Thursday, May 22, 2008

Baseball diaries, Thursday afternoon edition

10:15 AM, Mariners at Tigers: Unbelievably, Jeremy Bonderman escapes the first inning with no damage, which is a rarity for him. Even more surprising, Ichiro did not score despite getting to third on a two-base throwing error by Bonderman himself with nobody out.

10:23 AM, Mariners at Tigers: Magglio Ordonez has doubled to make my fantasy offense's week look even sweeter. Oh, by the way, it also gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the ballgame.

10:25 AM, Rangers at Twins: It's bad enough that fans at the Metrodome can't enjoy the sun during afternoon games, and now Livan Hernandez is being pounded early. Josh Hamilton picked up his seventh sacrifice fly and Hernandez surrendered five hits in the inning. 4-0 Texas.

10:45 AM, Royals at Red Sox: David DeJesus gets called out on what looks like an inside third strike to lead off the game, but Daisuke Matsuzaka walks Alex Gordon with two out. A wild pitch and Jose Guillen single ensue, giving KC an early one-run lead. Good start for my dad's fantasy team, which includes both of those Royals, not to mention two of the Rangers involved in the four-run inning for Texas.

10:57 AM, Royals at Red Sox: I'm a declared Red Sox hater (do any Yankee fans feel otherwise?), but dropped everything to watch David Ortiz bat. The outcome: a weak tapper to second to end the inning.

10:59 AM, Rangers at Twins: Minnesota fought back to make the score 4-2 on a two-run single by Chris Gomez, but Hernandez immediately walks the leadoff man Milton Bradley to start the third.

11:01 AM, Mariners at Tigers: A three-run homer by Brandon Inge has given Bonderman a nice cushion, but he can't strand a runner at third base this time. Yuniesky Betancourt singled and eventually scored on a two-out Raul Ibanez hit.

11:09 AM, Mariners at Tigers: Here comes the high-powered Detroit offense people were talking about for half of the offseason. Miguel Cabrera took the focus off of his defense at first base with a double, and Carlos Guillen's single immediately followed. On a 3-2 pitch, Miguel Batista at least gets the one name that doesn't belong (Matt Joyce) swinging. One down.

11:13 AM, Royals at Red Sox: I leave NESN HD for two minutes and Boston has loaded the bases against Brian Bannister with no one out. Three straight singles has given J.D. Drew a big opportunity in his first at-bat since sustaining a minor injury. In a reprise of the clinching game of last year's ALCS, he takes Bannister deep for a grand slam and I immediately change the channel, impartial observer that I am.

11:19 AM, Rangers at Twins: A Ramon Vazquez double goes for naught as Hernandez gets Ian Kinsler to ground out, proving that he has settled down since the first inning.

11:22 AM, Rangers at Twins: Being the closest game, I'm staying on this one to see how Vicente Padilla handles the Minnesota lineup in the bottom of the fourth, and he makes it look easy in this frame. Meanwhile, Yahoo GameChannel tells me that Lugo singled and was caught stealing. With Boston up 4-1 already, I probably wish he had given me the SB in fantasy.

11:26 AM, Mariners at Tigers: Seattle has already brought on R.A. Dickey in relief of Batista. The knuckleballer gives Curtis Granderson the "good morning, good afternoon, good night" treatment and instantly gets a ground ball from Placido Polanco before Gary Sheffield singled to left. Then, Magglio hit one slowly down the first base line, and he was fortunate that it didn't roll fair since he wasn't running. In the end, this ended up delaying the inevitable as he went down swinging.

11:36 AM, Royals at Red Sox: Jerry Remy is on some odd rant about pajamas and smoking jackets, and meanwhile Matsuzaka gets his fourth strikeout in sending Guillen to the bench, immediately followed by his fifth walk. As usual, he escapes the two-on situation when Miguel Olivo flies out.

11:38 AM, Rangers at Twins: This is why I love baseball. I'm already giddy when I notice that Twins rookie Carlos Gomez is at the plate since I've seen very little of him despite his strong performance so far this season, and on cue he sends the Padilla offering deep to left field for his fourth homer of the year. The Texas lead has been cut to one.

11:40 AM, Mariners at Tigers: Bonderman escaped a bases loaded situation splendidly, allowing a run to score on a double play after Seattle loaded the bases. I flipped over in time to see Sexson's fly to left which ended the threat.

11:47 AM, Royals at Red Sox: With Youkilis at first, Drew makes a bid for a second homer but flies to the center field warning track at Fenway. In the end, I'm thankful that J.D. didn't put another homer in the column for Jack Cust's trainer, my fantasy opponent this week. A quick food break cost me a chance to see Matt Joyce hit one out to make it 7-2 Tigers, but I caught the replay as the inning ended.

11:54 AM, Rangers at Twins: One of the least painful times to be hit by pitch just occurred in the Twin Cities. Gerald Laird was struck in the back by a very slow curve, and a subsequent infield hit from Marlon Byrd has made a scoring opportunity out of very little for the Rangers.

11:59 AM, Rangers at Twins: Remember me? Chris Shelton, who is probably best known for an offensive surge at the beginning of the 2006 campaign, just lined a ball to left to score two for Texas. Apparently the Rangers announcers are well acquainted with Shelton, as they nicknamed him "Big Red" thanks to his hair color.

12:05 PM, Royals at Red Sox: Julio Lugo is thrown out at the plate on a David Ortiz single, and the Sox gets three hits in the inning but fail to score.

12:08 PM, Rangers at Twins: This looked like a sequence straight out of the Bad Idea Jeans playbook despite the fact that it set up a double play. Matt Guerrier just walked Michael Young to load the bases with one out but got Josh Hamilton to ground into the twin killing despite his excellent track record with runners in scoring position this season.

12:12 PM, Royals at Red Sox: Guillen gets his (and the Royals') second RBI of the game with a double which bounced before hitting the scoreboard following another walk to Gordon. In other news, the Tigers are officially involved in a laugher thanks in part to a ground-rule double by Ordonez which scored Granderson and sent Sheffield to third before he scored on a sac fly. It's now 9-2 as the Mariners continue to sink.

12:18 PM, Royals at Red Sox: Make it 5-3 Red Sox now. A hard liner to left that bounced into the corner for a double before Manny retrieved it allowed Olivo to join the run batted in club.

12:21 PM, Rangers at Twins: I'm in time to see Gomez hit again. Well, not really, since Jamey Wright just hit him on the elbow. The bases are full with two out for Brendan Harris. This is a big spot, and the outs were recorded before anyone reached base.

12:24 PM, Rangers at Twins: Harris walks on a full count, and I'm beginning to agree with the announcers that "this has been a long inning...top and bottom."

12:25 PM, Royals at Red Sox: Manny Ramirez doesn't get his 499th homer on this at-bat, instead the victim of a strikeout to begin the bottom of the fifth. My condolences to the fans carrying "500" signs around Fenway Park.

12:30 PM, Rangers at Twins: New reliever Frank Francisco ended up walking Michael Cuddyer to make it a one-run game, and Cuddyer several times asked the umpire about pitch location before receiving the free pass. However, Francisco quashed the rally by getting Justin Morneau to pop out.

12:35 PM, Royals at Red Sox: Joey Gathright's single meant that he'd almost certainly try to steal second, which he succeeded in doing. After Matsuzaka made a difficult play to retire Mark Grudzielanek on a comebacker for the second out, he is removed from the game.

12:42 PM, Rangers at Twins: Milton Bradley began the seventh with a walk and Laird eventually got him home on a throwing error by Guerrier, but the Twins escape further damage when Shelton hits into a double play. A moment earlier, Javier Lopez of Boston was able to strand Gathright at second with a strikeout.

12:45 PM, Mariners at Tigers: It's not usually a good sign when you're using J.J. Putz down 9-2, but Putz does strike out the side prior to what is likely to be Seattle's last turn at bat.

12:49 PM, Rangers at Twins: The Twins are out in the seventh, mustering just a fly ball single to right by Mike Redmond who is spelling Joe Mauer for the day.

12:50 PM, Mariners at Tigers: Freddy Dolsi gets a save after pitching the final three innings of this one, and the tiger roar signals the end to this one by a score of 9-2 in favor of the Tigers.

12:53 PM, Royals at Red Sox: A Julio Lugo sacrifice fly has made it 6-3 Beantown. Bannister surrendered 12 hits in this one. In the past, he has commented on the volatility of pitcher performance, and certainly many balls in play became hits against him this afternoon. Jimmy Gobble has made an appearance but allows a Dustin Pedroia RBI double off the standings display in left field. He adds further fuel in giving up a second Boston grand slam off the bat of Mike Lowell. The ball bounced back onto the field after hitting above the Green Monster, but at least the umpires didn't negate another legitimate home run this week.

12:59 PM, Rangers at Twins: They're replaying a nice catch by Carlos Gomez earlier in the game. Coming into this inning he is 3-3, walked once, and has plays a solid center field, so I suppose the Twins can say they got something for Johan Santana. Alexi Casilla hits a solid single, but the Rangers shoot themselves in the foot when they fail to cover first on a bunt single by (you guessed it) Gomez. A glance at the scoreboard shows that the Royals are attempting to lose by less: Guillen has homered for his third run driven in today.

1:05 PM, Rangers at Twins: Well, at least there's one interesting contest remaining. Morneau singled in two on an 0-2 count before Delmon Young lined into a double play. Surprisingly, Joaquin Benoit didn't try to go up the ladder again after getting Moneau to swing at a high 0-1 pitch. 7 all after eight.

1:10 PM, Royals at Red Sox: To recap, Olivo picked up another hit in this game and drove in Teahen, who had walked for the third time. It appears that Craig Hansen, who was once a high-leverage reliever for a short time in the past, is now being used in blowouts. He averts more scoring here by inducing a grounder to first.

1:15 PM, Rangers at Twins: David Murphy followed his leadoff hit with a stolen base, but Laird went down swinging. This might have been a bunt situation with nobody out, but now you have to swing away.

1:18 PM, Rangers at Twins: Marlon Byrd managed to check his swing on an 0-2 count, but on 1-2 Joe Nathan gets him to strike out also.

1:22 PM, Rangers at Twins: I've seen this sort of situation before. Jarrod Saltalamacchia sprints in from the bullpen to pinch hit with 2 men on and the same number out. Alas, he becomes the last member of Nathan's punchout trifecta, and Minnesota's half of the ninth awaits.

1:27 PM, Rangers at Twins: Now another catcher, Mauer, strikes out while pinch hitting (although my viewing was interrupted by an emergency broadcast test), followed by a free pass to Mike Lamb. We'll see if they can avoid extra innings now that a man is aboard; I've seen several very long games this year that could easily have ended in regulation.

1:32 PM, Rangers at Twins: If you think I'm ignoring the game in Boston, you're right. For the record, Yasuhiko Yabuta and David Aardsma were the most recent pitchers for the Royals and Red Sox, respectively. By the way, Minnesota just missed its chance to avoid extra frames.

1:35 PM, Royals at Red Sox: What's this, a three-run game? Yes, Gordon and Guillen stayed hot with singles before Olivo delivered another big hit, a two out bomb to left. It's 11-8 in the middle of the 8th in a game that would make dead-ball era fans have a stroke.

1:39 PM, Rangers at Twins: Here's something else to give old timers fits: the Rangers have been hit by a strikeout epidemic. Kinsler and Young are the latest in this group as Brian Bass does the pitching.

1:42 PM, Rangers at Twins: I like to say that baseball is hard to predict, but I'll say that life is as well. Josh Hamilton had been battling drug problems prior to last season, but he continues to fulfill his potential since appearing in the majors last spring. He hits one into the first few rows in left here, followed by a Milton Bradley double. 8-7 Rangers, and they're hoping for more.

1:44 PM, Rangers at Twins: Bass fields it himself to end the top of the tenth, but may have nightmares about that one costly mistake.

1:45 PM, Royals at Red Sox: Jonathan Papelbon actually has a save situation, and he is off to a good start after the grounder by Alberto Callaspo.

1:49 PM, Rangers at Twins: Gomez is human after all, and flies to center for out number one. That was some fine work by C.J. Wilson.

1:50 PM, Royals at Red Sox: The tying run is aboard for KC with two outs. DeJesus and Billy Butler have singled.

1:52 PM, Rangers at Twins: And then there was one. A chopper to short and a half swing strikeout close this game as Texas triumphs by one run, 8-7.

1:54 PM, Royals at Red Sox: Not to be outdone, Papelbon gets a fly to medium left and dispatches the pesky Kansas City squad 11-8. Good afternoon to you all.