I Live For This: Baseball

Aug. 27, 2007 - Trivia:

Posted in K.B.

Who is the all-time stolen base and caught stealing leader?

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Aug. 27, 2007 - K.B's Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report

In the final game of the series against the Braves, the Cardinals were looking to win the series. Both teams had won a game so far. When the game started, it was an very quickly decided that it was a pitchers duel between the young, Adam Wainwright and the even younger, Jo-Jo Reyes. Neither team allowed a run heading into the 5th inning. Wainwright shutdown the top of the inning. So it was the Cardinals turn. The inning started out when Ryan Ludwick singled. The next batter, Yadier Molina, doubled scoring Ludwick. Adam Wainwright then advanced Molina to third on a sacrifice bunt. The next batter was Brendan Ryan and he reached on a fielding error, scoring Molina. And So taguchi singled scoring Ryan. The Cardinals had a 3-0 lead. But that score didn’t hold long as the Braves scored a run in the op of the 6th. So what did the Cardinals do about that? Go out and scored again as Juan Encarnacion homered. The score was 4-1. And that must have been the way the Cardinlas liked it because it staye4d that way for the rest of the game. Cardinals win 4-1.

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright did a great job as he pitched 7 innings on 6 hits and only 1 run. Ryan Franklin came in to pitch relief in the 8th and pitched the inning on 1 hit. Jason Isringhausen came into the ninth and pitched it hitless. Wainwright gets his 12th win of the year. And Jason Isringhausen eanrs his 27th save of the year and more importantly, his 200th career.

The pitching by the Braves was very good as the held the Cardinals to only 8 hits. Juan Encarnacion went 2 for 4 with a homerun, a run scored and a RBI. Ryan Ludwick went 2 for 4 with a run scored. And Yadier Molina went 1 for 4 with a run scored and a RBI.

Today the Cardinals will have their last off day of the season. Tomorrow they will start a new series against the Houston Astros at 7:05 CT. Braden Looper (10-10 4.90 ERA) will start for the Cardinals and the former Cardinal, Woody Williams (8-12 4.84 ERA) for the Astros.

K.B. is reporter and founder of the IABW.

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Aug. 27, 2007 - K.B's Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report

After the losing to Atlanta the day before, the Cardinals were going to have to prove themselves against them in the second game of the 3 game series. Things did not start off good for the Cardinals as the Braves scored a run in 2nd, 3rd and 4th inning. The Cardinals were down but not out. In the bottom of the 5th, a rally was started when Aaron Miles single. The next batters David Eckstein and Rick Ankiel also singled, scoring Miles. But the singles kept coming as Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds both singled scoring Eckstien and Ankiel. The next batter, Chris Duncan, flew out. Scott Rolen, who was the next batter, double to score Pujols, the tying run. Yadier Molina was walked so the pitchers spot. A pinch hitter was announced as So Taguchi stepped in and hit a sacrifice fly to score Edmonds and give the Cardinals a 5-3 lead. The Braves scored a run in the 6th but other wise, the Cardinals pitching was able to keep the Braves from retaining the lead. Cardinals win 5-4.

Cardinals starter Joel Piniero went only 4 innings as he allowed 7 hits and 3 run. Russ Springer made an early appearance in the 5th and pitched an inning with one hit. Rand Flores pitched the 6th and ran into a bit of trouble as he allowed 3 hits and a run. My man, Ryan Franklin came in relief going 2 innings on no hits or runs. And then the closer, JasonIsringhausen came in to close the game game and did while allowing 1 hit. Springer gets the win and is now 7-1. Izzy gets his 25th save of the year.

The Cardinals had that one good inning and in it they had 6 of their 11 hits. Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds each went 2 for 4 with a run scored, a RBI and a walk. Yadier Molina went 1 for 1 with 3 walks. And Aaron Miles went 2 for 4 with a run scored.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

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Aug. 26, 2007 - Walk Off Win

Posted in Yankees213

Dalton Carriker runs the bases after his game winning homer

Coming up to bat in extra innings, bottom of the eighth to be exact, Dalton Carriker had a lot on his mind. Though to some it looked like a normal at-bat, it was more. If Carriker got on base, his team would have a chance to win the Little League World Series. If he homered, well it'd be over for the little leaguers from Japan. If he'd gotten out, and his teamates had to it would mean the top of the ninth, but Carriker didn't want that, he wanted to win, and that they did. Dalton Carriker hit a walk off home run to win Warner Robbins, GA (or Southeast) the thing every baseball loving boy and girl dreams of, the Little League World Series! It meant that Georgia had won every time they made it, and it was a rematch of last year's series, which also ended with Japanese little leaguers crying, and Georgia little leaguers cheering, and consoling the upset Japanese. Though I'm sad for Japan, I'm glad Georgia won.

Yankees213 IABW reporter

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Aug. 25, 2007 - The Error: Fielder's or Scorekeeper's?

Lately I’ve notice that a lot of plays that should be errors are counted as hits. I don’t know why but the scorers never seem to count anything as an error anymore. I mean, isn’t an error when a player messes up and allows the hitter to reach base? Lets look at the official rule of Major League Baseball:

“An error is a statistic charged against a fielder whose action has assisted the team on offense, as set forth in this Rule 10.12”.

So what does that tell you? Let’s say that a hitter hits a ball hard hit the Shortstop. The Shortstop tries to scoop up the ball but is unable because he was not watching the ball close enough and since it was hit so hard he did not have time to make the play and the runner reaches first base. The score keeper rules this as a hit because the ball was hit hard and if it was hit slower, the fielder would have had time to make the play whether the he was paying attention or not. But is it an error? Lets look at the rule again. It says “…a fielder whose action has assisted the team on offense…”. And since the shortstop was unable to make the play because he was not watching the ball, it assisted the other team. Sure that if the other team had hit the ball slower that he would have made the play, I think a play like this should be an error.

So what do you think? Is this type of play an error or not? Either way, I think the error statistic has been let go way to loose in baseball today.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

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Aug. 25, 2007 - "Who is the Greatest homerun hitter of all-time? Part 6

Posted in K.B.

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Aug. 25, 2007 - K.B's Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report

Posted in K.B.

In the Cardinals first game of the series against the Braves, there was something unexpected, rain. The rain delayed the started of the game 72 minutes. But when the game got started, the Cardinals might have been better off with it raining. In the 3rd the Braves scored 2 runs, but so did the Cardinals as they scored 2 off of a Chris Duncan double. But thing got drastically worse for the Cardinals as the Braves scored 5 runs in the 4th. And this time, the Cardinals did not come back in the bottom half of the inning. After that, there was… really nothing except fabulous pitching by both teams. Nether team let up a run, which sounds like the Cardinals pitching did good, but it also meant they lost. Atlanta wins 7-2.

Cardinals starter Kip Wells did not hK.B. is a reporter and founder fave a good outing as he allowed 8 hits and 7 runs in the 4 innings he pitched. But like I said, the rest of the Cardinals pitching did great. Todd Wellemeyer came back from the DL and pitched a hitless inning. Troy Percival pitched 2 innings and only allowed a hit. Tyler Johnson and Russ Springer each pitched an inning hitless too. Wells gets his 14th loss of the year.

Cardinals offense did not seem to like the Braves pitching as they only had a total of 6 hits. Leadoff man David Eckstein went 1 for 3 with a run scored. Chris Duncan went 1 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Pitcher Kip Wells went 1 for 1 with a run scored.

Today the Cardinals will try to get revenge on the Braves at 6:15 CT. Joel Piniero (4-2 4.34 ERA) will start for the Cardinals and Tim Hudson (15-5 3.07 ERA) for the Braves.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW,

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Aug. 24, 2007 - K.B.'s Daily St. Louis Cardinals Report

In the Cardinals last game of the series against the Florida Marlins, it was downhill most of the way. The marlins score first in the 3rd inning off of a Grand Slam by Josh Willingham. The cardinals scored a run in the bottom of the 3rd off of Rick Ankiel’s sacrifice fly but things didn’t get better from there. The Marlins scored another 4 runs in the 6th top make the score 8-1. But the bad stuff for the Cardinals kept coming as the Marlins scored another run in the 8th and 2 in the 9th. The Cardinals tried to make a comeback, if there is such a thing as a comeback when your loosing 11-1 as they scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th. But of course, it wasn’t enough. Cardinals loose 11-3.

Cardinals starter Anthony Reyes pitched 5 innings and allowed 4 runs, but only allowed 3 hits. Randy Flores came in to pitch and ran into some trouble as he allowed 2 hits and 2 runs in the 0.2 innings he pitched. The next pitcher, Brad Thompson didn’t do much better in the 2.1 innings he pitched. He allowed 5 hits and 3 runs, 2 earned. And things still didn’t get better as Tyler Johnson came in to pitch the 9th. He went 1 inning on 2 hits and 2 runs. Reyes gets his 13th loss.

The Cardinals offense struggled as they only had 8 hits. Lead off man, David Eckstein, went 2 for 5. Jim Edmonds went 2 for 3 with a run scored. And Juan Encarnacion had a pinch hit in wich he had a hit and 2 RBIs.

Today the Cardinals start a new series against the Atlanta Braves at 7:10 CT. Kip Wells (6-13 5.34 ERA) who has thrived of late will start for the Cardinals and John Smoltz (11-6 3.05 ERA) for the Braves.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW

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Aug. 23, 2007 - Award

This has been given to Ilive4this by Hotdogboy.

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Aug. 23, 2007 - K.B.'s Daily St. Louis Cardinals report

Yesterday, the Cardinals were coming off a win in the first game off the series against the Marlins and were heading into the 2nd game of the series. The game started of with a bang… or maybe it a crack, anyway, Albert Pujols hit his 6 homerun, a two-runner, in the last 7 games and has now homered in each of the last 5 games. So the score was 2-0, at least for a moment. Miguel Olivo hit a solo shot to make the score 2-1. In the 5th, little Yadier Molina hit his 4th homerun of the year making it now 3-1. But that wasn’t all the power given out that night. In the 7th, Jeramy Hermada hit a 2-run shot to tie the game. The Marlins scored a total of 3 runs that inning to give them a 4-3 lead. But there was still more power in the game. After a RBI double by little Yadier Molina scoring Scott Rolen who also had doubled, Jim Edmonds hit he ball pitched by Scott Olsen way over the left-center wall. Lucky for the Cardinals, the relief pitching was good enough to old over or the rest of the game and give the Cardinals a 6-4 win.

Cardinals starter Braden Looper had a very good outing, only allowing 4 hits and 2 runs. Ryan Franklin came in relief and had maybe his worst inning this year. He allowed 3 hits and \2 runs. Russ Springer and closer Jason Isringhausen each pitched an inning hitless. Springer gets the win (6) and Izzy gets his 25th save.

The Cardinals hitters had a total of 11 hits. Albert Pujols of course did well as he went 2 for 4 with a homerun, a run scored and 2 RBIs. Yadier Molina went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Jim Edmonds had one at-bat, a pinch hit, and hit a homerun.

Today the Cardinals will play the 3rd game of the series against the Marlins at 7:10 tonight. Anthony Reyes 2-12 5.61 ERA) will start for the Cardinals and Rick Vandenhurk (3-4 7.36 ERA) for the Fish.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

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Aug. 22, 2007 - K.B's Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report

The Florida Marlins had lost a total of 6 games in a row as they headed into a new series against the Cardinals yesterday. But that didn’t mean the Cardinals were going to give anything in the game. But either way, the Marlins came out fighting as they scored a run in the 2nd inning to give them a 1-0 lead over the Cardinals. And things didn’t get better for the Cardinals, as Miguel Cabrera hit a homerun in the 5th, or at least until the bottom of the 6th when Albert Pujols hit his 29th homerun of the year, and in has now hit 5 homeruns in the last 6 games. In the 8th, the Cardinals did even better… or maybe the Marlins did worse. The inning started with 2 quick outs. The next batter was Juan Encarnacion who reached 2nd base on an error. After that, Yadier Molina showed off his clutch skills as he singled in Encarnacion tying the game at 2. Molina made it all the way to 3rd base when another error was made by the Marlins. So with 2 outs and a runner on 3rd, Aaron Miles stepped to the plate and singled in Molina to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead. But that wasn’t all. Ryan Ludwick came up and smashed one out of the park for 2 more runs. The Cardinals pitching came in the 9th and shutdown the Marlins to give the Cardinals a 5-2 win and the Marlins loose their 7th strait.

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright didn’t do incredible but still very respectable as he pitched 6 innings on 9 hits and only 2 runs. Russ Springer and Troy Percival each pitched an inning with a hit off relief baseball. Jason Isringhausen came in to close the game and did getting his 24th save of the year. Troy Percival gets the win and is now 3-0.

The Cardinals was jst barely good enough as they pounded out 12 hits. Albert Pujols went 1 for 4 with a homerun. Jim Edmonds went 2 for 4. Little Yadier Molina went 2 for 4 with a run scored and a RBI. Ryan Ludwick went 1 for 2 with a 2-run homerun. And #9 batter Ryan Ludwick went 2 for 3.

Today the Cardinals will play again against the Marlins at 7:10 CT. Braden Looper (10-10 4.98 ERA) will start for the Cardinals and Scott Olsen (9-10 5.25 ERA) for the Fish.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

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Aug. 21, 2007 - K.B's Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report

Posted in K.B.

After losing two games to their rival team, the Chicago Cubs, and a rain delay the day before, it was time for the Cardinals to get back on track. It was yesterday that they played the final game of the series against the Cubs. The Cardinals started off good with Scott Rolen’s 2-RBI double in the first. And apparently the Cubs didn’t like that as they came back in the 2nd with back-to-back homeruns to tie the game 2-2. But the Cardinal aslo came back as they scored 2 more in the 3rd off another double by Scott Rolen. But once again, (can you guess what happened?) the Cubs came back with a run in the bottom of the 3rf but the Cardinals still had the lead, 4-3, and they were sure now not to loose it again. In the 5th, Albert Pujols hit his 28th homerun of the year making the score 5-3. But to follow that up, Derrick Lee hit a homerun to make the score 4-5. But in the 7th, Rick Ankiel made the game all worth it as he hit his 4th homerun f the year. The score was 6-4 and the Cardinals pitching held the Cubs for the rest of the game as they win and are now only 3 games behind in the central division.

Cardinals starter Joel Piniero didn’t have his best outing of the year but it was good enough. He went 5 innings on 7 hits and 3 runs. Troy Percival pitched 0.1 innings and allowed a hit –but that hit was a homerun. Randy Flores came in allowed a hit but did not record an out. Ryan Franklin came in for 1.2 innings and did all of it hitless. Jason Isringhausen came in to close the game done and did in the 2 innings he pitched and which allowed 1 hit. Piniero gets his 4th win and Izzy gets his 23 save.

Hitting was not incredible as the Cardinals only had 8 hits total. Rick Ankiel had another career night as he went 2 for 5 with a double, a run scored and a RBI. Albert Pujols went 1 for 3 with a homerun, 2 runs scored, a RBI and 2 walks. Scott Rolen went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBIs.

Today the Cardinals will start a bew series against the Florida Marlins at 7;10 CT. Adam Wainwright (11-9 4.01 ERA) will start for the Cards and Daniel Barone (0-1 6.23 ERA) for the Fish.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

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Aug. 20, 2007 - K.B's Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report

There’s not a whole lot to say about yesterdays Cardinal game… or, uh, check that, 3 innings of a Cardinal game. Yes, 3 innings of baseball was played against the Cubs before a 108 minute long rain delay and was later called. No makeup game has been scheduled yet but one will probably be played.

Also, the Cardinals signed former Miguel Cairo to a minor League deal.

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Aug. 20, 2007 - K.B's One day late St. Louis Cardinal Report

Posted in K.B.

On a dark, rainy after noon at Wrigley Field in Chicago, or like the broadcaster said ”Its like something from Edgar Allen Poe”, the Cardinals were playing the Cubs. The game didn’t start all that great for either team as there was a hour rain delay. Things did’t get much better for The Cardinals as Darryl Ward hit a grand slam for the Cubs in the 3rd inning and ended up scoring a total of 5 runs in the inning. The Cardinals tried to make a comeback as Juan Encarnacion hit a homerun in the 4th. And in the 5th offof a Brendad Ryan homerun. The Cardinals could have scored more that inning but there was a very disputable call at home plate when Albert Pujols slid in and umpire Ted Barrett called him out. In the 8th, the Cardinals got even closer to the lead as Albert Pujols hit his 27th homerun off the year. But then, the rain came back again. The Game started back up after a 65 minute rain delay. But the wait was wasted for the Cardinals as they were unable to score any more runs. Cardinals loose 5-3 and are now 4 games behind in the central division.

Cardinals starter Anthony Reyeys pitched well except that grand slam in the 3rd. He went 6 innings on 4 hits and 5 runs. Brad Thompson and Troy Percival each pitched an inning of relief hitless. Reyes gets his 12th loss.

Offense was for the second game in a row, rather poor –or maybe just unproductive. They did have twice as many hits as the Cubs with 8. Albert Pujols and Juan Encarnacion each went 2 for 3 with a homerun and a walk. And #9 batter, Brendad Ryan, went 2 for 4 with a homerun also.

K>B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW

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Aug. 19, 2007 - "Who is the greatest homerun hitter of all time?" Part 5

“Who is the greatest homerun hitter of all-time?”

I have heard many people ask this question and I’ve also heard lots of different answers. Its understandable that there is some debate. There have been over 15,000+ players in the majors. Most people would answer either Babe Ruth, who had 712 homeruns, Hank Aaron, who had 755 homeruns, or Barry Bonds, who has the record with 757 (subject to change).

To answer this question, I’m not going to look at all 15,000+ players, just the 22 in the 500-homerun club and maybe a few below such as Lou Gerhig and Stan Musial. I’m going to look at who is the greatest homerun hitter of all time –not the most consistent or fast.

Name this player:
Known for having what might be the greatest homerun season of all-time.
Has a 10.61 homerun percentage.
If he had as many at-bats as Hank Aaron (12364) he would have had an incredible, outstanding, amazing total of 1165 homeruns.

If guessed Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, or Willy Mays, you were dead wrong. The player I was talking about is the "Big Mac" or better known as Mark McGwire. McGwire in 1998 borke the single season homerun record from Roger Maris by hitting an outstanding 70 homeruns. of course that record was broken in 2001 by Barry Bonds. McGwire played a total of 16 seasons but only 11 of those seasons he played more than a 100 games due to injuries and two of those seasons he played only 105 and 104 games. So breaking it down, he only had 9 complete seasons. He also hit a total of 583 homeruns. If you divide 583 by 16, you get 36 homeruns a year which does not seem all that great but if you divide his 9 complete season into 583, thats 64 homeruns a year! Thats quite impressive and almost enough to say he is the greatest but he does have something against him. He has been blamed for using performance enhancing drugs many time and that is enough to say that he is not the greatest.

Than who is? I don't know yet but keep reading this month and I will continue my quest to find the Greatest homerun hitter of all time.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

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Aug. 19, 2007 - Trivia:

Q: What is the fewest pitches ever pitched in a complete game?

K.B.

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Aug. 18, 2007 - K.B.'s Daily St. Louis Cardinals report

Posted in K.B.

Yesterday, the Cardinals the first game of the four game series against the rival Cubs. The game was important because the Cardinals were 2.5 games behind in the Central division. The starting pitchers, Braden Looper for the Cardinals and Rich Hill for the Cubs, each were able to keep the other team from scoring heading into the 6th inning. The Cardinals had David Eckstein leading the inning off be he go out. Ryan Ludwick was next but he got out also. It was Albert Pujols’ turn and on the 7th pitch of the at-bat, he sent a ball over the left-center wall, his 26th of the year. In the bottem of the 6th, with a runner on base, Jacque Jones hit a ball to almost the exact same spot Pujols did to give the Cubs a 2-1. The Cardinals pitching held out for the rest off the game without leting up a runner, but, to the dismay of the Cardinals, the cubs pitching did also. The Cubs win 2-1. The Cardinals are now 3 games behind in the central division.

Cardinals pitching was once again good. Starter Braden Looper pitched 6 innings on a very honorable 4 hits and 2 runs. Randy Flores and Russ Springer each came in to pitch an inning and did it hitless. Looper looses his 10th game on the season and is now 10-10.

The Cardinals hitting was, for the first time in almost a week, not all that great. They only had a total of 4 hits, and 2 of those were by Albert Pujols. Pujols of course had that homerun. Leadoff man, David Eckstein, and #9 batter, Brendan Ryan was the only other Cardinal players to have a hit.

Today the Cardinals will try to take revenge on the rival Cubs at 2:55 CT. Anthony Reyes (2-11 5.48 ERA) will start for the Cardinals and Sean Marshall (5-6 4.25 ERA) for the Cubbies.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW

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Aug. 17, 2007 - "Who is the Greatest homerun hitter of all-time? Part 4

Posted in K.B.

“Who is the greatest homerun hitter of all-time?”

I have heard many people ask this question and I’ve also heard lots of different answers. Its understandable that there is some debate. There have been over 15,000+ players in the majors. Most people would answer either Babe Ruth, who had 712 homeruns, Hank Aaron, who had 755 homeruns, or Barry Bonds, who has the record with 758 (subject to change).

To answer this question, I’m not going to look at all 15,000+ players, just the 22 in the 500-homerun club and maybe a few below such as Lou Gehrig ans Stan Musial. I’m going to look at who is the greatest homerun hitter of all time –not the most consistent or fast.

So what about Gehrig and Musial? Lets start with Musial. Musial was a for-sure hall of famer with great power but was he the greatest? Musial played 22 seasons, all with the St. Louis Cardinals. Now in 22 seasons you can play a lot of games and if you play a lot of games, you can have a lot of at-bats, which Musial did. He had 10,972 at bats, 9th all-time. In those at-bats, he had a total 475 homeruns –which is not an incredible total but is very honorable. If you do the math, that’s a homerun in every 16.84 at bats, which again, is not incredible. So Musial isn’t the greatest but is a honorable hitter.

Now Gehrig is one of the most beloved players of all time. He was famous for his crowd recognition and having what is called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” or other known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). But he was just as well known for playing 1st base for the New York Yankees along side Babe Ruth. He was defiantly a great homerun hitter as well. He hit 493 homeruns in 8,001 at-bats. Gerhig could have hit more homeruns if he had more at bats and he could have had more at-bats if he didn’t have to retire 2 days after his 36th birthday. Lets just say he did play 5 more seasons. He was still hitting 30 homeruns a season when he was healthy so lets just say he could have had 150 more homeruns, which is a total of 643 which would also be 5th on the all-time homerun list. So was ge the greatest? Its hard to say but he would be in the race. But sadly, he died when he was 37 and nobody really knows if he would have been able to hit those 150 homeruns so I can not say he is the greatest.

So who is? I don’t know yet but keep reading this month to find out. Next time I’ll look at the “BIG MAC” himself and break down stats and 1998 season.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

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Aug. 17, 2007 - K.B's Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report

Coming into the last game of the series against the Brewers, the Cardinals were 3.5 games behind in the Central division. The Cardinals had won the first 2 games, so they were going for the sweep. They were also trying to win 5 games in a row for the first time this season. They once again scored early off of Yadier Molina's 3rd homerun run of the year to get an early 1-0 lead. But Molina didn't stop there. In the 4th, he hit a two-runner making the score now 3-0. The Cardinals pitching returned good for good as they kept the Brewers from scoring as they headed into the 9th inning. But before they could close the game, the Cardinals had another turn to score some runs. A rally started with a wild pitch which got Chris duncan to first base. Then walks to Yadier Molina and Rick Ankiel. The next batter Aaron Miles was called out on strikes. But then David Eckstein doubled and drove in So Taguchi, who was a pinch run for duncan, Miles and Molina. He also advanced to third base on the throw. The Next batter, Ryan Ludwick, walked. Albert Pujols was next and he singled in Eckstein. Another out was recorded as Jim Edmonds was called out due to the infield fly rule. But Brendan Ryan was able to reach first on a fielding error scoring Pujols and giving the Cardinals a 8-0 lead. The Cardinals called Troy Percival out to pitch in the bottom of the 9th. And he was able to end the game with the third out. The Cardinals won their 5th game in a tow and are only 2.5 games out of first place in the division.

The Cardinals pitching was able to hold on to the shutout all through the game. Starter Adam Wainwright pitched 7 great innings on only 2 hits. Ryan Franklin and Troy Percival each pitched an inning and allowed a hit. Wainwright earns his 11th win of the year and is now 11-9.

The 8 runs the Cardinals scored made a total of 28 runs scored in the series which makes the series one of the most productive ones of the year. The Cardinals were also able to get a total of 9 hits in the game. Leadoff man David Eckstein went 2 for 5 with a run scored and 3 RBIs. Yadier Molina went 3 for 3 with 2 homeruns in the same game for the first time in his career, 3 runs scored, 3 RBIs and a walk.

K.B. is a reporter and founder of the IABW.

Today the Cardinals start another important series . This time its against the Cubs at 1:20 CT. Braden Looper (10-9 5.08 ERA) will start for the Cards and Rich Hill (6-7 3.85 ERA) for the Cubbies.

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Aug. 16, 2007 - A:

Yep, just so everyone knows, the answer the trivia question is C, Mark McGwire.

K.B.

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