Tag: White Sox

Happy birthday to a Notre Dame football great!

Which sport was he better at?

In the long history of Notre Dame football, one of the very best wide receivers to ever wear blue and gold never played on Sundays.

Well, football at least.

Jeff Samardzija played at Notre Dame from 2003-2006, earning All-American status in his junior and senior seasons. He totaled 2,593 receiving yards for the Irish; 2,266 of those came in his junior and senior seasons.

Samardzija also starred on Notre Dame’s baseball team as a pitcher and he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2006. He bypassed a career in the NFL, instead making his way to Major League Baseball in 2008 and lasting there until 2020.

Looking back there is a case to be made that Samardzija was the MVP of the first two years of the Charlie Weis era when Notre Dame wound up in back-to-back BCS games.

It’s hard to believe, but the former two-sport star for the Fighting Irish turns 39 today.  Happy birthday to The Shark!

Celebrate by checking out the best photos of him at Notre Dame below:

 

California HS baseball team has produced 4 MLB pitchers; all have thrown no-hitters

On Wednesday, Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen became the newest member of the club.

The Fullerton Union (Calif.) High School baseball team is in the news this week because of a remarkably rare claim to history. The school has produced four major league pitchers, who are the only MLB players to come out of Fullerton.

The twist is that every single one of them has thrown a no-hitter in MLB.

On Wednesday, Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen – in just his second start since getting traded from the Tigers – became the newest member of the club, blanking the Nationals 7-0.

Lorenzen is now 7-7 on the season with a 3.23 ERA in 122.2 innings. He joins a long tradition as the first former pitcher from his high school to make the big leagues pulled off a no-hitter over 100 years ago.

Here’s the full list of no-hitters from Fullerton Union:

July 1, 1920: Walter Johnson for Washington Senators vs. Boston Red Sox

April 27, 1973: Steve Busby for Kansas City Royals vs. Detroit Tigers

June 19, 1974: Steve Busby for Kansas City Royals vs. Milwaukee Brewers

Sept. 29, 1983: Mike Warren for Oakland A’s vs. Chicago White Sox

Aug. 9, 2023: Michael Lorenzen for Philadelphia Phillies vs. Washington Nationals

More baseball stories

This photo of kids playing baseball in Bhutan is incredible

Team USA U12 baseball beats New Zealand by 42 runs

Live-stream or watch high school sports on-demand

Notre Dame football: Marcus Freeman’s baseball problem

The good news is that Marcus Freeman is throwing out another first pitch at an MLB park. The bad news though…

Will Notre Dame football disappoint in 2023 or will they be a College Football Playoff contender into November?  If the answer is the former then Fighting Irish fans may just be able to blame America’s favorite pastime.

Why?

Marcus Freeman is throwing out the first pitch at the New York Mets game on Friday night.  If you’re a baseball fan you’re well aware the Mets spent seemingly a billion dollars on payroll this off-season and went just 42-48 before the All-Star break.  They’re 18.5 games out of first-place in the National League East and are the NL’s biggest disappointment.

Don’t just blame the Mets, though.

This will be the second first pitch Freeman has thrown at a Major League Baseball stadium this year.  Earlier this summer he did so before the Chicago White Sox hosted the Los Angeles Angels.

The White Sox are essentially the Mets in terms of disappointment.  Sure, they didn’t spend nearly as much on payroll but they hyped their rebuilding plan to be playing at an extremely high level right now.  Instead the team seen by many as the American League Central’s favorite in spring training is a laughable 38-54.

So Freeman will throw out to first pitches this year, something few if any other college football coaches can say.  He’ll also do so for arguably the biggest disappointment in both leagues.

Hey, free baseball is better than none at all.  And if Notre Dame flops this fall then at least we can blame it on the Mets and White Sox.

[lawrence-related id=72860,73913,72835]

Seby Zavala defied physics at Angel Stadium with a home run that shouldn’t be possible

Weird things happen when Seby Zavala is hitting home runs

Seby Zavala is not really what you’d call a power hitter.

The backup catcher for the Chicago White Sox only has 13 home runs in 151 career games, but he does have a penchant for weird things happening when the ball does go far off his bat.

For instance, he became the first player in MLB history to hit his first three home runs in the same game. Zavala has delivered two more multi-home run games since then — and when he is seeing the ball he tends to drive in multiple runs per game — yet what he did on Wednesday night in Anaheim is enough to break your brain in ways only baseball can.

On the second of Zavala’s two home runs (of course he hit two) in Chicago’s 11-5 victory against the Angels, the 29-year-old pulled a ball down the left field line that looked like it was way foul up until the moment in landed in the seats in fair territory. No one in either dugout seemed to understand how it happened.

Zavala even stood in the batters box for about three seconds after making contact thinking he’d have to get ready for the next pitch before he started jogging down the first base line.

The Angels immediately challenged the call, because how could you not? It was quickly upheld, but you need to see the ball’s flight path in order to understand why.

Unfortunately, the graphic will only leave you with more questions.

I have never seen a home run with a flight pattern that looks like an “S”. I’m not sure I will again. In fact, I’m not even sure how this is possible. My best guess here is that a gust of wind caught the ball at just the right moment and pushed it back into fair territory. Beyond that, I’m at a loss.

This home run will haunt me. Just not as much as it’s going to haunt Angels pitcher Andrew Wantz for giving it up.

White Sox’ Andrew Benintendi finally has a home run to show for the largest contract in franchise history

A 291-day drought has come to an end.

The White Sox notoriously do not like to spend a ton of money on contracts. In fact, team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf tends to feel at the mercy of his “dumbest” counterparts who do like to shell out a lot of cash.

Which is why it felt somewhat noteworthy last winter when general manager Rick Hahn was able to sign slugging outfielder Andrew Benintendi and his 73 career home runs to a mega-deal (by Chicago standards): 5 years, $75 million. It was the largest contract handed out in franchise history.

Benintendi filled a huge need in the field and Hahn was able to get a seemingly proven commodity on the market. Except that Benintendi’s White Sox tenure has been a bit of a nightmare so far.

In 66 games this season, the outfielder is slashing a career-low .265/.336/.349. Worse, Benintendi hasn’t been able to tap back into his power despite the Sox playing in one of the most homer-friendly ballparks in MLB. Benintendi finally hit his first home run of the season on Friday night in Seattle, snapping a 291-day drought. Naturally it came in one of the tougher stadiums to homer in, because baseball.

“It’s definitely nice to see him hit a homer,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol told reporters. “But there’s a reason he hasn’t hit homers. I’m not going to get into that right now, but it’s nice to see him hit one. You want him to get that one out of the way so he can get everybody off his back.”

At this rate, the White Sox are paying Benintendi $15 million per year for an average of 2.45 home runs per season — which is obviously a joke but also the exact type of logic you just know Reinsdorf is going to use the next time his general manager wants to offer a free agent their market value.

Anyways, the White Sox (30-41) remain 5.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins for the American League Central lead, because again, baseball.

White Sox walk off Tigers on wild pitch that ricocheted off an umpire’s face

Wins don’t get any weirder than this

Well, here’s a new way to win a Major League Baseball game.

The Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers were locked in the opposite of a slugfest is on Saturday. The Sox took an early lead in the fourth inning when Andrew Benintendi scored from third on a wild pitch. Detroit took the run right back when Dylan Cease threw a wild pitch in the sixth that scored Zach McKinstry.

And that was basically it when it came to offense. Until the 10th inning when, with the game still tied at 1-1, the White Sox loaded the bases with two outs and Tim Anderson at the plate. This would’ve been the perfect time for Anderson to break out some of his vintage heroics and end game with a Sox win.

Something far weirder happened instead.

The Tigers’ Jose Cisnero reached back and fired an 0-0 pitch straight off the mask of home plate umpire Cory Blaser for, by far, the wildest pitch of the day.

The ball jumped away towards the visiter’s on-deck circle as Yoan Moncada sprung from third base to score the game-winning run standing up.

There may be stranger ways to win a ballgame, but we might not see any this year that come close to what happened in Chicago.

Watch: Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman do’s and don’ts for throwing a first pitch

Freeman has been on the bump before

[autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] loves sports, not just football.

It’s evident as during his free time he typically is attending some sort of sporting event, Notre Dame related or not. Freeman was on hand to watch the Irish lacrosse team win a National Championship on Monday.

Today, Wednesday, Freeman was in Chicago, on their south side in visiting Guaranteed Rate Field as the [autotag]White Sox[/autotag] hosted the [autotag]Los Angeles Angels[/autotag]. Freeman had the honor of throwing the games first pitch and prior to his attempt he talked about his game plan.

Check out Freeman below go over his do’s and don’ts of throwing a baseball game’s first pitch.

Although there is no current video of Freeman’s throw, the Notre Dame Football Twitter account confirmed that his first pitch did not bounce.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

White Sox walk-off Twins twice in one at-bat after umps reverse game-winning call on Jose Abreu

That’s gonna put a dent in the fireworks budget

The White Sox cannot help but remain the weirdest team in baseball. Even when they’re not really trying.

Friday night provided the latest example as American League central rival Minnesota Twins came to town looking to halt Chicago’s two-game win streak.

Let’s jump ahead to the ninth inning, where the Sox had two runners on in a tie game and Andrew Vaughn stepping up to the plate against the shaky control of Jorge Lopez. You can guess where this is headed. Lopez hit Vaughn high and in on the first pitch of the at-bat and both teams immediately began jawing.

That loaded the bases for Jose Abreu, which seemed like a good time to swap Lopez out for, uh, anyone else. The Twins did not do this. And the break Lopez had while players returned to their benches did not fix his control issues. Immediately, Lopez threw in on Abreu and the veteran first baseman appeared to take it off the hand for a hit-by-pitch walk-off win.

The Sox sure thought so, too. Players ran out on the field to mob Abreu while fireworks shot off overhead. There was just a slight problem—in the midst of all the chaos, the Twins successfully challenged the ruling on the field and kept the game from ending.

So after all the celebrating, Abreu had to grab his bat and head back into the box with one strike, bases loaded and one out.

This time he made sure to deliver for real. Cue the fireworks and lights and everything else (again).

As bad as that ride was for Twins fans, it was arguably even worse for Twins bettors. According to Action Network, 82 percent of all bets and 91 percent of the money wagered backed Minnesota (-135). They had to watch those bets miss twice in a matter of pitches.

The White Sox, however, used the win to get to 66-66 on the year—the 23rd time this season they’ve been exactly .500. So it’s really debatable which side is feeling more pain overall in 2022.

[listicle id=1956921]

[mm-video type=video id=01gbzvhw6wjgb3tew0j7 playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gbzvhw6wjgb3tew0j7/01gbzvhw6wjgb3tew0j7-537e4181bf30e4872f37b29323ba3701.jpg]

Un fan de 11 años de los White Sox corrió hacia el campo y no, seguridad no lo tacleó

A los Chicago White Sox – como a todos los jugadores de la MLB – se les dice que cuando un fan corra hacia el campo, traten de evitarlo. Esta política es por razones de seguridad después de que en 2002 hubo un ataque de miedo dentro del campo que …

A los Chicago White Sox — como a todos los jugadores de la MLB — se les dice que cuando un fan corra hacia el campo, traten de evitarlo. Esta política es por razones de seguridad después de que en 2002 hubo un ataque de miedo dentro del campo que involucró a Tom Gamboa, entrenador de primera base de los Royals.

Pero nadie nunca esperó ver a un pequeño niño rebasar las barreras de seguridad y dar una vuelta de la victoria por el campo. Pues bueno, eso fue lo que pasó la noche del miércoles y ni siquiera Adam Engel, jardinero central de los White Sox, estaba seguro de cómo debía reaccionar. Los guardias de seguridad también tomaron un enfoque diferente.

Durante la novena entrada contra los Astros, un fan de 11 años logró correr alrededor del campo del Guaranteed Rate Field y también abrazar a Engel. Seguridad —que generalmente reacciona con unas tacleadas impresionantes para detener a los intrusos en el campo—, manejó todo con calma y sacaron al niño caminando del campo.

Traducción: ¡Niño en el campo! 

 

Aún no sabemos bien cómo pudo pasar eso. Después de todo, los niños tienden a ser lentos. Tal vez encontró un área con poca presencia de seguridad. Sin embargo, después del partido, Engel habló con los reporteros sobre el incidente.

Traducción: El jardinero central Engel Adams, quien fue abordado por un niño de 11 años en el campo.

 

“Engel, Engel, te quiero. ¿Me puedes dar un abrazo?” fue lo que dijo el fan según Engel.

Por supuesto que los fans tuvieron muchas cosas que decir sobre esta escena en Chicago. Algunos querían ver a una tacleada por parte de un guardia de seguridad.

Así reaccionó Twitter:

Traducción: Un niño corrió dentro del campo durante el juego de los White Sox.

 

Traducción: El lado sur: construido de forma diferente.

 

Traducción: Castigado de por vida.

 

Traducción: Disfruta no volver a ir a un juego.

 

Traducción: Súbanle la mesada inmediatamente.

 

Ese pobre niño estará castigado lo que queda del verano.

 

Artículo traducido por Ana Lucía Toledo

[lawrence-related id=49937]

Justin Verlander vs. Dylan Cease is the MLB pitching matchup of the year. Here’s how to bet on it.

Houston’s record as a road favorite is notable, but Tuesday is all about the pitching.

It’s incredibly rare to see the top two Cy Young candidates matchup this late in the regular season, which means baseball fans are in for a treat on Tuesday night.

When the Houston Astros face the Chicago White Sox, they’ll send Justin Verlander (-150 to win Cy Young at Tipico) to the mound against Dylan Cease (+190) and there’s really no understating what both of them have done this year.

White Sox (+1.5) vs. Astros (-130)

Over/Under 6.5

Named AL pitcher of the month for June and July, Cease has an MLB record streak of 14 starts with no more than one earned run allowed—surpassing Jacob deGrom’s absurd mark of 13 in 2021. Over that stretch the Sox star has a 0.66 ERA which stands as the lowest for any pitcher during a 14-game span in the last 100 years.

Here’s a quick glance at how the stats for Cease and Verlander stack up in the AL:

Category

Dylan Cease AL Rank

Justin Verlander AL Rank

WAR

1 (4.4)

2 (4.4)

ERA

2 (1.96)

1 (1.85)

Strikeouts

2 (174)

9 (134)

Home Runs Per 9 IP

5 (0.699)

8 (0.794)

Win Probability Added

5 (3.0)

1 (3.5)

Hits Per 9 IP

4 (6.435)

2 (6.154)

So, yeah, these guys are for real.

The White Sox have won four straight. The Astros have won four of their last five after dropping the series opener in Chicago on Monday.

Let’s figure out how to bet on them.

[tipico]