This Week In Baseball: 8/4-8/10

[geniusMoment 0]

I've never seen them play through lightning like that, it took that one final strike before they got pulled off the field. If they restart this game, anyone left deserves cookies and milk.

[Guest Smues]

That game is an example of why the Cubs shouldn't play any home games in April and May and should play them all in August and September. Oh wait.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

No, it was the realization that they couldn't keep the first baseman on the field that got the them pulled off the field.

 

I guess they'll need to make note on the Cubs World Series DVD that they lost twice to Brian Moeller.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Lou needs to get over his fascination of using Bob Howry in any remotely important spot. The guy has an ERA over five and has given up over a dozen homers on the season, including one today to Carlos Lee that briefly put the Astros up. The Cubs came back in the bottom of the inning and scored five, though, so Howry wound up with the win.

[Guest Cal Moriarty]

Boy, if Jose Ascanio magically turned into a reliable reliever, that'd be sweet, because then Bob Howry could follow Scott Eyre out of the Cubs organization. Sounds like Eyre was being a dicksmack on the team charter and they just couldn't reconcile his conduct with his productivity. Thanks for the help, I guess.

 

Ozzie Guillen on throwing at hitters for revenge: "ahhhhhhh, I no hee a guy but sometimes I do hee guys cuz thass my job, ahhhhh, so I have guys get heet." What a dumbass. Way to admit guilt by professing innocence.

[naiwf 0]

Wagner to the 15 day DL, retroactive to Sunday and Joba's going to see Dr. James Andrews about his shoulder.

[A Happy Medium 0]

I was watching the Rangers/Yankees game last night and I had to comment to the room that I felt that Joba would go down to a shoulder injury in a years time. I was wrong. Something about his delivery said to me that he would have problems. I'm shocked that it may be sooner rather than later.

 

Meanwhile, that was the best finish I have ever seen for a Rangers game.

[Guest Cal Moriarty]

A note on Skip Caray: I wonder what his place will be in the pantheon of baseball announcers. While he certainly has the longevity and exposure of other great announcers, it seems like a vocal contingent of people never really liked the guy's work. Too many complaints that he was "too sleepy," "too sarcastic," so on, so forth, so he's not universally beloved like Scully, Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Jack Brickhouse, or Bob Uecker. He wasn't even that respected by his employers, seeing as he was temporarily removed from TBS Braves games a few years ago, not to mention the snub he got last fall for postseason coverage. Now more than ever, it's a damn shame that he didn't get any postseason assignments from TBS. The Turner executives said that he was "too regional" for national coverage, and then turned around and employed Don Orsillo. They wanted it to be different than Braves coverage, but kept Chip. Then for no good reason, they brought in Dick Stockton, who gave us Adolfo Soriano and Julio Jorge. I'm sure they'd do it over if they could.

[NYU 0]

Aaron Heilman needs to be run out of Queens tonight by a mob with pitchforks. Jerry Manuel needs to go with somebody else -- ANYBODY else -- to cover for Wagner while he's gone. Go with Eddie Kunz if it's necessary. It's better to go with an unproven player than a proven failure.

[Bored 0]

Forget my prediction the A's are going to finish with 90+ losses, they might lose 100 games. Can they win ten more games this year? I'm not so sure anymore.

 

And it's time to start auditioning new closers for next year as Huston Street officially blows. God damn they should have taken whatever they could have got for him at the deadline.

[Guest Cal Moriarty]

Bored, have the A's broken ground on Cisco Field yet? Has Fremont even approved Cisco Field yet? Last I heard, it was on either federally protected wetlands, a toxic waste dump, or a federally protected wetland/toxic waste dump. It's been quiet on that front, so I'd appreciate any insight you can give the rest of us w/r/t replacing the Oakland Coliseum, which I don't think is all that bad anyway.

 

The A's really decided to shut down the show pretty early this season. That team got really bad really fast, and it doesn't help that Eric Chavez has become (or kinda always was) a Broken Oakland. I don't think they'll lose 100 games, but 96 sounds reasonable, unfortunately. It's kinda sad to watch the Billy Beane thing wind down with so little to show for it, and sadder still to see the Texas Rangers finish in a distant second with their outfit of total bullshit.

[Guest Vitamin X]

The Rangers have a decent core of players including Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and Milton Bradley. I wouldn't call it total bullshit, but their pitching is atrocious. Vicente Padilla is their leading guy in the rotation. Think about that.

[Bored 0]

They aren't even close to breaking ground on it. The owner Lew Wolff said this last week:

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10052866?source=most_emailed

But where that future will take place remains in as much question as ever, especially after owner Lew Wolff told Bay Area News Group he is unsure if the team's attempt to build a state-of-the-art ballpark in Fremont will succeed.

 

"I don't know. I honestly don't," Wolff said Wednesday when asked if Cisco Field will come to fruition. "But say it doesn't. We're still under a lot of pressure to get a park that is our own. That isn't going to go away. So my hope is that we'll find a way to make it happen. It has not been as easy as I thought it would be."

I honestly haven't been paying that close of attention to it mainly due to my indifference to the whole project but the hold up has apparently been the Environmental Impact Report and the slumping real estate market. At this point 2012 is the earliest the stadium would open, if at all, and even that could get pushed back. If the deal falls through in the next couple of years look for the team to get sold and probably to someone who will take them out of the Bay Area unless a miracle happens.

[Guest Cal Moriarty]

Milton Bradley's brain is liable to fly out of his skull and roll down the foul line at any given moment, so I'm putting him in the same category as the pitchers on that team. Did anyone else enjoy the essay in the '08 Baseball Prospectus that explains how the Rangers have never been operated as an actual baseball club, just a toy or a means of extorting real estate to make money for George Bush? Good stuff.

 

I can't believe the Rangers had so many All-Stars this year. Maybe they would be good without that joke of a pitching staff. Can they roll the fences back at all?

[Bored 0]

The Rockies put a waiver claim on Livan Hernandez. I bet Ed Wade is pissed he didn't fall to the Astros.

[jimmy no nose 0]

Marlon Byrd must wish they played the Yankees every day of the year.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Chris Waters has a 1 hitter through 6 innings in his first major league start vs the Angels.

 

Oh, and I got a kick out of Gary Thorne mentioning the possibility of the Alligator Alley WS this year..

 

 

[treble 0]

I'm going to catch three out of the four Pawtucket/Scranton games this week. With any luck, I'll catch prospect Michael Bowden at some point.

Which ones? I'll be at the one tonight.

Look for me Section 117, Row B.

 

With any luck Treble will have his Jays hat.

 

I did not see Al Keiper.

 

But if you were wearing a red shirt, I might have a picture of the back of your head.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Waters 1 Hit through 8 and gets the win, Sherrill comes in and redeems himself for last night with the save.

 

Hands down the best pitched game the Os have had all year.

 

 

 

 

[KingPK 0]

Cloverfield: The Wrigley Field Tornado:

 

 

Seriously, all we needed was the cameraman making dumb jokes the whole time. That looked pretty scary, though.

[MFer 0]

Guess it's time to pack it in...I was willing to drag this out a little longer with the Tigers, but after the way the games on Sunday and tonight went, it's obvious that it's just not their year.

 

This whole bullpen (aside from Seay) needs to be fired.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I can't believe how shitty the Tigers' pen is. Fernando Rodney actually throws down three great scoreless innings and then Zumaya gives up four in the bottom of the inning. None of this probably happens if Renteria doesn't bobble and KICK the groundball that scored the seventh run, but would've also been the second out. Thome struck out after that and then Swisher homered.

[Guest Vitamin X]

They aren't even close to breaking ground on it. The owner Lew Wolff said this last week:

 

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10052866?source=most_emailed

But where that future will take place remains in as much question as ever, especially after owner Lew Wolff told Bay Area News Group he is unsure if the team's attempt to build a state-of-the-art ballpark in Fremont will succeed.

 

"I don't know. I honestly don't," Wolff said Wednesday when asked if Cisco Field will come to fruition. "But say it doesn't. We're still under a lot of pressure to get a park that is our own. That isn't going to go away. So my hope is that we'll find a way to make it happen. It has not been as easy as I thought it would be."

I honestly haven't been paying that close of attention to it mainly due to my indifference to the whole project but the hold up has apparently been the Environmental Impact Report and the slumping real estate market. At this point 2012 is the earliest the stadium would open, if at all, and even that could get pushed back. If the deal falls through in the next couple of years look for the team to get sold and probably to someone who will take them out of the Bay Area unless a miracle happens.

 

Say hello to the Portland Athletics!

 

I think that has a nice ring to it, plus it fills that 800 mile gap between Seattle and the Bay Area, and you've got the natural rivalry with Seattle. I think the TV deal with the Mariners could expire by then, too.

[Mik 0]

Now that the Marlins have a stadium deal the "to Portland" rumor mill must be continued!

[A Happy Medium 0]

Cloverfield: The Wrigley Field Tornado:

 

 

Seriously, all we needed was the cameraman making dumb jokes the whole time. That looked pretty scary, though.

 

That was actually pretty frightening. I went to a game last season, and I can't recall if the Fire Station is still there on Waveland. Also...that's one monster of a storm.

 

When I lived up there, I was so scared of tornadoes and shit like that. After moving to Texas, I've realised that Chicago weather isn't that bad. When was the last time there was a tornado in Chicago itself? The 1950s?

[sfaJack 0]

The Astros' continuing infatuation with 'hometown boy' Brandon Backe astounds me. He is NOT a quality starting pitcher.

[Guest Cal Moriarty]

I think he was pretty good in 2004. He's obviously not any good today, seeing as he gave up 11 runs in 3 and a third with 9 hits and 6 walks. Luckily, his team is facing Jason Marquis at wind-blowing-out Wrigley Field, so he might get off the hook.

 

Cecil Cooper doesn't appear to be particularly interested in his job. Whenever they show him, he seems to be napping. I like the way he got his job, which was Bud Selig loudly musing to nobody in particular that IT SURE WOULD BE GREAT FOR BASEBALL IF THE ASTROS HIRED BREWER GREAT CECIL COOPER, and then Drayton McLane was like "ok" and hired him. What made him so uniquely qualified? How odd.

[jimmy no nose 0]

Jeff Karstens perfect game through 6 in Arizona.

[geniusMoment 0]

There is some high quality ass at wrigley for this game. During the 7th inning stretch they've shown like 10 girls with cut-off shorts so small that you can see about half the pockets underneath about the 2 inches of denim covering their pussy. You gotta love a day game at wrigley.

 

 

Earlier this year I was at Wrigley with my girlfriend for a series of games. Before one of the games we stopped off at Hi Tops (it's a local bar that many go to before cubs games for those of you who have never been to wrigley) and there was a group of about 6 girls wearing nothing but white sports bras and what they called shorts (looked more like those panties that look like shorts but ride up a girls ass). Anyway, we ended up in a discussion over the Cubs. They thought that Mark Prior was hot (I didn't bother to inform them that he wasn't on the team anymore) and ended up deciding they were going to flash whenever the Cubs hit a HR. Anyway, we walked to the park, we all ended up in the right field bleachers. They were completely sauced by the second inning when I think DeRose hit a HR. They did a poor flash causing security to come over. Somehow my girlfriend (who was wearing a red t shirt and jean shorts that weren't quite as slutty) got grouped in with them by security. It took about 20 minutes of discussion before everyone was allowed to stay. In the end the group of girls ended up leaving with what looked like a group of dirty construction workers. All that's come out of this is my girlfriend won't sit in the bleachers in wrigley anymore. Gotta love wrigley

[naiwf 0]

Padres/Mets recap

 

1st pitch, Gerut hits a bomb to right. Pedro gets the next hitter out, but then gets taken off the scoreboard by Giles. It's going to be a long night.