"They have the world’s greatest player playing shortstop over there, and the most exciting.  I turn on the TV every time I get a chance to watch him."

Well, I guess he can get away with saying that now that Jeter’s on the DL.

Here’s an example showing Buster Posey’s hitting mechanics:

Our freshman outfielder at the University of Illinois hit three homeruns in his first college game against the #1 team in the nation last year.  A lot was made of it nationally obviously and his name was put on the map.  But one thing I remember was what our color guy (and former Illini player) said.  “That’s the worst thing that could happen to him”. 

Now our outfielder has been doing great since his first day but our color guy’s point is well taken.  There’s a lot to be said for our sports media setting expectations and then having a player live up to them.  There are Stephen Strasburg player trackers out there and every game he pitches is being live-blogged by practically everyone.  What would the baseball community do if he pitched one game like a regular human being?

Despite all the hype, he’s still a 21 year old rookie with two Major League starts to his name.  He’ll have some developing and growing to do even at this level.  Let’s let Strasburg develop naturally and preferably with as little pressure as possible (considering he was sleeping two hours before his second start, he seems to be doing a good job of not letting it get to him). 

Strasburg could turn into another Bob Feller but let’s not set the expectations so high that we turn him into a Mark Prior.

“In closing, guys, please feel free to share this letter with Bagwell, Nomar, Pudge and all those others who went from hitting homers to power outages overnight. Tell ‘em fans are ready to accept what happened. Tell ‘em we’re ready to move on. Tell ‘em that most of us get it…even if they, like you, still don’t."

I’m not prepared to say one way or another if these players did or didn’t.  But a person in Gumbel’s position should know better than to throw names around without proof. 

Sanctimonious dolt.

***

Gary Bedingfield maintains a baseball blog with a special bent.  His site, Baseball in Wartime focuses on the history of baseball during wartime and baseball players who served in the military.  It’s a unique idea for a blog and Gary seems to have a lot of info on the topic. 

***

Finally, those who follow Illinois Baseball Report know this already but we are less than one month away from regular season.  If you’re talking about college baseball, that is.  Usually, that’s not big news as normally teams from the north travel south to play colleges in the warmer climates. 

The catch this year is that University of Illinois will be starting their season at home in chilly Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.  They will be playing host to the Bradley Braves on February 20-21.  It’s the first time I know about that Illinois has had a home season opener in February. 

Now, if Mother Nature lets this series happen will be another thing.

Here’s a farewell note from staff writer Mark Zuckerman.

When it comes to local newspapers, it’s up to the Post to cover the Nationals now.

Here is the direct link to the photo with Linebrink.  As was the photographer’s intent, Linebrink himself is a bit fuzzy (a bit like his performance with the Sox this year) in the background but the ball which seems to be hurling towards the camera is crystal clear. 

Nicely done by AP photographer Issac Brekken.

Former Indian slugger Albert Belle has an opinion… or three.

"Tell Larry Dolan I won’t be interviewing for the manager’s job," said one of the most feared and ill-tempered hitters in Indians history. "How can you manage when you’ve got no players?"

Manager Eric Wedge and his coaching staff were fired Wednesday by General Manager Mark Shapiro.

"This season isn’t the manager’s fault," Belle said. "They traded away all his players. You can’t win when you trade two Cy Young winners in CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee.”

I was going to make a joke about Belle not being any worse a manager than Ozzie Guillen but I figured that was too easy.

He might be more entertaining (though.it would be close).

From Ghost Player’s web site:

GHOST PLAYER is a one-hour documentary that chronicles the adventures and misadventures of a boisterous and unlikely team of middle aged baseball players. In 1989, Hollywood went to Iowa to shoot the movie “FIELD of DREAMS”. Little did anyone know this blockbuster would spawn a comedic baseball show starring local ballplayers that would have an 18 year run and travel the world.

Ghost Player has already received acclaim.  On September 1, it was chosen to be shown at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Not only that, it has been selected to be shown at film festivals throughout the country.  For those here in the Illinois area, Ghost Player will be shown at the Naperville Independent Film Festival which starts Saturday, September 19th.  Mr. Scherrman informed me of Ghost Player’s screening times:

The Naperville Independent Film Festival is September 19–26, 2009. “Ghost Player: Relive the Magic” is scheduled to screen Sunday September. 20th at 7:10PM and Thursday September 24th at 6:45PM. Mr. Scherrman is participating in question and answer sessions with the audience after each film showing.

Interesting concept for a film and so far, has been received well.  If you get a chance, check it out.

One was the actions of Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder, the other of Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres.  Giants starter Brad Penny, who gave up the four-bagger, thought Gonzalez lingered a bit too long, admiring his work before making the trot.  

I saw the video of the Gonzalez homer and honestly, I didn’t notice it.

Now, USA Today has picked up on the story.  And they have a pretty damning photo of Fielder’s antics to go along with it, too  The story is compelling with good examples etc etc..

But it makes me wonder if this story has taken a life of its own.  Does it merit this much attention? 

Two thoughts that popped into my head regarding this rather unimportant issue (in the grand scheme of things):

One, mlb.com covered this a few days ago.  The same news source that recoils at anything controversial.  Normally, the cynic in me would surmise that MLB is just trying to perhaps generate controversy/interest/rivalry in the midst of a postseason hunt but the teams involved are not near the top of their division. 

Two, god forbid should this story take off to the point that MLB feel that they need to “do something about it”.  Professional baseball has enough regulations already and a lot of them range from unnecessary to a hindrance.

Some of you watch more baseball games from different markets than I.  Is this really a problem?  And why is MLB so worried about it?