Well, I just can't sit here any longer without blowing my top about this lousy team and the lousy GM that put it together and has done ZERO to do anything about it. How can you get through the trade deadline with all the injuries around the league without doing ANYTHING to alleviate the payroll problem going into next year and beyond. The big move at the deadline was to dump arguably your best starting pitcher in Ted Lilly and starting 2B in Ryan Theriot along with $2.5 million of the $4.3 million owed to Lilly to the Dodgers for Blake DeWitt and a couple minor leaguers. Blake DeWitt does hit left-handed and is nearly 6 years younger than Theriot and the move probably did save the Cubs about $2 million, but the Cubs desperately needed something more than that.
Let's start with the fact that this team is AWFUL - NO OFFENSE, so-so starting pitching, shaky defense at best, and a similar shaky bullpen; the manager retired last August and is just adding to his retirement fund at this point yet no move there either from Jim Hendry. The O's are 6-1 since hiring Buck Showalter; had the Cubs made a move a month or so ago when Lou made it clear he wasn't coming back, maybe Ryne Sandberg could have lit a fire under this team that has not existed since early last year.
Yes, the team has tremendous payroll problems with $140 million in payroll and a 5th place club that is 18 games under .500 with ZERO injuries to blame but lets start with the manager situation. It would seem to me that if Ryne Sandberg were the lock to replace Lou for going into 2011, the Cubs would call him up now at a minimum to sit on the bench and see the team up close rather than starting blind come Spring Training. Alan Trammel is already on the bench; why not send Lou home and give him a shot at managing the team for the next month and a half to see what you may have there even though the way this team is playing may not really be indicative to how either will do in 2011? Since the Cubs haven't done either, it might be because they're doing their typical holding pat and never thinking outside the box or maybe they are holding out for Joe Girardi. Incidentally, I was begging them to pick up Girardi INSTEAD of Grandpa Lou 4 years ago who recently came out saying he really didn't know what he was getting himself into with this job. Joe Torre is in the same position Lou was before coming to Chicago...he's DONE so he's of no interest to me either. I REALLY think it is going to take an ex-Cub to turn this thing around as the rest of the world just doesn't get it. So to me, that leaves Girardi or Sandberg and I think that's the order. If the Yankees do resign Girardi, the Cubs should go with Sandberg in my opinion...they NEED some new, younger blood at the helm of this team...they've tried the experienced guy the last two times with Dusty Baker and Lou Piniella or three times if you throw in Don Baylor; it's time to go in a different direction.
Of course, most everything is going to come down to what the Cubs new ownership does with the GM...will they allow this knucklehead to continue to dump ridiculous amounts of money on middling teams or replace Hendry with some new blood and try to go in a different and fresher direction. Personally, I wouldn't let Jim Hendry manage my 8-year old's savings account let alone $140 million MLB payroll for my $850 million investment. Let's go back to the trade deadline from a couple weeks ago...what the heck happened there Jim? I know D-Lee said he wouldn't go to the Angels, but why not work some magic and do something with Fukudome, Zambrano, Ramirez, Dempster, Soriano, or Silva? There were so many moves to make and the one he did do made ZERO sense to help this team this year or in the future. I just don't get it Jim! Maybe he's on the same retirement plan as Lou started last summer. There's a good young group of players here now, but they can't keep hanging around with this bunch of losers for too long.
But everything you hear and read from Tom Ricketts indicates that Hendry will be back...my question remains WHY?!? What has he done to earn this respect and yet ANOTHER chance? He has been given TONS of money by the Trib and his team has NOTHING to show for it...just one playoff series win in his 9-year tenure and only 3 playoff appearances in a middle market division with a major market payroll. It's time for Jim to go! The sooner the better! Maybe that's why they haven't made a manager move...allowing the new GM to make that decision...hey, a guy can dream can't he???
By the way nothing to do with the Cubs, but I've got two names for Darrelle Revis - Al Harris and Todd Bell. Both of these guys were on the Chicago Bears and held out in 1985 following Pro Bowl seasons and BOTH missed the chance to play for one of the best teams in NFL history and went on to win Super Bowl XX that year. Harris and Bell both came back to the Bears in 1986 but lost their starting spots and the Bears didn't make it back to the Super Bowl for 21 years and obviously neither of those guys were on that team. Do the Jets have the talent without Revis to win the Super Bowl this year? I don't know, but I'd hate to be Revis and find out they are! Plus how do you skip a year in your short NFL career?
Showing posts with label ryan theriot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ryan theriot. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
MLB Ball Park Review - AT&T Park (San Francisco)
Well, we have officially started our 4th annual baseball vacation! Our first stop was in San Francisco to see the Giants take on their arch-rival LA Dodgers. We walked around the outside of the entire park starting behind home plate located on 24 Willie Mays Plaza. The outfield walls are bordered by a sidewalk that allows visitors of the park to walk around near the bay and local marina storing LOTS of sailboats.
From the outside, the ballpark is quite impressive with lots of outdoor area for fans to mingle before/after games. You can also see the backs of some of the park's amenities including the large Coca-Cola bottle and old-fashioned baseball glove. There are a couple of statues that we saw; the first was of Orlando Cepeda but the best one was of Willie Mays near the 3B entrance. There was a mural of Giants' accomplishments painted on high up on a wall near the RF entrance which was perfect as this was where we were planning to enter the park since our seats were in the famous "arcade" area. There were several impressive facts displayed on the wall including all the pennants and division titles the team has won throughout the many years of their existence. One interesting note was that the Giants have gone 0-for-California as far as World Series titles as their last title came in 1954 which was 4 years before they left NY for the west coast.
The Giants beat their hated in-state rival LA Dodgers in front of a capacity crowd of over 42,000 people including many using standing room which I just don't get. There was not much offense by either team as the Giants scored 2 runs on a 2-out triple by Edgar Renteria. Some minor "controversy" on this play as the Dodgers' CF Matt Kemp clearly lost the ball in the sun that in another couple minutes would have been hidden completely behind the stands. I don't believe Kemp would have caught the ball but he may have limited Renteria to a double and kept one of the runs from scoring. I think the ball was going to the wall regardless though and while you never know what might have happened had one thing changed, the Dodgers still scored ZERO and you can't win a baseball game with no runs.
The crowd was definitely into it...reminded me of a Cubs vs. Cardinals game. There were quite a few brave Dodger fans but they were pretty quiet throughout the game as their team didn't give them much to cheer about other than the pitching of Kershaw who was stuck with the loss. I was quietly cheering for one new Dodger - former Cub Ryan Theriot had just been traded to the Dodgers the day before along with LH starter Ted Lilly (Lilly was the main piece of the trade, but wasn't pitching, plus The-Riot used to be my favorite Cub). Theriot went 0-4 with 2 Ks but played some solid D at 2B for his new club.
The park itself was pretty nice; MUCH better than Candlestick for baseball or so I'm told as I've never been there. As I mentioned at the beginning, we sat in the Arcade area which consists of only 3 rows of seats followed by some standing room (filled to capacity!) and a walkway before you're looking at a railing and then the sidewalk and bay outside the stadium. We were there pretty early so we saw both teams take BP (the Dodgers even looked pathetic during BP). While my wife and daughters went to tour the park, my son and I hung around. One ball screamed over us (no chance unfortunately to catch that one) and several went into the bay but we never had a real chance to catch a ball. My son, however worked himself into getting a ball thrown up to him which he caught and kept as a proud souvenir so that was a nice highlight. The scoreboard was very large, but didn't show as many replays as I would have liked; the in-park announcer was a female with a piercing voice that had my youngest flinching nearly every time; and the unique angles particularly in RF made the park somewhat unique. The Stalag 13 security attitude was a bit disturbing as we had to present our tickets on return to our seats following a run for the famous garlic fries (a little too greasy even for me) and then again once we were seated. With so many people in attendance, this seemed a bit excessive to me as anyone that may have been sitting in the wrong seat certainly would have been quickly discovered by the real seat holder pretty early on as there seemed to be very few empties. The weather was a factor and although it was a sunny afternoon, it was hardly a comfortable "shorts day" even in the bleachers...remember this is early August! The Coca-Cola bottle and baseball glove were unique but the park really just didn't knock me out. As such, I have ranked AT&T ranked 8th on my list so far. I doubt it is in any danger of moving down following our next game in Oakland, but it certainly could get pushed even further down the list.
With Sunday’s win by the Giants, we have started up a new winning streak at 1 and are now 10-5 overall. There are only 14 ball parks listed below because we actually saw a double-header which my youngest was very nervous about during our first trip but was happy to learn that a double-header means two games, not two heads.
OK, so here is my updated ball park ranking to date:
1. Comerica Park (Detroit)
2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
3. Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
4. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
5. Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
6. Fenway Park (Boston)
7. Miller Park (Milwaukee)
8. AT&T Park (San Francisco)
9. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
10. Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
11. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
12. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
13. Metrodome (Minneapolis)
14. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next up is Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA on Wednesday when the A's will host the KC Royals. Both teams are not very good, but who am I to say since I am a stupid Cubs' fan. Is it worse to have a team you're not spending $140 million on losing badly night after night or a team you're not spending much money on losing night after night...maybe it's a wash for us fans. Anyway not exactly expecting a big crowd for a Wed afternoon game in Oakland with these two teams facing off, but we'll see.
From the outside, the ballpark is quite impressive with lots of outdoor area for fans to mingle before/after games. You can also see the backs of some of the park's amenities including the large Coca-Cola bottle and old-fashioned baseball glove. There are a couple of statues that we saw; the first was of Orlando Cepeda but the best one was of Willie Mays near the 3B entrance. There was a mural of Giants' accomplishments painted on high up on a wall near the RF entrance which was perfect as this was where we were planning to enter the park since our seats were in the famous "arcade" area. There were several impressive facts displayed on the wall including all the pennants and division titles the team has won throughout the many years of their existence. One interesting note was that the Giants have gone 0-for-California as far as World Series titles as their last title came in 1954 which was 4 years before they left NY for the west coast.
The Giants beat their hated in-state rival LA Dodgers in front of a capacity crowd of over 42,000 people including many using standing room which I just don't get. There was not much offense by either team as the Giants scored 2 runs on a 2-out triple by Edgar Renteria. Some minor "controversy" on this play as the Dodgers' CF Matt Kemp clearly lost the ball in the sun that in another couple minutes would have been hidden completely behind the stands. I don't believe Kemp would have caught the ball but he may have limited Renteria to a double and kept one of the runs from scoring. I think the ball was going to the wall regardless though and while you never know what might have happened had one thing changed, the Dodgers still scored ZERO and you can't win a baseball game with no runs.
The crowd was definitely into it...reminded me of a Cubs vs. Cardinals game. There were quite a few brave Dodger fans but they were pretty quiet throughout the game as their team didn't give them much to cheer about other than the pitching of Kershaw who was stuck with the loss. I was quietly cheering for one new Dodger - former Cub Ryan Theriot had just been traded to the Dodgers the day before along with LH starter Ted Lilly (Lilly was the main piece of the trade, but wasn't pitching, plus The-Riot used to be my favorite Cub). Theriot went 0-4 with 2 Ks but played some solid D at 2B for his new club.
The park itself was pretty nice; MUCH better than Candlestick for baseball or so I'm told as I've never been there. As I mentioned at the beginning, we sat in the Arcade area which consists of only 3 rows of seats followed by some standing room (filled to capacity!) and a walkway before you're looking at a railing and then the sidewalk and bay outside the stadium. We were there pretty early so we saw both teams take BP (the Dodgers even looked pathetic during BP). While my wife and daughters went to tour the park, my son and I hung around. One ball screamed over us (no chance unfortunately to catch that one) and several went into the bay but we never had a real chance to catch a ball. My son, however worked himself into getting a ball thrown up to him which he caught and kept as a proud souvenir so that was a nice highlight. The scoreboard was very large, but didn't show as many replays as I would have liked; the in-park announcer was a female with a piercing voice that had my youngest flinching nearly every time; and the unique angles particularly in RF made the park somewhat unique. The Stalag 13 security attitude was a bit disturbing as we had to present our tickets on return to our seats following a run for the famous garlic fries (a little too greasy even for me) and then again once we were seated. With so many people in attendance, this seemed a bit excessive to me as anyone that may have been sitting in the wrong seat certainly would have been quickly discovered by the real seat holder pretty early on as there seemed to be very few empties. The weather was a factor and although it was a sunny afternoon, it was hardly a comfortable "shorts day" even in the bleachers...remember this is early August! The Coca-Cola bottle and baseball glove were unique but the park really just didn't knock me out. As such, I have ranked AT&T ranked 8th on my list so far. I doubt it is in any danger of moving down following our next game in Oakland, but it certainly could get pushed even further down the list.
With Sunday’s win by the Giants, we have started up a new winning streak at 1 and are now 10-5 overall. There are only 14 ball parks listed below because we actually saw a double-header which my youngest was very nervous about during our first trip but was happy to learn that a double-header means two games, not two heads.
OK, so here is my updated ball park ranking to date:
1. Comerica Park (Detroit)
2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
3. Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
4. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
5. Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
6. Fenway Park (Boston)
7. Miller Park (Milwaukee)
8. AT&T Park (San Francisco)
9. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
10. Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
11. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
12. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
13. Metrodome (Minneapolis)
14. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next up is Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA on Wednesday when the A's will host the KC Royals. Both teams are not very good, but who am I to say since I am a stupid Cubs' fan. Is it worse to have a team you're not spending $140 million on losing badly night after night or a team you're not spending much money on losing night after night...maybe it's a wash for us fans. Anyway not exactly expecting a big crowd for a Wed afternoon game in Oakland with these two teams facing off, but we'll see.
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