Free games Saturday on mlb.tv

So every year mlb.com improves their site somewhat around the time the regular season is about to start. This year is no different, and today, Saturday the 29th, they'll have three free games. They'll be perfect for eating bandwidth, as they'll be available in new 1.2MB quality. In other words, quite a bit closer to tv quality as opposed to streaming web video quality. I subscribed to mlb.tv at the end of 2004, to watch the end of the Expos season, and even then the quality was not that bad. I had broadband, so may be a different story with dial up, or dsl/cable lite (sic), or whatever the ISP's call the lowest broadband option these days.

The three games will all be at the home teams proper home ballpark. The games are Indians at Braves at 1:10 p.m. ET, Orioles at Nationals at 6 p.m. ET, and Padres at Angels at 9:05 p.m. ET. As the mlb.com articles states, it is the first game at the new Nationals park between MLB clubs. They had the Blue Jays listed as one of the free games, but no longer, however it still does say it will be free on the Blue Jays site.

In addition to the free mlb.tv games, BaseballChannel.tv will be airing the Civil Rights Game. Pregame is 4 p.m. ET, and the game is at 5 p.m. ET. It will be the White Sox at the Mets, played in Memphis, Tennessee, at the AutoZone Park, home of the Memphis Redbirds, triple A affiliate of the, yes you guessed it, St. Louis Cardinals.

Japan game 2 (Boston Red Sox at Oakland Athletics at Tokya, Japan)

Canadian Rich Harden (Victoria, B.C.) got it done to split the Japan series. Provided he stays healthy this year, looks like he should be a very welcome part of the starting rotation. He only allowed 4 hits over 6 IP, and his only run given up was a home run to Manny Ramirez. As Joe Blanton noted in his latest blog entry, Fun not lost in translation, they'll get you eventually. You referring to pitchers of course.

Emil Brown made up for his baserunning blunder by hitting a three run homer. In hockey terms he'd be credited with the game winning goal, but the game winning run went to Mark Ellis, as he was run number 2 to score for the A's, and that's all they needed.

Both teams return to play today, Friday the 28th, albeit as Spring Training games. Oakland, who 'hosted' the Red Sox in Japan, will play against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park (formerly SBC Park, formerly Pacific Bell Park) Friday and Sunday, and Saturday will be at McAfee Coliseum also against the Giants. The Red Sox will be playing vs the Dodgers, Friday at Dodger Stadium, Saturday at L.A. Memorial Coliseum, and back to Dodger Stadium Sunday to conclude spring training 2008. All away games for Boston. The L.A. Memorial Coliseum game is to mark 50 years since they began play there. They played there from 1958-1961.

From Wikipedia:

In the meantime, the Dodgers played their home games from 1958 to 1961 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a gargantuan football and track-and-field stadium that had been built to host the 1932 Summer Olympics. The Coliseum's dimensions were not optimal for baseball, and the only way to fit a diamond into the oval-shaped stadium was to lay the third-base line along the short axis of the oval, and the first-base line along the long axis. See picture. This resulted in a left-field fence that was only some 250 feet from home plate, and a 40-foot screen was erected to prevent home runs from becoming too easy to hit. Still, the 1958 season saw 182 home runs hit to left field in the Coliseum, while only 3 were hit to center field and 8 to right field. Dodgers outfielder Wally Moon, newly acquired for the 1959 season, became adept at launching lazy fly balls over the screen, which became known as "Moon shots."

Should be quite interesting, Now with added seats, to left field it will be 201 feet, and a 60 foot high screen! Just seeing the above photo reminded me of the fourth incarnation of Polo Grounds, thanks to the oddity of the dimensions. More than 115 000 are expected! Might just have to write a blog entry for that game!

Boston Red Sox at Oakland Athletics at Tokyo

Thought I'd make a post about the opening series taking place in Tokyo, Japan.

So, since the games are in Japan, at 7PM Japan Standard Time, they are take place at 6AM Eastern Daylight Time. I managed to hit snooze way time many times (what else is new), so I got up in time to catch the 9th, and 10th innings.

The hero of the game, Brandon Moss, was not supposed to play, as he replaced J.D. Drew who had lower back stiffness. He pulled a 2-2 pitch just a few feet over the right field wall, off of Oakland's closer Huston Street. He was credited with the blown save (1), and loss (1), as he also gave up a double off of Manny Ramirez that scored two. One being David Ortiz, who received his first intentional walk of what I am sure will be many in 2008.

Oakland probably could have tied the game again, but Emil Brown got a little greedy going for third, and was thrown out trying to stretch a RBI double into a triple with only 1 out. So instead it was 2 down, and no one on base. Despite that, they still almost rallied, as Bobby Crosby, and Jack Hannahan both singled, but the game was over after Kurt Suzuki grounded out to Kevin Youkilis, score it 3-1.

Game two is a mere few hours away. It'll be Jon Lester versus Rich Harden. Go here for complete coverage of "Opening Series Japan 2008".

Major League Baseball Local Coverage (updated)

So I got around to updating, and slightly adding to the local coverage links section. Thought I'd post all the links in their own post. So here are all the links. If there are any mistakes, or anything to add, post a comment.

Arizona Diamondbacks - azstarnet.com (Arizona Daily Star)
Arizona Diamondbacks - East Valley Tribune
Atlanta Braves - Atlanta Journal- Constitution
Baltimore Orioles - Baltimoresun.com (The Sun)
Baltimore Orioles - Washington Post
Boston Red Sox - Boston.com (The Boston Globe)
Boston Red Sox - Boston Herald
Chicago Cubs - Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Cubs - Chicago Tribune via Chicagosports.com
Chicago Cubs - Chicago Tribune
Chicago White Sox - Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago White Sox - Chicago Tribune
Cincinnati Reds - Cincinnati.com (The Cincinnati Enquirer)
Cincinnati Reds - The Kentucky Post (online only)
Cleveland Indians - Cleveland.com (The Plain Dealer)
Cleveland Indians - Cleveland.com
Colorado Rockies - The Denver Post
Colorado Rockies - Rocky Mountain News
Detroit Tigers - Detroit Free Press
Detroit Tigers - The Detroit News
Florida Marlins - MiamiHerald.com
Florida Marlins - Sun-Sentinel.com
Houston Astros - Houston Chronicle
Kansas City Royal - KansasCity.com (The Kansas City Star)
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - L.A. Times
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim- LA Daily News
Los Angeles Dodgers - L.A. Times
Los Angeles Dodgers - LA Daily News
Milwaukee Brewers - Milwaukee Journal Sentinal
Minnesota Twins - Star Tribune
New York Mets - New York Times
New York Mets - New York Post
New York Yankees - New York Times
New York Yankees - New York Post
Oakland Athletics - San Jose Mercury News
Oakland Athletics - SFGate.com (San Francisco Chronicle)
Oakland Athletics - Inside Bay Area (The Oakland Tribune)
Philadelphia Phillies - philly.com (Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer)
Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh Tribune- Review
Pittsburgh Pirates - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
San Diego Padres - SignOnSanDiego.com (Union Tribune)
San Diego Padres - North County Times
San Francisco Giants - San Jose Mercury News
San Francisco Giants - SFGate.com (San Francisco Chronicle)
San Francisco Giants - Inside Bay Area (The Oakland Tribune)
Seattle Mariners - The Seattle Times
Seattle Mariners - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
St. Louis Cardinals - stltoday.com (St.Louis Post-Dispatch)
Tampa Bay Devil Rays - tampabay.com (St. Petersburg Times)
Tampa Bay Devil Rays - Tampa Bay Online (The Tampa Tribune)
Texas Rangers - dallasnews.com (The Dallas Morning News)
Toronto Blue Jays - Toronto Star
Toronto Blue Jays - Toronto Sun
Toronto Blue Jays - The Globe and Mail
Washington Nationals - Washington Post

I was going to add a digg link for this single post, but that didn't work out so well, so anyway, feel free to 'digg' this post, or delicious it.

Livan Hernandez lit up.

This entry will be short for a change, as I am only commenting of what I read about his performance.

So, former Expos pitcher, ace when he was at his best, was lit up, yet the Twins still went on to win the game against Baltimore by a score of 8-7 in front of a crowd of 7779. Livan allowed 6 runs over three innings, 5 earned. His counterpart didn't fare that well either, Daniel Cabrera allowed 5 runs, however only 2 earned in the bottom of the first. Daniel Cabrera faced 12 batters while Livan Hernandez faced 20.

Elsewhere in spring training, the Dodgers beat the Red Sox with a 3 run rally to tie the game, and a grand slam by Jason Repko off of Lee Gronkiewicz was the insurance. I saw the video of the grand slam featured on the main page of mlb.com.

Both games interestingly enough that I wrote about were played in Fort Myers, Florida. The Boston game just a little ways north of the Twins Bill Hammond Stadium, at City of Palms Park. What better time than to throw a plug in for my MLB Spring Training Google map!

Twins at Yankees March 5th 2008.

I had the chance to see the Twins at Yankees spring training game on television from the third inning or so on. Anyway, I don't get the chance to see many Spring Training games, as I have to see them when they are televised. I had subscribed to mlb.tv towards the end of the 2004 season to be able to see the Expos games I wouldn't normally see, and the subscription went to the end of 2005 Spring Training. Point being it is nice to catch spring training games, as we are able to see the players we all already know well, but also to see the upcoming talent that we may or may not be familiar with, or that may or may not have major league baseball experience.

So for both Minnesota, and New York, it was their 6th spring training game, 3rd away for Minnesota, and 3rd home game for New York. Minnesota had one rained out game, the day before this game.

So I'll write about the game, and what I remember.

I tuned in, and the Yankees were ahead 4-1. One thing I was thinking was wondering exactly how much teams compete in spring training. Seems they actually do compete, while getting many different players in the game, I am sure there's also the aspect of playing well in order to get as much playing time on the major league club. Minnesota scored first, but once down 4-1, they managed to tie the game up, and then take the lead and keep it to earn their third spring training victory, and third straight. Their record is now 3-3, while the Yankees fell to 3-1, as their first game was an exhibition game against the University of South Florida, and they tied one game too, neither of which show up in the standings.

So, the two run fifth was thanks to a home run hit by Garrett Jones, he managed to hit it well out of the park, not quite literally out of Legend's Field, but very close! It was hit off of Joba Chamberlain, who will definitely be seeing playing time with the big club as the announcers said.

Pat Neshek pitched for Minnesota in the seventh, and he has a crazy side arm delivery! He worked a fast and efficient perfect inning, he got former Blue Jay Chris Woodward to ground out, Jason Lane popped out, and Gregory Porter, in for Arod, struck out. Neshak later was credited with the win for Minnesota.

Both Jason Lane, and Morgan Esnsberg, former teammates in Houston, are most likely both trying to get the final spot on the 25 man roster, the announcers said (Gary Thorne, and Rick Sutcliffe). Both are signed by the Yankees to minor league contracts, and are listed as non-roster invitees.

The Twins scored three in the top of the eighth, the runs the Yankees never got back, save for one. Shelley Duncan looked promising hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth. He made his mlb debut last July 20th, and appeared in 34 games, totaling 74 at bats. He hit .295 in 91 games last year for the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, and 25 homers. Also as it says on the mlb game wrapup/box score that brings his spring training rbi total to nine, which is tied for the spring training lead with Jolbert Cabrera of Cincinnati. Jolbert, who is the older brother of former Expos shortstop, now with the White Sox, Orlando. Jolbert hasn't played in the big leagues since 2004 with Seattle. He is currently signed to a minor league contract, and is at spring training as a non-roster invitee.

Alright, so I guess that is about it. Here is the press release for spring training games ESPN will be televising.

Not just another Spring Training

So, 2008 brings not just another Spring Training. That is to say there's plenty of stories from the diamond, and off, to go around this spring (check the link out at the end).

The biggest story being the Mitchell Report, or the Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball. I'll avoid wasting space on it, save for stating the obvious that there has been illegal drug use going on in baseball, and in many players.

Numerous other stories include the new Washington ballpark opening up soon, again, reminding us of what we could have had if the situation wasn't badly mishandled. Also, it is the last year for Yankee Stadium. The Marlins have a stadium deal pretty much set...

The movement of many players also makes for an interesting story. Since I no longer have the Expos, this being the start of the fourth year without them (time flies), I follow the Blue Jays, as they are the only remaining Canadian team. It would have been the fortieth (40) year of the Expos. Whereas this is the start of the thirty second (32) year of the Blue Jays. Anyway, I'll soon post about where ex Expos are these days.

So since I follow the Jays, The move I am most interested in is the acquisition of David Eckstein. Since watching him most as a Cardinal, I think he makes for a quality shortstop, possessing a cannon for an arm. Also the trading of third basemen makes for an interesting story. The Blue Jays get Scott Rolen, and the St. Louis Cardinals get Troy Glaus, in a direct trade. I'm happy with said trade, as Troy Glaus had been implicated in using enhancement drugs. As with everyone, they are innocent until proven guilty, but if the name does come up, something has to be up, regardless, it will probably be one less distraction too. Their 2007 stats are quite similar, with Glaus having hit a few more home runs, but Rolen struck out less.

I haven't been following baseball too much during the offseason, so lately I've been reading up on some baseball blogs, and finding out some new stuff I didn't know about, and finding some good blogs too. With that said, I'll hope to add some new blog links soon. Also, it has been a while since I posted, but hope to get back to it again.

Anyway, another deal that caught my eye is that Jim Edmonds is now a Padre. He waived his no trade clause to have the chance to play closer to his home, and not knowing how he was going to fit in the Cardinals future. An article I read as well was that he went though quite a training program in the offseason. Read about it here, and here.

It doesn't go into great detail, but gives a good idea of what he went through. He had the help of Jim Moss, a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department SWAT team. It reminds me of the workout the guys did to get in shape for the movie 300. Beyond that, it is also a good insight into getting into baseball shape.

So that leaves three players in the shadow of a great CF in St. Louis, or three players to fill that spot on defense, and so on. They are Rick Ankiel, Skip Schumaker, and Brian Barton according to mlb.com at the moment.

So that is about it for the moment, I'll keep it shorter as to post on a more regular basis.

Finally, however I'll self promote a bit. Since Spring Training is well underway, if there's anyone down in Florida, or Arizona, checking out the Grapefruit League, or Cactus League respectively, then you may enjoy a little Google Map I put together with Spring Training stadium locations, along with their respective teams. It is also good just out of curiosity, as that is why I made it, maybe eventually I'll get down there some spring. So anyway, Major League Baseball Spring Training 2008!