Friday, July 29, 2005
Give My Best to the Bride & Groom
This weekend is lined up to be a hectic one, so not sure how much time I’ll have to update the blog. But had to at least check in before the weekend gets underway.
It’s funny, after my last post on Tuesday night, when I said the Sox-Rays game was “history” after Boston scored two in the 10th, I almost had one of those scramble-back-into-the-park moments as Tampa put on a fierce charge in the bottom of the inning. To review:
Curt Schilling went back to the hill for his second inning of work. Although I noted that his stuff “looked sharp” in the 9th, he had needed a dramatic leaping catch against the wall by Damon just to get out of the inning alive.
In the 10th, he needed more of the same kind of help as his stuff looked downright hittable. Fastball was ehhh, and the splitter had absolutely no tilt.
So, after a fly out by Toby Hall to start the inning, Damon Hollins lined a single to left, on an 0-2 count mind you. After a first-pitch-swinging pop up by Jonny Gomes (how many different ways are guys spelling “Johnny” nowadays?), there were now two outs and a seemingly harmless one man on.
Then, Travis Lee ripped a double. 10-9 Boston.
Then, Alex Gonzalez drew a four-pitch walk.
At that point, a Tampa rising was starting to feel inevitable.
But Joey Gathright brought us back to reality, grounding into a 3-6 forceout on a nifty scoop and throw by Jon Olerud.
There was much talk in the next morning’s Boston Globe about this being a “season-defining” victory, or a “turning point” victory. I think that kind of rhetoric was a little too much.
First off, I’m not sure any game at Tropicana Field can be considered a turning point for any team. And second, I know a win is a win is a win, but Schilling has been merely okay, if not worse, in his short stint as el closer.
His stuff is just not that great right now, and I’m not convinced at this point in the season he could pitch 6 or 7 innings in a row, let alone 4 or 5.
With all that being said, Tuesday night’s game probably assumes its place as one of the Top 5 or so games I’ve watched this season. I jumped on board late, but what I saw was pretty thrilling.
Before moving onto other divisions, I should at least note Toronto’s surge (7-3 last 10, three in a row) that has leap-frogged them past the Orioles into 3rd place. I have not been giving the Jays much attention this summer, but they are a manageable 4 games back in the division and 3 back in the race for the Wild Card. As I watch the Angels continually beat-up on the Yankees, which could happen again this weekend, I have to give Toronto a tremendous amount of credit for sweeping LAAneheim (as Dave Pinto calls them) this week at Skydome.
If you haven’t yet read about Toronto’s dramatic win last night, go here. It’s worth it.
The Jays are currently 4th in the AL in runs scored, and 3rd in OBP. It seems the Beane-esque methods that J.P. Ricciardi has been trying to implement for a few years now is finally paying dividends.
Other season rankings include SLG (8th), AVG (6th) and HR (T-8th with Detroit).
Over the course of the past 30 days, Toronto has been the best offensive team in the American Leauge. Despite playing only 23 games in this span (only the Yankees have as low a number), they lead in runs scored. They're first in AVG (.297); first in OBP (.361); and third in SLG (.467).
Their pitching numbers over the past 30 days are more in line with their season totals to date:
Stat / Season / Past 30 Days
ERA /4.08 (7th) / 4.39 (6th)
Strikouts /585 (12th) / 137 (13th)
WHIP /1.31 (6th) / 1.38 (7th)
OBP /.320 (6th) / .326 (T-4th with Boston)
SLG /.420 (9th) / .440 (T-7th with New York)
All four AL East teams are involved in match-ups with quality teams this weekend:
Minnesota at Boston
Los Angeles at New York
Texas at Toronto
Chicago at Baltimore
The A’s have an opportunity to widen their paper thin lead in the Wild Card race this weekend as they play the always hovering around .500 Tigers. Aaron Gleeman wrote an extensive article on Oakland’s turnaround that can be summed up by saying “they’re pitching better and hitting the ball better.” For the nitty gritty details, you can check it out here.
The AL West is turning into a source of morbid fascination and curiosity at this point. Bad baseball has seemingly never meant so much. Arizona have been chip-chip-chipping away at the comatose Padres, and San Diego’s lead is down to an even two games heading into the weekend. All it’s taking the Diamondbacks to make strides in the division is to play .500 ball.
The Diamondbacks are at Wrigley this weekend (they get the pleasure of going against Mark Prior this afternoon), while the Padres host Cincinnati at Petco. How much longer can the Padres play through this malaise before they relinquish the division lead? Losing two of three to the Cardinals is one thing, but if they don’t start turning things around against the Reds at home, it’s fair to wonder if this team is going to recover from this stretch.
That’s it for now. Enjoy the games this weekend. I will try and check in for a word here or there, but chances are with two weddings on deck (one tonight, one Sunday), I’m more likely to be stuck in a train line or doing the YMCA for 343rd time.
I am planning on taking a break on Saturday night and going to Yale Field for a minor league game. I will try and offer some thoughts from that as well.
This weekend is lined up to be a hectic one, so not sure how much time I’ll have to update the blog. But had to at least check in before the weekend gets underway.
It’s funny, after my last post on Tuesday night, when I said the Sox-Rays game was “history” after Boston scored two in the 10th, I almost had one of those scramble-back-into-the-park moments as Tampa put on a fierce charge in the bottom of the inning. To review:
Curt Schilling went back to the hill for his second inning of work. Although I noted that his stuff “looked sharp” in the 9th, he had needed a dramatic leaping catch against the wall by Damon just to get out of the inning alive.
In the 10th, he needed more of the same kind of help as his stuff looked downright hittable. Fastball was ehhh, and the splitter had absolutely no tilt.
So, after a fly out by Toby Hall to start the inning, Damon Hollins lined a single to left, on an 0-2 count mind you. After a first-pitch-swinging pop up by Jonny Gomes (how many different ways are guys spelling “Johnny” nowadays?), there were now two outs and a seemingly harmless one man on.
Then, Travis Lee ripped a double. 10-9 Boston.
Then, Alex Gonzalez drew a four-pitch walk.
At that point, a Tampa rising was starting to feel inevitable.
But Joey Gathright brought us back to reality, grounding into a 3-6 forceout on a nifty scoop and throw by Jon Olerud.
There was much talk in the next morning’s Boston Globe about this being a “season-defining” victory, or a “turning point” victory. I think that kind of rhetoric was a little too much.
First off, I’m not sure any game at Tropicana Field can be considered a turning point for any team. And second, I know a win is a win is a win, but Schilling has been merely okay, if not worse, in his short stint as el closer.
G IP H R ER BB K ERAThe numbers themselves don't look that bad. Since the A-Rod home run his first night back, he has not allowed a dinger. However, he's already been pinned with two losses and a blown save. I’ve heard chatter that Schilling wants back to the starting rotation; several of his teammates have been vocal that they want him back as a starter. And I’m sure in a perfect world Theo and Francona and the rest of the brass would want him in the rotation too. But I’m still not sure that this move of Schilling to the closer’s role is more about his durability than necessity, which is the reason that was given in the first place.
9 11 12 5 5 2 11 4.09
His stuff is just not that great right now, and I’m not convinced at this point in the season he could pitch 6 or 7 innings in a row, let alone 4 or 5.
With all that being said, Tuesday night’s game probably assumes its place as one of the Top 5 or so games I’ve watched this season. I jumped on board late, but what I saw was pretty thrilling.
Before moving onto other divisions, I should at least note Toronto’s surge (7-3 last 10, three in a row) that has leap-frogged them past the Orioles into 3rd place. I have not been giving the Jays much attention this summer, but they are a manageable 4 games back in the division and 3 back in the race for the Wild Card. As I watch the Angels continually beat-up on the Yankees, which could happen again this weekend, I have to give Toronto a tremendous amount of credit for sweeping LAAneheim (as Dave Pinto calls them) this week at Skydome.
If you haven’t yet read about Toronto’s dramatic win last night, go here. It’s worth it.
The Jays are currently 4th in the AL in runs scored, and 3rd in OBP. It seems the Beane-esque methods that J.P. Ricciardi has been trying to implement for a few years now is finally paying dividends.
Other season rankings include SLG (8th), AVG (6th) and HR (T-8th with Detroit).
Over the course of the past 30 days, Toronto has been the best offensive team in the American Leauge. Despite playing only 23 games in this span (only the Yankees have as low a number), they lead in runs scored. They're first in AVG (.297); first in OBP (.361); and third in SLG (.467).
Their pitching numbers over the past 30 days are more in line with their season totals to date:
Stat / Season / Past 30 Days
ERA /4.08 (7th) / 4.39 (6th)
Strikouts /585 (12th) / 137 (13th)
WHIP /1.31 (6th) / 1.38 (7th)
OBP /.320 (6th) / .326 (T-4th with Boston)
SLG /.420 (9th) / .440 (T-7th with New York)
All four AL East teams are involved in match-ups with quality teams this weekend:
Minnesota at Boston
Los Angeles at New York
Texas at Toronto
Chicago at Baltimore
The A’s have an opportunity to widen their paper thin lead in the Wild Card race this weekend as they play the always hovering around .500 Tigers. Aaron Gleeman wrote an extensive article on Oakland’s turnaround that can be summed up by saying “they’re pitching better and hitting the ball better.” For the nitty gritty details, you can check it out here.
The AL West is turning into a source of morbid fascination and curiosity at this point. Bad baseball has seemingly never meant so much. Arizona have been chip-chip-chipping away at the comatose Padres, and San Diego’s lead is down to an even two games heading into the weekend. All it’s taking the Diamondbacks to make strides in the division is to play .500 ball.
The Diamondbacks are at Wrigley this weekend (they get the pleasure of going against Mark Prior this afternoon), while the Padres host Cincinnati at Petco. How much longer can the Padres play through this malaise before they relinquish the division lead? Losing two of three to the Cardinals is one thing, but if they don’t start turning things around against the Reds at home, it’s fair to wonder if this team is going to recover from this stretch.
That’s it for now. Enjoy the games this weekend. I will try and check in for a word here or there, but chances are with two weddings on deck (one tonight, one Sunday), I’m more likely to be stuck in a train line or doing the YMCA for 343rd time.
I am planning on taking a break on Saturday night and going to Yale Field for a minor league game. I will try and offer some thoughts from that as well.
