AP Craziest? Wildest? No, I’m sticking with stupidest.
The Angels edged the Red Sox 14-13 in 10 innings Thursday. Some highlights:
- Boston blew a six-run lead by giving up eight runs in the top of the third
- The Angels put together said eight-run inning without the benefit of an extra-base hit. They did, however, benefit from two bases-loaded walks by two different pitchers, a Pedro Ciriaco error and a dropped ball on a botched rundown.
- The Red Sox took the lead in the eighth and scored in both the ninth and 10th innings, yet lost the game.
- There were four blown saves, two from the current closers (Alfredo Aceves and Ernesto Frieri) and two from past closers (Andrew Bailey and Jason Isringhausen).
- Both closers came out for another inning after blowing their saves and gave up more runs. Aceves was horrible in allowing three runs in the ninth, yet was allowed to come back out and give up two more runs in the 10th. Frieri allowed a run in the ninth and a run in the 10th. The Red Sox may well have re-tied or won the game against Frieri in the 10th if Mike Trout hadn’t had Jacoby Ellsbury played perfectly on Ellsbury’s shot to the left-center gap.
- Vernon Wells hit a homer in the ninth that probably wasn’t a homer, except the Red Sox didn’t bother arguing it (the ball hit off the red line at the top of the Green Monster and bounced back into the field of play)
The Wells homer-double debacle probably didn’t matter, since the Angels followed his homer with three singles and two more runs anyway. Bobby Valentine deserves a whole lot of blame for being asleep at the wheel, though, not only for not arguing that play but for leaving Aceves in.
Some totals from the game:
Of the 18 starters tonight, seven players had at least three hits, 13 drove in at least one run and 15 scored at least once. Ciriaco had four hits and four runs scored for Boston, while Dustin Pedroia had four hits and five RBI. Trout went 3-for-6 with two RBI and two steals.
15 pitchers were used. Five of the seven Angels hurlers allowed at least a run, while only four of the Red Sox’s eight pitches gave up runs. Of course, the difference there was that Boston’s closer allowed five runs.
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The San Jose lawsuit against Major League Baseball should be thrown out of court
Jun 18, 2013, 4:32 PM EDT
So I’ve read over the lawsuit filed by San Jose against Major League Baseball. Initial reaction: it’s more full of crap than Bob Melvin’s office was on Sunday afternoon. The essence of the suit: Major League Baseball is a monopoly. It should be an unlawful monopoly. This would-be unlawful monopoly is preventing the Athletics from…
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Reuters
The injury hits just keep on coming for the Yankees, who announced that Kevin Youkilis needs surgery to repair a herniated disc and will be out for 10-12 weeks. That puts Youkilis’ season in jeopardy, because 10 weeks would get him into September and any setbacks would leave him running out of time. Youkilis hit…
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AP
Lonnie Chisenhall began the season as the Indians’ starting third baseman, got demoted to the minors after hitting just .213 with a .604 OPS in 26 games, and is now back in the majors after crushing Triple-A pitching for a month. Chisenhall hit .390 with six homers and a 1.132 OPS in 27 games at…
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Cancel the no-hitter alert: Matt Harvey gives up an infield single to Jason Heyward
Jun 18, 2013, 3:10 PM EDT
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UPDATE: Forget it. Jason Heyward just reached on an infield single. A weird looking one as Harvey fielded the ball between the mound and first and then flipped it to … no one. Scored an infield hit, which makes sense considering that errors are rarely called on bad decisions by fielders — in this case…
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Reuters
General manager Brian Cashman hinted pretty strongly yesterday that Mark Teixeira was headed back to the disabled list and sure enough the Yankees are making the move, shutting down the first baseman again with more wrist problems. Teixeira managed to play just 15 games between DL stints, hitting .151 with a .609 OPS after missing…
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San Jose sues Major League Baseball, challenging its monopoly power
Jun 18, 2013, 2:27 PM EDT
The City of San Jose has sued Major League Baseball in an effort to get the Oakland A’s to relocate to San Jose, to challenge the Giants claim to rights over the territory and to challenge Major League Baseball’s long-standing monopoly power. The lawsuit, a copy of which can be seen here, and which is analyzed…
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Jon Hamm is a big St. Louis Cardinals fan and Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News talked to the “Mad Men” star about a bunch of baseball topics, including: SN: Are you friends with any of the current Cardinals? HAMM: I know a couple of them. I wouldn’t say “friends” but I’m text pals with…
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Original Biogenesis source: “the people running Major League Baseball are the biggest scumbags on Earth”
Jun 18, 2013, 2:00 PM EDT
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This reads like a crime thriller. It’s the story of Porter Fischer, the Biogenesis employee who took Tony Bosch’s notes and records, turned them over to the Miami New Times and unleashed the biggest PEDs scandal since BALCO. He has allowed the Miami Times to tell his story. All kinds of unseemliness here. A large…
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Less than 48 hours ago manager Charlie Manuel was quoted as saying that Carlos Ruiz was “four or five days” away from rejoining the Phillies, but the catcher was just activated from the disabled list for tonight’s game. Ruiz returns after missing the past month with a hamstring injury and he’s played just 16 games…
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Alex Cobb is on the seven-day concussion disabled list after being hit on the head by a line drive Saturday and manager Joe Maddon told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that there’s no timetable yet for the right-hander’s return to the Rays: He’s feeling a little bit better, obviously not tremendously better. It’s…
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AP
You may have heard this story before — it often gets mentioned as an aside in Vin Scully features — but Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal writes today about the time back in 1964 when some New York ad men approached Scully and told him that, if he was interested, the Yankees broadcasting…
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That plus some musings on games starting at 11pm and ending at nearly 1:30 AM.
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Late last night a bus carrying the Twins’ rookie-ball team “was involved in a wrong-way interstate crash in Florida that killed the driver of the other car,” according to the Associated Press. According to police no one on the Elizabethton Twins’ team bus was injured, but the driver of a Honda that was “traveling south…
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The Mets may have too — the game started nearly four hours after the scheduled game time and the teams play a day-night doubleheader today — but Mark Bowman reports from the Braves’ side of things: The Braves players didn’t get a response when they called the union last night to discuss starting the game…
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AP
Justin Maxwell hit just .128 in 11 games while on a minor-league rehab assignment for a fractured left hand, but the Astros have activated him from the disabled list anyway. Maxwell has been out for nearly two months and in his absence Brandon Barnes has played well as the Astros’ starting center fielder, so it’ll…
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Clay Buchholz to throw today, possibly be placed on the disabled list
Jun 18, 2013, 11:07 AM EDT
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Clay Buchholz was scratched from today’s start due to neck discomfort. But he will throw today, reports Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. If he feels good, he’ll likely make his next start. If not, it’s disabled list time and Allen Webster or Rubby De La Rosa will take his place. Buchholz leads the majors with a…
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Chris Coghlan was examined by a spine specialist Monday and Tyler Emerick of MLB.com reports that the Marlins outfielder has been advised to rest his injured back rather than undergo surgery. After back-to-back terrible seasons the former Rookie of the Year winner was hitting .277 with a .742 OPS in 51 games to reestablish himself…
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Mark Teixeira had a setback. Yankees hitting coach Kevin long said yesterday that it wasn’t terribly surprising to him as, in his opinion, Teixeira’s wrist hadn’t “been right” since Teixeira came off the DL. This was news to Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who didn’t mince words expressing his dissatisfaction at his hitting coach: “It’s alarming…
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Evan Gattis caught all nine innings for the Braves in last night’s rain-delayed victory over the Mets and now, about eight hours after the final out, he’s headed to the disabled list with an oblique strain. Gattis has been a fantastic story, finally getting a chance in the majors as a 26-year-old rookie and taking…
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As I mentioned in the recaps this morning, Giancarlo Stanton homered twice, notching two of the Marlins’ three hits in the process and all of their RBI. Just another day at the office for the Iron Giant. But watching his two homers is better than reading the box score. Check out the video here. The…
