Archive for October, 2008

Baseball News

Management

The Brewers have a new manager, former Oakland A’s skipper Ken Macha. To read what the Brewers blog: In-Between Hops thinks of this selection, just follow the link provided. He has a good track record from his days in Oakland, but was that just a by product of GM Billy Beane and Moneyball or a testament of Macha’s managerial prowess? What do you think?

The Mariners have hired Jack Zduriencik as their new GM, here’s…

Werth the Wait in Philadelphia

Phillies Win Their 2nd World Series Title

The Philadelphia Phillies have won the 2008 World Series 4 games to 1 over the Tampa Bay Rays, ending their (the Rays’) Cinderella season. 48 hours after the start of Game 5, they resumed it from the bottom of the 6th tied at 2. They won the series 4 games to 1, but it was a much more exciting series than those numbers evoke.…

National League Gold Glove Winners

Bill’s NL Gold Glove Predictions

The National League was actually harder to chose than the other league because there were not as many incumbents who were deemed so much better than their counterparts this year. (Note: these awards were given out to the best player at each single position, including the three outfield positions which were divided into players who played most of their games at a certain spot.)

First Base

Adrian Gonzalez,…

Game 5 To Resume on Wednesday Night

I just read an article on SI.com by Joe Sheehan also of Baseball Prospectus entitled, “Unconventional Thinking: MLB makes right decision to cancel” that states that game 5 will not resume tonight as was originally planned. Instead, it will be played Wednesday night at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia. What that does to a possible game 6 or 7 is still to be determined.

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American League Gold Glove Winners

Bill’s AL Gold Glove Winners

Some positions in the American League are easy to pick for the Gold Glove Awards, but others are considerably harder. While some positions have their popular players who have won the awards in the past, others have fluctuated in recent history. (Note: these awards were given out to the best player at each single position, including the three outfield positions which were divided into players who…

For the First Time in World Series History…

For the first time in the history of the World Series, a game has been suspended due to rain. The game was suspended immediately after the top of the 6th inning, after the Rays tied the game at 2 all in that half inning. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has since said that the game was never in danger of being called after 5 innings (an official game). He stated that…

Philadelphia is One Win Away from Baseball Euphoria!

After this weekend the Phillies have taken a commanding 3 games to 1 lead over the Rays going into tonight’s game at home at Citizen’s Bank Park.

In game 3, the Phillies 45 year old starter Jamie Moyer pitched better than anyone thought was possible against the Rays Matt Garza (MVP of the ALCS). He pitched 6.1 innings and allowed only 3 runs in a 5-4 9th inning win by the…

Now It’s a Best of 5!

The Tampa Bay Rays Win Game 2

The Series is Now Tied at 1 Game a Piece

The Rays James Shields didn’t pitch great, but all he had to do was pitch better than the Phillies Bret Myers (I know, I know. I spelled Myers wrong yesterday) and he did. He got into trouble at times, but pitched out of them effectively. Myers did not!

Philly also played sloppy baseball. Werth booted a…

My Thoughts on Game 1…

Phillies Take Game 1 with a Score of 3-2

First, I’ll toot my own horn. This was a must win for the Phillies. They needed to win at least 1 out of 2 in Tampa Bay in order to have any chance at winning the series. This was their best chance at doing that with the match up between Kazmir and Hamels. Kazmir showed glimpses of how he pitched in past…

2008 World Series Preview

Tampa Bay Rays (97-65)

Vs.

Philadelphia Phillies (92-70)

This first area of concern I have is how long the Phillies had to wait for the Rays to eliminate the Red Sox (95-67). It has been a week since the Phillies have played against an opponent as they eliminated the Dodgers (84-78) in 5 games while the Rays needed all 7 games to eliminate the Sox.

The second concern is the rotation match ups. Not the…

National League Rookie of the Year Prediction

Even though the pool of players to be considered in the National League for the best rookie is not as well known across the country, there are a good number of players who put up numbers that could be considered for the award. The top three position players and pitchers will be explained and then the winner will be picked.

Position Players

1. Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds, 1B

There isn’t really a better…

The American League Rookie of the Year Prediction

The American League Rookie of the Year Award has some big names in the hunt. One played two months in the league before receiving a big contract extension, one was well known for his post season appearance last year and one even flew under the radar for most of the season even though he put up good numbers. For convenience of our readers, the rookies will be broken into the…

There’s A New Beast in the AL East

The Tampa Bay Rays Advance to the 2008 World Series

After being beaten in game 6 by Josh Beckett and the Red Sox, a game the Rays should have won, the Rays beat Jon Lester in game 7, a game they should have lost. Bottom line: the Rays played better in 4 of the 7 games played and that’s all that really matters.

Both sides had injuries to key players. Boston was…

ONE STOLEN BASE AT THE 2008 WORLD SERIES® EQUALS MILLIONS OF FREE TACOS FOR AMERICA

Taco Bell®’s “Steal A Base, Steal A Taco” MLB® World Series® Offer Returns to Reward Fans

IRVINE, CALIF., October 20, 2008 – With America hungry for some positive news, Taco Bell® is giving fans an extra tasty incentive to tune into the 2008 Major League Baseball World Series and cheer for action on the base paths as one player will have the opportunity to steal millions of free tacos for America.

Taco…

Extracurricular Activities

In the past month or so, I have been asked to write part time. I will be writing once a month for Seamheads.com and at least twice per month for RBImagazine.com.

So far I have posted an article at Seamheads on the maple bat controversy which you can find HERE.

Likewise, I have recently written an article on RBI Magazine which can be found HERE on the best VORP for a second baseman since…

Boston Forces Game 7 in the ALCS Against the Rays

Josh Beckett out performed James “Big Game” Shields to get the win in game 6 and for the second year in a row, have come back from being down 3 games to 1 and force a deciding game 7.

In tomorrow’s match up we have Boston’s new Ace of the staff, Jon Lester going up against the Rays # 3 starter in Matt Garza who pitched very well in game 3.

But,…

Last Chance for the Rays…the Bottom of the 9th

In comes the Boston closer, Jonathan Papelbon with his patented stare.

First up is the scary rookie 3B Evan Longoria. This is the biggest at bat of the inning in my opinion. Longoria grounds out to SS Jed Lowrie. 1 out!

Boston is 2 outs away from forcing a 7th game once again!

CF Carl Crawford is up with 1 out and just swung at a ball for strike two. The Rays hitters…

Boston Leads 4-2 Going into the Top of the 9th

RF Drew faces Bradford to lead off the 9th and hits a line drive to LF Crawford. 1 out.

LF Bay is 5 for 8 against Bradford in his career. He grounds out to the SS.

The Rays remove Bradford for Trevor Miller.

I’m not sure about this move. It doesn’t make much sense as Bradford has been doing well and he’s gotten two outs in the inning.

1B Kotsay faces Miller and swings…

Bottom of the 8th

New pitcher for Boston is rookie and former starting pitcher Justin Masterson.

SS Jason Bartlett is leading off the 8th down 4-2. He was hit by a pitch again. No outs, man on first.

2B Iwamura is 0-3 tonight. Masterson looks a bit nervous up there right now, but Varitek, with a 1-0 count goes out to speak with him. The count is now 2-0 and pitching coach John Farrell checks in…

Top of the 8th

CF Crisp faces Balfour and has a leadoff walk.

Manager Joe Maddon, probably this year’s manager of the year has just taken out Balfour, replaced by Chad Bradford, the knuckelscrapping submarine pitcher to face 2B Pedroia.

2B Pedroia faces Bradford with Crisp on 1B without any outs. Will Crisp take off to remove the possible DP? Pedroia is 4 for 6 against Bradford and hits it off Bradford who knocked the ball…

Bottom of the 7th as Boston Leads 4-2

Willie Aybar is pinch hitting for DH Cliff Floyd, but he pops up in foul ground to 3B Kevin Youkilis. 1 out.

C Navarro is up and the count is 0-2 then he hits a towering pop up in foul ground to LF Jason Bay. 2 outs.

RF Zobrist flies out to the warning track in CF as Crisp makes the catch for the third out.

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Top of the 7th as Boston Leads 4-2

RF J.D. Drew leads off and popped up for the first out.

LF Bay is hit by a pitch on the hip.

1B Kotsay is 1-3 in the game, a single in the second inning. He hits a high chopper to Howell, the pitcher and is thrown out at 1B. Bay moves onto 2B.

Howell comes out of the game with Grant Balfour coming into the game. By the way, this is not…

Rays Half of the 6th Inning

Okajima is now pitching for the Red Sox. The Red Sox are leading 4-2

CF B.J. Upton and he lines out to 3B Youkilis. 1 out.

1B Pena, whos is hitting .350 with 3 HRs and 6 RBIs in this series is now up with 1 out. Full count. It was a late call, but Pena strikes out looking. 2 outs.

3B Longoria is 0-2 tonight and is hitting .125 in his last…

Red Sox Half of the 6th Inning

Ben Zobrist stays in the game playing RF for the Rays!

1B Kotsay leads off for the Sox. What an amazing leaping stab by 2B Iwamura with that alligator glove of his! Wow! What a play! He has definately adjusted to his move to 2B as his whole career, even in Japan, he was a third baseman. 1 out.

SS Lowrie struck out for out number 2.

C Varitek is up with 2…