Last Updated: 09/25/02 11:08 AM

Here's where I get to go off on various subjects concerning the king of all sports... baseball.  I'll try to concentrate on the Blue Jays but I'll probably wander to and from different subjects as I think of them.  I'll try writing this as a quasi-blog (which seem to be all the rage nowadays), with more infrequent, but longer (like a paragraph or three) offerings.  If you have something to say in response, go here.

08/09/02

8:10 PM

As the summer session here at Virginia Tech comes to a close, that means that I have to return home with it's complete lack of high-speed internet access.  So, no new updates on a nightly basis for the next two weeks.  Instead, my goals (since otherwise I'd have nothing to do for the next 10 days) are to watch as many different games on DIFFERENT networks.  I have the advantage of living in the Northeast, where my cable lineup includes NESN (Red Sox Baseball), YES (Yankees), and MSG (Mets) as well as the national broadcasts of Braves Baseball on TBS.  So I'm going to try to watch games on all these networks and compare how their broadcasts are. 

The reason I'm doing this is because of discussions that my friend, John, and I have over TBS and WGN broadcasts.  I really have to see whether WGN is the exception or the rule as to the boosting of their team.  Conventional Wisdom states that "playing it up for the home team"  is the rule for team broadcasts.  I'd like to compare "local" to "national" (ESPN, FOX), and see where each network falls into place.  I'll probably write up something long and involved and post it when I get the chance.

Meanwhile the Jays are a half-game under the pace I've set for them a while ago.  (Due to a rainout vs. Baltimore)  Hopefully, they'll continue on their march towards .500 in the games ahead.

08/07/02

11:03 PM

Well, three homeruns by Chris Woodward didn't help.  Of course, they were all solo shots.  In any case, the Jays lost a good game. 

I just saw the play by Cruz to gun down ICHIRO! at the plate.  (I did that because it is impossible to say his name without putting the emphasis that ICHIRO! symbolizes.)  If Cruz's play doesn't make Baseball Tonight as a webgem, then I will have lost the remaining scraps of respect I have for the concept of "webgem".

10:00 PM

Wow, what a ballgame.  Loiaza throws a gem and goes toe to toe with Pineiro.  Chris Woodward has hit 3 homeruns so far, including the game-tying run in the 9th off of Kaz Sasaki.  Carlos Tosca left Cassidy in for too long, but it is defensible based on the beating the bullpen took the previous night.  Defensible, but not right.  Fortunately, Kelvim Escobar is able to shut the door without too much damage.  Now it's up to the rest of the bullpen including Luke Prokopec.

5:35 PM

No baseball just yet, and I'm just waiting until tonight's games start.  And since there's little in the way of news today, I decided to comment on the latest rankings courtesy of The Sporting News, which is what set off my prediction of .500 for the Jays at the end of the season.

08/06/02

10:30 PM

Alright, I'll stop tooting my own horn... when I stop not knowing what I'm talking about.  It wasn't even 3 hours ago, when I said that the Mariners had the advantage when it comes to the bullpens, and the Jays almost bent over backwards to prove me right.  Hey, I'm a fan, but you guys don't need to make me look THAT good.  Here are the pitching lines from tonight.  Divided into starters and relievers:

Ok, so Toronto's line is skewed by a first appearance by a rookie.  Still, this is a game the Jays should NOT have used their closer in, even if it was just for two pitchers.  But the more problematic issue is the fact that the Seattle Pen gave up 8 runs, 7 by Ryan Franklin.  It could be excused by the fact that the M's were pretty sure that they were out of it, but like a game like this shows, you never know when you'll get the chance to put a 6-spot on the board and get back in the game. 

But a win is a win, and the Jays will take it.  Now, the pen's been worked up a bit which might come back to hurt them. 

And former New Jersey Net Mark Hendrickson's ERA... a tasty 135.00.  Ohh, that's gonna hurt. 

9:55 PM

Ouch.  Welcome to the Majors, Mark Hendrickson.  It ain't nothing like playing basketball in the Pac-10.  His line:
1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 5 R, 5 ER

It didn't help that Corey Thurman gave up a 3 run bomb, but hey, those runs shouldn't have been on-base again.  J.P. wanted to see what Hendrickson would do against real players, not "September callups."  Well, this ain't a good start.

9:32 PM

Well, whaddayaknow.  The Bone Chipper did come in to pitch for the Mariners.  But unlike my other prediction, the Jays didn't score off of him (pinch hitting for Josh Phelps with Pedro Swann doesn't help too much).  Where did I come up with the nickname the Bone Chipper?  The nickname of my homestate of Connecticut is the Nutmeg State, which comes from the fact that back in the Revolutionary Period, people from Connecticut were famous for hollowing out nutmegs and filling them with spices and selling them.  (Or something like that).  So the same goes for Jeff Nelson.  He hollows out his elbow and sells the Bone Chips on e-Bay.  Thus the nickname "the Bone Chipper".

Meanwhile, Mark Hendrickson came on to relieve Roy Halladay after 7 strong innings.  Of course, I have no idea who Hendrickson is.  But he's from Washington state, according to CBS Sportsline.  He's apparently 6'9", 230 lbs, which by any estimation, is huge.

9:00 PM

Josh Phelps just drove in Chris Woodward to increase the Jays lead to 8-2.  Can the Jays score in every inning.  If they win, then they'd only be able to do it in 8 innings, which helps unless only scoring in 8 cheapens the effort.  With the likelihood that the M's will go to the back end of their pen (possibly bringing in Jeff "the Bone Chips entrepreneur" Nelson).

8:20 PM

Am I psychic?  I hope not.  James Baldwin is gone after 3.2 innings of ineffectual pitching.  Ryan Franklin shut the door on the Jays to end the inning.  Now, it's the M's bullpen vs. Roy Halladay.  If this game comes down to a battle of the bullpens, then the M's have the advantage.

12:30 AM

Wow, a whole day with out an entry.  Not that there isn't much to talk about, I just got lazy... hmmm.  Well, beyond that, the Jays had another wonderful game against the O's.  Steve Parris just plain outpitched Rodrigo Lopez in a battle of two pitchers on a roll.  6 hits over 8 innings with one run allowed is a great start by anyone's standards.  ESPN focused in on the speculation that Parris won't be with the team much later.  It's probably true and maybe not for the better.  Parris is approaching his 35th birthday at the end of the season (Two days before mine, incidentally) and was WAY overpaid by Gord Ash in one of his many, many mistakes as GM.  But with the Jays not having anything in the way of pitching depth, they might want to take a look at bringing him back.  At way below current cost, which is $3.775 million this season.  Then again, with his A's background, I wouldn't be surprised if J.P. Ricarrdi can trade/sign someone as good or better than Parris for less than $3 million at least. 

And congrats to Orlando "J.P. looks like he could be a pimp" Hudson for his first major league homerun today.

The Jays take on the M's next.  Baldwin vs. Halladay on Tues, Loiaza vs. Pineiro on Wed, and Carpenter vs. Moyer on Thursday.  Tues will be the Jays best chance to win, although Carpenter could continue his strange ways and pull out a gem against Moyer.  Pineiro is the real deal, and the Jays are not going to do well against him.  Baldwin was former Jays GM Pat Gillick's overreaction to the need for a 4th starter last winter and while not a Loiaza-sized boondoggle, still not worth the money.  So my big prediction:  Jays win game 1, lose the next two, with the last game being as good a pitcher's duel as will be seen in SkyDome this season, surprisingly.

In the news, just like cannon-fodder, is your friend and mine (maybe not yours), John Rocker.  Apparently, unlike the 7 line in New York city, he isn't afraid to go into the "predominately gay district" in Dallas.  Doing something like that is just asking for trouble.  Apparently, he didn't start it, which is good.  And he didn't do anything physical, which is also good.  All that he did was say some "anti-gay remarks" following a less-than-ideal dining situation.  He received the worst end of the stick, with some people "some customers badgered him, made suggestive comments and then followed him and his girlfriend out of the restaurant" according to Rangers GM John Hart. 

Here's my reaction to this.  Apparently, the gay community hasn't gotten over the comments made by Rocker more than a season ago.  If people are badgering him, I'm going to guess that they're gay.  And it's not going to be any surprise that Rocker's going to make "anti-gay" comments.  He's sure as hell not going to make pro-gay statements after that kind of treatment.  And the restaurant owner had the gall to say this:
''He's human but he should know better. There are a lot of people here who aren't going to go to any Rangers games again. I'm not going to go. I can't support them. That is just uncalled for."

And all this surprises her?  It's not like: a) Rocker's views aren't out there already and b) He just became a Ranger.  Apparently there were "a lot of people" who were going to Rangers games but this situation just sent them over the edge... really strange.

Rocker apologized for his actions.  There are no reports of what Rocker actually said.  Of course, that doesn't mean that El Bud can come in and fine Rocker an "undisclosed" amount for "insensitive comments."  After all, he's set the precident just a couple days ago.

One more thing... a suggestion.  Leave the guy alone.  Of course the guy's going to snap if you keep pestering him.  If you're going to get on his case, do it for his hideous pitching perfomance, not for his opinions that, while not exactly PC, he's certainly entitled to it.

08/04/02

5:15 PM

Well, Prior finished what he started.  After 135 pitches.  It's his first complete game victory and he set a career-high for strikeouts.  Let's just hope that he continues his success for future years. 

A slight problem:  the WGN announcers don't mention pitch count until the interview with Prior after the game.  It seems like Prior has a better understanding of stress and pitch counts than do the announcers.  Since WGN is a subsidary, let's hope for Prior's sake that this mindset isn't organization wide, and that they've learned something from Kerry Wood.

5:00 PM

It looks like Bruce Kimm will allow Mark Prior to go for a complete game against the Rockies.  Bad decision.  Prior's at 119 pitches through 8, and just allowed 1 run to score.  I'm sure it's as hot at Wrigley as it is in Blacksburg, so  Prior must be towards the end of his physical limit.  That doesn't even take into effect that Prior's 22 years old and there's still the rest of the season to think of.  Even if Flash Gordon and Antonio Alfonseca suck, there's other possibilities that the Cubs can go to, which means, like Buck Showalter in the 1995 ALDS, Kimm has no confidence in his pen.

3:30 PM

This time, Kelvim Escobar WAS able to shut down the Orioles.  The key:  first-pitch strikes and not falling behind the hitters.  The first two batters he got out, were both after he threw first pitch strikes to them.  Each of the next two batters, he fell behind 2-0 to them before giving up a single and a walk.  Luckily, he was able to come back and get Tony Batista to strikeout to end the game.  Let's hope that this gets the Jays back in shape in time for their trip out west.

In other news, the Yankees might be giving Roger Clemens yet another contract extension.  The Yanks want Clemens back, but there are some complications with the terms of his contract, which deferred $10 million until next season, which the Yankees say means that they don't want to sign him to an extension that means he gets paid over $20 million for the next season.  I don't think it will be such a good idea to give Clemens another contract, even if it means spending $10 million on a pitcher who might play for someone else.  But that's what they get for "wanting to meet payroll targets for the 2001 and 2002 seasons".  Let this be a warning to other teams (Arizona, I'm looking in your direction) that want to defer payment on aging players.

08/03/02

11:37 PM

After a day of gallivanting around southwest Virginia and northwest North Carolina, by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway (recommended to anyone who enjoys nature and the open road).  I've come back to see that my beloved Blue Jays managed to drop another to the Orioles, in which they never had a chance.  Chris Carpenter coughed up 7 runs in 4 innings.  This doesn't bode well for Chris when he goes into his arbitration session at the end of the year, that is if the Blue Jays decide to go to arbitration with him.  I think they should, as long as the price tag isn't too expensive.  After all, Carpenter still has been an enigma for the Jays during his career, battling injury and basically not living up to "staff ace" expectations.  It remains to be seen what the rest of the season, if there is one, holds, but for now, inconsistency isn't helping the Jays or Carpenter.

08/02/02

10:23 PM

Well, I knew it was going to happen.  I spoke too soon and baseball has a way of making you eat your words.  Kelvim Escobar managed to walk two Orioles and then give up the inevitable 3-run bomb to Gary Matthews, Jr. to blow the game against the Orioles.  The problem of course, was that he didn't throw strikes.  Here's what happened:  4 pitch walk to Hairston, 5 pitch walk to Mora, struck out Singleton on 4 pitches, throws a ball to Matthews and then gives up the homerun.  The strikeout was, incidentally, after he threw a first pitch strike, which he didn't do to any other batter.  On the brighter side, Toronto's closer-to-be, Cliff Pollite, got through a scoreless 8th on 8 pitches, even after surrendering a double to Chris Richard.

9:55 PM

As Toronto continues on it's quest to .500, (right now they're up 8-6 over the Orioles, knocking Scott Erickson out in the 3rd, but with Scott Eyre/Luke Prokopec coughing up some runs lately), I'll turn my attention to the Jim Bowden "scandal" and those lovable Yankees.

First... Jimbo.  He was fined an undisclosed amount for basically equating the baseball strike to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  Then old Bud decides to fine Bowden an undisclosed amount for his "insensitive and inappropriate" remarks.  I understand why they could be inappropriate, after all Selig did put a gag order in regards to labor issues on anyone in baseball management.  However, I doubt that this has more to do with "insensitive" than anything labor related.  I suppose the 1st amendment should fall into place somewhere in here, but the precident was already set when Marge Schott was fined and basically forced out of baseball following her infamous Hitler comments.  Given that Bowden had already apologized (not even 4 hours had passed between the comment and the apology) and wasn't on the national radar screen at all, I feel that Selig's punishment of Bowden went over the line.  Bowden didn't need to be fined; he realized his mistake, apologized for it, and will probably never do it again.  Selig sending this "message" to Bowden just exacerbates the issue, and is another reason, to the hundreds already out there, why Selig should be removed.

As for the Yankees, I'm talking about how both George Steinbrenner and Michael Kay of the YES network are up in arms over the trade of Cliff Floyd to the Red Sox.  Yes, this screams conspiracy.  Yes, the Red Sox are better off than they were before and thus a bigger threat to the Yankees.  But I think that in their cases, they're whining because the Yankees weren't able to get Floyd twice.  Steinbrenner's frustrated that he's spent $140 million dollars and still has a pretty weak outfield (heck, the Jays probably have a better outfield than the Yankees right now).  He could be upset that his general manager traded for the Blue Jays worst outfielder, and didn't improve the Yankees the same way that the Red Sox improved their outfield. 

Kay, on the other hand, is upset that the Expos accepted "two non-descript, middle-level minor league pitching prospects" for Floyd, while the Yankees would have had to give up either Nick Johnson or Juan Rivera.  So, Kay concludes, "even the most ardent anti-Yankee fan would see that somewhere in that mess is a scintilla of something improper."  Except we don't know what the Yankees were really offering.  If the Yankees were unwilling to compromise with the Expos, then they would have to go to their next best offer.  We don't know what the Yankees, Mariners, Oakland, or Anaheim were offering.  So it's imprudent to automatically say that the Expos turned down a better offer by another team so that they could deal Floyd to the Expos.  But it still APPEARS like foul play, which is just as bad for baseball.

07/23/02

How the Blue Jays will have a winning season

But first here's a link to a little research done by Voros McCracken on a site called Baseball Primer   He basically came up with the rosters to the teams for the World Cup of Baseball that Jon and I were throwing around in June.  He thinks less highly of the Venezuelans than I do, but still overall, he did go to the trouble of finding the people to fill out the rosters for the teams.

Now, on the the Blue Jays.

This comes from a comment made in the most recent power rankings done on The Sporting News' webpage.  Along with their ranking, they put down how many games the team is off their pace for the year.  Right now they have the Blue Jays as being 4 games off the pace from last year.  Their comment next to that is "It will probably be more like minus 14.5 by the end of the season."  It's off-hand comments like that which I really don't like to hear, so I decided to prove them wrong.  First of all, to be 14.5 games off of last year (when they finished 80-82), they would have to finish at 66-96.  As of tonight, the Jays are 43-55.  Thus to finish at 66-96, they'll have to go 23-31 over their final 54 games.  

(This is all assuming that the season is completed) 

So with that in mind, here's why that's not going to happen.  Before I go series-by-series, here's the real reason that the Jays will finish at least near .500.

The Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The masters that be decided that the Blue Jays would only play the Orioles in the second half of the season and the Yankees and Red Sox for one series a piece for the second half.  Well, luckily for them, the Jays had a horrible start and are nowhere near contention for the division.  Otherwise, there would be .... 7 ... whole....games to help decide the division.  Good for them.  But enough about baseball's problems, here's my look at where the Jays will finish, in a convenient table:

There you have it.... Toronto making it to .500, a one game improvement on last season.  I don't think this is too unreasonable.  Sure, it doesn't have Toronto getting swept, but that's balanced by the fact that I have Toronto winning alot of games from Tampa Bay and Baltimore.  So there Sporting News.  Toronto at .500.  A winning season.

07/09/02

All-stars and not-so-All-stars

Tonight is the All-star game, the annual mid-summer classic pitting the stars of the National League vs. those of the American league.  And once again, it will be just a friendly game between friends.  Not like days of yore, when Pete Rose would end careers over what amounted to be an exhibition game.  Then again, I wasn't around back then, so I only have my more recent memories to go back on.  But I don't have that many memories of All-star games, a very bad thing indeed.  I guess when my favorite team hasn't had more than one representative in a while, it creates a problem.

Speaking of that, I want to get my two cents in on whether or not each team should be represented at the game.  Baseball is unique in that respect that every team should be represented in their all-star game.  Personally,  I like the fact that I can see someone from my team in the game (well, if the manager gets them into the game).  This is opposed to seeing an American League team made up of the starters voted in and the Yankees.   I shutter to think who Torre would pick if he didn't "have" to take someone from the Blue Jays, Devil Rays, Orioles, Tigers, Royals... etc.

Then there's the Raul Mondesi trade.  It was an out-and-out salary dump and in that sense the Blue Jays were both successful and fleeced at the same time.  The Yankees are the only team that is able to take on a contract like Mondesi's, which meant that the Yankees were in the drivers seat.  This is just another example of how the Yankees can do whatever they want in terms of salary.  People like to say that the Yankees' success isn't because they can spend money but rather because they have an incredible farm system that has produced Andy Pettite, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Alfonso Soriano, etc.  What everyone seems to forget is that the Yankees have been able to SIGN their players and not have to trade them like so many other teams when their young players get to free agency.  Imagine what the Expos team would be if they had the Yankees ability to sign their prospects to long-term contracts.  Ditto the Royals, Indians, and every other team that has had to trade their stars because they couldn't afford them.  The fact of the matter is that the Yankees have the resources that no other team in the Majors can stand up to.  And that's why it's unfair.

6/28/02

On Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to go down to Shea Stadium to see the Mets take on the Atlanta Braves.  It was a pretty good game that I got to see.  The matchup was Albie Lopez vs. Steve Traschel.  Greg Maddux was supposed to start this game, but he was scratched because of a recurring calf injury.  So I was stuck with Lopez as the "starter" for the Braves.  Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with his performance.  He went into the 4th inning, giving up 7 runs and basically ruining any chance the Braves had to win.  Not being a manager, it's hard for me to second-guess Bobby Cox in this situation, but he seemed that he wanted to get some significant innings out of his starters, perhaps to save his bullpen.  And that bullpen that he saved did an excellent job.  Kerry Lightenberg did a good job despite allowing two inherited runners to score.  Chris Hammond did a good job as well. 

But the seven runs allowed by Lopez hurt the Braves by not allowing them to get back in the game once they got to Steve Traschel.  He threw 5 perfect innings before hitting a wall in the sixth.  In contrast to the Braves, the Met bullpen is nothing special outside of Armando Benitez.  They allowed the Braves to get back in the game and didn't impress me at all.

Also not impressive are the Mets fans, or as I thought during the game, "Typical New York Fans".  The situation that brought this to my attention was their behavior toward Mo Vaughn.  I've never been impressed with Mo's performance, even when he was a star for the Red Sox.  He always struck me as one dimensional, who used Fenway Park's dimensions to his benefits.  Having been injured for the Angels after he signed his big contract didn't help to change my perception of him when I got to the game.  So during each at bat, following each pitch to him, I yelled "fatty" to him.  As Mo went 0 for 3 to start the game, the boos were in force, especially following his third at bat.  But Mo, in his fourth and final at bat, hits a single to left field.  Now, everyone is cheering for him, some people getting on their feet.  That's what caused me to remark that Met fans are just typical New York baseball fans.

Another thing disappointing about Shea was the service there.  I was sitting in the box seats right behind the visitors dugout.   These tickets cost $64 bucks a game and the season ticket owner even has their name on a plaque denoting their box.  You would think that for $64, I would get good service.  The Mets offered a service that allow fans to order food.  I saw that they offered a bucket of wings and Mountain Dew Code Red.™  (one of the two beverages that lead straight to my heart, the other being a Slurpee).  I waited for someone to take my order... and waited.... and waited.  Then, after seeing many other people get served around me, I went to find out why nobody wanted to take my order.  I asked one of the ushers (a not-so-kindly old man) why none of the servers went to take an order in my section.  He then proceeded to berate me and tell me that I shouldn't take my anger out on him because "he has nothing to do with food service."  I guess the Mets don't teach their employees a little something called customer service.  I used to work for UIS and one of the things that they taught me was that I had to deal with all sorts of people having all kinds of problems, even if the problem doesn't involve you.  Evidently, this guy never learned that.  Needless to say, once I finally got my food, I didn't tip the server.  If they want more of my money, then next time, they'll get me my food on-time.

Overall, I had a good experience, but if I had a choice, I'd rather see minor league baseball than major league baseball.  The game itself isn't too different, there's more fan-player interaction at the lower levels, and it's a heck of a lot cheaper.  This will just prove that Major League Baseball will be in big trouble if the players strike.  Fans won't put up with these shortchanges if they can't see their favorite players.

6/23/02

News today out of Chicago is that Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile died in his hotel room in Chicago.  Word has it that he died in his sleep but an autopsy hasn't been conducted yet, so it is uncertain what killed him.  Authorities ruled out foul play.

It isn't the death itself that has prompted this article.  I didn't take much out of the death of Jack Buck, and even thought, cynically, that the newsmakers were giving too much coverage to his death, because it was one of their own that died.  However, the death of Darryl Kile is different because of the first thoughts that ran through my mind. 

I first thought that his death was a suicide.  That's what all of the signs pointed to, or at least that's what I thought when I heard the news.  The more that I thought of it, the more I thought that it was a suicide.   There haven't been too many high-profile suicides in recent years, the most recent that I can think of is that of Kurt Cobain in 1994.  But perhaps the circumstances of his death being the first instance of something like that pubically since I was hospitalized tells me of something.  I don't know what just yet.

Professional athletes live under intense pressure to compete at high levels.  They must play at these levels because there are other players in the minor leagues that want to be in the same position that that particular player is in.  Not to say that stressful jobs don't exist in other professions, rather that professional athletes are a unique position.  For example, in the Major Leagues there are 750 jobs available only.  There is intense competition for those jobs.  Any mistake, especially for those players not yet established can be the end of their careers.

In Bill James' Second Historical Baseball Abstract, he lists the players that had committed suicide.   Fortunately, that number was not that big and that there were few cases nowadays compared to the past.  Let's just hope that wasn't the case for Darryl Kile.

6/19/02

While watching the Cubs play the Rangers, I'm trying to figure out which team I should be rooting for.  There are teams that I always root for, the Blue Jays.  And there are teams that I always root against, the Yankees.  But for most of the time, I don't have any allegiance for one team or another.  Sometimes I root for a specific player for fantasy league purposes, but that only translate to me rooting for a team when it comes to pitchers (who will get a win, a save).  But most of the time, I root for teams based on certain values that I hold near and dear to my heart.

One of the criteria for these types of games is basically involving the homerun.  I don't like the fact that attention is placed on the home run compared to other aspects of the game, like pitching, fielding and other pieces of strategy.  So when a team like the San Francisco Giants of last year gets close to the playoffs, I start rooting against them.  The reason being that I didn't want to see a team like the Giants, who rely on Barry Bonds, and Barry Bonds only to reach the playoffs.  So I root against them.  Other teams like that are the Cubs (Sammy Sosa), the Reds (Ken Griffey Jr.).

Another criteria for this is how much a team has spent on it's players.  The Rangers and the Dodgers come to mind instantly.  I can't root for a team that thinks that spending money is the way to future success.  So I root against them.  If teams think that spending boatloads of money on one particular player or a group of players, then more teams will do it and drive the inequity between teams higher. 

Which brings me to today's game, the Rangers vs. the Cubs.  A team that as spent tons of money on veterans vs. a team that really relies on the ability of one player, and a homerun hitter at that.  In a perfect world, both teams would lose and that would be that.  But that's not the case and thus I have to root for one team (well, I don't have to, but there has to be one side that I favor over the other).  In the end, I want to crush the hopes of the teams that think that they can spend $25 million per year on one player and think that this one acquisition can make them instant contenders.  That's not the case in real life and that shouldn't be the case right now. 

Let's go Cubs!

6/14/02

On my road trip, I had the opportunity to go to see the Bowie Baysox play the New Haven Ravens in an Eastern League game with my friend Jon.  Of course, this wasn't the original plan, since we were going to see the Orioles play the Padres, but that was an afternoon game and I didn't get up to DC in time.  Instead we decided on minor league baseball instead.  This was pretty good for entertainment and some pretty good baseball.  The Ravens won 5-0, but the game was close until the 7th inning.

Here's a couple of the highlights from that game:

On the way to the game, Jon and I had a discussion about a World Cup of Baseball.  My ideas about this is that it would have to be run outside of MLB.  This is mainly because MLB can't market the game for shit and more importantly, it would make it easier to get the players on board for something like this.  If MLB ran it, then the World Cup would be just another point of contention between the owners and the players and would threaten the viability of the tournament.  

This is the plan that Jon and I came up with: