Meaningful Day at Shea

post from Baseball Musings on 27 September 2008 05:02:00 PM. © Baseball Musings

Sunday's goodbye to Shea Stadium revolves around a meaningful game. Johan Santana pitches a shutout against the Marlins on just three days rest. He gives up a double in the ninth, sandwiched between too strikeouts. A scary fly ball to...

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This Date in Royals History: September 27

post from Royals Review: Front Page Posts on 27 September 2008 04:31:19 PM. © Royals Review: Front Page Posts

Despite the highly entertaining nature of this UNC-Miami game on television right now*, I'm feeling like another brief look into the way-back machine to check out this date in Royals history. This is actually the second installment of TDiRH, with my first peek back into the past coming back in July Link Here. I honestly have no idea how September 27th has treated the Royals in the past, but I'm ready to find out! I'm always somewhat-enthralled by these late season lineups, so maybe Sept. 27th will have some doozies. (Remember when Eric Milton threw a no-hitter in mid-September against the Angels' AAA lineup?) If you don't, check out this lineup for the Angels: Box Score Here.

* My only interest in this UNC/'Da U game is tied to that maddening addicting ESPN.com game "Streak for the Cash." For those that are unaware, all you have to do is pick 25 consecutive matchups/games/prop bets they provide. If you get your streak to 25, you win ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!! If you miss, you start back at zero. (Sadly, my highest streak is five. My current one is two).

via zerotosixty.files.wordpress.com

Five Years Ago: September 27, 2003
Our magical season had finally crashed back to reality (Curses to you...Dr. Regression!!), and the Royals were resigned to simply playing out the string from third place, 7.0 games back. Our boys in blue were still six games over .500 at this point, and September 27th had them at Kauffman, toiled in a heated battle with the Pale Hose from the South Side of Chicago (home of baseball's greatest fans....as well as the annual "Mullet Night" promotion....which of course, are totally unrelated)

via profile.ak.facebook.com

Anyway, after splitting the first two games of the series, September 27th brought us the pitching duel of Big Fat Bartolo Colon vs. The Man Baird Refused to Call Up from AAA, Jamey Wright.

Needless to say, this day did not turn out in the Royals' favor. In fact, it wasn't even close. Try 19-3 Chicago. It was 13-1 by the 5th inning. Ouch, babe. Before we view the damage, let me warn you that it may not be safe for young, impressionable eyes. Sept. 27, 2005 was not a good day for KC. As a great man once said, "The sea was angry that day, my friends."

Chicago White Sox AB R H RBI BB SO BA OPS

W Harris 2B                   6   3   3   1    1   0 .205 .503
C Lee LF                        4   2   0   2    1   0 .289 .827
F Thomas DH               2   2   2   1    1   0 .267 .952
A Miles PH                  2   1   1   0    0   0 .375 1.000
M Ordonez RF             6   1   1   1    0   1 .319 .932
A Rios RF                   0   0   0   0    0   0 .212 .543
C Everett CF                  5   2   4   4    0   0 .287 .878
A Rowand CF             1   0   1   1    0   0 .287 .779
B Daubach 1B              6   1   2   1    0   4 .223 .729
J Valentin SS                 5   3   2   1    1   2 .236 .776
J Crede 3B                    6   3   3   4    0   1 .263 .746
M Olivo C                      5   1   2   1    1   0 .238 .646

*Yes, that's Aaron Miles. I didn't remember him being on the White Sox. No, it's not Alex Rios. Try Armando Rios. And of course, there's our buddy Miguel Olivo. And the infamous Brian Daubach. If I remember correctly, Daubach wasn't a member of the players' union since he was a replacement player (like Ron Mahay), so he wouldn't have his real name in MLB video games like MVP Baseball or High Heat. So Daubach would always have a made-up name for his player, and I'd have to go in and manually edit his name to its correct form.

Kansas City Royals   AB   R   H RBI   BB SO    BA   OPS
A Berroa SS                   2   0   0   0    0   0 .288 .792
M Lopez PH-SS          2   1   2   2    0   0 .283 .770      2   HR
C Beltran CF                  1   0   0   0    0   0 .308 .911
D DeJesus CF            3   0   1   0    0   0 .167 .786
M Sweeney DH             4   1   1   1    0   1 .294 .860      HR
R Ibanez 1B                   3   0   0   0    0   1 .295 .800
J Patterson 1B            1   0   1   0    0   0 .211 .529
J Randa 3B                    2   0   0   0    0   0 .291 .802
J Matos 3B                   1   0   0   0    0   0 .255 .632
M Tucker PH                1   0   0   0    0   0 .264 .773
A Guiel RF                     3   0   0   0    0   0 .280 .843
R White LF                     2   0   0   0    0   1 .289 .829
D Brown LF                  1   0   0   0    0   0 .231 .610
D Relaford 2B                2   1   0   0    1   0 .255 .693
M Difelice C                   2   0   0   0    0   0 .254 .696
T Prince C                   1   0   0   0    0   0 .196 .672

I love the 2-2 with 2 HR performance off the bench for Mendy Lopez. Of course he would build that momentum into 2004, becoming an Opening Day hero with a pinch-hit 3-run homer off of the Sox and Damaso Marte, cementing himself as a permanent member of Royals' history in the process.

And who is J. Patterson? I sure didn't know. It's Jarrod Patterson, but he had his final major league hit in this game. Congrats, Jarrod. Somewhat coincidentally, Tom Prince would get a hit the next day for the Royals in the final game of his major league career as well.

Oh...and the pitching performance? Bartolo Colon threw a complete game to finish off a 15-13 season. What about the Royals? Here's a multiple choice question:

The Royals used five pitchers on Sept. 27, 2003. Which one of them did NOT give up a run?
A. Jamey Wright
B. Brad Voyles
C. Kris Wilson
D. Graeme Lloyd
E. Nate Field
F. None of the Above

Ten Years Ago: September 27, 1998
KC finished eight games better than their Pythag this season, good enough for a third place finish. It was Muser's best finish ever as Royals' manager. The Royals were at home (again) against the White Sox (again), but this time Sept. 27 was the final game of the season. Sadly, the good guys would fall 7-6, with one of the originators of the Academy of Grit, Tim Belcher, taking the loss at the expense of James Baldwin. Here are the gloomy details:

Chicago White Sox      AB   R   H RBI   BB SO    BA   OPS Pit   PO   A Details
M Caruso SS                  5   2   2   0    0   0 .306 .721   13    1   1
C Wilson 2B                   3   0   1   1    0   1 .468 1.256   12    1   4   SF
F Thomas DH               2   1   0   0    1   0 .265 .861   13    0   0
J Abbott PH                  1   0   0   0    0   0 .279 .790    5    0   0   SB
A Belle LF                      4   2   3   3    0   1 .328 1.054   16    1   0   HR
R Ventura 3B                 4   1   3   3    0   1 .263 .785   14    0   1   HR,2B
M Ordonez RF                4   0   0   0    0   1 .282 .741   14    4   0
G Norton 1B                   4   0   0   0    0   2 .237 .699   10    7   1
B Simmons CF             4   0   0   0    0   1 .368 1.052    9    4   0
M Johnson C                 3   1   0   0    1   1 .087 .386   18    9   0

--If you're like me, you saw "J Abbott" and immediately wondered if those crazy Chicagoans let Jim Abbott pinch hit since it was the season finale. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Kansas City Royals       AB   R   H RBI   BB SO    BA   OPS Pit   PO   A Details
J Damon RF                    5   1   1   1    0   2 .277 .778   18    2   1   HR
C Beltran CF                  4   1   1   2    0   1 .276 .783   13    3   0   2B,SF
J Offerman DH                4   1   2   2    1   1 .315 .841   22    0   0   HR
D Palmer 3B                   3   0   0   0    2   3 .278 .843   26    1   1
J Giambi LF                   3   0   0   0    2   1 .224 .740   28    2   0
H Morris 1B                   3   0   0   0    0   0 .309 .731    7    7   0
J Conine PH-1B           2   0   0   0    0   0 .256 .729    5    2   0
T Spehr C                       3   1   0   0    1   1 .171 .587   12    8   0
M Sweeney PH             1   0   0   0    0   0 .259 .728    7    0   0
M Lopez SS                    4   1   0   0    0   0 .243 .611   21    1   3
C Febles 2B                   2   1   2   1    2   0 .400 1.083   20    1   4

T Belcher P                                                              0   0
R Bones P                                                              0   0
M Whisenant P                                                          0   0
J Montgomery P                                                         0   0
Totals                       34   6   6   6    8   9              179   27   9

--Look at that great production from the bottom two-thirds of the order!!! 2-21. Great work guys.
--Ohh and remember the Dean Palmer days? He won the Silver Slugger at was an All-Star at third base this year for the Royals with his 34 HR and 119 RBI.
--Sadly, this was Ricky Bones' final game as a Kansas City Royal. Without looking it up, take a guess at how much money he made in salary in his MLB career.

How much $$$$ did Ricky Bones make in his career?
A. Less than 500,000
B. 500,000-1.5 Million
C. 1.5 Million-3 Million
D. 3 Million-5 Million
E. 5 Million-7 Million

Glory Days: September 27, 1985
Winding the time machine way back to 1985, September 27th found the Royals tied for first place with 10 games remaining in the season. KC was pitted against Minnesota (Bud Black vs. Frank Viola). Once again, Sept 27th was not kind to the Royals as Minnesota scored four runs off of Black in five innings. That was more than enough for Viola, whose only blemish was a solo homer to Frank White, as he went the distance to improve to 17-14 on the season.

Kansas City Royals     AB   R   H RBI   BB SO    BA   OPS Pit   PO   A Details
W Wilson CF                4   0   1   0    0   0 .274 .712    0    4   0   2B
L Smith LF                    4   0   0   0    0   1 .265 .714    0    2   0
G Brett 3B                     4   0   0   0    0   0 .331 .995    0    0   6
F White 2B                    2   1   1   1    1   0 .252 .708    0    3   3   HR
S Balboni 1B                3   0   0   0    0   1 .239 .783    0    9   1
D Motley DH                 3   0   0   0    0   2 .228 .686    0    0   0
J Sundberg C              3   0   1   0    0   0 .239 .674    0    3   1
L Jones RF                  3   0   0   0    0   1 .218 .520    0    2   1   GDP
O Concepcion SS       2   0   0   0    0   0 .206 .505    0    0   1
G Pryor PH-SS           1   0   0   0    0   0 .217 .536    0    0   0

B Black P                                                                1   0
M Huismann P                                                           0   0
J Beckwith P                                                           0   0
Totals                       29   1   3   1    1   5                    24 13

Minnesota Twins         AB   R   H RBI   BB SO    BA   OPS Pit   PO   A Details
K Puckett CF                  4   1   1   2    0   0 .280 .693    0    1   0   HR
M Hatcher LF                 4   0   1   0    0   0 .277 .665    0    2   0
K Hrbek 1B                    3   0   1   0    1   1 .275 .791    0   11   0
T Brunansky RF           4   0   0   0    0   0 .243 .770    0    3   0
M Funderburk DH        3   0   1   0    0   0 .370 1.030    0    0   0
D Engle C                     3   1   0   0    0   0 .253 .748    0    5   0   SB
G Gaetti 3B                   3   1   1   1    0   1 .246 .710    0    1   2   HR
G Gagne SS                 3   0   1   1    0   0 .228 .604    0    3   4
S Lombardozzi 2B       3   1   1   0    0   0 .324 .819    0    1   1   2B

F Viola P                                                                0   0
Totals                       30   4   7   4    1   2                    27   7

--Time of game: 2:01

--Hmmm....maybe I should've chosen three different years to examine, since Sept 27th wasn't too kind to the Royals in these three seasons. I am glad to report that the Royals have, in fact, won on September 27th. They just didn't happen to do it in these years. Hopefully we can pick up another today against those Twinkies!!

TRIVIA ANSWERS
1. If you said E., Nate Field, you are correct! He was the final (and only) pitcher to not give up a run that day, throwing a scoreless top of the 9th.

2. Once again, it's answer choice E. (5 Million-7 Million). He made approx. 5.4 Million according to baseball reference. I didn't remember him being that good, but he did make an All-Star team, and he had a career ERA+ of 95 over the course of ten major league seasons. Good for you Ricky!

via www.baseball-almanac.com

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In and Out of Trouble

post from Baseball Musings on 27 September 2008 04:05:00 PM. © Baseball Musings

A hit, walk and an IBB allow the Marlins to load the bases against Johan Santana in the top of the fifth. He gets John Baker to fly out to right to end the inning, however, preserving the shutout. Johan...

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Guzman to Start for Cubs, Zambrano Won't Pitch in
Final Game

post from Cubs f/x on 27 September 2008 04:03:00 PM. © Cubs f/x

The Cubs 2008 regular season will be completed by a revolving door of pitchers, starting with Angel[...]

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Cutting Bases: The Yankees Will Never Learn,
Albert Pujols, & the SBN Awards

post from Beyond the Box Score: Front Page Posts on 27 September 2008 04:00:05 PM. © Beyond the Box Score: Front Page Posts

Yankees

From Jon Heyman's latest:

The Yankees will likely make a big play for Pirates center fielder Nate McLouth this winter.

The problem with that is, as Sky discussed, the Yankees need defensive help in a big way. McLouth is not a very good defender in center field, whereas Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera are. Of course McLouth is the better hitter, but wouldn't the better investment be in the acquisition of a big-time hitter at a largerly irrelevant defensive position? Or even better, a good hitter who can also field.

Cardinals

Joe Posnanski took a look at Mark Reynolds, the first player in major league history to strike out 200 times in a season. Consider this: Reynolds strikes out about 38% of the time; Jack Cust strikes out 41% of the time. Albert Pujols strikes out 10% of the time. Conclusion: Albert Pujols is better than almost all.

Site News

I'm proud to announce that beginning October 6th Beyond the Boxscore will be the exclusive home for the annual SBN awards. The schedule is still a bit tetantative, but for those unfamiliar the SBN awards are voted upon by the site editors in the categories: Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP.

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Happy Birthday Mike Schmidt!!!

post from 30-year old Cardboard on 27 September 2008 03:48:31 PM. © 30-year old Cardboard

That’s right arguably the best 3rd baseman in baseball’s incredible history is celebrating his birthday as he is 59 years old today!!Happy Birthday to the only 3rd baseman to hit 500+ home runs, win 3 MVP awards, and an amazing 10 Gold Gloves!!!

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2008 Game 161: Kansas City @ Minnesota

post from The WGOM on 27 September 2008 03:00:18 PM. © The WGOM

Note: WRITING IN PROGRESSGo, Twins!

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Rookie Hazing

Last year it was the Wizard of Oz, this year the Yankees had their rookies dress up as the Village People. Alfredo Aceves is the indian, Humberto Sanchez is the navy guy, Juan Miranda is the policeman, Francisco Cervelli as the biker, Brett Gardner was the construction worker and Dave Robertson was the cowboy. Both Robertson and Gardner are not in this picture. (more pics will be added as I find them)

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Bronx Banter: Here's Mud in Yer Eye

It's Sir Sid vs. Dice K in the rain today at Fenway.

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Precocious Ian Stewart experiencing sophomore
slump as a freshman

May: .273/.333/.455
June: .182/.250/.485
July: .432/.519/.614
August: .295/.412/.526
September: .152/.188/.273

So, ascribing to the theory that baseball is as much a game of miniscule adjustments as much as it is of big time skills, Ian Stewart's dismal performance this month leads to one of two likely conclusions:

1. Stewart has relapsed into the player he was early in the season, a Mark Reynolds wannabe who K's a bunch but doesn't homer quite enough to make up for it.

2. Pitchers have figured out a new way to approach Stewart that has him looking exactly like the player he was early in the season even though he's not, really. No really, he's not.

My sarcasm probably tells you which way I'm leaning, but I don't necessarily feel that either is a terrible sign for the Rockies or Stewart just yet. Backsliding happens early in a career. Struggles happen. Stewart's just 23, he's talented, he'll gain more of the good kind of consistency as he goes along. The real problem that the Rockies face with this is that the 2009 team can't afford to muddle through June/September Ian if we're dealing both Matt and Garrett this winter. The possible upside here is that while backsliding does happen, if Ian's as good as we think he is, then the other side of this slump ought to leave him in a position where he'll be better able to quickly identify and correct his errors and the next down phase shouldn't last as long. The hope here is that the corrections will be made over the winter and he comes back more like July/August Ian.

Troy Tulowitzki's showing that he's broken through his own sophomore slump with a .329/.389/.549 September. Similarly to JDLR, that progress needs to be locked in for next season. In all, the lineup is shaping up decently as long as Ian can get back aboard.

The Rockies have been using Seth Smith in center field frequently of late, with good results offensively and at least passable results on defense. Dexter Fowler remains a wild card, so it seems that the club is trying Smith as a sort of backup plan. It seems to be showing that the club is seriously considering trading Willy Taveras this winter.