Two-cents worth on the first two weeks of the baseball season:
The AL Central is overhyped. The teams are balanced but quality depth is missing. Hard to get too excited when the two teams that most think will win the division — Detroit and Cleveland — don't have a legit closer. Looking for a longshot to win a division title? Don't rule out the White Sox with Bobby Jenks providing the final word. Kansas City GM Dayton Moore's best off-season move was convincing new manager Trey Hillman to keep pitching coach Bob McClure. McClure is the best kept secret in baseball. He's Leo Mazzone without the rockin' or promoting. McClure develops a strong rapport with his pupils, and has a special ability to develop unfulfilled talent (see Zack Greinke).
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Biggest oversight in the game? Lack of a job for Don Baylor. It was bad enough that he was in a part-time pre-game host, post-game analyst role for the Washington Nationals a year ago, but to have him not hanging around at all this year is a loss for baseball. Division titles aren't won in April, but as a warning to Detroit, they can be lost. No team has ever rebounded from a 2-10 start to win a World Series. Arizona right fielder Justin Upton is worth the price of admission to watch. He can hit the fastball — anybody's fastball — and while he may not be old enough to legally drink, he has a great feel for the game. He understands the value of being able to drive the ball the other way. How much has the game changed? Last week, Upton swung so hard at a pitch from Jeff Francis that when he missed he fell down. Next pitch, Upton hit a 428-foot home run. Hard to believe he got a pitch to hit instead of being hit by a pitch, and even harder to believe he obviously had no concern about being knocked down because he was ready to unload on the offering. Championships aren't won in April, but no sense taking the fun out of it for Baltimore and Florida. And who knows? Miracles do happen. Remember the 2006 Detroit Tigers? Never did get taken seriously, until they showed up to play St. Louis in the World Series. St. Louis is the team to beware. Remember, the Cardinals are getting by with their top three starters on the disabled list. But they are expecting to eventually get Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder and Matt Clement on the active roster. And they do have that late-inning weapon, Jason Isringhausen, along with manager Tony La Russa, who has never met a challenge he hasn't welcomed. La Russa isn't afraid to go against the grain with moves like hitting his pitcher eighth, but it was Whitey Herzog with Kansas City who was the first to try a double-leadoff hitter approach, although he did it with a lineup that included a DH. Herzog would hit Freddie Patek at the bottom of the order — didn't like his on-base percentage — and then move George Brett and Hal McRae up in the order so they'd both get up in the first inning, and after their first at-bat, they were both hitting behind Frank White, who hit eighth, and Patek, who hit ninth. It was another former Royals manager, the late Dick Howser, who first went to the one-inning closer, making a point of bringing in the late Dan Quisenberry to start an inning because Quisenberry was a contact pitcher and Howser wanted him to have margin for error. Howser is among the most underappreciated managers in the game. He's the one guy who walked away from George Steinbrenner — after a 100-win season. Wonder what he would have accomplished if a brain tumor hadn't stolen him from baseball during his managerial prime. Shouldn't be a surprise his closest friend in the managerial ranks was Bobby Cox. And remember, twice Howser's old boss in Kansas City tried to hire Cox after Howser died. Cox, however, was committed to remaining in Atlanta — where he was the general manager at the time. Always wondered if that had anything to do with John Schuerholz leaving Kansas City to become the GM in Atlanta. As that old saying goes (sort of), "If you can't hire them, join them." Reasons to be patient and remember it's a long season: Five lowest batting averages (through Tuesday) among 201 big-league batters who have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting race belong to David Ortiz (.113), Troy Tulowitzki (.149), Placido Polanco (.149), Andruw Jones (.149) and Casey Blake (.150). And the two highest earned-run averages belong to C.C. Sabathia (11.57) and Roy Oswalt (9.00). And at the other extreme, what does Chipper Jones, Atlanta's All-Star third baseman, have in common with A.J. Pierzynski, Chone Figgins, Nate McClouth and Luke Scott? Pierzynski leads the majors with a .421 average followed by Jones (.415), Figgins (.393), McLouth (.391), and Scott (.386). Oh, and Justin Germano leads the majors with a 0.00 ERA.Crowd noise
Ed Anderson writes:
I have been trying to find out why all MLB players, all teams, wear a baseball hat in the spring training season and during the All-Star game that have what looks like a plastic arc above the ears. They do not wear them during the regular season. There has to be a reason for the change in hats, but I can not figure it out. Could you please shed some light on this for me?
Ed, it's all about marketing. I believe that is the logo for an athletic wear company. It also is a variation of the hat that teams can try and sell to the fan who wants everything.
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