Random Collection of Thoughts re April 23 in MLB

The first 9 outs St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Michael Wacha recorded on Wednesday were strikeouts.  As impressive as that is any and every time I read his name here's what instantly goes through my mind "waka, waka, waka"


Dictionary.com defines the word "Pinata" as " a gaily decorated crock or papier-mâché figure filled with toys, candy, etc., and suspended from above...so that children, who are blindfolded, may break it or knock it down with sticks and release the contents." New York Yankees starting pitcher Michael Pineda deserves his own Pinata, so many baseball purists would love to knock the pine tar out of him. 


Internet high five to the Texas Rangers for their sweep three game sweep of the Oakland Athletics.  The A's had not lost back to back games all year and now travel to Houston for a 4 game set.  The A's had just swept the Astros before being whitewashed by the Rangers.  Meanwhile the Rangers head to Seattle for a weekend series, trying to match their season high five game win streak.  During their first five game win streak, three of those wins were against the Mariners.


Speaking of the Seattle Mariners, they are one of three teams that avoided sweeps in their respective series by winning Wednesday night.  Kyle Seager may have earned himself a bobblehead night with a two homerun game with the second one being of the walk-off variety.


The San Francisco Giants, after being outpitched the first two games of the series, decided to try to beat the Colorado Rockies with the long ball.  The Giants hit 6 homeruns with the 6th being a grand slam in the 11th.  Sigh, I stand by my prediction if the Rockies pitching can become mediocre, they will make the playoffs. 


Lastly, the Washington Nationals avoided the sweep to the Los Angeles Angels thanks to 9th inning meltdown in the Angels bullpen.  On paper, the rosters of the Nationals and Angels coulda/shoulda/woulda be World Series bound.  I won't hold my breathe.

Random Collection of Thoughts re April 21 and 22 in MLB

Monday April 21st

The average of the MLB went up drastically!  The Cleveland Indians activated 43 year old Jason Giambi from the DL AND the New York Mets called up 40 year old Bobby Abreu.


A possible nine out of ten teams who finished in the bottom third of the MLB in 2013.  Of those nine teams, only the Miami Marlins would lose.  I know it's an obscure stat but seriously, how many times will the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies each win on the same night?


On this night the Cubs and Astros both beat struggling teams. The Cubs beat the Arizona Diamondbacks on the strength of the pitchers BAT!  If ever there was a statement to sum up the D'Backs season thus far, that was it.  The Astros beating Seattle Mariners, that's ho-hum news.  The fact the Astros beat Felix Hernandez **blink blink** no words explain the surprise. 


The Mets and the Phillies blanked their respective opponents on this night, willing to bet a Canadian Beer that feat does not occur again in 2014!!

Tuesday April 22nd

Remember I told you to bet on David Price finding his groove against the Minnesota Twins.  Complete game, 12 strikeout getting his groove on win for Mr. Price.

Coming into the season most "experts" would not so boldly predict that the Colorado Rockies would be led by their offense and if/when the Rox failed it would be due to their pitching.  The Rockies currently lead the MLB in runs scored while their pitching has given up the sixth most runs in the league.  On Tuesday night, for the second time this season, the Rockies outpitched the San Francisco Giants in a pitching duel.  Going back to those "experts", many predicted the Los Angeles Dodgers to walk away with the NL West.  My prediction, if the Colorado Rockies pitching staff can improve to even just mediocre (not in the top 13 in runs allowed), the final series of the 2014 regular season is in LA against those Dodgers and could be for the division title.

Speaking of those Los Angeles Dodgers, they just dropped their second straight game to the Philadelphia Phillies.  If you take away the 7-1 record amassed versus the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers are 5-8 on the season.  I keep asking for the "real" Washington Nationals to stand up so we could learn whether they are "contenders" or "pretenders".  Maybe it's time I start asking that question to the Dodgers.

Speaking of those Washington Nationals, they go into Wednesday's game trying not to get swept by the Anaheim Angels.  Also on "sweep alert", the Oakland Athletics at the hands of the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners at the hands of the Houston Astros.  The last time the Houston Astros swept a series - - September 9-11 against a Robinson Cano-less Seattle Mariner team.

Random Collection of Thoughts re April 17 in MLB

According to Wikipedia and their sources, the triple play by the New York Yankees during their game against the Tampa Bay Rays was the 692nd of all time.  While that is a nifty factoid there is something else to take from that game that includes a little bit fortune-telling.  Rays starter David Price had a sub-standard showing for a "regular" starting pitcher never mind his time-tested elevated standards.  The next scheduled start for Mr. Price will be versus the Minnesota Twins, bet on Mr. Price to find his groove.


The Pittsburgh Pirates hit four more homeruns Thursday night, three of them with runners on base, to dismantle the hot-no-more Milwaukee Brewers 11-2.  Pittsburgh is now second in the league with 23 round trips around the bases.  When I looked up that stat I was quite surprised to see the Baltimore Orioles, last years far and away leader in homeruns, sitting in 27th place overall with only 9 homeruns.  The next statement is brought to you by Captain Obvious - the only stat that really matters is both teams currently sit at .500 with their win/loss record.


I had asked for the "real" Washington Nationals to please stand up during this weekends 4 game series hosting the St. Louis Cardinals.  Thursday night's series opener featured 4 errors on defense and only 2 hits on offense by the Nats.  Maybe the Nats are just following the script of Hulk Hogan wrestling match and will use Friday to hulk up!


The uber highs and uber lows of being a Seattle Mariner fan can be summed up in the following sequence from their Thursday game with division rival Texas Rangers.  Down 4-0 going into the top of the 3rd inning, Robinson Cano finally hits his 1st homerun of the season (with 2 men on base as an added bonus).  Before their half of the inning was over, the M's would add three more runs to take a 6-4.  The next time Mr. Cano comes to the plate in the top of the 4th inning, the game is tied at 6 and with a man on first, Mr. Cano grounds into a double play. 


Look at the bright side Mariner fans, Toronto Blue Jay fans are all wishing they could call a mulligan on both their games yesterday against the Minnesota Twins.  In the morning game of a double header, Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera would have season long 14 game hitting streak snapped and R A Dickey would have his season long struggles continue.  In the afternoon game of the double header, EIGHT WALKS IN THE 8TH by their bullpen would cost the Jays the game.


One more three game sweep to report, this time by the Kansas City Royals over the Houston Astros.  Internet high five!

Random Collection of Thoughts re April 16 in the MLB

The Washington Nationals defeated the Miami Marlins Wednesday to improve their record versus Miami to 5-1 in 2014.  The Nats have also swept the New York Mets but have gone 1-5 versus the Atlanta Braves, aka, the only team they have played with a legitimate playoff hope.  Up next, the World Series runner ups the St. Louis Cardinals who just squished the Milwaukee Brewers 9 game winning streak by only allowing one run in their first two matchups against the Brew Crew.  The first of four Cardinal pitchers the Nats will face is three time Cy Young Award finalist Adam Wainwright.  Will the real Washington Nationals please stand up!?


Top of the 9th, Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Cliff Lee gives up singles to the first two batters of the final frame and Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran is due up in a 1-0 game in favor of the Atlanta.  This situation is the perfect example of why managing a team in the "designated hitter" American League is much easier.


Bottom of the 11th, Houston Astros down 2 runs with a man on and the most publicized rookie since Wil Myers steps into the batters box for the hometown team.  George Springer falls behind 1-2 in the count.  The count goes full at 3-2.   Springer fouls off two balls and then...the strikeout.  Springer would finish the night 1-5 with a walk and two strikeouts.  For the record, the 2013 AL Rookie of the Year Myers started his pro career with an 0-4 at the dish.


This is what happens when a position player pitches in a MLB game - - 1 inning pitched, 1 hit, 2 walks and 2 runs against.  With no other options available, the Chicago White Sox had to practically hand the game over to the Boston Red Sox in the 14th inning.  Captain Obvious says both teams are very happy Thursday's game is NOT a matinee!


In this day of parity/mediocrity I try to always to acknowledge sweeps of a series. An internet high five to the  New York Mets, New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles.


Here is a montage of Kendrys Morales' and Stephen Drew's 2014 season.  The question is what is the true reason for their free agency?  Is it

• a)  Teams waiting until after June 5 - 7 draft  to avoid compensation pick  OR
• b) Morales and Drew would rather earn no money rather than be "underpaid"?

Random Collection of Thoughts re April 13 in the MLB

Sweeps and their ramifications will be the subject of the day.


The Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Arizona Diamondbacks making it a 5-0 regular season start against the NL West Kirk Gibson led foe.  The D'Backs currently sit at 4-11 two days away from Jackie Robinson Day on Tuesday April 15th.  I mentioned in an earlier post that if going into Jackie Robinson Day the Diamondbacks were still counting wins with only one hand that Manager Kirk Gibson likely does not make it through the month of May with his job.  A 3 game series with the New York Mets may just be what the doctor ordered.  Then again, it may be the iceberg that sank the Titanic.


Speaking of baseball managers doubling as crew members of the Titanic, Kansas City manager Ned Yost must be feeling sea sick after being outscored 21-6 whilst being swept by the Minnesota Twins.  The Royals now have lowest scoring offense in the American League 0.02 less runs per game than the Houston Astros.  The Astros happen to be their next opponent before an opportunity for redemption when the Twins visit Kauffman Stadium next weekend.  For a trendy pick to win the division, the Royals are doing it wrong!!


Speaking of trendy picks to win the division, the Washington Nationals just got swept by the Atlanta Braves, the team they would have to overcome to win the NL East.  The Braves scored 23 runs during the series doubling their season long production at the plate.  Another Nats sweep of the Miami Marlins would likely keep them neck and neck with the Braves for 1st place but an abysmal showing in their 4 game set with the St. Louis Cardinals next weekend will help solidify their "pretender not contender" status.


Speaking of the Miami Marlins, anybody remember when they were 5-1?  After being swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Marlins now sit at 5-8.  I never thought they would keep pace with the Nationals and Braves but third place in the NL East is feasible.  The Marlins will have to win these games back from the Phillies when they visit Miami May 20-22.


I ran out of "speaking of" tie-ins.  The Milwaukee Brewers extended their winning streak to 9 games by sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Now the real fun begins as they host the St. Louis Cardinals then fly to Pittsburgh for a three game re-match.  The Cardinals were the gold standard last season beating the Brewers in the pennant race by 23 games.  Can a full year of Ryan Braun and tweaked starting rotation really close that gap?

One Series From Every Division to Look Forward to This Weekend

AL EAST - - Red Sox vs Yankees


The Yankees took the 1st game of the four game series on Thursday.  If the Red Sox were not World Series champs, the nod for AL East series of the weekend would have went to the Blue Jays vs Orioles.  I can't imagine the Red Sox not making the playoffs in 2014 but this weekend could start rubbing the sticks together to start that fire.


AL CENTRAL - - Indians vs White Sox


Remember to the 2012 Baltimore's Orioles and their improbable playoff berth?  That's exactly how I feek about the Cleveland's run to the playoffs last season.  Much like the O's failed to make consecutive post season appearances, the same fate awaits the Tribe. My bold prediction is that the White Sox that will challenge them for 3rd place in the division.  The series began Thursday night with the Sox breaking a 14 game losing streak against the Tribe...a sign of things to come!


AL WEST - - A's vs Mariners


"To the man, you've gotta beat the man" Ric Flair The Mariners lost 2 of 3 in Oakland to the A's and (pardon the exaggerated tone in April) can ill-afford to do the same during this weekend's series at Safeco Field.


NL EAST - - Nationals vs Braves


The sexy pick last season to win the AL East was the Nationals.  The sexy pick to possibly knock the Braves out of first place in 2014 is again the Nationals.  The Nats lost 2 of 3 against the Braves in Washington.  Sure it's their only two losses of the season but feasting on teams like the Miami Marlins and New York Mets only makes you pretenders not contenders.


NL CENTRAL - - Cubs vs Cardinals


The argument here is simple, the Cubs hold the power in the NL Central to decide who wins the division.  The Cardinals play their first three of 19 games versus the Cubbies after seeing the Pittsburgh Pirates took 4 of 6 from Chicago.  If Chicago finds a way to take two games this weekend...who am I kidding!


NL WEST - - Tigers vs Padres


This may not be an inter-divisional game but this series has me wondering, how do the Tigers not sweep the Padres?  Porcello, Verlander, Scherzer pitching in the cavernous Petco Park against a team that has scored only 20 runs in 9 games this season.  If the Padres find a way to take 2 of 3, Royals fans should cry if they don't take 2 of 3 from Twins and make up a game on the Tigers "the easy way".

Random Collection of Thoughts re: April 10 in MLB

Does anybody play ESPN's Streak for Cash?  Were you like me and swearing up a storm when the Pittsburgh Pirates fell behind 4-0 to the Chicago Cubs?  The Bucs can't possibly lose back to back games to the Cubs could they?  The "luvable loser" Cubs sent four pitchers to the mound in the 7th inning, two of them would give up homeruns to the first batter they faced and my streak extends to 7.


Whenever one of my favorite teams opens up a 3 game series, the hope is that they take two of three.  The thought of finishing a season with a winning percentage is .667 is absurd but it helps break up the marathon that is the MLB season.  As (most) teams head into their fourth series this weekend, only 2 AL teams and 4 NL teams are producing at that clip. 


Sweeping a series is always the fans desire.  Brewers fans are full of desire as their Milwaukee Brewers just swept their second straight series ON THE ROAD. The Oakland A's also just completed a road sweep of the Minnesota Twins.  I predicted the Washington Nationals would sweep the upstart Marlins, and they did just that with another chance to do so next week on the road in Miami.


Arizona Diamondbacks Paul Goldschmidt extended his hitting streak to 31.  Goldy is 25 shy of tying Joe DiMaggio's record.  I have to be honest, since the Undertaker lost his streak at Wrestlemania last Sunday, I need something to get behind and believe in.  For the next week, I will chose Goldy as my MLB Beat the Streak batter.  If he loses his streak, blame Brock Lesnar!

Random Collection of Thoughts re: April 9 in the MLB

Three "first's" happened today that not many people would not have expected to wait over a week to see (or in the last example, expected at all).  The Kansas City Royals hit their 1st homerun of the season and the Cincinnati Reds speed demon Billy Hamilton stole his first two bases of the season.  Toronto Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro stole his first base since 2009.


Many people likely expected Ervin Santana to have some rust in his pitching debut for the Atlanta Braves.  8 innings played, 0 runs allowed, 3 hits against, no walks allowed, 6 strikeouts.  It doesn't matter that it's against the 4th lowest scoring team in the NL because coming in, Atlanta themselves are the lowest scoring team.  That's the real surprise, Atlanta is barely averaging 2 runs per game heading into Santana's debut.


Baltimore Oriole starter Miguel Gonzalez is set to earn $529,000 this season.  New York Yankee starter Masahiro Tanaka just commenced a seven years, $155M contract.  Both have almost identical lines from their meeting against each other, biggest difference, Tanaka was plus 7 in the strikeout category!  The Orioles would win the game in the 9th with Tanaka out of the game and no option to put in Mariano Rivera or his "replacement" David Robertson for the Yankees.


Game of the night honors goes to the Miami Marlins/Washington Nationals!  Marlins surge out to a 5-0 lead after two innings.  After marching back to take a 6-5 lead in the 6th, the Nats leave the bases drunk which naturally means the Marlins tie it the first chance they get.  The tying run came via the first uncontested homerun (first two were reviewed) of the game in the top of the 7th.  Marlins would take the lead in the top of the 8th on an umpire reviewed home plate play.  At this rate of reviews before reacting to anything on the field, you may want a minute or so.


I have professed my affinity for fantasy baseball in previous articles and through that affinity, I have learned that the last adjective to describe relief pitcher Carlos Marmol is reliable.  Now pitching for the Marlins, the game of the night would effectively end when the Nats were able to load the bases against him in the bottom of the 8th and Jayson Werth would empty the bases with a (un-reviewed) grand slam.

Random Collection of Thoughts re: April 8 in MLB

The San Francisco Giants won their game this afternoon.  Professional reporters will tell you it was in part because of a good outing from Tim Hudson and other valid baseball reasons.  I'm telling you they won from the good karma they promoted when they brought back "Batkid" to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.  If you do not know the story of "Batkid", please re-new your faith in humanity by clicking this link


How does Cincinnati Red Joey Votto break out of an 0-13 slump?  He wears a Mountie uniform on the show "Intentional Talk".  Votto was hit by a pitch in his first at bat and hit singles in the 3rd and 5th inning.


The New York Yankees won their home opener then got shellacked today in game two of the series.  Game 3 versus Baltimore features Masahiro Tanaka's 2nd MLB start.  For those fans who want to believe the Yankees will finish higher in the AL East than the Baltimore Orioles, Wednesday's game is about as "must win" as the series opener celebrating the home kickoff of Derek Jeter's farewell tour.


The Miami Marlins impressively built a 5-2 record versus two clubs that finished 2013 with 74 wins and 76 wins respectively.  Their first game of 2014 versus an opponent with a winning record from 2013, a 5-0 loss to the Washington Nationals.  If the Marlins get swept by the Nationals during these three games in Washington then again next week in the re-match series in Miami, all playoff prognostications for the Fish should read, "nope, not happening".


Going into this three game series in Colorado, the Chicago White Sox had a 5-1 lifetime record at Coors Field.  The Sox got hammered on Monday but Tuesday night put enough air miles on the baseball to almost fly around the world.  SIX HOMERUNS including Jose Abreu's first two in the Majors.

MLB Fistpumps

Adam Dunn, 6 of 28, with 1 homerun, 6 walks and 12 strikeouts versus Jeremy Guthrie apparently has his respect as evidenced by Guthrie's "Sweet Tweet" just to the right of this article on the main page.


I must send a shout out to Reds Owner Bob Castellini.  Having some experience with professional sporting teams and their relationships with the media, Mr. Castellini has taken it upon himself to say out loud the words many, if not all, owners mutter to themselves - - "It gets written in such a way – ‘Well, the Reds aren't doing anything' – that really does affect people buying season tickets. “Personally, I get a little ticked off."  I respect for your speaking your opinions but look how far that got the late Marge Schott.


Grady Sizemore, coming back from duel micro fracture knee surgery, took a spill today in centerfield today.  You know people are rooting for you to be healthy and complete the storybook comeback after two years away when the simple fact you got up, makes the local Boston blog story.


Now, I'm not one to really pay attention to exhibition game box scores but holy moly, the Braves and Nationals played to a 16-15 final score on March 1st.  WOW, I'd love to see that happen in the regular season!!

Scuffs on the Baseball

 The "Sweet Tweet" column now includes a tweet from Rawlings Sports promoting their gloves but the attention grabber is the shirt worn by Washington Nationals Outfielder Bryce Fielder - - > "PED FREE"




The original tweet was retweeted by "Bleacher Report" where I would find another gem - - Blue Jays Closer Casey Janssen Pulls off Perfect Proposal After Going Skydiving  Bleacher Report writer Kyle Newport just gained a fan.




Speaking of gaining fans, Kansas City Royals Rookie Pitcher Kyle Zimmer has already been taught the words "old guys", won't win him any fans.  The video is more funny than the story but it won't let me send you directly to video.




Staying with the KC Royals, they along with the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres, are the only MLB teams to not have their "MLBlog"-ger on the front page of their website.  Just something I noticed as I went through the teams sites looking for some inside information from almost 3000 KM away.




The two most interesting finds from the "MLBlog"-ers came from Seattle's "Mariners Musings by Greg Johns."  The question to new M's skip was regarding Dustin Ackley playing centerfield. 

"“I doubt it. He’ll probably be in left field the majority of time.”

Why is he best suited for left field?

“Because that’s where I want him,” said McClendon."