4/8/11 Chicago Cubs 7, Milwaukee Brewers 4

Miller Park, Wilwaukee, WI
Game 1 of 3

WOO HOO, the Cubs head for "Wrigley North" (I only write that because it drives Brewers fans BERSERK) for the first time in 2011 and face...

FORMER CUB CASEY McGEHEE



Yes, that's right...Former Cub CASEY McGEHEE. When Len and Bob address the Pirates' Neil Walker as "Cubs Nemesis Neil Walker" it's endearing to most of us, I think. WHen Len and Bob acknowledge players who used to be Cubs, it's also nice for us to be reminded...heck, we can lose track of these guys also, so it's actually a nice gesture. However, for more than enough reasons, I have to ask Len and Bob to make an exception and please oh please stop referring to Casey McGehee, every time he appears at the plate or participates in a play, as "former Cub Casey McGehee." You let us know he used to be a Cub a few years ago, you can stop doing that now. Thanks.

The Cubs played very well. Former New York Mets pitcher and Louisville native Sean Green pitches a spectacular inning of relief for the Brewers, showing off his effective side-arm delivery that we didn't see him use much as a Met.

The Cubs WIN. The Brewers wear fantastic throwback unis. Casey McGehee is NO LONGER A CUB.

Go CUBS.

4/7/11 Toledo Mud Hens 11, Louisville Bats 6

Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KY
Game 1 of 4

Ladies and Gentlemen…your 2011 Louisville BATS!!
(and your 2011 Toledo Mud Hens too!)


Bring on the beer, bring on the hot dogs…and bring out the scoresheets, it’s Minor league Opening Day!! For the second year in a row, I am THERE for the Louisville Bats home opener…and for the second year in a row, the Bats are handed an “L” to begin the season…

But let’s face it…Baseball is BACK, it’s $1 beer night AND it’s my birthday AND my lovely wife agreed to be my date this evening…so win or lose, what more could you ask for?!?



A very exciting game, Andrew Oliver enjoyed a decent outing for the visiting Mud Hens, while Scott Carroll was looking pretty darn good until Timo Perez launched a 2 on 2 out HR into deep left field in the top of the 5th. The Bats’ Todd Frazier responded an inning and a half later with a 2RBI double to tie the game, but things started to unravel when reliever Daniel Ray Herrera gave up a 2-run HR in the 7th, another run in the 8th, and was joined in the Mud Hens Run Giveaway party by Carlos Fisher and Joe Krebs. The 7-run 8th inning sealed the deal…nothing a nice 8-run rally can’t take care of, and the Bats certainly tried but fell short.

Offense didn’t seem to be an issue for the Bats (they have plenty of it, only 2 players in their lineup failed to eke out at least 1 base hit). 5 Bats pitchers threw in the game, 4 of those 5 pitchers were relieved during an inning, and every one of those 4 left the game with one runner on base as their responsibility, and 3 of those 4 runners ended up scoring. That’s a problem.

With all due respect to the Bats’ Official Scorer Ken Horn, I disagreed on two of his rulings during the game. You all know the rules of scorekeeping: it’s YOUR scoresheet, you can call it however you want to. Since I have the right:

TOL 8th Inning: Scott Sizemore doubles to deep RF, driving in Cale Iorg. The OS rules this an E9, no RBI. That ball was hit hard and deep into the RF alley, RF Jeremy Hermida had no chance for a play at first or at second. He relayed the ball as best as he could…the ball was hit WELL, no opportunity for an out = a hit and an RBI.

LOU 8th inning: Jeremy Hermida reaches first on an Error by 2B Scott Sizemore, driving in Todd Frazier. The OS rules this a base hit and an RBI. Hermida is fast enough, but the ball was very much bobbled as Sizemore scooted around in the brickdust…take away Sizemore’s gymnastics and Hermida would have been out, and possibly a ground out RBI to his credit. My ruling = E4, no RBI.

It is bizarre that both of these instances not only occurred in the 8th inning, but impacted the same 2 players offensively and defensively. It’s my scoresheet. BAM.

It was a beautiful night for baseball, looking forward to this season!!

Mud Hens LF Timo Perez (3 for 5, 2R, HR, 3RBI) grounds out to Todd Frazier (3B), RHP Scott Carroll (5.2IP, 7H, 2ER, 3K, HR) on the mound for the Bats


Mud Hens RF Andy Dirks (4 for 5, 2R, HR, 2RBI) cracks a single to RF


Bats 3B Todd Frazier (2 for 4, R, 2B, 3B, 2RBI) at bat facing Mud Hens LHP Andrew Oliver (6IP, 4H 2ER, 2BB, 6K)


Todd Frazier swings and misses


FYI, Todd Frazier is on the Reds’ 40-man roster this year!




Bats 2B Chris Valaika (1 for 4, 3 flyouts) flies out to LF


Todd Frazier playing 3B (he played LF most of last year, could this mean a potential late-season roster shuffle for the Reds?), Scott Carroll fires


Bats Catcher Devin Mesoraco (2 for 4, R, solo HR) prepares to respond to Oliver’s delivery


Devin Mesoraco is NOT on the Reds’ 40-man roster this year


Todd Frazier grounds out to SS Cale Iorg (“like GEORGE”)…yes, Dane Iorg is his uncle, and Garth Iorg is his father



Don’t let the empty seats in some of these pictures fool you…announced attendance was 12,680…many folks were spending time at the Overlook Grill, enjoying the weekly spectacle known as “Thirsty Thursdays,” $1 beers until 7:30PM


Bats LF Yonder Alonso (1 for 5) at bat




The bases are LOADED for Todd Frazier with 2 outs in the Bottom of the 6th…can he deliver?!?

The Answer is YES, Todd cracked a screaming double to LF, driving in Dave Sappelt and Zack Cozart!!




Official Scorecard and Bat Chat (no season stats yet!)





Official Souvenir Program

4/5/11 Chicago White Sox 6, Kansas City Royals 7

Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
Game 1 of 2



Opening Week (and then some) was a particularly brutal one for the Royals. This game represents the 2nd of 3 consecutive extra-innings games during a course of four days. The short series with the White Sox wasn’t so short; both games went into 12 innings, the series was split 1-1. During this 3-game stretch-and-then-some, the Royals were 2-1.



The large hurrah after 3 hours and 32 minutes of play was certainly Melky Cabrera’s game-winning walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th, driving in Chris Getz. This is good, because many of us are still half-wondering how Melky’s going to fit into the lineup…especially now that the lukewarm SS the Royals got for last year’s cold SS in the Brewers trade has had a very good April; the downside being: one cold player displaced by another one. I call this the Che Guevara rule of Baseball, where instead of cruel leaders being displaced, teams are rewarded in trading expendable position players by sometimes more expendable position players. Cabrera did VERY WELL in this game (3-for-6 with 3 RBI).

Funny, how outspokenly concerned I was about the acquisition of Jeff Francoeur in the offseason, moreso than Cabrera, and how my mind has been changed about that…so far…

But, I digress. To me, what’s bigger news: Alex Gordon is FINALLY starting to show his baseball teeth. Who cares if it’s April…haven’t we been waiting for this Alex Gordon to take the field and show ‘em how? Yes, we have.

Gordon went 3-for-5 with 2R, 2RBI, and a scorching 1 on, 1 out HR to deep CF, right side of the ‘big green thing’ at the K, in the 1st inning. His first HR of the year. He scored in the 8th after getting on base with a 2B to left CF on Billy Butler’s HR blast in the same direction off of LHP Chris Sale, in relief for starter Gavin Floyd.

But, of course, Billy Butler…we really expect him to do this. Gordon, on the other hand…well, the suspense is starting to slowly kill some of us. So far in April, he is blowing away his previous season numbers and performance. This is a marathon…can it last?

And to that point…will Luke Hochevar, who left the game after 6IP with 6H and 5ER, be able to do something snazzy this year? Perhaps, something snazzier than Jeremy Jeffress’ successful and very snazzy pick-off of pinch-runner Brett Lillibridge…

BTW, since I do track these kinds of things:

Gordon broke two bats during this game (remember, that’s a “BLS” on my scoresheet, for “Broken Louisville Slugger”), one of them by Floyd and the other by Sergio Santos that fell for a broken bat double, not the first time I’ve scored such an event but notable just the same.

4/2/11 Los Angeles Angels 4, Kansas City Royals 5

Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
Game 3 of 4

This was a truly brutal opening series for the Royals (and the Angels as well), but at first whiff, the rest of the world certainly didn’t think so. The “rest of the world” was drinking the kool-aid on the Royals, “great farm system, wait till 2012, will stink this year, blah blah blah…” Well I wasn’t, as a matter of fact I’ve been bleating like a wounded goat about how much this team is going to shock everyone, even some diehard Royals fans are having trouble embracing my level of enthusiasm.

So here we are, 3rd game of a 4-game matchup, and the Royals so far have taken 1 of the 2 games. Which was one more game than anyone had hoped for…



But for me, the real story here was Aaron Crow.



Crow made a stellar debut in the Royals’ home opener on 3/31…it was a bittersweet entry as the Royals dropped this game…but the internets were all abuzz about Aaron Crow.

There were definitely other stars in this game; Billy Butler, Jeff Francoeur, and HOLY COW – Chris Getz among them…but I just feel like circling Aaron Crow for this post, so bear with me.

To set up Crow’s entry in the 7th inning: Kanekoa Texeira entered in the 6th to relieve Kyle Davies, who had allowed 4 Angels to get on base before being lifted. Starting the 7th, Texeira allowed 3 more on base after retiring his first batter. Texeira gets the hook (with 3 inherited runners on base, mind you!) and Crow gets the call. Cool as a cucumber, 3 men on only 1 out…Angels up by one.

Torii Hunter strikes out swinging on 3 pitches, the deathblow being a blistering 4-seam fastball at 95mph that followed two 86-88mph sliders.

Vernon Wells looks at a 96mph 4-seamer for a strike, then another for a ball. Thinking he’s getting the fastball again, here comes an 87mph slider…a ha!...swingandamiss!! Crow’s next pitch is an 88mph slider (again); Wells makes contact but grounds into a forceout to short to end the inning.

Crow pitches the entire 8th, the first two batters see 4 93-94mph fastballs between them, and they both hit doubles off of them. Crow gets a nod from Cabrera-Getz-Treanor as lead runner Alberto Callaspo is thrown out at home; Erick Aybar stays at 2nd and will be stuck there.

Crow is still crafty; OK, nothing but 4-seamers so far, so how about giving Bobby Wilson some more? Bobby fouls 2 of 3 away; Crow changes back to the 87mph slider and Bobby swings so hard his arms nearly fly out of their sockets. Crow decides to mix the 4-seamer and slider for Peter Bourjos, ultimately missing on a 95mph 4-seamer to walk Bourjos. Now there are 2 on, 2 out and here comes Maicer Izturis, who knocked a single to short in his last at-bat.

With the same 4-seam fastball, on one pitch, Crow gets Izturis to groundout to second.

Now, in the bottom of the 8th, the boys helped back Crow up with 2 runs scored against Kevin Jepsen; Soria got the ball after that and the Royals win their 2nd game of the series…and Aaron Crow gets his first MLB win.

Nick Scott hasn’t let up on the claim by “the rest of the world” about the Royals’ rotation being the “worst rotation ever”…and it’s good that he doesn’t. The rotation is a little shaky (see: Chicago Cubs) but hey, they are really darn good and when they aren’t…the bullpen has been pretty good at helping out their case, regardless of the situation. I think Jeff Francis is AWESOME…but I think Aaron Crow is FANTASTIC.

Royals fans, please: DON’T DRINK THE KOOL-AID…this is going to be a GREAT season!!!

4/2/11 Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Chicago Cubs 5

Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
Game 2 of 3

So, the Pirates pwned the Cubs last year…and they pwned us on Opening Day, thanks to Ryan Dempster and “Cubs Nemesis” Neil Walker. Certainly, this pwnership just cannot last. And what of Carlos Pena?



Believe it.



The Pirates score one run each in the 1st, 3rd, and 7th innings. Carlos Zambrano does very well (he is a GREAT pitcher, fact…) but when he leaves the 7th inning after giving up the solo shot to Garrett Jones, the Pirates pwn us again and the Cubs are scoreless.

Enter Evan Meek…and a wild 8th inning…5 runs are scored by the Cubs and what do you know…we WIN!

Len and Bob, recalling his grand salami on Opening Day, refer to Neil Walker as “Cubs Nemesis Neil Walker,” so I will too.

Starting this season, I will welcome Carlos Pena to the team by documenting the Pena Shift…you can see on my scoresheet, for every plate appearance, look for the circled “22,” that means the shift was on. The shift was on for 2 out of 4 plate appearances. The shift is REAL.

Alfonso Soriano received a considerable amount of flack from the Wrigley crowd on what was seen as a baserunning blunder in the 7th inning on a perceived dropped 3rd strike. Soriano stuck out swinging, and the ball was dropped on a wild pitch. No need to boo Fonzie here, the ruling and play are as follows, per Bob Brenly:

With less than 2 outs, 1st base covered, the batter is out automatically, regardless of whether…the pitch gets by the catcher. With 2 outs, this is not the case. Fans were encouraging Soriano to RUN, but he was OUT.

The 7th Inning Stretch was led by Ferguson Jenkins. Go CUBS.

4/1/11 Los Angeles Angels 1, Kansas City Royals 2

Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
Game 2 of 4

It's GHOSTFACE KILA


After the Cubs let me down a few hours earlier, dropping their home opener to the Pirates, a few more beers and a Royals game could stand a chance to turn my day around.

Greg Schaum of Pine Tar Press was at the game, tweeting and posting photos. Jeff Francis fares wonderfully against Dan Haren for the Angels, each only giving up one run in 7 innings apiece and pretty much baffling hitters for most of the evening. The tie game threatened to extend the game into extras when during the commercial break before the bottom of the 9th, I tweeted my sense of urgency in wondering what kind of voodoo dance I would have to do to get Kila (first batter up to lead off the inning) Ka'aihue to belt a walk-off homer and end the game.

That kind of stuff usually doesn't work, but tonight it did.

The Angels bring in Michael Kohn in relief, he throws a called strike and then Kila tags a tater way into the left center field porch.

During the pre-game show: we find out why Aaron Crow is wearing a Justin Bieber backpack.

3/24/11 St Louis Cardinals 3, New York Mets 16

Digital Domain Park, Port St Lucie, FL

Ahem. Did I just go out on a limb only a few days ago, by publicly announcing that, yes, I think the Cardinals will be more formidable than many people realize, and that Jaime Garcia may be one of the best pitchers in the NL that nobody's talking about (that much)? Yes, that was me. This game should be no indicator, it is Spring Training and if this one REALLY counted, LaRussa would have given Garcia the hook instead of leaving him in to 'get out of it.' What "it" was, was the Mets.



This reminded me of a Spring Training exercise 2 years ago, indeed, my very first post...I am much more comfortable with the lineup changes and a bit more adept at scoring the game...it was really the lopsided advantage displayed by the Mets, nearly making their opponent hapless in nature. But this is the CARDINALS, I mean...no way...

Chris Capuano pitched an unreasonably great game for the Mets, going 5 innings, allowing 8 hits and 3 earned runs. Garcia on the other hand...uff da! Things were going great for Garcia, just a coupla runs in the first (from a David Wright 1 out 1 on HR), no biggie...with 2 outs in the 4th, Brad Emaus reaches on a single, Schumaker commits an inning-changing error, and that really starts the commotion. Emaus' single would start a run of 9 consecutive hits for the Mets over 2 innings. Garcia leaves the game after 4 innings, 78 pitches, giving up 14 hits (OUCH), 10 runs (only 3 earned) and just one strikeout.

If you like games with gross offensive display...this game was just fine with that. the Mets launched 4 HR as a team, big blasts like those of Matt Den Dekker and pinch-hitter Josh Thole (who hit the ball so far it ended up in the alligator pond outside the stadium) were legendary; besides Wright, Emaus (who went 4-4 for the day) and Angel pagan went yard.

The Cards did their best, but just got clobbered. They thanked goodness that Miguel Batista came along in the 7th and kept the Mets quiet for the rest of the game.

And if you haven't seen Lance Berkman the outfielder yet...he's just as good as you thought he would be. Only a little bit better than Jason Bay.