Month: June 2010

Lift the hype on Strasburg

I have to admit, I’m impressed that Mr Strasburg has been able to live up to the hype after two starts.  Sooner or later, he has to come down to earth, I would think. 

Our freshman outfielder at the University of Illinois hit three homeruns in his first college game against the #1 team in the nation last year.  A lot was made of it nationally obviously and his name was put on the map.  But one thing I remember was what our color guy (and former Illini player) said.  “That’s the worst thing that could happen to him”. 

Now our outfielder has been doing great since his first day but our color guy’s point is well taken.  There’s a lot to be said for our sports media setting expectations and then having a player live up to them.  There are Stephen Strasburg player trackers out there and every game he pitches is being live-blogged by practically everyone.  What would the baseball community do if he pitched one game like a regular human being?

Despite all the hype, he’s still a 21 year old rookie with two Major League starts to his name.  He’ll have some developing and growing to do even at this level.  Let’s let Strasburg develop naturally and preferably with as little pressure as possible (considering he was sleeping two hours before his second start, he seems to be doing a good job of not letting it get to him). 

Strasburg could turn into another Bob Feller but let’s not set the expectations so high that we turn him into a Mark Prior.

Vermilion Voles vintage base ball has two home games this weekend

240 This weekend, the Vermilion Voles play their first two home game of 2010 at Kennekuk County Park.  The Voles are the local vintage base ball team, playing by the rules of 1858. 

Saturday’s game is against their rivals Deep River Grinders.  On Sunday, they play the St Louis Unions.  Their schedule doesn’t specify but I believe the games start at 1pm or so  the games start at 2pm. 

Check out the Vermilion Voles website for directions and other info.  PS… they’re on Facebook too.

If you want to get a sense of what a vintage base ball game is all about, I did a pretty good write-up when I went to the Uncle Joe Cannon’s Jamboree Tournament in 2008 complete with photos.

So if you are in the East Central Illinois area, stop by for some good ol’ fashioned base ball fun.

[Update] I saw Voles captain Jim Knoblauch (pictured above) in the local paper today.  They had him list his ten favorite baseball players.  My favorite was Chuck Knoblauch “because his name looked so cool in the box score”. 

To be honest, it took two seconds for that to sink in.  I guess only because Jim pronounces the ‘K”.

[Update] On Sunday, it’s a doublehheader.  Twice the fun!

2009 last time we saw a pitcher with 100 career CG (ever?)

It’s nothing new even to the casual fan that complete games have taken a drastic dip in the last 15-20 years.  But it just occurred to me that statistically, 2009 was a landmark year.  With the retirement of Randy Johnson at the end of the year, we no longer will have an active pitcher who has at least 100 career complete games. 

Johnson retired at the end of 2009 with 100 complete games on the nose.  With his departure, Roy Halladay became the heir of the CG active leader throne.  Even at that, Halladay has a ways to go.  At this point in the season, Roy has 54 complete games in 13 seasons.  If you look to the second man on that list, it’s Livan Hernandez with 48. 

Certainly, by the end of 2010, we will end up with a active career leader in complete games under 100 games for the first time in major league history. 

If you want a good visual on the decline of complete games through baseball history, Baseball Reference’s Progressive Leaders page might be of help. 

Skip the first inning, Randy Wells

Can we just have a “reverse reliever” in those games that Cubs’ starter Randy Wells pitches?  A pitcher to start the game and get through that first inning?  Seems that Wells is having trouble with that recently.  Today, he got rocked for five runs by the Chicago White Sox with two of them coming in the first frame. 

For the season, Wells has a 10.64 ERA in he first inning.  After the third inning, it dips below 4.50. 

Split G IP ERA
1st inning 12 11.0 10.64
Innings 1-3 12 32.0 5.34
Innings 4-6 10 28.1 4.45
Innings 7-9 6 6.1 4.26
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/11/2010.

Soriano did get his tenth homer of the year and his 300th of his career.  He passes Tim Salmon on the all-time list and joins Chuck Klein and teammate Derrek Lee (who hit his 300th on Wednesday) for #125 on the list. 

The Sox won 10-5.

Griffey a rarity in a cynical age

My thoughts on Ken Griffey who retired last week:

As I read through some of articles about Griffey’s retirement, I noticed many had an inset of the top ten homerun hitters of all time.  Griffey lands fifth on that list with 630… a notable accomplishment indeed.  But as I read through the list, it occurred to me how rare Griffey really was.  This top ten list is scandal-ridden.  If some of these players weren’t involved in some scandal or suspected of wrong-doing, others were out-and-out jerks.

Rank Player HR
1 Barry Bonds 762
2 Hank Aaron 755
3 Babe Ruth 714
4 Willie Mays 660
5 Ken Griffey 630
6 Sammy Sosa 609
7 Alex Rodriguez 591
8 Frank Robinson 586
9 Mark McGwire 583
10 Harmon Killebrew 573

 

There are exceptions.  Hank Aaron, of course.  As far as I know, Harmon Killebrew was just guilty of having thick arms.  And Frank Robinson did have the gun thing in 1961 but I think I’ll give him a pass.

True, some players’ “scandals” are pretty minor by today’s standards.  But in the day, MLB took Willie Mays and his casino dealings very seriously.  

And yeah, I’m putting Babe Ruth in the jerk category. 

Point being, there aren’t many players like Ken Griffey Jr let alone players of his caliber.  And when things went a little south for Junior, he didn’t resort to methods outside the game to embellish his talents. 

Indeed, the worst we can say about Griffey is that he took a nap during a game.  Embarrassing.  I submit it is embarrassing certainly not of Griffey but for the media and those who enabled that circus.  For a man who gave his life to the game the way he did, he deserved a few winks. 

I’ll close this out by posting a few quotes about Junior sent to me by dear reader DonS.  These quotes are by respected members of the baseball community who are most qualified to speak on the topic of Ken Griffey Junior. 

“To play with him is a treasure I will keep deep in my heart,  I have played 19 years in professional baseball and I can say he was one of my best teammates and my best friend.”

-Ichiro Suzuki

“It’s like winning the lottery of baseball,  You get to play with one of the greatest.”

-Chone Figgins

“Junior was one of the finest young men I’ve ever had the opportunity to manage,  When we were in Seattle together, I believe he was the best player in baseball and it was truly an honor to be his manager.”

-Lou Piniella

Don’t bother Mr Zito, Tim

Last week, it seems like Barry Zito’s entourage (ie a restaurant manager at an upscale place in San Francisco) was a little hasty when shooing away a scruffy supposed autograph hound…

According to the SF Chronicle:

a long-haired kid dressed in skater garb walked into the formal restaurant and brazenly strolled up to him. Well, almost. A restaurant manager immediately cut off the intruder, saying something along the lines of, "Please don’t bother Mr. Zito. No autographs tonight."

It turned out the “kid” was Tim Lincecum. 

Bryce Harper’s timing is a bit off

Bryce Harper, the 17-year old who is everyone’s pick to go #1 in the MLB draft, is making news.  But maybe not the way he’d want.  He was ejected during a called third strike in a National Junior College World Series game. 

Will it affect his draft order?  Probably not. 

Will the media have a field day with this?

Most definitely.

[Update] I rest my case.

Hat Trick for Big Mac

Mark McGwire’s wife bore him triplets today.

The jokes have already started within my circle… even from Cardinals fans (shame).  But I won’t go there. 

I’ll just wish Mark a happy second fatherhood and hope he makes sure to get them into Little League as soon as possible.  Who knows they could turn out like Eri Yoshida (the Knuckle Princess) and play professionally.