The Curse of the One Run Game
Another one run loss to the White Sox last night, which makes me wonder who our competition is going to be in the Central this year. The Twins seemed to be the sexy pick going into the season, and they continue to look strong. If injuries mount up for them (Silva, Morneau, Mauer) though, they may be forced to lean a little too heavily on players not quite ready for prime time. The White Sox are an interesting team. At the beginning of the season, I thought that the small ball philosophy that had been adopted wouldn't play itself out, this year at least. But they've gotten solid starting pitching and have squeezed out close games. If their starters hold up, they may be right in the thick of things all year, as well. Finally, the Tigers seem to think that they have as good of a chance as anybody. Dmitri Young said that the Central is a 2 team race, the Tigers and the Tribe. Dmitri might be alone in that corner of thought. I heard Gardenhire on the radio today say that, "everyone says the Central is weak, but we've got some of the best trash-talkers out there." Then, C.C.'s comment hits the wire that he hates the Twins.
Bottom line is that if all of these teams stay in contention, it could be a war of attrition - but also very fun to watch. I think that someone will emerge as a true "rival", complete with bad blood, beanballs, and a full blown Wedge meltdown. The Central hasn't really had that in a while as the Tribe used to run away with the division, followed by the Twins' recent success. I would welcome a rivalry that both teams are equally into. Let's be honest, despite Tribe fans' feelings, no Yankee sees Jacobs Field as enemy territory. My guess is on the Twins, but never underestimate that rat, A.J. Pierzynski.
In other news, Pronk signed a 3 year deal worth $7 million, with a club option for a 4th year. This, like the Martinez signing, is a great move for the Indians, who lock up another player (hopefully) on the upswing of his career for what could turn out to be a true bargain by the end of the contract. As Sheldon Ocker wrote in Sunday's ABJ though, the real test of the Dolan's willingness to spend will come with the Sabathia negotiations. All media outlets are reporting that Shapiro will wait to make sure that C.C. is fully healed and effective before moving forward. I've also heard that Johan Santana's contract will be the model for what C.C. will get. Maybe, if you take a couple million off of each year. Keep in mind that Santana handily won the Cy Young last year and was untouchable in the second half. If C.C. pulls that out of his crooked hat, give him all the money he wants. Until then, proceed with some restraint.
More thoughts on the 2005 changes to the Jake in the next DiaTribe.
Posts
2 comments:
thoughts about hte tribe and/or jake, after a few this evening and with VH1 classic on in the background:
1) was there monday and wednesday, and on wednesday my brother was the one who caught the drew carey foul ball, but only after i pulled my best doug dieken and blocked out the guy in front of us. my only question is, why did range boo cleveland's only celebrity (b-list at that), in drew carey?
2) i've been calling for YEARS to put advertising on the "grey" areas in the upper deck at the bottom of the sections. monday morning as 1100 was broadcasting live as i was driving into work, they were saying how they had "murals" out in right field, with more to come as the season went along. IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! stupid that they dont make money on it (i guess that's the sports mgmt major in me), but if they put player murals on it, good!
3) i believe it's bush league that our pennants and ALCS banners are now painted on the dugout, pretty much so only people in teh press box can see them. BUSH LEAGUE. also, they only still recognize the "jake era" pennants. we've got our retired numbers prominently displayed, find somewhere to display our HISTORY. seems the tribe is taking a page of the policy era browns...
4) the more i see alex (brother of jhoey) cora, the more i like him. ideal situation is to keep ronnie's first-half bat, while somehow plugging in cora in enough. cora's crazy swinging bunt thing and defensive gem late were solid. in some player poll i read in the past few months cora was named numerous times as the smartest player inthe game. i was unaware of that.
5) apparently the first-ever outfield wall sponsor, officemax, is no longer a sponsor.
6) going back to teh browns, if they brought back the grey face mask, i may never complain about anything browns-related again. colts made a great move in bringing it back last year. and i'm not just jumping on a retro bandwagon. another thing i've been calling for for years. why not randy?
7) i still dont have an opinion on the "batters eye" bar in center field. we'll see how it is once the buzz wears off. in conversing with 3 batters eye bartenders at the rush inn late monday night, they had a crazy day, in a good way. place is open from way before the game to way after the game, even after they cut off beer sales everywhere else. the 2 drafts i had there monday were waaaaaaay too bubbly, but i'm sure they'll work the kinks out.
8) were there even 10k at the game wednesday?
9) was the crowd louder when a) grady tied the game with a bomb, or b) drew carey was on the jumbotron. if you guessed b, you guessed correctly. as about the biggest grady fan on the great erie coast, i was really taken aback at how silent it was when he went yard.
10) apparently foreigner did an unplugged for vh1, because an acoustic "hot blooded" is on tv right now.
11) ok, that's all i can ramble. tipped back a few this evening because i wake up and travel to DC tomorrow morning for an action packed weekend. the agenda: friday - touristy stuff 'til friends get out of work, then cavs @ wizards (when i booked the flight we were firmly entrenched in the 3 spot in the east. saturday - tomfoolery all day followed dbacks @ nats, the nats second home game. and dont even get me started on the nats jerseys. hats rule, jerseys... ball dropped. look robotic/futuristic or something. could have followed the "w" script on the hat and made an awesome home and away jersey. d@mn you selig.
12) why isnt PC playing softball? i mean, we even ordered a jersey for him just in case he changed his mind.
13) also, there was a guy with a 100% genuine mohawk a row in front of us last night. bleached blonde in the middle, spray painted red on one side, blue on the other. i could only think the celebratory bar scene in major league when he walked in the aisle.
14) a.j. pierzynski is still a b*tch.
15) i apologize for some of my non-sober ramblings from my first post. although not completely clear-headed right now, please understand that the rambling were those of someone who started imbibing 12 hours earlier, and did not have the privilege of hearing tv or radio. that explains my ludwick for black substitution comments. i've been feeling bad about that one for a few days now.
16) just forgot i never named my fave jerseys for each team. i have been trying to acquire the quarterback's jersey (19), but have trouble nailing one down on ebay with the numbers on the SLEEVES, something the new regime has never recognized. my leroy hoard with numbers on the SLEEVES off ebay about 5 years ago suffices for each and every game i go to. cavs... price. i own a mesh, reversible one that i wore as recently as two summers ago on vacation, although i'd be jealous of anyone with a nance jersey. or pretty much anyone from that era. tribe: we all would have said thome until he ripped my frigging heart out a couple years ago. if you thought this post was long enough as it was, thing about how much longer it would be if it talked about the disappointment that man has brought me. i'll laugh as we get to the playoffs before he ever does, let alone make some noise in october. "my wife is my rock." growing up butler was my favorite, but do you respect manning for stealing eck's wife (interesting sidebar story for a future post on that one), or do you go with thunder thornton as he was the only respectable player we had for a while, i guess i'll stop now because i'll just name every guy we knew growing up. my answer is, i have no answer. as long as you dont pick manny, thome or belle, i dont care what jersey you get. but sorrento is indeed a good choice as named by someone. did you see that cleveland mag article that said he's "retired in seattle"? awesome.
17) if you made it this far, i salute you. off to DC. a full report on RFK upon my return. also, bangles, hazy shade of winter on classic right now.
18) i love how i struggled to complete a 500-word essay in high school, but now a week away from 28 i can ramble on for 10 minutes of the top of my head and run off probably 1000 words. baseball rules.
19) until i create a unique alias, i'll just be myself, dont know if it will link my old blog or not. we'll see once i type in the info below.
since i haven't been able to see a damn game yet, my biggest concern has got to be the defense...i realize that were not that different than last year in the field, but omar for jhonny is a little scary to me. for you who have been hanging out with drew carey, give me your take...all i've gotten to watch is sosa suck ass...miguel is the best shortstop in baseball though...amazing
baltimore is beginning to be run over with freaking yankee fans, only a little worse than when boston is in town. i realize i'm bias, but i've been to a O's/yankees and O's/sox games and been embarrassed for the baltimorans, it becomes home games for the evil empires. its a waste of a fantastic park for crappy fans
Post a Comment