The Oakland Athletics have a 72-79 record and are in last place in the A.L. West. They have nothing left to play for in the sense that baseball commentators mean at this time of year. After the trading deadline, they brought up several guys from Triple A and let them play. By and large, they liked what they saw and stayed with the program. When one guy didn’t work out, they moved him back down, brought up another guy and gave him a chance. Add a sprinkling of veterans and mix well. The line-up is virtually the same every day and so is the result: they keep winning.
The Houston Astros have a 70-80 record and are 16 games out in the mediocre N.L. Central. They lost seven straight and finally fired the manager. They keep on losing. The Astros are a team with players past their prime who have contracts with years to go, but more alarming is that most of the September call ups belong back in the minors. After G.M. Jerry Hunsicker left to build a winner in Tampa Bay, the Astros, in safe, comfortable Astros fashion, promoted from within and Tim Purpura took over. It didn’t take him long to wreck the farm system; the draft roster from the Purpura years is a long list of players we will never see in major league uniforms. What was it that Bill Terry once said: “Baseball must be a great game to survive the fools that run it.”?
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A Change in Management
Yesterday the Astros fired manager Cecil Cooper and if you thought I could resist commenting, you were wrong. It was a move which had been rumored since June or July, so the timing, with only 13 games left to play this season, is odd. Poor Dave Clark, the interim manager, has less than two weeks to make his case. I’d be surprised if the job is his next year. The Astros have always favored hiring from within the family so the names Bagwell, Biggio, Bogar, Acta and Ausmus are in the air. Don’t forget, this is the team that hired its TV broadcaster to manage a while back.
Indeed, this is a franchise, and I’m sure it starts with the owner, that wants most of all to feel comfortable. It has a history of stocking the team with nice, polite, family men who play well enough to fill the seats but lack the fire to win it all. It’s a team that finally made it to the World Series in 2005 after 30 years of trying and rolled over for the Chicago While Sox. Lots of teams get swept but this team seemed satisfied simply to have gotten there.
I’ve never been in a major league clubhouse (I did once climb aboard the Detroit Tigers team bus to get an autograph) but apparently the Astros clubhouse was a most unhappy place. MLB.com interviewed the Chronicle’s Richard Justice who provided details as to just how bad it had gotten, with guys wearing black T shirts with “Really?” on them. “Really” refers to some of the more bizarre Cooper moves on the field. And yet these same players dutifully told reporters how it was their fault for not hitting with men in scoring position or getting that third out and how sorry they were that Coop had to go. Let’s see what the nice, polite guys do for the new manager.
Indeed, this is a franchise, and I’m sure it starts with the owner, that wants most of all to feel comfortable. It has a history of stocking the team with nice, polite, family men who play well enough to fill the seats but lack the fire to win it all. It’s a team that finally made it to the World Series in 2005 after 30 years of trying and rolled over for the Chicago While Sox. Lots of teams get swept but this team seemed satisfied simply to have gotten there.
I’ve never been in a major league clubhouse (I did once climb aboard the Detroit Tigers team bus to get an autograph) but apparently the Astros clubhouse was a most unhappy place. MLB.com interviewed the Chronicle’s Richard Justice who provided details as to just how bad it had gotten, with guys wearing black T shirts with “Really?” on them. “Really” refers to some of the more bizarre Cooper moves on the field. And yet these same players dutifully told reporters how it was their fault for not hitting with men in scoring position or getting that third out and how sorry they were that Coop had to go. Let’s see what the nice, polite guys do for the new manager.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Here Come the Twins
I’ve never liked the Minnesota Twins. First of all, they play in that abomination, the Metrodome. It’s a truly disgusting place to watch a ballgame, sterile, ugly, with fans that are ignorant of the game and surprisingly rude. Second, they always seem to beat the teams I like while being hopelessly inept when they play the Yankees.
Now they are doing it again. After failing miserably earlier this season against the dreaded Yankees they are taking on the Tigers and going after a sweep this afternoon at home. A win would put them just one game back in the A.L. Central. Believe me, it’s no accident that this is taking place in the Metrodome. It’s loud, dark and while the fans might not know much about the fine points of baseball, they sure do know how to make noise. It’s not a coincidence that the two World Series victories that the Twins have occurred in years when they played four games at home and three in the National League city. The Twins won every home game. But they lost every road game.
Actually, there is something admirable about a small market team which year after year manages to be competitive, develops talented players through its minor league system since it can’t afford to throw money at free agents and doesn’t whine about it. Perhaps I’ll like them better next year when they move out of the Metrodome and play in a real ballpark.
Now they are doing it again. After failing miserably earlier this season against the dreaded Yankees they are taking on the Tigers and going after a sweep this afternoon at home. A win would put them just one game back in the A.L. Central. Believe me, it’s no accident that this is taking place in the Metrodome. It’s loud, dark and while the fans might not know much about the fine points of baseball, they sure do know how to make noise. It’s not a coincidence that the two World Series victories that the Twins have occurred in years when they played four games at home and three in the National League city. The Twins won every home game. But they lost every road game.
Actually, there is something admirable about a small market team which year after year manages to be competitive, develops talented players through its minor league system since it can’t afford to throw money at free agents and doesn’t whine about it. Perhaps I’ll like them better next year when they move out of the Metrodome and play in a real ballpark.
Guess who?
It’s a team that has no chance to advance to the post-season, with a record below .500. It’s a team with a line-up filled with rookies and youngsters, with a pitching staff of names you’ve never heard of. Most of the starters can barely complete six innings. Seven, tops. Yet it’s a team that just knocked the Rangers out of contention for the A.L. wild card and has just won six in a row. It’s the Oakland Athletics and boy do they seem to be having fun.
I can explain why watching a Mets game or an Astros or Cubs game these days is so painful. It’s the excuses, the lapses (both mental and physical) and the lack of fire and enthusiasm. What I can’t explain is why the A’s, who just ran both the Rangers and the Indians off the field, are different. Why is this bunch of guys finding ways to win every night with new heroes every night instead of whining their way through September?
I can explain why watching a Mets game or an Astros or Cubs game these days is so painful. It’s the excuses, the lapses (both mental and physical) and the lack of fire and enthusiasm. What I can’t explain is why the A’s, who just ran both the Rangers and the Indians off the field, are different. Why is this bunch of guys finding ways to win every night with new heroes every night instead of whining their way through September?
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Why We Go to the Ballpark
I’m trying to understand the phrase “meaningful September game” that the NY Times Mets beat writer used about last night’s Mets loss to the Braves. Are there really baseball games, open to the public, with hot dogs and nachos for sale that are not meaningful? Of course the writer meant that the two teams involved have no chance to advance to the post-season. But is that what makes a game meaningful?
Not to me. I go to see that suicide squeeze play that catches the third baseman playing deep or the complete game shutout that Cliff Lee pitched the other night in Philadelphia. I go to see the young shortstop, called up from triple A in August, play himself into the starting lineup or the big first baseman who gets sent back down because he can’t hit a major league breaking ball. I go because the game has always been there for me, because sometimes you blow the lead two or three times and win it with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Not to me. I go to see that suicide squeeze play that catches the third baseman playing deep or the complete game shutout that Cliff Lee pitched the other night in Philadelphia. I go to see the young shortstop, called up from triple A in August, play himself into the starting lineup or the big first baseman who gets sent back down because he can’t hit a major league breaking ball. I go because the game has always been there for me, because sometimes you blow the lead two or three times and win it with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Rumble in the Bronx
I had just finished watching (flipping the channels) between two games (Phillies v. Nats and Orioles v. Rays) in which lots of players who make a lot less money than Jorge Posada acted like grownups. ESPN carried the story of Posada and his buddy Mitre, who tried to substitute aggression for ability. From what I could gather, Posada seems to think that it’s okay for his pitcher to throw at batters' heads but it’s not okay for the other team to throw behind his back. Must be “Yankee logic” that the rest of us are fortunate enough not to understand.
The GABP
I travelled to Cincinnati on Monday to watch the Astros play the Reds at the Great American Ball Park, a name that makes one appreciate naming rights. It was a chance to cross off another ball park from the list and to see our hometown team, the Astros, from whom we are geographically separated.
GABP is a mixed bag. It has the least retro feel of all the faux old ballparks built since Camden Yards. That’s because it’s very red – all the seats are red, a fact made more apparent when there are no fans in them. It also has a lot of neon – the line score, the scores of other games, the league standings are all neon, lots of it red. So it doesn’t have the sedateness of a Camden Yards or a Jacobs Field. But it’s a nice place to watch a game. The seats are actually angled right so that you are pointed toward the pitching mound without having to turn yourself into a pretzel The park works in terms of parking, logistics, food and ticket prices are reasonable. The ushers, in their red shirts, guard the aisles leading to the empty field level seats with great fervor.
The game itself had its moments. Jay Bruce came off the DL to win the game for the home team. Wandy Rodriguez pitched brilliantly for the Astros for six shutout innings. But while I had travelled far to see the game, most of the Astros just mailed it in. The manager, Cecil Cooper, left Wandy in just long enough to insure that if things went south Wandy would get the loss. And that’s exactly what happened. A good manager doesn’t do that.
At this time of year you can see lots of teams with no chance for post-season glory. Some of them just go through the motions like the Astros did. Fortunately most of them find some reason – pride, their job next season, an understanding of how lucky they are to be playing at all—to run out the ground balls or to dive to keep the ball in the infield. It’s not much fun to watch the teams that don’t.
And that batting practice home run we caught in center field? Yeah, that was sweet.
GABP is a mixed bag. It has the least retro feel of all the faux old ballparks built since Camden Yards. That’s because it’s very red – all the seats are red, a fact made more apparent when there are no fans in them. It also has a lot of neon – the line score, the scores of other games, the league standings are all neon, lots of it red. So it doesn’t have the sedateness of a Camden Yards or a Jacobs Field. But it’s a nice place to watch a game. The seats are actually angled right so that you are pointed toward the pitching mound without having to turn yourself into a pretzel The park works in terms of parking, logistics, food and ticket prices are reasonable. The ushers, in their red shirts, guard the aisles leading to the empty field level seats with great fervor.
The game itself had its moments. Jay Bruce came off the DL to win the game for the home team. Wandy Rodriguez pitched brilliantly for the Astros for six shutout innings. But while I had travelled far to see the game, most of the Astros just mailed it in. The manager, Cecil Cooper, left Wandy in just long enough to insure that if things went south Wandy would get the loss. And that’s exactly what happened. A good manager doesn’t do that.
At this time of year you can see lots of teams with no chance for post-season glory. Some of them just go through the motions like the Astros did. Fortunately most of them find some reason – pride, their job next season, an understanding of how lucky they are to be playing at all—to run out the ground balls or to dive to keep the ball in the infield. It’s not much fun to watch the teams that don’t.
And that batting practice home run we caught in center field? Yeah, that was sweet.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
September Blues
It’s depressing to look at the standings this early in September and see that most of the division races are essentially over. While no one has mathematically clinched, only two teams have less than a six game lead in their divisions. The Angels and the Dodgers are those teams and I wouldn’t bet against either one of them. That’s not to say that some dramatic collapse or inspiring surge can’t happen, but where would it come from?
The N.L. West is a possibility where both Colorado (whose surge a few years ago still amazes) and the Giants could overtake the Dodgers. And the Rangers certainly have a chance to overtake the Angels. Less likely is the A.L. Central where Detroit leads by six but neither Minnesota nor the White Sox have shown they can win consistently. At least the Twins don’t have any more games against the Yankees and have six against the Tigers but they have been playing themselves out of the race even against lesser teams.
Two pleasant surprises have emerged from the gloom. Texas and Seattle, emphasizing pitching and defense have winning records and Texas at least has a shot at the wild card spot. Early this season we heard that the new sheriff in town, Nolan Ryan, actually expected Rangers pitchers to pitch well into the game. Those that bought into the “new” system flourished, those that didn’t are gone. (Note for any youngsters reading this: in the olden days, starting pitchers tried to pitch nine innings, not five and a half or, in the ridiculous case of Joba Chamberlain, three.)
So what’s going to keep September interesting for us? Well, we could watch the race for most teams with 80 plus losses. The Pirates, Nats, Orioles and Royals have already grabbed their spots. How many others will too? San Diego, Arizona, Cincinnati, Oakland, Cleveland and Toronto are poised to join them. The Mets and the Astros also have a shot. How did so many teams get so bad this year?
The N.L. West is a possibility where both Colorado (whose surge a few years ago still amazes) and the Giants could overtake the Dodgers. And the Rangers certainly have a chance to overtake the Angels. Less likely is the A.L. Central where Detroit leads by six but neither Minnesota nor the White Sox have shown they can win consistently. At least the Twins don’t have any more games against the Yankees and have six against the Tigers but they have been playing themselves out of the race even against lesser teams.
Two pleasant surprises have emerged from the gloom. Texas and Seattle, emphasizing pitching and defense have winning records and Texas at least has a shot at the wild card spot. Early this season we heard that the new sheriff in town, Nolan Ryan, actually expected Rangers pitchers to pitch well into the game. Those that bought into the “new” system flourished, those that didn’t are gone. (Note for any youngsters reading this: in the olden days, starting pitchers tried to pitch nine innings, not five and a half or, in the ridiculous case of Joba Chamberlain, three.)
So what’s going to keep September interesting for us? Well, we could watch the race for most teams with 80 plus losses. The Pirates, Nats, Orioles and Royals have already grabbed their spots. How many others will too? San Diego, Arizona, Cincinnati, Oakland, Cleveland and Toronto are poised to join them. The Mets and the Astros also have a shot. How did so many teams get so bad this year?
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