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June 18, 2013
THT Essentials:
Rich Barbieri
John Barten Kyle Boddy Brian Borawski James Gentile Matt Hunter Frank Jackson Chris Jaffe Brad Johnson Jason Linden Dan Lependorf Bruce Markusen Jeff Moore Greg Simons Scott Spratt Dave Studeman Shane Tourtellotte Steve Treder And here's the full roster. Now available THT's latest e-book Most Recent Comments
And That Happened (2)
30th anniversary: Keith Hernandez for Rick Ownbey and Neil Allen (4) Four teams, 38 innings, one historic day (9) 18 again! (3) 50th anniversary: Willie Kirkland brings the clutch (5)   
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Friday, May 11, 2012And That HappenedNationals 4, Pirates 2: Stephen Strasburg struck out 13 in six innings. The only thing more dominating than he was the Hulk when I went to go see "The Avengers" last night. Upshot: damn fine movie. But the "Dark Night Rises" trailer before it may have been even better. Yes, I realize that I may be reacting emotionally here. Anyway, a question (and if you haven't seen the movie yet, move along): why is the Hulk such a malevolent threat when he first transforms on the ship, to the point where Black Widow and everyone in his path is in extreme peril just by being near him, yet during the big battle scene everyone can hang around him and he's all cool and knows who the bad guys are and stuff? Well, except for Thor that one time. I'm sure there's some reason for this besides movie convenience -- and I never read the Hulk comics, so if the answer is there, I'm just ignorant about it -- but I did think about it. Oh, and I'm sort of in love with Cobie Smulders now too. Anyway, enough of that. Other games: Indians 8, Red Sox 3: The fans booed Josh Beckett off the field. And afterwards he said they were smart fans because he "pitched like sh**." That sums it up, no? He gave up seven runs on seven hits and walked two in two and a third innings and ensured that people will make hacky jokes about his golf game for the next five days. Orioles 6, Rangers 5: Rangers 7, Orioles 3: Colby Lewis struck out ten but allowed five bombs in Game 1, which is kind of special. In Game 2, Josh Hamilton hit his 15th homer and drove in two, giving former teammate Tommy Hunter the loss. Yankees 5, Rays 3: CC Sabathia struck out ten and allowed no earned runs in eight innings, getting his 5th win of the year. Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson hit homers. Blue Jays 6, Twins 2: Henderson Alvarez continues his fine work, allowing only a single earned run over seven. Jason Marquis, not so much. And talk about symbolic futility: runner on third, popup in front of the plate and neither Maquis, catcher Ryan Doumit nor third basemen Trevor Plouffe caught it. It just hit the ground with a sick thud. There are your 2012 Minnesota Twins, folks. Tigers 10, Athletics 6: Yes, Detroit won -- good job for Miguel Cabrera and Andy Dirks having big games as the Detroit offense awoke from its stupor -- but that aside, Brandon Inge hit a grand slam against his old mates, giving him 12 RBI in his last four games. As I said yesterday, the closest thing to chaos we have in baseball right now is the relationship Tigers fans have with Brandon Inge, so to see him have a big game against them is rather fun. 20,000 days since Dodgers announce their move to LA20,000 days ago, Brooklyn got the bad news. On that day—Aug. 8, 1957—Dodgers team owner Walter O’Malley announced the team was headed for greener pastures out west in Los Angeles. And by greener, I mean richer. This was the conclusion of a new stadium fight for the Dodgers. There are two versions of it. In one version, O’Malley wanted to keep the team in Brooklyn but couldn’t get the deal he wanted. That is, not surprisingly, the view of the Dodgers. Ebbets Field, the Dodgers' old Brooklyn home, was a small place and the Dodgers wanted something bigger, and with better amenities. He’d even floated the notion of building a domed stadium—this a decade before the Astrodome. But the city wouldn’t give him the land he wanted. Supposedly, the city offered him land in Queens, and he said, well, I can’t take the Brooklyn team to Queens. The Brooklyn die-hard view has a simpler tale: Walter O’Malley is evil. Any talk he had with the city fathers was just that—talk. He saw greener pastures in California, and got the Giants to go along with him, giving him a local and traditional rival out west. Some diehard Brooklyn-ites have long since argued that the three worst men of the 20th century are Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Walter O’Malley. Odds are some of both tales are true. O’Malley was a businessman first and foremost, and he recognized the promise of California and did want to go out there. Lord knows he did enough to lay the groundwork, from acquiring rights to the region from the Cubs to convincing the Giants to joining him and handling many other lesser details in advance. Then again, if he could get a lucrative enough deal in New York City, why not take it? O’Malley methodically and ruthlessly made himself the best deal he could. And 20,000 days ago, people found out what it was. Aside from that, many other events celebrate their “day-versary” or anniversary today. They are listed below; with the better ones in bold to make it easier for anyone who just wants to skim the list. Click for more... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||