Thursday, June 30, 2005

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

The Tribe couldn't pull off the sweep, but still won the series to start this 15 game stretch at 2-1. Let's hope that the Baltimoran can get some W's in Camden this weekend.

I'll be out of town for a long weekend, so I'll start up again after the 4th.

Interesting poll question on ESPN.com's Baseball Page:
What is your Favorite Baseball Movie? The results:
Bad News Bears 8%
Bull Durham 13%
The Natural 16%
Field of Dreams 30%
And winning it all,
Major League 34%!

I don't know why that floors me so much, but I am shocked by those results (after over 17,000 people voted). I guess the Cleveland fans were out in force for this one.

Happy 4th and don't blow your hand off with some M-80.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll do my best, i'm staring with an all you can drink and eat bullpen party at 5:30...should get me pretty juiced for the game, i'll see if i can put together a proper chief headdress. I intend to meet Wickman before the game.

Anonymous said...

don't ever start talking shit about SAL FASONA in front of O's fans...he will drill a 383 ft. homerun as you say that he is a poor man's Tim Laker

PC, you have to recognize Coco as part of the future here, you don't need to hit 35 dongs to be productive.

I saw boobies tonight

Cy Slapnicka said...

Nice work Bax. Did the hotdog cart lady get you? If I ever see her again, I'm going to go bananas. Did the usher collecting ballots look suspicious enough to cuss out?

Gotta like the .630 clip the boys went through June with.

Anonymous said...

Ushers...and the beer guys were nice.

forgot to mention, many of the O's fans sitting by me were griping about how it was possible for the tribe's "weak" lineup to put up over 14 hits. I then began explaining to them the 1 through 9 strategy and how we don't have to rely on one or two guys for our offense. I was immediately told to "shut up Indianas fan".
The boo birds were harsh on Sammy Sosa, I was going to mention to my new friends at the bachelor party how the Tribe's GM doesn't take huge contracts for big name players to fill seats, but it was becoming a rout and i was becoming less liked by the minute.

sounds like this will be Mazzilli's last year here, which isn't fair since they were winning before Lopez, Mora, and Betard all got hurt

Anonymous said...

one down today, one more to go [in which i'll be in attendance]. however, from the latest gammons article.



Baseball thrives in D.C.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Peter Gammons
Special to ESPN.com



George Steinbrenner's birthday, celebrated in some areas as the Fourth of July, marks the de facto midpoint of the 2005 season, one in which the wonderful story of the Washington Nationals and Frank Robinson -- one of the 10 most important men who ever played -- has overshadowed all else, including the enhancement mess of spring training.


To return baseball to the nation's capitol -- even at the expense of paying Peter Angelos a shiek's ransom -- and have the Nationals battle their way to first place, has been the biggest story of the half-season. Jose Guillen is a serious MVP candidate, Livan Hernandez is in the Cy Young running and Chad Cordero is in the running for the Rolaids Relief Man award. And a collection of very good players who have escaped Yoopi's shadow, from Brian Schneider to Brad Wilkerson, Nick Johnson to John Patterson, has helped Washington outdraw Baltimore as of Saturday.


The next best story is that of the Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, et al. Brian Roberts' emergence as a star for the Orioles is a huge story, in contrast to the rehab of Barry Bonds. What Bobby Cox has done in taking the injury-ravaged Braves, keeping them in contention while developing a new team that could contend for another five years, is beyond description, but what's happened to the NL West -- whose combined June winning percentage was .382, with the 12-15 Rockies having the best record -- makes one long for the Northern League. What Roger Clemens has done as he prepares to turn 43 on Aug. 4 is remarkable, but the decline of the Bronx Empire is a stark contrast.


The Cubs' Derrek Lee is the National League's midseason MVP over Guillen, Albert Pujols, Andruw Jones (for what he's done in the absence of Chipper) and Bobby Abreu. It's hard to pick between Roberts and Miguel Tejada, but most Orioles would defer to Tejada because of the way he pulls that team along with him with his passion and compassion toward his teammates. Not that Vladimir Guerrero, Johnny Damon, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez aren't in position to win the award with big finishes.


The Cy Young Awards are very difficult at this point, but what Clemens has done with so little support earns him the first-half title, barely, over Dontrelle Willis, Pedro Martinez, Livan Hernandez and Roy Oswalt. How one picks between Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Roy Halladay is virtually impossible, but in the mind's eye Buehrle's astounding stretch of 45 starts into the seventh inning makes him the winner.


There is no question that Guillen and Cox are the managers of the year, but there really are no rookies of the half-years because of Clint Barmes' injury. The Rockies' shortstop would have won it, but right now it likely would be Houston's Willy Taveras for what he's done for the Astros outfield, ditto Jeremy Reed in Seattle, while we watch the development of Pittsburgh catcher Ryan Doumit and Blue Jays infielder Aaron Hill.

Polling Stations



Nearly 50 general managers, executives, scouts and managers were polled on the following questions, with the vote leaders:


Which player in his first full season has impressed you the most?


Grady Sizemore, Cleveland.
Clint Barmes, Colorado
David Wright, Mets
Jeremy Reed, Seattle
Huston Street, Oakland
Aaron Hill, Toronto
Jesse Crain, Minnesota
Rickie Weeks, Milwaukee

Also receiving multiple votes: Chris Young, Texas; Jeff Francis, Colorado; Brad Hawpe, Colorado; Ryan Doumit, Pittsburgh; Maicer Izturis, Anaheim; Jhonny Peralta, Cleveland; Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay; Brian McCann, Atlanta; Kelly Johnson, Atlanta; Brad Halsey, Arizona; Robinson Cano, Yankees.


"Sizemore isn't good, he's great," says one assistant GM. "I can't believe he's under the radar, because at 22 he is on his way to being the American League's All-Star center fielder for the next decade."

Anonymous said...

oops, just meant to copy the grady part...

Anonymous said...

more from gammons:

• What's sad about Cleveland's emergence as a wild-card threat is that the Indians are 28th in the majors in attendance despite a terrific young team. The boom of the '90s was, in many ways, the Perfect Storm -- no football team, bad Cavs, an exciting home run team with stars and a good economy. Now the Browns are back, LeBron James is in town and the economy is in the tank, as the state lost more than 280,000 jobs in the first four years of the Bush Administration.