The Pecan Park Eagle

King Jose’ Rules Today in the Right Way

September 29, 2014

JOSE’ ALTUVE, 2B
HOUSTON ASTROS
2014 AMERICAN LEAGUE
BATTING CHAMPION

JOSE’ ALTUVE PICKS UP BATTING CROWN THE RIGHT WAY! BESTS VICTOR MARTINEZ, A DH, BY PLAYING 2ND BASE! IN FINAL GAME AGAINST NL FOE! ALTUVE’S .341 BATTING AVERAGE IS TOPS IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE – AND ALSO THE BEST IN BOTH MAJOR LEAGUES!

Since his Detroit Tiger club was playing another American League team, the Minnesota Twins, Victor Martinez got to play his normal DH position on this last day of the season and just play for the sake of helping his teammates wrap up the ALC title by hitting his way also to an average that might help him catch Jose Altuve of Houston for the AL and MLB batting average crowns. The Tigers did win, 3-0, to clinch their division crown, but Martinez went “0 for 3” to drop his final 2014 season batting average to .335.

Back East in New York, whee his Houston Astros were playing the local Mets in their last games, the team stakes meant nothing to either team – and interim Astro manager Tom Lawless wanted to rest Altuve against an NL club that plays by NL rules that scorn the use of a DH. If Altuve played, he would have to also play in the field too and we must only suppose that his manager figured that he would better off sitting on his .340 BA and leave the rest up to the hope that a resting Altuve could still prevail over a charging Martinez who, at .337, needed to have a virtually perfect big day to catch a brass ring on this merry-hitters-go-round.

Altuve protested. And Lawless relented. Altuve wanted to win things the right way and his manager gave in to that desire. Altuve was written back into the Sunday game lineup at 2nd base in the number two hole, a spot that seems to have fit Jose’s productivity more often than not this season.

Jose Altuve responded by grounding into a double play in the top of the first that helped Mets starter Bartolo Colon recover from a lead-off single by Robbie Grossman and then get the next man for a 1,2,3 first inning.

Then, with a one-bounce ground rule double that bounced over the left center field wall in the top of the third, his 47th tw0-bagger of the year, Altuve found his gear. The Astros already were leading, 1-0, by this time, but Altuve’s hit could not help further after he was subsequently nailed on an attempted steal of third base.

In the top of the 5th, with Colon still pitching, and with runners on 1st and 3rd, Altuve beat out a single to deep short that advanced one runner to 2nd and knocked in the runner from 3rd to pull the Astros back into a 2-2 tie at the time.

Jose Altuves 4th and final time at bat in the season came in the top of the 8th against Mets reliever Carlos Torres, with 2 outs and nobody on. A quiet 4-3 ground out on his time at bat in 2014 was OK. By this time, Altuve had nailed down the the AL batting championship (.341), highest hit total (221) and most stolen bases on the season (56).

Altuve’s “2 for 4” proved unnecessary in the light of Martinez’s “0 for 3” meltdown, but it was the affirmative of the fact that the newest Astro icon prefers the way of an active risk-taking effort to the passive safe path of backing into a personal championship by not playing. It is the same attitude that needs to take hold of the whole team as an organizational state of mind about reaching the playoffs and succeeding in the World Series.

Congratulations and thank you, Jose Altuve, for showing everyone else how winning needs to be happen!

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

JOSE ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/28

660

225

.341

VICTOR MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/28

561

188

.335

___________________________________________________________________________________________

“2014 SUCKED! OH WELL! AT LEAST WE WON’T HAVE JETER TO KICK US AROUND NEXT YEAR!”

BOSTON BACKS INTO ESCAPE FROM HISTORY AS SOX AND ASTROS BOTH TANK IN LAST GAMES!

The Boston Red Sox lost their final game of the 2014 American League baseball season with a befitting thud. Like an ancient pigeon dying of old age in mid-flight across the Boston Commons, the Sox fell to earth at Fenway on the last Sunday like the unceremonious “coo-and-squat” now-dead-bird they almost always were this whole season. Fortunately for the Boston fans who care about the club’s history and esteem, the Sox’ last 9-5 loss to the Yankees did not hurt them in their desire to finish with a better record than the Houston Astros, who also lost their last season test in New York to the Mets by 8-3.

The double loss by both contending teams allowed the Boston Red Sox to finish 2014 a full game better than the Houston Astros. That minor fact permitted the Red Sox the luxury of escaping this recently trumpeted ignominy of becoming the first fallen World Series winner from the previous year to finish worse in the following season than a club that had lost 111 games during their most recent championship run.

Still, when all is said and done, and avoiding the precisely stated negative record notwithstanding, a previous season World Series champion that only beats out a 111-game losing foe by one game the following season, is not saying anything that could be mistaken for inspiration by its fans.

REVERSE FORTUNES	GAMES LEFT	WON	LOST	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
BOSTON RED SOX	0	71	91	.438	–
HOUSTON ASTROS	0	70	92	.432	1

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014:

NEW YORK (AL) 9 – BOSTON 5.

NEW YORK (NL) 8 – HOUSTON 3.

SCHEDULE OF GAMES FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014:

NONE. REGULAR SEASON HAS ENDED.

Tags: ALTUVE WINS AL BATTING CROWN, RED SOX FINISH 1 GAME UP ON ASTROS
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Sox Clinch Astro Tie! Batting Title on line Today!

September 28, 2014

BOSTON CLINCHES TIE WITH HOUSTON!

The Boston Red Sox can no longer finish worse than the Houston Astros. Their 10-4 Saturday home win against the Yankees was followed by a bottom of the 9th walk off, 2-outs, 2-run homer by Lucas Duda that handed the Astros a 2-1 loss to the Mets, giving the New Englanders a full game lead over Houston with each team down to their final season games against the same foes today. The worst the Red Sox can do now is allow a tie by losing on Sunday as the Astros win. A win by the Sox, or a loss by the ‘Stros, in today’s season concluding games prevents even the shortcoming of a tie between last year’s champions and the recently as 2013 111-loss dregs of baseball.

REVERSE FORTUNES	GAMES LEFT	WON	LOST	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
BOSTON RED SOX	1	71	90	.441	–
HOUSTON ASTROS	1	70	91	.435	1

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014:

BOSTON 10 – NEW YORK (AL) 4.

NEW YORK (NL) 2 – HOUSTON 1.

SCHEDULE OF GAMES FOR SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2014:

NEW YORK (AL) @ BOSTON

HOUSTON @ NEW YORK (NL)

________________________________________________________

Jose Altuve

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/27

656

223

.340

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/27

558

188

.337

ALTUVE AND MARTINEZ NOW SEPARATED BY ONLY .OO3 PERCENTAGE POINTS FOR AL AND MLB BATTING TITLES!

NOTES, 9/28 AM: Sunday morning. – Wouldn’t you just know this was coming? Jose Altuve went “0 for 4” on Saturday while Victor Martinez of the Tigers went for “1 for 2” in his team’s 12-3 loss to the Twins. With the final games for each batting title contender coming up today, Altuve’s lead over Martinez has slipped to only .003 points. An unfortunate repeat of today’s performances could hand the AL and MLB overall batting titles to “Tiger Vic.”

C’mon Jose! – You can still win it all! – All you have to do is hit like Jose’ Altuve in high gear on Sunday!

_________________________________________________________

Tags: AL batting title race, Boston-Houston Reversal of Fortunes Contest
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Red Sox Fall! Altuve Holds! Astros Prevail!

September 27, 2014

RED SOX FANS: "WE GOTTA FIND A WAY TO BLAME 2014 ON SOME GUY LIKE HARRY FRAZEE OR BUCKY 'F-N' DENT!"

RED SOX FANS: “WE GOTTA FIND A WAY TO BLAME THE 2014 SEASON ON SOME GUY LIKE HARRY FRAZEE OR BUCKY ‘F-N’ DENT!”

ASTROS TIE RED SOX WITH 2 GAMES TO GO!

Harry Frazee: The Red Sox owner who sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

The Houston Astros pulled back into a tie with the Boston Red Sox in their “Reversal of Fortunes” battle for the better record in 2014 by downing the New York Mets, 3-1, as the BoSox were getting nipped by their old “Evil Empire” enemies, the New York Yankees, by 3-2. Apparently the Red Sox became so enraptured by their own separation anxieties from all the Fenway Farewells to a retiring arch-foe from New York named Derek Jeter, that they failed to keep their minds as a team upon winning. – One could make the argument that Boston’s inability to focus and follow through on winning Friday night was not unusual for the Sox in 2014 – and that their 90th club loss on the year had little to do with their heartache over the thought of Derek Jeter retiring.

With two games to go, the Houston Astros still have a good chance of finishing 2014 as the first 111-loss team of the previous season to come back and finish the following year with a better record than the club that won the World Series that also recent time.

As we keep asking of you – stay tuned! – We’re almost there. – This weekend settles this little baseball match question and others.

REVERSE FORTUNES	GAMES LEFT	WON	LOST	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
BOSTON RED SOX	2	70	90	.438	–
HOUSTON ASTROS	2	70	90	.438	–

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014:

NEW YORK (AL) 3 – BOSTON 2.

HOUSTON 3 – NEW YORK (NL) 1.

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014:

NEW YORK (AL) @ BOSTON

HOUSTON @ NEW YORK (NL)

________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/26

652

223

.342

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/26

556

187

.336

NOTES, 9/27 AM: Saturday morning. – “…and down the stretch they come!”

As both Jose Altuve and Victor Martinez spent Friday night games on “1 for 4” results against the Twins and Mets, they each dropped a batting average point, but maintained their .006 point differential in the Astro leader’s favor. Jose Altuve’s .342 to Victor Martinez’s .336 now looms slightly larger with only two games left to play for both contenders. If they again play “match ’em” statistical games today against their same foes, it’s probably as close to being over as things can be without the final nail that strikes at the end of Sunday’s Game 162. – Get your binoculars on the track as they rumble toward the finish line.

The Eagle Eye on Jose Altuve’s pursuit of the 2014 American League and MLB batting average championships will continue daily through the balance of the season. For now, it’s a two-man race between Altuve and Victor Martinez of the Detroit Tigers. Should that change, so will our reporting format. – Bill McCurdy

_________________________________________________________

ASTROS WIN UNOFFICIAL 2014 SECOND SILVER BOOT TROPHY!

On the heels of a 3-1 Houston win in Flushing over the Mets, a later concluding 6-2 home loss by the Rangers to Oakland served only as decorative testimony to the fact that the Astros have now clinched a better overall record for the season than is now possible for Texas with two games remaining. The Pecan Park Eagle, hereby, awards the Unofficial 2014 Second Silver Boot Trophy to the Houston Astros for getting the job done. With two games remaining for each club to play against the Mets and Athletics, the Astros now hold an insurmountable four-game lead over the Rangers.

This is all there is to the Silver Boot No. 2 Award, but we guess in this instance that it is the thought that counts.

Congratulations, Astros!

Here’s how things look now that this hardly noticed race has been decided:

SILVER BOOT II	WON	LOST	PCT.	GB	GL
HOUSTON	70	90	.438	~	2
X-TEXAS	66	94	.413	4	2

X = Texas is now eliminated on 9/26/14 in the competition between the two Texas teams for best overall season record in 2014. There will be no further reports in these columns that hardly mattered in the first place.

_______________________________________________________

Tags: late 2014 mlb minor plots
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

BoSox Up Lead; Martinez Zooms; Rangers Win

September 26, 2014

“ALRIGHT! ~ ALRIGHT! ~ ALRIGHT!”

The Boston Red Sox used their second win in a row on Thursday to expand their lead to one full game over the Houston Astros in the “Reversal of Fortunes” race. Starting tonight, Boston will entertain the Yankees and retiring star Derek Jeter at Fenway for three game while Houston closes with three in Flushing against the Mets. In the middle of the down-slide, BoSox fans can smile a little more this morning. The long season is almost over. Then it will be time for rest, and for the club to develop A fresh perspective on what the club needs to do to recover from what has amounted to an almost complete collapse.

Whether they beat out the Red Sox for a better 2014 record, or not, the Astros can take some comfort in the sense that the club has now stopped the bleeding streak of three straight 100 plus loss seasons going into 2014. Now we need to see who the Astros hire as their next full-time field manager for 2015. It will also be interesting to see who gets protected on the forty-man roster. Both are much more involved stories for another day beyond the finish of the present season. Time and space are still the allies to fresh perspective.

REVERSE FORTUNES	GAMES LEFT	WON	LOST	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
BOSTON RED SOX	3	70	89	.440	–
HOUSTON ASTROS	3	69	90	.434	1.0

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014:

BOSTON 9 – TAMPA BAY 1.

HOUSTON, DID NOT PLAY.

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014:

NEW YORK (AL) @ BOSTON

HOUSTON @ NEW YORK (NL)

________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/25

648

222

.343

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/25

552

186

.337

NOTES, 9/26 AM: Friday morning. –With Jose Altuve taking a day off with the Astros as they travel to New York to finish the season with games there against the Mets, Victor Martinez of the Tigers took full advantage of the situation by going “3 for4” against the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park to help his club to a 4-2 victory in the first of a four-game season-ending weekend series. Victor’s three hits included his 32nd HR of the season in the first inning and later in the game, his 33rd double of the year. Martinez’s big crank on the pressure vice raises his batting average to .337 for a .003 point gain in one game on Jose Altuve t- a gain that leaves the Tiger contender only .006 points back of the .343 mark of the idle Astro slugger for the 2014 American League and MLB total batting average titles.

By having his big night, Martinez did what he had to do to make this weekend the contest we always knew it might turn out to be. Now a bad series by Altuve in New York could fumble away the batting titles goal to the Detroit Tiger star and deprive Houston of its first batting champion of all time. Yeah, we know. The Pecan Park Eagle is biased in favor of our Astro homeboy, but try to see our point of view on our need for this accomplishment as something of a compensation while our Astros club fights to find its way out of these sacrificial doldrum years. After all, it’s not like Detroit has never seen a local batting champion in their many years of competition. – If they get it again, they will have earned it by a tremendous last minute push of heart and talent by Victor Martinez, but we like our guy’s chances with a .007 lead and all the chips on the table in these last three ball games. If Jose Altuve continues to hit like Jose Altuve of 2014 for one final three game weekend series, there will be no chance for Victor Martinez to catch him,

Go. Jose’. go! – Just hit, baby!

_________________________________________________________

The Unofficial Silver Boot II competition between the two State of Texas based MLB teams, the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers, comes down to a long shot weekend for a tie as the highest possibility for the Rangers that would deny the Astros the honor by the rules governing same record finishes. “In the event of ties, no Silver Boot II Award will be given out by its sponsor, The Pecan Park Eagle. No great or lasting disappointment is expected, anyway, since the award itself is little more than a digital congratulation a time-relevant future column.

In our case, it’s the thought behind the Silver Boot II Award that counts. The Houston Astros already have wrapped up the Official Silver Boot Award and Trophy by taking the personal 2014 head-to-head series with Rangers earlier, in spite of getting swept by Texas in that last series in Arlington. All that sweep did was position the Rangers for a possible tie by season’s end. And to keep that possibility alive, the Rangers defeated the A’s tonight, 2-1, in Arlington.

As we noted earlier in this column, the Astros are in New York to finish the season with three games against the home team Mets, starting tonight. The Rangers play three more at home, also from tonight through Sunday, against Oakland. Any win by the Astros or loss by the Rangers will give the Astros the not-so-coveted and totally figurative second Silver Boot.

Here’s how things look in this half-baked race:

SILVER BOOT II	WON	LOST	PCT.	GB	GL
HOUSTON	69	90	..434	~	3
TEXAS	66	93	..415	3	3

_______________________________________________________

Have a nice Saturday, everybody!

Tags: the red sox-atros reversal of fortunes race
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Red Sox Gain Lead Over Astros

September 25, 2014

“HEY, HOUSTON! – IT AIN’T OVER TIL IT’S OVER!”

Just as the Red Sox were about to be wheeled to the baseball coroner for a complete season autopsy, the KG machine suddenly detected the steady beeps of a living heart. As the Astros fell again to the Rangers on Wednesday night, the BoSox woke up some echoes of their own fighting Irish background and took the old shillelagh to the Tampa Bay Rays by 11-3. As a total result of yesterday’s games, the Red Sox have moved into a half game head over the Astros and a chance to stay there by winning out over their final four games at home against the Rays (1) and Yankees (3). “4” is now the magic number for Boston. Any combination of four Red Sox wins or Astros losses – and Boston escapes the minor ignominy of becoming the former World Champion that finished 2014 with a worse record than the Astros club that lost 111 games in 2013.

REVERSE FORTUNES	GAMES LEFT	WON	LOST	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
BOSTON RED SOX	4	69	89	.437	–
HOUSTON ASTROS	3	69	90	.434	0.5

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014:

TEXAS 5 – HOUSTON 1.

BOSTON 11 – TAMPA BAY 3.

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014:

TAMPA BAY @ BOSTON

HOUSTON, NO GAME SCHEDULED

________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/24

648

222

.343

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/24

548

183

.334

NOTES, 9/25 AM: Wednesday morning. – Jose Altuve bagged a single in the first inning on the first he saw Wednesday night at Arlington on the way to a “1 for 3” evening that kept his MLB batting average at .343 in the Astros final 5-1 losing game to the Texas Rangers. Meanwhile, Victor Martinez of the Tigers went “0 for 2” at home in Detroit’s 6-1 victory over the White Sox that dropped season batting average to .334. Martinez now trails Altuve by .009 points in the batting race. Martinez and the Tiger have four more home games left against the Twins, starting tonight. Altuve and the Astros have a three game series left in New York against the Mets, beginning tomorrow, Friday, 9/26, but they have today off for travel.

Altuve’s slight percentage gain over Martinez going into the final series weekend for all clubs has prospects and hopes soaring for a first MLB bating championships by an Astro, but let’s take nothing for granted. A sudden hit explosion by Martinez over his last four games and a total shutdown of Altuve in his last three games in New York could still upset the apple cart.

In other words, you Astro fans with presumptuous voodoo powers need to keep your mojos working through this coming Sunday.

_________________________________________________________

A SILVER BOOT LONE STAR SALUTE, PART 11:

While we’re watching a real battle title contest and the imaginary race between Houston and Boston, we need to call to mind one fantasy fight for Astros fans looking for something to cheer about. This one came to be as a result of the Texas Ranger sweep of the Houston Astros in the just concluded last night, three-game series in Arlington. The Astros went into that last 214 meeting between our two Texas MLB teams with a fairly safe 6.5 game lead over the recently high-flying Rangers and an already claimed recapture of the “Silver Boot Trophy” for having already clinched a winning record in their head-to head meetings this season, but they must have forgotten about the unofficial “Silver Boot Lone Star Salute, Part II” that goes to the Texas team finishing with the best overall record for the season.

The Ranger sweep of the Astros leaves the latter with only a 3.5 game lead and three more games to play on the road this coming weekend against the New York Mets. The Rangers, on the other hand, begin a four-game series at home tonight against the Oakland A’s to wrap up their 2014 schedule.

One win by the Astros, or one loss by the Rangers, and Houston clinches the better overall season record and the “Silver Boot Lone Star Salute, Part II” that shall be awarded by The Pecan Park Eagle in this column whenever it happens as a purely digital tip of the old cap. On the other hand, should the Astros lose all three of their games in New York while the Rangers win all four of their home games, the two clubs will finish in a dead heat tie with no possibility of a playoff for an award that fails to exist in any official capacity in the first place.

Here are the standings in a two-club fever pitch (not really) race that could be over with a loss today by Texas at home to the visiting Oakland club:

SILVER BOOT II	GAMES LEFT	WON	LOST	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
HOUSTON ASTROS	3	69	90	.434	–
TEXAS RANGERS	4	65	93	.411	3.5

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014:

TEXAS 5 – HOUSTON 1.

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014:

OAKLAND @ TEXAS

HOUSTON, NO GAME SCHEDULED

________________________________________________________

Tags: RED SOX-ASTROS 2014 RACE
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1st to Worse-Than-Astros Mark in Reach of BoSox

September 24, 2014

“NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The Pecan Park Eagle isn’t trying to beat a dead horse here. This one is still snorting, even though it’s now laying on its side, foaming at the mouth, and whimpering in ways that cause its once fire-breathing nostrils to vibrate in sounds of gurgling agony. – It’s simply a fact. The 111-loss from 2013 Houston Astros are on the brink of finishing with a better record in 2014 than the 2013 Champions of the World Series and all of organized baseball, the Boston Red Sox. In the history of major league baseball, it could result for the BoSox as the most graphically worst collapse from the stick ball throne since the beginning of baseball or time itself, depending upon which of these earmarks came first.

The 1914 to 1915 Philadelphia Athletics experienced the worst percentage downgrade for a league champion in a single season, but they were not the defending World Series champions, having lost to the 1914 miracle team, the Boston Braves, that year before crashing to 8th and last place in the American League in 1915. In the melee of that collapse, the A’s went from a winning percentage of .651 in 1914 to a low of .283 in 1915. That “first to worst” finish added up to a winning percentage loss of .368 points. The 2014 last place Cleveland Naps lost 102 games that season, finishing 48.5 games behind the league-champion Red Sox. The very next year, those essentially the same Clevelanders finished in 7th place – a full 14 games ahead of the former champion Bostonians who now resided in the AL’s last place in 2015.

The famous one-year Philadelphia fold from 1914-15 has been covered with a literary blanket over the years as the crash that came from A’s owner/manager Connie Mack selling off his “Million Dollar Infield” after the 1914 World Series loss for the sake of balancing his operational budget.

So, as we said yesterday, the Red Sox will not escape the infamy that will come from losing closely to the Astros in 2015 by saving a tie or close better record. They still will face accountability for their disappointing finish in the same 2014 neighborhood of the rebuilding Astros – no matter how they exactly complete the season by comparison. Was this New England failure the result of ripe playing stars who were allowed to go elsewhere in 2015 because of the club’s unwillingness to compete with the 2015 teams that signed them? – And how much did aging of the over-ripe players who remained in Boston kick into the fall?

A better record for the Astros in relation to the Red Sox in 2015 simply seals the deal for some kind of successfully diagnosed big change in Boston’s roster or their way of doing things in 2015. – Otherwise, “2013” could grow to mean over time in the 21st century the roughly same thing that “1918” meant to Boston fans in the 20th century, starting with their fall from a World Series victory in 1918 to a 6th place finish in 1919 and the start of a championship drought that would come to be recognized by Boston fans as a “curse” for the next 86 years.

Of course, there is one bright side for Red Sox fans in late 2014. The Red Sox don’t have another Babe Ruth to give away to the Yankees over the course of the next year, or so. The least the Red Sox can do now is – try to keep from becoming the first World Series champion to finish behind a club that just finished its third straight year as a 100 plus games loser and also a club with the worst record in baseball in 2013 with 111 losses.

Beating out the Astros for best season record won’t spare the Red Sox players from their current doldrums, but it may help player, management, ownership, and fan pride a little. After all, who wants to be the former champs who lost out to one one of the biggest loser dynasties in baseball history?

Have a pleasant Hump Day, Astros and Red Sox fans!

REVERSE FORTUNES	GAMES LEFT	WON	LOST	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
HOUSTON ASTROS	4	69	89	.437	–
BOSTON RED SOX	5	68	89	.433	0.5

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014:

TEXAS 2 – HOUSTON 1.

TAMPA BAY 6 – BOSTON 2.

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014:

HOUSTON @ TEXAS

TAMPA BAY @ BOSTON

________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/23

645

221

.343

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/23

546

183

.335

NOTES, 9/24 AM: Wednesday morning. – Jose Altuve had a “0 for 4″ game Tuesday on top of the “1 for 4” numbers he put up on Monday. That “1 for 8” in the first two games @ Texas has dropped his average to .343 with four road games left in the season. At Comerica Park in Detroit, meanwhile, Victor Martinez of the Tigers went “0 for 2” against he White Sox to drop his second best average in the big leagues to .335. Altuve’s outs last night included and a looping infield pop to short and three can of corn fly balls.

Stuff happens.

Moving closer to the end of the season, nothing is settled in the race for the batting title. Altuve’s .011 margin of this past weekend has now shrunk three points to .008. Hopefully, from our Astros fans perspective, Jose Altuve will have a good getaway day in the final Rangers game today, Wednesday, before the club gets on the plane for New York and the final three games of this season against the Mets. Thursday will be an off-day for the Astros.

Tags: Astros-Red Sox 2014 Race
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One for the 2016 NE Sports History Calendar

September 23, 2014

Red Sox manager John Farrell admires the 2013 World Series trophy that his Boston club won from the St. Louis Cardinals. – What kind of trophy is in store for the BoSox for finishing worse, tying, or barely doing better than the Houston Astros in 2014?

If this one happens, and even it doesn’t and just comes close, here’s a burgeoning new growing fact that deserves a date in the 2016 New England Sports History calendar. We will offer two quick reads here on how the copy may read, depending upon the outcome of the still-in-progress item we have in mind. – And thank you again, Bill Gilbert, for calling this one to our conscious attention. The Eagle has been so caught up in the Jose Altuve batting championship and new club record hit total arena report that we almost allowed this blockbuster reversal of fortune for the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox race to pass us by.

Consider that sad neglect of the fact now corrected – as these three possible calendar entries pan out as the only possibilities on the loose, but all still shocking in their own rights, triangulated result possibilities that exist comparatively for the two of them here in the end of days shadows-time of 2014 ML baseball:

Sunday, 9/28/14: The defending 2013 World Seies Champion Boston Red Sox finished the season with a worse 2014 record than the Houston Astros, a club that had primed for this “David Passes Goliath” experience by losing 106 games in 2011, 107 games in 2012, and 111 games in 2013 – for the worst records in MLB on the season for three straight years.

The other two variations on this entry would simply change the outcome reference to the Astros “tying” or ” barely losing out” to the now descending 2013 former champs from Boston.

What a scream this ironic change in directions for both teams reveals itself to be in the same year. For the first time since 2010, the Astros will not loss 100 games in the 2014 season. And for the Red Sox, let’s hope for their modest and charitable fans’ sake that “2013” doesn’t become the new “1918” for their 21st century experience. Too many nice Red Sox fans like Father Gerald Beirne are counting on that so-not-happening as the club’s road map to the near future.

The Astros have two more games in Arlington as they continue against the Texas Rangers tonight and Wednesday. Following a Thursday day off, the Astros finish the season in New York with a three-game series against the Mets. The Red Sox have six game to go at Fenway, beginning with a three-game series tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays, followed by another three-game set on the last weekend with their old pals, the New York Yankees.

Here’s how the two-club standings print out through all games played by this time in the morning of Tuesday, 9/23/14:

REVERSE FORTUNES LEAGUE	GAMES LEFT	WON	LOST	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
HOUSTON ASTROS	5	69	88	.439	–
BOSTON RED SOX	6	68	88	.4.36	0.5

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014:

TEXAS 4 – HOUSTON 3.

BOSTON (DID NOT PLAY).

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014:

HOUSTON @ TEXAS

TAMPA BAY @ BOSTON

________________________________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/22

641

221

.345

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/22

544

183

.336

NOTES, 9/23 AM: Tuesday morning. – Jose Altuve had a “1 for 4” game on the road as the Astros lost a 4-3 squeaker to the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Altuve’s one hit produced his 46th double of the season, but his batting average took a miniscule slip to .34477 that still rounded nicely to .345. At Comerica Park in Detroit, the Tigers hosted, but got toasted by the Chicago White Sox, 2-0, as Victor Martinez still had a perfect day with two singles and a walk for the losers. Martinez raised his batting average a couple of points to .336, pulling himself to within .009 of MLB leader Altuve. – As we head down the stretch (with yet another model analogy of things measured by results over time) anything is still possible in these final days.

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2015 New England Sports Calendar is Spot On Fun

September 22, 2014

77 year-old retiree Gerald Beirne of Rhode Island is a long-time member of SABR (The Society for American Baseball Research) and a dedicated commemorator of his blood red New England heritage. He loves the Red Sox, of course, but he also pulls hard for the Bruins of hockey, the Patriots of the NFL, the Eagles of Boston College, and just about any of the other New England universities and colleges, plus all of the individual athletes, that reach out to compete against the rest of the country and world on any level.

In other words, Gerald Beirne is a certifiable “chowder head” – when it comes to sports – and in a possibly ironic contrast to his rather catholic view of humankind’s relationships with each other as all equal members of a universally spiritual community, Beirne steps clearly into an unmistakable duality mode when it comes to athletic contests that pit New England against all others. Every last entry is a page torn straight out of the “Us and Them” songbook of the great and anciently wise Pink Floyd.

Beirne has been researching his material on New England sports history for decades and there is no doubt about the location of his heart and soul on this subject. Gerald Beirne loves New England sports, especially baseball, and so much so, that he now has produced a chowder head sports addict’s dream calendar for 2015. It is for sale right now, even as he already works feverishly upon the completion of his 2016 version.

“This Day in New England Sports History” – a 12” x 12” closed and 12” x 24” fully opened – 2015 Calendar is now available from Beirne to the general public for $19.99.

The price includes the $5.00 shipping and handling fee.

The 2015 calendar includes 365 New England Sports historical fact entries, one for each day of the upcoming year. This Red Sox entry for March 25^th, for example, reads as follows:

“2008 – The defending World Champion Boston Red Sox opened the 2008 season in Tokyo, playing the Oakland Athletics. Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka was the starting pitcher. But Hideki Okajima got the win on Manny Ramirez’s 10^th inning two-run double. Boston fans soon wearied of Daisuke’s ‘slower than the last day of school’ pace.”

And there is so very much more in all of these summaries. Please order your copy or copies of the calendar now – while they last!

Whether you are a GPS-located, native soil rooted New Englander, or a corporately transplanted “chowder head” sports addict, now living in some other part of the USA, simply send your check or money order today for $19.99 (no cash or credit cards please) to:

New England Calendar

c/o Fr. Gerald Beirne

25 Circuit Drive

Narragansett, RI 02882

Endorse your payment to “Fr. Gerald Beirne” and please make sure your personal check or written instructions includes a clear return mailing address.

Multiple calendar orders from the USA must include an extra payment of $19.99 for each additional calendar ordered.

Orders from Canada, due to the extra shipping costs, must include a payment of $21.99 for each calendar ordered.

Fr. Gerald Beirne
NE Sports Calendar Author

As we are sure you have figured out by now, the originator of this wonderful New England sports calendar is a retired Catholic priest. His full name is Father Gerald Beirne, the unofficial Chaplain of Catholic SABR Members as the “By-the-Will-of God” Celebrant of all SABR Convention Hotel Sunday Masses on annual meeting getaway days for the past 23 years.

We know that you may find larger commercial sites on the Internet that will be able to supply you with this product in some easier payment credit card or PayPal way, but please consider giving Father Beirne your direct support for a great entertaining and useful calendar – whether you are a chowder head fan or not – because this supplier is the same one that made its very existence “a labor of love.”

Also, please buy your calendar(s) now because (1) this baby is not only informative and entertaining, it is also limited in quantities. (2) A retired priest in Rhode Island cannot afford to print a gazillion copies as a company like Hallmark or American Greetings might. If you wait too long, you could miss out, and (3) Buy it now and have one or more of your holiday season stocking stuffer gifts taken care of in advance of Halloween or Thanksgiving.

We bought two copies because, when all is said and done, and then expressed adequately in the form of a quaint old New England expression, this is one “wicked pissa” sports calendar!

Thank you for a labor of love, Father Beirne!

________________________________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/21

637

220

.345

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/21

542

181

.334

NOTES, 9/22 AM: Now it’s Monnday morning. Yesterday, Jose Altuve had another “2 for 4” game to raise his season batting average to .345. With a single and his 45th double of the year in yesterday’s bag, Altuve’s season hit total now rises to 220 as the Astros slam Seattle, 8-3, to take the rubber game in the three-game weekend series. In Kansas City, Victor Martinez of the Tigers had a single in three trips against the 5-2 victorious Royals to maintain his hovering position at .334. Altuve’s statistical lead has widened by a point to .011, but it remains far too early in ACT III of this little baseball melodrama for local celebrations. – Oh well! The fat lady sings in one more week!

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Very Superstitious, Writing’s on the Wall

September 21, 2014

My Saturday To-Go order from the health food store came back as # 216 – the same as Jose Altuve’s hit total thru Friday night’s games. Uh-Oh! “Very Superstitious – Writing’s on the wall!” (as Stevie Wonder says)

This is crazy! I’m now so caught up in the Jose Altuve quest for a batting title or two – and his constantly improving record MLB hit total for any Houston Astro or native Venezuelan who has ever played the game of baseball as a representative of either group at this level that the intensity and excitement is beginning to rain the same kinds of frogs of superstition that drenched me as a kid sandlotter.

Have you ever lost your only Stan Musial baseball card to your mom’s clothes wash after leaving it in the hip pocket of your blue jeans as a good luck piece at the sandlot game?

Have you ever carried your good luck rock in that same hip pocket locale and then found out the price you were destined to pay on your first sandlot butt slide of the summer morning?

Have you ever counted birds landing on a certain telephone wire from your top of the first inning position in center field as a predictor on how many runs your Eagles (team) were going to score in their bottom of the first inning time at bat?

Have you ever had a really good Saturday morning sandlot game – only to lose an argument with your mom at lunch over your desire to wear the same lucky dirty, but lucky jeans to the Saturday afternoon kids’ double feature, plus serial, at a movie theater like The Avalon on 75th Avenue in the Houston east end?

Thanks, Senor Altuve, for bringing it all home to roost again. In one short, depleted of many other things to cheer about 2014 season, your Star Trek-like bold journey into a territory where no previous Astro has ever traveled successfully has, indeed – one more time – fueled the compulsive edge of my early baseball life.

Around mid-day yesterday, I had finished some Saturday morning errands in the Town and Country area on the west side and was passing my health food store, James Coney Island. I was alone for the day, so it didn’t take much inner discussion with myself. I stopped in at JCI to pick up a to-go order.

It was only when I received my to-go order ticket number that I realized the full force of the powers that apparently were working on me.

As you may also note from the copy of that to-go 0rder slip that is posted as the lead pictorial on this column, my JCI service person had issued me an order slip that was identified as “No. 216!”

My eyes widened immediately as I awaited my two all the way chili cheese dogs with onions and the mandatory bag of Fritos that go with them.

“Order No. 216?” They’ve got to be kidding, right?” No, sir! No, Ma’am! – This was destiny talking – speaking in print on a not-so-random order ticket. Had I not arrived at precisely the moment I did, and ordered what I did, from this particular guy – not the other one – I would not have been designated as “Order # 216.”

So be it, but the thing I wasn’t sure about until last night was – Is this a good luck sign? – Or a bad luck sign?

I knew this much when I saw the order number: Had I come in actively thinking in silent conversation with the “baseball gods,” – “Please send me a sign of how many hits Altuve will have at season’s end!”

That would have been bad news for sure. Jose Altuve already had exactly 216 total hits at the time I got my to-go number 216. It would have meant that he was out of hits, but probably not out of empty times at. bat If this is for real, and he goes “O fer” the rest of the last eight Astro games, he may also lose the batting title to Victor Martinez!

It had not occurred to me at the time that other possible explanations for a 216-hit total finish on 9/19 might have included injury or a simple decision to end his season early. In that case, Altuve may have prevailed over Martinez’s struggle to catch him by his own effort alone.

Fortunately, injury has not happened, so far – and backing into a title is not our way down here in Houston.

Altuve stopping at 216 hits was still a bummer thought, but the salvation remedy seemed clear. – I didn’t walk into Coney Island with any specific question in mind. Seeing “216” could be a good sign. We just won’t know for sure until he gets another hit and proves that the printed number from JCI was not a statement of where he will end up with as a complete season hit total. – All I hoped for yesterday was that it was some kind of sign from the “baseball gods” that they were listening to the hopes and dreams of all us Jose Altuve fans who were out here pulling hard for him.

When I walked out of James Coney Island with my health food in the bag yesterday, I dared to whisper this thought into a gentle breeze that suddenly rolled its way through the parking lot: “If Altuve can pick up a couple of hits tonight against Seattle, everything is going to be alright.”

And so be it again. That’s exactly what he did. Read below for the details and draw your own conclusions – or not.

________________________________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/20

633

218

.344

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/20

539

180

.334

NOTES, 9/21 AM: It’s Sunday morning. Last night, Jose Altuve collected two singles in four trips to raise his season batting average to .344. His season hit total is now 218, pulling his out of tie he shared with fellow countryman Magglio Ordonez for 24 hours as the two Venezuelans with the most hits in MLB history at 216. Now that Venezuelan record belongs only to “Senor Jose,” for at least the next year – through whatever total Altuve finally finishes with in his last eight games of 2014. Oh yes, the Astros blasted Seattle at MMP on Saturday by 10-1, thanks a lot to the five Altuve Astro teammates who each blast home runs. Meanwhile, Victor Martinez fell a peg yesterday, going one for four in his Tiger club’s win over the Royals at Kansas City, 3-2. Martinez’s average dropped slightly to .334 as Altuve’s rose a point to .344 and a full .010 point lead in the AL and total MlB batting races.

Tags: baseball superstition awaked by Jose Altuve
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End of the World for .300? Probably not!

September 20, 2014

CARL YAZSTREMSKI WON THE 1968 AL BATTING TITLE WITH A BATTING AVERAGE OF .301. IT WAS THE ONLY TIME IN HISTORY THAT THE ONLY .300 HTTER IN A LEAGUE WON AN MLB BATTING TITLE.

CARL YASTRZEMSKI WON THE 1968 AL BATTING TITLE WITH A BATTING AVERAGE OF .301. IT WAS THE ONLY TIME IN HISTORY THAT THE ONLY .300 HITTER IN A LEAGUE WON AN MLB BATTING TITLE.

Our esteemed colleague Bill Gilbert’s recent column here in The Eagle poked at the possibility that the presence of .300 batters in the big leagues may be soon on the way to slipping into rarity or virtually extinct phases in baseball hitting history.

It could happen, but most probably will not. Remember 1968? The so-called “Year of the Pitcher?”

Baseball fans don’t cram themselves into ballparks all over the big leagues to watch outs, great catches only, pitching duels exclusively, or fluke plays in the 9th that allow one team to take a 1-0 or 2-1 win every time, We all know better than that. We like power-hitting and we’ve been in love with the parabolic blast of bat upon baseball into fast flight since Babe Ruth pulled it of the game’s bag of little used tricks and made the home run into an every game hope and expectation by everyone who buys a ticket.

Look what happened after 1968. It was a year symbolized forever by Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson and his MLB-leading ERA of 1.12 – by an All Star Game in Houston that the National League won by 1-0 – and by an American League battle title won by Carl Yastrzemski with a batting average of only .301. It was the only time in history that the only hitter to bat .300 or better on the season won the batting title, and at almost the lowest it could have been and still found itself resting among the traditional marker on good hitting period. Yastrzemnski won. There were no other .300 hitters in the 1968 AL season. The nearest man to “Yaz” at season’s end was Danny Cater of the Oakland Athletics. Cater batted .290 as runner-up for the batting title that year.

Not much to write home about. And not enough to produce the kind of adrenaline rush in fans that precedes season-ticket purchases.

Baseball had to do something to save hitting and they did. They determined that the height of the pitching mound and the broad strike zone had to change. These factors had been giving the pitcher way too much advantage in his eternal battle with the batter. Putting that kind of advantage in the hand and glare of a talented, very big, and intimidating figure like Bob Gibson and the formula for a one-sided battle with most hitters had been struck, most unfavorably, against the latter.

So, before 1969, baseball lowered the pitching mound a few inches and shrunk the zone for called strikes. The changes did not mess up the greats like Gibson, Oh, his ERA “jumped” from 1.12 to 2.18,alright, but he still threw 28 complete games in 1969, same as 1968, only this time, he led the league in that department – and he won another 20 games, only two less victories than he compiled during his 1968 poster boy season.

Rod Carew of the Twins won the first of his several batting titles in 1969 with a more normal championship mark of .332.

1968 had been an aberration year in favor of pitching, just as 1930 had been an over-the-top year in favor of hitting for average and power. For example, the last place NL team, the Phillies, batted .315 as a team, but still could not bat their way out of the basement with bad pitching.

Imbalances occur from time to time that give the offense and defense a one-sided advantage over the other and will need to be fixed for the sake of the game’s continuity, integrity, and entertainment value to the fans. Each time one becomes apparent, it should be up to baseball to take a broad, transparent, and fair look at why a situation has arisen and to specifically address both causes and cures before launching into any kind of extreme rule changes that might fundamentally alter the game. For example, even though it is not a present concern, if power hitting during the hopefully “post-steroids era” were to fall off significantly, the reactive introduction of metal bats, in our view, would be just as dishonest a tool as HGH use by players. Anything that artificially changes the game, and its historical records, in an abrupt significant manner should be avoided at all costs.

Why? Because people who love baseball embrace it as a game that shows how players of any size or background are capable of realizing the attainment of hope and possibility that comes from playing this game as it was always intended. And that has nothing to do with misplaced adoration by the few for players who can afford the best performance-enhancing drugs – or the most expensive metal home-run bats. We fans don’t give a damn for the narcissists who use the game to feather their own nests by any course of action they can use to escape detection.

Governed with integrity and a watchful eye upon the balance of things between offense and defense over time, baseball will always find legitimate ways to correct imbalances, but there will never come a time when it is OK with most of us fans for baseball to change the essential human game through the allowance of PED’s – or metal bats – by anyone on salary to play the game.

Need a role model for how to play the game? – Read on for today’s progress report on Jose Altuve – the little man on the right way to one of baseball’s biggest prizes – the 2014 American League and Major League Baseball batting titles!

______________________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

CONTENDERS

TEAM

THRU GAME DATE

GAMES LEFT

AT BATS

2014 HITS

CURRENT BATTING AVERAGE

ALTUVE

ASTROS

9/19

629

216

.343

MARTINEZ

TIGERS

9/19

535

179

.335

NOTES, 9/20 AM: Jose Altuve took part of the night off Friday, using his rest break from defense as the DH and going 3 for 3 in the Astros’ 10-5 loss to Seattle at MMP. He then left the game for pinch hitter Marc Krauss rather than put a perfect offensive game on the line in a game that meant little. Victor Martinez kept the heat on Altuve in a 2 for 4 night for the Tigers in their 10-1 bashing of the Royals at KC. Small gains are better than losses every time. Altuve has increased his batting race lead over Martinez from .007 to .008 points in one night. He also broke Craig Biggio’s 3-hit games mark of 23, set back in 1998. Altuve’s new 24th game record happened in the bottom of the 5th with a single to left. Want more? Altuve’s third hit of the night and 216th of the season tied him with Magglio Ordonez for the most season hits ever by a native Venezuelan. Until last night, Ordonez had been sitting alone at 216 since 2007.

Tags: 300 HITTER CONCERN
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