Nobody sleeps if nobody hits

The Red Sox and Phillies are playing late games on the West Coast this week. For no reason, I teased Christine last night that Trent wanted to be woken up if Josh Beckett were pitching a no-hitter.

Sure enough, when I flipped on MLB Network to check the score, they did a live cut-in to Anaheim where a story was brewing - Josh Beckett had a no-hitter into the 6th inning. He immediately gave up a little bloop infield hit.

But, no worries, the network quickly switched to San Diego, where Roy Oswalt was working on his own no-hitter. I didn't bother to watch. It was late. I was tired.

Besides, as I told Christine, who was worried about staying up herself, he had thrown nearly 80 pitches and there was no way he would pitch a no-no.

"But there could be a combined no-hitter," she countered.

There wasn't. Oswalt gave up a hit in the 5th and combined with three relievers on the 3-0 shutout. Beckett, who may actually be back this year, gave up two runs in eight innings, but had to settle for a no-decision in the Red Sox 4-2 11-inning win.

The day after

I tried my best to avoid coverage of Roy Halladay's no-hitter, but it was impossible.

It still hurts. I still suck. And the Yankees still suck.

At least Christine has started talking to me. But Trent won't say a word, which is odd because he wouldn't have been going anyway.

Just great

What a day.

We wound up selling our playoff tickets at a whopping $10 profit because I couldn't take a day off on the first week back at work.

Then, I had to unexpectedly work late, forcing me to renege on a dinner promise to Christine, miss watching the game with her and Trent, and totally miss an evening with our son.

And, of course, to make matters worse, as soon as I got into the car I heard the announcers say, "I wonder if Don Larsen is watching this." I knew Roy Halladay would pitch a perfect game.

He didn't. Doc gave up a walk, but finished with the second no-hitter in postseason history in the Phillies 4-0 win over the Reds in Game 1 of the NLDS.

To recap: My family's upset, I'm upset, work's probably upset that I wasn't enthusiastic about staying late, and I cost Christine and myself probably our best shot at ever seeing a no-hitter in person.

What a great night.

Reliving perfection

Because the Red Sox spent their Memorial Day off, watching Casey Kelly pitch for Portland and the second-place Phillies continue to struggle (9-3 loss to the temporarily first-place Braves), all we can do is bask in the glory that is Roy Halladay.

This morning we watched his perfect game. Six whole minutes of it:



Tonight, we may watch the extended version as Comcast SportsNet is replaying the game. Our apologies to the Flyers, playing Game 2 of the finals tonight. It's scoreless in the first period.

We're also considering buying tickets to Roy Halladay's big game. No, we're not. We think this idea - the Marlins are selling unused tickets for Saturday's game at regular price - is stupid. You were either one of the 25,000 who were there, or you weren't. At first I was considering ripping the Marlins over this, but Christine convinced me that they're just taking advantage of people's stupidity. Go capitalism, I guess.

Perfect day

A week ago, we, well, I was disappointed that Daisuke Matsuzaka didn't pitch a no-hitter against the Phillies. But it was an odd no-hit attempt. He struggled, and it was just kind of boring and uncomfortable.

There was none of that uneasiness tonight. Harry Leroy Halladay III was efficient and dominant as he pitched the 20th perfect game in major league baseball history, joining Jim Bunning as the only Phillies pitchers with perfectos.

Congrats to the Doc. Is there anything he can't do, besides handle the Red Sox?

We were able to watch, or at least listen to, just about every one of Halladay's 115 pitches in the 1-0 win over the Marlins. (Josh Johnson also pitched well, giving up an unearned run in seven innings.)

Before Halladay took the hill, we spent the day running to a bunch of stores and boiling enough macaroni to feed the SoxandPhils (we were preparing for dinner tomorrow at the Ronald McDonald House).

Among good but not perfect highlights of the day:

At a pet store, Christine saw a bulldog checking into their little hotel-esqe kennel. She thinks he smiled at her and that he looked like the currently unemployed Elvis - err, check that. Elvis is now a West Coast doggie because Pat Burrell signed a minor league deal with the Giants.

Later, we couldn't decide whether to take a walk because the Phillies game was coming on. We decided to walk and broke out the portable radio for the first time. It was neat listening to the game, although the houses we passed seemed more focused on the Flyers game than the Phillies. Understandable at the time, I guess.

Other games: Clay Buchholz was not perfect but pitched pretty well and beat Zack Greinke and the Royals by a 1-0 score. (The run was earned.)

The Flyers are losing to the Blackhawks 5-4 in the second period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Sanchez, Smoltz and Hamels

Last night, MLB Network cut to the 5th inning of the Giants-Padres game because Jonathan Sanchez had a perfect game going.

I wanted to stay up to see how far he'd take it, but it was getting late and I was planning to take a long, early-morning bike ride before mowing the lawn. And I'm old. So I went to sleep.

I forgot all about Sanchez until the middle of the afternoon when I heard a radio report that he did it.

Christine and I both forgot to mention it to each other until later in the evening. She stayed up and watched the whole thing. She felt bad for Sanchez when he gave up his only baserunner. It was an error by the third baseman, Juan Uribe, after her Rookie of the Year pick Pablo Sandoval had been removed - probably for defensive reasons to help Sanchez. Christine said she felt bad, but the error maybe saved a possible hit, so it wasn't that bad for Sanchez.

Funny - Sanchez, whose career thus far has been most similar to failed Mets prospect Bull Pulsipher, pitched a no-hitter in his 52nd career start. That's something neither Cole Hamels nor John Smoltz, a pair of more decorated and accomplished pitchers, has done in their 571 combined starts.

I picked those two because that's who took the mound for the SoxandPhils tonight. Which one do you have more confidence in right now? Correct answer is Hamels, but he gave up five runs in six innings against the lowly Pirates. That's five times this year he has given up at least five runs. The Pirates lead in the 8th, 7-3.

Smoltz, however, pitched decently, giving up just one run. Unfortunately, he needed 97 pitches to get through five innings, so he yielded early to a bullpen that has been gone from shutdown to floodgate in recent weeks. In the 6th, Justin Masterson was charged with five earned in one-third of an inning. Manny Delcarmen couldn't end the inning, but Hideki Okajima did. Red Sox 9, Royals 6 in the 7th.

Another stumbling block

I had to do some midday driving this afternoon and turned on the Phillies game just in time to hear Prince Fielder crack one off of Cole Hamels' shoulder.

The broadcasters lamented that Hamels was pitching like Cole Hamels again. I'll take their word on it because other than the six strikeouts his line didn't impress me: two earned on four hits through 3 1/3 innings.

What's the over/under on Hamels first ace-like start of the year? I'll say May 20th. Over/under on 10 wins? I'm not ripping him, it's just that sometimes playoff heroes can't get it together for the encore.

Officially, Todd Zolecki reports Hamels has a bruised shoulder and expects to make his next start. We'll see.

All you need to now about the Phillies offense today is that Matt Stairs hit a mammoth pinch-hit home run in the 8th to ruin the shutout and no-hitter for Dave Bush in a 6-1 loss to the Brewers. The Phillies haven't been no-hit since 1978.

Red Sox: While the team had a day off preparing for its first showdown against last year's playoff runner-ups, the front office was busy with a bunch of little moves. Little-used Chris Carter was optioned to Pawtucket with no word on his replacement, and Kason Gabbard was re-aquired from the Rangers, probably for cash.

Gabbard's demotion from the Rangers made for an amusing story yesterday.

Triple header

Christine and I, and her Mom, spent a brutally hot day at the ballpark watching the local nine. The Phillies were in Atlanta, so we went real local: the York Revolution and the Camden Riversharks squaring off in unaffiliated baseball at Campbell's Field.

Instead of Cole, Chase and J-Roll, we had Jason Phillips, Aaron Myette and Josh Rabe. Instead of the Phanatic, we had Finley - the friendliest shark we know. Instead of statues of Mike Schmidt, Richie Ashburn and Steve Carlton, there were tributes to the legendary Campbell's kids. And every time a ball was fouled off, a cow mooed. (Foul - or is it fowl? - balls are sponsored by Chik-fil-A.)

We should probably go see the local team more often, but going to a game in the beginning of June is becoming an annual thing for us and the Riversharks. Through work, Christine's Mom gets tickets for the picnic area. Minor league baseball can be entertaining if there's a highly touted prospect or an amusing has-been in the game. This one had neither.

We split in the 7th because of the heat. We had to wait until Myette gave up a hit, which he did in the 5th with one out. Phillips, the be-goggled former Met, Dodger and Blue Jay, followed that hit with an RBI double. It was 5-1 when we left, and when it ended, "the hometown Riversharks were outplayed Sunday to the tune of 9-4," according to the team's press release.

Still undetermined is whether we get free pizza out of the game. They have a promotion where if a pre-selected visiting player strikes out, you get a free slice. If it happens, twice you get two slices. Three times gets a whole pie. Last year, our guy struck out twice, but when we tried to cash in, the pizza place wouldn't honor the tickets because it was eight days after the game. That caveat, that the tickets had to be redeemed with a week of the strikeouts, wasn't mentioned or printed anywhere. I complained to the Riversharks GM, who apologized and offered a free meal at the park. I didn't collect but appreciated the gesture. Today's strikeout player, C Luis Taveras, the older brother of Rockies CF Willy Taveras, was 1-3 with a groundout and flyout by the time we left. He would have gotten another at-bat, but I can't find a box score anywhere.


Phillies: We got home in time to watch the Phillies win (yawn) another close game late against the Braves. Adam Eaton, who leads the Phillies in quality starts, got another one today, but he didn't get his third straight win because the game stayed tied at three until the Phillies scored three times in the 9th. That's now four straight for the Phillies, who distanced themselves from Atlanta with the sweep and could put some more space between them and the Marlins in Florida over the next three games. If so, it'll be at the point where we wonder if the Phillies will just cruise. Christine hopes they learned a lesson from the Mets last year and don't think the division is won until it's clinched.

Red Sox: The Red Sox won again (yawn, again) at home. This time, it was a crisp 2-1 game over the Mariners. J.D. Drew, who's quietly redeeming himself after last year, hit the go-ahead homer in the 6th. Justin Masterson won again (three in four starts). He's now 3-0 with a 2.59 ERA. You have to love young, homegrown pitchers. Not every team can be like the Phillies and get into June using only five starters.

Sox-Phils interleague history, 2000: Phillies swept a home series; two games went more than 11 innings. We didn't go to any games. The opener ended in the 11th when Alex Arias doubled off of John Wadsin, scoring Brian Hunter. The middle game was a 9-3 blowout behind another strong Randy Wolf start. And the finale went 12 innings before Rheal Cormier (then a Sox) gave up a double to Kevin Jordon, scoring Brian Hunter again. Other winners: Jeff Brantley and Steve Schrenk. Other loser: Tim Wakefield.

On second thought, while we searched for ticket stubs to the 2005 Sox-Phils series, we found one from 2000. It was the finale. Curt Schilling gave up five runs in 7.1 innings against Jeff Fassero. Derek Lowe, then a reliever, blew it, causing the extra innings. Pat Burrell played 1B. We don't remember a lick.

The kicker: We can't find any memorabilia from 2005 and can't remember which games we went to. Yeah, we're getting old.

Brett's back, but I'm in trouble

With the Red Sox and Rays battling for first place on ESPN and the Phillies hosting the Reds, tonight was a night where we toggled between channels on just about every pitch. In the early innings, I noted only one team (the Rays) had a hit.

The Sox struck next, with four hits and three runs off Edwin Jackson in the 3rd inning to ride a solid Josh Beckett start to a 5-1 win. They're back in first place by a half game.

The Phillies got their first hits off Edinson Volquez in the 4th inning, leaving young Brett Myers the last one seeking history. He retired the first 13 before walking Adam Dunn in the 5th. I got nervous when Joey Votto came up in that inning because I just picked him up for my fantasy team, and according to Christine, it's always my fault if someone on the fantasy team hurts her Phils. Votto walked, and the no-no remained in tact until Votto doubled in a run in the 7th. Christine kicked me. Phillies lost 2-0.

Although the offense was a no-show and Myers lost his no-no, the important thing may be that he's now put up two real good starts in a row. Both of our teams are in first place, and it's very possible that the showdown in Philly in less than two weeks could be a World Series preview.

If it is, I'm going to need some shin guards in October.

Baseball Mogul update: After a meltdown in game 6, I won game 7 of the NLCS and then went on to win the World Series against the Rangers. Memo to the Phillies brass considering Pat Gillick's replacement: Hire me, and I'll win the big one in 2010. {Memo to Greg: In real life, you don't get to replay game 7 of the World Series when things don't go your way.}

You ask, we try to answer

Since the Red Sox and Phillies are off to rest up before pushing the Florida teams out of first place, we're going to answer some of the questions we've received since starting this blog.

1) Is Jayson Werth married? Pat Burrell? Werth is married with two children, but he doesn't list their names in the Phillies media guide. Burrell is married to Michelle Fonseca with a bulldog named Elvis, who gave his owner a stiff neck this week. It's unconfirmed whether there's a second bulldog named Priscilla.

2) Who was the guy who painted a birthday portrait of the Phanatic this month? He's Dan Dunn, a Paint Jam Artist.

3) What does Daisuke Matsuzaka's Japanese stamp look like? Here's the Dice-K that sends mail (found at the Japanese site Garbage News):


4) When was the Phillies last no-hitter? Kevin Millwood, 1-0 against the Giants, April 27, 2003. The last current Phillie to be involved in a no-hitter is Brad Lidge, who combined with five Astros to blank the Yankees 8-0 on June 11, 2003. (We were vacationing in Hawaii at the time.)

5) What is the intro song for (fill in the name of just about any ballplayer)? This is the most recent list we could find, but some are dubious. Burrell used to rock to Dio's Holy Diver, but now comes out to Don Henley's Dirty Laundry.

Manny being Manny: While the Red Sox dropped a 1-0 game to the anemic Mariners last night to fall 1.5 games behind the Rays, Manny was glad he didn't hold up the team and media with a post-game press conference for his 500th homer.

The press conference would be too late and it would delay us getting into Baltimore.

Great, that's much more important than tying or taking a lead in a game against the worst team in baseball.

Another long day-night

Remember yesterday's marathon day of yard work? Well, we repeated it today, but at Christine's mom's house. And the cable went out when the Phillies and Astros were tied at 6 in the sixth. We thought we cut the cable while planting bushes. Christine's mom just called to say she contacted the cable company and found out they were doing work in the neighborhood, but we're still nervous.

Point is, after the TV crapped out, Christine never bothered to bring a radio outside, thinking we wouldn't be out there as long as we were and that the cable would come back on. So when we headed home, we were quite surprised to hear: Phillies 15, Astros 6. The Fightins certainly seem to do better when Christine can't watch 'em. Maybe they get nervous.

Jon Lester didn't have a strong follow-up to his no-hitter. Cue the "It's because he threw 130 pitches in the no-hitter" hysteria. Bottom line, the Red Sox were swept by the A's, are out of first place again and have some serious home-road splits happening: They're a major league best 21-5 at home, but 10-17 on the road.

Long day, worse night

We spent the day catching up on some much-needed yard work. After about 11 hours outside, we came in to watch the end of the Phillies game - they lost again to the Astros. Brett Myers is still struggling, and the ninth-inning rally (against Doug Brocail, not Jose Valverde, who got a night off because of his sore face) ended because Shane Victorino flew out to left swinging at a 2-0 pitch and Pedro Feliz was doubled off trying to tag and score the tying run.

Out on the West Coast, the Red Sox (who didn't come back to win last night, or is that this morning?) are losing again, 1-0 to the A's. Josh Beckett is pitching well, but Justin Duchscherer is trying to match Jon Lester's no-no.

Lester's contagious

Young Cole Hamels and Justin Masterson weren't quite unhittable, but each tried to match Jon Lester tonight. Hamels threw 7 shutout innings with 4 hits, 2 walks and 11 K's, getting a no decision in the 1-0 win because his teammates couldn't remember how to score until the 9th inning against the Nationals. (They were shut out last night.)

Masterson's line wasn't as pretty, but he got his first major league win against the Kansas City Royals, with 6 1/3 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 3 walks and 5 K's. Jonathan Papelbon pitched out of Hideki Okajima's based-loaded jam in the 8th to save the 2-1 game.

Disturbing Lester nugget: There have been lots of stories, stats and trivia since last night's no-no. One, taken from baseball-reference's dugout central, scares me:

At 24 years and 133 days, Lester is the youngest lefty to throw a no-hitter since the Cardinals’ Bud Smith no-hit the Padres on Sept. 3, 2001. Smith was 21 years and 315 days.

Disturbing Chris Wheeler comment: At the beginning of the broadcast: "Is Cole Hamels the slumpbuster for the Phillies tonight?" At least there were no thong references.

All-star catcher and movie star from Philly retires: A few days ago, Christine and I wondered if the Phillies would have some kind of ceremony for Mike Lieberthal. We learned on Sunday that they are. He's "retiring" as a Phil and will throw out the first pitch on June 1. Oh yeah, Mike Piazza's retiring, too.

Pedro Martinez says he might retire after this year, but I'm not convinced. If he does, I bet Roger Clemens will love watching those two be inducted into the Hall of Fame in consecutive years while he's sitting alone with his Mindy McCready albums.

Lester-rific

Jon Lester - 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K

I work only a few night shifts per year. Tonight happened to be one of them. I was aware neither the Royals nor the Red Sox had a hit by the middle of the third inning when a work task needed my full attention.

When I finished that task, my boss told me Lester still had the no-hitter through 8 innings; we watched him finish the job.

On the post-game radio show, one of the announcers cited a bunch of trivia - Jason Varitek has caught more no-hitters (four) than anyone else, the Red Sox are second with 18 no-hitters, etc. - and then said "You can throw out all the numbers because Jon Lester is probably the first cancer survivor to throw a no-hitter."

I have a soft spot for those who battle disease. Although I know a part of these fighters wants to be thought of like anyone else, they also feel prouder of their accomplishments because of their past. Be proud, Jon. I'm glad we didn't trade you for Johan. (How many no-no's does he have?)

Speaking of the Mets, when the inning ended, my boss who roots for that team, laughed. I asked him why. "With all their pitching, the Mets still don't have one," he said.

Prediction: Lester will struggle in his next couple of starts, and people will blame this 130-pitch outing.

Phillies: Judging solely from the box score, Brett Myers didn't do as well tonight against the Nationals, losing 4-0. But the offense was also to blame. As one local radio host noted, "It would have taken a Jon Lester performance to win tonight."