Archive for category Baseball
It’s throw-the-ball-away night in Houston!
Posted by alifeofknuckleballs in Athletics Baseball, Baseball, Blue Jays Baseball, Knuckleballs, Odd plays on August 3, 2014
How about those “contending” Toronto Blue Jays, falling for a second consecutive night against the lowly Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park?
I guess Brett Oberholtzer and his “mediocre” ERA – a term referenced on tsn.ca’s game preview – was better in the August 2 contest than counterpart R.A. Dickey, huh? (That’s the R.A. Dicky, who by the way had an earned-run average which is not that different from the Astros left-hander at the start of the day….but what does tsn.ca really know about baseball?)
Anyway, the momentum in the game changed thanks to a pair of Blue Jays errors on a pickoff play in the middle of the contest.
With the score tied 2-2 in the fifth inning and Altuve on first base, the knuckleballing Dickey tried to pick him off but the throw instead bounced past first baseman Danny Valencia down into the foul territory in right field. With Altuve hustling around the bases, Valencia chased the ball down and eventually got to it, and then fired a throw to third base to try and get the Astros’ All-Star second baseman. Alas, the throw rolled away from Steve Tolleson, allowing Altuve, who had just slid into the bag at third, to quickly get up and score the tie-breaking run without a throw.
One big run on two errors (Dickey and Valencia), and DH Chris Carter homered moments later to give Houston a two-run advantage. The Blue Jays couldn’t recover, and the Astros’ four-run eighth inning put the game away, as Houston went on to the 8-2 victory.
This reminds me of a game between Oakland and expansion Tampa Bay during the 1998 season, with another knuckleballer involved in an error-filled play that gave the opposing team all the momentum it needed to pull out a victory.
On May 26, 1998 in Oakland, the Athletics had Tom Candiotti on the mound while the visiting Devil Rays had rookie Rolando Arrojo looking to improve to 7-3 on the season for the first-year franchise.
The A’s gave Candiotti a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run homer by Matt Stairs, but everything fell apart for the veteran knuckleballer in the top of the third.
Devil Rays shortstop Kevin Stocker led off with a single, bringing up second baseman Miguel Cairo. With the count 2-and-1, Cairo dropped a bunt down the third-base line, and A’s third baseman Mike Blowers charged in to field the ball. Unfortunately, Blowers’ throw to first base went past Jason Giambi and rolled toward the Tampa Bay bullpen. Stocker, who was running from first base, scored easily.
A’s second baseman Scott Spiezio finally tracked the ball down and threw to third base to try and get Cairo…only to realize nobody was covering. With the ball scooting away, Cairo scored the Devil Rays’ second run to tie it at 2-2.
Two errors on the bunt play, and Tampa Bay had two runs on the board.
Two innings later, Quinton McCracken homered off Candiotti to put the Devil Rays ahead to stay, and the A’s went on to a tough 7-2 loss.
The key play, according to Candiotti, was the bunt that the A’s bungled. “I haven’t seen a bunt turned into a home run before,” he noted afterward [1]. Wade Boggs, the Devil Rays’ third baseman who like Candiotti also threw a knuckleball, agreed with that last statement, saying: “It was more like my son’s Little League game, the way they were throwing the ball around.” [2]
“A lot of things happen with the Oakland A’s you haven’t seen before,” Stairs added [3]. Ahhhh, yes… those were the A’s from a different era, one that would finish last in the AL West in 1998 and also lead the league in errors.
Okay, the A’s misplays in the Tampa Bay game from 1998 were probably worse than what was seen in Houston by the Blue Jays on August 2, but hopefully Toronto will keep throwing the ball away and finish the 2014 season in disappointing fashion.
Getting back to tsn.ca, good job, by the way, with the headline of the following recap in the Mets-Giants contest:
[1] Steve Kettmann, “Errors Add Up to Loss for A’s,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 27, 1998.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
Who says the Yankees have given up?
Posted by alifeofknuckleballs in Baseball on August 3, 2014
Once again a ridiculous column has surfaced on tsn.ca’s website, and this time it appears they’re taking shots at the New York Yankees.
Of course, the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics made the big headlines by improving their pitching rotations with the additions of David Price (Tigers) and Jon Lester (A’s), respectively, and since the Yankees didn’t do anything significant, it is assumed the New York has given up on the season.
According to former Mets general manager Steve Phillips, who contributes weekly to tsn.ca, “the Yanks and Rays and Red Sox are going to retool for next year” – implying the American League East race is only between Baltimore and Toronto.
Really.
That means it is assumed that the Yankees have given up on the 2014 season, huh? That the club is just going to let Derek Jeter’s final big-league season be a non-playoff year, where the Yankees will simply play out the string and not compete for a shot at the postseason?
C’mon, let’s get serious.
So, was New York supposed to get either Price or Lester? Or maybe the Yankees were supposed to get a broken-down Cliff Lee, right?
First of all, the top pitchers who got moved – Price and Lester – came from the American League East. Did anyone seriously believe the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox would trade their left-handed ace to a division rival? (Obviously, the writers at tsn.ca did so, with a couple of them writing nonsense in recent weeks about how the Blue Jays were seriously involved in talks with the Rays and Red Sox for those two pitchers – with the distinct possibility of landing either one of them. Yeah, as if those two clubs were really going to make that kind of a trade within the division. Again, let’s get serious here.)
Secondly, the Yankees didn’t trade for the Phillies’ Lee, which is a good thing because he might be gone for the rest of the season. Lee, who had just came off the disabled list after the All-Star break and would have drawn interest from several clubs in an August waiver deal, might not throw another pitch in 2014. Speaking of Philadelphia, it appeared the Phillies wanted a king’s ransom for outfielder Marlon Byrd, so the Yankees were wise to not pull the trigger on that deal.
Third, the Yankees DID make deals to improve their roster days earlier, when they picked up third baseman Chase Headley from San Diego (July 22) and right-hander Brandon McCarthy (July 6) from Arizona. A week prior to the trading dealine, they also acquired veteran lefty Chris Capuano from Colorado. The point is, New York general manager Brian Cashman is always trying to make his team better. When the Yankees had some pitching holes to fill earlier in the month, they picked up Jeff Francis from Oakland as a stop-gap measure, and when that deal didn’t work out, they shipped the left-hander out of town. Cashman then picked up righty Esmil Rogers off waivers from Toronto, as well as Martin Prado in a separate trade with the Diamondbacks, with the versatile Prado able to play outfield for the Yankees.
So far, McCarthy has pitched well for the Yankees (3-0 with a 2.55 ERA in four starts), and Headley has delivered some big hits since his arrival (.429 in his first four games with New York, helping the Yanks win each contest, and .270 overall). Who knows? Perhaps Stephen Drew (picked up from the Red Sox for second baseman Kelly Johnson) might deliver a key hit down the stretch. Maybe the same thing for Prado.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Yankees – a team that I don’t even like or root for – finished ahead of the Blue Jays in the East. And perhaps they might even pick up a few more pieces in August to bolster the lineup. But to suggest that New York has given up for the season….that’s simply ridiculous. Only according to tsn.ca.
Thank you, King Felix!
Posted by alifeofknuckleballs in Baseball, Baseball Biography on July 29, 2014
Well, an update on the release date of Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs…
The index for the book has been completed and the final edits have been done. McFarland will be sending the book to the printers by August 24, 2014, pending those edits and the index that I will be sending over to them.
Here’s the funny part: Before I can send anything, I have to wait and see what Seattle Mariners ace right-hander Felix Hernandez does in his next start this week.
Why is that? Well, it’s because on July 25, “King Felix” tied a long-standing record in the Mariners’ 2-1 loss to the visiting Baltimore Orioles. In that outing, Hernandez fanned 10 Orioles and allowed just one run over seven innings. It was his 13th straight start with seven or more innings and two runs or fewer allowed, tying Hall of Famer Tom Seaver’s 1971 record.
What does that have to do with Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs? Well, check out the following image from Page 1:
So, it’s a matter of waiting to see what Hernandez does in his next start so this page can be properly edited to reflect what has happened in 2014. You just never figure that a record like that would be matched – and potentially broken – at an inopportune time like this! Murphy’s Law, I suppose.
Other than that, everything has been completed! Now it’s time to see what “King Felix” does in a couple of days – ironically against one of Tom Candiotti’s former teams, the Cleveland Indians.
Baseball’s Northwest League update
Posted by alifeofknuckleballs in Baseball on July 27, 2014
A change of pace today on A Life of Knuckleballs… Instead of big-league musings, we’ve got some minor-league ball for you.
In Northwest League (Short-Season Single-A) action, the first half of the season wrapped up on July 21, with the first-half pennants in both divisions being decided in the final moments.
In the South Division, the Hillsboro Hops (affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks) and the Boise Hawks (Chicago Cubs) battled until the penultimate day before the first-half championship was won. On July 20, Hillsboro took on the Emeralds in Eugene, OR, and scored the winning run in the top of the ninth inning to pull out a 3-2 victory. Half an hour later, Boise dropped a 6-1 home decision against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, clinching the first-half championship for Hillsboro.
While the Hillsboro-Eugene tilt was decided in the ninth inning, the winning rally was hardly dramatic. The Hops’ victory was made possible when, with runners on first and third with none out, Eugene opted not to play the infield in. A routine grounder to second base by Hops third baseman George Roberts, with the Emeralds playing at normal depth, drove in the tie-breaking run and gave Hillsboro the pennant-clinching 3-2 decision.
The Hops went on to lose 13-7 to Eugene the following day – in what was a meaningless contest for them – to finish the first half with a 22-16 record. Boise, with a 7-6 win over Salem-Keizer, also finished with a 22-16 mark. However, with the Hops owning the tie-breaker, it was Hillsboro clinching the first-half pennant in just their second season in the Northwest League. Prior to the 2013 season, the franchise was located in Yakima, WA, and was known as the Yakima Bears.
For Boise, an early-season funk proved to be costly, even though its 15-5 record in July allowed them to end the first 38 games of the schedule with the same record as Hillsboro. After opening the season with three straight victories and a 4-1 record, the Hawks, who made it to the Northwest League finals in each of the last two seasons, proceeded to drop seven in a row before rebounding once the calendar turned to July.
First-half standings, Northwest League South Division:
x-Hillsboro (ARI) 22-16 –
Boise (CHC) 22-16 –
Salem-Keizer (SF) 18-20 4
Eugene (SD) 15-23 7
x-won first-half championship due to tie-breaker
The Hillsboro Hops, the 2014 first-half champions in the Northwest League’s South Division, taking batting practice prior to the finale of their five-game series against the Vancouver Canadians at Nat Bailey Stadium, Saturday, July 26, 2014 (View from the press box)
Over in the North Division, it was essentially the same story, with a second-place club stumbling out of the gate before a furious rally at the end proved futile.
The Vancouver Canadians (affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) were 5.5 games back of the Spokane Indians (Texas Rangers) heading into July. However, the Canadians made it close as they were arguably the hottest team during the final week of the first half, led by centerfielder and leadoff man Roemon Fields, who stole 28 bases to establish a club record for a full season [1]. Vancouver outscored its opposition 66-30 and won six of its final seven games, including a 10-6 triumph over the Tri-City Dust Devils in a day game at Gesa Stadium in Pasco, WA, on July 21, the final day of the first half.
That final victory, which saw ace right-hander Miguel Castro improve to 5-2 and 18-year-old shortstop Franklin Barreto drive in three runs and cross home plate twice, allowed the Canadians to finish the first half with a 25-13 record, a half-game ahead of Spokane going into the Indians’ contest that same night.
Unfortunately for Vancouver, the Indians owned the tie-breaker thanks to a 4-2 head-to-head record, meaning if they won their night game they would finish 25-13 as well to clinch the first-half pennant in the North Division.
Going into that finale, the Indians had lost five of their last seven, but Spokane left-hander Derek Thompson ensured there would be no collapse for his club. The 21-year-old Thompson, who was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 12th round of the 2013 MLB amateur draft, allowed only three hits over seven innings with 10 strikeouts, pitching the Indians to a 3-0 victory over the Everett AquaSox and giving the North Division’s first-half flag to Spokane.
For Vancouver, the three-time defending Northwest League champions, finishing just short in the first half is nothing new. Back in 2011, the Canadians also lost the first-half pennant due to a tie-breaker, before winning the second half en route to the first of three consecutive league titles. In 2012 and 2013, the Canadians also made the playoffs by winning the second-half pennant. So, it will be interesting to see how they fare in the second half of the 2014 Northwest League season.
First-half standings, Northwest League North Division:
x-Spokane (TEX) 25-13 –
Vancouver (TOR) 25-13 –
Tri-City (COL) 14-24 11
Everett (SEA) 11-27 14
x-won first-half championship due to tie-breaker
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[1] The Vancouver club record over a full 76-game schedule had been 25, established in 2007 by Michael Richard in his lone season with the Canadians. Richard swiped those bases while playing in 61 games with Vancouver in his first professional season after being selected in the 11th round of the MLB amateur draft that June by the Oakland Athletics, then the parent club of the Canadians. Fields, however, shattered that record in the first half alone.
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