Baseball Historians

The White Sox couldn’t wrap up the sweep, but two wins in a three game series is never something to scoff at.  With the Tigers struggling, the White Sox are now 4 1/2 back and only a half game ahead of the Twins.
The White Sox really got the bats going on Tuesday.  Jermaine Dye hit [...]

I hate this.  The Twins clawed their way to sit atop the Wild Card pack and then gave it up after losing two games to the worst team in baseball.
Matt Garza may have had his best start in his young career.  Unfortunately, he walked away with the loss.  He gave up two runs on five [...]

August 31, 1926 at Sportsman’s Park
Cardinals 6, Pirates 1  (74-54)
Bill Sherdel was phenomonal in the first game of the Cardinals doubleheader with the Pirates.  He gave up only one run in the fourth inning and the Pirates were able to get only seven hits off him the entire game.  He walked none and struck out [...]

I was in a hurry this morning and I completely forgot to mention Andrew Miller’s debut.  He pitched in game one yesterday and threw 17 pitches, 12 of which were strikes.  He did hit Craig Wilson and while he didn’t strike anybody, he never got into trouble.  Not too shabby for dealing with a Yankee [...]

The Red Sox are dead.  Rest in peace.
The Tiges rolled into town this week.  Tuesday ended in a rain out so they played two yesterday.  Game one was masterful performance by Chien Ming Wang who combined with Scott Proctor and Mariano Rivera for a four hit shutout.  Craig Wilson put the Yanks on the board [...]

August 31, 1986 at Shea Stadium
Dodgers 7, Mets 4  (87-42)
It seemed like the Mets would just keep on winning, but their excellent streak finally came to an end.  Ron Darling was tagged for seven runs on nine hits as he dropped to 12-5.
Ed Hearn hit his fourth homerun and scored twice.  Keith Hernandez went two for [...]

August 31, 1976 at Busch Stadium 
Reds 6, Cardinals 5  (84-49)
The Reds ended August on a winning note, and they did it with a big five run seventh inning.  Joe Morgan and Cesar Geronimo both drove in two runs in the win, and Pete Rose went three for five with two runs and an RBI.
Pedro [...]

It’s interesting how much one inning and one homerun can make such a difference in people’s perception.  If Craig Monroe strikes out in the ninth and the Tigers lose, then you’d get the typical “sky is falling” reaction.  Instead you’ll hear a lot of stuff (okay, crap) about how the Tigers are destined to win it in [...]

The Angels have been clinging to contention for quite some time and it looks like it’s time that they’ve run out of.  Oakland has been red hot and the Angels have only been okay.  They’re now 7 1/2 games, which is almost insurmountable especially considering how well Oakland has been, and they’re closer to the [...]

The Dodgers are back in “can’t lose” mode.  The Wild Card leading Reds came to town and left with three losses.  Not too shabby and it’s nice to see the Dodgers back on track.  What a wild ride this season’s been.
The pen almost cost the Dodgers on Monday.  Brad Penny left the game with a [...]

August 31, 1906 at Cleveland
White Sox 5, Naps 4  (71-46)
The White Sox edged the Naps today after almost blowing a big lead.  Up 4-1, Nick Altrock gave up three runs in the eighth to tie it up.  Fortunately the Sox put a run on the board in the ninth to win it.  Pattsy Dougherty led [...]

Over the course of six days, the Reds went from being tied for first place and having a marginal lead for the Wild Card to 4 1/2 games back and having two teams blow by them.  For the first time in a long time, the Reds are on the outside looking in.  I guess I’ve [...]

August 30, 1926 at Sportsman’s Park
Pirates 3, Cardinals 0  (72-54)
The Cardinals were held to two hits in the opener of their first of two doubleheader against the Pirates.  Les Bell and Bob O’Farrell singled, and that was the extent of the Cardinals offense.
Flint Rhem gave up three runs on eight hits in eight innings of [...]

What a way to go down.  David Ortiz is in the hospital, Manny Ramirez is on the shelf, and the Red Sox just can’t seem to win.  Out of three games against Oakland, the Red Sox were really only in one of them and if the Yankees win their second game against Detroit today, they’ll [...]

The Cubs lost again today.  It’s the team’s sixth straight loss and the Cubs now sit only a game and a half back of the Pirates for the worst record in the National League.  They’re six games ahead of the Royals for the worst team in all of baseball.  None of this is good.
Monday’s game [...]

August 30, 1986 at Shea Stadium
Mets 6, Dodgers 3  (87-42)
The Mets won for the eleventh time in twelve games by getting to Orel Hershiser early.  By the end of the fourth inning, Hershiser was in the dugout and the Mets had five runs, more then enough to win the game.
Howard Johnson scored two runs and Keith [...]

August 30, 1976 at Busch Stadium 
Cardinals 7, Reds 1  (83-49)
The Reds must have been tired after their fifteen inning game the night before, and it showed.  It didn’t help that Will McEnaney gave up five runs on seven hits in 1 1/3 innings of relief.
The Reds scored their only run when Pete Rose came [...]

What a season for Ryan Howard.  He hit homerun number 48 yesterday and now he sits atop a pretty nice list of Phillies’ sluggers.  50 is a foregone conclusion and the question now is whether he’ll be able to get close to 60.

August 29, 2006 at Sportsman’s Park
Cardinals 2, Pirates 2  (72-53)

The game only took an hour and fifty three minutes, but the fans who sat through the entire game were there for almost five hours.  After two different rain delays and ten innings of play, the big series opener between the Pirates and the Cardinals ended [...]

The Tigers and Yankees were rained out today and they’ll play a doubleheader tomorrow.  With that, here’s a few random thoughts.
I’m not sure who would be hungrier.  A player like Sean Casey who’s up there in age and has never won a championship, or a veteran like Ivan Rodriguez or Kenny Rogers who have tasted [...]

August 29, 1986 at Shea Stadium
Mets 2, Dodgers 1  (86-42)
The Mets continued their hot streak with a tight win over the Dodgers.  It was their tenth win in eleven games.
Keith Hernandez singled home Mookie Wilson in the first inning, then Wilson drove home Rafael Santana with a single in the seventh inning.  In the meantime, [...]

August 29, 1976 at Riverfront Stadium 
Reds 6, Phillies 5  (83-48)
The Reds gave their home fans their moneys worth in this fifteen inning thriller.  The Phillies jumped out to 4-1 lead in the top of the sixth, but the Reds shaved that lead to a single run with two runs in the bottom of the [...]

Alright, I finally got the book I ordered and just in time for my annual Labor Day weekend trip so once again, things will be delayed until after the holiday weekend.  In the meantime, here are some biographies of some of the National League All Stars.  Starters are in bold.
Wally Berger OF – SABR Bio
Pie [...]

August 29, 1906 at Columbia Park
Athletics 4, White Sox 3  (70-46)
This time it was the A’s who won a rain shortened game.  After only five innings, the game was called and the A’s finished just ahead of the White Sox, 4-3.
Ed Walsh got the start again and this time he wasn’t nearly as effective.  He [...]

If it weren’t for Ryan Howard, the Mets would probably have the NL East wrapped up by now.  He’d look awfully nice in a Mets uniform once Carlos Delgado moves on.
The Mets have now won nine of their last ten, they have an eleven game lead over the Cardinals for the best record in the [...]

Fortunately, the Reds have dropped three straight.  The Mets took it to the Phillies this weekend but Friday’s close win allowed them to at least nab one game.  So as it stands, the Phillies are one game back of the Reds and a half game back of the Padres in the Wild Card race.
Ryan Howard [...]

Man, they were there.  I know it was just a day, but they were there.  And what a difference a weekend makes.  Now the Reds are clinging to a half game lead for the Wild Card (over the Padres), fighting for their lives against the NL West leading Dodgers.
Thursday seemed so long ago, but the [...]

This was big.  After losing three straight to the Padres, the Dodgers lead in the NL West was reduced to a single game.  Fortunately the Dodgers got it going and the Padres lost two of three this weekend so the lead is now two games.
The Dodgers lost their fourth straight game on Friday.  The Dodgers [...]

Things always revert to the mean.  The Cubs are a pretty bad team this year and the Cardinals are pretty good.  Somehow though, the Cubs have taken it to the Cardinals at least up until the past two weekends.  This time, things fully reverted back, and the Cardinals took care of business by sweeping the [...]

It’s nice to see we finally figured out the Cubs.  After some pretty rough series, the Cardinals won last weekend and now this time around, they swept the Cubs in St. Louis.  It couldn’t have come at a better time.
On Friday, Jeff Suppan threw one of his best games all season.  He gave up five [...]