Wednesday game notes: Not quite a Shamsky, but it plays

Cardinals 5, @Reds 4 (16 inn.) — The extra frames alone comprise an epic. Matt Adams homered in the 16th, his second in three innings, and this one stood up, leading St. Louis within a game of first-place Pittsburgh.

 

Adams came into the game in the 4th inning, after Allen Craig rolled an ankle rounding first base on an infield hit (and was tagged out for his pains). Adams had gone 0-3 before he found the range, leaving 4 men on base, including the go-ahead run on 3rd with 2 outs in the 8th. He had no prior career home runs in the 9th inning or later, nor any go-ahead or tying events that late in a game.

The Reds had leveled after Adams’s first clout, in the 14th, as another starring pinch-thief turn by Billy Hamilton was converted by Zack Cozart’s single through the middle, their only hit all night with a man in scoring position. (I think Hamilton touched home before the CF touched the ball.) Logan Ondrusek pitched out of trouble in the 15th, fanning Matt Carpenter and Carlos Beltran with a man on 2nd — merely two .300 hitters batting around .390 with RISP. A golden chance in Cincy’s half came down to Chris Heisey batting with 2 outs and Shin-Soo Choo on 3rd, after Joey Votto (0-for-7) couldn’t drive him in from 2nd, but … dammit, all I have is “S Choo caught stealing home, catcher to third to catcher.

  • Here’s the headline reference. I’ll try to find the last guy with two extra-inning homers in a game, but not tonight.
  • It was the longest game between these clubs since 1966. (Miss a chance to plug Billy McCool? Never!)
  • Hamilton’s the first player in the searchable database to pinch-run, steal and score in each of his first 2 career games. The first player known to have done that in his first game was … no, you’ll have to dig this nugget for yourself.
  • Brandon Phillips stroked a tiebreaking home run off Shelby Miller leading off the 5th, to reach 100 RBI for the first time. He drove in 98 and 94 in prior seasons.
  • Cincinnati’s first 2 runs were built on two soft singles, a sac, a groundout and a rare wild pitch by Miller. St. Louis has the fewest wild pitches in the majors, about half the average — another testament to Yadier Molina’s defensive prowess.

__________

@Athletics 11, Rangers 4 — Oakland powered up on Yu Darvish and regained a tie in the AL West. Brandon Moss and Daric Barton hit 2-run homers, each after a 4-pitch walk, as the Texas ace passed 6 and allowed 5 runs in his least effective outing of the year. Barton’s first HR since 2010 with someone on base launched Oakland’s 6-run 6th inning that ripped open a 3-2 game. Robbie Ross relieved Darvish and gave 4 straight hits, capped by Josh Donaldson’s 20th HR, a 3-run shot, and in the 8th Coco Crisp capped the A’s assault and resumed his long-ball binge with another 2-run crank. Jarrod Parker enjoyed the unusual run support and worked 6 solid innings to win his 9th straight decision.

  • Darvish threw 48 balls out of 100 pitches, matched his season low with 4 strikeouts, and lost consecutive starts for the first time since last July. He had fanned 75 over his last 7 starts. The A’s have hung him with 5 straight losses, some tough ones, as the Rangers totaled just 8 runs.
  • Parker has 9 wins and 9 no decisions since May 28, with a 2.59 ERA and 6.8 IP per game. 

__________

@Red Sox 20, Tigers 4 — “Rick Porcello in Fenway” was never going to end well for Detroit, but then the question grew to, would it end at all? Did it, in fact, morph into something else entirely, a home-run derby merely masquerading as a baseball game? Boston tied their franchise record with 8 home runs (achieved once before), and tied an AL record of 7 different players going yard.

Detroit allowed 8 homers for the first time ever. Three came off Porcello, who was charged with 9 runs in 5+ innings, the last 3 on a slam served up by Al Alburquerque to Will Middlebrooks that put some air into a 6-4 lead. Daniel Nava started that 8-run frame with a walk, and capped it with a 3-run blast off Al-Al, the 5th Sox homer. The Sox scored 5 more in the 7th, with 2 home runs (one added via video), and tacked the last 2 runs up in the 8th, their seventh straight scoring inning. It was the first 20-run game since Oakland did it to the visiting BoSox last August 31.

Once upon a time, the game was 4-all in the 5th, and individual events still mattered. Alex Avila’s wild throw on a steal sent Shane Victorino to 3rd, and Dustin Pedroia’s lineout to left scored him when Avila couldn’t make a short-hop swipe tag on a strong throw by Andy Dirks. Pedroia fouled off five 2-strike pitches before delivering; he was the only Boston starter who didn’t get at least one hit, but he would have had the “game-winning RBI,” if that stat still existed.

  • Big Papi hit 2 HRs, but his double in between got all the notice.
  • Quintin Berry, the former Tiger speedster, pinch-ran in the 6th, stayed in the game, and wound up with a line of 2-2-2-2. It’s the 14th searchable game in which a pinch-runner with just 2 times at bat had at least 2 hits, runs and RBI. Jacoby Ellsbury had one of those six years ago.
  • Ellsbury’s now 7 for 10 with 2 HRs off Porcello.
  • On the bright side for Detroit, the 16-run margin will dilute the notion that they’ve underperformed their Pythagorean projection.

__________

@Indians 6, Orioles 4 — Manny Machado tied this rubber game with a 3-run shot off Zach McAllister, helping to knock him out in the 5th. But Yan Gomes put the Tribe right back on top with his 3rd hit, a long double with 2 aboard, scoring one and setting up the next to score on a wild pitch.

  • Zach Britton was clobbered in his return from triple-A, with 4 runs in the 1st and only a home-plate putout preventing an even bigger inning.
  • Gomes might be the best part-time player in the majors. With solid work behind the dish (50% CS) and an .850 OPS at this writing, Gomes began the night with 2.8 WAR in just 235 PAs — the 10th-best ratio among all with 200 PAs, and 3rd for those with less than 100 games (trailing Hanley and Yasiel). He’s hit both righties and lefties well, and is not in a platoon; he simply splits the catching chores, starting when Carlos Santana is at 1B or DH. Tonight he batted 5th, just his second start that high, and went 2-2 with RISP.

__________

@Yankees 6, White Sox 5 — Mariano Rivera aced his first big stress-test since last month’s rough patch, and New York held on to sweep the White Sox. Mo entered in the 8th with 2 on, 2 outs and 4 runs in, picking up David Robertson with a full-count called strike three on Alejandro De Aza, then worked a clean 9th on 8 pitches for his 41st save. Of Mariano’s 649 career saves in the regular season, 117 have lasted 4 outs or more (18%) — but this was his first since July 2011.

CC Sabathia handed off to David Robertson a 6-1 lead and 2 men on base with 1 out in the 8th, but the setup workhorse threw a shoe. Four singles and a walk (three with 2 strikes) brought 4 across and Mariano to the rescue.

A sharp tag-team defensive play by Sabathia and Derek Jeter cut off Chicago’s opening rally at one run, after 2 CC walks. Robinson Cano tied it with a home run off debut starter Erik Johnson, and Sabathia settled in, allowing just 2 more hits through 7 innings. New York scored 4 on Johnson in the 4th, Lyle Overbay ripping a double on 3-and-0 after the hurler’s misfire put 2 on with no outs, and Brett Gardner split the gap for 2 more runs on his 9th triple (48th extra-base hit).

  • The rookie Johnson arrived on the strength of a 1.96 ERA and 0.99 WHIP across the top two levels of the minors.
  • Cano had 3 hits, reaching 26 HRs, 91 RBI and a .901 OPS, 7th among AL qualifiers.
  • The strike-three call Mo got against De Aza reinforced one fact: Rank hath its privileges. (Sorry, no clip. But the ball was outside.)

__________

Mets 5, @Braves 2 — The Mets strafed Kameron Loe in his first start since 2007, and finished their season slate with Atlanta on a positive note, as it had begun (if not so dramatically this time). Their two taters gave Loe 11 HRs allowed in 22 IP this year (plus a 2.23 WHIP). But they also left 10 men on base the first 5 innings, and then couldn’t touch Freddy Garcia, leaving Mets fans fearing another late comeback.

Dillon Gee rang up 2 strikeouts in the 1st, after an outfield error put the tying runs on the corners with 1 out. It was a big self-bailout for Gee, who walked the leadoff man after being given a 2-0 lead, then fell behind with two balls to the next man while the first was stealing second. Well, not entirely a self-bailout: “J Upton lined out to center” turned out to be another “out-of-zone” play by Juan Lagares.

  • Loe allowed 14 baserunners in 4.1 IP, including 3 walks with no strikeouts. Freddy Garcia stranded 2 inherited with 1 out in the 5th, and retired 8 of 9 men faced in his 2nd straight effective (mop-up) action.

__________

@Rockies 7, Dodgers 5 — Don Mattingly tested the limits of his charmed summer, launching the Edinson Volquez Reclamation Tour backed by a lineup with Michael Young at cleanup (no Puig, A-Gon, Crawford nor Ethier). Or maybe Donnie just felt that Jorge De La Rosa is unbeatable in Coors Field. On the other hand, here they come again, chopping at a 7-2 deficit with 3 runs in the 8th, Young leading the charge…. But no — Rex Brothers closed it out with a 6-4-3 from Young, his 20th GDP this year and L.A.’s third of the game.

  • De La Rosa (16-6, 3.31) is the first Rockies pitcher with two seasons of 16+ wins, and the first to reach that mark since 2010. He’s 10-1 at home this year, tying his own franchise record for starting wins. He’s the 7th pitcher born in Mexico to win 70 games in MLB.

__________

Rays 3, @Angels 1 — Jeremy Hellickson stopped a personal skid (0-5, 9.00 ERA in 6 starts) with 5.1 scoreless innings, and Wil Myers drove in all 3 runs with 2 home runs off Jered Weaver, his first taters in 17 games. But the Rays missed several other chances against Weaver, which they might regret if the arrow falls amiss … Nope, he stuck the landing.

__________

Mariners 6, @Royals 4 — Kendrys Morales broke a 9th-inning tie with a 2-run homer off of Aaron Crow.

I haven’t heard yet why Ned Yost didn’t use his best reliever, Greg Holland, once there was no chance of a save opportunity, but let’s assume it was because Holland had pitched 3 days in a row. Now, one reason often given why ace relievers aren’t more often used in crucial non-save moments, nor for more than 3 outs at a time, is that it could lead to overuse. But Holland’s 3 straight workdays included just one high-leverage game, on Tuesday. On Monday, he pitched the 9th with a 2-run lead, starting against Seattle’s 8th- and 9th-place hitters. Sunday he worked the 9th with a 5-0 lead, presumably because he had pitched just once in the past 6 days.

But Holland could have gotten his “stay-sharp” outing on Saturday, when K.C. lost, 4-2, on 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th, the last two on 2-out, bags-full walks by Aaron Crow. Then he could have rested Sunday, when he obviously wasn’t needed, and thus could have been ready for more important occasions — like a tie game in the 9th inning. In the end, rote usage of relief aces is just as prone to overwork as usage governed by true need.

____________________

Late Tuesday

Rangers 5, @Athletics 1 — Even though Coco Crisp’s 1st-inning double wound up as the game’s only run in the first 3 innings, somehow the fact that it wasn’t a home run in his 4th straight game seemed to doom Oakland’s win streak.

__________

Rays 7, @Angels 1 — Welcome back, Mr. Moore! Your run-support charm is just what Tampa needed to end their lumber’s slumber. But which-in-the-world “Roberto Hernandez” was that, coming out of the bullpen to rack up 7 Ks from just 11 batters, including the first five he faced?!? The guy I know hasn’t whiffed more than 7 in his last 62 starts, back to Sept. 2010. It’s the most strikeouts in 3+ years in a relief outing of 12 BF or less.

  • Had Mike Trout missed the 1-and-2 pitch in the 8th inning, Hernandez might have been the first since 1981 (and 6th in searchable history) to strike out 8 out of 11 men or less in a relief appearance. (Game links: Ron Davis, Goose Gossage, Terry Forster, Tom Griffin, Bobby Shantz and Ryne Duren.)
  • Joe Blanton stranded 2 inherited, and allowed just one run while getting the last 10 outs, but was charged with minus-0.002 WPA on general principles. Blanton snapped a 4-game string allowing 3+ runs in relief, the first such streak since 2004.
  • With 2 doubles, Wil Myers matched his XBH output of the prior 15 games, in which he went 7-55 with 2 runs, 2 RBI.

Matt Moore is now 15-3, with 126.2 IP. Assuming a steady rotation, he’d get 5 more starts, including the season finale. If he maintained his current average of 5.8 IP per start, he’d finish the year with 155-2/3 innings — but he could also have up to 20 wins. (If you prefer, Moore is averaging 6.5 IP in his wins; winning the last 5 at that rate would give him 159 IP.) The fewest innings ever for starting pitchers with these win totals:

With 2 more victories, Moore would be just the 2nd Ray with 17 wins in a season.

__________

Blue Jays 10, @Diamondbacks 4Unsheath the fork: At least we can put one pretender out of mind. Losing 5 of 6 to also-rans has left the Snakes 8 games out of a wild card, with none to play against the Reds, and 7 against the Dodgers.

  • Edwin Encarnacion has 36 HRs and 57 strikeouts (7 HRs & 6 Ks in his last 26 games). In the last 20 years, the fewest strikeouts in an AL 40-HR season is 69, by Rafael Palmeiro, 1999.
  • Among the handful of hitters with more walks than strikeouts in the last 2 years combined, only Encarnacion has even 20 home runs. And regardless of walks, he’s the only one in 2012-13 with homers totaling at least half his strikeouts (78, 151).
  • In 37 ABs with men on 1st & 2nd, Martin Prado has 10 hits, and 7 GDPs.

We know that Jose Reyes had a horrible ankle injury this year. But how much of his diminished baserunning value is traced to that injury, and how much to simple aging? At age 30, Reyes in 71 games has just 13 steals (5 CS), zero triples, and zero WAR Runs from baserunning. In 9 prior seasons, Jose averaged 15 triples per 162 games, and had triples for 7.5% of his hits, at a fairly steady clip; last year he had 12 triples out of 184 hits (6.5%). His base-stealing had already declined from his 70-steal peak, but he swiped 40 last year. His WAR Runs/baserunning are currently at 0; for 2004-12, he ranked 3rd overall with 41 Rbaser.

Reyes has missed only 2 games since returning from the ankle sprain in late June, which tends to suggest that the ankle is no longer a serious issue. But in his last 40 games, Jose has just 3 steals, with 4 CS.

__________

@Padres 3, Giants 2 — Far from madding playoff chase, Huston Street ran his scoreless string to 20.1 innings, one short of his best. His 228 saves through age 29 are 3rd-most ever. K-Rod had 291 through 2011, 13 since; Rod Beck had 250 by age 29, the year he saved 51, but only 36 thereafter. Mariano Rivera had just 129 saves through age 29, Trevor Hoffman 135; for age 30 onward, Mo has 519, Hoffman had 466.

  • Angel Pagan was the first in 2+ years with no runs scored despite a triple, a double, a single and a steal. All three hits came leading off an inning, but Bruce Bochy followed the convention of using a lousy hitter in the #2 hole, in this case Tony Abreu (0-5 here, .250 BA and .280 OBP in 200 career games). Pagan’s leadoff triple in the 7th, in a tie game, was the WPA “play of the game,” but the Jints couldn’t get the ball out of the infield.
  • Heath Hembree: Discuss.

__________

Random stuff from Minnesota 9, @Houston 6:

 

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Doug
Doug
11 years ago

Re: Matt Moore It’s not only Moore who has been racking up the Ws without the IPs. Francisco Liriano has 15 wins in 133 IP. Either of them could end up eclipsing any of the guys on your list for 17+ wins (that’s my prediction – both will win at least 17). On the other side of the coin, the most IP for a pitcher with a winning record who won no more than 15 times – 299 IP by Joe Oeschger when he went 15-13 in 1920 (helped by 26 of those IP in one, famous, ND start). Oeschger… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Doug:
I don’t recall “Joey the O”, however, much more recently, the immortal legend in his own mind Curt Schilling managed a 15-14 W-L record with the ’98 Phillies while twirling a league-best 268 2/3 innings. His 35 starts, 15 completes, and 300 Ks’ also led the league. This kind of donkey/mule/beast-of-burden labor led to arm trouble and an eventual trade demand/request shortly thereafter….and the rest is the stuff of legends made 🙁

Doug
Doug
11 years ago

I’ll try to find the last guy with two extra-inning homers in a game, but not tonight. How soon we forget. The last player to homer twice in extra innings was just 3 months ago. John Mayberry Jr. homered to tie the game leading off the bottom of the 10th, then connected for a walk-off grand slam in the 11th. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI201306040.shtml The first to do it in P-I’s event database was Willie Kirkland of the Indians, almost 50 years earlier, on 6-14-63. He homered leading off the bottom of the 11th to tie the game, and homered again leading off… Read more »

Hartvig
Hartvig
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Nothing new for the Indians of that era.

In 1962 late season call-up Walt Bond managed to hit .380 with 6 home runs and 17 RBI’s in just 54 plate appearances (his OPS+ was a Ruthian 226} so the next season they went out and acquired a 35 year old Joe Adcock who hit 13 home runs in the entire season for them while Bond went back to the minors before being sold to the Astro’s the following season.

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago
Reply to  Hartvig

And even if they didn’t make the move to Adcock it wouldn’t have worked, since Bond ended up dying of Leukemia within 2 years.

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago
Reply to  Hartvig

Bill James did a segment on Astros’ mismanagement in the early years and discussed the mishandling of Bond at length. I don’t recall if it was in the BJHBA or his old annuals….
But, then again, what do you expect from an organization that traded Joe Morgan, Rusty Staub, Mike Cuellar, Jimmy Wynn, John Mayberry, etc….?!?!!!

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Doug/JA:
Supposedly Adams is the FIRST guy to homer twice after the 13th inning – EVER.
Earlier in the series, Matt Carpenter got both the Cards hits in a shutout loss. This brings to mind my favorite trivia question of all:

“Who had the most hits in a game while his team mates went hitless”?

ANSWER: Billy Williams….but that would take a B-R PI search to find the game and I am not a subscriber

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

On 9-5-69 Williams had all 4 of the Cubs’ hits in a 9-2 loss to the Pirates.

Doug
Doug
11 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

If the answer is Billy Williams, the game must be this one, exactly 44 years ago today.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN196909050.shtml

Williams went 4 for 4 with 2 HR, but Cubs lost 9-2. Was the second of 8 straight losses that saw the Cubs’ 5 game lead turn into a 2 game deficit, as the Mets went the other way.

This was a sort of specialty for Williams. He had 3 other multi-hit games when no other Cub had even one hit.
– 3 hits (incl. a double) against the Pirates on 7-5-66
– 2 hits against the Braves, on 9-24-61 and 7-25-70

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Richard/Doug:
Thanks for the specifics….truly a 180/1 shot that it was also September 5th !!!! That’s Twilight Zone type stuff.

Also, check out Billy’s birthday – June 15th. I would not be surprised if there is more WAR associated with that date of birth than any other…Wade Boggs, Brett Butler, Lance Parrish, etc….

Hartvig
Hartvig
11 years ago

Watching the Pedroia at-bat where he fouled off about half a dozen pitches before flying/lining out and Victorino scored I thought Porcello just sort of gave up on himself. Even the great catch by Dirks couldn’t shake my feeling that something bad was going to happen and boy did it ever.

tag
tag
11 years ago

Heath Hembree: discuss. One of the more difficult essay questions I’ve encountered in my life. All I know about the guy is that he was called up by the Giants and is a reliever with some giddyup on his fastball. I did see that he attended the College of Charleston, a city I’ll be visiting in a few weeks. What’s more interesting, probably, is the alliteration of his Christian and family names. When Nabokov was considering nom de plumes for his sinister protagonist in Lolita and settled on H.H., was Heath Hembree ever in the running? It certainly doesn’t capture… Read more »

Darien
11 years ago
Reply to  tag

If I were grading these, I’d give you an A. A for amazing.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

“The Dalles”
Based on a french word describing the rock formations along the river. I’ve driven through there. Truly gorgeous place…

I used to go to the yearly “World’s Largest… Feast” at
Croton-on-Hudson

no statistician but
no statistician but
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

What about this one:

“Mr. And Mrs. Henry Hopkinson, the Hollyhocks, Hammersmith.”

This is a quiz. Anyone identifying this line by source and speaker gets the booby.

I’ll check back and unveil the secret in a few hours, if no one responds.

tag
tag
11 years ago

I’m pretty sure it comes from Hitchcock’s 39 Steps, but I can’t remember the actor who played the lead. (Not Olivier, he was in Rebecca.) If I recall correctly, he introduces himself and the lead female (whom I also can’t recall: damn, drugs really are bad for you) with the above words when they’re fleeing the bad guys and go to a B&B or a rooming house or something. It’s sort of like how Paul McCarthy used to identify himself as Paul Ramone when he stayed in hotels (which of course inspired the Ramones to name themselves after his nom… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
11 years ago

Yes, The 39 Steps.
Character is Richard Hannay.
Actor is Robert Donat.

I know this because I just completed a run of the play as Mr. Hannay himself, gleefully spitting that very line whilst handcuffed to the ingenue.

no statistician but
no statistician but
11 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Actually, the full answer is Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, Richard Hannay speaking the line. John Buchan’s novel upon which the film is very loosely based, doesn’t use the line, nor, i believe, does the 1950’s remake starring Kenneth More.

No prize for you, Voomo. You cheated.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
11 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

The play does the movie line for line – plus additional lines to augment the general absurdity.

“Hampshire” is there after the other HHH.

no statistician but
no statistician but
11 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Voomo:

I thought the film version included Hampstead or Hampshire, but when I put in on the DVD player to make sure I was remembering things correctly, the line stopped with Hammersmith. Is “Hampshire” a theft from “The Rain In Spain?” GBS via L&L? (“In Hartford Hereford, and Hampshire, Hurricanes Hardly Happen”?)

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
11 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

I don’t know what the intention was, but the way I played it was to screw with Pamela by rolling out another name each time she was about to put down the pen.

tag
tag
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John, I know Hastings pretty well. A very good friend lived for many years in Irvington, and we used to visit fairly frequently.

Very nice area. I once went on a tour of one of the mansions nearby and can still remember how the tour guide pronounced trompe l’oeil. It took my wife and I a good 15 minutes to realize she meant trompe l’oeil.

oneblankspace
oneblankspace
11 years ago
Reply to  tag

Some have suggested Humbert Humbert was a tribute to Umberto Eco.

birtelcom
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  oneblankspace

Aargh! That one does not bear repetition.

Evan
Evan
11 years ago

Here’s the highlight for the CS that ended the 15th for the Reds last night:
http://wapc.mlb.com/stl/play/?content_id=30339265&topic_id=8877482&c_id=stl

It says failed squeeze, but that doesn’t make sense because there were two outs. In any event, Heisey bunted through the pitch and Choo was either breaking for home or got a little too aggressive with his secondary lead and was an easy out.

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago
Reply to  Evan

Watching the game live on MLBtv, I was not 100% sure it was a failed squeeze…..BUT….Dusty Baker’s reaction in the dugout afterward sure made you believe it was. Kinda like “man, I blew the call and now gotta face the reporters to explain it”. I would really have loved to see a postgame to get his comments about it. Choo was about halfway down the line, Molina snapped a throw to third who ran him down to Molina, and Choo didn’t even try to get in a “pickle”, it was all fast and rather lame actually. Not to mention the… Read more »

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago
Reply to  Evan

Actually, the best part of the whole half inning was the comment made by the announcers when Brandon Phillips (who notched his 100th rbi earlier in the game) bunted after Choo led off with a single. They actually said………..”well he is a #2 hitter today, so they HAVE to get the bunt down in this spot”. Brian Kenny’s nipples will fell off when he hears that.

Evil Squirrel
11 years ago
Reply to  John Nacca

Another observation made my Harold Reynolds and Mitch Williams last night was that with Phillips now batting 2nd instead of 4th, it made the Votto/Bruce tandem even more ripe for the LOOGY picking with no righty breaking them up in the order. Thanks to 40-man baseball, the Cardinals ran three different lefties out to face the two during the night, and it kept them in check and likely factored in the outcome… One other note I haven’t seen mentioned…. While Hamilton’s first steal was allowed due to a bad throw by Molina… his steal last night may have been helped… Read more »

bstar
11 years ago
Reply to  Evil Squirrel

Just bat Votto second, Phillips third, and Bruce fourth—problem solved.

John Nacca
John Nacca
11 years ago

Regarding Mo’s last pitch……..”The strike-three call Mo got against De Aza reinforced one fact: Rank hath its privileges. (Sorry, no clip. But the ball was outside.)”……it was VERRRRRRRY borderline, and the best part was even Hawk Harrelson made a comment about Rivera getting those calls. Second time in two days I have seen Mo get a call like that to end a game, like the guy needs any help ya know.

Not as bad as this one though……http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBos2wdSGAA

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
11 years ago
Reply to  John Nacca

Looks more like a bad-catcher-frame than an egregiously down-and-out.

Jim Bouldin
11 years ago

1. As far as I can tell, the Cincinnati Reds are collectively incapable of bunting the baseball effectively, just exactly at the time when it is most important to do so. And that play in the 15th is a colossal f***-up; Baker must have put the suicide squeeze on with TWO OUTS–there’s no other reasonable explanation for Choo coming half way down the line. That would explain why Heisy did not square to bunt–he knew there were two outs. There must’ve been a big WTF?? in his mind on the whole thing. I really don’t know about Dusty Baker sometimes.… Read more »

Jim Bouldin
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Just engaging in some exaggerated hyperbole, based on the last two nights–whole bunch of failed bunt executions. Been listening to Tom Hamilton too much lately.

birtelcom
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Jim Bouldin

“Exaggerated hyperbole”, now there’s a repetitive redundancy, kind of like hitting two homers in extra innings.

Jim Bouldin
11 years ago
Reply to  birtelcom

I pulled the phrase straight from my Thesaurus of Similar Synonyms, so it’s legitimately legit.

Doug
Doug
11 years ago

I haven’t heard yet why Ned Yost didn’t use his best reliever, Greg Holland, once there was no chance of a save opportunity, … Ditto for John Gibbons in the Blue Jays’ 4-3 loss to the Snakes. Toronto was up 3-0 five batters into the game, but took a 4-3 loss in extras. With the score tied after 8, Gibbons left setup man Steve Delabar in the game to pitch the 9th. Delabar retired the first two, then was relieved by Luis Perez who finished the 1-2-3 inning. On to the 10th and Perez stays in the game surrendering a… Read more »

oneblankspace
oneblankspace
11 years ago

St Louis baseball writer Derrick Goold found five other players with two extra-inning homeruns at http://bit.ly/1cKIx40 but all five of them did it at home.

Doug
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  oneblankspace

Only one other searchable game in addition to the 5 that Goold reported on.

Vern Stephens connected off Tex Hughson in the 11th and 13th to give the visiting Browns a 4-3 win over the Red Sox on 9-29-43.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS194309291.shtml

1943 HRs #car #yr #gm Date @Bat   Pitcher Score Inn Out RoB RBI BOP Pos
35 35 21 1 1943-09-29 (1) SLB @ BOS Tex Hughson t 11 1 5 6
36 36 22 2 1943-09-29 (1) SLB @ BOS Tex Hughson t 13 1 5 6
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/5/2013.
Jonas Gumby
Jonas Gumby
11 years ago

This post and the ensuing comments have been ripe with neat commentary and great comedy. Thanks for the read, all.

Ed
Ed
11 years ago

John – Thanks for the comment re: Gomes. I was thinking of mentioning him myself but now I don’t have to. 🙂 He’s definitely been an important part of the Indian’s success. Doubt he’ll be able to maintain the batting average but he has definite power and is a plus defensive catcher. Not sure what the Blue Jays were thinking in giving up him and Mike Aviles for Esmil Rogers.

RichW
RichW
11 years ago
Reply to  Ed

All of the trades made by Anthopoulos during the off season, can be dissected easily, but that particular trade made me wince because Gomes really looked like a guy with solid skills across the board. AA subsequently traded Mathis, Buck and d’Arnaud, leaving Arencibia and Thole to supposedly compete in the AL East. I wonder if any GM has had 6 catchers all capable (d’Arnaud maybe??)of being on the 25 man roster in some capacity and willingly kept the 5th and 6th best on a team expected to compete for the WS. I’m not suggesting that Gomes would have changed… Read more »

Jonas Gumby
Jonas Gumby
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

My favorite Neil album (well, tied with “Tonight’s the Night”).

It had to be over a year ago, on High Heat Stats, I made reference to his lyric, “Well I’m up in TO, keepin’ jive alive.”

And here we are, full circle, talking Ambulance Blues again.

Darien
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

After a bit of internet research, the consensus among Young analysts appears to be that it does indeed refer to Toronto. Wikipedia: “It references The Riverboat, a small coffeehouse in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood which was an early venue for folk-inspired artists like Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, Simon & Garfunkel, and Arlo Guthrie. Yorkville had been the centre of the Canadian counterculture scene in the 1960s when the coffeehouse opened in the basement of a Victorian rowhouse, but by the 1970s Yorkville was changing, and the Riverboat remained as the last of the cafes from this era.” ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(Neil_Young_album)#Ambulance_Blues… Read more »

tag
tag
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I’ve been watching the same game. (I should of course be sleeping.) Can you tell me why Holland went with the split on 3-2 when it didn’t like Ibanez could have caught up to the fastball if Holland had thrown it from second base?

“Ambulance Blues” is awesome, and of course both OTB and TTN are great LPs. I’m also a big fan of Zuma.

tag
tag
11 years ago
Reply to  tag

BTW, I always assumed TO was Toronto. Probably way off but it always made sense to me.

T-Bone
T-Bone
11 years ago
Reply to  tag

…and here all this time I thought he was referring to Thousand Oaks California, where I lived for over 30 years and is often referred to as T.O. Neil Young has a ranch not too terribly far from there. Oh well.

Jonas Gumby
Jonas Gumby
11 years ago
Reply to  T-Bone

I always thought it was Toronto also. When I think of jive, the first thing that comes to mind is Toronto.

Doug
Doug
11 years ago
Reply to  tag

That’s 297 for Ibanez. 3 more for 300 and also to match Splinter’s 29 HR at age 41.

Ibanez has been hot of late, hitting safely in 7 of his last 8, and .326/.431/.542 since Aug 13th.

Jonas Gumby
Jonas Gumby
11 years ago
Reply to  tag

Great LPs, tag. I played “Mellow My Mind” from TTN recently and my girlfriend winced in pain when Neil says, “Ain’t got nothin’ on those feelings…” I couldn’t have asked for a more honest reaction from such a tirelessly honest song (& album).

Zuma is indeed a beauty. I still love “Don’t Cry No Tears” most, as it was my must-learn guitar chord jam for my neophyte shredder self.