Baseball Journal MLB Rewind 11-9-12

6-13-12

Perfect. Go ahead and start penciling in Matt Cain's name on the National League Cy Young award. [Or not. Don't ever listen to my predictions. You wouldn't believe some of the entries I decided not to share here.] If the team can back up his pitching with the kind of offense and defense they showed tonight, expect greatness. [Okay, I was right on that one.] And here I thought he was scuffling early in the season. Let's go down the line: Giants 10, Astros 0, no hits, no walks, no Giant errors, 14 strikeouts.

This was the only National League game being played tonight and it wasn't a great match up. It may have taken awhile for the news to notice. Listening to sports talk radio that night, they just suddenly announced that a perfect game was going on in the 9th. They picked up the Astros' TV call live for the final out. The crowd was going nuts with every pitch. Apparently in the 7th inning, Gregor Blanco made a great catch in the outfield that set the crowd off and they never stopped. 15 minutes after the game during an interview with one of the Giants' announcers, the crowd was still going.

Here I thought I was lucky earlier in the evening when I saw the Rangers score the only run of the game versus the Diamondbacks. I had no idea what I was missing.


6-14-12

Two teams, ten innings, one run. White Sox vs. Brewers played out like the epic interleague match up we all thought it would be. Complete offensive futuility. The Sox finally won thanks to some timely pinch hitting, but not before Hawk and Stone discussed their golf game. It was that scintillating. The biggest news was the in-game trade of Kevin Youkilis from one Sox team to the other, for Brent Lillibridge (found out about that part of the trade later). The announcers were learning about this in real-time via Twitter. The Red Sox fans knew about it immediately and applauded him as he left the game in the 7th.

The Dodgers accidentally beat the Angels yesterday. Specifically, the Angel's accidents. Certainly the Dodgers have been unable to beat them on purpose. I just hated to see Albert Pujols make that showboating error in a nationally broadcast game in the first inning and cost his team a run, which they would later regret. I also found out that it was Mike Trout's call up to the team that finally kickstarted Albert's hitting. Nothing like being outplayed by a rookie to get you going.


6-26-12

The reign of Rizzo has begun. The Cubs top prospect, Anthony Rizzo, was called up and started today at first base. He went 2 for 4, including the game-winning hit. Cubs fans rejoiced over the win over the Mets. They may have something to root for as the rest of the team is traded off or released. [None of that actually happened, including the rooting.]


6-30-12

Rizz! Another game-winning hit. This time Rizzo won it on a two-run homer to the deepest part of the park in the Budweiser seats. The Cubs bullpen did a great job of holding a one-run lead for half the game. Marmol even got the save. Go Cubs go! [Well that was nothing but false optimism. I wonder who they were playing that day?]

Meanwhile in an MLB history footnote, Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal made his debut and hit two home runs, in his first two at bats, from both sides of the plate, a baseball first. [His later positive PED test was unfortunately a much more pedestrian story.]


7-5-12

Rizz! Another home run. The Cubs played a very good game versus the Braves on Independence Day, but Rizzo was again the story. I'm glad to have something to root for season about the Cubs. [This is just precious. I wish I could bottle this feeling and sell it. I'd call it "Damn Fool Hope." It smells great going on and then stinks like skunk for the rest of the day. Rizzo, however, I think will be a great player.]