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The Shot Heard Round The World Revisited

September 29, 2018

 

3:57 PM, EST, October 3, 1951
“THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD”
Hit by Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants

3:57 PM, EST, October 3, 1951
“THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD”
Surrendered by Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers

 

Seems like yesterday. As an 8th grade student at St. Christopher’s Parochial School in Park Place out the Gulf Freeway, two blocks east of the Broadway exit, I was anxious to the bone for school to end at our normal 3:00 PM, CST, stopping time in the hopes of covering the two-mile bus trek home in time to see the last part of what I hoped would’ve been a slow, but still up-for-grabs third playoff TV game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the miraculous New York Giants.

It would have been the first televised MLB playoff game to reach Houston and I could only hope that there would be a part of it still unfolding by the time I scrambled home. The late incredible surge of the Giants from way back in July to a tie for 1st place on the final day of the regular season. Now, after a split of the first two games, the two clubs were squaring off in the game that would decide which of them would go on to plays the New York Yankees in the 1951 World Series.

This was no day for Sister Mary Reginald to get lost in time at the bell for the sake of finishing some new moral story she hoped to impart. “What would really be bad, Sister,” I thought, “is if you come up with a story that causes us to miss out from seeing the end of a game that decides the National League pennant winner.”

Sister Reginald didn’t stop us, but the clock did. I found out later that the unbelievable Bobby Thomson home run “Shot Heard Round the World” took place at 3:57 PM, New York time ~ and that was exactly three minutes prior to the end of our school day at 2:57 Houston time.

Home run slugger Bobby Thomson of the Giants and pitcher Ralph Branca of the Dodgers both were bronzed as the yin and the yang of the moment. They spent the next half century touring the baseball world and getting paid for public appearances as the lion and the goat of the only moment that they each were remembered for performing.

The late 20th century news that the Giants of that season had been stealing signs ~ and that Thomson may have been aided by this practice ~ produced a rift in the relationship between the two men who actually had become close friends as a result of their bright light bond to a major moment in baseball history.

Thomson denied having the sign that Branca was planning to throw him a second straight fast baseball. His rationale was plausible. He argued that, had he been taking stolen signs, he would not have allowed the first one to go past him as a called strike, which it did. Branca, on the other hand, apparently started behaving more as a man who had been cheated out of better memory spot in history by unethical tactics used against him back in 1951.

When Thomson died at the age 86 in 2010, he and Branca apparently had never resolved the rift caused by the stolen sign accusations. Ralph Branca died at the age of 90 in 2016.

Here’s a link to an article on the sign stealing factor that you may wish to read:

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/baseball/fallout-bobby-thomson-famed-home-run-fractures-friendship-between-thomson-ralph-branca/Y1UXrsOJvWpGLyh2zUZkQP/

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

 

 

 

mmmmmm

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, culture, History | 3 Comments »

What Else Could Be Perfect For Us?

September 27, 2018

“I wonder what else could be perfect for the three of us?”

 

Most of you in the Houston area have seen the entertaining HEB Food Store TV commercials which feature the Astros’ “Big Three” stars from 2017 ~ namely Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and George Springer. If so, then you recall the one in which a fun game of miniature golf among them causes Springer to exclaim how “perfect” this fun has been as it also  inspires Altuve to smile and place his hand on his chin as he gazes off to some far horizon.

“I wonder what else could be perfect for the three of us?” Altuve considers.

We then get to watch some funny possibilities in the commercial, but none include the question, “Will the 2018 season be as perfect for the three of us as the 2017 season tried to be?” I say “tried to be” because Jose Altuve was the only member of the Astros Musketeers to use 2017 as a big connecting dot to his eventually possible induction into the Hall of Fame. The two others simply posted productive years and leadership to a young team that was on its way to a dramatic pursuit and capture of the franchise’s first World Series victory.

For reasons of injury and whatever, none of the three most famous contemporary Astro position players have escaped downturns in their personal records in 2018 on a club that features Justin Verlander for a full season as a starter, the addition of Gerrit Cole as full season member of the rotation, the acquisition of Roberto Osuna as one of the best closers in baseball, a general improvement in the relief staff, the total team balance upgrade, and the offensive coming of age by Alex Bregman as a blossoming sky’s-the-limit star.

In brief, Springer needs to regain the confidence and concentration that allowed him to be one of the most feared lead-off hitters in the American League in 2017. Altuve simply needs time to fully recover and get back to full capacity as a great hitter. Nobody, not even Altuve, wins a batting championship every season. And Correa needs to fully recover from the back injury that still plays with his muscles and his mind in matters that require the body to move  abruptly down to catch or swing at a fast-moving baseball. If you’ve ever had a back injury, as I have too, then you also know that the threat of that electrically painful shock at any moment plants a threat that does nothing to relax any free movement.

Here are some statistical comparisons for each of these Astro stars which show 2017 production versus the same data for 2018 through September 26, 2018:

Jose Altuve G AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BA SA
2017 153 590 112 204 81 39 4 24 .346 .547
2018 to 9/25 134 525 84 165 61 28 2 13 .314 .451
George Springer G AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BA SA
2017 140 548 112 155 85 29 0 34 .283 .522
2018 to 9/25 138 539 100 143 69 26 0 21 .265 .430
Carlos Correa G AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BA SA
2017 109 422 82 133 84 25 1 24 .315 .391
2018 to 9/25 107 390 59 93 62 19 1 14 .238 .323

What Else Could Be Perfect For Us Fans, Jose? How about you guys coming together just in time to win us a 2019 season that’s filled with another round of ~ this time ~ Replica 2018 2nd Astros World Series Victory Ring giveaways with the purchase of certain target date home game tickets?

And, oh yes, Good Luck in the near-at-hand 2018 ALDS versus the Cleveland Indians, Astros!

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

 

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Posted in Baseball, culture, History | Leave a Comment »

Astros Clinch 2018 AL West Title

September 26, 2018

 

In baseball, sometimes you do get a little help from your friends, even if they are not acting with the intention of helping you by their accomplishments.

After last night’s 4-1 Astros win over the Blue Jays in Toronto, “one was the onliest number” for a short while, pending the later outcome of the Oakland A’s game with the Mariners in Seattle. That one looked pretty doubtful for quite a while as the A’s got the best of early scoring hammers ~ and even led 8-5 going into the 8th.

That’s when the Mariners put on their A’s-hope spoiler duds in all out earnestness. Two “M” runs in the 8th and 1 in the 9th sent the game into an 8-8 knot and extra innings.

“Pinch-hitter Chris Herrmann’s two-run homer in the 11th inning (then) capped Seattle’s late rally and gave the Mariners a 10-8 win over Oakland. Seattle had overcome the A’s, dropping them  2½ games behind the Yankees for home-field advantage in the Oct. 3 winner-take-all one-and-done matchup of the two wild cards.”

For the full story from this mostly quoted above paragraph from this AP source, click this link to the (Seattle) Columbian story:

https://www.columbian.com/news/2018/sep/26/mariners-beat-as-in-11-innings-giving-astros-al-west-title/

The Astros now take the field today at 3:00 PM for their final game in Toronto as division champs. We presume that they will postpone the champagne part of their celebration until after today’s nw less meaningful game with the Blue Jays.

The Astros now know their post-season match-up in the first round NLDS best 3 of 5 games series. It will be the Cleveland Indians versus the Houston Astros, starting on Friday, October 5th of next week at Minute Maid Park.

Go Astros! Enjoy your four-game season-ending series in Baltimore versus the Orioles, starting tomorrow as you also do all you can to stay healthy and rested for the big push that starts next week!

********************

AL WEST SCORES, 

Thru Tue., 9/25/18:

Houston 4 – Toronto 1.

Seattle 10 – Oakland 8. (11)

LA Angels 4 – Texas 1.

 ********************

AL WEST STANDINGS

Morning of Wed., 9/26/18

TEAMS

WON

LOST

PCT.

GB

*Houston

100

57

.637

 —-

Oakland

95

63

.601

   5.5

Seattle

86

71

.548

 14.0

LA Angels

77

81

.487

 23.5

Texas

66

91

.420

 34.0

# Clinched AL West, 9/26/18.

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

 

 

 

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Posted in Baseball, History, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Mark Wernick: “Til The Last Man Is Out”

September 25, 2018

Mark Wernick’s Scorecard in the Game of the Big 8th.
Even the smudge marks sweat allegiance to his caring.

 

How deep is your fandom in the destiny and fate of the Houston Astros? And what do you do when the opposition scores 5 runs in the top of the 8th to take a 5-1 seemingly deadly lead over the local heroes on a night when the boys are home and hitting at their too often fatally anemic pace?

Do you stay or do you go? 

This e-mail I received the other day from friend and colleague Mark Wernick in the wake of the 9-run rally in the bottom half of the same 8th inning by the Astros in Game Two in the immediate wake of the recently concluded three game series sweep of the Angels not only speaks for itself to the questions we now put forth, ~ it also qualifies for elevation of Mark’s work to column status as a man who thinks, writes, breathes, bleeds, cries, and sweats baseball with all the other deepest blue fans of our great game.  ~ So here goes.

Mark Wernick

 

Til The Last Man’s Out

By Mark Wernick

I didn’t finish the tallying for this scorecard – too exhausted. If you can read it, you’re amazing.

This was actually 2 games. Justin Verlander out-dueled Jaime Barria over 6 innings in the first game, 1-0, and Ryan Pressly shut down the Angels in the 7th. Verlander yielded one hit, no walks, and struck out 11, while Pressly yielded 2 hits, no walks, and struck out 2. So the Astros defeated the Angels in the first game, a 7 inning pitchers duel, by a score of 1-0.

The second game only lasted 2 innings, but it felt like 7 innings. Hector Rondon set the table for the disaster to follow, his 3rd consecutive poor outing. Rondon immediately walked the 8th inning leadoff man, pinch hitter Eric Young, Jr, (slash line .210/.257/.314), who is extremely fast and a base-stealing threat.

Young immediately stole 2nd base. Then pinch hitter Francisco Arcia, hitting .233 with 5 doubles in 90 at-bats, pounded a double to drive in Young with the tying run and blow Verlander’s masterpiece. Rondon did manage to strike out the next batter, whereupon manager Hinch replaced Rondon with the usually reliable Joe Smith.

Smith proceeded to have one of the most disastrous outings I’ve ever seen by a relief pitcher. He faced 5 batters and made a throwing error on the first batter to put two runners on base ahead of the best hitter in Major League Baseball, Mike Trout.

Trout then launched a 414 foot home run into left field orbit. That’s 2 batters and 3 runs, putting the Astros in a 1-4 hole. Then Smith yielded an infield hit to Shohei Ohtani and walked Justin Upton.

Then a passed ball by Brian McCann allowed the runners to move up to 2nd and 3rd. Then Andrelton Simmons just missed a three-run homer to left, the ball bouncing off the concrete wall in left center, barely below the yellow line. The ball was hit so hard that the ricochet came back to the fielder fast enough to enable the defense to keep Upton at 3rd, but Ohtani scored to make it 1-5, Angels. Mercifully Hinch pulled Smith, who faced 5 batters and retired no one. Collin McHugh then came in and put out the fire.

I was at this game with my old buddy from San Antonio, Stephen Smolins. We looked at each other at the end of the inning, shrugged, and then looked at the multitudes filing for the exits. “Wanna go?” I asked. “I’m in no hurry”, he answered. I was glad he said that. I’d have gone without a whimper if he had wanted to leave, but I preferred to stay to the end.

I told my friend a story about a game I attended with my son and my cousin and her husband in New York in 2004 as a lesson in leaving early. Here’s the box score and the play-by-play of that game. It will be self-explanatory. My cousin (may he rest in peace) decided to leave the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees trailing to San Diego and Trevor Hoffman (in his prime) 0-2.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/box…/…/NYA200406130.shtml

By way of very brief summary, we remained, and the Astros scored 9 runs in the bottom of the 8th, nicely capped by a monster 2-run homer by Jose Altuve, who went 3 for 4 with a walk and was the Altuve of old. So the Astros also won the second game, 9-5. Very glad we stayed!

********************

And all of us are the richer for the fact you wrote, Mark Wernick. Thank you for turning the hose of that eternal flow of passion for the game of baseball you channel upon all the rest of us.

Things are looking sweeter by the day. The Astros’ 5-3 win over the Blue Jays last night has taken us to 99 wins on the year and a reduction of our magic number for clinching the AL West title from “3” to “2”. ~ Oakland kept it from further shrinkage on Monday by later taking their game at Seattle by a 7-3 count.

If the Astros win and the A’s lose today, the AL West is ours and manager Hinch can rest and plan his use of personnel for the playoffs through the end of the regular season this coming Sunday.

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, culture, History, Houston | 3 Comments »

Post LA: Your Earliest Accurate Standings

September 24, 2018

 

Sure. it’s limited to the Post-Sunday games of the AL West, but that’s the whole world for now, isn’t it ~ at least, until our Astros-prejudicial goals are accomplished of watching our boys sew up their second straight divisional crown on the way to the larger arena of accomplishment and adulation that still concerns us too!

How Seattle does from here is far from totally extraneous. Although the Mariners no longer have a chance of catching the Astros, they now go home to “entertain” Oakland in a three-game series that starts tomorrow night. The “Ms” have a chance to shoot three of the four holes still needed to kill Oakland as our club’s only remaining contender in the ALW. These standings and the remaining schedules of the top three ALW clubs are all still important to that end ~ and we of The Pecan Park Eagle wanted to get this picture to you at our earliest possible moment ~ and this is the evening prior to the old expected arrival time for this sort of thing in the old Monday morning Houston Past or Comical daily print rags.

The magic number for Houston to clinch the AL West is now “3”. ~ Any combination of Houston wins and/or Oakland losses that totals “3” ~ and the Houston Astros are the repeat champions of the American League West.

“Go Astros! ~ Our First Big Step is Now Yours for the Taking!”

********************

AL WEST SCORES, 

Thru Sun., 9/23/18:

Houston 6 – LA Angels 2.

Minnesota 5 – Oakland 1.

Texas 6 – Mariners 1.

 ********************

AL WEST STANDINGS

Morning of Mon., 9/24/18

TEAMS

WON

LOST

PCT.

GB

Houston

98

57

.632

 —-

Oakland

94

62

.603

   4.5

Seattle

85

70

.548

 13.0

LA Angels

75

81

.481

 23.5

Texas

66

89

.426

 32.0

********************

SCHEDULE BALANCE FOR

HOU, OAK & SEA:

DATE

HOU

OAK

SEA

9/24

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/25

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/26

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/27

@BAL

TEX

9/28

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/29

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/30

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, History | Leave a Comment »

Explosive 8th Saves Astros, Not Justin

September 23, 2018

How many wins would Cy Young have today were he to be reborn as the same talented pitcher, but playing the game anew under a pitch count?

 

This morning we learned that the 14-total runs 8th inning of the Angels @ Astros game at MMP last night, Sat, 9/22/18, was the highest scoring stanza of the 2018 season for all MLB teams. It saved the Astros from losing ground to Oakland and, for that, we Astro partisans are grateful. Unfortunately, it did not spare starter Justin Verlander from another lost “W” credit that in every way ~ every way ~ beyond the poorly fitting rules of pitching win credit belonged to the mighty Astros ace.

Get this firmly in mind. ~ Verlander ate up his pitch count in six innings. While he was there, Astros had squeaked out a 1-0 lead that would have qualified him for the win, had the club been able to protect the lead without once giving it away later to a tie or deficit.

While Verlander worked those six innings, he gave up only one hit, he walked none, and he struck out eleven. He now has a league-leading 280 strikeouts on the season, his highest “K” count to date for any season he’s pitched so far in his Hall-of-Fame-likely career. He also left the mound last night with a 16-9 record from previous 2018 W/L earnings, and he left too with a season ERA that now has descended to 2.60 on the season.

Reliever Ryan Pressly struggled, but was able to protect the 1-0 lead in the 7th, but Hector Rondon and Joe Smith came on in the 8th and gave up 4 earned runs and 1 unearned run before Colin McHugh came in to quell further damage going into the bottom of the 8th.

At 5-1 LA going south in the 8th, and in spite of all the old “it ain’t over til it’s over” wisdom, the Astros goose looked cooked and ready for the gravy-ladeling.

It wasn’t meant to be. The Astros answered the Angels with a 9-run wake-up bomb that saved the game and the day as a much needed pennant chase win. And, oh yes, the rally also produced a “W” for Colin McHugh as the pitcher of record for this two outs of work and presence in the game at the time of the big Houston run explosion.

Roberto Osuna finished the game in the 9th to seal the victory for the Astros and “the pitcher of record,” Colin McHugh.

Nothing against McHugh here, but the question still stands, in spite of all the tedium and inconvenience that would come from a needless reassignment of wins and losses over all eras of play.

The current rules fit most eras of baseball, except for the recent times of relief pitcher assignments and now the use of pitch counts on starters. Baseball is a different game today. No matter how good they are, starters today aren’t going to get many wins today for a five to seven inning good job if they are pitching for a club that gets them poor early inning run support.

Verlander is 16-9 by the current rules. By rules that are more up-to-date, he could already be at least 20-5 or better. Surely he would have been the winner last night by rules that valued his contribution to the win as greater than the 2/3 inning contribution of McHugh.

Just my two cents. The actual conditions of change should be carefully considered by baseball’s greatest experts on how the use of pitchers has changed the game. Otherwise, stop keeping W/L stats. These grow more meaningless to distortional by the game and season under the traditional rules still in place.

********************

Top Ten AL Batting Averages 

Thru Games of Sat., 9/22/18: 

BATTING AVERAGE

1. Betts • BOS ~ .339

2. Martinez • BOS ~ .329

3. Altuve • HOU ~ .317

4. Trout • LAA ~ .316

********************

AL WEST SCORES, 

Thru Sat., 9/22/18:

Houston 10 – LA Angels 5.

Oakland 3 – Minnesota 2.

Seattle 13 – Texas 0.

 ********************

AL WEST STANDINGS

Morning of Sun., 9/23/18

TEAMS

WON

LOST

PCT.

GB

Houston

97

57

.630

 —-

Oakland

94

61

.606

   3.5

Seattle

85

69

.552

 12.0

LA Angels

75

80

.484

 22.5

Texas

65

89

.422

 32.0

********************

SCHEDULE BALANCE FOR

HOU, OAK & SEA:

DATE

HOU

OAK

SEA

9/23

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/24

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/25

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/26

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/27

@BAL

TEX

9/28

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/29

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/30

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:,
Posted in Baseball, culture, History, Houston | 3 Comments »

Gurriel’s 7 RBI are 2nd Best in Astros History

September 22, 2018

J.R. Towles set the Astros franchise record by banging out 8 RBI in an 18-1 win over the Cardinals on 9/20/2007. ~ Last night, Yuli Gurriel bagged 7 RBI in an 11-3 win over the Angels for the 2nd best one-game mark in team history.

Baseball is a game of almost all possibility ~ that we go to see in the hope of witnessing one of those great moments of supreme improbability as it materializes and comes to be ~ in the face of our watching ~ as it incredibly unfolds before our astonished-since-early-childhood eyes ~ and in ways that prompt reactions within us which range all the way from quiet simple pleasure to full-blown hysterical euphoria.

We Astros fans had one of those moments at Minute Maid Park Friday night, September 21, 2018. Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel had a 7-RBI night on a first inning grand slam, a third inning two-run homer, and a fifth inning single-run RBI of a runner from third base from a runners at first and third situation.

Those seven RBI were enough to plate all of the Astros’ first scores on their way to an 11-3 trouncing of the LA Angels on a night in which Gerrit Cole pitched great over a seven-inning course that also produced 12 strikeouts.

Had Gurriel managed the Ruthian-level improbable, and made that third trip to the plate a 3-run homer, he would have claimed 9 RBIs on the night – thus besting the current all time record of 8 one game RBIs, set by former short term Astros catcher J.R. Towles on September 20, 2007 – almost 11 years to this date earlier than the Gurriel new second place challenge record.

(See how it so often happens with these BIG improbables? – Even when they materialize, we continue to think of ways they might have been improved. Had Gurriel managed 4, 2, and 3 runner homers in his first three times up, we probably would have moved up the expectation dial just a tad and started hoping to see a bases-empty shot on his fourth AB – you know – just to be able to say that we had seen Gurriel hit for the cycle of all HR RBI possibilities in a single game.)

Back to planet earth. What follows is a brief AP clipping account of the J.R. Towles record game, plus a link to the box score of the Towles 8 RBI game, plus the usual up-to-date material we try to cover here about the current AL West title chase.

Have a great weekend, everybody, and don’t forget to watch today’s Angels @ Astros game because – “you never know.”

The J.R. Towles 8-RBI in One Game Record Moment:

September 21, 2007 (AP) Colorado Springs Gazette, Page 65:

Houston 18 St. Louis 1 (Thursday, September 20, 2007)

At St. Louis, Houston rookie Justin Towles went 4-for-4 with a franchise-record eight RBIs and the Astros reached season highs in runs and hits.

Behind a 23-hit attack, the Astros won for the fifth time in 15 games and surpassed their previous best for runs (15) and hits (22) established Sunday against the Pirates (September 16, 2007). The Cardinals, last year’s World Series champions, have lost 13 of 15 in a September swoon.

Link to Baseball Almanac.com Box Score of Houston 18 St. Louis 1 Game:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=200709200SLN

********************

Top Ten AL Batting Averages 

Thru Games of Fri., 9/21/18: 

BATTING AVERAGE

1. Betts • BOS ~ .339

2. Martinez • BOS ~ .330

3. Trout • LAA ~ .316

4. Altuve • HOU ~ .314

********************

AL WEST SCORES, 

Thru Fri., 9/21/18:

Houston 11 – LA Angels 3.

Oakland 7 – Minnesota 6.

Texas 8 – Seattle 3.

 ********************

AL WEST STANDINGS

Morning of Sat., 9/22/18

TEAMS

WON

LOST

PCT.

GB

Houston

96

57

.628

 —-

Oakland

93

61

.604

   3.5

Seattle

84

69

.549

 12.0

LA Angels

75

79

.487

 21.5

Texas

65

88

.424

 31.0

********************

SCHEDULE BALANCE FOR

HOU, OAK & SEA:

DATE

HOU

OAK

SEA

9/22

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/23

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/24

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/25

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/26

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/27

@BAL

TEX

9/28

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/29

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/30

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, culture, History, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Oakland “Raiders” Way Back into Hunt

September 21, 2018

“Listen up, Lunk Heads! The A’s won a game by 21-3 over the Angels last night! ~ If we can’t do better than that this weekend playing football, we are going to be the unfunny laughing stock of Oakland, California!”

Winning big at home by the football score of 21-3 over the LA Angels on Thursday, the Oakland A’s have battled back to within 3.5 games of the Houston Astros in the AL West with only nine games left on the schedule. Maybe a closer look at the A’s bench would have revealed that A’s manager Bob Melvin had drafted Oakland’s NFL Raiders skipper John Gruden as his baseball bench coach for a miraculous stretch run.

We Astros fans hope not, but we also hope that what the A’s did yesterday at least rings a bell that’s loud enough to awaken our own offense against the Angels, who had to take that beating Thursday before getting on a plane and flying to Houston for the rested Astros’ final 3-game home series of the 2018 season, starting tonight. With any luck, our guys could run into some tired Angel bullpen arms. It also will not register well either if we fall back into our often seen home range of a 0 to 2 runs game at home.

It’s also important that our Astros start making an offensive statement of their own. The season ends a week from this coming Sunday on November 30, 2018. This is no time to lose our grip on this always rare opportunity.

And left’s face it. If the Astros win it all again this year, they are going to have to do it without their ordained offensive trinity of Altuve, Springer or Correa having the kind of lights out year they each enjoyed as young and uninjured players. You know the story. All have been injured this year and none have played as well this season, either before or after getting hurt. Altuve probably will finish in the low .300s; Springer seems headed for the .260s, about 13-18 points down from last year; and Correa is off the cliff down, with an average of .238 – or .077 points down from his final total of .315 in 2017. Correa has the kind of back injury that will keep him from recovery until (if or when) he regains the flexibility to reach those low outside pitches that the league now knows he can no longer reach in time.

Other than that, Bregman, Gurriel, Gonzales, White, Reddick, Gattis, McCann, and Kemp all need to pick up the tempo of the lost offense that took us all the way last year. It would be a double shame to lose because we couldn’t offensively support the great pitching staff that Astros GM Jeff Luhnow has put together this year. 

The lack of an early offense has been really rough on Astros starters. Too often, our starters have been forced to high pinch count their ways through five qualifying innings, just to hang in the hunt for a 1-0 or 2-1 win, if the lead holds. Other times, when the low one-run difference favors the other team early, the departing Astros starter just gets hung with the loss. With a steadier stream of high early scoring, this 2018 Astros club could have 2 to 3 guys closing in on 20-win seasons, instead of none.

********************

Top Ten AL Batting Averages 

Thru Games of Thu., 9/20/18: 

BATTING AVERAGE

1. Betts • BOS ~ .334

2. Martinez • BOS ~ .331

3. Trout • LAA ~ .317

4. Altuve • HOU ~ .315

********************

AL WEST SCORES, 

Thru Thu., 9/20/18:

Houston (Did not play.)

Oakland 21 – LA Angels 3.

Seattle (Did not play.)

Texas (Did not play.)

 ********************

AL WEST STANDINGS

Morning of Fri., 9/21/18

TEAMS

WON

LOST

PCT.

GB

Houston

95

57

.625

 —-

Oakland

92

61

.601

   3.5

Seattle

84

68

.553

 11.0

LA Angels

75

78

.490

 20.5

Texas

64

88

.421

 31.0

********************

SCHEDULE BALANCE FOR

HOU, OAK & SEA:

DATE

HOU

OAK

SEA

9/21

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/22

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/23

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/24

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/25

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/26

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/27

@BAL

TEX

9/28

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/29

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/30

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, culture, Football, History | Leave a Comment »

More-Famous-Elsewhere Houston MLB All Stars

September 20, 2018

 

1950 Phillies
Looks Right!

I remember it well. It was 1965 and I had just picked up an early Astros game over the radio in New Orleans. “What do they mean, “Houston pitcher Robin Roberts looks in for

1965 Astros
Looks Wrong!

the sign?” ~ I still had failed to get used to the sound of Robin Roberts’ name being spoken as a pitcher for our newly re-christened Astros. The guy was the crown jewel pitcher for the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies club they called “The Whiz Kids.” ~ These Houston Astros were closer as a match to being a club that might qualify in 1965 by Roberts’ current age of 38 for re-designation as “The Wheeze Kids”.

The following is simply a nine-man roster of former Houston MLB players who were far more famous for their big league work elsewhere. Four of them (Roberts, Rodriquez, Fox, and Mathews) were even great enough to make the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

The More-Famous-Elsewhere Houston MLB All Stars

Pitcher ~ Robin Roberts

Catcher ~ Ivan Rodriguez

1st Base ~ Pete Runnels

2nd Base ~ Nellie Fox

3rd Base ~ Eddie Mathews

Shortstop ~ Felix Mantilla

Left Field ~ Tommy Davis

Center Field ~ Tommy Agee

Right Field ~ Willie Crawford

********************

Top Ten AL Batting Averages 

Thru Games of Wed., 9/19/18: 

BATTING AVERAGE

1. Betts • BOS ~ .334

2. Martinez • BOS ~ .331

3. Trout • LAA ~ .317

4. Altuve • HOU ~ .315

********************

AL WEST SCORES, 

Thru Wed., 9/19/18:

Seattle 9 – Houston 0.

Oakland 10 – LA Angels 0.

Tampa Bay 9 – Rangers 3.

 ********************

AL WEST STANDINGS

Morning of Thu., 9/20/18

TEAMS

WON

LOST

PCT.

GB

Houston

95

57

.625

 —-

Oakland

91

61

.599

   4.0

Seattle

84

68

.553

 11.0

LA Angels

75

77

.493

 20.0

Texas

64

88

.421

 31.0

********************

SCHEDULE BALANCE FOR

HOU, OAK & SEA:

DATE

HOU

OAK

SEA

9/20

LAA

9/21

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/22

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/23

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/24

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/25

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/26

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/27

@BAL

TEX

9/28

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/29

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/30

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, culture, History, Houston | 4 Comments »

The MLB One-Game Cup-of-Coffee Club

September 19, 2018
blank-gravestone-granite-headstone-cartoon

To Be Inscribed on the Featured Marker: “Here Rests John Doe, The Only Man to Appear in a Big League Game After His Own Death. ~ To Find Out How, Read The Pecan Park Eagle.”

I watched “Field of Dreams” for the first time in a long while the other day. And I was reminded of Burt Lancaster’s brief, but beautiful job of romanticizing Moonlight Graham as the cornfield comeback player who gives up his spot on the most heavenly diamond that is Iowa to save the little girl from choking to death. It was almost enough to make me feel sorry for the former New York Giant who only got to play a half inning in the outfield on 6-29-1905 as his full MLB career without ever getting a chance for a big league time at bat. I say “almost” ~ even still care about the man’s legend. It’s simply that I’m a little more knowledgeable today of how large the One MLB Game Cup-of-Coffee Club truly is. ~ 1,531 men have played one-game MLB careers, including one I was privileged to get to know a little bit during the last chapter of his ninety plus years lifetime. Others beyond Graham also suffered deprivations from their own limited big league time.

Buddy Hancken

Buddy Hancken

The following two links make for some interesting perusals. Check out all the guys who got to play, but never bat, in their one-game moments. As a New York player, it figures that Moonlight Graham’s deprivation would receive more critical attention than most, but he was not alone. I remember the late Buddy Hancken, also a former Astros coach, tellling me of his own one game MLB experience. While he was briefly with the Philadelphia Athletics, coming in once to catch the bottom of the 9th of a 9-7 A’s win at Cleveland on 5-14-1940. but never getting into another game in which he might’ve had a chance to bat. One more time ~ why isn’t Buddy Hancken as well known today as Moonlight Graham? That’s right. ~ Hancken played in Philadelphia. Graham played in New York.

********************

The One-Gamer Charts

999 Batters with One-Game MLB Careers (1st Link),

532 Pitchers with One-Game MLB Careers (2nd Link):

Batters with only one career game in the majors 

Pitchers with only one career game in the majors

******************

I did not find anyone, other than Larry Yount, who came into MLB as a pitcher who didn’t actually pitch to a single batter ~ or participate through a single play in the field ~ as a one-game wonder. All Yount did was injure his arm warming up prior to the game, forcing his removal after being announced as the pitcher of record in the game that was being played between Atlanta and Houston on 9-15-1971.

Goose Bump Territory

Larry Yount may be best remembered as the human being who first innocently found a non-demeaning way to “get something for nothing!” The man gained eternal recognition as a former big leaguer without actually doing anything more than qualifying by an MLB rule covering the status of players who are announced as game participants but then cannot play ~ for whatever reason. Once you’re announced, you’re in the game, whether you actually ever get there or not.

In other words ….

If Larry Yount had been struck dead by lightning while warming up for his announced relief pitcher appearance, he could have been the only dead man in baseball history to have become a participant in an MLB game that did not actually start until after he died.

How is that for a real goose-bumper conclusion?

********************

Top Ten AL Batting Averages 

Through Games of Tue., 9/18/18: 

BATTING AVERAGE

1. Betts • BOS ~ .337

2. Martinez • BOS ~ .328

3. Trout • LAA ~ .319

4. Altuve • HOU ~ .316

********************

AL WEST SCORES, 

Thru Tue., 9/18/18:

Houston 7 – Seattle 0.

LA Angels 9 – Oakland 7.

Tampa Bay 4 – Rangers 0.

 ********************

AL WEST STANDINGS

Morning of Wed., 9/19/18

TEAMS

WON

LOST

PCT.

GB

Houston

95

56

.629

 —-

Oakland

90

61

.596

   5.0

Seattle

83

68

.550

 12.0

LA Angels

75

76

.497

 20.0

Texas

64

87

.424

 31.0

********************

SCHEDULE BALANCE FOR

HOU, OAK & SEA:

DATE

HOU

OAK

SEA

9/19

SEA

LAA

@HOU

9/20

LAA

9/21

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/22

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/23

LAA

MIN

@TEX

9/24

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/25

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/26

@TOR

@SEA

OAK

9/27

@BAL

TEX

9/28

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/29

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

9/30

@BAL

@LAA

TEX

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

 

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, History | 4 Comments »

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