Hey All! Last week was the start of the last round of interleague play for the 2009 season. It's been fun and exciting. It was especially exciting for me last Friday when I was able to see the Angels demolish the Padres 11-6 en route to a three game series sweep of the Friars over the weekend. It was a truly fun, family night in our favorite seats in the first row behind the bullpens at the Big A. Let's look at this week's standings in the Longball League.
Their lead is ever-shrinking, but the Vacuous Vipers are still holding on to first place. The Vipers can look to Chase Utley as the reason why they are still on top. Another good sign for the Vipers is that Evan Longoria is starting to heat up again. Maybe his hamstring problems are behind him.
Sitting in second are the Sierra Vista Coachwhips. Mark Teixeira has been absolutely awesome lately for the Yankees. He along with recent pick up Raul Ibanez of the Phillies are reasons why the defending champs are back in the thick of the race.
Picking up Joe Mauer may have helped, but Albert Pujols is the big reason why the San Pedro Sea Monkeys have climbed back up into third place this week. Phat Albert had a 4 homer, 6 RBI week for the Monkeys. Monkey's manager, Lee Ursich wishes there were more men on base when Albert hit his homers last week.
The SoCal Capuchins have slipped to fourth place this week. However they are only 10 points out of first place. Adam Dunn didn't have a great week against Tampa Bay pitching. That's a big key to why the Caps are down a bit this week.
Bad Luck hit the Invisible Hands this week when they picked up Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres. Gonzalez came into last week as the major league leader in home runs. Then he ran into the Dodger and Angel pitching staffs last week. Adrian put a big zero up on the board for the Hands last week. That's a zero in both HRs and RBIs.
And last, but still really last are the Keen Koalas. They've got the pieces in place to make a run, but sitting 38 points out of first in mid June isn't good. It would be a great story if they can get back into the race.
Trivia: This week's trivia come from a question posed by Mo Lenker while we were sitting behind the bullpens at the Big A last week. She asked, "Why is it called the bullpen?" Well Mo, here's your answer. During the civil war, soldiers that were taken prisoner were put in small fenced in enclosures that were tabbed bullpens by their captors. The name was then carried over to baseball to describe the enclosures where the relief pitchers sit during a ballgame in the earliest days of baseball. Then, the term came into widespread use during the early part of the twentieth century when the Bull Durham Tobacco Company put up large billboards over those areas that featured a picture of a large bull on them. The billboards were in every big league park right over the bullpen. So, the term became synonymous with relief pitchers and chewing tobacco.
Baseball Card of the Week: Since we were talking about bullpens, I thought I'd salute one of the best players to ever make the walk from the bullpen to the mound, Rich "Goose" Gossage. The Goose finally made into the Hall of Fame this year. In my mind, he was one of the toughest guys to ever take the mound. He was a true fireball throwing closer. Just his stare alone was intimidating. His fastball wasn't bad either. The Goose is pictured here on his 1979 topps card #225.
Well folks, until next week keep hitting 'em where they ain't.
-The Commissioner
