Sunday, May 06, 2007
Early Season Baseball notes
It all started with the lousy weather. What on Earth are they doing with the weather? First of all, they should be opening play on a weekday afternoon in Cincinnati. Secondly, if they weren't playing so many rounds of playoffs, they wouldn't need to start nearly as early in April. The rash of early season injuries were do, in some part, to playing games at sites and in conditions they shouldn't have. Ridiculous, the Cleveland Indians lost a whole home series to a neutral site. A unique baseball screw-up that short of a national crisis, ala Katrina, never happens in the other major sports. It could have been avoided simply by not scheduling a cold weather home series against a non-divisional opponent. Which of course, points up how screwed up the divisions are and therefore the schedule is, but that's a rant for another day.
A few thoughts on some teams...
the Houston Astros had better win some games, it's a lousy division, but the further back they are, the harder it will be to lure back Roger Clemens...
the Milwaukee Brewers have been feasting on their crappy division, 4-1 versus the 'stros and the reeling Cardinals, 16-8 versus the Central overall.
the St. Louis Cardinals, pile on about the baseball results when they're down from something far more substantial? No thanks. But let no one forget their manager was arrested for DUI this Spring, and was somewhat less than cooperative and regretful.He warned his players post Josh Hancock's tragic death that the media was going to turn this into, a "less than sweet story." Hey La Russa, accept some personal responsibility!! It was you, not the Media behind the wheel passed out in an intersection.
the Mets look even better than the Clarion was willing to suppose, they have gotten all kinds of pitching at the beginning of the season. How about early Cy Young candidate John "don't conflate me with Kenny Maine." Excellent work from Oliver Perez as well. Save for one bad outing, his strikeout to walk ratio has been other worldly, then last night they got a contribution from Jorge Sosa...if Pedro ever makes it back they are going to be uber-tough. Love to see 48 year old Julio Franco hit one into the pool in Arizona the other night, set the record for oldest man to homer. He stole a base in the same game. (How out of Bill Veeck nightmare does the phrase "hit it into the pool in Arizona" sound to a baseball traditionalist.)
the Phils may have weathered the early storm. Last year they got off to a slow start and by the time the righted the ship, it was too late, they were too far back. It looked like things were headed in the same direction this year, manager Charlie Manuel was gripping and the Clarion was about to join the ranks of those calling for his firing. But they have pulled back from the brink? Could Bret Myers work out in the bullpen? Perhaps, better than Flash Gordon every would have? The flyin' Hawaiian Shane Victorino is heating up, stealing bags left and right, trailing only Jose Reyes for the MLB lead. What's up with Pat Burrell? Didn't he used to be halfway decent? Does he need to go?
the Red Sox, Beckett has been pitching lights out, 6-0, with an ERA under 3.00, Dice-K less so, pitching to a 5.45 ERA. They are off to a great start. Winning five out of six head to head against the Yankees was huge.
the Yankees themselves, well the Clarion isn't that all fired worried. Surely not as worried as some. Yes, we are glad they fired the strength and conditioning coach. And no, we will never be Brian Cashman's biggest fan. But despite a rash of injuries and losing the aforementioned five of six to the Sox, the Yanks are by no means buried. In the last week they have won five of six, even with A-Rod cooling off a little bit. The pitching could be coming around, after solid starts from Pettitte and Mussina, Wang followed that up with 8 perfect innings yesterday. Can the Yankees nab Clemens? If they could, perhaps they can still have the pitching match-up advantage versus Boston come September and October. The more immediate issue is to get length out of the starters. The Yankees bullpen has been over-taxed and uninspiring. The low point of the season was Joe Torre's use of Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning of the first Boston series. Joe had said all of season and all Spring he wasn't going to overuse Rivera. He claimed over and over he wasn't going to use Rivera in the 8th inning, then in the first game of the year against the Sox, he does it and gets beat. It was very frustrating to see Torre hand the Red Sox that massive psychological advantage this early in the season. However, it must be viewed in the context of the chain reaction that caused it, lousy starting pitching, over worked middle relief, losses and Mo having had the previous five days off.
Lucky for Yankees rooters, like the Clarion, there's a lot of season left.
A few thoughts on some teams...
the Houston Astros had better win some games, it's a lousy division, but the further back they are, the harder it will be to lure back Roger Clemens...
the Milwaukee Brewers have been feasting on their crappy division, 4-1 versus the 'stros and the reeling Cardinals, 16-8 versus the Central overall.
the St. Louis Cardinals, pile on about the baseball results when they're down from something far more substantial? No thanks. But let no one forget their manager was arrested for DUI this Spring, and was somewhat less than cooperative and regretful.He warned his players post Josh Hancock's tragic death that the media was going to turn this into, a "less than sweet story." Hey La Russa, accept some personal responsibility!! It was you, not the Media behind the wheel passed out in an intersection.
the Mets look even better than the Clarion was willing to suppose, they have gotten all kinds of pitching at the beginning of the season. How about early Cy Young candidate John "don't conflate me with Kenny Maine." Excellent work from Oliver Perez as well. Save for one bad outing, his strikeout to walk ratio has been other worldly, then last night they got a contribution from Jorge Sosa...if Pedro ever makes it back they are going to be uber-tough. Love to see 48 year old Julio Franco hit one into the pool in Arizona the other night, set the record for oldest man to homer. He stole a base in the same game. (How out of Bill Veeck nightmare does the phrase "hit it into the pool in Arizona" sound to a baseball traditionalist.)
the Phils may have weathered the early storm. Last year they got off to a slow start and by the time the righted the ship, it was too late, they were too far back. It looked like things were headed in the same direction this year, manager Charlie Manuel was gripping and the Clarion was about to join the ranks of those calling for his firing. But they have pulled back from the brink? Could Bret Myers work out in the bullpen? Perhaps, better than Flash Gordon every would have? The flyin' Hawaiian Shane Victorino is heating up, stealing bags left and right, trailing only Jose Reyes for the MLB lead. What's up with Pat Burrell? Didn't he used to be halfway decent? Does he need to go?
the Red Sox, Beckett has been pitching lights out, 6-0, with an ERA under 3.00, Dice-K less so, pitching to a 5.45 ERA. They are off to a great start. Winning five out of six head to head against the Yankees was huge.
the Yankees themselves, well the Clarion isn't that all fired worried. Surely not as worried as some. Yes, we are glad they fired the strength and conditioning coach. And no, we will never be Brian Cashman's biggest fan. But despite a rash of injuries and losing the aforementioned five of six to the Sox, the Yanks are by no means buried. In the last week they have won five of six, even with A-Rod cooling off a little bit. The pitching could be coming around, after solid starts from Pettitte and Mussina, Wang followed that up with 8 perfect innings yesterday. Can the Yankees nab Clemens? If they could, perhaps they can still have the pitching match-up advantage versus Boston come September and October. The more immediate issue is to get length out of the starters. The Yankees bullpen has been over-taxed and uninspiring. The low point of the season was Joe Torre's use of Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning of the first Boston series. Joe had said all of season and all Spring he wasn't going to overuse Rivera. He claimed over and over he wasn't going to use Rivera in the 8th inning, then in the first game of the year against the Sox, he does it and gets beat. It was very frustrating to see Torre hand the Red Sox that massive psychological advantage this early in the season. However, it must be viewed in the context of the chain reaction that caused it, lousy starting pitching, over worked middle relief, losses and Mo having had the previous five days off.
Lucky for Yankees rooters, like the Clarion, there's a lot of season left.
Comments:
This is from an emailer to Bill Simmons' blog. It summarizes the reaction to the tragic death of Cardinals Josh Hancock perfectly,
"e-mail from Ed in Dallas: "Does the coverage of the Josh Hancock accident perfectly illustrate the double standard we have with different sports? If a tattooed, cornrowed NBA player had been been in a fatal, single-car accident with a BAC level twice the legal limit, allegedly on the phone with a woman arranging a hookup and with a stash of weed in the car -- he'd be posterized as everything that's wrong with the NBA. Since it's a clean-cut white guy, he's being treated like Barbaro.")"
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"e-mail from Ed in Dallas: "Does the coverage of the Josh Hancock accident perfectly illustrate the double standard we have with different sports? If a tattooed, cornrowed NBA player had been been in a fatal, single-car accident with a BAC level twice the legal limit, allegedly on the phone with a woman arranging a hookup and with a stash of weed in the car -- he'd be posterized as everything that's wrong with the NBA. Since it's a clean-cut white guy, he's being treated like Barbaro.")"
