Baseball Journal 9-29-13

I haven’t talked much about the Cubs and White Sox this season, in spite of talking about so many of their games.  That’s because they’ve both sucked.  What talent the Cubs have has mostly regressed.  The White Sox’s pitching is pretty good, but they can’t hit.  I am wondering how much longer WGN will be showing their games nationally.  Not so much because of this season, but because both teams may feel they could get a better deal by showing the games locally.  More money equal more competitive.  And both teams do want to compete.

The Cubs last national WGN game on Saturday was apparently cancelled, disappointing my dad, but the White Sox were on Sunday.  From what I’ve seen the White Sox have the better stadium to watch a game and their TV production is better.  The Cubs seem to have better looking, happier fans.  For this final game of the season, the Sox had a pretty decent crowd, considering they weren’t playing for anything.  They started the game extraordinarily quiet, but by the 9^th, after several drinks, they were much more outspoken.   

The Royals looked sharp in their blue colored tops.  The White Sox went with their pinstripes instead of their throwbacks, which they wore instead on Saturday.  Thank you for that.  Hawk and Stone were a bit melancholy and apologetic about the season, but called a good game and worked pretty well together (even if they actually hate each other).

The star of the game was Paul Konerko, but not for his play.  The crowd seemed to be well aware that this might be his last game.  Konerko has said he hasn’t made up his mind yet about retirement.  He got an ovation for his first at bat and another in the second, when he was replaced on field.  Konerko also spoke to the crowd after the game and thanked them for supporting the team this year.  I remember a couple of years ago when they weren’t sure if the club would resign him, and he received similar affection in what might have been his last game for the team then.  I hope younger players are taking note of the adulation Konerko, Helton, and Rivera have received for being reasonably good guys.  (I’m looking at you, Dodgers.)

The Royals played like they were at old Candlestick Park.  There were several adventuresome fly balls that seemed to elude easy capture for them.  In an almost cartoon-like moment, the shortstop and third baseman looked at each other over a popup, waiting for the other to call for it.  The White Sox had their issues too.  In the third, there was a flyball out with one out and the Royals left the field, leaving a confused runner on first.  “I understand they want to move the game along, but there’s just two outs.” Hawk and Stone were also a bit confused until replay showed that the runner had touched Second and not retouched it on the way back to first.  That’s an out.      

The Royals would prevail 4-1, but they weren’t the only winners at the stadium today.  The Ron Kittle mascot won the mascot race for the first time this year.  He got a little help from Southpaw and the actual Ron Kittle running interference for him. 

I was anxiously watching the game for other baseball news as well, namely the Indians, the Rays, and the Rangers.  The Rays finally squeaked out a win versus the Blue Jays during the game.  The Indians seemed have things well in hand.  The Ranger game was still up in the air by the time I left.  There were two other games of note.  Henderson Alvarez of the Marlins got a no-hitter against the Tigers.  This must have been a little humiliating for our future World Series champions.  (I think they were actually swept by the Marlins.)  Of course, the Marlins almost couldn’t even get a no-hitter correctly.  They didn’t score themselves until the 9^th on a wild pitch.  That would have been an interesting game to watch, especially in the later innings.  In Houston, the Yankees and Astros went 14 innings.  Mariano Rivera did not get to play Centerfield or at all during the series.

My local radio affiliate hadn’t been broadcasting Ranger games lately on Sunday, instead opting for Fox’s Red Zone-ish coverage of the NFL.  However, somebody at the station was a knowledgeable sports fan and instead broadcast the game.  While the Angels kept it close, ultimately the Rangers biggest asset was the Angel bullpen.  Do you really expect a bunch of batting tees to hold a lead?  I was really nervous though.  I could not deal with the Rangers being bounced from the playoffs by the Angels.  Anybody, but the Angels.  6-2 Ranger win, going 15 of 19 against their hated division rival, sweeping them and the Astros in the last week of the season to go game #163 versus the Rays Monday night.  After his final at bat, Josh Hamilton got a nice round of raspberries from the crowd.  Go count your money, Josh, and try to stay out of trouble this off-season.