Game Recap #30 Seattle Mariners @ Oakland Athletics

Today's starting pitchers have seen more of each other this season than they'd like to. Oakland's Bartolo Colon and Seattle's Felix Hernandez, the de facto staff aces for the two teams, made their first three starts this season against each other. First, they opened the MLB season in Japan, before coming back stateside for the second game in Oakland, and then the third game in Seattle. Today, both pitchers will go at it once again in the Oakland Coliseum, wrapping up the games portion of the Ultimate Baseball "Fantasy" Trip. Hernandez ran into early troubles, giving up a single to Coco Crisp and a bunt single to Jemile Weeks in the first inning. The runners advanced a base each when Josh Reddick grounded out, and Crisp was able to score easily on a Yoenis Cespedes single in the next at-bat. Cespedes stole second to get into scoring position, but it turned out to not matter, as Brandon Moss popped out to get Hernandez out of the jam. Hernandez gave up another stolen base in the second inning to Derek Norris, but he was bailed out of this potential problem as well. Oakland again put on more pressure in the fifth inning, with Cliff Pennington and Crisp singling back-to-back, but Pennington was picked off at third base, and the next two batters were retired, as Hernandez walked a dangerous line. Seattle tied it with two outs in the sixth inning, beginning with a Dustin Ackley single, followed by another single from Ichiro Suzuki that got Ackley on third, allowing him to score when Michael Saunders singled off Colon. Hernandez got better until the eighth inning, where he walked both Weeks and Jonny Gomes, which prompted Lucas Luetge to take control for the final out of the inning. The Mariners did the same to Colon in the ninth inning, as Kyle Seager singled before getting on third when Justin Smoak doubled, but Ryan Cook spared Colon from the mess in relief. Hernandez left after 7 2/3 innings, giving up six hits and three walks but just one earned run, striking out six, while Colon had a line of 8 2/3 innings, surrendering seven hits and an earned run, while striking out five. The bullpens worked well for the most part, as Brandon League finished the ninth inning for the Mariners, while Charlie Furbush and Shawn Kelley worked the tenth, working out of a mess that saw Crisp get caught stealing while Weeks was successful in stealing a base. Cook pitched the tenth for the Athletics with no trouble. Kelley continued into the eleventh and twelfth innings, while Sean Doolittle did the eleventh while Grant Balfour handled the twelfth for the Athletics, followed by Jordan Norberto in the thirteenth, also a spotless effort. Oliver Perez wasn't as lucky, as he finished the twelfth but was caught up in a mess in the thirteenth, giving up the winning run after Weeks singled, setting him up to score on a Reddick double. The final was 2-1, with Norberto getting the win and Perez taking the loss.

Day 30 – July 8 – Oakland, California

The end is at hand. We got up shortly after 6AM to check out, have a large breakfast and hit the road to Oakland. I called Corey who we met when were in San Francisco 4 weeks ago (my it seems like so much longer than that) to coordinate getting together for the game today. He is totally psyched to do another game with the 4 of us. The promotion for today’s game is “turn back the clock day” and they are giving away 1955 Oakland Oaks hats. They were very big back then in the Pacific Coast League in a league that included the Seattle Rainiers. It will be interesting if the Mariners will wear old Seattle Rainiers jerseys. I knew we would be seeing the Mariners at the end of the trip and hoped it would be a game for Felix Hernandez and he is pitching today. I am going to break out my bright yellow King’s Court shirt I got at a game that Felix pitched in at Safeco Field earlier this season. They have a section of seats set aside at Safeco Field for whenever Felix pitches. The fans have their large K signs for when Felix strikes out an opponent and they wear the bright yellow shirts that really make them stand out. It will be a very small King’s Court for Felix’s start today. We head up to Oakland in pretty much the reverse of our trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles on day 3 of the trip. We were on I-5 until we hit I- 580 around Tracy. We stay on that until we turn onto I-880 that drops us right by The Coliseum. We actually find a Starbucks where we are meeting with Corey and then we will make our way to the game. Without a doubt there are plenty of good seats available. We are planning a post game celebratory meal before we hit the road and I will have more info about that when we stop after the game.

Game Recap #29 Baltimore Orioles @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

It takes a lot for a pitcher in the Major Leagues to stand out from the rest of his peers. Many pitchers hover around an average level, but for some, true greatness is what they're made of. Tonight, a well-established pitcher plying his trade with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Jered Weaver, goes against a rising star for Baltimore, Jason Hammel. With these two on the mound, a low-scoring game seemed likely, and through the first three innings, that was especially true. Very few found their way on base in the early parts of the game, and in the fourth inning, Hammel finally let the score open. The Angels used a Mark Trumbo single to get a man on, followed by an error from Xavier Avery to put Trumbo on second base. Trumbo found third on an Alberto Callaspo fly out. That allowed Howie Kendrick to get the RBI single when Trumbo scored. Two batters later, Bobby Wilson put runners on the corners for the Angels, but Hammel avoided further damage by getting rookie phenom mike Trout to pop up. Weaver, meanwhile, was working on another of his many gems from the mound. Hammel ran into more trouble in the seventh inning by walking Wilson, but Wilson was taken out at second base on a Trout fielder's choice. This proved to work well for Los Angeles, as a Torii Hunter double gave the speedy youngster time to score. An intentional walk to star slugger Albert Pujols set the stage for another run, as Kendrys Morales hit a single that was good enough to bring in Hunter. This ended Hammel's day on a line of 6 2/3 innings, six hits and four walks yielding three earned runs with four strikeouts. Pedro Strop finished the inning with no trouble. After eight innings, Weaver was done, giving up three hits and one walk but none of the runners scored, and he struck out five. Dana Eveland pitched the eighth for Baltimore and worked a spotless inning. Scott Downs did the same in the ninth, shutting down the Orioles offense to preserve a 3-0 win for Weaver and a save for himself. Hammel had no run support, thus giving him the loss in the second-to-last game of the trip.

Day 29 – July 7 – Anaheim, California (continued)

We had a great night at Angel Stadium (to me it will always be “The Big A”). Getting to meet Jasiel and Sara was cool and we had a really good time. When we looked for something to eat I found a hotdog called the Boston Dog that has maple glazed baked beans and chopped bacon. To me, that sounded almost like a perfect hotdog. After the game we said our goodbyes to Jasiel and Sara, left the stadium and got right onto Interstate 5 heading north. We made it to our destination for the night, just outside Bakersfield, at shortly after midnight, with time for a fair amount of sleep then we will hit the road for the trip home via the game in Oakland. It’s been an incredibly long trip but we can now see the finish line.

Day 29 – July 7 – Anaheim, California

It was a good night sleep for all of us on this penultimate day of the journey. We didn’t even start to stir until after 10AM. We called room service to bring us breakfast and then got moving around noon. After much discussion we decided to spend a few hours in a very crowded Disneyland and hit a few rides. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m getting too old for this stuff. Regardless it was fun, but done in moderation. We had enough food for breakfast that we determined we are good until we get to Angel Stadium. The plan is after the game tonight we will head out on the way to Oakland for the final stop of this amazing journey. We found a spot to send this out and now it’s off to the game where I have some business acquaintances that work in Orange County and we’ve decided to get together and go to the game tonight. Jasiel Delgado and Sara Vida work for my main supplier and I was keeping them up to date with this trip and they thought it would be cool to get together since we’ve actually never met. I look forward to that and will talk about it in the post game post that will hopefully find us just outside of Bakersfield.

Game Recap #28 Cincinnati Reds @ San Diego Padres

On December 17th, 2011, the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds negotiated and made a blockbuster trade in the early parts of the trading off season. Heading to Cincinnati was one pitcher, Mat Latos, a well-regarded right-hander that the Padres were not absolutely pleased with trading. Heading from Cincinnati to San Diego were four players. The well-established Edinson Volquez, a right handed pitcher who had a promising early few years but was caught up in an illegal substance suspension was the biggest asset. Another big player, Yonder Alonso, was never given a shot by the Reds at first base, considering having all-star stud Joey Votto manning the position. Two minor league players, catcher Yasmani Grandal and right-handed pitcher Brad Boxberger also came over in the deal. Grandal would not play in the majors for Cincinnati for the same reason as Alonso: Devin Mesoraco had control over the catcher position. As for Boxberger, he is the lone of the players in the deal to not see notable time in the majors. This weekend, the players have one of their infrequent reunions with their old teams. At this point in 2012, Grandal has displaced Nick Hundley as Padres catcher, Alonso frequently mans first base for the Padres, and Volquez has established himself as a veteran presence in the rotation as well as the staff ace. Latos hasn't been quite as good for the Reds, but he has been good enough to keep them strong in the National League Central. We did miss the real reunion game by just a day, as on Thursday Latos and Volquez took the mound, but today we saw Bronson Arroyo pitch for Cincinnati against Kip Wells for San Diego. Cincinnati was able to get an early lead as lead off rookie shortstop Zack Cozart took the sixth pitch from Wells over the fence in left field after working to a full count. Wells continued to struggle, depositing hits throughout the field in all but the second and sixth innings (although he walked two in the second). Wells was finally punished for the lack of control in the seventh inning, walking Todd Frazier before the next batter, Ryan Hanigan, homered over to left field to extend the lead. Wells was pulled, turning the ball over to Brad Brach, and leaving with a final line of six innings, seven hits and three walks to produce three earned runs, alongside two strikeouts. Brach gave up a Cozart double and wild pitch before being pulled for Alex Hinshaw, who walked Joey Votto, and was replaced by Miles Mikolas who finished off the inning. Mikolas was sent out to work the eighth inning, but he struggled here, allowing a Jay Bruce double and a two-run Frazier home run to put the game a little farther away before finishing the inning. Ross Ohlendorf was called by San Diego to take the mound in the ninth inning, and like many before him, struggled with the pitching, giving up consecutive doubles to Drew Stubbs and Votto, who scored Stubbs with his hit. This made it 6-0, and as Arroyo went out to finish his shutout in the ninth inning, he allowed just one more hit, finishing the day with a complete nine inning shutout, with just three hits and a walk to go with eight strikeouts in what may be the pitching performance of the trip. Wells was given the loss.

Day 28 – July 6 – San Diego, California (concluded)

It was a nice game at Petco Park tonight. It is just a few short blocks from the stadium to I-5 and the trip up north to Anaheim. It was about 90 minutes up the freeway until we got into the Anaheim area. We got to the Disneyland Hotel a little before midnight to get checked in and get this post out. It’s hard to believe this is the final weekend but it is here. We will sleep in tomorrow and figure out what to do before the game Saturday night that has Baltimore playing the Angels.

Day 28 – July 6 – San Diego, California (continued)

We are now in San Diego prior to the Padres game tonight against the Reds. It was about a 6-hour trip and I did the driving. We headed westbound on I-10 out of Phoenix and drove around 40 miles until we hit US 85 and took it south to Gila Bend where we picked up I-8 that we would be on for the balance of the trip into San Diego. If we hadn’t driven the whole previous day just to get to Phoenix it would have been wise to drive to San Diego overnight as we were now driving the southern Mojave desert in the middle of the day. To fulfill Pat’s wishes I drove us to Ocean Beach just a bit north of San Diego where we all can step out into the Pacific Ocean before we make our way to Petco Park for tonight’s game. Before we go to Petco we drive thru the Gaslamp section of San Diego. I find what I am looking for when we drive past Jim Croce’s Jazz Bar. We take just enough time to snap the picture and take a look at the cool things in the Bar. Jim Croce was one of my all time favorite musicians and storytellers who died much too soon in the early 1970’s. The stories he told are still with me after nearly 40 years. It is a very short drive to Petco Park from there. We found a place with wifi before we got to the stadium to get this out. We had so much to eat before we left Doug and Julie’s we aren’t even hungry yet and will probably dine a little at Petco. Just hope they don’t expect us to eat dog food. We will be driving up I-5 to Anaheim after the game and overnight at the Disneyland Hotel before tomorrow’s game at Angels Stadium.

Game Recap #27 Los Angeles Dodgers @ Arizona Diamondbacks

Many people had the Los Angeles Dodgers pegged as a breakout team, led by star outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, as they went on a rampage throughout the National League in the early parts of the season. With both players now injured, Clayton Kershaw has the burden of keeping his team respectable, but since he plays every five games, there's a lot of times where the Dodgers look absolutely pitiful. Going up against hotshot rookie Wade Miley and the Arizona Diamondbacks at the hitter-friendly Chase Field in Phoenix likely won't aid the cause too much. However, it was Los Angeles who got the lead in the first inning as Mark Ellis, fresh off a nasty leg injury, was able to double his way aboard before moving to third on a Jerry Hairston, Jr. single, and then scoring on another double from Juan Rivera. A Luis Cruz single brought Hairston home before Miley calmed down to finish the inning. Arizona was next to score, as Dodgers starter Nathan Eovaldi got a little wild in the second inning, walking Jason Kubel, before giving up a Paul Goldschmidt double and another walk to Miguel Montero to load the bases. It looked as if Aaron Hill's double play would diffuse the situation, but Goldschmidt did score on a Stephen Drew single to make it 2-1. Los Angeles extended the lead to 3-1 with a Scott Van Slyke solo home run in the fourth inning. Scoring was at a premium from here on, with the Dodgers again striking in the seventh inning on a solo shot by Elian Herrera, which chased Miley from the game with a final line of 6 2/3 innings, eight hits and two walks yielding four earned runs and four strikeouts. Brad Ziegler finished up the inning with a walk and a strikeout. Eovaldi was not sent out to pitch for the seventh inning, ending with six innings pitched, allowing five hits and three walks but just one earned run and he struck out three. Scott Elbert pitched a perfect seventh inning, as well as Ziegler for the Diamondbacks and Ronald Belisario for the Dodgers in the eighth inning. Craig Breslow struggled for Arizona in the ninth inning, but kept the game within reach by allowing no runs. It didn't matter when Kenley Jansen shut the door with another perfect inning of relief for Los Angeles, securing a save for himself and a win for Eovaldi. Miley was stuck with the loss, proving that sometimes, even a little offense is enough to win.

Day 28 – July 6 – San Diego, California

Before we get to San Diego, we must first leave Phoenix. This is going out just before we leave. We got a good night sleep and woke up to an absolutely fantastic breakfast that Doug and Julie put together for us. I can’t thank them enough for their hospitality. We had bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, hotcakes, and orange juice (none of the 4 of us drink coffee). They are great friends and we’re talking about the next time they make it up to the Seattle area. But all good things have to end and it is shortly after 10AM and it’s time to head out and get on the road to San Diego. I don’t think there is anything that will be able to top this leg of the trip. It’s on a par with the New York City leg with my wife Sandy flying in from Seattle and spending time with my buddy Russ. It’s been fantastic. Until we reach San Diego….

Pat's Thoughts - Day 27

It's been a few days since I last shared my observations. We have put a lot of miles behind us, and the main portion of the trip is in our rear view mirror. As I write this after the longest day of our trip from Doug and Julie's house, before I drift off to sleep, a few observations.

- I've been to several games at Minute Maid Park. Heck, I remember it when it was Enron Field. Whatever happened to those nice boys that ran Enron anyway? It's a nice park, and the dome makes it livable. I have always said that Houston was the answer to the question "can 4 million people be wrong?" But the ball park is nice and right downtown.

- The Houston - Miami leg of the trip was a very long drive. At times, I felt like the toughest part was not the drive, but the ride. I had to remind myself that I am no longer a kid of 55 any more. It helps, on these long drives, that we have gotten along so well. The main thing was to always stick to the schedule as much as we could. And an all nighter got us to Miami in plenty of time for the game. The Marlin's stadium is the newest one in baseball, and it's got to be better than sharing the Dolphin's stadium. It's a bit garish for my tastes, but the locals seemed to like it okay.

- As the other 3 slept in on the morning of June 28th, I secretly slipped out and went for a quick drive to the Atlantic Ocean. I wanted to dip my toes in the surf off South Beach. I kept my eye open for Lebron, but I'm guessing he and I frequent different areas of South Beach. I got back before any of the others were stirring. The goal is to also dip my toes in the Pacific near San Diego.

- Crappiest stadium of the trip so far is the Trop in St Pete. Reminds me of a cheap Kingdome, which for those of you familiar with the late Seattle stadium, that's a world class insult. I know they need an indoor stadium in tropical St Petersburg, but yeesh, what a dump. I have read that there are plans to replace the Trop, and it can't come too soon. I was hoping for a fly ball off the cat walk, but no such luck.

- The drive up the east coast to Baltimore was uneventful, but it was a long drive indeed. I drew the short straw and got the early morning duties for the drive up to Fayetteville North Carolina before Mike took over for the balance of this leg. Camden Yards was a really cool park. It's the model that the new ones are built around, and it shows. Good crowd that knows their baseball. I grew up an Oriole fan, and Brooks Robinson was my boyhood hero.

- We dodged a bullet with the storms that blew through that part of the country shortly after the game. We got a bit of a break in that we missed the really heavy stuff. But we were on our way to Milwaukee. I always have disliked the Brewers. I hold Bud Selig personally responsible for screwing the city of Seattle when he stole the Pilots after their one and only year, and the ghost of Dewey Soriano will forever jinx the Brewers. They have never won a World Series, and they never will as long as Butthead Selig is above ground. Plus regardless of what the arbitrator said, Ryan Braun is a cheater who got away with it. Still, Miller Park was very nice.

- It was a short drive to Wrigley Field, and I posted the day at Wrigley and the drive into Pittsburgh earlier. We dodged another rain delay in Chicago, but they got the game in between the Cubbies and the Disastros. Then it was to Pittsburgh to watch the Buccos take their turn beating up on the Lastros.

- I used to live about 2 hours south of Atlanta, so I was anxious to see the city for the first time in about 30 years. It has changed quite a bit, but there was still a lot of traffic in Atlanta. I would have enjoyed exploring the city after so many years, but we were headed due west for the next two days. I got to drive into St Louis, and I chose to make a very brief side trip to O'Fallon Illinois, where we spent 3 years in the early 1980's. Steve was too young to remember much about O'Fallon, so I drove past our former home then on to downtown St Louis and beautiful new Busch Stadium, packed with red clad Cardinal fans. Again, no time to really enjoy seeing the area where we had lived in the past.

- The best thing you can say about the overnight drive from St Louis to Phoenix is that it went exactly as planned. Mike drove to Tulsa, Steve drove to Amarillo, Shawn drove to Albuquerque, and I drove the rest of the way to Phoenix. Glen Campbell was right - by the time I got to Phoenix, I was sleepy. But we made it safe and sound. It was cool to include the corner in Winslow Arizona on the trip. I remember it from seeing it years ago. We made good time into Phoenix and got to Doug & Julie's right about 5PM. Had time to take a break and then it was off to the game.

The long days are now behind us. We have a relatively short trip to San Diego tomorrow, a very short trip to Anaheim after the game in San Diego, and a medium sized trip to Oakland to be followed by the end of the journey in Federal Way sometime Monday morning. Still enjoying the adventure, but I am very tired.

Day 27 – July 5 – Phoenix, Arizona (concluded)

This is a record 3rd blog post of the day. It was a day that actually started last night in St. Louis watching the Cardinals and a 21-hour drive across half the country to tonight’s game at Chase Field in Phoenix. It was a fun time at the game with Doug and Julie and I had another surprise at the game. I had a call from Marty Skelly who also lives in the area and came to the game and we got together. Marty is Jerry Skelly’s dad who we spent the better part of a day with on the trip Tuesday into Atlanta and watching the Braves that night. Jerry made sure that Marty knew what was going on, but I didn’t know if he would call or not. We spent most of the time with our visit talking about our respective fantasy football seasons that are just around the corner. I met
Marty about 20 years ago when he was recruited into the fantasy football leagues I was running at the time. The first time we met was in one of the skyscrapers in Seattle at 2 Union Square where the draft was being held and we’ve known each other ever since. After all of the travel we just took it easy eating a bit of the ballpark food trying to regulate our systems a bit. We’ve kind of been all over the place with the extreme amount of travel in the last 4 days. Since Sunday it’s been Chicago-Pittsburgh-Atlanta-St. Louis-Phoenix. We should have a show on the Travel Channel with all of this traveling. After the game it was back to Doug and Julie’s for a limited amount of visiting before we crashed for the night. I will have a bit more about our visit in a post before we leave Phoenix tomorrow morning.

Day 27 – July 5 – Phoenix, Arizona (continued)

Pat had the balance of the trip to Phoenix. It wasn’t exactly the most direct route however and added a fair amount of miles to the leg. We stayed on westbound I-40 to Flagstaff where we got onto southbound I-17 to Phoenix. Before we got to Flagstaff we went thru the town of Winslow Arizona made famous in the song Take It Easy by the Eagles. There is a line from the song about “Standing on a Corner in Winslow Arizona” that is noted in town. As we drove thru Winslow (Pat had been there before so he knew about this) we took a picture of the corner. It was a nice drive from the elevation of Flagstaff down to the valley and into Phoenix. Before we got to Phoenix I called my friend Doug Kahl so we could plot our getting together before tonight’s game. We are going to the game with Doug and his wife Julie. Doug and Julie have also graciously offered their home for us to stay at tonight after the game, so we decide to meet at their house. Doug gave us excellent directions and we got there with no problem and plenty of time before the game starts. We are very tired but it going to be a lot of fun seeing Doug and Julie. I’ve known Doug since 1995 when he did a cold call where I was working at the time and helped negotiate a good freight deal for our small package needs. The business arrangement led to a great personal relationship where we saw each other frequently until Doug’s work had him relocate to the Phoenix area. Thus, it’s been years since we got together so having this opportunity to spend some short, but quality time with Doug and Julie is going to be really cool. Well I’ve got just enough time to get this blog post out then it’s off the Chase Field for tonight’s game between the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers. It will be the 2nd time we’ve seen Arizona in the last 5 days and we’ve seen the Dodgers twice earlier in the first 3 days of the trips in Seattle and at home against the Angels. We should have another short post after the game and hopefully before we collapse of exhaustion.

Day 27 – July 5 – Phoenix, Arizona (enroute)

This is another short post letting you know about the trip to Phoenix from St. Louis. We are currently in Albuquerque, New Mexico where we have stopped for a bite of food, gas for the van and switch over to the last driver of this trip to Phoenix. It took a bit longer than expected to get out of the St. Louis area on I-44 due to so much 4th of July fireworks activity. Finally, however we were on the freeway heading in a southwesterly direction. I was driving and we had a good run to Tulsa where it was time to gas up and go to driver number 2, Steven. Daylight wasn’t too far away as we got to Tulsa around 4AM. When Steven took over we stayed on I-44 until we neared Oklahoma City where we skirted around the city and hooked up with I-40 west of town.
As Seattle Sonics fans I couldn’t see us driving into OKC so we made sure to bypass the city as we were already as close to Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clayton Bennett than we wanted to be. We continued on I-40 crossing into north Texas and made our way to Amarillo where it was time to gas up and change drivers so that Shawn could get his turn at the wheel. By then it was 9AM so Shawn would have all daylight on his leg to Albuquerque. It was a straight shot there as we crossed into New Mexico and stayed on to Albuquerque where we are now and it is high noon as we stop for the food, gas, change drivers and get this post out. We are doing very well with the schedule and should be in Phoenix shortly after 5PM for the game tonight at 6:40PM. I’ve got another friend that we are hooking up with in Phoenix for the game tonight so I have more about the trip into Phoenix and try to get a pre game post out.

Game Recap #26 Colorado Rockies @ St. Louis Cardinals

Many people believed that the defending World Series champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, would be yesterday's news when the face of the franchise, Albert Pujols, left for nine figures and sunshine in Anaheim. Many people believed that they could crumble facing an uphill battle as their well-known manager Tony La Russa retired at the end of their run. People thought the team would lack an identity, and with many injury risks, not be healthy enough to challenge anyone in the often competitive National League Central division. Maybe to some extent, those people are right, but as the numbers go, these Cardinals that host the Colorado Rockies on the evening of Independence Day are just three games out of first in the division, with many players stepping up to lead one of the highest powered offenses in the majors. Trying to prevent the offensive breakout is Rockies starter Jeremy Guthrie. He didn't fare so well with that task in the first inning, walking Jon Jay before Matt Holliday doubled to score Jay. Guthire also struggled against the lower end of the Cardinals lineup in the second inning, allowing singles to breakout star catcher Yadier Molina, utilityman Skip Schumaker, and shortstop Rafael Furcal to load the bases before plunking Jay to force Schumaker home, as Molina was out at third when St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright grounded into a fielder's choice. This was all the damage that would come early, with Wainwright suffering the next show of offense in the fifth inning, as a Jonathan Herrera triple put him in prime position to score when Wainwright's counterpart Guthrie singled. Despite allowing Dexter Fowler on with a fielder's choice and Marco Scutaro and Carlos Gonzalez with singles, Wainwright would not allow the tying run to score. Both Guthrie and Wainwright finished their starting tasks at the completion of the sixth inning, with Guthire's line reading six hits and a walk to yield two earned runs while striking out two, and Wainwright showed up with eight hits and walk producing one earned run with seven strikeouts. Both Matt Reynolds of the Rockies and Maikel Cleto of the Cardinals pitched spotless seventh innings. St. Louis reliever Marc Rzepczynski also pitched a perfect eighth inning, but Colorado reliever Adam Ottavino, a former Cardinal, struggled against his old team, yielding a Holliday single with a stolen base, a Carlos Beltran single and another stolen base (with the only other stolen base coming an inning earlier from Daniel Descalso), and an intentional walk to Molina to fill the bases up, which backfired on a David Freese single that scored both Holliday and Beltran. After a walk to pinch hitter Matt Carpenter, Carlos Torres was called on to finish the inning, which he did without trouble. St. Louis entrusted Jason Motte with the ninth inning and a 4-1 lead, and while he did give up singles to Jordan Pacheco and Michael Cuddyer, he avoided a meltdown by striking out Fowler to end the gave and give himself a save while preserving Wainwright's win. Guthrie was stuck with the loss, and Cardinals got one game closer the division leading Pittsburgh Pirates.

Day 26 – July 4 – St. Louis, Missouri (continued)

This will be a very short blog post as we need to be on the road and stay on it. We are just west of St. Louis on I-44 where we’ve found a McDonalds to food up and a gas station to gas up, or maybe vice versa. I took the initial shift and I plan to make it a long one before Steven takes over. St. Louis was pretty much how I remembered it since the last time I was there, over 25 years ago. Had a fun time at new Busch Stadium, much nicer than the older version. Alas, we are now truly on the homestretch. We’ve seen plenty of fireworks from out the car. Hope everyone is being careful with them. We will try to post tomorrow morning when the gas/food thing happens and give a short review of the overnight activities.

Day 26 – July 4 – St. Louis, Missouri

Happy Birthday America!!!! You’re 236 years old today and you don’t look a year over 225. This morning was the beginning of a very long 36-hour stretch that sees us now in St. Louis getting ready to go to the Cards game vs Colorado. After tonight’s game, thanks to the rainout in Philadelphia closing in on 2 weeks ago, we are set for a marathon drive of over 1450 miles to our next destination, Phoenix Arizona. But before we get to that let’s review today’s activities. We started with Pat behind the wheel for the trip into St. Louis. When we left Chattanooga we left I-75 for the final time in this trip. From northern Michigan to south Florida and a lot of area in between we saw a whole lot of I-75. We got onto I-24 heading in a northwesterly direction up to Nashville. We continued on into Kentucky past Paducah and into Illinois until we got to where we met up with I-64 by Mt. Vernon Illinois and that took us directly to St. Louis. But first, Pat had to drop a little "local knowledge" on us and stopped at O'Fallon Illinois where he stayed back in the early 1980's while serving in the US Air Force out of Scott Air Force Base just outside of O'Fallon. The game tonight in St. Louis is an hour earlier than normal with the holiday and a blessing for us with our next game in Phoenix. We crossed the Mississippi River right at St. Louis and had some time before the game so wedecided to take a trip inside the Gateway Arch. If you are the least bit claustrophobic this isn’t the site to see. We had a little time for this sightseeing visit before we got to a Starbucks to get this message out. After the game tonight we will gas up and hit a fast food place to get us loaded for the road and get the post game message out. Until then…

Game Recap #25 Chicago Cubs @ Atlanta Braves

Very few players in sports nowadays stay with one team throughout their entire career. Motivations to move along from the only team players have ever known can be money, better life for their families, closer to their homes, or any other reason. Even fewer players have the ability to decide when they will retire. Despite many recent injuries and a fading skill set, Chipper Jones falls into both categories. He has played for the Atlanta Braves for every game in his career, since its outset in 1993, a year before my own birth. Throughout his career, he has been a symbol of solidarity at the hot corner for the Braves, and a very reliable ballplayer with outstanding stats in a considerable number of categories. Tonight, we have the pleasure of seeing Jones in his final lap through the season with the Braves as they host the Chicago Cubs. Immediately, Jones gave us something to look at when he singled in Michael Bourn in the first inning to open the scoring and put a stain on Chris Volstad's day. Bourn had gotten aboard on a walk. Right after that, Jones had one of the two stolen bases in the game today, as he swiped second, no easy feat for a deteriorating forty year old. Chicago would be the next to strike though, getting to Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens in the third inning after a bit of spotty defense. The rally started with a David DeJesus single, and things turned ugly when Dan Uggla committed a throwing error during Starlin Castro's at-bat, which got DeJesus home. Anthony Rizzo then reached on a fielder's choice, and two batters later, Castro came home on a Bryan LaHair single, and he was followed in on the next play, as Steve Clevenger singled Rizzo home. Things were smooth from there until the fifth, when Jurrjens worked out of a jam as Alfonso Soriano singled his way aboard and stole second base, the other steal in the game. He retired the next three batters, and that turned things back to Volstad, who was not so lucky to work out of his jam. He surrendered singles to Brian McCann and Andrelton Simmons before walking pinch-hitter Eric Hinske, who hit for his pitcher Jurrjens, effectively ending his day. The scoring started as Bourn tripled all three of McCann, Simmons, and Hinske home, before scoring himself on a sacrifice fly by Martin Prado. With the bases clean, Jason Heyward took Volstad out of the game on a solo home run. A Jones double was all reliever Manuel Corpas would give up here before finishing the inning. Jones had gone 3 for 3 at this point, with two singles and a double. Volstad's line read 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and two walks to yield six earned runs while striking out three, while Jurrjens was slightly cleaner at five innings, nine hits and no walks to produce three runs, none of which were earned, while fanning two. While Corpas was effective for pitching, the next reliever, Rafael Dolis, had a messy third of an inning, walking McCann before getting Simmons on board with a fielder's choice to get rid of McCann, and then he walked both Braves reliever Kris Medlen (more on him in a second) and Bourn. Jairo Asencio took over for Dolis, but it might as well have been the same person, as Asencio walked Prado to force in Simmons, and two batters later gave up Jones' second double and fourth hit of the night that scored Medlen, Bourn, and Prado. Two more walks were issued by Asencio, as Freddie Freeman and Uggla reloaded the bases, but McCann made his second out and the team's third out of the inning to end any further conflict. The next hit for either team came in the eighth inning, and naturally, it was the star of the show tonight, Jones, with a single, good for his fifth hit of the evening. It should be noted that after that jam in the sixth, Asencio, as well as Medlen (three perfect innings of relief) and Jonny Venters (one hit in the ninth) kept things relatively clean. The final would wrap up at 10-3, handing Jurrjens the win and Volstad the loss, but all eyes were on the man they call Chipper tonight with a vintage performance so indicative of what has made him an icon of Atlanta sports for the past 20 years.

Day 25 – July 3 – Atlanta, GA (continued)

We had our 2nd chance in 3 days to see the Chicago Cubs. It was the 3rd time we’ve seen the Cubs on the trip. When the game ended we planned to stick around for the fireworks show that was scheduled for tonight. We’ve had plenty of fireworks opportunities in this trip and tonight’s the night to indulge in them. That was until the thunderstorm delayed the start and pushed the game back. With a huge travel day tomorrow and Thursday we decided getting on the road and getting a decent night sleep overroad the Fireworks. We know that staying after won’t be possible tomorrow night in St. Louis. When the game was over it was on the road again. We gave Jerry 10 bucks so he could take the MARTA out to Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport and fly back to Charlotte because I don’t think he wanted to walk all the way back. It was good seeing Jerry after several years and he showed us a couple things on the Bojangles’ menu that were really good. Looking at the map we decided to make the trip to Chattanooga Tennessee before calling it a night. So it was back on our favorite Interstate highway, I-75 to Chattanooga. It is a little after midnight here so we should be able to get a decent night sleep before hitting the road again in the morning. The plan has us heading out around 9AM, as it is only about 440 miles to St. Louis. But first, sleep beckons.

Game Recap #24 Houston Astros @ Pittsburgh Pirates

It almost seems we're followed the Houston Astros around lately, having seen them at their home, in Chicago jsut yesterday, and now in Pittsburgh, where they play another often mediocre team, the Pirates. Despite the stigma of being a losing franchise, the Pirates are again over .500 near the halfway point of the season, and they may be hoping to hold onto such a mark unlike last season's second half collapse. A major player in this surprising surge of efficiency is starter James McDonald, who has put up impressive numbers all year and will get the ball today. Things didn't start so well for McDonald here though, as he walked Jose Altuve to begin the game, and then walked Brian Bogusevic, which set Altuve up to score early on a single by J.D. Martinez. The inefficiency cleared up a bit in the early and middle innings, allowing Pittsburgh's offense to do some damage in the fourth inning against Astros starter Jordan Lyles. The rally began as All-Star center fielder Andrew McCutchen singled aboard, followed by a two-run home run off the foul pole by Garrett Jones. Not to be outdone, the next batter, Neil Walker, put a solo home run off the pole. Casey McGehee then double his way on base, and scored on a single by Clint Barmes. Lyles labored into the fifth inning, where everything turned to happy hour for the Pirates, as Drew Sutton tripled before scoring on a double from McCutchen, who scored on a double by Jones, good enough to end Lyles' day. Walker then was walked by reliever Rhiner Cruz, and moved to second while pushing Jones to third on a wild pitch. Another McGehee double drove both of them in. Lyles finished with four innings of work, yielding nine hits and seven earned runs but no walks, and six strikeouts. The Astros got one back in the sixth inning as Scott Moore hit a solo shot into the right field seats. Pittsburgh was undeterred, striking back against Fernando Abad in the bottom of the sixth. Abad worked himself into a jam by giving up consecutive singles to Alex Presley, Sutton, and McCutchen, which set up a fourth single from Jones to set Presley home. The damage was lessened by Walker's inning-ending double play. Dan Carpenter worked the seventh for Houston, and he kept his runs column clean, despite allowing a single to McGehee and plunking Michael McKenry. McDonald was done after seven strong innings for the Pirates, in which he gave up four hits and five walks in an erratic show for pitch control, but only two runners scored, and he struck out four. Pittsburgh got a couple more runs in the eighth inning as Fernando Rodriguez allowed singles to McCutchen and Jones before a Walker double plated both of them. The Pirates handed the ball to Jared Hughes for the eighth and ninth innings, which he worked through with no trouble for an 11-2 final. As an interesting side note, eighteen of the nineteen baserunners for Pittsburgh today came from the top six guys in the order, with the #7 hitter Barmes being the only one outside of this group to get aboard. Of the top six, Walker, Presley, and Sutton all had two-hits games (the latter two each having a triple in the mix), while McGehee had a three-hit performance, and both McCutchen and Jones had four hits apiece.

Day 25 – July 3 – Atlanta, GA

We were up and going shortly after 6AM after a short night. The plan of driving away from the city we were at and move down the road a few miles before stopping has shown to be a wise strategy. The mainissue is finding places big enough to have adequate lodging. We grabbed a quick bite as we headed south with me driving thru West Virginia, into the southwestern corner of Virginia, before we get into North Carolina. The drive took us to the Queen City of Charlotte where we got together with a good friend of mine, Jerry Skelly, who is joining us for the trip to Atlanta for tonight’s game. I’ve known Jerry for around 20 years when he was living out on the west coast. He is in North Carolina now where he works for Bojangles’ restaurant. After we
picked up Jerry we backtracked a bit to see Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord. We didn’t have time to take a tour or lay down a couple of laps as time was of the essence. However, we did have time to do a drive by at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. We drove from Charlotte on I-85 heading southeast into South Carolina thru Spartanburg, into Georgia and right to Atlanta. Once in Atlanta I wanted to make sure I didn’t do my Pascual Perez impersonation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascual_P%C3%A9rez_(baseball). We found our way to a Bojangles’ near Turner Field to have dinner and send this post out. After the game tonight we are heading out toward St. Louis to celebrate our nation’s 236th birthday.

Day 24 – July 2 – Pittsburgh, PA (continued)

This is Mike and I’m back on duty. We pushed the checkout time at the hotel as far as we could then headed out to see some sites in Pittsburgh before heading to PNC Ballpark. Since I’m a big Pittsburgh Penguins hockey fan, the nearly new Consul Energy Center arena was a must see and we did and took the tour. We had planned to hit it when we were due in Pittsburgh originally on June 23 that was affected by the rainout in Philadelphia on June 22. But we were here today and did it up right. Pittsburgh is a nicer town than its reputation might suggest. The 3 rivers that Pat so knowingly talked about earlier are pretty cool with all the sports stadiums in the same general
area. The Pirates are not my favorite team, unlike the Penguins, but they are my Aunt Joanne’s favorite team. Pat talked about her a bit very early on inthe first installment of “Pat’s Thoughts” describing her journal she kept when her, my mom and my two aunts made a long trip back to Kentucky way back when. Aunt Joanne’s favorite Pirates player was Roberto Clemente who was a hall of fame player and humanitarian who died on New Years Eve in 1972 trying to help victims of a horrendous earthquake in Nicaragua. Her daughter and my cousin Elma got a Roberto Clemente jersey, a picture of which is included in this blog entry. And for a special bonus, for the 2nd day the opponent for the home team was the Houston Astros. That makes 3 games with the Astros in the last week. I think that is quite enough. We loaded up on food at the ballpark tonight to get us good and full. Our plan was to drive ahead a bit toward our next destination of Atlanta, Georgia. Steven was driving and we made it to Morgantown, West Virginia, home of the West Virginia Mountaineers for a short night. We got here a little before midnight and will go to sleep after getting this post and Shawn’s game post out. We will be up and going around 6AM heading to Atlanta, Georgia. I’ve got a good friend coming down to meet us in Atlanta, but more about that in tomorrows post.

Day 24 – July 2 – Pittsburgh, PA

This post is being sent out Monday morning after the late night trip from Chicago to Pittsburgh via South Bend Indiana. The heavy rain, wind and thunder storm was ahead of us most of the trip as it felt as if we were chasing it. I think the hour or so in South Bend for dinner kept us from being in the middle of it for the trip. This part of the trip actually had a deja vu type of feeling, as it was nearly the same route that we took two weeks ago from Chicago to Washington, only we didn't side trip this time to Canton, with the only exception being the stormy weather. And it was also the reverse of the route we were just on between Baltimore and Milwaukee. We are finally going to actually stop and watch a game in Pittsburgh, weather permitting. This is the fourth time this trip that we have been in or near Pittsburgh, but the first time we are going to catch the game. I think it's safe to say we will see the last of the Pittsburgh area on this trip. The drive was pretty uneventful and we got into Pittsburgh shortly after midnight. The rain delay at Chicago didn't mess us up too badly. This starts the final week of our journey, and since we are ending up in California on Sunday, we have a lot of driving ahead of us. The game tonight is between Pittsburgh and Houston. Wait, didn't we just see the Astros play in Chicago? How did they beat us here to Pittsburgh? After the game, we head south to Hotlanta and then point the car west for the remainder of the trip. I will be giving the rest of the blog back to my brother after he got a couple of days break from entries, and I will post another one of my observations soon.

Game Recap #23 Houston Astros @ Chicago Cubs

Wrigley Field is one of the most iconic ballparks in the major leagues, alongside the other notably historic field, Fenway Park. However, unlike it's eastern cousin, Wrigley has never seen a championship for its tenants, the Chicago Cubs. The nearly one hundred year old park was built a few years after the Cubs won the World Series in 1908, and since they haven't won since then, the park is sometimes associated in a manner of superstition. For a long time now, the Cubs have been nearly contenders or bottom dwellers, and it is the latter persona they take on today when they face fellow basement companions in the Houston Astros. Both of these teams are known for a lack of offensive output, and they lived up to it today. The starting pitchers, Wandy Rodriguez for the Astros and Travis Wood for the Cubs, looked exceptionally good today. The first blemish came in the sixth inning as Chicago finally cracked through to Rodriguez. The rally began with a double by the pitcher Wood, followed by a Reed Johnson groundout that got Wood over to third base. Rodriguez then intentionally walked star shortstop Starlin Castro, which in turn led to the next hitter, phenom Anthony Rizzo, to line a single over to right field that brought Wood home. The Cubs weren't done yet, as Jeff Baker hit a 2-RBI double that got both Castro and Rizzo home. Rodriguez did work until the eighth inning, leaving after seven innings where he allowed five hits and a walk to produce three earned runs, while striking out three. Wood stayed on the mound longer, going 7 2/3 innings of three-hit shutout ball, striking out four in the process. Shawn Camp closed out the top of the eighth for the Cubs pitchers. The Astros sent both David Carpenter and Wesley Wright to the mound in the eighth inning, where they efficiently shut down the Chicago offense. However, the Houston offense was useless against reinstated Cubs closer Carlos Marmol, who preserved the win for Wood by closing the door for a save. The final stood at 3-0.

Day 23 – July 1 – Chicago, Illinois

Mike needed a couple of days off from writing on the blog, so this is Pat and I’ve volunteered to write the entry for today and tomorrow. Today is one of our shortest days - we spent the night in Milwaukee after theball game. We got up around 9AM, checked out of the hotel, and went to have a good Sunday breakfast. We sat around and realized the calendar has turned a page to July and we are down to the final week of this epic adventure. We still have a long way to go and many miles to cover. We needed some down time after going through so much territory in such a short time. It was tiring - to say the least - to drive from Washington DC to Milwaukee in a week - by way of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Dallas, Austin, Houston, Miami, Tampa and Baltimore. Lots of memorable things happened, and we got to see a lot of the country. Compared to the rest of the trip, our drive from Milwaukee to Chicago for the Sunday afternoon game was a snap. Just point the old family truckster - aka, the Caravan - down I-94 and in 2 short hours we were at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. Got to walk around the neighborhood, and the park is right in the middle of a neighborhood. You see TV from Waveland and Addison, and it's very intimate and very closely bunched areas. We wanted to get there early enough as they were giving away Cubs Custom Earbuds to the first 10000 adults 21 and over. I'm sure that Mike & I will put them to good use when Steve or Shawn are driving and we don't want to hear the music that is playing on the satellite radio. I was expecting to see an old, beat up park when we got inside, and it was, in my opinion, much better looking than Fenway Park. That is just an opinion. The ivy on the outfield walls really does lend itself to a nice look. During the 7th inning stretch I could’ve sworn I heard the ghost of Harry Carey (A One, a Two, a Three…Take Me Out to the Ball Game…). And it could be due to it being a Sunday, but the crowd wasn't as rowdy as I was expecting. Of course, playing the Astros brings out the mellow in any crowd. We are now on our way to Pittsburgh with an expected arrival time shortly after midnight, but have stopped in South Bend Indiana, home of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame to have a good dinner and send this blog post out. I will pick this up when we wake up tomorrow morning once we’ve reached the confluence of the .. whatever three rivers it is in Pittsburgh (yes, I know it's the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers - I stayed awake in 9th grade geograhpy). Obviously I did fine at geography, not so good at spelling.