by marty
Batter Up Sept 16th, 2007
Sometimes it seems that major league baseball relies on the comedy writers from Saturday Night Live for advice. The latest joke is giving the team with the best record in the AL one hour after clinching that distinction to decide if it wants an extra day of rest during the AL Division Series. What’s wrong with giving that team six or eight hours to make that decision?
Here’s the scenario I foresee: a team clinches their playoff spot and the best record on the same day. There is a wild celebration in the clubhouse. Peter Gammons soaked with champagne standing next to the GM asking, “With one more minute before the deadline, are you going for the extra day?”
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by marty
by marty
INSIDE BASEBALL with Marty Lurie –
Rookie of the Year: Ryan Braun? Seattle: On a skid? St. Louis: Rough year but still on playoff track, AL MVP: A-ROD in a landslide?
Segment one : Interview with Jerry Crasnick (from ESPN)
Segment two : Marty & Bud Black (Manager for the San Diego Padres)
Segment three : Marty & New York Vinnie (In Seattle)
Segment four: Interview with Bob Nightengale (Writes for USAToday)
Segment four: Interview with John Rooney
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by marty
Batter Up Sept 9th, 2007
Over the past decade the off-season trend has been for teams to sign free agents in hopes of building a championship club.
Not so this winter. Trades will be back in the headlines. The change in philosophy is due to a weaker than normal group of impact players being available in the free agent market.
This year the top free agents, outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Jermaine Dye, plus pitchers Mark Buehrle and Carlos Zambrano have already resigned with their current teams.
Who are the remaining players who will become headliners this December by virtue of their contracts expiring or teams not picking up their options?
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by marty
by marty
INSIDE BASEBALL with Marty Lurie – Adam Melhuse: Back with the A’s, Offseason moves: Who goes? Who Stays? Oakland: Strong outfield arm is needed? Aaron Rowand: Would he be a good pick for the A’s?
Segment one : Marty opens the show
Segment two : Marty & Tom McCarthy (Radio Voice for the NY Mets on WFAN)
Segment three : Marty & Del Unser (Scout for the Phillies)
Segment four: Marty, Robert Buan, and an interview with Matt Vasgersian
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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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