Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Bucs and Brew Crew battle down to the wire as PIT takes 2 of 3

9/13 - Forbes Field
Randy Wolf (0-4, 6.93) vs Woodie Fryman (4-1, 3.77)
66-PIT 4, 11-MIL 2
The Bucs jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 4 innings as Randy Wolf turned in another mediocre performance for the Brew Crew (4 runs / 6 IP).  Woodie Fryman, on the other hand, gave up just 1 run while fanning 6 in 7 1/3 innings of stellar work.  Pete Mikkelsen notched his 4th save by grinding his way to through the final 5 outs.  Betancourt and Hairston led off the top of the 9th with singles off Pittsburgh's sinkerballing reliever.  The sinker sunk so well that Lucroy hit into a routine 6-4-3 DP.  Pinch hitter Nyjer Morgan singled home Betancourt to make it 4-2, but got thrown out stealing with Corey Hart up to end the game.  Matty Alou had 3 of the Bucs 7 hits to spike his season average to .447.  8th place hitter Jose Pagan knocked in 2 runs.  All of Pittsburgh's production came from the bottom third of their order.

9/14 - Forbes Field
Zack Greinke (5-0, 2.25) vs Tommie Sisk (2-2, 1.67)
Brewers 2, Pirates 1

Tom Sisk was darn good.  Zach Greinke was flat out awesome, shutting out the high octane Pirate offense while scattering 8 hits over 7 2/3 innings.  Milwaukee struck for 2 runs (1 earned) off of Sisk in the top of the 5th to break a scoreless tie.  Corey "I wear my sunglasses at night" Hart doubled home Greinke, who reached first on an error by Donn Clendenon at first.  Nyjer Morgan's RBI single made it 2-0.  The Bucs finally got on the board in the 9th when Bob Bailey hit a solo blast with 2 out, but John Axford closed it down for his 6th save of the year.

9/15 - Miller Field
Vern Law (3-3, 6.59) vs Shaun Marcum (1-1, 1.85)
Pirates 3, Brewers 2

The Deacon, Vern Law, finally found his stride with 8 glorious innings of 1 run ball.  After 7 innings he was still down 1-0 to the Brew Crew, who scored a solo run in the 5th when Weeks singled home Gomez.  Marcum was on cruise control yielding just 3 hit over 6 shutout innings before giving way to the pen.  Latroy Hawkings and K-Rod both melted down to the tune tune of 3 runs to give the Bucs their first lead of the day.  After Maz grounded out to his opposite number at second Pagliaroni and the Deacon both singled.  Stick Michael pinch ran for Pags, but his services really weren't needed when Matty Alou tripled to straight away center to score both runners easily.  Gene Alley bunted Alou home to make it 3-0.  Neither team scored in their next AB.  Roy Face came on in relief of Law, who gave his team 8 outstanding innings of work.  The first 2 batters (Kotsay & Hart) led off with singles.  Gomez popped out to third.  The "Hebrew Hammer", Ryan Braun walked on 5 pitches to load the bases with 1 out.  Prince Fielder lined a single to center to score Kotsay.  Hart was waived around third and headed for home to test Alou's sub par arm.  Alou scooped the ball cleanly and delivered a 1 hop throw to backup catcher Jesse Gonder, who swiped a tag on Hart a second before he was to touch the plate.  That was it for Face, who was barely effective at best.  Mikkelsen came on to pop Weeks up for the final out and his 5th save of the season.

Tribe sweeps A's

In the clash between the two teams with the ugliest stadiums the Tribe sweeps Oakland.

Herb Score, W ( 2 - 3) demonstrated why he was rookie of the year as he threw a brilliant, eight and two third inning shutout against the A's in game one allowing only two hits and fanning 14.  Don Mossi, S ( 2 ) came in the bottom of the ninth with two on and struck out both hitters he faced to earn the save.  Hard luck loser Mulder, L ( 1 - 2) made just one mistake as he served a home run to Larry Doby (3) for the game's only run.

Game two was the antithesis of game one as the Indians hit the A's with an 8 run fifth inning to coast to a 15 - 6 win.  Bobby Avila, Ralph Kiner and Larry Doby each banged out three hits in a 20 - hit attack.  Both Avila (3) and Kiner (5) hit homers.  The A's did all they could to assist the Tribe committing 4 errors.  Mike Garcia, W (3 - 1) was the beneficiary of the offensive outburst as he was not that effective yielding six runs and 12 hits in seven innings.  Bob Feller shut out the A's in the final two frames.

Game three went extra innings as the Indians eked out a 10 inning, 5 - 4 win on a squeeze bunt by George Strickland.  Fain scored the winning run as he led off the inning with a walk and went to third on a double by Gene Woodling.  Santiago, W (1 - 0) got the win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and Sal "the Barber" picked up the save retiring Chavez and Dye with a runner on first.  Giambi (5) homered with one on in the first off Indian starter Art Houtteman to give the A's an early lead but Evers doubled home two runners in the fourth to tie the game and Larry Doby (4) homered off Zito in the sixth to give the Tribe a 4 - 3 lead.  
A Giambi single with two out in the ninth off Don Mossi to tie the score but McMillon struck out to end the inning.  After a scoreless 10th the Indians scored to record the sweep.  --submitted by Jim Clouser--

Monday, April 2, 2012

Week #8 - The Rangers take 2 of 3 from Toronto

The first game was a classic pitchers duel lasting 14 innings until unfortunately the Texas bullpen walked in the winning run. Final Score 2-1
 
Game 2 Texas put on a hitting and fielding clinic as the hammered Steib with 5 runs in the 4th and to maintain the lead gunned down not one but two Toronto base runners in the bottom of the 4th trying to score at the plate. Final Score Texas 6 Toronto 2
 
Game 3 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre continued as they chopped Flanagan to pieces en-route to a 15 hit 11-4 Texas victory.  The immortal Jeff Kunkel had 3 RBI's in the finale.
Thanks to Bill for the series.  --submitted by Robert Chisholm--

Dodgers sweep fading Amazin's

Crazy series.
 
Game 1: Bottom of the 9th, Mets leading 2-0. 3 unearned runs and Dodgers win 3-2.

Game 2: Game tied at 5. Bottom of the 11th, Dodgers score on a wild pitch. 6-5.

Game 3: Odalis Perez pitches a complete game 2 hitter, 1 walk 29 batters faced. Dodgers win 3-0.

--submitted by Keith MacDonald--

Sizzling D-backs stretch streak to 11 straigth wins

In a battle of divisional leaders, it looked like a legitimate contender against a pertender as the scrappy, talented 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks put a crimp in the Cardinals chances with a three game sweep of their series.
 
Game one featured former Cardinal and local resident Andy Benes on the hill for Arizona, taking on Mike Torrez, Both pitchers were "on" in this one, with the game scoreles through 5 1/2. Torrez couldn't get through the home sixth however, walking Tony Womack to start the frame. He recovered from that situation however, by picking Womack off. But Steve Finley then broke the scoreless duel with a home run just inside the foul pole in right. Luis Gonzales then singled, stole second ,and scored on a Matt Williams double. Travis Lee singled and Damian Miller walked, finishing Torrez.
 
Another former Redbird, Bernard Gilkey hit a sac fly to left to plate Williams and finish the scoring for the day. Benes had exited the game in the fifth due to an injury, but 3 D-Backs relievers kept up the scoreless pitching to bring home the 3-0 victory.
 
Game two saw the Cardinals score early off of Armando Reynoso, building a 4-1 lead going into the home third in the second game played in the desert. Jerry Reuss could not hold the lead though, as the Diamondbacks just kept coming, something they would do this entire game. A three run third after two-out, none on, tied the game, keyed by Steve Finley's bases loaded single.
 
The Cardinals got the lead back in the fourth, and had a chance for a big inning but Jose Cardenal popped up and Ted Simmons grounded out with the bases full.
 
Arizona tied it in the sixth, and the score remained 5-5 entering the ninth. It looked like the Cardinals might pull out a dramatic win when after two-out and none on in the ninth. Simmons reached on an error by Williams. Carl Taylor then drilled a Darren Holmes pitch to deep left that just missed going out. It hit the top of the wall, Taylor settling for a double with Simmons scoring. Greg Olson came on and intentionally passed the struggling Rich Allen, brought in to pinch hit, before retiring Ed Crosby.
 
Chuck Taylor has emerged as the Cardinal closer from among a somewhat ragged bullpen group, and was summoned to bring home the victory. But this D-Back club just keeps coming at you, and did again as pinch hitter David Delucci started the ninth with a single. After Tony Womack struck out, Jay Bell singled, Delluci stopping at second. Taylor retired the dangerous Luis Gonzalez on a fly out to left , but lost Matt Williams on a borderline pitch to load the bases. Steve Finley, a tough out all series, then sent the crowd home in a happy mood with a ringing two-run single to center to bring home the tying and winning runs.
 
Manager Bike Mike was second guessed in post game interviews for not having a lefty reliever ready to go for this situation. But he insisted that Taylor has been the man in the late innings for him, and he was sticking with him in this one. We'll see if he stays that course down the stretch.
 
Game three shifted to St. Louis, and predictably the Cardinals were routed in this one after the tough loss in game two. Bike Mike started seldom used lefty Frank Bertaina in hopes of slowing down the heavy lefthand hitting D-Back lineup, but to no avail. The D-Backs rolled to a 7-1 win on 13 hits, as Omar Daal and Byun Yung Kim held the Redbirds to just 4 hits. 
--submitted by BikeMike--