DOA

This is the year we tie the Phillies record. 16 straight seasons.

There is honestly 99% no hope for a turn of events.

The Pirates minor-league system is bankrupt, and the major-league team is below average in talent.

Should be fun watching Ian Snell and Gorzo pitch... Hopefully Bay returns to form so we can trade him for some real prospects. Maybe LaRoche as well. Jack Wilson should be traded now while his stock is as high as it's going to get.

We'll get about 70 wins, even in the pathetic NL Central. The owners will continue to subtly full the fans into thinking it's MLB's fault for not having a salary cap, while Nutting rakes in one of the largest profits in MLB, thanks mostly to revenue sharing and Steinbrenner.

Small market winning can be done, but only by smart people. Not a good reality for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Here's to the 2008 season!

(Yes, I will continue to post all season with regularity.) :)

Wanting to Hope

I can almost smell the freshcut grass, spilled beer, and steaming hotdogs....it's here! Baseball is back! The first day of Spring may have been a week ago (weather not withstanding) but for me the first real day of Spring is Opening Day. Not this Opening Day in Japan stuff, but real Opening Day. That is when we get games every day. And as Thomas Boswell says in Ken Burns' Baseball, "You may not watch it every day, but it is there when you need it." or something like that. What a beautiful thing.

What may not be beautiful is the Cardinals' season. I feel weird about the season. It has been a long time since I came into the season not really feeling that we have a good shot at winning the division, let alone contend. But I am struggling with that this year. Joe may be saying, "Welcome to my world." True enough. But I am also still wanting to hold out hope for the season because as they say, you never know.

IF the starting pitching can hold together--and that is a HUGE IF--we will have a shot to contend. The bullpen is pretty good and the lineup should be better with Glaus instead of Rolen and more experience for Duncan and Ankiel, but I don't know...the more I look at the team..a LOT has to go better than expected. The defense is not great...I know Edmonds wasn't the same guy, but still far better than most. And Rolen was always phenomenal. Offensively, outside of Albert there is still no reliable bat in the lineup. They should be decent, but not that good.

This is likely our lineup:

RF Skip Schumaker
2B Adam Kennedy
1B Albert Pujols
3B Troy Glaus
LF Chris Duncan
CF Rick Ankiel
C Yadier Molina
SS Cesar Izturis

That's a guess at the order, but whatever the case I'm guessing no one is intimidated, despite good spring training for some of these guys.

The rotation is the real question mark, though. Just as scary as last year:

Adam Wainwright--excellent first year as a starter, probably the only dependable one
Braden Looper--adequate as a first year starter last year himself, but not exciting
Todd Wellemeyer--also first starts last year (noticing a pattern)
Brad Thompson--after 3 seasons he still looks 15...not that's bad =)
Kyle Lohse--I like this pickup a lot, but he's still not the answer

Again, IF the pitching holds up ok, AND Mulder and Clement come back soon pitching well, there is a shot at contending. But I hate to say it...it would almost take a miracle for the Cubs NOT to win the division. Ugh.

Guys, I will try to hold out hope. Show me you can do it.

just for the record...

... It's 6:50 am and I've been watching live baseball from Japan for the last 45 minutes. It's so beautiful and wonderful I'm not sure I can describe the joy accompanying my early morning activity. [Can you really call this an activity? I'm just sitting on the couch....] The score is 2-0, A's in the top of the 6th. Two on... no outs... Ortiz is up. Out! Pop-up. Base hit by Manny! Two runs score. 2-2.

Somehow, I need to pull myself away so I can get ready for work.

It's back, my friends.... the glory of baseball is back. : )

Looking forward to writing soon about my beloved Phils...

Opening Day Eve

Or Rather...opening day itself as the Boston Red Sox are in Japan to take on the Oakland A's. Diasuke Matsuzaka vs Joe Blanton. I'm not sure how I feel about opening the season in Japan, especially since the team comes back to the US and reopens spring training after two regular season games. How weird. Anyway, I expect Diasuke to have a big day in front of his home town fans.

For the second time in my life, the Boston Red Sox are the defending World Champions. The starting nine from last year is returning 100 %. The main difference is Jacoby Ellsbury will be up for the entire season. Ellsbury made a name for himself in September while Manny was taking a break and later in October. Crisp struggled like there was no tomorrow in the playoffs, and Ellsbury was inserted into the lineup and was almost the World Series MVP. Most speculate Coco Crisp will be traded, and he's been very vocal about not wanting to rot on the bench. The other noteworthy transaction was Doug Mirabelli, Tim Wakefield's personal catcher, was cut in favor of Kevin Cash who stepped in and did awesome last year when Doug was hurt. The Red Sox tried this once before, and ended up trading away Josh Bard and Clay Meridith to get Mirabelli back (who was hitting .172 or something...in the National League...). I hope they stick to their guns this time. Dougie can't hit the ball at all anymore.

The starting rotation is, in my opinion, better than 2007. The one difference is Jon Lester is in the rotation instead of Julian "Automatic Win Day" Tavarez. I expect Beckett to build on the magnificiant October he had. I'm predicting he'll win the Cy Young this year. Schilling's hurt right now, but the Sox have two viable options to fill in for him. The young Clay Bucholtz, who you may recall no-hit the Orioles last year before being shut down with a tired arm, and the veteran Bartolo Colon. I think it might be Bucholtz to start the year, but I wouldn't be surprised if Colon didn't play a big part of the year. The Sox got him dirt cheap. I'm hoping he plays the role David Wells did here from 2005-2006 or Brett Saberhagen did in 1999. I'm actually pretty excited about Colon, and am predicting he'll win 10 games. We'll see if that's true.

Anyway, I'll make some 2008 predictions, but not now. I'd rather wait for the lull between opening day Japan and opening day USA.

Hall of Fame Voting

Jim Rice should be in the Hall of Fame. This will be his 14th year or something on the ballet, and I don't understand why it's taking so long. The man dominated baseball. According to MLB.com, from 1978-1986 (9 seasons!), he lead all American Leaguers in games played, at bats, runs, hits, homers, RBI, slugging percentage, total bases, extra-base hits, go-ahead RBIs, multi-hit games and outfield assists. It is clear to me that the previous sentence proves my point, so I'm gonna shut up now and wait for him to be voted in.

Farewell, Jimmy

It is a strange thing how I feel about Jim Edmonds being traded. For most of the last couple years I can only say that I had little confidence in Jim at the plate, usually forseeing a strikeout on a pitch up around his helmet. I was surprised when they signed him to a two year $19M contract last year since he had done so poorly and been so hurt the year before...and he didn't seem to have much left in the tank. Probably from running into so many walls and throwing himself all over centerfield so long. (My roommate--loser Cub fan--seems to think all Jim does is catch the ball and fall down...cynic...he just doesn't know baseball).

So, after half wishing they hadn't resigned him and thrown money at a player so obviously not going to live up to it and groaning when he would come to the plate in clutch situations...well, I am sad that he is gone. I was a little surprised, to tell you the truth. Not just because another team would want to trade for him (and I hope he plays well for the Pads...what about Cameron, though?). Jim just seemed like one of those guys the Cardinals would hold onto because he was a real Cardinal and would retire a Cardinal. He has certainly been a fan favorite for years and it won't be the same without him in center. I won't miss his swing-and-miss approach to hitting these last few years, but he was amazing out in the field and still gave me confidence that that part of the diamond was covered. I guess this is what happens when a team gets old and needs to start looking to the future.

Farewell, Jimmy. You will be missed. (and not just by my friend Brian, who likes to pretend you are his biological father)

what a sad, sad day

i can't believe the phillies didn't give aaron rowand what he wanted. he was looking for a long-term deal where he could settle down for awhile. and the phils weren't willing to give it to him, so he moved on.

i think they may have been scared of another pat burrell incident.

burrell was a beast a few years ago... and they gave him a huge contract to keep him in philly. problem was, he started sucking. for three years he became an albatross that the phillies had no choice but to carry, since no other team wanted to pick up a mediocre, over-payed player. it was helpful for the bat of... well, "pat the bat" to pick up again the second half of this past season.

back to rowand. here's a guy who thrives in philadelphia b/c he's a philly-type of guy. he appeals to the blue-collar, gritty south philly crowd b/c he's a gritty-run-into-the-wall-and-break-your-nose kinda guy. that's who we want in philly.

sadly, before rowand, we hadn't had a guy like him since my favorite baseball player of all time, lenny dykstra. coincidentally, also a centerfielder who was covered in dirt after every game. or was it his tobacco juice? ehh... i think it was both.

let's talk about the philadelphia management for a moment. their out loud excuse is that they don't want to pay the money to keep rowand there long-term when they need to spend the money on good pitching.

problem #1: they don't get good pitchers. they get average guys who they say "have a lot of potential." so they don't keep rowand [who, for argument's sake was perhaps a little bit greedy and would have been better off playing three years in a contending city than spending five in san fran, who for all intents and purposes sucks] to save money... and do what with it? THEY SURE DON'T GO AFTER HIGH QUALITY PITCHERS! they're looking at average guys and are willing to give them a shot.

problem #2: there is no shot available to average guys at citizen's bank park. it's a hitter's ball park... and the only way for a pitcher to truly be successful there is to be GREAT... not average.
countless pitchers over the last few years [garcia, eaton, lidle, leiber, etc.] who came in with high hopes sucked.

solution: when your pitching sucks, and there's no hope for having a solid pitching order b/c you're playing most of your games at cbp, it would make the most sense to bulk up your offensive line-up as much as humanly possible and spend the money to bring in ridiculously good pitchers.

this means, keeping your gold-glove, all-star, .300-hitting center fielder.

it means keeping michael bourn, potentially the fastest man in baseball right now.

it means getting rid of two of your four mid-career 3rd basemen to build up some cash or three of your four if you're gonna go after a great corner guy.

it means getting rid of the sucky catcher you paid big bucks for last off season who didn't end up starting after all to find a great 3rd baseman or better yet, some high-quality, sustainable pitching. [which... in looking at their roster, they seemed to have done.]

it means not letting GREAT players leave... like curt schilling all those years ago... who they thought was probably done [though i'll never know why]... but ended up being a hero on what... three world series teams?

the management in philadelphia is insufferable.

so, now they're on a hunt for another outfielder [since they gave up both rowand AND bourn]. they still don't have a great third baseman AND they let iguchi run off with another team, who could have filled that spot.

and alas... they still don't have too much hope beyond cole hamels from the pitcher's mound. we'll see what happens with lidge in the mix... and whatever other scoundrel they pick up.

the philadelphia phillies just dropped down a notch.

you're going backwards, boys... you're supposed to be making your team BETTER... not worse by giving away your great players...

A pleading

Dear Phillies,

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE... don't let Aaron Rowand go.

Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,

Mrs. Utley??????

Free Agents Part 1

Reports are that the Red Sox are close to signing Schilling. I heard 10 million for 1 year, which means if he pitches as well as he did this year, he will earn more than 1 million dollars a win. Not too shabby for him.

It doesn't bother me though. The Red Sox can afford it. If you believe otherwise they've fooled you.

The great debate is Mike Lowell vs. A-Rod. I say try to get them both. Imagine A-Rod and his 55+ homers replacing Lugo and his, well, 55+ hits. Again, if you don't believe the Red Sox can afford it, they've fooled you. They're a lot richer than they let the fan base think.

The other argument is everyone here hates A-Rod. True. But, those of us who were around back in the late 90s (when you could show up the day of the game and buy a ticket...when Fenway had less seats...and the tickets were half the price they are now...) remember that the most hated player in Boston was Manny Rameriz. Funny how things change.

Ellsberry
Youkilis
Ortiz
Rameriz
Rodriguez
Lowell
Pedroia
Varitek
Drew

That's a lineup.

2004 vs 2007 Red Sox

So, I've been catching up on work and I haven't read anything about the World Series and I missed the parade today. But here is just a thought:

Regardless of who had the better team, the 2004 Red Sox will always be number 1 as far as I'm concerned. No one ever had to overcome more and no one ever will.

75 percent of this region was convinced the Red Sox were cursed. I say 75% now, but in all honesty, it was 100%. I was on record as saying "I'm agnostic when it comes to the Curse of the Bambino," which is mostly because as a Christian I didn't believe Babe Ruth or any other mortal had the power to do that. But it was getting harder and harder every year to argue against it.

Aside from having every single fan in the ball park night after night debate on how the Red Sox would collapse, you had old players, managers and general managers whose careers had been ruined. Grady Little was on record as saying that throughout the playoffs he had players coming to him saying they were terrified of becoming the next Buckner. I believe that.

Then, on top of that, you have to play the Yankees. You don't even understand how much of an inferior complex Boston had to New York. It was horrible. Yankee fans were correct in stating the rivalry was the equivilant of the rivalry between the hammer and the nail. And on the rare occassions the nail won, we were all reminded how irrelevant it was "NINETEEN-EIGHTEEN." It's true the Celtics are historically better than the Knicks, the Patriots are better than the Jets, and hockey is irrelevant. But New Yorkers knew better than anyone that Boston is a baseball town. If you beat Boston in baseball, you've beaten Boston. The region would have traded Super Bowl XXXVI for a World Series in a heartbeat. It might have even traded Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII for a World Series. And all of New York knew that.

(Random Aside- I never once before 2004 met a New Yorker who was a Jet fan. As soon as you'd try in chat rooms or message boards or real life to shield Boston sports from taking a beating by bringing the Patriots into it, you could never find a New Yorker who admitted to watching football. I've never once met a New Yorker who was a Jet fan since either. Do the Jets have any fans???? How do they still exist as a franchise?)

Then you go down 3 games to nothing and are losing in the 8th inning of game 4 with a man who had dominated the league for the last 8 seasons on the mound needing 5 defensive outs. You'd have to be, well, for lack of a better term, an idiot to not realize what was at stake and collapse and fold under the pressure. Cue Kevin Millar. That was amazing. It was a wild ride. The floor I lived on had predominantly people who were from New York. In fact, there was 1 other room besides mine with Red Sox fans. They looked pretty depressed before game 4, which was how I felt. I saw them though, wearing Red Sox gear, and I said "Hey, you gotta keep the faith. And what better way to break a curse then to come back and beat those... in 4 straight." I don't really think I believed what I was saying. I thought they were toast too.

Man, the excitement of that 2004 run will never be matched. Even if the Cubs come back from down 0-2 in the NLDS, go down 0-3 to St. Louis and come back and win the series, then go down 0-3 to the White Sox and come back and win a World Series, there is a precident.

Sure, 2007 had a better rotation than 2004. And it's true 2007 had a better closer. 2004 could hit the ball a lot better and their middle relief would get the edge. 2004 was an aging team which was on it's last legs, and 2007 is a young team on the way up. We'll really see that come 2008 when the Red Sox might win back to back World Series for the first time since 1915-1916. But in the grand scheme of things, 2004 opened the door for 2007 to accomplish what it did. I don't think 2007 could have otherwise.

After the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, in the middle of the celebration, Schilling called them all together and offered a toast along the lines of "To the 2004 Red Sox, the greatest Red Sox team EVER."

I agree with that statement a lot more now then I did then.

it's a sad day...

... because baseball is gone until the springtime.

CONGRATS to john and the red sox! i'm glad at least someone on our blog had a great ending to the season.

do pitchers have a report date yet?

in the meantime... i suppose there are still things to write about. like off-season trades and where a-rod might be going... how our teams could be better... why the nl is so tragically worse than the al... why people insist on bunting being appropriate for baseball... and that joe buck and tim mccarver really aren't all that bad. i like them! [course... i have to like mccarver, being a former phillie and all.]

congrats again to the red sox. they played like champions... there's no doubt about that!

Who is the Best Team in Major League Baseball?

Boston Red Sox
Seven Time World Series Champions
1903 1912 1915 1916 1918 2004 2007

EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!

"WELL I LOVE THAT DIRTY WATER....OH- BOSTON YOUR MY HOME!!!!!!!!!"

"DON'T BLAME US IF WE EVER DOUBT YOU, YOU KNOW WE COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU-RED SOX YOU ARE THE ONLY ONLY ONLY"

This one was no where near as stressful as 2004. I remember hanging on every pitch in 2004, wondering who was gonna blow it. I remember "Ground Ball Back to Foulke" and expecting him to throw it into the first row of the seats. This one I didn't. I knew it was over tonight. I would have flipped out if the Cardinals pulled within 1 run in game 4 of '04, but I just got annoyed at the Rockies in the eight and delaying the inevitable. Really, Colorado had no business being on the same field as Boston. They are who I thought they were. A team that got hot at the right time and got lucky and played in the National League. And the Red Sox didn't let them off the hook. I don't have any great indepth analysis or anything right now. I might ramble on for a bit or I might stop the post here.

2007 World Champions. I really don't know what to say. There's no way to sum it up. It's definitely no where near as special as the 2004 Championship. But it's much better than any other year since 1985.

When Papelbon blew away Seth Smith, another guy I never heard of, two things happened. I screamed at the top of my lungs "HE GOT HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and I noticed Varitek put the ball in his pocket. The Red Sox owners made a huge deal over the 2004 ball with Mientkiewicz. I hope they let Varitek have it. If they complain, I hope Varitek sells it on EBAY or something. Difference between 2004 and 2007: 2004-ground ball, I fall to my knees and almost have heart failure, hanging on Joe Bucks' every word (he sucks so much by the way, he keeps insisting Youk wasn't active in 2004. Why doesn't someone from Fox enlighten AND/or fire him? Note the stress on the AND...) 2007- up and walking back and forth excited, watching Papelbon be Papelbon and then yelling loud enough to block out Buck and McCaver before my baseball IQ dropped any lower.

My grandfather was born in 1915. The Red Sox won the 1915, 1916 and 1918 World Series in his life time. Then he turned 4 and they stopped. He died in May of 1987. The last World Series he ever saw was 1986 when the Red Sox blew a two run lead in game six in the tenth and a three run lead in game seven.

My grandmother was born in February of 1919. The Red Sox were defending World Champions. She died in November of 2003. The Red Sox won the very next World Series.

I had a friend I went to high school with who died in April of 2004. The Red Sox were gonna play in Texas that night, but it was rained out. It was very fitting, cause the last thing I wanted to do was watch a baseball game. He never got to see a Red Sox World Series Championship.

There are plenty of stories like that. Eddie Andleman is a talk show host around here who had his tombstone made up saying "Here lies Eddie Andelman. He never saw the Red Sox win a World Series." He's still alive, so I hope for his sake he wasn't watching in 2004 and didn't watch tonight. Otherwise, he'll need a new tombstone, and those are probably expensive.

As great as it is to be a fan of the World Series Champions, I've learned that baseball isn't everything. I never would have typed that before 2004. In 2004, my thoughts were about people who never got to see it. I guess now I am thinking about that too. But watching the game, my thoughts were along the same lines as Billy Chapel's in the movie For Love of the Game. He pitched a perfect game, and then the next day raced to an airport to meet his ex who was leaving him to take a job in London. He said something along the lines of "Last night should have been the best night of my life, but it wasn't because you weren't there to celebrate with me." I'm not saying it wasn't fun. But I am saying I would have enjoyed it A LOT more if I was in Amherst with my girlfriend Amanda, or if she were in Boston with me. She doesn't even reads this, so you know its true.

Boston Red Sox
Seven Time World Series Champions
1903 1912 1915 1916 1918 2004 2007

And counting...