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4/24/2008
Billy-Ball Daily
Bill Chuck (Billy-Ball his own self)
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The only spin here is on my screwball
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Top of the 1st
CHASING UTLEY
My feeling is that the three best players in the National League are Albert Pujols, David Wright, and Chase Utley and right now everybody in the NL may be chasing Utley. In case you haven’t noticed Utley and his teammate Pat Burrell (the player no team seems to want) are “owning” April pitching.
Through the first 22 games, Utley and Burrell lead the National League with 10 and eight homers, respectively. They also sit one and two in RBIs, except Burrell has 23 to lead Utley's 21. Yesterday, each hit a solo home run. For Burrell, his 22nd RBI in April (his first RBI was on March 31) tied a club record originally set by Von Hayes in 1989. The awakening giant Prince Fielder hit a pair of two-run home runs, including the go-ahead blast off Cole Hamels in the 8th, as the Milwaukee Brewers rallied for a 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a two-game series at Miller Park.
Utley was 2-for-3 with his seventh homer in as many games for the Phillies and has homered in six of the last seven games (he had a two homer game against the Mets). Utley does have an extra-base hit in eight straight games. Since 1956, only two second basemen have had streaks of eight games or more: Pete Rose (nine games in 1966) and Bill Mueller (eight games in 2003). According to our friends at the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), the all-time longest extra-base hit streak for a second baseman is 12 games by Rogers Hornsby in 1928.
Utley’s performance this season is not fluke. Last season, because of injuries he only played 132 games, but his numbers were not too shabby - 23 homers, 103 RBI, 48 doubles, 300 total bases, and a .332 batting average. This season he’s hitting .368 and leads the league in slugging with a lofty .839 number. He even leads the league in gtting hit by pitches with four (that’s what caused his broken bone last season).
Utley does it with the glove as well. Earlier in the week, with his team trailing 3-0 and the Rockies posing a bases-loaded one-out threat, Clint Barmes' grounder hit the mound, changed direction and seemingly was headed for the outfield. But Utley launched himself in the air, snagged the ball and turned an inning-ending double play.
"It was amazing," pitcher Kyle Kendrick said. "That was the play of the game. I owe him a steak dinner. He's pretty good. He saved our (butts)."
Colorado third baseman Garrett Atkins is equally impressed, "He's a great hitter, and when things are going well like they are right now, anything is possible," said Atkins, the best man in Utley's wedding in January 2007, to the Delaware News Journal.
His manager, manager Charlie Manuel, is a fan, "Chase Utley is a very, very, very tough player. I've been in the game a long time, and he's as tough as any player I've seen. I'm talking about old throwback players, guys like Pete Rose and Kirby Puckett. You could put Utley in that category. He could play with any of them."
Atkins summed up Utley perfectly when he said, "He plays the same every day. That’s what fans like about him. You know what you’re going to get everyday, and everyday he’s getting better and better.”
Right now, Utley is the NL MVP and I have a feeling the league will indeed be chasing him all season.
Top of the 2nd
NEVER, EVER WAKE A SLEEPING TIGER
Look, I’m a city boy and I know you don’t mess with sleeping Tigers, but somebody woke the team from Detroit and last night the Rangers had hell to pay, losing 19-6. Detroit scored 11 times in the 6th inning, their most runs since they scored 11 in the 6th inning on April 23, 2004, against the Cleveland Indians, they team they passed in the standings last night.
Here’s the play-by-play of Detroit’s big inning:
Bottom of 6th, Detroit leads 7-6, with Jamey Wright pitching for Texas
Ramon Santiago walked.
Curtis Granderson singled to right, Santiago to second.
Ivan Rodriguez sacrificed to pitcher, Santiago to third, C Granderson to second. One out.
Carlos Guillen doubled to right, Santiago and Granderson scored. Detroit leads 9-6
Magglio Ordonez walked.
Miguel Cabrera homered to right, Guillen and Ordonez scored. Detroit leads 12-6
Wes Littleton relieved Wright.
Jacque Jones hit by pitch.
Edgar Renteria singled to center, Jones to second.
Brandon Inge walked, Jones to third, Renteria to second.
Ramon Santiago hit by pitch, Jones scored, Renteria to third, Inge to second. Detroit leads 13-6
Curtis Granderson singled to right, Renteria and Inge scored, Santiago to second. Detroit leads 15-6
Ivan Rodriguez doubled to right, Santiago scored, Granderson to third. Detroit leads 16-6
Carlos Guillen hit sacrifice fly to left, C Granderson scored. Detroit leads 17-6
Magglio Ordonez singled to center, Rodriguez scored. Detroit leads 18-6
Miguel Cabrera flied out to center. Three outs
11 Runs, 7 Hits, 0 Errors
Top of the 3rd
IF YOU HAVEN’T…
Read the great article by Doug Miller of MLB.com on "Walkoffs, Last Licks, and Final Outs: Baseball's Grand (and not-so-grand) Finales," take a look: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article_entertainment.jsp?ymd=20080423&content_id=2573943&vkey=entertainment&fext=.jsp
IF YOU HAVEN’T…
Ordered an autographed first edition, here’s how you do it:
Just send $14.95 + $2.50 (Massachusetts state residents add $1.00 tax) to:
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IF YOU HAVEN’T…
Added you comments to the Amazon buying page, like loyal Billy-Ball reader Brian Englehardt has, please do so. Just go to http://www.amazon.com/Walkoffs-Last-Licks-Final-Outs/dp/0879463422/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209044572&sr=8-1
And add a kind word – it makes a difference.
IF YOU HAVEN’T…
Read my thanks to Doug Miller of MLB.com and to Nick Cafardo who mentioned the book in Sunday’s Globe – here it is.
Top of the 4th
ROCKY TIMES
Manuel Corpas blew another save for the Colorado Rockies last night in their 7-6 loss in 10 innings to the Chicago Cubs. For Carpus it was his fourth blown save of the season and third in four outings. Corpas gave up a two-run homer to Aramis Ramirez in the 9th inning on a 1-2 slider.
The good news for the Rockies of tying the game in the bottom of the 9th against Cubs closer Kerry Wood, quickly turned to bad news once again when Ryan Theriot punched an opposite-field single to right off Kip Wells to score pinch-runner Mike Fontenot with two out in the 10th. The loss was the fourth in a row for the Rockies and their first by one run after five such victories this season. It was also the first time a team has lost four straight games in the eighth inning or later since the San Francisco Giants suffered that fate June 5-9, 1978.
Troy Tulowitzki hit his first home run of the season ending his homerless drought at 82 at-bats this season and 94 dating to last Sept. 29.
The Cubs have won six straight.
Top of the 5th
HE’S COMING BACK…
Mike Cameron, suspended 25 games to start the season, is scheduled to join Triple-A Nashville today for a five-game rehab stint and make his Brewers debut next Tuesday.
Top of the 6th
BILLY-BALLBALL-SITE-OF-THE-DAY
Getting on the band wagon early – my site of the day is: www.chaseutley.com.
Top of the 7th
PROBABLE PITCHERS
AL
Rangers (Jason Jennings) at Tigers (Jeremy Bonderman), 1:05
Angels (Joe Saunders) at Red Sox (Justin Masterson), 1:35
Twins (Francisco Liriano) at A's (Greg Smith), 3:35
Indians (Fausto Carmona and Cliff Lee) at Royals (Brett Tomko and Brian Bannister), DH, 6:10
Blue Jays (Dustin McGowan) at Rays (Andy Sonnanstine), 7:10
Yankees (Phil Hughes) at White Sox (Gavin Floyd), 8:11
Orioles (Adam Loewen) at Mariners (Jarrod Washburn), 10:10
NL
Astros (Jack Cassel) at Reds (Johnny Cueto), 12:35
Phillies (Jamie Moyer) at Brewers (Jeff Suppan), 1:05
Cubs (Jason Marquis) at Rockies (Aaron Cook), 3:05
Marlins (Burke Badenhop) at Braves (Chuck James), 7:00
Cardinals (Joel Pineiro) at Pirates (Tom Gorzelanny), 7:05
Mets (Oliver Perez) at Nationals (Shawn Hill), 7:10
Giants (Tim Lincecum) at Padres (Chris Young), 10:05
Diamondbacks (Edgar Gonzalez) at Dodgers (Chad Billingsley), 10:10
Top of the 8th
DID YOU KNOW?
Mariano Rivera’s next save will be his 450th.
Top of the 9th
ANOTHER NON-CLOSING THOUGHT
In case you missed it, Greg Maddux, did not pick up win #350 last night as Trevor Hoffman gave up a Bengie Molina homer with one out in the 9th to tie the game at 1, and the San Francisco Giants went on to beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 in 13 innings. Hoffman’s ERA is now 8.22.
It was San Diego’s first home game since a 2-1 loss in 22 innings to the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night. That means the Padres have scored only three runs in their last 35 innings at Petco Park. San Diego has lost seven of eight and dropped into a tie with the Giants for last place in the NL West.
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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