Baseball Journal 7-28-13

“Like a big black stallion running wild.”  I had the pleasure of listening to Vin Scully on Saturday doing a Dodger game against the Reds.  Vin was commenting on Yasiel Puig hustling his way to third base on a single, tagging up on a fly ball, and then stealing the base.  I suspect Vin is the only person who could have made that comment without getting fired. 

Let me go on for a minute.  Vin is really a treat.  He opened up the broadcast by talking about a group of wounded veterans out on the field starting the game.  With a razor sharp economy of words, he had me choked up describing them within the span of about 30 seconds.  He made an easy segue into talking about this being the anniversary of the Korean Armistice and about a pair of South Korean players facing off against each other this afternoon for the first time, Shin-Soo Choo of the Reds and Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Dodgers.  This game was being broadcast live in South Korea at 10:00 in the morning there, and Vin spent some time talking about their broadcasters.  You can sum up the man’s ability by simply saying that he makes it seem so easy and effortless.  All you need about 60 years of practice.

Yes, I’ve still been watching and listening to baseball over the last week and enjoying some of the games.  I just haven’t felt like writing about it.  The All-Star Game was, at best, a disappointment.  Ryan Braun’s ambiguous admission of PED guilt was a low blow.  The Yankee/Alex Rodriguez/MLB soap opera is just getting embarrassing.  The Rangers and Giants have both fallen into a swoon and things aren’t looking good for them.  I’ve warmed up a bit to the Dodgers, but given their payroll, all you can do is expect them to win the World Series.  That shouldn’t be how it works, and if it does, expect more spending sprees.  Bad for the game.  (Hypocrite alarm going off.  You know, a Dodger-Tiger World Series would really be cool, wouldn’t it?)

Frankly, I feel like Tim Lincecum there on Sunday afternoon with the Giants versus the Cubs.  After he pitched his no-hitter in San Diego before the break (oh, and I found out later that a good of crowd there were apparently Giants fans, which explains why they were cheering him on), all of the commentary about it was the same: nice night, Tim, but you still suck.  It didn’t help that he got shelled in his next outing.  But on Sunday, Timmy brought the good stuff again.  Seven innings, 10 strikeouts, two runs, both off of solo home runs.  He even got a pair of hits in the game.  Travis Wood of the Cubs gives up one run, and actually hit one of the home runs for the Cubs.  Cubs win!  Cubs sweep!  2-1.  They’d won the other two games by one run as well.

The whole Giant team seemed to be pressing on offense and defense.  Buster is even in a slump.  The worst of it was, I could just sense the loss coming.  The crowd was really still enthusiastic in the 9^th, but to no avail.  The Rangers got whipped up on earlier by the Indians again, and I wasn’t even able to get any reception on that game on the radio.  It just wasn’t my day.  I really shouldn’t be taking these setbacks personally.  It’s not like I have ownership in either team.

An odd thing I noticed (and Len and JD brought up).  Tim pitches right, but bats left.  Travis Wood pitches left, but bats right.  What was stranger was these guys were the only ones with multiple hits during the game.

It was the weekend of low-scoring games, about eight of them.  The Braves-Cardinal game on Saturday took until the 8^th before somebody scored.  (And thank you to whoever decided to put that game on here, instead of another cruddy Angel game.)  Not exactly thrilled with the commentary by Joe Buck and Eric Karros.  Karros seems to be picking up right where McCarver left off in endlessly criticizing the players and the broadcast followed that lead.  The Braves’ Andrelton Simmons got the game winning hit in the 8^th.  The only story, however, was how he hadn’t driven in runs earlier in the game when he had the chance and how much he sucked at hitting with men in scoring position.  Look, I’m not asking you guys to go Hawk Harrelson in being homers, but for ****’s sake, these players are your product.  It’s not in your best interests to run them down all the time.  (Hey, Bud Selig you might want to take that advice as well.)    

The Dodger-Reds game on Sunday takes the prize for no scoring this weekend though.  I mean even the Gold Cup final got decided in regulation, 1-nil.  (On a sidenote, USA!  USA!  And soccer still sucks.)  The Dodgers managed a franchise record 20 strikeouts during the 11 inning game.  Guys, you might consider choking up on the bat a little with two strikes, maybe shortening your swing a bit.  On the other hand, Puig won it on a walk-off home run.  Not entirely sure what the lesson here should be.