Baseball Journal 4-7-13

It was a 4-3 win for the White Sox over the Mariners today. Frankly, nothing really remarkable happened during the game other than, once again, all the runs came off homers. There was also an appearance by Southpaw behind home plate, interacting with that older gentleman wearing the Kyle Busch M&M’s jacket. I suspect they’re on a first name basis after all these years. I had flipped over during the 10th inning to see the end of the race and came back just in time to see Dayan Viciedo’s game-winning home run go into the stands and hear half of Hawk’s home run call. They talked to closer Addison Reed after the game, who’s figured into all of the Sox’s wins so far this season, three saves and a win today.

The best part of today’s broadcast were the interviews with a couple of players from the ’83 White Sox team. The Sunday home uniforms for the team are replicas of those jerseys. (They did this last year as well, wearing red and white. Hopefully the organization will not replicate the black blouse tops or the shorts. Two of the worst baseball uniforms ever. Softballers wouldn’t wear those.) Julio Cruz listed being on that ’83 team as one of his career highlights. His other favorite moment was an in-game pep talk he once gave to Gaylord Perry, infamous spitballer. “Cruzer, get back to second base. You don’t anything about pitching,” was how that interaction ended. Julio then swore, “One day I’m going to reveal where he was hiding his Vaseline!”

Another player (missed his name, might have been Lorenzo Gray, sorry), related hiding out in the umpires’ room during games and gorging on beer and hot dogs. One day after a binge, he was unexpectedly called into a game to pinch run, and started getting sick at first base. “La Russa put on the “steal” sign. I’m thinking, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’” Well, he tried to run, but he essentially waddled his way to second base.

One last comment about the game. Hawk had apologized for him and Steve Stone’s chemistry last year and promised they’d do better this year. Well, they are better this year so far. Still total homers, but at least they’re not a detriment to the broadcast.

Ah, much better mood this evening. Rangers win 7-3 over the Angels. Yu didn’t have his good stuff like the other day, but still got outs and got the win. Weaver on the other side didn’t have his good stuff either and left with a sore elbow. Josh Hamilton is clearly a vampire. The proof is that he can’t hit during the day, like yesterday where Pujols was being walked to get to him, but tonight he was wailing away. Lucky for the Rangers, Ian Kinsler also had his hitting shoes on, including a three-run opposite field homer.

I heard the game over the radio, so I don’t know if this was on TV, but Eric and Matt noticed that there was one Ranger fan with a sign out saying, “We still love you Josh.” Ahh. Eric and I both noticed the glacial pace of the game. It took an hour and a half to play the first three innings. “Well, it’s Sunday night baseball. It’s like a Yankees/Red Sox game.” Now, that’s some honest commentary. Strangely, the game actually picked up the pace dramatically late in the game and ended up clocking in at just a minute over three hours.