Daily Archives: August 17, 2003

I have a few moments to myself this morning, and I’ve been enjoying Sean Foreman’s indispensable Baseball Newsstand. How did we ever live without it? I love cruising around, and checking out papers from all around the country for Sunday baseball articles.

Here are some links that I thought I’d pass along:

1. Joe Torre’s critics must have been circling like sharks last night after he forgot to protest the O’s batting out of order in the first last night. (Larry Mahnken has a great write-up on the ruling and the game.) It could have cost the Yanks the game, which had one of the wildest finishes I’ve ever seen. Torre’s response? He was as accountable as ever:

“I slept,” Torre said. “It’s inexcusable. It was totally my fault.”

2. Keith Law, the erstwhile Baseball Prospectus writer, who now works for the Blue Jays, wrote a letter to the New York Times addressing a recent column by William Rhoden.

3. Jack Curry has a long piece in The Times today about bunting, and how the sacrifice is regarded in the contemporary game.

4. Not wanting to take any chances, the Reds have shut down Brandon Claussen’s season.

5. As always, Gordon Edes’ Sunday Notes column in The Boston Globe is a must-read. Today, he talks about the changing fortunes of the Cubs and Red Sox.

6. Aaron Gleeman weighs in on the fielding prowess of Andruw Jones. Lengthy as usual, but informative and thorough.

7. Mike C takes exception with Jayson Stark’s recent article on Barry Bonds. Quelle suprise, eh. David Pinto offers his take too.

8. Don’t miss Christian Ruzich’s excellent interview with former MLB prospect, Phil Hiatt over at The Cub Reporter.

9. Don’t miss Rich Lederer’s latest piece on Frank Thomas. Don’t like The Big Hurt? Tough. He’s only one of the best offensive players in the history of the game.

10. Finally, a team of Baseball Prospectus all-stars pen a good piece about the greatest young starting rotations in baseball history.

Hope everyone has a great afternoon.

Bottom 12

Jeff Nelson is the new pitcher for the Yanks. Tony Batista leads off for the O’s; he is one of the rare right-handed hitters who does well against Nellie.

Slider outside, 1-0. Fastball, fouled back, 1-1. Another slider, outside, 2-1. Batista hits the next pitch on the screws, but it is right at Matsui in left.

One out.

B.J. Surhoff pinch hits for Fordyce. He swings and misses at a slider in the dirt, 0-1. Another slider, coming from a side-arm angle, right over the plate, 0-2. The next pitch is a heater right over the plate. Chalk up a backwards K for Nellie.

Two out.

Jack Cust is the pinch hitter. Slider, taken for a strike. Fastball, fouled back, 0-2. Fastball up and away for a ball, 1-2. Slider on the outside corner, misses, 2-2. (There are tons of Yankee fans making noise.) Slider on the outside corner. But it’s low. Nellie hops off the mound, but the count is full. Slider way outside, ball four.

Now the Orioles fans counter and make some noise of their own.

Looks like a lack of concentration on Nellie’s part there. He got a little ahead of himself. Mel comes out to talk.

The first pitch to Larry Bigbie is a slider inside for a ball, 1-0. The next pitch is a fastball, down Broadway, taken for a strike, 1-1. Fastball, outside corner, strike two. He nails the pitch into right center field for a single.

Cust comes rounds third and heads for home. But he falls. Soriano takes the cut off throws and throws low to Boone at third. The ball almost got away. Boone chases him home and throws to Posada. Jorgie runs him back to third and throws back to Boone. Boone then moves towards Cust, but nobody is covering home. Nellie is not there!

But Cust falls again! Only feet away from home, he stumbles again; Boone falls on him and makes the tag and the game is over.

Holy Christ I think I just wet myself.

To paraphrase a famous football call, “Jack Cust must be the sickest man in America.” Oh, baby. That’s some good ol’ fashioned dumb luck.

The Yanks escape with an another ugly win, but remain four ahead of the Sox.

Top 12

Nick Johnson is 0-3 with two walks on the night. He walks on five pitches.

Jeter bunts the first pitch in the air!!! (Gasp.) But it falls foul. (Sigh.) The pitch was a heater, up and in. Boy, you don’t see that too often. He swings and missed at the next pitch. Johnson is running. The throw goes through to second, and they pick Johnson off first on a close play.

Good grief.

Ball low, to Jeter. The next pitch is high. Jeter spins away, 2-2. He pops the next pitch, foul and out of play behind the plate. Slider, low, and the count is full. Dag, that one was close. Yeesh. Fastball, low and inside. Jeter waves at it for the strike three.

Fastball high to Giambi, 1-0. He smashed the next pitch into the center field bleachers and the Yanks take the lead, 5-4. The big guy stood at the plate after he hit it; he knew it was gone. How do you say, Jimmy Jack? It’s his 35 homer of the year, and his 94th RBI.

Bernie takes a slider for a strike. Ball, outside, 1-1. Fastball outside, 2-1. Another fastball; this one is fouled off to the left side. Fastball right down the middle, strike three.

Bottom of the 11th. I’m starting to feel nautious. Hell, I’m up now. But I want to be able to get some sleep tonight.

Dave Roberts bunts for a single.

Cruz sets to bunt and looks at two straight balls. Then he swings wildly through a change up, 1-2. He bunts the next pitch to Johnson who goes to first for the first out. Roberts heads to second.

The Orioles are up in the dugout with white towels on their heads, trying to work the rally magic.

Matos, Baltimore’s hero of the night is up. He flies out to deep right field; Roberts tags and moves to third.

Jay Gibbons is next. He’s 0-4 on the night, and Mel Stottlemyre comes out to talk with his pitcher.

Gibbons skies the first pitch to Bernie in center to end the inning.

Hector Carrasco comes on to face Boone. Now, will Torre have Boone bunt? I would think so. Carrasco spins, and throws to second. Bernie slides back. The throw is off; a good throw would have made the play close. Boone bunts the first pitch down the first baseline. The play is to first and the runners move up.

Ruben Sierra pinch hits for Dellucci. Why? David is a lefty, and would have likely been walked. Instead Sierra is given the intentional pass and the bases are loaded for John Flaherty. Karim Garcia pinch runs for Ruben Ruben, and Jorge Posada pinch hits for Flaherty.

Will it be a birthday knock or a birthday double play?

The first pitch to Posada is high for a ball, 1-0. The next pitch is rocketed foul down the first base line, 1-1. Fastball, low; Posada is late, and fouls it off to the left side. He’s now down, 1-2. Fastball, way upstairs, and the count is even. (YES just flashed a chart: Posada is hitting .472 in the last ten days.) The next pitch is fouled back. (A fly ball to the outfield would do…) Slider, swung on and missed, strike three. Good pitch.

Happy fuggin boitday.

Here is Soriano, who is 0-5. He looks at a ball, low, 1-0. Fastball on the inside corner, 1-1. Ground ball to third. Batista steps on the base for the final out. The Yanks are 1-6 with runners in scoring position tonight and if I wasn’t typing, I would throw this damn machine out of the window.

The southpaw Ryan stays in for the O’s and promptly walks Bernie (batting from the right side) to start the 11th.

Matsui takes a healthy cut and fouls away the first pitch Ryan throws him. So much for the sacrifice bunt. The next pitch is a fastball on the outside corner for a strike and Gozilla is in the hole, 0-2. Fastball, upstairs, 1-2. The next pitch is a slider way outside, 2-2. Another heater, just outside; Matsui holds up, and the count is full. (Throw to first.) Wow. That one got my heart beating. The payoff pitch is a fastball, way outside, ball four.

With Boone coming to bat, that’s it for Ryan. Hargrove signals for a righty.

Nick Johnson worked a one-out walk against Kerry Lightenberg, and after Jeter lined out to center on the first pitch, B.J. Ryan came in and fanned Giambi to end the inning.

Chris Hammond replaced Mo, and pitched a 1-2-3 tenth.

Mariano collected saves in the first two games of this series, but he looked fatigued last night.

Luis Matos leads off for Baltimore. He fouls and inside fastball off, 0-1. The next pitch is a fastball tailing in for a ball, 1-1. (Mo continues to tap his left foot tentatively as he comes set; it looks like a cat trying to balance himself on a ledge. I don’t remember Rivera ever doing this until this season.) Matos rocks the next pitch over the left field wall and the game is tied at four. The pitch was a fastball, low and in, and straight as a string. That’s the second consecutive night that the lead-off man has homered vs. Mo.

Gibbons takes a ball high for a ball, 1-0. Fastball outside, 2-0. Fastball high and away, 3-0. (Torre is going to have to answer for the first inning mistake…) Fastball, right down the middle for a strike, 3-1. The next pitch is sliced foul down the left field line. Oh, man was that ever close to being a double. The full count pitch is lined back to Rivera. One out.

Cutter, outside for a ball to Batista. The next pitch is fouled off, 1-1. Cutter, away and out of the zone; Batista waves at it, 1-2. Cutter, in on the hands, fouled back. Another cutter, tailing way outside; Batista whiffs. (That was a good pitch.)

Fordyce looks at another nice cutter for a strike. Good movement on that one. The next pitch is in the same place and Fordyce grounds out to Soriano.

We’re going to extra innings, folks.

Sterling Hitchcock was about as good as anyone could have expected, allowing three runs over six innings. He didn’t throw many pitches and left trailing 3-2. But John Flaherty hit his second solo homer of the game to tie the score in the seventh, and Godzilla Matsui’s RBI single drove home Jason Giambi to give the Yanks the lead, 4-3 in the eighth.

Antonio Osuna worked a perfect seventh. He allowed a single with one out in the eighth, and after fouling off 4 full count pitches, D. Roberts popped out to left for the second out. Osuna is throwing relatively hard tonight. Devi Cruz is up next, and he smacks a grounder to third. Boone has to move to his left—I don’t know if leadfoot Ventura reaches this one—and goes to second for the force to end the inning.

There was an odd bit of business early in the game when Batista and Gibbons batted out of order. But the Yankee bench was slow to catch the mistake and missed their opportunity to protest the error (which would have erased a Baltimore run). Torre, Zim and company suddenly had extra incentive for the Yanks to win. The questions will sting if New York loses by a run.

David Delluci laid out and made another great catch tonight (this one was on the warning track). Bernie is still swinging a good bat, and Aaron Boone has two hits. Jorge Posada turns 32 today, and was given the night off.

Mo is getting ready for the ninth. It’s rare when the sight of Rivera makes one nervous, but since Mo’s cutter hasn’t been cutting too much lately, this one still ain’t over.

Pedro Martinez was 10-0 lifetime against the Mariners going into today’s game. When all was said and done he improved to 11-0, and the Sox rolled to a 5-1 win.

Will Carroll and Derek Zumsteg’s Pete Rose story got some big league support Thursday from Allen Barra in The Wall Street Journal. Both Marvin Miller and Bill James are quoted in the piece; Carroll delineated the origins of the scoop to Barra (if anybody needed clarification).

Bill James put it well when he told Barra:

“I hope it is true. We can’t argue forever about what Rose did or didn’t do, and it isn’t doing baseball any good to allow a perception to fester that the game has dealt unfairly with one of its greatest stars. At some point, you just have to move on.”

It’s good to have friends in high places, and Barra’s column is a credibility-boost to the Zumsteg-Carroll piece. Good for them.