Twins at Mariners. Mariners 2, Twins 11.
KENJI JOHJIMA
Okay, let's play the game! We start with last week's loser... Mr. Jeff Weaver. Are you ready, Weaver?
JEFF WEAVER
I sure am, Kenji!
KENJI JOHJIMA
Okay, then you get over there on the mound and pitch to the Wheel of Twins! Go ahead, give it a spin!
[audience boos as the Twins lineup keeps going around and around and around, hitting singles and bunting and running wild around the bases. The action pauses with Justin Morneau at the plate and runners on second and third.]
KENJI JOHJIMA
A big lefty-hitting Canadian slugger! Very tasty! Okay, Weaver, now listen carefully...
You can either face your Canadian slugger, or you can go for what's taking practice swings in the on-deck circle right now! What's it gonna be?
[Weaver stands there thinking for a minute. Morneau takes a few practice swings outside the batter's box. Torii Hunter takes a few practice swings from the on-deck circle. The audience yells out lots of random things, like "Walk the Canadian!" and "Weaver, you SUCK!" Weaver looks back and forth between the plate and the on-deck circle.]
JEFF WEAVER
I... I'll take the circle!
KENJI JOHJIMA
Okay, Weaver, you took the circle! Let's see what's in the circle...
[Weaver intentionally walks Morneau, loading the bases. Torii Hunter comes to the plate, and after getting a few strikes on the outside corners, Weaver leaves a pitch hanging over the plate, which Hunter CRUSHES and sends into the Twins bullpen in left field.]
KENJI JOHJIMA
...IT'S A GRAND SALAMI!!! STUPID!!!! YOU SO STUPID!!!!!!
(In case the parody isn't obvious immediately, see here.)
Showing posts with label Twins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twins. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Roster moves and MVPs
I was going to write more about the NPB Industrial/College draft, but got sidetracked. If I don't see a translated list of the draftees anywhere else by tonight, I'll put one together here, at the very least.
So instead, here's what I've been reading today:
There were Jeremy Reed trade rumors abounding in a USSM comment thread yesterday. They haven't turned into anything yet, though.
Pat Lagreid informed me that manager Mike Hargrove is going to be a guest on the Hot Stove League hour on Mariners Radio tonight at 7pm on KOMO 1000, so if you want to hear what Grover's got to say about the offseason so far, tune in and have a listen.
Mariner Minors has a good report up on the Mariners' recent 40-man roster management, about which players are being protected from the Rule 5 draft, which players aren't, and which players have departed (notably, TJ Bohn was claimed by the Braves off waivers and Jeff Harris was signed by Cleveland (I still haven't seen an article confirming it but our Harris informer at LL mentioned it as well)). There's a press release up about the roster moves.
In the realm of "headlines you could amusingly misread", today there was one reading Sox Have Matsuzaka For Dinner. It probably doesn't help that the picture of him in the article makes him look really chubby!
MVPs have been announced for both leagues now. Ryan Howard won the NL Award, a day after turning 27 on Sunday. The Phillies unfurled a banner celebrating it out at CBP, but even better, he stopped by an elementary school in Philly and helped them paint a mural they were making to honor him. They sang happy birthday to him and gave him cake. Sounds like he'll have one busy offseason, making appearances all over the place.
This marks the second MVP in two weeks for Howard, as he was awarded the Japan-MLB All-Star Games MVP as well, captivating the crowds over there with his charming smile and powerful bat.
At least this year, unlike last year, there isn't some stupid football player starting a ton of controversy and keeping Howard from getting his due recognition in Philly; last year when he won the Rookie of the Year, there was barely any coverage of it.
You could make an argument that Albert Pujols deserved the NL MVP more; you could make an argument that Derek Jeter deserved the AL MVP more too, but the winner in that league was Justin Morneau, making a nice Twin set of awards with Johan Santana's Cy Young.
Justin Morneau was also awarded the accolade of "Boyfriend of the Year" by the sasstistical analysts at Bat-Girl. Whether or not he considered this to be a higher honor is unknown, as Morneau could not be reached for comment.
On another note of Cardinals being snubbed, my baseball calendar lists Ken Griffey Jr. for today's player birthday. That's just ridiculous, given that it's Stan Musial's birthday AND the ballpark of the month is Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
I haven't come up with a catchy tune idea for an MVP song parody yet this year, unfortunately.
So instead, here's what I've been reading today:
There were Jeremy Reed trade rumors abounding in a USSM comment thread yesterday. They haven't turned into anything yet, though.
Pat Lagreid informed me that manager Mike Hargrove is going to be a guest on the Hot Stove League hour on Mariners Radio tonight at 7pm on KOMO 1000, so if you want to hear what Grover's got to say about the offseason so far, tune in and have a listen.
Mariner Minors has a good report up on the Mariners' recent 40-man roster management, about which players are being protected from the Rule 5 draft, which players aren't, and which players have departed (notably, TJ Bohn was claimed by the Braves off waivers and Jeff Harris was signed by Cleveland (I still haven't seen an article confirming it but our Harris informer at LL mentioned it as well)). There's a press release up about the roster moves.
In the realm of "headlines you could amusingly misread", today there was one reading Sox Have Matsuzaka For Dinner. It probably doesn't help that the picture of him in the article makes him look really chubby!
MVPs have been announced for both leagues now. Ryan Howard won the NL Award, a day after turning 27 on Sunday. The Phillies unfurled a banner celebrating it out at CBP, but even better, he stopped by an elementary school in Philly and helped them paint a mural they were making to honor him. They sang happy birthday to him and gave him cake. Sounds like he'll have one busy offseason, making appearances all over the place.
This marks the second MVP in two weeks for Howard, as he was awarded the Japan-MLB All-Star Games MVP as well, captivating the crowds over there with his charming smile and powerful bat.
At least this year, unlike last year, there isn't some stupid football player starting a ton of controversy and keeping Howard from getting his due recognition in Philly; last year when he won the Rookie of the Year, there was barely any coverage of it.
You could make an argument that Albert Pujols deserved the NL MVP more; you could make an argument that Derek Jeter deserved the AL MVP more too, but the winner in that league was Justin Morneau, making a nice Twin set of awards with Johan Santana's Cy Young.
Justin Morneau was also awarded the accolade of "Boyfriend of the Year" by the sasstistical analysts at Bat-Girl. Whether or not he considered this to be a higher honor is unknown, as Morneau could not be reached for comment.
On another note of Cardinals being snubbed, my baseball calendar lists Ken Griffey Jr. for today's player birthday. That's just ridiculous, given that it's Stan Musial's birthday AND the ballpark of the month is Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
I haven't come up with a catchy tune idea for an MVP song parody yet this year, unfortunately.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Friday Foto - In honor of Johan Santana
I took this one last September when I was at the Metrodome for Laurel's wedding, during batting practice.
A bunch of kids who know greatness when they see it.
Going back, it appears that these Santana-jersey-wearing kids were actually watching Francisco Liriano warm up, too.
This post is in honor of the fact that for once, nobody disagreed with the obvious choice for the Cy Young Award in the American League, Johan Santana. Much like I was happy when Kazumi Saitoh won the Sawamura unanimously, I'm overjoyed for Santana here.
The pitching triple crown is funny in that the categories work together -- if you strike out a lot of guys, it'll help you keep a lower ERA, which in turn will help you win a lot of games. Whereas the hitting triple crown is tougher, as a home run power swing often comes at the cost of a few points of batting average. There hasn't been a hitting triple crown winner since 1967, but there have been seven pitching triple crown winners since then, counting Santana this year. He is the first to win it with less than 20 wins, as well (19-6, 2.77, 245 K).
A bunch of kids who know greatness when they see it.
Going back, it appears that these Santana-jersey-wearing kids were actually watching Francisco Liriano warm up, too.
This post is in honor of the fact that for once, nobody disagreed with the obvious choice for the Cy Young Award in the American League, Johan Santana. Much like I was happy when Kazumi Saitoh won the Sawamura unanimously, I'm overjoyed for Santana here.
The pitching triple crown is funny in that the categories work together -- if you strike out a lot of guys, it'll help you keep a lower ERA, which in turn will help you win a lot of games. Whereas the hitting triple crown is tougher, as a home run power swing often comes at the cost of a few points of batting average. There hasn't been a hitting triple crown winner since 1967, but there have been seven pitching triple crown winners since then, counting Santana this year. He is the first to win it with less than 20 wins, as well (19-6, 2.77, 245 K).
Friday, June 09, 2006
The Catcher In Their Eye
There's something that's been on my mind a lot in the last few days -- nay, months. Something wonderful, beautiful, amazing, powerful. Something that can bring a smile to my face with a mere two words.
Joe Mauer.
Yeah, I know what you're all thinking. "She only likes Joe Mauer because he's good-looking." Yes, it's true he was and will be the catcher on my All-Cute team for years to come (or until Jeff Clement makes it to the majors), and sure, he's one hell of a fashion model, but no, really, the reason I've had him on my mind a lot lately (besides that he's on my fantasy team) is that he's been a total Mariner-killer this year. Here's a guy already batting .379/.438/.540 overall, and in the 7 games he's played against us, he's gone .548/.600/.871. Hell, in these last three games he went .750/.800/1.167. (From mlb.com splits.) You couldn't keep him off base any more than you could keep Eddie Guardado away from that extra slice of pizza.
It's not like there haven't been good-hitting catchers in the past; it's not even like there haven't been good-looking good-hitting catchers in the past. (Hello, Mike Piazza.) But the last time a pure catcher won a batting title was 1942, when Ernie Lombardi, a career .306 hitter, put up a wartime .330 average. Joe Torre won a batting title in 1971, but he spent that entire season playing third base.
Obviously, it's not entirely unexpected that catchers find themselves at a disadvantage in terms of winning batting titles. Catchers tend to get rested more often than other players just due to the stress of playing the position, both on their brains and on their knees. Nowadays, an extremely good hitting catcher in the AL will at least be able to DH sometimes to take time off from catching, but in the NL, they either end up playing first or third, or benching it, on their off days. It's been pointed out that Mauer barely qualifies for the batting title in terms of plate appearances, and so far this year he has been the DH in about a sixth of his games. And even if Brian McCann continues to rip the tar out of the ball, there's no way he'll get enough PA to qualify for the NL batting title after his stint on the DL.
And oftentimes, catchers aren't exactly the most fleet of foot; they're not the guys beating out grounders or stealing bases, they're often the guys lumbering towards first hoping their knees hold out. (Cue mental image of Todd Pratt, or Sal Fasano.) When you think of the physical composition of a catcher, you often think of a guy who's going to stand his ground when someone tries to barrel him over at home plate; someone who can use their body to block a pitch in the dirt. Someone named "Pudge", or "Yogi", or "We're Not Selling Jeans Here".
To be fair, though, catchers don't seem to have quite the same leeway they used to for lack of hitting skill; lately it seems like more and more of them are hitting like a Piazza or a Posada and less and less like a Molina or a Molina.
Beyond just being an astoundingly good-hitting catcher, though, there's more to Joe Mauer's value. He was already a local baseball hero around the Twin Cities in high school, and then was the number one draft pick overall in the 2001 draft -- by his hometown team -- and gets to blossom into a major league star practically in his own backyard. I can only imagine what it'd be like if the Mariners had Grady Sizemore, for example. Maybe we'll see how things work out with Matt Tuiasasopo.
I'm actually impressed with the way the Braves manage to draft a lot of good local talent, although I suppose when you're down south, there are a lot more big bigleaguer-producing colleges and high schools around than when you're in the Pacific Northwest. Still, on their 40-man roster they've got Kyle Davies, Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, Blaine Boyer, and Josh Burrus all from around Georgia, who grew up watching a strong Braves team. Hell, their number one pick this year, Cody Johnson, grew up in Florida idolizing the Braves.
Anyway, I'm sure there are a lot more cases of young baseball hometown superheroes that I'm not even aware of, but today, I just felt like rambling about Joe Mauer for a little bit. I'd love to see him and Ichiro battling out for the batting crown all along the way this year -- Ichiro broke the 84-year-old single-season hits record; can Mauer be the first catcher to win a batting title in 64 years?
Joe Mauer.
Yeah, I know what you're all thinking. "She only likes Joe Mauer because he's good-looking." Yes, it's true he was and will be the catcher on my All-Cute team for years to come (or until Jeff Clement makes it to the majors), and sure, he's one hell of a fashion model, but no, really, the reason I've had him on my mind a lot lately (besides that he's on my fantasy team) is that he's been a total Mariner-killer this year. Here's a guy already batting .379/.438/.540 overall, and in the 7 games he's played against us, he's gone .548/.600/.871. Hell, in these last three games he went .750/.800/1.167. (From mlb.com splits.) You couldn't keep him off base any more than you could keep Eddie Guardado away from that extra slice of pizza.
It's not like there haven't been good-hitting catchers in the past; it's not even like there haven't been good-looking good-hitting catchers in the past. (Hello, Mike Piazza.) But the last time a pure catcher won a batting title was 1942, when Ernie Lombardi, a career .306 hitter, put up a wartime .330 average. Joe Torre won a batting title in 1971, but he spent that entire season playing third base.
Obviously, it's not entirely unexpected that catchers find themselves at a disadvantage in terms of winning batting titles. Catchers tend to get rested more often than other players just due to the stress of playing the position, both on their brains and on their knees. Nowadays, an extremely good hitting catcher in the AL will at least be able to DH sometimes to take time off from catching, but in the NL, they either end up playing first or third, or benching it, on their off days. It's been pointed out that Mauer barely qualifies for the batting title in terms of plate appearances, and so far this year he has been the DH in about a sixth of his games. And even if Brian McCann continues to rip the tar out of the ball, there's no way he'll get enough PA to qualify for the NL batting title after his stint on the DL.
And oftentimes, catchers aren't exactly the most fleet of foot; they're not the guys beating out grounders or stealing bases, they're often the guys lumbering towards first hoping their knees hold out. (Cue mental image of Todd Pratt, or Sal Fasano.) When you think of the physical composition of a catcher, you often think of a guy who's going to stand his ground when someone tries to barrel him over at home plate; someone who can use their body to block a pitch in the dirt. Someone named "Pudge", or "Yogi", or "We're Not Selling Jeans Here".
To be fair, though, catchers don't seem to have quite the same leeway they used to for lack of hitting skill; lately it seems like more and more of them are hitting like a Piazza or a Posada and less and less like a Molina or a Molina.
Beyond just being an astoundingly good-hitting catcher, though, there's more to Joe Mauer's value. He was already a local baseball hero around the Twin Cities in high school, and then was the number one draft pick overall in the 2001 draft -- by his hometown team -- and gets to blossom into a major league star practically in his own backyard. I can only imagine what it'd be like if the Mariners had Grady Sizemore, for example. Maybe we'll see how things work out with Matt Tuiasasopo.
I'm actually impressed with the way the Braves manage to draft a lot of good local talent, although I suppose when you're down south, there are a lot more big bigleaguer-producing colleges and high schools around than when you're in the Pacific Northwest. Still, on their 40-man roster they've got Kyle Davies, Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, Blaine Boyer, and Josh Burrus all from around Georgia, who grew up watching a strong Braves team. Hell, their number one pick this year, Cody Johnson, grew up in Florida idolizing the Braves.
Anyway, I'm sure there are a lot more cases of young baseball hometown superheroes that I'm not even aware of, but today, I just felt like rambling about Joe Mauer for a little bit. I'd love to see him and Ichiro battling out for the batting crown all along the way this year -- Ichiro broke the 84-year-old single-season hits record; can Mauer be the first catcher to win a batting title in 64 years?
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Game Report: Mariners vs. Twins - A Young Guns Duel
You know, young is relative. For perspective, our first-round draft pick Brandon Morrow was born July 26, 1984. Tonight's (actually Tuesday night's; Blogger has been down) Twins starter Francisco Liriano is 9 months older than him, born October 26, 1983. And our Felix Hernandez is almost two years younger, born April 8, 1986. And if you combine them, Liriano and Felix are still 9 months younger than Jamie Moyer (November 18, 1962).
Anyway, my friend Dave had scored some pretty goddamn awesome seats to this game -- 125, Row 10, right behind the on-deck circle, and as such I spent most of the game trying to snap pictures (which all came out crappy) rather than trying to take notes (which all came out unreadable).
Short version: Neither the Twins nor the Mariners are particularly noted for their offense, and it was no different tonight. Mike Morse, who seems to be getting off to another "hot start" this year, knocked in the first Mariners run in the 4th inning with a double. Ichiro batted him in on a single off Liriano's bare hand -- good thing he didn't injure it. Studly Joe Mauer, who would end up being 4-for-4, knocked in the first Twins run in the 5th inning with a double, and Jason Kubel, who scored said run, also hit a solo home run off Teddy Beardado in the 8th. Fortunately, the Mariners scraped across extra runs in the 6th and 7th innings, as Willie Bloomquist did some pretty good baserunning and Raul Ibanez batted in Jose Lopez on a pretty nice double. Felix was actually pitching pretty well, as was Liriano, and I think Felix just got luckier. Either way, it was a fun game to watch, as the Mariners won it 4-2.
Dave and I showed up early and just went to the bullpen, as we'd just missed the end of batting practice, sadly. (I wanted to see if I could get Lew Ford to sign my sudoku book.) However, we did run into Conor Glassey and his dad there, which is always fun, and so we had a while talking about the Twins and the draft and all sorts of fun stuff. And then we got to see Liriano warm up. His motion is awesome, very smooth, barely any kick, it's like, one second he's got the ball, and the next, whoooosh, Joe Mauer's got the ball. I actually saw him throwing a bit when I was at the Metrodome last year, and he's even better now.
"I've got a baseball and an awesome left arm
and I'm not afraid to use them."
(My bullpen shots are not nearly as cool as the Liriano picture on yahoo, sadly.)
Anyway, it was really amazing to watch this game from so close up. Felix struck out the first two batters swinging, which seemed to be a good sign for the night, but then Joe Mauer came up and smacked a single, and Torii Hunter smacked a double, and Mike Cuddyer walked, loading the bases, which was a bad sign for the night. Morneau grounded out to Big Richie though. Whew.
That was really the only jam of the night Felix found himself in. The Twins had a terribly big disparity between the 2-5 batters (Kubel, Mauer, Hunter, Cuddyer) and the 6-1 batters (Morneau, White, Batista, Castro, Castillo; plus I'll count pinch-hitters Tiffee, Rodriguez, and Little Nicky Punto) tonight:
Seriously, all of the odd-numbered innings seem to have Kubel and Mauer getting hits, and all of the even ones have the bottom of the lineup sucking. It's sort of amusing.
In the third inning, Kubel singled and Mauer doubled, and they were again left on second and third as Hunter grounded out and Cuddyer struck out.
In the fifth inning, Kubel singled with two outs and this time Mauer drove him home with a wicked slice to left field for a double -- Ibanez was playing way to the right of where he normally would, or it probably would have only been a single. Dave commented that it looked like they had put a shift on for Mauer, which isn't unreasonable since he was pulling the ball for the rest of the night. And Hunter struck out to end it.
Due to Morneau getting caught stealing after a walk in the 6th, the next "odd" inning was actually the 8th. Felix had pitched seven strong innings of one-run ball, and so they brought out Eddie Guardado for some reason. The speakers blared the start of "Hell's Bells" but didn't play much of it, so I joked - "They'll play more of the song when he earns it -- by not giving up so many game-ending home runs." Immediately after I said that, Jason Kubel launched a 404-foot home run into the right-field seats. Mauer hit a single, making him 4-for-4 on the evening. So Hargrove decided to just play Musical Bullpen, going through four pitchers in the inning. Mateo came out for Hunter and Cuddyer, getting a strikeout and a single; Sherrill came out for Morneau, getting a strikeout, and Putz got Terry Tiffee (who still looks like a 16-year-old despite being 27) to ground out to end the inning.
But yeah, Felix's line for the evening was 7 IP on exactly 100 pitches, 1 run, 6 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts. I can live with that
Liriano wasn't quite so lucky, only getting one 1-2-3 inning, though it was ironically out of the 3-4-5 part of our lineup. Go figure. He kept himself out of trouble for the first three innings in general, though.
In the fourth, Johjima came up and hit a clean single to center. Bloomquist bunted him to second, and then Mike Morse came up and drove in Johjima with a double to right which escaped Cuddyer. As that first run of the game scored, they put up the big "MAY THE MORSE BE WITH YOU" thing on the centerfield board, which still makes me giggle, despite how stupid it is. (Hell, I sponsored Morse's b-ref page just to make that dumb joke.) Morse advanced on a wild pitch before Betancourt grounded out, and then Ichiro hit a single which basically bounced right over Liriano, who grabbed for it with his bare left hand, but couldn't get it; by the time the ball was recovered, Morse had scored and Ichiro was safe at first. I think Liriano should just be glad he didn't injure his throwing hand. Ouch.
During Ichiro's at-bat, the crowds were chanting: "I-CHI-RO!"
The crazy loud beer girl was screaming, "BEEEEEEEEEER!"
They kept echoing back and forth -- "ICHIRO!" "BEEER!" "ICHIRO!" "BEEEER!"
I turned to Dave like "Two great tastes that go great together?"
In the 6th inning, Johjima led off by almost hitting a homer into the bullpens, but instead it was just a bounced ground rule double. Willie Bloomquist bounced a grounder to Justin Morneau, who smartly threw the ball to third, catching Johjima in a rundown, eventually having Castro tag him out on the basepath. Bloomquist actually got to second on the play, though, and immediately stole third. When Mike Morse grounded to third, Bloomquist ran home, and it was a really close play at home, but T-Fat's throw was terrible and so Willie was safe, happily marching into the dugout with his head high and his uniform all full of dirt from sliding.
(When Willie came out to the ondeck circle in the 7th, I saw his uniform and held up my camera and sent out brainwaves towards him: "Turn around, Willie! Turn around!" And he did.)
Yes, Willie, that off-white looks lovely on you.
You'll notice that Johjima led off three innings, due to Sexson sucking. Infact, the Mariners had the exact opposite lineup split of the Twins in terms of production -- their 6-1 (Johjima, Bloomquist, Morse, Betancourt, Ichiro) were awesome and the 2-5 (Beltre, Lopez, Ibanez, Sexson) were terrible:
Matt Guerrier came out to pitch the 7th inning for the Twins, and the scoreboard brightly declared: "Has not given up a run against Seattle this year in 6 IP". It wasn't true when they put it up there, and it definitely wasn't true after he walked Lopez and gave up a double to Ibanez which scored Lopez. Right after that, though, Jason Kubel made the Web Gem play of the night when he tracked down a low liner from Richie Sexson and made a diving sliding play to trap the ball backhanded in his glove. It was really a pretty nice play.
Bloomquist's at-bat was pretty funny from another standpoint besides the dirt -- he popped the ball up foul right in front of the screen, and Joe Mauer ran back to get it, but when he caught the ball it bounced out of his glove against the screen and back into his glove. Umpire Larry Poncino, who is rather large, ran back there to follow the play, and he called it a no-catch, shaking the netting like "Ha, nice try, kid".
Catch the ERA on this guy.
Jesse Crain came out to pitch the 8th inning, and when he came out there, he had an ERA of 6.66 -- on 6/6/06, no less. That was pretty funny. Carl Everett came up to pinch-hit and launched his bat into the stands again, before grounding out and dropping Crain's ERA to 6.57.
Putz didn't have much trouble ending the 9th inning. They even have a video clip thing for him now along with the big "CLOSING:TIME" sign on the screen -- I wonder if it's just necessary for every team to have some video montage and big song-and-dance when their closer comes out? I suppose it's designed to keep the fans in the seats until the last out rather than having them all leave early, and to psych out the opposing team a little.
Speaking of Eddie, besides the home run to Kubel, early in the game they ran "Ask the Mariners" and the question was "Who on the team would you want to go on a roadtrip with?" A bunch of guys answered Ibanez (Ichiro said "Because he speaks Japanese"), someone said "Gil Meche, because he doesn't talk very much", and then half the team said "Eddie Guardado". Johjima ended the clip, though, saying in Japanese, "I don't really know yet, but I don't think I would want a ride with Eddie." Zing!
Overall, getting to see two young hyped pitchers like Liriano and Felix pitch close-up was pretty cool. And it was actually a "Young Hotshot" pitching day in general -- Brandon McCarthy got the win for the Sox, Kazmir got the loss for the Devil Rays, Chien-Ming Wang got the win for the Yankees, Kerry Wood and Jake Peavy found themselves on the losing end of contests, and of course, King Cole Hamels got his first win for the Phillies. But the most impressive pitching performance wasn't from a young hotshot, it was from Jason Schmidt, getting a complete-game 16-strikeout win over the Marlins. Yes, it's the Marlins, but still, why did this have to happen the week that I'm matched up against the guy in my fantasy league who has Schmidt on his team? Grrr.
Anyway, Blogger's been having issues all day and night, so I bet by the time I get to actually publish this entry, Wednesday night's game will have started. Sigh. I really should stop being lazy and move the blog over to marinerds.com already.
Anyway, my friend Dave had scored some pretty goddamn awesome seats to this game -- 125, Row 10, right behind the on-deck circle, and as such I spent most of the game trying to snap pictures (which all came out crappy) rather than trying to take notes (which all came out unreadable).
Short version: Neither the Twins nor the Mariners are particularly noted for their offense, and it was no different tonight. Mike Morse, who seems to be getting off to another "hot start" this year, knocked in the first Mariners run in the 4th inning with a double. Ichiro batted him in on a single off Liriano's bare hand -- good thing he didn't injure it. Studly Joe Mauer, who would end up being 4-for-4, knocked in the first Twins run in the 5th inning with a double, and Jason Kubel, who scored said run, also hit a solo home run off Teddy Beardado in the 8th. Fortunately, the Mariners scraped across extra runs in the 6th and 7th innings, as Willie Bloomquist did some pretty good baserunning and Raul Ibanez batted in Jose Lopez on a pretty nice double. Felix was actually pitching pretty well, as was Liriano, and I think Felix just got luckier. Either way, it was a fun game to watch, as the Mariners won it 4-2.
Dave and I showed up early and just went to the bullpen, as we'd just missed the end of batting practice, sadly. (I wanted to see if I could get Lew Ford to sign my sudoku book.) However, we did run into Conor Glassey and his dad there, which is always fun, and so we had a while talking about the Twins and the draft and all sorts of fun stuff. And then we got to see Liriano warm up. His motion is awesome, very smooth, barely any kick, it's like, one second he's got the ball, and the next, whoooosh, Joe Mauer's got the ball. I actually saw him throwing a bit when I was at the Metrodome last year, and he's even better now.
"I've got a baseball and an awesome left arm
and I'm not afraid to use them."
(My bullpen shots are not nearly as cool as the Liriano picture on yahoo, sadly.)
Anyway, it was really amazing to watch this game from so close up. Felix struck out the first two batters swinging, which seemed to be a good sign for the night, but then Joe Mauer came up and smacked a single, and Torii Hunter smacked a double, and Mike Cuddyer walked, loading the bases, which was a bad sign for the night. Morneau grounded out to Big Richie though. Whew.
That was really the only jam of the night Felix found himself in. The Twins had a terribly big disparity between the 2-5 batters (Kubel, Mauer, Hunter, Cuddyer) and the 6-1 batters (Morneau, White, Batista, Castro, Castillo; plus I'll count pinch-hitters Tiffee, Rodriguez, and Little Nicky Punto) tonight:
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB K SB/CS OPS
2-5 Batters 16 2 9 2 3 0 1 1 4 1/0 1.525
6-1 Batters 20 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 3 0/1 0.195
Seriously, all of the odd-numbered innings seem to have Kubel and Mauer getting hits, and all of the even ones have the bottom of the lineup sucking. It's sort of amusing.
In the third inning, Kubel singled and Mauer doubled, and they were again left on second and third as Hunter grounded out and Cuddyer struck out.
In the fifth inning, Kubel singled with two outs and this time Mauer drove him home with a wicked slice to left field for a double -- Ibanez was playing way to the right of where he normally would, or it probably would have only been a single. Dave commented that it looked like they had put a shift on for Mauer, which isn't unreasonable since he was pulling the ball for the rest of the night. And Hunter struck out to end it.
Due to Morneau getting caught stealing after a walk in the 6th, the next "odd" inning was actually the 8th. Felix had pitched seven strong innings of one-run ball, and so they brought out Eddie Guardado for some reason. The speakers blared the start of "Hell's Bells" but didn't play much of it, so I joked - "They'll play more of the song when he earns it -- by not giving up so many game-ending home runs." Immediately after I said that, Jason Kubel launched a 404-foot home run into the right-field seats. Mauer hit a single, making him 4-for-4 on the evening. So Hargrove decided to just play Musical Bullpen, going through four pitchers in the inning. Mateo came out for Hunter and Cuddyer, getting a strikeout and a single; Sherrill came out for Morneau, getting a strikeout, and Putz got Terry Tiffee (who still looks like a 16-year-old despite being 27) to ground out to end the inning.
But yeah, Felix's line for the evening was 7 IP on exactly 100 pitches, 1 run, 6 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts. I can live with that
Liriano wasn't quite so lucky, only getting one 1-2-3 inning, though it was ironically out of the 3-4-5 part of our lineup. Go figure. He kept himself out of trouble for the first three innings in general, though.
In the fourth, Johjima came up and hit a clean single to center. Bloomquist bunted him to second, and then Mike Morse came up and drove in Johjima with a double to right which escaped Cuddyer. As that first run of the game scored, they put up the big "MAY THE MORSE BE WITH YOU" thing on the centerfield board, which still makes me giggle, despite how stupid it is. (Hell, I sponsored Morse's b-ref page just to make that dumb joke.) Morse advanced on a wild pitch before Betancourt grounded out, and then Ichiro hit a single which basically bounced right over Liriano, who grabbed for it with his bare left hand, but couldn't get it; by the time the ball was recovered, Morse had scored and Ichiro was safe at first. I think Liriano should just be glad he didn't injure his throwing hand. Ouch.
During Ichiro's at-bat, the crowds were chanting: "I-CHI-RO!"
The crazy loud beer girl was screaming, "BEEEEEEEEEER!"
They kept echoing back and forth -- "ICHIRO!" "BEEER!" "ICHIRO!" "BEEEER!"
I turned to Dave like "Two great tastes that go great together?"
In the 6th inning, Johjima led off by almost hitting a homer into the bullpens, but instead it was just a bounced ground rule double. Willie Bloomquist bounced a grounder to Justin Morneau, who smartly threw the ball to third, catching Johjima in a rundown, eventually having Castro tag him out on the basepath. Bloomquist actually got to second on the play, though, and immediately stole third. When Mike Morse grounded to third, Bloomquist ran home, and it was a really close play at home, but T-Fat's throw was terrible and so Willie was safe, happily marching into the dugout with his head high and his uniform all full of dirt from sliding.
(When Willie came out to the ondeck circle in the 7th, I saw his uniform and held up my camera and sent out brainwaves towards him: "Turn around, Willie! Turn around!" And he did.)
Yes, Willie, that off-white looks lovely on you.
You'll notice that Johjima led off three innings, due to Sexson sucking. Infact, the Mariners had the exact opposite lineup split of the Twins in terms of production -- their 6-1 (Johjima, Bloomquist, Morse, Betancourt, Ichiro) were awesome and the 2-5 (Beltre, Lopez, Ibanez, Sexson) were terrible:
AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB K SB/CS OPS
2-5 Batters 16 1 2 1 1 0 0 2 3 0/0 0.409
6-1 Batters 18 3 8 3 2 0 0 2 2 2/0 1.031
Matt Guerrier came out to pitch the 7th inning for the Twins, and the scoreboard brightly declared: "Has not given up a run against Seattle this year in 6 IP". It wasn't true when they put it up there, and it definitely wasn't true after he walked Lopez and gave up a double to Ibanez which scored Lopez. Right after that, though, Jason Kubel made the Web Gem play of the night when he tracked down a low liner from Richie Sexson and made a diving sliding play to trap the ball backhanded in his glove. It was really a pretty nice play.
Bloomquist's at-bat was pretty funny from another standpoint besides the dirt -- he popped the ball up foul right in front of the screen, and Joe Mauer ran back to get it, but when he caught the ball it bounced out of his glove against the screen and back into his glove. Umpire Larry Poncino, who is rather large, ran back there to follow the play, and he called it a no-catch, shaking the netting like "Ha, nice try, kid".
Catch the ERA on this guy.
Jesse Crain came out to pitch the 8th inning, and when he came out there, he had an ERA of 6.66 -- on 6/6/06, no less. That was pretty funny. Carl Everett came up to pinch-hit and launched his bat into the stands again, before grounding out and dropping Crain's ERA to 6.57.
Putz didn't have much trouble ending the 9th inning. They even have a video clip thing for him now along with the big "CLOSING:TIME" sign on the screen -- I wonder if it's just necessary for every team to have some video montage and big song-and-dance when their closer comes out? I suppose it's designed to keep the fans in the seats until the last out rather than having them all leave early, and to psych out the opposing team a little.
Speaking of Eddie, besides the home run to Kubel, early in the game they ran "Ask the Mariners" and the question was "Who on the team would you want to go on a roadtrip with?" A bunch of guys answered Ibanez (Ichiro said "Because he speaks Japanese"), someone said "Gil Meche, because he doesn't talk very much", and then half the team said "Eddie Guardado". Johjima ended the clip, though, saying in Japanese, "I don't really know yet, but I don't think I would want a ride with Eddie." Zing!
Overall, getting to see two young hyped pitchers like Liriano and Felix pitch close-up was pretty cool. And it was actually a "Young Hotshot" pitching day in general -- Brandon McCarthy got the win for the Sox, Kazmir got the loss for the Devil Rays, Chien-Ming Wang got the win for the Yankees, Kerry Wood and Jake Peavy found themselves on the losing end of contests, and of course, King Cole Hamels got his first win for the Phillies. But the most impressive pitching performance wasn't from a young hotshot, it was from Jason Schmidt, getting a complete-game 16-strikeout win over the Marlins. Yes, it's the Marlins, but still, why did this have to happen the week that I'm matched up against the guy in my fantasy league who has Schmidt on his team? Grrr.
Anyway, Blogger's been having issues all day and night, so I bet by the time I get to actually publish this entry, Wednesday night's game will have started. Sigh. I really should stop being lazy and move the blog over to marinerds.com already.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Lew's On First
The Mariners-Twins game today was a battle of the lefties -- J-Rod the Washburninator vs. El Presidente. Both of them were actually pretty good overall, but both of them had brief lapses of "Hits for Everyone! Wheeee!" times, and J-Rod's was just much more prolonged and painful than Santana's, thus resulting in the Twins winning the game 5-1.
Santana started off the game with his serving of hits, as Ichiro tripled, Willie Bloomquist drove him in on a single, and Ibanez followed it up with a single. Then, suddenly, he realized: "Wait a minute. I am Johan Santana, Destroyer of Worlds. I don't give up hits, I strike out everyone in sight. Duhhhhh." So he struck out Richie, Carl, and Beltre in a row, and then came back to the dugout and said, "None of you saw those first three batters, right? We cool?"
Jarrod Washburn got through the first inning just fine, but he hit the bottom of the second and suddenly started giving up hits left and right (and center). Leeewwwww singled. Morneau singled. Even Tony Batista singled. Rondell White doubled. Little Nicky Punto singled. It was a veritable hit parade. Shannon Stewart grounded into a double play, but by the time the dust had settled, the Twins were up 4-1.
Then nothing happened for a very long time and I went home from work, and by the time I checked the score again, the game was over and the Twins had won it. It appears that Sean Green got to make his MLB debut in the 8th inning though, so good for him.
I had this momentary flash of, er, brilliance, when I realized Lew got a single, White got a double, Ichiro had gotten a triple... obviously this calls for a new comedy duo named Everett And Castillo, to do their rendition of the classic routine, "Lew's on First":
Then again, maybe this is just what happens to my brain when it can't take watching Washburn get hit like a printer in Office Space.
Speaking of getting hit, my favorite ex-Pirate Jason Kendall beat the crap out of John Lackey today. Wheeeee. Check out the video in this recap. Now, not that I'm in favor of these sorts of things, but that's a pretty entertaining brawl, relatively. Don't mess with Kendall, yo.
And speaking of Pirates, Zach Duke pitched a complete game shutout of the Cubs, and the Pirates scored 8 runs, which probably used up most of their run-scoring karma for the whole week. Oops. I guess the rest of their rotation will also have to pitch shutouts.
Have you all been reading Baseball Between the Numbers? Are you ready to come hang out and discuss it this Saturday?
Santana started off the game with his serving of hits, as Ichiro tripled, Willie Bloomquist drove him in on a single, and Ibanez followed it up with a single. Then, suddenly, he realized: "Wait a minute. I am Johan Santana, Destroyer of Worlds. I don't give up hits, I strike out everyone in sight. Duhhhhh." So he struck out Richie, Carl, and Beltre in a row, and then came back to the dugout and said, "None of you saw those first three batters, right? We cool?"
Jarrod Washburn got through the first inning just fine, but he hit the bottom of the second and suddenly started giving up hits left and right (and center). Leeewwwww singled. Morneau singled. Even Tony Batista singled. Rondell White doubled. Little Nicky Punto singled. It was a veritable hit parade. Shannon Stewart grounded into a double play, but by the time the dust had settled, the Twins were up 4-1.
Then nothing happened for a very long time and I went home from work, and by the time I checked the score again, the game was over and the Twins had won it. It appears that Sean Green got to make his MLB debut in the 8th inning though, so good for him.
I had this momentary flash of, er, brilliance, when I realized Lew got a single, White got a double, Ichiro had gotten a triple... obviously this calls for a new comedy duo named Everett And Castillo, to do their rendition of the classic routine, "Lew's on First":
Everett: You take these Twins, they've got such bizarre nicknames these days thanks to Bat-Girl. I can't keep track of who anyone is anymore.
Castillo: Yeah, I guess. Let's see, Lew's on first, White's on second, Ichiro's on third...
Everett: Wait, tell me about the guy on first.
Castillo: Lew.
Everett: The guy who just singled.
Castillo: Lew.
Everett: He nearly decapitated Betancourt.
Castillo: Lew is on first.
Everett: White's on second?
Castillo: Yes.
Everett: Yes is on second?
Castillo: No, White's on second.
Everett: And Ichiro?
Castillo: He's on third, we're not talking about him.
Everett: Now how did I get on third?
Castillo: Why, you said his name.
Everett: If I said his name, wouldn't Lew be on third?
Castillo: Lew's on first.
Everett: Wait, so if I stole the shoes of the guy on first, I'd have whose shoes?
Castillo: Lew's.
Everett: I lose?
Castillo: No, Lew's.
Everett: So I win?
Castillo: No, Winn isn't even at this ballgame. The shoes are Lew's.
Everett: I thought Shouse was playing for Texas.
Castillo: Oh my god, this joke is so lame. Go suck a dinosaur.
Then again, maybe this is just what happens to my brain when it can't take watching Washburn get hit like a printer in Office Space.
Speaking of getting hit, my favorite ex-Pirate Jason Kendall beat the crap out of John Lackey today. Wheeeee. Check out the video in this recap. Now, not that I'm in favor of these sorts of things, but that's a pretty entertaining brawl, relatively. Don't mess with Kendall, yo.
And speaking of Pirates, Zach Duke pitched a complete game shutout of the Cubs, and the Pirates scored 8 runs, which probably used up most of their run-scoring karma for the whole week. Oops. I guess the rest of their rotation will also have to pitch shutouts.
Have you all been reading Baseball Between the Numbers? Are you ready to come hang out and discuss it this Saturday?
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Game Report: Twins vs. White Sox - A Sweet Tune by Johan Santana, Wedding Singer
This is really a report about a wedding/ballgame on September 17th, 2005.
I got up super-duper early, at like 7:30am CDT, and got all dressed up for Laurel and Kevin (and 82 other couples') wedding! ...meaning I put on a Mariners shirt and jeans. Hot damn, it's cool to go to a wedding and not have to wear a dress. I got a ride to the light rail, and whoooshed down to the Metrodome.
Matthew LeCroy wearing a white bow tie, coming
back from the Matrimonial First Pitch.
Showed up at the stadium at about 8:50ish, and found Peter, who had a baseball ticket for me, and some other friends of Laurel's whose names I have forgotten or never quite caught. Apparently we were actually there BEFORE the stadium opened! So when they did open it finally at 9:10am, we plodded in. I went around for a while taking pictures of the place (metrodome shots: 1 2 3 4 5), since I hadn't been there before. My impression of the Metrodome is that it reminds me of the Tokyo Dome, but smaller. I don't think I'd really like seeing games there on a regular basis, but it was fun to be in a new place for once. Everybody was extremely friendly and nice.
It turns out that they actually discriminate between the two levels of the place, though, and you can't just go to the lower level if you have an upper-level ticket. However, since I was so early, and my ticket did say "Multiple Matrimony" on it since Laurel's parents bought the group tickets for it, I found a very nice stairway guard lady who said she'd just let me go down, but I'd have to talk the ushers down there into letting me go in to take pictures of the ceremony. I went downstairs (and bought a long-sleeve Twins shirt because all their t-shirts were sold out except in M and XXL), and snuck into the lower field section by 115 or so where there were no ushers guarding it. There was no batting practice, but pitchers (read: Francisco Liriano) were out throwing, and some fielding practice was going on, so eventually I got Scott Baker to sign my ticket, and Matt Guerrier and J.C Romero to sign my Twins program. That was pretty cool. They were very sweet about signing stuff; it seems like the players are in general. There was a gaggle of teenage girls who kept shouting out "JOE!!!!!" "JOE, COME OVER HERE!!!!" and Joe Mauer would just look at them and wave and smile like "Oh god, not another bunch."
Eventually, there was a wedding! They led 83 couples onto the field from inside the right field stadium bowels. It was really interesting to see all the different couples. Some were getting married; some were renewing vows. Some were extremely dressed up - there were some traditional huge white wedding dresses, and a few guys in tuxes, but there was also a lot of people in Twins clothes, and what was kind of cool was how each couple was *unique* -- like, there were a few of 'em where the women used Twins homer hankies as veils; some where they weren't dressed in Twins apparel at all; some where just in jerseys and jeans; one or two couples renewing vows where they had a son or daughter with them; some hybrids where the guy was in a Twins jersey and shorts and the girl was wearing a gigantic white dress.
I spotted Kevin and Laurel as they came out and were greeted by TC Bear. Laurel was wearing a red camisole and a white floofy skirt and a Torii Hunter Twins jersey, and she had baseball Keds. Kevin had a black suit on, but with an all-black Twins jersey as his vest. It was very cool. (Later on, they had "Bride" and "Groom" baseball caps, and their parents had "Father of the BRIDE" and such baseball caps.)
The ceremony was about 20 minutes long. They had the processional where everyone came in; then they had this reverend guy speaking for a while, and they had a lady come out and sing "We've Only Just Begun", and then there was more speaking, and some vows, and they put on rings, and kissed, and waved to the crowd, and all that stuff. To be honest, it was a (not unexpectedly) generic wedding service. The funny part was that the Twins were stretching and running out in left field and the White Sox were in right field, while the ceremony was going on. As Laurel commented later, from her position near third base, she could see players signing stuff by the dugout. (Laurel: "Look! Little Nicky Punto is signing stuff!" Kevin: "Dear, we're getting *married* right now!") A few of the players stopped to watch the ceremony, though.
They had one of the couples throw out the matrimonial first pitch. Matthew LeCroy caught it. He was wearing a bowtie. It was PRECIOUS.
I snuck back up to the second level and found my seat. I was sitting in a row with Laurel and Kevin and some of their friends. We were all in section 228, rows 7-10, or so. Batling PJStP stopped by for a while. Some people down our row had a whole bunch of signs since they had held up "CONGRATS LAUREL AND KEVIN!!" during the ceremony. (Here's a picture of that someone else took.) So, anagramming, they figured out that we could also use those letters and spell out "SANTANA!!" since Johan Santana was pitching the game. So we did that a few times. It was funny.
The game itself was ABSOLUTELY FUCKING AMAZING. I am totally in awe and fear of El Presidente, Johan Santana. No, really. He was mowing the White Sox down. He had a perfect game until the 5th inning when Aaron Rowand smacked a single into center. And through the course of the first 8 innings, the White Sox only got two hits off Santana, and struck out 13 times. That's THIRTEEN STRIKEOUTS. I joked later that it was a shame he didn't get fourteen -- then you could say it was a 14-K-Rat wedding game! He ran into a little bit of trouble in the 9th, and I'm sad they even put him out there since he was up to 102 pitches. He loaded the bases, and they brought in Joe Nathan, who promptly struck out Everett, Rowand, and Dye, to win and save the game and shutout. It was amazing. I almost think I need to go buy a "Don't blame me, I voted for Santana/Nathan" shirt after that performance. The Twins' offense also didn't totally suck, and Morneau and Cuddyer both hit home runs, to boot.
(As an aside, the Twins have a LOT of really good-looking guys playing for them. Why don't the Mariners? Sigh.)
Actually, the thing about the game is -- there isn't much to report, since my entire White Sox scorecard looks mostly like "K K K K K K K" with occasional other things. Such as Johan Santana running down Pablo Ozuna at first and diving to tag him out. It looked cool, but crap, it's a good thing he didn't get injured doing that.
Oh yeah, and El Dookie sucks.
Somewhere in the 4th or 5th inning, a guy proposed to his girlfriend and it was up on the big screens. Now, normally that wouldn't be so weird, but the fact that he was proposing on the day where 83 couples were there getting married seemed just a bit like his timing was off, eh?
Later in the evening Laurel and Kevin had a wedding reception at a hotel, which was pretty fun. They had two wedding cakes (and plenty of peanuts and Cracker Jacks!), one of which had a baseball diamond on it. Nobody seemed to actually want to cut into that part. I suggested that L & K should save the baseball diamond -- much like you normally would save the top layer if you had a multi-tiered cake -- and freeze it and eat it in a year. I also suggested they should go to Twins Spring Training for their honeymoon. Man, Laurel is totally living my dream wedding :)
I got up super-duper early, at like 7:30am CDT, and got all dressed up for Laurel and Kevin (and 82 other couples') wedding! ...meaning I put on a Mariners shirt and jeans. Hot damn, it's cool to go to a wedding and not have to wear a dress. I got a ride to the light rail, and whoooshed down to the Metrodome.
Matthew LeCroy wearing a white bow tie, coming
back from the Matrimonial First Pitch.
Showed up at the stadium at about 8:50ish, and found Peter, who had a baseball ticket for me, and some other friends of Laurel's whose names I have forgotten or never quite caught. Apparently we were actually there BEFORE the stadium opened! So when they did open it finally at 9:10am, we plodded in. I went around for a while taking pictures of the place (metrodome shots: 1 2 3 4 5), since I hadn't been there before. My impression of the Metrodome is that it reminds me of the Tokyo Dome, but smaller. I don't think I'd really like seeing games there on a regular basis, but it was fun to be in a new place for once. Everybody was extremely friendly and nice.
It turns out that they actually discriminate between the two levels of the place, though, and you can't just go to the lower level if you have an upper-level ticket. However, since I was so early, and my ticket did say "Multiple Matrimony" on it since Laurel's parents bought the group tickets for it, I found a very nice stairway guard lady who said she'd just let me go down, but I'd have to talk the ushers down there into letting me go in to take pictures of the ceremony. I went downstairs (and bought a long-sleeve Twins shirt because all their t-shirts were sold out except in M and XXL), and snuck into the lower field section by 115 or so where there were no ushers guarding it. There was no batting practice, but pitchers (read: Francisco Liriano) were out throwing, and some fielding practice was going on, so eventually I got Scott Baker to sign my ticket, and Matt Guerrier and J.C Romero to sign my Twins program. That was pretty cool. They were very sweet about signing stuff; it seems like the players are in general. There was a gaggle of teenage girls who kept shouting out "JOE!!!!!" "JOE, COME OVER HERE!!!!" and Joe Mauer would just look at them and wave and smile like "Oh god, not another bunch."
Eventually, there was a wedding! They led 83 couples onto the field from inside the right field stadium bowels. It was really interesting to see all the different couples. Some were getting married; some were renewing vows. Some were extremely dressed up - there were some traditional huge white wedding dresses, and a few guys in tuxes, but there was also a lot of people in Twins clothes, and what was kind of cool was how each couple was *unique* -- like, there were a few of 'em where the women used Twins homer hankies as veils; some where they weren't dressed in Twins apparel at all; some where just in jerseys and jeans; one or two couples renewing vows where they had a son or daughter with them; some hybrids where the guy was in a Twins jersey and shorts and the girl was wearing a gigantic white dress.
I spotted Kevin and Laurel as they came out and were greeted by TC Bear. Laurel was wearing a red camisole and a white floofy skirt and a Torii Hunter Twins jersey, and she had baseball Keds. Kevin had a black suit on, but with an all-black Twins jersey as his vest. It was very cool. (Later on, they had "Bride" and "Groom" baseball caps, and their parents had "Father of the BRIDE" and such baseball caps.)
The ceremony was about 20 minutes long. They had the processional where everyone came in; then they had this reverend guy speaking for a while, and they had a lady come out and sing "We've Only Just Begun", and then there was more speaking, and some vows, and they put on rings, and kissed, and waved to the crowd, and all that stuff. To be honest, it was a (not unexpectedly) generic wedding service. The funny part was that the Twins were stretching and running out in left field and the White Sox were in right field, while the ceremony was going on. As Laurel commented later, from her position near third base, she could see players signing stuff by the dugout. (Laurel: "Look! Little Nicky Punto is signing stuff!" Kevin: "Dear, we're getting *married* right now!") A few of the players stopped to watch the ceremony, though.
They had one of the couples throw out the matrimonial first pitch. Matthew LeCroy caught it. He was wearing a bowtie. It was PRECIOUS.
I snuck back up to the second level and found my seat. I was sitting in a row with Laurel and Kevin and some of their friends. We were all in section 228, rows 7-10, or so. Batling PJStP stopped by for a while. Some people down our row had a whole bunch of signs since they had held up "CONGRATS LAUREL AND KEVIN!!" during the ceremony. (Here's a picture of that someone else took.) So, anagramming, they figured out that we could also use those letters and spell out "SANTANA!!" since Johan Santana was pitching the game. So we did that a few times. It was funny.
The game itself was ABSOLUTELY FUCKING AMAZING. I am totally in awe and fear of El Presidente, Johan Santana. No, really. He was mowing the White Sox down. He had a perfect game until the 5th inning when Aaron Rowand smacked a single into center. And through the course of the first 8 innings, the White Sox only got two hits off Santana, and struck out 13 times. That's THIRTEEN STRIKEOUTS. I joked later that it was a shame he didn't get fourteen -- then you could say it was a 14-K-Rat wedding game! He ran into a little bit of trouble in the 9th, and I'm sad they even put him out there since he was up to 102 pitches. He loaded the bases, and they brought in Joe Nathan, who promptly struck out Everett, Rowand, and Dye, to win and save the game and shutout. It was amazing. I almost think I need to go buy a "Don't blame me, I voted for Santana/Nathan" shirt after that performance. The Twins' offense also didn't totally suck, and Morneau and Cuddyer both hit home runs, to boot.
(As an aside, the Twins have a LOT of really good-looking guys playing for them. Why don't the Mariners? Sigh.)
Actually, the thing about the game is -- there isn't much to report, since my entire White Sox scorecard looks mostly like "K K K K K K K" with occasional other things. Such as Johan Santana running down Pablo Ozuna at first and diving to tag him out. It looked cool, but crap, it's a good thing he didn't get injured doing that.
Oh yeah, and El Dookie sucks.
Somewhere in the 4th or 5th inning, a guy proposed to his girlfriend and it was up on the big screens. Now, normally that wouldn't be so weird, but the fact that he was proposing on the day where 83 couples were there getting married seemed just a bit like his timing was off, eh?
Later in the evening Laurel and Kevin had a wedding reception at a hotel, which was pretty fun. They had two wedding cakes (and plenty of peanuts and Cracker Jacks!), one of which had a baseball diamond on it. Nobody seemed to actually want to cut into that part. I suggested that L & K should save the baseball diamond -- much like you normally would save the top layer if you had a multi-tiered cake -- and freeze it and eat it in a year. I also suggested they should go to Twins Spring Training for their honeymoon. Man, Laurel is totally living my dream wedding :)
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