7:09- Hanley Ramirez is out tonight for the Dodgers. This isn't good. As good as Yasiel Puig has been, Hanley Ramirez has been the best everyday player for the Dodgers.
7:12- Carl Crawford is leading off against Adam Wainwright. Wainwright against Greinke. Good match up. Carl Crawford gets on with a bloop single.
7:14- Mark Ellis grounds into a double play. Nuts.
7:17- Yasiel Puig is second in the NL in slugging since he came up. Who's ahead of him?
7:19- Puig strikes out to end the inning. I'm trying to answer that question I just asked.
7:24- Matt Carpenter leads off with a triple for the Cardinals.
7:25- Nope, it's scored a double and an error. And then Nick Punto tries to throw Carpenter out at home plate on a ground ball. A good throw might have had him, but it's the first inning, just take the out at first.
7:26- Carlos Beltran tags up and gets to second on a fly ball to center. Good baserunning.
7:29- I tried ESPN, Baseball Reference, and MLB.com, and I couldn't figure out who is ahead of Puig in slugging since June 3 (Puig's debut). The best I could do find the leaders for the last 30 days on MLB.com. Jonathan Lucroy leads with a .741 slugging percentage. And the Dodgers stranded Carlos Beltran on third. The Cardinals lead 1-0.
7:33- The ESPN guys are talking about Alex Rodriguez's refusal to deny using steroids. We all know he used steroids.
7:34- Rick Sutcliffe calls Rodriguez's press conference a waste of time. Well said, Rick.
7:37- ESPN is going to A-Roid's first at bat. Nice, I don't even need to change the channel. They show the headlines as the New York newspapers. The New York Post has the best one: "Just Go."
7:38- Juan Uribe singles. On Opening Day, I clapped my hands together one time for Juan Uribe when he was introduced before the game. I decided it was a new season and I would give him another chance, but I applauded for everybody more than I applauded for him (except for hitting coach Mark McGwire, I booed him). Uribe has been a pleasant surprise. He's gone from being terrible into being a solid Major League Baseball player again.
7:40- During a commercial, I flick into Seinfeld. Jerry doesn't know if he's invited to Tim Whatley's Thanksgiving Eve party and George has John Voight's LeBaron.
7:47- They're showing the brawl started by Carlos Quentin. If not for players like Ryan Braun and A-Roid, Carlos Quentin would be my least favorite player in the Majors.
8:00- Curt Schilling is talking about how different the players are now when it comes to steroids. That's a great development. It used to be that so many of them were cheating so they didn't want to get caught. Now the guys that are clean want the cheaters caught. It gives me hope.
8:01- Nice catch by Andre Ethier in center. He's not the player he was a couple years ago, but he's doing a very solid job filling in for Matt Kemp in center.
8:03- They're still talking about steroids, so ESPN focuses on Mark McGwire in the Dodgers' dugout. At least he later admitted what he did.
8:04- Rick Sutcliffe points out that everything Jose Canseco said was true. He was an unintentional hero for baseball.
8:10- Greinke gets out of a bases loaded jam. And the Yankee game is starting. Get ready to boo.
8:13- Adrian Gonzalez walks on four pitches to lead off the inning. Always a good way to start an inning even if he is the slowest man in baseball.
8:15- A-Roid didn't get to bat in the top of the first for the Yankees.
8:16- Puig just doubled into right center. The good news about Adrian Gonzalez not scoring is that he prevented Yasiel Puig from being thrown out at third base.
8:17- Andre Ethier singles a run in. We're tied.
8:18- It says on the bottom line that Santonio Holmes expects to miss the first four games of the season. With Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez around, I sometimes forget how much I despise Santonio Holmes.
8:19- A.J. Ellis reaches on a fielder's choice and drives in Puig from third. 2-1 Dodgers.
8:21- Juan Uribe grounds into a double play to end the inning. Come on, Juan, I was saying good things about you before.
8:22- I check Shark Week for the first time. My TV says a program called "Sharkzilla: Sharktweeto" is on.
8:26- Andy Pettitte is in a bases load, nobody out jam in the bottom of the first. It's going to be a little while until we get to boo.
8:28- Jayson Stark says it was a good day for Major League Baseball. Agreed, except for the fact that A-Roid is playing tonight.
8:30- The Cardinals successfully execute the run and hit (3-2 pitch). Runners at the corners, nobody out.
8:33- Commercial in the Yankee game. That means that it's just about time to boo.
8:34- Zack Greinke just threw a pick off throw to third base. I can't remember ever seeing that before. Of course, the fake to third, throw to first move is now illegal (a rule change that I hated). Wainwright shows bunt. Then he bunts on the first pitch and moves the runner at first to second, but the runner at third can't score.
8:35- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8:36- Yeah, Tom, nobody cares about steroids. They're just booing A-Roid for no reason.
8:37- A-Roid gets on with a bloop single. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! I wouldn't be surprised if he injects himself with steroids as soon as he gets back to the dugout (I mean, it sounds ridiculous, but after the way he's acted, it's not that hard to picture him going to the clubhouse when he gets back to the dugout and doing that) I don't root for guys to get hurt, but I might have to make an exception for A-Roid.
8:54- I took a little break. Sutcliffe was just talking about how Greinke hasn't been relying on location as they showed a montage of Greinke getting guys out with perfectly located pitches. Oops.
8:57- All time series between the Dodgers and Cardinals: 1,009 wins for the Dodgers, 1,008 wins for the Cardinals. That's amazing. They are the two best franchises in NL history.
8:58- The Dodgers throw out Allen Craig at the plate to end the fifth inning.. It started with Yasiel Puig hitting the cutoff man. He's learning.
9:08- I'm arguing with my brother on facebook. For some reason, he has no problem with steroids in baseball, but at least he hasn't said anything as ridiculous as he said the other day when he compared using steroids to using caffeine. Fortunately, my brother is so incredibly wrong and we don't have to worry about Major League Baseball allowing steroids in the game again. But if they did, I would seriously consider boycotting Major League Baseball. And there aren't may bigger baseball fans than me. But like I said, there's no way that's happening when owners and now most of the players want a clean game.
9:16- Adam Wainwright is at 95 pitches in the seventh. He's pitched well, but I'm guessing this is his last inning.
9:18- I'm drinking a Sam Adams Irish Red. If it had been warmer today, I'd be drinking Summer Ale. Octoberfest is coming soon. It's a really good beer, but it always makes me sad when it comes out. Fortunately I have a supply of Summer Ale to last me for a few months. I stocked up last weekend after my friend John warned me that it was almost time for Octoberfest.
9:20- 6-0 White Sox. The game might not be exciting, but we can still boo A-Roid.
9:21- Zack Greinke drives in a run with two outs. He's hitting .405. 3-1 Dodgers.
9:24- Greinke's at 93 pitches as we start the bottom of the seventh. This is probably his last inning. The Cardinals are pinch hitting for Wainwright.
9:31- First and second, nobody out for the Cardinals. Time for a triple play.
9:32- Mattingly goes out to the mound, but he's leaving Greinke in.
9:33- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm reminded of this exchange from the classic movie Major League:
Harry Doyle: Heywood's a convicted felon, isn't he Monty?
Monty: Uh, doesn't really say it here.
Harry Doyle: Well, he should be!
Harry Doyle: Heywood's a convicted felon, isn't he Monty?
Monty: Uh, doesn't really say it here.
Harry Doyle: Well, he should be!
9:34- It's 7-0 White Sox so I'm kind of expecting A-Roid to hit a steroid ball over the left field fence right now, but instead he flies out to center.
9:35- It appears that Greinke got somebody out, but now he's coming out of the game.
9:37- Ronald Belisario is in for the Dodgers.
9:38- Allen Craig grounds out to Adrian Gonzalez and drives in a run. 3-2 Dodgers.
9:39- Nick Punto makes a nice play to throw out Matt Holliday and end the inning.
9:40- If the Yankee game hadn't just come back from commercial we would have had a triple Urkin.
9:43- The Little League World Series is about to start. I suppose my brother would be cool with the Little Leaguers using steroids.
9:59- Nick Punto starts an excellent double play to end the eighth inning. Mark Ellis made a nice turn. I joked about Punto being included in the Adrian Gonzalez/Carl Crawford trade last year, but he's had a solid year.
10:00- I've been neglecting Shark Week, but the Dodger game has been too good. "Voodoo Shark" just started.
10:05- I think I just heard that there's a guy named Blimp in this Shark Week show. Okay.
10:07- Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig are enjoying themselves in the dugout after Puig had gotten made at Gonzalez for not scoring on his double earlier in the game (there's no way Gonzalez was going to score from first).
10:10- Yep, a guy named Blimp. And he's underwater in a cage and surrounded by sharks.
10:12- Paco Rodriguez finished the eighth and now he stays in to start the ninth. Kenley Jansen has been pitching a lot lately with the Dodgers winning all these games. He could probably use a night off.
10:16- They just said that if the Dodgers win, they'd tie the all time series at 1,009, but I'm pretty sure before they said the Dodgers had the one game lead. They might have made a mistake before. I'll see if I can google it.
10:18- Andre Ethier makes the catch in center for the final out. 100th win for Zack Greinke. Great job by Paco Rodriguez in relief. 15 straight road wins for the Dodgers.
10:24- The St. Louis Post Dispatch says it was Dodgers 1,009, Cardinals 1,008 going into this game, which would make it Dodgers 1,010, Cardinals 1,008 now. But Baseball Reference has it at Cardinals 1,077, Dodgers 1,044. So I don't know what the answer is. If Baseball Reference is right, the .492 winning percentage is the worst record the Dodgers have against any team that they've played at least 100 times.
10:36- Back on Shark Week, we have a guy in a cage in murky water at night. How insane do you have to be to do this for a living?
10:44- They just took a little bull shark on their boat. Even that thing would terrify me.
10:47- A toothless man is telling a story by a campfire.
10:56- They just got a tracking device on a shark. I'm not really paying attention.
11:00- Shark After Dark is starting. I have a Yankee Stadium tour tomorrow, so I think it's time to say good night. If you read this whole diary, thanks for reading.
11:02- Wait, I just had a great idea. Alex Rodriguez swimming in a tank with every species of shark shown on Shark Week. That should be the main event of Shark Week. And with that, good night.
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