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| TODAY: Monday, May 15 | |||||||||||||||||
| Up by eight? Bring in the closer! ESPN.com | |||||||||||||||||
Remember back in the olden days, when a team with an eight-run lead could
turn its attention to more important things -- like whether it was Mexican
food night for the postgame spread?
Hoo boy. Those were the days.
Whew. What a series this was. We're not even going to get into the fact that, in four days, these teams rolled up 69 runs, 96 hits, 51 walks, 17 homers and 74 runners left on over 39 innings. Or that the average game time was 3 hours, 56 minutes. Or that, on Thursday, they played the longest nine-inning game in National League history (4 hours, 22 minutes). No, we're going to stick to our subject here: Presto, change-o, watch this lead disappear. A 9-1 lead wasn't comfortable enough for the Cubs on Monday. They needed to go 10 innings to win that day. But two days later, these two teams even topped that classic. Kevin Tapani was four outs away from a four-hitter and a 3-1 win when the Cubs went to the bullpen in the eighth. The Brewers then scored (count 'em) seven runs, so they led 8-3 with two outs in the ninth, nobody on base and an 0-and-2 count on Jeff Reed. No way to blow that lead, right? Of course there was. That 0-2 count turned into a walk. Then came a 20-foot-high pop-up somehow lost in the sun, a three-run pinch homer, three straight walks, a wild throw and every manager's favorite play -- the first baseman (Kevin Barker) arguing with the umpire as the tying run scores. The Cubs wound up winning in 11 innings, 9-8. "We're like the NBA," laughed Mark Grace. "Just watch the last 20 minutes, and you'll see all you need to see." But you hadn't see anything if you hadn't seen ... A's vs. Rangers Welcome to the two craziest back-to-back baseball games of modern times (well, the two craziest not played in Colorado, anyway). Welcome to the two games that sum up baseball in the year 2000 better than anything else. In Game 1 of this series, the A's trailed 5-0, then charged back to take a 15-7 lead -- and lost 17-16. Since those resourceful '79 Cubs lost that famous 23-22 game to the Phillies, the A's became just the second team to score 16 runs in a game and lose. The other, according to the Elias Sports Bureau's Ken Hirdt: the '98 Tigers, who also lost a 17-16 game (to the White Sox) on Sept. 14. Ah, but the '98 Tigers didn't follow that act by losing an 11-10 game the next day. The 2000 A's did. So that means the winning team in these two games -- the Rangers -- gave up 26 runs, 30 hits and seven home runs. They won a game in which they allowed a home run in five straight innings. They won a game in which one of their relievers (Matt Perisho) gave up 10 runs. They won two games in which they allowed their opponents to bat .366 (30 for 82). "I think all the guys in the 'pen had velcro attached to their rear ends so we wouldn't have to go in there," Texas reliever Mike Venafro told Week in Review. "We needed help from each other to pull it off." They needed help from each other, all right -- just to add up their ERAs. "Our blood definitely was flowing," Venafro said. "And it wasn't flowing to get into the game. I just remember hopping around, being up, being down. It felt like I was in line at the deli, waiting with one of those numbers. It was like, 'No. 43. Where's your ticket? OK, your turn.' " Venafro actually survived this carnage with his ERA intact. He dodged the 17-16 game entirely. And he faced five hitters in the 11-10 game without giving up a hit. But he wasn't as lucky as his bullpen buddy, Tim Crabtree, who didn't pitch in either of these fiascos. "I was asking Crabtree if a couple of guys sneaked out a side door," Venafro said. "I don't know how he got out of it. I remember seeing his eyes as I was going out on the field. And you could see from the whites of his eyes, he was pretty nervous. I think he thought he might be next." Ah, but in a way, there's something cool about being involved in games this memorable. Venafro said he would definitely get a copy of the videotapes to show his grandchildren -- "if they have four hours to sit around and watch it." But they should, because who knows when they'll see something like this again. Asked if he could remember the last team he played on to give up 16 runs and win, Venafro had to comb through the Wiffleball portion of his memory bank. "Probably next door at the Johnsons', " he said, "using their mailbox as a strike zone." Platoon of the week It's the greatest platoon of the year, maybe the greatest platoon of all time. Most teams platoon right-handed hitters and left-handed hitters. Or, at the very least, offensive-type players and defensive-type players.
For many years now, we've been keeping track of baseball's most innovative injuries. We've seen players get hurt peeling jalapeno peppers. We've seen players get hurt ripping phone books in half. We've seen players get hurt petting their mother's dog. But until Marlins pitcher Ricky Bones came along last week, we'd never seen this: A player getting hurt watching TV? We once heard of a pitcher who got injured appearing on TV. (That would be former Reds hurler Steve Foster, who hurt his arm while knocking over milk bottles on the Tonight Show.) But watching TV? This could give couch potatoes everywhere a bad name. The official explanation for how Bones landed on the disabled list Thursday was that he was watching TV in a clubhouse recliner last Sunday, had his head turned and somehow strained a muscle in his lower back when he got up. You have to suspect the Jerry Springer Show was involved in this mess somehow. But that doesn't matter now. What matters is that Week in Review wants to prevent these kinds of embarrassing injuries from occurring again in the future. So in order to gather some important TV-watching safety tips, we consulted a man who practically does nothing except watch the tube -- the great New York Daily News television critic, David Bianculli. Bianculli estimates he spends 50 to 70 hours a week gazing not just at one TV but (we kid you not) 11. Matter of fact, when we tracked him down Thursday, he admitted: "I've got 11 sets on right now." So it's possible he might actually watch close to 1,000 hours of television a week. Which is a truly astonishing accomplishment, when you consider he's only alive for 168 hours a week. But in 25 years of marathon tube-watching, Bianculli can recall only two injuries he suffered. One came when he was watching an NFL playoff game, jumped up in excitement and bonked his head on a low-flying heating vent -- "but I wasn't on the job at the time," he said. "That was a civilian injury." And besides, now that Tiger Stadium has passed on, low-flying heating vents aren't a problem in any modern baseball clubhouses. So that danger is out. And Bianculli's other injury didn't even involve watching a TV. "I was trying to move a giant screen to get a tape that fell behind it," he said. "It weighed four times what I did -- and it won." But that's also not a hazard that should ever befall a contemporary baseball player. It's actual viewing injuries we're concerned with here. And Bianculli, a noted TV historian, can't recall many instances of those in any walk of life. "In the late '70s, the Florida Orthodontic Society tried to blame TV for crooked teeth," he reported. "They said kids were watching TV leaning on one arm, and it was throwing their bite out of whack. But the solution there is, you just have to switch hands once in a while." Bianculli's own personal safety regimen involves similar brilliance. "If you're a left-remote-control person, you should probably switch the remote to the right hand from time to time," he said. "And if you're a right-remote-control person, you should probably switch to the left. And if you're always lying in the same spot on the couch while you're watching TV ... you want to rotate your body at least as often as hospital personnel rotate coma patients." Of course, it's possible that Bones' problem is that he just doesn't watch enough TV. So maybe he hasn't properly conditioned himself for this grueling activity. If you're someone like that and you're looking to get into midseason tube shape, Bianculli has some helpful recommendations for building up your most important TV-viewing muscles. "I would recommend channel-surfing through the entire dial," he said. "The first time out, try to change channels every five seconds. Then increase your speed gradually until you get to the point where you're up to a subliminal, Clockwork Orange type of thing." But ultimately, Bianculli sounded like a man who was dubious of this whole story. A finely tuned professional athlete getting hurt while watching television? "I'll put it this way," he said. "If my kids tried to stay home from school, using improper TV watching techniques (as their excuse), they would go." Then again, in this goofy world we live in, almost anything is possible now. Heck, next thing you know, someone will get hurt doing an interview with us. "Ooh," Bianculli grunted suddenly. "Ow. I'm hurt. And you're a witness. So I've got to go. I've got to go check our workman's compensation rules." Roofer of the week Cubs masher Glenallen Hill gave new meaning to the term "on-deck hitter" on Thursday -- when he pounded one of the longest home runs in Wrigley Field history over Waveland Avenue and onto the roof of a house across the street. It was caught by a 31-year-old phone-company employee named Rick Frohoch, who interrupted a company deck party to make a diving grab on the first bounce. Frohoch told the Chicago Sun Times' Greg Couch that his wife was expecting their first child. Asked if he would name it Glenallen, Frohoch replied: "I don't think my wife would go for that." Meanwhile, even Hill's teammates were amazed by his mammoth blast, which was estimated by the Cubs to have traveled 490 feet -- and estimated by Hill to have traveled (ahem) "700 feet" if the building hadn't deflected its path. "You know those signs when you walk into the ballpark: 'Watch out for flying objects?' " observed Cubs utility spokesman Jeff Huson. "I guess they need to put those up on the roofs now." Huson paused to imagine the plight of a bunch of people, partying on a rooftop a tenth of a mile from home plate. One minute, they were working on a cheese ball. The next, they were visited by a home run ball. "I'll tell you," Huson said. "It's not safe to be within a mile of the ballpark anymore." Wild pitches Box score line of the week Rangers reliever Matt Perisho did something last weekend we've never heard of: He gave up 10 runs in relief -- in a game his team won. His amazing line, from Texas' 17-16 win over Oakland on Cinco de Mayo, Dos de Perisho Night: 2 IP, 5 H, 10 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 61 pitches, 6 outs. The four pitchers who gave up at least 10 runs in one relief appearance in the '90s: Mel Rojas (1 2/3, 8, 11, 11, 1, 1, 3 HR, 3 HBP, 3 inherited runners who scored) on April 29, 1999; Texas' Doug Davis in the first game of his career (2 1/3, 11, 10, 10, 0, 2, 3 HR) on Aug. 9, 1999; San Diego's Wil Cunnane (3 2/3, 11, 10, 10, 1, 2, 2 HR) on May 16, 1997; and Minnesota's Willie Banks (1 1/3, 8, 10, 10, 4, 1, 2 HR) on Aug. 4, 1992. Laborer of the week Speaking of the aforementioned Doug Davis, he made his first career big-league start Sunday. He lasted 4 1/3 innings, issued six walks and a wild pitch and threw 104 pitches in only 4 1/3 innings. Then again, he had a great excuse. His wife was in the stands -- ready to give birth. Her contractions were only 25 minutes apart, meaning it was tough to say who was laboring more. But Davis proved he'll be a stand-up father. "I'm not going to put it on my wife," he said, "for not throwing strikes." And we bet she appreciated it, too. Zero hero of the week Nobody told Steve Trachsel the 1-0 game was way out of vogue. Devil Rays publicity genius Rick Vaughn determined that when Trachsel was the winning pitcher in two straight 1-0 games in Fenway and Yankee Stadium in the last week, he became the first American League pitcher to win back-to-back 1-0 games since Bert Blyleven did it for Texas on June 21 and 26, 1976. The last NL pitcher to do it was Pittsburgh's Zane Smith in July 1992. And Trachsel beat the best -- Pedro and El Duque. All this made for great notes -- but nervous catchers. "Now maybe we can score him some runs," John Flaherty told the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin. "These 1-0 games are not getting it done. Well, they are getting it done. But they're giving me a heart attack." Brother acts of the week It was a tremendous week for brotherhood. In a span of four days, Jason and Jeremy Giambi homered in the same game, and then so did Bret and Aaron Boone. So here's our rundown of the rarity of that sibling outburst, courtesy of SABR's David Vincent: Only once before had two different sets of brothers homered in the same season, let alone the same week. That was the Boones and Guerreros (Vladimir and Wilton) last year. And the Boones are just the second brother act to homer against each other as opponents more than once. The other was Graig and Jim Nettles, who did it on June 11, 1972 and then again on Sept. 14, 1974. But the big story in that Boone game Thursday was that, after Bret appeared to turn himself into the hero of the day for the Padres with two homers, Aaron trumped him with a game-winning home run for the Reds in the bottom of the ninth. "Today was kind of like those Wiffleball games Bret and I had when we were kids," said Aaron. "If he wants to talk about those Wiffleball games," Bret said, "he should tell you I used to crush him." Tight end of the week Mike Hampton did more than just pitch his best game of the year Tuesday in Pittsburgh. He also proved he's one tough dude. During a fifth-inning rundown, Kevin Young tried to bowl him over, and Hampton bounced off him like Eddie George. "I would have scored if I was inside the 10," said Hampton, who was a two-time All-State selection while playing high school football in Florida. Curse of the week If you went back to last September, Tom Glavine had gone 10 straight starts without a loss (8-0, 1.89) before he headed into Pro Player Stadium to face those pesky Marlins on Wednesday. But Pro Player once again turned into his house of horrors. He gave up nine hits and five runs, lost his first game of the year and dropped his lifetime record in The House That Marino Built to 2-8 lifetime (including no wins in five years). Asked what he thought it might take to win again in this joint, Glavine said: "Maybe throw a shutout and hit a home run." McGwire-ama of the week The latest rocket to blast of Mark McGwire's launch pad came May 5 in Cincinnati -- a 473-foot orbital shot into the upper deck red seats in left-center at Cincinnati. The longest homer in stadium history, it was caught by a St. Louis native named George Olsson, who said: "I never thought a ball could be hit that hard." This bomb was served up by Ron Villone. But Villone said he had a lot more fun watching Junior Griffey's game-winning 432-foot homer two innings later. "It's nice to be able to watch from the bench and not have to turn around and hurt your neck," Villone quipped. Hailout of the week How bad are things going for the Tigers? Wednesday, they actually took a 3-0 lead -- and then got rained out in the third inning. This development, naturally, didn't make either the Tigers or their increasingly disgruntled fans too ebullient. At one point, hail balls so humongous were falling from the sky, second baseman Gregg Jefferies said: "I thought people were throwing things at us. But I was thinking, 'Wait. We're winning.' " Trivia answer Felipe Alou (620) Jayson Stark is a senior writer at ESPN.com. | ALSO SEE Jayson Stark archive  | ||||||||||||||||
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