Posts tagged A.J. Pierzynski at FanHouse

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I get pretty aggravated when America doesn't win things we should. For example, I don't even watch the NBA, yet I was one of the biggest Team USA fans for the Olympic men's basketball team in August. America should win the gold in basketball. We invented the game and house the best players. I also believe America should win the World Baseball Classic for the same reasons. (Plus, I'm an ugly American and think we should win everything anyway.)

With this in mind, I'm putting together the perfect team for manager Davey Johnson, in hopes that he takes note.

In my view, there are some things that doomed USA's last WBC team, specifically in the Dontrelle Willis disasters. If you are playing what essentially amount to a bunch of one-game series, you cannot possibly survive with shoddy defense, pitching that gives out free passes, or constantly falling behind in the count. Also, too much reliance on power can hurt you in these games. You need guys who can get on base and "keep the line moving."

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Tom Fornelli and Eamonn Brennan discuss the ALDS between the Rays and White Sox.

Eamonn and I took a look at this series and broke it down into six key areas: Starting rotation, Bullpen, Defense, Lineup, Bench, and Manager. Then for good measure we throw in our five-star lock of the week predictions, because we're psychic mediums in our spare time.

All of the debating goodness after the jump.

While there were plenty of big plays to go around in last night's AL Central playoff game, the one most people want to talk about today is the play at the plate in the 5th inning. After Michael Cuddyer doubled to start the inning -- it was Minnesota's first hit of the evening -- he moved to third on a fly ball to centerfield.

Apparently this was enough to convince Cuddyer that he could beat Ken Griffey Jr, so a few pitches later on a pop up to shallow center, Cuddyer decided to test Griff again. Griffey's throw home beat Cuddyer, and despite Michael's best efforts to take A.J. Pierzynski out, the lovable Sox catcher held on to the ball and Cuddyer was out. Considering the final score was 1-0, it turned out to be a pivotal play, but not one that Cuddyer regrets.

"Obviously once (Griffey) caught that ball it was a play we had to make," Cuddyer said. "We had to take a chance right there. We weren't getting much done offensively, we were at the bottom of the order. We had to take a shot. ... Unfortunately A.J. made a hell of a play. I don't know how he held onto the ball. I thought I knocked his arm off, not just the ball, but he made a great play."

I understood the Twins logic in sending Cuddyer then, but I still don't agree with the decision. Griffey's arm may not be what it once was, but most MLB outfielders will throw you out from that depth, so I thought it was a mistake. Not one I minded of course.

Now, about A.J. showing Cuddyer the ball afterwards...

The Chicago White Sox are barely managing to hang on to their one-game lead over the Minnesota Twins thanks to a recent rash of injuries, but as is often the case with the White Sox, all anybody wants to do is talk about their manager. That's why The Sporting News recently sat down to do an interview with Ozzie Guillen, and as you'd expect, Ozzie spoke his mind.

Ozzie's answered questions on Lou Piniella, the Chicago Cubs, his team, and just about anything he was asked. He also made sure to fill the pages with plenty of expletives as he is wont to do, and here are some of the highlights courtesy of the Daily Herald.

- Ozzie on the best manager in Chicago: "Me. Because our division is hard. Maybe all the people in the National League will be all mad, but I will trade (for a) National League Central (schedule) in a heartbeat. I will take that with my eyes closed."
- On media treatment toward the Cubs: "If (Carlos) Quentin was playing for the Cubs, he'd already be MVP. If (Alexei) Ramirez was with the Cubs, he would be National League Rookie of the Year. They talk about (Cubs rookie Kosuke) Fukudome more than they talk about Ramirez."

From The Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

I don't know if you've been paying attention, but there are some things going on in this country right now that are far more important than whether or not the Cubs will win the World Series, or whether New York will collapse on itself should the Yankees miss the playoffs.

No, I'm not talking about the new Beverly Hills 90210 - though it's nice to see Lori Loughlin getting work - I'm talking about the upcoming election for President of the United States. Yeah, you've probably noticed in the last few weeks that all your favorite crappy sitcoms and celebrity dancing shows haven't been on in favor of a bunch of people giving speeches in front of sycophants. We call these the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

For the first time in my life, I've paid pretty close attention to both of these conventions this year. You see, even though I've never been shy about my feelings about this country of ours, and those who have been chosen to run it, I've never actually exercised my right to be a factor in the decision.

That's right, at 27 years of age, I have never voted in a single election. Not for President, not for Governor, not even for Student Council President in high school. So when November 4th rolls around in two months, I will be stepping into a voting booth for the first time, and though I'm somewhat excited about it, I still face a pretty tough question.

Just who am I voting for?

Minor League Spotlight is the MLB FanHouse's look into baseball's minor leagues. But you probably figured that out already.

I know what you're thinking, two Minor League Spotlights in one day, what have you done to deserve such an honor? In truth, nothing. Really all your doing is sitting there and reading while trying to avoid doing any kind of work, and we here at FanHouse can respect that. Hell, we invented it.

So sit back and enjoy this video of Durham Bulls center fielder Fernando Perez doing everything but a back flip to avoid being tagged out at home plate against the Charlotte Knights over the weekend.



Eat your heart out, A.J. Pierzynski.

(Hat tip to Awful Announcing)

On Monday night Cliff Lee became the first Cleveland Indians pitcher to win 20 games in a season since Gaylord Perry did it back in 1974. Lee accomplished the feat the exact way a pitcher would want to do it, too. Pitching a complete game shutout against the Chicago White Sox, and at one point retiring 20 straight hitters.

Now obviously Cliff has been fantastic all season, you kind of have to be to win 20 games, but last night he seemed to have a bit of extra motivation. It was as though his intensity level had risen, and after the game Lee admitted it was a bit higher. The reason for this? Well, A.J. Pierzynski of course.

"He slammed his bat down and stared me down[ after popping out]," Lee said. "I stared back. He was chirping in the dugout. It gave me a little extra energy. Actually, I appreciate him doing that."

Of course, Pierzynski had a different story to tell afterwards.

"I rounded first, and he said something else and I looked at him like, 'What?'" Pierzynski said. "I didn't say anything. I was mad because I missed a 3-2 pitch and popped up. It wasn't meant anything toward him. You miss a pitch, you pop up against a guy that good, you can't miss pitches to hit. Oh well."

Now it's hard to believe Pierzynski when it comes to this kind of stuff, as it follows him around constantly, but I'm kind of leaning more towards his side of the story here. Why on earth would A.J. be talking crap to Lee after popping up? "You see how high I hit that? You suck!" That makes no sense.

On Sunday, A.J. Pierzynkski bailed himself out of some atrocious baserunning by manufacturing a B.S. interference call that not only saved the White Sox an out but also awarded him third base, where he eventually scored the winning run.

I saw it, you saw it, everyone in the stadium saw it (here's video - fast-forward to the 3:13 mark) but the umpires. Second base umpire Doug Eddings is the one who blew the call, but third base umpire Ted Barrett came to his defense after the game:

"As a runner, you're allowed to (make contact). What Doug ruled at second base was, even though A.J. did kind of stick his arm out to make contact, Aybar was still in his way, so A.J., if he would have turned, he wouldn't have been able to continue on to third. So after making the throw, Aybar is no longer in the act of fielding and he can't obstruct the runner, which is what Doug ruled happened.

Yeah, nice try, Ted. On Thursday, Mike Port, MLB's vice president of umpiring, came clean to the St. Petersberg Times, admitting (albeit in a nice way) that Eddings did in fact blow the call:

"Looking back at that occurrence, for the first and last time, it was a missed call," Port said. "And it was not because Doug Eddings, an umpire with 10 years' experience and 10 before that in the minor leagues, didn't know the application of the rule, but just that in the moment in applying the rule, he saw something he thought was more than it turned out to be."

Hooray! And as a consolation, Port tweaked the standings to take away Chicago's win and give it to Tampa Bay! Oh wait ... he can't do that? Funny enough, I think that probably annoys fans in Minnesota more than Tampa Bay.

He's one of the most hated players around the league, and I understand the the thought process behind every fan that boos him when he steps to the plate or is introduced to the crowd. He is A.J. Pierzynski and he may have just saved the White Sox season on Sunday afternoon.

The Sox were on the verge of being swept at home for the first time this season and possibly falling even further behind the Twins when some heads up thinking by Pierzynski saved the day. After Paul Konerko singled home Brian Anderson with two outs in the ninth inning and sent the game into extra innings, A.J. led off the bottom of the tenth with a single.

That's when the odyssey of A.J. began. First he showed once again that he's the smartest base runner the White Sox have by tagging up from first on a deep fly to center by Carlos Quentin, and getting into scoring position with one out. Then a few seconds later he became the dumbest base runner in the world when he took off for third on a Jermaine Dye grounder to short.

A.J. was quickly caught in a rundown when the gears in his brain began grinding. There's no way a slow-footed catcher was going to be able to outrun a bunch of middle infielders, so he needed a new plan.

Sunday was a pretty frustrating day for the Chicago White Sox. Not only were they getting their butts kicked by the Kansas City Royals, and saying goodbye to their position atop the AL Central in the process, but there was also a bench-clearing incident in the fifth inning of the game.

With the Sox down 7-0, reliever D.J. Carrasco threw three straight pitches at Royals catcher Miguel Olivo's head. All three missed making any contact (because nobody in the White Sox bullpen should be expected to hit their target these days) but after the third one, Olivo took exception and charged the mound. The typical baseball fight ensued where there's a lot of pushing and shoving, but aside from Olivo's haymaker on A.J. Pierzynski (who was trying to play peacemaker), not much happened.

The best part of the scrum was probably Ozzie Guillen's tirade after being ejected in which he slammed his hat on the ground and got into the umpire's faces. Luckily for all of us, Ozzie still had plenty to say after the game, and the never shy manager shared his thoughts for the world to hear.

Guillen said his eruption was due to the fact that the umpires ejected him because they said he brought in Carrasco for the sole purpose of plunking Olivo, which Ozzie firmly denied.