Welcoming and Remembering Opening Day

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Baseball. It’s back.   It’s here.  The green grass, blue skies, color, pageantry and all kinds of hopes.

It’s the Presidents, Truman-Ike-Nixon-JFK, and Obama throwing out the lst pitch.

It’s a Bob Feller in Cleveland with an opening day no-hitter.

It’s the Babe and Gehrig, the Yankee Clipper, Yogi, Scooter and the M&M Boys in the House that Ruth built.

It’s Catfish and Steinbrenner, Reggie Bar and the Goose.

It’s D’em Bums and the Jints…Dodgers vs. Giants.

It’s Koufax and Drysdale, Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain.

It’s the Whiz Kids and the Running Redbirds.

It’s the Gashouse Gang, the Go Go Sox, the Big Red Machine and the Lumber Company.

It’s the Green Monster and the green ivy at Wrigley Field.

It’s Mel Allen, Bob Prince, Vin Scully, Ernie Harwell, Harry Caray and Jack Buck.

It’s Casey Stengel, Sparky Anderson and Smokey Alston.

It’s Veeck as in Wreck, Charley O and Walter O’Malley.

It’s Pete Rose’s dash for home, Mantle’s home run trot and Brooks Robinson’s diving stops.

It’s Tony Gwynn in the 5 1/2 hole, Ripken at short and Yogi behind the plate.

It’s Connie Mack and his scorecard, Tommy LaSorda clapping, Billy Martin yelling and Earl Weaver fuming.

It’s Puddinhead Jones, Teddy Ballgame, Satch, Yaz, the Monster and the Oil Can.

It’s Say Hey and the Duke of Flatbush, Stan the Man, Jackie Robinson, Sal the Barber and Hammerin’ Hank.

It’s Pete Gray, the one-armed St-Louis Brown and Jim Abbott, the Angel, pitching with one hand.

It’s a Big Mac attack, a Bonds blast, A-Rod’s A-bombs, Maury Wills and Ricky Henderson stealing sacks.

It’s Gaylord’s greaseball, Wilhelm’s knuckleball and Bob Gibson’s gas.

It’s Big Train Walter Johnson, Aches & Pains Appling, and the Georgia Peach Ty Cobb.

It’s the Washington Senators, first in war, first in peace and last in the American  League.

It’s the Curse of the Cubs, the Sultan of Swat, the Curse of the Bambino.

It’s the Red Sox Nation, the Evil Empire, Dodgers Blue and the Black Sox.

It’s knockdown pitches, going yard, the 5-4-3 double play and day-night doubleheaders.

It’s the magic numbers you remember 56-.406-61-714.

It’s the Baseball Encyclopedia, keeping score, listening on radio, playing catch with your dad and eating hot dogs.

Baseball is back.  It’s home runs and no-hitters and all that history.

Baseball is back for 2015.  Welcome back old friend.

Padres Painful Roster Cuts

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These are strange days across the Cactus League and Grapefruit Circuit spring training road maps.
 
Teams are preparing to pull up stakes and head home to start the 2015 MLB season, Sunday with the National League opener, then Monday when the Padres-Dodgers and virtually everybody else starts the season.
 
Strange and tough days, from Peoria to West Palm Beach, from HoHo Kam Park in Mesa  to Legends Field in Tampa..
 
Veteran players, fighting to keep their careers going, get cut.  Just ask ex-Twins pitching anchor Scott Baker, just let go from maybe his final opportunity with the pitcher poor Yankees; or Kevin Correia, chopped by Seattle; or reliever Heath Bell, released, and admitting time to retire after leaving Washington..
 
Tough too for young guys, who had good springs, but get caught up in the numbers game, sent back to Triple A, whether your name is Tommy Medica in San Diego, or Kris Bryant, embroiled in a firestorm around Wrigley Field with the Cubs.
 
Age and injury catch up to veterans.  Guys with options get shipped out in paper-work moves.  And then there are those who earned the right to play, but get a plane ticket to the minors because teams don’t want to start their arbitration or free agency clocks.
 
Medica, who can hit home runs, batted an amazing (.421) over 23-games, but was caught in a traffic jam at lst base with the Friars..  Bryant, the former USD star, and minor league phenom, hit (.425-9HR), but was sent to Des Moines so his Cubs arbitration clock won’t start running yet, robbing him of a year towards free agency.
 
The Padres are down to 28-veteran players in camp with three more cuts to make.  And they won’t be easy.
 
They have 13-pitchers for 11-slots.  Odri Despaigne, the Cuban sensation, had an ERA of just over 2.20 this spring.  Keep him, or use an option to hide him in El Paso for the start of the season.  They traded for reliever Brandon Mauer; does he wind up in AAA with options, or on the disabled list?  They gave decent money to ex-Blue Jay Brandon Morrow, who has loads of experience.  What do you do with kid southpaw reliever Frank Garces, who has thrown zeroes much of the spring?  A couple of them have to leave.
 
There are 7-infielders left, following Medica’s shipment out.  Does Corey Spangenberg’s versatility make him valuable?
 
In the outfield, Cam Maybin had a great spring (.302); Carlos Quentin, with the big contract, seems healthier now than in years, but he becomes an off the bench guy; and what to do with multi-position guy Will Venable?.
 
Granted none of these guys are a Kris Bryant caliber player, but these are tough calls to make.  Do you trade one or two for younger prospects?  Are you better served to keep Quentin’s potential big bat as a role player-insurance policy for injuries; or keep the younger Venable who can play lots, if injuries crop up?
 
Between now and 12-noon Sunday, the roster has to get to 25.  Between now and then, manager Bud Black will have to sit and tell a couple of them, there’s is no room right now, take your bat, glove, and sometime impressive stats, and go back to the minors and see if the phone rings again.
 
The excitement of opening day is everywhere, but somewhere this weekend, there will be upset players, tough decisions, disappointment, hurt and anger.  It is what roster cutdown day is, and that is part of baseball too.

Dodger$ Ba$eball Dollar$

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I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this before, but leave it to the Los Angeles Dodgers to accomplish it.
 
It’s surely not the “Dodgers Way” from back in the day of Peter O’Malley’s operation of the franchise.  It’s surely not the way of his father, Walter, whose nickname was ‘El Cheapo’ and who located the team from Brooklyn to Chavez Ravine.
 
It’s surely a different day in baseball now.  The Dodgers, sold by the O’Malley family, to Fox-TV, to the era-error that was the McCourt family, to this group, led by Mark Walter-Stan Kasten-Guggenheim Group out of Chicago.  
 
We never saw this coming, a club purchased for a record 2B out of a bankruptcy auction.  We never imagined an all time record TV contract from Time Warner Cable, that gives the team mega money a year in rights fees, though the games are still not cleared across the entire market for fans to see..
 
And now this, with opening day just around the corner, an all time record high payroll of $270M, a figure bloated by Luxury Tax penalties, and payments to players dealt away to other clubs.
 
It is indeed great to have this type of wealth.
 
Clayton Kershaw, building legendary credentials along the lines of Sandy Koufax, will earn $31M this season as part of a new contract.  Zack Greinke, the number two man in the pitching rotation, will earn $27M.  Adrian Gonzalez, playing thru the middle of a long-term money deal, takes home $21M, as does ex-Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford. 
 
Andre Ethier will earn $18M if he remains on the roster despite trade rumors.  The double play combination of Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick will get $11M and $9.7M respectively in the final years of the deals they signed with the Phillies and Angels.
 
Big name stars on big city teams in big money markets earn those paydays, but it is what else is on that ledger that just blows you away.
 
The Dodgers just spent 462M to land Cuban veteran infielder Hector Olivera, and he’s not even in camp yet.  They have written checks for $130M for 5-Cuban players in the last 3-years.  The only star of the group is Yasiel Puig, with a $6.2M-tab.  Oddly, Alex Guerrero ($6.5M) and Erisbel Arrubarrena ($4M) will make 10M between them, and likely won’t make the team.
 
The Blue took on $10M a year for ex-Rockies pitcher Brett Anderson, spent $12M this year for oft-injured pitcher Brandon McCarthy of the Rockies.
 
They’ve eaten the contracts of pitchers Brian Wilson ($9.5M) and Chad Billingsley ($3M).
 
And then there is the money paid to guys gone to other teams.  The Dodgers will pay the Padres $32M as part of the Matt Kemp contract deal.  They shipped $11M to Miami to pay Dan Haren’s deal, and another $5M for infielder Dee Gordon to become a Marlin.
 
It’s mind boggling what Los Angeles has spent on its roster, maybe disgraceful what MLB allows them to pay for players on other club’s rosters, and stunning, how much they are willing to swallow of guys gone.  All that plus the 40% luxury tax penalty for going over the limit a 3rd year in a row.
 
I’ve seen wild things in baseball in the past, from the Bronx Zoo operation that was George Steinbrenner and the Yankees, to Charley O and Finley’s Athletics, to the contracts handed out by the Red Sox Nation, and all things Bill Veeck-as-in-Wreck, but this tops it all.
 
Looking for a word to describe the new ‘Dodgers Way’…maybe it is opulent, or outrageous, or maybe obscene.
 
I wonder what word the Dodgers and their fans will use, when LA finishes 2nd in the National League West to the Padres.

Chargers RB by Committee?

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He was probably the most pleasant surprise of the otherwise disappointing San Diego Chargers season, running back Branden Oliver.
 
He proved to be a tough guy running the football in the preseason, making you wonder why he was never drafted coming out of the University of Buffalo.
 
He put up back-to-back 100 yard games early in the season, when injuries nailed Ryan Mathews then Danny Woodhead.  He rumbled for (114Y) against the disappointing Jets, then (101) against the woeful Raiders.
 
He opened eyes with his toughness to bounce off tackles, his balance to withstand hits, his power running thru people, and his durability.  Then he did nothing the final 10-weeks of the season.
 
Branden Oliver is being praised right now by the Chargers, who are looking to him to replace Ryan Mathews, who left as a free agent to sign a 3Y-deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.  Mathews gave the Chargers a year and half of strong man running back work, and 3-and-a half years of nagging injuries and doubts.  
 
When he was healthy, he had 7-different injuries, he was the power back this team needed to make quarterback Philip Rivers even more dangerous.  But aside from a brilliant 2013, Mike McCoy’s first year, his productivity and availability was uneven. 
 
In that magical season, McCoy taught him to be a pro running back.  You could see his improved conditioning, you could sense his maturity, you saw the little things finally done right, catching passes and blitz blocking.
 
When he was done with that season he had 311-touches, and 1444-all purpose yards, and you thought he had arrived.  And then he got hurt again last year, multiple times.
 
It was a nasty season, Mathews going down, the tough setback injury to Danny Woodhead, and the subpar year of Donald Brown.  Yes Oliver caught the fancy of alot of people, but it was for just two weeks.
 
Woodhead broke his leg, and no one can really tell if he can duplicate his magical 2013 season of 1,034 all purpose yards.  Brown had just a (2.6) yards per carry mark, the worst of his five year career since coming from the Colts.
 
It brings us back to Bull-from-Buffalo.  Those final 10-games of the season, he had 103-carries for 333-yards, a (3.2) average.  Of the 160-carries, 83-resulted in 2-yards or less, and 25-were tackles-for-loss carries.  Was it him, or was it a poor offensive line?
 
The Chargers may have a shot at two great college running back, Wisconsin power back Melvin Gordon, or Georgia star Todd Gurley, recovering from mid year knee surgery.  Both could be there with the 17th pick in the first round.  Of course San Diego still needs offensive line help, and could wind up with a quality tackle-guard or center with that pick.
 
Tough call coming on draft day, of course they’ll have to wait and see what surprises happen above them in that first round.
 
That’s why it is so surprising Mike McCoy would make the comment, Branden Oliver is his guy, that after seeing him disappear.  He said he could be the Bolts workhorse..I think he is more of a plow-horse.  He may get yards, just don’t think he can deliver the goods, bring in the crop in Sunday-by-Sunday in the NFL.

March Madness Monday

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The Elite Eight…it was excellent…it was electric…it was indeed exciting.
 
So the field is set for next weekend’s showdown in Indianapolis, the finals of the NCAA tourney.
 
It’s many of the names you expected.  Coach K and Tom Izzo, John Calipuri and the newcomer to the mix, Bo Ryan.  It’s the traditional powers like Duke and Kentucky, and Michigan State and the other guy on the block, the football school Wisconsin.
 
Gonzaga and Mark Few tried so hard, hung so tough.  Arizona seemed so close, but so far away again under coach Sean Miller.  Louisville had it and lost it.
 
Those gritty Bulldogs form Spokane spent every ounce of energy but just missed.  There seems to be no explanation for the U-of-A, where Miller is now (0-5) in Tucson trying to get his Wildcats to the Final 4.
 
But it was some weekend of warriors play.
 
Michigan State just willed it way past Louisville, out-toughing them, hitting big baskets, staving off comebacks, and sinking free throws.  A (10-0) Spartan run got them the lead.  They survived the loss of their top two big men to fouls, and found a way to lean all over Rick Pitino’s club, which had just 1-basket in the its final 10-possessions in regulation and overtime.
 
On Wisconsin they are still singing in the bars back in Madison.  The Badgers buried 10-3 point shots in a huge comeback, in their putdown of Arizona.  The UW bigs, led by 7-footer Frank Kaminsky and his 3-point shooting buddies, did in the more athletically gifted Wildcats.
 
Kentucky was pushed to the edge by Notre Dame, with the Irish hitting outside shot after outside shot, taking UK to the limit before losing at the end.
 
Duke is Duke, regardless what day of the week, what week of the year, what year on the calendar it is.  That front line is so good, they’ll be in the NBA a year from now.  The Zags are the little train that could, and almost did.  There is nothing to be ashamed of at Gonzaga, 35-wins is an amazing accomplishment.
 
The blue bloods for the most part won this run of March Madness.  There were not too many upsets along the way.  It was fun to watch Wichita State beat who they beat.  You rooted for the near upset by UC Irvine in a near win.  You felt bad injuries robbed Virginia down the stretch, taking away an exceptional season.
 
But the best will play the best next weekend.  No place for the timid when Kentucky’s young guns face old school Wisconsin.  Duke-Michigan State will be the matchup of the old dog coaches, Izzo-vs-Coach K.
 
A pretty good tournament, and 3-big games left on the schedule, starting next Friday.