Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 01, 2008
Double Ouch

For some reason, games marred by hit by pitches always seem a little more tragic. A Walk you can blame on the strike zone of the umpire or the selectivity of the batter. A HBP is the pitcher not putting the ball in the right place. Ewell Blackwell lost a perfect game on June 18, 1947 when he hit the opposing pitcher with two out in the ninth, for example.

Today, B.J. Ryan blew a save on a hit by pitch. The Blue Jays took a one run lead into the bottom of the ninth, and Ryan immediately got in trouble, giving up two singles that put Guerrero at third and Hunter at first. It looked like he might get out of a jam when a fielder's choice cut down Vlad at the plate, but Hunter made it to third on the play. That led the Jays to load the bases with an intentional walk. Ryan struck out Rivera, but hit Kendrick to tie the game, then gave up a hit to Izturis and lose 4-3.

With Toronto, New York and Baltimore all losing this afternoon, Tampa Bay and Boston are starting to put some distance between the two tiers of the AL East. Toronto is now five games back, the Yankees 6 1/2 and the Orioles eight. Suddenly, it's not looking like a very tight division.

Update: One commentator saw the boxscore from the Blackwell game and says he walked four. That particular fact on Blackwell is from memory. When Kevin Brown threw a no-hitter and his only blemish was a hit batter, Gil Parmalee, the veteran assignment editor at ESPN remembered Blackwell's game. At the time, I was pretty sure we confirmed Gil's memory, but I can't find anything right now. Can anyone fill in the blanks?


Posted by David Pinto at 06:54 PM | Games | TrackBack (0)
Comments

David, the Blackwell story can't be true. I'm looking at the box score and he walked four batters and hit none. And it doesn't make sense for the pitcher to take the last at-bat instead of a pinch hitter.

Though, oddly, this scenario did play out on July 4, 1908, when Hooks Wiltse hit the opposing pitcher, George McQuillan, the 27th batter. The score was tied 0-0 at the time, so even if he had retired McQuillan the came would not have been over. Wiltse won with a 10-inning no-hitter, 1-0.

Posted by: Tor at June 1, 2008 11:18 PM

I remember that from when Kevin Brown threw a no-hitter, and the only blemish was a hit batter. Gil Parmalee, the veteran assignment editor at ESPN remembered the event. At that time, I looked it up and confirmed Gil's memory. I'll have to look again.

Posted by: David Pinto at June 2, 2008 07:01 AM

Just me and you, I guess, on this one, David. The boxscore is in "The No-Hit Hall of Fame" by Rich Coberly. The accompanying text mentions three of the four walks. Gil's memory was playing tricks on him.

Posted by: Tor at June 2, 2008 10:04 PM
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