by marty
Batter Up Sept 2nd, 2007
Immortal racetrack announcer Clem McCarthy said it best as he described the turn for home and the frantic charge down the stretch in the Kentucky Derby. McCarthy wove a compelling picture of 10 or more horses fighting for the lead as they bumped their way through the final turn on the track before heading into a mad sprint to the finish line.
Baseball has the same compelling moments as the season heads into its last month. The contenders jockey for position eyeing each other as they meet on the field. For the fan the day-to –day drama is excruciating. First your favorite team takes the lead by a game, then falls back, only to regain the top spot three days later.
Who can forget the Yankees overcoming the Red Sox in ’78? The New York Mets breaking the Cubs hearts in ’69? The New York Giants forcing the playoff with Brooklyn Dodgers in ’51?
In 2007 not only are the final playoff spots still up for grabs with four weeks to go, but the major individual season awards are hanging in the balance too.
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by marty
by marty
Marty – Recently watched "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" for the first time, and this evening wrote the following letter to the friend and baseball lifer who had sent it to me. Thought you might enjoy my letter to him . . . .
Mike:
I think I may have just done the biggest double–no, make that triple–take I have ever done. I was looking at the scores on MLB.com for today, Saturday, when I noticed something that I was sure had to be a mistake. It said that the Devil Rays were leading the A’s, 12-2, in the eighth inning at Tampa Bay. It wasn’t the lopsidedness per say of the score that seemed improbable, not with the horrible A’s. It was the idea that this game, the third in the series, was on the verge of being completed with the third consecutive 12-2 score. The A’s had won the opener, and the Rays returned the favor last night. As it turned out tonight in the third game, though, after the game reached the trifecta 12-2, the Rays scored twice more and went into the ninth leading 14-2. I was actually disappointed. How many times has something like that happened (I will leave it to ESPN to translate this into some kind of "record.") ?
Nice to hear from Rick, Click below for more…Marty
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by marty
Batter Up August 26th, 2007
September 1st is a key date on the baseball calendar. The best players in the game take center stage as the pennant race heads into its final climactic month. It’s also the deadline for adding players to the roster in order to make them eligible for postseason play.
In year’s past, you could count on a number of transactions during the last week of August as the contenders jockeyed to add veterans for the final pennant push.
The old Yankee teams of the 1950’s routinely added seasoned players in August such as pitchers Ewell Blackwell and Johnny Sain, slugger Johnny Mize, and pinch hitters Dale Long, Enos Slaughter, and Harry Bright.
In the 70’s, former A’s owner Charlie Finley secured Rico Carty, Matty Alou, Dal Maxvill, and Cesar Tovar during late August transactions. The Orioles grabbed pinch hitter Tommy Davis while the Tigers added big Frank Howard in late summer moves in 1972.
My how times have changed. Today the contenders are looking at minor league players as the Angels did with reliever Frankie Rodriguez in ’02, to ignite their clubs instead of adding tested veterans who have been through the pressure of September baseball.
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INSIDE BASEBALL with Marty Lurie – Jason Kendall: Staying with the Cubs? O’s Bullpen: Still losing games, A’s making the playoffs: Not Impossible?
Segment one : Marty & Gordon Wittenmyer (Cubs Beat Writer for The Chicago Sun-Times)
Segment two : Marty & Paul Hagen (National Baseball Writer for the Philadelphia Daily News)
Segment three : Marty & Jim Powell (radio broadcaster for the Brewers)
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by marty
by marty
Batter up August 19th, 2007
Is it the new drug policy? Are the pitchers getting better? For some reason the season totals for the top home run hitters in baseball is starting to look like the numbers posted in the game from 1950 until 1995.
With less than 25% of the season remaining only A Rod, Prince Fielder, Adam Dunn, and Ryan Howard look like sure bets to hit 40 home runs or more.
In the AL Justin Morneau, Carlos Pena, Hideki Matsui, and Jermaine Dye should reach the 30-homer plateau.
In the NL, only Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, and Carlos Lee are locks to go above 30 homers.
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by marty
INSIDE BASEBALL with Marty Lurie & Shooty Babitt – Colorado: battling for the wild card? Cards: Ankiel comes back swing, Seattle: Are the Angels in trouble?
Segment one : Marty & Thomas Harding (MLB.com beat writer for the Rockies)
Segment two : Marty & Tom Ackerman (from KMOX radio in St. Louis)
Segment three : Marty & New York Vinnie
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by marty
Listen to Marty’s Interview with
Dale Torborg, son of former major league manager and catcher
Jeff Torborg. Marty and Dale discuss his college baseball career at Northwestern, his new job as the White Sox minor league Strength & Conditioning Coach and how a plane trip with Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage changed his life.
Click here to listen
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