https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEBiTVUop8s
(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
Loading... I think everyone is in agreement that this has been a 2 week buffer zone between 2020 and 2021. We had to quarantine 2020, and it couldn't be exposed to any other year for 2 weeks. But now that's over, and we can focus on a new start. So, let's have songs for beginning. Or beginning again. Or songs that begin again themselves, with multiple intros. Or whatever. Just start fresh. It'll feel good.
I know I set a CoC last night, but I can't find a trace of it this morning...
No game scheduled. The Gigantes are at the Aguilas tonight. The Gigantes lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
ARAGUA 5, LARA 4 AT LARA
Lara led 4-3 after eight, but Aragua loaded the bases on three singles and an error scored the tying and go-ahead runs. Carlos Rivero was 3-for-4. Ildemaro Vargas was 2-for-5. Cesar Hernandez was 2-for-5. Gorkys Hernandez was 1-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs. Yordanys Linares was 1-for-4 with a home run. Nestor Molina pitched five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks and striking out four.
Record: Lara and Aragua are tied in their best-of-seven series 1-1. Lara is at Aragua tonight.
Nothing new to report. The league still waits for the Puerto Rico Department of Health to decide whether the series can continue.
MELBOURNE 4, CANBERRA 3 AT MELBOURNE
Jack Barrie homered in the fourth to break a 2-2 tie. Chris Burke homered in the seventh for an insurance run and they needed it, as Canberra scored in the ninth on a pair of errors, a walk, and a passed ball. They had runners on second and third when the game ended. Barrie was 2-for-3 and had two home runs and three RBIs in the game. Gunnar Kines pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks and striking out four.
Record: Melbourne is 9-5, in second place in the Australian League, technically a half game ahead of Adelaide (5-2).
Next game: Melbourne again hosts Canberra this afternoon.
Date: Wednesday, July 30.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Luis Rivas was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs. Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: Brad Radke pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on six hits and a walk and striking out five. Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition star: Deivi Cruz was 2-for-3 with a double.
The game: The Twins jumped out to a lead in the first inning. Stewart doubled, Rivas had an infield single, and Doug Mientkiewicz walked to load the bases. Jones responded with a two-run single. They did no more damage that inning, but had a 2-0 lead. They added a run in the fourth when Rivas doubled, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly. It went to 5-0 in the seventh. Michael Restovich doubled, Cristian Guzman tripled, and Stewart singled.
Meanwhile, the Orioles were doing very little on offense. They didn't put two men on until the fifth, when an error and a single put men on first and second with one out. Nothing came of it, however, and they did not again put two on until the eighth, when they got their lone run. Cruz doubled, was bunted to third, and scored on a Luis Matos single. That was the last hit Baltimore got, and it ended 5-1.
WP: Radke (7-9). LP: Sir Sidney Ponson (14-6). S: None.
Notes: Denny Hocking was at third in place of Corey Koskie. Stewart was again in left, Restovich in right, and Jones at DH.
Restovich was batting .429. Stewart was batting .314. Jones was batting .313.
Radke lowered his ERA to 5.12.
Stewart stayed hot. He was now 22-for-46 in his last 11 games.
This was the one good year Sir Sidney Ponson had, and he turned it into a twelve-year career. He'd been decent the year before, 7-9, 4.09, 1.34 WHIP, but in 2003 he was 17-12, 3.75, 1.26. It was the last year he would have an ERA below four. In fact, it was the last year he would have an ERA below five. He did manage to lead the league in complete games and shutouts in 2004, but he also led the league in hits allowed and earned runs allowed, as he compiled a record of 11-15, 5.30, 1.55. Teams kept giving him chances for years, including, of course, the Twins in 2007. He kept pitching until 2010 before he finally ran out of teams that would give him the ball. For his career he was 91-113, 5.03, 1.48 WHIP in 1760.1 innings. He appeared in 298 games, starting 278 of them. I've said it before, but it always annoys me when somebody like Ponson keeps getting chances long after he's established that he's not good enough, while other guys dominate in AAA and get a cursory look if any at all. Again, nobody said life or baseball would be fair.
The Twins gained a game on Kansas City, but not on Chicago.
Record: The Twins were 52-54, in third place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Kansas City. They were 3.5 games behind second-place Chicago.
Sylvain Sylvain passed away at the age of 69.
(3 votes, average: 9.67 out of 10)Loading... Johnny Nee (1890)
Ray Chapman (1891)
Steve Gromek (1920)
Georges Maranda (1932)
Dr. Mike Marshall (1943)
Bobby Grich (1949)
Rance Mulliniks (1956)
Jerry Narron (1956)
Don Cooper (1956)
Delino DeShields (1969)
Ray King (1974)
Matt Holliday (1980)
Armando Galarraga (1982)
Mitch Garver (1991)
Johnny Nee was a long-time minor league manager and scout.
My favorite part of the new NHL season is that the NHL is insisting on calling it the 2020-21 season even though all the games will be played in 2021. Maybe if we keep pretending like things are normal, that will help?
The Wild kick off the 2021 season with two games against the LA Kings in LA, Thursday and Saturday.
 |
 |
Are the Wild any different from previous years?
Yes and no. Staal is gone, Koivu is gone, Dubnyk is gone. That's a whole bunch of turnover up the middle of the ice. In their place, the Wild have opted for a bunch of good to OK players (Bjugstad, Bonino, Johannson, Talbot) on short contracts to fill the gaps. They fit with the general idea of a Wild team is top-to-bottom OK, but never very spectacular.
If you're looking for spectacular, I think everyone is pinning their hopes on Kevin Fiala (whose 19-game stretch at the end of last year was that of an honest-to-goodness superstar) and Kirill Kaprizov (he's here! he's here! no longer just a source of Twitter highlight videos with Russian announcers!). Parise will probably still be a solidly productive player (that contract isn't horrible .... yet).
The defense is still the strength. I've actually seen season previews that tout the 3rd line (Greenway/Eriksson Ek/Foligno) as the best defensive line in hockey (get excited!), and the defensive corps is still just really really good. Even if Dumba doesn't bounce back, the top 6 defensemen are all solidly above average or among the best in the NHL (Brodin/Spurgeon). Suter will probably still be a solidly productive player (that contract isn't horrible .... yet).
All of that is to say the Wild improved their defense/goaltending which was already a strength. They added Kaprizov and a few solid but unspectacular centers while losing a few solid but unspectacular centers. So, everything put together, they should be right around the playoff bubble, probably getting in, but not expected to do a whole lot if they get in.
Are the Kings any good?
Probably not. They were almost at the bottom of the league last year, and aren't projected to improve a whole lot this year. They are adding prospects like crazy, but don't have a whole lot to be optimistic about this year.
How will this season be kind of weird?
The Wild are in the Honda West Division, playing these other seven teams over and over for the next 56 games. Ending up in the West was a little bit of a nightmare for travel and reasonable start times, but it's kind of nice for the Wild's playoff chances.
I think everyone pretty much agrees that Minnesota is the fourth-best team in the division and that they aren't particularly close to either third or fifth. Colorado and Las Vegas are really good, and the Blues are also a good team. Those will be the top three teams unless somehow hockey turns out to be inherently unpredictable.
Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Arizona all have a lot of improvement to do to make it to playoff-caliber. There's always a surprise team that clicks and puts it together (I'd guess Anaheim is most likely to do that - but that's just a guess), but most of these teams are still a few years away.
Are the Wild rebuilding?
Kind of? They are accumulating draft picks (they have two first-rounders this year) and have a whole bunch of forwards on short contracts (only Parise, Zuccarello are signed for more than two years - ETA - and now Foligno). There could be a bunch of wheeling and dealing at the deadline if the season looks unpromising.
Should I watch this team?
It's not going to be a dominant season, but I think if the Wild find a line (or two?) that can score they will be passably good. Given the California teams they will be playing they should get some wins, and if they play Colorado, Vegas, or St. Louis tough it will be fun. Of course, if they end up relying on Cam Talbot to save games for them, it could be a low-scoring, frustrating year. Realistically, we'll get flashes of both and be working out playoff-clinching scenarios right down to the last day of the season. So if that sounds like your thing (and if you're a Wild fan, it must be) then yeah, you should watch this team.
AGUILAS 6, GIGANTES 3 AT GIGANTES (GAME 3)
The Aguilas led 4-0 before the Gigantes scored three in the seventh. In the eighth, however, Francisco Pena hit a two-run homer to seal the win for the Aguilas. For the Gigantes, Peter O'Brien was 1-for-3 with a home run and Juan Francisco was 1-for-4 with a home run. Chris Ellis pitched 4.2 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and four walks and striking out two.
Record: The Gigantes lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
Next game: The Gigantes are at the Aguilas on Friday.
LARA 7, ARAGUA 6 IN LARA (GAME 1)
Aragua scored three in the top of the eighth to take a 6-4 lead, but Lara came back with three in the bottom of the eighth to go up 7-6. Cesar Hernandez' two-run single brought home the tying and go-ahead runs. Ildemaro Vargas was 3-for-4 with a triple, a double, and three runs. Hernandez was 2-for-3 with two walks and three RBIs. Osman Marval was 2-for-3 with a walk. Carlos Rivero was 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs. Ex-Twin Logan Darnell pitched five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and no walks and striking out one.
Record: Lara leads the best-of-seven series 1-0.
Next game: Lara host Aragua tonight.
The series with Manati remains in limbo. I'm using Google Translate on the league website, which is sometimes tricky, but here's what I think is going on. It appears that Manati has been cleared to play, but Mayaguez has not yet. The clearance to play is up to the Puerto Rico Department of Health. If they give the go-ahead for Mayaguez to play, the series will resume on Sunday. if they don't, Manati will move on to play Caguas, the winner of the other semi-final series, in the finals.
MELBOURNE 9, CANBERRA 7 AT MELBOURNE
Melbourne built a 9-0 lead after six, then held on as Canberra scored two in the seventh and five in the ninth. The tying run was up to bat when the game ended. Ex-Twin Delmon Young was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Darryl George was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs. Blake Gailen was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second), a walk and three RBIs. Jarryd Dale was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and three RBIs. Jack Barrie was 2-for-4. Brian Flynn struck out seven in seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk.
Stats: Barrie is batting .500. Young is batting .429. George is batting .382. Damek Tomscha was 1-for-4 and is batting .311. Gailen is batting .306. Flynn has an ERA of 0.89. Drew Anderson struck out the only man he faced and has an ERA of zero.
Record: Melbourne is 8-5, in second place in the Australian League, but technically a half game ahead of first-place Adelaide (4-2).
Is it Thursday yet?
