Passing

Josh Hancock.
1978-2007

R.I.P.

More irony

When Yahoo drafted Mariano, Hoffman and BJ Ryan for me (I couldn't be at the draft, time zone differences), I thought here's one category I'm going to dominate.

Boy, was I wrong.

Yes, it is still early but Mariano and Ryan have ERAs over 12 and Ryan is on the DL. And Hoffman just blew his second straight save, first time he has done that in almost 10 years. And his ERA is over 7.

I'm currently lying second-to-last in my league in total saves with five. The only reason I'm not in last place is the guy who is didn't draft any closers. He figured saves are just one category and so he drafted a gazillion starters instead. He's also the guy whose leading the league with a 27-6-3 record.

A little late

Friday morning (Thursday evening for folks in the U.S.) I dragged myself out of bed at 5:15 to watch Phil Hughes make his big league debut. I did this despite having only gone to bed at 1 and despite having to be at work by 9. I did it because I'm starting to panic and I needed a genuine reason to be optimistic about Yankee pitching.

I'm not sure I got it.

I watched innings 3-4-5 (I couldn't drag myself out of bed at 4:30 a.m. for the start of the game, even though I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m.), and came away feeling slightly underwhelmed. I was hoping for a Jered Weaver type debut, the kind that reels off seven straight wins. Instead, what I got was a look at a pitcher with a lot of promise.

But promise ain't going to win games. And the Yankees need to win games starting now. They've lost seven straight and there seems to be no respite in sight. Even Mariano seems human, giving up four runs in a nothing situation, pushing his ERA over 12 (12!!!).

(In the interest of full disclore, I attempted to pick up Hughes in both my fantasy leagues. I was beaten to the punch both times. The photo is courtesy minorleaguebaseball.com)

The cycle continues

Grant Hill.

That's who popped into my head when I read about Mark Prior missing another season after another aborted "comeback".

Hill and his Orlando Magic are currently down 2-0 to the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The point is Hill is in the playoffs when it looked like he may never play basketball again.

The doctor who is operating on Prior's shoulder on Tuesday is confident Prior's career is not over, with Cubs general manager Jim Hendry saying Wednesday, "Dr. Andrews feels comfortable that he [Prior] will still have a career. This is certainly not career-ending. He felt optimistic that he would be able to pitch next year. ... At his age, he should not have a problem responding and coming back after a strenuous rehab."

I sure hope he is right. It would be a shame if baseball and baseball fans were deprived of the talents of Prior, even if they might be somewhat diminished.

p.s. Like Paul said, I did pick the Cubs to win the NL Central. The reason I didn't run my predictions out there is because being in India, I don't have a lot of access to baseball. So I don't feel like I should make predictions [in public] based on incomplete information. But I don't mind running my mouth among friends. I even managed to convince one or two people to jump on the Cubs' bandwagon. I'm proud of that.

A Beer Battered Central

Old Style, I believe, is the official beer of Wrigley Field. It hasn't, however, stopped the Brewers of Miller from coming in and taking the first two games in this week's series. They're playing the 3rd at the time of this writing. The Cubs just ran into an out at 3rd on some sort of baserunning blunder. If you're not a Cubs fan, it might be hard to picture, but just imagine something stupid.

With Sheets on the mound and the Cubs being the opposition, let's assume the crew finishes this sweep. That puts Milwaukee at 7 games over, and drops the Cubs to 7 below in their first 21 games. 14-7 would be the best record in the big leagues at the moment. Milwaukee's 3.5 game lead over the Reds would be the largest of any division. Even if it's a blowout, the Brewers already have a league-leading 9 saves. J.J. Hardy is also among the league leaders with 6 knocks. They have a healthy Ben Sheets, and they bought Jeff Suppan from the champs. Suppan is a fantastic inning eater, really paints with his pitches, and is a tested postseason gem should they make it there. With a young core of guys like Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks, as well as a strong relief core, could it be a beer-batterd central?

Well you already know that my pick is the Cardinals. Milwaukee split a short set with the Busch Boys earlier this year, so we don't know just yet how they'll match up. Tariq hasn't made it public, but he picked the Cubs to win the central. This is always a dangerous choice, and although it's early yet, 7-13 through 20 might give him a sense of what it's like. I guess we'll learn a lot when the Brewers head to Busch on Monday.

God I love Baseball.

Irony

Don't look now but the principal reason the New York Yankees have a winning record is a certain gentleman who goes by the name of Alex Rodriguez.

A-Rod has hit a league leading 10 home runs in 14 games, two of them walk off dingers. He also leads the league in RBI with 26 and is batting a tick over .350.

The reason for his offensive outburst: "It's just fun," Rodriguez said after his latest game winner against the Indians on Thursday. "It's going out and not trying to do too much, and help the team win."

At a time when the Yankees pitching staff is reeling, A-Rod has been the glue holding the team together (Jeter leads the league in errors with 6). Yes, he still needs to show he can do this in October. But perhaps the knowledge that he can walk away from all this at the end of the year has given A-Rod a sense of freedom he didn't have in the Bronx prior to this year. And that freedom is allowing him to swing the bat without worrying how each particular swing is going to define his legacy.

He's just a guy playing ball. And that's good for A-Rod and the Yankees.

Lid put on Lidge

It didn't take Wayne, my father and Van Pelt to my Stu Scott, too long to realize that game 5 of the 2005 NLCS was the beginning of the end for Brad Lidge.

I can recall a time when Brad Lidge was a nearly untouchable fireballer. His ERA in 2005 was 2.80 with 42 saves, and in '04 it was 1.90 with 157 K. That was back when Jeff Suppan (who?) beat the Rocket, and the Cards won game 7

In 2005, when his team finally pushed past the Cardinals, Wayne pointed out the sorrowful irony. For Brad Lidge, things would always get harder than when he LOST in 2004. Although he was heading to the Series, he would never be the same.

His team would go on to be expectedly dominated by the White Sox. In 2006 he had his ERA explode to 5.28, and In his 2 games in '07, Brad Lidge earned an ERA of 16.20 and his way out of a job. As I watched Bradley give up 5 runs to the Redbirds in 2/3 of an inning, I knew it was done. He was quickly removed from the game, and I imagine he learned that night that close he would no longer.

It really does go back to that night Albert Pujols ripped the World Series from the Astros, even if only for that night. He crouched on the mound and watched the ball go, ruined. It was Andy Pettite that gave it away. We all read his lips when he said "Oh my gosh," and watched the Pujols show, but he wasn't watching a baseball fly over the train tracks.

He was watching a man's soul leave his body.

Coming late to the party

Living in India, the only televised regular season baseball games I will get to see are those involving either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. And not always live either. Of course live games mean getting up at 4:30 in the morning. And delayed games mean not watching them at all cause I'll be at work.

So the bottom line is I won't be watching much baseball this season.

Which sucks.

So far I've seen four innings of Dice-K, and like everyone else I thought he looked superb. Of course he was pitching against the Kansas City Royals. I'ma wait to see what he does against the Yankees. Both Schilling and Beckett have proven ability to slay the pinstriped dragon. If Dice-K can emulate either of them, that might tilt the balance of power in the AL East.

Especially since the Yankees don't seem to have any pitching to speak of. I watched three innings of Moose pitching against his old team (These seven innings make up the sum total of my basbeall viewing thus far), and he looked very, very hittable. As indeed he was. Then again, if A-Rod keeps hitting, two-out grand slams in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees have nothing to worry about. Wait!! What am I thinking??!! No, it felt good to read about A-Rod coming through in the clutch for the Yankees. Really. While I'm not a fan of his, I'm a fan of the team, and so I want him to perform when the teams needs him. The rest of the time he can go 0-fer-whatever for all I care.

A Game in the Life of a Shitty-Team Fan

Alternate title: My Day at RFK. In my quest to visit every ballpark, I thought it a shame I had visited DC just days before April. Well what the hell, I'll just go have a look. I took the Metro to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and had a peek. "Tickets, Tickets," I heard.

HUH? It's still March.

Next to me on the walk up was a moustached man with a pony tail to his ass in a Nats cap and jacket. I asked if there was a game today.

He said "yeah, exhibition against the O's."
Any tix left you think?
Probably, why you want one? (He reaches into his jacket pocket.)
Yeah, how much?
Buy me a beer.

OK! Now I am sitting behind homeplate with some stranger in RFK watching the Nationals, and it starts to dawn on me... it's not so bad to be a shitty-team fan. He explains these tickets are only 20 bucks, and you can get in for 8. Food's cheap. Beer's cheap. What else do you want? The place is never full, so you can spread out and relax, and you never have to worry about a sellout. If you wanna see a game, just buy a ticket. Or just ask someone, maybe it'll cost you a beer.

Pretty soon I figured out, it wasn't all a good deal. I was quickly reminded that the Nationals were as promised a shitty team. We turned up in the 3rd and the Nats promptly gave up back-to-back crank jobs and put on a showcase of infield errors. Since there was no baseball in the district for 30 years or so, the fans had no idea what to do. On the rare occasion that the Washington pitcher would strike a guy out, people would go on with their conversations like they had never heard of strike 3.

One of the real highlights was the 7th inning stretch, led by Harry Canary, the lovable Caray-morphic blow up bird like-weird costume thing/person. They played a recording of Harry and everyone loved it. Harry Canary was actually a bigger star at this thing than Screech, the Nats Mascot, a tattered, dirty, and particularly short bald eagle. They stole a page from the Brewers playbook by having the Presidents race, but I think I missed it when I went to buy my $6.50 Red Hook ticket to the game.