Don’t worry, I’m not planning to make a habit of this. But it is the first game of the World Series and I just can’t help myself. Yep, a running commentary of the game.
Band practice canceled. Drummer’s kid came down with the flu. So here I am with the laptop, ready to watch Game 1 of the World Series. I can’t tell you how cool it is to watch Joe Buck and Tim McCarver move their lips without having to hear them. Got Jon Miller and Joe Morgan dialed in on the radio. They’re talking about the upcoming game. Fox, meantime, is running some goofy video montage. Do they really think this series is all about the rally monkey? Ugh.
Radio Shack is an official sponsor of the World Series. As the late Chris Farley would say, “Well, la-di-frickin-da.&”
Boston Public preview. Not even Jeri Ryan can get me to watch that show. Miller and Morgan, meantime, are talking about Mike Scioscia. Were Scioscia and Dusty Baker ever teammates with the Dodgers? I can’t remember.
5:02 PM Angels take the field. Crowd goes absolutely nuts. Yeah, baseball is dead.
5:04 PM Tsuyoshi Shinjo is the Giants’ DH? Ack… Bowl of popcorn my wife gave me two minutes ago is empty before the first pitch.
5:05 PM Jarrod Washburn throws strike one to Kenny Lofton. We’re underway.
5:07 PM Lofton strikes out on a pitch in his eyes. Washburn’s fastball is coming in 91-93 MPH.
5:08 PM Talk to each other, people. Troy Glaus and David Eckstein nearly collide chasing a foul ball. Glaus catches it. Two out. Okay, I guess it is a bit loud there.
5:10 PM Morgan refers to Washburn as Jaret Wright (whom the Padres, as a man whose opinion I respect points out, would do well to sign). Washburn fans Jeff Kent on a high fastball. He’s dealing.
5:13 PM Jason Schmidt throws strike one to Eckstein. Fastball, 95 MPH.
5:14 PM Strike one to Darin Erstad. Fastball, 97 MPH.
5:17 PM Tim Salmon strikes out on a high 97-MPH fastball to end the inning. Both pitchers are looking real good early.
5:20 PM Barry Bonds, first World Series at-bat. Ball one, high. Fastball low, ball two. High fastball fouled at the plate, 2-1.
5:21 PM Gone. 1-0, Giants. Unreal.
5:23 PM How does Benito Santiago get his bat on that ball? Weak grounder to third; one out.
5:24 PM Reggie Sanders smokes one to right. 2-0. Bonds, we learn, is the 26th player to homer in his first World Series at-bat. Andruw Jones was the last, in 1996.
5:25 PM Morgan is questioning Washburn’s overreliance on fastballs. Washburn starts throwing more breaking balls.
5:30 PM Shot of fans holding a sign advocating Garret Anderson for MVP. No comment needed.
5:31 PM Anderson strikes out on a nice change-up.
5:32 PM Schmidt throws Glaus a filthy slider. He’s ahead in the count, 0-2. Schmidt is going to be tough to hit tonight.
5:34 PM Not that tough to hit. Glaus hammers an 0-2 hanger into the Anaheim bullpen. That was a brutal pitch. Glaus is the 27th player to homer in his first World Series at-bat.
5:36 PM Brad Fullmer grounds a single between first and second. Scott Spiezio comes to bat. Fox shows footage of his band, Sandfrog.
5:38 PM Fly ball to center, two outs. Spiezio got good wood on that ball. For a guy throwing in the high-90s, Schmidt isn’t getting the ball by a lot of guys. Great jump by Fullmer, stolen base. Schmidt forgot about him.
5:39 PM Replay shows Fullmer was out on a terrific throw by Santiago. Fox runs an instant poll asking viewers whether Baker should challenge the call. Oh, wait…
5:41 PM Danny DeVito is in the house.
5:42 PM Bengie Molina flies to deep left to end the inning. Schimdt jumped ahead of him, 0-2, before running the count full and ultimately retiring him. Those extra pitches will come back to haunt him. Schmidt needs to be more efficient.
5:45 PM Shinjo up to bat. I wonder if Baker considered sticking Livan Hernandez or Russ Ortiz in the DH slot. Washburn bounces a 55-foot change-up.
5:47 PM Shinjo strikes out. He looks overmatched. Tommy Lasorda is in the house.
5:48 PM Lofton flies to deep center on a bad pitch from Washburn. A better hitter does damage with that one. Fox informs me that Scioscia and Baker were teammates from 1980-1983. New motto for Fox Sports: Not particularly good but not entirely useless, either.
5:50 PM Washburn bounces another one in front of the plate. Rich Aurilia grounds the next pitch to his counterpart to end the inning. Eckstein doesn’t appear to have much of an arm. Wonder if that’ll come into play on a relay during the series.
5:54 PM Are you kidding me? Adam Kennedy again. Misses a homer to right by about a foot, ends up with a double. Eckstein lays down a good bunt that just rolls foul.
5:55 PM Eckstein shows bunt, pulls back and swings over a slider in the dirt. Ugly.
5:56 PM How does Eckstein get his bat on that pitch? Fastball, 98 MPH, in the eyes. Just gets a piece of it.
5:57 PM Eckstein bounces an inside fastball to second base, Kennedy moves to third. Nice at-bat.
5:59 PM Erstad strikes out on a fastball in his eyes. When did Schmidt turn into Curt Schilling? A quick look at the stats suggests a possible answer to my rhetorical question: age 29, same age as when Schilling turned into Schilling.
6:00 PM Salmon flies to center. End of inning. Anaheim doesn’t score. Wonder if Kennedy makes it to third on his own if he gets out of the box a little sooner.
6:04 PM Jim Edmonds is in the house. Kent grounds to short. Eckstein’s arm makes me nervous.
6:06 PM Bonds strikes out on a fastball up and in. Bizarre to see him go out of the strike zone. Nice pitching by Washburn. Good to see him be aggressive.
6:11 PM Washburn loses Sanders on a 3-1 breaking ball. Not the worst thing in the world with J.T. Snow up next.
6:15 PM Snow keeps fouling off 3-2 offerings. Washburn is up to 69 pitches.
6:16 PM Snow walks on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. Bases loaded. How can Santiago, Sanders, and Snow be giving Washburn more trouble than Kent and Bonds?
6:17 PM David Bell pops into the Bermuda triangle behind first. Salmon takes charge, inning over.
6:21 PM Anderson flails at a change-up in the dirt. He can’t hit that pitch. Schmidt comes back with a fastball, which Anderson whacks into right for a base hit. Sanders plays it nicely to hold him to a single.
6:24 PM Glaus hits a 2-1 pitch a mile high. Kent puts it away.
6:26 PM Fox flashes its first rally monkey graphic. Fans outside of California wonder what took so long.
6:29 PM It’s been a while since I’ve seen Schmidt pitch, but I don’t remember his change-up being this good.
6:32 PM After seeing four straight change-ups, Spiezio rips a fastball inside the first-base line for a double. He’s been right on Schmidt’s hard stuff all night. Nice play again by Sanders to keep Anderson at third.
6:35 PM Molina grounds weakly to third. End of inning. Both teams are missing opportunities.
6:39 PM Shinjo singles to right-center. Yo, T., you’re making me look bad. Then again, who’s to say that Hernandez or Ortiz wouldn’t have gotten a hit there?
6:42 PM Washburn comes up and in to Lofton, who doesn’t glare back at Washburn.
6:47 PM Washburn falls behind Kent, 2-0. Might want to throw a strike here. He does; Kent bounces to short again. Eckstein bobbles it, recovers, and shotputs the ball over to first. Inning over. By my count Washburn has thrown 87 pitches through five.
6:51 PM Schmidt gets Kennedy to swing at a fastball off the plate for his fifth strikeout. Follows a change-up with a 97-MPH heater. That’s nasty.
6:52 PM Eckstein beats out a grounder to Kent’s right. Kent makes a diving stop but throws late. Maybe it’s me, but that looks like a makeable play.
6:56 PM Erstad is right on Schmidt’s fastball. Keeps fouling ‘em back.
6:57 PM Hit-and-run single up the middle. Aurilia covering second almost snags the line drive. Eckstein takes third. Salmon up.
6:59 PM Salmon pops one foul off first base. Snow falls down, gets back up, and makes the catch. Damn, that was a nice recovery. I’m a little surprised to see Salmon hacking at the first pitch. He’s usually pretty selective.
7:01 PM Anderson strikes out on three pitches, the last of which is a 96-MPH fastball just above the shoetops. Angels blow another opportunity.
7:04 PM Bonds hammers the first pitch down the first base line. Spiezio makes a nice play on a tough hop, flips to Washburn. One out.
7:07 PM Santiago strikes out. That’s five for Washburn.
7:10 PM Sanders drills a single to left. He’s seeing the ball well.
7:13 PM Washburn falls behind Snow, 3-0. Throws a strike, then serves up a homer to left-center on his 106th pitch of the night. Snow, who has struggled against southpaws throughout his career, looked very comfortable against Washburn, who now leaves in favor of Brendan Donnelly.
7:17 PM Good movement on Donnelly’s slider. Looks like it’s breaking a little early, though.
7:21 PM Aagh! Beelzebud is in the house. Make it go away. Please, for the love of all that is good in the world, make it go away.
7:22 PM Glaus hits another bomb to left, 4-2. He’s gotta be close to a 50-homer season.
7:24 PM Fullmer walks. First free pass issued by Schmidt. Nobody out, tying run at the plate.
7:26 PM Spiezio pops the first pitch high to right field. Like Salmon, he’s usually pretty selective. Seems like a few of these guys are pressing a bit. Felix Rodriguez and Aaron Fultz are getting ready in the San Francisco bullpen.
7:27 PM Dinner is served. Pasta pomadoro. Back in a few.
7:45 PM I’m back. Giants up, 4-3, going to the bottom of the seventh. Rodriguez starting his second inning of work for San Francisco.
7:49 PM Don’t forget to watch "Girls Club" on Monday. I know I won’t miss it.
7:50 PM Salmon hits one on the screws to right but Sanders comes in to make a nice play. Salmon had a good pass on that one.
7:53 PM Anderson is having trouble with Rodriguez’ fastball. Not surprising; 98 MPH with movement. Yikes.
7:55 PM Anderson hits a sharp grounder to Kent to close out the seventh. Angels are running out of outs.
7:59 PM Scott Schoeneweis and Ben Weber up in the Anaheim bullpen. Gotta believe Schoeneweis is coming in to face Kent. Meanwhile, Tim Worrell is warming up for the Giants and Donnelly has fallen behind Kent, 3-0. Not good.
8:00 PM Kent lines to Eckstein, who drops the ball, picks it up, and throws him out. Enter Schoeneweis.
8:04 PM Schoeneweis has worked four games this postseason, for a total of one inning. He’s only 28 years old and he actually was a pretty decent starting pitcher before switching to relief. Bonds walks on four pitches. Enter Weber. That’s got to be a gratifying day’s work for Schoeneweis.
8:07 PM Fox is showing highlights of Santiago as a Padre. That seems like a lifetime ago.
8:09 PM Morgan keeps talking about Bonds possibly stealing a base here. I don’t see it. The Angels seem to agree with Morgan, as Weber keeps throwing over to first. Morgan mentions that Weber sets up differently when he throws to first. I guess if it’s that obvious, then maybe Morgan is right and Bonds should run.
8:11 PM Bonds goes, Santiago grounds to short. Eckstein makes a nice diving stop and throws out Santiago by plenty.
8:13 PM Weber’s pitches move a lot.
8:15 PM Sanders strikes out on another wicked sinker. The more I see of Weber, the more I don’t have a problem with Scioscia bringing him into a close game late instead of Percival. His stuff is nasty.
8:18 PM Enter Worrell. Angels have six outs left.
8:21 PM Worrell freezes Glaus for strike three. The pitch appeared to be pretty hittable, but Glaus was looking for something else.
8:23 PM Fullmer grounds to Kent. If Worrell retires Spiezio, it’s Robb Nen in the ninth. Now would be a good time to start hitting.
8:25 PM What is Spiezio waiting for? Whatever it is, I don’t think he’s going to get it.
8:26 PM Spiezio coaxes a walk. Nice at-bat. Chone Figgins runs for Spiezio. Orlando Palmeiro bats for Molina.
8:31 PM Palmeiro is battling. I love his approach at the plate. He’s got that Dave Magadan thing going.
8:32 PM Palmeiro pops to Bell just off the Angels’ dugout. Ninth inning. Uh-oh.
8:35 PM Jose Molina behind the plate, Shawn Wooten at first base. Weber is dealing; he looks to me like a guy who could close.
8:40 PM Battery died on the laptop. I’m back. Weber cruised through the top of the ninth. Kennedy, Eckstein, and Erstad due up against Nen.
8:44 PM Kennedy looks like he’s trying to tie the game. Hits one to the warning track in right. Two outs to go.
8:45 PM Nen looks a bit rusty. His velocity and command aren’t as good as usual.
8:47 PM Eckstein strikes out on a nasty slider down and away. So much for rust. It comes down to Erstad.
8:50 PM Erstad pops up an 0-2 pitch to right-center. Lofton puts it away to end Game 1. Bonds and the Giants get a World Series win under their belts. If this game was any indication, it’s going to be one heckuva series. Later…
Recent Comments