Posts belonging to Category Major League Baseball

Top 2: Paul Goldschmidt struck out swinging against Clayton Kershaw

Top 4: called out on strikes against Kershaw

Top 7: struck out swinging against Josh Lindblom

Top 9: struck out swinging against Kenley Jansen

Final Line: 0-for-4, 4 K

Notes: Playing in his 38^th game since being called up by the Diamondbacks, Goldschmidt tallied his second golden sombrero of the season against the Dodgers on Wednesday night.  One would have thought that Kershaw’s ejection might have prevented his sombrero, especially considering that Goldschmidt fanned in both of his at-bats against the southpaw.  But the big man stayed true to his power-hitting form, fanning in his final two at-bats to finish the job.  Be sure to check back for an awesome Paul Goldschmidt-inspired graphic when he makes his inevitable postseason debut in October. That’s the most I can divulge without totally giving it away – Dee and our friend Eat-A-Ton might know where I’m going with this.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 114

–  Congrats to Tim Wakefield on his 200^th win.  Dude is 45 (2^nd oldest pitcher to ever record 200 wins btw) and throws a flippin’ knuckleball.  That tells you a lot about the guy.

–  Was J.P. Howell actually crying in the dugout after giving up that dinger to Matt Weiters?  I wonder what Jimmy Dugan would have said to him.

–  Does anybody else think that Charlie Furbush might have been a beaver trapper in some previous life?  And was Doug Fister a former Gonzo style actor?  Where does Seattle find these names?

–  I am not sure which one of these home runs got out of the yard faster, but I would have been getting out of the way of both Ryan Braun’s walk-off and Josh Hamilton’s laser. (Unless I had a glove of course…but I am no longer 7-years-old and when I go to games my hands hold beer.)

–  Speaking of homeruns, I am unsure of which homerun swing is more fun to watch…that of a fat kid named Prince, or the swing of a miniature named Dustin?  Either way, I love watching these two guys take hacks.

–  I loved watching Gerardo Parra drop trou (short for trousers you morons) and squeeze out a Clevland Steamer all over a Hong-Chih Kuo’s fastball after getting buzzed.  And I appreciated not only his massive pimping of that homerun, but that he looked at Kuo and grabbed his nuts after the up and in pitch…classic.

–  Troy Patton got the 1^st win of his big league career last night.  Congrats buddy.  I was fortunate enough to be teammates with Troy at the 2003 Tournament of Stars and watched him mow through hitters like a riding lawnmower.  Congrats Troy, it’s about time you got that W.

–  Does Rick Ankiel ever look back on his past and think, “Why did I ever waste time trying to pitch?”  Probably not, but I think that after watching him throw out yet another runner last night.

–  And to close out this edition of Changeups and Screwballs, the way he has done 600 times for the Yankees, is Mariano Rivera.  He’s closed out every last game with one team, and one pitch.  Congrats, Mariano.

Of all people, Juan Francisco clubbed one of 2011’s more impressive home runs in the second inning of Monday night’s game against the Cubs.  Francisco unloaded on a 1-0 “fastball” from Rodrigo Lopez, blasting it out out of Great American Ball Park to right field at an estimated 502-feet.  ESPN Home Run Tracker (formerly Hit Tracker Online) estimated it’s true distance at 482-feet, which is still pretty remarkable. The video also features Brandon Phillips’ upper-deck, tape-measure shot off Lopez, which traveled 422-feet.

–  How bout those Rays?  Can they really pull the rabbit out of the hat and clench a playoff berth?  I mentioned this earlier as a joke, but the Tampa Bay Rays are about to pull a Houdini.

–  But which is more impressive- The Rays surge, or the Boston Red Sox collapse?

–  Good old Manny being Manny again…or is it Manny being Kirby now?  Either way, at least Manny Ramirez’s legacy was already tarnished, right?  Makes this episode just a bit less shocking.

–  I am not sure what all the hullaballo was about MLB not allowing the Mets to wear hats that did not meet the “uniform” requirements as written in the rulebook.  It is a rule people.  And it is not like there were not other ways that the Mets, and every other NFL and MLB team used to show support for all of 9/11.  Sure, they could have shown a little leeway, but then they might be setting a precedent that could cause problems somewhere down the unforeseen road.

–  Someone asked me to describe teaching 6^th graders in a single sentence the other day…and this is what I came up with- “Teaching 6^th grade is the equivalent of herding cats.”

–  Watching a player begin his decline as a ball player is always difficult.  It is even more difficult when said player has never given anyone a reason to hate.  That said, it will be interesting to see how Ichiro Suzuki‘s 2012 campaign goes.  Is him not reaching 200 hits that big a deal this year?  Does it mark the start of his decline?  Only time will tell.

–  Good luck to Andrew McCutchen while negotiating what hopefully turns out to be a favorable deal with the Pirates.  It’s really exciting to see a team like Pittsburgh rising from their grave.  It gives Astros fans hope.

–  Speaking of the Houston Astros, we currently host 16 rookies on our roster, with 10 of them being pitchers.  Yikes.  Talk about rebuilding.

Even though Matt Moore was in Baltimore for Monday night’s game, he did not make his Major League debut.  I thought that Rays’ skipper Joe Maddon might call upon Moore to close out the game in the ninth, but Joel Peralta received the nod instead and went on to collect his third save of the season.

Here is a collection of articles/links from around the web about Moore’s arrival:

Video: Matt Moore on getting to the majors [Marc Topkin/TampaBay.com]

Is Matt Moore the New David Price? [Rob Neyer/SB Nation]

Prospect of the Day: Matt Moore [John Sickels/Minor League Ball]

Moore to join hard-charging Rays [Daren Smith/MiLB.com]

Happy Matt Moore Day [Mike Rosenbaum/The Golden Sombrero]

Matt Moore: Tampa Bay’s Best Ever Pitching Prospect [Steve Slowinski/FanGraphs]

Rays Have a ‘Nice Problem’ with Matt Moore [Marc Hulet/FanGraphs]

Call Up of Rays Matt Moore Reminds of Missed Opportunities [Mike Newman/Scouting the Sally]