Unrelated picture of Hanley Ramirez and his sweet glove.
I don’t feel very good today, but that won’t keep me from posting scores.
21 April
NPB Hiroshima Carp (2) at Hanshin Tigers (1). I love seeing the Carp win the close ones. Hiroshima is 10-12-0 and only half a game away from third.
Chiba Lotte Marines (6) at Rakuten Eagles (0). Rakuten seems to only be able to put together solid performances a few times a week (notably when Iwakuma and Tanaka pitch). They won’t make the Climax Series this way. Rakuten falls to 9-16-0 and I’m quite frankly surprised that the Fighters are still doing worse.
MLB Colorado Rockies (4) at Washington Nationals (6). Another game I was there for and the first Nats win I’ve seen in person this year. The Nats are now 8-7 and tied with Florida for third.
Florida Marlins (4) at Houson Astros (5). I thought this would be a much easier series for the Marlins, but they seem to keep dropping games to one of the worst teams in baseball. Pull it together Florida, you’re already tied with Washington with your 8-7 record.
Tampa Bay Rays (12) at Chicago White Sox (0). A nice drumming of my least favorite AL Central team. Tampa Bay rises to 11-4, half a game back from the first place Yankees.
Baltimore Orioles (1) at Seattle Mariners (4). As I predicted, King Felix held them down. Baltimore is down to 2-14 and still looking awful.
Giant Pretzel!
The Victory Knot! Served at Nationals Park (and two other ballparks, supposedly) and absolutely delicious. This 2 lb monstrosity costs $16, but it’s WAY worth it. Best part of last night’s game.
20 April
NPB Hiroshima Carp (0) at Hanshin Tigers (5). The win streak ends. I really hope Hiroshima can at least win this series against the Tigers. 9-12-0 in fourth, four games from first.
Chiba Lotte Marines (2) at Rakuten Eagles (8). Where did this offense come from? Nice work Rakuten. 9-15-0 in fourth.
MLB Colorado Rockies (10) at Washington Nationals (4). I was at this ugly game that the Nats gave up in the third inning. The 10-0 deficit was slightly made up by the Nats thanks to Zimmerman, Maxwell, and Desmond, but it wasn’t enough. Nice try, Washington, who drops to 0.500 baseball again: 7-7 in fourth.
Florida Marlins (5) at Houston Astros (7). Embarrassing to lose to the ‘Stros, but it happens. Marlins relief gives it up. Why Fredi left Tim Wood in so long, I don’t know, but they managed to lose this one late. Marlins fall into third with their 8-6 record, but they’re only half a game back.
Tampa Bay Rays (1) at Chicago White Sox (4). David Price gives up three, which isn’t that bad, but the Rays offense can’t put anything together. 10-4 puts them half a game back in second.
Baltimore Orioles (1) at Seattle Mariners (3). Another game dropped. 2-13. Last. Worst team in baseball at the moment.
Funny commercials aside, we’ve got some history today as the Rays swept the Red Sox on Patriots Day for the second time in the franchise’s history (first in a four-game series). Go Rays! Welcome to first place this year.
19 April
NPB Off-day.
MLB Tampa Bay Rays (8) at Boston Red Sox (2). Keep on panicking in Bean Town, because the Red Sox have dropped yet another to the Rays. Sure, the Rays are bound to lose a few soon, but how nice is it for them to have posted a seven-game win streak to push themselves into first place. They’ll need the cushion in the standings since the Yankees and Red Sox are due to play the worst team in baseball soon, the Orioles. Tampa Bay moves into sole possession of first place (by half a game) with their 10-3 record.
Colorado Rockies (2) at Washington Nationals (5). Colorado drops one against Washington and I’m a bit surprised. We’ll see what happens over the next two games in the series. Washington is now playing super-0.500 baseball with a 7-6 record in fourth, but only 1.5 games back.
Baltimore Orioles (2) at Seattle Mariners (8). Ugly for Baltimore. This series could get even uglier with King Felix Hernandez pitching in the third game. Baltimore’s only real chance is tomorrow. The Orioles fall to 2-12 in last.
Your bizarre Japanese music video for today. I kind of dig the song and the band. They deserve further investigation.
The Phanatic likes to mess around with everyone, including reporters.
I spent a far-too-cold night at Citizens Bank Park freezing my butt off, but enjoying a Marlins victory over Fish-killer Jamie Moyer. A review of the park should be hitting soon, but I’ve got to finish writing it first.
16 April
NPB Chunichi Dragons (3) at Hiroshima Carp (4). If I’m not mistaken, this one was won in extra innings. A thrilling victory for the Carp.
Rakuten Eagles (1) at Softbank Hawks (9). The losing streak continues
MLB Florida Marlins (6) at Philadelphia Phillies (8). Roy Halladay throws 8 innings of 2-run baseball that’s almost ruined by his relief in the 9th. Florida doesn’t have enough to get the last two, but they make it interesting.
Milwaukee Brewers (3) at Washington Nationals (5). Is this a two-game win streak I smell?
Baltimore Orioles (2) at Oakland Athletics (4). It just gets uglier and uglier for the Os.
17 April
NPB Dragons (7) at Carp (8). It’s always refreshing to see my other Fish manage so many runs. More late-inning heroics push Hiroshima up and give them the series win.
Eagles (8) at Hawks (3). The Golden Eagles have tons of run-scoring potential, but they’re often unable to get it done. When you’ve got Iwakuma and Ma-kun pitching Saturday and Sunday, respectively, you’d better score runs to capitalize on good pitching performances.
MLB Brewers (0) at Nationals (8). Liván Hernández shows, once again, that he is still an amazing pitcher. I’ll never forget his performance for the Fish in 1997 and it makes me happy that he’s still going so strong. 3-game win streak for the Nats.
Orioles (3) at Athletics (4). More ugliness. How much longer will Dave Trembley have a job if things continue like this? Is there some unspoken Baltimore-Washington rule that one of the teams must be terrible?
Marlins (5) at Phillies (1). The game I was at. What a beauty. Good thing the Fish got to Jamie Moyer early, because the bats were mostly silent after the first inning.
Tampa Bay Rays (3) at Boston Red Sox (1). This game started on Friday, but was rain-delayed in the 9th inning at a 1-1 tie. It resumed and went for 12 before finally getting resolved in Tampa Bay’s favor.
Rays (6) at Red Sox (5). Should have been more of a blow-out for the Rays than it was, but Longoria’s home run turned out to be the difference.
18 April
NPB Eagles (0) at Hawks (1). Masahiro Tanaka throws a gem of a game that the Hawks win with in the bottom of the 9th while Ma-kun tried to get his 27th out. It’s a shame that he goes for so many and his offense does squat for him. Rakuten finishes the week in fifth with 8-15-0 with a huge 8.5 game deficit.
Dragons (2) at Carp (4). Was this what I think it was? A series sweep by the Carp! Could this mean fortune is beginning to favor Hiroshima? The Carp close the weekend 9-11-0 in fourth and only three games back from first.
MLB Marlins (2) at Phillies (0). Lefty Nate Robertson does what he was hired to do: kill Phillies left-handed hitters. The Marlins win yet another series and raise their standing to 8-5 putting them half a game back on the Phils.
Rays (7) at Red Sox (1). An amazing performance by Matt Garza puts the Rays ahead of the Sox yet again. If Tampa Bay can manage one more win in this long series, they’ve got themselves a sweep on their hands. Should they manage said sweep, it would be the second sweep of the Sox at Fenway in Rays history. The Rays are 9-3 and tied for first with the Yankees.
Brewers (11) at Nationals (7). Jason Marquis has the ugliest performance of his career, giving up seven runs in the first inning without recording an out. He’s pulled and the Nats give up three more. They make a strong comeback effort, but it’s not quite enough. They’re playing 0.500 baseball, folks, with a 6-6 record that puts then in fourth, but only two games back from Philadelphia. Also great is that they’re two games above New York. Fantastic baseball being played so far.
Orioles (8) at Athletics (3). The skid ends for Baltimore, but the damage has been done. Baltimore is only 2-11 and a gigantic (for this point in the season) 7.5 games back. Ouch.
One of the latest in the long line of pretty funny Sportscenter commercials.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the day that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and made his MLB debut. Per usual and in honor of the event, baseball had every player taking the field adopt Jackie Robinson’s uniform number for the day, 42. It makes for confusing baseball if you don’t recognize the faces of the players, but it’s a great gesture that always brings a smile to my face.
It should be noted that the number 42 is not retired in Japanese baseball, which can be jarring for MLB fans who are not used to seeing players wearing the famous number out there. At least it was for me.
Yesterday was also tax day, but that’s way less cool.
15 April
NPB Yakult Swallows (2) at Hiroshima Carp (1). Maeda had himself another fine start where he held the Swallows to only two runs, but the Carp couldn’t provide significant run support. Hiroshima falls to 6-11-0 and are still only a tiny, half-game out of fifth.
Rakuten Eagles (3) at Seibu Lions (7). Killed by the Lions. Brutal. 7-13-0 and in fifth.
MLB Washington Nationals (7) at Philadelphia Phillies (5). The Nats finally notch another win against the Phillies and will hopefully get a chance to win some games now that they won’t be playing the NL Champions in six of their last nine. Washington is 4-5 and still not in last.
Cincinnati Reds (2) at Florida Marlins (10). Josh Johnson finally came out looking like the ace that he is and served up six strong innings with 10 strikeouts. The Marlins are now 6-4 and 1.5 games out of first.
Baltimore Orioles (2) at Oakland Athletics (6). I wasn’t up late enough to catch this west coast game, but it looks like it was a pretty ugly one for the Orange Birds. Oakland is surprising a lot of people with their start this year. Baltimore’s 1-9 start is too, but not in the way they might have hoped.
It was pretty cold that night
14 April
NPB Yakult Swallows (3) at Hiroshima Carp (6). I’m not sure, but this might be the first series the Carp have won this year. Their record rises to 6-10-0, but they’re still sitting in last by about half a game.
Rakuten Eagles (5) at Seibu Lions (6). 7-12-0 keeps the Eagles in fifth as they drop the entire series to the Lions.
MLB Tampa Bay Rays (9) at Baltimore Orioles (1). David Price has the outing of his career and goes deep with few walks. Tampa Bay sweeps the Orioles and ties for first with their 6-3 record.
Washington Nationals (7) at Philadelphia Phillies (14). An ugly game where both starters are knocked out in the second inning. Washington continues to give up too many runs and falls to 3-5 on the season, but remains in fourth.
Cincinnati Reds (3) at Florida Marlins (5). Chris Vosltad has a solid game and the Marlins finally notch a win on Cincinnati. The tying game for the series will be played tonight and it’s important for the Fish to win, since their 5-4 record has got them in sole possession of second by half a game on the Braves.
I realize that he’s just playing to win, but A.J. Pierzynski just has this style of hoodwinking umpires and gaming the system that annoys me to no end.
Consider the 2008 ALDS when the Sox played the Rays. I have distinct memories of Pierzynski getting himself a free base on a fake “obstructing the runner” call that he drew by elbowing the fielder and making it look like he was the one who was being jostled. The Sox still ended up losing the series, but the point remains that A.J. is willing to do what he has to for a win.
Fast forward to yesterday when Ricky Romero of the Blue Jays was throwing the game of his life. Into the 8th inning he’s got himself a no-hitter going. Things are looking great for him until he throws a ball in the dirt near Pierzynski’s feet. The ball misses A.J., but he doesn’t miss a beat and pretends that it went bouncing off his shin. Replays show the ball didn’t even come close, but the umpires, like usual, are fooled by his game and Pierzynski takes first. Not one batter later, Ricky Romero serves up a two-run blast and his flirtation with history ends. I’m not saying that A.J. caused it, but you can’t eliminate the possibility that things might have gone differently otherwise.
You’ve got to respect a man who plays hard to win, but at the end of the day I look at his stupid bleach blond hair, remember his countless cheats, and I think to myself, I hate A.J. Pierzynski.
I figured that my Rays gear might put me on the tube.
When you go to a sparsely attended game where you’re rooting against the home team, chances are you might appear on TV.
13 April
NPB Yakult Swallows (2) at Hiroshima Carp (3). A close, 10th inning, walk-off win. The Carp are proving to be quite the thorn in Yakult’s side. Their record rises to 5-10-0, but they remain in last.
Rakuten Eagles (3) at Seibu Lions (5). Not so lucky for the Eagles who fall to Seibu and fall to 7-11-0 two games out of fourth.
MLB Tampa Bay Rays (8) at Baltimore Orioles (6). Brian Matusz and Jeff Niemann both pitch strong games into the eighth where their bullpens start giving runs up. Another extra innings affair that put me on TV and notched yet another ‘W’ in the Rays hat. Tampa Bay rises to 5-3 in third while Baltimore falls to 1-7 in last.
Cincinnati Reds (10) at Florida Marlins (8). Florida’s gonna give me a heart attack soon. Their teams continues to have these dramatic come-from-behind attacks that just don’t seem to be holding up. Their game goes 11, but the Fish can’t quite hold on. Florida is 4-4 in second place.
