Results tagged ‘ Game Recap ’
Detroit Rock City
Detroit edges the Yanks to even up the series at 1-1. Kenny Rogers is pitching at home in Game 3, which is good because his demeanor didn’t translate well in the Big Apple when he pitched for New York.
Is there any way Leyland doesn’t win the Manager of the Year?
Peace, E Maj
Cubs Marathon Postscript
During about the 16th inning, Jim Hendry called up LHP Ryan O’Malley for an emergency start. Watching the Cubs/Stros’ right now and the kid has pitched 8 shutout innings so far. Nice work. Hope I didn’t just mook him.
p.s. promise some photos are forthcoming, but dumass left his cameraphone in Denver, should get it back in a few days and then I’ll post some trip highlights.
Peace, E Maj
Organic Doubleheader
Cubs win! 18 innings in, 8-6, and Rich Hill picks up his 3rd win in 2 weeks. Fascinating that Hill pops the cherry with his first win, and BANG!, 2 more in a row. The kid’s got great stuff. Let’s watch him these last 6 weeks. Nice to see Zambrano pinch-hit, and Cubbie rally caps from the dugout late.
I am busier than a bee, but as we know, the Inbox is always full if we make it that way. So deep breaths all around, and we’ll run it back tomorrow.
Peace, E Maj
email the kid at e-maj@spikesballparks.com
Sweet Home Chicago
Yo Yo Yo(Ma)—
Coors Field was excellent and the Cubbies managed to eke a win out, 8-7. There was lots of Cubbie blue around Denver, getting pickled in the downtown bars like it was Wrigleyville. The retreat in Vail rocked(www.mimretreat.com ). In my best Bostonian accent, "These dudes were wicked smaht!" Vail is absolutely gorgeous, a panorama of trees, trails, and peaks. I could definitely spend some time out in CO, it resonated that deep. Looking forward to the flight home today so I can play with my 2 yr-old girl, and then be wit my peeps. Sweet home Chicago.
Much more to share on Coors, the trip, and the Cubs. I’ll try to organize my thoughts as I pen an essay for www.spikesballparks.com .
Peace,
E Maj
A Day at the Ballpark
Was at Saturday’s Redline series game between the Cubs and the Whitesox….look for the "A Day at the Ballpark" essay coming soon at www.spikesballparks.com
Fun game. Pierzynski for MVP? One can at least make a great case for best catcher in the big leagues. He’s won every single place he’s gone. Impressive.
As for Dusty and the Cubs, it’s not just Dusty. It’s the entire coaching staff. How many players have gone on to succeed elsewhere? This year’s versions are Nomar Garciaparra(who may be the NL MVP if LA makes the playoffs), and Corey Patterson, who has 30 steals. Doh. The whole staff needs to go. Period.
Peace, E Maj
Zambra–NO!
We watched in earnest last night as our favorite cartoon character Carlos Z toyed with a no-hitter into the 8th vs Houston, when Preston Wilson knocked an outside heater the other way for a base hit to right field.
This ponderance from Mr. Joshua, who stayed well past his bedtime(or rum and coke limit, :0-) to possibly witness history last night:
"Zambrano would not have been the first pitcher to homer and throw a no-hitter in the same game. It’s been done twice: Rick Wise and Earl Wilson are the only two no-hit pitchers to hit a home run in the same game. In fact, Wise hit TWO HOME RUNS in 1971 while throwing a no-hitter in the same game."
Thanks Josh!.
Peace, E Maj
Ozzie Release
Will bang out the feature tomorrow. Tonight watching Cubs(sigh) on one screen, Whitesox on other(big skirt w/2 bombs!), and RedSox/Yanks on the 3rd(Schilling brought it, Foulke to the glue farm)…NBA on another, and laptop for the rest…uh oh, only 10 min. juice left on the comp. and the High Life only 2 ounces left…decisions….alright, a quick Ozzie thought…
2nd inning of the WhiteSox game….Garland gives up an HR to Frank Thomas in the Big Skirts’ return to the Windy City….Jonny G then gives up another bomb to Bobby Crosby, and a double to the wall….Ozzie comes out to the mound…
Umpire comes out to break up the ‘candlesticks’ talk and the mound, and the Venezuelan Columbo is none too pleased….Ozzie gives him a mouthful all the way back to the plate, and proceeds until he gets tossed….
1)Maybe he just needed a day off, after an intense weekend. Ozzie took the high road all weekend, because that was the true road. Let sleeping Cubbie Bears lie. Ozzie gets this. And he did. The only person he ‘talked trash’ to, as Rick Telander of the Trib would have you believe, was Rich Hill, one of the few other than Mariotti who thought the initial play was ‘gutless’.
2)Ozzie isn’t crazy, he’s just the Venezuelan Columbo. He had to re-assert himself as the craziest in the ‘asylum’. A.J. respects Ozzie, but maybe only ‘cuz he’s afraid of him.
3)Ozzie had a ton of justification to go off on the umps this wkend, and he ate it. Oakland is a potential playoff matchup. Ozzie let the umps know he’s not going to sit like some overpaid North Side manager who did the same in 2003,—-i guess 1 out of 4 yrs isn’t bad—-NOT…DUMPDUSTY.
peace, E maj
Snatching Defeat from the Claws of Victory
Dempster blows his 1st save in 26 tries, helping the Cubs find a way to lose again. Geesh. 7 1/3 shutout IP by the Samurai, Greg Maddux, go for naught.
In a related note, sales of morphine drips go sky-high in Wrigleyville, as at this point mere alcohol cannot numb Cubs fans’ pain.
Peace, E Maj
World Series Game 2 Notes: Things Not Found in the Boxscore
White Sox 7 Astros 6 (Sox lead series 2-0)
**Game 2 exemplified October baseball, the theater, drama, emotion, great coaching, and sometimes over-coaching**
**GARNER good/bad: Good: in contrarian move, pinch-hitting Vizcaino in the 9th over Lamb/Palmiero to face flame-throwing Jenks, as Jose V. is only guy with bat speed to have a chance, and Jose comes up w/HUGE 2-out 2-run hit…. BAD: After leadoff double by Ausmus in the 5th(leadoff doubles are golden—Heckler), Garner let the light-hitting Adam Everett(0-12 w/RISP)swing away w/one strike after missing the bunt the 1st time, and he K’ed**
**Taveras took 3B w/one out(good risk, it’s true when they say ‘never make the 1st or 3rd out at 3rd) by virtue of a great slide to outside of bag**
**Posednik misplay in left, which was not ruled an error, cost the Sox a run**
**Tadahito going back to the dugout(talking to himself): "Oy!…Me no see no Pettite move like that in Japan…Oy!"**
**Awesome Ozzieball example pointed out by one of the Heckler’s many professional sources…..when Houston was warming up in between the 5th or 6th inning, Berkman(1B) threw the standard groundball to Biggio(2B)…and CWS 1st base coach Tim Raines started sprinting down the baseline as if he were running out a groundball, having fun, making his guys laugh, and distracting Houston….if that seems obtuse, it is..just like Ozzie calling for the ‘big fat guy’ out of the pen….Biggio is too seasoned for this type of gamemanship and chuckled, but it’s all a part of the ‘game inside the game’**
**Fox pointed out how quick a worker Buehrle is(duh!), yet no one pointed out how, on a frigid night, that shortens the WhiteSox stay in the field, and concurrently, shortens the Astros’ stay in their warm dugout**
**Covering how Tim McCarver is the baseball equivalent of CBS NCAA color guy Billy Packer, "Master of the Obvious", is going to require a lot of disk space..future column….lol….dinosaurs**
P.S.A.– i’m giving blood this week, won’t you?
Bonus Yogism– "I don’t want to make the wrong mistake."
Peace, E Maj
i can be reached at ericm1@nase.org
World Series Game 1 Notes: Things Not Found in the Box Score
WhiteSox 5 Houston 3 (Sox lead 1-0)
**Wasn’t it so Pierzynski to call time as the best pitcher of our generation came to his set, to disupt him?..Then, while the Heckler was waiting all of 2 pitches for Clemens to throw the brushback, A.J. just smirks at Clemens, ‘is that all you got?’**
**seems Iguchi has hit the proverbial wall(.242BA since Aug. 6, .176 in playoffs)..Fear not, Sox fans, it took Ichiro 3 years to figure out how to prepare mentally and physically for the rigors of an ML season—we play 30+ more games over here than in Japan**
**Pettitte and Oswalt can win 4 games alone, but the Sox are playing great ball at the right time**
**The Heckler is Ozzie biggest fan—works hard, loves the game, high I.Q., creative user of profanity…..that said, he left Contreras in too long last night….in the 7th inning, Jose hits Bagwell, gets away w/a weak fastball to Lane(flyout), Ausmus(HBP), gets away w/another fat pitch to Everett, next pitch is a good breaking ball which Everett beats getting doubled up by a step…1st and 3rd…and then another fat pitch to Biggio, but Crede makes a great play to end the inning…Ozzie leaves him IN to start the 8th…Tavares hits a quick double….it’s understandable Ozzie was prolly colored given what they did in the ALCS…may hurt them next time**
**have big article on Clemens coming out, gonna wait until the Cy Young Award though**
**Ozzie is reaping the harvest of the Neal Cotts seed he sowed last year, when the young left-hander had an up-and-down year….Dusty, you watching(how to handle a young player)????**
**I know Bags is hurt, but after the first Jenks’ fastball, Bags had that look where you try too hard to pass gas and it comes out as something….hey, don’t shoot the Messenger, his stance looks like he’s already in the room**
**It’s funny how the sabermetricians say the playoffs are too small a sample, and then try to prognosticate them anyway. Garner vs Guillen is their worst nightmare, ‘What?!! The computer said that could never happen’ , what makes it worse is then they’ll insult, diminish, obfuscate, and hedge on why these "smallball" teams are gunning for the prize. Too funny.**
Peace, E Maj
you can reach me at ericm1@nase.org
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