Diamond Rundown – Edition Nine
by Brian Joseph
Facts, figures and other tidbits from the ninth week of the ’08 major league baseball season.
Jamie Moyer Chronicles – Part One: On Monday, pitcher Jamie Moyer became the sixth pitcher in Major League history to beat all 30 teams. Moyer finally notched a win against the Colorado Rockies as Philadelphia pounded the Rox 20-5. The other five pitchers to complete the feat – Curt Schilling, Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Terry Mulholland and Woody Williams.
Notable Quotable I: “Fire Willie!” The remaining New York Mets fans at Shea Stadium as the Mets fell to the Florida Marlins 7-3 on Monday, the same day manager Willie Randolph got a vote of confidence from the front office after a meeting.
Stealing Home I: With the bases loaded against the Indians, White Sox pitcher Ehren Wasserman attempted a pick-off of Jamey Carroll at first base and Carroll got caught in a rundown. David Dellucci broke for home from third base and Paul Konerko’s throw was in the dirt which allowed Dellucci to score. Carroll took second and Grady Sizemore stole third giving the Indians a triple steal.
Back-to-Back3: In Tuesday’s Orioles-Yankees game, Baltimore’s Kevin Millar and Ramon Hernandez hit back-to-back homers in the second inning which was countered by New York’s Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez who hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth. In the fifth, the Orioles countered with back-to-back home runs again, this time by Luke Scott and Kevin Millar. The Yankees blew a 4-0 lead, and 8-4 lead and a 9-8 lead and lost the game 10-9 on an Alex Cintron walk-off single.
Dazzling Debut: Everyone was expecting great things from Cincinnati’s top prospect Jay Bruce. On Tuesday, Bruce delivered in his first Major League game – he went 3-for-3 with a double, a stolen base, two runs scored, two RBI and two walks plus a standing ovation from the fans and a shaving cream pie from teammates. The Reds beat the Pirates 9-6.
A Good Run Spoiled: Kansas City’s Mark Teahan hit a game-tying 3-run inside-the-park home run in the ninth but the Royals lost in 12 innings, 4-3.
Notable Quotable II: “My back hurt. I wanted to run into center field because I knew my teammates were trying to kill me.” Seattle’s Jose Lopez after his walk-off single ended their losing streak at seven against Boston on Tuesday.
Giambi Street?: In the 17-year history of Camden Yards, 42 home runs have landed on Eutaw Street beyond the right field wall. Yankees slugger Jason Giambi hit three of the last five that landed there including one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.
More From Camden Yards: On Wednesday, Yankees pitcher Andy Pettite won his 15th game at Camden Yards. At 15-4, Pettite is the winningest visiting pitcher in the park’s history. Pettite is 24-6 against Baltimore.
Notable Quotable III: “Too many babies here. They don’t know how to play the game and win the game right, the way it’s supposed to be played, and that’s the problem here. Now I know why this organization’s been losing for a while. Now I know.” Kansas City’s Jose Guillen after the Royals blew an 8-3 lead in the ninth inning and eventually lost 9-8 in 10 innings to the Twins on Wednesday.
Super Sub: Washington’s Ryan Langerhans didn’t start but finished strong. Langerhans providing a game-tying RBI single as a pinch hitter then stole a base but was left stranded. Then, Langerhans stole a home run from Kevin Kouzmanoff with a leaping grab. Unfortunately, no one could catch Jody Gerut’s 3-run homer three batters later and the Nationals went on to lose 5-2.
Demolish The Place, Please!: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny can’t wait until the Mets move out of Shea Stadium after this season. On Thursday, Penny lasted just four innings and gave up six runs (five earned) in their 8-4 loss to the Mets. In his career, Penny is 1-10 at Shea.
Airing It Out In Arizona: In his 11 year career, San Francisco’s Randy Winn has hit just 98 home runs but 10 of them have come against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Eight of the 10 home runs that Winn has hit against Arizona have come at Chase Field including two in Thursday’s game against the D-Backs. It was Winn’s fourth multi-homer game of his career, three of those four came against Arizona.
Hammering Heilman: 2008 is becoming more and more forgettable for Mets reliever Aaron Heilman. On Friday, Heilman failed to record an out while giving up four hits and four earned runs. It was the eighth time in 26 appearances that Heilman gave up 2+ runs in ’08. Heilman was 0-2 with two blown saves and a 6.67 ERA through Friday’s game.
Cain v. Maddux III: San Francisco’s Matt Cain and San Diego’s Greg Maddux squared off for the third time in 2008 on Friday. The two teams have two more series against each other this year so they could meet again but the Padres won two of three of the first three match-ups and the last two went 13 innings. San Diego won 7-3 on Friday in 13 innings and both Cain and Maddux earned a no decision. Maddux pitched six innings and gave up two earned runs while Cain pitched seven innings and gave up three earned runs.
Filling Up A Stat Sheet: Yankees outfielder Bobby Abreu had a big game on Friday. In their 6-5 win over the Twins, Abreu went 3-for-4 with two triples, four runs scored and a stolen base. The stolen base was his 300th making him the 12th player since 1950 to steal 300 bases, hit 400 doubles and 200 home runs in a career.
One Is The Loneliest Number: If the Braves are involved in a close game, they are probably on the losing end. The Braves have lost 20 one-run games in a row on the road since August 2007, the second longest streak in Major League history according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The record is held by the ’00-01 Kansas City Royals who lost 21 one-run road games in a row and tied the Braves with the ’85-86 Pirates who also lost 20 in a row. The Braves are 2-16 in one-run games this year and lost four one-run games in the past seven days.
Stealing Home II: A failed suicide squeeze and a Justin Verlander pitch in the dirt that bounced away from Ivan Rodriguez led to Seattle’s Kenji Johjima stealing home plate on Saturday. Johjima, running on the pitch, slid in safely to give the catcher credit for a steal of home in their 5-0 win over the Tigers.
Notable Quotable IV: “I never saw as many people out here. It’s real nice to see the fans. They should have cowboy night every night.” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on the sell-out crowd on hand in Tampa Bay. Guillen was a member of Tampa Bay in 2000. The sell-out wasn’t due to their best start in the team’s history or that their ace Scott Kazmir was seeking his fifth consecutive win (which he got). Instead, it was due to a post-game concert by country music star Trace Adkins.
Complete: Nationals starter Jason Bergmann might have lost the game on Saturday but he did win a consolation prize. Bergman went the distance in their 4-0 loss to the Diamondbacks for Washington’s first complete game since August 15, 2006 which ended the team’s longest complete game drought in the history of baseball. The game clocked in at 1 hour and 52 minutes, the fastest in the history of Chase Field.
Jamie Moyer Chronicles – Part Two: Philadelphia’s Jamie Moyer continued his success against the Florida Marlins. Moyer went seven innings and gave up five runs and the Phillies put up seven to extend Moyer’s dominance over Florida. He is now 8-0 in eight starts against the Marlins.
Streakin’ Shortstops: Both Michael Young and Jose Reyes ended the week with a 17-game hitting streak. Reyes one-upped the Rangers shortstop by reaching base safely in 32 consecutive games. The Mets shortstop reaching base streak is not the longest of the season — Albert Pujols reached safely in 42 consecutive games.
Numbers Game
22: Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins has not been caught stealing since August 31, 2007 and since then has stolen 22 consecutive bases. This season, Rollins is 8-for-8 in stolen base attempts.
300: Toronto’s 12-0 win over Oakland on Wednesday gave manager John Gibbons his 300th career win. Gibbons is third on the Blue Jays all-time wins list behind Bobby Cox (355) and Cito Gaston (683).
400: Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Atlanta by the Brewers was manager Ned Yost’s 400th career win. Yost closed out the week with 403 wins and is 20 wins away from passing Tom Trebelhorn for second amongst Milwaukee Brewers managers.
500: Boston’s Manny Ramirez became the 24th member of the 500 home run club in Baltimore on Saturday. The home run was a first-pitch solo shot in the seventh inning off of Chad Bradford. It was Ramirez’s second home run off of Bradford. Ramirez hit #370 off of Bradford, too – a first-pitch solo shot in the seventh inning.
579: Florida’s Luis Gonzalez’s 579th career double on Tuesday moved him ahead of Wade Boggs for 18th place on the all-time doubles list. Of the 17 players ahead of him, 13 are eligible for the Hall of Fame and all 13 are enshrined there.
4,672: Arizona’s Randy Johnson struck out nine on Thursday tying him with Roger Clemens for second on the all-time strikeouts list. One more strikeout and he will be in sole possession of second place – just over 1,000 strikeouts behind all-time leader Nolan Ryan.
Grand Slams
Josh Hamilton, Texas vs. Tampa Bay (5/27)
Jesus Flores, Washington vs. San Diego (5/28)
Luis Rivas, Pittsburgh vs. St. Louis (5/31)
Walk-Off Archive
Single: Alex Cintron, Baltimore vs. NY Yankees (5/27); Gary Mathews Jr., LA Angels vs. Detroit (5/27); Jose Lopez, Seattle vs. Boston (5/27); Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs vs. LA Dodgers (5/28); Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati vs. Atlanta (5/30); Juan Rivera, LA Angels vs. Toronto (5/31); Maicer Izturis, LA Angels vs. Toronto (6/1); Jose Castillo, San Francisco vs. San Diego (6/1)
Double: Fernando Tatis, NY Mets vs. Florida (5/28)
Triple: None
Home Run: Cliff Floyd, Tampa Bay vs. Chicago White Sox (5/30); Jay Bruce, Cincinnati vs. Atlanta (5/31); Gabe Gross, Tampa Bay vs. Chicago White Sox (6/1)
Walk: Garret Anderson, LA Angels vs. Detroit (5/26)
Sacrifice Fly: Mike Cameron, Milwaukee vs. Atlanta (5/27)
