I'll give Pujols a break. He has never seen these pitchers before. Lets see how he does the second time through. Bobby Valentine must be wishing he was back in the booth. re: Kemp's HR. Remember this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-2D9mBNnpUY#t=21s
I like to think that Humber pitched the 22nd perfect game in MLB history. Unfortunately Armando Galarraga will never get credit for one he pitched.
re: Reggie Jackson's HR in Detroit. I watched that one on TV and there's no doubt that it was one of the legendary blasts of all time. The others that are often mentioned are a 600ft(?) smash that Ruth hit in Spring Traning one year; a 500+ ft blast by Shoeless Joe Jackson in the Deadball Era; one that Wilver Stargell hit against Allen Foster in 1971 that went completely OUT of Dodger Stadium; and one that Mickey Mantle hit completely out of the old Washington Senator's ballpark that was found laying more than 600ft from home plate. Kemp's HR yesterday was NOT in a category with those legendary bombs. I was in attendance at the Big "A" in Anaheim in 1968, when Carl Yastremski of the Red Sox hit an electric skyrocket into the east parking lot that was measured at 545 ft and is still the longest in Big "A" history. The entire Red Sox dugout emptied to pound him at home plate like a Little League team... re: Stros Houston pounded us today and the broadcast team here analyzed them before the first game of the series. (Our broadcasters usually know what they're talking about, because they include such former MLB players as Rick Monday, Steve Lyons and Nomar Garciaparra.) They all agreed that this 2012 Houston Astros team is MUCH better than last year's team. They really like a lot of the Stros young players and they urged the Houston fans to be patient. Their opinion was that they're a young team on the right track. This was NOT the opinion that they had of either San Diego or Pittsburgh.
Don't know if anyone saw the highlights of today's Ranger-Tigers game but shades of Jim Joyce....Texas scored their winning run on a suicide squeeze play in the 11th. Only problem was it was a foul ball the bunt having landed behind the plate, hit the batter Gonzalez in the knee and then bouncing into play. Manager Jim Leyland disputed the play. The home plate umpire conferenced with the three other members of his crew and all agreed with his call. My question is this, how does a 67 year old fart like Leyland see the play correctly from the dugout and 4 supposed "major league" umpires all miss the call? (it was the 11th inning and maybe they just wanted to head for the clubhouse for a beer.)
re: Lasorda Tommy Lasorda is a Philadelphia Italian. If you've ever known any Philadelphia Italians, this kind of language abuse is typical. For years I worked with another Philadelphia Italian named Al Cifelli, who also happened to be the brother-in-law of San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show. Al couldn't say five words without dropping an "F-bomb" in the middle of it. His brothers were worse. One of the guys we worked with made the mistake of accepting a dinner invitation at the Cifellis for Sunday dinner after mass. He said that he sat there slack-jawed as all the Cifelli brothers and their father challenged each other: "Hey stupid!" "Pass the f*cking patatas!" "Hey! I got yer f*cking patatas in my pants!" "Hey Pop! Vinny's hoggin the f*cking patatas and talkin sh*t!" "Vinny! Pass da f*ckin patatas to yer brudder or you're gonna be wearing em!" This went on through the entire meal. .. A few years ago, when I was running an American Legion team out of Claremont, I had the good fortune to have two assistant coaches who were both former players of Tommy Lasorda when they played for the Dodgers: Kevin Gross and Jose Morales. I could NEVER get either one of them to say anything good about him. Morales hated him with a purple passion. He had grown up with an abusive father in Long Beach, but he claimed that Lasorda was much worse. As he put it, "My dad was always threatening to kill me. One time he even dug a hole in the backyard to put me in; but when I played for Tommy, there were times when I wanted to jump in that hole, or off a bridge or anywhere. He was a monster." Kevin Gross wouldn't talk about it. I've honestly never heard Kevin say a bad word about anybody...but when I asked him about Tommy Lasorda, he just stood there, red-faced angry and slowly shook his head. He didn't have to say anything. It was obvious that he was still furious...
Highly unlikely. But he is off to a good start. Start working on his plaque now; his credentials will be as good or better than most.
re: Rhode Island Italians How can I forget? My dad's forehead was bashed in by Raymond Patriarca and his pals when he was their caddy as a teenager. He woke up two years later and carried that huge scar his entire life... re: Eric Show He was a nice guy: a brilliant, clever, talented, tortured guy. When he died, a lot of people cried. My younger son Eric still has the autographed, framed, picture that Show gave to me to give to him. He was a wonderful person who never accepted himself... http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=5543839
I don't think he ever has won a leg of the Triple Crown. 12 time All Star 5 WS rings 6 Gold Gloves Numerous individual awards .314 BA Will probably finish N0.4-5 in total hits all time 0 scandals
Re: Eric Show. I read the entire article. Agree with Terry. Very sad and tragic. Re: Jeter: Hall of Fame certainty. First ballot IMO.
Well, well, well... Here we are in the first week of May and the Dodgers 150lb, rookie shortstop Dee Gordon has more home runs than Albert Pujols. (1-0) Value of Pujols= $250 million. Value of Gordon= two Spiderman comic books and a pair of Nike tennis shoes. BTW- the new Dodger owners took over today in a ceremony at Dodger Stadium. Since Frank still owns part of the parking lots, they announced that parking at Dodger games will be reduced immediately from $15 to $10 per car...