Center Field Gate

One of the memorable baseball photographs of all time — perhaps the most memorable — is of Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk waving his arms, willing a fly ball fair during the sixth game of the Red Sox-Reds 1975 World Series. The date was October 21, 1975 and the Big Red Machine was leading the Bosox three games to two. With the Reds leading 6-3 in the eighth inning of the sixth game, Red Sox pinch hitter Bernie Carbo launched a fastball into the left field seats, tying the game at six apiece. And that’s the way it stayed until the 11th inning, when Joe Morgan nearly put the Reds on top with a long fly to right. But Morgan’s sure home run ended up in the glove of Dwight Evans, who made a spectacular catch to save the game — and the series. The Reds failed to score that inning and the next and on they went, into the bottom of the 12th.

Red Sox Diehard tells the rest of the story: “In the home half of the twelfth, Carlton Fisk led off. He stepped to the plate at 12:33 am, and hit the second pitch of the inning hight and deep to left field, but right down the line. If it stayed fair it was a sure home run, but would it stay fair? Fisk jumped up and down in front of home plate, wildly gesturing toward the ball, waving it fair. The ball smacked the foul pole. Home run. The Red Sox had won.” The Big Red Machine went on to take the series the next night, winning the series in seven nail biting games, but as “Diehard” reminds us, Fisk’s quip says it all: “the Red Sox won the series, three games to four.”

Fisk’s quip gets it right. Any diehard Red Sox fan (or any diehard baseball fan) will tell you that the 1975 World Series may well be the greatest ever played. And that’s true not because the Big Red Machine won, but because the Red Sox, in defeat, provided some of the most unforgettable post-season memories in major league history. There’s the aging but noble Luis Tiant, pitching his heart out, and Yaz battling for his ring — with an underrated outfield that ranks among baseball’s most surprising. Rose and Griffey and Morgan and Bench versus Yaz and Lynn and Evans and Petrocelli. But it is Fisk’s sixth game home run that remains the symbol of the series, as great a moment as Ruth’s “called shot,” Thomson’s “shot heard round the world” or Mazeroski’s 9th inning game-set-match home run of 1960.  

So when I was given the opportunity to meet Fisk — at a (get this) baseball card show in Pennsylvania — I took it. It’s not that I am a huge fan of the retired catcher: I remember him mostly as a backstop for the Comiskeys, to whom he was traded after a particularly ugly parting with the Red Sox (standard for them). But it was an opportunity, you see, and my wife (here she is, in case you’ve forgotten) is a Red Sox and Carlton Fisk fan. I fantasized my return home (triumphant!) with a bagful for me, but with “a little something” for her. So after me and “me droog” Dan (a lifelong Naps fan) navigated the D.C. to Philly highway puzzle — and after having strolled through dozens of baseball card exhibits — I bought a Carlton Fisk baseball card and handed it to him. “If my wife hadn’t married me,” I said, “I am sure she would have married you.” He laughed. “She must be a Red Sox fan,” he said.

It isn’t every day that you get to meet a hall of fame catcher — and baseball icon — so I took the opportunity to pose some questions, including the one I’m certain Fisk has been asked countless times. Do you consider yourself a Red Sox player or a White Sox player? He smiled and gave the recitation — and for all I know he’d said this so many times there was a string coming out of his back that anyone could pull to hear the same thing. But he was polite: “Oh, I consider myself a Red Sox,” he said. “Sure, I had some problems with the Red Sox in my career and that’s the reason I went to Chicago, but I think I played my best years in Boston. We weren’t any good in Chicago, but we won in Boston.”

He scribbled his name on the baseball card and looked up and stuck out his hand for me to shake and continued: “And I grew up in New Hampshire and the Red Sox were always my favorite team, and kind of my home town team.” I said that I’d seen him play in Chicago, a long time ago. “You remember,” I said. “One year they wore shorts.” He waved: “Oh God, not me. That was the year after I left.” I thanked him for the autograph and walked away, past the next table — where Johnny Bench, his 1975 nemesis was seated, chatting with a fan. I didn’t pay much attention.

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Washington Nationals — with the team’s bats silenced by Padres’ pitching, at least the Nats could count on their starters to put in six or maybe even seven innings of solid work. That was particularly true for John Lannan, perhaps the club’s steadiest starter. That’s not true now. The normally predictable lefty was anything but predictable on Wednesday, as Lannan struggled through a difficult fifth inning, allowing the Friars to score five runs to extend the Nationals’ losing streak to an embarrassing six games. That makes two sweeps in a row: one in St Louis and one in San Diego — with the Nationals now without a win since the series against the Chicago Cubs. The Nats seem to have slipped back to some their worst habits under Manny Acta: of scoring little and pitching poorly — but at least playing with fire.

If Willie catches that ball . . .

While hard luck lefty John Lannan pitched well, though not brilliantly, the Padres found ways to score: in the fifth, Everth Cabrera and David Eckstein hit seeing eye singles before all-star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez hit a line drive that tailed away from left-fielder Wille Harris. The ball landed just out of his reach, scoring two runs. Chase Headley’s two-run double later in the half-inning added to San Diego’s lead, and that was essentially the game. In the clubhouse afterwards, Nationals interim manager Jim Riggleman remained upbeat: ”[Lannan] was a lot better than the line scores are going to say,” Riggleman said. “If Willie catches that ball, and I know it was a tough play, if we catch that ball, we’ve got a bunch of zeroes on the board and it doesn’t get us into trouble right there. You look for effort, and we got a good effort.” Lannan was also philosophical: ”That’s the way the game goes,” he said. “It has happened to me before. You’ve just got to tip your hat, they made things happen in the fifth. I battled today, I felt pretty good.”

Down On Half Street: Former Philadelphia Phillies All Star shortstop and Chicago Cubs manager (and now Trolleyman third base coach) Larry Bowa was in his element today on the MLB satellite radio network — he was in front of a microphone being asked his opinion. This isn’t the first time. Bowa has been here before and is now counted on as somewhat of a regular. Bowa can be obnoxious, which is why he’s no longer managing, but he’s mostly right about almost everything having to do with baseball. And he was again today. It was a fascinating interview and former Angels skipper and now XM Radio “Home Plate” on-air personality Kevin Kennedy did what he was supposed to do: he fed him softballs that Bowa dutifully lofted into the stands.

The American League is “far and away” the better league, Bowa said, and added that the A.L. East is packed with talent. He added that the difference between the two leagues is not even that close. (See, what did I tell you — this guy is obviously a moron.) Bowa then said that he thought that Manny Ramirez was overswinging in the wake of his suspension, to show that he could put the ball out of the ballpark without steroids, but that his swing would soon return to normal. “He’ll be okay,” Bowa said. That makes sense (and it’s what any L.A. cabbie could have told us). Bowa also said that it was the plan of the Dodgers to keep James Loney at first and play new-guy-in-L.A. Jim Thome off the bench: to keep a lefthanded bat ready for the post-season (another safe prediction). My own sense is that L.A. is haunted by the spectre of Matt Stairs, whose post-season home run last year so buckled the Trolley’s knees that they will not allow it to happen again. Hence — Thome!

But by far the most interesting and insightful comment — and least from a purely baseball perspective — was Bowa’s analysis of L.A.’s reason for acquiring the much-traveled Jon Garland, lately of Arizona. Garland is not simply a steady pitcher who can be another starting arm in the run-up to the post-season, he said, “he’s a very steady ground ball pitcher.” Bowa said that if you check Garland’s stats you’ll see that he pitches mostly down in the zone “and to contact” — as he did throughout his career with the White Sox, Angels and most recently the Diamondbacks. “So you have to have good fielders behind him, which he didn’t have in Arizona.” That’s not true with the Dodgers.

With the Dodgers, “who are either one or two in defense, I can’t remember which” (Bowa added) Garland can pitch to contact and get people out in a way that he couldn’t in Arizona. Los Angeles can put a defense behind Garland that will make him a better pitcher than he ever was in Arizona — and maybe even take half-a-run off his ERA. That would make Garland’s current ERA of 4.29 in Arizona somewhere in the under 3.50 range in L.A. “Which is darn good” by National League standards. That’s not bad statistical thinking for a shlameel like Bowa, who regularly harumphs about Bill James and sabarmetrics with his buddy-buds on the radio: “Bill James, you know, the guy who invented Sabermetrics,” radio guy Dan Patrick once reminded Bowa during an interview. Bowa turned up his nose. “What team did he play for?” Bowa whined. “This guy Bill James has all the answers, but he’s never worn a uniform.” Yeah, that’s right Larry. And neither did L.A. General Manager Ned Colletti – the guy who pulled the trigger on the Garland trade.

Now pitching ground balls in L.A.: Jon Garland

J.D. Martin pitched six solid innings, giving up just five hits and two earned runs, but the Nationals dropped their fifth game in a row as the Padres defeated them at the dog bowl in San Diego 4-1. Martin had the game well in hand until the top of the seventh, when pinch hitter Oscar Salazar put a Martin offering into Petco’s left field stands, sealing the victory. With the Anacostia Nine’s bats asleep, four runs were all that starter Clayton Richard needed to wrap up the victory. The Nats’ lone run came off the bat of Josh Bard, who homered in the seventh. The Padres played tough defense against the Nationals, especially in the outfield, where two line drives that might have been hits by Nats players were snagged on near-spectacular plays. Interim manager Jim Riggleman admitted that the Nats needed to find a way to start hitting. “We’re either hitting, or we’re not, and right now, we’re not hitting,” he said. ”You’ve got to find another way to win a ballgame. Part of it is that they played really well. They made plays all over the field again tonight. They robbed our guys of hits all night and stopped rallies.”

The Chicago Fire: Emerging Friars’ ace Clayton Richard took the win over the Nats on Tuesday, throwing 6.2 innings of four hit ball. His win was not a masterpiece, by any means, but part of a steady progression that has won him a regular place in a starting rotation for a team that is not that far away from featuring one of baseball’s better young staffs. Richard walked two and struck out six and is now 8-4 on the season. The tall (6-5) lefty is a former White Sox eighth round draft choice in 2005 who moved up through the Sox system. A midwesterner, Richard came to the Pale Hose out of the University of Michigan, where he played football and baseball. He expected to be a part of the White Sox for many years to come. But all of that changed at the trade deadline, when Richard was shipped to San Diego for Padres ace Jake Peavy. Richard isn’t the only young hurler the Sox gave up in the hopes of getting better. The second part of the Peavy deal was Aaron Poreda, a fireballing lefty and strikeout artist that will probably be featured, at least initially, in the Padres bullpen. Along with Dexter Carter and Adam Russell (four pitchers in all) the Sox banked a lot on Peavy. Maybe too much.

But all of this is old news. The new news is that the White Sox made the trade in the belief that Peavy would not only help them next year, and the next, but that he could be a factor in the stretch run for this season. That hasn’t exactly worked out. Peavy’s ankle is apparently healed, but not his elbow, and no one is quite sure when he’ll be back. He seems bit somehow by bad luck, or an injury bug — or something: in a rehab start before returning to Chicago, he was hit by a scroched line-drive through the box and left the game. When will he return? Will he return? Who knows.

So with the Pale Hose fading in their division, White Sox G.M. Kenny Williams decided enough is enough — and just before midnight on Monday he dumped salary and players, waving the white flag in Chicago: Jim Thome went to the Dodgers, Jose Contreras to the Rockies. While he can’t do much else this year, it’s not likely that “Crazy” Kenny is done shaking things up in the Windy City: the talk in Chicago is that Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski will be gone soon after the end of the season and that super prospect Tyler Flowers (called up after the Thome trade) will be given every opportunity to win the catching job. Konerko and Pierzynski won’t be the only ones headed out of town. Anyone need an aging hitter? Jermaine Dye (who was rumored to be headed to the Giants at the end of August) is available. 

The Chicago Fire was occasioned by “the road trip of death” as some Chicago blogs are calling it, a breathtaking end-of-August 1-7 death spiral that saw the Pale Hose drop out of contention in a baseball division called — get this — the A.L. Central. The best analysis came from South Six Sox: “With the Sox sinking out of the race, facing a September of disappointing turnstile numbers, and little to no hope of the significant influx of cash a playoff appearance provides, Kenny Williams’ hand was forced. Well maybe not forced, but certainly coerced.” Sox Machine, meanwhile, headlined the moves with the description: “Go West, Old Men” — a sign perhaps of just how alienated the Sox faithful have become. Oddly, Clayton Richard’s performance against the Nats puts an exclamation point to the White Sox latest moves. There’s no question — and absolutely no doubt — that Jake Peavy is a master and one of the best pitchers in baseball. But let’s be blunt. Maybe the problem isn’t Thome and Contreras, maybe the problem is Kenny Williams. After all, wouldn’t Sox fans rather have Clayton Richard on the mound in Chicago than Jake Peavy rehabbing somewhere in Alabama?

The St. Louis Cardinals dominated the Washington Nationals in a rain-shortened contest at Nationals Park. The six inning 4-1 loss snapped the Nats’ two game winning streak in a game that was postponed on May 3. Collin Balester, pitching for the injured Jordan Zimmermann (placed on the 15 day disabled list for precautionary reasons), lasted just three innings before being relieved by a surprisingly ineffective Tyler Clippard. Clippard, who had pitched well in three previous relief appearances, gave up three hits and walked two in two innings, before giving way to Ron Villone. Surprisingly, the Nats outhit the Cardinals, 8-6, but were only able to account for one run before the game was called. The game will go into the books as a six inning St. Louis win. The game was delayed twice, for two hours and forty-six minutes, before being ended. Redbirds’ starter Adam Wainwright posted his eleventh win against six losses.

Rained Out At Nats Park (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

More On Buehrle’s Masterpiece: MLB Network commentators parsed White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle’s perfect game, estimating that he faced twenty-seven Tampa Bay Rays’ batters in 32 minutes in a game that lasted a total of two hours and three minutes. That means that the Rays were on the field nearly three times as long as the Pale Hose. Buehrle is among the league’s fastest workers on the mound. In Thursday’s game he threw first pitch strikes nearly 70 percent of the time. Normally a flyball pitcher, Buehrle mixed his fastball with his change-up, registering eleven groundouts and ten flyouts. He threw 116 pitches, 76 of them for strikes and faced nine batters, each of them three times. The lefthanded Buehrle was particularly effective in spotting his pitches on the outside half of the plate. The Elias Sports Bureau reports that Buehrle spent less than thirty seconds in retiring eight batters that he faced and spent just two minutes and thirty seconds on only two batters that he faced. Put another way, Buehrle dominated a hot Tampa Bay Rays team that ranks third in the American League in batting average and runs. Almost forgotten in Buehrle’s performance was the fact that the White Sox won, with John Fields plating a grand slam.

“I never thought I’d throw a no-hitter, never thought I’d throw a perfect game and I never thought I’d hit a home run,” Buehrle said. “Never say never in this game because crazy stuff can happen.” Buehrle threw his first no hitter against the Texas Rangers in 2007 and hit a home run against the Brewers in June. Buehrle’s first no hitter against the Rangers was nearly a perfect game: in April of 2007 he pitched to 27 Rangers, but walked Sammy Sosa, whom he then picked off. “I can’t believe I did it,” Buehrle said at the time. “Perfect game would have been nice, too.” Oddly, the 2007 Texas game registered the same game time as the perfect game Buehrle pitched on Thursday — two hours and three minutes. But Thursday’s perfecto would not have registered as “perfect” (or even a no hitter or shutout) if it had not been for Dewayne Wise’s ninth inning over-the-fence grab of a  Gabe Kapler drive. Randy Johnson, then with the Arizona Diamondbacks, pitched the last MLB perfect game, on May 18 2004.

There has been one other perfect game thrown by a White Sox pitcher. On April 30, 1922, slow curveball specialist Charlie Robertson blanked the Detroit Tigers, 2-1, in Detroit. Robertson was the fifth major league pitcher to throw a perfect game and the first to throw one on the road. The Tigers complained to umpires that Robertson, an otherwise ineffective pitcher (he never won more games than he lost) doctored the ball while on the mound. Tiger players insisted on submitting several game balls to the major league front office after Robertson’s masterpiece, claiming they showed evidence of tampering — but the charges were never proved. The Tigers, like the Rays, had a powerful line-up, which included Ty Cobb and Harry Heilman (an outfielder-first baseman and lifetime .342 hitter). Robertson pitched his perfect game in Tiger Stadium (then Navin Field) before it was enclosed by outfield bleachers, with fans along the outfield grass roped off from the field of play. This led to a number of disputed calls, which went in Robertson’s favor. Robertson’s arm was never the same after he threw his perfect game, though he went on to pitch another seven years in the majors. Robertson died in his native Texas at the age of 88.

Pale Hose fireballer Mark Buehrle pitched major league baseball’s eighteenth perfect game this afternoon, beating the heavy hitting Tampa Bay Rays 5-0. Buehrle pitched a flyball masterpiece.

When I was a kid I spent an inordinate amount of time each Spring assessing the relative worth of each team and its players and making predictions for the coming summer. It was easier then: there were only eight teams in each league — and only one league really mattered. Even so, my predictions were uncannily the same, year after year. This team always finished first. Now that I’m older (and here, by the way, is what I look like) …

… anyway, now that I’m older I’m more mature in my picks. That is to say, no matter what, I always pick these guys last. Why? Because after I assess VORP values and OBPs, and walks per inning, I come down to the same thing: I hate ‘em. And I mean, I really hate em. But it’s a mature hate: if it weren’t for this showboat I’d probably think the Arizona Assholes (and so, they will always be) are just alright.

Which is to say (as I told me droogs last week when we had our first organizational meeting — er, well, as I forgot to tell them), we should all take some time to make our predictions and then (because it’s really fun) see how we do at the end of the year. But we’ve decided to add a wrinkle. This year in addition to me and me droogs making predictions, we’re going to add another wholly fictional picker (we’ll call him Ernie, after this guy) who will make predictions at random — from a hat. And we’ll see who’s better: the three of us brilliant analysts, or Joe Shit the Ragman.

So I’ll start with the junior circuit, because it’s the junior circuit: it’s not really baseball over there (they have the DH), one of its franchises is call the Texas Rangers (I mean, who really gives a damn) and it doesn’t have your Washington Nationals as one of its premier teams. Now, you can follow along at home and make your own predictions, and because we have a comment box here, you can write in to tell me just how full of beans I am. Oh, and in case you think there’s no accountability here, you should know that there’s a column beside each team that gives the reason “why” the prediction was made as is — ooooohhhhhh.

So, as a bow to Igor hisself, here’s my annual Rite of Spring, for the American League:

American League West

[TABLE=1]

[TABLE=3]

American League Central

[TABLE=4]

American League East

[TABLE=5]

My sage comments?

This is pretty simple: the premier league in baseball is no more. After Boston, the Angels, Indians and Tigers, the rest of the league is either in a free-fall (like the White Sox) rebuilding (like the Royals), or still two pitchers away from contending (like Tampa Bay). The Mariners may squeeze into the top tier, but not by much — and they’re an injury (to this guy) from last place. That said, the Cleveland Indians are still the class of the league, if they can get over their PTSD from last year’s playoff collapse to the Red Sox. I just don’t see how anyone gets pass “C.C.” and Carmona — and then there’s Westbrook and a strong bullpen. I know, I know: Manny and Dave and Jacoby and that unbelievable line-up. Yeah, you’re right. You’re absolutely right. The Red Sox are a fricking hitting machine. But they’d better be, because their rotation is a mess. It’s Beckett and Dice-K and a prayer — and Beckett’s not healthy. And even with Dice-K it’s a prayer.

So, knowing this — why didn’t the Indians improve over the winter. Here’s my answer: they didn’t need to. If it weren’t for Vlad, the best player in the junior circuit might be Grady Sizemore, who could hit 40 home runs, easy. And Travis Hafner is no Jacoby Ellsbury: he’s better. A lot better. Hell, Travis hit 24 dingers last year and everyone was disappointed in his “off year.” Yeah? Trade him to the Nats. We’ll give ya Ryan Langerhans and a player to be named.

What about the Tigers? Well, what about them? Dontrelle can’t hit the strike zone, Ordonez has seen his best years, Bonderman is jittery, and Leland is a walk-with-the-bases-loaded away from a stroke. I love Polanco, the great untold story of the team, but he’s not a Jimmy Rollins and once you get past him and Granderson and a 280 pound (headed to about 340) very rich Miguel Cabrera you have a second place team. Even with Verlander. Hmmm. Still (granted) who wouldn’t want to have a second place team with the likes of these guys? As for the Yanks: these are not your Granddaddy’s Yanks, hell they’re not even your daddy’s Yanks. So that’s it: Vlad is the MVP, Gil Meche wins the Cy Young, and this time the Indians go to the Series — after sweeping the Red Sox.