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Armadillo: Sunday's six-pack
Thanks to retrosheet.org, I found the boxscore from the first major league game I went to in person: Cardinals 10, Mets 8-- August 6, 1966
-- Mets were in their 5th year of existence, on their way to a 66-95 season; I was six years old. Cardinals were 83-79 that year, won World Series the next year. The first thing I thought of was how big and bright the field was when I first saw it.
-- Cardinals led 5-0 in 3rd inning, but Mets scored five in third, three in fourth to take an 8-5 lead, but their bullpen disintegrated, allowing runs in last four innings.
-- Tim McCarver batted second for St Louis; Tito Francona (Terry's father) hit third. Francona-Orlando Cepeda-Dal Maxvill all wound up playing for the A's before they retired, Cepeda/Francona as DHs in the early 70's.
-- Light-hitting Maxvill got the hit in 1972 that clinched the AL West for the A's.
-- Julian Javier played 2B for St Louis; his son Stan was on the '89 A's team that won the World Series over the Giants.
-- Mike Shannon hit a homer for St Louis that day; 33 years later, I was in his bar in St Louis after the Rams won the NFC championship. He was there, clearing bottles off some of the tables, chatting up the customers. Pretty cool.
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Armadillo: Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Saturday.......
13) One of many reasons baseball is tremendous are extra inning games that take on a life of their own; it is 3:22am as I type this- Red Sox-Angels are in the 18th inning, in a game where Boston didn't get a hit until the 7th inning. Rookie catcher Vazquez has caught the whole game for the Red Sox, 257 pitches worth.
Now, on with the already-written notes for today...........
12) Washington-Atlanta game went extra innings after starting just before 11pm because of rain; they play the Sunday night game, so there won't be the hangover there has to be for the Red Sox-Angels Sunday afternoon (this game is still going on and tomorrow's game starts in 12.5 hours).
11) Nationals are 1-7 in Stephen Strasburg's last eight road starts.
10) Mets have 23 walk-off losses the last two years, most in MLB (Sox-Angels just went to the 19th inning).
9) Surprising stat; David Wright has the worst OPS of any #3 hitter in the major leagues this season. OPS is slugging percentage plus on-base percentage.
8) Baltimore Orioles are 15-7 since All-Star break, lead AL East by six games. Caleb Joseph has homered in five straight games; all-time record is seven. Before the last five games, Joseph had three HRs in 156 PAs- big year for the Orioles.
7) Albert Pujols just hit a walk-off homer to the opposite field in the 19th inning off of Brandon Workman; both teams wound up using starting pitchers. He hit it at roughly 3:38am, so it was after midnight, even in Anaheim.
6) Ricky Fowler (-29) has the best aggregate score in the four majors this year; Rory McIlroy (-24) is second, as expected.
5) Speaking of golf, CBS announcer Peter Kostis apparently has two sons; kids' godfather is Franz Klammer, world champion skiier. Talk about worlds colliding.
4) Cleveland Indians are 24-37 on road, 7-6 when Cory Kluber pitches. Kluber has a 0.68 ERA since All-Star break-- he is very good.
3) Eric Sogard walked four times for the A's tonight, first time ever a 9th-place hitter for the A's walked four times in one game. Minnesota's pitching coach has to be sick; as much as I root for Sogard (I've worn glasses since I was 4), he is hitting .214-- you can't walk a .214 hitter four times in a week, much less one game.
2) Padres-Pirates split pair of 2-1 games the last two nights; all six runs scored in the first inning. Go figure.
1) Jets have a tight end named Jace Amaro who caught 106 passes for Texas Tech LY; NFL offenses are different than what Kliff Kingsbury runs, but catching 106 balls as a tight end? If he can block at all, he'll have a job next month.
Thanks to retrosheet.org, I found the boxscore from the first major league game I went to in person: Cardinals 10, Mets 8-- August 6, 1966
-- Mets were in their 5th year of existence, on their way to a 66-95 season; I was six years old. Cardinals were 83-79 that year, won World Series the next year. The first thing I thought of was how big and bright the field was when I first saw it.
-- Cardinals led 5-0 in 3rd inning, but Mets scored five in third, three in fourth to take an 8-5 lead, but their bullpen disintegrated, allowing runs in last four innings.
-- Tim McCarver batted second for St Louis; Tito Francona (Terry's father) hit third. Francona-Orlando Cepeda-Dal Maxvill all wound up playing for the A's before they retired, Cepeda/Francona as DHs in the early 70's.
-- Light-hitting Maxvill got the hit in 1972 that clinched the AL West for the A's.
-- Julian Javier played 2B for St Louis; his son Stan was on the '89 A's team that won the World Series over the Giants.
-- Mike Shannon hit a homer for St Louis that day; 33 years later, I was in his bar in St Louis after the Rams won the NFC championship. He was there, clearing bottles off some of the tables, chatting up the customers. Pretty cool.
**********
Armadillo: Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports Saturday.......
13) One of many reasons baseball is tremendous are extra inning games that take on a life of their own; it is 3:22am as I type this- Red Sox-Angels are in the 18th inning, in a game where Boston didn't get a hit until the 7th inning. Rookie catcher Vazquez has caught the whole game for the Red Sox, 257 pitches worth.
Now, on with the already-written notes for today...........
12) Washington-Atlanta game went extra innings after starting just before 11pm because of rain; they play the Sunday night game, so there won't be the hangover there has to be for the Red Sox-Angels Sunday afternoon (this game is still going on and tomorrow's game starts in 12.5 hours).
11) Nationals are 1-7 in Stephen Strasburg's last eight road starts.
10) Mets have 23 walk-off losses the last two years, most in MLB (Sox-Angels just went to the 19th inning).
9) Surprising stat; David Wright has the worst OPS of any #3 hitter in the major leagues this season. OPS is slugging percentage plus on-base percentage.
8) Baltimore Orioles are 15-7 since All-Star break, lead AL East by six games. Caleb Joseph has homered in five straight games; all-time record is seven. Before the last five games, Joseph had three HRs in 156 PAs- big year for the Orioles.
7) Albert Pujols just hit a walk-off homer to the opposite field in the 19th inning off of Brandon Workman; both teams wound up using starting pitchers. He hit it at roughly 3:38am, so it was after midnight, even in Anaheim.
6) Ricky Fowler (-29) has the best aggregate score in the four majors this year; Rory McIlroy (-24) is second, as expected.
5) Speaking of golf, CBS announcer Peter Kostis apparently has two sons; kids' godfather is Franz Klammer, world champion skiier. Talk about worlds colliding.
4) Cleveland Indians are 24-37 on road, 7-6 when Cory Kluber pitches. Kluber has a 0.68 ERA since All-Star break-- he is very good.
3) Eric Sogard walked four times for the A's tonight, first time ever a 9th-place hitter for the A's walked four times in one game. Minnesota's pitching coach has to be sick; as much as I root for Sogard (I've worn glasses since I was 4), he is hitting .214-- you can't walk a .214 hitter four times in a week, much less one game.
2) Padres-Pirates split pair of 2-1 games the last two nights; all six runs scored in the first inning. Go figure.
1) Jets have a tight end named Jace Amaro who caught 106 passes for Texas Tech LY; NFL offenses are different than what Kliff Kingsbury runs, but catching 106 balls as a tight end? If he can block at all, he'll have a job next month.
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