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Flag Check Friday: Oops, it’s Saturday

Filed Under: * Jabs (Show All), Flag Check Friday by Justin Jabs — Leave a comment
May 18, 2012

With Kerry Wood‘s retirement and a farewell gathering for the dorm room of my sophomore year, I missed Baseblog’s weekly look at the standings on its actual day… Friday. So here we go, what’s the NL Central look like on this early Saturday morning?

1st Place
St. Louis Cardinals (22-17)
Carlos Beltran and the Cards are the only team in the division to currently have a winning record. The second-place Reds are sitting at .500, and everyone else has a bigger L column than W column. They’ve gone 2-6 since our last check in but still remain the division leaders.

2nd Place
Cincinnati Reds (19-19), 2.5 GB
The Reds were unable to gain any ground of the Cardinals during their 2-6 slide. They posted a 3-5 record themselves. Now they’re only 2.5 games back instead of 3.5.They continue their series with the 21-18 New York Yankees over the weekend.

 

3rd Place
Pittsburgh Pirates (18-21), 4 GB
The Pirates and Astros were tied during last week’s Flag Check Friday. A week’s worth of play and the Pirates have widened that gap by… one. Both are playing two heavy-hitting American League teams (the Detroit Tigers and the Texas Rangers) right now.

 

4th Place
Houston Astros (17-22), 5 GB
The Astros are experiencing some road struggles. They’ve only got 5 victories away from Minute Maid Park on the year, which is the least in the division. A 12-9 record in front of the hometown fans gives them the most wins at home in the Central, however.

5th Place
Milwaukee Brewers (16-23), 6 GB
The Crew is in a three game losing streak and 4-6 during their last 10. Success over the weekend broke their tie with the Cubs for last place.

 

6th Place
Chicago Cubs (15-24), 7 GB
A four game losing streak puts the Cubs at the cellar of the division. Today’s loss didn’t hurt as much personally, watching Kerry Wood end his career on his own terms. To help make myself feel better about the last place status, “Kid K” takes the place of the Cubs logo this week.

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Kerry Wood off into the sunset

Filed Under: * Jabs (Show All), Uncategorized by Justin Jabs — Leave a comment
May 18, 2012

I found out at about 9am this morning after logging on to Twitter. Bruce Levine broke the news (to me, at least): “Breaking news Kerry Wood will retire today!”. Paul Sullivan later reported that Kerry will still be available for today’s game. It seems the plan is for one more appearance during the series against the Chicago White Sox, and then off into the sunset. Either way, the days of Kerry Wood are soon over.

The retirement piece isn’t surprising, but the timing is, in my opinion. Wood has been struggling but it’s still early. I was hopeful he could turn it around and if he was going to retire, it would be at the end of the season. The fact that there is still one more possible appearance in the works tells me that he’s going out on his terms, which is what he deserves.

I wasn’t around as a fan for his 20 strikeout game, although I have seen it (ridiculous stuff). In video games I’ll dream and boost Wood’s stamina and see how he does as a starting pitcher. But really, I loved Woody as a reliever. I’ve said it before, 2008 was my favorite season so far and Wood at the back end of the bullpen was a treat. It was incredibly sad when Jim Hendry said there was no place at the inn for 2009, but I still cheered him on. Being brought back for a year via Ron Santo’s funeral in 2011 was an incredible story.

I had the opportunity to go to the 2012 Cubs Convention – it would involve skipping a few obligations I had already committed to, so I did not. That’s when it was revealed Kerry would be returning for the 2012 season following the dance he and the media did in the days leading up to it. I got goosebumps and may have teared up a little bit watching the shaky video of Pat Hughes announcing their newest acquisition. To have been there would have been amazing.

I’ve been very fortunate collecting autographs and meeting Cubs idols. I met Theo Epstein at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, my brother grabbed Reed Johnson‘s autograph for me in California, and on my most recent trip to Wrigley, Ryan Dempster walked right in front of me and ended up signing my ball. The one autograph I still am missing is Kerry’s. Perhaps if I go to the Cubs Convention next year, I can get it. Mark my words if he’s on the roster, I’m buying tickets.

I think I really got started calling Kerry one of my favorites due to my brother. He kind of got me going on this whole Cubs thing. And Wood one of his favorites I could remember. I last saw Kerry in the flesh warming up in the 11th inning of the best game I’ve ever been to. My brother and I admired his tosses as the Cubs rallied to win.

I guess there’s not much else to say. The news has settled within me for the past hour and a half. I’m much more at peace with the thought that his blown save against the St. Louis Cardinals will not be the last appearance. That’s what I never liked about trades, it was only by chance that you got to see one of your favorite perform for the last time in the home uniform. With retirements, we can all tune in and give the respect deserved.

Thank you for everything Kerry, good luck, we’ll see you at the 2013 Convention (please?) and maybe hear you in the broadcast booth. Enjoy this picture of two of my favorites, Kerry and Reed, at a casino night.

K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K 

SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV
SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV SV

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Even the Cubs are celebrating Baseblog’s 100th

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May 16, 2012

Hehe. You can make your own marquee message here. Neat, isn’t it?

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Series Preview: Phillies @ Cubs

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May 16, 2012

The Chicago Cubs are taking on the Philadelphia Phillies in Baseblog’s first ever series preview. I’m currently working on recruiting five other writers to cover previews for the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates, and St. Louis Cardinals. Our new Milwaukee Brewers writer has already been recruited, and I’ll be previewing the Cubs.

Series Essentials

All the need-to-know facts of the series: matchups, times, promotions.

Game One, 5/16 at 7:05pm Central:
Kyle Kendrick (0-3, 7.32 era) vs. Matt Garza (2-1, 2.56 era) at Wrigley Field. It’s the first Social Media Night for the Cubs, where fans who bought a special ticket score some collectable Cubs cards and can tweet along with the team.

Game Two, 5/17 at 7:05pm Central:
Roy Halladay (3-3, 3.20 era) vs. Chris Volstad (0-5, 6.92 era) at Wrigley Field. No promotions scheduled.

Flag Check

Where does each team stand in their division, and how have they been playing lately?

The Cubs, who are playing .500 ball their last ten games, enter this series tied for last place… again. This time it’s with the Astros instead of the Brewers. Both teams are 15-21 and 6 games back of the first-place Cardinals. The Phillies are also in the cellar of their own division, the NL East. Their 18-19 record is good for 5 games back of the Atlanta Braves. Coincidentally, they’re also 5-5 over their last 10.

Totally Emma

The players are fighting for an Emma Award with beautiful pitching or hot hitting.

As NL East dwellers, the Phillies are disqualified from earning an Emma Award. Sorry boys. On the Cubs’ side, David DeJesus has nine hits this week, a home run, and 5 RBIs. Garza and Jeff Samardzija both pitched five inning, three hit, one run outings last time out.

This Just In

The biggest headlines going into the series.

Vance Worley, who has 3 wins and an ERA just above 3, sits this series out (hence the Kendrick start). Elbow inflammation has sent the right hander to the 15 day disabled list. Hunter Pence just hit a walkoff  home run in extras, and Charlie Manuel was ejected for the second time this season on Tuesday.

In case the Cubs need more bullpen help, Mike MacDougal has been inked to a minor league deal. Alfonso Soriano hit his first home run of the season after tearing it up in Spring Training. And Carlos Marmol won’t be back for a few weeks; after he’s off the DL, he’ll take a minor league rehab assignment.

Callin’ It

Baseblog makes some reasonable–and not so reasonable–predictions.

The last five times Roy Halladay has taken the mound, the Phillies have lost. In three of those the Doc got the L. Despite the Cubs’ success against the now-35 year old last time, I don’t think they’ll be so lucky again. Garza will impress tonight but the Phillies will grab the split on Thursday. Oh, and Tony Campana will steal a base. There you have it!

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Baseblog hits 100 posts!

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May 16, 2012

WOO! If the fancy post counter on my WordPress dashboard is correct, then Baseblog just hit the 100 post mark!

Baseblog’s very first post was on February 20th, 2011. Almost 16 months later, we’ve hit the 100 post mark on May 16th, 2012. There was a bit of a hiatus over the summer, but Baseblog was back in action for the new years and has been successfully updated since the new year. Our readership has grown, as has our Twitter following alongside our post count.

I’d like to thank my webmaster, Theo Syslack (although he hasn’t done much around here lately… things are running smoothly!), Baseblog’s Tumblr ambassador, Stephanie Schmidt (I need to pay her soon), and anyone out there reading.

Yet we won’t stop at 100. I’m working on recruiting a few additional writers (fancy titles TBD) to cover each team in the division specifically. This will mostly involve series previews and other general news that I can miss. If you’re interested, drop me a line.

Thanks for reading, and here’s to 100 more!

–Justin Jabs

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Blog: Now introducing… headers!

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May 16, 2012

As Harry Caray would say, “HOLY COW!” It’s late. I kind of got into the zone and hours later I have these fancy header things. So, now introducing… headers!

Instead of writing a sentence or two telling new readers about each regular category, or seeing if they click on the ol’ Category Descriptions page to the right, I now can use these fancy looking headers. They feature a title, sentence description, and some awesome/appropriate images.

It’s a start… they’re going to get more glamorous as we go. For now, here’s the Blog category header. I’ve updated my last post (Top Freebies: Late May) to reflect the new headers because the latter is the coolest. Enjoy.

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Top Freebies: Late May

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May 15, 2012

Here is the second installment of Top Freebies – remember, “Early (Month)” means specials before the 15th, while “Late (Month)” means after the 15th.

THE TOP FIVE

#1: Scott Rolen‘s Gold Glove award replica
May 26th at Great American Ballpark
This has got to be one of the coolest giveaways so far this season. I know it’s not a new idea (I recall debating whether to buy or not a similar Evan Longoria one last year), but I think it’s really neat. If the Cubs ever did a promotion like this, I would totally be there. Although someone would have to win a Gold Glove first…

#2: World Champions front page poster
May 27th at Busch Stadium 
I’m a big newspaper buff. That’s why this is towards the top of the list. Turns out when you win the World Series, incredibly cool promotions to keep your fanbase hooked follow. This poster takes front-page clippings from local newspapers and organizes them onto one nice poster. It’s a bit hard to see in the picture but a cool idea.

#3: Jeff Samardzija bobblehead
May 29th at Wrigley Field
“Shark” has been pitching great this season and producing a lot of fanfare as a steady member of the rotation. He’s also got some nice physical features (see hair, both on the head and on the face), making him a quality bobblehead.

#4: Andrew McCutchen replica kid’s camo jersey
May 27th at PNC Park
The Pirates do a lot of replica jersey giveaways. I love it. It’s a nice way to dress up the kids without spending a ton of money. This camo-style works well, too, and McCutchen is a fan favorite in Pittsburgh.

#5: Nolan Ryan “5th No-Hitter” bobblehead
May 19th at Minute Maid Park
The Astros go back in time for their first bobblehead of the season, grabbing the likeness of Nolan Ryan (nice uniform pick, too) for his fifth no-hitter. Their website does not contain a picture of this promotion – no, I found this picture on an eBay auction. So if you’re busy on May 19th, no worries, this statue can be yours for $30 plus shipping.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

MLB Network drawstring bag, various days at pretty much every stadium, check your website!

Championship Beer Stein, May 25th at Busch Stadium

Trendy Cardinals adult cap, May 26th at Busch Stadium

Kid Binoculars, May 27th at Great American Ballpark

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Emma Award 6: Carlos Beltran

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May 13, 2012

The outfielder who took home the third Emma Award of 2012 has taken home the sixth. Although his week may have been overshadowed nationally by Josh Hamilton, Carlos Beltran of the St. Louis Cardinals was almost as good.

Hamilton’s line:

13-for-28 (.464), 9 HR, 16 RBIs, 5 BB.

Beltran’s line:

10-for-25 (.400), 5 HR, 12 RBIs, 3 BB

If not for Hamilton’s power surge, I’m sure Beltran would be the talk of the town right now. The Cardinals keep rolling with 4 of the 6 first Emmas.

Last Week’s Awardee

Jed Lowrie struggled mightily after his big week. He collected only 4 hits in 24 at-bats for a dismal .167 average.

Jonathan Lucroy and Ryan Braun combined for a .452 average (19 for 42) and the latter hit two home runs. Andrew McCutchen belted three home runs and batted over .500 in limited at-bats. It’s Pink Bat Day (aka Mother’s Day) so I won’t go into that much detail for the others… happy holiday.

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At least Reed didn’t pitch, and Axford is pretty cool

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May 13, 2012

Something about this picture really struck me as funny.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I did not catch Friday’s five+ hour, after midnight, 13 inning spectacle between the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers. I was out volunteering at a Boy Scout camp and had no access to internet. All I could do is refresh Twitter and watch as the fans I follow react to the game. I was nervous for Kerry Wood, who thankfully bounced back from 9 straight balls with a double play. Everywhere I read I see people calling for Kerry’s head… I still have some optimism.

Word got out over the weekend that after using every reliever, Dale Sveum would have used Reed Johnson to pitch. Reed‘s my favorite (see Baseblog’s sponsorship of his Baseball-Reference page to the right) and I would have loved to see that. Since the game turned out to be a loss, and it was on the road, and Reed didn’t actually pitch, I guess it’s fortunate I missed the game.

Cubs fans get a break from Carlos Marmol for a bit, as he has been sent to the disabled list following Friday’s game. You can piecemeal the adventure Casey Coleman had from two posts from two of my favorite bloggers, Brett at Bleacher Nation and Julie at A League of Her Own. Coleman went from Triple-A game to the bus to the shower to packing his stuff in a garbage bag to a taxi ride to the airport to Denver to Milwaukee to Miller Park to the bullpen warming up to the game. It’s funny and awesome…good job to Coleman.

Final note – as you probably know, I’m a big baseball guy and my first team is the Cubs. But since I live in Wisconsin, go to school in Milwaukee, I get a lot of Brewers action too. When I attend non-Cubs baseball games, I cheer for players on my fantasy team/former Cubs/guys I like. As a Milwaukee student, I feel obligated to make a list of my favorite Brewers, and John Axford is creeping up to the top of that list.

Plenty of reasons guys are on this list, despite Ramirez’s ending in Chicago, he was an offensive force for many years. I saw Marco Estrada’s debut, which is kind of cool. Aoki reminds me of Fukudome and was successful in Japan. And Counsell is Counsell, ’nuff said.

Axford, for his personality, fan interaction on Twitter and such, skills, that streak that just ended (49!), service to the city, and awesome little things like his letter for the media you see here, is probably my favorite current Brewer, for whatever that is worth.

In the meantime… I smell a shark attack. It’s Pink Bats Day and Jeff Samardzija is on the mound. The Cubs are officially in last place now, it’s time to inch closer.

Go Cubs!

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Flag Check Friday: Take a picture, the Cubs and Brewers are tied!

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May 11, 2012

This is another category I’ve wanted to start but each Friday has been busy for me. I suppose I could take a look at the NL Central standings every Thursday, but then we wouldn’t have this sweet alliteration thing going on.

The sixth Emma Award will be given out when I return from my weekend campout on Sunday, meaning we’re about six weeks through the 2012 regular season. Although as a Chicago Cubs fan it might pain me to do this weekly, each Friday I’ll take a look at the standings and see where we are at.

1st Place
St. Louis Cardinals (20-11)
Albert who? The Cardinals have been rolling, taking control of the NL Central Division for most of the early goings. They’ve got a four game winning streak going into today’s games and are 6-4 in the past ten days.

 

2nd Place
Cincinnati Reds (16-14), 3.5 GB
Baseblog’s pick for the division champions are the only team besides the Cardinals hovering above the .500 mark. Their 7-3 record over the last ten days is the best in that time period. In the most recent game I saw, the Reds were on the losing end, 8-3.

 

3rd Place, tied with PIT
Houston Astros (14-17), 6 GB
The rest of the division is nearly tied at 6 or 7 games back. Surprisingly, the Astros offense is second in runs scored with 138 in 2012. Their 6-4 record over the last ten puts them above the Pirates in this ranking, although they are technically tied.

 

3rd Place, tied with HOU
Pittsburgh Pirates (14-17), 6 GB
Avast me hearties, grab your bats because the Pirates just aren’t scoring many runs. The Chicago Cubs have even scored more runs than Pittsburgh so far. 89 over 31 games is an average of just under 3 runs. That’s the worst in the majors.

 

5th Place, tied with MIL
Chicago Cubs (13-18), 7 GB
Quick! Take a picture! The Cubs and the Brewers are tied at the cellar of the division. They’ve actually been doing better than their I-94 counterparts recently (6-4 in their last 10) and have been pitching better to boot. I’ll take it.

 

5th Place, tied with CHC
Milwaukee Brewers (13-18), 7GB
Going into this three game set with the Cubs, the Brewers are 4-6 for their last ten. Thanks to the odd number in the series, by Sunday night these two teams will stand alone. The two weakest pieces of the Brewers lineup (shortstop and first base, due to injury) are arguably the Cubs’ strongest, thanks to good early seasons by Starlin Castro and Bryan LaHair.

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