October, 2009 | The Baseball Zealot

2009 Player of the Year: Albert Pujols

pujols The Sporting News announced St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols as the winner of the Player of the Year award for the 2nd consecutive year as determined by a vote of a panel of 338 major league players, he was a unanimous selection.

For the 9th straight year, since arriving in the big leagues, Albert has batted over .300, with more than 30 home runs, and over 100 RBIs. He also won the award in 2003. This year Pujols hit 47 homers and scored 122 times, both tops in the NL, in addition to batting .327 and driving in 135, all this with an elbow which required postseason surgery. He joins these other Cardinals who have won the award, 1944 Marty Marion, 1946 & 1951 Stan Musial, 1964 Ken Boyer, 1971 Joe Torre, and 1974 Lou Brock.

2009 Managers of the Year: Mike Scioscia & Jim Tracy

scoscia The Sporting News has announced the winners of the Manager of the Year award as Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Colorado Rockies Jim Tracy.

This was the 10th year Mike Scioscia has been the Angels skipper, averaging exactly 90 wins per year. He is a two time Manager of the Year award winner, winning the award in 2002, when his ballclub won the World Series. Although LAA won three less games (97) than the previous year (100, his only 100 win season), Scioscia had one of his best seasons at the helm. Early in the year an up & coming rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was tragically killed in an automobile accident, Scioscia’s steadying influence kept the Angels focused. But the biggest thing Mike brings to the table as manager is “Angels baseball”, it starts in the minors, and everybody in the organization knows what’s expected of them. If somebody doesn’t do their job, they’re are pulled out of the ballgame, and reminded of what’s expected. It’s a throwback brand of ball, where the little things are expected, little things produce big results.

Jim Tracy took over from Clint Hurdle as the Rockies manager on May 29th. In only 116 games at the helm, he turned Colorado around, with a 74-42 record, winning a wild card playoff berth. Under Tracy the team lost their first three games in Houston, and he came in that next day and said, “Guys, I want to just let you guys play the game. But if you all force me to come out here, I’m going to come out here”. Jim Tracy has experienced success before as a big league skipper, in 2004 he guided the Los Angeles Dodgers to a first place finish with 93 victories.

Both Scioscia & Tracy are the one and only winners of the Manager of the Year award in their ballclubs history.

2009 Pitchers of the Year: Zack Greinke & Tim Lincecum

greinke_f The Sporting News has named their 2009 Pitcher of the Year award winners, as selected by a panel of 31 major league general managers and assistant GMs. This years winners are Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants Tim Lincecum.

Greinke was the AL ERA leader with a sparkling 2.16 ERA, a 16-8 record, he struckout 242 & walked only 51 batters (nearly 200 more strikeouts than bases on balls), surrendering only 11 longballs, on just 195 hits in 229′ innings. In this era of the relief pitcher, Zack completed six of his 33 starts, including three shutouts. He joins Bret Saberhagen as the only other Royals hurler to win the award, Bret won it in 1985 & 1989.

Tim Lincecum won the Pitcher of the Year award for the 2nd straight year, finishing with a 15-7 record, 261 strikeouts, only 68 walks (again, nearly 200 more strikeouts than bases on balls). Tim only allowed 168 hits, including only 10 longballs, in 225′ innings. Lincecum posted 2 shutouts, completing four of 32 starts. The Freak joins these other Giants who have won the award, 1944 Bill Voiselle, 1959 Sam Jones, 1967 Mike McCormick, 1973 Ron Bryant, 1978 Vida Blue, and 2004 Jason Schmidt.

Phor What it’s Werth, Phillies Return to World Series

werth After Andre Ethier hit a first inning home run off Cole Hamels in the 1st inning, the Phillies were given notice, LA was here to play. But just like a heavyweight fighter, going toe to toe Jayson Werth blasted a three run opposite field monster blast in the first inning off Vicente Padilla, replying to the challenge, by saying, we’re ready, bring it on.

In the 2nd James Loney leading off knocked one over the rightfield wall to bring it to a one run ballgame. Before Philadelphia batted in the bottom of the frame, Craig Sager commented how pitching coach Rick Honeycutt instructed Padilla to stay on top of his pitches, the first batter for the Phighting Phils Pedro Feliz hit one out to right, extending it back to a 2 run lead.

The Phillies pushed their lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the 4th scoring two runs. A leadoff single to left by Werth, followed by a run scoring double to right by Raul Ibanez, and that was all for Padilla. Ramon Troncoso was brought in to pitch for the Dodgers, getting Feliz to ground to 3rd, Ibanez stays at 2nd, Carlos Ruiz walks, and Hamels sacrifices both runners up on a 3-2 bunt. Troncoso then hits JRoll & Shane Victorino with pitches, the 2nd one with the bases loaded, driving in a run.

Cole Hamels was getting cold, not pitching for 27 minutes, although two runs were added to the lead. Pinch hitter Orlando Hudson ripped a one out homer off Hamels inside the leftfield foul pole to cut it to a 6-4 game in the top of the 5th, and when Rafael Furcal doubled to left, that was all for Cole, no win for him tonite in the clinching game. Ronnie Belliard worked reliever J.A. Happ for a walk, then retired Ethier, and that was all for Happ, as Chad Durbin was called on to face Manny Ramirez. Durbin jammed Manny, Ramirez hit a soft comebacker, and the Phillies were out of the jam, three pitchers worked the 5th, Charlie Manuel threw the book out the window, and took control of the ballgame. I’ve given the West Virginian stuff, but he showed his stuff.

In the bottom of the 6th off Clayton Kershaw, Jimmy Rollins was hit by a pitch for the second consecutive at bat, and Victorino took the youngster deep for a two run blast, 8-3 after six. Hong-Chih Kuo was brought on to pitch the 7th, Werth caught up with a low fastball and drove it over the wall for his 2nd homer of the ballgame, 9-3 Phils.

LA had some fight left, Belliard & Ethier opened with 8th inning base knocks, off Chan Ho Park. Into the mix came Ryan Madson to face Manny, Ramirez walked, Matt Kemp played peggy move up, moving everybody up one with a single. Pitching coach Rich Dubee came out to settle down Madson, as Loney stepped in. Whatever Dubee said seemed to work as Ryan got Loney on a popout, struckout Russell Martin, and got Casey Blake to ground into a force play short to second, with Jim Thome waiting to bat in the ondeck circle. Question, Joe Torre, why not pinch hit Thome for Martin? If Thome gets one, it’s a 9-8 game, pressure on, anything can happen. Instead 9-4 into the bottom of the eighth.

Ronald Belisario works the bottom of the 8th, getting the 1st two hitters before JRoll singles & Victorino doubles off a Phan’s hand, reaching over the rail in right, the umpires didn’t allow Rollins to score, although they could have, Charlie Manuel thought Jimmy should’ve been allowed to score, came out to discuss it, Chip Caray & the Chipettes thought Charlie was arguing the non-homer call, they need to get their heads into the game. Phillies up 10-4, three outs to go, and then no more TBS, I’m sure that’s what fans across the country were thinking.

Closer Brad Lidge works a perfect 9th, looks sharp, Ryan Howard is the NLCS MVP, the Phillies are going back to the World Series, trying to repeat, this Philadelphia Phillies team looks like a tight group, out there having fun, playing a little baseball.

2009 Rookies of the Year: Gordon Beckham & J.A. Happ

Dodgers Sox Spring Baseball The Sporting News has announced the winners of the 2009 Rookie of the Year Gordon Beckham of the White Sox and J.A. Happ of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Beckham was called to Chicago on June 4th, playing thirdbase everyday, he ended up batting .270 with 28 doubles, 14 home runs, and 63 RBIs, in 103 games. The most remarkable thing was that Gordon was a SS at the University of Georgia last year when he hit more homers than anyone in NCAA Division I. So he was learning a new position in the big leagues, and learn it he did, I predict several Gold Gloves in his future. Other White Sox Rookies of the Year are 1951 Minnie Minoso, 1956 Luis Aparicio, 1963 Pete Ward & Gary Peters, 1966 Tommie Agee, 1969 Carlos May, 1983 Ron Kittle, and 1985 Ozzie Guillen.

Happ was 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA for Philadelphia, appearing out of the bullpen until late May when the young lefthander moved into the rotation. I remember seeing his changeup in spring training in Clearwater, FL, and thinking how much he reminded me of Phillies ace Cole Hamels. He pitched two shutouts, while striking out 119 batters in 166 innings. Other Phillies Rookies of the Year are 1946 Del Ennis, 1948 Richie Ashburn, 1957 Jack Sanford, 1964 Dick Allen, 1980 Lonnie Smith, 1984 Juan Samuel, 1997 Scott Rolen, and 2005 Ryan Howard.

Phillies Let the Good Times JRoll

JimmyRollins.hit-751600 First inning of game #4 BIG Ryan Howard boomed a two run blast over the wall in right, catching up to a fastball & turning it around in a hurry, so much for the lefty lefty matchup, and I thought, “here we go again”.

Things remain the same until the top of the 4th when LA ties the score off Joe Blanton, a walk to Matt Kemp sandwiched between two outs started things off, Manny Ramirez lined a single to left sending Kemp to 3rd, James Loney then singled to right scoring Kemp, Ronnie Belliard draws a base on balls, Russell Martin gets a sharp single to left scoring Manny, then out number three on a Casey Blake groundout to end the scoring, but it’s a brand new ballgame.

The Dodgers take the lead when Kemp rips a two out solo homer off Blanton in the 5th. LA adds to their lead in the 6th when Pedro Feliz commits a throwing error allowing Manny to reach base, after Loney pops out, Belliard pops one up just out of the reach of Jimmy Rollins & Raul Ibanez for a single, Martin strikes out looking, Blake serves a soft single to right scoring Ramirez & Belliard to 3rd, Wolf flies out after Blake steals second, Los Angeles leads by two into the bottom of six.

With one out in the bottom of the 6th Shane Victorino pulls a hard grounder down into the leftfield corner, when Manny airmails the relay throw over the cutoff man’s head Shane flies into 3B with a triple, Chase Utley rips a single to right scoring Victorino, coaches visit, Howard walks, wonder what the coach told Wolf?, pitching change as Ronald Belisario is called on to replace Randy Wolf, facing Jayson Werth. A graphic shows Phillies 1st batters are 0-8 with 3 walks versus LA’s bullpen, here is the crazy talk from Chip Caray, “0 for 8 are the Philadelphia hitters against the first batter faced by these Dodger pensmen”, swear to God, that’s what he said. Now 0 for 10, as Belisario retires Werth on a FC & Hong-Chih Kuo gets Ibanez on a fly to left, Phillies narrow the gap to one after 6.

That’s the way things remained heading into the bottom of the 8th, with two on & 2 out, Jonathan Broxton was called on to replace George Sherrill to get Werth to fly to right to end the threat. With one out in the top of the 9th Rafael Furcal rips a line drive base knock, knocking Scott Eyre out of the game, closer Brad Lidge was brought into the game, Charlie Manuel was thinking (gotta stop ’em here), Furcal steals 2nd & Kemp strikes out, Lidge wild pitches Furcal to thirdbase, but lefthanded batter Andre Ethier (luckily Charlie Manuel must’ve fallen asleep, not replacing his righthanded pitcher with a southpaw to get the lefthanded hitting Ethier, he K’d to send the game to the bottom of the 9th.

Broxton was sitting in the Dodger dugout while LA batted in the top of the 9th, the adrenalin draining from his system as today’s closers are used to going one inning. With one out Matt Stairs was sent up to pinch hit for Pedro Feliz, Stairs homered off Jonathan in the regular season, the relief pitcher was scared shitless & walked Matt, Eric Bruntlett was put in as a pinch runner, Carlos Ruiz was nailed on the elbow with a pitch, tying run on 2nd & winning run on 1st, pinch hitter Greg Dobbs popped out, leaving it all up to JRoll who lined a 1-1 fastball into the right-centerfield gap, driving home the tying & winning runs, Phillies win the game 5-4, and take a 3-1 series lead. In order for the Dodgers to advance they will need to win three straight, highly unlikely.

MLB testing DNA of Latin American prospects

Bill Clark of the Columbia Daily Tribune writes about how Major League Baseball is entering the realm of DNA testing especially in Latin America.

In an attempt to eliminate cheating on age and identities in Latin America, particularly in the Dominican Republic, MLB has admitted to genetic testing to determine the true identity of players being signed, particularly those receiving big bonuses.

In addition to establishing the identity of players, it is possible to also provide clues to their age.

Federal legislation that was passed last year, will prohibit companies from testing employees (or a family member) on the basis of their DNA. This law will take effect on November 21 of this year. It is unclear how this U.S. law will affect American companies implementing these procedures in other countries.

Here is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 in its entirety.

According to the New York Times, MLB has declined how many players have been tested and whether or not the test results were kept or destroyed. Given the situation with the recent controversy with the 2003 steroid list that was under law supposed to be kept under wraps, you can see where that can lead us.

The whole thing stinks to me. Major League Baseball has no business doing this. If they can find out what they need to know the old fashioned way by forging relationships and establishing communications, then they need to do their homework. DNA testing and the like is one more thing that will set their work down there backwards.

ALCS Beat: Hello Angels!

Game 3 of the ALCS started ominously (and quite familiarly) for the Angels. Shortstop Derek Jeter led off the game with a homerun off Halo pitcher Jered Weaver. It was Jeter’s 20th postseason dinger which puts him third behind Manny Ramirez of the Dodgers and postseason superman of lore, Bernie Williams.

Down 3-0, in the 5th inning, things weren’t looking much better for the Angels. Things started to click with the help of some questionable decisions by Yankee skipper Joe Girardi. With a decent lead going into the homestretch of of the game, some of his calls just didn’t go his way.

Putting Jerry Hairston in left field is somewhat questionable. But the fact that it required removing the designated hitter is beyond me.

Girardi (left) also replaced David Robertson in the 11th after he got the first two outs only to bring in Alfredo Aceves. Girardi justified his move saying that Robertson threw 33 pitches on Saturday. True but many of those pitches on Saturday were on intentional walks.

Too much micro-managing. Girardi just needs to relax and let his boys play ball.

When all was said and done, the Angels came up with the big ‘W’, thanks to a game-winning double by Jeff Mathis off Aceves.

Box Score

Howie Kendrick was 3 for 5 with a homer and 3 runs scored. Vladimir Guerrero went 2 for 4 with a homer and two rbis. Reliever Ervin Santana got the win.

So the Los Angeles Angeles, on the brink of a 0-3 deficit, buck up and take advantage of some weaknesses as the Yankees did the first two games. Now it’s 2-1 and a whole new ALCS.

2009 Postseason: This, that, and the other

Miscellaneous news and opinions on the postseason so far:

Former commish Fay Vincent takes a look back at the 1989 World Series that literally shook the world.
With the cold weather in the northern cities in the playoffs, this Reuters post is looking for any angle they can. They’re suggesting a neutral site for the World Series in warmer climate… (The Baseball Zealot says: ummm, no).
Greg Trietley of The Pitt News, is the only one I know making this suggestion… make the playoffs longer (albeit with a shorter regular season).
And something not to be read while eating… a puff piece by the Idaho Statesman about Tim McCarver. From the article: “How long will he do it? "I think about (Pat) Summerall’s line about the butterflies before the game," he said. "Whenever that stops, it’s time to leave.”

Somebody get a fly swatter.

Three Finger Brown born 133 years ago today

Happy Birthday Three Finger Brown!

Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown would have been 133 years old today.

As a kid, I learned a little about baseball history from an old-timers bubble gum baseball cards I bought at the dime store. Of course, Three Finger Brown was one of them. As a Cub fan, I had an affinity for him.

Some interesting (and perhaps lesser-known) facts about Brown.

Made his major league debut at age 26 in 1903.
Brown accumulated 239 wins in his career but also led the league in saves four years in a row (1908-1911, unrecognized at the time of course).
Known primarily as a Cub, Brown did get picked up by the Reds later in his career and even played in the Federal League. In 1916, he was purchased by the Cubs for his last year where he pitched in 12 games.
Broke and held for many years, the record for number of chances handled by a pitcher without an error in 1908 with 108.

Here is his obituary that was in the New York Times when he passed in 1948