Baseball Journal MLB Rewind 11-18-12

8-25-12

They've fired the players and kept the manager. Well, I'm pretty sure the Boston Red Sox will be firing Valentine at the end of the season anyway. [That wasn't much of prediction. I think we all saw that one coming.] Let's see, they're sending Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Nick Punto to the Dodgers for James Loney and miscellaneous. That's the best player on the Red Sox and a couple of high-priced washouts, for a guy who's never lived up to his potential and an entourage. And a $162 MILLION difference in salary!

LA wanted to make a big splash for their upcoming TV deal (much like their cross-town rival Angels), and the Sox dumped a huge amount of payroll. For what? Getting Josh Hamilton? Dream on. (And even if they get him, it's just going to be another unhappy relationship.) [Seriously, who would be a good fit there at this point?]

Did the Red Sox really have to get rid of their best player, just to get rid of Beckett and Crawford? I shouldn't have been surprised that this deal cleared waivers given who was involved and the money involved. Sure the Dodgers wanted A-Gon, but what a steep, questionable price to pay for him.

With the Giants and the Dodgers locked in a fight for the division, Ken Rosenthal, in San Francisco for Fox's game of the week, was asked how the Giants' reacted. One of the coaches said, "We've scared them so bad, they went out and got a whole new team." One of the players added, "They're the same players that weren't winning in Boston." [As it turned out, the Giants' confidence was well founded. I'll add here, we now know the short-term effects of this deal. The long-term effects are still up in the air. I'll fearlessly predict that Adrian Gonzalez will still be great.]


9-3-12

I don't know what I'm doing wrong in life, but I'm experiencing yet another Twins game this season. It's been fairly uncanny how often I keep encountering their games. Right now, it's against the White Sox, courtesy of ESPN Radio. They're not a good team this year, nor in a big media market. I don't seek them out (since I don't like them), and of the teams I get regular exposure to (Diamondbacks, Rangers, Rockies, Cubs, White Sox), they're only a division foe of the White Sox. I can't explain it.

This Labor Day/three-day weekend, I've also gotten a steady dose of the Washington Nationals. It's hard not to be impressed by Bryce Harper. If "hustle" were a quantifiable stat, he and fellow rookie, Mike Trout, would be leading the league. I've seen Harper take second on the a single, and take home from first, twice. He's a spark plug. Let's hope he doesn't lose a step for a long time.

Meanwhile, the only story with the Nationals is the season-long saga of Stephen Strassburg. He's a start or two away from being shutdown for the season, in spite of the Nat's impending, inaugural playoff run. If they don't win the World Series, there's going to be head wagging, finger pointing, hand wringing, and a heavy dose of recriminations and criticism. Strassburg may be scarred for life anyway. Either way he'll always know in the future that he should have had a ring (or another ring), but was denied the chance. [Or not. Everything bad could be washed away by winning it all in 2013.]

File this under things that don't show up on the scorecard. During today's matinee between the Cubs and the Nats, the scoreboard erroneously showed the Cubs having gotten a run in the middle of an inning, which they never actually scored. Len and Bob had a good time with this. "Labor Day celebrations started early for the scorekeeper." "Maybe there's a Cubs fan in the scorer's box with some optimistic thinking." "Cubs fans have temporarily seized control of the scoreboard." Like everywhere else, there were quite a few in attendance.

I'm embarrassed to mention that all this Nationals talk has finally solved a mystery for me. The Nat's previous incarnation as the Montreal Expos' hat had always puzzled me for its logo and color scheme. A few years ago, I did finally discern the "M" for Montreal in the logo. It was like a "Magic Eye" painting to me. I just couldn't see it. It wasn't until this weekend that the light finally came on about the colors. Why would a Canadian team were red, white, and blue? Because it's representing the French Tri-Color there in Franco-phile Quebec, of course. No wonder the team failed to catch on in the rest of Canada. [I'm sure I've now firmly established my baseball credentials.]

Meanwhile, after firing the team, the Red Sox management hover on the precipice of firing the manager. Sportswriters across the country dust off the piece they wrote the day Bobby Valentine got hired about his inevitable dismissal. They now just need to fill in the updated details and conditions. [I jumped the gun on this by a month, but everybody saw this coming. Some (such as myself), from Day One.]


9-6-12

The oddities of dome play. Rogers Center in Toronto almost had their first rain out as the roof failed to close all the way during a storm. A torrent of water fell through the crack onto the field. Conflictingly, then the fire alarm went off. Why do they have artificial turf in a retractable roof stadium anyway? Meanwhile in Tampa Bay, a large bird got loose inside the dome and flew around the roof, looking for an escape. I wonder if they have a rule if somebody had hit the bird with a pop up? Hitting the first catwalk, it's a dead ball. Second catwalk, it's a foul. Avian interference, ground rule double.


9-9-12

The Giants lost a close one to the Dodgers on Saturday, but they didn't beat Posey. He gunned down three baserunners. Why would they ever want to move this guy to first base?

Meanwhile, the Cubs completed a sweep of the Pirates on Sunday. Rookie catcher, Anthony Recker, hit his first home run early on. It went out to dead center field and I think it went off the end of his bat. Recker is a very strong-looking specimen. After the inning, one of the grounds crew went up in the shrubbery to find the ball, which he quickly did. Maybe. Replay showed the ball landing in different place. He was on his walkie-talkie after snagging the ball. You could almost read his lips. "Look, I found a damn homerun ball. What difference does it make whose?"

[Is it over? Is it? Is it over? Yes! The nightmare of typing up this handwritten journal is over. I may keep a log next season, but I won't do it like this. Still, nice to reminisce. At some point in writing these entries I evolved a set of rules. Only comment on games I've actually seen (or seen part of) and try to focus on stuff other than play-by-play accounts, stuff that doesn't show up on the scorecard, and only comment on issues if I have something worthwhile to say. Obviously, I couldn't even keep to those simple rules all of the time, but it was a great way to really get into the sport for most of the season. Highly recommended.]