Finally. After a winter of (mostly) discomfort and discontent, Baseball is Back! The Dodgers have already played three games, sweeping the two game opening series in Sydney, Australia, and losing to the Padres in beautiful Petco Park in San Diego last night. The winter here in Colorado has been long and painful, since that horrific Sunday in February, when Seattle showed Denver what a complete football team could accomplish. The Denver Nuggets usually provide some entertainment for us until Spring Training begins and the grind of meaningless baseball games in Florida and Arizona presages the real season. This year, not so much, as the Nuggies struggle through a non-playoff season under rookie coach Brian Shaw's direction. The Colorado Avalanche, on the other hand, have energized the Rocky Mountain Region again under fiery rookie coach, Patrick Roy. GM Joe Sakic has this version of the Avs poised to make waves on the frozen surface at the Pepsi Center as they battle the defending Stanley Cup Champions, Chicago Blackhawks for home-ice in the upcoming playoff season. The Avalanche received bad news as their young superstar, Matt Duchene, has been declared out for at least four weeks with a knee injury, thus effectively missing at least the first round of the playoffs. The NHL chase for Lord Stanley's Cup is the best and hardest championship tournament in sports. Apologies to the NCAA bracket bonanza, MLB's World Series process, the NFL where they play once a week with as many as three weekends off in the quest for the Lombardi Trophy and the World Cup (which I don't understand, besides it's soccer, who cares?). It takes 16 playoff wins in four best-of-7 series to claim the Stanley Cup. What those guys do with sticks on skates is phenomenal.
But, as all real sports fans know, Baseball is the true American Pastime. Those that don't agree, are closer to Neanderthal than wrestling fans. No other activity encompasses mind, body and spirit more completely than baseball. And true fans, even casual followers, appreciate the fine points of pitcher-batter mind games, the toughness and athleticism to perform for 162 games with only 10 scheduled days off during the season. If you haven't tried to hit a round ball with a round bat when it is traveling at 110 feet per second, then you cannot appreciate that failing 7 out of 10 times over the course of a career defines a superstar. Baseball can also be dissected by jocks, eggheads and nerds alike. Where else are such terms so defining? Acronyms such as: ERA, WHIP, OPS, GDP, RBI, DH, HR, DP, HBP, LHP, RHP. A baseball fan knows that BB means a walk and K means a strikeout, with a backward K on the scorecard denoting that a batter struck out while not swinging the bat (just looking). That earned runs are runs scored against a pitcher that are not the result of a mitigating error or misplay. That a pitcher's ERA (earned run average) is computed by multiplying the number of earned runs by 9, and dividing by the number of official innings pitched. That a pitcher can be charged with runs even after he leaves the game. That a walk, hit by pitcher or sacrifice do not count against a hitter's batting average, but count as a plate appearance. That a slugging percentage is calculated by the total of bases gained on hits divided by official at-bats, and defines how much power a hitter possesses. That OBP (on base percentage) is found by adding all safe arrivals at first and dividing by all plate appearances.
The complete box score and line score of a game can recreate the game a hundred years after the game has been played. It also can tell you how many people were at the game, the names of the umpires and how long the game took to complete. No sport or activity is chronicled by so many statistics as baseball. The bases are, have always been, 90 feet apart. The pitching rubber is exactly 60 feet, 6 inches from the front of home plate. Beyond those constant dimensions, each ballpark has its own unique characteristics, since the cookie-cutter concrete, artificial grass parks of the 70's have been torn down or remodeled. The Green Monster and Pesky Pole in Fenway. Monument Park and the iconic White Façade at Yankee Stadium. The cozy confines and the ivy-covered outfield walls of Wrigley Field on the Northside of Chicago and the neighboring Wrigleyville neighborhood. That the area around Coors Field in Denver used to be the slums. McCovey Cove at AT & T Park in San Francisco where there have been 90 official splash homers. The warehouse beyond the right field concourse in Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden yards where Boog's Barbecue resides on Eutaw Street. Who can forget the banner with the number 2,131 unfurling from the walls of the B & O Warehouse as Cal Ripken, Jr. completed the fifth inning of that game on September 6, 1995?
As I finish this edition, the Rockies are getting blown out by the Florida Marlins. The first time in history an opening game was contested by starting pitchers from Cuba and Mexico. Tonight's pitching effort by our pet Rox was dismal. So, after one game Colorado's pitching has an ERA of 11.25 and the batting average is .188 with one walk earned while striking out 10 times. Slugging percentage is .273, OBP .212, for an OPS of .485. The good news? It'll just have to get better. It's just one game, 161 to go. The real opening day is tomorrow, when the Yankees open up Derek Jeter's final season at Houston. Difficult to get used to the Astros being in the American League. So, I pass on the sentiment sent to me by my daughter Alison: "Here's to leisurely sitting on the sofa watching the 2014 baseball season, just like A-Rod."
Monday, March 31, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
It's That Time Of The Year
Spring Training is almost at an end, unless you are the Los Angeles Dodgers, or the Arizona Diamondbacks. For some reason, Major League Baseball decided to move up the traditional start of the regular season by having the Dodgers and D-Backs play a two-game opening schedule in Sydney, Australia on March 22 and 23. With all the brouhaha over the NCAA Men's Basketball Brackets and Warren Buffett's $Billion, the series between the two National League West rivals hardly caused a ripple in the overall sporting pond. The Dodgers swept the two game series, and thus are alone atop the National League West. The good news for Rockies fans is that the D-Backs are a full game behind our loveable Pet Rox, and reliever Wilton Lopez has yet to blow a game. The Donnie Baseball-led Dodgers will resume their regular season with their North American debut at Petco Park in San Diego on March 30. It would have been a blessing for LA if Clayton Kershaw could start again against the Padres, and I'm sure that's what they would have preferred, but he's got a sore back, so he'll miss the series against San Diego.
Manager Don Mattingly set a modern-day Major League record the other day, for the earliest closed-door team meeting with his team following their return from Down Under. It seems that second-year phenom, Yasiel Puig, was the subject of the meeting, as coaches and players alike voiced their concern that the young, talented Cuban outfielder wasn't 'maturing' properly in the big leagues. Too much money and fame too fast? As a Cuban defector who sought asylum in Mexico, the Dodgers signed the 21-year-old to a 7-year, $42 million contract on June 28, 2012. He immediately went to the Arizona Rookie league where he played in only nine games. He hit .400 with 4 homers and 11 RsBI (that'll be the last time I use the 'correct' syntax to abbreviate Runs Batted In, from now on I'll go with the more accepted RBIs form). Puig was elevated to Advanced Class A ball in Rancho Cucamonga where he played in 14 games, batting .327 for the Quakes of Cucamonga. After winter ball in Puerto Rico and a torrid Spring Training in the 2013 Dodger camp, batting a ridiculous .526, he began the season in the AA Southern League for the Chattanooga Lookouts. In 40 games, Puig hit for a .313 average with 8 home runs and 37 RBIs. On June 2, 2013, the Dodger brass summoned him to Chavez Ravine to make his Major League debut against the San Diego Padres at hallowed Dodger Stadium, in front of Magic Johnson and a national TV audience. His first at-bat produced a single off Eric Stults, and he finished the day 2 for 4 at the dish. More impressive, was his game-ending running catch on OF Kyle Blanks' fly to short right and amazing throw to double up OF Chris Denorfia who had walked and represented the tying run for the Padres. In his second game, Yasiel clubbed two homers and a double to drive in 5 runs. In his fourth game he hit a grand slam, and PuigMania was on. Even Fernando Valenzuela was seen in the crowd celebrating.
The following day, Puig hit another homer to become only the 2nd player in the modern era (Mike Jacobs in 2005 was the other) to hit four home runs in his first five games and his 10 RBI tied the Major League record for most RBI in the first five games of a career (with Danny Espinosa (2010) and Jack Merson (1951)). Puig was named the National League Player of the Week for the week of June 3–9. He had 27 hits in his first 15 games, tied with Joe DiMaggio (1936) and Terry Pendleton (1984) for second most all-time behind Irv Waldron (1901) and Bo Hart (2003) with 28. He also became the first player in major league history to record at least 34 hits and seven home runs in his first 20 games and set Dodger records for most hits through 20 games (one more than Gibby Brack in 1937) and total bases through 20 games (58, four more than Del Bissonette in 1928). Puig finished the month of June with 44 hits, breaking Steve Sax's 1983 team record for most hits by a rookie in one month. That total was also second all-time for rookies in their first month, behind only DiMaggio who had 48. In 26 games in June, Puig hit .436 with a .467 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage, an OPS of 1.180! He won both the National League Rookie of the Month Award and the National League Player of the Month Award, the first time someone had won both in their first month in the Majors. He lost out to Atlanta's 1B Freddie Freeman for the final spot on the 2013 National League All-Star Team.
Puig finished 2013 with a .319 average in 104 games, with 19 homers and 42 RBIs. He claimed second place in Rookie of the Year balloting, behind fellow Cuban, P Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins. His lack of maturity, as exhibited by speeding infractions in Chattanooga (97 in a 50) and in Naples, FL (110 in a 70), and on-field showboating, prompted Mattingly and other veteran Dodgers to conduct their closed session, to rein him in and emphasize to him his responsibilities as a Major Leaguer and, more importantly, as a budding Dodger superstar.
The LA Moneybags remain the odds-on favorite to dominate the NL West, and even to advance to the World Series. That's a lot of pressure on a team and franchise that is frankly unproven when it comes to living up to expectations. The Padres and Rockies look to be fighting for the cellar, unless our hapless Pet Rox can remain miraculously healthy (Tulo and CarGo and Cuddy), and the pitching holds up beyond historical expectations. A repeat Rocktober up in the new Party Deck sounds like a fine way to spend the first three weeks in October.
We can dream, can't we? It's Spring Time, Hope Springs Eternal, and everybody but the Diamondbacks is undefeated. I've run out of breath, so Rockies and Yankees blogs will follow. I'll end with a quote from legendary Pulitzer Prize winning political writer, George F. Will:
"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona."
Manager Don Mattingly set a modern-day Major League record the other day, for the earliest closed-door team meeting with his team following their return from Down Under. It seems that second-year phenom, Yasiel Puig, was the subject of the meeting, as coaches and players alike voiced their concern that the young, talented Cuban outfielder wasn't 'maturing' properly in the big leagues. Too much money and fame too fast? As a Cuban defector who sought asylum in Mexico, the Dodgers signed the 21-year-old to a 7-year, $42 million contract on June 28, 2012. He immediately went to the Arizona Rookie league where he played in only nine games. He hit .400 with 4 homers and 11 RsBI (that'll be the last time I use the 'correct' syntax to abbreviate Runs Batted In, from now on I'll go with the more accepted RBIs form). Puig was elevated to Advanced Class A ball in Rancho Cucamonga where he played in 14 games, batting .327 for the Quakes of Cucamonga. After winter ball in Puerto Rico and a torrid Spring Training in the 2013 Dodger camp, batting a ridiculous .526, he began the season in the AA Southern League for the Chattanooga Lookouts. In 40 games, Puig hit for a .313 average with 8 home runs and 37 RBIs. On June 2, 2013, the Dodger brass summoned him to Chavez Ravine to make his Major League debut against the San Diego Padres at hallowed Dodger Stadium, in front of Magic Johnson and a national TV audience. His first at-bat produced a single off Eric Stults, and he finished the day 2 for 4 at the dish. More impressive, was his game-ending running catch on OF Kyle Blanks' fly to short right and amazing throw to double up OF Chris Denorfia who had walked and represented the tying run for the Padres. In his second game, Yasiel clubbed two homers and a double to drive in 5 runs. In his fourth game he hit a grand slam, and PuigMania was on. Even Fernando Valenzuela was seen in the crowd celebrating.
The following day, Puig hit another homer to become only the 2nd player in the modern era (Mike Jacobs in 2005 was the other) to hit four home runs in his first five games and his 10 RBI tied the Major League record for most RBI in the first five games of a career (with Danny Espinosa (2010) and Jack Merson (1951)). Puig was named the National League Player of the Week for the week of June 3–9. He had 27 hits in his first 15 games, tied with Joe DiMaggio (1936) and Terry Pendleton (1984) for second most all-time behind Irv Waldron (1901) and Bo Hart (2003) with 28. He also became the first player in major league history to record at least 34 hits and seven home runs in his first 20 games and set Dodger records for most hits through 20 games (one more than Gibby Brack in 1937) and total bases through 20 games (58, four more than Del Bissonette in 1928). Puig finished the month of June with 44 hits, breaking Steve Sax's 1983 team record for most hits by a rookie in one month. That total was also second all-time for rookies in their first month, behind only DiMaggio who had 48. In 26 games in June, Puig hit .436 with a .467 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage, an OPS of 1.180! He won both the National League Rookie of the Month Award and the National League Player of the Month Award, the first time someone had won both in their first month in the Majors. He lost out to Atlanta's 1B Freddie Freeman for the final spot on the 2013 National League All-Star Team.
Puig finished 2013 with a .319 average in 104 games, with 19 homers and 42 RBIs. He claimed second place in Rookie of the Year balloting, behind fellow Cuban, P Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins. His lack of maturity, as exhibited by speeding infractions in Chattanooga (97 in a 50) and in Naples, FL (110 in a 70), and on-field showboating, prompted Mattingly and other veteran Dodgers to conduct their closed session, to rein him in and emphasize to him his responsibilities as a Major Leaguer and, more importantly, as a budding Dodger superstar.
The LA Moneybags remain the odds-on favorite to dominate the NL West, and even to advance to the World Series. That's a lot of pressure on a team and franchise that is frankly unproven when it comes to living up to expectations. The Padres and Rockies look to be fighting for the cellar, unless our hapless Pet Rox can remain miraculously healthy (Tulo and CarGo and Cuddy), and the pitching holds up beyond historical expectations. A repeat Rocktober up in the new Party Deck sounds like a fine way to spend the first three weeks in October.
We can dream, can't we? It's Spring Time, Hope Springs Eternal, and everybody but the Diamondbacks is undefeated. I've run out of breath, so Rockies and Yankees blogs will follow. I'll end with a quote from legendary Pulitzer Prize winning political writer, George F. Will:
"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona."
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