Month: November 2006

2006 AL MVP – Justin Morneau???

Justin Morneau – 2006 AL MVP Minnesota Twins firstbaseman Justin Morneau won a tight vote for 2006 AL MVP over NY Yankees SS Derek Jeter. Don’t get me wrong Morneau put up some very good numbers, but I’m not sure Justin was even the MVP on the Twins. Certainly he provided the power, but Joe … Continue reading “2006 AL MVP – Justin Morneau???”


Justin Morneau – 2006 AL MVP

Minnesota Twins firstbaseman Justin Morneau won a tight vote for 2006 AL MVP over NY Yankees SS Derek Jeter. Don’t get me wrong Morneau put up some very good numbers, but I’m not sure Justin was even the MVP on the Twins. Certainly he provided the power, but Joe Mauer, with his breakout season, might have been Miinesota’s MVP. In either case, Jeter, IMHO, deserved to win the this year’s Most Valuable Player Award. While Derek didn’t hit for the power that Justin did, he had an outstanding year with the bat, played outstanding in the field at shortstop, and was the leader of the NY Yankees.

KEVIN FRANDSEN WINS 2006 STENSON AWARD

Kevin Frandsen Kevin Frandsen (San Francisco) of the Scottsdale Scorpians beat out five other nominated AFL’ers to win the 2006 Dernell Stenson Sportsman of the Year Award. Dernell Stenson was a prospect with the Cincinnati Reds, who was shot to death while playing in the AFL for Scottsdale in 2003. Mark Teahen (Kansas City) won … Continue reading “KEVIN FRANDSEN WINS 2006 STENSON AWARD”


Kevin Frandsen

Kevin Frandsen (San Francisco) of the Scottsdale Scorpians beat out five other nominated AFL’ers to win the 2006 Dernell Stenson Sportsman of the Year Award. Dernell Stenson was a prospect with the Cincinnati Reds, who was shot to death while playing in the AFL for Scottsdale in 2003. Mark Teahen (Kansas City) won the first Stenson Award in 2004, made it to the big leagues in 2005, and starred for the Royals in 2006. Last year Andre Ethier (Oakland) won the award, before being traded to the LA Dodgers, where he earned an everyday major league job in 2006. Frandsen hopes the success of these two previous winners rubs off on him. The one thing all three winners share is a great determination to succeed. I was in Scottsdale when Kevin received this award November 15th.

CONGRATS TO KEVIN FRANDSEN!!! AND GOOD LUCK IN 2007 & BEYOND!!!

AFL DESERT DOGS THREEPEAT AS CHAMPS

Brent Clevlen The Phoenix Desert Dogs won their 3rd straight Arizona Fall League Title Saturday November 18, 2006 in Scottsdale, AZ with a 6-2 win over the Grand Canyon Rafters. Here is the boxscore from the game. I’d like to say, “I was there”, but that would be a lie. 2006 was the year that … Continue reading “AFL DESERT DOGS THREEPEAT AS CHAMPS”


Brent Clevlen

The Phoenix Desert Dogs won their 3rd straight Arizona Fall League Title Saturday November 18, 2006 in Scottsdale, AZ with a 6-2 win over the Grand Canyon Rafters. Here is the boxscore from the game.

I’d like to say, “I was there”, but that would be a lie. 2006 was the year that I finally made it out to the desert to take in some Arizona Fall League action, but I left before the championship game was played. I’ll fill you in on my adventure later, but wanted to report on the title game before it became a distant memory. The Phoenix Desert Dogs were the only AFL team above .500 during the regular season and won their 3rd straight title, despite only getting four hits. Brent Clevlen (Detroit) was the hitting star, with a two run single & a solo homer. Fernando Perez (Tampa Bay) also drove in a pair of runs for Phoenix, as they triumphed over Grand Canyon 6-2. Virgil Vazquez (Detroit) allowed only one run over five innings of work to pick up the W.

CONGRATS PHOENIX DESERT DOGS!!!

LaRussa Gets Rodney Dangerfield Award

Tony LaRussa The 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals won it all thanks in large part to their Manager Tony LaRussa. Yet when Joe Girardi of the Florida Marlins was announced winner of the best manager in the NL award, LaRussa didn’t even get one vote, even Phil Garner of the Astros got one 3rd … Continue reading “LaRussa Gets Rodney Dangerfield Award”


Tony LaRussa

The 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals won it all thanks in large part to their Manager Tony LaRussa. Yet when Joe Girardi of the Florida Marlins was announced winner of the best manager in the NL award, LaRussa didn’t even get one vote, even Phil Garner of the Astros got one 3rd place vote. It doesn’t make any sense. Surely Girardi overachieved with his Baby Fish, but LaRussa won the whole thing. Tony did so, despite having to play players like Aaron Miles and castoffs Preston Wilson & Jeff Weaver, and with his closer, Jason Isringhausen, on the shelf. Other Redbirds who were overlooked for postseason awards were Chris Carpenter who lost to Brandon Webb for Cy Young and Albert Pujols who was beaten out by Ryan Howard for NL MVP. But the biggest oversight has got to be LaRussa, not even one vote, the writers should be ashamed of themselves. I guess these three guys will have to take solace in winning World Championship Rings.

Here are the vote totals for National League Manager of the Year as selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America:
(Tabulated on a 5-3-1 basis)
Manager, Team 1st 2nd 3rd Tot
Joe Girardi, Fla 18 6 3 111
Willie Randolph, NY 8 11 8 81
Bruce Bochy, SD 5 6 7 50
Grady Little, LA 1 5 10 30
Charlie Manuel, Phi – 3 – 9
Jerry Narron, Cin – 1 3 6
Phil Garner, Hou – – 1 1

Counting down during the offseason

How is Al Yellon from Bleed Cubbie Blue spending is off-season? Doing a daily countdown the top 100 Cub players. A daunting task if there ever was one. I’m linking to #89 Jerry Morales because I remember having that very baseball card as a kid. Git that caterpillar off your face, Jerry! I miss the … Continue reading “Counting down during the offseason”

How is Al Yellon from Bleed Cubbie Blue spending is off-season? Doing a daily countdown the top 100 Cub players. A daunting task if there ever was one.

I’m linking to #89 Jerry Morales because I remember having that very baseball card as a kid.

Git that caterpillar off your face, Jerry!

I miss the ’70’s when players could hit .290 with 11 homers and still bat in the heart of the lineup.

Howard and the MVP: Easy on the coffee, there

I re-read my post last night on Ryan Howard and the MVP vote. Man, I must have been on a pissy rant. Despite everything said, Howard is, without a doubt an MVP-caliber star and no one (especially a two-bit blogger) can take that from him. Please take the time to listen to his press conference … Continue reading “Howard and the MVP: Easy on the coffee, there”

I re-read my post last night on Ryan Howard and the MVP vote. Man, I must have been on a pissy rant.

Despite everything said, Howard is, without a doubt an MVP-caliber star and no one (especially a two-bit blogger) can take that from him.

Please take the time to listen to his press conference after winning the vote. He seems like a very amiable guy.

The Baseball Zealot debuts Podcast

The same people behind The Baseball Zealot are very excited to bring you Baseball Zealot Radio! BZR plans to be a weekly podcast with the same kind of emphasis that The Baseball Zealot has. Co-hosts Shawn, Tedd, Todd, and Tom will touch on a lot of MLB topics throughout the of-season and into 2007. Our … Continue reading “The Baseball Zealot debuts Podcast”

BZRThe same people behind The Baseball Zealot are very excited to bring you Baseball Zealot Radio!

BZR plans to be a weekly podcast with the same kind of emphasis that The Baseball Zealot has. Co-hosts Shawn, Tedd, Todd, and Tom will touch on a lot of MLB topics throughout the of-season and into 2007.

Our debut show is an exciting one. Co-host Teddy Ballgame phones in from Arizona where he is soaking up the rays as well as covering the Arizona Fall League. Don’t miss this one!

Take a listen to our new endeavor.

The entry point to Baseball Zealot Radio is here.

The RSS feed is: http://www.baseballzealotradio.com/podcast.xml

MVP vote: It came as a shock to me.

When I first heard the news, I did a double-take. Howard? Really? I mean sure, he had more homeruns and rbis. But statistically, Pujols outperformed Howard in most other categories. Batting average, Slugging, on-base, runs, doubles, steals, you name it. Oh, not strikeouts. I hear the argument that Howard was more valuable to his team. … Continue reading “MVP vote: It came as a shock to me.”

When I first heard the news, I did a double-take. Howard? Really?

I mean sure, he had more homeruns and rbis. But statistically, Pujols outperformed Howard in most other categories. Batting average, Slugging, on-base, runs, doubles, steals, you name it. Oh, not strikeouts.

I hear the argument that Howard was more valuable to his team. That doesn’t wash. You can say the same for Pujols only more so.

Less discussed is the clutch issue. Pujols’ clutch stats would run circles around Howard’s.

Well, I’ve had my rant and I have an off-season to get used it.

Followup: The vote was relatively close. 388 to 347 (230 for Berkman and 211 for Beltran). Essentially, Howard got 20 first votes, Pujols got 19 second place votes and Berkman got 21 third place votes. That pretty much sums up the voting.

 

 

Cubs get serious about their desire to win

The Cubs have inked Alfonso Soriano to a hefty eight-year, $136 million deal and most Cub fans I know are pretty gleeful about the whole thing. The plan is to put Soriano in center and hope for the best. I’m an optimist. I like to think that with the off-season to work on it, he’ll … Continue reading “Cubs get serious about their desire to win”

The Cubs have inked Alfonso Soriano to a hefty eight-year, $136 million deal and most Cub fans I know are pretty gleeful about the whole thing.

The plan is to put Soriano in center and hope for the best. I’m an optimist. I like to think that with the off-season to work on it, he’ll do ok.

Now his bat… we won’t have to worry too much about his bat.

All the reports I’m reading are putting him in the leadoff spot. Maybe I’m off here but I just don’t think a 46-homer guy with his kind of on-base belongs up there.

To his credit, he improved his OBP to .351 in 2006. But in the years before that, it was .304, .332, .338, .324, and 2005’s .309. Yick.

Regardless, I’m thrilled as a Cub fan. With Soriano, Lee and Ramirez, this gives the Cubs three legit power threats.

In other Cub news, the Cubs acquired Neal Cotts from the Sox in a trade. They gave up David Aardsma and minor leaguer Carlos Vazquez. The media touted this as the two Chicago teams trading relievers but the rumors are Cotts is going to give the starting rotation a try. Cotts did very well during his starting pitching gig in AA ball. This trade should work out well for the Cubs.

Claire interviews Gammons

For a gem of an interview, listen to former Dodger GM Fred Claire interviewing ESPN Peter Gammons. Claire is doing this as part of his gig with MLB Radio’s GM Corner. I love Gammons. I’m glad the old coot is back. On almost every baseball forum, you run across the familiar thread: Who’s your least … Continue reading “Claire interviews Gammons”

For a gem of an interview, listen to former Dodger GM Fred Claire interviewing ESPN Peter Gammons. Claire is doing this as part of his gig with MLB Radio’s GM Corner.

I love Gammons. I’m glad the old coot is back.

On almost every baseball forum, you run across the familiar thread: Who’s your least favorite broadcaster/analyst? Everyone’s got an opinion though Tim McCarver’s name tends to show up an AWFUL lot.

One person you won’t see on that list is Gammons. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one thinking baseball fan say a bad word about him. It’s safe to say that Gammons is probably the most respected member of the sports media.

Take a listen to these two veterans (in the larger sense of the word) of the game of baseball.