Tag Archives: major league baseball

For one day, I put the AL Central race aside

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It was hard not to get caught up in Mark Buehrle‘s perfect game.

The Chicago White Sox pitcher did not allow a Tampa Bay Rays hitter to reach base, becoming just the 18th pitcher in big league history to throw a perfect game.

We got teased earlier this year when Jonathan Sanchez threw a near-perfect game, tossing nine no-hit innings. But an error ruined that perfect-o.

This time around, a great defensive play kept it alive.

I’m not embarrassed to say that I yelled, "Oh my God!" when DeWayne Wise made that highlight reel catch to rob a homer for the first out of the ninth inning. Wise leaped and reached his arm above the wall to glove a fly ball off the bat of Gabe Kapler, but after colliding with the wall, the ball started to slip out of Wise’s glove. On his way down, he caught the ball with his bare hand to preserve the perfect game.

It was an incredible play and an incredible game.

I know as a Minnesotan, it’s not right to cheer for the White Sox. The AL Central race is tight, and even though the Twins aren’t making things easy on themselves, I shouldn’t get behind a Sox player.

But let’s face it. I’m a sucker for baseball history. I appreciate the unlikelihood of a perfect game and the number of things that have to go right for that to happen. Major League Baseball has been around – in some capacity – for 140 years, and there’s been only 18 perfect games now. That’s really something.

So, for one day, I put the AL Central race aside and enjoyed another chapter in baseball history.

Is that Guy Fieri? Apparently not.

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I saw a Deadspin story floating around Facebook about the video below.

During a recent Kansas City Royals-Chicago White Sox game, the Royals broadcast team for Fox Sports Net thinks it’s got an interview with The Food Network’s Guy Fieri. It is one of the most uncomfortable interviews in recent memory.

The Fieri impostor makes the interview more and more outlandish, even going as far as taking a couple of cell phone calls during pauses.

Here it is:

What is on my mind, you ask? Oh, you didn’t ask. Well, I’m going to tell you anyway.

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Here’s an assortment of random thoughts on Major League Baseball so far this season:

  • It’s tough to lose both ends of a doubleheader with your co-aces on the mound, but that’s just what the Twins did on Wednesday. Granted, the Boston Red Sox are a very good team. But Scott Baker and Francisco Liriano are as close as the Twins have to veteran presences in their rotation. The Twins are really banking on Glen Perkins to continue his hot start.
  • How about Maicer Izturis hitting third in the Los Angeles Angels’ order a couple times during that Twins-Angels series last weekend? I realize Vlad is hurt, but I gotta think Mike Scioscia - who is a great manager – has a better option than his utility infielder with a career .377 slugging percentage for the No. 3 spot in the order.
  • And while the Angels offense has been sluggish so far, former Twins outfielder Torii Hunter is off to a scorching start for them. Entering Wednesday night’s game, Hunter was hitting .310 with five homers so far this year.
  • The big name through the first week of the season was a tongue-twister: Emilio Bonifacio. The Florida Marlins third baseman had 14 hits through his team’s first five games and stole four bases, including three on Opening Day. But he’s cooled off as of late, going 4-for-33 in his last eight games. The speedy infielder, who came over to Florida from the Washington Nationals in a trade last offseason, is looking a little more like the guy with the career .703 OPS in the minor leagues.
  • Last week I blogged about a few of the unlikely teams atop divisions in MLB. Well, not much has changed. Toronto, Florida, Seattle and Kansas City all find themselves with at least a share of the division lead as I write this. The Jays can hit, but I still worry about their starting pitching. And closer B.J. Ryan blew another save Wednesday night. The Marlins were 11-1, but have now lost three in a row. The Royals and Mariners still have a lot of question marks. I’m sticking with Florida and K.C. as my two teams that are most likely – if any – to make the playoffs from this group. I can tell you this: If the Royals get a lead after six innings, watch out. I like the Ron Mahay-Juan Cruz-Joakim Soria bullpen group they got right now.

Forbes issues baseball stadium rankings

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Former colleague Todd Deutsch sent me a link yesterday sending me to the Forbes’ baseball stadium rankings, which were published last week. According to its Web site, Forbes ranked the ballparks based on affordability, accessibility, fan participation and concession quality.

Here’s the top five stadiums, according to Forbes:

  1. AT&T Park in San Francisco
  2. Fenway Park in Boston
  3. PNC Park in Pittsburgh
  4. Wrigley Field in Chicago
  5. Oriole Park in Baltimore

And the bottom five (to no surprise, you might be pretty familiar with one of these):

  30. Dolphin Stadium in Miami
  29. Alameda County Stadium in Oakland
  28. Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay
  27. Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis (Breakdown with grades for each: (Intangibles – C; Fan participation – C+; Accessiblity – B+; Affordability – B+; Food – C)
  25 (tie): The Ballpark in Arlington; Chase Field in Phoenix

Here are a few of my thoughts on the rankings:

  • I’m going to Wrigley Field this summer and can’t wait. There was a different feel walking into Fenway Park that you just don’t get at any other stadium, except for possibly Wrigley.
  • PNC, in my opinion, is the most picturesque ballpark in baseball. Very underrated because, well, it’s in Pittsburgh.
  • Oriole Park, along with Progressive Field in Cleveland, set the tone for the ballpark craze of the last 15 years, and it’s still going strong.
  • I think the bottom five (six with the tie) really gives you a feel for the state of baseball stadiums. Arguing whether or not stadiums should be publicly funded is a discussion for another day. However, if Texas and Arizona host the fifth-worst ballparks in baseball, that’s a pretty good situation for Major League Baseball. The bottom four really stand out from the rest. And to no surprise, all four teams playing in those stadiums are either getting new ones or working feverishly to get new ones.

MLB: Who’s for real?

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Most of the teams in Major League Baseball are eight games into the season. And while judging whether or not teams are a success this early in the season seems pointless, many news pundits were doing so with President Barack Obama two months into a four-year term. So I figure, if it’s good enough for CNN, it’s good enough for me, right?

In fact, Yahoo has a story yesterday that says only one team in baseball history has started 1-6 or worse and made the playoffs (it was the 2007 Philadelphia Phillies). So the first week does give you some indication of what’s coming, even if the 1-7 Cleveland Indians prefer to disagree.

It’s a pretty interesting group of teams atop their divisions in baseball, which makes you wonder what teams, if any, are equipped to parlay the early season success into late-September bliss.

Here’s a look at the playoff picture through Tuesday’s games:

  • AL East: Baltimore Orioles (6-2)
  • AL Central: Kansas City Royals (5-3)
  • AL West: Seattle Mariners (6-2)
  • AL wild card: Toronto Blue Jays (6-3)
  • NL East: Florida Marlins (6-1)
  • NL Central: Chicago Cubs (5-2)
  • NL West: San Diego Padres (6-2)
  • NL wild card: St. Louis Cardinals (6-3)

I have a feeling the execs at Fox and TBS would cringe at that lineup if those teams advance to October playoff baseball. No Red Sox. No Yankees. No Dodgers. No Angels. Those execs throughout the playoffs would likely be echoing the chant of fans at Wrigley Field following Cubs victories: "Go Cubs go. Go Cubs go."

I’m not sure if some of those playoff-bound teams are capable of keeping it up. If I had to put money on any of them, I think Kansas City and Florida have the best chances of sustained success in 2009.

The NL East is pretty competitive, but taking the injured Cole Hamels out of the Phillies rotation really hurts them. There’s a good chance the wild card will come from the East, so there’s an opening for the Marlins. They have a good young rotation (ESPN’s Peter Gammons often said this offseason it’s the best in the division). And the Fightin’ Fish have a lot of young stars in their lineup, led by Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla and the emerging Jeremy Hermida and Emilio Bonifacio.

As for the Royals, I think the AL Central is WIDE OPEN. One thing that’s stood out early in the season are the flaws of every team in this division are evident. Cleveland – which was the division winner prediction by many - is off to a really poor start. And the other favorite – the Minnesota Twins – are 4-5 but could very easily be 2-7 without two walk-off victories.

So Kansas City’s got a shot, but the Royals do need to get the injured Jose Guillen back in their lineup. He’s the one veteran presence on a team of mostly young and raw players.

An athlete dying way too young

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I feel deeply saddened by the news of Nick Adenhart‘s death.

I didn’t know Adenhart. I had never met him, and prior to today I probably couldn’t have picked him out of a crowd unless he was wearing an L.A. Angels jersey with "Adenhart" on the back.

Yet the news of the Angels pitcher’s death at the age of 22 really gets you. To hear about a guy passing away at such a young age should be tough for anyone to get over.

I saw former big league pitcher-turned-commentator Dan Plesac on MLB Network say how sad he was because you think about all of the places a big league career can take someone, and Adenhart was just on the cusp of that. He will never get to experience some of those things a person of his athletic ability is able to experience.

I liken the death of an athlete to that of a TV or movie star. These are celebrities, and even though we may not know them personally, we’ve seen enough of them to feel their loss.

But I think an athlete dying young is an even harder pill to swallow. Because unlike movie stars or TV stars, athletes perform live. I literally saw this guy on Baseball Tonight just hours before he died. It’s a really difficult thing to wrap you brain around.

I doubt anything I’ve written in this post is mind-blowing, but I just felt the need to write something about it.

Breaking down Monday’s Twins opener

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I had the privilege of attending Monday’s opener at the Metrodome between the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Mariners. Now for a few thoughts:

  • First of all, it’s quite the atmosphere with 48,000+ at the Metrodome. Unfortunately, the Twins didn’t give them much to cheer about.
  • Pretty cool to see some of the franchise’s legendary figures at the game. I know at one point on the field prior to the first pitch Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Tom Kelly were making the rounds.
  • It was a tale of two halves for the Twins offense. For the first five innings, the Twins managed to get runners in scoring position and not score. In the final four innings, the Twins had just one baserunner, that being Joe Crede‘s one-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning in a five-run game.
  • Speaking of runners in scoring position, the Twins really struggled in that department Monday. As far as I can tell, the Twins were 2-for-9 with RISP on Monday. Not terrible, but not great for a team that hit .305 in that department last year.
  • All and all I thought Francisco Liriano pitched well. It’s hard to be too impressed when your starter gives up four runs in seven innings, but he didn’t walk anybody. In fact, every baserunner he put on scored (four hits – four runs).
  • Did Carlos Gomez have a chance at catching Franklin Gutierrez‘s home run ball? It was hard to tell from the seats, but I thought he had a good jump. Did it just miss his glove?
  • You can already sense Twins fans are quivering at the sight of the team’s bullpen. It was a 4-1 Mariners lead after Liriano left, and after a solid inning from Luis Ayala, the ‘pen struggled. Jesse Crain (or as I will now call him, "The Human Crain Delay") and Craig Breslow each walked batters in the ninth inning prior to Matt Guerrier giving up a two-run single to Jose Lopez to put the game out of reach at 6-1.
  • Finally, it was a pretty big thrill for me to see Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run. I know I’ve mentioned before what a big fan of his I was as a kid. Monday night was the first time I’ve ever seen him play in person, so seeing him hit a bomb in his second at-bat – much like the Shamwow – left me saying "Wow" every time his foot touched a bag as he rounded the bases. That was one of the coolest moments I’ve seen at a baseball game.

Opening Day is here. It’s prediction time!

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Braves-Phillies tonight was fun. Kind of a dull game, but Philly got the tying run to the plate in the ninth before losing 4-1.

Monday is the big day. That’s when the majority of teams take the field for the first time. That’s when from noon until night there’s constant baseball running on ESPN, ESPN2 or Fox Sports Net North.

I heard Peter Pascarelli on ESPN Radio prior to the Braves-Phillies game tonight say he’s calling for a Cardinals-Twins World Series, with St. Louis winning in six.

Now for a few of my thoughts and predictions on the season:

  • Not to sound too homer-ish, but the Minnesota Twins got a really good shot of winning the AL Central. However, every team in the division has at least a pretty good shot of contending. No team really stands out. And it’s Opening Day. I don’t care if you’re in San Diego, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, whatever. You always hope THIS is THE YEAR your team turns the corner. Losing Scott Baker and Joe Mauer prior to the start of the year is pretty discouraging for Twins fans, though.
  • I expect Carlos Gomez to improve on last year’s stats (his OBP can’t get worse, can it?), Denard Span to be about the same, and Alexi Casilla to regress some. If Casilla hits second, he will be hurt more than anybody by the loss of Mauer to injury. Now, I know Mauer is supposedly only going to miss a little time, but initial reports this offseason had him missing little time in Spring Training, and here we are on Opening Day and he’s still hurt. I don’t believe he’ll be out a long time, but you never know.

DIVISION PICKS

  • AL Central: I’m saying the Twins take this division down but not by much. I know a lot of people are high on Cleveland, but the Star Tribune’s La Velle E. Neal blogged the same thing I’ve been saying for the last few days: It’s hard to be too high on a team when it’s third starter is Carl Pavano. He hasn’t been a relevant pitcher since 2004 with the Florida Marlins. Heck, in the four years since he’s started a grand total of 26 games. That’s it. Also, the Chicago White Sox won’t be as bad some predict (I’ve seen way too many last-place predictions for them. Geesh, losing Jon Garland hurts, but not that much. RUNDOWN: 1. Twins. 2. Indians. 3. White Sox. 4. Tigers. 5. Royals.
  • AL East: For all of the money they spent, is anyone else unimpressed by the New York Yankees’ lineup? I realize A-Rod will be back in a month, but I’ve seen in some places Hideki Matsui as their cleanup hitter. That would have fine a couple years ago, but he had a pretty ho-hum 2008 (93 games, .424 slugging, sub-.800 OPS). Maybe he bounces back. I still like the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays in this division. It’s funny to me how I think the Rays lost very little from a year ago (I think they’re better on paper after adding Pat Burrell), yet everyone picks Boston to win the division. The Rays still get no respect! Well, color me disrespectful too, but I’m going with Boston by a hair. Rays get the wild card. RUNDOWN: 1. Red Sox. 2. Rays. 3. Yankees. 4. Blue Jays. 5. Orioles.
  • AL West: This could be a great divison race I think. Losing Mark Teixeira and injuries to Ervin Santana and John Lackey definitely pull the Los Angeles Angels back to the rest of the pack. The Oakland A’s are better on paper from a year ago. Much better, in fact. Really young rotation though, but the additions of Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi are good ones. And boy, can the Texas Rangers rake! Hamilton (aka Ham Slamwich), Kinsler, Michael Young, an emerging Chris Davis, Blalock. If only they could pitch (some things never change). Losing Milton Bradley will hurt them a lot. Steps forward by Davis and Blalock would help. RUNDOWN: 1. Angels. 2. Athletics. 3. Rangers. 4. Mariners.
  • NL Central: Another race with some really good teams. The Cubbies will be the favorites, and you can never count out La Russa and Pujols’ Cardinals. They’re always there. The Brew Crew lost CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets, but they still got pop with Prince, Braun, Hardy and Co. And I think the Cincinnati Reds will be Major League Baseball’s most improved team. Lot of great young talent with Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez, Chris Dickerson, etc. Might be a fun team to watch in 2010, but not yet. RUNDOWN: 1. Cubs. 2. Cardinals. 3. Brewers. 4. Reds. 5. Pirates. 6. Astros.
  • NL East: This division should be all about the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets. The Mets REALLY bolstered their bullpen from a year ago by adding Francisco Rodriguez and JJ Putz. The Phillies did little (who can blame them?). They simply replaced Pat Burrell with Raul Ibanez. But the Phillies have been Biff Tannen to the Mets’ George McFly for the last couple season. The Mets need to have that McFly moment - when their arms are getting twisted behind their back – where they turn around and knock Biff to the ground Jack Dempsey style. I still like the Phillies. RUNDOWN: 1. Phillies. 2. Mets. 3. Marlins. 4. Braves. 5. Nationals.
  • NL West: The Los Angeles Dodgers got Manny Ramirez back, and boy does their lineup look a heck of a lot better with him. A full year of Manny means this division is once again for their taking, right? Well, I’m a pitching kind of guy. So I’m saying the Dodgers don’t take this division because I like the Arizona Diamondbacks again. Dan Haren, Brandon Webb, and a young up-and-comer in Max Scherzer. Here’s the difference between the Dodgers and D’Backs: up-and-comer Clayton Kershaw is LA’s third starter, while Scherzer is Arizona’s fifth. The San Francisco Giants will be a lot better too, with a big three of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and the never-say-retire Randy Johnson and some improving young position players. RUNDOWN: 1. D’Backs. 2. Dodgers. 3. Giants. 4. Rockies. 5. Padres.

POSTSEASON PICKS
ALDS: Red Sox def. Twins; Rays (wild card) def. Angels.
NLDS: Cubs def. Phillies; D’Backs def. Mets (wild card)
ALCS: Red Sox def. Rays.
NLCS: Cubs def. D’Backs.
World Series: Red Sox def. Cubs.

And finally, I’ll be at the Metrodome for Opening Day. Here’s my picks to click for the opener: Twins’ Jason Kubel, Mariners’ Wladimir Balentien (figured I should go out on a limb on something).

That’s it. Watch these predictions crash and burn.

 

Familiar faces pop up

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There’s quite a few little-known ex-Minnesota Twins players making news in major league camps. Let’s take a look.

  • Livan Hernandez: The Twins "veteran rotation presence" a year ago finds himself slated to be the New York Mets fifth starter entering this season, which starts Sunday. The ERA over 6 last year and the WHIP of 1.67 wasn’t enough to discourage the Mets from hitching their wagon to him.
  • Juan Rincon: The former eighth-inning setup option for the Twins was a non-roster invitee with the Detroit Tigers this spring training. And despite long odds, he has made the Tigers roster for Opening Day. Rincon was a solid relief option through 2006 for the Twins, but struggled the last two years in Minnesota and Cleveland.
  • Sidney Ponson: Thanks to his performance for The Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, Ponson managed to earn a contract and spring training invitation from the Kansas City Royals. Ponson earlier this week was named the team’s No. 4 starter in the rotation.
  • Luis Rodriguez: The former Twins utility infielder will break camp with the San Diego Padres. According to ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, he is listed as the No. 1 shortstop on the team’s depth chart. David Eckstein is expected to play at second base.

I’d be surprised if Livan, Ponson and L-Rod are meaningful contributors by season’s end. Who knows? With Detroit’s bullpen being shaky in the spring, maybe Rincon could work himself into a meaningful role.