“Baseball is a slow, sluggish game, with frequent and trivial interruptions, offering the spectator many opportunities to reflect at leisure upon the situation on the field: This is what a fan loves most about the game”
Edward Abbey
Category: Baseball
The cycle
How about that sports fans? The Rangers catcher Bengie Molina hit for the cycle against Boston tonight. That’s a single, double, triple and home run in one game. His home run was a grand slam.
No opponent had gone the cycle in Fenway in 32 years.
I had this game on TV for a few minutes and the Boston announcers were talking about Molina and whether he’d get the cycle. The triple, the hardest, came his next time up. I missed it. Damn.
But say Karen, wasn’t Molina a Giant a few weeks ago?
UPDATE: Molina is only the eighth player since 1900 to hit for the cycle with a grand slam.
He’d had just six triples in 4,998 at bats.
As Robert Mays wrote, “Molina rounded second and made his way for third at the one speed he has.”
He’s a catcher for Pete’s sake, notoriously slow.
I can’t believe I was watching that game and didn’t wait for his next at bat. (The triple was in the eighth inning; the grand slam in the sixth.)
I think this also is a good illustration of sports ultimately as part of culture more than a game. A soccer aficionado might think it fun to see Molina lumbering into third, but only the baseball fan could appreciate how rare the cycle is, how unusual for a catcher to triple, etc. And I don’t mean that makes baseball better than soccer. The same could be true in reverse for the baseball fan watching soccer. I just think it explains why soccer just does not catch on in the U.S. to any long-lasting extent. We have enough sports traditions.
Soccer and Baseball
I think these two stories, taken together, explain — far more than nil-nil ties, or flopping, or endless passes ever will — why soccer has not taken hold in America. (And for that matter, far more than pitchers’ duels and long ballgames ever will.) More than the games, sport is engrained in a culture.
Joe Posnanski: A Soccer Story (I linked to this already, yesterday.)
Baseball
If you’re up for watching a little baseball on TV, MLB Extra Innings has a free week beginning today. I’ve been watching Rangers @ Boston. At 8 I can watch the Mariners @ Angels and/or Mets @ Giants. There are other games too.
Just something different to do for a few evenings; see the teams, hear the different broadcasters.
No guarantees for your cable/satellite system or if I’m right that it’s for a week. But that’s my understanding.
I’m watching on DirecTV. Fun to see the New England ads. They love their Dunkin’ Donuts.
(I’m feeling yucky — not up to a movie or a book.)
BTW GQ lists The Best (and Worst) from MLB’s Broadcast Booths. Top 5 and Bottom 5 from the TV side.
Idle thought
I was glad for the outcome, the National League winning 3-1, their first victory since 1996, but why exactly was Alex Rodriguez, the home run leader among active players, in the American League dugout and not at the plate in the bottom of the ninth?
And why do they need all those players (each team had 34)?
Bud Selig says he will retire as baseball commissioner for sure in 2012. There’s already been a couple of Brett Favreian reversals, so no one takes him seriously, but he says he means it this time. He’ll retire for certain unless baseball has some sort of emergency.
If there’s an emergency wouldn’t it likely be his doing in the first place?
Best line of the day
“It’s all about making adjustments out there. You’ve gotta go out there and you’ve got to read the swings and the last few games they’ve been sitting on fastballs away and if they’re going to continue to do that, then they better get ready to back off the plate and they better get ready for some stuff up there to keep them off-balance.”
Steven Strasburg
You think there’s a batter in the National League that won’t have some doubt the next time he faces that 100 mph Strasburg fastball?
Enjoying the moment
Best line of the day
“I remember one time going out to the mound to talk with Bob Gibson. He told me to get back behind the plate where I belonged, and that the only think I knew about pitching was that I couldn’t hit it.”
Tim McCarver quoted by Joe Posnanski
Welcome to the big leagues
Tuned in the Rockies game vs. the Cardinals last night. (In Albuquerque you get the Rockies on DirecTV. You get the lamentable Diamondbacks on Comcast.) The Rockies had come from being down 0-5 to tie the game with three runs in the 8th.
It was 7-7 in the bottom of the 9th when the Cardinals brought in Evan MacLane to pitch. It was MacLane’s major league debut (after 8 seasons in the minors).
I was torn. I wanted the Rockies to win, but — ahh! — it’s MacLane’s first appearance in the big leagues. His mom may be watching.
I hope not. Chris Iannetta hit MacLane’s sixth major league pitch 416 feet into the left field seats for a walk-off Rockies victory.
Photo of the day
This isn’t Today’s Photo. That may or may not follow later. This is just a Rockies fan’s photo from Purple Row the Colorado Rockies blog.
Take that, Karen. 🙂
Leroy Robert Paige
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige was born 104 years ago today. A huge star in the Negro Leagues, Paige began pitching in 1926 and was the oldest major league rookie ever when he joined the Cleveland Indians at age 42. Paige pitched in his last major league game in 1965 (at age 59).
In the barnstorming days, he pitched perhaps 2,500 games, completed 55 no-hitters and performed before crowds estimated at 10 million persons in the United States, the Caribbean and Central America. He once started 29 games in one month in Bismarck, N.D., and he said later that he won 104 of the 105 games he pitched in 1934.
By the time Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 as the first black player in the majors, Mr. Paige was past 40. But Bill Veeck, the impresario of the Cleveland club, signed him to a contract the following summer, and he promptly drew crowds of 72,000 in his first game and 78,000 in his third game. (The New York Times)
Paige first published his Rules for Staying Young in 1953. This version is from his autobiography published in 1962, Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever.
- Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood.
- If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
- Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
- Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society — the social ramble ain’t restful.
- Avoid running at all times.
- And don’t look back — something might be gaining on you.
Last night’s photos
The view from the $50 seats. Attendance was 49,271.
Sofie took time out during the game for a little dental work. It’s the lower tooth that came out during the game. The upper missing front tooth is old news.
No rain at the ballpark but we got these beautiful double rainbows.
The crowd from the left and center field seats was moved to the grass to watch the fireworks — one of the most awesome displays I’ve ever seen. They were set off right outside the ballpark — the smoke and debris actually floating down on us. Fireworks are very, very, very, very loud when you are within 50-60 yards of them. And the finale wouldn’t end. There must have been hundreds of rockets in that last blast.
A great night. All photos taken with an iPhone. Sofie photo taken by Veronica. Click on the images for larger versions.
Rockies game
I’m at Coors Field in Denver tonight for the Rockies vs. the Giants.
Parking a block away is just $40. I guess I can quit bitching about the new this year $5 to park for the Isotopes.
1-0 Rockies after one. Sellout crowd for fireworks and Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez, best pitcher in baseball this season.
7-1 Giants in the middle of the third. Jimenez gave up a grand slam among other bad things.
7-4 in the middle of six. Jimenez has recovered his cool and so has Sofie after loosing a baby tooth in the fourth inning. 50,000 people and 10,000 iPhones. Can’t upload any photos.
8-7 Rockies after 6. Great rally. Giants manager ejected. Big crowd lovin’ it.
Giants came back to win 11-8. Fun game anyway. Now we wait for part of the big crowd to settle onto the outfield grass for the fireworks show.
Simply awesome fireworks show!
Why Isotopes?
NewMexiKen first posted this item on the Albquerque Isotopes baseball team after attending a game in August 2003 — and then again six years ago today.
The Isotopes get their name from the Simpsons. According to the Simpsons Episode Guide, in “Hungry, Hungry, Homer”:
Homer becomes a Good Samaritan after seeing the benefit of helping people. When he attempts to get Lenny a refund on his Springfield Isotopes season tickets, Homer discovers that the baseball team’s new owner, Duff Beer, plans to move the team to Albuquerque. Homer tries to rally the town in protest, however, no one believes his allegation. To expose Duff’s plan, he stages a hunger strike by chaining himself to a light pole near the stadium. Days later, the Duff Corporation deems Homer their ballpark attraction. They unchain him and tempt his cravings with an Isotope Dog Supreme. Before eating it, Homer realizes that the Southwestern ingredients on the hot dog prove that the team is moving to Albuquerque.
Actually the Isotopes moved here from Calgary, where they were the Cannons.
Hu’s gone
Isotopes infielder Chin-lung Hu is now Dodgers infielder Chin-lung Hu.
Sigh. No more Abbott and Costello references for now.
Isotopes
89 degrees at game time.
This is so tedious. I wish it was soccer.
2-1 Omaha after 3.
Hey, Ray proposed (via the scoreboard) and Leslie agreed. That’s cool.
One important thing. No vuvuzelas.
Lakers 51 Celtics 31 at half.
Hu’s on first. (Hu scored, but it’s 7-3 Omaha after 5.)
Awesome, I caught one of those foam baseballs they toss from the pressbox during the 7th inning stretch. After we sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” of course.
Hu’s at bat. Hu grounds out 4-3.
Still 7-3.
Lakers won. 11-5 here going into the 9th. 9:38 PM. 82 degrees. 15% humidity.
11-8 final score. Hey, that’s 19 runs. 19, that’s only four less than the total number of scores in the first 14 World Cup games.
Another fine debut
Don Nava of the Red Sox came up for his first Major League at bat yesterday in the second inning with the bases loaded.
And he sent the first Major League pitch he ever saw into the right field seats for a grand slam home run.
Lest we get too excited, the only other major leaguer to hit the first pitch he saw for a grand slam was Kevin Kouzmanoff.
Who?
Best Strasburg line of the day, so far
“Stephen Strasburg’s 14-strikeout debut performance for the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night didn’t just meet expectations, it took those expectations out on a date, romanced them, and then married the expectations in a lavish beachside ceremony attended by Tom Cruise and Barbara Streisand.”
Best how good will Strasburg be line of the day
“When you have a 98-mph sinker and it’s your third-best pitch, but your strongest suit is your control, then the broad outlines of the debate are settled.”
Stephen Strasburg’s Major League debut is tonight. It’s a sellout, but on ESPN at 7 ET.
‘Topes
98 degrees at game time. But a great breeze and almost comfy sitting in the sun. Sunset one hour away.
Third inning and Hu’s on first — but he got to second before I could snap a picture. And then he came around to score. 3-2 Isotopes. 95 degrees at 8:00.
Middle of 6, ‘Topes up 8-2. Big crowd enjoying the show (fireworks after game). Hu has scored twice and batted in two. De Jesus with long 2-run homer to left-center. 9:00. 93 degrees. Excellent night.
Green Chile, Red Chile, Taco and Salsa line up for the race to third base. Salsa won. iPhone photo.
Isotopes win 9-3. 9:45. 89 degrees. Need a jacket.
Bring on the fireworks. (Fireworks show was terrific and watching scores of little kids run the bases even better!)
More than the usual
… amount of class being shown all around. Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland had pitcher Armando Galarraga take the lineup out to the home plate umpire for today’s game. The umpire is Jim Joyce.
Meanwhile the commissioner sits on his hands. Overturn the call Bud. It’s simple.
Galarraga pitches 28-out perfect game
Video highlights.
Charles Pierce sums it up arguing for the commissioner to overturn the call.
I mean, it’s not like there aren’t already fluky perfect games dotting the major-league record book. The first recorded one was by a guy pitching for the Worcester Ruby Legs. (Major leagues? Please. ) And, for 74 years, they counted Ernie Shore’s having thrown one in June of 1917, despite the fact that Babe Ruth started the game by walking Ray Morgan and then slugging the home plate umpire. This earned him an ejection, which brought on Shore in relief. Morgan got thrown out trying to steal and, until they changed the rules in 1991, Shore got credit for a perfect game because he retired the next 27 guys. How is that less complicated than what I am suggesting? Let’s give Galarraga seven decades, too. He more than earned them.
Shore retired the next 26 batters, not 27.
Nobody’s perfect
Detroit Tiger’s pitcher Armando Galarraga threw the 21st perfect game in 135 years of major league history tonight — and inconceivably the third this season.
Well, he would have, except that first base umpire Jim Joyce just didn’t know it and inexplicably called the 27th Cleveland batter safe at first when he was clearly out. Not even close.
Galarraga got the next batter to end the game and preserve the shut out.
Instant replay anyone?
Joyce apologized after the game and Galarraga accepted the apology with grace.
The first out in the ninth was a spectacular catch that preserved the perfect game for Joyce’s screw up. Here’s that video.
Beisbol…been berry berry good…to me
Chico Escuela may have to reconsider.
“The head of the baseball players’ union and one of the owners of the Diamondbacks issued statements Friday saying that had concerns about Arizona’s new immigration law.”
Damn Yankees not quite so damned
“Contrary to popular belief, the Yankees are only the fifth-most despised team in the majors, according to an Internet algorithm built by Nielsen Co. that analyzes how people feel about certain things.”
Most disliked — the Cleveland Indians, followed by the Red Sox (YES!), the Reds, and the Astros.
Least disliked — the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics.