Thursday, March 31, 2011

Opening Day is great, even if it's on the road


As timeless as " my grandfather died and I have to go to the funeral", as eternal as, the boss thought I should wear this false nose and glasses if I went to the ballpark, because if he found out, I'd be fired.

Opening Day is hope springing eternal, and of course skipping work, especially if the game is mid day.

As Yogi Berra stated, home openers are great even on the road, and I know what he meant. That feeling of first pitch, first hit, and strikeout means spring is official, despite the weather reports.

I have attended 4 opening days in Jays history, 2 of them were evening affairs, so no family member was sacrified in or order to slip quietly out. The other 2 were, official "calls", and living dangerously makes it more thrilling. Those 2 were years ago, and I sat in the old grandstand in Exorcism Stadium, with seasgulls chasing me for my hot dog bun crumbs.

Those days we never thought about winning, sorry Charlie, duh, it was just the experience of being there, the bunting, the pennants, the frigid wind blowing off the lake, the mitts and toques we wore, the hip flask, or the "coffee" in the thermos, right...sure...nod nod wink wink.

Anyhow, as the 2011 season officially kicks off today, ( and me wishing I was home ) and I just checked, 2 games have actually started, so we're off and running, the Braves got the 1st run of the season by the way, and we now start the marathon that is the 162 game regular season to eliminate all but 8 teams out of 30, seems like a lot to me, but it's the tradition that exists, and baseball is tradition spelled sideways.

And it's now 2-0 Braves over the Nats, so for Washington, nothing has changed. Ist in peace, 1st in war, last in baseball. The Nats have hopes, and dreams, but short on talent, but it's their home opener, so perhaps they will triumph and come back to send the fans home happy. Tomorrow they will get 10,000 likely showing up, today a packed house, because it's Opening Day.

There is nothing to describe Opening Day in baseball, all teams begin 0-0, equal footing, and after today it is the 161 dat march towards October.

Yanks are playing the Tiggers in the early AL tilt, with Sabathia and Verlander duelling, and as reported the Yanks have CC, Hughes and AJ Burnett, and then their "HOT TUB TIME MACHINE" extras like Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Kevin Millwood, so an interesting beginning for the Bronx Bombers.

Oh and the Tigers have scored and have 1st and 3rd with none out, so you see, tempis has fugited, time marches on.

Again for those that care " PLAY BALL"

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

As the season approaches

Time for fearless predictions, based on pure instinct and intuition.
And let's save the AL East for last.

In the National League, anyone who has been alseep for 5 months perhaps has not noticed the Phillies improvements. They are simply the best team in the National League, so by default I award them the East, because there is no one close tot them. Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels, I mean that's enough isn't it ?

How many 50 stolen base guys vs the 50 home run guys, how many 20 game winners, and are there any 40-40 guys out there ?


NL East
Phillies
Braves
Mets
Marlins
Nationals


NL Central
Cincinnati
St.Louis
Houston
Milwaukee ( yup, don't drink their cool aid )
Chicago
Pittsburgh

NL West
San Fransisco
Los Angeles
San Diego
Arizona

AL West
Texas
Oakland
Anaheim/LA
Seattle

AL Central
Chicago
Minnesota
Detroit
Kansas City
Cleveland

AL East
Boston
New York
Toronto
Tampa
Baltimore

Wild Cards

National League
Atlanta

American League
New York

So I see a lot of similar results, except the Red Sox are the cream of the American League, Texas loses Cliff Lee and have taken a step backward. The Yanks are inches better than Minny but the gap is not as far as you might think.

I see the Sox playing the Sox for the pennant, and Philly playing SF in the NL, pitching rich as they both are.

NL Rookie - Mike Stanton
AL Rookie - Jeremy Hellickson

Phils to play the Red Sox in the World Series and winning, so long as that 4 man rotation stays intact.

This spring we have the Bonds trial, and as we approach summer, the Clemens fiasco, so a season of distractions is upon us.

We will have  a single 50 home run hitter, just one, his name is Albert Pujols, and a more of the same in terms of pitching performances.

This season is going to seem a lot like the 2010 season, ERA's under 2 for a long time, the running game, and the usual comeback stories like Eric Bedard, Kevin Youkilis, and others ( hoping Hill and Lind are 2 of them )

Oh and the Jays, 84 wins, I expect the Rays will struggle after every David Price appearance.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Playing a little fantasy ball

As we near the end of camps in Zona and Florida, and I fill the last few rosters spots on my 4 fantasy teams, it becomes harder to find talent.
Good help is hard to find, so the picture shows.

I have played fantasy ball since 1985, and played the "rotisserie game" after reading Daniel Okrent's book on rotisserie baseball, and was caught up in the whole process.

Their game was developed by a group of friends, who were accountants, lawyers, etc, but were all friends, and big fans of baseball. They gathered routinely at a New York restaurant that was famous for it's rotisserie chicken, no lie.  So after a Mets game one evening, a few of them with Okrent the architect, they thrashed out the basis for "the bidding process", the bankroll, the roster size, and of course the measurements, the stats.

After a few trial runs, the numbers for team salary, and eligibility were established, and they formed their Rotisserie League, and began the process. Their game was based on bidding for players, and what was unique was, the birth of the $ 1.00 dollar player, or the bargain, a late choice, by happenstance, more of a fluke than fortune. Getting that late pick, and then watching that guy make the team and do better than that $ 40 dollar bum you outbid 2 other guys for, to watch him crash and burn.

Such was Rotisserie, and I enjoyed that brand of game for several years until 1993 when I stumbled on my current version, Scoresheet Baseball. Still playing today, and now with 4 teams in separate leagues, some contenders, some rebuilding jobs, all provide interest nevertheless.

My favourite is my Brett league, because I partnered with my son, and we pick the players, consult daily, and when we win, we share jubilation, and we when we lose, we bond and bandage each other.
The other 3 leagues are fun, but don't have the same return that my team with Kevin brings me.



So let me indulge myself with my Brett team with my Opening Day Line up.

Starting rotation,

Jered Weaver, John Danks, Danny Haren, Jason Vargas, and AJ Burnett. My closer is Neftali Feliz.


Ellsbury in LF
Escobar at short
Longoria on 3rd
Holliday in RF
Wallace as DH
Konerko at 1st base
Hill at 2nd base
Martinez catching
Hunter in center field

Lots of depth in the bullpen, you can never have enough pitching ...right...

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Pulling for Dusty

I pull for Dustin, like he was one my own kids, he has perserverance, determination and those qualities embody who he is. For Dustin, he needs more than a moral victory though.

After so much pain and frustration, Dustin McGowan has found a certain serenity.
Nearly three years have passed since he could do his job. He still cannot be certain that he will do it again. But the old anxiety is gone. He is in no hurry.

“In my mind, I don’t want a timeline,” McGowan said Friday. “I know this is basically my last chance to get right, and I want to do it the right way and make sure things go smoothly.”
Once a promising pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, McGowan has not appeared in a game since July of 2008, when shoulder pain drove him from the Rogers Centre mound. Since then he has endured three surgeries, two on his shoulder and one on his knee.
This is his last chance, he says, because if the familiar pain sears through his right shoulder again, he will not endure another surgery.
On Friday morning, as the Jays held their first full-squad workout, McGowan pitched from a bullpen mound for the third time this spring. His delivery was smooth. He estimated his velocity at 80%.

Afterward, he was smiling.
“Still a long way to go,” he said, “but everything felt good.”
He felt that way last spring too, and threw so effectively that some teammates who faced him in practice felt he might win a spot in the starting rotation. Then the pain returned. In June he underwent surgery to fix “a significant tear” in his rotator cuff.
That, he said, was the “low point” of three trying years. But he did not surrender to it, that would have been too easy. If the Jays were behind him, he would endure, he would continue.

“I felt so great to start with, and then all of a sudden the pain was just unbearable,” he recalled.
The Jays could have given up on him long ago, but as he persevered, so did they, not only because he once was a 12-game winner and once nearly threw a no-hitter, but also because of his character and determination.
John Farrell is getting his first close look at McGowan, but in an interview before spring training, the new manager said everyone in the organization speaks of the strapping right-hander in glowing terms.
“There’s not one player that’s probably being cheered on more by the medical staff, by the front office, to return to a career that looked like that of a dominant starting pitcher,” Farrell said.
McGowan, who turns 29 next month, appreciates the Jays’ unswerving support.
“I can’t even fathom just how great they’ve been to me,” he said. “Now it’s my turn to do my part — get back on the mound and help them out.”
A small-town Georgia boy, McGowan has spent so much time in medical rehab at the club’s training site in Dunedin that he considers it akin to his home. Throughout 2009 and 2010, each time he seemed ready to take his throwing program off flat ground and onto a mound, he suffered a setback.

Asked how he managed to keep his chin up throughout his ordeals, he smiled and replied: “A great wife, somebody that just keeps positive. I need that. A little baby girl to go home to. Takes my mind off baseball.”
He and his wife, Jilly, have a 21⁄2-year-old daughter, McKensy. Their home is in Tallahassee, but the whole family has been staying in Dunedin since November, when McGowan started his latest rehab program.
Some days, he says, he feels so good that he imagines throwing as he did on June 24, 2007, when he took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against Colorado and finished with a one-hitter. On other days, he is not so sure.
“It’s an adventure every day just to see what comes next,” he said.
But he is encouraged that between his bullpen sessions, he feels the right kind of soreness in the right places, the normal aches a pitcher experiences between outings.
And when he goes to the mound, he does not worry that his shoulder will betray him again.
“Not any more. I’m done worrying about it. I’ve done everything I can to make it better and get right.”
Farrell said Friday that he expects McGowan to start pitching in games “at the appropriate time,” a fittingly vague prediction given the pitcher’s history.

But the manager seemed to suggest he thinks McGowan might get into a game before spring training ends.
McGowan is out of options, so he cannot be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. He could open the season on the disabled list, and do a rehab stint in the minors if he continues to progress.
It has been a long ordeal, but especially over the past year, he has learned patience, he says.
“The worst thing to do is rush and try to get back at a certain point and overdo it. Just take it day by day and see how I feel and go from there.”



It is hard not to pull for Dusty, he has all the qualities we admire, and so his journey is now another step closer to stepping on a mound in a live game, that counts, and while it won't begin in Toronto, and might be in Vegas, or Modesto, or Palm Springs, it will represent a journey fulfilled. A chance to compete with whatever talents and arm strength he still posseses.

Like I said, it's not hard to root for him like he was my kid.

Bonds on trial

Lately you can't shut Roger Clemens up, he wants to talk to anyone who will listen, but in the Bonds trial, you cannot his ex trainer Greg Anderson to say a word, even with a crowbar.

Now they managed to scare up a jury in one day, which I have to think is nothing short of amazing, since they would have to have had people who lived under a rock for 4 years in order to avoid having someone with no opinion or knowledge of the impending case, or the steriod charges, or reality in general.

I would have loved to be on this jury, but alas they want impartial jurors, Lady Justice is blind, but they need to have some deaf and dumb jurors as well.

Greg now has go back to jail, having refused a Grand Jury , and he continues to obstruct justice, but by his absolute silence, it speaks volumes. If he did nothing wrong, why not testify ? If he injected Bonds with nothing more than flax seed oil, why hide it ?

It is because between Anderson knows the truth not only incriminates himself, but Bonds as well, and he's pretty much painting Barry into a corner, no testimony and the implied guilt is 100 %.
But testify and have to answer all the awkward question, and he wilts worse plants left out in 100 degree heat.

Over the next month, the Government will trot out witness after witness hoping the  body of proof amounts to an unmistaken level of guilt.  Sad to say I do not think they can win this, and Barry will walk out a free man.
He will be exonerated, aquitted and that will at the end of it not prove his innocence one iota.
Bonds will be free and tainted, and will then wait for that call from the HOF, that won't come.....right away.

If McGwire gets in , or his votes start to rise year by year, Bonds can take that as a sign that healing is beginning.  Heck, even Peter Rose might take a McGwire entry in the HOF as positive for his chances. If Big Red can get in, then it means others can follow, all is forgiven.  Barry never admitted doing anything illegal so that will delay his entry.



 Greg Anderson, where the heck is your neck ?

Greg, did take your own stuff ???

 Barry , where are your
morals ?

C'mon Man...morals are Trolls and losers, I am like Charlie Sheen, Duh a winner.....



Barry, shame on you, come clean, and maybe you will get what ypu think you deserve, a place along side your peers.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Old Game

stitched by hand
Baseball is a very old game, and is stitched together like this ball, year by year, and game by game.

A lot has changed from 1840's, dirt fields, gloves, no padding, balls cherished, bases of flour sacks, and grey as the sleet.

Uniforms were washed when there was clean water, and slept in, on rail cars, or wagons, or in the back of taxi cabs.





Nothing sounds like what the game is today, does it ?  Clean uniforms for every game, every practise, new gloves, bats honed to perfection just to please the user. Masks made to fit the catcher, with art work emblazened for all to see.

The ball was a mishapen, often oblong thing that changed direction when wet, or muddy, or hit a dozen times. The days gone by and the tools used are far different, but the men and boys that play are the same in many ways. While many play for money now, it was just as important then, it was their living, their craft, and there was always someone trying to take their job away.

the Aleysian fields

Games were hard fought then, as they are now, that has not changed. Yes, players make more money, and yes there are some that seem to take it for granted, but the game weeds them out. They don't fit in, they get replaced, or the game forces them to change.

Games are played indoors, with roofs and windows now, that much is different, but they were played in front of large crowds, on summer afternoons, or early fall days in cold climates. That much still happens. Is there more media, yes, but does that change the game, I don't believe it does.

Are the dimensions different, it's still 60 feet 6 inches to the plate, 90 feet between bases, and the outfields are somewhat the same as they were. There are fences now, back in the 1900's many parks just had rope outfields so more fans could watch, early bleacher creatures I suppose.

I'm sure many can build a strong case for why the game is not the same, but 3 strikes and you're out, 3 outs and it's the other guys turn. PED's and year long training have produced a string of super athletes that once found out revert back to old body types, and singles hitters. There are as many injuries, maybe more now than before. 5 man rotations, specialist relievers, and pinch runners, are these the improvements ?

Babe Ruth did his best on hot dogs and beer, and soda pop, hit 60 home runs, after the dead ball era ended.

Is the game so different, are the players that much better, most would have you believe it, just on the way they look and the body of work, but maybe the Old Game ain't so bad after all.

Mid Point in March , and Madness creeps in

Sometimes the springtime moves really slow for some players, one game a day, bus rides from Phoenix to Tucson, from Bradenton to Ocala, or Miami.  It is hard when you play in front of 6,000 or less fans, most of whom are older than your grandmother, and they nod off themselves.

Boredom creeps in right about now in mid March, we are halfway until opening day, and pitchers have been here since February, catchers too, otherwise just an elaborate game of catch.

It is the time of dead arms, of basketball pools, it's March Madness, and players need another diversion for rain delays other than card playing, Nintendo, and Fly Fishing in the Gulf.  So weird things begin to happen, shoes go missing, someone nailed Manny's favourite bat to the wooden fence, and they tried in vain to cut Lincecum's hair, again. Boredom exists because while there is action, there is also waiting, and more waiting, split squads and running beyond the outfield just does not fill up the time. Not everyone can play, and that leads to downtime.

Dead arms crop up in this the 3rd week, and managers have to compensate with a plethora of scrubby pitchers, just until the regulars arms recover to take it over the 5 inning plateau, and beyond. That leads to sloppy innings, walks, balks and long innings. Sponsored by the local car dealer, or restaurant.  Hit the sign, win a steak dinner. Sounds like Bull Durham, don't it ?

Until pitchers recover, we see the odd 19-7 game ( KC and the Dodgers ) , where some games just get out of hand because the team takes only 7 or 8 pitchers on the road, and games get ugly, and for many, boring.

So as for sleeping on the bench, it happens, long rides,3 hour games in March, they are common place right now, but in 10 days, the rust is gone, the aches are forgotten, and the final touches are made to a batting stroke, a breaking ball, and a hit and run play.

March Madness occurs away from the hardcourt, you just have to pay attention beyond all that snoring.

The Last Yogi

In an article I read over the weekend concerning the health of one Yogi Berra, as he had a mishap, listen a fall and broken hip can be fatal to one over 80, so any time I hear Yogi ain't doing so hot, I take notice.

He is the last of breed of ballplayer, like Mantle, and Williams, and Banks, and Mays, the throwbacks, although always said he was no throwback, only when he catching that day. A woman once told Yogi he looked cool, and his remark was that she didn;t look all that hot herself. I could go on, but the point is that he is one the last of his kind. A natural born baseball player, not the multi sported athlete, who could run track, play basketball, or like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders play football and baseball. Berra was pure baseball.



A reporter asked Yogi how far he'd go just to play the game. Expecting another traditional Berra remark, Yogi just laughed, and told the reporter he would just hop a cab to Yankee Stadium, and did the guy need a lift.

Casey Stengel was asked how he won as Yankee manager, and he said he that he never played a game without "my man".  After some thought, it was Berra he was referring to, the ugly crab-like non athetic looking kid from south St. Louis. Berra played in all those great Yankee teams of the late 40's, the 50's and early 60's.
 He was much faster than many remember, he was a smart player, took the extra base, stole bases in key situations, and blocked the plate as well as the best "defensive catchers" of his era.

So whenever I read that Yogi ain't doing so hot, I know like all the greats, their time will come, and I will recall that sometimes it is over when it's over. Just not yet.

Joy and devastation

In the wake of the devastation in Japan, I was thinking about this small countries grasp of the game of baseball and their fierce pride in their abilities, and their contribution to the world game.

Their game dates as far back as the 1940's and possibly earlier if records can be trusted, but after the Yankees toured Japan with Babe Ruth, the game exploded on all parts of the country.

Most teams were established around companies, and advanced to leagues of factory workers, Mitsubishi against Sanyo, until they became more sponsors than organisers, and players were not solely tied to their own companies.



For the last 72 hours the country has faced it's greatest challenge since Hiroshima, and is attempting to stabalize itself after the worst earthquake and tsunami in it's history. Sendai is in ruins, and parts of southeast Japan are trying to recover and locate family members, friends, anyone.

In the wake of the devastation, (and there will be recovery) slow and seemingly insurmountable progress, and as it evolves, this small proud nation will do what Americans' did after 9/11, and go back to patriotic pride, pull out their horns, and flags, and noise makers and return to the game that has become their national spirit.

Major League Baseball does what it always does and offer comfort. And financial aid, and focus their efforts to aid Japan, and recognise their contribution to the national past time. Because life is larger than the game.

Life goes on after Katrina, after terrorism, after earthquakes stop World Series, because it's seems that it is what people need to comfort them, and rally them. They need the game to return, and whether it is cathartic, or just comfort, it acts as part of the healing, that return to normal life.

The flags will fly again, in ballparks in Tokyo, in Hiroshima, at half mast, but will symbolise this nations resiliance.

Monday, March 7, 2011

March Onward

It is spring again, and my second springtime as a blogger, and I will say has not gotten old, this writing down stuff, and people acyually reading it.

I have always found it easy to write, but needed something enjoyable toi write about.  I have lost track of which number this is, it matters not now.

We enter the month of March hopeful of an early spring, so if you got the snow we got, I apologise for the optimism, it's just my nature.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Changes blowin in the wind for baseball

Let's Play Two

After the long winter, and my heavens it seems like forever, we hit March and have the expectation of a new season.

Another 162 games, with no scheduled double headers, and I just think that sucks.
Owners you see do not want to let 40,000 fans in for 2 games, when they can schedule another date, even if it's October the 5th, and pushes back the powst season.

However the winds of change are blowing and there is some momentum towards an extra round of playoffs. So the real question becomes, how do you get another week squeezed in to the regular season without extending the season to November ?

Well one way is to schedule 4-5 doubleheaders, and work them into weekend play, make them day - night double dips, and get your fans to return at 7pm, after a noon 1st game, gives the players hopefully a 3 hour break, to eat, relax, and managers time to re think their line up.

By scheduling double headers, you take a week and a half off the schedule. Another step would be to schedule early season games in late March, in dome stadiums, or southern cities, so that early into April the league avoid rain outs.
A best of 5 "wild card round" will add an additional teram in both the NL and AL leagues, thereby hopefully added some playoff races for additional wild card chases.

There will be those that see this as being non traditional, but once we expanded to 28 teams in 6 divisions, you cannot see baseball as the traditional sport it was 50 years ago, when 2 teams moved to california, and the American League expanded to Anaheim, while the National League moved into Houston. Things change, and it is time that if owners want to maintain the 162 game schedule, adding that extra round requires some compromise. The double headers can add that 7-10 days where the extra round fits in.

I think scheduled double headers are that answer Blowin in the Wind, the change needed to inject some life in the pennant races past the All Star Break.