Birthday Bash - Baseball Edition

Now for a special edition of Birthday Bash - baseball.  For the sake of keeping order in the post, I will start with the oldest and work my way to the youngest.

A true pioneer in every sense of the word and a man who changed the game forever, Jackie Robinson would have turned 92 today.  If you don't know his story, you need to seriously reconsider your existence.

(courtesy of MLB)

Here's a few factoids for you less-educated baseball people out there, by the numbers style: 
1st:  Black player in MLB history (1947)
42:  His number, retired by the MLB for all players except Mariano Rivera
6: World Series appearances
1: World Series championship (1955)
6: Consecutive All-Star Game appearances (1949-1954)
.311: Career batting average in 10 MLB seasons

Happy Birthday Mr. Jackie Robinson, may you rest in peace.  You've a legend.

"Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks turns 80 today.  This 14-time All-Star has his #14 retired by the Chicago Cubs (on a flag flown at all games at Wrigley Field) and is a proud member of the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  You think Ernie Banks and you think of the Chicago Cubs.  He had himself a stellar playing career:  2x NL MVP (1958, 1959), 1960 Gold Glove Award winner, 512 career HR's, 2,583 career hits, and 1,636 career RBI's.  Happy Birthday Mr. Cub.

"The Ryan Express" turns 64 today.  And based on some of the first pitches he's thrown out in recent games, he can probably still get some guys out.  This guy has staggering numbers from his playing career, including one royal ass-kicking of a young, brash Robin Ventura back in August of 1993.  Straight headlock to punching bag.

He definitely deserves a by the numbers look:
8: All-Star Game selections
5,714: Strikeouts (leads Randy Johnson by almost 1,000 for the all-time mark)
3: # of teams who retired his number (Texas Rangers #34, Houston Astros #34, Los Angeles Angels #30)
7: Career No-Hitters - this number will never be broken (Sandy Koufax is 2nd with 4)
3.19: Career ERA in 5,386 innings
27: Seasons played

Happy Birthday Nolan Ryan.  You gave hitters the business.

Hope you learned a little more about baseball today.  Go to the bar tonight and flaunt your new found knowledge of America's PastTime. 

And here's a few other notable folks who share their birthday with baseball greatness:  Musician and actor who brought sexy back Justin Timberlake (30); The voice of Jane in Disney's Tarzan, actress Minnie Driver (40); Miss USA 1997 and former Barker's Beauty Brandi Sherwood (40); former Sex Pistols rocker Johnny "Rotten" Lydon (55); and rock guitarist Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music fame (60).

Good day to you and yours.

Enter Sandman

Non-save situation. No sweat. Gotta win em all. Rivera time!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

RIP: George Steinbrenner, 1930-2010

   The world lost an outstanding human being yesterday.  RIP George "The Boss" Steinbrenner.

   NY Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 80.  He was a lightning rod of criticism as well as a pillar of strength for an organization that was going nowhere when he acquired it.  He could have had the Indians, and quite possibly turned them into a perennial powerhouse, but was outbid in his efforts to purchase the club back in 1973. He is, and I know it's been said before (like 1,000 times yesterday), solely responsible for the outrageous salaries that athletes make today.  He was never afraid to spend his money, so long as he believed in the individual.  He put a lot of pressure on his players, and ultimately on himself.  When you have the highest payroll in sports every year, there is an extreme pressure to succeed.  And succeed he did.

   During his time as owner of the Yankees, they won 7 World Series Titles, 11 American League Pennants, 16 AL East Titles, and 3 Wild Card berths.  Not a bad body of work.  And from what people say, he was a hell of a man off the field as well - community service, charity work, donations, giving a guy who he found spray painting Yankee Stadium a job.  The list goes on and on.

   Had he not won 7 World Series', we may not have celebrated his life as you've seen in the past day or so.  But he did, and people of all walks of life speak only great things of The Boss.

   He was a character on 13 Seinfeld episodes and never physically appeared on the show.  George Costanza worked for him (if you can call it work) and was one of the most hilarious parts of the show.  He hosted Saturday Night Live in 1990.  He was a huge fan of General George S. Patton.  He signed Hideki Irabu to a huuuuuge contract - and it backfired, the guy sucked.  He also signed Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter.  He gave Joe Torre a chance when he was hardly established as a manager.  The Yankees are the Yankees because of him.  The old Stadium was "the house that Ruth built" and the new Stadium is "the house that George built".  Pretty amazing stuff. 

   Jerry Jones even looked up to him.  Donald Trump looked up to him.  Bobby Knight, for Christs sake, looked up to this man.  Why?  Because to George Steinbrenner, winning was second to breathing.

   Thanks George.  You will always be "The Boss" to Yankee fans worldwide.  Rest In Peace.

RIP George Steinbrenner, "The Boss" (1930-2010)

Bad showing

Where have all the clutch performers gone?  We needed guys to step up today, and no one seemed to deliver.  We didn't help ourselves - 8 walks and a hit by pitch - 2 scored.  Can you guess the final score?  7-5 bad guys.  Did our freshman SS make an error, yeah - but even still, we had two outs with only one run allowed and it ballooned into a 6-run fourth inning.  Pitcher's need to be able to get an out - one single, solitary out, in a row.  They've gotten one out in a row thousands of times in their baseball lives.  We threw up 0's all day (except for a solo HR in the B6), and had a chance at the end.  It just wasn't meant to be today.

Got a big one tomorrow at 3pm.  Big is actually an understatement.  Lose, and the season is over.  Win, and live to play another day.  Whoever is tougher tomorrow will prevail.  Backs to the wall, fight your way out.  We need to deliver the first punch, right in the mouth, early on.


Yankees won both - 1-0 in the suspended game from yesterday (Jeter hit a HR 399' to left center).  The bullpen patched together the shutout.  In today's scheduled game, they won 3-2, behind a Nick Swisher HR to right field.  Mariano closed out both games, earning saves in both, his 9th and 10th of the year.

Boston finished off a surprising sweep at The Trop, beating the Rays 11-3 behind Adrián Béltre's 6 RBI. 

The Magic are up 13 on the Celtics with 8:59 left in the game.  Celts lead the series 3-1.  Maybe Dwight Howard read my blog and decided to grow a pair and play like a man - he's got 17 points, 7 boards, 5 blocks, and only 1 foul.  Go Dwight Go!

Big one tomorrow.  Act as if.

Misc.

TV:  Lindsay is watching "Real Housewives of NY" on DVR and this "Countess" is singing this song, and this boob who's playing the piano is convincing her she sounds good - this is total trash, I want to throw the remote through the television, but I'll hold back.  Here's the link for those of you who love torturing yourself:  LuAnn's Craptastic Song.

Music:  The first random song of the day today was "1901" by Phoenix.  Makes you want to nod your head a little bit.  I'm not a huge fan of it, but I might let it play all the way through - here's a link to this one:  "1901".

Local News:  According to NY1, more than 40% of streetlights are out on our local highways here in the Bronx.  Here's the breakdown:  Major Deegan (I-87):  38%; Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95):  46%; Henry Hudson Parkway (US-9):  43%.  Not only are we dealing with pot-hole filled roads, but the damn light aren't working either.  The Alexander Hamilton Bridge, however, is in complete darkness.

Sports:  The Yankees blew another game last night, to the Red Sox - Mariano got the loss because Marcus Thames went from hero to goat in the course of 24 hours.  Dropped a pop-up in short right field - bad baseball play.  Tonight they open up a two-game set with the best team in baseball, the Rays.  Tonight's pitching matchup is: Wade Davis (TB) 3-3, 3.38 ERA vs. A.J. Burnett (NY) 4-1, 3.31 ERA.  Fixing to be a pretty tight one, unless Davis pitches like he generally does against the Yankees - 5.73 ERA in two home starts vs. NY in his career.  This is his first time taking the bump in the Bronx.  I just hope Carlos Peña decides not to get hot - he's only hitting .191 with 5 HR this year.  Friday, the Yankees head to Queens to open up their weekend series with Los Mets. 

Miscellaneous:  Lindsay has been asking me what I want for my birthday for the past few weeks and I honestly have no idea what I want.  I am a very good gift giver, but when it comes to telling people (Lindsay) what I want, I struggle.  Nathan is here, next to me, chewing his rawhide - he loves the stuff, but only the ones with a bacon flavored treat in the middle - gives him something to work for.  He snagged a piece of Lindsay's steak tonight - I made steaks with an avocado/jalapeño/mango/salsa mixture - pretty good.  Dessert is Ben & Jerry's Key Lime Pie flavor - it's a limited batch. 

Hands Off!  Let's go Yankees!!

1st Place ... Reds?

The Cincinnati Reds are sitting pretty in 1st place in the NL Central - they're actually only up by 1 game on the Cardinals, but they deserve the spotlight.  Today they rallied for three runs in B9 off Brewers closer and future HOF'er Trevor Hoffman, who has been nothing short of terrible this year, to beat the Brewers 5-4.

Five blown saves?  ERA over 11.00?  I know the Brewers are struggling this year, but still - this is a guy with a career 2.83 ERA and 596 career saves. 

The inning was a nightmare - single by Janish, HR by Rolen, 2B by Heisey, BB to Phillips, 1B to Joey Votto.  Votto hit a solo HR in the 8th to cut the Brewers lead to 4-2.  It is only the third time in 1055 IP where he hasn't recorded an out and his first since July 19, 2006 against the Phillies.

May 18, 2010 vs. CIN:  0.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 HR, (L, BS #5)
July 19, 2006 vs. PHI:  0.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 BB, (BS #3)
April 28, 1999 vs. NYM:  0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, (L)

Not a great week for big name closers.  Sunday--Mariano Rivera blew a game vs. the Twins, Monday--Papelbon blew a game vs. the Yankees, Tuesday--Hoffman blew a game vs. Cincinnati.

ABC!  Always Be Closing!