Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto blasted two 3 run homers off of Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan, who was bludgeoned for 11 runs in 3 2/3 innings, as the Cubs scored their runs in bunches in decimating the Brewers by a 19-5 score at Wrigley Field on Wednesday.

Soto, getting his first extended MLB opportunity as Cubs starting catcher is capitalizing for all its worth early in the season.  To give a glimpse as to just how outstanding Soto’s been, check out these comparative 2008 stats which speak for themselves;

                       G     AB    R   H  HR   RBI   K   BB     BA   OBP    SLG   
Soto             24    87   12  29    5     20  23   15   .333  .400    .575

R. Howard  28    99   13  17    5     12  38    18  .172  .297    .343

The Cubs scored 6 runs in the first, 1 in the third, 5 in the fourth, 1 in the sixth and 6 more in the eighth off of losing pitcher Suppan and the Brewers’ bullpen.  Meanwhile, Cubs starter Ryan Dempster went six innings giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, despite streaks of wildness while walking 5 and striking out 1 to get the win.

Pity that the Cubs spent nearly all of their runs on Wednesday, which is more often than not the case in a rout, for the Brewers came back on Thursday to post a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Cubbies on leftfielder Ryan Braun’s one out, two run ninth inning double off of closer and losing pitcher Kerry Wood.

Braun was 3 for 5 for the game, including a sixth inning solo homer off of Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano, with 3 RBIs.

Zambrano pitched a fine 6 1/3 innings and held a 3-1 lead, although he lacked sufficient offensive support after the previoous day’s rout and was let down by lack of close. Brewers’ starter Yovani Gallardo kept the Brewers in the game through six innings.  Once the Padres grabbed the lead in the ninth, it was lights out with closer Eric Gagne credited with his 9th save preserving the win for lefthanded reliever Brian Shouse who retired one hitter to retire the side in the eighth.

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It is a wonderment how a closely fought ballgame can suddenly, inextricably break wide open in what biblical scholars/baseball fans have for generations cited as the “BigInning.”

Just such a game took place on Wednesday between two heretofore hapless AL teams; the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers.

The cellar-dwelling AL West Rangers battled the AL Central 4th place Tigers for five innings with the Tigers holding a narrow 7-6 lead, although Ranger pitchers were being pounded hither and fore with no one pitcher lasting more than 2 1/3 innings through the entire game.

For the Tigers, the dirt-ball specialist, veteran lefthander Kenny “the Gambler” Rogers lasted 3 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs on 9 hits, walking 3 and striking out none.

But lo, the Tigers bullpen allowed but two Rangers to reach base over the last 5 1/3 innings, single base hits in the seventh and eighth innings, while the Detroit offense proceeded to produce utter chaos to the tune of 11 runs off of the two Rangers relief pitchers of the sixth inning; 5 runs on 3 hits off of reliever Jamey Wright and 6 runs on 6 hits off of Wes Littleton. Wright fell victim to a 3 run clout by dh Miguel Cabrera amidst the onslaught.

For good measure, the Tigers added a 19th run in the seventh inning off of Rangers reliever Joaquin Benoit who had difficulty finding the plate, issuing the run on four bases-on-balls.

For more on the Tigers’ sixth inning explosion, click here.

The win went to Tigers’ lefthanded reliever Clay Rapada who held the Rangers at bay in relief of Rogers. The loss was charged to Rangers’ reliever Frank Francisco who coughed up the Tigers’ lead 7th run on a bases loaded walk in the fourth inning.

This was not the only citing of The BigInning in April. Baseball Library cites that nine seasons ago, on April 23, 1999, the St. Louis Cardinals, down 2-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers after two innings, exploded for for 11 runs in the third inning to go on to defeat the Dodgers by a 12-5 score at Dodger Stadium.

According to Baseball Library, quite a few MLB records were set in this game;

3B Fernando Tatis set a major league record by hitting 2 grand slams in a single inning. His 2 homers came in St. Louis’ 11-run 3rd inning. He also sets a record with 8 RBIs in the inning‚ while LA P Chan Ho Park becomes the 1st pitcher this century-and only the 2nd ever-to surrender 2 grand slams in a single frame. Bill Phillips of the Pirates did so in 1890. Park became the 36th major-leaguer to serve up two slams to the same player in his career.

Note: According to the Baseball Almanac, the name of the Pittsburgh team in 1890 was the Alleghenys.

Tatis, by the way, went on to have his only career season in 1999 with 34 HRs, 107 RBIs and a .298 BA, although he played with 4 teams over his 8 season career.

Finally, Baseball Library notes that on April 13, 2003, 5 years ago, the Phillies‚ who were locked in a scoreless tie with the Cincinnati Reds after three innings, exploded to score all 13 of their runs in the 4th inning to trounce the Reds‚ 13-1. Remarkably, there was only one homer in the inning, centerfielder Ricky Ledee’s 2 out, 3 run shot off of reliever Scott Sullivan.

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Baseball Library records that on April 18, 1964, in a game with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati pitcher Jim Maloney tossed six innings of no-hit ball before going down with a pulled muscle.  It is not recorded what muscle was pulled although the Library’s bio on Maloney notes that he retired in the early 1970s’;

A damaged Achilles tendon and a shoulder injury shortened his career.

Reliever John Tsitouris came on and held the Dodgers hitless for 2 2/3 innings until rightfielder Frank Howard finally broke up the no-hitter by beating out an infield single.  The Reds won the game 3-0.

However, Maloney’s opposing pitcher, Dodgers’ Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax struck out the side in the third inning of the game on 9 pitches. It was the second time in Koufax’s career that he accomplished the feat, having previously done so on June 30, 1962 when he struck out the first 3 Mets he faced.  Only 2 other pitchers have twice struck out the side on 9 pitches.

One was Lefty Grove who completed the feat twice late in the 1928 season; on August 23 in the second inning and September 27 in the seventh and  Nolan Ryan who did so once in each league; with the Mets on April 19, 1968 in the third and with the Angels on July 18, 1972 in the second.

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Nine days ago, I wrote about how the the Oakland A’s demolished the San Francisco Giants by a 23-5 score in the most lopsided spring training game that I can recall.

However, 41 years ago on this date, March 16, 1967, the Boston Red Sox scored 10 runs in the 9th inning to come back from a 5 run deficit to beat the hapless New York Mets by a 23-18 score in one of the all-time wildest spring exhibition games on record.

Baseball Library reports;

Boston outhits the Mets 23 to 17 and Jim Lonborg is the eventual winner over Jack Hamilton.

Lonborg went on to post the best season of his career in 1967, a 22-9 mark to lead Boston to the AL pennant.  However Boston, still afflicted with the “curse of the  Bambino”, fell in the World Series to Bob Gibson and the  St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games.  Lonborg went on to have some fine years with the Phillies in 1974, 1976 and 1977 in the same rotation with Lefty  Steve Carlton.

Hamilton, however, was a mediocre at best, journeyman pitcher who began his career with the Phillies in 1962.  There is some debate as to whether Hamilton was actually tagged with the loss.  The above Baseball Library caption indicates that Hamilton apparently was the losing pitcher, while Baseball Almanac indicates that Hamilton was 2-0 with the Mets before going to the then-California Angels where he compiled a 9-6 mark; a combined 11-6 for the season.

While Boston went to the 1967 World Series, the lowly Mets finished dead last in the NL, 40 games behind the Cardinals, despite the 16-13 Rookie of the Year performance by Tom Seaver.  Hall of Fame righthander Seaver would go on to win 311 games over his 20 year career with four teams.

                           Related Blog Post;

               SF Giants Pounded by the Oakland A’s

June 15, 1977; The Day the Mets’ Traded Seaver, The Phillies Acquired Bake McBride

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Baseball Library records that on March 11, 1988, 20 years ago, Angels Manager Gene Mauch, who had managed 4 teams over 26 major league seasons winning 1,902 games, left the then California Angels for health reasons.  He officially retired from baseball 16 days later.

Mauch is best known for managing the Phillies from 1960 through June of 1968, including the infamous 1964 collapse where the Phillies held a 6 1/2 game NL lead with 12 games to play and proceeded to lose 10 straight games to lose the NL pennant to the St. Louis Cardinals on the final day of the season. 

Mauch is also known for being at the managing helm for the Angels’ two near misses in AL championship play in 1982 and 1986.

But in researching Mauch, I came across a game in 1961 which had eluded my memory but would typify Mauch’s penchant for strategy and tactics.

The 1961 Phillies were at rock bottom, at their absolute hapless worst.  They finished the season, the last 154 game season in the National League, with a woeful 47-107 mark.  Their haplessness would only one year later be eclipsed by the Casey Stengel-managed expansion  1962 New York Mets, in their initial season, who finished 40-120 thanks to 4 merciful rainouts.

On the previous day, June 28, the Phils had played to a 7-7 15 inning tie in the 3rd game of a 4 game series with the San Francisco Giants. The two teams had split the first two games.  That game was suspended due to curfew and replayed again as part of a make-up doubleheader the next day, June 29.

Baseball Library outlines Mauch’s strategy in the opening game of the doubleheader and what ocurred;

Mauch’s efforts to conceal his starting pitcher and force Al Dark’s hand has a Phillie lineup including hurlers Don Ferrarese (batting leadoff‚ playing CF)‚ Jim Owens (3rd‚ RF)‚  Chris Short (7th‚ C)‚ and Ken Lehman (9th‚ P) against San Francisco. When Dark sends lefty Billy O’Dell to the mound for one batter‚ Mauch replaces Ferrarese‚ Short and Owen. Dark then replaces O’Dell with Sam Jones. Mauch replaces Lehman with Dallas Green after 2 batters. All the maneuvering takes 3 hours and 20 minutes. 

But this game, with all of the strategizing, nevertheless goes 10 innings. Giants’ great centerfielder Willie Mays’ solo shot off in the 10th of Phils’ losing pitcher Frank Sullivan was the game winner.  Mays went 4 for 5, hitting 3 homers and driving in 5 runs.   The “Say Hey Kid” became the 4th ML player all-time to hit 3 or more HRs twice in one season.  The Giants put the topping on the cake in the nightcap, defeating the Phillies in a normal regulation 9 innings by a 4-1 score.

The Phillies would go on to lose 12 of their next 13 games and would go on to lose an all-time 23 consecutive games between July 23 and August 20, much to the total consternation of the fans and manager Mauch.

                                     Related Posts;

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Sad News: Former Phillies RF Johnny Callison Dead at 67

Remember When: Dick Allen’s $250K Highest in MLB, $15K Minimum Pay

History: Opening Day 1970 Phillies vs Cubs; Short vs Jenkins

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The woeful San Francisco Giants got rolled 23-5 last Saturday by their  Oakland Athletics neighbors in a game most notable for perhaps the most lopsided spring exhibition drubbing that I can recall since first becoming cognizant of baseball in the 1950s.

The A’s charged right out the box in the 1st inning bludgeoning the lefthanded $126 million man Barry Zito for 8 runs on 7 hot and 2 walks in 2/3rd of the first inning. Zito,  who didn’t pitch near up to the expectations of his price-tag in 2007, continued to unimpress putting the Giants in a deep whole from jumpstreet.  Then the A’s just kept coming and coming and puonding the Giants’ bullpen, mostly minor leaguers up for tryouts, to a pulp.  Only relievers lefthanded Erick Threets with his 19.29 ERA (3 games in 2007), and late season closer Brian Wilson got away unscathed in the A’s onslaught.

Meanwhile, Oakland got to give young starter prospect Greg Smith, as well as it’s bullpen, an early spring workout in a laugher with no pressure.  The A’s offense pounded out 29 hits with five guys getting 3 hits each and six more registering 2 hits each.  The AP report for Yahoo sports notes;

A’s starter Greg Smith, meanwhile, needed just 20 pitches to get through two scoreless innings. The left-hander, part of the offseason trade that sent Dan Haren to Arizona, is part of the competition for a spot in the rotation.

“I try not to think about it, but it is in the back of my mind,” Smith said. “I think about it at home watching television. When I get to the ballpark, we all have our work to do.”

Smith gave up a hit and struck out two, though he never got a chance to throw a curve.

“They told me to take it easy,” he said. “The heat helped a lot and it was easy to stay loose.”

The Giants currently stand at 2 wins and 7 losses for the spring while Oakland stands with almoat the reverse record, at 6-2.  Former Phillies centerfielder Aaron Rowand, who missed playing in this pounding, is 5 for 15 with a homer and a couple of RBIs this spring.  He’s gotta be wondering early on — was it worth the money to go from division winners to cellar-dwellers over the winter.

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