Tigers rout ChiSox 18-2 to finish sweep (AP)

Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in four runs, and the Detroit Tigers finished a three-game sweep of Chicago in emphatic fashion, routing the White Sox 18-2 on Sunday night. Max Scherzer (14-8) allowed five hits over seven scoreless innings, and Alex Avila had a career-high four hits for Detroit, which leads the AL Central by [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/05/tigers-rout-chisox-18-2-to-finish-sweep-ap/

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Giants Slipping Away After Series Defeat

The Giants had their chance to get right back into the NL West race this weekend vs. Arizona at AT&T Park, and things couldn't have started off better Friday night with their new star going 4-4 and them winning in easy fashion. The next two games couldn't have been more opposite.

Instead of the Giants moving to within 3-4 games of the D-Backs, they will enter Monday a whopping 7 games down with slightly over 20 left. In essence, they'd need Arizona to pretty much tank in these last few weeks, and they themselves would need to go on an absolute tear, something they haven't done since the all-star break. A lot of people declared the season "un-officially" over Sunday after the lose, and while their backs are certainly against the wall, I'm waiting another week or so before I make any declarations myself. I still am not at all overly impressed by D-Backs roster, and I still think they could hit a hiccup. Sure, they have some young stud hitters like Justin Upton, Chris Young and Miguel Montero, not to mention Aaron Hill has regained his all-star form since he arrived in the desert, but their bullpen is average at best, and their rotation, save for Kennedy and Hudson, aint that special. I guess in comparison though, their offense blows the Giants out of the water, and right now, the Giants pitching staff isn't even at full strength, so they don't have that huge edge on Arizona there right now, and they just don't have any momentum. They're losing at home, they're losing on the road, they're getting injured left and right. I'm not going to make any excuses for this team, cause I don't need to, but I kind of knew the chance to repeat went down with Buster in May.

What's irritating to me though, was listening to Marty Lurie on KNBR today, a host who is absolutely starting to get on my nerves. All he cares to talk about are the guys they should look at for next year and refused to hold Hensley Muellens accountable for any of the Giants hitting woes. I'm not blaming all the Giants suffering on Hensley, the Giants simply don't have a lot of talent in their lineup, but I would like to see the Giants hitting coach more active in helping the veterans in big slumps like Aubrey Huff and Cody Ross. Surprisingly though, Cody Ross has taken off a bit since being inserted into the #1 hole in the lineup. Cody hit another homer to lead off the game against Daniel Hudson Sunday, but that was all the Giants would put on the board against the D-Backs #2. He narrowly out-pitched Ryan Vogelsong who took another tough luck loss despite throwing 7.2 innings of solid ball, allowing just 2 runs and 5 hits with 6 K's. Again, a Giants starter has to be left wondering what more he can possibly do to help this team win games.

The first thing I'd like to see done, is Hector Sanchez inserted into the lineup everyday at catcher for a week and see what he does. It's not like he'll hurt the pitching too much and the Giants could use the stick (remember Panda in '09). Then I'd try out Brett Pill at 2nd and move Kepp over to short. Maybe not the best defensive middle, but defense is not what's killing this team right now. Kepp' can't be that much worse than Cabrera or Tejada at short and Pill was supposedly serviceable at 2B in AAA and was ripping the snot out of the ball. The Giants don't need to make a whole youth movement makeover and give up on the year yet, but maybe a youth infusion could rejuvenate this squad.


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BURNING IN Parn-HELL!

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Rockies Fall Short Against San Diego, Lose 7-2

Down by one in the bottom of the 8th, two outs, a runner on third, and Andy Parrino at the plate. Who? Exactly, but Jim Tracy had him walked intentionally. Then Matt Lindstrom walked another, then Mark Ellis made an error, then Will Venable hit a bases-clearing triple and what was once a winnable game was out of reach.

I'm not saying that the intentional walk was the cause of the loss, but it was yet another in a long list of baffling managerial decisions that have plagued the 2011 season that hurt Colorado's chances of winning. I mean, what benefit did Tracy gain by putting a rookie call-up on base? A potential force at 2nd, that's it. Meanwhile, he gave the Padres an extra base-runner. There's no way that's an equal trade -- it's a manager actively hurting his team. I don't know, maybe I'm hyper-sensitive to this stupidity because I've seen the Rockies go 4-18 on Sundays.

Aaron Cook gave the Rockies a quality start, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks in six innings, but it wasn't enough to avoid getting the loss (3-9). Offensively, Dexter Fowler went 3-4 and broke his own Rockies record for triples in a season with 15. He's quietly raised his triple slash stats to a very respectable .271/.368/.431 in the leadoff hole.

The Rockies will return to Coors after managing a 3-6 record on a make or break road trip that broke them.

Graph:

via www.fangraphs.com

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Royals Fall to Indians, But Have Fun Doing It

The Royals fell to the Indians 9-6 on Sunday afternoon, losing two out of three in the series. It was the same rate at which they lost to the Indians for the season as they dropped 12 of 18 contests against Clevelanders whom we shall never see again until Mission 2012.

Jeff Francis inched closer to receiving only a minor league deal this winter by giving up nine hits and four runs in five innings of work in losing his fifteenth game of the year. He is the first fifteen game loser in franchise history since Brian Bannister dropped sixteen in 2008. Darrell May (2004) and Paul Splittorff (1974) share the franchise record in losses with nineteen. It is within reach for Canadian Jeff.

Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit except Moose, and Billy had three. The Royals just couldn't bunch them up very well until the ninth when they mounted a three-run rally that would ultimately fall short.

The Royals have now dropped 17 of their last 26 and are just 21-28 since the All-Star break, but what is important is that they are having fun doing it. The chemistry on this team is amazing and the players of tomorrow are learning how to carry themselves after every loss. After reading Zack whine about how he felt scrutinized by his teammates on how he reacted to losses, it is refreshing to know we now have guys like Jeff Francoeur and Jeff Francis that know how to carry themselves after losses - because they have been there before. This is why they are winners, and Zack Greinke will likely never play in a meaningful baseball game.

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Cardboard Memory: Chris Chambliss

To my great shame, in the late 1970s, I watched a lot of New York Yankees baseball. Outside of Reggie Jackson, my favorite Yankee was first baseman Chris Chambliss. I have never been able to get the image of Chambliss' greatest moment out of my head. Obviously, I'm talking about his 1976 walk-off home run in the ALCS against the Royals. That homer would send the Yankees to the World Series for the first time since the age of Mantle and Maris. The chaotic celebration at Yankee Stadium was dramatic and amazing, if a little scary.

After the 1979 season, the Yanks would deal Chambliss to the Blue Jays for the "great" Rick Cerone. Toronto would, in turn, send Chambliss down Atlanta's way. It stands to reason then that when I first became a Braves fan after my family's relocation to Georgia in 1981, Chris Chambliss was one of my first favorites on the Braves.

For Atlanta, he was what he was for the Yankees, solid but a little short of great. He was the tough, good bat veteran filling out the lineup behind the "stars" Dale Murphy and Bob Horner. From the time of his arrival, through the first half of the 1984 season, he would start at first. The Braves would later trade for Ken Oberkfell in June of 1984 and with Bob Horner moving to first base, Chambliss would find his playing time decreased. Still, the next season, he would provide me with one of my first great memories of attending a Braves game in person.

I'll be charitable and just say that the 1985 Braves were not very good. Before the season, Joe Torre was let go and replaced with Eddie Haas. A friend of mine at Richards Junior High, Kevin Higginbotham, told me that Eddie Haas was great for the Braves. He would focus on the fundamentals and get the team heading in the right direction. That didn't happen. (He would be replaced after 120 games or so with the Braves 20 games under .500.) The team was abysmal and only a truly awful Giants team kept the Braves out of the cellar of the National League West.

Against this backdrop, my Mom, Dad, brother and I drove up I-85 to see the Braves play the Pirates on May 26, 1985.

Rick Mahler pitched a good game, giving up only two runs through seven innings. Bruce Sutter would give up another in the 8th and the Braves would find themselves down 3-0 in the bottom of the ninth. Remarkably, with the bases loaded, Rafael Ramirez would send a line drive into the gap tying the game and sending it into extra innings. The euphoria of Raffy's double would be lost though when Jeff Dedmon would allow the Pirates to score in the top of the 10th. Things didn't look good when the Braves came to bat in their half of the inning.

Paul Zuvella would lead off the Braves 10th with a bloop single. He was followed by Gerald Perry who drove one at Pirates right fielder Doug Frobel, who let the ball get by him. Zuvella would score and Perry would end up on 3rd. Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was buzzing. Chuck Tanner, in a bit of over-managing, would order Dale Murphy and Terry Harper intentionally walked to load the bases. He would then bring one of his outfielders into the infield and the two remaining outfielders were positioned shallowly. They wanted a force at the plate if at all possible, and if the fly was shallow, they wanted every chance to vut the runner down. The pitchers spot was up and Haas sent the veteran Chambliss to the plate. Tanner would counter with his own veteran, former Phillies closer Al Holland.

To the best of my memory, Chambliss took the first pitch for a ball. On the next pitch, he would poke the ball over the head of the shallow Pirates outfield where it` would just sort of land in the grass behind the fielders. Perry would score, and the stadium went crazy. It was, to that moment, the most exciting moment of my life as a baseball fan. Nothing I had experienced before would compare to that feeling of watching the Braves win one in their last at-bat. A younger player, a lesser player, might have tried to do too much. Chambliss knew that all he had to do was get the run in. I'm certain that my brother and I didn't come off the high the entire drive home to Columbus.

During the Braves worst-to-first season in 1991, Chris Chambliss would return to the Braves organization and manage the AA Greenville Braves to a first place finish. The following season, he would manage the Braves AAA franchise in Richmond. It looked like Chambliss would get a shot at managing in the big leagues, but that day has never come. He left the Braves for the Cardinals hitting coach position and has continuously worked as either a minor league manager or as a hitting coach in both AAA and the majors. That includes a stint as hitting coach for the Richmond Braves in 2008. 

So, when I come across a Chris Chambliss ball card, that game in 1985 is the memory that floods back to me. Do any of you have any memories of Chambliss?

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Arizona rallies, moves 7 ahead of Giants (AP)

Willie Bloomquist hit a go-ahead two-run triple after Ryan Roberts’ solo homer tied it in the eighth, and the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks extended their division cushion to a season-best seven games with a 4-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. The D-backs finally delivered for Daniel Hudson (15-9) when they got to [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/04/arizona-rallies-moves-7-ahead-of-giants-ap/

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Rangers use 7-run 6th to rout Red Sox (AP)

This time, Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers put up the big numbers in a strange season series of blowout games against the Boston Red Sox. Hamilton capped Texas’ seven-run sixth inning with a bases-loaded triple and Matt Harrison had a solid start, carrying the Rangers to an 11-4 win over the Red Sox on [...]

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Rangers use 7-run 6th to blow out BoSox (AP)

This time, Josh Hamilton and the Texas Rangers put up the big numbers in a strange season series of blowout games against the Boston Red Sox. Hamilton capped Texas’ seven-run sixth inning with a bases-loaded triple and Matt Harrison had a solid start, carrying the Rangers to an 11-4 win over the Red Sox on [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/04/rangers-use-7-run-6th-to-blow-out-bosox-ap/

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Pineiro, Abreu lead Angels past Twins (AP)

Joel Pineiro posted his first victory in almost two months and Bobby Abreu homered, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday in the rubber game of the weekend series. Pineiro (6-6) allowed a run and five hits over seven innings. The right-hander, making his third start since [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/09/04/pineiro-abreu-lead-angels-past-twins-ap/

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