Daryl's Place

The World’s Strangest Fan

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 08:46:08 +0000

I have determined that I must be the World’s Strangest Fan. I am once again saddened by the departure of a member of “My Team.”

Luis Matos has been designated for reassignment. There was never a doubt that this would happen someday, but I am never happy when the day finally comes. He was never a great outfielder, never really hit for average or power. You really aren’t going to do well in the Beast that is the AL East with players like Luis. None of that mattered to me. Every time I had the opportunity to speak with him, he seemed like he was genuinely happy to respond. We saw him last year with his hand still bandaged from breaking it during a bunt attempt, running the ramps at Camden Yards. We asked him how his hand was, and he slowed down, turned and smiled, and said it was getting better and he hoped to be back soon. He could have kept going and yelled “Fine” over his shoulder, but he didn’t. I don’t have great expectations for civility from professional athletes, so all it takes is a little courtesy to push one of them into my “Top Fourty.”

I don’t understand why, and it seems sort of un-American, but for me it’s not about winning and losing. Of course I want my favorite team to win, but that isn’t the most important thing to me. I like to watch baseball players play baseball. I believe that most of them come to the ballpark every day and do the best that they can. Some are better than others and, honestly, some try harder than others.

There have been many players who have come and gone in the last couple of years and they will soon be more to follow. I won’t miss some of them, but several of them, although not stars, made my trips to Camden Yards more enjoyable.

I will admit that I would cringe every time Matos came to bat this year, but I didn’t want him to leave – I just wanted him to get better.

Goodbye Luis, and may you find success wherever you go from here.

Déjà vu

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:35:54 +0000

Whining about the sacrifice bunt is getting boring, but maybe someday Perlozzo will get the message.

Ninth inning. Scored tied. Markakis on first, no outs. Your .300 hitter, Brian Roberts, sacrifice bunts, and moves him to second. Matos strikes out. Two outs. With first base open, they intentionally walk Tejada. Hernandez strikes out. Inning over. No runs scored.

OK, that plan didn’t work.

Eleventh inning.. Scored tied. Markakis on first, no outs. Your .300 hitter, Brian Roberts, sacrifice bunts, and moves him to second. Matos strikes out. Two outs. With first base open, they intentionally walk Tejada. Hernandez strikes out. Inning over. No runs scored.

Score for the entire game – 3 sacrifice bunts – ZERO runs scored.

Final result – game lost.

The Steal

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 19:13:30 +0000

I’m making a rare weeknight entry partially because I got home from work at a reasonable time, and partially because I can’t believe what I’m hearing.

On Sunday, with the Orioles leading the Yankees by a score of 10-4, Corey Patterson stole second, and then third. Larry Bowa yelled something to him about playing the game correctly. Corey had violated part of the “Unwritten Law” that says you don’t steal with a big lead. It’s now Tuesday, and ESPN is still talking about it.

Hello out there – this was against the New York Yankees!!!!! They had just scored 4 runs in the top of the 7^th! This is the same New York Yankees that scored 7 runs the next night in the second inning against Josh Beckett! The Oriole’s bullpen isn’t exactly Josh Beckett. Their ERA is about 40.00. Six runs, with 2 Yankee at bats to go, is not a big lead. I was paying careful attention, and I didn’t see Joe Torre waving a while flag.

Maybe we should have more parts to the Unwritten Law. How about adding to page 2, paragraph 4, section 5 – “No breaking balls with a big lead”? How about putting on page 12 – “No diving for catches if your team has more than a 5 run lead.”? Or maybe – “If you team is ahead by 6 runs, you must strike out until they catch up.”

OK – those may be a little extreme, but shouldn’t we at least ban the changeup?

Nothing To Say

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 07:48:45 +0000

I have received a few e-mails asking me “Where have you been?” Well, there have been several reasons that I have been absent from Blogdom for a while – work, life, Daddy Duty (band stuff), and the need for a little “down time”, have all contributed to a lack of postings.

But the main reason I haven’t posted is because I have had nothing to say that someone hasn’t said already.

You would have to read all of my previous posts (including the archives) in order to understand my position on all of this, but my purpose here was not to chronicle the season, nor to win the “Most Prolific Blogger” Award. This Blog thing is a hobby for me, and unfortunately there are only so many hours in a day.

I have posted comments to the Baltimore Sun, and sent an e-mail or two to the local sports reporters, but when I sit down to write something to post, I write it, read it, and say “who cares?”

I do wish the Os were playing better, but around here (at least according the people who are the most vocal) the solution is always to go get some better players and for Angelos to sell the team. A few days ago, I posted the following comment to Roch Kubatko’s Blog on the Baltimore Sun’s site (BTW – Roch (pronounced Rock) is a Sun sports reporter):

I just don’t get it.

The 1971 Orioles had 4 twenty game winners. The team was full of some of the most beloved Orioles of all time. If you ask any Oriole’s fan to name 10 of the greatest Orioles, most of them were on this club. Peter Angelos was not around.

Baltimore loved that team. According to most of the things I hear and read, the reason people don’t go to O’s games now is because they don’t have the things that the ’71 Orioles had – a winning team, All Star players, great pitching, and no Angelos.

If that’s true, then why did the Orioles average less than 13,000 for home games and didn’t even sell out Memorial Stadium for games 6 and 7 of the World Series that year?

I received a single response – We had the Colts back then.

I still don’t get it.

Happy Mother’s Day ! ! !

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Sat, 13 May 2006 15:09:30 +0000

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and we will celebrate the same way we do every year. We’re going to the ballgame. Because it’s a special day, dinner will probably be roast beef sandwiches from Boog’s Barbeque. Who would have thought that a first baseman would continue to “smoke up the yard” even after retirement from baseball? I may even spring for one of those special little desserts they push around on a cart, but I know there will be cotton candy on the way out of Camden Yards.

Just wanted to say “thanks” to all the Moms, and hope you all have a wonderful day.

Where To Start?

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Sat, 06 May 2006 05:37:49 +0000

It seems like the only one you see on the field everyday is Richie Bancells. He is the Oriole’s Trainer.

Roberts – DL

Newhan – DL

Javy Lopez – DL

Matos – DL (back as of yesterday)

Millar – Day to Day (but back now)

Tejada – Relegated to DH, but should really be sitting.

In a single inning last Saturday, Sam Perlozzo made 7 substitutions, most due to injury. You know it looks bad when the infield is:

3^rd – Backup Outfielder (Conine)

SS – Utility Infielder (Gomez)

2^nd – Your 3^rd baseman (Mora)

1^st – Your starting catcher (Hernandez)

And then on Sunday – “Starting at Shortstop, substituting for your All-Star, MVP of last year’s All Star Game, former AL MVP, League leading hitter Miguel Tejada, is Brandon Fahey. I may have been the only person in the stadium who knew who he was. If you have read my Blog before, you already know that I am a Fahey fan, but last September I saw him playing for the Bowie Baysoxs in AA. At one point in Sunday’s game, there were 3 players who I watched 8 months ago in Bowie. At least the tickets are cheaper there, and parking is free.

The bad news is that the Os lost, and even though Fahey went 2 for 4 and made an amazing defensive play, the highlight that made it to ESPN was his strikeout in the 9^th.

The good news was that it was a great day for a ballgame, and because my family was in Florida, I had the chance to go to the game with 2 good friends.

From where I sit, the good was far better than the bad.

Today’s Great News

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 18:45:24 +0000

I have tried to keep this Blog focused on baseball. I know it’s the first day of the NFL Draft, the NBA playoffs are going on, and the Os could actually be in first in the AL East by the end of the day, but, but as far as I’m concerned, the most exciting thing that happened today doesn’t involve professional sports.

The Arundel High School Music Department has been crowned Overall Grand Champions of the Festival Music Competition in Orlando, Florida. Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Guard, the Percussion Ensemble, and two choral groups all won Grand Championships in their events. They were the Grand Champions in every event that they entered.

None of these kids will be getting $25 Million signing bonuses. You won’t see their faces on ESPN. You won’t even see an article in the Baltimore newspaper, but nobody works harder than these kids. The Marching Band and Guard start working in mid-summer, in the heat and humidity of Maryland, with 8 hour a day practices. After school starts, they practice 3 hours a night as a group. This doesn’t count the time each one of them spends at home practicing their individual instruments.

My youngest daughter is a member of several of the AHS bands, and I couldn’t be prouder.

Praying For Rain

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 07:33:47 +0000

OK, I admit I’m whimping out on this one. The Os have played 18 games without a day off. Nine of those games were against teams (Angels, Indians, and Yankees) that many predict will win their divisions. Things don’t get any easier this week, since the Os head for Toronto. The O’s bullpen is pretty beat up, and the Yankee’s Ace is scheduled to start against the O’s Number 5. Perlozzo has rediscovered the sacrifice bunt (more on that in a later posting), the Yankees are undefeated in day games, and I would like to take a nap this afternoon instead of watching the game.

Rain, rain, don’t go away,

We’ll play again some other day.

If You Want To Be The Best…

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 06:06:41 +0000

God I love Yankee games! It’s always like watching a great baseball movie. As cliché as it is – “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

A win against the Yankees is like no other win. They are the best franchise in the history of professional sports. You know every position player in their line up and they are all great ballplayers. They have no weakness. Every batter can beat you, and probably has at some point. The Yankees are the standard of excellence. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you have to respect ‘em. They are who you want to be.

The Yankees jump out in the lead. The Os go with three when Wang turns into Cabrera and can’t find the strike zone. The Yankees go ahead. The Os do it again. The Yankees pull within one.

A one run lead, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, 2 outs, the count is 3-2, and 51,000 screaming Yankee fans are on their feet. Chris Ray, a rookie closer with a 96 mile an hour fastball, is facing Hideki Matsui. Buck Martinez, who you know is an honest broker because he was the manager of Team USA in the WBC, has been saying throughout the game that you never get the close ball/strike calls in Yankee Stadium, but honestly the strike zone has looked pretty random all night.

Everybody knows what’s coming. Ray is going to reach back and throw the best fastball of his life. He will use the adrenaline of the situation and find a way to get a couple more miles per hour. The only question is where Matsui will hit it. The runners are off with the pitch, and Ray throws a SLIDER! My heart sinks into my stomach as the ball breaks towards the outside corner. Matsui is called out looking! It could have been called either way, but in this game, that pitch was a strike.

At this stage of the season, this was not a big defeat for the Yankees, but it was a big win for the Orioles. On this April night, they beat the best.

Week Two

mlblogsdaryl1947 — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 20:46:09 +0000

We just got back from the Os/Angels game, and, once again, had a great time. It was a great day for a ballgame. Unfortunately, it wasn’t such a good ballgame,

I watch a lot of baseball, and this was one of the strangest games I have seen. Tejada was on first. Javy Lopez hits a ball to center field. The center fielder leaps, and comes back down on the warning track. The umpires make NO SIGN. Was it a home run? Did he catch it? I guess after waiting for 5 minutes, that Tejada figures he must have caught it, so he goes back to first. Still NO SIGN. Lopez actually runs into him on first. Still NO SIGN. Lopez passes him on the basepath. Finally a sign. It was out of the park, but since Javy passed Tejada, he was called out. Shouldn’t there be some sort of 24 second clock for umpires?

Back to the season. So far, so good.

The Os are 7 and 6 and have shown some promising signs. Last year it seemed like if they were behind after the seventh inning that the game was over. They have already had 2 ninth inning wins this year.

Except for Cabrera, who has walked more batters than the rest of the AL East combined (OK, a slight exaggeration), the starting pitching has been fair, and, although it doesn’t seem like it, the bullpen is at least as good as it was this time last year.

Yesterday, Melvin Mora said he was going to hit Cabrera in the ribs, so that he wouldn’t try to throw so hard.

No one in the AL East is scary yet. As expected, the Yankees are scoring a lot of runs, but 30 of them were against the Royals (which is only slightly over their average Runs Allowed), and Rivera has blown more saves (1) than Papelbon, Ray, and B.J Ryan all put together. Last year, they were changing their starting lineup almost every day trying to get the right mix. This year, the starting lineup is about as good as they are going to get. If it doesn’t get the job done, it doesn’t look like they have many other options.

Shilling and Beckett are looking very good, and even though they are giving up a lot of hits, Randy Johnson and Mussina seem to be on track. The Blue Jay’s one-two of Halladay and Burnett doesn’t look great right now, but it’s too early to judge. It would be nice if Burnett could stay healthy for the rest of the year, so we can see how good he really is. For the Devil Rays, Kazmir hasn’t looked good, and it’s a shame Hendrickson is on the DL.

The Devil Rays have the same record as the Yankees against the Royals (3-0), and if they ever get all of their injured players back, I think they will win a lot of ballgames. Even when they lose, they are an exciting team to watch. I’m glad the Os had them for 6 games early this year, and maybe they will be back to something resembling fill strength when they play the rest of the AL East teams.

It’s hard to comment objectively about the Red Sox. After all, they did sweep the O’s in week one, so anything I say will sound like “sour grapes. They just don’t look like they are about to run away with it yet, but I think Manny will hit better than .205 and average more than 2 RBIs in 11 games.

I haven’t seen much of the Blue Jays, and I’m not a big believer in trying to judge much from box scores.

It’s been fun so far, and it looks like it will only get better. Cabrera starts tomorrow, and it can only be entertaining. Luckily, the Yankees get a much needed day off.