April 2008 - Posts
Arizona is the best team in the National League and the fact that the Diamondbacks earn that distinction rather than the Mets with their huge payroll is notable.
Where the Mets stand as the calendar turns to May is another subject, although they can be measured against upstart Arizona when the two teams meet this weekend in Phoenix.
But this is about Arizona, the team that appeared World Series-bound last fall until being derailed at the last-minute by Colorado. The D’backs are better this year in one major area – the rotation. The addition of Dan Haren gives them the best 1-2 starters in the league (Brandon Webb and Haren). The Mets could surpass that if they get someone consistently producing behind Johan Santana but for now no NL club is better at the top of the rotation than Arizona.
CONTINUED >>
Athletics general manager Billy Beane walked from the Oakland dugout across the field to join a group wearing Minnesota uniforms. Beane spent two years in the Twins organization as a player and 20 years later he still knew half of the major league staff.
As Beane approached Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, his Triple-A roommate in 1987 and Rick Stelmaszek, bullpen coach today as he was when Beane played for the Twins, Beane told the group that he had just spoken with his young assistants about his link to this group. And he exclaimed how amazing it is that the Twins have such stability.
It struck me that the Minnesota organization continues to be baseball’s most unappreciated story. When the Twins win as they did in 2006 this organization gets credit. But finish near .500 as happened last year and the Twins are overlooked.
CONTINUED >>
The White Sox started the weekend on top in the AL Central, but are they legitimate season-long contenders or are they beneficiaries of early-schedule struggles from division rivals Detroit and Cleveland?
Here are the key early questions about the White Sox:
1. Can they score more runs? Dead last in this category in the AL last year, Chicago climbed to fourth in the league almost four weeks into the season. What’s made the difference? Well, Mark Gonzales, one of the game’s most knowledgeable beat writers who covers the White Sox for the Chicago Tribune, says that Nick Swisher (acquired from Oakland in January) is the “best thing to happen to the team in a long time.”
Off the field Swisher brings a needed personality to the clubhouse. On the field he inherited the leadoff spot and his patience at the plate has been contagious as the White Sox are sixth in walks. There are enough hitters in the lineup to score far more runs than Chicago did last season.
CONTINUED >>
Questions surrounded Sabathia after Detroit pounded him 13-2 last Wednesday. That loss left last year’s AL Cy Young winner with a 0-3 record and an astronomical 13.51 ERA. To make matters worse opposing batters were hitting .390 off of him.
Questions about his health and Sabathia replied he was fine. Questions about his impending free agency (his deal with the Indians ends after this season) and in response he stated the only thing he can -- that he hasn’t thought about his contract. Questions about where his head was at and to those his manager Eric Wedge contradicted Sabathia’s claim in a small way by admitting that the pitcher was “putting some heat on himself.”
Sabathia said his struggles were about his command of both sides of the plate. Detroit’s right-handed hitters were 8-for-20 against Sabathia. Against Kansas City, Sabathia was clocked at 94 and 95 mph in the first inning, 91 in the sixth. His fastball had life and his “slurve” was terrific. No problem with righties as he struck out Jose Guillen three times.
CONTINUED >>
My friends in tennis often marvel at the structure of team sports that commands all players to adhere to a team schedule. Tennis, of course, is a collection of players who are independent contractors and who operate in a manner similar to musical artists. They make their own touring schedules. Some decide to play many tournaments while others parcel their appearances more discriminately.
It’s a different story in baseball where the schedule has changed dramatically over the last three decades and for the players the changes have not been for the better.
The most recent example of this involves the Rockies. Colorado played 22 innings in San Diego Thursday night and had a night game Friday in Houston – going from one city to the other is a distance of 1,307 air miles. So as happens all the time in today’s game baseball’s absurd scheduling worked to the detriment of some of its players. And it is impossible to blame the lack of concern over this on anything other than greed.
CONTINUED >>
What to make of the Dodgers and their 7-8 start:
They are healthier with the return of Nomar Garciaparra two days ago and the lineup looked stronger. Even though they had two good scoring games against Pittsburgh after watching Takashi Saito surrender a ninth-inning homer in Monday’s opener of the series against the Pirates, the Dodgers still need to establish an ability to score on a consistent basis.
CONTINUED >>
We are just about 10 percent of the way through the season, the equivalent of runners reaching Mile 3 in this coming Monday’s Boston Marathon. (By the way, thanks for peeling yourself away from the scintillating analysis of next season’s newly released NFL schedule. This analysis is the height of absurdity. I heard one breathless talker ranting about the brutal stretch Chicago faces in November and December. Does anyone know who will be playing for the Bears by then?
So while admitting that the assessments that follow in this blog are quite premature, it’s fun to look at the teams that are early-season surprises and attempt to gauge how long they might be able to remain in the thick of things in their respective divisions.
CONTINUED >>
It was not a good weekend in Queens. The Mets lost two of three to Milwaukee. Johan Santana was outpitched in his Shea Stadium debut by Ben Sheets and the Mets hit into five double plays last Sunday while being victimized by sloppy play.
Much of this was buried in New York by the nonsense of a David Ortiz jersey being buried in cement in the new Yankee Stadium that’s under construction and Yankee manager Joe Girardi allowing Mike Mussina to pitch to Manny Ramirez last Saturday with two men on and first base open (Ramirez doubled home both runners).
But the Mets have to shake the specter of last September’s collapse and the accusation that they are without passion. It doesn’t help when their first baseman Carlos Delgado, asked if he was disappointed, disgusted or angry after the Mets blew a four-run lead and fell to Milwaukee 9-7 last Sunday, answered “About what?”
CONTINUED >>
Cincinnati is grabbing attention after winning six of its first 11 games. Usually with the Reds it’s about hitting, but this April the young arms of Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez top the bats as the team’s biggest stories.
Cueto, a bargain signing from the Dominican Republic, is flourishing with a changeup taught by Reds’ great Mario Soto. Volquez, acquired from Texas in December in the Josh Hamilton deal, routinely throws in the mid-90s and also offsets his heat with a good changeup.
Both are young and with highly-touted pitching prospect Homer Bailey starting the year with a pair of strong starts at Triple-A, the Reds have arms that give the franchise hope of better times to come.
CONTINUED >>
Starting Friday it will be the first weekend series of the season at Fenway Park and the Yankees visit for round one of what is the beginning of an essentially separate season played over 18 games between these two archrivals.
The Yankees and Red Sox play the rest of the American League (including the Blue Jays who harbor hopes of challenging both teams for superiority in the AL East). Plus both New York and Boston go against NL teams in interleague play. But for the Bronx Bombers and the BoSox the season that matters is the one that takes place inside their intense rivalry -- battles waged to win the war between the two premier franchises of this decade.
Boston is home from its international barnstorming tour that began in Japan and ended in Canada. Tuesday’s Opening Day in Beantown saw a cascade of emotions as Bill Buckner returned to throw out the ceremonial first pitch to a standing ovation and the Red Sox took delivery of their much-anticipated World Series rings that exceed two carats. The Red Sox are mostly happy, fairly healthy and well steeled to defend their title.
CONTINUED >>
Opening Day is about hope. So how does this great day work in a place where hope is faint?
Taking the pulse of Giants fans at the San Francisco opener Monday reinforced the belief of romantics who see in baseball unending metaphors for life. Every seat was filled. People stood three and four deep along the right-field arcade. They soaked in the sunshine, local favorite garlic fries, an afternoon beer and casual conversation.
CONTINUED >>
The most significant game that every baseball team is guaranteed to play is its home opener. Opening Day on the road is secondary. San Francisco started Barry Zito in the season opener at Dodger Stadium. For their home opener on April 7 the Giants will hand the ball to Matt Cain. In that move, designed to throw off the casual fan and soothe the ego of a wounded veteran, the Giants speak volumes about their heavy investment in Zito.
It’s too early to place Zito’s deal with the Giants in the Mike Hampton category but as Yogi Berra famously claimed, “It’s getting late early.”
Is the Zito contract going to be remembered as the greatest heist of Scott Boras’ reign as a super agent?
CONTINUED >>
I’ve never been to the Dominican Republic but I think I sampled it along the left-field line at Dolphin Stadium Tuesday night.
It was Pedro Martinez making his 2008 debut for the Mets in the closest thing to a “home” game that a Dominican (Martinez was born in Manoguayabo, Dom. Rep.) can play in Major League Baseball. The Dominican fans bore the native colors, waved the nation’s flag, chanted incessantly and gave Martinez a standing ovation for a successful sacrifice bunt. The only missing ingredient was that a concession stand that sells Presidente, the beer brewed in the Dominican Republic, was closed. Memo to the Marlins: bad planning.
The show was all about Martinez. Unfortunately it came to an early end -- a hamstring strain forcing the three-time Cy Young Award winner out of the game in the fourth inning.
CONTINUED >>
