Tag / Diamondbacks

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#275 – Danny Richar

Richar

Name: Danny Richar

Rank: 275

Position: 2B

Year With White Sox: 2007

Danny Richar joined the White Sox organization via trade from the Diamondbacks for Aaron Cunningham.  After a brief stint in Triple A, he joined the White Sox after Tadahito Iguchi was traded to the Phillies and made his major league debut on July 28, going 2-3 in a White Sox victory against the Blue Jays.  Richar finished out the year for the disappointing White Sox squad, putting up a .230 batting average.

Richar returned to Triple A in 2008, and, with the White Sox in contention for the division title, Richar was packaged to the Reds, along with Nick Masset, for future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.

Richar’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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Ballpark Tour: Great American Ball Park

GABP

Stadium Name: Great American Ball Park

Location: Cincinnati

Home Team: Reds

Years in Service: 2003 – Present

Visits: 7

After 32 1/2 seasons at Riverfront Stadium, the Reds moved next door to the newly built Great American Ball Park for the 2003 season, opening against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Bronze statues of former stars Joe Nuxhall, Ernie Lombardi, Ted Kluszewski, and Frank Robinson are located in front of the main entrance.

Less than a month into the stadium’s existence, I made my first trip to the GABP with my friend Scott, who had moved to the Cincinnati area, to see the Reds take on the Padres.  The next season, the Cubs opened their season in Cincinnati against the Reds, so another trip was in order, where Vice President Dick Cheney threw out the first pitch..  In August of 2005, I attended the Reds game against the Diamondbacks, kicking off a string of 3 stadiums in 3 states in 9 days.  In 2006, the Cubs once again opened their season on the road against the Reds and again it constituted a road trip down to see, where this time President George W Bush threw out the first pitch.  I made a return trip that summer for interleague play to see the White Sox battle the Reds.  In 2007, when the Cubs were looking the clinch the division, I made the trip down, but missed it by one day.  The next year, I made my final, to date, trip down to Cincinnati and saw the Rockies defeat the Reds.

Of all the newer stadiums that have opened over the past 20 years, Great American Ball Park does not often illicit the praise that the others get.  However, I like it.  It’s a fine place to see a game and has plenty of the modern amenities that are required here in the 21st century.  I wouldn’t hesitate to return, despite the fact that it has been 5 years since I’ve been there.

by jim

Looking To Next Year

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersWith the 2013 season limping to the finish line, it became time to look forward to next year on Tuesday when the White Sox released their 2014 schedule.  The south siders begin the 2014 campaign at home against the Twins on March 31.

Inter-league matchups against the NL West include home dates against the Diamondbacks, Giants, and Padres.  The White Sox will travel to Los Angeles for yet another tilt with their opponent from the 1959 World Series and will also make their first ever trip to Colorado to face the Rockies.  The team will also split a 4 game series against the Cubs, similar to this season, with the first 2 games at Wrigley Field and the last 2 at US Cellular Field.

Should the team find themselves in contention, they finish the year with games mostly against their Central division foes, with only 7 September games coming outside the division.

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Ballpark Tour: Qualcomm Stadium

JackMurphy

Stadium Name: Qualcomm Stadium

Location: San Diego

Home Team: Padres

Years in Service: 1969 – 2003

Visits: 1

San Diego Stadium opened on August 20, 1967 as the home of the AFL’s Chargers and opened for baseball the following spring for the final season of the minor league San Diego Padres.  The following season, San Diego’s expansion team, also named the Padres, moved in and stayed as the main tenants until the end of the 2003 season.  The stadium was renamed in 1980 for local sportswriter Jack Murphy, who had championed support for the building of the stadium, after he passed away.  That name stuck until 1997, when the naming rights were sold to technology company Qualcomm.

In 2003, I was in San Diego for what, to date, was my 3rd and final Comic Con.  On the afternoon of July 17, I skipped out on the con and took the trolley out to Mission Valley to take in the day’s contest between the Padres and the Diamondbacks.  I don’t remember much about the game, which the Diamondbacks won handidly 9-1, other than Curt Schilling taking the bump for the Dbacks.  The park, one of the last remaining cookie cutter stadiums that popped up in the late 60s and early 70s and designed to house both baseball and football teams while doing service to neither, did not really register one way or the other and hold’s no particular space in my memory.  I do seem to remember a giant outdoor escalator, but that might have been Candlestick.

by jim

All Time Team Records

As we head into the 2013 season, here all the all-time team records in games that I have attended.

All-Time Team Records

Team Won Lost Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 12 2 0.857
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Philadelphia Phillies 10 6 0.625
Toronto Blue Jays 9 6 0.600
Chicago White Sox 209 171 0.550
Colorado Rockies 7 6 0.538
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 14 12 0.538
New York Yankees 9 8 0.529
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by jim

Nostradamus Wept – NL Edition

With 81 games in the books, we are officially at the halfway point of the 2012 season.  The so-called experts at Sports Illustrated made some pre-season predictions that are looking a little off a this point.

Team Won Lost

Predicted

Wins

 Predicted

Losses

 Comments
NL East
Washington Nationals 47 32 84 78

The Nationals were expected to improve this year, but they appear to have taken a giant leap forward.
New York Mets 44 38 75 87 One of the surprises of the first half, the Mets were thought to be also-rans following their off-season ownership troubles.
Atlanta Braves 42 39 82 80 The Braves have kept a steady ship following last season’s late collapse.
Miami Marlins 39 42 89 73 The Fish surrounded a great May with struggles in April and June.
Philadelphia Phillies 37 46 94 68 Injuries to Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Roy Halladay have kept the Phillies out of their usual spot in the pennant chase.
NL Central
Pittsburgh Pirates 45 36 70 92 Last year the Pirates flirted with respectability for the first time since 1992 before faltering after one bad call cost them a game.  This year, they may be for real.
Cincinnati Reds 44 37 89 73 The Reds are right at their expected pace.
St. Louis Cardinals 43 39 87 75 The defending champions have dealt with the loss of Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter better than anyone expected them to.
Milwaukee Brewers 38 43 84 78 After finally winning the NL Central last year, the Brewers have struggled after losing Prince Fielder.
Houston Astros 32 50 57 105 The rebuilding Astros have been a little better than expected in their final season in the National League.
Chicago Cubs 31 50 66 96 The rebuilding Cubs have been a little worse than expected in Theo Epstein’s first year as the savior of the franchise.
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers 46 37 83 79 The Dodgers had a surprising first half, sparked on by their ownership change.
San Francisco Giants 45 37 90 72 The Giants have had an eventful first half, with a perfect game and 4 straight shutouts.
Arizona Diamondbacks 39 42 88 74 The DBacks struggled in the first half, and that was before losing Daniel Hudson for the season.
San Diego Padres 33 50 70 92 The Padres have been a little worse than expected in the first half.
Colorado Rockies 31 50 79 83 The Rockies have struggled in the first half and have turned to a 4 man rotation to try and turn things around.

 

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#377 – Jeff Bajenaru

Name: Jeff Bajenaru

Rank: 377

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2004-2005

Jeff Bajenaru appeared in a grand total of 13 games for the White Sox (out of his 14 career appearances), but was lucky enough to make 4 of them in 2005, thus earning himself a World Series ring.  The best thing he ever did for the Sox just may have been following the 2005 season, when he was moved to Arizona for utility infielder Alex Cintron.

Bajenaru’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →

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All Time Team Records

Heading into the 2012 season, here all the all-time team records in games that I have attended.

All-Time Team Records

Team Won Lost Winning Pctg
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 12 2 0.857
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Philadelphia Phillies 10 6 0.625
Toronto Blue Jays 8 5 0.615
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 13 10 0.565
Chicago White Sox 191 158 0.547
New York Yankees 9 8 0.529
Chicago Cubs 188 168 0.528
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#485 – Javier Vazquez

Name: Javier Vázquez

Rank: 485

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2006-2008

In 2005, the White Sox defied expectations and won their first World Series championship since 1917.  In an attempt to bolster the rotation for their title defense, Kenny Williams sent playoff hero Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, Luis Vizcaino, and prospect Chris Young to the Diamondbacks for Javier Vazquez, the former Expos ace who had bounced around the previous few years.  On paper, it seemed like a good move, but it failed to take into account that Javier Vazquez is at his best when he is pitching for either a National League club or a team out of contention.  Neither of these fit in to the White Sox plans for the 2006 season.

Watching him pitch in 2006 was frustrating, to say the least.  He had a propensity for being unhittable for 5 innings, and then completely falling apart in the sixth.  He finished the year 11-12 with a 4.84 ERA in 33 games and, while they won 90 games, the White Sox finished in third place.

2007 was a much better year for Vazquez, going 15-8 with a 3.74 ERA.  Coincidentally, the White Sox finished the year with a 72-90 record, 24 games behind the Indians.  In 2008, as the team rebounded to 89-74, winning the division in a one game playoff versus the Twins.  Vazquez regressed back to a 12-16 record, with a 4.67 ERA.  Thanks to the push down the stretch to win the division, the Sox were forced to start Vazquez in game 1 of the ALDS, where he was battered around by the Rays, giving up 6 runs in 4 1/3 innings.  That December, his tenure on the South Side came to an end when he was moved to the Braves for a package that included Tyler Flowers and Brent Lillibridge.

Vazquez’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →

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2011 Predictions Revisited

6 months ago, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the upcoming baseball season.  Now that the season has (mercifully) come to an end, and my predicted divison winners finished an average of just over 13 games back, let’s take a look back at how wrong I was.

American League

East: Red Sox

National League

East: Braves

Wow.  Neither team won their division, though both had commanding Wild Card leads heading into September.  Both ultimately blew those leads, missing out on the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.  The Red Sox actually were one of, in not the best team in baseball for 4 months this summer, but they were horrible in the other two, April and September.  The Braves can at least point to injuries to their starting rotation as the cause for their collapse.

 

Central: White Sox

Central: Brewers

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