Monthly Archives: April 2012

Verlander, Kershaw, then Marlins-Giants

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Every day except for Tuesday offers some U.K. evening baseball this working week.

There’s a fairly important Premier League game being played on Monday evening, but before that there’s a game between the Marlins and D-Backs to get the sporting evening started. It’s the final game of a four-game series, with Arizona heading into it with a 2-1 lead.

Ricky Romero starts off a day of strong starting pitching on Wednesday. The Royals may be like lambs to the slaughter against Justin Verlander judging by his career record against them (2.37 ERA, 127 strike-outs over 133 innings), while the Rockies could face a similarly tough time against Clayton Kershaw.

There’s a decent mix of games on Thursday.  Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will be on air on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra once a women’s water polo game between Great Britain and Australia is finished (scheduled to be around 21.15, meaning they will be coming to the Marlins-Giants game in progress if so). The MLB game will be the fourth sport of the day on the digital station, with hockey and county cricket also getting some air time as the Beeb lives up to its public service remit.

The Cubs host the Dodgers on Friday evening UK time to provide the perfect baseball-related start to the the Bank Holiday weekend.

All times are in BST.

Monday 30 April

17.40. Arizona at Miami (Corbin – Buehrle) *ESPN America

Tuesday 1 May

No early games

Wednesday 2 May

17.37. Texas at Toronto (Harrison – Romero)
18.05. Kansas City at Detroit (Mendoza – Verlander)
19.05. NY Mets at Houston (Schwinden – Rodriguez) *ESPN America
20.10. LA Dodgers at Colorado (Kershaw – Pomeranz)
23.35. Milwaukee at San Diego (Gallardo – Luebke)

Thursday 3 May

17.10. Philadelphia at Atlanta (Blanton – Delgado) *ESPN America
17.35. Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati (Dempster – Leake)
18.10. Seattle at Tampa Bay (Millwood – Niemann) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
18.45. Pittsburgh at St. Louis (Bedard – Westbrook)
20.45. Miami at San Francisco (Sanchez – Vogelsong) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra (21.15)

Friday 4 May

19.20. LA Dodgers at Chicago Cubs (Billingsley – Garza) *ESPN America

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

Escape from the rain with Sunday games

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It’s been a miserable day in most parts of Britain, with the vast majority of British baseball contests having to be postponed due to the weather.

Thankfully MLB can always be relied upon to provide plenty of live baseball at a convenient time for us in the U.K. on a Sunday.

All games begin before midnight BST except for the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game between the Rays and Rangers, which begins at just gone 1 a.m.

All times are in BST.

18.05. LA Angels at Cleveland (Santana – Lowe)
18.05. Detroit at NY Yankees (Scherzer – Sabathia) *ESPN America
18.07. Seattle at Toronto (Vargas – Alvarez)
18.10. Houston at Cincinnati (Lyles – Latos)
18.10. Arizona at Miami (Miley – Johnson)
18.35. Oakland at Baltimore (Colon – Hunter) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
18.35. Pittsburgh at Atlanta (Correia – Hudson)
18.35. Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia (Garza – Kendrick)
19.10. Boston at Chicago White Sox (Beckett – Floyd)
19.10. Kansas City at Minnesota (Chen – Marquis)
19.15. Milwaukee at St. Louis (Greinke – Garcia)
20.10. NY Mets at Colorado (Santana – Moyer)
21.05. San Diego at San Francisco (Richard – Bumgarner) *ESPN America
21.10. Washington at LA Dodgers (Gonzalez – Capuano)

01.00 a.m. Tampa Bay at Texas (Price – Holland) *ESPN America

Tim Hudson will make his season debut for the Braves today after recovering from back surgery over the offseason. There are plenty of other top pitchers scheduled to take to the mound today as well, not least CC Sabathia, Josh Johnson, Zack Greinke, Gio Gonzalez and Johan Santana.

Josh Beckett starts for the Red Sox as they look to make it seven wins in a row. A five-game losing streak at home had left Boston on a 4-10 record before they began a seven-game AL Central road trip. They won three straight in Minnesota before heading to Chicago where, despite Jake Peavy’s best efforts yesterday, they’ve taken the first three games of their four-game series. A win today would take Boston over .500 before starting a seemingly friendly six-game homestand against the A’s and Orioles and then three games in Kansas City.

Bryce Harper went 1-for-3 in his much-hyped Major League debut yesterday for Washington, but it was Matt Kemp who stole the show yet again with a walk-off home run.  The Nationals try to avoid the 3-0 series sweep today with Gio Gonzalez on the mound after his six score-less inning perfomance against San Diego last Tuesday.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com, while ESPN America has a baseball triple bill.  The A’s-Orioles game can be watched for free online at MLB.com.

Early hours of Sunday for Harper’s probable debut

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There are six MLB games scheduled to begin before midnight UK time on Saturday. However, the game everyone is talking about will be played in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The Washington Nationals caught many by surprise yesterday by announcing that the top prospect in baseball, Bryce Harper, is being promoted to the Majors and will be on the roster for their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Up to this point, Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo has taken a relatively conservative approach to Harper’s development.

This is entirely understandable considering Harper’s potential and the fact that he is still only 19 years old.  Ryan Zimmerman’s injury, alongside the continued absence of Mike Morse and the paltry contributions by those manning left field so far this season, have made Rizzo turn to Harper ahead of schedule, much to manager Davey Johnson’s obvious delight.

Harper hasn’t experienced much failure in his career so far and there is a slight risk that promoting him before he’s quite ready could backfire on the Nationals. Harper is by all accounts a very cocksure individual and that unshakeable confidence could be put to a harsh test if things don’t go according to plan while all the bright lights are shining squarely on him.

I wouldn’t be too concerned about it if I were a Nationals fan. Failure is a part of all sports, particularly at the highest level (just ask Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo after their crucial penalty kick misses this week). Every player has to find a way to cope with the disappointments and they will normally only gain that experience by going through some tough times and coming out the other side.

Maybe Harper still needs to work on some parts of his game, from a technical standpoint rather than mental, and it will be more difficult to do so at the Big League level.  Only time will tell on that score, but I’m inclined to believe that if he’s as talented and as committed to being the best as everyone says he is, he will make the adjustments necessary in due course.

That might not fit with the clear-cut story some were hoping for - a Roy of the Rovers dreamlike path to greatness or a calamitous fall from grace – but it’s the natural course he’s likely to follow and the end destination could well still be a place as one of the biggest stars in the game.

There’s no absolute guarantee that Harper will make his debut tonight, but after all the hoopla there’s a very good chance he will be in the starting lineup.  In any case, Stephen Strasburg is on the mound for Washington and Matt Kemp’s form so far suggests he’s intent on winning the MVP award he narrowly missed out on last year, so there are two compelling reasons to follow the game regardless.

First pitch in the Nationals-Dodgers game is set for 2.10 a.m., so you can either follow it live and then catch up on the sleep later, or MLB.TV subscribers can watch the game back at a more convenient time on Sunday morning.

Harper wasn’t the only top prospect called up to the Majors yesterday. The Angels announced that outfielder Mike Trout will be re-joining the Big League squad and he could be in the starting line-up against the Indians today in one of the six early contests.

18.05. LA Angels at Cleveland (Haren – Gomez)
18.05. Milwaukee at St. Louis (Estrada – Lohse)
18.10. Kansas City at Minnesota (Chen – Marquis) *ESPN America

21.05. Detroit at NY Yankees (Smyly – Garcia)
21.07. Seattle at Toronto (Millwood – Morrow)
21.10. Houston at Cincinnati (Harrell – Cueto)

All times are in BST.

The Cardinals used an eight-run third inning to blast past the Brewers 13-1 yesterday to give them an early season four-game lead at the top of the NL Central.  Meanwhile, Derek Jeter scooted home on a passed ball to give the Yankees a walk-off win against the Tigers, dealing Detroit their fifth straight loss.  Things aren’t going well for Jim Leyland’s team as their losing sequence has combined with Delmon Young getting himself in trouble off the field.  Today would be a good day for them to steady the ship with a victory and Freddy Garcia might be just the man to do it against, as he hasn’t pitched well for the Yankees so far this season.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  ESPN America is showing the Royals-Twins game from 18.00.  The full schedule for today’s games can be found on MLB.com.

Rainy Britain, but Mets Pony Team shines in Prague

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It was to be expected really.

The British baseball season was entering its second Sunday of full competition across all four leagues, while water companies had announced hosepipe bans in various regions around the British Isles.

It was always going to pour down; you didn’t need Michael Fish promising a heatwave to know what was coming our way.

Consequently, many games understandably fell foul of the weather with the persistent rain leaving fields unfit for play.  However, some games were able to be played here and the weather was kinder in Prague where the London Mets Pony Team were competing in the SUMA European Qualifier.

National Baseball League – GB Juniors joining in

One game was played in the National Baseball League.  The Southampton Mustangs lifted themselves above a .500 record with a 6-2 victory over Lakenheath Diamondbacks.  The two teams had split a double-header on Opening Day at Croydon and they were back at Dave Ward Field on Sunday.

The Mustangs took an early lead with two runs in the first inning and starting pitcher Gary Davison, alongside some impressive fielding, made sure that the Diamondbacks were never able to catch back up.  Davison picked up the pitching win for the Mustangs, conceding two runs with six strike-outs and only four hits allowed, with the Mustangs improving to 3-2 on the season.

The Southampton-Lakenheath game was one part of a new venture by the BBF. The day of baseball at Croydon involved two NBL teams meeting for one NBL game and then both playing a game against the GB Juniors.

The GB Juniors will face all of the NBL teams this season in preparation for their European Championship qualifier in France later this year. As you would expect, the Mustangs and Diamondbacks both came out on top over their youthful rivals, but Head Coach Will Lintern’s comments on the BBF website show that the young stars of Great Britain’s future will have benefitted from challenging themselves against a tough standard of competition.

Mets Pony Team does British baseball proud

The London Mets Pony Team represented British baseball in outstanding style in the Pony Group stage SUMA European Qualifier in Prague, making it all the way through to the semi-finals.

The Mets topped their group with a perfect 3-0 record, starting with a memorable 10-5 victory over the Israeli National team and then winning twice on Friday against Technika Brno of the Czech Republic and BC Vilnius of Lithuania respectively. A comprehensive 11-1 win over another Czech team, Hlubloka, set up a semi-final under lights against a German Academy All Star team. Sadly, that’s where the Mets’ dreams ended, yet their tournament play can only be seen as a great success.

Congratulations to all involved for showing the rest of Europe that we have some talented youngsters here in the U.K. Further details on the tournament can be found on the London Mets’ website.

Back around the leagues

The Liverpool Trojans won twice at home against the Menwith Hill Patriots to make it four wins from four in 2012 and to continue their residence at the top of the AAA-North standings.  The Essex Redbacks have matched the Trojans’ 4-0 start in the South after they picked up two wins against the London Metros.

Last year’s AA-Midlands champions MK Bucks got their division defence underway with an 8-5 win over the Maple Leafs; however the Bucks needed a five-run seventh inning to fend off a spirited display by Birmingham. Meanwhile the Leicester Blue Sox followed up their Opening Day victory over the Birmingham Maple Leafs with a 26-9 win over the Stourbridge Titans. The result was the perfect way for the Blue Sox to toast the official unveiling of their new Sport England-funded backstop structure at Western Park.

In the AA-South, BBF league newcomers the Latin Tigers and the Daws Hill Spitfires both got their first ever wins at the second time of asking. The Croydon Pirates III scored eleven runs in the final two innings to get past a depleted Herts Hawks team with a 19-9 win, while Southampton Mustangs II showed their debut Double-A victory on Opening Day was no fluke by winning 18-3 on the road against the Brentwood Stags.

In Single-A, the Essex Archers made it two wins on the spin to start the season with a comfortable 33-3 victory over the developing Richmond Dukes side. The Herts Raptors defeated the Essex Redbacks III 9-0, while the Herts Eagles just fell short in a dramatic high-scoring affair with the Guildford Mavericks II. Guildford took the win by a score of 22-19 to improve their season record to 2-0.

This weekend

British baseball will once again be at the mercy of the weather, putting an asterisk next to every potential fixture either due to rain on the day of the game or the diamond being rendered unplayable due to downpours this week.

No one will be keener for games to go ahead this weekend than the Essex Redbacks. Former Eurovision contestant and Laindon resident Josh Dubovie will officially open the Essex Redbacks Baseball Club’s new Pony and adult diamond at Forest Glade Football Club on Saturday 28 April.

According to the Redbacks’ press release:

Josh, who performed live to a television audience of tens of millions at the Song Contest in 2010, will sing and entertain the crowds before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Forest Glade Ponies’ first match against the Feltwell Redbacks – the newest team to join the Redbacks Baseball Club.

Josh will be presented with an Essex Redbacks playing shirt, alongside fellow VIP Kevin Blake, Basildon’s Councillor for Leisure and Arts.

Josh said: “I’m honoured to be invited to perform and throw out the first ever pitch on the Redbacks’ new diamond at Forest Glade Football Club. The Club has made great developments since it set up three years ago and I am looking forward to being involved in their continued progress.”

The matches at Forest Glade Football Club on Saturday 28 April are the first home competitive games of the season for the Redbacks junior section.

Fingers crossed that Essex, and many other clubs around the country, will be able to play ball this weekend.

BGB Fantasy League 2012 Week Three

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It’s time to look back at week three of the BaseballGB fantasy league.  Which teams are still off to a flier and did anyone benefit from Phil Humber’s perfect game?

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
The Cheddar Chasers 28 8 25 3 0.256 0.783 5 3 45 2 3.44 1.2 10
Ridge Bolts 25 5 24 1 0.254 0.754 1 4 37 3 5.03 1.59 2

We begin with the biggest winners of the week, Matt’s Chasers, who swept  the offensive categories to beat the Bolts 10-2, with Joyce and Stubbs doing  much of the damage. Romero won twice and posted nine Ks with Colby Lewis. Bell,  Marshall, Downs and Chapman took care of holds and saves for the Bolts, who  played better than the score would suggest.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Orpington Isotopes 22 3 15 5 0.225 0.629 1 1 33 1 6.49 1.62 2
stevenston angels 26 12 33 6 0.284 0.86 1 0 30 2 3.51 1.23 9

Another offensive sweep saw the Angels give my Isotopes a heavy defeat.  Mike Napoli had a five-homer week, single-handedly outproducing my collective slumping offense, while Cueto and the now injured Cliff Lee took ERA and WHIP.  Walden picked up the lone save of the matchup and Garza helped me salvage  strikeouts.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Boyd’s Base On Balls 22 4 18 6 0.259 0.717 4 4 35 1 3.13 1.34 3
Weston-Super-Sox 36 6 33 8 0.261 0.754 1 6 46 0 3.76 1.25 9

The third offensive sweep in a row saw the Sox defeated Margaret 9-3, with  Cuddyer, Jennings and De Aza the pick of the hitters. Henry Rodriguez, Guerra  and Hanrahan combined for six saves and Hanson struck out 11. Verlander, Vargas  and Crain helped Margaret’s team take wins, holds and ERA.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
SWAT* 34 8 30 9 0.265 0.736 2 3 30 2 3.97 1.38 7
tavira expats 27 8 24 3 0.257 0.733 5 0 54 1 1.81 0.94 4

SWAT took five out of six offensive categories to defeat Tavira 7-4, thanks  to the efforts of Beltran, Bourn, Encarnacion and Doumit. Tavira rebounded by  taking four pitching categories, and you have to tip your hat to their manager for the inspired choice of Philip Humber. His perfecto, unsurprisingly, saw the Expats take wins, ERA and WHIP.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Beck ‘Nams (GB) 22 4 21 4 0.218 0.616 5 4 43 0 2.3 1.07 4
Pretzel Vendors 22 6 24 3 0.257 0.771 1 1 44 2 2.33 1.04 7

The Vendors’ terrific form continues with a 7-4 win against Beck ‘Nams, with Kemp, Sabathai and King Felix the pick of their players. Beck ‘Nams had  speed from Aviles, Andrus and Cruz and Veras, Papelbon and Wandy Rodriguez helped take wins, saves and ERA in a matchup which was overall very well pitched.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
BD Yankees 23 5 24 4 0.269 0.769 3 4 38 2 3.06 1.3 5
Richie’s RBI’s 25 9 33 5 0.284 0.833 6 3 31 1 3.61 1.35 7

Guess what? Another offensive sweep. This time Richie’s RBIs benefitted in a tight 7-5 win against the Yankees. Granderson and Cespedes were hot hitters, while Weaver won twice. The Yankees took the five remaining pitching categories thanks to Strasburg, Valverde and Cordero.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
The Wright Stuff 24 4 15 1 0.234 0.639 2 1 35 3 6.38 1.39 6
YD33’s 20 3 18 3 0.264 0.784 1 0 34 0 5.45 1.32 6

A closely-fought matchup saw the Stuff and YD33s draw 6-6. The Stuff had nice weeks from Uggla and McCann with the bat and Peavy and Romo with the ball. Headley and Kennedy were the pic of YD33s’ players.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
NE Riverkings 16 4 25 4 0.241 0.652 5 1 50 3 1.69 0.97 6
Pontypridd Pirates 28 8 28 3 0.305 0.863 2 3 44 0 2.84 1.06 6

The Riverkings and Pirates finished all square as the nautical matchup featured a lot of great pitching. Five different pitchers won games for the Riverkings, with Haren and Worley each striking out 11. The Pirates had the better offense thanks to Hamilton and Morneau.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Bonestalkers 18 2 24 4 0.239 0.636 3 1 28 4 2.72 1.02 5
Chatham Anglers 24 3 18 4 0.3 0.751 4 1 24 2 4.05 1.35 5

There was nothing to separate Bonestalkers and the Anglers. Luebke and Beachy pitched excellently for Bonestalkers, while Jansen had three holds. Miguel Cabrera, Starlin Castro and Ethier had nice weeks with the bat and four different pitchers picked up wins.

R
HR
RBI
SB
AVG
OPS
W
SV
K
HLD
ERA
WHIP
Score
Iron Men 28 5 23 4 0.267 0.73 1 0 51 1 3.42 1.23 5
daebhid2 18 6 20 3 0.292 0.803 4 0 33 1 2.25 1.25 5

The final matchup also ended 5-5 as Iron Men took on daebhid2. Furcal, Victorino and Ortiz had nice weeks with the bat for Iron Men and Gallardo and Duffy racked up the strikeouts. Daebhid2 had offense from Teixeira and Michael Young and four different pitchers won games.

Here are the week four fixtures:
Vendors (1st) v Yankees (16th)
SWAT (2nd) v Anglers (4th)
Riverkings (3rd) v Sox (7th)
Beck ‘Nams (5th) v Isotopes (14th)
Chasers (6th) v Pirates (9th)
Daebhid2 (8th) v Base On Balls (19th)
Richie’s RBIs (10th) v Bonestalkers (11th)
YD33s (12th) v Iron Men (13th)
Angels (15th) v Bolts (20th)
Stuff (17th) v Expats (18th)

Scorecards in Action: Yankees-Red Sox 20 April 2012

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Friday 20 April 2012 marked the 100 year anniversary of the first game at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox naturally turned it into a big event, with plenty of former Boston greats on hand joining in the celebrations, and with the Yankees being in town for the first series between the two this season, it felt like a good time to get another blank scorecard out and to keep score of the game.

While I used a standard style scorecard and ‘fan’ scoring method, I opted for a different approach to normal by adding a dash of colour to create a brighter scorecard and one that would highlight the key moments in a more immediately way than normal.

Some scorers have a complicated system with an array of different coloured pens that produce a vivid multicolour scorecard. I kept things relatively simple by sticking to three standard Bic edition biros.

I used red to record outs, blue to record hits, walks and ‘normal’ advancement on the bases, and green to record errors, passed balls and wild pitches.

The one debate I had concerned what colour to use for walks. You can make an argument either way for a walk to be credited to a patient hitter or debited against an off-target pitcher. The fact that plate appearances ending in a walk don’t count as an at-bat made me consider leaning towards jotting them down in green, but in the end I opted to give the batter credit and to note them in blue, the same as a hit.  With that decision taken, I could get on with scoring the game.

[ilink url=”https://baseballgb.co.uk/wp-content/2012-04-20NyyBos.pdf” style=”download”]20 April 2012 – Yankees vs Red Sox Completed Scorecard[/ilink]

 

The completed scorecard, to my eye at least, really has the intended effect of making the key moments stand out whilst also showing trends through patches of red or blue, both vertically over the course of an inning and horizontally when looking at a batter’s day at the plate.  Add to that the brighter look that it gives to the completed scorecard and it makes me seriously consider using this more colourful method as my standard approach when keeping score of MLB games.

I noted in my last ‘keeping score’ article that the discipline involved in scoring a British baseball game in person is different to that of scoring an MLB game followed on TV or radio. That difference would probably make me want to get a decent amount of practice in before using this new colourful method for a British game.

If you’re using colours, typically that will mean using pens and their more permanent nature takes away the blessed safety-net that the pencil and eraser approach provides.

I made two notable mistakes along the way in this game.

The first came in the top of the second inning when Curtis Granderson hit a single that allowed Derek Jeter to go from first to third.  I quickly noted down Granderson’s single, but then made the mistake of breaking my flow by reaching down into my bag of Cadbury’s Mini Eggs (I’m sure you’ll appreciate that they are hard to resist!).  I drew my line from first to third base and then realised that I had wrongly put that on Granderson’s diamond rather than Jeter’s. Granderson was then put-out following a groundball hit to the shortstop by Alex Rodriguez and adding the red out alongside scribbling over the blue makes Granderson’s diamond look a little messy.

It was a similar scenario in the bottom of the sixth inning, although this time there were no Mini Eggs involved (I had scoffed the lot by that point). Kevin Youkilis was hit by a pitch with David Ortiz standing on first base.  I noted down the HBP in green and then swapped to the blue pen, which was enough to break my concentration and make me wrongly put Ortiz’s first-to-second advancement on to Youkilis’ diamond.  Again, Youkilis was subsequently put-out, this time on a double-play, leading to another slightly messy notation.

Still, two mistakes isn’t too bad and keeping concentration when updating more than one batter’s entry is a useful – if, admittedly, somewhat basic – lesson to learn from.

The game itself was a relatively straight forward 6-2 victory for the Yankees, unlike the violent pendulum swing that occurred in the game the next day.

The blue – and green in the case of the opening plate appearance – at the top of six of the seven innings that Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz started tells you a lot, as does the fact that three of those lead-off moments were home runs.  When you look at the Yankees’ fourth, fifth and sixth innings, it immediately jumps out that there’s plenty of red there, but the three ‘blue’ moments were all home runs.  Giving up solo homers isn’t the end of the world for a pitcher, but when you do it five times in a game while your offence is being kept fairly quiet, you’re going to be in trouble.

After the pre-game ceremony, it wasn’t a fun day for Buchholz and the Red Sox; however I thoroughly enjoyed the game, especially due to using this new colourful scoring method.

Twelve early MLB games this week

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There are twelve early MLB games this working week, including some bonus baseball on Monday.

The Giants and Mets were rained out on Sunday, so they will play a double-header on Monday with Tim Lincecum scheduled to make the start in the first game.

ESPN America will be showing the game at Miller Park on Wednesday between the Astros and Brewers, while it should be a good series in Arizona this week between the D-Backs and Phillies and the second game will be a day-game.

There are only eight MLB games in total on Thursday and five of them start between 17.05 and 18.10 BST. Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will be presenting the Angels-Rays game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra. It’s also scheduled to be the ‘Free Game of the Day’ on MLB.TV, so you can watch the game there and listen to Nat and Josh’s comments between innings on your Digital radio or on the BBC.co.uk website.

All times are in BST.

Monday 23 April

21.10. San Francisco at NY Mets (Lincecum – Batista)

Tuesday 24 April

No early games

Wednesday 25 April

17.35. Colorado at Pittsburgh (Nicasio – McDonald)
18.10. Houston at Milwaukee (Happ – Marcum) *ESPN America
19.20. St. Louis at Chicago Cubs (Lynn – Volstad)
20.35. Chicago White Sox at Oakland (Sale – Parker)
20.40. Philadelphia at Arizona (Hamels – Cahill)
23.35. Washington at San Diego (Zimmermann – Wieland)

Thursday 26 April

17.05. Kansas City at Cleveland (Mendoza – Jimenez)
17.35. San Francisco at Cincinnati (Vogelsong – Bailey)
18.05. Seattle at Detroit (Noesi – Porcello)
18.10. Miami at NY Mets (Nolasco – Niese)
18.10. LA Angels at Tampa Bay (Williams – Moore) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra, *MLB.TV Free Game of the Day

Friday 27 April

No early games

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The early games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above, while the full ESPN/ESPN America schedule can be found on their website.  BBC 5 Live Sports Extra can be found on digital radio, digital TV and on the BBC.co.uk website (coverage on the website is only available to UK residents). The complete schedule for this week’s MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

One from the Past: “Balks”

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Sports junkies are addicted to oddities, and a regular fix is offered by the abundance of individual incidents played out within North American organized baseball’s daily schedule, not to mention the global game. I count myself among the junkies’ number and, until half an hour ago, took pride in thinking that if there was a potential event that I had not seen with my own eyes, I had at least conceived of its possibility. But that was before I started browsing through some press cuttings for the Cobham Yankees in 1987.

On Sunday 10 May of that year, the Yankees played regional rivals the Sutton Braves in a league contest. The Yankees entered the seventh inning facing a 9-1 deficit but rallied for 8 runs in the frame to draw even. On an initial skim of the cutting I read the following:

The inning featured three base-hits by both Brad Thompson and Alan Smith, Cobham’s catcher and centrefielder.

There was my fix. An incredible occurrence. But then I did my sums and had a rapid come-down. For two players to get three hits in an inning, a minimum of 14 runs would need to score. Cursing the journalist who had been so cruelly inept, I re-read the words. And then I spotted something. My eyes had tricked me by vaulting a hyphen over a four-character gap. What the journalist actually wrote did add up; but, sadly, it was not going to get me my high:

The inning featured three-base hits by both Brad Thompson and Alan Smith, Cobham’s catcher and centrefielder.

Feeling a little ashamed, I meekly read on, but then suddenly realized why my eyes had been so prone to deception. The opening paragraph had promised an “ending so bizarre that nothing like it had been seen in the Southern League in years.” I had just been premature, I thought.

I read on. The Braves were not done yet: they rallied back to take a 12-9 lead into the bottom of the ninth. But the Yankees responded with 3 runs of their own and had runners on first and third with one out.

Was this it? A double comeback? It was probably very exciting to have been a part of, but 25 years on it was just not doing it for me. Again, I cursed the journalist. Again, I had erred.

So what was the bizarre ending then? Well, Cobham had Gene Hickman at bat, and Sutton decided to intentionally walk him, presumably to set up the force at home. As the journalist kindly explained for a readership who would, for the most part, have been unfamiliar with baseball’s finer points: “in order to walk Hickman, the Sutton pitcher had to pitch the ball outside the strike zone four times.”

Well he managed this once, but on the second pitch he “inexplicably halted his motion” and was adjudged to have balked. And this ended the game, as the winning run trotted home from third. A walk-off balk on a failed intentional base on balls attempt. Is there a stranger, or more embarrassing, way to end a game?

The Yankees also got the better of the Braves in the quarter-finals of that year’s national play-offs, on their way to securing a second championship in their record-setting run of three straight titles.

Following perfection

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The early games in MLB have a lot to live up to today after yesterday’s excitement and drama.

The two 21.05 BST first-pitch games were both memorable encounters.

Philip Humber pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox against the Seattle Mariners.

Humber had bounced around several organizations before White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams took a chance on him a year ago. He responded with a very respectable 2011 campaign at the back of the rotation, which would have been reward enough from a waiver-claim pick-up; however adding a perfecto to his White Sox resume makes it look like an insprired decision.

Humber’s perfect game reminded me of the previous one achieved in the American League by Dallas Braden.

With all due respect to them, neither would have been likely candidates to etch their names into baseball history with a perfecto as they are not dominating pitchers. One of the joys of baseball is that players like Humber and Braden can have exceptional days where all the stars align and they do something special.  While it’s always great to see star pitchers like Roy Halladay and Justin Verlander adding no-hitters to their glittering careers, it’s just as fun to see the journeymen types enjoy their day too.

Humber certainly enjoyed his Saturday; the Boston Red Sox certainly did not.

Despite knocking Yankees starter Freddy Garcia out of the game after only 1.2 innings and taking a 9-0 lead, the Red Sox somehow found a way to lose the game 15-9.  Boston’s bullpen, primarily Vicente Padilla and Alfredo Aceves (both conceding 5 earned runs), was torched by the Yankees’ batting lineup, leaving manager Bobby Valentine under increasing pressure only 14 games into the season.

The Win Probability Added game graph on the FanGraphs website shows just how incredible the comeback was from the Yankees, and just how devastating a collapse it was by the Red Sox.


Source: FanGraphs

Boston found their stride last year after a dismal first month; however looking back to 2011 for positive signs is not going to ease the worries of the Fenway faithful.  No game is a ‘must win’ so early in the baseball season, but Valentine will be desperate for his team to respond tonight as his former ESPN Sunday Night colleagues visit Fenway for the final game of the three-game series.

It was a great end to an otherwise disappointing day for the Yankees. Freddy Garcia hasn’t pitched well in his three starts and the Yanks received worrying news about off-season addition Michael Pineda, who will be heading to see a specialist after a further setback with his shoulder injury. Andy Pettitte did get some good work in as he continues his comeback from retirement and once again we’re all reminded that you can never have enough good pitching options.

Other notable things from the box scores perused on a lazy Sunday morning …

One part of the Yankees’ pitching depth that was traded away over the off-season was A.J. Burnett.  He struck out seven Cardinals over seven shut-out innings in his debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Burnett turns out to be a good addition for the Buccos.  Clearly he has had his struggles; however he does have good stuff and getting out of the pressure cooker of New York and the AL East division might offer the perfect opportunity to re-find it.

I didn’t watch the first game of the double-header between the Rangers and Tigers, but clearly the Rick Porcello that pitched so well against the Rays on 10 April didn’t show up yesterday.  Nine runs conceded (eight of them earned) in just one inning pitched is about as brutal a pitching line as a starting pitcher will get lumbered with.

Stephen Strasburg pitched six score-less innings against the Miami Marlins as Washington went on to win 3-2 in ten innings to improve their NL East-leading record to 12-4. Meanwhile the Phillies added Cliff Lee to their Disabled List yesterday after the starting pitcher suffered a strained oblique, while Roy Halladay walked four and was out-pitched by the Padres’ Cory Luebke as San Diego won 5-1 at Petco Park. There’s no need to worry about Halladay, but the Phillies’ NL East reign does look to be under threat this year.

Perhaps their biggest challengers will be the Atlanta Braves. They’ve won five straight and their much-vaunted back of the bullpen, which cracked under a heavy workload in September last season, looks to be on form.  Tommy Hanson went seven innings yesterday before turning the ball over to Jonny Venters with the Braves leading the D-Backs 3-2.  Venters struck out the side in the eighth and then gave the ball to Craig Kimbrel, who struck out the side in the ninth. You can’t shut the door in a more comprehensive fashion than that.

On to Sunday’s early games (all times in BST)

18.05. Texas at Detroit (Lewis – Smyly) *ESPN America
18.10. San Francisco at NY Mets (Lincecum – Gee)
18.35. Miami at Washington (Johnson – Gonzalez)
18.35. St. Louis at Pittsburgh (Lohse – Bedard)
18.40. Minnesota at Tampa Bay (Liriano – Niemann)
19.05. LA Dodgers at Houston (Billingsley – Rodriguez)
19.10. Toronto at Kansas City (Romero – Duffy)
19.10. Colorado at Milwaukee (Guthrie – Gallardo)
19.20. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Cueto – Wells)
20.35. Baltimore at LA Angels (Chen – Haren)
21.05. Cleveland at Oakland (Masterson – Ross) *ESPN America
21.05. Philadelphia at San Diego (Blanton – Bass)
21.10. Chicago White Sox at Seattle (Danks – Millwood)
21.10. Atlanta at Arizona (Delgado – Kennedy)

01.00 a.m. NY Yankees at Boston (Sabathia – Bard)

The pitching match-up between Josh Johnson and Gio Gonzalez catches the eye, while the Giants-Mets game looks intriguing due to the indifferent form shown so far by Tim Lincecum.  Will today be the day that he gets his season going, or will his relative struggles continue?

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  ESPN America is showing the Rangers-Tigers game from 18.00, followed by the Indians-A’s game from 21.00 and the Yankees-Red Sox game from 1 a.m..  The full schedule for today’s games can be found on MLB.com.

Six early games on Saturday

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There are six pre-midnight starts in MLB today, including a Stephen Strasburg appearance in Washington, the Rangers versus the Tigers and the second part of the first Yankees-Red Sox series of the season.

All times are in BST.

18.05. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs (Leake – Maholm)
18.05. Miami at Washington (Sanchez – Strasburg)
18.05. Texas at Detroit (Harrison – Porcello)
18.10. San Francisco at NY Mets (Vogelsong – Pelfrey) *ESPN America

21.05. NY Yankees at Boston (Garcia – Doubront) *ESPN America
21.05. Chicago White Sox at Seattle (Humber – Beavan)

Strasburg has started the season with a 2-0 record and a 1.42 ERA over his first three starts against the Cubs, Mets and Astros, striking out a batter per inning (19 in 19). The Marlins were shut-out by Ross Detwiler and the Nationals’ bullpen yesterday in a 2-0 defeat and it will only get harder for Miami against Washington’s ace on his own turf.

Most of the talk surrounding Strasburg is the prospect of him being shut down later in the season to limit the amount of innings he pitches.  Being careful with such a rare talent coming back from Tommy John surgery certainly makes sense, although it remains to be seen whether some sort of hard innings limit (160 has been mentioned, although Nationals GM Mike Rizzo has denied they currently have such a prescribed plan) and simply ending his season early rather than managing his workload over the year is the best way to go.

Elsewhere, the Rangers and Tigers were rained out yesterday so they will play a day-night double-header today. They were already scheduled to play an early game today and from a selfish point of view it’s a bit disappointing that both sides have opted to keep their starting pitchers pitching in the originally intended order.

We were going to have a Neftali Feliz-Justin Verlander match-up in the early game, but they will now play in the night-cap and yesterday’s scheduled starters Scott Harrison and Rick Porcello will pitch the early game. Both are good pitchers and have started the season well so it should still be a good game, particularly with the Rangers putting their seven-game winning streak on the line, but Feliz-Verlander potentially will be a stand-out contest. Maybe that’s one to forfeit some sleep for in the early hours of Sunday morning?

As for the Yankees-Red Sox game, yesterday New York gleefully rained on Boston’s parade marking the 100th year anniversary of the first game at Fenway Park. Clay Buchholz was launched for five home runs by the Yankees, so Boston’s starter today Felix Doubront will hope to do a better job of keeping the ball in the park today.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  ESPN America is showing the Giants-Mets game from 18.00, followed by the Yankees-Red Sox game.  The full schedule for today’s games can be found on MLB.com.