Day in Review: Thursday, 4.18.13

…

Not that many people read this, but to my two main readers, I apologize for not doing an update last night. As I live on the west coast, I generally like to wait for all the games to finish before writing.  Well, last night, the Tigers and Mariners went 14 innings.  King Felix stuck out a dozen.  Max Scherzer struck out a dozen, as well.  Neither factored in the decision, as each team continued to strike out.  Altogether, the pitching staffs of each team combined for 40 Ks. The game mercifully ended, appropriately, with a play at the plate, Tigers catcher Brayan Pena surviving a collision with Justin Smoak, holding onto the ball for the Tigers 2-1 win… Well, just a few hours later it seemed, they were back at it.  Everybody tired, except for the two starting pitchers- Justin Verlander v. Hisashi Iwakuma, and again, both starters were awesome.  Verlander struck out 12 in 7 innings, accounting for all of his teams strikeouts.  Iwakuma only struck out 2, but pitched six solid innings, and the Mariners won 2-0.  The Mariners aren’t expected to do much this year, but to hold Detroit to 2 runs in 23 innings has to make them feel pretty great.

…

As I’ve mentioned before, I follow Twitter, mainly for baseball stuff, but keep about 75 others on my feed.  Today, Seth MacFarlane re-tweeted something from @DamienFahey that made me laugh out loud.  “I’m no genius but maybe start by questioning the people who gave a “Thumbs Down” on the FBI Surveillance Video”.

…

Speaking of Twitter, I have started paring down my feed.  None of it had to do with the horrible amounts of shit that have gone on in the U.S. this week.  West, Texas, the Ricin letters, Boston, the deplorable NRA win in Congress…  I know that baseball players, as a group, aren’t the sharpest.  I respect- well, tolerate anyway- a lot of Christian declarations.  I can even handle some of the redneck thinking.  To be fair, most of them are trained enough by the time they hit the majors to know how to communicate in public… but what I cannot stand, is “Just sayin'”  What is this scourge on our lexicon?  I even tweeted: “What you’re ‘Just sayin” is that you’re a passive-aggressive halfwit.”  Yep, I now delete anyone that uses it… and just today, I deleted three- and two of them were sportswriters.

…

My Mom and Dad are in Vegas this week, and my Dad is in my head-to-head Fantasy League.  Normally he brings his laptop with him (they go twice a year) and keeps his team set up on his own, but the last time they were in Vegas he lost his computer.  That thing was like ten years old and in pristine condition, that’s how he is, which is cool, but frankly, it was a blessing in disguise that he lost it.  Anyway, he got a new one but wasn’t about to bring it with him this time, and so he asked me to adjust his lineup for him while he’s on vacation.  Not a problem, except that this week I am playing him.  His team isn’t good.  The first thing I did is recommend that he slide Jason Kubel into a DL slot so that he could add a player, and I recommended Astros SP Bud Norris, who had a dominant game his last time out.  Well, Norris pitched the next day and got pulled after just 2/3 of an inning, giving up 6 runs to the A’s.  I felt bad.  I called my Dad and said I was sorry for recommending Norris.  He said, “Oh, don’t worry about it.  Look what happened to (his pitcher) Matt Cain last time” (Cain gave up 9 runs in one inning.  Fair enough.  Aw, my poor Dad.. Cain pitched again today, and sucked balls again!  I’m beating my Dad 9-0.  We replaced Bud Norris with Joe Saunders.  Yeah, I’m sure that’s gonna work out.

…

The Giants got swept by the Brewers.  I already hate Ryan Braun (he hit a HR), but you can now add Carlos Gomez to that list, who I stated early in the spring is my nominee for an eventual PED suspension.  The good news is Brandon Crawford and Pablo Sandoval both extended their hitting streaks to ten games. Crawford is on fire.

…

The Braves winning streak ended at 10 on Wednesday, losing 1-0 to the KC Royals, behind the pitching of Wade Davis and the wide strike zone of an umpire I’m too lazy to look up.  Tonight, they were back at it.  The Uptons hit HRs– Justin his 9th- and all is well again in Atlanta, even though their rookie pitcher Julio Teheran isn’t looking all that sharp. It took Justin Upton 98 games last year to hit his 9th home run- he got his 9th this year in just the 14th game of the season. Before tonight, the Braves had blown just one lead all season.  Tonight they blew the lead three times by the fifth inning.

…

During our draft, my buddy Slim was bummed that there was an internet glitch when he was attempting to draft Joe Mauer and got “stuck” with Matt Weiters.  Well, yeah, Mauer is hot.  But Matt Weiters his a walk-off grand slam tonight.  Tampa Bay loses again.

…

Derek Jeter is now out until at least the All-Star break.  Kind of seems like he and Kobe are at the end even if neither will admit it.  They both are done.  Too old, and both with ankle injuries- well, an Achilles in Kobe’s case, which is lethal.  They will both play again, but rarely factor.  Hell, the Lakers might be better without Kobe!  Despite tonight’s extra-inning loss to the D-Backs, the Yankees are doing just fine without Jeter.

…

A marquee pitching match-up tomorrow (oh, BTW, despite recording his 1000th K yesterday, Clayton Kershaw lost again!).  Stephen Strasburg v the Mets phenom Matt Harvey.  They will probably both get shelled.  How do I know?  Because they are both my pitchers.  I just traded Mariano Rivera and J.J. Putz for Strasburg.  I have no real closers anymore, so I didn’t shed a tear when Putz blew his second save tonight.

…

Day in Review: Tuesday, 4.16.13

1. It started with the Yankees announcing that as tribute to Boston following the terrorist attack yesterday, they would play the theme song of their longtime rival Red Sox during the game. Then, the Indians, who were hosting the Red Sox, announced that they would do the same. After that, I think every host stadium played “Sweet Caroline” today, a sweet enough gesture, especially by the Yankees…of course the hyperbole by some sportswriters/broadcasters, especially when the Red Sox won, was sports schmaltz.  Cranky?  No.  Emphasizing baseball too much in the face of real-life tragic events is embarrassing. Paying proper tribute/recognition is fine. Stating that the Boston Red Sox winning a frickin’ baseball game means anything to people affected by the bombings is moronic.

2. Teams that had an off-day yesterday observed Jackie Robinson Day today… Living in Portland now, I miss the Giants broadcasts so much.  Now I listen to the Mariners, which is fine- it is nice to have some baseball to listen to, but today one of the announcers (I don’t know his name) kept going on about how he loved the scene in 42 where Brooklyn Dodgers SS Pee Wee Reese comes up to Robinson during his first game and puts his arm around him, showing support.  That was a very fine gesture, but to pick that as your favorite part, and then to mention it again and again is, to me, akin to lavishing praise on Branch Rickey for promoting Robinson. Credit is due, but it is like making Kevin Kline the hero of a movie about Steve Biko.  It is Jackie Robinson Day– not a day for the white guys that did the right thing day. Again, not cranky, I just don’t see how so many middle-aged white guys can’t see the underlying aspect to their viewpoints.

3. Speaking of cranky, I loved Texas Rangers‘ Lance Berkman‘s comments about Wrigley Field today.  Click the link to read all of it, but my favorite part was: “But really, what kind of history is there? It’s not like there has been one championship after another. It’s mainly been a place for people to go and drink beer.”  I’m with Lance.  I am fine with the billy goat curse or whatever forever preventing the Cubs from winning the World Series. There are a lot of reasons, but the main one for me is the way they treated Steve Bartman.

4. April is wreaking a bit of havoc weather-wise. There was a fake tweet that made the rounds yesterday stating that MLB had given the Rockies permission to host a triple-header against the Mets. Well, they were snowed out yesterday, with a double-header scheduled for today.  They had tons of snow to remove, and so the first game started late.  There were so few people in the crowd, that the Rockies offered everyone brave enough to show up for the first game (which was scheduled to begin at 1:10 but was delayed two hours), were welcome to stay for free for the second game, which finally just ended at 11:06pm MT (the second game went into the 10th).  Any fans that spent ten hours at the games today should be given some kind of season-long discount.  Those that showed though did get to see the Rockies win both games against the Mets…  The Mets were snowed out two games in a row- both yesterday in Denver, and the day prior in Minnesota…  Minnesota’s Target Field, which opened in 2010, has a Rain Water Recycle System that has- according to the Twins official Twitter feed- has captured, purified, and reused more than 1.8 million gallons of rainwater… The start of the Reds/Phillies game in Cincinnati was delayed by 80 minutes. They then played to the middle of the 9th with neither team scoring before they were delayed again, the game eventually suspended and will be completed tomorrow before their scheduled game.  Fans from tonight were welcomed back to tomorrow’s game.

5. After taking the final two games against the Astros, the Angels troubles have resumed, losing the first two games against the Minnesota Twins– a team not picked to do much better than the Astros this year.  Josh Hamilton is back in a slump, now hitting .200.  Mike Trout continues to show life (up to .300 after flirting with the Mendoza line), but the Angels now sit at 4-10 and tied for last with the Astros in the AL West. Part of the problem is Albert Pujols.  He isn’t hitting poorly (.280), but he has foot/leg problems that make him a problem on the base paths, which isn’t great with speedy Trout ahead of him and two power hitters behind him.  That batting lineup needs a shake-up… It didn’t help the Angels that Joe Mauer is in prime form. After a slow start, Mauer (.368) has been on fire, getting four hits in each game of the series so far.

6. The Dodgers aren’t doing well either.  They dropped another (7-7, 4th place) to the Padres tonight, scoring only two runs (9-2 to Jason Marquis).  While Carl Crawford is performing well, something which seemed iffy when the season started, it has been canceled out by a dreadful start from Matt Kemp, who is now hitting .185…  Dodgers pitching injury woes continue.  Starter Chris Capuano left the game with a calf injury with no outs in the third after giving up 5 ER… Luckily for the Dodgers, Ted Lilly relented and agreed to make another rehab start, a situation that looked to be a problem for the Dodgers.  Lilly had declared himself healthy, and if the Dodgers hadn’t accommodated him, he would be free to sign with another team.

7. The Giants lost against the Brewers today, and with the Rockies winning both ends of a doubleheader vs. the Mets, the Rockies have overtaken first place. It was Barry Zito‘s first loss since last August, a span of 16 games in which the Giants won (including the post-season).  It also ended his run of 15 2/3 scoreless innings to start this season. Zito gave up 9 ER, 8 of them alone in the third inning. The Giants almost bailed him out, coming back only to lose 10-8, the last play of the game a deep drive from Andres Torres with one on that came up just short…  On the bright side, steroid boy Ryan Braun struck out four times!  (That’s a golden sombrero!).  Braun has been striking out a ton lately.  His neck is hurt more than he’s willing to admit. My heart bleeds for him…  Also, the Brewers bullpen stinks… Pablo Sandoval continued his hot start with 4 RBI.  Both Panda and SS Brandon Crawford extended their hitting streaks to 9 games.

8. The Braves continued their phenomenal start, beating the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on the strength of five HRs- including Justin Upton‘s 8th- and won their 10th game in a row to bring their record to a remarkable 12-1.  The Braves lead the league in ERA and HR and on top of that, Jason Heyward showed he’s coming out of his slump, hitting 2 HRs in the game.  It is a good time to be a Braves fan.

9. The Rays continued their disappointing start (4-9), losing 5-4 to the Orioles.  On the bright side, The Rays scored more than two runs, which seems to be all they’ve been good for this year.  At the start of the game, six of the Rays starters were hitting below .200, and two of them were hitting below .100.  One of the few players that has been hitting- Evan Longoria– wasn’t hitting for power, but today, for the second time in two games, he hit a HR.  So that’s 2, but a good sign of things to come.  He’s heating up.

…

Day in Review: Two Weeks in the Books

SS Andrelton Simmons hits his first HR of the year

1. The Braves are on a roll.  They won their 9th in a row, sweeping the Nationals, the team picked by many to go all the way this year- it is only mid-April, but the Braves made a statement. The Braves are now 11-1….  Paul Maholm is now 3-0 with an ERA of ZERO after pitching 20 1/3 innings….  Braves relievers have inherited 14 runners this young season, and ZERO of them have scored….  Justin Upton hit his NL-leading 7th HR and SS Andrelton Simmons connected for his first of the year, a 3 run shot…  Bucketz Bomberz in our league picked the Braves to win the World Series.  It doesn’t seem like all that odd of a pick…  150 games to go though, but they look dominant.

2. The Giants are sole owners of first place in the NL West with a record of 9-4, even though they haven’t been playing particularly World Series-caliber ball… Tim Lincecum, in the final year of his contract, is pitching poorly.  His ERA is at 5.63 after three starts, and yet the Giants have won every game he’s started and Timmy has a 1-0 record.  After giving up four in the first, he settled down and his fastball was effective…  Cubs starter Edwin Jackson was in command through five, notching 9 Ks….  Cubs SS Starlin Castro is showing why he is so revered, hitting another HR and adding another three hits (.315 avg, .519 slugging, .833 OPS and a couple dingers)… In the sixth, things started to get weird. After a few lead changes, ten innings, a record-tying five wild pitches in one inning by the Cubs, a Hunter Pence HR, and a Cubs balk, the Giants won again… Sergio Romo gave up a hit in the 10th, but got his 7th save.

3. The Dodgers offense had a tough weekend, losing two of three from the Diamondbacks, and finding themselves in fourth place looking up at the D-Backs, Giants, and Rockies… On Friday, ace Clayton Kershaw pitched 7 1/3, giving up 3 ER- the Dodgers scored zero runs….  Today they were shutout again, this time behind a nearly complete game effort from Josh Beckett, who gave up the sole run of the game in the bottom of the 9th with one out… That wealth of starting pitching is good for them, but there is no way the Dodgers should be shut out twice by the Diamondbacks.  Chris Capuano is replacing Greinke in the rotation, but now their once 7th starter Ted Lilly, who has thrown two rehab games in the minors, had declared himself healthy, which puts the Dodgers in a pickle.  If they don’t add him to the roster, they can lose him.

4. A few struggling players seem to be getting back on track.  The Angels took advantage (barely) of the Astros, winning the final two games, to get Trout and Hamilton seeming like their former selves…  MikeTrout went 2 for 3 today with a walk, including a double and his first HR of the season, 3 runs scored, and an RBI.  His average increased 50 points from his low on Friday night- he’s now batting .268…  Josh Hamilton hit a HR for the second consecutive day, to go with a triple and a single on 3/4 hitting, a run scored, and 3 RBI.  His average went up 50 points as well…  Nobody had a better day though than the Phillies SP Roy Halladay who was looking-let’s face it-done prior to his performance against the Marlins today.  He went 8 innings, giving up one run on five hits and one walk, along with a couple of Ks.  It was his 200th career win.  Yes, it was against the Marlins, but so be it.  Good news was needed…  Marco Scutaro of the Giants followed up a great Saturday (3 for 4 to raise his avg. 49 points) with a 1 for 6, but the one hit was a run-scoring double in the 10th.  He’ll be alright.

5. The Brewers finally ended their scoreless streak at 32 innings today- they hadn’t scored since Tuesday- when, guess who, Ryan Braun (I hate even typing the guy’s name) hit a possibly steroid/HGH-aided HR.  The Brewers won in extra innings when C Jonathan Lucroy hit a HR as well.  When Braun hit his home run in the eighth, it broke the Cardinals pitching impressive run of 39 scoreless innings.  I’m not sheepish- I hope MLB nails Braun.  He’s bad for the game.

6. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal posted an interesting piece on the Quentin/Greinke injury-resulting brawl from a few days ago. Carlos Quentin, of course, said he was going to appeal his 8-game punishment, but played this weekend, and then accepted it today because tomorrow the Padres meet the Dodgers again.

7. The injuries keep piling up.  The DL list is crowded with good players:

Jose Reyes (out til All-Star break),Yoenis Cespedes (15-day), Erick Aybar (15-day), Jered Weaver (mid-to-late May), Scott Sizemore (out for season), Freddie Freeman (late April), Aramis Ramirez (early May), Jason Motte (likely out for season+), Johan Santana (out for season, maybe career over), Steve Clevenger (60-day), Kyuji Fujikawa (15-day), Jason Kubel (15-day), Zack Greinke (mid-June), Hanley Ramirez (late May), Michael Saunders (15-day), Wilson Ramos (15-day), Brian Roberts (15-day), John Lackey (15-day), Ryan Ludwick (late July, maybe), Sean Marshall (15-day), Gordon Beckham (late May)… not to mention all the Yankees and about 100 others.

Today, Reds ace Johnny Cueto went down.  He is going on the DL tomorrow, and early reports are maybe for a couple of months.

Then there are those that won’t do DL time- yet- but who have gotten hurt and won’t be playing for probably a week or so: Michael Bourne, Michael Morse, Coco Crisp, Franklin Gutierrez, Danny Espinosa (maybe a day or two).

8. I follow Twitter, as I’ve mentioned, during the games when I’m available to pay attention, following mostly baseball related people with about 75 others- mostly comedians or whatnot- and today following all of the day scheduled games and before the night game in New York, it seemed like Twitter was entirely dedicated to the Masters playoff at Augusta between Australian Adam Scott and 2009 winner Angel Cabrera of Argentina.  It was pretty thrilling.  Afterward, when Cabrera missed a putt by just a tiny bit and Scott – who isn’t known for his short game- sunk his to win it and was being awarded the coveted Green Jacket in the stuffy Jim Nance hosted clubhouse, comedian Neal Brennan tweeted: “The world’s dorkiest gang initiation is on CBS right now.”

9. So while there are 150 games to go, it is fun to take a look at what the playoff picture would be if the season ended today:

AL West: Oakland A’s

AL Central: Detroit Tigers/Kansas City Royals (tied)

AL East: Boston Red Sox

AL Wild Card: Texas Rangers

AL Wild Card: Detroit Tigers/Kansas City Royals (tied)

…

NL West: San Francisco Giants

NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals

NL East: Atlanta Braves

Wild Card: Arizona Diamondbacks/Colorado Rockies (tied for both WC spots).

…

The Astros Got a Hit Before the 9th Inning… and Other Items

Tired, and so just a few things….

Michael Morse hit his third home run of the season… in cavernous Oakland Coliseum.  Or whatever it is called.  This guy is for real.

Roy Halladay got his ass kicked, and was out of the game after 3 1/3 innings against the Braves.  Yes, he got ten outs.  However, NINE of them were strikeouts.

Tim Lincecum walked SEVEN, but he got the win against the Dodgers.  Matt Kemp is now 0 for 10.  The Giants have to feel pretty good.

The Twins won in the 9th against the Tigers– casting doubt on the Tigers “closing by committee” bullshit.  Phil Coke blew the lead- and the save.  The Twins are 1-1!

Matt Harvey is for real.  He pitched 7 shutout innings and struck out 10!

Brewers closer John Axford didn’t blow a second consecutive save today- because he came in during a non-save situation- and gave up a crapload.  His ERA is now 21.60.  A lot of people thought he’d have it together… not so.

It is official: The Yankees are not good. Vernon Wells did go 3-4 though, so there is that.

The Astros starting pitching has been really good.  Their hitters though- well- they strike out, a lot.  Shut out for the second consecutive day by the Rangers.

Bryce Harper went 2 for 4: Mike Trout went 1 for 5.   Damn it.

As I leave you, it is about 20 minutes to 11pm on the West Coast- and the Cards and D-Backs are tied in the 12th.

Goodnight!

….