The Baseball Zealot

Where to go to get info on the 2009 Big Ten Baseball Tournament

From May 20-23, the Big Ten Baseball Tournament will be in full force at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio. For those interested in keeping up on the latest news, here are some good places to start:

Official 2009 Big Ten Baseball Tournament page

Complete with the tournament bracket, schedule, and I assume, eventually box scores and wrap-ups.

Big Ten Baseball Programs

Good places to get the official word on your favorite Big Ten team.

Illinois Baseball

Indiana Baseball

Michigan State Baseball

Minnesota Baseball

Ohio State Baseball

Purdue Baseball

… then there are the blogs.

Buckeye Nine Tourney Central

Chris Webb has brought online a repository of information surrounding the Tourney. Great articles, info, links, and reviews (including one of Illinois written by yours truly). Great idea by the Ohio State blogging contingent.

The Buckeye Nine

I’m sure Chris will also be updating his Buckeye-specific The Buckeye Nine for all you OSU fans.

Big Ten Hardball

Brian DeCaussin will continue to cover Big Ten baseball in the excellent way we’ve been accustomed. If I want to get past the hype, I go to BTH.

Behind the Plate

Inside Pitch

Two blogs covering University of Indiana baseball.

Illinois Baseball Report

Of course! I’ll be at the tournament (leaving early tomorrow) and will be updating the site daily on the goings on from an Illini perspective. I’ll be snapping photos and uploading like crazy.

So let’s have some fun and go Illini!!

Hillenbrand is Dr. Dolittle

shea This story was first reported in June’s Phoenix Magazine, about Shea Hillenbrand. No, the former big league star is not attempting a comeback, he’s practicing giving back, which is much more important. In 2007 Shea & his wife Jessica started Against All Odds, a non-profit group, which takes care of more than 150 rescued & rehabilitated animals, ranging from emus to a zonkey (cross between a zebra & a donkey). They have more than 50 animals at their own house, including kangaroos and miniature cows. They bring kids’ groups out to interact with the animals, from child crisis to disadvantaged youth to disabled children to inner-city kids. The Hillenbrands say, it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement, with both the children and the animals benefiting. They have put over one million dollars into the project, most of the money going toward veterinary care. It’s great to see someone putting his money toward making this world a better place, both for the animals and the children.

Cub Cult Hero: Bobby Scales

bobby-scales He was drafted in 1999 by the San Diego Padres out of the University of Michigan in the 14th round, the 442nd player taken. Now ten years later, Scales seems to have found a home with the Chicago Cubs, albeit off their bench. As a 21 year old kid with the Wolverines, Bobby batted .371, with 9 homers, 20 doubles, & 4 triples, in only 248 at bats. 2008 would be the first time as a regular his average would rise again above the .300 mark, .320, with 15 home runs, 20 doubles, & 2 triples, at Iowa, earned him his first shot a the big leagues.

Since being called up to the Cubs May 4th, this switch hitter has made the most of his opportunity. The next day he got his first hit, a single, off Cy Young Award Winner Tim Lincecum, on May 8th he picked up his first triple, on the 12th the kid knocked his first ball out of the park as he sprinted around the bases in record time, and then on 5/14 he ripped two doubles & drove in four in a win over the Padres.

Bobby Scales is like a breath of fresh air!

White Sox Drooping

white-sox The White Sox don’t look nearly as good as the ones pictured here. Not even one quarter of the way through the 2009 season and they’ve already been shutout six times. Their offense has been missing in action, with an all or nothing approach, for the most part it’s been station to station base running. There is very little team speed, when runners are on base, the chance for a doubleplay comes up more often than a timely longball. And if it’s conceivably possible, the starting pitching has been worse. The young starters have been disappointing, to say the least, while the old guys have been worse, the only guy who can be counted on has been Mark Buehrle.

You may be asking yourself, is there any hope? Is anything working? Well, so far the bullpen has been solid, anchored by closer Bobby Jenks, with his setup men, Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton, & Scott Linebrink. Jermaine Dye has shown outstanding defense in RF, with a potent bat. Brian Anderson, when he was healthy, demonstrated his defensive abilities in CF, while holding his own with the bat. A.J. Pierzynski needs to go out there and kick some ass, telling his pitchers that if their not going to attempt to hold runners on, he’s not even going to throw down on attempted steals.

So, what do the White Sox need to do? Bring up Gordon Beckham & Aaron Poreda, they couldn’t do any worse than Brent Lillibridge & Jose Contreras. Hitting is contagious, so are slumps, sometimes one hitter can turn a lineup around. Right now the White Sox lineup seems to have a few dark holes, Brent Lillibridge, Josh Fields, & Alexei Ramirez (who seems to have hit a sophomore jinx). Another good arm in the rotation can help turn a pitching staff around.

It might not be the time panic yet, but it’s getting close. Teams seem to build on their successes, as well as on their failures. I’ve been out to the Cell twice this year, total score was Bad Guys 20, Good Guys 0. Neither time did I see any sign of a pulse, I’ll be out there again, and I’ve got a trip with friends planned to Cincinnati to watch the Sox battle the Reds. I’d hate to make that trip for nothings.

LET’S GO WHITE SOX!

Baseball Landmark Demolition

demolitionofyankeesstadium.com has recent photos of them tearing down the seats at the old Yankee Stadium.

Baseball history buffs, ol’ Yankee fans and purists may want to avert their eyes. It’s probably a tough sight to see.

Lowest BA during hitting streaks

Washington’s thirdbaseman Ryan Zimmerman just got a hit off the Giants tonight to extend his hitting streak to 29 games.

He’s hitting 45 for 122 (.369) during the streak.

I just ran across this page on Recondite Baseball which lists The “Worst” Hitting Streaks.

Juan Pierre tops the list. In 2000, his rookie year with Colorado, he went 18 for 66 for a .273 during his 15 game hitting streak. And in 1984, Cubbie catcher Jody Davis went 16 for 57 (.281) also for a 15 game streak.

Fortunately for Washington, Zim’s hitting more than the bare minimum for his streak. He’s gotten his batting average up to .352 for the season.

Manny, PEDs and the media

It’s interesting to me, in light of Manny Ramirez’ suspension for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), how certain media elements are handling the story. While some like ESPN or Sports Illustrated are taking a more hard line approach, MLB.com not surprisingly is towing the company line and taking a more conciliatory approach.

Compare these two articles that came out the day the suspension was announced, one from Sports Illustrated and the other from MLB.com.

Both are factual and to my knowledge, accurate. However, the SI makes some clear or at least implied allegations that go beyond Mr Ramirez:

Ramirez is the first major star to be suspended under baseball’s stricter drug-testing rules that went into effect in 2003. Until now, baseball and the players union have portrayed drug use as having been nearly eradicated in the past few years, pointing out that the major drug-related stories — involving Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and the revelations in the Mitchell Report — involved drug use prior to the 2003 tightening of the program.

It’s also interesting to note the tone of the headlines of “Related Articles” from SI. Manny saga no longer funny, the sarcastic Didn’t see this one coming and Do you buy Ramirez’ excuse?

MLB.com’s initial article, predictably and I guess blamelessly, has a very official and almost apologetic tone to it. There are quotes from Ramirez about his “doctor’s excuse “ and his statement of apology to the owner of the Dodgers; Joe Torre, his teammates and of course, the fans.

We also read the requisite statements from other baseball officials on how “saddened” they are.

Links to other articles on MLB.com point to official documents such as Major League’s official drug policy and the official statements by Ramirez and the player’s union and the MLB. And more articles about how others are sad about this…. but not angry.

Where am I going with this? Do I think MLB is evil because they don’t tell the whole story or because they sugar coat the issue? Not really. Do I think ESPN, USA Today Sports and others are the bastions of sports freedom because the speak the truth? HARDLY.

Just this and maybe it’s painfully obvious, baseball fans need to diversify their sports news input. Since MLB.com obviously has direct access to the information, it’s a great place to go for the hard facts like stats, boxscores, game wrapups etc. But for good analysis, I’ll read the columnists on the more independent (but not as independent as I’d like) media outlets.

But for straight out-and-out opinions, I’ll read the blogs.

Illinois-Ohio State matchup this weekend!

#27 Ohio State is coming to town this weekend (most likely, they’re already here) to face #25 University of Illinois Fighting Illini. The biggest series of the season is almost upon us.

I did an interview of Drew Grigsby, die-hard fan Buckeye fan and he gives a rather in-depth look at our adversaries. It’s posted at Illinois Baseball Report where you’ll also find the schedule for the weekend.

The weather reports promise that the rain will clear up this afternoon so I’m looking forward to a great weekend!

If you’re in the area, come on out this weekend and support the Illini baseball team!

IBR links cuz it’s a happenin’ place

I just posted a Q & A of star shortstop Brandon Wikoff (above) over at Illinois Baseball Report last night. He’s good now and is definitely worth keeping your eye on. Check out the interview over at IBR.

Illinois, fresh off their sweep of Penn State last weekend (which put them in a tie for first place with Ohio St in the Big Ten), just defeated Southern Illinois Salukis in a mid-week non-conference. I just came from the game and was able to get some photos. Check out the write-up and some photos also at IBR.

Finally, for those who keep tabs on Willie Argo (and you really should), he took the Big Ten Player of the Week Award for his performance against PSU.

PS. he’s not stopping there. He hit a grand slam tonight.

Go Illini!

Satirical piece tells the truth of Drew?

At least one friend of mine thinks the latest Onion article entitled Brawl Clears Benches of Everyone But J.D. Drew hit a little too close to the truth.

"I thought about getting in there for a second, but then I thought, nah. It didn’t really directly concern me. I mean, yeah, they shoved a bunch of my teammates, but it’s not like they were gonna die or anything.”