July 24, 2012

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

On July 24, 2012, the Baltimore Orioles faced the Tampa Rays at Camden Yards. The O’s lost, 3-1.

Adam Jones homered, the Oriole’s only run. Nick Markakis was in right and hit a double. Wilson Betemit played third. Manny Machado was still a shortstop in the minors taking grounders at third “in secret.”

In Los Angeles, the Royals beat the Angels. Mike Trout went 0-for-3.

In St. Louis, the Cards roughed up the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw for eight earned runs. The Mets’ R.A. Dickey gave up five to the Nats, ending his 11-game win streak. And, the Giants squeaked past the Padres with a walk-off single from Brandon Crawford.

Just another day in baseball.

And, I started this blog.

Don’t go looking for those first posts from 2012. I didn’t tell anyone about my blog at first, and now, looking at the early stuff, well, it’s cringe-worthy.

I’ve summed up my early blogging career here.

Today, 178 posts later, I have a patient Editor/Husband and the decency to share photos of cats.

Stevie!

Happy 3rd birthday, blog.

(You’ve outlived the average blog by two years and 11 months. Congratulations!)

And, happy 51st birthday, Barry Bonds. (People still don’t like you, do they?)

Third anniversaries require gifts of leather so, to celebrate, here’s a flash of leather for you …

Watch this.

A few things have changed for me since 2012. But, really, I still like the same stuff.

I like to win in the post-season.

(And, I’ve finally been to my first post-season games. The Orioles lost ‘em both.)

I like the College World Series as much as the big league one.

(The University of Virginia Cavaliers won the College World Series last month – their first national baseball championship since they started playing at UVa in 1889. Go Hoos!)

I like a quiet-eyed Starter and a Bullpen that plays with matches.

I like the Astros’ ‘70s-era uniforms, but not the Padres’.

I like baseball on grass, walk-up music, and night games under lights.

I like bobbleheads and minor league mascots and The Baseball Project.

Otey the Swamp Possum, awesome official mascot of the Arkansas Travelers

(Editor/Husband: “You can’t go wrong with a swamp possum.”)

(Dear Little Rock fans, Pay attention. Otey’s a possum, not a rat.)

I like the edamame dumplings at Camden Yards and the “lucky” sodas from Mark’s stand at UVa’s Davenport Field. (They really are lucky.)

I like the Curse of the Andino and I especially like posting this a few times a year:

Watch me.

I like a neat scorecard, the Designated Hitter rule, and Jon Miller calling a Giants game late into the night.

I like a 4-6-3 double play slightly more than a 6-4-3 double play, but I can’t tell you exactly why.

I like Jonathan Schoop …

… and, Willie Mays …

And, I’ll never like the Yankees.

So, whatever happened to those guys from three years ago?

Mike Trout, and his 10.8 WAR, was Rookie of the Year in 2012 and is Most Valuable Everything today.

R.A. Dickey went on to win the Cy Young, and, even on an off day, Clayton Kershaw continues to be better than most pitchers and leads the league this season with 185 strikeouts.

The Giants won the World Series.

The Orioles?

Following the debut of my blog in July, the Orioles went on to win the 2012 Wild Card play-off and lost to the Yankees in the ALDS. It was the O’s first postseason appearance in 15 years which can’t possibly be a coincidence.

In August, shortstop Manny Machado made his big league debut for the O’s at third. He’s still there and well on his way to being the Orioles MVP.

Wilson Betemit ended up in Tampa’s minor league system and is currently a free agent.

Nick Markakis is a Brave. (I still miss you, Nick.)

It’s July 24, 2015 and the Orioles are 4th — and seven long, difficult, frustrating, but not impossible, games back — in the AL East.

Sherman Hemsley

February 1, 1938 – July 24, 2012

A Cup Of Coffee On The 4th of July

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

“So, then, to every man his chance — to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity — to every man the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him — this, seeker, is the promise of America.” ~ Thomas Wolfe, You Can’t Go Home Again, 1940

Best I can tell, the first reference to a ballplayer having a “cup of coffee” – or a short stint – in baseball referred to New York Giant Fred Merkle. Yes, Bonehead Merkle.

Fred Merkle, Public Domain

It was in 1908 in a game versus the Cubs that Merkle neglected to tag second at the end of a game that the Giants thought they had won. Once the “boner” was revealed, negating the Giants’ winning run, the game was replayed and the Cubs won. (They went on to win the World Series, their last, in case you’re keeping track.)

It was after that first game that the New York Globe referred to Merkle, 19 and the youngest player in the National League, as “just getting his ‘cup of coffee’ in the league.”

Bonehead or not, Merkle lingered quite some time over his cup, playing more than 1,600 games over 16 seasons, including, ironically, his last six with the Cubs. (I believe Starbucks would call that “cup of coffee” a Venti-sized career.)

The real “cup of coffee” players are those who play the shortest times in the big leagues. A game or two and not much more.

Fun Fact: We Americans will drink 400 million cups of coffee today. (I tried to figure out how much caffeine that was, because decaf is ridiculous, and I think it’s something like 500 billion mg. Really, math is not my strong suit, so I might be off by a billion or two.)

Funner Fact: 52% of coffee drinkers would rather go without a shower in the morning than give up coffee.

Just Plain Crazy Fact: French philosopher Voltaire was said to drink 40 to 50 cups of coffee a day.

Gold Medal Coffee Trading Card, late 1800s

Three major league players had their single game “cup of coffee” on the 4th of July. It’s strange there have been only three, and none, that I can see, since 1885.

When you play just one game in an era without ESPN and online box scores, it’s hard to know much about these guys. All I can tell you is this …

1882

The Baltimore Orioles played the Louisville Eclipse on July 4, 1882.

John Russ, a Louisville carpenter, may have played on a local team and had the opportunity for a one-day cup of coffee in the bigs when the Orioles came to town and needed a player to fill out the squad.

Russ, 24, played centerfield and pitched, giving up three hits and one earned run over three innings, and went 1-for-3 at the plate. This might not sound like much, but it could get you a solid million-dollar bullpen job with teams today.

The Orioles lost the game 7-1.

Russ was the son of immigrants, his father a blacksmith, his mother a candymaker. He never ventured from Louisville and is listed in its directories over the years as a carpenter, plowmaker, and woodworker in a plow factory, until his death in 1912 from cirrhosis.

1882 was the inaugural season for the six-team American Association and the Orioles finished dead last. Their record, 19-54, put them 32.5 games out of first.

1883

Charlie Ingraham got his shot with the Baltimore Orioles the next year on July 4, 1883.

He went 1-for-4 with a single, and had one error as catcher.

It was a doubleheader for the Orioles, playing the Red Stockings in Cincinnati.

Baseball Caps Late c 1889 Spalding Guide

Spalding Guide, 1889

The Orioles lost the first game 14-2 and won the second 8-7. Since we don’t know for sure which game was Charlie’s, let’s just let him win, ok?

Ingraham was an Ohio native living by then in Chicago. He’s another case of a player who may have gotten scooped up by the Orioles for that one day, so that they could field enough players for the two games.

In 1880, Ingraham was listed as a medical student in Chicago. This would mean he was planning to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father was a prominent physician and medical lecturer whose death in 1891 was covered by the Chicago Tribune.

In the obituary, his son C.W. – our Charlie – is listed as a ballplayer in the Northwestern League, a minor league that had folded four seasons earlier.

Things don’t often work out the way you think they will when you’re young, and when C.W. succumbs to pneumonia at age 46, he is neither a doctor nor a ballplayer. He is listed on his death certificate as a “stage carpenter.”

The Orioles finished last again in 1883 – 28-68 and 37 games out of first.

1885

Bill Collver, just 18, played his one and only big league game for the Boston Beaneaters on July 4, 1885.

An outfielder, he went 0-for-4 at the plate that day, with one strikeout.

The Beaneaters were in the middle of a roadtrip – a grueling one by today’s standards – that had begun on June 23 and would go through July 17. On July 4, they played a doubleheader against the Detroit Wolverines, losing the first game 8-3 and the second 11-6.

It’s unclear which loss Collver played in, but it’s likely that the Beaneaters, like the Orioles before them, just picked up Collver from a local team to help fill out their roster.

Collver didn’t have much beyond that cup of coffee. He died in 1888, still in Detroit and just 21, of a “spinal disease,” which could mean meningitis, of which there was plenty in Detroit, or who knows?

The Beaneaters finished their season 46-66 and finished fifth and 41 games out of first in the National League.

___

The sad thing about a cup of coffee in baseball, is that someday it’s gonna be your last. And, unlike Mariano Rivera, Cal Ripken, and the other greats who chose when and where to drink their final cup, for most players, with names you’ll never know, the pot is emptied before they’ve had their fill.

So, here’s to John and Charlie and Bill who had their cup of coffee, who lived the American Dream, even if it maybe wasn’t what they planned, and who are still remembered 130-some years later for just one day, just one game.

Free Baseball: “O, How I’ve Missed You” Edition

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

Once an Oriole, always an Oriole.

Here are some former Baltimore Orioles playing the game. Only their uniforms have changed.

(What, you thought I’d never mention Nick Markakis again just because he’s a Brave now? And, not share last night’s baby video with you? What do you think I am, some kind of monster?)

10th Inning ~ Nelson Cruz

Sure, Nelson Cruz was only an Oriole for a season, but his league-leading 40 home runs last year helped the Orioles go deep into October. Thank you, Nelly!

Cruz took those home runs and parlayed them into a juicy, rich contract from the Seattle Mariners in the off season.

He returned to Camden Yards this week.

His reception? A warm standing ovation from Orioles fans. (The smattering of “boos” you hear are actually fans yelling “Cruuuuzzz,” just like they did all last season.)

Watch here.

O’s fans didn’t begrudge Cruz his single. They weren’t quite as happy about his home run in his next at-bat, but they probably weren’t all that surprised.

11th Inning ~ Nick Markakis

I’m still sad about longtime Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis leaving for the Atlanta Braves this season.

I wouldn’t say he’s irreplaceable in right, but so far the O’s have tucked Delmon Young, Travis Snider, Steve Pearce, and Alejandro De Aza over there, and it’s just not the same.

Markakis is doing a-ok over in Atlanta. And, last night, after chasing a foul ball, he stopped to greet a young Braves fan. Watch here.

I still miss you, Nick.

Look close and you’ll see a bonus Oriole! That’s former Oriole closer Jim Johnson on the mound handily getting through a clean 8th inning in the Braves win last night.

12th Inning ~ Jake Arrieta

Jake Arrieta had a challenging few seasons in Baltimore. Everyone insisted he had the talent, but he just couldn’t get it together when it came time to pitch.

Arrieta is the perfect example of how a change of scenery – and a burst of facial hair – can make all the difference. Traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2013, he’s thrived as a go-to starter.

On May 12 he shut down the Mets with 10 strikeouts in a 6-1 victory. Watch here.

(Fun Fact: Earlier this month, the Orioles tried twice and couldn’t beat the Mets.)

If solid starting pitching isn’t your bag, try these cubs instead …

Six bear cubs at the Wildlife Center of Virginia goofing off on the live Critter Cam. Watch here.

They are adorable. Almost as adorable as that Nick Markakis video from last night.

(Almost.)

______________________________________

Free Baseball refers to the extra innings that come after a nine-inning game ends in a tie. Here “Free Baseball” are the extra things that don’t quite fit into my regular-sized posts.

Far From The Madding Crowd

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

An empty Camden Yards in 2014. ©The Baseball Bloggess

Dear Future Person,

Sure, I know why you’re here. You want to know what happened on April 29, 2015 – long before you were born – and how one game of baseball changed everything.

(But, before we get to that, let me tell you that I’m delighted that you still have, and enjoy, baseball in your world. We fans never believed the annoying naysayers who insisted the sport was dying. We knew they were idiots wrong. And, I’m also really proud of you for finally outlawing football at all levels because of the well-documented, long-term damage it does to players. Well done, Future World!)

We knew the game on April 29 would be historic before it even started. We just had no idea how historic it would be. And, how it would turn baseball on its head.

The Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox played to an empty stadium that day. It was the first time that no fans attended a major league game. Baltimore was in turmoil (probably similar to the unrest and turmoil you have in your own cities, as some things, sadly, don’t ever seem to change). For the safety of the community, the game was closed to the public.

To read news accounts, you’d think that it was a ghostly quiet game, seen by few. You’ll see “eerie” and “unsettling” used by a lot of reporters. Here are other words used in game day reports: “strange,” “eerie,” “surreal,” “hushed and surreal,” “uncomfortable,” “uniquely eerie,” “eerie and amusing,” “poignant,” “sad [and] lifeless,” “odd,” “eerily quiet,” “kind of eerie,” “eerily empty,” and “eerie.”

eerie

(Good job with the thesaurus, reporters.)

Let me clear up a few things. This game was seen by more people than would ordinarily watch an April baseball game on a Tuesday afternoon by two teams hovering around .500.

There was no room in the press box to handle the overflow of reporters who were clamoring to call the game “eerie.” There were cameras and announcers, same as always, sending the game out live on TV, streaming free on the Internet, and on radio. (Ask your grandparents to explain that radio part.)

The players enjoyed themselves.

O’s catcher Caleb Joseph having fun with imaginary fans.

People stood outside the ballpark peering through the gates or rented $300 suites at a nearby hotel to look down on the field.

It made the national news.

And, Saturday Night Live.

But, little did we know that the game would set into motion the greatest sea-change in 21st-century baseball – the end of fans in the bleachers.

I know this may sound strange (unsettling maybe, eerie, perhaps), but up until April 29, we fans thought we were indispensible. We cheered and chanted and carried on at games. We were certain that our cheers and boos could make a difference. We were the 10th man. Except we weren’t.

On April 29, we learned the truth. We were as disposable as a bag of stale sunflower seeds.

The game itself was pretty much like any other game.

The Orioles got off to such a fast 6-0 start in the first inning that I tweeted this.

Lots of O’s fans retweeted me. Because it was so, well, ridiculous.

The Orioles went on to win 8-2. Their usually unsettled starter Ubaldo Jimenez was eerily settled and dominating.

In the post-game press conference, Orioles manager Buck Showalter was asked: “Once the game started, how cognizant were you that there was nobody here?”

And, there was an awkward pause, a flustered and eerie silence, before Buck said, “That would be pretty self-incriminating. I can’t win answering that question.” And, then he said this, “It was still baseball between the lines.”

He wouldn’t admit it, but our absence hadn’t made a difference.

They hadn’t even noticed we were gone.

O’s first baseman Chris Davis tosses a ball … to no one.

As the 2015 season began, one of the big stories was how baseball needed to speed up its games. The average game in 2014 ran just over three hours.

The game without fans? Two hours and three minutes. An hour faster. Come to find out, we were the slow pokes.

Once owners and their accountants realized that they could play speedy games without fans and still turn a profit, our days were numbered.

We were downsized until we were gone.

And, that dear Future Person, is why there are no fans at your baseball games. Oh sure, the luxury suites are still there. Those were too lucrative to lose. But, no bleachers, no upper tiers, no lower tiers.

Just wide open empty space where foul balls and home runs collect like dust bunnies under a bed.

Chris Davis’ home run hit Eutaw Street. “Innings later, the ball was still just sitting there, unclaimed.” ~ SB Nation

Without us there are no piles of peanut shells and spilled beer to clean up. No drunk fights to break up. No fan, walloped with a foul ball he didn’t see coming, to bandage up.

We were more trouble than we were worth.

Future Person, you’ll never know how wonderful it is to gather up the family and spread out at a game. To fill up on peanuts and popcorn and French fries and cotton candy (do you even know what cotton candy is?). To yell at the umpires, cheer the mascot races, root for the home team, and heckle the other guy’s outfielders. To soak in the summer heat or, even better, the chill of October, from awesome seats on the first-base side. To catch a foul ball or a home run.

I’m glad you still have baseball, even if you must watch games from the safety of your techno-televisiony-hologram devices. At least you have something.

And, I’m glad that scientists figured out a way to ensure that Vin Scully still calls Dodger games, extending his baseball career for hundreds of years to come.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I’m glad you finally brought the DH to the National League. It shouldn’t have taken so long, but the National League can be stubborn sometimes, so really, good for you.

But, I’m sorry about the empty games.

©The Baseball Bloggess

There’s not much time left for fans, I guess. I hope we make the most of it.

Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gray. 1751

The Japanese Maple On 33rd

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

Even flowers can bring you back to baseball.

Yesterday, Kassie, a massage client, walked into my office here in Virginia carrying a Mason jar of blooms.

(It’s one of the great joys of being a massage therapist and yoga teacher – clients and students take such good care of me … bringing fresh vegetables from their gardens in summer, handfuls of flowers, and countless other kindnesses. They are wonderful.)

But, back to baseball …

I asked Kassie about each bloom that she had just picked on her farm that morning.

There were full-blooming white dogwoods, yellow forsythia (a bush I never knew until I moved to Virginia, where it is as ubiquitous here as grits for breakfast) tiny juddi verbernum flowers which made our porch fragrant like cinnamon this morning, a twig of Japanese maple leaves heavy with seeds, and a feather that a resident peacock had dropped in their farmyard.

She explained why the Japanese maple was so special.

Kassie grew up in Baltimore. Specifically, I knew from past conversations, she grew up on 33rd Street. If you know your Orioles baseball history, you know that before there was Camden Yards, the Orioles played for nearly 40 years in Memorial Stadium. On 33rd Street.

Public Domain by Jmj1000 via WikiCommons

I’ve often teased Kassie about not being a baseball fan when the Orioles were playing just up the street from her. Instead, she and her siblings would sit on their stoop and wave to the fans walking to and from the games.

The Dogwood & Japanese Maple twigs.

The maple twig in the jar, she said, came from a tree that once stood in her front yard on 33rd Street when she was growing up.

When her family left Baltimore and moved to a farm in central Virginia in the mid-1970s, her father decided the Japanese maple would move, too. It wasn’t huge, but it already stood a few feet high, and he carefully dug out the enormous root ball beneath. It made the transition from Maryland to Virginia and has been growing here ever since.

“So, you’re saying that this twig is from a tree that watched people walk to Orioles games in the 1960s and 1970s?” Yup.

Those years included amazing seasons when the Orioles were more dominant than the Yankees and in which the O’s played in four, and won two, World Series. As soon as the tree moved, the Orioles faded. Well, for a few seasons anyway.

This twig is a lucky Orioles twig.

Kassie thinks I’m a little crazy, but I love these flowers in their Mason jar, especially the Japanese maple twig.

Her family tree was a seedling that came from their Baltimore neighbor who had a koi pond and formal Japanese garden in his back yard. I like to think that the original “mother” maple is still there on 33rd Street, even though the Orioles moved downtown 23 years ago.

Kassie has promised to bring me a seedling that is bound to sprout up underneath her family maple tree this season.

And, I will plant it and have my own 33rd Street Japanese maple in my yard.

This could be just the boost the O’s need to take them through October.

Thank you to Kassie for being a friend and for allowing me to tell this story, even though I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m loopy.

Photos: © The Baseball Bloggess

A Trifecta of Sorts

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

My baseball trifecta would be to see the Baltimore Orioles, the San Francisco Giants, and the University of Virginia Cavaliers in a single game.

Today the Bowie Baysox (Orioles AA team) faced the Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants AA team) in Richmond, Virginia.

Bowie’s starting pitcher was a UVa Hoo.

Close enough.

Sunday, April 12, 2015.

Branden Kline, starting pitcher, Bowie. Ten K’s over five innings. From the University of Virginia.

Ceremonial first pitch.

Richmond Flying Squirrel Javier Herrera. Safe.

Submarine pitcher Ben Rowan, traded from the Dodgers organization a couple days ago, making his Orioles organization debut. (A former Virginia Tech Hokie.)

Mike Yastrzemski, left field, Bowie.

Yes, Red Sox fans, Carl is his grandfather.

carl yastrzemski 1969

7th Inning Stretch.

2-1 Bowie. Bottom of the ninth. Tying run on second.

Angel Villalona.

(He struck out.)

Photos: The Diamond, Richmond, Virginia. April 12, 2015. © The Baseball Bloggess

Almost every photo was taken from behind the net today. Sorry about that.

Happy New Year!

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

Happy New Year!

For just a few more hours, we’re all undefeated. We’re all #1.

(Except for you, last-place Chicago Cubs … and your pesky NL Central … because you had to insist on starting early.)

cubs cards

An Opening Day Prayer

May your team’s errors in the field be few and your run-scoring doubles be many.

May your pitcher strike out the side far more than he falters, and may he never forget to cover first when necessary.

May it always be sunny in your bleachers.

Unless, it’s a night game, in which case, may your stadium lights stay on.

And, may your team play through October and never let you down.

Play Ball!

* * *

(A quick update to my World Series post from Friday: Stevie the Cat is not happy about the Craig Kimbrel trade. Not happy at all.)

My Experts Predict The World Series …

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

“They’re picking us last again which is beautiful.” ~ Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter in January.

Congratulations, Seattle Mariners. Congratulations, Washington Nationals. You’re going to the World Series!

Thank you for an exciting 2015 season! Man, it flew by.

The experts picked you and experts don’t lie. That’s why they’re experts. (Expert is derived from the Latin word for “try.” All that trying has made them smart. So smart that the World Series is already decided and we can just move on to Christmas. “Dear Santa, Please help the Orioles win the World Series in 2016.”)

Yes, I mean you – all you smarty-pants with your fancy stats and box scores and hours of analysis and number crunching.

What the FIP is a wOBA?

Yet, despite all that hard work, the experts are almost always wrong.

Admit it. Giants over Royals in last year’s Series? You had no idea. NO idea.

No stats gazing for me. I’m too lazy for that. (I also hate math.)

Instead, I looked for a few folks around town who don’t care a bit about baseball. For them WAR is good for absolutely nothing and ERA is a laundry detergent.

era

They’ve got better things to do this summer than watch a team play 162 crummy games of baseball.

(For the record, I don’t have anything better to do.)

They picked the 2015 division winners.

American League East ~ Boston Red Sox

Andrew is a server at The Lightwell, one of our favorite go-to spots in Orange, Virginia. (Black bean burger with avocado, dee-lish. Also, very nice cheesy grits. I didn’t even know I liked cheesy grits.)

Andrew doesn’t follow baseball and will spend his season working and his spare hours hiking through Virginia’s beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Why the Red Sox? “My mom is from Boston.”

American League Central ~ Detroit Tigers

Scout, a first grader, was hanging out with her family at the barber shop on Main Street.

Scout will watch her brother play baseball, but that’s about it. She prefers picking flowers, playing with her puppy, and riding horses.

Why the Tigers? Because I asked her to circle one of the teams and she circled Tigers. Good enough for me.

American League West ~ Oakland Athletics

Gloria was born in Chicago. North side, so Cubs all the way. Her dad took her to Wrigley a few times when she was young. It was a long time ago, but she still remembers sitting in the right field bleachers.

She’ll watch the standings during the season just in case this becomes the year the Cubs win the World Series. She doesn’t want to miss that. (Aren’t Cubs fans cute?)

She also reads my blog. “I liked it at first for the pictures of the cats, but I like it for the baseball history now.” See, what a nice person Gloria is?

Why the A’s? “They were on the middle of the page.” Gloria also noted that, logically, athletes should be better ballplayers than angels, astronauts, mariners, or rangers.

National League East ~ Atlanta Braves

Sean is a local lawyer. (I told him I would assure you that he is a very good lawyer. He set up my business LLC and, look, I’m still up and running … so there you go.)

Does he follow baseball? “Vaguely.”

Why the Braves? “My cousin played for the Braves. He came in as a pinch hitter, struck out, and lost a World Series game.”

Sean’s cousin is Tommy Gregg, who played about 10 years in the majors, including six in Atlanta. In Game 2 of the 1991 Series versus the Twins, Gregg pinch-hit for Mark Lemke with two out in the bottom of the ninth, the tying run on first. He struck out looking. The Twins went on to win the Series, though you can’t blame Gregg’s one strikeout for that.

(You could, however, blame this … )

Gregg had a steady career, much better than that one strike out would have you believe, and he’s currently the hitting coach of the Omaha Storm Chasers, the Triple A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

National League Central ~ St. Louis Cardinals

I found George working out at the local Racquetball Club in Orange.

(There’s a lovely Yoga studio upstairs. Nice teacher, too.)

George isn’t much of a baseball fan. Football’s his game. He was a defensive end at Virginia Tech and went on to coach at Tech, William and Mary, and 23 seasons at the University of Maryland.

While he claims to not follow much baseball, he was awfully quick to remind me that Tech’s baseball team swept the University of Virginia last month.

Why the Cardinals? No reason.

National League West ~ Los Angeles Dodgers

Tim is a longtime UPS driver. He has delivered all sorts of crazy things to us over the years, including this jar of official baseball rubbing mud …

Yes, I paid money for a jar of mud. So?

… this Moe Drawbosky card …

World Series hero, 1966.

… and several jars of Manny Machado salsa …

Actually, not bad.

Tim was a pitcher in high school. He might watch a game or two during the season, but won’t really get interested until playoff time, when he and the 90 other UPS drivers he works with, including those who know nothing about baseball, will “start talking crap” about games.

Why the Dodgers? During the Lasorda Era, Tim would occasionally catch late night West Coast Dodgers games on TV.

* * * *

With the divisions set, I took the remaining teams to my Wild Card experts, my two English friends, Chris and Michelle.

They became citizens last summer and are still getting the hang of this America thing. They still stick unnecessary u’s in words, insist that English chocolate is superior, and won’t admit that the U.S. bailed Britain out of two world wars.

Just the non-expert experts I was looking for.

American League Wild Card ~ Texas Rangers

Note the Union Jack teacup.

Chris’s work with rock bands has taken him through a number of baseball stadiums over the years, so he knows his way around balls and strikes. He’s been to an actual game, but found it pretty dull. “I went one time. I’ll never go back.”

Why the Rangers? “They’re always there or thereabouts every year. I figure they could definitely be in the wild card market.”

National League Wild Card ~ Arizona Diamondbacks

Michelle is a competitive equestrian, but is currently recuperating from an injury. She would like to point out she was a bit woozy while making her pick.

Here’s what Michelle can tell you about baseball:

1) It’s a cross between rounders and cricket.

2) Players chew tobacco and spit.

3) They wear short pants and long socks, and

4) “In Boston, the Green Meanie is the scoreboard.”

(Dear Boston Red Sox, If you rename the Green Monster the Green Meanie, I promise I will stop posting this video every season.)

Why the Diamondbacks? “They were the longest name on the list.”

* * * *

With the post-season set, we mixed the teams up in special American League and National League caps.

Editor/Husband picked the pennant winners.

“I can’t believe I just picked the Red Sox.”

“I can’t believe I just picked the Braves.”

There’s your 2015 World Series.

To pick a champion, I called upon the always adorable Stevie. Until a can of sardines learns to throw a baseball, she doesn’t care who wins. (But, she’s sweet on Mike Trout.)

She circled around the two teams a few times (perhaps signaling a five-game series? Or, maybe just looking for that can of sardines) before settling down next to the Braves and, in the process, knocking the Red Sox over with her generous backside.

(Somewhere down in spring training, at that very moment, David Ortiz felt an unexplained heavy sadness come over him.)

And, that is why the Atlanta Braves will win the World Series.

Still, it’s a little disappointing. Although I’m pleased that the Braves’ Nick Markakis, beloved former Oriole, will finally win a World Series ring, what fun is it now that the season is over before it has even begun?

Baseball is a beautiful, most perfect game. On Opening Day, every team is tied for first … at least for a few hours. Who can know who will win a World Series that is seven months and more than 162 games away?

I have no idea … no idea …

Free Baseball: Things Are Not As They Seem Edition

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

It snowed today. Well, just a little …

Can’t see it? Here, look again …

A dusting of snow and, look, a mystery cat!

Well, it snowed enough that lots of things around me closed for the day.

While this smattering of snowlets has closed things in Virginia, it’s the kind of snow that someone in North Dakota wouldn’t even notice. “It snowed last night? Really? I didn’t notice the dusting on top of the other 20 inches that have been here since September.”

I lived in North Dakota for awhile, I should know.

So, this may not seem like anything to you.

But, sometimes things are not as they seem … and this dusting has upended Central Virginia.

And, as a result, hundreds and hundreds of schoolchildren around here got to sleep in, blissfully unaware for one more day of important things like Algebra, adverbs, and Chester Alan Arthur.

Today in “Free Baseball,” three other things that are not quite what they seem.

10th Inning: Tommy Hunter, Retail Dude

Tommy Hunter is one of the Baltimore Orioles longest-tenured and pretty steady (mostly steady, often steady … or, at least, more-often-steady-than-not steady, 2.97-ERA-in-2014 steady) bullpen relievers. I’m soft on the boys of the bullpen. It’s a thankless job being a reliever. Even when you’re great – or at least steady more often than not – you’re unheralded. You’re probably never going to win a Cy Young (although occasionally relievers do), you’re probably not going to be an MVP of anything, and, apparently, unless it’s the 8th or 9th inning, you’re not going to be recognized, even by your own fans.

Tommy went “undercover” to work at the Orioles Fan Store in nearby York, Pennsylvania last summer.

“The Hunter jerseys just came in, man. I’ve got a couple of them, too.”

Watching him hawk Tommy Hunter jerseys is why I believe bullpens – and the boys who live there – are one of the best parts of the game. Watch here.

We (heart) Tommy.

11th Inning: Baseball in Japan

“It’s not just baseball. It’s something else. It’s something more.”

Each spring dozens of high school teams from around Japan come together at Koshien for a nine-day tournament that captivates the country. Like “the Super Bowl and World Series rolled into one,” it is one of Japan’s biggest sporting events.

In “When 772 Pitches Isn’t Enough,” writer Chris Jones tells the story of Tomohiro Anraku, a 16-year-old pitching phenom from Saibi High School and one of the top baseball prospects in the world, and his appearance at Koshien.

The culture of youth baseball in Japan – the dedication to perfection at any physical or emotional cost – is fascinating. And, when you read of how Anraku throws 772 pitches over five games in nine days, it’s also frightening.

The article first appeared in ESPN: The Magazine, and, most recently, in the 2014 Edition of The Best American Sports Writing. Read here.

12th Inning: The Birth Of A Twins Fan

twins

Because I am a loyal (some would say annoying) Orioles fan, people assume I live in Baltimore. Not true. Although I lived in nearby Northern Virginia for a number of years, I’ve never lived in Baltimore. To get to Camden Yards today takes us a good three hours, usually in terrible I-95 traffic. When we’re about halfway to Baltimore, I will thumb my nose at much-closer Nationals Stadium as we pass by it. I’m a loyal Birdland Girl.

This week Verdun – who writes the fabulous Verdun2’s Blog – explained how he, a lifelong Dodgers fan, inadvertently turned his son into a Minnesota Twins fan simply because of one seemingly innocuous act when his son was small.

It’s a great read. Read here.

(Although, had he handed a Yankees card to his son on that fateful day, it would have been a tragic and sad story. Whew!)

Pitchers and Catchers Report in just 35 Days!

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Free Baseball refers to the extra innings that occur after a nine-inning game ends in a tie. For me, “Free Baseball” are the extra things that don’t quite fit into my regular-sized posts.

A Catcher, A Giraffe, A Wind Chillier Day

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess

It is, indeed, a dark winter day when a forecaster on the radio says the “wind chill will get wind chillier” and the biggest move of 2015 in Orioles baseball is yesterday’s minor league signing of J.P. Arencibia.

“We signed J.P. Arencibia! We signed J.P. Arencibia!”

Now the Orioles have five catchers.

To go with their six starting pitchers.

(Who needs three outfielders when you have five catchers and six starting pitchers?)

And, look! He pitches, too!

It is, indeed, a dark winter day when you have no baseball to write about except J.P. Arencibia.

So, instead, here’s a picture of a giraffe.

Yes, he is old. Retired from an old carousel. He is wonderful. He is mine.

Wait, he’s missing something.

There.

Yes, that’s a real batting practice cap. It once belonged to the Orioles trusty, side-arming, submariney reliever Darren O’Day. He signed it.

(A giraffe’s horns are called ossicones, by the way.)

Welcome to Birdland, J.P.! (And, don’t forget to pack a parka, because I’m told the wind chill will get even wind chillier before this winter ends.)

The Baseball Bloggess

Loves the 4-6-3 and the Serial Comma.

Category Archives: Baltimore Orioles

July 24, 2012

A Cup Of Coffee On The 4th of July

Free Baseball: “O, How I’ve Missed You” Edition

Far From The Madding Crowd

The Japanese Maple On 33rd

A Trifecta of Sorts

Happy New Year!

My Experts Predict The World Series …

Free Baseball: Things Are Not As They Seem Edition

A Catcher, A Giraffe, A Wind Chillier Day

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