Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

The Official Site of Major League Baseball: Events: Mother's Day 2008









Press Release: Major League Baseball and Susan G. Komen for the Cure partner for "Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer"

Brad Wilkerson signed to the Blue Jays

To my surprise upon tuning into the Jays at Indians, I heard Jamie Campbell mention Wilkerson at the end of the 7th, after the Indians scored 6 runs. I headed online to check if he was now an Indian, and did not see him on their lineup. So I went to the Jays lineup, and saw him there.

Brad Wilkerson of course is the former Expo, playing four seasons in Montreal, and one in Washington. He then had a couple years with the Rangers, and most recently a short stint with the Mariners. Signed as a free agent by the Mariners January 31st, and played in 19 games, starting 18 with them. He was DFA (Designated for Assignment) April 30th, the day after going 3 for 3 in Cleveland. Ironically starting with his new team, the Blue Jays, in Cleveland, going 1 for 3 with a K (looking).

Obviously signed by the Jays today, May 9th.

Since Leaving the Expos, not counting the Washington team, he hasn't been quite been his best. Possibly coming back to Canada, that is, a Canadian team, will help. The Blue Jays could definitely use his help. Not to mentions Kevin Mench's help too, as he was acquired from the Rangers for cash considerations.

To make room on the 40 man roster, the Jays DFAed LHP Gustavo Chacin, who had a few good years with the Jays, most notably 2005 and 2006 going 22-13 over those two years. He was with the big club since 2004, and working his way back up after only 5 games in 2007 due to a left elbow injury. INF Sergio Santos was also DFA.

Joe Inglett was optioned to Triple A Syracuse a single day after being recalled from said Triple A club. He made his mark in a game the night he was recalled (May 8), against the Rays in Toronto. He pinch ran for Lyle Overbay, and scored when Aaron Hill singled to CF. His run scored was the tying run, tying the game at 3, after the Jays were down 3-0 going into the bottom of the ninth. The Jays were unable to cash in Alex Rios after his leadoff triple in the bottom of the 10th. Like the monotonous Rance Mulliniks said, you're not going to win all those types of games, but should definitely win most to be a successful ball club. Something the Jays have not been able to do very well so far.

That's about it, so much for being a short post. More posts are brewing in my head, so stay tuned, or not!

Blue Jays pick up pair of outfielders (05/09/2008 8:10 PM ET)
Mariners ask for waivers on Wilkerson (05/08/2008 11:20 PM ET)
Promising prospects get a promotion (04/30/2008 7:49 PM ET)
Mariners batters must hit, or sit (04/29/2008 8:17 PM ET)

A couple updates (or three)

Jason Kendall also bats bare handed, I thought I saw an old articles where he started wearing gloves, but if he did, he isn't now with the Brewers. Also, Gregg Zaun now has one batting glove, on his bottom hand on the bat. He is a switch hitter, so that could be either hand, right hand batting left, or left hand when batting right.

Frank 'The Tank' Thomas, as they called him in Toronto has been released from the Jays on April 22nd, only to be picked up by the A's two days later. The Jays bigwigs didn't feel like they could afford waiting for him to get out of his slow start in the AL East. They will fill his spot from within. Adam Lind should be in the lineup once his strained neck gets better. The A's are in rebuilding mode, but with their good start to the season, they still plan on making a run for the postseason.

Other players released this month include the Giants releasing LHP Steve Kline, and the Reds releasing LHP Mike Stanton.

Batting bare handed.

I was watching the end of the Jays game, and Gregg Zaun came in for Matt Stairs defensively, after Stairs pinch hit for Barajas. Anyway, he was batting with gloves, and had been this season, I only noticed after the play by play announcer mentioned a game or two ago. So he lost his bat tonight swinging, second time I have seen him do so. Apparently more than those two times too. So, after losing his bat he got rid of the batting gloves, to bat bare handed. Prior to this season, Zaun has normally batted bare handed, so it should be interesting to see what he does in coming at bats.

Another catcher I know off the top of my head that bats bare handed is Jorge Posada. Vladimir Guerrero also bats with no gloves. A short article I found.

Sweeping the Sox

So I won't go into too much detail about game three, as I watched it on television.

Game three of the series of Boston at Toronto had Josh Beckett up against Roy Halladay, making for a good potential pitcher's duel. The only difference was Josh Beckett was just off the disabled list with a lower back strain, so he would have had a limited number of pitches he could throw. In the end he threw 92 pitches, 59 for strikes, which amounted to four and two thirds innings.

Boston scored first thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury's first home run, a solo homer. That was in the top of the third, and in the bottom of the fourth, Vernon wells gave the Jays the lead with a two run homer. The next inning, Boston tied it up again with another solo home run, this time from Jason Varitek. In the Jay's half of the fifth inning, Frank "The Tank" Thomas hit a grand slam, to give the Jays the lead that would end up being enough to sweep the series.

All in all very well played baseball from the Blue Jays. If they keep it up they could definitely be up there in the AL East. I saw Frank Thomas comment how the Japan travel does takes its toll for about a week after returning, so no doubt the Red Sox were somewhat tired and fatigued.

David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were both silenced for the most part during the series. David Ortiz went 1 for 11, getting his first hit on Sunday. He drew 2 walks, and struckout twice. Manny did a little better going 3 for 11. He drew one walk, and struckout three times. Both only got a single RBI each.

Boston Red Sox (Game #6 Road #6) at Toronto Blue Jays (Game #5 Home #2)

The Blue Jays second home game of 2008 was another good game for the Jays. It was actually a close game until the bullpen took over for Boston. It was 4-2 in favour of Toronto when Kyle Snyder came in to replace Clay Buchholz.

It was the bottom of the 4th when the Jays took the lead, and kept it. Aaron Hill laid down a perfect bunt, which not only advanced Lyle Overbay into scoring position, but he safely got himself on with a bunt single. After Scutaro walked, Gregg Zaun singled on a ball that Sean Casey could not handle, allowing Overbay and Hill to score. That allowed Toronto to take a 3-2 lead. If the error didn't happen, it would have been 2 outs with runners on 2nd and 3rd, and only one run in.

The bottom of the 6th was when the hounds were released on Red Sox pitching, as they needed three pitchers to get through the inning, going through two, Kyle Snyder, and Bryan Corey both only recorded one out. Kyle Snyder was designated for assignment the next day. His performance was said to have nothing to do with the decision, as it had already been made.

Blue Jays starter Jesse Litsch went 5 innings as well, with a respectable performance, and enough to be credited with the win. The next four inning saw the Jays use a new pitcher each inning. Brian Tallet, Brian Wolfe, Jason Frasor, and Randy Wells went the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th respectively. They combined to allow 3 hits, 1 walk, and got a couple strikeouts. It was the first appearance of 2008 for Frasor and Wells. Tallet was credited with a hold, as he entered the game in what would be a save situation.

Hold as defined by MLB:

A relief pitcher is credited with a hold any time he enters a game in a save situation, records at least one out and leaves the game never having relinquished the lead. A pitcher cannot finish the game and receive credit for a hold, nor can he earn a hold and a save in the same game.

Something I forgot to notice on the home opener was the shift for David Ortiz, as there is so much to watch for in baseball, so I made sure to remember on Saturday. Scutaro, the third baseman went over to play a deep second, while Hill, the second baseman was just about between first and second, but halfway to the right field wall, and Overbay, the first baseman, played deep at first. David Eckstein, the shortstop, just played slightly deeper. I was sitting in the 500 level, around the back of third, as I am just any other baseball fan, and I don't have the money for the big seats! Anyway, it was the perfect vantage point to see the David Ortiz shift.

Toronto Blue Jays Home Opener (Game #4, Home #1)

Opening Week started at Skydome hosting the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox, April 4th, 2008.

Festivities started by honouring Roberto Alomar Jr., and then Paul Beeston, who I suppose deserved it, but it is not too often management gets honoured unless they are very special. Anyway...

I was sitting in the 200 level, in right centre field. It was pretty much a pitcher's duel until the bottom of the 6th, when Tim Wakefield gave up 3 earned runs, starting with a solo home run by Canadian Matt Stairs. The very next inning, in the top of the 7th, the Red Sox responded with J.D. Drew hitting a three run home run to right field. The Jays responded right back with 2 runs in their half of the 7th. Frank Thomas got out of his mini slump to start the season, by hitting a 2 run double off Manny Delcarmen.

The Blue Jays added a little insurance, who knows if it would have been needed, but good to get runs regardless, with David Eckstein getting an RBI single. A couple batters before that, Marco Scutaro was out on a sac bunt that advanced Aaron Hill to second.

All in all, another good home opener, especially with the announced 50,171 waving the rally towels that were given out to start the game!

Of note:
The last 3 Blue Jays runs were with 2 outs.
Alex Rios and Marco Scutaro both got their third stolen bases.
I'm sure 99.8% of people would agree ballgames are better in person, among many reasons, it is what you can't see on television, such as pigeons roaming the outfield while the game is going on! Maybe the Detroit Tigers could sign them!

Back from Toronto!

I'm back from Toronto, after catching the first two Toronto Blue Jays home games. I got back early this morning, and just watched the Blue Jays sweep the Red Sox! So soon I'll write a post about the first two games in person, including some pictures, and the third game that I watched on television. Stay tuned!

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!

Finally, Vlad Guerrero is back in the Home Run Derby!

Finally, Vladimir Guerrero is back in the Home Run Derby! He participated in 2000, only hitting two homers in the first round, therefore not getting past said round. He was obviously there for a reason, having hit 38 and 42 home runs respectively in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, he went on to hit his career high of 44. And since then he has been very close to 40 every year, except for 2003 when he hit only 25, as he was out for a good portion of the season with a bad back. Had he been healthy, one can only imagine where the Expos would have ended up that year, even with the San Juan business! The road that year was the Expos enemy. I recall thinking had the Expos gone 500 on the road they'd would have definitely got the wildcard. Upon checking, they were 31-50, with that they ended only 8 GB for the wildcard. Reverse the numbers, and we (I do like referring myself as part of the team! As I am sure many sports fans address their teams as such, "we have to win this one"!) would have given Atlanta a run for their money! But of course with Vlad being out for as long as he was (he missed 50 games), and the crazy San Juan travel, it was our year to be that wasn't. Not really the same at all, but I am reminded of the "Next Year is Now" Mets, when Omar Minaya returned.

So anyway, once Vlad became an Angel, all of a sudden people 'discovered' him. No thanks to Bud Selig, et. al.!

Again I return to 2003. If you had the chance to see Vlad in a four game set against the Phillies, in late August, when we swept them, and tied for the wildcard, that is when you truly knew he was a superstar! He homered in 3 of those 4 games, and every at bat he received a standing ovation to cheer him on! One or two of those games were afternoon games, and drew some 20,000, and some Phillies players commented on it being louder than a stadium with twice as many people! Ah those were the days! I don't really miss the Expos per se, however it was a shame they had to go. I won't get into any details, but I'll say Expos fans past and present (present as far as history goes), will tell you how much unfond they are of Bud Selig, along with Jeffrey Loria, and David Samson (among others). Even many baseball fans in general do like care for Bud! Had they not messed up a good thing, we could have had a downtown stadium, where Vlad could have been hitting homers. It would have been only a couple blocks down from the Bell Centre (where our hockey team plays), with the downtown buildings visible past the outfield. Get a bit more about it here.

In 2002 he should have reached the 40-40 plateau, with 40 stolen bases, and 40 home runs. I was at the game where he homered (second to last of the season) at the Big O, and it went of the top of the wall. It was ruled a double, I'd have to see the replay again (I have it on tape somewhere!), however it definitely could have gone either way, at the discretion of the umpire.

So, anyway, it will be nice to see Vlad in the Home Run Derby. He definitely has the potential to win it. If you are familiar with him, he has amazing range at the plate, he can hit the ball out of the park on almost any pitch location, from his shoes to his neck. I think it was the second game of the Angels at Yankees yesterday, where I believe he was jammed inside, and still managed to get the ball practically out of the park! I believe with his swing he could manage to be up there with Bobby Abreu from 2005! Abreu was on fire! He too certainly has a nice swing! I wonder if Joe Morgan will blurt any anti-Expos stuff out this time around! Well, if so, hopefully Chris Berman will be pro Montreal again! I've mentioned it before, how he ultimately should be praising Montreal, at the very least since Montreal was a big part in breaking the colour barrier in baseball, when Jackie Robinson was playing with the Montreal Royals, before heading to Brooklyn the next year.

Anyway, much more could be added to that, and in regards to Vlad. However it is about Vlad right now in the Home Run Derby, and the All-Star Game itself. For those interested, Angels third base coach, Dino Ebel will be pitching to Vlad in the Derby.

Finally, Vlad is definitely a future hall of famer, to end with a statistic of note, He is on his way to his 10th consecutive year with at least a .300 batting average, and 25 home runs! Only Lou Gehrig has more, with 11. Below him with 8 are Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams, although Ted Williams did not play from 1943-1945 when he was serving with the United States Marine Corps. So I dare say, Vlad is in good company!

So, here's hoping to see a great performance from Vlad Monday and Tuesday! Go Vlad! (Oh, and as a Canadian, the same applies to Justin Morneau!)

Another day in baseball

Every sport has its fair share of weird things that can happen, however, possibly baseball is the best example, at least from North American sports.

First off, I watched the Angels at Yankees. The second game of the season for the Angels at Yankee Stadium. Both John Lackey and Roger Clemens were pitching great a great game. Clemens was coming off a win in Minnesota where he retired the last 15 batters he faced. In the end, both Lackey and Clemens went 8 giving up five hits and one run each. However Lackey struck out 11, tying a career high.

Two former Montreal Expos started in the lineup for the Angels, Orlando Cabrera, and Vladimir Guerrero. Maicer Izturis, brother of Cesar, came into the game, pinch hitting for catcher Jeff Mathis. The fourth and final former Expo, Juan Rivera is still on the 60 day DL with a broken left lower leg that he broke playing winter ball in Venezuela.

The game went on to extra innings, where the Angels won it by getting a run in in the top of the 13th. Howie Kendrick doubled, and the next batter, Jose Molina reached on fielding and throwing errors by Miguel Cairo. The latter caused by the former. The throwing error is what enabled Kendrick to get the go ahead run. With batters on first and third in the bottom of the 13th, the Yankees could not capitalise. Miguel Cairo made up for his errors, by getting his second hit of the day, and then his second stolen base. However, as I believe Joe Girardi put it, it is a team game, the Yankees had other chances to score, and did not. Derek Jeter ended the game by grounding into a force out up the middle, which Orlando Cabrera fielded, and made the force out on his own.

So all in all a good game. I raise the point about how weird plays or occurences happen in baseball, as it was a very well pitched game by the starters, and then it goes to extra innings, and an unearned run is the difference. Also in the bottom of the 7th, Jorge Posada was picked off at second, as he had a fairly large lead, probably eager to score on a base hit. The pickoff was 1-6, Lackey to Cabrera. Surprisingly also the first pickoff for the Angels this year. For the stat nuts, the Diamondbacks, and Tigers are tied with 10 pickoffs this season.

Elsewhere, I watched some of the Giants at St.Louis game, and tuned in in the seventh when it was tied 3-3. With one out I saw Mark Sweeney reach on a throwing error by Aaron Miles, that he should have had, as he had time, but his throw to first was too high. Aaron went on to make two more errors in that half of the inning, making three errors for him. On the first error the Giants went ahead 4-3. Although that would have only been the second out, so the run would have scored anyway (from third). With two out, Miles was credited with a fielding error as the ball hit by Randy Winn got past him when he should have fielded it. That caused two runs to come in, making it 6-3. Dave Roberts was the second out, sac bunting Mark Sweeney to second. On the play, which could have been a safety squeeze, Guillermo Rodriguez who was at third should have scored, but did not. The baserunning was reminiscent of Jeff Suppan in game three of the World Series as one announcer noted, when Suppan got hung up at third and got out in the process when David Ortiz threw from first. Although Rodriguez didn't cause an out. Miles' final error was another throwing one, where the ball kind of just dropped off, so Pujols' could not catch it cleanly. Randy Winn scored on that error, making it 7-4. As I started watching I was thinking I may be in for another extra inning game, but instead the Giants scored four runs, three of which were unearned. So I stopped watching, but the Cardinals ended up making a game of it, scoring three times in the bottom of the 8th. That was as close as they'd get though, losing by a final score of 7-6.

In the Yankees game, Melky Cabrera struck out 5 times, which has only ever been done four other times, from what I understand, in Yankees history. I am not criticizing Cabrera, or Miles, just commenting on how it wasn't exactly a great game for either.

So, just another day in Major League Baseball in the books. With some things out of the ordinary happening. Nothing too exceptional or noteworthy, as I said, just another day.

Milestone day (June 28, 2007)!

Frank Thomas hit career home run number 500.

Craig Biggio reached 3000 hits.

Frank Thomas hit the fourth pitch of his first AB, with a 1-2 count, as a three run home run which happened to be number five hundred for him. He became the 21st player to join the 500 home run club. He is only the fourth active player to be on the list. Toronto were visiting Minnesota for a four game series, and it was Carlos Silva who gave up Frank Thomas' 500th home run. Unfortunately for the Jays, they lost the game by a score of 8-5.

Craig Biggio hit the third pitch of his fourth AB, with a 2-0 count, to center fielder Willy Taveras, his 3000th. He singled, but was sprinting from the start right around first, and was out at second base. Just seeing the replay one can see why he is the leadoff man. He is the only active player with 3000 or more hits. He was three hits shy going into the game, and ended the night with 3002, as he went 5-6. To top it off, Carlos Lee hit a walk off grand slam home run to win the game for the Astros in the 11th. The Colorado Rockies were the visiting team. Willy Taveras, who got Biggio out at second on the outfield assist, was a former Houston Astro, therefore obviously a former teammate of Biggio's. Also to note, Willy Taveras is the leadoff hitter for Colorado. Finally, Aaron Cook was the pitcher who gave up hit 3000 to Biggio.

Further reading:
Thomas launches No. 500 at Metrodome
Biggio reaches 3,000-hit milestone

Pair of milestones make for historic day

National Baseball Hall of Fame - The 3,000 Hit Club
500 Home Runs Club by Baseball Almanac

1 win away from sweeping the ex Expos

So the Toronto Blue Jays are one win away from sweeping the ex Expos, oh, the Washington Nationals, in Toronto. It is a three game set, and the only three they are playing together, as now the Orioles are the interleague rival for the Nationals. When the Expos played the Blue Jays, in the past, the winner of the interleague games won the Pearson Cup. The last two years, 2003 and 2004 resulted in a 3-3 tie.

When the Expos first moved I definitely rooted against the Nationals, but now I don't care as much, however it will be nice to see them swept by the Jays! The odds of them winning the World Series anytime too soon isn't very likely. Also it seems they have inherited the same injury trouble the Expos had, and even worse. In 2003 as the Expos they lost 869 man games to injury, in 2004, 825. in 2005 in Washington now, they lost 1434 man games to injury, and in 2006, 1615! Currently now they already have 519! So looks like they won't exceed 1625, but will probably end around 1200!

Slowly I am moving towards getting into the Jays again. I liked them around the late nineties, when they had Shannon Stewart, Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green, and Tony Batista.

It would be nice to see baseball in Montreal again, maybe once Bud Selig is out of the picture. It definitely would have been something to have had a downtown ballpark, just down the street from where the Canadiens play now, with the Montreal buildings as a backdrop over center field. Here is what it potentially could have looked like. The image above shows where it would have been had all gone well, instead condominiums are going up, if not already, as that image is circa summer 2005. And had that happened, Vlad would have been hitting homers there. Also the thought of a ballpark somewhere along the water would have been nice, in latter years, a la San Francisco. Again, maybe once Selig is gone.

In the meantime, Go Jays!

Watch "The Rocket" Roger Clemens free tonight on mlb.com

Roger Clemens is making his second minor league start tonight, and probably his last, this time for the Yankee's Double A affiliate, the Trenton Thunder. The Thunder will host the Portland Sea Dogs. The game will be streamed free online at mlb.com and milb.com, and more specifically milb.tv, as far as the minor league site goes. The Sea Dogs are a Boston Red Sox affiliate, so although not nearly as fierce as the MLB rivalry between their respective teams, I'm sure there still is somewhat of a rivalry, at the very least at the fan level for sure.

His first minor league start this year was May 18th for the Class A Advanced Tampa Yankees. In that game he pitched a solid four innings, he did not get the win officially as he only pitched the four innings, despite leaving the game with the lead which Tampa went on to win by. The Tampa Yankees hosted the Fort Myers Miracle, who are a Minnesota Twins affiliate.

Roger Clemens pitching for the Yankees attracted a Florida State League record attendance of 10,275, when the previous game between the same two teams attracted 1108 fans. A large crowd is expected tonight in Trenton.

They've been saying he may be the best pitcher ever. I won't go into numbers, but at best it would only be arguable, as there's plenty of other great pitchers to choose from. Anyway, if anyone wants to catch the game, and cannot see it in person, or on ESPN2, it can be seen (yes I am repeating myself) on mlb.com, and milb.com/milb.tv.

Alive and Well!

It's been a long time. 2006 was the year I least followed baseball in quite a while, although I did enjoy watching the postseason. Reason being I was back into hockey after the lockout. Anyway, another year, more former Expos leave D.C.

The biggest deal being 2B Jose Vidro leaving for Seattle. He was traded for OF Chris Snelling and RHP Emiliano Fruto. Cash considerations also went to Seattle. This deal happened December 18th, 2006. Another deal worth noting is RHP Livan Hernandez going to Arizona in exchange for RHP Garrett Mock and LHP Matt Chico on August 7, 2006.

On October 3, 2006, RHP Zach Day, and LHP Joey Eischen were released. Zach Day signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals on December 20, 2006. Joey Eischen also signed a minor league deal, however with the Detroit Tigers on January 25. Both were then assigned to minor league camp, March 28 and March 19 respectively.

On February 14, Tony Batista was invited to spring training, and signed a minor league deal, so he finds his way back to what used to be the Expos organisation. He was designated for assignment by the Twins not even halfway through the season last year, on June 14, and released on the 19th.

So far with the Omaha Royals, Zach day has started twice, pitching 1.2 innings, then 3. Both times walking 3 batters, and allowing one run each start. The one hit in his first start was a triple, he also got a strikeout in that start. In his second start he gave up 2 hits. Joey Eischen is on the disabled list (DL) with the Toledo Mud Hens, so he has not played yet.

Players that remain with the organisation, on the 40-Man roster, that were with the Expos include RHP Luis Ayala, RHP Chad Cordero, RHP Shawn Hill, RHP John Patterson, RHP Jon Rauch, C Brian Schneider, 1B Larry Broadway (only in the minors), 1B Nick Johnson, and OF (RF to be specific) Ryan Church.

So stay tuned to this blog, as I plan on posting a little more frequently than twice a year! Feel free to add this blog to your RSS reader!

(Long time gone) Two more former Expos leave D.C.

I have not been following baseball like last year, and especially prior to that. Anyway, point being this blog is not dead. On with the show.

Two more former Expos have left the District of Columbia. The whole deal was as follows: the Nationals Acquired OF Austin Kearns, SS Felipe Lopez and RHP Ryan Wagner from the Cincinnati Reds, while the Reds received RHP Gary Majewski, LHP Bill Bray, INF Brendan Harris, SS Royce Clayton and RHP Daryl Thompson from the Nationals.

The former Expos in question would be Brendan Harris, and Gary Majewski. Combined they only had 36 games of experience with the big club, however they did don the Expos uniform. LHP Bill Bray was drafted 13th overall in 2004 by the Expos, however in 2004 he was with the Brevard County Manatees.

Since my last post, way back on April 16th, the Nationals reacquired Zach Day. He was dealt before the trade deadline last year, read about it from mlb.com. On July 13th, 2005, the Nationals acquired Preston Wilson from the Colorado Rockies for Zach Day, J.J. Davis and a player to be named later (PTBN) or cash. He was reacquired by being claimed off of waivers April 26th. Reason being the Nationals were in need of pitchers. He was taken out of rotation last year after turning his back on Frank Robinson when he came to the mound to replace him. He was then used as a reliever which he did not like. I'm sure both of those reasons caused him to be traded, and time heals all wounds, so Frobby wanted him back knowing he is a good pitcher. Since returning to D.C. he has started five games, one in April after being reacquired, and four in May. He left his last game started with shoulder soreness, and has not been back since. He was almost dealt May 31st of last year, but had to go on the DL with a fractured right wrist.

More former Expos that may go before the trade deadline include, Livan Hernandez, Tony Armas Jr., and Jose Vidro.

Opening day aces

To differentiate this blog from others I try to post some interesting things, stuff that is not normally out there, or at least not easily found. So I thought it would be interesting to compare opening day pitching matchups for every team. This will show who is the team's ace, or at least for opening day, or the time being.

There were many sub par starts, especially from C.C. Sabathia and Mark Buehrle, going only 6.1 innings combined! Must be the pressure of being the very first game of the 2006 season!

The best pitchers duel belonged to Dontrelle Willis and Roy Oswalt in Houston, where neither starter gave up any runs. Oswalt won the duel, going 8 innings, and giving up only 5 hits, one base on balls, and striking out 8. Willis went 5 innings only allowing one hit, however he gave up 3 base on balls, and only struck out three. Aside from the difference in hits, Willis threw 107 pitches (61 strikes), while Oswalt threw 91 (62 strikes). Check out the wrap and box score.

The next best duel went to Brandon Webb and Jason Jennings in Colorado. They both went 7 innings, Webb gave up 5 hits, while Jennings gave up 6. They each gave up one run, both earned. Webb walked 2, Jennings walked 1. Webb struck out 2, while Jennings struck out 6. Both faced 27 batters. Both pitched 98, 66 strikes for Webb, 62 for Jennings. So all in all they both pitched pretty evenly.

Some other good starts went to Kenny Rogers, Randy Johnson, Jake Peavy, and Roy Halladay. Not a good start for Barry Zito, only pitching 1.1 innings, and giving up 7 runs, all earned. Not a great start for Jon Lieber either going 3.1 and giving up 8 runs, again, all earned.

So below, see the matchups, and numbers for yourself. The statistical abbreviations are at the top only. Mind the formatting, as it wasn't easy, putting all the data in!

                           IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA

April 2nd

Cleveland Indians at Chicago White Sox

C.C. Sabathia 2.1 3 3 3 1 3 0 11.57
Mark Buehrle 4.0 4 3 3 1 1 1 6.75

April 3rd

Boston Red Sox at Texas Rangers

Curt Schilling    (W, 1-0) 7.0 5 2 2 1 5 1 2.57
Kevin Millwood (L, 0-1) 5.0 7 5 5 1 3 1 9.00

Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Baltimore Orioles

Scott Kazmir   (L, 0-1) 4.0 8 6 6 3 4 3 13.50
Rodrigo Lopez (W, 1-0) 7.0 7 6 5 1 2 2 6.43

Detroit Tigers at Kansas City Royals

Kenny Rogers (W, 1-0) 6.0 3 1 1 0 5 0 1.50
Scott Elarton (L, 0-1) 5.2 7 2 2 3 3 2 3.18

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Seattle Mariners

Bartolo Colon 5.0 8 3 3 1 4 1 5.40
Jamie Moyer  6.2 9 3 3 1 2 1 4.05

New York Yankees at Oakland Athletics

Randy Johnson (W, 1-0) 7.0 5 1 1 0 3 1 1.29
Barry Zito         (L, 0-1) 1.1 4 7 7 4 3 1 47.25

Washington Nationals at New York Mets

Livan Hernandez (L, 0-1) 6.0 8 3 3 1 4 1 4.50
Tom Glavine        (W, 1-0) 6.0 6 1 1 3 5 0 1.50

Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee Brewers

Oliver Perez 5.1 3 1 1 3 9 1 1.69
Doug Davis  6.0 6 2 2 4 6 0 3.00

Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds

Carlos Zambrano 4.2 7 5 5 5 5 2 9.64
Aaron Harang      (L, 0-1) 5.0 9 9 6 3 3 1 10.80

St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies

Chris Carpenter (W, 1-0) 5.0 9 4 4 1 4 2 7.20
Jon Lieber          (L, 0-1) 3.1 9 8 8 1 3 1 21.60

Arizona Diamondbacks at Colorado Rockies

Brandon Webb 7.0 5 1 1 2 2 0 1.29
Jason Jennings 7.0 6 1 1 1 6 0 1.29

Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers

Tim Hudson             4.0 6 5 5 3 3 0 11.25
Derek Lowe (L, 0-1) 5.0 9 8 7 1 2 2 12.60

Florida Marlins at Houston Astros

Dontrelle Willis         5.0 1 0 0 3 3 0 0.00
Roy Oswalt (W, 1-0) 8.0 5 0 0 1 8 0 0.00

San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres

Jason Schmidt (L, 0-1) 7.0 7 4 4 1 2 2 5.14
Jake Peavy      (W, 1-0) 7.0 4 1 1 1 5 0 1.29

April 4th

Minnesota Twins at Toronoto Blue Jays

Johan Santana (L, 0-1) 5.2 10 4 4 1 3 1 6.35
Roy Halladay  (W, 1-0) 7.2 5 3 2 0 4 2 2.35

Links aplenty!

Lots of new links can be found to the right!

I have added links to online newspapers, and their respective sections for their MLB team. The idea came to me while I was checking out one of the sites sections for their MLB team. I believe I was on the Miami Herald site for the Marlins, looking for new news about their possible future relocation. Anyway, for those people out there that are like me (maybe two or three!), they should enjoy all of the links. Seriously though, when the Expos were still around, and if they beat so and so, I'd like to see the local viewpoint on that loss. Also, generally reading about a team from the local perspective is of interest as well. Nowadays with the information superhighway as popular as it is, there is a wealth of information to be found, so that is also why I added the links. Many people probably wouldn't think of going to say kansascity.com to check out their viewpoint on the Royals. The next big player is probably there waiting to be traded, a la Johnny Damon, or Carlos Beltran. Also, many people are fans of more than one sport, so going to said kansascity.com, can also yield local information on the Kansas City Chiefs.

I also added a few general links, such as Field of Schemes, which is a good site to see status of future ballparks, as well as other places to get MLB stats, such as Yahoo. More links to come too!

Former Expos, Leaving D.C.

So, finally, as promised, the post where I show former Montreal Expos that have left the Nationals, along with the ones sticking around.

I'll start with players that left the organisation before they became the Nationals. More specifically, after the 2004 trade dealine. It was the day of the deadline that Boston received Orlando Cabrera, but I won't get into that one. In one of my first blog entries, I talk about that trade. So, the first deal that went down after that was sending Alex Gonzalez to San Diego, when they needed a shortstop badly to hopefully get them to the postseason. Khalil Greene had broken his right index finger. Alex Gonzalez played only 35 games with Montreal. He is now a free agent after having a season with the Devil Rays. Details on that deal were as follows:

9/16/04: Traded SS Alex Gonzalez to the Padres for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

That was before they were officially destined to the U.S. Capital. The rest until their inaugural return to DC goes as follows:

10/6/04: Declined the club option on C Einar Diaz, making him a free agent.

11/8/04: Released RHP Rocky Biddle.

11/19/04: Acquired OF Jose Guillen from the Angels in exchange for OF Juan Rivera and INF Maicer Izturis.

12/8/04: Sold the contract of OF Valentino Pascucci to the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese Pacific League.

12/11/04: Released LHP Chad Bentz.

12/13/04: Signed 1B Wil Cordero to a one-year contract and designated OF Ron Calloway for assignment.

1/19/05: Designated RHP Sun-Woo Kim for assignment.

3/17/05: Re-assigned RHP Sun-woo Kim to minor league camp.

Einar Diaz had 55 games as an Expo. He went on to be the backup catcher in St. Louis,not playing once in the postseason. Now he is back with Cleveland, albeit a minor league deal, and an invitation to srping trainging.

Rocky Biddle, I imagine is waiting for his phone to ring. That is, waiting for some sort of deal to get back in the majors. He had plenty of ups and downs with the Expos, mostly as a closer. However in 2004, towards the end of the season, injuries to the pitching staff forced him to become a starter, as he should have been all along. Anyway, he excelled as a starter for the first few starts, but then he started struggling again. Check out this October 12th, 2005 blog entry (fifth paragraph down) of mine for a paragraph about how the Expos getting Rocky Biddle was one of Omar Minaya's bad trades (had Orlando Hernandez pitched for the Expos in a 1-2 punch along with his brother, it may have been a different story!).

Juan Rivera just signed a two year deal with the Los Angeles Angels, and Maicer Izturis is still with the Angles.

Valentino Pascucci played in a mere 32 games with the Expos, which amounted to 62 at bats. He only started 17 games.

Chad Bentz had 36 games as an Expo. He was born with a deformed right hand, similar to Jim Abbott. He was signed to the Marlins with a minor league contract, and played only 4 games, or 2 innings with the big club. On January 19th, he was signed to a minor league contract with the 2005 World Series champion Chicago White Sox.

Wil Cordero was resigned. Along with Joey Eischen, they are the only two who were with the team in 1994, when they should have been contenders for the World Series. Joey Eischen, however stayed with the team as they moved. Wil Cordero left after the 2003 season. Ron Calloway played in 172 games over 2003 and 2004, 126 and 46 respectively. With Omar Minaya in charge with the Mets, he found himself with a minor league deal with the Mets in 2005, however played no games with them, and at the end of 2005 opted for minor league free agency.

Sun-woo Kim, I imagine they weren't able to deal him. He pitched in 4 games in 2002, 4 in 2003, and 43 in 2004, after starting his MLB career in Boston in 2001. 2004 being the year the Expos went downhill without Vladimir Guerrero, among others.

Onto much more recent times. Players that stuck around with the Expos/Nationals during the move, only to be shipped out in time.

5/14/05: Acquired CF Marlon Byrd from Phillies in exchange for CF Endy Chavez.

5/26/05: Designated RHP Claudio Vargas for assignment.

6/10/05: Acquired 2B Junior Spivey from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for RHP Tomo Ohka.

7/13/05: Acquired OF Preston Wilson from the Colorado Rockies for RHP Zach Day, OF J.J. Davis and a PTBN or cash.

7/25/05: Released 1B/OF Wil Cordero. He had been designated for assignment on July 20.

8/5/05: Announced RHP Sun-Woo Kim was claimed off waivers by the Colorado Rockies.

8/8/05: Designated OF Matt Cepicky for assignment.

12/13/05: Acquired INF Alfonso Soriano in exchange for OF Brad Wilkerson, OF Terrmel Sledge and RHP Armando Galarraga from the Texas Rangers.

Sticking around:

12/13/05: Signed 1B/OF/C Robert Fick and LHP Joey Eischen to one-year contracts

12/29/05: Signed RHP Tony Armas Jr. to a one-year contract.

1/5/06: Signed INF Jamey Carroll to a one-year contract.

1/9/06: Signed RHP Luis Ayala to a two-year contract

1/17/06: Signed C Brian Schneider to a four-year contract and 1B Nick Johnson to a one-year contract.

Endy Chavez, after being a bench warmer in Philadelphia, is now with the Mets, having been signed by Omar Minaya.

Claudio Vargas was claimed off waivers by Arizona, and he was just re-signed with the Diamondbacks to a one year deal.

Tomo Ohka is still with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Zach Day is still with the Colorado Rockies.

Wil Cordero is a minor league free agent as stated above.

Sun Woo Kim is still with the Colorado Rockies.

Matt Cepicky is still in limbo.

Brad Wilkerson stayed in Texas, as that is who they wanted, however Terrmel Sledge (who got the final home out in Montreal Expos history) was dealt to San Diego in a trade that sent three players each way, including Adam Eaton to Texas.

The players sticking around are pretty self explanatory.

So former Expos still with the Nationals include:
Joey Eischen, Tony Armas Jr., Jamey Carroll, Luis Ayala, Brian Schneider, Nick Johnson, Francis Beltran, Chad Cordero, Livan Hernandez, Gary Majewski, John Patterson, Jon Rauch, Brendan Harris, Jose Vidro, and Ryan Church.

However with most of those players they weren't Expos long enough for most people to be too attached in any way.

Finally, a couple others to note, 3B Tony Batista went to play in Japan, after the 2004 season. And LHP Rigo Beltran, who only had 2 games with the Expos, was signed to a minor league contract and invitation to spring training, by the Brewers December 1st, 2004, only to be released March 18th, 2005. During spring training I'd imagine.

I'm sure I must have seen a website with spring training stats around, I'll have to go looking for it, or any other! So I'll end on that note! Feel free to comment, or link back to this post on your website/blog, as I am guessing this is probably one of the better lists out there of recent Expos leaving the Nationals. No ego there, just happily accepting plugs for my work!

Johnny Damon, New York Yankee

Enough time has passed, so I should probably post once again! I have been meaning to for a while now. Anyway...

The big news is that Johnny Damon, probably the biggest name on the free agent market this offseason, is now officially a New York Yankee. Without a doubt, a shot was heard 'round the world in Red Sox Nation. Upon briefly checking out their MLB forum, there was plenty of disgust to go around, since he signed with THE rival team. So when his first at bat in Fenway rolls around next year, I'm sure the boos will outweigh the cheers. Cheers coming from the people who are nice enough to thank him for his service as a Red Sock. Cheers Orlando Cabrera received plenty of, as a member of a non rival team.

Personally I would have preferred seeing him go to another team, but it really doesn't make a difference to me, as I am not a hardcore Red Sox fan. And he was my favourite Red Sock, due to his quirky personality (not his hair, heck no! Which is now much better clean cut, even if that was in recent years his identity), also his batting stance is quite similar to mine. One quote of his which stuck, was "I'm gaining weight the right way: drinking beer". Although I rarely drink, it is good to know some aren't using 'roids. Damon had been alleged, but when he was on Conan he said he was fully grown into a mans body by age 15, or thereabouts. This I believe also was in his book.

So these days are definitely not like those of yesteryear, where money wasn't as big an issue. I'm sure it was even going back many decades, but not in the same way as today at all. I'm one hundred percent sure Red Sox fans would have preferred to see him as a Dodger, even if that was just no more than a rumour, or anywhere else for that matter. I remember hearing at some point in the 2005 season how someone said George Steinbrenner likes Johnny Damon, so it comes as no surprise. I believe now the Yankees will have a better shot at a WS title, however, more likely, the Blue Jays, and Orioles, maybe even the Devil Rays (!!!) will have a better shot at the wildcard in 2006.

Further Reading:

Yanks Add Centerpiece in Damon (New York Times - December 21)

Damon jumps to Yankees (Boston Globe - December 21)

It's Damon's Turn at Center of a Yankees Myth (New York Times - December 27)

Johnny Damon at Wikipedia

The first two are New York Times, and Boston Globe articles announcing the trade, as being official, next is a good read about NYY centerfielders. Finally Johnny Damon's article at Wikipedia. If it is needed to register to view either of the first three articles, I recommend BugMeNot

My next post in the upcoming days will be about former Expos that are no longer in Washington. Most recently of note, Brad Wilkerson.

Marlins will explore relocation/Everything must go!

Explore they will. And that comes as no surprise to Montreal Expos fans who have gone through that process, and had to deal with it. Jeffrey Loria and David Samson, the ones who essentially made Montreal a lame duck team (among others) are at it again in So. Florida! Now Marlins fans know what we went through! The way it looks now is that they will stick around in Dolphins Stadium until the end of the 2007 season when their lease expires, or 2010 at the very longest when their series of leases expires. But it sounds more likely the former. So, unless a stadium deal gets finalised, looks like they will become the Las Vegas Gamblers, or the Portland Western Meadowlarks. East Rutherford, N.J., Puerto Rico, and also Monterrey, Mexico are also interested. That makes five, and David Samson says seven cities, counting South Florida, have expressed interest in building a new stadium for the team.

Had Loria not let the lease expire on the downtown Montreal lot where a new stadium was going to be built, this is where Vlad should have been hitting homers. Instead condos are going up. Talk about an eyesore!

So as it is, it sounds like the Expos all over again, but wait, there's more! A mere day after it was announced that the Marlins would explore relocation, even though it was unofficial prior to that, as they needed a new stadium, Carlos Delgado is shipped to the Mets for three no name players (1B Mike Jacobs, RHP Yusmeiro Petit and INF Grant Psomas). Reason: Marlins are financially strapped. The day after that, Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Guillermo Mota are sent to the Red Sox for four no name players (SS Hanley Ramirez, RHP Anibal Sanchez, RHP Harvey Garcia, and RHP Jesus Delgado). Reason for Lowell: his future with the team depended on a new ballpark, he apparently understands Loria's predicament in a low revenue generating stadium.

Next up, Luis Castillo is off to the Twins for RHP Travis Bowyer and RHP Scott Tyler. And finally... Paul Lo Duca is off to the Mets for RHP Gaby Hernandez and another pitcher to be named later. Reason: "The Marlins continued their salary purge." Juan Pierre is expected to be traded by the end of the Winter Meetings. So obviously they are loading up for the future (a future elsewhere?), with young players. Not counting Juan Pierre, that is 4949 games of experience traded away for a whopping 40 in return!

So with all those star players gone, I imagine they'll make the money back with loads of people heading out to the ballpark to see the young players! Seriously though, the Marlins fire sale is very reminiscent of the Expos over the years, and also after the Marlins won the World Series in 1997. It will also be interesting to see what the 2006 New York Mets payroll will be. Possibly creeping close to the Red Sox for second on that list. I'm not even going to try and bother doing the math on that! Anyway, maybe the Next Year is Now Mets should have been the Next Year is Next Year Mets. Meaning, maybe 2006 will give them a better shot at the postseason. I can tell you one team that won't be in it, yes, you guessed it, the Florida Marlins. NL East is now officialy four teams!

This just in David Samson paid a visit to San Antonio. He is also expected to visit Las Vegas, Portland, oh and a few other cities he did not disclose. That was fast!

One month later, much to discuss!

One month later, I am back posting! I have been meaning to write since the WS ended, as that is when all the free agent, and moving about of players started. Those who frequent Wikipedia may know that a good amount of depth can be found there, by that I mean much more than a single entry on baseball. With that said, they have a good article about the different types of transactions, it can be found here.

So onto the goings on of the off season. Four days after winning the WS, the White Sox declined the club option on Carl Everett, and exercised the 2006 player option on Frank Thomas. Four days after that, the White Sox exercised a buyout of Frank Thomas' player option. Therefore he became a free agent. Cliff Politte and Chris Widger will remain for at least a year, well, for now anyway.

The big CWS deal is Jim Thome heading back to the AL to play for the South Side, along with cash considerations, in exchange for Aaron Rowand, LHP Dan Haigwood and a Minor League player to be named later, who'll be heading to Philadelphia.

Elsewhere...

Declining has been going on since the regular season ended, some of note, in chronological order:

October 7th: Minnesota Twins: Declined the 2006 club option on P Joe Mays.

October 13th: Toronto Blue Jays: C Ken Huckaby and INF Frank Menechino are free agents after declining assignments to Triple A Syracuse.

October 25th: Pittsburgh Pirates: Declined the club option on RHP Jose Mesa making him a free agent.

October 28th: Cincinnati Reds: The Reds and INF Rich Aurilia mutually agreed to decline his 2006 contract option.

Chicago Cubs: Declined a mutual option on OF Jeromy Burnitz.

November 1st: Florida Marlins: Declined the club option on RHP Antonio Alfonseca.

Oakland Athletics: Decline to exercise contract option on DH Scott Hatteberg for the 2006 season.

Seattle Mariners: Declined the club option on the contracts of INF Pokey Reese, a member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox World Series champions.

November 8th: New York Yankees: Declined the club option on 1B Tino Martinez.

November 10th: St. Louis Cardinals: Declined club option on OF Larry Walker, making him a free agent. Will be interesting to see if he plays again, and where he may end up if he does.

And finally...

November 15th: New York Mets: Declined options on LHP Felix Heredia and LHP Kazuhisa Ishii.

Alright, I'll end this post now. I'll post again soon talking about the possibly doomed Florida Marlins! As well as other transactions happening, and whatever else I can think of.

Chicago White Sox, 2005 World Series Champions

One day shy of a year after the Red Sox won their first World Series title in 86 years, the Chicago White Sox win their first in 88 years!

Turned out game 4 had the best pitchers duel, when it was probably least expected. Which made for an entertaining game. I believe Phil Garner will, or rather has been, under fire from fans and media for some decisions, but getting the Astros to the WS, and last year to the NLCS, and almost the WS is still quite an accomplishment.

To see the look of disappointment on George H.W. Bush's face, priceless! I think I may have been rooting more for the Astros to lose, but either way, that amounts to rooting for the White Sox. Both teams, the Astros, and White Sox beat the teams I wanted to see in the WS, the Cardinals, and Angels respectively. The White Sox also beat the Red Sox, which didn't really bother me that much, only reason I was rooting for them for the most part was if the Yankees beat the Angels. However I was happy to see the Angels beat the Yankees.

One thing worth mentioning that most highlight reels will skip, is Carl Everett's job in grounding out to second, to advance Willie Harris to third, who then scored on the next batter, Jermaine Dye's single to centerfield. This off closer Brad Lidge. Oh, yeah, and Carl Everett was an Expo for half a season! He was brought in as a replacement of sorts for Vladimir Guerrero. Had he played as well as he did with the White Sox when he was with the Expos, he would have been much closer to a Vlad replacement, but even then, Vlad is pretty much impossible to replace! In his first game back as a White Sock, July 19th, 2004, he went 2 for 5, drew on BB, and scored twice, including a solo homer!

Run differential was a mere +6 for the White Sox over the Astros, which tied the 1950 New York Yankees who swept the Philadelphia Phillies. The next three lowest run differentials in WS history goes as follows (all sweeps):

1963 +8 Los Angeles Dodgers over the New York Yankees
1914 +10 Boston Braves over the Philadelphia Athletics
1966 +11 Baltimore Orioles over the Los Angeles Dodgers

Maybe next year should be the Cubs turn! Regardless, it will be an interesting off season!

Game 3 Hero (Geoff Blum) Started in Montreal

As I write this now, game 4 remains scoreless. However, thanks to Geoff Blum, the hero from game 3, the White Sox have essentially guaranteed a World Series win.

Geoff Blum came in as a defensive substitution for Tadahito Iguchi in the bottom of the 13th. So with two out, Jermaine Dye singled, and Paul Konerko grounded into a 543 double play, Geoff Blum lined one out of Minute Maid Park in a hurry, and gave the White Sox a lead in the top of the 14th. What all the play by play people, FOX, the international feed, and journalists, would have mentioned, was that he was in San Diego this year before becoming a member of the White Sox, of course that he was an Astro as well, and went to Tampa Bay for game 4 starter, Brandon Backe, but more than likely, unless they went in depth, which I doubt in most cases, is that he started his career as a Montreal Expo. Of course it was also mentioned his first WS at bat was that one. His first postseason AB he popped out 2B Tony Graffanino, and stayed in the game at first base as a defensive substitution for Paul Konerko. Geoff Blum was selected in the 7th round of the free-agent draft, on June 2, 1994.

Two other former Expos made their 2005 postseason debuts last night, C Chris Widger, and RHP Dustin Hermanson. Chris Widger started in Seattle, but spent the most of his time in Montreal. He was traded with Trey Moore and Matt Wagner, in exchange for Jeff Fassero and Alex Pacheco, October 29th, 1996. Dustin Hermanson started in San Diego (originally selected by Pittsburgh in 1991, but did not sign), selected in the first round, 3rd overall in 1994, and found his way to Florida, November 21, 1996, and then along with Joe Orsulak went to Montreal, in exchange for Cliff Floyd.

All three were Montreal Expos together for a short time, in 1999 and 2000. However before that, Dustin Hermanson and Chris Widger were teammates from 1997 until 2000.

Dustin Hermanson was credited with the blown save last night, however in the end it did not matter. After allowing a game tying double to Jason Lane, he got Brad Ausmus out on strikes. Chris Widger struck out at his first at bat, but his next two he drew walks, the latter giving him an RBI, and an insurance run for the White Sox, their 7th, making it 7-5.

Orlando Hernandez made his 2005 WS debut last night as well, but that isn't too exciting as I have mentioned he had zero games played as an Expo, but he was an Expo, along with his brother Livan! Oh, and time wise, it was the longest World Series game ever, (tied innings wise, 14) and it broke a few other records! Alright, a few include walks by a team, Houston, overall walks, pitchers used by one team, Chicago, total pitchers used, total players used, and total LOB. That is what I remember.

World Series game one.

Considerably different from last years game one that is for sure. One day shy of a year. This was definitely a pitchers duel in the making, Roger Clemens vs Jose Contreras. However in the end, the 'duel' only lasted 2 innings, as struggling Roger was pulled after 2IP 4H 3R 3ER 0BB 1SO and 1HR, due to his sore hamstring, his shortest WS start. And for the first time since game one of the ALCS Chicago did not pitch a complete game. Contreras lasted 7 innings, allowing 6H 3R 3ER 0BB 2SO and 1HR.

Not much else to say really. I am happy the Sox won, despite the fact they beat the Angels. Reason being I don't want the Astros to win. I was rooting for the Cardinals to make a big come from behind win, especially after Pujols' blast! However, to no avail, as Oswalt silenced them, and any momentum they had did not show. Pujols' home run will still go down in history, but would have been more meaningful if the Cardinals could have gone on to win the ALCS, which would have been nice!

As far as "God Bless America" goes, I felt Liz Phair's rendition was not quite that good. I'm not sure if it is as hard to sing as "The Star-Spangled Banner", but anyway, it is still better fit for voices such as Ronan Tynan, the Irish tenor who sings it at Yankee stadium. However since she is from Chicago, I imagine she couldn't resist the opportunity, especially if she is a Sox fan. And MLB would like the idea as well. Regardless, will be interesting to see who sings the anthem in the upcoming games (okay, maybe not!). Much moreso will be the next pitchers duel, Andy Pettitte versus Mark Buehrle. We shall see if the low scoring WS continues.

Pujols (and Eckstein/Edmonds)!

Nice comeback! A mere strike away from their season being over, and David Eckstein gets a base hit. That base hit deserves loads of credit. Then Jim Edmonds draws a 5 pitch walk. Which sets up Albert Pujols for his huge home run, both literally and figuratively! 0-1 count, and Lidge threw a slider that hung there, and Pujols got all of it! See the homer and the rally!

I'm happy they managed to get the win, as I'd prefer to see the Cardinals in the WS. It would be nice to see Larry Walker, fellow Canadian, and ex Expo have the chance to get a WS victory. The Cardinals only have to win one more before being tied, if they can do so, possibly have momentum in their favour. All they have to do is look to last year, when the Red Sox were down 0-3, it makes being down 1-3 seem very doable!

Speaking of the Red Sox, Pedro Martinez won it all last year, and during the celebrations, in the locker room, he referred to the 1994 Expos, and how a part of the Red Sox championship is for us Expos fans. That was nice to see! So if Larry Walker and the Cards can get to the WS, and win, then that would be another Expo from that 1994 team winning it all! Not to mention, as I said earlier, a great way to end his career!

The only former Expos on the Astros is backup catcher Raul Chavez, and when he was with Montreal, he was always the third catcher, so he logged a mere 17 games in 2 and a quarter years.

St Louis also has Mark Grudzielanek, as far as former Expos go, and he was much more prominent than Raul Chavez! He was originally selected by the New York Mets, in the 17th round, but did not sign. Two years later, he was selected by Montreal in the 11th round. Not to forget Einar Diaz as well, who was the final Expos backup catcher. He has yet to log a postseason appearance this year.

If the Cards can make it to face the White Sox, Dustin Hermanson, Carl Everett, Orlando Hernandez (although as I mentioned in an earlier entry, he played 0 regular season games), Geoff Blum, and Chris Widger (also yet to have a postseason appearance) are the former Expos there.

K E2

K E2, that was how it was ruled. Going back to last year, Boston in New York, for game 6 of the ALCS, the umpires two different times got together, and made the correct call. That was not the case last night.

The way I see it is probably the way Mike Scioscia saw it. And that being that A.J. Pierzynski was rung out by the home plate umpire, therefore he was out. And if the ball does hit the dirt, or touch the dirt, the catcher always makes the tag immediately after, and if need be, throw to first. Josh Paul knew he caught it, hence the routine of heading to the dugout. The umpires getting together obviously agreed it was not clearly caught. A.J. Pierzynski and the White Sox caught a break. So bottom line is the game ends with a controversial call that was wrong. Luckily it was not a game six or seven. Possibly it will give the Angels an extra boost to play better, and get more runs on the board.

Another thing I think of, is when catchers are involved in a play at the plate, they usually have respect for eachother, and won't slam into, or make a violent play. This sort of surprised me that A.J. Pierzynski ran after Paul caught it. In the postgame press conference, he said he ran when he didn't hear the umpire call him out, and he realised he wasn't tagged, that being why he started walking away before running to first. He also said something similar happened in San Francisco last year, he was catching, and the pitcher tried to bunt, didn't get it down, ran, and was called safe. From what I understood, the pitcher started walking towards the dugout (visiting dugout on the first base side), then ran to first. Anyway, view the postgame press conference at the ALCS video page.

Red Sox, they gone!

I'll start this entry with an Expos/Red Sox reference. (And I apologise for the White Sox announcers call reference used on the now swept Red Sox! Used when a White Sox pitcher strikes out an opposing batter.)

Watching game 5 of the Yankees versus the Angels, when Giambi got on base, Mark Bellhorn took over as pinch runner. He then got to second on the defensive indifference. So while there, he reunited, albeit not for that long, with his 2004 Boston teammate Orlando Cabrera, both of whom won the World Series almost one year ago. It is mostly a Red Sox reference, but prior to the trade, Orlando was an Expo since his MLB debut. It is small things like this I tend to notice.

Now onto post season baseball. When Boston got swept out of the playoffs, at that point I was rooting for the Angels again. Reason being, had the Yankees beat the Angels, I would not have been too upset, but this was assuming Boston would meet them in the ALCS, since they make for good games against eachother. So, it was good to see the Angels move on to the ALCS. Nice pitching performance by Ervin Santana, after Bartolo Colon only went one inning.

Ervin Santana I might add is 6'2" and 160 according to his player page at MLB, although he doesn't quite look 160, he looks like he may weigh a bit more. I add this because it reminds us not all ballplayers are built like Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero, and Johnny Damon, to name a few! There are still some smaller (less muscular guys), like Ichiro, who still have pop! Especially former Expo Endy Chavez, but he isn't quite at Ichiro level! Regardless, Barry Bonds was once a small guy! Oh, and say no to steroids! Johnny Damon once said how he gains weight the proper way, drinking beer! Although I don't do that much either! Anyway...

Bartolo Colon was an Expo too, for the second half of 2002. That being one of Omar Minaya's bad trades, sending him, along with Jorge Nunez to the White Sox in exchange for for Rocky Biddle, Orlando Hernandez, Jeff Liefer. Orlando Hernandez pitched a grand total of zero (0) innings for Montreal. And Rocky Biddle, well, in late 2004, as a starter, he did well! Prior to that he did have some (some being the key word!) success as a closer!

Now, to get some Red Sox fans mad! First off, I was rooting for them in 2003 and 2004. Now the part to get them mad. Since they do have the second highest payroll in baseball, one can argue, what is wrong with baseball in the way everyone refers to the Yankees, can be thought of with the Red Sox too. Their payroll for 2005 was just shy of 60% of what the Yankees' was. The Yankees tipped the scale at $208,306,817, and the Red Sox at $123,505,125. So my point being, it is good to see the big money teams gone in a way. Although it was proved last year (and other times, but last years example is too good!) piles of money still won't buy an invinsible team. In close third is the "Next Year is Now" Mets, at $101,305,821. Bringing the New York MLB total to, three hundred nine million, six hundred twelve thousand, six hundred and thirty-eight dollars! Those three teams all have over one hundred million payrolls, however the Los Angeles Angels (yes,) of Anaheim, are in fourth with $97,725,322. Would be nice to see the Kansas City Royals or the Devil Rays win the World Series for payroll reasons! Why do I not see that happening anytime too soon!

Whew, now I am tired of typing!

The NL side is much briefer, and I'll elaborate further once game one of the NLCS is over. I was happy to see the Braves choke again, having won 14 consecutive titles (notice my previous post, in regards to the NL East), and only winning one World Series. Now that is a given, win the division, lose the NLDS. Now four years in a row they have lost the NLDS, and five of their last six. Their last NLCS appearance was in 2001, losing four games to one, against Arizona. Arizona went on to beat the Yankees, and win the W.S. Hats off, Luis Gonzalez! I'll end this entry now, and use game one of the NLCS to talk about those teams. As well as the ALCS once their game two is over. Tomorrow's game for the Angels will be their fourth consecutive playoff game.