The Weekend Buzz while you were hoping your wife/girlfriend would round up friends to see so you didnt have to go. …

1. Happy Memorial Day: Hope your burgers and chicken on the grill turn out as perfect on this Halladay Weekend as Roy was in Florida on Saturday night.

2. Lets watch those celebrations: Hope your steaks and shrimp on the grill turn out far better than Kendry Morales walk-off homer did for the Angels on Saturday.

Kendry Morales is all smiles before breaking his leg during this celebration. (Getty Images) It was Halladays perfecto, Cleveland pitcher David Huff taking an Alex Rodriguez line drive off of his and it could not be more devastating to perennial AL West-favorite Angels. Morales, who had 34 home runs and 108 RBI last in 2009, crushed a game-winning grand slam, then fractured his leg on a crash-landing at home plate.

He was to have surgery on Sunday and hes expected to be out between 10 and 12 weeks. In other words, the AL West landscape changed dramatically in a split-second and an awkward jump. The Angels, already struggling badly, cant even win properly in 2010.

“Itll change the way we celebrate,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “It sure is exciting, but you always wonder if its an accident waiting to happen.”

More often than you realize, it is.

Just ask the man behind the plate for Seattle on Saturday when Mora Rob Johnson. When Ichiro Suzuki slammed a game-winning homer against the Yankees last September, it was Johnson who sprained his ankle jumping up and down during the celebration at home plate and had to be scratched from the next days lineup. Hopping like a rabbit in the right-handed batters box, he landed in the hole hitters dig for their back feet.

Johnson had company last September: When the Cubs took a ninth-inning lead against San Francisco, first baseman Derrek Lee, the tying run on the play, was slapped in the helmet by reliever Angel Guzman during the mob greeting him and Jeff Baker in the dugout and suffered neck spasms. Manager Lou Piniella had to send someone else out to play first base in the bottom of the inning.

Minnesota lost infielder Denny Hocking in 2002 when, after he caught a pop fly for the final out of the first round of the playoffs against Oakland, he wound up at the bottom of a dog pile, got spiked and took stitches in a finger and was sidelined for the next round, the ALCS against the Angels.

The Cubs Ryan Dempster broke his toe last July attempting to hop over the fence in front of the Cubs dugout at Wrigley Field after a win over Milwaukee. His landing spot: The disabled list.

And in July 2004, one of San Diegos top prospects at the time, an up-and-coming power hitter named Tagg Bozied, hit a walk-off grand slam for Triple-A Portland … then snapped the patellar tendon in his knee in half when, upon approaching home plate, he leaped into the air and … ouch. Bozied, San Diegos third-round pick in 02, never was heard from again (hes currently playing Triple-A in Philadelphias organization).

“It was one of those freak accidents that you always fear could happen but never expect it will,” then-Padres general manager Kevin Towers told the at the time, saying six years ago pretty much the same thing Scioscia said on Saturday.

The oldest cliche in is “Dont historians think it came to be around the time Mordecai “Three-F but that goes out the window in the immediate aftermath of a sudden victory.

Youve seen players flamboyantly hurl their helmets as they approach home plate? Its because, if they leave their helmets on, teammates pound them on the head so hard it hurts … and, as Lee will tell you, can be neck-spasm-inducing.

Morales injury should change the way every team celebrates. Nobodys looking to drain fun and spontaneity from the moment of victory, but its a lot less fun learning the hard way.

Whatever happened to simple handshakes and “attaboys”?

3. Alex Rodriguez Huffed and puffed and then. … : Was so concerned after his line drive skulled Cleveland pitcher David Huff that he drove to the hospital after Saturdays Indians-Yankees game. When A-Rod learned that Huff already had been released and was back with the Indians, he phoned the pitcher and spoke with him directly. And you know what? For as often as weve had our fun savaging A-Rod, it is only right to take a moment now and acknowledge Huffs tweet that A-Rod is “one class act.” Attaboy, A-Rod.

4. Buster Posey rocks: Phenom landed in the bigs and the offensively challenged Giants immediately began averaging 12 runs a game thanks in part to Poseys three-RBI Saturday. Gee, perhaps the Giants will even keep him in the majors now.

5. Umpire Joe West fined: For, among other things, being a buffoon. And for his part in the dustup with the White Sox, Ozzie Guillen and Mark Buehrle. The running joke across the baseball landscape this weekend is that the commissioners office erred in hitting West in the wallet: The most cruel punishment would be to make him listen to his own country and western CD for 24 hours straight.

6. Mets 35-inning shutout streak ends in Milwaukee: Apparently, it happened when Tom Seaver could not take his turn in the rotation and Anthony Young made an emergency start against the Brewers.

7. Orioles Adam Jones briefly detained by Canadian immigration officials: It was on the way into Toronto for this weekends series against the Blue Jays. Weird, too. I didnt realize it was normal for customs officials to ask a guy questions such as: “You call that pitching?”, “Your bullpen, how badly does it suck?” and “These arent the same Orioles that Earl Weaver once managed, right?”

8. Cubs Carlos Silva now 7-0: Very cool. He becomes the first Cubs pitcher since Jim Weaver during the Great Depression to win each of his first seven decisions. Cubs fans are stunned, too. They didnt realize the Great Depression ever ended.

9. Tigers designate Dontrelle Willis: In his place, Max Scherzer on Sunday fanned 14 Oakland As in 5 2/3 innings. As Detroit manager Jim Leyland was saying two weekends ago when the club was in Dodger Stadium, “We need Max Scherzer. Theres no question.” On Sunday, with Scherzer back on track following a detour with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, we saw a glimpse of why.

10. Bostons Bill Hall, Houstons Kevin Cash each pitch Friday: Hall, an outfielder, took the mound and worked a scoreless ninth in the most creative twist of the Red Soxs new “run prevention” philosophy yet. As for Cash, a catcher, who also pitched (three hits and one run allowed), its never too soon to start auditioning for life post-Roy Oswalt in Houston. Though far as owner Drayton McLane knows, the Astros currently reside in first place.

Posted on May 31st, 2010 by admin
Filed under: MLB baseball news