Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Assorted Baseball News

Another day, another walk-off win for the Yankees. That was their 11th walk-off of the year and they are on a tear, having won 9 of their last 10 games. When they are behind or tied, you almost have this hope built inside of you that they will be able to find a way to get it together and come out with a win. They seem like much more of a confident team this year, as opposed to the teams from the past few years.

As for around baseball, there are a lot of interesting things going on. Here are some worth noting:
  • Pedro made his first start tonight for the Phillies against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He pitched pretty good for his first start, going 5 innings and striking out 5 while giving up 7 hits and 3 ER. Having that early lead must have been a huge relief for him and a weight off his shoulder I would imagine.
  • Youk and Porcello got into quite the brawl the other night. I think it's unfair that they both received the same suspension. In these cases the starting pitcher always ends up benefiting the most as Porcello is only going to miss one start. Youk on the other hand is going to be out for 5 games. I assume they decided to do that so he would be ready in 5 days when the Yankees come to town.
  • Matt Holliday is on a tear. This makes me so happy as I knew he had this potential to be good, and everyone would tell me how wrong I was and how it was an effect of Coors Field. Well, in 18 games as a Cardinal, Holliday is hitting .486 with 8 2B's, 16RBI's and 4 HR's. He has raised his overall average to .320. It will definitely be an interesting offseason in which Holliday will be a free agent.
  • I have to vent for a few. This venting goes towards Leiter, Kay and O'Neill, and all the other rich people out there. I am listening to the games and these guys are all going on about Mitch Modell being in the ballpark. First, isn't he always at the park? Second, they were besides themselves trying to see if he would give them some free gift-cards. While I for one would be thrilled at the sight of a 100 dollar gift-card, I am not a millionaire. In fact, I am a poor college student working 1,000 jobs just to get by to pay for grad school. These 3 individuals have more money coming out of their butts and they were begging for gift cards? Why in the world do they even need these? It's not just them though, even these rich baseball players are like this. Damon got a 400,000 dollar car for free. The players get gift cards after doing an interview. Come on now, do these people really need it? I can think of about 300,000 other people that actually would be in need of help and actually use the cards on practical items. Its so ridiculous at times how the rich do really get richer for no apparent reason. Ok I am done.
  • Ok wait, I am not done actually. Michael Kay, you need to stop putting down the children of America. Not all kids that go to summer school are there because they goofed off. Some actually have learning disabilities and need it to catch up, or others go to get ahead in school. Ignorant comments about children are not warranted, especially during a baseball broadcast. I note this because he has made this comment on more than one occasion and it makes me angry each time he says it. Don't get me wrong either, Kay is a really nice guy and keeps the broadcasts interesting. I just hate when I hear these comments in general about kids, regardless if there was intent or not.
  • Back to baseball, I think Chad Gaudin owes the Yankees a big thank you. Had it not been for them signing him, he would still look like this
  • Also wanted to note that my site was linked on baseball-reference. So anytime you look at Al Leiter's stats, you can be linked to the blog. Thank you to the individual who sponsored my site :) Your prize awaits you at some point.
  • Lastly, there was a great article written in ESPN the magazine that is worth mentioning. The Yankees and Jason Zillo did a great job in July during HOPE week in which the team went around the community and did a handful of good deeds for those who were most definitely deserving. This link tells about an organization known as Camp Sundown that provided children with a disease known as xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) with a place to go in which they can meet other children that suffer from the same disease. Basically these children cannot be exposed to the sunlight and can only participate in activities that take place during the night time. It is a great read and the Yankees have really provided a great deal of exposure to many about this horrible disease which will in turn hopefully lead to them raising more money for research and also towards maintaining the summer camp that is provided to these kids.

6 comments:

Kyle said...

Great post!

Good day in baseball. I missed the Yankees game, but I was glad they won. This team is incredible lately. I don't know how they'll do in the playoffs, but I do feel more confident with this team than teams of the past few seasons.

I have to say new Yankee Stadium is really becoming a homefield advantage. We are a MLB best 41-18 at home. That's including a bad start we had early in the season.

Pedro should help the Phillies, but Cliff Lee is really what will help them. Their biggest problem though is Lidge has been awful.

I admit that it's not fair that Youk and Porcello get the same suspension but I found it funny that Youk comes charging a 20 year old and gets thrown down. Don't mess with Jersey guys Youk lol. He'll probably appeal the suspension and get to play the Yanks vs Red Sox series.

Holliday has been awesome. He's a big reason why the Cards are 4 games up in their division and he's helped Pujols. Plus, he's ensuring himself a nice pay day.

As for the rich people, yes a lot of them get free stuff. Happens all the time. Free seats at games, free food at expensive restaurants. Whatever. I guess the logic is that other people will show up if those rich people go there. Thus, they give things free to get the rich person to show... but like the rich person have the money that they can afford things.

Summer classes should not be ridiculed the way that Kay does. I agree. I took summer classes my soph and junior year of college. It enabled me to have the option of either graduating earlier or taking a lighter course load while finding a job that lead to employment upon graduation.

Also, some people are slow learners and course material might not sink in right away. A summer class can be beneficial to them.

So taking summer classes does not mean that a person is dumb, lazy, or did not work hard.

Lastly, I like to say that the HOPE week by the Yankees was a great idea. I'm sure it meant a lot to those kids having the Yankees spend some time with them. Also, I had never even heard of (XP) and I'm sure I'm not the only one that didn't. So it definitely raised a lot of awareness and the Yankees supported a good cause.

Chad Gaudin said...

Thanks for mentioning me, Christina.

My best to Rascal.

Mad Men said...

so what's the prize?

The Commish said...

Wow Christina, long post! Lot to reply to.

I didn't realize the Yankees were so good at home. Pretty amazing stat.

Seems this team is really gelling and has a lot of chemistry. Hopefully they can keep the wins coming.

Pedro was a good pickup for the Phillies. Helped that they were able to put up some runs to help him too. I was surprised he hit 93 mph. I really can't see him going more than 5 innings per start.

Speaking of Phils-Cubs, did you see the fan pour beer over Victorino? That guy should be banned from every baseball park for life.

Pitchers always get off easy in the suspensions from fights since they pitch once every 5 days unless they are a reliever. Youk is a hothead. Glad he was put in his place.

Good to see Holliday on roids-just kidding Christina!!!

Who is Mitch Modell? The owner of Modell's sporting goods? Why does he get free Legends Suite seats but everyone else has to pay? He gets free top seats for the whole season? WOW!!!!

Sad that the announcers were begging for free gift cards. How about paying for a shoppping spree for disadvantaged youth Kay, Leiter and O'Neil?!!

Players always get free stuff so they will come on radio shows/postgame shows, etc. Like they really need a new watch, free meal.

Kay should not be bashing summer school. You gave very legit reasons for kids to attend summer school.

I love Gaudin's chin beard! He should bring it back! I might grow one like his.

Congrats on your blog being sponsored. Who is this mystery person that sponsored it? And what is their prize?

I used to read Rick Reilly every week when he wrote for Sports Illustrated. Now that he's on espn.com, I rarely read his column but the Hope Week one was good. I knew all about it since every local paper here wrote about it after it happened but a lot of people around the country didn't know. That's a great idea by Jason Zillo and I'm glad it came to fruition. It's really nice seeing the Yankees give back to the community. Wish more teams would do something like this. Imagine if Burnett hurt himself pitching wiffleball to the kids? LOL.

Keep up the great, great, great, great work Christina!

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

It's only right that your blog sponsors Al Leiter's page.

Al Leiter's Bullpen Catcher said...

Commish- No, Gaudin should NOT bring that ugly beard thing bad. Barf... Thanks for the comment!

eye: so true. i'm sure it creeps Leiter out even more though!