Lou Piniella sets out for Cincinnati, ends up near Pittsburgh
By 'Duk
Things just aren't going too well for Lou Piniella these days.
The Cubs manager started the week with five straight home losses, had to deal with ominous news concerning their top two starting pitchers and they just lost to Cincinnati — their sixth straight — 10-2.
Thing is, Piniella almost didn't make it to Cincinnati for the ugly start to this series. Electing to drive from Chicago on Friday morning instead of fly, Piniella and Cubs coach/chaffeur Matt Sinatro missed a turn south and ended up near the Pennsylvania border before realizing their big boo-boo.
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when Piniella woke up from his nap and realized that Sinatro was pointing the car toward the Pirates instead of the Reds. (But given the Cubs' 14-4 record against Pittsburgh this year, could you blame him?)
From the Chicago Tribune:
"We stopped at one of the (gas) stations along the way, and I bought a map to see exactly where we were," Piniella said. "And we realized we were in the opposite end of the state ...
They worked their way back toward Columbus in the middle of the state, navigating across rain-slicked, two-lane roads ...
"Let me tell you: I wanted to get my mind off baseball for a little bit, I sure as heck did," Piniella said.
For what it's worth, the article says the duo was relying on printed-out directions from — ahem — Google Maps. Next time, they might want to give Yahoo! Maps a try.
Or maybe just join the rest of the world and spring for a GPS. (Piniella muttering and swearing at the GPS lady? Now that would be a sight.)
Whoops! Angels' Sean Rodriguez strikes out after 4-2 count
By 'Duk
If you weren't paying any attention to Thursday's Angels-Tigers game, no need to worry.
Neither were the managers, players or coaches.
In a moment that only the drag of a 162-game season could produce, Angels' rookie Sean Rodriguez (pictured right) struck out when he should have actually been on first base with a walk.
That's right. Absolutely no one involved with the game realized that the count before the strikeout was 4 balls and 2 strikes and that Rodriguez should not have even been facing the pitch in the first place.
(If anyone with the Tigers noticed the mistake, they weren't saying. Kind of like when a blackjack dealer pays you when you actually lost or pushed, right?)
From the Los Angeles Times:
Neither plate umpire Tim Welke nor Angels manager Mike Scioscia noticed the mistake. At 2-2, Rodriguez said Welke asked Tigers catcher Brandon Inge what the count was.
"He said he thought it was 1-2, and I said I thought it was 1-2 also," Rodriguez said. "He thanked me for my honesty."
Welke had the scoreboard reset to 1-2, and instead of drawing a walk, Rodriguez struck out. Welke apologized to Rodriguez during his next at-bat.
"I told him don't worry about it," Rodriguez said. "It was more my fault than his. I struck out on a 4-2 pitch. How many guys do that?"
Since the Angels won the game 7-1 anyway and are on their way to wrapping up the AL West title in the next week, the instinct is to just laugh this away and file it under the news of the weird.
But considering that Boston's Coco Crisp walked on just three balls a few weeks ago, you'd like to hope that all the kinks get worked out by both the umpires and players before the postseason arrives. The last thing baseball needs is something like this deciding an important game.
