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Tonight I caught the Orioles v Athletics baseball game. My mom, dad and youngest sister all went to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Read and see the game highlights.
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Continue reading "Baltimore Orioles v Oakland Athletics" »
I'm back from a weekend umpire camp and clinic (Southeast Umpires) in Miami. My thoughts and links are herein.
Continue reading "Umpire Camp in Miami" »
The minor league umpires declared a strike on Friday, March 03. Read some interesting articles about the conditions of a minor league official.
Continue reading "Minor League Umpires are on strike" »
The Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros last night winning the World Series. This is the first time the White Sox have won a series since 1917.
Orioles '05: It can't get any worse
By DAVID GINSBURG, AP Sports Writer
October 3, 2005
BALTIMORE (AP) -- A 74-88 record and fourth-place finish in the AL East doesn't begin to define the humiliation experienced by the 2005 Baltimore Orioles.
More...
Continue reading "Recapping the 2005 Baltimore Orioles" »
A CompuCredit executive made my week - Bobby walked in, and 1 hour before game time, hands me a ticket to Game 1 of the NLDS Braves vs. Astros!
Continue reading "Atlanta Braves, Game 1 of the NLDS" »
The Braves and local 98 Rock (in Atlanta) held a FanFest luncheon. Scott and I went over - which happened to be just minutes from where we are working - and participated in the give-aways and party.
Ken Rosenthal - who used to be the sports editor at the Baltimore Sun - wrote this article for Fox Sports. It is aptly titled "O's need to start with a strong GM."
Continue reading "Ken Rosenthal on the Baltimore Orioles GM" »
Tonight, Lauren Scott and I went to watch the Braves play the Phillies. Right now we are in the eighth and are tied at six. Weather tonight at Turner field is warm but comfortable.
It's October baseball time!
Last night I found a ticket to game 5 of the NLCS in Houston, TX. The series was tied 2-2 after Houston won the last 2. My outfield seat cost just $45 -- standing room only tickets were exceeding $100! Outfield section 254 was the best ticket I could find.
Backe started for Houston; Williams for the Cardnials. "Pivotal" best describes this game. Winner needs just 1 more win to goto the world series. And Houston has been HOT at home.
I sat beside two gentlemen who were from Calgary, CA. They are heading to Iraq for a year of engineering service.
Beltran made a fabulous basket catch mid-game. He then made a super catch on "the hill" in center.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, score even at zero, Kent blasted a 3 run homerun that almost hit the train. Minute Maid Park erupted. Not a single person left for 15 minutes. What a great ballgame! The article below describes the game.
Pitching dominant until Astros' Kent plays Superman
Pitching dominant until Astros' Kent plays Superman
By Tom Krasovic
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 19, 2004
Associated Press
Houston Astros' Jeff Kent is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after his three-run home run in the ninth inning to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series in Houston, Monday.
HOUSTON – Led by two favored sons from the Lone Star State, the Houston Astros last night charged to within one victory of giving Texas its first entrant in a World Series.
The Astros, age 43, climbed atop the National League Championship Series three games to two when Jeff Kent, batting with one out in the ninth inning, launched a three-run home run to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 before 43,045 at Minute Maid Park.
Kent's blast off Jason Isringhausen, the team's relief ace, was just reward for Astros pitcher Brandon Backe. In a stunning, eight-inning effort by a 26-year-old who's yet to work a full major league season, Backe allowed just one hit, Tony Womack's sharp single with two outs in the sixth.
Batting with Carlos Beltran on second base and Lance Berkman on first, Kent belted the first pitch he saw, a slider, off the facade above the left-center field wall, touching off a raucous celebration.
Just another Houston hoedown, it was for these Astros, who snaked the wild-card berth on the season's final day with their 18th consecutive home victory and won Games 3, 4, 5 of this series at home after losing Games 1 and 2 in St. Louis.
"I've never seen crowds like our fans in this homestand," said Astros manager Phil Garner, whose team didn't make an error in the three games. "It's something, and I think the fans built a large part in our play. It's been building this last six weeks, and it's just gotten crazier and crazier."
Kent, whose winters are spent on a cattle ranch near Austin, broke from his stoic ways as he trotted out his home run. Inspired by the theatrics of Red Sox slugger Dave Ortiz, whose home run less than 24 hours earlier won Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, Kent flipped his helmet before reaching his jubilant teammates.
"That's the kid in me that loves to play the game," Kent said.
Backe grew up idolizing Astros stars Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. However, the ovation that greeted Backe was as loud, if not louder, as Astros players were introduced before Game 3.
Backe hails from Galveston, an island town about an hour from Houston. The fiery right-hander was a standout high school quarterback who led his team to the state's 5A semifinal opposite a team quarterbacked by Drew Brees, the future Chargers QB.
Better-rested than in his Game 1 start, in which he gave up four runs, Backe opened in a groove. He began with a strike to the first six hitters and 12 of 14. Not until Jim Edmonds walked with one out in the fifth did a Cardinal reach base. Womack's single came after Backe became the first pitcher in NLCS history to open with 5 2/3 hitless innings.
"I was upset that I gave up a hit," Backe said. "I had a chance to have something remarkable happen."
Larry Walker followed with a walk, which brought up hitting star Albert Pujols, who had hit three home runs in the series. Backe showed toughness, firing an inside fastball with his first pitch. Pujols hit a weak popup. Backe went on to retire the final seven Cardinals before Brad Lidge, coming off two scoreless outings in Games 3 and 4, retired the Cardinals in the ninth.
But Woody Williams gave Backe no margin for error. A former Padre and Houston native, Williams held the Astros to one run over seven innings. Next came Isringhausen, who retired the Astros on 11 pitches in the eighth.
"We were pulling our hair out," Kent said.
Beltran had set a postseason record with home runs in the previous five games. The streak ended last night. Beltran still kept busy. He made two fine plays in center field. And he set up Kent's blow by opening the home ninth with a sharp single – the game's third hit – and one out later stealing second base on a 1-2 pitch as Berkman batted.
As Kent expected, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had Isringhausen walk Berkman, the cleanup man. In six seasons with the Giants, for whom he often batted behind Barry Bonds, Kent learned to anticipate a walk to the preceding hitter and envision his method of attack. He jumped on an Isringhausen slider, clocked at 89 mph.
"I don't want to get cheated," he said. "I was going to take three swings."
At times, Cardinals hitters appeared overanxious against Backe, never more so than when Renteria, who's batted .059 in the series, popped out on the first pitch he saw in the fifth. Backe had just hit his first rough patch, throwing 12 pitches two at-bats earlier to Scott Rolen and walking Edmonds on five pitches.
Now, the Cardinals need a win to stay alive, two to reach their first World Series since 1987.
"We're looking forward to getting home," La Russa said.
I went last night to Minute Maid Park in Houston to watch the Astros v. Cardinals. Roger Clemens started for Houston and struck out the first 6 of 9 batters!
Astros sweep Cardinals, take wild-card lead
HoustonChronicle.com - Astros sweep Cardinals, take wild-card lead: "The cheers started in the clubhouse Wednesday afternoon while several Astros watched on television as the Cincinnati Reds mounted a rally in the ninth to force extra innings against the Chicago Cubs.
The celebration got a little louder during batting practice, when the Astros prepared for the St. Louis Cardinals by seeing the Reds complete their win over the Cubs on Minute Maid Park's Jumbotron.
The stadium was rocking by the seventh inning when Jeff Bagwell drove in the go-ahead run and Lance Berkman drove in an insurance run, helping complete a three-game sweep of the Cardinals with a 6-4 victory before a sellout crowd of 43,186.
Houston's victory combined with Chicago's loss and a loss late Wednesday by San Francisco put the Astros a half-game ahead of the Cubs and Giants atop the NL wild-card standings.
"I know there's a lot of excitement in here," Bagwell said after going 3-for-4 with two RBIs. "We have a lot of young guys who have never been through this before, and everybody is excited, and they should be.
"It is an exciting time. But as veterans and as a team, we understand that we have to take care of business. We had to go out and win tonight, and we did."
With the score tied at 4 in the bottom of the seventh, Orlando Palmeiro hit for reliever Chad Qualls (4-0) and drew a five-pitch walk from Jeff Suppan. After the speedy Willy Taveras was sent to run for Palmeiro, Craig Biggio sacrificed, and Taveras reached third on Carlos Beltran's groundout to second. Bagwell came through with a clutch two-out single to left, and Berkman followed with an RBI double to left-center field, giving the Astros a 6-4 lead.
"I've never felt as much energy in our clubhouse and with our fans as there is right now," Brad Lidge said after pitching the ninth for his 27th save. "Right now the atmosphere is just electric. It's fantastic. You can really feel the fans behind you right now."
The 'Bartman Foul Ball' was bought by Harry Carry's resturant and will be destroyed Feb 26th. See this story.
Worked an AAU ballgame today. The Florida Marlins beat the New York Yankees (game 6) to win the 2003 World Series.
PHOTO ALBUM. Photographed the Countryside vs Sickels AAU 18U ballgame. The shots will be used for website photographs. The full album can be seen here.
Marlins victorious over New York. Series is tied 2 games apiece.
World Series Update. Yanks and Marlins are battling it out. Marlins took game 1, Yanks took games 2 and 3. Last night's game was rain delayed by an hour. I have no interest in this series...
The goat lives on in Chicago.
Steven Bartman released this statement regarding his "catch" during game 6.
"There are few words to describe how awful I feel and what I have experienced within these last 24 hours. I've been a Cub fan all my life and fully understand the relationship between my actions and the outcome of the game.
"I had my eyes glued on the approaching ball the entire time and was so caught up in the moment that I did not even see Moises Alou, much less that he may have had a play. Had I thought for one second that the ball was playable or had I seen Alou approaching, I would have done whatever I could to get out of the way and give Alou a chance to make the catch.
"To Moises Alou, the Chicago Cubs organization, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks and Cub fans everywhere, I am so truly sorry from the bottom of this Cub fan's broken heart. I ask that Cub fans everywhere redirect the negative energy that has been vented towards my family, my friends, and myself into the usual positive support for our beloved team on their way to being National League champs."
Well, hand it to the Marlins. Jack McKeon gets his trip to the fall classic. The Marlins are the 2003 National League Champions. To get there, the Marlins beat Wood and Prior -- who woulda thought. Cubs fans - wait til next year.
Marlins get Cubs' goat, 9-6
Florida caps comeback, extends Wrigley curse to reach World Series; Games 6, 7, it aces ivy league test; MVP "Pudge" Rodriguez rallies wild card team to 3 wins in row; Chicago stays second city
AC005895: 00 - years since last division win, 58 years since last penant/NL win, 95 years since last World Series win.
Gonzo goes down swinging. Cubs are down to their final out.
Simon K's on four straight change-ups. Gonzalez, with 3 home runs in the series, bats.
Ramierz hit by pitch. Nobody out. Simon is pinch-hitting.
Bottom of the ninth. Cubbies down to their last 3 outs. They are still losing by 3.
Holy cow! Game 7 of the NLCS is going to the 9th with the Marlins ahead 9-6. If they lose...
The Red Sox have just beat the Yankees forcing game 7. Time for the Cubs-Marlins game to begin. I'm outa here to find a party near Wrigley...
Last night's actions at Wrigley Field are reminiscent of a Jeffrey Maier's fan interference between Baltimore and the Yankees, 1996.
For those not familiar with the circumstances, Derek Jeter hit an apparent deep fly out to Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco. While Tarasco camped under the warning track to catch the ball, and register another out, 12 year old Jeffrey Maier reached far over the wall, and took the ball out of the air, just above Tarasco's glove.
The umpire covering the play mistakenly thought the ball was heading over the fence (because of Maier's "catch") and ruled Jeter's hit a home run. The Yankees went on to win the game in extra innings, and eventually won the playoffs as well as the World Series.
Maybe there is something to this Chicago Cubs curse after all. The Cubs were only 5 outs away from a world series birth when the team, aided by a fan, errored and sent the series to a game 7.
Scott and I trooped down to Wrigleyville. The atmosphere was festive. Everyone who had come was ready for the celebration - winning game 6 and moving onto the world series. We walked down Sheffield, Waveland, Addison and Clark St. Every street, every sidewalk, and every bar was jam-packed. Saw xNew York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the Chicago chief of Police. We found Chen's on Clark St. wasn't overly full and had a good TV view.
The restaurant crowd was lively. With each passing out it got louder - inside and out. But one fan in the eighth inning changed all that.
From MLB.com:
Wednesday night's seventh game of the National League Championship Series will decide who goes to the World Series, and that is not all. It also will decide whether the eighth inning of Game 6 will be remembered in Chicago Cubs history for only 24 hours as a delay ... or forever as The Inning.
 In a sudden eighth-inning turnaround, the Florida Marlins took advantage of left fielder Moises Alou's run-in with a fan on a foul fly and an error by shortstop Alex Gonzalez to score eight runs in an 8-3 victory, forcing the NL championship series to a decisive Game 7. People, who minutes earlier were dancing and singing the praises of the Cubs, suddenly turned their wrath on the fan who grabbed for the fly ball just as Alou attempted to catch it. Obscene chants echoed from inside the stadium and from the surrounding streets, where thousands gathered to celebrate what they hoped would be the Cubs' first trip to the World Series since 1945. Ballpark guards escorted the man, who was wearing a Cubs hat, from his seat along the low outfield wall and into a security office as the game ended. He covered his face with a sweater as he walked past fans who pelted him with cups of beer and shouted obscenities. Some chanted "kill him." Jim Cuthbert, 33, said he was sitting about 15 to 20 rows behind the fan and was kicked out after approaching to berate him. "My wife was hanging on to my arm. I was going nuts. That idiot. We were five outs away," Cuthbert said. Fans outside the ballpark at first couldn't believe what they were hearing on radios or watching on portable televisions. From CBS2Chicago.com: The meddling fan was a 26-year-old man sitting at Seat 116, Row Nine. He was escorted away by security with his face covered after the irate crowd began pelting him with cups of beer and threats of violence. Some of the fans chanted "kill him!" From the St. Pete Times:First a fan - a fan wearing a Cubs hat! - reached out to catch Luis Castillo's foul ball, denying leftfielder Alou the chance to record the second out of the pivotal eighth inning. There was no fan interference call because umpire Mike Everitt felt the ball was in the stands. "No doubt in my mind I was going to catch it," Alou said. "It was something that happened out of our control." Castillo instead walked, with Juan Pierre moving to third on a wild pitch. Mark Prior got ahead of Ivan Rodriguez 0-and-2 but gave up a run-scoring single. Then the Cubs were vexed again. Surehanded shortstop Alex Gonzalez booted Miguel Cabrera's grounder, a fairly routine play that should have led to at least one out but instead loaded the bases. "When that happened you could see the opening," McKeon said. Derrek Lee, who was 3-for-25 in the series, ripped a double to make it 3-3, chasing Prior. After an intentional walk, Jeff Conine's sacrifice fly put them ahead 4-3, and a bases-loaded double by Mike Mordecai (Mike Mordecai!) pretty much spoiled the night. Pierre's single made it 8-3 and over. "It has nothing to do with the curse," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "It has to do with the fan interference and the very uncharacteristic error by Gonzo, because he doesn't miss anything. And then they just started hitting. It has nothing to do with the curse. It has to do with their bats." ------- Shortly thereafter fans started heading home. They couldn't bear to continue watching. Game Seven is tomorrow tonight.
Yanks and Sox really got into it today! Here is a partial article from ESPN.COM.
"Stories from Saturday's game are going to be passed down (and exaggerated) from generation to generation but the best way to sum up the day is to say that the 72-year-old Zimmer left Fenway Park in an ambulance (somewhere Bill Lee is smiling) and the Boston police issued a dragnet for two Yankees players who allegedly fought a Red Sox groundskeeper in the bullpen.
All this transpired just because Pedro threw a pitch behind right fielder Karim Garcia's head and hit him in the back in the top of the fourth inning. And because Pedro faced the Yankees dugout and pointed to his head. And because Clemens had to be held back from storming the field. And because Garcia took out second baseman Todd Walker with a vicious late slide. And because Manny stepped menacingly toward Clemens after a pitch that was nowhere near him in the bottom of the fourth.
Oh, and because these two teams have hated each other for decades. The staggering moment from the game we will long remember however was in that amazing fourth inning, when the two great rivals were angrily storming the field, shouting obscenities and issuing threats -- and a seething Zimmer came racing around the bend, violently charging Pedro with such passion and energy that the Notre Dame Victory March should have been playing."
"Andy Pettitte and I went over there and I saw a bald head on the ground,'' Clemens said, delivering what may be the most bizarre quote in postseason history. "We weren't sure if it was Zim or (David Wells). I was like, Oh, my gosh, and he wasn't getting up. We went over and Andy and I were talking to Zim and we were just glad he was healthy, a man of his age. But that's Zim, he's got more fire than half those guys in the dugout and that's why I love him."
"Zim was probably out of line, too, but you have to consider his age,'' reliever Jeff Nelson said. "What, Pedro couldn't dodge him? The guy is 75 years old, how is he going to hurt you? You have to have more respect than that for someone like, an elderly man. You have to get out of the way.''
Nelson is one to talk. He was involved in such an ugly incident in the bullpen during the ninth inning that he may face arrest.
Depending on whom you believe, a Boston groundskeeper either got out of control and tried to punch Nelson (that's the Yankees version) or the Yankees tried beating up a groundskeeper who was just rooting hard for his employer (the Red Sox version). The truth, no doubt, lies in between.
All anyone knows for sure is that while closer Mariano Rivera was warming up on the mound for the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees and Paul Williams -- a special ed schoolteacher by day -- were going at it in the bullpen. It got so wild that Garcia left his position in right field to join the fray.
"The guy was waving a rally flag in our face most of the game,'' said Nelson, who denied he hit Williams. "I asked him nice to stop and then he got in my face. ... And all of a sudden crap broke loose.''
"I thought it was a fan, so I went, "All right, I want to watch them beat up the fan,' " Sauerbeck said. "Then I saw it was our grounds crew guy and we all felt kind of bad.
"Whoever started it, it was classless. If their guys started it, it was classless and if our guy started it, it was classless.''
Classless. Yes, that sums up the game. Oh yea, and the Yanks won.
Cubs are playing tonight. They have a 8 run lead in the 5th. Prior is on the mound.
The Cubs and Marlins kicked off the 2003 National League Championship Series with a bang - seven bangs (homers), that is, in a single game. Three homers came in the top of the third. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Got to Wrigley around 6PM. Already the block was crowded. People were streaming into the stadium. Many more were hanging out in the local bars. Scalpers were wanting $150+ for a standing room only ticket! Good seats were going for $1000+, easily. After an hour of 'looking', and just as I was ready to stop looking and go eat, I ran into a gentleman from Cleveland. He had a pair of tickets and wanted to sell one. It was a great ticket - face $75, field box 122, row 15. The ticket was comped from his company. Ninety ($90) later I was sitting beside him! A great buy and a great seat for what was going to be an amazing contest.
Zambrano started for Chicago; Beckett went for Florida. Chicago scored four in the first. A homer by Alou capped the scoring. Suffice it to say, Wrigley was loud and rocking! That noise ended in the 3rd when Zambrano gave up 5 runs on 3 homers including a 3 run blast to Pudge.
The deflated crowd roared back in the later innings as Chicago manufactured a runs and tied the game. It stayed that way until a double in the top of the 9th scored two Fish. Could Chicago come back, again? Yes. Let me paint the picture.
Bottom of the ninth. Sosa at bat. Runner on first. Two out, two strikes to Sammy. All night Sammy had not hit the ball out of the infield. For postseason, Sammy was batting around .150. Then his bat came alive. He drilled a fastball over the left field fence and onto Waveland Ave. for a 2 run, game tying homerun! Oh the crowd loved it!
This story, however, does not have a happy ending. Mark Guthrie gave up a game winning homerun to pinch-hitter Mark Lowell in the 11th. That proved to be the difference. Chicago's crowd of 39,570 went home without a win.
Tonight's game was simply unbelievable. There were spectacular defensive plays by Flordia's shortstop, there were multiple comebacks by Chicago, and a goat - Guthrie.
Tomorrow the Cubs will start Mark Prior. We'll see if this year really is the year.
Don't forget to read the news articles and view the photographs here.
Red Sox Win! They beat Oakland 4-3. Jackson and Damon for Red Sox collided head-to-head. Damon left on a stretcher with a concusion; Jackson remained in the ballgame.
Some history on the Cubs - from Espn.com - It took all of 95 years, but the Cubs finally snapped their string of playoff futility by winning their first postseason series since 1908. In that year, the Cubs beat the Tigers in five games to win the World Series.
Traveled to Chicago today. Mom and dad and Candace traveled back to BWI. Tonight the Red Sox and A's play game 5 of the ALDS. Go Sox!
Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win! The Cubbies and Braves played game 5 tonight of the NLCS. Kerry Wood threw 8 strong innings. The Cubs got to Brave's starter Hampton with 2 in the first. Turns out that is all the runs they needed. A disputed call by the umpires led to the only Atlanta run. The call - Lofton made a diving catch in center which was ruled a no-catch/trap. TV replays clearly showed it was a catch. Cubs coulda shoulda had a triple play.
Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win! The cubbies have taken game 1 of the NLDS.
Cubbies vs. Braves. It's game 1 of the NLDS, in Atlanta. Get out those tomahawk chops. Go Cubs!
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