Vecsey: 50 Years Later, Maris’s 61-Homer Season Looks Even Better

Blah-blah, blah-blah-blah-blah
Blah-blah-blah-blah
Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah
Tracy Stallard, never, never, ever let me go!

Some Maris supporters say that anybody who beat Ruth’s record and won two Most Valuable Player awards and the most pennants of any player in the 1960s (seven) deserves to be in the Hall. Writers at The New York Times are not allowed to vote for awards, but (and this always angers friends of mine from Maris’s home town of Fargo, N.D.) I do not think Maris had ...

Yahoo: Sandoval’s two-run homer lifts Giants over Astros

A week’s worth of Giants offense, all in one day!

Pablo Sandoval hit a tie-breaking two-run homer with two out in the 11th inning to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 6-4 victory over the Houston Astros Sunday.

The score had been tied at 4-4 since the fourth inning and the Giants missed several chances to take the lead until Sandoval’s 15th homer off Mark Melancon (6-4).
...
The Giants left 12 base runners stranded, including seven over the final five innings. The loss snapped a four-game ...

ESPN: Curtis Granderson’s inside-the-park HR helps Yanks

Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup and Curtis Granderson hit an inside-the-park home run to help the New York Yankees to a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.

Rodriguez went 0 for 5 in his first game since July 7, but Mark Teixeira also homered and Ivan Nova (13-4) pitched seven shutout innings as the Yankees took three of four from the Twins.
...
[Granderson’s] drive off of Jose Mijares hit high off the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field and got away from both center ...

Yahoo: [Delmon] Young, [Victor] Martinez homer as Tigers sweep Indians, 8-7

Center fielder Austin Jackson threw out Kosuke Fukudome at the plate to complete a game-ending double play and the Detroit Tigers held on to beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in a wild game Sunday.

Delmon Young and Victor Martinez homered in a seven-run third inning as the first-place Tigers completed a three-game sweep of the Indians. The Indians could have taken over first place with a sweep of their own, but leave Detroit trailing by 4 1-2 games in the AL Central race.
...
Jose Valverde ...

Rosenthal: Those Wild and Crazy Brewers

The Brewers’ personality is like no other club’s. They are the anti-Cardinals, joyful instead of joyless, exuding energy. Their dugout erupted after they regained the lead in the ninth, and the players were still exchanging high-fives and hugs when they took the field for the bottom half, almost like a high-school team.
...
“It may seem like it’s a free-for-all. I don’t want it be a free-for-all,” Roenicke said. “But with a lot of stuff, I just say, ‘All right.’ I try to pick ...

Cistulli: Mike Trout and the Teenage Homer Club

On or off the Bandwagonesque…which is it?

Friday night, Angel outfield prospect Mike Trout hit the second home run of his very short career. That Trout has any home runs at all at his age places him into a pretty exclusive club.

Though Trout is technically 20 years old — having celebrated his birthday on August 7th — he’s currently in his age-19 season (the cutoff being July 1st, or roughly halfway through the season).

Over the last 25 years, only 10 major leaguers have hit a home run ...

Theoharis: Adam Jones’ team play has been a bright spot in a rough season

In Theoharis We Trust!

Lost in all the “important” stats is one that shows Jones has not only blossomed into a star player, but a team player.

Jones is currently tied for the most amount of sacrifice flies in the American League. The Royals Jeff Francoeur and the White Sox Paul Konerko share the honor with 10 a piece.

Just to give you an idea of how dramatically Jones has improved in this area, before this season he had nine total sacrifice flies in his first five years in the big leagues.

...

John Feinstein: ‘Hard-working’ isn’t reason enough for some umpires to stay in the Majors

Tales from QuesTec School…

After the game in Tampa I asked Mussina why he’d gotten so angry. He patiently explained that when an umpire consistently misses pitches, especially when you’re older, you become convinced those extra pitches you have to throw will come back and get you sooner or later.

“A lot of guys think C.B. Bucknor should be a Double-A umpire,” I said.

“That,” Mussina said, “would be an insult to Double-A umpires.”

Mussina is now retired; Bucknor is still in ...

Powers: Twins GM Bill Smith deserves his share of the blame for lost season

Whistling Bill Smith past the graveyard…

Players and managers have bad years. So do front offices. The Twins’ front office is having a terrible year. Not only have there been a series of questionable personnel moves, but Smith also probably has botched any chance of re-signing potential free agents Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel.

He has handled their situations abysmally. Remember that glut of outfielders everyone was talking about? Well, it looks like the Twins will be down to Ben Revere ...

LA Times: Bolch: Baseball by the numbers: Which statistics are the most telling?

Cowie-Zowie! I wonder if Colletti and Mattingly ever thought about flip-flopping their jobs?!

Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti endorsed OPS as a worthy tool for gauging offense because it takes into consideration power as well as the ability to reach base.

Don Mattingly, the Dodgers’ manager and a former American League batting champion, said he preferred runs scored.

“Think about it,” Mattingly said. “You have to be on base to do it; you have to be getting yourself in position [to ...

Krikorian: Grich’s numbers are Hall of Fame good

All sabermetrics people unite!

He went on to praise the team’s owner, Arte Moreno - “definitely the best owner in baseball who runs what was voted in an ESPN poll as baseball’s top organization” - and went on to reflect on his lengthy career that in recent times has caught the attention of those who passionately embrace sabermetrics. This is a term derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research and was coined by Bill James, one of the pioneers of ...

Bickley: Trophy or not, Diamondbacks’ Justin Upton finally an MVP

“The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play.”

Postseason awards have no relevance inside a pennant race. The conversation makes Kirk Gibson cringe.

“Do I care if Justin Upton gets his MVP right now? Hell, no,” Gibson said. “Do I care if Ian Kennedy gets his recognition? Hell, no. All I care is if we come out every day and go after our goal, which is a team thing. It’s really dangerous when you start to look for credit.”

...“Part of this whole ...

MLB.com: Feeding off sellout crowd, Bucs topple Reds

The Pirates finished Saturday in fourth place, 14 1/2 games behind the Brewers, while the third-place Reds ended the day 13 1/2 games back. Still, 37,826 fans bought tickets, cheered when Andrew McCutchen scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and booed when they thought a runner was safe or a called strike three was a bit inside.

The Pirates are two sellouts away from matching PNC Park’s record of 19, which occurred in 2001, when the park opened. They’re now just 19,282 fans away from ...

NYT: A.J. Burnett Leaves Early, but Not Quietly, From His Latest Poor Performance

In his worst outing of the season, and perhaps his worst as a Yankee, Burnett surrendered seven runs on a combination of five hits, three walks and two wild pitches as the Minnesota Twins pounded the Yankees, 9-4, at Target Field.

...That brought Girardi from the dugout, and when he took the ball, television cameras caught Burnett expressing anger — anger he later attributed to his being upset with a pitch call by an umpire and was not directing his anger at Girardi.

Girardi appeared to ...

BA draft blog: Bonus Expenditures, 2011

What each team spent on draft bonuses in 2011. The figures below don’t include additional guarantees included in major league contracts.

top 5:
Team           2011 Bonuses
Pirates         $17,005,700
Nationals       $15,002,100
Royals          $14,066,000
Cubs            $11,994,550
Diamondbacks    $11,930,000

bottom 5:
Dodgers         $3,509,300
Angels          $3,318,100
Athletics       $3,067,300
Tigers          $2,878,700
White Sox       $2,786,300

Total         $228,009,050
Average ...

MLB.com: Inge powers Tigers in climactic return

After being called up from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day and returning from exile, Brandon Inge said he was going to make sure that the Tigers had more fun.

Inge and the Tigers had plenty of fun on Saturday, as they defeated the Indians, 10-1, and extended their lead in the American League Central to 3 1/2 games with help from Inge, who went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs.
...
Inge led off the second inning with a 380-foot blast to left field on the third pitch he saw, drawing an ...

Yahoo: Altuve’s inside-the-park HR helps Astros win

Jose Altuve hit an inside-the-park drive for his first major league home run, a leadoff shot that sent the Houston Astros over the San Francisco Giants 7-5 Saturday night.

Altuve had three hits and fellow rookie J.D. Martinez homered, doubled and drove in four runs as the Astros matched a season high with their fourth straight win.
...
Aubrey Huff homered and Cody Ross and Pablo Sandoval each drove in two runs for the Giants, who have lost three in a row and 16 of 22.

Altuve opened the bottom ...

Cowley: Jim Hendry shouldn’t be only casualty when Cubs clean house

Wow! I haven’t seen a Crane exposed like this…since “Take Off Your Clothes and Smile” was first scripted!

Mike Quade is not going to be the manager on the North Side next season, so why drag on the inevitable? Then there’s the 190-pound clown in the room that is team president Crane Kenney. To hear Ricketts talk about Kenney doing a “good job’’ running the business end of things for the organization was one of those throw-up-in-your-mouth moments. Kenney a liability, too

The business ...

Chipper Jones to Play in 2012

Chipper Jones said he will return to play for the Braves in 2012, ending speculation that the 39-year-old third baseman might retire after this season and walk away with a year left on his contract.

Capitol Avenue Club: Chipper Comments on Heyward’s Swing

Unlike petitioning for Jason Heyward to play through injuries that obviously hurt him at the plate, Chipper made some comments about something he is qualified to make comments on. Chipper critiqued Heyward’s swing and spoke of ways he feels he can improve it at the plate.

Alan Hirsch: God Does Not Play Baseball

The Beauty of Short Hops Heard Round the World.

As if Jews haven’t suffered enough, it turns out that Ralph Branca is a member of our tribe.  The man who served up Bobby Thompson’s Shot Heard Round The World in 1951 recently learned that his mother was a closeted Jew.  The full story, told in poignant detail in a recent New York Times article by Joshua Prager, suggests that Branca’s hidden religion may have had major ramifications for baseball.

Thompson’s home run completed the ...

Allen Barra: The Case for A.J. Burnett? You Mean There Really Is One?

I got as far as “ESPN’s Colin Cowherd, one of the more astute radio talk show hosts around.” when my head had a mega-splosion. Costco’s Kirkland Signature to the rescue!

Joe Sheehan maintains that using advanced statistics — FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) and xFIP (advanced FIP) — indicates that “Burnett is the team’s third best starter behind Sabathia and [Bartolo] Colon.” This strikes me as intolerably fancy. “There’s an argument,” Sheehan writes, “to be made that Burnett isn’t ...

MLB: Roenicke OK with no lefties in the bullpen

roen·i·ckes: Sound made while hocking every loogy.

No left-handers in the bullpen? No problem, says Brewers manager Ron Roenicke.

He remains all right with the Brewers’ all-righty relief corps, and said there is a strong chance they will go without a lefty reliever until rosters expand Sept. 1.

“I like our bullpen the way it is,” he said. “I just can’t imagine our bullpen being any better than what it has been, so why have a left-hander in there? If it’s a lights-out lefty, that’s ...

Edward Norton’s birthday wish: For Ripken to save the Orioles

Mischief. Mayhem. Dope.

Edward Norton is a fine actor who starred in such films as “Fight Club,” “Primal Fear” and “Rounders.” He is also a Columbia native and one of the most famous people to admit in public that he is still an Orioles fan.

Norton turned 42 today. What does he want for his birthday? For Cal Ripken to come save his Orioles.

“Thanks for all the nice messages. People have been asking what I want for my birthday. This:” Norton wrote on Twitter, linking to a site asking for ...

McClelland: Clean or not, Thome belongs in Hall of Fame

McClelland…and?...and?...and?...and?...and…just ####### say it!

Even so, I find this widespread attempted canonization of Thome somewhat laughable, as if there’s no way he could ever have been involved with performance-enhancing drugs.

Maybe he used HGH. There was no testing. Or maybe, unlike dopey Manny Ramirez, he was just smart enough not to get caught. And maybe, because he was such a “nice guy,” some who cover baseball for a living are giving him a free pass.

Because that’s the ...

MiLB.com: Harper likely to be shut down by Nats

Bryce Harper likely will not play again this season, Nationals manager Davey Johnson said Friday.

Harper, the Nationals’ top prospect, was carried off the field on Thursday night in Akron after suffering a strained right hamstring while running from first to third base.

“He probably won’t play the rest of the year, as far as I know,” Johnson told MASN. “There’s only a few days left. You take a chance of aggravating it and it becomes more of a serious injury.”

Takes the pressure off the Nats ...

Tony Jackson:Ned Colletti deflects Cubs GM talk

“I have a contract and a commitment to the Dodgers,” Colletti said. “Until somebody tells me otherwise, that is where my focus is and where my efforts will be.”

Colletti, who has been the Dodgers GM since November 2005, signed a long-term contract extension in October 2009. The actual length of that extension has never been made public, and while Colletti does have an escape clause, it doesn’t kick in until after next season.

However, with the Dodgers presently in bankruptcy and a question of ...

ESPN: Source: Pirates extend Jose Tabata

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jose Tabata has signed a contract extension for six years, a source close to the negotiations told ESPNdeportes.com on Friday.

Tabata’s new deal with the Pirates is guaranteed through the 2016 season and includes a restructuring of his contract for 2011. The team has options for 2017, 2018 and 2019 for a total of $37.25 million.

His salary increases to $500,000 this season, along with a $1 million signing bonus in 2011. Tabata will make $750,000 in 2012, $1 ...

Mikie Mahtook Unplugged

No idea how to embed this.

Babe leads five legends into Hall

Ruth’s name appeared on 75.6 percent of the 55,834 fan ballots cast from Aug. 8-18. DiMaggio garnered 46 percent of the vote to finish second, Gehrig was third at 43.4 percent and Mantle fourth with 42.8 percent.

Robinson, the only non-Yankee inductee, got 41.2 percent of the vote to easily outdistance Lawrence Taylor, Willie Mays and Joe Namath for the fifth and final spot.