May 24, 2012
Now Available for 2012 THT Essentials: Now Available The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2012, an annual "must buy" for all baseball fans, is now shipping. Read this article to learn more about it.
THT's latest e-book Most Recent Comments
And That Happened (1)
10th anniversary: Shawn Green’s big day (1) 10th anniversary: Giambi-Mabry trade (4) And That Happened (4) 20th anniversary: Angels bus crash (4)  
Lucas Apostoleris
Rich Barbieri John Barten Brian Borawski Vince Caramela Chris Jaffe Brad Johnson Mat Kovach Kevin Lai Myron Logan Chris Lund Bruce Markusen Jeff Moore Troy Patterson Harry Pavlidis Dave Studeman Steve Treder David Wade And here's the full roster. Dish TV Packages options for all televised baseball games.
Or you can search by:
 All content on this site (including text, graphs, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Part of the USA Today Sports Media Group |
Wednesday, May 23, 2012And That Happenedby Craig CalcaterraCardinals 4, Padres 0: Tough break for San Diego to have Adam Wainwright figure it out and throw a four-hit shutout while they were in town, but I really do need them to go on a bad skid right now. I'm taking my kids to their first major league game when we go to San Diego next month -- Rangers-Padres on June 18! -- and it would be really useful for me if the secondary market was flooded with cheap, unwanted tickets. Nationals 5, Phillies 2: A lot of folks in the Bryce Harper/Philly threads of the past few days have said stuff about how, for all of the talk, this isn't truly a rivalry. I tend to agree. For it to be a real rivalry, one team can't dominate the matchups so thoroughly. The Nats take the fourth of five meetings so far this year, and have beaten Philly six straight times in Citizens Bank Park. Harper singled, tripled and drove in two. Reds 4, Braves 3: Brandon Phillips hit two homers and Brandon Beachy backs up his best start of the season with his worst (7 IP, 6 H, 4 ER). Not that it was horrible. You can get a win with a line like that, but Mat Latos was better (7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 8K). Michael Bourn had two home runs in a losing cause. In case you haven't noticed it, Bourn -- a Boras clients -- is making himself some serious bank in his walk year (.323/.376/.439, 13 SB and the usual solid D). Mets 3, Pirates 2: R.A. Dickey struck out 11 in seven innings, which was a career high. Which means that in the space of five days the Pirates were dominated by one of the the hardest throwing starters in baseball in Justin Verlander and one of the softest throwing in Dickey. The Pirates offense is like some weird scientific control group or something. A time trial. They're setting the bogey for every pitcher in baseball, and there's something damn noble about that. Twins 9, White Sox 2: Twins fans aren't quite sure what to make of a starting pitcher who goes deep into games and strikes out a lot of batters, but they'll accept what they got from P.J. Walters last night (CG, 5 H, 2 ER, 8K). Marlins 7, Rockies 6: Nolasco vs. Nicasio! With special referee Tom Nieto! On hand were Chris Nabholz, Russ Nagelson and Cholly Naranjo! Tsuyoshi Nishioka sends his regrets from Rochester. Astros 2, Cubs 1: The Astros gotta be the most respectable team everyone thought would lose 100+ games in history, right? Jose Altuve with a homer, Brett "trade for me because I'm a proven closer, I swear" Myers got his 11th save. Rays 8, Blue Jays 5: Carlos Pena was moved to the leadoff spot and had two hits, including a homer. Dude: you're a table setter. Make things happen. Home runs kill rallies. Hasn't anyone ever told you that? Yankees 3, Royals 2: New York is lucky they won this one. Because I have it on good authority that all of those hacks who write "If the Boss was alive ..." columns when the Yankees struggle are in the process of actually reanimating Steinbrenner's corpse and unleashing him on the populace. He'll have a hunger for brains. And calzones. But mostly brains. Indians 5, Tigers 3: Cleveland ends a ten-game losing streak to the Tigers. Andy Dirks had two hits in the two-hole and Miguel Cabrera was walked three times batting third. Prince Fielder was 0 for 5, however. Orioles 4, Red Sox 1; Brian Matusz struck out nine in six and a third as the Red Sox managed only two hits all damn night. I think it would be hilarious now if Josh Beckett called a closed-door meeting in which the pitchers yelled at the Red Sox hitters, after which Beckett came out and told the press that he's totally a leader. And if he had the whole press conference while wearing Payne Stewart-style golf pants. Giants 6, Brewers 4: Giancarlo Stanton, nothin': Buster Posey homered off the Miller Park scoreboard. He also hit a double and blocked the plate to prevent a run, which is something he was told not to do, but hey, heat of battle, yo. The Giants have won eight of eleven. Dodgers 8, Diamondbacks 7: Down one in the ninth inning and down to their last out, the Dodgers Ivan De Jesus hit a two-run double, completing the comeback after being down 6-1 in the sixth inning. It was the Dodgers' sixth straight win. The Dbacks' bullpen work was reminiscent of 2010. Rangers 3, Mariners 1: Elvis Andrus tripled home two runs in the third, but it was one of only four hits for the Rangers who won this one with pitching and defense. Matt Harrison tied up the M's (7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER) and Josh Hamilton made two pretty spectacular plays in the outfield, robbing Seattle of hits. Angels 5, Athletics 1: C.J. Wilson probably figured before the game "heck, our offense stinks, but if the other guys can't score, they can't win." So he shut out the A's on one hit over eight innings. A homer and a sacrifice fly for Pujols. 10th anniversary: Shawn Green’s big dayby Chris JaffeTen years ago today, Shawn Green had quite possibly the best game any hitter has ever had, tying or setting some rather impressive records along the way. On May 23, 2002, Green and his Dodgers teammates were in Milwaukee to take on the Brewers. Green came up in the top of the first with one out and a runner on second, and promptly belted an RBI double off Milwaukee starting pitcher Glendon Rusch. For many, an RBI double would be a highlight. For Green, it would be one of his worst at-bats on the day. Next inning, Green came up again, this time with two on and two out. This time Green connected for a fly ball that cleared the fence. Rusch just didn’t have it that day, and two batters (and two extra base hits) later, was in the showers, having allowed eight runs while getting five outs. Rusch was done, but Green had just begun. Milwaukee’s bullpen would not be able to solve the Dodgers right fielder at all. In the fourth, Green led off against the Dodgers. On the mound was Brian Mallette, who had just been inserted into the game. Green tagged Mallette for another home run. In the fifth Green came up again against Mallette and it was a repeat of the previous inning—home run. This was only Mallette’s fifth big league appearance; he never would get a sixth. Things were now rather interesting. Green had three home runs through five innings—and that guaranteed he’d get at least one more at-bat. That means he could tie the record of four homers in a game. He could even break the record if he was lucky. In the eighth inning Green came up again to lead off. With the Dodgers up 10-2, even many Milwaukee fans were rooting for Green to make history by nailing another homer. Alas, he couldn’t quite do that, lashing out a single instead. He was now 5-for-5 with three homers and a double. There was no guarantee that Green would get another chance, but fortunately for him his Dodgers teammates were going a better job than Milwaukee’s relievers. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Green stood at the plate one final time. Brewers pitcher Jose Cabrera was perfectly capable of surrendering a home run—in fact he’d done just that to Adrian Beltre batting just before Green in the Dodgers batting order. Green took the first pitch for ball one. He swung at the next offering but missed, evening the count. The third pitch was the big one. Green connected and once again the ball launched over the fence for his fourth home run of the day. (For good measure, Cabrera then allowed his third consecutive homer when backup Dave Hansen went deep on him). Green’s day: 6-for-6 with four home runs and a double. Four homers tied a record, and his 19 total bases set a record. You can’t do much better than that, and it’s what Shawn Green did 10 years ago today. Aside from that, today marks the anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something occurring X-thousand days ago) of many other events. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to just skim. Click for more... Tuesday, May 22, 2012And That Happenedby Craig CalcaterraMarlins 7, Rockies 4: Jamie Moyer pitched in his 50th different major league park. But he may have given up his longest most hellacious homer ever. Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam that went 438 feet in basically a straight line and broke the friggin' scoreboard. Roy Hobbs stuff, there. Gave the Marlins the lead and, eventually, the game. Nationals 2, Phillies 1: Ian Desmond drove in both Washington runs, one on a homer, and Gio Gonzalez pitched six scoreless for his sixth win. Bryce Harper had two hits, a stolen base and scored a run. No word on whether he was hit with any batteries. Pirates 5, Mets 4: Michael McKenry hit a two-run homer in the seventh to tie it up and to chase Johan Santana. A Clint Barmes sac fly was the game winner. In other news, Clint Barmes still draws a major league paycheck. Who knew? Reds 4, Braves 1: Mike Leake pitched eight strong innings and hit a homer. Drew Stubbs didn't pitch at all but had two of his own. Cincinnati takes their third in a row and keeps the pressure on the Cardinals. Oh, and about that Aroldis Chapman arrest? It happened in Grove City, Ohio. Which is a Columbus suburb, 100 miles from Cincinnati. This on the morning after the Reds got back from a road trip and before a home game. I'm struggling to think what's so appealing about my fair city for Chapman that he had to make a 200-mile+ road trip in such a short amount of time. But hey, at the speeds he was driving, I guess it's a short trip. Cardinals 4, Padres 3: St. Louis needed this one to avoid falling behind the Reds in the Central. They got it via a two-run Tyler Greene home run in the eighth. Clayton Richard pitched seven and a third, Jaime Garcia pitched seven, but they each gave up two runs on seven hit with one walk. Garcia struck out more. I wonder how often two starters have had the same exact pitching line. Had to have happened a few times before, right? Astros 8, Cubs 3: A laugher. Matt Garza turned in his worst start of the year (3 IP, 5 H, 7 ER) and was countered by Bud Norris' seven innings of shutout ball. Norris left with an 8-0 lead. Blue Jays 6, Rays 2: I'll let the box score speak for this one and instead note something that caught my eye in the scoring summary. Second inning: "E Thames singled to center, J Arencibia scored, E Thames out stretching at second." I read that and I pictured this for some reason. Just put Eric Thames' head on the body. Royals 6, Yankees 0: I'm not saying it would be nice for Royals fans to make "contract the Yankees" jokes like so many Yankees fans have done to them over the years, but I understand it if they do. The Yankees offensive impotence -- 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position -- hits bottom, they hope. I have this feeling today is gonna be super crazy in the tabloids. Red Sox 8, Orioles 6: And part of that super crazy tabloid thing is gonna be based on the fact that the Yankees now have the same 21-21 record as do the Boston Red Sox who, as we've all been told to believe, are in utter chaos and whatnot. Not that we should be glib about that. They fell behind early before a six-run rally put them ahead and they still weren't comfortable here. Mariners 6, Rangers 1: The M's are not impressed with Yu Darvish, who issued six walks. Felix Hernandez, in the meantime, allowed one run over eight. Ichiro tripled in a run and singled in two. I'm guessing that, in light of all of this, my friends in the Japanese media have a lot to write about today. Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 1: Matt Treanor, Andre Ethier and James Loney all homered. Chris Capuano is now 6-1. When people ask later why no one thought the Dodgers would contend, folks like me in the analysis business will say things like "we didn't expect Chris Capuano to post an ERA more than two runs lower than his career norms." Giants 4, Brewers 3: Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer in the eighth to tie things up, but Hector Sanchez with a 14th inning homer to win it. Lost in no-decision land was Madison Bumgarner who struck out 10 over seven and a third. Athletics 2, Angels 1: The A's have now won 5 of 7 matchups against the Angels. And we're running out words to describe the Angels offense. Just perusing the thesaurus, I got: anemic, debilitated, decrepit, delicate, effete,enervated, exhausted, faint, feeble, flaccid,flimsy, forceless, fragile, frail, hesitant,impuissant, infirm, insubstantial, irresolute,lackadaisical, languid, languorous, limp,makeshift, out of gas, powerless, prostrate,puny, rickety, rocky, rotten, senile, shaky, sickly,sluggish, spent, spindly, supine, tender, torpid,uncertain, undependable, unsound, unsteady,unsubstantial, wasted, wavering, weakened,weakly, wobbly. Pick a winner. 10th anniversary: Giambi-Mabry tradeby Chris JaffeTen years ago today, one of the strangest trades of the 21st century was made. It was a marker trade, serving to define what group you belonged to. If you didn’t think it was much of a big deal at all, then you were normal and part of mainstream baseball fandom. But, if this trade was a gigantic jolt to you, then congratulations, you were part of the sabermetric community, circa 2002. On May 22, 2012, the Oakland A’s sent Jeremy Giambi to the Phillies for John Mabry, and in doing so threw an enormous loop to many who supported A’s GM Billy Beane and what he stood for. It’s a sign how much things have changed. In 2002, the sabermetric revolution was largely still confined to Oakland. Okay, so Toronto had hired Beane’s former assistant J.P. Ricchardi as GM. To be sabermetrically inclined generally meant you had some rooting interest in the A’s because their success validated your approach to baseball. And that’s why this trade threw people for such a loop; it completely went against all sabermetric belief. Giambi was a sabermetric darling. He was a huge sabermetric darling. He couldn’t field, and his batting average wasn’t great, but he had power and drew walks for a mighty nice OPS. Mabry? Eh, I’m sure he looked good in a pair of jeans, but he was the opposite of a sabermetric player. He was just an end-of-the-bench backup or role player. And here was Billy Beane, the Official GM of Saber-town, casting off his kind of player for a bucket of whatever. What happened was simple. Beane needed to shake up the clubhouse on a team badly underperforming its talent level, and this was his solution. The shakeup worked and (as portrayed in Moneyball), the team awoke from its slumber to win 103 games by the end of the year. The trade is a time capsule in many ways. First, it defied what people expected from Beane. It’s a sign of how much times have changed that many expected Beane to always make the smart move, by which I mean always make the sabermetrically friendly one. And he did have quite a track record back in the day of turning low payrolls into high win totals. The golden boy aura has since worn off Beane as his success has lessened and other franchises like Tampa have done more with less money. It’s also a time capsule in its stats-versus-scouts mentality. I don’t think any such trade could inflict such psychological shockwaves on that stat community as this one did. I just don’t think it’s possible. There was such a sense of certainty and confidence that the sabermetric way was the way, and it would overcome all. Now, stats vs. scouts has become more stats and scouts. There was always some “and” and there’s still some “vs.,” but the sense of certitude has really shifted. Lastly, speaking as a sample size of one, this trade really helped cement a sense of an online sabermetric community. Many of us nerds were stunned by it while for most baseball fans the trade was a complete afterthought. The trade literally helped create a community, as the thread for it at Baseball Think Factory was a turning point for that site. Giambi-Mabry was it’s coming out party, and BTF remains the leading watering hole for baseball’s nerd herd. And it happened exactly ten years ago today. Aside from that, many other events today celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is an event that occurred X-thousand years ago). Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you prefer to skim the lists. Click for more... Monday, May 21, 2012And That Happenedby Craig CalcaterraIf I missed something important in one of these it's because I was less plugged-in than usual yesterday. My daughter Mookie had her dance recital. Both ballet and jazz, which required me to sit through two (2) separate shows. I kid you not: four hours of sitting in an auditorium to watch eight minutes of my eight year-old daughter dancing. But hey, to make up for it I paid over $1,500 for dance tuition in the past year, plus tickets to both shows at $25 a pop, plus costumes and everything else. I swear, I can't dance a lick, but I'm tempted to open up a ballet studio, because it's a license to print money. Of course, even if it's not always pretty, I do it anyway because my girl is precious and cute and even as I bitch like crazy about how much I'm gouged for this kind of thing, I still have to fight back proud tears when she does her thing and then hug her tightly and never let go when she's done. Let no one doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion. Anyway: Tigers 4, Pirates 3: Max Scherzer struck out 15 in seven innings. See, that's what he does: gets totally killed for a few starts and then pulls something like this from where the sun don't shine. His stuff is such that, if everything breaks right one year, he'll put together some crazy Cy Young season. But in the meantime, erraticville. Brewers 16, Twins 4: Jonathan Lucroy hit cleanup, homered twice and drove in seven. After the game he said he was comfortable as a cleanup hitter. The Brewers should bat everyone fourth, really. Red Sox 5, Phillies 1: Josh Beckett continues to not poison the Red Sox with his horrible attitude and personal worthlessness. Shocking. I almost feel like someone was peddling a b.s. narrative in the wake of that tempest in a Boston teapot non-story a couple weeks ago. Seven and two-thirds of one-run ball for Beckett. A three-run homer for Saltalamacchia. Athletics 6, Giants 2: Tim Lincecum's disaster season continues unabated. Beat by Bartolo Colon after giving up four runs in four innings and ending it with an ugly collision while covering the plate on his own wild pitch. Where is Timmy's mojo? Mariners 6, Rockies 4: The ninth inning was shaky, but the M's held on to sweep the Rockies. Jesus Montero and Justin Smoak hit back-to-back homers, Blake Beavan struck out seven. White Sox 6, Cubs 0: And the South Siders own Chicago for now, sweeping the Cubs. Jake Peavy threw six and a third shutout innings. Adam Dunn hit a homer. Peavy and Dunn. After last year, who knew? Diamondbacks 2, Royals 0: I called Brandon Beachy "the best pitcher you've never heard of" the other day. How about Wade Miley? After seven shutout innings he's 5-1 with a 2.14 ERA. Braves 2, Rays 0: Tim Hudson outduels David Price. His sinker was working and he wore out the infield carpet with 14 groundball outs. I never thought I'd think of Tim Hudson as crafty, but he was crafty. The Braves have won 7 of 10. Rangers 6, Astros 1: Colby Lewis scoffs at the DH. In addition to allowing one run over eight innings, he went 2 for 4 with an RBI single. Texas scored five in the first inning, ending this one before it really began. Nationals 9, Orioles 3: More DH-disrespecting: Stephen Strasburg struck out eight in five innings and went 2 for 2 with a homer. He left the game early with tightness in his biceps. Bicepts. Anyone miss Bicepts? He's bugging me on Twitter to let him back in the comments. Said he would only comment in ATH and wouldn't wade into other threads. I'm kinda skeptical, but you guys can offer your views. It's not a democracy. I'm gonna make up my own mind on this, but your thoughts are welcome. Mets 6, Blue Jays 5: Mike Baxter singled, doubled, tripled and drove in a run. Ain't gonna lie: before this game, if you put Mike Baxter in a lineup I wouldn't have been able to pick him out. I'd be all like, "I can put you in Queens on the night of the hijacking." And he'd be like "Really? I live in Queens. Did you put that together yourself, Einstein? What, do you got a team of monkeys working around the clock on this?" Reds 5, Yankees 2: The Yankees have lost five of six and Aroldis Chapman is now the Reds' closer, which means he's further ensconced in the bullpen what with the fancy label and all. Gosh, there are days I wake up and think I don't understand baseball anymore. Padres 3, Angels 2: Clayton Richard pinch hit and was running the bases when he scored the winning run in the 13th, but that's OK because Howie Kendrick was playing left field. No one was doing what they were supposed to do. Least of all the Padres, who were taking two of three from the Angels. Marlins 5, Indians 3: Josh Johnson allowed one run over seven. Everyone who bought high on Derek Lowe following that shutout he threw last week saw him pitch well but still got the loss. Hey, he's Derek Lowe, you can only ask so much. Dodgers 6, Cardinals 5: I'm supposed to be a professional baseball writer with a national focus and I had no idea that Andy Van Slyke's kid was in the bigs? God, sometimes I feel like I shouldn't get out of bed in the morning. Scott Andyson (see what I did there?) hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in the seventh to snatch victory from what, for much of the evening, looked like the jaws of defeat for the Dodgers. 20th anniversary: Angels bus crashby Chris JaffeTwenty years ago was a nasty day for the California Angels. They didn’t suffer any tough loss at the ballpark. In fact, they didn’t even have a game that day. That said, I’m sure they’d much rather have suffered a horrible loss on the field than the horrible event that took place off the field. On the morning May 21, 1992, the Angels were on their way to the airport. They’d lost a night game the day before against the Yankees, and today they were to fly to Baltimore for a series slated to begin on May 22. So they got a night’s sleep in the hotel and the team bus took them down the New Jersey turnpike. The bus didn’t get there, though. Instead, it crashed and crashed badly, overturning on the turnpike. The good news was that no one died. But when “no one died” is the good news, you know there must some serious bad news. And there was. In all, a dozen people were injured. The severity of injuries varied. Second baseman Bobby Rose had to go on the 15-day DL with a sprained ankle, but didn’t need any serious medical treatment. Several team members had to fly back to California for medical treatment. These men included first baseman Alvin Dark (bruised kidneys), bullpen catcher Rick Turner (deep cut), trainer Ned Bergert (bruised kidneys), and traveling secretary Frank Sims (broken rib). But one man unquestionably had it the worst of all, manager Buck Rodgers. He damaged a knee and rib cage, and most of all had a badly broken elbow, which was broken in multiple places. The doctor who examined Rodgers said he looked like a post-fall Humpty Dumpty. Rodgers would have to miss much of the season. He was confined to a wheelchair for a time due to his knee, and between that and his elbow, he didn’t return for over three months. In his absence, coach John Wathan ran the club for Rodgers. In his first night, Wathan refused to dress in the manager’s office, opting to stay with the other coaches. It was just too soon and the cause for the change too traumatic. The Angels, who had lost three straight just before the accident, took a while to recover. They lost 15 of their first 18 after the accident, and they never really bounced back. Rodgers did return to the dugout on Aug. 28, but the season was a lost cause by then. The Angels were probably doomed in the pennant race anyway. They were .500 the year before and would lose 90-plus the next year. They had a nice pitching staff anchored by Mark Langston, Chuck Finley, and Bert Blyleven, but the offense was a disaster. But no team should have a bus crash happen to them. It was a horrible thing that happened to the Angels, and it happened 20 years ago today. Aside from that, many other items have their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that occurred X-thousand days ago) today. Here they are, with the better items in bold if you prefer to just skim the lists below. Click for more... Friday, May 18, 2012Kerry Wood career highlightsby Chris JaffeIt was stunning, but not surprising, news. On the morning of Friday May 18, 2012, news broke that Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood intended to retire. He’d been having a very rough time of it in 2012 after years of battling injury. Now that his career is over, it makes sense to take a look back. Below are Wood’s career highlights; these are his bests (and worsts): most important games, milestones, and other odds and ends from his career: Click for more... And That Happenedby Craig CalcaterraBraves 7, Marlins 0: Brandon Beachy: the best pitcher you haven't heard of. He shuts out the Marlins on five hits and ups his record to 5-1 with a 1.33 ERA. Giants 7, Cardinals 5: Bad Cardinal defense and a little more offense than usual gave the Giants some runs on a day when Matt Cain wasn't at his best. But let's not totally blame the D. Adam Wainwright continues to be shaky, walking four and allowing six hits in five and two-thirds. Pirates 5, Nationals 3: Two solo shots for Andrew McCutchen and a two-run job for Rod Barajas. James McDonald struck out 11 in five and two-thirds. The Nats struck out 14 times overall, adding a nice breeze to what was already a beautiful evening in our nation's capital. Blue Jays 4, Yankees 1: AP headline said this win gave the Blue Jays the "sweep" over the Yankees. Bull. I don't recognize anything as a sweep in a series that is less than three games. Just one of my rules. Maybe I'll call it a "dusting," but we have to be conservative when it comes to broom metaphors. Anyway: Jose Bautista hit a homer. Yan Gomes went 2 for 3 in his major league debut, making him the all-time Brazilian hits leader. Congratulations, Yan. Twins 4, Tigers 3: I told people last night that I'd allow one exception to the "no sweeps in a two-game series" rule, and that's for the Twins, who can claim it. Really, it's all they have. Red Sox 5, Rays 3: My friend Jason of DRaysBay posted the cutest little picture of his little daughter on Facebook last night with the caption "getting ready to watch the Rays beat the Red Sox." Poor girl will now never trust her father. This is why I always tell my children to prepare for inevitable, crippling disappointment and despair. In other news, Bobby Valentine used five relievers to pitch three and a third innings. Diamondbacks 9, Rockies 7: Justin Upton hit a two-run homer in the ninth that proved to be the game winner. But the best part of this game was when a bunch of bees swarmed the stadium, taking over a camera bay next to the Rockies' dugout in the fifth inning necessitating the calling of a beekeeper to vacuum them up. Which is better than dogs, I guess. And much better than the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you. White Sox 6, Angels 1: Wait, I thought Chris Sale (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER 7K) was supposed to be closing now or something? Gosh, I'm so confused. In my defense, outside of Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko, the White Sox sort of bore me, so I don't play too close attention. I bet if you go back, Gleeman has done 75 percent of the White Sox posts on this blog. Sorry, don't mean to seem mean or biased or anything, just being honest. Mets 9, Reds 4: Saw this described as "the Mets score nine unanswered runs." I've never liked that phrase. Such run binges are always answered. Just with lots of expletives and groans as opposed to opposing team runs. Also, saw yesterday a New York writer saying that Bobby Parnell doesn't have the closer's mentality. But he does, apparently, know how to win, getting the decision in this one. I wonder if that's a related skill. Orioles 5, Royals 3: Just gonna say how much I love that the Orioles are 4.5 up on the fourth place Yankees and 6.5 up on the last place Red Sox. Viva chaos. Athletics 5, Rangers 4: The A's won it in extra innings. But they should have had it in regulation. They didn't thanks to a blown call in the sixth where the ump said that Brandon McCarthy trapped a popup rather than caught it which turned a would-be double play with McCarthy doubling off Craig Gentry at third into Gentry scoring. The AP wrote this in its game story: Melvin ran from the dugout to argue, gesturing repeatedly at Diaz before he was finally thrown out. Replays were inconclusive. Every single beat writer who was there and people I knew watching the game live -- Texas fans included -- thought McCarthy caught the ball. So chalk up Ryan Cook's win, Brian Fuentes' save and everything else that happened in the 10th to the Human Element. Indians 6, Mariners 5: The M's lost a 4-0 lead in the seventh and a 5-4 lead in the 11th. Carlos Santana had the walk-off single. Phillies 8, Cubs 7: Closer than it should have been. When Roy Halladay left, it was a 5-run lead. The Cubs scored four in the ninth off Jacob Diekman, though, to make it at least moderately interesting and to force Jonathan Papelbon to come in for the save. Carlos Ruiz continues to be a beast, going 4 for 5 with three RBI. Astros 4, Brewers 0: J.A. Happ and the pen combine for a shutout. Jed Lowrie homered and Jose Altuve rapped out three hits. Dodgers 8, Padres 1: Aaron Harang shut out the Padres for seven innings. A rejuvenated-looking Bobby Abreu had an RBI triple and a double last night. He's now 11-for-35 (.314) with six extra-base hits in 12 games since signing with the Dodgers. Thursday, May 17, 2012And That Happenedby Craig CalcaterraRockies 6, Diamondbacks 1: I took my bike out for a spin for the first time in a while last evening. It was a nice ride on a nice night. At least apart from the crazy, over-the-handlebars wreck I got into at the corner of Alpath and Johnston Road. There were no apparent injuries at the time -- not even a scrape -- and I got up and rode away before anyone saw me. But as I went to bed last night my ankle became very grouchy and it hurts like the dickens this morning. It's basically telling me "stick to the treadmill, old man." Meanwhile, a nearly 50 year-old man in Colorado pitched effective ball into the seventh inning and drove in two by hauling ass down to first on an infield single. Sigh. Rangers 4, Athletics 1: I watched a lot of this and I can offer you my expert opinion: Yu Darvish is pretty good. He moves his record up to 6-1 after seven and two-thirds innings of one-run ball. Bonus: at one point during the game the Rangers announcers had an extended conversation about the rapper B.o.B., which is something I didn't need to hear. Indians 9, Mariners 3: It's not often you see a line like this from Felix Hernandez: 3.2 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 3 BB and only three strikeouts. Eric Wedge after the game: "Felix just had an off-day. He's human. I think sometimes we forget about that." It's easy to forget that, actually. Normally it takes only twenty, thirty questions, cross-referenced, to figure that out. With Hernandez it took 100. Wait ... he doesn't know, does he! Marlins 8, Braves 4: Miami stays hot, notching its 12th win in 15 games in the month of May. Mike Minor has another ugly start for the Braves. Freddi Gonzalez gave him a vote of confidence after the game, but I see Gwinnett in his future. Reds 6, Mets 3: Todd Frazier hit two homers. The second off of D.J. Carrasco, who got released right after the game. A heckuva couple of nights for Carrasco. Astros 8, Brewers 3: Carlos Lee drove in three and Bud Norris pitched seven strong. The Astros -- who were supposed to be historically bad -- and the Brewers -- who were supposed to contend -- have the same 16-21 record. Blue Jays 8, Yankees 1: Hiroki Kuroda was shellacked and Kyle Drabek ... wasn't. Homers from Edwin Encarnacio, Jose Bautista, Kelly Johnson and J.C. Arencibia. Nationals 7, Pirates 4: Adam LaRoche had a double, a homer and four driven in. Gio Gonzalez struck out ten in seven innings. Four runs is something of an offensive outburst for the Pirates lately. Phillies 9, Cubs 2: It was tied up heading into the eighth and then Philly scored seven runs in the last two innings. Hector Luna hit a grand slam and Carlos Ruiz hit a homer of his own. Meanwhile, Placido Polanco left the game in the seventh with a knee contusion. Because the Phillies need more injured infielders. The Phillies are at .500. Twins 11, Tigers 7: Is it time to press the panic button yet? Kinda feels like it. As was prophesied in the spring, horrible defense -- every member of the Tigers infield committed an error -- made Rick Porcello's night harder than it needed to be, which is saying something given that he kinda stunk anyway. Oh, and Austin Jackson left with an injury, and he's been hitting better than just about anyone on that squad. Rays 2, Red Sox 1: There was a scary moment when Will Rhymes passed out after taking first base upon being hit by a pitch on the forearm in the bottom of the eighth. As Marc Topkin reports, when he came-to, the medical staff asked him what his name was and he said "Batman." Granted, Batman didn't even pass out when the leader of the Mutants nearly killed him in "Dark Knight Returns," so no fastball is gonna give him trouble, but we'll give Rhymes credit for pluck. Padres 4, Dodgers 2: Chase Headley homered, doubled and drove in three. If was his fifth homer of the year. Last year he hit only four. Orioles 4, Royals 3: 0 for 6 while stranding a bunch of runners through the first 14 innings? No worries, Adam Jones hit a homer in the 15th to lift the O's to victory in a mini-marathon. I say mini, because they had that 17 inning game against the Red Sox less than two weeks ago. I guess it's their thing. Cardinals 4, Giants 1: David Freese hit a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh and Skip Shumaker pinch hit in the eighth and delivered with a two-run double. Jaime Garcia struck out nine. Angels 7, White Sox 2: More signs of life from Albert Pujols. Three hits on Tuesday and a three-run homer in this one. And a study in contrasts: Jerome Williams allowed ten hits and only two runs. Gavin Floyd allowed ten hits and seven runs. 10th anniversary: Giambi’s walk-off slamby Chris JaffeTen years ago, Jason Giambi had perhaps the greatest game of his life. It was certainly the most clutch at-bat he ever had in a regular-season game, and it served as his New York Yankee coming out. In the offseason, Giambi moved from Oakland to the greener pastures of the Bronx. The 2000 AL MVP became a free agent after the 2001 season and signed a big payday with the Yankees, who had won four of the previous six world titles. They could pay him the most and give him the best chance at October glory. In New York, he got off to a slow start in the first week of the year. Though he soon recovered, the pressure was on. He was playing well, but not MVP-well, and the Yankees ended April a game behind the Red Sox in the AL East. For the Yankees, that wasn’t up to snuff. At the quarter post, Giambi had eight homers with a .286 batting average and .385 on-base percentage. That’s nice, but not what the Yankees were paying for. He needed a big day, and that’s when the calendar turned to May 17, 2002. The Yankees hosted the upstart Minnesota Twins that day. Early on, it looked like a laugher, with New York holding a comfortable 8-3 lead. Then Minnesota stormed back with a six-run inning and kept their 9-8 lead until the ninth. At that time, veteran Yankee Bernie Williams belted a game-tying homer to send things into extra innings. Neither team could break the stalemate. It went on inning after inning, with the score still knotted, 9-9. Four innings passed with neither team able to score a run. So far, Giambi had been a complete non-factor. He had an early double and an extra-inning single, but neither safety led to any runs. After 13 frames, he was 2-for-5 on the day. Not bad, but nothing memorable. The 14th would be very memorable. First, Minnesota broke the deadlock in the top of the inning. Behind four singles, a walk, and an error, Minnesota scored thrice to seemingly ice the game with a 12-9 lead. However, the Yankees weren’t about to give up. In the bottom of the frame, three of the first four Yankees reached base, loading them up with just one out. With the bases loaded, Giambi strode to the plate with the game on the line. He didn’t make anyone wait, bashing the first pitch out of the park for a game-winning, walk-off grand slam. Walk-off grand slams are inherently cool. A walk-off slam with a team trailing by three is even cooler. A walk-off slam with a team trailing by three in the 14th inning? Yeah, that’s the coolest of all. And it’s what Jason Giambi did exactly 10 years ago today. Giambi ended up hitting well over .300 with a superlative OBP and 41 homers in 2002, but then his performance fell off. Based on his numbers, his contract probably wasn’t worth it, but then again, the Yankees can afford to overpay. And no one can ever take away what happened on May 17, 2002. Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something occurring X-thousand days ago) today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to skim over things. Click for more... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
