Month: July 2009

Buehrle future HOFer?

With Mark Buehrle’s perfect game under his belt now, sportswriters aren’t wasting any time making their case for his eventual induction into the Hall of Fame.

Jon Paul Morosi makes his case.

Ten years down, he’s got 133 wins with a career 3.76 ERA.  But Buehrle does bring a lot more than stats.  He’s got a world championship in his pocket and he’s a consistent winner. The perfect game added on the no-hitter he already had looks real good.  Plus he’s played for one team for his whole career.  For some reason, that looks to the BBWAA. 

It’s too early to tell, of course, but I think if Buehrle stays the course and the Sox continue to get him the wins he needs, I don’t think he should have much trouble.  He’s only 31 years old.  Barring injury or scandal, he’s got plenty of time to boost the numbers he got. 

Leyland shows what he’s got for charity

MLive.com should get an journalistic award or something for managing to use “Jim Leyland” and “Sexy” in the same headline.

The article was in reference to Leyland taking off his shirt to support Tiger OF Curtis Granderson’s charity event called “Passport to the Wines of the World” which supports his Grand Kids Foundation.

Midway through the event was when things got a tad seedy.

(Comedian Jeff) Dye mentioned that Jackson, like Perry, had tattoos. Jackson’s tattoos could only be revealed by removing his shirt, so he asked his manager’s permission.

"You take your shirt off, I’ll take mine off," Leyland yelled from the middle of the room.

Jackson obliged by removing his shirt and showing off his tattooed back and arms. He then demanded his manager keep his word. Leyland came up to the stage and said he would remove his shirt as long as the picture did not end up on TV or in the newspaper.

Thank goodness for that.

Washburn is showing he’s for real

Buehrle/Schmuehrle…Buy stock now in Jarrod Washburn if not too late.  He has done it again. 

Pitching seven shutout innings, Wash has won his fourth in a row and is finally after all these years making a good argument that he is a front row starter. 

With Seattle, he pitched decently in the first half but didn’t get the breaks.  Now things are falling into place for the 6’1” lefty.  He’s only allowed 8 ER in his last 42 2/3 innings spanning six starts.  More importantly for Seattle, he’s won five of those games.

Tonight’s win gives Washburn a .500 record for his career. 

Perfect Buehrle Baffles the Rays

buehrleI was going to be in Chicago, that was the original plan, but decided to stay in Santa Barbara with my brother Todd, while he put a new roof on my brain injured friend Lee’s house.  It was still before noon when I turned on the live scoring feature for my CBS Sportsline fantasy baseball team, WTLNXTYR, and noticed the White Sox were playing a 1:05 PM game, hosting the Rays, at the Cell.  It all came back to me, I’d have been at this game, probably with Rob, as we feel like we’re getting away with something, going to a day game in the middle of the week.  With me not working, I don’t know what I’m getting away with.

I was torn, sit in the sun by the pool, or watch Buehrle pitch against Tampa on TV at the bowling alley across the parking lot from my Motel6 room, they happen to have the MLB package there, good things seem to work out for good people.  It took me about two minutes to decide to go watch the White Sox, in the time it took me to walk across the lot, a nothing to nothing game quickly became 4-0 on a big fly off the bat of Josh Fields with the bags juiced.  Later in the game Scotty Pods ripped a leadoff double inside the firstbase line, Alexei Ramirez, hitting behind the runner also sent his double just inside the first base bag, into rightfield for an RBI double.

That was more than enough for Mark Buehrle, as he had it on cruise control, Tampa got NAHTING!  Buehrle doesn’t overpower anybody, just keeps batters off balance by changing speeds, and setting up his cutter.  He was masterful, a joy to watch, besides being a gem, it was also quick.  There were a couple of close calls, but nothing which required a fielder to over extend himself, a line drive to third that Gordon Beckham snared, with his feet planted on the ground, then there was a screamer that the thirdbase umpire had to jump out of the way from, before deliberately & dramatically signalling, FOUL BALL!

Before I knew it, it was the top of the 9th inning, defensive specialist Dewayne Wise took over in centerfield.  Gabe Kapler caught all of one and sent it over the centerfield wall to lead off the inning, only to have Wise get on his horse, in a full sprint, leap at the fence, bringing the baseball back, preserving the no-hitter and the Perfect Game.  Everybody in the bar cheared, but I think I was the only one knowing what was going on.  “Two outs to go!”, I exclaimed, urging Buehrle on, “Go to work, Mark, bring your lunch bucket with you”.  Buerhle struckout the 26th batter he faced and got the final guy on a grounder to short.

I missed Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter, thrown in April 2007, when I went to Rose Angeli’s with my sister in law Lisa and a good friend named Debbie from Waupaca, they were both in to see a taping of the Oprah Show.  I couldn’t have had a better seat for this one, if I’d been at the park, watching it brought tears to my eyes.  And I have to give the homeplate umpire credit, he had the same strike zone all game long, no matter the count, no matter the situation.

Alexei Ramirez: Good or Bad? You Decide

alexei-ramirezThere has been some talk about whether Alexei Ramirez is a good baseball player or a bad baseball player.  One thing for sure, this 27 year old kid, signed by the White Sox, out of Cuba, is a baseball bargain at $1,000,000 per year, over four years.  Other than the White Sox, there weren’t alot of takers out there last year for this talented SS-OF, the thinking was he couldn’t hit a fastball or his frail frame wouldn’t be able to withstand the rigors of a full major league season, for sure he’d need some seasoning in the minors, some years to develop, and at 26, when would he make it to the majors?

Ozzie Guillen surprised the baseball world by keeping the young Cuban on the 2008 opening day roster, not only that, Ramirez started in CF on opening day.  Soon Alexei took the starting secondbase position, a position he’d not played before, and did an outstanding job at the major league level.  Not only that, he didn’t let learning a new position bother him at the plate.

The Cuban Missile batted .290, with 21 homers, 22 doubles, 13 steals, in 136 games, 509 at bats, finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting to Evan Longoria.  Some people didn’t vote for Alexei because he had Cuban experience, the same reason some didn’t vote for Ichiro due to his experience in Japan.

His strong arm and speed often times allowed him to overcome his lackings in baseball fundamentals.  This year he was shited to his more natural position of shortstop, where a strong arm is a necessity, rather than a luxory.  I’ve found I liked him better at secondbase, Ramirez has had trouble with the doubleplay, especially with runners bearing down on him.

This year, once again, his bat is delivering a message, he’s on a pace to repeat last year’s totals, better in a couple of catagories, he already has 27 walks (only walked 18 times as a rookie) and has stolen 12 bases in 15 attempts (last year he was 13 of 22).  He also has a chance to drive in & score over 100 times, not bad for a much maligned middle infielder.

There have been times I’ve been frustrated with his lack of fundamentals, not being able to bunt, not moving a runner along, and the one that burst my cork, not being close enough on a doubleplay grounder off the bat of Jose Guillen, with runners on 1st & 2nd and nobody out, that cost the White Sox three runs & the ballgame.  It prompted me to say I was going to start up a website called www.ShipAlexei2Cuba.com, where fans could click & donate money to have Ramirez shipped back to his motherland.

CLuke has been comparing Ramirez’ game to much loved SS former Cub, Shawon Dunston.  I thought he was just trying to start something, but in reality it looks like he was shorting Alexei.  In reality, there is no comparison, Ramirez outshines Dunston in almost every category.  Shawon didn’t do well with fundamentals, couldn’t bunt, didn’t move runners along, and if you’re remembering him running out bunts, you seem to remember things that didn’t happen all that often, the most bases on balls Thunder Pup ever drew in a season was 30, most years half that many.

The only American League shortstops who are having better years than Ramirez are Derek Jeter, Jason Bartlett, & Marco Scutaro.  There four shortstops in the N.L. having better years than Alexei,  Hanley Ramirez, Yunel Escobar, Troy Tulowitzki, and Miguel Tejada.

The facts seem to speak for themselves, as for opinions, just like assholes, everyone has one.  After looking over everything objectively, I’ve taken a valium, I’m going to cut the kid some slack, I’m back on the Ramirez Bandwagon.

LET’S GO ALEXEI!!!  LET’S GO WHITE SOX!!!

Secondbaseman and the Intentional Walk

Taking a look at the Intentional Base on Balls with a twist.  Here is an all-time top ten list of secondbaseman ranked by most intentional base on balls in a single season.

    1 Ted Sizemore       21 1977
    2 Jose Lind          19 1990
    3 Rod Carew          18 1975
    4 Glenn Hubbard      17 1987
    5 Ron Oester         17 1985
    6 Ron Oester         16 1986
    7 Ted Kubiak         16 1970
    8 Bill Mazeroski     16 1962
    9 Phil Garner        15 1979
   10 Bill Mazeroski     15 1960

Unlike the complete IBB single-season leaders list which is dominated by sluggers (read: Barry Bonds), those on the secondbaseman top ten list do not curry their intentional walks from fear.

Nay, with the exception of Rod Carew, these second sackers, earned their intentional ball-fours because they primarily hit eighth in the lineup on a National League team.  Hitting before the pitcher got them their IBBs.

Phil Garner is an interesting case.  While he played a full season (150 games, 549 AB), Only 60 of his games were dedicated to the 8th spot.  The other lineup spots (2nd, 6th, and 7th) were pretty evenly distributed.  I’m pretty familiar with the 79 Pirates lineup and can’t think of another hitter that a team would walk Garner to get to (SS Foli was a decent hitter).

My only guess was that Garner must have gotten most of his 15 IBB in his 60 games as the 8th place hitter.  Perhaps the Pirates pitchers’ hitting was that poor.

Cubs’ Fukudome finding leadoff spot quite comfortable

Cubs’ beat writer Carrie Muskat tells us what most Cub fans having been thinking for years now…

…put Kosuke Fukudome or more precisely, anyone other than Alfonso Soriano, in the leadoff spot.   In this case, Fuk has fit the bill quite nicely.  In the 11 games he’s led off he’s done what leadoff hitters are supposed to do. 

Fuk is hitting .317 (13 for 48) in the top spot.  More importantly, he’s taking the walk up there, too (6 walks).  Yes, it’s a relatively small sample size but it’s a good trend and a sign that the Cubs management is open to change in the matter. 

Now, finding a spot where Soriano can excel is key.  Soriano is the kind of player who likes consistency… he wants to know he’s penciled in a particular spot every day.  Perhaps that’s why he was so wedded to the leadoff role. 

One more thought on Soriano and regarding Monday’s game.  Give me an 0 for 4 performance and flawless fielding over his 3 hits and his atrocious play in left.  The look on Piniella’s face after Soriano butchered that ball… I see that look on my wife’s face sometimes. 

I hope that Soriano felt the wrath from Lou later.

‘Bored’ Ozzie makes baseball a little more interesting

As a Cub fan, one would expect that I would have a dislike for Ozzie Guillen.  Not necessarily so.  Oh sometimes I can’t stand him.  Other times, he does things that make me stand up and applaud.

Then there are these times when he talks to the press and I just smile:

"I’m always bored," Guillen said. "I’m not playing. You’re sitting around for seven innings. My game starts in the sixth [or] seventh inning. That’s when you see me look around the stands a lot, because you play this game for that many years and coach it and be there for that many years and you’re just managing, it’s a boring game all day for me."

I may not like exactly what Ozzie said but I appreciate the fact that he speaks his mind.  Twenty-nine other managers talk to the press and toe the company line and use pre-approved clichés.  When the media puts a mike in front of Ozzie, he makes baseball a little more interesting for us.

Oh no doubt you’ll here those in the media respond to this.  They’ll recoil in horror and say, “How could he say such a thing?”. 

Let’s face it… to some degree, he’s saying what a lot of the other managers are probably thinking. 

Livan Hernandez playing infield?

Yes, the Mets’ are suffering from injury issues in a bad way but has it come to this?

Manager Jerry Manuel is considering using pitcher Livan Hernandez as a position player if other options don’t present themselves. 

In the meantime, the Mets will have to get by with just three position players on their bench. They could release Tim Redding to make room for another position player, but if they don’t, Manuel said he could use Livan Hernandez as a pinch hitter or a corner infielder if he runs out of options on the bench.

Hernandez certainly can handle himself with the bat and has done so throughout his career.  He has a career batting average of .229 with 9 homeruns.  In 2004, the year he won the Silver Slugger award, he collected 10 rbis. 

Livan is up to the task:

I want to do it," Hernandez said. "That’s my dream — to play one day at one position. I’ll play anywhere."

That said, injuries and all, I can’t imagine there’s not a better solution.  I know one APBA manager in my APBA league who’s paying rapt attention, though.