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7/3/2008
Billy-Ball Daily
Bill Chuck (Billy-Ball his own self)
Billy-Ball - From the diamond to your desktop…
By Baseball Newstalgist, Bill Chuck
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The only spin here is on my screwball
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Top of the 1st
SPEAKING OF BASEBALL…
By Baseball Newstalgist, Bill Chuck
Here’s a full 40-fact roster for you.
Speaking of baseball…
1. Angel Berroa of the Dodgers has been up 60 times times this season and Andy Marte of the Indians has been up 55 times and each is still looking for his first RBI. Minnesota pitcher Livan Hernandez has been up twice and he has one RBI.
2. Kevin Youkilis, the Greek God of Walks, in the first half of 2006, drew 55 walks; in the first half of 2007, Youk drew 40 walks; in the first half this season, he walked just 27 times.
3. After the victory over Detroit on June 20, the Padres had a chance to reach the .500 mark since they were 8-8 after their very first 16 home games in 1969. On June 20 they were 1,568-1,569 at home. Since then they have lost seven straight home games.
4. In the last 25 years, the only hitter to collect 210 or more hits while walking fewer than 25 times is Kirby Puckett, with 234 hits and 23 walks in 1988. Nationals shortstop Cristian Guzmán is on a pace to join him.
5. Pirates manager has experimented this week with the pitcher batting eight in the lineup and Jack Wilson batting ninth. The last time the Bucs had a pitcher bat anywhere other than ninth was April 18, 1957 when manager Bobby Bragan batted starter Luis Arroyo eighth ahead of Bill Mazeroski in a game against Brooklyn at Ebbets Field.
6. The Brewers Ryan Braun leads the majors with 12 dome homers (are they called “domers?”)
7. This season, the AL beat the NL interleague play, 149-102. and, despite (Toronto was the only other AL team with a losing record). Of the 84 series, there were 23 sweeps, with AL winning 17. Only the Mets, the Reds and the Braves had winning records.
8. Greg Maddux is not having a great season by any stretch of the imagination with an ERA over four and a 3-6 record. But it should be noted that he still has his great control having walked just 21 in his 18 starts.
9. AL pitchers hit .109 (30- 275) with 11 RBIs and 13 runs scored; this include King Felix Hernandez’ grand slam. The Yankees, Blue Jays, Tigers and Angels pitchers were hitless, but none worse than the 0-for-25 Red Sox.
10. The Cardinals’ 136 runs in June were the most of any team in the National League.
11. NL Designated Hitters combined to hit .242 with 20 homers and 69 RBIs in interleague play.
12. Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Johan Santana are a combined 3-20 in interleague play.
13. When it comes to RBI, White Sox left fielder Carlos Quentin is the leading hittee in the majors – he’s been hit three times this season with the bases loaded, driving home three in the process.
14. The Phillies are 14-3 in Kyle Kendrick starts and were 3-14 when Brett Myers, who was just sent down, started.
15. The gas crunch is not having any effect in getting fans to the ballpark. MLB set a new record for total and average attendance during Interleague Play (8,893,312 and 35,573, respectively). This season's current intraleague average is 30,689 per game.
16. The Rockies and the Marlins came into the league together in 1993 and are tied 65-65 in head-to-head games, but the Marlins lead 2-0 in World Championships.
17. The Pirates have gone 15-27 against teams currently in first or second place, winning two series, losing eight and tying four.
18. The Cubs’ Rich Hill pitched Tuesday against rookie leaguers in an Arizona League game, and did another Steve Blass imitation lasting only one-third of an inning, allowing five runs on one hit with three walks and a hit batter. In 26 innings in Triple A Iowa, he walked 28 and hit two and had an ERA of 5.88
19. The Cubs lead the major leagues in on-base percentage with a .361 mark, in part because they lead the majors in walks with 347. The Cubs haven’t led the National League in OBP since 1937.
20. The Reds hit .218 as a team for the month of June. That's the lowest average for a single month since they hit .217 in May 1996.
21. The Rockies’ Aaron Cook is definitely having an All-Star year for a bad ballclub. Tuesday night he threw the first complete-game shutout of his career and he did it throwing only 79 pitches and completed the game in only one hour, 58 minutes, the first sub-two-hour nine-inning game in Coors Field history. Cook has thrown about the same number of pitches as John Maine and Jon Lester but has thrown 27 innings more than Maine and 17 more than Lester. Over the past three seasons, there have been only two complete games in the majors pitched with fewer than 80 pitches -- both by Aaron Cook against the Padres at Coors Field.
22. Mariano Rivera is a great saver, but not a great tie-holder. He has not given up a run in 22 save situations this season. But in 14 innings and 13 non-save situations, he has allowed 10 hits and four runs.
23. Sophomore slump, say hello to Troy Tulowitzki. The runner-up in voting for the 2007 National League Rookie of the Year, is hitting .168.
24. Rivera lost Tuesday night to the Rangers after Ian Kinsler led off the 9th with a double. Rangers base running coach Gary Pettis, timed Rivera to the plate with his delivery and flashed six fingers at Kinsler, "That meant [Rivera] was taking 1.6 seconds to get to the plate, plenty of time to steal bases," Kinsler said. Kinsler stole third and forced the Yankees to bring the infield in, meaning the soft bouncer that Michael Young hit up the middle went through for a hit and the game winning run.
25. A new national survey shows the Milwaukee Brewers' Miller Park is the only baseball stadium to sell more sausages than hot dogs. Miller Park is expected to sell 775,000 brats, Polish, Italian and chorizo this season and only about 350,000 hot dogs.
26. Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel is batting .043 (2-for-46) over his last 15 games.
27. The Tigers have a 34-5 record when they get 10 or more hits.
28. Grady Sizemore has 99 homers and 99 steals. Sizemore is the first American League player with 20 homers and 20 stolen bases this year. Joe Carter is the only Indian who finished his career with over a hundred in each category with the Tribe – he had 151 homers and 126 steals.
29. Lead off hitters matter –The Reds are 13-9 with Jerry Hairston leading off, and 23-38 with anyone else in that spot.
30. Since May 18, the NL West leading Diamondbacks are 14-27, bringing their overall mark to one game under .500.
31. Willy Tavares now has 38 stolen bases 15 more than the entire Padres team combined.
32. The two one-run wins in the first two games of the Rangers/Yankees series were the 14th and 15th in 36 years of playing at the Stadium. They lost 35 one-run games there.
33. The Cardinals are 11-11 at home since May 13, and 17-16 since April 19.
34. On May 15, the Indians led the Central by 1.5 games. They've gone 15-28 since then and are in last place by one game
35. The Red Sox are 4-13 on the road vs. divisional opponents, including 0-6 to the Rays. They are also 3-15 in games played indoors.
36. The Angels are 10-14 against teams over .500, 18-17 against teams below.
37. Jose Reyes, in 678 games, is just one triple shy of the Mets Mookie Wilson's franchise record of 62 in 1,116 games.
38. Not only does Colorado’s Aaron Cook have 11 wins, but he’s hitting .265. Mike Hampton had the highest average for a Rockies pitcher hitting .344 in 2002.
39. The Padres’ Kevin Kouzmanoff has been hit by a pitch 11 times this season, two short of the club record set by Gene Tenace in 1977.
40. The Orioles have now lost 12 of 13 games on Sundays.
Have a great long weekend everyone!
Top of the 2nd
RAYS COMPLETE SWEEP
The big story in baseball remains the Tampa Bay Rays who last night topped the Red Sox, 7-6, and swept for the second consecutive time at home. The last team to sweep Boston twice in the same season was the 2001 Yankees.
Tampa is now 14-4 in their past 18 games. Tampa Bay out everythinged the Sox despite the efforts of Dustin Pedroia who had his fourth four-hit game of the season and fell a single shy of the cycle with a homer, triple and two doubles. Pedroia is now 25-for-44 during a 10-game hitting streak and has homered eight times in his last 39 games after hitting one in his first 45 this season.
The Sox have now matched a season high five-game losing streak and are 3 1/2 games back in the standings for the first time since the end of the 2006 season. Perhaps it’s the absence of Big Papi, another short start by Dice-K, the problems with their middle relievers, or maybe, it’s the pink Red Sox caps.
Top of the 3rd
A.J. IS A.O.K,
A.J. Pierzynski led off the 10th inning with his second homer of the game and the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 6-5 for their seventh straight win. The win gave the White Sox a three-game sweep and their second 10-inning win in as many nights.
C.C. Sabathia allowed five runs and seven hits in eight innings for Cleveland, striking out five and walking two. The last-place Indians have lost five straight and are 12 1/2 games back of the White Sox in the AL Central.
Top of the 4th
HIDEOUS ALL-STAR VOTING FINALLY OVER
The All-Star rosters will be announced at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on TBS with the MLB All-Star Game Selection Show. Yeah make sure you alter your plans to watch this. The identities of 31 players on each roster will be announced and then the moronic All-Star Game Final Vote gives the lonely the opportunity to select the 32nd and final player on each All-Star team. Balloting begins immediately following that announcement show and continues until 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 10. The two winners will be announced on MLB.com shortly thereafter.
The 79th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and televised around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8 p.m. ET on July 15.
I am so embarrassed about the hype written about the voting process.
Top of the 5th
THE PAT VENDITTE RULE
The Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation (PBUC) released its official rules for dealing with ambidextrous pitchers:
• The pitcher must visually indicate to the umpire, batter and runner(s) which way he will begin pitching to the batter. Engaging the rubber with the glove on a particular hand is considered a definitive commitment to which arm he will throw with. The batter will then choose which side of the plate he will bat from.
• The pitcher must throw one pitch to the batter before any “switch” by either player is allowed.
• After one pitch is thrown, the pitcher and batter may each change positions one time per at-bat. For example, if the pitcher changes from right-handed to left-handed and the batter then changes batter’s boxes, each player must remain that way for the duration of that at-bat (unless the offensive team substitutes a pinch hitter, and then each player may again “switch” one time).
• Any switch (by either the pitcher or the batter) must be clearly indicated to the umpire.
• There will be no warm-up pitches during the change of arms.
• If an injury occurs the pitcher may change arms but not use that arm again during the remainder of the game.
Top of the 6th
BILLY-BALL-VIDEO-OF-THE-DAY
Here’s some July 4th fireworks from the nation’s capital:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RWrLjpdJItA&feature=related
Top of the 7th
PROBABLE PITCHERS
AL
Royals (Kyle Davies) at Orioles (Garrett Olson), 7:05
Red Sox (Jon Lester) at Yankees (Andy Pettitte), 7:05
A's (Justin Duchscherer) at White Sox (Javier Vazquez), 8:11
Tigers (Justin Verlander) at Mariners (Carlos Silva), 10:10
NL
Dodgers (Chad Billingsley) at Astros (Brandon Backe), 2:05
Brewers (Manny Parra) at Diamondbacks (Brandon Webb), 3:40
Phillies (Cole Hamels) at Braves (Jair Jurrjens), 7:00
Cubs (Sean Gallagher) at Giants (Tim Lincecum), 7:05
Nationals (John Lannan) at Reds (Johnny Cueto), 7:10
Marlins (Andrew Miller) at Rockies (Mark Redman), 8:05
Mets (Mike Pelfrey) at Cardinals (Mitchell Boggs), 8:15
Top of the 8th
DID YOU KNOW?
The Cardinals’ Troy Glaus hit his fifth career walkoff last night against rookie Carlos Muniz of the Mets. Glaus had hit a homer earlier in the game and the multihomer game was Glaus' first since July 16, 2007, at New York against the Yankees, and the 26th of his career. It was Glaus' first game-winning homer since June 10, 2005, against the Royals, when he was with Blue Jays.
Top of the 9th
HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND
I am taking tomorrow off to enjoy the July 4th holiday and I hope you are lucky enough to do the same. Be safe, have fun and I look forward to joining you again on Monday.
Go out and buy the book!
See you Monday.
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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