Home Run Derby

Nobody asked me, but I’m 100% sure that San Diego’s Jake Peavy will be announced as the National League Cy Young Award Winner later this afternoon.

I’m 100% sure of that.  Why?  Because Peavy won the Triple Crown in the National League this season with 19 Wins, a 2.54 ERA and 240 Strikeouts.

Since the inception of the Award in 1956, every pitcher to capture a Triple Crown has won the Cy Young. 

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Recently, Construda found a sick wiffle ball pitcher over on the YouTubes.

When this guy throws, the ball dances all over the place before hitting the strike zone almost every time. I’d say it was unhittable.

Here’s the clip.

Videos like this always make me (and others) wonder if a Major League player would stand a chance against a guy who can hurl this kind of pitch. Especially a decent hitter, say one who has a bit of pedigree in the bigs.

Heck, let just dream about a league batting champion stepping inside the box against a wiffle baller. That would be sweet. I wonder what would happen …

Wonder no more …

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Last night, the Milwaukee Brewers lost their 18th conscutive game in which Chris Capuano pitched for them.

Capuano gave up back-to-back Home Runs to the Cubs’ Matt Murton and Alfonso Soriano at Wrigley Field Thursday night. The 2nd Home Run was the game-winner and put the Brewers 2.5 games back of the Cubs in the NL Central race.

That’s Capuano throwing his gum in frustration. Best throw you made all night, Cap.

In “honor” of this dubious stat, I decided to head over to Wordsmith.org and use their Anagram-Maker to see if there were any fitting anagrams which appropriately described Chris Capuano.

There were a few good ones …

• Scar Pain Ouch (The Brewers have 18 now)
• Ah Pain Occurs (For the fans - every time he pitches)
• Ah Crap, Cousin (Said every time he’s warming up in the pen)
• Coach Rip Anus (What Ned Yost should do to Capuano)
• A Coach I Spurn (What Capuano does every time)

But this is my favorite

• A Crap Cushion

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Capuano photo: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Benny Sieu)

Ever wondered how David Wells and those other fat ballplayers (who look like they ought to be driving an eighteen wheeler cross-country) keep playing baseball?

Yeah, me too. 

From the guy who put together the Darren Dreifort Wealth-Building System … Here’s how you can be a big fat successful ballplayer like David Wells.

Back before the five man rotation found its place in Major League Baseball, it was not uncommon to a pitchers have 20 losses in a season. Heck, the seventies had fourteen 20-loss seasons. Five of them were thrown in 1974 alone.

But now, with 20% less starts and the advent of pitch counts - it’s a real stretch for even a really bad pitcher to get 20 losses (partly because he’d be optioned or demoted before he got the chance). Since 1980, it’s only been done once - in 2003 by Mike Maroth (9-21).

It seems that every season, someone gets close to the 20 loss mark, as 25 pitchers have finished with 18 or 19 losses since 1982.

This season, that pitcher appears to be Jose Contreras of the Chicago White Sox.

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As the resident acolyte of the Church of El Guapo, I offer the above quote as the alpha and omega of justification for Guapo love. 

But like El Guapo himself, there’s more to love from this Boston magazine profile on the comeback of the century, such as:

 - El Guapo chasing down a fly ball to the outfield during BP (picture the Death Star closing in on the Millenium Falcon)

 - El Guapo fudging the speed of his heater to Sports Illustrated

 - The involvement of, who else, a Maddux in creating the legend of the Guapo

 - The mysterious and terrifying concession stand sandwich that carries his name

 - “I like cervezas”

 Vaya con Dios, El Guapo.

(Hat tip to Deadspin- also a worshipper at the altar of Guapo)

So at the Cub game last night, former White Sox pitchers (now in Cub uniforms) Scott Eyre and Bobby Howry went out of their way to make their former White Sox fans happy by giving up six runs to the Rockies, blowing a five-run Cub lead in the top of the ninth inning …

So of course, some Wrigley drunkard decided to try make Howry feel like he was back at the Cell …

That security guy did that drunkard a favor.  One finger on Howry and that guy would have been made a semi-permanent fixture on the infield grass when the rest of the Cubs got there.

Stay in your seats, people.  Or they’re gonna cut beer off earlier in the game.

Thanks to Bret for the YouTube tip … I could have done without that guy’s commentary during the clip.

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Lance Cormier got his ass absolutely torched by the Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano tonight.

And I don’t mean your average 3 for 3 night against a pitcher.

I mean that Alfonso Soriano made Lance Cormier his bitch and made him like it.

Going into tonight’s game, Soriano was already trouble for Cormier and the Braves. Soriano has been heating up as of late (batting .469 with 3 HR in June before tonight’s game) and the Cubs are heating up right along with him.

And tonight, Soriano hit three Home Runs off Cormier. Never a doubt for any of them either.

That makes Soriano 5 for 5 against Cormier this week with (get this) four (4) Home Runs and a Triple. That’s merely a slugging percentage of 4.400 !

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Lance Cormier is probably hugging his teddy bear and asking mommy Cormier to make the bad Dominican go away …

Nothing could be more exciting than the potentially last at-bat of a no-hitter in progress, right? 

Let’s go to the stands in Oakland … and the video.

I love YouTube.

Maybe Curt Schilling won’t shake off his catcher next time.

“We get two outs, and I was sure, and I had a plan, and I shook Tek off,” Schilling said.  

“And I get a big ‘What if?’ for the rest of my life”