There are 12 ‘early’ games today, including Ubaldo Jimenez facing the Reds and Edwin Jackson facing the Tigers and pitching against one of the guys he was traded for by the D-Backs (who later traded him to the White Sox, of course).

There’s an interesting pitching match-up on Wednesday involving the knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and the evergreen Livan Hernandez, while the Reds’ Travis Wood heads to Coors Field not only hoping to pitch well but also to continue his home-run hitting exploits from his previous start.

Monday 6 September

18.05. Chicago White Sox at Detroit (Edwin Jackson – Max Scherzer)
18.05. Baltimore at NY Yankees (Brian Matusz – A.J. Burnett)
18.05. NY Mets at Washington (Mike Pelfrey – Jordan Zimmermann)
18.05. Florida at Philadelphia (Adalberto Mendez - Vance Worley)
18.07. Texas at Toronto (Tommy Hunter – Ricky Romero)
18.35. Atlanta at Pittsburgh (Tommy Hanson - Brian Burres)
19.10. St. Louis at Milwaukee (Jake Westbrook – Yovani Gallardo)
19.10. Kansas City at Minnesota (Sean O’Sullivan – Kevin Slowey)
19.20. Houston at Chicago Cubs (Wandy Rodriguez - Casey Coleman)
20.10. Cincinnati at Colorado (Aaron Harang – Ubaldo Jimenez)
21.05. Seattle at Oakland (Jason Vargas – Brett Anderson)
21.10. San Francisco at Arizona (Madison Bumgarner – Ian Kennedy)

Tuesday 7 September

No early games

Wednesday 8 September

17.35. NY Mets at Washington (R.A. Dickey – Livan Hernandez)
18.05. Baltimore at NY Yankees (Brad Bergesen - Ivan Nova)

Thursday 9 September

18.05. Chicago White Sox at Detroit (Gavin Floyd – TBD)
20.10. Cincinnati at Colorado (Travis Wood – Jason Hammel)

Friday 10 September

No early games

All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, At Bat with Gameday Audio and MLB.tv), while ESPN America’s MLB schedule can be found here. A complete schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com

The King is dead; long live the King.

It’s the nature of sport, in fact the nature of life itself, that the seemingly irreplaceable is always replaced.  They won’t be replaced in a like-for-like manner because anyone truly memorable attains that status due to possessing unique qualities.  But when a void is left by a player departing for one reason or another, someone always comes along and fills it.

Everyone who loves the game of baseball was left reeling by the news that the Washington Nationals’ pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss all of the 2011 season.  Having been mesmerized by his stunning opening salvos in the Big Leagues, and entranced by the hope and joy that they produced among Nationals fans desperate for any hope and joy to cling to, it was a heavy blow to have it all taken away from us so soon after it had begun. 

And you could multiply that feeling by ten when it comes to how it must have hit Strasburg himself.

Yet no sooner had we been left lamenting the, hopefully temporary, absence of a ‘once in a generation’ talent than we we were introduced to another. 

The reaction from the crowd in Cincinnati when Aroldis Chapman jogged onto the outfield to make his Major League debut against the Brewers last Tuesday was reminiscent of the atmosphere in Washington when Strasburg took the mound for the first time.  ‘Electric’ was the word being used as Chapman’s presence sent a sudden shockwave through the crowd at the Great American Ballpark, one of intense excitement and anticipation. 

The two pitchers have had very different upbringings and baseball educations.  Strasburg is the polished product of the American college system with a rare combination of outstanding stuff, excellent command of all his pitches and a well-developed sense of how to pitch.  Chapman grew up in Communist Cuba before defecting while in Rotterdam, Netherlands for the World Port Tournament last year.  He has a lightning fastball and a devastating slider, but he still needs to acquire some subtlety and craft to go with his immense raw talent.

That relative rawness alongside the Reds’ current playoff-chasing position encouraged them to promote Chapman in a relief role rather than as a starter, just as the Tampa Bay Rays did with David Price back in 2008.  Price joined the Rays’ Major League roster in the second half of September 2008 and mainly pitched out of the bullpen as Tampa Bay made it all the way to the World Series.  The Reds will use Chapman in a similar way, making him a lethal weapon as a reliever in the short term with the intention of converting him back to being a starter next season. 

The Cuban’s call-up as a reliever made his entrance all the more dramatic as his jog in from the left-centre outfield bullpen allowed the cheers to build and reach a crescendo when he made it to the mound.  After going through the standard warm-up routine, the left-hander tucked his right leg into his body and then uncoiled to deliver a 98 MPH fastball to Jonathan Lucroy.  “Just getting loose”, was the response from the Reds’ TV commentary box and so it proved as Chapman had the crowd gasping as he soon lit up the speed gun at 102 MPH.

Flashing three figures is a sure way of getting a reaction from a crowd, but Chapman’s most impressive pitch is his filthy slider that he showed off when completing the strikeout of Lucroy.  It’s speed (87 MPH) and sharp break down and in to a right-handed hitter brings back memories of Randy Johnson.  The Big Unit hung up his spikes following the 2009 season and many batters must have breathed a sigh of relief that they would no longer have to worry about ‘Mr Snappy’ heading towards their ankles.

The King is dead; long live the King.

Whether looking at Johnson or Chapman, their two main pitches should not be considered in isolation.  If a hitter is looking for the slider, he’s got no chance against a 104 MPH fastball: the highest speed from Chapman so far recorded on MLB.com’s Gameday service.  If the hitter is waiting on a fastball, the ‘feet-seeking missile’ of a slider will eat him up every time.  Each pitch is less effective without the other and blazing heat alone is not enough at the Major League level.  After striking out Lucroy on the slider, Chapman retired the next two batters with ground-outs coming on fastballs which Craig Counsell (103 MPH) and Carlos Gomez (99 MPH) were able to put in play.

Chapman is not the finished product yet, but he will provide a spark to the Cincinnati Reds down the stretch and into the postseason where they now look like real contenders with a very balanced roster.  The Cuban could well prove to be the Reds’ wild card over the next two months, both with his on the field performances and the lift he gives to the home crowd whenever he steps onto the mound.  As a Reds TV commentator put it: “there hasn’t been this kind of electricity for any player that’s come up and made his Major League debut for the Reds in a long, long, LONG, long time”.

Nationals fans would be forgiven for feeling a tinge of sadness at seeing Cincinnati’s young pitcher grabbing all the attention; however Chapman’s appearances over the next couple of months will hardly make people forget about Strasburg.  In his case, the King is not dead, he’s just resting and Chapman being successful will only help to keep Strasburg at the forefront on fans’ minds.

We all want to see a fully healthy Stephen Strasburg matching up with Aroldis Chapman in 2012.

Richmond Flames were the beaten National Baseball League finalists in the previous two seasons and going through those two disappointments will make today’s triumph all the sweeter for Grant Delzoppo’s team.  Richmond went unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament, defeating Bracknell Blazers 6-3 in their opening game and then gaining an 8-2 victory over London Mets before sealing the title with a 10-1 win over the defending champion Blazers in the final.

It’s the second time that Richmond have won the top-tier competition, their previous success coming in 2006.

The Southern champion Oxford Kings beat the Northern champion Liverpool Trojans 13-3 in six innings to lift the AAA NBC trophy.  The Trojans had beaten the Kings 3-2 to qualify for the final, but the Kings recovered with an 8-5 win over Herts Eagles and then gained their revenge on Liverpool to secure their first ever championship after falling just short in 2008.

Richmond Knights completed an incredible season by stunning the Leicester Blue Sox to win the AA NBC in extra innings.  The Knights entered the final riding a nineteen game winning streak, yet the Blue Sox looked odds on to bring that to a crushing end when they scored ten runs in the top of the second inning of the AA final.  However, the Knights scored eight runs in the final two innings to send the contest into extras and then bounced back from conceding two runs in the top of the tenth by scoring three of their own in the bottom of the frame to take the win by a score of 20-19 and to complete a memorable day for the Richmond baseball club.

MK Bucks made sure the Midlands league didn’t come home from the NBC empty-handed as they defeated Guildford Mavericks 10-3 to win the A Final.  The game was much closer than the final scoreline suggests as it was tied at 3-3 heading into the ninth inning before the Bucks exploded for seven runs to leave the Mavericks reeling.

Details from all of the games are available at the following GameChanger pages: NBL, AAA, AA and A (note that there appears to be an error in the AA linescore as it shows the Knights won 21-19).  The BBF website will no doubt be providing further news and reaction in due course.  I’ll be reflecting on the NBC and the 2010 season in general in Thursday’s British Baseball Beat.

Congratulations to all the teams that worked so hard over the season to make it to the NBC.

The inital plan is for the MLB show to begin at 8 p.m. and for the team to bring us the Colorado Rockies-San Diego Padres game; however, Murray’s game hasn’t even started yet and no doubt that will take precedence and be broadcast to its conclusion. 

Hopefully an MLB game will be broadcast this evening, but as to when it starts and which game it will be, we’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, you can enjoy a recent interview with Jonny Gould conducted by freelance sports journalist Joshua Modaberi as part of his World Sport podcast series.

This evening’s game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra brings together two division leaders from the American League. 

Texas Rangers lead the AL West by eight games and appear primed for their first playoff appearance since 1999.  2010 has been a tumultuous year off the field for the Rangers, with a messy ownership change and manager Ron Washington being found to have taken cocaine.  However, far from being distractions, these events have brought the club together.

In contrast, things couldn’t have gone any better off the field for the Minnesota Twins this year.  All-Star catcher, reigning MVP and all-round Minnesotan hero Joe Mauer signed an eight-year contract extension over the offseason and the team finally opened a beautiful new outdoor ballpark, Target Field, replacing the much-maligned Metrodome.  The Twins lead the AL Central by 3.5 games ahead of the Chicago White Sox.

Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd will be presenting the action from 7 p.m. (first pitch is scheduled for 7.10).  Not only can you listen in via DAB radio and digital TV, the show is now also available online for UK residents at the BBC.co.uk website. 

The series so far

Sometimes teams can take a while to find their feet at a new home and that was a slight concern for the Twins’ division-winning hopes heading into the season as the unique nature of the Metrodome had previously given them a significant home-field advantage.

Twins fans had nothing to worry about as their team is 44-23 at Target Field and the most recent two wins have come at the expense of the Rangers.  They edged the opener 4-3 on Friday night as emergency starter Matt Fox held Texas to two runs over 5.1 innings and Denard Span singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. 

The Twins followed up that success with a commanding 12-4 victory yesterday in a day game on FOX.  Jim Thome went deep twice, the first a mighty upper-deck blast to right-field, to match and then pass Mart McGwire for ninth on the all-time home run list with 584 round-trippers.  Carl Pavano pitched eight strong innings to earn his sixteenth win of the season.

Today’s starting pitchers

C.J. Wilson has been a revelation for the Rangers this season.  The former relief pitcher moved into the rotation at the start of the year and he has held onto his place in impressive style, going 14-5 in his twenty-seven starts with a 2.88 ERA. 

His one Achilles heel has been the base-on-balls as Wilson leads all AL pitchers in giving up 77 free passes; however he has counteracted this by leading the league in allowing the fewest hits per nine innings (6.67).

The Twins will turn to Nick Blackburn today as they go for the series sweep.  It’s been a difficult year for the right-hander as his ERA is a full two runs higher this season than in 2009 (6.04 compared with 4.03) and his struggles resulted in him being sent down to Triple-A at the end of July. 

He was called back up to the Big Leagues for a start against Texas on 23 August and although he took the loss, he didn’t pitch badly (three earned runs conceded over seven innings) and he followed that up with an excellent showing against the Mariners last Saturday.  Blackburn was used as an emergency reliever against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday and that didn’t go so well as he gave up the game-winning home run to Gerald Laird.  However, the Twins hope that his two most recent starts show that he has turned the corner and will carry forward that encouraging form today.

Firstly, the BBF have announced that Bracknell Inferno will take the place of Menwith Hill Patriots in the AAA NBC.  As explained by the BBF: “Manchester and Halton were the next teams in the AAA (North) but the short notice has made it difficult for them to organise their trip.  As a result the Bracknell Inferno were the next highest ranked team in the AAA and they will take Menwith Hill’s place”.

Secondly, if you are unable to attend the tournament, you should be able to follow some of the action via the GameChanger website.  This is a new free iPhone scoring service and the BBF will be using it to cover a tournament for the first time this weekend. 

Finally, I’m scheduled to appear on BBC Five Live on early Sunday morning (approximately 6.55 am, but as always that’s subject to any last minute scheduling changes) to talk about the NBC and British baseball in general.

UPDATE: the NBC feature will probably be at 6.45 am

Nickeas represented Great Britain in the 2007 European Baseball Championships and was one of the key reasons why the team won the silver medal that year. 

Unfortunately an injury kept the catcher out of the 2009 World Cup, but his contribution to the 2007 team means that he’ll always have a noteworthy place in the National Team’s history, and even more so if he gets into a game over the next few weeks and becomes a full fledged Major Leaguer.

Nickeas has been added the Mets’ 40-man roster and would be available for selection for tonight’s game against Atlanta.

His GB biography can be found here.

It is both a cause for joy and a cause for sorrow.  Everything has been building to this point and four teams will come away from the tournament jubilant at their triumphant ends to the season.  The rest will be left with the disappointment of getting so close and just falling short, while we’ll all bemoan the fact that another season has come to an end.

National Baseball League

The London Mets and Bracknell Blazers will be joined by Richmond Flames and Southampton Mustangs at the NBC after they made it through the NBL playoffs on Saturday at the former’s Connare Field.

The third-placed Flames made sure they didn’t slip up at the last by earning a 10-2 win over Croydon Pirates.  The Pirates went 0-24 in 2009 so making it to the playoff stage this year was a notable comeback by an organization that was a fixture in the British final between 2004 and 2007. 

The Pirates’ return to respectability was trumped by Southampton Mustangs who have made it to the NBC at their first attempt in the top tier thanks to a 11-7 win over Mildenhall Bulldogs.  The Bulldogs were seen as a real threat to the Mustangs, but Southampton made sure that their fourth-placed finish in the league would not be un-done by a playoff loss.  Further reaction can be found in Simon Fitzjohn’s report.

The results mean that the NBC will be contested by the top four teams from the regular season and while the Mets and Blazers would be favourites to repeat their final from last year, the Flames and Mustangs should not be discounted from causing an upset. 

AAA

As in the NBL, the AAA National Baseball Championship takes the form of a four-team double-elimination event.  There was one space left on Saturday and it was the Herts Eagles who grabbed it after beating Bracknell Inferno 14-3.  Darrin Ward pitched all seven innings for the Eagles, giving up just five hits and three runs in the process, while Inferno’s pitching staff struggled to find the strikezone, handing out sixteen walks. 

The Eagles were due to join Liverpool Trojans, Menwith Hill Patriots and Oxford Kings in the AAA NBC; however, unfortunately the Patriots are now unable to attend due to the team’s obligations at the RAF Menwith Hill airbase.  The BBF will announce confirmation of the team to replace the Patriots in due course.

The presence of the top team from the North and the top two from the South will ensure it’s a fascinating tournament in any case, providing us with a rare glimpse of how the two leagues stack up against each other.

AA

The AA NBC will be a single nine-inning game on Sunday this year, pitting the Leicester Blue Sox against Richmond Knights.

The Blue Sox and the Birmingham Maple Leafs, fierce Midlands rivals, could once again only be separated by a single run at the former’s Western Field.  Leicester opened up a 7-4 lead in the early going only for the Maple Leafs, true to form, to battle back to even the score at 8-8 in the top of the sixth.  The Blue Sox showed they would not be rattled and hit back straight away with two runs in the bottom of the inning and Birmingham could only manage one further run in reply, resulting in a final score of 10-9 in the home team’s favour.  The Blue Sox celebrated the final out with glee and are now just one win away from following a 2009 A Championship with an AA title the following year.

If they are going to do it, the Blue Sox will have to blunt a buzz-saw in the Richmond Knights.  After losing their opening game of the season, the Knights won seventeen straight to take the AA South.  They made it eighteen on the spin with their win over Windsor Bears in the first playoff round and increased their run to nineteen wins with a comfortable 11-4 victory over Poole Piranhas.  Starting pitcher Daniel Lally struck out ten Piranhas over nine innings, while Nick Osborne led the offence with a 4-for-4 day, including a home run.

A

Like the AA final, the A NBC is a single nine-inning game on Sunday that pits a Midlands team, MK Bucks, against a team from the south, Guildford Mavericks. The Bucks booked their NBC spot by shutting out the Humber Pilots 7-0. 

Meanwhile the Mavericks brought an end to Chelmsford Clipper’s impressive debut season with a 25-7 playoff victory.  A nine-run second inning for Guildford, in which they batted around, put the Clippers into a hole and the Mavericks were ruthless in building on that early advantage, while also keeping Chelmsford’s offence in check with strong pitching and defence.  They led 25-2 heading into the top of the seventh inning, leaving the Clippers needing to plate fourteen runs to avoid a ‘mercy kill’ defeat.  Chelmsford refused to do down with a whimper and were able to score five times, but the Mavericks’ catcher Rob Wheeler caught Adam Commons trying to steal third base to end the game. 

The Clippers were magnanimous in defeat, stating that “No one will begrudge the Mavericks the chance to represent the Southern Conference in the finals as they were superb for their win and showed that they have depth in numbers as well as talent”.

Further details about the National Baseball Championships will be available on the British Baseball Federation website and Herts are sure to put on a great event.  The one personal disappointment is that I will not be able to attend, but I have written an article for the NBC programme so get along if you can and make sure you pick up a copy!

Good luck to all involved.

That Thursday game should be an interesting encounter as A-Rod tormentor extraordinaire Dallas Braden is scheduled to start for the Oakland A’s at Yankee Stadium.  Their confrontation earlier in the season will be talked about ad nauseum despite Rodriguez being on the Disabled List and not eligible to return until Sunday.  Braden pitched a complete game shutout against the Rangers on Saturday and will match up against Cy Young candidate CC Sabathia.

There’s another day game at Yankee Stadium on Friday as the Yankees host the Blue Jays, while the New York Mets are in Chicago to face the Cubs.  Two good options for people wanting to avoid the inevitable disappointment of England’s Euro qualifier against Bulgaria.

The stand-out pitching match-up is scheduled for Wednesday as Roy Oswalt and Clayton Kershaw are currently in line to pitch for the Phillies and Dodgers respectively in the finale of a three-game series in L.A.

All times are in BST.

Monday 30 August

No early games

Tuesday 31 August

No early games

Wednesday 1 September

17.05. Chicago White Sox at Cleveland (Freddy Garcia – Josh Tomlin)
19.05. St. Louis at Houston (Jeff Suppan – Nelson Figueroa)
19.20. Pittsburgh at Chicago Cubs (James McDonald – Tom Gorzelanny)
20.10. Philadelphia at LA Dodgers (Roy Oswalt – Clayton Kershaw)
23.10. San Diego at Arizona (Mat Latos – Barry Enright)

Thursday 2 September

18.05. Oakland at NY Yankees (Dallas Braden – CC Sabathia)

Friday 3 September

18.05. Toronto at NY Yankees (Brandon Morrow – Ivan Nova)
19.20. NY Mets at Chicago Cubs (R.A. Dickey – Randy Wells)

All the above games can be followed via various resources on MLB.com (Gameday, At Bat with Gameday Audio and MLB.tv), while ESPN America’s MLB schedule can be found here. A complete schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com

Well, perhaps not Ryan Howard.  The Phillies’ first baseman was still seething after being ejected from the game in the bottom of the fourteenth inning: the very act that left manager Charlie Manuel in the unenviable position of choosing between Oswalt and Joe Blanton as the only two available options to replace the slugger.

And Manuel himself probably wasn’t grinning much either.  Having dealt with injuries to several key players in recent months, the last thing he wanted to do was send his number two starter into the outfield and risk him getting injured.  However, Blanton has a classic pitcher’s build (‘built for comfort, not for speed’) and really wasn’t an option to start chasing down flyballs, even if he does have a World Series home run to boost his hitting credentials.

So it was Oswalt who had to pick up a glove and man left field, smiling broadly with the Citizens Bank Park crowd cheering his name.  It was a surreal scene, made all the more so by the strange coincidence of it happening against Oswalt’s former team.

It’s the way in most sports that many players relish the chance of taking on the role of one of their colleagues.  Maybe it’s a way to relieve stress from the daily grind?  Maybe it’s because they believe the opposite role to their own is easier than their teammates make it look?  Maybe it’s a case of the same feeling of wonder that us fans all go through: ‘what does it feel like to hit a game-winning home run, or a last minute winner?’

Whatever the cause, go to a football training ground and more often than not you’ll find goalkeepers playing as strikers in the five-a-side games, while Wayne Rooney is far from the only attacker known for being a demon goalkeeper (in his own mind at least).  And it’s the same in baseball.  Position players will try out their knuckleballs in the outfield, pitchers convince themselves that they could easily hit long balls if only given a proper chance.

Every now and then, the player gets a chance to live up to their own billing and those moments are always treasured by fans.  We burst into cheers as a goalkeeper heads for the opposition’s penalty box for a late corner, or offer a standing ovation for every routine save made by a position player suddenly left wearing the goalkeeper’s gloves after the normal Number One gets sent off with no substitutes remaining.  We laugh along as batters hit harmless flyballs off a position player’s tame offerings near the end of a blow-out loss (Bill Hall and Nick Swisher being two of the most recent to take the mound temporarily).

What is it that makes these moments so special?

It’s because we’re no longer watching a professional who has dedicated years to honing his skills, we’re watching a talented athlete trying his best in an unfamiliar position.  This typically comes in a state of emergency, and a gung-ho spirit consumes everybody as we enjoy the moment and try to encourage the player into a miraculous performance. 

It’s a little different when it comes to a National League pitcher being a substitute position player.  They have to field their position and also take their hacks at the plate in their normal line of duty, so the skills are far from alien to them.  Oswalt himself was quick to point this out after the game. 

The Astros’ first batter in the fifteenth inning, Jason Castro, hit a flyball to left field (you would expect no less from the baseball gods) and while a commentator on the Phillies’ TV broadcast could be heard to gasp “oh no!” as soon as he saw it heading in Oswalt’s direction, the pitcher turned left fielder made the catch with ease.  The crowd went wild and Oswalt was seen smiling at it all, but he played the moment down later on.  “Everybody made a big deal about a fly ball. We catch 50, 60 of them a day during BP [batting practice], maybe every day for 162 games. For 10 years that’s a lot of fly balls”, said Oswalt.

His comments were accurate, but perhaps he was deliberately trying to play down his excitement.  In fact, he let slip his true feelings when explaining to reporters what he said when centre fielder Shane Victorino asked if he wanted him to take any plays involving a throw to the plate.  “I said, ‘No.’ That’s what I’ve been wanting to do forever is throw somebody out at the plate’”.

He might have 146 Major League wins and 1,628 strikeouts to his name, yet gunning down a runner still remains an unfulfilled dream.

As does hitting a game-winning home run.  He had the chance, with the Phillies down 4-2 in the sixteenth inning, two runners on and two out.  ‘Let’s go Oswalt’ chants filled the air, but he could only ground out to the third baseman to end the game.

Still, we all had something to smile about along the way.