HOW GOOD IS BROWNELL?
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Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Top of the 1st
HOW GOOD IS BROWNELL?
Very.
You know how Billy-Ball works, I scour newspapers and the web for interesting stories that hopefully you will enjoy and hopefully you haven’t heard about. I often worry that you have already heard the story so I try to get at least a couple of angles on it so that you come out with something interesting to talk about with your friends.
So, if you have already read about Katie Brownell, please forgive me, but I love stories like this. Katie is from upstate New York, Oakfield to be exact, which is somewhere between Rochester and Buffalo. Katie is an 11-year old pitcher for her Little League team. She’s a tall 5’ 8”; taller than her Dodger teammates and most of her 6th grade classmates.
Her team has played three games this season and in the season's first game, she allowed only one hit and struck out 14 batters in five innings (she got the other out on a grounder to the mound that she tossed to first). She’s also has a batting average of .714 after three games. Being the dad of two girls, it always giving me a special degree of pleasure of seeing a girl dominate a boy’s league and Katie has; she’s been an all-star since she was 9. 
Currently, Katie is the only girl in the Oakfield-Alabama Little League.
A couple of Saturdays ago she thrilled her fans in Oakfield, a town of about 3,200 with one traffic light, Katie’s Dodgers defeated the Yankees, 11-0.
Katie tossed the shutout.
Katie threw a no-hitter.
Katie pitched a perfect game.
Katie faced 18 batters, and struck them all out.
Not one of the boys got even three balls on her.
It was 18 up and 18 down.
All strikeouts.
Don’t look to see the videotape on ESPN, it was a Little League game in upstate New York.
It was a girl in a boys world.
It was perfect.
Top of the 2nd
HOW GOOD ARE THE WHITE SOX?
Very
Following last night’s 2-1, 11 inning victory over the Los Angeles Angels, Chicago improved to a major league-best 32-14, equaling the 1951 and 1957 White Sox for the best start in the franchise's history.
Mark Buehrle pitched brilliantly and fast once again for the Sox. The extra-inning game was completed in less than 3 hours. The first nine innings were played in a 2:24. Buehrle's first nine starts had an average time of 2:21, including two games lasting less than two hours. His average last season was a major league-best 2:33. Buehrle has pitched at least six innings in 38 consecutive starts, the longest streak in the majors since Curt Schilling's 39 straight from 2001-03. I love this guy.
The White Sox lead the AL with a 3.19 ERA. Only once since 1967 have they finished a 162-game season with the league's lowest ERA (2.33 in 1993).
Top of the 3rd
HOW GOOD ARE THE PADRES?
Very.
Following last night’s 9-5 thrashing of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Diego Padres are 16-5 in May, and are now 27-18 sitting atop the NL West.
Top of the 4th
HOW BAD ARE THE ASTROS?
Very.
Following last night’s 4-2 loss to the Cubs, in which Roger Clemens lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.19, allowed two hits and left with a groin pull and a 2-0 lead,
The Astros are 15-30. The Astros have lost seven straight and have the worst road record in baseball at 2-21. Only two other teams have started as poorly away from home since 1900.
The Astros will try to avoid their second consecutive three-game sweep tonight and are 0-5 thus far on their nine-game trip through Arlington, Chicago and Milwaukee. They're on pace to break the club record of 97 losses.
Top of the 5th
HOW BAD ARE THE ROYALS?
Very.
Following last night’s 4-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, in which Richard Hidalgo homered twice, the Royals have the worst record in baseball at 13-32.
Top of the 6th
HOW BAD ARE THE ROCKIES?
Very.
Following last night’s 6-1 loss to the Brewers, their fifth loss in the first eight games of a stretch of 13 in a row against teams with losing records, they have a 13-30 record. The Rockies are 3-19 on the road.
Only the Houston Astros (2-21) have a worse road record.
Top of the 7th
BILLY-BALL-A-GRAM - 5/25/2005
Happy birthday to “The Count”
NO, JUST CHEF MOON
BILLY-BALL-TRIVIA - 5/25/2005
In 1971, Vida Blue won the Cy Young Award and the MVP. He went 24-8, with a 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts in 312 innings, becoming the first pitcher in history to strike out 300 or more batters without leading the league in strikeouts. The man who led the league in strikeouts also had more wins and more innings pitched than Blue. Who was that man?
Send your answers to Bill@billy-ball.com
Bottom of the 7th
BILLY-BALL-A-GRAM ANSWER - 5/25/05
Elden Auker, who also lost Game 7 of the 1934 World Series to Dizzy Dean.
BILLY-BALL-TRIVIA-ANSWER - 5/25/05
Can you name the Hall of Famer, whose record for most wins by an NL lefty, was broken by Warren Spahn?
Eppa Rixey
Top of the 8th
DID YOU KNOW?
The Houston Astros' average age of 31.4 is fourth-oldest in baseball behind only the New York Yankees (34.3), Giants (32.5) and Boston Red Sox (32.2).
Top of the 9th
CAN DO KIND OF GUY
Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd has earned a roster spot with the Brockton Rox and signed with the minor league team on Monday, extending his attempt at a big league comeback 14 years after he left the majors. The 45-year-old Boyd pitched 10 years in the majors before blood clots in his right arm ended his career. He had 13 complete games for Boston in 1985, was 16-10 in '86 and went 10-6 with a 2.93 ERA with Montreal in 1990. Boyd was 78-77 in the majors overall.
He is scheduled to start for the Rox against the Worcester Tornadoes on May 30 -- his first professional outing since 1997. "He pitched seven scoreless innings in the exhibition season and deserved to make the team," Rox owner Van Schley said.
With seven scoreless innings he deserves to make the Colorado Rockies.
Have a great day!
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