September, 2005 | The Baseball Zealot

UI Softball season underway

My family and I went to see the opening game of the University of Illinois women’s softball season. They faced the cross-town Parkland Cobras. The energy was already high at Eichelberger Field when we got there in the third inning as the Illini were already up 5-0. I have to admit up front, this is my … Continue reading “UI Softball season underway”

I have to admit up front, this is my first UI softball game. Never made it to a game last year. After last night’s game, I see what I was missing.

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Starting pitcher Kacey Coonce had her stuff going allowing only 3 hits and no runs in 5 innings. She also went 2 for 3 with 2 runs and 2 rbis.

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Yeah, she’s big and burly… that’s Jenna Hall, last year’s All Big Ten selection for firstbase. And in case you’re wondering why…

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…I think the look on the Parkland catcher says it all. She’s watching the ball that Hall hit clear the right-centerfield fence.

I enjoyed watching Hall. She’s definitely a team leader, giving teammates encouragement, watching the game, always part of the action. As for her performance, she was 3 for 3, with a homerun, double and 3 rbis. Good job, Jenna.

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Jackelyn Diekemper came in relief with a 9-run lead. She had a rough inning allowing 3 runs but I have to say she was fun to watch pitch. She had a hard, fast pitch but was a bit off with her control last night.

As it goes with two little ones, we had to leave early so we missed the 5 run sixth inning by the Illini. Brooke Buzard shut down the Cobras in the final inning. Final score: Illini 14 Cobras 3

Congrats team!

9/8 Linescore of the Day Tony Clark

Tony Clark, Arizona Diamondbacks 2 for 6, 2 HR, 2 runs, 5 rbis Hitting .310 with 25 homers and 20 doubles, Tony is surprising everyone by having quite a year for Arizona. But no one is more surprised than the managers in my Illowa APBA League. See even though the IAL is a continous ownership league, … Continue reading “9/8 Linescore of the Day Tony Clark”

Tony Clark, Arizona Diamondbacks

2 for 6, 2 HR, 2 runs, 5 rbis

Hitting .310 with 25 homers and 20 doubles, Tony is surprising everyone by having quite a year for Arizona. But no one is more surprised than the managers in my Illowa APBA League.

See even though the IAL is a continous ownership league, we are, under certain circumstances allowed to drop a player. Well, the owner of Clark saw fit to drop him and when that happens, that player can usually can be had for a song. No IAL manager saw the need or desire to pick him up. I’m sure a lot of us are wishing we had given Clark a second look.

Even with Pujols at first, I certainly could have used him for trade bait..

Cubs/Cards… Feel the Rivalry

I walked into my son’s third-grade classroom two days ago to find his teacher wearing a genuine St Louis Cardinals jersey. That was the day after the Cubs defeated the Cards 5-2. I almost went up to give her heck about it but I decided to save my son the embarrassment. Closer examination revealed it had a … Continue reading “Cubs/Cards… Feel the Rivalry”

Closer examination revealed it had a big red “5” on the back. I had to give her credit for that.

Aflac Trivia Question for that game: Two pitchers drafted by the Cubs in 1984 have amassed over 500 wins in their career. Who are they? It’s an easy one. Answer later.

The Cubs have just finished a yummy 2-1 series win over the Cards. That puts them at 8-4 over them for the year. If they can avoid a four-game sweep at home, they can win the season series against St Louis for the first time since 1995. A friend and I were discussing this and his comment was “Now if we could only beat teams like Pittsburgh”.

Aflac Trivia answer: Greg Maddux and Jamie Moyer

9/7 Linescore of the Day – J J Hardy

J J Hardy, Milwaukee Brewers 4 for 6, 1 GS, 2 doubles, 6 RBIs, 2 runs Defensive specialist J J Hardy got offensive Wednesday. Hardy is the Milwaukee Brewers rookie shortstop who might be the best defensive shortstop in the National League right now, if not all of baseball. Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds he … Continue reading “9/7 Linescore of the Day – J J Hardy”

J J Hardy, Milwaukee Brewers

4 for 6, 1 GS, 2 doubles, 6 RBIs, 2 runs

Defensive specialist J J Hardy got offensive Wednesday. Hardy is the Milwaukee Brewers rookie shortstop who might be the best defensive shortstop in the National League right now, if not all of baseball. Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds he showed it’s not all about the glove. J J hit a grand salami in the 6th, to go along with two doubles, while driving in six in the contest. Hardy missed most of last season with a shoulder injury and the Brewers thought it would take a half season for him to recover. His club looks to be right on with this assessment as he’s batted .308, with five of his six homers, and 23 of his 42 RBIs since the All Star break, raising his average to .235.

DRUG TESTING MIGHT BE IN ORDER

San Diego catcher Miguel Olivo’s strange night began with the Colorado Rockies leading 4-0 over the Padres in the 7th inning of last night’s game. Olivo’s attempted pickoff of Cory Sullivan, who had walked to open the frame, skipped past firstbaseman Robert Fick, and went into the rightfield corner. Todd Helton walked and Matt Holliday hit a sacrifice fly to leftfielder Ryan Klesko. Klesko’s throw was up the firstbase line. Miguel fielded the throw, walked toward home, and flipped the ball to a bat boy near the Padres dugout rather than returning it to the pitcher. Helton was waved in from secondbase. The Padres lost the game 6-5, dropping their record to 68-69, which is the latest a division leader had a losing record.

Three Veterans

Three veteran major leaguers who at one point were all locks for the Hall, made the news recently. Barry Bonds It’s reported that Barry Bonds while he may report with the Giants sometime soon, it won’t be today. According to ESPN: Bonds, whose workout with the San Francisco Giants on Monday in Los Angeles included … Continue reading “Three Veterans”

Three veteran major leaguers who at one point were all locks for the Hall, made the news recently.

Barry Bonds

It’s reported that Barry Bonds while he may report with the Giants sometime soon, it won’t be today. According to ESPN:

Bonds, whose workout with the San Francisco Giants on Monday in Los Angeles included taking batting practice and testing his throwing arm, was re-evaluated Tuesday morning, ESPN’s Pedro Gomez reports. But Giants general manager Brian Sabean told ESPN’s Karl Ravech that Bonds will not be activated for Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Sabean told Ravech that Bonds will not suit up because Bonds has yet to be medically cleared to run the bases.

I’m going to have to take a *yawn* on this one. When I read the headline, Bonds Will Not Be Activated Tuesday, that tells me nothing new. I’m not getting too terribly excited about hearing that Bonds is not going to play.

Rafael Palmeiro

Palmeiro is being sent home to heal his ankle and knee problems and he is pondering his 2006 plans. Quoth the Oriole management:

”It is in his and the Orioles’ best interests for Palmeiro to stay off the knee as much as possible to allow it to heal completely,” the team said in statement. “At the same time, remaining with the team while unable to play has created an unnecessary distraction for both Palmeiro and the ballclub.”

Translation: “It is in the Orioles best interests that he stay as far away from Camden Yards and not come back. We don’t want him here.”

Ken Griffey Jr.

I truly felt bad when Junior got injured. He’s played his heart out this year. It’s my contention that despite what others might say, he is a legit HOF candidate. He’s had the misfortune of having a few injury-laden years in the autumn in his career which tends to downplay a player’s value (perhaps unfairly). I feel that this season was doing a lot to revive his candidacy among the skeptics.

Griffey and the Reds both say he’ll be back this season. I hope he will. And not just because he’s on my APBA team either.

Sum-Up of the Hall of Fame Weekend

The Baseball ThinkFactory has a good wrap-up of the goings on at the Hall of Fame weekend this past month. It’s a good read for those of us who wished we could have been there. For those too lazy to click, here are some juicy samples: ( Prior to the big weekend, the Hall of … Continue reading “Sum-Up of the Hall of Fame Weekend”

The Baseball ThinkFactory has a good wrap-up of the goings on at the Hall of Fame weekend this past month. It’s a good read for those of us who wished we could have been there.

For those too lazy to click, here are some juicy samples:

( Prior to the big weekend, the Hall of Fame pretty much guaranteed that there would be an induction in 2006 by announcing that a special election of Negro Leagues greats would take place over the winter. Knowing full well that the Baseball Writers’ Association of America will post a goose egg in January (Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, and Jim Rice will all fall short of the 75 per cent needed for election), and with no Veterans Committee vote scheduled until 2007, Hall of Fame officials decided to stage the special election in February of ‘06. Several Negro Leaguers are considered strong candidates for Hall of Fame enshrinement, with catching great Biz Mackey considered the most likely to win election. With the exceptions of Buck O’Neil and Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, most of the eligible Negro Leagues greats are deceased, increasing the likelihood that there will not be a living inductee in 2006… The Hall of Fame did excellent work in putting together a committee of qualified historians for the Negro Leagues election. The committee features most of the leading experts on black baseball, including SABR members Dick Clark and Larry Lester, and author Robert Peterson, who penned the hallmark book, Only The Ball Was White…

Amazingly, none of Wade Boggs’ former teammates in Boston, New York, or Tampa Bay bothered to attend the weekend festivities in Cooperstown this year. Although Boggs was never known for his warmth toward other players or the media, it boggles the mind that all of his retired teammates decided to become no-shows at the induction ceremony. Not surprisingly, Boggs didn’t mention a single teammate by name during his induction speech…

The weekend did not come and go without some controversy. Hall of Fame infielder Rod Carew was supposed to participate in a Monday morning roundtable with the Class of 2005, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg, but failed to show for the event, which was broadcast by ESPN on a tape-delayed basis. According to a Hall of Fame source, Carew was angered by a video shown during Sunday’s induction ceremony. The video, which was narrated by ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian, referred to the newly inducted Boggs as being like “Rod Carew, only better.” Not appreciating the negative comparison, Carew decided to make himself unavailable for the ESPN roundtable with Boggs and Sandberg…

Read the article though… it’s worth a look.

9/6 Linescore of the Day – David Dellucci

David Dellucci, Texas Rangers 2 for 5, HR, run, 5 rbis Batting leadoff didn’t prevent Dellucci from collecting five ribbies. He did this thanks to a grand slam in the second inning and a base knock in the fourth. Kudos to my fantasy league firstbaseman Mark Teixeira who in the same game, joined some select company. Along … Continue reading “9/6 Linescore of the Day – David Dellucci”

David Dellucci, Texas Rangers

2 for 5, HR, run, 5 rbis

Batting leadoff didn’t prevent Dellucci from collecting five ribbies. He did this thanks to a grand slam in the second inning and a base knock in the fourth.

Kudos to my fantasy league firstbaseman Mark Teixeira who in the same game, joined some select company. Along with Joe DiMaggio, Ralph Kiner, Eddie Matthews and Albert Pujols, Teixeira became the fifth major leaguer to collect 100 homers in first three seasons.

9/3 Linescore of the Day – Aaron Small

Aaron Small, New York Yankees 9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (Win) Small, taking the place of the injured Mussina, did not disappoint the Yankee faithful. He breezed through the Oakland lineup pitching a five-hit game for his first career shutout. Small has been pitching off and on in … Continue reading “9/3 Linescore of the Day – Aaron Small”

Aaron Small, New York Yankees

9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (Win)

Small, taking the place of the injured Mussina, did not disappoint the Yankee faithful. He breezed through the Oakland lineup pitching a five-hit game for his first career shutout.

Small has been pitching off and on in the majors since 1994 but this year has made the most of his time since coming up with the Yanks. Since joining them in July, he’s 6-0 with a 2.42 ERA. With the Yankees’ staff in shambles, this is the kind of production they need from him.

Illini Alumni Baseball Game

Former University of Illinois baseball players will be back in town for the annual Alumni Game on Sunday, September 11. For those in the C-U area itchin’ for some good baseball, this should be a good game to go to. No word yet (that I could find) on the time of the game. The women’s … Continue reading “Illini Alumni Baseball Game”

The women’s softball Alumni game is on the same day at noon at Eichelberger Field. I hope they have the sense not to schedule the two games at the same time.