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The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim South of San Francisco North of San Diego looked like world beaters against a team outside of Chicago. This was a different Jeff Weaver that took the bump for the Halos than the guy who pitched earlier in my trip versus the Cubs. Weaver allowed no runs over five innings of work, striking out five, allowing only three base knocks, and no walks. Meanwhile the Angels hitters ripped four homers, Juan Rivera, Chone Figgins, Tim Salmon, & Jose Molina each hit one. Rangers Superstar Mark Teixeira went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and is in an 0-for-23 slump, including the World Baseball Classic. This was no contest, 9-0 final.

Got the opportunity to meet a sports beat writer for the Rangers Kat O’Brien. Kat played softball in Iowa for the infamous DonS. Also contributed some money to PAWS of Arizona, they help adopt out stray cats & dogs, and were volunteering their services selling a Weiss Beer in the leftfield stands.

Got a surprise in Surprise, AZ as Hideo Nomo was warming up for the White Sox. Nomo is a 37 year old Japanese righthander who enjoyed his best success with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hideo was 13-6 with a 2.54 ERA in 1995 as a rookie, 16-11 in 1996, and 14-12 in 1997. After suffering through a couple of injury riddled seasons he rebounded for a 12-8 mark in 1999 with the Brewers. As recently as 2001 he posted three consecutive years with records of 13-10, 16-6, & 16-13. So you might ask, how did were the Sox able to bring such an obviously talented pitcher into camp? Well Nomo fell on hard times the last couple of years and he is once again looking to recapture the magic that made him one of the best pitchers in the game, 123-109 lifetime.

Nomo had a shakey first inning allowing two runs, but rebounded with a couple of K’s and no runs in the 2nd. Brandon McCarthy was horrible in his quest for a job in the Sox bullpen. McCarthy walked three, allowed two hits (one of which was a HR), and three runs, all this in one-third of an inning. Boone Logan pitched 1 2/3 innings of shutout ball, hasn’t allowed a run all spring. Cliff Politte, Bobby Jenks, & Neal Cotts all threw an inning of scoreless ball. A.J. Pierzynski had three hits, Alex Cintron drove in a couple, and Jermaine Dye launched one over the fence. Although Doug Mientkiewicz went 3-for-3, a double, a homer, with four RBIs, it wasn’t to be as the Good Guys posted a 6-5 win.

It’s supposed to be sunshine in Arizona, but there was no way the White Sox would be getting in their game versus the Brewers in Maryvale. Or so that was the thought as the RV headed out of Tucson following the World Champs. But the weather cleared as we entered the parking lot and we fired up the grill. Went to the bathroom in the RV and heard some banter outside, bad bladder timing cost me the opportunity of meeting Man Soo Lee. Man Soo is the White Sox bullpen catcher. He was a star in the Korean League where he was known as the Babe Ruth of Korea. Lee put up career numbers of .296, 252 homers, and 861 RBIs. Paulie Konerko was 3-3 with a double & a homer and Alex Cintron was 3-3 with a double. Armando Almanza threw two shutout innings, Javier Lopez pitched an inning without allowing a run, as did Tim Redding, all are competing for spots in the Sox bullpen. Derrick Turnbow was dominating against White Sox minor league hitters in the 9th. The Brew Crew scored a 9th inning run for a 8-7 Milwaukee winner.

I’ve gotten an advance copy of The Last Nine Innings: Inside the Real Game Fans Never See by Charles Euchner.  I’ve been reading a chapter or two each night and it’s unlike any baseball book I’ve read before.  I’d recommend it for hard core baseball fans or for those casual fans who want to get a little more out of the game.

As a backdrop, The Last Nine Innings uses the last game of 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees.  But it would be inaccurate to say that the focus was on that particular game itself.  Rather, Euchner dissects each practically each at-bat and uses it to analyze the game of baseball and how it is played.  From there, he draws in outside references, historical and current, to give us an inside look of baseball.

The story begins with the first pitch of Game 7 and goes from there.  Euchner covers the physics of baseball, the selection and location of pitches, the importance of the catcher, the swing of the bat, managerial decisions, pretty much everything that happens during the course of a baseball game. 

For those baseball experts who think they know everything there is to know about baseball, read The Last Nine Innings.  I guarantee you will learn one or two things you didn’t know before and you will get more out of watching the next ballgame you go to.

The Last Nine Innings is now available at Amazon.com.

 

I know it’s only spring training and it doesn’t count, but this one was kinda important as it featured the Chicago Cubs versus the Chicago White Sox. Maybe I’m a little sensitive about this whole Cubs/Sox rivalry having grown up only two miles from Wrigeley Field. The first baseball game I ever saw was a Boy’s Benefit game between the White Sox and the Cubs at old County Stadium in Milwaukee in 1968. I don’t really remember any details about that game and would love to see a scoresheet from my first MLB contest.

Aramis Ramirez took newcomer Javier Vazquez over the wall to put the Cubbies up 1-0, but then the Sox got their turn against Glendon Rusch and it was 4-1 Good Guys after the 1st inning. Joe Crede was the hitting star going 4-4 with a homer, double, & 4 RBIs. Brandon McCarthy looked sharp in relief allowing nothing over one & two-thirds innings of work, striking out two, and inducing a doubleplay grounder. Final score 9-3 World Champs.

Headed to Tucson to see the White Sox host the Rangers. It would be the first time seeing my boys in person since beating the Angels last fall in Anaheim. Mark Buehrle was rocked as the Rangers scored seven times (four earned) off the Sox ace in five innings, ripping nine base hits. Josh Fields put Chicago up 8-7 with an RBI double in the 8th, but the White Sox surrendered the lead when the Rangers Laynce Nix ripped a two run shot off Agustin Montero (who punched his minor league ticket), Texas added another to make it 10-8. The Sox put one on the board in the 9th to make the final 10-9 Rangers. After the ballgame we went over to a sports bar named Famous Sam’s to watch a little NCAA Tournament Basketball. Famous Sam’s had about 15 TVs all tuned to the same game. When we asked if they could get more games on, we were told, “they’re all on the same channel”, to which we questioned, “don’t you have the package?”, to which they responded, “the package?” Good thing there was beer to drink!

Headed over to Peoria after the game in Tempe. Peoria has the best food selection among spring training fare. Had a delicious veggie bean burrito washed down with a Mountain Dew. Watched this game from right behind home plate, which was very cool. Got a chance to see E-4 Eric Young play for the Pads versus E-4 Eric Young, Jr. for the Rockies. Late in the game Junior got a chance to showoff his speed as he was cutdown on a bang-bang play at first, this kid can flat out fly. It also looks like he inherited his inability to field groundball gene from his father, however he did range into the outfield to make a nice catch on a popup. Mike Piazza blasted a ball over the right centerfield fence for San Diego. Although he has no place to go with Todd Helton holding down first base for the Rocks, Joseph Koshansky put on quite a show clearing the bases with a double and clearing the wall with a home run. The Rockies beat the Padres 5-3. My seat was quite sore after this long day of baseball.

Arrived in Arizona late night on the 15th and was ready for a little baseball on the 16th. Nothing like jumping right into the action as I was scheduled to see a day/night doubleheader. First on the docket was the Chicago Cubs against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim South of San Francisco & North of San Diego. You probably know I’m not a Cub fan, but the Cubs were playing the dreaded Angels who tried to stop my White Sox from advancing to the World Series. Despite the fact that Cub fans travel the globe like nomads in search of the ever illusive Championship (see the Southside of Chicago), there was a sea of red at Tempe Diablo Stadium as Angel fans packed the house. My Greg Maddux t-shirt looked totally out of place both in the ballpark and on my back. I felt right at home as this was exactly how it was when last I watched a Major League game that counted. Only this time Chicago was sending their B Team to kick a little California Plastic Butt. Then the Cubs brought back deja vu all over again as they jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead en route to a 7-6 victory over the Halos. Jeff Weaver was roughed up for five runs & nine hits over four innings of work.

Before heading back to Chicago after spending one week in Florida I caught a Grapefruit League preseason baseball game between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays vs the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, FL. I was staying without a car about 1/2 an hour north of the ballpark at the Tahitian Resort in Holiday, FL. So I made arrangements with Danny’s Limo to have him drive me to Casa Del Tina’s for a nice Mexican meal, then to the ballpark, and on to Tampa International for my flight home. I couldn’t believe the awesome seat I had down the RF line, but in the front row. All the photographers were stationed right by where I was sitting. They were all very friendly, especially a guy named Dave from Baseball America who’d tried to take some pictures of the Yankees in Tampa, but found it too crowded and came over to Dunedin.

Roy Halladay allowed four unearned runs in the first inning as the Jays were sloppy to say the least. Toronto made four errors on the day. You might say, “get it out of your system”, but I’d say, “money doesn’t solve your problems”. The Blue Jays went heavily into the free agent market in the off season bringing in A.J. Burnett, B.J. Ryan, Benjie Molina, & Troy Glaus. On this day it was the lowly D*Rays who dominated play winning the game 9-5.

Word has it that minor league umpires are planning to strike next month.  The Association of Minor League Umpires has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB.

Aside from the effect on the increasingly popular minor league baseball leagues, it will have have other effects.

The union said it would not supply replacement umps to the major leagues during a strike. Minor league umps routinely fill in for major league umpires who are injured or on vacation.

The minor league umpires average $15,000 at Triple-A and as low as $10,000 in A-ball.