Here’s your morning baseball
briefing:
Game of the Day Wednesday August 21:
San Francisco Giants 3, Boston Red Sox 2
Atlanta holds baseball’s best record, but they’ve
experienced some strange and scary injuries at Citi Field in New York this year. Last month veteran pitcher Tin Hudson broke
his ankle covering first base, and yesterday outfielder Jason Heyward suffered
a broken jaw when he was hit in the face by a Jonathon Niese fastball. Heyward was conscious and bleeding as he fell
to the ground in the batter’s box, and was accompanied by his grandparents (who
were at the game) to the hospital shortly after. He’s expected to miss 4-6 weeks. As for the
game, it remained tied at one until Atlanta third baseman smashed a three-run
home run in the top of the tenth, lifting the Braves to a 4-1 win.
Rest
of the day’s scores:
Consecutive
days with a walk-off win (where the home team scores the winning run in the
ninth inning or later that immediately ends the game): 11. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Texas Rangers walk-off
winners on Wednesday.
Longest
Winning Streak: 5, by the Chicago White Sox
Longest
Losing Streak: 4, by the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals.
A.L. MVP Watch: Chris
Davis, OF, Baltimore Orioles
Yesterday:
1-3 with a HR, walk and a stolen
base
Season: .306, 46 HRs, 114 RBI and 91 runs scored
On pace
for: .306, 59 HRs, 150 RBI and 117 runs
scored
N.L. MVP
Watch: Carlos Beltran, OF, St. Louis Cardinals
Yesterday:
2-5 with a HR, 2 RBI and 2 runs
scored
Season: .307, 22 HRs, and 67 RBI
On pace
for: .307, 28 HRs, 87 RBI
A.L. Cy
Young Watch: Justin Masterson, Cleveland Indians
Yesterday:
6.2 IP, 5 hits, 1 run and 7 K’s in a
win vs. the Angels
Season: 14-9, 182 K’s and a 3.50 ERA
On pace
for: 18-11, 237 K’s and a 3.48 ERA
N.L. Cy
Young Watch:
Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers
Yesterday:
8 IP, 6 hits, 1 run, and 7 K’s in a
win vs. Miami
Season: 12-3, 103 K’s and a 2.91 ERA
On pace
for: 15-3, 134 K’s and a 2.90 ERA
News &
Notes: Yankee outfielder Ichiro Suzuki recorded hit 4,000th
professional hit on Wednesday. He has 1,
278 hits while playing in Japan and 2,722 hits while playing in the major
leagues.
History –
1971 World Series
Winner: The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the
Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 3.
The 1971 World Series featured the defending
champion Orioles, who steamrolled into the confrontation, having won their last
11 regular season games and three in a row against Oakland in the A.L.
playoffs. They featured a major league
record four 20-game winners (Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar and Pat
Dobson) to accompany future Hall of Fame hitters Frank & Brooks
Robinson. The Pirates appeared in the World
Series for the first time since upsetting the Yankees in 1960, and had two future
Hall of Famers in their lineup, outfielder Roberto Clemente and first baseman
Willie Stargell.
The Orioles
had home field advantage when the series opened in Baltimore, and in Game 1
nerves showed for both teams as the Orioles committed three errors in the
second inning, allowing three Pirate runs to score on just one hit. But Baltimore would settle down and wake up,
as they scored three runs in the third to tie the game, and they went on to win
5-3. Dave McNally pitched a complete
game, surrendering just three hits.
Baltimore
sent 20-game winner and future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer to the mound for Game
2, and he pitched seven shutout innings while their offense went haywire,
scoring eleven runs in total, led by Brooks Robinson’s three hits and four
RBI. Palmer went the distance, allowing
an eighth inning three-run home run with the score out of hand, and the Orioles
won 11-3 to take a 2-0 series lead.
Pittsburgh
hosted Game 3, and their ace Steve Blass limited Baltimore to just three hits
in a complete game gem, as the Pirates won 5-1.
His only blemish was a solo home run he surrendered to Frank Robinson.
Game 4 is forever known as the first World Series game
played at night, and early it appeared that it might be a long night in the
steel city, as Baltimore jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead. Pittsburgh rebounded with two runs in their half
of the first, and plated one in the third and one more in the seventh to win
5-3, and tie the series at two.
Still in
Pittsburgh for pivotal Game 5, Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh started rarely
used Nelson Briles, who made Murtaugh look like a genius when he tossed a
complete-game, two–hit shutout, and the Pirates won 4-0. The series now shifted back to Baltimore where
a winner would be crowned.
Game 6 was a
close one, with both teams having their chances at victory, but the game
remained tied 1-1 in the tenth inning, when Baltimore first baseman Frank
Robinson scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly by Brooks Robinson, and
there would be a seventh game to decide this series.
In Game 7,
Pittsburgh drew first blood when Roberto Clemente hit a solo home run to left
in the third, and the Pirates pushed their lead to 2-0 in the eighth when
Willie Stargell scored on Jose Pagan’s RBI double. Baltimore scored once in the bottom of the
eighth on an RBI groundout, but Pittsburgh starter Steve Blass ultimately proved
too much for Oriole’s hitters, as he completed his second game of the series
and helped Pittsburgh win 2-1, capturing their fourth World Series title in
franchise history.
For the
series, the Pirates were outscored the 24-23, but outhit the Orioles
56-45. Roberto Clemente was named the
MVP, hitting safely in all seven games.
Hall of Famers in the series included for Pittsburgh: outfielder Roberto
Clemente, second baseman Bill Mazeroski, and first baseman Willie Stargell; and
for Baltimore: manager Earl Weaver, pitcher Jim Palmer, outfielder Frank
Robinson, and third baseman Brooks Robinson.
Tomorrow: 1972 World Series – Oakland Athletics vs. Cincinnati Reds
Trivia -
Today’s Question: What franchise became the last team to install lights around
their stadium to play night games? What
year was it?
Yesterday’s
Question: Dave McNally of the
Baltimore Orioles is the only pitcher to hit a grand slam in a World Series
game, but who was the last pitcher to hit a home run in a World Series
game? It’s happened just 13 times.
Answer: Joe Blanton of the Philadelphia Phillies
homered in the 2008 World Series.
Vegas Bet: Lastly, here’s an
actual bet you can make at a Las Vegas Sports Book: Over/Under 18 combined strikeouts by Clayton Kershaw and Stephen Strasburg
today.
Yesterday’s
Bet: Over/Under
3 runs allowed by Phillies pitcher
Cliff Lee vs. Colorado.
Result: Under. Lee allowed just 2 earned runs.
Standings:
| American League | National League | |||||||||
| EAST | W | L | GB | STRK | EAST | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Boston | 75 | 54 | - | Won 1 | Atlanta | 77 | 49 | - | Won 1 | |
| Tampa Bay | 72 | 53 | 1 | Lost 1 | Washington | 62 | 64 | 15 | Won 2 | |
| Baltimore | 68 | 58 | 5.5 | Won 1 | NY Mets | 58 | 67 | 18.5 | Lost 1 | |
| NY Yankees | 67 | 59 | 6.5 | Won 4 | Philadelphia | 56 | 70 | 21 | Won 1 | |
| Toronto | 57 | 70 | 17 | Lost 4 | Miami | 48 | 77 | 28.5 | Lost 2 | |
| CENTRAL | W | L | GB | STRK | CENTRAL | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Detroit | 74 | 52 | - | Won 1 | Pittsburgh | 74 | 52 | - | Lost 1 | |
| Cleveland | 69 | 58 | 5.5 | Won 3 | St. Louis | 73 | 53 | 1 | Won 1 | |
| Kansas City | 64 | 61 | 9.5 | Lost 4 | Cincinnati | 72 | 55 | 2.5 | Won 1 | |
| Minnesota | 55 | 70 | 19 | Lost 1 | Milwaukee | 55 | 72 | 19.5 | Lost 1 | |
| Chicago Sox | 51 | 74 | 23 | Won 5 | Chicago Cubs | 54 | 72 | 20 | Lost 2 | |
| WEST | W | L | GB | STRK | WEST | W | L | GB | STRK | |
| Texas | 74 | 53 | - | Won 3 | LA Dodgers | 74 | 52 | - | Won 2 | |
| Oakland | 71 | 55 | 2.5 | Lost 2 | Arizona | 65 | 60 | 8.5 | Lost 1 | |
| Seattle | 59 | 67 | 15 | Won 2 | Colorado | 59 | 69 | 16 | Lost 1 | |
| LA Angels | 55 | 71 | 19 | Lost 4 | San Diego | 57 | 70 | 17.5 | Won 1 | |
| Houston | 41 | 85 | 33 | Lost 3 | San Francisco | 56 | 70 | 18 | Lost 1 | |
Schedule for Thursday August 22 with probable pitchers in parentheses. My picks to win
are highlighted. Yesterday’s Picks: 11-4
Overall: 747-564
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