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National Baseball League: Splitters meet up once more
July 24th, 2008 by Joe GrayIn the 15 double-headers played so far this season in the NBL South, all but a couple have been sweeps. Interestingly, the two splits both took place at Roundshaw, and both involved the Croydon Pirates and the Bracknell Blazers. This Sunday, these two team meet up again at Roundshaw (the games were originally scheduled to take place at Bracknell’s home ground, but the venue has now been switched).
Barring a freak turn-around in form, neither side will make the National Finals, but the battle between the two teams has formed a sub-plot of the story of the league this season, with all four games up to this point having been close-fought contests that stayed alive till the final inning.
North of the River Thames, the Richmond Flames will be trying their hardest to spoil the London Mets’ thus-far perfect record, in a double-header at Finsbury Park.
A recently published article on the British Baseball Federation website provides an excellent run-down of the situation across the whole British baseball league with regard to qualification for the finals in all four tiers of play.
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Dale Tafoya: ‘Bash Brothers’ and beyond
July 24th, 2008 by Matt SmithIn his recently published book, ‘Bash Brothers: A Legacy Subpoenaed’, Dale Tafoya delves into the careers of two of the biggest sluggers in MLB during the 1980s and the 1990s. Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco astounded fans and fellow ballplayers alike with unbelievable displays of power at the plate. However, where they once symbolized baseball greatness, they now represent an unseemly era defined by performance-enhancing drugs. As Major League Baseball continues to come to terms with its past in the hope of protecting its future, ‘Bash Brothers’ is a timely exposé of how drug use was allowed to flourish. With his book raising many interesting questions about the issue that has dominated baseball in recent years, Tafoya kindly spent some time revealing to BaseballGB the process he went through in writing ‘Bash Brothers’ and the impact that McGwire and Canseco have had on the sport. Continued…
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Bash Brothers: A Legacy Subpoenaed by Dale Tafoya
July 23rd, 2008 by Matt Smith(Potomac Books, 2008) 260 pages.
In the late 1980s, posters of the ‘Bash Brothers’ adorned the walls of thousands of young baseball fans. Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco looked like superheroes performing superhuman feats, smashing monstrous home runs and bashing their massive forearms in celebration. They powered the Oakland A’s to three World Series appearances while blazing a trail for a new breed of muscle-bound sluggers. In 1998, Mark McGwire, then with the St Louis Cardinals, shattered Roger Maris’s single season home run record and his election to the baseball Hall of Fame seemed as assured as his ever-lasting place in the affections of millions of baseball fans who had been won over by the All American hero.
When McGwire first became eligible for selection to Cooperstown in 2007, he was on the ballot of just 23.5 per cent of the voters, well short of the 75 per cent required. Jose Canseco, also in his first year on the ballot, received just six votes. Their achievements on the field had been tarnished by the shadow of steroids. In this diligently researched book, Dale Tafoya exposes not just the careers of these two sluggers, but the central role they played in leading an era of baseball defined by its use of performance-enhancing drugs. Continued…
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Baseball Prospectus: Free this week
July 22nd, 2008 by Matt SmithBaseball Prospectus.com has throwed its doors open this week allowing curious baseball fans the chance to sample what they have to offer. Whether you are a stat fan who hasn’t yet taken the plunge into the Premium content, or if your natural inclination is to avoid the ‘numbers geeks’ at all costs, it’s an opportunity worth taking up if you haven’t read much from the BP Team before. Continued…
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IBAF Olympic update
July 21st, 2008 by Matt SmithFollowing on from the recent comments by MLB and the IBAF about the sport’s Olympic future, as discussed here last week, the president of the IBAF, Harvey Schiller, has issued an ‘update’ message to all member federations. The British Baseball Federation has published this on their website and you can view it here. It doesn’t contain a great deal of new information, although it’s good to learn that tickets for the baseball games at the Beijing Olympics sold out “almost immediately”.
When you weigh up baseball’s case against some other Olympic sports in terms of global interest and participation, it’s hard not to feel slightly bitter about the way that it has been kicked to the curb. Baseball and softball have a strong argument for reinstatement (if there aren’t interior motives at work in the IOC over the issue) and we can only hope that the efforts by all concerned will be rewarded in due course.
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Early games this week
July 21st, 2008 by Matt SmithAfter the abbreviated weekly schedule of games last week due to the All Star break, we are straight back into the action. We draw a blank on Monday and Tuesday for live early games, but there’s a decent selection over the rest of the working week. As always, all times are listed in BST.
Monday 21st - No early games today. The pick of the match-ups later on sees Rich Harden making his second start for the Cubs against Randy Johnson and the D-Backs. The game at Chase Field begins at 02.40 in the early hours of Tuesday.
Tuesday 22nd- No early games again. Later on, Joe Blanton is scheduled to make his debut for the Phillies at ten past midnight. He’s got a nice, easy start against Johan Santana and the Mets. Elsewhere, there’s a great pitching match-up in prospect in Cincinnati as Jake Peavy and the Padres take on Johnny Cueto (00.10). The most intriguing game from the American League sees Daisuke Matsuzaka, who despite dishing out plenty of walks is having an excellent season, square off against the Mariners’ R.A. Dickey (03.10). The knuckleballer has started putting together a string of good performances in what has been a demoralising season in Seattle.
Wednesday 23rd- This is more like it: there are nine games today that begin before 22.00. We begin in Cincinnati where Bronson Arroyo pitches for the home team against Greg Maddux at 17.35. Five minutes later, the A’s and the Rays begin their game with Greg Smith and James Shields set to start. At 18.05 it’s the Twins against the Yankees, where Mike Mussina looks to continue his impressive ‘08 campaign. Two games begin at 19.05: the Pirates vs the Astros, and the Rangers vs the White Sox. Five minutes later, Zack Greinke starts for the Royals as they face the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. The Dodgers and the Rockies start their game at 20.05, while John Lackey is scheduled to pitch for the Angels against the Indians from 20.35. Finally, Clay Buchholz and the Red Sox take on Felix Hernandez and the Mariners with first pitch set for 21.40.
Thursday 24th- Three early games today. We start at Shea where Oliver Perez looks to improve on his 6-6 season record in his start against the Phillies from 17.10. Twenty five minutes later, the Blue Jays face the Orioles at Camden Yards. Roy Halladay is the scheduled starter for Toronto; Daniel ‘effectively wild’ Cabrera looks to harness his excellent stuff for Baltimore. The final early game is between the Nationals and the Giants, with first pitch set for 20.45. EDIT: There are now three and a half early games today. The Blue Jays-Orioles game yesterday was suspended afer five innings due to rain. So they will finish that one off first from 17.05 and then the Halladay-Cabrera clash will begin twenty minutes after the completion of the opener.
Friday 25th - Wrigley Field is the picturesque setting for an early game to end the working week. The Marlins are in Chicago; first pitch is scheduled for 19.20.
Five’s Wednesday night show begins at 01.35, while NASN’s MLB schedule for the week can be found here.
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Sunday Night Baseball on Five - Red Sox vs Angels
July 20th, 2008 by Matt Smith
After their mid-week sojourn to the Bronx, the Five crew are back in Blighty presenting what should be a great match-up between two of the top teams in the Majors. It’s important to note that Five’s broadcast begins at the normal time of 01.05; however this is not a live game. Because of the ESPY awards on ESPN, first pitch is actually 23.00 BST. Five will be showing the game ‘as live’, so remember to stay away from the Internet if you don’t want to find out what’s happened before it’s happened (as Yogi Berra has probably said in the past). Continued…
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‘Weekly’ Hit Ground Ball 2008 - Week Sixteen
July 20th, 2008 by Matt SmithAll Star Rules (not) OK
As yet another extra inning came to an end, bleary-eyed British fans watching this week’s All Star game would have been forgiven for wanting the pulsating contest to draw to a close. When Michael Young’s sacrifice fly finally won the game for the American League after five hours and forty minutes, closing in on seven in the morning UK time, plenty of Major League managers and general managers would have been sighing with relief as well. Continued…
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The A’s Extreme Makeover
July 19th, 2008 by Matt SmithIt’s become something of a daily ritual. I reluctantly get out of bed after my alarm has rudely awakened me, stumble into the shower, get dressed, fix myself some breakfast and then sit down in front of my PC to learn which player(s) the A’s have traded while I’ve been asleep.
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MLB and Baseball’s Olympic future
July 18th, 2008 by Matt SmithHat tip to Mister-Baseball.com as they’ve picked up on a very interesting story about a potential development that would have a major impact on the future of international baseball.
In an interview with SportBusiness.com, the MLB vice-president and Team USA general manager, Bob Watson, has revealed that talks are ongoing between MLB the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding the prospect of Major League players participating in future Olympic baseball tournaments. This story has now also been picked up on the IBAF website.
The decision to withdraw baseball (and softball) from the Olympic schedule after this year’s event in Beijing was a devastating blow for the sport and particularly for its supporters here in Britain. The 2012 London Olympics sadly will provide no lasting legacy for the sport in the U.K. Continued…
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