Category: Dailies

Less bang for the Buc

Neal Huntington might need a lot of help getting out of this one. Can Captain Jack give him a hand, if there is such a thing as a brotherhood of Pirates, of the Caribbean and of Pittsburgh?

Okay, so the Bucs have again unloaded a booty of players, still looking for the right combination the way the peg-legged kind used to search for a treasure map.
But, as a former Pittsburgher with trickles of black & gold remaining in the bloodstream … can we please stop piling on, as if this was the biggest joke of a ballclub since Charlie Brown’s, which Charles Schultz had made funny on purpose?
Oh, sure — 16 straight losing seasons make them fair game. Doesn’t make them the black hole of baseball, though. Hey, how about some perspective.
Which brings us to Washington. Looking at a slightly longer timeframe, the Pirates have had two winning seasons in 18 years. The nation’s capital has had two winning seasons in three franchises.
The Nationals haven’t yet mastered that. The Senators went 86-76 in 1969, three years before becoming the Rangers. The 1952 Senators were 78-76, nine years before becoming the Twins.
Two (slightly) winning seasons in 30 years of actual play, one in 24. Now that’s a dry spell. (No bailout jokes, please.)

Gordon could Flash back soon

Tom Gordon’s next opportunity to salvage something from a frustrating season may be only a few days away.
The 41-year-old reliever, a veteran in his 22nd Major League season who had 97 wins before the Diamondbacks even played their first game, had a sharp rehab outing Friday night in Reno.
As relayed by Arizona manager A.J. Hinch, Gordon threw 13 pitches in a scoreless inning, eight of them for strikes.
Gordon is scheduled to pitch again Sunday. Depending on how his stuff looks that day, and how he feels afterwards, Gordon’s next appearance could be with the D-backs.
According to Hinch, the right-hander would need two down days following the Sunday outing, making him available by Wednesday.
Signed as a free agent a week before the start of Spring Training, Gordon completed his comeback from offseason elbow surgery by the end of April. But after three appearances totaling 1 2/3 innings, he returned to the disabled list on May 4 with a strained left hamstring.
That put him on another long comeback trail, the end of which is in sight.
Gordon has amassed 138 wins and 159 saves in his career.
Of the 59 pitchers in history with 159-plus saves, only three had more wins: ’60s guys Lindy McDaniel (141) and Hoyt Wilhelm (143), and Dennis Eckersley (197).
Wilhelm and Eckersley are both in the Hall of Fame.

(American) Idle Conversation

Let me throw a couple of pitching lines at you:

  • A: 8-7, with 77 strikeouts versus 20 walks in 107 innings.
  • B: 8-6, with 95 strikeouts versus 38 walks in 128 innings.
Pretty comparable, no?
Not at the pay window: B is CC Sabathia, whom the Yankees bagged for $161 million in the offseason’ biggest free-agent pitcher signing.
A is the guy Sabathia technically replaced in the New York rotation, the guy they already had. Carl Pavano.
Throw in the fact Sabathia is pitching with the powerful Yankees behind him, while Pavano works for the AL’s poorest team, the Indians.
I don’t have a point. Draw your own conclusion. I’m just throwing it out there, for Idle conversation (get it?).

No fan of Howard’s price

Congratulations to Ryan Howard, who accomplished something really rare Thursday night. He didn’t strike out. Honest!

For me, the applause for reaching 200 home runs faster — in terms of games played — than anyone in history is muted by the noise-pollution of his strikeouts.

I’m not a big fan of the modern all-or-nothing style. It’s not baseball; it’s over-the-line, a game we used to play on the beach, in flip-flops.
Howard smacked his 200th on Thursday in his 658th game, 48 fewer than Ralph Kiner, the previous record-holder, had taken to get there.
But what about the toll of the power journey? Howard has been rung up 795 times. At the time he hit his 200th, Kiner had fanned about 450 times.
And he was ashamed about the strikeouts, most of which came earlier in his career. Then he learned the strike zone. By 1949, the season before he reached No. 200, Kiner hit 54 home runs — and struck out 61 times.
That’s a slow month for Howard, with his 795 strikeouts, already more than Kiner had in his entire career. Kiner was punched out a total of 749 times.

Now THIS is deja vu

Fell out of bed this morning and for some reason wanted to raid the closet for bell-bottoms and a leisure suit. Oh, yes — the Angels beat the Orioles on Saturday and Sunday after trailing 4-0 in both games.

The Halos had not won consecutive games they’d trailed by four runs in 30 years — since doing it against the Yankees in July 1979. That was the coming-of-age weekend for a downtrodden franchise, and how well I remember it.

On July 13-15, the California Angels tamed the traveling Bronx Zoo

The Friday game was a simple 6-1 victory — except for one thing: a Nolan Ryan no-hit bid turned into a fiasco which led to the end of a baseball tradition, of reporters doing double-duty as official scorers.

With Ryan five outs from the no-hitter, Jim Spencer hit a sinking liner to center field. Angels center fielder Rick Miller — who’d won a Gold Glove the year before — made a desperate bid for a diving catch that came up a few inches short.

Dick (no relation) Miller, the Angels beat writer for the old Los Angeles Herald Examiner acting as official scorer, ruled “Error.” Miller, see, was also working on a Ryan biography and thinking of the advance.

The entire Yankees dugout spilled out and gestured up to the press box in protest. Buzzie Bavasi, the late GM of the Angels, flew into the press box and down to Miller’s seat, screaming, “That’s the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen.”

Flash forward to the ninth, one out: Reggie Jackson drills a clean single up the middle and runs down the first-base line BACKWARDS, gesturing up to the press box and to Dick Miller. Ryan finishes off his one-hitter. Just another Friday the 13th.

Flash forward to Saturday: Down 6-0 after five, the Angels rally and eventually tie it on Don Baylor’s three-run homer off Goose Gossage with two outs in the ninth and win 8-7 in the 12th on Merv Rettenmund’s RBI single.

Sunday: Down 4-0 early, the Angels keep stirring up the already-frenzied fans with another surge culminated by Bobby Grich’s two-out, two-run homer in the ninth off Ron Guidry for a 5-4 win.

Oh … that series took the Angels into the All-Star Game break with a two-game AL West lead over the Texas Rangers, and they would finish the job with the franchise’s first division title before losing the ALCS … to the Orioles.

Getting weird, isn’t it? As the old saying goes, “Well, I’ll be a Rally Monkey’s uncle!”

Rox of Ages

Off the top of my head …

Clint Hurdle: Perfect example of having worn out your welcome.
Hurdle is a terrific baseball man but, after 6 1/2 years, the Rockies had begun to simply tune him out. Jim Tracy’s impact on their takeoff goes beyond the new-face syndrome. His personnel changes (Ian Stewart for Garret Atkins at third being the most dramatic) have had a direct bearing on the Rox playing at breakneck speed. …
A.J. Hinch: Would Arizona GM Josh Byrnes like a Mulligan?
Hinch is another terrific baseball man, but the Colorado experience spotlights the folly of turning your team over to someone without any managerial experience.
The Rockies were 18-28 when Tracy took over on May 29, and have gone 19-5 since.
The D-backs, 12-17 when Hinch replaced Bob Melvin on May 8, went 11-13 in their first 24 games under their former vice president of player devdelopment, and overall are 17-24 since. …
Dodgers: Catch them if you can (hint: don’t bother).
Colorado’s 17-1 spurt makes them look even better that it does the Rockies. The Rox were 14 games behind when they took off. They’re still 9 games behind.
Do you realize that at that rate, Colorado would need to go 51-3 to overtake  Joe Torre’s crew? Ridiculous. … 
Tom Glavine: The only suit he’ll be getting into is one that goes with a necktie.
Good. The idea of him filing a grievance against the Braves for releasing him for “financial reasons” rubbed me the wrong way.
Let me get that straight: It’s okay for players to make moves for “financial reasons” — as dozens of them do every offseason as free agents — but not for teams? … 
Jason Marquis: Steve Carlton can rest easy.
The Rockies’ revival means Marquis won’t threaten Lefty’s legend for doing the most on the least  — as reflected by his 27-10 record in 1972 for the Phillies, who were 32-87 in their other games.
Marquis was on his way with a 7-3 record at a time the Rockies stood 19-28. Now that they’re 37-33, his 9-4 ledger, while obviously still excellent, just doesn’t stand out as much. … 
Sorry, I reached the bottom of my head … Later (or sooner next time) …

Walking the walk-off

Off the top of my head … 

OK – when did big-league ball turn into the NBA? All these walk-offs … nowadays, you can get there in the top of the ninth and not miss a thing. … 
Alex Rodriguez: Heaven knows people have already taken great liberties with his nickname, so how about another to reflect the lineup protection he has given awakening Mark Teixeira? The A-Rodfather. …
Pudge fudge: So Ivan Rodriguez clocked career homer No. 300 on Sunday, May 17? Maybe. Come July 9, the Astros will conclude the game with the Nationals that was suspended in the 11th inning on May 5.
And here’s the kicker, as reminded by the vigilant Bill Chuck — statistics from the completion of that game will still be dated May 5, meaning that as far as the historical record goes, Pudge could wind up hitting No. 300 months after No. 301, and so on. … 
Paul DePodesta: The former Oakland assistant GM will be portrayed by a comedian (Demetri Martin) in the upcoming film treatment of “Moneyball.” Those who recall DePodesta’s turn as Dodgers GM consider that perfect casting. … 
“Industry”: Hate that reference to baseball. Cringe every time it violates my ears. Webster defines it as “economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories.” Some players arrive raw, I can see that. But where are the factories? Knock it off. … 
Yankee Stadium: In explaining the policy of making the Legends Suite area off-limits to batting practice watchers, club COO Lonn Trost mounted an appropriate defense.

Said Trost, “If you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? If you purchase a home, do you want somebody in your home?”

No and no. Besides, they cost about the same. The median price of a single-family house in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2009 was $169,000 — which breaks down to $2,086 per of the 81-game home schedule, a good approximation of the discounted price of the $2,620 seats. … 

Barack Obama: Let’s hope he remains a White Sox fan and doesn’t switch his allegiance to the Nationals, else he might pass a federal law reducing the length of an official game to six innings.

If games ended after six, the 11-25 Nats would be 19-17 and in the thick of the NL East race. Someone bolt the doors to that bullpen. … 

Sorry, I’ve reached the bottom of my head … 

Curtis: You got company

They called Curtis Granderson’s game-saving bringing-it-back theft of Grady Sizemore’s ninth-inning “homer” on Friday night a “once in a lifetime catch.”

Oops. They must’ve meant “once every three days catch.” Torii Hunter’s robbery of Miguel Oliva today was carbon-copy. The only thing that made it seem less athletic was Torii getting to the wall earlier and being in position for his leap.

Otherwise, same deal: Ninth inning, one-run game, one broken heart.

Here’s a tip: Don’t have a cow

Off the top of my head … 

Unlike Alex Rodriguez, I’ve never been accused of pitch-tipping. However, there was that one summer in the country when we did a lot of cow-tipping. … 
Ironic, isn’t it? One minute, we learn that the staff of a well-known restaurant chain hated A-Rod because he didn’t tip, the next we’re told he tipped on the field. Maybe the guy just gets confused occasionally and doesn’t know where he is. … 
tipthewaiterdanreynoldsxp5.jpg
Headline: “Nats see light at end of tunnel.” Well, I hope they can get off the tracks before the train gets too close. … 
I recently speculated on mlb.com that Randy Johnson, who regrets not being able to close his 300-win deal while pitching for his hometown Diamondbacks, may yet get the opportunity to post the milestone “W” in Phoenix. The Giants will return to Chase Field on June 9 and Johnson — currently sitting on 297 — could come home at 299.
Well, you can probably scratch that scenario. Following that June 9-11 series, the Giants will return to AT&T Park, to host the neighboring A’s in an Interleague series, no less. Bruce Bochy would be certain to manipulate his rotation so the Big Unit can go for magic number at home. …
Gotta admit, am a bit confused why Adam Dunn’s oops “Natinals” game jersey would fetch $8,000 at auction. If misspelled words have become so pricey, most email writers and blog authors would be filthy rich. Dan Quayle’s memoirs would bring more than a Picasso. …
Mariners fans sent one of those recordable get-well cards to the Seattle reliever disabled the other day with biceps tendinitis: “… Soon enough, the call will go out To … Morrow. …”
When Adrian Beltre was going through free agency a few years ago, agent Scott Boras’ legendary dossier compared him to Mike Schmidt, Rodriguez and other all-time third base greats. Now, he is already comparing high school pitcher — and top draft pick-in-waiting — Stephen Strasburg to the fictional Sidd Finch.
Any truth to the rumor Scott cut his representation teeth as a theatrical agent who pushed Gary Coleman as “the next Sidney Poitier”? … 
Sorry, I reached the bottom of my head. Later … 

K-Rod: A lap dog

Off the top of my head … 
Francisco Rodriguez may be on his way to lapping the historical closers’ field. By the time K-Rod is done, Trevor Hoffman, who right now has 69 more save than anyone else, might need a Hubble telescope to see the new career leader.
It’s all about consistency (not a staple in the closers’ community) and age. K-Rod was precocious when he ambushed the field in the 2002 postseason, and he has used that youth to pave his record track.
The basics:
Rodriguez, who turned 27 in January, entered this season with 208 saves. The current career Top Ten, from Hoffman (554 saves) to Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers (341), began their age-27 season with an average of 32.5 saves.
The breakdown of saves entering the season in which they were/turned 27:
  1. Hoffman (554): 25
  2. Mariano Rivera (485): 5
  3. Lee Smith (478): 80
  4. John Franco (424): 77
  5. Dennis Eckersley (390): 3
  6. Billy Wagner (385): 32
  7. Jeff Reardon (367): 16
  8. Troy Percival (354): 3
  9. Randy Myers (347): 32
  10. Fingers (341): 52. …

New Yankee Stadium: So what’s keeping the ladies? When are Destiny and Aura moving in, or are the Bombers on their own now? …

CC Sabathia / A.J. Burnett: Money is money, I know, but do you suppose these guys at least might’ve thought a little harder about signing with the Yankees had they known they’d now be playing home games in the moon’s atmosphere? … 
Sabathia: Hey, CC, pinstripes are supposed to make you look slimmer, not make your pitches look fatter. …
Carlos Quentin: Seven homers by April 19? Spin it all you want, he could have made the postseason difference for the White Sox, had he not snapped in early September and broken his wrist slapping his own bat. … 
Top 3, Carlos Edition: Santana, Delgado, Pena. … 
Jason Giambi: There is something symmetrical about his career. He began this season having split his career between the A’s and Yankees, seven seasons with each. And he is No. 10 on the homer lists of both teams (though his 187 places him closer to Mark McGwire’s 363 than does the 209 to Babe Ruth’s 659). … 
Randy Johnson: Guess the one-time fireballer wasn’t kidding about re-learning to pitch in an age-relevant style. The 45-year-old consistently topped out at 87-88 MPH while carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning Sunday against the D-backs. …
Sorry, I’ve reached the bottom of my head. Later …