Tatis weighs in on Big Papi's feat
WASHINGTON -- David Ortiz is a great player, Fernando Tatis admitted as much. But despite Ortiz's impressive two-home run performance Tuesday night, numbers don't lie: Tatis still has one on the Boston slugger -- as well as the rest of Major League baseball.
Ortiz's first-inning show on Tuesday, which saw him hit two three-run homers in a 10-run first inning against Texas, was reminiscent of Tatis' performance on April 23, 1999, when he hit two grand slams in one inning for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets' outfielder still stands as the only Major Leaguer to accomplish the feat.
"To hit two grand slams in one inning, who can expect that somebody's going to do that?" Tatis said of his performance eight years ago. "To me, it was amazing."
Asked to compare that performance with Ortiz's, Tatis heaped praise on the Red Sox power-hitting DH.
"What can I say about David?" Tatis asked. "He's unbelievable."
Looking back, Tatis said he didn't know at the time that his two grand slams had made history. He said he couldn't even remember just who told him what he'd done.
Still, Tatis said his accomplishment was something he would carry with him as a special moment for the rest of his life, and he said he thinks Ortiz's performance Tuesday night will stay with the one known as Big Papi for a long time, as well it should.
"It's history, it's unbelievable -- it's one of the best moments in my career, and to hit two grand slams in one inning, you don't get to see that every day," Tatis said before adding about Ortiz, "Of course it is. It is for every player. It's good for every player."
Copyright 2008 Sporting Life UK Ltd, All Rights Reserved.
Harang taking steps for return to Reds
CINCINNATI -- Right-hander Aaron Harang had some throwing to do on Wednesday morning, and he was looking forward to it.
For Harang knows that this latest bullpen session might be his next step toward coming off the disabled list (right forearm) and getting back into the Reds' rotation.
His last step was his outing on Monday night for Triple-A Louisville. The numbers looked great, typical Harang stuff: six innings, 69 pitches (46 strikes), five hits but no runs. Of more interest to Harang wasn't the numbers, but what he was able to do.
"I didn't put any limitations on myself as far as what pitches to throw," he said before heading off for his 45 to 50 pitch bullpen session. "I mean, I threw everything: four-seamers, two-seamers, changeups, curveballs and sliders."
That was of interest to the Reds and manager Dusty Baker, though not as much as how Harang felt afterward.
Just fine, Harang told them.
"I had the normal soreness [Tuesday] with everything," he said. "I won't know more until I get out there and throw more in a little bit -- but just the normal stiffness from the day after."
Harang, who went on the disabled list on July 13, didn't put any timetable to when he might be ready to resume his spot in the Reds' rotation.
"I'm just kind of taking it day by day right now," he said. "I'm not trying to get too far ahead of myself, and I just really want to make sure I'm ready to go."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
White Sox get Griffey from Reds
MINNEAPOLIS -- Ken Williams took a look at the White Sox talent landscape in the days leading up to Thursday's 3 p.m. CT non-waiver trade deadline and targeted a few specific areas for upgrade.
The aggressive general manager looked at improving the starting rotation and the bullpen. But the starters available didn't exactly thrill Williams compared to what he already had in place, and the price of return for a quality reliever simply was too steep.
So, Williams looked into fortifying an already power-packed White Sox lineup.
"We believe we're definitely going to have to hit more in the second half than we hit in the first half," said Williams, speaking from the visitors' dugout prior to Thursday's series finale at the Metrodome.
Williams ultimately left a number of interesting scenarios back in negotiations, with the White Sox not able to come to agreement on more than just one deal. It was a deal packing quite a wallop.
After telling the Chicago media as recently as Saturday night in Detroit that there appeared to be no deals in the offing for his team prior to today's deadline, Williams surprised the Major League Baseball world and even a few of his players by acquiring outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. from the Reds. Right-handed reliever Nick Masset and Minor League second baseman Danny Richar were moved to Cincinnati in exchange for the Hall of Fame-bound slugger.
Griffey, who turns 39 in November, had ultimate veto power over the trade as a 20-year-veteran, of which nine were played consecutively in Cincinnati. But Griffey gave the go-ahead to the deal following Thursday conversations with Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen, with one primary concern being Griffey's return to center field from an absence since 2006.
"When I talked to Junior he said, he was very honest and that's what we want from our players. He said, 'I've got to tell you, I don't know that you're going to see the guy from Seattle,'" said Williams, who added how the trade basically started to take shape on Wednesday. "I said, 'We're not looking for that guy from Seattle. What we're looking for is for you to use your instincts.'
"Center field is actually the easiest of the outfield positions to play from a health perspective. I know that doesn't sound right because you've got to go a lot of left and right, but trust me, it's a little easier to play center field.
"[Instinctively], we feel he's going to give us at least what we were getting out there," Williams added. "Remember, we didn't have the prototypical guy out there in the first place. Swish did a heck of a job, and he'll continue to get some time out there. But he isn't the most prototypical guy that you can put out there, and you don't have to be if you have good baseball instincts."
Guillen joked that Griffey sounded "sleepy" when they spoke early, but added how he also seemed excited to be coming to a first-place team with a solid chance at postseason advancement. Guillen readily admitted that Griffey was brought to Chicago to play every day, but aside from that particular assessment, nothing was guaranteed for even a star of Griffey's magnitude.
"I'm going to put the best guys I think we have to give us a better chance to win the game," Guillen said. "We brought Junior to play, but if Junior don't play the way we think he should be playing, then we're going to have guys here to replace. We are here to win, and we will see how it works."
Playing under the final year of a nine-year, $116.5 million deal, the White Sox will pay Griffey the pro-rated minimum for the rest of his 2008 salary and then split his $4 million buyout for 2009 with the Reds. Griffey also has a $16.5 million club option for next season, which the Reds said they did not plan to exercise.
"I'll deal with that at the end of the season," said Williams with a smile of Griffey's option. "We're just trying to win the 2008 championship, but it's in the back of our minds."
The left-handed slugger stands as one of six men in baseball history to surpass 600 home runs. Two more home runs will move Griffey to 610 for his career and push him into fifth place past Sammy Sosa, a little extra guilty pleasure for White Sox fans, who might get to watch this accomplishment happen at home.
Through 102 games this season, Griffey is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 53 RBIs and a .355 on-base percentage. He still has plenty of ability left in the tank, but monitoring Griffey to make sure he's rested and healthy will be an important task for Guillen and his staff.
Having Griffey, Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Nick Swisher, Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye all in this same mix, though, gives the White Sox the luxury of sitting a power hitter here and that but still fielding a formidable lineup.
That depth should make the White Sox stronger as a unit, as they fight for their second World Series title in four years. That fight for a World Series title should give an accomplished veteran such as Griffey a feeling of rejuvenation.
"One of the things that factored into this is he's a guy who's had a great career but has not won a championship," Williams said. "How motivated he's going to be to get one, that is a factor and will always be a factor to me.
"It's never a bad thing to be in a pennant and have help walk through the door. I don't get caught up in the names. I get caught up more in fits and need."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Anderson rings in July with clutch shot
ANAHEIM -- There are special games, signposts, over the course of the long season. Months later, they come into focus as vastly more meaningful than merely one in 162.
It is possible the Angels produced such a collective effort on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium, with Garret Anderson delivering the crushing blow in a 5-3 come-from-behind conquest of the A's.
Oakland had taken the lead in the top of the eighth inning on a Mark Ellis homer. Just when the A's were thinking the Angels' American League West lead was about to shrink to 2 1/2 games, with a sweep possible on Wednesday, the Angels went to work against reliever Alan Embree, a lefty familiar with big moments.
Casey Kotchman doubled. Maicer Izturis bunted pinch-runner Reggie Willits to third. Vladimir Guerrero singled home Willits. To the plate, after a Torii Hunter strikeout, strolled Anderson, so quiet throughout June that he sat for two games in a row to, as manager Mike Scioscia put it, "let the air out."
When Embree missed his target with a 3-1 fastball, Anderson lifted it high into the dark sky. The two-run homer gave Francisco Rodriguez a two-run lead that quickly became save No. 33 in 35 chances.
Scot Shields, who yielded the homer to Ellis in the eighth, moved to 4-2 with the win after Ervin Santana held the A's to two runs across seven strong innings. Embree fell to 1-3 with the loss, after starter Rich Harden was touched for two runs across five innings.
When they put together two runs in the third inning to draw even against Harden, the Angels matched their output from their previous 40 innings.
Gary Matthews Jr. was hit by a pitch, moving to third on Howie Kendrick's double to right. Jeff Mathis' sacrifice fly scored Matthews and Kendrick took third. Kotchman's groundout drove in Kendrick.
Five singles in the first two innings had given Harden a 2-0 lead. Jack Hannahan singled and stole second in the sixth, but a sprawling stab by Kotchman at first robbed Daric Barton of a hit and an RBI.
"Kotchman beat us a little bit with the glove, too," A's manager Bob Geren said. "He had a great game."
After lashing an Embree breaking ball into the corner for the double in the eighth, Kotchman sat back and watched Anderson unload.
"He's got a track record," Kotchman said. "You know he can do it. It's just a matter of time -- when, not if."
Anderson said he wasn't crazy about sitting around for two games, adding that "it was a little weird the first few at-bats."
Watching Embree throw a string of 91-93 mph fastballs to hitters preceding him, Anderson said he was "looking for a fastball, trying to react to it -- not try to get outside myself and do too much.
"I don't lose confidence in my ability to hit. Just keep plugging away. The most important thing is don't panic. Chip away at it, one day at a time."
The way he turned on Embree's heater was a good sign for Anderson, telling him his bat speed is where it needs to be.
"It always feels good when you contribute like that," Anderson said. "The home runs make a little exclamation point."
For Embree, it was a pitch that got away -- up, up and away.
"I missed my spot by a lot," Embree said. "It was supposed to be a fastball away, and it was way in. I wanted to go down and away and it ran right into his swing. He pulled his hands in and got it.
"He's a great hitter."
"It's a two-point swing [in the standings]," Kotchman said, having made his first appearance as a No. 2 hitter memorable. "That's big -- either way."
Kotchman, still fairly new to this, hasn't experienced as many summers and autumns as Anderson. The most productive hitter in franchise history knows too much to attach undue importance to a July 1 game.
Yet, at the same time, he remembers how critical a sweep of the Mariners in Seattle was last August, how it sent the Angels' AL West rivals reeling.
"Without going too far ahead of ourselves, this could be an important win for us when we look back," Anderson said. "You can put a star on it and see how things turn out. It definitely feels better being 4 1/2 ahead than 2 1/2.
"I've been on the other end of that. You get a lead and they come back and snatch it. As you get older, they're harder to handle. You know you don't have that many opportunities."
Having scored two runs in their previous four games, the five the Angels put up against the A's felt like an outburst.
"Any time a good team is scuffling, you hope to time it right [in facing them]," Geren said. "But any team with that many good hitters is eventually going to get its hits."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Giles' takeout slide draws kudos
SAN DIEGO -- In the end on Wednesday, Brian Giles' takeout slide of Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla in the first inning didn't matter much as Minnesota rolled on for a 9-3 victory over the Padres at PETCO Park.
That doesn't mean Giles' slide, which broke up a potential double play and allowed the Padres to eventually score two runs, wasn't appreciated, though.
"He went in hard ... the way he was supposed to," said San Diego first-base coach Rick Renteria, who also works with position players on baserunning. "His slide was perfectly clean and hard. From having played there [the middle infield], I have been taken into left field many times as a player."
With one out and Edgar Gonzalez at third base and Giles at first base, Adrian Gonzalez bounced a ball toward third baseman Brian Buscher, who threw over to Casilla, who was covering second base. No sooner had Casilla stepped on second base when Giles came in hard, which didn't allow Casilla to get enough on the ball.
That allowed Adrian Gonzalez to just beat the return throw. Instead of an inning-ending double play, the inning stayed alive as Edgar Gonzalez scored from third base. The next batter, Kevin Kouzmanoff, hit an RBI triple to give the Padres a 2-0 lead.
"That's part of his game," Padres manager Bud Black said of Giles. "... He gets a good secondary lead, goes hard into the bag. His body type is such where he can do a nice job of taking out a middle infielder in a good, clean way, the way you're sort of taught."
Neither Black nor Renteria feel as if the clean but hard takeout slide is seen less in baseball these days, though Renteria certainly sounded as if he wouldn't mind seeing more of it.
"I don't know if we're not seeing as much of it, but I think everyone is so overly sensitive about everything these days, whether that's breaking up a double play or getting a pitch off the plate," Renteria said. "That's the game. If you do it the right way, certainly, playing hard -- that's part of the game."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Cubs originally called West Side home
CHICAGO -- Wrigley Field and the Cubs might be the perfect match, but the glory years of Cubs baseball actually took place on the West Side, not the North Side.
"Everybody thinks that the Cubs have played at Wrigley Field since the dawn of time," Cubs history hobbyist Mike Reischl said. "That's not really the case."
The franchise called several parks home before Wrigley, most notably a pair of parks on the West Side of Chicago.
They played in the first West Side Park from 1885-1891, then played from 1893-1915 at the second West Side Park, where the franchise experienced its greatest success. The second West Side Park is often referred to as West Side Grounds to avoid confusion.
At West Side Grounds, the Cubs appeared in four World Series from 1906-1910, winning the title in 1907 and 1908.
The Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance double play combination became immortalized there, as did Hall of Fame pitcher Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown.
Reischl created the Way Out in Left Field Society two years ago to promote, explore and discover the hidden, forgotten and eccentric historic places, people and occurrences of baseball.
His first mission was to uncover the history of West Side Grounds, which was sold by unpopular owner Charles Murphy to the State of Illinois for $400,000 after the Cubs moved into Wrigley. The state tore down the park in 1920 to build a hospital. Nothing remains.
The society hopes to have the land commemorated by the end of the summer with a plaque placed where the center field flag pole formerly resided. Today, that location is in a flower garden at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center at 912 S. Wood St. They need a little help from the Illinois State Historical Society to make it an official landmark, but the process is in motion.
"Clearly, the passions of the Chicago Cubs are deeply rooted in the West Side of Chicago," said Way Out in Left Field member Brian Bernardoni, who is also a Wrigley Field tour guide. "As a Wrigley tour guide, one of the more difficult things I have to share with fans is that the Cubs have never won a World Series at Wrigley Field. It's always a look of surprise when people hear that. With that said, when you think about the foundations of Tinker to Evers to Chance, when you think of Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, when you think of Billy Sunday, they played their baseball at the West Side Grounds. It's exciting from our standpoint that we can be a part of Cubs history, that we can memorialize that."
The field shared similarities to its successor as the Cubs' home.
Like Wrigley, the park was conveniently constructed near an L train stop, two blocks away off of Polk Street which allowed easy access for traveling fans. Spectators sat on rooftops on Taylor Street behind right field.
"The rooftop battles between the Chicago Cubs and the rooftop owners were going on at the West Side Grounds," Bernardoni said. "History has an interesting way of repeating itself. The lasting legacy for the West Side Grounds is not just the Chicago Cubs and its championships."
Unlike Wrigley, center field was deep -- very deep. Reischl said there is some debate over the distance down the right-field line (316 feet vs. 340 feet), but the consensus is that the park ranged 560 feet to straight-away center. The left-field line was 340 feet.
The Way Out in Left Field Society took its name from a West Side Grounds tale. The term "way out in left field" is taken to mean "crazy." Well, that all started in Chicago.
"Cook County Hospital had a mental institution behind left field," Reischl said. "The bottom line is, patients could be heard yelling and screaming things at fans behind the left field wall."
Here are some of the memorable moments from West Side Grounds, according to Reischl:
On May 14, 1893, the Cincinnati Reds won the first National League game at West Side Grounds, coming back with a four-run ninth inning to top the Cubs (then known as the Colts), 13-12. Charles Comiskey, of future White Sox fame, scored the winning run to christen the park in heartbreaking fashion.
On Aug. 5, 1984, a fire blazed through wooden stands on the first-base side during a game. Cubs outfielder Jimmy Ryan was a hero of the day, as he took his bat and ripped through a chicken wire fence to allow thousands of fans to exit onto the field, away from the burning bleachers. Reischl said some of Ryan's teammates may have also saved lives, but there were 100 injuries, and half of the ballpark burned to the ground. Somehow, the team resumed play the next day. A day later, Cubs shortstop Bill Dahlen had his 42-game hitting streak snapped at the damaged park.
During the 1896 season, Philadelphia Phillie Ed Delahanty recorded a four-homer game. What's even more impressive is that all four home runs were of the inside-the-park variety.
In 1908, a woman gave birth in the bleachers during a game.
During the 1908 World Series, Murphy put the visiting press in the last row of the grandstand. Allegations arose that he allowed the front rows to be filled by scalped-ticket buyers. The press was so infuriated that it organized the Baseball Writers Association of America, which is still in place today and votes for the Hall of Fame.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Izturis' key hit helps down Rays
ANAHEIM -- Scott Kazmir was unhittable for a fair portion of Wednesday afternoon, but Maicer Izturis was unfazed.
Izturis admired the left-hander's location and witnessed the succession of outs and string of zeros the Rays starting pitcher was putting up.
But Izturis made the requisite mental notes and adjusted accordingly. By the time he came up in the bottom of the seventh and faced Kazmir for the fourth time, Izturis had a pretty good idea of what he needed to do in the batter's box.
Down a run, Izturis delivered and sent an offering from Kazmir lofting into right-center field to drive in a pair and send the Angels to a 4-2 victory over the Rays, securing the three-game series.
"I noticed that [Kazmir] was really aggressive and threw me a lot of fastballs early in the count," Izturis said through an interpreter. "I noticed also, guys like my type, the ones that get on base and can do some damage on the bases, he threw a lot of fastballs. The last pitch was a changeup, and I went the other way. But I noticed mainly that guys like myself, he kept the same aggressive style."
Izturis' clutch single made a winner out of John Lackey, who allowed a run in a shaky first inning. But he regrouped and ultimately outdueled Kazmir, who took a perfect game into the fifth inning.
"The only way you're going to beat good pitching is with good pitching, and John kept us in the game," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Kazmir was throwing a terrific game; he's always been tough on us. He's having a good year for them. Those guys went pitch for pitch for a long time."
Gary Matthews Jr. spoiled Kazmir's bid for a perfecto with a two-out solo shot in the fifth, while Vladimir Guerrero added some insurance in the eighth with his 10th home run of the season.
Guerrero struggled through the first two months of the season and hit .219 in May, but he's rebounded in June by going 11-for 24 with seven RBIs and three homers in his last seven games. A sore right knee kept Guerrero out of a three-game series in Seattle last week and has relegated him to the designated hitter role in six games since, but he said the knee has improved.
"I'm thinking more of hitting the ball up the middle. It's something I worked on with hitting coach Mickey Hatcher," Guerrero said through an interpreter. "I've spent more time in the batting cages hitting off a tee to stay lower in my swing. It's something I've done throughout my career. I just went back to it, and it's working."
Getting Guerrero hot and bolstering the middle of the lineup is critical to the Angels' offensive strategy, but so is finding production and getting speed on the bases at the top of the order, which Izturis has done of late.
Izturis got going in the sixth inning Wednesday, when he singled to left after Reggie Willits walked. That extended Izturis' hitting streak to 11 games and gave him a hit in 16 of his last 18. He's hitting .437 during the streak. For the month of June, Izturis has posted a .359 on-base percentage with a .558 slugging percentage.
He's also 10-for-30 with runners in scoring position this season.
"The hits are falling in. I really felt throughout the whole year I've been hitting the ball well," Izturis said. "I really haven't changed anything. They're finding holes."
The Rays touched Lackey for a run in the top of the first inning, when Akinori Iwamura tripled to right-center and came home on Carl Crawford's RBI single. Lackey loaded the bases but held the Rays to the lone run.
Gabe Gross singled in the second but was erased on a double play, and Lackey did not allow another baserunner until Evan Longoria doubled to lead off the seventh. The former Long Beach State star went to third on Willy Aybar's ground ball and scored on a sac fly by Dioner Navarro to give the Rays a 2-1 lead.
But that is all Lackey would allow, while Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez, who earned his 27th save and extended his club record to 24 straight, tossed scoreless relief.
Lackey's effort proved pivotal, as Kazmir was untouchable early.
The Angels loaded the bases in the sixth, when Willits walked, Izturis singled and Guerrero was walked intentionally, but Kazmir struck out Torii Hunter to end the threat.
Kazmir struck out Matthews to open the seventh, but Casey Kotchman singled. After Mike Napoli struck out for the third time, Robb Quinlan followed with a walk. Willits then walked, a result that ultimately got Rays manager Joe Maddon ejected, and Izturis followed with his go-ahead hit.
"Kazmir pitched very good today. At least to me, he threw a lot of high fastballs and mixed his stuff well," Guerrero said. "I'm not sure how he pitched to everyone else, but he kept the ball out of the hitting zone."
Following Izturis' hit, Maddon came out to pull Kazmir and was tossed following an argument with home-plate umpire Derryl Cousins. Four of Maddon's eight career ejections have come against the Angels, a team for which he used to coach.
Kazmir (6-2) allowed three runs on six hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts to take the loss. Lackey (3-1) allowed two runs on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings to pick up the win.
"He got in trouble in the first inning, then seemed to settle down," Crawford said of Lackey. "He was pitching well after that -- mixing it up, two-seamers away. He pitched a good game."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
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