Month: November 2005

  Color me surprised.  Maybe I’m different but I didn’t expect these two win the award.  Not to say they deserve it in any way or anything like that but I guess I didn’t see them as high profile as Cano or Taveras. 

Street saved 23 in 27 opportunities (in other words, he blew 4 games in 27 opp. but hey, it’s all perspective) with a 1.72.  He is the second Oakland player in two years to win the award.  Bobby Crosby won in 2004. 

Howard bopped out 22 dingers in 2005 for the Phillies.  The media touts that half of these were during the Wild Card hunt.  The Phils were 16-6 when 16-6 when Howard when he homered. 

from mlb.com

 

Real quick but it’s worth mentioning… John Smoltz won the Roberto Clemente Award for community service. 

All those years with Mazzone and he musta tore his hair out.  Just kidding… way to go, Duke.

*Sigh*  This is not the kind of stuff you want to read in your hometown paper.  That a local scientist has been indicted in the BALCO scandal.

Alas, it is true.  Champaign scientist Patrick Arnold has been indicted for allegedly supplying BALCO with the drug known as “the Clear”.  He is charged on three counts which of course, Arnold claims he is innocent.

The details according to the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette article:

 A statement from Ryan’s office said Arnold was indicted for:
   – Conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids.
   – Conspiracy to defraud consumers and the government by introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce.
   – Introducing and delivering “the Clear” into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud.
   Specifically, the statement said Arnold conspired to misbrand and distribute three drugs: Norbolethone, tetrahydragestrinone (also known as THG or “the Clear”) and desoxymethyltestosterone (also known as DMT or “Madol”).

Arnold is looking at a possible 8 years and $500,000 fine if found guilty.

Arnold worked for Proviant Technologies in Champaign.  I’m wondering if he worked alone or he had accomplices.  No mention of anyone else in the article.  Proviant Technologies is cooperating with the authorities.

Followup:  Just noticed it made the national media.  I’ll bet Champaign politicians love seeing their town’s name in the nation’s media limelight. 

Here are the National League Gold Glove winners:

P	Greg Maddux	Chicago Cubs
C	Mike Matheny	San Francisco Giants
1B	Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs
2B	Luis Castillo	Florida Marlins
3B	Mike Lowell	Florida Marlins
SS	Omar Vizquel	San Francisco Giants
OF	Andruw Jones	Atlanta Braves
OF	Jim Edmonds	St. Louis Cardinals
OF	Bobby Abreu	Philadelphia Phillies

Florida, Chicago and San Fran make up the whole infield with two each.  Greg Maddux wins his 15th GG, one less than record holders Brooks Robinson and Jim Kaat. 

On the other end, Abreu and Lowell win their first GG.

 

 

Well, to be fair, they are every year.  As I understand it, every umpire goes through a review process over the off-season.  This includes reviewing the films of their calls.  Just as everyone goes through a performance evaluation, so do the umpires.

But here comes the media.  They focus on the high profile calls.  The ones that made the headlines.  Such as this article by the USA Today which highlights the infamous Doug Eddings’ drop third strike call.  In my mind, that was not the most egregious call even in the postseason.  There were plenty of mistakes made by the men in blue that warrant review.  I saw out calls while the ball was lying on the ground, a fielder tagging the runner with his empty glove and more.  The good news is that most of these calls were reversed after a conference between the umps and without intervention from a third party.

That all said, I don’t believe in instant replay and assuming that a review process is strictly adhered to, the umpire’s call stands.  Like umpire Bill Klem said, “It ain’t nuthin’ till I call it.”

 

 On Tuesday, the AL Gold Glove winners were announced:

P	Kenny Rogers	Texas Rangers
C	Jason Varitek	Boston Red Sox
1B	Mark Teixeira	Texas Rangers
2B	Orlando Hudson	Toronto Blue Jays
3B	Eric Chavez	Oakland Athletics
SS	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees
OF	Ichiro Suzuki	Seattle Mariners
OF	Torii Hunter	Minnesota Twins
OF	Vernon Wells	Toronto Blue Jays

Tradition has always been a big factor in awarding the Gold Glove awards in the past.  Those who have gotten it in the past tended to have a good chance to get it again.  Not so for the AL recipients this year.  Varitek, Hudson and Teixeira won it for the first time.  Ichiro, Hunter and Chavez all won it for the 5th time. 

I put my thoughts in the comments section.  Feel free to do so as well.

Followup:  David Pinto’s comments in Baseball Musings seem to back up comments made about Jeter/Cabrera.

 

I found an article about Bobby Valentine in a Japanese daily, the Mainichi Daily News.  For those not in the know, Valentine just became the first foreign manager to win the Japanese Series.

The article was entitled  The Dark Side of Baseball’s Brightest Star.  After reading the article, I had to laugh to myself.  While it’s true…

 ”During a game, when one of his players is ruled out in a close call, he has been known to bellow what sounds like ‘F**k!'” the no-nonsense weekly… hears from a sports journalist. “He can be pretty aggressive.”

…but that’s about as bad as it gets.  The rest of the article makes him out to be a model manager and husband.  He “never says a bad word about his players” and is “known as a devoted husband”

Guess the media in Japan isn’t much better than America’s.