My Great Awakening

Last night during Sunday Night Baseball, I did something that would have made the 14 year old version of myself hunt down the new me, wait until I fell asleep, and then smother my new self to death with a pillow. You see, for the first 21 years of my life, I considered myself to be a huge Boston Red Sox fan. On top of that, I hated to New York Yankees more than anything else in the entire world. The climax of my hate probably occurred at the age of 14 during the 2001 World Series, when on back-to-back nights Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius tied the game up in the bottom of the ninth against the D-Backs (Byung-Hyun Kim is still to his day the least clutch baseball player in the history of the world). I was young and impressionable back then (not to mention even dumber than I am now), and would find myself swearing at the tv in my bedroom on a Thursday night. 8 years later, I have changed my ways, and found new things to become angry about (people who don't get cheese in the omelette line in the cafeteria). I also thought I had developed a fool-proof strategy to combat my anger along the way as well: drafting as many Yankees as possible for my fantasy baseball team. I saw it as a win-win situation: the Yankees lose and that's great or they win and thus I win in fantasy. However, something just overcame me last fall during the ALDS and I don't exactly know why. Maybe it was Nick Punto overrunning 3rd base in the playoffs and everyone around Minnesota being satisfied that they simply just made the playoffs in a terrible division again, or maybe it was the simple idea that when it was a close game in the series, the Yankees were going to win. Or maybe it's just the simple fact that the Yankees are the truest example of a professional organization ever known to humanity and we all should be cheering them on. So last night, I sat down for the Sunday Night Baseball game of the week, and can truly say that I wanted the Yankees to beat the Red Sox.

I must admit, I was not given the fairest shot to become a Yankees fan when I was a boy. My opinion of them was clouded by the idea that they won with crybabies like Paul O'Neill, evil-doers like Roger Clemens, and talent wasters like Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. My mind has changed though (I win a lot in fantasy), and I have my reasons (stats free for once).

1.) If you have the money, spend it: This means that you go out and get someone like Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia because it's pitching and 3 run homers that win championships. I'm really over the teams that have gotten caught up with the whole defense wins championships in baseball idea (Boston) and go out and sign Mike Cameron. Yeah that looks great, especially when the Yankees got Curtis Granderson and your own line-up has JD Drew batting in the 5 hole. Wait who bats 5th for the Yankees? Oh yeah, the next Triple Crown winner (you heard it here, or if you were at the Ole Baseball fantasy baseball draft of 2009), Robinson Cano. The Yankees also are in the top 5 in all of baseball in terms of having players from their system on the current 25 man roster.

2.) The Yankees have cooler players than the Red Sox: Derek Jeter is baseball's best model for consistency (after Pujols), Jorge Posada is a success story, Cano and Granderson define sweetness, Arod and Teixeira are dudes, the worst 2 hitters of their order, if that's possible, are an on base and a stolen base machine (Swisher and Gardner), and CC Sabathia is a true ace. On the other hand, Josh Beckett is a tool. I feel so far removed from the Josh Beckett that shut out New York in game 6 of the 2003 World Series, and am too focused on the one who throws at people and has a 7.46 ERA.

3.) Building a team based on defense is stupid.

4.) The Red Sox are trendy (I despise being trendy).

5.) Mariano Rivera

So as I go on this year, I will be cheering for the Yankees (and the A Team), and hoping that they finish second in the East to the Rays!

MLB First Basemen: Thanks Ryan Howard!

Before I get into anything else, I'd like to congratulate Ryan Howard for pulling a fast one on the Phillies. And to Phillies management...I'd like to an extend an open-hand slap to you for completely distorting the salary picture in Major League Baseball. Howard is a great player that has shown the kind of dedication you like to see out of your stars. He's gotten himself in better shape and gotten at least marginally better at first base (still by no means a great first baseman). But how is he worth more than Joe Mauer? Mark Teixeira? Really? Howard is still a couple of years away from free agency and yet the Phils (who have pressing needs this coming offseason, like re-signing Jayson Werth) made him the 2nd highest paid player in baseball. And yes, I am bitter about the contract because of the baseline it just set for the Albert Pujols negotiations. If Howard got $25 mil, expect Pujols to get nothing less than $30 mil/year for about 8-10 years. And the Cardinals have no choice but to pay him. Assuming their payroll pushes to just over $100 million, they'll have almost half of their entire payroll locked up in Pujols and Holliday. Damn you, Phillies (but from the offices of the agents of Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, and Adrian Gonzalez a collective THANK YOU).

In my bitterness, I'd like to, with a smile and a laugh, welcome back Brad Lidge. I guess the Phillies really need you back. In your first appearance, you showed exactly why the Phillies missed you. Wait...you gave up two hits (one of them a home run) in your 1/3 of an inning to kick off 2010. Sure, you missed some time and you're just getting back into "game shape". I would give you the benefit of the doubt, but you look exactly the same as you did last year when you gave up nearly 2 HRs per 9 innings and had a WHIP of over 1.8. If I was running the Phillies, I'd be looking for closer help NOW. I just can't see relying on a guy that hasn't been a dominant closer since 2005. And now everyone (and by everyone I mean no one because no one is actually reading this...I'm writing for myself) will jump up and down and point out how he didn't blow a save in all of 2008 and that he was hurt most of last year (whatever excuse he needs to justify the putrid numbers). So yes, Lidge did his job in 2008 and got the saves he was supposed to. But ever since that Pujols moonshot (apologies on the quality...Major League Baseball has done a great job of killing its popularity by removing nearly any video from YouTube), Lidge has never had a WHIP of below 1.23. At times he's gotten the job done, but it's never been the same. Every save is an adventure and, come playoff time, I'd rather take the closer that has every hitter going "Oh sh*t".

Speaking of hitters saying "Oh sh*t", I'm getting way too excited about Stephen Strasburg. And I'm not even a Nationals fan. Why have none of their fans written a letter to the owner and sent it to the Washington Post begging management to bring him up? Bring the dude up NOW and give your fans some excitement. What else can the Nationals do that will generate any kind of buzz? You're not contending this year, you're not going to be competing in September...give the fans a reason to buy jerseys, a reason to go to the ballpark, and a reason to actually identify themselves as Nationals fans.

And building off of that, might I actually start watching the Nationals over the next couple of years? After this June's draft, I'll have my answer (and you should have yours as well). If they take Bryce Harper with the #1 pick, the Nats could have one of the most exciting young trios in baseball by 2011 or 2012 (Strasburg, Harper, and Jordan Zimmerman coming back from Tommy John). Zimmerman is the most under-the-radar of the bunch but was considered the top pitcher in their system before his opening season was cut short by Tommy John surgery (and the subsequent drafting of Strasburg). So please, Nationals management, draft Bryce Harper and give your fans genuine hope (If they don't draft Harper, fans need to scream for draft reform. It already needs to happen, but this will be the best and most extreme example of why the MLB Draft sucks. Teams can't trade draft picks and there's no real rookie slotting system. Teams that have less money end up drafting guys based on signability as opposed to the top player available. Ask the Padres how they feel about this.) But hey, let's live optimistically for the time being. Here's to the future of the Nats...and to the hopeful demise of the Phillies and that damn contract.

Quick Thoughts

If someone were to ask me to list my favorite hobbies in the world, it would look something like:

1.) Fantasy Baseball
2.) watching LOST
3.) NCAA Football for PS3

As for the fourth thing on my list, I would go with re-watching the Ken Burns Baseball documentaries, which profiles everything one should know about the history of baseball from its beginning to Kirk Gibson's walk-off in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Since my parents got me the 18 hour, 9 DVD set for Christmas in 2006, I have perhaps watched the series over 25 times. Since I was first introduced to the series by my US History teacher in 11th grade, I have only met one other person that owns the set besides myself: my good buddy Jim Blissenbach. Jim also informed me that Ken Burns was coming out with a new series next fall that would discuss the 1990s and the 2000s, which propelled us into discussing what we hope will be included in the upcoming series. The criteria we set forth for the discussion was that if only 10 subjects could be included, what are the most important 10 events/players/games that happened in each of the two decades. Here is what I would include if I was in Ken Burns' spot:

1990s:
1.) 1991 World Series
2.) Joe Carter's Walk-off
3.) 1994 players' strike
4.) Ripken's streak
5.) Atlanta Brave dynasty
6.) Profile of the decade's best hitters (Griffey, Arod, Bagwell Frank Thomas)
7.) 1997 Florida Marlins
8.) 1998 Home run race between McGwire and Sosa
9.) Profile of decade's best pitchers (Johnson, Martinez, Clemens, and Maddux)
10.) Yankee dynasty 1996-2000

2000s:
1.) 9-11
2.) 2001 Mariners
3.) 2001 World Series
4.) Barry Bonds 2001-04
5.) Roger Clemens record 7 Cy Youngs
6.) 2004 Red Sox
7.) Mitchell Report
8.) Albert Pujols
9.) the success of small market teams
10.) the statistics revolution

I think these 20 topics are the most important of the past two decades and would give people the best snap-shot of the past 20 years.

Week One Thoughts

At lunch today, a coworker and myself headed over to a pub next to the office to catch a couple innings of the Twins game. Took about 15 minutes longer than usual and caught innings 5-7, just enough to kind of get my fix for the time being. I was there long enough to watch Delmon Young collect his 2nd hit of the day (ended with 3), Pat Neshek throw two scoreless innings, and people to start whining for a roof (after celebrating it not being there two days before) because of a little rain.

We walked back to the office and talked about how nice it is to have somewhere so close to jump over to for a quick bite to eat and a couple of innings of baseball. The conversation ended with a thought that summed up my feeling for the day: "It's a long season, man, so can't get too caught up in each game...but it's so hard to not get caught up."

So after one week, a lot of us want to jump to conclusions about which guys have finally arrived, which guys are done, and which guys we're going to hate for the season (by the way, the last one I'm all for. You can see pretty early on the guys you're going to despise watching and sometimes it's the same guy as every other year that maybe played for the Cubs last year and plays for the Mariners this year. Not that I'll name names.). So instead of going against nature and holding off on predictions, assessments, and all sorts of other forward thinking that will inevitably prove false, let's embrace those things!

1.) Hot start for Milton Bradley. I know, I know, he's hitting the hell out of the ball so he can keep up his usual shenanigans as long as he keeps hitting. Wait, he's not hitting either? Oh that's right, he's ONLY HITTING .115. And it's not just that he can't hit anymore. Tonight, he ran straight through a stop sign at 3rd base to simply stand and watch the play unfold (the play that was a backdoor throw to 3rd to nail him. Good work, Milton). I really wonder how much longer he's going to last in the league. I think most thought that a city like Seattle might prove to be his saving grace, somewhere that's a lot of love when you do well and general disinterest when you don't (as opposed to active hatred that comes in places like Chicago). Most were wrong.

**UPDATE** MB just laced a two-out bases loaded single. It didn't take 5 minutes for me to look stupid. Who cares? I'm posting this anyways. He'll still end up hitting. 235 with 5 HRs and 3 punched umpires.

2.) Is there really any argument as to who the best player in baseball is at this point? He's never had a bad year, really never anything less than a great year, and this year he's out to an even better start. Is this the year that he pushes that 50 HR number? We'll see. Looks like that offseason elbow cleanup surgery is paying off.

3.) The NL West will actually be fun to watch this year. The Diamondbacks have good, young hitting (Stephen Drew, Justin Upton) that looks like it is really ready to turn that proverbial corner and should be ready to really make it interesting when Brandon Webb gets healthy (hopefully sometime in June). The top two, Giants & Rockies, should be a lot of fun to watch. The Rockies have more offense but the Giants have a ton of starting pitching. Hopefully they can actually score some runs to support that pitching. Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez are an awesome top three--hopefully they find someone to help Pablo Sandoval in the scoring department.

It's only been a week and a half but, just as with every baseball season, I'm far too invested and excited. And my favorite thing about it is that it's always something different. No two seasons are the same. Only 150+ games to go.

The New Age of Baseball

Sometimes it seems like the steroids issue is doomed to linger around baseball forever. And honestly, that's the way it should be. Baseball is so much about history that it's impossible to forget about an entire era of baseball. The merits of those players for the Hall of Fame is a debate for another day (they should be allowed in) but we can now say, hopefully, that the Steroids Era WAS and no longer IS the identity of baseball. And, finally, we have fresh hope to move us out of that era and into a new (and hopefully bright) era of baseball.

That hope is easily identifiable for Nationals fans in the fastball of Stephen Strasburg and for Braves fans in the monstrous homeruns that Jason Hayward launches on a daily basis (why wait around until the 2nd AB when you can destroy the ball in your first big league AB. And speaking of destroying the ball, just wait for Bryce Harper. If you haven't seen the kid yet, just check this out. FINALLY. Young star power, like a new age Ken Griffey Jr. or baseball's version of LeBron). But it goes deeper than the individuals. Though numerous teams still lag far behind (see: Pittsburgh Pirates), there are a number of teams that are now competing just a few seasons removed from the cellar. The most obvious example is the Tampa Bay Rays but there are others (namely the Seattle Mariners) that are making a push based around a mix of pitching, defense, and youth.

Can these teams really compete with the Red Sox or Yankees? After 2008, it's easy to say yes but it'll be tough to continue as the front offices of even those teams have gotten smarter. Just look at the 2010 edition of the Red Sox. Unlike past offseasons, the Red Sox spent their offseason going after guys like Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron, not exactly your typical marquee names. Perhaps this offseason is an aberration as opposed to a coming trend (other factors, specifically the economy, easily could have contributed to the downturn in spending), but all indications are that the way front offices think is changing.

Perhaps we can finally say that baseball is out of the dark. With front offices employing armies of statisticians, baseball is actually at the forefront of statistical revolution, changing the way people look at sports and their favorite athletes in those sports. I'm pretty sure that's the first time we can say baseball has been at the forefront of anything in quite a while. There are so many areas to improve upon (for starters, the draft) but still a lot of progress has been made. Like we say with young prospects like Bryce Harper, there is unlimited upside. Here's to the new age of baseball.

2010 Predictions

With the 2010 season under way as we speak, I would like to make some quick predictions for the 2010 season:

AL East: Contrary to popular belief, I believe that the Yankees will repeat as AL East Champs in 2010. They were hands down the best team in all of baseball last year and with the additions of Curtis Granderson and Javier Vazquez, they have only improved. With the exception of Rivera, I feel that their bullpen is weak (why is Chan Ho Park still pitching in the majors?), but a strong starting rotation and the best batting line-up in baseball will carry them.

AL Central: I think this will come down to the Twins and White Sox, with the deciding factor being who has the stronger bullpen. I am expecting Jake Peavy to have a huge year, but the White Sox can never be considered a safe assumption. I give the nod to the Twins.

AL West: I feel like this is the toughest call of all in the AL, but I just can't find any reason not to give it to the Angels again. Yes they lost Vlad, Lackey, and Figgins, but I feel that Hunter, Morales, and Abreu still prove to be a strong enough line-up in an overall weak division. I'm not sold on the Mariners like everyone else (I believe they were last in the AL in runs scored last year and Cliff Lee will be starting the year on the DL). Felix Hernandez is my pick for AL Cy Young.

AL Wild Card: Red Sox will take it again this year in a tight race over the Rays. I do not feel comfortable enough with the Rays starting rotation to give them the edge over the Red Sox.

NL East: With the addition of Roy Halladay (my prediction for 2010 NL CY Young), the Phillies will win the East again. Not much thought needs to go into this one.

NL Central: Cardinals will take it again. I think all five teams in the rest of that division will be really bad.

NL West: This is much tougher but the Dodgers are a safest pick. The Rockies' pitching has to convince me more and both Jeff Francis and Huston Street are on the DL already. I like the Giants pitching but they lack the offensive power. Dodgers did not do much in the off-season but they are already pretty strong all the way around.

NL Wildcard: I am going to go with the Braves over the Rockies, not only because I already have predicted the same division winners as last year, but also because Tommy Hansen and Jason Heyward are legit.

Well, that should wrap it all up for my predictions, plus it's just not my specialty. In fact, I'm flat-out bad at them. I'll look forward to seeing how I do come October, but there are too many great days between now and then, so I'm going to sit back and enjoy the new season for now (and continue hating on Nick Punto and Delmon Young).

It Takes Two to Collapse

A lot of people are going to be talking about this epic Detroit Tigers collapse for years to come.  Honestly, more people might remember their collapse than the Twins' push to claim the Central crown in the 163rd game of the season.  But you know what?  I never thought I'd be saying this, but I just might give the Twins more credit than I give blame to the Tigers.  Sure, they had to lose more than their fair share to make this magical journey possible (trust me, if you were at the game tonight you know that the only to word to describe this is magical) but the fact of the matter is the Twins grabbed the opportunity by the throat.  

And yes, this is coming from the same person who declared the Twins "dead in the water" just a few weeks ago.  I stand behind my reasoning but so often sports defy our logic and transcend the realm of what seems even remotely possible.  Just think about this Minnesota Twins team from a non-biased standpoint for two seconds and anyone who is being reasonable knows that this team should never have made the playoffs.  Their starting pitching struggled mightily all year, their bullpen was anything but stellar, and to top it off their 2nd best player (Justin Morneau) was lost for the season.  How does this sound like a recipe for success?

The only answer that anyone can really give is that this team has that "it" factor this year.  Maybe it's the hand of God or it's just the way the ball is bouncing that year, but whatever it is, there often seems to be one team that finds a way to do the impossible.  The 2009 Minnesota Twins are just the latest example and this whole idea was wrapped up into one game on a brutal night for baseball.  TGFTD (Thank God For The Dome) except next year were gonna be playing playoff baseball in weather better suited for an Iditarod.  However, I digress.  

This game showed a team that despite giving up chances, not always capitalizing, and making a handful of mistakes still somehow finding a way to win.  And that's the "it" factor.  No matter what happened tonight, it never really seemed like the Twins were going to lose.  Even after Delmon Young took another first pitch hack and tapped softly to Polanco late in the game, you still felt like they were going to score.  No matter what, that positivity, that "it", was still there.  It's almost like a combo naivete-optimism-electricity that a team feeds off of and it was fun to watch.  Maybe the Dome creates it.  Whatever it is, I look forward to seeing it again.  And hey, for at least one more week, TGFTD.