Saturday, March 22, 2008

Grapefruit League Tour 2008: Mets at Indians



As has been par for the course, I arrived late to Chain of Lakes Park, spring home of the Cleveland Indians. Although I made good time to Winter Haven, traffic leading into the ballpark was so bad, by the time I bought my ticket I missed the entire first inning.

Speaking of tickets and seating, because of the large crowd and my late arrival, I was limited to standing in the outfield berm beyond wall in left center field. Of course, I was not alone. There were a few hundred other people sprawled out on blankets or portable chairs. But without something to sit on and the ground wet from a day of drizzling rain, I was forced to stand the whole game. To be honest, I couldn't expect much more for my seven dollars.

Like many of the old spring parks throughout Florida, Chain of Lakes Park has the sentimental feel of an old-time ballpark from the 20s or 30s. There is nothing fancy about the park, from the old fashioned metal overhangs to the limited scoreboard in right center. It hosts baseball the way it oughta be - without the bells, whistles, and trappings geared for the 15-second attention span.

As for the game itself, as I mentioned, I missed the first inning. I arrived in the top of the second, in time to see the Mets go down in order against Cleveland starter Cliff Lee. Lee pitched well throughout his five innings of action, not allowing a run, scattering four hits, and striking out five.

Lee's counterpart on the mound, the Mets' Oliver Perez, suffered an opposite fate. After retiring the side in order in the first, Perez failed to get the lead-off man out in any his other four innings. In the second, he allowed a lead-off home run to Victor Martinez, and after walking the lead-off man in the third, gave up another lead-off homer in the fourth, this time to Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera. Whereas in the first three innings, Perez was able to regain composure, in the fourth he struggled, giving up longballs to Casey Blake and Ben Francisco.

Perez pitched one more inning before leaving the game after five. Sure enough, he put the lead-off man on in that inning as well, issuing a walk to Franklin Gutierrez. Joe Smith and Nelson Figueroa would relieve Perez in the sixth and seventh respectively, and although they didn't give up any runs, they too both allowed the lead-off man to get on base in their innings. You don't win games doing that.

As for the Mets offensively, there was not much to talk about. Carlos Beltran hit a home run in the top of the 6th off recycled journeyman Scott Elarton and obscure has-been Fernando Tatis drove home a run in the top of the seventh. Fernando Tatis. Seriously.

Unlike my previous two spring excursions, Saturday's game did not end 8-4. Instead, after the Indians batted in the bottom of the seventh, the skies opened up, rain drenched both field and the fans, and the umpires finally called it a day with the final scoring being 5-2 Indians.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Grapefruit League Tour 2008: Twins at Pirates



My latest journey on my illustrious tour of the Grapefruit League took me to McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Florida, spring home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Some notes about the trip: once again I arrived late, I got lost in a neighboring town on an identical address to the ballpark (I got off the highway an exit early), and I saw no signs in Bradenton pointing travellers to McKechnie Field. This last point I found very odd. It was almost as if they didn't want people to go see the Pirates.

About the park: McKechnie Field is one of the oldest parks in Florida. Built in 1923, it first hosted the Cardinals in the 1920s and 30s, and has since been home to the Phillies, Red Sox, Boston Bees (Braves), Boston/Milwaukee Braves, the Kansas City/Oakland A's, and since 1968, the Pirates. According to the Pirates' Spring Training Program, the team and McKechnie Field put 18 million dollars in the Bradenton economy. I find this funny since it is just a hair under half of the Pirates entire 2007 payroll of 38 million.

Anyway, for all its historical nuance, getting into McKechnie Field is a pain in the dupa. Since it was built in the dawn of the automobile industry, there was probably little need back in the day for the park to accomodate a mass influx of cars. This tradition has been sadly continued. There is minimal parking at the park, although the fine surrounding businesses will gladly let you park on their premise, for a fee, of course. Again, it is almost like the city don't want guests to see the Pirates.

On to the game: because I wandering the countryside prior to finally finding the ballpark, when I finally arrived the game was in the top of the 3rd. The only event of note I missed was Twins starter Scott Baker's two innings of work. But I did show up in time for the offense. Right as I sat down, the Twins' Michael Cuddyer doubled off Pirates "ace" Matt Morris scoring Joe Mauer. Then Morris threw a wild pitch advancing Mauer. After Justin Morneau hit a sac fly, the next two Twins, Craig Monroe and Jason Kubel hit back-to-back home runs. 4-0 Twins. Wasn't Morris good a long time ago?

In the top of the next inning, having missed the first few Pirates hitters, the first Buc I saw at bat was Nyjer Morgan, most famous for being the namesake of the sports blog Nyjer Please. Nyjer isn't very good, and neither are the Pirates. The highlight of their day offensively was back-to-back home runs by Adam LaRoche and Ryan Doumit in the bottom of the 4th, making it only 6-3 Twins.

Among the other interesting sightings during the game were pitcher Jaret Wright and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, both Pirates non-roster invitees who took the field in the bottom of the 7th. Wasn't Wright also good at some point in his career? The first pitch he threw was blasted over the right-center fence by the Twins' Jon Knott.

An inning later, Twins prospect Deolis Guerra took the mound. As one of the many arms the Mets gave up for Johan Santana, I wanted to see what Guerra was all about. I was impressed. Although it was against players who will be bagging groceries in a week, Guerra set the Pirates down in order in the 8th.

Not too much of note happened after that. Similar to the Blue Jays-Reds contest of last week, this game also resulted in an 8-4 victory for the team hailing from the American League.

Next week: Tigers at Rays in beautiful St. Petersburg. Adios.

(Photo from Brian Merzbach's Ballpark Reviews. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died after one pic. It would be nice if ballparks sold batteries, but that's a rant for another day.)

Monday, March 3, 2008

Grapefruit League Tour 2008: Reds vs. Blue Jays



As I did earlier this week, over the bridge I went yet again in an attempt to watch my first spring game of the year. On Sunday fortunately it didn't rain. And to make anyone living in normal winter climates jealous, it was a balmy 77 degrees with a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. But enough about weather.

Today's journey was to Dunedin, Florida, about an hour from my apartment and spring home to the Toronto Blue Jays. Although I saw the Reds last year in Sarasota, this is the first time I have ever seen the Blue Jays in action. In all honesty, I am actually somewhat Blue Jay-stupid, as during the game I had to ask a Jays fan who was in their starting rotation besides Roy Holladay and A.J. Burnett. I can't help it, I'm from "the states", and the most geographically southern one at that.

Speaking of Burnett, however, the former Mets prospect and former tattooed wild child started today's contest opposite Cincinnati's (nee Boston's) baseball rock hero Bronson Arroyo. So it was metalhead's pitcher's duel for the ages in scenic, serene Dunedin, Florida.

And it wasn't just a battle of rockin' pitchers, either. Today's match-up featured a duel of the scrappy overachieving (read: white) infielders, David Eckstein and Ryan Freel, and a slobberknocker of former iconic Marlins back-up catchers: Paul Bako of the Reds and Baseball Prospectus's Practically Perfect Backup Catcher, Gregg Zaun of the Blue Jays.

(Side note: has it really been over 10 years since Gregg Zaun did the movie review on ESPN? The year was 1997. I was in the military and Zaun was playing for the Marlins watching movies in my parents' town [where the Marlins used to train]. If I wasn't a thousand miles away and was at home living with my folks, I probably would have hunted Zaun down and tried to catch a flick with him. And I would probably still have a restraining order on me. Moving on ...)

As per tradition, I arrived late to the game. When I finally got to my seat, the Blue Jays were batting in the bottom of the 1st. This was the first time I noticed the helmet the base coaches are wearing this year, with good reason of course. The base line umpires, however, who stand only feet away, remain unprotected. Things that make you go hmmmm.

In the bottom of the second I not only had a chance to see Ryan Freel hit, but also Reds uber-prospect Jay Bruce. Bruce did not disappoint, lining a 2-run double off the left-center wall. But back to Freel for a moment: I wonder if Farney had better luck scoring some action this pre-season?

Random thought of the day (and something I might just do a little research on): are fans less likely to go gallivanting across Florida or Arizona to see spring games with gas prices as high as they are? For many people it is a rite of passage to travel across the state seeing cheap baseball. But what happens when it becomes more expensive to travel?

Back to the game: did you know the Reds have both Kent Mercker and Mike Stanton? If only they brought back some other ancient Braves. Who's for a Derek Lilliquist sighting? Not to be outdone, the Blue Jays countered with Lance Carter and Shawn Camp, both of whom were last seen doing poor impersonations of relief pitchers in the Tampa Bay bullpen.

Ok, well I have written too much and said too little. To sum up, the final score was 8-4 Blue Jays. And I must say, it's good to have baseball back.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Grapefruit League Tour Stop 2: Reds vs. Blue Jays

As I did earlier this week, over the bridge I went yet again in an attempt to watch my first spring game of the year. On Sunday fortunately it didn't rain. And to make anyone living in normal winter climates jealous, it was a balmy 77 degrees with a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. But enough about weather.

Today's journey was to Dunedin, Florida, about an hour from my apartment and spring home to the Toronto Blue Jays. Although I saw the Reds last year in Sarasota, this is the first time I have ever seen the Blue Jays in action. In all honesty, I am actually somewhat Blue Jay-stupid, as during the game I had to ask a Jays fan who was in their starting rotation besides Roy Holladay and A.J. Burnett. I can't help it, I'm from "the states", and the most geographically southern one at that.

Speaking of Burnett, however, the former Mets prospect and former tattooed wild child started today's contest opposite Cincinnati's (nee Boston's) baseball rock hero Bronson Arroyo. So it was metalhead's pitcher's duel for the ages in scenic, serene Dunedin, Florida.

And it wasn't just a battle of rockin' pitchers, either. Today's match-up featured a duel of the scrappy overachieving (read: white) infielders, David Eckstein and Ryan Freel, and a slobberknocker of former iconic Marlins back-up catchers: Paul Bako of the Reds and Baseball Prospectus's Practically Perfect Backup Catcher, Gregg Zaun of the Blue Jays.

(Side note: has it really been over 10 years since Gregg Zaun did the movie review on ESPN? The year was 1997. I was in the military and Zaun was playing for the Marlins watching movies in my parents' town [where the Marlins used to train]. If I wasn't a thousand miles away and was at home living with my folks, I probably would have hunted Zaun down and tried to catch a flick with him. And I would probably still have a restraining order on me. Moving on ...)

As per tradition, I arrived late to the game. When I finally got to my seat, the Blue Jays were batting in the bottom of the 1st. This was the first time I noticed the helmet the base coaches are wearing this year, with good reason of course. The base line umpires, however, who stand only feet away, remain unprotected. Things that make you go hmmmm.

In the bottom of the second I not only had a chance to see Ryan Freel hit, but also Reds uber-prospect Jay Bruce. Bruce did not disappoint, lining a 2-run double off the left-center wall. But back to Freel for a moment: I wonder if Farney had better luck scoring some action this pre-season?

Random thought of the day (and something I might just do a little research on): are fans less likely to go gallivanting across Florida or Arizona to see spring games with gas prices as high as they are? For many people it is a rite of passage to travel across the state seeing cheap baseball. But what happens when it becomes more expensive to travel?

Back to the game: did you know the Reds have both Kent Mercker and Mike Stanton? If only they brought back some other ancient Braves. Who's for a Derek Lilliquist sighting? Not to be outdone, the Blue Jays countered with Lance Carter and Shawn Camp, both of whom were last seen doing poor impersonations of relief pitchers in the Tampa Bay bullpen.

Ok, well I have written too much and said too little. To sum up, the final score was 8-4 Blue Jays. And I must say, it's good to have baseball back.