Article:Baseball Notebook: Around the Bases April 18th

Baseball Notebook: Around the Bases April 18th

Rockies Defeat the Padres in 22 Innings

The Rockies and Padres battled for 22 innings and Troy Tulowitzki  doubled in Willy Taveras  for what proved to be the winning run for the Rockies in their 2-1 win. The game ended at 1:21 PST and for those on the east coast watching the game it ended at 4:21 EST. It is a shame it wasn't an afternoon game so those on the east coast could stay up to see the whole game. Jake Peavy  pitched the first eight innings for the Padres and allowed no runs and 4 hits while striking out 11. Jeff Francis  pitched seven innings for the Rockies and allowed 3 hits and struck out 7.The first run of the game was scored by the Rockies in the 14th inning but the Padres countered with a run of their own in the bottom of the 14th. Rockies pitchers recorded 17 strikeouts in the contest while the Padres hurlers struck out 20. Willy Taveras  was the only hitter to bat 10 times and Tad Iguchi  had the most at bats without a hit and was 0 for 7 in the game. The Rockies moved to within a half a game of the second place Padres in the NL West with their win.

Ramirez, Beckett Pace Red Sox To 7-5 Win Over the Yankees

Manny Ramirez  hit his 4th and 5th homers of the season to pace the Red Sox to a 7-5 win over the Yankees. His 495 homers leave him 5 short of 500 homers. His 3 RBI's tied him with Joe Crede  for the major league lead with 18 each. Josh Beckett  2-1  pitched 8 innings and held the Yankees to 3 runs. Mike Mussina  2-3 is looking more and more like he will never reach the 300 wins plateau since he still needs 49 more wins. He has a 0.87 ERA against lefthanded batters while his ERA against righthanded batters is 10.80. David Ortiz  is still struggling after his 0 for 5 night and his batting average dipped to .111. He has 7 hits in 63 trips to the plate. Ortiz is 2 for 22 against the Yankees in four games.

Orioles Defeat White Sox 6-5 in Ten Innings

Adam Jones  singled in the tenth inning to give the Orioles a 6-5 win over the White Sox despite Carlos Quentin  hitting two homers and Joe Crede  also connecting for a roundtripper. Jim Thome  and Paul Konerko  were a combined 0 for 8 and are currently hitting .173 and .176 respectively.

Indians Pound Tigers 11-1

Just when it looked like the Tigers were ready to move out of last place they let the Indians move ahead of them in the standings. They are second worst team in the majors with a 5-11 record. Fausto Carmona  2-1 1.96 stated his case for being the ace of the Indians whether C.C. Sabathia  returns next season or not by pitching 6 2/3 innings and allowing one run. Justin Verlander  0-3 7.03 didn't lose his third game last year until June 29th.

Padilla Outpitches Halladay In Rangers 4-1 Win Over Blue Jays

Vicente Padilla  2-1 allowed one run as the Rangers defeated the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay  2-2 for the second day in the row. The Blue Jays only lead the last place Rays by a game. They host the Tigers today with Kenny Rogers  0-3 getting the start for the Tigers and rookie David Purcey  will be  making his major league debut on the mound for the Blue Jays.

Hammel Pitches Rays to 7-3 Win Over Twins

Jason Hammel  1-1 allows 3 runs in 6 innings to take his first win of the season. Eric Henske  hit a solo homer in the second inning and Justin Upton  picked up his 15th RBI of the year while rookie Evan Longoria  singled twice and drove in a run.

Angels Take Sole Possession of  First Place in AL West With 5-3 Win Over  Kansas City Royals

The Angels took sole possession of first place in AL West behind the pitching of Jon Garland  2-2 and the hitting of Garret Anderson  who drove in 3 runs. Brett Tomko  1-2 took the loss for the Royals. The back end of the rotation is keeping the Royals from having a long winning streak. Brett Tomko  and John Bale  have combined for a 1-5 record at the back end of the rotation while Brian Bannister, Zack Greinke  and Gil Meche  have a combined 7-2 record.

Mariners Throttle A's 8-1

Carlos Silva  3-0 pitched seven innings of one run, four hit baseball as the Mariners defeated the A's 8-1. The A's have scored a total of 6 runs in their last 5 games. It doesn't look any better this weekend for the A's as they host the Royals who will be starting Brian Bannister  3-0 and Zack Greinke  3-0 the first two games of the series before they start John Bale  0-3 in the final game of the series on Sunday.



Phillies Blast Astros Into Outer Space With Four Home Run Barrage

Brandon Backe  1-2 would rather have been in outer space yesterday rather than be facing the torrid bats of the Phillies who got home runs off the bats of Chase Utley, Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard  and '''Chris Coste. ''' Luckily for Backe he was only around for one of the home runs but gave up 10 hits in 3 innings. Burrell drove in 2 runs to take over the NL RBI lead with 17 RBI's. Coste was 4 for 5 and Eric Bruntlett  was the only starter to go hitless with no hits in five at bats. Brett Myers  2-1 pitched 7 strong innings to take the win while allowing one run. The Phillies have not won or lost more than two games in a row this season.



Prince Fielder Hits First Homer of Season In Tenth Inning As Brewers Win 5-3

Prince Fielder  hit his first home run of the 2008 season at an opportune time in the tenth inning as they defeated the first place Cardinals in the NL Central division. The home run may be spark he needed to start hitting with power the way he did last season when he hit 50 home runs. The win moved the Brewers into a second place tie with the Cubs with both teams being being a game and a half behind the Cardinals.

Griffey, Voto Lead Reds 

To 9-2 Victory Over Cubs



Joey Votto  and Ken Griffey Jr.  both homered in the 9-2 win over the Cubs. Votto drove in 5 runs with a home run and a double while Griffey hit a three run homer. Reed Johnson  was 4 for 4 for the Cubs. Edinson Volquez  2-0 1.17 pitched 5 innings to take the win. Votto is second among NL rookies with 8 RBI’s.

Smoltz, Bullpen Shutout Marlins 8-0



John Smoltz  3-0 0.56 allowed no runs and 3 hits in 5 innings before turning it over to the bullpen who pitched 4 innings of scoreless and hitless baseball. Even though Smoltz only pitched 5 innings he struck out 10 batters.

The Braves pounded out 15 hits with 11 of them being for extra bases as they hit 5 home runs, 5 doubles and a triple. Chipper Jones  was 4 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and was 4 for 4 in the contest which saw him raise his average to .443.

The Marlins only could manage to hit one extra base hit in the game and the Braves moved to within 3 games of the NL East leading Marlins.

Mets Defeat Nationals 3-2 in 14 Innings



The Mets could only muster one extra base hit but they still were able to post a 3-2 win over the Nationals. Joel Hanrahan  can’t blame anyone but himself for the loss since in the fourteenth inning he gave up a single, then let the runner advance to second on a wild pitch, let the runner advance to third on a bad pickoff attempt and then threw another wild pitch to allow the winning run to score.

Players From the Past: Steve Dalkowski

Steve Dalkowski

Born June 3, 1939 in New Britain Connecticut 



Steve Dalkowski  never pitched in the major leagues but he still made a lasting impression on anyone who ever saw him pitch. Some people think he threw 110 miles per hour but we will never know since radar guns didn’t exist back then so it is all conjecture as to how fast he really threw.

Ron Shelton  the movie director patterned the Nuke LaLoosh  character in Bull Durham  after his minor league teammate Dalkowski but it is reported that they were never teammates. I had seen this movie many years ago but now that I know it was about Dalkowski I hope to see it again soon.

Dalkowski was 46-80 in nine minor league seasons with a 5.59 ERA. In 995 innings he struck out 1396 batters and walked 1354. In 1960 he set a California league record of 262 walks in 170 innings and also struck out 262 batters.

One time he was pitching in Miami and hit a guy in the back and the guy was in line to buy a hot dog. Another time maybe more for effect than for any other reason threw his first warmup pitch out of the stadium. I am sure any opposing batters that witnessed that pitch didn’t dig in too much against him.

An umpire had his mask broken into three pieces when hit by a Dalkowski pitch and that sent the umpire to the hospital for three days.

When Earl Weaver found out Dalkowski discovered that Dalkowski had an IQ of 60 he figured out that Dalkowski couldn’t manage to remember so much information from the coaches so he simplified the instructions for Dalkowski narrowing it down to fast balls and strikeouts and his pitching improved.

Then he was told he was going to start the season with Orioles during spring training but before he could pitch in the majors he strained a tendon in his left elbow.

Dalkowski had a serious drinking problem which became even worse when made the roommate for Bo Belinsky  in the minor leagues.

On August 31, 1957 in an Appalachian League game he struck out 24, walked 18, hit four batters and threw 6 wild pitches and lost the game 8-4.

Ted Williams once batted against Dalkowski in the batting cage and this is what transpired according to Sports Illustrated:

In 1958 Dalkowski was invited to the Orioles' camp in Miami. One day that spring Ted Williams was lurking around the batting cage and decided to see this Dalkowski kid for himself. The Splendid Splinter stepped into the batter's box, watched one pitch fly by and stepped out of the cage, muttering to reporters that he'd be damned if he would face Dalkowski until he had to. Williams told Dalkowski he hadn't even seen the ball -- he'd just heard the pop of the catcher's glove. In an exhibition game that spring against the Cincinnati Reds in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, with his parents watching, Dalkowski fanned the side in the ninth on just 12 pitches. He would never again pitch in a big league ballpark.

After retiring from baseball Dalkowski was still drinking heavily and was a migrant worker for many years. The following three paragraphs also from the same Sports Illustrated story sum up his life after baseball:

Dalkowski doesn't remember much of the next 30 years. He suffers from alcohol-related dementia, but the gaps in his memory don't start until about 1964. "I keep trying and trying to remember," he says. "But I don't." His sister, Pat Cain, can't fill in the blanks for him, because he stopped talking to his family around that same time. At some point he was married again, to a motel clerk named Virginia, though today he struggles even to recall her name. He never had children. ("Thank God," he says soberly.)

Dalkowski moved to Oklahoma City with Virginia in 1993, but when she died of a brain aneurysm in 1994, it was time for him to come home. His parents had passed away, but Cain was living in New Britain. She arranged for Dalkowski to move into the Walnut Hill Care Center, just down the hill from Dalkowski's old high school baseball field. Initially, Cain was told that Dalkowski likely wouldn't live more than a year. Yet Dalkowski has rallied. Given his decades of drinking, he is remarkably healthy, and he has begun to display the easy manner his old friends remember.

Sitting with his family and friends in the stands after throwing the first pitch at the Rock Cats game, he mugs good-naturedly with his three-year-old grandniece, Samantha. He sings along with God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch. Yet it's the game that interests him most. When a New Britain pitcher gets two strikes on a batter, Dalkowski says, "Let it all hang out." Dalkowski can no longer let it all hang out, yet he finally seems to be keeping it together.

I have barely skimmed the surface of the stories out there about Dalkowski so am going to do something I usually don’t do and provide several links to websites that have more information on Dalkowski. It is surprising that there is so much on the internet about a pitcher than never pitched in the majors but his story is so interesting they are worth reading.

Anyone that doesn’t have time to read each story today could open them up and bookmark them for later reading.

Dalkowski’s story is not just a story about a baseball player but about a man who couldn’t handle life after baseball. One last story about Dalkowski is that the player’s union tried to help him by sending him money for help to stop drinking but when they found out he was using the money for liquor they stopped sending the money.









http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/pr/subs/siexclusive/07/09/dalkowski_flashback/

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/delving-into-the-dalkowski-depths/

http://www.sportshollywood.com/poorsports13.html