October 2006
Results of TV Booth Poll
The statement:
I’d most prefer in the World Series TV booth…
No. of voters:
45
Results:
Thom Brennaman 0
Joe Buck 8
Eric Byrnes 19
Luis Gonzalez 3
Tim McCarver 2
Jon Miller 5
Joe Morgan 3
Jose Mota 0
Lou Piniella 2
Suzyn Waldman 1
None of the Above 2
Apologies to fans of Joe Girardi. We didn’t know that Fox was going to give him a TV tryout until after we started the poll.
And on that note, DTLFL is taking a little offseason of its own. But we are leaving you a Barry Bonds poll, since he is no doubt the biggest name in this year’s Hot Stove League.
K.R.
Congratulations, St. Louis Cardinals!
You’ve won the 2006 World Series in 5 games. The final score tonight was 4-2.
David Ekstein was named Series MVP. Jeff Weaver was the winning pitcher.
I was at an informal FCC hearing in downtown Oakland, so I missed most of the game. It was 2-1 Tigers when I left work to go to the hearing. But now I read that Justin Verlander, the Tigers starter made an error in the fourth that cost the team two runs.
Jim Leyland had better make pitchers’ fielding a top priority for hurlers in Spring Training. But that’s a long ways away from now. It is now officially Hot Stove Season.
Again, congrats, St. Louis Cardinals!
K.R.
Hey, Tigers! There are 1-3s and then there are 1-3s!
With the team wearing Ye Olde Englishe D down 1-3 in the 2006 World Series, comparisons are being made to the last time the Tigers and the Cardinals met in the Fall Classic, 38 years ago, when Detroit was down 1-3 heading into Game 5. The Tigers came back to win that Championship then. But this Series is nothing like that one.
Tigers, the ’68 team did not give games away to the Cards via errors. You really should have won last night. Your hitting is lousy, but the Birds are not exactly tearing the cover off the ball, either. You are GIVING IT to them. Kenny Rogers, an excellent fielding pitcher, must be ready to commit serial murder (pun intended) of his mound brothers for setting a World Series record of 4 errors by pitchers. Should runs coming in after an error be considered earned when the pitcher makes the error? It doesn’t seem right that the pitcher’s ERA is protected in instances where he is the guy who throws the ball away.
Speaking of Kenny Rogers, if you don’t get to Game 6, he doesn’t get a chance to try breaking Christy Mathewson’s record for scoreless innings in a single post season. And if you don’t get to Game 6, Eric Byrnes doesn’t get a chance to ogle Jeannie Zelasko on Fox, something Ye Old American Byrnesblogger was looking forward to giggling at.
You beat the Yankees; you beat the A’s. C’mon Tigers, close the deal by beating the team that beat the Mets.
K.R.
I Didn’t Know Webb was a Long Name!
Some Voting Machines Chop Off Candidates’ Names
By Leef Smith
The Washington Post
Tuesday 24 October 2006
Computer glitch affects voters in 3 jurisdictions; error cannot be fixed by November 7.
U.S. Senate candidate James Webb’s last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.
Although the problem creates some voter confusion, it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly, election officials emphasized. The error shows up only on the summary page, where voters are asked to review their selections before hitting the button to cast their votes. Webb’s full name appears on the page where voters choose for whom to vote.
Election officials attribute the mistake to an increase in the type size on the ballot. Although the larger type is easier to read, it also unintentionally shortens the longer names on the summary page of the ballot.
Thus, Democratic candidate Webb will appear with his first name and nickname only – or "James H. ‘Jim’" – on summary pages in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville, the only jurisdictions in Virginia that use balloting machines manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin.
"We’re not happy about it," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said last night, adding that the campaign learned about the problem a week ago and has since been in touch with state election officials. "I don’t think it can be remedied by Election Day. Obviously, that’s a concern."
Every candidate on Alexandria’s summary page has been affected in some way by the glitch. Even if candidates’ full names appear, as is the case with Webb’s Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. George F. Allen, their party affiliations have been cut off.
Jean Jensen, secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections, who said yesterday she only recently became aware of the problem, pledged to have it fixed by the 2007 statewide elections.
"You better believe it," Jensen said. "If I have to personally get on a plane and bring Hart InterCivic people here myself, it’ll be corrected."
Absentee voters casting ballots in advance of the Nov. 7 election first noticed the problem. Election officials have been forced to post signs in voting booths and instruct poll workers to explain why some longer names appear cut-off.
Election officials in Alexandria said they have been vexed by the problem since they purchased the voting machines in 2003. Although the problem has raised eyebrows among confused voters, elections officials said they are confident that the trouble has not led voters to cast ballots incorrectly.
"This is not the kind of problem that has either shaken our confidence in the system overall or that of the vote," said Alexandria Registrar Tom Parkins. "There have been far worse problems around the country."
James T. "Jim" Hurysz, an independent candidate who’s running to unseat incumbent Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), sees it somewhat differently. His name has been shortened on the summary page to "James T. ‘Jim.’"
Moran is the one lucky James in Alexandria whose last name made the summary page, although without the "Jr."
"That situation is not acceptable," Hurysz said. "There’s enough voter confusion as it is."
Jensen said Hart InterCivic has created an upgrade for their firmware and recently applied for state certification to apply the fix. That process, she said, can be time-consuming because of security measures in place .
Hart InterCivic officials yesterday said they hoped to correct the problem by next fall.
________________________________________________________
This news has fans of Brandon Webb hoping that Hart InterCivic did not handle the balloting for the 2006 NL Cy Young Award.
K.R.
Hey, Tigers! Ya Gotta Believe (Me)!
You really don’t have to help the Cardinals. They’re good enough on their own, believe me. Especially when Chris Carpenter brings his "A" game like he did tonight, throwing 8 innings of 3-hit, 6-K, 0-BB, shutout ball.
You really don’t have to pitch to Albert Pujols with a guy on, like you did in the fourth. Especially not after the count goes to three balls anyway. I know you don’t want to look like chickens, but remember, discretion is the better part of valor. Foolhardy bravery insults the baseball gods and creates all sorts of bad karma. Just give the guy first base and since he’s not running well, figure you now have an extra way to get a double play.
And speaking of double plays, you don’t have to help the Cardinals by having your relief pitcher eschew the routine DP and try for a twin-killing that hasn’t been made in a World Series game since 1923. I know he’s very young and pitching in his first World Series game, but if he’s good enough to get there at that age, he should be good enough to know which base to throw to (accurately) on a comebacker.
And speaking of accurate throwing, you don’t have to help the Cardinals by having another reliever throw a wild pitch with the bases loaded.
Really. It’s just not necessary. Believe me.
Kéllia
What is the Sound of Gloved Hands Clapping?
Q: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers. What do these four most recent AL representatives in the World Series have in common?
A: They are all northern teams that play in open-air stadiums.
Addendum: The New York Mets, who almost made it to the 2006 World Series, are also a northern team that plays in an open-air stadium.
News item from a recent MLB.com article by Barry M. Bloom:
Next year the World Series shifts back to a Tuesday start for the first time in 23 years, which means it won’t begin until Oct. 23 and could extend as late as Oct. 31.
Are you thinking what we’re thinking? If there is a rain out (or a snow out) in a long World Series, a meaningful baseball game, perhaps the most meaningful baseball game of the year, could be played in NOVEMBER!
Up Next: John Madden and his amazing 6-legged turkey!
First March Madness ends in April, then they move the Super Bowl to February, now we may see baseball in November…and it won’t be the Arizona Fall League.
K.R.
Where Are Your Priorities, People?
Alas, the Eric Byrnes hair saga continues. He was supposed to be on KNBR in San Francisco co-hosting a show called "The Razor and Mr. T" from 3-7 today. Mr. T takes Mondays off. But then Eric cancelled, thinking he was cutting it too close with his flight. So he is expected to call in at 5:30. In the meantime time, Ralph Barbieri (the Razor) and substitute for the substitute Dave Fleming spent nearly 20 minutes ragging on Byrnesie’s hair, even taking phone calls. And they expect to ask him about it at 5:30. No, thanks, I’ll pass.
The World Series is tied at a game apiece, and there is a controversy over whether Kenny Rogers had pine tar on his hand in the first inning of yesterday’s game. Both Bay Area MLB teams are looking for new managers. The Oakland Raiders won yesterday. It may be the only game they win all season. The Monday Night Football Game–the Giants vs. the Cowboys–starts in just a few hours. Tiki Barber of the GIants is talking about retiring. Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers has been hit with a 4-game steroids suspension. And here we have 20 minutes, with phone calls, on Eric Byrnes’ hair!
Where are your priorities, people? Is there not enough going on in the world of sports that you have to occupy yourselves with this trivia?
The only thing good about this discussion, if it had to be had at all, is the fact that it concerns a man’s looks. Women have had to put up with men, and other women, thinking that their looks are more important than their ideas or their job competence since time immemorial. Welcome to our side of the room, Byrnesie!
I don’t know what the deal is with what appeared to be too much hair gel on ESPN. I didn’t like it because it didn’t look like the real Eric, whose hair is dry and fluffy/curly and great that way. It may have been his rebellion against having to wear a suit and tie to talk sports. I may be wrong about that. But that is what the "rat’s nest" said to me.
He had the dry, fluffy, curly and uncombed look while interviewing Barry Zito about the late Cory Lidle on Best ****, and on the one Fox pregame and two Fox postgame shows I have seen. And it’s great, because it looks real. It looks like Eric Byrnes. I’ve seen pictures of Byrnesie with short hair. He looks generic that way. And he’s not generic, on the field or on TV.
The bottom line is that people are uncomfortable with someone who doesn’t look or act like the others around him. We’ve all been conditioned to this, but we should not give into it. While it may be cause for casual razzing on a sports talk radio show, discomfort with difference is also the basis of every "ism" and phobia in the world. Racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, discriminations on the basis of religion or disability, etc. You look different. You don’t wear what we wear. Ergo you are not one of "us."
The issue, if there is one, should not be why Byrnes had too much gel in his hair, but why guys have to wear suits (and women, like Jeannie Zelasko, have to wear jewelry) to talk sports. But it’s not an issue I want to hear about for twenty minutes on a sports talk show.
Let’s talk sports, not fashion.
And this means you, those of you who are landing on this blog after Googling Eric Byrnes hair.
K.R.
The Gambler Remains a Sure Bet
Kenny Rogers extended his post season scoreless streak to 23 innings by pitching 8 innings of 2-hit ball as the Detroit Tigers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1, tying the World Series at one game apiece.
Rogers will start Game 6, if there is one, and needs 4 more innings to match the record of 27 scoreless innings in a single post season set in 1905 by Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants.
The game-winning hit was a first inning solo homer by Detroit left-fielder Craig Monroe.
The Cardinals’ one run came in the ninth inning off Tiger closer Todd Jones, who blew the shutout and then loaded the bases with two out. As Jones put the Tigers must-win victory in jeopardy by allowing a couple of hits, muffing a comebacker and hitting a batter, the TV cameras showed Kenny Rogers pacing the Detroit dugout like a nervous tiger. Jones ended the game by getting Yadier Molina to hit a grounder to the shortstop, who flipped to second for the force.
Until the ninth inning, the big drama of the game surrounded suspicions on what was on Kenny Rogers pitching hand. TV cameras caught a smudge on the base of his left thumb. Baseball Rule 8.02 calls for the ejection of any pitcher who has a foreign substance on his person or uniform. In 1981, Los Angeles Dodgers’ reliever Jay Howell was ejected from Game 3 of the NLCS and then suspended two games for having a foreign substance.
But the smudge was determined to be a mixture of dirt and rosin, which are legal, so Rogers was not ejected. Umpire supervisor Steve Palermo said that at the end of the first inning, home-plate umpire Alfonso Marquez asked Rogers to clean his hand. Rogers came out for the second inning with a clean hand and actually pitched better than he had in the first inning, when he gave up a single and a walk.
St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa refused to discuss the matter on TV when questioned about it during the game. And after the game he said that he did not want to say anything that would take away from the way Rogers pitched the entire outing.
Rogers’ opposite number, former Tiger Jeff Weaver, was not exactly chopped liver. He allowed three runs in the 5 innings he pitched, but he did not let the game get out of hand. The Tigers were only 1-8 with runners in scoring position. Detroit loaded the bases with none out in the fourth inning, courtesy of Weaver hitting Sean Casey, Brandon Inge singling, and Ramon Santiago reaching on an error by Albert Pujols. But then Weaver slammed the door. The Tigers scored no runs.
The Series resumes Tuesday in St. Louis. The Tigers’ Nate Robertson will face 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter of St. Louis. _______________________________
It proved too "warm" for the snow showers that earlier in the day had been considered a late- inning possibility. But with the wind blowing at 18 mph, the wind-chill factor was a near-freezing 33 degrees. That’s football weather. Detroit 2B Placido Polanco wore a close-fitting hood under his cap and batting helmet. It looked weird, but it made sense. Hard to thing about swinging at sliders or fielding grounders if you feel your ears are getting frostbitten.
A Reason to Root for the Tigers in 6: The MVP of a post season series typically comes from the winning team. Kenny Rogers has been so masterful throughout the 2006 post season that he deserves consideration for the WS MVP and if he can tie or break Christy Mathewson’s post season scoreless streak, he should get it. If Rogers is to pitch again, the Series has to go 6.
A Reason to Root for the Tigers or the Cardinals in 7: A return of the Series to Detroit brings Eric Byrnes back to the Fox analysis team. A 7-Game series will bring him back twice. Anyone who enjoys Byrnesie will want to see this happen.
K.R.
Pitching, Then and Now
The underdog St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers 7-2 in the first Game 1 in World Series history to feature two rookie starters. Cardinal pitcher Anthony Reyes, who was 5-8 in the regular season, became the starter with the fewest regular season victories to win a World Series game. The previous pitcher to hold that distinction was Howard Emke of the Philadelphia Athletics, who was 7-2 in 1929, when he won a Series game against the Chicago Cubs.
Reyes gave up a run on two hits in the first inning, Curtis Granderson getting the RBI with a single, but then the right-hander set down 17 Tigers in a row on the way to his four-hit victory.
The Tigers’ second run came on a homer by Craig Monroe off the first and last pitch Reyes threw in the 9th inning, his 90th in the game. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa immediately replaced Reyes with Braden Looper, who got the last three outs, though not before Scott Rolen’s throwing error allowed Carlos Guillen to reach first.
Rolen’s error was the fifth of the game. Cardinals’ right fielder Juan Encarnacion committed an error in the first inning. Neither Cardinal error resulted in Tiger runs.
Tiger starter Justin Verlander gave up a solo homer in the second inning to Scott Rolen. Then, in the third inning, with two out and the score 2-1 Cardinals, courtesy of a Chris Duncan RBI double driving in Yadier Molina, the Tigers elected to have their fireballing right-hander pitch to Albert Pujols, albeit carefully. It wasn’t carefully enough as the man many consider to be the best hitter in baseball today put a 1-0 Verlander pitch into the left field stands. Cardinals 4 – Tigers 1.
Three Tiger errors in the 6th inning opened the door for the Redbirds to add three runs. Tigers’ fireballer Justin Verlander walked Albert Pujols, then threw the ball away on a pick-off attempt, sending Pujols to third. Edmonds then singled to drive in Pujols, Scott Rolen hit a ground rule double, sending Edmonds to third, and Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland decided he had seen enough. Verlander gave way to reliever Jason Grilli. But the Cardinals scored two more runs when Brandon Inge committed two errors, interference and throwing, in handling Juan Encarnacion’s grounder to third.
Cardinals’ post season pinch hitter extraordinare So Taguchi got the start in left field. But he went only 1-4, a single, with no RBI and no runs.
The victory by the Cardinals was the first World Series win for the National League since 2003; the Cards were swept by the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and the Chicago White Sox took four straight from the Houston Astros in 2005.
The Tigers’ Kenny Rogers, who has yet to allow a run in 2006 post-season play, looks to even the Series against the Cardinals’, whose Game 2 starter will be Jeff Weaver.
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The current Cardinals-Tigers series has people looking back the 1968 Cardinals-Tigers meeting in the Fall Classic. A comparison of these two Series shows how pitching has changed.
Cardinals ace Bob Gibson, who was 22-9 in 1968 had a 1.12 ERA, threw 13 shutouts and pitched 304 innings! The Tigers’ Game 1 starter, Denny McMcLain, was 31-6 in 40 starts in 1968. No pitcher has won 30 games since. This year, in fact, no MLB pitcher won 20 games. Pitching 200 innings is uncommon. And how many starters today get decisions in 92.5% of their starts, as McLain did in ’68?
The Tigers won that series on the strength of Mickey Lolich’s three victories. Lolich pitched Game 7 on just two days’ rest. Detroit manager Mayo Smith originally wanted only 5 innings from Lolich. But then, after each inning, Smith asked Lolich if he could go one more. Lolich kept saying yes, and finished the game.
In the 9th inning of this year’s Game One, Anthony Reyes, leading 7-1, gave up a solo homer on his 90th pitch. He was immediately pulled for Braden Looper. We can’t imagine Lolich, or Gibson, or McLain, or Cardinals No. 2, Nellie Briles, ever coming out after only 90 pitches because they gave up a solo homer with a big lead. Pitchers back then were not as physically or psychologically fragile as they seem to be today.
K.R.
ARGH!
It was everything you could ask for from a Game 7, except one:
The team I was rooting for lost.
Those were some filthy, filthy breaking balls in the bottom of the ninth, Mr. Wainwright. You should be fined for pollution.
Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals for gutting this one out and away from home no less.
But I figure that either team coming out of this NLCS should be Tiger food and the tightness of this game only adds to that feeling.
In fact, this Game 7 and really the whole NLCS was so good, that the World Series feels anti-climatic. Sort of like it did in 2004 after the Red Sox came back on the Yankees.
Good thing they are not thinking of making the divisional series a best of seven. Playoff season is getting too long.
With Detroit in it, might we see snow before the Fall Classic is over?
One odd note about this Game 7. Billy Wagner was throwing hard in the bullpen but was left there. It was Aaron Heilman who gave up the gopher ball to Yadi Molina. With all the effort that was made to sell New York to the Wagners, with Wagner being one of the premier closers in the league and with him throwing hard in the bullpen, why didn’t he pitch the ninth? Sure, he’s blown saves before; he might have given up a homer also. But with the pennant on the line, aren’t you supposed to have your closer in the game? Especially since he’s supposed to be one of the best ones around?
Just a thought.
Kéllia "Armchair Manager" Ramares
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