Life In the Cheap Seats

Cheap Seats Trivia: In 1993 Ken Griffey Jr. became the 3rd player to hit a home run in 8 consecutive games. Who were the 1st 2 players to accomplish the feat?

Some randomization as I get fired up for tonight’s Game 4 - Boston at LA for the championship of the Association.

• Things have not been going well for the Association lately, but this Boston/LA series might turn out to be a pretty good one. Neither team is dominant by any means. Neither team could come close to cracking an all-time top ten list for either franchise. Top twenty might be iffy. With it being a throwback Boston/LA championship series, I am looking for Club Nouveau, the Cutting Crew, or Kim Wilde to sing the National Anthem (maybe Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Tiffany, Rick Astley, or even Expose).
• Cheap Seats was not disappointed in Big Brown’s last place finish in the Belmont. I like to see the no Triple Crown winner since 1978 streak continue. They should have Yvonne Elliman or Chic sing “New York, New York.”
• I almost convinced myself to go see You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, but was not able to pull the trigger. It just looks awful despite some mixed reviews. Boston Greg saw it and claimed it was terrible. I will probably check out The Incredible Hulk this weekend. Cheap Seats is a sucker for a comic book hero movie. Please, bring on The Dark Knight.
• Cheap Seats has been watching an unusually large amount of Cincinnati Reds games lately in hopes of seeing Jr. (Ken Griffey not Dale Earnhardt for you NASCAR fans) hit #600. It paid off late Monday afternoon when Jr. hit #600 in the 1st inning at Florida against the Marlins. The Miami fans appreciated what they saw, but they only had 16,000 people there. It was an historic clout and I thought Griffey deserved better, but I doubt Jr. cared. I am sure he was just happy to reach that milestone. What a select club to join. Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and controversially Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa. The first three would make up many fans all-time outfield.
• Speaking of controversy, Cedric Benson was released by the Chicago Bears following his 2nd alcohol-related arrest in a month. This comes as no surprise to Cheap Seats. I remember Benson being arrested for marijuana possession in the Midland/Odessa, Texas area while playing for the University of Texas. I found it odd that Benson was in Midland/Odessa and not Austin on a school night. In typical Mack Brown Longhorn’s fashion the charges were dropped and the incident was swept under the rug. I would not be surprised to learn that the arresting officer was fired or subjected to meter maid or dispatch duty as well. His history at UT led to expectations by me that trouble would follow him in the NFL where Mack Brown has little influence to get players out of trouble and no doubt could care less.
• Speaking of my expectations of people getting into trouble, Kenny “The Snake” Stabler managed to pick up his 3rd DUI arrest since 1995 (you know a person has a checkered past when you qualify his history). The former Super Bowl champion qb and NFL MVP (1 year following OJ) played for Alabama in the mid-60’s and now serves as the color analyst for Bama football. He and Eli Gold make an absolutely awful team in Cheap Seat’s opinion. You get Eli Gold carrying on, complaining about the officiating, and singing the praises of the Bear (while rarely letting you know where the ball is or what down it is) combined with the Snake’s redneck rambling, drunken tirades, and praising of the Bear. It is truly awful. A Division 1 football program with any self respect would cut ties with Stabler at this point. I expect to hear him live from the Georgia Dome against Clemson this August.
• A few thoughts about the MLB. Even though the Yankees split with Kansas City and got crushed last night at Oakland (they can still win the series tonight) it looks to me like they have turned the corner and should move well above the .500 mark they have been stuck on all season. Jorge Posada and A-Rod are healthy, Damon and Giambi are hitting much better and this bunch seems like they have come together as a team. Going the opposite way I think things look badly for the Bravos. With Smoltz out for the year they lose not only their best pitcher, but also the heart of this team. As I write this they are clinging to a 2-1 lead at Chicago in the 8th (now the 9th). (Update:  The Cubs came back and won 3-2 in 11 innings).  The Braves do not seem capable of winning road games and with Smoltz out it might turn into a long summer in Atlanta. Maybe Bobby Cox can add to his most times thrown out of a game record.
• And, I still think John McLaren will be the first manager to be fired. Seattle is playing so poorly and his profanity laded tirades in front of the media can’t help. The Mariners are a dismal 24-42 which represents the worst record in baseball. Seattle has not fired a manager in midseason in 20 years, but McLaren has to feel the heat something fierce. Managers get fired each and every season and the smart money is on McLaren being the first to get the ax.
• For all you Auburn football fans I hear that wide receiver Quindarius Carr is going to make everyone ask why Auburn redshirted him last season. He is a burner from Huntsville and he has tongues wagging on the Plains. Baby, remember his name (remember, remember, remember).
• My mlb.com Beat the Streak streak got up to 13 and then Chase Utley drew the collar. I am at 0 now following Jermaine Dye’s hitless performance earlier today.
• My weight loss effort has not been much of an effort lately, but I am on the comeback trail. I hope to weigh in tomorrow and let the world know how poorly I have fared in the past few weeks.

Cheap Seats is about to unveil my Top Ten and Bottom Five Ever Concerts That I Attended along with some classic concert stories involving me and others. So, in the meantime comment and email. The email address is cheapseats@lifeinthecheapseats.com

Trivia Question Answer: Dale Long in 1956 and Don Mattingly in 1987. Cheap Seats was in Arlington Stadium when Mattingly crushed that home run for an 8th consecutive game. He hit 10 during those 8 games. I also went the next night and saw the streak end. I am pretty sure he smashed a double high off the wall that everyone thought was going out.

I read Penelope Cruz is dating Javier Badem (the memorable killer from No Country For Old Men). Cheap Seats has been an admirer of Ms. Cruz for quite some time.

Cheap Seats Trivia: Who hit the ball that Willie Mays made his behind-the-back catch on in the 1954 World Series?

I watched the Yankees/Mariners game yesterday and it was a good one. A-Rod singled in the 6th which extended my mlb.com Beat the Streak streak to 3 games (I have Jimmy Rollins today). Then the Yankees were behind 5-2 in the 8th and they rallied for 4 runs to take a 6-5 lead and Mariano pitched a perfect 9th for his 12th save. I was a little irritated when the Yanks had A-Rod on 3rd and Matsui on 1st and Cano hit a 1-out sac fly to Ichiro in deep center for out number 2. New York trailed by 1 and both runners tagged. Had Ichiro thrown out Matsui before A-Rod scored then the inning would have been over and Seattle still would have led 5-4. Thankfully, Matsui was safe and we were tied. Then Jose Molina delivered a 2-out double and Matsui scored the go ahead run and I was glad that he tagged up on the previous play. Anyway, the Yankees swept the Mariners who have now lost 6 straight and boast a major league worst 18-33 record. This is a team that was expected to contend for the AL West. If Seattle Manager John McLaren is not the first manager to be fired, then it will be Bud Black of San Diego (more on them later). So, the Yankees/Mariners game ended and I checked scores and saw that there were several one run or tie games in the late innings. I started clicking around and watching for exciting finishes. I got several. In fact, there were 6 games yesterday where the home team won the game in the bottom of the 9th or later. I saw 5 of these endings. I can’t remember the exact order of when they finished, but the following list is close to chronological order:

1. I flipped over to the Brewers at Nationals game and learned that the Brewers trailed 6-0 in the 6th and tied it up with a 6 spot in that 6th inning (that’s a lot of 6’s). Entering the bottom of the 9th it was still 6 all when Elijah Dukes earned a 1-out walk. Dmitri “Da Meat Hook” Young came in to pinch hit and delivered a single to right while the speedy Dukes raced to 3rd. The Nationals, of course, inserted a pinch runner for Young since he has a gut at least as big as mine. He is very conservatively listed as tipping the scales at a cool 298 lbs., but he might need to put both feet on the scale. Back to the game, Willie Harris (”Da Meat Hook’s” pinch runner) stole 2nd, but it did not matter as Brewers pitcher Guillermo Mota delivered a wild pitch and Dukes easily scored the winning run causing the first of many jumping up and down hugging circles at home plate that I would see on this day (Bill Simmons is looking for a good name for this and he is at this time going with the “Walkoff Mosh Pit” which I don’t like and I am trying to think of a better name. Any suggestions?).
2. I now went to (I think) the Cubs at Pirates game. This one was very interesting as the Pittsburgh was down to their final out and Brian Bixler scored the tying run from second when Alfonso Soriano lost a fly ball in the sun in left field off the bat of Nate McLouth. So, we go to extra innings. In the bottom of the 11th Chris Gomez led off with an infield single, Bixler sacrificed Gomez to 2nd, and Jason Bay ripped a 2-out game winning single starting the celebration circle thing. This was the second straight day that Bay came through with a game wining hit in extra innings.
3. Then it was Baltimore at Tampa Bay and this one could have possibly ended prior to the Pirates W. I am not sure. I was clicking back and forth. Anyway, they were tied at 4 in the bottom of the 9th when Carlos Pena walked with 1 out and the next batter, Evan Longoria (his name is one letter away from Eva Longoria who was in San Antonio yesterday), smashed a double to deep center scoring Pena and causing the circle jerk thing.
4. Next up was the Cardinals of St. Louis at the Dodgers of Los Angeles. This one was tied at 3 all since the 7th and in the bottom of the 10th when speedy Juan Pierre advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch by Cardinals pitcher Mike Parisi. Pierre was on 1st due to a fielder’s choice. Terry Tiffee had come through with a pinch hit single to open the 10th. Then, with 2 outs, Andre Ethier singled to right and the Dodgers won elating Vin Scully.
5. Next up was the game of the day. The Reds were in San Diego (which of course in German means a whale’s vagina) to play the woeful Padres. Before we get into the game let’s talk about the Padres for a minute. They are now 19-33 (one-half game better than Seattle). They have played 54 games. They have scored 2 runs or less in 25 of those games (46% of their games). This is a team that was 1 game away from the playoffs last year. Bud Black might be the 1st manager to be fired. Another possibility might be Clint Hurdle who has the Rockies at 20-30. A pretty poor record for last season’s NL Champion. Back to the game, the Padres tied it at 6 in the 8th with Kevin Kouzmanoff’s second home run of the game. The Reds took a 7-6 lead in the 9th when Griffey Jr. scored and it looked like Trevor Hoffman was going to get the loss, but leading off the bottom of the 9th Scott Hairston tied it with a homer. In the 11th Cincy scored 2, but San Diego answered with 2 runs of their own and we were tied at 9 until the 18th when Adrian Gonzalez hit a 3 run walk-off dinger. Reds leadoff batter had the worst day going 0 for 8 with 3 strikeouts. This is the second time that Cheap Seats has watched the extra innings of a long Padres game this season. In mid-April I stayed up very late for a 22 inning affair that the Rockies eventually won. One thing that makes these Padres game worth watching even though they typically play awful baseball is the television coverage. The games are on Channel 4 in San Diego and the play by play from Matt Vasgersian and the color commentary from Mark “Mud” Grant. I love these guys.
6. I did not see any of this last game because I was watching the Padres and switching to the Spurs/Lakers game during commercials. Then I watched the rest of the basketball game after Gonzalez’s bomb. However, the red hot White Sox won this game courtesy of a Carlos Quentin lead-off homer in the bottom of the 9th breaking a 2-2 tie. It was Quentin’s second home run of the game. Also, though it was not a walk-off because they were on the road, Texas beat Cleveland 2-1 in 10 innings.

Back to the Association which I mentioned earlier.  In Game 3 at San Antonio the Spurs spanked the Lakers 103-84 which should have come to no one’s surprise. The Lakers still lead 2 games to 1. Meanwhile out East Boston has turned the tables and it is Detroit that desperately needs a W tonight to tie the series at 2 games apiece.

I have been meaning to bring this up for a couple of weeks. Have you ever eaten at or heard of a restaurant called Moe’s Southwest Grill? It is pretty decent, but what is interesting is I recently learned something about Moe’s. I have been there about 100 times and I just found out that Moe’s is an acronym. It stands for Musicians, Outlaws, and Entertainers. Cheap Seats attempts to keep you in the know on these types of issues.

I have a lot more, but I will save it for tomorrow as the baseball talk took a long time. So, in the meantime comment and email. The email address is cheapseats@lifeinthecheapseats.com

Trivia Question Answer: Vic Wertz

Of course, I am including a picture of Eva Longoria. What did you expect?