|
May 22, 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
20th anniversary: Blue Jays mascot ejected (3)
And That Happened (4) And That Happened (3) 50th anniversary: Jim Maloney: a star is born (1) 5,000 days since Eric Milton’s no-hitter (2)   
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. |
Tuesday, August 07, 201240th anniversary: 13th inning inside-the-park walk-off home run40 years ago today, the Cardinals topped the Mets in a memorable matter – with an extra innings walk-off, inside-the-park home run. Yeah, you don’t see too many of those. Tom Seaver for the visitors and Bob Gibson for the home team. Neither pitcher was having their best season in 1972, but both were still terrific talents. Despite the impressive marquee value on the mound, the game began as anything but a pitcher’s duel, as both squads pushed a run across the plate in the first inning. Bob Gibson surrendered a home run to Wayne Garrett, and Lou Brock made Seaver pay for a leadoff walk by stealing second and scoring on a Joe Torre single. After that, the game settled down as the pitchers took control. In the second through eighth innings, the squads combined for just one more run. That came in the fourth when Tom Seaver lost his control and walked in a run. Heading into the ninth, it looked like another Bob Gibson victory would be grinded out. However, in the top of the ninth, Gibson lost his stuff, surrendering back-to-back doubles to tie the score. Gibson recovered to get the next two guys out. Well, he got one out, and the second one sacrificed himself. In a sign of how the game has changed, with one out and the potential winning run on second base, the Mets let pitcher Tom Seaver bat for himself so he could sacrifice the runner. Mind you, the runner was already in scoring position and this left the Mets with just one out to play with. And it nearly worked for them. Gibson walked the next two batters to load the bases, but got a fly out to end the inning. On to the bottom of the ninth. There’s only one thing worth noting in this frame. The Mets began the inning with relief pitcher Tug McGraw taking the place of Tom Seaver. This makes it that much odder that Mets manager Yogi Berra would let Seaver bat just a few minutes earlier. Well, McGraw shut down the Cardinals and extra innings beckoned. Gibson stayed in and for the 24th time in his career recorded the 28th out in a game. But he only lasted one more inning before the bullpen took over in the 11th. And the game kept going on. The only rally came in the top of the 12th with St. Louis reliever Diego Segui walked the first two batters, but then he picked one off and struck the next two out. Finally, the game reached the bottom of the 13th. Tug McGraw was still in, working his fifth frame in relief. Yeah, it was a different time back then. And leading off the inning, Ted Sizemore made him pay. He hit one out to left field where Cleon Jones attempted to make a shoestring catch – and missed. Sizemore was off to the races. By the time Jones could run down the ball and get it back to the infield, Sizemore was on his way home – and he made it for a walk-off 3-2 win in 13 innings. Oh, and one final way this game showed how times were different back then: the 13 inning contest finished in just under three hours. Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that occurred X-thousand days ago) today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to just skim through things.">On Aug. 7, 1972, the Cardinals hosted the Mets for a Monday night game that looked like it would be a great pitchers’ duel. Both teams had their Cooperstown-bound ace taking the hill that day – Tom Seaver for the visitors and Bob Gibson for the home team. Neither pitcher was having their best season in 1972, but both were still terrific talents. Despite the impressive marquee value on the mound, the game began as anything but a pitcher’s duel, as both squads pushed a run across the plate in the first inning. Bob Gibson surrendered a home run to Wayne Garrett, and Lou Brock made Seaver pay for a leadoff walk by stealing second and scoring on a Joe Torre single. After that, the game settled down as the pitchers took control. In the second through eighth innings, the squads combined for just one more run. That came in the fourth when Tom Seaver lost his control and walked in a run. Heading into the ninth, it looked like another Bob Gibson victory would be grinded out. However, in the top of the ninth, Gibson lost his stuff, surrendering back-to-back doubles to tie the score. Gibson recovered to get the next two guys out. Well, he got one out, and the second one sacrificed himself. In a sign of how the game has changed, with one out and the potential winning run on second base, the Mets let pitcher Tom Seaver bat for himself so he could sacrifice the runner. Mind you, the runner was already in scoring position and this left the Mets with just one out to play with. And it nearly worked for them. Gibson walked the next two batters to load the bases, but got a fly out to end the inning. On to the bottom of the ninth. There’s only one thing worth noting in this frame. The Mets began the inning with relief pitcher Tug McGraw taking the place of Tom Seaver. This makes it that much odder that Mets manager Yogi Berra would let Seaver bat just a few minutes earlier. Well, McGraw shut down the Cardinals and extra innings beckoned. Gibson stayed in and for the 24th time in his career recorded the 28th out in a game. But he only lasted one more inning before the bullpen took over in the 11th. And the game kept going on. The only rally came in the top of the 12th with St. Louis reliever Diego Segui walked the first two batters, but then he picked one off and struck the next two out. Finally, the game reached the bottom of the 13th. Tug McGraw was still in, working his fifth frame in relief. Yeah, it was a different time back then. And leading off the inning Ted Sizemore made him pay. He hit one out to left field where Cleon Jones attempted to make a shoestring catch – and missed. Sizemore was off to the races. By the time Jones could run down the ball and get it back to the infield, Sizemore was on his way home – and he made it for a walk-off 3-2 win in 13 innings. Oh, and one final way this game showed how times were different back then: the 13 inning contest finished in just under three hours. Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that occurred X-thousand days ago) today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to just skim through things. Click for more... And That HappenedTigers 7, Yankees 2: Justin Verlander was amazing, striking out 14. I'm not sure why Jim Leyland kept him in there for 132 pitches given that the Tigers had a five run lead by the sixth inning, but I guess the fans liked it. And heck, he was still throwing 100 miles per hour, so I'm willing to allow for the fact that he's basically a cyborg. Anyway, the Yankees have lost 11 of 17. Braves 6, Phillies 1: That's seven straight wins over Philly for Atlanta and eight of ten on the year. Ben Sheets allowed one run over seven and a third without striking out anyone. Which isn't gonna last, but in the meantime the Braves will take it. Oh, and the Phillies sellout streak ended too. It was the third longest such streak of all time. But sadly the Phillies fans show themselves to be 198 sellouts short of the loyalty of fans of the Cleveland Indians. Before we get to the other scores, I have a question: When the Braves game ended I popped in "The Dark Knight" because I feel like if I don't watch it a half dozen times a year I'm slacking. Anyway, just as the Joker crashes the Harvey Dent fundraiser, I realized that Ra's al Ghul crashed Bruce Wayne's birthday party in "Batman Begins." Which makes me wonder: why, given the high probability that they'll be interrupted by marauding super villains, does anyone ever goes to Bruce Wayne's dinner parties? Anyway: Cardinals 8, Giants 2: Jake Westbrook was solid, Carlos Beltran homered and Jon Jay went 4 for 4 while driving in two. Brewers 6, Reds 3: Aramis Ramirez, Corey Hart and Martin Maldonado all homered in the sixth inning. The Reds have lost two in a row. Crisis! White Sox 4, Royals 2: Chris Sale is now 1-0 on nine days rest for his career. Pirates 4, Diamondbacks 0: Erik Bedard bounced back from a horrific outing and was both efficient and effective, allowing two hits and no runs over seven innings without walking a soul. And just for the yuks, go read this game story. It may be the most cliche thing ever. Bedard was "making pitches." The Pirates won because of "pitching and defense." The Diamondbacks were "out-executed." It's a classic. Red Sox 9, Rangers 2: With the Red Sox win, the press frenzy to get Bobby Valentine fired has been paused for 24 hours. Let's all meet back here tomorrow though and see where things are. Oh: Yu Darvish continues to be pretty crappy of late. Twins 14, Indians 3: Justin Morneau hit two homers and the Indians continue to get their butts beat back to the stone age. Ben Revere has a 20-game hitting streak going. Orioles 3, Mariners 1: Chris Tillman took a three-hit shutout into the eighth inning, winning his fourth start. It continues a nice string of starting pitching performances for the O's. The Orioles have won six of eight. Nationals 5, Astros 4: Houston came back from a 4-1 deficit to force extra innings, but Washington wins in the 11th when first baseman Steve Pearce threw a Kurt Suzuki bunt out into right field, scoring Roger Bernadina. The Astros have lost every conceivable way this season. Rockies 2, Dodgers 0: There was a reversed call in this one: Dexter Fowler trapped a Shane Victorino liner to center, and Victorino was initially called out. Don Mattingly argued, the umps huddled and they changed the call, saying it was trapped. Jim Tracy then came out and argued like crazy, got ejected and continued to argue for a long time. But we can't have instant replay, you see, because it would mess up the pace of the game. Padres 2, Cubs 0: Five Padres pitchers combine for a five-hit shutout. Chicago loses its sixth straight. At this point, though, I suppose the number of people who care about a Padres-Cubs matchup just barely exceeds the number of moms who watch their sons play in them. Angels 4, Athletics 0: Jered Weaver is better than you: CG SHO, 4 H, 0 BB, 9 K. This season he's better than just about everyone. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||