Results tagged ‘ Pittsburgh Pirates ’
The Odd Blog Week In Review
I’m back from my family reunion and ready to take on more of the oddities of baseball. First of all, I had a great time with all the people I don’t know, and I learned a few things: Royals fans are better than Tigers fans at “Quiddler”, but just barely, and that you should never play “Trivial Pursuit” against someone who’s memorized the entire game. If you get forced to, you should resort to pronouncing everything wrong (Germany = grr-mane-ee) etc.
Now to baseball, where the Royals beat the Red Sox last night! (Yeah, you knew I’d have to write about this). This is the first time since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup that I’ve really gotten “into” a sporting event. I was listening to the broadcast on the radio and when David DeJesus hit the two run homer to take the lead, I was practically shouting down the stairs that we got a homer to the rest of the family, which I don’t think really cared. This may seem like weird activity to you- but I am a Royals fan who writes a blog entitled The Odd Blog. Another thing: people were commenting on articles about the Royals about how people in Boston were already getting their brooms out, how we were a pushover and that they were already looking ahead to the next series. Not anymore! I’m feeling like those brooms are going to turn on the BoSox! Yes, it will be a four-game sweep for the Royals! I can just feel it!
Anyway, other stuff happened while I was away.
Banny Ramirez came back from his suspension… … … but I don’t really care.
Joel Hanrahan got a win for the Nats… without even being at the stadium. That was odd, so I have to write something about it. If you want to read the whole story, it’s right… here. The irony is that the guy who scored the winning run wasn’t on the Nationals when the game started. He was in Pittsburgh, but got traded for Hanrahan. It was also the first time since 1975 that a team got a walk-off in an opposing stadium.
And finally… Joe Sakic retired. He was a 17-time captain for the Colorado Avalanche and was 8th all time in scoring. He was also a 12-time all star. Joe Sakic, you will be missed!
The Odd Blog Week In Review (Week ?)
I don’t know what week it is. It’s summer, why should I be keeping track of dates? There is one date that I’m counting to, next Friday my second cousins visit, with five kids aged 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. Suggestions, please!?
Now to baseball, where the Royals are playing the Pirates, and I am ashamed to say that we have a worse record than Pittsburgh. Yipe! That means, with respect to the Pirates, that the Royals are worse than I thought they were. Let’s see how we do in this series.
There is one Royal who is doing good as of recently, and that’s Luke Hochevar. According to MLB.com’s player search, there are four of him (seriously, try it!) and as long as the one that has shown up in the last few starts keeps the other three away, I’m fine with that. Imagine all four showing up to start a game or something. That would be odd. Anyway… he’s had some great starts recently, pitching an 80 pitch complete game against the Reds last week and getting a pretty good start in this week against Houston, despite having a no-decision thanks to our imploding bullpen. So, the start in the series finale against Pittsburgh, assuming I have the schedule right, is the one where he can either prove himself ready for the majors and possibly be a Zack Greinke in the future, or falls down like he did early in the season and have to be sent to the minors… again.
Next, (M/B)anny Ramirez. What was he doing playing minor-league ball? You would think that they wouldn’t allow to play any baseball, but apparently there’s a loophole or something. So I’m offering (of course) my take on what the rules should be:
“When a player is suspended for any amount of time by the league, that player will not be allowed to play baseball with the MLB or any of its affiliates, but should be allowed to participate in practices with the team, so long as he is not in the dugout, clubhouse etc. during a game. They will not be allowed on road trips, unless they are suspended for more than 15 games and will be reinstated during a said road trip, etc. etc. etc.”
I had more, but I have a feeling that was getting a little boring.
Finally, a topic that, as a Buffalo Sabres fan, I unfortunately know way too much about. Injuries! Coco Crisp is gone for the season after getting shoulder surgery, and that is a big blow to our chances. Coupled with other injuries that have plagued our team, including those to Alex Gordon at the beginning of the season and Kyle Farnsworth now, that’s not good. AND… breaking news from three hours ago (that’s what they call late-breaking) Sidney Ponson tests positive!?! Yipe! But what for? Read the article, but apparently it’s for a banned stimulant. He’s banned from international play for two years, but of course the WBC and the Olympics (which no longer have baseball) aren’t for three years. Nice going, IBAF.
The Odd Blog Week In Review (Week 8)
Is it really week 8 already? I lost track with that quarter in review. Anyway, this week has been like a remote with one button: eject, eject, eject, eject, eject…
Let’s break it down:
Memorial Day
The first ejection of the week occured Monday when our manager, Mr. Trey Hillman, got his first ejection of the year. Other than that, there were more fireworks than there should have been on Memorial Day: The Yankees, Dodgers, Tigers, Rays, Indians, White Sox, and Pirates all knocked in at least 10 runs, and the Astros, Reds, Red Sox, Padres, Giants, Marlins, and Cubs, along with the seven teams mentioned earlier, all got 10 hits. Except for the Cardinals and Brewers (1-0) , there were fireworks all around.
Other ejections today included: Cubs pitcher Ted Lily, Padres manager Bud Black, and Padres catcher Nick Hundley.
May 27
Today featured even more ejections, notably Carlos Zambrano, who then threw the ball into the outfield, and took a few swings at a Gatorade machine. Wait, what is a Gatorade machine doing in a dugout? What happened to the jugs that they used to use? That’s very unsportsmanlike, the machine and Zambrano.
May 28
There were ejections galore in the Twins/Red Sox game tonight. In the seventh inning, the Twins’ catcher and manager were both ejected for arguing a play at the plate, and in the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox’s catcher and manager were ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Interesting.
That’s all for today. There will be one more post, and on Thursday I’m leaving to go on vacation. So no posts for a while starting Thursday. I will not exist on the Internet, apparently.
The Odd Blog Week In Review (Week 2)
As amazing as this sounds, the Royals are in first place. Not the White Sox, not the Twins, not the Tigers, and not the Indians. The Royals. Just incredible. And Toronto is in first in the AL East, the Seattle in the NL West, and the Padres in the NL West. And the Pirates are ahead of Atlanta 10-0 as I’m writing this. Obviously, not the year everyone’s been predicting, but I’ll take it.
Royals 6, Yankees 4
It would have been bad if the Royals had been swept in their first home series. But thanks to poor playing conditions that apparently don’t exist at the amazing, Mount Olympus-esque stadium the Yankees play at, the Royals averted the sweep.
Royals 4, Indians 2
I touched on this in my last post, but Zack Greinke is really good. He has the lowest ERA in the league, 0.00. That’s not too bad. Tonight he goes against the second place pitcher in ERA, Kevin Millwood, who has an ERA of 0.64.
Royals 9, Indians 3
If the Royals could just hit like this every night, we’d be undefeated. Of course, a grand slam from John Buck helps a lot. There seem to be a lot of grand slams going around; there was another one last night. Not only that, but the guy who hit it finished the cycle AND brought his team back to win.
Indians 5, Royals 4
The Royals lost this one thanks to their amazing imploding pitcher, Kyle Farnsworth. You come to expect this from a Yankee, though. One high note: the hockey playoffs started tonight, so another year of great NHL action is about to end. (Go Columbus!)
Thursday: An off day
It was a great day for baseball, too. I think it felt like that because someone down the street was grilling some hot dogs.
Friday: The NEW Yankee Stadium
I hear it’s replacing the Grand Canyon as one of the 7 wonders of the world. It took up half the headlines on MLB.com. Even the new Mets stadium didn’t do that, and the Royals stadium, obviously much nicer, barely got one! It’s nice, yes, but not as nice as the White House or something like that. Or the Grand Canyon. That gives me an idea; let’s play a baseball game in the Grand Canyon! Or we can just throw the Yankees in there and watch them fall into the river.
Royals 12, Rangers 3
It was 12-0. Then I turned on the radio to listen to the game, and Texas promptly scored back-to-back homers. I then turned the radio off. Gil Meche, Zack Greinke, and Kyle Davies are all undefeated. That’s my kind of rotation.
Pittsburgh just won. They’re above .500 as well. I’m going to go find out what got into them.
NL Central Preview
The biggest division gets center stage, but first, a haiku I wrote about today’s weather:
Raindrops fall and freeze
On roads, trees, and my back porch
I’m staying inside.
There is freezing rain pounding the area, so what better to do than blog?
NL Central Preview
- Chicago Cubs
- Houston Astros
- Milwaukee Brewers
- St. Louis Cardinals
- Cincinnati Reds
- Pittsburgh Pirates
In my opinion, the Astros and Brewers could be switched…
I got my fantasy draft done just under the wire (on Yahoo!) and got a lot of first basemen. Suggestions, anyone?
C) Russell Martin (Dodgers)
1B) Albert Pujols (Cardinals)
1B) Ryan Howard (Phillies)
1B) Lance Berkman (Astros)
1B/3B) Kevin Youkilis (Red Sox)
2B) Ian Kinsler (Rangers)
3B) The infamous Alex Rodriguez (Yankees)
2B/3B) Mark DeRosa (Cubs)
SS) Hanley Ramirez (Marlins)
OF) BJ Upton (Rays)
OF) Alfonso Soriano (Cubs)
OF) Alexei Ramirez (White Sox)
OF) Ryan Braun (Brewers)
Util) Miguel Cabrera (Tigers)
____________________________
SP) Johan Santana (Mets)
SP) Cliff Lee (Indians)
SP) Brandon Webb (D-Backs)
SP) Cole Hamels (Phillies)
RP) Joakim Soria (Royals)
RP) Jonathan Papelbon (Red Sox)
RP) Joe Nathan (Twins)
I seem to have a lot of “Jo” pitchers…
Bargain Basement
Here’s something shocking. I may be in a league of four players, but you’d think that somebody would draft these players before I did: (The draft was done automatically, so no one was there)
Pujols was the last pick in round 5
Rodriguez was the last pick in round 7
Ramirez was the last pick in round 11. 11! He was the top ranked overall in Yahoo!
Hamels was the last pick in round 13
Howard was the last pick in round 17
If the rest of the season is like the draft, it should be very easy to win.
Now that I’ve bored you with my fantasy team, I’m leaving. The next preview will be the NL East, and then… the complete preview, likely just before opening day.
I will now go watch the freezing rain come down.
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