This just in. . .

ARod out for at least one more week.

Julian Tavarez designated for assignment by the Sox. Can't say I'm all broken up about that, but even I have to admit that he's been valuable at times over the last season.

Tampa Bay Rays take over first place by a half game over the Sox. Rays are 7 games over .500 for the first time in their history. If they weren't in the AL East, I'd be happy for them.

Sox trying to climb back into first place; they lead the O's 1-0 in the first. Big Papi just bounced into a double play, tho. :(

Out of what? The tabloids? Not bloody likely. ;)

Bosox slide into the cellar continues and meanwhile after a pep talk from their lunatic owner the Yanks take a game from the current AL East leading Rays.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...0B5hwD90LN72O0

Maybe the boys of Swamp Park need Hank's encouragement as well?

btw... here's an oldie but goodie you all might enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5lPI...eature=related

Somewhat off topic, but still baseball related
 

We had all the kids and grandkids over on Mother's Day and we went through an old trunk full of photo albums, etc. I found my old baby book that I hadn't looked at in at least 25 years. In it was an autograph given to me by Joe DiMaggio when I was 8 months old! It is dated July 17, 1949 and was issued at the Del Prado hotel on the south side of Chicago, so I guess he was in town to play the While Sox at that time. My cousin was the hostess in the lounge at that hotel, so she must have obtained it for me. I'm going to try and figure out what it's worth. I'll probably pass it on to one of my grandsons.

It says, "To Mark Charles Best Wishes Joe DiMaggio". Obviously, "Charles" is my middle name, despite my mother always telling me it was "Trouble". :)

...To a grandson, huh ?

Speaking of the cellar, Yankees are in last place this late in the season for the first time since 1975. Just saying.

Feel free to point out that it's not even Father's Day, so it doesn't matter. And you're probably right. But I thought it was worth pointing out.

Rays are alone in first place for three consecutive days for the first time in franchise history. If they weren't in the AL East, I'd be happy for them.

I bet you a diet coke at Hooters you can't prove that conclusively.

Ha.
Tigers and Mariners have deeper cellars. :)

They said it on SportsCenter this morning, so it must be true. :shrug:

Why were they talking about Hooters & diet cokes on SC this morning?

I guess I lose that Diet Coke. This was on ESPN.com's Page2 today.

I watched the SportsCenter replay and he actually said that the Yankees haven't been in last place on May 15 since 1975. I incorrectly took that to mean that May 15 was the latest they'd been in last, obviously. Apparently, he was talking about that day only; but I'm not sure why anybody would care about that.

This kind of made me laugh. The Yankees' payroll that year, 1990, was $19,339,816. Average salary in the bigs that year was $578,930.

Last year, the Yankees' payroll was $189,639,045; and the league average was $2,944,556.

Does that only include May 15ths that fall on Thursdays?

That's pretty much what I wonder when I read one of your posts.

Only problem is that the captain is Varitek.

Yanks lose to "the JV", as Dan has called the Mets in the past. Rays finally lose a game -- in extra innings -- to Saint Louis.

Sox take Game 1 of a double header, with Dice-K going strong through 6 innings. Sox also lead Game 2 5-1, but Wake had a tough 6th and the Brew Crew has bases loaded with 2 outs. Poop. Weeks just drives in 2 runs, making it 5-3.

Sox held on last night. They actually blew their 5-run lead but came back to win it. Timlin pitched a great ninth. Sox climb back into a tie for first. I know it's still really early, but that gets a Woo-hoo!!

Totally off-topic post in the off-topic thread:

I was reading old threads yesterday and saw some posts from DrakeM. He hasn't posted here in 2 years. I know that he had been doing some D1 ball out west, but he wasn't listed on bbstate.com.

Anybody know what Drake is up to these days? His profile doesn't have an email option, so I can't email him to find out.

What are the restrictions on conference on the mound between players? Brewers had about 3 in span of 6 or 8 pitches when the Red Sox had bases loaded nobody out. You always see the umpire stroll out to break it up relatively quickly, it seems, but does it ever reach a point where blue says, "Enough! Proceed, or else!"

Judgement call.
 

Justa,
Requests for time by fielders [and batters and runners] will be granted if the umpire deems such request to be warranted and/or necessary.

No-hitter!!!!!!!!!
 

...by Jon Lester of the Red Sox.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=280519102

Huh, no mention of the no-no from the mythical Chuck Elias. Maybe he's still out partying with the team?

Another, much smaller piece of history happened last night as well. Geovany Soto of the Cubs was the first Cub catcher in almost 50 years to hit an inside-the-park home run. I didn't get a chance to see it, but I heard the call on the radio. The thing that surprised me was Pat Hughes, the Cubs' play-by-play announcer, mentioned the possibility even before Soto got to second base. As it turns out, it hit along one of those vertical yellow lines along left-center at Enron/MinuteMaid/Astros/Whatever Field, and he should've been credited with a home run to begin with, but the umpires thought it was still in play. I don't blame them for that call considering the crazy lines in Houston, (and given how the play turned out :)), but it's still interesting following the controversy over Delgado's ball for the Mets Sunday night.

Yeah, a lot of that going around lately.

btw, on a much sadder note... I noticed that this thread's rating has fallen from 4 stars to 3.

There, I've done my part. I seem to have had quite the influence.

Good job. You have earned 1 under-the-bus immunity point.

It's JON Lester...his catcher is named Jason (Varitek.) Varitek set record by catching his 4th no hitter.

No, I wasn't partying yesterday. I had "one of those days" that you hope never happens again. I did manage to get home by 8:30 and saw the last 3 innings or so. I was pretty impressed. His pitch count was really high and I honestly expected to run out of gas in the ninth, but he was still throwing 95 mph, according to the NESN radar gun. Pretty amazing that his first big league complete game is a no-hitter.

Rays got back on the winning track, trying to keep up with the Sox.

You met Dan for a couple of diet cokes?

There you go again. Dan was just complaining about you in another thread. I think you're hurting his feelings.

Hey, Chuck was the one mentioning his bad day...

Yeah, but he was trying to be subtle.
Dan's already complained about you to the mods. Now you're just rubbing salt in the wound.

I think I'm big enough to take it.

Esteemed.

Another ballpark tragedy.

This time at Turner Field.

Thank God for the Seattle Mariners. Without them, the Yankees would be the ......Tigers.

Sox break a 7-game road losing streak at Landes Field last night. They're still stuck in second place, tho, behind the Rays. Papi gets a homer, but Manny is still stuck on #498.

The Phillies batted around 3 different times last night and Jamie Moyer became only the 6th pitcher to defeat all 30 current MLB teams.

The family will take the Braves to court......obviously, they sold this person too much alcohol and the Braves MUST be held accountable for their actions and poor judgement (sarc)!

Rockies are up 8-0 early (after the top of the 4th) against the Cubs. I'll take all the good I can get this year with those kids.
Meanwhile, my youngest brother won't return my emails.

Smart man.

I cannot argue with this logic.

That's ok - my Cubbies are just letting the kids feel good after the comeback last night.

Best record in baseball...only team in the majors to have not lost more than two in a row at any time this season...ahead of the Cardinals...

(Yea, I know it's only May. But it's still fun for now.)

Seems like it's getting late, from where I'm sittin'.

I'd like to think that, but the season's only about 1/3 done. Lots of baseball yet to be played; lots of stories yet to be written.

Apparently they're being written today. Cubs now lead 10-9 after trailing 8-0. I expect an email from my brother soon. Not sure how that'll affect Dan's opinion of him.

:)

Manny hit his 500th home run last night, and the Red Sox actually won the game, despite Papelbon pitching absolutely horribly. Sox turned a lucky double play in the 9th to save Papelbon. Hopefully, his control is better today if they need him.

The guy who ended up with Manny's #500 ball is going to give it back to Manny for nothing. Nice gesture. I hope Manny has enough class to give him a boatload of stuff for it.

Sox, in general, are playing very mediocre baseball on this road trip. DJ's Mariners gave them fits and the A's beat them up pretty badly. If they can win today or tomorrow, they'll take this series against the O's and look good heading back home to play the team with the best record in the American League. The league-leading Tampa Bay Rays? On June 1st? Unbelievable.

The best team in the bigs is the Cubbies, believe it or not. The last time the Cubs had the best record in the major leagues at the end of May was 1908. Anything special about that season?

The Reds are still 2 games below .500 and in 5th place in their division. But Ken Griffey, Jr. hit his 599th home run yesterday and the Reds won the game with a walk-off home run from rookie Jay Bruce, who's been having an amazing first week in the bigs. Bruce has 11 hits, 1 home run, and 4 RBIs in his first 5 major league games, with an .895 slugging percentage. Not a bad start!

Slightly OT
 

OK, it's not just slightly OT, but it's baseball. Last night, my local HS, Tigard, played for the 6A (highest level in Oregon) baseball championship. Unfortunately, they lost to Clackamas HS 3-1. Tigard pitcher Ryan Gorton took the loss although he pitched a 2-hitter and struck out 8 (they play 7 inning games so 8 Ks is pretty good). Gorton, who was voted Oregon Player of the Year last week, will attend Oregon State in the fall.

Yeah, sounds like a local problem.

Manny has already been quoted as saying that he'll auction the ball off...with the proceeds going to a children's charity in Boston that he favors.

That <b>is</b> class.

Damn. I had Tigard and a run and a half.:mad:

Mario Impemba and Rod Allen are the announcers for Tiger TV.
Brandon Morrow delivered a 3rd strike pitch to Edgar Renteria, which Renteria simply watched. With no empathy for Renteria. they exchange:

Mario: WOW!! 100 miles per hour on the outside black !!!
Rod: Oh, man! ...That is SO UNFAIR !!!

[These guys do make baseball fun. :) ]

Fixed your tpyo

I get it. You're trying to make Nevada's head explode.:D

From Fox Sports.

Quote of the day, from Michael Rosenberg:

I can't vouch for Ramirez, either. But since he has had a pretty consistent career, consistent body type and seems like he'd have no idea how to do steroids if he tried, I'd be surprised if he juiced, too.

Not a big baseball watcher, especially when the NHL playoffs are still on, but on Sportsdesk, they showed Carlos Zambrano (sp?), a 255-pound pitcher who went 3-for-3 with a grounder up the middle, a rope to the OF for a triple, and he beat an infield hit on a sac bunt.

That's pretty good, for a 255 pound pitcher.

Carlos has always been a good hitter. He seems to be a better hitter from the left side, where he got his first two hits last night. His triple brought in Edmonds and tied the game. He then got his last hit right-handed.

Just some more notes - my Cubbies have had the lead in the last 23 straight games. The last time they did that was 1935, which was also the last time they won 100 games in the season. And, the last time the Cubs had the best record in baseball on June 1st was 1908. (That was the last time the Cubs won it all, and the year JR graduated from high school.) Giddy times on the north side of Chicago; I hope it continues for a while. Like 2 or 3 years...

And, a down note - it looks like Mark Prior, now with the Padres, will have season-ending shoulder surgery. According to the announcers, his last pitch in the majors was in August, 2006, so it will be more than 2 years in between pitches if he makes it back. The good news is he's only 27, so there's always a chance.

JR's class motto: A Bridget to the 20th Century.

I know, they were a bit slow; if you know what I mean.

Are you saying they rode the short buggy to school?

Well, I'm not not saying it.

Someone may have already mentioned that in post #348. Just saying. :)

That was, like, soooo 15 posts ago.

(I knew it had a familiar ring to it...)

Speaking of being just a bit, uhm, well, slow.

I couldn't not say it.

Maybe it's contagious? :eek:

The biggest story today isn't some clown team enjoying the greatest June of their last 100 winless years. I have full confidence that the Cubbies will screw up some time between now and the end of October. the later the better.

The big story is Big Papi bringing doom and gloom to RedSox Nation. Out for a month with a bad wrist, and maybe out for the year. Wrists can be a real problem. Ask No-mah-- he never really recovered and returned to all-star status after his wrist injury. And it really is a shame about Big Papi. Ortiz was a great <i>beisbol</i> story after getting cut by the Twins and being picked up by the BoSox for basically nothing. Gotta hope that he comes back quickly from this one. Aside from the fact that Ortiz seems to be a great guy, you really don't want to give the BoSox whiners any year-end excuses either. :D

Red Sox win and climb back into first place in the AL East. And the bullpen looked pretty darn good.

Yankees win and climb out of last place in the AL East.

Mariners lose and their coach goes Lasorda in post-game press conference. ("The guy hits 3 [bleeping] home runs and you [bleeping] ask me what I think of his [bleeping] performance?!?!" Ahhhh, a classic. :) )

The Reds are still 2 games under .500 and 9 games back in their division, but the kid they had on the mound last night, Edinson Volquez, has had an amazing start to the season. He has allowed 2 or fewer earned runs in his first 12 starts this season, which I believe that ESPN said that only 5 other pitchers have ever done.

Bad news for John Smoltz, as he is done for the year.

Definitely a big story, but surprisingly, there's not really a doom and gloom feeling yet. Nomar is definitely the outcome that scares people, but nobody really has told us what the problem is yet. Although, it can't be good when David said he heard a "pop" during the swing.

Out for a month is bad, but manageable. Out for the season is really bad, and nobody wants to think about it. "Never the same" is really what I fear the most; because it sounds like a real possibility.

Of course, I screwed that up. Only 5 National League pitchers in the last 50 years have allowed 2 or fewer earned runs in their first 10 starts of a season.

Those pitchers are:

'08 Volquez -- 12 starts
'88 John Tudor -- 12
'04 Jake Peavy -- 10
'92 Bob Tewksbury -- 10
'66 Juan Marichal -- 10

Off-topic, even for the off-topic thread. This was mentioned on the Tony Kornheiser radio show this morning, which I love. I'm only posting this so that Dan doesn't get the pleasure of posting it. Kind of like the guys at Cheers pranking themselves, so that Gary wouldn't get back at them.

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf...ughter_1070573

ROLLING STONES star RONNIE WOOD is hiring dwarfs to perform at his daughter's wedding.
The rocker, 61, has recruited five dimunative actors to entertain guests at his daughter, Leah's wedding later this year (08).
A spokesman for the star says, "It's one of the ideas that's been discussed. We want to keep back a few surprises for guests."

Your welcome.

Sincerely,
Peter Angelos

How did this become Chuck's welcome?

Actually, it could be for Chuck, the Yankees, or any other Team in the American League.

I mean, the O's leading every-day hitter is batting .271.....that should scare some pitchers! :eek:

It should scare the Yankee pitchers. :rolleyes:

Bosox and Mariners named in gay sex scandal story

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Whoa....big-time brawl in the BoSox game. Gonna be a few guys having a vacation after that one.

Geeze, and now Manny and Youkilis get into it with each other in the dugout. Can't wait to get the story on that one.:D

There's a time and a place......

Of course, when the alternative is watching the Mariners though.......:rolleyes:

Jeez, what a boring night at the ballpark!

Sox win to complete the sweep of the Rays. Manny has his first 5-RBI night in almost 2 years.

Crisp ejected. Pedroia gets whacked on the elbow. Ellsbury injures his wrist making a catch in center field. Manny leaves the game after tweaking the hammy again. Youk (Mr. Intensity) gets into it in the dugout with Manny of all people.

Total game time was about 3 hours and 45 minutes. Crazy.

Francona played everything down in the post-game. The Youk/Manny situation has already been dealt with and they're now moving on. Uh-huh. Jacoby's wrist is no worse than day-to-day, but will be given a full exam tomorrow.

Honestly, I kind of think that Coco over-reacted. He had to know it was coming after his hard slide yesterday. And the pitcher didn't go for his head. It was a fastball, but probably not his hardest, and it was roughly at Coco's thighs. He probably should've looked menacingly at the mound, yelled enough profanities that the catcher had to get in his way and then taken his base. Easy for me to say, tho, nobody threw anything at me tonight.

And all of the keen Bah-ston investigative journalists- both print and electronic- are busily sticking their heads in the sand to avoid finding out wassup.

Jmo but it might have something to do with Manny strolling over to the fight from his dugout and arriving slightly after his teammates from the bullpen(who were 400 yards away). Manny is a lover, not a fighter.:D

Manny don't want to get hurt. Manny gotta protect his endorsements.

He's taking advice from Leon.

From the article:

I guess the women think it is ok to start swearing, with children around. If I were a parent, I would demand that they be ejected for that behavoir.

Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by grunewar
Your welcome.

Sincerely,
Peter Angelos

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Don't worry, Chuck won't accept anything which is not spelled correctly. ;)

The use of the wrong word might actually have been the point of your post.

Damon goes 6-for-6 with winning single in ninth vs. Royals
 

Damon went 6-for-6 with a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning, rallying the New York Yankees to a wild 12-11 victory Saturday over the Kansas City Royals.

His six hits matched a Yankees record, and tied the American League mark for a nine-inning game.

Myril Hoag also went 6-for-6 for New York on June 6, 1934, at Boston, and Gerald Williams was 6-for-8 in a 15-inning game May 1, 1996, at Baltimore.


Omar Vizquel is the only player besides Damon to get six hits in a game at Yankee Stadium, going 6-for-7 with Cleveland on Aug. 31, 2004.

An excellent list. I can't disagree with any of them

http://www.maxim.com/10worstsportsbr...les/24558.aspx

You're a reader of digg.com, eh?

Isn't everybody?

:D

Hope.
 

<TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=black12bold colSpan=10 height=30>Central</TD></TR><TR><TD class=grey12bold> TEAM</TD><TD class=grey12bold align=right>W </TD><TD class=grey12bold align=right>L </TD><TD class=grey12bold align=right>PCT </TD><TD class=grey12bold align=right>GB </TD><TD class=grey12bold align=right>HOME </TD><TD class=grey12bold align=right>ROAD </TD><TD class=grey12bold align=right>L-10 </TD><TD class=grey12bold align=right>STREAK </TD></TR><TR><TD class=boxscorefooter> Chicago White Sox</TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>37 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>29 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>.561 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>- </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>20-9 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>17-20 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>7-3 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>L-3 </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc colSpan=9 height=1></TD></TR><TR><TD class=boxscorefooter> Minnesota</TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>32 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>34 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>.485 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>5 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>19-16 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>13-18 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>3-7 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>W-1 </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc colSpan=9 height=1></TD></TR><TR><TD class=boxscorefooter> Cleveland</TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>30 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>36 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>.455 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>7 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>17-17 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>13-19 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>5-5 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>L-1 </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#cccccc colSpan=9 height=1></TD></TR><TR><TD class=boxscorefooter> Detroit</TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>29 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>37 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>.439 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>8 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>17-16 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>12-21 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>5-5 </TD><TD class=boxscorefooter align=right>W-3 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

...At least a glimmer.

Mick, it's only June 12. 'Nuff said.

Stoopid
 

Tony LaRussa (per Sports Center) "spiked his own glasses" yesterday.

Here's one for Chuck.....

The BoSox haven't won a game in Cincinnati since 1975.

Why, that's almost Cubby-esque.

Almost.

That's a little unfair, since the Sox haven't even been to Cincy since that World Series. But it's not true anymore, anyway. Papelbon blew the save, but the Sox won in 10. Youk had a pretty big game back in his hometown.

The Rays are keeping pace pretty well. I honestly can't believe they're still in second, but I think it's great. Their third baseman, Longoria, is pretty remarkable in the field. He hit the Sox pretty well, too, if I remember correctly.

Yankees are 3 games over .500 for the first time all season. They're going to be up there before too long. No matter how much I hope they're gonna stink it up, they always pull it together at some point.

Giants had a straight steal of home on Friday, but lost. Phillies scored 20 in St. Louis on Friday, but the Cards won yesterday.

Totally unrelated, anybody watch Tiger's back nine last night? Absolutely amazing. 5 shots back with 6 to play, and he shoots 1 birdie, 1 bogie, and 2 eagles (including one on 18) to take the lead going into the final round. And his knee is killing him. Unbelievable. I told my daughter about it this morning and she said, "So he's going to wear his red shirt today, right?" :)

When did "fair" have anything at all to do with our annual Beisbol Post?:confused:

And.....nothing Tiger does amazes me any more.

Cute. :)

"Detroit has now won six straight to pull within six games of first-place Chicago.
'People buried us, and they should have," Leyland said. "Now we've got a chance to get them excited again.' " - detnews.com

Re: U.S. Open --> Fun! :)

Appears that the daughter is much smarter than the father. :D Tiger did indeed wear his red shirt, and made a 12' putt to force the 18-hole playoff today.

How 'bout now? :) Gonna be fun this afternoon.

Sox finish up strong in Cincy, Beckett looked really good. Yankees lose Wang for at least one start.

Former Sox news: Pedro picks up a win for the Mets. If he's done with the DL for the season, that'll be great news for the Mets. Nomar slated to return from the DL this week, I think, and he's going to play shortstop for the first time in a couple years. Trot Nixon signed with the Mets. And the Rangers recalled Kason Gabbard from AAA. I liked Gabbard, I hope he does well.

You forgot to mention that Ted Williams' head remains in the frozen food aisle of an undisclosed PathMark supermarket.

Chicago Cubs
 

Well, the Cubbies were recently in TO where they went 2-1 (L-W-W). I was at the cottage seadooing and on the way home, I saw something that I just had to get a picture of.

First be aware that it was raining at the time...

http://www.szczur.com/cell_phone_pics_001.jpg
http://www.szczur.com/cell_phone_pics_002.jpg
http://www.szczur.com/cell_phone_pics_003.jpg
http://www.szczur.com/cell_phone_pics_005.jpg
http://www.szczur.com/cell_phone_pics_007.jpg
http://www.szczur.com/cell_phone_pics_008.jpg
http://www.szczur.com/cell_phone_pics_014.jpg

Additionally, this guy had a huge Cubs logo on the hood. I couldn't get a picture of that, though.

Given the Cubs' record this year, I'm shocked it wasn't this:

http://cache.boston.com/images/bosto...s/pigs_fly.jpg