"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 29, 2003 ::

Proof That There Are All Sides To This War

While I am still of two minds about the war -- first, that I hate the idea that GWB went to war for fairly flimsy reasons, second, that I do believe Saddam Hussein is dangerous and must be removed from power -- we must all remember that for those directly involved in this conflict -- the Iraqi people -- there is a third side.

Today, I came across this fascinating article talking about that "third side". Must reading for everyone.

:: posted by Al at 1:51 PM [+] ::
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Almost Time!

The Cubs' last exhibition game is this afternoon against the D'backs (and the offense looked pretty good in last night's 7-3 win over Arizona), and the 2003 season gets underway tomorrow night with Texas facing Anaheim.

With that in mind, I have posted my annual predictions on my baseball page. I'll leave this up all season so you can laugh at me when the season's over, about how wrong I was. Incidentally, I picked the eventual World Champion Angels to finish last in their division last year. But then again, so did many of the so-called experts.

Let the games begin!

:: posted by Al at 10:49 AM [+] ::
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You Know Vacation's Over When...

OK, so today I had two weeks' worth of mail, bills, etc. piled up, plus I had to begin to sort through my sister's affairs. This is never a pleasant task, as you can imagine, and here's a little story about one of the roadblocks I ran into today.

Ann had a checking account and a CD at a local bank. In order to get access to the funds, to pay off some of her bills, I brought in the necessary documentation to the bank.

First thing the rep says: "You need letters of office." Well, no, sir, I don't, because the estate is under a certain amount, it doesn't go to probate, and I don't need those. It says so right on the form I brought in -- guess he didn't read it. Then he wanted the vice-president to look at it. Talked to her, faxed her the forms. He called her no less than four separate times. EACH time, he had to look up her extension on his computer screen.

I asked if this was going to take a while, since I had other errands. He said he'd work on it and I figured I'd come back in a couple hours. 20 minutes later he called and said it was all set. So I go back, and it wasn't. I had to sit there while he filled out more forms and wrestled with his computer. Oh, and he had to subtract a number from the amount he was going to write the check for. He did this by hand. On paper. And he got it wrong. Twice. I finally had to ask him if he had a calculator.

Well, eventually the accounts were closed, and the checks written for the proper amounts, but frankly, I wouldn't trust this bank with the loose coins under the couch pillows, much less my life savings.

In case you're interested in avoiding this place, it's Bank Financial, a Chicago-area small chain, based in the south suburbs (Chicago Ridge), with 16 locations -- they picked up several when merging with Success National Bank a couple of years ago.

In baseball news, I listened to yesterday's game via the Internet, with predictable results -- a loss.

:: posted by Al at 5:54 PM [+] ::
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Al's Arizona Spring Training Travel Guide

About to return to Chicago, I thought I'd give a quick ranking guide to the seven spring training parks in the Phoenix area, and a little bit about each one. I've talked about each park in the daily reports, but here's a summary of everything, for anyone who's thinking about such a trip next March -- and I'd highly recommend it for any baseball fan.

1) Surprise Stadium, Surprise, Rangers & Royals This ballpark vaults to the top rank in its very first year. Despite its way-out-of-the-way location, it's well designed, feeling both intimate and spacious; has a JumboTron, but also plenty of room for kids to run around on the grass; a good food selection and reasonable prices; and the friendliest staff anywhere in the Cactus League. Don't miss this gem.

2) Peoria Sports Complex, Peoria, Padres & Mariners It's surprising to find such a variety of food and well-designed ballpark in the middle of what must be one of the largest concentration of strip-mall chain stores in America, but that's what they've made here at Peoria. There are tons of food stands; you can get rice bowls, fajitas, Philly cheesesteaks, or conventional ballpark fare. They've also got a great selection of souvenirs, though all Padre or Mariner related, and they put it on sale the last few days of spring training. Seating is excellent, and the prices are among the lowest in Arizona.

3) Scottsdale Stadium, Scottsdale, Giants This is an intimate ballpark, as even the lawn seats seem close to the action; there are also, unlike the other parks, shade trees on the lawn in case you don't want full sun all day, a nice touch. The Giants have an enormous selection of souvenirs, big enough for a tent under the stands; when I went in it was so crowded you could barely move past the exit for all the people buying stuff -- all Giants-related, unfortunately. There's a similar amount of food stands to Peoria, and I like the concourse, which is open on the back side so you get light coming through even when under the seats. Tickets are a bit pricey -- highest priced lawn seats in the Cactus League.

4) Maryvale Baseball Park, Phoenix, Brewers Overlooked by many for two reasons -- first, the Brewers just don't draw that many, and it's also not in the best part of town -- this is a little gem tucked away behind strip malls. It's got easily accessible practice fields for watching BP or minor league games, and every seat's a good one, and there's almost always good seats available. Staff here was also very friendly.

5) Tempe Diablo Stadium, Tempe, Angels Just because this is two rungs lower than Scottsdale, doesn't mean it's much worse -- these last three are all pretty close in amenities, sightlines, etc. They added a grass berm here in the last few years and it's one of the nicer ones. Souvenirs here often include stuff for the visiting team, and I've bought things here that I couldn't find elsewhere in the Cactus League. It's a little hard to find and as I mentioned when I went there, the Tempe police were ill-prepared for the traffic of a sellout crowd. Until this year, they haven't had to worry about that, but with the Angels being defending World Champions, that's brought a ton more red-clad Anaheim fans to Arizona.

6) Phoenix Municipal Stadium, A's Originally built in 1964 for the then Triple-A Giants, later the Firebirds, this stadium doesn't have a lot of the amenities of the newer parks, like a grass berm. Nevertheless, the friendly staff tries to make up for the ugly concrete construction with some of the lower prices and better souvenirs of the Cactus League. Sightlines here are probably the best of any of the ballparks, due to its somewhat smaller design. I'm basing this on my visit there last year; I didn't get to Phoenix Muni this year, and there were supposedly some improvements made to it.

7) HoHoKam Park, Mesa, Cubs And it's not even close, and that's really sad. The HoHoKams made several mistakes in the design, first of all -- it's the largest park in the Cactus League, seating almost 13,000, and that takes away intimacy. Half of the grass berm in right field is behind a sidewalk, making sightlines lousy. The lower concourse isn't open, meaning when you go under the stands from the seats, it's extremely dark. The HoHoKams themselves have always given me the impression that they were doing me a favor by being there; they seem very unfriendly compared to some of the other civic groups who help run spring training parks, notably the new one in Surprise. I talked earlier about the concession and food problems at HoHoKam, which may be corrected in a couple of years. What's good about Mesa? Well, the LF berm seats give a pretty good view; it's easy to get in and out of the parking lot (at least when it's not raining!), and of course, you're in the company of fellow Cubs fans.

Nevertheless, I always enjoy my travels in the Phoenix area to spring training parks. Perhaps next year, a trip to Tucson to see the two parks there.

And now, let the season begin!

:: posted by Al at 2:31 PM [+] ::
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We Got Wood!

MESA, Arizona -- I hereby pronounce Kerry Wood ready to start the regular season on Monday.

OK, OK, I know -- my opinion doesn't really count, but Wood showed no effects of the flu he battled for most of March, and was terrific for three innings, and decent enough for the five he threw, allowing five hits and two runs, striking out five, and the Cubs used their scrubs to rally in the 9th to beat the Angels 7-6. Results like this show how meaningless spring games are.

The Angels starter, John Lackey, who may be their opening day starter with Jarrod Washburn questionable, only threw two innings. Reliever Scott Shields shut the Cubs down, then the Cubs came back nicely against Troy Percival (who allowed ringing doubles to Ramon Martinez and somebody named Francisco Salas who looked like he had just suited up from the ground crew), and John Snyder, who the Angels probably regret signing to a minor-league contract, who didn't get anyone out in the 9th as the Cubs scored three runs.

Before I summarize this game, let me mention that today was the first time I had seen the Cubs take a "conventional" batting practice -- i.e. not one on the practice fields. It is HoHoKam policy this year to not allow the outfield berm open before BP is over -- apparently last year there were some incidents with adults running over little kids going for balls. At about 12, with BP still going, one of the security types came by and opened the gate, letting us in. He then proceeded to get into a huge argument with one of the HoHoKams about whether or not it should have been opened. But by then 100 of us were already in, so the point was moot. Kids and teenagers wound up shagging several dozen HR balls during what remained of BP, with no incidents.

This is just a sample of how poorly people are treated at HoHoKam Park -- the "no backpack" rule is so arbitrary, and in fact, MLB has recently rescinded this ban at ML parks, but apparently the small minds that run the park at Mesa can't figure out that simply having a backpack open for inspection, like any other bag, should be OK. There is nothing inherently "evil" about backpacks, and thanks to MLB for finally figuring this out. Maybe it'll filter down, but I doubt it. I've written before about the rotten food and souvenir selection at Mesa, and in the next day or two I'll write a comprehensive review of the AZ spring training parks (at least, the ones in the Phoenix metro area).

Back to baseball. Wood looked really sharp in the first three innings -- I went and sat with friends for a while behind the plate and saw his readings on the gun -- consistently 93 or over. One Wood bugaboo came back -- he has a tendency to get rattled if a ball/strike call doesn't go his way, and that showed in the fourth, when he allowed three hits and a walk after two were out. I didn't get his pitch count but it couldn't have been much over 80 or so. There' s no reason he couldn't start on Monday in New York, and I expect him to.

Moises Alou homered for the second game in a row, and he appears to be turning his game up a notch. Hee Seop Choi came into the game late, and hit an absolutely monstrous home run to right-center field leading off the 9th inning rally, which was capped by a double down the LF line by Javier Cardona, a catcher who bears watching in the organization, especially since the Cubs really don't have any catching prospects, except at the lower levels. Tom Goodwin, who apparently will make the team, also tripled in this rally. For some reason, Alan Benes hasn't been cut yet, but after allowing two hits and a run today, I'd think his days are numbered. Francis Beltran, who was ticketed for Iowa anyway, had a really bad inning, and allowed an absolute rocket of a home run to Garret Anderson.

I have heard that with Antonio Alfonseca out, Rod Beck will get the last bullpen spot, and there are unconfirmed rumors that a deal "for a hitter" may be in the works before the week is out.

This will be my final report from spring training for 2003, as I return to Chicago tomorrow. It's been a wonderful time, and despite all our complaints, the Cubs do somehow seem to find ways to win -- in the ten games I've seen, they're 7-2 with the one tie vs. the Giants. Let us all hope that the winning attitude, at least, carries over to the games for real, beginning on Monday.

:: posted by Al at 6:05 PM [+] ::
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Late Night With The Cubs

PEORIA, Arizona -- My friends Howard, Jon and I will occasionally get on a roll with jokes, puns and other things that have nothing to do with baseball, and tonight was one of those nights.

First, a little baseball. Ladies and gentlemen, I have found a baseball team worse than the Milwaukee Brewers. It is the San Diego Padres, who really have only one major league quality starter, and that's Rondell White. And he's not that good either, and he is, as we Cub fans know, injury-prone, though he managed to play the first six innings of the Cubs' 4-2 win over the Padres, or as the PA announcer at Peoria Stadium called them last Thursday, the Chargers, and perhaps the Chargers could play better baseball than these guys.

Carlos Zambrano was most of the show today -- he survived a rocky first inning to pitch into the seventh; I think Dusty wanted him to finish the inning, but he ran out of gas, and Rod Beck, making a very serious bid for the Opening Day roster, shut the door. Zambrano was also the hitting star -- he's a switch-hitter, by the way -- and had three hits, including a really nice looking double down the line, and scored a run. Moises Alou hit his first spring HR and also doubled. Bobby Hill, healthy again, at least hit the ball, though into outs, and walked once, before being lifted along with the rest of the starters, who delighted some of the kids in the crowd by signing baseballs after they did their running in the outfield.

I spent a good deal of the game leafing through the Cubs' media guide, which I acquired yesterday, and which is a very impressive work this year. There are no fewer than sixteen pages on Sammy Sosa's career accomplishments. Did you know that he has homered off 303 different pitchers? Or that his favorite month to homer is August? Or that his first ML homer was off Roger Clemens in Fenway Park? Did you know that Moises Alou's wife is named Austria and he has a son named Kirby? Did you know that the uniform number 22 was worn by someone for 57 consecutive years, 1932-1988, the longest such streak, and that the only number lower than 52 that is not assigned (or retired) this spring is -- 10, Ron Santo's number? Gee, with all this info at his fingertips, you'd think Santo would say "I don't know" a bit less on the radio. But I digress.

After Beck disposed of the last of the seventh, a Cubs lefty came in wearing #75, and we swore that the PA announcer said he was "Frank Zoolander", and we thought maybe we'd see a Ben Stiller look-alike out there. In reality, this pitcher, who snapped off a couple of nice curveballs and threw hard, turned out to be Ferenc Jongejan, a 24-year-old native of the Netherlands who pitched for the Dutch National team during the 2000 Olympics, and threw well at West Tenn last year. Mark Guthrie closed out the game, and perhaps this is Dusty's idea, closer by committee, while Alfonseca is out.

Bad Pun of the Night goes to my friend Jon, who when noticing the Padres' replacement CF, Shane Victorino, letting a double by Mark Grudzielanek fly over his head, said that he must have been on his way to Iraq, because Saddam Hussein had said a couple of days ago that "Victorino is near". Anyway, by the seventh inning stretch we figured the war must have been over because they didn't play "God Bless America" like they'd been doing for the last week.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, folks. Wait till we all get warmed up once the regular season starts.

:: posted by Al at 11:40 PM [+] ::
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A Prior Engagement

MESA, Arizona -- Mark Prior didn't look great, and neither did the scrub-Cub offense (only two regulars, Bellhorn and Miller, started today), but the subs for the subs generated four runs in a wacky eighth inning, and that was enough for a 5-2 Cubs win today.

Prior was all over the place; he couldn't seem to find location, and he hit two batters in the first two innings. The first, coming with two outs in the first, must have rattled him, as he gave up two hits and two runs after that. After the first, he settled down and wound up with six strikeouts, snapping off some nice curveballs in the process. Juan Cruz threw two innings in relief of Prior, and like the last time I saw him throw at Peoria, he pitched lights-out.

Meanwhile, the sub-Cubs carried on from yesterday, as they had only four scattered hits through the first seven innings. Then Dusty started replacing the secondary lineup with backups and people who were on their last chance to make the team and two players -- Felix Pie and Aron Weston -- who will be playing A ball this year, and they scored four runs with no hard hit balls and only one ball leaving the infield.

Pie, who I saw play at Fitch Park on Friday, is a skinny kid, but Weston's even taller and skinnier, and singled and stole a base in the rally -- he looks like he could be a keeper if he could ever fill out. Pie popped a single into center and after a groundout and a HBP to Augie Ojeda (who I've been calling our little cuddly bunny mascot player), Lenny Harris singled in two runs. Much of this was off Jamey Wright, who the Brewers just picked up after Seattle let him go last week -- right after the Cubs pasted him around on Tuesday.

Harris is making a strong bid to stick with his key pinch-hits, and I'd guess Trenidad Hubbard solidified his claim on the last outfield spot with a spectacular running catch on a Jeffrey Hammonds drive. Hubbard also had a hit.

Dave Veres was used in the traditional "closer" situation, three runs up, brought in to start the ninth, which he closed out uneventfully.

Incidentally, the Brewers are a very bad baseball team and could easily lose as many or more than they did a year ago.

Human air-raid siren info: apparently he ran out of money and had to go home several days ago, to the delight of ears everywhere.

I also learned why HoHoKam Park has such lousy concessions and souvenirs: apparently the HoHoKams signed, years ago, a 15-year deal with Aramark, and Aramark wouldn't let anyone in to run grills, etc. like they have at the other parks. You'd think maybe Aramark would want to run stuff like this themselves, but maybe they're just too stupid. The contract has either two or three years to go, and after that the HoHoKams will sign a smarter deal.

Ran into Cheryl and George from the RF bleachers, both of whom had scorched themselves almost beyond recognition, and had to sit with wet towels covering their legs all day.

And Jon, Howard and I had dinner at a fish restaurant in downtown Scottsdale, where we spotted Billy Williams with his wife and another couple. This is the second time I've had such an encounter with Billy in the last year -- last May he was on the same flight that I was taking from LaGuardia Airport in New York, back to O'Hare.

:: posted by Al at 6:44 PM [+] ::
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The Academy Gets One Right

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am that Adrien Brody won Best Actor and Roman Polanski Best Director, Sunday night, for their work on a movie you all must see, "The Pianist".

I reviewed this movie on February 14 and what I said then goes even more strongly now, with our country at war, and this movie makes a strong and necessary statement about the horrors of war, and what it takes to survive, made even more powerful by the fact that it's based on a true story.

I'm glad the motion picture Academy recognized Brody's incredibly sensitive and spellbinding performance, and Roman Polanski's direction. Polanski's personal life is controversial, of course, but the work he put together in this film, similar to the life he himself led in Poland during World War II, is something that needs to be told. If you have not yet seen this film, do not miss it.

In this day of war, let us remember, through this film especially, what happened in the past, and let it not happen again.

Never forget. Never again.

:: posted by Al at 11:27 PM [+] ::
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2002 Rears Its Ugly Head Again

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- Today's one-sided 6-0 Cub loss to the Giants -- and it wasn't as close as the score indicated -- looked a lot like last year's impotent Cub offense. No one could get anything going against Damian Moss and three lower-rung Giant relievers; the only thing close to a scoring rally was in the first inning, when Alex Gonzalez singled, and stopped at third on a Sammy Sosa double. No one else did anything, except for Hee Seop Choi, who walked twice, both off of Moss, which I find to be an encouraging development. Choi has great strike zone judgment and made a couple more nifty stops in the field today.

Other notes:

* Mark Grudzielanek got the start again, and again went 0-for-3. A note in this article in the San Francisco Chronicle says that Dusty might even consider starting Ramon Martinez ahead of Hill and Grudz. This would weaken the bench, and not solve the problem. To Dusty, I preach patience with Bobby Hill, who could easily start out of the gate hot, even though he's not hit at all during the spring.

* Matt Clement threw well enough, but got himself into trouble with walks in the second, and a hit batsman in the fourth, which led to three of the four runs he allowed. I think Dusty would have liked Clement to throw six today, but with his pitch count up in the fifth, he was pulled.

* Rod Beck made another strong push to make the roster, throwing a totally uneventful scoreless sixth inning, and he had terrific movement on his pitches. In an odd little move, Baker had Mike Remlinger get the first two outs in the eighth, then brought in Dave Veres, who promptly gave up two line drive doubles down the line. I don't think Remlinger was hurt, I think Dusty just wanted Veres to get some work in.

* As yesterday in Mesa, the Scottsdale crowd (a huge turnout of 11,424, about 1,000 over listed capacity) was about half and half between Cubs and Giants fans. All of the remaining fans gave a loud cheer to Dusty Baker as he walked out to the CF gate after the game.

* Despite the fact that he had no offers to play this year, and is unofficially retired, the box score for today's game credited Shawon Dunston with homering off Francis Beltran in the 7th. It was actually Ray Durham; probably someone punched the wrong button on an alphabetical list of names.

* Howard and Jon and I, despite the fact that they are both vegetarians, went to a barbecue restaurant tonight. While I chowed down on a half-chicken, they both managed to find vegetarian fare. You just have to be creative in situations like this!

On to Mesa tomorrow and my first look at Mark Prior this spring.

:: posted by Al at 5:38 PM [+] ::
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