Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Now with the Orange and Blue series over and done with, construction is underway for installation of Field Turf. The Fighting Illini website has photos.
Now with the Orange and Blue series over and done with, construction is underway for installation of Field Turf.
The Fighting Illini website has photos.
I don’t want too much time to go by without giving the University of Illinois football team their due. They defeated #5 Wisconsin this past Saturday 31-26. There have been some lean years in Illini football lately though last year, there was no doubt it was an exciting team to watch. The profesors in my … Continue reading “Illini Football deserves a nod”
I don’t want too much time to go by without giving the University of Illinois football team their due. They defeated #5 Wisconsin this past Saturday 31-26.
There have been some lean years in Illini football lately though last year, there was no doubt it was an exciting team to watch.
The profesors in my department had a $1 pool at the beginning of the season. One person whether being optimistic or just being funny, picked Illinois to go 13-0. At the time, we all had a laugh. “That Joe, what a joker.”
Of course, Illinois has already had one loss (versus Missouri). But maybe joker Joe wasn’t so far off.
The two lives of Kyle Hudson
Juice Williams, J Leman, and Rashard Mendenhall are the big stars but keep an eye on Kyle Hudson. I think of him of as the starting center fielder of the Illini baseball team but he’s a great wide receiver and punt returner for the football team, too. Kyle led the team in receptions the past two years.
I met Kyle’s mom at the Big Ten Tournament earlier this year. She told me how proud she was of her son. She told me of Kyle’s busy schedule having to juggle football practice and the baseball season. On top of that, she tells me he does well in school.
Go Illini!
The TV at home bore the brunt of my frustrations tonight. I must have thrown three or four of my kids’ toys at it tonight.. starting with Chris Young’s bomb off Rich Hill. I actually turned the television off after Stephen Drew’s homer in the 9th inning. Logging on to mlb.com just now, I had … Continue reading “Wasted Opportunities ruin the Cubs”
The TV at home bore the brunt of my frustrations tonight. I must have thrown three or four of my kids’ toys at it tonight.. starting with Chris Young’s bomb off Rich Hill.
I actually turned the television off after Stephen Drew’s homer in the 9th inning. Logging on to mlb.com just now, I had my fingers crossed, of course to no avail.
The Cubs never had it. Not that they didn’t had their chances. Livian Hernandez, however, got out of every jam.
The magic number for the series is zero. That is the number of rbis by Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez for the series combined. Again, wasted opportunities.
I will give the Arizona Diamondbacks their due. If team loyalty wasn’t an issue, the ‘Backs are a team I might have enjoyed watching win. With players like Byrnes, Drew, and Young, they are a scrappy, hustling team with a hunger for victory.
All for now, I’m too drained and frustrated. Later, I’ll do a season wrap-up of the Cubs season.
I dropped by the fourth game of the Orange and Blue series after work today.
I ran into former Illini shortstop Shawn Roof at the game. I hadn’t seen Roof (shown above with junior Nathan Lawrence) since the Big Ten Tournament last spring so we caught up with each other. He talked about his summer in the Tigers minor league system which he really enjoyed. The Lakeland team ended with a slump but the minors are treating him well.
Billy Barrett started for the Orange team.
If the above photo looks a bit crisper than normal, I have one man to thank. I showed up to Illinois Field and whipped out my adequate Canon S3 camera and started taking shots. A man a few feet away was snapping pictures with a much better camera with a huge lens. He generously offered to let me put my camera card into his camera (which probably cost more than a used car) and take a some photos.
His name is David Milner and it turns out he is the father of Ty Milner, catcher for the Illini. We soon got talking, mostly about the team, the Cubs and photography.
Thanks David for the use of camera. If you ever need someone to babysit that Mark II, I’m your man.
Joey Bonadonna was the third base coach today. JB is a fun player to watch, always in the game, hustling. I’m looking for him to have a breakout season next spring.
Speaking of Bonadonna, he’s got another award to add to his mantle. In addition to his Silver Glove award, the Northwoods League named him the Top Offensive Second Baseman.
I have many more photos at The Baseball Zealot Photo Gallery.
There’s one more chance to see the Illini in action this fall. Saturday, after the football game the guys will suit up. So if you are up for some baseball, stop by Illinois Field.
Tom Haudricourt from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel lists ten reasons why the Brewers lost the NL Central championship. Not surprisingly, he notes the starting pitching, bullpen, as well as key players not coming through. It is notable that Yost’s name is barely mentioned in the article.
Tom Haudricourt from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel lists ten reasons why the Brewers lost the NL Central championship.
Not surprisingly, he notes the starting pitching, bullpen, as well as key players not coming through. It is notable that Yost’s name is barely mentioned in the article.
On Sunday, my son and I went to Illinois Field to watch the Illini play Game 3 of their Orange and Blue Series.
Coach Hartleb (right) takes the field before the game.
Scott Shaw pitches for the Orange team. In 2006, Scott was practically unhittable when he was on his game.
Freshman John Schlichter hit one out on Sunday. The reward for hitting a homer is the task of retrieving the ball.
This series is the first chance I’ve had to see freshman catcher Aaron Johnson in action.
I have many more photos here at The Baseball Zealot photo gallery.
Also, the Fighting Illini site has a wrapup from Friday’s game. There will be two more games next weekend.
I bring back non-Cub fan co-hosts so I can gloat
No, I don’t really :-)
Here are the show notes…
032- Pre-Postseason Roundtable
Show Notes for Episode 32:
Hosts: Tom, Chuck, Todd
Summary: After Todd tells how happy he is about the Littlefield leaving the Pirates, we discuss the upcoming postseason. We give our opinions on who will go on and who won’t.
Thanks for listening!!
Time: 46:19
Date Recorded: 9/30/07
As you probably know, TBS will be broadcasting a good share of the postseason. And they’ll be doing without longtime announcer Skip Caray. TBS has elected to go with Dick Stockton, Ted Robinson and Don Orsillo for the NLDS. Skip apparently isn’t taking it very well going as far as to talking to the media … Continue reading “TBS’ Skip Caray feels a bit left out”
As you probably know, TBS will be broadcasting a good share of the postseason. And they’ll be doing without longtime announcer Skip Caray. TBS has elected to go with Dick Stockton, Ted Robinson and Don Orsillo for the NLDS.
Skip apparently isn’t taking it very well going as far as to talking to the media about it.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
“I feel like I can do a better job than a tennis announcer or a football-basketball announcer,” Skip Caray said. “I’m not knocking Ted Robinson and Dick Stockton, but point of fact is they don’t do baseball anymore and I’m there every day.”
I’m not that familiar with Skip to make a call on his broadcasting skills. Also, with a few exceptions, I’m not too particular about who announces the games I listen to. Let me re-phrase that. You be amazed at the range of opinions out there on the topic.
That all said, I will have to comment on this quote by Skip…
Caray said he’d like to be voted into baseball’s Hall of Fame along with longtime broadcasting partner Pete Van Wieren someday. “But when your employer says you’re not good enough to do the playoffs, I don’t think that helps your chances.”
Sorry, Skip, I don’t care how good you think you are but lobbying for HOF induction just doesn’t look good. Bert Blyleven used to do it and I thought it looked bad… and I’m a big Blyleven fan.
Champaign native Matt Herges Last night’s Wild Card tiebreaker between the Padres and the Rockies had no shortage of controversial calls. Of course, once I decided to call it a night was when the real fireworks happened so I missed Holliday’s play at the plate. I did see the video countless times and I saw what … Continue reading “Wild Card Tiebreaker full of controversial plays”
Champaign native Matt Herges
Last night’s Wild Card tiebreaker between the Padres and the Rockies had no shortage of controversial calls. Of course, once I decided to call it a night was when the real fireworks happened so I missed Holliday’s play at the plate.
I did see the video countless times and I saw what I saw. This will make my friend Todd, the umpire happy but as a general.rule, I generally give the umpire the benefit of the doubt. It’s easy for me to make a call after watching a crappy video taken from considerable distance. Let’s face it, the man in blue is (hopefully) right on the play and probably saw something I didn’t.
And in the words of Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem, “It ain’t nothin’ till i call it.”
The town of Champaign has rights to be proud of their homeboy Matt Herges for his performance last night. The Colorado reliever pitched 3 scoreless innings allowing only one hit. Herges was a solid reliever from 2000-2003 but until this year he has not found his groove and has bounced from team to team. In 2007, he has been lights out for Colorado with a 5-1 record and a 2.96 ERA. It’s good to see a local make it to the postseason.
One last thing… Will Tulowitzki’s 4 for 7 performance be enough to propel him to rookie of year? Will it be enough to eclipse the power of Braun?
Regular TBZ readers may have noticed the “Magic Number” widget we had on the right sidebar. It was a (free) handy little piece of code we got from MLB Magic Numbers. It simply calculated the Cubs’ magic number and updated it on the fly. After the Cubs clinched, it displayed “Clin”. Any way you spell … Continue reading “Handy Magic Number Widget Confuses Cubs with White Sox”
Regular TBZ readers may have noticed the “Magic Number” widget we had on the right sidebar. It was a (free) handy little piece of code we got from MLB Magic Numbers. It simply calculated the Cubs’ magic number and updated it on the fly.
After the Cubs clinched, it displayed “Clin”. Any way you spell it, it means Clinch!!.
However, I load up TBZ today and notice that the Cubs’ magic number has impatiently risen to 163. It’s no cruel joke… seems that their coding is ready for 2008.
