Go West

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/07/video-vin-scully-talks-d-day/

In 1958, two teams ventured out of the East and settled on the West Coast, the Giants of the National League in San Francisco and the same league’s Dodgers who settled into Los Angeles. Along with the Bums came their announcer, Vince Scully. And from that date, just 14 years after the Invasion of Normandy, baseball and the West settled into a love affair that has lasted for over a half a Century.

Baseball is played out West and of the eight teams West of the Pecos, four of them have .500 or better records this season, with one team a game under .500. But in the Senior Circuit, three are above .500 including the two originals. They play baseball out in the West.

For many, fans have long gone to bed when the West Cost games begin and end. It’s as if they don’t really exist in the East until those teams have to travel to the left coast. And when they get there, throw those team’s records out. This is the land of pitching. If you are in Seattle, the King resides up there and you don’t want to face the King. In San Francisco, it’s the home of Madison and Timmy. Down in LaLa, Clayton and Greinke rule. Further South, just North of North Island, James and then Kimbrel reside. In other words, when you go out West, young man, you better bring your hitting shoes.

On Saturday night, there was a game that proved this point. Both starting pitchers, Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, fired bullets. At one time during the game, Kershaw and Garcia had 0-2 pitch counts on 18 batters, 10 of those by Kershaw. With that kind of pitching, there is a good chance you will not get a good pitch to hit. And in fact, only the right fielder, Grichuk, got a single hit off of Dodger pitching on the evening. Garcia, beginning the bottom of the Seventh inning, had only thrown 77 pitches. But in the next five pitches, he gave up a double down the third base line which eluded the third baseman who moved over from Second base after the original third baseman, Carpenter, was hit earlier in the game and had to leave. Then, Kozma’s replacement at second, Wong, couldn’t handle a hot line drive which drove in the second run (this was after Puig had driven in the first with a double to the gap in right center). A game of inches? Yes. A game of what ifs? Yes. In five pitches the game was over. Garcia only threw 87 pitches in his outing, good enough to win most games, but in three games this year, the Cardinals haven’t scored any runs for him.

Throughout all of this, Vin Scully gave us all a delightful presentation of the game along with a history lesson on why this date is so important to Americans.

As Vin Scully told the story that wrapped in and out of pitches, in the Ninth Inning as the Dodgers were putting away the Cardinals and shutting the out, 2-0, he weaved his magic as he said, “a young man who waded ashore in Normandy on this date 71 years ago who was to become a great American writer…he pops up to the catcher for the second out…who had the first six chapters of his novel stuffed in his back pocket…and another guy who is trying to get noticed in the game…and the young man on that fateful day who was in the 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division on Utah Beach was JD Salinger…a roller down the third base line, foul….and the great American novel was ‘A Catcher In The Rye’. ‘Poor guy’…now 1-2 on Matt Holiday who fouls it off again….who can ever forget Holden Caulfield…fast ball got him looking. Do us all a favor…please tell your children and grandchildren what June 6th is all about. 12 Cardinals strike out tonight and the Dodgers remain in first place, a half a game in front of the San Francisco Giants. Good night, everybody.”

And only those of us on the West Coast could hear this fascinating melding of a sporting event in the time of our lives, on a day with a Triple Crown winner became the 12th ever to accomplish that feat, and on a date with destiny that changed the world forever so many years ago.

For those of you back East, you missed one of the greatest story telling blendings in history by a Master of the Art who ventured West fifty-seven years ago. Good night, Vin.

Can’t wait until Sunday. He is the Gold Standard.

Play Ball!

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Lolo Bud

 

There are nearly 1.4 million permanent residents in Hawaii. With tourists, the population swells. Going to Hawaii during the baseball season is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because you catch a game before dinner. If you are a Giants fan, with a radio affiliate out of Honolulu, you have daily contact with the sport. That is IF you are a Giants fan. The bad is that if you are not a listening Giants fan, all games on MLB TV on the West Coast are blacked out via digital. You can’t watch one of the most amazing seasons a team has ever had, such as the Dodgers. You couldn’t see Kershaw silence the Phillies on Saturday. You couldn’t watch the Giants, the A’s, the Padres or the Mariners play because their games at home are blacked out on MLB TV via digital.

 

But if you are a Brewer fan, which are far and few between in Paradise, and you are playing in Arlington for one of the rare times, earlier in the week, you can see the game but cannot hear it. That can also be a blessing if you don’t want to hear the team’s PR announcer, Bill Schroeder. But you do get audio during the commercial breaks. Good job, MLB.

 

And if you try to watch the game on your mobile device, even if you are a subscriber on the digital band, you have to pay for access.

 

So, if you are a Dodger fan, get ready to shell out and NOT be able to listen to the tones of Vince paint a vocal picture of a game as only he can.

 

But I’m a Brewer fan. I get to watch in silence the ‘Silent Game’ where the Crew is ahead going into the seventh, 4-1 and watch Gonzalez and Badenhop blow another save and loose the lead in one inning.

 

Yet this is not about the misery of the Milwaukee AAA team playing in Miller Park this season. It is about baseball and how they tread the 50th State. It is insane to treat a million plus who are six to seven hours away and not be able to watch a team they like on the West Coast.

 

What in the sanest mile could come up with this dumb idea. No wonder the Islands like football more than baseball. Bud…wake up. There are a million people who might like to have a choice of watching their favorite West Coast team digitally via MLB TV.

 

 

So Bud. Get off your throne, fix what you can by giving these folks a reason to get the game and be able to watch the team of their choice. Or are you too busy taking victory laps for your A-Rod PED exposure or the suspension of Miguel Tejada as part of your ‘Legacy Plan’.

Play Ball!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opportunity Missed. Watch Out For #9.

The Milwaukee Brewers missed a great chance to do something they have never done before…sweep the Dodgers in a series. Their 4-3 loss on Thursday made their record 6-7 compared to 7-6 last season after their first full 13 games and after winning the first two against the Dodgers by 3-2 scores.

The City of Milwaukee in major league baseball has only swept the Dodgers five times in history. The first time came in the inaugural year of the Milwaukee Braves in 1953, when in September on the 2nd (Bob Buhl won his 11th of the year 9-8 in relief of Warren Spahn and Ernie Johnson) and 3rd (Lew Burdette won his 14th of the year, 6-1 as Eddie Mathews hit his 44th home run of the year driving in 3 in the 8th and Jim Pendleton hit his 6th driving in 2, also in the 8th off of Carl Erskine), they swept the boys from Brooklyn at Ebbets Field.

Their next sweep was also at Ebbets Field on May 11 (Gene Conley won his second of the year, 2-0, striking out 7 with Joe Adcock hitting the home run for victory in the 6th) and on the 12th (Lew Burdette won his 3rd, 5-1, getting key home runs by Mathews & Adcock off of Don Newcombe) in 1954.

Finally in 1956, they beat ‘the Bums’ in Milwaukee in a major four game series, July 12 (in the first game of a double-header, Bob Buhl won his 10th, 2-0, with an Adcock home run – his 13th off of Craig), in the second game of the double-header on July 12 (Burdette won 6-5, with Adcock hitting his 14th home run off of Carl Erskine),  July 13 (Ernie Johnson won his 2nd in relief of Ray Crone, 8-6, again with Adcock’s 15th home run off of Newcombe), and on July 14 (Johnson again won in relief, 3-2, with yet another home run by Adcock, his 16th off of Sal Maglie in the 10th on a walk off). It is the only time a Milwaukee team swept a Dodger team in the Cream City thanks in large part to the Dodger killer, Joe Adcock. By the way, Jackie Robinson hit his 7th of the season in the 8th on July 13th off of Burdette.

Two other times, in Los Angeles, the Braves swept the Dodgers on April 24 (Hank Fisher won his 2nd of the year, 6-3, with Ed Bailey hitting his 5th home run) and April 25 (Warren Spahn won his first of the year, 5-1. beating Johnny Padres), 1964 and in the final year of the Braves being from Milwaukee in 1965 on July 21 (Wade Blasingame won 6-4) and July 22 (Tony Cloninger beat Bob Miller for a 5-2 victory).

Will this be the year of opportunity missed?

The Crew will play the Dodgers one more time this season, in Los Angeles in late May (28-31) at Dodger Stadium. With history on its side, the chance of a Brewers sweep is nil. That is unless we can wake up Joe Adcock from the grave. “Billy Joe Adcock”, ironically as Vin Scully popularized him, wore number 9.

Guess who wears #9 for the Brewers. George Kottaras.

There is a chance.