And we are into the second round of Home Run Derby’s MLB Mascot Brackets. Took us long enough. Weekly matchups will be in effect until the end of the 2008 MLB season.
We’re going to start off with a matchup from the Furrie Divison, with the #1 Seed matched up against another green mascot who was granted new life in the tournament.
Ken Griffey Junior almost had Home Run #600 this afternoon.
There’s a lot of talk that baseball isn’t paying attention to Griffey’s quest for 600. Don’t tell that to Phillie Phans … who seemed to be rooting for Griffey to do it this afternoon.
Nearly fifteen years after the Phillies lost to the Blue Jays in the 1993 World Series … The Phillies extract a little revenge.
Earlier this year, Jayson Werth earned a Home Run of the Day with an Inside-the-park job at Colorado … I guess that wasn’t enough for Werth, who felt he had to lay a whuppin on the Blue Jays … all by himself.
And only one of those longballs was a solo shot. Werth hit a 3-run jack and a Grand Slam in the second and third innings off Jays’ starter David Purcey, who practically grooved two balls right in Werth’s wheelhouse.
Here’s Video of the Grand Slam and the Solo shot …
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Ryan Howard untied a 2-2 ballgame with one swing and the Phillies went on to beat the visiting San Diego Padres.
The win put the Phillies in sole possession of first place in the NL East.
Around the League:
Brewers 4 Cubs 3
The “Kerry Wood as closer” experiment might be just about over for the Chicago Cubs.
Wood blew a 3-1 ninth inning lead and his third save in seven opportunities and visiting Milwaukee beat the Cubs 4-3 - wasting another great start by Carlos Zambrano. Wood now has an ERA of 18.00 against the Brewers in three games at Wrigley.
You get the sense that it’s only a matter of time until Carlos Marmol is the closer for the Northsiders.
Rays 4 Orioles 2
They’re on the cusp of history in Tampa Bay … as the AL East-leading Rays beat the Orioles and moved to four games over .500 for only the third time in their 10+ year history.
The Rays have never been five games over .500.
Maybe there was something to dropping the Devil.
Tigers 8 Yankees 4
The Tigers completed a three-game sweep of the the Yankees in New York.
Don’t look now, but since the Tigers started 0-7, they’ve gone on a 14-8 run. And they’re now in a three-way tie for second place in the AL Central, only 1 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox.
It’s tough to tally a Home Run when the ball doesn’t leave the yard. You’ve got to get some combination of a lucky bounce, outfielder futility, or wicked speed to get an inside-the-park Home Run.
Last night, Jayson Werth had a combination of the three as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the host Colorado Rockies.
There were a few Home Run of the Day candidates from last night’s Met-Phillies game.
But Chase Utley’s second Home Run of the night gave him the most Home Runs in the Majors … so it gets the HRoD.
Utley now has eight Home Runs to go with his .351 average (10th - NL), .432 On-Base Average (11th - NL), .797 Slugging (1st - MLB), 1.229 OPS (2nd - MLB) and 17 RBI (3rd - NL).
If he keeps it up … Utley could easily keep the trophy for the National League MVP in Philadelphia.
Remember when you used to get a stick of gum in a pack of baseball cards? That oblong piece of stale bubblegum hasn’t been seen since 1991 … and I’ve always felt that something was missing from my baseball cards ever since. Maybe we should replace it with something …
I know!! A Bottle of Wine!! It tastes better than gum, and it’ll just get better with age. Not to mention the side effects you can’t get from gum.
In 2007, a trio of Red Sox players unveiled wines which would benefit some of their favorite charities. There were wines for …
The response was so good, that there’s a lot more players on wine bottles in 2008. Something called Longball Cellars is at it again with wines produced by Selby Winery, but now there’s 21 baseball players (past and present) on wines which go for about $12 or $13 a bottle, all available in Spring 2008. 100% of the proceeds go to a charity of the player’s choice.
The art on some of these bottles rivals the baseball cards my dad has in his collection from the fifties.
Let’s see whose face you could be drinking, and who they’re supporting.
You can believe that the Red Sox are back on the bottle with new “Championship Edition” bottles …
Last season, Chipper Jones griped about the inequities of Interleague Play …
What’s not fun is when they’re all contenders and your competition doesn’t have to play the same competition you do. If you play the top teams in the AL and everybody else doesn’t, it’s pretty unfair. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves OF (2007)
Chipper might not be so chipper about interleague play again this season. Because the NL East has another tough road against the AL in 2008 …
Personally, I have no problem with players thinking their teams will succeed before the season starts. I wouldn’t want a player on my team that thought ”Damn, we’re gonna get our asses handed to us this season.”
But I present the counter argument to Dempster and Rollins. One of the American League’s most dominant pitchers is no longer pitching in the AL. Johan Santana is now pitching for the New York Mets.
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