"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, April 19, 2003 ::

A Few Random Saturday Notes

This morning, while attempting to open a sliding door, I forgot to take out the wood dowel that blocks people from, well, opening sliding doors. Not only did I rip the handle right off, I ripped a pretty good cut into the ring finger on my right hand. OUCH! It's OK now, though.

And, I have now finally read my friend Dana Carpender's first book, "How I Gave Up My Lowfat Diet and Lost 40 Pounds".

It's really the bible for anyone who wants to lose weight healthily, and makes the case that low-carb is the way our bodies were meant to eat. All I know is that her philosophy has worked for me -- my weight loss is now 45 pounds; I've pretty well stabilized at a weight appropriate for my height (my BMI, or Body Mass Index, is now 25, which is in the normal range -- according to some; others say below 25 is "normal".)

Highly recommended for everyone. Low carb is not only healthy, it's easy to do. Take it from someone who used to live on cakes, cookies and chocolate bars. I feel better than I've felt in years, and am sticking with this for life.

:: posted by Al at 1:34 PM [+] ::
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GameCast Works!

OK, we've determined that having me listen to games on the radio, or watch home games on TV, is conducive to Cub losses.

Today, away from Chicago, and with the game not on WGN, I "watched" it on ESPN.com's GameCast, which actually is somewhat better than TV since you don't have to listen to Chip Caray.

And, it worked! Matt Clement threw seven really strong innings and the Cubs beat the Pirates easily, 7-2. They continued their offensive production of the last few days, as virtually the entire lineup contributed. Mark Bellhorn has now raised his average nearly 200 points, from .043 to .224, in a little over a week.

I'm encouraged... it's too early to get excited, but I'm encouraged.

Also today, Hall of Fame President and Censor Dale Petroskey apologized for his actions in banning Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon from coming to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the great baseball film "Bull Durham".

So on April 26 or 27, the dates that the Hall celebration was to have taken place, go rent "Bull Durham". Celebrate baseball, this film and the terrific performances by Robbins and Sarandon.

:: posted by Al at 11:28 PM [+] ::
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Quote of the Year

From Cook County Judge Nicholas Ford, who set a $250,000 bond for Eric Dybas, field-jumping drunk moron:

"Somebody has to say no to this conduct, and it's going to be me."

Amen, brother!

:: posted by Al at 6:35 PM [+] ::
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An Interlude

While I am out of town and today, watching the Cub game via ESPN Game Day (pretty cool, if you don't already know about it), I am reading another Presidential biography, "The Passions of Andrew Jackson" by Andrew Burstein. I've begun doing this -- reading presidential bios (so far, I've got Adams, Truman, T. Roosevelt and Lincoln), in a way to try to understand how these men shaped what our country is today. There's many good lessons from the past, some of which we still haven't learned.

Cubs leading 1-0 already in the top of the first. As my buddy Mike has said in past seasons when the Cubs do well... "Cosmic things are happening." It's early, but you can clearly see how Dusty Baker turns average teams into winners.

:: posted by Al at 6:21 PM [+] ::
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Even More Thoughts on the Umpire Attack

Eric Dybas, the drunk moron who ran out on the field at Tuesday's Sox game, today was held on $250,000 bond, and, if convicted, he could face five years in prison.

I go to 80-90 baseball games a year. I see this kind of drunkenness every single day. I've seen way too many fights, people ejected, and this is getting worse every year. There really is no limit to the amount of beer served; overserved people are never refused service, and plenty of people buy beer for their underage friends. It's a problem of major proportions.

ABC-7 reported this morning that the guy's mother specifically said that he has a drinking problem. Further, the guy himself said -- TO THE POLICE -- that he had been at that afternoon's Cub game, drinking all day, and according to witnesses, had at least five or six MORE beers at the Sox game.



The only reason people aren't jumping out of the bleachers is because the wall is 12 feet high. Another point, made in the Sun-Times today, is that some of the other night's idiots might have been trying to imitate the Nike streaker ad. That's irresponsible of Nike to make an ad like that. What do they think people are going to do -- just buy the shoes?

No one has a "right" to enjoy beer. It's a privilege, and yes, if it's abused, it can be taken away from all. My take on it is that there is a significant minority of people who are using alcohol at ballgames, and if that's the case, then it's got to be severely curtailed, as it is, for example, at the bleachers in Yankee Stadium (as the MSNBC writer pointed out) -- and guess what? People in the Yankee Stadium bleachers root passionately for their team, and there are no incidents there.

All your ticket to a ballgame entitles you to, is to do just that, not drink beer, responsibly or not.

And if this means that MLB teams wind up losing some money because they sell less beer, to make the stands and fields safe from drunk idiots, then so be it.

:: posted by Al at 11:08 PM [+] ::
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Special

I truly think this Cubs team has a chance to be a very special team.

First, they annihilated the Reds again today, 16-3. Scoring ten runs three games in a row is something that hasn't been done by a Cubs team since 1894. Everything went right today -- four homers with the wind blowing in , including one by Kerry Wood, a fine pitching performance by Wood, Mark Bellhorn raising his average over .200, and the club drew nine walks today. OK, so the Reds are a pretty poor pitching team, and it really showed in this series. But developing that sort of patience is really good for this team; Sosa and Choi are now #1 and #2 in the league in OBA. Some have said they'd like to see those two, particularly Choi, hit away and hit for power. But really, the more men on base the merrier. Dusty got a lot of the reserves some atbats today, and that's always good. You can see why players love to play for him. I wasn't thrilled with Alan Benes' control (three walks), but he threw three scoreless innings, so he qualified for a save.

I didn't expect to be able to sit in my regular seat today since Jeff wasn't going to be there; but when I got there the bench was empty, so I sat down. Then Dan the security guard came over and told me he and Floyd had kind of harassed the people who had sat there into leaving! What fun! Howard & Brian joined me.

Then I got stuck in traffic on my way to O'Hare to fly out this evening, although I made the flight easily, and then got to Arizona to learn that my son has the chicken pox! Luckily, I've had it already, and he's doing fine.

The Cubs head to Pittsburgh in first place; yeah, I know. It's early. But last year, the Cubs didn't win their 10th game till May 3.

:: posted by Al at 10:45 PM [+] ::
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More On The Umpire Attack

Mike Celizic of MSNBC.com has written an excellent article on yesterday's attack at "The Cell" (the new nickname for the Comiskey Park corporate name).

Among other things, he writes:

"...we need strong laws against trespassing not just on courts and fields of play, but everywhere that there are public performances. You go on the field you should get your choice of a hefty fine — $5,000 is a nice starting figure — or a month or two in the local lock-up. No exceptions, no mercy. And that should be for just running on the field or the court or the stage or wherever. Assault someone and the penalties raise exponentially. Tell everyone that the sentence is mandatory and only a bigger idiot than the sort the White Sox have attracted would even consider a foray into the field of play. It will take time to recruit and train guards to be effective, and, until then, the beer taps have to be shut off. When they’re turned back on, the vendors should get rid of those 20-ounce and 16-ounce cups and serve only 12-ounce drafts — one per customer per trip to the refreshment stand. Given the length of lines at the concessions, that alone would do wonders to promote moderation."

I couldn't agree more. Let the bans begin.

:: posted by Al at 8:19 PM [+] ::
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Back To The Drawing Board

Hey, I should be happy that the Cubs won, right? And that they won easily again, 10-4 over the Reds?

Well, sure I am, and the win means a second day in first place (so what, right, it's early)... but the Cubs need work. In particular, the pitchers need to go back and work on the fundamentals of fielding. Carlos Zambrano made two errors, one on a ridiculously easy play where all he needed to do was pick up a bunt and tag the runner; instead he threw the ball into right field; Damian Miller had two passed balls allowing runs; and overall the pitching staff has fielded its position poorly.

OK, that's out of my system. The Cubs drew 11 walks today, and part of that was the Reds' pitching staff, but part of it is that this lineup does have patience, and is starting to show it, and they capitalized on just about all the walks. I was real happy to see Hee Seop Choi walk four times -- his OBA is approaching .500, and Miller, Alou, Sosa, and Choi all homered on a day 40 degrees colder than yesterday, with the wind blowing in about as hard as it was blowing out yesterday.

The cold weather reduced our bleacher group to just Jeff and me, and some days it's nice to just spread out and people-watch. Dan the security guard, our buddy, was kept busy ejecting drunks, some of whom looked like they were way under 21. If any inspectors ever came to Wrigley, or probably for that matter any major league ballpark, those liquor licenses could be pulled pretty fast.

There were the usual contingent of shirtless college idiots, plus two guys in shorts sitting in front of us who must have gotten yesterday's weather forecast today. Since they were keeping score we gave them a pass on the idiot designation.

I'm a little worried about a couple of my fingers which started going numb late in the game; it wasn't that cold. I hope I didn't get a touch of frostbite on Opening Day.

Tomorrow's game report will be very late tomorrow or even Friday morning, as I am traveling out of town late afternoon for a few days. That is, if it's not a total rainout -- the forecast looks pretty bad.

April is indeed the cruelest month.

:: posted by Al at 6:53 PM [+] ::
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Another Fan Attack

By now you've probably heard about the idiot who ran on the field at the White Sox-Royals game last night and started attacking umpire Laz Diaz. Luckily, Diaz is a military reservist, knew how to defend himself, and wasn't hurt.

The fact that this was another visit from the Royals, who were here last September when two other morons ran out and attacked their 1B coach Tom Gamboa, was strictly coincidental.

The real reason this kind of crap keeps happening is MLB's attitude toward security. They spent over a year after 9/11 banning backpacks from ballparks (backpacks are not inherently evil) -- finally rescinding this ban this year -- and giving minute inspections to bags being brought in, to prevent "weapons" from being brought in (really, they're searching for bottles and cans, or so they claim) -- when the real problem is inside the ballpark.

See, the true reason they don't want those beer bottles and cans brought in isn't because they're afraid they can be used as weapons, but because they want to sell more of their own beer inside, at exorbitant prices (I don't drink beer at the ballpark, and the $5 price is only one of the reasons).

And when was the last time you saw an overserved person at a ballpark refused more drink? They'll squeeze every last inning out of beer sales -- except at Wrigley Field, where they'll cut it off at 9:20 pm -- most ballparks sell till the end of the 8th inning... and then they refuse to pay for enough security to prevent incidents like last night's from happening. Unfortunately, the time has come when professional sports stadiums and arenas are simply going to have to pay for uniformed police officers to keep order. If that makes a ballpark look like a police state, well, too bad. Those of us who just want to watch the game would welcome that.

There's too much laxity in enforcing rules. In the Wrigley Field bleachers, oftentimes drunk idiots who cause trouble are simply "talked to", then allowed back in. This creates the attitude, passed on by people who are there, that "hey, we can do anything here, they won't do anything to us!" Instead, such people should be held in "stadium jails", which they have now at some football stadiums. If they get more rowdy, they should be arrested, and the penalties increased ($500 fines are not a deterrent).

Luckily, these two incidents haven't seriously hurt anyone. I suppose it'll take an on-field murder to make MLB do anything about this serious problem.

The White Sox, for one, could start by putting more security out there, no matter the cost, AND maybe stop selling beer earlier. It'd send a clear message, rather than the lip service they've paid so far.

:: posted by Al at 8:20 AM [+] ::
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Blowing Out!!

You don't get these kind of windy, warm days that often in April. Well, actually, yes you do, since the record high temperature -- 88 -- for this date was set only last year. But it seems the Cubs in recent years have often been out of town on those days, so it was nice to see an early summer day, plus a present of the easy 11-1 win over the Reds today at the ballyard.

Everyone hit today, and it was nice to see Bellhorn especially start to come out of his slump. He now has 10 RBI -- second on the team -- on seven hits. Sammy homered, as did Choi. Particularly gratifying was seeing Estes spot his pitches so as not to be affected by the wind. He might just be that kind of sinkerballing, offspeed lefty who can be very successful at Wrigley Field. With 101 pitches thrown in 8 innings and a ten-run lead, it made sense too, to get Kyle Farnsworth an inning of work.

Had some extra tickets so invited a buddy from the Cubs newsgroup and his daughter, and also one of my co-workers, to make our little group a bit larger today. Phil showed up for the third day in a row -- see, he's been promoted to management this year, so he can take off from work more easily!

Oh, and I made the Wrigley Field debut of my shorts. Actually, not the same shorts I wore in Arizona, but a brand new pair purchased at Old Navy today. Brian called and asked if I had them on and when I said I did, his reaction was "Holy crap!"

Rain expected the next two days, but we've sure had a couple of nice ones.

:: posted by Al at 5:09 PM [+] ::
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One More Note...

... to last night's game.

The new "Mini-Tron" boards underneath the upper deck, which have expanded from showing only pitch speeds and scores, to being a clock, and having pitcher statistics and pictures, went nuts last night on the MLB scoreboard.

Toronto was playing the NY Yankees, but the board not only showed that game, but had the Blue Jays playing Atlanta (and winning the latter while losing the former); it also showed Cleveland playing the Yankees as well as the Tribe's actual game vs. Kansas City.

There was also a Minnesota-Tampa Bay game (both baseball teams were off; maybe this was a prescient football score).

Oh, and the White Sox were beating a team abbreviated as "ALA". Not sure whether that was Alabama or Alaska.

In the 7th inning, they gave up and just left the Sears ad up for the rest of the game.

:: posted by Al at 10:24 AM [+] ::
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The Men's Room

Last night's ugly 11-3 Cub loss to the Reds was so poorly played that I thought I'd talk about the men's room in the bleachers.

Why? Because last September, about half the lights in there burned out and they didn't replace them.

ALL WINTER, they didn't replace them. Until yesterday, when they replaced half of them. Guess the cost of lightbulbs is too much for the Tribsters. Also in the men's room last night, there was a sign advertising an apartment for rent a couple miles from the ballpark. After all the usual apartment particulars, it read: "Landlord will include two bleacher tickets for a date to be determined." Not a bad deal if you need a place to live.

There were more than the usual number of drunks thrown out last night; I guess the unseasonably warm weather (79 degrees at game time) brought out the loonies early this year. There were also 300 Koreans and Korean-Americans sitting in the upper deck, with blue ThunderStix and an enormous banner reading "We Love Big Choi, Cubs, America". Unfortunately, Hee Seop didn't even get into the game, not even to pinch-hit in the 9th. I learned that this group also drank themselves three sheets to the wind, but whether or not it's related to Choi's bench stint, I have no idea.

As for the game, the only thing I have to say is that the Cubs should have worked harder on defense in spring training. They made three errors, two by the pitching staff (Prior and Cruz), and though that wasn't the only problem (it looks like Dave Veres might be washed up), it didn't help.

Near record temperatures in the mid-80's are expected for this afternoon's match with the Reds.

:: posted by Al at 7:39 AM [+] ::
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War Humor

OK, so this war isn't really that funny, and thank goodness, most of the actual fighting seems to be over (and the US had better be committed to making a truly better life for the Iraqi people...).

But if you haven't seen the "We Love The Iraqi Information Minister" website dedicated to Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, the feckless propagandist who, among other things, kept saying the US forces weren't in Baghdad even as you could hear their artillery fire in the background -- well, check out the site now.

I think he's a future Saturday Night Live host in the making. If he's even still alive.

:: posted by Al at 9:38 AM [+] ::
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Yawn!

No, not the result of today's 4-3 Cub win over the Pirates, but the glacial pace at which the first three innings were played -- nearly 90 minutes! I was almost falling asleep. OK, I'm off of a 5 1/2 hour night of sleep before work, but still, un-boring baseball could have kept me interested.

Luckily, Matt Clement settled down and wound up throwing seven good innings, leaving trailing, while Lloyd McClendon, Pirates manager, did his very best to give the game away, and the Cubs accomodated by accepting. This is already an improvement over last year's team, and Dusty Baker used his bench very well.

Dale Petroskey, Hall of Fame President and Censor, appeared before the game to accept Sammy Sosa's 500th HR bat for the HoF, and got booed. Good.

My friend Phil made his first appearance of the year, and despite the team's good play, he's ready to make several trades and minor league moves already. We had to calm him down, and in fact, had to calm him down even more when a drunk young lady was evidently very interested in him. However, he left alone, and she went off with her friends.

With the boring game, we spent a lot of time scoreboard watching, and were particularly interested in Philadelphia's 13-run inning; turned out that set a Philly team record and was the most runs allowed by the Reds in an inning in 49 years. Also the Expos wound up sweeping their first series in Puerto Rico, over the hated Mets.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the season's first 80-degree day here tomorrow!

:: posted by Al at 5:12 PM [+] ::
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