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4/15/2008
Billy-Ball Daily
Bill Chuck (Billy-Ball his own self)
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The only spin here is on my screwball
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Top of the 1st
RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD
First of all let me apologize for the rushed Billy-Ball yesterday. I tried to squeeze out an edition in less than hour following P/T and before traveling to watch soccer (way to go Blast!) and it was a mess. Of course you do realize that when I wrote “Tommy Glavine now has 349 career wins, five behind Roger Cl*mens. Yesterday was the 90th time he's won a start in which he allowed no runs, the same as Clemens. That's tied for second-most in the past 50 years behind Nolan Ryan's 97,” I was referring to Greg Maddux. I had Glavine on my mind because after pulling a hamstring, he is hoping to avoid the DL for the first time in his 21-year career.
What I really wanted to tell you about yesterday was the 2:11 rain delay at Fenway on Saturday. Mrs. Ball and I were sitting there only keeping from freezing thanks to the warm generosity of Alex and Oliver Bok trying to stay warm and trying to hear ourselves thinking above the blasting music of Fenway which discourages any conversation. They clearly must use the amps from “This is Spinal Tap” that go to 11.
We watched the first part of the rain delay with wonderment as the weather was more clement than inclement. It was nothing much more than a drizzle. You start killing time by asking questions to each other that really needn’t be asked but insist on being answered, such as “Which of the catching Molina brothers has the most career stolen bases?”
For those curious, Bengie, in 979 career games, has three. Yadier, in 416 games, has four. And Jose, the speed demon, in 412 games, has nine.
But all this talk of catchers got me thinking about the former catcher Rick Dempsey, who played from 1969 to 1992, with the Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Milwaukee Brewers. Now it wasn’t the 20 stolen bases he had in career that I was remembering, nor was it his 1983 World Series MVP. It was his antics during rain delays.
Dempsey felt that if the fans stayed during the rain, they deserved to be entertained. What Dempsey would do would be take off his cleats, stuff a few towels under his jersey and…well, here’s how his former manager Earl Weaver described it, ''He did an exaggerated Babe Ruth home-run trot around the bases and slid into the huge puddle at home plate, spraying water almost to the stands. Rick rose, tipped his cap, and held it up as he minced into the dugout. Those fans responded the way an audience does when it has seen a brilliant pantomimist perform. Rick Dempsey is that, and a good man to have on your ball club.''
Dempsey’s view of the tarp (which has a huge advertisement on it now at Fenway) was that it was nothing more than a giant Slip n’ Slide. Weaver attributed Dempsey’s ability to his parents George T. Dempsey, a vaudevillian, and June Archer, who starred in the Broadway show, ''Song of Norway'' in the late 1940's. But Dempsey said his parents gave up show biz soon after he was born in 1949.
By the by, George Vecsey of the New York Times back in 1982, wrote a column about Weaver and Dempsey in which he described a 1980 dugout tantrum between the two in which Dempsey was tossing bats, Weaver was tossing bats, Dempsey stomping on one shinguard, Weaver stomping on the other.
''The thing that gets me is, Earl says I made a base-running mistake,'' Dempsey told Vescey. ''What happened was, I moved to second on a bad throw and Larry Harlow decided to go back to second. I got off the base because I figured they'd rather have Larry on base than me. And Earl yelled at me. Besides, right after Earl took me out of the game, I tore off my uniform and was taking a shower in my shoes and my underwear. You should have seen that part of the fight.''
Dempsey performed his rain dance a number of times sometimes wearing his underpants over his uniform, making fun of teammate Jim Palmer's advertisements for Jockey brand briefs and once in a September 1982 game at Milwaukee when he wore a Robin Yount jersey and mimicked hitting a home run before circling the bases. He then often led the crowd in a rendition of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."
Has anyone tried this since? Well, during the second of two rain delays in the White Sox 6-4 victory over Toronto in 4 1/2 innings in April of 2006, the White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle entertained the rain-soaked masses by walking out to the field and gliding across the tarp on his stomach after taking a running start from right-center. He followed that graceful move with another dive toward home plate as the rain poured down.
How did that work out?
In an e-mailed response to MLB.com, general manager Ken Williams wrote, “He needs to find another hobby.”
And yet, after recovering from the wet and the cold and my ears stopped ringing, I keep thinking how baseball needs more Rick Dempsey and less advertising on the tarp.
Top of the 2nd
JUDGE THESE STARS BY THE COMPANY THEY KEEP
Alex Rodriguez tied Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th place on the all time HR list, with 521 as the Yankees topped the Rays, 8-7.
Manny Ramirez tied Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff for 24th place on the all time HR list, with 493 as the BoSox topped the Tribe, 6-4.
Top of the 3rd
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
For the fifth time in his career, Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday was chosen as the National League Player of the Week. Holliday hit safely in all six games the Rockies played last week, leading the NL with a .480 average and 10 RBI. He also had an .880 slugging percentage and .519 on-base percentage.
For the fourth time in his career, Seattle Mariners left fielder Raul Ibańez has been named the American League Co-Player of the Week with Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Brian Bannister.
Ibańez hit .370 (10-for-27) with seven runs scored, three doubles, one triple, four home runs and 11 runs batted in. He also drew five walks and reached base in 15 of his 32 plate appearances. His eight extra-base hits (27 total bases) gave him an American League best 1.000 slugging percentage for the week.
Bannister went 2-0 with a 1.29 earned run average in two starts for the Royals. He fanned nine and walked just four in 14 innings of work. On the season, Bannister is 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA for the Royals.
Top of the 4th
JOBA THE BEREAVED
The Yankees placed rookie reliever Joba Chamberlain on the major-league bereavement list yesterday so he could attend to his ailing father in Nebraska. Harlan Chamberlain collapsed at the family home in Lincoln on Sunday night and was rushed to St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center. Chamberlain must stay on the bereavement list a minimum of three days. After seven days, a player can reapply for a seven-day renewal or be placed on the restricted list.
"He is currently in critical but stable condition," Chamberlain said in a statement released by the team.
Derek Jeter arranged for a private plane to take Joba Chamberlain to Nebraska.
Top of the 5th
BIG UNIT, BIT WILD
Randy Johnson did not allow an earned run in five innings, (three unearned), striking out seven but walking four before San Francisco rallied against Arizona’s bullpen for a 5-4 victory over the Diamondbacks. Johnson had not pitched in the majors since a 9-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers last June 28, before his August back operation. He finished at 90 pitches with 49 strikes. Those are Dice-K numbers.
Keiichi Yabu (1-1), who had dental surgery earlier in the day (everybody’s got to have something), worked two scoreless innings for his first win in nearly three years. He beat the Giants on May 20, 2005, with the Oakland Athletics. Yabu’s victory also was the first by a Japanese pitcher for the Giants since Masanori Murakami on Sept. 30, 1965.
Top of the 6th
SITE OF THE DAY
Here’s a fun site to check out: http://www.ballparkchasers.com/. Ballparkchasers.com is an Internet social network with a mission of providing baseball fans a way to create an online scrapbook of their travels. Apparently you can post travel suggestions and receive help on planning your next baseball trip.
Send your suggestions for a site to be recognized to bill@billy-ball.com with the subject SOTD.
Top of the 7th
PROBABLE PITCHERS
(Dustin Moseley) at Rangers (Kevin Millwood), 2:05
Royals (John Bale) at Mariners (Miguel Batista), 6:40
Blue Jays (Shaun Marcum) at Orioles (Steve Trachsel), 7:05
Red Sox (Tim Wakefield) at Indians (Paul Byrd), 7:05
Twins (Scott Baker) at Tigers (Nate Robertson), 7:05
Yankees (Andy Pettitte) at Rays (Edwin Jackson), 7:10
NL
Diamondbacks (Micah Owings) at Giants (Kevin Correia), 4:35
Astros (Shawn Chacon) at Phillies (Adam Eaton), 7:05
Nationals (Odalis Perez) at Mets (Mike Pelfrey), 7:10
Braves (Jair Jurrjens) at Marlins (Scott Olsen), 7:10
Reds (Aaron Harang) at Cubs (Ryan Dempster), 8:05
Brewers (David Bush) at Cardinals (Braden Looper), 8:15
Rockies (Ubaldo Jimenez) at Padres (Randy Wolf), 10:05
Pirates (Matt Morris) at Dodgers (Hong-Chih Kuo), 10:10
Top of the 8th
DID YOU KNOW?
Nate McLouth extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a three-run homer off All-Star Takashi Saito with two outs in the 9th inning, as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 for their fourth straight victory. Saito only had four blown saves last season in 43 opportunities, and his 1.40 ERA was the second-lowest in the majors among pitchers with at least 50 innings.
McLouth is one of three players to hit safely in each of his team's first 13 games this year, along with Kansas City's Billy Butler and the Dodgers' James Loney. The Pirates' center fielder and leadoff hitter is batting .383 with two homers and 14 RBIs. His longest hitting streak last season was 11 games.
Who has McLouth on their fantasy teams?
Top of the 9th
FLY ME TO THE MOON
Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, Astronaut Dr. Garrett Reisman, a Yankees fan from New Jersey, will throw out the first pitch before tomorrow's game against the Red Sox via video from the International Space Station.
Bottom of the 9th
BUY THE BOOK
Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller available now from ACTA Sports.
Autographed first editions are available by contacting, Bill@billy-ball.com or order directly from Acta Sports, http://www.actasports.com/detail.html?&id=3427 or from your favorite bookstore worldwide.
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Information provided in Billy-Ball has been gathered from A.P. reports, espn.com, sportsline.com, mlb.com and numerous other e-sources. Opinions expressed in Billy-Ball are obviously solely the opinions of the author of Billy-Ball and do not reflect those of source material no matter how off the wall they may be.
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