Category: Uncategorized

I recently went to Miller Park in Milwaukee. Here is my review of the “new” park. Hadn’t been to a game since the old County Stadium. In fact the first MLB game I ever attended was a benefit game between the White Sox and the Cubs in 1968 in County Stadium. Miller Park does tailgating up right as the parking lots open three hours before game time, they give you plenty of room to barbecue, and plenty of receptacles for dumping hot coals. It’s a very nice park with lots of room around the park with beautiful landscaping. They needed to build this ballpark with a retractable roof to prevent rainouts with fans coming to the park from all over Wisconsin. But the retractable roof in my opinion gave me the sense more that I was inside a shopping mall rather than a ballpark.

Walking to Miller Park.  

Almost at the Ballpark.

 

A quote from a local sportswriter from the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette:

“There’s not much to love about this Rafael Palmeiro mess but maybe it gets us a step closer to asterisks for baseball’s cheaters.”

Seriously, as a sportwriter, do you really want to go there?  We already have the North Dakota Senate (who must have already solved all of the state’s problems) passing a resolution asking Bud Selig to re-instate Roger Maris’ 61 homeruns as the major league record.  This attempt to write and amend baseball history goes overboard, in my opinion.

Do I favor the use of steroids in baseball?  No.  But to institute an asterisk system would be a logistical nightmare if nothing else.  To do so now is too late.  Major league baseball should have nipped this in the bud when they suspected it was happening years ago instead of closing their eyes and hoping the fans wouldn’t care.

Now it’s too late.  Crack down now.  Make them pay.  But what has happened, happened.  Don’t close your eyes again.

 

 

How can we believe the man that Harry Caray used to call Rayfell Palermo? Raffy has gone on record as saying he has never, ever intentionally used any performance enhancing drug. What in the heck do you call Viagra? By all accounts it certainly enhances your performance!

But seriously, why should we believe him? I’ve heard all of the arguments – he’s not a muscle bound freak, he doesn’t have acne, his head hasn’t grown to gargantuan proportions, etc… And I know it doesn’t make sense for him to be doing anything now after his big stand in front of congress and his threats of litigation against Jose Canseco and the love fest that led up to his 3,000th hit. (Has he actually filed that defamation of character suit against Jose?) But, unless you believe Jose’s latest theory that MLB dirtied Raffy’s urine to make an example out of him, some banned substance showed up in Palmeiro’s sample.

Canseco claims that he injected Palmeiro with steroids when they were teammates in Texas. Take a look at Raffy’s numbers. Canseco arrived in Texas at the end of the 1992 season. Through that year, his first 7 seasons, Palmeiro’s career high in homers was 26. Starting in 1993 and continuing for the next 11 seasons (with the exception of an injury shortened 1994)Palmeiro never hit less than 37 homers in a season. Some people may say that the sudden power surge can be traced to the new park in Arlington. Perhaps, but the first year of the spike was 1993. That season was played at the old park. The Ballpark at Arlington (now called Ameriquest Field) opened in 1994. I know this all sounds like an Oliver Stone movie but it’s a little more than a coincidence to me.

You can check out Palmeiro’s stats using this link http://baseballreference.com/p/palmera01.shtml.

“I have never intentionally used steroids. Never. Ever. Period,” Palmeiro said. “Ultimately, although I never intentionally put a banned substance into my body, the independent arbitrator ruled that I had to be suspended under the terms of the program.” Rafael said this after he was suspended for ten games for using a banned substance. It’s interesting after all the talk of whether or not Rafael Palmeiro deserves Hall of Fame consideration. Although Palmeiro has over 3,000 hits and 500 home runs he’s only been an All Star four times and finished as high as 5th once in MVP voting.

The Baseball Zealot is taking on a new contributing author, CaptainWill.  First things first, his allegiance is to the Pirates (don’t question about Maz being in HOF with him in the room).  CaptainWill follows MLB closely as well as having a good understanding of baseball history.

Most unique about CaptainWill is that he is an accredited umpire for high school and collegiate baseball leagues.  He has a lot of interesting stories to tell.

Welcome aboard!

Do you think Jason Giambi is on a mission to prove that steriods were not the only reason he was one of the most feared hitters in the AL his last few years in Oakland and first year or two in NY? He just came off a 14 homer month in July and is looking like he’s added a few pounds. Perhaps he was sicker than we realized last year. Giambi’s 14 homers were the most by a Yankee in a month since The Mick hit 14 in July 44 years ago… Sticking with the Yankees, they really made the Angels bullpen look bad over the weekend. Do you think the Angels are feeling the heat from their division foes to the north? Mike Scioscia’s group did not have one of their best weeks…

Who’s hotter – Oakland or Houston? That’s like trying to decide between Pam Anderson and Carmen Electra. Both are playing excellent baseball. For Oakland this is nothing new. The only difference is that they didn’t wait until August to start their run. Eric Chavez and Barry Zito have really turned their seasons around. And the arrival of Jay Payton has added some unexpected punch to the lineup. The Astros on the other hand are doing what they did last year. The difference this year is that there was no managerial change and no Carlos Beltran added to the lineup. The offense has finally taken some pressure off of possibly the best pitching staff in baseball at the moment. Can anybody match Clemens, Pettitte and Oswalt right now? Throw in Brad Lidge and you’ve got 4 of the best on one team. That’s going to be awfully tough to beat in the post-season. Of course they have to get there first…

The Twins’ loss of Tori Hunter ends their season as far as I’m concerned. Did anybody see their Keystone Kops impression Friday night in Boston? Check it out on mlb.com. Click on “Damon’s RBI single”. It’s pretty funny…

And lastly, “The Greatest Show on Dirt” is under way this week in Crystal Lake, IL. The 15yr old CABA World Series runs from 7/30 thru 8/7. There are 42 teams participating including a team each from Canada, Puerto Rico and Japan. If you live in the Chicagoland area it’s worth it to make the trip and spend the day. This year globalsportsnetwork.net is webcasting the games. This allows players’ families and friends who are unable to make the trip to watch the games.

Yesterday the Orioles drilled Tadahito Iguchi, who had to leave the game, and he isn’t playing today. Ozzie Guillen came out trying to defend his team without waking up the Orioles. Today the Orioles his A.J. Pierzynski, no warning was given. Later in the game Mark Buehrle hit B.J. Surhoff with a pitch, with a one run lead, and a runner on 1st & two outs. Surhoff simply walked down to first. Immediately the home plate umpire Brian Gorman ejected Buehrle. The Hawk was incensed! GO SOX GO!!!

A day after the Yanks signed Hideo Nomo and his 7.24 ERA, they showed they were a little more serious about making a run for it by trading for Shawn Chacon. 

That’s more like it.

I’m no Yankee fan but I know a good decision from a bad one.  And this one is… well, it’s better than Nomo.

Admittedly, Chacon has had a rough year and half.  Last year, he had a 7.11 ERA and 9 blown saves in relief.  This year, as a starter, his record is 1-7.  And he does have control issues.  36 BB in 73 2/3 innings. 

All that said, just two years ago he went 11-8 with the Rockies so he’s capable of putting it together.  And this year, he has gotten his ERA down to 4.09 in Colorado.  Youth is on his side.  He’s still only 27. 

Chacon will start on Saturday against the Angels.

 

 

This isn’t baseball-related but I thought I’d pass it on.  If you haven’t checked out Google Earth, it’s really worth a look.  Google Earth allows you to view any place on the Earth via satellite imagery.  Google combines the usual mapping interfacing (i.e directions, nearest businesses etc.) with this and it becomes a useful tool.

Here is a screen shot showing a closeup of Wrigley Field (click for larger image). 

You can download the free program from Google Earth’s page.  You must have a relatively new computer with the video capabilities to handle the imagery.

 

This is one I didn’t expect.

As desperate as the Yankees are with their pitching situation, I didn’t foresee them looking to Hideo Nomo to ease their problems.  Nomo has gone downhill fast since his 16-win 2003 season.  Last year’s fiasco of a season ended with an ERA over 8.00. 

This year has not fared much better for Hideo.  Though he has showed some signs of mediocrity, he for the most part has stunk.  In his 18 starts, he has allowed 5 or more runs in 10 of them.  Right now, he is 5-8 with a 7.24 ERA. 

Nomo will currently be signed to a minor league contract to get some work in as he hasn’t pitched in 10 days. 

Good luck to Hideo while he pitches in the lion’s den of Yankees Stadium.  Who knows?  Maybe he’ll thrive there for his last stand.