Tag Archives: Baseball on the BBC

Sunday’s early MLB games: Braves-Mets on 5 Live

Mlb5XtraHlEarly Sunday evening baseball returns to BBC 5 Live Sports Extra today.  The Atlanta Braves attempt to complete a three-game series sweep over the New York Mets at Citi Field, with the BBC’s coverage beginning at 18.00 and the game scheduled to start ten minutes later.

The Braves-Mets game will be followed on 5 Live Sports Extra by more sporting action from New York, (well, more specifically from New Jersey) as the New England Patriots take on the New York Jets in the second week of the NFL. 

With plenty of other exciting MLB and NFL games taking place as well, it promises to be a great evening for North American sports fans in the UK.  Continue reading

Sunday’s MLB games: A later 5 Live show, plenty to enjoy earlier in the evening

MlbHlSqIt’s the first Sunday of the NFL season and while that’s a great thing for gridiron fans, it does have the unfortunate knock-on effect of bumping BBC 5 Live Sports Extra’s MLB coverage to half past midnight.

The good news is that the BBC’s NFL coverage is focusing on national games starting at 21.05 and the only reason that an MLB game isn’t on before it this week is the Rugby League play-off between Wigan and Leeds.  MLB coverage will return to a convenient hour next week with an 18.00 start.

St. Louis Cardinals @ Atlanta Braves

Until then, it’s a 00.30 show start time, with first pitch set for 01.05 a.m., as the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Atlanta Braves.  The Braves are back in a tie for first place with the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East after their rivals lost to the Mets yesterday and Atlanta won in dramatic fashion.

Mid-season recruit Alex Gonzalez hit a three-run home run in the twelfth inning as the Braves walked off 6-3 winners.  Tim Hudson pitches for Atlanta today and he matches up against the only pitcher he has ever hit a home run off.  Kyle Lohse will no doubt be reminded of the longball he gave up to his opposite number prior to today’s game, not least because it occurred on exactly the same date a year ago: 12 September.

The rest of the day’s games

There is a full schedule of games taking place before the Cardinals-Braves game and I’m sure the 5 Live team will round up all the action during the show.  If you’ve got access to any of the MLB.com subscriptions then you’re in for a treat this evening as there are a host of exciting encounters to follow.  Continue reading

BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: Texas Rangers v Minnesota Twins

UPDATE: 5 Live Sports Extra’s schedule has now changed

This evening’s game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra brings together two division leaders from the American League. 

Texas Rangers lead the AL West by eight games and appear primed for their first playoff appearance since 1999.  2010 has been a tumultuous year off the field for the Rangers, with a messy ownership change and manager Ron Washington being found to have taken cocaine.  However, far from being distractions, these events have brought the club together.

In contrast, things couldn’t have gone any better off the field for the Minnesota Twins this year.  All-Star catcher, reigning MVP and all-round Minnesotan hero Joe Mauer signed an eight-year contract extension over the offseason and the team finally opened a beautiful new outdoor ballpark, Target Field, replacing the much-maligned Metrodome.  The Twins lead the AL Central by 3.5 games ahead of the Chicago White Sox.

Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will be presenting the action from 7 p.m. (first pitch is scheduled for 7.10).  Not only can you listen in via DAB radio and digital TV, the show is now also available online for UK residents at the BBC.co.uk website. 

The series so far

Sometimes teams can take a while to find their feet at a new home and that was a slight concern for the Twins’ division-winning hopes heading into the season as the unique nature of the Metrodome had previously given them a significant home-field advantage.

Twins fans had nothing to worry about as their team is 44-23 at Target Field and the most recent two wins have come at the expense of the Rangers.  They edged the opener 4-3 on Friday night as emergency starter Matt Fox held Texas to two runs over 5.1 innings and Denard Span singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. 

The Twins followed up that success with a commanding 12-4 victory yesterday in a day game on FOX.  Jim Thome went deep twice, the first a mighty upper-deck blast to right-field, to match and then pass Mart McGwire for ninth on the all-time home run list with 584 round-trippers.  Carl Pavano pitched eight strong innings to earn his sixteenth win of the season.

Today’s starting pitchers

C.J. Wilson has been a revelation for the Rangers this season.  The former relief pitcher moved into the rotation at the start of the year and he has held onto his place in impressive style, going 14-5 in his twenty-seven starts with a 2.88 ERA. 

His one Achilles heel has been the base-on-balls as Wilson leads all AL pitchers in giving up 77 free passes; however he has counteracted this by leading the league in allowing the fewest hits per nine innings (6.67).

The Twins will turn to Nick Blackburn today as they go for the series sweep.  It’s been a difficult year for the right-hander as his ERA is a full two runs higher this season than in 2009 (6.04 compared with 4.03) and his struggles resulted in him being sent down to Triple-A at the end of July. 

He was called back up to the Big Leagues for a start against Texas on 23 August and although he took the loss, he didn’t pitch badly (three earned runs conceded over seven innings) and he followed that up with an excellent showing against the Mariners last Saturday.  Blackburn was used as an emergency reliever against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday and that didn’t go so well as he gave up the game-winning home run to Gerald Laird.  However, the Twins hope that his two most recent starts show that he has turned the corner and will carry forward that encouraging form today.

BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: New York Yankees v Chicago White Sox

Mlb5XtraHlThis evening’s game on BBC Radio sees us heading back to Chicago for the second straight week, this time to the South Side as the Chicago White Sox host the New York Yankees.  First pitch is scheduled for 19.05, with the BBC show beginning five minutes earlier.  You can listen in via DAB radio and Digital TV.

The legion of Yankee fans in the UK will be glad to have their team on the show for the first time after a late switch two weeks ago meant that their game against the Kansas City Royals couldn’t be broadcast. 

In contrast, this will be the White Sox’s third appearance on the BBC and their starring role has proved to be a lucky charm for them on the first two occasions against the Royals and the A’s.  With due respect to Kansas City and Oakland, tonight’s game will be Chicago’s strongest test so far of keeping their BBC winning run rolling.

The series so far

As us neutrals always hope for, the series is level heading into this game after the first two were split. 

The White Sox pounded A.J. Burnett on Friday night for nine runs in just 3.1 innings as Chicago opened the series with a 9-4 victory.  The runs continued to flow yesterday, but this time it was the Yankees who jumped on the starting pitcher, with John Danks being punted for eight earned runs in 4.1 innings.  The White Sox were able to bring around five runs against CC Sabathia over his seven innings of work, but he still walked away with his eighteenth win of the season.

Both teams are firmly in the playoff mix as the Yankees are level with the Rays at the top of the AL East on 79-50, while the White Sox are 4.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins.  However, the other similarity between the two is that both are battling with injuries at the worst possible time.

New York has Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte, Lance Berkman and Damaso Marte on the Disabled List and Mark Teixeira’s status is uncertain as he left yesterday’s game after the second inning due to an injury to his right thumb.  Meanwhile the White Sox’s bullpen was dealt a severe blow on Wednesday as both J.J. Putz and Matt Thornton were placed on the DL.

Today’s starting pitchers

With their two best relievers on the shelf, the White Sox need their starting pitchers to go deep into games more than ever over the next couple of weeks.  Gavin Floyd has that task today. 

This is his second appearance on the BBC and he performed well the first time, pitching seven strong innings to pick up a win against the A’s.  He’s had mixed results since then, not least with two disappointing appearances back-to-back against the Minnesota Twins.  Floyd got back on track last time out, conceding just two runs over seven innings against the Baltimore Orioles.

There’s some uncertainty over the Yankees’ starting pitcher.  It is scheduled to be the rookie Ivan Nova; however he is under investigation by MLB for allegedly injecting a teammate with a drug known as B-12, and receiving the same injection back.  B-12 is not a banned substance, but MLB wants to look into the matter and it’s possible that Nova could be pulled from his scheduled start as a result. 

Nova does still seem to be the man heading to the mound at time of writing and if that turns out to be the case then this will be only his second Major League start.  He made his starting debut on Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays, following two relief appearances, and it was a decent first effort (5.1 innings, two earned runs).  The scouting report on Nova prior to the season was that he looked like a potential back-of-the-rotation starter or middle reliever rather than an impact pitcher.  However, he went 12-3 with a 2.86 ERA in twenty three starts with the Yankees’ Triple-A team this season to earn his call up.

BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: Atlanta Braves v Chicago Cubs

Mlb5XtraHlThere should be no last minute changes to this week’s scheduled game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra.  The Test between England and Pakistan has finished and there will be no repeat of an Andy Murray final to switch to as he got knocked out of the Cincinnati Masters on Friday.

So Braves-Cubs it is scheduled to be and, subject to a rain-out, that’s what we’ll get to enjoy this evening.  Coverage starts at 19.00 with first pitch set for 19.20.  The show can be found on DAB radio and digital TV.

Nat Coombs is likely to present the show again alongside Josh Chetwynd, but Jonny Gould will no doubt be listening in and cheering on his Braves.  His favourite player, Chipper Jones, is sadly out for the season, but he does have another favourite to cheer for instead: Braves manager Bobby Cox. This is almost certainly going to be the final time Cox and Lou Pineilla manage against each other as both plan to retire at the end of the season.

The series so far

If this game, the third of a three-game series, follows the same pattern as the first two, we can expect the Cubs to take a lead and the Braves to mount an exciting late comeback.

Their comeback succeeded on Friday.  The Cubs led 3-2 heading into the top of the ninth, only for star closer Carlos Marmol to let the game slip from his grasp.  The Braves had the bases loaded, but were down to their last strike when Rick Ankiel laced a three-run triple to give his team a 5-3 lead that Billy Wagner held on to the bottom of the frame.

Cubs fans must have feared a repeat yesterday as they once again saw an early lead being whittled away.  Chicago scored five runs off the Braves’ starter Tommy Hanson and Tom Gorzelanny pitched seven innings of one-run ball to put the Cubs up 5-1 heading into the eighth inning.  Atlanta got another bases-loaded hit, this time a three-run double by Brooks Conrad, to make it 5-4.  However, Marmol quickly put his Friday failure behind him by shutting down the Braves in the ninth to level the series at 1-1 before today’s rubber game.

Today’s starting pitchers

The two starting pitchers today have had completely different journeys on their way to the Major Leagues.

The Braves selected Mike Minor with the seventh overall pick of the amateur draft last year.  He became the fourth 2009 first-round pitcher to make the Majors within less than a year of signing, joining the Reds’ Mike Leake and the Washington Nationals’ Drew Storen and Stephen Strasburg.  Minor is also the third first-rounder in a row out of Vanderbilt University to make the Majors in short measure, following in the paths of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ third baseman Pedro Alvarez (2nd overall in 2008) and the Tampa Bay Rays’ pitcher David Price (1st overall in 2007). 

Today will be Minor’s third Big League start.  The left-hander impressed in his first two appearances, going six innings each time against the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals, picking up his first Major League win last time out against the Nats.  Minor throws a low nineties fastball, a low eighties changeup and an effective curveball.

In contrast to Minor’s straight path to a Big League mound, the Cubs’ Randy Wells has taken a more unique route.

The Cubs selected Wells as a catcher in the 38th round of the 2002 draft.  He converted to being a full-time pitcher in 2004 and worked his way up to the Triple-A Iowa Cubs team, before being claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays in the December 2007 Rule 5 draft.  Wells pitched one Major League inning for the Blue Jays before being returned to the Cubs and having a strong debut season (12-10, 3.05 ERA) as a rotation regular at Wrigley last year.

Wells hasn’t quite lived up to that great form in 2010, coming into this game with a 5-11 record and a 4.44 ERA, but he has partly been a victim of the Cubs’ wider struggles (receiving two or less runs in support of his pitching in thirteen of his twenty-five starts).  Wells’ days of wearing the tools of ignorance look like being over and his fastball, slider, changeup combo should help him remain as a solid starter for years to come.

BBC 5 Live Sports Extra – Tonight’s game has changed

Mlb5XtraHlAs my preview earlier today stated, 5 Live Sports Extra was scheduled to bring us the Yankees-Royals game at 19.00.  However, the channel has now changed its schedule so that they can broadcast the Rogers Cup final between Andy Murray and Roger Federer.

Instead of Yankees-Royals at 19.00, it will now be the San Diego Padres versus the San Francisco Giants at 21.00 (subject to when the tennis finishes, I guees). 

Wade LeBlanc and Tim Lincecum will be on the mound as the top two teams in the National League West go head-to-head at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will be providing the coverage.  MLB.com’s game preview can be found here.

BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: New York Yankees v Kansas City Royals

MLBLogoUPDATE: So much for this preview! BBC has now changed the game to Padres-Giants at 21.00

The New York Yankees make their debut on BBC radio this evening as the current leaders of the American League East division take on the Kansas City Royals.

Coverage begins at 19.00 on DAB radio and Digital TV, with first pitch at Kauffman Stadium set for 19.10.

Fans of the major east coast teams have been a little disappointed so far that their sides have not been featured much on the BBC show.  That’s been a product of the scheduled start time, as east coast day-games generally begin at just gone 18.00 and the 19.00 start therefore means that teams from the mid-west have taken precedent. 

This is the first time since BBC’s coverage began that the Yankees have been on the road at a central team on a Sunday and it’s no surprise that they have immediately been chosen as the game of the week.

The Yankees lived up to their nickname as the Bronx Bombers yesterday as they slugged five home runs off the Royals’ pitching staff in an 8-3 victory. 

Three of those bombs can courtesy of Alex Rodriguez.  He went through a high-profile home run drought after he hit his 599th career long ball against the Royals on 22 July.  Like a batsman whose fluency deserts him as he enters the 90s, A-Rod understandably let the pressure of hitting number 600 get to him a bit.  Now that he has passed that mark, such thoughts are no longer clouding his mind and the Royals paid for it yesterday.  Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson also hit back-to-back jacks as Kauffman Stadium turned into souvenir city.

While the Yankees sit at the top of the AL East, two games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Kansas City Royals are having another season of struggles in the AL Central. 

The Royals haven’t made it back to the postseason since they won their only World Series in 1985 and they have only won more games than they’ve lost in a season once in the last fifteen years (83-79 in 2003).  There is now a glimmer of light at the end of this depressingly long tunnel as the Royals’ farm system, the young players within their Minor League organizations, is rated as one of the best, if not the best, of all the MLB teams.  The Big League team has also showed signs of improvement since former Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost took over from Trey Hillman thirty-five games into the season. 

Today’s game is the fourth and final game of the series, with the Yankees leading 2-1.

Today’s starters

New York Yankees starting pitcher A.J. Burnett throws a pitch in the third inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium in New York City on August 2, 2010.  UPI/John Angelillo Photo via Newscom

The Yankees’ A.J. Burnett  has struggled to go deep into games over the last couple of months.  For a front-line starter signed on a 5 year/$82.5m contract prior to the 2009 season, that’s not good enough and no one is more aware of that, or more frustrated by it, than Burnett himself.  He had a terrible June, losing all five of his starts, and has been inconsistent since then. There’s no doubt he still has the stuff to dominate and the Yankees need him to start pitching at his best down the stretch.  Burnett has a blazing fastball and a decent change-up, but his signature pitch is a ‘snap dragon’ curveball. 

July 28, 2010: Starting pitcher Brian Bannister  of the Kansas City Royals delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Royals’ Brian Bannister has a completely different approach to Burnett.  He’s not going to dominate many lineups and needs to use cunning and craft to get the better of his opponents. 

Bannister uses the traditional four-pitch arsenal of a fastball (in the high 80s), curve, slider and change-up and is best-known for being one of the keenest followers of advanced statistical analysis among active Major Leaguers. Bannister is 7-11 with a 5.95 ERA this season and has taken a loss in each of his last five outings.

MLB on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: Reds v Cubs

Mlb5XtraHlToday’s MLB game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra comes from Wrigley Field where the Chicago Cubs host the Cincinnati Reds.  Coverage is scheduled to begin at 19.00 with first pitch set for 19.20.  You can listen in either via DAB radio or digital TV.

The Reds go into the contest leading the National League Central by 1.5 games over the St. Louis Cardinals.  They’ve won the first two games of the series and will be aiming for the sweep this evening. 

Meanwhile the Cubs have long since waved goodbye to hopes of a postseason charge in manager Lou Piniella’s final season.  Regardless of their position in the standings, and their reluctance to help out their bitter rivals in St. Louis, the Cubs will still be going all out to avoid a third straight loss.  Continue reading

Web Pick of the Week: Josh Chetwynd’s ESPN America blog

Web-PickIt’s been great to have Josh Chetwynd back on the British airwaves of late thanks to BBC 5 Live Sports Extra’s MLB coverage.

Josh had a tough act to follow on Baseball on 5 all those years ago when he took over from the popular Todd Macklin.  He successfully filled those shoes by combining the experience of his playing career with a great sense of knowing how to pass on his knowledge to a broad audience that often ranged from complete newcomers to established fans.

Digital radio isn’t the only way you can find out Josh’s views on the game.  He writes a regular blog on the ESPN America website and it’s as considered and thought-provoking as you would expect.

BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: Oakland A’s at Chicago White Sox

Mlb5XtraHlToday’s MLB game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra is a clash from the American League as the Oakland A’s and Chicago White Sox finish up their three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field. 

Nat Coombs will be in the presenting chair once again, while Josh Chetwynd should be back after missing last week’s show due to the birth of his second child, Becca.  First pitch is set for 19.05 and the show begins at 19.00. 

The White Sox come into today’s game with just a half-game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central. 

Both teams are in good form, with the Twins having won seven straight and the White Sox putting together a five-game winning streak until that was snapped yesterday by the A’s.  In fact, the A’s victory was the first time in thirteen home games that the White Sox walked off the field without celebrating a win. 

Chicago’s General Manager Kenny Williams is known for pulling off big trades and he was expected to be active prior to last night’s non-waiver trade deadline.  While they did acquire starting pitcher Edwin Jackson on Friday, the long-rumoured deal to acquire slugger Adam Dunn didn’t take place and there’s perhaps a slight feeling of disappointment among White Sox fans that they were unable to add an extra bat to their roster.

The A’s had a very quiet trade deadline and that’s indicative of their current position.  Although they are in second place in the AL West, they are 8.5 games behind the Texas Rangers and few expect them to make a serious challenge for a playoff berth. 

Oakland have been hit hard by injuries yet again, the latest example being the $10m gamble on Ben Sheets finally unravelling this week as he heads for season-ending surgery, but they have a good group of young talent and affordable Major Leaguers.  General Manager Billy Beane believes that the current A’s will only improve next year and with a few key additions over the offseason, made possible by the large salaries of Sheets and Eric Chavez coming off the books, 2011 could see the A’s back in genuine contention for the first time since reaching the American League Championship Series in 2006.

Today’s game

The series is tied 1-1 heading into today’s game.  The White Sox took the series opener 6-1 with Lucas Harrell earning a win in his Major League debut, but the A’s fought back yesterday as Dallas Braden pitched a complete game in a 6-2 victory. 

Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez are the scheduled starters and both have been in excellent form of late. 

Floyd had a 7.00 ERA after his first eight starts, but he’s allowed only eighteen earned runs in his thirteen starts since then, resulting in a 1.90 ERA over that span.  Floyd is a righty with a typical starting pitcher arsenal at his disposal: a low nineties fastball topping out at 94 MPH, an 87 MPH slider, a good curve and an occasional change-up. 

Gonzalez is one of a number of impressive young starters that the A’s have amassed in recent years, either through draft picks or while trading away their best Major League talent.  He was actually acquired from the White Sox back in January 2008 in a trade for outfielder Nick Swisher and his trade history makes for interesting reading.  He was drafted by the White Sox in 2004, traded to the Phillies in a deal to acquire potential future Hall-of-Famer Jim Thome and then reacquired by the White Sox in a trade that sent Aaron Rowand to Philadelphia.  Gonzalez was one of two pitchers that the Phillies sent the White Sox’s way in that deal.  The other? His opponent today, Gavin Floyd.

Gonzalez made his Major League debut in 2008 and was inconsistent in 2009, but this season he is showing why the White Sox clearly thought so highly of him.  He can still be inconsistent at times and needs to reduce the number of walks he dishes out (4.2 per nine innings so far this season), but everything is going in the right direction as he gains more experience and develops his craft at the Big League level.  With a low nineties fastball, a decent changeup and an excellent sweeping curveball, he has the potential to develop into a very good Major League starter.

Unfortunately we’re not able to run a live blog this week, but we’re looking at doing one next week instead.  I will definitely be tuning in though.  Tonight’s show will be a meeting of two good teams and two in-form starters, with plenty of time to discuss all of the trade deadline moves as well.  It should be a great show, available on DAB radio and via digital TV.