Month: September 2006

And the CUBS WIN!!! I saw it was gonna be in the mid 70s & sunny, perfect to watch a ballgame from the Bleachers at Wrigley Field. Really wanted to see the Dodgers kids like Andre Ethier, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp, & Russell Martin. Was looking forward to BP from the Bleachers, nothing like it, dunno why no BP today. Ethier pinch hit in the 9th, ended the game with a K, heard the other night he stepped to the plate after back to back walks, and made an out on the first pitch, perhaps he had the take sign, perhaps that’s why he found his butt on the pines. Broxton pitched a perfect 8th inning (K’d 2), after the horse got out of the barn & was running down the road in the 7th. Martin looked tired, fly balls just died off his bat, left three on. Kemp didn’t play. Dunno why there was no BP. Aramis Ramirez turned an L into a W with a 7th inning three run shot off Brett Tomko, I’d just asked a Dodger fan if Dodgers manager Grady Little was really gonna leave Tomko in to pitch to Ramirez, why not bring in Broxton one batter sooner? Tomko was just a three run homer waiting to happen. This same Dodger fan was saying five minutes earlier how he didn’t want the Dodgers to get in as the Wild Card, he better take what he can get. Wade Miller & Hong-Chih Kuo were the starters, Miller allowed a two run homer (only hit he surrendered) off the RF foul pole to Marlin Anderson, Kuo struckout six thru six innings of work, no walks. Dusty might have learned something as he used Bobby Howry to pick up the save, #5, 6-5 Cubs win. Here are three reasons why I view Dusty as a bad manager… When he was with SF his son was almost involved in a nasty home plate collision, MLB dugouts are not preschools. Again with the Giants Baker was managing in the World Series against Anaheim, he came out to pull starter Russ Ortiz, he had the lead, Baker decided to give the ball to Ortiz as a keep sake, Angel hitters saw this, and came roaring back for the win. Then in the Bartman game, I was there, why didn’t Baker tell Moises Alou to shut the F up & go back to LF?, why didn’t Baker have somebody warming up when his 22 year old starter was five outs away from getting the Cubs into the series?, why didn’t Baker go out to at least talk with Prior when things started coming apart, before he was left in there to give up eight runs and then take him out? Cuz Baker’s a GOOF!

Tommy John was my favorite pitcher growing up. Today pitcher’s shudder when his name is mentioned because his name is associated with season ending surgery to reconstruct the UCL. When Tommy had this surgery, performed by Dr. Jobe in 1974, Dr. Jobe stated John had a 1 in 100 chance of ever pitching again. He rehabbed for 18 months before returning to the hill in 1976. Most fans today remember him as a soft tosser, seeing him late in his career, after his surgery, but I remember this southpaw had a pretty good heater when he first came up. Tommy John pitched until he was 46 years old, winning 288 games, and his name will always be linked with Dick McAuliffe. In 1968 John was 10-5 with a 1.98 ERA, pitching for the White Sox, facing McAuliffe in August, 3-2 count, the pitch slipped & sailed over Tommy’s head, Dick lipped as he headed to firstbase, and then he charged the mound. In the malay that would ensue McAuliffe’s drove his knee into John’s shoulder, separating it, and ending the lefty’s season. Tommy John is also responsible for the White Sox still being in Chicago and not going to St. Petersburg, FL. The White Sox got Dick Allen in exchange for Tommy John following the 1971 season. Dick Allen had an MVP season in 1972 on the Southside of Chicago under the guidance of Skipper Chuck Tanner, hitting 37 homers, driving in 113, while batting .308, and bringing excitement to Comiskey Park.

Here are some rookies who might think the Baseball Zealot’s Rookie Watch is a jinx.

9/13/06: Francisco Liriano tried to rejoin the Minnesota Twins in their playoff hunt. Liriano heard a pop in his elbow in the 3rd inning, ending his rookie season, and he may need Tommy John Surgery.

9/11/06: Houston Astro’s Taylor Buchholz made his first start since 7/27, allowing five runs in 3 1/3 innings vs St. Louis. Taylor is 6-10 with a 5.95 ERA in 112 innings this year.

9/1/06: Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox was diagnossed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, ending his rookie season. Jon went in to check out a pain in his back he thought was the result of an auto accident, this isn’t supposed to happen to 22 year old youngsters. Lester will be treated with chemotherapy, wishing him a full recovery to good health.

8/28/06: The Pirates placed Tom Gorzelanny on the DL with tendinitis in his pitching elbow. He will return to the rotation 9/16, but will be limited to three innings.

8/23/06: The Chicago Cubs put Ryan O’Malley on the DL after Ryan felt a twinge in his left elbow in the 5th inning of his 2nd major league start. O’Malley pitched eight innings of shutout ball against the Houston Astros in his debut.

7/30/06: Casey Janssen was demoted by the Toronto Blue Jays after posting a 6-10 record with a 5.22 ERA in 17 starts.

7/28/06: Cubs lefty Sean Marshall was placed on the DL with a strained oblique. Sean started 9/12 against the Dodgers allowing seven runs, only three earned, in 3 2/3 innings. Marshall has a 5.34 ERA, a 5-9 record in 116 1/3 innings of work.

4/29/06: Brian Bannister was placed on the DL by the NY Mets with a strained hamstring. He was just activated 9/5 and may make a few starts before season’s end.

Don’t know if it’s a curse, but I’m glad I’m not a rookie on the Rookie Watch, YIKES!

Hideki Matsui returned to the Bronx in style last night against the D*Rays going four for four with a walk, two runs scored, and an RBI. Shemp had been on the DL since breaking his wrist earlier in the year. Will Yankee fans soon be celebrating their 27th World Series win? The Bronx Bombers had the best lineup before getting Matsui back, now it’s simply unbelievable!

The last night we were there we got the opportunity to watch Randy Johnson throw a no-hitter for six innings against the Royals. He had a similar outing against the White Sox earlier in the year that I witnessed at the Cell where he had a no-hitter through six innings. In that game Johnson didn’t survive the 7th, getting nobody out. Tadahito Iguchi got a leadoff single, followed by a Jim Thome walk, followed by a Paul Konerko double, followed by a Jermaine Dye double, and Randy was relieved by Ron Villone, the Yankees held on to win that one 7-6. So I really didn’t think the Big Unit was going to throw a no-no. Still I asked my friend Taka if he’d ever witnessed a no-hitter, the closest I ever came was seeing Alex Fernandez one hit the Cubs at Wrigley on a very cold day, interestingly NickyV was also at that game (although we didn’t go there together). Taka said he saw a no-hitter pitched in Tokyo on May 18, 1999, but I can’t remember the pitcher’s name he mentioned. Taka went on to say, “Randy Johnson threw a perfect game on May 18, 2004 against the Atlanta Braves, when Randy was with Arizona”. Later that night we’re watching SportsCenter and the talking head comes on to confirm Taka’s knowldge (Anibal Sanchez threw a no-hitter on Wednesday & Unit’s was the last one before that). The Yomiuri Giants are Taka’s team, he probably scheduled this trip to KC to see former Yomiuri outfielder, and current Yankee, Hideki Matsui play, not knowing Godzilla would be out with an injury. Taka’s knowledge of MLB is phenominal, but here’s a story about the most amazing thing about him. Thirst was setting in and NickyV & I were in serious need of the Bud Man. We looked all over, but a Bud Man couldn’t be found. All of a sudden we see Taka coming down the stairs with the Bud Man in tow, they wouldn’t allow him to purchase three beers, so he brought the Bud Man to us, AMAZING!

As I said in my original piece about my KC trip we met Taka at the Negro Baseball Leagues Museum. There is a fullsize playing field at the museum with Martin Dihigo batting and these great Negro Leagues stars in the field – C Josh Gibson, P Satchel Paige, 1B Buck Leonard, 2B Pop Lloyd 2B, 3B Ray Dandridge, SS Judy Johnson, LF Cool Papa Bell, CF Oscar Charleston, and RF Leon Day. There was a guy from the museum giving a private tour, so NickyV & myself tagged along. Some of the stories were really great, especially the one about how fast Cool Papa Bell was. Cool Papa Bell got to his room and noticed there was a short in the light switch in his room, so Satchel Paige comes to the room, Bell bets Paige he can turn off the light, jump into bed, & pull the covers up, before the room gets dark. Now Satchel knows Cool Papa Bell is fast, but he ain’t that fast (although he once stole 175 bases in one season), he accepts the bet, and of course with the aid of the faulty light switch Bell does it. Satchel Paige told the story of how fast Bell was over and over again. There was chicken wire you’d have to look through behind the plate, it was there to symbolize what was used to keep black and white fans apart. Harlem Globetrotter great Goose Tatum played for the Indianapolis Clowns, there was a running video that showed his long arms, the amazing things he could do with a baseball, and his clowning ability. Big Rube Foster was the man who first organized a Negro Baseball League. There were alot of black owned business that sprang up as a result of segregation and Negro League Baseball, they died when black players were allowed to play in the Major Leagues. Baseball Commissioner Judge Mountain Landis said, there would not be blacks in baseball while he was alive, when he died he was replaced by Happy Chandler, who despite being a Southerner, opened the door. Jackie Robinson was brought in by Branch Rickey to integrate Major League Baseball in 1947. There was something about blacks dying for this country in WWII and then being kept out of the majors that didn’t seem right. Robinson was a college educated man, who’d competed in football & track at UCLA. Jackie promised Rickey he wouldn’t fight back on the baseball field for three years. Robinson won NL Rookie of the Year for the Brooklyn Dodgers, putting up with high spikes, players spitting on him, and every insult you could imagine coming his way. After two years Rickey took the gloves off Jackie and allowed him to defend himself. It took a special man to break the color barrier. I think it was Hank Thompson, who first played for the St. Louis Browns. When he first got to the team he didn’t even have his own bat, he borrowed one from a teammate, hit a home run, and found the bat broken by a teammate upon his return to the dugout. It is said that Josh Gibson hit more than 900 home runs in his career. In 1948 at the urging of Manager Lou Boureau, Satchel Paige, at the conservative age of 42, was signed by Bill Veeck & the Cleveland Indians, who were in desperate need of pitching, 6-1 2.48 ERA is what Satch game them, plus a World Champion team. In 1965 Paige pitched a three inning exhibitian against the Boston Red Sox, allowing only one hit to Carl Yastrzemski. And just maybe the fact that the Red Sox were the last team to integrate by signing Pumpsie Green in 1959 might have had something to do with their not winning as opposed to the Curse of the Bambino. You have to wonder how much better off major league baseball would have been had they allowed these great negro league ballplayers in. Many of the former stars of the Negro Leagues have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Still Buck O’Neil at the age of 94 is on the outside looking in. Buck has been key to keeping the Negro Leagues alive, besides having a solid career. Another former Negro League star that deserves induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame is the first black player to sign with the White Sox, Minnie Minoso. The Cuban born Minoso can still be seen at the Cell promoting the great game of baseball.

One more story and then I’ll let you go, provided you’re still with me now. On the way out of Kauffman Stadium for the last time, we hopped on the elevator, the three of us (NickyV, Taka, & myself). The elevator was going down, rather than up, but we decided to go along for the ride. Getting on, to our surprise, was Alex Rodriguez and another Yankee player I didn’t recognize. One of the other people on the elevator told ARod to hang in there, he turned and said, “What do you mean hang in there? We won 8-1”. The other Yankee quickly corrected ARod, saying, “It was 8-3. They hit a home run in the 9th”. Then Taka told ARod that he’d seen him play in Tokyo and reached out to touch his bulging bicept, to which Alex replied, “No touch”. I told Rodriguez I’d seen him play for the Appleton Foxes, he said, “Those were some happy times”. NickyV told me later he almost felt sorry for ARod. And I must say, something’s changed from the time he was an 18 year old kid in A Ball signing 30 or more autographs per night. But I guess we’ve all changed.

This year’s baseball trip would take NickyV and myself to Kansas City to see the Royals play the White Sox for three and then three against the Yankees. This is the third baseball trip we’ve made. Previous trips have taken us to Fenway Park, Camden Yards, PNC Park, Yankee Stadium, The Great American Ballpark, Jacobs Field, Shea Stadium, Cal Ripken Park, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. We’ve also taken in alotta nightlife, too numerous to mention.

Heard alot of great things about Kauffman Stadium. Here’s what I know from being there… People in KC are pretty friendly, the ballpark reminded me of a minor league ballpark, and our seats were outstanding, 20th row behind home plate.

This was my 2nd White Sox road trip of the year, saw ’em in Pittsburgh, but missed out on going to Detroit. This was an important series for the Sox, aren’t they all when you’re in a playoff race? But these Kansas City Royals aren’t the same Royals the AL kicked around early in the year.

9/1/06: Runelvys Hernandez took the hill for the Royals versus Jose Contreras & the Chicago White Sox, Runelvys lowered his ERA to 6.67 with a ShO in his last start against the Toronto Blue Jays. Mark Grudzielanek singled home David DeJesus, who doubled, to give KC a 1-0 3rd inning lead. But then the wheels really came off the Sox wagon in the 4th when the Royals scored six. Chicago made three errors in the inning, Rob Mackowiak, Alex Cintron, & Joe Crede were guilty of the miscues. Contreras allowed seven runs, but only two were earned. Ozzie Guillen has to know by now that Mackowiak cannot play centerfield and the Sox are better off with Cintron on the pines. Crede knocked one deep over the leftfield wall in the 5th off Hernandez (the only run he’d allow in six) to get the Good Guys on the board. KC relievers did everything they could to try to give this one away, four runs, 4 walks, five hits in three innings. But the Sox would strand three runners in the 8th and then again three more in the 9th, losing 7-5. Joe Nelson got the save getting Crede to fly to left to end it, despite three walks & one hit in one inning. The postgame fireworks were outstanding! In the elevator on the way to the parking lot we encountered a woman with a small baby, we remarked how good the baby was, the mother commented, “She’s always a good baby. Her daddy was the Royals starting pitcher”. It all started making sense, maybe Runelvys had other things on his mind early in the year with a new baby on the way, now he was able to concentrate on baseball with the baby out there doing well. Sometimes we forget the human elements of baseball, sometimes life gets in the way.

9/2/06: Joe Crede’s two run 3rd inning single off Odalis Perez put the White Sox up for the first time in the series. KC retook the lead scoring two off Chicago starter Mark Buehrle, but that lead was shortlived as a sac fly to right by Sandy Alomar, Jr scored Brian Anderson with the tying run and then Tadahito Iguchi doubled home Pablo Ozuna with the go ahead run. Ross Gload plated Paul Konerko with an insurance run with an 8th inning single. BIG BAD Bobby Jenks struck out the side in the 9th to pickup the save for the Good Guys, 5-3.

9/3/06: Sox hitters could only manage one run off Mark Redman through seven innings, a Paul Konerko 2nd inning drive. KC had a 4-1 lead through seven, thanks to Ryan Shealy (1 HR & 3 RBIs) & Angel Berroa’s solo shot. Buddy Bell did Chicago a favor bringing Joel Peralta in to replace Redman. Jim Thome said, “thank you” by hitting a two run homer to make it 4-3 Bad Guys. Freddy Garcia was still in there to allow another run in the 8th, then Neal Cotts let in another, and Brandon McCarthy let up another, 7-3 Royals.

White Sox leave, New York Yankees come to town. We watched the first three games with Joe Crede’s brother in law, which made it extra special. But the stadium would fill up with the Yankees in town, and their fans in tow. We would even meet up with Taka, a fan from Tokyo, who’s been to 21 MLB ballparks & 6 of 10 ballparks in Japan. Taka’s knowledge of MLB is extensive thanks to the late great Pancho Ito. Mr. Ito was a Japanese broadcaster who brought MLB to the people of Japan, he passed July 4, 2002.

9/4/06: Labor Day saw the NY Yankees offense labor against KC starter Luke Hudson, managing only one run on nine hits through seven innings. Then Buddy Bell went to his bullpen and the Bronx Bombers scored ten runs in the eighth & another in the 9th to win it going away, 12-5.

9/5/06: We went to the Negro Baseball Leagues Museum, where we ran into Taka, we invited him to sit with us at the Yankee Royal game that night. Lefthander Jorge DeLaRosa was starting for KC vs Mike Mussina & the NY Yankees. On paper it looked like a classic mismatch, but that’s why they play the games. Moose was just coming off the DL, didn’t have his best stuff, while Jorge was in total control, final score 5-0 KC. Former Cub Todd Wellemeyer was brought on in the 6th inning, notching an ole fashion save, throwing 3 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. We found Taka to be quite a fan, it was tee shirt night at KC & we gave him our tees, bought him a Bud Lite, and even managed to get him up on the Jumbotron during the 7th inning stretch. Till tomorrow Mr. Taka.

9/6/06: The Big Unit totally shutdown Royal hitters, not allowing a hit through the first six innings, NickyV talked to his cousin about the no-no, David DeJesus got a 7th inning leadoff triple to end it. Promptly Jorge Posada picked DeJesus off 3rd, Posada also hit two HRs & knocked in six, leading the Yanks to an 8-3 win.

Thursday morning we headed home at 6:00 AM, zip-zip, we arrived in the Windy City at 2:00 PM. Normally I’d have gone to the Bleachers at Wrigley for the afternoon game between the Cubs & the Bucs, and then Redlined it down to the Cell for the game between the Tribe & the ChiSox. But just decided to grab a bite to eat & watch the action from the comfort of my own bed. Everybody was pulling me to the Cell this whole weekend, but with my brother & his family in town and Oma still recovering, just decided to lay low.