Slightly Ahead of the Curveball

Another Webb-Gem (and Other Friday Night Baseball Happenings)

2008-06-07T16:58:00Z

First of all, R.I.P. to the great Jim McKay. In case anybody who knows him reads this blog. He really was great at what he did, though and had a memorable persona. As Dr. Evil once said, he has what the French call a sort of "I don't know what". I know what Opie and Anthony are thinking: Heaven needed a sportscaster. Or maybe they're doing a Wider World of Sports up there, who knows? But he'll be missed by many, that's for sure.

So the Diamondbacks won again, but they are doing it in unimpressive and stress-inducing style lately. This lineup cannot continue to be frighteningly dormant for much longer. It's just insane. I thought that the bats would be so much better this year that the pitching was just going to be gravy. The pitching has saved them on certain nights, that's for sure, but we're going to need a group effort if they want to be one of the best teams in baseball, which I honestly believe they are. (Easily top 5 right now, if you ask me, if not top 3.)

Last night was a typical Brandon Webb night. He was lights out. He had no-hit stuff for sure. Definitely not perfect game stuff as was showcased with a couple of hit batsmen, but certainly no-hit stuff. Unfortunately, for the D-Backs, it was also a typical Ian Snell night. He's having an awful season, but against the D-Backs he usually does well. Even with his track record, though, you can't justify striking out 11 times against Snell. (11! Seriously!) He was dominating them so much that he had to leave the game before the 6th inning started because he had thrown so many pitches. Then Tyler Yates comes in and the Diamondbacks make him look like Heath Linebrink. (That's right. I combined Heath Bell & Scott Linebrink. Skills.) Luckily, Webb could not be beat and the bullpen didn't crumble.

The bats will come around. I truly believe it. But the bullpen worries me because I expected so much more out of Tony Pena and Chad (DJ) Qualls. I think Brandon Lyon is going to be fine. He's getting a lot better with pressure. But those other two guys have been hit or miss all season. So much so that Juan Cruz is looking like a good choice as new setup guy on certain nights.

I'm still very excited about this team. I picked them to win the World Series before the season started and I still feel good about that prediction. When you consider that Randy Johnson is suddenly lights out again and looking 5 years younger and that Dan Haren still hasn't caught fire like you know he will at some point and that Justin Upton hasn't gotten his second wind yet, the NL West should be very scared, because Arizona already has a relatively comfortable lead at this point of the season. I don't expect this to be a repeat of 2007, which will help out the Diamondbacks even more. I think it's going to be a two team race between the Dodgers and the D-Backs and I'm pretty confident that the Diamondbacks will win by much more than a nose.

I'd like to see Augie Ojeda get more playing time and Chris Snyder play on more of a regular basis. (I love Montero, but Snyder seems to thrive when he plays everyday.) Beyond that, I don't have any major complaints. Just a few minor worries that have me nibbling on my cuticles more often than fantasy baseball owners of Armando Benitez and/or Joe Borowski. (Pick your favorite disappointment, kiddies!) I'm also one of those few people who seemed to expect more out of Chris Burke. It's just tough for some of these guys because they're not playing everyday and that's often the only way to tell if someone has what it takes to contribute to a champion. Nonetheless, I think all the individual parts are substantially strong and will lead to an NL pennant and hopefully a World Championship when it's all said and done. We'll just have to wait and see...

One more note on the Arizona front-- Aren't the Diamondbacks broadcasts on Fox Sports Arizona some of the most entertaining television programs of any kind you've seen recently? Sut and Gracie just know how to connect. They know what to say at the perfect time and know when gimmicks are still strong or ready for retirement. I loved seeing some of the fans on the road with "Car!" signs. That was one of the most innovative things I've heard of in a long time, by the way. I believe it was Mark Grace who came up with it. During down times of D-Backs' games, fans will hold up signs that say "CAR" as a nod to the days when you would be playing on the street and would have to stop when a car drove by. This was also parodied in Wayne's World when Wayne and Garth were playing street hockey and would say "Car" and "Game On" when cars would drive by. Simply classic. Like the Diamondbacks themselves.

Now on to baseball news from around the rest of the country from yesterday's action:

Cleveland beat Detroit in the underachiever olympics.
-I keep thinking Ben Francisco is going to be one of those breakout players and a future fantasy stud, but he's been too inconsistent lately. 0 for 5 with 3 k's is enough for me to give up on him for a while. But I guarantee you he will now go 4 for 4 with a homer, two doubles and 3 RBI's. What a jerk.
-Wow. Ryan Garko homered. Wasn't this guy supposed to be the next Hafner or Sexson? Even Hafner isn't Hafner anymore. Garko is good for 2 homers every 3 weeks or so. That's big time.
-Perhaps the Indians problems can be stemmed from the fact that David Dellucci is still in their lineup from time to time. They clearly should have kept Jason Michaels, but the Pirates are the benefit of that faux pas right now. Of course the Bucs will find a way to screw that up eventually, but that's another story.

-What happened to Curtis Granderson?
-And Carlos Guillen, and Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Renteria and....
-Magpipes Ordonez had a rare o-fer, but he is still the class of that organization. And Ozzie Guillen is still a moron for ruining that relationship. (Among other things)
-Pudge is officially done. Mark my words.

The BoSox got shutout by the lowly M's! That's like getting no-hit by Sidney Ponson. By the way, I heard Ponson was released because he was being a meanie pants or something like that. What a loser the King of Aruba has become.
-Explain to me why Ichiro isn't playing for a contender right now?
-You know you're not a very good team when Jeremy Reed is batting sixth for you.
-Felix Hernandez is heating up! Look out! The M's might get to .500 if he keeps this up!

-I know it's a little early for this, but I think the Red Sox are in trouble. That brawl the other night was a debacle. You basically got punked out by the Rays who used to be a laughing stock but are now looking like champions in the making. (It's early) Coco Crisp went way over the line. Johnny Gomes looked the worst out of anybody on either team, but that confrontation in the dugout between Manny and Youkilis is no coincidence. I refuse to believe that.
There is some kind of inner-turmoil going on that I can't put my finger on, but they better figure it out. Their pitching is still shaky. Matsuzaka is on the DL and Beckett has been above average at best. Even Okajima got rocked a few days ago. If not for Papelbon, this team would be in a world of trouble. Jon Lester is too inconsistent to contribute that greatly. The lineup is still strong, but oh oh! now Ortiz is on the DL, too. These guys better watch out. If the Rays stay hot and the Yankees go on their inevitable run and the Sox start to crumble, it's going to be less fun than a clam bake at Bill Belichik's house.

The Yanks go below .500 again by dropping one to the Royals
-Miguel Olivo is out of his mind right now. The John Buck era is so over.

-If you can't get more than one run off of Kyle Davies in 2008, you might be the worst team per dollar spent in baseball. You think the Steinbrenner's have ever read Moneyball? (Or any other book about doing good business?)
-Even with all their troubles, it's amazing to think that Jeter, A-Rod, Cano and Melky have all not gone on hot streaks yet. If they all catch fire at once, it's going to be ugly for the rest of the East. Then again their Double A pitching staff might make that a moot point.

Orioles 6, Blue Jays 5
-Nick Markakis went 4 for 4. This kid's about to catch fire big time. Trust me. Too bad the rest of the O's stink. How they are 30-30 is beyond me.
-Am I the only one with George Sherrill fever? Oh, you must not play fantasy baseball.

-The Blue Jays are about to tank it. I can see it coming. Their lineup is beyond weak. Their pitching can only save them for so long. And if Rod Barajas can put up MVP-like numbers for more than two weeks, then my name is Jim Walewander.

Reds 11, Marlins 3
-Don't tell anybody, but I'm also a huge Reds' fan. And Jay Bruce is the best thing to happen to them since Marge Schott stopped hanging around the dugout. No one will ever be able to replace Eric Davis in my heart, but the Bat Man has a good chance to come awfully close. And he came along at the perfect time. The Reds have a pulse now and look out-they're only a game below .500.
-It's going to be exciting watching Bruce, Votto, Cueto and Volquez over the next decade or so. The Cubs better hurry up and win one before it's too late.

-Jorge Cantu hit 2 jacks last night. Maybe he is the second coming of Babe Ruth after all.

Phillies 4, Braves 3
-Oh oh. Brad Lidge gave up 3 hits and a run last night. Let's hope this is just a temporary glitch. I don't care for the Phillies, but I'd like to see Lidge have a true comeback season and keep the magic going.

-It's June 7th and Chipper Jones is batting .421. Wow. Just wow. He's got nothing left to do in his career except get his Hall of Fame induction speech ready.

In the battle of the Irrelevant's, the Giants beat the Nationals (disgrace) 10-1
-The Giants haven't won any games in which Tim Lincecum has not started. Okay, that's a lie, but it does seem that way, doesn't it?
-Both Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand are hitting around .330. Could you imagine what these guys would be doing with some more protection in the lineup?

-Is there anything that can be said about the Nats that hasn't already been said about Vanilla Ice and the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

Rays Keep Rolling; Crush Rangers
-Hats off to James Shields for the other night. Did you see him throw his hat off before throwing that haymaker at Crisp? He didn't connect, but I admired his moxie. If only he could have accidentally clocked Johnny Gomes.
-Scott Kazmir is the Jimmy Page of the Rays' pitching staff.

-Why isn't Jarrod Saltalamacchia getting regular playing time? It's hard to gauge his talent when he's only playing every other day.

Astros 6, Cards 1
-Ryan Ludwick is starting to go the way of Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes. It will be interesting to see if he recovers from this recent slump or if he falls completely off the radar screen again.

-It must be 2008. Sports has come a long way. Some chick named Loretta went 4 for 4 last night for the Astros.

White Sox 10, Twins 6
-This game interested me because two of my hot fantasy pickups of the week--Alexi Casilla and Alexei Ramirez would be facing each other. Ramirez had a decent game but Casilla stole the show. Get 'em before he's universally a goner.

-Carlos Quentin keeps raking. I wish we had found a way to hold on to that guy.

Rock Show 6, Brew Crew 4
-Brad Hawpe hit a homer. Hmmmm.. Hit like 3 more soon and I'll consider picking you up off the waiver wire, buddy boy. Right now Spilborghs seems like the safer bet. Scary.

Padres 2, Mets 1
-Does anyone else find it nearly impossible to sit through a Padres game? Especially at Petco. Their games are almost always boring. Even when they beat Johan Santana, they find a way to not be very good at it.
-Pick up Heath Bell. Trust me. It's only a matter of time before Hoffman puts on an Ishtar-esque performance and gets replaced with a younger actor. I mean pitcher.

Angels 3, A's 1
-Cust hit another Jack. I can't figure out if he's an automatic fantasy pickup or the Plague at this point.

-I'll tell you another interesting part of this ga.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dodgers 3, Cubs 0
-This game was all about Hiroki power! He put the K in Kuroda. I'm sorry, that was horrible. It beats the alternative though. I almost spelled Kuroda with 11 K's, which is how many he had last night to beat the "best team in baseball". Ha. Nice going, sChlubs.

On that note, it's time to get some sleep. If there was a fantasy draft for sleeping, I'd be the sleeper pick, but that would be kind of redundant.

Stars & Gripes II: My Final All-Star Picks (NL Edition)

2006-07-04T10:47:04Z

For the most part, picking the NL team was easier than picking the AL team, but I must say that picking the pitching staff was incredibly difficult. I ended up having only 4 closers because the 9 starters that I picked were all so close statistically.

For those who haven't read my other picks, I don't use the MLB criteria. This is simply who I believe deserves it the most, regardless of what team the player plays for, how popular he is, how good he looks in a uniform and I also do not mandatorily select one player from each team, although I did pick one from each NL squad. That was not planned. By the way, how could the AL select Mark Redman as the Royal's representitive? Jamie Quirk is having a better year. And sure, Redman is a decent player, but what about Method Man? He has a much "higher" OPS this year. And now....on to my picks:

Starting Lineup:

SS Jose Reyes, Mets (to think just a few weeks ago I had Hanley Ramirez here, then I had Edgar Renteria, and at one point I think I even had Davey Concepcion in here somehow, but Reyes finally put a consistent streak together to stake his claim as the obvious selection at short)

CF Carlos Beltran, Mets (hard to believe the Royals once had one of the best players in baseball....wait a minute....do the Royals still have a team or have they already been contracted? I'm actually rooting for this franchise to turn it around, and I think they're on the right track with the new leadership that's in place there and with guys like Burgos. You know what they say....with a name like Ambiorix, it's gotta be good.)

1B Albert Pujols, Cardinals (I still wince every time I think of what kind of numbers he could've had without missing those few games when he pulled his butt. There's nothing more to say about this guy, so I'll just shut up now.)

RF Lance Berkman, Astros (I had Alfonso Soriano in here a few days ago, but Berkman is just having to good of a year to ignore, so even though he plays mostly at first nowdays, and since the higher-ups haven't gotten it together and let both teams have DH's in every all-star game, we need a spot for LB, so we put the kid in right.)

3B David Wright, Mets (about a month ago, this was a dead heat with Miguel Cabrera, but he's done all the right things the last few weeks and seperated himself from the rest of the crowd, which is pretty impressive when you see the kind of numbers that Cabrera, Rolen and Freddy Sanchez have put together this year.)

2B Chase Utley, Phillies

LF Matt Holliday, Rockies (The thing that's scary about H2 (Holliday and Hawpe) is that they're starting to hit away from Colorado now, too.)

C Michael Barrett, Cubs (Just edges out Brian McCann and gets bonus points for his Dusty Rhodes elbow on Pierzynski, although they "hugged it out" the other day. Well, sorta.)

P Bronson Arroyo, Reds (The kid just keeps on getting the job done, and Boston keeps kicking themselves, and Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks keep wondering what the heck is happening to their season.)

National League Reserves:

Los Angeles Dodgers:

Nomar Garciaparra (has the rest of the world forgotten how awesome this guy can be? I sure haven't.)

Pittsburgh Pirates:

Freddy Sanchez (wow. this guy is the Joe Mauer of the NL right now. He just keeps getting the hits. Unfortunately, no one else seems to be on base when he gets them, and everyone forgets how to hit when he's on base. But that average is too good to ignore. Thankfully, the NL didn't either, as he made the real squad, too.)

Jason Bay (his future's so bright, he's gotta wear shades. Well, it's Pittsburgh, so it's not always necessary, but you get my point.)

St. Louis Cardinals:

Scott Rolen (Proud Scotty keep on Rolen. He's putting up some really great numbers that just might be a tad bit overshadowed by Phat Albert. Wreck-o-nize. He's a decent fielder, too. I heard that his hands are made out of gold, but I haven't gotten confirmation on this yet.)

Florida Marlins:

Miguel Cabrera

Dan Uggla (Great googly moogly, what a season for this kid. Out of nowhere! Hope he keeps it up. Gotta keep rootin' for those underdogs, and the entire Marlins squad feels like just that.)

Colorado Rockies:

Brad Hawpe

Milwaukee Brewers:

Carlos Lee (it was pretty tough leaving him off the starting squad, too, but those 3 other guys really deserved it. We love El Caballo, though. It's the rest of the Brewers we're worried about. Weren't these guys supposed to be a little better?)

Washington Nationals:

Alphonso Soriano (this guy could be the biggest mid-season pickup of all-time. Overpay him if you have to, to get him on your team. He might be that missing puzzle piece behind the couch that makes your championship dreams come true.)

Philadelphia Phillies:

Ryan Howard (another team that has way too much talent to be playing this poorly.)

Atlanta Braves:

Brian McCann (one of the few bright spots in a very disappointing season for the Atlanta Braves aka the Nature Boy Ric Flair's of the National League.)

Pitching Staff:

Starters:

Brandon Webb, D-Backs (Just a few short weeks ago I predicted this guy as an easy Cy Young frontrunner and the D-Backs as my pick for the NL West. The team just gave you this feeling like they were magical. Kind of like when you listen to Ronnie James Dio. But now the feeling they've been giving me is hard to explain, and this is a family website, so I'll just refrain for now, thank you.)

Tom Glavine, Mets

Carlos Zambrano, Cubs (the Brian McCann/Brandon Webb of the Cubs.)

Pedro Martinez, Mets (he was one of the ones that almost got left off the list, but I personally can't ignore someone who has been this consistently good for this long. Wow. Just wow.)

Brad Penny, Dodgers

Jason Schmidt, Giants (he's got a sort of Roger Clemens complex this year. Putting up astonishing numbers but not getting the run support or wins that you'd normally see from such a season.)

Chris Young, Padres (this guy is starting to look special, and if the Padres can fix the rest of their team--see the entire offense--and find out what's wrong with Jake Peavy, then this team could pose some serious troubles out West.)

Chris Carpenter, Cardinals (almost left him off, because somebody had to be left off, but I deleted a closer instead. I think I made the right choice.)

Closers:

Tom Gordon, Phillies (no Flash in the pan)

Trevor Hoffman, Padres (much like Dustin, arguably, he gets better with age.)

Billy Wagner, Mets (has done a fine job in the big city. Big ups.)

Brian Fuentes, Rockies (one of the unsung heroes in the entire league. With his performance the last 2 seasons, he deserves a lot more credit, recognition and fanfare. And hopefully, for him, a bigger paycheck.)

National League snubs (in order of snubbiness?)

Roy Oswalt, 'Stros (just too many pitchers having better seasons. Doesn't take away from how good his has been.)

Jason Isringhausen, Cards (putting up the numbers, but way too inconsistent. I replaced him with Carpenter, so don't hate me, Cards fans)

Josh Johnson, Marlins (the Francisco Liriano, or perhaps Justin Verlander, of the National League)

David Eckstein, Cards (I'm guilty of what everyone else is guilty of: Not giving props to him because of weak power numbers. At least I admit it.)

Aaron Harang, Reds (another big reason for the Reds surprising season. Just way too much talent above him on the stat sheets.)

Garret Atkins, Rockies (a very good season, but with Cabrera, Rolen, Wright and Sanchez, there was no way I could fit him on the team)

Edgar Renteria, Braves (the other positions had too many options and the ability of Freddy Sanchez to play all infield positions made it unnecessary to have a second shortstop on the squad.)

Ken Griffey Jr., Reds (he's one of my all-time favorites, so it was hard to leave him off, but there were a handful of outfielders with better seasons so far.)

Andruw Jones, Braves (having the problem he's had most of his career: Chronic inconsistency)

Chris Capuano, Brewers

Derrick Lowe, Dodgers

Pedro Feliz, Giants (seems to get all his numbers in bunches. needs to do it more consistently to be considered for something of this caliber.)

Bobby Abreu, Phillies (his lack of homers this year hurt his cause. Big time.)

Jhonny Estrada, D-Backs

Carlos Delgado, Mets (needs a higher average to be considered above the other options.)

Jacques Jones, Cubs (started off too slowly)

Prince Fielder, Brewers (has struggled as of late, but has a long career ahead of him.)

Hanley Ramirez, Marlins (has played himself out of a possible spot on the squad that was once a possible starting spot in the last month or so. Still an impressive rookie campaign, though.)

Chad Cordero, Nationals (gotta love the hat.)

Todd Coffey, Reds (another unsung hero. Has basically held the Cincinnati bullpen together almost single-handedly throughout nearly the entire year.)

I hope you enjoyed my picks and my insight. If you have any disagreements, omissions or other comments, please don't hesitate to post them. Thank you and enjoy the all-star game!

Stars and Gripes II: My Final All-Star Picks (AL edition)

2006-07-02T00:47:01Z

My Picks for the 2006 MLB All-Star Game

By Jonathan Medina

{American League Edition}

Please remember that I don’t follow the normal criteria on this one. I pick the players that I truly believe deserve to be in there and do not base it at all on popularity or my favorite teams or players. I also did not pick one player from every team, but if I had to pick one player from the Kansas City Royals, I’d definitely have to go with Bo Jackson.

Starting Lineup:

LF Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians (honorable mention goes to Heidi Fleiss and Willie Mays Hayes)

RF Ichiro, Seattle Mariners (the greatest one named superstar since Kamala)

SS Miguel Tejada, Baltimore Orioles (Jason Grimsley and Rafael Palmeiro gave a tip of the sombrero to their suspected third amigo, but I picked him over Jeter anyway, despite pleads by Mariah to do otherwise.)

1B David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox (I could’ve possibly put about 5 or 6 different people here, but every time I hear a baseball analysis ranting, they always tell me that this guy is the obvious MVP, so I felt the need to put him in here. As far as the MVP goes, see how I feel about that down below.)

3B Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (Despite all of the boos and second guessing by critics across the map, he is still at or near the top of nearly every main offensive category among

third basemen this year. Period.)

C Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins (I know everyone is up in arms about him being the choice by a landslide above all other AL catchers, but in my opinion, he just barely beats out Ramon Hernandez who has better all-around numbers and is having a consistently great season that may be unfortunately a bit overlooked as well)

CF Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays (In other news, David Wells has made the all-drunk team for the 14^th straight season.)

2B Jose Lopez, Seattle Mariners (Who says “J-Lo” can’t buy a hit anymore?)

P Jonathan Papelbon (who says that the Amazing Jonathan can’t start the game because he’s a closer? He’s only going to pitch 2 innings anyway. He was the best pitcher of the first half, just barely beating out Johan Santana as my choice for

starter.)

First half Rookie of the Year: Jonathan Papelbon followed very closely by Justin Verlander and Francisco Liriano

First half Cy Young Award Winner: Jonathan Papelbon

First half MVP: Jonathan Papelbon (that’s right, I said it again. He better at least get some votes if Ortiz ends up winning it.)

First half manager of the year: Jim Leyland (also in first place for mustache of the year voting)

First half umpire of the year: Frank Drebin (take that, Reggie Jackson)

Bonehead move of the first half: The Anaheim Angels sending their best pitcher, Jared Weaver back to the minors. Sure, they recently brought him back up again, but you don’t take a guy with that kind of momentum out of your rotation at any time. Unless you’re Isiah Thomas.

Reserves:

Cleveland

Indians: Travis Hafner

Chicago

White Sox: Paul Konerko, Jim Thome (how could the rest of the league allow the White Sox to get both of these guys? Now you deserve to be punished by them.), Joe Crede, Jermaine Dye

Seattle

Mariners: Raul Ibanez (I have the M’s down for 3 all-stars. How can they not be better than this? They even have Johjima, Beltre, Sexson, Meche and Putz. Seriously, guys, you need to get it together like the Beastie Boys and Q-Tip.)

Toronto

Blue Jays: Alex Rios (his name is Rios and he’s dancing on the sand after making his first all-star game)

Tampa

Bay

Devil Rays: Carl Crawford (just missed cracking the starting lineup)

Boston

Red Sox: Manny Ramirez (making the all-star team? That’s just Manny being Manny)

New York

Yankees: Derek Jeter

Texas

Rangers: Michael Young (all he does is hit, hit, hit)

Baltimore

Orioles: Ramon Hernandez (what a season)

Pitching Staff:

Starters:

Johan Santana

Minnesota

Twins

Justin Verlander,

Detroit

Tigers

Mike

Mussina

New York

Yankees

Curt Schilling,

Boston

Red Sox

Scott Kazmir,

Tampa

Bay

Devil Rays (Thanks Mets. Trading him for Carlos Zambrano may not have even been a good idea, but you swapped him for Victor Zambrano. That’s like the one time I traded Ryne Sandberg for Jim Walewander in my Little Tikes Fantasy Baseball game at the age of ten)

Jose Contreras, Chicago White Sox (Now that was a good trade. Trading Elian Gonzales back to

Cuba

for Contreras was brilliant. Elian couldn’t throw a breaking ball to save his life.)

Francisco Liriano, Minnesota Twins (Way better than Nelson, and no, I’m not talking about Matthew and Gunnar. Nobody beats those guys. Not even Harvey Walden.)

Roy Halladay,

Toronto

Blue Jays

Relief pitchers:

Bobby Jenks, White Sox (no Sophomore Jenks for the big fella)

B.J. Ryan, Blue Jays

Mariano Rivera, Yankees (You can’t kill Mariano. He’s like the MLB version of Samoa Joe)

Joe Nathan, Twins (He’s having such a good season, he’s thinking of changing his name to Joe Nathan Papelbon.)

American League snubs: (In order of….snubbiness?)

Jason Giambi, Yanks (where’s Jeremy?)

Nate Robertson, Tigers (where’s Robbie?)

Nick Swisher, A’s

Hank Blalock, Rangers (where’s Mookie?)

V-Mart, Tribe

Magglio Ordonez, Tigers (where’s Rey?)

K-Rod, Halo’s

Akinori Otsuka, Rangers

J.J. Putz, M’s

Orlando Cabrera, Halo’s

Mark Buehrle, Pale Hose

Kenny Rogers, Tigers (I’d like to “roast” this guy after last year’s incident.)

Justin Morneau, Twins

Casey Blake, Tribe

Robinson Cano, Yanks

Johnny Damon, Yanks

Troy Glaus, Blue Jays

Chris Ray, O’s (where’s Bubba?)

Kevin Youkilis, Bosox

Corey Patterson, O’s (where’s Pat?)

Stars and Gripes (My All-Star picks)

2006-06-15T07:46:30Z

I know we have a little bit of time left, but I felt inspired now, so I decided to post my picks for the 2006 MLB All-Star Game in Pittsburgh.

My picks have nothing to do with popularity. All of my picks were well thought out and researched. There will always be great players with great seasons left off of the team because it's a popularity contest as far as the starters go, and each team has to have a participant.

Well, I didn't use those rules. This is my opinion of who SHOULD BE in the All-Star game and I still had to painfully omit a couple of great ballplayers. But I still think I came up with a much fairer cast of players than the actual game will boast. Not every team is represented. Not every star is here. Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong. I look forward to your comments.

American League Starting Lineup:

RF Ichiro, Seattle Mariners
2B Jose Lopez, Seattle Mariners (believe me, I'm as surprised as you are to see that I have two Mariners on the team, let alone in the starting lineup, but after gathering a lot of info, I feel they deserve it, even if their team is pretty dreadful this year....)
SS Miguel Tejada, Baltimore Orioles
1B Travis Hafner, Cleveland Indians
CF Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays
C Ramon Hernandez, Baltimore Orioles
LF Jermaine Dye, Chicago White Sox
3B Hank Blalock, Texas Rangers
P Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins (I know, I know, everyone thinks Jose Contreras should be here, or maybe even someone else, but I can't ignore how consistently phenomenal Santana has been and his strikeout numbers are much better)

National League Starting Linuep:

SS Edgar Renteria, Atlanta Braves (A couple of weeks ago, this would've been Hanley Ramirez in a landslide, but he's starting to show a little more of his rookie colors and Edgar is quietly having a stellar year)
LF Alfonso Soriano, Washington Nationals
1B Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
3B David Wright, New York Mets (For awhile it was a dead heat--and I mean thisclose--with Miguel Cabrera, but Wright has been better recently. That being said, if Cabrera does better than Wright from now until the game, I think he deserves it. Both of them are having superb years.)
RF Jason Bay, Pittsburgh Pirates
2b Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
CF Matt Holliday, Colorado Rockies
C Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves
P Brandon Webb, Arizona Diamondbacks

American League Reserves:

Chicago White Sox:
SP Jose Contreras
RP Bobby Jenks
1B Paul Konerko
1B Jim Thome
2B Tadahito Iguchi
Toronto Blue Jays:
SP Roy Halladay
RP B.J. Ryan
3B Troy Glaus (Power numbers were hard to ignore in his case)
OF Alex Rios
New York Yankees:
SP Mike Mussina
RP Mariano Rivera
SS Derek Jeter

Detroit Tigers:
SP Kenny Rogers (I don't like this man, but like I said, it's not a popularity contest as far as my selections go.)
Tampa Bay Devil Rays:
SP Scott Kazmir
OF Carl Crawford
Minnesota Twins
SP Francisco Liriano
RP Joe Nathan
Boston Red Sox:
SP Curt Schilling
RP Jonathan Papelbon (they should almost let him start the game. He's the MVP of the AL right now. And the Cy Young Award Winner)
Cleveland Indians:
C Victor Martinez
OF Grady Sizemore
Anaheim Angels:
OF Vladimir Guerrero
Oakland Athletics:
1B/OF Nick Swisher
Texas Rangers:
SS Michael Young

National League Reserves:

Los Angeles Dodgers:
SP Brad Penny
1B Nomar Garciaparra
San Francisco Giants:
SP Jason Schmidt
Cincinnati Reds:
SP Bronson Arroyo
St. Louis Cardinals:
SP Chris Carpenter
3B Scott Rolen
New York Mets:
SP Pedro Martinez
RP Billy Wagner
SP Tom Glavine
OF Carlos Beltran
1B Carlos Delgado
Florida Marlins:
SP Josh Johnson
2B Dan Uggla
SS Hanley Ramirez
3B Miguel Cabrera
San Diego Padres:
SP Chris Young (by the way, what's wrong with Jake Peavy this year?)
RP Trevor Hoffman
Colorado Rockies:
RP Brian Fuentes
OF Brad Hawpe
Philadelphia Phillies:
RP Tom Gordon
1B Ryan Howard
Chicago Cubs:
C Michael Barrett (just edging out Arizona's Jonny Estrada)
Houston Astros:
1B Lance Berkman
Milwaukee Brewers:
OF Carlos Lee

Top 10 snubs from the American League (in order of how much they deserved to crack the squad)

1. Joe Mauer, C, Twins (I'd nominate picking 3 catchers and leaving off someone else, but I fear this will not happen.)
2. David Ortiz, 1B, Red Sox (Had a tough time leaving him off, but you can only have so many first basemen on the team.)
3. Orlando Cabrera, SS, Anaheim Angels (Numbers almost identical to Michael Young's. I'd have no problem with O.C. making it to the team instead of Young.)
4. Shea Hillenbrand, 1B/3B, Toronto Blue Jays (having a great year, but other than his average, his numbers don't jump out at you and he's not consistently great.)
5. Alex Rodriguez, 3B, New York Yankees (I'm actually a fan of his, though everyone seems to hate him now, but I think this year, with his numbers down a little, Glaus deserves it more.)
6. Justin Verlander, SP, Detroit Tigers
7. Mark Buehrle, SP, Chicago White Sox
8. Akinori Otsuka, RP, Texas Rangers (quietly having an awesome year out of the bullpen and took over the closers role marvelously.)
9. J.J. Putz, RP, Seattle Mariners (see Akinori Otsuka)
10. Robinson Cano, 2B, Yankees (leads all AL 2B in BA, but his other numbers are kind of weak.)

Top 10 National League Snubs:

1. Freddy Sanchez, IF, Pittsburgh Pirates (he's come out of nowhere to put up some pretty stellar numbers)
2. Brandon Phillips, 2B, Cincinnati Reds (people thought he'd make a lot of all-star teams while in Ohio...with the Cleveland Indians. After they gave up on him, he's made an amazing turnaround in Cincy, to help lead the Reds from out of the gutter to the top of the NL standings.)
3. Carlos Zambrano, SP, Chicago Cubs (just keeps going out there and doing his job and not getting nearly enough fan fare for it.)
4. Derek Lowe, SP, Dodgers (his numbers don't blow you away, but you can't ignore his impressively low ERA and consistency this year.)
5. Chris Capuano, SP, Milwaukee Brewers
6. Jason Isringhuasen, RP, Cardinals (He leads the NL in saves, but he also seems to have a bad inning once every couple weeks or so)
7. Shawn Green, OF, D-Backs (Is doing a good job of getting on base and hitting for average, but we'd all like to see a little more power from him.)
8. Felipe Lopez, SS, Cincinnati Reds (His stolen base numbers are really surprising, but the rest of his numbers have been up and down all year.)
9. Chad Cordero, RP, Washington Nationals
10. Jonny Estrada, C, D-Backs

One and Dunn

2006-06-15T06:11:49Z

What a great day it was for sports. Not one of the great days, but it had an interesting flow to it. Germany scored the game winning goal (rats!) in stoppage time against Poland and it was the only goal as Germany took the match 1-0. Edmonton scored the game winning goal in the Stanley Cup Finals over Carolina to force a game 6 in Edmonton, which could mean bad news for the Hurricanes.

But it was a good day for baseball, as well.

Did any of you happen to catch the Reds game on ESPN yesterday? It was quite the pitcher's duel. There were some amazing defensive plays made, including Ryan Freel getting an uncredited save for stealing an extra base hit from Rickie Weeks with a dazzling catch against the wall. Todd Coffey didn't get a save either, but he came up big again, giving up no runs for the umpteenth time this year and picking another kind of save with a "kick save and a beauty" off the bat of young phenom Prince Fielder. It was scoreless until the 11th when Adam Dunn turned a juicy Dan Kolb pitch into a commercial airliner. That was the first hit with a runner in scoring position in 25 tries for the magical Reds squad. Just in the nick of time.

Unfortunately, one of my other favorites, the Diamondbacks, are starting to slip a little bit. A few weeks ago they were having the look of a champion and were doing all the little things the right way and getting big contributions from unlikely sources. The stuff that dreams are made of. But since the Jason Grimsley "distraction", which I scoffed at at the time, as I thought that a team with this make-up had a good chance at overcoming, they're having horrible luck and are starting to play out of character. Case in point: Tonight's 3 errors by Chad Tracy. They need to at least win at home most of the time if they want to take the division like I predicted they would over a month ago. I still believe in them, but now I'm starting to wonder about the whole Grimsley situation and how much of a problem it is for the team. I'm also worried about which, if any, D-Backs players will be named in the report. I sadly have a couple of suspicions, but I hope they are proven wrong.

In other news, there were two other extra inning games, with Tampa Bay scoring 4 runs off Todd Jones in the top of the 12th to win 5-1 against Detroit and Florida winning in the last of the 10th to steal one from the Braves. This could be the beginning of the end for Mr. Jones. He has looked awful lately and youngsters Zumaya and Rodney have been looking pretty darn good. The same could be said for the Braves, who sadly just aren't the same this year. They don't have "it". But they sure had an amazing run. I hope they can turn it around, but I have my doubts.

Also, Colorado forgot where they were and won 12-8 in Washington. It seems like lakely the Rockies have had trouble scoring at home, which used to be the exact opposite scenario. It's been a strange year for them. At one point they looked like they finally had a chance to compete for the division title, but that's looking more and more unlikely to me.

And finally, the Royals won! It's always good to see them win. I love rooting for the underdogs and no one is more unlikely to be a winner than this hapless unit. I hope they can at least avoid the "worst team ever" tag. That would be one victory they'd really be glad to achieve.

Royals Rumble

2006-06-09T11:33:42Z

(base by Yahoo!, italics by yours truly)

Thursday

-- Bill Hall, Brewers, led off the 10th inning with a home run that gave Milwaukee a 4-3 victory over San Diego.
What about Oates? Oates never gets any love. (I know the singers name was Darryl, but that doesn't answer my question.)

-- David DeJesus, Royals, went 3-for-5 with a homer, four RBIs and three runs scored in Kansas City's 16-12 win over Texas.
Ah yes. The Rangers get the special Quiz Kid award for last night's fiasco. Not only did they give up 16 runs to one of the worst teams of all time, but they also found a way to not get a hit off of Ambiorix Burgos. It's been a while since that's happened. Way to go dudes. Double bagger!!

-- Alfonso Soriano, Nationals, homered and scored four times as Washington topped Philadelphia 5-2.
Why is Soriano batting leadoff? It made sense when he was in the Yankees or Rangers lineups, who actually packed a little punch, but in Washington? His 23 home runs are no fluke. This is not Brady Anderson we're talking about. Someone get this guy into the number 3 slot. At least 2. He could actually drive some people in if he was batting lower in the order. Can you believe this guy has a good chance of being traded? Someone is going to get the pick up of the century.

-- Lance Berkman, Astros, homered twice to lead Houston to a 7-4 win over Atlanta.
I admit it. I've been hating a little on the 'Stros and the Rocket obviously not caring about winning a championship anymore. But I'll tell you something. If Roger Clemens can help wake up his buddy Andy Pettitte and the rest of the club, the currently Pujols-less Cards better watch their backs. But don't forget about the Nu Red Machine. They sit atop the standings as I type.

WILD RIDE

Kansas City rallied from a seven-run deficit to beat Texas 16-12 on Thursday night. Trailing 11-4, the Royals scored four runs in the bottom half of the third and single runs in the fourth and fifth before pushing across six in the seventh to take the lead. It was their largest comeback since Sept. 1, 2001, when they trailed Texas 7-0 before coming back to win 8-7 in 11 innings.
The Royals have come back to win a game before? No way!

COMEBACK

Orlando Hernandez threw a three-hitter and earned his first complete game in six years in the Mets' 7-1 win at Arizona on Thursday night. It was his ninth career complete game and first since Sept. 16, 2000, for the Yankees against Cleveland.
Simple question really.... Why couldn't El Duque pitch this well in the desert? This guy is the anti-Byung Hyun Kim. He seems to thrive when he pitches on the grand stage in the city that never sleeps. I don't know how long he can keep this up, but hey, he hadn't pitched a complete game since 2000. Pretty impressive performance. Wanna trade him back? We'll give you Jason Grimsley. Oh....nevermind. How about Damion Easley? He had 3 home runs the other day.... Yeah, I didn't think so.

STREAKS

Cincinnati extended its best streak in seven years, beating the Chicago Cubs 7-1 Thursday night for its eighth straight victory. The Reds, who moved a half-game ahead of idle St. Louis for the NL Central lead, are on their best roll since they won 10 in a row midway through the 1999 season.
In other news, Matt Stairs told me the other day that he just ate his best cinnamon roll since he had ten in a row during a binge in 1999 after being waived by the Oakland Athletics.

SNAPPED

Kansas City snapped a nine-game home losing streak with its 16-12 win over Texas on Thursday night.
That's another notch on the belt for the Rangers. Stand up triple, baby!!!

SPEAKING

"Soriano really was the story. That was his impersonation of Ricky Henderson, I guess. He scored four runs out of their five, stole a bag, caused a balk." -- Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins on Washington's Alfonso Soriano. Soriano walked twice, was hit by pitch, stolen a base, homered and scored four runs in a 5-2 victory over the Phillies on Thursday night.
No, he didn't "stolen" a base, he stole one, geniuses. And this is not Rickey Henderson. This is Jeff Kent with wheels. Move 'em down.

Other notes from the Quiz Kid:
I just can't keep from thinking that we might be witnessing one of those dream seasons with one Jonathan Papelbon. I can't say too much about this kid anymore, because it seems like I'm typing something about him at least once a week. I'm almost at a loss for words. He is beyond lights out right now. He's putting up epic numbers. If he keeps this up you're going to have to consider him for Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and MVP. Call me crazy if you must, but that type of season should not go ignored. I've picked the Red Sox to win the World Series, and this magical 9th inning maestro is a main reason. Can you imagine a kid like this coming out in his rookie season and carrying a team through the playoffs? I can, and I have. I actually keep playing the scene over and over in my head.

I've said it before, but it should be echoed. What a pick up Bronson Arroyo was. His acquisition may have been the start of a beautiful resurgence for the storied Cincinnati Reds franchise. And along with some other young players holding massive potential such as Brandon Phillips, Felipe Lopez, Edwin Encarnacion and Austin Kearns, this might be the year they turn it around. The Cardinals are already taking notice and now it's time for the rest of baseball to give this upstart team a look. They've made some smart moves over their cellar-dwelling years, such as swiping Lopez and Phillips from teams who thought their respective futures as franchise cornerstones were all but over, adding Arroyo and recently, by finally giving Todd Coffey a chance to perk things up in the 9th. Now it's time for a little more. I say you move Adam Dunn if you can and get some help with starting pitching. Also see if anyone is interested in Rich Aurilia. They need to start behaving like a major player if they want to be one. The time is now, Cincy. Make me proud.

Maybe he was just giving Todd Jones a break, but regardless, Fernando Rodney should've got a few more chances to close games again. He had one bad outing. And after that mini-debacle, his ERA still sits at 1.91. Give Jones one more chance if you must, J.L., but as soon as he slips, I expect Rodney to get a little more respect. Holy diver!

SEASONS

June 9

1901 -- The New York Giants set a major league record with 31 hits in beating Cincinnati 25-13. Al Selbach of the Giants went 6-for-7 with two doubles and four singles and scored four runs.
Scott Norwood blew the save for the Reds, giving up 13 runs in the 9th.

1914 -- Honus Wagner became the first player in modern baseball to get 3,000 hits.
And the first guy ever named Honus to get any "hits" with the ladies.

1946 -- The New York Giants' Mel Ott became the first manager to be ejected in both ends of a doubleheader. The Pittsburgh Pirates won both games, 2-1 and 5-1.
They Ott-a have a rule against that sort of thing.

1963 -- Playing the first Sunday night game in major league history because of excessive heat during the day, the Houston Colt .45s handed the San Francisco Giants their seventh straight loss in Houston, 3-0. Turk Farrell and Skinny Brown pitched the shutout.
John Miller got Turk Farrell mixed up with Turk Wendell and Joe Morgan took 4 innings to explain how a pick-off play works, and another 3 to tell us how the Colt .45s got their name.

1986 -- Chicago pitcher Tom Seaver (306) and California Angels hurler Don Sutton (298) were the highest composite win total to face each other since 1926, when Walter Johnson (406) faced Red Faber (197). Sutton beat the White Sox 3-0.
I think Tom Seaver was clearly the better pitcher, in my opinion, but the old Walter Johnson-Red Faber question goes unanswered to this day. Which one had the fruitier wind-up?

Today's birthday: Randy Winn 32.
No one else has a birthday today? Well, heck. Get this guy a big slice of clear cake and a cup of amphetamine joe. It's the least we could do.

Diamondbacks Win (Easley?)

2006-06-04T01:54:20Z

As I type, the Diamondbacks are beating the Braves 13-9, and Damion Easley is the reason, as he's partying--and hitting--like it's 1999.

Easley, who had a couple of really good years with the Tigers--over 5 years ago--came into the second game of today's doubleheader with the less than spectacular season totals of 2 home runs and 11 RBI's.

In tonight's game alone, he has 3 home runs and 7 RBI's. This is still Damion Easley. And it's still 2006. What the heck is going on here? Seriously.

This is a bad sign for my beloved Braves, who just aren't the same this year, but this is great for the Diamondbacks and for my prognosticating career, as I keep telling everyone I know that the D-Backs are magic this year and that they're going to find a way to win the NL West.

When guys like Eric Byrnes are hitting like Willie Mays and other guys like Damion Easley are having single-game performances that not even Barry Bonds has matched this year, it's a beautifully eerie sign that something is about to happen. The D-Backs have never looked more like a team of destiny to these eyes. Juan Cruz is pitching like Juan Marichal. Shawn Green can't buy an RBI, but he can't stop picking up important base hits. Jonny Estrada is having a great comeback season, Orlando Hudson is starting to wake up, and Gonzo is doing just enough to prolong his incredible career. But the non-starters like Davanon and Easley are doing everything right when given the chance. On top of all that, the most important thing is that this years bullpen, despite Jose Valverde's recent struggles, is worlds better than last year and has just added flamethrower Jorge Julio to the mix.

So I must say it one more time. The Diamondbacks are special. Please stay tuned. You won't be disappointed. If and when your team's season is over and/or you've been eliminated from any postseason possibilities, the Diamondbacks are a team you can, and will want to, rally around.

Did you miss this?

2006-06-03T03:33:46Z

Today's D-Backs game got rained out, which seems to be the only thing stopping Eric Byrnes from flaming, and I've got temporary writer's block, but I've been meaning to re-post this entry anyway, because I can't understand why I didn't get any comments. I did post it at a very strange time of night/morning, so that may have played a part. I just think it deserves more attention, that's all.

When I posted this on My Space, it immediately propelled me into the top ten sports blogs on the entire website and one person commented that I should be selling it to ESPN. So here it is again, in case you missed it the first time:

"What's In a Name?"

Being a pretty serious baseball fan, there is rarely a name in a box score that I don't recognize, but every once in awhile, a certain one will catch my eye.

I noticed that in tomorrow's Braves-Cubs game, John Smoltz will be facing off against a gentleman by the name of Ryu. I don't know about you, but as a video game fan, I hope a Street Fight doesn't break out here. Ryan Dempster didn't look too sharp the other day. Maybe they could sign Blanka as their new closer. He's got quite the finishing move. I mean pitch.

Anyway, I was thinking that for a casual baseball fan, viewing the very rosters here on mlb.com may be rather confusing to you if you're not as familiar with the names as I am. (Believe me, I'm not proud of how much I know. It's quite sad, really.)

Those who aren't die-hard fans won't know that Todd deserves a cup of Coffey as the Reds' closer. And personally, I think you're a Putz if you think Eddie Guardado should reclaim the closers role for the Mariners. And Todd Jones is doing just fine in Detroit, but what about Rodney? He gets no respect I tell ya. No respect....

Do all of these next players stay in the presidential suite when they're on the road?:

Bush's approval rating has gone down in Milwaukee after a couple of bad starts in a row, Nixon is making a strong comeback in Boston, Ford is leading things off in Minnesota, Kennedy is doing just fine holding down second in both Los Angeles and Anaheim, and Johnson feels right at home at first in Washington. It's only natural.

How does Ozzie Guillen find time to be the shortstop in Detroit while being the manager in Chicago? And what the heck is Rey Ordonez doing batting cleanup for the Tigers?

Look at all the two-sport stars currently playing in the bigs:

Jordan is back, y'all, but don't bother checking the NBA box scores, because he's now playing outfield and first base for theAtlanta Braves. Let's hope this isn't as ugly as the last go-around.

Former Falcons running back Steve Broussard is on first for the Cleveland Indians. Something tells me if Rafael Furcal tried to pull a Derrek Lee with old Steve-O, he'd come out on the wrong end of that collision.

Floyd Patterson has traded boxing gloves for batting gloves, as he is now manning the outfield for the Baltimore Orioles, as has former champ Chris Byrd, who is doing the same for the Washington Nationals.

Most surprisingly sweet is the return of Walter Payton who is shagging flies as a member of the Oakland Athletics. Sweetness!!!

Does anyone know who this Ethier character who keeps showing up in the Dodgers box scores everyday is? I don't, but I do know that he's been blowing up the spot. Maybe we need to test Ethier for Ether. Is Ether a banned substance? I don't know Either.

Don't tell Keith Hernandez, but the ladies are showing up in a lot more than just the dugouts these days:

Loretta is manning second for the Red Sox, Tracy's at third with the Diamondbacks, another two-sport athlete, Picabo Street, is closing games for the A's and a couple ladies with different careers are trying their hands at baseball: Folk-rock icon and activist Joan Baez is a stellar reliever for the Dodgers and successful newswoman Paula Zaun has been seen behind the plate on occasion for the Toronto Blue Jays.

I'd be Lyon if I said I wasn't a little biased, but the D-Backs have sure Cruz-ed their way through the first two games of their current road trip. (awfulness intended)

And everyone said the Corey's were done.... I just saw Feldman pitching for the Rangers yesterday. The Surreal Life indeed.

Vincent Gallo is an actor, a director and a musician, but he still finds time to do some relief work for the Houston Astros. Unfortunately all his talents couldn't help them overcome the efforts of the mighty Pirates in yesterday's 18 inning marathon. Mike Lamb wasn't the Gyro of the day, but he did have a great game.

Jerry Springer pitched for the 'Stros yesterday, fresh off his suspension for hitting Barry Bonds with a chair. Any final thoughts, Barry?

The Nationals are taking things One Day At a Time, which should be pretty easy for them since Schneider is their handy-man behind the plate.

I'm all for product placement, but this is ridiculous. I've seen the following names showing up on the backs of player's jerseys lately, and I'm getting kind of sick of the commercial overkill:

"Pinto", "Abercrombie" (where's Fitch?), "Proctor" (where's Gamble?) and worst of all, the shortstop for Toronto in last nights Blue Jays-White Sox game had none other than "McDonald" stitched to the back of his uniform. I also noticed that in the box score he was listed as "SS McDonald" which leads me to believe that they are subliminally trying to get us to bring back Super Sizing. I'm not falling for your tricks. Maybe super-sizing is still legal in Canada?

How does Aaron have the Guiel to put on that Royals uniform everyday?

I noticed M. Cabrera is a Yankee now. How much money do they have? I'm surprised they didn't get D. Willis in the same deal.

There is a pitcher by the name of Cassidy in the Padres bullpen. I suppose the "SD" on his hat stands for "Sundance"?

Last night something scary happened: 2 hurlers with the last name of Nelson pitched in different games, which led me to wonder if Matthew and Gunnar are back. Let's hope not. If they became closers, I couldn't deal with "Love and Affection" being their entrance music.

McCarthy showed up in relief for the White Sox last night, but former Sox pitcher Scott Schoenweis finished off the game in extra innings for the Blue Jays, who said "Good Night and Good Luck" to the "Pale Hose". (Who managed only 2 runs on 14 hits.)

The Cleveland Indians have a lot of familiar names in their lineup alone: Tom Sizemore, Robert Blake, A. Martinez, Rafael Belliard, Spike Lee and Pat Boone all appear on the IndIans' roster.

There are also a few rock n' roll stars pulling double duty in the majors:

Nuno Betancourt is playing short for the M's, Wang chung is a big part of the pitching staff for the Yankees, Kenny Rogers is still roasting batters in Detroit, Jerry Garcia keeps on truckin' for the White Sox and J. Lo was at DH for the Orioles yesterday.

And finally, I know we're supposed to be upholding the separation of church and home plate, but I have to note that Cain was able to string together two heavenly performances in his last two starts for the Giants.

Bottle Rocket

2006-05-31T19:07:02Z

Yes, the Astros have found a way to bottle that wonderful fragrance known as Rocket Fuel once again, as Roger Clemens has signed with Houston once more. So why didn't he just re-sign with them in the off-season? What a huge waste of time this whole thing was. I guess Roger isn't really interested in winning World Championships anymore.

What was the deal with all the multi-homer games last night? And some of the sluggers were not exactly future hall-of famers. Actually, as I look down at my list here, I don't think any of them will be, but a couple of them are pretty good.

Jose Castillo hit 2 home runs for Pittsburgh. I really enjoy this young second basemen, but I was really surprised to see him hit 2 jacks. But the Milwaukee Brewers deserve a special award for finding out a way to give up 12 runs to an 18-34 Pirate squad.

Lance Niekro hit 2 homers for the Giants, and no emery boards were harmed in the typing of this recap.

Corey Patterson hit 2 for the Baltimore Orioles last evening, and it's really good to see this guy playing well again. He's having a stellar season so far after a slow start, which is just another thorn in the side of those hapless Chicago Cubs, who basically gave up on this guy a year ago.

This is more like it. Troy Glaus hit 2 last night. No surprise there. But Vernon Wells.....Vernon Wells hit 3!!! That's right. One exclamation point per big fly. Nice job V-dub. (I don't know if they call him that, and I don't feel that comfortable calling him that either, but hey....I'm an intentionally walking contradiction.)

Todd Jones deserves another of my special awards for allowing 5 earned runs in 1.2 innings pitched. Way to shut 'em down, T.J. Remember that Fernando Rodney guy? He has a 1.17 ERA right now. Any chance we could get him back in the closer's role please? At least let him platoon, for Todd's sake.

Aubrey Huff was 3 for 4 with a dinger yesterday. Well well well. Nice to see you again, Mr. Huff. Is this the return of the lil' Devil Ray we've been waiting for? Keep it up for another steady week or two and we can start discussing fantasy negotiations.

Ty Wigginton is a hard guy to figure out. He always seems like he's slumping but he'll throw in a home run every few days to keep himself on the fantasy radar. If you pick him up he'll eventually give you something, but your team's batting average will almost certainly suffer.

I read an article on Yahoo! about Oscar Villarreal being lucky to have 7 wins, but his ERA is right around 4, and that is inflated a bit because of a couple of bad outings. The luckiest guy I've seen this year is Toronto's Gustavo Chacin. He is 6-1 with a 5.11 ERA. And how does he win this game yesterday?: 5 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 4 walks and 1 strikeout. Not exactly shutting them down, but he pulls off another victory. Insanity, I tell ya.

Josh Beckett is even more of an enigma than Wigginton. And an infinitely more talented one. He appears to be so close to becoming an elite pitcher, then he goes out and stinks it up again. 7 ER in 4.2 IP does not cut it.

Andre Ethier has done it again? I still have no idea who this guy is. All I know is he is from here in Arizona and attended Arizona St. And he just hit another home run yesterday. Pinch me. And him.

Say aloha to fellow islander Tyler Yates. In yesterday's appearance for the Atlanta Braves, he gave up 4 hits and 3 earned runs along with 2 walks in 1.1 innings pitched.

I know that Eric Gagne is back now, but why was Dannys Baez taken out of the closer's role before his return? Were they trying to get as many pitchers as possible familiar with the pressure's of ninth inning pitching. Pretty smart move if that's what they were doing. Saito did do a heck of a job in his few stints, but Baez was doing just fine up to that point. All I know for sure is if those 2 keep it up and Gagne returns to form, any foe of the Dodgers is going to have a hard time winning any game against them in which they trail after the 6th inning.

Huston Street is falling down.... He blew another save yesterday. It's not looking pretty in Oakland. By the way, Huston. Those were the Kansas City Royals you were playing against yesterday. Yep. Ouch, indeed.

Hope you get a chance to watch tonight's Diamondbacks-Mets game, because I almost certainly will not get to see most of it. Pedro Martinez vs. Brandon Webb. Wow. What a matchup. They could be the top 2 vote-getters for the Cy Young award. Should be an interesting game. We'll see if Webb can keep it going against an all-time great.

I don't call intentionally walking Albert Pujols with Eckstein on second base and first base open, and then giving up an RBI single to Scott Rolen a "strategy backfiring" as ESPN's play by play man just did. I call it "postponing the inevitable". If you pitch to Pujols, he's most likely going to drive in Eckstein anyway, so you might as well walk King Albert.

And speaking of Pujols, I feel really bad for Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Carlos Delgado and Lance Berkman, who are all having great years as first basemen that will be massively overshadowed by A.P. And I feel doubly bad for Howard and Fielder who are just starting their careers and will have to put up with this for years to come if all 3 players stay on their current teams. Nice going, Albert. Can you cut these youngsters a little slack please? Yeah....I didn't think so.

Is Melky Cabera the next great Yankee?

And finally, what's gotten into Eric Byrnes? He had a streak like this a couple years ago with the A's, but he never seems to keep it going for a whole season. I'm hoping he can maintain it this time. The D-Backs are going to need it down the stretch against the previously mentioned Dodgers and their potentially 3-headed monster in the bullpen.

Aloha Ball

2006-05-30T11:48:20Z

As everyone should know, there is no major sports franchise in my home state of Hawai'i, so I grew up idolizing the stars of our college teams instead. I watched nearly every football and basketball game and even attended a few, but I have never been closer to any team since the day I was born than the University of Hawai'i baseball team, so it makes me proud to announce that they will be playing in their first NCAA regional game in 13 years this Friday in Corvallis, Oregon.

I know this site is all about the bigs, but growing up on Oahu, the "Bows" were our big leaguers. And a few of them even did make it to the majors.

I've gone to more Rainbow baseball games in person than to any other team in any sport. I spent many a day outside the opposing teams dugout watching the first few innings for free until they unlocked the exits, getting into some very enlightening conversations with the likes of UCLA's Tim DeCinces (son of former Angel Doug) and a heated exchange with former Clemson Tiger and Seattle Mariner, Shane Monahan. I chased after thousands of foul balls and homers and ate many a plate lunch. (The Hawaiian equivalent of a Dodger Dog) I witnessed a couple of no-hitters, countless ejections and a healthy handfull of future big leaguers. So you can see why I'm so excited by this most recent development.

We owe a lot to Mike Trapasso. After hall of fame coach Les Murakami, who our home stadium is now named after, retired a few years ago, the team went through some very rough years. Then one fine day Trapasso, who I believe was in line for the coaching job at then powerhouse Georgia Tech (they may still be a powerhouse now, but oddly enough other than Hawaii, I never paid much attention to the rest of college hardball, but I digress) decided for some reason instead to rebuild the suddenly lowly Hawai'i program. He traveled a long way for not a whole lot of money and slowly has helped resurrect a program that really deserved to return to its glory days.

Now we've cracked the top 25 and are getting the ultimate shot that might turn around our program for good. We've already made great strides. Now watch out for our football team. They're going to be good this year. Remember the name of our QB. Colt Brennan. Special kid.

One of the most frustrating things about growing up in the islands is that our teams play so late in the day that they get little broadcast time or fanfare. Every time I try to tell someone about the prospects of one of our teams, I get skeptical responses. I'm a very realistic person. I won't tell you my team has a chance to be good if I don't believe they do. I do a lot of research. I can't make guarantees, but if I feel like they have a chance to make waves, I will tell you.

I just never understood why someone would question something I was telling them based almost solely on their own ignorance. I honestly haven't met anybody other than people in Hawai'i or former residents who know anything about our teams or players, but they are very quick to judge, which always drives me nuts.

That makes this even more special. Even though college baseball isn't very popular, they can't take away the fact that our little team in the middle of the Pacific is now on a grand stage, and who knows? With a little bit of luck, they may be on the grandest one in no time. CWS, here we come! (maybe)

Of course, there are a few links from the big leagues to the Hawaiian Islands. Sid Fernandez, anyone?

Here are a few more you may or may not have known about:

Mets fans will never forget Sid and a lot of them haven't forgotten Benny Agbayani yet either, after he helped propel them to the World Series a few years back, before losing to the Yankees.

There's something about Ron Darling, who appeared in the Farrely Brothers movie "Shallow Hal", and who was born in the islands.

Former long-time hurler Charlie Hough was born there as was Joey Meyer, who slugged a few homers for the Brewers before fading into oblivion. Meyer played along side Glenn Braggs for a couple years who played for the University of Hawaii before playing for Milwaukee and Cincinnati in the majors.

Former Oriole Lenn Sakata started it all on Oahu as did current stellar slugger for the Reds triple A team, Dane Sardinha, who has had a few cups of coffee with the big league club and may get some more if he keeps his minor league success going.

Maui's Shane Victorino filled in admirably for Aaron "Bam Bam" Rowand while he was out and the Phillies are having a hard time keeping him out of the lineup even since Rowand's return. A pitcher from Maui, Tyler Yates, is still bouncing around in the majors as we speak.

Brandon Villafuerte first played ball on the Big Island before entering the Big Leagues. He held down the closing job in San Diego for a short time a few years ago while Trevor Hoffman was recuperating.

Current hurlers Jerome Williams, Scott Feldman and Justin Wayne are from Oahu, and these former pitchers: Scott Karl (Brewers, Rockies), Chuck Crim (Brewers--they love Hawai'i) and former Cub Mike Morgan all starred at the University of Hawai'i before turning pro.

Current University of Hawai'i player Steven Wright was drafted by the San Diego Padres but decided to attend UH anyway. He was recently named the WAC Pitcher of the Year. I'm keeping a close eye on this guy.

Former Astro Chris Truby attended school while living in Hawai'i as a child.

One of our potential problem solvers a few years back decided to turn pro instead of attending the University of Hawai'i. You may have heard of him. C.C. Sabathia. Ouch. We could've used that guy.

And last but not least, a current slugger with a pretty big name played for the Hawai'i Islanders, who used to be a Triple A affiliate in Honolulu until folding when I was a child. His name is Barry Bonds.

So next time someone tells you about a team you don't know about or a player you've never heard of, I don't expect you to do backflips, but I don't think it's too much to ask for you to simply listen. I know you don't hear about it much, but there's a lot of exciting competition going on in my home state year round, and I have a feeling that very soon, you will become all to familiar with it. The next 5-10 years are going to be an exciting time for University of Hawai'i athletics. Just watch. Or listen.

*61

2006-05-29T11:47:30Z

*That's how many RBI's Albert Pujols is at as I type. The guy is phenomenal. There's not much to say about him that hasn't already been said, so I won't say much. Just don't take this guy for granted. He might not break any single season records this year, (though I think he has a chance) but it doesn't matter, because he is slowly building a legacy the type of which we have only seen a handful of times in our lives.

While Barry was finally passing the Babe, Albert was adding to his own resume with another homer and 3 RBI"s and simultaneously making Jake Peavy look more like Jake Westbrook. (I know there are other Jake's out there, but the only other one I could think of right now was Jake "the Snake" Roberts.)

This guy may just be Tiger Woods in cleats. He may be Michael Jordan (or soon Lebron James) in a different red uniform. He may be Ali. Armstrong. And someday Albert may pass Aaron. What an "A"-plus performance. Don't worry about overhyping his performance. You can't sleep on a guy this special. Oh, and don't forget about that one guy on the Yankees. A-Rod may even be better. Stay tuned. The season isn't over quite yet.

It was a real pleasure to be welcomed by the main blog here shortly after posting my first blog, and I let the 2 comments I received go a little to my head. I thought I was on my way to writing for a living. Then on post number 2 I got nothing. Zero, zip, Hensley Meulens. No. Make that Brien Taylor.

I think a contributing factor may have been posting at 3 in the morning. Bad move. Possibly of "Chris Reitsma named Braves closer" proportIons. So now I'm trying it at 5 am. Although it's a holiday. We'll see. I will tell you that I posted entry number 2 ("What's in a Name") on my my space blog for a chuckle, and got some amazing feedback and even showed up on the top 10 my space sports blogs. That's a lot bigger deal than it sounds like. Or maybe I'm just trying to tell myself it is. I just want to be read.... is that so wrong?

An even bigger mistake--let's say, "I'll trade you this Kazmir feller for Victor Zambrano....he's got the same last name as Carlos....he must be pretty good"--I made is forgetting to request today off.

Watching Memorial Day baseball games in the comfort of my home while cooking burgers, hot dogs and countless unhealthy food products that do not contain the color green anywhere near the vicinity of the grill or plate, and falling in and out of consciousness, is one of my highlights of the year. Sad as it may be, Mr. Hetfield, it's true. I guess I'm a simple kind of fan.

I'll never forget the Memorial Day that followed 9/11. I was home watching an ESPN infinity-header, and during the first game they had a beautiful ceremony, during which they played Ray Charles' version of "America the Beautiful" while a multitude of patriotic images and festivities were flashed on the screen, leading me to weep more than I do when watching Rudy or David Hasselhoff watching American Idol, or his career going down the toilet. Take your pick.

And now, for something completely indifferent? Some thoughts that entered my dome during the last few days of baseball watching:

Does anyone else think it's unfair that the White Sox have Jim Thome and Paul Konerko? Something has to be done about this. And why did Frank Thomas think he had a chance to stay there???

Now that Kevin Mench has the correct footwear, what excuse will he use the next time his average plummets below .280? I enjoy the guy, but he's always been a streaky player. I'm actually slowly starting to realize that 92 percent of players out there are streaky. Did you ever believe that he caught fire because he switched from Payless to Famous Footwear? My left foot.

The poor Cubs scored 12 runs yesterday and still figured out a way to lose. What more can I say? It's just sad. Poor Dusty Baker might lose his job over this and Derrek Lee must have a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach knowing that he can do nothing to stop the bleeding right now.

What's the deal with the Yankees losing one game to the Royals and only winning by one in yesterday's game? If you're going to make a statement, you might want to start by beating the worst team in history (that's right, I said it) by a margin of about 23-2. Do you think George Steinbrenner has something against quality pitchers? He still has a little dough left. Get somebody now. The Mets aren't exactly picking up any aces, but at least they're doing something.

Why does Jeff Francis pitch better on the road than he does in Colorado? It just drives me battier than Ozzy. Just when I think this guy may be on his way to becoming the missing link the Rockies have been searching for for years, he stumbles. It's fine that you found a couple guys that can win some games in Coors, but now you need consistency across the board. And what happened to Chin-hui Tsao? Wasn't he supposed to be the second coming or something?

Rodrigo Lopez was caught eating a cup on camera the other night, as seen on Sports Center. No....not that kind of cup, you sicko.

And last, but not least ridiculous, Chad Tracy found a way to strike out 4 times the other night. Against Eric Milton. Eric Milton!!! This guy has been known as a strike out pitcher at times during his career, but he is no longer a future prospect, is having trouble keeping his ERA higher than Mark Grace's, and Chad Tracy is not that guy. What's with Tracy anyway? He puts together good numbers, but I keep waiting for him to be great. I have this feeling it's really close to happening, but he lacks enough consistency to be worthy of anything other than questions right now.

Is he Mark Grace? Lyle Overbay? Is he better than them? Is he Wade Boggs? Hmmm... there's an interesting idea. Best red-headed players of all-time. There's a list Tracy has a great chance at making. But the rest of the Diamondbacks fans and I are wondering when you're going to finally reach your potential, not to mention some all-star games. More importantly, your next duty is to make me look good.

See, a few weeks ago, before my call-up to the big league of blogs, I picked the Diamondbacks to win the West. I'm sticking with them. They're a magical team. There's something about them. And Tracy. And Byrnes. Estrada. Webb. They have grinders. They have winners. They have hunger. Now can they put everything together at the right time and win some big games? That's why they play, and that's why we all have something to talk/type about.

What's in a name?

2006-05-28T09:10:52Z