Saturday, June 11, 2011

WE'RE GOING TO CINNCINATI & BROOKLYN!!!

Wow. For the past several years one of the main reasons the Phillies have been so good was that they were one of the best defensive teams. The infield combo of Rollins and Utley were the best in the business and Shane Victorino gave a nightly clinic in how to play center field. The need for playing great defense was never more evident when the Phillies blew a game to the Cubs because of sloppy play in the field. When you are not hitting, defense and pitching can help you win close games. Last night the lack of both hitting after the first inning and sloppy defense cost them a game they should have been able to win.

Offensive production is down across the majors and pitching is better than it has been in years. All of a sudden we see the emergence of young stud hurlers - as if there has started a changing of the guard on the mound. What a perfect time to have the kind of starters that we have here in the greatest city in the world. Sure Lee has been somewhat of a disappointment and Oswalt has had his troubles, but Halladay and Hamels have been everything as advertised. This staff has gotten great support from guys like Kendrick, and the rest of the pen, and I dare say that if the pitching hadn't been so good we would not have the Phillies atop the NL East. For this team, to have but one home run so far in June is both a disgrace and mindboggling. Sure, the team has had its share of injuries, but part of the problem has been a lack of discipline up and down the lineup with the exception of Polanco. Polanco, however cannot carry this team on his back, and the guy who can, well he isn't. Superstar (or should I say Superflop) is on a pace to hit 34 home runs, a far cry from his totals in previous years. Utley hasn't got his game back to respectability yet, and, well you know what these guys are doing as well as I do. Let's hope that they find a way to get it together before the window closes for good and they have to rebuild.

One of the reasons I love baseball is the continuity. We can look back at players from different eras and have our arguements over stats, who would be a star today, and whatever else we care to look at. Standards such as Babe Ruth's 60 home run season can be chased and overcome, and we can compare the stats put up by the Willie Mays's and others to what the stars are doing now, and argue all night what a team would have to pay him considering what guys like Howard, and Jayson Werth are being paid. Shit, Ted Williams would have to be paid an amount equal to the national debt of Peru given his level of performance.

We can also look at baseball's records and wonder which ones can and will be broken. Tonight we are going to get in the Wayback Machine and watch a record that I believe will stand forever. We are about to travel to Crosley Field in Cincinnati to watch Johnny Vander Meer pitch a no hitter against the Boston Bees (today's Atlanta Braves). But first, a little about Vandermeer.

Johnny Vandeer Meer broke in with the Reds in 1937. His career lasted until 1951 and he made his last appearance as a member of the Cleveland Indians. His career was quite pedestrian - finishing with a record of 119-121, an ERA of 3.44, with 131 complete games. He struck out 1292 batters while walking 1132, and tossed 29 shut outs. The southpaw led the NL in strikeouts for three consective years joining Tim Lincecum, Warren Spahn, and Randy Jouhnson as the only NLers to do that since 1940. Dizzy Dean accomplished this in the thirties with the Gashouse Gang Cardinals.

On June 11, 1938, Vander Meer gave up one walk in pitching a no hitter against the hapless team from Boston - the Bees. While a no hitter is always a big deal, this game wasn't considered a major feat because it came against the Bees who were terrible, and for the fact that it was the 84th no-no pitched in the majors since records were kept. After the team completed it's series with the Bees a train ride to Brooklyn followed with Vander Meer taking the mound against the Dodgers on June 15th. At the microphone calling the play by play for the first night game ever played at Ebbets Field was the legendary Red Barber. Barber was the best in the business back then and he had the pleasure of calling Vander Meer's second no hitter. That's right Johnny Vander Meer pitched a second no hitter and became the only pitcher to ever pitch no hitters in consecutive starts. While he wasn't as sharp as he had been against Boston ( he walked 8) he was able to get Leo Durocher to pop out with the bases loaded to end the game and secure his place in history.

The only way this record can be broken is for someone to pitch three no hitters in a row, something I don't see happening - ever.

As I said earlier, Vander Meer pitched until 1951, making stops at Chicago and Cleveland before 'retiring' at the end of the '51 season. Not wanting to stop playing, he spent several seasons playing for Tulsa in the Texas League where in 1952 he no-hit Beaumont.

The LSF was not around for Vander Meer's consecutive no-no's, but I'll always remember the dates. I had my Bar Mitzvah on June 11, 1960, and my birthday on June 15th - every year.

While it was fun to travel back to the Queen City, and to Brooklyn, the Wayback Machine needs to leave now for the present. When we get back we can hopefully watch Doc get the Sillies back on a winning track against the ever entertaining Carlos Zambrano and the Cubbies. Enjoy the game, and maybe just maybe Doc can gain some inspiration and toss a no-no against the guys from the southside of Chicago.

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