this race go down to the wire.

Yankees 8, Royals 2: Not that Kansas City is going to go down without a fight. Luke Hochevar, pitched a three hit shutout a couple of starts ago, got shelled for eight runs on 12 hits in six innings. Atta boy, Lukey, always keep ’em guessing! This performance, by the way, came against a Yankee lineup containing such luminaries as Brett Gardner, Eric Hinkse, Shelley Duncan, Juan Miranda, and Frank Cervelli.

Nationals 2, Mets 1: Helen Keller once said “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.” She went on to say that the second most pathetic person in the world is any Mets fan who hasn’t jumped ship before now.


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WadeInDetroit
14 years ago

Dombrowski must be shaking his head every time he sees a box score from a Jair-pitched game.  That trade was definitely a low point in his GM career.

WadeInDetroit
14 years ago

Mauer will DH one of the games, meaning the Twins will trade their regular DH for a backup catcher (Redmond) in their lineup.

Dennis Koziel
14 years ago

The Rockies have given us Denver fans a wonderful season and it will be disappointing if they don’t win the wild card. But the heartbreaking aspect in all this is that John Kruk might prove right about the Braves.  And John Kruk being right about anything should break any fan’s heart.

Chris in Dallas
14 years ago

Glove slap to Craig for dropping a Dead Kennedys reference…

Jason B
14 years ago

“Wouldn’t trade for Fielder if the money was dead even” overstates young Jair’s case just a *tad*, methinks.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

A bit, Jason. But I’m a big Jurrjens fan, so I can be forgiven if I’m not being 100% objective here.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

Craig – Several pluses of being a grade-schooler in the 70’s were all the great Schoolhouse Rocks educational cartoons (Conjunction Junction being my favorite), beginning my multicultural education by watching Flip Wilson, Redd Foxx and Freddie Prinze and coming of age watching Wonder Woman and Charlies Angels (Jaclyn Smith will always be high on my list).

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

To my fellow Red Sox fans – What would happen if Francona started Victor Martinez every playoff game as opposed to Varitek?  Would the team see it as a slap in the face to a veteran or the right move to position the team to win in the playoffs? 

As much as Varitek has meant to the team’s past success his liabilities at the plate and throwing runners safe (I think the Molinas have a legitimate chance of stealing on him) are too great in my opinion to let him start even one playoff game.  Part of me wonders if he should even be on the playoff roster as I don’t think he could contribute as a pinch hitter and is his guidance to the pitching staff as a non-starter worth a roster spot. 

I know this may come across as sacrilege to many Sox fans but his numbers do not warrant starting and I question if they truly warrant a roster spot.  I think Francona has a very difficult decision to make regarding how/if to use Varitek.

Alex
14 years ago

wow – Rosey Greir was the one who tackled Sirhan Sirhan after he shot Bobby Kennedy? That’s … amazing. Learn something new every day.

Breaker
14 years ago

The Twins won’t lose Mauer, and probably won’t use Redmond, in either game.  Lately there has been a lot of Jose Morales in the lineup as the DH.  It’s likely that Morales and Mauer will just switch spots between DH and catcher. 

It is possible that Gardenhire may not want Kubel in the outfield for both games with his ashy bad knees…so he may DH the first with Mauer catching, and then move to right with Mauer as DH and Morales catching. 

Or Gardy may find a way to get Tolbert, Punto and Casilla in while benching Mauer and Kubel.  He does love those gritty types…

Pete
14 years ago

Craig,

As a White Sox fan, I want to give my thanks to the entire Braves organization for acquiring Jurrjens from the Tigers for…Edgar Renteria!!

What a deal!!

The Tigers rotation would be something else with Jair there now.

Joe
14 years ago

As a Red Sox fan, I think it’s unlikely Varitek will be left completely off the playoff roster.  It’s not like Kottaras is getting any PT as a tune up, after all.  But I’m all for having him (Varitek) way at the end of the bench for the postseason. 

I’d also be happy if the Sox paid him $4 million to not pick up his $3 million option for next year.  Not that they would be required to keep him on the roster if he did so.

Randy
14 years ago

Moose,

I haven’t been able to decide on this either. I imagine Francona’s loyalty will be supported by playing offensive matchups w/ Ortiz, Lowell, Martinez and Varitek against the Angels. I can see a lot of pinch-hitting in the 5th/6th if the score is close.

Defensively, it’s less of an issue. I see limited SBs with Lester, but they’ll run on Beckett and Daisuke and whoever is catching will have to deal with it (throws to first, pitchouts, etc.)

DonCoburleone
14 years ago

Craig lots of hyperlinks today, whats up with that? 

And go Braves!

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Just one of theose days, Don.

Daniel
14 years ago

Craig, I think your wrongheadedness comment about the Angels soaking Adenhart’s jersey is a bit much.  I felt kind of awkward about it myself, but there was absolutely nothing disingenuous about it.  They were celebrating, they cherish the memory of Adenhart, so they included him in the celebration the only way they knew how. 

Would there have been better ways to celebrate his memory?  Yeah, but they’re not thinking of that.  They’re thinking about celebrating the way they always do.  And you’re completely ignoring when they went out and touched Adenhart’s picture on the centerfield wall.  That certainly got me a little choked up.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Daniel—I don’t ascribe any bad motive or disingenuousness to the Angels for the celebration. Indeed, I’m sure it all came from a good place (the same place that the touching the picture came from). In my opinion (and we are trucking in opinions here, so I appreciate that yours differs) it was wrongheaded as a matter of effect or hindsight, not in terms of intention. No one is a bad guy here. It just looked, well, bad to me.

Daniel
14 years ago

I understand that Craig, and like I said, it felt a little awkward to me, too.  But in the absence of anything ACTUALLY bad, I think I’d rather focus on their motives, which were good. 

I guess “wrongheadedness so comically tragic” struck me as overly critical when they were trying to honor a deceased teammate in really the only way they knew how.  I guess we just differ on the opinion there.

Nate
14 years ago

So I have to ask, which winery/varietal/vintage(s) now get to proudly display the coveted ATH seal of approval? I ask because a) I’ve probably been there b) if not, I’d be interested in checking it/them out and c) it gives me a chance to snobbishly critique your tastes.
I also find it amusing that in consecutive write-ups we have anti and pro-drinking views. Dionysus/Bacchus approve.

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

I don’t have the bottles yet—and I’d be lying if I said I remembered what they were, because I was fairly wasted when I ordered them—but we got everything we ordered from a tasting room in Geyserville called “Locals,” which features stuff ten or twelve small, small wineries. A number of them came from Peterson Winery in Sonoma:

http://www.petersonwinery.com/

I know there was a Zin in there. Maybe some meritage or whatever it is they’re allowed to call it (I think you have to be in the trade group to call your mixed up red a “meritage”). We got some other things too and I’m going to be surprised myself when I get home this afternoon and open the box.

The Rabbit
14 years ago

Could the Braves and Rockies make the playoffs? A Phillies collapse would not be without precedent. For example, I offer the 1964 Phillies.  Now that was a historic collapse!

Nate
14 years ago

Well done. Papapietro Perry is in the same complex and they have excellent Pinot. You’re in the right ballpark for Zins, IMO. The meritage moniker actually allows the vintners more artistic license so they don’t have to adhere to the 75% varietal rule. It’s basically a fancy name for table wine. Don’t let that fool you though, because I think the end result turns out a more balanced and complex bottle.

Jed
14 years ago

Can anyone tell me why Kuroda was charged with 3 earned runs yesterday? I have a fantasy manager who is looking for an explanation as to why all 5 runs in the 2nd were not unearned — which one was earned?

Jim U — The B-ref box score says that the second run of the inning was earned.  I can’t see how that works, since the out that scored the run would have been the third out of the inning, but there it is.

Steve
14 years ago

As a teacher and new school administrator, one of the things I do is hire substitutes and manage staff absence and coverage. Thanks for the new idea on how to fill time, Craig!

“A doll, a doll, William wants a doll…”

Ah, happy memories!

Jason B
14 years ago

“The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.” – Helen Keller

Helen really knew a word like ‘pathetic’?  How does a deaf, blind lass pick up a word like that?  Wouldn’t her teachers be signing lots of nouns for her to learn?  Like “water” in the movie?  How do you teach a deaf and blind person a term like ‘pathetic’?  Give them a bust of Bruce Coslet?

Pinball?

Michael Caragliano
14 years ago

The only reason we Mets fans haven’t bolted is because the blackened shrimp po’ boys at the Catch of the Day are so freakin’ addictive. Kinda like not getting your seat on a lifeboat off the Titanic because the fois gras at the French cafe was finger lickin’ good. (It’s either that or tell Francoeur thanks for not killing the rally- any helpful jeers you can offer there would be greatly appreciated, Craig.)

YankeesfanLen
14 years ago

TigersfanRob works for the state of Michigan a few blocks from Comerica. He called last night about the ramifications of the double header and who to pitch, will the early game be rain-delayed and whatnot as he has tickets for tonight’s game. I advised him to disappear at lunch time if the weather clears and cheer the Tigers on for victories in both to bring the magic number to 2.  Plus, if that doesn’t work, he might be furloughed Thursday if no state budget is passed, and he could have “last licks” then.

sham
14 years ago

Double header is a huge advantage for the Tigers.  Mauer rarely plays both ends of a doubleheader.