Jon Lester not only threw 8 shutout innings, giving up just one hit and striking out 8… he also had a RBI hit of his own! He’s the MVP of Yesterday.
Standings after the jump.
MVP of Yesterday (Sept. 14, 2016): Jon Lester
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World Baseball Classic Update (September 14, 2016): A Minor Update
A small WBC update today, with just two pieces of news:
First off, David Peralta of the Diamondbacks is unlikely to play for Venezuela next year due to wrist surgery.
Secondly, according to the the excellent “Pinceladas del CMB” Twitter feed and Twitter’s translation feature, there is the news that tickets for the Guadalajara pool will go on sale in November.
…And that’s it for this installment. If you have any WBC news, let me know! Thanks!
MVP of Yesterday (Sept. 13, 2016): Taijuan Walker
We still haven’t had a no-hitter since Arrieta’s April performance, but Taijuan Walker of the Mariners sure gave it his all, allowing only three hits and striking out 11 in his win over the Angels. He’s the MVP of Yesterday.
Standings, as always, after the jump:
“The Disappointment League, AKA The Mudville Faithful”, a baseball play I wrote in college
In 2011, while taking a drama class in college for some reason, I wrote a 5-page play that looked at how “Casey at the Bat” might have been perceived from the stands. It was then promptly forgotten, until it was found in the deepest depths of my computer in a file of old things. The following is that play. With the exception of two name changes (due to them being too close to the names of actual people I know) and a few small edits for grammar, format, or clarity, the following is exactly what was handed in in 2011, warts and all. All rights belong to me but if you absolutely positively want to put it on, let me know and I’ll probably give you the okay so long as you film it so I can see it and share it. So without further ado….
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The Disappointment League (AKA The Mudville Faithful)
Characters:
Bill, a sports fan who is often disappointed by the poor performance of his teams.
Harold, Bill’s father.
June, a regular at the ballpark who is friendly but easily annoyed. Somewhat of a deadpan delivery.
Annie, a female fan whose love of the game is matched only by the power of her vocal cords, keeps a scorecard.
Benny, loud-mouthed, entitled, Italian-American fan of the opposing team. He is heavily intoxicated.
Announcer, off-stage PA announcer
Other fans are there, but do not have lines beyond the occasional crowd chant.
Setting: A raised stand full of seats at a stadium, we can’t see what is going on in the field, but the seats are filled with people in team jerseys- most of them in white and red (including Bill, Harold, June and Annie). But there is one person who is in a black-pinstriped white jersey (Benny). There is a walkway behind the seats where the fans could exit and enter, and there is a railing on that walkway for standing room only crowds to lean on. A baseball team’s dugout can be placed in front of the front row, for things like sodas and food to be placed, but otherwise it can be just assumed to be there but invisible. While the seating can be anything from just one or two rows to a whole bleacher of it (the logical extreme would be to hold it in a actual baseball stadium), some things are important: Bill and Harold are sitting next to each other, Annie is as far away from Bill and Harold as possible while staying in the same section seating, June is either two seats to the right of Bill and Harold or is one seat over and one row up from them, Benny is sitting either next to or kitty-corner to June. The rest of the seats are filled out with others, but they aren’t really important. The crowd should be jostling in their seats, the occasional “C’mon Nine!” and “Get a hit!” echoing from the extras, but now, it is a quiet murmur.
Announcer: Due up in the bottom of the ninth for Mudville- Cooney, Barrows and Flynn. Coming in for New York… Sparks Hagen.
(A grumble rises from the crowd.)
Bill: Well, this is it, dad. Down 4-2, one inning left.
Harold: Yeah, we’re in trouble. I mean, Hagen…. jeez.
Bill: Annie? How many people have to get in for Casey to come up?
(ANNIE looks at her scorecard for a second.)
Annie: Well, let’s see, Cooney, Barrows, Flynn, Jimmy Blake…. then there’s Casey.
June: There’s no way we’re getting there. Especially if…..
(Benny gets up and yells.)
Benny: Woooooah, Bombers! Let’s finish this thing, Hagen!
(JUNE turns to Benny and gives him a deathly glare, the ANNOUNCER then comes on the PA system.)
Announcer: Now batting for Mudville, Ernest Cooney….
(BILL claps.)
Bill: C’mon, Cooney!
(The sound of the crack of a bat. The crowd makes a brief rise in noise, but it then quickly goes down in disappointment, except for Benny, who stands and goes “YEEEEEEAAAAHHH!”)
Annie: (Looking down at scorecard, which she is annotating) Cooney… grounded out to short.
(Benny stands up again.)
Benny: WOOOOOOO! NEW YORK! TWO OUTS AWAY!
Bill: (turning) Shut up!
Benny: WOOOO! NEW YORK!
Harold: (under his breath) Drunken idiot.
(Everyone calms down for a second as the announcer comes up again.)
Announcer: Now batting for Mudville, Lawrence Barrow….
June: He better not swing at the first pitch.
(Sound of a bat hitting ball. A groan emanates from the crowd except for Benny, who cheers. ANNIE turns to her scorecard.)
Annie: Barrow lines out to first.
Benny: ONE OUT AWAY, BABY!
(JUNE turns around.)
June: (Grumpy) Uh-hum!
(Benny ignores her. Meanwhile one or two of the extras have gotten up and left early to beat traffic.)
Benny: WE’RE GONNA WIN AND YOU MUDVILLE LOSERS WILL FINALLY HAVE TO ADMIT HOW AWESOME WE ARE!
(BILL finally has had it, and gets up, as the ANNOUNCER calls the next batter.)
Announcer: Now batting for Mudville…. William Flynn!
Bill: (To Benny) Wait until the last out, butt-head!
Harold (putting hand on Bill’s shoulder): Calm down, son.
Benny: Oh yeah! What makes you think you can win this, kid?
Bill: Casey can still come to the plate, and he could end it with one swing!
(The sound of a baseball hitting a catcher’s mitt is heard.)
Annie (ignoring the argument between BILL and Benny): GOOD EYE, FLYNN! JUST GET ON BASE!
Benny (still talking to Bill): C’mon, Casey isn’t coming up. Your bench is empty, and Flynn is a has-been and Blake is a piece of cake!
Bill: This is baseball, anything can happen.
(Harold nods. The sound of bat hitting ball is heard and the crowd erupts.)
Harold: Get down, get down!
Annie: THAT’S A HIT! (Turns to her scorecard and marks it a hit.)
(The crowd is getting excited, more shouting of “C’mon Mudville!” and similar things.)
June: One more hit to Casey….
Benny: There ain’t gonna be a hit!
Harold: He doesn’t need a hit, he just need to get on.
Announcer: Now batting, Jimmy Blake!
Annie: C’MON BLAKE!
Bill: JUST GET ON BASE, BLAKE!
(The sound of a ball hitting a glove.)
Benny: YEAH! TWO MORE STRIKES!
Bill: Will you be quiet?
June: He isn’t gonna listen, Bill. Don’t even try.
(The sound of a ball hitting a glove.)
Annie: GOOD EYE, JIMMY!
Harold: He needs to wait for his pitch.
Benny: PLEASE, BLAKE COULDN’T HIT WAY OUT OF A PAPER-
(Benny is interrupted by the crack of the bat. The crowd goes wild.)
Annie: GO! GO! GO!
Harold: C’mon…
Bill: Send him! Send him! [beat] DON’T SEND HIM! DON’T SEND HIM!
June: He’s going to be out at third….
(The crowd erupts into a giant roar.)
Bill: SAFE!
Harold: SAFE!
Benny: C’MON! UMP! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! HE WAS OUT!
(The crowd starts to build in noise as the announcer again comes on the PA.)
Announcer: Now batting for Mudville…. Phineas Casey!
Annie: (Catching up on scorecard) Blake doubled, Flynn to third…
(The crowd begins to chant “CA-SEY! CA-SEY!” Except for Benny.)
Harold: A hit to tie, a homer to win…
Annie: JUST GET A HIT, CASEY!
Benny: YOU SUCK, CASEY!
(The pitcher throws the sphere, and everyone groans about the pitch as it hits the catcher’s mitt. Strike one.)
Harold: That was his pitch.
June: Ye-ep.
Benny: Ha! I bet the selfish bum just didn’t think that big fat pitch wasn’t his style.
Bill: Oh, be quiet!
(Another pitch. The sound of the ball hitting the glove. Everyone begins to boo and yell.)
Bill: OH, COME ON UMP! YOU ARE A FRAUD!
Annie: IF IT WEREN’T ILLEGAL, I’D KILL YOU UMP!
Benny: ONE STRIKE AWAY, BABY!
June: Settle down, all of you!
Harold: He’s got to swing at this, if it is at all close.
(The crowd gets to it’s feet, growing louder and louder….. and louder… and louder and then….)
(The lights go out, except for one, which is shown on Bill.)
Bill: Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville – mighty Casey has struck out.
(Bill slams a fist into his hand, in anger and disappointment, and walks off dejectedly.)
####
MVPs of the last few days (9-8 to 9-12, 2016)
Sept. 8: Kevin Kiermaier
Sept. 9: Jose Fernandez
Sept 10.: Rich Hill
Sept. 11: Jose Urena
Sept. 12: Kyle Hendricks
Standings, as always, after the jump:
MVP of Yesterday (Sept. 7, 2016): Adam Lind
Adam Lind is the MVP of Yesterday for his 2-HR performance.
Standings, as always, after the jump:
Pictures from #GlickTrip16 (Part 1)
At the end of August and the very beginning of September, I went to Chicago (and Milwaukee) with my father on a long-delayed trip to the three MLB stadiums there, as well as some museums and other sites. This is the first of three or four installments featuring pictures and memories/neat stuff I remember. Go below the jump (after the first picture) to see them:
MVP of Yesterday (Sept. 6, 2016): Elvis Andrus
With a HR and three doubles, Elvis Andrus is the MVP of Yesterday.
Standings, as always, after the jump:
World Baseball Classic Update (Sept. 6, 2016)
Due to my trip and other responsibilities, I’ve been slacking on WBC updates. So, here is one.
The Pools for the 2017 WBC have been revealed:
The biggest piece of WBC news in the past few weeks is probably the reveal of the actual pools and locations for the tournament. They are:
Pool A (Tokyo Dome): Australia, China, Cuba, Japan
Pool B (Geocheok Dome in Seoul, South Korea): Taipei, Korea, Netherlands, winner of Brooklyn Qualifying pool (more on that later)
Pool C (Marlins Park in Miami): Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, USA
Pool D (Estadio Charros de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico): Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela
Pool E (Tokyo Dome): Top two of Pool A and Pool B
Pool F (Petco Park in San Diego): Top two of Pool C and Pool D
Semi-Finals and Finals are in Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Rosters for the Brooklyn Qualifier have been revealed:
Late in August, the rosters for the final qualifying pool were revealed. Baseball America has a good rundown of them, and I’ll go more in-depth on them when I do my preview of the group later in the month. But my early impressions say that Brazil and Israel will be the main teams to beat in the pool, although the UK could surprise.
Other WBC News:
Kim In-Sik, the manager for Team Korea, is pessimistic about the team’s chances due to a lack of pitching, especially right-handers. He hopes to get Seung-Hwan Oh, but problems with a gambling situation in Macau that led to his suspension from KBO and NPB (it’s complicated and I’m not entirely sure if I fully understand it, but it has to do with rules in Korea and Japan that frown upon gambling even if it’s in a place where it’s legal) make that less than a slam-dunk. On the position player side, Dae-Ho Lee and Byung-Ho Park have been supportive, although Park’s injury makes it unlikely he will take part. Among the KBO players Kim is looking at is Jae-Kuk Ryu, who had some time in the majors from 2006 to 2008. Another article suggests that Hyun-Soo Kim of the Orioles is a certainty to be on the team, but that other MLB players besides him and Dae-Ho Lee are iffy due to the fact they all have had injury problems throughout the year.
Ervin Santana is eager to represent the Dominican at the next WBC, and hopes that Miguel Sano can join him. However, based on conversations that Sano has had with Latin American scouting sources for the Twins, it’s possible he’ll be the odd man and might be better served staying with the Twins, since the DR likely will have players like Adrian Beltre and Edwin Encarnacion filling the roles that Sano would likely would be most fit for.
Noah Syndergaard is likely to receive an invitation from Team USA, although it’s unknown if he would accept.
21-year-old Tyler O’Neill, named the Mariners’ best Minor League player this season by the Seattle Times, is a candidate for Team Canada.
Ken Rosenthal speculates that Clayton Kershaw and A.J. Ellis may have a reunion on Team USA next spring. However, he notes that there are plenty of “ifs” connected to that, especially related to Kershaw’s health and whether Ellis would even be considered for Team USA given America’s depth at the position.
Russell Martin has said he intends to play for Canada if he is healthy. John Axford is also excited to participate.
Omar Vizquel will be scouting the Venezuelan League to keep an eye on people who are on Team Venezuela’s shortlist.
Over at @HOVG: “Wisdom and Links” talks Curses!
Aside
Over at Hall of Very Good, the latest “Wisdom and Links” looks at curses, and whether their breaking might actually be a bad thing. Check it out.
The Baseball Continuum 