Tag / Phillies

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#264 – Ron Reed

Ron_ReedName: Ron Reed

Rank: 264

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1984

After 18 seasons in the National League, Ron Reed moved to the American League for the first time when he was traded from the Phillies to the White Sox on December 5, 1983 for Jerry Koosman.  Reed was supposed to be a stabilizing factor at the back end of the bullpen as the White Sox looked to repeat as AL West champs.  The 41 year old Reed pitched well enough, but the White Sox fell apart, finishing 5th in their division.

Following spring training in 1985, Reed was released and he decided to retire.

Reed’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were: Continue reading →

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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:

Continue reading →

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Looking To Next Year Too

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 Cubs released their 2014 schedule. The north siders begin the 2014 campaign on the road against the Pirates on March 31.  Their home schedule kicks off against the Phillies that weekend.

Inter-league matchups against the AL East include home dates against the Yankees, Rays, and Orioles. The Cubs will travel to Boston, Toronto, and will also make their first ever trip to new Yankess Stadium to face the Yankees. The team will also split a 4 game series against the White Sox, 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: AT&T Park

ATTPark

Stadium Name: AT&T Park

Location: San Francisco

Home Team: Giants

Years in Service: 2000 – Present

Visits: 1

The San Francisco Giants opened Pacific Bell Park in 2000 after 40 seasons at Candlestick Park.  The ballpark was the first stadium built without public funds since the completion of Dodger Stadium in 1962.  The stadium was renamed SBC Park in 2003 and then finally AT&T Park in 2006 thanks to the corporate upheaval in the telecommunications world.  In April 2010, the stadium became the first MLB ballpark to receive LEED Silver Certification for Existing Buildings, Operations and Maintenance.

In May of 2008, I made my second trip out to Bay Area, this time to attend the Java One conference.  The week started with the A’s in town while the Giants returned home for a weekend series, so I adjusted my schedule so that I could attend games at both stadiums.  Friday night, after most of the techies had left town, I hopped on the bus down to AT&T Park to see the Giants, once again, take on the Phillies.  I dropped some major coin for the best tickets in the house, which got me in a box between home plate and the Phillie dugout and a prime spot on the evening’s telecast.  The Phillies, on their way to a World Series championship, defeated the Giants 7-4.

As one would expect from a newly built stadium, AT&T Park offered all the amenities one would expect.  The park is a huge upgrade over Candlestick and, given the Giants recent success, has proven to be a boon for the franchise.  Given the opportunity, I would love to go back for another game.

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Ballpark Tour: 3 Com Park

Stadium Name: 3 Com Park

Location: San Francisco

Home Team: Giants

Years in Service: 1960 – 1999

Visits: 1

When the New York Giants moved west in 1958, the city of San Francisco began constructing a new ballpark for them, and Candlestick Park was born.  The stadium opened in 1960 and was the home of the now-San Francisco Giants through the 1999 season.  Along the way, the stadium has also played host to the Oakland Raiders, the San Francisco 49ers, dozens of commercials and movies, and, in 1965, the final commercial concert appearance by the Beatles.

In September of 1999, I headed out to the Bay Area to visit an old friend.  One of the items on our agenda was to head out to Candlestick, which had been renamed 3Com Park by this point, to see a game before the Giants moved to their new home the following season.  With only 13 home games left on the schedule, we set out to see the Giants take on the Phillies on September 2.  The Giants, behind starter Joe Nathan, defeated the Phillies 3-2 on a cool autumn afternoon.  I would return to San Francisco 9 years later to check out the new stadium, but that is a tale for another day.

by jim

The Gavin Floyd Era Has (Probably) Come To An End

MLB: APR 05 White Sox v TigersAfter 7 years of up and down service, Gavin Floyd has likely thrown his last pitch as a member of the White Sox, thanks to a tear in his flexor muscle near his right elbow, which has caused an unstable ulnar collateral ligament.  Floyd is expected to get a third opinion early next week, and may have to undergo Tommy John surgery, which is likely not how he planned on spending his walk year before hitting the free agent market.  While I would never wish an injury upon any player, I can’t say that I am disappointed that Floyd will no longer take the bump for the Sox.

The White Sox acquired Gavin Floyd following the 2006 season in a trade with the Phillies for Freddy Garcia.  After an inauspicious debut with the White Sox during the ill-fated 2007 campaign, Floyd busted out of the gate in 2008, finishing with a 17-8 record and helping to lead the White Sox to the Central Division title.  Ever since, though, Floyd has become increasingly worse, never finishing above .500 again until last season’s 12-11 mark.  This season had been his worst to date, as he had lost 4 of his 5 starts and the White Sox had dropped all 5.  The maddening thing about Floyd over the past 4+ seasons is that he always had the stuff to succeed, but always seemed unable to string together a run of quality appearances.  Every time you thought he had turned the corner, he imploded again and went into another funk.

The best case scenario for this season would have had Floyd putting things together approaching free agency and the White Sox moving him to a contender for pieces that would help them compete going forward.  Unfortunately, it now seems that he will spend the rest of his White Sox career rehabbing, and they will get nothing for him when he becomes a free agent this fall.  Another classic disappointment from Gavin Floyd.

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
Continue reading →
by jim

2012 Predictions Revisited

Exactly six months ago, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the upcoming baseball season.  Now that the season has come to an end, and half of my predicted divison winners are headed home instead of the playoffs, let’s take a look back at how things unfolded.

American League

East: Yankees

The Yankees went down to the wire, not with the Red Sox as expected, but with the surprising Orioles.

Central: Tigers

After picking up free agent Prince Fielder, the Tigers were expected to run away with the Central division.  Instead, they underachieved much of the season and battled the overachieving White Sox for most of the season.  However, a late season collapse by the White Sox offense helped the Tigers take the division.

West: Angels

The Angels just may have been the biggest disappointment in the league this year. After dropping over $330 million in one day on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, the Angels were expected to be at the top of the heap this year.  Unfortunately, things just did not work out and, even with the addition of rookie of the year shoo-in Mike Trout, the Angels were unable to make a serious run and finished in third place, behind the surging A’s, who swept the Rangers in the last series of the season to take the division title.

Wild Cards: Rays, Rangers

The Orioles and the Rangers will face off in the first wild card play-in game.

National League Continue reading →

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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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
Continue reading →