Praise God for his Promises to Us
Today Sophie was baptized into God’s covenant. Amy and I are ecstatic that God
gave Sophie to us and that He has made such glorious promises to her. We were
also very happy that this special event was witnessed by all our friends at
Auburn Avenue as well as her Uncle Pat and Aunt Shannon, who traveled from Baton
Rouge and her Great Grand parents Melinda Trisler and Bob and Lucille Booth.
Sophie had the distinct privilege of being baptized by her papa (my father) in a
gown made by her gran (my mother). Please pray for us as we attempt to bring
Sophie up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord
Our Household has Increased by One
Friday afternoon we got our latest addition to the household. We call him Neo.
Yes it has to do with the Matrix guy. We got him from my uncle, who is very much
into the Matrix. In fact, just about any conversation you have with him will be
peppered with references to the movie. Neo is a registered Border Collie, born
just five minutes after Sophie. We happy to have him and we hope he serves us
well.
Mariner Report
Wow, we stink; 3 and 3 again. That makes us a lousy 10 and 9 in the last three
weeks which is hardly the pace of a division champion. Nevertheless we managed
to cling to our lead over the Braves and extend our lead by one game over the
A’s. It’s bad when you’re happy to be done with the Padres and move on to the
A’s. The Padres beat us in another series, taking 2 of 3. . . If not for Arthur
Rhodes and Jeff Nelson giving grand slams to Rondell White, we would have won
two more games against them, but the bullpen seems to be breaking down, and the
loss of Kazuhiro Sasaki seems to be greater every day. Maybe Shigetosi Hasagawa
should be closing the games. Maybe our bullpen is still really good, but the
Padres (at least Rondell White) just have our number. Anyway, Nelson and Rhodes
need to get things together. The way they’ve been going they’re making one of
our biggest strengths a weakness. . . Next week we have 4 against the A’s and 3
against the Rangers. I’d be happy with a split against the A’s, but we have to
sweep the Rangers. We definitely have to beat the Rangers Saturday night, as I
(along with my dad and Robbie) will be in attendance at The Ballpark in
Arlington as Jamie Moyer seeks his (hopefully) 12th win. Moyer and Gil Meche
will be the double duty pitchers this week. . . On a milestone note, Edgar
Martinez became the Mariner’s all-time RBI leader (1,155) with a two run homer
on Friday (Ken Griffey Jr. was the former leader).
Mariner of the Week: I have to go with Freddy Garcia this week. Garcia would
have won 2 games this week had Rhodes not blown the game in the 9th. Freddy went
1-0 in 2 starts, with 12.2 innings and a 2.84 ERA.
MLB Report
I have just a few items this week, before I get to the mid-season report.
Ranger’s outfielder Juan Gonzalez exercised his no-trade clause this week,
declining a trade to the Montreal Expos. I guess this is just another example of
how messed up Juan’s priorities are. It seems he’d rather keep stinking it up
for what seems to be the always cellar-dwelling Rangers, rather than go to
Montreal where he has a playoff shot and a chance to play on a team that has
some pitching. Gonzalez has been a largely selfish player anyway only playing
well in contract years (this is one) . . . Oakland upstart Eric Byrnes hit for
cycle today and seems to be one of the few A’s hitting well. . . The Red Sox
plated 10 players before recording an out in the 1st inning against the Marlins.
They went on to score 14 in the first and another 11 during the rest of the game
giving them 25 for the day. Leadoff hitter Johnny Damon went 3 for 3 in the 1st
inning. . . The Real Game of the Week: Boston Red Sox @ New York Yankees.
We are now at the halfway point for the 2003 MLB season (most teams have played
80 games, so we’re close enough). If the Playoffs started today, I would be 6
for 8 in my playoff predictions from the beginning of the season. I have been
correct on the Yankees, Red Sox (wildcard), Twins (although they are tied with
the Royals), Mariners, Braves, and Giants. I was wrong on the NL Central where I
predicted the Astros would be leading that division and the Cardinals would be
the wildcard. Instead. The Phillies are the wildcard leaders, and the Astros are
3 games behind the Cardinals with the Cubs between them.
Biggest Surprise Team (NL): Montreal Expos. The Expos are 9 games over .500 and
just a half-game behind the Phillies for the wildcard lead, and they’ve done
with Vladamir Guerrero on the shelf for the past three weeks. Playoff chances:
50/50
Biggest Surprise Team (AL): Kansas City Royals. After a super hot start (11-0),
and a long slump, the Royals have pulled even the favored Minnesota Twins in the
AL Central. Playoff chances: Unlikely
Biggest Surprise Player (NL): Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Tom
Glavine, and Kevin Brown. The first four players are supposed to be the best in
the NL and Brown is supposed to be washed up. The statistics show the opposite.
Kudos to Mike Lowell.
Biggest Surprise Player (AL): Melvin Mora. What’s wrong this list of AL slugging
percentage leaders? Carlos Delgado (.653), Brett Boone (.610), Garrett Anderson
(.594), Nomar Garciaparra (.585), Melvin Mora (.581). Kudos to Eric Byrnes.
Comeback Player (NL): Kevin Brown
Comeback Player (AL): Carl Everett
Best hitting Team (all): Boston Red Sox (.300 team avg., MLB avg. .265 – worst:
Tigers, .225)
Best Pitching Team (all): Los Angeles Dodgers (2.82 team ERA, MLB avg. 4.44 –
worst: Rangers 6.16)
Best Fielding Team (all): Seattle Mariners (28 team errors, MLB avg. 53.23 –
worst: Reds, 74)
Rookie of the Year (NL): Dontrelle Willis
Rookie of the Year (AL): Rocco Baldelli. Sorry, Hideki Matsui.
Cy Young (NL): 1) Kevin Brown, 2) Mark Prior, 3) Eric Gagne, 4) Woody Williams,
5) Hideo Nomo
Cy Young (AL): 1) Roy Halladay, 2) Esteban Loaiza, 3) Jamie Moyer, 4) Mark
Mulder, 5) Mike Mussina
MVP (NL): 1) Albert Pujols, 2) Gary Sheffield, 3) Jim Edmonds, 4) Mike Lowell 5)
Barry Bonds
MVP (AL): 1) Carlos Delgado, 2) Bret Boone, 3) Nomar Garciaparra, 4) Ichiro, 5)
Garrett Anderson
Google Yourself
I was trying to find something interesting to post, so I just typed "Aaron
Booth" in the search field on Google and it turns out that I'm a Canadian
musician trying to make a name for myself. Also at aaronboothmusic I found out
that I am "a melodic writer with a love for penning hooks that hang on for dear
life. His [my] songs are hopeful, wistful, poetic and often bittersweet
broadcasts describing the tension and release of an emotional landscape
"somewhere in between." How about that?
I gues my sister Christin is the only Christin Booth in the world. The first 9
hits on that search turned up verbingnouns, Zoe'z Place, Beautiful Feet, Odd
Thoughts, and New St. Andrews. . . Much like Christin, ride across the sky . . .
is the first listing for Deacon James. Micah Lewis, Remy Wilkins, Toby Sumpter,
and Shannon Trisler all produce similar results relating to their own blogs or
blogs within our circle. . . My wife Amy is also a fantasy artist (runs in the
family). You can see her work here. . . James Marsalis just draws a bunch of
sites about the famous Marsalises of Jazz. . . However, according to Blue
Domeour friend Jon Amosis a wheel-chair bound athlete that "set a wheelchair
world altitude record of 16,040ft on Africa's highest mountain - Mount
Kilimanjaro. Jon Amos is now undertaking his next venture, which is called 'Man
of Steel' Trans-Australia challenge. This is to be an hand cycling endurance
'trek' of 2,020 miles through the heart of Australia during which comparative
studies will take place to see what physiological and psychological differences,
if any, there are between the Spinal cord injured athlete and the able-bodied."
Jon you're an encouragement to us all. . . Josh Melton plays football for the
University of Arkansas. He even has his picture here. . . Unfortunately, Robbie
McBroom died in 1997. I'm not sure of the cause of death, Jeff Simmons and Larry
Helton left a gift of rememberance at Voices of Hope. . . Of all the seraches
I've done though, this one takes the cake, and I mean the whole freakin' cake!
Matt Greydanus told me a story about him staring in a film called Mousie when he
was 12 or 13 and it was shown on A&E in 1986. Anyway, there's a website for it
complete with pictures of Matt in his starring role and directions on buying the
film. Check it out.
AL All-Stars
The starters would be Jorge Posada (C - NYY), Carlos Delgado (1B - TOR), Alfonso
Soriano (2B - NYY), Alex Rodriguez (SS - TEX), Troy Glaus (3B - ANA), Ichiro (OF
- SEA), Manny Ramirez (OF - BOS), Torii Hunter (OF - MIN), and Edgar Martinez
(DH - SEA). That leaves room for 12 pitchers and 11 position players. The
pitchers would be Roy Halladay (TOR - game starter), Jamie Moyer (SEA), Esteban
Loaiza (CHW), Mark Mulder (OAK), Mike Mussina (NYY), Corey Lidle (TOR), Roger
Clemens (NYY), Gil Meche (SEA), Sidney Ponson (BAL), Chris Donnelly (ANA), Keith
Foulke (OAK), and Eddie Guardado (MIN). That gives us four teams without
representation, so we'll take Mike Sweeney (KCR), Dmitri Young (DET), Milton
Bradley (CLE), and Aubrey Huff (TBD). That leaves seven spots open and we still
need back ups for catcher, 2nd base, and short stop. A.J. Peirzynski is the
catcher. 2nd and short are not hard choices at all: Brett Boone and Nomar
Garciaparra. That leaves four spots with no restrictions on selection. So we'll
take Garrett Anderson, Vernon Wells, Rafael Palmeiro, and Melvin Mora (as a
short stop). Sorry Rocco Baldelli, Juan Gonzalez, Carl Everett, C.C. Sabathia,
and Jay Gibbons.
I'm not really one to blog about the weather, but sheesh it's hot. The official
West Monroe temperature is 103 with a heat index of 112. It's killing me. It's
so hot the humidity is actually going down.
Mariner Report
Our record does not show how poorly we've really been playing. We're 7-6 in the
last two weeks (4-3 this week), and somehow we've managed to hang on to the best
record in the game although we lost two games to the A's this week (7.5 to 5.5).
Overall the pitching has been fine, with the exception of Jeff Nelson's loss the
other night. Even that is forgivable though. But the hitting has got to come
back. Ichiro keeps hitting well and Boone is doing okay. but after those two
everybody could stand to step it up a notch or two. This week's schedule is the
same as the last except we only play 3 against the Angels and we play the Padres
at home. Our days of loosing Edgar because of the lack of DH are over, unless we
go to the World Series, but we can worry about that later. Even when Edgar is
not hitting he makes a big impact in the lineup and it will be good to have him
back on a full time basis this week. Kazuhiro Sasaki's injury is more serious
than originally thought. There is no time table on his return, but we can
survive without him.
Mariner of the Week: Joel Pineiro won two games, but Ichiro continues to be red
hot. He has an active 18-game hitting streak, still leads the majors with 109
hits, and is just five points off the batting lead with a .356 average. This
week Ichiro went 15 for 29 with two home runs (in one game). He was on base 16
times during the week, but scored only six times, which is indicative of the
Mariner's hitting woes these days. Nevertheless, our whole offense starts with
"The Samurai of Slap" and he's been more than doing his part.
MLB Report
Roy Halladay of the upstart Toronto Blue Jays won his 11th consecutive start.
It's the longest such streak in the majors in 6 years. Another hot young pitcher
is Florida's Dontrelle Willis who followed his one-hit outing against the Mets
with another shutout against the Devil Rays. Willis is 7-1 on the season and his
animated style is reminiscent of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych and "The Mad Hungarian"
Al Hrobosky (both pitched in the 70's). If you have the chance, Willis is
definitely worth watching. The first of the "Geographic Rival" Weekends with
mixed results. The trouble is there was only series that had any real draw to it
(Giants vs. A's). The rest were mostly a good team against a bad team or two bad
teams. I ranted a bit last week about Fox choosing the Yanks and Cards over the
Mariner's and Braves for there game of the week and I'd like to extend that
discussion a bit. So if a Fox or ESPN executive happens to read this, listen up.
Yankees/Mets, White Sox/Cubs: we don't care. Dodgers/Angels: we mostly don't
care. Believe it or not, there are people who do not live in New York, Chicago,
or L.A. The Dodgers/Angels series had a limited national appeal because the
Dodgers are playing well and the Angels are the defending champs, although they
are not playing particularly well. But the other two series pits one good team
(Yankees, Cubs) against really bad teams (Mets, White Sox) We've seen these
series before, and they're just not that interesting outside their particular
markets. The Mets/Yankees didn't even feature the Clemens/Piazza matchup as
Clemens wasn't scheduled to pitch and Piazza's on the DL. Nevertheless, two of
the three games from each of these series were nationally televised. The Blue
Jays/Expos is a better series for crying out loud. At least those two teams both
have post season hopes. I realize one could argue that despite their position in
the standings, the Yankees, Cubs, Dodgers, and sometimes Red Sox and Cardinals
get more national games because they're more popular. I can grant that, but you
can fix that. Show the Mariners. Show the A's. Show the Astros. These are three
teams that are doing well (and have done so for the last five years). How can
the baseball fans across the country become fans of teams like these and gain a
national following unless you put them on TV sometimes? I'm a Mariner fan, but
I'm not arguing that the M's/Padres series should have been the game of the
week. It shouldn't be either one. It should have been the A's/Giants because it
was two good teams playing a series that had meaning as each team needs every
win to maintain or gain on their current positions. With that in mind - I want
to introduce a new weekly feature to the MLB Report: The Real Game of the Week.
This way if you turn on Fox on Saturday to be propogated by the Yankees and the
like, you'll know that there is another game out there with more meaning and
better matchups. Sometimes the popular teams will be The Real Game of the Week,
and that's okay. Who can deny that Yankees/Red Sox (given their current position
in the AL East) would be the game with the most national appeal? So the first
ever Real Game of the Week is Oakland @ San Fransisco. The schedule next weekend
is largely the same as last weekend, so the decision is really a no-brainer.
It seems this report has spilled into a second paragraph, and here are my
reasons. We're approaching the halfway mar for the season (I believe the end of
next week), the All-Star game is coming up, and the Trading Deadline follows
shortly after that. As a result there will lots of things to cover in July and I
need to get a head start. Next week I want to look at projected award winners
and play "If the Playoffs Started Today" in addition to the fact that the
All-Star starters should be named by then. So this week I want to make
predictions about who will be an All-Star and who deserves to be an All-Star.
The Commisioner's Office expanded the All-Star roster from 30 to 32 to give each
team more pitchers and try to avoid the tie that happened last year. The other
stipulation, in case you didn't know, is that every team must be represented,
which results in some undeserving selections and some snubs. I doubt there will
be any change in the current voting, so we'll assume that the current vote
leaders will get to start. In the NL that would be Ivan Rodriguez (C - FLA),
Jeff Bagwell (1B - HOU), Jeff Kent (2B - HOU), Edgar Renteria (SS - STL), Scott
Rolen (3B - STL), Barry Bonds (OF - SF), Sammy Sosa (OF - CHC), and Gary
Sheffield (OF - ATL). I can accept all of these choices but one: There's no way
Sosa deserves to start over Albert Pujols. There is no case for that whatsoever.
I suppose there will be 12 more position players and 12 pitchers. The pitchers
should be: Kevin Brown (LAD - game starter), Woody Williams (STL), Mark Prior
(CHC), Kevin Millwood (PHI) Al Leiter (NYM - we have to pick a Met), Russ Ortiz
(ATL), Hideo Nomo (LAD), Dontrell Willis (FLA), Octavio Dotel (HOU), Billy
Wagner (HOU), John Smoltz (ATL), and Eric Gagne (LAD). That leaves 12 position
players and 7 NL teams not currently represented, so let's knock those out. The
only real option from the Diamondbacks is Luis Gonzalez. As a Padre, we take 2B
Mark Loretta, and from Colorado we take Todd Helton. The Reds have to send Aaron
Boone to play 3B, Kenny Lofton comes from Pittsburg, and Richie Sexson comes
from the Brewers. This leaves only the Expos who will be represented by Orlando
Cabrerra at SS. That leaves 6 more roster spots for players who actually deserve
it. Obviously we add Pujols and that leaves five. Given what we have so far, we
have a back up at every position except catcher and Javy Lopez is the clear
choice; we also take Marcus Giles from Atlanta. Next we take Mike Lowell (3B)
from Florida. The last two spots go to Preston Wilson of Colorado and Rafael
Furcal of Atlanta. Sorry: Cory Patterson, Austin Kearns, Andruw Jones, Paul Lo
Duca, and Jim Edmonds. Albert Pujols, if not elected, will start as the DH since
the game is held in an AL park. AL All-stars reviewed later this week.
Finally
I was just ecstatic when I read this report from USA Today. Now maybe we can get
both sides of the news.
Al Gore is apparently looking to return to his media career roots. The former
Democratic vice president has been courting Hollywood figures and wealthy
investors to help him build a liberal cable television network, Time magazine
reported on its Web site Wednesday. Gore, who has decided against running for
president in 2004, envisions an outlet that could compete against such popular
conservative voices as Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and the Fox News Channel.
Before running for Congress in 1976, Gore was a newspaper reporter for The
(Nashville) Tennessean.
There Is Such a Thing as a Respectable Yankee
You should all know by now that I hate the Yankees. From time to time though,
they have some real class-act ball players on the team, and in my opinion there
is cureently none finer than Bernie Williams. But aside from being a great
player and a gentleman he is also an accomplished classical guitarist. His first
CD will be released in abaout a month. Williams wrote seven of the eleven songs
on the disc which also includes a cover of Billy Joel's "And So it Goes" and the
Kansas classic "Dust in the Wind." I don't really like the description of his
style as given by his producer's website: ". . . [Williams] has composed a
refreshing blend of highly melodic, contemporary and Latin-flavored jazz
selections with an undeniably soulful delivery." Despite that silly description,
his playing ability has been praised by Paul Simon and Paul McCartney and one
track on the disc features an accompaniment from Bela Fleck. I'll definitely be
interested in giving this disc a listen.
Larry Doby, 1923-2003
Larry Doby, the second black player in Major League Baseball (first AL player),
died Wednesday evening. Before tonight, that is about all I could have told you
about his career. Before sharing some of the fruits of my research I have to say
that he must have been an exceptional man of character to be chosen as one of
the first black players. Given the general unfair treatment, name calling, and
death threats that the early blacks received only the most cool headed, patient,
and respectful players were chosen, and Doby must have been exceptional among
his peers. Doby finished second in AL MVP voting in 1954 with 32 home runs and
126 RBI's which led the league in both categories. In a career that spanned from
1947 to 1959 Dody played 1,553 games (mostly in the outfield) with 1,515 hits,
253 home runs, 970 RBI's, and .273 batting average. Doby was inducted to the
Hall of Fame in 1998. His Hall of Fame plaque reads:
Exceptional athletic prowess and a staunch constitution led to a successful
playing career after integrating the American League in 1947. A seven-time
All-Star who batted .283 with 253 home runs and 970 RBI in 13 Major League
seasons. The power-hitting center fielder paced the A.L. in home runs twice and
collected 100 RBI five times, while leading the Indians to pennants in 1948 and
1954. Appointed manager of the White Sox in 1978, the second African-American to
lead a Major League club. Played four seasons with Newark in the Negro National
League. Following player career worked as a scout and Major League Baseball
executive.
Mariner Report
3 and 3 is tough week, but we came out it not much worse than we started. We're
still tied with the Braves for the best record in the game and we lost only one
game of our lead over the A's (from 8 to 7). The Expos really made a big
impression on me. They're like the poor man's Mariners. The play a similar style
and really play hard for nine innings. The Braves series was really all it was
cracked up to be. We took two of three in three extremely low scoring games. The
combined score for the series was 5 to 5. The hitting was down on both sides,
but the pitching and the Mariner defense was phenomenal. Game 2 of the series
saw Jamie Moyer get his first loss in 8 starts, but he still stays at the top of
the league with 10 wins on the season. Freddy Garcia continued to pitch well,
winning 2 to 1. Next week we play only our second full 7-game schedule with 4
against the Angels and 3 against our geographic rival, San Diego. The Angels are
10.5 games behind us at 34-32 on the year and 5-5 out of their last ten. San
Diego is terrible. This is a good opportunity for us to start another long
winning streak, but our hitters will have to pick it up after such a slow week.
The M's only scored 10 runs in 6 games last week; frankly it's a miracle we won
three with that kind of performance.
Mariner of the Week:Ichiro was without a doubt the man this week. He led the
team with .458 batting average (11 for 24) and 4 stolen bases. He's now batting
.339 on the season, leads the majors with 94 hits, and is tied for the American
League stolen base lead with 18. In one inning of Sunday night's game he reached
first on an infield single, stole second, stole third, and scored on an infield
ground out from Brett Boone. That kind of run manufacturing can't be beat, and
Ichiro is most effective when he steal's bases like that.
MLB Report
In my opinion there were three big news items from baseball this week, and at
least two of them will not be new news to most of you. But the biggest one of
them in the overall scope of baseball was Roger Clemens getting his 300th win
and 4,000th strikeout in the same game. Clemens beat the Cardinals 5 to 2 Friday
and became the 21st pitcher in MLB history to record number 300. Being the 21st
to accomplish this feat, he's tied with Lefty Grove and Early Wynn for 19th on
the list. Clemens needs 7 more to pass Mickey Welch, 9 to pass Charley Radbourn,
and 11 to pass Tom Seaver. Getting 11 more may be a tall order for him unless
the Yankees make some serious improvements to the bullpen. I suppose if he won
every start for the rest of the year he could pass Gaylord Perry at 314, but
that is very unlikely. He became only the 3rd pitcher to reach 4,000 K's with
only Steve Carlton (4,136) and Nolan Ryan (5,714) ahead of him. He has an
outside shot at passing Carlton, but he'll have to be sharp the rest of the way.
In other news, Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel,
and Billy Wagner no-hit the Yankees last Wednesday. It was the first time the
Yankees had gone hitless since 1958. Certainly a six-pitcher no-no is less
impressive than a one-man gig, but it still takes a lot to hold any team hitless
for 9 innings, especially a team with the kind of hitters New York has. The
Atlanta Braves/Seattle Mariners series was the other big story of the week,
although you wouldn't know based on the TV coverage. FOX TV left the Braves/M's
game to pick up the rain delayed Cardinals/Yankees game for their national
broadcast. I don't know what the folks in the Northwest got to seebut here in
the South (an area that is very much devoted to the Braves) Fox felt we would be
more interested in the Yankees (who we generally hate) and the Cardinals (who we
generally ignore). On top of the market issues relating to the South, the series
was between the best team in the NL against the best team in the AL. There is no
way that the Yankees/Cardinals was a better game or a more attractive series -
especially since the news from that series (Clemens) happened the day before. I
know this has turned into a rant from a bitter Mariners fan, but come on! The
M's have had the best record in the AL for 3 or 4 weeks now, and we still have
to fight for press. You might hear a word about them right after the "What's
Wrong with the Yankees" story. Interleague play takes a break the first of next
week and resumes this weekend with the first of two "Geographic Rival" weekends.
We'll get to see exciting matchups in the Bay area (A's and Giant's), The Windy
City Classic (Cubs and White Sox), a Sub way series (Mets and Yankees), and
other compelling matchups like the Rowdy and Nasty Fan contest between the
Philles and Red Sox. Then there's the brainless Geographic matchups like Detroit
vs. Colorado and an I-5 extremeties series between Seattle and San Diego. Can
you even wait?
Having been a father now for three weeks, I've learned something about babies
(at least mine). Most people think babies are good at three things: eating,
sleeping, and expelling gas from one end or another. In truth, they're only good
at eating and sleeping. Their inability to burp and poop seems to cause more
trouble and frustration in their little lives than anything else. The sad face
in the picture below was caused by just such a frustration (although she was
upset about that Edgar Martinez thing too). I find it amazing that the sorts of
bodily functions that get you in trouble when you're five are encouraged when
you're an infant.
This was how Sophie felt this afternoon when she read this on ESPN.com:
Does Edgar Martinez belong in the Hall of Fame?
No, he doesn't. I think the world of Edgar Martinez, one of the game's good guys
and greatest hitters. But we don't have any historical precedent for putting a
longtime DH in the Hall of Fame, and it seems to me that if we are going to
elect a DH, he should have substantially more than 2,000 hits or substantially
more than 300 home runs. Right now, Martinez is at about 2030 and 290. So unless
he can continue hitting for another two or three seasons -- and you know, I
wouldn't put it past him -- I simply won't be able to throw my weight behind his
candidacy. - Rob Neyer
Now that you've read what Rob said, I'm sure you feel the same way Sophie did.
And really, who wouldn't?
You may have already seen this on A minor, but my sister-in-law Shannon now has
her very own blog. Even though Jon stole my thunder and violated my own personal
(and completely unspoken) outing policy, I give you . . . a peck of gold.
Just a thought, though. Do you think she means a peck of gold as in a chicken
pecks at the ground and, low and behold, a piece of gold amongst the pecked
objects, or does it mean a peck of gold as in a quarter of a bushel of gold?
Perhaps the meaning is two-fold, or even more-fold like the four-fold meaning of
The Dukes of Hazzard.
Mariner Report
We went 5 and 1 this week and have won 11 of our last 12. We still have the best
record in baseball (42-19), which we share with the Atlanta Braves. Next week's
schedule may be toughest week we've had yet. We start with three against the
Montreal Expos (37-26) and then three with Atlanta. The Expos will be without
their star, Vladamir Guerrero, for the duration of the series. The pitching
matchups for the Braves series should stack up like this: Russ Ortiz v. Freddy
Garcia, Mike Hampton v. Jamie Moyer, and Greg Maddux v. Gil Meche. Ichiro and
Bret Boone continue to move up the AL leader board. Ichiro is 2nd in hits (81)
and 3rd in stolen bases (14). Boone is 3rd in home runs (17) and 4th in RBI's
(49). Jamie Moyer became the first pitcher in either league to win 10, and he's
now 3rd in AL ERA (2.93) and 5th in K's (64). As a whole the team is hitting
very well with four starters batting over .300 (Ichiro, Boone, Edgar Martinez,
Carlos Guillen) and two others not far behind (Randy Winn .295 and John Olerud
.294). Freddy Garcia has won three in a row and moved his record to .500 (6-6).
I was surprised the other day when I noticed Olerud only has two homers on the
season. That is definitely below his normal pace. A second left-hander will be
in the bullpen Tuesday night when we face the Expos. The relief corps became a
little more balanced Friday afternoon when we acquired left-hander Matt White
from the Boston Red Sox for minor league outfielder Sheldon Fulse. "We've been
looking for another left-hander to add to our bullpen depth and we think Matt
should fit in nicely," said M's GM Pat Gillick. Julio Mateo will likely be sent
back to Tacoma to make room for White.
Mariner of the Week: This week's choice is a no-brainer. Although Ichiro and
Boone continue to hit well, I just can't deny Jamie Moyer. Moyer went 2 and 0
with 14 scoreless innings pitched and 12 strikeouts. Moyer has the best record
in the game (10-2) and should finally be chosen for his first All-Star game. He
might even get the start. I guess Pat Gillick knew what he was doing when he
signed Moyer (40) to a three-year deal
MLB Report
Major League Baseball was busy this week with the Sammy Sosa/corked bat
situation. Without going into great depth, I have three thoughts on the matter:
1) I believe Sosa is telling the truth about it being a mistake. 2) Corked bats
do not make an appreciable difference in how far a batted ball travels. 3)
Sosa's 8-game suspension is fair and consistent with suspensions from similar
cases. Roger Clemens again failed to nail down his 300th win. Clemens pitched
well against the Cubs, but he got the loss after Juan Acevedo allowed a 3-run
homer to Eric Karros. Clemens was responsible for the two runners on base. His
next opportunity is likely to come Friday against the Cardinals and Matt Morris.
Other than these two stories the rest of the MLB news is just interleague play
and injuries. The only especially interesting series' are between Atlanta and
Oakland and Atlanta and Seattle. On the injury front, Curt Schilling broke his
hand (DL), Cubs' 1B Hee Seop Choi has a concussion (DL), Vladamir Guerrero has a
sore back (day-to-day), and Alex Rodriguez has a bruised knee (day-to-day).
Pedro Martinez is scheduled to return from the disabled list Wednesday against
the Cardinals.
Mariner Report
What a great week! 6 and 0. After loosing the series against the Twins last
week, we swept them in four this week. We also came out of the week with a
5-game lead over the A's. Things are going so well that Freddy Garcia won two
games. Interleague play starts Tuesday. I have to admit that this time of the
year scares me because there are just so many unknowns when we play the NL
teams. It was this time last year when things turned around in the AL West; the
A's and Angels got hot for the rest of the year after having success against the
NL teams. However, the interleague schedule does work quite nicely for the M's.
We drew the weakest NL division (NL East). The Braves are the only really strong
team we'll have to face. Then, when interleague switches to "Geographic Rival"
week, we really come out good: Six games against the 16-40 San Diego Padres,
while the rest of the division looks like this: Rangers vs. Astros, A's vs.
Giants, and Angels vs. Dodgers. Our interleague schedule starts off with
Philadalphia. Jamie Moyer will be going for his ML leading 9th win against Kevin
Millwood. Millwood is the toughest pitcher we'll face for all of the interleague
games. We finish the week with a series against the Mets, before returning home
for the Braves and Expos. As of this very moment we are tied with the Braves for
the best record in baseball (although the Braves have not yet played today), so
this series should be especially interesting. Ichiro and Edgar Martinez are
currently leading in votes at their positions for the All-Star game. I expect
they'll both hang on to those leads. Bret Boone and Jamie Moyer will likely make
the team as reserves. Boone hit his 200th career home run this week, and John
Olerud is just 11 hits away from 2,000.
Mariner of the Week: I have to give an honorable mention to Freddy Garcia for
his 2 wins and to Joel Pineiro for his shutout of the Twins. I have not been
able to make a decision for just one winner this week, so we'll have our first
ever tie for the MOW. Bret Boone and Edgar Martinez were both fantastic this
week. Boone went 12 for 32 (.375) with 4 doubles, 4 homer runs, and 10 RBI's.
Edgar went 11 for 30 (.367) and also had 4 homer runs and 10 RBI's. If both of
these guys maintain their pace for 40+ homers and 130+ RBI's we'll be in good
shape the rest of the year.
MLB Update
This week featured several interesting matchups and games. In my report last
week, I made a mistake about the next opportunity for Roger Clemens to record
his 300th win. He actually pitched today against the Tigers. He left the game
with the lead, but the Yankee bullpen failed to hold it down. They Yanks did end
up winning 10 to 9 in 17 innings, but Clemens was stuck with a no decision. His
next attempt will be against the Cubs on June 7th at Wrigley Field. Former
teammates Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine faced off this week for the first time in
their careers. Maddux got the win as the Braves beat the Mets 5 to 2. Sammy Sosa
returned from the diabled list, and so far, he has looked overmatched. He did,
however, drive in the winning run in the bottom of the 16th against the Astros;
the score of the game was 1-0. This week also saw the first significant trade of
the year with the Red Sox acquiring closer Byung Hyun Kim from Arizona for 3B
Shea Hillenbrand. This was an excellent move for both teams now, which doesn't
happen very much these days. Usually a trade will be a lopsided deal so that one
team can cut payroll, but in this case the Red Sox get a front-line closer,
which they'll need if they want to stay on top of the Yankees, and the
Diamonbacks get a true run producer to bolster their anemic offense. In order to
make room on their roster Arizona released Matt Williams who was the last
remaining original Diamondback from the inaugural team in 1997. MLB released the
current standings in All-Star voting this week. Unless things change, the NL
squad will look like this: Ivan Rodriguez (catcher), Jeff Bagwell (1st base),
Jeff Kent (2nd base), Scott Rolen (3rd base), Edgar Renteria (short stop), and
outfielders Barry Bonds (leading NL vote getter), Sammy Sosa, and Vladamir
Guerrero (DH to be named by NL manager Dusty Baker). The AL team would be: Jorge
Posada (catcher), Jason Giambi (1st base), Alfonso Soriano (2nd base; leading AL
vote getter), Troy Glaus (3rd base), Alex Rodriguez (short stop), outfielders
Ichiro Suzuki, Manny Ramirez, and Bernie Williams, and DH Edgar Martinez. Out of
this group I see three cases were the player probably doesn't deserve an
All-Star selection. Sammy Sosa and Bernie Williams had/have injury issues, and
Jason Giambi just has not played well enough to justify such an honor. There's
at least another 3 weeks to vote, so these rosters could change between now and
then.