Thursday, May 31, 2012

Oddities from this Week in Baseball

While you most likely heard about Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds saving a man's life and saw this amazing catch by an Ohio pitcher, there are a few quirky things that happened in baseball this week that you may have missed.  I present to you four interesting events from this week in baseball you might just find entertaining.

1. One fan got very lucky on Wednesday when he caught Carlos Quentin's 3rd inning homerun and then Darwin Barney's walkoff homerun.  You can view the video here.  Just go to the 20 second mark to see the first homerun, and then the to 1:49 to see the second that he caught.

2. On Tuesday, a group of Cubs fans completed a nearly 2,000-mile journey in which they walked from Mesa, AZ to Wrigley Field with a goat. Their reasons?  To raise awareness for cancer, and also to reverse the Curse of the Billy Goat.  The Cubs beat the Padres 5-3 on the day they finished their walk, so hey, they might be on to something.

3. Royals legend George Brett used Twitter to assemble a search-and-rescue team for his missing dog Charlie. Many of Brett's 12,000+ followers helped to find his dog after he posted about its disappearance on Twitter.  The original tweet went out on Tuesday, and yesterday Brett announced that his dog was home and safe.

4. Nyjer Morgan has set a new MLB record, and no, it's not most uncensored expletives shouted on TV or most entertaining brawl to watch, though he probably holds those records already.  Morgan has set a record for most at-bats to start a season without an RBI, according to brewcrewball.com, hitting 120 times without bringing a runner home.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Busy Day For Rockies: Moyer, CarGo, and Tulo all in the News

There was big news out of Denver Wednesday for the Colorado Rockies.  At 19-29 going into Wednesday, there was little to write home about concerning the Rockies, but the Rockies made news before, during and after their 13-5 win over the Houston Astros.

Before the game, the Rockies announced that 49-year old lefty Jamie Moyer was designated for assignment, meaning he will most likely be cut within the next 10 days. Moyer was 2-5 with a 5.70 ERA for the Rockies this year.  On April 17th he became the oldest pitcher to win a game when he beat the San Diego Padres 5-3.  Besides that highlight, Moyer's season has mostly been a reminder to the baseball world why pitchers retire by the time their bodies start to decline near the age of fourty.  You have to admire Moyer's spirit in continuing his career, but I don't see him improving upon his meager stuff at this point.  Josh Outman will start in Moyer's place on Friday.

During the game, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez hit three homeruns to help his team rout the Astros.  That  makes 13 for him this season.

The grim news came after the game, when shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said he is "going to miss a few days at least" with a groin injury.  Tulowitzki also said that a DL stint is possible, and he will get an MRI on Thursday if his groin is "still really sore."


CHW Broadcaster Enraged at Pitcher's Ejection

Chicago White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana was ejected from this afternoon's game against the Tampa Bay Rays after throwing a pitch behind Tampa Bay Rays hitter Ben Zobrist.

Umpire Mark Wegner ejected Quintana immediately on the suspicion that Quintana was retaliating after Rays pitcher Alex Cobb hit two Chicago hitters earlier in the game.  This led to a tirade by White Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson, which you can listen to here.

Harrelson, who is famous for his "you can put it on the Board YES!" call, is no stranger to rants on umpires.  In this instance, I think Harrelson has some reason to complain since Wegner never warned the benches prior to the ejection, but Quintana's attempted beaning seems completely intentional.  White Six catcher A.J. Pierzynski was hit in the third inning of today's game because of his hard slide into Ben Zobrist during yesterday's game.

This incident is very similar to Saturday's ejection of Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Henderson Alvarez.  An outspoken broadcaster, if there actually was one calling that game with a Blue Jays bias, would have the right to go off about the umpire's decision.  It was a one run game, and after surrendering three straight homeruns, Alvarez sure didn't want any more trouble.  More importantly, Alvarez had no motive to bean Ian Kinsler.  Quintana, on the other hand, was almost certainly throwing at Zobrist on purpose.  \

While I appreciate the day-to-day enthusiasm of Harrelson, I think he would be best in toning down his bias.  Instead of immediately jumping to the conclusion that the umpire was out to get the White Sox, he should have calmed down for just a second and though about the reasons Quintana had for throwing at the batter.