PREFACE TO LABOR DAY BASEBALL NOTES: I am Boston bound this morning as The Great Fenway Park Writers Series welcomes Senator Elizabeth Warren over dinner tomorrow night in the State Street Pavilion at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark. (Details, fenwayparkwriters.org) Why a politician? First, she’s written a book, “Fighting Chance”, and we are a “writers series”; secondly, we do not discriminate against politicians, of any party; and three, she is a United States Senator who represents the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I have never met the senator. I look forward to that tomorrow night. Notes is back Friday. Have a Great Labor Day – and remember The Workers of America, who make us strong and keep us free! LAA SWEPT OAKLAND AT THE BIG A, as they won 4-3 Thursday, 3-0 Friday, 2-0 Saturday, and 8-1 yesterday. The A’s, who trailed the Angels by one game after play on Wednesday night, now trail by five in the AL West, with 26 to play. 173,456 came to the parking lot that surrounds the Big A to watch what may prove the decisive series of the season for both clubs. Matt Shoemaker, the rookie, beat Scott Kazmir, the veteran. It was Shoemaker’s 14th win of ’14 against four losses. Mike Trout, baseball’s best, they say, hit his 31st HR of the year and is within three RBIs of 100. The kid is great, yes, but “the best”, can we wait awhile on that. The A’s have retreated north to the East Bay, where today they play Seattle. The Angels are oddly off today, but face the Houston at Minute Maid tomorrow night. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES, just ask Chris “Crush” Davis of the O’s. Last year he hit 42 doubles and 53 HRs, while driving in 138 runs. His BA was .288, OBP, .370, and SLG over the top, .634. This season he has 14 doubles and 24 HRs. His BA is .188, OBP, .292, and SLG, .399. L True, last year he played 160 games, and if he plays every game from today until season‘s end he will only reach 143 game’s played; but even if he goes on a great hitting streak, he won’t come close to his 2013 season. The why of it I have no clue; neither, apparently, does he or the O’s. Too bad. Davis has a reputation of being a fine person and you always want good people to succeed; except when they’re playing your team. BALTIMORE BEAT MINNEAPOLIS 12-8 AT CAMDEN YARDS, where, surprisingly, 37,905 turned out to watch the AL East leading O’s extend their margin over NYY, who lost to the Jays in Toronto, by nine games. J.J. Hardy, the O’s brilliant shortstop, hit a grand slam to help ease the win for Wei-Yin Chen, who now has 14 victories for this season. THE RED SOX WON AT TROPICANA IN TAMPA as the beat the Rays 3-0, as Clay Buchholz turned in his performance of the year, going nine innings, yielding but three hits, walking zero, and striking out six. Brock Holt, the Sox Big Surprise for ’14, played 2nd base for Dustin Pedroia. It isn’t just Holt’s versatility that amazes, it is that he plays infield and outfield with exceptional skills. THE MANAGED ASSETS DODGERS, whose owners stiffed their fans in one of the more egregious acts of greed in the game’s history, as in, we’ll take the billions but keep 70 percent of our fans in TV’s wilderness, finally beat the Padres, 7-1, at Petco. LAD lost to the Padres Friday and Saturday nights in extra innings, 3-2 and 2-1, before beating Eric Stults. The three games drew 111,923, including more than a few Dodger fans who can’t afford Chavez Ravine, but Petco is affordable and the Gaslamp surroundings beats the hell out of anything LAD can offer. The two teams split their last six games, with four being decided by one run. The Padres’ remarkable pitching makes them competitive with any team. If the can sign a legitimate HR threat this off-season, they will be right there in ’15. BEFORE FRIDAY NIGHT’S GAME, Larry Lucchino and I threw out the First Pitch, as the Padres recognized him for his brilliant leadership, with John Moores, in making Petco possible; while I was recognized for the work of The Committee of 2000, the independent citizens’ organization that supported the new downtown ballpark. The committee played a key role, comprised as it was, by some of San Diego’s finest citizens – but absent Moores and Lucchino, Petco never happened. Period. It was a lovely night, a happy occasion – and the ballpark, now in its 10th year, never looked more beautiful. NICK CAFARDO IN THE BOSTON GLOBE SUNDAY wrote that since 2010, the year he came up, Allen Craig – then with the Cardinals, now the Red Sox – leads the majors with a .363 average with runners in scoring position. Miguel Cabrera is second at .362, followed by Adrian Gonzalez (.356), Joey Votto (.342), Manny Machado (.338), Willie Bloomquist (.336), and Matt Carpenter (.333). That’s impressive. HEADLINE WRITERS CAN BE CLEVER, VERY, OR CRUEL. Take the headline in NY Times sports Sunday: On Granderson Bobblehead Night, the Mets Offense Does the Nodding Off True, Curtis Granderson is having a bad year, but he remains one of my favorite players, so I do not appreciate the headline. Curtis is a class act, and I think he made a mistake when he left Detroit for the Bronx, but my man Curtis will be back. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “But the truth of the matter, of course, is that baseball has hardly changed at all. The game on the field, though played now by young millionaires and watched, idly and imperfectly by millions of us in our living rooms, is almost exactly the same game that we learned as children, and that our fathers and grandfathers watched when they were children.” – Roger Angell
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 14:04:48 +0000
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