"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, March 22, 2003 ::

Tying One On

MESA, Arizona -- I suspect most of you watched the game on WGN today, so a few personal notes -- today was the first day our group from the RF bleachers was complete -- Howard, Jon, Brian, and Tony joined Carole & Ernie & me on the LF lawn. In a little while they're all coming over to grill out on our new George Foreman grill. I love the George! Even I can cook on a George!

But anyway, today's 6-6, 11-inning tie between the Giants and Cubs at Mesa was entertaining, if pretty sloppily played.

Alan Benes surely pitched his way off the team today, allowing four hits and four runs in the first inning, and all the hits were smacked pretty hard. I'll give Benes credit for settling down and throwing three decent innings after that, but the Cubs have five starters already, and with Kerry Wood apparently ready to go now, there's really no place for him.

A few other notes on today's game:

* Bobby Hill didn't start -- the start was given to Mark Grudzielanek. Neither distinguished himself at the plate, both going 0-for-3. Hill did make a couple of nice stops in the field.

* Troy O'Leary looked terrific -- he was officially credited with a 4-for-4, but the one in the ninth inning which wound up tying the game, was really an error. Still, he pounded two extra-base hits and played well in the outfield. I think O'Leary could be one of the Cubs' best offseason pickups.

* The rest of the bullpen threw well today, except for Felix Sanchez, who was all over the place, and made a throwing error to boot. After the first inning, the pen threw ten innings, allowed four hits and one walk and one unearned run. Mark Guthrie and Joe Borowski were particularly effective.

* Kurt Ainsworth of the Giants pitched six very effective innings -- he's their top pitching prospect.

* We figured Bud Selig must have been in attendance since the game was called after 11 innings. No, seriously, I know why they didn't play further -- most of the time in spring training, there are only a certain number of pitchers who the managers want to get work, and with the Giants running six pitchers out there and the Cubs seven, I think everyone who needed work got it.

* The crowd seemed to be almost half Giants fans -- this was probably the largest crowd of the year, being a weekend, and with the weather spectacularly perfect, the sellout will probably be repeated when the teams rematch at Scottsdale tomorrow. Scottsdale Stadium is my favorite of all the AZ spring training parks.

* Best news of all, the human air-raid siren was nowhere to be heard all afternoon. What a pleasant surprise.

:: posted by Al at 7:23 PM [+] ::
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The Envelope, Please

Thought I'd pass along a few thoughts about tomorrow's Academy Awards, just so you can see how wrong I'm going to be. Here, then, a list of the major categories, who I'd have voted for if I'd have had a vote, and who I predict will win each category:

BEST PICTURE:
Al's vote: "Chicago"
Who's going to win: "Chicago"

BEST ACTOR:
Al's vote: Adrien Brody
Who's going to win: Jack Nicholson

BEST ACTRESS:
Al's vote: Salma Hayek
Who's going to win: Nicole Kidman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Al's vote: Ed Harris
Who's going to win: Ed Harris

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Al's vote: Meryl Streep
Who's going to win: Catherine Zeta-Jones

BEST DIRECTOR:
Al's vote: Roman Polanski
Who's going to win: Rob Marshall

Enjoy the show!

:: posted by Al at 9:29 AM [+] ::
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Minor Leaguers Are People Too

MESA, Arizona -- As we "shocked and awed" (and who came up with that stupid phrase?) Iraq, I drove to Fitch Park, home of the Cubs' minor league complex, to watch a couple of games between Cub farmhands and Oakland Athletics farmhands, on an absolutely gorgeous, near 80-degree day, with a few fair-weather clouds scudding on by.

While this was going on, unbeknownst to most of the 100 or so people gathered at Fitch, Kerry Wood was throwing a six-inning simulated game, closed to the public, at Ho Ho Kam Park. He pronounced himself healthy and ready for Opening Day; he'll throw one more spring start, on Wednesday vs. Anaheim.

On the two fields at Fitch, the Lansing roster and the Daytona roster were playing their respective A's counterparts. I mostly watched the Lansing game, primarily -- and I know this is a stupid reason -- because that way I could get more sun directly on me; considering how awful the weather has been up to now, I hope you can forgive that indulgence.

Starting pitcher for Lansing was lefthander Justin Jones, a second-round pick last year. He threw five innings, gave up one run, which in fact was the only run of the game, and was betrayed by a shaky defense, which was responsible for allowing the run. Jones throws pretty hard and he'll be a mainstay of the Lansing rotation this year.

Of the other prospects in that game, probably the best known is Felix Pie, a speedy outfielder who played first RF, then shifted to CF. He showed a good arm; I wish I could say more, but he was 0-for-4. He tried to bunt his way on to start the game, but popped up. He clearly has talent, but is very raw.

More polished was catcher Chris Miller, who threw out two runners stealing with a gun of an arm. He didn't hit much last year at Boise; if he can develop a bat, he can move up fast in the Cub system, which is pretty bereft of catchers.

Finally, Jason Wylie, who had 11 saves at short-season Boise last year, threw the 9th and was very impressive. No one there had a radar gun, but the ball was popping off the catcher's glove. Must have been mid-90's at least. Plus, he has a personality -- I spotted him after the game running off, still in uniform, hand in hand with a young lady who I presume was his girlfriend.

I watched a bit of the Daytona game to watch Chadd Blasko, a sandwich pick last year, throw. He impressed me most with his offspeed stuff, though the A's were hitting him around pretty good -- 3 runs allowed in five innings. Luis Montanez played SS in this game and made one nice diving catch of a line drive.

The brass was all there -- Andy MacPhail, Jim Hendry and John McDonough. However, they stayed mostly in the off-limits-to-fans tower overlooking the field and weren't accessible. I swear, that tower looks like a prison guard tower and you expect someone to pull out the machine guns if they don't like the way someone is playing.

Many of the players would sit on the bleachers behind the fields when they weren't playing -- and since so many of the low-minors kids are Hispanic, there was a constant chatter going on in Spanish. Wish I understood more of it, because with all the laughter, I wonder how much of it was baseball-related.

Ran into my friend Ron Hayden from the LF bleachers today; he managed to last a couple hours there before he went on back to his hotel room.

More tomorrow from Mesa; here's hoping that the human air-raid siren has been deported (or something like that) by now.

:: posted by Al at 6:35 PM [+] ::
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A Movie Note

I know that some of you enjoy reading my movie reviews, and perhaps are wondering why there haven't been any lately.

Well, please.

After seeing all the various films for which people are nominated for Oscars, there really isn't anything out right now worth seeing. I mean, "Old School"? "Bringing Down the House"? "The Hunted"?

Wouldn't waste my time or money on those movies. The new Gwyneth Paltrow movie is out, "View From The Top"; it's gotten mixed reviews nationwide, but looks like it could be a fun escape for a couple of hours.

More baseball news this afternoon. Kerry Wood may throw in the minor-league complex at Fitch Park today; hopefully I'll be able to report on that.

:: posted by Al at 9:54 AM [+] ::
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Let's Play Two!

PEORIA and SURPRISE, Arizona -- Actually, the most remarkable thing that happened today during Carole, Ernie and Al's adventure to the Cubs/Padres day game and the Royals/Rangers night game was this:

At the Cubs/Padres game we were sitting right in front of a couple from California who are A's fans, who didn't have a game for their own team to take in today, so they decided to go to that one. During the course of the day we learned that they too were going to Surprise tonight to see the Rangers & Royals.

To our, um, Surprise... we took our seats at Surprise Stadium to find this couple seated right next to us. A cosmic convergence. We wished the A's luck, they wished the Cubs luck, and I asked them for some Powerball ticket numbers, which I never did get.

A few notes on a very long, but enjoyable, day and night of baseball:

* Eric Karros is an absolute chatterbox. We were sitting right by the 1B dugout and he was constantly talking; to the 1B umpire, to any baserunners, to the other fielders. I know 1B'men are supposed to do this, but it was amazing to actually hear this.

* Trenidad Hubbard made a good case for himself to back up Corey Patterson in CF. He went 2-for-3 with a 2-run HR. Charles Gipson also played CF for the first time since I've been here, but didn't distinguish himself. Hubbard, despite his age (36), may be the best choice for fifth outfielder, unless a deal can be made.

* Jason Dubois made his first appearance since being reacquiread; pinch-hit and struck out. Also appearing today was Brendan Harris; he grounded out. Our other Harris, Lenny, played an acceptable 1B. He still has a chance of making the roster.

* Sammy Sosa played the entire game, the only regular to do so. I presume this was because he won't go to Tucson tomorrow. He hit his second spring HR, and seems ready to begin the season.

* At one point the PA announcer made an announcement of a pitching change for the San Diego "Chargers".

* Juan Cruz was absolutely unhittable today -- he gave up only a walk and a groundball doubld down the LF line to Xavier Nady. I still think Cruz' future is as a setup man or closer, but off of today's performance he may be the temporary replacement for Kerry Wood.

* As good as Cruz was, that's how bad Kyle Farnsworth was today. It was the 2002 Kyle again; he allowed three extra-base hits to the Padres' scrubs and turned a rout into a close game, which had to be closed out by Mike Remlinger, who has shaved his goatee and looks ten years younger.

* We ran into my colleagues Mark Giangreco and cameraman Mike Dukewich from channel 7, outside the park setting up for a live shot into the 4:30 pm news.

* We saw numerous military jets fly over at various times during the day and night; could that be because of worries about an attack on the Palo Verde nuclear power plant near Phoenix?

* The Surprise Stadium complex is just as terrific as advertised. It's got all the amenities of a regular Triple-A stadium, with an actual upper deck, skyboxes, clubs for each team, a DiamondVision scoreboard, and a beautiful field, with practice fields all around and also places for the locals, such as a waterpark. They really did things right out there; commendations to everyone, especially the Surprise Sundancers group who runs the place; they are the friendliest of all the local groups. The park seems a real draw; there were as many people there with other teams' caps than the Royals and Rangers.

* Mike Sweeney, the Royals' only really good player, hit two HR, including a 420-foot bomb to dead CF. Carlos Beltran, who would be the Royals' other good player, is still out with a minor hamstring injury.

* Hank Blalock, who some Cub fans would like to see the club acquire, hit a long bomb of a HR himself; he also played second base tonight, which isn't a position he's really suited for, though he did OK there tonight; he's got a massive upper body which gives him his power, but he's much better suited to 3B, which for the Rangers is taken by Mark Teixeira.

* The Royals won the game 9-5, to the delight of a Royals fan family who sat in front of us and cheered literally every player by name. It was their 13th spring win in 20 games. Once the regular season starts it will take many more than 20 games for the Royals to win 13, so I hope they enjoy it now.

Tomorrow afternoon, I plan to go to Fitch Park in Mesa to see the Cubs minor leaguers play, and will report on that.

:: posted by Al at 12:33 AM [+] ::
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Thursday Update

We are doing a doubleheader today -- Cubs/Padres at Peoria this afternoon, Rangers/Royals at Surprise tonight.

So, today's game report and update will either be very late tonight, or more likely tomorrow morning.

I am at this moment watching CNN's live coverage of what appears to be heavy bombing of Baghdad. For all our sakes, let this be over quickly and with minimal loss of life.

:: posted by Al at 12:11 PM [+] ::
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War. What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing.

Carole & Ernie & I were sitting in a restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona when the president's speech came on.

Almost everyone in the restaurant began shushing each other so people could hear the speech. This is something I'd never witnessed before, even with a president more popular than our present one.

After he was finished there was applause throughout the restaurant. I suppose this is due to the conservative nature of Arizona.

All I can say now is, that I hope the administration is right and that it can be finished swiftly, with minimal loss of life to both our troops and Iraqi civilians, and that we can indeed provide a better future for the people of Iraq.

And that I support our troops 100%, and hope they all return home safely.

:: posted by Al at 11:33 PM [+] ::
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Get These Clouds Out Of Here!

PHOENIX, Arizona -- In my thirteen spring trainings, I've never seen as many cloudy days as this year. Today was sunny in the morning, then it clouded over in the afternoon, though it was quite a bit warmer than yesterday.

And, for a change of pace, I decided to not go to HoHoKam today, with the ballpark I don't really like and the human air-raid siren, and opted instead for the split-squad game at Maryvale vs. the Brewers. My friends Carole and Ernie, who sit in the bleachers with me during the season, arrived in town last night and joined me for the game.

I like the ballpark at Maryvale -- it's a bit out of the way, in a not-so-great part of town, but the complex is first-class, and the ballpark wasn't nearly full -- only 3300, about half-full.

The Cubs sent three regulars -- Alex Gonzalez, Damian Miller and Bobby Hill, along with semi-regular Eric Karros, to start vs. Milwaukee, and Carlos Zambrano started.

As good as Zambrano looked last Friday, that was as shaky as he was today. He couldn't throw strikes -- walking three in three-plus innings -- and gave up hits to just about everyone in the Brewers' split-squad lineup, which included regulars Alex Sanchez, Richie Sexson and Jeffrey Hammonds. He was pulled in the fourth with the Cubs trailing 4-2.

Well, no one wound up pitching well today; Brewers starter Matt Kinney was OK till the fifth, when an error and a hit batsman led to a five-run Cub rally. Mike Matthews came in and couldn't get anyone out, and Eric Karros' grand slam was the final blow in the Cubs' 13-6 win. With the 2-1 victory at HoHoKam, led by Hee Seop Choi's 2-run homer, the Cubs are now 10-9 on the spring.

Highlights today were the three hits and homer by Eric Karros, who had 5 RBI; Alex Gonzalez also homered; Bobby Hill walked and got hit by a pitch, after which he tried to steal second. The throw hit him in the helmet, after which he was removed from the game as a precaution.

Lenny Harris and Phil Hiatt were given starts, presumably to see whether they can play different positions. Harris started at 3B and made several nice fielding plays; Hiatt started in RF and made only one putout. Of the two, Hiatt had the only hit, a single. Tom Goodwin was given the leadoff slot, and predictably, was poor -- walked once and reached on an error in 6 plate appearances. Maybe this will convince Dusty Baker that he can't lead off, though Dusty wasn't at Maryvale today -- Jerry Reuss, a spring training instructor, ran the show.

Apart from Zambrano, the pitchers were OK -- Will Cunnane threw well for two innings; Francis Beltran and Joe Borowski each struck out three, though to be fair, by then the Brewers' fifth stringers were in the game.

It was nice to see the second squad generate some offense, though to be fair again, they weren't facing much of a pitching staff. I don't think any major decisions could be made off today's game; it was nice to see Karros hit the ball well, and glad Choi homered in the other game.

The Maryvale park staff invited the sausage characters from Miller Park in Milwaukee down for the game and they had the traditional sausage race, won by the Polish.

:: posted by Al at 6:49 PM [+] ::
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Stop Events For War? No Way!

There's talk going on, should we indeed go to war, that the Oscars, the NCAA tournament, even the start of the baseball season.

In fact, the season-opening games in Japan, originally to have been next week, have already been cancelled and rescheduled in the US later in the season.

To me, this is a mistake. Are we to put all of our lives on hold for this war? Even after Pearl Harbor, as World War II, a much larger event, was getting more intense, President Roosevelt wrote a now-famous letter to baseball commissioner Landis, saying he felt that baseball should go on during the course of the war.

As should all these events continue now.

After all, isn't that what our troops are fighting for? The freedom to have all of these things?

:: posted by Al at 9:33 PM [+] ::
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Turn on the HEAT!

PEORIA, Arizona -- Before I tell you how cool it was today, let me mention that the first time I drove from Scottsdale to Peoria for a game at the terrific Peoria Sports Complex (more anon), it took an hour through local traffic. Now they have completed the Arizona 101 Loop highway, the same drive takes only 30 minutes.

The Peoria people are well organized -- they direct you to separate parking lots depending on where you are sitting. Oh, and they don't ban umbrellas either, on rainy days. Methinks a letter to the HoHoKams and city of Mesa is in order. Peoria Stadium also has an entire area of food stands selling everything from fajitas to Philly cheesesteaks to regular ballpark fare, all grilled fresh. And, as in all the parks I've visited so far, there's no smoking anywhere.

Yes, it was cool today, for the Cubs' sloppy, messy, wacky 10-8 win over the Mariners. When the sun was out, it was pleasantly warm; when it wasn't -- about half the time -- it was cool. And windy. Probably about 25 MPH windy, with higher gusts. This is good practice for those windy April days at Wrigley Field.

It took the hitters five innings to figure out that the wind was blowing out a gale to RF; no homers were hit till then, and Sammy Sosa's to LF didn't need any help. Corey Patterson, Midre Cummings and Ichiro Suzuki (grand slam) all hit wind-aided HR to right.

Cub pitchers were awful today -- ten walks in addition to the fourteen Mariner hits. Not a single Cub pitcher threw well, except for Mike Remlinger, who had an uneventful inning. Alan Benes, who started, was credited with the win, but only because everyone else was worse.

Antonio Alfonseca was actually on the way to a creditable inning of work when he slipped on the still-damp grass trying to pick up a ground ball and suffered an injury that required him to be taken off the field on a motorized cart. It appeared to be a knee, though I have no confirmation of this; it was serious enough that the entire team surrounded him, including the outfielders, which is unusual. If this injury is as serious as it appears, I'd think he'd start the year on the DL, and Rod Beck would probably make the staff.

This was the last regularly scheduled Arizona game for Seattle; they are supposed to be leaving tomorrow for Japan, though it now seems possible the Japan games vs. the A's may be postponed or moved back to the US. So, Seattle played their everyday lineup for most of the game, including the hitting machine Edgar Martinez, who had four hits including a homer.

Mark Bellhorn solidified his claim on the starting job with a hit and walk and a couple of slick fielding plays. Hopefully, this will shut off all the silly Shea Hillenbrand talk. I was, however, once again puzzled by the fact that when Bellhorn was pulled in the 6th, David Kelton did not appear at 3B as his replacement; instead it was Phil Hiatt, who promptly made a throwing error. This makes no sense -- Kelton's going to be the starting 3B at Iowa and the future of this franchise; Hiatt's an almost-34-year-old retread.

Kelton was given a PH at-bat in the DH slot in the 9th and rang a booming double off the LF wall that missed being a HR by about six inches.

Tomorrow, it's supposed to be sunny all day, which would be a first since I've been here.

:: posted by Al at 6:33 PM [+] ::
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Rain, Part Deux [another rant]

SURPRISE, Arizona -- So today, despite the forecast of nearly all-day rain, I drove the 40 miles from where I'm staying, to the Royals' new spring training complex, which I've actually been looking forward to seeing, since I've heard it's supposed to be the best training site ever.

I can tell you that from what I did see of it, it looks great. But I didn't see much, having sat in my car for about an hour; then, since it started raining much harder and began to get much darker, I decided to head home.

This is where my rant starts. At this writing, more than two and a half hours after game time, the game has not officially been called. I'm listening to the MLB audio link right now, the KC station, and they are running some sports talk show about the NCAA basketball tournament. So I don't know for sure if the game's been called, but --

Seriously, this is just about the most inconsiderate thing I can think of. It's been raining all day. It's going to rain into the early evening. It's cold (by AZ standards) -- 50 degrees. The field is partly under water. Why on EARTH wouldn't they call off the game early -- thus showing consideration not only for the players, but for the fans. Many people did what I did, sat in their cars in the parking lot; as I was leaving, about 45 minutes after the scheduled game time, there was a steady flow of people out of the ballpark to do the same.

Yes, I know it's all about money -- but how much more beer were they going to sell? And especially considering that this is an exhibition game, I think the prudent thing to do would have been to call the game at 11 am, thus allowing everyone to go their own way for the day.

Oh, and Surprise Stadium does allow umbrellas. So it's definitively not MLB policy, as the HoHoKams claimed.

Tomorrow's forecast is for sunshine, so we will return to baseball, at Peoria, vs. the Mariners. I plan to attend the Royals/Rangers game on Thursday night at Surprise Stadium, so will report here on the ballpark then.

:: posted by Al at 4:49 PM [+] ::
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Rain [a rant]

MESA, Arizona -- As you no doubt know, today's game was rained out, after Shawn Estes retired the side easily in the top of the first (including a really nice called strikeout of Pablo Ozuna), and the Rockies' Denny Stark got the first two batters he faced, with a 1-2 count on Sammy Sosa, it started pouring.

And when it pours in the desert, it really pours. The land can't handle that much rain at one time, so large amounts of standing water come everywhere, and in a big hurry. At this writing it is still raining.

But that's not my rant. My rant is about the fact that HoHoKam Park doesn't allow umbrellas.

As far as I know, only one major league park -- Pro Player in Miami -- doesn't allow umbrellas. Both parks in Chicago do. When I asked the security people why, the first four of them that I asked just said, "it's the rules". Well, that's not really an answer, is it? I finally got someone to give me two reasons, both of which, in my opinion, are ridiculous:

1) you might block someone else's view. Excuse me? When it's raining and the game isn't being played? What view, exactly, are they talking about?

2) you might throw the umbrella at someone as a weapon. Oh, please. How ridiculous is that?

Finally, I got through to the office at HoHoKam on the phone, to see who was responsible for this silly rule, whether it be the city of Mesa, the Cubs, or whoever.

They blamed it on Major League Baseball. This also seems silly, since I seem to recall "no umbrellas" signs long before MLB got into this kind of thing. It sounds like MLB is trying to disguise this as a security issue. It's no wonder fans are so upset with MLB, with fan-UNfriendly rules like this.

So once the delay was underway (and they also held up the start of the game for 20 minutes to get all the pre-game nonsense in -- even though the field was uncovered and ready to play at least 30 minutes to game time) ... I tried to figure out how I would get to my car without an umbrella, without getting soaked. Incidentally, I did see a few people with small umbrellas that they must have smuggled in under jackets. I must remember this for next time.

I found an empty cardboard box and flinging it over my head, ran to my car. If you've ever been at HoHoKam, you know that the parking lot is actually a grass soccer field, and it was pretty well underwater already by the time I got to my car, thus soaking my shoes, and the bottom half of my jeans.

Anyway, baseball will continue tomorrow at Surprise, vs. the Royals, weather permitting. I have heard many good things about the new complex there, so will file a full report about the park, as well as the game, tomorrow. I did run into my friends Ron and Karen, who sit in LF at Wrigley, and sat with them for a while, and Terri, who I know from the ballpark and who was also an acquaintance of my sister's, who gave her condolences, which was nice.

Finally -- two days ago the gift shop at HoHoKam told me they didn't have any more of the caps with "2003 Spring Training" on them. Today, I found one at one of the small souvenir stands. Great communication.

:: posted by Al at 5:27 PM [+] ::
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