Home Run Derby

Baseball fans of all allegiances flocked to Camden Yards on Wednesday hoping to see Manny Ramirez make history by hitting two home runs to reach the 500 home run milestone.

He did make history in one sense, but not in a manner anybody expected.  He did so by turning late Orioles PA Announcer Rex Barney’s famous saying “Give that fan a contract” into “Give that fan an assist.”

Manny turned what could be seen as the first 7-10-4-3 double play in baseball history in the bottom of the fourth inning by high-fiving a fan between making a running catch on a Kevin Millar fly ball and firing the ball into cut-off man Dustin Pedroia.  Pedroia then relayed the ball to first-baseman Kevin Youkilis to complete one of the funniest successful plays you will ever see.

I say “successful” because it’s hard to top Jose Canseco’s Zidane-esque home run helper with the Rangers, Jack Cust’s ‘03 home stretch stumble with the Orioles, or Ruben Rivera running the bases for the Giants like a squirrel crossing a busy street (unfortunately I couldn’t find a picture or video of the last play).

(more…)

After winning their respective divisions, it’s only fitting that the teams that tied for the most wins in the 2007 regular season would face off for the right to play in the World Series.

The Indians cruised to the AL Central title at 96-66 while the same record provided the Red Sox with a less comfortable victory over the 94-68 Yankees. These teams continued their strong 2007 campaigns by going a combined 6-1 in the first round of the playoffs and will now fight it out in a series that could be more competitive than the World Series.

This series features some of the top winners of 2007. The Red Sox and Indians each have three pitchers with 15+ wins, including two Indians tied for the second most wins with 19 and the Red Sox with the Majors’ only 20-game winner. Two of these Majors-leading pitchers will square off for a historic game one matchup.

(more…)

Game 1 of the Red Sox vs. Angels series showcases a couple of proven big game pitchers.

Angels starter John Lackey capped off his 2002 rookie campaign with a solid postseason finalized by a win in Game 7 of the World Series.

The next year, Josh Beckett, starting tonight for the Sox, led the Florida Marlins to a World Series win which he capped off with a complete game win in the decisive Game 6 at Yankee Stadium. These two pitchers proved that this past success is no fluke, with Lackey finishing tied for second in the big leagues with 19 wins this season and Beckett leading the Majors as the only 20-game winner.

This might sound like a surefire pitcher’s duel, but a quick look at both pitchers’ numbers at Fenway and against their series opponents tells a different story.

(more…)

Joe Morgan loves Barry Bonds.

He makes this abundantly clear every time he announces a Giants game. He always has a new interview for that special time before the game when he “catches up” with Barry (it seems more like stalking to me).

Now, there is nothing wrong with this on the surface. It’s fine that Joe has a standing play date every time he’s in San Francisco and that Barry has found a member of the media he doesn’t wish would die a fiery death.

Barry might want to think about this, though, because Joe has gotten quite close to another prominent baseball figure in the past, and that player went on to get banned from baseball. I’m talking, of course, about Joe’s graceful aftershave conversation with Pete Rose in this classic 1979 Aqua Velva commercial.

(more…)

Fans looking for Seattle Mariners bobbleheads have been given an early National Beheading Day present (it comes every September 2nd, get to know your obscure holidays, people).

To capitalize on the most fascinating of giveaways, the Mariners have made one ginormous life-sized bobblehead in the likeness of each of their four most popular players. Ichiro, Raul Ibanez, Felix Hernandez, and Kenji Johjima are the men featured in this auction of near replicas.

Each of these massive collectibles measures 6 feet in height, but more impressive is the striking resemblance each of these bobbleheads has … to the other three life-sized dolls.

(more…)