Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Random thoughts while waitin’ for the first pitch . . .


The Philadelphia Daily News' Paul Hagen on Pedro in Game 2:

If it works out, if Pedro Martinez pitches well, it will only buff Charlie Manuel's reputation as a baseball savant to a high luster. If it explodes, if it blows up in his face like a trick cigar and the Phillies are eventually eliminated, it's a decision that the manager will be questioned about for the rest of his baseball life.

Now that hardly seems fair. It's what'll happen, sure, but it hardly seems fair. That's life though.

I guess the same goes for Torre throwng Padilla. As I think about it, I can't remember the last time we had a league championship series matchup with the potential for so much carnage. Really, I could see both starters getting knocked out of the box early.
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:40pm (6) Comments

Sometimes it rains


There are many reasons I like the cut of CC Sabathia's jib. This is the latest:

Rain can delay Friday's Game 1 of the ALCS between the Yankees and Angels, which would give starter CC Sabathia time to play his favorite video game.

“I’m pretty relaxed, hanging out,” Sabathia said. “It just gives me a lot of time to play R.B.I.”

In R.B.I. Baseball, the 1980s video game that is popular in the Yankees’ clubhouse, Sabathia’s favorite player is Bert Blyleven of the 1987 Minnesota Twins.

I like both the game and that he chooses Blyleven.

If he had said Hardball Baseball for the C64, I probably would have started a fan club chapter. Has there ever been a better #2 hitter than Guy Jose? And how unhittable was Pepi Perez' screwball?
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 3:22pm (9) Comments

No sellout for tonight’s ALCS?


Pete Abe has the story.

I know it's cold and rainy, but you CAN use the tickets when they reschedule, you know . . .

(thanks to Ernest O. for the heads up)
Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 2:54pm (3) Comments

My Morning in Exile


Query: Is George Sherrill really "the Pride of Memphis" as Chip Caray said last night? How many people in Memphis actually know him and what he does for a living and truly take pride in it? You certainly have family, some high school teammates and what, a few dozen other people? I bet the number of people from Memphis who truly take pride in George Sherrill is under 100. And none of those people mess with Wikipedia, because Sherrill isn't even mentioned here. Unless of course he was removed from the page after last night's performance . . .

  • Jaramillo is probably going to get hired by the Cubbies. Is he going to be as good a hitting coach in the Friendly Confines as he was in the even friendlier confines of The Ballpark at Arlington?


  • Tim Hudson will take a hometown discount to stay in Atlanta. If they make that happen, he'll be The Pride of Atlanta!


  • Bobby Abreu may or may not be worthy of a two-year contract from the Angels, but he did not have a "MVP calibre year."

  • Smoke 'em inside and pound that Budweiser, boys.


    • If I had to pick someone to be "The Pride of Memphis," I'd go with any of the following before George Sherrill: Howlin' Wolf; Al Green, Jerry Lawler, Elvis, and Missi Pyle, whom I've sort of had a crush on for a while. There are many others.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 12:07pm (13) Comments

    And That Happened: NLCS


    Phillies 8, Dodgers 6: We've taken your National League division champions and secretly replaced them with the Red Sox and Yankees! Let's see if anyone notices! Four hours+. Lots of homers. Not my kind of game, but I suppose the Phillies will take it. I had thought that Kershaw would be sharp and Hamels not so much, but I was only half right. Both starters struggled, with such struggles aided by what looked to my untrained eye as a really poor effort by home plate umpire Randy Marsh. Kershaw later said that he "failed to make adjustments" throughout the night. It wasn't the lack of adjustments to Phillies hitters that seemed to be the problem, though. It was the adjustments he tried to make to Marsh not giving him anything low in the strike zone. He turned to overthrowing and seemed to get frustrated. More experienced pitchers would have probably stayed with their game and kept trying to drop that backdoor pitch down low until Marsh finally started calling it. If he did call it: great. If not? Well, at least you're not getting shelled for five runs and throwing three wild pitches.

    But ultimately this game didn't turn on the umps. It did turn on the strike zone, though. As in George Sherill's inability to find it against Howard and Werth. The fastball he subsequently threw to Ibanez was a get-me-over pitch, right? I mean, otherwise, a lefty doesn't connect against him like that, true?

    In light of last night, Game 2 brings a great chance to make Torre look like the goat of the NLCS. The youngin' in which he placed his trust for Game 1 got beat up. If the lighting-in-a-bottle veteran for Game 2 reverts to Padillistic form, the story of the offday will be how L.A. managed to all but lose the NLCS without Randy Wolf, Kuroda or Billinglsey even throwing a pitch yet, seeing as though they were the dudes who staked them to a big lead back in the spring. I'm not saying it's a fair storyline -- I liked the Kershaw call -- but it'll be out there.
    Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 5:40am (14) Comments