Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - This Day In Baseball: 4 August 2005

This Day In Baseball: 4 August 2005

Have you ever thrown a ball 100 miles an hour? Everything hurts. Even your ass hurts.
-- Bob Gibson

Today's action gets underway in about fifteen minutes, in the stadium named after Hillenbrand, where Doug Davis, winless in 7 starts since June 22, tries once more for his 10th win of the season.

We have, in fact, a number of interesting pitching stories to look forward to.

Blue Jays fans will of course be watching Dustin McGowan make his second career start this afternoon - he's matched up with Jose Contreras this afternoon at US Cellular.

And we should all be interested to see what happens in Detroit, where Seattle's 19 year old phenom, Felix Hernandez, will make his major league debut. Comerica is a good park for a first appearance, and the Tigers are a good team for a young hard thrower who's been walking a few too many in Triple A. The Tigers have drawn fewer walks than any team in the AL. Sean Douglass goes for Detroit - Oakland roughed him up in his last start, driving his ERA from 2.10 to 3.86, and tagging him with his first loss of the season.

Matt Clement is back on the mound in Fenway, nine days after taking a line drive to the back of the head. Good to see.

But the day's best matchup is probably this afternoon's game in Philadelphia. Everybody knows about Mark Prior, and everybody ought to know about Brett Myers. Myers will turn 25 in two weeks - this is his third full season in the Philadelphia rotation and he's taken a big step forward this year.

Here's what's on:

AL
Kansas City (Carrasco 5-5, 4.37) at Boston (Clement 10-3, 4.43) 1:05
Seattle (Hernandez 0-0, 0.00) at Detroit (Douglass 3-1, 3.86) 1:05
Oakland (Zito 10-8, 3.72) at Minnesota (Lohse 7-10, 4.49) 1:10
Toronto (McGowan 0-0, 1.80) at Chicago (Contreras 6-6, 4.58) 2:05
Baltimore (Lopez 9-6, 4.85) at Los Angeles (Santana 6-4, 5.19) 4:05
New York (Chacon 1-7, 3.78) at Cleveland (Millwood 5-9, 3.18) 7:05
Tampa Bay (Fossum 6-8, 3.83) at Texas (Benoit 3-1, 1.94) 8:05

NL
Milwaukee (Davis 9-7, 4.01) at New York (Benson 7-4, 3.40) 12:10
San Diego (Lawrence 5-11, 4.50) at Pittsburgh (Redman 5-11, 4.30) 12:35
Chicago (Prior 7-3, 3.26) at Philadelphia (Myers 9-5, 3.21) 1:05
Colorado (Acevedo 2-1, 4.85) at San Francisco (Rueter 2-7, 5.95) 3:35
Los Angeles (Penny 5-6, 3.62) at Washington (Patterson 4-3, 2.60) 7:05
Atlanta (Davies 5-3, 4.34) at Cincinnati (Harang 7-9, 3.81) 7:10
Floridsa (Burnett 8-6, 3.30) at St.Louis (Suppan 10-7, 4.28) 8:10
Houston (Rodriguez 6-4, 5.90) at Aizona (Halsey 7-7, 3.81)

Posted by Magpie on Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 11:55 AM EDT.

This Day In Baseball: 4 August 2005 | 17 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Jordan - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 12:21 PM EDT (#124657) #

I picked up Hernandez in my ESPN fantasy league for today's game, just so that I could say I had him for his first big-league start.

mathesond - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 12:40 PM EDT (#124662) #

I remember a fair bit of hype over a Prior-Myers matchup at Wrigley back in '03. Can't remember how it turned out, though, and I'm too lazy to dig through the retrosheet files

Rob - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 12:51 PM EDT (#124665) #

Luckily, I have no life aside from tracking down and attempting to shut down telemarketers who call here 25 times a day, so I shall find this matchup.

It was July 24, 2002. The Cubs lost 4-2.

Prior, making the 12th start of his career, was already doing well, with a 3.41 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 55 innings. Myers, on the other hand, was making his ML debut. He outpitched Prior, going 8 and giving up just two hits. It was 2-1 Philly when Prior was pulled, and a fine pitcher's duel it must have been.

Named For Hank - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 01:08 PM EDT (#124667) #

Rob, while I know it's coldhearted because they're generally high school kids getting paid minimum wage, I really enjoy playing mind games with the telemarketers who call.

Gwyn - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 01:21 PM EDT (#124669) #

Hernandez has the bases loaded in the first with none out - a base hit and a couple of walks.

Jordan - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 01:27 PM EDT (#124671) #

Surefire anti-telemarketing response -- it's worked every time.

"Hello, could I speak to Mr. Furlong?"

"Speaking."

"Mr. Furlong, this is Darlene from Global Tetrahedron calling. I wanted to let you know about this exciting new offer for customers who already subscribe to our widget service. We're offering a low monthly rate of nineteen dollars for unlimited mileage and complete service boondoggles for ninety days, and you can cancel at any time."

"Thank you, but I think I'll decline that offer today."

"Are you sure? Because this is a really terrific offer and it'll save you three hundred dollars on your annual widget bill. Do you use widgets very often, Mr. Furlong?"

"Thank you, but I think I'll decline that offer today."

"Well, can I ask you why you're not taking advantage of this amazing opportunity?"

"Thank you, but I think I'll decline that offer today."

And on and on, till they quit and hang up.

- Never answer their questions.
- Never get into a conversation or an argument.
- Never interrupt them or cut them off, because they'll just go back on their script.
- Be unfailingly polite, but say the same empty response over and over again.

Nobody yells, get upset or feels guilty about haranguing a teenager making minimum wage. I've never had to say "Thank you, but I think I'll decline that offer today" more than three times, and normally no more than once or twice. They get the picture -- you're not going to cooperate or give the expected responses. You're a waste of their time. Try it.

Skills - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 01:35 PM EDT (#124673) #

I live in the states, and happened to get a call from the Republican party one fine evening a few weeks back. In response to whatever their opening line was, I said, "I hate republicans" and then hung up.

Pistol - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 01:56 PM EDT (#124677) #

Ah, telemarketers, what fond memories.

The 'Do Not Call' list was one of the better ideas. I used to get calls all the time, now I never do. Apparently they don't have this in Canada?

https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

Rob - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#124678) #

Oh, I don't actually answer the phone. Haven't for years. Call Display is a wonderful thing. (And your plan doesn't stop them from calling again.) Mine does, at least it has so far.

In Boston, it looks like Matt Clement might not be 100% as he's given up four in the third and five on the afternoon. A bases-clearing double by Terrence Long. Ouch.

Petagine is batting cleanup. No sign of Manny.

AWeb - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 02:11 PM EDT (#124679) #

The place I worked (6 weeks) had a company specific do not call list, which I believe is required of all of these types of companies. The key is to be very specific. "Don't ever call again!" doesn't get you on the list, you have to ask for it by name.
Not as good as the general, applies to everyone at once list, but it can get persistent places off your back. I managed to get Rogers cable/internet/phone/etc to stop calling me this way, after multiple phone calls weekly to see if I wanted to upgrade to include all of their services at the most expensive level.

Gwyn - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 02:21 PM EDT (#124680) #

The Orioles have fired Lee Mazzilli.

Useless Tyler - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 02:25 PM EDT (#124681) #

"The 'Do Not Call' list was one of the better ideas. I used to get calls all the time, now I never do. Apparently they don't have this in Canada?"

The Government introduced legislation establishing one that's the same as the american one - but Parliament isn't sitting, so it won't get passed until later in the year.

Useless Tyler - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 02:31 PM EDT (#124682) #

http://www.parl.gc.ca/38/1/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/government/C-37/C-37_2/C-37_cover-E.html

Here she is - C-37, introduced by industry minister David Emerson right before the same sex marriage bill.

Before the summer break it went through first reading and got amended in committee - all that needs to be done is for it to be reported back to Parliament and passed, passed through second reading, passed through third reading, passed through first reading in the senate, passed through second reading in the senate, referred to a senate committee, reported back to the senate and passed, passed through third reading in the senate, and then signed by the Governor-General.

Don't you just love democracy?

JC - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 02:35 PM EDT (#124683) #

My own personal technique (and feel free to use it), is to tell them quite early on in the conversation that you work for the CBC. They will never call again - it is one of the internal rules of telemarketing never to speak to someone affiliated with the media.

AWeb - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 02:59 PM EDT (#124684) #

Mazzilli was fired after Baltimores annual July/August collapse.
It's happened 5 years running now, although last year they pulled out of it in September. Baltimore seems to be strangely susceptible to this.
To put it in perspective, last year the Jays were, at worst, 5-15 in a 20 game stretch. In the depths of the season from Hell. Baltimore has put together stretches like this in the second half every year: 2-18 stretch in late August/early September 2001 and 2002, 4-16 in mid/late August 2003, 6-14 in a similar timeframe last year. Now a 2-16 stretch in 2005.

I didn't compare other teams using the wonderful baseball reference site (http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/streaks.shtml), but still, is there something with the Orioles that would make them do this? Or is it fairly typical to go on these streaks for mediocre teams and I just don't notice non-Jays rivals do it?

Lefty - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 09:16 PM EDT (#124706) #

Another lay expert on the House and Senate.

A man after my own heart.

But if the government and oppposition parties agree with the bill in committee in both places the bill can move through very swiftly.

I found this out whilst seeking ammendment on Bill C-15 an Act to Ammend the Migratory Birds and Wildlife Act.

All we could do was stall the Senate.

Lefty - Thursday, August 04 2005 @ 09:22 PM EDT (#124707) #

Now I can't really blame the Orioles for sacking Mazzili, something had to give I guess.

The old saying is you can't fire 25 guys so you fire the coach.

Personally I would have given the boot to Sosa and Raffy.

That would have been a tough call to make, but I think the message might have a longterm impact on the team as well provide a community service message to all of baseball.

But at the end of the day Mazzili was just about odds on favorite to be one of the first managers fired this year anyway, so it comes with little or no shock (value).

This Day In Baseball: 4 August 2005 | 17 comments | Create New Account

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