Karma: the mystical nature of the Universe that provides cosmic balance between good and bad. I guess it's something along the lines of Yin and Yang, but either way, I seem to notice it from time to time. You see, I've always been what one might call "lucky." I tend to be that guy who enters contests and raffles and then actually wins them. But then in a show of cosmic karma, I also am that guy who's been essentially unemployed for three years.
This is how my weekend went. Friday morning I got up with every intention of going job hunting in Phoenix near a place my brother and I would like to share an apartment. I got up, showered and shaved, put on my job huntin' clothes (slacks and a nice polo shirt), and went upstairs to print out a few copies of my resume. Sadly, sometime over the course of the past 36 hours, my father's computer (the only one in the house with a printer) had utterly crashed. I'm talking total annihilation of anything on the hard drive. It was an annoyance to be sure, but I figured it was workable. After messing with the computer for about a half-hour, I gave up trying to fix it, and decided to go to the library to print my copies out. It wouldn't be nice paper, but for retail it was at least something.
So I drove to the library, went in, and I couldn't get on the computers. Apparently I had a fine from my sister borrowing my library card and then failing to return her books on time. The system locked me out until I paid the fine (and renewed the card, which they are now making people do annually). I was... how do I say this... displeased(?) at having to shell out $30 in fines and fees just to print out 10 copies, but I needed the resume, so I did it. Finally, I got on one of the computers and opened my email. I had emailed the file I needed to myself for convenience. But wouldn't you know it? The library for some reason could not download my file from my email to the computer so I could open it! At this point, I was becoming frustrated. I'm not an IT guy or a troubleshooter. I didn't know what was wrong, but I also wasn't yet willing to give up with one more option left to try. I opened the resume file in Google Docs. It came up as a picture file, and to be able to print it as a document, I first needed to enable it for editing. I clicked "Edit", and guess what? "This file cannot be opened for editing on the Library computers." AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
Now I was finally officially unhappy. My only final resort was to print the file as a photo directly from the Google Docs screen, which I did. It cost me $0.20 per page for a total of $2.00 for ten copies. I assumed there'd be a web address at the bottom of the page, but I didn't care. It was manageable. When the printouts came through, they looked AWFUL. The type was miniscule, blurry from being printed as a photo, and the margins were all screwed up. I calmly shut down my computer terminal, took my copies, and went back to my car. And I lost it. Something as simple as printing out my resume should not be that hard to do. All my financial worries and job-hunting stress came rushing out of me as I sat in the car in the library parking lot. At first I was laughing at myself almost hysterically at the absurdity of the situation, and then I was unable to hold back a few tears as my muscles tensed up.
I was done for the rest of the day. I went back home, and immediately went down to my room where I contemplated the insanity of the situation and how much I was surprised that such a small thing as not being able to make a few printouts had caused my depression. Looking back on it, it still seems absurd. To get me out of my funk, my parents suggested I tag along with my siblings, who were going to see "X-Men: First Class." I accepted, but despite losing myself in the movie for a couple hours, when I got out of the theatre, I didn't feel all that much better. (The movie was so-so, but I think if I saw it again when I was feeling better, it would be a better movie.)
Saturday, I had my tickets for the Diamondbacks game. I slept in for a while, so I missed going to my card shop like I usually do on Saturdays, but I used my time productively when I did get up, finishing a poster for the game, and getting ready. While I had invited Ryan to join me, he was unable to come (something about work being more important than hanging out with me... haha) and so I went alone to the game. I got there about 2:00pm via the light rail, and was somewhere around 30th in line as a season ticket holder. I like going there early and getting in early (and yes, I am a season ticket holder this year) so I can try to snag baseballs during batting practice.
When you first enter the stadium, the one thing every "ballhawk" does first is check the outfield seats for "Easter eggs" - balls that are just sitting there from BP before the stadium opens. If you're not first in line for this, you can kind of kiss finding an Easter egg goodbye. But even at 30th or so in line, I managed to find one that the 20 or so other people in the outfield roaming the seats had missed just sitting in the 20th row of one of the left field sections. I gave out a little "woohoo!" when I found it, and tucked it in my backpack for safekeeping. About 5 minutes later, a high fly ball came and landed on the warning track right in front of a guy in a red shirt, bounced up at him, and when he missed it, I was right there to make the catch for my second baseball of the day. Another moment later, a high home run ball came my way. I ran towards it, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get there in time. Thankfully for me, the ball clanked off another fan and bounded my way, and I was able to snag it. That was a new personal record for me: 3 baseballs at one game! Sadly though, that was all I got. I really wanted to go for five, and I had a chance on one other ball, but I ended batting practice with just the three, one of which I gave to a little kid with a glove who didn't get anything (and whose mom was very nice to me while I was running around trying not to get in her way as she was taking pictures of the kid). He seemed happy to get a ball, and the mom thanked me. (I like being nice...!)
Apparently, karma wasn't satisfied with making up for my really crappy Friday with 3 baseballs during BP though, because in the 3rd inning break of the game, I won big time! The Diamondbacks do a "Fry's VIP Rewards Giveaway" at that time during the game, and one lucky fan who holds up their Fry's rewards card gets picked by the DBacks' event staff to win a prize. Well, I grabbed my card, stood up and waved like an idiot, and immediately saw a guy with a camera streaking down into my section. A "Rally-Back" (one of the gorgeous DBacks' in-game entertainers) came and stood beside me and pointed at me as if to say "is this the guy?" At that point, I knew I was the winner! They showed me on the scoreboard, and gave me two tickets to All-Star Sunday (the XM Futures Game and Celebrity Softball Game) next month! I was so stoked I couldn't even finish scoring the game - I was texting people and updating Facebook and Twitter.... Social media user that I am.... Haha. It was awesome, and for the rest of the game, I kind of just sat there watching the action with a goofy grin on my face. Ah, karma.
Apparently, though, karma decided I was TOO happy about that, because I also got a ticket on the way home. But not for speeding (as I am sometimes wont to do), and not for aggressive driving, broken taillights, cracked windshield, or any of the other things people normally get pulled over for. No, I got a ticket for "failure to dim headlights." I was driving on a very dark road (no streetlights), and some moron blinded me with his brights. I flicked mine to get him to turn them down, but he didn't. So I flicked them again, a bit longer, and he still didn't respond. I could not see the road ahead of me, and I also could not see the Sheriff's officer behind Mr. Bright Lights who turned around and pulled me over and cited me for "getting into a headlight jousting match with oncoming traffic." I have no tickets on my driving record, nor any other infractions, but he wouldn't give me warning. I believe the ticket is kind of bogus, to be honest, and I'll go to court and explain the situation. Hopefully I can get it dismissed. If not, c'est la vie. It's karma.
06 June 2011
22 May 2011
Catching Up
For those of you who have missed my blog posts, I apologize for the long break. Since my last post on April 6th, I've been exceptionally busy. This post serves to catch up some of the things I've been doing over the past nearly-two months.
First, I've been attending a lot of baseball games. As I may have previously mentioned, I was awarded the weekend 28-game Season Ticket Scholarship package from the Arizona Diamondbacks this season, and so every home weekend, I've been out at Chase Field with various friends and family watching the games. I've even caught a grand total of three BP baseballs (on the fly!), and have been having a marvelous time. It's kind of fun how some of the players and ushers recognize me now when I walk by... Barry Enright, the starting pitcher who was recently sent back into the minor leagues, used to give me a nod and a greeting when I'd see him during batting practice, and he hooked me up with a baseball or two. Cool stuff.
On the job front, school is coming to a close now, so my substitute teaching gig is on hold for another three months, which means I need summer employment (I'd love full-time employment, but I need a summer job at the very least). Sadly, I've become one of those unemployed thousands who basically completely stopped looking for work. I tend to get really bad anxiety from job searching these days, which I'm not trying to use as an excuse. It's just the reaction I'm having from the many resumes I've had disappear into black holes in peoples' offices and inboxes. So I'm working hard to get over that so I can start trying to find a decent job soon. It's not very easy. (I seriously don't recommend having panic/anxiety attacks. They're not really very fun.)
But speaking of school, I've now finished my first semester as a distance learning student for my Master's degree at UA. This is the biggest reason I've been so busy (and so unwilling to do much writing). I completed one class with a twenty page research paper which took me about 20 hours of writing and research to complete over a total of four days. That one was a killer. The other final project I did was a comprehensive annotated bibliography of digital government resources for middle school science teachers. I had to find resources which corresponded to the Arizona Science Standards and which were affiliated with federal or state government agencies, and then write a couple short paragraphs analyzing them. Plus discussion board postings, other papers, and the like, and I hope you'll all understand why I needed a break from writing.
First, I've been attending a lot of baseball games. As I may have previously mentioned, I was awarded the weekend 28-game Season Ticket Scholarship package from the Arizona Diamondbacks this season, and so every home weekend, I've been out at Chase Field with various friends and family watching the games. I've even caught a grand total of three BP baseballs (on the fly!), and have been having a marvelous time. It's kind of fun how some of the players and ushers recognize me now when I walk by... Barry Enright, the starting pitcher who was recently sent back into the minor leagues, used to give me a nod and a greeting when I'd see him during batting practice, and he hooked me up with a baseball or two. Cool stuff.
On the job front, school is coming to a close now, so my substitute teaching gig is on hold for another three months, which means I need summer employment (I'd love full-time employment, but I need a summer job at the very least). Sadly, I've become one of those unemployed thousands who basically completely stopped looking for work. I tend to get really bad anxiety from job searching these days, which I'm not trying to use as an excuse. It's just the reaction I'm having from the many resumes I've had disappear into black holes in peoples' offices and inboxes. So I'm working hard to get over that so I can start trying to find a decent job soon. It's not very easy. (I seriously don't recommend having panic/anxiety attacks. They're not really very fun.)
But speaking of school, I've now finished my first semester as a distance learning student for my Master's degree at UA. This is the biggest reason I've been so busy (and so unwilling to do much writing). I completed one class with a twenty page research paper which took me about 20 hours of writing and research to complete over a total of four days. That one was a killer. The other final project I did was a comprehensive annotated bibliography of digital government resources for middle school science teachers. I had to find resources which corresponded to the Arizona Science Standards and which were affiliated with federal or state government agencies, and then write a couple short paragraphs analyzing them. Plus discussion board postings, other papers, and the like, and I hope you'll all understand why I needed a break from writing.
In mid-April, my little sister was the runner up in the Arizona CD-6 Congressional Art Competition. She received a certificate from our congressman, Jeff Flake, and her art will be displayed in the congressman's Washington, DC office for one year. In the following photo, the congressman is presenting my sister with her certificate, and her art, a drawing resembling a stained glass window entitled "Kaleidoscope" is on the left. It was a nice little ceremony, and one of my sister's friends won the first prize in the competition (her artwork will be displayed in the tunnels underneath the DC Capitol Building complex for one year, and she and her parents get free plane tickets to go there for the unveiling).
Other than all that, I've been taking advantage of the nice weather the last eight weeks, though it's now getting to be actually hot, so I won't get to do any more hiking for a few months. And I've been trying to relax and de-stress. Hopefully I'll be able to find some kind of job soon, which would be a huge load off my chest.
I leave you all with an interesting video sent to me by CD-6 Member At-Large Paul Brierley. I wrote about talking to him after an LD-19 meeting in January during which we discussed youth involvement in Arizona Republican politics. He recently attended the inaugural class for the Arizona Civic Leadership Academy put on by the Flinn Foundation. It's a nonpartisan training class for up-and-coming leaders in Arizona politics focusing on helping shape leaders who will put Arizona, rather than partisan ideologies, first when analyzing and making policy decisions for the state. I'm going to try to learn more about this academy class, but in theory it sounds like a great idea. If you are also interested, this link goes to the Arizona Public Media video interview featuring the directors of the program, Paul Brierley, and several guest analysts from local media (Arizona Week Episode 19): http://originals.azpm.org/azweek/
06 April 2011
Opening Week of Baseball
Welcome back to baseball season, fans! Week one of the 2011 season has been a topsy-turvy, eventful, oddity-filled slugfest.
I've been watching a lot of games thus far, and plenty of out-of-market games thanks to the MLB Network Extra Innings package preview that goes on until this Sunday. A little Yankees-Tigers-Orioles-Twins-Giants-Dodgers-Cardinals-Mets kind of action. It's been awesome!
Of course, I've been watching the Diamondbacks the most. We have played five games, and had one "snow-out" of the DBacks-Rockies game earlier this week. And after one time through the Diamondbacks rotation, we stand at 2 wins, 3 losses. Opening Day in Colorado, the Diamondbacks fielded Ian Kennedy on the mound against Ubaldo Jimenez in a wild extra-inning affair. Gerardo Parra ended up scoring the winning run on a wild pitch in the 11th inning after the Rockies had tied it on a wild throw on a dropped third strike from Miguel Montero and a couple odd plays. I saw something I have never before seen during a Diamondbacks game (though I'm sure it's happened before): a fan interference call on a pop foul down the third base line which was (purportedly) touched by a fan before Gerardo Parra could make a play on it. I say purported because I think we caught a bit of a break there, but I'll take it.
In the second game versus the Rockies, Daniel Hudson allowed three runs over 6 innings and took a loss as the team couldn't put together any offense for him against Jorge de la Rosa. Same deal with game four (game three having been snowed out) as a Willie Bloomquist leadoff home run made everyone think we would have a great offensive game, but sadly Joe Saunders had to take a tough loss as he allowed two runs over 6 innings including a solo homer to Alfonso Soriano, and the Diamondbacks went into a hitting drought the rest of the night.
Game five showcased my guy Barry Enright (@BarryEnright54 on Twitter) taking on Andrew Cashner of the Cubbies. After a really strong Spring, Enright showed a mortal side allowing four of the Cubs' six runs over 6 innings on just 7 hits. He got off the hook for the loss, though, as the Diamondbacks tied the game up in the top of the seventh on a monster 2-out, 2-RBI single by Bloomquist (having a stupendous year thus far). Sam Demel, unfortunately, allowed two runs in the bottom of the frame, and despite a ninth-inning rally, the Snakes lost 5-6.
Today's game was the best of the season to this point by far. The Diamondbacks started out slow defensively... with two incredible diving catches to open the bottom of the first by 2011 All-Star Chris Young (too soon, Arizona?). The first, a full-out snowcone catch to his left was just snared out of midair and looked awesome. The second, all of one pitch later, tailed and dove down and away from Young as he ranged again to his left and scooped the ball inches off the grass. We might just want to call this the Chris Young Game of the Year right here. In the third inning, Young, again, with the bat this time, his a bloop single out to centerfielder Marlon Byrd of the Cubs, who tried to pull a C.Y. and dive for the ball, but it scooted an inch out of reach and wound up rolling into center. Young had a stand-up triple, but Alfonso Soriano booted the ball and allowed Chris Young to score what was termed a "Little League home run." If I were the Official Scorer, I'd have given Chris the Inside the Park Homer, but alas, a triple and error will have to suffice.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 4th inning: Tyler Colvin hits a BOMB out to deep left-center field which the wind blowing in helps to just barely keep in the park. Chris Young, again, ran out and jumped into the bricks of the wall making a third incredible catch to rob a double. In the top of the fifth, Young at bat again also hit a long, tailing fly ball to deep left field which the wind, like Colvin's, helped to just barely keep in the park. Unlike Colvin's, however, Soriano booted Young's fly ball and allowed Chris to reach third base with a double and an error. Armando Galarraga got his first win as a Diamonback, allowing four runs over 7 innings and doing just better than Ryan Dempster, who surrendered five runs over the same amount of time. JJ Putz, the new Diamondbacks closer, also picked up his second save, but the true hero of the night pitching-wise might just be Juan Gutierrez, who, despite loading the bases in the 8th inning on a fielder's choice, a single, and a walk, got Tyler Colvin to ground out, scoring one run, and then got a HUGE strikeout of Alfonso Soriano with runners at second and third (the tying runs).
Overall, yes, the DBacks are 2-3 with a losing record going into their first homestand. But there are glimmers of rebuilding success. The bullpen is looking much improved. You expect that over the course of 162 games the bullpen is inevitably going to blow a few saves, but you also expect the big strikeouts and double plays from time to time too. JJ Putz looks great as the closer thus far, and reliever Kam Mickolio (Mick-OH-lie-OH) has been tremendous so far. Willie Bloomquist, the replacement for the injured Stephen Drew, has hit in all five games so far, and of course, Young's defense today was a huge enjoyment for me. Some things you won't see in a box score: the Diamondbacks are playing much more aggressively than last year, something certainly attributable to Manager Kirk Gibson's new attitude for the team. Justin Upton has been fired up (even having a few words at one point with the equally fiery Miguel Montero), Bloomquist has stolen five bases to open the season (contributing to a total of eight by the team), and the competition for playing time by players like Miranda, Branyan, Nady, Roberts, and Bloomquist has been exciting to watch. Stephen Drew may not get hs job back if Willie keeps on hitting and stealing bases like he has been!
We also have a few areas where we need to work on some things movng forward. A big part of the Spring was spent on executing better pickoff plays - and the club has put on quite a few attempts in these first five games. Snap throws to first or second have been particularly poorly executed, at one point leading to a winning run against the Cubs in game one of that series. The "daylight play" whereby the shortstop sneaks in behind a runner at second seems to be a particular favorite of Bloomquist, but doing so causes him to vacate his position and opens a big hole through the left side of the infield. It should be used sparingly. Also, the Diamondbacks are a notoriously streaky club when it comes to both hitting and pitching. Once through the rotation, energy levels have been high, and pitchers have been executing pitches, but that needs to continue. Armando Galarraga, while he pitched well enough today, also was pretty wild at times. His strikes were exceptional, but his balls were seemingly in random spots. Need to watch that. Barry Enright, too, had a tough first outing, but that might just be first-start jitters. I expect good stuff from him this year if he can keep the ball down.
Overall, I give this first road trip a C+ grade. We played well enough to essentially split the trip, but we also made a few sloppy errors. Our saving grace was a few (possibly blown) calls that went our way, but we cannot and should not count on those the remainder of the season. The hitting is above average right now, and if we can get the right timely hits with runners in scoring position like in today's game, we'll be a force. Likewise with pitching: the right combination of control and proper fundamental defense behind us, and we'll be back to winning in no time.
I've been watching a lot of games thus far, and plenty of out-of-market games thanks to the MLB Network Extra Innings package preview that goes on until this Sunday. A little Yankees-Tigers-Orioles-Twins-Giants-Dodgers-Cardinals-Mets kind of action. It's been awesome!
Of course, I've been watching the Diamondbacks the most. We have played five games, and had one "snow-out" of the DBacks-Rockies game earlier this week. And after one time through the Diamondbacks rotation, we stand at 2 wins, 3 losses. Opening Day in Colorado, the Diamondbacks fielded Ian Kennedy on the mound against Ubaldo Jimenez in a wild extra-inning affair. Gerardo Parra ended up scoring the winning run on a wild pitch in the 11th inning after the Rockies had tied it on a wild throw on a dropped third strike from Miguel Montero and a couple odd plays. I saw something I have never before seen during a Diamondbacks game (though I'm sure it's happened before): a fan interference call on a pop foul down the third base line which was (purportedly) touched by a fan before Gerardo Parra could make a play on it. I say purported because I think we caught a bit of a break there, but I'll take it.
In the second game versus the Rockies, Daniel Hudson allowed three runs over 6 innings and took a loss as the team couldn't put together any offense for him against Jorge de la Rosa. Same deal with game four (game three having been snowed out) as a Willie Bloomquist leadoff home run made everyone think we would have a great offensive game, but sadly Joe Saunders had to take a tough loss as he allowed two runs over 6 innings including a solo homer to Alfonso Soriano, and the Diamondbacks went into a hitting drought the rest of the night.
Game five showcased my guy Barry Enright (@BarryEnright54 on Twitter) taking on Andrew Cashner of the Cubbies. After a really strong Spring, Enright showed a mortal side allowing four of the Cubs' six runs over 6 innings on just 7 hits. He got off the hook for the loss, though, as the Diamondbacks tied the game up in the top of the seventh on a monster 2-out, 2-RBI single by Bloomquist (having a stupendous year thus far). Sam Demel, unfortunately, allowed two runs in the bottom of the frame, and despite a ninth-inning rally, the Snakes lost 5-6.
Today's game was the best of the season to this point by far. The Diamondbacks started out slow defensively... with two incredible diving catches to open the bottom of the first by 2011 All-Star Chris Young (too soon, Arizona?). The first, a full-out snowcone catch to his left was just snared out of midair and looked awesome. The second, all of one pitch later, tailed and dove down and away from Young as he ranged again to his left and scooped the ball inches off the grass. We might just want to call this the Chris Young Game of the Year right here. In the third inning, Young, again, with the bat this time, his a bloop single out to centerfielder Marlon Byrd of the Cubs, who tried to pull a C.Y. and dive for the ball, but it scooted an inch out of reach and wound up rolling into center. Young had a stand-up triple, but Alfonso Soriano booted the ball and allowed Chris Young to score what was termed a "Little League home run." If I were the Official Scorer, I'd have given Chris the Inside the Park Homer, but alas, a triple and error will have to suffice.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 4th inning: Tyler Colvin hits a BOMB out to deep left-center field which the wind blowing in helps to just barely keep in the park. Chris Young, again, ran out and jumped into the bricks of the wall making a third incredible catch to rob a double. In the top of the fifth, Young at bat again also hit a long, tailing fly ball to deep left field which the wind, like Colvin's, helped to just barely keep in the park. Unlike Colvin's, however, Soriano booted Young's fly ball and allowed Chris to reach third base with a double and an error. Armando Galarraga got his first win as a Diamonback, allowing four runs over 7 innings and doing just better than Ryan Dempster, who surrendered five runs over the same amount of time. JJ Putz, the new Diamondbacks closer, also picked up his second save, but the true hero of the night pitching-wise might just be Juan Gutierrez, who, despite loading the bases in the 8th inning on a fielder's choice, a single, and a walk, got Tyler Colvin to ground out, scoring one run, and then got a HUGE strikeout of Alfonso Soriano with runners at second and third (the tying runs).
Overall, yes, the DBacks are 2-3 with a losing record going into their first homestand. But there are glimmers of rebuilding success. The bullpen is looking much improved. You expect that over the course of 162 games the bullpen is inevitably going to blow a few saves, but you also expect the big strikeouts and double plays from time to time too. JJ Putz looks great as the closer thus far, and reliever Kam Mickolio (Mick-OH-lie-OH) has been tremendous so far. Willie Bloomquist, the replacement for the injured Stephen Drew, has hit in all five games so far, and of course, Young's defense today was a huge enjoyment for me. Some things you won't see in a box score: the Diamondbacks are playing much more aggressively than last year, something certainly attributable to Manager Kirk Gibson's new attitude for the team. Justin Upton has been fired up (even having a few words at one point with the equally fiery Miguel Montero), Bloomquist has stolen five bases to open the season (contributing to a total of eight by the team), and the competition for playing time by players like Miranda, Branyan, Nady, Roberts, and Bloomquist has been exciting to watch. Stephen Drew may not get hs job back if Willie keeps on hitting and stealing bases like he has been!
We also have a few areas where we need to work on some things movng forward. A big part of the Spring was spent on executing better pickoff plays - and the club has put on quite a few attempts in these first five games. Snap throws to first or second have been particularly poorly executed, at one point leading to a winning run against the Cubs in game one of that series. The "daylight play" whereby the shortstop sneaks in behind a runner at second seems to be a particular favorite of Bloomquist, but doing so causes him to vacate his position and opens a big hole through the left side of the infield. It should be used sparingly. Also, the Diamondbacks are a notoriously streaky club when it comes to both hitting and pitching. Once through the rotation, energy levels have been high, and pitchers have been executing pitches, but that needs to continue. Armando Galarraga, while he pitched well enough today, also was pretty wild at times. His strikes were exceptional, but his balls were seemingly in random spots. Need to watch that. Barry Enright, too, had a tough first outing, but that might just be first-start jitters. I expect good stuff from him this year if he can keep the ball down.
Overall, I give this first road trip a C+ grade. We played well enough to essentially split the trip, but we also made a few sloppy errors. Our saving grace was a few (possibly blown) calls that went our way, but we cannot and should not count on those the remainder of the season. The hitting is above average right now, and if we can get the right timely hits with runners in scoring position like in today's game, we'll be a force. Likewise with pitching: the right combination of control and proper fundamental defense behind us, and we'll be back to winning in no time.
23 March 2011
2011 Diamondbacks Roster
As Spring Training finally winds to a close with the first games of the 2011 regular season coming on March 31st, here's a look at the 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks roster. There are few spots remaining that have remained unfilled until now.
Pitcher:
Ian Kennedy was announced as the 2011 Opening Day starter on April 1st against the Rockies in Denver, to be followed by Daniel Hudson, Joe Saunders, and Barry Enright, who was just told he'd be in the rotation a couple days ago. I personally am happy to see that. Barry had a great spring and deserved the #4 spot. The number 5 spot in the rotation is still up for grabs between Aaron Heilman and Armando Galarraga. It would have also included Zach Duke, but since he broke a couple bones in his hand last week, he's going to be out for at least 8 weeks. I assume the final rotation spot will go to Armando.
Relief Pitchers:
Led by JJ Putz as our closer, we'll have a mildly different bullpen than last year. Juan Gutierrez is likely to be the 8th inning setup guy, and Esmerling Vazquez is back for another season, as is Jordan Norberto. Some of the new names in reliever spots are Kam Mickolio (mick-oh-lie-oh), David Hernandez, Sam Demel, Joe Paterson, and Brian Sweeney. Okay, yes, some of them pitched a little last year, but for all intents and purposes, these are "new" guys.
Catcher:
The ever-popular Diamondback Miguel Montero will be the everyday catcher for the club, but this year he is supplemented by the veteran Henry Blanco, who I can see being one of the clubhouse leaders. John Hester is the 3rd stringer again this year.
1st Base:
This is the up-for-grabs position to end all up-for-grabs positions. Juan Miranda is making quite a case for himself to start at first this year with flashy defense backed up by solid offense. He's no Mark Grace, perhaps, but he's still young. If the Diamondbacks decide to go with a power bat, they might choose Russell "The Muscle" Branyan, whom they acquired in the offseason. His defense is sloppier than Miranda's, though it seems to be improving as Spring goes on, but boy can he hit. Think Mark Reynolds-style long balls. Unfortunately, that also kind of comes with high strikeout totals. The third option, which I don't expect the club to choose, is to start Brandon Allen at first. To me, Allen is more of a utility guy who will get shifted around to various positions this year when guys need a rest day.
2nd Base:
This position belongs to Kelly Johnson, who will look to build upon a decent 2010 season and maybe hit a few more long balls.
3rd Base:
With Mark Reynolds gone to the Orioles, this position is kind of open, too. Melvin Mora and Geoff Blum are likely to be the number one and two choices for the hot corner. If it's me, I go with the better defense of Mora, backed up by Blum on the bench to pinch hit.
Shortstop:
Stephen Drew. Nothing more to say.
Outfield:
The X-Man, Xavier Nady, is likely to start in left field, backed up by perpetual fan favorite Gerardo Parra, who made some great plays out there last year and will probably be the roving outfielder for the Diamondbacks, moving around to cover if anyone gets injured or needs a day off. Center belongs, once again, to All-Star Chris Young, and right goes once again to All-Star Justin Upton. (Is it too early for me to call All-Stars for 2011?)
Bench:
Of those I haven't mentioned, Willie Bloomquist (outfield), Ryan Roberts (2nd Base), and Tony Abreu (Ultility) are likely to be on the bench this year as depth for the Diamondbacks' infield and outfield.
This is, of course, a major rebuilding year for the Diamondbacks. I'd love to honestly say that they'll win the World Series this year, and while any team can come together at any time and click, I'll be very happy with a third place (or higher) finish in the NL West - above the Dodgers and Padres, below the Giants and Rockies.
Pitcher:
Ian Kennedy was announced as the 2011 Opening Day starter on April 1st against the Rockies in Denver, to be followed by Daniel Hudson, Joe Saunders, and Barry Enright, who was just told he'd be in the rotation a couple days ago. I personally am happy to see that. Barry had a great spring and deserved the #4 spot. The number 5 spot in the rotation is still up for grabs between Aaron Heilman and Armando Galarraga. It would have also included Zach Duke, but since he broke a couple bones in his hand last week, he's going to be out for at least 8 weeks. I assume the final rotation spot will go to Armando.
Relief Pitchers:
Led by JJ Putz as our closer, we'll have a mildly different bullpen than last year. Juan Gutierrez is likely to be the 8th inning setup guy, and Esmerling Vazquez is back for another season, as is Jordan Norberto. Some of the new names in reliever spots are Kam Mickolio (mick-oh-lie-oh), David Hernandez, Sam Demel, Joe Paterson, and Brian Sweeney. Okay, yes, some of them pitched a little last year, but for all intents and purposes, these are "new" guys.
Catcher:
The ever-popular Diamondback Miguel Montero will be the everyday catcher for the club, but this year he is supplemented by the veteran Henry Blanco, who I can see being one of the clubhouse leaders. John Hester is the 3rd stringer again this year.
1st Base:
This is the up-for-grabs position to end all up-for-grabs positions. Juan Miranda is making quite a case for himself to start at first this year with flashy defense backed up by solid offense. He's no Mark Grace, perhaps, but he's still young. If the Diamondbacks decide to go with a power bat, they might choose Russell "The Muscle" Branyan, whom they acquired in the offseason. His defense is sloppier than Miranda's, though it seems to be improving as Spring goes on, but boy can he hit. Think Mark Reynolds-style long balls. Unfortunately, that also kind of comes with high strikeout totals. The third option, which I don't expect the club to choose, is to start Brandon Allen at first. To me, Allen is more of a utility guy who will get shifted around to various positions this year when guys need a rest day.
2nd Base:
This position belongs to Kelly Johnson, who will look to build upon a decent 2010 season and maybe hit a few more long balls.
3rd Base:
With Mark Reynolds gone to the Orioles, this position is kind of open, too. Melvin Mora and Geoff Blum are likely to be the number one and two choices for the hot corner. If it's me, I go with the better defense of Mora, backed up by Blum on the bench to pinch hit.
Shortstop:
Stephen Drew. Nothing more to say.
Outfield:
The X-Man, Xavier Nady, is likely to start in left field, backed up by perpetual fan favorite Gerardo Parra, who made some great plays out there last year and will probably be the roving outfielder for the Diamondbacks, moving around to cover if anyone gets injured or needs a day off. Center belongs, once again, to All-Star Chris Young, and right goes once again to All-Star Justin Upton. (Is it too early for me to call All-Stars for 2011?)
Bench:
Of those I haven't mentioned, Willie Bloomquist (outfield), Ryan Roberts (2nd Base), and Tony Abreu (Ultility) are likely to be on the bench this year as depth for the Diamondbacks' infield and outfield.
This is, of course, a major rebuilding year for the Diamondbacks. I'd love to honestly say that they'll win the World Series this year, and while any team can come together at any time and click, I'll be very happy with a third place (or higher) finish in the NL West - above the Dodgers and Padres, below the Giants and Rockies.
16 March 2011
Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training 2011
Every once in a while, I like to do one of those "by the numbers" types of posts where I showcase how the Diamondbacks are doing numbers-wise. With Spring Training about half over, my team has a 5-16 win-loss record, the worst in all of baseball right now (and as I write this, we're losing to the Angels 9-7 at Salt River Fields today). Even with our .238 win percentage, just below the Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees, I believe there is cause for some optimism. First, no team ever plays in the regular season the way they do in Spring Training (except perhaps the Pirates). Historically, while the worst teams in the spring don't really end up making the playoffs, they also do better than anticipated, so there's that to look forward to.
But by the numbers, Arizona shouldn't really necessarily have such a poor record. We have the 5th best batting average at .290 in the majors with 213 hits (4th), 43 doubles, a triple, and 28 home runs (#1 in the majors) in 814 plate appearances. We've also taken 59 walks and stolen 13 bases. Granted, we've also been caught stealing 11 times, but it's better to be aggressive and get thrown out than to sit back and not be aggressive and roll into a bunch of double plays. (Here's looking at you, Tigers, Braves, Rangers, Marlins, and Cubs, who have combined to ground into 95 double plays and stolen a combined 35 bases.)
Now, while our hitting is there (thanks in part to some big hits from the prospects in our organization like Colin Cowgill and Paul Goldschmidt), our pitching is shaky at best. Our club's team ERA is a rather dismal 5.67, second only to the Cubs' 5.73 as the worst. Breaking that number down, Our starting pitching is kind of shaky, with Barry Enright (2.25 ERA) and Daniel Hudson (3.48 ERA) leading the way. Our other potential starters are perhaps not quite ready for Opening Day yet as Ian Kennedy and Zach Duke each have 7.88 ERAs (and Duke took a liner off his pitching hand the other night, breaking two bones, so he'll be sidelined for a few weeks), Armando Galarraga and Aaron Heilman - each vying for the #5 spot on the team - have 8.18 and 5.15 ERAs respectively, and our workhorse Joe Saunders from last year's Dan Haren deal is sporting a 15.88 ERA. Ouch. That's 10 runs on 13 hits in 5.2 innings over 3 starts.
And again, we have problems with the bullpen guys. Gutierrez is getting hit very hard, and Micah Owings and Mike Hampton both have high ERAs. However, I am encouraged by the numbers from Sam Demel (a 1.50 ERA with 7 K's in 6.0 innings, Leyson Septimo (a 2.25 ERA in 4 innings), and the 1.93 ERA of lefty Jordan Norberto. Some other numbers: we're 3rd in earned runs allowed as a team with 115, above average in walks issued (67), and have a team 1.55 WHIP - tied for the second highest in baseball. Showcasing our pitchers' wildness, we are also #1 in wild pitches with 19 and balks with 4, and are tied for 2nd with 26 stolen bases against. Finally, some of the more exotic pitching numbers: pitches per inning pitched (P/IP) is 8.36, and hits against per 9 innings (H/9) is 10.64. Not great.
But to speak ill of only the pitching staff would be irresponsible. Our fielding leaves something to be desired as well. In today's game against the Angels, Chris Young booted a ball out in center field for a single and a 3-base error, allowing a runner and the batter to score. Overall, in 182.2 innings and 805 total chances, we've made 26 errors (3rd most behind the Cubs and Padres), and our fielding percentage is .969, tied for 23rd in the majors. On the plus side, we've turned 20 successful double plays (15th) and achieved 575 putouts (2nd). However, our DER (a statistical rating called the Defensive Efficiency Rating, measuring the rate at which balls put into play by the offense are converted into outs by the defense) is a very low .6722, the lowest in all of baseball.
I love my Diamondbacks, but I am again concerned that poor pitching from our relievers combined with high strikeout totals (we've whiffed 145 times so far, second in baseball) combined with sloppy play on defense could again spell C-E-L-L-A-R for the team come September. This is the third "rebuilding" year in a row now for the Diamondbacks, and I think fans of the club deserve to see results. Fortunately, with a real manager at the helm in Kirk Gibson, a plethora of solid big league managers surrounding our players, and plenty of young, raw talent, something is eventually going to click that will catapult the team back into greatness.
But by the numbers, Arizona shouldn't really necessarily have such a poor record. We have the 5th best batting average at .290 in the majors with 213 hits (4th), 43 doubles, a triple, and 28 home runs (#1 in the majors) in 814 plate appearances. We've also taken 59 walks and stolen 13 bases. Granted, we've also been caught stealing 11 times, but it's better to be aggressive and get thrown out than to sit back and not be aggressive and roll into a bunch of double plays. (Here's looking at you, Tigers, Braves, Rangers, Marlins, and Cubs, who have combined to ground into 95 double plays and stolen a combined 35 bases.)
Now, while our hitting is there (thanks in part to some big hits from the prospects in our organization like Colin Cowgill and Paul Goldschmidt), our pitching is shaky at best. Our club's team ERA is a rather dismal 5.67, second only to the Cubs' 5.73 as the worst. Breaking that number down, Our starting pitching is kind of shaky, with Barry Enright (2.25 ERA) and Daniel Hudson (3.48 ERA) leading the way. Our other potential starters are perhaps not quite ready for Opening Day yet as Ian Kennedy and Zach Duke each have 7.88 ERAs (and Duke took a liner off his pitching hand the other night, breaking two bones, so he'll be sidelined for a few weeks), Armando Galarraga and Aaron Heilman - each vying for the #5 spot on the team - have 8.18 and 5.15 ERAs respectively, and our workhorse Joe Saunders from last year's Dan Haren deal is sporting a 15.88 ERA. Ouch. That's 10 runs on 13 hits in 5.2 innings over 3 starts.
And again, we have problems with the bullpen guys. Gutierrez is getting hit very hard, and Micah Owings and Mike Hampton both have high ERAs. However, I am encouraged by the numbers from Sam Demel (a 1.50 ERA with 7 K's in 6.0 innings, Leyson Septimo (a 2.25 ERA in 4 innings), and the 1.93 ERA of lefty Jordan Norberto. Some other numbers: we're 3rd in earned runs allowed as a team with 115, above average in walks issued (67), and have a team 1.55 WHIP - tied for the second highest in baseball. Showcasing our pitchers' wildness, we are also #1 in wild pitches with 19 and balks with 4, and are tied for 2nd with 26 stolen bases against. Finally, some of the more exotic pitching numbers: pitches per inning pitched (P/IP) is 8.36, and hits against per 9 innings (H/9) is 10.64. Not great.
But to speak ill of only the pitching staff would be irresponsible. Our fielding leaves something to be desired as well. In today's game against the Angels, Chris Young booted a ball out in center field for a single and a 3-base error, allowing a runner and the batter to score. Overall, in 182.2 innings and 805 total chances, we've made 26 errors (3rd most behind the Cubs and Padres), and our fielding percentage is .969, tied for 23rd in the majors. On the plus side, we've turned 20 successful double plays (15th) and achieved 575 putouts (2nd). However, our DER (a statistical rating called the Defensive Efficiency Rating, measuring the rate at which balls put into play by the offense are converted into outs by the defense) is a very low .6722, the lowest in all of baseball.
I love my Diamondbacks, but I am again concerned that poor pitching from our relievers combined with high strikeout totals (we've whiffed 145 times so far, second in baseball) combined with sloppy play on defense could again spell C-E-L-L-A-R for the team come September. This is the third "rebuilding" year in a row now for the Diamondbacks, and I think fans of the club deserve to see results. Fortunately, with a real manager at the helm in Kirk Gibson, a plethora of solid big league managers surrounding our players, and plenty of young, raw talent, something is eventually going to click that will catapult the team back into greatness.
09 March 2011
"The Baseball" by Zack Hample
As a baseball fan, if you've never heard of Zack Hample before, you might want to check him out. The world record holder for the most baseballs caught/snagged at major league games, a prolific blogger, and an enormous fan of the game of baseball has written a new book on the history of the little white sphere we fans adore, even obsess over. It is called, appropriately, "The Baseball: Stunts, Scandals, and Secrets Beneath the Stitches," and it released yesterday.
Of course, with gift card in hand, I had to go pick up my copy at Barnes and Noble yesterday in Tempe. I follow Zack's blog rather regularly, and over the past few months, he's been writing about all the steps and work that goes into writing a book like this - from the hours and hours of research to the editing to the feeling of satisfaction over the completion of the product. It was awesome to feel like I was a part of the process by reading about it (especially with my recent decision to become a library science Master's candidate and this is what I've been studying in part) and to be able to hold the end result.
After picking it up for the B&N price of $15 plus tax, I went to Paradise Bakery and got a cookie and an iced tea and sat outside in the gorgeous 72-degree sunshine to read for a while. The book reads quickly, though my personal reading style for books I'm excited about is to go through it faster than normal the first pass, then read it slower a second time to get everything out of it. But still, I was able to finish the paperback in a few short hours.
Zack breaks the book into three distinct parts: the ball in the news and popular culture, the history of the baseball itself, and a guide for how to catch a baseball one's self at a game. Now, I won't rewrite the book here, but there were a few cool things I wanted to point out to give my readers a taste of the flavor of this biography. I found it very interesting that of all the games in all the stadiums, over all the years that baseball has been played, there is only one record of a fan dying as a result of a foul ball. Considering all the flap in recent years about broken bats and the need for spectator safety, just once did a fan die from the ball itself: a 14-year-old names Alan Fish in 1970 at Dodger Stadium. Indeed, only once has a player ever died from injuries on the field as well: Ray Chapman in 1920 when he was hit in the head with a spitball.
I also found interesting the rich (and sometimes colorful) history of the ball itself. When most of us think about the baseball, a white sphere with red stitches and a couple printed logos on the side comes to mind. We never think about how it has changed since the sport's inception in the mid-1800s, or the controversial past it has had. While reading, it seemed to me like every other year into the mid-1900's, there was some kind of controversy about the ball being too juiced (to easy to hit for distance and even worse to try to field) or too dead (like hitting a beanbag with a Whiffle ball bat). The back-and-forth tug of war over the simple things like the makeup of the cork/rubber core, the way the string and yarn was wound over that core, the height of the stitches, and even the color (red balls were used for a while, and early balls were so stained after a game that they were impossible for the batters to see them) caused huge swings in the early statistics of the game. The different leagues and commissioners commissioned highly scientific studies of the materials and makeup of baseballs - even as far up as 2007 - to try to standardize the game and make it fair.
In the third part, Zack Hample uses his own experiences, building on his previous books ("How to Snag Major League Baseballs" and "Watching Baseball Smarter") to show fans where to stand (never DIRECTLY behind home plate!), what to wear (the visiting team's colors work well), and even how to ask (use "please!"). Even in the most crowded arenas, those tips cut the odds of catching a ball. I should know - I've tried them, and last year I got my first foul ball at a game (from Marlon Byrd), several BP balls, and a couple good tossups (one from Cy Young Award Winner Tim Lincecum). And this year, like I mentioned in my prior post, I caught my first two BP home run balls on the fly (including the first ever at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, AZ)!
I strongly encourage my friends in the baseball community to pick up a copy of this book. Its light style, paired with subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) humor, attention to detail, and all the new, condensed information about the most instrumental part of America's pastime makes it not only an easy read, but a wonderful biography as well.
Of course, with gift card in hand, I had to go pick up my copy at Barnes and Noble yesterday in Tempe. I follow Zack's blog rather regularly, and over the past few months, he's been writing about all the steps and work that goes into writing a book like this - from the hours and hours of research to the editing to the feeling of satisfaction over the completion of the product. It was awesome to feel like I was a part of the process by reading about it (especially with my recent decision to become a library science Master's candidate and this is what I've been studying in part) and to be able to hold the end result.
After picking it up for the B&N price of $15 plus tax, I went to Paradise Bakery and got a cookie and an iced tea and sat outside in the gorgeous 72-degree sunshine to read for a while. The book reads quickly, though my personal reading style for books I'm excited about is to go through it faster than normal the first pass, then read it slower a second time to get everything out of it. But still, I was able to finish the paperback in a few short hours.
Zack breaks the book into three distinct parts: the ball in the news and popular culture, the history of the baseball itself, and a guide for how to catch a baseball one's self at a game. Now, I won't rewrite the book here, but there were a few cool things I wanted to point out to give my readers a taste of the flavor of this biography. I found it very interesting that of all the games in all the stadiums, over all the years that baseball has been played, there is only one record of a fan dying as a result of a foul ball. Considering all the flap in recent years about broken bats and the need for spectator safety, just once did a fan die from the ball itself: a 14-year-old names Alan Fish in 1970 at Dodger Stadium. Indeed, only once has a player ever died from injuries on the field as well: Ray Chapman in 1920 when he was hit in the head with a spitball.
I also found interesting the rich (and sometimes colorful) history of the ball itself. When most of us think about the baseball, a white sphere with red stitches and a couple printed logos on the side comes to mind. We never think about how it has changed since the sport's inception in the mid-1800s, or the controversial past it has had. While reading, it seemed to me like every other year into the mid-1900's, there was some kind of controversy about the ball being too juiced (to easy to hit for distance and even worse to try to field) or too dead (like hitting a beanbag with a Whiffle ball bat). The back-and-forth tug of war over the simple things like the makeup of the cork/rubber core, the way the string and yarn was wound over that core, the height of the stitches, and even the color (red balls were used for a while, and early balls were so stained after a game that they were impossible for the batters to see them) caused huge swings in the early statistics of the game. The different leagues and commissioners commissioned highly scientific studies of the materials and makeup of baseballs - even as far up as 2007 - to try to standardize the game and make it fair.
In the third part, Zack Hample uses his own experiences, building on his previous books ("How to Snag Major League Baseballs" and "Watching Baseball Smarter") to show fans where to stand (never DIRECTLY behind home plate!), what to wear (the visiting team's colors work well), and even how to ask (use "please!"). Even in the most crowded arenas, those tips cut the odds of catching a ball. I should know - I've tried them, and last year I got my first foul ball at a game (from Marlon Byrd), several BP balls, and a couple good tossups (one from Cy Young Award Winner Tim Lincecum). And this year, like I mentioned in my prior post, I caught my first two BP home run balls on the fly (including the first ever at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, AZ)!
I strongly encourage my friends in the baseball community to pick up a copy of this book. Its light style, paired with subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) humor, attention to detail, and all the new, condensed information about the most instrumental part of America's pastime makes it not only an easy read, but a wonderful biography as well.
06 March 2011
2011 Fantasy Baseball
I'm a huge glutton for punishment.... Last week I signed up to play fantasy baseball again through Yahoo with a group of Arizona sportswriters and fans from The Poor Sports, an Arizona sports blog/website covering the Suns, Coyotes, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, and college teams. I was invited to check it out by the site's developers through Facebook, where I assume they saw all my DBacks posts and knew I was a fan. Cool site. I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with it; check it out if you get some free time.
Anyway, we did our draft this morning, and my team looks like this (we have four infield spots, three outfield spots, two utility spots, two starting pitchers, two relievers, two non-preferential pitching spots, and three bench players):
IF: David Wright
IF: Buster Posey
IF: Rafael Furcal
IF: Gordon Beckham
OF: Hunter Pence
OF: Jay Bruce
OF Chris Young (Arizona)
UTIL: Joe Mauer
UTIL: Carlos Quentin
SP: Roy Halladay
SP: Matt Cain
RP: Chris Perez
RP: Ryan Franklin
P: Shaun Marcum
P: Jaime Garcia
B: Angel Pagan
B: Coco Crisp
B: CJ Wilson
From this list, I can see I have a pretty deep hitting staff. Wright, Posey, Mauer, and Young should all be good for double-digit home run seasons, lots of RBIs, and a few stolen bases. They typically hit for average, and don't strike out a ton. Both Quentin and Pence are good for about 25 home runs a season, and both hit in the hgh .280-ish average range. A weak spot is Furcal, who is among the elite shortstops, but has had a hard time staying healthy and getting more than 500 plate appearances the last two years. He's a bit of a risk, but if he can stay strong, he'll help my team.
Of the pitchers, you really can't go wrong with a 1-2 punch of Cy Young winner Roy Halladay (and perpetual 20+ game winner) and the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants' Matt Cain. Shaun Marcum has a 3.85 career ERA and a wimming record, and Jaime Garcia had a stellar year in 2010 with the Cardinals, winning 13 games with a sub-3.00 ERA. If he can do that again in 2011.... yeah! Rounding it out, CJ Wilson won 15 games for Texas last year, Chris Perez pitched 63 innings as a reliever last year and maintained a 1.71 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP (very good numbers) for the Indians, and Ryan Franklin of St. Louis has racked up 65 saves in two years and had a 1.03 WHIP in 65 innings in 2010.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the lineup I've got. There's enough in there that I can make a decent trade if I need to for another solid outfielder in the first third of the season and still maintain depth and lots of talent. Considering I've been in last place, second to last place, and 6th of 12 the past three seasons in fantasy play, I'm hoping this time I can improve and be top 4 of 14 this year! Only time will tell, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Anyway, we did our draft this morning, and my team looks like this (we have four infield spots, three outfield spots, two utility spots, two starting pitchers, two relievers, two non-preferential pitching spots, and three bench players):
IF: David Wright
IF: Buster Posey
IF: Rafael Furcal
IF: Gordon Beckham
OF: Hunter Pence
OF: Jay Bruce
OF Chris Young (Arizona)
UTIL: Joe Mauer
UTIL: Carlos Quentin
SP: Roy Halladay
SP: Matt Cain
RP: Chris Perez
RP: Ryan Franklin
P: Shaun Marcum
P: Jaime Garcia
B: Angel Pagan
B: Coco Crisp
B: CJ Wilson
From this list, I can see I have a pretty deep hitting staff. Wright, Posey, Mauer, and Young should all be good for double-digit home run seasons, lots of RBIs, and a few stolen bases. They typically hit for average, and don't strike out a ton. Both Quentin and Pence are good for about 25 home runs a season, and both hit in the hgh .280-ish average range. A weak spot is Furcal, who is among the elite shortstops, but has had a hard time staying healthy and getting more than 500 plate appearances the last two years. He's a bit of a risk, but if he can stay strong, he'll help my team.
Of the pitchers, you really can't go wrong with a 1-2 punch of Cy Young winner Roy Halladay (and perpetual 20+ game winner) and the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants' Matt Cain. Shaun Marcum has a 3.85 career ERA and a wimming record, and Jaime Garcia had a stellar year in 2010 with the Cardinals, winning 13 games with a sub-3.00 ERA. If he can do that again in 2011.... yeah! Rounding it out, CJ Wilson won 15 games for Texas last year, Chris Perez pitched 63 innings as a reliever last year and maintained a 1.71 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP (very good numbers) for the Indians, and Ryan Franklin of St. Louis has racked up 65 saves in two years and had a 1.03 WHIP in 65 innings in 2010.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the lineup I've got. There's enough in there that I can make a decent trade if I need to for another solid outfielder in the first third of the season and still maintain depth and lots of talent. Considering I've been in last place, second to last place, and 6th of 12 the past three seasons in fantasy play, I'm hoping this time I can improve and be top 4 of 14 this year! Only time will tell, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.
01 March 2011
Inaugural Game at Salt River Fields
Happy March, all! Sadly, to start out the month, I've caught a nasty little stomach bug - I won't go into details, but suffice it to say it's not fun. However, that means I have time for blogging, and I have an good, exciting post today all about my trip to the inaugural game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick between the co-owners of the stadium, the designated visitors the Colorado Rockies and the designated home team the Arizona Diamondbacks!
In order to get there very early to stand in line and potentially snag some baseballs during batting practice, I woke up at 7am on Saturday morning - if you know me, that's VERY early for me on a Saturday! - and got out the door by 7:30am with my jacket, glove, backpack, sunscreen, baseballs for autographs, pens, and my D-Backs' garb. I was halfway to the stadium when I remembered the one thing I forgot. Take another look at that list above, and see if you can figure out it. Ready, go.
Yeah, totally forgot my ticket to get in. Go me. So I had to turn around and go back home and get it. Thankfully, I still made it to SRF by 8:30am, parked, and wandered up to the centerfield gates to stand in what I assumed would be a long line for the inaugural game. When I got up there, though, there were ony two other people standing there, both Rockies fans. After a moment, I realized I actually recognized one of the two: a guy in a big floppy hat and a Rockies pinstriped jersey with the phrase "Rockpile Ranter" on the back: he is a very well-known blogger on MLBlogs who runs "The Rockpile Rant" all about the team in majestic purple, named Don (he goes by "D" on the blog).
A prolific photographer with a really nice camera and lots of insights about the Rockies, D had come down from Colorado specifically for this game to take lots of pictures of the new facilities and to watch the game. He, and his friend Robert, were there really early in the morning on little sleep just to be fans #1 and #2 into the ballpark on inaugural day. (Yes, I was DBacks fan #1 and #3 overall after the gates were opened!) I strongly urge baseball fans of all types to check out D's blog, The Rockpile Rant and check out his pictures. The one's of Saturday's game that he took are not quite up on his blog yet, but his other posts are well-worth reading, especially from October and November, 2007 when the Rox went to the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
The Rockpile Rant, a top-10 MLBlog.
Anyway, the three of us chatted for a while out there about the stadium, snagging baseballs, the two teams we love, and had a mild debate about Tampa, Florida. (And yes, Don, the Rockies were in the Series in 2007. I was wrong!) Eventually, other people showed up whom I at least recognized, if not knew outright, including my friends Anya and April, two huge DBacks and Rockies fans who are well-known around the stadium for their photos and interaction with the players. Suffice it to say that those two hours before the gates were opened were very fun for me!
Eventually, at 10:32am, the security personnel opened the centerfield gates (and only the centerfield gates, which is how I know I was fan #3 into the stadium), and we all got our tickets scanned and were able to run in and view the park. It's gorgeous! Before first pitch, I stayed out on the center field berm, the largest in Spring Training, trying to catch baseballs during batting practice for the Rockies. I ended up catching two, and almost getting three more. The first was actually a very special baseball - I caught, on the fly, the first BP home run EVER at Salt River Fields off the bat of the Rockies' infielder Chris Nelson! I saw it the whole way off the bat, shaded to my left, and caught it about six inches over top of the wall just off the left side of my body. I was honestly surprised to have caught it on the fly, since I have never done that before, and I celebrated as the fans around me cheered and yelled congratulations. It was awesome. 20 minutes later, I caught my second ball, but I don't know who hit it. I also caught that one on the fly in much the same manner as the first, and at the suggestion of one of the guys I'd been chatting with out there, I gave it to a little DBacks fan who was trying to get a tossup from the Rockies.
The ones I missed include one that went about one centimeter over top of my glove and into the glove of the guy behind me, one that bounced and I tried to grab in a scrum and missed, and another that I overran. But hey, I'm getting better, and I did catch that "historic" BP ball!
Eventually, BP ended, and I took my seat in section 212, directly behind home plate. It was perhaps the best seat in the entire stadium - 29 rows up from the field itself, directly behind the plate, one section away from Derrick Hall and Luis Gonzalez's sections... it was awesome! We didn't have to wait long for the game to begin, with an introduction to Salt River Fields on Spring Training baseball's largest video screen and first pitches by the President and Vice President of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and by Diamondbacks' President Derrick Hall (actually, he let his daughter throw) on behalf of former Rockies President Keli McGregor, who died of a virus which stopped his heart before the stadium had been completed. Then, the Salt River Elementary School performed the National Anthem accompanied by an (admittedly mistimed) flyover by five old-school biplanes from Stearman A/C.
The game itself, which I scored in my Spring Training program, was quite good. Both starters, Joe Saunders for Arizona and Ubaldo Jimenez for the Rockies, pitched two solid scoreless innings to start the game. The Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a solo home run just inside the left field foul pole by second baseman Kelly Johnson, but the Rox scored 7 unanswered runs between the fourth and seventh innings, including three RBI doubles from Hector Gomez, Ryan Spilborghs, and Mike Jacobs. A sacrifice bunt by Willy Tavaras backfired when catcher John Hester committed a throwing error which allowed a run to score, too.
Going into the bottom of the ninth, loads of people had left the ballpark on the assumption that the Rockies had the game in the bag, but a walk and two singles with one out put us down by four, 7-3. A wild pitch and a walk loaded the bases for Tony Abreu, who hit a sacrifice fly, scoring AJ Pollack. The next batter, Paul Goldschmidt, whacked a really nice-sounding home run into the right field berm seating, scoring three runs and tying the game! The crowd, including me, went completely nuts and I came close to blowing out my voice yelling and high-fiving the DBacks fans around me. Then David Winfre reached first, and Hester reached on a throwing error, awarding him second base and Winfree third. We were 90 feet from victory, and... Cody Ransom grounded out to send the game to extra innings. Sadly, that was to be the end of things, as Charlie Blackmon of Colorado hit the winning home run, and the Diamondbacks failed to tally. The final score was 8-7 Rockies in 10 innings.
It was a phenomenal game, a wonderful day, I made some history (even if I'm really the only one for whom it matters), and I had an awesome time! There's 31 days left until opening day, so I encourage everyone reading this to check out Salt River Fields and watch either the DBacks or Rockies this year!
In order to get there very early to stand in line and potentially snag some baseballs during batting practice, I woke up at 7am on Saturday morning - if you know me, that's VERY early for me on a Saturday! - and got out the door by 7:30am with my jacket, glove, backpack, sunscreen, baseballs for autographs, pens, and my D-Backs' garb. I was halfway to the stadium when I remembered the one thing I forgot. Take another look at that list above, and see if you can figure out it. Ready, go.
Yeah, totally forgot my ticket to get in. Go me. So I had to turn around and go back home and get it. Thankfully, I still made it to SRF by 8:30am, parked, and wandered up to the centerfield gates to stand in what I assumed would be a long line for the inaugural game. When I got up there, though, there were ony two other people standing there, both Rockies fans. After a moment, I realized I actually recognized one of the two: a guy in a big floppy hat and a Rockies pinstriped jersey with the phrase "Rockpile Ranter" on the back: he is a very well-known blogger on MLBlogs who runs "The Rockpile Rant" all about the team in majestic purple, named Don (he goes by "D" on the blog).
A prolific photographer with a really nice camera and lots of insights about the Rockies, D had come down from Colorado specifically for this game to take lots of pictures of the new facilities and to watch the game. He, and his friend Robert, were there really early in the morning on little sleep just to be fans #1 and #2 into the ballpark on inaugural day. (Yes, I was DBacks fan #1 and #3 overall after the gates were opened!) I strongly urge baseball fans of all types to check out D's blog, The Rockpile Rant and check out his pictures. The one's of Saturday's game that he took are not quite up on his blog yet, but his other posts are well-worth reading, especially from October and November, 2007 when the Rox went to the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
The Rockpile Rant, a top-10 MLBlog.
Anyway, the three of us chatted for a while out there about the stadium, snagging baseballs, the two teams we love, and had a mild debate about Tampa, Florida. (And yes, Don, the Rockies were in the Series in 2007. I was wrong!) Eventually, other people showed up whom I at least recognized, if not knew outright, including my friends Anya and April, two huge DBacks and Rockies fans who are well-known around the stadium for their photos and interaction with the players. Suffice it to say that those two hours before the gates were opened were very fun for me!
Eventually, at 10:32am, the security personnel opened the centerfield gates (and only the centerfield gates, which is how I know I was fan #3 into the stadium), and we all got our tickets scanned and were able to run in and view the park. It's gorgeous! Before first pitch, I stayed out on the center field berm, the largest in Spring Training, trying to catch baseballs during batting practice for the Rockies. I ended up catching two, and almost getting three more. The first was actually a very special baseball - I caught, on the fly, the first BP home run EVER at Salt River Fields off the bat of the Rockies' infielder Chris Nelson! I saw it the whole way off the bat, shaded to my left, and caught it about six inches over top of the wall just off the left side of my body. I was honestly surprised to have caught it on the fly, since I have never done that before, and I celebrated as the fans around me cheered and yelled congratulations. It was awesome. 20 minutes later, I caught my second ball, but I don't know who hit it. I also caught that one on the fly in much the same manner as the first, and at the suggestion of one of the guys I'd been chatting with out there, I gave it to a little DBacks fan who was trying to get a tossup from the Rockies.
The ones I missed include one that went about one centimeter over top of my glove and into the glove of the guy behind me, one that bounced and I tried to grab in a scrum and missed, and another that I overran. But hey, I'm getting better, and I did catch that "historic" BP ball!
Eventually, BP ended, and I took my seat in section 212, directly behind home plate. It was perhaps the best seat in the entire stadium - 29 rows up from the field itself, directly behind the plate, one section away from Derrick Hall and Luis Gonzalez's sections... it was awesome! We didn't have to wait long for the game to begin, with an introduction to Salt River Fields on Spring Training baseball's largest video screen and first pitches by the President and Vice President of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and by Diamondbacks' President Derrick Hall (actually, he let his daughter throw) on behalf of former Rockies President Keli McGregor, who died of a virus which stopped his heart before the stadium had been completed. Then, the Salt River Elementary School performed the National Anthem accompanied by an (admittedly mistimed) flyover by five old-school biplanes from Stearman A/C.
The game itself, which I scored in my Spring Training program, was quite good. Both starters, Joe Saunders for Arizona and Ubaldo Jimenez for the Rockies, pitched two solid scoreless innings to start the game. The Diamondbacks took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a solo home run just inside the left field foul pole by second baseman Kelly Johnson, but the Rox scored 7 unanswered runs between the fourth and seventh innings, including three RBI doubles from Hector Gomez, Ryan Spilborghs, and Mike Jacobs. A sacrifice bunt by Willy Tavaras backfired when catcher John Hester committed a throwing error which allowed a run to score, too.
Going into the bottom of the ninth, loads of people had left the ballpark on the assumption that the Rockies had the game in the bag, but a walk and two singles with one out put us down by four, 7-3. A wild pitch and a walk loaded the bases for Tony Abreu, who hit a sacrifice fly, scoring AJ Pollack. The next batter, Paul Goldschmidt, whacked a really nice-sounding home run into the right field berm seating, scoring three runs and tying the game! The crowd, including me, went completely nuts and I came close to blowing out my voice yelling and high-fiving the DBacks fans around me. Then David Winfre reached first, and Hester reached on a throwing error, awarding him second base and Winfree third. We were 90 feet from victory, and... Cody Ransom grounded out to send the game to extra innings. Sadly, that was to be the end of things, as Charlie Blackmon of Colorado hit the winning home run, and the Diamondbacks failed to tally. The final score was 8-7 Rockies in 10 innings.
It was a phenomenal game, a wonderful day, I made some history (even if I'm really the only one for whom it matters), and I had an awesome time! There's 31 days left until opening day, so I encourage everyone reading this to check out Salt River Fields and watch either the DBacks or Rockies this year!
25 February 2011
Spring Training
If any of you have been wondering where I've been the past few weeks while my blog has sat unloved, wonder no more! I've been busy with Spring Training goodness here in the Cactus League! Two weeks ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies opened their new facility for the first time to the public for the pitchers' and catchers' reporting date and the first spring workouts of 2011. Since that day (and including it), I've been out for five or six days worth of sun, green grass, watching drills, catching homers, and seeking autographs.
First off, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the new DBacks-Rockies joint Spring Training complex, is absolutely amazing! I was out at the Diamondbacks' side (obviously) on that first day with about 20 other people, and I was stunned to see how open and accessable it is for fans! Walking into the gates to get to the clubhouse and practice fields, there aren't even fences around the practice infields, meaning fans can watch and get photos of players without having to squeeze their camera lenses in between chain links, and around the big full fields, there's so little "foul territory" that you feel like you're right there getting ready to cut off a relay throw from left! Each morning, players enter from the player parking lot down the same walkway that fans use to get in, and they do morning stretching and runs behind a row of short barricades. After they finish, many of them are in the habit of signing a few autographs for fans and taking photos before heading out for their daily drills.
Why, just during the few days I've been there, I have obtained autographs from 45 different players and coaches on a pair of baseballs - including Matt Williams, Luis Gonzalez, Barry Enright, Justin Upton, Jarrod Parker, Chris Young, and Paul Goldschmidt, just to name a few. Some players have been nicer about it than others. For instance, Barry Enright, one of our starting pitchers last year who is competing to be in the rotation this year, has taken the time every day to pose for photos and sign for fans. He's been the kind of fan-friendly person every player should be. Similarly, I have considered Justin Upton, our right fielder, to be somewhat hard to get an autograph from and I was totally surprised to see him being so kind to DBacks fans; he signed for every person out there on Tuesday, for something like 30 minutes after practice! One of the hardest people I've tried getting an autograph from, catcher Miguel Montero, even signed a ball for me, for which I was very grateful. Chris Young even stopped for a few autographs for some of the kids out there before he had to run off. He made it clear to everyone that he'd only be signing for the kids, but I tried asking anyway. I said, "Hey, how about one for a big kid too?" Chris gave me a wry smile, signed my ball, and said that he liked the way I said that.
Some of the other funny moments include a light moment with Manager Kirk Gibson. The very first day, I made friends with the security guy (Mike) who guards the path into the Diamondbacks clubhouse and makes sure no one gets through without a pass. Gibby came up and started quizzing Mike on what to do if someone tried to get in ("You throw 'em out!" said Gibby with a smile). Another time I kind of got in trouble. I was standing outside the fence during catcher batting practice. Coach Charles Nagy threw me a baseball while he was shagging in the outfield, but moments later when he had run to the other end of right field, a ball bounded up and stopped about one inch inside the gate right where it opened. My impulses got the better of me, and I reached for the ball, but the coach standing in the infield collecting the balls yelled toward me that "you can't keep that one.... Throw it back!" Oops! I totally didn't mean to seem like I was trying to steal a ball, so I immediately pushed the gate open a couple more feet and lobbed a throw back in to him. Slightly embarrassing? Yeah, but no one said anything to me after that, so no harm no foul.... Gotta remember to keep my hands to myself. That ball landed just perfectly for me to pick it up though!
I also met Arizona superfan Susan - who knows every player and coach and is friends with all of them! She can always be heard cheering on the team, even in the loudest of stadium crowds, and her "Great job, gentlemen! Best in a million universes!" chants are recognized by everyone! I kind of tried to shade her for my first couple days there, talking with her about the team and about her love of the team. I learned who was fun to talk to and some stories about the players I would never have gotten otherwise! Always pays to say hi to people!
Barry Enright also recognized me from Twitter and from FanFest. I introduced myself there as @DBacks08 when I got a photo with him, then saw him again when I obtained his autograph. When I showed up just a couple days later at Salt River Fields, he smiled and gave me a nod. I've been cheering for him all week, and I hope he makes it into the rotation again this year, even though he has some stiff competition from Zach Duke and Armando Galarraga.
As a final note to this post, I have finally begun using Twitter on a regular basis, primarily for getting tweets from Diamondbacks players and news on the team. More and more Diamondbacks are getting profiles on there, and I encourage my readers with Twitter to follow them:
Barry Enright: @BarryEnright54
Clay Zavada: @Clayzavada35
Wade Miley: @wade_miley33
JJ Putz: @jjp2012
Justin Upton: @realjustinupton
Baxter: @DBacksBaxter
Mark Grace and Daron Sutton: @DBacksbooth
Official Diamondbacks News: @dbacks
My Twitter: @DBacks08
I'll post some of my Spring Training pictures as soon as I can find the cable to connect the camera to the computer. Until then, I'll be hitting up the first ever game at Salt River Fields, the Diamondbacks vs. the Rockies, tomorrow at 1:00pm! It'll be televised, and I'll be sitting behind home plate, so look for me on TV, or come say hi in section 212 (mention the blog so I know who you are)!
First off, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the new DBacks-Rockies joint Spring Training complex, is absolutely amazing! I was out at the Diamondbacks' side (obviously) on that first day with about 20 other people, and I was stunned to see how open and accessable it is for fans! Walking into the gates to get to the clubhouse and practice fields, there aren't even fences around the practice infields, meaning fans can watch and get photos of players without having to squeeze their camera lenses in between chain links, and around the big full fields, there's so little "foul territory" that you feel like you're right there getting ready to cut off a relay throw from left! Each morning, players enter from the player parking lot down the same walkway that fans use to get in, and they do morning stretching and runs behind a row of short barricades. After they finish, many of them are in the habit of signing a few autographs for fans and taking photos before heading out for their daily drills.
Why, just during the few days I've been there, I have obtained autographs from 45 different players and coaches on a pair of baseballs - including Matt Williams, Luis Gonzalez, Barry Enright, Justin Upton, Jarrod Parker, Chris Young, and Paul Goldschmidt, just to name a few. Some players have been nicer about it than others. For instance, Barry Enright, one of our starting pitchers last year who is competing to be in the rotation this year, has taken the time every day to pose for photos and sign for fans. He's been the kind of fan-friendly person every player should be. Similarly, I have considered Justin Upton, our right fielder, to be somewhat hard to get an autograph from and I was totally surprised to see him being so kind to DBacks fans; he signed for every person out there on Tuesday, for something like 30 minutes after practice! One of the hardest people I've tried getting an autograph from, catcher Miguel Montero, even signed a ball for me, for which I was very grateful. Chris Young even stopped for a few autographs for some of the kids out there before he had to run off. He made it clear to everyone that he'd only be signing for the kids, but I tried asking anyway. I said, "Hey, how about one for a big kid too?" Chris gave me a wry smile, signed my ball, and said that he liked the way I said that.
Some of the other funny moments include a light moment with Manager Kirk Gibson. The very first day, I made friends with the security guy (Mike) who guards the path into the Diamondbacks clubhouse and makes sure no one gets through without a pass. Gibby came up and started quizzing Mike on what to do if someone tried to get in ("You throw 'em out!" said Gibby with a smile). Another time I kind of got in trouble. I was standing outside the fence during catcher batting practice. Coach Charles Nagy threw me a baseball while he was shagging in the outfield, but moments later when he had run to the other end of right field, a ball bounded up and stopped about one inch inside the gate right where it opened. My impulses got the better of me, and I reached for the ball, but the coach standing in the infield collecting the balls yelled toward me that "you can't keep that one.... Throw it back!" Oops! I totally didn't mean to seem like I was trying to steal a ball, so I immediately pushed the gate open a couple more feet and lobbed a throw back in to him. Slightly embarrassing? Yeah, but no one said anything to me after that, so no harm no foul.... Gotta remember to keep my hands to myself. That ball landed just perfectly for me to pick it up though!
I also met Arizona superfan Susan - who knows every player and coach and is friends with all of them! She can always be heard cheering on the team, even in the loudest of stadium crowds, and her "Great job, gentlemen! Best in a million universes!" chants are recognized by everyone! I kind of tried to shade her for my first couple days there, talking with her about the team and about her love of the team. I learned who was fun to talk to and some stories about the players I would never have gotten otherwise! Always pays to say hi to people!
Barry Enright also recognized me from Twitter and from FanFest. I introduced myself there as @DBacks08 when I got a photo with him, then saw him again when I obtained his autograph. When I showed up just a couple days later at Salt River Fields, he smiled and gave me a nod. I've been cheering for him all week, and I hope he makes it into the rotation again this year, even though he has some stiff competition from Zach Duke and Armando Galarraga.
As a final note to this post, I have finally begun using Twitter on a regular basis, primarily for getting tweets from Diamondbacks players and news on the team. More and more Diamondbacks are getting profiles on there, and I encourage my readers with Twitter to follow them:
Barry Enright: @BarryEnright54
Clay Zavada: @Clayzavada35
Wade Miley: @wade_miley33
JJ Putz: @jjp2012
Justin Upton: @realjustinupton
Baxter: @DBacksBaxter
Mark Grace and Daron Sutton: @DBacksbooth
Official Diamondbacks News: @dbacks
My Twitter: @DBacks08
I'll post some of my Spring Training pictures as soon as I can find the cable to connect the camera to the computer. Until then, I'll be hitting up the first ever game at Salt River Fields, the Diamondbacks vs. the Rockies, tomorrow at 1:00pm! It'll be televised, and I'll be sitting behind home plate, so look for me on TV, or come say hi in section 212 (mention the blog so I know who you are)!
07 February 2011
Vita Combibo
I don't know why I have such anxiety about job hunting.... It's almost oxymoronic. I'm pretty good when I get into a job interview, but actually doing the job hunting part and sending out resumes and slogging through hundreds of job board posts that don't apply to my skills is just so hard for me. And that in and of itself is ironic: I love slogging through government documents, Congressional Record pages, microfiche stacks, and thick tomes of numbers and stats. I can quote baseball statistics and obscure facts from Jeopardy, and I am a skilled debater on political issues, but I cannot bring myself to wade through employment listings looking for jobs I can apply for.
Employers who Google search my name will come upon this blog and wonder why in the Hell someone who can actually write coherent sentences isn't employed yet. It's because I just can't do job hunting. I don't get it either... it's just the way it is for me right now.
So employers out there who do Google me, know this: you give me the interview and hire me, and I will not let you down. I work efficiently, hard, and honestly. I'm loyal to a fault, expressive, authentic, and mature. I'm serious, moral, behaviorally appropriate, and I take pride in a job well done. You won't find many candidates quite like that out there. Give me a chance in a real, honest-to-goodness, salaried job that lets me use my unique talents, and I will not disappoint you.
I know not many people actually read this blog unless I use some keywords like "Jeff Flake" or "Arizona State Legislature" or "Arizona Diamondbacks," but I hope this reaches those people whom I need to hear it.
Employers who Google search my name will come upon this blog and wonder why in the Hell someone who can actually write coherent sentences isn't employed yet. It's because I just can't do job hunting. I don't get it either... it's just the way it is for me right now.
So employers out there who do Google me, know this: you give me the interview and hire me, and I will not let you down. I work efficiently, hard, and honestly. I'm loyal to a fault, expressive, authentic, and mature. I'm serious, moral, behaviorally appropriate, and I take pride in a job well done. You won't find many candidates quite like that out there. Give me a chance in a real, honest-to-goodness, salaried job that lets me use my unique talents, and I will not disappoint you.
I know not many people actually read this blog unless I use some keywords like "Jeff Flake" or "Arizona State Legislature" or "Arizona Diamondbacks," but I hope this reaches those people whom I need to hear it.
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