MLBeat

Fairly sloppy and uninspiring game. It was Lincecum's first start since his hospitalization for "dehydration" aka "flulike symptoms" aka a massive hangover during the All-Star break. His control was a tad off and the resulting high pitch count probably fatigued him to the point of allowing Ryan Braun's backbreaking three-run homer in the seventh -- he had already topped a hundred pitches through five and arguably shouldn't even have come out for the sixth -- but I'm way more interested in the reluctance of the sporting media to report something along the lines of "Tim Lincecum Too Trashed to Play in All-Star Game," even if it's a completely open secret.

Here's what Will Carroll wrote in BP yesterday for one of his little throwaway daily notes, notable because it's the closest I've seen anyone come to just saying it:

If anyone tells you that Tim Lincecum will be affected in the second half by his All-Star illness, don't believe them. And next time someone mentions the way that the media deals with players now, versus what they did with Mickey Mantle, don't believe that either.

Point taken -- but why does it have to be this way?

Anyhow, the Brewers dispatched the Giants in workmanlike fashion to complete a three-game sweep. The talent disparity on the field seemed noticeable, particularly when Braun and Corey Hart hit homers that had a way of feeling like impossible feats for a lineup featuring Eugenio Velez in left and someone named Ivan Ochoa at short (Brian Bocock having been reduced to but a memory). In front of us sat two friendly Brewers fans who were shocked to learn that the Giants do not feature even one player who could be counted upon to hit twenty homers in a full season's worth of playing time. Rowand, maybe...Bengie Molina but that's kind of a stretch...and yep, we're all done.

Other inexplicable events from this day included: a Mets fan two rows behind us (dead ringer for Bobby Valentine when he wore the fake mustache) who unfortunately proved louder and dumber than the entire rest of our section combined; a Giants fan two rows behind him who thought one solitary noise clapper, if employed incessantly for three straight innings, would somehow get everyone fired up rather than extensively annoyed; and the Giants' decision, during the postgame Picnic in the Park for season ticketholders (always a favorite event of ours due to free beer and hot dogs), to feature zoo animals including a baby camel, boa constrictor, and whatever in the world this is:


But the most unanswerable question came from the nice middle-aged lady sitting next to me about a third of the way into the game. She patiently waited for a break in between innings so that I wasn't occupied, then asked, "I really don't mean this in a sarcastic way, but why do you do that?" She was pointing to my scorebook.

I get this every time I come to a Giants game. Usually it's from someone just obnoxious enough who says they can't understand why I would, to which my stock reply is that I don't really understand the people who don't keep score. But this woman was not only kind, but completely serious and totally deserving of a real response.

I trotted out the usual reasons: to have as a keepsake, to help me pay more attention to the game, and as a sort of homage to the old-school way of doing things. But none of those are good enough reasons on their own, really. She wasn't convinced. Then I realized, I wasn't convinced either. Why is it exactly that I do this again?

Labels: game reports, milwaukee brewers, san francisco giants, tim lincecum

Tactical error by Bud Black ended this one: with runners on the corners in a tie game in the bottom of the tenth, Trevor Hoffman ran the count full to Jose Castillo with one out. Randy Winn had good speed at first so you knew he was going to be running on the pitch, and yet the Padres did not draw the infield in from double-play depth, a critical mistake Black may not have realized until Castillo hit a routine grounder to short that Edgar Gonzalez had no choice but to eat while the winning run scored.

This game was notable for its quick, clean tenor and the abrupt change thereof in the final inning. Lincecum and Randy Wolf tossed the kind of pitcher's duel that seemed to have more to do with the ineptitude of the offenses involved than with anyone's blazing stuff (Franchise tallied only two Ks in seven mostly easy innings). The Giants in particular did not appear likely to be able to muster more than one run at any point, but when Hoffman came in to protect a two-run lead in the tenth the base hits started coming faster than I could write them down. The gun never read higher than 85 for any of Hoffman's pitches. I wonder if Petco Park's traditional playing of "Hell's Bells" in the ninth these days is just sad in that wistfully nostalgic sort of way. If the Padres were in contention they would have probably found a way to end this particular death march by now.

Oh and one final note: I have no idea who Brian Horwitz and Alex Hinshaw are. Nobody else in the park did either. But this game will go down as a lifelong memory for both of them.

Labels: game reports, san diego padres, san francisco giants, tim lincecum

Krukow and Kuiper on KNBR make for a decent hometown team, lacking the effortless knowledge and dulcet tones of Jon Miller but notable for their easy rapport and mastery of the play-by-play, particularly the feel of it: so-and-so worked a great at-bat, this guy was taking "spring training cuts," the Phillies were acting reluctant to come to the box against Lincecum (whom they now casually refer to as Franchise).

The first words out of their mouth as soon as the broadcast went on air were "Omar's back!" as if the shortstop Vizquel had finally returned from a six-month pilgrimage in the Himalayas. They described the smile on his face as he took pregame grounders with the genuine appreciation of old veterans who know how it feels to cherish every moment out there on a major league field. "You don't ever want to take the uniform off," they later said referring to Vizquel, Philly starter Jamie Moyer and all of the players on both teams who are reluctant to call it quits.

They show the diplomacy necessary to keep relationships with the players they cover, but every now and then the truth slips out. Jose Castillo "hasn't been playing at an All-Star level or anything close to it," despite his four-hit game today. Jamie Moyer's fastball "comes in at 77 -- that's it. That's all there is." Moyer was gone after four innings in a blowout loss for the Phils.

The hits came easy today for the Giants, and Lincecum mowed down the Philly lineup with corresponding effortlessness (8 IP, 8 K). With Vizquel, Rowand, and Winn all back in the lineup (and Brian Bocock mercifully sent back down to the farm), the Giants do somewhat resemble a major-league team. On days like this it seems I've been a little rough on them. Final score: Giants 8, Phillies 2.

Labels: game reports, philadelphia phillies, san francisco giants, tim lincecum

This was one of those frigid SF summer nights. We knew it was going to be, and we came prepared with extra scarves and hats and more whiskey than usual, but by the third inning we'd already wrapped up tight and polished off the whole flask and our teeth were still chattering. A close, tense and highly eventful game and yet two of us had left by the eighth, with the other two of us slipping out the door the instant it ended.

Tulowitzki made a charging barehand play in the first inning but the throw popped right out of Todd Helton's glove, the kind of error you see maybe once a year. The Rockies trainer came out to check on Tulo but cleared him to stay out there. Couple plays later he pulled up short of grabbing an easy grounder up the middle: a strained quad.

The Rockies were clearly caught unprepared, because their backup plan was to insert Chris Ianetta at third base, move Garrett Atkins to second, and move Clint Barmes to short. Naturally the Denver nine played flawless defense for the rest of the game, and Ianetta homered off Lincecum in the very next frame, doubled in the sixth and scored the pivotal run in the game.

Every game is like a snowflake, and this one would have been unique even before the Giants ace allowed that go-ahead run in the sixth on a balk. Lincecum had shown another layer of promise tonight by pitching efficiently in chilly conditions and wriggling out of a first-inning jam, but here he false-started his windup with Ianetta on third. Bengie Molina the catcher tried to call timeout before anything happened but Gary Darling was already calling waving the runner home. Molina and Bruce Bochy argued vehemently to the crowd's delight but to no avail.

The Giants fall to 12-16, putting them on pace for a 69-win season. To reach 63 wins and avoid a 100-loss season would have to be considered a moral victory for a squad so thin on hitting talent. But if it's going to happen they'll need to avoid losses like these, where they a) balked in the go-ahead run; b) got picked off first in an unforgivable situation (tying run on third, one out, seventh inning); c) got needlessly thrown out at third on a grounder to shortstop (also in the seventh); and d) wasted a 3-0 count in the ninth with the tying run on second and Fuentes the closer struggling to find the zone by lifting a harmless popup to second (earning the rare 'X' in the scorebook, intended to signify scorn).

Those last two blunders came courtesy of Randy Winn, one of the guys supposedly responsible for the veteran leadership on this team. But so far it's the kids on this team that have shown the most spark: Lincecum, Fred Lewis (2-5, 2 SB tonight), Jonathan Sanchez, Eugenio Velez (a mediocre player but with dazzling speed). And I'll even finally give a nod in the direction of Brian Bocock, a little 23-year-old shortstop who is completely overmatched in the majors but who made a gutsy play tonight in the eighth. Drawn in on the grass with Willy Taveras on third and one out, he fielded a Matt Holliday grounder that came to him alongside the flying splintered barrel of the bat. The projectiles arrived simultaneously and not three feet apart, but Bocock fielded the correct object, looked the runner back to third and made the play like it was a routine Cactus League drill. I've been waiting for Bocock to show us something that separated him from a stranger summoned off the street, and thanks to that one little play I have now seen it.

Labels: colorado rockies, game reports, san francisco giants

In the last recap I made a few references to the Giants' potential this year for remarkable, history book-rewriting badness. I may have taken things a step too far -- they do have some pitching talent with the capability to keep games close -- but not by much.

This game, played on the sort of sparkling Sunday afternoon that almost crossed the line from "balmy" to "kinda damn hot," was an example of how they can win those close games. A number of factors converged to make it possible:

1) The bloopers fall in. Of the twelve hits recorded, at least half were either pop flies with eyes or ground balls with legs. Some days are just like that no matter who you are.

2) Random dude has the day of his life. John Bowker, who had homered in his ML debut the day before, kept his Bo Hart impression going with another dinger and four RBI. His minor league track record suggests no meaningful potential (as can be said for any Giants prospect), but there may something to be said for the strategy of "when all else fails, go through as many different minor leaguers as you can and someone's bound to stick." A full season's and roster's worth of this tactic grows pretty old though.

3) The opposing team runs out the Sunday starters. Troy Glaus and Albert Pujols sat this one out in favor of Rico Washington and Skip Schumaker. Joel Pineiro took the ball for his injury-delayed first appearance this year and showed very little, striking out no one and allowing the Giants to bat around in the fourth. (I still would have taken the Cards, however, over the SF lineup which was sans Winn, Roberts and Rowand.)

4) Franchise is pitching. This was the third time I'd seen Lincecum pitch in person, and I'm still not sure how he does it. He snaps every bit of energy out of his 5' 10", 170 body to get his fastball into the high 90s, but that and his curveball are enough to make a lot of professional hitters look sillier than they're used to. Nine of his eleven Ks were swinging, almost all of them out on the front foot. I know people probably said this about Oswalt and Wagner too, but it doesn't seem like a kid this tiny could possibly last long. The Giants had better hope he does.

Labels: game reports, san francisco giants, st. louis cardinals

We all knew it instantly. Even though it was to the deepest part of the park and just barely made it, we all knew it instantly.

You've all seen it by now. All I can add is that the atmosphere in the park vastly surpassed last night's, even before Barry came to bat in the fifth. Possibly because he was showing signs of life against Mike Bacsik even before that (double in the second, single in the third), but who knows. It just felt like the right time. The crowd seemed to feel it coming, not unlike the infamous cat who could smell death.

When it came, it was not necessarily a more intense experience in the stands than, say, a playoff sayonara, or an Auburn-LSU game, but it came close, and it had the unmistakable feel of being unique. People may assume that A-Rod will pass Bonds eventually, but don't be so sure. We very well may never see another night like this in our lifetimes.

The initial moment of jubilation is going to stay with me forever. As will the attendant who immediately ran out to replace the now-historic bases. As will the fans who leaned over the railing to slap the freshly-placed 756 next to Bonds' name on the brick outfield wall. As will Hank Aaron's videotaped kudos, providing fitting (if reserved) closure to the saga. As will the inevitable straggler who traipsed gleefully in from center field, stopped near second base when he realized the cops had him encircled, and had already began to kneel in submission when he took a vicious-looking pin from John Law. Just as understated an intrusion as the ensuing ceremony itself.

But no curtain calls for Bonds! I've never seen a curtain call out here in San Francisco, come to think of it. In my St. Louisan days I saw curtain calls for McGwire, Will Clark, Scott Rolen, Ray Lankford, Jim Edmonds, and probably Bo Hart at some point too. Perhaps things are just different out here by the Bay. But gosh almighty, wouldn't this have been a good time for one? Or are fans really this happy to see the long march end, and a trudge of fifty moribund and poorly-attended games begin?

Equally surprising to me was the double switch that removed Bonds from the game immediately after the fifth. Bruce Bochy even sent starter Barry Zito back out to throw warmups before jerking him out as part of the switch, but Bonds didn't really get the follow-up ovation he was hoping for because the fans didn't yet fully realize he was leaving the game so early. They responded in kind by vacating the premises; by the ninth the seagulls once again may have outnumbered the crowd. Every Bonds-related managerial move made by Bochy in recent weeks has underscored that these few weeks have been an exhibition, a sideshow that has eclipsed the increasingly impotent main event. But I've harped on that enough already by now.

(Good thing Selig wasn't around to see it. Why spoil an event like this with a man guaranteed to turn all the cheers into boos? In the end Selig achieved the unthinkable: make Bonds appear a sympathetic figure by comparison. Not to mention render himself a mere parenthetical paragraph in the recap.)

I promised not to preach, I promised not to take a side, and then I came home from the Call Center tonight and read the piece at ESPN.com that Gene Wojciehowski apparently had prepared for this moment, and something set me off. There's nothing special about it -- a hack job, you've read several just like it already. But it was something about the way it reeked of the self-importance too many of us sportswriters tend to bathe in - dealing in cliches as accepted truths, lumping in Sammy Sosa with the rest despite no evidence to go on aside from the court of public opinion (and it is not often you will find me defending Sammy Sosa in any capacity), falsely dichotomizing Bonds with Hank Aaron in the exact way this article describes, pumping up the mythical importance of 756 with his rhetoric so that it will sound more shocking and meaningful when he anoints it as tainted, with the ever-insipid asterisk. It's not just him though, of course. It feels like it's everyone. Even my new favorite baseball site The Dugout can't get over themselves. More and more often I am being lectured that what is happening to baseball is Wrong, and I am outright commanded (as Wojciehowski does) to care about it.

But I don't care. Nor can I honestly apologize for not caring. Instead I direct you to local chap Ray Ratto's take over at CBS Sportsline. He gets it right.

No matter how the huddled masses of the sports media world tried to frame the Bonds chase, no matter how many snarky Deadspin commenters or "Rome Is Burning" callers parrot some invective they heard from someone somewhere about Bonds or steroids, no matter how many hacks like Wojciehowski unwittingly associate themselves with the likes of Bill O'Reilly by furthering the ever-growing national perception that San Francisco is somehow a separate cultural island with values alien to the rest of America, they can't change how it felt to see that ball arc softly through the air towards the ecstatic arms of the crowd. If this was your town, and if Bonds had been your team's cornerstone for fifteen years, you would have felt it too.


[Our gratitude to The Big Lead for the link.]

Labels: barry bonds, game reports, mlbeat as soapbox

Exactly as I'd feared. This game, a Monday nighter against the lowly (but improving) Nationals, had very little else to it besides the Bonds show. Rookies Lincecum and John Lannan matched 7 IP, 1 ER lines but did so with high effort: 24 baserunners allowed between them on nine walks. Sounds exciting enough, but both lineups in the game were sufficiently nonthreatening (Kevin Frandsen, D'Angelo Jimenez, Nook Logan, Ron Belliard, Brian Schneider, etc.) that there was little tension at any point. Not an inspiring performance in the bunch, save for Randy Winn who went 4-5 with four singles, occupied first base in front of Bonds three times, and knocked in the game-winner. By which point 75% of the crowd was already gone.

Besides Bonds' plate appearances, there was no tension in the air tonight, and it was tough for this crowd to ramp up the intensity out of nowhere for one at single bat every couple innings. It was Irish Night at the ballpark and the Irish turnout was noticeable, which produced a much more interesting clientele than usual, not to mention more traditional jigs and bagpipe tunes than usual, but maybe this sort of crowd had acquired its tickets well ahead of time for *that* reason and thus wasn't quite diehard enough to be really worthy of a major night in baseball's history. (How do I measure diehard at AT&T Park these days? By the enthusiasm for Lincecum's every move: there should be a lot more of it these days.) Sure the flashbulbs popped like mad on every pitch to Bonds, just as they did back in the McGwire days, but it had the feel of a night that folks wanted to be able to someday say they were a part of, more so than a night everyone actually wanted to be a part of. That's the way it came across to me at least. Give me a pennant-chase game any day of the week and play two of 'em on Sunday.

Little to say about Bonds tonight. Today's first-inning video testimonial came from Muhammad Ali (his son, technically) and Bonds made very little show of his applause in response. (A couple weeks earlier it had been Joe Montana, which the crowd devoured.) At the plate he tried, but didn't do it tonight. That's really the best thing about home runs in general: they're still rare enough that you can never truly expect them, or at least it's unfair to expect them. John Lannan pitched to him, did so successfully, and he made sure that when he erred he did so on the side of walking him. History won't remember him for that. Job well done.

We'll be back at the Call Center tomorrow. If history gets made, we promise not to pontificate about it. A hundred percent pontification-free zone, this.

Well wait a sec, just let me have this one. A certain pet peeve has been festering within me, spreading and growing moldy patches and tentacles over several years, and one occurrence of it tonight really colonized my colon. Kindly direct your attention to the bottom of the fourth, when Rajai Davis (playing his first home game as a newly-acquired Giant) rolled a grounder to Ryan Zimmerman at third with two out and Lincecum running at first. The Washington third baseman played it nonchalantly, bending to his right instead than making the one shuffle required to get in position, and he booted it. The ball hit him in the glove, then flopped to the ground on his left side, just far enough away that as it came to a gentle rest, Zimmerman had to give up on it.

The official scorer called the play a hit.

Does anyone else feel the error has been completely devalued in baseball over the last few, or last several years? I am but a simple unresourceful blogger with not a crumb of evidence to back me up, but for many years I have been getting the feeling that a play like this, a play that once would have been scored an error, no question, is now scored a hit. I've heard one theory that this trend is real, and it's the influence of the home team to pump up their players' stats -- and Brian Sabean wants Davis to rack up all the hits he can I'm sure, for his own sake. But do agents influence this process as well? Is there a review system in place for official scorers in baseball?

Think of the consequences. Fewer errors keeps a player's defensive numbers artificially better (fielding pct. and total errors), though more advanced fielding stats might still have him pegged. But more importantly, fewer errors means more hits. More hits means better offensive statistics across the board: average, RBI, OPS, VORP, all of the above. They go in the book just as if they were hard line-drive singles to right, and that means better credentials for everyone. Sure, it does mean more earned runs and higher ERAs for pitchers -- and you know some veteran pitchers probably hate it -- but pitchers' numbers are more likely to be evaluated in context of their league and era. How many times have you heard an announcer say so-and-so's 4.50 ERA is actually decent for the American League, or baseball in general these days? How much of that can possibly be steroids?

Well I hate to play the pest, but bottom line -- if a professional major leaguer has a routine play and he doesn't make it, score that shit an error. Some gray area can remain, but on a play like Zimmerman's tonight... I'm sorry but I must insist that my scorecard's interpretation of that play be instated as the interpretation of record. The truth shall win out in the end! Two and two are four! Oceania has not always been at war with Eurasia!

Labels: barry bonds, game reports, mlbeat as soapbox

Took a cab to make this one on time. Twenty bucks from our crosstown office but worth every penny for the diatribe of the cabdriver, who passionately declared his intention to someday visit Bonds' house and volunteer to wash his dishes, do his laundry, clean his house, anything he could to express his gratitude for Bonds' years of service to the Giants. He savaged every other player on the roster and did so by name save, inexplicably, for Pedro Feliz.

Anyway, here were the Braves (click on image for magnified version):


And as for the home nine:


Notes:

-Old Man Franco has started every game at first for the Braves since his reacquisition a week ago. I'm still happy to have Father Time back I swear, but this is not what we discussed! Jarrod Saltalamacchia was just beginning to settle in at his newly won first-base job, and now we have to sit through feeble performances like this on a regular basis instead? The boys at Start Salty cannot be amused by this.

-The Giants did not show so much as a pulse until the bottom of the ninth, which Tim Hudson kicked off by issuing his first two walks of the night. He had been sailing along until then -- check out all the 6-3's -- so Bobby Cox gave him an extra batter or two of slack before going to Wickman, and that cost the Braves. Although Bengie Molina's game-tying single was more exciting, the Feliz double was the big hit and could have been caught by Willie Harris had he not gotten spooked at the last moment by a charging Andruw Jones. Braves fans (still abundant in the crowd tonight) were stunned to lose a commanding 4-0 lead so quickly, and from all the cursing I could detect careening through the pavilion they were putting the blame squarely on Wickman, thus continuing the long and storied tradition of drunken fans always being mad at the last thing they saw.

-Because we here at MLBeat are all about full disclosure, I left after the tenth and scored the last three innings from the comfort of my apartment. What can I say, sometimes you have to weigh the noble virtue of being That Fan With the Scorebook Who Will Under No Circumstances Leave Early, versus the comparably noble virtue of not putting your company through more misery than they've declared themselves capable of handling. And misery it was, beyond a doubt: a freezing July night at the ol' ballpark, wind whipping around with constant abandon from start to finish. You never saw two crankier concession workers than the crochety old ladies who sold me a tenth-inning hot chocolate. Ninth inning, down four, two outs... their bags had been packed.

-Nothing to say about Bonds, except a) he turned 43 years young today and b) he played for the duration which is particularly rare these days even in nine-inning games. Surely he is feeling the pressure; if he doesn't reach 756 this week then he'll have to wait another week before the Giants come back home. And yes, he does have to break the record at home. Not just because of potentially belligerent away fans, but because the chance to see 756 is the only way to placate the home fans. Screw a $9 beer, even that wouldn't alienate a season ticketholder more than if he had to suffer a team so dismal all season long and then watch Bonds hit 756 on the road. In my uninformed estimation Giants fans are suffering their cellar-dwelling team with relatively good humor this year because they know they still have tickets to the big sideshow.

Labels: atlanta braves, barry bonds, game reports, san francisco giants

There is little to add to the maelstrom of commentary around what the Braves announcers have been derisively calling "Bondsapalooza," unless you want to see what someone actually thought of, you know, the games themselves. Let's not forget, folks: I lived in St. Louis during the madness of another certain steroid-tainted homer chase, and I know how the baseball experience can be cheapened. Not by the specter of PEDs mind you, but by fans who came to see one thing and one thing only. I remember that scene well, I'm as put off by it today as I was then, and I won't fall victim to the same level of madness.

Fair warning, I tend to have a bare-bones style of score-keeping as you may see, but I like to think the important thing is that I tend to have any style at all. This is a lost art, I tell you.


And for the home side:


(Click on the images for magnified versions.) Some notes:

-Julio did not score a run in the fourth inning; as a potentially tipsy scorekeeper I am allowed one egregious typo per game.

-Speaking of tipsy, a Blue Moon at the North Beach stand used to set you back $8.50. Pretty pricey right? Well, they raised the price to an even $9.00 for All-Star Weekend... and didn't bring it back down once the regular season resumed! Anybody else notice this? Sneaky Giants trying to extract every penny they can from their joke of a season....

-The stars denote great defensive plays. Renteria made a sharp grounder up the middle look easy with a pirouette to throw out Molina in the sixth, and Vizquel ended the top of the sixth with a diving stop and ensuing throw to second for the force out - a play so acrobatic that Vizquel was rewarded for the effort although the runner probably was safe. But the best of all came in the bottom 3rd, when Old Man Franco speared a high-bouncing grounder to start an inning-ending 3-6-3 DP and save Smoltz from a two on, one out, Bonds at bat situation. Play of the game probably, not mentioned anywhere in the official recap.

-Ton of Braves fans in attendance, particularly in our section (134). Not the sort of TBS-transplant California natives you might expect either, but real Southerners. At one point I started to make fun of Chipper Jones for sporting the same silly goatee that every player is apparently required to wear, only to realize that virtually every male Brave fan in my section sported the exact same look. As a TBS transplant from Alabama myself, I can say that these are my people... sort of.

-Matt Cain falls to 3-12 despite being the second-best pitcher on the Giants this season after Lincecum. His talent and determination are evident but it seems he gets screwed in a different way each time out. This time he had to labor hard in the first -- going to full counts on the first four batters -- but had a chance at damage control when Brian McCann lifted a medium-hard liner to left with one out. It can only be scored as a three-run double, but let's just say the urgency with which Bonds ran down that ball fell somewhere between "my alarm clock just went off" and "the paramedic is here to check my vital signs."

-But that's what you're signing up for when it comes to Bondsapalooza 2007. What you get in return are three or four flashbulb-poppy plate appearances where everyone in the stadium actually is paying attention at the same time. Also, when Bonds merely singled in the eighth inning the crowd began streaming out of there like it was the fall of Saigon. Never mind that the single had brought the tying run to the plate in a 4-2 game. Have I mentioned my hatred of the entire human race already in this space?

Labels: atlanta braves, barry bonds, game reports, san francisco giants

So gushed Rockies FSN broadcaster Drew Goodman as this Sunday afternoon Coors Field slugfest rolled into extra innings. And he was right:

•Diametrically opposing starts from Atlanta's Kyle Davies and Colorado's Aaron Cook. The former "needed a map and a GPS tracker to find the strike zone" (said Goodman) as his control problems handed the Rockies a four-run second inning, while Cook was turning in the usual efficient, workmanlike stuff we've come to expect from him. But Cox showed faith in Davies, who recovered and got through five innings on a day when Atlanta's bullpen would dwindle down to tumbleweeds; meanwhile, Cook imploded as a sixth-inning hit parade tied the game back up at 5-5.

•A breakout day for Scott Thorman: 4-for-4, home run, 2 R, 4 RBI, and a ground-rule double to lead off the tenth against a tough lefty, Brian Fuentes.

•A tight situation in the seventh inning, with the game tied 5-5 and Chipper Jones batting with runners on first and second, no outs. Chipper is working hard to get to a full count, laying off some tough sliders from somebody named Zach McClellan, and when the runners Johnson and Renteria take off for the payoff pitch, Chipper shoots a liner up the middle, normally an easy single but this time catching Troy Tulowitzki the rookie shortstop right in stride as he comes over to cover. Catch, force out, tag out: ladies and gentlemen, you have just experienced the rarest documented event in baseball, the unassisted triple play. Only the thirteenth in major league history, don'tcha know. Having witnessed it in the normal run of play and not as part of a Sportcenter highlight, I can now legitimately check it off from my list of Things I Have Seen in Baseball. My life is officially slightly fuller, richer, and more complete than it was just a moment ago.

•Stellar relief work by the Braves, right up until Wickman waddles in for the ninth to protect a 7-5 lead. Wickman has been the picture of okay since coming over from the Indians last year, but today he's got the yips and issues two walks, a hit batsman and a couple of dink hits to cough up the lead.

•A big moment in that ninth with Garrett Atkins up, tying runs on first and second, no outs. A mound visit from Roger McDowell, immediately after which Goodman starts wondering aloud, in a tone betraying near disbelief, why Ryan Langerhans is playing straightaway left-center and leaving nearly a third of the outfield wide open to a right-handed pull hitter. Well, Atkins puts a charge in the second pitch he sees and the crowd reacts as if the game is about to be won...except that the ball lands in Langerhans' hans, without any running required.

•A tough call from Bobby Cox on when to pull your closer in such dire straits. He opted for bases loaded, two outs, tie game, winning run on third, Clint Barmes the batter. Out goes the shaky Wickman, in comes the uninspiring Tyler Yates. Barmes lines the second pitch he sees into right for what would almost always be a game-winning single, but Jeff Francoeur comes streaking from the right field line to make a diving, twisting, rolling, game-extending catch. Francoeur is currently tied with Pedro Feliz atop my list of most frustrating players to watch on account of their hammerheaded plate approaches, but in the interest of equal time I will admit that Francoeur is on fire the last couple weeks and when that's happening, he can carry a team (none of which is true for the dismal Feliz).

•Thirteen walks and two hit batsmen by Atlanta pitchers, a disgusting total only slightly evened out by their batters outhitting the Rockies 16-8. But even going back to Atlanta's middle-innings comeback, you got the feeling they were living on borrowed time at an usurious interest rate. So when Matt Holliday drove a fastball off Steve Colyer (who?) in the eleventh, the resulting 9-7 final was cause for exhalation and resignation as much as anything else. The Braves have always hated coming to Coors and seeing their pitchers get completely worn out -- baseball here is plainly just harder than it is anywhere else -- so stealing this game and completing a weekend sweep at Coors would have really exorcised some long-running demons and given another major burst of momentum to a team that's already starting to resemble a contender. Failing that, we march on regardless. Rockies 9, Braves 7.

Labels: atlanta braves, colorado rockies, game reports, unassisted triple plays

Pitching matchup of the week is tonight. So dubbed because it potentially decides my fantasy matchup this week vs. the Pimply Backs, with wins, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP all still in play. The classic bittersweet fantasy dilemma of owning two pitchers who are starting against each other is in effect. This is written in real time as we go. I'm coming in during the second inning.

Between opening up my laptop, learning of the 1-0 score and booting up the MLB.tv browser, it's already become 2-0 and the first thing I see is Cabrera nailing a batter in the asscheek. With Cabrera's two earlier stellar starts to begin the season, this is precisely what we hoped we'd never see again from the promising young pitcher, although we knew the other shoe was bound to drop sooner or later. "Someone's gonna have to come out here and calm him down," laments Gary Thorne, not noticing that Leo Mazzone has already skipped over the foul line and has made his way to the mound, lecturing Cabrera quickly and firmly, waving his hands frantically trying to express that everything is still all right. Cabrera calmly retires the side four pitches later.

Bottom 2nd: A. J. Burnett gets a 1-2-3 inning, which is good to see. Both these pitchers have better stuff than location, both tonight and in general.

Top 3rd: Cabrera nails Overbay on a classic Maddux two-seamer that backs up under the batter's hands on the inside corner. Only Cabrera throws it about six mph harder than Maddux ever did. That's the Mazzone influence right there, if it turns out DC (which I now dub him to save precious typing time) can master that deadly pitch.

Bottom 3rd: Ended before I could finish typing that last inning's summary, which was meager in itself so I guess that's what we're hoping for today: 18 two-sentence entries with no time for wit. This is exactly what I wanted to see out of A.J. Burnett tonight. Thorne, dutifully: "Burnett has faced the minimum nine as we come to the end of the third inning."

Top 4th: DC's having trouble keeping the ball down, which results in Aaron Hill sitting on a 3-1 cookie and calmly driving it to the opposite gap for a double. Then he gets ahead of Adam Lind -- who is currently a pending waiver claim of mine -- and is able to blow him away with the same recklessly high fastball that Hill could afford to lay off by being ahead in the count. An unlucky infield dink puts runners on the corners with two out, but then a laser right at the second baseman ends the inning. Luck evened out quickly for DC there, which doesn't always happen in games.

Bottom 4th: Burnett's fastball control is shaky horizontally, as opposed to DC's. He gets unlucky when a topspinned chopper skips right by Overbay at first. Outrageously, they score it a hit in a blatant act of homecooking that breaks up the perfect game to boot. I mean, Overbay whiffed on the grounder and they call it a hit! How can Thorne not even mention this travesty? The death of honest official scoring in baseball is a tragedy and borderline scandalous! There, I said it. Anyway, Brian Roberts proceeds to steal second and third in rapid succession, and Melvin Mora jacks one out to left, tying the score at 2-2. Oh shit. Burnett tried to go up and in with a full count, but his heart wasn't in it and he got punished by Mora. This is not good: I want both pitcherse to do as well as possible, but one of them needs to get the win and a tie score is decidedly suboptimal. Burnett's rattled now, slinging the ball all over the place, but his stuff is so good that all he has to do is find the corners two or three times per batter to get a pair of groundouts and a soft lineout to end the inning relatively uneventfully.

Top 5th: DC still coming in at 95, at least until he freezes Rios with a nasty unhittable curveball that nicks the outside corner. That's five strikeouts for Cabrera--oops, make that six as the Maddux fastball again rings up Gregg Zaun. Promising stuff here. Overbay slaps a single to the gap, but DC overpowers Frank Thomas (looking uncomfortable as always, but more so in a Toronto uniform) with the two-seamer running in on the hands. Foul out to third, inning over.

Bottom 5th: Burnett's stuff is very similar to and every bit as nasty as Cabrera's, but has been having trouble putting the hitters away tonight, running Kevin Millar to his seventh 3-2 count of the game (says Thorne) before losing him to lead off the inning. Uh oh, here we go. That's his second walk against zero K's, another bad sign. Aaand just as I finish typing that, Jay Gibbons chases an eye-high fastball to go down swinging. The more disciplined team in general should be victorious tonight. Burnett then goes 3-0 for the first time in the game (an odd juxtaposition) to Corey Patterson and eventually walks him as well. Pitching Coach Arnsberg out to chat, departs with a soft pat on the ribcage. And next up in this clutch situation? Paul Bako. Ha! He hits a soft topper to first for the second out. Brian Roberts, with two outs and ducks on the pond, tries to charge one but can only manage straightaway centerfield. Inning over.

Top 6th: Matt Stairs with the first-pitch flyout. I've said it before and I'll say it again, that is a pitcher's best friend, particularly if the pitcher is struggling with control at times. Aaron Hill poses no challenge, Adam Lind more so until DC backs him off with a 1-2 chin-scratcher, leading to a 3-2 count. DC attempts to get yet another strikeout with the Maddux special but leaves it up and over just enough for Lind to fight it off into the deep LF gap for a double. That Lind is a good looking player and a player I'm happy to be condiditonally claiming. Even his foul balls were commandingly hit and came against some pretty tough pitches. Royce Clayton kills the inning though, with a feeble wave at a curve in the dirt. Should be seven Ks for DC, though Thorne says six.

Bottom 6th: Burnett has learned his lesson and is staying away from Mora, but again loses his advantage in the count and walks him. Starting the next batter (Markakis) with a pitchout seems like a questionable decision, no? Shit, now it's 2-0, here we go again...3-0, and then 3-1 before Markakis lashes an easy single to right, bringing up Tejada who is sitting dead red and goes down swinging on three pitches, fastball curveball curveball. Burnett's second K and a big one. Aubrey Huff hits one to the absolute deepest part of the park for out number two, unluckily for him. Kevin Millar ropes the first pitch he sees but right at the third baseman (who is Jason Smith?), and again we see how lucky a pitcher has to be to succeed while walking twice as many as he strikes out. AJ has one inning left, tops.

Top 7th: Pitcher's worst enemy? How about the four-pitch walk to lead off the inning? (I suppose a 17-pitch full-count walk would be worse for the pitcher, but you get the idea.) Alexis Rios strikes out trying to chase that same outside curveball he watched for strike three last time, only this one was impossible to reach. Gregg Zaun however fists one into LF for a single, so two on and one out for Overbay with two pitchers cranking it up in the Baltimore bullpen. DC starts Overbay off with a curve for strike one (ballsy), and the resulting advantage leaves Overbay off balance when he pops out on the next pitch. That's good pitch calling and good command paying off right there. Frank Thomas always intimidates of course, but he's 0-2 and under the Mendoza line so far on the season, so...ugh crap he's walked him. Bases loaded, two outs, and that's the end of the night for Daniel Cabrera. He's been great tonight and racked up the K's, but pulling him right now rather than allowing himself means some lefty named Parrish makes the difference between a no-decision and a loss, not to mention the difference between a positive start on the ledger for my fantasy team (Teen Girl Squad) and a borderline disaster. But also a win for Burnett in the process! This is a blunder by Baltimore, even though I understand they were trying to protect Cabrera's confidence, because Vernon Wells can now enter the game as a pinch hitter for the lefty Stairs and I would much rather have had the latter matchup. Sure enough, he rifles a shot off a diving Mora's glove into left and two go-ahead runs score. Aaron Hill grounds out to end the inning, mercifully, but Burnett is now poised to be the victor.

Bottom 7th: Burnett stays in and immediately gets some luck in the form of a diving catch by Lind along the LF line. Did I mention I'm happy to be potentially owning Adam Lind, if I become fortunate enough to do so? Corey Patterson bails Burnett out by popping up a 2-0 pitch to Hill at second base. Another full count, this one to the ever-feeble Paul Bako...and another walk. Jay-sus! Bako may be the worst hitter out there! Fortunately Brian Roberts cannot take advantage, as his frozen rope to center poses no threat to Vernon Wells.

Top 8th: And there's Shane Marcum warming up in the Toronto bullpen. Seeing as Cabrera and Burnett are no longer in the game, my rooting interest has waned and thus my recapping work here is done. Welcome to MLB fandom in the twenty-first century, bitches.

Final lines:
Burnett 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R (2 ER), 5 BB, 2 K
Cabrera 6.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 7 K

Gotta run, Hudson's shutting out the Mets....

[Postscript: Burnett left in position to win but Jason Frasor blew the save and the game for the Blue Jays...reeling from this mediocre dual no-decision, Teen Girl Squad were annihilated by the Pimply Backs in Week 3 by a score of 11-1-0...my waiver claim of Adam Lind was successfully processed, though he hasn't cracked the starting lineup yet.]

Labels: baltimore orioles, fantasy baseball, game reports, toronto blue jays

It’s AM 700, the Reds Station. I am picking it up in St. Louis, sitting here listening to the Reds play a late game in San Francisco. There’s something magical about hearing this Cincinnati broadcast, this late at night, on a tiny hand-held Walkman. Especially when the outcome of this game determines whether the hometown Cardinals will be co-owners of first place in the NL Central, or still atop the division by their lonesome. If the Reds win this game, they will have caught the Cardinals after many months of second place.

When I tuned in, it was 3-2 Giants with the Giants batting in the sixth. But now the Reds have returned to the plate in the seventh. There’s a Ken Griffey, Jr. two-out single. And now Easy Ed Encarnacion has doubled him in. This is a tied game, folks.

Milton has come back out in the bottom half. He gets two quick outs. He’s
only thrown 78 pitches through six and two-thirds. True, he’s given up a couple of gopher balls (Winn and Feliz) but not a bad outing. There’s another hit for Winn. Three hits for him tonight—the quintessential second-half player.

A game like this, finding me from across the entirety of Indiana. From across the Wabash. Leaping over the RCA Dome. Marty Brenneman and company. There’s something reassuring about free baseball late at night. A little static makes it real. Oh, how I love West Coast baseball and its two-hour delay. Sure, I could switch over to a local station and listen to frustrated Cardinals fans lambast Jason Marquis and wonder out loud why Chris Duncan wasn’t pinch-hitting for the woeful So Taguchi with two-outs, runners at second and third, and Roberto Hernandez on the mound in the top half of the seventh at Shea, the Cards trailing 5-2.

Winn to third on a single by Vizquel. Now Shea Hillenbrand. Narron outta the Cincy dugout. He’s lifiting Milton. On comes Ryan “Don’t Call Me Wayne” Franklin in relief.

This is one amazing feature of being in the Midwest. With my simple Walkman I can pick up a handful of broadcasts after sunset. In the comfort of my own home I’ve heard: The Rockies on KOA 850; the Cubs on WGN 720; the Reds on WLW 700. And if I’m lucky I can pick up the Brewers on 620 WTMJ and the Indians on WTAM 1100. You used to be able to get the Braves on 750 WSB but they moved to 640 WGST, which I can’t get up here in St. Louis.

Hillenbrand grounds out 6-4 and the Reds get out of a jam. Ryan Franklin does the job once again out of that revamped Reds ‘pen.

David Ross has just jacked one! The Reds are up 4-3! He’s got 17 home runs now, if you can believe that. He hits ‘em long and deep. He hit one offa Izzy in Cincy that never came down. It’s out there campaigning to take Pluto’s place as the ninth planet. Todd Hollandsworth is gonna bat and there’s gonna be a pitching change. Felipe Alou and Jerry Narron are spinning the wheels here in Frisco.

I’m sitting here drinking some Whitehorse Scotch and reading The Cantos of Ezra Pound.

Todd Coffey just gave up a single to Durham. Bonds got on after Cormier walked him. Now Feliz is batting and Benitez is loosening up in the Giant pen. Two on for the Giants, nobody out.

Double play Reds! De la Rosa, running for Bonds, stands on third. Another pitching change. Out with Coffey in with Schoeneweis. This Whitehorse is some decent scotch. It’s a blended whisky with Lagavulin at its core and also containing some Talisker malt. A Diageo product. It’s the single best Scotch for the money, period. A bottle is $13 or so. You can drink it neat, on the rocks, or with Coke. Sure, you can do that with Johnnie Walker, too. But not at $13.

Benitez has ceased throwing. Stanton is now getting loose for SF. Steve Finley bats with two outs. Three Cincy pitchers in this the eighth inning. Eliezer Alfonzo on deck. Finley is a switch-hitter. He walks. Weather is warm in the Cincy pen but Narron’s gonna leave Schoeneweis in to face the SF catcher. Alfonzo fans.

To lead off the ninth, the Reds have Freel, Hatteberg, and KG. In the bottom half, the Giants will have a pinch hitter, Winn, and Omar. Now Freel fans looking and he’s arguing with home plate ump Chris Guccione. Narron runs out to get Freel off the field. He’s their best defensive outfielder. Did you see that catch he made against the Cardinals a few weeks back? The Giants go with Stanton.

Stanton gets Hatteberg swinging. Now Griffey, who walks. Easy Ed loops a rainbow over Omar, and Griffey, moving on contact with two outs, has made it all the way to third. The Reds are threatening with two outs. Here’s Adam Dunn. They’re gonna walk Dunn to face Juan Castro.

And Castro hits a bases-loaded two-run single! This sends many fans to the exits. Reds lead 6-3. Here’s Brandon Phillips, who strikes out swinging.

Who will it be for the Reds to close this thing out? Weathers. How’s the Weather? Bad for Mark Sweeney, who strikes out looking and takes issue with the call, jawing with Guccione. This could be Weathers’s first save in months, May 7 in fact—when Narron decided it was Coffey time. Of course, that was just a cup of Coffey for Narron.

Two strikes on Winn. Franklin is in line for another win. Winn is down on strikes, although he does not argue with the call. Vizquel is the last hope. He flies out and the Reds have a come-from-behind victory to step into a virtual tie with the Cardinals in the NL Central! They win this first game on their 10-game road-trip.

Goodnight from Cincinnati, San Francisco, the White Horse Inn, and St. Louis.

Labels: cincinnati reds, game reports, san francisco giants

Make yourself comfortable, we're gonna be here awhile today. A long home run from La Roche, as I'm sittin here on a Sunday listening to Pat Hughes and Ron Santo on MLB Audio while watching the game on WGN. The Audio is two pitches behind.

Now Langerhans hits one, as did Renteria, and the Cub lead is cut to 4-3. Ron says, "It's a tough, tough day." I should get back to studying, to drinkin iced coffee, to waiting for Mark Prior to get healthy. What is it he's got, a bad arm? A bad wing? A bad shoulder, elbow, forearm — and Beckett blisters? Holy shit, he's ready. Send him out for a rehab start. At any rate he'll throw better than Jae Kuk Ryu.

Now Pratt and Smoltz have gotten hits. Ryu can't get anybody out, open up the bullpens, it's a reliever stampede. Smoltz's hit was off the vines and the fans are getting restless. On Howry, on Eyre, on— Holy shit! Marcus Giles just hit a three-run homer! Hah-hah, the Braves are up 6-4. Rusch can't get warm fast enough. Oh man, Renteria just got a hit, oh boy oh boy, Neifi and Barrett out to the mound, it's almost like batting practice.

Ok. Here's Dusty. Phew. That was brutal. Chipper will face Rusch.

(The Braves went on to win 13-12 in eleven.)

Labels: atlanta braves, chicago cubs, game reports