Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Programming Note


As has happened so often lately, work is taking up my afternoon. Apologies.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 1:24pm (6) Comments

Ernie Harwell Farewell set for Wednesday


A mid September Tigers-Royals matchup isn't a draw in and of itself, but if you're in the neighborhood you may want to stop by Comerica Park tomorrow, as the Tigers will be honoring Ernie Harwell. There will be a video tribute and Harwell wil be saying a few words before taking in the game with owner Mike Illitch.

Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 9:27am (1) Comments

And That Happened


Giants 9, Rockies 1: Lincecum comes back after missing a start and looks pretty good. He's been sharper -- he gave up six hits and walked four -- but he struck out 11 and gave up a single run in seven innings. San Francisco climbs to three and a half of back of the Rockies.

Cubs 2, Brewers 0: How many people looked at the schedule last spring and figured this series would matter? If it had mattered, we would all be marveling at Ryan Dempster's clutch September performance (8 IP, 4 H -- all singles -- 0 ER). But it doesn't matter, not by damn sight, so I'll use this opportunity to rate the top 5 Swayzes:

(1) Red Dawn: "I never HEARD of it!" Tell me you didn't see this movie as a kid and then wish, if only for a few moments, that the Russians and Cubans really would invade. I had an emergency backpack full of supplies in my closet and everything;

(2) Road House: "Pain don't hurt";

(3) Point Break: Where have you gone Johnny Utah, Buckeye Nation turns its lonely eyes to you;

(4) Next of Kin: This one was more ridiculous that Road House and Red Dawn put together, yet no one ever mentions it. Greatly, greatly underrated flick;

(5) Dirty Dancing: I really don't like this one, but if you were 14 years-old in 1987 and you pretended you liked it, some girl somewhere was gonna make out with you, and for that dorks like me thank you, Mr. Swayze, wherever you are.

Yankees 5, Angels 3: Mark Teixeira hit a triple that made Torii Hunter lose his shoe (amazing pic of it here). Brett Gardner scored the go-ahead run on a double steal + throwing error extravaganza. With this makeup game, the Angels have three games in three days in three cities (Chicago, New York and Boston). Later in the evening as they lied awake in bed, with the echo from the amplifiers ringing in their head, they smoked the day's last cigarette, remembering what she said, etc.

Reds 3, Astros 1: Jay Bruce makes his return after two months on the shelf and hits the go-ahead single. Outside of that time he told everyone that he doesn't care what supplements he takes, I don't believe I've given Bronson Arroyo a moment's thought in the second half. So color me shocked that he now has 13 wins and is threatening to send his ERA under 4.00.

Athletics 9, Rangers 0: Brett Tomko (CG SHO 5 H) has underwear older than all of the A's other starters, but he's a been a better pitcher than just about all of them this year too.

Tigers 6, Blue Jays 5: Nobody puts Aubrey in a corner! Down three in the bottom of the ninth, Huff hits a three-run homer and the Tigers go on to win it in 10. OK, sorry about that. I'm taking this Swayze thing a bit harder than I thought I would.

Rays 8, Orioles 4: The losing streak ends in Baltimore, with the Rays scoring as many runs last night as they did in their previous seven games combined.

Twins 6, Indians 3: Jeremy Sowers leaves with a 3-0 lead after seven innings and then watches the bullpen give up six runs in the eighth. My Cleveland friends are so fed up with this garbage that they're actually wanting baseball season to end so they can turn their full attention to the Browns. Think about that for a few minutes.

Cardinals 11, Marlins 6: St. Louis survives an emergency Todd Wellemeyer start by blasting the living hell out of Ricky Nolasco, Matt Lindstrom and three other Marlin pitchers. Matt Holliday = this year's Manny Ramirez: he's batting .371 with 48 RBIs in 47 games since the July 24th trade. In that time the Cardinals are 33-14.

Dodgers 6, Pirates 2: To the extent anyone was really worried about L.A., know that 10 of their last 18 games are against Pittsburgh and Washington, and many of them will likely go like this one.

Diamondbacls 4, Padres 2: Arizona pulls within two games of San Diego in the battle to avoid last place. Given the absence of any real pennant races this year, this is worth following.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:37am (24) Comments