Jayson Stark makes a credible argument for Aroldis Chapman being the NL Cy Young Award winner in this ESPN blog post . How great would it be if it came down to him or Johnny Cueto ?

The case for Aroldis Chapman winning the National League Cy Young Award – ESPN.

via The case for Aroldis Chapman winning the National League Cy Young Award – ESPN.

From this post by Matthew Pouliot of Hardball Talk :

Cueto is now tied with the Mets’ R.A. Dickey for the NL lead in wins, and he’s third with a 2.45 ERA, putting him ahead of Dickey at 2.72. The two pitchers ahead of him in ERA, Ryan Vogelsong (2.27) and Jordan Zimmermann (2.35), have 10 and nine victories, respectively, leaving them with an uphill climb if they hope to figure into the Cy Young race.

If he finishes strong, I think you have to like Cueto’s chances of winning this award.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/12/johnny-cueto-bolsters-cy-young-case-with-eight-scoreless-innings/

This week baseball had a rather bizarre anniversary. 42 years ago this past Tuesday on June 12th, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres while, by his own accounting, he was under the influence of LSD and uppers. As Ellis recounted it :

 I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the (catcher’s) glove, but I didn’t hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters, and the bases were loaded two or three times. The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes, I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. I started having a crazy idea in the fourth inning that Richard Nixon was the home plate umpire, and once I thought I was pitching a baseball to Jimi Hendrix, who to me was holding a guitar and swinging it over the plate. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn’t hit hard and never reached me.

As the Wikipedia article on Ellis explains :

 Ellis had taken the drug under the impression that he had the day off. Ellis boarded a shuttle flight to the ballpark and threw a no-hitter, despite not being able to feel the ball or see the batter or catcher clearly. Ellis said that catcher Jerry May wore reflective tape on his fingers, which helped Ellis to see his signals. Ellis walked eight batters and struck out six, and was aided by excellent fielding plays by second baseman Bill Mazeroski and center fielder Matty Alou.

There is so much irony and symbolism to write about with this story, one almost doesn’t know where to begin. I am going to start with this blog post, but I know I will be revisting this story in the future because I don’t think one post can do it justice. The ironic storylines are everywhere. For starters,  if Ellis is to believed,that means that the hero of the 1960 World Series, Bill Mazeroski, was also a hero, some ten years later in a LSD no-hitter ! Talk about bizarre ! It also means that one of the classiest players and best right fielders to ever play the game, Roberto Clemente, was also part of a LSD no-no. Additionally it means that Willie “Pops” Stargell of the 1979 “We Are Family” World Champion Pirates was also there for the LSD no-hitter and the cocaine usage controversies surrounding that well known team.

 A hilarious send up of the moment via an animated video entitled No Mas Presents: Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No by James Blagden , narrated by Ellis himself, can be found on YouTube at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUhSYLRw14

I remember Dock Ellis in his hey day with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and I, for one, believe him. If for no other reason than when it is all said and done, baseball players are human beings just like the rest of us, and are  just as susceptible, if not more, to the same tempatations and pitfalls that all of us are. I am not excusing anyone’s actions , I am just simply stating that Dock Ellis pitching a no-hit game in 1970 while on LSD and uppers was a sign of his times, just like Rafael Palmiero and others playing on steroids throughout the 1990s was a sign of theirs.

Here’s a link to the boxscore from Dock Ellis’ no-hitter on June 12th , 1970

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN197006121.shtml

and to the Wikipedia article on Ellis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dock_Ellis

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2012/06/Matt-Cain-no-hitter-715856/1#.T9niFs0hySo

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1221526-nl-best-of-the-night-matt-cain-pitches-perfect-game-22nd-in-mlb-history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_perfect_games

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http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/recap/MLB_20120605_TB@NYY/pettittes-strong-outing-leads-yanks

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I can’t leave the month of May behind without talking about Hank Aaron and his 3000th hit. 42 years ago last month on May 17,1970 Hank Aaron singled off Wayne Simpson of the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field to reach this baseball milestone. This moment has special significance for me because if my memory serves me correctly, I believe I was at that game with my dad and three brothers. I was only seven years old  and while  I can’t  say that I remember that specific moment, I do remember the home run that Aaron hit on his next at bat a couple of innings later. That home run was home run number 570 for Hammerin’ Hank on his way, of course, to  hitting his then record-setting  total of 755.  It was a home run to centerfield and I remember seeing the ball sail into the seats from our perch in right field and then seeing Hank Aaron in his signature home run trot around the bases. Because of its significance to Aaron’s career and because of its significance to me as a little boy enamored of baseball even then, it will always be  one of my most magical and mythical baseball moments. A link to the actual video footage of these  two moments from  the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is below. The video link is the first link at the bottom right of the page and if you watch closely  as you hear an excerpt of an interview with Aaron and then commentator Curt Gowdy continue on about Aaron’s career, you will see a clip of the Reds centerfielder watching as the aforementioned home run ball flys over his head into the stands. According to the boxscore from that day, the centerfielder in question is none other than Johnny Bench,  undoubtedly on a short break from his catching duties, because of the game being the second game of a double header.The link to the box score from that day is also below.

video link:

http://baseballhall.org/hof/aaron-hank

boxscore link :

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197005171.shtml

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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1196345-albert-pujols-vs-alex-rodriguez-who-has-best-shot-at-bonds-home-run-record

Former Yankee Don Larsen selling perfect game World Series uniform – NYPOST.com.

I hope he gets all he needs for his grandsons and more…I guess I am amazed that the Hall of Fame didn’t already own this…

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1197315-the-top-75-active-mlb-players-with-the-best-chance-of-making-the-hall-of-fame

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http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/27/josh-hamilton-gets-iv-oxygen-after-walkoff-homer/

Albert Pujols will rightfully take his palce as one of the all time greats when it is all said and done….go Albert go:))

 Mickey Mantle, Yankee Stadium, May 22, 1963
On May 22, 1963, Mickey Mantle hit a home run that none who saw will ever forget. In the 11th inning of the game that day against the Kansas City A’s, Mantle hit a Bill Fischer pitch hard on a line to right field, and the ball struck the decorative facade of the stadium mere feet from the top, barely missing becoming the only man ever to hit a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium during a major league game. The ball struck the facade at a point 102 feet above field level, at a point 363 feet horizontally from home plate. Atmopsheric data is known as follows: temperature was 70 degrees, wind was 13 mph from the SW, which at Yankee Stadium means it was blowing out to left field (and thus not helping Mantle’s home run much). As for the time of flight, it is not known, but various reports from witnesses state that the ball was still climbing when it struck the facade. Since all observers were below the flight path of the ball, it is not likely that anyone could really be certain that the ball was going up, but it seems likely that the ball must have been very near its apex when it hit the facade, so only those trajectories that yield an apex within a few feet of 102 feet above field level will be considered. Another consideration is the speed off the bat that comes out of the assumed time of flight: only times of flight that yield reasonable speeds off the bat will be considered. After trying numerous times of flight, a value of 3.41 seconds was chosen. This yields an apex of 108 feet, which means the ball had only slightly passed its peak. The ball left the bat at an angle of 27.2 degrees, with a calculated value for speed off the bat of 123.9 mph, an extrememly high value, but one that seems feasible for what Mantle, one of the greatest long-distance hitters ever, referred to as the hardest ball he ever hit. With the inputs described above, Hit Tracker estimates the true distance of the Mantle “facade” homer at 504 feet. (NOTE: the stadium image shows the current configuration of Yankee Stadium). Questions or comments about this analysis are welcome, but let me make two points first: 1. if the ball had TRULY still been going up when it hit the facade, it would have had to been going at least 150 mph off the bat. If Mantle (or anyone, for that matter) was capable of hitting a baseball 150 mph, he would certainly have hit a ball near that speed at a better angle (i.e. closer to 35 degrees) at some point in his long career, with that ball EASILY leaving the stadium on the fly. That never happened, which proves that Mantle could not have hit the ball at 150 mph off the bat, and thus that the ball wasn’t actually still going up. 2. a baseball in flight responds to forces acting on it, such as gravity, wind resistance and the Magnus Force (from the spin of the ball); it does not respond to “mystique”, and it has no idea who hit it. Any estimate of home run distance should limit itself to aerodynamically valid trajectories; a 600 foot home run hit without a following wind (as is the case here) would have to leave the bat at 149 mph, and a 734 foot homer at more than 175 mph.

ESPN Home Run Tracker :: Hit Tracker Highlight Home Runs.

via ESPN Home Run Tracker :: Hit Tracker Highlight Home Runs.

I personally agree with all those commentators who say the pitch count is superseded by how well the pitcher is pitching…if he can go all the way, let him go all the way.

High and Tight: Our Rock Roll Baseball Experts Debate Pitch Counts and Complete Games | Music News | Rolling Stone.

via High and Tight: Our Rock Roll Baseball Experts Debate Pitch Counts and Complete Games | Music News | Rolling Stone.

MLB Recap – New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox – Apr 21, 2012 – CBSSports.com.

via MLB Recap – New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox – Apr 21, 2012 – CBSSports.com.

What a great night for Grandy and the Yankees…keep it up boys !!!

a greatYankees’ Curtis Granderson clubs three home runs – USATODAY.com.

via Yankees’ Curtis Granderson clubs three home runs – USATODAY.com.

Colorado Rockies’ Jamie Moyer becomes oldest pitcher to win a Major League game at age 49 – NY Daily News.

via Colorado Rockies’ Jamie Moyer becomes oldest pitcher to win a Major League game at age 49 – NY Daily News.

**factoid courtesy of ‘Big Legaue Trivia’

Anyway…

I missed a former Rattler on the roster of a playoff team.  But, that is only because he was activated yesterday after the post went up on the blog. (I like that excuse. I may need to use it again at some point in the future.)

Mark Lowe (’05) came off the 60-Day DL yesterday and faced the Mariners…which is a little weird…but, this entry on Buster Olney’s twitter feed caught my eye.

Scouts raving
about the Rangers’ Mark Lowe, who made his first outing since May and
was clocked 94-95. Could be a factor in october.

The Dallas Morning-News is a little bit more…subdued.

The Rangers activated right-hander Mark Lowe from the 60-day disabled list, and he pitched one inning against the Mariners, allowing one hit and striking out two.

It was Lowe’s first appearance since May 2, as he underwent surgery on his lower back in June.

“It’s good to be around the team again,” Lowe said. “The only
thing I can do is go out and do my job and let the people that
make the decisions make the decisions.”

Lowe is expected to pitch Friday and Sunday, and the Rangers haven’t ruled him out as a playoff option.

“He’s got two more chances,” Washington said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

Speaking of pitching, remember Leury Bonilla? He was a position player for the Rattlers in 2007 and picked up a save in a game at Fort Wayne…Don’t ask. It was an odd game.

Well, I missed this in the scramble and the downtime at the end of the season.  He played all nine positions in the final game of the regular season for the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx.

His box score line is pretty impressive, reading CF-LF-RF-2B-SS-3B-1B-C-P as he worked his way around the diamond.

Once he got to the mound in the ninth, he needed only 10 pitches to
close out Chattanooga and wrap up a comfortable 8-0 win for West Tenn.
He even collected a strikeout in the process, but that batter, Jamie
Pedroza, shouldn’t feel too bad. Bonilla actually has something of a
record as a strikeout pitcher, with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 career innings

Though others have accomplished the nine positions in nine innings feat
before Bonilla, he’ll be the last West Tenn Diamond Jaxx player to
accomplish the feat. For after Sunday’s game, the franchise announced it will be known as the Jackson Generals starting next spring.

He also homered and had a sacrifice fly in the game.