Bronx Banter: You Gotta Believe

"I didn't think Pedro would come out, the way he was throwing and with his pitch count pretty low," [Mike] Mussina said. "It was pretty easy for him. And I was surprised when Wagner came back with a four-run lead, and he just pitched last night.

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Staying Perfect

Brandon Webb became the first NL seven game winner last night and pitched a nearly flawless game as the Diamondbacks pounded the Braves 13-0. Webb walked just one and struck out 8. The Braves managed just four hits against him....


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Sunday Update

The Day by Day Database is up to date....


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Pickoff Moves

Today's Birthdays

Mace Brown BRO b. 1909, played 1941, All-Star: 1938, d. 2002-03-24. I didn't know that Babe Ruth played for the 1935 Braves, but he did; one of his last multi-homer days came while he was playing for that team, a three-dinger day at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. After hitting his last blast, he went to the Pittsburgh dugout, and sat down next to Mace Brown. He was, after all, the Bambino.

Brown was a relief specialist, one of the first of his kind; he mostly pitched for the Pirates, and closed out his career with the Red Sox, sandwiching most of 1941 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He twice led the league in appearances, saves, and games finished.

Barry Latman CAL,LAA b. 1936, played 1964-1965, All-Star: 1961. Not a particularly interesting player for the Angels (save for his value in getting the earthly remains of Joe Adcock — Latman was the return on the Leon Wagner trade), he was fairly typical of the kind of player the early Angels acquired: guys who had found success previously but were never able to really find consistency. Latman had one really good year in 1958 with the White Sox when he completed the season with an unearthly 0.76 ERA; he almost immediately made the Angels' front office look dumb for making the trade when he gave up a three-run homer in spring training to Wagner. Never able to find much success with the Angels, they sent him to AAA Seattle; he was moved for a minor league pitcher to the Astros and finished his career there.

Charlie Loudenslager BRO b. 1881, played 1904, d. 1933-10-31

Tom Martin LAN b. 1970, played 2003-2004. A former bullpen LOOGY for the Dodgers, he's either terrible or pretty good; his .214/.313/214 lifetime line against Barry Bonds stands to me as his most interesting, if obscure, accomplishment. He's with the Rockies this year, so it's a skill he can put to use.

Sandy McDougal BRO b. 1874, played 1895, d. 1910-10-02

Elmer Sexauer BRO b. 1926, played 1948

Hank Webb LAN b. 1950, played 1977

Even When He's Out Of The Game, DePodesta's Plaschke's Villain

Man, talk about dead horse flogging:

"To get through the schedule, we have to have depth, and right now, our depth is not enough," Mike Scioscia said.

Sound familiar?

They have become, yeah, the DePodesta Dodgers.

And the Dodgers, who spent days last winter without a manager, a general manager, a future or even a clue?

They have become, almost overnight, brainy and balanced contenders.

Right. And when Nomar and Kent and all the other old guys are struggling and/or injured in September and the Dodgers come reeling back, I'm sure he'll have an apologia up for this column. Not.

The Horrible 2000 Draft

John Sickels recounts (in two parts) the first round of the 2000 draft; it's a tale of blood, gore, and flameouts. Here's the relevant players for the Angels and Dodgers:

10) Joe Torres, LHP, Anaheim Angels (high school, Gateway, FL)
     Thin lefty with 92-95 MPH fastball and excellentbreaking ball dominated older competition in the Northwest League aftersigning, emerging as a top prospect quickly. But he was soon dogged bypersistent elbow and shoulder problems. Healthy again by 2005, he hasbeen unable to regain his command. Still has good stuff, but has lostconfidence and the ability to locate his pitches in the strikezone.

...

17) Ben Diggins, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (University of Arizona)
     Hulking monster on the mound with a 96-98 MPHfastball but shaky command and a mixed track record. He continued tohave command problems as a pro, lost his fastball, and eventually hurthis shoulder. Lost four out of five starts for the Brewers in2002.

...

20) Chris Bootcheck, RHP, Anaheim Angels (Auburn University)
      Low 90s fastball, cutter, curve, changeup. . .foursolid pitches. For some reason, in college the results never quiteseemed to match with his talent, and this trend continued in the pros.Appears to have topped out in Triple-A.

Sickels says the Phillies' Chase Utley is the best player developed in the first round of this draft so far, with the jury out on a bunch still. It's being said that this year's draft will be just as bad, with virtually no position players of any quality in even the first round (maybe Evan Longoria's an exception?).

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Dodger Thoughts: A Great Day for the Aybar Family

Steve Henson has it covered in the Times:

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Mike's Baseball Rants: Line Dancing

Sorry, the Yankee 10-run comeback the other day inspired me. I've been busy ever since then trying to incorporate Retrosheet's game log data into my own little data stores. The first results of this data merger are in, and I hope are interesting. As far as the greatest comebacks of all time, the best was from a 12-run deficit, but that's fodder for another day.

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Minor League Scorebook

News

• During yesterday's proceedings at Ray Winder Field, it seems that oneof the visiting Springfield Cardinals, Reid Gorecki, homered onto the roof of the National Guard armory and fouled a pitch into the lights over the first base grandstand, causing glass shards to rain down on the fans below.
• From Travelerocity we learn that Travs first baseman Greg Porter is making a push for the Texas League All-Star game. He's hit in 14 of his last 15 games for a .322 average, and of course had a walk-off grand slam Friday.

Scores

2006-05-20: Oklahoma 14, Salt Lake 8 # Willits, R: 1-4, 1 BB, 1 K
Kendrick, H: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K
Gorneault: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Morales: 1-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Mathis, J: 1-5
Eylward: 1-4
Pavkovich: 1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Smith, C: 2-4
Olenberger: (L, 3-1), 5.2 IP, 8 ER, 9 H, 3 K, 3 BB, 3 HR, 3.93 ERA
I guess they miss Jason Bulger; the score was an altogether manageable9-8 entering the top of the ninth when Bees reliever Matt Wilhite gaveup five runs on a one-out, three-run dinger and an RBI double. KaseyOlenberger got tagged for a well-earned loss; he was just awful.Howie Kendrick had his first multi-hit day since returning to AAA,though he did strike out twice, something he seems to have done a lot;he now has more K's (8) than hits (4) in May (his first game afterbeing sent down to AAA was May 15).2006-05-20: Springfield 11, Arkansas 10 # Bacon: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Rodland: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Wood: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K
Wilson: 3-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Gates: 3-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K
Pali: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Holcomb: 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3.63 ERA
Thompson: (L, 1-1) (in relief), 0.1 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 3.65 ERA
Brandon Wood took his day off pretty well, recovering to get a doubleand an RBI, but more importantly, to walk twice. Bobby Wilsonhomered, and things went generally swimmingly for the Travs until theninth — when the Cards pounced for eight earned runs.Tim Bittner got Nick Stavinoha to fly out, but then he walked thebases loaded. Somehow recovering himself, he got Mike McCoy to strikeout looking, but Reid Gorecki singled a pair home, and advanced tosecond on a Matt Pali fielding error. Rich Thompson came in andsurrendered a homer, a walk, hit a batter, and then gave up an RBIdouble and an RBI single to make the pain complete. Somebody get theTravs some bullpen help, quick.2006-05-20: Rancho Cucamonga 2, Inland Empire 4 # Rodriguez, S: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 K
Collins: 1-4
Lopez: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K
Toussaint: 1-4
Johnson: 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 K
Rodriguez: (L, 1-4), 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 K, 4 BB, 1 HR, 3.82 ERA
Jepsen: 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 4.02 ERA
A not-bad effort by the other Francisco Rodriguez, but it just wasn'tenough as the 66ers snuck past the Quakes with one run in the eighth.2006-05-20: Kane County 4, Cedar Rapids 0 # Statia: 3-3
Trumbo: 0-3, 1 K
Shearer: (L, 1-5), 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 K, 1 BB, 5.02 ERA
Howell: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 6 K, 3 BB, 3.91 ERA
Didjurgis: 1.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 2.84 ERA
Tim Didjurgis' descent to earth continues.2006-05-20: AZL Angels did not play2006-05-20: Orem did not play2006-05-20: Las Vegas 1, Albuquerque 7 # Weber, J: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB
Guzman, J: 2-4, 1 RBI
Young, D: 1-3, 1 BB
Billingsley: 0-2, 1 K
Loney: 0-1
Billingsley: (L, 4-1), 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 5 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 3.59 ERA
Carrara: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 1.00 ERA
I've seen worse beatings (see the Travs' ninth inning, above); youcan't be Superman every day. Albuquerque scored four in the firstframe and then not at all against Billingsley. Joel Guzman playedfirst base, going 2-4, and Delwyn Young got on base twice infour tries. Nice.2006-05-20: Mississippi 4, Jacksonville 3 # Abreu: 1-5
Hu: 2-4, 1 BB
Kemp: 1-4, 1 BB, 2 K
LaRoche: 2-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Raglani: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB
Hanrahan: 0-2, 1 K
Hanrahan: 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 4 K, 3 BB, 3.48 ERA
Ojeda: (L, 2-1) (in relief), 2.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 K, 2 BB, 2.25 ERA
Not a quality start from Hanrahan, but far from awful. Good outingsby Hu and LaRoche.2006-05-20: Clearwater 3, Vero Beach 4 # Paul, X: 1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Hoffmann: 3-4
Dewitt: 0-4, 3 K
Bruce: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
Denker, T: 0-4
Nicholson: 2-4, 1 K
Malone: 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 7 K, 4 BB, 4.14 ERA
Akin: (W, 2-3) (in relief), 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 1.71 ERA
Aren't bottom-of-the-ninth wins for the home team great? Veroconverted a Travis Denker force out, a David Nicholson single, and aChris Westervelt sac fly into the game-winning run. For a moment, itlooked precarious, as the Threshers erased leadoff batter AdolofoGonzalez with Denker's force. Blake Dewitt got a silver sombrero, though.2006-05-20: Columbus 14, Savannah 6 # De Jesus: 3-6, 1 2B, 1 K
Pedroza: 2-5, 3 RBI, 1 BB
Mitchell: 1-6, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K
Mooneyham: 1-4, 2 BB, 1 K
Locke: 3-6, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 2 K
May: 2-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K
Apodaca: 2-2, 2 RBI, 3 BB
Leach: (W, 3-2), 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 5 K, 4 BB, 3.23 ERA
Gomez de Segura: 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 0 BB, 7.85 ERA
I have to admit I kinda like Jason Mooneyham, even though I have nogood reason to do so; part of it is that he played for Chapman, butanother part is that he's a quirky player, what with his.333/.492/.378 line and all. He's hitting for average and getting onbase at a ridiculous clip. Today's game is fairly typical for himsince getting called up to the Catfish, walking twice and getting asingle. Ivan De Jesus went 2-5 with 3 RBI against the Sand Gnats,while Brent Leach got the win as the starter. Three runs againstSavannah starter Brett Nyquist were unearned, as was one in thefour-run ninth against Miguel Sanfler.2006-05-20: GCL Dodgers did not play2006-05-20: Ogden did not play

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Another Walkoff

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays win on a walk-off home run for the second game in a row. Russell Branyan provided the heroics last night, with a two out, two run homer. Travis Lee doubled to start the inning, and...


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