June 2008 - Posts
When it comes to star shortstops remember the numbers from not long ago: In 1999 Nomar Garciaparra had a slugging percentage over .600 with 27 home runs and 104 RBIs. In the same year 23-year-old Alex Rodriguez had 42 home runs and 111 RBIs and Derek Jeter produced a career-best power season of 37 doubles, 24 home runs and 102 RBIs. One year later Miguel Tejada exploded, beginning a three-year run of 30-plus home runs and 110-plus RBIs.
Yes, the BALCO era wasn’t just about Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa. Numbers exploded everywhere, including unprecedented power numbers from the shortstop position. No connection of any player to steroid use is implied here nor was the power surge in baseball confined to shortstops. It’s simply a statement that the eye-popping numbers posted from the stars at the position cannot be denied.
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This week teams hit the halfway mark of the schedule -- a good time to look at 10 players who have taken full advantage of the opportunities given them this season. And in doing so some of these players have given themselves and their teams a chance to play in October.
Matt Garza, Rays
As an organization Minnesota makes few mistakes in player evaluations. There could have been an off-the-field issue that prompted the Twins to move this talented right-handed arm. Last November Garza was traded to Tampa Bay along with Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie.
Garza can show dominant stuff. His fastball gets into the mid-90s and he can also make effective use of a hard slider, change-up and a curve. He is dedicated to becoming a better pitcher and a key step in that direction is improving his consistency. But since bringing Garza aboard the Rays have seen flashes of brilliance from him and enough evidence (1.33 WHIP) to believe in his long-term ability.
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In a week where Willie Randolph was fired as manager of the Mets with a .544 career winning percentage, where the woefully underachieving Mariners made another managerial change and the Blue Jays said goodbye to John Gibbons as their skipper, Bobby Cox calmly rolls along in his 19th consecutive season as Braves manager.
Atlanta’s aura of invincibility, borne out of 14 consecutive division titles, is gone. Consecutive third-place finishes the last couple of seasons took care of that. Hopes for this year have taken a hit with the disintegration of the starting rotation. Spring dreams of John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Mike Hampton backing up Tim Hudson have been ruined. Now for the Braves’ faithful it’s watching the growth of Jair Juurjens and Charlie Morton in hopes they are the future starters and it’s also monitoring the return of Mike Gonzalez from Tommy John surgery in hopes he can be a closer. And it’s watching Yunel Escobar bloom at shortstop while hoping that Gregor Blanco and other youngsters the Braves are banking on for their future grow into productive major-league players.
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When traveling as a broadcaster in Major League Baseball Milwaukee has always been a stop to anticipate and enjoy. Like St. Louis, it is a city where baseball is king and the genuine niceness of Midwest folk is evidenced in a public setting like a ballpark.
They don’t boo in Milwaukee.
So imagine my shock when I read that Brewers third baseman Bill Hall is showered with boos at Miller Park this year. And that firing manager Ned Yost has become a cause for a vocal segment of Brewers’ fans.
What happened to Milwaukee?
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Watching chunks of Sunday’s Rangers-Mets doubleheader, I kept thinking of one person: Art Howe. Now the Texas bench coach, Howe, the Mets manager from 2002 to 2004, had to be grateful for being safely insulated from the madness that engulfed his successor from last September on. Yet he couldn’t help but look across the field into the Mets’ dugout and feel empathy for Willie Randolph, whom the Mets finally fired after their win last night over the Angels in Anaheim. News of Randolph’s firing along with that of the dismissals of pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto was delivered through a press release issued after the game.
The Mets treated Randolph in much the same manner as they did Howe in September of 2004. The scenario is ridiculously similar: a major New York newspaper “learns” that the Mets are seriously considering changing managers, competing media outlets race to find their own angle -- some without conscience hide behind the word “may” as they project a firing – and the manager is left unable to answer questions that never stop from the relentless and unfeeling New York media.
All of this happened to Howe before it happened to Randolph. Somehow, ownership’s feelings and meetings were “leaked” to a newspaper. For two straight days, the media cascaded into Howe’s office, asking questions that everyone, most notably ownership, knew Howe could not answer.
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The first time I saw John Smoltz pitch in person was Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. At 24, he produced one of the greatest performances in one of baseball’s greatest games. Game 7, World Series, unending deafening roar under the bubble of the Metrodome and this ingénue pitched seven shutout innings.
It would be Smoltz’s fate as well as his team’s that night to be countered by the greatest World Series pitching performance (in my view) -- 10 shutout innings thrown by Jack Morris.
That night foreshadowed much of Smoltz’s career. He has often followed the “and” -- as in (Greg) Maddux, (Tom) Glavine AND Smoltz.
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Here’s the problem with the Mets: they were built to win now and they haven’t.
There was no future when ownership gave the keys to Omar Minaya, who became general manager in late 2004. After Minaya took charge the payroll was raised, prospects were traded and everything was mortgaged to regain respectability (achieved in 2005) and contend for a championship (the Mets fell one win short of the World Series in 2006 and then collapsed down the stretch in 2007, missing the playoffs in agonizing fashion.
Manager Willie Randolph, a key to the 2005 turnaround of the mindset of a locker room mired in losing, has been on the block since last September’s collapse. Now, Minaya is taking shots.
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There were 202 players selected on the first day of Major League Baseball’s amateur draft. That the precise number is known and written about is further proof that the draft’s growing impact cannot be stopped.
Another reason the draft has become so significant is that nine of the first 11 players chosen in 2006 have already played in the majors. That’s the kind of fast-arriving help that teams used to dream of but now cannot be faulted for realistically expecting.
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I had a brief up close look at Manny Ramirez while covering the Red Sox in last year’s playoffs. My having been a National League broadcaster throughout Ramirez’s career, the views I had on him previously were few.
What did I take away from seeing him in the postseason? Well, he’s smaller than I thought and fitter than the baggy uniforms he wears make him appear on television. Asking around I learned that he earns admiration from teammates for his work ethic, often going to Fenway Park in the morning of game days for workouts.
I also saw his ability to match the moment. Last year he had a mediocre regular season but October uncovered a hero in Ramirez. He launched a Francisco Rodriguez heater over the Green Monster to win Game 2 of the ALDS and never stopped during Boston’s march to a second World Series triumph in four years.
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