Archive for April, 2008
The affable Grady Sizemore is certainly not very happy to have skipped two consecutive games recently on Monday, April 28. He is far from ecstatic especially when his sprained ankle is the cause for him missing two games, one on Sunday against the New York Yankees and another game on Monday, both against the Yankees. This halted the All-Star center fielder’s excellent playing streak at 382.
This misfortune started when Sizemore’s ankle got sprained as he stepped on second base during the ninth inning last Saturday. True to his persevering spirit, the 25 year old Seattle resident with batting average of .283, home run record of 78 and 2007 Gold Glove Award winner did not stop to take a break and instead played on even though his ankle throbbed painfully. He managed to score the winning run and led his team to victory but at a price – his ankle swelled even more the next day and was forced to rest on doctor’s orders.
April 29th, 2008
The New York Yankees clubhouse is witnessing a different mood recently owing to the small deadlock that is brewing between catcher Jorge Posada and Coach Joe Girardi as the long time Yankees catcher is of the opinion that he has fully recovered from his strained right shoulder and is fit to play and coach Girardi thinks otherwise. Yankees will be closing their three game weekend series in Baltimore on Sunday afternoon and are also slated to three more games at Chicago from Tuesday.
Girardi says that he is waiting for Posada to tell him that he has fully recovered from the shoulder strain, as the coach feels that Posada is still finding the pinch in his shoulder. Posada has revealed that his arm has become pretty stronger and feels that it will get better only if he gets the opportunity to pitch in the match. The coach said that he is not worried of Jorge’s arm power, but the only concern is his baseball pitching ability behind the plate.
April 27th, 2008
The Forbes’ List for the most valuable baseball team list is out, and the Oakland Athletics’ fans are not going to be happy once they see that their favorite team is ranked rather low in the list. The annual “Business of Baseball” compiled by Forbes placed the Oakland Athletics at No. 26 out of a total of 30 teams. They estimated value is approximately $323 million, whereas the total revenue for the entire team is $154 million while the operating income comes up to about $15.4 million.
In comparison, the San Francisco Giants made it to the eighth rank. Their value was relatively higher than that of the A’s, with a total of $494 million. Forbes’ list also reported that their revenue came up to be $197 million with a gross operating income of $19.9 million.
Fans of the New York Yankees will be overjoyed to hear that this team made it up to the top of the list with a whopping value of $1.3 billion. In contrast, the Florida Marlins are at the bottom with a mere value of $256 million.
April 21st, 2008
The centerfielder of the Kansas City Royals, David DeJesus is back to the baseball field after missing 11 games due to an ankle injury. He played for the team in the match against the Seattle Mariners on Monday. DeJesus had a twisted ankle on March 24th during the spring training, but he played the opening baseball match of the season at Detroit on March 30th. His condition aggravated during the match and he was under treatment since then.
David DeJesus got on to the field last week to test his ankle, despite bad weather and said that he is feeling more confident about his cuts and other stuffs. He admitted that he rushed to the line up of the opening match after getting the injury in Arizona. Unfortunately that was a bad decision and he doesn’t want to repeat his mistake. So, he is making sure that he will be able to play without losing any timing and is practicing for achieving it.
April 18th, 2008
The Red Sox were high on victory after winning last Sunday night’s game against the Indians and scored 8-5 much to the chagrin of David Ortiz who has been forced to take a back seat to refresh him out of one of the biggest letdowns in his career. Likewise the Red Sox also won without help from their top relief pitchers, Jonathan Papelbon as well as the ever resilient Hideki Okajima. As much as they would like to participate, they were ordered to take advantage of their much needed rest before the Red Sox go up against the Cleveland Indians yet again on Wednesday night in New York.
Daisuke Matsuzaka was deemed on of the reasons the Red Sox scored an early victory. His winning pitches were more than enough to take the team to a higher level. The affable pitcher threw 116 pitches over his five taxing innings. He lost out on five hits, six walks and four runs, finally striking out two.
April 14th, 2008
The MLB has lifted Jose Guillen’s 15-day suspension earlier on today, to his fans’ immense delight (fans at baseballimo.com were also happy that Guillen need not miss any game play too!). He was previously suspended for violating Major League Baseball’s drug prevention rules and regulations.
The obviously relieved Kansas City Royals left fielder was happy to put this unpleasant incident behind him and assures both fans and team mates alike that this issue will never repeat itself again, and he will never let this dampen him baseball playing spirits.
His suspension was thankfully lifted after the MLB and The Players Association came to an agreement to amend the drug policy that follows all of Senator George Mitchell’s recommendations. Kansas City Royals’ Manager Trey Hillman was also glad that this tiresome ordeal is now finally over and he hopes that this will not affect Jose Guillen’s three-year contract in the least.
April 12th, 2008
The Pirates lost to the cubs 10-8. This was one of the best home openers and the crowd at PNC Park was thrilled at the match. The innings of the Cubs got off to a good start. Ryan led off with a double. He was replaced by Brian Bixler. Bixler was included in the game just the day before. Doug Mientkiewicz was intentionally walked. He was followed by José Bautista. He decided to bunt the very first pitch he saw at the first base line.
The two baseball teams together got 26 hits. 27 men were there on base. By the end of the game there was no one left in the bullpen or the bench. Evan Meek took the mound in the 12th. He gave two walks, threw two pitches and got the two runs that the cubs needed to get the win. For the Pirates Gorzelanny lasted just 2 1/3 innings. He later said that he takes full responsibility for the game as a lot depends on the starter. The pirates however continued from where he left and they put up a good fight.
April 8th, 2008
Berkman showed his batting skills last Wednesday night as he hit a three run shot a very long distance at the Petco Park to register a 9-6 win for the Houston Astros against the Padres. It was a humiliating game for the Padres pitcher Hoffman as it was his pitching ball that got the treatment from Berkman. The dugout of Astros was thrilled with joy when they saw the at-bat shot of Berkman travel a long distance and this shot signaled the first home run of the season for Berkman.
Astros hitter Berkman was very happy about his performance against the Padres and said that he really enjoyed every moment of this close baseball game. Astros manager Cecil Cooper said that his batters heaved a lot of hefty blows in this game and was satisfied with the commitment shown by the hitters. The Astros are pretty happy to register their first win of the new season and would look to build on this momentum set by its hitters for the rest of the season.
April 4th, 2008
