Sammy hits #600. Against the Cubs.

Was it at Wrigley?

Lou should have had the umps check the bat for cork. That would have been great. :)

17 fucking losses from the Reds bullpen.

How come Krivsky can't fix the easiest problem on a baseball team? Weathers is serviceable as a closer, but the rest of the relievers are terrible.

Actually, since most bullpens in baseball seem to be pretty crappy, I would guess it is difficult to put together an effective pen. It's probably not so hard to find a good closer and set up man, because they are more obvious, but the real key to successful pens, IMO, is getting quality guys for those sixth and seventh inning bridges and quality depth for when your star relievers have pitched too much. And that's where most teams fail miserably.

Coincidentally, I was just thinking about the Reds' pen a few minutes ago when I read the earlier post about Homer Bailey. If your pen had been better, he might have gotten a win last week against the Angels. Not trying to rub it in--just thought it was a mildly odd coincidence.

I imagine a large number of those seventeen losses were wins turned into losses by the pen. Today was just another example of taking the starter out with a lead and losing the game.

Yeah, I gotta think when he's fighting with pitchers, it's more of an addition by subtraction.

Then again, since that little incident Zambrano has pitched pretty well...

SI

In case you start noticing flying pigs, dogs and cats living together and a cool chill rising from hell, be aware that Jeff Weaver pitched a 4-hit shutout tonight against Pittsburgh, striking out 5 and walking 2 for a game score of 82.

Krivsky being desperate to fix this problem led to the Kearns-Lopez/Majewski-Bray trade from last year. Lest we forget that crapfest. I don't know if we want to tempt him. Truthfully, I would be more than happy if they would just go super young at this point and bring up Votto, Bruce, etc. Let them have some on-the-job training.

I would think the bullpen is one of the more perplexing and less static components of a team. We've seen teams full of all-star relievers suck, and teams with rejects, failed starters, and injury kings put together solid seasons. That's not to say the Reds have great talent in their bullpen that should be performing better, but sometimes the crapshoot turns out poorly.

Dang. It took 14 innings but the Cards salvaged the series in St Louis and tied the season series at 3. I ended up going to sleep just moments before it happened, too. After the Royals couldn't score in the top of the 14th with DeJesus at 3rd and 1 out, I decided it was time to sleep since it was about 12:30. :(

Gordon puts up a 4 for 6 and is now up to .228 up 55 points from the .173 he was hitting 2 weeks ago on June 6th (22 for 52 in that stretch or .423)

SI

I'm hopeful that the Yankees will have a crappy end to the first half of the season and essentially put themselves in such a hole that they would have to play like .700+ baseball in the second half to get back into it. They've lost 2 straight in Colorado, and I'm hoping that means the recent winning streak was due more to the competition (weak White Sox and Pirates, slumping D-Backs and Mets) than the Yankees turning it around. After the Rockies, they get the Giants and Orioles, but then they finish with the A's, Twins, and Angels.

When they trade Hatteberg and Conine that should open things up for Votto. Bruce just moved to AA, so it's too early to bring him up.

I'm torn between blowing the team up and keeping it mostly intact. What I can't figure out is how good the team could be with even a league average bullpen. It seems like Harang/Arroyo/Bailey/Lohse/Belisle should be enough in the Central and the best trade options in the lineup are having good years (Griffey/Dunn/Phillips). But there's also no denying that this team could end with the worst record in the league.

I hope some moves are made. Hatteberg/Conine/Lohse/Weathers/Stanton/Guardado(if healthy)/Valentin should all go regardless of record. The big questions are Griffey and Dunn.

Re Jason Schmidt's surgery:


Dodgers trainer Stan Conte said Schmidt had surgery to repair an inflamed bursa, a torn labrum and a frayed biceps tendon in his right shoulder. Both the labrum tear and the frayed tendon were unexpected.

What did Figgins do?

Not exactly sure what Chief is referring to, since there are probably multiple ways to carve up a 6-hit, walk-off triple performance by a switch-hitter into "only X number of players have ever done that before" categories.

As much as I've always hated Barry Bonds, I'd trade Juan Pierre and Jason Schmidt straight up. Just to get rid of those contracts.

I can't believe Tom Hicks came right out and suggested Juan Gone was on steroids. Seems pretty irresponsible. Was he specifically mentioned by Conseco in his book? He, Conseco, and Palmeiro were all in Texas at the same time, weren't they?



"I have no knowledge that Juan used steroids. His number of injuries and early retirement just makes me suspicious," Hicks wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Wednesday. "In any event, we paid him $24 million for very few games."

Hicks was responding to questions about a television interview in which he was asked about decisions he regretted since owning the team, then mentioned the oft-injured outfielder and steroids.

"Juan Gonzalez for $24 million after he came off steroids, probably, we just gave that money away," Hicks said in the interview, aired June 10 on KTVT-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Haha, hmm. I didn't look at Monday's box. For some reason I looked at the Wednesday box before asking, and didn't see anything special. Six hits is good. :p

It was one of those games that justifies Jayson Stark's existence - gives him fodder for his Useless Information columns.

I don't think it is anymore irresponsible than the "suggestions" that others (including myself) have made about other players. Canseco, Palmeiro, AND Ivan Rodriguez (Hey if we are speculating we can't leave him out!) were all on that '92 team with Gonzales. Juan Gone jumped from 27 homers in 142 games in 1991 to 43 homers in 155 games in 1992. Others have convicted in the court of public opinion for less.

It's one thing for anonymous nobodies on a messageboard to speculate, it's another for an MLB team owner to do the same. Especially since it suggests he had an idea at the time that they were throwing away their money. Kinda backs up Giambi's comment that MLB should apologize, when Cashman and others have steadfastly maintained they knew nothing until recently. The owner ofr the D-Backs got himself in a little hot water by making a similar comment about Luis Gonzalez last year, if I recall.

Since I firmly believe that the vast majority of the people involved in baseball(players, managers, medical personnel, owners etc.) knew exactly what was going on, he is just confirming what I already knew.

Based on Bud Selig's treatment of Giambi, I think the comments made by Hicks should force him to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to George Mitchell or be threatened with suspension.:)

It would be nice if Selig and the rest of the owners/front office personnel were being compelled to tell the truth about what they knew. I'd really like to hear Selig's explanation for claiming that owners never discussed the issue, when in a newspaper article from around 1993 or so, he was quoted as saying owners had specifically discussed steroids.

ESPN 1050 in New York is reporting that Girardi has turned down the Oriole job.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2911691

BALTIMORE -- Joe Girardi has declined an offer from the Baltimore Orioles to become their next manager, his agent, Steve Mandel, told ESPN on Thursday.


Girardi interviewed with the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday, and ESPN's Peter Gammons reported that the team offered him their vacant managerial job.


The discussions with Girardi came after Baltimore fired Sam Perlozzo after two-plus seasons as manager.

Girardi was a first-time manager last season when he led Florida to a 78-84 record last year, keeping the youthful Marlins in contention until late September.

The former big league catcher was fired at the end of the season following a rift with owner Jeffrey Loria, then was voted NL Manager of the Year -- the first to win the award with a losing record.

A former coach for Yankees manager Joe Torre, Girardi returned to New York this season as a broadcaster for the YES Network.

Meanwhile, as first reported on Monday by ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney, Andy MacPhail was hired Wednesday as chief operating officer of the Orioles. MacPhail ran both the Cubs and the Twins.

MacPhail and Girardi overlapped in Chicago during MacPhail's tenure as Cubs president, which began in 1994 and ended in 2006. Girardi was a Cub for two stints totaling six seasons, the last from 2000-02.

Buster Olney is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

I don't blame him. The Orioles haven't been the Orioles since Angelos bought the team and ruined it.

Wise decision. Terrible owner and two premier teams in the division.

Ha!

Not so many variables, KSyrup. It's actually pretty simple. Only the third player in baseball history (apparently) to collect six hits and get the game-winning hit.

Last player was some guy named Jack Norbert or Northrup or something like that, with the Tigers in '69.

I don't know who the third is. My bro told me he heard on an ESPN radio update that it had only happened three total times.

SPeculation around here is that Girardi turned down the O's because he thinks he's going to get the Yankees job whenever Torre is fired.

That was my first thought when I read the news earlier today.

/tk

It's basically been guaranteed to Mattingly.

My guess is he took the interview knowing all the positives (great baseball city, great history, etc) and hoping to hear that the main negative (ownership) wouldn't be such a negative if he took over. Didn't like what he heard and passed.

Does it really count since it was against the Pirates, who might be the worst hitting team in baseball

Congratulations. It appears that Jeff Weaver is at least the equal of King Felix, if not slightly better, judging by tonight's result. :D

Here's some good company:


Four of their last five shutouts have come against Kyle Lohse, Kameron Loe, Weaver and Hernandez, who were a combined 5-22 until they got well against Pittsburgh.

Maroth traded to the Cardinals.

I would have at least waited to see how Kenny Rogers pitches tonight...

Still waiting to see what they got in return.

Oh good lord. Maroth?

Walt, what are you doing? I hope you didn't give up more than a bag of balls for him.

I guess I'll have to hope Maroth is one of those veterans that Dave Duncan can work miracles with.

Felix actually didn't pitch much different than he has been since he came back from the DL - it's just that the Pirates were in hack mode and Felix's BABiP numbers are starting to regress to the mean. It seems like every mistake Felix has made has been getting hammered, and his BABiP rate reflects that perception (.374).

So, yeah - it's nice Felix pitched 8 scoreless innings, but as the Enhanced Gameday data shows, he really didn't pitch any differently than he has been recently (and worse than his opening 2 starts).

There's been some interesting analysis of him based off that Enhanced Gameday data that seems to show that he's lost velocity off his fastball and break off his 2-seamer and slider since his 1st start. The suspicion is he's either still hurt or he's holding back a touch for fear of re-injuring himself (not fully finishing his pitches).

That would probably have to be Jim Northrup, who spent most of his 12 year MLB career with the Tigers. He also tripled in a couple of runs that proved to be the eventual game-winners over the Cardinals in Game 7 of the '68 World Series.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/northji01.shtml

Yeah, that'll do it! :eek:

Tejada's consecutive streak of games played ended at 1,152

And the Braves streak of consecutive scoreless innings reaches 28 & counting.

In addition to the Maroth trade today, I didn't realize the Tigers also dealt Wilfredo Ledezma to Atlanta for Macay McBride on Wednesday.

close, but I am pretty sure that team is the chisox. :(

ARod homers in the 9th to tie the game against the Giants. I really wish he'd go back to not being a true yankee.

Justin Verlander continues his June dominace vs Atlanta, going 7, allowing 1 ER, 4 H 2 BB and K'ing 11. He's now 4-0 in June, allowed 4 ER, 16 hits, 10 walks and K'd 35 in 29 IP.

With one more start this month (vs Texas) Verlander all but has assured himself AL Pitcher of the Month.

Boo! Stupid Rockies Baker.

The Royals salvage the third game against the Brewers (it's always salvage when you win the 3rd game, too- one of those in the long list of baseball cliches). This evens their June record at 11-11 with only 5 games to go. Unfortunately, three are against the best team in the league (Anaheim) and then 2 against the White Sox. If they do manage to go 3-2, it will be their first winning month since 2003 :D

SI

Well, but you have played us well this year.

Not to take anything away from Verlander, but I think my mom could shut out the Braves right now.

So, can we postpone the talk of demoting Lincecum for a while longer?

What is the RBI record for someone hitting less than .200? Andruw Jones probably has a good shot of getting it.

Looking like this was the case...

The Yankees loss almost made up for the fact that the Tigers lost a second game to the Rangers. Almost. Todd Jones is a motherfucker.

Yep, I was afraid of this about the Yankees. Now they've lost 6 of 7 to Colorado, San Fransisco, and Baltimore. Andy Pettitte gets another no decision giving up 3 ER or less because the offense sucks. How do you only score 5 runs in 3 games in Colorado of all places?

Let me ask a question of everyone. Is it that customary not to bring your closer in to pitch in a tie game on the road? Mariano Rivera has pitched once in the last 10 days and Scott Proctor has been overused all season. Saturday against the Giants, Torre leaves Proctor in to pitch a 3rd inning in a tie game in extra innings instead of bringing in Rivera and Proctor loses the game. Tonight, Torre brings in Proctor for the 9th inning in a 2-2 game instead of Rivera. Proctor walks 3 batters including the winning run. Doesn't bringing in Rivera increase your chance of winning the game regardless of whether the game is tied or not or is Joe Torre correct not to use his best pitcher in a tie game on the road?

Typically you use your closer in a tied game at home, but not on the road so the closer can pitch the bottom of the inning if you score and get the save.

This is why Joe Torre, in all likelihood, deserves to lose his job. I understand he's a great clubhouse guy and all, but his bullpen usage is horrible. In tonight's game, I would have let Rivera pitch 2 innings since he's hardly pitched. Especially since everyone is in agreement that Rivera needs steady work to stay sharp.

See?

Neyer's got a spot-on blog article about Torre's bullpen mismanagement.

Well, I thought we would win last night. The pitching matchup favored us. But I figured Thompson vs Lackey was going to be an 8-1 shellacking. I'll take a series win against Anaheim any day of the year :D

SI

What the! I just checked out his stats. What happened to his AVG? Also, he's from the Netherlands??

Also, does this little blurb on the bottom of his page on mlb.com mean HE has a daughter too, or his SON has a dauther?

He's from Curacao, which is part of the Netherlands, right? He's from the Netherlands and his BA is in the nether-regions.

The amazing thing is that someone is going to pay him $15M+ a year for declining offensive skills that never quite reached the level we thought they would, plus overrated (at least at this point in his career) defense.

Knowing that prior to the season, it would take a major hometown discount for the Braves to be able to sign him, I'm wondering if his terrible year will drive his price down enough to where the Braves might be able to keep him. Declining skills or not...as a Met fan, I want him out of the division.

Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the White Sox and Beuhrle may sign an extension:


"The Boston Red Sox, who had jumped out as the clear favorite to acquire White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle during the weekend, have pulled out of the sweepstakes, according to one source. And not because the asking price of top minor-league prospects was too high or because they no longer coveted Buehrle's services, but because Buehrle is no longer on the trading block for the time being.

The Sun-Times has learned that a change of heart in both the Buehrle and White Sox camps during the last 48 hours has led to talks about the sides somehow getting together and agreeing on a contract extension by the end of the week."

I would much rather have the Braves sign him, even at a discounted price. Locking up a declining centerfielder long-term would be much better for the Mets since it would severely handicap the Braves financial flexibility.

However, I know the Braves are smart enough to let him walk.

Head to head though, Jones punishes the Mets. That's why he can go IMO.

And this is an emmy award winning analyst

Well, he got one out of three - he's right that batting average is over rated.

My god Joe Morgan is the biggest dumbshit in baseball. This just confirms my feelings for him.

He's such a joke that I'm fairly certain those are softball questions designed to provoke the kind of non-analytical/old-school answers he always gives, for the amusement of the masses. It's too bad, because I actually like him and it's nice to have someone who is a tie to the past to bring perspective to today's game...it's just unfortunate that his thinking hasn't progressed past his glory days.

What's amusing to me about Morgan is that many of the statistical concepts he rails against are precisely the reasons why he's so highly thought of by sabermatricians as a hitter - despite frequently posting a sub-.300 batting average, he was a very valuable hitter because he drew a ton of walks (high OBP) and hit for a good power considering the era and his position (good SLG + high OBP = very good OPS).

Isn't it ironic?

Maybe that's why he's always been so modest...deep down he thinks he sucked and can't understand why he's so highly thought of!

Despite that, he actually thinks the saber way of thinking would have overlooked him as a player. He's mentioned it a few times. He's so set in his ways its almost sad.

I saw someone ask him once why he's never read moneyball and refuses to. He said that since Michael Lewis didn't play baseball there was nothing he could learn from him. Which I guess is an improvement since he's always referred to it as "the Billy Beane book".

I imagine him saying this with the same scorn an old white guy uses when describing "this rap stuff colored folk do."

Clemens looking good in mid-season.

Not the same in the AL....

I think it's funny that with all the pitching problems they've had, it's the offense that is killing them.

:)

With 2 to spare!

*gets out the unlikeliest of brooms* Hooray! :)

SI

Yeah, the Tigers, Angels, and Red Sox scuffling a bit this week. Lucky for the Red Sox they are probably going to back into a division championship at this point.

Just 1.5 back and starting 3 games against the White Sox. I have to think this would be the latest in the season not in last place since 2003 if they can pull ahead. I'll be at the game Sunday for the Negro Leagues game

SI

Anyone want Nomar? The one times he's healthy, he cant hit anymore

Poor Matt Cain. 2-9, but with a 3.37 ERA. According to Joe Morgan, this guy is a bum!

My daughter will be honorary batgirl at tonight's Orioles-Yankees game as the O's look for the sweep :)!

i'll send her $5 if she kicks A-Fraud or Jeter or the caveman-traitor in the shins. :D

neat!!

I hope pine tar washes off easily :)

I'd settle for her to distract the firstbase ump while an Oriole fan reaches over the fence and catches an Orioles' warning track flyball that is called a HR and wins the game.

That's cool!

F'n Glavine and the Mets.. and RAIN!!!!!!!

Frank Thomas hits #500 off Carlos Silva and the Twins...and his average creeps over .240! Way to go big Frank!

So I stumbled across a wiki entry on Josh Gibson, and then followed that up with Satchel Paige.

I also read a couple more websites that had mini-biographies of Paige. Is there any concrete literature on these two players? Or is anything bound to have some information that can't be proved? Paige interests me more actually. It seems like he played against better competition than Gibson, and seems like a really interesting player.

Watching the Orioles/Yankees game last night was painful. Yankees have a 4-2 lead, then promptly blow it to go down 6-4. Then the downpour starts. But it lets up long enough to play the top of the 8th. Orioles bring in John "Todd Jones" Parrish, who walks the first 2 guys of the inning. Always a good idea when protecting a lead. I didn't see what happened next, but next thing I know it's 6-6, Chris Ray is in, there are 2 outs, and the rain has come back, and I mean it's pouring. Instead of calling the game right there, the umps - apparently trying to help the Orioles - keep letting them play, seemingly hoping they can get that last out of the inning. But no, they give up a couple more hits, and Jeter knocks in the go-ahead runs. And at that point, the game is called and play ultimately suspended.

What a joke that was. It was like watching a soccer game in extra time, where the ref continues to let the team on the offensive play on until they are stopped, at which point time is "magically" up. One of the Orioles got pissed and was arguing with the umps over it. That was BS.

Same thing happened to the Reds last night. Water was pooling on the field for a good 5-10 minutes, but they kept letting the Phillies bat until they got the game-winning hit. Such crap.

It's really hard to find Negro Leagues information and "official" Negro Leagues stats for parts of history. Later on in the league's life, there are better stats but early on there's not much to go on.

SI

Is it safe to say Alex Gordon has things firgured out now? He has an .885 OPS in June, although he dug him self such a huge hole in April/May that his line is still only .240/.331/.376

I'd say so, but don't ask Joe Morgan.

Nice catch Dave Roberts!

I wonder how soon after his games he checks this thread.

Denny Green passes my messages to him by 8:30 the next morning.