Big Day – One of the Best

Posted by on July 24th, 2015  •  0 Comments  • 

 
 
I am going to steal his line for just this one time.

You cross paths in the broadcast industry with lots of talents. Young to old. Brash to Bold, Belligerent to Bombastic. Classy to Quiet. Stupid to Smart.

This weekend we honor a great from our industry, along with the greats, who played the game.

It is the great weekend at the Baseball Shrine, the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Four of our modern days finest go in this weekend in ceremonies, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez and Craig Biggio.

Forever their faces will adorn the gold plaques in the Hall of Fame Hallway, where the lights shine on their greatness day and night.

When they started the Hall in 1936, I don’t know if anyone imagined this would become the destination spot for baseball history as it has become.

The corridors lined with memorabilia, from uniforms to lockers, videos to baseball caps. Baseball Cards to equipment. Recalling eras of our childhood, memories of a lifetime, and glimpses of those we heard or knew about but never-ever saw in the early 1900s.

It’s about the archives of history, the research library, and old Doubleday Field, in honor of Abner, who founded the game, on some farmland there in the 1800s.

In a separate corridor we honor our group, broadcasters and sports-writers. 36 are there already enshrined, from the loudness of Harry Caray, to the elegance of Mel Allen, to our own Jerry Coleman and the artist that is Vince Scully.

This weekend, we add Dick Enberg, legendary Angels announcer, now Padres TV-Voice, a man for all seasons, including the NFL and of course Wimlbedon.

If you close your eyes, you can hear his talents. You stand next to him, and there is always a smile. Of the 36 plaques there, I counted I interviewed 24 of those Hall of Famers along the road of my sports-talk career.

Yes Dick Enberg is from a different era, and this is okay. Stories, color, flair, delivery, dynamics of the man, are all part of what you hear now. I think we should be thankful those of us here have gotten to know Dick Enberg’s work thru Fox Sports San Diego.

It will be emotional for guy from Central Michigan. He has done so many wonderful things in his career, as he reaches age 80, this is an ultimate moment. For as I told him in a congrats note this week, what he accomplished across the wide-band of sports broadcasting, is spectacular.

And like the Tony Gwynn plaque, on the top row in the Hall Hallway, where the light shines on the gold 24-hours a day, Dick Enberg’s plaque will stand forever for fans of all eras to see, remember, and never-ever forget. What a lasting, pleasing legacy.

This will be a moment of a lifetime, for a gentleman, known as quality and class. Hall of Fame broadcaster. Hall of Fame person.

An “Oh My” memory and a thanks for all his greatness.

We’ve Got Question – No One Has Answers

Posted by on July 23rd, 2015  •  0 Comments  • 

Trying to fight their way into a pennant race…it is a baseball team full of flaws.

Here we are 95-games into the season, and the Padres still don’t have anything sorted out.

They have utilitymen trying to play on the left side of the infield. They have no legitimacy in centerfield.

Now they send Will Middlebrooks, their opening day third baseman, to El Paso with the mandate, play every inning at 3rd base, and get ready to come back and do a better job. Of course, he has holes in his bat, hitting (.211) getting on the plane to the Pacific Coast League.

They may like the spunk and versatility of Yangervais Solarte, the guy they got in the Yankees-Chase Headley deal, but his is a (.240) hitter and not an everyday third baseman, and surely not what Headley was. Of course he is cheap so that appeals to them.

Alexi Amirista plays hard, has range, but does not hit consistently. Great heart but not enough talent to be an everyday guy.

Clint Barmes, is a pro’s pro, and has had a nice season as a sub, but range is limited, and he is north of 30.

Jedd Gyroko is young, and they believe he will hit back to what he was as a rookie, when he popped 23-homers and played well at 2nd base. He has two homers this week, since re-emerging from the trip to Triple A, but who knows.

Maybe Corey Spangenberg’s occasional power, and constant energy will make a difference. Maybe his spot is the third baseman of the future, but if so, then why trade for Middlebrooks, and why not just lock the kid into the hot corner spot?

And of course there is the outfield-centerfield situation, where the hope, Cam Maybin, is now doing in Atlanta, what he did not do in San Diego. Produce.

Will Venable can get hot, but can also go cold. He gives you a glove in center, but you never know if this week will be a .300 week at the plate, or a .209 -edition. And I don’t think the recall of Abraham Almonte will put this team in a pennant race either.

They keep playing Melvin Upton, good glove with speed, but no bat. No longer the prospect he was in Tampa Bay. Obviously with a .203-batting average, and that 15M per year contract, he is more like he was in Atlanta, underachiever.

So the Padres have 4-of-8 positions with issues right now. They started the season defensively challenged. It remains so heading towards the back of the schedule. That coupled with a still inconsistent batting order and a shaky pitching staff.

To complicate it, they dealt away the high first round draft pick of a year ago, the college kid Treau Turner, already packaged off to the Washington Nationals. All he has done in a year and a half of organized ball, is hit, hit , and hit, something you haven’t seen from many infielders here..

Much has been made of the trading deadline, but this roster will be not be fixed by what they do on July 31st. We have a third of a disappointing season left, and lots more questions than answers with the Padres giving us another long-hot-disappointing summer.

We’ve Got Questions – No One Has Answers

Posted by on July 23rd, 2015  •  0 Comments  • 

 
 
Trying to fight their way into a pennant race…it is a baseball team full of flaws.

Here we are 95-games into the season, and the Padres still don’t have anything sorted out.

They have utilitymen trying to play on the left side of the infield. They have no legitimacy in centerfield.

Now they send Will Middlebrooks, their opening day third baseman, to El Paso with the mandate, play every inning at 3rd base, and get ready to come back and do a better job. Of course, he has holes in his bat, hitting (.211) getting on the plane to the Pacific Coast League.

They may like the spunk and versatility of Yangervais Solarte, the guy they got in the Yankees-Chase Headley deal, but his is a (.240) hitter and not an everyday third baseman, and surely not what Headley was. Of course he is cheap so that appeals to them.

Alexi Amirista plays hard, has range, but does not hit consistently. Great heart but not enough talent to be an everyday guy.

Clint Barmes, is a pro’s pro, and has had a nice season as a sub, but range is limited, and he is north of 30.

Jedd Gyroko is young, and they believe he will hit back to what he was as a rookie, when he popped 23-homers and played well at 2nd base. He has two homers this week, since re-emerging from the trip to Triple A, but who knows.

Maybe Corey Spangenberg’s occasional power, and constant energy will make a difference. Maybe his spot is the third baseman of the future, but if so, then why trade for Middlebrooks, and why not just lock the kid into the hot corner spot?

And of course there is the outfield-centerfield situation, where the hope, Cam Maybin, is now doing in Atlanta, what he did not do in San Diego. Produce.

Will Venable can get hot, but can also go cold. He gives you a glove in center, but you never know if this week will be a .300 week at the plate, or a .209 -edition. And I don’t think the recall of Abraham Almonte will put this team in a pennant race either.

They keep playing Melvin Upton, good glove with speed, but no bat. No longer the prospect he was in Tampa Bay. Obviously with a .203-batting average, and that 15M per year contract, he is more like he was in Atlanta, underachiever.

So the Padres have 4-of-8 positions with issues right now. They started the season defensively challenged. It remains so heading towards the back of the schedule. That coupled with a still inconsistent batting order and a shaky pitching staff.

To complicate it, they dealt away the high first round draft pick of a year ago, the college kid Treau Turner, already packaged off to the Washington Nationals. All he has done in a year and a half of organized ball, is hit, hit , and hit, something you haven’t seen from many infielders here..

Much has been made of the trading deadline, but this roster will be not be fixed by what they do on July 31st. We have a third of a disappointing season left, and lots more questions than answers with the Padres giving us another long-hot-disappointing summer.

The Giants – A Giant of an Organization

Posted by on July 22nd, 2015  •  0 Comments  • 

 
 
They don’t scare you with this roster. They don’t wow you with their farm system. There seems to be nothing special about the Team-by-the-Bay, except for the fact they win.

Brian Sabean is not some flashy front of the line GQ-type-GM. Bobby Evans is a virtual unknown amongst the fans and media. Bruce Bochy is about as old school a manager as there is, from the era of Royal manual typewriters and dial telephones.

All they do is win, witnessed by 3-World Series rings in a 5-year span.

Earlier this month, the Padres, looking across the field into the other dugout, saw the Pittsburgh Pirates. You remember them don’t you? Money-starved, fan-starved, success-starved franchise. The one that went 20-years between playoff appearances. Look where they are now. Right in the top spot for the wildcard spot in postseason again. Winning with their own wearing Black & Gold with the swash-buckling, ship-boarding pirate as their logo.

The Padres just needed to look across the diamond at the San Francisco lineup card again last night, to understand why we have to watch the Giants on television every October, and why there is so much ‘Orange’ in the Petco Park stands.

Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford and Matt Duffy start from first to third across the infield. Everyone of them home grown, from Panik a first round pick, to Kelly, the 12the round selection. Crawford rocketed thru the farm system after coming out college, and Duffy was an afterthought draft pick, who is playing like somebody’s high draft choice.

Of course this lineup is anchored by the all-everything catcher Buster Posey. He may not be Johnny Bench, but he is close, and similar too to the best in the game right now, Yadier Molina.

Pitching is so tentative and fragile in the game today, but 7-of-the 12 arms on the San Francisco roster today, are their own. From the once-phenom that was Tim Lincecum, to the vested veteran Matt Cain, to the modern superstar-World Series hero Madison Bumgarner. And that always in use bullpen is made up of draft picks, and undrafted-then-signed street free agents.

And when it is crunch time to deal, the Giants find a way to steal a good one. Hunter Pence, Cody Ross, Carlos Beltran, Marco Scutaro and on-and-on, every trading deadline every year.

Even when free agents defect, like Pablo Sandoval, or guys get hurt like Hunter Pence, it just never knocks Bochy’s bunch off track.

The St. Louis Cardinals may be the most respected organization in player development. Yes the Dodgers-Yankees-Red Sox spend the most. But San Francisco, in its own unique way, is as good as it gets.

San Diego may not like the Giants color ‘Orange’, but you should respect who they are, how they operate as a franchise.

Something to See in Scotland

Posted by on July 21st, 2015  •  0 Comments  • 

 
 
The sight was Scotland. You could feel it, the tension, the pressure, the expectation. You could take a pair of scissors and cut thru it at the Old Course.
 
Zach Johnson won the British Open in an emotion filled 4-hole playoff, beating the ever-tough course, the constantly changing weather, then Louis Oosthaizen and Marc Leishman to win the 144th Claret jug.
 
Johnson, a former Masters winner, broke down in tears on the final green. Overcome by the emotion of the moment, or possibly the pressure of an amazing 22-holes of golf on Monday after four days of battles with the field, the St. Andrews course, and the Scottish by the sea weather.
 
The pressure was unrelenting. It took at 28-foot putt by Johnson to put him in the driver’s seat with four holes left in regulaation. It took a calmness to get a birdie on the first playoff hole. It took grit not to fold when he promptly missed a putt, and put a fairway shot off to the side later on.
 
But what Johnson was going thru was no different than the others, he just handled it much better.
 
Leishman, who had 1-bogey in a 36-hole stretch, promptly picked one up on the first overtime hole, and the air came out of his baloon. He was not the same golfer after that.
 
Oosthuizen, a former Open winner, made a pressure putt on 18 in regulation to get to the playoff, but then missed 4-and-7 foot putt in the overtime session.
 
It was some final day, with guys on and off the top spot on the leaderboard on the final nine holes of regulation. Jason Day was right there, but missed a putt at 18 that could have made it a foursome in overtime. His slumped shoulders, the sadness on his face, told the story of the pressur, and the highs and lows hole-by-hole.
 
Jordan Spieth was right there till the bitter end. A phenominal 45′ putt at 16, as the rain was starting to fall again, got him into a tie, but a bad divot shot and a missed putt on the final two holes, ended his hopes of continuing his Grand Slam drive.
 
It was a spectacular day of regulation golf. The four hole aggregate playoff was draining, and yet these guys stayed with it right till the bitter end.
 
For Zach Johnson, peaks and valleys, preventing devastation, then rallying with elation. Old Tom Morris, the patriarch of all things British Open would be proud of the players, the course, the fans, and the tradition. It was something to see in Scotland.