Game 7 Recap: Kansas City Royals 12, Minnesota Twins 3 (Opening Day Edition)

(from the game log)

"Zero wins first series, one win second series. I predict two wins this series! Sorry Jeff, I don't think the Twins are going to reach 157-5 and we'll have to settle for 156-6."
-sean

"Reminds me of the time Gardy trotted out a _elmon, Cuddy, Kubel outfield during interleague play. Except now it's three statues every day!"
-Zack

"You know it's bad when the KC guys are throwing sympathy bones, considering how bad they had it for so long."
-brianS

"On the plus side, Trevor May pitched well for five innings, and his line would still look good if he'd had some defense and a bullpen to back him up. Turns out sean was right. We'll just have to settle for 156-6!"
-Jeff A

Happy Birthday–April 14

Cannonball Redding (1890)
Marvin Miller (1917)
Gordon Gillespie (1926)
Don Mueller (1927)
Marty Keough (1934)
Pete Rose (1941)
Joe Lahoud (1947)
Ron Schueler (1948)
Greg Maddux (1966)
David Justice (1966)
Greg Myers (1966)
Mike Trombley (1967)
Brad Ausmus (1969)
Steve Avery (1970)
Gregg Zaun (1971)
Kyle Farnsworth (1976)

Cannonball Redding was a star pitcher in the Negro Leagues.

Marvin Miller was the head of the Major League Baseball Players association from 1966-1983.

Gordon Gillespie holds the record for most wins by a college baseball coach.

It must be kind of a bummer for a big league ballplayer to not only not be the best player born on the day and year he was born, but to not even be the best player with his first name born on the day and year he was born.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 14

Game 6: Bad Guys 6, Good Guys 2

It's time for another Good Idea, Bad Idea:

Good Idea: Getting Oswaldo Arcia out of the lineup vs. Chris Sale.

Bad Idea: Replacing him in LF with Eduardo Escobar with a flyball pitcher like Phil Hughes starting.

Good Idea: Keeping Phil Hughes on his regular schedule so he can get as many starts as possible.

Bad Idea: Even considering starting Mike Pelfrey ahead of Trevor May, Alex Meyer, Jose Berrios or Taylor Rogers.

Good Idea: Switching to a RH reliever when Avisail Garcia, Alexei Ramirez and Gordan Beckham are due up in the eighth inning of a one-run game.

Bad Idea: Using Blaine Boyer when J.R. Graham is available to pitch.

Good Idea: Not using Tim Stauffer in a critical situation.

Bad Idea: Signing Stauffer to a guaranteed deal in the first place and then using that deal as an excuse to guarantee him a spot in the bullpen despite a horrible spring training, which then forced manager Paul Molitor to choose between a guy that was originally signed to a minor league deal and a Rule 5 draft pick in a critical situation after just one pitcher developed a stiff shoulder.

Good Idea: Throwing out stupid base runners to prevent runs.

Bad Idea: Losing a game when the other team looked like it was actually trying to lose it with their stupidity.

Good Idea: Assuming that the rest of the season can't possibly be as bad as the first week.

Bad Idea: Believing that the run of lost baseball seasons will be over soon without some major changes to the current roster, especially the bullpen.

Happy Birthday–April 13

Herman Long (1866)
Kid Elberfeld (1875)
Jake Stahl (1879)
Claude Hendrix (1889)
Ben Cantwell (1902)
Pete Quesada (1904)
Roxie Lawson (1906)
Bill Deegan (1935)
John Stephenson (1941)
Jeff Bittiger (1962)
Mark Leiter (1963)
Doug Strange (1964)
Ricardo Rincon (1970)
Kevin Ohme (1971)
Steve Pearce (1983)
Hunter Pence (1983)

Air Force General Pete Quesada was one of the original owners of the expansion Washington Senators.  He also was the first head of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Bill Deegan was an American League umpire from 1971-1980.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 13