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5/8/2008
Billy-Ball Daily
Bill Chuck (Billy-Ball his own self)
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JUST A REMINDER – MOTHER’S DAY IS THIS SUNDAY!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Top of the 1st
THE DELIVERY
I returned to the place of my birth Saturday. Not my actual birth, my baseball birth. The place of actual birth was a hospital that doesn’t exist any more across the street from the Madison Square Garden that doesn’t exist any more. Soon, this Yankee Stadium, the home of my baseball birth won’t exist any more either.
I shed no tears. I was there with my wife, the Boston Red Sox fan (we live two miles from Fenway Park), my eldest daughter, who now lives in the City, and my youngest daughter, a Yankee fan. I was too happy to be with my family, at a place that was so important to me, to even think of mourning.
When we first climbed and climbed to get to the upper tier my wife felt woozy as we reached our seats. She asked me if I felt the same way and I knew that as a kid in the “old” Yankee Stadium these were the seats that I had spent many a Saturday and Sunday afternoon. This is the perspective that I had on a game and the sightline that enabled me to learn as much (or as little) as I know.
I pointed out to my clan how you can see the second baseman and shortstop get into double play position and how that differed from the regular way they played. How the Mariners outfield shaded to the left for Hideki Matsui which then made Ichiro’s “really good play” a less less than a “great” play as he caught a liner in the gap. I warned them to watch how Jeter would hit the ball to the right side of the infield to move Damon to third with only one out. I urged them to watch the shortstop give the signal to second baseman when a runner was on first to indicate who would cover the bag on an attempted steal or hit and run.
I watched their smiles as all these things came to pass, because of all the fundamentals that I learned from my inexpensive grandstand seats during my education at Yankee Stadium. My late father, my teacher, would have been proud.
On the mound Saturday was Mike Mussina and my wife thought it was awful that they were booing him. They were merely saluting him by calling his nickname, “Moose.” And that brought back memories like a tidal wave of Moose Skowren, Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, and Clete Boyer. My childhood cat’s name was “Mickey Charles Mantle Chuck.” I saw Maris go for 61, the only man to legitimately break the Babe’s record (no I’m not old enough to have seen Ruth play). I saw Berra, Howard, and Blanchard behind the plate. I saw Hector Lopez and his corkscrew batting stance. I saw Cerv and Bauer, Demaestri, Carey, Gibbs, Reed, Linz, Tresh and loads of other players most of you haven’t heard of. I watched Bill Stafford, Ralph Terry, Jim Coates, Al Downing, Jim Bouton, Bud Daley, Rollie Sheldon, Marshall Bridges, Hal Reniff, Tex Clevenger all pitch. I saw Whitey Ford get the win and Luis Arroyo pick up the save. I saw Ralph Houk manage and Crossetti coach at third. These were names I grew up with and when sometimes I can’t remember yesterday’s lunch I can still picture them.
As the game became official, the scoreboard indicated that there were just 67 regular season games left at the Stadium. All of baseball should hope for the Yankees to make the post-season because this Hall of Famer shouldn’t end its career on the post-season sidelines.
As we drove back to Boston, I caught a glance at the new Yankee Stadium, “the House that George Built.” And it looks magnificent. It should. Someday they will replace Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame and St. Patrick’s Cathedral with something that looks magnificent as well.
I saw my past Saturday, I spent it with my present and with my future.
Sometimes life is pretty damn good.
Goodbye, Yankee Stadium.
PS – Here’s why my daughter is the real superstar writer in the family:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nochuckingaround/2464725398/
Top of the 2nd
MAMA SAID THERE’D BE DAYS LIKE THIS
Jon Lieber became only the second pitcher in Chicago Cubs history to give up four homers in an inning and Joey Votto connected three times in all as the Cincinnati Reds slammed their way to a 9-0 victory.
Adam Dunn and Paul Bako also had solo shots, and Jerry Hairston Jr.'s two-run homer off of Lieber, making his first start of the season. Brandon Phillips and Votto hit back-to-back solo homers off Sean Marshall in the 5th. The seven homers were Cincinnati's most since it hit an NL-record nine at Philadelphia on Sept. 4, 1999.
It was the Reds second victory in eight games. Edinson Volquez (5-1) picked up the win striking out 10 while lowering his ERA to an NL-best 1.06.
The Cubs have lost nine of 13.
Top of the 3rd
MAMMA TOLD ME NOT TO COME
If you were a Dodger fan looking for a day in the L.A. sun and for a win, you should have listened to your mom and just gone to work. John Maine became the first New York Mets starter this year to reach the eighth inning, taking a shutout into the 9th during a 12-1 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Brad Penny.
A day before his 27th birthday, Maine allowed four hits in 8 1-3 innings and won his third straight start — all following Mets' losses. Penny (5-3) allowed 10 runs in 4 2-3 innings, the most off him in 236 career big league starts. He gave up 10 hits for the third time in eight starts this season.
“That ain't the way to have fun. No!”
Top of the 4th
MAMA MIA,MAMA MIA,MAMA MIA LET ME GO
It was Carlos Gomez who hit like a king last night as he became the first Twins player since Kirby Puckett 22 years ago (on Aug. 1, 1986) to hit for the cycle, as Minnesota beat the Chicago White Sox 13-1 last night just one night after getting just one hit.
Gomez homered off Mark Buehrle (1-4) on the game’s third pitch. He added an RBI triple in the 5th, doubled in a run in the 6th and completed the cycle with an infield single to lead off a six-run 9th. Gomez was 4-for-6 while driving in three runs and scoring two.
Eight Twins player have hit for the cycle. He was also the first player to hit for the cycle against the White Sox since Oakland’s Mike Blowers on May 18, 1998. Gomez and Houston's Luke Scott are the only players since Jim Fregosi in 1968 to hit for the reverse cycle -- that is, a home run, triple, double and single in that order.
The loss was Chicago’s seventh in eight games, and Mark Buehrle is now 0-4 in his last five starts since winning at Detroit on April 6
Top of the 5th
YOUR MOMMA DON'T DANCE AND YOUR DADDY DON'T ROCK AND ROLL
Cliff Lee’s fastball was moving and his curveball was jiving last night as he became the first Indians pitcher to win his first six starts since Greg Swindell in 1988 and lowered his major league-best ERA to a scary 0.81. He has allowed just four earned runs in 44 2-3 innings. Lee (6-0) allowed just six hits and striking out seven. He hasn’t walked a batter in his last 28 innings.
Lee defeated the previously undefeated Chien-Ming Wang (6-1) and the Yankees,3-0. They are now 3-5 on their nine-game homestand. New York fell to 27-8 in 35 career starts by Wang following a Yankees loss, ending an 11-game winning streak in those games. He fell to 22-7 in those starts. The matchup between Wang and Lee was the first between two pitchers with at least a 5-0 record since Oakland’s Dave Stewart faced Swindell on May 8, 1988, according to Elias. Stewart moved to 8-0 with a four-hitter, beating Swindell and Cleveland 5-1.
The Indians have won the first two of the three-game set to secure their first winning series at Yankee Stadium since June 2001. They improved to 4-2 against New York this season, clinching their first season series win since they went 7-6 against the Yankees in 1992.
Paul Byrd will oppose New York’s Mike Mussina today as Cleveland goes for its first sweep of three games or more in the Bronx since April 1989, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Tigers just had their first Yankee Stadium sweep since 1966.
Top of the 6th
BILLY-BALL-SITE-OF-THE-DAY
I saw Sox GM Theo Epstein recently and asked him if he had taken a tour of the new Yankee Stadium? “I couldn’t care less” was his curt response (of course, had it been Schilling responding it would have been anything but Curt).
Well, the fabulous Keith Olberman, like many of us, could care less, and his brief video tour is the site of the day. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22825103/vp/24511470#24511470
Top of the 7th
PROBABLE PITCHERS
AL
Indians (Paul Byrd) at Yankees (Mike Mussina), 1:05
Twins (Kevin Slowey) at White Sox (John Danks), 2:05
Tigers (Josh Beckett) at Tigers (Justin Verlander), 7:05
Rays (Edwin Jackson) at Blue Jays (Jesse Litsch), 7:07
Orioles (Daniel Cabrera) at Royals (Luke Hochevar), 8:10
Rangers (Kason Gabbard) at Mariners (Felix Hernandez), 10:10
NL
Giants (Matt Cain) at Pirates (Paul Maholm), 12:35
Padres (Wil Ledezma) at Braves (Jo-Jo Reyes), 1:00
Cardinals (Kyle Lohse) at Rockies (Jorge De La Rosa), 3:05
Phillies (Brett Myers) at Diamondbacks (Brandon Webb), 3:40
Brewers (Carlos Villanueva) at Marlins (Mark Hendrickson), 7:10
Nationals (John Lannan) at Astros (Brandon Backe), 8:05
Top of the 8th
DID YOU KNOW?
By hitting three homers for the Reds yesterday, Toronto born Joey Votto tied the record for the most home runs in a game by a Canadian. Former American League MVP Justin Morneau was the last Canadian to accomplish the feat on July 6, 2007. The only other Canadian to match Votto and Morneau was former National League MVP Larry Walker who went deep three times in Montreal on April 5, 1997, in St. Louis on April 28, 1999 and then again in Cleveland on June 25th, 2004. Walker is the Canadian home run champ with 383.
Votto became the 23rd Reds player to hit three in a game, the first since Aaron Boone on May 8, 2003.
Top of the 9th
HEY MOM, IT’S TWINS!
Minnesota Twins to hit for the cycle:
5/7/08 - Carlos Gomez vs. CHW
8/1/86 - Kirby Puckett vs. OAK
9/18/80 - Gary Ward at MIL (AL)
7/24/76 - Lyman Bostock at CHI
7/27/78 - Mike Cubbage vs. TOR
7/4/76 - Larry Hisle at BAL
9/19/72 - Cesar Tovar vs. TEX
5/20/70 - Rod Carew at KC
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.
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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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