Says here I’m arriving in Oneonta, N.Y., home of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Mia Hamm will be inducted in August. That’s gotta sting a little if you’re Nomar…
1969: Bunning, Stargell, Clemente Lead Pirates Past Padres
July 27, 1969, Pittsburgh: Pirates 4, Padres 1 (box score)
Clay Kirby and Jim Bunning kept the game scoreless until the fourth. Then, in the bottom half of the inning, Roberto Clemente knocked a one-out single to center, advancing to second on an error by Ivan Murrell. One out later, with Manny Sanguillen at the plate, Kirby uncorked a wild pitch, moving Clemente to third. Sanguillen followed with a single to left, scoring Clemente and putting the Pirates up, 1-0.
Pittsburgh added to its lead in the sixth. With one out, Stargell tripled to right and Clemente singled him home.
The next inning, the Padres finally got on the board. With Nate Colbert on second and two out, Murrell doubled to cut the Pirates’ lead to 2-1.
In the eighth, Pittsburgh put the finishing touches on their victory. Stargell led off the inning with a homer off reliever Jack Baldschun. After Clemente and Richie Hebner singled, the Padres summoned Frank Reberger from the ‘pen. Reberger promptly induced Sanguillen to rap into a double play, but it was enough to score Clemente and give the Pirates an insurmountable 4-1 lead.
The Padres had lost the game and the four-game series in Pittsburgh. Kirby saw his record fall to 3-13 in front of 14,888 at Forbes Field. Next stop: St. Louis…
IGD: Padres @ Astros (26 Jul 07)
| time: | 5:05 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | David Wells vs Wandy Rodriguez |
According to Wikipedia, there are Houstons in Scotland, Canada, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. This isn’t remotely interesting, but I have to put something here…
Road Trip to Cooperstown: Oklahoma City to Knoxville
Two guys have been adrift at sea in a small boat for several days. One looks concerned.
“What’s wrong,” asks the other, “did we spring a leak?”
“No, it’s just that…”
“What? What is it?”
“Well, I thought the ocean would be larger.”
* * *
I couldn’t get to Knoxville in time for the Smokies game. I have only myself to blame, and I’m okay with that.
When it’s Trevor Hoffman‘s turn to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, I’ll spread the trip over more days. Either that, or I’ll pop open a cold beverage, plant my lily white ass on the couch, and watch on television like sane people do.
I’m well beyond exhausted, and food has lost its appeal, but one moment on Wednesday brought a huge smile to my face. I had completely forgotten about a pilgrimage I once vowed to make. Ladies and gentlemen, Bucksnort, Tennessee:
* * *
Next up, Durham. In 1902, the Durham Bulls finished their inaugural campaign in the Class C North Carolina League with a 23-39 record, good for fifth place in a six-team league. Otis Stockdale managed the club, and Charlotte’s Buck Weaver (you may remember him) hit .325 to lead the league before it folded on July 15, 1902. Durham would have to wait 11 more years to field another minor-league baseball team.
[Source: Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball: The Official Record of Minor League Baseball
1969: Padres Fall Just Short in Loss at Pittsburgh
July 26, 1969, Pittsburgh: Pirates 4, Padres 3 (box score)
This was almost a brilliant comeback win for the Padres. Almost.
The Pirates drew first blood. In the first inning, they parlayed a double, balk, and groundout into a 1-0 lead against rookie (and former Pittsburgh farmhand) Dave Roberts. They extended it to 2-0 in the third and tacked on another run in the seventh.
San Diego, meanwhile, ran into a brick wall named Luke Walker for 8 2/3 innings. Then, down to their final out, the Padres got a single from Ollie Brown and a double from Nate Colbert to bring up Al Ferrara, who brought the visitors back to life with a three-run homer that, after a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, forced extra innings.
The Padres managed to put a runner in scoring position in their half of the 10th, but couldn’t convert. In the home half, with Billy McCool now on the mound for San Diego, Willie Stargell walked and Roberto Clemente singled him to third (apparently Stargell ran a little better back then). After intentionally walking Jose Pagan, McCool yielded to Frank Reberger.
Bases loaded, nobody out? No problem. Reberger promptly induced Manny Sanguillen to rap into a 5-2-3 double play. With runners now at second and third, and two out, the Padres again went with the intentional walk to load the bases for light-hitting (.250/.274/.275 entering the contest) second baseman Jose Martinez. Unfortunately for the Padres, Reberger unintentionally walked Martinez to force in the winning run. The free pass was just Martinez’ fifth in 130 career plate appearances.
IGD: Padres @ Rockies (25 Jul 07)
| time: | 12:05 p.m. PT |
| tv: | none |
| sp: | Justin Germano vs Aaron Cook |
You really do not see a lot of guys with Aaron Cook’s abysmal strikeout rates stick around in the big leagues these days. It’s a credit to Cook that he’s able to make it work, but kids, don’t try this at home. Unless your name is Justin Germano, and even then…
Road Trip to Cooperstown: San Diego to Oklahoma City
I am so sick of beef jerky and granola bars. Seriously, you have no idea.
Three Things
- Two common billboards that adorn the highway in New Mexico are those that sell fireworks and those that preach abstinence. There is a joke here somewhere.
- The aunt of Khalil Greene’s wife works at a bank in Amarillo. She was very helpful.
- Oklahoma is nice, but how many Arapaho words for “flat” do you suppose there are?
Day 1 of the Ducksnorts World Tour got off to a shaky start. I forgot that Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings, got caught in a few nasty thunderstorms between Phoenix and Winslow, and then spent 40 minutes driving around parts of Albuquerque that — although quite “interesting” — did not contain a baseball stadium.
I eventually found the stadium — it was less than a mile from my hotel room (guess I should’ve gone there first) — but by then the game was nearly over and, after 16 hours of driving, I was in no mood to do anything. Still, I managed to catch a few innings of an Arizona League game that morning in Surprise, so all was not lost.
Day 2 went much better. I fired up some Jimmy Eat World and followed my very simple driving directions for the day — get on I-40 east and drive 542 miles till I’m in Oklahoma City and I see a ballpark.
Watched most of the game between the Oklahoma RedHawks and Portland Beavers. Saw many familiar faces on both teams — Freddy Guzman plays for the RedHawks. Couldn’t tell you much about the game itself; I know the Beavers gave up a few homers, but mostly I was just looking around at stuff and taking in the atmosphere (everybody sang Rodgers and Hammerstein in the middle of the fifth — very odd).
More to tell, but time is limited. Wednesday’s drive, to Knoxville, Tenn., is brought to you by current or former Padres who were born in those fine cities:
- Dusty Allen
- Joe Carter
- Bubba Trammell
Should be fun, just me and 870 miles of highway. And beef jerky and granola bars…
Mickey Mantle is one of many Oklahoma natives honored at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
1969: Pirates’ Poor Play Propels Padres Past Pittsburgh
July 25, 1969, Pittsburgh: Padres 3, Pirates 2 (box score)
The Padres wasted no time in this one. Jose Arcia led off the contest with a triple and Roberto Pena singled him home to give San Diego the early 1-0 lead. The Pirates tied the contest in the second on a solo homer off the bat of Richie Hebner.
The score remained 1-1 until the sixth, when Steve Blass’ defense abandoned him. With two out and Ollie Brown on second, Van Kelly grounded to third, but Hebner couldn’t come up with the ball and Brown scored, with Kelly advancing to second on the play. The next batter, Ivan Murrell, singled home Kelly to make the score 3-1.
Pittsburgh cut the lead in the seventh on three singles, but Joe Niekro held serve and finished strong in the Padres 3-2 victory. Niekro went the distance, scattering nine hits and lowering his ERA to 2.57 on the season, as the Padres improved to 34-66.
IGD: Padres @ Rockies (24 Jul 07)
| time: | 6:05 p.m. PT |
| tv: | 4SD |
| sp: | Chris Young vs Rodrigo Lopez |
This day in Padres history:
1976: Rookie right-hander Butch Metzger, in relief of Randy Jones, strikes out the only batter he faces and picks up the win thanks to a Dave Winfield double with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Metzger improves his record to 8-0 on the season and 10-0 for his career.
1979: Paul Dade singles home Ozzie Smith to beat the Expos, 4-3, in 14 innings. Six future Hall of Famers play in the game: Tony Perez, Gary Carter, Smith, Winfield, Gaylord Perry, and Rollie Fingers.
1988: The Padres beat the Cubs, 2-1, at Wrigley Field. Rookie second baseman Roberto Alomar singles home Marvell Wynne in the second inning to provide the margin of victory. Mark Davis saves the game for Jimmy Jones, who beats Rick Sutcliffe.
1990: Bruce Hurst spins a two-hit shutout over the visiting Reds, as the Padres roll to a 10-0 victory.
1993: The Padres, still reeling from the recent trades of Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff, beat the Expos, 11-3. Derek Bell, Bob Geren, and Ricky Gutierrez all go deep for San Diego, while Tim Worrell notches his first big-league victory.
2001: All that stands between the Padres and a Randy Johnson no-hitter is Bubba Trammell’s first inning single to right-center. Arizona wins, 11-0; Johnson strikes out 16 batters.
Tuesday Open Thread (24 Jul 07)
According to my calculations, I should be somewhere between Albuquerque and Oklahoma City when you read this. Good times…
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