August, 2006 | The Baseball Zealot

8/24/06: LINESCORE OF THE DAY – JON GARLAND

Jon Garland has been on fire for the White Sox winning 11 of his last 12 decisions. Garland was on the hill for Chicago in the 4th game of this important series against the Detroit Tigers. Jon was his masterful self turning the Tigers into kittens, shutting them out 10-0, and evening the series at … Continue reading “8/24/06: LINESCORE OF THE DAY – JON GARLAND”

Jon Garland has been on fire for the White Sox winning 11 of his last 12 decisions. Garland was on the hill for Chicago in the 4th game of this important series against the Detroit Tigers. Jon was his masterful self turning the Tigers into kittens, shutting them out 10-0, and evening the series at 2-2. Jermaine Dye hit two home runs and is having an MVP season, but Juan Uribe’s three run 4th inning bomb put the game on ice as the Sox were up 5-0 and never looked back.

Next up the Twins come to the Cell for a three game series. The Sox lead Minnesota by one game in the Wild Card race, and trail Detroit by five in the loss column for the Central Division of the AL. I’ll be taking the L to the Cell for this big time weekend series against the Twins.

Jon Garland W 9 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 4.47 ERA

Followup: Mad props to leftfielder Pablo Ozuna for his hustlin’ play to throw out Sean Casey at first base, too.

Here’s the link to video. -tbz

ROOKIE WATCH: JERED WEAVER

Jered Weaver was looking for his tenth straight win without a loss to open his big league career as he took the mound for the LA Angels of Anaheim versus Josh Beckett & the Boston Red Sox. Beckett has had an awful August, walking nine and allowing nine runs against the Yankees in his last outing. While the Angels couldn’t have asked for anything more than what they’ve gotten from their young phenom. Jered said he was honored to be mentioned in the same breath with Whitey Ford when told he tied Whitey for the AL mark with nine straight wins to open his career, Kirk Rueter holds the NL mark with 10. Weaver is a 6’7″ righthander drafted in the 1st round in the 2004 draft out of Long Beach State. His brother Jeff was released by the Halos and has since caught on with the Cardinals.

Of course Jered Weaver lost 2-1 to Josh Beckett to end his streak at nine. He is 9-1 with 1.92 ERA, allowing only 57 hits & 21 walks in 84 1/3 innings of work. I watched this game on MLB-TV as a White Sox fan I was hoping Boston would lose, as an APBA manager with Beckett on his team I was rooting for Josh. To be honest Jered Weaver deserved a better fate. David Ortiz hit one into the stands to put the BoSox up 1-0. Then Orlando Cabrera decided to take it himself on an attempted DP with the bases loaded & one out, rather than tossing the ball to Adam Kennedy, but Alex Cora beat Cabrera to 2nd, almost broke OC’s leg, and the Red Sox were up by two. And then the Angels 3rd base coach got the tying run, Juan Rivera (not the fastest), thrown out at the plate (first out of the inning, never make the 1st out at home). Boston hung on from there. After being in Anaheim last year for the White Sox playoff sweep, I don’t have alot of love for the Angels. The fans seem plastic, as does the stadium with the BIG cheesey Angels hats outside the main gate, and Rex Hudler & Mike Scioscia are too intense for my liking.

Who’s a Bum, now?

Here’s a question for you. What secondbaseman (100 games min.) has the highest slugging percentage in the majors, right now? Give up? Ray Durham. With his .292 batting average, 20 doubles and 20 homers, he comes out to a .531 slugging average, ranking first among all secondbasemen. I have to admit that was a surprise … Continue reading “Who’s a Bum, now?”

Here’s a question for you. What secondbaseman (100 games min.) has the highest slugging percentage in the majors, right now?

Give up?

Ray Durham. With his .292 batting average, 20 doubles and 20 homers, he comes out to a .531 slugging average, ranking first among all secondbasemen.

I have to admit that was a surprise to me.

In my APBA league, Durham is my backup behind Orlando Hudson. A couple months ago while playing APBA, the guy I was playing went off on Ray Durham saying he was a “no-talent bum”. Granted, there are other secondbaseman I would rather have. But those are numbers you can’t argue with.

Illini shortstop Roof plays all nine positions in summer league game

A while back I posted that I got an email from Illini shortstop Shawn Roof while he was in North Carolina playing in a college summer league. In his email, he mentioned that he was trying to convince his coach to play him in all nine positions in one game. Jose Oquendo, anyone? Well, it … Continue reading “Illini shortstop Roof plays all nine positions in summer league game”

Jose Oquendo, anyone?

Well, it looks like he may have gotten his wish. This Fayetteville Swampdogs press release announces that Shawn Roof to Play All Nine Positions on Tuesday.

Roof has played six positions already in regular play this season for the SwampDogs.

Shawn Roof will get a chance to play three positions that he has had little experience with throughout his baseball life. The last time Shawn Roof pitched in a live game was all the way back in his junior season at St. Mary’s High School in Paducah, Kentucky. The University of Illinois tried to convert Roof into a catcher during his sophomore year, but he only caught in two innings. Finally, Roof has never in his baseball career played center field.

Head Coach Darrell Handelsman had some glowing words for Roof:

“Roof has been our most valuable player and our most versatile for the last two years”. Said Head Coach Darrell Handelsman. “This will be a fun way of saying thank you to Roof for all he has done for the SwampDogs.

I’ll have to contact Shawn and find out how that all went.

As for the SwampDogs season, they won a league record 39 games. They went as far as the semi finals where they were defeated by the Thomasville Hi-Toms. For details, check out the SwampDogs website.

Congrats to Illini players Roof, Dom Altobelli, Aaron Martin, and Ryan Snowden for a great season at Fayetteville!!

WHO HAS THE HIGHEST BATTING AVG???

During a rain delay before today’s White Sox game they asked who had the highest career batting average, Ozzie Guillen, Kenny Williams, Darrin Jackson, or Hawk Harrelson? Below are the career statistics for each of the four players. It was kind of funny that one of the White Sox players said, “Hawk sure does talk … Continue reading “WHO HAS THE HIGHEST BATTING AVG???”

During a rain delay before today’s White Sox game they asked who had the highest career batting average, Ozzie Guillen, Kenny Williams, Darrin Jackson, or Hawk Harrelson? Below are the career statistics for each of the four players. It was kind of funny that one of the White Sox players said, “Hawk sure does talk alot bigger than a .239 career hitter”. Also Guillen said, “I was such a good fielder that people forget I could hit”.

Hawk Harrelson .239, 131 HRs, 421 RBIs, 374 runs, 53 SBs

Darrin Jackson .257, 80 HRs, 317 RBIs, 311 runs, 43 SBs

Kenny Williams .218, 27 HRs, 119 RBIs, 136 runs, 49 SBs

Ozzie Guillen .264, 28 HRs, 619 RBIs, 773 runs, 169 SBs

THE NEGRO LEAGUE CAFE IN CHICAGO

Every year NickyV and I go on a baseball trip. We’ve been to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Boston’s Fenway Park, the Park that Ruth Built, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Cal Ripken’s Ballpark, Shea Stadium, Old Tigers Stadium, Great American Ballpark, Jacob’s Field, PNC in Pittsburgh, and even out of the country in Toronto. This year’s trip takes us to KC to see the White Sox and the NY Yankees play the Royals. While in Kansas City we’ll take in the Negro League Hall of Fame. Not long ago I heard about a gathering of Negro League stars at a restaurant in Chicago. It turns out the place they gathered was the Negro League Cafe on 43rd street. It’s right off the Green Line, if I don’t get there before my trip to KC I’ll get there after I return home.

CHISOX IN MOTOWN GAME TRE

Joe Crede went yard twice to pace the Southsiders & Freddy Garcia over the Detroit Tigers in the 3rd game of this four game series. Jermaine Dye put the Sox up 3-0 with a three run first inning shot off Zach Miner, but the Tigers came back in the bottom of the first, thanks in part to Rob Mackowiak in centerfield (he backed off a fly ball and watched it bounce off Juan Uribe’s glove rather than taking charge, that guy scored to tie the game at three). Crede put the Sox up 4-3 with a 2nd inning shot to left and then blasted another in the 7th to give Chicago a two run lead, which they held onto 7-5. Bobby Jenks closed it out in the 9th, but it was Joe’s day. Funny thing is, last year during the playoffs I’d call the Baseball Zealot whenever Crede’d do anything great, and jokingly offer AL MVP ARod to the IAL’s Thunderchickens for Joe Crede. Not sure the Chicago Champions wouldn’t wanna pull the trigger on that deal today.

Chicago is now 1/2 game ahead of the Minnesota Twins in the Wild Card race, and the Detroit Tigers are still in sight in the Central Division. The 4th game featuring Jon Garland and Nate Robertson will be a big one!

ROOKIE WATCH – CHRIS YOUNG

Was watching the Diamondbacks game and the broadcasters were talking about this rookie centerfield sensation named Chris Young. His name sounded familiar, I looked him up in the Baseball America Prospect book, and there he was the #2 prospect for the Chicago White Sox. He was traded from the White Sox to Arizona along with El Duque & Luis Vizcaino in exchange for Javier Vazquez. Everybody has been second guessing Chicago for trading Aaron Rowand to Philadelphia, but that would have been alright had the Sox replaced Rowand with Chris Young rather than Brian Anderson. Also we could have used Luis Vizcaino in the bullpen and Orlando Hernandez couldn’t do any worse than Vazquez (also Hernandez worked well with Sox Ace Jose Contreras). Or we could’ve traded El Duque for bullpen help (the D*Backs traded him to the NY Mets for Jorge Julio) and moved Brandon McCarthy to the rotation.

But this is about Chris Young, who hit a two run shot & almost took away a homer while I was watching, made a spectacular catch the night before, and is hitting .375 (3 for 8). Young batted .276, with 21 homers, 32 doubles, along with 17 steals in Triple A before getting called up to the big leagues. Chris hit .277 last year in Double A, with 26 homers, 41 doubles, & 32 SBs and had a .262 average in A Ball with 24 home runs, 31 two base hits, 5 triples, & 31 steals.

Brian Anderson is one year older than Young and a little more polished than Young, having come out of the University of Arizona while Chris was drafted out of high school. The most homers ever hit by Anderson are 16 last year in Triple A. Both guys are exceptional centerfielders, but Chris Young is exciting, while Brian Anderson barely has a pulse. If given the choice, I’ll take Chris Young.

BIG HURT TIES POPS

Frank Thomas Future Hall of Famer & Oakland A’s slugger Frank Thomas tied Willie Stargell on the alltime list for homers 475 (also tied Stan Musial in HRs) & RBIs 1540. The 38 year old Georgian ripped his 27th home run of the season, a two run shot, that helped the A’s to a 6-0 … Continue reading “BIG HURT TIES POPS”

Frank Thomas

Future Hall of Famer & Oakland A’s slugger Frank Thomas tied Willie Stargell on the alltime list for homers 475 (also tied Stan Musial in HRs) & RBIs 1540. The 38 year old Georgian ripped his 27th home run of the season, a two run shot, that helped the A’s to a 6-0 win over Toronto. Thomas was signed by Oakland in the offseason after the World Champion Chicago White Sox let him go. There were some words exchanged as the Sox said goodbye to the greatest player in team history. Frank is having a very good year for Oakland as their DH, as they stand atop the Western Division of the American League.

Frank Thomas 475 HR, 1540 RBI, 1383 runs, .305 Avg, .425 OBP

Willie Stargell

Willie Stargell was the Captain of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pops was the oldest player to win MVP when he did it at the age of 39 in 1979, he followed it up with World Series MVP. I can still see his windmill stance as he waited for the pitch to be delivered, can’t imagine how a pitcher would feel serving it up to this mountain of a man with the game on the line.

Willie Stargell 475 HR, 1540 RBI, 1195 runs, .282 Avg, .360 OBP

8/23/06: LINESCORE OF THE DAY – ESTEBAN LOAIZA

Esteban Loaiza evened his record at seven wins against seven losses when he tossed this gem against the Toronto Bluejays. Loaiza was efficient delivering 73 of 103 pitches for strikes. Esteban has been terrific lately, allowing only one home run over his last seven starts, after giving up 12 in his previous 12 outings. After … Continue reading “8/23/06: LINESCORE OF THE DAY – ESTEBAN LOAIZA”

Esteban Loaiza evened his record at seven wins against seven losses when he tossed this gem against the Toronto Bluejays. Loaiza was efficient delivering 73 of 103 pitches for strikes. Esteban has been terrific lately, allowing only one home run over his last seven starts, after giving up 12 in his previous 12 outings. After signing a big contract with the A’s in the offseason he was 0-3 with a 8.35 ERA in April and picked up for DUI in May. It seems as though he’s turned his season around just when Oakland needed him most.

Esteban Loaiza W, 9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 5.12 ERA