April 29, 2007

RIP: Josh Hancock ... & Random Notes

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock, 29, was killed early Sunday morning when his SUV slammed into the back of a flatbed tow truck. Hancock made his major league debut with the Red Sox in September 2002. He was traded a few months later to the Phillies for Jeremy Giambi. (Comments from Varitek and Youkilis.)

Tonight's game between the Cardinals and Cubs has been postponed.
Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki pulled off the 13th unassisted triple play in major league history this afternoon against Atlanta. In the 7th inning, Tulowitzki caught Chipper Jones's line drive behind second base, stepped on the bag to double up Kelly Johnson, and tagged Edgar Renteria coming in from first for the third out. The Rockies won 9-7 in 11.

Career home runs against the Yankees:
Jimmie Foxx 70
Ted Williams 62
Hank Greenberg 53
Carl Yastrzemski 52
Manny Ramirez 50
After his white-hot start, Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-11 in the weekend series against the Red Sox (he's 3 for his last 18). ESPN's Rob Neyer notes that Slappy has had similar hot streaks to his torrid April:
August 11 to September 8, 2002: 16 HR, 33 RBI
July 5 to August 5, 2005: 16 HR, 30 RBI
Aprl 2 to 29, 2007: 14 HR, 34 RBI
The Red Sox's four-game lead in the East is the largest lead at the end of April in team history. In three previous seasons -- 1904, 1918, 2004 -- the Sox had a three-game lead. Those were good years: 3 pennants and 2 championships. There was no World Series in 1904 when John McGraw's New York Giants refused to play.

Squealing on Gary Thorne is one thing. Jose Melendez has an even bigger scoop: the locker room conversation between Schilling and Mirabelli before 2004 ALCS Game 6.

5 comments:

Sean O said...

It may just be me, but I kinda think the league should officially award us the 1904 championship by default. If John McGraw was too angry at the AL it's his problem. His team refused to play, and so the Sox won 5 games to none.

(cuz we could've used that extra one, y'know?)

s1c said...

How weird is this game? I just finished looking at the stats for the past week and noticed that in a week where the Sox went 4 and 3 that the only area where our Starters out performed the opponents was in innings pitched and any per inning stat except for k/9. The starters ERA were 4.7 vs 4.5 and k/9 was 5.36 to 7.43. Yet our starters went 4 and 3 while the opposing starters went 2 and 3.

What does this mean? I think it means we have an offense that if you keep the game close can come back and that it is good we have a bullpen that is lights out (1.8 ERA for the week).

Benjamin said...

Great fluff piece on Okajima.

lougorman'slunch said...

It is not just you Sean. I've emailed Selig on this one. From little league on up, in any game, if the other team simply refuses to show, you win. It seems like a small but real outrage that the sox are not considered the champs for 04 and I have never understood why there is not a movement to make it real in the records of baseball history. League rules have a forfeit clause.

laura k said...

Damn, I missed a triple play!! I hate not having BBTN.