We are on our way north from St. Louis to Minneapolis to see the Twins on Fri night. So we stopped at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, IA today. I have to say this place was pretty cool. We were here on a Thu afternoon about 3pm and there were many people there in different parts of the area. There is a sign that talks about the movie and how the location was chosen and all of that. There used to be an ownership "squabble" as the field actually lay on two different farms with everything but LF and part of CF owned by one farmer and the other piece owned by another farmer but that has since been resolved. It isn't too touristy or commercial at all and it doesn't cost anything to be there although they do have a place where you can donate and there's also a souvenir area too but it is hardly the focus. In reading about it, the owners actually pay Universal Studios royalties on all the items they sell that say "Field of Dreams" which is interesting and sounds kind of bad for a big movie studio to be charging a farmer, but a copyright is a copyright I guess.
Of course, the focus is the FIELD since it is called Field of Dreams. When we got there, about 5-6 people were playing ball on the field so my son and oldest daughter joined in. There were a few other groups out in the outfield area and near the corn but they were hardly in any danger from the batters hitting a ball out that way. We were there 3 hours "having a catch" and nobody hit a ball within 50 feet of the corn as it is the size of a real MLB diamond although I don't know the actual dimensions. There were just as many adults there as kids and we even played with a father and two of his sons that were well into there 20s or 30s.
We had a blast and took some pics of our kids in action. If you're in the area or even if you're not but are a big baseball fan and/or a fan of the movie, I strongly recommend taking the trek out there to see it for yourself.
We'll be in the Metrodome tomorrow night watching the Twins take on Cleveland.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
MLB Ball Park Review - Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
MAN, the Cubs sure are making it hard on me (and us) this week. WOW – a 3-game sweep at home while the Cards take 2-of-3 from the Reds and following a very disappointing road trip. YUCK!
What made it even harder was the fact we were at Busch watching the Cards take game 3 of their series with the woeful Reds. It will be difficult for me to stay objective when talking about Busch for two reasons…first, this is the home of the hated Cards and second, I am bitter and insulted that the Cardinals’ fans are considered the best in MLB. While the park itself was very nice including comfortable seats and very good sight lines, I found myself more focused on the fans. The scoreboard, while nowhere near as nice as Kauffman Stadium was still pretty nice with lots of info readily available. One of my favorite features was also the biggest bummer of the night too as they had a nice out-of-town scoreboard where I was able to keep up with the Phillies pounding of the Cubs tonight as well as three other games that were “highlighted” including current batter, outs, and base runners (not names, but bases occupied). The other 10 MLB games had scores and inning number including top or bottom indications. All the seats were red which gives me a nice intro to talking about these supposed best fans in MLB. First off, where the heck were they tonight? The attendance game showed over 40,000 but unless the new Busch holds 80,000, there’s no way it was more than 25,000 there tonight. Wasn’t this a division game in the middle of a close division race? Second, do “real” fans still do the wave? And during a big spot in the ball game? I know I certainly wouldn’t. Carpenter fell behind 3-0 with runners at the corners and two outs but the fans hardly noticed as they were much more concerned with building a bigger and bigger wave. Wow! Third, most of these supposed best fans left after the 7th inning which not-so-coincidentally is when beer sales were suspended per MLB rules. The game was 5-2 at the time so I was totally taken aback by this development. The last thing that really struck me as NOT “best fans in MLB” were two pretty obvious calls that were booed mightily by the crowd. The hometown scorer was totally a homer early in the game as Pujols reached on a wild throw by the Reds starting pitcher after taking a liner off his foot. The throw would have beat Pujols by a step and a half, but he was still given a hit on the play although he didn’t get the RBIs for the 2 runs that scored on the error. The next play was a long fly ball that was dropped by Reds CF Taveras that was ruled a double for Holliday. Yes, Taveras dove for the ball, but it was right in the middle of his glove and then he dropped it – should have been E-8!
The good news if you can even call it that, is that we have extended our hometown winning streak to 7 games and are now 8-4 overall. Of course, we weren’t even cheering for the Cards, but it still goes in the W column.
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. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
8. Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
9. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
10. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
11. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next up is the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (a.k.a. “hump dome” or “roller dome” – remember Ditka going in there with the Bears on roller skates to make his point?) in Minneapolis.
What made it even harder was the fact we were at Busch watching the Cards take game 3 of their series with the woeful Reds. It will be difficult for me to stay objective when talking about Busch for two reasons…first, this is the home of the hated Cards and second, I am bitter and insulted that the Cardinals’ fans are considered the best in MLB. While the park itself was very nice including comfortable seats and very good sight lines, I found myself more focused on the fans. The scoreboard, while nowhere near as nice as Kauffman Stadium was still pretty nice with lots of info readily available. One of my favorite features was also the biggest bummer of the night too as they had a nice out-of-town scoreboard where I was able to keep up with the Phillies pounding of the Cubs tonight as well as three other games that were “highlighted” including current batter, outs, and base runners (not names, but bases occupied). The other 10 MLB games had scores and inning number including top or bottom indications. All the seats were red which gives me a nice intro to talking about these supposed best fans in MLB. First off, where the heck were they tonight? The attendance game showed over 40,000 but unless the new Busch holds 80,000, there’s no way it was more than 25,000 there tonight. Wasn’t this a division game in the middle of a close division race? Second, do “real” fans still do the wave? And during a big spot in the ball game? I know I certainly wouldn’t. Carpenter fell behind 3-0 with runners at the corners and two outs but the fans hardly noticed as they were much more concerned with building a bigger and bigger wave. Wow! Third, most of these supposed best fans left after the 7th inning which not-so-coincidentally is when beer sales were suspended per MLB rules. The game was 5-2 at the time so I was totally taken aback by this development. The last thing that really struck me as NOT “best fans in MLB” were two pretty obvious calls that were booed mightily by the crowd. The hometown scorer was totally a homer early in the game as Pujols reached on a wild throw by the Reds starting pitcher after taking a liner off his foot. The throw would have beat Pujols by a step and a half, but he was still given a hit on the play although he didn’t get the RBIs for the 2 runs that scored on the error. The next play was a long fly ball that was dropped by Reds CF Taveras that was ruled a double for Holliday. Yes, Taveras dove for the ball, but it was right in the middle of his glove and then he dropped it – should have been E-8!
The good news if you can even call it that, is that we have extended our hometown winning streak to 7 games and are now 8-4 overall. Of course, we weren’t even cheering for the Cards, but it still goes in the W column.
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. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
8. Busch Stadium (St. Louis)
9. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
10. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
11. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next up is the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (a.k.a. “hump dome” or “roller dome” – remember Ditka going in there with the Bears on roller skates to make his point?) in Minneapolis.
Monday, August 10, 2009
MLB Ball Park Review - Kauffman Stadium (KC)
I am trying to ignore the fact the Cubs have lost 3-of-4 to the Rockies while the Cards are taking care of business against the abysmal Pirates and Reds putting the Cubs 3 full games behind in the standings. I am also trying to ignore the fact that Milton Bradley ended his “streak” of 2 games with RBIs while the pitching staff has allowed 33 runs in the 4-game series at the newly tamed Coors Field (i.e. not supposed to be so HR friendly now that they have a humidor) and that Soriano was 0-5 tonight but surprisingly did not strike out but "led" the team with 4 LOB. I'm on vacation and trying not to let the Cubs bother me.
We have now started our 3rd annual baseball vacation. This year’s trip takes on a zig-zag journey through the Midwest starting in KC to see the Royals, then over to visit the Iowa Cubs in Des Moines, IA, then down to St. Louis to BOO the Cardinals, up to Minnesota to see the Twinkies, and back to Milwaukee to BOO the Brew Crew before heading back home. Not exactly shortest distance between two points, but that’s the only way we could get it to work with the teams’ home schedules.
So we started Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium to see the KC Royals score their most runs in a game this season. They beat the just-as-hapless A’s 12-6 even after their best pitcher Zack Greinke struggled a bit out of the box giving up 3 runs in the 2nd and cranking up his pitch count in the process. I think he was at 71 pitches through 3 innings although he buckled down and the KC offense flexed their muscles and Zack ended up going 7 innings just giving up those 3 runs for a quality start and his first win since the end of June. Our winning streak has now reached 6 games and we are 7-4 overall in 2+ years.
Unfortunately, due to a bit of a scheduling “snafu” we didn’t arrive to the game as early as we normally like to so we didn’t get much of a chance to explore the park. It was military appreciation day at the game so there were many stoppages to talk to either current military men and women and also mixed with some veterans as well. The game was being broadcast in Iraq and they kept cutting over to show them cheering on their hometown Royals. They had a giant flag in the outfield held by military men and women for the Star-Spangled Banner before the start of the game which was sung by another military man – very inspiring.
I have to say the new Royals ball park was pretty sweet. We had pretty good seats in Row N just past 3rd base (not hard to get good seats for such a perennial losing team like the Royals) so the binoculars weren’t really necessary. The park looked pretty sweet from our vantage point with the Royals Hall of Fame in the LF corner (there was a big line so we didn’t get in there). As KC, MO is the city of fountains, there are big fountains in the outfield with accompanying waterfalls. The crown jewel (pun intended) of the stadium has to be CrownVision which is a GIANT video screen behind the CF wall. They showed all the military videos, replays of close plays or hometown HRs, but the coolest part was just during a regular AB. Being that the video screen is so HUGE, they are able to put a TON of info on there for the fans including current batter’s picture with a little snip-it about them, player bio as well as his full stats, lineups for the team at bat including BA for each player, what the last batter did (e.g. single by DeJesus), defensive fielding positions and next three batters up for them including BA, pitch speed, line score for the game including inning-by-inning scoring, total runs, hits, errors and LOB (nice touch!). There were plenty of other smaller scoreboards located throughout the stadium including one over each bullpen showing pitching stats for the current pitcher for each team as well as toggling to stats of anyone throwing in the bullpen. In case you went to the bathroom and missed an inning, you could always figure out what each batter did the next time they came up as they showed an inning-by-inning scoring.
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. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
8. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
9. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
10. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next MLB park up is Busch Stadium III in St. Louis. BOO Cardinals!!!
We have now started our 3rd annual baseball vacation. This year’s trip takes on a zig-zag journey through the Midwest starting in KC to see the Royals, then over to visit the Iowa Cubs in Des Moines, IA, then down to St. Louis to BOO the Cardinals, up to Minnesota to see the Twinkies, and back to Milwaukee to BOO the Brew Crew before heading back home. Not exactly shortest distance between two points, but that’s the only way we could get it to work with the teams’ home schedules.
So we started Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium to see the KC Royals score their most runs in a game this season. They beat the just-as-hapless A’s 12-6 even after their best pitcher Zack Greinke struggled a bit out of the box giving up 3 runs in the 2nd and cranking up his pitch count in the process. I think he was at 71 pitches through 3 innings although he buckled down and the KC offense flexed their muscles and Zack ended up going 7 innings just giving up those 3 runs for a quality start and his first win since the end of June. Our winning streak has now reached 6 games and we are 7-4 overall in 2+ years.
Unfortunately, due to a bit of a scheduling “snafu” we didn’t arrive to the game as early as we normally like to so we didn’t get much of a chance to explore the park. It was military appreciation day at the game so there were many stoppages to talk to either current military men and women and also mixed with some veterans as well. The game was being broadcast in Iraq and they kept cutting over to show them cheering on their hometown Royals. They had a giant flag in the outfield held by military men and women for the Star-Spangled Banner before the start of the game which was sung by another military man – very inspiring.
I have to say the new Royals ball park was pretty sweet. We had pretty good seats in Row N just past 3rd base (not hard to get good seats for such a perennial losing team like the Royals) so the binoculars weren’t really necessary. The park looked pretty sweet from our vantage point with the Royals Hall of Fame in the LF corner (there was a big line so we didn’t get in there). As KC, MO is the city of fountains, there are big fountains in the outfield with accompanying waterfalls. The crown jewel (pun intended) of the stadium has to be CrownVision which is a GIANT video screen behind the CF wall. They showed all the military videos, replays of close plays or hometown HRs, but the coolest part was just during a regular AB. Being that the video screen is so HUGE, they are able to put a TON of info on there for the fans including current batter’s picture with a little snip-it about them, player bio as well as his full stats, lineups for the team at bat including BA for each player, what the last batter did (e.g. single by DeJesus), defensive fielding positions and next three batters up for them including BA, pitch speed, line score for the game including inning-by-inning scoring, total runs, hits, errors and LOB (nice touch!). There were plenty of other smaller scoreboards located throughout the stadium including one over each bullpen showing pitching stats for the current pitcher for each team as well as toggling to stats of anyone throwing in the bullpen. In case you went to the bathroom and missed an inning, you could always figure out what each batter did the next time they came up as they showed an inning-by-inning scoring.
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. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
8. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
9. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
10. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
Next MLB park up is Busch Stadium III in St. Louis. BOO Cardinals!!!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
MLB Ball Park Review Recap
As some of you may know, my family has been doing an annual trip in an effort to eventually visit all the different MLB ballparks. Of course, if a team replaces their stadium after we have visited there are no promises to revisit the new one. For example, last year we visited both NY parks - Yankee and Shea Stadiums. This year, both parks have been replaced. Shea was the pit I had always heard it was while Yankee Stadium was the shrine I thought it would be - all that history, all those great past Yankee players, all those rings, etc.
Just to recap for those that don't know me...I have three kids that are now 14, 12, and 7 and a wife that plans these trips (yep! How totally LUCKY am I?). Our pilgrimage started 2 years ago when we drove from our Chicago area home to see the Comerica (Tigers), Great American Ball Park (Reds), PNC Park (Pirates), Jacobs Field (Indians), and Cubs at Wrigley Field. Last year, we spent 9 days on the east coast visiting the Shea Stadium (Mets), Citizens Bank Park (Phillies), Fenway Park (Red Sox), and Yankee Stadium. After starting out with a 1-4 record for the home teams, our trip to Wrigley started our current 5-game winning streak making us 6-4 overall.
I have to say, the new "old school" ball parks (notice I didn't call them stadiums - football is played in a stadium; baseball is played in a park) have REALLY turned my opinion quite a bit. Again, for those that know me, I am totally old school when it comes to baseball and I have always called it sacrilege to say Wrigley Field should be torn down and replaced, BUT after visiting Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland in that first trip, I am all for a new Wrigley even if the Cubs have to outdraw the White Sox and blow away all the Sox fan excuses that Wrigley draws most of the people to the Cubs home games by playing a year or even two in The Cell. These new ball parks are just awesome. You still get the old school ball park feel but you also get all the amenities without being overwhelmed with commercialism. Very cool!
OK, so here is my ball park ranking to date including a couple parks not yet visited on our vacations:
1. Comerica Park (Detroit)
2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
3. Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
4. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
5. Fenway Park (Boston)
6. Turner Field (Atlanta)
7. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
8. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
9. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
10. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
I have little doubt that Shea will just continue to move down the list as we visit more parks each year. There was just very little to like about it. We sat towards the back of the lower level and I could literally stand and touch the ceiling which was the upper deck with my hands without jumping. The site lines were HORRIBLE from there. I have similar issues with Wrigley Field as well due to many seats directly behind poles and seats towards the back of the lower sections have limited views. These new ball parks have no such issues; the seats are bigger and seem to be much more comfortable too.
Next MLB park up is Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Just to recap for those that don't know me...I have three kids that are now 14, 12, and 7 and a wife that plans these trips (yep! How totally LUCKY am I?). Our pilgrimage started 2 years ago when we drove from our Chicago area home to see the Comerica (Tigers), Great American Ball Park (Reds), PNC Park (Pirates), Jacobs Field (Indians), and Cubs at Wrigley Field. Last year, we spent 9 days on the east coast visiting the Shea Stadium (Mets), Citizens Bank Park (Phillies), Fenway Park (Red Sox), and Yankee Stadium. After starting out with a 1-4 record for the home teams, our trip to Wrigley started our current 5-game winning streak making us 6-4 overall.
I have to say, the new "old school" ball parks (notice I didn't call them stadiums - football is played in a stadium; baseball is played in a park) have REALLY turned my opinion quite a bit. Again, for those that know me, I am totally old school when it comes to baseball and I have always called it sacrilege to say Wrigley Field should be torn down and replaced, BUT after visiting Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland in that first trip, I am all for a new Wrigley even if the Cubs have to outdraw the White Sox and blow away all the Sox fan excuses that Wrigley draws most of the people to the Cubs home games by playing a year or even two in The Cell. These new ball parks are just awesome. You still get the old school ball park feel but you also get all the amenities without being overwhelmed with commercialism. Very cool!
OK, so here is my ball park ranking to date including a couple parks not yet visited on our vacations:
1. Comerica Park (Detroit)
2. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
3. Jacobs Field (Cleveland)
4. Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia)
5. Fenway Park (Boston)
6. Turner Field (Atlanta)
7. Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati)
8. Yankee Stadium (NY Yankees – pre-2009)
9. Wrigley Field (Chicago)
10. Shea Stadium (NY Mets)
I have little doubt that Shea will just continue to move down the list as we visit more parks each year. There was just very little to like about it. We sat towards the back of the lower level and I could literally stand and touch the ceiling which was the upper deck with my hands without jumping. The site lines were HORRIBLE from there. I have similar issues with Wrigley Field as well due to many seats directly behind poles and seats towards the back of the lower sections have limited views. These new ball parks have no such issues; the seats are bigger and seem to be much more comfortable too.
Next MLB park up is Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Most embarrassing loss of the year???
Was last night's loss to the lowly and ultra-pathetic, Dusty-led Reds the most embarrassing loss of the season? A 4-hit complete game shut-out by a 32-year old making not only his second start of the season but second start of his career...REALLY? Lehr earned his first W since 2006! Boys, we HAVE to do better than that. I know you can't win them all, but that one you HAD to win. Now the Cubs go to visit a red-hot Colorado Rockies team for 4 games only to come home and face the defending World Series champion Phillies. How can you lose that game last night knowing you have an off day today and then 7 against tough opponents? It would seem the boys in blue took their off day a little too early.
This guy Jason Lehr was topping out on the radar gun at 85mph and yet, the Cubs just couldn't figure him out. Bob Brenly was simply amazed at how ineffective the Cubs bats really were against a guy throwing a straight fastball at 85. I just kept waiting for them to kick it into gear...surely the second time through the lineup would be better...OK, how about the third time? One extra base hit all night and that was Rich Harden's bloop double (I still say he's the fastest Cub). Soriano beat out an infield hit off Lehr's glove only to get picked off as he wandered off 1st base with his hands on his hips. Lehr looked over there like 3-4 times before whipping it over there so I don't get what Soriano was doing. Personally, I would have sent him to the locker room after that and try to get some kind of reaction or spark from the rest of the team. But, nope, Grandpa Lou just sent his lazy butt back out to LF.
It wasn't like the Reds were crushing the ball all over the park. They had only 1 more than the Cubs 4 hits, but took advantage on the bases stealing 3-of-4 on the night including ANOTHER missed tag by Fontenot at 2B. I would have yanked him off the field too as the throw beat Phillips by at least a full second.
It was "nice" (i.e. NOT nice) to see Aaron Miles back in the lineup after being on the DL since June 20th. WHY is this guy still here? Oh ya, another fabulous off-season move by Hendry. Wasn't this guy supposed to semi-replace Mark DeRosa? Not so much - he's hitting .198 with 4 RBIs in 47 games. Yuck! Is Andres Blanco really hurt or was that just some move to bring Miles back? Cut Miles and bring back Blanco - at least he's young and has a future. Miles is TERRIBLE (insert your best Charles Barkley impersonation).
This was also a prime opportunity to jump into 1st place by a full game as the Cardinals lost yesterday too. Let's hope the Cubs pull it together and finish up this road trip at .500 or better.
This guy Jason Lehr was topping out on the radar gun at 85mph and yet, the Cubs just couldn't figure him out. Bob Brenly was simply amazed at how ineffective the Cubs bats really were against a guy throwing a straight fastball at 85. I just kept waiting for them to kick it into gear...surely the second time through the lineup would be better...OK, how about the third time? One extra base hit all night and that was Rich Harden's bloop double (I still say he's the fastest Cub). Soriano beat out an infield hit off Lehr's glove only to get picked off as he wandered off 1st base with his hands on his hips. Lehr looked over there like 3-4 times before whipping it over there so I don't get what Soriano was doing. Personally, I would have sent him to the locker room after that and try to get some kind of reaction or spark from the rest of the team. But, nope, Grandpa Lou just sent his lazy butt back out to LF.
It wasn't like the Reds were crushing the ball all over the park. They had only 1 more than the Cubs 4 hits, but took advantage on the bases stealing 3-of-4 on the night including ANOTHER missed tag by Fontenot at 2B. I would have yanked him off the field too as the throw beat Phillips by at least a full second.
It was "nice" (i.e. NOT nice) to see Aaron Miles back in the lineup after being on the DL since June 20th. WHY is this guy still here? Oh ya, another fabulous off-season move by Hendry. Wasn't this guy supposed to semi-replace Mark DeRosa? Not so much - he's hitting .198 with 4 RBIs in 47 games. Yuck! Is Andres Blanco really hurt or was that just some move to bring Miles back? Cut Miles and bring back Blanco - at least he's young and has a future. Miles is TERRIBLE (insert your best Charles Barkley impersonation).
This was also a prime opportunity to jump into 1st place by a full game as the Cardinals lost yesterday too. Let's hope the Cubs pull it together and finish up this road trip at .500 or better.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Kudos to Kenny and Jerry!
As a lifelong Cubs fan, it kind of pains me to say this, but I think the White Sox are setup for a far better "run" than the Cubs. The White Sox have built smart using less money and younger players while the Hendry-led Cubs are hand-cuffed with overpriced unproductive "talent" for the next few years. The Cubs seem to have a lot of young talent but given the salaries of Bradley, Soriano, and Fukudome, you just "can't" get these guys on the field.
While the Josh Fields experiment was a total disaster this year, it paved the way for what Ozzie basically called worst-case scenario at the beginning of the year, but could pay HUGE dividends. At the beginning of the season, Ozzie said that if Gordan Beckham was playing for the Sox, they were probably out of the race. Well, BECAUSE Gordan Beckham is up playing for the Sox, the Sox are IN the race. This kid is amazing and reminds me of Evan Longoria of the Rays - solid with EVERYTHING and acts like he's been up in MLB for 10 years rather than as a cocky rookie which he has every right to be. Don't forget the kid is actually a SS playing out of position at 3B after Fields proved he was NOT the guy to replace Joe Crede. This Beckham kid can just flat out play.
OK - but that's not why I am giving kudos to Kenny and Jerry. How about these guys pulling off THE trade of the deadline? To me, this is ANOTHER slap in the face of Cubs GM Jim Hendry as he couldn't pull the trigger on the deal for Jake Peavy as everyone reported as a done deal at the winter meetings. Well, after the Sox were somewhat embarrassed when Peavy turned down a trade to the south side earlier this year, he saw the walls crumbling around him in San Diego and decided to jump ship to a very competitive Sox team in a very winnable AL Central division. OK, so he won't really join the rotation until the end of August, but who cares? Who wouldn't want to add a former Cy Young winner in late August? The guy isn't even your typical "rental player" as he is signed through 2012 with a club option in 2013. AND he's only 28 years old! Ya, the Sox gave up a lot to get him, but do any of those guys project to be Cy Young winners? Don't think so! So kudos to Jerry for opening up the checkbook and kudos to Kenny for getting Jerry to do that AND pull off this trade and adding a #1 starter to the Sox for the next 3-4 years. You just don't see that everyday. The other factor here is what this type of move does to energize the rest of the guys in the dugout. When you see your organization pull off a deal like that, it just has to tell you they are serious about winning NOW so let's play some ball. They are 3-1 against the then hottest team in baseball NY Yankees and the now hottest team in baseball the LA Angels. Ya, they're beating them at home, but they're still beating them.
The Cubs have Sam Fuld who I just LOVE as the future lead-off guy on this team. The kid is hungry and plays hard ALL the time - remember that catch he made running full speed into the ivy to catch a ball in late September last year? Jake Fox has NOT been the horrible defensive liability we have been told he is so that is just an excuse to play these overpaid wastes of money ahead of him. The kid can just plain HIT and for a team struggling to score runs consistently, I don't understand why he isn't in the lineup every day. Randy Wells could give the north and south siders two Rookies of the Year in the same season. This kid has been amazing going 8-4 with a 2.73 ERA and could easily be 12-2 with some early offensive support and upheld leads by the bullpen. And they still have last year's Rookie of the Year in Geo Soto who comes back later this week.
So it's not like the Cubs are dead or anything; they're just stuck with some high-priced non-productive players that will seemingly continue to play ahead of younger, cheaper, and more productive players because of their big contracts. Although maybe the mentality is starting to change a little bit as Bradley was given the day off again yesterday in favor of Jake Fox after also having the day off on Sun. I have harped on Bradley in particular all season as the guy just doesn't drive in any runs - 9 in 24 games in July which was actually triple what he drove in during the month of June. How can your #5 hitter be 9th on your team in RBIs behind two guys (Aramis and Fox) that have played less than half as many games? Seriously! He's behind such non-RBI guys as Theriot, Fukudome, and Fontenot too! Let's get Fox in there more and sprint to the finish as we're no longer in the "it's still early" phase of the season here. It's time to drive to the playoffs.
While the Josh Fields experiment was a total disaster this year, it paved the way for what Ozzie basically called worst-case scenario at the beginning of the year, but could pay HUGE dividends. At the beginning of the season, Ozzie said that if Gordan Beckham was playing for the Sox, they were probably out of the race. Well, BECAUSE Gordan Beckham is up playing for the Sox, the Sox are IN the race. This kid is amazing and reminds me of Evan Longoria of the Rays - solid with EVERYTHING and acts like he's been up in MLB for 10 years rather than as a cocky rookie which he has every right to be. Don't forget the kid is actually a SS playing out of position at 3B after Fields proved he was NOT the guy to replace Joe Crede. This Beckham kid can just flat out play.
OK - but that's not why I am giving kudos to Kenny and Jerry. How about these guys pulling off THE trade of the deadline? To me, this is ANOTHER slap in the face of Cubs GM Jim Hendry as he couldn't pull the trigger on the deal for Jake Peavy as everyone reported as a done deal at the winter meetings. Well, after the Sox were somewhat embarrassed when Peavy turned down a trade to the south side earlier this year, he saw the walls crumbling around him in San Diego and decided to jump ship to a very competitive Sox team in a very winnable AL Central division. OK, so he won't really join the rotation until the end of August, but who cares? Who wouldn't want to add a former Cy Young winner in late August? The guy isn't even your typical "rental player" as he is signed through 2012 with a club option in 2013. AND he's only 28 years old! Ya, the Sox gave up a lot to get him, but do any of those guys project to be Cy Young winners? Don't think so! So kudos to Jerry for opening up the checkbook and kudos to Kenny for getting Jerry to do that AND pull off this trade and adding a #1 starter to the Sox for the next 3-4 years. You just don't see that everyday. The other factor here is what this type of move does to energize the rest of the guys in the dugout. When you see your organization pull off a deal like that, it just has to tell you they are serious about winning NOW so let's play some ball. They are 3-1 against the then hottest team in baseball NY Yankees and the now hottest team in baseball the LA Angels. Ya, they're beating them at home, but they're still beating them.
The Cubs have Sam Fuld who I just LOVE as the future lead-off guy on this team. The kid is hungry and plays hard ALL the time - remember that catch he made running full speed into the ivy to catch a ball in late September last year? Jake Fox has NOT been the horrible defensive liability we have been told he is so that is just an excuse to play these overpaid wastes of money ahead of him. The kid can just plain HIT and for a team struggling to score runs consistently, I don't understand why he isn't in the lineup every day. Randy Wells could give the north and south siders two Rookies of the Year in the same season. This kid has been amazing going 8-4 with a 2.73 ERA and could easily be 12-2 with some early offensive support and upheld leads by the bullpen. And they still have last year's Rookie of the Year in Geo Soto who comes back later this week.
So it's not like the Cubs are dead or anything; they're just stuck with some high-priced non-productive players that will seemingly continue to play ahead of younger, cheaper, and more productive players because of their big contracts. Although maybe the mentality is starting to change a little bit as Bradley was given the day off again yesterday in favor of Jake Fox after also having the day off on Sun. I have harped on Bradley in particular all season as the guy just doesn't drive in any runs - 9 in 24 games in July which was actually triple what he drove in during the month of June. How can your #5 hitter be 9th on your team in RBIs behind two guys (Aramis and Fox) that have played less than half as many games? Seriously! He's behind such non-RBI guys as Theriot, Fukudome, and Fontenot too! Let's get Fox in there more and sprint to the finish as we're no longer in the "it's still early" phase of the season here. It's time to drive to the playoffs.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Who's your Closer?
Did you get your blood pressure pill prescription renewed before this weekend? I sure hope so or you're probably not reading this right now. I've NEVER been a fan of the Cubs offseason move to sign last year's league LEADER in BLOWN saves. Did Hendry misread the leader stats from 2008? Why would you not resign a guy that was a lifelong Cub in order to sign this guy? I didn't get it then and I sure don't get it now either.
The Cubs went 1-2 this weekend but let's see why that happened. Marmol came in for the 8th inning on Fri night with the game tied at 2-2. Two walks, a hit and hit batter led to 3 Marlins runs and a Cubs loss. Sat didn't go much better for the late inning relief core. Gregg came in for an "easy" single inning save with the Cubs up by 3. The first two outs were easy enough so now he's down to a single out with a 3-run lead. Not so fast Cubs fans - 3 runs later and the Cubs are in extra innings. Gregg gets the blown save and the W (what's up with that?) but D-Lee saved the day with a bomb in the 10th. Sun was the real heartbreaker though. Dempster went 6 innings without giving up a run only to see Heilman give up the 1-0 lead keeping Dempster from getting the W. This time it was Jake Fox to the rescue to put the Cubs back up 2-1. Unfortunately, Lou is stuck bringing Gregg in and after getting the first out, 2 pitches, 2 bombs, Cubs lose.
I'm just wondering how some teams can seem to turn anyone into a closer while the Cubs have a guy that has all the tools but can't get over the hump. LaRussa has turned a better than average starter into a Hall of Fame Closer in former Cub Dennis Eckersley, then took a hugely disappointing starter and turned him into a darn good closer in Jason Isringhausen and now a journeyman starter is arguably the best closer in the game in Ryan Franklin. Of course, it probably has more to do with LaRussa's longtime pitching coach Dave Duncan, but that isn't my point. His teams always seem to come up with guys out of nowhere to be pretty darn good closers and yet, the Cubs go after and sign the NL league leader in blown saves and he's who we, the fans are stuck with this year.
Based on Lou's comments after yesterday's second consecutive blown save against Kevin Gregg's former team (this time for a loss after the Cubs came back in the 10th Sat night to "earn" Gregg a W after blowing a 3-run lead on Sat), Gregg is going to stay in his current role. When Piniella was asked if he had plans to change his closer, he responded with "Why should I?" Uh...were you watching the games this weekend Lou? Gregg is now second in all of MLB with 5 blown saves but has the MLB lead in HRs allowed (uh, Hendry, that's NOT a good thing either!).
It's not like Gregg has been dominating hitters this season. Has there ever been a comfortable enough lead when he's in there? His fastball has no movement and is only coming in at about 91mph. His secondary pitch isn't all that special either.
But I can understand Lou's dilemma...what are his alternatives? Carlos Marmol was supposed to be the closer-in-training but after the Gregg signing and his decision to play for the DR in the WBC, was never even given the chance to become the closer. Well with the way he's been performing this year with his way LESS than dazzling WHIP of nearly 1.5 even though his BAA is only .159. He not only averages nearly a walk per inning, but he leads the league in hit batters too. When the guy is throwing strikes, he is amazing...unfortunately that just isn't close to being a given.
So what's Lou to do? How about starting with a pitching coach that can help this guy get his filthy stuff over the plate? If Marmol can effectively take over as the closer, the Cubs do have to then come up the 8th inning setup guy. Would you trust Gregg in this role? Ya, me either.
The Cubs went 1-2 this weekend but let's see why that happened. Marmol came in for the 8th inning on Fri night with the game tied at 2-2. Two walks, a hit and hit batter led to 3 Marlins runs and a Cubs loss. Sat didn't go much better for the late inning relief core. Gregg came in for an "easy" single inning save with the Cubs up by 3. The first two outs were easy enough so now he's down to a single out with a 3-run lead. Not so fast Cubs fans - 3 runs later and the Cubs are in extra innings. Gregg gets the blown save and the W (what's up with that?) but D-Lee saved the day with a bomb in the 10th. Sun was the real heartbreaker though. Dempster went 6 innings without giving up a run only to see Heilman give up the 1-0 lead keeping Dempster from getting the W. This time it was Jake Fox to the rescue to put the Cubs back up 2-1. Unfortunately, Lou is stuck bringing Gregg in and after getting the first out, 2 pitches, 2 bombs, Cubs lose.
I'm just wondering how some teams can seem to turn anyone into a closer while the Cubs have a guy that has all the tools but can't get over the hump. LaRussa has turned a better than average starter into a Hall of Fame Closer in former Cub Dennis Eckersley, then took a hugely disappointing starter and turned him into a darn good closer in Jason Isringhausen and now a journeyman starter is arguably the best closer in the game in Ryan Franklin. Of course, it probably has more to do with LaRussa's longtime pitching coach Dave Duncan, but that isn't my point. His teams always seem to come up with guys out of nowhere to be pretty darn good closers and yet, the Cubs go after and sign the NL league leader in blown saves and he's who we, the fans are stuck with this year.
Based on Lou's comments after yesterday's second consecutive blown save against Kevin Gregg's former team (this time for a loss after the Cubs came back in the 10th Sat night to "earn" Gregg a W after blowing a 3-run lead on Sat), Gregg is going to stay in his current role. When Piniella was asked if he had plans to change his closer, he responded with "Why should I?" Uh...were you watching the games this weekend Lou? Gregg is now second in all of MLB with 5 blown saves but has the MLB lead in HRs allowed (uh, Hendry, that's NOT a good thing either!).
It's not like Gregg has been dominating hitters this season. Has there ever been a comfortable enough lead when he's in there? His fastball has no movement and is only coming in at about 91mph. His secondary pitch isn't all that special either.
But I can understand Lou's dilemma...what are his alternatives? Carlos Marmol was supposed to be the closer-in-training but after the Gregg signing and his decision to play for the DR in the WBC, was never even given the chance to become the closer. Well with the way he's been performing this year with his way LESS than dazzling WHIP of nearly 1.5 even though his BAA is only .159. He not only averages nearly a walk per inning, but he leads the league in hit batters too. When the guy is throwing strikes, he is amazing...unfortunately that just isn't close to being a given.
So what's Lou to do? How about starting with a pitching coach that can help this guy get his filthy stuff over the plate? If Marmol can effectively take over as the closer, the Cubs do have to then come up the 8th inning setup guy. Would you trust Gregg in this role? Ya, me either.
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