Archive for the ‘Baseball’ Category
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
The swirling trade rumor of the weekend was a blockbuster! Ryan Howard, first baseman of the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies for Albert Pujols, last years National League MVP and first baseman for the St Louis Cardinals. Wow! Okay, so it’s not going to happen, but MLB must be thrilled to have rumors floating around about their superstars just before the 2010 season starts up.
Why won’t it happen you ask? Well, it would be a interesting deal for Philadelphia because even though I really like Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball. In addition to that Howard is actually older than Pujols despite less MLB service and makes more money per year through 2011 and most likely beyond as Pujols signed his blockbuster deal and Howard still has his on the horizon. It is a fantasy baseball players dream trade but not in this day and age of baseball.
Wonder why Tony Larussa jumped so hard on the trade rumor to squelch it? He didn’t need his slugger thinking what if and sulking over the possibilities. Ever since Pujols publically campaigned against Howard winning the MVP award two years ago (Pujols narrowly beat Howard in 2008), one wonders if Fat Albert doesn’t have one eye on the rear view mirror and is watching the up and coming Howard rapidly gaining on him???
Take heart Phillies fans; Howard is definitely closing the gap on Pujols. He has arrived at Spring Training early for the last two years to work on his Achilles heel, fielding, with Phillies coach Sam Perlazzo and has made major steps forward. In addition, he’s lost weight, gained strength and there’s no reason to think he couldn’t hit for a 280 average with 40+ home runs and 130+ RBIs this season. The Phillies are the favorite in the NL this year and cornerstone Ryan Howard is a big reason why.
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Tags: Albert Pujols, Philadelphia Philies, Ryan Howard, Sam Perlazzo, St Louis Cardinals, Tony Larussa
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010
As we move into Spring Training and beyond, one of the baseball questions that keeps haunting me as a Phillies fan is Should the Phillies have kept Cliff Lee? Yes, Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball and is well worth the contract he signed with the Phillies. Yes, Cole Hamels looks motivated to prove everyone that last year was an aberration. Yes, the Phillies rotation looks good in Spring Training thus far. (Though the classic line from “Major League” rolls through my head: yeah, against guys who are going to be bagging groceries in a couple of weeks!) But couldn’t the Phillies have kept Lee, somehow, some way???
The twosome of Halladay and Hamels should be great. But that puts the Phillies on par with some other great duos like Lincecum and Cain, Carpenter and Wainwright, Sabathia and Burnett, Hernadez and Lee and Lester and Beckett. However a threesome of Halladay-Lee and Hamels could not be matched by any other team. (No Red Sox fans, not even by Lester-Beckett and Lackey) The goal is to win the World Series and though I’m ecstatic that the Phillies finally got Roy Halladay, I did not want to exchange Cliff Lee for him. I’m a little torn because I like the moves to keep the Phillies relevant into the future. I’ve lived through the dry times and got razzed on the day of the 10000th loss, so a move to keep the Phillies good for future years is heartening. But couldn’t we have gone for it this year and then seen what happened? The future is not guaranteed, you have to go for the NOW!
I guess we’ll see what happens this season. I expect the Phillies to win the East, take out St Louis for the Penant and face the Yankees again in October. Hopefully this time the Offense, Hamels and Lidge all have their A games ready so Philadelphia can hoist another banner!
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Tags: Boston Red Sox, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Roy Halladay, Seattle Mariners, St Louis Cardinals
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Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
The Philadelphia Phillies need to take a page from the New York Yankees handbook. Given a home series with the floundering Florida Marlins, the Phillies proceeded to screw the pooch over the weekend and watched a seven game division lead fade to four after a three game Marlin sweep! Meanwhile, the Yankees strangled their bitter rivals, the Boston Red Sox, taking four from the Sawx with timely hitting and fabulous pitching and taking a firm hold of the division lead. Speaking of pitching, what has become of Phillies Ace Cole Hamels who got lit up again this weekend and fell to 7-7 on the year???
The California Goldenboy who brought back Rocktober to Philadelphia by leading the Phillies to a World Championship last season has been remarkably pedestrian thus far this season. What’s up?!?
Is Hamels satisfied after signing for $20.5 million guaranteed this off-season? Yes, he avoided arbitration and got his money earlier than expected, but one expects his next contract to be a monster as compared to the $6.6M he gets next year and $9.5M in 2011.
Is he pissed off that the Phils signed fellow lefty Cliff Lee to be another horse in the rotation? Hamels was making some progress over the last few games before the Lee signing and went all to Hell ever since. However, one can’t imagine that Hamels minds having another stopper in the rotation to take some of the pressure off?
So what is it? Wife Heidi Strobel has a baby on the way and they just bought a new $2.2M mansion to house the newest Hamels, is that it? Or is it, too much time on the banquet rounds after winning his NLDS and World Series MVP trophies as Cole alluded to earlier in the season. One thing is for sure, if the Phillies can’t get the Cole Hamels of October 2008 back sometime soon, a back to back World Series dream will fade into never never land.
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Tags: Boston Red Sox, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Florida Marlins, Heidi Strobel, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies
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Monday, August 3rd, 2009
Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the untimely and tragic death of Yankee Captain and catcher, Thurman Munson. Munson died when the plane he was piloting crashed while practicing touch and go landings in Ohio. While Munson himself is not enshrined in Cooperstown, his legacy is forever cemented in the hearts of all Yankee and baseball fans that had the privilege to watch him play.
Munson was named Yankee Captain (an honor that laid dormant for 35 years after Lou Gehrig’s retirement) in 1976 and led the Yanks to three consecutive World Series appearances and back to back World Series championships in 1977 and 1978. Munson won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1970 and the American League MVP award in 1976 while collecting three Gold Glove Awards and playing in seven All-Star games during big league his career.
After his death, Munson was honored and remembered in many ways including a ten minute standing ovation before the next Yankee game, the immediate retirement of his number 15 and a plaque dedicating his memory was placed in the most hollowed of baseball places, Monument Park in Yankee Stadium.
While all the above gestures were grand, the ultimate honor bestowed on a person is the legacy he leaves behind and how those of us who remain, cherish that legacy and the reverence in which we celebrate it. Munson was not popular with the baseball beat writers of his era, but amongst his peers, there was no classier and revered teammate or team captain. In honor of Munson, to this day, an empty locker remains in the Yankee clubhouse next to current team captain Derek Jeter and is adorned with his number 15 to serve as a reminder of Munson’s endearing legacy and this ultimate honor. What a gesture by those who miss their fallen teammate.
Munson’s original locker and his catcher’s gear were subsequently bronzed and sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame for enshrinement.
More information about Munson http://www.hardballcooperative.com/?p=1217
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Tags: Derek Jeter, Lou Gehrig, MLB, NY Yankees, Thurman Munson, Yankee Captain
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Friday, July 31st, 2009
All my life I have dreamt about a career in Sports; player, broadcaster, executive, any would have been great. In retrospect, I think I may have passed on GM of a major sports franchise. I wrote earlier about Roy Halladay and the need for Toronto and Philadelphia to make a deal and GMs Ruben Amaro of the Phillies and JP Ricciardi of the Bluejays (both seen above) went toe to toe to make it happen.
After watching this week, one can’t help but think that rookie GM Amaro made Ricciardi look like a fool and bitch-slapped JP and the Blue Jays by procuring Cliff Lee from Cleveland for a pittance next to what the greedy Jays were asking for Halladay. Meanwhile the Bluejays overplayed their hand and now still have a great, albeit disappointed pitcher in Halladay.
Amaro is a disciple of the always cautious but wonderfully successful Pat Gillick. Meanwhile, Ricciardi was brought up by the master of Moneyball super fleecer and also very successful Billy Beane.
It appears that Ricciardi either dramatically underestimated Amaro or overestimated his market position. Ricciardi has been widely speculated to be a “dead man walking” with his only chance of survival being a drastic salary purge of the Bluejays bloated budget. Plus his current wishy washy handling of the Halladay affair and wide spread use of the local and national media in trade “negotiations”, did nothing to endear himself to already jaded Toronto fans. By asking for a king’s ransom for Halladay and not budging, Ricciardi watched the trade market shift gears and blow right by him, most likely cementing his fate as a casualty of the trade wars this coming off-season.
Meanwhile, with his Cliff Lee acquisition, Amaro has come up smelling like a rose, not an easy task in Philadelphia which is widely known for it’s tough press corps and even tougher fan base. By bringing in Lee and earlier Raul Ibanez in free agency, Amaro has Philly fans thinking repeat of their 2008 World Series Championship.
A week ago one GM was the Master, the other the novice; in a week the Master is a dunce and the Novice a genius. Yep, the world of a Sports GM is way too fickle for me…
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Tags: Billy Beane, Cleveland Indians, Cliff Lee, JP Ricciardi, Pat Gillick, Philadelphia Phillies, Raul Ibanez, Roy Halladay, Ruben Amaro, Toronto Bluejays
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Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
So it appears that Buster Olney of ESPN has his thoughts on why the Philadelphia Phillies need to sign Toronto Bluejay ace pitcher Roy Halladay, effectively trying to steal my thunder. Thankfully, while his opinions are solid they do not quite emulate mine and make my case even better! As ex head coaching great Herm Edwards stated (okay so Edwards was not great as a head coach; he was a fine motivator and defensive expert, but didn’t have a great eye for talent and was too soft on his players, but I digress…) “You play to win the game!” or in this case, the World Series. How would Halladay help the Phillies? Well…
First, no one in baseball these days wins without excellent starting pitching. The Phillies have a great defense and awesome offense, a good bullpen and a Closer in Brad Lidge who is finding his groove again. What they don’t have is the starting pitching needed to win in the playoffs. The winning streak the Phillies have been on in July has been great, but winning in the playoffs is different. Over a seven game series you need two bonafide starters to win four games for you. Last year the Phils had Cole Hamels and Brett Myers, with assistance from Joe Blanton. This year, the Halladay- Hamels duet would make the Phillies one of the favorites to win it all again.
Second, the Halladay signing adds an edge to a sometimes aloof Philadelphia squad. Manager Charlie Manuel is already warning against complacency as the Phillies have built upon their NL East lead. Halladay, along with second baseman Chase Utley, would help the Phillies with a “bring it every night” mentality. The signing of Raul Ibanez to replace infamously low key Pat Burrell started the transition, Halladay would cement it in place. The Phillies never give up until the final out; adding a “step on their throats” killer edge would make them dangerous indeed.
Finally, a Halladay trade would energize the city of Philadelphia to epic proportions and signal the League the Philllies have put aside the somewhat timid approach they’ve used to build the team in the past and are ready to establish themselves as a contender for years to come. Philly has always been overshadowed by the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox who stop at nothing to bring titles to their respective cities. It’s time for the Phillies to do the same. The nucleus of the team is built to win now and will be that way for another 3-5 years. With much of their young minor league talent blocked by all-stars on the big club, the Phillies can afford to move prospects for a shot at another ring.
GM Ruben Amaro needs to decide the time is now and make his mark with this team. Roy Halladay in Philly Red would take him a long way towards doing so!
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Tags: Boston Red Sox, Brad Lidge, Brett Myers, Buster Olney, Charlie Manuel, Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, ESPN, Herm Edwards, Joe Blanton, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Raul Ibanez, Roy Halladay, Ruben Amaro, Toronto Bluejays
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Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
It appears Anaheim has more to crow about than Disneyland and the Mighty Ducks. They can lay claim to one of the finest baseball teams in recent history as the Angels have won three of the last four division titles and look on their way to doing so again. Why all the love for the Angels who haven’t been to a World Series but for their one Championship in 2002? This is a franchise that has had to live in the shadow of the Los Angeles Dodgers since their inception and this year has had to overcome the losses of Mark Texiera and Francisco Rodriguez in free agency and Nick Adenhart in a tragic car accident just days into the 2009 season.
A team in chaos and over five games out of the division league just a couple of weeks ago, the Los Angles Angels of Anaheim (okay stupid name, but good team) are back in first place in the AL West. Before everyone starts screaming weak division, the AL West’s top three teams have a better combined record than any division except the NL West (who fields the league’s best team currently in the Dodgers) and the AL East led by big boys Boston and the Yankees (ever heard of them?) Manager Mike Scioscia may be having his best year ever while in charge (Quick, name me two pitchers on the Angels roster…) and with an owner who wants to win in Arte Moreno, the Angels will be on the right path for a long time. Want an example? The Angels lost Texiera and K-Rod, but replaced them with 2009 All-Stars Torii Hunter and Brian Fuentes. In baseball its not who you lose, its how you reload and the Angels know how to do it.
Look for lots of fireworks in the Anaheim sky in the future, only this time it won’t only be the Magic Kingdom that’s celebrating!
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Tags: Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Arte Moreno, Boston Red Sox, Brian Fuentes, Disneyland, Francisco Rodriguez, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Magic Kingdom, Mark Texiera, Mike Scioscia, New York Yankees, Nick Adenhart, Torii Hunter
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Thursday, June 25th, 2009
The papers and Internet will report that the LSU Tigers took game 3 of the College World Series to win their sixth NCAA Championship. Less publicized will be that the University of Texas Longhorns lost it by blowing Game 1. What was head coach Augie Garrido thinking taking out closer Austin Wood with a 6-4 lead and one out with 1 on in the 9th??? Pitcher Taylor Jungmann came on and threw six straight balls to put two on. Garrido hooked him and put in Austin Dicharry who got a gift strikeout on ball 4 and then gave up a game tying double with two outs. LSU went on to win in 11 innings and put the Longhorns in a Texas sized hole in the Series. Granted I have the benefit of hindsight, but why pull Wood right there? He had pitched two innings but had proved he could go for long distances after pitching 13 innings (that’s a game and a half folks) in the Longhorns 25 inning win over Boston College in the Regionals. Instead Garrido pulled his established closer and watched Game 1 disappear.
Don’t get me wrong this isn’t a huge upset; many figured the Tigers would take the Series with their potent offense, but with their bats basically asleep in the first two games, Texas had a golden chance to knock them out. It was only a matter of time before the LSU batters would start to hit and hit they did in Game 3. Even there, the Longhorns, who were built on excellent pitching, solid defense and offensive fundamentals, battled back after falling behind early and tied the score at four after 5 innings. However that excellent pitching and defense betrayed Texas again as they watched the game go up in smoke in a flurry of walks, hit batsmen, errors and timely Tiger hitting in the 6th. And with lead in hand and the pressure off, LSU cruised to its latest World Series success.
Augie Garrido should have been eating breakfast this morning while shining up the Longhorn’s seventh College World Series trophy. Instead he’ll spend the off-season wondering why he overcoached and overthought Game 1.
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Tags: Augie Garrido, Austin Dicharry, Austin Wood, Boston College, College World Series, LSU Tigers, Taylor Jungmann, Texas Longhorns, University of Texas
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Thursday, June 11th, 2009
Wow! That is all I can say about blogger Jerod Morris, who in his infinite wisdom, openly opined that Raul Ibanez must be on the juice due to his great start this season. I guess accountability has gone by the wayside in deference to the shock factor in today’s blogs. When did it become okay to say anything about anyone?!? Thankfully Raul did not duck or dodge his accuser, he went back at him with both barrels, calling Morris’ comments ”pathetic and disgusting” and offering to “give you back every dime” he’s earned via baseball if he ever tested positive for PEDs.
Aren’t we tired of all this nonsense by now? Granted, I’m still a little skeptical when you hear that a Manny Ramirez gets caught, but he’s a head case. Ibanez has always been viewed as a hard working, blue collar player who earns what he gets. He’s never been under suspicion of PEDs. He also tried to downplay the confrontation with the comments “Unfortunately, I understand the environment we’re in and the events that have led us to this era of speculation; At the same time, you can’t just walk down the street and accuse somebody of being a thief because they didn’t have a nice car yesterday and they do today. You can’t say that guy is a thief.”
Even though he said the above and Morris came back with a partial apology, make no mistake, Ibanez is pissed and rightfully so. This isn’t Sosa vs. McGwire in the late 90’s, this is a man having a great start to a season in an easier league and hitter’s ballpark. The Phillies are thrilled to have Ibanez, he’s leading the All-Star vote for NL Outfielders and it’s time to give the man his due. Everyone out there, show Raul some love, you too Jerod!
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Tags: Jerod Morris, Manny Ramirez, Mark McGwire, Raul Ibanez, Sammy Sosa
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Monday, June 8th, 2009
Perhaps the pedigree of being a World Series Champion can finally get Ryan Howard off the All-Star snub list. The former MVP and fastest player to 100 (and soon to be 200) home runs, was leading the league in home runs and RBIs last July. That still did not stop him from watching the game at home and becoming the first player in history to not make the All-Star team while leading in those two offensive categories.
Granted Albert Pujols is a great player, but there is no way Pujols should have beaten out Howard for either the NL All-Star Team nor the MVP last season. The All-Star games are voted on by the fans, so it is not suprising that Pujols was voted in. What was surprising was the National League Manager Clint Hurdle did not put Howard on the team. And even more stunning, that the baseball writers voted Pujols, who was a great player on the team that finished fourth in the NL Central division, the MVP over Howard who virtually carried the Phillies into the playoffs last season, where they ended up winning the whole enchilada.
Thankfully the Phillies (okay coaxed by the arbitrators) recognize Howard’s value and signed him to an $18M deal this season, making the big slugger happy and hopefully keeping him in Philadelphia for a long time to come. With that, Howard has risen to the occasion, cutting his strikeouts way down while still be towards the top of the league in Homers and Ribbies. And oh by the way, even though he is only second in the balloting for first basemen (behind guess who) currently, be sure that with Phillie’s Manager Charlie Manuel heading up the National League team this year (one of the perks of making the World Series), big Ryan will be playing the Mid-Summer Classic this year in his hometown of St Louis!
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Tags: Albert Pujols, All-Star Game, Charlie Manuel, Clint Hurdle, Mid-Summer Classic, Philadelphia Phillies, Ryan Howard, St Louis, World Series
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