Tuesday, September 07, 2004
No Time for Sleep
It was a great weekend. And if baseball didn't serve as the centerpiece, it at least played an accompaniment buried just slightly in the mix. In fact, in the last minutes before sleep and the workday ahead, I'm listening to the Red Sox and A's slug it out in Oakland (Manny just hit one out, and it's 2-1 A's in the 4th), and glancing at Cards-Padres in San Diego.
Ortiz just knocked one out in center. Back-to-back. 2-2. That's the sixth time this year that Manny & Ortiz have hit back-to-back HRs. That makes 25 home runs given up this year by Barry Zito, a career high. Previous: 24 in his stellar 2002 campaign.
I've been watching the Padres more than other West Coast team of late. Kind of a fun team to watch, and not a bad team to root for. In particular, I'm very impressed by Khalil Greene. He looks pretty advanced for a rookie.
They had a cruddy weekend against the Rockies, and are down 2-0 in the 4th tonight. They're not playing well of late (4-6 in last ten), and a loss tonight would knock them 3.5 back of the Cubs in the NL Wild Card chase.
The Red Sox radio announcers are spending a lot of time chastising the Yankees' behavior (i.e. upper managment's behavior) regarding the missed double-header today and the schedule for the rest of the week.
If the Cards hold on tonight, they'll be 93-44. The way they've been going, they'll hit the century mark sometime next week.
St. Louis hasn't won 100 games since 1985, a year in which they could've/should've won the World Series. Their other 100-win seasons:
1967, 101, won World Series
1944, 105, won World Series
1943, 105, won NL Pennant
1942, 106, won World Series
1931, 101, won World Series
The Padres have finally gotten to Chris Carpenter in the 5th. Three runs in, now 3-2 San Diego.
Geez, Jim Edmonds just made a typically great play of his going back on a hard hit ball in near-dead center. Caught the ball on the run and then smacked into what doesn't look like a body-friendly fence.
I often hear the Cardinals starting pitching cited as the reason they won't/can't win the World Series this year. Chris Carpenter is usually a focal point of this discussion, as he's having possibly the best year of his career, and at the very least, his first quality season since 2001. I can't guess what he might do in October, but he's been great of late. In his last five starts, he's allowed a total of seven earned runs. In that same stretch he's given up only two home runs, has struck out 32 and walked six.
Both of these are really good games right now. It's going to be hard to pull myself away... Maybe I'll just have to fall asleep to the Sox broadcast.
The Cards just tied it in the 6th on a base hit by Renteria. This line-up is relentless.
It's only 11:43, and both these games are cruising along. Bos-Oak is one out away from going to the 7th; SD-StL is one out away from the bottom of the 6th.
I'm going to regret this at about 6:45 a.m. (7 hours from now), but so be it. Sometimes you get an unexpected good baseball night and you have to roll with it. Besides, it's not easy letting go of the weekend...
Both games are at a commercial break. So let me take a moment to plug this site, largehearted boy. The other day I wrote a little about my new fascination with mp3 blogs, and this is my favorite so far. Some fantastic links, and the site's moniker is taken from a Guided by Voices song.
Bill Mueller just knocked in Orlando Cabrera to give the Sox the lead in the 7th. Oakland's bullpen is cooking, and it's looking like of the four starters in the two games I'm following, Zito is going to be the first to get the hook.
Carpenter just cruised through the 6th in San Diego.
Btw, Bottom of the 8th in Seattle. Ichiro has one hit tonight.
Dave Roberts just hit one of the base of the fence in right, knocking Mueller in and knocking Zito out. 4-2 Boston.
Zito's final line tonight: 6.1, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 2 HR
Very similar to his previous two starts:
9/1 @ Chicago: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
8/26 vs. Baltimore: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
One of the more befuddling things I've seen in baseball recently is Barry Zito's steady progression towards mediocrity over the last couple seasons. I haven't heard a great explanation for it. No injury I'm aware of. No drastic loss in velocity. The curve ball is still there, just maybe not being controlled as well. However, the numbers speak for themselves.
The A's are finally out of the 7th; the Padres just got out of the 7th as well, calling on Scott Linebrink to get out of a two-on, two out jam.
I'm going to stick around for one more 1/2 inning in each game. They're both at simultaneous commercials again...
Carpenter eased his way through a 1-2-3 7th.
Arroyo is having a little more trouble in Oakland... Crosby just knocked in Durazo to cut the lead to 4-3. Crosby has two doubles tonight and 32 for the year. Watching two good West Coast rookie shortstops tonight...
Nick Swisher is up, a familiar name to anyone who read Moneyball. Groundball to the right side moved runner to 3rd.
Still 3-3 in San Diego...
That's it for Arroyo. In comes Timlin.
Earlier in the season (mid-May maybe?) I made the case to a couple Red Sox fans I know that Arroyo deserved a slot in the starting rotation, and more than that would have more than a moderate level of success. Of course, he proceeded to get kicked all over the park for the better part of month.
While he has never been dominant by any stretch, he has started eating up innings on a consistent basis and has gotten his ERA down into a respectable region: 4.23 after tonight. His 6.2 inning stint tonight makes it nine out of his last 12 starts (dating back to July 2) that he's at least pitched into the 7th.
Timlin got out of the inning with a ground-out.
Alright, that's it for me tonight, gang. Both games are about to go the bottom of the 8th. I'll try and stick with Bos-Oak till the end since I'm almost there anyway. But I'll give my laptop a break and hope they update the St. Louis score on the Red Sox Radio Network.
It was a great weekend. And if baseball didn't serve as the centerpiece, it at least played an accompaniment buried just slightly in the mix. In fact, in the last minutes before sleep and the workday ahead, I'm listening to the Red Sox and A's slug it out in Oakland (Manny just hit one out, and it's 2-1 A's in the 4th), and glancing at Cards-Padres in San Diego.
Ortiz just knocked one out in center. Back-to-back. 2-2. That's the sixth time this year that Manny & Ortiz have hit back-to-back HRs. That makes 25 home runs given up this year by Barry Zito, a career high. Previous: 24 in his stellar 2002 campaign.
I've been watching the Padres more than other West Coast team of late. Kind of a fun team to watch, and not a bad team to root for. In particular, I'm very impressed by Khalil Greene. He looks pretty advanced for a rookie.
They had a cruddy weekend against the Rockies, and are down 2-0 in the 4th tonight. They're not playing well of late (4-6 in last ten), and a loss tonight would knock them 3.5 back of the Cubs in the NL Wild Card chase.
The Red Sox radio announcers are spending a lot of time chastising the Yankees' behavior (i.e. upper managment's behavior) regarding the missed double-header today and the schedule for the rest of the week.
If the Cards hold on tonight, they'll be 93-44. The way they've been going, they'll hit the century mark sometime next week.
St. Louis hasn't won 100 games since 1985, a year in which they could've/should've won the World Series. Their other 100-win seasons:
1967, 101, won World Series
1944, 105, won World Series
1943, 105, won NL Pennant
1942, 106, won World Series
1931, 101, won World Series
The Padres have finally gotten to Chris Carpenter in the 5th. Three runs in, now 3-2 San Diego.
Geez, Jim Edmonds just made a typically great play of his going back on a hard hit ball in near-dead center. Caught the ball on the run and then smacked into what doesn't look like a body-friendly fence.
I often hear the Cardinals starting pitching cited as the reason they won't/can't win the World Series this year. Chris Carpenter is usually a focal point of this discussion, as he's having possibly the best year of his career, and at the very least, his first quality season since 2001. I can't guess what he might do in October, but he's been great of late. In his last five starts, he's allowed a total of seven earned runs. In that same stretch he's given up only two home runs, has struck out 32 and walked six.
Both of these are really good games right now. It's going to be hard to pull myself away... Maybe I'll just have to fall asleep to the Sox broadcast.
The Cards just tied it in the 6th on a base hit by Renteria. This line-up is relentless.
It's only 11:43, and both these games are cruising along. Bos-Oak is one out away from going to the 7th; SD-StL is one out away from the bottom of the 6th.
I'm going to regret this at about 6:45 a.m. (7 hours from now), but so be it. Sometimes you get an unexpected good baseball night and you have to roll with it. Besides, it's not easy letting go of the weekend...
Both games are at a commercial break. So let me take a moment to plug this site, largehearted boy. The other day I wrote a little about my new fascination with mp3 blogs, and this is my favorite so far. Some fantastic links, and the site's moniker is taken from a Guided by Voices song.
Bill Mueller just knocked in Orlando Cabrera to give the Sox the lead in the 7th. Oakland's bullpen is cooking, and it's looking like of the four starters in the two games I'm following, Zito is going to be the first to get the hook.
Carpenter just cruised through the 6th in San Diego.
Btw, Bottom of the 8th in Seattle. Ichiro has one hit tonight.
Dave Roberts just hit one of the base of the fence in right, knocking Mueller in and knocking Zito out. 4-2 Boston.
Zito's final line tonight: 6.1, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 2 HR
Very similar to his previous two starts:
9/1 @ Chicago: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
8/26 vs. Baltimore: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 0 HR
One of the more befuddling things I've seen in baseball recently is Barry Zito's steady progression towards mediocrity over the last couple seasons. I haven't heard a great explanation for it. No injury I'm aware of. No drastic loss in velocity. The curve ball is still there, just maybe not being controlled as well. However, the numbers speak for themselves.
The A's are finally out of the 7th; the Padres just got out of the 7th as well, calling on Scott Linebrink to get out of a two-on, two out jam.
I'm going to stick around for one more 1/2 inning in each game. They're both at simultaneous commercials again...
Carpenter eased his way through a 1-2-3 7th.
Arroyo is having a little more trouble in Oakland... Crosby just knocked in Durazo to cut the lead to 4-3. Crosby has two doubles tonight and 32 for the year. Watching two good West Coast rookie shortstops tonight...
Nick Swisher is up, a familiar name to anyone who read Moneyball. Groundball to the right side moved runner to 3rd.
Still 3-3 in San Diego...
That's it for Arroyo. In comes Timlin.
Earlier in the season (mid-May maybe?) I made the case to a couple Red Sox fans I know that Arroyo deserved a slot in the starting rotation, and more than that would have more than a moderate level of success. Of course, he proceeded to get kicked all over the park for the better part of month.
While he has never been dominant by any stretch, he has started eating up innings on a consistent basis and has gotten his ERA down into a respectable region: 4.23 after tonight. His 6.2 inning stint tonight makes it nine out of his last 12 starts (dating back to July 2) that he's at least pitched into the 7th.
Timlin got out of the inning with a ground-out.
Alright, that's it for me tonight, gang. Both games are about to go the bottom of the 8th. I'll try and stick with Bos-Oak till the end since I'm almost there anyway. But I'll give my laptop a break and hope they update the St. Louis score on the Red Sox Radio Network.
