Classic Scorecards: 1985 World Series Game Six

One of my first scorecards

The internet is a wonderful thing. A couple of weeks ago I found a very cool site called Eephus League. Through that site I found another one called The Baseball Enthusiast. One of the first posts that I saw on there was one where he took a look at the second game of the 1985 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. His site is all about going to ball games and keeping score. That got me thing about the first games that I scored. They were during that same series, and I still keep score to this day. I find that the longer I attend ballgames the more I notice how crazy people think I am for keeping score. They ask me why I bother? My explanation is simple. I always have.

Okay, Where is the Real Carlos Silva…and Who is This Guy?

Today Carlos Silva pitched another great game for the Cubs to go 7-0 on the season. Who would have thought this was possible when he was swapped for Milton Bradley in the off season. Silva struck out 11 in seven innings of work for the win. He only gave up two hits (both of which were to Matt Holliday). I keep waiting for the real Carlos Silva to show up, but maybe he has found something and this is the real Carlos Silva. The bullpen came in and kept the Cardinals in check for the next two innings to preserve the shutout. Sean Marshall had a rocky 1/3 of an inning, but another Carlos, Carlos Zambrano, came in to bail him out. Jeff Stevens pitched well in the ninth to close out the game.

Top Cubs – Cardinals Games

Tomorrow I will be lucky enough to be in the bleachers for my fifth Cubs-Cardinals game. I have seen some great games in the series. I thought that I would look back and see which one stands out as the best so far.

1. 9/2/2003 – This was game one of a day-night doubleheader between the two teams. We had already seen 4 1/2 innings of a previous Cubs/Cardinals game with the ticket before a rainout. That game will be later on the countdown. We traded that ticket in for this afternoon game in the bleachers at Wrigley. Both teams ended regulation tied at two thanks to a Jim Edmonds home run off of Carlos Zambrano, and an error by Albert Pujols. In the bottom of the 15th Sammy Sosa hit two run shot to end the game after 4 hours and 47 minutes. His two run blast was career number #531, and landed in the left field bleachers. So for our $30 investment we were able to see 19 1/2 innings of baseball. How can you possibly top that? The game ended 11 minutes before the gates were supposed to open for game two. Obviously they had to clear the park quickly, and let the fans back in. The key to the 4-2 win for the Cubs was an error in the fifth inning by Albert Pujols that allowed the Cubs to score their two runs.

Who To Root For in the Playoffs (2009 Edition)

Last season I tried to find a team to root for in the playoffs once the White Sox were eliminated. This year I can try this from the start. Here are the eight teams that have made the postseason this season.

American League

New York Yankees

Minnesota Twins

Boston Red Sox

Los Angeles Angels

National League

St. Louis Cardinals

Philadelphia Phillies

Colorado Rockies

Los Angeles Dodgers

I will start my process by picking the teams that I have seen play this season in person. This eliminates the Bronx Bombers, the Phillies (who were my 2009 pick), and the Rockies. The other five teams I was able to watch live this season. It is a lot easier to root for a team that you have seen play. Now comes the hard part. How do I get these five teams down to one that I can root for? Well, I root for the White Sox so I can just check the 40 man rosters of each of these teams to find players that once played for the palehose. The team with the most former Sox players wins.

Minnesota Twins (3)

Jon Rauch

Joe Crede

Orlando Cabrera

Los Angeles Angels (0)

None. But I feel as though Chone Figgins is a former player the way his name is batted around each offseason.

St. Louis Cardinals (0)

I still may root for them a little.

Los Angeles Dodgers (3)

Jon Garland

Charlie Haeger

Jim Thome

Boston Red Sox (1)

Brian Anderson

So here is where we stand right now. The Cardinals and Angels have zero former Sox players on their team. What are they thinking? The Red Sox have one, and it is even a member of the White Sox this season in Brian Anderson. The Dodgers have three which ties them for first, and they have a player that was a member of the Sox this season in Jim Thome. They also have one of my favorites in Jon Garland. That just leaves the Twins. They have three former Sox players as well. Orlando Cabrera did not make many friends in Chicago last season, but he is a winner. Joe Crede will always be one of my favorite Sox players of all-time. He was clutch. How do I break this tie for my loyalty? They are in separate leagues so I guess I am rooting for a Twins/Dodgers series. If that does happen I have one way to break the tie. I have seen the Twins three times this season including once in their stadium. I saw the Dodgers a couple of days after that trip in Milwaukee. That is a 3-1 vote for the Twins. Also the Twins have a former Irish pitcher (Jeff Manship), and one of the coolest MLB bloggers out there (Pat Neshek). I think we have a winner. The team that I will root to win it all is the Twins? Can a White Sox fan do this? I guess we will see. It is easy to root for them now as they are facing the Yankees. Nobody wants them to win. Well maybe a few. When it comes down to it though can I be a Twins fan for a couple weeks? Stay tuned.

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Another Great Baseball

In keeping with yesterday’s trend I will showcase another baseball in my collection. Ball #189 was obtained from a shop at the new Busch Stadium the day after my birthday. I was just killing time since I had gotten to the stadium early when I saw a game used memoribilia shop in center field. I walked in and was awed by the signed baseballs in the case. I really wanted a Stan Musial ball, but it was $175, and even that is a little salty to a sports junkie. Just down from the signed balls were actual balls used in a game. They happened to have two from my birthday, and I asked to see them. They came in a cube, and I took the ball that had a little scuff from the redish dirt on the infield. Just last week I looked up the number on the ball on the Major League Website. Here is what I found when I looked it up:

TOP OF 1ST INNING PITCHER JOHN SMOLTZ BATTER PETE ORR SINGLE

Did I just really pick up a ball that John Smoltz put into play that was recorded as a hit? I think that I did. This is the next best thing to actually fielding the ball in my opinion. Right now this may be the jewel of my collection until I actually get a game used ball myself. That should be any day now.

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More Pictures From the First Cardinals – Nats Game

While getting the pictures from the weekend off of my camera I realized that I had a few decent pictures that I could post on here. Here are the pictures from Friday.

Tom Henke signing a ball for me pregame. He was even nice enough to inscribe Happy Birthday on it.

Molina, Smoltz, and Duncan come from the bullpen pregame. This is always one of my favorite parts of the game. It always reminds me off the old cowboys walking to meet the bad guys at high noon.

Did Ryan Ludwick swing this early, or is the ball levitating? I love this picture.

Molina swinging hard

Hey, its Willie Harris! Remember the guy who scored the World Series winning run? Here he is getting out of the box.

John Smoltz sending a ball to the warning track in center. The place would have gone down had the ball gone out.

Pujols about to make contact. I took many pics of this man. He may be the best ever.

Pujols watching it fly

Pujols with a big follow through on another at bat. Matt Holliday looking on thanking the heavens that he gets to bat behind this man.

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