Saturday, August 22, 2015

Marco's Baseball Blog-o-Roonie: THE FINAL THIRD!



Todays' blog is dedicated to Pete Milne...a lefthanded hitting outfielder from Mobile, Alabama who only played 47 games in the major leagues. But Pete had one shining moment that has never been equaled...one transcendent baseball event...the only one of its kind to ever happen in all the games in the history of the majors.

On April 27, 1949 the Brooklyn Dodgers are playing the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. It's 8-6 Dodgers in the bottom of the seventh. Three men on one out for the Gigantics with the pitcher coming to bat.

Giants manager Leo Durocher sends Milne up to pinch hit. Milne gets hold of an outside fastball and drives it to the deepest part of the enormous center field at the Polo Grounds...over the head of Dodgers centerfielder Duke Snider. The ball rolls forever and by the time Duke gets it back in, Milne slides across the plate for the only pinch hit grand slam inside the park home run ever.

It was the only homer of Pete Milne's career...but what a wallop!

Some random thoughts and then a tour of the majors:

*The curse of the home run derby continues!
In case you didn't notice, Todd Frazier, who won this year's All Star Game Home Run Derby, is hitting .194 since the game, with 4 homers. He hit 25 homers pre-All Star Game. His opponent in the finals, Joc Peterson of the Dodgeheads, is hitting .165 with 3 dingers after hitting 20 before the contest. Mattingly is batting him eighth now.(They still have a third of the season to go, so maybe they can right the ship.)

This continues a trend of competitors in all the rounds of the derby tending to somehow mess up their swings and come crashing down after competing. Remember when Josh Hamilton hit all those bombs and then collapsed second half? Well it has happened to so many of the contestants.

My theory? They are hitting batting practice fastballs, but in regular batting practice hitters tend to go to all fields and try to hit line drives once in awhile. In the Derby, they have to start pulling everything and lofting every ball. After a hundred swings like this over three rounds, they have regrooved their natural bat-path and are screwed up for months.

Most of the players who just do one or two rounds are okay...Josh Donaldson (two rounds) certainly didn't fall off. Pujols (two rounds) has fallen off significantly. (7 homers in 128 ABs post All Star/ 26 homers in 325 Abs pre All Star)

My conclusion: the Home Run Derby hurts future productivity, especially for the finalists.

NL EAST: Let's start here this time. Washington has been saying all season how they are the team to beat...it's a long season, we're confident etc. etc. What they have been neglecting is the small details...like winning some ball games.

Washington can't beat good teams and they can't beat bad teams. Their vaunted starting staff gives up 3 runs, their offense scores 2. The offense gets 5, their staff gives up 6. They can't even beat the Rockies. They get shut out at Coors Field! Yeah, I know, they've had injuries. But so have the Cardinals and they win anyway.

Harper has been the Nats only real threat all season and opponents are pitching around him. Getting up in a few umpires faces and slandering them to the media has really done him a lot of good. Umps just loved being cursed at by 22 year olds who've been reading their own press clippings and say things like (loosely quoted) “the fans don't pay to see the umps call balls and strikes...” It's become obvious that they love expanding the zone for him and are almost baiting him to complain so they can throw him out.

So, Bryce, how's your approach to the men in blue working out for you? Granted, it seems like it should be your God-given right to have all the close pitches go your way since you are so wonderful and awesome and everything.
Harper's pre-All Star stats: 26 homers/.339/61 ribbies.
Harper post-All Star: 5/.307/13 ribbies.

Leading the division? The precious Metsi-poos. They did the right thing in acquiring closer Clippard. But like I said before, RIGHT-HANDED HITTERS CAN'T HIT HOMERS IN CITIFIELD. They should have gone for Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies instead of Cespedes.

The Mets are 15 in average, 14 in OB %, 13 in slugging, 15 in steals.

It's a testament to their terrific starting staff that the Mets are in first place...but mainly it's a testament to the wretched weakness of the Eastern Division. The Mets can't beat anybody from the Central. But the New York fans are swooning, like they always do whenever the Mets wake from the dead every twenty years or so. I've heard three different “Go Mets” type songs played on MLB radio this week alone.

They're just so lovable makes me want to puke. Look at that sweet little infielder crying because he thinks he got traded away from his warm, fuzzy friends! I almost hope they win so the Cardinals can eviscerate them in the Playoffs.

Never thought I'd miss the famous mid-80's underachieving coke-snorting Mets of Strawberry, Hernandez, Dykstra and Gooden.

Marlins: When is Stanton gonna play a whole season? Every body in the league pitches him inside and he's going to get hurt again and again. He should armor up like Biggio used to. Get one of those wacky hand protectors like Bagwell had.

NL CENTRAL: St. Louis. Is this the year, Cardinals? Maybe if the Giants don't make the playoffs. The Cards can beat anybody else. They seem to have even more serious injuries than usual this year, but they just plug in another phenom from the minors who carries them until he goes down, then bring up another. What a farm they have!

The Cubs on a winning streak are almost as obnoxious as the Mets. I like the team, I like the players they have now. I just can't stand the rapture. Cub fans are so eternally optimistic and positive when the Cubs lose. When they win the fans go absolutely ape-shit. All good.

But then watch when something goes wrong...like Bartman catching a foul ball. The Cub fans rip off their masks and you see the Beast emerge. They can make the Phillies fans and the Red Sox fans look tolerant. Still, I must admit, Madden was the right choice for manager. He's got those young people working together. Even Starlin Castro has taken being platooned (at second base instead of his shortstop position!) in a fairly team-first manner. I love Rizzo and Bryant. The other young people are delivering. They need one more good starter to help Arrietta and Lester and one veteran bat to be a bell-cow for the kids. A father figure like Pops Stargell was for the Pirates in '79.

As for the Pirates, gee it's hard not to root for this team. Great team spirit...several clutch hitters. Bulldog pitching from Cole. Slightly undermanned but maybe just enough to get into the wild card...where they might win if they can avoid Bumgarner and the Giants. I think they are probably thinking of throwing some games to the Cubs down the stretch if they can, just to keep the Giants out of the playoffs.

Like I said last time, they need to do it this year. The clock is ticking on their free agents and aging pitching staff. And McCutcheon can't avoid injuries forever the way the league tattoos him with fastballs for every perceived slight by the “pitch-'em-inside” Pirate pitchers.

NL WEST: The Dodgers are still sleep-walking through the season. Now that Joc Peterson is slumping, Gonzalez is their only consistent offensive threat. They've got Turner batting cleanup and Turner ain't a clean up hitter. Puig is off the charts inconsistent. And they think Chase Utley (he of the sub .200 average almost all of this season) is the answer? Hope so, Dodgers.

They jacked their payroll up to 300 million and still somehow avoided getting a good third starter to back Kershaw and Greinke. That's going to hurt them in the playoffs.

That is, if they even make the playoffs. What, I hear you say? Not make the playoffs? The sacred Dodgers? What have you been smoking, Swami?

The Giants are coming up on a stretch where they have 13 straight games against first division opponents. Then they go 25-4 favoring second division foes. They play the Dodgers 7 times and they always beat the Dodgers.

L.A. is pretty even between good teams and dogs to finish the season. You could see a patented Giants end-of-season surge. The Dodgers better beat up on the weak sisters while they can.

Of course the Giants saw Hunter Pence get injured yet again. Whenever he is in the lineup they win. That simple. They say two more weeks without him. They need to go .500 in this next stretch of tough opponents. Somebody has to step up so Bumgarner is not the only pitcher capable of winning a game.

Arizona: Watch out for the Diamondbacks next year. Goldschmidt is MVP. Pollock is great support. A couple of good pitchers away.

San Diego: After the dismal failure of this year, trying to buy a good team, the Padres will probably dismantle and start over. They need to remodel Petco park to make it more inviting for offensive players. Either that or go to a speed/defense/pitching team like the Royals.

Rockies: Where do they go from here? God knows.

AL EAST: The Yankees played their best game of the year when they came up to Toronto and shocked the Jays out of their 11 game winning streak with a dagger-home run from Carlos Beltran off of Price (the newly anointed Ace starter they've needed for so long). Then they won again the next day to put order back into the universe. Toronto still hasn't recovered their swagger.

Beltran...I predicted he'd be hurt all year, and of course I was right. But when he's in there, he sure has a knack for delivering in the clutch.

So does A-Rod. You see he passed Gehrig on the all-time list of grand slams? (Gehrig...that poor scrub. What did he ever do but play in every damn game for almost his whole career and bat .340/.447OB/.632SA lifetime? And set an example of humility and gratitude for being able to play the game until disease struck him down so young?)

The Yankee fans swoon over A-Rod like he's the golden steroid calf. I'm surprised they didn't go down on the field and carry him around on their shoulders like worshippers of Baal when he got his 3000th hit.

Yes, A-Rod hits well for plus-forty. But he can't field and he can't run and he can't make some of us forget that he's a charter member of the LCB Club. He probably doped for his whole career. He definitely lied every chance he got until he couldn't get away with it. I hope he revels in his lifetime stats. They don't mean shit to me.

(By the way, LCB stands for “Lying Cheating Bastard”).

Toronto: Donaldson may have caught up with Trout as MVP. (Of course, Trout hurt his wrist and is playing through it. Hard on a hitter.) But The Donald comes through for the Jays a whole lot. The Jays problem is not enough pitching to hold teams back. Either the starters give up too many runs or the bullpen does. You can't score 8 runs every game, Toronto.

They had that one exciting stretch winning eleven in a row...probably a giddy reaction to having finally gone out and gotten a starter in Price. Plus trading for Tulowitzski to be their...leadoff hitter? Tulo is inspiring all right...batting .217 so far in the American League.

Toronto will probably make the playoffs because all of the other contending teams have major flaws as well. Just don't expect too much.

Baltimore: ...is still in the playoff hunt. They've been mediocre all year but somehow are over .500. As a team they strike out over 3 times for every walk. Adam Jones has only 21 walks. That's pretty damn low for a power hitter. He has 70 K's. J.J.Hardy: 14/68. Ryan Flaherty: 17/61. Chris Davis: 55/155. Jimmy Paredes has 17 walks against 100 strike outs. The home run bats of Jones, Davis and Machado (who, at 48/80 is their only big hitter with a decent BB to K rate) are carrying them. The Orioles are in Astro territory when it comes to air conditioning-by-bat.

Their pitching is way worse than last year. Tillman looked like an Ace-to-be last year and has really regressed. (ERA 4.54)

So why should you care? Because they won last year and I put them first in the East for this year. You don't want your Swami to look like a brainless jerk, do you?

Tampa Bay: Pity the Rays. Please, MLB, get them out of that horrible ballpark. Actually, get rid of both Florida teams and return that state to Spring Training games only.
There are good cities out there who will support a baseball team. San Antonio, are you listening?

Red Sox: So they canned the GM Cherington and went out and got the Big DD...Dave Dombrowski. Dombrowski will trade all their prospects for established stars...something that Cherington just didn't have the heart to do. Of course, a lot of those Red Sox prospects turn out to be duds...especially like almost all of their young pitchers.
They could have won this division with Lester and Lackey starting instead of Porcello, Masterson and Kelly. Boy, was that a misread from Cherington. And how did the bullpen go to hell so quick? Is Craig Breslow the only left-handed pitcher who can go out and lose a game for you?

Early in the season the offense was dead and that, plus execrable starting pitching and bullpen work...with just a dash of miserable defense (especially from Hanley and Panda) just buried them. Now the offense is hitting over .300 since the break. Too late Sox!

Actually, Dombrowski had a huge blindspot in Detroit with the bullpen. He doesn't seem to think it's a necessary part of a winning team. The Sox need a total makeover in that department. They should also ditch Bucholz, Porcello, Kelly, and everybody in the bullpen except Uehara and Tazawa.

But they are fools if they don't keep Bogaerts, Betts and Swihart.

AL CENTRAL: I've talked a lot about Kansas City, who have showed the small markets of baseball how to build a winner. (At least for a couple of years until the Free Agent trap gets sprung on them and they have to sell their stars cheap.)

There's not much of race left in the Central since Minnesota has subsided, Detroit sold their free agents and gave up on trying to win with an aging team, and Chicago and Cleveland both failing to make a dent after all their off-season maneuvers.

They tell me that Cleveland has a great starting staff: Really? Great enough to go 49-58 so far and hold down last place?

I think the whole division will become irrelevant next year. KC will lose Cueto and a few other free agents and have to retool. (They also have about 8 key guys on 1 year contracts and certainly can't resign all of them.)

Detroit won't have a pitching staff (Dombrowski got out just in time).

Chicago and Cleveland will still be flailing around wondering why they can't beat anybody and Minnesota will stop drinking Paul Molitor's happy juice and remember they are a second division club.

But guess what? I think the Royals will win it all this year.

AL WEST: How bad is this division? Bad enough to make the Astros look like world beaters even if they CAN'T WIN A GAME AWAY FROM HOME!
JESUS, THEY STRUCK OUT 17 TIMES THE OTHER NIGHT...AND WON! That's your pace setter right there.

The Angels are an old wooden building that is still standing even though termites have eaten through the floor joists. They are held together by three stout wooden pillars named Trout, Pujols and Calhoun. (I guess they have a couple of pitchers...Street in the bullpen, starter Richards occasionally but not much lately)

The Rangers are still contending for God's sake! Their team batting is mediocre (.255/.318/.407) and their pitching is even worse. They get injured like bull riders. And yet they contend for the wild card.

I tell ya, gentle readers....the whole AL is weak this year! Except for KC...

Seattle and Oakland: Pass.

Let me leave you with a funny story. Mickey Mantle used to love to tell this story on himself, which goes a long way toward explaining why he was such a popular guy and teammate.

Mickey was in a terrible slump. He struck out over and over and couldn't buy a hit. It all came to a head one day at the Stadium when he struck out 3 times with men on base and after the last K, flung his bat high in the air in frustration.

The umpire, of course, threw him out of the game.

Boos rained down from the crowd on Mickey as he stalked off to the empty locker room where he ripped his shirt off and sat mournfully on a bench.

The locker room towel boy for the Yankees at that time was Yogi Berra's little eight year old son, Dale. Well Dale comes over to Mickey and puts his hand gently on the big guy's shoulder. Mickey turns to him with gratitude, expecting some gentle words of encouragement from a hero-worshipping, pure-hearted true believer.

Dale Berra just looks him in the eye and says: “You stink.”

Until next time...May your baseball days be full...and drain the cup to the Dregs!