May, 2008 | The Baseball Zealot

DIVISION III CHAMPS – TRINITY COLLEGE

The Trinity College Bantams capped off a perfect regular season by winning the NCAA Division III Championship over Johns Hopkins 5-4 on May 27th. This game was played in Appleton, WI. My summer cottage is about 45 minutes away in Waupaca, WI.

I became interested in the NCAA Division III Championship because my cousin’s son, Kevin Kaminski, was playing for a very good Division III baseball team Carthage College. I shouldn’t say Kevin actually played for Carthage College, he sat the bench. Last year Kevin redshirted as Carthage made it to Appleton. This year he was promised playing time by head coach Augie Schmidt, but then was cut from the team as tournament play began, after wasting his time on the bench all year. As luck would have it, Carthage was eliminated from tournament play on May 16th losing to St. Scholastica, after losing to Wisconsin-Whitewater 24-3 on the 15th. So Kevin didn’t miss out on a championship, although he did work hard for the privlege of riding the pines. A couple of years ago Kaminski proved his worth as the regular secondbaseman for Harper Junior College, hitting well over .400.

But this story isn’t about Kevin Kaminski, Carthage College, or unkept promises. It’s all about Division III Championship Baseball.

In the bottom of the 8th inning trailing by a run, Trinity pinch-hitter Matt Stafford tied the game with an RBI base knock, coming through with two outs and two strikes. Johns Hopkins again put the pressure back on Trinity, when Matt Benchener hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the 9th for a 4-3 lead. Trinity who had lost to Johns Hopkins the previous day to ruin their perfect season, was now just three outs away from losing the championship as well.

Trinity’s Kent Graham got things started in the bottom of the 9th with a one out single up the middle. Then James Wood got a hit & run single through the rightside, sending Graham to 3rd. Chandler Barnard, who had five hits on the day, was given an intentional walk. Matt Sullivan then drew a 3-2 bases loaded walk to tie the game. Then Guy Goglietino, Jr., who’d come into the game as a defensive replacement at 3B, fouled off seven pitches before receiving the game winning ball four.

Who says walks can’t be exciting? Congrats to Trinity College! Maybe next year I’ll have to make it to this exciting baseball tournament in Appleton, WI, rather than just reporting on it from afar.

I’LL CALL YOU

The White Sox are in first place, so what’s my beef? A vegetarian with a beef, that’s funny. Orlando Cabrera was brought in as the team’s savior at SS. Cabrera is the reigning 2007 AL Gold Glove shortstop.

I’ve become used to watching Juan Uribe at SS for the White Sox on an everyday basis. While Uribe has one of the strongest infield arms I’ve seen, sometimes he’s lazy in the field. I was excited to be getting Cabrera, although I thought we were getting Miguel Cabrera for Jon Garland, until I found out the trade was with Anaheim rather than Florida.

Since the trade, Orlando has had his ups & downs in the field for the Sox. On more occasions than I can count on one hand, I’ve seen not pickup relatively easy grounders, sometimes they were called errors, sometimes they weren’t.

Now the story comes out that Cabrera has called the pressbox to question errors that were credited to him. Orlando is becoming a free agent at year end and is concerned about his reputation as a quality fielder. He has questioned his manager for not backing him up on this. Whether these missed plays are errors or not is irrelevant, the Sox are trying to win ballgames. It is purely selfish on Cabrera’s part to call the pressbox.

Orlando should hone up his skills as a ballplayer, rather than concern himself with his rep. He is a little ballplayer, not a home run hitter, and I’ve yet to see him display he has the ability to bunt. He has failed to move the runners up with a sacrifice on several occasions, today being the most recent.

Then there’s this story…
The Associated Press reports Chicago White Sox 2B Alexei Ramirez ignored the bunt sign and hit a clutch single that set up the game-winner Monday, May 26. “He went from two seconds from being in (Triple-A) Charlotte to being a hero,” manager Ozzie Guillen said of Ramirez. “He did that on his own. I was surprised but (bench coach) Joey Cora told me he’s been working on that in batting practice.”

Alexei Ramirez is a 26-year-old rookie from Cuba filling in for the injured Juan Uribe at scondbase. I think Ramirez is doing a good job at a position he’s not familiar with. Alexei has a lightning quick bat. It was a heads up play the other day on his part, that directly led to us winning a ballgame. Way to go Alexei! And what’s he to think when his prima donna doubleplay partner, a veteran can’t get the bunt down? BTW, Ramirez has shown himself to be an excellent bunter.

MR. ROBERTS THE MAN OF THE HOUR

What a ballgame! After five innings the score was tied at eight. There was a 1 1/2 hour rain delay. The highest paid baseball player in the game ARod came up in the top of the 11th, with the bases loaded, and nobody out.

The infield was in when Rodriguez hit a screamer to second, just inches off the ground. Brian Roberts made a miraculous play on what turned out to be a grounder, scrambled to his feet, and fired home, in time for the out. Then the O’s catcher threw to third to double up Derek Jeter. Hideki Matsui singled in the two out go ahead run, 9-8.

But Alex Cintron drove in the game winner in the bottom of the 11th after the Birds had tied the score. Final score Baltimore 10, Yankees 9.

Final thoughts on the 2008 Big Ten Tournament

I’m back in Urbana, Illinois and before we close the book on the 2008 Big Ten Tournament, I’d like to provide some last comments and maybe some cool photos that didn’t make it into postings last week.

Michigan’s All-Big Ten Player of the Year Nate Recknagel at the plate

Once again, congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines who won the Big Ten Tournament in style, undefeated. Michigan will go on to the Regionals as a #2 seed and will again act as host. Regionals games start May 30th.

There were two one-run games in the tournament including the 3-2 Purdue-Michigan championship game. The largest blowout was the 15-6 Purdue blasting of Penn State on Thursday.

In my opinion, the most exciting game was Friday’s Indiana-Penn State game where no lead was safe.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Penn State.......... 003 000 104 -  8 12  2
Indiana............. 013 030 004 - 11 15  4

Surely, Penn State after rallying from three back in the top of the ninth to take the lead, had thought they had wrested the game from the Hoosiers.

They didn’t count on Tyler Cox hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to take it all away.

The Manster

Being an Illinois fan, I have to give mad props to 6’7″ starting pitcher Kevin Manson who kept the Illini in the tourney an extra day. Manson pitched a gem of a game on Wednesday… a complete game allowing only 4 hits and no walks. That was good enough to get him on the All-Tournament team.

Josh Phegley at bat against Purdue

Chris Hervey and Josh Phegley, Indiana’s #2 and #3 hitters were a force to be reckoned with. After their initial loss to Penn State, they caught fire. They were a combined 22 for 40 for the weekend. Phegley’s six rbis against Illinois was personally devastating.

Dan Black’s second homerun of the game against Indiana

The single player who had the most offensive tournament would have to be Purdue’s C/3B Dan Black. For the week, Black was 7 for 11 with 5 homeruns and 11 rbis. Amazingly, all his offense came in two games. In the two games against Michigan (including of course, the championship game), he was 0 for 6.

Would that factor in why he was passed over for the Tournament Most Outstanding Player? Well, that and they would rather give it to someone on the Championship team as they have done in previous years?

And finally, my favorite photo from the weekend:

This is a particularly bad-ass photo of Illinois 2B Joe Bonadonna. Joe has been excellent camera fodder all season. This photo is atypical though because for once, Joe is holding still.

Thanks to all the players and their parents (some who I met) for making this tournament possible. Also, I appreciate all the hard work that the University of Michigan put in. They did a great job!

Entry point for all my photos taken at the 2008 Big Ten Tournament

The Baseball Zealot coverage of the 2008 Big Ten Tournament

Official 2008 Big Ten Tournament page

JEREMI GONZALEZ STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

A sad note, former Cub pitcher, Jeremi Gonzalez was killed on May 25th in Venezuela when he was struck by lightning. Jeremi was 11-9 in 1997 & 7-7 in 1998, before being out of MLB for nearly five years due to three surgeries and a variety of injuries.

In 2003, he was rewarded by Tampa Bay with the Out of Nowhere Award. Gonzalez ended up being the Rays’ most consistent pitcher, despite his 6–11 record. He allowed three runs or fewer in 17 starts, but received the lowest run support of any AL East starter. He was known as Jeremi Gonzalez until he was traded to the Brewers in 2006, at which time he informed the team of the proper spelling of his name.

At the time of his passing, Geremi Gonzalez was only 33 years old.

ROOKIE WATCH: JAY BRUCE

The Cincinnati Reds have finally called up phenom Jay Bruce. Bruce is a 6’3″ 205 pound outfielder from Beaumont, Texas. Jay is the #1 prospect in all of baseball and it looks like there’s still plenty of time for him to make a strong run for Rookie of the Year. At Louisville this year he was hitting .364 with ten home runs, 37 RBIs, and 8 stolen bases.

I saw Jay Bruce in Dunedin, FL (home of the Toronto Blue Jays, a looong way from Toronto) this spring when the Reds came to Dunedin. Alot of the regulars didn’t make the trip (where’s Junior?), but that was okay with me because I wanted to see Bruce play. He didn’t disappoint that day, got a hit, ran like the wind, and patrolled centerfield like he belonged.

Before the game I had to take care of some business in the Men’s room. Standing in front of a urinal a few down was a gentleman in a Reds cap, who struck up a conversation with me. It turns out it was none other than Jay Bruce’s Dad. He was a very nice man, explaining how the offer from the Reds was just too good to pass up. Jay was all set to accept a college baseball scholarship before the Reds made Bruce their man.

I’m very excited to see Bruce in action in the big leagues starting tonite. The Reds will play host to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

THE EMERALD DIAMOND

I just watched a fantastic documentary by John Fitzgerald called The Emerald Diamond. The movie is about baseball in Ireland. Surprisingly enough I got it through Netflix. It shows how recently baseball in Ireland began. Also mentions about how the Olympics getting rid of baseball in 2012 will be quite a blow to baseball in Europe. Here in the United States, Latin America, and now even in Japan, kids grow up with the idea of one day making it to the major leagues. But in Europe kids playing baseball dream of one day representing their country. This is a very well done documentary, that gave me a different perspective of baseball, and is a must see (even if you’re not Irish, but especially if you are).

You can find out more about the movie by going to website here. By clicking here you can even read the blog.

MLB TOO BIG FOR ITS BRITCHES

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing the other day, MLB wasn’t going to allow Little League baseball teams to use their team names without the proper licensing. Maybe I’m missing something here, but I’m afraid I’m not. It seems ridiculous to me that MLB would be concerned about the money they get off the proper licensing regarding their team names when it comes to Little League. I know their’s money to be made, but come on!

I remember being a Little League coach of seven & eight year olds when I was only 18 years old myself. Our team was called the Yankees. I honestly don’t know if there was a licensing fee paid or not for the privilege of being called the Yankees. Would the fee be less if your team was named after a loser team, like the Cubs? Just kidding.

I would think MLB would be proud to have Little Leaguers wearing their team names on their uniforms, dreaming of growing up to be a major leaguer, like their heroes, Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa. Now it turns out their heroes were cheaters, doing steroids to get an unfair edge over their opponents.

In this day of corporate greed, I guess it makes sense to squeeze every penny out of every pocket. Maybe the Little Leaguers could sell lemonade so the big, rich, millionaire ballplayers could get their cut of the licensing money. I say, shame on MLB, and I think MLB is getting a little too big for its britches!

QUENTIN GOES YARD, TWICE

The White Sox swept both the Giants & the Indians, before the Angels came to town. Los Angeles took the first two games of the three game set, but put away those brooms. Carlos Quentin hit a two run homer in the third inning, Gary Matthews, Jr. hit a fourth inning game tying two run shot, and then Quentin knocked another over the wall to leadoff the bottom of the 9th, a game winner. The home runs were Carlos Quentin’s 13th & 14th of the year, which leads the AL. John Lackey was the tough luck, complete game loser, while Scott Linebrink got the win in relief of Jose Contreras. Contreras had his A game going on. While the White Sox won’t close out the season at 140-22, they still are doing pretty well. LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

Even though this series was played in Chicago at the Cell, I’m in Wisconsin for the Memorial Day weekend. So I’ve been watching these games over my laptop, using Slingbox & TIVO.

Big Ten All-Tournament Team

They selected the All-tournament team already… comments anyone?

P – Chris Fetter, Michigan
P – Zach Putnam, Michigan
P – Michael Powers, Michigan
P – Kevin Manson, Illinois
C – Dan Black, Purdue
1B – Jerrud Sabourin, Indiana
2B – Cory Kovanda, Ohio State
3B – Adam Abraham, Michigan
SS – Tyler Cox, Indiana
OF – Chris Hervey, Indiana
OF – Kevin Cislo, Michigan
OF – John Moore, Purdue
DH – Rob Yodice, Penn State / Michael Earley, Indiana

Most Outstanding Player: Michael Powers, Michigan

I have two:

I certainly don’t disagree with Dan Black’s selection in any way but Josh Phegley had an awesome week. Too bad there’s not an extra spot for him.

Also, I never considered reliever Michael Powers for Most Outstanding Player. Michigan played a total of three games. I haven’t seen his stats yet but I bet (hope) they’re pretty good.