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Tom Strange
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Well, there was a ruling controversy today, and this is now the third time I've seen one man's decision, or play, spoil a no-hitter or a perfect game for a pitcher...The first was way back in about 1970, when with two outs and a 3-2 count on on the 27th batter, the ump called ball 'four' on a borderline pitch, spoiling Milt Pappas' perfect game...He ended up getting the next guy out to complete his no-hitter...Back in the eighties, I was at A WhiteSox game with Lamar Hoyt on the mound against the Yankees on a cold misty May night game at Comiskey Park...Hoyt had been perfect until the seventh--never even reaching ball three on a batter, when a Yankee hit a popup to short left field...In the swirling wind, Ozzie Guillen went out after the ball, then ran in, then left, then right, and the ball finally dropped right where he was standing when the ball was pitched---but he couldn't reach it, and thus, it was ruled a single...The very next pitch, the Yankee batter hit a come-backer to Hoyt, who started a double play to end the inning, and that was the end of the Yankee baserunning for the night...

Sunday, the official scorer's ruling on C. C. Sabbathia's drop on Adam LaRoche's swinging bunt was ruled a hit, and the Brewer's are trying to get the call reversed and award Sabbathia a no-hitter...Personally, I think the official scorer made a bad ruling, but he is the official scorer and he did make the ruling and I think it should stand...The rest of the game would have perhaps played out differently, knowing there was a no-hitter on the line...

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yeah... there's got to be some sort of review process... one of the Ray's pitchers, I think it was Matt Garza, carried a no hitter into the seventh (I think) and the center fielder ran in to make the catch, got there in time and the ball bounced off the side of his glove... it was a tough play, but he had an easy chance to make it... the OFFICIAL scorer ruled it a hit... Garza was furious... a little later another stRanger got a hit but who knows what would have happened? we were told that you can only appeal to the scorer who made the ruling and it stops with him/her...

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Well, there was a ruling controversy today, and this is now the third time I've seen one man's decision, or play, spoil a no-hitter or a perfect game for a pitcher...The first was way back in about 1970, when with two outs and a 3-2 count on on the 27th batter, the ump called ball 'four' on a borderline pitch, spoiling Milt Pappas' perfect game...He ended up getting the next guy out to complete his no-hitter...Back in the eighties, I was at A WhiteSox game with Lamar Hoyt on the mound against the Yankees on a cold misty May night game at Comiskey Park...Hoyt had been perfect until the seventh--never even reaching ball three on a batter, when a Yankee hit a popup to short left field...In the swirling wind, Ozzie Guillen went out after the ball, then ran in, then left, then right, and the ball finally dropped right where he was standing when the ball was pitched---but he couldn't reach it, and thus, it was ruled a single...The very next pitch, the Yankee batter hit a come-backer to Hoyt, who started a double play to end the inning, and that was the end of the Yankee baserunning for the night...

Sunday, the official scorer's ruling on C. C. Sabbathia's drop on Adam LaRoche's swinging bunt was ruled a hit, and the Brewer's are trying to get the call reversed and award Sabbathia a no-hitter...Personally, I think the official scorer made a bad ruling, but he is the official scorer and he did make the ruling and I think it should stand...The rest of the game would have perhaps played out differently, knowing there was a no-hitter on the line...

Oh come on Simon... you and I have talked about this kind of thing before. Pitchers are typically given the benefit of the doubt in fielding decisions like that... from a fielding perspective that is... it makes perfect sense to me why it should have been ruled a hit.

And Sabathia is okay with the ruling... it's Ned Yost that was whining about it... and Joe Morgan and Jon Miller complained about it several times...

It was a hit as far as I'm concerned.

yeah... there's got to be some sort of review process... one of the Ray's pitchers, I think it was Matt Garza, carried a no hitter into the seventh (I think) and the center fielder ran in to make the catch, got there in time and the ball bounced off the side of his glove... it was a tough play, but he had an easy chance to make it... the OFFICIAL scorer ruled it a hit... Garza was furious... a little later another stRanger got a hit but who knows what would have happened? we were told that you can only appeal to the scorer who made the ruling and it stops with him/her...

With the CF the official scorer has more of a judgment call... however, the pitcher getting bent out of shape about it probably wasn't his best move, especially if it took him a while to regain his composure.

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I missed the Sabathia game today---I spose I should turn on the TV and find out but since Im here (!) what inning was it when this happened? was the game close? was it worthy of a bunt situation? As much as I hate questionable errors in a situation like that, Im also not too impressed by someone who attempts to bunts for a basehit in a no hitter unless its a 1-0 game or something

I dont mind a good solid clean hit breaking up a nohitter (well I do really but at least its clean and there is no doubt about it..) they even leave enough in your mind. Last year Schilling shook off Varitek in the ninth f and gave up the only hit on that very pitch. Which leaves me (and everyone else) to play "what if" for the rest of my life.

BUT something that is a borderline judgment call on something questionable would drive me nuts......

......I cant believe that a borderline 3-2 pitch with two outs in the ninth in a frikkin perfect game was called a ball. Thats :asdf:

Somehow I missed that when it happened (I was probably stoned)

I found an interview with Pappas about that game HERE

he actually had him at 0-2

BA: On September 2, 1964 you nearly pitched a no-hitter, taking it into the eighth inning against Minnesota. Eight years later to the day, September 2, 1972 you pitched one of the greatest games in history. What happened in the ninth inning?

Pappas: I was pitching for the Cubs at Wrigley Field against the San Diego Padres. I retired the first 26 batters in the game and I needed one more for a perfect game. There had only been seven perfect games [in the 20th century]up to that time.

Larry Stahl was sent up to pinch-hit and I got two strikes on him immediately. Randy Hundley [the Cubs' catcher] called for a slider. Ball one. Slider. Ball two. Slider. Ball three. Slider. Ball four. Stahl walks and the perfect game is gone.

BA: Were any of the last four pitches strikes?

Pappas: Any one of the four could've been called a strike and the last two were definitely strikes. [umpire Bruce] Froemming came out to the mound after Stahl walked and I called him every name that I knew in the English language. When I ran out of names in English I started calling him names in Greek.

BA: Weren't you afraid of getting kicked out of the game?

Pappas: There's no way in hell that he was going to kick me out of the game. Not that game. Not if he wanted to get out of Wrigley Field alive. Everybody was too mad at him. The players, the fans -- everyone. So I went back to pitching and got the final out on a pop-up to second base to preserve the no-hitter.

BA: Then what happened?

Pappas: Believe it or not, the next day Froemming comes over to me and asks me to autograph a baseball for him. So I autographed it for him and then made a suggestion as where he might want to put it. He was incredulous. "You're not still angry at me, are you?" he asked.

"You have no idea what you did," I told him. "You blew it! You had a chance to call one of the few perfect games in the history of baseball and you blew it."

"Show me an umpire who ever called a game without making a mistake," he answered.

I couldn't believe he said that! He missed the point.

Then I ran into Larry Stahl. Stahl said that he wanted me to get the perfect game so after he got two strikes on him he decided not to swing anymore. "Why didn't you say something?! Why didn't you back out of the box and give me a wink or something?!" I asked him. I would've been happy to give him a fastball down the middle if I knew that he wasn't going to swing at it.

BA: Why do I feel that there's even more to this story?

Pappas: There is more to the story. I have the ninth inning of that game on tape. It's the only part that WGN recorded for some reason. I had some friends over the other night and they wanted to see the ninth inning. So I played it and I watched Froemming after I had my cussing match with him at the mound after Stahl walked. As he was walking back to the plate he had this big snicker on his face. His face said, "Ha, ha, got ya!"

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That's not the first time Schilling's been involved in one of those... he had a no-hitter working in San Diego when he was with the Dbacks (I forget which year) and the Padres' catcher put down a bunt that NObody expected, so he got the single. Brenly called it chicken-sNit (with an H), but what can you do. Nobody bobbled the ball, however... and the Dbacks still won that game.

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That's not the first time Schilling's been involved in one of those... he had a no-hitter working in San Diego when he was with the Dbacks (I forget which year) and the Padres' catcher put down a bunt that NObody expected, so he got the single. Brenly called it chicken-sNit (with an H), but what can you do. Nobody bobbled the ball, however... and the Dbacks still won that game.

Schilling actually had a perfect game going and the score was 2 or 3-0 in the seventh or eighth...I didn't agree with Brenly on his assessment...He had positioned the second basemen way out on the outfield grass against the left-handed Padres catcher----in effect, he was defending a perfect game, almost daring the Padres catcher to bunt...If a team is going to rearrange their defense to preserve a perfect game, and in doing so exposes a weakness, I don't see it as chicken sh!t to exploit that weakness...

In Sabbathia's case, it was a "swinging but", meaning, Laroche took a full swing, but the ball dribbled off his bat and only went as far as a bunt...I think it was in the fifth inning...

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I dont mind a good solid clean hit breaking up a nohitter (well I do really but at least its clean and there is no doubt about it..) they even leave enough in your mind. Last year Schilling shook off Varitek in the ninth f and gave up the only hit on that very pitch. Which leaves me (and everyone else) to play "what if" for the rest of my life.

If memory serves, Schilling should have never faced that 28th batter---I think the Red Sox shortstop booted a ball in that game, spoiling the perfect game at least...I'm sure he's been playing "what if" as well...

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FIFTH INNING?!?{/i] :biglaugh: You had me going for a minute Simon I though it was a two outs in the eighth deal or something.... It was a good lead in to let me know about Milt Pappas though!

Which brings up another point, I know when I was a kid I used to always think "maybe today I'll see a nohitter", and the first hit--even if it was the first batter I made the mental note that the 'no hitter' was gone. Thats sort of faded now and i dont really think about it that much if at all if at all

Ive been lucky enough recently to see two --last year Clay Buchholz against the O's (One year anniversary today) and Jon Lester's earlier this year. The announcers of course never mention it because of the jinx element, When one is happening I have to be honest and say it usually doesnt dawn on me until the 6th or so , when I start to think---" he hasnt given up a hit yet", THEN I start to track that aspect of the game closer and that tension and excitement starts to build.

Whens is no hitter really starting to be a potential no hitter for you guys? I know Simon follows much closer than me but to me--a hit in the fifth is disappointing- (a questionable hit would undoubtably be much worse) but its still too early to really tell if you are on to something else besides a great 5 innings .

Just curious

(posted before coffee right out of a dead sleep--does this make any sense to yous?)

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Honestly, I think no-hitter from the beginning of every ball game I watch...I'm always hoping for something unique or unusual to happen...If my team hasn't gotten a hit by the first time through the order, I start getting impatient and yelling at somebody to get a hit, for pete's sake...

While watching a pitcher mow down an opponant with quick redundancy when all cylinders are firing is a beautiful thing, I often am impressed with some of the more gutsy performances by a pitcher...Saturday, I thought Phillies pitcher Brett Myers pitched a whale of a ball game against the Cubs...Cubs had won the first two in the series against the Phils, who really needed someone to step up from their rotation and bullpen before the entire season slipped away...Myers did just that, even though he gave up eight hits in the first four innings, he got the infield popup when he needed it, or the double play grounder when he needed it...It wasn't as 'tho he didn't have his good stuff---the Cubs were serving up singles like candy---but at the key moments it was a good lesson to see Myers bear down and get the biggest outs against a good-hitting team...It was one of those rare games where you root against the team you usually root for---when you see a real professional doing his job well....

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Honestly, I think no-hitter from the beginning of every ball game I watch...I'm always hoping for something unique or unusual to happen...If my team hasn't gotten a hit by the first time through the order, I start getting impatient and yelling at somebody to get a hit, for pete's sake...

Me too! ...sadly though, it's usually only a one inning thing with the stRangers!

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Game not finished yet, but Dbacks have come back from a 5-1 deficit to now lead 8-6 going into the top of the 9th against Pujols and the Cardinales...

Dbacks' SS Stephen Drew has gone 5 for 5, hit for the cycle with an extra double thrown in for good measure.

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Teagarden just got called back up with the expanded rosters... Salty was catching and Laird has the day off... Mom and Dad sitting in the owner's box with El Presidente...

Top of the fifth Salty aggrevates a groin that's been bothering him all year... young Taylor is called in from the bullpen where he was ready to warm 'em up...

Bottom of the fifth young Taylor hits a 430 foot homerun to almost dead center with two on to put the stRangers up 6-4...

After it quiets down a little Momma Teagarden turns around and hands something to El Presidente... "have you ever seen an Olympic Medal Mr. Ryan?"

good for him... it's his first MLB appearance at home (he grew up locally)... so now, he's got two MLB hits... both home runs... (the other was an away game before he went to 'the games')

so.. for a while we're ahead...

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Then that makes two cycles today... Beltre (so far) has gone 5 for 5 and hit for the cycle here as well... unfortunately he plays for SEA and it's now 12-6 them... :(

Technically, Beltre's was the second of the day... therefore, semantically, your sentence might more correctly read "Then THIS makes two cycles today... Beltre (so far) has gone 5 for 5 and hit for the cycle here as well..."

Okay, you can slap me now.

Edited by Rocky
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Good for Taylor

Ive never seen him-- but Ive heard nothing but good about that kid.

were you noticing his game calling at all?

of course with the Rangers staff as it is I suppose it would be very hard to tell if it was a plus or minus

I think... as with a lot of teams these days... that the pitches were called from the dugout.

Sadly... as you said... after Harrison got pulled it didn't matter... but that Harrison kid shows some promise... nice lefty.

Any news back from Alabama regarding BecKKKKKKet's elbow?

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I have no idea--Im on hiatus and in some sort of change--maybe its just the after effects of Lyme disease that I got amonth or so ago-dont really know---Ive been less than enthusiastic.

The TV's been off, games have been off, rarely reading the papers and Ive only caught a few innings here and there for a few weeks.

I saw where our boy Michael Bowden who we talked about a month or so ago came up from AA and pitched a good game and got his first major league win, Pedroia is on fire, jamie Kotsay is cute, other than that Im at a loss as to the finer points of whats going on--including Becketts million dollar elbow.

When he is on he is unbelievable, I was at the last game he pitched and it was like they were playing TBall with him. 2 or 3 innings about 12 runs.

He's an enigma. Last year he was great-- two years ago he was mediocre, This year --eh--.

He does really well in years ending in odd numbers, the even numbers not so much.

I'll see what i can find out

Edit:

Francona: Awesome test--everything is structurally sound

Beckett:Dr. Andrews said my ligament looked fine. Tommy John surgery is what I was afraid of. They did every test they could possibly do. Put me in a vice, shot dye in there, put me in an MRI machine.

apparently its "inflammation"

Edited by mstar1
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well... that's good news for him and BoSox fans (bad news for the rest of the AL!)

but if it still hurts or doesn't feel right... it's got to affect him doesn't it? It sure would me... I'd be thinking maybe there was nothing wrong then but it sure feels like there is now... maybe the rest was what he needed... didn't he take a little time off in August or September last year? i.e. Francona rested him...

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I think that if it still hurts there are physical problems but maybe more so confidence problems --he really got walloped last time out. Knowing you cant really go back for that little extra when you need it, especially if you are the type of pitcher who relies on that, has to be concerning, and from my observation one of the worst things in baseball is a pitcher who doesnt have confidence in his stuff

Last year they had the big lead, so even though it was dwindling down the stretch, just about everyone had time to heal up pretty good before the playoffs started-including Beckett--which paid off.

They wont have that luxury this year and there are a lot of guys banged up

Which reminds me --I dont know if LA is going to be able to give Manny his 3 week vacation which he gets every year about this time :)

He'll be great in the playoffs if they give him a few weeks to relax by his pool in Florida.

He may have that mysterious hamstring injury, that no one ever knows on which leg, any day now :biglaugh:

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Thanks, Mstar. I'm really looking forward to Manny's first 'injury'.

Let's face it, without Manny, the Dodgers won't have to worry about the playoffs. If he stays focused, and they win the division, he should qualify for the NL mvp on just on 2 months work.

Maybe he's enjoying LA life enough to keep him going for a few more weeks. I can only imagine where he's staying out here.

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Let's face it, without Manny, the Dodgers won't have to worry about the playoffs. If he stays focused, and they win the division, he should qualify for the NL mvp on just on 2 months work.

You think so?

That would be amazing if he finished high in the balloting and /or if Sabathia did the same in the CY.

From a distance he looks a lot happier and being in a place like LA he may forego his vacation this year(to say nothing about it being a contract year).. If he's happy, enthused, and enjoying himself he'll play good down the stretch, maybe even make a few great plays with a few Manny gaffes tossed in.

Its funny--after so many years--you can almost follow his moods by his body english and to a certain extent project his play. He's generally at his best when he is playful, laughing and joking alot and huggy, if he looks sullen his play generally drops off.

Is there any noise about keeping him out there yet?

probably too early to know, but if they'll shell out $18m/year for Andruw, Manny would be a comparative bargain at about $23m or so

Edited by mstar1
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