Saturday, October 31, 2009

Yankees @ Phillies, 2009 World Series Game 3 LiveBlog @ Michael Holloway's BaseballBlogs

Here we are, 'virtually' in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia and actually in Toronto. This LiveBlog is a new idea to me; I write down as it's happening, in real time my observations, analysis, opinions and - if they're good - re quotes from the Fox Sports announcers. When I complete an idea and there's a break in the action I record the time and push the 'Publish Post' button in Blogger.

7:52

Rain Delay?!

I don't listen to the pre-game babble so I've just noticed a bug in the corner of the screen that says, "Rain Delay".

I'm going to the University of Wisconsin s Satellite weather data portal to see how long this might last...

8:00

The weather map said no game; but you don't need a weather map to see there's a Game On!

Wo-who baseball!

Yankees 1,2,3 in the top of the first.

9:23

Andy Petite is pitching.

Off the glove! A-Rod to his right - exactly (opposite side) as the game 2, 2nd inning hit/error. Ruled a base hit - but off the glove?? - come on - E-5 in this universe.

9:29

Announcers saying Andy Petite balks a lot. With a runner on first if you look like your coming to the plate but instead throws to first its a 'balk', the runner gets a free pass to second. But MLB ain't calling it apparently Petite is too big a star to have to play with-in the rules.

Rollins just stole on him anyway.

9:36

On calling the a balk I've heard an umpire say that if the pitchers front foot comes down on the plate-side of an imaginary line between the rubber and the first base bag then it's a balk. Petites foot ALWAYS comes down to the plate side of that line when he throws to the bag. hmmm...

9:40

Petite on his 20th pitch + the throw-overs. 21st pich is a strike end of the first inning. 0 R's, 1 - LOB.

9:43


Ooops, Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels walked A-Rod leading off the 2nd.

FC out at second, one out, Posada at first. Slick conditions or it's a double play.

Cano K swinging.

Pop 9

0 - 0 middle of the second.

Was thinking I could score the game but that would be boring, less detail More.

9:52

What the f*ck is a Sports Hernia?? You either have a hernia or you don't.

Jason Worth homie to left centre. 0 - 1.

9:57

Mere mortals guts spill out of their body-cavity; MLB players have "Sports Hernias".

Pedro Feliz doubles High off the wall over Nick Swisher. Thought it was gone!

10:00

Hammel bunts to the third base side, Petite gets in the way of Posada, Posada doesn't seem to take command, looks like he's trying to make a point about Petites ego. It's Posadas ball all the way because the play's at third, right in front of Posada!

Bases loaded

Next batter walks, rbi, 0 - 2.

Sac-fly deep to Damon in left - runner saunters home. 0 - 3.

10:08

Petites coming un-hinged.

Gets a K looking; out of a weird inning Yankees coming up top of the 3rd.

10:10

The 'un-hinged?' Petite is at the plate - one out, no-one on. 4 -3. 2 out.

Jeter delays getting into the batters box to make sure Petite has a chance to take off his batting gloves, relax a second; just in case Jeters first swing is an out. This guy is a consummate baseball player at any given moment he's aware of All the permutations.

Line out to right.

10:21

Petite 9 pitches 1,2,3.

10:25

...Teixeira walks with 1 out.

A-Rods in a dog house up there. Double off the wall, controversy. It seemed to hit the fence along the top of the wall. Nope - hits INSIDE the visor of the camera sticking into the field of play. Home Run. A-Rod is video re-play out of the dog house. 2 - 3.

When did video re-play come to MLB?

10:37

What's the rule?

Camera is like:

-an umpire - the ball is dead?
-the old yellow line - home run?
-a fan reaching in - dead ball?

Computer crashed.

Suffice it to say Petite batted a blooper to centre. Swisher who had hit the ball over the bag at third for a double - scores. Then another blooper to centre that gets by the centre fielder; then a Damon line drive to the wall makes it 3 - 5.

11:00

Starting pitcher Cole Hamel's out, seemed the Yankees began hitting every thing he threw up there.

Damon at second, Teixeira on fist A-Rod line drive out to centre. 2 out 2 on.

Posada at the plate, Can Mr. Clutch open this up, put it away for the Yankees here in the 5th?
I guess there wasn't enough pressure for Posada he pops to 2nd.

11:08

Shane Victorino reaches way out in front of himself and serves a ball into centre. Out. Petite's got 'em off balance.
Petite makes a good run to first and receives a lateral from Teixeira splayed out to stop a hit ball to his right. 2 out.
Pop to Jeter.
Petite 11 pitches 1,2,3.

11:17

Swisher up 1 out nobody on. 3 -2 pitch leaves the yard to centre! 6 - 3.

Melky Cabrera out.

Petites batting. 2 out nobody on. K swinging.

11:24

nonk9 is on board welcome.

Jason Worth over the fence and Through the second deck facade! 6 - 4.

11:29

Ibanez out.

Feliz swung but Posada didn't ask for an appeal... ..3-2 count now. Slider DOWN and IN swinging K Posada tags him for the out. 2 down.

C, Ruiz up

100 pitches for Petite.

Ruiz walks pitching coach out.

11:34

Bruntlett at the plate. Pops to Nick in right.

Top of the 7th coming up.

11:36

Jeter out to right.
Started Raining - pretty hard right now.
Perhaps the pitcher can't get a grip, walks Johnny Damon. 4 - 0.

11:42

Teixeira up, one on one out.
Damon steals second on the Teixeira K 2 - 6, bang - bang. Good call.
A-Rod up 2 out runner on second. A-Rod hit by pitch!
Is it close enough that Posada can be Mr. Clutch this time?

.328 with runners in scoring position this year. Love this guy.

Rain seems to have slowed.

Blooper to left! Base hit, Damon scores runners at 2nd and 1st.

Mr Clutch.

11:50

Yankees 8 - Phillies 4 :(

Cano out looking.
Bottom of 7 coming up after I turn down the volume for the song.

11:52

Rollins out to Johnny in shallow left-centre, right in front of an acquiescing Cabrera.

Hopper to 4 - 3, 2 out.

Utley out to deep right- centre field.

12:00

All my November s Pete Rose once said, or was it October... ?

Hey did I say it was 8-4 earlier? I mistyped - but that's all fixed because Godzilla just hit a line drive homer to left.

12:08

Yankees 8 Phillies 4

Godzilla pinch hitting in the ninth spot.

Jeter out.

12:11

Raining a little more now
Swisher out Melky Cabrera moves to right field, new centre-fielder for the Yanks.

Phillies 8th: 1 out

Jason Worth at the plate. Called strike three.

Temp down to 50 Fahrenheit harder on the batters than pitchers.

12:19

Line drive to A-Rod.

12:20

Yankees 9th: Damon, Teixeira, A-Rod up. Madson pitching.

Damon 6-3 1 out.

Teixeira broken bat pop to centre. 2 out.

Some thoughts by the announcers on the homie that hit the camera in play.

I think the umps assumed the camera was NOT in play, thus HR. They got it wrong even with video re-play.

A-Rod walks, Posada up.

Fly out to left centre, easy play.

4 runs or bust for the Phillies.

12:34

Rivera not pitching!

Filez, 5-3, 1 out.

Ruiz up, second pitch he sees will never be seen again. Gone! to centre field.
Here comes Rivera.

8 - 5.

Matt Stairs "The Middle Aged Canadian" is coming in to pinch hit.

12:40

SLOW roller to second - but Stairs is slower, 2 out.

Broken Bat pop to A-Rod and game over.

Yankees 8 8 1
Phillies 5 6 0

3:25 minutes.



mh

Friday, October 30, 2009

2009 World Series Live Blog Game 2

Ball hit down the third base line by Raul Ibanez in the top of the second inning is called fair, the replay from the the left field corner camera shows the ball was one ball width foul. The extra left field umpire, was 15 feet away - he was in an excellent position to make the call - I think the sliding Johnny Damon blocked his view. The Ground rule double puts Ibanez at 2nd.

He scores on a base hit by the next batter Matt Stairs that should have been ruled an error that sneaks under the glove of A-Rod. A-Rod should have had his glove down and come up to the ball, because he did not, the ball fooled him on it's third bounce and slow rolled out to left field. Dameon doesn't have a good arm anymore but he tries to go home with the throw instead of to the cut-off man (A-Rod). The ball flies high over the cut-off man and off-line to catcher Posada; but Stairs stays put at first; he could have gotten to second easily, if he had been watching the throw, and knowing Dameon had a bad arm, and the speed of the hit ball he should have been rounding first, anticipating a opportunity.

... LIve Blog

Bottom of the 3rd inning Announcer says, "Isn't funny how speed slows a game Down?"

...Live Blog

9:012

Announcer says, "First walk for the Yankees in the World Series", Catcher Jose Molina (not Posada) draws a walk from Pedro. Derek Jeter strikes out looking as Pedro 'fast pitches' him, Jeter tries to swing at an off-speed pitch right down the middle, but Jeter can't get the bat around in time!

Live Blog...

Jose Molina throws behind Jason Worth at first in the Ibanez at bat, looked like the tag misses the base runner getting back but, I wasn't there, the umpire was - and nobody argues. Strike out, fly out ends the top of the forth.


Yankees First baseman Mark Teixeira homers to right centre. Tie game 1 - 1.

Live Blog...

9:39

Molina's expanding the strike zone by pulling his glove in just a touch on the out side to the right hand batter Carlos Ruiz, top of the 5th. Ruiz hits a double to left centre fence. Announcers all over Yankee pitcher A.J. Burnett's focus.

Live Blog...

Strike out, pop out to third ---> to the bottom of the 5th

Live Blog...

9:49

Pedro Martinez faces 8th, 9th and 1 hitter Jeter. 1 out, 2 outs, then Jeter hits a double off the wall in the left field corner. Pop out to first ends the inning.
A 1,2,3 inning except for the un-worldly Jeter. Is Jeter an Alien disguised as a baseball player?

Live Blog...

Announcers bring up an E-mail from the B.C. interior comments "Middle aged Canadians", refering to Matt Stairs 41 year old man. A middle aged country? Not really, but we're getting there it looks like.

Live Blog...

Molina's cheating the strike zone again...

A.J. 1,2,3.

10:02

Live Blog...

Bottom of the 6th, 1 - 1 tie, Pedro back out there...

With no hits yesterday and nothing so far today, is the resurrection of A-Rod over? Is it back to the post season dog house for Alex Rodriguez? What will Phillies manager Charlie Manuel do/not do, to ensure he stays there?

Godzilla hits a homie to right, Matsui golfs it off the plate about 8" off the ground - a really good pitch!

Live Blog...

10:25

A.J. shuts 'em down, preserves the lead. 1 - 2.

Pedro back out - bottom of the 7th, over 100 pitches now...

Jerry Hairston hits an un-hittable pitch high and away out of the strike zone - blop to right - for a single. With closer Rivera warming, Joe Girardi wants an insurance run, puts in Pinch runner Brett Gardner. Gardner going on the pitch! - another blopper to right moves the Gardner to 3rd.

Pedros GONE (maybe forever?) Chan Ho Park in.

10:35

Live Blog...

Posada in for Molina, base hit! Scores Gardner from third. Joe Girardi manages a run. Score: 1 - 3.

Jeter out on stikes 1 out runners 2nd and 1st. Charlie Manuel takes out Park brings in Scott Eyre to face the left handed hitting Johnny Damon.

10:42

Live Blog...

Damon hit the ball line drive to first, first replay shows clean catch, all the first baseman has to do is step on the first base bag to double off Posada, (perhaps he's thinking the Umps might call it wrong so he starts the double play by throwing to short stop Rollins, almost throws the ball away. Rollins hears its a caught ball and thinks he can tag Posada for the double play, but posada's on the bag; the only way to get the second out is to throw to first, touch the bag and appeal to the umpire. ??? Replay from the right side camera after the commercial break shows the ball skipped into the glove - so that's why he threw to second.

Should be 1 out bases loaded; instead: end of inning!!!

Live Blog...

Rivera in, and Rollins works a walk from the master, speed on first.

Base hit, runners at 2nd, 1st - no one out.

Announcers asking whether Rivera had time to warm with the funny way the last inning ended, Bad calls influence the game going forward in almost countless ways...

Live Blog...

Correction 1 out...

11:00

Double play ball! 4 - 6 - 3; but to me the runner at first was SAFE!!! Umpires trying to make-up for bad call?

Live Blog...

Mark Teixeira leads off and is hit in the knee. Announcer thinks it may have been a purpose pitch. Will this wake up A-Rod, up now?

Live Blog...

A-Rod strikes out 0 for 8 in World Series. 1 out.

Live Blog...

Ryan Madson pitching from the start of this, bottom of eight.

Matsui down on strikes, 2 outs. Gardner's first at-bat after pinch run, run scored.

Gardner strikes out swinging.

---> top of the ninth, Phillies have three outs to play with.

11:15 Live Blog...

Rivera back on the mound, of coarse...

Ryan Howard leads off. Stikes out looking. Replay shows the ball was high and outside - bad call on a third strike in the ninth.

Chase Utley, soft liner to Cano leaping like a dancer to his right.

Ibanez doubles to left centre. Matt Stairs up. Déjà Vu from the scoring play in the second? Nope. Goes down swinging.

Phillies 1 6 0
Yankees 3 8 0

Series tied 1 game a-piece.



mh

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Yankee Mystique Fools the Foolish in Game 4




"No, the strike zone isn't an excuse for tonight's lousy loss... . We're pretty sure they'd have lost anyway. But is there anything more frustrating than watching a game umpired by Tim McClellan? We think not."

Old picture of Tim and quote from Royals Corner Blog.


The Yankee mystique makes time stand still and memory go foggy. Some weird innings Tonight Game 4 in Los Angeles...

Third Base Umpire Tim McClellan missed a double play at third. Posada was caught in a run down between third and home after a bases loaded fielders choice, with Cano forcing to third. Cano didn't seem to want to take the base away from the infield captain, the veteran Yankee - respect - so he never touched the bag! As Posada was being forced back to third by Mike Napoli, the Yankee catcher acquiesced off the back of the bag for Cano to take it; Napoli saw the situation immediately. The Catcher straddled the bag like a third baseman, touched Cano, then Posada - one two. Tim McClellan - standing right there - missed it and called only Posada out. As the Yankee Veil began to draw across our collective memory - as it became apparent nobody was quite sure what had just happened - he failed to ask the home plate umpire for help - or the extra left-field-line umpire either.

AND probably because Tim McClellan is crew-chief neither umpire offered any help, to make sure they got it right, which is politically correct in Umpire World, but wrong in baseball.

Earlier in the inning on a play at second Swisher was thrown out by Napoli, but the umpire called it safe.

An inning before Swisher left the bag early on a sac fly and was called out by Tim McClellan, double play - run doesn't score - end of inning. The replay was too close to call.

Magic is one way to look at it.

Another is that Tim McClellan leads a really bad umpiring crew.

(update @ 11:46 10/20/09)
New York Yankees 10 - Los Angeles Angels 1. Yankees lead the series 3 - 1. C.C. Sabathia wins his second of this series on short rest.

The Angels beat themselves tonight - they need to regroup to play a game six.

(video update @ 3:06 PM 10/21/09)
Here's the video from ALCS game 4 (Evil-FOX-network video - which will be pulled down soon).

GONE! (9:56 PM 10/21/09) Coutesy of MLB Advanced (?) Media

Tim McClellan is Fooled by a smooth Cano move. Cano causualy places his foot on the bag after he's tagged, thinks he's called out and starts for the dugout, Mike Napoli hears he's safe so he tags him again because he's off the bag again!



mh