I Live For This: Baseball - Homeschool Blogger

I Live For This: Baseball - Homeschool Blogger This Blog is about one thing: It is our pastime, passion, and pride. It is so important that it is called "America's". It is something that is so significant, it has gained international attention. It is the something we are all taught at a young age. It is a game. A game that is not bound by time limits. The only game where the defense has the ball. We know it. We know of it. And we are it. A game that we call Baseball. That is what this blog is about. Here, 'vintage ball meets the present'. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 7 Nov 2007 10:34:00 -0600 Wed, 7 Nov 2007 10:34:00 -0600 Doc. Gold Yesterday can be described with 2 words: Greg Maddux.   Yes, “Doc” Maddux had a big day yesterday. It started with him earning his record-braking 17th Gold Glove. He surpassed Brooks Robinson who had 16 gold gloves. But he wasn’t the only player to add to their stack of Gold Gloves. Catcher Ivan Rodriguez received his 13th Gold Glove, which is the most for a catcher. And Andruw Jones got his 10th Gold Glove, tying the spot for third place in Gold Gloves for outfielders with Al Kaline and Ken Griffey Jr. But the news wasn’t only about players who added to their stack, but rather players who began a stack. In the National League, 5 players received the award for the first time in their career. They were Martin Russell, David Wright, Jimmy Rollins, Aaron Rowand, and Jeff Francoeur. 5 new timers won for the AL too. Johan Santana, Kevin Youkillis Placido Polanco, Adrian Beltre and Grady Sizemore were all first timers. For the first time in 1999, not a single St. Louis Cardnials player won a Gold Glove this year. The top canadates for the Cardinals were the young catcher, Yadier Molina, and Albert Pujols. Yadier was beat out by Russell, who had a .988 fielding percentage and made 16 errors, while Molina had a .991fielding percentage and only made 6 errors, the difference between these 2 players, Martin played in 145 games while Molina only played in 107. After all the excitement about the Gold Gloves, Greg Maddux’s day got better as he was rewarded with a 1-year deal with the San Diego Padres. The deal is worth $10 million dollars. Muddux, 41, has played in 21 seasons with 5 different teams, and spent 2007 with the Padres for the first time. He is currently 9th on the all-time win list with 347 wins. He went 14-11 with a 4.14 ERA in 2007. Also signing a 1-year contract yesterday is Curt Schilling. Schilling, 40, signed the deal worth $8 million dollars with Redsox. He has spent the last 4 seasons with Boston. He went 9-8 with a 3.87 ERA. In other news in baseball, it was announced by Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB’s vice president of baseball operations yesterday that 25 of the 30 General Managers in baseball voted for an instant replay in baseball. A proposal will be brought to the commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, to allow an instant replay. No news whether Selig will allow it or not so far. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/422663/ Wed, 7 Nov 2007 10:34:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/422663/ POSTSEASON '07 The Postseason has started! 6 of the 8 teams played last night. They were: Boston Redsox vs. Las Angeles Angels. Josh Beckett came out strong for the Bo-sox as he pitched 9 full innings without let a run score. David 'Big Papi' Ortiz blasted a homer along with Kevin Youkilis. Giving the Sox an easy 4-0 win. Colorado Rockies vs. Philadelphia Phillies.  The Rockies scored 3 early runs in the 2nd inning. But Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand each homered in the 5th inning.  But the Rockies still had the lead and made it bigger when Matt Holliday homered in the 8th. Rockies wins, 4-2. Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. No runs were scored until the 4th inning when Stephen Drew of the Diamondbacks homered to give the D-backs the lead. Chicago scored in the 6th but Arizona scored 2 more runs in the 7th to give the D-backs a 3-1 win. Tonight, the game we've been waiting for, the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees will face of at 5:30 PM CT. Philadelphia will try to get revenge on the Rockies tonight at 2:00 PM CT. The Halos and Bo-sox will rematch at 7:30 PM CT tonight. And the Chicago Cubs will try to get a game from the  D-backs tonight at 9:00 PM CT. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/402585/ Thu, 4 Oct 2007 08:48:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/402585/ All Quiet on the Baseball Front. In the baseball world, its so quite you can here a Rosen bag fall. Yep, nobody is playing today. The 8 teams heading to the playoff are preparing and hoping that they will get the chance to go for it all! Here are the teams going once again: Boston Red Sox from the AL EAST, Cleveland Indians from the AL CENTRAL, Las Angeles Angels from the AL WEST, New York Yankees from the AL WILD CARD, Philadelphia Phillies from the NL EAST, Chicago Cubs from the NL CENTRAL, Arizona Diamondbacks from the NL WEST, and the Colorado Rockies from the NL WILD CARD. In other news, Cardinals Manager Tony Larussa still has not said whether he will be managing the Cardinals in 2008. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/401656/ Tue, 2 Oct 2007 19:46:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/401656/ K.B's Final Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report for 2007 The Cardinals played their season finally on Sunday. Coming into the game, the Cardinals had won 4 games in a row, which they had only done a few times all year long. The game was a strange one before it started. The Cardinals did not have a starting pitcher starting. Instead, Troy Percival made his first Major League start.  It was from there on a bullpen game. A total of 10 different pitcher pitched in the game. The Cardinals were able to score in the 2nd inning off of Jim Edmonds RBI single and again in the 4th on Scott Spiezio’s solo shot to right to make the score 2-0. Pittsburgh was able to scrap up a run in the 5th to cut the lead in half. But the Cardinals came back hard on them by scoring 4 runs in the 6th by playing small ball to make the score 6-1. But the Pirates did not give up. They got 3 runs in the 7th and in the 9th, Xavier Nady singled in a run, but Jason Isringhausen stopped them from getting any further runs and also let the Cardinals end the season on a 5 game winning streak. Cardinals starter Troy Percival went 1 inning on 1 hit. Kip Wells pitched 3 innings on 2 hits. Braden Looper pitched 0.1 innings and allowed 2 hits and a run. Brian Falkenborg and Tyler Johnson pitched 0.1 scoreless innings. Russ Springer pitched 1 inning on a hit. Ryan Franklin ran into trouble as he allowed 3 hits on 3 runs in 0.1 innings. Randy Flores pitched 0.1 innings on 1 hit. Kelvin Jimenez pitched an inning on 1 hit and also set up the Closer Jason Isringhausen who pitched 1.1 innings on 2 hits and 1 run. Wells get the win, his 7th of the year, and finishes the year with a not-so-impressive 7-17 record. Izzy gets his 32nd save at the end of another great year for him. The Cardinals only had a total of 11 hits compared to the Pirates 13 hits. Scip Schumaker almost had half of those hits himself as he went 5 for 5 with a double and 2 RBIs. Ryan Ludwick went 1 for 4 with a run scored. Brendan Ryan went 1 for 2 with a run scored and a RBI. And Scott Spiezio went 2 for 3 with a homerun, 3 runs scored, a RBI, and a walk. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/401655/ Tue, 2 Oct 2007 19:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/401655/ K.B.'s 2nd-To-Last Daily St. Louis Cardinals report for 2007 In the 2nd to final game of the season for the Cardinals, in which they were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates, things did not start off well. The Pirates scored 3 runs in the first inning to take an early lead. But the Cardinals came back in the 2nd inning with 2 runs, which they got off of Rick Ankiel’s and Gary Bennett’s RBI singles. But they were still behind, so the Cardinals decided to change that in the 4th inning when Rick Ankiel hit a two-run-blast to right field and David Eckstein singled in Gary Bennett to give the Cardinals the lead. They kept that lead the rest of the game and also scored 3 more runs to give themselves 7-3 win. Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright had another successful start in which he went 7 innings on 6 hits and 3 runs. Randy Flores came in his relief for 0.2 innings and did it perfectly. Ryan Franklin pitched a  1/3 of an inning and did it successfully. Brian Falkenborg came in to pitch the 9th and closed down the game. Wainwright got his 14th win of the year. The Cardinals had a total of 14 hits. Leadoff man David Eckstien went 2 for 5 with a RBI. So Taguchi went 2 for 5 with a RBI and a run scored. Gary Bennett had what might be his best offensive game of the year when he went 3 for 4 with a run scored and a RBI. Albert Pujols went 3 for 5 with a run scored and a RBI. And Rick Ankiel went 3 for 5 with a run scored and 3 RBIs. The Cardinals will play their finak game of their season against the Pirates today at 12:35 CT. Troy Percival (3-0 1.85 ERA) will make his first career start at the age of 38 after having 638 consecutive relief appearances. The #1 draft pick in 2002, Bryan Bullington (0-2 6.00 ERA), will make his 3rd career start today. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/400184/ Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/400184/ K.B.'s Daily (I wish) St. Louis Cardinals report Okay, so during my “Homers” series (see www.homeschoolblogger.com/kbsbaseballblog for it) I failed to report about the Cardinals. So here’s a recap of what has been going on: On Tuesday, the Cards dropped their second striat to the Brewers, 1-9. On Wednesday, the Cardinals got revenge on Milwaukee by outscoring them 7-3. On Thursday, they made it 2 in a row with a shutout against the Mets, the first shutout since August 28th. Yesterday, they won the 3rd game in a row for the first time since September 3rd, by beating the Pirates 6-1. Well, there you have it. Also, this is how the winners of the division look right now: AL EAST: Boston Redsox AL CENTRAL: Cleveland Indians AL WEST: Las Angeles Angels NL EAST: Philadelphia Phillies-New York Mets NL CENTRAL: Chicago Cubs NL WEST: Arizona Diamondbacks-San Diego Padres AL WILD CARD: New York Yankees NL WILD CARD: TBD http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/399886/ Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/399886/ K.B.'s one day late St. Louis Cardinals report Well, since being eliminated, The Cardinals have won 2 strait games for the first time since September 2nd. They won on Saturday 7-4. They had a total of 20 hits. Rick Ankiel hit his 10th homerun of the year in the 7th inning. Starter Brad Thompson pitched 6 innings on 4 hits and 1 run, earning his 7th win of the year. On Sunday, they played the final game in the series against the Houston Astros, and won, 4-3. Rick Ankiel one the game on his 2 run triple in the 9th inning.Starter Todd Wellemeyer did great on his 5 inning in which he only allowed  only 1 hit. Kelvin Jimenez pitched 0.1 innings on 1 hit and got his 3rd win of the year. Today the Cardinals play the 2nd place Brewers at 7:10 CT. Adam Wainwright (13-11 3.60 ERA) will start for the Cards and Dave Bush (11-10 5.20 ERA) for the Brewers. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/396556/ Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/396556/ K.B's Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report Well, at least it can’t get any worse for the Cardinals as they lost last night to the Astros, 3-6, which eliminated them from the playoffs. The Chicago Cubs are in first place and the Milwaukee Brewers are 1.5 games behind. I guess from now on I’m a Cleveland Indians fan. The Indians are currently in first place of the AL central and 7.5 games im front of the second place team, the Detroit Tigers. Well, Here are some stats from the Cardinal game last night. Cardinals starter Joel Piniero went 5.2 innings on 8 hits and 3 runs. Tyler Johnson came in for 0.1 innings and pitched it perfectly. Russ Springer came in for an inning and did it hitless. Ryan Franklin followed him in the 8th but ran into a lot of trouble in which he allowed 4 hits and three runs in 0.1 innings. Randy Flores came in his relief and allowed 1 hits in 0.2 innings pitched. And Mike Maroth pitched the 9 and allowed only a walk. Piniero gets his 5th loss of the year. The Cardinals had a total of only 8 hits. Three of those came from leadoff man David Eckstein in his 4 at-bats, and he also had a walk. Rick Ankiel went 0 for 4 but had 2 runs scored and a walk. Scott Spiezio as well did not have a hit but did have 2 walks and a RBI. And Skip Schumaker went 2 for 4. Today the Cardinals will play the 3rd game of the series against the Astros at 6:15 CT. Brad Thompson (6-6 5.14 ERA) will start for the Cards and Matt Albers (4-9 6.05 ERA) for Houston. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/395661/ Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/395661/ K.B.'s Daily St. Louis Cardinals report What does the Cardinals and my potatoes I had for supper have in common? They both got mashed last night. The Cardinals got totally obliterated by the last place Houston Astros with a final score of 1-18. That put the Cardinals 9 games out. Braden Looper had a very rough 5 innings in which he allowed 9 runs on 5 hits. Andy Cavozos and Kelvin Jimenez each  allowed 4 runs and  Brian Falenborg allowed 3 runs. But the next pitcher  out pitched them. That pitcher was, Aaron Miles! Seriously, he did better because he only allowed 2 runs! Looper get his 11th loss of the year. The Cardinals had a total of 8 hits. David Eckstien had a couple hits. Miguel Cairo also had 2 hits but had the only Cardinals run scored as well. Skip Schumaker went 1 for 1 in his pinch-hit in which he had an RBI. Today the Cardinals will continue the series against the Houston Astros at 7:10 CT. Joel Piniero (5-3 4.50 ERA) will start for the Cards and Brandon Backe (1-1 4.86 ERA) for the 'stros. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/395387/ Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/395387/ K.B's Not-So-Daily St. Louis Cardinal Report Well, I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that like for the first in forever, I have some good news. That news is that the Cardinals won a game! Yep! But they had to go into extra innings to get it. Both teams had scored a run in the 6th. The Cardinals got theirs off of pitcher, Adam Wainwright's RBI single, to make the game a tie. That is, until the 10th inning when Yadier Molina singled in Miguel Cairo to win the game. Starter Adam Wainwright had a great out in which he pitched 8 innings on 4 hits and 1 run. Ryan Franklin pitched the 9th inning and had some trouble as he allowed 2 hits but was able to get out of the inning runless. Randy Flores pitched the extra inning in the 10 hitless, and recorded his 3 win of the year. The Cardinals had a total of 11 hits in the game. 3 of those came by little Yadier Molina himself in his 5 at-bats. He also had a RBI. Now, get this; the only other player to have more than one hit was Adam Wainwright! Yep, he went 2 for 5 with a RBI. Today the Cardinals will start a new series against the last place, Houston Astros. Braden Looper (12-10 4.55 ERA) will start for the Cardinals and the player with the biggest tug twister name in baseball, Wandy Rodriguez (8-13 4.83 ERA) for the Astros. Okay, now its time for the bad news. First off, pitcher Mark Mulder needs another surgery on his left arm, which will pu him out for the rest of the season. But he is not the only player out for the season, Prince Albert Pujols himself is too along with possibly Jim Edmonds. But at least there is only 11 games left in the season. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/394588/ Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:55:01 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ilive4this/394588/