MONDAY BASEBALL NOTES: FOR ALMOST THREE SEASONS HUSTON STREET WAS ASKED 84 TIMES TO SAVE GAMES FOR THE SAN DIEGO PADRES, 80 times he succeeded. But following his trade Friday to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Huston Street will no longer save games for San Diego. Of the Padres41 wins through Friday, Hutson Street had saved 24 of the teams total. No small matter, given that 14 times San Diego has been shutout, and 35 times they scored two or fewer runs. Inside baseball people may understand this, the trading of Street, but my guess is fans wont. No matter how it’s explained, many fans will think the team has written off 2014. If that is what many fans think, then perhaps the organization should consider a rebate to season tickets holders and lower gate prices at Petco. Is that likely? Doubtful, but if they did, it would be a brilliant PR stroke, helping establish a better fan/front office dynamic – and whatever dollars lost between now and seasons end would be recovered in seasons ahead. BENJAMIN HOFFMAN OF THE NEW YORK TIMES wrote in Saturdays paper that the Padres are on track to become the worst hitting team in baseball history. Ouch! I have no clue if Padre players read The Times – maybe Will Venable, a Princeton guy –but if they do and read Hoffman, that might explain why, that having been royally dissed, they hit three HRs Saturday night as they beat the Metropolitans of New York, 6-0. I was there and witnessed up close and personal this oh so rare occurrence. It was big time fun. I love HRs. Maybe Hoffman can be encouraged to write again about the Padres. ROOKIE JOSE ABREU OF THE WHITE SOX leads the major leagues in HRs, 29, RBIs, 73, and is second to the Brewers Jake Braun in slugging, .634 to .631. But as Nick Cafardo wrote in Sundays Boston Globe, Abreu is no normal rookie, as he is 27 and played pro ball in Cuba. Given that Abreu missed 15 days on the DL, his stats are all the more impressive. I do not believe, post the All-Star Game, there will be a let down by the Cuban slugger. KC CAME TO FENWAY FRIDAY AND DEPARTED SUNDAY AFTERNOON, having lost all three games to the Red Sox, 5-4, 2-1, and 6-0. Before Sundays game, Joe Castiglione, on the radio broadcast, noted KC and Boston have played one another 446 times and each had won 223 times. Amazing? Yes, amazing. But there are many amazing things about Americas Game. Now game 447 is in the books and the Sox lead the series, 224-223. Sox winning pitchers for the three at Fenway were Clay Buchholz, Friday; Ruby Da La Rosa; Saturday, and ace Jon Lester, Sunday; it was Lesters 10th win. Mike Napoli, who had been inept at bat before the break, came back to get four hits in seven ABs against the Royals, a significant uptick. The Soxs decision to bring back Stephen Drew, seriously questioned both inside and outside 4 Yawkey Way, was intense, as Drews hitting deteriorated, but his fielding remains what it was, brilliant as ever; including an amazing stop Sunday of a hard hit ball up the middle in the eight, that turned into a double play. Wizardry, pure and simple. THE RED SOX TV BROADCAST TEAM, DON ORSILLO AND JERRY REMY, was reunited in the NESN booth at Fenway yesterday, as Orsillo had been on vacation. That led Remy to ask Orsillo what he did while away? Orsillo told his broadcast partner he had gone to Florida to the beach, an aquarium, and a water slide. Orsillo at a water slide? Thats what he said, and added, Its amazing, the heavier you are the faster you go! Having seen the great Sox broadcaster around Fenway, I wondered, Don appears to be bulking up. Maybe hes lifting weights while away from the ballpark. Who knew it was in preparation for going faster down a water slide? TWENTY TIMES THE PADRES HAVE GONE INTO THE EIGHT INNING BEHIND A NO HITTER, and 20 times they have been denied. It happened again yesterday as Odrisamer Despiagne, the gentleman from Cuba, held the Mets hitless until, with two outs in that fateful 8th, Daniel Murphy lined a double to left center and that was that. The Mets then tied the game, 1-1, but SD won it in the bottom of the 9th, 2-1. The Padres had 11 hits, but left 11 runners on base. The Padres have now played 3,638 games since they debuted as a major league team in 1969. Their record at the close of play Sunday stands at 1,829 games won: 1,819 games lost (reports Chris Jenkins in the U-T San Diego). SHORT TAKES: THE YANKEES SWEPT THE REDS AT THE STADIUM IN THE BRONX, which is impressive, as NYY was thought to be in some difficulty, but three wins over a good Cincy team, changes the dynamic for New York. THE As BEAT THE Os IN OAKLAND, 10-2, and wont be series between the east and west division leaders, two games to one. Attendance for the series was 93,423; which is quite good for the town at the eastern terminus of the Bay Bridge, since Oakland’s a place where there is no there, there, famously opine Gertrude Stein. The As have baseballs best record, but are number 23rd in attendance. THE DODGERS BEAT THE CARDINALS IN ST. LOUIS and with the Giants losing to Miami, are one percentage point behind SF in the NL West; St. Louis and Milwaukee, are tied for the NL Central lead, and in the NL East, Atlanta is one point back of Washington. With 64 to play, the National League is no place for the faint of heart. QUOTE OF THE DAY: Hey, Bud, can the boys hit three more home runs today? – or words to that effect as spoken by 105 year old Agnes Scott, who threw out Sundays first pitch at Petco Park
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 16:18:47 +0000
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