Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
Man, this 5-year old kid can really hit the ball. Apparently, he can field, too.
I almost feel for him. Heās doomed to a life of pressure, over-bearing adults, hype and over-expectations and heās not even in first grade yet.
Deadspin pretty much sums it up:
You’ll have to watch the video to see Ortiz salivating at the idea and the dollar signs in his eye.
Go have a life, kid.
The University of Illinois baseball team is now in the throes of the Big Ten play and this weekend, theyāll be playing the University of Michigan. Any time Illinois plays Michigan in any sport, itās a big deal. I can vouch that baseball is certainly no exception.
In anticipation of this weekendās upcoming series, Michigan sports website, MGoBlog did a Q&A interview of me. I did the same, interviewing their baseball expert and posting the results on Illinois Baseball Report.
Illinois is a quite improved team. After losing six of their first seven games, they have an overall record of 15-13.
Go Illinois!!
Last night I went down to St Louis to see the University of Illinois baseball team play at Busch Stadium. They were playing the University of Missouri Tigers. The game was billed as āThe Battle at Buschā.
Despite a quick 4-1 lead after two innings, Illinois ended up losing 7-4. The experience was fun though. And I got to see an excellent example of a delayed double steal by the Illini. Woo!
I posted a quick summary and a few photos at the Illinois Baseball Report.
Chicago Breaking Sports (an oddly chosen, yet perhaps appropriate name for WGN/Chicago Tribuneās Sports site) has posted an interview of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts where he ādiscusses life as Cubsā ownerā.
On Lou Piniella’s future
Ricketts said general manager Jim Hendry ultimately will make that decision. "If you insert yourself into that discussion, you’re not adding value, for one thing, and you want accountability," he said. "It’s Jim’s responsibility, and he knows it."
Passing the buck..
Seriously, good to hear that one fat cat owner isnāt going to micromanage his team.
The New York Times just sold some of its stake of the Boston Red Sox.
The deal with Henry McCance for 50 of the media company’s 750 units in New England Sports Ventures (NESV), which owns the Major League Baseball team, reduces the Times’s stake to 16.6 percent from 17.75 percent.
Before we get all sentimental thinking it was a move to be more loyal to the Yankees, my bet is that it was a purely economic move based on the Times financial situation.
The University of Illinois baseball season is underway. All right, the season is over a month old but the Illini just had their home opener last night so Iām very excited.
Illinois crushed Chicago State 18-2 for their first game at Illinois Field. I have a wrap-up and photos of game over at Illinois Baseball Report. Matt Milroy, who was chosen by the Red Sox in the 2009 MLB draft, got his first win for the Illini.
Interesting note: Chicago State came in with a 13.57 ERA. Illinois still managed to increase it significantly.
The one thing more fun than a home opener is the first Big Ten series at home. Penn State comes to visit this weekend. At IBR, I did an interview with Larry Fall who blogs about Penn State baseball at Happy Valley Hardball in anticipation of the big series.
Go Illini!
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com has a rather interesting article regarding Stephen Strasburg and former MLB first round picks. His point is simpleā¦ weāve gotten some real goodies with the #1 pick (Griffey, Arod, Chipper, Mauer) but at the same time, there have been some duds, too.
Crasnick trots out some examples to make his point. Players like Brien Taylor (who never even made to the majors), Matt Anderson, Paul Wilson to name just a few. When I take a cursory look at Baseball Referenceās list of first round picks, I come away with the opinion that position players seem to have better luck than pitchers. Hence the concern about Strasburg.
Donāt get me wrongā¦ this isnāt an indictment by me on Stephen Strasburgās talent or the possibility he may develop into a first-rate pitcher. Rather itās a concern that the media, baseball pundits and fans may expect too much too soon from someone who has yet to pitch in a regular season baseball game.
This pre-season, the media and other baseball are falling over themselves trying to cover this guy. I get the feeling theyāre also falling in love with him too (sometimes in the weirdest way). The day of his first start in spring training, everyone was all abuzz (and a-twitter) about it. I pretty much got an over-excited pitch-by-pitch account of his appearance. If he scratched his nose, I heard about it.
Now that itās been decided that Strasburg will make his debut later this year (some have said ādelayā), Iām sure the media will no doubt keep an eye on his minor league development.
I really would like to see this guy succeed. So letās give the guy some room and maybe not so much pressure. Iād hate to have another Mark Prior on our hands.