One down, 161 to go

Opening day in Kansas City is a big deal; as it should be! When we awoke this morning, we turned on the local news and we watched station after station conduct live remotes from the stadium in anticipation of the opener. By the way, we turned on the TV at 6:00 a.m. As I said, Opening day is a big deal.

The parking lot opened at 8:00 a.m.; seven hours before the first pitch. And yes, hundreds and hundreds of cars were in the lot and tailgating when we arrived at the stadium a little before noon today.

Kauffman Stadium is absolutely beautiful. The huge screen in centerfield is incredible; the players appear larger than life and it’s something you really have to see in person to believe.

Cheryl, Larry, Cathy and myself soaked it all in. We walked around the stadium, taking pictures and making notes of all the food choices in the stadium. It was cold (45 degrees at game time), but baseball was definitely in the air.

The pre-game activities were simply awesome. The Royals went out of their way to honor their alumni including George Brett, Frank White, Bo Jackson and John Mayberry. The first pitch was thrown out by long time Royal Mike Sweeney, who recently signed a one-day contract so that he could retire as a Royal.

We had a fly over by a B-2 Bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base.

And then there was the game…

The Angels had their “hitting shoes” on big time; pounding out 12 hits. Torii Hunter would be the first Angel of 2011 to go yard. Jeff Mathis would be the second. Every starter had at least one hit, except for Mark Trumbo. Weaver picked up where he left off in 2010 with a stellar 6 1/3 innings of two-hit baseball. He also struck out six.



Three Royals would make their major league debuts (out of the bull pen); Aaron Crow, Nate Adcock, and Tim Collins. The Royals made it interesting with Jeff Francoeur and Mike Aviles each hitting a solo homerun.

The Angels bull pen wasn’t sharp, but they got the job done as Jordan Walden, Kevin Jepsen, and Michael Kohn each got credit for a hold and Fernando Rodney recorded his first save of the season.

It was cold out at the park, but watching the Angels win made it worth every bone chilling moment.

After the game we decided to sample some more KC barbecue and headed to Jack Stack’s. As we were leaving the restaurant we ran into Peter Bourjos who was celebrating his birthday with Hank Conger, Rich Thompson, Chris Pettit and others.

When I saw Bourjos I let him know that I was the person who put the video of him learning how to "strut" with Torii Hunter on the web. I knew he had seen it because I learned last Sunday at the Angels/Padres exhibition game that he talked about it (and even demonstrated the strut) while being interviewed at Fan Fest. Bourjos smiled and said, "that was you?" Pettit quickly chimed in with "we've had a lot of fun with that video."

"P-Bo"(Bourjos) was gracious enough to pose for a picture with Cheryl and me; the perfect ending to a perfect day.

And with that I’ll close. Cheryl is fast asleep as I blog and I can barely keep my eyes open myself.

More to come…

Let the good times roll

Justin Masterson and Scott Kazmir are just a little more than a year apart; Masterson turns 26 years of age March 22 and Kazmir just turned 27 in January. It’s hard to believe that Kazmir is only 27; after all, he’s started 178 games in his career. At this point in time, you’d think he’d be a veteran just getting ready for the season and yet, he’s a man still searching for the stuff that once made him among the best left-handers in the game. Masterson has only started 54 games in his career and is still trying to establish himself.

I suppose it was somewhat appropriate that the two squared off today in day two of Cheryl and my brief trip to spring training. Neither pitcher impressed today nor did either one seem close to establishing themselves as solid starters for the coming season. There was a scout in our section today and I got a glimpse of the radar gun he was holding. Kazmir was only hitting 87 to 89 miles an hour in the first inning. The scout then moved and I didn’t see any more results.

The Indians won 10-7.

Highlights of the game included Brandon Wood going two for two with a walk, and two runs scored. Wood didn’t start the game and came in for Maicer Izturis. I’m not sure why Izturis came out of the game, but one always has to wonder if he’s hurt whenever he’s not on the field. Wood is now hitting .255 and I’m hoping he came continue to make progress and contribute this year.

I have to tell you that both Cheryl and I really want to see Wood succeed. He’s easily one of the nicest players in the game. He always makes time for the fans and maintains such a great attitude. You’d never know that he’s had struggles on the field. I admire him for the way he handles himself and hope somehow, some way that he finds a way to be the player we all hoped he would be.

In other highlights – Howie Kendrick had a couple hits to go with two RBI’s. He’s hitting a solid .372 this spring.

Prior to the game, we spent some time interacting with fans and taking pictures of the players.

We also spent a little more time with Joe who had another story or two to share. He told us about an umpire (the name escapes me) who shared a joke with him.

As Joe recalled, the umpire had been married for 17 years and was trying to decide what to get his wife for her birthday. He asked his wife, “What would you like for your birthday?” She said, “I want a divorce.” The umpire said, “I wasn’t planning on spending that much money.”

You never know what you’re going to learn when you come to spring training. Every day is different and the memories are always unique. Today a little boy yelled out to Brandon Wood “hit another homerun like you did yesterday!” Wood smiled and said, “We’ll do.” Spring training is packed full of little stories like this and it just never get’s old.

It was a good day. We got to interact with Rich Thompson, Francisco Rodriguez, Hank Conger, Brandon Wood, Trevor Bell, Chris Pettit, Mark Trumbo, and Matt Palmer among others. We didn't see any of the regulars out on the practice fields, except for Kendrys Morales who is still trying to get ready.



Morales did stop to sign a few autographs, but not for long; much to the dismay of a lot of fans.

It was another fun day and we topped it off in grand style with dinner at Don & Charlie's in Scottsdale with fellow 514 Fanatics Bob and Stephen.

While we are dining Ned Colletti, the general manager of the Dodgers came in with some folks and sat at the table next to us.

Again, this is the kind of unexpected stuff that happens at spring training all the time.

Good times.

Is it Friday yet?

When the news first came out that Jered Weaver wasn’t selected for the All-Star game I was pretty annoyed. I usually don’t get too worked up over the selections because I've come to accept that the way players are picked is flawed in many ways.

That doesn’t mean I want to change anything, mind you; I just recognize the All-Star voting for what it is; an imperfect process.

The way I see it – no matter whose doing the voting, good players are going to be left off the team. Some say we should leave it to the managers – but then you have morons like Joe Girardi picking his own players. How about the writers you say? Well, they can’t even get the Hall of Fame voting right as far as I’m concerned. Everybody has a bias or an agenda of some sort – so I just accept the All-Star game as it is. If the fans mess it up, so be it.

That being said, it doesn’t stop me from being somewhat upset when someone like Weaver is snubbed. Now, I wasn’t annoyed to the point of losing any sleep over Weaver’s slight and although I thought about blogging about it, I didn’t. As things turned out, my procrastination paid off because the great writer - Joe Posnanski summed things up perfectly in his own blog. Trying to top what he had to say would be pointless.

Posnanski wrote this about Weaver, “I just don’t get why people don’t know more about him and appreciate his talents. A good argument could be made that Jered Weaver should be STARTING this All-Star Game in front of the home fans. Instead he’s not even on the team at the moment. That’s just lunacy.”

Now, I’ve been saying for quite some time that I could see Weaver starting the mid-summer classic so I really enjoyed Posnanski’s piece. I invite you to read his whole piece about Weaver because he really sums things up pretty well. I probably would have done a lot more ranting. And he's right - more people should know about Jered. They can start by reading this blog more often. Just saying...

Basically, Posnanski freed me up from having to rant yet again. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy ranting as much as the next guy, but this time my work was done for me. Thanks Joe!

One last thing about the All-Star voting. I can't believe a franchise that draws more than 3 million fans each year can't mobilize themselves some how to vote more Angels into the game. I just don't get it.

Which brings me to an issue that's even bigger than Weaver’s snub and that's the Angels lack of offense and generally horrible play (Besides word is Weaver might still be added to the team).

The Angels have now lost four of their last five games. That’s just not getting it done. They’re limping towards the All-Star break and trail the Texas Rangers by 4.5 games as of this morning (and trail by six games in the loss column which is not good).

I mean look at the 25 man roster and you’ll see names like Paul McAnulty, Cory Aldridge and the like. Now, I happen to appreciate a guy like McAnulty because he’s a Dirtbag; but a roster that boasts power bats like Reggie Willits, Kevin Frandsen and others is not going to generate enough offense to over take Texas.

Add in a bullpen that’s capable of blowing up on any given night and you have a recipe for disaster. I hope Tony Reagins has something up his sleeve. Even though Mike Scioscia is a miracle worker, he needs some help moving forward.

And what’s with Scott Kazmir? My wife Cheryl is not a fan. She regrets the fact that she actually owns a Kazmir T-shirt and any time she hears his name she has a few choice words to say about him (nothing profane mind you). Now, I know a player is pretty awful when it comes to that. Cheryl would never actually boo Kazmir, but she’s not going to be baking him any cookies in the near future either.

I really bought into the whole off season training thing that was reported about in the spring and believed he would get his “swagger back.” Boy was I wrong (not the first time).

I am beginning to think about two words for Kazmir and those words are “head case.” I don’t understand how a guy who’s been in the majors as long as he has, thinks he can get by on two pitches? As Scioscia said in a July 1 piece in the LA Times, “Some of the issues that have plagued Scott," Scioscia said, "have been a little redundant."

Ya think?

While I’m rambling on here – did anyone notice that Rich Thompson got called up? Anyone notice that this happened shortly after I blogged about the need to add him to the 25 man roster? Probably not…

Of course, I probably shouldn’t even mention it myself since his one outing so far wasn’t the best. Oh well… It was basically in mop duty. Who wants to pitch in those situations?

Two more games in Chicago and then on to the hated A’s. Meanwhile the Rangers face off against the two worst teams in the AL – Cleveland and Baltimore. Oh joy…

Speaking of joy – the All-Star weekend is upon us! Finally! Cheryl and I will be up to our eye balls in all things All-Star related. And yes, I’ll be blogging about the whole experience. It all starts Friday with FanFest.

We had an amazing time in 2008 when the All-Star game was at old Yankee Stadium and I’m kind of thinking this can’t possibly live up to that event. Never-the-less, it’s duty that we welcome with open arms and it should be great fun.

Man, I love baseball.

Bring up the man from down under (and other notes)

As the trading deadline nears, there is talk among Angel fans and sports talk shows, etc. about what the Angels should or shouldn’t do.

Seems like when this time rolls around every year Angel fans get a little antsy. It’s almost as if the Angels front office is judged totally on how they handle this time of year. I don’t think that’s fair, but it is what it is. Fans will soon be clamoring for the Angels to add a “big bat.” That seems to be the mantra year after year.

Personally, I think the bull pen could use a boost; however, I’m not suggesting they go out and acquire an arm per say. I have an internal suggestion. Call up Rich Thompson.

Have you seen the numbers Thompson is putting up at Salt Lake? He has a .061 ERA and .091 WHIP. He has struck out 30 batters in 29 1/3 innings and has not allowed a homerun to date. Opponents are hitting just .177 against him. You have to like those numbers, don’t you?

Now, I’m not suggesting that Thompson will solve all the bull pen issues, but he might be a nice addition in my opinion. Thompson (who is originally from Australia) turns 26 on July 1 and I’d say let’s give him a happy birthday and bring him up!

In other news…

Did you see the exchange between Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton of the Rays? Upton dogged it on a ball hit in the gap yesterday and it ended up costing the Rays a run in a game they lost 2-1 to the Padres. Longoria who is used to doing things the Dirtbag way confronted Upton and Upton took exception.

I have to tell you I love this move by Longoria. Players policing themselves is a good thing and Longoria is the unquestionable leader of that team. Here’s a clip showing what happened:



You know, as I watched Upton jog after the ball, his lackadaisical style reminded of Juan Rivera. Rivera tends to jog after balls hit in the gap as well in my opinion. I know Rivera isn’t very fast and perhaps what I’m seeing as a jog is his full on sprint, but I doubt it. In any case, it’s made me crazy for a while now.

If the Angels do make a move for a bat by the deadline – I wouldn’t mind seeing them upgrade left field. There, I said it. I’ve wanted to say it for a while. I’m down on Rivera. I don’t think he’s putting up the kind of numbers this team needs from a corner outfielder. Besides, his defense leaves something to be desired as well.

Consider this; Rivera ranks 39th in OPS among all American League outfielders. That’s not good. I should add that Rivera does rank in the top 20 among AL outfielders in one category… grounding into double plays. He has grounded into six of them so far.

In the mean time, there’s some baseball to be played. The Rangers are in town and I want the Angels to put the beat down on them big time. This is the kind of series that’s fun and I can’t wait to see the two teams get it on.

Let’s rock!

Dealing with spring training withdrawls

It’s only been a day, but I already miss being at spring training. Actually, I began to miss it the moment we headed home. It’s hard knowing there is baseball being played in the next state and I’m not there.

I can take some comfort in knowing that games will be starting this Thursday and I’ll be able to listen to them on the radio. Then again, that’s really small consolation because nothing beats being there in person.

I know I shouldn’t pout too much because Cheryl and I did go for a few days and there are many others who won’t get that chance this year. Well, let it be known that I have empathy for those who can’t make it to Tempe this year and the video clips below are just for you. It’s a little slice of spring training that I hope you’ll enjoy.

First up is an interview with Rich Thompson the Angels relief pitcher from Australia. It’s always cool to hear his accent. He’s also got a great sense of humor, as you’ll see when you watch the clips (there are two parts).





Thompson is one of several major league baseball players who has a Twitter account. You can follow Thompson (@chopper63) and others including Angel prospects Chris Pettit (@cpettit815) and Terry Evans (@TEvans23). Some players are much more active than others. Among the best is Texas Ranger reliever C.J. Wilson (@str8edgeracer). Torii Hunter (@toriihunter48)has a Twitter account as well; however, he hasn’t tweeted since July 10.

Wilson tweeted this today “We had our first int. squad today- got to pitch an inning. cutter was cutting too much, sinker was sinking too much! Need to tone it down.”

Sometimes the players don’t really tweet anything interesting; unless you like to know what they had for breakfast or what they’re watching on T.V., etc. Then there are times when they talk to one another via Twitter and you get to basically ease drop. Kind of strange, right? I suppose on some levels it is, but it’s not like they’re not aware that people are following them.

Some players actively ask for people to follow them on Twitter; like Michael Schlact of the Texas Rangers who had set a goal of trying to get 1,000 followers by opening day. He succeeded and as of this post has 1,010.

Some others I follow include Evan Longoria (although it seems like he basically a tweets ads for 2KSports), Nick Swisher, Matt Kemp, Chris Coghlan, and even Brad Zeigler of the Oakland A’s (I know that’s ironic). The players will often tell you about charity events they’re supporting or other appearances they might be making. The tweets really run the full spectrum.

You can send them messages through Twitter; however, it’s rare that they respond back. I’ve asked Zeigler about the foundation he’s created and he responded, but again that’s rare.

MLB (@mlb) has its own Twitter account and that’s the best place to learn which major (and minor) leaguers are posting on Twitter. You’ll find the #1 prospect in all of baseball Jason Heyward has an account among others.

In any case, here’s one more video for your viewing pleasure. This one is of Rafael Rodriguez, an Angels' reliever who saw some time with the major league club in 2009.

Enough is enough...

I don’t know about you, but there are a few things I’m really tired of this off season. First and foremost, I’ve had enough of Johnny Damon watch 2010. Where will Damon go? Will he go back to the Yankees? Will he grow his beard out? Will he eat a ham sandwich today? Good grief. Damon is like an aging rock star that’s forced to tour on the County Fair circuit as far as I’m concerned. Then again, I’ve just added to all the Damon talk with this post. Forgive me.

I’m also very tired of reading how one by one; the pundits and so-called baseball experts are picking the Seattle Mariners to win the American League West. Really? It’s not even February and some of you can’t even wait until Spring Training? What’s the hurry? It’s like they’re falling over one another to make sure they can pick Seattle before someone else does.

Rob Neyer of ESPN has the Angels winning just 81 games, six less than the Mariners. (CORRECTION - Neyer is commenting on CAIRO projections here - and not making them himself at this point).

Neyer give us some brilliant analysis. He did some in-depth research to tell us that “Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu are a year older.” Apparently, the rest of the league didn’t age. Go figure. Thanks Rob. By the way, you’re a year older too and your game seems to be slipping some as well. I’m just saying.

He also went on to say “Kendry Morales was probably over his head some last year.” When projections you don’t pan out (and Morales blew away all his projections last year), you get statements like that one. After all, something must be wrong if the projections are off, right? Year after year the Angels win more games than they’re projected to. It’s enough to make some people throw a hissy fit. I’m sure some will always under-project the Angels record because sooner or later they’re bound to be right – even if it’s just once.

To Neyer’s credit he does say that there isn’t much difference between the A’s projected 87 wins and the Angels’ projected 81 wins. He says “there are at least six games in play.” Whatever.

Dayn Perry of Fox Sports has also picked the Mariners to win the west. I really don’t know why I bother reading Perry or even following him on Twitter; because he seems to know as much about baseball as my cat does. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read something and thought to myself, does Perry do any kind of research what-so-ever?

I guess the Mariners are the new favorite flavor so far. So be it. I really shouldn’t get so worked up about projections. I mean we’re talking about projections. Projections? Where’s Allen Iverson when you need him. He’d be the perfect guy to tell us how ridiculous this all is. I mean we’re talking projections.

I’m also done with reading all the Mark McGwire bashing. I don’t think he should get into the Hall of Fame, but I can’t believe some people want to deprive him of continuing on with a life in baseball. Some of the demands being thrown out by people in glass houses are really nauseating.

Critiquing apologies has become a new art form. It’s as of he just finished an ice skating routine (imagine that) and some writer turned judge wants to knock him down a peg or two because of the way he blinks his eyes. The comments are almost as crazy as picturing McGwire on ice.

By the way, it’s almost time for another Johnny Damon update. What do you have for me? I’m just kidding. Well, sort of any way.

One thing I’m not tired of, but I’m still wondering about is whether or not anyone has noticed that the “Billy Beane is a genius” talk doesn’t seem to be as prevalent these days. Whatever happened to that movie with Brad Pitt playing the role of Beane? I’m betting it was beat out by the sequel to Snakes on a Plane or something like that.

I have to ask is anyone else waiting with baited breath for the updated PECOTA projections? Earlier in the week they had projected the Angels to finish last and the A’s to finish first. Hey, are you thinking what I’m thinking? This must have been some sort of ploy to get the movie “Money Ball” back on the front burner.

Anyway, Baseball Prospectus (BP) is still working on getting a clue. Oops, did I just write that? I meant to say, BP is ironing out some problems they had with their initial projections. I guess the laughter kind of got to them or something. I guess you can gather that I’m waiting for the PECOTA projections for the comic relief it can provide.

Breaking news… you’re probably not going to believe me, but Allen Iverson just called me to say he couldn’t believe I was still talking about practice… I mean projections…

One last thing about PECOTA. Word on the street was that Mike Wallace and 60 Minutes were going to investigate the projections and ask the folks at Baseball Prospectus if they actually charged people for the work they do? Then again, can there be any penalties for catering to the fantasy baseball world? I mean think about – they call it FANTASY baseball for a reason, right?

Enough about what I’m sick and tired of.

A couple things I’m looking forward to include hearing Rich Thompson say “cheers” as he signs autographs for fans at Spring Training. Something about Australian accents and baseball players is kind of cool.

I’m also looking forward to Reggie Willits, Terry Evans, Chris Pettit and Peter Bourjos getting after it as they compete to make the 25 man roster. Something about healthy competition gets me going.

I can’t wait to see Torii Hunter interacting with fans. No one is better at engaging fans than Hunter in my opinion. ESPN the Magazine voted Joe Mauer as the fan friendliest player in baseball. That’s high praise, but I can only stand by what I’ve seen first hand and Hunter loves baseball fans.

Tomorrow is February 1 and that means spring training is just around the corner. How sweet it is that pitchers and catchers report in less than three weeks!

And so it begins

The Angels played their last regular season home game last night. Eighty one home games are in the books. Cheryl and I attended a combined 75 of them (we each missed some along the way). You can add to that, two road games at AT&T Park in San Francisco, two spring training games and one pre-season game at Angels Stadium (vs. the Padres). Additionally, we went to three non-Angel spring training games in Arizona and one game at Fenway Park (against the hated A's). All told, we saw 84 games,.

Did we really just do that? It's been a long journey and yet... it's only the beginning. The playoffs are finally here. This is what we've been waiting for all year long.

Here are a few pictures from last night's game...

Rich Thompson and Terry Evans got a little playing time in.

And then the post-season rally began...



No rally would be complete without the one and only... Bob-Bay!!

Yes We Can!

Eleven more wins and the Angels will be World Champions. And so it begins! Game on!