Exhibition Baseball at Chase Field

 

The 2011 Major League Baseball Season starts tomorrow! Isn't everyone excited? I know I am. But, like so many of you baseball fiends out there who just can't wait for regular season action to check out baseball at your local stadiums, I checked into an exhibition game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Sultanes de Monterrey at Chase Field in Phoenix last night. Half the D-Backs squad was actually across town in Mesa playing the Cubs in a Spring Training contest, but the other half - including starters Justin Upton, Chris Young, and Melvin Mora - officially opened the gates to the big league park and hosted a team from the Mexican League.

Because of scheduling constraints, I arrived to the game in the second inning, thus missing a grand slam by utility infielder Ryan Roberts, which put the Diamondbacks into a lead that they would never relinquish. Incidentally, I learned that Roberts distinguishes himself from the hundreds of other random utility infielders out there with a shock of tattoos all the way up his arms and around his neck. It's amazing the things you learn from watching the jumbo tron at games that you wouldn't pick up through a normal TV broadcast.

When I entered the stadium, I noticed that the pitcher for the Sultanes was apparently named Value. At least that's what it said on the back of his jersey. Then I noticed that all the Sultanes players had that name above their numbers; and below their numbers, it read Carta Blanca. I later learned that Carta Blanca is the name of the local beer brand produced by the company that owns the team. And that the team had been in existence, owned by that company, since 1939, and that the team had originally taken the name of the brand as their team name! Anyone who's upset about lucrative sponsorship deals and corporate stadium names should look at what's been going on in south of the border baseball and at least be thankful that we haven't gone that far in this country.

A quick look at the Sultanes' active roster showed a couple of former major league names that I was excited to see, namely Erubiel Durazo (former Diamondback and Athletic) and Karim Garcia. Those two, however, didn't make it to Arizona to play. A more in-depth look at the roster showed that Durazo hadn't played since 2009, and Garcia since 2007. But that gave me a chance to see other stars of the Mexican League, such as Agustin Murillo, Lorenzo Buelnas, and Baltazar Lopez (whose home run stunned 22-year-old starter Charles Brewer, who made it through five strong innings).

As far as level of competition goes, the Mexican League is classified as AAA-ball, so it was understandable that the Diamondbacks whipped the pants off the Sultanes to the tune of an 11-4 score. J.J. Putz came in for the ninth, struck out the first two batters he faced, then hit a batter, walked the next batter, and gave up an RBI single before retiring the side. The former closer-turned-setup man-turned-back-to-closer will hope for some quieter ninth innings as he has to face major league talent in the regular season.

So that's how my first trip to Chase Field went, in a nutshell. It was my first trip to the stadium, so I picked up a miniature bat, bringing my total to 15. I have now watched a game at half the major league stadiums in existence. As I continue my journey, I will think of you, my loyal readers, and send updates from across the country!

Fear and Loathing at Spring Training '11, Chapter 2: OAK @ CHW, 3/18/11

Camelback Ranch - Glendale: The Heart of Spring Training-dom on Earth

If you want to see what happened when the Chicago White Sox hosted the Oakland Athletics on Friday, 3/18, you should look at the box-score at mlb.com - the site I prefer for immediate post-game statistics. They do a much better and more concise job of publishing numbers and results than I could or want to. If you want to see who prevailed in this slugfest at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, AZ between these two AL teams, both trying to be contenders after disappointing second place finishes, you should stay right here.

See, in my effort to better understand the game of baseball, I broke it down into all the elements I could isolate, from the smallest and most narrow to the biggest and most broad. Starting small, we have the plate appearance, the outcome of which is dictated by pitch selection and prowess at the plate. Then we move onto the game itself, which is comprised of innings, and can result in either a win or a loss. Moving on, we have two types of analysis: performance and personal. Performance analysis takes into account how each player did on the field, and personal analysis goes into what that performance means for his role on the team and his team's chances of fielding a contending ballclub. Then you can look at the season as a whole, and if you want to expand your gaze even further, you can study the entire history of organized baseball.

An individual plate appearance is best experienced watching the game on television. After all, the broadcast camera still offers the best view of home plate except by the umpire. The best way to watch a full game is live in attendance. That way you get the full view of the field, you can experience the sounds and smells of the game in addition to the sights, and you have generally a more complete perspective of what goes on. For statistical analysis, you can get all the numbers spread out in front of you at sites like mlb.com and baseball-reference.com. But for personal analysis, or the Stories of the Game, you need a good old fashioned blog.

For instance, if you read the boxscore for this game in question, you'd see that the White Sox shelled the A's to the tune of 18-1. Pretty embarrassing, right? What wouldn't be apparent from the boxscore, however, is that Chicago had their best pitcher from 2010 on the mound, while Oakland's starter was little more than a personal interest story who's not even in near contention for the starting rotation. And while the A's fielded their entire starting nine, they only got a couple of at-bats each before giving way to backups and prospects. So this contest was less a "game" and more a chance for the White Sox to pad their spring stats while the A's looked helplessly on.

White Sox starter John Danks was arguably the White Sox's best starting pitcher last year, despite settling in at 3 or 4 on the team's latest depth chart (depending on who you check). He led his club in swp, and performed like it against the A's. He tallied 102 points: 0 walks, 0 home runs, and 4 strikeouts in the "three true outcomes" categories.

The lineup behind him wasn't that bad either, cranking 18 runs on 21 hits, including 4 homers. And this was without their speedy table setter Juan Pierre or their superslugging new DH Adam Dunn. It looks like Gordon Beckham might be poised to break out of his sophomore slump - he scored an incredible 62 swp off a 3-4 performance, including a 3-run home run, a walk, a steal, and 4 runs scored. New contract recipient Paul Konerko and injury prone Carlos Quentin hit home runs too. Considering the White Sox play in the 3rd best hitters park in the majors (according to the Hardball Times) and that they were the 5th highest swp scoring offense in the league before the addition of Dunn, I think we'll see plenty of runs on the south side of Chicago next year.

The absence of the two above mentioned regulars freed up some at-bats for Alejandro de Aza, a hopeful backup outfielder, and Lastings Milledge, a nearly-completely washed out prospect. He's unlikely to break camp with the Sox, and after failed tries with the Mets, the Nationals, and the Pirates, this might be his last chance at big league-dom. The only other notable we saw was catcher of the future Tyler Flowers, who hit a big ninth inning home run.

The A's were as bad as the White Sox were good. Bobby Cramer was on the mound, a career minor leaguer who finally made the bigs last year and made a handful of decent starts. He currently sits about 8th on the Depth Chart of A's starters behind fifth-starter candidates Brandon McCarthy, Rich Harden, and Tyson Ross. In other words, he's not a viable rotation candidate in any sense of the term. So when it became apparent the game would turn into a blowout, the regulars were out of there pretty quick.

Of said regulars, only Daric Barton had a decent game with a modest 20 swp on the strength of 2 hits in his 2 PA. Nobody else in the lineup did anything remotely interesting. We saw two of the three candidates for the A's fourth outfielder spot (Conor Jackson (who's also eligible at first base) and Matt Carson... Ryan Sweeney was doing some side work in a batting cage somewhere). As for prospects, we caught a glimpse of slugger and natural first baseman Chris Carter trying his hand in left field. Potential outfield star Michael Taylor got a couple of at bats. And glasses-wearing shortstop prospect Eric Sogard showed up in the field.

If there was one glimmer of hope for the A's in this whole affair, it would be that former starter Josh Outman threw 3 1/3 good innings in relief. If the prize of the Joe Blanton trade can prove again that he's decent starting material, the A's could have one of the deepest staff in the majors.

Well, that's pretty much it. No performances that solidified a spot on the roster, no one played themselves out of a chance to break camp with the team. A by-the-book blowout. However, the excitement of watching and writing about baseball after a long winter will give me the strength and motivation to continue with these stories!

Fear and Loathing at Spring Training '11, Chapter 1: Stories of the Game and Position Battles

A lot sure happens in the course of Spring Training. Teams play a lot of "meaningless" games as far as the standings are concerned, but those games certainly have meaning to the players, some of whom are playing to earn their spot on the team, or fighting for the privilege of playing another year in the majors. There are a lot of stories to keep track of, even over the course of just a handful of games. And these stories are even harder to keep track of without a computer with Internet capability and a full-powered O.S.

That was my situation when I visited Arizona for a long weekend at the Cactus League of Spring Training Baseball. My computer had died the night before departure, so I wasn't able to live-blog my adventures as I planned. My backup plan is to retroactively post-date the stories in as timely a fashion as I can muster while operating without a working computer to call my own.

These stories will focus on the Baseball matters of our trip: which games we saw, the outcome, who played in them, how they played, and what the game means for each team and each player in the context of the upcoming season. These stories will hopefully be both informative and entertaining. They'll contain a lot of information, but hopefully it's information you'll enjoy reading about. I hope that because it's information I enjoy writing about. When those two things mesh up, it leads to more viewers of the blog.

The first game occurred on the evening of Friday, 3/18. My colleague and I had just finished the drive into the sun from Los Angeles to Phoenix, and we were hurtin' for some Baseball. Apparently all the interesting afternoon games (at 1pm) were already sold out, so we headed to Camelback Ranch in Glendale (Spring home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox) to 1) buy tickets to the 4pm White Sox home game against the Oakland Athletics and 2) watch the Dodgers minor leaguers practice beforehand.

The minor league practice fields were little better equipped than a pretty basic high school or college setup. Not even a full complement of bleachers - the one set of risers were occupied by other High Class A ballers leisurely watching the current game against a Texas Rangers minor league squad. Among the sea of unrecognizability, we did happen to run into a current Dodgers major league starter (Ted Lilly) doing some side work (he allowed 6 hits, including a 2-run homer), and a past/present/immortal Dodgers great (Tommy Lasorda) watching said starter do his thing.

By the time we wandered over to the main stadium, the A's were warming up and signing autographs. I didn't want to offer up my A's cap to the cause, so I had the team members I could catch up with sign on the team's page of the 2011 Hardball Times Annual. The names of some of  the players escape me now, but I think I live-tweeted them at some point.

After the autograph sesh, that's when the game started up. And that's where this intro ends. Tune in later for the technical stuff.


NEXT TIME:


Chapter 2: OAK @ CHW: 3/18/11!!!

The Great American Pastime in the Great American Ballpark

Visited another ballpark for the first time last night. And, in keeping with my longstanding tradition, picked up another miniature bat. This one represents the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds.

It was a big series for the Redlegs - at the start of Monday's game, they had a 2-game lead over the very team against which they were about to play: The St. Louis Cardinals. Mike Leake, as fantastic as his rookie season has been, had his work cut out for him facing All-Star Chris Carpenter. Monday also saw the Reds debut of centerfielder Jim Edmonds, putting him in the lineup with his former Cardinals teammate Scott Rolen. Channeling the past success of their rivals much? - Edmonds and Rolen won a World Series together in 2006.

I was late arriving to the city, so by the time I scalped a ticket and made my way inside the gates, it was already the top of the 2nd inning. No score. I was fairly starving, not having eaten anything since 6am, but I stood by the field long enough to watch Edmonds's first Reds at-bat: a hard hit line-out to center field.

Hot dog and beer in hand, I wandered around the upper level trying to find an empty seat. The ticket I bought was for way down the 3rd base line in the second deck, and I thought I could do better. Just as I settled in to a seat in my section (but 20 rows closer to home plate) the gentleman sitting behind me informed me that the people in these seats would surely return soon, they having just got up to get some food. Looking down at the bottles of water in the drink holders I realized he was right. I should have been more observant, but I just wanted a place to sit down and eat.

I moved across the aisle and chowed down during Leake's disastrous 7-run 4th inning. While watching, a kindly older fan sat down next to me and claimed mine and the surrounding seats, but said I could sit there until the rest of his party arrived. He told me all about how back when the Reds played at Riverfront Stadium, he would buy the cheapest seats in the house and gradually migrate down to behind the Reds dugout. "If a seat is open at a baseball game, you can sit in it!" was evidently his philosophy.

When his party did arrive, I moved on and decided to inaugurate a new tradition: drinking a beer at the highest point in the stadium. I trudged all the way to the very last row of the upper deck, just adjacent to first base, and enjoyed the view across the scenic Ohio river into Kentucky. These seats also allowed me a straight-ahead view of Albert Pujols at bat. He has a crazy batting stance, with so much power coming from his legs (his back knee is bent almost like a pitcher pushing off the mound) and his core area (notice how when he takes his practice swings, his whole body pivots; there's almost no wrist or arm action). His swing is truly a thing of beauty.

After picking up my mini-bat, a mini-chili-dog, and another beer, I headed to the field-level seats behind left field to heckle Matt Holliday a little. He made a pretty good running catch, but he couldn't stop the Reds from getting two runs back after the 7th inning stretch. Notice how in middle-America we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and only "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"... sometimes we even sing it twice!

For the ninth inning, after most everyone was shuffling out before the sure-Reds loss, I made my way to the field level seats next to first base. There I overheard a couple of older fans recounting a story of how some kid had confronted an usher after getting caught in a seat that wasn't his. Migrating is a fine way to watch a game, but you have to do it respectfully - keep in mind that it's actually not your seat by rights, and when confronted with evidence of the fact, you have to cede to its rightful owner. Or renter?

They shut up when Ramon Hernandez hit a home run and kindled small hope for a last second rally. But Kyle McClellan held on to shut down the home team. They didn't win. And it was a shame.

This mini-bat brings my total stadiums visited up to 14. Actually the criteria should be home games watched, since I've been to both Veteran's Stadium and Citizen's Bank Park but have only one bat to show for it. I'm ever so close to halfway there! I'd better hurry up before talk of contraction starts up again...

Tuesday at the All-Star Game!

As you may or may not know, I was at the All-Star Game last night! What an exciting time! To hear about it, you should visit the other blog I write for, Charge-Shot!!!

Here's the link to the article. So as not to steal traffic, the whole article will appear here later.

http://www.charge-shot.com/2010/07/tuesday-at-all-star-game.html

Grand Slams and Guitar Licks: Dodgers vs. Giants 4/16/10

Hey, did you see that guy from Colorado pitched a no-hitter last night? Exciting stuff. And Cal Ripken feels slighted by the Orioles? For no apparent reason, according to Peter Angelos? This is all great stuff for the Macro-Baseball world, but two nights ago I spent some time observing and absorbing details from the Micro-Baseball world. Here's a rundown of what happened.

The Commute on the LA freeways wasn't all that bad - it's just that I had to leave so late from work that I missed the entire first inning. I was close enough that as I walked up I could hear the stadium erupt after Matt Kemp & Andre Ethier's back-to-back home runs. The preferred parking pass helped (shout out to StubHub with their cool packages, and to my friend who put the whole thing together), because it let me off right next to our seats (Loge Level, down the left field line, just foul of the foul pole). But even so, when I got in the stadium, it was already 3-0 Dodgers.

But the excitement soon started up again as Ethier hit a grand slam in the second inning! The crowd goes wild! Everyone's on their feet cheering! High fives all around with the new friends I made in the stands! It was a slam indeed, and a grand one at that.

As the dust settles, I sit back down and take stock of the game so far: 7-0 Dodgers. The Giants have yet to record a hit. And my friends have yet to arrive. Their plan was to take the Metro from the Valley to Downtown, and then take a free Dodger Stadium shuttle from there. But a late start and unexpected gameday traffic slowed them down, and they didn't show up until the 4th.

I know public transit would be great for traffic into/out of downtown, and a light rail down Wilshire would revolutionize beach traffic. But what about the instant rise in crime, such as what the Baltimore suburbs experienced with the introduction of their rail system. Plus it takes fans over an hour to get to the game!

By the time my friends did get there, Manny had already left the game. It's as if he asked his teammates, "Are we really gonna let them score more than 7 runs? No? Okay, then, I want out." But I later learned from Inside Sources that Manny has had some quad trouble since their series in Pittsburgh. I guess it's as good a time to give him some rest as any.

Padilla's no-hitter lasted until we got up to get beers. ($12.25 for a large beer?!?!?!?!!!? It would have been cheaper at the actual counter rather than the express lane, but even $10 would have been more than extravagant.) But he got himself his "Quality Start" by getting thru 7 innings while allowing 3 runs or fewer. He looked good, hitting 93-94 on his fastball with his big slow curve working very well. He even pulled out his knuckle-esque looper, which topped out at about 59 mph. It's just that he works so insufferably slow that I was surprised that the nine-inning affair didn't last much longer than three hours.

During the 7th-inning stretch, we were graced by a virtuoso performance of "God Bless America" by none other than legendary guitarist Slash of Guns N' Roses! He had a backwards baseball cap on in place of his signature top hat, but his axe sounded just the same as ever. Jack Nicholson may go to every Lakers game, but the only place to catch rock gods in action is Chavez Ravine.

Things got a little rocky for the Dodgers' pen after Slash's performance, as starter turned failed-starter turned (soon to be failed) reliever Russ Ortiz gave up two runs and two additional baserunners before coming out of the game. Those runners scored (plus one more) when Ramon Troncoso, who came in to bail out Ortiz, gave up a homer. I don't even remember who hit it, that's how eager we all were to see this thing over with. But our boys in blue hung on to beat the hated rival Giants in the two teams' first meeting of the year.

Walking out of the ballpark, to the strains of the Dodgers' victory song - Randy Newman's "I Love LA" - I was reminded of why Tommy Lasorda refers to Dodger Stadium as "Blue Heaven on Earth."

Live VIEWING OF A GAME!

I recently made arrangements to see my first live game of the 2010 season: Dodgers vs. Giants, the first time the teams will meet in '010. Since I'm neither hip enough to be on Twitter nor savvy enough to own a smartphone, I won't be sending out real time updates from the stadium. Instead, I'll just sit back, relax, take in the sights/sounds/smells, and try to catch a Manny Ramirez foul ball.

Before I go to a game, I like to build up as much background information as I can. That way I'll have all the trends, slumps, streaks, and storylines at my fingertips so I don't have to devote valuable energy to thinking while I'm at the ballpark - I feel like I'm not truly comfortable unless I'm multitasking, but trying to do too many things at once (watch the game, eat a hot dog, AND rack my brain to try and remember Edgar Renteria's batting average) can get a little hectic. So here's a rundown.

Who's Hot:

- The Dodgers' outfield: Now that Ethier's back from a minor ankle injury, the Dodgers outfield is hitting .369 with 5 HR and 24 RBI over a combined 21 games. All three have OPS's over 1.000. And with Friday's game the first of a three game series against the hated rival Giants, AND taking place after an off-day, you can bet that all three will be in the lineup.

- The Giants' infield: Of the four guys around the horn, first baseman Aubrey Huff is the only one with an average below .340. If you count catcher Bengie Molina, they look even better: Molina's been hitting the ball at a .455 clip over the first < 2 weeks. They're kind of a motley crew of veterans, but if they continue hitting, they're a fine group - just don't plan on building a franchise around them.

Who's Not:

- Either starting pitcher. Vicente Padilla shocked the world when he was named the Dodgers' Opening Day starter, and shocked far fewer citizens when he faltered in his first two starts. Not that Padilla is a bad starter - it's just that he's not the guy who's ever really projected the "number 1 starter" mentality (if that even exists). But it's becoming clear that the numbers placed on starting pitchers in the rotation (barring your clear "No. 1's" such as Lincecum, Greinke, Halladay, Sabathia, etc.) matter less than who ends up pitching the most effective innings.

Todd Wellemeyer had exactly one decent full season as a starter, and it came during a period (2008 with the Cardinals) when maverick manager Tony LaRussa had the maverick idea to play fast and loose with the pitchers on his staff. Veteran late reliever Braden Looper hadn't started a game in his MLB career until 2007 under LaRussa. Ditto Adam Wainwright - just replace "veteran" with "young and promising." At the same time, the Cardinals' closer - Ryan Franklin - was just recently converted from a starter in 2006 (by Philadelphia and Cincinnati combined).

My point is, it's not out of the question to suggest that Wellemeyer's out of his element starting games. Don't get me wrong, he's a fine fifth starter when your top four are Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Barry Zito, and Jonathan Sanchez. But Giants fans shouldn't have a high degree of optimism when he pitches.


Rest assured I'll let everyone know what happens during the game... not in real-time, but not necessarily in fake-time either.