TDA Bullpen - Our Writers' Blog

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Cuba Libre, Australian Gold

The gold medal game went, rather predictably, to the Cubans, although not without some controversy. It can't be an Olympics unless there's an officiating controversy, right? I watched the game live, and there were four rather questionable calls against Team Australia. The most celebrated was the double off the wall by Brice of Australia, which would've given the Aussies two runs and a good shot at a third when they trailed 2-0 at the time. The centerfielder did a job of selling it, which most players would do, but the naked eye showed it bouncing off the wall, and the TV replays showed no ambiguity in the result. Tabares, however, gets major downs in sportsmanship for faking being hit by a ball in the sixth when the ball wasn't even close to him. The ump didn't buy it that time, but the level of shamelessness was pretty awful.

The controversy was not the blown call; it was that the umpires refused to confer over the call. Apparently there's a big macho thing about showing up an umpire by questioning his call in some baseball cultures, and the Australian manager, a very mild-mannered bloke, got run out by the left field umpire nearly instantly for asking him to get help. Who knows what's going on there. Normally I'd say it was just a bad call, but the bad calls were plentiful the whole game. In the first, there was no call made on an infield hit by a Cuban where the pitcher was blocked from throwing because the runner was on the left side of the baseline, not in the running box. In the fifth, Aussie first baseman Brian Kingman made a great circus play, tossing the ball between his legs on a bunt hit attempt by Tabares, the play-acting centerfielder. The runner was barely out...except the umpire was signaling safe even before the runner crossed the bag.

Much was made during the broadcast about the weird strike zone of the home plate umpire, which was inconsistent but in a non-partisan way. Kingman was up with the bases loaded and two out in the Australia fifth, its best chance at a big rally, and on a 2-2 pitch he took a borderline outside pitch from Odelin of Cuba. The catcher and pitcher sprinted off the mound, but the ump called it a ball. They both glared at the umpire in a sort of Clemens-like way. The very next pitch was in exactly the same place. Kingman, unsurprisingly, took it; it was called strike three.

Cuba really had the better team in terms of raw talent, both arms and bats, but the Aussies gave it a good go and the styles provided an interesting contrast. The Cubans play like, well, a combination of Stalinist and Latin stereotype. The club never sees a first pitch that it doesn't like swinging at, nor a borderline call against them they won't violently disagree with. The home run trot by Cepeda would've gotten a ball in his ear the next at-bat in any other league; it made Deion Sanders look subdued by comparison. The strategy was an odd mish-mosh of swinging for the fences and little ball: in the midst of a rally with four straight hits in the sixth, the Cubans sacrificed.

The Aussies, being Aussies, seemed pretty mellow about the whole thing. They're mostly minor leaguers, four-A guys except for Dave Nilsson (pudgier but still swinging a big stick at 35) and Graeme Lloyd, including my favorite, the medal game starter, John Stephens, a junkballer toiling away at Pawtucket and with a career minor league ERA hovering around 3.00. He can barely chuck the ball 85, and looks like a latter day John Burkett or maybe Mike Boddicker, but that kind of breaking stuff kept the free-swingers on Cuba off balance until he started losing his command in the sixth and got rung around with four straight hits. The whole club had that feeling of veteran wile about it, a club surviving on smarts more than skills.

But one can hardly blame the Cubans for being animated and emotional and willing to do nearly anything to win. The Cuban coach who lost the 2000 gold medal game to the US was sacked and hasn't been heard from. Players who fail to perform aren't just risking their livelihood, they risk losing their only source of food and that for their families. Players failing to demonstrate appropriate loyalty and who are considered defection risks are imprisoned. The Aussies should be proud and content to bag their first baseball medal, and losing the final game wasn't life and death to them, but it may literally have been so for a couple of the Cubans.

It's hard to begrudge the Cubans their medal -- but it's really hard to consider them Olympic champions in terms of Olympic ideals. The Japanese were the best team in the tournament -- Japan had to settle for a thrashing of Canada for the bronze after Australia slipped by them 1-0 in the semis. The Australians were the coolest.

posted by The Crank 11:57 AM

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

California Here I Come!

This will be my last blog entry from Minneapolis, as I'm heading to San Diego on Friday for my new job at UCSD. It should come as no surprise that a certain Twins lefty will figure prominently in my Minnesota swan song.

I was busy flipping back and forth between ESPN and Fox Sports Net Minneapolis on Monday night. I was kind of hoping that when Santana got through the first two innings without giving up a hit that he would make good on my prediction of getting through 6 innings with a no-hitter, but the homerun bugaboo that nips him from time to time bit him in the third, as he gave up a solo shot to Gary Matthews, Jr. But it was to be the only run he gave up in 8 innings, while his teammates ground away at Kenny Rogers, eventually chasing him in the 6th. Now that Santana is 14-6, he's really a factor in the Cy Young race, especially if Mulder falters at all down the stretch, as the only thing Mulder really has on Santana is wins and complete games.

Meanwhile, the wrong guy went no-no through six, at least as far as my psychic ego is concerned. Carlos Zambrano had the Brewers in his hip pocket through six, though he did fight through some apparent squeezing of the strike zone by the home plate ump. When the Brewers finally did break through in the 7th, they managed to put up three runs, but that only cut their deficit in half. They assayed the same gambit the next game, allowing Matt Clement to no-hit them just long enough for it to be a distraction when they finally broke through, but it wasn't nearly enough to counter the Cubs' score early and score often strategy. Crafty veteran Greg Maddux cleverly foiled this ploy in the series finale by giving up a hit in the Brewers' first, and was in line for career win #302, but the Brewers managed to tie the game in the 9th off of LaTroy Hawkins. Corey Patterson picked up Hawkins, Paul Bako, and Todd Walker, the last two having left the winning run on third on popups, by homering for the 7th time in August and the 18th time overall. I think I'm on to something with this Bobby Bonds comparison, though it would be nice to see Corey pick up the walk rate a little.

Now that Johan Santana has hit the big time and I'm moving to San Diego, I'm going to have to find someone new to spread the word for. I hear that Jake Peavy guy is pretty good...

posted by Tom Renbarger 6:38 PM

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

The Incumbent Sets his Agenda for his Next Term

Czarina Selig has issued yet another edict in the form of an opinion: no major leaguer shall be allowed to play in the Olympics. As major league baseball proceeds ahead with its plans for a World Cup -- now, apparently, reluctantly admitting that there are other leagues in the world, and they might actually have to consult Japan -- it continues to torpedo international baseball, in particular Olympic baseball. One wouldn't want any bothersome competition for a profit-making venture by having a competing tournament every four years, would we?

This is probably just good business, but I think it's bad for the sport in the long run. Baseball's proposed World Cup would be a fantastic event, but it would be popular only in countries where baseball is already played. Olympic baseball is one of the few ways baseball has of evangelizing its sport to new countries and new markets. Cutting off the Olympic nose to feed the World Cup face will cost the majors talent and audience in the long run. As it is, baseball and softball are on very thin ground as Olympic sports; they'll be played in 2008 at Beijing, but both are under review by the IOC for 2012 and beyond as being too expensive, not popular at the games, and dominated by the same team every year (softball by the US, baseball by the Cubans.)

posted by The Crank 3:07 PM

Medal Matches Set

Cuba Rallies Late to Beat Canada 8-5 and advance

Canada gave it a good try, stretching a sixth inning rally to lead 3-2 before the Cuban whooping sticks got taken out in a six-run eighth. Canada rallied valiantly with two in the ninth but couldn't put together the desperation rally.

Cuba and Australia now face off for the Gold medal game tomorrow, preceeded by Canada vs. Japan for the bronze. Cuba will be the favorite, but with a depleted Cuban bullpen, I think Australia really has a shot. Japan will crush Canada most likely for the bronze.

Here's an oddity for you: two island nations facing off for the gold in the North American sport.

posted by The Crank 1:17 PM

Sweet Revenge as Aussies Advance

Jeff Williams pitched the final three innings today in Australia's stunning 1-0 win over Japan in the semis, propelling Australia to at least a silver medal and with a good chance for gold against the winner of Canada-Cuba. Williams, as noted previously by this writer, was denied a chance to pitch for Australia by the Dodgers in 2000, because he was 'too important' to the Dodger future to risk on 'exhibitions'. Oh, and Dodger employee Tommy Lasorda was managing the US team that would have had to face Williams.

Fast forward four years. The Dodgers have released Williams, who's now pitching for the Hanshin Tigers in the Japanese League. The Japanese are allowing their professionals to compete in the Olympics this year, and out of a sense of fair play, allowed Williams to pitch for Australia. Or maybe it was a sense of invincibility, since the Japanese team has a fantastic lineup.

But Williams, having faced many of the JL players during the season -- a disadvantage to the pitcher, it is generally considered -- pitched perfectly for two and two-thirds after Australia eked out a single run on a two-out RBI in the sixth. And Japan is now playing for Bronze, while Williams can send Lasorda a telegram thanking him for all the confidence the Dodgers put in him as a future major league player back in ;00.

I know what I'm going to be yelling during the finals -- Aussie Aussie Aussie - oi oi oi!

posted by The Crank 9:49 AM

Monday, August 23, 2004

Olympic TV Schedule for Semis

Starting at 5 AM ET/2 AM PT tonight (morning of August 24th) we're going to get Australia vs. Japan live on Bravo. The Cuba-Canada game in the other semi will be on tape delay on Telemundo tomorrow (August 24th) at some time between 10:30 AM (7:30 PT) and 6 PM (3 PM PT). The game is due to start at 1730 Athens time, which is 10:30 AM on the East Coast, so there's an outside shot it might be broadcast live after all, but it's not on the official list of NBC "live" events.

The information about specific broadcast times for the live game vs. the taped game only became available in the last 24 hours. I still can't determine if the gold medal game scheduled for August 25th will be broadcast live or not. More to be posted here later.

The US Women really blew through the competition in softball, only being scored on for the first time in the gold medal game, which it won 5-1. Team USA outscored its opponents 51-1 in the tournament. I think the media is focussing on the wrong "dream team" if they want to look at a team with completely out-sized dominance over its competition.

posted by The Crank 8:14 PM

A Sleeper Record Possibility

Adam Dunn has 147 whiffs through the Reds' first 123 games, in which Dunn has appeared in all but one. Assuming he gets one more game off down the stretch, he's on a projected pace of 192 K's, which would break the record held by Bobby Bonds with 189. The conditions are pretty much as good as they can get for a run at this record -- the Reds are out of postseason contention and Dunn is right in the thick of the NL home run race. Stay tuned.

Speaking of Bobby Bonds...

I thought when Dusty Baker compared Corey Patterson to Lou Brock, that another equally apt comparison was available, one between Patterson and Bobby Bonds. Patterson strikes out a LOT, just like Bonds, and has more power than Brock, though maybe not as much as Bonds. And while Patterson has managed to steal 11 bases in three weeks in the leadoff spot, he strikes me as someone who might steal 40-50 bases, but not 60-70, on a year-in, year-out basis. Of course, Bonds always drew at least 60 walks in any season in which he played in at least 100 games, so that is one aspect that Patterson needs to work on to be in the same league as Bonds.

That Was Over Quick

A week after the Indians pulled to within one game of the Twins in the AL Central, they now sit seven games in back of Minnesota after absorbing sweeps against the Rangers and Twins. In addition to sweeping the Indians, the Twins also took two out of three from the Yankees, including Wednesday night's game in which Johan Santana finally hit the mainstream of the baseball consciousness. Long time readers of this blog will have been completely unsurprised by Santana's performance, but it's nice to see the spotlight on him, and he deserves every scintilla he gets.

Both the Indians and Twins are going through tough stretches on their schedules. The Twins go to Texas and Anaheim this week, while the Indians pay a visit to Yankee Stadium. The marquee pitching matchup Monday is Kenny Rogers vs. Santana. Rogers has an excellent 15-5 record but a fairly indifferent 4.55 ERA. Meanwhile Santana has held down some pretty tough lineups like the White Sox (back when they still had Frank Thomas), Red Sox and Yankees in his post-May surge. It will be fun to watch whether Santana can hold down the potent Rangers lineup to move to 14-6 and one step closer to that improbable charge to the AL CYA I wrote about a few weeks back. At the time of that writing, he was 5 wins behind Mark Mulder at 13-8, but with a win tomorrow night it would be 16-14 Mulder, pending what he does in his next start. I'm still a little worried about what Santana will have left in the tank come September, but he's sure making things interesting as we head into the stretch run of the 2004 season.

Correction: The Yankees are at the Jake, as opposed to the Indians visiting the Bronx. Mea Culpa.

posted by Tom Renbarger 1:53 AM