March, 2008 | The Baseball Zealot

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY

The best laid plans of mice & men don’t always go according to plan. Today I was going to watch the Minnesota Twins play the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg. St. Pete’s about 45 minutes south of my hotel, there’s a 60% chance of severe thunderstorms, and I didn’t buy a ticket in advance for today. So I’m going to do something I don’t always do, I’m going to be smart, catch up on things around the hotel, and prepare for my tomorrow flight back to Chicago, brrr.

Just read in today’s USA Today where the Cincinnati Reds signed Corey Patterson & Jerry Hairston, Jr. These two former Cubs join their former Chicago skipper Dusty Baker in the Queen City. For some reason I have a strong feeling the Reds will break their seven losing season streak and actually win the NL Central, despite having Baker at the helm. I was actually thinking of betting on the Reds until I learned Dusty was the team’s manager.

Now it seems even more unlikely that I’ll make this sucker bet. Baker said, he wanted the club to sign either Kenny Lofton or Corey Patterson as a centerfield candidate and leadoff man. Well there’s alot of difference between Lofton & Patterson. Corey has a .298 career OBP, not something you’d want in a leadoff batter. Sparkplug Ryan Freel still seems to have the inside track on the CF job. Adam Dunn is cemented in left, have you ever seen him play the outfield? Junior’s in right, but whether he’ll remain healthy all year is a question that has yet to be answered. My guess would be that the signing of Patterson has more to do with Jay Bruce. Jay will probably start the season in Triple-A and then be called up after the All Star break to replace an injured Griffey.

Everybody knows the Reds have a very good offensive ballclub, the addition of Joey Votto at first, will do nothing but help their already impressive lineup. But pitching seems to be where this year’s Reds have really improved themselves. Aaron Harang & Bronson Arroyo are as strong as anybody’s one/two at the front of their rotation. Josh Fogg brings veteran leadership to the middle of the rotaion. I know the other two spots are slotted for Jeremy Affeldt & Mike Belisle, but Homer Bailey & Edison Volquez are a couple of youngsters who’ve got me excited. Am I starting to talk myself into betting on the Reds?

Adding a closer in Francisco Coco Cordero is a move that needed to be made. Setup men David Weathers, Jared Burton, & Todd Coffey are still there, along with southpaw Mike Stanton. Kent Merker & Scott Sauerbeck are also competing for lefthanded spots in the pen. Then there’s youngster Johnny Cueto, don’t if he’s ready yet, but he has a lively arm, and would be a welcome addition to the bullpen.

DR FAUSTO, MR CARMONA

What Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde did was nothing compared to the first two big league seasons in the career of Fausto Carmona. Last year Carmona followed up a 1-10, 5.42 ERA, with a sophomore jinx of 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA. Today I went to Dunedin to see which Fausto would take the mound for the Tribe. Luckily for the hometown Jays, it was Rookie Carmona, as Fausto allowed five hits, one walk, and two runs in 1 1/3 innings pitched. I know this was just his first time out, but Cleveland has to be a little concerned because of his all or nothing seasons the past two, especially if these bad performances were to continue.

There was another second year Tribester taking a different path from Carmona, while Fausto hitched his career to a shooting star, Josh Barfield sputtered, and eventually lost his starting secondbase job in Cleveland. The Indians obtained the son of former big league outfielder Jesse Barfield from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Kevin Kouzmanoff. Barfield enjoyed a very good rookie season in southern California batting .280, with 13 homers, 32 doubles, and 21 stolen bases, in 150 games for the Pads. Last year Josh struggled with Cleveland with a .270 OBP, hitting just .243, with only three long balls, 19 doubles, and 14 steals in 130 games, before being replaced in the starting lineup by Asdrubal Cabrera. There were several good rookie secondbasemen to step up to the bigs when Barfield came up. As luck would have it, my Illowa APBA League team needed a secondbaseman. When Howie Kendrick was chosen early in the rookie draft, I decided to grab Josh, so I wouldn’t get stuck with either Dan Uggla or a guy who wasn’t even picked by anyone, Ian Kinsler. Could I please have a mulligan? To rub it in, Barfield went 0-4 today, with a couple of strikeouts, and now it looks like I may drop my highly touted secondbaseman after picking him just one short year ago. I know he has talent, but he looks hopeless out there right now.

I also got to see an old friend from the Arizona Fall League, Trevor Crowe. At 21 years of age while at the University of Arizona, he batted .403 with 15 triples, 25 doubles, to go along with 27 steals, and a .477 OBP, which is what prompted the Indians to select the switch-hitting Crowe with the 14th pick in the 2005 amateur draft. Trevor impressed me when I saw him a couple of years ago at the AFL, then he followed that up hitting just .259 in Double-A, today he lined a single off the pitcher’s glove in four at bats, but was promptly picked off first base.

A couple of Blue Jay players I hadn’t seen until today were Marco Scutaro & Adam Lind. Scutaro will be a utility infielder for Toronto, after filling that role for the A’s in recent years. It was surprising to see the Jays bring in Scutaro, with slick fielding John McDonald around, and little David Eckstein brought in to play SS. Today Marco was on his game, with a single and a double. Adam Lind tripled today, scoring Travis Snider from 1st, it was good to see the powerfully built Snider circle the bases. Today Travis got the call as starting DH, working two walks, lining a base hit, having a liner to left plucked off tall blades of grass by the Indians leftfielder, and then he struckout in his other AB, not a bad afternoon.

Shaun Marcum started for the Jays and looked really good, striking out two, allowing one hit, in two innings. There were also two Toronto relievers who didn’t allow a thing. Jeremy Accardo, ISU Redbird Alum, struckout one in one inning, while Brian Wolfe worked a perfect 1 2/3 innings, striking out one.

There was one other player I was looking forward to seeing, but Beau Mills kind of disappointed, grounding harmlessly to second in his only time up. Mills is a highly touted prospect and the son of former reliever Alan Mills.

Illini Loss to UIC ends disappointing weekend

I really thought the University of Illinois had a good chance against our sister campus, the University of Illinois-Chicago. UIC had only won one game going into this game and it wasn’t like we were playing some baseball powerhouse from the south. I guess this proves that we take all opponents seriously.

The Illini did draw first blood, scoring an unearned run in the second on a sac fly. But the Flames came back with a vengeance and really didn’t look back. They scored three runs in the second and four in the third. All but one of those runs were charged to starter Aaron Martin.

Reliever Kevin Manson, who picked up the last run in the third, pitched admirably for the rest of the game. Though he allowed 5 hits, the run in the second was the only one he gave up. Last weekend, Manson pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

Final score UIC 7 UIUC 4

Centerfielder Kyle Hudson and shortstop Brandon Wikoff were named to the QTI Baylor Classic All-Tournament team. Hudson went 5 for 12 with 3 rbis and 2 runs. Wikoff was 3 for 9 and 3 rbis and a double. Congratulations to both!

Next weekend, things will settle down. For the first time this season, Illinois will be playing an honest-to-goodness series against a another team. They will take on Texas Tech in Lubbock for four games. A Friday evening game, a Saturday doubleheader, and a Sunday day game… you know the drill.

I don’t know if this will help or hurt either team but the familiarity will be nice, I’m sure.

Go Illini!

Baseball Zealot Radio gets a Spring Training update from Teddy Ballgame

Tedd Mallasch (aka Teddy Ballgame) is down in Florida and enjoying some Grapefruit League action. He called up to give us an update on what’s happening down there.

If you haven’t already, read some of Teddy’s articles he written from Florida. He’s posted to the blog pretty much daily since he went down there.

As always, it was a pleasure to talk to Teddy. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time as he is headed to Arizona to see some Cactus League games later this month.

Enjoy!

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JAY VISITS JAYS

Today I went to Dunedin to see the Blue Jays host the Cincinnati Reds. I was especially excited about seeing two phenoms, Jay Bruce outfielder for the Reds (Baseball America’s #1 prospect) and outfielder Travis Snider for Toronto. Went to the bathroom before the game and there was a Cincinnati fan a few feet away commenting how the weather today was a whole lot better than the other day in Clearwater, yes 73 is much better than a brisk 53. Turns out this gentleman, Joe Bruce, was from Texas and his son plays for the Reds, none other than Jay. I commented on how his son was the next big thing, he kinda shrugged it off, and said how Jay had passed up a full ride to Tulane, the Reds signing bonus was too much to pass up. Joe then told me his boy was starting today in centerfield. I wished him well and told him to let Jay know I wished him nothing but the best. It’s always good to see good people in the game.

The 2nd time up Bruce rocked an A.J. Burnett pitch into left-centerfield for a two run double. It was good to see the kid patient enough to wait for a pitch he could handle in an RBI situation, and then do something with it. I had to be a little patient myself, waiting for Travis Snider to hit. Snider’s having a little leg issue, so he had to wait till the Big Hurt got his three AB’s before pinch hitting. As luck would have it, Travis stepped to the plate against a veteran lefty reliever, yet he took a couple of strikes before lining a single the other way into left-center, for an RBI base knock.

It’s always good to see the ballplayers interacting with the fans. In Dunedin today they had a BBQ after the game where the Blue Jay players served up the grub to the fans. Then they hung around to sign autographs, chat, and mingle with the crowd. Cito Gaston threw out the first pitch and would be on hand for the BBQ, he’s popular enough to win an election for mayor among Toronto fans.

Peoria Chiefs release promo schedule

For those in the area, plan your trip to see the Peoria Chiefs this year. The Chiefs, who are the Chicago Cubs single A affiliate, have already come out with the promotion schedule including all-you-can-eat hot dog nights (I know a few people who could give them a run for their money), free Joe Girardi t-shirts, and the headliner, in my opinion:

“Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter headlines the special guests at O’Brien Field this season as the VIP guest for the annual Legends at the Ballpark night with IPMR on Saturday June 14. Sutter was a closer for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves amassing 300 saves from 1976-1988 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. He and Chiefs Manager Ryne Sandberg had a memorable matchup in July 1984 when Sandberg tied the game twice with homers off Sutter on national TV at Wrigley Field.”

I think most Cubs fans who were around back then remember that game.

I planned to go see the Chiefs after having team broadcaster Nathan Baliva on our podcast last year but just never got around to it. I’ll have to make good on that this year. The Chiefs home season starts April 7 and single game tickets go on sale Monday.

BIG MAN, BIG BAT

Today I went to Clearwater to see the Yankees play the Phillies. Before the game I observed a big white guy on NY, #17, hitting balls off a tee, into a net, with ARod setting him up. Later in the 1st inning, #17 stepped to the dish with two aboard, and knocked the first pitch over the leftfield wall. It turned out this big guy was none other than Shelley “Slam” Duncan, son of St. Louis Cardinals coach Dave Duncan, and younger brother of outfielder Chris.

Last season when Shelley was called up to the Yanks the end of July, he lined an RBI single in game #1, game #2 saw his first big league homer, he hit three more in his third game, and then hit his 5th in his 4th game in the show. Duncan earned his Slam nickname with his home run swing and his enthusiastic high fives! Joe Torre commented that he didn’t want to be near Duncan when he did something good, because of his powerful high fives.

In September of 2007 Slam signed an autograph for a 10 year old Red Sox fan, in addition to writing his name, he wrote, “Red Sox Suck!”, he later apologized to the youngster.

The 2nd time up in today’s game Shelley ripped a two run double off the leftfield wall, putting the Yankees up 5-0, a fancy slide into 2B got him there safely. ARod launched a long homer over the left-centerfield fence. The Phillies were there too, but I really can’t remember them doing anything.

Illinois misses in one-run game against SF Austin

The good guys had the lead but Stephen F Austin came back to score three runs in top of the 9th to pull a win out of the hat. Final Score SFA 8 Illinois 7.

CF Kyle Hudson had 3 hits and two runs in his traditional eighth spot in the lineup. Frosh Casey McMurray, who has shown some offense so far this season, was 1 for 2 with 2 runs and 2 rbis. Also, Brandon Wikoff was 2 for 4 with 3 rbis.

Mike Stankiewicz was the starting pitcher and didn’t put up horrible numbers though they weren’t spectacular either. He allowed 4 ER in 7 2/3 IP with 4 strikeouts. The big plus was that he didn’t allow a walk in the game. Losing pitcher Nick Chmielewski allowed 3 ER in an innings work.

Tomorrow, we come up agiainst our sister campus, University of Illinois-Chicago. It will be Illinois’ last game in the QTI Baylor Classic.

Next Game:

	Game #6	Sat Mar 2, 11 am CST
Record: 2-3	vs University of Illinois-Chicago	at Waco, Tx

Opponent:	University of Illinois-Chicago
Nickname:	Flames
Conference:	Horizon League
Head Coach:	Mike Dee (10th year)
Location:	Chicago, IL
Current Record:	1-3
Baseball Program website:	Link
Players to watch:	It seems to be a very young team with many newcomers. The starting rotation are all pretty much new as is the outfield with the exception of sophomore Ty Rubig. Pitching for UIC is Mike Kool from Davenport IA and who pitched two years for Blackhawk College.
Team Fact:	The UIC Flames have won the last six regular season Horizon League championships and three of the last five tournaments.

Go Illinois!!