6/17/11 Kansas City Royals 5, St Louis Cardinals 4

Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO
Game 1 of 3


MOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!

How kool, the boy isn’t afraid to eat some dirt. A1 (that’s Alex Gordon) helped the Royals contend against the Cardinals early on with a bases-clearing single, but if it weren’t for Moose Mikestakas charging home plate face first to cross just in time on an error by Prince Albert Pujols…the game could have gone somewhere else.



Felipe Paulino let it all hang out in the 3rd inning, with the Cardinals batting around and scoring 4 times. Paulino has to learn, when the bases are loaded with 2 outs, this still isn’t a great time to pitch to Lance Berkman. At least not this year. But the Royals offense took advantage of “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” in capitalizing on an uncharacteristic shaky start by Chris Carpenter to scratch out 4 total runs in the first 4 innings to tie the game. All without an extra base hit by the Royals during the entire game.

While I’d usually say that TLR knows Carpenter best, he must not have read his tea leaves right today and left tall and goofy in for an inning too many, as the error-scoring face-first-slide run occurred during Carpenter’s last inning in the 8th…and with 2 outs already on the board.

By the way, I accidentally charged that 5th run to Carpenter…not in time to fix the scan but don’t worry, my paper copy has been revised.

This was St Louis’ 7th consecutive loss, and also the 3rd PIDP (popped into double play) I’ve scored in one month’s time after never scoring one in my life until now. Go figure.

6/17/11 Durham Bulls 8, Gwinnett Braves 5

Coolray Field, Lawrenceville, GA
Game 2 of 4



The Garfoose himself in action…ladies and gentlemen, Dirk Hayhurst!!



Having missed some of his previous outings (and having missed the Bulls altogether in their only visit to Louisville this season) I made it a point to set aside my Friday night plans and check out this contest on 620 “the Buzz” via MiLB Gameday Audio. The game was called by Neil Solondz, who is better on the radio than he is on camera (sorry, Neil…I do aim for honesty, not all butt-kissing all the time here at “The Baseball Enthusiast”).

But…I digress…

You are probably following Dirk on Twitter (@TheGarfoose), and if you aren’t, what’s wrong with you? Dirk is one of the best “tweeters,” baseball or otherwise, that you can hope to find. I’ll be reading his book The Bullpen Gospels as soon as I’m finished with my current reading assignment. In order to convince you to check out this book, here’s a damn good review that should do the trick.

Following a brief rain delay, the game gets underway and the Bulls start hacking away –literally- at Braves starting pitcher Yohan Flande, scoring 3 runs on 3 hits before a single out is even recorded. Hayhurst masterfully keeps the Braves handcuffed with only a single run scored (on a solo HR by Ed Lucas) for 5 innings before allowing back-to-back singles, a strikeout, and a walk to load the bases. Former MLB trade sponsor Julio Lugo hits a bases clearing double, Hayhurst leaves the game having done excellent work with the Bulls still up by 2 runs.

The Bulls are one of the best teams in the International League, their offense as of late being adequately bolstered by this guy…Brandon Guyer.


Of course, my memory of Guyer as a Tennessee Smokie in the Cubs organization (most recently in this game from the BIL Tour of last year) isn’t tainted by his success with the Rays after the Matt Garza trade. Losing him, as well as Chris Archer, was (and still is) a little bit painful…but that’s baseball. And this game truly showcased Guyer’s maturing prowess…3-for-5 with a 3-run HR as well as an RBI double. With guys like him backing up great pitchers like Hayhurst, you can see why the Rays organization is getting the notice they deserve.

On the other hand, the Bulls and the Braves have been IL South division first-place rivals for most of this season so far, and will probably continue to be for many months to come. If you have a chance to catch MiLB baseball and these two are on your list to choose from, you won’t be disappointed.

Like Solondz, I too disagreed with an error charged to Jaye Chapman (no hit for Guyer) that was later reversed. Great minds do think alike. Neil, you are still better on the radio than you are on camera.

Hats off to the Garfoose, who gets the W, and also to Brandon Guyer…I think we’ll see you both in bigger stadiums pretty damn soon!!

You can also follow Brandon Guyer on Twitter (@BrandonGuyer).

6/16/11 Baltimore Orioles 4, Toronto Blue Jays 3

Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Game 3 of 3

Orioles baseball magician Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound against the Blue Jays in an effort to shut down the Orioles’ 16 consecutive losses at Rogers Centre, a streak that dates all the way back to 1999, when Guthrie was 20 years old. I guess I’ve been living under a rock, as when I considered this, I realized that Guthrie is a lot older than I had previously thought he was.



Chalk it up to my apparent AL East tunnel vision, but 2011 was really the first season I encountered Jeremy Guthrie and his work on a personal level. This happened in April, a typically whacky month for lopsided baseball…the 2011 season was no less whacky in this respect than it ever was (The Royals in first place!!). I’ve always admired the Orioles, and I’ve done my best to keep track of how they are doing, but in the first few weeks of April of 2011, the Orioles were shockingly good and teams that ended up better than the Orioles were shockingly bad during that time frame.

This was the time when I first really started noticing Jeremy Guthrie, and when I decided he’s really great at pitching. This game (one of the few I could watch after the free MLB Extra Innings preview ends in early April) really featured some of the best 5 innings of work one could ever hope to see from a starter who is really great at pitching. Guthrie delivers the goods, striking out 5, walking 1, and only allowing a single hit (ha! Corey Patterson!!) until being lifted from the game with a scoreless tie.

I believe he was on his way to hurling a veritable gem, but as in the case of Sir Cherokee in the 2003 Kentucky Derby, we’ll never know where this game could have gone for Guthrie.

This was Zach Stewart’s MLB Debut, having been called up from the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats…he was also very good (7IP, 7H, 2ER, BB, 4K) and looked like a million bucks, despite being called for a Balk (hey, right handers get this also…welcome to the Big Leagues!) and hitting Mark Reynolds. His 2 runs allowed/earned occurred in the 6th; the Blue Jays responded with 2 runs (1 earned) against Jim Johnson, in relief of Guthrie.

Sometimes great baseball games are decided in the 9th inning…this was no exception. Tied at 2, the Orioles sneak out 2 runs against Closer Jon Rauch (who was replaced twice by the end of the inning). The first was on a Fielder’s Choice RBI by Baltimore’s mystery flavor of the month, Derrek Lee; the second was on a shocking RBI single by Ryan Adams, his first career RBI in Major League Baseball.

Until that point, Adams had the distinction of hitting into double plays in each of his 3 plate appearances; two GIDP and one FIDP.

The Blue Jays came back with a lead-off HR by Adam Lind to start the home 9th, but the next 3 batters flew out, flew out, and grounded out, and that was it. The 12-year Orioles loss streak at Rogers Centre ends.

The roof was open, Jose Bautista did not hit a Home Run today.

UPDATES:
Jeremy Guthrie would finish the season 9-17 with a 4.33 ERA and 1.341 WHIP for the Orioles. On February 6, 2012, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies for Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom. I will still admiringly track his progress. You can follow him on twitter: @JGuthrie46

Zach Stewart would make 3 more starts for Toronto, with only one decision (a loss against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field in an outing that was not very fantastic) and had compiled an ERA of 4.86 and WHIP of 1.860 before ending up as part of the bombastic 3-team trade that sent he and Frasor to the Chicago White Sox for Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen (Jackson was famously sent to the Cardinals for playoff-value sucking Colby Rasmus). His WHIP in 10 games with the White Sox would improve to 1.520, but his ERA ballooned to 6.22. On September 5th, 2011, he pitched a 9 inning shut-out of the Minnesota Twins but would lose his next 3 outings to end the season with a 2-5 record for the White Sox.

Ryan Adams stayed in Toronto for the remainder of the season, ending 2011 with a .281/.333/.326 and .659 OPS. He would hit into a groundball double play only 4 more times during the season.




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Do You Ever...

…talk out loud to your Bleacher Report Newsletter? I’m sure you do…I can’t be the only one…

I do this often (and more often when I’m listening to podcasts, as I am in the car and can get pretty darn animated sometimes when nobody else can hear me). I did this yesterday afternoon when I received my daily Cubs BR email, and I thought it might be fun to share with you my verbal outbursts (in my cube at work, mind you!) to each story that was featured.

You shouldn’t have to fasten your seat belts for this one, sunflower seeds are optional…so here we go!!!


First of all, are we talking about Bryce Harper? Second of all, are you kidding me?


Of course he would! He would consider working at Waffle House for a $300 million contract!!


A shot in the buttocks? Drugs? Tighter jerseys? Cheerleaders? A jumbotron at Wrigley? Joel Pineiro…really? …another “iffy” pitcher? That has been working so well recently…


We also have money for Carlos Silva if we want him again…or even Joel Pineiro!!...so what?


And I should be surprised?


…as opposed to ‘implicitly’ mock? (I voted ‘good clean fun,’ BTW)


How about an F? or a U?


Is there any other way to mock LeBron??

Go CUBS.

Eien no tomodachi,
Stevo-sama

6/15/11 RSS Feed Favorites, with 1982 Joakim Soria Topps Card

Today's pick o' the RSS Feed, featuring a great find from the internets…

Greg Schaum of Pine Tar Press tweeted about A Hair Off Square and I had to check it out…the site features the work of Clint Wiederholt who among other things, is whipping up some ultra-fantastic ‘custom cards’ of mostly current Kansas City Royals players with klassic collectors cards borders, designs, and the like. Great stuff, and do check out his “Just Fair” series as well. What you see leading off above is part of Clint’s “History of Joakim Soria” series, this entry being based on the 1982 Topps design. Clint does a great job of tying in the current players with the design being used and some ‘what was up then’ and personal analysis of the card design and related elements, all in just a few paragraphs. Awesome stuff, I’m really happy to add A Hair Off Square to my feed.

Clint’s also done some nifty custom cards for the St. Joseph (Missouri) Mustangs, of the MINK Collegiate Baseball League (Missouri Iowa Nebraska Kansas). What is MINK? Maybe I should write about it sometime, for now you can check out their website for more info…

So, without further ado, the rest of my ramble for today…

B3: Big, Bald and Beautiful:
Top 50 update by Jonathan Mayo
Mayo’s back after a brief hiatus (he’s probably been sleeping for 3 days plus after being awake for 3 days plus) with the return of the Monday Top 50 Update. By the way, did you know you can check on the status, signings, etc of this year’s draft and other drafts, all the way back to 19-hundred-and-65 on MLB.com’s MLB Draft History?? You didn’t? Consider it now known…

Kings of Kauffman:
Don’t Put Billy In A Corner by Kevin Scobee
HEAR HEAR…it’s good to hear (and read) such positive notes about Billy Butler. I almost want to write “Remember him? He was your favorite Royal last year!” but that’s just not funny. I love the Hosmer and Moose callups, I am enjoying the pitching this year more than I was told that I would, and I really love that Alex Gordon is doing better…but I still think Billy is a total baseball stud. And yes, Kevin, you are correct. Wanna complain? Call on Chris Getz!!

The Greatest 21 Days: 1990 CMC: by Steve78
The “CMC Error: Fox for a Diamond” Trilogy
First of all…if you aren’t reading this blog every day, why not? The best baseball blog EVER, hands down…I just can’t get enough of this, better (and bigger) than a book…this series of posts is just another reason why!!
My words and puny dissertation could never fully explain this series of posts, so I’ll do my best to provide a TV-Guide synopsis and outline and trust that you will find out for yourself…First, you must read CMC Error: Fox for a Diamond where the randomizer selects a Kerwin Moore (Appleton Foxes) card from the CMC set at and, as “the picture didn’t look right,” the author began to investigate and finds an error in the set…next in the Trilogy, Steve78 writes about Kerwin Moore, Away From Home - 873…and finally, Steve Martin, Strong Character - 878…as always, baseball stories just don’t get better than this stuff. No spoilers, but it is written: “The tipoff was the hat.”

I want to leave you with my favorite Manager Ejection of the year so far, as Gary Allenson of the Norfolk Tides is ejected for arguing a Home Run call reversed to a Ground Rule Double. The clip is over 7 minutes long, but be sure you watch all the way to the end as Allenson gets thrown out and then gets a little bit cantankerous. You go, brother…you don’t need to take that crap!

Be sure you have Tug Haines : Casual Fan in your feed…Tug has started to add game notes, and they are awesome. He really keeps building up his daily adventures to a point where I have a feeling we will end the summer with a countdown of “when is the book coming out?”

I should add that today is the 47th anniversary of the 1964 Lou Brock/Ernie Broglio Transaction. How you celebrate is up to you.

The current 2-game winning streak against the Brewers has been some very, very exciting Cubs baseball. I just love it. Go CUBS.

Eien no tomodachi,
Stevo-sama

6/14/11 Milwaukee Brewers 4, Chicago Cubs 5

Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
Game 1 of 4


Yes…the face of a kid, the bat of a BADASS….

Great performances in baseball don’t grow on trees, and while it was difficult last year for some of us to see the forest of potential that is Starlin Castro, here’s yet another gem in this idyllically dismal Cubs season where Castro does something that ordinarily, we would expect, but at the same time are overjoyed to see: a young Cub starting to really show his stuff, and in the realm of clutch hitting, yet…



Oh, the Brewers…they of the stolid NL Central runaway hero projection for 2011. I’m still not discounting the Cardinals and their surprise stock in the race, but for now, this year’s Brewers are this year’s Brewers and while the Cubs are mired in the “oh geez we are x games under 500” swamp of self-pity, the Brewers are in town for a brutal 4-game series for which the Cubs have little chance for hope of a sweep, let alone a series win, while they’ve been unable to do so for even bad teams in the division as well as in the league.

The pitching matchup pretty much sealed this deep, regretful sigh of despair as potential-ace-turned-liability Randy Wells faces last year’s surprise-turned-ace Yovani Gallardo.

As the events unfold, Wells serves the basis for Milwaukee’s early lead and by the time he exits at the end of the 7th inning, Gallardo has allowed only one run (earned) and has seen Wells leave in the 6th with the Brewers ahead of the Cubs 3-1. Brewers reliever Marco Estrada comes in and you can almost hear yourself saying: “now is the time for us to capitalize on the bullpen entering the game.” At least I heard myself saying that, as I do every time a Cubs starter leaves the game behind in the score. The opposing starting pitcher can’t be stopped, let’s key into some timely hitting and show these guys ‘what for’…and today, I got my wish!

And better yet…extra innings!! But not for long…the Cubs 10th starts with the game tied at 4 and a leadoff Tony Campana single-turned-double due to his intense speed; Fukudome’s timely sac bunt moves Campana to 3rd. Once he’s here, all the Cubs need is another timely base hit and the game is over.

Castro does it, Campana crosses home plate in seconds, and a walk-off single gives the Cubs the first win in the 4-game series. Go CUBS.

6/9/11 Louisville Bats 3, Syracuse Chiefs 4

Alliance Bank Stadium, Syracuse, NY
Game 3 of 4

2007 1st round draft pick LHP Ross Detwiler has seen his ERA and WHIP improve in his MLB appearances in 39 games from 2009-2011, yet spent more time in AAA Syracuse in 2011 than he had in previous years. I don’t follow the Washington Nationals very well, so I don’t know the circumstances; in 2001 his ERA in 16 games (all starts) at Syracuse was 4.53, his WHIP 1.489 (by comparison, in his 15 games in Washington in 2011 his ERA was 3.00, WHIP was 1.25). If you are keeping track, his ERA and WHIP during his stay in Washington were both lower than that of John Lannan, Livan Hernandez, Jordan Zimmermann, Jason Marquis, and Chien-Ming Wang. Think what you want of that, but today he was cold-cunning effective against the Bats, one of the best offense lineups in the IL.



Chad Reineke (from DEFIANCE, Ohio…I just love that), on the other hand, has one of his worst (and shortest) road starts of the season. Former Padre Matt Antonelli tags Reineke for a solo HR in the very first inning; then Michael Aubrey follows with a lead-off HR in the 4th. Detwiler’s first hit of the season to lead off the 5th is followed by a single by former Royal Gregor Blanco; Aubrey drives in Detwiler on a SAC fly, Chris Marrero drives in Blanco on a bloop single past Chris Valaika with 2 outs, and Reineke leaves the game.

The Bats tried to rebound with a Yonder Alonso solo HR in the 5th and a Zack Cozart RBI single in the 6th (scoring Reineke) yet are handcuffed by the Chiefs bullpen of Collin Balester and Josh Wilkie…until Brent Clevlen shows up in the 9th, with 1 on and 1 out.

Clevlen is certainly an International League journeyman, having spent time in Toledo and Gwinnett from 2007-2010 (and having played in 55 games for Detroit and 4 games for Atlanta during that time). He started off 2011 with the Reds organization on the Bats roster. I didn’t see much of Clevlen during his 26 games in Louisville, but what I did see wasn’t that bad…and he certainly looks like a bad-ass at the plate. Clevlen was 0-for-2 with a BB when he approached the plate, all bad-ass, of course. He works Josh Wilkie for a full count and delivers an RBI triple into left-center field…suddenly, he is the tying run (in scoring position!) with 1 out.

Unfortunately for the Bats, this opportunity is squandered sharply as Danny Dorn and Michael Griffin both fly out to left to end the game.

I also witnessed Tug Hulett in the lineup for the Chiefs…his dad was Tim Hulett, and Tug was a Royal!

Clevlen was released by the Reds on the very next day. He immediately signed with the Independent League Wichita Wingnuts (played 46 games) and then on to the Eastern League AA Reading Phillies in early August, where he spent the remainder of the season, playing in 26 games and ending up with a formidable 1.042 OPS. He was granted free agency in November, and signed with the Phillies again in January. Which means it could be very likely that his IL journey will continue as a Lehigh Valley IronPig in 2012.

I watched this game on MLB Network, via the TWC Sports broadcast. The game was called by Jason Benetti (excellent broadcast voice and play-by-play, but please don't show us your face!) and Steve Grilli.




If you enjoy my work, I encourage you to spread the word via Twitter
(I am @yoshiki89), and also please leave a comment!