Los Angeles Dodgers 5 at Colorado Rockies 7 - September 4, 2013

The NFL Stadium Journey is underway! I flew from New York to Denver on Delta, a remarkably smooth process with no lines at check-in or security that left me relaxed and catching up on my NFL preview magazines before boarding.



The flight was on an A319 (above) and I had a left window seat that allowed me to grab a couple of great pictures on takeoff. Below is Manhattan, and below that is Yankee Stadium.





When I arrived, my friend and fellow stadium traveller Meg picked me up and we went to Coors Field to see the Los Angeles Dodgers visiting the Rockies. Interestingly this will be the only LA team I will see on the trip as the NFL still lacks a team in the nation's second biggest media market. Before we entered the stadium, we paid a visit to the National Ballpark Museum, a private, non-profit enterprise that has tons of memorabilia from all the great parks of yesteryear. At $5 it is worth visiting for any ballpark fan.



We entered Coors Field, still one of the most beautiful ballparks around. I last visited here in 2009 when I first started the blog, so I'm not going to recap the experience.




I was hoping to see phenom Yaisel Puig, but he was nursing an injury. In fact, the Dodgers put out their secondary lineup and both starting pitchers (Edison Volquez for LA and Jorge De La Rosa for Colorado) were incredibly slow. A couple of years ago I discussed a statistic called Pitches Per Minute (PPM) to describe the pace of a baseball game. A quick game will have a PPM above 1.75, while a slow one will be below 1.5. Most games fall in the middle. There were 306 pitches during the 3:35 that it took to play the game (215 minutes) for a PPM of 1.42, which might have made it the slowest game of the year. Anybody have the pitch counts and game times for MLB this season?



Needless to say, I was grumpy by the time Puig (above) made an appearance in the 8th inning where he represented the go-ahead run. Manny Corpas struck him out though, and the Rockies held on for the 7-5 victory.

Next Up

I am writing this from Kansas City, where I am resting up after driving from Denver. I'll continue on to Indianapolis for the Colts home opener on Sunday. I'll have posts on that game as well as the Broncos blowout win over Baltimore, so check back regularly as the NFL Stadium Journey will be the focus for the next four months.

Best,

Sean

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Baltimore Orioles 5 at New York Yankees 8 - August 30, 2013

Now that I am living in New York (after the NFL Road Trip at least), you might expect me to attend games in the area as much as possible. In fact, I will probably be avoiding the local teams for the most part. I've been to nearly all of the professional venues here and unless there is a compelling match (i.e. the Maple Leafs or Blue Jays are in town), I'd just as soon stay home. Attending sports ain't cheap and frankly, a lot of the time, the games really aren't that enjoyable when I'm not travelling. For me, it is the road trip that makes a sporting event worth attending; I find that going to the same stadium all the time can become a chore. Yesterday's game at Yankee Stadium is a prime example of that.

The Orioles were in town to open a 3-game set with both teams on the outside of the playoff picture but still harbouring hopes of late-season surge. C.C. Sabathia was on the hill for New York against Miguel Gonzalez for the O's.

After a long day of house-hunting, I took the train to Yankee Stadium. Whereas when I was visiting New York, the subway was cool, it is now just a part of daily life. I arrived at the stadium just as the first pitch was being thrown. I lined up for a ticket at the box office and was told the cheapest option was $50. No thanks. Fortunately, a scalper had a single for $20 and I bought that, happy to enter the stadium in the 2nd inning. I made my way to Section 420B where Gary and the King were sitting in their regular spot. As you can see from the picture below, they have a nice view of the stadium from directly behind home plate.



The first three innings were great, with neither team managing a hit and it looked like a pitchers duel was in order. Yeah, right. The Orioles opened the scoring in the fourth when Chris Davis singled home Manny Machado who had doubled to end C.C.'s attempt at perfection. The Yankees got two back when Alfonso Soriano homered with Robinson Cano on, but Danny Valencia did the same in the fifth to give the Orioles the 3-2 lead. Machado added an RBI single to double the advantage.



In the bottom half though, Gonzalez fell apart, giving up doubles to Curtis Granderson and Mark Reynolds before Ichiro Suzuki, looking completely out of place in a Yankee uniform (above), homered to right field. Gonzalez remained in and gave up a double, single, and a walk before being mercifully removed. Cano greeted reliever T.J. McFarland with a 2-run single and it was suddenly 7-4 Yankees. Those first three frames were a mere memory as the game was now nearing the 2-hour mark.

Each team added a singleton to make the final 8-5. Despite all the scoring, the game took just over 3 hours, which is not bad, particularly compared to those 4-hour marathons I endured back in Japan. Still, it was not a good game, with plenty of bad baserunning and poor defence. Amazingly no errors were given; at one point Adam Jones singled to left field where Soriano booted it, allowing Jones a free pass to second. Should have been a single and an error, but Jones was credited with a double. The King was not happy with that particular decision and who can blame him; official scorers have become far too lenient on the defence.

It was good to catch up with the boys of Royalty Tours again and seeing Ichiro homer was an unexpected bonus. As a Blue Jay fan, though, I cannot do this regularly since I am unable to truly root for the Yankees or give them any of my money. Going to the games will become a chore: I'll have to scour for a ticket on the street and then sit there and be miserable when the Yankees win. So expect me to spend most of my time in New York doing other things and saving money for a few more extended road trips. Next summer I might try to see the remaining 80 or so minor league ballparks I have yet to visit.

For now though, I am preparing for the NFL Road Trip which begins on September 4th. Follow along on Twitter and Facebook, it will be a great four months!

Best,

Sean

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BBWAA drops the ball again

The NFL has finished and America turns its eyes back to baseball. Sadly, another doping scandal threatens to become the story of the 2013 MLB season. After some investigative reporting by baseball writer Tim Elfrink of the well-known sporting newspaper the Miami New Times, several players are now alleged to have been taking PEDs over the past two or three years. What's that you say? Elfrink is not a member of the BBWAA and the Miami New Times is not a periodical related to sports? You mean to tell me there is yet another steroid incident ready to drag baseball's name through the mud and nobody in the BBWAA figured it out?! I find that hard to believe given how sanctimonious they have been in their recent Hall of Fame voting.

Actually, though, it looks like you are right. Yet again, baseball writers prove just how lazy they are, waiting for others to do the hard work and then jumping on the pulpit to denounce those who reportedly used. Instead of doing some useful work determining whether PEDs might still be a problem in baseball, they bragged about ignoring Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens on the Hall of Fame ballot.

I don't know if I can feel more contempt than I do for the voting members of the BBWAA who have decided to unilaterally enforce Cooperstown's character clause while doing nothing to demonstrate their own character. Here's a chance to actually do some journalism, determining if any of these charges are actually true. Will any of them take it? Probably not, with no press box buffet on which to gorge, the benefits of such work are severely limited. They'll just wait until 2030 and keep Gio Gonzalez out of the Hall of Fame instead.

On a related note, I am shocked to hear Gonzalez mentioned in this report. He has always been fan friendly and appeared to be squeaky clean, and having his name mentioned along with at least three others who have been busted is extremely disconcerting. The alleged dealer here is clearly untrustworthy, and I wonder if he has set everything up to gain fame? Probably not, but that is what will be investigated over the months to come and I hope that the BBWAA finally has a few members that recall being a journalist is not about self-righteous proclamations but about finding the truth.

Next Up

A nice 5-week journey begins next week as I return to Tokyo for a few days. I'll check out a bj League game there featuring Tokyo's new team before flying to Dallas to begin a 2-week trip that includes five NBA contests and three college baseball games among 14 total events. Even the NBA All-Star Game is possible but with ticket prices outrageously high, that is looking less and less likely. Follow along here to see what happens!

Best,

Sean

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Baseball Writers Ignoring Steroid Users (Again)

The 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is out and it is the first one with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa listed. Of course, those are three of the biggest steroid users with both Bonds and Clemens having gone through lengthy legal proceedings in failed efforts to clear their names. Since they retired, there has been mounting speculation that members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) will choose not to vote for anybody associated with the scandal in a misguided attempt at making themselves newsworthy.

Sure enough, the past few days have seen many writers openly declaring that they will not vote for Clemens, Bonds, Sosa, or any other cheater. So self-righteous! My question to them is "Where were you when this was going on?"

It didn't take a genius to notice that Barry Bonds' head had swollen to the size of a pumpkin. When Sosa and Mark McGwire were racing to beat Roger Maris' single season home run record in 1998, there were questions about just how they were doing it but no serious investigation was performed by anyone in the media. There were some lame attempts at saying the baseballs were juiced but I cannot recall any of the BBWAA members bothering to do the hard work that a full investigation would require. Instead they were complicit as MLB allowed their players to bulk up in order to make baseball more interesting as it tried to recover from the 1994 strike. This is not some crackpot conspiracy theory; there is no doubt that GMs, managers, and people in the commissioners office knew what was going on. They chose to ignore it as fans were excited by the offensive explosion and were returning to ballparks in droves.

Fifteen years later, the narrative has changed. Steroid users are cheaters and must now be punished. Leave it to the BBWAA to volunteer to mete out the punishment the best way they know how: lazily. Why bother to think about your own involvement in the scandal when you can loudly state that you will not vote for anyone associated with it and get your name in the papers without even writing a story.

To be fair, not all members of the BBWAA should be painted with the same brush. Some have written deliberate articles about how difficult the voting has become and how they are conflicted. Personally, I cannot understand how this issue can cause so much soul-searching. Either you consider the steroid era to be valid (as MLB does), or you don't and you vote accordingly. Given that baseball spent about sixty years being segregated, during which many famous records were set, I'd say the furor over PEDs is extremely overstated. Furthermore, cheating has always been in baseball. Gaylord Perry has a plaque in Cooperstown despite being a known spitballer. You may believe that the evils of steroids are much worse than some saliva on a baseball, but cheating is cheating. As Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle states in an ESPN article  "The Hall of Fame's 'character' clause should be stricken immediately, because it's far too late to turn Cooperstown into a church".

Baseball writers will try their best to do so though, starting with this year's vote. It is just too bad they didn't try their best when the steroid users were staring them right in the face.

Best,

Sean

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MLB Award Predictions

During the past season I wrote a baseball simulator which goes through a game batter by batter, using real hitting and pitching statistics to determine the result of each at-bat. The sim still needs some work in properly using the bullpen (like many MLB managers) and still doesn't make use of pinch hitters or any sort of strategy, but it works well enough, as it predicted the Giants to defeat Detroit in the World Series (I ran 8 best-of-seven series and the Giants won 6, including a sweep).

The simulator uses data that is automatically downloaded from Baseball Reference. Having this data at hand makes it easy to analyze and provide some insights that might not otherwise be obvious. I am therefore going to tell you who should win the MVP, Cy Young, as well as who will win based on voter biases. I am primarily using one statistic to make this decision: Bases Per Out or BPO. Simply put, it is the total number of bases the batter is responsible for (TB + BB+ HBP + SB+SH+SF) divided by the outs made (AB-H+CS+GDP+SH+SF). (For pitchers, the reverse is the better metric, the number of outs per base.) I realize that defense is not included in this statistic, so I will use the BR WAR data (which includes all aspects of a player's performance but is not easily calculated) as a comparison.

With all that in mind let's look at the awards:

AL MVP

Who Should Win: Mike Trout. His BPO of 1.121 is 9% higher than the 2nd best qualifier, Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays. Trout had 639 PA, more than enough to compensate for being called up just after the season started. His 49/54 record on stolen bases is a huge component of his BPO(without them, it becomes 1.01). No doubt the average single is more valuable than the average stolen base, but for this stat, they are equivalent, which is another weakness. Still, Trout's WAR of 10.7 was 2.5 wins better than Robinson Cano who finished second.

Who Will Win: Miguel Cabrera. BPO of 1.009 is great, but he was hurt by grounding into 28 double plays. Still, Triple Crown winner on a division champ will resonate with voters and he will defeat the rookie.

Who Won: Cabrera, with 22 of 28 first place votes.

NL MVP

Who Should Win: Ryan Braun. Although Joey Votto had a 1.218 BPO, he was hurt for a great part of the season, amassing only 475 PA. Braun’s BPO of 1.079 is 7% higher than Andrew McCutchen, second best among qualifiers.

Who Will Win: Buster Posey. Frankly, this is where BPO is weak, because it ignores defensive contributions. Posey has been great behind the plate for the NL West champ Giants and his 0.976 BPO is third in the NL. Coming back from that gruesome injury will give Posey even more respect among traditional writers, and Braun’s unproven PED scandal will haunt him for years. Posey's WAR was 7.2 compared to Braun's 6.8.

Who Won: Posey, no complaint here.

AL Cy Young

Who Should Win: David Price. His OPB (Outs per Base) is 1.941, meaning he gives up a base for nearly every 2 outs. This doesn’t sound so good, but remember that bases includes SB against, HBP and even sacrifice flies and bunts. His regular stats are pretty good too: 20-5, 2.56 ERA, 205 K, and a WAR of 6.4.

Who Will Win: Justin Verlander. Baseball writers have a reputation among stat heads of picking the wrong winner every year, so with that in mind, I need to pick somebody other than Price. Jered Weaver (1.912) and Justin Verlander (1.887) are the next two pitchers in OPB, but Verlander pitched nearly 50 more innings and had nearly 100 more strikeouts and led the league in WAR with 7.6. These are good numbers and the voters will remember him from last year. And, of course, Detroit won their division.

Who Won: Surprisingly Price, beating Verlander by just 4 points in the second closest AL vote ever. One voter believed that Price's teammate Fernando Rodney was more deserving

NL Cy Young

Who Should Win: Kris Medlen. He only faced 520 PA during the year, but this would qualify him as a batter and his 2.392 OPB is stunning and he was a key component for the Braves during the second half. If you believe that a pitcher needs to make at least 25 starts to be considered for this award, then Clayton Kershaw is your winner. He had a 1.919 OPB and led the league with 6.2 WAR but will be doomed by a 14-9 record, mostly due to some poor run support from the pre-trade Dodgers.

Who Will Win: R.A. Dickey, who pitches for the Mets and was hurt all year. His 20-6 record combined with the East Coast bias gives him the award even though Medlen, Kershaw, and Gio Gonzalez finished with a better OPB, although Dickey's WAR of 5.6 was 3rd best in the league.

Who Won: Dickey, followed by Kershaw and Gonzalez.

AL Rookie of the Year

Who Should Win: Mike Trout.

Who Will Win: Mike Trout. The voters will compensate for shafting him in the MVP voting by giving him the ROY instead. Even I can’t imagine another pick in this spot.

Who Won: Trout, unanimously.

NL Rookie of the Year

Who Should Win: Wade Miley. Miley was the top rookie pitcher, Bryce Harper the top rookie batter. To figure this one out, I compared their BPO against the league average. Miley's was 14.7% better than the average pitcher, while Harper's was only 11% above average. Thus Miley should get this award.

Who Will Win: Bryce Harper. Division winner, big name. Who the hell is Wade Miley anyways?

Who Won: Harper, just barely, taking 16 first place votes and 112 points to Miley's 12 and 105.

So there you have it. Some very simplistic analysis combined with my own biases on the writers’ biases that should help you enjoy the award season just that much more.

Update: Five of six predictions correct, with only Price over Verlander going against what I expected. Not a lot of controversy this year (except for seeing Adrian Beltre above Trout on one ballot) with each race clearly between two or three candidates, so no dark horse winners this time.

Best,

Sean

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Playing .500 ball

I've been following the Blue Jays season rather closely this year, mostly because I spent a good part of the summer in North America and was able to see more of their games than usual, both live and on TV. One thing that I, along with every other Jays fan, has noticed this season is that they are always very close to .500, rarely more than a game or two away from the break-even mark.

With the season 2/3 over, I decided to check out their day-by-day record and was surprised to see that they had never been more than 5 games above the .500 mark (24-19 most recently) or 4 games below (51-55), a 9-game swing. As well, they spent 17 days at .500 (out of 54 possible days). I wondered if any other team had a similar record, so I downloaded each team's results, again up to game 108. A brief statistical analysis showed that no other club managed a single-digit span around the .500 mark, but the Diamondbacks weren't far off, ranging from 4 games above to 6 below. They also spent 16 days at .500, so they are the NL equivalent of Toronto, at least in this meaningless category.

The Red Sox also enjoyed 16 days at .500, while the Cardinals had a 10-game range, but that was from .500 to 10 games above.

Looking at the stats for each team, there are a few interesting tidbits:

The Dodgers are the only team to have not been at or below .500 all year (0-0 is not .500). They won their first three games on their way to a 9-1 start and have not fallen all the way back despite some recent struggles.

Minnesota, San Diego, and the Cubs have not been at or above .500, losing at least their first two and never crawling back. That's just sad.

Detroit spent 49 days above, 49 days below, and 10 days right on the mark. (Off-days are ignored). To compare, the Jays were above .500 78 days and below just 13. Unfortunately, the seemingly endless spate of injuries has finally caught up to them and most of those sub-.500 days are in the past two weeks. They may not make it back to .500 the rest of the way but it will be good to see their young guys in meaningful games.

Here are the stats for those interested. Max is the maximum number of games above .500, Min is the maximum below .500, Range is Max-Min, while Above, At, and Below are the number of days the team has spent relative to the .500 mark. The list is ordered by Range.

Team   Max     Min    Range   Above   At  Below
TOR      5      -4       9      78    17    13
ARI      4      -6      10      32    16    60
STL     10       0      10     103     5     0
BOS      5      -7      12      37    16    55
TBR     11      -1      12     102     4     2
MIL      2     -11      13       3     5   100
NYM      8      -5      13      91     3    14
BAL     13       0      13     107     1     0
DET      8      -6      14      49    10    49
SFG     13      -3      16      79    11    18
CHW     12      -4      16      78     9    21
CLE      8      -8      16      84     8    16
LAD     17       1      16     108     0     0
PHI      3     -14      17      13    10    85
MIN     -1     -18      17       0     0   108
SEA      2     -16      18       8     8    92
LAA     10      -8      18      56     6    46
MIA      8     -10      18      36     6    66
OAK     10      -9      19      33    14    61
PIT     16      -4      20      58     5    45
KCR      1     -19      20       2     3   103
ATL     16      -4      20      99     2     7
TEX     21       0      21     107     1     0
SDP     -1     -22      21       0     0   108
WSN     22       0      22     107     1     0
CHC     -1     -24      23       0     0   108
NYY     23      -3      26      98     5     5
CIN     25      -4      29      83     9    16
COL      1     -30      31       5     9    94
HOU      2     -37      39       3     3   102

Best,

Sean

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Will Ichiro Help the Yankees?

I've been busy lately getting settled into Singapore and a new job, so haven't had much time to post. But there is a lot going on in sports, most obviously with the London Olympics getting started. As well, UEFA's Champions League and Europa League are in the middle of their qualifying rounds, and are great for dreaming about future sports road trip destinations. After all, who wouldn't love to spend a day in Moldova watching Sheriff Tiraspol hosting Dinamo Zagreb?

For baseball fans, the biggest news over the past week was the Ichiro trade. After 11 1/2 seasons in Seattle, Ichiro finally had enough of losing and requested a move to a contender. Now he is in the AL East as the Yankees were only too happy to welcome him, especially with the Mariners paying most of his salary. Seeing Ichiro in pinstripes brings back nightmares from the 2000 off-season, when I worried he might end up there after being posted by the Orix Blue Wave. Thankfully Seattle grabbed him and he has enjoyed a hall-of-fame career since then.

However, it is obvious that he is on the downside, with his numbers dropping considerably over the past two years. My favourite "unusual" stat is bases/out (BOP) which I wrote about last year. It is more intuitive than OPS and not as difficult to calculate as some of the more elaborate metrics such as WAR or wOBA+. Let's look at Ichiro's stats since 2001:

Year  G  AB   H  SB CS BB SO  BA   OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF  BOP
2001 157 692 242 56 14 30 53 .350 .838 316 3   8   4  4 .880
2002 157 647 208 31 15 68 62 .321 .813 275 8   5   3  5 .823
2003 159 679 212 34  8 36 69 .312 .788 296 3   6   3  1 .780
2004 161 704 262 36 11 49 63 .372 .869 320 6   4   2  3 .892
2005 162 679 206 33  8 48 66 .303 .786 296 5   4   2  6 .787
2006 161 695 224 45  2 49 71 .322 .786 289 2   5   1  2 .818
2007 161 678 238 37  8 49 77 .351 .827 292 7   3   4  2 .839
2008 162 686 213 43  4 51 65 .310 .747 265 8   5   3  4 .754
2009 146 639 225 26  9 32 71 .352 .851 297 1   4   2  1 .848
2010 162 680 214 42  9 45 86 .315 .754 268 3   3   3  1 .751
2011 161 677 184 40  7 39 69 .272 .645 227 11  0   1  4 .603
2012  98 414 109 16  3 17 40 .261 .642 146 10  1   0  4 .570

Remember, BOP is (TB + BB + HBP + SB + SF + SH) / (AB-H+CS+GDP+SF+SH). It is by no means a perfect stat but it does provide a very understandable way to present a player's offensive value. For every out he makes, how many bases does he achieve? The average this season is .683, so an average player should get around 68 bases for every 100 outs.

As you can see, Ichiro was always between .750 and .900 in his first ten seasons. This is actually rather low for someone with such a high average and stolen base totals, mainly because he rarely walks. In his rookie campaign 2001, he was unintentionally walked 20 times in 738 plate appearances! This is terrible for a lead off hitter, but it was easy to ignore as he hit .350 on his way to the MVP and ROY awards. (As an aside, he finished 22nd in the AL that year in BOP, behind such luminaries as Corey Koskie and Frank Catalanotto, not to mention teammates Edgar Martinez, Bret Boone, and John Olerud.)

Now that Ichiro is hitting around .260, his failure to take free passes is really hurting. His BOP has fallen to  .570 right now, which ranks him 140th of 153 qualifiers in MLB. I expect his defense is still superior to the average but his overall value is questionable at this point. I think the Yankees will soon realize that the Ichiro they have is not the Ichiro of old and makes far too many outs for less than 2 bases per game.

You might notice in the stats above that Ichiro's OPS and BOP numbers are quite similar for each year. This is not unusual; BOP is rarely more than 20% higher or lower than OPS. They generally count the same thing, just in a different manner. 

For those interested, Mike Trout leads the majors with 1.233 bases/out, while Blue Jay Edwin Encarncion is 6th overall at 1.083 (3rd in the AL, with the washed-up David Ortiz taking 2nd at 1.109).

Team BOP

I also computed the BOP for each team and compared it to the average and OPS. As you can see, there is a considerable difference in the rankings for BOP and batting average. Note how Toronto zooms from 18th to 6th while KC tumbles from 5th to 19th.  However, there is little variation between the OPS and BOP rankings:

        Team              BOP  AVG RK  OPS RK
1 New York Yankees       .770 .263  9 .794  1
2 Texas Rangers          .756 .277  1 .785  2
3 St. Louis Cardinals    .745 .277  2 .776  3
4 Colorado Rockies       .730 .265  7 .764  4
5 Arizona Diamondbacks   .727 .265  8 .761  6
6 Toronto Blue Jays      .724 .254 18 .756  8
7 Boston Red Sox         .721 .266  6 .761  5
8 Los Angeles Angels     .721 .271  3 .759  7
9 Milwaukee Brewers      .709 .247 21 .735 12
10 Detroit Tigers        .708 .269  4 .754  9
11 Chicago White Sox     .701 .259 13 .742 10
12 Cincinnati Reds       .696 .252 19 .734 14
13 Washington Nationals  .696 .256 16 .735 11
14 Atlanta Braves        .695 .256 17 .729 15
15 Cleveland Indians     .694 .257 15 .734 13
16 New York Mets         .682 .259 12 .727 18
17 Minnesota Twins       .680 .262 10 .727 17
18 Philadelphia Phillies .673 .259 14 .719 19
19 Kansas City Royals    .669 .267  5 .728 16
20 Tampa Bay Rays        .663 .233 28 .691 24
21 Miami Marlins         .660 .241 24 .692 23
22 San Francisco Giants  .658 .261 11 .704 20
23 Oakland Athletics     .651 .229 29 .686 25
24 Pittsburgh Pirates    .649 .243 23 .704 21
25 Baltimore Orioles     .636 .239 26 .702 22
26 San Diego Padres      .633 .237 27 .671 29
27 Houston Astros        .630 .240 25 .681 26
28 Los Angeles Dodgers   .627 .248 20 .679 27
29 Chicago Cubs          .612 .245 22 .679 28
30 Seattle Mariners      .597 .229 30 .650 30

The similarities between the two stats mean that BOP will never get much attention as OPS has become a key metric over the past few years. I still prefer BOP though and will occasionally write about it here.

Best,

Sean

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All-Star Stupidity

The 2012 MLB All-Star Game has come and gone and as is the case every year, it was fraught with controversy. Some players were "snubbed" while others were added due to manager preferences rather than their performance. If you look at the Baseball Reference WAR numbers, Brett Lawrie is the best overall player in MLB and he wasn't even on the snubbed list. This sort of thing happens every year, so I'm not going to crunch numbers to see who should and shouldn't have made it; there are plenty of other writers who have done that.

Rather, I'm going to discuss just how stupid the midsummer classic has become since 2002, when the game finished in a tie. I'm sure you remember when neither team had pitchers left after 11 innings and Bud Selig was forced to declare a draw. In order to add avoid such an embarrassing outcome to the contest from 2003 onward, Selig decided to give the winning league home field advantage in the World Series. It baffled me when this rule was instituted, and it continues to baffle me today. The World Series is the ultimate goal of any franchise and to have a team finish with 96 wins play a deciding game on the road against a team with just 90 wins (as happened just last year with Texas and St. Louis) is grossly unfair. Prince Fielder, whose 3-run homer was the margin of victory in that 2011 game, should have been given a small share of the Cardinals' World Series money. (Interestingly, it was Ranger C.J. Wilson who gave up that dinger; little did he know the impact it would have on his team just three months later).

Having the game suddenly become meaningful is not the only way this once-proud event is a shadow of its former self. Rosters have become bloated with more and more players added every year, until a record 84 were involved in the 2011 game. This is nearly 1/4 of about 350 eligible players (those who qualify for batting or pitching titles or are regular relievers). Firstly, the requirement that one player per team be included needs to be eliminated as it rewards those whose merit is being surrounded by failures. In 2011, Gaby Sanchez was chosen as the Marlins representative. For the rest of his career, he can refer to himself, laughably, as an All-Star. Simply put, the term should not be handed out lightly; it should be earned on the player's own merits.

Of course, that immediately brings up the issue of fan voting. How can you guarantee the best roster if fans are responsible for the starting 8 or 9? The answer is that you cannot. Baseball fans are generally well-versed in the game and most vote for deserving players, but obviously they are never going to pick the best at every position. Still, I will say that having the fans choose you is due to your merits on some level, and thus fan voting should stay, at least for the starters. Having another fan vote for the last player is a way to maintain interest in the week up to the game and although it really becomes a popularity contest, those players made eligible by MLB are usually deserving.

But do we need this additional player? As I mentioned above, we already have inflated rosters, so let's can this bit of marketing genius. Simplify the selection process and let's keep it to the best of the best, perhaps an additional position player per league and no more than 11 pitchers, limiting each to an inning.

Yes, if the game is tied after 11 innings, let it finish there. Who really cares if the game doesn't declare a winner? It is far more important to have the championship decided by the regular season than an exhibition game, especially one featuring players who don't belong there. You may not agree with me now, but you might change your mind when it is your team that is shafted by this rule, just like the Texas Rangers were in 2011.

Best,

Sean

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Kansas City Royals at Toronto Blue Jays - July 2-3, 2012

I'm spending a week in Canada before returning to Singapore and the Blue Jays thoughtfully scheduled a home series against Kansas City, so I went to the first two games at Rogers Centre (the big white spot in the aerial shot below, taken during my flight from Atlanta).



On Monday, Ricky Romero was torched to the tune of eight earned runs as KC won 11-3. No pictures from this nightmare. Despite being a holiday Monday, only 17,127 showed up. The good news with such a poor crowd is that you can buy an upper deck ticket and then sit in the lower deck without being hassled.



On Tuesday, the team played a truly enjoyable baseball game. After falling behind 3-0, the Jays fought back by sending 11 batters to the plate in the 4th. Colby Rasmus' bunt single and a 3-run jack from Adam Lind were the highlights as Toronto took a 6-3 lead.



Starter Brett Cecil and three relievers kept KC off the board the rest of the way, with Casey Janssen (above being congratulated by Jeff Mathis) getting his 10th save. With the win, the Jays hit the halfway mark of the season at 41-40.


Yunel Escobar singles

For this game, my friend Chien was visiting from Beijing and he brought his young son to his first ballgame. We were able to procure good seats from a friendly scalper, just eight rows up from first base and cheaper than the box office. With only 15,516 on hand, the place was deadly quiet at times. To compare, the AAA Buffalo Bisons had 414 more fans for their Independence Eve game. The Jays need to find ways to get more fans into the ballpark for these less popular opponents.


Yuniesky Betancourt returns to the dugout

The roof was closed when the game began as there was a threat of rain, but when the skies cleared, the roof was opened (below). Interestingly, it was during the 4th inning and the Jays responded with their six-spot once they had some natural light to work with.



Stupid Stats

In the two summer trips this year, I saw the Jays 11 times, 5 in Toronto and 6 on the road. They went 3-2 at home and 3-3 as visitors. In those 11 games, they committed only 2 errors and generally played very good defense. They also have a great offense but the injuries to their rotation have doomed them this season, I fear. Great fun to watch though and it will be enjoyable to see them develop over the next few years.

Next Up

I'll be returning to Toronto this weekend, first for the Argos home opener on Saturday and then the Honda Indy on Sunday. Check back for updates next week.

Best,

Sean

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Washington Nationals 5 at Atlanta Braves 7 - June 30, 2012

I started this trip three weeks ago with a 3-game set featuring the Jays visiting Turner Field in Atlanta. The Braves had a ticket special that day, four tickets for $30, so I picked up the three Jays games and added a fourth for June 30th against Washington. Originally, I had planned to visit the Gwinnett Braves of the International League, but figured if Stephen Strasburg was starting for Washington, I'd check that out instead.

Well, the pitching rotation worked out and Strasburg (below) was scheduled to start, so I decided to revisit Turner Field. After a 7-hour drive from Daytona Beach,  I arrived in Atlanta and parked at College Park Station, taking MARTA to the ballpark and arriving just as first pitch was thrown at 4:05.



It was a stifling day, with temperatures reaching 106F, the hottest in Atlanta history. It was even hotter on the field and this affected Strasburg. He tossed two shutout innings and managed an RBI single as Washington grabbed a quick 2-0 lead. But in the third, he was visibly tired, and also seemed frustrated by the home plate umpire. A couple of walks (his 3rd and 4th of the day, unusual for a pitcher who averages about 1.5 per game) and a pair of doubles, including one from Dan Uggla (below) gave Atlanta three runs and the lead.



Strasburg batted in the third and walked but was stranded. In the top of the 4th though, he didn't make it back to the mound (it was later reported that he was suffering from heat-related issues). He was replaced by Chien-Ming Wang, who gave up four runs in two innings as the Braves took a 7-2 lead which was enough in a 7-5 win. Phenom Bryce Harper (below) also had a bad day, going 0-5 although he hit the ball hard a couple of times.



A rather disappointing turn of events but it was better than going to the Gwinnett game in the end, as that was delayed for over an hour. With a very early flight back to Toronto for Canada Day, I wouldn't have been able to stay to the end of that one. As the G-Braves are part of the Quest for 400 though, I'll be back in Georgia sometime to check them out.

Best,

Sean

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Toronto Blue Jays at Miami Marlins - June 22-24, 2012

The Florida Marlins were one of baseball's laughingstocks, playing in front of tiny crowds in the worst stadium in the majors. Ownership fought for a new ballpark and finally got local government to agree to partially fund a new venue on the site of the Orange Bowl.

Definitely an improvement over Sun Life Stadium, Marlins Park has received mixed reviews since its opening earlier this season. There are a few minor problems that are to be expected, but I found this place to be welcoming and enjoyable; it is too bad that more local fans don't feel the same way.

Marlins Park



Located in the Little Havana community just north of downtown, Marlins Park is severely out of place. It appears to be a spaceship that has landed amongst the single-story stucco houses that make up the rest of the neighbourhood. There are a couple of transit options to get there, with the shuttle from Culmer Metrorail Station the one that I tried and would strongly recommend that you avoid. On weekdays after 9 pm and weekends, the train operates on a half-hour basis, and it happened to be 15 minutes late on the night we used it, making the schedule meaningless. It took well over an hour to get home after the Friday night game, when it should take about 30 minutes. For the weekend, I found free street parking just two blocks away, on 19th Avenue at 6th Street. Within a minute walk I saw people charging $10 to park at their house and the $20 lot next to the stadium was just five minutes away. In other words, you need not pay for parking here.



As you walk to the stadium, you might be stunned by the sheer size of the building. The roof may be open as it is in the shot above as they are trying to get as much sun onto the natural grass field as they can, but even then there are teething problems with some of the outfield suffering as you can see below.



There are plenty of ticket options but in the three games we saw, there was no need to purchase from the box office, which made us happy as we would rather not give any money to Jeffrey Loria, who destroyed the Montreal Expos. There are scalpers, but we ended up getting lower deck seats between the bases for less than half of face value from normal fans who had extras. Be patient and you should get a deal.



Before you walk into the ballpark, pay a visit to the Holiday Bakery right next to the Home Plate Entrance in the West Plaza. This is perhaps the best value of any eatery associated with an MLB stadium; I had a wrap for $4 and a guava pastry for $2.50 or so. Cuban sandwiches were $8.50, a $4 savings on the same item inside. This place is tasty, cheap and hard to beat, with a few tables outside to enjoy your meal before you enter the facility.



Once inside, you will likely be underwhelmed by the lack of attractions. There are four colour-coded quadrants that represent the four entrances; in the picture below you can see the transition from the green behind center field to the red that represents third base.



Walking around the concourses is usually problem free, but inside the seating bowl a number of sections close to the field are restricted to ticket holders, making autographs a bit difficult to get for those without the necessary documents. However, I found that ushers rarely checked tickets for the rest of the seating bowl and you could easily move down to a better seat should you be so inclined. The second level is mostly club seats and so I didn't explore here, with the third deck cheap but a bit far away.



Behind home plate you will find the Bobblehead Museum, a collection of hundreds of these giveaway items collected from every MLB stadium and then some. It can take a while to go through them all, so they are organized by team within each league to make it easier to find your favourite. There are even placeholders for bobbleheads that have been given away (such as Brandon Morrow last month) but yet to be delivered.



As the site used to be the Orange Bowl, there is a single pole acting as a tribute to this great stadium. As well, the east side of the stadium has an art installation that represents the letters of Orange Bowl as they fell when the facility was blown up, so make sure to walk around before you go inside.



There are two aquariums in the backstop behind home plate, but you need to have the very expensive Field Level seats to get a close look.



Of course, the most obvious attraction is the Home Run Feature, a mechanized sculpture that is illuminated and shows leaping Marlins after each home team homer. This was voted the worst ballpark landmark by Jim Caple at ESPN, but I beg to differ. Yes, it is rather garish, but the Chick-Fil-A ad at Turner Field is far, far worse, as are the roof rings at Tropicana Field.



Typical concessions are plentiful but must be ignored as there is only one place where you should dine once inside the ballpark. Along the left field concourse lies Taste of Miami, highlighting three local restaurants that offer unique tastes that are not available anywhere else in the venue. My favourite was the side of pork at Papo Llega y Pon; at $6 it is simply the best value in all MLB stadiums; tasty, relatively healthy, and freshly made. Coupled with the bakery outside, Marlins Park is tops for specialty food in the majors. In other words, avoid the hot dogs and pretzels here.

There is also a designated driver program booth right across from the Bobblehead Museum, but get there early as they run out of soft drink vouchers well before the game even starts.



The roof is retractable but shut for nearly every game due to the oppressive humidity that dominates the area. After the game though, the roof is opened to allow the grass to receive the sunshine, so stay there for a few minutes to see that (above). There is also a glass wall behind left field that offers views of downtown (below). The wall is operable in that it can be opened, although it remained closed during the weekend.



Finally, a word about the Clevelander. This is a famous bar on South Beach that has opened a branch behind the left field fence, right next to the Marlins' bullpen. There are seats available right behind the fence during the game that look pretty cool but were not available while we were there.



However, the Clevelander really demonstrates its value after the game, when it turns into a party spot for a couple of hours. There is a small dance stage and even a swimming pool. We stopped by on both Saturday and Sunday and were impressed with the entertainment (example below). Drinks are as expensive as those in the ballpark plus a gratuity so arrive with plenty of cash if you plan to imbibe. The crowd was quite varied on both days, with Blue Jays fans mingling with the locals and everybody having a good time. Naturally you'll need to keep yourself in control if you drive, but the high prices should help you there. Regardless, make sure to pay a post-game visit and see what is going on.



Overall, I enjoyed my three days here immensely. Early buzz on the stadium was somewhat negative, but this is because most people doing ballpark reviews follow the same cliched template. For me, Marlins Park is unique in many positive ways. Yes, it is a covered stadium but that is a necessity here. Sure, the colour scheme is rather ugly, but this is Miami, where old art deco hotels line South Beach. The ballpark succeeds in so many other areas: free parking nearby, cheap and delicious food, good seats that are easy to acquire, friendly fans, and a great bar for post-game partying. You heard it here first: Marlins Park is a winner. Seriously, who cares if there is an ugly home run sculpture; that is not what ballparks are about; they are about being entertained. Simply put, get yourself to Miami and have fun! Billy the Marlin is waiting for you!



Game 1 - Toronto 12, Miami 5

Ricky Romero started for Toronto, the third time that I would see him this year. The other two times, the Jays gave him 14 and 12 runs of support, and today was no different as they thumped Marlins pitching for another dozen, winning 12-5 in a  game that was a lot of fun to watch from behind the plate.



Brett Lawrie (above) was 3-5 with 3 runs scored and Joey Bautista went 2-3 with his 23rd home run, tying him with Adam Dunn for the league lead. The Marlins did hit three home runs so I was able to witness the hated home run sculpture in action. Romero improved to 8-1 on the season but a lot of that is due to this enormous run support.

The Marlins lost their 5th straight. Maybe if manager Ozzie Guillen spent less time checking out the ladies in the dugout seats and more time focused on the game, they might win more often.



Game 2 - Toronto 7, Miami 1



Brett Cecil (above) was making his second start of the season against Marlins' ace Josh Johnson. The Blue Jays got a run with no hits by playing small ball, using two walks, a sacrifice, and a squeeze to take an early 1-0 lead. In fact, they didn't have a base knock through 4, leading me to briefly hope they would win 1-0 without a hit. Yunel Escobar ruined that dream with a 5th inning single.


Joey Bautista singles in the ninth

Cecil managed to keep the Marlins off the board until the 7th, when Justin Ruggiano bunted for a lead-off single and Omar Infante doubled him home. Jason Frasor replaced Cecil and retired all three batters he faced, including Greg Dobbs, who was pinch-hitting for Johnson. This was the key moment as the game remain tied, preventing the Marlins from using closer Heath Bell in the ninth, instead forcing them to rely on their less than stellar bullpen.

After a scoreless eighth, Steve Cishek was left in to pitch the ninth for Miami and gave up a lead-off homer to Edwin Encarnacion, which garnered loud cheers from the many Blue Jay fans in attendance. A single, sacrifice, intentional walk, and balk put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Jeff Mathis tried a squeeze and Cishek muffed the play to the plate, giving the Blue Jays an insurance run. Edward Mujica came on to get pinch-hitter Omar Vizquel but then hit Lawrie to load the bases for Colby Rasmus, who popped a grand slam to deep right that sealed the contest.

This was a great game for me as the Jays used small ball to take the lead early while Cecil performed admirably despite not having his best stuff. Then the late explosion for the win, helped by a perfect bullpen combo of Jason Frasor, Darren Oliver, and Casey Janssen. The entire team and coaching staff did so well and the Marlins' fans in our section complimented the performance. Their team were no slouches either, with Ruggiano making an amazing catch in center field that was the top play on ESPN that night.



Late in the game, Marlins catcher Brett Hayes fouled one off straight at us (above) and the ball bounced around, landing next to a little girl a few seats away. An older guy in front of her took the ball and was immediately hounded by boos until he sheepishly returned it to her, although she had no idea what was going on, asking "Why did I get this?" Exactly. Teaching kids undeserved entitlement when they are young is the wrong lesson; they need to learn to work to get their rewards. They'll have plenty of time to get their own foul balls, if they really want them.

Game 3 - Miami 9, Toronto 0



With rookie Jesse Chavez starting against veteran Mark Buerhle (above), I expected a Marlins' blowout win and that's what I got. Chavez didn't pitch poorly but gave up a couple of long balls, including a 3-run shot to John Buck that hit the HR sculpture. The Jays managed 8 hits but no runs, with Brett Lawrie thrown out at home in the only real chance they had. Below is the fantastic scoreboard with the Marlins already up 4 in the second inning.



The Marlins ended a streak of 25 straight games scoring 5 runs or less. At least Toronto took 2 of 3 in the series, and split the 6 road games I saw on this trip.

Notes

The Marlins need to hire some knowledgeable baseball people to run their trivia contests. On two separate occasions on Saturday, they misspelled a hall-of-famer's name.





Next Up

Back to the Florida State League, with 6 games in the next 5 days, weather permitting (Florida has been hit by Tropical Storm Debby over the past couple of days). Tomorrow I return to Roger Dean Stadium to check out the Palm Beach Cardinals so come back on Tuesday for an update.

Best,

Sean

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Miami Marlins at Tampa Bay Rays - June 15-16, 2012

With the Florida State League on its all-star break, I spent the weekend in Tampa Bay where the Rays were hosting the Marlins in what is dubbed the Citrus Series. The Rays swept the Miami games the previous weekend so Ozzie Guillen's boys had revenge on their mind.

Tropicana Field

The Florida Suncoast Dome was opened in 1990 in an attempt to get an MLB franchise to move from another city. Despite coming close a couple of times, the Tampa Bay area was unable to attract an existing team, and salt was rubbed on those wounds when the Florida Marlins were awarded an expansion franchise for 1993. 

The Tampa Bay Lightning and AFL's Tampa Bay Storm made use of the new facility to put St. Petersburg on the major league sports map, but it was an MLB tenant that the city really wanted. Finally, in 1995, the Devil Rays were awarded, with play to begin three years later. in 1996, the other franchises moved across the Bay to Tampa's new and more suitable Ice Palace (now the Tampa Bay Times Forum), opening up the renamed Tropicana Field for the Devil Rays to call home.

I visited The Trop on my MLB road trip in 2001 and found it to be one of the worst venues at that time. Since then though, it has undergone some additions that make it a much more enjoyable spot to watch a game despite a relatively poor fan base.



The first thing to do is find parking. There are plenty of lots immediately surrounding the ballpark but they are expensive, with prices varying depending on the day of the week. Better to make your way to the other side of town where you can park along the street around 1st Street and Central Avenue. There are meters there that expire at 6 pm (and are free on weekends).  From there you can enjoy a drink or two at one of the Central Avenue bars (Five Bucks Drinkery and Midtown Sundries are two that I liked) before taking the free shuttle from 2nd Street and Central. You will be dropped off right at the stadium, a five-minute ride, and the shuttle will pick you up there after the game.



For tickets, there are four game types depending on the opponent and day of the week, and twelve seating areas which I will not rehash here. I like the first row of the upper deck, at $24 for a platinum game, it was a reasonable price. Tickets are $3 cheaper if bought more than 5 hours before game time. If you prefer the unofficial route, I saw a few scalpers outside the box office as well but in the heat I'm not sure it is worth wandering around that much. Once inside, if you want to try sitting in a better location than you have paid for, be careful. The Rays employ ushers to keep riffraff out of the good seats but if you are shameless, you might get lucky and find a nice guy who will let you stay.

Before the game, most of the excitement is on the lower concourse behind the outfield fence. There are three "streets" named for the outfield positions, each with several attractions. If you are in right field, entered the seating area and have a look in section 144, where a solitary yellow seat stands out in a sea of blue. This is where Wade Boggs' 3000th hit landed, he was the first to hit that milestone with a home run.



The highlight here is the Ted Williams Hitters Hall of Fame, with memorabilia from Williams' career as well as small displays for a number of baseball's best batters, such as Ernie Banks (below). A section commemorates the Negro Leagues, there is a window on Japanese baseball, and a number of other exhibits that make this a must-see. There are even a few pitchers inducted, making it a bit of a misnomer.  It is free to enter and not that crowded, and might take you up to 30 minutes depending on how much you want to read.



For kids, the Rays Touch Tank allows fans to touch live cownose rays and for $5 you can even feed them. Expect to wait here for a while as there was a lineup well before game time.



As you walk around the area, note the wall murals that explain the history of baseball in Tampa Bay, both on and off the field. Above is an example showing Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe who spent time together in St. Petersburg in 1961, just before her death.



A new addition here is the timeline from September 28, 2011, when the Rays beat the Yankees while Boston lost to the Orioles, giving Tampa Bay the Wild Card berth in one of the most electrifying days in baseball history. Still, it always annoys me to see Wild Card Pennants; finishing second is not worth celebrating.



There is also a cigar bar on the second level of Center Field Street that has plush chairs and big screen TVs that let you live it up for a while. If you prefer the game live, the Batters Eye Restaurant across the way is a full-service eatery with two seatings: one in the two-hour period before first pitch and the other during the game.



I did not eat any food as the prices were rather expensive, but the Cuban sandwiches looked interesting as did an Italian meatball sandwich, both at $9. Don't bother with the designated driver program, you are supposed to get a 12-oz pop but instead you will get a 12-oz cup filled with 11 ounces of ice and 1 ounce of soda. The above photo shows the food court near gate 5, smartly designed apart from the concourse to prevent crowding. Below is the main entrance at gate 1, with a nice thank you to the fans.



The main scoreboard is big and has all the info you need. I like how the positions and uniform numbers change in the lineups; below you see the positions but every few seconds these become uniform numbers. There are also a few stats boards around the ballpark, and a dot matrix board that shows the pitch count among other info.



One final touch is that the roof glows orange after the Rays win. As I drove by after Friday's game, it was quite cool but I couldn't stop on the highway to grab a picture.

Overall, Tropicana Field makes the best of a bad situation. It is just a year younger than the nearly-obsolete Rogers Centre, but has undergone the changes necessary to keep itself as an attraction. There are rumours that a new stadium will be necessary to keep the team in town, so if you have yet to visit, do make an effort in the near future and check out a game or two at the Trop.

Game 1 - Tampa Bay 11, Miami 0



Carlos Zambrano (above) got the start for Miami against Matt Moore. The Big Z should have been called the Big W as he walked 6 batters in 2+ innings and Tampa Bay made him pay, scoring 3 of those walks on their way to a quick 4-0 lead.

The Marlins offense was as inept as their pitching. Donovan Solano singled as the second batter of the game and that was the only hit they could muster off Moore, who was solid through seven. Meanwhile, the Marlins added two more in the 5th and then another five in the 7th, highlighted by a Desmond Jennings bases-clearing double (below).



The Rays' relievers had no trouble shutting down the anemic Marlins' bats over the last two frames and the home team walked away with an 11-0 victory, a combined 1-hitter.

Carlos Pena was the star, walking 4 times and scoring each time he walked. Hideki Matsui went hitless in 5 trips and is definitely struggling.

Game 2 - Miami 4, Tampa Bay 3 (15)



This game was the opposite of the blowout the day before. James Shields (above) started for Tampa Bay and was the victim of poor defense, giving up 3 unearned runs early. The Rays scratched a couple of runs back and were trailing 3-2 at the 7th-inning stretch.


Hanley Ramirez returned after missing Friday's game due to a nose injury suffered in batting practice.

I had bought the cheap seats and was sitting upstairs for most of the game but at this point, I moved down to watch what I thought would be the last couple of innings. Just as I sat down, the Rays tied it up in the bottom of the 7th when Sean Rodriguez tripled home Pena.


B.J. Upton singles in the 13th

After that, the bullpens took over, throwing one scoreless frame after another as we headed to extra innings and then some. The battle was in its 15th frame when Scott Cousins tripled home Justin Ruggiano, the fourth three-bagger of the evening. Heath Bell struck out the side for the save, getting Matsui looking to end the game. Matsui went 0-for-6 with a walk and is simply not that effective anymore.



In fact, the only memorable hit he had in these two games was a foul ball that nearly beaned me. A kindly usher had let me sit in the wheelchair section that had been abandoned by the ticketed patron. This was just a folding chair on the concourse along the third base line. I was trying to get pictures of Matsui when he fouled one off right at me (above). It took me a second to see the ball, at which time I realized that I had no free hands to try to catch it. I ducked and the ball fortunately fell just in front of me and shattered the plastic fence that is "supposed" to protect disabled fans from foul balls. The ball bounded past me, but I was too confused by the shards of plastic flying about to bother to chase it. When all settled down, the guy next to me had the ball and I got a picture of the hole in the fence.



If you believe in karma, then perhaps Matsui was telling me to stop ragging on him. Sorry Hideki, but it is time to retire.

Notes

If the Rays strikeout 10 or more batters, all fans get a free small pizza from Papa John's. However, you have to go to a local furniture store to pick up the coupon, so for most people, the hassle factor is not worth the $8.50 you would save, since the stores are generally not conveniently located. Very smart promotion in that you get the publicity without having to pay out that much.

I had originally planned to see the Florida State League All-Star Game on Saturday, which was being held in Port Charlotte. I changed my mind when I saw that the giveaway item at Tampa Bay was an MLB drawstring backpack. Any time I can acquire a one-of-a-kind item that makes me even geekier, I cannot resist. Have a look at this baby below - fits a scorebook, two pens, and a camera comfortably!



A Special Memory

In 2001 I saw all 30 MLB ballparks and the Trop was the site of one of the best games I saw. Roger Clemens took the hill for the Yankees in the early August affair, while rookie Jason Standridge was given his first MLB start for the Devil Rays. Clemens was on an 11-game win streak yet Standridge was the star, throwing over 6 scoreless innings only to have his bullpen blow it in the 9th. Clemens went on to win 19 in a row and the Yankees took the ALCS, knocking off 116-win Seattle.

Fast-forward to Game 7 of the World Series in Phoenix. Clemens started and I was again in attendance. As you all remember, the Yankees lost in the 9th on Luis Gonzalez' squib single off Mariano Rivera and Phoenix went crazy, winning the title in just their 4th year of existence. It was great fun being there as I celebrated with the locals.

For me though, things got even weirder the next day. I went to an Arizona Fall League game in Maryvale and the starter for one team was none other than Standridge! He tossed four hitless innings and his team then went on to a 7-inning, 3-pitcher, combined no-hitter. It amazed me that they could be on the same stage in August and then so far apart, baseball-wise at least, just three months later and no one ever made the connection.

Interestingly, Standridge never realized the promise he showed in his first start, bouncing between the majors and minors before moving to Japan in 2010, where he still throws for the Hanshin Tigers.

Next Up

The FSL season resumes tomorrow and I am in Bradenton to watch the Marauders hosting the St. Lucie Mets. As usual, updates will be posted here.

Best,

Sean

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