Results tagged ‘ Seattle Mariners ’
Majors and Minors and More Craziness
Plenty of ground to cover…I better get to it…
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE RED SOX? I have no clue, really. I wished I had an answer as to why the Sox are coming home to Fenway with an 0-6 start. They open at home against the New York Yankees, who are 4-2, including taking two from the visiting Minnesota Twins. How long do you think this will go on? Um, well…
…AND THE RAYS? Same thing – a mystery! They’re on the South Side facing Ozzie Guillen’s team and there’s no let up. It’s puzzling when you have two contending AL East clubs winless after the first six games…
DID I FORGET ABOUT THE TUCSON PADRES? I did, I’m afraid. The former Portland Beavers opened their 2011 campaign on the road in Colorado Springs with intentions on making their temporary home a good spot to make a run in the Pacific Coast League’s Pacific South division. They’ll have some tough company with the Fresno Grizzlies and Sacramento River Cats. However, day 1 of the Tucson Padres ended on a high note: An 18-14 victory over the host Sky Sox.
HOW DID BRYCE DO? The Hagerstown Suns’ Bryce Harper – the first pick of last year’s Amateur Draft for the Washington Nationals – went 2-for-4 against the host Rome Braves. He brought in a run, but struck out once. From all reports, he certainly impressed everyone with an array of fielding skills and poise at bat (if you take out the strike out, that is). How soon do you think he’ll make the next level at Woodbridge, VA and the Potomac Nationals? No clue there…
THE INFIRMARY: The White Sox’ Adam Dunn went in for appendectomy. He appears to be recovering nicely as Dunn trotted out for the South Siders’ home opener on Thursday. Then, Tsuyoshi Nishioka of the Minnesota Twins broke his leg on a slide defensive slide by Nick Swisher at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. While Nishi sits on the Disabled List, the Bloke from Perth, Luke Hughes, will fill in for the time being. As sad as I am to see Nishi hurt, I’m happy to see Hughes up for the time being.
BACK TO THE TOP: The Texas Rangers remain the only undefeated ball club in the week of the season. That may not last long as they travel to Baltimore to meet the Orioles. The Orioles sit on top of the AL East with a single loss to their record. This could be an early series to watch. Maybe the Rangers will give Vlad his ring for his work with them from last year.
FRIDAY’S HOME OPENERS: Besides the Twins and Red Sox, there’s a slate of home openers happening on Friday. The Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Angels, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Houston Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers open up their doors for the first time in 2011. The Giants will celebrate 2010 with the presentation of the World Series championship rings, awarding Buster Posey’s Rookie of the Year nod and the hoisting of the pennant – all wrapped in gold. That could be tarnished quickly – Sammy Hagar will be singing the National Anthem.
The 2010 BBWAA Awards (Conclusion)
Three more envelopes were opened. More arguments had been made all over the Blogopshere. No one expected a sure-fire win for any of these three awards. Yet, we all knew this was that kind of season to begin with.
And, the last three winners are…
AL CY YOUNG AWARD: There is a choice in the American League: Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners, C.C. Sabathia of the New York Yankees or David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays. Each can make an argument as to why they should win the Cy Young. Yet, there is a key factor that makes a sure decision: Numbers. It’s not just about wins or ERA – there are many factors that go into a pitcher’s stats, strike percentage, walk allowances, average speed per pitch – we can go on. Crazy stats we never heard of or someone had made up! For me, I look at a pitcher’s impact on the game. How strong is a pitcher in the first 100 pitches? Looking at the quality of a win…or loss…in terms of pitch selection and support at bat and on the field. It all adds up, really. The BBWAA added up their choice: Hernandez. If you throw out everyone else on the Mariners, there was one constant: King Felix’s quality of his game on the mound. That quality translated into a 2.27 ERA and 232 strikeouts over 249-2/3 innings of work. What the BBWAA did was astonishing by throwing out his 13-12 record and the M’s 101 losses for 2010 in their consideration for Hernandez.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Both leagues appear to have a variety of possibilities for the game’s top prize. No matter how you slice it, there is not one player that stood out enough to grab the MVP. They were all great!
In the National League, however, the decision to go with Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds I’d see as a vote for not just statistics, but in leadership and impact on the team itself. A couple of years ago, Votto had to leave the club due to some issues in dealing with his emotional state and the pressure of being at the highest level in baseball. Since then, Votto emerged as one of the unsung heroes on a Reds team ready to climb into the elite. It all came together this season with the NL Central title and Votto’s first All-Star nod. Being the heart and soul of these Reds, with Dusty Baker at the helm, Votto showed the game what he had in store.
Last, but not least, the AL’s Most Valuable Player was not entirely a surprise. Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers reminds of me of Votto: Someone who had to deal with some demons before taking control of his life and his career. What makes Hamilton a good choice is a combination of power and leadership. There’s no question about his slugging abilities having been in the All Star Game’s Home Run Derby two years in a row. His ability to use this power at bat to bring the Rangers across for the win is something Hamilton exploited many times en route tot the AL West flag. Within a team with stories of redemption, Hamilton remains the core of the Rangers. Nolan Ryan and his staff can add onto the core, but it all comes down to Hamilton’s leadership off and on the field on where this team goes.
That’s it! All the trophies have been awarded. All that matters are the acquisitions and Free Agency signings. What a year this has been!
Those Other Pennant Races
One flag down, five to go…
With seven slots left to fill for the Postseason, it takes strategic analysis to understand who will fill these slots. So, I did. And here’s what I came up with…
NL CENTRAL: This will be the next flag to be won. Why? The Cincinnati Reds will culminate a rebuilding effort that has taken twenty years to complete. If you count the near misses the Former Big Red Machine had over this time, you’ll understand how important this year is to Dusty Baker. Love him or despise him, he can lead teams into the postseason. Baker also has plenty to work with: A mix of postseason-experienced veterans and farm-grown quality talent. You balance Joey Votto with
Scott Rolen, Jay Bruce with Orlando Cabrera and Edinson Volquez with Bronson Arroyo. For the most part, this is a young team with plenty of skill sets mixed in. They’re in it for beyond this season, but winning this pennant now helps boost this team for the future. THE CLINCHER: Sometime this weekend in San Diego – that’s if the Padres decide to sweep the Reds instead for the sake of their own pennant race.
NL EAST: Sometime after the Reds grab their pennant, it will be a goose race between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Texas Rangers. My view is that the Phils take their umpteenth-in-a-row NL East title in a resounding manner. Why? The nine-game win streak, for starters. Then, there’s the benchmarks: Roy Halliday winning 20 games and Ryan Howard smashing 30 dingers. Simply, the Phils are in Bugatti Veyron mode – they turned the secret key and poured on the 1,000HP twin-turbo V-16 engine with the foot mashed on the accelerator. Nothing can stop the Phils – with a magic number of four. As for the Atalnta Braves and Bobby Cox’s swan song – I’m not sure if they’ll even win the NL Wild Card, either. Just not seeing it manifest somehow… THE CLINCHER: Sorry Mike/BTB, but the New York Mets are looking like lambs to slaughter at Citizens Bank Park. It’ll be over by Sunday in the NL East.
AL WEST: Let’s talk about those Rangers, shall we? Depsite the magic number being four, the reason why I stated above that the Phils will clinch before the Rangers are lingering setbacks, such as injury recoveries and slumps. Josh Hamilton is scheduled to be back soon, but when can you count on him being 100% before the Postseason? Still, those who were injured and expected to return by this time are trying to acclimate to the final push towards clinching. It also doesn’t help that they travel to Oakland this weekend – the proverbial spoilers. It also creates a double whammy: An Athletics’ sweep this weekend not only postpones clinching the AL West for the Rangers – it also draws Oakland closer in the race. It could also halve the lead between these two teams. This may not bode well for the Rangers as they look to quickly close in on the division title. THE CLINCHER: The Rangers must win more than two games in Oakland to secure the clinch, but don’t count on it. Worst case scenario would be to wait until they get home next week against Seattle to grab the flag.
AL EAST: The New York Yankees began to put some serious distance this week on the Tampa Bay Rays in The Bronx. That ended last night. There’s one more battle between these two this evening before they part ways for the remainder of the regular season. However, there is a high probability they will meet again in ALCS. In owning a one-and-a-half game advantage on the Rays, the Yankees would have to string a series of victories starting at home with the incoming Boston Red Sox. All next week, the Yanks will be on the road in Toronto and Boston. For the Rays, making the Postseason again is not enough. They come home Friday for the Seattle Mariners (and Bret Michaels on Sunday) and Baltimore Orioles before closing the season in Kansas City. How the rest of the season will come into play depends on tonight’s series finale in The Bronx. A Rays’ win makes this division race a dash to the end. A Yanks’ win will make it elementary which one will repeat as division champs and the other being the AL Wild Card. THE CLINCHER: Stay tuned – the champagne will either pop in Boston or Kansas City in more than a week’s time.
NL WEST: Once again, this division is ending up tighter than Wayne Brady’s jeans. This is still a three-team race between the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies. The trouble is I cannot put my finger on which of these three teams has an advantage during these final 11 days of the season. It’s going to be down to the wire with the Rox not letting go of the rope. THE CLINCHER: The final day of the season – someone will win this division. Someone else could be the NL Wild Card. Even that’s another bucket of crazy…
Managers vs. Umpires – Part 601
Quiet week – wasn’t it?
If it weren’t for a few stories about managers and their behavior, all that’s left would be near-miss no-hitters, some historic benchmarks for a couple of New York Yankees and another renewal of hostilities between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in the Bronx. I’m probably too late to delve into Ozzie Guillen’s tirade about the lingua franca, the use of translators for the growing number of players from Asia and his claim that his son Oney has been responsible in translating for 13 Latino Chicago White Sox players.
If only A-Rod’s 600th homer spoke louder to me.
Instead, I focus my attention on two minor league managers: Jody Davis and Brent Bowers.
Just north of Safeco Field, the Boise Hawks’ manager and former Major League catcher Jody Davis decided he would be the Northwest League’s President for a fortnight. A soggy Pacific Northwest day turned the home field of the host Everett Aqua Sox turned into an adventure. The game was initially delayed for 80 minutes before play began. One of the challenges of playing in this Short Season Class-A league is the climate, which the former Chicago Cubs’ fan favorite saw firsthand when outfielder Ryan Cuneo slipped on a play that turned into a double for the Aqua Sox. Davis pointed that the field was unsafe for play. After some consideration, he pulled his team off the field.
A thirty-minute delay was in effect to see about drying off the grounds. When the umpires determined it was ready for resumption of play, David kept the Hawks off the field – forcing a forfeit.
The Northwest League’s President took action, suspending Davis until August 15. The league acknowledged that Davis’ intentions were indeed “honorable,” defying the umpires’ authority was deemed unacceptable.
What’s a manager to do? We often look at Major League umpires to determine the conditions of play. Managers know to accept the authority of the umpires, but will question them when they are in the wrong. The Florida Marlins’ Edwin Rodriguez and Detroit Tigers’ Jim Leyland know this all too well. Though in one of Leyland’s cases, the umpire in question acknowledged the mistake caused by his call during Armando Galarraga’s near-perfect game, the other incident Leyland was involved with and the latest incident involving the Marlins received no accountability by the umpires involved.
Then, there was the incident involving Bowers of the Golden Baseball League’s Edmonton Capitals. On the road in Fullerton, California playing the Orange County Flyers, Bowers went to argue a call made by umpire Billy Van Raaphost, who just happens to be openly gay. Somewhere in the argument, Bowers simply went off on umpire Van Raaphorst – calling him a homophobic epithet twice. After being tossed out of the game, Bowers knew his goose was cooked.
The league suspended Bowers for his tirade. Subsequently, Bowers went to his front office superiors and tendered his resignation. The management of the Capitals (also the owners of the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL) was considering terminating Bowers, but they claimed their now ex-manager beat them to it.
When examining this issue, visions of Ozzie popped up in my head. It’s one thing for Guillen to call a reporter the same epithet a few years back – that’s just Ozzie being Mr. Inappropriate. Ozzie knows his responsibility, but he also knows that he is a loudmouthed and unfiltered ball of plutonium who had his battles with White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams on more than a few times when everyone wanted his head on a platter. Or, as Jerry Reinsdorf would insinuate: Both of their heads!
And, speaking of managers with their heads of the platter – Don Wakamatsu was canned today by the Seattle Mariners. I figured I throw that out there…
The actions of Davis and Bowers regarding their relationships with the umpire’s authority may be seen as sensationalized situations that blare on the radar for a minute. They serve as examples of the fragility of the manager’s job. Simply put: Darned if you do, darned if you don’t.
Game Review: Minnesota 4 vs. Seattle 0
All Photos by Randy Stern
I needed some serious cheering up. This ballgame did it for me.
There’s no explanation needed except I had a tough week – despite my posts earlier this week. Today began on a good footing, though, as exhibited by my last post on Matt Capps. It ended with a Minnesota Twins shutout victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Honestly, I didn’t plan on going to this game. However, a friend who attends the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks announced that he had a quandary. Without going into detail, the result was I ended up with his two seats as he had an early flight out of Grand Forks connecting onward to Raleigh-Durham. Then, I had my own quandary – my closest friends, Scott and Michael, just moved back to Minneapolis this month. We originally planned on going later in September, but I figured: Housewarming Gift!
Yet, in the end, Michael decided that Scott and I should go. And we did. So, here we are – an University of Iowa alumnus and a grad student at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota – among what appeared to be a few thousand green-clad University of North Dakota denizens. They were friendly folk, these Fighting Sioux.
There was a game however. Scott and I strolled in to miss the entire first inning – a first for me in eons. We did miss the three-run first by the Twins, but that was OK – this was Scott’s first trip inside Target Field.
I was impressed with Kevin Slowey – pitching eight full innings throwing just over 100 pitches. Delmon Young made some serious contributions in the field and at bat. Joe Mauer’s double down the line in the bottom of the eighth was quite impressive, which enabled him to score the final run of the game.
My only issue was some of the outfield play, thanks to a persistent sun over the third base stands. That created a few miscues by Denard Span in communication on some fly balls. One, as Scott remarked, was the shallowest double we’ve ever seen.
Jose Mijares was not bad as the closer for this evening. Not bad, being a relative term to what I’ve seen from Twins’ relief in my last game I attended a couple weeks back.
Still, the shutout was earned and the Twins go 2-0 on the Mariners for tomorrow’s finale. As for me – I’m 3-0 in the new ballpark!
Cliff Lee > LeBron James: A Rational Equation
So, LeBron James made his nationally televised “decision” to bankrupt the Miami Heat. The equally expensive Chris Bosh will join him, paving the way of the re-signing of Dwayne Wade. Talk about mortgaging a Larry O’Brien trophy…
Who cares? Move on!
But, I am not doing this post about what could be seen as the lowest point in the professional sports business. Less annoying than LeBron is the fact that Cliff Lee will be pitching for his fourth team in two full seasons. That fact alone makes a semi-purist like me cringe. Even worse was the path in getting Lee from the Seattle Mariners to the Texas Rangers – via a “forget it” move on the New York Yankees.
By now, we heard that the Mariners looked at a trade with a top prospect in the Yankees system. After some undetermined “nyet” when down at Safeco Field, the Rangers offered up another top prospect playing in Triple-A for the former Cy Young Award services. The Mariners’ agreed and Lee was sent to DFW.
M’s General Manager Jack Zduriencik now thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room.
Perhaps so. Sitting fifteen games behind the division leading Rangers, the Mariners seemed desperate to make a deal for Lee. The thinking would have pointed to the fact that you had a former Cy Young Award winner with plenty of arm to give – why waste it as a last place team? Trading within the division may never be the smartest thing to do, but when the Mariners didn’t see any value with the Yankees’ proposal, the Rangers were their best hope for unloading Lee.
The result was last night’s start by Lee in front of 41,000-plus in Arlington. Though Lee pitched a complete game for the Rangers, he lost by giving up six runs – three of them for homers, including Adam Jones’ shot. Not exactly the way you’d want to start for your new ballclub.
To add more vinegar to this situation, Lee takes his 8-4 record to Anaheim as part of the American League squad. This time, he’ll wear his Rangers uniform instead of a Mariners’ one. I wonder who’s smart now…
I can offer up two names: Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels.
And, besides, there was no need for a big, expensive event to “welcome” Lee to the Metroplex. The sell-out was achieved, but it wasn’t even an overblown event as Lee trotted to the mound last night. In baseball, we don’t need to have the kind of show-off hype the Miami Heat put together to welcome James, Bosh and the return of Wade to the American Airlines Arena on Friday evening. A player gets traded, he flies to where his new team is playing…and *poof* he’s on the field warming up the next day.
Et tu, LeBron.
Craziness Over Memorial Day Weekend
Photo by Michael Larson using Randy’s phone…
I have plenty to catch up here. Hey, what can a baseball fan before losing phone and internet connectivity in the sticks?
Controversies! And, there’s plenty of muck to sift through – and not the stuff looming off the Gulf of Mexico, either!
1. I expected Mr. Inappropriate (i.e. Ozzie Guillen) to blow up at an umpire, but Mark Buehrle? So, the umpiring didn’t go your way? It’s Joe West for Pete’s sake! You’d expect him not to be controversial? Let alone – react to him? That’s what West wants – a reaction. Now, you three pay your fines and concentrate on the job at hand – yours!
BTW, someone should fire West. We’re done with his declining of care for the game as an umpire. If West wants to put this game into ill repute, someone should note this to Jimmie Lee Solomon and soon!
2. What’s Hanley Ramirez’s deal? You’d think that misbehaving as he did a week or so ago is conduct unbecoming of an all-star. So, Hanley was hurting – it didn’t excuse him or bobbling and booting the ball to instigate the vitriol that came afterwards. Ramirez was rightfully benched by Fredi Gonzalez, but that didn’t give the Florida Marlins’ biggest star the right the go after his manager for this action alone! And, further to assail his manager in a press conference? Good one, Hanley!
At least Ramirez apologized. All is well in South Florida – for now.
3. Is Milton Bradley really happy now? I know several players were confused when the troubled Seattle Mariners’ outfielder left midway into May 4th game to emerge on the Restricted List, but sometimes, things like this is necessary. When he returned this week, everyone expected a kindler, gentler Milton Bradley. Thankfully, he did. He even said that he is at peace with himself for the first time in five seasons – amen to that!
Want to put bets on how long that will last?
4. Lastly, I hoped former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani enjoyed his “economy of scale” trip to Minneapolis on Wednesday. People paid $4.95 to get motivation from him (and a cast of dozens) during the day – only to see him scamper across the street to catch the Yankees’ “sweep” of the Twins. At least he didn’t pay his usual $1,800 for his seat, as he would back home…
See what happens when you scale back the number of games to go to in a season? The anxiety of it all!
Oh, and let me plug a new podcast: Red State, Blue State‘s! If you love reading Jeff and Allen’s treatment of the game and American society, you can listen to it on your iPod (Except its Jeff and some local Chicago musician buddy – enjoy!)!
“Retiring” Junior or Firing Hillman?
Sure, I get it. I got it wrong on my last post. It’s what I interpreted…ah, well.
I guess my pseudo-idiocy continues here…or, perhaps the pseudo-idiocy of the press or the front office of others…
So, have a laugh, debate…or, something…
JUNIOR – NAPPING OR RETIRING? In a recent post, I received a comment regarding Ken Griffey, Jr. and the incident involving the veteran Seattle Mariner caught sleeping on the job. Funny, I haven’t addressed Junior before – but here we go…
I’m not exactly sure what went down, but why would anyone call for the retirement of a player because he was caught napping on the bench? Actually, the Mariners say this isn’t true at all and it came down that Junior wasn’t chosen to do pinch hit duty during the game. He simply had a day off in uniform.
With that said, should Junior retire? He said no. Junior has every intention on being a part of the Mariners’ roster through the end of this year.
However, how many of us came into work tired this morning? How many of us had been caught napping on the job – especially when the job does not call for it? Usually, your supervisor addresses the issue and reports back to Human Resources for guidance on disciplinary action. Sometimes, sleeping on the job means termination.
In baseball, you can get “terminated” for various reasons. There are fancier ways to saying it, but in the end, you’re fired. What kind of action would Don Wakamatsu and Jack Zduriencik take on Junior? Nothing – as it should be.
As for retirement – one thing about Junior: He’s going to do what he’s going to do. Don’t force him into doing anything that would have a negative impact on the game – like retiring.
HILLMAN FIRED – THEN MANAGES HIS LAST GAME:Speaking of terminations, were the Kansas City Royals a bit too hasty on firing Trey Hillman last week? They won that afternoon, right? Before the game however, Trey was sent packing – to be replaced by Ned Yost afterwards. More on the former Brewers skipper later.
What transpired that Hillman was let go so soon in the season? It wasn’t just the poor start this year. Nor were the expectations too great to be met so early by the Royals. Yet, Dayton Moore stated that Hillman had a lot of respect due by his ballclub and the decision was made difficult because of the respect Hillman massed in Kansas City.
Sadly, it came down to wins and losses. Still, firing Hillman in mid-May was not the best thing to do for the Royals. Bringing Yost in from the front office was not exactly a better idea, either.
Perhaps this situation was better than having A.J. Hinch come in from the scouting team to replace Bob Melvin last year down in Arizona.
As for Yost – didn’t he win a postseason spot for the Brewers though he was let go a few days before the end of the season? Can this personnel move in Kansas City get any stranger?
What May Has Brought So Far…
It’s May – and there’s too much to catch up on! Let’s jump in…
THE TWINS SWEEP A SERIES: Yeah, it’s May, but the Minnesota Twins resolved one of their gremlins this season: The elusive sweep. This was accomplished on the backs of the grieving Detroit Tigers at Target Field this week. It’s a good thing to get that first sweep to establish dominance in a tough division such as the AL Central, but momentum has to be channeled in the right direction if this team wants to continue its success in its new ballpark. That wasn’t the case Thursday night when the Twins dropped a game to the visiting Baltimore Orioles – the first of a four-game series at Target Field. They better recover quickly from the shutout because these O’s swept the Boston Red Sox recently.
STRASBURG IN SYRACUSE: Alliance Bank Ballpark is just 14 years old. They had their share of rehab appearances by some of the stars of the game. The fans in Central New York came in drives for those appearances. Since then, they’ve changed affiliations a few times. And their attendance has dropped to near half of its capacity. At the beginning of the season, the Chiefs welcomed an average of 2,500 fans to its 11,000-plus-seat Triple-A facility. On Friday night, Stephen Strasburg makes his Triple-A debut with the Washington Nationals’ affiliate to a potential standing room only crowd. Now, the speculation begins as to Strasburg’s call-up to Nationals Park. MLB.com says July. I agree. Whether he can inject the momentum this team is enjoying form their best start since leaving Montreal remains to be seen.
NOT MILTON AGAIN! The Seattle Mariners simply had enough of Milton Bradley’s shenanigans. Lets face it – Bradley is a head case that needed help. The first step was achieved when Jack Zduriencik assigned Bradley to the Restricted List. This meant that Bradley is retained on the M’s 40-man roster, but can come back into uniform when he is cleared for play after five days. However, I have to question whether it will take five days for Bradley to get his act together. His behavior on and off the field has been chronicled and has proven to be detrimental to not only the Mariners, but to every ballclub Bradley has played for. By seeking help, maybe it’s not too late for him to pull his career out from of this emotional low point.
CHAVEZ RAVINE IN FOCUS: Last night, several old friends from Reseda attended a game at Dodger Stadium – nothing new for those of us who grew up driving the Ventura Freeway to the Golden State and exiting at Stadium Way into the Ravine. It wasn’t clear whether they stayed by Andre Ethier’s game ender against the Milwaukee Brewers – though the photos a friend of mine posted on Facebook brought back some bittersweet memories of my former home ballpark. Don’t fret – there are signs of life from Joe Torre’s club! On Sunday, another old Reseda friend will attend her first game of the year in honor of Mother’s Day. Her family is an old baseball family – starting with the scion as an old USC hero. Her two brothers were stars at my high school and she was one of the finest all-around women’s athletes on campus. Having survived breast cancer, she will bring her family to the Ravine in celebration of her day against the pesky Colorado Rockies. To Paul and Traci – thank you bringing back the memories of a ballpark my family once called home. I need to go back there someday…
ROBIN ROBERTS – 1926-2010: In 1950, no one expected the Philadelphia Phillies to do anything – let alone win the National League pennant. Over 75 years of futility came to an end on a single arm: Robin Roberts. The Original Phighting Phillie is still remembered as the club’s savior, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a constant reminder of the Phils recent success. Without Robin Roberts, there wouldn’t be a 1964 pennant run, Steve Carlton, the 1980 and 2008 World Championship ballclubs. R.I.P. Robin – and my condolences to his family, the Phillies organization and its fans.
A Trinity – And, Not Exactly The Good Kind
What a busy day in Spring Training. Makes me want to be there…yet, the She-Fan reports colder than usual temperatures in the Tampa-St. Pete area. Oh, c’mon, that’s nothing! I expect my first game at Target Field to be in the 40s or 50s by the first pitch.
Yet, some people are experiencing a frost in their psyche today. I’m sure Elijah Dukes, Ron Washington and Cliff Lee are finding solace that their lives are being discussed ad nauseum on the various channels of the media available for regurgitation.
What I know is this: Dukes was sent packing by the Washington Nationals because of “performance issues.” The Nats’ beat reporter, Bill Ladson, reports that Dukes was batting .150 this spring and had some mechanical and physical issues to boot. Like everyone else, I thought that Dukes was ready to take a starting role on an improving ballclub. Still, there were speculations that his past caught up with him when he had a series of behavioral and substance abuse issues when he was on the Tampa Bay Rays. The Nats denied such actions occurred with Duke – however, you had to question the club about it when General Manager Mike Rizzo said: “We have a more cohesive, united group. I think the chemistry will continue to be great. We think we are going to be a better ballclub moving forward.”
Oh, really? Are you trying to tell us something, Mike? Inquiring minds want to know…
Then, I heard that the Seattle Mariners’ new ace was suspended for five games because he didn’t know what happened to an inside pitch that plunked Chris Snyder’s left shoulder. That sent the Arizona Diamondbacks’ catcher steaming towards Lee and both benches meeting up like a scene out of “West Side Story.”
I just found it curious after the game when the former Cy Young Award winner was questioned about the pitch to Snyder. Lee said he wanted to pitch inside on Snyder, but could not recall what happened afterwards. That’s like saying “I didn’t know the gun was loaded.” A pitcher, especially one on the level of excellence as Lee, is responsible for everything from making the decision from the catcher to a particular pitch to throw through the entire motion, delivery and release of the ball. I am not going to question whether the pitch was an intentional insider onto Snyder or not. But, I need to question Lee’s ability to maintain a top-level position on the mound if he could not explain the pitch itself.
Isn’t the key element to a pitcher’s success on the mound the absolute maintenance of control? Think about that for five games, Cliff!
And, how could I not ignore the admission by the manager of the Texas Rangers about his cocaine use? This came about when Washington was tested positive for cocaine use last summer under the dictum that also pits managers and coaches under random testing regimens. He said it was a “one-time thing” and underwent the MLB’s drug rehabilitation program because of it.
Granted his mea culpa was sincere and the current Rangers management has backed Washington because of his response, yet I have to wonder what the league will have to do about it. Simply, Washington blew it – especially in the face of a push to eradicate illegal substances from this game.
Amazing that we had this kind of drama just weeks before the regular season is to begin. On this day of green beer and continuous play of The Chieftains and U2, neither Dukes, Lee nor Washington got the luck of the Irish. Not on the day when a tradition formed by the late Tug McGraw for the Phillies to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day is this game showing a pot of gold to the world.
Besides, it’s probably apropos to play “Downpressor Man” by Sinead O’Connor while reading this under the influence of mass quantities of Guinness.
Randy Stern
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