First off, heartiest congratulations to Aaron Gleeman and Aaron's Baseball Blog who passed 100,000 hits yesterday morning. Aaron's got the best true "blog" in baseball and he gives me dozens of ideas for these Notes too; the man's an idea machine. We're hot on your heels for 100,000 hits Aaron; wanna race to 1,000,000?
Justin Morneau's monster blast off Albie Lopez in the eighth inning Tuesday did a little more damage than just the one run it put on the board in a 14-7 loss. Morneau's shot cleared the fountain beyond the Kauffman Stadium fence and bounced completely out of the ballpark... into the parking lot behind. There, it managed to hit a car. No one was hurt, because the car's owner was inside the stadium. In fact, it was Royals catcher Brent Mayne... who had called the pitch that Morneau hit. That'll teach him.
Still on the Royals/Twins series, Joe Randa grabbed the 12th hit for the Royals last night (an 8th-inning single off Johan Santana) and in doing so won a dozen Krispy Kremes for each of the 21,851 fans in attendance. Apparently over 2,000,000 Krispy Kremes have been won so far this year, which equals 52,863 pounds of fat, or 26.4 tons. If that shortening were laid end to end in standard 1-pound boxes, it would stretch 4.58 miles, or circle the bases over 67 times. Put another way, you could build a wall around the infield 15 feet high. There are 520,000,000 calories in those donuts (assuming everyone gets the chocolate iced), which is sufficient energy to drive a 2,000-pound truck for 152 miles or to launch the severed heads of the entire starting lineup of the Royals into earth orbit.
Tom Gamboa's attacker was apparently given a job at the U.S. Open that carried with it permission to enter areas near many of the players. Good idea guys. This guy pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing... I hope baseball is a little more selective about who it invites into contact with the players.
Roy Halladay won his 10th straight start yesterday, as most of you know. Only four pitchers have won 12 in a row since 1950; Bob Gibson in 1968, Pat Dobson in 1971, Scott Erickson in 1991 and Brad Radke in 1997. Before that, Ellis Kinder won 13 straight starts for the 1949 Boston Red Sox. The AL record for consecutive wins is Schoolboy Rowe and three others, with 16, and the MLB record is 19 held by Hall of Famers Tim Keefe and Rube Marquard. But the record for most consecutive starts won is Lefty Grove, with 21 straight starts won for the 1931 Philadelphia A's. So why doesn't Grove hold the consecutive wins record? Well, he pitched 11 games in relief that year, so I would assume that he lost in relief during the streak. Grove made 30 starts, 41 appearances in all, and went an astonishing 31-4. He really did win 21 straight starts, as you can see from this handy Game Log at Retrosheet (the streak begins on April 22). Note that the 22nd start, on August 23rd against the Browns, he lost 1-0 to Dick Coffman, who went 72-95 for his career.
Poor Dave Berg is having dizzy spells, to which I can relate. I have slightly low blood pressure, and have been known as a result to have a dizzy spell or two myself. Hopefully it clears up soon, or at least gets diagnosed; it's a supremely scary thing when you don't know what is the matter.
Finally, a few quick words on Larry Doby, who was a truly great player as well as a truly great figure for baseball:
We will miss you, Larry.
Justin Morneau's monster blast off Albie Lopez in the eighth inning Tuesday did a little more damage than just the one run it put on the board in a 14-7 loss. Morneau's shot cleared the fountain beyond the Kauffman Stadium fence and bounced completely out of the ballpark... into the parking lot behind. There, it managed to hit a car. No one was hurt, because the car's owner was inside the stadium. In fact, it was Royals catcher Brent Mayne... who had called the pitch that Morneau hit. That'll teach him.
Still on the Royals/Twins series, Joe Randa grabbed the 12th hit for the Royals last night (an 8th-inning single off Johan Santana) and in doing so won a dozen Krispy Kremes for each of the 21,851 fans in attendance. Apparently over 2,000,000 Krispy Kremes have been won so far this year, which equals 52,863 pounds of fat, or 26.4 tons. If that shortening were laid end to end in standard 1-pound boxes, it would stretch 4.58 miles, or circle the bases over 67 times. Put another way, you could build a wall around the infield 15 feet high. There are 520,000,000 calories in those donuts (assuming everyone gets the chocolate iced), which is sufficient energy to drive a 2,000-pound truck for 152 miles or to launch the severed heads of the entire starting lineup of the Royals into earth orbit.
Tom Gamboa's attacker was apparently given a job at the U.S. Open that carried with it permission to enter areas near many of the players. Good idea guys. This guy pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing... I hope baseball is a little more selective about who it invites into contact with the players.
Roy Halladay won his 10th straight start yesterday, as most of you know. Only four pitchers have won 12 in a row since 1950; Bob Gibson in 1968, Pat Dobson in 1971, Scott Erickson in 1991 and Brad Radke in 1997. Before that, Ellis Kinder won 13 straight starts for the 1949 Boston Red Sox. The AL record for consecutive wins is Schoolboy Rowe and three others, with 16, and the MLB record is 19 held by Hall of Famers Tim Keefe and Rube Marquard. But the record for most consecutive starts won is Lefty Grove, with 21 straight starts won for the 1931 Philadelphia A's. So why doesn't Grove hold the consecutive wins record? Well, he pitched 11 games in relief that year, so I would assume that he lost in relief during the streak. Grove made 30 starts, 41 appearances in all, and went an astonishing 31-4. He really did win 21 straight starts, as you can see from this handy Game Log at Retrosheet (the streak begins on April 22). Note that the 22nd start, on August 23rd against the Browns, he lost 1-0 to Dick Coffman, who went 72-95 for his career.
Poor Dave Berg is having dizzy spells, to which I can relate. I have slightly low blood pressure, and have been known as a result to have a dizzy spell or two myself. Hopefully it clears up soon, or at least gets diagnosed; it's a supremely scary thing when you don't know what is the matter.
Finally, a few quick words on Larry Doby, who was a truly great player as well as a truly great figure for baseball:
We will miss you, Larry.
