I have to admit, I was a little concerned about last night's game. All the pieces seemed to be in place for a Cardinal win, but those are the kind of games that tend to come up and bite this team. From the get-go last night, though, it was apparent that neither the travel or the team was going to hold the Cardinals back.
Honestly, I wanted to give the Hero award to Cesar Izturis. There was plenty of shock when I saw Gameday record his first home run of the year. I personally savaged this deal in the spring, when Izturis was flubbing a ball a day and recording more errors than hits. Even now, he can be a whipping boy for some fans. But he's posting a .263 average right now, which is well more than most of us expected on the year. He was hitting .186 on April 27. Since then, he's gone 18-54 (.333) and now with a surprising home run. You figure he'll slow down soon, but he's already proven that John Mozeliak might have a little idea what he's doing.
Still, when a guy slugs two home runs, both moon shots and one of which may not have landed yet, you gotta go with him. Albert Pujols continues to show that he isn't to be challenged, though Ryan Ludwick is making it difficult for teams to bypass him. Any surprise, then, that Pujols has three home runs in three games?
A little tough to find a Goat in yesterday's battle. Wellemeyer pitched another stellar game and the bullpen kept everything in line. Most everyone contributed something to the game. (Gotta love--well, he might not--Yadi's bases-loaded HBP. Takin' one for the team!) So, for his 0-4 (even though he did draw a walk), the Goat goes to Adam Kennedy.
Not only is the press starting to rip on the Padres, the GM is getting into the act as well. Which may mean a fired up squad comes out to play tonight. The Cardinals will do well to not take them for granted, especially with the future Hall of Famer on the mound.
Greg Maddux has faced the Cardinals, as a team, numerous times. Compared to the recent starters the Redbirds have faced, they are old friends with Maddux, but even then there are a number of players that haven't faced him or have faced him less than 10 times. Pujols has been able to hit him well and surprisingly both Jason LaRue and Izturis have good averages against him as well. It's always good to see Maddux play--he's been one of my favorites for years--but hopefully the Cards can get to him early.
Going for St. Louis is Joel Pineiro. Pineiro has a solid body of work against the current Friars, but nothing dramatic. Josh Bard will probably get the start as he's hit Pineiro well in the past. Pineiro hasn't be quite on top of his game the last couple of outings, but hopefully the big park will help him keep the score down.
Some general notes: I was half-watching highlights last night when I saw a Cubs outfielder make a great play with his back to the infield on Tal's Hill there in Houston. I thought, "Hey, that's kinda like a play that Edmonds made for the Cardinals." It didn't register with me until they showed him jogging off that it actually was Edmonds. Having him in Cub blue is just so terribly wrong.
Asked if Pujols, an avowed fan of Musial's career, could break his
records, Musial said, "He has a chance to. He loves baseball, he's a
good first baseman. ... You know the first time I saw Albert Pujols? He
gave me a big hug and kissed me on the forehead."
Congrats to Jon Lester on his no-hitter. Very impressive, especially considering where he was just a couple of years ago. The only downside: more Boston talk. I mean, c'mon, let's spread the no-hitters around, can we?
Note that Mark Mulder is having his rehab delayed. At least it looks like it was something instead of just the Cardinals playing around with technicalities. Don over at The Redbird Blog talked about the injury situation with the Cardinals and how it is such an unnecessary mess. It appears that Rick Ankiel might be ready to go tomorrow, but if not, it seems like the Cardinals are doing one of their trademark moves, playing short for a long length of time when it'd be better for the player to go on the DL. He's missed three games so far, so it's not a big deal. If he's not back in the lineup by Friday, though, it might have been better to bring up Joe Mather.
If you are enjoy the blog and want to add it to your personal site, use this widget and, boom, C70 headlines will be there. And if anyone out there has an extra Stan Musial statue from this Sunday and would like to part with it, e-mail me and let me know if we can work something out!
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Minnesota
doesn’t always agree with me.But I have
realized something this week.Now that I
don’t live in Indiana,
I can finally watch the Indy 500 on television.That isn’t always something you get to do in Indiana.Since the CART/Indy Racing League split in the mid 90’s, the
Indianapolis 500 has taken a backseat to the NASCAR circuit.While NASCAR has taken advantage of the
decline of open-wheeled racing, its watershed moment was the day that Tony
George decided to separate the 500 from CART.Since that moment, stock car racing has been king and the people of Indiana often paid the
price for George’s power trip.
In the years
following the split, ratings for the 500 declined as the better known drivers
followed CART and the production specs for IRL reduced the performance of the
machines seen at Indy.At that point,
the Indy 500 stopped selling out, and ABC, its longtime television associate,
started blacking out coverage of the race in Indiana.This pretty much busted my balls.
This year
heralds new things for me and the race, though.For me, the race will be on network television.I will sit at home and watch it.Maybe liveblog it. I don’t know.I will think back to my younger days, at the 500 party around Bill
Heaton’s pool, and Memorial Days filled with grilled burgers and the crappy
names I would get in the race pool with my dad’s friends because I couldn’t
afford to buy more draws at the pot.Only my luck could draw Teo Fabi two years in a row.
Yeah, another Bulls post. Deal with it. I drained all my Sox thoughts yesterday, and the Bears are still too far away.This one will involve a little less swearing, though.
I mentioned yesterday in the White Sox column that if Jerry Owens never gets hurt near the end of Spring Training, there’s a good chance Carlos Quentin doesn’t even make the Sox’ Opening Day roster. As of now, Quentin may be the AL MVP.
In sports, there are always so many little moments that can completely alter years of a franchise’s course. Perhaps nothing illustrates this as well as the mysterious ping pong balls of the NBA lottery.
Something I bet you forgot: if Eddy Curry doesn’t make a game-winning tip-in at the buzzer in the Knicks final regular season game last year, the Bulls (owning the Knicks first round pick) would have had the fifth best chance of the winning the NBA Lottery. Instead, that honor went to the Portland Trailblazers, the team that eventually won the thing and landed Greg Oden.
If only big fat Eddy misses that shot, the Bulls have Oden. Think about that for a second. Since the game was a 100% meaningless for the Knickerbockers, you would think Curry would realize how much he was hurting his hometown team. But I guess he didn’t care. I always knew Curry lacked heart.
Well tonight is the NBA Lottery, and the Bulls again find themselves in Secaucus, New Jersey. Unfortunately this time it’s not because of good ole’ Isiah. But an entire season of shititude can rendered completely worthwhile if the Bulls can somehow come away with one of the first two picks tonight. It isn’t likely though, as the Bulls have the ninth best odds or a 1.7% of receiving the first pick and 2.0% chance of getting the second choice.
Either would suit the Bulls just fine as it would mean getting Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley.
But it’s almost certainly not going to happen, so Phil and Scott shouldn’t get those custom made ROSE 25 jerseys quite yet. Instead, the Bulls will probably have to chose from DJ Augustin (yuck), Kevin Love (white), Kosta Koufos (white), and my guy Russ Westbrook. I’d tell you more, but it’s going to be the subject of my top ten list tomorrow, so I’ll just shut up.
Well, today is the day, Yankee fans. The big fat excuse that we've all been using for the miserable play of our beloved team will be gone when Alex Rodriguez returns to the lineup tonight.
It's a pretty big hole they've dug for themselves. 20-24, dead last in the East, 6.5 games out of first and 5.5 games out of the Wild Card. The good news: The real competition for the Wild Card, Cleveland and Detroit, have also struggled mightily. The Rays, O's and ChiSox will fade, the smoke will wear off for the A's and the mirrors will break for the Twins. I'll be absolutely shocked if the Yankees, Sox, Indians and Tigers aren't fighting for three playoff spots come September.
Then again, the problems we've seen from this team certainly seem larger than one missing bat, even a $300M+ bat. Alex, it's time for you to earn your money.
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Rockies 4, Giants 3: Is it my imagination, or is Vinnie Chulk the king of making one bad pitch? Pat Misch was throwing a gritty game, got into a spot of trouble in the sixth, and Bochy brought in Chulk to face a string of right-handed batters. A walk (argh), a strikeout, then Torrealba hit Chulk's first pitch for a two-run double. In a game filled with missed chances, Chulk's performance steamed me the most.
Make that second-most. In the top of the ninth, Eugenio Velez pinch-ran for Jose Castillo. Apparently Velez has no idea that left-handed pitchers can lift their legs and throw to first. It's the second or third time in recent days, it seems, that he's broken for second on the pitcher's first move. So let's get this straight: he's not a good fielder. He can't hit very well. And he's the fastest man in the universe but can't read a pickoff move.
It's time for Velez to learn his craft in the minors. If the Giants think he can improve at the big-league level, play him every day, grin and bear it. Otherwise, send him to Fresno.
I'm not done. Please, for God's sake, play Fred Lewis every day. If Bochy wants Ortmeier in the lineup, fine. Platoon him at first base with Bowker. Aurilia can give Durham and Castillo days off, and he can be the main pinch-hitter. It's better for Richie, anyway; the sooner he learns to be a utility guy, the better to extend the twilight of his career.
PLODAG: Misch. Three runs in 5 2/3 IP seems like big whoop, but at Coors Field, against those right handed hitters, I like what he did. Tip of the hat to Jose Castillo, who walked twice, got a clutch single to start the ninth.
The Upside: Lewis. Two triples and a walk. Speed, power and patience.
I say demote Velez and bring up Threets. If you were granted the magical power of one roster move, what would it be? Would you use your newly-bestowed powers for good or for evil? Discuss.
At the end of March, Loge13 played a small part in NBC's "Amazing Shea" documentary. This half-hour tribute to Shea Stadium featured a couple of interview snippets with yours truly and also Loge13 underlord Ron Hunt.
There were also some previews for the show that NBC news ran in the days before the special. Some of the clips within the previews were different than what was eventually used on-air.
Here is one of those previews, which Ron Hunt captured. In it you will see our own Ron Hunt (surprise) starring as himself - the role he was born to play, mixed in with Rusty, Shamsky and a few other players and fans. Enjoy.
And you can read it here. It was only a matter of time before Quentin got the spotlight.
Other baseball notes
- I don't know how everyone else feels about this, but I actually do root for the Cubs when they aren't playing the White Sox. But when the Cubbies are as hot as they have been lately, winning eight of their last ten and having the second best record in the majors, I do enjoy when they lose. Part of being a White Sox fan is that, no matter what, you have to hate the Cubs a little bit. If you're a Cubs fan, do you have to hate the Sox? I don't think so, because, really, who would ever want to be a Sox fan in the first place? The Cubs have so much for us to be jealous of. They’re are a party, the Sox are just baseball. And baseball is awesome, but (and I'm not sure if I speak for everyone here) if the Cubs ever do win the World Series, I think I'll feel like I missed out on something that should be the ultimate Chicago sports experience.
- Saturday was the best fantasy baseball day for me of all-time. My second round pick, Fonso Soriano, goes 5-for-5 with two dingers, the Cubs blow the game, and one of my closers, Matt Capps, picks up the save.
- Something amazing: led by Quentin, the Sox have three guys in the top eight in OPS in the AL. Quentin, Crede, and (particularly) AJ can’t possibly keep bashing at this rate, but Paulie, Swisher, and Thome are going to pick it up very soon. Swisher’s bases clearing double yesterday that secured the sweep over the Giants will hopefully get him going.
Finally
- Hornets over Spurs tonight. I pray. When in doubt, go with Tyson Chandler.
Two interesting tidbits surfaced this weekend from the biggest reporters on the Giants beat, the Chron’s Henry Schulman and the Merc’s Andy Baggarly.
Schulman first: remember the story last week in which Brian Sabean said the Giants could compete in the NL West? Turns out Sabean later complained he was taken out of context, fed a trick question, etc. Usually protests like this are after-the-fact CYA (no, not Catholic Youth Association). But on the SF Gate this weekend, Schulman posted a mea culpa. Here’s the crux of his apology:
I don't think it was a trick question. It was straightforward, and so was Sabean's answer. But I do believe I did Sabean a disservice by committing a journalistic sin that I despise from other reporters. I cherry-picked one provocative thought and threw it out there as a declaration by Sabean rather than placing it in the context of the entire conversation.
Sabean was not throwing down the gauntlet to the rest of the NL West. He surely understands the Giants' challenges in 2008. He also knows that many of the team's problems were caused by his own mistakes, and criticism by fans and the press is fair game. He has said as much.
Reporters try hard (or should) to be fair; when they’re not, it’s hard to get them to admit it, as Schulman does here. The effect, however, can’t be undone. Sabean’s quotes from last week have spread throughout the Internets. Schulman’s retraction probably won’t get as far, in part because it doesn’t match the dominant perception of Sabean already in place.
As for Baggarly, he’s the first reporter to snag a full interview with incoming ownership chief Bill Neukom. The entire text is here, on Baggarly’s blog. One thing to remember about Neukom as he enters the spotlight: he’s very smart and very experienced with the media. Don’t expect him to speak off-the-cuff or say anything too juicy. He’ll be like Sabean but with cleaner syntax.
