Two days ago, this blog noted that the L.A. Dodgers had won their first 11 home games.  Well, with their Wednesday 10-3 pounding of the  Washington Nationals, that consecutive home record has reached All-Time MLB record-breaking proportions:

Joe Torre settled back into his chair in the cramped manager’s office at Dodger Stadium for his postgame interview when he was interrupted by his boss, there to offer a congratulatory handshake.

Torre grasped general manager Ned Colletti’s hand firmly and then gave him a carbon copy of the Dodgers’ lineup card as a gesture of appreciation.

“Streaks are fine, but we have more important things in mind,” Torre said. “Hopefully, it’s just a stepping stone on the way to something more important. The fact that we’re playing well takes precedence over anything else. The good part about this thing is that this is about winning games, which is what we try to do every day.”

“Everywhere I go, all people are talking about is the streak because it’s the hot topic,” Torre said. “I’m sure these guys enjoy being be the team that owns the streak all by themselves—and maybe like the 1911 Tigers, not be around when it’s broken.”

The 1911 Tigers were 51-25 at home—but 38-40 on the road—and finished 13 1/2 out of first place.

But question is, with a lineup where 3 of their first 4 hitters own better than .315 batting averages, where both leftfielder Manny Ramirez and rightfielder Andre Ethier — 3 and 4 in the order have 6 homers each and 3rd baseman Casey Blake has 5, a starting ace Chad Billingsley (5-0) who hasn’t been beaten in 6 outings and a pitching staff with a collective 3.72 ERA, when will this home winning streak ever end?

Lucky thing for the Phillies that the Dodgers follow Atlanta into Citizen’s Bank Park next Tuesday because L.A. is a more down-to-earth, human 8-8 on the road.

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The L.A. Dodgers got into the modern-day NL record-books on Monday by defeating Arizona, thus winning their first 11 home games, breaking the modern record of 10 set by the 1918 New York Giants and equalled by 1970 Chicago Cubs and 1983 Atlanta Braves.  Those 1983 Braves were also managed by Joe Torre, who is now in his 2nd season managing Los Angeles.  The Dodgers set the consecutive home victory mark by defeating the Diamondbacks by a 7-2 score on Monday at Dodger Stadium.

But this game was not just notable for the Dodgers’ home winning streak.  28 year old Diamondbacks shortstop Josh Wilson made his entry into the MLB recordbooks in this game as well. 

After Dodger catcher Russell Martin led off the second inning wih a walk, the AP recap for Yahoo sports records Wilson’s play:

Wilson, making his third start this season in place of injured  Stephen Drew, bobbled Matt Kemp’s routine grounder for an error in his haste to start a double play in the second inning. But he made up for the mistake moments later, making a lunging catch of Casey Blake’s line drive in the hole with the runners going and turning it into the second triple play in Diamondbacks history.

“That’s definitely a rarity, and to be a part of one is something special,” Wilson said. “I knew the runners were moving, and the ball almost came out of my glove, so I was just making sure I held onto it first. And once I did, I knew we were going to get three outs.”

This blog has written about 3 other triple plays, all unassisted, two of them in detail; Mickey Morandini’s in 1992 and  Cleveland 2nd baseman Asdrubal Cabrera’s last season (2008).  Also mentioned in the latter blog post was Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s in April of 2007.

Leftfielder Manny Ramirez and rightfielder Andre Ethier slammed back-to-back first inning homers off of Arizona lefthander Doug Davis to give the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead which they built on with 2 runs in the fifth inning, 2 more in the sixth capping their scoring with a single run in the eighth inning.   Arizona socred single runs in the second and sixth innings.

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Here is an All-Time MLB statistical oddity.

The boxscore of the Chicago White Sox 10-6 win over the Detroit Tigers reports that the Elias Sports Bureau says that this is an MLB First.

In the game’s second inning, White Sox rightfielder Jermaine Dye, in his 14th MLB season and batting 5th in the order, pounced on a 2-1 pitch from Detroit’s Zach Miner (1-1) and pounded it over the left-center wall for his 300th career homer to lead off the inning.  Then, the very next hitter, 1st baseman Paul Konerko worked a full-count against Miner before blistering his next offering out to leftfielder for his career 300th dinger.

The White Sox pounded 4 homers in all as leftfielder Carlos Quentin belted a pair of homers while going 4 for 4 with 4 RBIs.  The Sox amassed 16 hits in the game.

The AP recap caught this comment from Dye regarding their career homers;

“I think we’re just good hitters with power,” Dye said. “I think we both hit a lot of line drives that are able to get out of the ballpark. You look at Jim (teammate Jim Thome) and he’s 250 ahead of us. So I don’t know if you can call us home-run hitters.”

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Sports announcer Harry Kalas, the pre-eminent voice of the Philadelphia Phillies over nearly 39 years, collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack in the press box in Washington D.C. at age 73, a couple of hours before the Phils played the Washington Nationals’ in the latter’s home opener.

Wikipedia carries a comprehensive but changing page about Kalas from his early years with the Houston Astro’s (formerly the Colt 45s) through his career with the Phils which began in 1971.

Kalas ushered in the opening of the then new Veterans Stadium in 1971 and later teamed with former great Phils centerfielder Richie Ashburn in the announcing booth.  Together, they called many of the most treasured Phillies moments.

Kalas was at the broadcasting helm when the Phils acquired “Lefty” Steve Carlton in 1972 in trade for the talented Rick Wise and called the games of “Lefty’s” memorable 27-10 inaugural season with the Phils.

Kalas was famous for signature calls like;

• “Swing…and a long drive, watch that baby, outta here! Home run “

Or variations like;

• “Swing…and a long drive, can it be?  Can it be, outta here!”
• “Swing…and a long drive, its gotta chance!  Its gotta chance, outta here!”
• “Swing… that ball is well-struck!  Well-struck, watch that baby, outta here!”

or after an opponent struck out on a nasty, Carlton, Curt Schilling or Cole Hamels pitch;

• “Swing and a miss on a breaking ball.  Heeee struck ‘em out!”

AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrick reports on Kalas’ passing for Yahoo sports;

Kalas had surgery earlier this year for an undisclosed ailment that the team characterized as minor. He looked somewhat drawn last week as the Phillies opened the season at home.

Kalas is survived by his wife and three sons, including one—Todd—who is a broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Rays. Funeral arrangements were pending.

His family issued a statement saying they were “overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and affection from all of Harry’s fans and friends across America. Especially the Phillies fans whom he loved as much as the game of baseball itself.”

“He found the good in everybody, especially the players,” [former  pitcher Larry] Andersen said, tears streaming down his face. “He loved the players. He loved being around them.”
 
“We lost our voice today,” Phillies president David Montgomery said. “He has loved our game and made just a tremendous contribution to our sport and certainly to our organization.”

Kalas was on hand for all of the greatest Phillies moments over the past 39 years;  Carlton’s Multiple Cy Young awards, NL East Division titles in 1976, 77, 78, Mike Schmidt’s Hall of Fame Career — including some wild games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field with the wind blowing out, the Phillies’ first World Championship in 1980, their 1983 pennant, their 1993 pennant, Ryan Howard’s 58 homers in 2006, the NL East Division in 2007, the World Championship in 2008 and more.

In game 5 of the 2008 World Series, Kalas made this final call which signified a Phillies World Series Championship;

“One strike away; nothing-and-two, the count to Hinske. Fans on the their feet; rally towels are being waved. Brad Lidge stretches. The 0-2 pitch — swing and a miss, struck him out! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of baseball!   Brad Lidge does it again, and stays perfect for the 2008 season! 48-for-48 in save opportunities, and watch the city celebrate! Don’t let the 48-hour wait diminish the euphoria of this moment, and the celebration. And it has been 28 years since the Phillies have enjoyed a World Championship…”

And, this season in his final broadcast in the Phillies win over the Colorado Rockies on April 12;

“Bouncing ball to Chase Utley, this should be the game, Chase throws him out and that will be it as the Phil’s win 2 out of 3 here at Coors Field, coming back to take this one by a score of 7 to 5.”

Harry Kalas, The voice of the Phillies, passes away at 73.

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It was 44 years ago today, February 17, 1965, that then MLB Commissioner Ford Frick squashed U.S.-Japan baseball relations over a dispute centering around lefthanded reliever Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player to ever don a Major League Baseball uniform.

The story dates back to February 23, 1964 as Baseball Library recalls that the San Francisco Giants signed the first 3 Japanese players to ever play for American teams when Murakami, 3rd baseman Tatsuhico Tanaka‚ and catcher Hiroshi Takahashi were signed to play for the Giants’ affiliate Magic Valley Cowboys in the Pioneer League.  Murakami was the only one to make the Majors as the latter two apparently languished in the minors.

Baseball Library also recalls:

Murakami…. was successful in limited use as a reliever for the Giants, but his U.S. career was cut short when the Japanese government, afraid that its country’s teams would be decimated should others follow Murakami’s path, demanded that he be returned….

His unique status made Murakami the focus of outlandish expectations on the resumption of his Japanese career. The tremendous pressure affected his performance at first. Although he eventually settled down, he never became the superstar that the public expected.

In his short stint in the Majors over the 1964 and 1965 seasons with the  Giants, Murakami appeared in 54 games, pitched 89 1/3 innings, won 5 games while dropping 1.  He recorded 9 career saves and recorded a 3.43 lifetime ERA.   Murakami recorded 100 strikeouts while walking 23 and was reached 10 times for homers for his abbreviated MLB career.

Years later, it has become commonplace for Japanese stars to sign MLB contracts.  Among the most prominent of the current crop of Japanese stars in the Major leagues are Boston’s 3rd year starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, their lefthanded reliever Hideki Okajima, Yankees’ starter Chien-Ming Wang and Chicago Cubs’ outfielder Kosuke Fukudome.

In 2007, 2nd baseman Tadahito Iguchi subbed for an injured Chase Utley for the Phillies. In 2008, So Taguchi, now with the Cubs, was a sometimes late-inning defensive replacement for Pat Burrell in leftfield.  And in 2009, pitcher Chan Ho Park is contesting with 3 other Phillies pitchers for the coveted 5th starter role in the Phils’ pitching rotation.

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Hello again, Baseball fans.  Been away from baseball blogging again for the past six days doing double-duty on 2 Israel blogs reporting on Operation Cast Lead which is now temporarily in cease-fire mode.  Those interested can follow the war news here and here.

After years of frustration, last Tuesday Baseball writers finally chose former Boston Red Sox veteran leftfielder for 16 seasons Jim Rice.  They chose 25 season veteran journeyman outfielder and base-stealing specialist Rickey Henderson in his first attempt to make the Hall.

Rice, who followed and had to fill the shoes of all-time Boston leftfielding  Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski, was part of the Red Sox teams which went to the World Series in 1975,  losing to Cincinnati who had won 108 games, and in 1986 losing to the New York Mets who also won 108 games.   In 1986, the BoSox had come painfully close to winning their 1st World Series title since the infamous “Curse of Ruth,” before 1st baseman  Billy Buckner muffed an easy 3rd out ground ball in the 6th inning as Boston went on to blow a 3 games to 2 lead and lose the series in 7 games.

Rice hit 382 career homers, drove in 1,451 runs, scored 1,249 runs, collected 2,452 hits and carried a career .298 batting average.  He and  Fred Lynn made up as potent a one-two offensive punch as you could find in 1979 each hitting 39 homers and combining to drive in 252 runs.  But despite all of that power, Boston finished 3rd in the the AL East that season.

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum notes that:        

Yaz was the last leftfielder voted to Cooperstown (1989) until Henderson and Rice got the call Monday. Henderson scooted in on his first try, Rice in his 15th and final year of eligibility on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot.

Henderson, who holds both the MLB career stolen base record with 1,406 and the modern-day single season record of 130 set in 1982 with the Oakland Athletics actually stole 100 or more bases in each of 3 seasons — 1980, 1982 and 1983 — all with the Oakland A’s.

Henderson collected 3,055 hits in his 25 seasons hitting 297 homers and carried a lifetime .279 batting average.  He played in both the 1989 and  1993 World Series with the Oakland Athletics in ‘89 going 9-19 and hitting .474 and with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993 going 5-22.

AP’s Blum further notes;

The pair will be inducted into the Hall during ceremonies July 26 in Cooperstown. They’ll be joined by former New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians second baseman Joe Gordon, elected posthumously last month by the Veterans Committee.

Gordon will be depicted on his plaque wearing a Yankees cap. He played seven of his 11 seasons in New York, winning four of his five World Series championships and the 1942 AL MVP award.

An exhibit on the class of 2009 will open in Cooperstown this spring, Hall president Jeff Idelson said.

One piece of memorabilia that’s missing is the home plate Henderson crossed when he scored his 2,246th run, breaking Ty Cobb’s career record. Henderson said he and San Diego Padres chairman John Moores went out to the field the following day and dug up the plate as a keepsake.

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