Posts belonging to Category Major League Baseball

After a thrilling Rockies win at Petco Park in Game One of our four-day, four-city, four-game road trip, it was time to visit Dodger Stadium. Following dad’s aforementioned seven-dollar breakfast of bread and coffee at the Toscano Café, only a quick two-hour trip north on I-5 separated us from Ballpark #2.  Since we were traveling on a Sunday, traffic was almost a non-issue on the way up to our hotel in Anaheim, and we even had time to stop at the OC Sports Bar and Grill for burgers and the first few innings of Rockies vs. Padres on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain before it was time to head over to the ballgame.

Open since 1962, Dodger Stadium is by far the oldest of the four ballparks we visited and is in fact the third-oldest park in all of Major League Baseball, the two oldest of course being Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.  Dodger Stadium has plenty of history, having hosted eight different World Series, three World Baseball Classic games, and ten no-hitters.  And of course, it is home to the greatest broadcaster of all time in Vin Scully, the true face of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise.

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It is doubtful that Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Gavin Floyd will pitch again in 2010, following an unexpected early exit from his start against the Oakland A’s on Monday night.  Floyd threw just 7 pitches before leaving the game due to soreness behind his pitching shoulder, a discomfort that apparently might have affected his previous start against the Twins.  On Thursday, Floyd will travel to Los Angeles to have his shoulder examined by the Angels team physician, Dr. Lewis Yocum.

Now that the Minnesota Twins have clinched the American League Central, the White Sox are likely to shut down Floyd for the remainder of the season and allow him to properly heal and prepare for 2011.  Neither Floyd nor White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen have seemed particularly optimistic about the right-hander’s lingering shoulder discomfort.

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When the Atlanta Braves signed Billy Wager to a 1-year/$6.75 mil contract prior to the 2010 season, there was a general skepticism regarding his health, as well as his level of effectiveness at 39 years old.  Luckily for the Braves, Wagner has surpassed what little expectations the club had at the time of his signing, by notching 35 saves while sporting a 1.43 ERA.  Despite the fact that Wagner is having one of the best seasons of his 15-year career, it was made clear at the beginning of the 2010 campaign that he plans on retiring at end of Braves season.

Normally, the thought of losing one of the best closers in baseball, let alone a guy who has been so vital to the success of his team in 2010, would be incredibly worrisome and drives a GM towards action.  Yet, the Atlanta Braves will find themselves in a unique situation with a vacant closer’s spot and 22-year old Craig Kimbrel ready to continue his dominance on the mound.  For those who have not seen Kimbrel pitch this season, there is only one, accurate way to describe him: utterly filthy.

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Only a few weeks remain in Major League Baseball’s regular season and there’s no reason for fans not to be thrilled; we’ve got fantastic finishes shaping up all around the league. In the National League West, the collapsing San Diego Padres, steady San Francisco Giants, and surging Colorado Rockies are battling for the division crown as well as the NL wildcard. Every win is now crucial for each of these teams, and all those seemingly worthless games from back in the spring have suddenly become relevant.

Entering the last week of August, things in the NL West looked to be settling down. The Padres, who’d been leading the division most of the year, were 27 games over .500 and had their biggest advantage of the season over their upstate rival Giants, at 7.5 games. The Rockies were less than 10 games over .500 and more than 10 games behind San Diego, looking like they were going to coast to a mediocre finish. Then as Labor Day approached upheaval began and we were all reminded why a 162 game schedule is a beautiful thing.

Continue Reading ‘National League’s Wild West Wrap-Up’>>

To say that the Chicago White Sox have hit a skid in September might be an understatement after their latest homestand.  Following their 9-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Monday night, the White Sox(79-70) now trail the Minnesota Twins by 10 games, and their dwindling elimination number rests at 4 games entering Tuesday night’s game against the A’s.

After being swept at home by divisional rivals Minnesota and Detroit, the White Sox losing streak sits at a season high six games; it was also the first time that the South Siders had been swept in back to back home series since 1989.  The starting rotation, one of the key ingredients in the White Sox 28-8 midsummer surge, struggled mightily over the past 14 games, posting an 0-8 record and 7.09 ERA while allowing opposing hitters to hit a robust .345.

The offense, which had nicely complemented the excellent starting pitching around the All-Star break, turned in consistent lackluster performances during both the Twins and Tigers series.  In those six games, White Sox hitters slashed .240/.333/.373 with 6 HR and 21 RBI.  Those numbers would have been drastically different had the offense not repeatedly struggled with runners in scoring position.  Against the Twins, the Sox left a total of 62 runners on base; against the Tigers, they left 53 runners on base(including 41 in Monday night’s extra innings loss).

Barring an unprecedented and unimaginable Twins collapse down the final stretch of the season, the White Sox will fail to reach the postseason after finding themselves on the brink of contention for the second consecutive season.  Although the team’s quest for a postseason birth has come up short, there are still many reasons to watch the White Sox play out the remainder of their 2010 season.

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