Hunt for October

Okay, been a while since I posted, anyway... Now I should post more frequently as the regular season comes to a close. I'll also will attend a couple Toronto Blue Jays games versus the Kansas City Royals, so I can post some pictures, if I get any of interest. Possibly of the next big player to be shipped out of KC (Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran, etc!), reminiscent of the Expos, unfortunately. No playoff implications, but it is still baseball.

Okay, so onto the hunt for October. Starting with the National League.

NL East

Looks like the Braves will take it again! Has looked that way for a while. I'd like to see the Phillies take it, although it doesn't look good, Atlanta won tonight, and Philadelphia lost, dropping them to 5 GB, and the magic number for the Braves is 3. Both with 7 games remaining. Had the Braves lost the division, maybe it would have been brought to people's attention that they were behind, and more than likely would have lost it in 94, if it weren't for the strike. So really (sort of), it will only be their 11th consecutive Division title, which is still good. Phillies are still looking good for the wildcard, but with a Houston win, they slip to 2 GB. Washington, and New York are on the outside looking in, with both of their elimination numbers being at 1. Florida's E# is 3, 5 GB for the wildcard, so they still could make it, but realistically speaking, they are on the outside looking in too.

NL Central

St Louis will be playing into October for sure, and it is looking like Houston may be in there as well. However it is not a given yet, and they have a tougher schedule than Philadelphia in the coming week. Two at St. Louis, and four home games hosting the Cubs. Whereas the Phillies host the Mets for three, and finish the season with three in Washington. On a personal note, I'd like to see Milwaukee end the season with another losing record, as I associate them with Bud Selig, and his daughter is there as well. They'll have to lose 5 of 8 to do so, here's hoping!

NL West

San Francisco lost today to Colorado, not exactly a game that should be lost trying to get to the postseason, and San Diego are winning right now, so with one game over .500 right now, SD will be heading to the post season. That's about it for an injury plagued NL West!

Onto the American League.

AL East

Boston or New York. It's anybody's guess as to who will win that division. Boston have one more against Baltimore, going for the sweep, then they host the Blue Jays for a four game series. New York has one more versus Toronto, the rubber match. Then they have a four game series in Baltimore. After those five games for each, they Red Sox are hosting the Yankees for the final three games. The Yankees may have it easier, as Boston will have four against Toronto. I say may, because it really is down to statistics. Which in a lot of cases is just that, statistics. My statistic being based on the first half, where Toronto played well against over .500 teams. Not sure how that stat is since the All Star Break. Earlier in the season, Terry Francona said how they could still be playing better, and I agree, well, I think they could have certainly cashed in better during the Yankees streaky first half. They ended a mere 3.5 games ahead of the Yankees. Will be interesting to see it play out.

AL Central

The American League Central is almost as close as the East, the hot Indians are only 1.5 GB the White Sox. At the All Star Break, they were 11 GB! Together the East and Central make for a good chase for the postseason.

AL West

It is looking good for Los Angeles to make the post season again, and if Oakland wants to play into October (besides the fact all teams will till October 2nd!), they'll have to catch L.A., as they are 6.5 GB right now for the wildcard, and their elimination number is 2. They won today, and it looks like L.A. will make it 8 straight. Oakland could easily catch L.A. however, as L.A. will visit Oakland for a four game series. Following which, L.A. ends their season with three in Texas, and Oakland ends with three in Seattle. So L.A. will need to keep their momentum, as Oakland will have a good opportunity to get the division. However if Vlad can get in MVP form for the last week, he could single handedly takes the Angels back to the post season like last year.

So all in all the AL final week will be the most exciting, with two teams from the East and Central battling it out, along with the AL West in their own race. Then the NL wildcard and East will be entertaining as well!

Vlad hits Number 300!

So after a drought of 16 games without a homer, or 61 ABs, Vladimir Guerrero becomes the 11th player to reach 300 under the age of 30. Many of those at bats were intentional walks, or pitching around him, even that is hard to do as Vlad can hit all over the strike zone, and put it outside the park.

On July 27th, Eric Hinske missed catching a foul ball hit by Vlad in his first at bat. Five pitches later, Vlad homered the opposite way. Obviously he made Eric Hinske wish he caught that foul ball, but my point is Vlad makes hitting home runs look very easy!

Check out homer number 300!

Katrina

All politics aside, as fellow human beings, I think everyone should help out in any way possible, the people suffering in the affected states. So I am taking a break from baseball to point anyone who comes upon this blog to some places they can help out.

American Red Cross - 1-800-HELP-NOW
Canadian Red Cross - 1-800-418-1111
Americares - 1-800-486-HELP
America's Second Harvest - 1-800-771-2303
Plan USA - 1-800-556-7918
Salvation Army - 1-800-SAL-ARMY
United Way

Major League Baseball has donated, as will the three other major sports leagues, if not already. So has Microsoft, and they have a page with even more links and addresses of many causes. All of what I just mentioned are ones that would be expected to help out.

As is the case with all disasters, it makes life all the more valuable.

If you the reader ever feels generous, or has some money to spare, there is always good causes out there that need support.

Mark Bellhorn, the newest Yankee

After being designated for assignment, August 19th, the Yankees signed Mark Bellhorn to a Major League contract yesterday. He'll join Alan Embree in New York, who was released by the Red Sox, July 29th, and signed by the Yankees the very next day!

I remember watching the Angels at Boston, and Embree gave up four runs, just getting 1 out. At around that time, and a few other bad outings, many fans didn't want him any longer. To make an in blog reference, that is the game I first wrote about in the first entry of this blog! Not sure how they all feel about Mark Bellhorn, but probably most won't miss him, since he strikes out a lot, and doesn't have a high batting average, but can get some timely hitting. Some good examples of that go back to last years post season for Boston, the biggest being his three home run in game six. Those four runs in the fourth were enough to tie the series at 3 all. Anyway, point being, both players will always be remembered as being part of the historic 2004 Red Sox team.

So I'll leave it at that. It will interesting to see Bellhorn playing his former teammates when the two teams meet up again, September 9th through the 11th, at Yankee Stadium. Outside of game time however, they all remain friends.

David Ortiz's bunt single

Nine days late, but oh well. Anyway, I was watching Boston at Los Angeles, and in the top of the eighth, with two out, after Renteria hit a three tun home run, Ortiz was up, and the shift was on, and he just layed down a bunt, for the bunt single, and made it, since Chone Figgins was playing so deep. I probably would have wrote more had I posted this soon after the game! Anyway, point being it was funny to see Ortiz lay down the bunt. It payed off too, following a pitching change, Brendan Donnelly in for Paul Byrd, Manny Ramirez homered, and added some insurance. Those five runs were the first runs of the game, and L.A. only got one back in the bottom of the ninth.

Surprisingly, Vlad still one shy of 300!

So, I wasn't able to see the first two games of Boston versus Los Angeles. Although today and tomorrow I will be able to see them again. And as the title says, Vladimir Guerrero surprisingly hasn't hit number 300 yet. That makes five games without a homer. After hitting seven in the first half of August, it is understandable though. I still think he is due. Plus hitting them at home would be nice. I'll be watching on FOX, which I don't mind, unlike some. I find the Joe Buck, and Tim McCarver duo a little annoying, luckily they'll be doing the St. Louis game, so there'll be other play by play guys. To add some additional information to this post, the Angels won the first game, 13-4, and Boston won yesterday, 4-3 in 10 innings. Today Bronson Arroyo pitches versus Ervin Santana. Should be a pretty good matchup, and their win loss records are very close, Boston at 70-50, L.A. has two more losses.

Now, had baseball, etc. (Selig, Loria...) not messed up baseball in Montreal, which was a great baseball town in the past, we should be watching Vlad hit home run number 300 in a downtown Montreal ballpark, just behind the Bell Centre, with a nice view of the tall buildings of downtown! Instead, condos are going up in the lot! Bah, to condos, especially those ones!

Vlad, one shy of 300 homers!

Much going on that is worth mentioning, so I'll get right to it!

I'll start off with Toronto at Los Angeles. I forgot to mention yesterday, but it is still relevant today, the fact that Vladimir Guerrero is one home run shy of his 300th. 234 of which came as an Expo. I am hoping he hits it tomorrow, because I know I'll be able to see it. If he doesn't, then I'll probably miss it, even though I'll be able to watch the last two games of their four game series with Boston. I say that I'll probably miss it because he is hitting .451 this month, with 7 homers already, 5 in his last 8 games. His last homer was on the 14th in Seattle. Both in game one and game two against Toronto he was within a few feet of getting a homer. Overall I would say Vlad is the best player playing today. There are others, so it is arguable. However, I am a bit biased as an Expos fan. Seeing him live at his best confirms he is a superstar! He is without a doubt one of the best hitters for sure.

No extra innings were needed in tonight's game. Toronto came from behind to win 4-3. They were down 3-2, and the blown save went to Francisco Rodriguez, his fifth, and the loss, putting his record at 2-3. Two of those blown saves were against Toronto!

A good game happened in Detroit tonight. Nate Robertson was cruising, and Detroit took a 3-2 lead into the top of the ninth. Despite Robertson doing well, 8.0IP 2H 2R 2ER 3BB 5SO 1HR, Alan Trammell went with their current closer, Fernando Rodney. I hear he has been under fire for decisions like this by the fans. This decision was costly as David Ortiz, Big Papi himself, hit a solo shot to tie the game. To the tenth, Boston's offense exploded! With two runs in already (Tony Graffanino scored on a fielder's choice with one out, and Kevin Youlkilis with two outs on a Johnny Damon single), David Ortiz hit another homer, this time a three run shot! With Manny Ramirez on second with a double, and another new Detroit pitcher (Franklyn German, Detroit's 4th after Robertson left), Jason Varitek hit his 20th home run of the season. However Detroit weren't down and out. Mike Remlinger came in to finish the game. The NESN guys said how maybe he'd find his bearings with this outing, after a couple bad outings. Anyway, that he almost did, if you feel like omitting a grand slam he gave up. He got the first two batters out easily, then managed to load the bases, and give the slam up to Craig Monroe. Next batter up, Brandon Inge flew out to right field. Boston wins 10-7!

I'm not sure if Kenny Rogers was booed in Cleveland, although Rafael Palmeiro was in Oakland. Rogers got the benefit of the doubt on one call in the bottom of the first, Gary Matthews caught a ball but only after it went off the wall and got caught in the top of his uniform, or pinned it to him as he hit up against the wall. Regardless, Rogers still ended up with the loss, going 7 and allowing 6 hits and 6 runs, although only 3 earned. One of two errors was Kenny's own.

Chicago hosted the Twins, in a game that went five hours and nine minutes, and lasted sixteen innings! Michael Cuddyer tied the game at 4 in the top of the ninth. Former Expo Dustin Hermanson got the blown save, only his second this year! Cuddyer also saved the game with a nice play in the bottom of the 11th. He then went on to get the go ahead run in the 16th a couple hours after tying the game! The Twins scored five times in that inning, and Joe Nathan closed out the game, although not a save situation. Detroit used eight pitchers and Minnesota six, for a total of fourteen! Both starting catchers caught the entire game.

Kansas City lost their 17th straight. I sort of feel sorry for them, well maybe the fans anyway, as I know what it is like to be a fan of a losing team. Although not as poorly as they are doing now! The Expos final year was not one to remember, as far as having a good record, but 2002 and especially 2003 were good years! If even the Expos played .500 on the road in 2003, we would have had a great chance at the wildcard, if not taken it. Even still, after sweeping the Phillies in four at home, we were tied for the wildcard with Florida. Expos fans there, can tell you how electric it was. A mere 20 000, yet it sounded like twice that easily in any other stadium. I remember some Phillies said it was the loudest they have ever heard a crowd! Seeing Vlad play that year, and that was awesome! Everytime he was up he would receive a standing O, and he hit three homers in that series! He was an important aspect of us winning those games as he was with Anaheim (still Anaheim at the time) at the end of 2004!

4 of 9 and 3 of 4.

So tonight, again, for the first game of their series, this time in Anaheim, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim had four former Expos in their lineup. Orlando Cabrera, batting second, at short, Vladimir Guerrero batting cleanup, in RF of course, Juan Rivera batting sixth, in left field, and Maicer Izturis batting eighth, at third. Vlad went 2 for 3 with two walks, one being intentional. Orlando Cabrera was only 1 for 6, but that one hit was a double with no outs in the bottom of the 11th. Next batter, Darin Erstad singled in Cabrera to win the game. It actually would have been most likely a double since it found the gap, but since it was the game winner, Erstad only had to touch first.

The three of four is referring to the fact that all but one games in their four meetings have needed extra innings to be decided. The one that didn't was the first meeting, in Toronto, so as far as their meetings are concerned, that makes three consecutive extra innings ballgames. Not very exciting, however if tomorrow's game (actually today) goes to extra innings, then it will start to be interesting! The time prior to this was the one that went to 18 innings!

Elsewhere in the league, former Blue Jay, who I just wrote about yesterday (about a nice DP he was involved in), John McDonald got the walk off hit for Detroit in a come from behind win for the Tigers, over the Boston Red Sox. John McDonald was traded to Detroit for a player to be named later, on July 22nd. Curt Schilling got the blown save, his second, and the loss, putting his record at 4-5. In the game, Jason Varitek made a nice grab in foul territory, right in front of the Red Sox bullpen, hanging over the rail to make the out. It was a big out too, with the bases loaded, and only one out. There was a similar play recently, third baseman for the Reds, Edwin Encarnacion, leaned into the Reds dugout for the out. It was a big out too. So anyway, as the NESN broadcasters said, regarding Varitek's play, such a play may not be possible in Boston, since there is no fence/railing, since the catcher, or player can only slide so far to try for the out.

Finally, Randy Winn hit for the cycle today in Cincinnati, in order, single, home run, double, and triple. His single led off the game, his homer led off the third, his double was with one out in the fourth, and his triple led off the sixth. He also struck out in the seventh. It is the first cycle recorded at the Great American ballpark, which opened March 31st, 2003 against the Pirates. He is the first Giant to do so since Jeff Kent on May 3rd, 1999, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. He is the third to do so this year, Brad Wilkerson did so April 6th in Philadelphia, and former Expo Mark Grudzielanek did so April 27th at home, in St. Louis. All of the which were on the winning side. Yes it's a lot of information, but I am sure the trivia nuts would enjoy it, and I like to be as complete as possible!

Around the league.

Rafael Palmeiro made his return to the lineup yesterday. Although he could have played in the first two games against Toronto, as well as the finale against Tampa Bay. His reason being he did not participate in baseball activities in those ten days, so he had to prepare to start playing again. Palmeiro was greeted by predominantly boos, for his first at bat, although I am pretty sure I did hear some cheering in there. This was at home. I'm sure he'll receive many more boos at Oakland today!

Speaking of Bronx cheers, Kenny Rogers will more than likely be booed again with his second start back since his suspension was cut short to 13 games, from 20. For once I agreed with Bud Selig, thinking he definitely should not have had his suspension cut short. This is where the arbitrator should be booed. It wasn't within Kenny Rogers' control that his suspension was cut short, that I know of, maybe his agent had a say. All of the slow appealing may have helped too. Anyway, regardless of serving only 13 games, I am sure he still would have been booed if his suspension was not cut short. So his second start back will be in Cleveland, versus C.C. Sabathia. It would have been interesting if he made a start in New York. Then Boston and NY fans could have agreed on booing him! Should also be interesting to see if Cleveland's booing affects his pitching. Or maybe if he just plain doesn't pitch well like his Boston start.

Speaking of baseball players with the same name as singers (how's that for a segue way!), Corey Hart hit his first major league hit today in Milwaukee against the Reds, and it happened to be a home run at that! Check out his player page. And eventually when they post it, said homer will be viewable. He started in center field, and went 1 for 4. He was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on the 13th.

Now, as far as some plays go, Placido Polanco, the former Philly, turned a nice double play. A high chopper that right after its second hop ricocheted perfectly off of former Blue Jay John McDonald to Polanco, where he caught it just as he got on the bag, and threw to first. Since it hit McDonald, it went 6 to 4 to 3. Had McDonald been able to field it, they may have only got the out at second, since in between hops can be hard to field properly. Here is Placido Polanco's media page, where the play should be posted, if not, here is the Detroit Multimedia Guide, and just get to the top plays for August 14th.

Jose Vidro had a nice juggling catch, the kind where a player loses it, and still manages to catch it.

Former Montreal Expo Kirk Rueter was activated from the 15 day DL and designated for assignment by San Francisco. He got his start in Montreal, playing from July 7th, 1993 until July 15th, 1996, and was traded to San Francisco July 30th, 1996 for Mark
Leiter. SF also received Tim Scott in the deal.

That is all for now!

Pedro's near no hitter.

So, in his first trip back to Dodger Stadium in eight years, last time being as an Expos, Pedro almost had a no hitter.

In the bottom of the eighth, after retiring Ricky Ledee, Antonio Perez tripled to break up the no hitter. Gerald Williams could not make the catch, but he isn't to blame, as it would have been very hard to get, as it hit off the wall about halfway up. Had he caught it, it would have been a highlight reel catch. Next batter, Jayson Werth homered. So Pedro got stuck with the loss despite allowing a mere two hits, and one walk. So his pitching line ended as follows: Martinez (L, 12-5) 8.0 IP 2H 2R 2ER 1BB 5SO 1HR 2.96ERA. With eight innings pitched on the losing side, he gets a complete game, his third of 2005.

On the other side, Brad Penny had a good game of his own, only allowing one earned run, and allowing ten hits, and no walks. That is how baseball is!

To take a trip down memory lane, Pedro almost had the first extra innings perfect game in history, on June 3rd, 1995. In San Diego, Pedro retired the first 27 batters, and then gave up a double to the 28th, Bip Roberts. Once again, this was Pedro as a Montreal Expo. Check out the box score from that game here.

3 Grand Slams.

There were three grand slams today in MLB play, probably not even too close to any records, but worth noting.
First one, Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia, with no outs, in the bottom of the first, Bobby Abreu hit it out! The guy can slug!
Second one, Kansas City Royals at Boston, with two outs, and his second plate appearance, in the bottom of the fourth, Jason Varitek went deep. He started the inning off with a walk, and later scored. The Red Sox scored 8 in that inning, and had 11 men come to the plate.
Third one, Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington, with two outs, in the bottom of the eighth, former Expo, Brad Wilkerson got all of it. I didn't see his AB before that, but I did see his AB in the fifth, and I don't know if he thought he had hit it out, but he probably at least thought he hit it hard enough to get over Jose Valentin's head, but he made a nice over the head catch.

Of note in the Washington game, John Patterson pitched a complete game shutout allowing only 4 hits, and striking out 13! With the win he earned his 5th win of the season, now 5-3. That is only his 8th decision out of 20 starts! Receiving a decision only 40% of the time at this point! Last year with the Expos he had a 58% decision rate, lifetime 50% (only since 2002, with 52 GS). Indeed baseball can generate some weird stats! So despite pitching well, he obviously didn't get sufficient run support.

Oh, and go here for grand slam team records.

The hottest teams.

No surprises that Boston has now won 8 straight ballgames, making them the hottest team in baseball right now. It was however a surprise that the second hottest team was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I say was because (whew, that doesn't sound right!) I was planning on writing this sooner, while they were still streaking, but they have since lost. Prior to tonight's loss, they had won 6 straight! Now, yes after tonight's loss, with a record of 14-6 since the All Star Break! They also had won 3 straight, and then 4 straight before this 6 game streak came to a close. 7-3 for their last 10. Sounds like the streaking Yankees from the first half! Only 19.5 games behind for the AL wildcard, I say only, although in the AL East that is still a huge number, especially when you are the Tampa Bay Devil Rays! But two full months till the season is over, chipping away, it would be possible. I sound like a Devil Rays fan. Truth is I am not, although I do root for underdogs, however I am only pointing this out, since I thought it was worth pointing out being that they were the second hottest team in baseball. Like when fans say "how about them 'insert some team that normally isn't good that is doing well now here'"! So if any Devil Rays fans read this, ones that remain positive, I am sure they'll be happy to read it! Alright, enough rambling, I think that is my first case of blog rambling, but I am guessing in the blog world it happens a lot!

To end this post with a Simpsons reference, from a recent episode, "Future Drama", Professor John Frink: "Astrology used to be the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of all sciences. Not so very good". Said only the way he could!

4 of 9

Okay, so a lot more can be said about the long Blue Jays game, such as length of time position players played for, the home plate umpire calling an awful lot of pitches, but now that a fair amount of time has passed I'll leave it at that, and go a little further back in time! Notice how I said Blue Jays, and not just Jays, as that is how they are more commonly referred to now, in their second season of the new uniform style, and logo.

So, going back to July 26th, the first game the Los Angeles Angels played in Toronto, in that lineup, four of nine starters were former Expos in the last two years! Three as of last year! Superstar Vladimir Guerrero being the one that goes back two years. The other three former Expos as of last year were, in order that L.A. received them, Juan Rivera and Maicer Izturis (same deal which sent Jose Guillen to Montreal/Washington, more later...), and Orlando Cabrera. I say Montreal/Washington, because it was official that they were heading to DC, there was a period of time when they ceased DC operations of the team, although I definitely could not have seen Bud letting Montreal have them again! Orlando Cabrera was signed as a free agent, as was Vlad, almost a year earlier.

Unregardless (as Homer said in "Weekend At Burnsies"), Vlad was batting third, in RF of course, Juan Rivera was batting sixth, in LF, both with cannons for arms, Orlando Cabrera was batting seventh, and Maicer Izturis was batting ninth, SS, and 3B respectively. Orlando Cabrera being a great shortstop, as is Maicer, although he has been mostly playing third, but almost the same amount of games played at short. Although he has started more games, as of this typing, at short. Orlando Cabrera has the second best fielding percentage in the majors (as of right now as well)! Second to Omar Vizquel.

Some kinda ballgame.

In a game that lasted 10 minutes shy of 5 hours, it is the longest game, innings wise, for the Toronto Blue Jays. The third longest game in Angels history, this from mlb.com, they also say the longest for the Blue Jays, so they must be sticking to innings wise.

There is lots of things that can be said about that game. First off, I only started watching in the 5th, and at that point the game was only an hour old! The score was still 0-0, and would remain so until the ninth. A pitchers duel was going on, between John Lackey, and Dave Bush, a couple of unlikely candidates, by name only anyway! This fact probably helped the game go on longer, since neither team had to go to the bullpen early. If the bullpen had been used earlier, it is hard to say if strategy would have changed, both teams still would have only used the appropriate pitcher for a certain amount of time. Assuming more pitchers would have been used, then, at the very least, as the game dragged on, managers would have to start using their second to last, or last pitchers for the long haul, or longer haul. Lackey pitched 8, and Bush pitched 8.1. Before Anaheim, rather, Los Angeles (still getting used to LA Angels!) scored one in the top of the ninth, I was thinking how if both starting pitchers went into extra innings, that would have been interesting! Not sure how often that has happened, but can't have been that many times.

With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, and one out, Los Angeles went to a five man infield, bringing Chone Figgins in from left, to stop anything from getting into the outfield. Definitely interesting to see that defensive lineup! Chone Figgings had to run over to the dugout to get an infield glove! Aaron Hill, and Gregg Zaun both struck out to end the threat.

Three of four former Expos started the game, Orlando Cabrera, Maicer Izturis, and Juan Rivera, at SS, 3B, and RF, respectively, and Vladimir Guerrero pinch hit, but he was then intentionally walked. Juan Rivera came out of the game after he hit his triple in the ninth, and Jeff DaVanon pinch ran. He then took over in RF.

Had Toronto not tied the game, and L.A. won 1-0, the game would have lasted in the area of two hours! Which makes sense for a pitchers duel.

The official box score can be found here. If anyone reads this, and knows of a good way of copying and pasting, or somehow inserting MLB boxscores, leave a comment saying so! It would be appreciated! Probably rare that I'd actually want to insert it into a blog entry, but still.

Here is a link for game length records.

I may add more later, when it comes to me, as it is late now, and I must sleep! Just what the Angels are probably doing now in the plane, if not already landed in New York, on their ways to a proper hotel sleep!

AL at NL interleague play!

Lots of great games to watch as interleague play starts up again! Always fun watching pitchers bat, especially American League ones! Being here in Canada, There's always plenty of Blue Jays games, provided one has the channel owned by the same owner of the Blue Jays, or the other national sports network, although they have considerably less games. Regardless. Here's what I have to look forward to:
Tonight: Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago Cubs 7:05PM CDT
Tomorrow: Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago Cubs 7:05PM CDT
Wednesday: Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago Cubs 1:20PM CDT &
Boston Red Sox at St. Louis Cardinals 6:10PM CDT
Thursday: Houston Astros at New York Mets 7:10PM EDT
Friday: Boston Red Sox at Chicago Cubs 1:20 CDT &
Toronto Blue Jays at Houston Astros 7:05PM CDT
Saturday: Boston Red Sox at Chicago Cubs 2:15 CDT &
Toronto Blue Jays at Houston Astros 6:05 CDT
Sunday: Boston Red Sox at Chicago Cubs 7:05 CDT

Thursday, a regular NL game, how boring! Just kidding! Will be interesting to see David Ortiz back at first. I imagine he'll have an off day or two in there, with 6 games in NL parks in 7 days. I wouldn't mind seeing Wakefield versus Morris tonight, but the Blus Jays at Wrigley will still be good! I'd also rather watch the Cubs than a Cards game, but it is all good anyway. Seeing all these Cubs games means I'll get to see ex Expo Michael Barrett in action again. Who of course got his start in Montreal! And for a trivia tidbit, before he was a Cub, he was an Athletic, for a mere one day, before being traded for Damian Miller!

MLB on FOX

So I watched most of yesterday's game, on FOX. Anyway, when Orlando Cabrera came up the first time there was a decent amount of clapping, and slowly it grew to more, and many standing, but not all. So still a nice welcome back applause, but not quite as his first AB back.

Johnny Damon made a nice catch in the fourth, diving to catch Orlado Cabrera's line drive to left center. Diving right into the warning track! I think Johnny wasn't completely sure if it was the second or third out, as he looked like he was signaling to find out, then threw the ball into the green monsters seats since it was the third out. I don't mean anything by it, if that was even the case, he remains my favourite Red Sox player!

The first post.

Firstly, I am not a 'blog' fan, in fact I really don't care for them much at all, so why am I starting one? Well I figured I'd like to spill my thoughts, and if I were to do so on my webpage, which receives little to no hits because I rarely do anything with it (and have advertised it next to nada), no one would read what I wrote. So I thought I'd start a 'blog' or web log, where people may actually read said spilled thoughts.

So what is this web log or blog going to be about? Baseball! Reason being it is one of my passions, other being music, and if I were to have a general blog, it probably wouldn't do too well, and baseball fans would not be that interested. Baseball fans, and anyone else into baseball, being the people I imagine would be most interested in reading about baseball! Aside from spilling my thoughts on the subject I thought I'd like to collect them as well, that is to say if I think of something or other, I may want to reminisce about it in the future, and without it written down anywhere, it may just end up going back out the other ear.

So with that said, I think I shall begin. And see where this ends up!

So to clarify, I will mostly talk about major league baseball (MLB), but still may go into minor league baseball, and baseball in general. On with the show.

Alright, so today the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, formerly the Anaheim Angels, formerly the California Angels, and formerly the Los Angeles Angels, were back in Boston for the first time this season since being there in the post season last year. I'll avoid going into depth about my favourite team(s)/teams I like or dislike, and why, because that will come eventually. So with that said, as an Expo fan (still am, although now it is historically based), seeing the Angels play is worth it for the former Expos there now, and obviously as a baseball fan in general. In the 2003 post season I was rooting for the Red Sox, as I was in 2004.

So going back in time for a moment, with Orlando Cabrera a free agent at the end of the 2004 season, he was dealt to Boston in a four way deal (at the trade deadline) that saw the Red Sox give Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs, Boston also acquired Doug Mientkiewicz from Minnesota, and Montreal acquired SS Alex Gonzalez, RHP Francis Beltran, and 3B Brendan Harris (played both 3B and 2B in Montreal, and is still young and doesn't have tons of MLB experience so safe to say he's an infielder, but only played 3B with the Cubs). The other two players involved that were obviously far from the center of attention were LHP Justin Jones, who went from the Cubs to the Twins, and OF Matt Murton who went from the Red Sox to the Cubs. Okay, so I put that in even though I really did not have to. Reason I did so was it falls under my second reason to start a blog, collecting my thoughts, and I like to be complete. With that said, the point was that Orlando Cabrera was returning to Boston as an Angel after having spent a fair chunk of time in Boston as their shortstop.

I should add, that Orlando Cabrera was a loyal Expo, he had nothing but good things to say about Montreal.

Of course Orlando is not the only former Expo on the Angels roster. Former Expos superstar Vladimir Guerrero was signed as a free agent by Anaheim (still Anaheim Angels then!) prior to the 2004 season. Also prior to the 2004 season, Jose Guillen was sent to the then official Washington team (not sure if the name was announced yet), in exchange for Juan Rivera, and Maicer Izturis. Rivera played in 134 games with Montreal, and Izturis in 33, he spent most of his time with triple A Edmonton. Bartolo Colon also spent some time with Montreal, in 2002.

So I realise that blog entries aren't normally this long, but since this is the first...

Both Vladimir Guerrero and Maicer Izturis are currently on the 15 day DL.

In the game however Orlando Cabrera was batting eighth, while Juan Rivera was batting seventh, as the DH.

So all in all it was a good game, Boston won 7-4!

It was a good game, but that one sentence isn't all that I wanted to write! I watched the vast majority of the game, and it was the NESN broadcast I was watching, up here in Canada. Since Vlad wasn't playing, I was most interested in seeing Orlando's first at bat back at Fenway after winning the World Series with Boston last year in St. Louis. Also to see Juan Rivera too. And again as a fan of baseball in general!

So first up in the top of the third, was Orlando Cabrera. He didn't get a chance at bat in the second because Juan Rivera grounded into a douple play. Anyway, as soon as his name was announced, everyone started clapping loudly, and right before that NESN filmed a sign that said Thank You Orlando, and they commented how there were many similar. The clapping almost right away turned into a standing ovation. So it was nice to see the former Expo get such warm applause. NESN commented how he was in Fenway yesterday, and that fellow ex Red Sox teammates missed him. They had a brief interview, and Orlando said how he loved his time in Boston, and will always remember it.

Orlando's first at bat was a ground out to his replacement, Edgar Renteria, who lost the World Series last year, Renteria did a 180 on his feet, and threw to first. His next at bat was a double, which was a few feet shy of a home run, hitting high off the green monster. At 3-2 Orlando was off, and Adam Kennedy hit a flare to left center, falling in front of Johnny Damon. Orlando made a nice base running play to check the pop up, and then keep running, and get home safely for the Angels go ahead run. Although NESN said how he was too far off second to get back in time if it was caught, which is true, so he may as well have kept going anyway. Still, if it were caught by Renteria with his back to second, then he possibly could have returned in time. Juan Rivera went 0-4 on the day.

I also watched about a third of he Blue Jays game, but am too tired to write anything about it. There wasn't anything much to write, or that I can recall. I am going to get some sleep, and get up for game two of The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Boston, on FOX. I am also too tired to proof read all of that!