Winning (and losing) can be such a drag
By Christopher Heun
Dateline: New York City
The situation: Winning run on third base. Tie game. Two outs. And the batter lays down a bunt just past the reach of the pitcher. Winning run scores. Game over.
That’s how the Mets beat the Rockies Tuesday night in 12 innings. Endy Chavez’s drag bunt made him the hero.
Listening to the game on the radio, I was struck by the dramatic finish because it could have been the exact same outcome for the Orioles the night before, when Melvin Mora tried to bunt home Corey Patterson, the tying run, from third with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Except Mora’s bunt did not get past the pitcher. Patterson could not score. The Birds lost.
It was a good idea – even if Patterson seemed surprised by it – but it didn’t work. Mora's bunt didn't get past A's closer Huston Street, who held Patterson at third. (After an intentional walk to Nick Markakis, Miguel Tejada made the final out of the game.)
It would be easy to draw grand conclusions about the larger fates of the Mets and O's based on this one game. That’s probably not fair. But still, one of these teams is a playoff contender while the other is not.
The Mets won a game with a pinch-hit homer in the 10th by Damian Easley and a bunt single by Chavez, who also had come off the bench, in the 11th. Manager Sam Perlozzo should be so lucky to have such options in the late innings. (And to pull the right strings at just the right time, but that’s another topic for debate.)
By the way, ex-Oriole David Newhan has also found a spot on the Mets’ bench. He had a chance in the 12th too, but struck out.)
Throughout this young season, the Birds have shown a resilient streak and have come from behind to win – something that would not be possible without an improved bullpen that shuts down opposing lineups in the late innings.
But they lost a game on Monday night that they didn’t deserve to win but probably should have won regardless: with runners on second and third with nobody out in the ninth, they failed to score.
Then they followed that disappointment with a poorly played game on Tuesday afternoon filled with more miscommunication and mental mistakes.
With Boston visiting Camden Yards for two games, the Birds could very well sink back to .500 after an impressive winning streak in which they took eight out of nine.
Or maybe not. Maybe Mora redeems himself. I can’t help but think that he may have a doppelganger in Chavez, whose playoff heroics last October in the N.L.C.S. versus St. Louis endeared him to Mets fans much like Mora did during the 1999 postseason.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Jinxing the Pen?
by Matthew Taylor
On April 7, after the O's bullpen shut down the Yankees to secure a 6-4 win in the Bronx, the verdict was in: the Birds had made a wise investment.
The Washington Post, among other news outlets, heralded the team's off-season manuevering, as witnessed by the headline of the paper's game story: "Yankees Are Left Penned Up By O's."
We all know what happened next.
Last night the bullpen turned in another fine performance, and The Sun's John Eisenberg is fêting the team in a column headlined, "So far, Orioles right on money with their revamped bullpen."
Cue the Delmon Young heroics.
On April 7, after the O's bullpen shut down the Yankees to secure a 6-4 win in the Bronx, the verdict was in: the Birds had made a wise investment.
The Washington Post, among other news outlets, heralded the team's off-season manuevering, as witnessed by the headline of the paper's game story: "Yankees Are Left Penned Up By O's."
We all know what happened next.
Last night the bullpen turned in another fine performance, and The Sun's John Eisenberg is fêting the team in a column headlined, "So far, Orioles right on money with their revamped bullpen."
Cue the Delmon Young heroics.
Monday, April 09, 2007
100 Words or Less About ... The Yankees Series
By Matthew Taylor
Our second round of "100 Words or Less" reviews the weekend series in the Bronx.
Last time we used corporate speak to dissect the O's off-season. This time we use the Yankees' very own postgame anthem - an abuse of Sinatra's work, if you ask me - to break down the action.
100 Words or Less starts ... now:
"Start spreading the news, the O’s left town yesterday, with a series win in New York, New York. Loewen and Bedard were a part of it, as was Bako (homering for the first time since 2004). Chris Ray woke up on Sunday in a city where he couldn’t sleep, but he made a brand new start of it in old New York. The Birds season-opening blues seem to be melting away. They aren’t 'A Number One,' 'Top of the List,' or 'King of the Hill' in the AL East, but if they can win up there, they can win anywhere."
Final Count: 100 Words Even. Mission Accomplished.
See you next time on "100 Words or Less."
Our second round of "100 Words or Less" reviews the weekend series in the Bronx.
Last time we used corporate speak to dissect the O's off-season. This time we use the Yankees' very own postgame anthem - an abuse of Sinatra's work, if you ask me - to break down the action.
100 Words or Less starts ... now:
"Start spreading the news, the O’s left town yesterday, with a series win in New York, New York. Loewen and Bedard were a part of it, as was Bako (homering for the first time since 2004). Chris Ray woke up on Sunday in a city where he couldn’t sleep, but he made a brand new start of it in old New York. The Birds season-opening blues seem to be melting away. They aren’t 'A Number One,' 'Top of the List,' or 'King of the Hill' in the AL East, but if they can win up there, they can win anywhere."
Final Count: 100 Words Even. Mission Accomplished.
See you next time on "100 Words or Less."
Good Seats Still Available
By Matthew Taylor
How can a longtime Orioles fan be such a novice when it comes to Opening Day tickets?
The Birds have a "Buy Tickets" link today on the front page of the team website, which just a week ago offered no such option. A quick check reveals that scattered singles are still available ($45 Lower Box and $30 LF Lower Box, for example). Meanwhile, multiple standing room tickets are up for grabs. Not a bad option for $8, especially if they utilize the temporary bleachers.
Also from the O's website, fans will give new meaning to "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks" this afternoon: "Concession stands are estimating serving 10,500 hot dogs, 3,500 soft pretzels, 1,650 gallons of soda, 2,800 bags of peanuts, 3,000 pounds of French fries and 400 bags of Cracker Jacks."
Why am I sitting in my office today? I think I feel a bout of illness coming on.
How can a longtime Orioles fan be such a novice when it comes to Opening Day tickets?
The Birds have a "Buy Tickets" link today on the front page of the team website, which just a week ago offered no such option. A quick check reveals that scattered singles are still available ($45 Lower Box and $30 LF Lower Box, for example). Meanwhile, multiple standing room tickets are up for grabs. Not a bad option for $8, especially if they utilize the temporary bleachers.
Also from the O's website, fans will give new meaning to "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks" this afternoon: "Concession stands are estimating serving 10,500 hot dogs, 3,500 soft pretzels, 1,650 gallons of soda, 2,800 bags of peanuts, 3,000 pounds of French fries and 400 bags of Cracker Jacks."
Why am I sitting in my office today? I think I feel a bout of illness coming on.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Former Birds in the Box Scores
By Matthew Taylor
Former Birds are all over the box scores for Friday night:
-In Cincinnati, the always likeable Jeff Conine hit a three-run homer in a 6-1 Reds victory over the Pirates. The hit came one night after Conine had a "game-tying pinch-hit single and scored the go-ahead run against the Cubs."
-In Tampa, former O's closer B.J. Ryan gave up three earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, including a two-run homer to Delmon Young, as the Blue Jays coughed one up against the Devil Rays, 6-5. Wonder if Ryan noticed what Baltimore's bullpen did in the Bronx.
-In Texas, the always-powerful Sammy Sosa got an excuse-me RBI, his first of the season, on a check swing against the Red Sox. Rangers 2 - Red Sox 0.
-And, of course, in New York, Mike Mussina gave up six earned runs in four innings as the good guys took down the Evil Empire, 6-4.
Former Birds are all over the box scores for Friday night:
-In Cincinnati, the always likeable Jeff Conine hit a three-run homer in a 6-1 Reds victory over the Pirates. The hit came one night after Conine had a "game-tying pinch-hit single and scored the go-ahead run against the Cubs."
-In Tampa, former O's closer B.J. Ryan gave up three earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, including a two-run homer to Delmon Young, as the Blue Jays coughed one up against the Devil Rays, 6-5. Wonder if Ryan noticed what Baltimore's bullpen did in the Bronx.
-In Texas, the always-powerful Sammy Sosa got an excuse-me RBI, his first of the season, on a check swing against the Red Sox. Rangers 2 - Red Sox 0.
-And, of course, in New York, Mike Mussina gave up six earned runs in four innings as the good guys took down the Evil Empire, 6-4.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Our Electrical Contraption of Prognostication Is Smarter Than Yours
After three games, have the statheads won?
By Christopher Heun
The statheads have done their voodoo math tricks and predicted the future that is the 2007 baseball season, including the mean height that the grass in foul territory in every ballpark will grow, normalized to the respective league average, of course.
We here at RF34 have also crunched some numbers. Whatever numbers we could find lying around: we picked up a 10 and carried a two and that was pretty much it.
The statheads at Baseball Prospectus and elsewhere have shared their predictions (basically, that the Orioles will finish last in the A.L. East), and we’re prepared to do the same. (Basically, we disagree, but not by a whole heckuva lot.) In fact, we’ll be so bold as to throw down the gauntlet: let this season be the battle royal, the final test of good old-fashioned love of the game that our fathers taught us versus newfangled progressive attitudes open to understanding baseball in new ways, reportedly involving statistics and other such figures.
If, at the end of the season, Pecota is right, we’ll stop taking cheap shots at statheads. (For the purposes of this exercise Pecota shall represent all forecasting formulas. We’ve heard of others out there – Chone, Marcel and ZiPS, but really, we can’t be bothered, except to ask, who names this stuff?) If, however, our prophecy turns out to be closer to the final standings, then we’ll sign a sponsorship deal for the new Texas Instruments scientific calculator.
Since we are an amiable sort and wish to make all of our guests comfortable, regardless of who wins this final test of wits, any reader of this blog who professes an affinity for the world of statistics shall retain the right to get his hackles up after encountering harmless commentary posted here. (As one anonymous poster did recently, referring to us collectively a “judgemental prick.”)
Now that we have that out of the way, on to the magic number . . . 79.
That’s how many wins we believe the Orioles will manage this season. We were going to say the O’s will finish 80-82, a sort of poetic near-miss at mediocrity in a Bad News Bears sort of way, but then we read two different baseball writers for The Sun, Peter Schmuck and Roch Kubatko, both predict the team would win 78 games, so we took that into consideration. We like to think of ourselves as one better than those guys.
For the record, Pecota predicts last place for the Birds, with a 74-88 record, four games behind Tampa. We say the Orioles will actually be five games better than the Devils Rays.
Why do we think this, and how can we state this with any certainty? Because it’s what we want to happen. We admit it. Pecota's forecasting system runs on pure numbers and unbiased algorithms. Our prediction engine is fueled by a careful balance of hope, faith, and blind intuition.
Admittedly, we’re not taking much of a risk, given that the O’s (as we all know) have finished in fourth place eight of the last nine seasons.
This is a club that has a chance to be average. It could very well end up at exactly .500 – neither winners nor losers. Imagine that. We should be so lucky.
But just as a .500 season is within reach, it is equally as possible that the Birds will finish in the cellar. I’m tired of listing the reasons why; we all know them by now. One additional reason, given frequently this spring, is all of the Devil Rays' potential – and this time the sportswriters, and the scouts, and everybody else really mean it.
True, the Rays are loaded with young talent. But the one thing that Rocco Baldelli, Carl Crawford, Elijah Dukes, and Delmon Young can’t do is pitch.
With a starting rotation of Jae Seo, James Shields, Casey Fossum, and Edwin Jackson following Scott Kazmir, how can anyone realistically expect Tampa Bay to win 17 games more than they did a year ago? Tampa Bay has never lost fewer than 91 games in a season; last year their record was 61-101.
Even if Tampa doesn’t finish ahead of the Birds this season, it will probably happen soon enough. There simply isn’t enough talent in the upper tiers of the Orioles farm system to match what clubs like Tampa are producing. Last month the O’s traded their 2006 minor league player of the year, Cory Keylor, for a 37-year-old journeyman catcher with 11 career home runs. Enough said.
All is not lost, though. The Blue Jays haven’t got it all figured out, either. Their three starters who will follow Roy Halladay and A. J. Burnett – Gustavo Chacin, Tomo Ohka and Josh Towers, according to mlb.com – combined last season for a 5.81 E.R.A. in 246 innings, allowing 281 hits and 48 home runs. Where’s Russ Ortiz when you need him?
So here’s the final verdict: the Birds will win more games than last year but still finish below .500 and still finish in fourth place. That’s the karma of a bad ball club. They’ll be marginally better (though not for the long haul), but still be bad. Still a loser. Still a joke.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t take a whole lot of numbers to see that.
By Christopher Heun
The statheads have done their voodoo math tricks and predicted the future that is the 2007 baseball season, including the mean height that the grass in foul territory in every ballpark will grow, normalized to the respective league average, of course.
We here at RF34 have also crunched some numbers. Whatever numbers we could find lying around: we picked up a 10 and carried a two and that was pretty much it.
The statheads at Baseball Prospectus and elsewhere have shared their predictions (basically, that the Orioles will finish last in the A.L. East), and we’re prepared to do the same. (Basically, we disagree, but not by a whole heckuva lot.) In fact, we’ll be so bold as to throw down the gauntlet: let this season be the battle royal, the final test of good old-fashioned love of the game that our fathers taught us versus newfangled progressive attitudes open to understanding baseball in new ways, reportedly involving statistics and other such figures.
If, at the end of the season, Pecota is right, we’ll stop taking cheap shots at statheads. (For the purposes of this exercise Pecota shall represent all forecasting formulas. We’ve heard of others out there – Chone, Marcel and ZiPS, but really, we can’t be bothered, except to ask, who names this stuff?) If, however, our prophecy turns out to be closer to the final standings, then we’ll sign a sponsorship deal for the new Texas Instruments scientific calculator.
Since we are an amiable sort and wish to make all of our guests comfortable, regardless of who wins this final test of wits, any reader of this blog who professes an affinity for the world of statistics shall retain the right to get his hackles up after encountering harmless commentary posted here. (As one anonymous poster did recently, referring to us collectively a “judgemental prick.”)
Now that we have that out of the way, on to the magic number . . . 79.
That’s how many wins we believe the Orioles will manage this season. We were going to say the O’s will finish 80-82, a sort of poetic near-miss at mediocrity in a Bad News Bears sort of way, but then we read two different baseball writers for The Sun, Peter Schmuck and Roch Kubatko, both predict the team would win 78 games, so we took that into consideration. We like to think of ourselves as one better than those guys.
For the record, Pecota predicts last place for the Birds, with a 74-88 record, four games behind Tampa. We say the Orioles will actually be five games better than the Devils Rays.
Why do we think this, and how can we state this with any certainty? Because it’s what we want to happen. We admit it. Pecota's forecasting system runs on pure numbers and unbiased algorithms. Our prediction engine is fueled by a careful balance of hope, faith, and blind intuition.
Admittedly, we’re not taking much of a risk, given that the O’s (as we all know) have finished in fourth place eight of the last nine seasons.
This is a club that has a chance to be average. It could very well end up at exactly .500 – neither winners nor losers. Imagine that. We should be so lucky.
But just as a .500 season is within reach, it is equally as possible that the Birds will finish in the cellar. I’m tired of listing the reasons why; we all know them by now. One additional reason, given frequently this spring, is all of the Devil Rays' potential – and this time the sportswriters, and the scouts, and everybody else really mean it.
True, the Rays are loaded with young talent. But the one thing that Rocco Baldelli, Carl Crawford, Elijah Dukes, and Delmon Young can’t do is pitch.
With a starting rotation of Jae Seo, James Shields, Casey Fossum, and Edwin Jackson following Scott Kazmir, how can anyone realistically expect Tampa Bay to win 17 games more than they did a year ago? Tampa Bay has never lost fewer than 91 games in a season; last year their record was 61-101.
Even if Tampa doesn’t finish ahead of the Birds this season, it will probably happen soon enough. There simply isn’t enough talent in the upper tiers of the Orioles farm system to match what clubs like Tampa are producing. Last month the O’s traded their 2006 minor league player of the year, Cory Keylor, for a 37-year-old journeyman catcher with 11 career home runs. Enough said.
All is not lost, though. The Blue Jays haven’t got it all figured out, either. Their three starters who will follow Roy Halladay and A. J. Burnett – Gustavo Chacin, Tomo Ohka and Josh Towers, according to mlb.com – combined last season for a 5.81 E.R.A. in 246 innings, allowing 281 hits and 48 home runs. Where’s Russ Ortiz when you need him?
So here’s the final verdict: the Birds will win more games than last year but still finish below .500 and still finish in fourth place. That’s the karma of a bad ball club. They’ll be marginally better (though not for the long haul), but still be bad. Still a loser. Still a joke.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t take a whole lot of numbers to see that.
Home and Away: O's Blogs vs.Twins Blogs
By Matthew Taylor
It's time to pit the hometown bloggers (Maryland Sports Fan) against the visitors (Right Handed Heat) in this season's inaugural version of "Home and Away."
Baseball bloggers in Baltimore and Minnesota can agree on at least one thing after the first series of the season: the Birds ain't lookin' so hot. But in keeping with the cliché, it's not what you say, but how you say it.
Home: Maryland Sports Fan proclaims "Orioles Suck!" in a recent blog headline, but it's of course said out of love. It reminds me of my favorite O's analyst, my grandfather, who was always delightfully irritated with the Birds.
Maryland Sports Fan offers a reasoned analysis of the team's slow start and examines the individual efforts of Kevin Millar, Chris Gomez, Daniel Cabrera, and Jaret Wright.
Away: The "Twin Cities fanatics" at Right Handed Heat offer a slightly milder conclusion, "The Orioles stink," and add a funny line about the upcoming debut of former Birds hurler Sidney Ponson: "A fine drunk but a lousy pitcher."
Right Handed Heat has to take some heat, however, for using the awful nickname "Boofer" (Boof Bonser) and the decidely unimaginative descriptor "Bitchsox" for their AL Central rival.
Advantage: Maryland Sports Fan. It's root, root, root for the home team in Vol. 1, Issue 1 of "Home and Away."
[See the RF34 "Vide-O Corner" for the insight of a young Birds critic.]
It's time to pit the hometown bloggers (Maryland Sports Fan) against the visitors (Right Handed Heat) in this season's inaugural version of "Home and Away."
Baseball bloggers in Baltimore and Minnesota can agree on at least one thing after the first series of the season: the Birds ain't lookin' so hot. But in keeping with the cliché, it's not what you say, but how you say it.
Home: Maryland Sports Fan proclaims "Orioles Suck!" in a recent blog headline, but it's of course said out of love. It reminds me of my favorite O's analyst, my grandfather, who was always delightfully irritated with the Birds.
Maryland Sports Fan offers a reasoned analysis of the team's slow start and examines the individual efforts of Kevin Millar, Chris Gomez, Daniel Cabrera, and Jaret Wright.
Away: The "Twin Cities fanatics" at Right Handed Heat offer a slightly milder conclusion, "The Orioles stink," and add a funny line about the upcoming debut of former Birds hurler Sidney Ponson: "A fine drunk but a lousy pitcher."
Right Handed Heat has to take some heat, however, for using the awful nickname "Boofer" (Boof Bonser) and the decidely unimaginative descriptor "Bitchsox" for their AL Central rival.
Advantage: Maryland Sports Fan. It's root, root, root for the home team in Vol. 1, Issue 1 of "Home and Away."
[See the RF34 "Vide-O Corner" for the insight of a young Birds critic.]
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Patterson: The New Secretary of Defense
A free agent payday awaits, if only he could hit lefties
By Christopher Heun
A strained hamstring will keep new outfielder Jay Payton out of the opening day lineup in Minnesota against the reigning Cy Young winner, Johan Santana. Could this be an omen for Corey Patterson?
Patterson, who will get to start in center field because of the injury, needs to prove that he can handle left-handed pitchers after hitting just .207 against them in 2006. This will be an important season for him. A free agent next year, his chance for a big payday depends on how decisively he can shed the tag of a part-time player.
That seems to be what the Orioles have concluded about him. A big reason they signed Payton this winter was for his right-handed bat that could spell Patterson against southpaws. Now that Payton has been injured before the season even starts, Patterson has one last shot to play everyday, even if it’s only for a short period.
Next winter, the Orioles, along with a bunch of other clubs, will be asking themselves: how good is Patterson? Is he the player who hit .276 last year with a .757 OPS (slightly below league average)? Or is he the power threat who slugged .511 in 329 at-bats in 2003? The No. 3 pick in the 1998 draft, Patterson has always drawn raves for his physical tools, but he’s never managed to put it all together on the field.
Some seasons he’s been truly awful. The lesser Corey Patterson, the one who played his way out of Chicago in 2005, hit a measly .215 with an OPS of .602 – probably the worst hitter in the major leagues that season.
His defense and speed have never been questioned. He stole a career high 45 bases last year while flashing an outstanding glove in center field. Chris Dial at Baseball Think Factory, posting defensive stats that ranked the Orioles centerfielder as the best in the American League in 2006, wrote that Patterson is “climbing the charts as one of the top defensive CFs over the last 20 years.”
Patterson is a lifetime .229 hitter vs. lefties (and .266 vs. righties). Subtract his wasted at-bats against southpaws and last year he hit .301 with a .826 OPS in 342 at-bats. Not bad. Pair it with a right-handed hitter who can hold his own (for comparison’s sake, Payton posted an .817 OPS vs. lefties in 2006), and you’ve got a decent platoon. Not quite Roenicke-Lowenstein, but nothing to sneeze at, either.
Of course, Patterson insists he should play every day and points out that he actually hit better against lefties than righties in 2004; an adequate .819 OPS. "It's all about repetition; the more you do it, the better you get at it,” he told the Associated Press recently. His splits weren’t dramatically different in 2003 but overall, his career stats show a clear weakness against southpaws.
Should he put together a decent 2007 with the bat, Patterson could be in for a fat contract next winter given the deals handed out this off-season to some other center fielders of dubious skill.
Two of the most egregious: the Angels gave Gary Matthews Jr. $50 million over five years after a career year in which Matthew hit .313 with 19 homers and a .866 OPS. The Dodgers, meanwhile, handed Juan Pierre $44 million for five years after Pierre hit .326 with three homers (and 45 steals while getting caught 24 times) and a .781 OPS.
At this rate, Patterson will get at least 8 million per year as long as he can sign his own name.
Based on the OPS+ stat on baseball-reference.com, (which rates players’ on-base percentage plus slugging percentage compared to the league average) Matthews, Pierre and Patterson are all below average hitters for their careers.
Career OPS+ (100 is average)
Matthews: 96
Pierre: 86
Patterson: 84
Last year was the only season Pierre put up an OPS+ greater than 100; it was 107. Patterson has managed it just once, too, in 2003 (.116). If Patterson could manage to get on base just a little bit more frequently than in the past, he might be able to convince Dodgers GM Ned Coletti to give him $10 million a year.
One thing Patterson, at 27, has in his favor is his age. He’s five years younger than Matthews and 2 years Pierre’s junior.
Patterson has another (admittedly convoluted) connection to Matthews. Not Gary Jr., but his dad. When the elder Matthews, known as “Sarge,“ played for the Phillies, (he was a member of the 1983 team that lost in the World Series to the O’s), one of his
teammates, Gary Maddox, earned the nickname, “The Secretary of Defense,” for his glove work in the outfield.
Phillies announcer Harry Kalas used to say, "Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Garry Maddox."
The same could be true of Corey Patterson.
By Christopher Heun
A strained hamstring will keep new outfielder Jay Payton out of the opening day lineup in Minnesota against the reigning Cy Young winner, Johan Santana. Could this be an omen for Corey Patterson?
Patterson, who will get to start in center field because of the injury, needs to prove that he can handle left-handed pitchers after hitting just .207 against them in 2006. This will be an important season for him. A free agent next year, his chance for a big payday depends on how decisively he can shed the tag of a part-time player.
That seems to be what the Orioles have concluded about him. A big reason they signed Payton this winter was for his right-handed bat that could spell Patterson against southpaws. Now that Payton has been injured before the season even starts, Patterson has one last shot to play everyday, even if it’s only for a short period.
Next winter, the Orioles, along with a bunch of other clubs, will be asking themselves: how good is Patterson? Is he the player who hit .276 last year with a .757 OPS (slightly below league average)? Or is he the power threat who slugged .511 in 329 at-bats in 2003? The No. 3 pick in the 1998 draft, Patterson has always drawn raves for his physical tools, but he’s never managed to put it all together on the field.
Some seasons he’s been truly awful. The lesser Corey Patterson, the one who played his way out of Chicago in 2005, hit a measly .215 with an OPS of .602 – probably the worst hitter in the major leagues that season.
His defense and speed have never been questioned. He stole a career high 45 bases last year while flashing an outstanding glove in center field. Chris Dial at Baseball Think Factory, posting defensive stats that ranked the Orioles centerfielder as the best in the American League in 2006, wrote that Patterson is “climbing the charts as one of the top defensive CFs over the last 20 years.”
Patterson is a lifetime .229 hitter vs. lefties (and .266 vs. righties). Subtract his wasted at-bats against southpaws and last year he hit .301 with a .826 OPS in 342 at-bats. Not bad. Pair it with a right-handed hitter who can hold his own (for comparison’s sake, Payton posted an .817 OPS vs. lefties in 2006), and you’ve got a decent platoon. Not quite Roenicke-Lowenstein, but nothing to sneeze at, either.
Of course, Patterson insists he should play every day and points out that he actually hit better against lefties than righties in 2004; an adequate .819 OPS. "It's all about repetition; the more you do it, the better you get at it,” he told the Associated Press recently. His splits weren’t dramatically different in 2003 but overall, his career stats show a clear weakness against southpaws.
Should he put together a decent 2007 with the bat, Patterson could be in for a fat contract next winter given the deals handed out this off-season to some other center fielders of dubious skill.
Two of the most egregious: the Angels gave Gary Matthews Jr. $50 million over five years after a career year in which Matthew hit .313 with 19 homers and a .866 OPS. The Dodgers, meanwhile, handed Juan Pierre $44 million for five years after Pierre hit .326 with three homers (and 45 steals while getting caught 24 times) and a .781 OPS.
At this rate, Patterson will get at least 8 million per year as long as he can sign his own name.
Based on the OPS+ stat on baseball-reference.com, (which rates players’ on-base percentage plus slugging percentage compared to the league average) Matthews, Pierre and Patterson are all below average hitters for their careers.
Career OPS+ (100 is average)
Matthews: 96
Pierre: 86
Patterson: 84
Last year was the only season Pierre put up an OPS+ greater than 100; it was 107. Patterson has managed it just once, too, in 2003 (.116). If Patterson could manage to get on base just a little bit more frequently than in the past, he might be able to convince Dodgers GM Ned Coletti to give him $10 million a year.
One thing Patterson, at 27, has in his favor is his age. He’s five years younger than Matthews and 2 years Pierre’s junior.
Patterson has another (admittedly convoluted) connection to Matthews. Not Gary Jr., but his dad. When the elder Matthews, known as “Sarge,“ played for the Phillies, (he was a member of the 1983 team that lost in the World Series to the O’s), one of his
teammates, Gary Maddox, earned the nickname, “The Secretary of Defense,” for his glove work in the outfield.
Phillies announcer Harry Kalas used to say, "Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water. The rest is covered by Garry Maddox."
The same could be true of Corey Patterson.
Monday, March 26, 2007
SI's Best of the Blog-O's-phere
Kudos to fellow O's bloggers Camden Chat, Oriole Post, and The Orioles Warehouse for being featured (along with Roch Kubato's blog for The Sun) in Sports Illustrated's baseball preview. The magazine, which will include stories from each of the blogs as part of its Orioles team page/aggregator, is asking readers to vote which site has the best Orioles info. You can get in on the action at SI.com/oriolesvote.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Even More Useless Preseason Facts
(But mostly just opinions); springtime brings it out in us
By Christopher Heun
The best part of spring training is that the losses don’t really count while the wins, on the other hand, give everyone a reason to indulge their powers of positive thinking. There’s plenty of time to sit around and get your hopes up.
Why else would pitchers like Sidney Ponson and Steve Trachsel still be allowed to take the mound for a major league team? Only in spring training would anyone still think either of them has something left in the tank. As Opening Day draws near, the future of those two pitchers, and a couple other possible Orioles roster moves, fill us with wonder. Wonder being a polite way of saying "total confusion and disappointment."
1. Our biggest question: who will last longer in the major leagues this season, Trachsel or Ponson? Trachsel, signed by the Orioles to replace the injured Kris Benson, will likely fare this season about as well as Sir Sidney circa 2004-05. Sometime in June, Hayden Penn (or possibly Jeremy Guthrie?) will take his spot in the rotation.
Unfortunately, Trachsel looks like he’s the latest in what’s becoming a long line of National League pitchers (Mike DeJean in 2004, Steve Reed in 2005, Jim Brower in 2006) who sign with the O’s and immediately start tossing batting practice.
Meanwhile, Ponson -- who is trying to hook on this spring with the Twins, his fourth organization in the last 19 months -- could be wearing a Devil Rays uniform by the All-Star break. Or better yet, the pitching-starved Nationals may give him a shot.
That DC scenario would be particularly ironic, given Ponson’s comments last weekend when he brushed off the Baltimore media – but not before firing off a zinger within earshot of Sun reporters that “Baltimore fans have no clue what baseball is all about.”
By now, pretty much anything anyone could possibly say (good or bad) about Sidney has been said; he’s at the end of the road and probably deserving of some sympathy, if only he could keep his mouth shut long enough to listen to his few remaining supporters.
Nevertheless, in the middle of his dig at Baltimore he managed to squeeze in this odd observation: "The old Baltimore fans over on 33rd Street [Memorial Stadium], that's true baseball fans."
Say it again, Sidney! Forget for a moment the divine truth of his statement, or how much he sounds like some guy, late at night, at the end of a bar in Pigtown. How would Sid know about the crowds on 33rd Street? He was just 14 years old on Oct.6, 1991, when the Orioles played their last game at Memorial Stadium.
You’ve got to give him credit for knowing a little Orioles history. But on the other hand, shouldn’t anybody who pays to see the Orioles these days be considered a true fan?
2. While we’re on the topic of roster moves, why is Kevin Millar still playing for the Orioles? Never mind the glut of mediocre first baseman/designated hitters on the roster; because they re-signed Millar before the Rule V draft, there was no room on the 40-man roster to protect Josh Phelps, who’d they’d signed to a minor league contract.
The result: the Yankees swiped Phelps and the Orioles were embarrassed by their mistake. You’d think they would have learned their lesson, since the very same situation occurred with Chris Gomez in December 2004. After signing him to a minor league deal but leaving him unprotected, the O’s had to buy Gomez back from the Phillies, who chose him in the Rule V draft.
True, Josh Phelps will not mean the difference between a winning and losing season, but given 400 at-bats he would show more pop than Millar.
3. How many members of the 2004 Atlanta Braves rotation can we dress in an Orioles uniform?
Fox Sport’s Ken Rosenthal reports that the Blue Jays may release starter John Thomson (if they can’t trade him first) after signing him as a free agent over the winter. That the Jays would choose Josh Towers instead for their rotation doesn’t say much about Thomson, but he did have some success a few years ago in Atlanta with pitching coach Leo Mazzone.
So, Thomson might be worth a look if Trachsel falters and Penn isn’t ready. The Orioles tried Russ Ortiz last summer based on the same logic, and that worked out great, so why not try it again? When Jaret Wright was acquired over the winter, his previous success with Mazzone in Atlanta was cited as an extra reason why the deal made sense.
Interesting bonus fact about Rosenthal: Google Ken Rosenthal and what should appear as the #2 search result (just after his writer archive at Fox) is a link to “What are the Orioles Thinking?”an article he wrote last November after the guys in the Warehouse played Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with their bullpen. (Or was it a lost episode of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"?)
The Rosenthal verdict: “Over the next three years, it's possible that the Orioles would get comparable performance from less expensive relievers.” Yes, it’s possible – until you consider that those less expensive relievers would be the likes of Kurt Birkins, Sendy Rleal, and Jim Hoey, all of whom could probably benefit from more seasoning in the minors.
By the way, we’ve said our piece about Rosenthal before.
By Christopher Heun
The best part of spring training is that the losses don’t really count while the wins, on the other hand, give everyone a reason to indulge their powers of positive thinking. There’s plenty of time to sit around and get your hopes up.
Why else would pitchers like Sidney Ponson and Steve Trachsel still be allowed to take the mound for a major league team? Only in spring training would anyone still think either of them has something left in the tank. As Opening Day draws near, the future of those two pitchers, and a couple other possible Orioles roster moves, fill us with wonder. Wonder being a polite way of saying "total confusion and disappointment."
1. Our biggest question: who will last longer in the major leagues this season, Trachsel or Ponson? Trachsel, signed by the Orioles to replace the injured Kris Benson, will likely fare this season about as well as Sir Sidney circa 2004-05. Sometime in June, Hayden Penn (or possibly Jeremy Guthrie?) will take his spot in the rotation.
Unfortunately, Trachsel looks like he’s the latest in what’s becoming a long line of National League pitchers (Mike DeJean in 2004, Steve Reed in 2005, Jim Brower in 2006) who sign with the O’s and immediately start tossing batting practice.
Meanwhile, Ponson -- who is trying to hook on this spring with the Twins, his fourth organization in the last 19 months -- could be wearing a Devil Rays uniform by the All-Star break. Or better yet, the pitching-starved Nationals may give him a shot.
That DC scenario would be particularly ironic, given Ponson’s comments last weekend when he brushed off the Baltimore media – but not before firing off a zinger within earshot of Sun reporters that “Baltimore fans have no clue what baseball is all about.”
By now, pretty much anything anyone could possibly say (good or bad) about Sidney has been said; he’s at the end of the road and probably deserving of some sympathy, if only he could keep his mouth shut long enough to listen to his few remaining supporters.
Nevertheless, in the middle of his dig at Baltimore he managed to squeeze in this odd observation: "The old Baltimore fans over on 33rd Street [Memorial Stadium], that's true baseball fans."
Say it again, Sidney! Forget for a moment the divine truth of his statement, or how much he sounds like some guy, late at night, at the end of a bar in Pigtown. How would Sid know about the crowds on 33rd Street? He was just 14 years old on Oct.6, 1991, when the Orioles played their last game at Memorial Stadium.
You’ve got to give him credit for knowing a little Orioles history. But on the other hand, shouldn’t anybody who pays to see the Orioles these days be considered a true fan?
2. While we’re on the topic of roster moves, why is Kevin Millar still playing for the Orioles? Never mind the glut of mediocre first baseman/designated hitters on the roster; because they re-signed Millar before the Rule V draft, there was no room on the 40-man roster to protect Josh Phelps, who’d they’d signed to a minor league contract.
The result: the Yankees swiped Phelps and the Orioles were embarrassed by their mistake. You’d think they would have learned their lesson, since the very same situation occurred with Chris Gomez in December 2004. After signing him to a minor league deal but leaving him unprotected, the O’s had to buy Gomez back from the Phillies, who chose him in the Rule V draft.
True, Josh Phelps will not mean the difference between a winning and losing season, but given 400 at-bats he would show more pop than Millar.
3. How many members of the 2004 Atlanta Braves rotation can we dress in an Orioles uniform?
Fox Sport’s Ken Rosenthal reports that the Blue Jays may release starter John Thomson (if they can’t trade him first) after signing him as a free agent over the winter. That the Jays would choose Josh Towers instead for their rotation doesn’t say much about Thomson, but he did have some success a few years ago in Atlanta with pitching coach Leo Mazzone.
So, Thomson might be worth a look if Trachsel falters and Penn isn’t ready. The Orioles tried Russ Ortiz last summer based on the same logic, and that worked out great, so why not try it again? When Jaret Wright was acquired over the winter, his previous success with Mazzone in Atlanta was cited as an extra reason why the deal made sense.
Interesting bonus fact about Rosenthal: Google Ken Rosenthal and what should appear as the #2 search result (just after his writer archive at Fox) is a link to “What are the Orioles Thinking?”an article he wrote last November after the guys in the Warehouse played Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with their bullpen. (Or was it a lost episode of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"?)
The Rosenthal verdict: “Over the next three years, it's possible that the Orioles would get comparable performance from less expensive relievers.” Yes, it’s possible – until you consider that those less expensive relievers would be the likes of Kurt Birkins, Sendy Rleal, and Jim Hoey, all of whom could probably benefit from more seasoning in the minors.
By the way, we’ve said our piece about Rosenthal before.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Commentary: A Home Run Chase for the Ages
A lively winter read stirs musings on the game's greatest sluggers
By Christopher Heun
Little imagination is required to envision the greatest home run hitter of a generation, in the twilight of his career and just one rung from the top of the record book, frustrated by nagging reporters, haunted by angry fans rooting against him and ignored by the commissioner of baseball, who would decline to attend the record-breaking night.
Sounds like the life of Barry Bonds this season as he whacks his way toward home run 756 to surpass Hank Aaron as the new home run king. (He needs just 22 more). But it’s also the same environment that Aaron himself confronted in April 1974 when a new season began with him just one home run short of Babe Ruth’s record.
Aaron’s chase of the Babe is beautifully told in "Hank Aaron: One For The Record, The Inside Story of Baseball’s Greatest Home Run," George Plimpton’s account of home run 715. I read the book this winter and was struck by the similarities between the circumstances Aaron faced then and Bonds encounters today.
Plimpton, the former editor of The Paris Review who chronicled one of his many exploits, his attempt to pitch against the 1960 National League All Star lineup, in "Out of My League," is a wonderful storyteller and excellent reporter.
He recounts how reporters asked Aaron what seemed to be silly questions about what he had eaten the night before, only to complain they were getting the same answers. “It was pointed out to them that they were asking the same questions,” Plimpton writes. Bonds, no doubt, can relate.
After Aaron hit home run 714 on his first swing of the 1974 season, when the Braves were in Cincinnati, commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered Aaron to be in lineup the final two games of the series. The Braves, however, wanted to sit their star so that history could be made in front of their home crowd.
Kuhn knew his edict, which the Braves obeyed, made him unpopular in Atlanta. When Aaron did in fact slug 715 at home, Kuhn was delivering a dinner speech in Cleveland. “My presence would be a negative influence on what was supposed to be a positive occasion,” Kuhn had said beforehand.
Chances are, the current commissioner, Bud Selig, also won’t be in the ballpark if Bonds manages to break the record. Bonds, as the Sultan of the Syringe, stained by his past steroid use despite never failing a drug test, mocks Selig and the best interests of baseball that his office has failed to protect. On top of that, Selig, who owned a piece of the Braves before they moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta, is friends with Aaron and if given a choice would probably choose a less controversial player to break the record.
The steroid use, of course, (and not just premium flaxseed oil) is the biggest difference between Aaron and Bonds. But there are more subtle distinctions between the two men.
Aaron never watched 715 land. “As he had done those countless times, he looked toward first base as he ran, dropping his bat neatly just off the base path, and when he saw the exultation of the first-base coach, Jim Busby, he knew for sure that the long chase was over,” Plimpton writes. By contrast, every Bonds homer now is a chance for him to do his best Vogue impersonation and strike a pose in the batter's box.
Listen to Aaron’s father when asked if he had been prepared for the historic moment. “I never paid the record no attention. It slipped up on me like everybody else. Henry was in baseball for work.”
Aaron also was not fussy about his equipment, keeping just a single spare bat on hand. Imagine how many more home runs he might have hit if fortified with the obnoxious arm and elbow pads that Bonds and others of the current generation wear to crowd the plate with impunity.
Among the players on the field April 8, 1974, who watched the historic home run, there is an interesting link to the present: Dusty Baker, Bonds’ future manager, batted fifth for the Braves, behind Aaron. Two future Orioles managers, Davey Johnson and Johnny Oates, played in the game, as did Davey Lopes, who coached for the O’s before a stint as manager of the Brewers. Lee Lacy, who ended his career in Baltimore, pinch hit for Lopes in the game.
Perhaps the most surprising fact I learned from the game’s box score is that Bill Buckner batted second for the Dodgers that night and played left field; he stole 31 bases for the ‘74 Dodgers and then 18 for the ‘85 Red Sox. His moment of infamy would come the following season, hobbled in a pair of high top cleats in Game 6 of the World Series, when he let a ground ball through his legs and Sox fans would have to wait 18 more years for a Series win. But he was speedy once.
Bonds needs 22 homers to ruin the record book. But at least one baseball scribe doesn’t think he will make it this season. FoxSports.com’s Dayn Perry may just be engaging in a little wishful thinking, but he insists that a combination of age (Bonds turns 42 in July), potential for injury, off-field trouble and a lack of protection in the lineup, among other factors, will prevent any fireworks celebrations for the Giants and their star this season.
If Bonds does pass Aaron as baseball’s home run king, I doubt anyone will write a book as skillful as Plimpton’s that captures the moment – and the pressure leading up to it – from so many different perspectives, everyone from the radio announcer to the mascot. The book on Bonds, in one way, has already been written: "Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports."
It could be a few years from now, after Bonds finally retires and the investigations surrounding him – of perjury, money laundering, and income-tax evasion – are resolved, before we reach some perspective on steroids and the accomplishments of those who played before drug testing.
Regardless, we may not ever hear something like this from Bonds. It’s Aaron reflecting on his accomplishment:
By Christopher Heun
Little imagination is required to envision the greatest home run hitter of a generation, in the twilight of his career and just one rung from the top of the record book, frustrated by nagging reporters, haunted by angry fans rooting against him and ignored by the commissioner of baseball, who would decline to attend the record-breaking night.
Sounds like the life of Barry Bonds this season as he whacks his way toward home run 756 to surpass Hank Aaron as the new home run king. (He needs just 22 more). But it’s also the same environment that Aaron himself confronted in April 1974 when a new season began with him just one home run short of Babe Ruth’s record.
Aaron’s chase of the Babe is beautifully told in "Hank Aaron: One For The Record, The Inside Story of Baseball’s Greatest Home Run," George Plimpton’s account of home run 715. I read the book this winter and was struck by the similarities between the circumstances Aaron faced then and Bonds encounters today.
Plimpton, the former editor of The Paris Review who chronicled one of his many exploits, his attempt to pitch against the 1960 National League All Star lineup, in "Out of My League," is a wonderful storyteller and excellent reporter.
He recounts how reporters asked Aaron what seemed to be silly questions about what he had eaten the night before, only to complain they were getting the same answers. “It was pointed out to them that they were asking the same questions,” Plimpton writes. Bonds, no doubt, can relate.
After Aaron hit home run 714 on his first swing of the 1974 season, when the Braves were in Cincinnati, commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered Aaron to be in lineup the final two games of the series. The Braves, however, wanted to sit their star so that history could be made in front of their home crowd.
Kuhn knew his edict, which the Braves obeyed, made him unpopular in Atlanta. When Aaron did in fact slug 715 at home, Kuhn was delivering a dinner speech in Cleveland. “My presence would be a negative influence on what was supposed to be a positive occasion,” Kuhn had said beforehand.
Chances are, the current commissioner, Bud Selig, also won’t be in the ballpark if Bonds manages to break the record. Bonds, as the Sultan of the Syringe, stained by his past steroid use despite never failing a drug test, mocks Selig and the best interests of baseball that his office has failed to protect. On top of that, Selig, who owned a piece of the Braves before they moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta, is friends with Aaron and if given a choice would probably choose a less controversial player to break the record.
The steroid use, of course, (and not just premium flaxseed oil) is the biggest difference between Aaron and Bonds. But there are more subtle distinctions between the two men.
Aaron never watched 715 land. “As he had done those countless times, he looked toward first base as he ran, dropping his bat neatly just off the base path, and when he saw the exultation of the first-base coach, Jim Busby, he knew for sure that the long chase was over,” Plimpton writes. By contrast, every Bonds homer now is a chance for him to do his best Vogue impersonation and strike a pose in the batter's box.
Listen to Aaron’s father when asked if he had been prepared for the historic moment. “I never paid the record no attention. It slipped up on me like everybody else. Henry was in baseball for work.”
Aaron also was not fussy about his equipment, keeping just a single spare bat on hand. Imagine how many more home runs he might have hit if fortified with the obnoxious arm and elbow pads that Bonds and others of the current generation wear to crowd the plate with impunity.
Among the players on the field April 8, 1974, who watched the historic home run, there is an interesting link to the present: Dusty Baker, Bonds’ future manager, batted fifth for the Braves, behind Aaron. Two future Orioles managers, Davey Johnson and Johnny Oates, played in the game, as did Davey Lopes, who coached for the O’s before a stint as manager of the Brewers. Lee Lacy, who ended his career in Baltimore, pinch hit for Lopes in the game.
Perhaps the most surprising fact I learned from the game’s box score is that Bill Buckner batted second for the Dodgers that night and played left field; he stole 31 bases for the ‘74 Dodgers and then 18 for the ‘85 Red Sox. His moment of infamy would come the following season, hobbled in a pair of high top cleats in Game 6 of the World Series, when he let a ground ball through his legs and Sox fans would have to wait 18 more years for a Series win. But he was speedy once.
Bonds needs 22 homers to ruin the record book. But at least one baseball scribe doesn’t think he will make it this season. FoxSports.com’s Dayn Perry may just be engaging in a little wishful thinking, but he insists that a combination of age (Bonds turns 42 in July), potential for injury, off-field trouble and a lack of protection in the lineup, among other factors, will prevent any fireworks celebrations for the Giants and their star this season.
If Bonds does pass Aaron as baseball’s home run king, I doubt anyone will write a book as skillful as Plimpton’s that captures the moment – and the pressure leading up to it – from so many different perspectives, everyone from the radio announcer to the mascot. The book on Bonds, in one way, has already been written: "Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports."
It could be a few years from now, after Bonds finally retires and the investigations surrounding him – of perjury, money laundering, and income-tax evasion – are resolved, before we reach some perspective on steroids and the accomplishments of those who played before drug testing.
Regardless, we may not ever hear something like this from Bonds. It’s Aaron reflecting on his accomplishment:
“Maybe what I’ve done is make new fans. At first there was a lot of mail from people, older people, who didn’t want me to break Babe Ruth’s record. The young generation took note of that, and supported me. I think they want to relate to me, to see me have a record, not someone their granddad saw play.”
Friday, March 02, 2007
Bird is the Word
A collection of Birds-related quotes from around Spring Training
Compiled by Matthew Taylor
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Eutaw Street?
Hopefully it's not the cornerstone.
"Just a building block. You don't really put much on it.”
-Steve Trachsel after a rough first outing for the O’s; 3 runs, four hits, one walk .
Neither team is exactly "The King of the World."
"I was watching on the computer as the tickets were being sold and it looked like the Titanic going down. It was amazing."
-Dave Rosenfeld, GM of the Norfolk Admirals, on ticket sales for an O’s – Nats exhibition game at the minor league stadium.
Now that's news: The Angelos family actually has a heart.
‘‘It was amazing to see the quick response ... The Orioles will give him VIP treatment.”
-Erik Scheidhauer, talking about his communication with the Orioles, which resulted in the team granting a spring training trip for his 4-year-old neighbor who has an incurable illness.
B-Rob's Mob Mentality.
“There were days last year where I couldn't even take batting practice because I needed to save some of my bullets for the game.”
-Brian Roberts shares what he learned from last season.
It's nice to know he still cares.
"Of course I'd like to do well against them, any team. But I'd like to do well against them. But I think it's just more anxious to get out there and get the first one out and that's about it."
-John Maine says he’d like to play well against the O’s.
O's pitching makes me nauseous for a different reason.
"I'm sitting there getting nauseous listening to this thing. I kept waiting for him to throw a pitch and just drop on the mound."
-Former Orioles great and current Bowie Pitching Coach Scott McGregor on the snapping scapula of Birds prospect Radhames Liz.
Does this mean Metallica concerts are out as well?
"I have a couple glasses of wine here and there, but I used to go out and drink 20 beers and stay up until 5, 6 o'clock in the morning. I'm in bed, at the latest, by midnight. One o'clock is way past my bedtime."
-Sir Sidney, in a highly quotable newspaper story, says he’s a changed man.
There's no "I" in crap.
"I think this is Kevin's battle. I don't think anyone else really gives a crap."
-Chris Gomez responds to Kevin Millar’s effort to generate a change in the team’s grooming policy.
These days Flanny prefers "Deal or No Deal."
"Actually, 1983 is the last time this organization was really happy. We were so close and loose, smart about the game, beating clubs with more talent. We lost the first game of the '83 ALCS. The next night it's 7:28 p.m. The TV announcers were saying, 'Where are the Orioles? They're not on the field yet. They must be in disarray after losing Game 1.' We were at the door of the clubhouse, packed together, watching 'Wheel of Fortune.' We're yelling, 'Pick a vowel!' Finally, somebody figured out the puzzle and we all barreled out the door."
-Mike Flanagan reminisces about the ’83 O’s.
Coming out swinging.
"If you're in that clubhouse and you don't think this team is vastly different and vastly improved, you're crazy."
-Jim Duquette makes his case for the team’s off-season moves.
Compiled by Matthew Taylor
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Eutaw Street?
Hopefully it's not the cornerstone.
"Just a building block. You don't really put much on it.”
-Steve Trachsel after a rough first outing for the O’s; 3 runs, four hits, one walk .
Neither team is exactly "The King of the World."
"I was watching on the computer as the tickets were being sold and it looked like the Titanic going down. It was amazing."
-Dave Rosenfeld, GM of the Norfolk Admirals, on ticket sales for an O’s – Nats exhibition game at the minor league stadium.
Now that's news: The Angelos family actually has a heart.
‘‘It was amazing to see the quick response ... The Orioles will give him VIP treatment.”
-Erik Scheidhauer, talking about his communication with the Orioles, which resulted in the team granting a spring training trip for his 4-year-old neighbor who has an incurable illness.
B-Rob's Mob Mentality.
“There were days last year where I couldn't even take batting practice because I needed to save some of my bullets for the game.”
-Brian Roberts shares what he learned from last season.
It's nice to know he still cares.
"Of course I'd like to do well against them, any team. But I'd like to do well against them. But I think it's just more anxious to get out there and get the first one out and that's about it."
-John Maine says he’d like to play well against the O’s.
O's pitching makes me nauseous for a different reason.
"I'm sitting there getting nauseous listening to this thing. I kept waiting for him to throw a pitch and just drop on the mound."
-Former Orioles great and current Bowie Pitching Coach Scott McGregor on the snapping scapula of Birds prospect Radhames Liz.
Does this mean Metallica concerts are out as well?
"I have a couple glasses of wine here and there, but I used to go out and drink 20 beers and stay up until 5, 6 o'clock in the morning. I'm in bed, at the latest, by midnight. One o'clock is way past my bedtime."
-Sir Sidney, in a highly quotable newspaper story, says he’s a changed man.
There's no "I" in crap.
"I think this is Kevin's battle. I don't think anyone else really gives a crap."
-Chris Gomez responds to Kevin Millar’s effort to generate a change in the team’s grooming policy.
These days Flanny prefers "Deal or No Deal."
"Actually, 1983 is the last time this organization was really happy. We were so close and loose, smart about the game, beating clubs with more talent. We lost the first game of the '83 ALCS. The next night it's 7:28 p.m. The TV announcers were saying, 'Where are the Orioles? They're not on the field yet. They must be in disarray after losing Game 1.' We were at the door of the clubhouse, packed together, watching 'Wheel of Fortune.' We're yelling, 'Pick a vowel!' Finally, somebody figured out the puzzle and we all barreled out the door."
-Mike Flanagan reminisces about the ’83 O’s.
Coming out swinging.
"If you're in that clubhouse and you don't think this team is vastly different and vastly improved, you're crazy."
-Jim Duquette makes his case for the team’s off-season moves.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Around the Horn: Early Spring Training Edition
Things ain't so friendly this week in Mr. Met's corner of the blogosphereby Matthew Taylor
This trip Around the Horn makes a special stop in the NL East to visit Mr. Met's blog ring. Our travel to New York’s "second city" for baseball is only fitting since the biggest O’s news of the past week involves former Mets.
Kris Benson’s doing the Hokie Pokie with the Birds ... “You can pencil me in, you can pencil me out, as I take my rotator cuff and shake it all about” … which led the team to sign another ex-Met, Steve Trachsel.
Earlier this week, our very own Chris Heun discussed the “Ex-Cubs Factor” and a potential “Ex-Orioles Factor.” Could there be an “Ex-Mets Factor” to boot? Like celebrity deaths, these things tend to come in threes.
Shea Stadium’s our virtual destination this week; don’t be distracted by the roaring planes overhead. Put on your away jersey with Baltimore on the front, says Oriole Magic, and join us for a trip Around the Horn.
First: It is easy to condemn, it is better to pity.
From the “Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse” file, we’re being pitied by Mets fans. The good news is that some of the comments are pretty funny.
Them Mets says it all in this headline following Benson’s injury: “Today I Feel Sorry for Orioles Fans.” There’s also some chest thumping about “who got the better of the Kris Benson/Jorge Julio/John Maine deal” and finally, more pity: “Just to add insult to injury, those poor suckers could end up with Steve Trachsel. Nobody deserves that.”
Hey, not every deal can bring you Melvin Mora in return for an aging Mike Bordick.
YardBarker offers another funny headline, “The Baltimore Orioles: Where Old Mets Pitchers Go To Die,” with some added commentary from the poster, Harvey Bars: “The Baltimore Orioles have agreed in principle to a deal with former Met, Steve Trachsel, which is a plus, because if you're like me, you found yourself last season thinking ‘Man, I wish Orioles' games were longer.”
Yeah, but in New York longer games meant more of Mr. Met's playful antics. 
And that's something only Tim Hardaway couldn't love.
Bugs and Cranks offers the sharpest out-of-town jab: “News of the rotator-cuff injury that will likely end Kris Benson’s season before it gets started sent shockwaves through the small/miniscule part of the US population known as Oriole Nation.”
The good news for members of Oriole Nation is that we’ve got spelling on our side. More from Bugs and Cranks: “Benson was penciled in as the number two starter behind Eric (sic) Bedard.”
For those scoring at home, or even if you’re alone (source: Keith Olbermann … or Steve Somers), Bedard put the “K” in Erik 171 times last season.
At least Mets Heads was kind: “I wish Steve the best of luck down there though as he is the last of the ‘old’ Mets to leave.”
Second: Hometown Humor on the Trachsel signing.
From Camden Chat: “Welcome to Baltimore, Steve Trachsel! Now, we likely project your mediocrity!”
Oriole Central sums it up best: “Benson is nothing more than an average pitcher who can eat innings, but he’s our average pitcher who can eat innings.”
Third: Picture This!
Baseball players are feeling romantic these days, even injured Orioles pitchers whose wives filed for divorce less than a Spring Training ago. Dawn Alexander has the visual proof.
Kris Benson is in good company with Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell, who had his wedding proposal documented. The 700 Level provides the photographic evidence on this one.
Leave it to the Mets’ rivals from the City of Brotherly Love to share some love with Burrell. "Well wishes" in the comments section on The 700 Level include the following:
-“I wonder how much gasoline it will take to burn his little black book. I give it about 10 days til he beds some well-dressed, hair-messed Old City bar trash”
-“This woman looks classy. Where the heck did he meet her? And what an unusual pose for Pat the Bat. Him on his knees rather than the woman.”
Cue the Elton John.
Speaking of love and pictures, you can catch photos of Larry Bigbie and Erik Bedard on the Great Lakes Bass Fishing website. The site also features pictures of former Love Connection host Chuck Woolery.
I’d love to see Woolery do a guest spot on MASN this season ... “And that’s it for the home half of the 8th. Okay, O’s fans, we’ll be back in two and two.”
I’ll admit it’s a long shot. At least we’ll get to see Rick Dempsey doing Birds games. Surprisingly, the new O’s blog Dempsey’s Army doesn’t offer a take on the catcher’s move to MASN. Come on Dempsey's Army, he’s your namesake!
Going Yard: Fat Boy Slim
It’s fitting, as we touch home, to bring things full circle with talk of ex-players in new destinations. Turns out ex-Oriole Sidney Ponson isn’t in the witness protection program; he’s in Minnesota.
Win Twins knows what the team is in for: “I decided to start with the player who will likely add the most drama to our clubhouse - even if it's just speculation on when/if he'll get his next DUI.”
A confused Ponson jumped at the chance to sign a deal with the Twinkies.
And that's a wrap. You stay classy, O's fans.
And that's something only Tim Hardaway couldn't love.Bugs and Cranks offers the sharpest out-of-town jab: “News of the rotator-cuff injury that will likely end Kris Benson’s season before it gets started sent shockwaves through the small/miniscule part of the US population known as Oriole Nation.”
The good news for members of Oriole Nation is that we’ve got spelling on our side. More from Bugs and Cranks: “Benson was penciled in as the number two starter behind Eric (sic) Bedard.”
For those scoring at home, or even if you’re alone (source: Keith Olbermann … or Steve Somers), Bedard put the “K” in Erik 171 times last season.
At least Mets Heads was kind: “I wish Steve the best of luck down there though as he is the last of the ‘old’ Mets to leave.”
Second: Hometown Humor on the Trachsel signing.
From Camden Chat: “Welcome to Baltimore, Steve Trachsel! Now, we likely project your mediocrity!”
Oriole Central sums it up best: “Benson is nothing more than an average pitcher who can eat innings, but he’s our average pitcher who can eat innings.”
Third: Picture This!
Baseball players are feeling romantic these days, even injured Orioles pitchers whose wives filed for divorce less than a Spring Training ago. Dawn Alexander has the visual proof.
Kris Benson is in good company with Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell, who had his wedding proposal documented. The 700 Level provides the photographic evidence on this one.
Leave it to the Mets’ rivals from the City of Brotherly Love to share some love with Burrell. "Well wishes" in the comments section on The 700 Level include the following:
-“I wonder how much gasoline it will take to burn his little black book. I give it about 10 days til he beds some well-dressed, hair-messed Old City bar trash”
-“This woman looks classy. Where the heck did he meet her? And what an unusual pose for Pat the Bat. Him on his knees rather than the woman.”
Cue the Elton John.
Speaking of love and pictures, you can catch photos of Larry Bigbie and Erik Bedard on the Great Lakes Bass Fishing website. The site also features pictures of former Love Connection host Chuck Woolery.
I’d love to see Woolery do a guest spot on MASN this season ... “And that’s it for the home half of the 8th. Okay, O’s fans, we’ll be back in two and two.”
I’ll admit it’s a long shot. At least we’ll get to see Rick Dempsey doing Birds games. Surprisingly, the new O’s blog Dempsey’s Army doesn’t offer a take on the catcher’s move to MASN. Come on Dempsey's Army, he’s your namesake!
Going Yard: Fat Boy Slim
It’s fitting, as we touch home, to bring things full circle with talk of ex-players in new destinations. Turns out ex-Oriole Sidney Ponson isn’t in the witness protection program; he’s in Minnesota.
Win Twins knows what the team is in for: “I decided to start with the player who will likely add the most drama to our clubhouse - even if it's just speculation on when/if he'll get his next DUI.”
A confused Ponson jumped at the chance to sign a deal with the Twinkies.
And that's a wrap. You stay classy, O's fans.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Rites of Spring: Completely Useless Facts
Get to know some new Birds and contemplate an Ex-Orioles Factor
By Christopher Heun
Now that the first team workouts of spring training have begun, the grand tradition continues of reporting about mundane details like fielding drills, unruly facial hair and new designs for practice jerseys.
To do our part, we present a few completely useless facts about the 2007 Orioles:
1. Newcomers Jay Payton and Chad Bradford were once traded for each other. Not sure what this proves, exactly, other than that 19 months ago a pair of general managers (Theo Epstein in Boston and Billy Beane in Oakland) estimated the two players were of roughly equal value.
If that’s still the case, and Bradford signed for three years and $10.5 million while Payton got nearly the same amount this off-season, $9.5 million, but over just two years, then Bradford must be a steal. All that talk of overpaying for the bullpen is totally unfounded.
2. Hayden Penn’s 2006 season was derailed by an appendectomy the night before he was scheduled to make his first big league start of the season. But he isn’t the only pitcher on the staff to have suffered the unusual injury last year. New reliever Danys Baez suffered an “emergency appendectomy” last August. That prompts the question, when is the removal of a person’s appendix not an emergency?
Bonus Appendectomy Tidbit: During spring training six years ago, Dodgers third baseman Adrian Beltre was forced to forced to undergo surgery to close a wound in his abdomen that had not healed from an appendectomy performed two months before in his native Dominican Republic. He had not eaten solid food since the first operation.
3. Miguel Tejada hasn’t missed a game since the middle of the 2000 season. His streak of 1,080 consecutive games played is the longest in the major leagues; if he keeps it up this year, he’ll surpass three players and own the fourth-longest streak in history.
He’ll pass Joe Sewell April 27 at Cleveland, Billy Williams May 12 at Boston and then Steve Garvey Aug. 24 at Camden Yards against Minnesota. At that point, Everett Scott, who played in 1,307 games in a row, is all that would separate Miggy from Lou Gehrig and Cal at the top of the iron man list.
Tejada, who turns 31 May 25, would pass Scott in early June 2008 but would need to play every day for five more years to catch Gehrig. He’d need to play three more years after that to reach Cal at 2,632. By that time, Miggy would be 40 years old.
4. The Birds traded Rodrigo Lopez to Colorado last month (where he joined his former battery mate, Javy Lopez; more on that in a minute) for two Double-A relievers, Jim Miller and Jason Burch. Neither of the young pitchers were invited to spring training – not a good reflection on the likelihood they will appear in a big league game anytime soon.
So, rather than the players, why couldn’t Lopez have been swapped for the Rockies’ infamous humidor? The cooler – a humidity- and temperature-controlled room built near the Coors Field clubhouses – has had a chilling effect on scoring in Denver. Maybe it could work the same wonders for the Orioles’ pitching staff? But with Rodrigo coming to town, the Rockies were wise to keep their contraption.
(Incidentally, Sports Illustrated reports that Major League Baseball is considering making the humidors mandatory for all teams. Pitching coach Leo Mazzone probably wouldn’t object.)
But getting back to the Rockies. In addition to acquiring Rodrigo Lopez, this winter they also signed two 2006 Orioles, Javy Lopez and LaTroy Hawkins. That’s a lot of former players from a team that lost 92 games a year ago. The logical initial reaction to such a move would be to send condolences and pencil in the Rockies for a woeful season.
But maybe it’s actually a positive sign. Four of the eight playoff teams last year featured at least three former Orioles. (The other four teams had none.) The Padres had the most, four: David Wells, Manny Alexander, Jack Cust and Jim Brower. Remember Jim Brower?
Meanwhile, Sidney Ponson, Larry Bigbie and Brian Falkenborg (a second round pick by the O’s in 1996 who got a cup of coffee three years later) all wore a Cardinals uniform last year – though none of them did so in October, which may be exactly the point. The team that signs the most former Orioles, and then sees the error of its ways, winds up World Series champs.
The well-documented “Ex-Cubs Factor” that predicts post-season doom for any club with three former Cubbies may have a corollary in The Ex-Orioles Factor. More research is necessary. Who knows, since the 2001 Diamondbacks World Series victory disproved the Ex-Cubs theory, could it be time for the Orioles to fill the void?
The 2007 Texas Rangers may have an inside track on testing the theory on behalf of the Birds, having already signed Bruce Chen and Sammy Sosa (who, it should be noted, has played for both the Cubs and the Orioles).
In the interest of thorough reporting, the three former Birds to play for the Yankees last year: Mike Mussina, Sidney Ponson and Scott Erickson. For the Mets: Jorge Julio, John Maine and Eli Marrero.
By Christopher Heun
Now that the first team workouts of spring training have begun, the grand tradition continues of reporting about mundane details like fielding drills, unruly facial hair and new designs for practice jerseys.
To do our part, we present a few completely useless facts about the 2007 Orioles:
1. Newcomers Jay Payton and Chad Bradford were once traded for each other. Not sure what this proves, exactly, other than that 19 months ago a pair of general managers (Theo Epstein in Boston and Billy Beane in Oakland) estimated the two players were of roughly equal value.
If that’s still the case, and Bradford signed for three years and $10.5 million while Payton got nearly the same amount this off-season, $9.5 million, but over just two years, then Bradford must be a steal. All that talk of overpaying for the bullpen is totally unfounded.
2. Hayden Penn’s 2006 season was derailed by an appendectomy the night before he was scheduled to make his first big league start of the season. But he isn’t the only pitcher on the staff to have suffered the unusual injury last year. New reliever Danys Baez suffered an “emergency appendectomy” last August. That prompts the question, when is the removal of a person’s appendix not an emergency?
Bonus Appendectomy Tidbit: During spring training six years ago, Dodgers third baseman Adrian Beltre was forced to forced to undergo surgery to close a wound in his abdomen that had not healed from an appendectomy performed two months before in his native Dominican Republic. He had not eaten solid food since the first operation.
3. Miguel Tejada hasn’t missed a game since the middle of the 2000 season. His streak of 1,080 consecutive games played is the longest in the major leagues; if he keeps it up this year, he’ll surpass three players and own the fourth-longest streak in history.
He’ll pass Joe Sewell April 27 at Cleveland, Billy Williams May 12 at Boston and then Steve Garvey Aug. 24 at Camden Yards against Minnesota. At that point, Everett Scott, who played in 1,307 games in a row, is all that would separate Miggy from Lou Gehrig and Cal at the top of the iron man list.
Tejada, who turns 31 May 25, would pass Scott in early June 2008 but would need to play every day for five more years to catch Gehrig. He’d need to play three more years after that to reach Cal at 2,632. By that time, Miggy would be 40 years old.
4. The Birds traded Rodrigo Lopez to Colorado last month (where he joined his former battery mate, Javy Lopez; more on that in a minute) for two Double-A relievers, Jim Miller and Jason Burch. Neither of the young pitchers were invited to spring training – not a good reflection on the likelihood they will appear in a big league game anytime soon.
So, rather than the players, why couldn’t Lopez have been swapped for the Rockies’ infamous humidor? The cooler – a humidity- and temperature-controlled room built near the Coors Field clubhouses – has had a chilling effect on scoring in Denver. Maybe it could work the same wonders for the Orioles’ pitching staff? But with Rodrigo coming to town, the Rockies were wise to keep their contraption.
(Incidentally, Sports Illustrated reports that Major League Baseball is considering making the humidors mandatory for all teams. Pitching coach Leo Mazzone probably wouldn’t object.)
But getting back to the Rockies. In addition to acquiring Rodrigo Lopez, this winter they also signed two 2006 Orioles, Javy Lopez and LaTroy Hawkins. That’s a lot of former players from a team that lost 92 games a year ago. The logical initial reaction to such a move would be to send condolences and pencil in the Rockies for a woeful season.
But maybe it’s actually a positive sign. Four of the eight playoff teams last year featured at least three former Orioles. (The other four teams had none.) The Padres had the most, four: David Wells, Manny Alexander, Jack Cust and Jim Brower. Remember Jim Brower?
Meanwhile, Sidney Ponson, Larry Bigbie and Brian Falkenborg (a second round pick by the O’s in 1996 who got a cup of coffee three years later) all wore a Cardinals uniform last year – though none of them did so in October, which may be exactly the point. The team that signs the most former Orioles, and then sees the error of its ways, winds up World Series champs.
The well-documented “Ex-Cubs Factor” that predicts post-season doom for any club with three former Cubbies may have a corollary in The Ex-Orioles Factor. More research is necessary. Who knows, since the 2001 Diamondbacks World Series victory disproved the Ex-Cubs theory, could it be time for the Orioles to fill the void?
The 2007 Texas Rangers may have an inside track on testing the theory on behalf of the Birds, having already signed Bruce Chen and Sammy Sosa (who, it should be noted, has played for both the Cubs and the Orioles).
In the interest of thorough reporting, the three former Birds to play for the Yankees last year: Mike Mussina, Sidney Ponson and Scott Erickson. For the Mets: Jorge Julio, John Maine and Eli Marrero.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
100 Words or Less About … The Off-Season
A concise summary of O’s events
By Matthew Taylor
We debut our "100 Words or Less" theme - which we'll use regularly during 2007 - with a tongue-in-cheek review of the Birds' off-season maneuvering.
The goal of this particular posting is to use 100 words or less of corporate speak to dissect the hometown Hot Stove action. How many of these buzz words have you heard in your office?
100 Words or less starts ... now:
"A download of the off-season: The 30,000-foot view suggests there won’t be a hostile takeover of our Northern baseball neighbors. It’s fair to question the synergy between the front office and ownership. The O’s reached out to free agents like Soriano and Lee, but our disconnect with top players continues. The GMs did think outside the box and loop back in to the market to sign 10 free agents. The deliverables included Huff, Payton, and a revamped bullpen. To your point, re: losing, the 2007 team could leverage a .500 record as a metric to incent disillusioned fans."
Final Count: 98 words. Mission Accomplished, with room to spare.
See you next time on "100 Words or Less."
By Matthew Taylor
We debut our "100 Words or Less" theme - which we'll use regularly during 2007 - with a tongue-in-cheek review of the Birds' off-season maneuvering.
The goal of this particular posting is to use 100 words or less of corporate speak to dissect the hometown Hot Stove action. How many of these buzz words have you heard in your office?
100 Words or less starts ... now:
"A download of the off-season: The 30,000-foot view suggests there won’t be a hostile takeover of our Northern baseball neighbors. It’s fair to question the synergy between the front office and ownership. The O’s reached out to free agents like Soriano and Lee, but our disconnect with top players continues. The GMs did think outside the box and loop back in to the market to sign 10 free agents. The deliverables included Huff, Payton, and a revamped bullpen. To your point, re: losing, the 2007 team could leverage a .500 record as a metric to incent disillusioned fans."
Final Count: 98 words. Mission Accomplished, with room to spare.
See you next time on "100 Words or Less."
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Around the Horn; A Round-Up of O's News
The Best of the Blog-O's-phere, Feb. 5 - Feb. 11
It’s not quite time to fly south, and the weather’s awfully chilly in Charm City. Nevertheless, Birds bloggers are still hard at work this off-season. Grab a coat and join Roar from 34 for a trip around the Blog-O’s-phere for the week of Feb. 5 – 11.
Perhaps the biggest story this week was the death of former O’s manager Hank Bauer. Camden Chat featured a tribute to the man who led the Orioles to their first World Series championship.
Finally, the “former Orioles fan” at Swing and a Miss offers his personal memories of Bauer.
Charm City blogger Baltimore Reporter was at the event and says that Flanagan and Duquette were honest when evaluating the team’s chances headed into the 2007 season.
We’ll wrap up this week’s Blog-O’s-phere trip by taking a swing out to the West Coast where the weather’s warmer and Blue Notes, a Dodger blog, interviews former Orioles executive Logan White, who says that then-GM Roland Hemond “was very influential” in his career.
A.J. Pierzynski's been moonlighting on Jerry Springer, so it's only fitting that we leave you with this final thought ... "Take care of yourselves, and each other."
It’s not quite time to fly south, and the weather’s awfully chilly in Charm City. Nevertheless, Birds bloggers are still hard at work this off-season. Grab a coat and join Roar from 34 for a trip around the Blog-O’s-phere for the week of Feb. 5 – 11.
Perhaps the biggest story this week was the death of former O’s manager Hank Bauer. Camden Chat featured a tribute to the man who led the Orioles to their first World Series championship.
“Bauer's run as manager of the Orioles is, of course, one of the keys to why theOther tributes came in from Baseball Crank (“Yes, out of respect for Bauer I haven't even called them the Hated Yankees, for once. Anything and everything that was ever good about the Yankees was true of Hank Bauer”) and non-baseball blogger SteveAudio shares a photo of his Hank Bauer model baseball glove.
team was perhaps the best in all of major organized sports for many years. His
first two teams turned in third-place finishes, going 97-65 and 94-68. And then
came the 1966 Baltimore Orioles.”
Finally, the “former Orioles fan” at Swing and a Miss offers his personal memories of Bauer.
“Today I learned another figure from the Orioles of my youth had passed away. ..In other O’s news, Jim Flanagan and Jim Duquette visited Baltimore’s ESPN Zone this week for a chat with fans. The Sun’s Roch Kubatko remarks on his blog about the low attendance at the event before acknowledging that he didn’t make it there himself.
I not only recalled the thrill of watching that youthful Orioles team featuring
Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Barber, Paul Blair, Boog Powell,
Davey Johnson and newly arrived veteran Frank Robinson among others, I had the
opportunity to meet the manager himself in my capacity as sports editor of my
high school newspaper.”
Charm City blogger Baltimore Reporter was at the event and says that Flanagan and Duquette were honest when evaluating the team’s chances headed into the 2007 season.
“The duo of Flanagan and Duqette were optimistic about the Orioles this seasonLater in the week, Baltimore Reporter visited the Sports Legends museum for another baseball-related event, this one a birthday celebration for Babe Ruth, and says some hometown favorites made the event worthwhile.
and how they will fare; however, they were realistic with what the team is up
against, especially in the American League East. The two men were honest in the
sense that the team is trying to recover from almost a decade of losing, and
change may not happen immediately – but the team is improving.”
“Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts, Former Oriole stars Al Bumbry, Joe Orsulak,In transaction news, the Orioles settled on contract numbers with Cory Patterson, which invited some cynicism from Baseball Musings.
Dick Hall, Dave Johnson & Ken Singleton entertained fans with stories of
their glory days, a few laughs, and reminisced about Orioles’ baseball a
generation ago.”
“If you can just stay in the majors long enough, it doesn't matter how well youMeanwhile, Roch Around the Clock talks about Bruce Chen joining Sammy Sosa in the Texas minor league system; The Pastime says farewell to Rick Helling, who has announced his retirement from baseball; MLB Trade Rumors keeps alive rumors that the O’s might invite Juan Gonzalez to spring training; and Camden Chat offers its projected O’s stats for the 2007 season.
play. While a second team waits for Patterson to reach his potential, he's
racking up service time and making millions.”
We’ll wrap up this week’s Blog-O’s-phere trip by taking a swing out to the West Coast where the weather’s warmer and Blue Notes, a Dodger blog, interviews former Orioles executive Logan White, who says that then-GM Roland Hemond “was very influential” in his career.
A.J. Pierzynski's been moonlighting on Jerry Springer, so it's only fitting that we leave you with this final thought ... "Take care of yourselves, and each other."
Friday, February 02, 2007
MASN Plays the Classics, and Devo Whips it Good
A replay of Mike Devereaux's blast from the past livens up an otherwise ordinary TV night
By Matthew Taylor
The retro California Angels uniform and the “Orioles Classics” logo in the corner of my television screen were dead giveaways. Upon seeing both last week I knew immediately that MASN had transported me back to 1989 for Mike Devereaux’s ninth inning “Fair or Foul?” blast. The moment exemplified that season’s “Why Not?” theme and was unforgettable for this Birds fan, and surely many others as well.
Here are a few reasons that a regular season home run during an 87-win, second-place season could be meaningful enough to provoke nostalgia for Birds fans nearly 20 years later.
It was Oriole Magic at its Best
I’d like to think that Oriole Magic hasn’t disappeared; the rabbit’s just stuck in the hat. Sunday’s MASN broadcast reminded me why I started believing in the first place.
Down 7-3 in the seventh inning against the Angels? No problem. Still trailing by two headed into the bottom of the ninth? All according to script. Final score: Orioles 11, Angels 9.
Losing wasn’t nearly as much the norm in the ‘80s as it is now; comebacks were. On any given evening, during any given season, the O’s gave fans reason to believe. After posting their worst record in post-St. Louis Browns team history in 1988, the Birds followed up that effort with the riveting ‘89 campaign.
Songs like “Oriole Magic” and “Why Not?” only contributed to the myth making.
We never talked about ghosts the way they do at Yankee Stadium, but, as Mike Devereaux demonstrated, we had our own, less pretentious version of the same. Think less Monument Park and more Earl Weaver tomato patch.
Times have changed, but there are occasional hints that remind us, naiveté be damned, to keep believing.
Ron Snyder explained in a touching Examiner column last year that the Magic is alive and well for his young son, who this past season witnessed Nick Markakis’s three-homer game in person. Snyder states, “In its purest form, baseball can still hold a special place in the hearts of frustrated Charm City residents.”
It does for me, and the 1989 season is a big part of the reason.
Mike Devereaux was a Hometown Hero in the Making
We’ve made the case before on this blog that Mike Devereaux has a special place in Orioles lore, largely because of his controversial, game-ending home run against the Angels. Easily forgotten is the fact that he did nearly the same thing against Texas less than a month later. In other words, two of Devo’s eight home runs during his rookie season were game winners.
This explains, in part, how a .254 lifetime hitter with 105 home runs became a hometown hero and now ranks as one of the 50 All-Time Favorite Orioles. 
Devo’s popularity is further understood when you consider his defensive prowess, which Baseball Library describes as follows: “He also earned a reputation as one the league's most spectacular center fielders, using his speed to rob batters of sure hits, and his fantastic leaping ability to climb outfield walls and rescue long drives that appeared destined for the bleachers.”
Before Kenny Lofton made a habit of torturing O’s fans with his over-the-wall grabs in Jacobs Field, Mike Devereaux used the outfield fence as a personal springboard to defensive success in Memorial Stadium. The metal bleachers on 33rd Street – the same ones that nonjudgmentally welcomed Devo’s controversial July home run – often offered the best views of his outfield theatrics.
Mike Devereaux was easy to love. When the “Roar from 34” crew offered up the traditional “Devo” cheer prior to a 1995 White Sox game at Tiger Stadium, Chicago’s new free-agent acquisition responded with his familiar smile and a modest tip of the cap.
Later that same season, after he was traded from the White Sox to the Atlanta Braves, Devereaux earned NLCS MVP honors for delivering in the clutch.
Just like his days in Baltimore, Devo was an unlikely hero.
Things Happened Then That Wouldn’t Happen Now
On July 15, 1989, you would’ve seen:
-Forty-seven thousand screaming fans packed in Memorial Stadium.
-An $80,000-a-year rookie go deep in the clutch.
-TV broadcasters leave a controversial call alone after a few replays and accept that the game was every bit as over in slow motion as it was in real time.
-A game ending home run that wasn’t called a “walk off.”
-The Birds go 12 games over .500.
-Oriole legend Frank Robinson managing in the home team’s dugout.
-A celebration at home plate that didn’t seem to come out of a playbook. Had each of those men dropped their season’s earnings out of their pockets during the raucous celebration they still couldn’t cover Javy Lopez’s 2006 salary.
-The Rookie of the Year (Gregg Olson) sitting in the Birds bullpen.
-A player wearing the number 88 (Rene Gonzalez) taking his cuts.
-"The Moose" -- no, not Mike Mussina.
-Chuck Finley, but no thought of Tawny Kitaen.
Want more facts about the Devereaux game or the ’89 season?
-The July 15, 1989 Box Score, courtesy of Baseball Reference.
-Birds statistics from 1989, courtesy of Baseball Cube.
-A review of the “Why Not” season, courtesy of Birds in the Belfry.
Friday, January 12, 2007
A Little R and R: Ripken and Rosenthal
I used to think Ken Rosenthal was a jerk. Now I realize he was just doing his job the right way.
By Matthew Taylor
With his election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cal Ripken is taking a victory lap around the sports pages, similar, in a metaphoric sense, to the lap he took at Camden Yards in 1995 after breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak.
It seems that, over a decade removed from that historical September evening when Cal played in his 2,131st straight game, sportswriters have replaced those eager baseball fans who reached out from the stands to touch a legend. In both cases the observers just want to pat No. 8 on the back and say, “Thanks.”
With so little dissent, it’s fair to call this a case of Americans rallying around the rosin bag. “United We Stand” for our baseball heroes -- sportswriters and fans joining hands in a rare show of national pastime unity.
I’m ready to lay down my blogger’s sword to join hands with those mightier-penned journalists, but before doing so I had to revisit the writing of a journalist whom I’ve long loved to hate: Ken Rosenthal.
Rivals.com
Growing up, I had two favorite baseball rivalries: Orioles – Yankees and Rosenthal – Ripken.
Most folks know Ken Rosenthal as a baseball reporter for Fox (his current position), or as a writer for “The Sporting News” (his previous job). To me, he’s always been the negative columnist who consistently attacked the Ripken legend in the pages of The Sun.
A funny thing happened last week, though, as I looked back on some of Rosenthal’s work. The trip down Memory Lane, which intersects with 33rd and Eutaw streets, gave me a greater appreciation for the player and, to my surprise, the writer as well.
To be fair, my youthful animosity toward Ken Rosenthal wasn’t entirely misplaced. Rosenthal has acknowledged, “For better or worse, during my years as a columnist for The (Baltimore) Sun, I played Max Mercy to Ripken’s Roy Hobbs.”
The reference to the movie “The Natural” is, well, natural.
Much like the scene from the movie where Roy Hobbs shattered the press box window with a foul ball, Cal once busted up Rosenthal’s laptop computer in similar fashion.
I still remember Rosenthal’s column that ran the day after the incident. Rosenthal jokingly referenced how the ball arrived right at the time he was writing the words “sit” and “down,” and I thought, “Atta boy, Cal!”
Good had triumphed once more over Evil.
Upon Further Review
Over time, my perspective on journalism – and sports journalism, in particular – changed. Like so many other fans, I once wanted my media like I want my seventh inning stretch: “Root, root, root for the home team.” So you’ll forgive me if, until now, I’ve had a selective memory about Ken Rosenthal.
The columns I remember read like this one from April 18, 1999, in The Sun:
So easily forgotten are the (more frequent) columns like this, from the Evening Sun on Sept. 21, 1991:
I have higher expectations for journalists these days, including sportswriters. My favorite sports writer, Rick Reilly, summed it up best during a Q&A session that followed a speech he gave at the University of North Carolina’s journalism school. When asked which athletes are his friends, Rosenthal responded, “None of them.” He explained that he was supposed to report about athletes rather than be their friends.
That’s what Rosenthal did all along with Cal.
Consider the Source
It seems my trip down Memory Lane took an unexpected turn. Given a chance to reconsider my frustration with Ken Rosenthal, my rage has been replaced by respect.
In a town where suggestions that Cal Ripken sit out for a game, or move from shortstop to third base, were considered heresy, Rosenthal wasn’t afraid to legitimately challenge a hometown hero. He ribbed Ripken rather than revere him. After all, that was his job.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Rosenthal's writing is that he ultimately wasn’t afraid to admit when he was wrong. After all, baseball isn’t science, even if the stat heads want to make it just that.
In a 2001 column for The Sporting News Rosenthal chronicles the many times that Cal rose to the occasion after the sportswriter questioned the shortstop. The column is the most fitting tribute to Ripken that I've read, even if it came well before his election to the Hall of Fame.
Rosenthal concludes: “Ripken always played hard, always played hurt, always played to win. And he always got the last word.”
Considering the entertaining rivalry - real and imagined - that existed between The Sun columnist and the Iron Man, Ken Rosenthal deserves the last word about one of Baltimore's greatest sports legends.
By Matthew Taylor
With his election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cal Ripken is taking a victory lap around the sports pages, similar, in a metaphoric sense, to the lap he took at Camden Yards in 1995 after breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak.
It seems that, over a decade removed from that historical September evening when Cal played in his 2,131st straight game, sportswriters have replaced those eager baseball fans who reached out from the stands to touch a legend. In both cases the observers just want to pat No. 8 on the back and say, “Thanks.”
With so little dissent, it’s fair to call this a case of Americans rallying around the rosin bag. “United We Stand” for our baseball heroes -- sportswriters and fans joining hands in a rare show of national pastime unity.
I’m ready to lay down my blogger’s sword to join hands with those mightier-penned journalists, but before doing so I had to revisit the writing of a journalist whom I’ve long loved to hate: Ken Rosenthal.
Rivals.com
Growing up, I had two favorite baseball rivalries: Orioles – Yankees and Rosenthal – Ripken.
Most folks know Ken Rosenthal as a baseball reporter for Fox (his current position), or as a writer for “The Sporting News” (his previous job). To me, he’s always been the negative columnist who consistently attacked the Ripken legend in the pages of The Sun.
A funny thing happened last week, though, as I looked back on some of Rosenthal’s work. The trip down Memory Lane, which intersects with 33rd and Eutaw streets, gave me a greater appreciation for the player and, to my surprise, the writer as well.
To be fair, my youthful animosity toward Ken Rosenthal wasn’t entirely misplaced. Rosenthal has acknowledged, “For better or worse, during my years as a columnist for The (Baltimore) Sun, I played Max Mercy to Ripken’s Roy Hobbs.”
The reference to the movie “The Natural” is, well, natural.
Much like the scene from the movie where Roy Hobbs shattered the press box window with a foul ball, Cal once busted up Rosenthal’s laptop computer in similar fashion.
I still remember Rosenthal’s column that ran the day after the incident. Rosenthal jokingly referenced how the ball arrived right at the time he was writing the words “sit” and “down,” and I thought, “Atta boy, Cal!”
Good had triumphed once more over Evil.
Upon Further Review
Over time, my perspective on journalism – and sports journalism, in particular – changed. Like so many other fans, I once wanted my media like I want my seventh inning stretch: “Root, root, root for the home team.” So you’ll forgive me if, until now, I’ve had a selective memory about Ken Rosenthal.
The columns I remember read like this one from April 18, 1999, in The Sun:
“No one wants to see this. No one wants to see Cal Ripken embarrassed. No one wants to see a great player stumble at the end of his career. It was only yesterday that Ripken was an offensive force, driving balls to the gaps, hitting
three-run homers, delivering clutch RBIs. It was only yesterday that he was one of the game's top defensive players, catching every grounder, chasing down pop-ups, making powerful throws. That Cal Ripken has disappeared, maybe for good. It's sad to watch. It appears Ripken is nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career.”
So easily forgotten are the (more frequent) columns like this, from the Evening Sun on Sept. 21, 1991:
“Everyone knows the Baltimore Orioles' Cal Ripken is completing a fantastic season, but it's not just any old career year. No, it's one of the greatest all-around seasons by a shortstop in major-league history. Ripken was a likely Hall of Famer even before this year, thanks to his streak of 1,557 consecutive games, record-setting defense and batting prowess while playing a position usually reserved for little guys named Ozzie. But 1991 not only marks a thunderous end to his four-year offensive decline, it could be remembered as the year Ripken began firmly establishing himself as one of baseball's greats.”
I have higher expectations for journalists these days, including sportswriters. My favorite sports writer, Rick Reilly, summed it up best during a Q&A session that followed a speech he gave at the University of North Carolina’s journalism school. When asked which athletes are his friends, Rosenthal responded, “None of them.” He explained that he was supposed to report about athletes rather than be their friends.
That’s what Rosenthal did all along with Cal.
Consider the Source
It seems my trip down Memory Lane took an unexpected turn. Given a chance to reconsider my frustration with Ken Rosenthal, my rage has been replaced by respect.
In a town where suggestions that Cal Ripken sit out for a game, or move from shortstop to third base, were considered heresy, Rosenthal wasn’t afraid to legitimately challenge a hometown hero. He ribbed Ripken rather than revere him. After all, that was his job.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Rosenthal's writing is that he ultimately wasn’t afraid to admit when he was wrong. After all, baseball isn’t science, even if the stat heads want to make it just that.
In a 2001 column for The Sporting News Rosenthal chronicles the many times that Cal rose to the occasion after the sportswriter questioned the shortstop. The column is the most fitting tribute to Ripken that I've read, even if it came well before his election to the Hall of Fame.
Rosenthal concludes: “Ripken always played hard, always played hurt, always played to win. And he always got the last word.”
Considering the entertaining rivalry - real and imagined - that existed between The Sun columnist and the Iron Man, Ken Rosenthal deserves the last word about one of Baltimore's greatest sports legends.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Is It Too Late to Trade Brian Roberts?
Sentimental feelings won’t get the Birds out of fourth placeBy Christopher Heun
Do we love Brian Roberts? Yes.
Does that mean he should not be traded? No.
Roberts has endeared himself to fans for his perennially dirty uniform, for his batting helmet that looks two sizes too big, and for his ear-to-ear grin that we all wish he had reason to flash more frequently. Often, he looks like a little kid out there on the diamond, wearing his glove on his head during the elaborate game of paddycake he plays with Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora after an O's win.
We've watched Roberts grow up as an Oriole since breaking into the league in 1999, in the process becoming a solid leadoff hitter. He’s also active in many Baltimore charities; last year, he helped organize a $100,000 fund-raiser for the University of Maryland Hospital for Children, which is part of the reason he was nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award for community service.
"Brian Bob is the type of Yankee-killing gamer about whom you write haikus. And we have. Twice," Camden Chat writes on Roberts' page on baseball-reference.com. When sports bloggers compose poetry, you know it's love.
Roberts's biggest fan, though, just may be owner Peter Angelos, who allegedly blocked a trade that would have sent the second baseman and Hayden Penn to Atlanta for Marcus Giles and Adam LaRoche, who hit 30 homers last year in just his third season in the big leagues and who could be just the big bopper that the Orioles have been missing for too long.
But how much will Angelos care for Roberts after the 2008 season, when the second baseman is a free agent and asks for $5 million a year?
LaRoche could turn out to be the next Glenn Davis, but I say that's a trade the organization has to make, regardless of how we feel about Roberts. Landing a young, power-hitting first baseman is the one move this winter that would have dramatically improved the roster.
We've got all winter to ruminate over the seven new free agents GM Mike Flanagan did manage to get past his boss (with a total price tag of $72.8 million). The short answer is that while individually the players are barely above average, collectively they address the team's glaring needs in the bullpen and the middle of the lineup. So the team will be marginally better in 2007. Adding LaRoche would have made a big difference.
But I would have traded Roberts anyway. He's just not as good as we like to think. For the past two seasons, the most similar player to Roberts is Adam Kennedy. That's right, Adam Kennedy. Placido Polanco has also posted similar stats. Would anyone be excited if Kennedy or Polanco was playing second base at Camden Yards? Giles, the player for whom Roberts would have been traded, has higher career slugging and on-base percentages than Roberts.
One of two things will happen to Roberts next season: Either he will fail, for the second year in a row, to repeat his All Star season of 2005, reinforcing the error in not trading him; or, to the joy of Orioles fans everywhere, he will duplicate his career high-water mark from 2005 of 18 homers and a .902 OPS, which while boosting the team's offense in 2007, will only raise his price on the free agent market and increase the likelihood that the Orioles will not be able (or willing) to keep him.
There is an unfortunate precedent for this. See: Ryan, B.J. Before the 2005 season, instead of paying Ryan what he wanted to stay in Baltimore, the Orioles waited for him to leave, which he did the following winter, accepting a five-year, $47 million contract from the Blue Jays, considered a staggering sum at the time. Then the Orioles turned around and spent nearly the same amount, $41.5 million, on three above-average relievers – Jamie Walker, Chad Bradford, and Danys Baez – the very next December to patch a porous bullpen. Imagine how much smarter Sam Perlozzo would have looked if he had Ryan and Chris Ray to pitch the 8th and 9th innings last season.
This is why Angelos doesn't get it. Or should we blame Flanagan and his assistant, Jim Duquette? The key to building a winner is developing young talent and holding on to it – and being smart enough to appraise those players honestly without getting sentimental.
It may be that the Roberts of 2005 was an anomaly, that he is actually closer to average than we would like to admit, in which case it will be easier to replace him. If Brandon Fahey keeps drinking malted milks after school and manages to put on a few pounds, he won't be so far from an adequate replacement.
If the Orioles aren't going to trade Roberts, then they should sign him to a contract extension. But if there's still a chance to swap him for LaRoche, then let's go ahead and make a deal.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Top 10 Reasons Why The Red Sox Are Their Own Evil Empire
The Yankees no longer corner the market on ill will
By Christopher Heun
Regardless of how he plays this year, newest Oriole Jay Payton won over our hearts on his first day in town. After signing his contract Monday, he drew a connection between the two perennial titans of the A.L. East that we’ve been thinking about ourselves this off-season.
"I love trying to battle ... the two Evil Empires, I call them, between Boston and New York, and knock those teams off," Payton said.
The Red Sox used to be everyone’s favorite underdog to the original Evil Empire, the Yankees. Then Boston won the 2004 World Series and their players, their management and -- most of all -- their fans became just as obnoxious as anyone rooting for that team in pinstripes from the Bronx.
So, while this might not be exactly what Payton had in mind, here are our Top 10 Reasons Why The Red Sox Are An Evil Empire In Their Own Right:
10. It Takes Evil to Know Evil.
"The evil empire extends its tentacles even into Latin America." That's what Red Sox team president Larry Lucchino had to say in Dec. 2002 after losing out to the Yankees in the bidding for Cuban pitcher Jose Contreras, thus setting in motion countless Star Wars references by bored baseball fans everywhere. Boston general manager Theo Epstein added: "We went to the limit of fiscal sanity with our offer and would not go beyond." Fours years later, the Red Sox bid $51.1 million for exclusive negotiating rights to Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, surpassing all other competitors by roughly $20 million.
9. Manny Ramirez Might Be Traded, Take 5.
This has got to be tiresome for the reporters who have to cover it: every winter, the Sox say they're thinking of trading Manny Ramirez, but only if they can get fair value in return, by which they mean a package including at least a two-time All Star, three major-league ready prospects, and the ghost of Babe Ruth. Of course, Manny never leaves.
8. Does Curt Schilling Ever Shut Up?
Even George Steinbrenner, at the height of his manic obsession with dominating the back pages of the New York tabloids, never thought anybody cared to hear his opinions on anything other than baseball. Schilling, meanwhile, cannot resist the temptation of a reporter's microphone. They say the most dangerous place in Washington, D.C., is between Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a microphone. Seems the same applies in Boston with Curt Schilling.
7. If You Can't Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em.
Yes, the Yankees payroll routinely hovers around the $200 million mark, and for their extravagance the team must also pay a hefty tax. Only one other franchise in major league baseball is required to pay the luxury tax: the Red Sox.
6. Rules Are Made to Be Broken.
The Dodgers contemplated filing tampering charges against the Red Sox after Boston signed J.D. Drew to a five-year, $70 million contract earlier this month. On Nov. 10, Drew decided to forego the remaining three years and $33 million on his contract with the Dodgers. The possibility of tampering is bad enough, but what about the wisdom (or lack thereof) in giving $70 million to a 31-year-old outfielder who's never played more than 109 games in any two successive seasons?
5. Cheapest seat at Fenway Park not in the bleachers:
$27.
4. When In Doubt, Blame Divine Intervention.
Red Sox Nation’s rabid insistence that all those decades without a championship was the work of a higher power. Funny how the fans of a team like the Royals, who haven't won anything since the days of "The Cosby Show," don’t whine about a curse. It’s like the T-shirt for sale in a shop across from Yankee Stadium says: “Hey Boston, there was no curse. Your team just sucked.”
3. “Red Sox Nation” is really just another way of
saying, “I live in or around the Greater Massachusetts Metropolitan Area.”
2. I Hate Him, But I Love Him Too!
Theo Epstein, the boy genius general manager who built the Sox into World Series champs, failed to see eye-to-eye with his mentor and boss, Lucchino, after the 2005 season. Epstein walked away from the team (in a gorilla suit, to evade the encamped media), which immediately ignited nonstop speculation about when he would return, which turned out to be just 10 weeks later. The whole saga had the makings of a Greek tragedy performed by a fifth grade drama troupe. Epstein, by the way, got his start in baseball when Lucchino hired him as an intern with the Orioles.
1. It's Just A Game, People. Really.
When the Yankees lose, the players and their fans trash the team's best player. When the Sox lose, it's like a preternatural force has ripped out the hearts of every man, woman and child who has ever heard the name Jason Varitek. Get over yourselves! And cheer up: the Yankees always lose in the playoffs, anyway.
By Christopher Heun
Regardless of how he plays this year, newest Oriole Jay Payton won over our hearts on his first day in town. After signing his contract Monday, he drew a connection between the two perennial titans of the A.L. East that we’ve been thinking about ourselves this off-season.
"I love trying to battle ... the two Evil Empires, I call them, between Boston and New York, and knock those teams off," Payton said.
The Red Sox used to be everyone’s favorite underdog to the original Evil Empire, the Yankees. Then Boston won the 2004 World Series and their players, their management and -- most of all -- their fans became just as obnoxious as anyone rooting for that team in pinstripes from the Bronx.
So, while this might not be exactly what Payton had in mind, here are our Top 10 Reasons Why The Red Sox Are An Evil Empire In Their Own Right:
10. It Takes Evil to Know Evil.
"The evil empire extends its tentacles even into Latin America." That's what Red Sox team president Larry Lucchino had to say in Dec. 2002 after losing out to the Yankees in the bidding for Cuban pitcher Jose Contreras, thus setting in motion countless Star Wars references by bored baseball fans everywhere. Boston general manager Theo Epstein added: "We went to the limit of fiscal sanity with our offer and would not go beyond." Fours years later, the Red Sox bid $51.1 million for exclusive negotiating rights to Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, surpassing all other competitors by roughly $20 million.
9. Manny Ramirez Might Be Traded, Take 5.
This has got to be tiresome for the reporters who have to cover it: every winter, the Sox say they're thinking of trading Manny Ramirez, but only if they can get fair value in return, by which they mean a package including at least a two-time All Star, three major-league ready prospects, and the ghost of Babe Ruth. Of course, Manny never leaves.
8. Does Curt Schilling Ever Shut Up?
Even George Steinbrenner, at the height of his manic obsession with dominating the back pages of the New York tabloids, never thought anybody cared to hear his opinions on anything other than baseball. Schilling, meanwhile, cannot resist the temptation of a reporter's microphone. They say the most dangerous place in Washington, D.C., is between Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a microphone. Seems the same applies in Boston with Curt Schilling.
7. If You Can't Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em.
Yes, the Yankees payroll routinely hovers around the $200 million mark, and for their extravagance the team must also pay a hefty tax. Only one other franchise in major league baseball is required to pay the luxury tax: the Red Sox.
6. Rules Are Made to Be Broken.
The Dodgers contemplated filing tampering charges against the Red Sox after Boston signed J.D. Drew to a five-year, $70 million contract earlier this month. On Nov. 10, Drew decided to forego the remaining three years and $33 million on his contract with the Dodgers. The possibility of tampering is bad enough, but what about the wisdom (or lack thereof) in giving $70 million to a 31-year-old outfielder who's never played more than 109 games in any two successive seasons?
5. Cheapest seat at Fenway Park not in the bleachers:
$27.
4. When In Doubt, Blame Divine Intervention.
Red Sox Nation’s rabid insistence that all those decades without a championship was the work of a higher power. Funny how the fans of a team like the Royals, who haven't won anything since the days of "The Cosby Show," don’t whine about a curse. It’s like the T-shirt for sale in a shop across from Yankee Stadium says: “Hey Boston, there was no curse. Your team just sucked.”
3. “Red Sox Nation” is really just another way of
saying, “I live in or around the Greater Massachusetts Metropolitan Area.”
2. I Hate Him, But I Love Him Too!
Theo Epstein, the boy genius general manager who built the Sox into World Series champs, failed to see eye-to-eye with his mentor and boss, Lucchino, after the 2005 season. Epstein walked away from the team (in a gorilla suit, to evade the encamped media), which immediately ignited nonstop speculation about when he would return, which turned out to be just 10 weeks later. The whole saga had the makings of a Greek tragedy performed by a fifth grade drama troupe. Epstein, by the way, got his start in baseball when Lucchino hired him as an intern with the Orioles.
1. It's Just A Game, People. Really.
When the Yankees lose, the players and their fans trash the team's best player. When the Sox lose, it's like a preternatural force has ripped out the hearts of every man, woman and child who has ever heard the name Jason Varitek. Get over yourselves! And cheer up: the Yankees always lose in the playoffs, anyway.
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