I’ve received at least two comments from readers that the text of the blog was a bit too small so I enlarged it a bit. 

Comments welcome. 

Tags: Blog Administration by The Baseball Zealot
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As Teddy Ballgame already mentioned, two years ago today I started The Baseball Zealot with its introductory post as well as its very first Linescore of the Day, Zack Greinke. Thanks for the note, Teddy.

I was thinking the best way for TBZ to celebrate was for the Illini AND the Cubs to win. Boy, did they ever. Let’s start with the Cubs.

Aside from some control problems early, Rich Hill was simply nasty. He didn’t allow a run in seven innings. Probably just as important, the bullpen didn’t blow it. The Reds’ bats were cold and the Cubs shut them out 7-0.

But the Illini!! Wow! They didn’t win a game. They won two! They swept the Northwestern Wildcats today.

Mike Stankiewicz

In Game 1, Mike Stankiewicz threw a one-hit shutout, striking out seven. Mike Rohde’s rbi single in the 6th was all Stanky needed to get the win (and it was all the Illini got). What’s this? Rohde’s a threat on the basepaths? He stole 2 in the first game.

Ryan Snowden’s double in the very last inning of the game, not only kept his hitting streak alive but broke the University of Illinois record. Way to go, Snow!

Final Score: Illinois 1 Northwestern 0

Game 2 was a lot more closer but outcome was the same. First of all, Snowden didn’t wait till the end of the game to get a hit. He doubled in Illinois’ first at-bat of the game. Just to be sure, he single in the sixth, too.

Starter Aaron Martin wasn’t on his game today and lasted only two-thirds of an inning, giving up foru runs. Fortunately, the Illini bats were good to go. Kyle Hudson, Shawn Roof, Brandon Wikoff all got two hits in addition to Snowden. Mike Rohde went back to what he does best; driving in runs and added a two-run homer in the 3rd.

When the dust settled and reliever Jake Tooehy did his work in the last two innings, the final score was Illinois 8 Northwestern 7

Nice work, Illini!!!

Update: It was close but the Wildcats tied Game 4 of the Series in the bottom of the ninth and scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 10th. Final score: Northwestern 6 Illini 5.

Lars Davis is just like a Timex watch. He keeps on ticking. In the loss, he was 4 for 5. That raises his BA to .452.

Tags: Blog Administration, Cubs, University of Illinois Baseball by The Baseball Zealot
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Happy 2nd Birthday

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday Dear Baseball Zealot. Happy Birthday to you.

Today is the day Lincoln was shot, the Titanic hit an iceberg, and I was born. Today is my 51st birthday and the Baseball Zealot’s 2nd birthday.

Other baseball players born on April 14th are Greg Maddux, David Justice, Steve Avery, Brad Ausmus, Jesse Levis, Gregg Zaun, Roberto Mejia, Carlos Perez, Mike Trombley, Jeff Fiorentino, Kyle Farnsworth, John Van Benschoten, Brad Pennington, Paul Hoover, Greg Myers, Chris Welsh, Mark Bomback, Joe Lahoud, Frank Bertaina, Marty Keough, & Don Mueller. Charlie Hustle, the Alltime hits leader, Pete Rose is the most famous baseball player born on my birthday. Bobby Sprowl actually shares the same exact day with me.

Happy Birthday to one & all!!!

Tags: Blog Administration by Teddy Ballgame
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Not baseball related but I found this video delightful. It was done by an anthropological professor at KSU.

Tags: Blog Administration by The Baseball Zealot
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To cut down on comment spam, I’ve installed a component to the blog which will require commenters to type in a simple word before their comment is posted. It will (hopefully) help the situation and I don’t think it is too much of a hassle.

Let me know if you know if you have any problems.

-tbz

Tags: Blog Administration by The Baseball Zealot
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The same people behind The Baseball Zealot are very excited to bring you Baseball Zealot Radio!

BZR plans to be a weekly podcast with the same kind of emphasis that The Baseball Zealot has. Co-hosts Shawn, Tedd, Todd, and Tom will touch on a lot of MLB topics throughout the of-season and into 2007.

Our debut show is an exciting one. Co-host Teddy Ballgame phones in from Arizona where he is soaking up the rays as well as covering the Arizona Fall League. Don’t miss this one!

Take a listen to our new endeavor.

The entry point to Baseball Zealot Radio is here.

The RSS feed is: http://www.baseballzealotradio.com/podcast.xml

Tags: Baseball Blogs and Web Sites, Baseball Podcasts, Baseball Zealot Radio, Blog Administration by The Baseball Zealot
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A little about me.  I live in Urbana, Illinois and am a husband and father of two children (5 and 8).  I work as a network administrator at the University of Illinois. 

I have followed baseball for as long as I can remember.  One of my first baseball memories was seeing Ernie Banks hit a grand slam at Wrigley Field when I was about 5 years old.  I’ve been a Cub fan since.

My baseball interests? 

Aside from following current baseball, I enjoy baseball history a great deal.  (By the way, read The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract if you get a chance.  You don’t have to agree with him to enjoy his stuff).  I’ve been to the Baseball Hall of Fame four times.  I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Ernie Banks, Bench, Yaz, Mathews inducted in the Hall.  If you are a baseball fan and have never been to Cooperstown, make plans now.  It’s well worth the trip.

I am a stat freak to a point.  I enjoy crunching baseball numbers but am still getting used to some the new stat categories being thrown about by SABR-types and quite frankly find some of them useless and confusing.

I am an avid player of APBA baseball, a baseball simulation game.  I am a manager of the Twin Cities Thunderchickens in the Illowa APBA League, a continuous ownership league which has been around for 30 years. 

So am I an expert in all things baseball?  I wouldn’t say that.  I have many friends who are probably more solid in their analysis.  I do have a good knack for finding information (and hopefully passing it on). 

The purpose of the Zealot is not necessarily to report on every single baseball news item out there.  The major news outlets do a good job of that already (well, usually).  The Zealot is here just draw attention to baseball goings-on that I might interesting, thought-provoking, maddening, or just strange.  I also like to throw-in a few obscure, off-the-wall stuff to make the site that much more interesting.  Finally, if there is a baseball resource out there on the web that not everyone may be aware of, I like to bring up front.  Keep in mind, the target audience of the The Baseball Zealot is not just the seasoned veteran of baseball blogs but also those baseball fans out there finding their way around the Internet. 

Enjoy the site,

Tom

Tags: Blog Administration by The Baseball Zealot
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