MLB
Game-Winning Bunt Single Draws Ire of Opposing Team’s Pitcher
Thursday, April 29th, 2010 | Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, MLB, Sports | No Comments
I love this – Howie Kendrick won the game for the Angels on Wednesday night with a 2-out bunt single that enabled the winning run to score from 3rd base in the bottom of the 9th inning to break a 3-3 tie. Kendrick expertly pushed the bunt past Indians’ pitcher Chris Perez and neither 1st base man or 2nd baseman could make the play to get Kendrick out at 1st base. Most walk-off hits don’t occur that way, but when you see an opening (with the right side of the infield playing so deep), sometimes you just have to take advantage of what the other team gives you. Now Perez, however, didn’t feel the same way about the “bush-league” walk off bunt by Kendrick. This is what he had to say: “It was a bad baseball play that happened to work out. I don’t want to say it was bush league. But you never see that. Nintey-nine percent of hitters in that situation would rather win the game with a hit, not a bunt… It was a stupid play that just happened to work.”
I’d love to see what Perez had to say if one of his players made the same smart that Kendrick made to win a game for the Indians. I have a feeling he’d think otherwise. Gotta love baseball players…
Huge Weekend for Chicago MLB Baseball Teams — Cubs & White Sox Both Sweep Weekend Series
Monday, April 26th, 2010 | Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, MLB, Sports | No Comments
WOW — what a great weekend for both Chicago MLB baseball teams. Both the Cubs and White Sox pulled off weekend sweeps to get back on track after a slow start to the 2010 MLB schedule.
The Cubs outscored the Brewers 25-4 in their 3-game weekend series at Miller Park in Milwaukee. The Cubs bats finally came to life and the pitching was just as impressive. Kosuke Fukudome and Tyler Colvin each hit 2 home runs in the series and Ryan Theriot racked up 9 hits in the series (with 14 hits in his last 5 games) to raise his batting average to .329. Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly and Randy Wells picked up the wins and Carlos Zambrano made his 1st appearance out of the bullpen in Saturday’s win (although he did give up an earned run).
The Cubs are now 9-10. They trail the 1st place St. Louis Cardinals by 2 and one half 5 games in the National League Central Division and open up a 7-game homestand against the Washington Nationals and the Arizona Diamondbacks. If Carlos Silva and the Cubs win tonight at Wrigley Field, the Cubs will be back at .500 with a 10-10 record.
The White Sox, meanwhile, took 3 straight games from the Seattle Mariners on home runs in their final at-bat in each game at U.S. Cellular Field over the weekend. In Friday’s 7-6 win, Andruw Jones’ 2nd home run of the game on his birthday gave the Sox the walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th inning. Saturday’s win was even more thrilling. After Bobby Jenks surrendered 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning in a 2-2 tie, the Sox found themselves in a big hole. But with one out, Paul Konerko hit his 6th home run of the season to get the Sox within 1. Then with 2 outs, Carlos Quentin walked to set up Alex Rios’ game-winning, walk-off home run to deep left field that gave the White Sox the 5-4. Paul Konerko followed up his Saturday performance with another big home run in the bottom of the 8th inning that broke a 2-2. 3 straight days – 3 straight game-winning home runs for the White Sox in their last at-bat. Incredible!
The White Sox are now 8-11. They trail the 1st place Minnesota Twins by 5 games in the American League Central Division and start a 6-game road trip against the Rangers in Texas and the Yankees in New York.
These 2 teams are far from being playoff teams right now, but more games like this and we could be seeing a “Red Line Series” in Chicago very very soon…
Crazy Day in Baseball – Jimenez No-Hits Braves; Mets Top Cards 2-1 in 20 Innings!
Sunday, April 18th, 2010 | MLB, New York Mets, Sports, St. Louis Cardinals | No Comments
WOW — what an unbelievable day in baseball on Saturday. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the 1st no-hitter in Colorado Rockies franchise history by dominating the Braves in Atlanta. Jimenez needed 129 pitches to do it, but he persevered despite racking up 6 walks. He also had 7 K’s. He was still throwing 98-MPH fastballs into the 9th inning, but he credited advice from his pitching coach Bob Apodaca in the 5th inning for the reason he was able to accomplish the feat “In the 5th inning, Bob Apocada, he just came to me and was like ‘You’ve been throwing good from the stretch, why don’t you just give it a try?’” He pitched from the stretch the rest of the game, retiring the next 15 batters her faced to complete the no-hitter. The best chance for a Braves hit came in the 7th inning when center fielder Dexter Fowler made a diving catch of Troy Glaus’ sinking line drive in left center field – it was an unbelievable play.
While Jimenez was tossing his no-hitter, the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals were engaging in the longest game of the season thus far. The Mets outlasted the Cards in 20 innings by winning 2-1 on Jose Reyes sacrifice fly in the top of the 20th inning. The 2 teams played scoreless ball for the 1st 18 innings of the game – the 1st time that has happened in baseball since 1989. Starters Johan Santana for the Mets and Jaime Garcia for the Cards each worked 7 scoreless innings. Garcia only gave up 1 hit. The Mets used 9 pitchers while the Cards used 8 pitchers and 2 position players. Infielder Felipe Lopez worked a scoreless 18th inning for the Cards, while outfielder Joe Mather pitched the final 2 innings for the Cards giving up both runs that the Mets scored. He walked 3 batters and gave up 2 hits, but both runs scored on sacrifice flies. Mets’ closer Francisco Rodriguez blew the save in the bottom of the 19th inning by allowing Yadier Molina’s RBI single, but he picked up the win when the Mets scored in the 20th inning. Starter Mike Pelfrey picked up his 1st save by working a scoreless 20th innning despite allowing 2 batters reach base.
Each team had played in 4 20-inning games in their franchise histories. Ironically, it was the 1st time that the Mets had won, while it was the only time that the Cards had lost.
From a baseball perspective, it was only the 2nd time in MLB history that a 20-inning game was played on the same day that a pitcher threw a no-hitter.
Talk about a crazy day in baseball!
MLB Action Starts Tonight — Yankees @ Red Sox @ Fenway Park
Sunday, April 4th, 2010 | 2010 Schedule, Boston Red Sox, College Basketball, Final Four, MLB, NCAA College Basketball, New York Yankees, Sports, World Series | No Comments
After a long spring, MLB action finally starts tonight as the defending World Series Champion New York Yankees invade Boston to take on the Red Sox at Fenway Park. What better way to kick off the 2010 MLB schedule with a battle between these 2 bitter rivals.
Yankees ace CC Sabathia squares off against Red Sox ace Josh Beckett in an epic match-up. Sabathia led the Yankees to their 2009 World Series crown, while Beckett led his squad to the 2007 crown with his stellar post-season pitching run. It doesn’t get better than this.
Enjoy the start of baseball season tonight on Sunday Night ESPN baseball. Throw in live MLB opening day action all day on Monday and then the NCAA Final Four Championship Game pitting Duke against Butler on Monday night and you have yourself a sports Nirvana the next 36 hours!
Minnesota Twins, Joe Mauer Agree to 8-Year, $184 Extension
Monday, March 22nd, 2010 | Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments
Joe Mauer will be in a Minnesota Twins uniform for a very long time. The Twins and Mauer agreed upon an 8-year extension that will keep the best hitter in baseball in Minnesota through the 2018 MLB schedule. The extension kicks in in 2011 and is worth $184 million. It contains a no trade clause as well.
The average annual salary comes out to $23 million. Only 2 other players – Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million) and CC Sabathia ($23 million) of the New York Yankees – have greater annual salaries. It is also the largest contract ever signed by a catcher, crushing the 7-year, $91 million deal that Mike Piazza signed with the New York Mets in 1999.
Mauer is a stud that has delivered for the Twins at the major league level each and every season. He is a career .327 hitter with a career .408 on-base percentage. 2009 was clearly his best year – .365 batting average, .444 on-base percentage, 28 HR’s, 96 RBI’s and only 63 strike outs in 523 at-bats. WOW!
At the ripe young age of 26, Mauer deserved the deal and the Twins are lucky to have him as their back-stop for the foreseeable future.
Minnesota Twins Joe Nathan – Arm Injury Could End Season
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 | Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments
Closer Joe Nathan of the Minnesota Twins has a torn ligament in his right throwing elbow. The tear could end his season, and potentially the hopes of the Twins repeating as AL Central division champs. Nathan had bone chips and spurs removed from the elbow in October, but he and the club thought he would be ready to go this season. After experiencing soreness in the elbow after an appearance this weekend, the Twins opted to have Nathan examined. The MRI revealed the injury and Nathan will spend the next few weeks resting the arm. If he cannot resume throwing within the next 2-3 weeks, he will undergo Tommy John surgery. That would mean that Nathan would be done for this season and possibly parts or all of 2010 – the rehab for Tommy John surgery typically takes between 12-18 months. Nathan had this to say about his plan: “If I’m able to go out there and throw, then I’ll definitely give it a shot. The only reason that I would get a surgery is if I’m just unable to go out there.”
This is not good news for a Twins ball club that is opening a new stadium in April 2010 and who has played in “Game 163′s” 2 years in a row to determine the winner of the AL Central division race. Fans of the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are salivating right now. Nathan has 246 saves over the last 6 MLB schedules – losing an “automatic” closer like that is almost irreplacable. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything concrete about what Nathan ends up doing…
Barry Zito Retaliates Against Prince Fielder in Spring Training Game
Sunday, March 7th, 2010 | Chicago White Sox, MLB, Sports | No Comments
Gotta love the game of baseball — Barry Zito plunked Prince Fielder on his 1st pitch thrown to the big lefty in Wednesday’s Cactus league game between the San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers. It looks like the Giants have been waiting about 6 months to get Fielder back for his antics when Fielder stroked a walk-off home run to give the Brewers a come-from-behind win against the Giants on September 6, 2009. Too funny. As Fielder neared home plate after the homer, he pretended to knock down his teammates and his teammates all fell backwards like bowling pins as if Fielder had just fired an ace. The Brewers and their fans thought it was hysterical, but the Giants thought it was completely inappropriate.
The Giants had to wait 6 months to get Fielder back, but Zito took care of business on the 1st pitch thrown to the slugger. It landed right in the middle of Fielder’s back and he took it in stride, walking down to 1st base without any reaction at all. Good thing that these guys understand how the game is played.
The only better retaliation story I’ve heard is this one – courtesy of ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian. White Sox pitcher Ed Farmer gave up a grand slam home run to Wayne Gross who took his time running around the bases during his home run trot. Farmer was a reliever at the time and did not have an opportunity to face Gross again for 3 long years. But the kicker is – it was during a live batting practice session during spring training when the 2 players were teammates!!! Farmer got to pitch to Gross during the batting practice session and he promptly plunked Gross to get him back for running too slowly during his home run trot 3 years prior. Now that is holding a grudge…
Maybe baseball really isn’t just for the weak…
Mets Ace Johan Santana Resumes Throwing Off Mound
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 | MLB, New York Mets, Sports | No Comments
New York Mets ace Johan Santana threw 24 pitches off the mound in Port St. Lucie, Florida on Tuesday. It was the first time that the lefty hand thrown off a mound since he underwent season-ending left elbow surgery in September 2009. As for results – it could not have gone better. Santana had this to say about his effort: “I feel pretty good. The ball was coming out pretty good. I feel like I am doing my mechanics without any problems, so that was big. And I don’t feel anything in my arm, so I think everything should be all right.” Santana was also thrilled with how well his changeup worked this early in the season: “It had that nice motion, so it’s good to see that this early because that tells me we are way ahead of the game.”
Good news Mets fans. Any chance of competing in the tough NL East hinges on Santana having a productive season for the Mets in 2010. Santana did make 25 starts for the Mets in 2009 (going 13-9 with a 3.13 overall ERA), but down the stretch, you could tell that something was off. Santana pitched poorly from June 1st on – going under .500 with a 6-7 record and posting a “hefty” 4.02 ERA. In his 1st year after signing his big deal with the Mets, Santana started 34 games for the Mets in 2008. He went 16-7 with a 2.53 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He pitched 234 1/3 innings and struck out 206 batters with only 63 walks. The Mets will need another effort like that out of Santana during the 2010 campaign to even think about competing for the playoffs…
Mark McGwire admits to using Steroids
Monday, January 11th, 2010 | MLB | No Comments
The world is not shocked as Mark McGwire admited today that he used steroids when he broke the home run record in 1998. McGwire said in a statement to the AP that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade.
“I wish I had never touched the steroids,” McGwire said in a statement. “It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era.”
McGwire decisted to come clean because he will become the hittig coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, the team he ended his MLB career with.
McGwire is the second MLB star in the last year to come out and admit his use of steroids, Alex Rodriguez announced last February that he had used drugs to enhance his hitting.
I guess McGwire knows he won’t get into the hall of fame any time soon and this pretty much sealed the deal on that.
WHITE SOX ACQUIRE OUTFIELDER JUAN PIERRE
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 | MLB | No Comments
WHITE SOX ACQUIRE OUTFIELDER JUAN PIERRE
The Chicago White Sox have acquired outfielder Juan Pierre and cash considerations from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for two players to be named later.
Pierre, 32, hit .308 (117-380) with 30 stolen bases, 57 runs scored and a .365 on-base percentage in 145 games with the Dodgers in 2009. He ranked fifth in the National League in steals despite starting just 76 games (63 in left field and 13 in center). Pierre also ranked sixth in the major leagues with a .326 (14-43) average as a pinch-hitter.
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