Baseball Journal 6-22-13

It’s Prison Day at Wrigley Field. Yes, they’ve apparently invited a group of convicts to watch the game. . . Oh, wait. Those are the Astros. They’re wearing uniforms that are a pair of gray pants away from being mistaken for orange jumpsuits. Does anybody run these fashion decisions past somebody outside the organization?

Now that this is an Interleague matchup, instead of a divisional one, here’s a great stat from the game: Cubs Pitchers 22 RBI’s this season, Astros DH’s 25 RBI’s. I think that says everything about the Astros right now. It was a large, but fairly quiet crowd in Chicago. I think they showed up expecting a win, just based on that RBI stat alone.

The Cubs had a 3-0, until Travis Wood gave up a three-run homer that cleared the stadium. Otherwise reliable, Kevin Gregg came into the tie game in the 9th and gave up the lead. Probably wasn’t a good idea to use him in a non-save situation. With two outs in the bottom of the 9th, Len mentioned that Marmol would have to come out for the save if the Cubs tied it. “Go ahead and lose it now!” I shouted at the TV. And they did, 4-3 Astros.

During the game there was a close play at first base. After looking at it several times with inconclusive results, Len and JD lamented that the umps have to make immediate calls. Yeah, don’t worry. Expanded replay will fix all this, no matter how many viewings it takes. I did like JD’s observation, “Just once after a close play, I’d like to see an ump shrug his shoulders and throw up his hands.”

The Fox game turned out to be a game and a half. With rain in St. Louis, we got bonus coverage of the Diamondbacks vs. the Reds. I was very pleased to hear Bob Brenly again on a national broadcast. During the hour delay, I got to see about half the game. One 1-2-3 inning after another. The bulk of the scoring would happen after the coverage left. In the battle of the blown saves, 4-3 Dbacks.

Finally, a Fox game matchup I was happy to see, Rangers vs. Cardinals. Joe and Tim only slightly annoyed me with their commentary, so that was a bonus. On paper, the Cardinals should have easily won this, especially since I pronounced the Ranger season over last weekend. I blame the redbirds 4-2 loss on their unattractive alternate uniforms. Otherwise, I’m at a loss to explain why the Rangers are five out of their last six games, all against two teams better in the standings than they are. Perhaps it’s Ian Kinsler coming back. The weather was still threatening overhead, which might explain the speedy two and a half hour game. Pretty enjoyable evening.