For those of you wondering what beleaguered starter Zach Greinke has been up to, The Pine Tar Rag has an update.
Apparently, after one good outing for Wichita, Zach followed up with a somewhat poor one… including hitting 2 batters in one inning.
The $100,000 question that Royals fans are asking is how long it will take before he is ready for the bigs.
According to PTR, the rumor is management is in no hurry to rush him up.
Well, Ryan Howard became the second Phillie in as many years to win the Home Run Derby.
Yawn, show me a competition that really tests the skills of our baseball players. I mean something that is truly fun and exciting to watch and that adds some suspense as well. For example:
Bunt for a Hit Showdown: This will give a sense of worth for all those speedy leadoff men with low OBP out there.
Suggested participants: Juan Pierre, Corey Patterson, Willy Taveras and the like. For kicks, we’ll let Matt Stairs play, too.
Catcher’s Throw Competition: Who has the best arm in the league? Find out when they try to throw out the best basestealers.
Suggested participants: I-Rod, Jorge Posada, Ramon Hernandez. Haha, we could invite Piazza and tell him it was a home run derby or something.
Home Run Derby: Pitchers Style: Why let the sluggers have all the fun? The lineup for this derby would be stacked with those arms with the best sticks.
Suggested participants: Carlos Zambrano, Bronson Arroyo, Jorge Sosa. Maybe Ryan Howard could pitch.
Managerial Press Conference Duck and Run: This would be quite fun. Get the press involved.
Suggested participants: Ozzie Guillen (give him a handicap, though), Dusty Baker, throw in Bud Selig for good measure.
I’ll be going out of town for the weekend and blogging access will be minimal (but who knows?) so I’m wishing y’all a Happy Fourth of July!
The 4th is usually considered a Freedom holiday. Use it to consider your freedoms and how lucky we are to have them. You know the saying, Use them or lose them!
Coming up
Next weekend, is the Illowa APBA League’s Mini-Convention. My Twin City Thunderchickens will be playing 27 games with three other teams in the league over the weekend.
I’m holding on to a decent third place right now and hoping to improve on that.
You’ll probably be hearing more about it next week.
Chicago Bandit and Team USA softball hurler Jennie Finch has a guest column for the Arizona Daily Star. She takes a stand against the new policy by the Department of Education which essentially gives schools a free pass in regards to Title IX if they can prove “no interest”.
According to the policy, the amount of interest in Title IX sports can determined by a email survey which no one is likely to read anyway.
She makes some good points and I agree with her.
I love my wife. In 20 minutes, it will be my our 17th anniversary.
Mrs. Zealot is understanding enough to indulge me the time I need to maintain this site. The least I could do is recognize that once a year on this site. Thanks, sweetie!
Sorry, that headline just wrote itself.
I thought I’ve seen it all but for those fans who lived and died with their team (there I go again), Eternal Image Inc. is coming out with a line of caskets with MLB team names and logos on them.
Eternal Image has reached an agreement with Major League Baseball to legally allow the reproduction of logos on the caskets. They do urns, too apparently.
Costs of the caskets and urns range from $600-3500.
“Fans incorporate baseball in nearly every aspect of life,” Eternal Image Chief Executive Clint Mytych said, adding that the caskets could appeal to “a market that is just waiting for a way to make team loyalty a final statement of a great passion in their lives.”
Wouldn’t you just die for one? (Okay, I’ll stop now)
Has anyone noticed???
As of today, Ichiro has a .467 batting average this month?
I remember him starting off slow (by slow, I mean slow by Ichiro’s standards) this year but in typical Ichiro style, he’s really bringing it on.
Is Jeff Kent a Hall of Famer?
What got me thinking about this was a quick link on Baseball Musings to this Press-Enterprise article about Jeff Kent jaking it against the A’s then calling Andre Ethier onto the carpet for taking the pitch.
First things first… did anyone actually see the Kent/Ethier incident happen? From the author’s account of what happened, it almost seems too Jeff Kentish for even Jeff Kent to pull off.
Anyway, back to my point. In the article, Kevin Pearson refers to “second baseman Jeff Kent, a likely Hall of Famer”.
When I read that, I did a double-take. Kent a Hall of Famer? I guess I don’t necessarily disagree with that suggestion. It is just not something I considered before.
I took the time to check out his career stats. One thing you can say about Kent is that he is incredibly consistent. By that, I mean his total stats are impressive without having the BIG years.
This is especially true beginning with 1997, when he began playing with SanFran. Each year between 1997-2005, he has had 20+ homers, 100+ rbis (except in his slightly down year in 03), and 80+ runs (except again in 03).
His lifetime totals at the beginning of the season of 331 homers (82nd all time) and 1312 rbis (83rd) and runs 1139 (21st active) are nothing to sneeze at especially for a secondbaseman.
And they’re going to get better. Barring injuries, Kent could play 3 or 4 years. Maybe more.
But in the context of the modern era, are those stats (plus his postseason play) good enough to put him in the Hall?
Here’s hoping all the fathers out there have a good day out there. I know being father isn’t easy at least if you’re doing it right. But the rewards are pretty awesome.
As for me, our family will be going to see the Vermilion Voles play some vintage base ball at the Newman Freedom Fest. If the weather cooperates, that is. Looking out the window, it doesn’t seem too promising.
Anyway, Happy Father’s Day…
Albert Pujols’ rehab stint is moving ahead of schedule. He hit balls off a tee on Saturday and is expected to graduate to live pitching on Sunday.
The Cards haven’t done terrible without Albert. They’ve gone 7-5 without him.
No date has been set for his return but LaRussa does not think a minor league rehab assignment is necessary.
Rushing him back too soon? Given the product we’re talking about, I’d like to think that LaRussa is being extra careful with the goods. It’s no secret that Pujols has been playing through pain this year and even last year.
If I were a Cardinal fan, I’d like to err on the side of caution.
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