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05/16/2005: "Project Baseball: Part 12"
At about 4:15 AM Saturday night/Sunday morning, a group of about a dozen Texan tourists boarded at 42nd Street, bound for Queens. They were trying to get back to their hotel near JFK Airport to catch a few drunken winks before flying home.
I overheard them talking about how they were taking the train all the way to the end of the line and then trying to catch cabs from there. Having been to the end of the E line, I knew that they would have absolutely no luck there, so I suggested that they go to the second to last stop, Sutphin Boulevard (that's "Suffin" in Texan) and try from there, because Sutphin Boulevard is home of the Jamaica LIRR stop, and at least there was a snowball's chance in hell of catching cabs there. If not, they could always take the AirTrain to JFK from Jamaica and get back to the hotel from there.
I hope they made it back alright. I made it home, and got at least a little bit of sleep before heading out to Shea Stadium to conduct some interviews for Touching Base and complete Part 12 of Project Baseball.
Oh, and before I go on, a happy anniversary to the two people without whose marriage Project Baseball would be illegitimate, or at least embarked upon by an illegitimate child...
May 15
Cardinals at Mets
Seats: Press Box
Who I Went With: The Assembled Media
Hot Dogs: 1
Beers: 0
Game Highlight: Right when it looked like Aaron Heilman was settling into a groove with strikeouts of Larry Walker and Jim Edmonds, Reggie Sanders blasted a solo homer to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead on the way to a 4-2 win. I can't believe Sanders already has 10 homers. It's almost as unbelievable as Tino Martinez having 12. Seriously, if I had woken up from a coma tonight and you told me that Tino was sharing the major league lead in homers, I'd think that the steroid epidemic really was that widespread and that Tino was tied with half the league at four homers. Or that there had been some sort of labor dispute that caused the first three weeks of the season to be lost, and that Tino was tied with half the league at four homers. Or that there had been a tremendous lumber shortage, causing faulty bats to be used all over baseball, and that Tino was tied with half the league at four homers. Or... you get it.
It Was Over When: Miguel Cairo led off the eighth inning with a single and Jose Reyes promptly bounced into a 3-6-3 double play. Then Mike Cameron hit a solo homer to make it 4-2. Not that he would have hit a game-tying shot had there been two men on base, but this was Matt Morris' day.
Go To The Ballpark & See Something You've Never Seen Before: I've seen stolen bases in spite of pitchouts, but Mike Piazza's throw -- I use the term loosely -- to try to catch Mark Grudzielanek stealing second in the fifth inning, well, yikes. It was the worst I've ever seen. The state of Piazza's throwing game right now is such that even Piazza could steal on Piazza.
Season Totals (12 Games)
Teams Seen (12 of 30): Angels (1-0), Astros (0-1), Athletics (0-1), Braves (1-0), Cardinals (1-0), Devil Rays (1-0), Mariners (0-2), Marlins (1-0), Mets (2-3), Phillies (0-1), Red Sox (1-1), Yankees (4-3)
Hot Dogs: 18
Beers: 7
Game Log
Home team in CAPS
April 5: YANKEES 4, Red Sox 3
April 6: Red Sox 7, YANKEES 3
April 13: METS 1, Astros 0 (11)
April 17: Marlins 5, METS 2
April 19: Devil Rays 6, YANKEES 2
April 27: Braves 8, METS 4
April 27: Angels 5, YANKEES 1
May 5: METS 7, Phillies 5
May 7: YANKEES 5, Athletics 0
May 10: YANKEES 7, Mariners 4
May 11: YANKEES 13, Mariners 9
May 15: Cardinals 4, METS 2
Games decided in the 8th inning or later: 4 of 12
Home Runs (33)
Garret Anderson, Angels (off Mike Mussina)
Wilson Betemit, Braves (off Tom Glavine)
Bret Boone, Mariners (off Carl Pavano)
Mike Cameron, Mets (off Matt Morris)
Victor Diaz, Mets (off A.J. Burnett)
Steve Finley, Angels (off Mike Mussina)
Cliff Floyd, Mets (off Mike Hampton)
Jason Giambi, Yankees (off Hideo Nomo)
Raul Ibanez, Mariners (off Carl Pavano)
Derek Jeter, Yankees (off Keith Foulke and Matt Thornton)
Andruw Jones, Braves (off Heath Bell)
John Mabry, Cardinals (off Aaron Heilman)
Tino Martinez, Yankees (off Tim Wakefield, Joe Blanton, Aaron Sele and Matt Thornton)
Hideki Matsui, Yankees (off Matt Clement)
Doug Mientkiewicz, Mets (off Mike Hampton)
David Ortiz, Red Sox (off Carl Pavano)
Eddie Perez, Braves (off Tom Glavine)
Eduardo Perez, Devil Rays (2 off Randy Johnson)
Mike Piazza, Mets (off Tim Worrell)
Jorge Posada, Yankees (off J.J. Putz)
Alex Rodriguez, Yankees (off Tim Wakefield and Jarrod Washburn)
Jimmy Rollins, Phillies (off Mike DeJean)
Reggie Sanders, Cardinals (off Aaron Heilman)
Richie Sexson, Mariners (off Carl Pavano)
Gary Sheffield, Yankees (off Matt Thornton)
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners (off Carl Pavano)
Jason Varitek, Red Sox (off Mariano Rivera)
Three-Hit Games (11)
Garret Anderson, Angels (April 27)
Derek Jeter, Yankees (April 19)
Andruw Jones, Braves (April 27)
Hideki Matsui, Yankees (April 5)
Kevin Millar, Red Sox (April 6)
Bill Mueller, Red Sox (April 5)
David Ortiz, Red Sox (April 6)
Mike Piazza, Mets (May 5 -- four hits)
Jorge Posada, Yankees (May 11)
Gary Sheffield, Yankees (April 27)
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners (May 11)
Three-RBI Games (12)
Garret Anderson, Angels (April 27)
Miguel Cabrera, Marlins (April 17)
Raul Ibanez, Mariners (May 11)
John Mabry, Cardinals (May 15)
Tino Martinez, Yankees (May 11)
Hideki Matsui, Yankees (May 11)
Eduardo Perez, Devil Rays (April 19)
Mike Piazza, Mets (May 5)
Alex Rodriguez, Yankees (May 7)
Jimmy Rollins, Phillies (May 5)
Richie Sexson, Mariners (May 11)
Gary Sheffield, Yankees (May 11)
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