Sunday, April 19, 2009

Take me out to a different ball game, please

It would just seem wrong if I were not to mention yesterday's game between the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees, which ended with a score of 22-4, and included a 14-run inning. What a tough start for the pitcher, Chien-Ming Wang:

"In three starts, Wang is 0-3 with an earned run average of 34.50. He would need to throw 48 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings to reach a 3.79 E.R.A., his career mark before this season."

In a marvelous understatement, the manager, Joe Girardi, said, “We have an off-day, and it’s something we’re going to have to discuss, how we’re going to decide to do this. There’s some room to play with some things.”

All this prompted me to take a visit to the Baseball Almanac to see other record-setting innings. There are some with 15, 16, and even more, but most occurred in the early part of the last century. Not many in the recent past.

I've always been intrigued by the lopsided scores that can occur in baseball. The Red Sox, for example, started the season with an 8-2 pounding in Oakland, with 5 runs scored in the second inning. You can see shoulders slump and flat-footed playing after a big bad inning, and it is unusual to have a comeback after a team falls behind by that much. On the other hand, the Sox did that this past week, pulling out a 10-8 win after trailing Baltimore by 7 runs in the second inning.

The ancient rivalry continues this week when the Yankees arrive at Fenway Park. I am predicting much closer scores.
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5 comments:

  1. catsandmusicApril 19, 2009 2:35 PM

    wait a minute--was that the Yankees who lost by such a margin? I have nothing to say but HOORAY!!!

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  2. beckpersonApril 19, 2009 7:31 PM

    I was on a plane yesterday afternoon watching the game between the Skanks and the Indians. With every run that scored, people on the plane applauded. It certainly made a long plane ride very enjoyable.

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  3. fibrowitchApril 20, 2009 1:49 PM

    I had the pleasure of attending a July 2005 game where the Red Sox won 18 to 1 against the stankies.

    David Ortiz had a base clearing grand slam in the 7th inning, it was a beautiful thing.

    Today the Sox are up 11 to 1 in the 7th. It's the Sox, so I'm not sure if they are going to win.

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  4. AnonymousApril 21, 2009 3:24 PM

    As an Indians fan, all I can say is "you're welcome!"

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  5. cyndiApril 27, 2009 3:53 PM

    I just read this blog entry and it seems to be like you were predicting the weekend scores.......

    ReplyDelete