nothing much

I've got other things going on today so I don't have much time for writing, but luckily for me, there's not much going on anyway.

Yeah, I watched the WBC. I didn't concentrate on it real hard, though, so blame me for the loss if you need to. Seriously, though, it's probably not exaggerating to say that it was a miracle the US made it as far as they did. And judging by the RD flag(s) in the stands, I'd say los dominicanos agree with me. Korea and Japan in the finals? I'll take Korea.

No, I'm not watching NCAA BB. If you're following me on twitter, you know why.

Spring Training is going well for the Cardinals so far (knock on wood). No, it doesn't mean anything, but if they're clicking, they're clicking, and it makes me feel a lot better about the regular season possibilities. Khalil Greene has impressed me as much as anyone. He's obviously fielding well, but he's also looking good at the plate. (By that, I mean he's hitting the ball well. He still needs a haircut. Speaking of which, when did Joe Mather turn into a Malibu Ken doll? Wow.)

All right, so Curt Schilling is retiring. And he has a blog?! Why didn't anyone tell me?!

Fantasy alert: if you don't want to read about my team, turn back now.

I traded Penny for Pettitte (because I started worrying about the shoulder) and Giles for Scutaro (because I realized that I had drafted Brian Giles). I am officially happy with my roster.

¡Saludos!

¿por qué no te callas?

Yes, I just made an Hugo Chávez reference. (Actually, I guess it's more a Juan Carlos I reference. Ha ha!) At any rate, it's really just a reaction to the announcers spending Magglio Ordoñez' entire first plate appearance talking about the fact that the Venezuelan fans hate him because he has recently publicly endorsed the middlingly unpopular president of Venezuela (and his ambitions).

Why don't you just be quiet?

Sure, baseball players can be political. Sure, fans can boo them for it. But do we have to hear about it for 10 minutes? (Besides which, his hair is much in need of some discussion and yet no one ever seems to notice it.) Come to think of it, you probably don't want to read about it either.

Moving on.

Anybody else really hate Bobby Abreu? I mean really really? Huh. (Yeah, keep chicken-walking, you... something-or-other. What? It's late.)

I'd also like to take this opportunity to congratulate baseball on an amazingly disastrous new rule. Pardon me for a minute, I'll be yelling.

What a FABULOUS WAY to disrupt the FLOW of a GAME!!!

What a BRILLIANT METHOD to make the UMPIRES the focus of ALL THE ATTENTION instead of THE PLAYERS and--good grief!--THE GAME!!!

Players get to SIT ON THEIR THUMBS for a FULL FIVE MINUTES while the officials DISAPPEAR FROM THE FIELD!!! Pitchers get to LOSE THEIR RHYTHM and let their ARMS COOL DOWN!!!

I CANNOT BELIEVE they didn't think of this NONSENSE SOONER!!!

If I wanted to watch a game dictated by TECHNOLOGY and INSTANT REPLAY, I'D WATCH FOOTBALL!!!

Umpires should blend into the background. They should be invisible. They are there to quietly guide the game and nothing else. When they take center stage and have the entire stadium waiting and watching them, something is terribly, horribly wrong. I was against this idea from the start, but now that I've seen the thing in all its depravity, I can't believe there isn't more outrage.

Seriously folks, we've seen the BEAST, and it is video review. What a mockery.

Am I just bitter because of the loss? No. In fact, I wrote most of this in my head while it was actually happening, which is to say before PR lost so dreadfully to Venezuela.

Here's what else:

The runner (whoever the heck he was) was out when Yadi threw to second. You know what I'm talking about, don't act like you don't.

Henry Blanco is a freak.

Puerto Rico may turn out some great catchers, but Venezuela has the pitching market all locked up.

I'm happy about Yadi's at-bat in the ninth. It was a little scary to see him up first against K-Rod in such a serious situation, but I knew he wouldn't strike out and he didn't. He continues to amaze me with his patience and composure at the plate. 10 WBC points

I'm going to bed now (instead of watching the Mexico-Cuba game) to cry myself to sleep because I don't get to watch the PR-US game.

Oh, and I invented a word. I'll bust it out for you in the near future.

a little world baseball

I admit I haven't been following the other teams in the World Baseball Classic. The US team interests me because, well, I'm from here, and the Puerto Rico team interests me because I have an irrepressible (and sometimes troubling) fascination with lo todo boricua. But the rest of the competition I could take or leave.

This Cardinals blog I came across recently made me wish I'd been paying closer attention. Somehow I missed the update from Cardinals Best News Links (and just as an aside, if you're ever looking for Cardinals news and you're not looking there, you're looking too hard--he finds everything, and it is an awesome resource), although part of me wishes I could just erase it from my mind.

Apparently, in a disastrous 16-4 loss to Cuba (as if having to play Cuba isn't bad enough), Reyes showed his less impressive side.

In the 7th inning, with Mexico down 7-4, Dennys came in and faced 5 batters, did not record a single out, gave up 3 hits and 5 runs (all of them earned), walked one and beaned one. I believe there's a word for an outing like that, I'm just not going to type it because I'm trying to keep from using those kinds of words in the blog (anymore).

Yikes.

Hopefully he can get himself back on track in time to join the Cardinals in camp. Otherwise, this wonderful late-Spring signing is going to look pretty regrettable.

unas quejas

Today's round of the UCB Roundtable is up at the Redbird Blog, and it's definitely worth a read. My turn to interrogate the ranks comes on Monday, so make sure you check back then. 

Nothing else much is going on right now. We're all patiently awaiting the start of the regular season (or maybe the continuation of the World Baseball Classic--there are a couple of games on Saturday that I won't get to see, and then a couple on Sunday that I couldn't care less about but which will be available to me, unless, of course, PR happens to lose to the US *ha ha* on Saturday, in which case I will get to see them on Sunday instead of having to wait until Monday), and trying to keep up with Spring Training progress (the Cardinals play two games today that won't be broadcast!) while we endure ridiculously bipolar weather (which means it's cold today but there are already bugs around and my seasonal allergies have declared war on me). 

How are things with you? Well, it's Friday, so I'm not going to take up too much of your time. Have a good weekend! 

¡Saludos!

various and sundry items

A commenter (who shall remain anonymous) pointed out that I may have been unfairly uncomplimentary of Cardinals minor leaguer Adam Ottavino after his 3-inning start against Venezuela yesterday in the WBC.

To begin with, after all the stupid and/or ridiculous things I write on a pretty regular basis, I'm impressed that anyone was able to pluck out that one gem.

Second, maybe I did understate his performance. I won't say I was blown away, but I'm willing to concede that he did as well as you could ask any pitcher to do in that position. And considering his age and experience level, I guess maybe I should have been more generous with my praise.

Anyway, thanks to "anonymous" for reading and commenting. It's always nice to hear from other baseball fans.


I hope you're keeping up with the UCB Roundtable. The latest discussion is up over at Cardinals Diaspora, and if you need to catch up, C70 at the bat has the complete listing. Also make sure you listen tonight as the UCB do their weekly radio show to discuss all things Cardinals. I'm still working on my speaker situation (and if you couldn't tell, I'm resisting having to buy new speakers), but I'll be there in spirit.


Just to keep things interesting, and because I care, I thought I'd let you know that St. Louis has been named the 6th manliest city in the U.S. (based on very real and scientific-like data collected by people working for a snack food company).

If you're in the Midwest and looking to enjoy a game with a cold beverage, look no farther than St. Louis, which has the highest concentration of sports bars in the country.

Yeah! How's that for civic pride? As a matter of fact, Missouri has two of the top 10 manliest cities in the nation.

1. Nashville, Tenn.
2. Charlotte, N.C.
3. Oklahoma City, Okla.
4. Cincinnati, Ohio
5. Denver, Colo.
6. St. Louis, Mo.
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Kansas City, Mo.
9. Indianapolis, Ind.
10. Toledo, Ohio

Check out the entire 50-city list to see if your city was included (and find out the standards by which cities were judged).


Chris Duncan earned himself 5 ST points* yesterday with his second home run. I can't wait for his turn in C70's Cardinals approval ratings. Yes, I know it will probably be ugly, but maybe my vote will help to balance it just a little.


*In case you were worried about how few points I've been handing out, let me ease your mind. This is just Spring Training, and much like camp for players, I'm using this time to warm up and get a little practice in before the real season starts. Once they're playing games that count, the points will be awarded on a game-ly basis (and much more fairly, I assure you).

venting my frustrations

The WBC. 

MLB wants viewers (I assume), but apparently it's more important to them to push their network than provide coverage that's reasonably available to fans. No, I can't get MLBN. (And yes, I realize there are venues through which I could watch the games that I'm missing, but that's not the point. If you want me to watch baseball, shouldn't I just be able to turn it on? I have cable and everything.) But I'm not bitter. 

All right, just ignore me. I'm going to try and refocus on the Cardinals. I don't have any comment on the AP SI cover except that it's not a super flattering picture (really) and yes, I believe in Albert. Everyone's entitled to his own opinion, and mine is that Albert is above reproach. Obviously I don't know him personally, and maybe if I were a fan of another team instead of the Cardinals I would feel differently about it. The fact is, though, that I don't doubt him for a second. Maybe people are concerned that if they support him they'll regret it later and don't want to look stupid, but I have no fear. No way does anyone ever convince me that Albert has ever done anything even remotely unfair. I'd still love him if he had, but he hasn't. That is my unwavering stance on the issue. (Okay, maybe I did have an opinion.) 

The latest Roundtable round is up over at The Cardinal Virtue. Check it out. 

Adam Ottavino pitched a few innings for Italia this afternoon and did a remarkably adequate job. He held los venezolanos to 1 hit and no runs, and did have some trouble finding the strike zone early on, but overall was fairly impressive. Unfortunately for Italy, they decided to take him out of the game, and things went downhill fast. As I type, the Venezuelan team is up 10-1 in their half of the 8th and the announcers have already eliminated Italy from the Classic. Oh well. It is Italy, after all.

loyalties

At some point, anyone reading this blog might start to question my loyalties. 

"Are you a Cardinals fan or a Yadier Molina fan?" they might ask. 

Ha ha! Good question! 

 Okay, I'm just kidding. I'm both, obviously. But I'm not a Yadi fan just because he plays for the Cards, and conversely, I'm not a Cards fan just because Yadi plays for them. 

"So if Yadi's PR team was playing (televised) at the same time the Cardinals were playing (televised)--and in this metaphorical universe it wasn't a Spring Training game because strange things like that are possible--which game would you watch?" 

Well that's just silly. 

"So?" 

(clears throat) Um... 

"No tivo." 

(laughs nervously) 

Anyway, I just wanted to reassure you of my allegiances before I told you this: YADI DROVE IN THE GAME-WINNING RBIs IN THE EIGHTH ON A BASES-LOADED DOUBLE INTO LEFT!!!! 

Ol' Ned's pitchers had done a pretty decent job of keeping the boricua hitters in check (and were ahead 1-0) until the 7th when PR had the bags full. Unfortunately, they left them that way. But in the 8th, Yadi came through, driving in two before getting called out in a play at the plate when he tried to add on another run after Feliciano singled and drove in Avilés. 

Puerto Rico won 3-1. 

ESPN's recap included video of Yadi pointing to the sky and obviously sharing the moment with his father who passed late last year. It's those moments, isn't it? So I hope you can understand my predicament. I just can't choose between them. Lucky for me, it's never come down to one or the other. Let's hope it never does. 

Oh, and be sure to check out the latest round of the UCB Roundtable over at Whiteyball.

priorities

I was kind of in and out of my brain this weekend, but hopefully everything's back in working order this morning. 

Last night, my daughter (who will be 4 next month) asked me (without any prodding or provocation at all), "do you miss 'Addy'?" And no, she didn't mean Daddy, she meant Yadi. 

We were watching the USA-Venezuela game, and she very astutely recognized that (1) it was baseball (okay, maybe that's not so miraculous), and (2) Yadi wasn't playing. Maybe that was because she knows what color uniform Yadi wears, or maybe it was because she inherited my ability to sense Yadi's presence without any corporeal clues. 

"Yes, I do miss Yadi," I answered. 

"When will he be back?" 

"Soon!" I told her. "The Cardinals start playing in about a month, and in fact, he'll be playing for Puerto Rico tomorrow." 

Then she said, "I miss him, too." I'm going to go ahead and give Yadi 25 points for that. 

Things in the WBC are going as well as we could hope for. The US team beat Canada and Venezuela, and PR won against Panama. RD is 1-1 (but since Albert isn't playing, I don't really care so much about that). As fate would have it, I won't get to see the PR game tonight because I don't get ESPN deportes or the MLB Network. (Thhhhbbbbppppt.) That's okay though, because Cardinals television coverage of ST will begin this weekend on a channel I do get. KSDK (channel 5) will have the Saturday game against the Braves. (Yay!) 

In case I haven't mentioned it, Erik (of Future Redbirds fame) announced that he's retiring from the blogging game (although he'll still be contributing ocassionally over at BtB). Chances are, if you follow the Cardinals, you're familiar with his site, and if you follow Cardinals blogs, you read it like a bible. He kept everyone (even those of us not so farm-conscious) well informed. He'll be missed. 

Good-bye Tyler Hansbrough. (It's harder than you'd think to be a Duke fan and a UNC fan at the same time.) Rest in peace Corey Smith, Marquis Cooper, and William Bleakley.

aclarando las cosas

Thanks to ML for today's lineup against la República Dominicana:

1. Schumaker 2B
2. Mather 3B
3. Ankiel DH
4. Ludwick RF
5. Duncan 1B
6. K.Greene SS
7. Jay LF
8. LaRue C
9. Rasmus CF

Pujols doesn't want to play against su patria, maybe out of respect, maybe not. At any rate, it means some 1B love for the Dunc-inator, and truth be told, if it's not Albert standing on the bag, I want it to be Chris.


Now on to more important matters, namely, determination of novios and novios del día. Sorry to keep you waiting. (You were waiting, right?)

What is a novio? As is the tradition, a novio is the player for whom you stand and clap when he steps up to bat (even when you're in your own living room). He's the player whose jersey you wear faithfully and whose autograph you covet. He's the player for whom you argue when the umpires are being stupid, and who can do no wrong. Maybe you highlight his name on the scorecard. Maybe you whisper a little prayer when he's on deck. Maybe you know his stats by heart (going back to his high school ball days). Maybe you celebrate his birthday or the anniversary of his first big league home run. You cry when he gets hurt. You cheer when he gets a hit. You know in your heart of hearts that if he were to get traded or somehow end up on another team, you might just have to become a fan of that team. When he's struggling, you defend him. When he's hot, you beam with pride. In some ways, on some level, he is the team in your eyes.

Who can have a novio? Anyone can have a novio, and most of you probably do if you think real hard. Women, men, and everyone in-between can have a Cardinals novio. Whether you prefer to call him that, well, that's another story.

What must a novio be? A player on the current Cardinals roster. You might love Keith Hernandez above all others and snuggle with your Keith Hernandez-shaped body pillow (appropriately dressed in a Keith Hernandez jersey) while you watch highlights of old games in which Keith Hernandez played, but for the purposes of this experiment, Keith Hernandez cannot be your novio. Maybe you and "Keith" can root for Khalil Greene together.

As should surprise no one, Yadier Molina is mi novio cardenalero--my Cardinals novio. (My Cardinal novio? Well, whatever.) He is my favorite player, partly because of his incredible defense, partly because of his skill guiding the pitching staff, partly because of his remarkable (and ever-improving) offense, and partly because he is just so darn adorable I could eat him up. Truth be told, one of those factors is way more important than the others, and I'll let you use your imagination to figure out which one.

Now to the daily competition...

Who can be a novio del día (N.D.D.)? Any Cardinals player can be novio del día. For each game, the player who contributed the most--offensively or defensively--will be named novio del día and get N.D.D. points. The team does not have to win the game for a novio del día to be named, but it helps. However, it's understandable that sometimes a player may perform at the N.D.D. level, but can't quite carry the whole game by himself. Under those circumstances, he would still receive the N.D.D. honors, but probably fewer (if any) points.

Points? Points will be awarded to the N.D.D. based on
[1] the importance of the game (ie, is it ST? division rival? post-season?),
[2] the value of the contribution (ie, a game-winning run? a game-saving play? just dumb luck?),
and [3] my current mood.

Basically, it's all arbitrary.

I'll keep track of points over the course of the season, and will award special "prizes" to the winner.

What if none of the players distinguishes himself in such a fashion on a particular day? If no other obvious choice is apparent, the points go to Yadi. Obviously, Yadi can be the N.D.D. just like anyone else (and if he's playing, he's got a pretty good shot), but if for whatever reason no one, including him, is the stand-out novio del día, he gets the points by default. It is my game, after all.

Got it?


And now some random things...

7. Baseball makes sense. It is logical and reasonable and understandable. Life should be more like baseball.

8. I used to insist on sitting in the left field bleachers when we would go to games because I had a crush on Ray Lankford. I've never told anyone that before.

9. The only time I ever watched American Idol was the season Nikko Smith was a contestant. No, I don't suppose that one is really about baseball, but it's related. (Ha! Get it? Related? *wink*) He was the only reason I watched and I quit after he got the boot.

More later.

speaking of disappointment

Well, the news just keeps rolling in, doesn't it?

AK signed a minor league deal with the AL champions. He'll work on earning a spot as a back-up second baseman, but I challenge you to find anyone who believes that he'll have an everyday job in Tampa. I guess I've already moved on from caring about the Kennedy issue, because, well... I don't care. I wish Adam the best of luck in his pursuits, and I hope he finds a situation that makes him happy. Saved us $400,000 now, didn't it?

The news that did get my attention was that Joel Piñeiro, the guy who last season (and the one before that) showed as little emotion (pre-game, mid-game, or post-game) as I have ever seen from a latino ball player, is lashing out at José Oquendo (the PR manager) for relegating him to bullpen duties for the upcoming Classic. (Maybe 'lashing out' is too subjective a term, but then, I'm a blogger, not a journalist.)

However you see it (and whatever terms you use to describe it), I can understand his feelings. Joel was eager to represent his country as a starting pitcher (as he did in 2006), and actually made statements earlier on that if he wasn't going to be in the rotation, he probably wouldn't participate. Then the Cardinals made it known that they would prefer he didn't participate in the WBC because of the Spring Training time he would miss.

Of course, LaRussa denies any direct involvement in Oquendo's decision (and I believe him), but that doesn't mean the issue wasn't in the back of Cheíto's mind when he picked his starting three and Piñeiro wasn't one of them.

Joel opted to skip the World Baseball Classic, but I choose not to see it as a spoiled player throwing a hissy-fit. I think that Joel probably knows the importance of being present for all of ST, and would have skipped out only for a really good reason (ie, taking the mound as a starter for Puerto Rico). Now that that isn't an option any more, he has decided to remain in Jupiter for camp.

Personally, I'm glad to see him finally show some corazón about something. And he has really sexy eyes.

béisbol mundial

So we've all heard by now that ba-Dunc-a-dunc ($850K with $500K incentives) and Wellemeyer ($4.05 million) have agreed to one-year deals with the Cardinals, and now we're all waiting on pins and needles to hear how discussions go with Thompson, Ankiel, and Ludwick.

In the meantime, I'm anxious for the World Baseball Classic. MLB.com released the list of players on their respective 45-man rosters. (Apparently, no one can be added after today, and the list will be whittled down to 28 before February 24.)

From the Cardinals (and I assume those of you more familiar with the minors will have a better idea who some of these guys are):

García, Isa (PAN)
Hawksworth, Blake (CAN)
Ludwick, Ryan (USA)
Molina, Yadier (PUR)
Nieto, Arquimedes (PAN)
Ottavino, Adam (ITA)
Piñeiro, Joel (PUR)
Pujols, Albert (DOM)
Smith, Curt (NED)

I could've sworn that I'd heard mention of Ankiel playing for team USA, but no Ankiel.

p.s. - Sounds like Albert won't be playing after all.

Anyway, Puerto Rico's team looks like this:

PITCHERS
Alvarado, Giancarlo
Baéz, Federico
Cabrera, Fernando
Calero, Enrique ("Kiko")
Feliciano, Pedro
Figueroa, Nelson
Gutiérrez, Carlos
López, Javier
Maldonado, Iván
Matos, Josué
Padilla, Juan
Piñeiro, Joel
Rivera, Saúl ("Monaguillo")
Roman, Orlando
Romero, J.C.
Sánchez, Jonathan
Santiago, José ("Iche")
Santiago, Tomás
Snell, Ian
Vázquez, Javier

CATCHERS
Casanova, Raúl
Molina, Bengie
Molina, Yadier
Rodríguez, Iván
Soto, Geovany
Valentín, Javier

INFIELDERS
Avilés, Mike
Cora, Alex
De Jesús, Iván
Delgado, Carlos
Figueroa, Luis ("Wicho")
González, Andy
López, Felipe
Lowell, Mike
Valentín, José ("Tony")
Vázquez, Ramón

OUTFIELDERS
Beltrán, Carlos
Bocachica, Hiram
Feliciano, Jesús ("Motorita")
Matos, Luis
Montañez, Lou
Padilla, Jorge
Ríos, Alex
Torres, Andrés
Williams, Bernie

MANAGER
Oquendo, José ("Cheíto")

Pool A gets us started March 5 (with China and Japan). USA and Puerto Rico each have their first game March 7 (versus Canada and Panamá, repectively).

team boricua, baby!

Roster aside (because nothing is official yet), I'm a PR fan through and through.
According to MLB.com, several players (including our Yadi) have indicated that they will play in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. It's shaping up to be quite a team. (Of course, it's hard to imagine rooting against los dominicanos, but having A-Rod on the team will make it a little easier. Lo siento, Albert...)

Possible Team Puerto Rico Roster:
Position	Name
P	Fernando Cabrera
P	Willie Collazo
P	Pedro Feliciano
P	Iván Maldonado
P	Joel Piñeiro
P	Saúl Rivera
P	J.C. Romero
P	Jonathan Sánchez
P	Ian Snell
P	Javier Vázquez
C	Yadier Molina
C	Geovany Soto
C	Iván Rodríguez
IF	Carlos Delgado
IF	Felipe López
IF	Rubén Gotay
IF	Ramón Vázquez
IF	Alex Cora
OF	Carlos Beltrán
OF	Alex Ríos
OF	Lou Montañez