Extra Innings Blogging

Don't know why I started to do this, but I had all these thoughts and observations as I was flipping through some ballgames in the early part of the evening before dinner, and before watching some other TV. So I wrote them out.

Mets at Braves, 8:10 p.m. I’d forgotten that Mets announcer Ted Robinson went to Notre Dame, until a friend just reminded me. I looked him up in the alumni directory – his major (American Studies) and dorm (Grace Hall) were the same as my own. Though he graduated (May 1978) four months before I turned 2 and seven months before my sister was born. … The Mets are getting guys on, and running (stolen bases for Jose Reyes, third, and Mike Cameron, second, in the first), but they’re stranding the runners. Mike Piazza struck out with two on in the first, and Doug Mientkiewicz hit into what I think Robinson said was his third double play in as many as bats, going back to last night’s game.

Phillies at Marlins, 8:15 p.m. Man, is Brett Myers on this year or what? He’s dealing again in Florida – four shutout innings now, a 2-0 lead. He’s become the stopper in that rotation – the guy they want going to the mound to end a losing streak. And for the Phillies lately, any visit to Miami has prompted a losing streak.

Mets at Braves, 8:23 p.m. Sorry, I’ll be coming back to this one a lot. Tim Hudson’s laboring tonight. Three hits, a walk, and he’s gone to three-ball counts on a couple of hitters already, and there’s two outs in the third. Fifty-two pitches after he gets Piazza looking at a full-count pitch clearly over the inner half of the plate, two runners left. Swing, man! David Wright’s continuing his tear with a single in his first at bat, now 4-for-4 with a walk in his last five trips to the plate. He’s 11-for-19 to this moment during his six-game hitting streak.

Rockies at Brewers, 8:32 p.m. Milwaukee’s staked Victor Santos to a 3-0 lead after one. I’m hoping for a second straight stellar spot start from a Brewers starter for my fantasy team. I had Chris Capuano last night and dumped him for Santos tonight. I figured the young Rocks – the youngest team in the majors, the graphic on FSN North just told me – will come through for me again. On the mound for Colorado is Jeff Francis, the Rockies’ young stud prospect, whom I drafted but had to cut loose.

Red Sox at Blue Jays, 8:34 p.m. Top of the sixth, 4-3 Blue Jays. David Wells is struggling this season.

Phillies at Marlins, 8:35 p.m. Kenny Lofton walks, drops the bat across the plate and sort of hot-dogs it down to first, and apparently Josh Beckett didn’t like it. There were words, and Lofton took a few steps toward the mound halfway down the line. There were discussions among umpires, and between umpires and coaches. Nothing happened, just a bunch of inflated egos brushing in the Miami night.

Twins at Indians, 8:36 p.m. It’s 1-1 with an out in the top of the sixth, but Minnesota has runners at first and third. I’d considered both Jake Westbrook, who’s pitched well against the Twins this season, and Cleveland starter Joe Mays for spot starts, but Santos’s numbers and matchup were too good to overlook.

Mets at Braves, 8:37 p.m. Woah. In the 15 minutes it took me to surf through all those other games, Tom Glavine’s dispatched the Braves in the bottom of the third and Hudson already has two Mets (including Wright) out in the top of the fourth. Still scoreless. Could be a pitchers duel between Hudson and the classic Glavine.

Tigers at Yankees, 8:39 p.m. Had to take a look. 7-0 Yanks, bottom of the fifth, runner on second, A-Rod up, no outs. Ho-hum. Yeah, the Yankees have won 12 of 14 since the big panic move of early May, but that could have been predicted when you realized that they had 12 straight against Oakland and Seattle. And the Mets should’ve won two of three over the weekend, but they gave away Sunday’s game to those Bronx boys. I might make it back to this game.

Mets at Braves, 8:41 p.m. Hey, Mientkiewicz is on first! Way to get Glavine to the plate now, rather than leading off the fifth.

Twins at Indians, 8:42 p.m. I guess Jacques Jones got that runner in from third. It’s hard to tell what I miss when I leave a channel, because Yahoo’s box scores aren’t updating and I don’t feel like jumping over to ESPN or one of the other sites. So I’ll just move on …

Phillies at Marlins, 8:43 p.m. One-hundred pitches for Beckett with two outs in the sixth. First and third, David Bell up with a 2-2 count. Still 2-0. Bell down looking on a curve – perhaps questionable – at the letters.

Mariners at Orioles, 8:44 p.m. Two outs with Rafael Palmeiro up. I’m hitting a lot of games when they have two outs in an inning at the moment. 2-1 Seattle in the third, runner on first. I haven’t seen many games at Camden Yards so far this season, but I don’t remember noticing that, behind the plate, not only do they have a brick wall creating the border between seats and field, but the gate behind the plate has a brick design on it. Kinda funny. Palmeiro down swinging on a changup.

Red Sox at Blue Jays, 8:46 p.m. This one’s moving along. Top of the seventh. You can kind of see where I’m flipping through the Extra Innings channels by looking at the order of the games. At the moment, I’m going up from 441 to 449 (those with games on at the moment); earlier, I’d gone from 449 down to 442. But now I’ve got to go eat dinner. It’s a late one tonight.

Mets at Braves, 9 p.m. The Braves went up 1-0 and they played that stupid, insulting, annoying tomahawk chant. Idiots. Then they tried to squeeze in a run, but Glavine dove and flipped the ball home for the out. Suckers.

OK, I’m done for now. Time to watch some other things, as per the lady’s wishes.

Postseason thoughts, Day 3

Yesterday's games:
Braves 4, Astros 2, 11 innings
Cardinals 8, Dodgers 3

Astros-Braves series tied 1-1
Why are they still doing the Tomahawk Chop in Atlanta? It's done. It's tired. The fans aren't even into it. When I went down for the Mets-Braves NLCS Game 1 in 1999, they handed out those foam red tomahawks to everyone who entered. They're probably still giving them out because they made so many in the 90s, expecting the Braves to advance in the postseason, that they've got boxes of them in storage in Decatur. But in the third inning, or some other early point in the game when Atlanta got a runner on with two outs, someone in the production room on the press level pressed a button, and the canned chant came from the P.A. system, and about a quarter of the 40,000 fans in the ballpark started chopping with their foam tomahawks. Not even into it. Nevermind all the offensive and politically incorrect connotations (it's way more offensive, in my mind, than a team called the Indians), but it's so yesterday and passe. And they need to be prompted! They don't start chanting or cheering until the P.A. prompts them! Ridiculous. The only team that might have less of a homefield advantage in the playoffs right now is the Angels, and that's only because of all the Red Sox fans who have migrated to Southern California. If it were the A's or Twins or another team playing Anaheim, there wouldn't be that problem. So the Braves managed to eek out a win when they tied it in the eighth and John Smoltz worked three shutout innings until Rafael Furcal -- who will go to jail when the season's over and cannot participate in any postseason celebrations because of his second DWI arrest and recent sentence -- lined a two-run homer in the 11th. So no sweep for the Astros, but I'm still sticking with my belief that this was the Braves' final home game of the season.

Cardinals lead series 2-0
It has just become official: Anyone mocking the mandated "I'm John Kerry, and I approve this message" tag that's required on campaign commercials is lame. That joke has jumped the shark. Jared -- from Subway -- began a commercial for the chain during the game. Through last night, the Dodgers are now 0-8 in postseason games since Orel Hershiser jumped into the arms of catcher Rick Dempsey in 1988, and I'm not sure a game at home with Jose Lima up against Matt Morris is going to temporarily put off that ninth loss. Getting nine losses before two wins seems to me to be a lock. Maybe Lima can bring back some of that old magic from his Astrodome days, but it would only be putting off the inevitable for one day. In the final few weeks of the season, the atmosphere had changed around Dodger Stadium -- fans were coming early and staying through the end of the game. And why wouldn't they? The Dodgers were battling, playing exciting baseball in a tight pennant race with their arch-rivals. They had something like 56 come-from-behind victories this season, second only to the Yankees. Down 0-2 in a best-of-five series, I don't expect the seats to be filled all the way to the ninth if L.A. falls behind by three or four runs. They're going to have to have a lead or be within a run or two to keep the fans around.