Running baseball thread No. 11

It'll be because their pitching has been, to put it kindly, spotty. But if the Braves miss the postseason the turd in the punchbowl will be the yak job they've done against the Reds. 1-5 against Cincy. Sorry, but that's a team against which a contender should take care of bidness.

 

Those damn Reds are pesky. If you catch Harang, you've probably already lost once, and they're bound to outslug you at least once in a three-game set. Next thing you know, you've lost the series. I know they've caused enough problems for the Cubs.

 

The Cubs aren't exactly the Braves, but you're right.

 

Not sure what you meant by that, but the Cubs entered the night one whole game behind the Braves (tied in the loss column).

 

I think the Braves a better overall team, and the East is much better on the whole than the Central.

 

I would generally agree with that statement, but I don't think there's a huge difference between the Braves (66-60) and the Cubs (64-60), as evidenced by their records.

I wish the Cubs had dealt for a big-time power hitter at the deadline, though.

 

Zito making the Cubs look silly through three. Nine up, nine down.

 

The Braves would be a better team than the Cubs if baseball didn't involve, um, pitching.

All things considered, they're comparable teams. And their records prove that.

 

I was at the Dodgers-Phillies game for 6 innings, my first foray into Citizens Bank Field. Dodgers were leading 5-1 going into top-7.

Some highlights from the left-center bleachers:

top-1
• Andre Ethier (one of my roto players) slaps an opposite-field double (almost a homer) to score Furcal, but Matt Kemp, who reached on an error (should've been an inning-ending double play) was gunned down at home on a relay from Burrell to Rollins to a catcher named Coste that I've never heard of. LA 1-0.

bottom-1
• before the inning starts, Dodgers CF Juan Pierre takes off his cap (he's got a Jordenesque shiny head) and does a series of the father/son/holy spirit signs; he proceeds to make the first out on Rollins' flyball.
• Iguchi (who's on my roto team as a replacement for my normal roto 2B Chase Utley) strikes out; but not until after "John the 5-dollar souvenir guy" goes through his spiel — "I've got baseball cards with all the great players from years' past, with Mike Schmidt on top!"
• Derek Lowe, who's historic stat is recording the wins in the clinching games of the '04 ALDS, ALCS and World Series, sets down the Phillies 1-2-3 when Burrell grounds out to Furcal, who ranges deep into the 6-hole and guns the ball to James Loney (my roto 1B).

top-2
• Phillies turn a 5-4-3 double play; 3B Dobbs, who booted the DP ball in top-1, almost bobbbled this one away, but grabbed hold of the ball and threw to Rollins, who shunned Loney's hard slide and still got Hillenbrand by a step.

bottom-2
• 2 cute girls get to their seats a few rows away; one of them is wearing an old-school Padres cap; her friend is chowing on nachos and a pool of hot cheese.
• Lowe retires Howard (4-3), Rowand (K) and Victorino (4-3); Victorino gets a louder ovation than Howard before stepping to the plate.

top-3
• Rollins makes a fantastic play when Lowe chops the first pitch from J.D. Durbin (a replacement for the injured Cole Hamels) up the middle for what should be a single, only to see the shortstop dive into shallow center, spring up and gun to Howard
• Furcal and Pierre each retired on 3-1 putouts; it signals the start of several plays by 1st basemen in the game

bottom-3
• due up: Dobbs, Coste, Durbin. I believe that right there is the reason the Phillies have zero chance to make the playoffs. Dobbs? Coste? Durbin? Sounds more like a law firm. That Lowe retires them on grounders (4-3, 5-3, 5-3) only confirms that, although Hillenbrand made a sweet play on Durbin (go figure) by backhanding a hard grounder down the line and throwing to Loney

top-4
• Jeff Kent blasts a long flyball toward our section. Most of us stand up hoping it's a homer, but it's only a double off the wall
• Ethier, a lefty, then CRUSHES the next pitch over the right-center wall. LA 3-0. "The same thing happened last night," said the woman in the row behind me. "What happened last night?" I asked her, to which she answered, "We fell behind 3-0 but came back to win — and Howard stole a base, the first one of his career!"
• Speaking of Howard, he records the final 2 outs of the inning on a foul pop-up and sharp grounder by his counterpart, Loney

bottom-4
• before the inning starts I go to buy 2 hot dogs and a bag of peanuts; compared with Dodger Stadium, they're pedestrian
• Rollins is the Phils' first baserunner when he rakes a 1-1 pitch down the 1st-base line for a double
• Taguchi (L4), Burrell (K; fans boo) and Howard (3U) do squat

top-5
• Rollins makes another unbelievable play, adventuring DEEP into the 6-hole to scoop Hillenbrand's hard grounder and gunning a one-hopper to Howard
• Durbin, who's decent not great not bad, induces a pair of comebackers

bottom-5
• Rowan singles on the first pitch and moves up on a wild pitch; some might rule it a passed ball on Martin
• Loney robs Victorino of a single by snagging a hard grounder and racing to the bag, Rowan advancing
• Dobbs (Lou's son?) grounds out to Loney to score Rowan. LA 3-1.

between innings:
• Phillie Phanatic rides his 4-wheeler onto the field, past the Dodgers dugout and, wearing a doctor's green, starts doing his shtick to Robert Palmer's "Doctor, Doctor." He then rides over to the 1st-base coaching box and shticks it up with Mariano Duncan; I'm watching on the JumboTron, and seeing Duncan laugh takes me back to the late-80's when Duncan was a flashy youngster for the Dodgers, making bunt-doubles a regular part of his arsenal; seems like yesterday.
• Kent bashes a double off the right-center wall to score Kemp. LA 4-1
• Ethier is intentionally walked, which is just silly
• Loney singles home Kent. LA 5-1. My roto players up to this point are 2 for 5 with a double, homer, walk and 3 RBI
• Hillenbrand is later intentionally walked to load the bases for Lowe, who strikes out

bottom-6
• pinch-hitter Chris Roberson (for Durbin) singles
• Loney snags a Rollins smash and the Dodgers almost turn a 3-6-3 double play, but Rollins is safe
• Taguchi almost hits into a 6-4-3 double play but barely beats it out
• Burrell singles to put runners at the corners
• Howard, with 33 homers and 99 RBI up to this point, works the count to 2-2. He grounds the next pitch to Kent, so in 3 at-bats in the game he hasn't gotten one out of the infield; scattered (muffled) boos are heard

I leave. I get lost in Phila. I start to get mad. I become furious. I drive and drive and drive and make circles and can't believe what is happening here. I pass the Philadelphia Art Museum, or is it called the Philadelpha Museum of Art? Get stuck on a 25 MPH road that winds and curves and is poorly lit. I end up somewhere, at a pizza place, the only place that's open, and the Israeli pizza maker and Eddie Murphy look-a-like customer try to give me directions without citing street names or landmarks, only "turn here" and "stay left there" and I'm fuming now. So I head back toward the Philadelphia Art Museum, or is it the Philadelphia Museum of Art? and am desperately seeking Route 1 North, trying to remember that the pizza guys said not to take City Drive. Oy.

Finally I find Route 1 North. And I make it back to the hotel I'm at now.

So, what was the final score of the goddamn game?!

 

Dodgers 15, Phillies 3. I hope you had more fun than it reads.

 

Sounds like you had a blast at the Bank there Xan. Hope they all treated you well.

 

You take notes at the game?