Tag Archives: baseball

Baseball Contest # 4 Winners

08 Sunday Oct 2017

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While we await the outcome of the 2017 MLB playoffs to determine the MillersTime contest winners in four of the six contests, I can announce the winner(s) in Contest # 4.

(I previously announced the winner in Contest #5 about the 2017 All Star game.)

Contest # 4:

A. Which MLB team will have the best improvement in their games won over 2016?)

B. Which MLB team will have the biggest decline (most losses compared to 2016)?

What actually happened:

Best Improvement:

1. Minnesota Twins: + 26

2. Arizona Diamondbacks: +24

3. Houston Astros: +17

Biggest Decline:

1. San Francisco Giants: -23

2. Detroit Tigers: -22

3. Texas Rangers & New York Mets: -17

Winners:

No one got both A & B correct.

Ten of you had the Twins with the best improvement – Dawn Wilson, Todd Endo, Rob Higdon, Matt Eisner, Jesse Maniff, Ellen Miller, Tiffiany Lopez, Jeff Friedman, Matt Wax-Krell, Justin Stoyer

Nick Fels was the only one to predict the Giants loss of 23 games.

Since Contest #4 involved getting both right, by the power invested in me by me, I declare the following the Winners:

Todd Endo, Jeff Friedman, Rob Higdon, & Dawn Wilson. They all got A correct and all had the Rangers for B.

and

Meg Gage who had the second place team in A & B – Diamondbacks & Tigers.

So, Todd, Jeff, Rob, Dawn, and Meg, please send me your T-Shirt size, your home address, and your commitment to wear the T-shirt at least once during the 2018 baseball season.

 

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Baseball Notes

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

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New for the 2018 Season:

The 2017 season isn’t over yet, at least for about 10-12 teams, yet there’s news about the 2018 season. It will start earlier, all teams will open their season on March 29, a Thursday, and the season will end Sept. 30 (for all but 10 playoff teams). There will be more off days scheduled, as a result of a collective bargaining agreement between league and the player’s union. More 2018 details.

And, of particular importance to this fan, the Boston Red Sox will come to Washington for a three game series, July 2-4. (For those of you who care about such things, the Yunkees come to DC for two games, May 15th & 16th). Also, as previously announced, the 2018 All Star game is in DC next year!

Cheating Red Sox:

Speaking of my heroes, the Sox have been caught red handed (wristed) using an Apple iWatch to steal and relay catchers’ signals about what pitch is coming, probably using TV to send this illegally gained info from the clubhouse to the dugout to the runner on second and then to the batter. Dustin Pedroia, one of my long time favorite Sox players, was instrumental in this violation of MLB rules (it’s OK to steal signals, say for a runner on second to relay what pitch is coming to a batter, but it’s not OK to use binoculars or electronics to do so).

Pedroia says stealing signals has always been part of the game and is no big deal.

The Sox admitted it when MLB confronted them, following evidence of the Sox perfidy being transmitted from the Yankees to MLB. (The Sox also said the Yankees are doing it, using their YES TV network in the process).

MLB is “reviewing all the evidence” and will announce any action in the near future.

So what do I say to my grandchildren about this when they learn of it and asks me?

Winning and Losing Streaks:

The Cleveland Indians, those bad guys who knocked the Sox out of the playoffs in the ALDS last year, have of this writing won 20 straight games with their complete game win last night by Corey Kluber. Twenty straight is quite a feat. It ties Cleveland for the American League record with the 2002 A’s. Now, if they win tonight, they will tie the 1935 Cubs for the MLB record at 21. (The 1916 New York Giants had a 26 game winning streak, but that was ‘marred by a tie game in a 27 game stretch.)

The Los Angeles Dodgers just barely held on over the Giants last night by striking out the final two batters in the bottom of the 9th with bases loaded. For those of you who don’t follow the West Coast Bums, the Dodgers seemed headed for 115+ wins until the ‘regression to the mean’ struck. They were 91-36 (.716) and had gone 25-5 without losing consecutive games. Then they lost the next 16 out of 17 games. With last night’s ‘win,’ they are currently 93-52 (.642).

And for the really important update, the Sox won last night, the Yankees lost, giving my cheating boys a four game lead over the Bronx cheaters going into the final 18 games.

Isn’t baseball wonderful?

Final Free Nats’ Tickets for the Asking:

Since I will be in Seattle for a wedding of a good friend of more than 50 years, you can benefit from my absence from DC. Let me know if you’re interested in two good seats (free if you take a kid, broadly defined) to the Nationals Sept. 29th game against the Pirates (7:05).

Email me at Samesty84@gmail.com if you’re interested. First shot to anyone who hasn’t used my tickets this year, then to anyone who will take a kid to the game.

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Baseball Happenings West of the East Coast

17 Thursday Aug 2017

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(Last night another walk off win in the bottom of the 9th)

Have you noticed what’s going on in baseball on the left coast? I know some of you have long ago given up on following Da Bums since they betrayed their Brooklyn fans and left Ebbets Field for LA. That, plus the fact that their games end after much of the country has gone to bed, makes them sometimes an after thought for some of us.

But check them out. Fifty-one games above .500, playing at a .715 win percentage rate, leading their Division by 18.5 games, and clearly on a path to win well over 100 games (115 if they continue at this rate).

Nats’ fans take note.

And then there’s Houston. Yes. Houston. Winning at a rate of .617 (74-46), 12. 5 game ahead of their closest Division rival, and likely headed for a 100 win season at this rate. Last year Houston ended just a bit over .500 and 11 games out.

On a different note, thanks to an email from MillersTime reader and baseball fan LL, something curious is happening in Kansas City too.

         (Could it be because of base running? Photo by Denny Medley, Reuters)

While they are not playing at the level of the Dodgers or the Astros, they nevertheless continue to exceed expectations of virtually every computer projection (last five years). They simply are winning more games than those who love and live by statistics project.

Just what’s going on?

Check out this good article from the WSJ by Jared Diamond:

What’s up in Kansas City? The Baseball Team That Computer Models Can’t Figure Out.

 

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Baseball’s Next Big Thing?

05 Saturday Aug 2017

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Close observers of baseball all recognize that home runs and strikeout are up, and many say that the two are connected.

But sportswriter (and a favorite of mine) Joe Posnaski thinks that the reason Houston is doing so well is they are going beyond just accepting that ‘baseball wisdom.’

See this recent article. I think he and they are on to something:

Houston’s Awesome Hitting Feat Is Defying Trends, Joe Posnanski, MLB columnist.

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The Bucky Dent Story: Did Palermo Make the Right Call ?

15 Monday May 2017

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Bucky Dent connecting for a three-run, seventh-inning home run off the Red Sox’ Mike Torrez that all but clinched a division title for the Yankees in a one-game regular-season playoff at Fenway Park. Dent had only four other homers all year. (AP Photo)

Generally we don’t know the names of most baseball umpires, which is as it should be. I think the best baseball umpires are the ones that fade into the background and let the game be the centerpiece.

Steve Palermo, from Worcester, MA, was one of the good ones and was popular with almost everyone.

But he may have made one really bad call.

Check out Joe Posnanski’s column, written yesterday when it was announced that Palermo died at the age of 67.

Let me know if you think Palermo made the right or the wrong call.

See: Steve Palermo’s Love of Baseball, by Joe Posnanski

Also, in case you don’t know much about it, or need a refresher, check out the NYTimes article about the game and the disaster that struck the Red Sox that day: Bucky Dent’s Improbable Clout by James Tuite, Oct.2, 1978

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Too Good to Be True?

12 Wednesday Apr 2017

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Shoei Ohtani -a name you are going to hear about and a person who may do something in baseball that hasn’t been done since Babe Ruth a 100 years ago. While  it may be a couple of years before you see him in the US, check out this young Japanese baseball player who can both pitch (102+ mph) and hit (mammoth home runs).

I know we often hear about Japanese (and other) young players who are highly touted and then never live up to the hype about them. But then some do. I think you’re going to want to follow this 22-year old.

There’s an article (see link below) in the April 17th issue of Sports Illustrated magazine by Jon Wertheim (h/t Ellen Miller) that will introduce Ohtani if you have not already learned about him. (There was a piece on him on 60 Minutes this past Sunday.)

Read:  Shohei Ohtani—Japan’s Babe Ruth—is about to change the face of baseball

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Saturday Was Different

13 Monday Mar 2017

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I have seen more than 500 MLB baseball games live, between spring training, the regular season, and the playoffs (including the Sox winning the World Series in game four against Cards in 2004).

But this past Saturday night in Marlins’ Park was different than all of those 500.

The game itself wasn’t different. In fact, it was between two teams each chocked full of MLB stars. The rules were (largely) the same, and the play was definitely at the major league level.

It was the 2017 World Baseball Classic with the USA vs Dominican Republic in game four of the first round of the tournament. The stadium was sold out. In fact, it was the largest ball crowd ever to attend a game in Marlins’ Park – 37,446.

As we drove near the stadium, we could hear roars coming from inside the park, and the game was still a half hour from beginning. People were lined up around the stadium just to get in.

So what was so different about this game?

The crowd.

I’ve always thought that the fans at a baseball game are every bit as important as the teams playing. Players come and go (more frequently now than when I was a kid), but for the most part, the fans remain and remain loyal (tho Dodger and Giant fans might disagree). Sometimes referred to as the Tenth Man, I think the fans are what makes baseball special.

And in Saturday night’s game, it was definitely the crowd that led the Dominicans to their victory over the USA.

We got to our seats as the first USA batter was up, and you would have thought we were in the 9th inning of a tie game. Every pitch led to the crowd rising, clapping, screaming, waving USA or DR flags and banners. And that was before the first hitter even got out of the batter’s box.

Behind us were a group with a banner largely and loudly proclaiming that “This Was the Real World Series.” And while the Dominicans were clearly a majority in the crowd, there were plenty of USA fans with their flags and paraphernalia.

When the USA scored and scored again and went ahead 5-0, the crowd settled down a bit, but the noise was still louder than what I had heard at the KC Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium record decibel level a year or two ago, with only half as many in the crowd.

Then the tide began to turn, one run at a time for a couple of innings as the DR closed the score to 3-5. The decibel level increased. Then, in the bottom of the 8th with two men on base, DR’s Nelson Cruz (43 HR in 2016) batting against the USA’s Andrew Miller (10-1 with an ERA of 1.45 and WHIP of 0.686, the MLB’s best in 2016) hit a HR that just stayed fair and put the DR ahead 6-5.

The stadium went wild.

(See my shaky video of the Cruz’s HR & crowd reaction)

When the next DR batter, Starling Marte, also hit a HR off of Miller (has Miller ever given up two HRs in a game or back to back ones?), the DR fans were already standing and did so for the remainder of the game.

Final score: DR over the USA 7-5.

Forget it Arrowhead fans. You’ll never equal the noise Saturday night from Marlins’ Park (where the fans didn’t have to be told to make noise).

I’ve never been to a South or Latin American (or European) soccer game with 100,000 fans, but I think I’m beginning to understand what that must be like.

Never in my 65 years of attending MLB games (first went at the age of about eight to Fenway), have I been part of such an animated and exuberant crowd.

While I was clearly, and vocally, rooting for the USA, I was delighted to see so many fans, jumping up and down, screaming, cheering, and filled with joy.

Euphoric doesn’t adequately describe the fans that streamed out of the park at the end of the almost four hour game. Even the USA fans seems exhilarated, if also disappointed.

Baseball at its best, and the fans knew they were part of a game they’d never forget.

As of this writing, the DR remains undefeated in the 2017 WBC (they won the last championship when the WBC was played in 2013 and likely will do so again this time if Saturday’s game is any indication).

Credit their fans.

The DR team could not and will not let their fans down.

PS – David Ortiz was seen Sunday night in the DR’s dugout dressed in a DR baseball uniform as they defeated Columbia 7-3 to move on to the next round.  Could we possibly see him at bat again before the end of This Real World Series?

PPS – More from my recent 2017 Spring Training trip coming in a future post.

PPPS – Don’t forget to get your predictions in for the 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests. Deadline approaching.

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Connecting Generations

03 Friday Mar 2017

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Among so many other wonderful things, baseball is also about connecting generations. Look around you at any MLB  or professional game, especially a day game, and you’ll see fathers/mothers with their sons/daughters. Look more closely, and you’ll see grandfathers/grandmothers with their grandsons/granddaughters.

(Digression: I’ve written elsewhere on this site about my wonderful grandfather who introduced me to Fenway Park and my Red Sox obsession when I was less than 10 years old. I’ve written about taking my daughters to games for years, including World Series victories! And about my belief that it’s never too early to start because here’s what can happen. Most recently, I blogged about taking my then seven year old to his first Fenway game and taking my six year old granddaughter to see the Nats. And if what my grandson promised me (unasked!) — that he would take his grandson to Fenway Park — then that will be seven generations (over 100 years) of family seeing the Sox and baseball together and sharing wonderful memories of being connected with each other.)

Thus, a long lead in to something new this year I am adding to my annual MillersTime Baseball Contests:

Consider a Joint Submission with a son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, niece, nephew or with your father, mother, aunt or uncle, or grandfather or grandmother. If you and your ‘generational companion’ win, then both of you will get a ‘prized’ MillersTime Winner T-shirt and two tickets to a regular season game of your choice.

This addition is clearly a transparent attempt to encourage different generations to discuss baseball and for one generation to pass on their baseball interest to a younger generation, or, if you’re participating with an older generation, to get that older generation to share with you things from their past.

My definition of ‘different generations’ is a loose one, and as long as you ‘discuss’ some of the contests with someone older or younger and submit joint answers to the contests, then you will qualify. Even if you have to drag some kid off his/her Internet device or an elder out of his or her 4 PM dinner.

I am hoping for at least ten submissions this year that are Joint Submissions. And I am hoping that at least some of those are from women with a daughter, a son, a niece, a nephew, a mother, a grandmother, or a grandfather, etc. — the possible combinations are almost endless.

Please consider being one of the Joint Submitters.

See: 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests :

2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests

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2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

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Yes it is.

And guess who is going to five games? Well, three actual MLB spring training games, plus one game between the Sox and the USA team, and one World Classic playoff game. (Have I mentioned how much I love retirement?)

In the meantime, feast your eyes and minds on the MillersTime Contests for 2017 and sharpen your pencils (some of you no doubt still use those things). Your predictions are due by the opening pitch of the season, April 2, 1:10 PM. (See new deadline below.)

So it’s time to turn to the MillersTime Baseball Contests to test your baseball knowledge, hopes, luck, fears, prejudices, and ignorance. The contests have evolved from just Red Sox (and Evil Empire) focused questions to ones that involve all of MLB as the majority of contestants are no longer Sox fans (poor souls).

You don’t have to enter all of the contests, and if you’re not baseball obsessed (pity), you can easily just choose a couple of contests to enter (see #1, #2, #3, Extra Credit).

While it might be tempting to wait until late in Spring Training to submit your answers, you do run the risk of losing out to someone who submits a similar winning answer earlier.

Also, in addition to the prizes listed in each contest, all winners get the exclusive, one-of-a-kind “MillersTime Baseball Contest Winner” T-Shirt, a much ‘valued’ prize.

Winner

backwinner

 

Justin B models

his ‘prized’ T-Shirt

 

 

Contest # 1:

Pick your favorite MLB team (or the team you know the most) and answer the following questions to prove whether you’re just a homer (“Someone who shows blind loyalty to a team or organization, typically ignoring any shortcomings or faults they have”) or whether you really know something about your team and can honestly evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.

a. What will your team’s regular season 162 game record be in 2016?

b. Will they make the playoffs, and if so, how far will they go?

c.  What will be the most important factor (hitting, starting pitching, bullpen, an individual’s performance, the manager, injuries, etc.) in determining their season?

Prize: Two tickets to a regular season game with your favorite team (details to be negotiated with moi.)

Contest #2:

Make a prediction about something that will happen during the 2017 MLB season.

Your prediction could be about a team, about a player, about a new record, about an ‘event,’ or about something, hopefully unique, you think will happen in 2017. One prediction only.

Of those that come true, MillersTime readers will determine which one is the best prediction. Voters generally have selected the most specific prediction, one that showed baseball knowledge, and/or one that predicted something unusual.

Prize: Join me to see a Nats’ game next year in wonderful seats. If you don’t live in this area, can’t get here, or don’t want to come to DC swamp, you can give your prize to someone who can get here, or you can choose one of the books cited in the prizes below.

Contest #3: True or False

A. The Chicago Cubs will follow Joe Maddon’s advice again to “Be a good Cubbie and try not to suck” and will at least go to the World Series in 2017, as they did in 2016.

B. The Washington Nationals will NOT lead the NL East Division as they did in 2016.

C. One pitcher will throw two no hitters in 2017. (Only been accomplished five times: Johnny Vander Meer in 1938, Allie Reynolds in 1951, Virgil Trucks in 1952, Nolan Ryan in 1973, and Max Scherzer in 2015.)

D. Bryce Harper will rebound from his 2016 season — BA .243, HR-24, RBIs-86 – and finish in the top five the MVP voting. (Hint, but be wary: Harper hit a monster HR on his first swing in Spring Training this year)

E. A contract at over $400 million will be offered before the end of the 2017 season.

F. There will be five or more Triple Plays in the MLB this year. (Over the last seven years the average has been 4.1 per year.)

G. There will be more than three 20 game winners in 2017. (2016: Porcello -23, Happ – 20, Scherzer – 20)

H. No pitcher will have an ERA under 2.0 (Best in 2016 was Kyle Hendricks at 2.13)

I. At least one MLB batter will strike out 219 times or more in 2017 regular season play (Chris Davis, Orioles, did that in 2016.

J. One of Grand Papa’s (your ‘conductor’ of these contests) grandchildren will witness in person (at an MLB game) either a grand slam, a triple play, a no hitter, or Teddy win the President’s race at the Nats’ stadium.

Prize: Your choice of one of these books: The 20 Best Books Ever Written About Baseball.

Contest #4:

A. Which MLB team will have the best improvement in their games won over 2016?

B. Which MLB team will have show the biggest decline (the most losses compared to their record in 2016) ?

Prize: A copy of A. Bartlett Giamatti’s wonderful collection of baseball writings entitled A Great and Glorious Game.

Contest #5:

Will the American League continue its dominance over the National League in the All Star game in 2017? (AL won the last four ASG, 7 out of last 10, and 11 out of last 15).

Tie-Breaker: Name the AL and NL players who will each get the most votes to play in the All Star game.

Prize: Join me after the All Star break to see a Nats’ game in wonderful seats. If you don’t live in this area, can’t get here, or don’t want to come to DC, you can give your prize to someone who can get here, or I can take a kid to a game in your place.

Contest # 6:

Who will be the two teams in the World Series in 2017 and which team will win it all?

Tie-Breaker: Name the five teams in each league who will make the playoffs.

Prize: One ticket to the 2017 World Series.

Extra Credit:

Make up your own question about MLB in 2017 and then answer it.

Of those that come true, we’ll put it up to MillersTime baseball readers to decide who wins the prize. And that question will be incorporated in next year’s contests.

Prize: Your choice of one of these books: The 20 Best Books Ever Written About Baseball.

Additional Details:

  1. All winners get the ‘one-of-a-kind,’ specially designed MillersTime Baseball Winner T-Shirt.
  2. Enter as many or as few of the contests as you want.
  3. Be sure to answer all parts of each contest you do enter.
  4. If you get a friend (or a foe) to participate in these contests, and he/she wins and has mentioned your name in their submission, you will get a prize also.
  5. Get your predictions in soon. In case of ties in any contest, the individual who submitted his/her prediction first will be the winner.
  6. Submissions should be sent to me in an email – samesty84@gmail.com or can be sent to me by snail mail – Richard Miller – 2501 Tracy PL. NW, Washington, DC 20008.

New Deadline for Submissions: Nats’s Opening Day: Apr. 3, 2017, 1:05 PM, EST.

Addendum: Consider a Joint Submission with a son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, niece, nephew or with your father, mother, aunt or uncle, or grandfather or grandmother. If you and your ‘generational companion’ win, then both of you will get a ‘prized’ MillersTime Winner T-shirt and two tickets to a regular season game of your choice.

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So Much I Don’t Know About Baseball**

27 Monday Feb 2017

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(**Previously titled: This Is How Stupid I Am About Baseball)

Before I turn to the MillersTime Baseball Contests for 2017 (to be emailed on March 1 and due back to me on April 1), there is one piece of unfinished business I’ve avoided.

Despite the obvious correctness of the message on the T-Shirt above, or maybe as proof of it, I am posting my predictions from last year’s contests and what in fact happened. (Heads up: not a pretty picture.)

Harumph.

Contest #1: Predictions about a favorite team:

A. The 2016 Red Sox win-lose record – 88-74. (FACT: Sox went 93-69 and won the AL East Division.)

B. They will make the playoffs and lose in the ALDS. (Fact: They did lose in the ALDS to the Indians in just three games.)

C. The positive factors for their season will be outfield defense and bullpen efficiency. Starting pitching, although better than 2015, won’t get them to 90 wins. (Fact: Outfield defense was good as was the bullpen, but it was starting pitching and hitting that propelled them as far as they got, before failing them.)

Contest #2: Prediction about something in the 2016 MLB season:

No MLB player will play in all 162 games. (Fact: Three players played in all 162 regular season games – Escobar, Schoop, and Springer.)

Contest #3:

A. The top 10 MLB players’ Batting Average will be .319, lower than the .322 in 2015. (Fact: The top ten Batting Averages were higher – .326.)

B. The top 10 MLB players’ OPS Average will be .924, lower than .931 in 2015. (Fact: The top 10 OPS Averages were higher – .966.3)

C. The top 10 MLB pitchers’ Earned Run Average will be 2.33, lower than 2.38 in 2015. (Fact: The top 10 ERAs were higher – 2.74.)

D. The top ten MLB pitchers will win a total of 188 games, higher than 183 games in 2015. (Fact: The ten winning pitchers won a total of 185 games.)

Contest #4.

A. Two teams with a combined won/loss record closest to .500 – Philles & Cubbies. (Fact: Indians & Rays = .502)

B. Team with the most won/loss improvement – White Sox. (Fact: Red Sox +15)

C. Pitcher with most relief wins – Mark Melancon will edge out Craig Kimbrel and Trevor Rosenthal. (Fact: Familia – 51)

Contest #5. Who will get the most AL & NL All Star Votes:

AL – David Ortiz and NL – Giancarlo Stanton who will edge out Bryce Harper. (Fact: AL was Salvador Perez and NL was Anthony Rizzo)

Contest #6. What 10 teams make it into the playoffs, which two to the WS and who wins it all?

AL – Kansas City, Houston, Chicago, Boston, Toronto (Fact: Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays, Indians, Rangers)

NL – Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, NYM, Arizona (Fact: Nationals, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants)

Cubbies beat Royals (Fact: Cubs best the Indians in seven games)

Extra Credit: Make up a question for the 2016 season and answer it:

Last year the total number of stolen bases in the MLB was 2,505. Will that number increase, stay the same, or decrease?  What will that number be?

Decrease – 2,412. (Fact: Increase: 2537)

Respectfully submitted on The Ides of March, 2016 at 6:00 PM.

**          **          **          **          **          **          **          **

So, except for partially getting the Red Sox season correct (but underestimating their wins) and choosing the Cubbies to win the World Series (over the wrong team), I was not even close. Hopeless.

And if you’re going to join me for a Nats’ game this season, please do not come hoping to learn anything useful from me.

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Final Two Baseball Contest Winners

23 Wednesday Nov 2016

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And the winner you have chosen for Contest #2 (Make a prediction about something that will happen during the 2016 MLB season) is:

“The Sox will sweep the Yankees in New York, and the Yankees will sweep the Sox in Boston.” (Ed. Sox took four straight in NY in Sept., and Yunkees returned the favor by taking three straight in Boston two weeks later.)

Steve Veltri submitted that prediction and his prize is to join me in DC in terrific seats for a Nats game of his choice. If Steve cannot make it to DC in the next year, he can negotiate with me for two tickets to a game he can attend elsewhere.

And the winner you have chosen for the Extra Credit question (Make up your own question and answer it) is:

“Who will win the NL MVP. Kris Bryant.”

Larry Longenecker submitted the question and answered it correctly. That question will appear in the 2017 MillersTime Baseball Contests, and Larry wins his choice of one of these books: The 20 Best Books Ever Written About Baseball.

Summary of 2016 Winners

Contest #1 – Dawn Wilson

Contest #2 – Steve Veltri

Contest #3 – Whitney Limm

Contest #4 – Dawn Wilson

Contest #5 – Chris Bourtourline

Contest #6 – Tie: Matt Wax-Krell and Nick Nyhart

Extra Credit: Larry Longenecker

All of the above win the ‘coveted MillersTime Basebal Contest Winner” T-shirt in addition to their individual contest prize.

If you won and have not sent me your T-shirt size and home address, please do so.

If your win calls for a choice of a book or a game for 2017, please be in touch with me so we can work out those details.

And finally, I’m always looking for feedback about these contests. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Just a bit Over Four Months until Opening Day!

 

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Results of 2016 MillersTime Baseball Contests

17 Thursday Nov 2016

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Two of the seven contests, Contest #2 and the ‘Extra Credit’ contest have yet to be decided as those winners are to be determined by the votes of contestants. If you have not yet voted, please do by Tuesday, Nov. 22. You can see the two contests’ finalists and vote HERE. Please vote in both those contests.

Contest #1: Pick your favorite MLB team (or team you know the most) and answer the following questions to prove whether you’re just a homer or whether you really know something about baseball.

Continue reading »

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Dear Samantha

16 Friday Sep 2016

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Processed with Snapseed.

Dear Samantha,

From time to time I’ve written a ‘letter’ to your oldest cousin, Eli, usually to tell him something about an obsession of mine — baseball — which is a game that has many similarities to life (more about that another time).

While I know you can’t read just yet, as you’re not even seven months old, I still think it’s never to early for me to begin talking to you about some of the important things a grandfather has learned and can pass on to his grandchildren. (You may remember in the first week of your life I talked to you about the importance of pitching over hitting, another subject to which I will return to in the future.)

This letter today, which I trust your good mother or good father will read to you, is similar to one I wrote to Eli in April of 2015 (see Letter to Eli: Never Leave Until It’s Over). What prompts me to write you at this time is something that happened last night in Boston.

Our heroes, the Boston Red Sox (also known as the Sox) were on the verge of losing to our most despicable opponent, the New York Yunkees. The odds makers said that the Sox chance of winning this game was now less than 2%. It was an important game as the Sox were barely in first place in the American League East Division, and the Orioles, the Blue Jays, and the Yunkees were closing in on them. (Ask your parental unit about any of these details that you don’t totally yet understand.)

The Yunks were ahead of us 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth, and there were two outs. One more out and we’d lose and our grip on first place would be in further jeopardy. The Yunks had their closer in the game, a guy who throws the ball at 100 miles per hour. Things looked dire for the Sox.

Then, David Ortiz (ask your cousin Eli abut him) got a hit and drove in a run, but  the Sox were still behind (5-3 now) with two outs. Mookie Betts, (Eli knows about him too), the young Sox phenom, then got a hit, and the score closed to 5-4.

Still, just one out would have clinched the game for the Yunks.

With two men on base, and with a batting count of two balls and one strike, Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez crushed a 99.3 mph fastball 426 feet to straight away center field, and the Sox walked off (ran off) the field with a 7-5 win.

An amazing comeback and probably the best win of the year for the Sox and a disaster for the Yunks, who now, rather being only three games out of first, were five games behind our heroes. (See this article if you want more details about the game.)

The lesson, of course, that I want to emphasize about this victory is that the Sox didn’t give up, even when everything looked hopeless. The Boston fans (the game was at Fenway) all stayed until the very end. And of course I stayed with the game hoping for a miracle come-from-behind-win.

So, never, ever, leave a game until the final out, no matter how bad it seems. Even with two outs and facing a flame throwing pitcher who is good at getting strikeouts, there is always a chance for victory.

(I know, when you were two months old, your mother dragged you away from your first baseball game in KC after the second inning because she was concerned about the effect of loud noise on your ears. So it’s probably OK, if on a rare occasion, for reasons beyond YOUR control, you may have to leave a game early. For example, there could be a medical emergency in your immediate family that only you can solve. You may have promised your spouse that this time you’d be home before midnight. Or your presence might be required at some other emergency involving your child or your work. Those may be understandable and partially excusable reasons for leaving a game early.)

But never, ever leave because you think the game is all but over and your team doesn’t have a chance of winning.

The game, in baseball, as in other areas of your life, is not over until the final out is recorded.

Love,

GrandPapa

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Some Days Are Better Than Others

26 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Go Sox

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Sometimes it’s a particularly good day for Sox and Nats fans…and not so good for Yankee and Orioles’ fans.

Sunday was one of those days.

We were at a Nats’ afternoon game that was mostly without excitement for the first eight or nine innings. Strasburg pitched well, except for one pitch (isn’t that often the case for pitchers?) where, although he struck out 10 batters over 7.1 innings, he gave up a three-run homer that broke up a tie game and put the Nats in a 4-1 hole.

Mostly the game was a pitchers’ duel (I enjoy those, but my wife, a fair weather fan — she only goes to games if the weather is fair — prefers more ‘action’). Then the Nats scored two in the 8th to come within one run of tying the game. In the 9th, boy wonder Bryce Harper, who was being given a day of rest (really necessary for a youngster like him?), pinch hit and of course slammed one out of the park to deepest center.

Tie game.

Extra innings.

We had to leave the park for grandparent duties but listened on the radio (still a wonderful way to follow baseball if the announcers are good) and later followed the action on our smart phones. The game went 16 innings before a mostly unknown player, Chris Heisey, who had replaced Harper after the 9th, hit a game ending home run, almost six hours after the 1:35 PM game had started.

GoNats.

As if that wasn’t enough baseball for one day, after we got home, I checked in on the Sox who were playing a Sunday night game. And that was almost a repeat of what happened with the Nats, tho the Sox game only went 12 innings and lasted a mere five hours.

The Sox were ahead 5-1, then 5-3, which they held from the end of the third until the bottom of the 9th, when their new, expensive, and highly touted closer, Craig Kimbrel, got two outs before giving up a double and then a home run.

Another tie game.

More extra innings.

Finally, in the bottom of the 12th, Sox back up catcher Ryan Hannigan had a 13-pitch at bat/walk before Jackie Bradley drove in Hanley Ramirez for the Sox lead. (Hannigan scored an insurance run when he then made it home on a wild pitch.) Sox used an unheralded reliever, Heath Hembree, and held in the bottom of the 12.th

Sox win.

Now it was just after 1 AM (I had moved from the bedroom to the study around midnight in order not to cause my fair weather wife any more loss of sleep and to preserve what was left of my marriage), and I was a bit hyped up. So of course I checked in on the Evil Empire Yankees and was pleased to see they had lost 8-1 and were now in last place. Plus, although A-Rod drove in the Yunkee’s one lowly run, he was now hitting a mere .148.

Then I checked on the current AL East surprise league leaders, the Orioles, and was delighted to see they had lost to the Royals, 6-1.

All in all, about 12+ hours of baseball, and all good.

Some days are simply better than others for obsessed baseball fans.

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