Day 6. Respect the Burgh

I feel weird writing about the Pirates before I break in with the Twins talk. But it's a perfect time to do it. Why? Because the Pirates are 4-2. And it seems like every April, they go on a nice 5 to 10 game start.. And then it goes DRASTICALLY down hill.

I researched the Pittsburgh Pirates start of the season, for the past 9 seasons. Here is the start they had in each of those years, and then what followed the hot start:

2002

Started 5-1, then got to 12-5. On May 16th, they were 19-20 and never got back to .500

2003

Started 5-1, then got to 7-3. On may 3rd, they were 14-15 and never got back to .500

2004

Started 7-5, then got to 12-11. On May 29^th they were 23-22, then preceded to win 3 of their next 22 games

2005

Started only 4-11, but got back to 30-30 on June 11, then went 35-67 the rest of the way.

2006

Started 0-6, never even got close to .500 and went to a 67-95 year.

2007

Opened with 3 game sweep of Houston, fell to 12-13 on May 1^st, and went downhill quickly after that.

2008

Average all year. They had a 33-34 record on June 12^th, but then went on a free fall.

2009

Started the season 11-7, were still 35-39 on June 27^th, and went down hill fast.

2010

Started 7-5, and was average in May, until they hit a 2-17 stretch in June.

I'm not even close to saying that this team, who hasn't had a .500 record since 1992 is constantly on the verge of making a decent run. But it kind of shows you even more, how the Pirate fan base gets teased in April quite often. For a baseball fan, winter obviously takes forever. And I would think, if your team gets out to a nice start that first week, you have decent hopes. Even, like in 2009, if your team is 35-39 and in the mediocre (at that time) NL Central, you are thinking it's at least possible to get back to .500 before the end of the year. But then you realize you are the Pittsburgh Pirates...

Day 5... What am I supposed to do with this?

I was watching the Texas Rangers/Seattle Mariners game today. And just couldn't wait to see Justin Smoak battle his former team! Or I had some scratch on it.. You pick. But Justin Smoak, who looked foolish in Major League Baseball last year (.218 batting average in 348 at bats last year), is actually riding a 13 game hitting streak with the Mariners.

But what really caught my ear, was the announcers talking about championship rings. The Rangers received their ALCS championship rings the other day. I know they wouldn't be the first team to get rings for not winning the real championship, but what is the point? When would you ever wear a 2nd place ring? When would you ever take it out of your sock drawer to look at it? They went on to say that they gave a ring to anybody who was on the 40-man roster during the year last year. Obviously including Justin Smoak, who was traded for Cliff Lee. Smoak hit just .209 for the Rangers with a .4 wins above replacement players. I know it's a nice gesture to reward a player with a ring who helped contribute.. You know, if they did contribute.

But it's more funny that all those other players on the 40-man roster literally did nothing. At least a few probably didn't even get called up to the majors at all last year. So I really hope, when some career AAA player gets a Fed-Ex package to his home, opens it up to find a jewelry box, looks at it and says, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?

Day 2... Obscurity

Every year, my friend Aaron and I look for obscurity in Major League Baseball. I'm not exactly sure when or why this started, but for close to 10 years now, we pick either a failed prospect, or journeyman player that will come out of nowhere to make an All-Star game. In hindsight, last year would have been a good year to pick Omar Infante. These picks are never written down, but I kind of wish we did. I actually might have a hard time remembering who my player was last year.. But here are a few players, that I can remember, that have been selected over the years...

Conner Jackson
Marlon Byrd (Back in 2003 with Philadelphia)
Jack Cust (In 2002 with Colorado)
Homer Bailey
Tike Redman

Obviously there are way more, but obviously since I can't remember most of them, none of them have panned out. Aaron, maybe you can help me remember some of your picks from the past.. I know Conner Jackson was all yours.

We don't let Elliot play this game. He would probably pick Zack Greinke or Phil Hughes.


My pick this year is Juan Francisco.. A big slugging 3B/OF for the Reds. He was a decent prospect a few years ago, well, he still might be since he is 24 years old, but he has lost his luster a little bit because of his defense, strikeout rate and being buried in the Reds depth chart. Since he still is pretty young, and was the 2009 Minor League Hitter of the Year, I asked for permission from Aaron if he qualifies and he gave me the thumbs up.

I am waiting on Aaron's pick, and of course, am excited to see that player fail and have to withstand that player forever being, Your Boy.

So, I'm looking for a picture of Juan Francisco to add here, and type Juan Francisco into google images. Go ahead and try it (NSFW).

Who would have thought Juan Francisco doubled as a nude photographer. Now I really like him.

What we learned...Day 1

I've been thinking about this blog lately. Maybe because the last thing I did on here was write about opening day, and those I'm sure got to be pretty boring after awhile. But since I went and got a job, I wasn't able to live blog the NCAA Tournament or Opening Day this year. And I missed doing that. Going back to my sophomore year in College (It would have been Freshman year, but I was on Spring Break back in Owatonna, bored out of my mind, and the cable goes out on Thursday morning at 9 AM and didn't come back on until Saturday morning. Longest 2 days ever.) I have watched basketball from 11 Am to 11 PM straight for those Thursday and Friday games. In college, Aaron, Mike, Brent, Guild, Saxton, and others would get a party ball and not move from the couch. (Correction, we did move once to get dinner at Krispy Kreme's. Not a smart decision to eat doughnuts for dinner. Elhard put down a dozen and didn't eat for 48 hours I believe). I would take vacation days from work, re-arrange my off days at another job, anything it took. I went unemployed for nearly a year, and of course started my new job a week before the tournament starts. So I missed out on a full day of basketball, as well as the start of the Major League Baseball season, another holiday I would take off from work. I am so thankful to be employed again, but lets be honest. 2 year old Weston and 4 year old twins Ava and Claire really aren't into breaking down what happened to Kansas or how Target Field will play now that the stadiums concrete is dry.

So what am I writing about? Aaron and I were discussing Brett Myers yesterday. Circa 2003, Baseball Tonight showed a stat about Brett Myers. At that time (sometime in July or August) He was 5-0 when pitching in front of 35,000. We were memorized by this stat. Baseball is filled with all sorts of interesting stats/observations/random thoughts. I watch a lot of baseball, and couldn't wait for the season to start, so I can come home from work, turn on MLB Network/Twins from 6 to midnight and just watch. So my goal for this season to to write about 1, 2, 3, or however many interesting things I hear during the season. Most likely, much of it will be about the Twins. It's not going to be everyday, as I will be gone many weekends, but enough to give me something to do while watching the games... And hopefully be entertaining at the same time. Im catching up for tomorrow, so there will be 2 today. And remember, I'm a former TV guy.. Expect some bad grammer, horrible punctuation, and a lot of ...'s.

March 31, 2010 (Opening Day)

While watching the San Francisco Giants/Los Angeles Dodgers game last night, there was plenty of emphasis on Pablo Sandoval, coming off a horrible season. They talked about the obvious stuff this year about how he lost 40 pounds in the off-season, how he was faster and more nimble this year, etc. Then they brought up something that still makes no sense to me. ESPN mentioned he never lifted weights before this past off-season. This is a guy who hit .330 with 25 homeruns and 44 doubles his first season in the majors as a 22 year old. And last November is the first time he picked up a weight. That is shocking. I know plenty of people with natural given talents. People that had never touched a golf club before and can walk up to a ball and hit it 200 yards right down the middle of the fairway.

I know he is from Venezuela, and I assume there aren't many gyms or weight rooms around, but coming to America to play Minor League ball, I'm surprised he was never forced to get on some program. The jury is still out on how he will do 40 pounds lighter with added muscle, but it can't hurt. Who would have thought lifting weights can help athletes? So here's to you Pablo Sandoval. Proof you don't have to work out to be a pro-athlete (Although, it really helps. Maybe that's where I went wrong..)