Oh man, wouldn’t everyone want to be Buehrle’s shoes? EVERYONE wants to be in this dear man’s shoes. I mean just look at this guy. He has a gorgeous wife, won a World Series not too long ago, and hell, he threw a no-hitter in 2007.
But he just did something that topped them all (expect maybe the wife part), throwing a perfect game on this very date of July 23rd, and in the year of 2009.
He was the 18th pitcher to do such a feat, and nobody expected it. There are so many big names to do this, but it seems a guy named Mark Buehrle does not belong in that list. No doubt, Buehrle has to be the most underrated pitcher, if not player, in Major League Baseball.
You know, I think the Philadelphia Phillies would rather trade for Buehrle than Roy Halladay, am I right? Maybe not.
Buehrle also joins another group of members that have six people, a player who has thrown a no-hitter and a perfect game. He joins a valued group of players like Sandy Koufax, Cy Young, and Randy Johnson, as ESPN reported.
So, how do you feel about this Mark?
“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said. “I never thought I’d throw a no-hitter.”
Neither did many of us baseball fans. Nobody expected you to do any of this, coming from this observer. Also, look, Buehrle was guy selected in like the 40th round of the MLB amateur draft way back in 1998. Being drafted in like the 40th round, hell, nobody expects anyone to accomplish so many feats like Buehrle did.
But it wasn’t all Buehrle during that game. You have to give the props to Dewayne Wise, who unbelievably made an amazing catch that prevented a home run, and most importantly, perfection for Buehrle. Wise will always have taken a big part there.
Hell, if it weren’t for him, nobody will be talking about this perfect game.
Gabe Kapler was the man who almost ended Buehrle’s run. The 105th pitch of the game will always be remembered by true baseball fans. And true baseball fans will always remember the play Dewayne Wise made, to give Buehrle the perfect game.
So that makes it two for Wise. I bet he’ll be telling his kids that he saved Buehrle’s game. And what I meant by “that makes it two for Wise,” I meant that Wise has been a part of two perfect games.
Remember the perfect game The Big Unit had back in 2004? Wise was part of that, but on the other end of the deal as he was the opponent. But it’s great to be on the same team as a pitcher for a perfect game.
Let’s see what the perfect-game hero said:
“I was with the Braves in ‘04 and I was there when Arizona’s Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game. So I’ve been on both sides of it,” he said. “It was probably the best catch I’ve ever made because of the circumstances.
“It was kind of crazy, man, because when I jumped, the ball hit my glove at the same time I was hitting the wall. So I didn’t realize I had caught it until I fell down and the ball was coming out of my glove, so I reached out and grabbed it.”
Also, props to Ozzie Guillen for switching in Wise.
“I guess that’s our job,” Guillen said.
Barrack Obama is a White Sox fan, who congratulated Buehrle as well. He said that many people will remember this forever. We all know Barrack will.
A big congrats to Mark Buehrle. Sometimes perfection can be bad, but when it comes to baseball and especially Mark Buehrle…sometimes baseball can actually be good.
The Phillies went through some tough and some good times this year. With the season at their midway point, it's time break down the Philadelphia Phillies this year. Here is the Philadelphia Phillies mid-season report card.
Philadelphia Phillies: 36-31 (as of June 22, 2009), 13-22 at home and 23-9 on road, first in NL East, interleague play: 3-9, streak: lost six.
Strengths: The Phillies have been doing great on the road this year, being number one in the MLB with a 23-9 record. Also, you have Raul Ibanez and Ryan Howard who keep flying dingers with Ibanez having 22 and Howard having 20.
Chase Utley and Jayson Werth are right behind with 15 homers and twelve homers for Werth. I think all the Phils batters are doing excellent and Jimmy Rollins is actually improving as well.
Also, Shane Victorino has been excellent as well with his .304 batting average. And Cole Hamels leads the Phils with strikeouts with 72. It's been pretty good in strengths, and it looks to improve further as the Phillies are reaching their peak.
Weaknesses: The Phillies are right now the enemies in Citizens Bank Park as they have 13-22 at home. It hasn't been good at all for the Phillies at home and they are also are on a six-game losing streak which may affect them to keep their title in the NL East. The Phils also haven't done good at all in interleague play as they are 3-9, worst in the NL East.
Other weaknesses. Yes and this may happen all year after what I have seen. It's the performance of the pitchers the Phillies have. Cole Hamels has the lowest ERA with 4.24 for the Phils, which is not good in the MLB overall.
Jamie Moyer has been struggling as well with his 6.35 ERA and a record of 4-6 this year. And also, don't forget what happened to Brad Lidge which made him fall to minors as well as Brett Myers' season-ending injury.
Nothing good has been happening with the pitchers in Philly. They have some good moments but most of it is not positive.
Questions Coming In After Mid-Season:
Can Brad Lidge improve to earn his spot back in the MLB after being in the Minors?
Can Raul Ibanez and Ryan Howard keep hitting like they have been and continue this tandem throughout the season?
Can Philadelphia's pitchers rebound after mid-season after not doing very well?
That's it. This is the Philadelphia Phillies mid-season report card. Are there any questions you'd like to add, any other weaknesses and strengths you would like to include? Why don't you share your opinion by commenting below!
Danny Herrera: 5′6″ and 165 pounds. I am the same height as this major league baseball pitcher. Height doesn’t matter. Danny is short in height, but he is larger than life. After reading Tim Kurkjian’s story of Danny, it touched me.
This kid has went through so much, and here is this kid’s story, who has a heart of a champion:
“I’m 5-6. My first year of professional ball, I listed myself as 5-8, but they had me at 5-8, 145 pounds. That made me feel like I was some frail guy, which I’m not. I weigh 165, 170 pounds. I used to lie about my height, but I don’t do that anymore. I am 5-foot-6.”
This is what Danny told Tim when he met him. And according to ESPN stats, Herrera is the shortest pitcher ever in the non-accurate information.
The only other shortest pitcher is the same height as Danny and the man is Bobby Shantz. Shantz was the AL MVP in 1952 and retired with 119 victories in 1964.
But Herrera might not be a Shantz. He is himself. He has a heart, a heart bigger than any others, and bigger than his height. And right now, he looks like a star with a 1.96 ERA, and has 18 strikeouts in just 23 innings pitched in.
Here is what teammate, Adam Dunn, said about Danny when he met Tim:
“The first time I saw him was last year during the week of the Kentucky Derby, and we figured he would have to leave the team that Saturday to go ride one of the horses. I’ve never faced him. But I haven’t faced anyone his size since I was 11 or 12 years old.”
Wow! That is all I can say. Just a plain “wow.” He hasn’t faced a 5′6″ kid since he was eleven or twelve years old. But wait. Danny has been through this kind of stuff in the Minors. Take a look:
“The best one was last year. I was at [Triple-A] Louisville. One of our catchers, Albert Colina, who is a really big guy, picked me up and put me in his lap as he sat in the bullpen. Then he stuck his arm inside my jacket, and up my back. He wouldn’t let me go. I thought, ‘What is he doing?’ Then, whenever I would talk, he would move his lips. Everyone was cracking up. He was the ventriloquist, and I was puppet. That was the best one.”
Talk about it! Man.
Every person comes in different shapes and sizes in the world. It’s the same exact thing in baseball with pitchers, batters, anyone. Pedro Martinez is short and rumors say that when he first came into the league, he was 138 pounds but could throw a 90-mile ball.
Others like Steve Dalkowski, who is 5′9″, say that he was hardest thrower ever when he played in the majors. But that was a rumor as well. But these rumors could be true, and they have to be if Danny Herrera can play just as good as that.
“It’s genetics; you are born to throw a baseball. You are born with how hard you can throw,” says Tom House in a conversation with Tim. “Big, tall pitchers, the levers are longer and require more strength to get the middle finger to the release point. Actually, it is easier for a smaller person. I use the golf analogy. How many 7-foot golfers are out there?”
None. None at all. No 7-foot golfers I have seen. Great way to point that out Tom. And it really doesn’t matter about height. That is why you don’t see many NFL players taller than 6′5″. Most of them are probably about 6′1″.
But this isn’t football here, it’s baseball. But it is the same thing. Sure, Randy Johnson, who recently got 300 wins (congrats), is 6′10″ but you really won’t see a 6′10″ pitcher other than “The Big Unit.”
Take Billy Wagner for example. He can throw a 100-mile ball any day, and he is only 5′10″. Pretty clever, huh? Take a look at a rising pitcher, Ian Snell. He was great in the Minors but is looking to improve in the Majors. He is 5′11″. He can throw hard.
But back to Herrera. Many people questioned the kid out of the University of New Mexico. Scouts mostly paid attention to his height. At 5′6″ and 165 pounds, nobody thought he would be a hardball thrower or even a good pitcher at all.
People say that he was lucky that he was picked 45th overall in the 2006 MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers.
Danny was never even compared to his family in height and weight.
“I have a brother who is 6 feet tall and almost 200 pounds,” he said. “My dad is 5-10. I figured I was going to grow at some point. But the height never came.” Wow.
Here is an excerpt some of you baseball fans might enjoy:
“One of the area scouts made an impassioned plea to take this guy, you know, when we give the area guys a chance to take a flier on a guy, a gut pick,” said Buck Showalter, then the Rangers’ manager. “He said, ‘He has an out pitch, he’s left-handed and has the heart of a lion. We asked, ‘What’s wrong?’”
“He’s 5-6,” the scout said.
But the first time Showalter saw Herrera throw, he said, “He will pitch in the big leagues.”
And he did. The Cincinnati Reds pitching coach, Dick Pole, said that Herrera has some big guts and isn’t afraid of anything. Of course he isn’t. He is unstoppable and truly unbelievable.
If I have to pick a song describing Danny, it would be “Heart of a Champion” by Nelly.
And if he continues doing what he does, a champion will be remembered forever. And Danny Herrera’s path to that has just started, and to all he has been through, he won’t let this go away from him.
So it doesn't matter if you are short in height, because he is big, which makes him larger in life.
When Javier Vazquez left the game, it was time for the Pirates to shine, as Andy LaRoche was the man as the Pirates were a hitting team after leaving of Vazquez.
LaRoche satisfied Pittsburgh with a two-run single in the ninth inning to seal a 3-1 victory of the Pittsburgh Pirates with only two outs left. LaRoche was trying to make contact with the ball against Rafael Soriano to tie the game.
"I'd already said to myself in the dugout 'Stay short, up the middle,'" LaRoche told ESPN. "I was happy to get a decent pitch to hit and hit it up the middle. ... I was lucky. It could have been right at the shortstop."
The Pirates could have lost this game, very easily, if Vazquez was still in the game. Disagree? Explain this:
The Pirates only pulled of two hits in eight innings with Vazquez while they made three hits in the ninth inning with Vazquez out and Soriano in.
Bucs' Steven Jackson threw a scoreless inning in the eighth while Matt Capps put up his 15th save of the season and being solid in the ninth.
Recently added from the MiLB, Andrew McCutchen delivered a single and followed towards third base on a groundout. Adam LaRoche was intentionally walked while his brother took it on after that.
"I love that situation," Andy LaRoche said. "I love it when the crowd goes crazy and you're able to silence them."
With this win, the Pirates look to move further towards 28-32 record.
Every baseball fan in the world knows that Randy Johnson won his 300th game. It is an honor to get it. It is one of the toughest things to do, especially now, with a five-man rotation, it's pretty much impossible.
300 wins means you are a champion. Like the song, Heart of a Champion by Nelly, the lyrics mean everything when you win your 300th game.
With a little help from Baseball Prospectus, I can find out who has the best and worse chances of winning 300 games. Let's go!
Well, everyone knew Randy Johnson was going to win 300 games. He was five wins away from it and look, he got it. It was just that easy for The Big Unit.
According to Baseball Prospectus, he had the highest ERA (with 5.71) to have start the season to get 300 wins. It was higher than Don Sutton, who had an ERA of 5.66. But now that we have seen him win 300, it is hard to see another.
Right now, the closest pitcher towards 300 is Jamie Moyer with 250. But guess how old this stud is? 46! I was reading Cody Swartz article about Randy Johnson getting 300 and saying is there ever going to be another 300-game winner. Then I was scrolling towards the comments and Shane Howard, one of the best writers (and one of my favorite) on BleacherReport.com said this that made me crack up:
"From the way things stand now, I don't think anyone will get there from the current batch. Moyer can probably pitch 'til he's 60 and he'll still look decent. Maybe he'll get it. LOL."
—Shane Howard
So, can Moyer pitch until he's 60 years old? Probably not but he could. No, that'll just be un-normal. Too un-normal.
If Sabathia had 198 wins at age 34, he would have to average 15 wins for the next seven years to get 300.
The only was Moyer could reach 300 wins is if he could play until he's 49 or 50. He would have to have ten wins in one year and then 20 in the next two years to make it. Too impossible. We probably might see Moyer at 260 at best.
The other candidate: Andy Pettitte. Nope. He can't. He is 37 and he doesn't look like he can get it. He probably have 250, like Moyer, at best or higher. Luckily for Pettitte, he is 37 and if he can play until he is 46, he might have a chance. But the chances are slim. It might be the same exact thing with the 37-year-old Pedro Martinez, who has 214 wins.
John Smoltz can't get it. He will never. At 42 years old and with 210 wins, it just impossible for him to get 300 wins. Here are the other guys who just can't get it: 42-year-old Tim Wakefield with 184 wins, 36-year-old Bartolo Colon with 153, and 34-year-old Livan Hernandez with 151.
Some people can't even get to the Hall of Fame because of 300 wins sometimes. It is impossible to get it this decade with five-man rotations. And relievers, those guys were meant to not have 300 wins for the other pitchers in front of them.
According to Baseball Prospectus, starting pitchers averaged to play 5.8 innings per game. Now can you understand that?
"Regardless, the attachment to the number 300 for a baseball fan lingers. The Baseball Writers' Association of America hasn't elected a starting pitcher to the Hall of Fame since 1999 (Nolan Ryan) and hasn't elected a starter with fewer than 300 wins since 1990 (Fergie Jenkins). With the disappearance of the 300-clubbers on the ballot, the writers have barred the door for the eminently worthy Bert Blyleven, almost solely because he missed the mark by 13 wins, and they never came close to inducting Tommy John (288 wins) or Jim Kaat (283), pitchers with shakier credentials. Although Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine have reached 300 wins this decade, the Rocket's steroid-related controversy suggests that it will take until 2014, when Maddux is eligible, for another starter to earn election to the Hall."
—Baseball Prospectus
Did you read that? It is just surprising, isn't it?
BP sees that in seven years, there will be 81 wins for both C.C. Sabathia and Johan Santana from 2009-2015. So with that, BP says that when Santana is 36, he'll have 190 wins, while the 34-year-old Sabathia will have 198 wins in 2015. I like how BP works on this.
So right now, Sabathia looks to have the best chance at 300 wins if he keeps it up. Here is what I found with MY research. If Sabathia has 198 wins at age 34 in 2015, he would have to average 15 wins for the next seven years. So at age 41, he would have 303 wins.
For Santana, if he averaged 14 wins for the next eight years at age 36 in 2015, he would have 302 wins at age 44.
If Santana had 190 wins at age 36, he would have to average 14 wins for the next eight years for 300 wins.
See how things work? It is possible to get 300 wins with Santana and Sabathia. But it will be tough. Can Sabathia average 15 wins for seven straight years? Or can Santana average 14 wins for the next eight years? It is tough and it might not even happen.
Here are the stats from BP: Sabathia has 17 percent chance of getting 300 wins, Roy Halladay has a six percent chance of getting 300 wins.
Johan Santana has a five percent chance, Roy Oswalt has one, and Jake Peavy and Josh Beckett at zero.
Brandon Webb also has a five percent chance as well, but with 87 wins at age 30, it'll be an impossible feat to make.
C.C. Sabathia, Johan Santana, and Roy Halladay have the best chances so far to reach 300 wins.
So far, the guys with the best chances at 300 is C.C. Sabathia, Johan Santana, and Roy Halladay. It'll be a tough thing to follow. It'll take a while for these guys to get it, but in the future, these guys may have a chance.
Information from Baseball Prospectus was used in this article.
"One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something."
—Nolan Ryan
McCutchen looks to shine after filling in for Nate McLouth.
Andrew McCutchen: 22 years old. Right now, as I was typing this article, it is 7:55 PM and guess who is at bat? The kid named Andrew McCutchen. As I look at IndyIndians.com, he is named the May Player of the Month.
I can see why:
First in MiLB in triples (eight) and runs (39). Fifth in hits (57) and total bases (94).
McCutchen was the star of the 11-6 win over the New York Mets. He was the star of the Indianapolis Indians and now he is bringing towards the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are so close to getting at .500 as they are now at a 25-28 record.
He was the eleventh overall pick in the 2005 MLB Draft, and I never saw him play with the Pirates. As I was reading the ESPN Magazine Story about the Pirates, they talked about McCutchen and why won't Pittsburgh use him.
I still think they can. Before McCutchen entered his debut on June 4th, he was a star with the Triple-A squad of the Indianapolis Indians, who of course, are affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
As a star with the Indians of the MiLB, can he pass it on with the Pirates?
He had 25 career homers with the Indians in three seasons. Now he has moved up, trying to earn the spotlight with the Pirates, along with Adam and Andy LaRoche. Now he can and has already made a name for himself with the Pirates, and it is already in his debut.
The Pirates have constantly been trying to look for players to help their squad. Remember Derek Lee? We know how much of a disaster that was. The Pirates have players that no one would think would be great.
The Pirates have also signed two pitchers from India that look to be stars. India! Now I am Indian and have been to India many times, you don't see MLB pitchers that are Indians.
But back to McCutchen.
McCutchen finally got his change up to the Majors, doing what he did in the MiLB, he looked do it here in the MLB. In just four years, he had 43 career homers in his MiLB career. He could do it here, but with more homers.
This was McCutchen's performance in his debut on June 4th:
Two singles, one RBI, and one stolen base in four tries at bat.
That is actually pretty solid for a guy in a debut. Don't you think? I think so. MLB.com calls it "dazzling." The Pirates tried to find many ways to become successful, and have found it.
Andrew McCutchen looks to be a star with the Pirates for years to come.
With Nate McLouth gone, what other choice do the Pirates have. Andrew McCutchen can be the future. He could be better than McLouth could ever be.
It could be one the best stories in baseball: Andrew McCutchen.
Andrew McCutchen: the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Could it actually be?
"Baseball is made up of very few big and dramatic moments, but rather it's a beautifully put together pattern of countless little subtleties that finally add up to the big moment, and you have to be well-versed in the game to truly appreciate them."
