Elvis is in the building

Well that's one for the money and 2 for the show, 3 to get ready, and watch this cat go !

Down in Arlington Texas they get to watch Elvis perform 81 shows a year, and he even takes his show on the road. He performs at a high level, brings the fans right out their seats, and is a high light package all his own.



No sequin vests, no gold jackets, but gold gloves, he will certainly add many to his wardrobe, we speak not of the King of Rock N' Roll, but the starting shortstop of the 1st place Texas Rangers of the American League West.


Andrus has great range to his right, he also has great range to his left, and oh yes, he goes deep into foul territory, and makes the plays Derek Jeter only dreams of making. Now he has added hitting to his list of talents, and base stealing for good measure. He is quietly leading this team.



Many believe the team leader is Josh Hamilton, or long time Ranger Michael Young, or the presence of Vlad Guererro, or manager Ron Washington that fuels the Lone Star Rangers, but in truth, it the diminutive shortstop that is the glue that holds the team together.



He starts double plays that should be gap singles, or at worst infield hits, he turns them as a messiah into instant inning ending double dips, and shuts the other team down.



Now the Rangers starting pitchers already know this, and they all encourage the ground ball to position 6 on the field, because it means outs, and 3 times to Elvis, and we get to bat again.


He makes the routing play in his sleep, and makes the extrordinary play look routine, and the great play so many times, his teammates could call him the Closer instead of Neftali Feliz.


In the National League, Jose Reyes is the don of the great defensive gloves, but Elvis is fast approaching the status of " King of the oohs and aahhs ", and while chicks dig the long ball, managers dig the 6-3 put out, it saves games, ends threats and puts out fires faster than Ladder 49 can.



He is as graceful as Concepcion, acrobatic as Vizquel, and Aparacio, and has an arm as strong as Ripken, or Yount, or Trammell. He turns the double play with Kinsler despite his partner's less than sterling rep at 2nd base. He is the complete defensive package, his glove is where 9th inning comebacks or big time rallies go to die.


I watch him dive for balls I thought were Michael Young's, or Ian Kinsler's, and not only does he get to balls he has not right to try for, he throws out the runners by a step.


I would admit that Texas was wrong to move Michael Young at the beginning of 2009 season, I mean a raw rookie supplanting Young, who had moved years before from 2nd to make room for Alphonso Soriano. I was dead wrong, becasuse the kid has the royal jelly, he is the real deal, and like Lincecum, like many of the New Era players, he is leading the new wave of superstars, and he'll be doing this for a long time.

Lincecum

I have decided to write about the next generation of baseball heroes, and this will kind of last awhile, so let me apologise for ignoring any current events. Like new no hitters ( sorry Edwin Jackson ).

If I knew why I marvel at Tim Lincecum's ability to throw the ball the way he does. Cause I could never could, and I always wanted to.

I could catch, and damn, I could run, but I could never throw the ball that well. Lincecum is that athlete that does things effortlessly, and with such flow. Damn he makes me wish I could get another chance. But the hair is a bit too much, however, I loved Johnny Damon and those Oakland Atheletics of the 70's with the handlebar moustaches, so the Freak can keep his doo. Is he another Samson ?

Maybe from his long hair comes his inner strength. If so, Tim, you are something rare, and special. Throwing in the mid to high 90's , and can mesmerize with his offspeed stuff, just watch the expressions in the hitters when that curve breaks away, their eyes widen and they listen to the umpire call it for a caught 3rd strike, then they wince and toss their batting helmet off like discarded battle gear.

He is nick named "The Freak", because I think he is seen as a freak of nature, since due to his slight build, no one expected Lincecum to generate such power. I love the high leg kick, slightly reminiscent of El Toreador, Juan Marichal, of Los Gigantes of years past. Marichal's trade mark high leg kick helped create enough deception that hitters were watching his delivery as much as his fastball, and were never sure what direction the pitch was coming in from. Just too many body parts in motion. Lincecum's fluid pitching motion has been broken down frame by frame and analysed by kinesiolgists ( no spell check for that ) to define it.

I say " do I want to know how he does it " ? No, I don't, I would rather just marvel at his ability to pretzel major league hitters.

So who is next, Pujols, Arod, or stay on the mound with Carpenter, Jon Lester, no, I want to focus on the next generation, so upcoming segments will be on Rickey Romero, Elvis Andrus and Andrew McCutcheon.

Take yourself out to the Ball Game

Happy Father's Day







To all the Fathers out there, the soon to be fathers ( right Joe ) and grampas as well ( my ol' pal Brian ) .



And to my Dad, who always had time after working all day to have a catch with his son, thanks Dad, hope you have many more.



Oh, and thanks to Aaron Hill who ( with his father in the audience today ) cranked a 2 out big fly in the bottom of the 8th against Matt Cain.

A Game winning blast, by the way.





I was going to write about Ken Griffey jr and his father, the only father and son to ever hit back to back jacks, but I am going to devote a 2 part blog to the career of a first ballot HOF.







Today I wanted to also acknowledge that I am a very very proud father of 2 wonderful kids who I adore. My son, the first to graduate from post secondary world, and my baby, my daughter who is such a treat. Wring out your hankies, it's now back to baseball.







Can I ask a question to the fans of the Blue Jays ?







Where the hell are you, this weekend you have no NBA, no Stanley Cup, and the G 20 is a week away, and you get the San Fran Giants send Zito and Cain to the mound, and we get 20,000 fans ! The team , our team has not collapsed, yes, they struggled out west but they are still nicely above .500 and Jesse Litcsh just tossed 7 shut out innings so I mean c'mon fans, start turning those turnstiles.






Weather is great, you have a winning team, and no excuses.

Thanks Dad for always being there.

Knock On Wood

Growing up, I of course had never seen a pitcher throw a knuckle ball, but I had an old copy of Sport magazine, and it had an article authored by Wilbur Wood of the Chicago White Sox, with an explanation of the grip, the arm movements and the nuances of throwing this pitch.

When Wilbur Wood made the major leagues, his signature was a knuckleball that left hitters shaking their heads as they walked back to the dugout. Wood's signature since leaving baseball in 1978 has been, well, his signature. "They say to me, 'Are you Wilbur Wood the ballplayer?' “says Wood, 60, of the doctors he schmoozes in his current job as a pharmaceutical salesman for Carolina Medical in suburban Boston.”Then they want an autographed picture. I wait a couple of days and bring it to their office. And I'm back in the door again."

As a 17-year major league veteran, Wood knows a thing or two about making a pitch. A knuckleballer from the start, the lefthanded Wood took awhile to hone his craft. Signed in 1960 by his hometown Red Sox, he spent 3 seasons working out of the bullpen for Boston and another 1 with the Pittsburgh Pirates before being traded to the Chicago White Sox, with whom he came under the tutelage of knuckleball master Hoyt Wilhelm.
His knuckler nuanced, Wood continued as a reliever, leading the American League in games for three consecutive years (1968-70) before earning a starter's role. He won 164 games in his career, including 20 or more in each season from 1971 through '74. In each of those years he pitched more than 300 innings, and in '72 and '73 he led the league with 24 wins. In May 1976 a line drive off the bat of theDetropit Tigers' Ron LeFlore shattered his left kneecap, and led to two operations and countless hours of rehabilitation. "I was a little gun-shy," says Wood of his return the next season, when he went 7-8 in 123 innings. "I didn't want the ball coming back over the middle again."
After a mediocre 1978 season, Wood retired from baseball. He headed home and spent the next year fishing, which led to his buying Meister's Seafood, a Belmont, Mass market. After five years of doing everything from filleting salmon to sweeping floors, he sold the business and set out to establish his next career. Says Wood, "Being a ballplayer or being a salesperson, you have to sell yourself."
Wood sold a friend on giving him a chance in pharmaceutical sales, and he proved a natural.

"Today," says Wood, "a lot of managers don't like a trick pitcher."
It seems safe to say, though, that in any era, Wood would have made his mark.

Tim Wakefield now carries the tradition for the Red Sox.

Wilbur is still with us, teaching kids who asked him how to grip the ball, but most do not have the hand size, or finger nails sufficient, but Wood is still able to impart his wisdom, knock on wood.

Tonite, his Sox face the Phenom, no trick pitches from Strasburg.

Sunday Morning Musings

Good Morning All.

I find myself without a strong topic this morning, so when that happens, I tend to have a need for Rants and Raves, and musings.

Rant # 1 - Why does MLB continue to schedule the Jays on the road on Canada Day. We have to go back to when the Montreal Expos were still a team, and they annually met and some very good baseball " patriotic style " was created.

Our closest rival I think is the Tigers, so c'mon Bud , we want to wear our Canada Day uniforms.

Rave # 1 - My 1st rave is directed towards the resurgent Cincinnati Reds, who have made some great strides and a big thanks to Dusty Baker who no matter where he goes, he has success. It always depended on them finding 5 guys in their rotation that could give them credibility, and they have it. Also a great double play combo of Cabrera & Phillips that has solidified the defense. Hey and ex Jay Rolen is playing an All Star 3rd base, with Etobicoke's own Joey Votto anchoring 1st, it has the other Ohio team thinking division winner. They only lack playoff experience, except for Arroyo and Brandon Phillips.

Rave # 2 - Strasburg The Pitcher, Strasburg the Event has hit Washington, and has now pitched 12 innings plus, and has struck out 22 batters. He is flying high at a time when the organisation needs to have more fans watching the Nationals than the Redskins or the Capitals. He will be a star, but I reserve judgement on super stardom until he faces better line ups than the Pirates and Indians.

Rant # 2 - Censure in the media. This past week we saw Rogers Media, owner of the Blue Jays decide to muzzle their own staff for challenging manager Cito Gaston. So I guess the broadcast team of Howarth and Ashby , and TV play caller Buck Martinez will watch their criticism. Poor judgement by Rogers on their handling of this and especially as a media mogul.

Lou Gehrig wandered on the field one day, as manager Miller Huggins saw that Wally Pipp could not play, and Gehrig never gave the job back.

I will tell you this, when Bryce Harper begins his time with the Nationals, he will embark on a longterm journey with Washington, and it is doubtful he will ever give the job back.

Looking ahead and behind

So here I sit watching another Rays whitewash of the Jays, and wondering how long will it take before we have a team that will contend ?

We need to add some key pieces that the other contenders already have. Here is what we need to address :

A) A full time shortstop who is a grade A defender, and an above average hitter.

B) We need a catcher to make it through the system that hits for power and consistently throw out runners.

C) A lock down died in the wool closer, of the ilk of Rivera or Paplebon

D) A manager who has the ability to relate to young players and make the tough decisions of benching non performers.

E) A 3rd base solution, I mean for crying out, what's it been 15 years ! Hinske, Tony Batista, Troy Glaus, and Jose Bautista. We either get offense or defense, never a good mixture.

Oh and we have to fit the right guys into the bullpen, Downs might be one, but as a situational lefty.

I am sure many Jays fans feel that there team is close, but sadly we are not.

Compare position by position with Boston, Tampa and New York, and be honest, where are equal, and where are we behind. We have received more home runs than we would normally expect and we've really had better than average starting pitching performances than we expected.

We are going to have some good runs this year, but we are finding out the good and bad about this team when we face the Rays, the Yanks, and other top teams, that we are just not in their league.

We have learned that we have made significant progress though, the pool of talent is getting deeper, and the youth we have can be expected to be our cornerstone.

The big celebrations are yet to come.

So tonite I celebrate the 100th blog, have a piece of cake !

Shut your mouth

Do I agree with muzzling the press, no, freedom of speech and all that rot, some God given right to say what you think.

Sometimes though we push free speech to the limit.

So did the Fan 590 need to give Mike Wilner the weekend off for his continual arguing with manager Cito Gaston ? No, but he was sure annoying.

Do I like the Wilner sarcasm ? no, and he talks down to the fans calling in, (and yours truly went onto his live blog during a painful 9-0 loss tot he Rays), and thought I would see his reaction to criticism and he seemed to have pulled his tail back a bit. Quite a lot, so I guess Rogers will be watching and listening.

Why ?

It made me wonder if it wasn't the constant disagreeing with the manager, was it that went on his blog and continued the keep his rant going. I think his act is wearing thin in Toronto, and they need a more "fan friendly" radio voice after the game.

But I also hate censure, and if Rogers gives him the gas pipe, it is going to look even worse.
Plus it is hypocritical, because the same media mogul allows Bob McCown to rant and rave about any organisation or owner, manager, player, coach, everyone is fair game so I wonder why the same folks decided challenging the manager in a media scrum was off base.

I read the remarks, and I have heard worse, look any Larry Brooks - John Tortarella exchange , and you wonder how Larry Brooks keeps his job.

It is because we allow even jerks to speak their minds, that we have to allow Wilner the right to speak, but not to be rude, and not to be condescending to listeners, or managers.

I would like Mike to shut his mouth sometimes, but even though he acts like an ass, you can't censure him.

It just ain't right.

Heyward, Strasburg, and Stanton, it's time to draft the next phenom

As teams prepare for their selection in the June draft, they are hoping to land the "next phenom", the franchise changer.

The Nats got their guy, a young catcher, blessed with great tools, and great skills and loads of promise.

Interesting that no player selected number # 1 has ever made to the Hall of Fame. Now there is time yet on many young players drafted to blossom, but just to be picked first overall is not any guarantee of stardom.

According to the hype, he is the chosen one, rather a lot to put on a young man's shoulders.

For the record, the Jays drafted a junior from Georgia Tech, a 6 foot 6 - 220 pound right handed picthing prospect, a guy who might project as a middle of the rotation innings eater, and might make it into the majors in a shorter timeframe.

Sorry, no photos yet on Deck McGuire , the first Jay selected in the first round. The Jays have 3 more coming soon in the Compensation Round, and that's where you have to get signable players, you cannot afford to lose free agents, and not capitalise on those picks.

So you pay your money and take your chances, and hope you get a Strasburg, a Heyward, a Stanton or a Bryce Harper, and if you can get them without finishing last, even better.

Fair or Foul

Okay, okay, every body just pipe down, take a chill pill and relax.

Nobody assassinated the president, or the Pope, and we did not fake the moon landing, and while I am it, I am NOT responsible for the Blue Jays bullpen implosions of this week.

I am deeply sorry for Armando Galaragga because by rights he pitched a perfect game, in fact he actually got a 28th man as well. Yes, the ump blew the call, we have all seen video evidences and the Jim Joyce showed real class by admitting his error. Not all umpires would ever consider doing what he did. Leyland shook Joyce's hand at the plate the next day, and the world goes right on spinning.

Now we have the fervent " replay " banter, we want more, no no, never cry the traditionalists, and where do I stand ?

I see both sides, but you cannot make 2 decisions, and you cannot have rules for near perfect games, and rules for other things. Too complicated, and the game needs less replays and more great plays. Many games ( not pitched by Ulbaldo Jiminez ) are already 3 hours and you add in traffic to and from parks, and the results will force families to find shorter evening entertainment.

I personally do not want MLB to become the NFL which has become 3 plays then commercials, then a kick off, then another commercial, then a challenge , followed by more commercials. Sorry, seeing 20 different camera angles by Fox and ESPN is already too much, but imagine adding in 5-10 more minutes per team so another 15 to 20 minutes.

So it is a no from me on replay appeals, and red flags, let the umpires be part of the game, whether they are right or wrong.

Let's not start re-writing history, it is a slippery slope once you start the process.