The talent was there, the weather was perfect, and the announcers were abysmal. MLB Network was on hand in Scottsdale, AZ to telecast the AFL championship game, with Victor Rojas & Tony Clark in the booth as the broadcasters. First up, Victor was assigned the duties of play by play, even though he’s only a fill in at that with the Rangers, color analysis is his supposed forte, if he indeed has one. One play illustrated Rojas’s (son of Cookie) complete ignorance of baseball rulings (if you don’t know, keep your trap shut). The bases were loaded with two out, the batter hit a groundball to short, on which the shortstop laid back, rather than charge, the runner at first beat the throw to second for an attempted force out. Here’s what Victor Rojas had to say, “Tony, they ruled that a basehit. We’re not here to judge. They didn’t even try to get the batter at 1st”. Common sense says, if you can’t force the runner on a short throw to 2nd, you certainly wouldn’t be able to retire the batter at first, the ruling of a basehit was correct.
Then there was former switch hitting, big man, big leaguer, Tony Clark, cliches were in abundance. Here are Big Tony’s favorite utterings rolled into one sentence, “Brother, No doubt about it, Mister Outstanding, I tip my hat”. Sheesh, if I didn’t want to hear what they had to say about the players from time to time, I’d have muted the game, rather than listen to their constant chatter, sometimes a little silence is a good thing.
Finally there were three guests brought up to the booth. Somebody from the charitable organization of Scottsdale Charros & then somebody representing the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation (the talking heads went on about the no-talent, egotistical, MLB Network’s own, Billy Ripken), but the worst was when Joe Garagiola, Sr. came up to visit. Joe started describing in detail his four major surgeries he’s undergone in the past year, sometimes it’s just better to wave to Uncle Joe from a distance.
Back to the game and the talented youngsters performing out on the field. In the 4th inning AFL MVP Phoenix Desert Dogs slugger Grant Desme, a 30 homer & 40 stolen base guy in A ball for the Oakland A’s showed off his power, nailing a home run inside the leftfield foul pole. Moments later Tampa Bay Rays catcher Nevin Ashley went “OPPO TACO”, poking one out to right, TC added, “Only growed up men hit balls like that”. It pains me today to recall their descritions of the game.
Here are some of the things I took away from watching this game. Little Matt Angle out of Ohio State University, representing the Baltimore Orioles, ripped a leadoff triple for Phoenix to start the game. Later Matt beat out a drag bunt past the pitcher for a single. Centerfielder Angle’s hustling play reminded me of another 5’10” centerfielder, Libertyville, IL’s Brett Butler. Rickie’s little brother, Jemile Weeks of the Oakland A’s, flashed some leather in the field at 2B, was 1-4 at the plate, doubling to right (was almost thrown out jogging to 2nd), and struckout three times.
Batting cleanup for Peoria was the White Sox Brent Morel, who lined singles in two of his four at bats, and looks like the real thing. Mariners Dustin Ackley, the 2nd player drafted behind Stephen Strasburg, looked good with the bat, 2-5, but very shaky in leftfield, maybe it was the sun. While White Sox centerfielder Jordan Danks was 0-4, drawing a walk, stranding 5 runners, he showed good baseball instincts, and looked solid in the field.
Pitchers that showed their stuff were Cuban righthander Reidier Gonzalez of the Blue Jays, pitching for Phoenix, with one quick perfect inning of work. Looking sharp for the Javelinas was lefty Andrew Oliver of the Detroit Tigers, 2 innings, 2 Ks. But the man on the bump for Peoria was the Tigers Robbie Weinhardt. Weinhardt is a Tigers 2008 10th round draft taken out of Oklahoma State University, where he epitomized what a power pitcher is, striking out 70 batters in 44 innings. Robbie brought his gun to town, working two innings for Peoria, striking out the side in the 8th (Corey Brown, Chris Marrero, Grant Desme) in the 8th, going 1-2-3 in the ninth, fanning Weeks swinging to end the game.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the BOMB OF THE GAME off the bat of White Sox secondbaseman C.J. Retherford. Retherford is a native of Arizona, attended ASU, was a Sun Devil, whom the White Sox signed as a free agent. With the Javelinas trailing by a run in the bottom of the 8th C.J. stepped in against former ASU hurler Josh Perrault of the Marlins, and absolutely CRUSHED one deep over the leftfield wall, it was a no-doubter, an absolute BOMB! It proved to be the game winner as the Peoria Javelinas thwarted the Peoria Desert Dogs in their hopes of winning their 6th straight AFL Title.
Zack Greinke was named the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner. Greinke was dominant with a 2.16 ERA and a 16-8 record for the lowly Kansas City Royals. Zack started impressively, winning his first six games, with an ERA of 0.40, only Walter Johnson & Fernando Valenzuela had done that with lower ERAs. In back to back starts he struckout 15 batters in one contest and then allowed only one hit in his next start. He was 6-1 with a 1.75 ERA in his last 11 starts. Imagine how many wins Greinke would have amassed had he been pitching for the explosive New York Yankees. The Royals only scored 15 runs in Zack’s eight losses, 1.9 per game. Zack Greinke only allowed 195 hits in 229′ innings, striking out 242, while walking only 51.
Jim Tracy took over for Clint Hurdle in Colorado, guiding a struggling Rockies team to a 74-42 finish, and a postseason berth. It’s hard to argue with the selection of Tracy as the NL Manager of the Year. Twice before teams he’s managed have finished with 90+ wins (2004 Dodgers finished 1st), while three times his teams finished with 90+ losses (2007 Pirates finished 6th). So it just goes to show, being a successful manager has alot to do with being in the right place at the right time, and having the horses.
There will be plenty of prospects to satisfy anybody’s appetite in the 2009 AFL Championship game Saturday November 21st in Scottsdale, AZ. I’m really bummed that I’m not in the Arizona desert to see this showdown between the Phoenix Desert Dogs and the Peoria Javelinas.
I first saw Matt McBride when he clubbed an 8th inning two run home run in the Rising Stars AFL All Star Game, which proved to be the difference. The 24 year old catcher starred in the desert for the Peoria Saguaros, hitting .378, power numbers of 4, 2, 4, two stolen bases, 19 walks, and an out of this world OBP of .511.
I couldn’t make it to the desert to watch any Arizona Fall League action this year, which was very disappointing. I’m a huge baseball fan, who enjoys seeing young talent more than anything, and then watching these players develop. Last Fall I enjoyed getting a chance to see The Sporting News AL Rookie of the Year Gordon Beckham of the White Sox play in the AFL for the Peoria Javelinas.
Back in the middle of September I was assigned the task of predicting who would win the rookie of the year awards. Now two months later the winners were announced, Oakland A’s reliever Andrew Bailey in the American League and Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan. I had predicted Rockies outfielder Dexter Fowler in the NL and Rangers SS Elvis Andrus in the AL.
Todd Zeile has homered for more clubs (11) than any other player in the history of baseball: St. Louis – 75, Cubs – 9, Baltimore 5, Philadelphia 20, Dodgers – 38, Texas – 30, Florida – 6, Mets – 41, Colorado – 18, Yankees – 6, and Montreal – 5. He hit a grand total of 253 long balls, his first as a member of the Redbirds in 1989 and his last in 2004 with the New York Mets.
It’s been fifty years since the White Sox won the AL Pennant in 1959, when Mayor Richard Daley the 1st set off the fire sirens, sending some people into a panic, but not White Sox fans. I was only three years old, so I don’t remember my team winning the pennant or subsequently being defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series that year, but I have had many sleepless nights wondering why Manager Al Lopez didn’t use Billy Pierce against LA, a question Lopez never answered to his dying day.