I did tonight what I do most nights: I watch baseball on MLB.tv--where I have access to every game, except the game involving the team in my home market, Detroit. I have a new blog on MLBLOGS.com and I thought I'd try it out. Technical glitches aplenty, though, so I don't really know for sure whether these 3155 words written in real time between around 9pm (EDT) and 1:30am this morning actually made the net or not. But I reproduce them for you now, at this time, in this place:
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I'm going to watch the Tigers-Red Sox game tonight on the computer and since I live in the Detroit market, I will have to wait until 90 minutes after the game is over to see it. So, no spoilers, okay?
UPDATE: OKAY, I SAW A TWEET AND I KNOW THE TIGERS LOST 1-0. GEE, THEY HAD THE TYING RUN AT THIRD IN THE 9TH.
The reason I'm waiting is so that I can utilize the crowd noise overlay feature and watch the game not in silence as would be the case were I to simply mute the audio, but with that crowd noise in the background: the same way it would be were I covering the game in person like I do at Comerica Park. I don't like having my opinions and judgements colored by what an announcer or a color guy might say. You know?
And, truth be told, I am not a fan of the Tigers broadcasters. There are a lot of crews I don't care for. Rick Manning sounds like he's really sold on himself in Cleveland and I hate Ken Harrelson so much--(as a broadcaster because he's such a homer; I'm sure he's a fine person)--that I sometimes bring him up when the White Sox are getting hammered just to listen to him whine to name but two.
But some I like. Michael Kay on the YES Network is outstanding. I enjoy listening to Dick Enberg in San Diego, he goes on and on, and, speaking of which, Vin Scully, maybe the best of all time, continues to turn in the best broadcast in The Show today out of Los Angeles. Vin skips the odd road trip now, but when he's behind the mike, I'm watching the game on MLB.TV. I love the guy. I make sure I tune in (of course on computer that should read, "I navigate over") at broadcast time every night I can just to hear him open his broadcast with these simple words; "It's time for Dodger baseball!"
One thing about Scully. He works alone. And, as I say, he's the best in the business. You'd think somebody would pick up on this and gas their color guy with all of his inside baseball bullcrap and let a guy work alone but none has, so far. I watch a lot of games, and I mean A LOT OF GAMES on MLB-TV. Right now I have the Orioles-Yankees game on as well as the White Sox-Indians. I have to watch the Indians because they lead the Tigers by 5 in the AL Central--besides, you have to watch the other teams in your division--and the game in Baltimore happens to be the most attractive of the other early games tonight. Plus, it, unlike most of the other non-west coast games tonight, is competitive with the Yanks leading at Camden Yards 1-0 in the 9th. Their run was unearned. The game in Chicago's good, too. Jake Peavy is shutting out the Indians 1-0 in the bottom of the 6th. We have a full slate of west coasters tonight (Sculley's going to be calling the LA-San Fransisco game from Dodger Stadium, for example), so I'll up late with you.
I see we have a rain delay in Boston, so who knows when we'll get to see that Tigers game tonight. They kept us waiting for a full two hours last night before they called the game in Detroit. I started telling whomever would listen after the delay and lasted for an hour that we wouldn't be playing last night but they didn't believe me. I dunno. I went, as I note at the top of this blog, to my first Tigers game in 1963. That should buy me some cred in these matters, but no...
Meanwhile, it's raining in Baltimore and Mariano Rivera has blown the save. Two singles and a sac fly by Vlad Guerrero plated the run that tied it at 1 and they are going to extras. And Peavy has thrown only 65 pitches and has allowed only 2 hits as the Indians (try to) bat against him with a man down in the 7th. Peavy could be as big as story as there is in the Bigs this year.
I watched Peavy make his debut in Los Angeles (okay, Anaheim) last week. He was trailing when he left, but I the White Sox won in extras, the go-ahead run scoring when LA's Jepson threw a wild pitch while trying to issue an intentional walk. You don't see that every night. He sailed it 10 feet over his catchers head. In Chicago, Lillibridge just made an amazing sliding catch on the warning track in center to get the first out of the 8th, Peavy still in there. But back to that game last week against the Angels. It ended with what I think will go down as the best play in the majors this season. Let's test my blogging skills and see if we can find the play and insert it for your enjoyment.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jspmlb
Well, there's the link to it, anyway. (Click it, it's worth it.) WordPress wants $60 (ok, $59.97) for a feature which would allow me to embed the video, but I don't have that kind of cash and even if I did, I doubt I'd blow it on that.
I just heard Scully say, "It's time for Dodger baseball"; Peavy gets the game to the 9th allowing only 3 hits; the O's and Yankees have gone to the 11th; and the rain delay is over in Boston. The night continues...
Peavy came out for the 9th, a bit of surprise for a guy making his second start after surgery which could have, perhaps should have, finished him off for good, but instead he finishes the game and logs a 3-hit shutout with 8K and 0W. Wow. The O's have 'em loaded with 1 out in the 11th, oops, make it 2 out as Luke Scott fans when pretty much all he had to do was put a ball in play to beat the Yankees. Weiters flies out and that, as Scully always says, is that. On to the 12th in Baltimore as the Orioles let a great chance go by.
The Yanks let the O's off the hook in the 12th, returning the favor when Jeter hits a 40-foot ground out to 3rd with two in scoring position and two out in the inning.
Trevor Plouffe, shortstop for the Twins, has just overthrown first base by about 15 feet to give the A's an extra out in the 2nd. The Twins lead 1-0 in the second with two out and, thanks to the miscue, the A's have men on second and third in when they should be grabbing their mitts and heading out to play the field. A Kevin Kouzmanoff single scores both runners and the Twins, 13.5 games out in the Central and the most disappointing team in baseball by far so far, trail in Oakland 2-1 when they should have been out of the inning ahead 1-0.
The Tigers lost. I know this because, even with the scores blacked out, I see Boston did not have to bat in the bottom of the 9th at Fenway. This is not a good sign as I doubt that the Bostons would have declined their At bats had they been, in fact, trailing. Besides that, the Tigers haven't Tweeted much all night. I don't know how it is for your team, but the Tigers only Tweet when something good happens and they have been largely silent on Twitter on this night.
Baltimore has runners and 2nd and 3rd with two out in the 13th. (See, there's a lot going on out there.) Again the Orioles fail and the Yanks get their lead-off man on in the 13th. NY loads 'em up and A-Rod takes a called third and bitches about it. Accardo is the Baltimore pitcher and I don't know much about him.
Plouffe made up for the error that wound up costing the Twins 2 runs in the second by singling in 2 runs in the third and Minnesota leads again, 3-2. Dickerson strikes out in Baltimore (this is the first I've heard of a Yankee named Dickerson) and the bases remain loaded for NY, now with 2 out in the 13th. Gardner grounds out to first and for the umpteenth time, a team blows an extra-inning scoring chance in Baltimore tonight. The bottom of the 13th is coming up.
At Dodger Stadium, Scully's not bumming even if the Giants lead 2-0 in the second and have the bases loaded with none out because Scully never bums. You can't ever tell by listening to him if LA is up or down. What a pro! (But the Dodgers are in trouble tonight.)
We are "down" now to 7 in progress games around the Majors. Should we just type on until the night is done?
We may have to write all night. The Yankees, again bidding to win that game in Baltimore, have a man at second with nobody out in the 14th. And the Dodgers go down 1-2-3 in LA where Matt Cain has retired 12 in a row.
Cain begins the 5th at Dodger Stadium and another Matt, LA's Kemp, ruins the perfect game and all the rest of it with a homer. It's the first homer he's ever hit off Cain, says Scully. The lead-off man does not reach in the bottom of the 14th in Baltimore which might be the first time in the extra innings that the lead-off man has been retired. Felix Pie (they say P-ay, I say PIE) has his potential gamer caught on the track up against the wall by that guy Dickerson of NY.
Texas and KC are in extras, too. That game is in the 11th and I haven't had time to click over and see what's up at The K tonight. I should be able to log onto that Tigers game in about half an hour. The O's are out in order in the 14th, so it's on to the 15th inning at Camden Yards!
For the fourth straight inning in extra innings, and for the tenth time in the game, New York gets the leadoff man on in the 15th. The Dodgers, trailing 4-0 when the 5th began, follow the leadoff homer by Kemp by loading the bases with none out. Two out now and the bases still loaded in Chavez Ravine. The Orioles, with two on and none out, bring in the last relief pitcher they have left in the bullpen. The Dodgers fail to get a run out of that bases-loaded none out situation.
After 13 singles and 15 innings, Robinson Cano gets the first extra base hit of the night for New York and it scores two. Dickerson then takes a pitch to the head from Gonzalez, and he's down in a heap. Gonzales is ejected and Dickerson staggers to his feet. Guthrie, slated to start for Baltimore tomorrow, may have to come in to pitch now.
Guthrie is indeed in for the Orioles with the Yankees ahead 5-3 and none down in the 15th. Texas scored two in the top of the 11th and KC is now batting in the bottom of the inning with one down and none on. A sac fly in Baltimore is the first out of the inning for NY and ups their lead to 4-1.
Baltimore, down 3, gets the first two men on in the bottom of the 15th.
Game over in KC, 5-4 Texas in 11. The Royals had 1st and 3rd with 1 out in 10th, but Arthur Rhodes, featured this week in Sports Illustrated as a LOOG (Left Handed One Out Guy) induces an infield popup and gets out of the jam. Six games still going. We're going to Oakland next as the A's have tied the Twins 3-3, with that game now in the 8th.
Incredible in Balt. An apparent single that would have loaded the bases for the Orioles with one out, hits baseruner Snyder instead and so it's two on and two out instead and the next batter makes an out and the game is over: Yankees 4, Orioles 1 (15). Gary Thorne, tacitly noting that the game ended at 12:05am, says, "We'll see you tonight for game two of the series."
5 games still going on around the majors. Still tied in Oakland, now top 9 with one out. (Can you believe I pretty much do this every night? I watch baseball. It's what I do.)
I hate to say it, but Atlanta is tied 3-3 in Arizona. More extras? The A's and Twins are tied 3-3 in the 9th, also. Joe Nathan is coming in for the Twins with one out and none on. He's lost his closers job this year and there's a reason for that., We'll see if he can get the Twins to the 10th.
I don't know if he will. Kurt Suzuki rips the fourth pitch Nathan throws and there's a man in scoring position for the A's with one out.
We've clicked over to Arizona where the Diamondbacks have the winning run at second with one down in the bottom of the 9th in a 3-3 game.
Justin Upton flies to the Warning Track. 5 more feet and it would have been a walk-off homer for the D-Backs. Two out there. Two out in Oakland, too. Mark Ellis struck out and was struck by what he thought was the unfairness of the last two strikes, both called. A strikeout ends the 9th in Arizona and that game is now in extra innings. Nathan gets out of the jam as pinch-hitter Jackson (is that Conner?) grounds into a force and that game is now in extra innings. Also.
It was Conner Jackson batting for Oakland in the 9th...and it wasn't. He spells it "Coner", not Conner. I did not know that. Based on the length of the 15-inning game in Baltimore--about 5 hours--if any of these late games go 15, we will be watching baseball (it's what we do, you know) until 3 am.
J.J. Putz makes a bare-hand stab to get a putout in 'Zona while in Oak the Twins get a two-base sac bunt when, following a leadoff single, Daric Barton sails his throw of an Alexi Casilla bunt to second into centerfield and it's two in scoring position for Minnesota with none out.
Trevor Plouffe, whose throwing error gave Oakland two runs way back in the 2nd, gives the Twins the lead 4-3 with a sac fly. He's knocked in 3 tonight. Just checked in at Seattle, perhaps the prettiest ballpark anywhere, and the Mariners lead the Angels 3-0 in the 8th. Vargas went 7 innings and allowed 3 hits and no runs. Jamey Wright came out to start the 8th for the M's and LA threatens with 2 on and 2 out.
Matt Capps in to close in Oakland. He get's the first two hitters. Wright's troubles continue in Seattle. Bases loaded, 2 out, Hank Conger up for LA. Still a 3-0 Seattle lead, but the tying runs are aboard. Conger gets frozen on a full-count curve which breaks over the plate for strike three to end the inning. Sims, the Seattle play-by-play man, is amped and all impressed by this turn of events. Barton blasts a full-count Capps fastball to the track but it stays in the yard for the final out. The fence says 367. Barton hit it 365. Twins 4, A's 3 (10). Four games still going.
Atlanta has taken a 4-3 lead in the 11th in Arizona. I do not know how, but I will try to find out. Diory Hernandez (never heard of him) singled in the go-ahead run for the Braves. Now in the bottom of the 11th at Chase Field. That's where the D-Backs play, isn't it? Chase Field?
Craig Kimbrel on to nail down the save for Atlanta. We've checking in in Los Angeles for the first time in a long time right now as the Dodgers, down 5-2 to the Giants in the 8th now, have two on with two out. That guy with the beard, Brian Wilson, is on to get a four-out save. Juan Uribe greets him with a two-run double and now it's 5-4, SF. Scully says this is the first time Wilson's been in a game in a week. He's the third pitcher of the inning for SF as Cain took the game into the 8th. Now Troy Loney hits a roller into right to score Uribe and tie the game, 5-5! I'm more excited than Scully. And the Diamondbacks have just won with two runs in the bottom of the 11th to offset the run the Braves got in the top of the inning. I believe they got four singles to score two runs and win. I went to Gameday and checked because I couldn't watch that game (I was listening) and the Dodgers comeback and write it all down at the same time and it turns out that former Brave Kelly Johnson tied it with a single and Justin Upton won it with another. And, as another old announcer used to say, "How about that!?" Seattle has completed their 3-0 win over LA. Brandon League the save. Just like that, we are down to 2 games going in the Majors and wouldn't you know, one of them--the game at Dodger Stadium--is all tied up.
Scully just reminded me of something we wrote about earlier. Yes, the Dodgers scored 3 in the 8th to tie the game 5-5 and deny Cain (7.1 IP, 3 H) a decision, but remember the 5th when LA had the bases loaded with none out and failed to score.
Cody Ross has just hit a 3-run homer barely fair down the left field line with 2 out in the 9th and the Giants undue that 3-run LA comeback in the bottom of the 8th with 3 of their own in the top of the 9th. They now lead 8-5. What a ballgame. Haven't most of them been great? This is why we watch. Scully: "[Lance] Cormier, stung to the heart on that one." It's over in SD where the Padres get the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 9th but lose to Milwaukee, 5-2. 1 game still going in the Majors. And, by the way, if Wilson can get the Dodgers out in the 9th, he will have a blown save and a win in the same game. Pitchers call that "chiseling" a win. But will he? The Dodgers get a leadoff single in the 9th.
Wilson, after giving up that single, is throwing warm-up pitches from the Dodger Stadium mound and I'm not sure why. The trainer came out, but Wilson says he's okay and he'll continue. Jamie Carroll bounced to the mound and Wilson gets the out but even that wasn't easy. Wilson knocked it down and scrambled to pick up the ball and get the throw to first in time.
It's over in LA. Ross's homer in the 9th wins it for SF 8-5. Scully signs off with his usual, "Stay tuned for Dodgers live, coming up next. Good night, everybody!" That says it all, pretty much. It is 1:30 in the morning. There are no games still being played in the Majors. And I still haven't watched that Tigers-Boston game.
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