Baseball Night In Canada III
-- OK, third inning, and here's Mike Sweeney facing A.J. Burnett. Unnamed scouts (you know how much I love those guys) have told me that Sweeney's bat is MUCH slower than it used to be. Sweeney used to be a guy that crushed fastballs -- you simply couldn't throw it fast enough for him.
Well, Burnett just blew a 96-mph fastball right by him to make the count 1-2. That wasn't a good sign. Sweeney also used to be a great two-strike hitter ... one of the toughest in the league strike out. Burnett threw his power curve, Sweeney beat it into the ground and into the hole between short and third -- his second infield hit of the day. Not sure what we learned there.
-- And here's Alex Gordon, bases loaded, two outs, facing A.J. Burnett. Let's go pitch-by-pitch again.
Pitch 1:
Pitch 2: An 85 mph curve inside,
Pitch 3: A 97 mph fastball -- Gordon takes a defensive swing and fouls it back.
Pitch 4: Another 97 mph fastball -- Gordon takes a defensive swing and fouls it back. It looks like a replay.
Pitch 5: Power curve, 83 mph, starts low and stays low. Gordon lays off.
Pitch 6: An 81-mph sliders, starts low, stays low, Gordon tries to check his swing but can't. Strike three. That's 1-for-20. He really looks overmatched at the moment.
-- So I was curious to see what you could learn about a team from just the first five games of a season. I heard someone talk about how the Marlins were early season "surprises." The Marlins are 4-2 (and winning tonight) and the Twins are 4-1 (and losing big to the Yankees. Could this possibly mean anything at all?
So I did a quick look over the last few years.
2006:
Detroit started 5-0. Give it up ... the Tigers did go to the World Series.
Milwaukee started 5-0. No indication, the Brewers finished 75-87.
2005:
Atlanta, Houston and the White Sox all started 4-1. All three made the playoffs, and the White Sox beat Houston in the World Series. The Dodgers also started 4-1, though, and ended up firing Paul DePodesta.
2004:
Five teams started 4-1, only the Dodgers made the playoffs. Oakland did win 91 games. Detroit lost 90 games.
2003:
Two teams started 5-0 -- Kansas City and San Francisco. The Giants won 100 games. The Royals actually stayed in first place in the A.L. Central for most of the year.
2002:
The Giants started 5-0 -- and went to the World Series.
2001:
Four teams started 4-1, two made the playoffs (including Seattle, which won 116 games) and one was awful (Montreal lost 94 games).
2000:
Three teams started 4-1, and only St. Louis made the playoffs.
1999:
The Giants and Boston started 5-0 (wow, the Giants have had some good starts), and Boston made the playoffs.
1998:
Cleveland started 5-0 and won the division.
1997:
Five teams started 4-1, and three of them made the playoffs, including Florida which ended up winning the World Series.
So that's 10 years, and I have absolutely no idea what it proves. Probably nothing. But it does seem like getting off to a good start might mean something.
By the way, Vernon Wells just hit what looked like an 800-foot home run. That makes it 5-0, Blue Jays. And Burnett is now cruising. The Royals are in danger of going 2-5. That would be a bad start.
-- OK, it's now 8-0 Blue Jays, and this blog night is about to end. We'll stick around for a half inning here to see Alex Gordon bat one more time. But before he comes up, they show Getty Lee in the crowd. Yes, that's the lead singer for Rush. I'll throw the poll out there -- I don't know how to do an official poll, but you can answer in comments.
The best and crappiest of these 1980s bands:
-- Rush
-- Journey
-- REO Speedwagon
-- Styx
-- The Outfield
-- 38 Special
To me, there is a very definite right and wrong answer here. One of these bands sucks the most. And one is significantly better than the others.
Alex Gordon, by the way, broke his bat on the first pitch and hit into a fielder's choice. He's now 1-for-21. The Royals went up and down so fast, the Royals announcer never even had time to say it was the Sonic Slam Inning.
-- Holy Cow, John Buck just dropped a pop-up. I have no comment on that. Why don't we try this again tomorrow night.
23 comments:
Best: The Outfield
Worst: Styx
aj burnett has some good stuff. he showed it tonight, and got out fortunate in a few spots.
the royals are in a "mini slump". at any given time i wouldn't be surprised to see them really break out (2-6 hitters) and tpJR.
sweeney had a few good AB's. despite that, there is something different in his approach/results. that doesn't make sense, but i'm just not seeing the same mike sweeney in his first 20 AB's, probably doesn't mean anything.
we really could've used a win yesterday.
thanks for the blog joe,
Jeff, Lawrence
Trick question - they're all awesome.
While the musicianship in Rush was perhaps the best (Peart is in the conversation for best drummer ever), Journey is better (Neal Schon could shred, Steve Perry's vocals were much better than Geddy Lee, and they were responsible for the stellar air-keyboard/instruments-on-the-wall video for "Separate Ways"). Special honors going to .38 Special for "Caught Up in You," which is possibly better than any song Journey ever released.
As for the worst, I need to point no further than to the video for "Keep On Loving You" to demonstrate who was the worst. Screw REO.
They're not all awesome.
Best: Styx
Worst: Rush
That's not Pants is it?
Thanks Joe, keep it up!
By the way, terrible game. Starting to look like Odalis is going to be the (very) weak link in the rotation.
Best: Journey
Worst: Styx
Best: Bruce Willis
Worst: Steven Seagal
Oh, wait. You didn't ask which action adventure star had the best musical hit of the 80's... but maybe you should have.
As far as your question goes
Best: Styx
Worst: REO Speedwagon
I'm confused by the lack of Foreigner in this poll.
Best to worst:
1.The Outfield
2.38 Special
3.Rush
4.Journey
5.REO Speedwagon
6.Styx
That's a really sad group of bands when Journey is in the middle of the pack, rather than the bottom...ugh.
How did Aerosmith emerge from the group to stick around today? If the drugs didn't kill them, you'd figure whatever killed the career of those other bands would kill Aerosmith as well.
Best: Rush
Worst: All of the others
I'd have to say that Rush sticks out as clearly better than the others, although I can't say that means much with this group. As far as the worst, Journey would have been my clear choice before opening day, but REO is making a run for that title now.
Thanks for a great blog, Joe.
Joe -- As for how teams start the season: I was living in NYC in 1998 when the Yankees started 0-3. The N.Y. sports pages were calling for blood, the Apocalypse is upon us, can the franchise be saved?, et cetera. You know the rest.
Keep up the great blog!
TW
Dont really know much about 1980's bands but here our my two cents:
My personal favorite is Journey and it is probably because of the "Don't Stop Believing" summer of 2003.
What about "Head Games" by Foreigner? That's a pretty good tune.
As for the game, it really didn't suprise me. I think Burnett was due for a back bounce start and combined with the fact that is was the BJ's home opener--well, I knew it was gonna be tough.
Personally, what discouraged me was the loss on Saturday. I mean obviously Sunday ripped out my heart; but, if we are ever going to contend in this division, we have to start winning games with pitching matchups like Satuday. We had our #1 up against an opponents' #4 (or whatever Maroth is these days) and just simply did not get the job done. Speaking on which, on all the days to rest Gordon, Buddy chooses Maroth's start. I know, I know--lefty v. lefty matchup--but jeez, put the kid down on Sunday when Bonderman is pitching. OK, I am done complaining for the time being.
Can't wait for Zach tonight. Feeling AG7 might break out against Towers, too. Is it 6 yet?
Interesting you should say, "The Giants have some pretty good starts".
Already the following exchange took place in the pressbox during the Giants-Dodger game on Sunday April 8th:
"It's over"
"Yeah, a four-run deficit is a tough..."
"No, not this game... the season. It's over!"
Giants at 1-6, and only Seattle (with only three games played! have fewer runs).
The new kid with the 1-for-21 batting record needs the Leo Durocher to Willie Mays speech.
Let's hope he doesn't get 'Dustin Mohr Syndrome', a regular player who fell into a batting abyss one year.
Best = Foreigner
Worst = a tie between Alex Gordon/REO Speedwagon/Dokken
Hey Joe... Do you know about the Rawlings "Summer of Glove contest?" Frank white is in it, but isn't getting many votes... could you note something about it in your column or blog? FYI, Buddy Bell is a choice at third base, and Bob Boone and Jim Sundberg (both with Royals connections) are choices at Catcher. If you need the information on the contest it's www.rawlingsgoldglove.com.
Thanks
All of these bands are awful. If you want 80s rock, with high-pitched vocals, and a huge debt to 70s arena heroics (aka: "The Zeppelin Principle"), the only answer is Guns 'N F'n Roses...................Yowza...!
I've got high hopes for Greinke. I'd like to see him perform well tonight against a tough AL East meatgrinder...
I'm not good with 80s bands but Journey would seem to be the class of this group followed by Styx and the worst would be 38 Special...I plead ignorance on The Outfield.
P.S. REO Speedwagon may as well be Air Supply as far as I'm concerned.
You either love Rush and think they are one of the best bands of all time (aka around 2% of the population), or you just don't get it.
Put me in the 98% category.
Best - The Outfield/Journey. It is easy to mock Journey due to their sappy "Open Arms" moments, but it is hard to turn the dial during one of their tunes.
Worst - REO of course, but mainly because they sold out and became a perm band rather than a hair band. .38 isn't even worth mentioning, because they're just a sequel band. Would you mention "Joey" in the same conversation as "Friends"? Remeber the M*A*S*H sequel with Doc and Radar? Of course you don't.
To paraphrase the Minutemen (speaking of great 80s bands), it's a six-way tie for last.
Is it possible to be worse than these bands?
The answer is no.
And I don't care about musicianship, cause a band can still suck if they are the best in the world at their instruments, and a band can be amazing even if they aren't very good at their instruments. That is the great thing about Rock 'N Roll.
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