Written March 31

It's back!

Oh freakin' finally, baseball is back. It's easy to tell I'm a baseball fan. I've made it easier at work by going from a hat that has this snake image but no words:

to this :



The first picture is the batting practice hat. Given the Dbacks haven't been around terribly long considering the age of major league baseball, I don't expect anyone to know that. The few people who have recognised it have been from Pheonix--which I am not.

Spring Training is over--which is awesome. I've explained the good and the bad of spring training to so many people I can't bare to even type it out--the gist of is it is if you're practicing on honing in on one thing, you can be indifferent to things like ERA or strike outs.

And now after the Japanese got to see our Past Time's opening day before us and the Braves lost to the Nationals, the rest of us are getting our games.

Unless you're a Yankee's fan--and if you are a big mighty "HAHA!" from me! The first of what I hope are many. Enjoy the rain delay programing. Today might be better.

Rain is causing chaos all around baseball. The Cubs and Brewers had their game stopped in the third, and my own Dbacks had the starting pitch knocked back an hour.

Speaking of my boys, I'm listening to my boys take it to the Reds in front of Cincinati. They have small lead but it's only the fifth inning. And this is baseball, afterall, and this is the Reds at home on Opening Day.

Its Never a Good Sign When the Score Could be for Football

As the regular season clears the halfway mark with the celebrated All Star Game and most of the league gets a little break that must feel like a big break (162 regular season games, people!) when the season yields a day off after 10 straight games--and you don't have to spend the day traveling. Even as a fan, I don't mind the five days of non baseball.

Well, relative non baseball--there's the Homerun Derby (congrats Vlad!) and the actual All Star Game for those who made it.

But, I don't think any of that is any reason to overlook the White Sox - Twins game from July 6th that ended with a definite loss by the White Sox. It's usually not hard to say if a 7 run game is close, but when the final score is 20 to 14, it puts some rare perspective on a game because these kind of games are rare. The most runs ever scored (total) in an American League game: 36. The most runs ever scored in the history of the White Sox: 35.

Most days; you would be thrilled with an offense that can put up 14 runs in a single game. I think most pitchers would feel good about a game you could promise half those numbers. But, when you're off--you're off.

White Sox's pitcher John Garland's ERA absorbed 11 of the runs before leaving the game with 7 of them coming in quick via the long ball. The tired state of the bullpen coupled with the last game of their double header still to go had to have something to do with a prolonged outing that otherwise might never of happened. However, even with their offense doing what it could to get them back in the race, the bullpen still had 9 scored on them.

And don't overlook Chicago's 5 errors on the game.

And that's not where it ended, I'm afraid. It was to be a double header, and while most double headers end in a split (each team usually picks up a win) the White Sox were having the definitive bad day in baseball, as they go shut out 12 - 0 with the following game.

I mention all this because 1) It's rare to have a baseball game with that high score and 2) Sometimes, you need something so bad that no matter how bad your own team is doing (like the Dbacks getting swept by the Reds!) you have the boon of knowing it wasn't as bad as that time. . . . .

July 6th's game has provided such a comparison. So remember that day people, and enjoy the rest of the season!

I Can PAY to Watch Comercials?

I paid for a MLB.TV subscription that is supposed to let me watch my Dbacks online. But, for some reason, Southern Utah is blacked out. I do however get the option of listening to the radio broadcast of the game. Why it's ok to listen as opposed to watching--I have no idea. I also have no idea why last year I wasn't in the black out area.

I do know I paid for it though. So, it pisses me off when I have to wait for an advertisement to finish before I'm allowed to hear my game. I can understand advertising on FSN etc, basic cable is cheap at best; but when people are paying money they shouldn't have to suffer through advertisements.

Greed is ugly.

O-Dog, yes. Byrnes, No

I'm glad they read my blog before going on live before making their final announcement. They had to wait for the Mariners and the Braves to finish their game before the announcements; so naturally there was both a rain delay and extra innings before the announcements were made.

I can tell they read my blog because Orlando Hudson is on the All Star Team (I'm just that important to baseball), as well as Jose Valverde--who is second in the league in saves. They must have figured I would be appeased by throwing the bone to Gold Glove winning O-Dog.

Maybe I might have been appeased if my Dbacks hadn't played a 13 - 0 game against the Giants.

Maybe.

All in all though, I'm happy. Tony Gwynn even said Eric Byrnes should be going to the All Star Game, which was unexpected but welcomed.

Halfway Through

I won't bore anyone with needless detail about my relatively boring life. Suffice to say I've been busy enough I didn't have the blogging spirit in me. But, I still like baseball and I still pay close attention to it.

So here we go.

Sunday, tomorrow July 1st we get to hear the final All Star tally. It's already been said that a record number of votes this year. Wether that's because more fans are voting or the fans that vote took advantage of the very trusting All Star Ballet (all ya needed was a different email, no confirmation or anything) that let you vote 25 times, is a debate.

Myself; I'm a National League sort of guy, I think the pitcher should hit ( no offense to the slowed up, older gentlemen who typically D.H.). My boys are in their new Sedona Red and they are looking good this year. The Dbacks are holding their own in the tightest division in baseball. The Padres and Dodgers have had better seasons coming into '07, which leads to them being hailed as the top contenders.

Either way you want to argue the division one thing is undebatable: every team in baseball has players that should be present at an event that boasts to have gathered the collected best of the best. And in the Diamondbacks case, it would be Eric Byrnes and Orlando Hudson (more on that in part II, to be written after the All Star announcement--hopefully not with bitter anger!)

I voted at least 300 times (unless you are some sort of official all star ballet counter, in which case--dude, I'm kidding!) which means I had to somehow enter in 12 emails. Once your initial votes were in ( you could skip either league if you didn't want to vote for their players) it was a matter of entering in a validation code, clicking in this order:

VOTE NOW!

PROCEDE TO THE NATIONAL LEAGUE!

REGISTER MY VOTE!

At which point you are thanked for voting and presented with a link that said:

VOTE AGAIN!

I got my wife to vote 75 times, and a handful of coworkers to vote their 25 times my way (I put in the votes and they clicked away).

I'm not proud, but if it were a functional event; I wouldn't have to threaten my friends and loved ones to do what I say. I think the All Star Game needs to take a close look at how the players for the teams are assembled.

Eric Byrnes (22) Should be in the All Star Game.

That's a goddamn fact.

I'll prove it later. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a couple more hours to stuff the ballet box as fat as I can.

He Might Maybe Think About Pitching

NY Yankees, BOS Red socks and HOU Astros all want Roger Clemens to come back and pitch half the season in their respective colors, but there’s a forth team who’s got a great shot at recruiting The Rocket: RE Tirement. But, lets consider them all after some tasteful but brief set up.

Last year, working out with his injured son Koby was the reason Roger felt like he stayed in good enough shape that he was in a position to come back and pitch after the All Star break. He chose the Astros for many reasons, a few of them being Houston is his home town and the Astros agreed to let him hang out at home when he wasn’t pitching—I’m not sure who hired the slaves to fan him on his thrown of cushions on the off days.

This year, the favorite seems to be the Yankees. Enough so that Robinson Cano surrendered his jersey number (voluntarily) so there wouldn’t be a conflict if Clemens decided to rejoin newly reacquired Andy Petite.

The Rocket has made statements towards the end that if he were to come back (again) it would to a team with a chance for the postseason. So, maybe not the Astros.

What doesn’t have to be said is that the team would also have to afford him—giving the Astros and their smaller budget something to consider, save for a chance that Clemens might come back (again) and pitch for half the season, or invest the money elsewhere.

Boston has two pitchers over 40 in Wakefield and Schilling—even as a fan of the knuckleball, of the two, I’d bet on Schilling having a competitive season. Roger doesn’t really seem to fit into Boston’s current rotation, and I’m not sure who they would knock back into the bullpen.

The last option no one seems to be talking about: Retirement. Roger is quotes as saying, “I don’t want to play.” The reasons he continues to entertain the notion seem to be wrapped around a team (well, one of three teams) needing him to come pitch, presumably after the all star break

So, all that has to happen for the Rocket to take the mound this year (again) are:

1. Room on the rotation (probably knocking a starter to the bullpen, and a bullpen guy back to the minors)
2. Room enough in the budget they could probably spend on two other players.
3. Said team must be bound for the post season (possible pact with Satan my be required)