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Baseball Today: Wednesday, June 11

Journal photo / Gretchen Ertl

LEAPIN' LIZARDS: For the longest time last night, it looked like a bull market for the Red Sox. Coco Crisp made a spectacular catch to end the fifth inning (above). Josh Beckett survived without his best stuff and, says Steven Krasner, turned in an ace-like performance without ace-like numbers. Manny Ramirez moved into sole posession of 22nd place on the all-time home-run list with No. 505, which, reports Joe McDonald, delighted Eddie Murray, the ex-teammate and friend he was tied with at 504. Krasner tells us Jacoby Ellsbury had a more-or-less successful return to the lineup. The Sox had a 6-4 lead after six innings and handed the game over to Hideki Okajima in the first step down a path that would inevitably lead to Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.

And then came the explosion.

When it was over the Sox, relates McDonald, were 10-6 losers to the Orioles but, far more importantly, a disconcerting issue was raised: Wither Hideki Okajima? He had another abysmal outing -- one-third of an inning, two hits, two walks, three runs -- and it had Sean McAdam asking if Okajima "was . . . a one-year flash in the pan?" When Okajima "can’t locate with precision," writes Sean, "his stuff isn’t good enough to overmatch hitters." He certainly didn't overmatch anyone last night, making the 2007 words of some scouts -- "who predicted [Okajima] would become more hittable the more opposing teams saw him" -- prophetic . . . and worrisome.

He wasn't the only bullpen culprit last night. Krasner reports that, at least partially due to a ninth-inning misjudgment by Dustin Pedroia, Craig Hansen had his scoreless string snapped as the Orioles tacked on three more runs. (It was part of a six-run outburst against Sox relievers, only the second time in the last 16 games the bullpen's been scored upon.) But because of the role he occupies -- Tonto to Papelbon's Lone Ranger -- Okajima's failures were the ones that raised the most warning flags.

There's a danger in overreacting to one bad outing or even a series of bad outings; it could be nothing more than Oriole hitters having Okajima's number this year. (The Baltimore Sun reports Okajima "has a 13.50 ERA and three blown leads in five appearances against the Orioles this season . . . [and] a 0.40 ERA, having surrendered just one earned run in 22 2/3 innings, against everyone else.") But when a team that had lost only six home games all year prior to last night coughs one up in such gruesome fashion -- and with such an obvious goat at the middle of it all -- well, a little overreaction is understandable.

DON'T ASK US: Oriole hitters say they have no idea why they're so successful against Okajima. (Washington Post)

ON THE OTHER HAND . . . There's always good news to offset the bad in baseball, and Krasner reports that last night's ray of sunshine was shining on the comebacking Curt Schilling. And Terry Francona threw a little sunshine at Clay Buchholz, while he was at it.

IT'S JUST A BASKETBALL GAME, FOR GOD'S SAKES: Folks in Baltimore are so phobic about Kevin Millar's not-so-secret affection for all things Boston that they come down on him for something as innocuous as attending Game Two of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers. (The Loss Column Baltimore Sports)

COMPARISON TEST: Remember when Jim Rice claimed Papelbon was the only member of the current Red Sox who could have displaced a starter on Rice's 1975 American League champion Sox? Both AOL's Josh Alper and SouthCoastToday.com's Jon Couture look at the rosters and find Rice's analysis to be a little skewed . . . specifically at first base, second base, third base and the pitching staff.

C.C. OF SURPRISE: On his Hacks With Haggs blog, Joe Haggerty reports ESPN's Jayson Stark threw the Red Sox into some C.C. Sabathia trade talk, saying on the Mike and Mike In The Morning radio show that the Indians are "heavily scouting" the Sox. And since they don't play Boston until September, it can't be game scouting.

DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO: Curt Schilling has long skewered media members who make categorical statements with just a surface knowledge of the situation. Then he does exactly what he claims to hate in a 38pitches.com entry about Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, even though, as he admits, "I have no idea how the guys in the NBA play or do things . . . " And that gave T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times the opportunity to tear into Schilling, saying there's "no bigger sissy than a hit-and-run blogger."

DO THE RIGHT THING: There's some controversy over who caught Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th home run Monday night, as two fans in Miami are claiming ownership. (Miami Herald) But Damon Woo hopes that whoever has it does the same thing he did when he caught Manny Ramirez' 500th: Return it. McDonald talked to Woo, whose life has been a whirlwind since he brought the historic ball back to Ramirez in the Red Sox clubhouse that night.

HE DID JUST THAT: Griffey -- widely regarded as baseball's greatest player in the 1990s -- has slowly slid into the background in recent years, partly because injuries limited his playing time but also because his numbers never shot into the chemically aided stratosphere of the late '90s and early '00s. And Griffey's clean-as-a-whistle reputation was suddenly front-and-center yesterday as Number 600 prompted the baseball world to rediscover a player it had all but forgotten. His name, wrote Hal McCoy in a story reprinted in the Chicago Tribune, "never has appeared on a police blotter, has never been listed among those who cheated to gain an unfair advantage, has never been listed on any delinquent tax lists or bankruptcy lists for flushing his money away on drugs." SI.com's Jack Wilkinson concurs, saying Griffey's achievement "was not only extraordinary, but untainted" The Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer remembers a childhood spent idolizing Junior, and notes the reality of what Griffey actually did was always better than the fantasy." Even players, like ex-teammate Todd Jones, were delighted. The Seattle Times, which covered Griffey over the early part of his career, compiles a list of his 10 most memorable home runs. And Mike Greenberg of ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike In The Morning compares Griffey to Barry Bonds . . . and gives the edge to Griffey.

Six hundred home runs is quite a milestone -- only five other players (Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa) have ever done it, and Bonds and Sosa are widely believed to have had medicinal help in clearing the bar -- and just getting there is an achievement to be celebrated. But this was more. This was the virtual rediscovery of a player deserving of the praise we'd unfairly heaped on others during baseball's blighted past.

Congratulations, Junior. You earned it.

MAINTAINING THE PACE: The Red Sox lost no ground to the Rays in the A.L. East standings, as James Shields was knocked around a bit in a 6-1 Angels win over Tampa Bay. (Tampa Tribune)

NEW MEANING TO THE TERM 'ON THE BUMP': The Tampa Bay Rays can do with more with their fists than pummel Coco Crisp:

RIGHTING A WRONG: Remembering the time Cito Gaston left him warming up in the bullpen without bringing him into the game -- and thus depriving Mike Mussina, then with the Orioles, of pitching in front of his hometown fans in the 1993 All-Star Game at Camden Yards -- Cameron Martin of ComcastSportsNet wonders if Terry Francona would select Moose to start this year's All-Star Game, which is being played in Mussina's current baseball home (Yankee Stadium).

MOOSE TALES: John Feinstein's latest book, Living On The Black, focuses on the 2007 seasons of Mussina and Tom Glavine, who were both in New York last year and were both staying in the major leagues on their brains and guile thanks to fastballs that had long since deserted them. Ken Davidoff of Newsday relates some of the Mussina stories, which include examples of his contempt for Carl Pavano and how then-pitching coach Ron Guidry stopped speaking to him when he was removed from the starting rotation last August.

BACK IN THE GROOVE: Chien-Ming Wang was his old sinkerballing self as he pitched the Yankees over the A's in Oakland last night. (New York Post)

NO, THEY'RE NOT: The New York Daily News' Filip Bondy says nobody "is talking about the Yankees as a championship team anymore -- not this year, anyway -- and that means the arrow continues to point in the wrong direction for this franchise." And he bemoans the fact that "[over] the past eight years, the Bombers have slowly devolved from perennial champions to chronic playoff disappointments, then to a wild-card team and now to a mere wild-card contender."

OH, SHADDUP: Tino Martinez has a piece of advice for those -- like Johnny Damon -- who feel the need to comment on the Joba Chamberlain situation: Zip it. (New York Daily News)

REACHING OUT: Andy Pettitte says he hasn't spoken to Roger Clemens since the controversy over performance-enhancing drugs erupted over the winter but says he hopes they'll talk soon. (New York Daily News) As for whether that will happen this weekend, when the Yanks go to Clemens' (and Pettitte's) hometown of Houston, Pettitte replied: "I have no idea. I don't know what to tell you about that."

UPS AND DOWNS: Speaking of PEDs, Yahoo! Sports' David Brown looks at how all the players mentioned in the Mitchell Report are doing this year.

WHOA! There's been a Phil Hughes blog sighting!

PROUD MOMENT FOR MY PROFESSION: The Sporting News is reinventing itself as a print/online hybrid and it's making a part-time journalist out of Hank Steinbrenner. (AOL Sports Fanhouse)

LET ME PUSH THE DETONATOR BUTTONS: Tim Marchman of the New York Sun, in an interview with the blog The Biz of Baseball, provides an antidote to the flood of tears being shed over the imminent demises of Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium by saying he's "utterly appalled" by both parks. He's particularly appalled by Yankee Stadium: "Yankee Stadium is on the merits one of the worst places in the country to watch a ballgame, and there’s really little that’s more hilarious in baseball than the pretense that this giant concrete bowl is some magnificent cathedral and monument to the glories of the game."

'L' BEFORE 'W': The New York Daily News reports the Mets had a players-only meeting before last night's game against the Diamondbacks and passed around a sheet that contained such inspirational phrases as "team above self" and "We B4 I." Then they went out, blew a four-run lead and lost to Arizona, 9-5. Even so, Moises Alou says the Mets "definitely" are a playoff- team. (New York Post)

PLENTY OF BLAME TO GO AROUND: With the Mets' season swirling down the sink, focus is beginning to shift away from Willie Randolph and onto Omar Minaya. (New York Daily News)

AND FOR MORE THAN JUST THE TEAM'S ON-FIELD PLAY: John Delcos, on the LoHud Mets Blog, rips into Minaya and the Mets for their "shameful" handling of Ryan Church's concussion. "Just dumb and arrogant from top to bottom," he concludes.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? As low as Class A if you're Dontrelle Willis. That's where the Tigers sent him in an attempt to see if he can regain his lost pitching skills, which have deserted him to the tune of a 10.32 ERA. (espn.com) Baseball Musings' David Pinto wishes Willis the best because baseball "can use characters like him."

BI-POLAR: Last winter, Peter Robins-Brown of Bugs and Cranks admits he "joined the chorus of cheers" when the Tigers traded for Edgar Renteria and was so euphoric about acquiring Willis and Miguel Cabrera from Florida that he "made an allusion to taking the deal itself out for a fine dinner and trying to make love to it. Or something like that." Now, on June 11, his tune is a little different: "They’re done. Stick a fork in ‘em. And all those other cliches. The 2008 Detroit Tigers can no longer be considered a team with any chance of making a run to the playoffs."

AT THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM . . . : SI.com's Jon Heyman says this year's Philadelphia story will be as good, if not better, than it was in 2007.

JET LAG: The Washington Post has results of a study that shows teams lose 60 percent of games played in a time zone three hours from the time zone they just left, and 52 percent of games in time zones one or two hours away. But the study also shows teams "only rarely have to play games right after traveling across the country . . . In fact, for only about 16 to 20 times a season did [all MLB] teams [combined] have to travel three time zones and then promptly play a game."

R.I.P. Eliot Asinof, author of the essential Eight Men Out -- the story of how the White Sox threw the 1919 World Series -- has died at age 88. (AP via Yahoo!)

HERE AND THERE: Albert Pujols had to be helped off the field after straining his calf in the Cardinals' win at Cincinnati last night, and the team fears he'll be out a while (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) . . . The Orioles, as expected, designated Steve Trachsel for assignment (Baltimore Sun) . . . Tom Glavine, who avoided the disabled list for the first 20 years of his career, is headed there for the second time in three months because of a strained left elbow (mlb.com) . . . It doesn't look as if the Dodgers' Rafael Furcal will even be starting a rehab assignment for at least two weeks (Los Angeles Daily News) . . . Francisco Liriano had another strong outing in Rochester as he tries to make his way back to the Twins (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) . . . Troy Tulowitzki has begin his rehab assignment (mlb.com) . . . The Braves say there are "a lot of unknowns" concerning John Smoltz' future after his shoulder surgery (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) . . . Juan Uribe's buried on the bench, but he says he still wants to stay with the White Sox (Chicago Tribune) . . . Gregg Zaun's about ready to return to the Blue Jays. (Toronto Star)

OLD FRIENDS: Anibal Sanchez, recuperating from shoulder surgery, is close to being able to pitch in a rehab game (Miami Herald) . . . Because of Furcal's injury (see above), Nomar Garciaparra is going to play some shortstop (Los Angeles Times) . . . Trot Nixon has 10 home runs in Tucson and rotoworld.com wonders if it isn't time for someone, like the Mets, to give him a look . . . Wilfredo Ledezma has been designated for assignment by the Padres (San Diego Union-Tribune) . . . Cliff Floyd can't get back into Tampa Bay's lineup. (St. Petersburg Times)

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:30 AM | Permalink

Comments

David | June 11, 2008 11:29 AM link