So here's something odd: Only one American League home team won yesterday...and that took a walk-off home run. This means every AL game yesterday went into the bottom of the ninth inning. Your one AL Home Team winner? The White Sox, winning on Jim Thome's walk-off 500th career home run. Every other AL home team lost.
The National League didn't fare all that better at home, either. Milwaukee, Colorado, Houston, and San Diego are your four NL home team winners.
Add that up, and MLB home teams were 5-10 yesterday. Root, root, root for the home team? I guess not...
And no, I'm not writing about football. Why? 'Cause I didn't watch any. Take that, football!
Showing posts with label there's something you don't see every day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label there's something you don't see every day. Show all posts
Monday, September 17, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Amazing...
I just saw part of a headline that read "Big Ben's Hourly Bongs". I first thought that headline referred to a certain quarterback and a drug habit...
...oh wait. The clock in London. Heh heh - never mind...
...oh wait. The clock in London. Heh heh - never mind...
Monday, July 16, 2007
Spectacular Losing Day
Yesterday - the day after Bastille Day - I witnessed two absolutely spectacular losses on the baseball diamond. I saw a minor league beatdown in person, then a major league milestone on my TV. When it comes to losing, I won yesterday.
Let's start with the afternoon game. Yesterday afternoon, my friend and Journey of Jasmine bandmate Mike and I attended the Rochester Red Wings game against the Indianapolis Indians. The Red Wings got KILLED to the tune of 16-3. Three runs were walked in, one run was plunked in, and a grand slam was hit in the top of the second inning. When the top of the third inning ended with the score 9-0 in favor of Indianapolis, home team devotion quickly turned into morbid fascination for me. That and I almost got the sign language interpreter lady to crack during the singing of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" by singing one syllable behind everybody else (Mike and I had moved up to the front row in the seventh inning, stealing vacated seats near home plate). All in all, the game was flat-out amazing...and it was Cal Ripken "jersey" night, so I got a free shirt out of it.
But that's not all! There was another team to watch! Last night's baseball game on ESPN (home of Quite Possibly The Dumbest Thing Mankind Has Ever Seen) was the St. Louis Cardinals at the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies were going for the sweep and trying to avoid a spectacular milestone in futility: They were just one loss away from 10,000 defeats as a franchise. However, this was not Philadelphia's night. Albert Pujols, fresh from shaking off his massive (for him) home run drought, crushed a pitch to the deepest part of the ballpark. He'd hit another home run later that night, but that first one was spectacular. That and the next batter went deep on the first pitch he saw after that mammoth blast from Uncle Albert. All told, the Cardinals hit six home runs as a team, won 10-2 (giving up Philadelphia's two runs in the ninth inning), and sent the Phillies into previously uncharted territory: 10,000 losses. Sure, I had to sit through a bunch of stupid tie-ins to the ESPYs during the game - for the record, the guys who made "Coming up next, The ESPYs" signs and held them up at the ballpark in Philadelphia should get the crap kicked out of them - but seeing a milestone loss like that was worth the effort. And then I turned off my TV the instant The ESPYs started.
In summary: I witnessed two big losses yesterday. It was amazing. A fun time was had by me.
UPDATE: As I was link hunting for this post, I stumbled onto this: Not only was my local-ish Really Minor League Team, the Batavia Muckdogs, no-hit yesterday, they were at the receiving end of a perfect game! Yet another spectacular loss from Spectacular Losing Day. Life doesn't get much better than this...
...or does it?
Let's start with the afternoon game. Yesterday afternoon, my friend and Journey of Jasmine bandmate Mike and I attended the Rochester Red Wings game against the Indianapolis Indians. The Red Wings got KILLED to the tune of 16-3. Three runs were walked in, one run was plunked in, and a grand slam was hit in the top of the second inning. When the top of the third inning ended with the score 9-0 in favor of Indianapolis, home team devotion quickly turned into morbid fascination for me. That and I almost got the sign language interpreter lady to crack during the singing of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" by singing one syllable behind everybody else (Mike and I had moved up to the front row in the seventh inning, stealing vacated seats near home plate). All in all, the game was flat-out amazing...and it was Cal Ripken "jersey" night, so I got a free shirt out of it.
But that's not all! There was another team to watch! Last night's baseball game on ESPN (home of Quite Possibly The Dumbest Thing Mankind Has Ever Seen) was the St. Louis Cardinals at the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies were going for the sweep and trying to avoid a spectacular milestone in futility: They were just one loss away from 10,000 defeats as a franchise. However, this was not Philadelphia's night. Albert Pujols, fresh from shaking off his massive (for him) home run drought, crushed a pitch to the deepest part of the ballpark. He'd hit another home run later that night, but that first one was spectacular. That and the next batter went deep on the first pitch he saw after that mammoth blast from Uncle Albert. All told, the Cardinals hit six home runs as a team, won 10-2 (giving up Philadelphia's two runs in the ninth inning), and sent the Phillies into previously uncharted territory: 10,000 losses. Sure, I had to sit through a bunch of stupid tie-ins to the ESPYs during the game - for the record, the guys who made "Coming up next, The ESPYs" signs and held them up at the ballpark in Philadelphia should get the crap kicked out of them - but seeing a milestone loss like that was worth the effort. And then I turned off my TV the instant The ESPYs started.
In summary: I witnessed two big losses yesterday. It was amazing. A fun time was had by me.
UPDATE: As I was link hunting for this post, I stumbled onto this: Not only was my local-ish Really Minor League Team, the Batavia Muckdogs, no-hit yesterday, they were at the receiving end of a perfect game! Yet another spectacular loss from Spectacular Losing Day. Life doesn't get much better than this...
...or does it?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
We Have A No-Hitter!
I tuned into ESPN tonight just in time to see whatever they were showing pre-empted by Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander trying to complete a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers with two outs in the ninth inning. Aaaannnd.... HE DID IT! 112 pitches, 0 hits, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts. The interesting stat line belongs to Brewers center fielder Bill Hall. He went 0 for 0 at the plate, drawing three out of the four walks issued by Verlander. But still, a certainly masterful performance by a HIGHLY promising young pitcher.
And then, hours later, I witnessed three Los Angeles Dodgers hit home runs on consecutive pitches. Not only that, but the third home run hitter was their pitcher! AND, the shortest home run travelled 408 feet, so those baseballs were hit HARD. That was friggin' COOL...
WHERE ARE THE CHEETOS?!?!?!
And then, hours later, I witnessed three Los Angeles Dodgers hit home runs on consecutive pitches. Not only that, but the third home run hitter was their pitcher! AND, the shortest home run travelled 408 feet, so those baseballs were hit HARD. That was friggin' COOL...
WHERE ARE THE CHEETOS?!?!?!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Pronger? We Don't Need No Stinking Pronger!
So I caught a bunch of Game Four last night in Ottawa (I wasn't in Ottawa. The game was. I just watched it on my TV.) after I got home from a Red Wings baseball game (more on that later). The Anaheim Ducks, without Chris Pronger, won the game anyway and are heading back to their home building up 3 games to 1. And oh, by the way, they have yet to lose a Stanley Cup Final home game (They were winless on the road in the SCF until last night). But even without that fun little statistic, we can still say the Ottawa Senators are in a highly precarious position. Erasing a 3-1 deficit is definitely possible, but the Ducks just might be playing too well for the Sens to even try it. Hell, Ottawa had major stretches in Game Four where they were dictating play on the ice and they still lost. But really, they lost because Anaheim was able to control traffic in front of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, which wasn't the case on the other end of the rink. Three other things from this game:
1. Anaheim's third goal was friggin' beautiful. Go find a replay of it if you missed it. What looked like a completely busted play at the blue line turned into a 2 on 1 deep in Ottawa territory and the defenseman was too concerned about Teemu Selanne, which left Dustin Penner wide open in front of a vacated net. Penner made no mistakes with that feed...
2. What in the world was Daniel Alfredsson thinking at the end of the second period? The Ducks were on their heels, the momentum was clearly Ottawa's...and he shot the puck right into Scott Neidermeyer. Good going, moron. All that did was fire up the Ducks and give them every reason in the world to come out flying in the third. AND he got lucky that he didn't get called for a penalty in the post-shot scrum 'cause he clearly punched somebody, which was seen by everybody apparently except the referees (though I can't blame 'em - they were busy trying to break up everybody else).
3. Don Cherry ruled in the second intermission. NBC executives had to be SQUIRMING with both Cherry and Brett Hull behind the same desk thingy, but it didn't matter. Don Cherry is awesome.
Before I watched Game Four, I saw last night's Rochester Red Wings game hosting the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees. I saw four or five home runs, two plunkings, and four errors. And oh yeah, Red Wings won 7-2. That game was awesome. My friends and I were loud and obnoxious almost the whole time, which is always fun. And one of them gave me something to try the next time I get to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" - sing one syllable behind everybody else. I can sing one syllable ahead allright, but this could be an interesting challenge...
1. Anaheim's third goal was friggin' beautiful. Go find a replay of it if you missed it. What looked like a completely busted play at the blue line turned into a 2 on 1 deep in Ottawa territory and the defenseman was too concerned about Teemu Selanne, which left Dustin Penner wide open in front of a vacated net. Penner made no mistakes with that feed...
2. What in the world was Daniel Alfredsson thinking at the end of the second period? The Ducks were on their heels, the momentum was clearly Ottawa's...and he shot the puck right into Scott Neidermeyer. Good going, moron. All that did was fire up the Ducks and give them every reason in the world to come out flying in the third. AND he got lucky that he didn't get called for a penalty in the post-shot scrum 'cause he clearly punched somebody, which was seen by everybody apparently except the referees (though I can't blame 'em - they were busy trying to break up everybody else).
3. Don Cherry ruled in the second intermission. NBC executives had to be SQUIRMING with both Cherry and Brett Hull behind the same desk thingy, but it didn't matter. Don Cherry is awesome.
Before I watched Game Four, I saw last night's Rochester Red Wings game hosting the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees. I saw four or five home runs, two plunkings, and four errors. And oh yeah, Red Wings won 7-2. That game was awesome. My friends and I were loud and obnoxious almost the whole time, which is always fun. And one of them gave me something to try the next time I get to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" - sing one syllable behind everybody else. I can sing one syllable ahead allright, but this could be an interesting challenge...
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Armando Benitez Gags Again
I just saw one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in a baseball game. Bottom of the 12th inning, 4-3 San Francisco Giants over the host New York Mets, Giants "closer" Armando Benitez in to try to seal the deal. However, the Mets had the top of their lineup due up in the 12th. Lead-off hitter Jose Reyes drew a walk (always a bad omen for a team trying to hold a lead) to start the inning. But then, things got interesting.
Reyes, a noted threat to steal bases, distracted Benitez enough to draw...a BALK! When the hell was the last time you've seen that?! A nice sacrifice bunt put Reyes - the tying run - on third base with one out. Carlos Beltran screwed up a contact-type play, holding Reyes at third while being rung up for the second out. But then, with Carlos Delgado at bat...Benitez balked again! TWO balks by the same pitcher in the same inning! Not only that, but the second balk sent Reyes home, tying the game and tacking another blown save into Benitez' career statistics. But wait! Carlos Delgado was still at the plate! AND, on a 2-2 pitch...BOOM. Home run to right-center, Mets win 5-4. That was awesome.
Aaron Hill of the Toronto Blue Jays stole home against the Yankees. How cool is that?
Ducks won Game One last night. Sorry, Ottawa, but when you leave ANYBODY wide open in the slot in your defensive zone, it doesn't matter who has the puck - it's more than likely gonna end up in the back of your net. That's exactly what happened when Travis Moen scored the game winning goal with 2:51 left in the third. That and if you wanna win a road game in the Stanley Cup Finals, then find a way to score a goal when you have a two-man advantage for a minute and 35 seconds in the second period. For the Ducks, that was a very solid game overall. They didn't allow an even-strength goal and even their fourth line had some great scoring chances. When Brad May gets quality scoring chances, things are going right for your team.
This band rules.
Reyes, a noted threat to steal bases, distracted Benitez enough to draw...a BALK! When the hell was the last time you've seen that?! A nice sacrifice bunt put Reyes - the tying run - on third base with one out. Carlos Beltran screwed up a contact-type play, holding Reyes at third while being rung up for the second out. But then, with Carlos Delgado at bat...Benitez balked again! TWO balks by the same pitcher in the same inning! Not only that, but the second balk sent Reyes home, tying the game and tacking another blown save into Benitez' career statistics. But wait! Carlos Delgado was still at the plate! AND, on a 2-2 pitch...BOOM. Home run to right-center, Mets win 5-4. That was awesome.
Aaron Hill of the Toronto Blue Jays stole home against the Yankees. How cool is that?
Ducks won Game One last night. Sorry, Ottawa, but when you leave ANYBODY wide open in the slot in your defensive zone, it doesn't matter who has the puck - it's more than likely gonna end up in the back of your net. That's exactly what happened when Travis Moen scored the game winning goal with 2:51 left in the third. That and if you wanna win a road game in the Stanley Cup Finals, then find a way to score a goal when you have a two-man advantage for a minute and 35 seconds in the second period. For the Ducks, that was a very solid game overall. They didn't allow an even-strength goal and even their fourth line had some great scoring chances. When Brad May gets quality scoring chances, things are going right for your team.
This band rules.
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