Rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg seemed to pick up yesterday right where he left off after his 14-strike out debut on June 8 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, striking out the first two hitters he faced to start the first inning.

With this being Strasburg’s second start after striking out 14 with no walks in his first appearance, it was just a matter of time before he did give one up. That came in the fourth inning to another rookie in only his third major league game, Carlos Santana.

After a solid performance, Strasburg was pulled in the sixth after loading the bases but not before tallying eight K’s, walking five and giving up one home run which was one of just two hits. The Nats won 9-4, breaking a two-game losing streak.

The win improves Strasburg’s record to 2-0 and his ERA to 2.19. Like in game one, Strasburg had almost complete control. You could hear the sound of the ball popping Ivan Rodriguez’s mitt and knew it had to be traveling close to or at 100 mph.

Rodriguez seemed to notice Strasburg was having some problems with the mound early in the game, though Strasburg denied it at first. But in the fifth inning, he admitted he was sliding a bit and the ground’s crew came out to fix the mound before Strasburg started the sixth inning, but by then Strasburg, while still throwing in the 100 mph range, showed he was human. Manager Jim Riggleman, who had originally said he was going to hold Strasburg to a 100 pitch count, took him out after throwing 95 pitches, 52 of those strikes and with the bases loaded and the Nats leading 6-1.

Strasburg’s 18 strikeouts before issuing a walk is second in the majors. Johnny Cueto, of the Cincinnati Reds holds the record of striking out 22 batters before issuing a walk. He achieve that feat in 2008. That same year, Strasburg was a sophomore at San Diego State University. He went 8-3 with a 1.57 earned run average and 133 strikeouts in 971/2 innings for the Aztecs. That same year he struck out a Mountain West conference record 23 batters in a game on April 11 against the University of Utah. He has one career no-hitter, recorded in his final home start on May 8, 2009, against Air Force, where he also struck out 17 batters.

After two solid outtings, the consensus is if Strasburg can keep healthy, he could become the best pitcher Major League Baseball has ever seen.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

In addition to contributing to Sports Climax, Miriam Romain maintains a Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com. The Chicago native has also been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is writing a book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”

Copyright © 2010 Sports Climax, LLC

How do I best describe the atmosphere inside Wrigley Field last night? Electrified. Ted Lilly, in his post game interview said he couldn’t believe the energy inside the park, saying the closest comparison he could make was during the 2001 World Series.

The evening started with a buzz because the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks were going to be at Wrigley for a pre-game ceremony with hockey’s Holy Grail. Security was tight as I watched 10 mounted police go by my bleacher seats on Waveland.

As time grew close to seeing the team and the Cup, anticipation levels rose – even brief rain shower couldn’t dampen the excitement building inside Wrigley Field. And then the Blackhawks appeared in right field to the cheers of more than 40,000 fans.

Acknowledging the crowd, the Hawks paraded the Cup around the ballpark, and where possible, shook hands with fans. The Cup was placed on the pitcher’s mound and John McDonough, once in marketing with the Cubs, threw out the first pitch. Both the Cubs and White Sox posed with the Hawks and the Cup for photos, and some even got to hold the Cup. This in itself was worth going out to Wrigley last night. Seeing a championship anything inside Wrigley was an extremely rare occurrence.

Cheers turned to boos as Ozzie Guillen was handed the Stanley Cup. Earlier in the day, Guillen said that the White Sox parade after they won the 2005 World Series was bigger than the estimated 2 million that showed up for the Blackhawks parade. Cubs fans commented that when the Cubs win the World Series, our parade would dwarf both.

The place was still buzzing about the Cup when fans realized there was another story breaking. Both White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd and Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly were throwing no hitters, and it was into the fifth inning.

Fans started turning their attention to the baseball game, but not fully until after the Hawks sang the Seventh Inning Stretch. At the time, both Floyd and Lilly were still throwing no hitters. Then Alfonso Soriano came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh and hit a double with two outs. The Cubs scored their only run soon after, but that was enough.

Lilly, however, took his no hitter into the ninth, as rain began to fall. Fans that would normally have run for shelter, stayed in their seats, transfixed on the game. However, a no hitter was not to happen at Wrigley last night. Juan Pierre came to the plate to pinch hit for Floyd and hit a clean single to break Lilly’s no-no.

Carlos Marmol came in to shut down the side and the Cubs beat the White Sox 1-0 on a one hitter, avoiding the first White Sox sweep at Wrigley since 1999, in what most were saying was the best game they’ve seen at Wrigley this year and maybe in a very long time.

There were some in the crowd who, while happy the Cubs finally won, bemoaned the fact that Lilly was denied his no-no. One fan lamented he would never see a no hitter. Our group placed the blame on one friend who dared to utter the words “no hitter,” while columnist George Castle shouldered the blame, calling himself the no-no jinx.

I know I’m not the jinx. I refused to even try to jinx it for Floyd, thinking perhaps it would work against Lilly and just watched, transfixed. Some of us were lucky enough to see Carlos Zambrano pitch a no hitter in Milwaukee against the Astros after the game was moved from Houston because of Hurricane Ike. That was a pinnacle moment in my personal sports history, but seeing a no-no at Wrigley would top everything except seeng the Cubs win the World Series at home.

The Cubs do need to be careful when they travel to U.S. Cellular Field in a couple of weeks. In two days Cubs pitchers hit five Sox batters. While some expected some retaliation last night, it could come at the hands of the Sox in their own ballpark.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

In addition to contributing to Sports Climax, Miriam Romain maintains a Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com. The Chicago native has also been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is writing a book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”

Copyright © 2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Even before he took the mound for his National League debut tonight in Washington, Stephen Strasburg had become a household name. The flame-throwing pitcher’s debut came just one year after signing a record $15.1 million contract with the Nationals.

Hoping to help lift a slumping Nats team, Strasburg was put on the fast track to the majors. Facing the Pittsburgh Pirates, the 21-year-old phenom lived up to the hype, striking out 14 of the 21 batters he faced and giving up two runs, both coming on a two-run dinger by Delwyn Young.

The most impressive stat may be the fact he walked not a single batter, even after falling behind 3-0 and 3-1 on a few occasions.

With a wicked curve ball coupled with his smoking fastball that reached 100 mph and was consistently in the high 90 mph range, Strasburg’s debut came in front of more than 40,000 fans at a standing room only Nationals Park.

After being greeted with a standing ovation, first inning jitters were apparent as Strasburg had trouble finding the strike zone, but once he found it, he was almost unstoppable.

Before taking the mound tonight, Strasburg was a sensation. During his short time at Triple-A Syracuse, he had a 1.08 ERA. He struck out 38 batters in 33.1 innings and walked only seven. Earlier this week, a baseball card of Strasburg sold on eBay for around $17,000 and tickets to tonight’s game were sold out within two hours of the announcement that Strasburg was being called up and starting.

Often compared to Kerry Wood, among other pitchers who have had incredible rookie years, Strasburg does appear to be somewhat different. Looking at all the angles, his mechanics, for one, are better than Wood’s. He was able to mix up his pitches, so hitters really didn’t know what his first pitch to them would be. But it was that awesome curve ball that was a joy for fans to watch, but a frustration to Pirates batters.

With this 5-2 win under his belt, Strasburg has a decision to make. The mayor of the town of Strasburg, VA, has said that if Strasburg won his first game, he would be awarded the Pride of Strasburg Award. If Strasburg accepts it in person, the town will be renamed Stephen Strasburg, VA, for one week.

Keep watching this kid. He looks like the real deal, and if he stays healthy, his career could provide historic numbers and end at Cooperstown in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Copyright © 2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Say what you want about the Chicago Cubs and the moves Manager Lou Piniella made before this weekend’s sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee, but look at the results.

The Cubs went into Milwaukee and beat the Brewers 8-1 Friday night, 5-1 Saturday and finished the series off with a 12-2 win on Sunday with Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly and Randy Wells each picking up a win.

In the series, Lilly made his season debut with the Cubs in front of a raucous crowd of 43,410. While at times in the beginning he looked a bit wild, he pitched well. His first pitch was clocked at 76 mph. In all, Lilly threw 78 pitches over six shut-out innings before being pulled for Carlos Zambrano who made his first relief appearance for the Cubs.

Z was greeted by a standing ovation at Miller Park and after taking the mound, he only needed two pitches to get out of the inning. Later, Zambrano, known to be one of MLB’s best hitting pitchers, came to bat with the bases loaded, and hit a sacrifice fly to score another run. Later, Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol closed out the game.

If that wasn’t enough, the Cubs continued their assault on the Brewers today. While most Cubs fans were enjoying the home runs by Tyler Colvin, Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto and Derrek Lee, another little scenario was playing out that happens quite rarely in baseball.

Both Colvin and Fukudome were one triple away from hitting for the cycle. Neither one completed the cycle, but it seemed Colvin was close when he hit a liner to Prince Fielder in the 8th that would have gone to the corner for a possible triple had Fielder not made a nice leap for the ball.

This comes on the heels of another curious cycle that didn’t happen for two players in last night’s Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins game when a player from each time made a bid to hit for the cycle. Both Joe Mauer of the Twins and David DeJesus of the Royals were one home run away from accomplishing the feat. The game went to 12 innings with the Twins finally beating the Royals 9-7.

The last time there were two cycles hit in one day was on September 1, 2008, by Stephen Drew, with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Adrian Beltre, while he was with the Seattle Mariners.

Just days ago, the Brew Crew demolished the Pittsburgh Pirates in record-setting fashion, outscoring them 36-1 in a 3-game series. The Cubs repaid the favor for the Pirates by doing near the same to the Brewers, outscoring them 25-4 on their home turf in this series.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

In addition to writing her Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com, Miriam Romain has been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is a contributor to SportsClimax.com . She is also writing a book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™ 

CINCINNATTI, OH. – The Cincinnati Reds announced today in a press conference that former Reds star, Hall of Famer and current ESPN game analyst Joe Morgan has joined the team as a special advisor to baseball operations.

This follows a trend set by the Chicago Cubs with Greg Maddux being named assistant to the team’s general manager, Jim Hendry, and Tom Glavine being named by the Atlanta Braves as special assistant to the team’s president, John Scheurholz.

According to a team press release, Morgan will “support and assist in the development of the Club’s community outreach and diversity initiatives while participating in the efforts of the Reds Community Fund and Reds Hall of Fame, including appearances at Rookie Success League and Match Program evens, Hall of Fame inductions and other promotional activities.

He will support the teams’ rights-holders with visits on 700 WLW Radio and FOX Sports Ohio broadcasts. He will also assist in the development and cultivation of the Reds’ baseball operations organizational philosophy and in player development strategy.”

Other former Reds players who have worked with the Reds include Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, a special consultant until this past year, Eric Davis and Mario Soto, special assistants who work with current players, and Ken Griffey Sr., also a special assistant in the player development area of the team, according to the si.com.

Morgan, who is 66, batted .271, had 268 home runs and 1,133 runs batted in over his 22-season career. He also was an All-Star 10 times, twice with the Houston Astros and eight consecutive appearances with the Reds. He is also a five-time Gold Glove winner with the Reds and won a Silver Slugger award in 1982 while with the San Francisco Giants.

Morgan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, in 1990 and entered as a Reds player after being most remembered as an important piece of the Big Red Machine from 1972-1979. During that time he helped lead that team to two World Series championships in 1978 and ‘79 and was named National League Most Valuable Player both of those years. Morgan finished his career playing briefly for the Philadelphia Phillies and Oakland Athletics.

According to the Reds.com website, over the past two years Morgan has attended Reds Spring Training as a special instructor, rekindling his relationship with the Reds.

ESPN’s Diane Lamb said Morgan’s new role with the Reds will not affect his Sunday Night Baseball duties on ESPN.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

In addition to writing her Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com,Miriam Romain has been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is a contributor to SportsClimax.com . She is also writing a book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

Colorado Rockies team president Keli McGregor was found dead this morning in his Salt Lake City hotel room. He was 48.

According to an article on the Rockies official team website, McGregor was in Salt Lake City on business with Charlie Montfort, team chairman and CEO, and Greg Feasel, executive vice president.

Paramedics were called to the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City when associates were unable to reach McGregor. While details have yet to unravel, no foul play is suspected and all indications are that McGregor died of natural causes.

McGregor, reared in Colorado, was a two-time All-American tight end and Colorado State University, where he is third on the school’s list in career receptions with 153. In 1985 he received a B.S. degree in microbiology.

He was also drafted that year by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round. He played tight end for the Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks. He was named to the CSU All-Century team in 1992 and its Hall of Fame in 1996.

McGregor joined the Rockies in 1993 as senior director of operations before becoming senior vice president in 1996 and Executive vice president in 1998. He assumed the presidency of the team in Oct. 2001.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig made a statement today regarding the news:

“On behalf of Major League Baseball, I am very saddened by the sudden and unexpected passing of Keli McGregor. As president of the Colorado Rockies, Keli was one of our game’s rising young stars. He was a great athlete and equally great as a baseball administrator. Also, he was a great human being. All of baseball will miss him. I offer my condolences and deepest sympathies to his family, friends and the Rockies ballclub.”

As of the time of this article, the Rockies are scheduled to play their game tonight against the Washington Nationals in Washington.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

In addition to writing her Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com, Miriam Romain has been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is a contributor to SportsClimax.com . She is also writing a book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™ 

It appears that Major League Baseball, and perhaps all of sports, needs to have spell checkers. In the latest saga of misspelled team or proper names, Eugenio Velez of the San Francisco Giants came into the game in the 7th inning of last Wednesday’s game wearing a jersey that said San Francicso. The spelling error was not noticed until long after the Giants had defeated the Houston Astros 10-4.

This isn’t the first time the misspellings have occurred, and it isn’t the first time it has happened to a San Francisco player. In 1977, Rob Andrews also sported a “San Francicso” jersey.

There are other baseball players who have sported incorrect team name or last name spellings. Ryan Jorgensen in an August 2007 game wore a jersey that spelled his name as Jorgenson. After hitting a grand slam, he changed to a correctly spelled jersey.

Also in 2007, Seth Smith of the Colorado Rockies sported a jersey that spelled his name Smtih.

In 2005, Aaron Harang pitched while wearing a “Cncitnnati” In 2003, Adam Riggs wore an “Angees” jersey. And for four innings in a 1994 game against Texas, Joe Carter wore a jersey that said “Torontno.”

There are others in baseball, and in other sports. These are just a few of many examples.

In addition to writing her Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com, Miriam Romain has been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is a contributor to SportsClimax.com . She is also writing a book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

CHICAGO – Phones may be ringing across Chicago after the Chicago Cubs Opening Day 16-5 loss in Atlanta yesterday. “The Cubs are horrible.” “Zambrano is awful.” “We were robbed by that call — we need replay.”Well, two out of three of those comments might be correct and some may say all three are correct.

The Cubs scored three runs on a Marlon Byrd home run in the top of the first, but Zambrano was not on his game. The Cubs No.1 starter gave up six runs in the bottom of the first, three on a three-run home run by rookie Jason Heyward in his first at bat.

In all, Zambrano was rocked for a total of eight runs before being yanked in the second inning. It was the earliest exit for Zambrano in his career. While his pitching was far from perfect, there were a couple of times when defense was lacking as well.

Z didn’t handle the pressure of an Opening Day start on the road and has toned down his fiery temper, at least in front of the cameras. Regardless, the fans cannot point the finger only at Z. The Cubs as a team totally fell apart in the 6th inning after a blown call by umpire Marvin Hudson on a Byrd fly to center was called out.

Replays showed the call by Hudson incorrect, supplying more ammo for those who are calling for instant replays to have a greater role in Major League Baseball.

“Replays support the #cubs in bad call in 6th on what should’ve been a hit for Marlon Byrd. Ramirez was doubled off,” Tweeted Cubs MLB beat writer Carrie Muskat.

“Absolute BS. Yet another reason replay MUST be adopted. #Cubs got screwed,” Tweeted Bleedcubbieblue.

Even Lou Piniella wasn’t on his game today. He did come out to challenge that call in the sixth, as he should have, but the fiery Lou that Cubs fans expected never materialized — even after the umpires had a meeting and refused to overturn the original call.

If this is a glimpse of things to come for the season, it will be a long season. The Cubs need to get over this game and Lou needs to show he’s really in it. If the skipper of the team loses his fire, it may trickle down the ranks and this season will be another very long one for Cubs fans.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

The Minnesota Twins have signed catcher and local Joe Mauer to a massive eight year, $184 million contract, which includes a full no-trade clause. The contract is the fourth largest in Major League Baseball history in both value and average salary.

Mauer, who was entering the final year of his current contract with the Twins, got the new new deal that will cover him through the 2018 season, when he will be only 34.

In this final season of his current $33 million, four-year contract, Mauer will earn $12.5 million then under the extension agreed to yesterday, he will earn $23 million in each of the next eight years of his new contract.

Even Mauer’s teammates were impressed with the deal. Twins center fielder Denard Span reportedly tweeting, “184 million for Mauer! Wow.”

Mauer, 26, has won three American League batting titles and was last year’s American League MVP. He is considered one of the best defensive catchers in baseball.

The only contracts bigger than Mauer’s deal are the $275 deal Alex Rodriguez signed with the Yankees in December 2007, the A-Rod $252 deal he signed with Texas in 2000 and a $189 deal signed by Derek Jeter in 2001 with the Yankees. Roger Clemens’ $28,000 prorated deal in 2007 with the Yankees in which he actually received $17, 443, and the $25.2 million Rodriguez deal with Texas are the only two higher average salaries than Mauer’s. CC Sabathia, now with the Yankees, also has an average salary of $23 million.

This signing makes Mauer the highest-paid catcher, surpassing Jorge Posada’s four year $52.4 million with the Yankees.

Mauer was the Twins’ No. 1 overall pick in 2001. After sitting out the first month of last season, he hit 28 home runs and had 96 RBIs, helping propel the Twins in the AL Central Division champs.

A press conference will be held at the Twins spring training facility in Fort Myers, Florida, at 7pm this evening.

In addition to writing her Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com, Miriam Romain has been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is a contributor to SportsClimax.com . She is also writing a book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

If you build it, they will come. And yesterday they came – all 13,391 fans, setting a new Cactus League record. And those fans saw the Cubs lose to the Dodgers 7-3. It’s not surprising that this game was so popular, the Cubs and Dodgers have the most draw in the Cactus League, with Cubs fans following their team to the different Arizona venues.

But the biggest losers of the day were not the Cubs; the biggest losers were the fans who could not get out of the parking lot after the game at Camelback Ranch.

What makes this so disturbing is that fans can get in and out of every other stadium in the Phoenix area with minimal problems. This is year two for Camelback Ranch – which is shared by the Dodgers and White Sox.

You’d think that after the horror stories of last year, the powers that be would have figured out a better way to route traffic out of the stadium than what is currently in place. Not so. If you park in the lot, and if you park in handicap parking (or ADA, as they call it there), forget about getting out – that is if you get there early and you’re lucky enough to get one of the few coveted handicap spots.

Some will say that Camelback Ranch was put up quickly and the infrastructure isn’t quite ready to handle it. Not true. If the person, or people, designing the place had done their homework, getting in and out of the parking lot could have been made a lot easier. The Cubs need to take a good, long look at Camelback Ranch, see all of its flaws and learn from them.

Trying to get out of the parking lot probably made Cubs fans, who were in the majority at the end of the game as Dodgers fans started leaving in droves around the seventh inning, forget that former Cub favorite Reed Johnson hit a three run home run for the Dodgers, or even that the Cubs lost.

In addition to writing her Chicago Cubs column for Examiner.com, Miriam Romain has been published in several Cubs annuals by Maple Street Press and is a contributor to SportsClimax.com . She is currently covering the Cubs in Arizona during Spring Training 2010 while she takes a break from writing her book with the working title “Summers at Wrigley with my Dad.”