Wednesday, August 23, 2006 |
Pickoff Moves
Today's Birthdays
And a big fat "whew!" after several straight days with a bunch of interesting guys.
Lonny Frey BRO b. 1910, played 1933-1936, All-Star: 1939, 1941, 1943. He led the NL in stolen bases with 22 in 1940, and it certainly does make you wonder about the side effects of introducing Jackie Robinson into the league; coming from the Negro Leagues, where stolen bases were far more common, it would be easy, and very likely wrong, to attribute this as the sole cause for the gradual increase in stolen bases at the top of the game. Probably, a good bit of the rise stemmed from the effects that the war's end had on the player population. In 1938, Stan Hack stole 16 (and 17 in 1939), marking a local low high in the NL; eight years later, Pete Reiser swiped 34. The league leader would be under 30 only four more times through 1960 — when we open the story of Maury Wills, who owned the NL lead in stolen bases with as few as 35 and as many as 104. The odd thing is, the overall number of bags swiped cumulatively in the NL declined from 1951 (449), and stayed relatively low until 1960, when the league total suddenly shot up to 501. If there's a pattern here, it's evading me.
Dale Mitchell BRO b. 1921, played 1956, All-Star: 1949, 1952, d. 1987-01-05. George Sisler without so many hits, though he twice led the AL in singles, and at various times, led the AL in at bats, hits, and at bats per strikeout. Appearing on the 1948 Indians club that went all the way and the 1954 pennant winners, the Dodgers got him at the end of his career; in a Brooklyn uniform, he took a called third strike for the last out of Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. The Retrosheet game summary asks, "But was the last pitch a strike??? Perhaps it was high and outside." It doesn't matter now.
Phil Page BRO b. 1905, played 1934, d. 1958-07-27
The Scary Closer: Angels 4, Red Sox 3
Joe Saunders looked about as awful as we've seen him so far this year, walking three and giving up six hits but surviving an outing on a number of lucky defensive plays, like a lineout double play in the top of the second, or Wily Mo Pena caught stealing in the sixth followed by a lineout. This is, I fear, the tired and unsteady Joe Saunders we're going to see for the balance of the season.But as scary as he was, that was nothing compared to K-Rod's adventure; he almost let a homer get out of the park to Kevin Youkilis, but almost doesn't count in this game. He seems to be a lot more hittable than he was, and especially by the good teams. A Boston lineup minus Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek, combined with the random pitching they've had this year, ought to be a lot more beatable than this.
Padres 1, Dodgers 0
Losses like this one leave me at a loss.Bullety Stuff
- Howie Kendrick has a sore hamstring.
- Darin Erstad took ground balls and liners at first.
- Thanks to a screwup at the MLBPA, Kevin Gregg's suspension will last for an extra day.
- Eric Gagne — today — says he'll take a pay cut to stay a Dodger.
- The Red Sox have placed shortstop Alex Gonzalez on the DL, with a strained oblique.
- Former Mariner Jamie Moyer won his first game with the Phillies.
- Chan Ho Park has gone back on the DL with intestinal bleeding, but this time doctors think they know what the problem is. "[W]hen Chan Ho's time is up, he'll be fine," said manager Bruce Bochy, expressing a sentiment common among undertakers.
: 8/23/2006 07:28:00 AM"Along with clutch pitching, the U.S. defense also came through. Another Canadian scoring chance was stopped in the sixth inning by shortstop Brandon Wood, who made, by far, the best defensive play of the day.
"With runners on second and third and the U.S. clinging to a 3-1 lead, Frostad hit a screaming line drive that Wood snagged with a leaping catch to end the inning.
""Brandon will be in the big leagues soon," U.S. manager Davey Johnson said of his shorstop. "He's a gamer and a good defensive player who also has a lot of sting in his bat."
"Wood, who plays in the Angels' farm system, gave Team USA its second run when he homered to left field in the third inning . . . ."
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060822&content_id=121554&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp
Note: In the photo gallery accompanying the article, there's a picture of the U.S.A. coaches, one of whom is Rick Eckstein. Could it be David Eckstein's brother, who's a coach at the University of Georgia?
: 8/23/2006 08:35:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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