http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Randy-Johnson-to-retire-010510?GT1=39002
Goodbye, Randy Johnson! There's nothing I can say to adequately describe your brilliant career other than Thank You for the memories and for your brilliance. We're going to miss you in Arizona! I'm sure you will be a first time Hall of Famer.
Yesterday the Dodgers wrapped up their series against the Cardinals. They swept the Division Series in three games and will now move on to the League Championship against either the Colorado Rockies or the Philadelphia Phillies. Of course we all know the winner of the National League Championship moves on to play the American League winner in the 2009 World Series.
Today the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (geez it's dumb having to say that!), wrapped up their Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. They also swept their series in three games. They will move on to play the New York Yankees (who swept the Minnesota Twins in a three game series) in the American League Championship.
Both the Angels and the Dodgers are based in Southern California in the Los Angeles area, and in Anaheim. These two teams could conceivably end up playing each other in the World Series. As a Southern California native now living in Arizona, I think it would be great to have a west coast World Series.
Three cheers for the west coast! Take that you east coast baseball snobs!
At this point in time, the Detroit Tigers are losing to the Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins are winning. If this is how the evening plays out Detroit will then be one game ahead of Minnesota with two games remaining in the season. Therefore by Sunday October 4, Detroit's playoff bid could have evaporated, ended in a tie, or simply come down to the last game of the season.
I don't know about other baseball fans, but I can't help seeing the Detroit Tigers as sentimental favorites to make the playoffs and hopefully advance to the World Series. It seems as if it would be a tremendous morale boost to the citizens of the economically beleagured City of Detroit. Unemployment there is nearly twice the national average, and entire city blocks are nearly abandoned in some parts of the city. The Tigers organization has done many things to aid the city and the fans, and the fans have shown as much support as they can. I have family in Michigan, though I've only ever passed through Detroit; and though the Tigers are not my favorite team, with things like they are now I want to root for them.
With my Arizona Diamondbacks long out of the playoff picture for 2009, my preference from the National League is the Saint Louis Cardinals or the Los Angeles Dodgers. I've always liked the Cardinals, and frankly there are few finer players and good, decent men in baseball than Albert Pujols. I grew up in Los Angeles as a Dodger fan and I still like them; however I wouldn't be too unhappy to see the Cardinals get there instead. Normally looking at the playoff picture at this point in time from the American League I would pick the Anaheim Angels (is having to say Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim the dumbest thing ever??), or frankly anyone other than the New York Yankees (LOL!); however this season I'm rooting for the Detroit Tigers for sentimental reasons.
GO TIGERS!!!!
Today at Chase Field the Arizona Diamondbacks dropped their third game in a row to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (how stupid is having to call them that??). This, of course, means the Angels swept the Diamondbacks at their home field. Several Angels fans at Chase Field were brandishing brooms, particularly at the end of the game. I consider this to be bad fan behavior and I object to it.
As a fan I can't say I've never been happy about a sweep my team made, or that I would never bring a broom to Chase Field if I thought the Diamondbacks would sweep a team. However, I do agree with something Mark Grace said. He said he did not object to fans bringing brooms to a series sweep at their own field or stadium; however he also said he did not care for fans bringing brooms to the ballpark when they were the visiting team. I agree and find it very uncool for fans to bring the brooms to the ballpark as a visiting team. I can't swear that no Diamondbacks fans has ever done this; however I can swear that I never have and I never will; even if the opportunity arises. It just doesn't seem right to me.
For quite some time now our Diamondbacks announcer, Mark Grace, has been crusading against maple bats. Certainly he makes a lot of valid points: they break too easily and too often, the pieces fly out on to the field and into the stands, and someone is going to get hurt. He also has expressed the opinion that it appeared it would take a serious injury to a fan, umpire, or player, or God forbid, even a death, for Major League Baseball to do something about maple bats. Grace has mentioned how much better he personally feels ash bats would be for professional baseball.
I am here to say I agree with him. I've seen a number of games where no bats seemed to break; but I've seen many where multiple bats were broken. I've seen bats fly out on to the field and hit players, and I've seen multiple pitchers dodge pieces of bats when the pieces flew out of the batter's hand and headed toward the pticher on the mound. This past Tuesday, June 23rd, a bat broke at Chase Field and a piece of it flew into the stands and hit a fan. She had to be escorted from her seat and examined. It turned out not to be a serious injury, but it so easily could have been. What if a piece of a broken bat hits a child in the stands and seriously injures them? What if the bat hits someone in the head? What if the broken end of the bat hits a player, coach or umpire in the throat? An incident like that could result in a serious injury or even a death if the bat hit a jugular vein or something.
The biggest reason catchers and umpires have the masks they have now that cover part of their neck is because a number of years ago catcher Steve Yeager of the Los Angeles Dodgers was hit in the neck by a piece of a broken bat. I also remember him being knocked cold by a runner sliding into home but that's another story... In any case, after the neck incident Yeager started experimenting with various ways of protecting his and other catchers necks and that helped lead to the masks we see today. (added July 11, 2009)
What's it going to take for Major League Baseball to see the light and get rid of these maple bats?
During today's game (as of this point, it's still the 6th inning), the Diamondbacks committed four errors. They were silly errors, by players who normally don't make them. Let's admit it, while these are not the first errors by Augie Ojeda, Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton or Stephen Drew, it's also not normal for them to make this many errors in one game.
All these errors resulted in runs by the Angels. The Chase Field crowd started to boo. Mark Grace said he understood the booing. While I agree with Mark that it isn't fair to the fans, and I certianly agree with the frustration, I do not accept the booing. Period. It you are going to come to my ball park and boo my team, stay home. I don't care if the Diamondbacks are supposedly your team also, if you're going to boo them at Chase Field, stay home. Period.
The Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers game ended a little while ago. At one point the Diamondbacks led 5 to 0. Starting pitcher Dan Haren gave up one home run and left the game with the score at 5 to 1. Our eighth inning man, Tony Pena came in and loaded the bases, and walked in a run. He was removed for our young reliever Dan Schlereth who came into a bases loaded situation and ended up giving up three runs (only one was earned), putting the score at Diamondbacks 5 and Dodgers 6. Schlereth got stuck with a loss and Haren's seven inning performance and Justin Upton's grand slam went for naught.
I understand even a good relief pitcher like Pena can have a bad night, and poor Schlereth got tossed into a bad situation. I am certainly not happy that the Diamondbacks lost this game. However, I am fed up with Darron Sutton and Mark Grace always blaming the offense. Certainly the offense has underperformed a number of times, but it isn't always the offense. As Tom Candiotti and Greg Schulte said on the radio, the Diamondbacks offense did miss some opportunities, but had done a good job. This loss was due to the relief pitchers giving up five runs. Augie Ojeda made a spectacular catch to end the Dodgers eighth inning, however unfortunately the Diamondbacks could not score in the ninth and the game was over.
There have been times when the offense has failed, and times when the pitching has failed. There have been times when the pitching and/or the offense has been spectacular. Even though, as Tom Candiotti and others said tonight, the Diamondbacks offense missed some opportunities, they did well tonight. It was the relief pitching, plain and simple.
While Mark Grace played for the Diamondbacks he was my favorite player, and I still like him. However, I am tired of him always blaming the offense; and, frankly, Darron Sutton (whose father Don was the first player I ever named as my 'favorite' player while he played for the Dodgers) is just as bad as he is. If someone such as Digger Phelps disagrees with Mark's assessment, as he did tonight, Mark will argue the point. And then Darron will agree with him.
Mark Grace is probably the single most knowledgeable announcer on television and he is often fun to listen to as is Darron. However, there are times, like tonight, where I frankly have had enough of both of them and am about ready to run both of them out of town myself and ask FSN to find some announcers who are capable of calling the game the way it really happened. Mark used to be good, and sometimes still is; he can be a very nice guy, however there are times like tonight when, as I just stated, I would like to personally run him and Darron Sutton out of town.
Enough already, it isn't always the offense.