Monday, March 15, 2004
I WANT MY MARINER BRACKET POOL TRASH TALK!
Running down the Seattle Sunday Mariner articles...
Times first.
Finnigan's notebook says Will Bloomquist forgot to run out a fly ball that hooked fair and had to settle for first when he could have ended up on second. Usually, I'd bash him mercilessly for doing this, but I've spewed my share of South Kitsap hate in this 24-hour span, and quite frankly, this is spring training, he knows he has a roster spot...who gives a crap? When he does it during the season, sure, I'll beg for his long-overdue release. Finnigan says Bloomquist saved one run by making a diving catch at first, and then tries to say it saved a run because then JJ Putz would have balked him in from third base. Naturally, Finnigan neglects to mention what kind of balk it was -- as a pitcher you're conscious of your pitching motion, the way you come set, the way you place your feet, etc. in different ways depending on whether there's a runner on third or a runner on second. Anyway, I'm just saying it's a longshot implication by Finnigan. Not that we aren't used to that by now.
Here comes Finnigan again with a piece on John Olerud and the retirement that didn't take place. It became an absolutely anticlimactic article to me. Why? We get to read all these reasons for why John Olerud could have hung it up after last year and called it quits -- mostly reasons revolving around his family.
For 75-80% of the article, we see the family-related things that would be valid causes for Olerud to pack it in. As a reader, I'm held in suspense as to what made him come back, and I'm expecting something grand, something detailed, maybe something that would bring a tear to my eye. What do I get?
Then in November, he went to a conference for Christian professional athletes in San Antonio. It helped point his mind in the direction of continuing his career.
"I really would prefer not to go into detail about the discussion," Olerud said.
Yet, it is certain he came away with a different perspective on how he might be able to help people by continuing to play.
That's it? I don't have a problem with Olerud experiencing some sort of career epiphany, I'm just saying I felt baited and switched by the article. And yes, Bob Finnigan wrote the article -- an article that nearly deceived me, in a way.
Now to the Times Grapefruit League notebook. Jon Lieber will be out for the Yanks? Donovan Osborne could be their 5th starter? Brian Cashman is really saying they won't go outside the organization for a 5th starter?? The bottom tidbit section shows us what Mike Cameron and Jose Cruz did for their respective teams, and that Steve Cox was cut by the Cardinals. Call me crazy, but I'd like Steve Cox on my team more than, say, Crack, Bloomquist, Hiram Bocachica, Ramon Santiago, Dave Hansen, etc. Here's his stats, and he played in 2003 in Japan, but I'm not sure why his stats here are kinda low-looking. Injuries, perhaps?
To the P-I...
John Hickey says that Bob Melvin is saying "screw it" to matchups and is basing the starting rotation's slots on performance. I could say I wish the organization would do this all the way around, but they'd probably use "performance" as a relative term, using small or selective sample sizes and overweighting them accordingly. As for the rest of the article, ho-hum.
In the notebook, Hickey says the young arms did well, Mike Myers did a little too well for my liking, and Eddie Guardado will pitch today. Ron Villone has tinkered with his delivery and mowed down batters in a "B" game.
"Villone was almost unhittable," Melvin said. "For sure, a game like this helps as you think about putting together the final (25-man) roster.
Hey, Bob...IT WAS A DAMN "B" GAME!!! Let me guess, you're basing cut decisions on "B" games because Hiram Bocachica and Ramon Santiago and all the other members of Hacks, Inc. are playing nine innings apiece in the Cactus League games? Is that it?
About Dave Hansen, he's having some groin problems.
Finally, Art Thiel has some Freddy Garcia quotes and stuff.
In true Thiel fashion, there is one semi-weird nearly-uncomfortable reference/cliche/play on words in the article...
[Garcia's] 2003 season was suitable for viewing mostly by tennis fans experienced at observing the to and fro.
Well, it's not the clutch delivery I was quite hoping for, but it'll do for now. As for the article, Garcia had a fair amount to say. Not a lot of made-up crap by the writer in this article, which isn't something I'd pin on Thiel, but rather on some other writer that I've mentioned in this post. For this Garcia article in itself, I'll just say the phrase "green stuff" is used four times.
Times first.
Finnigan's notebook says Will Bloomquist forgot to run out a fly ball that hooked fair and had to settle for first when he could have ended up on second. Usually, I'd bash him mercilessly for doing this, but I've spewed my share of South Kitsap hate in this 24-hour span, and quite frankly, this is spring training, he knows he has a roster spot...who gives a crap? When he does it during the season, sure, I'll beg for his long-overdue release. Finnigan says Bloomquist saved one run by making a diving catch at first, and then tries to say it saved a run because then JJ Putz would have balked him in from third base. Naturally, Finnigan neglects to mention what kind of balk it was -- as a pitcher you're conscious of your pitching motion, the way you come set, the way you place your feet, etc. in different ways depending on whether there's a runner on third or a runner on second. Anyway, I'm just saying it's a longshot implication by Finnigan. Not that we aren't used to that by now.
Here comes Finnigan again with a piece on John Olerud and the retirement that didn't take place. It became an absolutely anticlimactic article to me. Why? We get to read all these reasons for why John Olerud could have hung it up after last year and called it quits -- mostly reasons revolving around his family.
For 75-80% of the article, we see the family-related things that would be valid causes for Olerud to pack it in. As a reader, I'm held in suspense as to what made him come back, and I'm expecting something grand, something detailed, maybe something that would bring a tear to my eye. What do I get?
Then in November, he went to a conference for Christian professional athletes in San Antonio. It helped point his mind in the direction of continuing his career.
"I really would prefer not to go into detail about the discussion," Olerud said.
Yet, it is certain he came away with a different perspective on how he might be able to help people by continuing to play.
That's it? I don't have a problem with Olerud experiencing some sort of career epiphany, I'm just saying I felt baited and switched by the article. And yes, Bob Finnigan wrote the article -- an article that nearly deceived me, in a way.
Now to the Times Grapefruit League notebook. Jon Lieber will be out for the Yanks? Donovan Osborne could be their 5th starter? Brian Cashman is really saying they won't go outside the organization for a 5th starter?? The bottom tidbit section shows us what Mike Cameron and Jose Cruz did for their respective teams, and that Steve Cox was cut by the Cardinals. Call me crazy, but I'd like Steve Cox on my team more than, say, Crack, Bloomquist, Hiram Bocachica, Ramon Santiago, Dave Hansen, etc. Here's his stats, and he played in 2003 in Japan, but I'm not sure why his stats here are kinda low-looking. Injuries, perhaps?
To the P-I...
John Hickey says that Bob Melvin is saying "screw it" to matchups and is basing the starting rotation's slots on performance. I could say I wish the organization would do this all the way around, but they'd probably use "performance" as a relative term, using small or selective sample sizes and overweighting them accordingly. As for the rest of the article, ho-hum.
In the notebook, Hickey says the young arms did well, Mike Myers did a little too well for my liking, and Eddie Guardado will pitch today. Ron Villone has tinkered with his delivery and mowed down batters in a "B" game.
"Villone was almost unhittable," Melvin said. "For sure, a game like this helps as you think about putting together the final (25-man) roster.
Hey, Bob...IT WAS A DAMN "B" GAME!!! Let me guess, you're basing cut decisions on "B" games because Hiram Bocachica and Ramon Santiago and all the other members of Hacks, Inc. are playing nine innings apiece in the Cactus League games? Is that it?
About Dave Hansen, he's having some groin problems.
Finally, Art Thiel has some Freddy Garcia quotes and stuff.
In true Thiel fashion, there is one semi-weird nearly-uncomfortable reference/cliche/play on words in the article...
[Garcia's] 2003 season was suitable for viewing mostly by tennis fans experienced at observing the to and fro.
Well, it's not the clutch delivery I was quite hoping for, but it'll do for now. As for the article, Garcia had a fair amount to say. Not a lot of made-up crap by the writer in this article, which isn't something I'd pin on Thiel, but rather on some other writer that I've mentioned in this post. For this Garcia article in itself, I'll just say the phrase "green stuff" is used four times.
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