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Monthly archives: June 2006
WC 2006: A joke that is likely funny to people in my immediate family only
2006-06-30 23:30
SABR 36 in Seattle report for June 30: Don't underestimate the Fogg
2006-06-30 23:06
The second day of SABR 36 was given over to the banquet and the big trip to the ballpark. The keynote speaker was Jim Bouton.
He signed copies of "Ball Four" before the banquet and then gave a general funny and well-received speech. His rendition of "I'm Proud to be an Astro" (lyrics by Larry Dierker and not suitable for reprinting) were quite good. His story about being asked back to Yankee Stadium for an Oldtimers Day soon after his daughter had passed away was quite touching in my opinion. The banquet is where SABR gives out many of its award and in the photo below you can see Will Carroll not being here to receive his award.
Then it was time to head off to the game between the Rockies and Mariners at Safeco. Mike and I decided to hoof it and found a relatively flat route. How did we know we were there? Wait, there's a signpost up ahead....
Yes, this must be the place!
The game was a very, very quickly paced game between Colorado and Seattle. Josh Fogg and Jamie Moyer matched changeup for changeup.
But Fogg was better and incredibly pitch efficient as this picture at the top of the 8th shows.
The Rockies got an RBI single from Jamey Carroll and a home run from Brad Hawpe and they won 2-0. Fogg went the distance and threw a 2-hitter, walking just one and striking out just one batter. The Mariners left no runners on base as all three baserunners were erased on double plays. The game ended in 1 hours and 52 minutes, the fastest game in Rockies history and the fastest game ever at Safeco Field. The game ended at 8:58 pm, beating the sunset in Seattle by 13 minutes. The Griddle World Cup Contest standings
2006-06-30 14:56
With five matches to go: Tomorrow, if Portugal beats England, yankee23 would tie Penarol1916 for the lead. If not, the top entries won't change in order. If there's an X by your entry, you have been mathematically eliminated to the best of my knowledge. WC 2006 Match Chat: Italy vs. Ukraine, noon PT
2006-06-30 10:00
I hope someone enjoys this one. I'm going to miss it. I'll live. The floppin' Italians take on the immovable Ukrainians in a quarterfinal matchup that may not have the allure of Argentina-Germany, but nevertheless one of these teams will live to fight another day. Italy has won three of its four matches, defeating Ghana, Czech Republic, and Australia. The last one came on a last second penalty kick on a dubious foul. Italy also played to a 1-1 tie with the USA. Ukraine lost its opener 4-0, then won two straight over Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. In the round of 16, the Ukrainians packed it in against Switzerland and played a scoreless draw after 120 minutes of play. In the penalty kick tiebreaker, Ukraine won 3-0 (the lowest score you can win by in one of those.) Italy should be able to press the attack a bit more against Ukraine than Switzerland, so Ukraine may have to emerge from its shell. The two teams played each other in a friendly on June 2 in Lausanne, Switzerland and played a scoreless tie. Italy won two Euro 1996 qualifiers against Ukraine. WC 2006 Match Chat: Germany vs. Argentina, 8 am PT
2006-06-30 04:00
The quarterfinals get started in a big way as three-time champion Germany faces two-time champion Argentina in what could be the match of the tournament. Germany has shown itself to be one of the most interesting teams in the tournament with a quick striking offense led by Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski. The Germans have won all four of their matches and outscored their opponents 10-2. Germany beat Sweden 2-1 in the round of 16. Argentina has won three of its four matches, getting a draw in a match against the Netherlands. Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 win in overtime thanks to a spectacular goal by Maxi Rodriguez. The two sides have met four times in World Cup play, twice in the final. Argentina won 3-2 in the 1986 final in Mexico City and Germany won 1-0 in the 1990 final in Rome. Germany also beat Argentina in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden and the two teams played a scoreless tie in the 1966 World Cup in England. As for the referees, FIFA has sent much of the Yellow Card Brigade to the sidelines. Of the 15 entries that had either Argentina or Germany advancing out of this round, ten people chose Argentina and five chose Germany. Random Game Callback, June 30, 1918
2006-06-30 03:59
The seventh place Cincinnati Reds played a doubleheader at Redland Field against the Cubs and scored seven runs in both ends, but managed just one win, taking the opener 7-0 and then playing a 7-7 11-inning tie in the nightcap that was shortened by transportation demands on the Reds.
The Reds were managed by Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson and he started Jimmy Ring in the opener and Pete Schneider in the second game. The first place Cubs, managed by Fred Mitchell, had Claude Hendrix and Lefty Tyler going on the mound for him.
Hendrix was wild early and it cost him. He walked Cincinnati leadoff man and third baseman Heinie Groh. Second baseman Lee Magee sacrificed, but Hendrix walked centerfielder Edd Roush and first baseman Hal Chase to load the bases. Leftfielder Greasy Neale then walked to force in Groh. And Mitchell yanked Hendrix and replaced with Phil Douglas, known as Shufflin' Phil. Rightfielder Tommy Griffith singled in one run and catcher Ivey Wingo singled in two more and the Reds had a 4-0 lead before the Cubs even came to bat.
Heavy rain began to fall in the third and the game was delayed for 45 minutes. The excess water on the field was soaked up with "second-hand dust" according to the Chicago Tribune account. Apparently, Cicninnati did not have a tarp to cover the field.
The Reds got their fifth run in the third on a Neale triple and an RBI single from shortstop Manuel Cueto. Roush doubled in two more runs in the sixth to finish up the scoring for the Reds. Ring gave up just seven hits with one strikeout and no walks in the win.
The Cubs started out better in the nightcap, scoring twice in the first on an RBI double by centerfielder Dode Paskert. The Reds tied it in the bottom of the second thanks to a pair of misplays by Cubs second baseman Chuck Wortman, although he was charged with just one error.
After Schneider let the Cubs load the bases with nobody out in the fourth, Mathewson brought in Mike Regan to relieve. A single by catcher Bill Killer, a double by rightfielder Max Flack, and a single by shortstop Charlie Hollocher led to five runs for the Cubs and a 7-2 lead.
But Tyler couldn't hold the lead and in the sixth he gave up four hits, walked two, and made a devastating throwing error to let the Reds tie the game at 7-7. Nevertheless, Tyler would pitch the rest of the game, all the way to the eleventh when the game was halted and declared a tie.
The United States had entered World War II in 1917, but it wasn't until 1918 that the military was taking players away from teams. In the summer, the government told baseball that its athletes were not essential workers and all able-bodied players had to either join the military or work in a defense plant. The owners convinced the government to let them play out the season until Labor Day and then play the World Series and a compromise was struck.
The full 154 games likely weren't needed as the Cubs were 10 1/2 games in front in the NL when the season ended with 25 games to play. The Reds finished in third place at 68-60. Mathewson left the Reds in August to enlist in the Army and Groh managed the last week of the season. The Cubs would lose an unhappy World Series to the Red Sox in six games. The series was marred by a threatened players strike during it.
Roush was the hitting star for the NL in 1918, but he did miss out on winning the batting average crown by .002 (.335 to .333) to Brooklyn's Zack Wheat. Roush led the league in slugging at .455, OPS at .823 and had an OPS+ of 153.
Cubs pitcher Hippo Vaughn led the NL in wins (22), strikeouts (148) and ERA (1.74). The Cubs had a staff ERA of 2.18 in a year when the league ERA was 2.76.
Three participants in this doubleheader: Chase, Douglas, and Magee (Lee, not Sherry Magee who was also on the Reds that year) were later banned for life by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis for being involved in game fixing. Sources: Chicago Tribune, Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com Pirates given a Bart Simpson-like report card
2006-06-29 23:08
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette hands out a midseason report card on the Pittsburgh Pirates and it's clear that he's not grading on a curve. SABR 36 in Seattle report: June 29
2006-06-29 21:53
The festivities for the 36th annual SABR convention (or conference if you want to be snooty) got underway Thursday in Seattle. I arrived after midnight and didn't get to bed until after 1:30, so I didn't go all out on the research presentations, but I did poke my head into a few of them. Random Game Callback, June 29, 1945
2006-06-29 03:59
By 1945, manpower shortages in baseball because of wartime demands made teams desperate to take just about anyone. The Washington Senators leftovers were better than the Detroit Tigers leftovers and won 8-3 on a sweltering afternoon at Briggs Stadium before 4,630 fans.
The Senators were managed by Ossie Bluege and he chose 5'7" righthander Mariano Pieretti as his starting pitcher. Detroit manager Steve O'Neill tabbed lefthander Stubby Overmire, who also stood just 5'7".
Overmire didn't last long in the height as the Senators pounded him right away. Rightfielder George Case led off with a single and leftfielder Jose Zardon tried to sacrifice, but Overmire couldn't handle the bunt and everyone was safe. Second baseman Fred Vaughn followed with a sacrifice and first baseman Joe Kuhel singled home Case and Zardon. Third baseman Harlond Clift followed with a walk. Shortstop Gil Torres and centerfielder George Binks came up with RBI singles to knock out Overmire.
Forrest Orrell was now in to relieve, but he walked catcher Al Evans and then Pieretti to force in a run, before he finally got out of the inning with his team down 5-0.
The Tigers strung together three singles for a run in the first, but Pieretti wouldn't allow many other runners to reach base until the ninth. Pieretti gave up just six hits in a complete game win.
Washington was getting hits in nearly every inning, but would only score again in the seventh when they pushed across three runs off of Detroit's third pitcher, Zeb Eaton. Washington collected 15 hits overall in the game, three each by Torres, Binks, and Pieretti.
Although Washington was in sixth place on June 29, they would challenge the Tigers all season for the AL pennant. The defending champion Browns had slacked off and even the Yankees had lost enough players to the war, that they couldn't keep up. Washington owner Clark Griffith hadn't anticipated his team being in the pennant race however and he arranged to rent out Griffith Stadium the final week of the regular season to the Washington Redskins. So the Senators finished their season on September 23, when they split a doubleheader at Philadelphia. This left them one game out of first behind Detroit at 87-67, but with no games left to play. Meanwhile, the Tigers had four games left on the schedule. Detroit split a doubleheader against Cleveland on September 26 to maintain a one-game lead. Then on September 30, the Tigers beat St. Louis to win their 88th game and clinch the pennant and the final game of the year in St. Louis was called off.
The Tigers went on to play in a very unusual World Series against the Chicago Cubs. First of all, players were starting to return from the war. And Federal law stated that returning veterans from the war had to get their jobs back. This helped the Tigers a lot when Hank Greenberg got back. Baseball decided to have unlimited size rosters for the World Series. The Cubs used a player, Clyde McCullough, who had not played at all in the regular season. Also, to limit travel, the series was played in a 3-3-X format. The first three games were played in Detroit and the next three in Wrigley. Once a seventh game was needed, the Cubs won the toss and got to host the game. And, of course, the Cubs lost, 9-3 to give the Tigers the World Series win. Many baseball historians consider this seven-game series to be the worst World Series ever played.
If you looked at the leaders in the American League, there would be many unfamiliar names among the league leaders. Yankee second basemann Snuffy Stirnweiss led the league in batting at .3085. White Sox third baseman Tony Cuccinello was second at .3084. White Sox outfielder Johnny Dickshot was the only other qualifier over .300 at .302. Dickshot's nickname was "Ugly." He really needed to do some marketing. Cuccinello and Dickshot never played in the majors again after 1945. Vern Stephens of St. Louis led the league in home runs with just 24. Nick Etten of the Yankees led in RBI with 111.
Detroit pitcher Hal Newhouser was the league MVP for the second straight year. He was 25-9 with a 1.81 ERA and 212 strikeouts. No other pitcher in the AL had more than 129 strikeouts.
With the stars returning for the 1946 season, the Tigers still had a good year, finishing second behind Boston, but the Senators went back to fourth at 76-78. Sources: Washington Post, Retrosheet, Baseball-Reference.com Matt Wise out with salad-related injury
2006-06-28 15:51
Brewers reliever Matt Wise has not been able to pitch since Saturday after cutting the middle finger on his pitching hand with a pair of salad tongs. Few people know that Lou Gehrig almost sat out a game after getting a corn cob holder stuck in his thigh. And Cal Ripken nearly missed a start when a lemon zester was accidentally impaled in his shoulder. A chance to curse Denis Potvin outdoors!
2006-06-28 11:43
The NHL has asked for permission to stage a game between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders at Yankee Stadium. The game would take place on January 1, 2007 if logistical hurdles (such as figuring out how to make a viable ice surface) can be overcome. WC 2006: ESPN says they're great
2006-06-28 09:22
Random Game Callback, June 28, 1985
2006-06-28 03:59
The New York Mets got Darryl Strawberry back after missing seven weeks with a thumb injury, but it was not enough for them to overcome the pitching of John Tudor of St. Louis, who ran his record to 6-0 in June, as the Cardinals won 3-2 before 45,929 at Busch Memorial Stadium.
The National League was setting up as a four-way dogfight at this time. The Montreal Expos were leading the division with the Cardinals just a 1/2 game back. The Mets were 2 1/2 back and the defending division champion Cubs were 3 1/2 back. Mets manager Davey Johnson had 6'6" righthander Ed Lynch starting on the mound while Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog countered with the southpaw Tudor, who had been acquired in the offseason from Pittsburgh along with Brian Harper in exchange for George Hendrick and a minor leaguer.
St. Louis used three hits in the second from the bottom of the order to get on the board first. Rightfielder Andy Van Slyke singled and third baseman Ivan DeJesus followed with another to put two on and one out. Shortstop Ozzie Smith grounded out to Lynch, but the runners moved up. Lynch tried to get out of the inning by retiring #8 hitter, catcher Tom Nieto, but he singled to center to score Van Slyke and DeJesus.
Second baseman Tommy Herr hit his third home run in the third inning to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. But Lynch and the Mets relievers: Tom Gorman, Terry Leach, and Jesse Orosco, shut out the Cardinals the rest of the way.
The Mets didn't score against Tudor until the seventh when leftfielder George Forster hit his 11th homer of the season. Centerfielder Mookie Wilson homered in the eighth to cut the deficit to 3-2. After first baseman Keith Hernandez had a one-out single, Herzog brought in Jeff Lahti to relieve. Lathi got catcher Gary Carter to ground into a force play. With Strawberry due up, Herzog went to a lefty, Ken Dayley. Strawberry whiffed to end the inning.
Third baseman Ray Knight got a one-out single, but nothing else and Dayley got his sixth save.
In the end, it would be the Cardinals and Mets who would duel for the pennant as Montreal and Chicago fell by the wayside. The Cardinals ended up on top with a 101-61, beating out the Mets by three games.
Tudor started out the season 1-7, but he rebounded to have the best season of his career, going 21-8 with a 1.93 ERA. He led the NL with 10 shutouts. This might have been Cy Young Award material, but 20-year old Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden had one of the best seasons ever, going 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts and winning the "Triple Crown of Pitching." Gooden got every first place vote. Gooden's ERA+ was 226.
The Cardinals fared better in the MVP voting as centerfielder Willie McGee won it with a league-leading .353 batting average and 56 stolen bases. Teammate and leftfielder Vince Coleman won the Rookie of the Year award with 110 stolen bases. (The AL Rookie of the Year was Ozzie Guillen.)
St. Louis used the stolen base like few teams have since. They stole 314 bases, 132 more than the next best team in the NL, Chicago. They defeated the Dodgers in the NLCS in six games, but lost Coleman to a broken leg when he was trapped by an automatic tarp roller in St. Louis. The Cardinals would lose to the Kansas City Royals in seven games in the World Series. Sources: Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com, New York Times It's the liberal baseball media conspiracy
2006-06-27 23:19
Did you know there was one? So sayeth Lisa Fabrizio in The American Spectator. And I need to pay more attention to the commercials now!
What sport is this woman watching? Who are the "gangsta rap" players? What about all the PEDs? The amphetamines? The singing "God Bless America" all the time? WC 2006: And there were eight
2006-06-27 21:49
Gammons hospitalized after emergency brain surgery
2006-06-27 15:40
Boston Globe columnist and ESPN analyst Peter Gammons underwent emergency brain surgery today to repair an aneurysm in his brain. According to the report, Gammons will remain in intensive care for the next 10 to 12 days. Thanks to bigcpa. Myers goes on 'leave of absence'
2006-06-27 15:07
Philadelphia pitcher Brett Myers, who was arrested for domestic assault and battery against his wife in Boston on a road trip, has agreed to leave the time until after the All-Star break. The Phillies have had to get out some high quality spin control people. The team statement includes this: If we have been guilty of delay in expressing these sentiments, we are sorry. We have been engaged in a difficult balancing of concerns for the rights of our employee, the presumption of innocence, the rights of his spouse, and the legitimate public concern about allegations of spousal abuse by a Phillies ballplayer. We believe that the present status, including a public apology by Brett Myers, time off from baseball, professional assistance for Brett and Kim Myers, and this statement achieves the appropriate balance for now. There was no announcement if Myers was still on the active roster, suspended, or had been put on the disabled list that I could discern. WC 2006: Griddle contest standings
2006-06-27 14:05
After the first eight matches of the round of 16, none of the 16 entrants in the Griddle contest to win the Team Togo T-shirt got all eight correct. Here are the current standings. Total possible points are listed in parentheses. 1T. Yankee23 7 (31) 4T. Abreck 6 (30) 8T. Mr. Customer 5 (15) 12T. Jen 4 (12) WC 2006 Match Chat: Spain vs. France, noon PT
2006-06-27 11:00
The final match of the Round of 16 matches up 1998 champion France against the World Cup's most notable underachiever in Spain. However, the Spanish are showing signs that they want to make a run in this year's Cup. The Spanish won all three of their group matches, whalloping quarterfinalist Ukraine 4-0, spotting Tunisia a goal and then winning 3-1, and then waltzing past Saudi Arabia 1-0. France did not control its own destiny in order to make it on to the next round. France played a scoreless draw with the Swiss and a 1-1 tie with Korea. France needed to beat Togo by two goals and hope that the Korea-Switzerland match had a winner. And that's what happened as France beat Togo 2-0 and the Swiss beat Korea 2-0. These two European powers have met each other 27 times. Spain has won 11 times and France has won 10 times with 6 draws. As for the history of these two countries in matters outside the pitch, pick up a book on European history. You'll find them mentioned soon enough. Check the parts about Napoleon for the good parts. In recent times, Spanish coach Luis Aragones and French player Thierry Henry have had a history. Aragones's statement about Henry makes him extremely unlikely to ever coach on these shores. WC 2006 Match Chat: Brazil vs. Ghana, 9 am PT
2006-06-27 04:00
The presumptive favorites take on the biggest underdogs left in the tournament. One online sportsbook I checked (for entertainment purposes only of course) had Brazil as 2/7 favorites to win and Ghana at 13/1. Brazil has not lost a match in the World Cup since the 1998 Final. Since that loss to France, Brazil has had 10 wins and not even one draw. Ghana will be the first African team Brazil has faced since their streak began. Ghana's task will be even tougher as one of its best players, midfielder Michael Essien, will miss the match because of a yellow card suspension. However, two other stars, Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari, are back. Brazil isn't missing anyone of consequence. Ronaldo has a chance to break the alltime record for goals in a World Cup, which he currently shares with Gerd Müller of Germany at 14. The Brazilians did not come out firing on all cylinders with a 1-0 win over Croatia and a 2-0 win over Australia, but they seemed to put it all together in a 4-1 win over Japan. Ghana lost its opener to Italy 2-0, but came back to beat the Czech Republic 2-0 and then the USA 2-1. A win by Ghana in this match might rank as one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history especially at this stage of the tournament. 15 of the 16 entrants in the Griddle's contest picked Brazil to win this match. Random Game Callback, June 27, 1894
2006-06-27 03:59
In the highest scoring year in major league history, the highest scoring team in the National League, Boston, routed the lowest scoring team, Louisville, 13-3 before a crowd of 1228 at Eclipse Park in Lousville.
1894 was the second season after the pitching distance had been lengthened to 60'6" and the hitters were starting to enjoy teeing off. Boston would score a record 1220 runs, an average of 9.17 runs per game. Louisville would score just 692 runs. Interestingly, 692 runs would have been enough to lead the NL in scoring in 1968, beating out the Reds by two.
Frank Selee's Boston squad had won the last three NL pennants and were in a tight race with Boston at this time. Selee started Jack Stivetts. Louisville was managed by Billy Barnie, but team captain Tom Brown called most of the shots and Brown had Jock Menefee pitching.
Boston had a lineup filled with some of the 19th Century's greatest stars: second baseman Bobby Lowe, who was the first major leaguer to hit four home runs in a game; outfielder Hugh Duffy, who batted .440 in 1894; and outfielder Tommy McCarthy, who was nearing the end of a 13-year career that somehow earned him a plaque in Cooperstown.
Menefee was pounded early and often. He gave up 14 hits, including two triples and two doubles. Boston also received five walks and had four batters reach on errors. Boston scored three times in the first and five times in the sixth en route to an easy win.
Louisville got 11 hits, but just three runs and one of them came on a home run from Brown, who started at shortstop. Brown won a prize for being the first Louisville player to hit a home run at home, although the newspaper account didn't say what it was. Louisville hit just 42 home runs all season. Boston led the league with 103, 48 more than the second best team, Chicago.
Despite all of Boston's scoring, they finished in third place at 83-49, eight games behind Baltimore. Louisville finished twelfth in the 12-team NL at 36-94, 54 games out.
Duffy's .440 average led the NL, which isn't surprising since Duffy's mark is the major league record. He won the Triple Crown too (except RBIs weren't an official statistic then). Duffy hit 18 home runs and drove in 145 runs. He slugged .694. Boston's top pitcher was Hall of Famer Kid Nichols, who went 32-13 with a 4.75 ERA. Stivetts went 26-14 with a 4.90 ERA.
The Louisville franchise had its ups and downs in its existence from 1882 to 1899. Playing in the American Association in 1889, Louisville finished in last at 27-111. The next year, Louisville won the AA at 88-44. In 1891, Louisville went back to last at 54-83. In 1892, Louisville joined the NL and never finished better than ninth, although they were 75-77 in their final year. The Pittsburgh Pirates ended up buying up their best players, such as Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke, and Rube Waddell, before the franchise was put out of its misery. Clarke would make his debut for Louisville just three days later. Sources: Boston Globe, Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com CWS Finale! OSU 3, UNC 2
2006-06-26 15:15
The final game of the college baseball season takes place starting at 4 pm, PT. Jonah Nickerson pitches for Oregon State. Daniel Bard pitches for North Carolina. Neither school has won a CWS before. The Beavers win the championship on a throwing error by North Carolina in the eighth inning. It is the Beavers first NCAA championship in any sport since a men's cross country championship back in 1961. Listen to the Oregon State Fight Song which is titled The Oregon State Fight Song WC 2006 Match Chat: Switzerland vs. Ukraine, noon PT
2006-06-26 11:28
Quite possibly the MOST anticipated match in the round of 16 finishes up Monday's action. When the Swiss and Ukrainians get together, you expect a bloodbath. Tensions between these two nations are at a flash point over a border dispute. Or maybe it's over Crimea. People like to fight about Crimea. Makes for famous poetry. Switzerland won its group with wins over Togo and Korea and a draw with France. Ukraine responded to a 4-0 beatdown by Spain in its opener with a 4-0 beatdown of Saudi Arabia, followed by a 1-0 snoozefest over Tunisia. The Swiss have not allowed a goal in the tournament, but they will be missing defender Philippe Senderos, who scored the team's first goal against Korea. Senderos is out with a dislocated shoulder. When Senderos scored against Korea, I thought he had painted his face with a Red Cross symbol, but it turned out that he was just bleeding profusely. Ukraine runs its attack through Andriy Shevchenko. That worked well against the Saudis, but in the other two matches, it was nothing but a series of misfires. This is the first meeting between these two national teams outside of junior level play. I think this match may end up being decided by penalties or possibly by having one team surrender after suffering through too much ennui. 12 of the 16 entries in the Griddle contest have Switzerland as the winner. SABR Convention Weekend
2006-06-26 10:40
From Thursday through Saturday, I will be at the SABR Convention in Seattle. (I think we prefer SABR 36, thank God there are no Roman numerals used.) I will be bringing my laptop with me and I will be attempting to file reports from the road. I hope to give everyone a report on Mike Carminati's research presentation on relief pitching, as well reports by lesser luminaries such as Dave Smith, Sean Forman, Jeff Angus, Peter Morris, Phil Birnbaum, and Jonah Keri. (If you're unfamiliar with the names, I'm going for a joke.) There will be an outing to a game between the Mariners and Rockies, which is always a surprise for the East Coast members of SABR as they realize that there are baseball teams in Seattle and Denver. No doubt with the way the Rockies season is going, the Colorado hitters will be happy to get into a hitter friendly park like Safeco. WC 2006: Who should coach the U.S. now?
2006-06-26 09:54
WC 2006: It's all the fault of the referees!
2006-06-26 08:57
WC 2006 Match Chat: Italy vs. Australia, 8 am PT
2006-06-26 04:00
The Azzurri will be wearing white for this one while the Socceroos get to wear their yellow shirts. Italy came out on top of its very tough group with wins over Ghana and the Czech Republic and a tie against the USA. Midfielder Daniele De Rossi is out with a suspension for his elbow to Brian McBride's head. Italy was knocked out of the 2002 World Cup in a loss to Korea. Australia moved on to the second round for the first time in its history. Australia beat Japan in its opener, lost to Brazil, and then got a tie against Croatia in a contentious matchup that saw the English referee actually lose count of how many yellow cards he handed out. The man in the middle today will be from Spain, Luis Medina Cantalejo. The two sides have met only once before and that was in the Olympics in 2000 and Italy won 1-0. Australia may be without striker Harry Kewell who has been fighting injuries. Mark Schwarzer should get the start as keeper. Schwarzer started the first two matches and then Australia went to Zeljko Kalac for the match against Croatia. Kalac was very shaky and Schwarzer is back in goal. Italy will have Gianluigi Buffon starting in goal and I'm thinking of put him on one of two lists I have. I'll wait and see. Random Game Callback, June 26, 1880
2006-06-26 03:59
Cap Anson's Chicago team continued its torrid start with a 4-0 win over Worcester before a crowd estimated at 4,000 at Lake Front Park in Chicago. The win improved Chicago's record to 28-3.
Fred Goldsmith, Chicago's #2 starter, got the call. Larry Corcoran, the #1 starter, was playing shortstop. Worscester manager Frank Bancroft started lefty Lee Richmond.
According to the newspaper account of the game in the Chicago Tribune, Corcoran, leftfielder Abner Dalrymple, and centerfielder George Gore (nicknamed "Piano Legs"), normally left handed hitters, all batted from the right side in this game. According to Peter Morris's A Game of Inches, this is one of the first instances of a team making a concerted effort to gain a platoon advantage. It does not seem that it was repeated often as all three men are listed in the history books as righthanded hitters. All three men got a hit in the game.
Chicago scored single runs in the first four innings. Anson opted to have his team bat first. Third baseman Ned Williamson bounced a double over the fence and scored on a wild pitch and passed ball.
In the second, Corcoran doubled and came around to score after a ground out and a deep fly ball from catcher Silver Flint.
Williamson drew a two-out walk in the third, which was no mean feat since it took eight balls to get a walk in 1880. Goldsmith tripled to score Williamson with the third run.
Flint reached base in the fourth on an error and went to second on a walk to second baseman Joe Quest. Gore singled home Flint with the fourth run and final run of the game.
Worscester had several chances to score, but some good fielding by Chicago snuffed out the rallies. In the eighth, Worcester's third baseman Art Whitney doubled, but had to leave the game because of twisted ankle. Worcester's lone substitute was Doc Bushong and he was sitting in the stands in uniform and he came on to the field to run for Whitney. Substitutions were a strange sight in 1880 and Bushong's name doesn't appear in the boxscore. Bushong advanced to third on a passed ball. But Goldsmith bore down. He got first baseman Chub Sullivan to ground out to short and Bushong couldn't score. Second baseman George Creamer popped out to short and left fielder George Wood struck out.
Worscester got a runner to third with one out in the ninth, but Goldsmith got the last two batters to pop out to the mound to end the game.
The newspaper account said that Worscester was such a tough opponent that Chicago had no hope of sweeping the three-game series. But they did. And Chicago wouldn't lose many games, winning the pennant with a 67-17 record, 15 games ahead of second place Providence. Worcester finished in fifth at 40-43.
Although Gore batted ninth in this game for Chicago, he was the best player in the NL. He led the league with a .360 batting average and a .399 OBP. Corcoran won 43 games, although that was only second in the league as Cleveland's Jim McCormick won 45. Goldsmith was 21-3 as a pitcher.
Making his debut in 1880 with Chicago after two years in Cincinnati was King Kelly. He batted just .291 in 1880, but he would go on to become one of the greatest stars of the 19th Century.
Worcseter featured one of the 19th Century's first power hitters in Harry Stovey. He led the NL with 6 home runs and 14 triples. He would hit 122 home runs in 14 seasons. Stovey led his league in home runs six times and in slugging percentage three times. Sources: Chicago Tribune, Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com Winner take all game in Omaha Monday night
2006-06-25 23:32
Oregon State forced a decisive third game in the College World Series championship round with an 11-7 win over North Carolina. The Tar Heels led 5-0 in the fourth before the Beavers put a 7-spot on the scoreboard. The final game is scheduled to start at 4 pm PT in Omaha. Oregon State is trying to win the Pac-10's first championship since 1998. North Carolina is trying to win the first one for the ACC since 1955. Oregon State would be the northernmost team to win the College World Series since Minnesota won in 1964. By my calculations, Corvallis is at 44 degrees 38 minutes N and Minneapolis is at 44 degrees 58 minutes N. God is not an Orioles fan
2006-06-25 14:24
It's official. Russ Ortiz is an Oriole! There's even a photo of him in uniform. I will take this time to congratulate the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on their fourth place finish in the AL East. WC 2006 Match Chat: Portugal vs. Netherlands, noon PT
2006-06-25 11:00
It's the battle of two little European countries (by size) that used to have vast colonial empires. But who remembers Vasco da Gama or Prince Henry the Navigator? Who remembers William of Orange? The Dutch and Portuguese duked it out for a while on the high seas as part of the Eighty Years War. The Eighty Years War ended around the same time as the Thirty Years War. Presumably today's match will just go 90 minutes. Maybe 120. The Thirty Years War was ended with the taking of penalties by ambassadors in Osnabruck to decide the winner. The Catholics were easily beaten to their left. These two teams last met in the semifinals of the 2004 Euro Championships and the Portuguese prevailed at home, 2-1. After the tournament was over, the Dutch replaced coach Dick Advocaat with Marco Van Basten, and Van Basten changed the roster drastically. The Dutch responded by going unbeaten in qualifying and they were 2-0-1 in the first round. The Portuguese lost the final of the 2004 Euro championships to Greece, but rebounded to qualify for the World Cup and coasted through their group with three wins, although they had a very easy draw, facing Mexico, Iran, and Angola. Both teams have had success in the World Cup in the past, but not recently. Portugal reached the semis in 1966, but hadn't gotten out of the first round since. The Dutch reached the finals in 1974 and 1978. The Dutch lost in the semis in 1998 to Brazil on penalties and then didn't qualify in 2002. There will be quite a contrast in names in this match. The Portuguese like to use single names for their players, such as Pauleta, Maniche, and Petit. As for the Dutch, there's a reason nearly everyone in the country is fluent in English, it's because the language is hard to pronounce. Witness Ruud Van Nistelrooij and Andre Ooijer. And yet, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has not come off the bench. 10 people have chosen the Dutch, 6 have the Portuguese. 11 of the 16 entries got the first three matches correct. The winner of this match faces England in a quaterfinal match in Hamburg on Friday. WC 2006 Match Chat: England vs. Ecuador, 8 am PT
2006-06-25 04:00
Expect a very loud and raucous crowd at Gottlier-Daimler-Stadion as the tournament's most discussed (although probably not the most talented) team takes on the upstarts from South America. Of course, I consider England the most discussed team because I'm reading mainly English language sources. The Guardian ran eleven stories in its Saturday edition on this match. I don't think they're all online however. And now it's Sunday, so who knows. It should be hot in Stuttgart for a match that starts at 5 pm local time. Temps should be in the high 80s with high humidity and a chance of thunderstorms. The 52,000 seat stadium does not have a roof so the pitch could get soggy. As for Ecuador, nobody expected them to do much of anything in the World Cup. The rap on the Ecuadoreans was that they couldn't play well at sea level. But in Germany, they scored impressive wins over Poland and Costa Rica, before sitting down some of their starters in the third match to avoid yellow cards, a loss to Germany. The big matchup to watch will be Ecuador's Edwin Hurtado against England's Wayne Rooney. If Hurtado keeps Rooney from creating trouble in the penalty area, then England will have to hope that they can get some good set pieces from David Beckham or exploit Peter Crouch's height. For Ecuador, if they go home after this match, they will be still be hailed as heroes at home. If the English lose, expect the finger pointing and recriminations to reach epic proportions. Of the 16 entrants in the contest (there were a couple of late ones for different reasons which the Organzining Committee allowed), 14 people have England winning this match. Random Game Callback, June 25, 1907
2006-06-25 03:59
The last place Washington Senators, heading for one of many dismal finishes, were swept in a doubleheader by the Philadelphia Athletics by the scores of 3-1 and 3-2 at Philadelphia's Columbia Park.
Connie Mack's A's were the most popular team in the American League in terms of attendance and had already won two pennants in the American League's first six seasons. The Senators, managed by Joe Cantillon, had never posted a winning record. Mack started lefty Rube Waddell in the first game and righty Chief Bender in the second game. Cantillon started Tom Hughes and Charlie Smith, a pair of righthanders.
Waddell and Hughes matched goose eggs until the sixth. Centerfielder Charlie Jones got a second chance at bat when Philadelphia first baseman Harry Davis dropped a foul fly. With new life, Jones hit a grounder to shortstop Monte Cross, who booted it and Jones was aboard. Third baseman Jim Delahanty followed with a booming triple to score Jones to put Washington ahead 1-0.
In the seventh, Philadelphia second baseman Simon Nicholls hit a two-out triple. Right fielder Socks Seybold grounded to Delahanty at third, who threw the ball away, which let Nicholls score and Seybold went to second. Davis doubled in Seybold. Jack Coombs relieved Waddell, who had been pulled for a pinch hitter (Bender), and finished up.
Philadelphia didn't waste time in the second game. In the first inning, left fielder Topsy Hartsel got to second on an error by Washington shortstop Dave Altizer. Nicholls sacrificed and Seybold delivered an RBI single. Seybold was caught stealing for the second out, but Davis followed with another single and he successfully stole second. Third baseman Jimmy Collins singled home Davis and the A's led 2-0.
In the second inning, Bender hit a slow roller up the third base line. Shortstop Tony Smith cut across in front of Delahanty to field it and threw it away and Bender went all the way to third. Hartsel doubled in Bender to make it 3-0.
Washington was able to push across two runs in the eighth thanks to a run-scoring triple from Jones and an RBI groundout from first baseman John Anderson. But Bender retired Washington in the ninth for the complete game win.
The Senators finished the season in last place at 49-102, 43 1/2 games out of first. The only good thing that happened for Washington that year was the arrival of a young hard throwing right hander from the minor leagues in Idaho. His name was Walter Johnson. The 19-year old would make his debut on August 2 and would go 5-9 with a 1.88 ERA. He would go on to win 417 games for Washington in a 21-year career with an ERA of 2.17.
Philadelphia finished in second place with an 88-57 record, 1 1/2 games behind Detroit. On September 30, Detroit travelled to Philadelphia for a crucial doubleheader, with Detroit leading by 1 1/2 games. Detroit and Philadelphia played a controversial 9-9 17-inning tie in the first game and it was too dark to get in the second game. Under American League policies at the time, neither game of the doubleheader was made up and the Tigers were able to hold on to that 1 1/2 game lead until the season ended the following weekend. The A's played 145 games to a decision and had five ties and missed out on nine games, including three with the Tigers. In 1908, the Tigers would benefit from a cancelled game and beat out Cleveland for the pennant by 1/2 game. Detroit was 90-63 and Cleveland was 90-64. Third place Chicago was 88-64. After 1908, the American League decided to make up all games that would affect the pennant race (this did not apply to games cancelled in later years by labor disputes.)
1907 was Ty Cobb's first full year and he was the AL's big star leading the league in batting average at .350. Hartsel led the league in OBP at .405 and drew 106 walks. Davis led the league in home runs with eight. Waddell led the AL in strikeouts for his sixth and final time with 232. Waddell was sold to St. Louis in the offseason.
Nicholls had a sensational rookie year for Philadelphia (he had brief appearances in 1905 and 1906). He batted .302 and stole 34 bases and played good defense at second and shortstop. However, Nicholls slumped badly in 1908, batting just .216. In 1909, Eddie Collins took over second base and Jack Barry occupied shortstop and Nicholls was sold to Cleveland. He passed away at age 29 on March 12, 1911 of complications of typhoid fever. Sources: Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com, Washington Post, SABR BioProject info about Nicholls WC 2006: Game theory and PKs
2006-06-24 23:44
LCS may go to TBS
2006-06-24 22:23
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that the ALCS and NLCS may end up on TBS exclusively in the 2007 season. MLB's contract with Fox expires at the end of this year's World Series and the home network off all the postseason games is still up in the air. College World Series final games
2006-06-24 17:03
The final games of the College World Series started Saturday in Omaha between Oregon State and North Carolina. Dallas Buck of OSU faces Andrew Miller of UNC in the opener. Game 1 - Oregon State had taken a 3-2 lead on a Cole Gillespie homer in the sixth when a rain delay hit. After the break, the Tar Heels tied the game in the sixth and then scored the go-ahead run in the 8th on a passed ball to win Game 1, 4-3. Jonathan Hovis got the win and Joe Paterson took the loss. The long night and day of Brett Myers
2006-06-24 16:45
Phillies pitcher Brett Myers was arrested early Friday morning in Boston and charged with domestic assault and battery. Myers started Saturday in Boston at Fenway Park in a game the Phillies lost 5-3 in 10 innings. From the AP story. Fans booed Myers each time he left the dugout to take the mound and several times as he returned to the dugout at the end of innings. Reader Gary Garland wrote in to tell me that he had opinions on the matter and he posted them on his own site. Gary has a very strong opinion on the matter. Regardless, it's a bad situation and the amount of domestic abuse that goes on among pro athletes does seem to be something that fans tend to forget about very quickly. WC 2006 Match Chat: Argentina vs. Mexico, noon PT
2006-06-24 11:19
The high-flying Argentines (mostly because they beat Serbia et al. 6-0) and the somewhat lackluster Mexicans (1-1-1 with a tie against Angola and a loss to Portugal). The teams last met at the Confederations Cup in August 2005 and Argentina won on penalties after a 1-1 tie. They've met in the World Cup once before, on July 19, 1930 in the first World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay. Argentina won 6-3. It's unknown if the Mexicans are still looking for revenge after that one. There were 5,000 people at that match. There will likely be a few bit more at Zentralstadion, which seats 43,000. Mexico has a lot of fan support in Germany, but that may not be enough to overcome the deficit in talent. The winner of this one faces Germany in Berlin on June 30. How the teams that didn't move on will be ranked: The Baltimore Death Wish
2006-06-24 09:55
The Baltimore Orioles have emerged as the frontrunners to sign released pitcher Russ Ortiz. The Cubs are interested too. "The Orioles are the frontrunners, for all the obvious reasons," agent John Boggs told ESPN.com. "The main one is Russ' relationship with Leo Mazzone. Right now we're just trying to narrow in on some clubs. Nothing is in concrete yet, but we're going to decide pretty quickly." Jim Palmer and ... Russ Ortiz The tradition lives on! WC 2006 Match Chat: Germany vs. Sweden, 8 am PT
2006-06-24 04:00
The Round of 16 gets underway. And now there is no tomorrow. The winner moves on, the loser catches the next flight back home. Unless it's the Germans. They'll take a train probably. Except maybe coach Jurgen Klinsmann since he lives in California. And the Swedes could take a train, but that takes a while. Sweden and Germany have faced each other 32 times and the Swedes have 13 wins, the Germans have 12 wins and there have been seven draws. Their only previous meeting in the World Cup was back in 1958 when Sweden beat Germany 3-1 in the semifinals in Gothenburg. Germany won all three of its group matches, while Sweden had a win and two draws. You have until kickoff to enter the contest! Random Game Callback, June 24, 1977
2006-06-24 03:59
The Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins combined to hit six home runs at Metropolitan Stadium, but it was a home run that didn't count hit by Ralph Garr that was decisive as the Twins beat the White Sox, 7-6 before a crowd of 21,457 in Bloomington.
The teams were in a virtual tie for first in the AL West with the White Sox holding .002 lead. White Sox manager Bob Lemon started veteran knuckleball specialist Wilbur Wood. Twins manager Gene Mauch had Paul Thormodsgard on the hill.
Thormodsgard got out of the first thanks in part to leadoff hitter and left fielder Garr, who singled, but was thrown out at second by Twins leftfielder Larry Hisle. In the bottom of the first, Minnesota centerfielder Lyman Bostock led off with a single. Third baseman Jerry Terrell sacrificed and was safe at first when Chicago second baseman Jorge Orta dropped the throw at first base. First baseman Rod Carew walked to load the bases. Hisle doubled in two runs. Wood was able to work out of further trouble and it was 2-0 Twins at the end of one inning.
In the third, Terrell reached when Wood hit him with a pitch. Carew singled and Hisle homered and the Twins had taken a 5-0 lead after three innings.
The game's big play came in the third. Third baseman Eric Soderholm led off with a single and catcher Jim Essian reached on an error by shortstop Roy Smalley. Garr then hit a deep fly to right that Ford made a leap for against the wire fence in Bloomington. Ford crashed to the ground and first base umpire Nestor Chylak ran out to make the call and seemed to take a while. While this was happening, Soderholm and Essian went back to their bases, thinking that Ford had caught the ball. But Ford hadn't, the ball had gone over the fence. However, as Essian went back to first, Garr passed him on the bases. So Garr was credited with a single, but was then called out for passing Essian. Soderholm and Essian did score to cut the lead to 5-2.
Essian took matters into his own hands with a solo home run in the fifth, but Minnesota designated hitter Craig Kusick hit one of his own and the Twins led 6-3 after five innings.
In the sixth, first baseman Lamar Johnson and rightfielder Oscar Gamble hit back-to-back home runs to make it 6-5 and chase Thormodsgard. Tom Burgmeier relieved.
Tom Johnson was pitching for the Twins in the eighth when he gave up a one-out double to Chet Lemon. Johnson struck out, but Gamble singled to score Lemon.
But the tie did not last long as Bostock led off the bottom of the eighth with a home run against Chicago reliever Lerrin LaGrow. Johnson retired the White Sox in order in the ninth to pick up the win.
After the game, Garr wouldn't talk to the media about his gaffe on his "home run." However, manager Lemon and Essian both excused Garr since they thought Chylak took too long to make the home run call.
The White Sox finished the year with a 90-72 record in third place, 12 games behind the Royals. The Twins finished in fourth at 84-77, 17 1/2 games out. The White Sox were still leading the AL West in August before fading. The Twins early success was already starting to peter out and they were buried by a 7-18 record in September.
Both the Twins and White Sox were able to put runs on the board. Minnesota led the league with 867 and Chicago was third with 844. Neither team had a particularly good ERA as the White Sox were tenth with a 4.32 ERA and the Twins were 12th at 4.36.
Carew won the AL MVP in 1977, batting .388 and was batting over .400 as late as July 10. Carew also led the league in OBP at .449 and slugged .570, hitting 38 doubles, 16 triples, and 14 home runs. But the Twins' penurious owner, Calvin Griffith, wouldn't be able to keep his team together. Bostock and Hisle left at the end of the year as free agents (to California and Milwaukee) and Carew would force a trade to the Angels after the 1978 season.
The 1977 White Sox were something of a one-year wonder also as they lost key players, such as DH Richie Zisk and Gamble to free agency and then made an ill-fated trade sending pitchers Dave Frost and Chris Knapp, along with catcher Brian Downing to the Angels in exchange for Bobby Bonds and Richard Dotson. Downing would go on to become one of the Angels most consistent hitters for over a decade, while Bonds played in just 26 games for the White Sox before being traded to Texas for Claudell Washington. Manager Lemon would be fired midway through the 1978 season, but he was quickly hired by the Yankees and he would lead them to a World Series win that season. Sources: Chicago Tribune, Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com Live and die with your team ... FOREVER
2006-06-23 23:43
Major League Baseball and Eternal Image have teamed up to sell caskets with team logos on them. Eternal Image also has licensing agreements with The Vatican Library, Prescious Moments, and the American Kennel Club. I would like a casket with a picture of a Bichon Frise, the logo of Toronto Blue Jays, and an image of St. Teresa of Avila. WC 2006 Contest: Pick the winners, win something
2006-06-23 14:00
Your quest: Pick the winners of all the knockout games remaining in the World Cup (except the third place game because I don't think the teams involved really care who wins.) The scoring system will be: To enter, send an email to this address btimmermann@gmail.com Quarterfinals: Semifinals: Final: The shirt is actually on backorder and I reserve the right to find something else. Also tell me your "nom de Toaster" so I can update the scores as we go along. If I don't get five entries before the first match of the second round kicks off at 8 am PT Saturday, the contest is called off. The quota has been reached! Game on! The final arbiter of who wins is me. Everybody is eligible to compete for the prize except me.
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WC 2006 Match Chat: Group G finale, noon PT
2006-06-23 10:15
Switzerland vs. Korea in Hanover The final two teams in the round of 16 will be decided and this group is up for grabs with three teams still in contention and the only team knowing where it's going after the game is Togo, which has been eliminated. The leader in the group is Switzerland with 4 points and +2 in goal difference. Korea also has 4 points and is +1. France has 2 points and is at zero. Neither the Swiss nor the Koreans can tie and be assured of moving on, although one of them would. There are a lot of scenarios. I won't detail any that involve Togo winning or drawing because I just don't see that dispirited bunch beating a desperate French squad, even if Zidane is out. If that did happen, the Swiss and Koreans advance. A. Korea wins, France wins - Korea is #1, France is #2
I'm really excited over the potential for drawing lots. Basically, it will happen in any situation where France and Korea end up the same number of goals for and goals against and records of 1-0-2. Unless I'm reading the tiebreaker rules wrong. In which case, never mind. But I think I am. The Times discusses the history of luck in soccer. The man in the middle for the France-Togo match: Jorge Larrionda. The winner of the group will play Ukraine in the next round. The second place team will face Spain. WC 2006 Match Chat: Group H finale, 7 am PT
2006-06-23 04:00
Ukraine vs. Tunisia from Berlin Spain vs. Saudi Arabia from Kaiserslautern Spain, which came into the World Cup saddled with a tradition of choking, has shown that it wants to go far and has already qualified with the second round with convincing wins over Ukraine (4-0) and Tunisia (3-1). Even with reserves going, Spain should be able to take apart Saudi Arabia. Ukraine recovered from its shellacking against Spain to apply its own shellacking to Saudi Arabia (4-0), which in turn announced that it will no longer export shellac. Ukraine will grab the second spot with a win or tie. Tunisia must win to advance and then hope that Saudi Arabia doesn't beat Spain by a ridiculous margin (which is likely.) Saudi Arabia is still alive if it can beat Spain and the goal difference can be made up on both Tunisia and Ukraine. Random Game Callback, June 23, 1950
2006-06-23 03:59
The ball was flying all over Briggs Stadium on a Saturday night in June as the hometown Tigers increased their lead in the AL to two full games with a 10-9 win over the Yankees in a game that featured a then major league record 11 home runs combined by both teams. All 19 runs in the game scored on home runs. 51,400 fans were in attendance.
The defending World Series champion Yankees, managed by Casey Stengel, started Tommy Byrne. The Tigers, managed by former Yankee third baseman Red Rolfe, had Ted Gray on the mound. Neither pitcher would make it anywhere near the ninth inning.
The Yankees got to Gray early. left fielder Hank Bauer homered twice in the first three innings, driving in three runs. Catcher Yogi Berra added a two-run homer in the third and second baseman Jerry Coleman hit a solo home run in the fourth that drove Gray out of the game. Dizzy Trout relieved.
The Tigers started their rally in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, center fielder Johnny Groth singled and first baseman Don Kolloway did the same. Catcher Bob Swift drew a walk to load the bases. Byrne hoped to use the pitcher's spot to get out of the inning, but Trout spoiled that strategy the best way possible, by hitting a grand slam home run to make it 6-4 New York. Shortstop Jonny Lipon lined out to left, but second baseman Jerry Priddy homered and Stengel took Byrne out of the game and brought in Fred Sanford. (This one was white.)
Detroit was not done. Third baseman George Kell singled and right fielder Vic Wertz homered off the roof in rightfield. Left fielder Hoot Evers followed with another home run and the Tigers had an 8-run fourth and an 8-6 lead. The five home runs in the inning is still a record that has not been broken, although it has been tied several times. The Tigers four home runs in the inning was an American League record at the time, although the Minnesota Twins would break the mark with five in 1966.
Tom Ferrick came in to relieve Sanford and he was able to pitch shutout ball until the eighth for the Yankees, pitching through a sore ankle injured when he got hit by a line drive off the bat of Lipon.
The Yankees got to within a run in the seventh when center fielder Joe DiMaggio hit his 14th home run of the season. Then in the eighth, pinch hitter Tommy Henrich powered a 2-run homer off of Trout to give the Yankees a 9-8 lead. Paul Calvert came into pitch, but couldn't retire anyone and Rolfe turned to Fred Hutchinson to get out of the inning.
Stengel called on his relief ace, Joe Page, to pitch the last two innings. Page allowed a hit in the eighth, but in the ninth, after getting leadoff man Kell, Wertz lined a double to left-center. Evers then drilled a Page pitch deep to center that hit the wall about 415 feet away. Wertz scored easily and when second baseman Billy Martin couldn't handle the relay from DiMaggio cleanly, Evers came around to score on what was scored an inside-the-park home run.
The 11 total home runs in the game remain a record for the most home runs in an American League night game. The record for all games is 12 and it's been done twice and both times the Tigers were involved. And the White Sox wer the opponents each time. Those games were on May 28, 1995 and the other on July 2, 2002.
The Yankees would win the AL pennant by three games over the Tigers and go on to sweep Philadelphia in the World Series. Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto would win the MVP award. Boston utility man Billy Goodman was second in the voting and Berra was third, although all he did was catch 148 games and hit 28 home runs, bat .322 and slug .533.
Detroit's star pitcher was 22-year old Art Houtteman who went 19-12 with a 3.54 ERA. But he missed the 1951 season because of military commitments and when he came back in 1952, a family tragedy and bad luck led to a 9-20 season. You can read about Houtteman's career in this online biography by Warren Corbett from the SABR Bioproject. The Tigers dropped into fifth place in 1951 and all the way to last in 1952 and in the middle of the season, Rolfe was let go and Hutchinson took over as manager. Sources: Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com, New York Times, SABR BioProject College World Series update
2006-06-22 21:00
My old thread suffered some unfortunate HTML problems. So I will start anew with the Final Four as it were. Game 11 - North Carolina scored four runs in the third and twice in the fifth and held on to eliminate Cal State Fullerton, 6-5. Detroit's first round pick, Andrew Miller, picked up a save. The Tar Heels will play either Rice or Oregon State in the best of three championship series that starts Saturday. Game 12 - Daniel Turpen and Joe Paterson combined on a 5-hit shutout as Oregon State forced a showdown game with Rice Thursday for the right to face North Carolina in the championship series with a 5-0 win. Game 13 - Oregon State's Jonah Nickerson and Kevin Gunderson combined on a 2-hit shutout to send the Beavers to the championship series with a 2-0 win over Rice. Oregon State and North Carolina start the best of three series Saturday. Neither team has ever won a CWS. WC 2006: USA postmortem
2006-06-22 20:40
My brother reviews the past and future of the US national team at CBS Sportsline. Burnett comes back, Braves continue to slide
2006-06-22 19:52
A.J. Burnett came off the 60-day disabled list and started in Atlanta tonight. Burnett went six innings and struck out seven while giving up two runs. He threw 91 pitches. The Braves lost their 10th straight game 3-2. Almost, but not good enough in Chicago
2006-06-22 19:09
After being pounded 33-11 in two games in Chicago, the Cardinals turned to Anthony Reyes to turn things around. Reyes gave up just one hit in eight innings. But it was a home run to Jim Thome. And Freddy Garcia and Bobby Jenks combined on a 4-hit shutout as the White Sox won 1-0. Pujols back, Mulder out
2006-06-22 16:59
Albert Pujols has returned from the DL and pitcher Mark Mulder has gone on it with a sore shoulder. The Cardinals have lost their last two games to the White Sox by the score of 33-11. Selig puts the hammer down on Ozzie
2006-06-22 16:08
Commissioner Bud Selig has meted out the strictest punishment ever given to a manager for off-field remarks. Yep, Ozzie Guillen is going to mandatory sensitivity training. I love it when the jokes write themselves. WC 2006 Match Chat: Group F finale, noon PT
2006-06-22 11:28
Croatia vs. Australia in Stuttgart Tournament favorite Brazil has already clinched a spot in the second round and most likely first place in Group F, barring some miracles. The other three teams all have a chance at the #2 spot. In decreasing order of likelihood, they are Australia, Croatia, and Japan. Australia beat Japan, 3-1 in its first match with three late goals. And the Socceroos didn't look too bad against Brazil in a 2-0 loss. Croatia, aka Team Tablecloth, hasn't scored yet, but at least got a point from a draw with Japan. Japan, after its collapse against Australia, managed a tie thanks to a PK save by keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. Australia advances with a win or tie against Croatia. Japan would have to beat Brazil and hope that Australia doesn't win and that they overcome the goal difference. (Australia is at 0, Croatia at -1, and Japan is at -2). Three playes on the Croatian team were born in Australia. And seven members of the Australian team are Croatian to some extent. So for a 1/4 Croatian guy like me, I can't lose! (Just to cover all my bases, I have a sister-in-law who is Japanese!) Game of the Day
2006-06-22 09:37
Tonight in Houston (5:05 pm PT), it's a collision between the old and the new. Francisco Liriano makes the start for the Twins while Roger Clemens tries to match the Rolling Stones record for comeback tours for the Astros. I can't seem to find any news about this Clemens fellow. I've heard he was good at one time. The original version of this talked about Rafael Soriano of Seattle as I completely confused my phenoms. WC 2006 Match Chat: Group E finale, 7 am PT
2006-06-22 04:00
Czech Republic vs. Italy in Hamburg Group E is the only one of the eight groups that has seen none of its four teams clinch spots in the second round. Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana all have possiblities of advancing with a tie (Italy definitely would, the other two would need help) and the USA must win (and get help). For USA fans, the simplest scenario is: beat Ghana and have the Czechs lose to Italy. The USA could advance with a win if the Czechs and Italians play to a draw, but they would have to beat Ghana by at least four goals to advance. Number of goals the USA has scored of its own volition in the World Cup so far: zero. The Czechs are a battered and bruised bunch. Striker Jan Koller is likely out with a hamstring injury. Striker Milan Baros will probably miss the match too with a foot injury, but there is hope in the Czech camp that he can play. Vratislav Lokvenc is out with two yellow cards. Defender Thomas Ujfalusi is also out after getting a red card against Ghana. Italy will be missing Daniele De Rossi who got a red card against the USA. The USA will be missing Eddie Pope and Pablo Mastroeni due to yellow cards. Ghana will be without its two goal scorers from its win over the Czechs: Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan. So here are the possible permuations: Random Game Callback, June 22, 1996
2006-06-22 03:59
The slumping San Diego Padres, losers of 15 of their last 18 games, dropped a long and wild 16-inning marathon to the Chicago Cubs, 9-6, before a crowd of 51,917 at Jack Murphy Stadium. An error and a 2-run homer by Brant Brown scored the winning runs for the Cubs.
Cubs manager Jim Riggleman started 32-year old journeyman righthander Mike Campbell. Padres manager Bruce Bochy chose righthander Andy Ashby, making his first start since coming off the disabled list.
Both teams scored in both halves of the first three innings. In the top of the first, center fielder Brian McRae led off with a single and then stole second when Ashby tried to pick him off and then compounded the mistake with a throwing error sending McRae to third. Right fielder Sammy Sosa hit a sacrifice fly to score McRae. In the bottom of the first, right fielder Tony Gwynn had a one-out single, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by Cubs catcher Scott Servais. McRae then dropped third baseman Ken Caminiti's fly ball for an error to make it 1-1.
Cubs third baseman Leo Gomez led off the second with a walk and Servais followed with a single to move Gomez to second. Second baseman Bret Barberie hit into a force play, putting runners at first and third. Shortstop Jose Hernandez singled to score Gomez and one batter later, McRae singled to score Barberie to make it 3-1 Cubs. The Padres scored in the bottom of the second on a solo home run by catcher Brian Johnson.
In the third, Sosa homered to lead off the inning. In the bottom half of the inning, left fielder Rickey Henderson led off with a single. Gwynn doubled to put Henderson at third. Center fielder Steve Finley followed with a double of his own to score two runs, but Finley was out trying to stretch his hit into a triple.
For the next four innings, the relievers kept the game scoreless. Kent Bottenfield and Jim Bullinger each threw a pair of shutout innings for the Cubs. Bryce Florie, Scott Sanders, and Ron Villone combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings for the Padres.
The Cubs threatened in the tenth against reliever Doug Bochtler. Gomez led off with a single and Terry Shumpert ran for him. Servais walked and Barberie sacrificed to move the runners up. Hernandez was given an intentional walk. Doug Glanville pinch hit for Bullinger and struck out and McRae flied out to left to end the threat.
In the 12th, the Cubs broke through. Servais led off with a single off of Padres reliever Shawn Bergman and moved to second on a Barberie sacrifice (his third of the night). Hernandez struck out. Ryne Sandberg came up to pinch hit for reliever Terry Adams and singled to center to score Servais. Turk Wendell, the Cubs closer, came in to pinch run for Sandberg, but stayed at first as McRae flied out to end the inning. Wendell got the first two outs in the bottom of the 12th, but catcher John Flaherty, who entered the game in a double switch in the 10th and had just joined the Padres along with Chris Gomez from Detroit on June 18 (in exchange for Brad Ausmus and Andujar Cedeno), hit his first home run with the Padres to tie the game.
The teams soldiered on. In the 15th, McRae walked and Brown and Sosa singled to load the bases. Bochy brought in his seventh pitcher, Willie Blair. Left fielder Luis Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly to left to score McRae and send Brown to third. With Shumpert up, Riggelman called for a squeeze, but Shumpert missed the pitch and Brown was out at the plate. Shumpert managed to get a walk and Servais was hit by a pitch, but Barberie flied out.
But the Padres weren't done. Right fielder Archi Cianfrocco (who had replaced Gwynn on a double switch earlier) led off with a double against Chicago reliever Rodney Myers. Flaherty grounded out and Cianfrocco moved up to third. Myers threw a wild pitch and Cianfrocco scored to tie the game.
And on to the 16th! Hernandez led off with a double. Myers tried to bunt him over, but struck out. McRae then hit a grounder to Padres rookie first baseman Jason Thompson that he couldn't handle and on the error, Hernandez scored and McRae went to second. Brown followed with a homer to make it 9-6. In the bottom of the 16th, Finley got a leadoff walk, but the Padres couldn't score him and, with no position players left on the bench, Bochy had to have pitcher Fernando Valenzuela pinch hit for Blair, and Valenzuela struck out to end the game.
The Padres would be able to right their ship thanks in part to Flaherty, who had a 27-game hitting streak after arriving in San Diego. After a 9-19 June, the Padres went 48-32 in the final three months and overtook the Dodgers for the NL West title with three wins in Los Angeles in the final three games of the season. The Padres lost to the Cardinals in three straight in the Division Series. Ken Caminiti would win the NL MVP with a 40 home run, 130 RBI season (whether or not you think that was fairly earned is another matter). Gwynn led the NL in batting average at .353. The Padres were 91-71 overall.
The Cubs finished in fourth place in the NL Central at 76-86. Sosa hit 40 home runs and drove in 100. Sandberg hit 25 home runs in his first season back after a one-year retirement. While the Cubs had a decent bullpen and one pretty good starter in Steve Trachsel, the rest of the rotation was iffy with guys like Jaime Navarro, Frank Castillo, Bullinger, Amaury Telemaco, and Kevin Foster all taking turns. Sources: San Diego Union-Tribune, Retrosheet, Baseball-Reference.com Cycles - UPDATED
2006-06-21 18:42
The last player on each team to hit for the cycle, according to Retrosheet. Arizona - Greg Colbrunn, 9/18/2002
Gone? For good? Probably not
2006-06-21 17:02
Arizona formally gave Russ Ortiz and Terry Mulholland unconditional releases today. Is the end? Or maybe it's just the beginning.... I am the Lord, Thy Boras, thou shalt not have false Borases before me
2006-06-21 15:57
This correction ran in today's L.A. Times. Baseball: An article in Sports on June 7 quoted pitcher Luke Hochevar, drafted by the Kansas City Royals, as referring to "Scott" — Scott Boras, his agent — when in fact he used the word "God." Here is the correct quote: "God had a plan in this, and his master plan definitely worked. It was tough through it — you go through it and you fight it — but when it all comes down to it, God has a plan for you, and he definitely worked a miracle in my case." Tips from L.A. Observed and reader Spaceman Spiff. Action in the Futures market
2006-06-21 13:09
Rosters for the Futures Game to be played in Pittsburgh on the Sunday before the All Star Game (July 9) were announced today. It will again have a US versus the Rest of the World set up. WC 2006 Match Chat: Group C finale, noon PT
2006-06-21 11:24
Netherlands vs. Argentina in Frankfurt and for academic purposes Ivory Coast vs. Serbia et al. in Munich The Dutch and Argentines are both headed to the second round. Today's match is for first place. Argentina will win the group with a win or tie. This will be the fourth time the two teams have met in the World Cup. The Dutch won in 1974 (4-0) and 1998 (2-1), but Argentina won in 1978 (3-1 in overtime) and that one was in the championship game. Argentina demolished Serbia et al. 6-0 while the Dutch held off a game Ivory Coast squad 2-1. As for the undercard, the coaches of Serbia et al. and Ivory Coast are both coaching their last matches with those teams. Ivory Coast could be the best team in the World Cup that won't make the second round. But such are the vagaries of seeding The winner of the group will play Mexico Saturday in Leipzig. The second place team will take on Portugal Sunday in Nuremberg. The Serbs currently occupy last place among all 32 teams with 0 pointsts and a -7 in goals. A loss should give them that dubious honor. If not, Costa Rica, 0 points and -6 in goals should bring the title back home to CONCACAF. Saudi Arabia finished last in 2002 with 0 poitts and -12 in goals. In 1998, the USA was last with 0 points and -4 in goals. The last European side to finish last was Greece in 1994 when the tournament had just 24 teams. Togo has a chance at the last spot as well with 0 points and -3 in goals, but they would need to get clobbered by France. WC 2006 Match Chat: Group D Finale, 7 am PT
2006-06-21 04:00
Portugal vs. Mexico from Gelsenkirchen The top two teams in Group D face off in the big match of the morning. Portugal has clinched a second round spot, but Mexico needs at least a tie to move on after they played a scoreless tie against Angola. If Mexico loses, expect to hear a lot of complaining from the Mexican press and fans who are sort of like Red Sox fans pre-2004. Angola has yet to score a goal in the World Cup, but the Black Antelopes have given up just one. Iran scored a goal against Mexico, but otherwise haven't shown any propensity to do much of anything. And the Iranian Parliament is starting to ask for an investigation into the team. If Mexico were to lose, Angola would need to make up the goal difference on Mexico. Mexico is +2 right now and Angola is -1. If Mexico lost and Angola won, they would have to change to at least +1 and 0. And since the total goals are also in Mexico's favor (3 to 0 now), Angola is going to need something like a 3-0 win over Iran to move on. Probably won't happen. Random Game Callback, June 21, 1976
2006-06-21 03:59
It was a day of near no-hitters in baseball. In Oakland, Bert Blyleven of Texas gave up just a fifth inning single to Ken McMullen as the Rangers beat the A's 1-0 in 10 innings. And earlier in the evening, Baltimore's Wayne Garland went eight innings before giving up a hit in a 2-hit, 2-0 win over the Red Sox at Memorial Stadium. Blyleven would throw a no-hitter in 1977, but this game was the best game of Garland's career.
Garland was a 25-year old righthander who hadn't done much in his first four years with the Orioles under Earl Weaver. In the spring, Orioles management decided to cut Garland's salary by 20% as he had declined to sign a contract and was hoping to cash in on the new free agency rules that were going to be put in place in the offseason. Garland had toyed with a no-hitter in 1974 in Oakland holding the A's hitless until the ninth, but ultimately losing that game 6-4.
Shortstop Mark Belanger supplied all the offense that Garland would need with a solo home run in the third off of Boston starter Luis Tiant. It was the only home run Belanger would hit in 1976. Despite his reputation as a banjo hitter, Weaver had Belanger batting seventh in this game ahead of third baseman Brooks Robinson, in his 23rd and final season in Baltimore, and catcher Dave Duncan. Robinson would bat .149 in his final season and Duncan hit .204.
Garland was on his game, striking out ten and walking just one batter. Boston third baseman Rico Petrocelli reached second on an error by center fielder Paul Blair that did not seem to spur any controversy over the scoring. Petrocelli would get a clean single in the eighth to break up the no-hitter. Rick Miller had an infield hit in the ninth.
The Orioles second run in this game scored in a very atypical way of an Earl Weaver team. In the seventh, right fielder Reggie Jackson led off with a single. That brought up first baseman Lee May. Weaver had May sacrifice Jackson over. May had only nine sacrifices in his career and the Orioles had a major league low of 35 sacrifices in 1976. Designated hitter Ken Singleton doubled home Jackson.
After the game, Garland told the Washington Post's Orioles beat writer, Thomas Boswell, that he had become a more effective pitcher by getting rid of an ineffective knuckleball and curve ball and working with just a fast ball, change, and slider. Garland was now 7-0 on the season and had an ERA of 1.94. This earned him a spot in Baltimore's four-man rotation along with Jim Palmer, Rudy May, and |
