tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-197743852024-03-07T00:30:35.713-08:00It's A Talking SportUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-89605834986863167592007-07-07T22:04:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:06:48.622-07:00I Had To Do ItYeah, it's me. And, yeah, this blog still exists. And. most importantly, I <i>had to do it</i>.<br /><br />I was listening to the post-game show on the radio after tonight's Ranger game and a caller set me off. It was all about money to him. "This team won't spend money. We need to spend money to get players in here. Tom Hicks is a tightwad." (Ok, that isn't a direct quote from the uneducated caller, but it is pretty close to the gist of his argument.)<br /><br />So I phoned in. When the producer picked up, I told him, "I would <b>love</b> to get in on this conversation." After about five minutes on hold, I was on air. I didn't even have shake voice this time. What I said basically amounted to this:<br />I am TIRED of the money argument. The Rangers have thrown money at all sorts of free agents only to either get burned or end up with a hired gun who is unhappy... because he took the most money. I pointed out that this team tried to get Barry Zito, with a more-than-plenty offer, this off season only to get rebuked. And why was it rebuked?<br /><br />Because he didn't want to be here. It really is that simple.<br /><br />You can toss around dollars and coins and gold bullions and no-trade clauses, but the bottom line is that it is a two way street. There is no law that says the best or longest or most expensive contract offer wins. Hell, you could offer me ten times my salary, but I still would not move to Santa Fe. Baseball players are no different.<br /><br />Or ARE they?<br /><br />Remember A-Rod? He accepted Texas' outrageous offer and was miserable the entire time he was here. Yes, he performed. But what did his attitude do to the rest of the team? I'll tell you: It taught Mark Texeira how to be a prima donna. (Maybe their shared agent, Scott Boras, had/has something to do with that, too.)<br /><br />Yes, Boston is doing great with their inflated payroll. But how about those Yankees?<br />And, just a question... How much is the cheapest ticket at either of those parks? Can you get in for five bucks?<br /><br />So I guess the dude that called in and bitched about payroll would much rather field a mediocre team, with no farm system, and pay fifteen bucks or more for the cheapest seat in the yard because it is all anout money to him. High payroll does not always mean first place or a wild card.<br /><br />My advice to him? Keep doing your curls before you hit the bars in Addison and make sure you have your Blackberry turned on loud to the most obnoxious ring tone the rest of us can imagine. That way, everyone can know how important you are when it comes to spending someone else's money.<br /><br />Effing tool.<br /><br />By the way, absolutely <b>no bandwagoning</b> when this team starts winning. Give your season tickets away from your Vett (Chevette) and get back to your $30,000/year millionaire life.<br /><br />Asshole.<br /><br />P.S. That chick who is ten years younger than you will drop you like Matt Kata when she realizes you are not all you said you were. And I'll be here, laughing, while also being thankful that my team did not commit to seven years of Zito.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1159837617859026482006-10-02T18:06:00.000-07:002006-10-02T18:06:57.880-07:00In Which Rose Meets You At The Finish LineI wanted to post about the Dodgers' season earlier, but things kept changing. Some teams assemble just-respectably-over-.500 records a game at a time. The Dodgers did it by alternating winning and losing streaks. This is L.A., after all; we live for the drama.<br /><br />I'm finally writing this after the last regular-season game of the year. By tying the Padres for the division lead, the Dodgers have earned a spot in the playoffs. Since the teams finished with identical records, the top playoff spot goes to the team who won the head-to-head series, and in this case that's the Padres. <br /><br />That's fine. We'll take the wild card slot.<br /><br />In true buried-lead fashion, there's already much being made in the national press about how this is the Dodgers' second playoff berth in three years. Dig a little deeper, and you'll find mention of last year's abysmal season. That's not the true story, however. The true story is that Frank McCourt's gone from Worst Owner Ever to Not The Best Owner Ever, But Better Than Fox. After firing Paul DiPodesta, who fired Jim Tracy, who'd gone from Not The Best Manager Ever, But Better Than Davey Johnson to Worst Manager In The History Of Any Sport, Ever, McCourt handed the reins over to Ned Colletti. <br /><br />The reins came attached to a farm system that was finally back on its feet. With not much time left, Ned Colletti huddled with his new staff of deputy GMs and started going after veterans. Few of them had put up stellar numbers in the past couple of years, but they were all still solid -- if expensive -- players. Some fans grumbled about it, but there wasn't really anywhere to go but up.<br /><br />Now that Kenny Lofton and Rafael Furcal have both finished the season batting .300 with 30-plus stolen bases -- and Nomar Garciaparra has popped off key hit after key hit when he's healthy -- and Brett Tomko is turning himself into a solid middle reliever -- and Aaron Sele has proven to be the kind of guy who's equally comfortable starting and relieving -- and midseason acquisition Greg Maddux is back in form -- I'm sure the aforementioned grumblers think Ned Colletti's a genius. <br /><br />Ned Colletti's the first to tell you that he's been winging it much of the time, because things didn't go quite as planned.<br /><br />The out-for-the-season DL includes Eric Gagne and Yhency Brazoban, the presumed closers, and Bill Mueller, who was supposed to be the third baseman and team leader. Key player after key player got hurt, and some reactivated players never regained their pre-injury form.<br /><br />But, you know? It all worked out in the end. Newly-promoted rookies and non-roster invitees stepped into the vacuum. Somewhere along the line, Takashi Saito turned himself into a closer, and Brett Tomko decided he'd try middle relief. The team started the season with Dioner Navarro behind the plate. When he got injured, they called up my fake baby boyfriend Russell Martin, and he's been there ever since. It wasn't much of a surprise when Nomar started the season on the DL; what was a surprise was that they were able to stick in James Loney, a kid who'd been happy to make it to AAA, and that he did a pretty darn good job at first base while Nomar was recovering. When he got back, Nomar took to his new position immediately. <br /><br />I could go on. Perhaps another time, I will.<br /><br />--<br /><br />I can't remember another year when so little was decided going into the last week of the season. We had the Dodgers, Padres and Phillies vying for two slots, and for a minute there it looked like Houston would knock off St. Louis at the last minute. The AL Central was tame by comparison; still, it was kind of interesting to watch the Twins slip by the Tigers for the top slot.<br /><br />That kind of drama gets people's attention, even here.<br /><br />Despite the fact that Dodger Stadium set yet another attendance record this year, much of L.A. seems only dimly aware that we have a baseball team, much less one that's been winning. It's only in the past couple of weeks that it's become hard to ignore it.<br /><br />-- <br /><br /><br />I'd like to be able to say that I saw the home run derby comeback of September 18 -- and I suppose I could, but I'd be lying. I checked in on the game as I was driving to the establishment at which I spend perhaps too many Monday nights, and the Dodgers were down by a bunch in the eighth. The game felt like it was going to determine the course of the season, and I just wasn't up to having my heart trampled on some more.<br /><br />Of course, you know what happened: Four consecutive homers in the ninth, Nomar's game-winner in extra innings, and the Dodgers suddenly looking alive. <br /><br />They promptly dropped the next two games. With other sports, you can depend on a day or a week off after any given performance. Spend too much energy during or after one game, and it's going to affect you the next day. Baseball's schedule is merciless, which is why there was a Nationals-Phillies game that didn't get started until 11:30pm local time on Thursday. No time to make anything up. <br /><br />(Earlier that day, James Loney knocked in nine runs in a 19-11 victory over Colorado, proof that Denver is already in football mode.)<br /><br />I did see the game the following Sunday, when Nomar once again won the game with a home run -- this one a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth. Overkill? Sure. But it worked. And as he rounded the bases, I realized that the last time I saw a guy playing in so much pain hit such a crucial home run, it was Kirk Gibson in the first game of the 1988 World Series.<br /><br />--<br /><br />If you can't clinch a playoff berth at home, then you want to clinch it where it's going to hurt the most. So it's fitting that the Dodgers won it in San Francisco.<br /><br />The gang was all there. Frank McCourt, Ned Colletti and Tommy Lasorda were in the stands. Vin Scully was in the press box; he doesn't usually call games that aren't on local TV, but he almost always gets in on a late-season radio game against the Giants. <br /><br />Eric Gagne and Bill Mueller were in the clubhouse, eyeing the champagne. When the rest of the team streamed in, Gagne poured champagne on everyone within arm's reach. Mueller manned the distribution table. <br /><br />Everyone contributes in the end. It just doesn't always work out quite as you'd expect.<br /><br />--<br /><br />So now we head into the postseason, and the speculation. Will Brad Penny's back loosen up enough to pitch -- and does it really matter, when Derek Lowe and Greg Maddux are throwing so well and when rookie Hong-Chih Kuo is right up there with them? Will Nomar be well enough to play? Will the veterans' collective playoff experience help? Will national broadcasters stop talking about next season long enough to notice that the Dodgers' season isn't over yet? <br /><br />Conventional wisdom is that the Dodgers will go down in flames against the Mets. Why should the team start paying attention to conventional wisdom now? This is the team that went 1-14 -- and immediately followed that by going 17-1.<br /><br />I've been saying it all year: Numbers are good indicators, but intangibles matter, too. There's no way to predict what's going to happen in the playoffs. All you can do is watch. <br /><br />Watch the players. Watch the game. Watch for miracles. This is baseball, after all. We like that sort of thing.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1156832129499407072006-08-28T23:07:00.000-07:002006-08-28T23:15:29.523-07:00The Suite at the Ballpark at ArlingtonOn Sunday, August 27, I was treated to a free ticket to a suite at the Ballpark at Arlington. I know two things. The Rangers shut out the A's and all the people at the suite were great. I felt like one of the gang. Thanks to Joni, I was invited since I got her to beg for a ticket for me. I am a bit ashamed since I didn't watch much of the game. Too much time socializing, drinking, and taking smoke breaks.<br /><br />Unlike someone else on this collective blog I didn't take a camera to the game. But someone had a camera there and possibly someone else here can post some of the pictures. We'll see. <br /><br />Once again thanks to everyone that was at the game for the hospitality. To Ali and Nathan for the free ticket. And especially Bullit for the buddy pass.Tony McCarthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00300377102556927220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1156473189961269752006-08-24T19:32:00.000-07:002006-08-24T19:35:59.076-07:00A Call To ApathyIt is Thursday night. The last scoring update I saw showed the Rangers beating the Devil Rays by a tally of 4-2. And it was the ninth inning.<br /><br />Ho-hum.<br /><br />Why can I not get more interested?<br /><br />At this time last season I was living in a place (that some know as "the phonebooth") that did not have "premium" TV (my choice) and I was forced to listen to the games on the radio - except for those two nights a week (roughly) on which the games were broadcast on a channel that I could pick up with my rabbit ears.<br /><br />And last year's team sucked. This year's? Not so bad.<br /><br />So what is my problem?<br /><br />I should have been stoked after Texas took 3 of 4 on the road in Detroit. Maybe years of let downs have saddened my soul. Perhaps I have become jaded beyond repair. But I don't think so.<br /><br />The Rangers were the most active of the AL West teams before the traditional July 31 trading deadline. And it wasn't even close. Added to the major league roster were the likes of Carlos Lee, Nelson Cruz, Kip Wells, and Matt Stairs. Other than Lee, none are barnbusters but, hey... who did the Angels add? What about the A's? Or even the Mariners?<br /><br />But the thing about this team is that, no matter who is on the roster, they have been amazingly (even unworldly) average. They do just enough to stay in the race and they also fail just enough to lurk on the fringes of being considered dangerous. On any given night they can pound out 18 hits and 11 runs, opposing starter be damned. Then they can flail against a guy who has no business dominating a lineup populated by (now) five former All-Stars and a guy who is third in the AL in batting average.<br /><br />What gives?<br /><br />I, for one, do not buy into the theory that Buck Showalter rides the players too hard and they end up giving up on him after a few seasons. He is not to blame for this. Chemistry is not to blame for this. The Texas heat is not to blame for this. I don't even think the new air condiotioners in the home dugout are to blame for this.<br /><br />Me? I place the blame squarely on one thing: <i>Apathy</i>.<br /><br />Apathy is contagious, and it has been spreading in this area since 1999 (with the exception of 2004). In typical "chicken and egg" fashion, it is impossible to place the blame on any one aspect. Fans? Media? Players? Front office? Where did it start?<br /><br />When you do not expect much, that is exactly what you get.<br /><br />I'm just sorry that it has made me turn a deaf ear to the sounds of the great game and that it has kept me from posting on this site more frequently.<br /><br />BUT - with all that said - I will be at the game this Sunday night with a large group of friends enjoying the benefits of a suite. And if, on that night, Texas completes a sweep of the hated A's? Allow me to redact all of the above.<br /><br />After all, isn't that what being a fan is all about?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1155610162295269862006-08-14T19:27:00.000-07:002006-08-14T19:49:22.390-07:00In Which Rose Takes A Camera To A Baseball Game<a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/index.html" target="new"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/images/24-field.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />As I was getting ready to head to Dodger Stadium one day last week, it occured to me that I'd never taken a camera to a baseball game.<br /><br />The situation has been remedied. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the photos and commentary, or click on the photo above (<a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/index.html" target="new">or here, if you don't feel like scrolling up</a>) for a proper index page.<br /><center><br /><a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/10-lot.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/10-lot.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/12-fromlot.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/12-fromlot.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/14-sunset.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/14-sunset.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/16-sixflags.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/16-sixflags.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/18-players.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/18-players.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/21-downtown.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/21-downtown.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/22-outside.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/22-outside.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/24-field.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/24-field.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/26-firsttwo.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/26-firsttwo.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/28-field.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/28-field.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/30-thinkblue.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/30-thinkblue.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/32-bottomfirst.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/32-bottomfirst.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/34-bottomfifth.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/34-bottomfifth.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/36-smashbox.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/36-smashbox.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/38-al.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/38-al.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/40-stretch.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/40-stretch.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/42-stretch.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/42-stretch.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/44-yarn.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/44-yarn.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/46-topninth.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/46-topninth.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/50-ilovela.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/50-ilovela.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/52-weloveit.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/52-weloveit.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/54-after.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/54-after.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/56-after.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/56-after.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/58-group.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/58-group.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a> <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/image-html/60-downtown.html" target="new"><img src="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/dodgergame/thumbnails/60-downtown.jpg" width="100" height="75"></a><br /></center>Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1154828471929854132006-08-05T18:37:00.000-07:002006-08-05T18:42:04.730-07:00In Which Rose Blinks In DisbeliefIt's August.<br /><br />The Dodgers have some new players.<br /><br /><i>Good</i> new players.<br /><br />The only guys missing are unproven, wouldn't be seeing regular playing time, or have... issues.<br /><br />The players on whom the team's future supposedly rests are still there. <br /><br />Could it be that the Dodgers finally have a front office team that wants to... you know... win?<br /><br />Before the season started, Ned Colletti put together an impressive team on short notice. They looked good coming out of the gate. Then the injuries set in. The bullpen disintegrated. A team that started off a carefully balanced mix of veterans and up-and-comers was a taped-together mess of rookies -- great rookies, mind you, but still learning the big-league game -- and veterans playing out of position. Offensively, they were spiraling downward. Mostly-decent starting pitching isn't going to do you much good if the team can't score some runs to back it up.<br /><br />Pretty typical July scenario in the City of Angels.<br /><br />Except something happened, something that I don't remember seeing since the O'Malleys owned the team:<br /><br />They made good trades.<br /><br />The first trade of note was the Odalis Perez-for-Elmer Dessens deal. Odalis Perez, as you may recall, was put in the bullpen after blowing a few too many starts, and was downright disgruntled about it. He was a good candidate to be dealt away. The question was, what team would be desperate enough to want him?<br /><br />Go on, take a guess.<br /><br />Odalis Perez is now a Kansas City Royal. He was accompanied by some minor leaguers who may or may not work out.<br /><br />Elmer Dessens seems very happy to be a Dodger again. Or maybe he's just thrilled about no longer being a Royal. Six of one... <br /><br />That seems to be a theme among the new Dodger acquisitions: They're happy to be playing for a team that hasn't given up hope of making the playoffs. <br /><br />"It's nice to have a reason to pitch besides doing it for myself," Greg Maddux told the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-maddux3aug03,1,211891.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-mlb-dodger">LA Times</a>. "That's what happens when your team falls out of the race. We are absolutely still in it."<br /><br />Wait a minute. Greg Maddux?<br /><br />The Dodgers collectively joined me in that disbelieving blink. Greg Maddux. Greg Maddux? Greg freakin' Maddux is a <i>Dodger</i>?<br /><br />"I still can't believe we have him. It's like a miracle," coach Rich Donnelly marveled to the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-maddux3aug03,1,211891.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-mlb-dodger">Times</a>.<br /><br />Catcher Russell Martin, who's just a little more than half Maddux' age: "He's so prepared. This guy knows exactly what he wants to do. I just hope he likes me." <br /><br />(How cute is that? Russell Martin is so my new fake baby boyfriend.)<br /><br />The people who called in to the postgame radio show were miffed, of course. Why else would you call a postgame show? They couldn't see why Ned Colletti would trade a young, proven shortstop for an aging pitcher who would probably only be there for the remainder of the season.<br /><br />Does six innings of no-hit ball answer their question? What the naysayers are missing is that Maddux is built for the long haul. He's a very technical pitcher who can put the ball exactly where he wants it, without putting undue strain on his body. Heck, he might even stick around after this season. Who knows?<br /><br />There's also the little matter of Cesar Izturis hitting barely above the Mendoza line. The best pitching in the world doesn't matter if it's not backed up by a little offense. <br /><br />That's the other thing that has me blinking: The Dodgers have remembered how to hit a ball with a stick. <br /><br />As I'm sure you noticed, dear reader, the Dodgers had a pretty dismal July. In the two weeks after the All-Star break, they won one and lost thirteen. <br /><br />Things got so bad that manager Grady Little, GM Ned Colletti and owner Frank McCourt went on the radio to have a "what's wrong with the Dodgers?" roundtable. As you can imagine, the callers weren't happy. All the guys could do was say, in essence, "Look: You try things. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't. And right now, they aren't."<br /><br />And now they are.<br /><br />Maybe it's the new players. Maybe it was the day off after that awful two-week stretch. Maybe it was Tommy Lasorda's threat of a hunger strike. Whatever it is, the Dodgers are winning. Today made it eight wins in a row. Yeah, it was just the Nationals, Reds and Marlins, but still: A win's a win, and eight of them go a long way towards balancing out the losing streak. <br /><br />I'm still getting emails which say, "What's up with the Dodgers?" The inflection is just different.<br /><br />With 162 games in a season, baseball lends itself to streaks. If a team is a .500 ballclub, then statistically it doesn't matter whether they alternate wins and losses by the game or by the streak.<br /><br />There's still a lot that can happen in two months. The pitching staff could gel or collapse. (I've a feeling I'll be making a few posts about the pitching either way.) The veterans could get better, or they could be out for the season -- or longer. Russell Martin and Andre Ethier could continue to be Rookie of the Year contenders, or they could burn out. An infield made up of position players-turned-utility guys could work out, as it's been doing, or start having trouble remembering where to throw the ball. When the roster expands, the minor league prospects might be ready, or not. <br /><br />Two months to go. This is getting good.<br /><br />By the by, I have an extra ticket for this Monday evening's game at Dodger Stadium versus the Rockies. My, as the kids say, "crew" will be sitting in the top deck behind home plate -- the best, and cheapest, seats in the house. If you or anyone you know wants to join us, you can email me for details at rose.auerbach at gmail dot com. (There's a handy-dandy link over at my <a href="http://www.sometimeyesterday.net/blog">other blog</a>, for those of you who don't feel like re-typing the address with proper symbols.) <br /><br />And, yes, I'll explain the infield fly rule, if you ask nicely. Devin can breathe a little more easily.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1154663480770840992006-08-03T20:42:00.000-07:002006-08-03T20:51:20.790-07:00How Shrek Got His Groove Back, or: Carlos Comes To TownI'd like to start with a point or two of clarification, so we don't get confused here:<br /><br />* I have been nothing but a fan of Kevin Mench during his whole time in Texas.<br /><br />* I don't believe in making trades simply to appease the fan base, or players in the clubhouse.<br /><br />* I hate explaning the Infield Fly Rule. (Just note it for future reference.)<br /><br />While I don't think the six-player deal the Rangers and Brewers executed was the greatest trade our Little Red Shoes have ever pulled off (that would be the 1998 trade deadline move of Darren Oliver and Fernando Tatis to the Cardinals for Todd Stottlemyre and Todd Zeile, which helped us cinch up the AL West that year), it was the best thing the Rangers could have done to goose an offense that has not been firing on all cylinders the last two seasons.<br /><br />It may also be one of those trades that works out for everyone involved, from the players involved to the teams dealing.<br /><br />Here are your components:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kevin Mench</span> was growing frustrated with his spotty role in the Rangers ranks. He was always mentioned in trade talks, and he never really knew himself whether he would be in the lineup from day to day. In the last offseason, he appeared on a Philadelphia Eagles pre-game show (his hometown team) and said bluntly, "I really don't expect to be with the Rangers much longer." For whatever reason, Mench has been in manager Buck Showalter's "dog house," and never appeared to be able (or willing) to climb out of it.<br /><br />His production hasn’t helped much. This season, Mench was hitting .284 / .338 / .469 with 12 home runs (most coming in the week-long stretch after his shoe size was correctly used). Those aren’t numbers you normally want to see from a corner outfielder. Granted, that might have been different had he played every day in the outfield. (Sorry, it’s the Mench apologist in me coming out. Can’t be helped.)<br /><br />In Milwaukee, he'll get more playing time, a fresh start on a team with a manager he doesn't have to tiptoe around, and a chance to let his personality win over the home crowd (which should take about six minutes). In his first seven games with the Brewers as their everyday right fielder, he's 4-for-17 with one homer and five RBI.<br /><br />For whatever reason, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Francisco Cordero</span> has not been able to come close to the level of dominance he showed in the 2004 season. That year, he recorded 49 saves (a club record), with five blown saves, a record of 3-4 and an ERA of 2.14. In 2005, you've got 37 saves, eight blown opportunities, a record of 3-1 and an ERA of 3.39. This year, it all falls apart: seven saves recorded, nine blown, a record of 7-4 and an ERA of 4.59; loses the closing job to Akinori Otsuka; begins to show some signs of consistency, but never fully recovers.<p></p><p>The appearance against the Yankees on July 26 was the final straw, allowing four runs to score in the eighth inning on a homer, a double and a wild pitch It spoiled a great effort by John Rheinecker, paved the way for a Yankees sweep, and punched his ticket to Milwaukee. </p><p>With luck, Cordero will find his mojo again in the land of Cheeseheads, but there was no sign of it happening at the Temple. </p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Laynce Nix</span> played his way out of a starting job in center field this year, and the outlook for him returning to the Rangers has never seemed good since. Like Mench and Cordero, Nix was a fan favorite in Arlington, but had difficulty staying healthy and offensively productive.</p><p>It's highly likely we'll look back on the trade of these players and -- like so many other times in Rangers history -- wonder what would have happened had we not let them go (see: Sosa, S; Nen, R; Hafner, T, ad nauseum). But the players we got in return for Mench, Cordero and Nix soothe the pain a bit. In his first three games as a Ranger, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Carlos Lee</span> showed why he’s a threat both offensively (7-for-12, 1 RBI) and defensively (solid, accurate throws from the left corner every time). </p><p>Add in the hottest prospect from the Brewers’ farm system (outfielder <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nelson Cruz</span>), and it looks like Rangers GM Jon Daniels pulled a fast one on Milwaukee’s GM, our old friend Doug Melvin. But don’t be too sure Melvin didn’t get exactly what he wanted out of the deal, either. </p><p>Lee has made it clear he would not re-sign with the Brewers when his contract expired, turning down a four-year extension worth $48 million earlier in the month. Melvin was tasked with trying to get the most value for Lee while he was still a tradable commodity. While the GM for the Rangers, Melvin engineered the trade of Juan Gonzales to the Detroit Tigers to acquire Cordero (along with six other players), so he knew what CoCo was capable of. He also watched as Mench and Nix developed through the Rangers minor league system. </p><p>He wanted players who were major-league ready, not minor league prospects who may or may not be ready for prime time. The other five teams who were talking to the Brewers about Lee probably had players ready for the big club, but Melvin knew the guys on the Rangers’ offer sheet could be plugged in and produce from day one. </p><p>Add all of it together, and it looks like everyone’s gotten what they wanted: Daniels gets to add offensive firepower without trading away any key components of his farm system or the major league roster; Mench, Cordero and Nix get a fresh start with a new team; Melvin gets maximum value back from a player he was going to lose in the off-season. </p>JustDevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199910227787481215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1153457131906076792006-07-20T20:49:00.000-07:002006-07-20T21:45:31.950-07:00In Which Rose Has A Few Questions About The All-Star GameFor the first time in recent memory, I didn't get a chance to watch any of the All-Star game as it happened. <br /><br />Yeah, I know, I'm a sucky baseball blogger. Sorry. Blame my parents' cats. With the folks on vacation, I had to make my way across town to check on the hell-beasties. Granted, they are very cute hell-beasties, and as long as they distract my parents enough that they don't notice their lack of grandchildren, I'm all about happy and healthy kitties. Still, there's no way around it: That's one nasty drive. Especially when one has spent the day operating on three hours' sleep.<br /><br />I caught a couple of updates on the radio, but by the time I checked in on the beasties, drove to my rehearsal, rehearsed, drove to Dan Tana's, found parking, walked into the restaurant, greeted birthday girl Bonnie, did the requisite "hi, I just got here" schmoozing and glanced at the television above the bar, the game was over.<br /><br />All of which is to say that these are questions about the generalities of the game, rather than the game itself. <br /><br />First of all, what the hell is up with this whole "one game decides World Series home field advantage" thing? Since when was <i>anything</i> in baseball decided by one game? (One-game divisional tiebreakers don't count, as they're the equivalent of settling a soccer game on penalty kicks.) And, yes, I'd be asking that question even if the National League didn't get their clocks cleaned with stunning regularity. There's just something un-baseball about it. There are other ways to avoid the tie-game debacle that led to the whole "this time, it counts" theme -- like, say, treating the All-Star game as an actual game because it <i>is</i> an actual game. <br /><br />Second: I understand the need to keep someone in reserve (see "tie-game debacle," above), but come on: First Nomar Garciaparra, who's been at or near of the NL batting list since he reached the required number of at-bats, only gets on the All-Star team due to fan voting -- and then he doesn't see any playing time? The <i>hell</i>?<br /><br />There is no number three, just like there was no adequate representation of the western divisions of either league. Again: Huh? It would've killed the team maker-uppers to shoot a glance across the Mississippi? You know, where they have all those people who go to all those games and stuff? A quick glance at the numbers from the past few years indicates that the selections generally lean east of the western divisions. This year, no team from either western division had more than two representatives in the game. At the very least, Oakland should have been better-represented. I can only figure that the team maker-uppers glanced at the record and saw a team hovering around .500, rather than a team that was making up for a wretched start by being well-nigh unbeatable going into the break. <br /><br />Finally: ESPN, you're, like, a sports network or something. You've been at it a while. I'm sure your immediate postgame coverage was varied and vibrant, but the after-that coverage consisted of the same talking heads chattering between the same few clips, over and over and over again. They were still at it when I left, by which time the game had been over for... well, a long time. The talking heads looked like they were about to nod off, and I'm sure they sounded that way as well. Come on, ESPN. You're part of the Disney family. You have the resources to do better.<br /><br />So, there are the questions. Answer away. Or don't, becase I don't know if there actually are any answers -- just plenty of opinions. That's baseball for you.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1152727936796010122006-07-12T11:11:00.000-07:002006-07-12T11:12:16.836-07:00Forever YoungLast night, baseball fans worldwide got to see something that has been as close to a "given" as any event on the diamond over the last three years in Arlington, Texas: Michael Young delivering a clutch, two-out hit. Yup - the secret is finally out. He doesn't belong to just us anymore.<br /><br />Suddenly the adjectives and analogies are flowing from all over the U.S.<br /><br /><i>The best pure hitter in the game. The most-underrated star. One of baseball's buried treasures. The quietest great player in baseball. If he were in New York, he'd be bigger than Jeter is right now.</i><br /><br />And, speaking of Jeter, he reportedly predicted Young's big hit - both during the ninth inning and before the game. AL manager Ozzie Guillen stated that the New York shortstop told his kids before the game that Michael Young was going to win it for their team. And, as much as I despise the Yankees, it makes me beam with (false?) pride when one of them speaks so highly of a player on <i>my</i> home team.<br /><br />One moment will forever be etched in my mind from last night's tilt, however.<br /><br />It isn't the hit itself. It isn't the quiet fist pump from Young as he slid safely into third base (because we see that a lot around here). It isn't all the quotes and accolades after the game from Young's peers. And it isn't the text message I sent to my buddy Joe after the hit, telling him that I smelled MVP honors for Young.<br /><br />No, what I will remember is Michael running off the field after the top of the ninth and being greeted with a bear hug by Texas teammate Gary Matthews Jr. (who didn't do so badly himself, singling in the lone at-bat of his All-Star Game debut). The joy on both of their faces reminded me why it is that I love baseball, and it also led to me breaking my silence on this site. One gesture inspired me to write this homage to, as <a href="http://www.newbergreport.com/" target="blank">Jamey Newberg</a> refers to him, the greatest Texas Ranger ever. (Stow the Nolan Ryan arguments for now.)<br /><br />Back in 1990, I attended the last Ranger home game before the All-Star break. That was two days before Julio Franco had the game winning hit off of "nasty boy" Rob Dibble, thus securing MVP honors for himself. The great Chuck Morgan put together a video montage of Franco highlights set to music: Simon and Garfunkel's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard".<br /><br />I'm thinking today's entry title, 'Forever Young' by Rod Stewart, will make a nice accompaniment to whatever footage of Michael Young that Chuck can string together...<br /><br /><center><br /><img src="http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/jtleeming/young.jpg" height="203" width="300"><br /><br><br><i>And may you grow to be proud<br />Dignified and true<br />And do unto others<br />As you'd have done to you<br />Be courageous and be brave<br />And in my heart you'll always stay<br />Forever young</i><br /></center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1151642053555334422006-06-29T20:43:00.000-07:002006-06-29T21:34:13.613-07:00In Which Rose Defends The NL WestSnicker about the NL West if you want to. While we wait for the final All-Star tallies, I'm going to tell you why it's worth watching.<br /><br />You know the NL West. It's that division that's following up a season in which only one team finished above .500 with a run in which, as of this writing, a team only needs to be four games above the line to lead the standings.<br /><br />When so much else around is black and white, it can be good to appreciate the shades of grey. <br /><br />You know how far out of first place the last-place team is?<br /><br />Four games.<br /><br />You know how far out of first place everyone else is right now?<br /><br />One game.<br /><br />You know how many teams in the division have been in first place at some point?<br /><br />All of them.<br /><br />No, it's not the flashiest division in baseball, but it may turn out to be the one that comes down to an all-teams sprint at the end of the season. If trends continue -- always a big if, I know -- this is a division that could come down to the most minute of decisions. The trade deadline is approaching, and the dealing is picking up; between that and those ever-growing DLs, there's no way of knowing what any team will look like in a couple months' time. For now, though, it's the only five-way race in the major leagues. And as far as I'm concerned, that's something worth watching.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1149478539803084502006-06-04T20:34:00.000-07:002006-06-05T10:54:09.423-07:00In Which Rose Addresses The Elephant In The BlogIn re Barry Bonds hitting his 715th home run, thus passing Babe Ruth on the all-time list:<br /><br />Don't care.<br /><br />That's right. I don't care.<br /><br />At this point, I'm sure someone is already writing to tell me that I obviously do care, if I'm writing about it and all -- and, fine, for that person I'll concede that I care exactly enough as is necessary to notice the fact of home run number 715 and promptly decide that it doesn't matter.<br /><br />Sure, Bonds holds the single-season home run record, and may very well challenge Hank Aaron for the all-time title. But I think that as a culture, we care more about Mark McGwire toppling a decades-old, seemingly untouchable record, than we do about someone breaking the new one a couple of years later. We may even give more regard to Sammy Sosa, for being the other guy who hit more than 61 out of the park that year. By the time Bonds did it, it was old hat. (Also, it happened in September of 2001, when there were... other things in the news.)<br /><br />Plus, it doesn't help that for all appearances, Barry Bonds is an arrogant, self-centered jerk. And one thing he doesn't seem to understand is that he's shooting himself in the foot.<br /><br />Baseball is inherently a team sport, and that simple fact is clear whenever anyone approaches an individual record. If Bonds had thought about it, then he might have pointed out to the Giants front office that if there were a couple more decent hitters to pad the lineup, then he might not have been the guy everyone wanted to walk. He might have reached the 715 mark long ago, without being quite so reviled for it.<br /><br />(Of course, this supposes some intelligence on the part of the Giants front office, which is packed with people who clearly haven't come up with this radical notion on their own. Which is further proof that the Giants suck, and that the former Giants who followed Ned Colletti south should be thanking their lucky stars that there was room for them down here.)<br /><br />If Bonds cobbles together a few more seasons of double-digit home run counts -- which could happen if he goes to an AL team and doesn't have to worry about that whole pesky "playing in the outfield" thing -- he may pass Hank Aaron, but he'll never have as many homers as Sadaharu Oh. You remember him, don't you? He set the worldwide record for career home runs with 868, and stuck around Japanese baseball after his playing days were over. Just a couple of months ago, he coached Japan's national baseball team to the world championship. It's too early to say for sure, but I have a feeling Bonds' idea of giving back to baseball will turn out to involve another wretched reality show that doesn't even make it through its first season. <br /><br />I know there's no requirement that a baseball player be a nice guy. Baseball lore is riddled with guys like Babe Ruth: Legendary players who you'd like to have on your team, but wouldn't really want to hang out with -- not that they'd want to hang out with you, of course. Barry Bonds wins all those MVP awards because as far as the numbers go, he's usually the guy who does the most to help his team win the most games in a given year. But in the flesh-and-blood world, intangibles count. And that's where Bonds falls short.<br /><br />And that's why I don't care.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1146960019488883072006-05-06T16:55:00.000-07:002006-05-06T17:00:20.136-07:00In Which Rose Ponders Steve Howe's Mortality (And Makes It All About Her)I was working on a draft of a piece about going into the season with the team you have rather than the team you wish you had when I saw the headline about Steve Howe's death. If you're reading this from the Dodger front office and were hoping to get my thoughts on what's up with the pitching, this isn't your day. (Though since I'm here, I will suggest that Carter and Hamulack be reserved for relief situations in which giving up a run or two won't hurt anything, at least until they get some confidence going. You're welcome.) <br /><br />I've been trying to write about Steve Howe since April 28. It took me a while to figure out why the words weren't coming.<br /><br />Growing up when and where I did, no one ever had to warn us about the dangers of sex and drugs. (Rock and roll took care of itself.) This was when AIDS mowed its way through Hollywood and Silverlake, the local consequence of something so big that Ronald Reagan finally had to acknowledge that it was happening. We had only to look around us to see what could happen if you weren't careful with sex or IV drugs.<br /><br />In the White House, Nancy Reagan was chirping, "Just Say No". In reality, we had Steve Howe.<br /><br />Rookie of the Year, 1980. Great guy, when he wasn't using.<br /><br />A few years later, my seventh-grade health teacher drew a diagram of the human nose on the chalkboard. "See this cartilage?" he said, pointing to the thin strip that separated the nostrils. "Steve Howe snorted so much cocaine that there's a big hole in his." Was that true? I don't know. But it was a lot more effective than "Just Say No".<br /><br />Steve Howe crashed and burned. Our teachers looked at us sternly. We students in the Highly Gifted program were, we were told, the best and the brightest. Top half-percent on whatever scale they used. College-bound. Expected to do great things, like Steve Howe was. We were not to screw this up like he did.<br /><br />Just as our teachers conveniently ignored the fact that we'd have to navigate high school before we got to college, I think baseball as a whole tries to forget that when you give young people a certain degree of fame and lots of money, they have certain opportunities. In the early- and mid-eighties, cocaine had to have been an awfully hard opportunity to ignore. <br /><br />Over the next decade or so, Howe was in and out of the major leagues -- a suspension here, an overturned ban there. By all accounts, he was a mentor to younger players, but at the end of the day he wasn't someone that a major league team could afford to keep around.<br /><br />In the decade or so after those junior high school warnings, I had a series of derailments of my own. Just as Howe must have had a biological predisposition to addiction, it turns out that I have a biological predisposition to depression. The results were the same: Me lying there on the couch like a college-educated lump, the people around me wondering how I'd gone from bright and funny and promising to... that. Some people tried to support me. Some people thought they were helping when they told me to snap out of it. It was about as helpful as telling Steve Howe to just stop using drugs.<br /><br />It's tempting to take an individual and turn him into a symbol that illustrates one's own take on the thing that retrospectively defines them -- which, of course, is exactly what I am doing. The commentaries I've read over the past week tend to fall into two categories: Either Howe was an addict whose long, downward spiral couldn't be stopped even with treatment; or he was an idiot who blithely threw it all away without a thought for anyone else. Neither tack addresses the notion that, as my grandmother would say, some people have a harder row to hoe.<br /><br />In time, I got better. Not <i>well</i> -- I don't know if I'll ever truly and permanently get there -- but better. It's kind of ironic: For my entire adolescence, I was warned away from illegal mood-altering substances, but as an adult I'm the poster child for legal ones. And yet, if I hadn't initially sought treatment, and if I hadn't stuck with it all this time, I'd probably still be out of commission. Or worse.<br /><br />To hear the people who knew him tell it, Howe had managed to pull it together over the past few years. But maybe he still needed that rush that comes with taking a potentially fatal risk. A risk like driving his pickup truck at 70 mph without a seatbelt. Some risks are more mundane than others.<br /><br />The quotes from Steve Howe's former teammates and managers sound hollow. Not empty, mind you; hollow, as if the speakers had known for years that someday in the not-too-distant future, they'd be called on to talk about this very subject. It was just a matter of when, and how. That kind of dread gets exhausting. <br /><br />A couple of days after Steve Howe died, I met a guy who, not too long ago, had been a highly-regarded pitching prospect. He was still in the minors when his arm failed him. To hear him tell it, he wasn't at all upset about this, because it meant that he could pursue his real dream: Acting. He still loves and appreciates the game, of course. And he keeps coming back to one aspect of it.<br /><br />"Baseball," he said, "is the only thing I can think of where if you only succeed three out of ten times, you're considered great."<br /><br />"But if you only succeed two out of ten, you're a failure," I pointed out. "It's an awfully thin line." Had we had longer to talk, I would have also pointed out that the numbers are different for pitchers. Pitchers can falter here and there, but if they outright fail seven times out of ten, they're just plain failures.<br /><br />Was Steve Howe a failure? As a baseball player, I guess you could say he was. As a person? Not as far as I'm concerned. There are those who'd say that he was, but I think they might be forgetting that sometimes, a successful legacy is hard to see in the immediate aftermath of a spectacular downfall.<br /><br />I'll get back to juggling statistics next time. For now, please make sure to wear your seatbelt, even if you're not planning to drive an unstable vehicle at high speeds. Life is risky enough as it is.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1146020811482022692006-04-25T19:56:00.000-07:002006-04-25T20:06:51.503-07:00Maybe Sam Jackson Can CoachThey're not "knee-jerk reactions" after 21 games:<br /><ul><li>There is something wrong with Francisco Cordero, and it's not his shoulder. It's six inches above it. He simply does not know where the next pitch will go, doesn't have confidence in his fastball, and thinks more highly of his slider than he should. </li><li>I want Orel Hershiser back here, and I don't care how much money it would take to get him back away from ESPN. Orel would do more good than an army of Mark Conners.</li><li>D'Angelo Jimenez is a defensive butcher, and makes me long for the days that Alfonso Soriano played in the (4) slot. Quit running Jimenez out there, and give me more Drew Meyer.</li><li>With apologies to Corby Davidson, I think Kameron Loe's nickname should be "Snake." I want to make up shirts piggy-backing on the upcoming film hype, with the slogan "Snakes on a Mound."</li><li>Brad Wilkerson should find out if his shoes are one-half size too small.</li><li>No one in the AL West is impressing me. If the Rangers are going to mount anything close to a division run, they need to make haste with it. The Angels and Athletics won't slumber for long.</li></ul>JustDevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199910227787481215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1145676544767885292006-04-21T20:28:00.000-07:002006-04-21T20:29:04.786-07:00A Room At The Heartbreak HotelYahoo! Sports made a great move this season, in my opinion, by enlisting Jeff Passan to write for their baseball site. I had no idea who he was at the onset, but it didn't take me long to become a fan. He's a younger guy (or appears to be, anyway) and he seems to continually come up with storylines that would normally be considered out of the norm. In other words, he writes about things my generation - and the generation that followed - can relate to.<br /><br />In his <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-rbi041506&prov=yhoo&type=lgns" target="blank">April 15 column</a>, he wrote about a guy who put Vin Scully's voice to a Nintendo re-enactment of the ninth inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.<br /><br />Yes, that is the "Bill Buckner Game". Until 2004, it was the bane of Red Sox fans everywhere, though RedSoxNation probably still cusses the poor guy.<br /><br />So, at the risk of alienating my New England family, here is the video that the young man created. It's worth watching, if only for Scully's voice.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jOUhvNcKbSU"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jOUhvNcKbSU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />I'm sorry, Aunt Donna.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1145509594269975422006-04-19T22:04:00.000-07:002006-04-19T22:06:34.290-07:00Bullpen WoesJust finished watching Texas versus Seattle. Texas bullpen implodes and blows a nice lead in the ninth. Horrible, just horrible.Tony McCarthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00300377102556927220noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1145066843085010272006-04-14T19:03:00.000-07:002006-04-14T19:08:15.580-07:00In Which Rose Is A WINnerLast year, Dodger Vice Chair Jamie McCourt (a.k.a. Mrs. Guy Who Owns The Dodgers, but that's kind of like calling Hillary Clinton Mrs. Guy Who Was President) launched a little program called the Women's Initiative & Network, or "WIN". According to the site, it is<br /><blockquote>... a new program in baseball focused on providing women of all ages and backgrounds with unique opportunities to learn about the sport, participate in the unparalleled Dodger Stadium experience, and contribute to our community and our National Pastime in innovative, meaningful ways.<br /></blockquote><br />Additionally,<br /><blockquote>WIN will offer women special access to the game experience through events and ongoing programs, including baseball clinics, seminars, and forums involving Dodger players, coaches, and staff.<br /></blockquote><br />For strictly journalistic purposes, I have signed up with WIN. I am now eligible for the following:<br /><ul><br /><li>Women's Win Pack - A 7 Game Plan for only $70: half-price tickets for every Thursday game, in the Women's section, which makes it sound like an orthodox synagogue or something.<br /><li>DodgersWIN (tm) Baseball Clinics. The next one is on April 22 and will feature Jeff Kent. It costs $50 to attend. Who wants to sponsor me? Or I could wait until the July 22 one -- it's also $50, but I would be permitted to bring two kids to the clinic. I don't think any of the parents I know will go for it, though. They're variously willing to expose their offspring to showbiz, experimental technology and giant effigies of Cthulhu, but Jeff Kent might be a tough sell.<br /><li>Speakers including Kim Ng, VP and Asst. General Manager and de facto GM before they brought in Ned Colletti (May 15, $30) and Tommy Lasorda (October 3, price TBA)<br /><li>Promotions including DodgersWIN night presented by Trader Joe's (please tell me that the promised giveaways include cases of Two Buck Chuck) and a Smashbox Cosmetics giveaway night at which "Natalie Coughlin, 2 time Gold Medal Winning Swimmer, will throw out the first pitch". The site does not note what the giveaway will consist of, but it's a fair bet that there will be some leftovers from the previous night's Steve Garvey Bobblehead giveaway.<br /><li>August 1's "Learn How to Keep Score while watching a few innings of Reds vs. Dodger game" ($30).<br /><li>Various receptions and lunches, which may or may not be the same thing as the WIN Networking Series. ("This will be a series of six independent networking opportunities to meet new friends and mingle with current and past members of the Dodger organization". Sounds like rubber chicken and a chat with a former assistant to an assistant GM.)<br /></ul><br />The site includes a handy link to a section on "<a href="http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/la/baseball_basics/la_basics_on_the_field.jsp" target="new">Baseball Basics</a>," which would seem to negate the need for the "Learn How to Keep Score" night. Save your thirty bucks and go <a href="http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/la/baseball_basics/la_basics_keeping_score.jsp" target="new">right here</a>.<br /><br />There are a few flaws with this whole scheme. For example, "A 7-Game Plan for only $70"? Rule number one of attending games at Dodger Stadium: Sit in the top deck behind home plate. Seats are only $6 a pop, and you have a great view of what's going on. You won't catch a ball, but that also means you won't get hit in the head by a ball or by the people running after it, so that's a plus in my book.<br /><br />Also, there's the fact that I signed up three days ago and have yet to receive a confirmation email. The hell? <br /><br />If and when I do hear anything, I will share the love. In the meantime, I shall sit here and repeatedly remind myself that the Dodgers really do have a strong farm system going, and that at the rate the injuries are piling up, this will come in very handy as the season progresses. And by "progresses," I mean "approaches May".Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1144777814437560492006-04-11T10:45:00.000-07:002006-04-11T10:50:14.466-07:00It's worth every centAfter years of being tormented by the commercials for the MLB Extra Innings on Dish Network, I finally caved in and bought it. At $149 it is worth it. Every last cent. Right now (1:45 pm, Tuesday) I'm watching the Mets play the Nationals. Then at 2pm I have 2 more games to choose from. Working at home has always had its advantages but now it's heaven. <br /><br />So to all the suckers in cubical land, enjoy your flourescent bulbs and nosy co-workers. I'll be in my home office watching America's greatest game.Tony McCarthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00300377102556927220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1144125389769063902006-04-03T21:31:00.000-07:002006-04-03T21:36:29.790-07:00In which Tony is kind of depressedThe alternate point of view from Rose is that my team, the Braves, had bullpen meltdown number 1 of who knows how many. Although they won, their true colors came shining through. I hope that this is still "shaking the rust off" but as it has been said history repeats it self. In the Braves history it is always the bullpen.Tony McCarthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00300377102556927220noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1144120009153830262006-04-03T19:39:00.000-07:002006-04-03T20:06:49.400-07:00In Which Rose Is Actually Kind Of ImpressedYes, the Dodgers lost today. Nominal ace Derek Lowe crumbled, and reliever Hong-Chih Kuo, who was so great in spring training, gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning for an ERA of 27.00. But you know what? The team almost pulled off a September-caliber rally, coming from being down 8-1 in the fifth inning to losing by only one run, and they did it with plain old utilitarian move-the-guy-along hitting. (And, for that matter, without Nomar.) It's also promising that the rest of the relievers were in fine form. <br /><br />161 games left. And that right there is one of the great things about baseball.<br /><br />Here's hoping the worst of the rain holds off for a few days.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1144099324631647222006-04-03T14:21:00.000-07:002006-04-04T10:15:43.303-07:00Come Out And Play(I'm starting this "typed while watching" entry a little late, so the first few notes will not have any time stamps.) <br /><br />Opening Day is always a monumental moment for me, so I wanted to have a record of some sorts about the first Texas Rangers game of the year. Please indluge me. Diving right in now...<br /><br /><i>First inning:</i> Kevin Millwood looked fearless about pitching in the launching pad that knowing fans call The Temple. He struck out Coco Crisp to start the game and the 1-2-3 inning ended with Laynce Nix tracking down a David Ortiz smoker into the right centerfield gap. I held my breath a bit as Nix approached the wall, knowing his football mentality, but he managed to soften the blow.<br /><br />Curt Schilling went 1-2-3, also, striking out Brad Wilkerson and Michael Young to start the inning before getting Mark Teixeira to ground out. Dare I suggest a pitchers' duel? In this park?<br /><br /><i>Commercial break</i> Wow. That shrimp quesadilla at Taco Cabana looks effin' awesome.<br /><br /><i>1:29pm</i> Rookie Ian Kinsler got his first fielding chance on a grounder from Manny Ramirez. He bobbled the ball, but calmly picked it up and made the throw to first for the out. It's always good to get the first chance out of the way early.<br /><br /><i>1:31pm</i> Laynce Nix again tracked down a well hit ball in the gap. Damn, I hope he stays healthy this season.<br /><br /><i>1:34pm</i> Young just made a nice play deep in the shortstop hole, but his throw was too late to get Jason Varitek out. Am I really to believe that Young is the worst fielding SS in the American League?<br /><br /><i>1:39pm</i> The closest thing to the first Texas hit of the year was a little blooper off the bat of Phil Nevin to center, caught by a sliding Crisp. I'm thinking that Red sox Nation will be won over by the speedy Coco and Grizzly Damon will turn into just a nice memory... eventually.<br /><br /><i>1:51pm</i> Is it wrong of me to think that seeing a bunch of kids in the stands, who should be in school, is a good thing?<br /><br /><i>1:55pm</i> Ian Kinsler's first major league at bat... line drive single the opposite way.<br /><br /><i>Bonus Knee-jerk Reaction</i> Go ahead and give him the Rookie of the Year award now.<br /><br /><i>2:01pm</i> David Ortiz scares the crap outta me everytime I see him at the plate. What an imposing dude.<br /><br /><i>2:06pm</i> The collective shutout is over. 2-0 Boston after a Varitek double. The RBI hit followed a two out, four pitch walk, the first free pass of the game by either side. There is a lesson there.<br /><br /><i>2:08pm</i> There is that shrimp quesadilla again. It is becoming my bugaboo.<br /><br /><i>2:10pm</i> Just saw Kinsler's fiancee. The kid done good.<br /><br /><i>2:12pm</i> I wonder, as I watch Teixeira poke a single to center, if fans of opposing teams get the same feeling of dread when they see Tex at the plate that I get when I see Ortiz or Vlad Guerrero against my team. If not, they should. And they will.<br /><br /><i>2:27pm</i> 3-0 Boston. This Rangers team is <b>done</b>! (Kidding, of course.)<br /><br /><i>2:30pm</i> My Ortiz fears manifested themselves in the form of a towering homerun off the right field foul pole. 5-0 Red Sox. He is one of those rare players, like Guerrero, who is damn good for the opposition but almost impossible to dislike. Damn him.<br /><br /><i>2:33pm</i> Kevin Mench, while in right field, just covered his mouth with his glove... to yawn. Never a good sign.<br /><br /><i>2:34pm</i> Typical Mench. Right after looking disinterested, he makes a nice sliding catch to end the inning.<br /><br /><i>2:35pm</i> I'm hungry.<br /><br /><i>2:43pm</i> Two turkey sandwiches later, I'm feeling better. Watching Ian "The Kid" Kinsler work a two out walk out of Schilling helped, too.<br /><br /><i>3:02pm</i> What the Hell? Coco Crisp just caught Tex's long fly to center for the second out, but then he tossed the ball into the stands to a fan. That might be the first time I have seen that (other than the blooper reels when there are men on base) before three outs.<br /><br /><i>3:06pm</i> 5-2 Boston. For the fourth consecutive home opener, Hank Blalock has homered - and this one was the absolute definition of a "frozen rope". Jeez.<br /><br /><i>3:22pm</i> 6-2 Boston. Big Papi strikes again, this time with an RBI double. (The good news? Ortiz is on my fantasy league team.)<br /><br /><i>3:33pm</i> I just realized something... Buck Showalter <i>is not wearing a jacket</i>. That it took me so long to notice is rather embarrassing. (By the way, insert gratuitous "jacket off" jokes here.)<br /><br /><i>3:44pm</i> Through seven (admittedly strong) innings, Schilling has thrown 117 pitches. How in the world can Boston manager Terry Francona allow that to happen during the first game of the season? Who is his mentor? Dusty Baker?<br /><br /><i>3:47pm</i> Mike Lowell, who was very nearly a Ranger prior to this season, has gone yard. 7-2 Boston now. (161 games to go. Keep the panic in check.)<br /><br /><i>4:13pm</i> Adam Stern, playing left field as a defensive replacement for Manny Ramirez in the ninth inning, just made the biggest little league move I have seen in a big league game. After crashing into the wall on Kevin Mench's double, he reached up and tore his hat off before chasing down the ball. I guess it made him run faster?<br /><br /><i>4:16pm</i> Coco Crisp just made even more fans in Boston after that catch of Nix's liner over his head. Wow. At least the ninth inning is waking me up a bit.<br /><br /><i>4:17pm</i> Game over. Boston 7, Texas 3.<br /><br />This entry sounded like a good idea in my head as the game commenced, but you be the judge.<br /><br />Get 'em tomorrow, boys.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1144047727076544442006-04-03T00:01:00.000-07:002006-04-03T00:02:07.093-07:00Here Today, Gone TomorrowBy the time this entry is posted, the first pitch of the 2006 Rangers debut will be less than 12 hours away. (And, by the time the notoriously slow RSS feed of this site starts sending this entry to the RSS readers of the world, the game will almost certainly be over.)<br /><br />The "ill wind", however, is already hovering over Arlington's Temple, all because of the trade of David Dellucci.<br /><br />Mack Brown hasn't even begun to loosen up for the first pitch (assuming, of course, that he will do so before throwing in front of over 50,000 people) yet I am all ready to declare a catastrophic moment before the season even begins. And, man - I hope I am wrong.<br /><br />Listen... I <i>love</i> David Dellucci. Nice player, great teammate, and by all reports a totally upstanding man of character. But baseball is a business, as much as we would all like it not to be. So, with the injury to the Rangers number two starter (Adam Eaton), GM Jon Daniels felt he had to do something to give the team more starting pitching depth.<br /><br />He began by trading the enigmatic, yet super talented, Juan Dominguez in a three team deal that netted Texas a stop-gap starting pitcher (John Koronka) and a young lefty with upside (John Rheinecker) for depth. Let's face it - this was another Esteban Loaiza situation. Loaiza had/has all the talent in the world, but he never fulfilled it in Pittsburgh. The Pirates gave up on him and traded him to the Rangers (for Warren Morris and that Van Poppel kid). Again, Loaiza showed flashes of brilliance mixed in with brain fart pitches launched into the Texas sky.<br /><br />Former Rangers GM Doug Melvin managed to trade Loaiza to the Toronto Blue Jays, cajoling from them a green shortstop named Michael Young. Loaiza spent two unspectacular years in Canada before signing with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent in 2003. He finished second in the Cy Young voting that year. With some, it just takes longer, and a change of scenery (or two or more) is often needed.<br /><br />But I'm getting off track here. Crap. Let's get back to the Dellucci trade.<br /><br />His teammates loved him. He was a leader, a ladies' man, and always good for a quote with the local writers. Then Jon Daniels traded him to the Phillies for right-handed pitcher Robinson Tejada and minor league outfielder Jake (brother of Hank) Blalock. The outcry, which has me very concerned, started immediately. Why am I concerned? I'll tell you.<br /><br />I'm worried that the Rangers have created an atmosphere in which the players are spoiled. Last season was surely disappointing, based on the strong showing in 2004, but the whining as the July 31 trade deadline approached was sad. "Give us help!" That was the plea. Key players like Young and Mark Teixera were very vocal regarding the lack of moves by Jon Hart's front office.<br /><br />See, the problem is that the players on the major league team don't care about the future of the team as much as the front office does. And that is OK. I <i>want</i> them to want to win <i>now</i>. But if Hart had traded John Danks for, say, Zack Greinke of the Kansas City royals, the long-term results might have been devastating.<br /><br />And now, with pitching problems popping up like a game of Whack-A-Mole, Daniels had to do something. And not only did he <i>do</i> something, he fleeced his favorite whipping boy (Philles GM Pat Gillick) again. Dellucci for Tejada? I'd make that deal in a heartbeat. To me, the genius part is that Daniels managed to get the younger (yet taller) Blalock thrown in, maybe in an effort to soften the chemistry blow in the clubhouse.<br /><br />But the two Rangers with the biggest locker room voices expressed dismay. There is no bigger fan of Teixera and Young than me (especially concerning the shortstop), but I just want to yell at them. "You cannot have it both ways! You cannot complain about a lack of pitching and then whine when your GM, your boss, makes a 'sell high' trade to give the team - <i>YOUR</i> team - the best pitching depth it has had in decades!"<br /><br />If they need testimonials, Pat Gillick will gladly oblige. Daniels traded Ricardo Rodriguez to the Phillies for number three (now number two) starter Vicente Padilla. Padilla has "All-Star" on his resume. Rodriguez was cut from Philly at the end of camp. After the release, Gillick said something along the lines of "it was a bad trade".<br /><br />The "bad trade" description is true. But only for one team - so far, at least. In my book, Daniels is winning on the player moves front. I only hope that the Ranger players realize that it is Jon's job to put the pieces together as he sees fit and it is their job to perform on the field.<br /><br />After all, there is no crying in baseball.<br /><br />---<br /><br />The quote of the day comes from <a href="http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060402&content_id=1380524&vkey=news_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex" target="blank">an article</a> on the Rangers MLB.com website:<br /><i>"We're leading the league in Blalocks and I don't think anybody is going to catch us."<br /><br />- Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels</i><br /><br />Eleven hours 'til first (Rangers) pitch now. Life is good.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1143753479222997922006-03-30T13:00:00.000-08:002006-03-30T20:14:52.926-08:00In Which Rose Makes Some Predictions<i>Regular season</i><br /><br /><b>AL West</b><br />The Angels have the strongest lineup, true. I just can't bring myself to pick them. Sorry, it's that whole "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" thing. Just... no. Instead, I'm picking the A's. Any team that has the moxie to take the field in those uniforms has what it takes to win. Plus, if the A's win it all, then I might get to try on a World Series ring. Hey, it makes as much sense as picking the Rangers, <i>Leem</i>.<br /><br />The Seattle Mariners will continue to be cute when they try.<br /><br /><b>AL East</b> <br />Of course it's going to come down to the Red Sox and the Yankees. One will win, and the other will get the wild card slot. Seriously, why do any of the other teams bother pretending to play? <br /><br /><b>AL Central</b><br />I know that you can't really go off of what happens in spring training, but the White Sox are taking such a beating that I just can't pick them to win this one. Cleveland pretty much takes it by default.<br /><br /><b>AL Wild Card</b><br />See "AL Central" above.<br /><br /><b>NL East</b><br />True to form, the Florida Marlins have followed a reasonably successful season by dismantling the team and selling it for parts. Yeah, I don't get it either. Maybe the thought is that having one really good season every seven years or so brings in more money than cultivating an audience.<br /><br />The New York Mets have a better shot than in recent years simply because they've replaced Mike Piazza with a catcher who can actually throw out would-be stealers at second base. Paul Lo Duca is a former Dodger who fell victim to a Moneyball-inspired trade. He's not the flashiest player out there, but he has -- you will forgive the phrase -- the hustle. <br /><br />The winner? The Atlanta Braves. Haven't you been paying attention? It doesn't matter who does well for which team. The NL East has been on Braves-take-the-division autopilot for well over a decade, and I don't see any signs that anyone will be waking up any time soon.<br /><br /><b>NL Central</b><br />This one will probably come down to St. Louis and Houston, with the St. Louis Cardinals edging out Houston, because pitching can only take you so far. <br /><br /><b>NL West</b><br />Okay, so I'd probably pick the Dodgers regardless, because I'm all mushy like that -- but, see, I think they actually have a shot this year. First of all, they don't have much competition: The Rockies suck; the Padres are a .500 team; the Diamondbacks will either be dreadful or untouchable; and the Giants are Barry Bonds, which is not a good thing to be right now. But here's the important thing: Grady Little has declared that in the hour before a game, if a clubhouse television is on, then it will be showing tapes of the opposing team. And since his other rules stipulate that there will be no music over the speakers, and no playing of the cards or dominoes, the players will have no choice but to run out to the field knowing what they're up against. <br /><br /><b>NL Wild Card</b><br />Houston. Unless they win their division, in which case it will be the Cards. Unless Arizona has one of their on-years, in which case it's them. Oh, and unless Jim Tracy works a miracle in Pittsburgh. Heaven knows, he has the incentive.<br /><br /><i>Post-season</i><br /><br /><b>ALDS</b><br />Going on sheer momentum, Boston defeats Cleveland in four. <br /><br />The Yankees defeat Oakland in five. Sorry. They'll also win in five if the Angels take the division, as they probably will, notwithstanding my pick. It won't really matter anyway.<br /><br /><br /><b>NLDS</b><br />Obviously, Atlanta's not moving on. They never think that far ahead. Whoever's playing them wins in four games. The other team will likely be Houston. Again.<br /><br />Dodgers play the Cards. In the ninth inning of the fifth game, with two outs, Dodgers leading 5-4, Eric Gagne stands on the mound. There are St. Louis runners at second and third. The cleanup hitter is coming to the plate. In the number five slot is some kid who dreams of making it above the Mendoza line. <br /><br />The dugout phone rings. Grady Little calls for time and picks up the receiver.<br /><br />"DON'T PITCH TO THE CLEANUP HITTER!!!" <br /><br />"I wasn't planning to, Mr. Lasorda" Grady says, calmly. "You shouldn't have done it in 1985, either." He hangs up, and flashes the "walk" signal. Gagne rolls his eyes; it's not like anyone really needed to spell this out. He walks the cleanup hitter, strikes out the kid on three pitches, and -- at long last -- all is right in that little corner of the universe. <br /><br />Sadly, Tommy Lasorda passes away the next day. <br /><br /><b>ALCS</b><br />Boston defeats the Yankees, because karma's a bitch, Steinbrenner.<br /><br /><b>NLCS</b><br />Houston wins in six. Tommy Lasorda is so indignant that he comes back to life and refuses to leave his office all winter.<br /><br /><b>World Series</b><br />Continuing the recent years' parade of unlikely winners, Houston knocks off Boston in six games. <br /><br /><b>Individual winners</b><br />I'm not touching these until the injury reports start coming in. I'll think about it once we see who's staying healthy and who's stepping up to fill in for injured teammates. <br /><br />Unless some employment falls into my lap, it looks like I'll be free for opening day. Come on, L.A. people. Who's taking me to the game? I'll buy you a Dodger Dog.Rosehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05180474359667015890noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1143571835794947622006-03-28T10:49:00.001-08:002006-03-29T14:09:32.066-08:00This Is Ponderous, ManTime for the obligatory prediction entry. This is the one that annualy shows the idiocy of a layman trying to predict sporting outcomes. (How many of <i>you</i> got the Final Four right this year? Hell, I was ecstatic that I correctly "predicted" one of them, especially since I don't follow college basketball at all unless it involves my UConn Huskies.)<br /><br />For the record, regarding the above parenthetical, I was born in Connecticut and lived close to Storrs. So I have a valid reason for rooting for the Huskies. But enough rhetoric, it's time for the guesses to begin...<br /><br /><i>Disclaimer: I tend to pick with my heart and not my head. Sue me. And good luck getting any money with that move...</i><br /><br /><b>NL Division Winners and Wild Card:</b><br />NL East: Atlanta Braves (I'm not picking against them until they show they are mortal)<br />NL Central: Houston Astros (Even sans Clemens , their pitching is unrivaled)<br />NL West: LA Dodgers (Counting on a Nomar comeback and a "Little" miracle)<br />Wild Card: NY Mets (Yeah, right...)<br /><br /><b>AL Division Winners and Wild Card:</b><br />AL East: Toronto Blue Jays (Fingers crossed, even though I'm a Bosox fan by proxy)<br />AL Central: Chicago White Sox (See note above about Houston's pitching)<br />AL West: Texas Rangers (And there is the "heart not head" pick)<br />Wild Card: Oakland A's (Will be tough in this four team division, but possible)<br /><br /><b>NLDS and NLCS</b><br />The Astros and the Mets move on, with Houston prevailing in six games.<br /><br /><b>ALDS and ALCS</b><br />Chicago and Texas ace the first round, but the Sox pummel the Rangers in the ALCS.<br /><br /><b>World Series</b><br />A repeat of 2005... kind of. Chicago will win again, but this time it will take all seven games.<br /><br /><b>MVPs</b><br />NL: David Wright, NY Mets<br />AL: Mark Teixeira, Texas Rangers<br /><br /><b>Cy Young</b><br />NL: Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros<br />AL: Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins<br /><br /><b>Rookie of the Year</b><br />NL: Prince Fielder, Brewers (barely edging out the Padres' Josh Barfield)<br />AL: Brian Anderson, White Sox<br /><br /><b>Manager of the Year</b><br />NL: Grady Little<br />AL: Joe Maddon (Watch out for the Rays...)<br /><br /><b>Comeback Player of the Year</b><br />NL: Nomah ('Nuff said)<br />AL: Jim Thome<br /><br />It took me only a half hour, and one beer, to write this one and I didn't give much thought to it before I started. Didn't want to, really. Talk about going with my heart and not my head...<br /><br />... but that tactic seems to be working out for me lately.<br /><br />Devin? I'll see you on Opening Day...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1143571019634624572006-03-28T09:52:00.000-08:002006-03-28T10:42:25.413-08:00Pre-Season PrognosticationNL East: The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Philadelphia Phillies</span> have a lot of firepower this season, including shortstop Jimmy Rollins. They'll need it to keep the Braves in line.<br /><br />AL East: Picking this winner is like picking the Best Soundtrack Oscar winner. Sure, there are contenders, but as long as John Williams is live, he'll win the award. As long as the <span style="font-weight: bold;">New York Yankees</span> are in operation and George Steinbrenner keeps sacrificing young virgins underneath Yankee Stadium, they'll win the division. (C'mon, Toronto, prove me wrong.)<br /><br />NL Central: The safe bet is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">St. Louis Cardinals</span>. The outside bet is Houston, if Roger Clemens decides to roost there after May. Whichever team raises the Central flag, it won't be my beloved Cubs. The team is simply not moving forward, and will be lucky to finish above .500. Thanks, Tribune Company!<br /><br />AL Central: The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chicago White Sox</span> may not repeat as World Series champions, but they will repeat as division winners. The Twins will only miss out on the division title by a couple of games, and will wind up as the AL Wild Card representative.<br /><br />NL West: The hardest division to pick, because the talent level is lower across the board than any other division in baseball. However, with Grady Little building the team back from the ashes, give me the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles</span>.<br /><br />AL West: As much as I want to pick the Rangers... as much as I want to drink the last sip of Jon Daniels Kool-Aid... as much as I want to look at the rotation... I can't pick against the <span style="font-weight: bold;">California Angels</span>. <br /><br />MVP: Rangers 1B Mark Teixeira<br />Cy Young: Twins hurler Johan Santana<br />Rookie of the Year: Seattle catcher Kenji Johjima<br />Manager of the Year: Nationals skipper Frank Robinson<br />Comeback Player of the Year: Jeff Bagwell (sentimental pick, because I want to see him beat the "insurance" scam the Astros are trying to run)JustDevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199910227787481215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19774385.post-1143512857375458442006-03-27T18:11:00.000-08:002006-03-27T18:30:40.546-08:00Seven DaysI'm tired of waiting. Yes, I know I'm not the most patient person, but I don't want to talk anymore about the Rangers' off-season moves, the lack of a fifth starter, the iffy injuries, the merit of Jon Daniels' moves, Soriano's outfieldophobia, or anything that isn't in a box score.<br /><br />The good news is, I only have to wait seven days.<br /><br />I've been getting calls for the last week asking where my seats are. (See, my friends know that asking whether or not I'm going to the game is just a waste of time.) I did get tickets for an exhibition game on Saturday night, but I'll be working that night. Dammit.<br /><br />Amanda, my Lovely Betrothed, is as happy about the upcoming season as I am, and will be there for the majority of games with me. Of course, I'd be hard-pressed to match the first game I took her to -- it was a day where I had suite tickets, and ended up hanging out Jon Daniels. She might be a little bit spoiled, but I don't mind so much.<br /><br />I guess I should try and make a unifying point here, but there really isn't one more than this:<br /><br />One week from now, I'll be back in Section Five with <a href="http://www.hankshomies.com" target="_blank">my Homies</a>. Drinking beer. Screaming for the home team. Loving life.JustDevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12199910227787481215noreply@blogger.com0