The Baseball Zealot

Neither closer has had all that much success this year, neither Matt Capps, nor Brad Lidge.  Capps spit out a one run 9th inning lead, allowing back to back doubles, and then with two outs Shane Victorino lined a ball right at Andrew McCutchen, McCutchen froze, and the ball took off over his head, and gave the Phillies a one run lead.  Now it was time for Brad Lidge to protect a one run lead.  Hits by Luis Cruz & Brandon Moss, with a wild pitch in between, tied the game when Jayson Werth over ran the ball, and pinch runner Brian Bixler scored.  That brought up the kid, Andrew McCutchen.  Andrew talked with Lastings Milledge during the game, talking about what he’d do if he hit a walkoff home run, and told him he’d be like a basketball player taking the dunk to the hoop when he reached home plate.  He thought he might get the bunt sign, but when he didn’t, he focused on the job at hand and looked for a ball to hit hard.  And BANG it happened!

Which got me to thinking of managers putting their players into positions where they can achieve success.  I remember a couple of nights ago where Jim Tracy didn’t panic, he told Adam Eaton to take three pitches with the bases loaded (he walked), trailing in the game, wanting Ryan Spilborghs to bat with the bases loaded, and BANG it happened!

Then there was the opposite, which happened in last night’s Texas/Yankee game.  With nobody out in the bottom of the 9th New York trailed the Rangers 10-9 with runners on 1st & 2nd, facing Frank Francisco.  Now we all know Swisher cannot bunt, I presume Girardi knows this as well, but he had him try, popout.  And then BANG it happened!  Linedrive up the middle by Melky Cabrera, caught by Elvis Andrus for a game ending DP.

I’m reminded of what Stacey King always says regarding Da Bulls, KYP, Know Your Personnel!  Don’t have players do what they can’t!

Posted in: Managers, Prospects, Rookie Watch by Teddy Ballgame
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See?! See?!  What did I tell you?  The Pirates came to town and all is better now. The Cubs who seemed like they were repressed beyond belief, exploded all over the Pirates. 

The 17-2 win was full of highlights but Derrek Lee was the big story.  For the second time this season, he drove in seven runs.  This time he only needed two hits to do it, though. 

The Cubs made sure the game was never in doubt, scoring 14 in the first two innings.  The last time that happened was in 1906.  Hmm, 1906… something happened in 1906.  Something good.  Can’t quite place my finger on it but when I think of it, you’ll be the first to know.

Tomorrow should be interesting with Tom Gorzelanny going against his former ‘mates for the first time.  He and Cubs will be taking on Zach Duke, perhaps a more formidable pitcher than Friday’s starter Charlie Morton.

The question now is Did the Cubs shoot their proverbial wad today?  I’ve seen it happen in the past.  Score in double digits in game one of a series then the bats go flat. 

But hey, these are Pirates, right? 

Go Cubs!

Posted in: Cubs by The Baseball Zealot
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I’ll go on record here.  If, god forbid, the Cubs don’t win the NL Central in 2009, the 2010 review mags and books will point to their series with the Philadelphia Phillies in mid-August and call it one of turning points of the season.  A “lowlight” if you will. 

And there would many reasons to do so.

The Cubs extended their losing streak to five games after getting swept by the Phils.  When they lost 4-3 in a heartbreaking 12-inning affair in which Rich Harden was perfect into the sixth and the Cubs outhit the Phils 10 to 3.  And when they were out-slugged 12-5 on Jeff Samardzija’s first career start. 

And today, when Ryan Dempster saw his August ERA go sky high (Kudos to Jeff Baker, though who went 2 for 2 and has 11 hits in his last 5 games).  Today’s rout of 6-1 puts the Cubs at 4.5 back in the NL Central.

No timing, no patience, no luck, and no clutch.

Oh as if the players weren’t having a tough enough time, who invited this fan into the park??

God, this kind of stuff puts me in a bad mood.  There’s nothing anyone can say  (including “I was drunk”) that excuses this.kind of behavior.  If you can’t treat people with decency, then stay home.  Chicago, the Cubs, and baseball doesn’t need need to make the news for this kind of crap.

But all will be fine again.  Word has it Ted Lilly is ready to come back on Monday after his surgery.  He threw five scoreless innings in Peoria A ball. 

And this weekend, the Pirates are coming to town.  This year, they’ve gone 4-2 against them.  The last three years?  Same ratio… 26-13. 

So say it loud, Cub fans, The Pirates are comin’ to town and all will be fine again! 

Rejoice!

Posted in: Cubs by The Baseball Zealot
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Nate McLouth has followed the path of just about every other talented players the Pittsburgh Pirates have had lately, when he was traded to the major league Atlanta Braves. The Braves gave the Buccos three minor leaguers (Gorkrys Hernandez, Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke) in exchange for the All Star/Gold Glove centerfielder. Pittsburgh’s GM was quoted as saying the organization got three above average prospects for arguably the best player on their team. Last year the Pirates were involved in a three team trade, whereby the Dodgers got Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox got Jason Bay, and Pittsburgh acquired Andy LaRoche. I sure wish the White Sox GM Kenny Williams had been hanging around with the Pirates GM, we sure could’ve used McLouth, and we had better prospects to include in a deal.

Posted in: Trades by Teddy Ballgame
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There was a Veggietales movie out for kids not too long ago called, The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, but the Pittsburgh Pirates seem to be The Pirates Who Don’t Score Anytime. If only my White Sox could play the Buccos every day. To be honest, I’ve been up in Waupaca the last week, so I haven’t seen the past two games, only the final scores, and Pittsburgh didn’t score a single run in either game. Now today I see Chicago is down in the first inning, I wonder if the White Sox will be sending today’s starter to the minor leagues for allowing a run to the Pirates. I feel sorry for Pirate fans, that once proud franchise has been so bad for so long. Still I have to say, LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

Posted in: White Sox by Teddy Ballgame
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Went to Dunedin to watch the Blue Jays host the Buccos on Wednesday. Roy Halladay was on the hill for the Jays, opposed by Paul Maholm for Pittsburgh. I bought great tickets ahead of time, don’t know what I was thinking, as it wasn’t a sellout, I paid $8.00 in service charges, Mom ducked out till the 7th inning, and we both left after 9 innings. Enough sun!

Our seats were near homeplate along the thirdbase line, right in the sun! Didn’t wear sunscreen, except on my nose, don’t know what I was thinking. By the time Mom arrived in the 7th, I was fried, welcome Mr. Tomato!

Andrew McCutchen bounced a double down the thirdbase line, but Doc left him stranded there. Travis Snider ripped two singles, both line shots. Michael Barrett bounced into a doubleplay, midseason form. Matt Capps & B.J. Ryan looked sharp in their one innings stints, while Jeff Karstens was shaky two runs in two innings. Aaron Hill doubled and looked stellar in the field, concussion is behind him.

Craig Monroe took a 9th inning meatball over the leftfield wall to tie the game at 2, another reason to hate Craig Monroe! I was cooked after regulation, headed to the convertible. Only three games in the Sunshine State, off to the Cactus League Monday, no PC, will recap when I return to the Windy City.

Posted in: Spring Training by Teddy Ballgame
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Just received an e-mail from Captain Will, it said…

“One of my favorites. I used to love to watch him pitch

When he was with Yanks, one preseason the Yanks were struggling and a reporter asked Dock, “Why are the Yanks struggling?” Dock replied, “Well it is by design, the more we lose, the more George flies down here, and the more George flies, the better the odds are of a plane crash.”

In 1970 Dock overcame eight walks in the first game of a doubleheader against the Padres to throw a no-hitter, several years later, he admitted he was high on LSD when he accomplished the feat. He was 19-9 with the Buccos in 1971 when the Pirates won the World Series. On July 13, 1971, Reggie Jackson blasted what almost certainly is the longest home run ever hit in an All-Star game, and one of the longest of all time. Jackson’s home run came at Tiger Stadium in Detroit off the NL pitcher, Dock Ellis. After the 1975 season Ellis was traded to the Yankees along with Willie Randolph & Ken Brett, in exchange for Doc Medich.

In 1986 the Yankees hired him to offer guidance to their minor leaguers on drug & alcohol abuse. Ellis kept up his campaign against addiction for the rest of his life, and frequently joined former teammates to support them on their charity work.

Dock Ellis always spoke his mind, he was one of a kind, he will be missed.

Posted in: Deaths by Teddy Ballgame
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Jay Bell had an auspicious if not ironic start in the majors.  Like Harold Baines, he was drafted in the first round.  The Minnesota Twins turned around and traded him the next year in 1985 to Cleveland for Bert Blyleven (who turns out to be a fellow HOF ’09 candidate).  Bell’s very first at-bat was against Blyleven and he hit it for a home run.  To add more drama to the scenario, that home run was the 47th given up by Blyleven that year which broke the MLB record of 46 allowed by Robin Roberts. 

  Bell didn’t get much playing time with the Indians though and it wasn’t till he got traded to Pittsburgh that he got some serious at-bats in.  With the exception of ’94-’95, Bell played 150 games from 1990-1999.  He was a solid fielder not so much because of his range but of his knowledge of the hitters. 

With the stick, Bell was mostly a singles and doubles hitter though he toyed with the four-base hit later in his career.  As the Pirates are wont to do, they dumped a player once he came into his own.  When Bell was traded to the Royals, he had a decent offensive year with 21 homers and 92 rbis.  That made him a valuable free agent and the Arizona Diamondbacks took advantage of his availability. 

With Arizona, he had his best offensive year of his career in 1999.  Batting .289, he rapped 38 dingers to go along with his 112 rbis.  Two years later, he helped Arizona in their bid to win the World Series.

Pros:  A “solid” (sorry, that’s the best I can say) hitter for a middle infielder, he did accumulate 1123 career runs, a decent OBP (.343) again for a middle infielder.

Cons:  where do I start?  the stats don’t bear out.  a .265 batting average, he’s a middle infielder without the speed and not much power.

	Hall of Fame
	Hall of Very Good
	Why is he even on the Ballot?

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.  

Posted in: Hall of Fame by The Baseball Zealot
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This article by Diane Grassi elaborates in good detail on the signing of the two Indian pitchers by the Pirates. 

Apparently, they’re under the physical training of former MLB pitcher Tom House who now specializes in working to develop young pitchers. 

Posted in: Rookie Watch by The Baseball Zealot
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Remember when I was in Arizona for the Arizona Fall League the beginning of November I was telling you about a couple of East Indian pitchers who were trying out for major league scouts in Tempe? Well, the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed both hurlers. A White Sox fan friend out west was telling me, although the righthander threw harder, he thought the lefthander had a better shot at the big league, both were all over the place during the tryout.

Let me refresh your memory, Barry Bonds agent held a Million Dollar Arm Contest in India, whereby the winner would receive $100,000, specialized instruction from pitching coach Tom House, and a tryout in front of major league scouts. Dinesh Patel (20 years old), the 5’11″ righty, threw 91-92 MPH, while Rinku Singh (19 years old), the 6’2″ lefty, threw 89-90 MPH.

While these two youngsters do have a shot at becoming the first major leaguers from India, they already are the first Indians ever to sign a professional contract outside of India. Recently the Pirates also signed a switch-hitting South African SS Mpho Ngoepe.

With 1,129,866,154 people in India with a Bucco rooting interest, can Pittsburgh really be considered a small market ballclub?

Posted in: Hot Stove by Teddy Ballgame
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