The best part of the Cardinals' World Series win is that little kid not appearing under the words "World Champion Texas Rangers" on their 2012 media guide.
Twice in Game Six, the Rangers were one strike away from clinching the Series four games to two at home, but let the Cardinals tie the score. Then, guest villain Mr. Freese (Cards outfielder David Freese) homered leading off the eleventh. El Birdos had a 10-9 win and new life. Game Seven was an anti-climax. Tony LaRussa had a World Championship ring, and retired as one should go out: on top.
So the kid fades away into the land of the forgotten. And his hero fell off the wagon this winter, and spend the better part of a week apologizing. Let's see some hands, of everyone who's really, really tired of the soap opera that is Josh Hamilton.
Justin Verlander got the American League Cy Young award, as even the casual fan knew he would, and also MVP honors. The serious fan wouldn't have been wrong in assuming that bat champ Miguel Cabrera (.344 for the season, .429 in September) would win. JV had a great season -- the most dominant by any pitcher since Bob Gibson in 1968 -- but Cabrera's contribution was just as vital as the Tigers won 95 games and the division by 15, and pitchers already have the Cy Young.
And there is a new addition to Maggie's baseball family. Our second grand-nephew. Six pounds eight ounces, born or Thanksgiving Day. Justin Miguel Velasco. That's what they named him. It's on his birth certificate. (Well, at least he has one. Someday, he'll be legally eligible to run for president.)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Spring Training Opens
The gates of Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland have opened and, on day one of spring training, Skipper Leyland's plate is full.
He'll have to get by without Victor Martinez, who tore his ACL in January while working out and is lost for the season.
To replace V-Mart's .330 and 103 RBIs, the Tigers, who had kept free agent Prince Fielder at arm's length all winter, signed the ex-Brewer to a nine year deal worth $214 million.
Now THINK, sports fans ...
Before V-Mart's injury, the Tigers were ready to open the season with second and third base staffed by committee, and question marks at the outfield corners.
Owner Mike Ilitch wants to win a World Series but is also a businessman, and Tiger fans have showed him they will buy tickets and cable TV and support even an ordinary team if it stays in contention. And, again this year, the AL Central is weak and a record not much better than .500 could win it.
Good enough was thus good enough until Martinez was lost. Then, as if by magic, Fielder's $214 million appeared.
The money was there all the time. The owner just didn't want to spend it. He knew that fans would fill Comerica to watch Ryan Raburn play second base on skates, Brandon Inge not hit his weight, and a succession of part time players shuffle in and out of those two positions and the outfield corners.
Spend it he did, though, and Leyland's springtime dilemmas are those any manager would welcome.
Will Cabrera start at first and Fielder DH? Or the opposite? No one wants to be a full-time DH, and Cabrera's glove skills have improved since he made the move from third to first upon joining the Tigers in 2008. If they split the positions, how much playing time would each get at each? Or does he sacrifice defense for offense by making Cabrera the full-time third baseman? And what about Governor Inge?
As Florida baseball signals the start of another season, the word is that Cabrera will play third, Fielder first, Delmon Young DH, Andy Dirks left field, the healed Brennan Boesch right field, and Hinge has been unhinged unless the absolute horror of horrors becomes reality: the appearance in the box scores of INGE 2B.
The resident managerial genius, one of the game's most respected judges of double-knit talent, actually thinks Hinge can be a major-league second baseman.
He's not the Governor anymore, like he was when the Tigers were burning their way through AL Central opposition last summer, on the way to 95 wins and a division title. He's now the Tiger equivalent of Newt Gingrich; the guy who makes news for the wrong reasons, even if what he says isn't newsworthy. And no one knows what to do with him.
If the Tigers start Hinge at second, between Cabrera re-learning third and the bulky Fielder at first, opposition strategy changes. Instead of trying to hit it over the wall, hit it to the infield, on the ground.
He'll have to get by without Victor Martinez, who tore his ACL in January while working out and is lost for the season.
To replace V-Mart's .330 and 103 RBIs, the Tigers, who had kept free agent Prince Fielder at arm's length all winter, signed the ex-Brewer to a nine year deal worth $214 million.
Now THINK, sports fans ...
Before V-Mart's injury, the Tigers were ready to open the season with second and third base staffed by committee, and question marks at the outfield corners.
Owner Mike Ilitch wants to win a World Series but is also a businessman, and Tiger fans have showed him they will buy tickets and cable TV and support even an ordinary team if it stays in contention. And, again this year, the AL Central is weak and a record not much better than .500 could win it.
Good enough was thus good enough until Martinez was lost. Then, as if by magic, Fielder's $214 million appeared.
The money was there all the time. The owner just didn't want to spend it. He knew that fans would fill Comerica to watch Ryan Raburn play second base on skates, Brandon Inge not hit his weight, and a succession of part time players shuffle in and out of those two positions and the outfield corners.
Spend it he did, though, and Leyland's springtime dilemmas are those any manager would welcome.
Will Cabrera start at first and Fielder DH? Or the opposite? No one wants to be a full-time DH, and Cabrera's glove skills have improved since he made the move from third to first upon joining the Tigers in 2008. If they split the positions, how much playing time would each get at each? Or does he sacrifice defense for offense by making Cabrera the full-time third baseman? And what about Governor Inge?
As Florida baseball signals the start of another season, the word is that Cabrera will play third, Fielder first, Delmon Young DH, Andy Dirks left field, the healed Brennan Boesch right field, and Hinge has been unhinged unless the absolute horror of horrors becomes reality: the appearance in the box scores of INGE 2B.
The resident managerial genius, one of the game's most respected judges of double-knit talent, actually thinks Hinge can be a major-league second baseman.
He's not the Governor anymore, like he was when the Tigers were burning their way through AL Central opposition last summer, on the way to 95 wins and a division title. He's now the Tiger equivalent of Newt Gingrich; the guy who makes news for the wrong reasons, even if what he says isn't newsworthy. And no one knows what to do with him.
If the Tigers start Hinge at second, between Cabrera re-learning third and the bulky Fielder at first, opposition strategy changes. Instead of trying to hit it over the wall, hit it to the infield, on the ground.
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