Let us be clear about one thing: I am not one of those front runner type dweebs who likes his team when they are winning and goes out and buys their cap to wear around and then, when hard times hit, loses the cap. I did not grow up being a fan of the Giants. In fact, I disliked the Giants, except for Willie Mays, basically because they were in New York and Leo Durocher seemed like a bad person. When I moved to San Francisco in 1973, it became easy to like the Giants because there was the radio and the incomparable, funny Lon Simmons and the young Al Michaels and Joe Angel doing the broadcasts. The team was pretty good, too, with Bobby Bonds, Willie McCovey, the two very good outfielders Gary Mathews and Garry Maddox, and a smattering of good pitching with the aging Dominican dandy Juan Marichal, Ron Bryant, Jim Barr and, in the bullpen, Elias Sosa, Don McMahon, and Billie Jean’s brother Randy Moffitt. They finished third in a good Western Division , 11 games behind the Cincinnati Reds with the Dodgers in between. They played in Richard Nixon’s favorite ballpark, Candlestick. It was more suited to kite flying than baseball, but the average attendance was 10,299 so you could pack a lunch, including beer, take general admission, and then slowly work your way to the seat you really liked. Unlike Warriors games in Oakland, it was good advice to smoke your joint in the parking lot, not in your seat.

 

A lot of people were rather pissed off at the Giants after, early in the previous season, they had traded Willie Mays to the New York Mets for some bad sourdough and a bar of Fels Naptha soap. Not me, though. As a newcomer to the scene, I was happy to become acquainted with my new team. The next several years were mostly losing seasons except for ’78 when, with young Jack Clark and Vida Blue, Bob knepper and the enigmatic Mike Ivie, they contended for most of the season and won 89 games. I stayed true, though, and remained that way  as the mostly losing seasons of the eighties rolled by  and new ownership rescued the team from moving to Florida and then the brilliant signing of Bobby’s son and Dusty Baker made them credible. The tantalizing 1993 season when they were so very good was our reward for sticking with them after the disappointment of getting shredded by Oakland in the ’89 World series .However, the Braves won 104 games to their 103, but no complaining here except about Atlanta getting Fred McGriff  for the stretch run. Then, of course, the roller coaster ride continued even after they got the new ballpark in a much better location. The 2002 Giants made it to the World Series but again lost to another California team, the Tustin Angels. Then came the remarkable three World Championship seasons in five years after they had shed the embarrassment of last few Barry Bonds seasons and seemed to have really settled in with good management that put together rosters of quality athletes with good character and winning attitudes. Now, in 2017, it doesn’t feel that way, and not because they are 43-69.

 

What bugs me is that, after a couple of years of living in the past by constantly referring to 2010, 2012, and 2014 as though we were still playing against the same defeated teams with the same hungry players that had not aged or become comfortable with fat contracts, Giants management, including the esteemed Bruce Bochy, lost its mojo and soul. The last straw for me was cutting a good player and fine human being, Connor Gillaspie and, in the same week, bringing back tired, older than his years, former fan favorite Pablo Sandoval. Even if Sandoval is truly remorseful for his ugly words toward the team after he left for Boston, he is no longer the highly skilled and energetic presence on the field that he was years ago. And even if he regains those skills, they have cut a player the same age who did not bring drama to the clubhouse, who hit well when he received consistent playing time, and , while no Brooks Robinson either, played better defensively than Sandoval. Also, another solid citizen, George Kontos, was let go to the Pirates on waivers while Hunter Strickland, an over rated heaver whose immature bonehead plunking of Bryce Harper led to the concussion injury to Michael Morse, another good clubhouse presence who was trying to be a peace maker, remains on the roster to scowl his way to more and more gopher balls. They say they are going with youth, but none of the young players that have been jerked back and forth from the field to the bench and from the roster to the minors have really been given a chance to show what they can do for more than a couple of days at a time.

 

So they will have to get along without my rooting for them for a while. They won’t miss me. Ever since the new park came along I haven’t been able to afford tickets, and I live too far away now anyway. I was there with them on the car radio and on television at home all this time, enduring all of the repetitive, obnoxious advertising for the love of Kruk and Kuip and what I thought was an enlightened management. I haven’t filed for divorce. This is a trial separation. I am pissed, but this is not football, so I might be back someday.

It’s here. It’s that awful, sick feeling in my stomach that used to hit me every late July or early August when I would be folding newspapers for delivery and the sickening words would be right there in front of me with every step: BACK TO SCHOOL SALE. I would react about like Charlie Brown did when a batter hit his pitch right back to the box and undressed him. I believe the word that came immediately to mind was “shit!” Now, of course, I don’t have to go back to school but I do have to watch helplessly for the coming onslaught of football. Just avoid it, you say. Just watch your baseball and soccer and avert your eyes from 70 to 80 per cent of the sports pages. Sure. Easy as avoiding headlines about the latest from President Tweety. Training camp, oh boy. Thousands of college students eagerly going back to work on their brain damage. Raiders to Vegas, perfect. You can’t avoid it. There was a checker at one of the local markets who always wanted to talk about the 49ers and, before I renounced it all a few years ago I would jump right in. Yeah, don’t worry, Joe (Montana) doesn’t stay hurt for long and besides they still have Steve Young and Bill Walsh will think of something. I tried a couple of times to explain to him that I didn’t follow the Niners or even the game anymore but to no avail. “They were up by two touchdowns when I left for work!”  Oh, who’s that? “The Niners!”  Who are they playing? So it didn’t work. He retired and I miss him now, but not that.

Speaking of school, one of the first hard lessons that a class clown learns is that it’s not good manners to make fun of somebody’s name. After all, even if it is funny, a person really has no control over what he or she has been named, and it’s disrespectful. Plus it might get you a broken nose. I doubt that anyone giggled to his face when introduced to Matt Batts. What the hell, he was a good hitter. Still, I can’t help sharing what I think would be a riot of a bullpen crew. The White Sox recently promoted Aaron Bummer for relief help. He needs to join together with the Cardinals’ Seung Hwan Oh and the Oakland A’s guy Ryan Dull. “Who is that warming up in the pen, Mike?” Duane Kuiper might ask. “Oh” says Krukow. “Didn’t he pitch two innings last night?’  “That was Dull..” “All right, I’ll ask a more interesting question—isn’t he the one with a 7.54 earned run average?”  “Bummer.” Of course, the battery that no one dares make light of these days is Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey. And don’t forget, the Dodgers, at least for a brief time a few years ago, really did have Hu on first.

 

Our greatest analytical minds available are trying to explain why we are seeing so many home runs and, simultaneously, so many strikeouts. It makes for dull baseball, some of us think, but theories are always interesting when your favorite team is 31 games out of first place. So let’s do some comparing. Tweety tells all of his wives that they shouldn’t compare, but let’s go for it. Just because,we will compare the 1949 season, the 1999 season, and the current season. 1949 wasn’t exactly the dead ball era. Some guys, like Ralph Kiner and Ted Williams, were hitting lots of home runs. In all, teams hit 945 homers that year. The Brooklyn Dodgers had 152, led by Gil Hodges and Duke Snider with 23 each and Roy Campanella with 22. The New York Giants, led by Bobby Thomson‘s 27, accumulated 147. Those were tops in baseball. The Chicago White Sox, on the other hand, hit 43 as a team, or as many as the Splendid Splinter himself. Pitchers walked more batters than they struck out. The ball was put in play more because, while there were 4.07 walks per game, there were only 3.6 strikeouts per game. The 945 round trippers meant that 0.69 home runs per game occurred. Bases on balls, depending on the circumstances, are not particularly exciting, but I will add that a solo home run in a 12-3 game does not set my heart racing either. Both are more fun than a pitching change, but we’ll stay off that topic today.

Now to party like 1999, when 5.528 home runs were smacked. That was among 30 teams in a 162 game schedule, of course, so the average was 1.14 per game, or almost double the ’49 rate. Walks diminished to 3.68 per game. Strikeouts, however, soared to 6.21 per game, or about the same increase in rate as the homers. Bill James, stay out of this for now.

Now here we are in the 21st century, when ballplayers make enough to buy teams and orthopedic surgeons are all the rage. Right now, as of July 27, 2017, teams are receiving bases on balls at the rate of 3.258 per game, so slightly less than 18 years ago. The home runs are indeed up despite the commissioner’s office relentless attack on the use of performance enhancing drugs. We now get 1.2618 homers per game with a total currently of 3,836. That’s not really that much more than ’99, but what about the K rate? It’s a whopper. So far 25,059 batters have gone down on strikes, an average of 8.243 per game. Okay, now Bill James should explain whether the strikeouts are worth the power. I say probably not.

 

 

I know that I should be gearing up for the home run derby, but I promised my neighbor that I would whitewash his outhouse. I must admit, I do make a point of watching Giancarlo Stanton bat when the Marlins are on the tube but that is in an actual game. Plus hearing Chris Berman go apoplectic got old years ago.

With about 72 games to go for most major league teams, the magic seems to be missing in 2017. The two Central Divisions have close races going on but the Clevelands and the Cubs aren’t new faces this time. Will the Pirates get hot when Starling Marte returns? Not if they keep pitching the way they have been. It is good to see Andrew McCutchen doing well again, and Felipe Rivero is really good but they can’t seem to get the charcoal going. Kansas City seemed to be resurrecting things but the Dodgers just shut their mouths. Minnesota and Milwaukee remain interesting as they linger around .500 but mostly that’s because everyone else is, too. I would bet that Joe Maddon and Terry Francona  will guide their crews to the top before too long. They do, after all, have the talent, although Chicago’s starting pitchers have not been scary like last year.

Houston and Los Angeles just win, win, win. The Dodgers are more surprising to me  because I never saw Chris Taylor or Cody Bellinger coming. Seattle looked like competition going in but let’s all play for individual stats, it’s over. As for the Rockies and Diamondbacks, well done but, really, done. If Bellinger fades like Joc Pederson did a couple of years ago, Adrian Gonzalez will still be there or they could rent someone. Alex Wood may be a mirage but, again, rent. The Mariners are so disappointing that they are even behind the Whittier Angels.

As for the East, both of those divisions will continue to lead the majors in publicity and ESPN appearances. Everyone says that Washington should worry about their bullpen but I think it may be more practical to work on taking 9-0 leads. And the Bostons have a slim lead but it feels like separation is occurring. As the heat of summer relinquishes its hold on power numbers, the Red Sox offense may make more and more sense. Tampa Bay keeps improving and will be dangerous and it is doubtful that the Yankees will completely collapse, so there remains hope that a real race will continue. Miami, Atlanta, and the Mets could each make noise, but the Nationals , thanks to the rejuvenation of Ryan Zimmerman, have depth.

 

Right now, though, it’s a good time for a break. And the All Star Game is meaningless, as it should be.  Ahhh.

One hundred years ago this July 1,a pitcher named Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a complete game three hitter to beat Pittsburgh 4-1 in the first game of a double header. In the second game of the twin bill, Fred Toney pitched  another complete game three hitter to win, 5-1. Now, I realize that a lot of things have changed since 1917. For instance, Fred Toney was not able to tweet anyone after the victories. Also, Babe Ruth was still pitching then, winning 24 games as a 22 year old southpaw for the Boston Red Sox, and no team in the major leagues scored more than 657 runs for the season, which in 1998 would have taken about a week. Those 657 runs were scored by the World Champion Chicago White Sox, managed by the venerable Pants Rowland and led by slugger Happy Felsch, who hit 6 homers and drove in 102 runs. The playing conditions were very different, according to people who were around at the time. Nevertheless, he allowed only six hits in eighteen innings on one day without, I might add, having his arm fall off.

Toney had a very good career, pitching 2,206 innings in 336 games over a twelve year span, winning 139 games and losing 102 with a lifetime earned run average of 2.69. That 1917 season was probably his peak as he was 24-16 in 42 starts with 31 complete games. Toney was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1888 and was buried there in 1953. He did not have a baseball coach as a youth. His initial training consisted of playing “drop ’em dead” with his friends. Drop ’em dead was a game of throwing fist sized rocks at tin cans mounted on sticks and Fred was apparently skilled at the game, so much so that a furrier from Winchester, Kentucky invited him up there to teach him how to pitch. They did not have a Nintendo version of drop ’em dead in 1917.

 

A couple of major league managers, Andy Green of San Diego and Dave Roberts of LaLa Land,recently got excited about the possibility that base runners on one team were stealing signs and relaying that information to batters. Alex Wood, a Dodgers lefty starter was indiscreet enough to tell an umpire that he was going to “drill” an opposing batter if it didn’t stop. Well. My limited experience playing organized baseball probably affects my judgement here, but I have never understood the outrage. Your runner at second sees the catcher indicate (he thinks) that the location of the pitch should be outside and attempts to convey that information to the hitter. So what? Are you saying that that is cheating? Gosh. Is the hidden ball trick cheating? Is throwing to first to see if the batter was thinking about bunting cheating? Look, just get better at signing, okay? Plus, I’m probably wrong, but I think perhaps that more than a few batters are a little like I was in that 1) they quite possibly don’t see the message; 2) they are not looking anywhere except at the pitcher’s throwing hand and 3)they don’t remember the signs anyway. The anger seems to be real, and it goes back to the earliest days, like the old story that someone was stealing signs for the Giants with binoculars out in center field back in the Polo Grounds days. Whatever. I’m a slow learner sometimes. It took me many years to understand why they call it the hit and run and I am still not completely clear about how to score a fielder’s choice. But come on, people. There are many other issues to get the red ass about.

Like, for instance, the apparent collective insanity about bullpens and “closers”. If the game is on the line in the seventh inning or even earlier, and I am so itchy with hemorrhoids and anxious to show no faith in my starter that I have to amble out to the mound and make a pitching change, I am going to bring in the best pitcher I have available to put out the fire in the game and my butt. I am not “saving” him and hoping that we have a ninth inning lead to protect. That’s just jive, but everybody seems to accept it.

Also, poor to ridiculous attempts at humor by former athletes “back in the studio” on television during and after games. If you can’t be insightful or actually funny, shut up. It’s embarrassing. That means you, Shaquille O’Neal, Pete Rose, and Nick Swisher. This Independence Day, I’ll be thinking about Fred Toney. I’ll be thankful for the wonderful folks at Baseball-Refernce.com for historical information as well.

Having been subpoenaed by the select U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee on Baseball, the author of Baseball Anarchy decided that, since he isn’t on Twitter, it would not do any good to refuse to testify, and so he agreed to answer questions no matter how ill informed and free of clues the questioners might be. Here, then, are some excerpts from the session as transcribed without redaction attributable to  persons having knowledge of the facts who cannot be named because they don’t remember who they are or why they were present.

 

Senator Feinstein: Isn’t it true that, back in April of 2017, you stated before this committee that the Boston Red Sox were without question the strongest team in the American League East and that, furthermore, other experts’ predictions that the Yankees would be strong were, in your words, “…bullcrap”?

BA: Thank you, Senator, and I just want to say that I consider it an honor and a privilege to appear before you today in this musty, airless room with high humidity and a lot of distinguished cockroaches. That’s really not a word I would use, Senator Hairdye. I believe I said “horseshit” but it’s been some time and a few ales ago. At the time, we had every expectation that Rick Porcello would pitch better and the offense would  produce even without Big Papi, as we refer to him in the parking tunnels. I think that no pennant has ever been won or lost  before June 20th. In fact, if you look back only 39 years…

Senator Franken: What about the Twins? You, among others, were laughing at their chances back in March, but if we look at the standings, well, once again, you were misinformed to say  the least.

BA: Well, Al, can I call you Al? Well, again, the Minnesota team lost 103 games a year ago with about the same roster. If we are going to be credible, we can’t fly in the face of results we have certainty about if we are going to predict results we have no certainty about, can we? Paul Molitor, geez, he is going to have some effect. And Joe Mauer, now there is a fellow that we’ve been tracking for a number of years now and there is no question but that, you know, the concussion thing, and Jack Morris doesn’t pitch there anymore, and it’s been a while since Kirby Puckett or Rod Carew, if you know what I mean.

Senator Feinstein: This committee is well aware of your credentials in the field, Mr. Anarchy. Nevertheless, it seems beyond comprehension that you would tell us to expect a tight race in the American League West before the Houston Astros just blew everybody out of the water, if I may get a little military here.

BA: One thing I have learned in all my years of misleading adventurists is that almost nothing can be comprehended in a group that is so dedicated to mendacity and the obfuscation of truth, the misplacement of justice, or the general misreading of the American way. Just like my distinguished inquisitors when they are on the campaign trail, I am sometimes thrown from my horse of knowledge by the irritating facts of life but, yet, we all know it comes down to pitching. And injuries could yet play a part.

Senator Harris: You stated previously that the Giants would not contend this season. Yet, you couched it in terms that seemed to want to make us believe they were not terrible. What happened there?

BA: Hindsight is 20/20, especially when you don’t know that Al Queda might force Madison Bumgarner to get on that bike or that Bruce Bochy would decide to only use Mark Melancon in save situations even though there are never save situations. And look at what Pittsburgh got for him, pretty good, huh? Did you think Ichiro would be hitting .226 now? No, and you can’t tell me that Buck Showalter knowingly put together a pitching staff that can’t get anyone out or that the Rays would still be in the league or any of that stuff. Our intelligence is only as good as our brains. Can we have lunch now?

The remainder of the testimony took place in closed session so we are now free to speculate on what was or wasn’t said.

Is Matt Harvey in the Hall of Fame yet? Can anyone catch the Houston Astros? There are only 108 games left. Here’s a safe bet: it won’t be the Azusa Angels. Mike Scioscia was looking so smart and his team was so good just four seasons ago, and it’s not his fault that Mike Trout got hurt, but can we all stop pretending that those head (and hands) first slides are a good idea? Especially into first base, it’s a bad idea. It’s been proven that continuing to run is faster, and the idea of Brandon Belt‘s huge foot meeting the hands you need to bat, throw, and scratch yourself with  is unpleasant.

 

Is Hunter Strickland a brain dead heaver? I realize that many pseudo-sports fans only are interested in anything that culminates in bloodshed and histrionics and I also realize that Bryce Harper has the look of an extra in Deliverance but that was as childish a  display of temper mixed with clueless selfishness as ever I have witnessed . Of course, a peacemaker got injured. Happens every time.

What’s the matter with Andrew McCutchen? My theory was that his results dropped off in conjunction with the loss  of his dreadlocks but since teammate John Jaso isn’t doing so hot with  his dreads it is possible that I’m wrong. That Pirates team needs to start playing defense and loosen up, so maybe Clint Hurdle should grow dreads.

Did you see this coming? At the end of May, Manny Machado was batting .210 and the Baltimore Orioles were falling out of contention. Meanwhile,  the defending champion Chicago Cubs were going 0-for-California  with a very, very quiet offense. And, the Diamondbacks and Rockies had just quietly been passed by the now first place Dodgers with the Giants, apparently still living in the past, struggling to stay ahead of the Padres, a dozen games behind.

Why did Jeb Bush drop out of the bidding to buy the Marlins from the loathsome Jeffrey Loria?  Was it because MLB wouldn’t let the turnstiles be operated by his vote counting buddies?

Do people really still follow basketball in June? It’s bad enough that the men are still playing but to have  the WNBA  just starting its season is a travesty and an insult to the players who truly have a superior game to the male version but are forced to compete against outdoor sports in the summer. They should all quit and go play where they are actually appreciated.

 

 

 

The 2017 major league baseball season has now passed the one quarter mark, so while it may still be appropriate to say “It’s early!”, it is no longer apt to say that it is new. The most significant thing about the season so far has to be the way that several teams that have been post season regulars in recent years have stumbled out of the gate and looked , well, bad in the first six weeks. And at the same time, Cincinnati, Colorado, Milwaukee and Arizona have surprised people by their winning ways.

 

For instance, Kansas City. The 2015 champions do not look very scary to American League Central opponents at this point. Pitching and defense made the Royals hard to beat as they played in the World Series in 2014 and ’15 but, while Jason Vargas has been a very surprising star so far, the rest of the staff has been sub par while the team struggles to score runs. We all knew that Cleveland had gotten better than Kansas City but the fall to last place has been as much of a shock as the Minnesota Twins’ rise to the top of the standings after their 103 loss 2016 season.

Texas and Toronto both appear to have found their way after terrible starts, but the vulnerability shown early may persist after injuries to key players like Adrian Beltre and Josh Donaldson return to action because Houston and the New York Yankees have been winning a lot and may just continue to win. 2014 seems like a very long time ago to the San Francisco Giants.  Despite winning five of their last seven games, the Giants have a record of  47 wins and 67 losses since the 2016 All Star break and, without Madison Bumgarner , they may  have lost their status as a contender in the N.L. West for quite a while. St. Louis looked bad in April but, as they somehow always manage to do, they have caught fire and are second only to the mighty Milwaukee Brewers in the Central.

There have always been June swoons and late surges so the four and a half months to follow will no doubt contain some reverting to form, but what keeps things interesting is the fact that, as Joaquin Andujar reportedly once said, “You never know, you know?”

However, uncertainty, refreshing though it may be, never completely obliterates solid, reliable, scientifically proven facts. I will present some of those here as a reminder that, just as the tweet commander in chief always has his steady hands on the udder, I mean rudder, of state, so does the resolute baseball fan always  have some things to maintain his or her faith based fanaticism.

1.Whoever or whatever buys the Miami Marlins from the loathsome Jeffrey Loria, even if it includes one of the Bush brothers, the team and baseball in general will be better off. This is a team with a lot of young talent, as was the Montreal Expos before baseball’s version of Donald Trump ruined that team.

2.Some day, perhaps within our lifetimes, the crazed obsession with using half of each team’s roster with pitchers will come to an end. When that happens, the games will speed up. Plus, there will be fewer 17 and 18 inning games that result from the current lack of pinch runners and pinch hitters and defensive replacements in favor of eight guys who can’t face more than four batters.

3.WAR, hunh, good god y’all, what is it good for? Ah, absolutely nothin’ will be recognized. This means in sabremetrics as well as international relations.

4.The denigration of a particular statistic, that is, the winning pitcher in each game, will cease. Learning how to pitch (and field, and bunt) to win was a long tradition in the game before the current fascination with velocity and other side issues came along and it will come back as teams tire of spending gazillions of dollars on contracts with guys who don’t throw very often or very long after age 20. As with #2, economics will eventually prevail. Yes, we should insist that the starter goes at least five innings even though his relief might pick up some wins for only getting one man out. The first pitcher I ever heard of that was limited to 100 pitches was Billy Swift back in 1993 after arm trouble of some sort. Now, they go to spring training  with the goal of building up their arms to 100 pitches. With this system, Nolan Ryan and Robin Roberts would have had average seasons of 3 wins and 11 losses with 4 strikeouts per game. Teen aged pitchers will again learn the merits of sticking to fast balls and resting their arms with a thing called off season. Some surgeons may need to take second jobs.

5.With little in the way of recognition other than highlight videos, outstanding defense will remain the way most solid teams  succeed.  Headlines and hype aside, the Brandon Crawford and Alex Gordon types will usually be on more winning teams than the Chris Carter and Yasmany Tomas types.

6. We will never stop missing Vin Scully.

Everybody was doing it. My position was like your mother’s. If everybody was crossing the highway blindfolded, would you do that? If everybody was poking themselves in the eye with a sharp stick, would you do that?

Mickey Mantle smoked, I knew, because a big ad in the sports magazine said so. Probably Joe DiMaggio too. I still thought it was stupid. We all wanted to try it because, what the hell, your dad did. Your big brothers too. Maybe even your mom and your big sister. Priests. Nuns, for all I knew. So we tried it but I was only doing it on the dare and, once I showed I could cough like all those guys coming back from the war, I said screw that. It stinks and it hurts. Also there was the time my father discovered my Chesterfields in a drawer. Pretty embarrassing to be that dumb. There wasn’t any real punishment for getting busted. After all, he was the guy who drove me to the family market with the window down in all types of weather so he could spit out all that crap he was coughing up with the boxes of Smith Bros. cough drops on the dash. There was plenty of coughing all around. They didn’t show that too much in the movies where all the cool people were firing up fags left and right. I was asthmatic at an early age and missed a lot of school with respiratory stuff.

Chewing tobacco was the baseball thing; still is, I guess. Nellie Fox with that squirrel mug did not look attractive to me but he was a hell of a player. Many others of course. We had a neighbor who was a truck driver and his thing was to mow his lawn while smoking a stogie with a pinch of snuff going at the same time and breaks for sipping dago red. We all admired Joey. But chew was, and is, way too gross for me. Adults did a lot of stupid things but I wasn’t going to be like that.

When someone got gassed on the base paths or after doing something strenuous, well that was a clue that this young man was a smoker. There were more than a few who were really good at 12 or 13 years old but who began to look suddenly old by 18 or 19. At the same time, if you were growing up to be a man there were certain things expected of you and then, if you did what was expected, well, you could choose your personal rewards and they were your own business and no one else could say shit. I understood that somewhat, but why anyone would choose such unpleasant, smelly things to do was a bit beyond me. I liked running as fast as I could more than just about anything. I had really had enough moments of difficult breathing and saw no reason to add more. That was for dumb asses.

Houston or Texas? Seattle? The Mariners finished second in the American League West division in 2016 and on paper, where no game has ever been played, they look as though they have improved going into the new season. But the Texas Rangers have won it the last two years and the still mostly young Houston Astros have finished close to the top two years in a row. How it looks to this observer is that whatever team among the three receives the best from its pitchers will probably win a tight race. One thing you can take to the bank: it won’t be either California team in 2017.

 

Seattle would be the sentimental favorite just because they have never won it all. They’ve won the division before: in the weird 1995 season when Randy Johnson was nearly unbeatable while the rest of the pitching staff finished 3 games under .500, and again in ’97 when Johnson was 20-4 and the team smashed 264 home runs, led by Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez and 21 year old Alex Rodriguez, and finally in 2001 when they celebrated the departure of both Rodriguez and the Kingdome by winning the absurd total of 116 games. However, sentiment doesn’t win games either and this year’s Mariners are not as strong as that team, which was managed by Lou Piniella and got knocked off in the playoffs by Joe Torre‘s Yankees. They do have several fine players, such as Felix Hernandez. The King  just turned 31 years of age and is looking to improve on his 2016 season, which was limited to 25 starts and a record of 11-8 with an ERA of 3.82, which is merely passable for an ace. One thing that should help him is the addition of  Jean Segura, the shortstop obtained from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for young pitcher Taijuan Walker. Segura bats leadoff after he comes off the disabled list and he poked 68 extra base hits and stole 33 bases last season for the Snakes. Defensively, he fits better at second base, but Seattle already has one of those and his name is Robinson Cano. Cano is a gold glove type at second and he also pounds the ball, hitting .298 with 39 home runs and 103 RBI in ’16. Third baseman Kyle Seager added 30 home runs and 99 RBI while designated sitter Nelson Cruz had yet another big power year with 43 and 105. Leonys Martin is great in center field and has speed and some power in his offensive repertoire while very capable catcher  Mike Zunino will be backed up by strong veteran Carlos Ruiz this year.  It will be interesting to see what new left fielder Jarrod Dyson can do as an everyday player because he has been excellent defensively in Kansas City and stole 30 bases in 107 games for the ’16 Royals. But, after Hernandez the pitching gets dicey. Hisashi Iwakuma  was effective last year, winning 16 games in 33 starts while young lefty James Paxton showed promise in 20 starts. After that, there is lefty Ariel Miranda, who made ten starts for the Mariners after joining them from Baltimore, and veteran  Yovani Gallardo, who compiled a 5.42 ERA for the Orioles last season. In the bullpen, young  Edwin Diaz  was effective in 49 appearances and then there is a group of mostly untested arms including Marc Rzepczynski, who should always be on the same team as Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Adrian Beltre is an important factor in this race because the Texas Rangers, no matter what brave manager Jeff Banister might say, are not the same without him. Beltre, now 38 years old,  is currently on the disabled list and the Rangers need him not just because he plays better than most at third base and still hits like an MVP candidate, but also because he provides the type of leadership any team in a close race relishes. Young  Joey Gallo, his probable successor , will gain valuable experience in the meantime. The Rangers won 95 games in 2016  thanks in part to some good pitching. They may never fully recover their huge investment in Yu Darvish but that is not our concern. He will be 31 in August and was able to start 17 games last year and win 7 with a 3.41 ERA. Southpaw Cole Hamels led the way with 15 wins and 200 strikeouts and Martin Perez was a yeoman with a 10-11 record and a 4.39 ERA. A pair of veterans with mediocre histories, A.J. Griffin and Andrew Cashner, fill out the Texas starting rotation. There is no such thing as a complete game anymore so everybody spends millions on a bullpen. Matt Bush is the lead dog in the Texas pen but Sam Dyson, currently on the disabled list, recorded 38 “saves” last year. Lefty Jake Diekman hurled 53 innings in ’16 but he is on the DL for a long while. Another lefty, Alex Claudio, will be helping out as will righties Tony Barnette and former Brewer Jeremy Jeffress. This is what they call a work in progress, as most bullpens have been.

Carlos Gomez played for both the Astros and the Rangers last year and he hit much better for the Rangers. He’s still a good flycatcher and possesses good speed. Young Nomar Mazara is an emerging star in right field who displays a good arm and a power stroke while it looks like they are trying infielder Jurickson Profar in left field. Shin-Soo Choo is aging and injury prone while Delino DeShields and Ryan Rua are still developing. Texas will benefit from a full season from catcher Jonathan Lucroy this season both defensively and when he bats. Mike Napoli joined the team and he can help as a power hitting first baseman while Rougned Odor is a slugger in more ways than one as a somewhat defensively challenged second baseman.Elvis Andrus is a solid rock offensively and defensively.

Houston is no longer the up and coming darlings of a couple of years ago but they are still mostly young and perhaps becoming even more capable. Their version of Hall of Famer Joe Morgan (a former Astro) is Jose Altuve (.338,24HR,96 RBI,30 steals) and he and his double play cohort Carlos Correa form a very strong up the middle base along with center fielder George Springer that should keep Houston fans happy for a number of years. They are not so strong at catcher but the combination of Brian McCann and Evan Gattis is adequate. The addition of Josh Reddick gives them a strong veteran presence in right field, but he has had trouble staying in the lineup throughout his career. Carlos Beltran, at age 40 not close to the outfielder he once was, can still hit and will be welcome at designated sitter. Nori Aoki will be in left field for now, guarding the line and letting Springer get whatever he can reach.  Another youngster, Alex Bregman, shows good potential at third base while 32 year old Cuban Yuli Gurriel will see what he can do at first base. Veteran Marwin Gonzalez can spell all of the infielders.

Questions will be asked and answered on the mound, starting with Dallas Keuchel (Dallas pitches for Houston against Texas?) and especially Collin McHugh. Keuchel disappointed in ’16 after a great 2015 season. McHugh has an elbow impingement problem after going 13-10 with a 4.34 ERA last season and is shelved for a while. A sore elbow limited Lance McCullers to 14 starts last season so he will be watched closely as will veteran Charlie Morton, who sometimes pitches as many as five innings and was able to make four starts for the Phillies last year. Joe Musgrove made 10 starts last season with a 4.04 ERA and is currently the fifth starter in a shaky rotation. The bullpen had fair results in ’16 but the likes of Ken Giles, Luke Gregerson, Brad Peacock and Tony Sipp do not inspire a lot of confidence.

Way back in 2014 the LaHabra Angels may have been the best team in baseball, winning 98 games and the A.L. West title. Today, they still have manager Mike Scioscia and some very good players but too much is missing. We all know about Mike Trout, who seems to keep getting better and is not yet 26 years old. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons is as good as you can get. Albert Pujols, in the middle of a 56 year contract and 37 years old, can still drop his crutches and belt over 30 home runs. Right fielder Kole Calhoun is a very good all around player. But that’s it. Their number one starting pitcher is Ricky Nolasco and they still have Huston Street under contract. If I was still selling Volkswagens in Westminster I could get a free ticket by having a good day. But I wouldn’t buy a ticket.

 

The best news this year for Oakland Athletics fans is that the Raiders are moving out. Once again the former A.L. representatives of Philadelphia and Kansas City have a roster dotted with young talent that could develop into a good team if they just stayed together. The pitching staff in particular is interesting because Sonny Gray, Jharel Cotton, Sean Manaea, Kendall Graveman, Andrew Triggs, Ryan Dull and others look very promising. Veterans Khris Davis, Rajai Davis, Yonder Alonso, and Marcus Semien help make a competitive lineup possible. The hope now is that management will stay with a plan and remain in a city that deserves major league ball and has a lustrous history. Tearing out the tarps is a good start. Here’s hoping they try, and then that they succeed.

 

 

Now that the Chicago Cubs have finally won it all, are they still the cuddly Cubbies to baseball fans outside of the North Side? Probably not, but they remain heavy favorites to at least win another National league Central Division crown in 2017. Part of the reason for that is that the Cubs are a really good team. The other part is that their division rivals, with the exception of the St. Louis Cardinals, appear to have conceded the race, at least for this season.This was published just before I found out that Pittsburgh center fielder Starling Marte had been suspended for apparent use of a performance enhancing drug. Don’t do it, kids.

Willson Contreras will be 25 years old in May, Addison Russell is 23, Anthony Rizzo turns 28 in August, Kyle Schwarber is 24, Kris Bryant is 25, and Javier Baez is 24. In other words, this team may actually be getting better than the 103 game winners of ’16, so this division could be theirs for a while. Most of the pitching staff will soon be approaching their baseball expiration dates, but the organization has many resources and that now includes baseball smarts.

The Cubs lost center fielder Dexter Fowler to the rival Cardinals as a free agent and right fielder Jorge Soler in a trade with Kansas City but Albert Almora Jr. is a better defensive center fielder and he just turned 23. Plus, if he has troubles offensively they have Jason Heyward, the 26 year old who struggled offensively last season, who can move over from right field and candy armed Jon Jay, who regained his batting stroke last year in San Diego and has center field experience. The trade of Soler yielded Wade Davis, a superb reliever who has accomplished more so far than last year’s rent-a-closer, Aroldis Chapman. The rest of the bullpen looks sturdy with Pedro Strop, Hector Rondon, Carl Edwards Jr., Justin Grimm, and new acquisitions lefty Brian Duensing and veteran righty Koji Uehara.

Jon Lester was very tough last season despite his irritating inability to hold base runners, winning 19 and losing 5 with a 2.44 earned run average. The Cubs are the latest team to take a chance on another southpaw, Brett Anderson. Anderson is well traveled and has been injury prone, pitching in just 129 games in his nine seasons. He only pitched in four for the Dodgers last year but the Cubs would be happy if he could provide them with what he did for L.A. in 2015 when he was 10-9 in 31 starts with a 3.69 ERA. Jake Arrieta stopped being invincible last year, but he was still very good, winning 18 games with an ERA of 3.10 and 190 strikeouts. John Lackey is now 38 but he will no doubt continue to give them 5 or 6 innings every fifth day. Kyle Hendricks was possibly better than any of them last season and at age 27 he is back for more. With the exception of Arrieta, these guys don’t walk a lot of batters, and that is important in Wrigley Field. Rizzo and Russell provide power and excellent defense, Bryant keeps getting better at everything, and we haven’t even mentioned Ben Zobrist, the World Series MVP who plays well just about everywhere. Contreras displaced a good catcher, Miguel Montero and Matt Szcur and Tommy LaStella give Joe Maddon lots of depth to play with. Baez has to be the eventual second baseman but the rich Cubs can take their time.

St. Louis has a bit of a mystery team, but they seem like the only possible challengers within the division. Whereas losing Dexter Fowler may not hurt the Cubs that much,gaining him should help the Cardinals a lot because of his ability to lead off and reach base as well as steal a few bags. Left fielder Randal Grichuk and right fielder Stephen Piscotty are a pair of rising stars. Manager Mike Matheny seems a bit indecisive about his infield and that fact may be having a detrimental effect both offensively and defensively. The move of Matt Carpenter to first base has meant less playing time for big Matt Adams, who not so long ago seemed poised to become a consistent power threat but last year was limited to 297 at bats yielding 34 extra base hits and 54 runs batted in at age 27. Carpenter has become more of a power source than a running threat now that he is in his thirties and he will never win a gold glove anywhere so it is a puzzle. Kolten Wong at second base is the best defensive infielder St. Louis has but being in and out of the lineup seems to have affected his glove work as well as his batting stroke. The left side of the infield, third baseman Jhonny Peralta and shortstop Aledmys Diaz also provide more offense than defense. Diaz in particular was strong last season with a .300 average, 17 home runs and 65 RBI in 111games. So what do we do with Jedd Gyorko, who played second rate defense all around the infield last year but crashed 30 home runs? I don’t like to play general manager, but I would shop around the Other League for perhaps pitching help or another strong defender like Wong.

Yadier Molina is a Hall of Fame catcher to be who has become a tough offensive player over the years but even he, the last of the Molinas, is showing bits of wear and tear at 35. He is still much, much better than most. Former Pirate Eric Fryer backs him up and, no offense, Eric, but the pitchers like Yadi.

The pitching staff is potentially strong but full of mysteries as well. Such as, is Adam Wainwright still the dude? His 2016 numbers were adequate for most hurlers, but far from his peak seasons as he was 13-9 with a 4.62 ERA and this season has not gone well for the tall righty so far. They need him to be good. Left hander Lance Lynn is back after missing all of ’16 recovering from the ubiquitous Tommy John surgery. Michael Wacha and Mike Leake both seem to alternate between pretty good and pretty awful. Carlos Martinez emerged as the strong number one type starter that he had been expected to be. The bullpen seems set with the arrival of 34 year old Seung Hwan Oh as the late man and another southpaw, Brett Cecil, was a good free agent signing from Toronto. Kevin Siegrist has mostly been good in relief while sometimes Trevor Rosenthal is and sometimes he ain’t.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a fun revival from 2013 to 2015, finishing second each time and getting a taste for the playoffs. Then came the regression of 2016 and it seemed to these eyes that the Buccos, as those near the Monongahela like to call them, were conceding that season in order to prepare for a possible post Cubs era in the future. It didn’t help that franchise player Andrew McCutchen played through thumb and knee injuries and fell off to a .254 batting average with modest power and stolen base numbers. However, at age 30 it would be ridiculous to assume that he is finished. In fact, it is wise to assume that the one undeniable asset that the Pirates have, their outfield crew, is only going to get better. McCutchen’s move to right field has more to do with the recognition that Starling Marte, only two years his junior, is firmly established as a gold glove type outfielder whose great speed and powerful arm make moving him to center an easy choice. Gregory Polanco is 25, covers ground with speed, and also throws well and will continue to hit better. No worries out there, but the Pirates have not been emphasizing defense in the infield. David Freese does okay with the bat but is a slow runner and has only slightly more range at third or first base than the statue of Honus Wagner that I used to see outside Forbes Field. Jordy Mercer has some pop in his bat but also lacks range at shortstop. Second baseman Josh Harrison is the exception at second and a very good all around player. If he walked more he’d be a great lead off hitter. They are hoping that switch hitter Josh Bell will hit for high average and big power at first base. If he doesn’t, the 24 year old big guy may end up the second coming of Pedro Alvarez. Catcher Francisco Cervelli is a serviceable defender who, like his predecessor Russell Martin, can occasionally steal a base and hits well.

Hope for the future in Pittsburgh rests mostly on the arms of a mostly young and inexperienced but talented core of pitchers. Gerrit Cole, brilliant at times, was limited to 21 starts last year and ,at age 26, retains a Sistine Chapel type of ceiling. Great things are also expected of Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl, and Tyler Glasnow. If those great things start to happen this year, it could get interesting. Pitching coach Ray Searage has worked wonders over the years with retread hurlers like Francisco Liriano and Edinson Volquez. Now he has 30 year old former Yankee Ivan Nova, who has pitched much better since coming to the Pirates last year. He should steady that rotation. Mark Melancon is gone since there wasn’t much left to “save’, but Tony Watson heads what is still a good crew of relievers. Jung Ho Kang is on the restricted list, but would provide more power but similar defense as Freese at third if he joins the team.

It’s a full on youth movement in Milwaukee and it might get them somewhere if all goes well–like maybe leapfrogging the Pirates and Cardinals into second place. Ryan Braun is still there in left field most days and, at 33, he showed last year that he still has a lot left with 30 homers, 91 RBI and 16 stolen bases. For a free bratwurst, name three other Brewers. Okay, I’ll do it for you but hold the brat and pass the brew. How about Domingo Santana, a right fielder who hit .256 with 11 home runs in 77 games last season? He’s 24. So is their ace starting pitcher, Zach Davies, who was 11-7 in 28 starts in ’16. Shortstop Orlando Arcia is 22.Second baseman Jonathan Villar is an established major leaguer at 26 who stole 62 bases last year while hitting.285 with power. The big news so far is first baseman Eric Thames, who is back from Korea and hitting about one homer per game so far. Third baseman Travis Shaw showed power potential in Boston while filling in for William Howard Taft. If starting pitchers Matt Garza (an old man at 33) and Junior Guerra (9-3, 2.81 ERA) can come back and help, the Brewers might have some fun this year.

Scott Feldman, who pitched for Toronto and Houston mostly in relief last year, is the Cincinnati ace starter so far in 2017. Billy Hamilton, who is so fast he answers his phone before it rings, is back in center field and getting on base more often. Yep, that’s still Joey Votto over there on first. Now, if you didn’t win the bratwurst, here’s your chance to win a free empty bottle of Pete Rose‘ hair dye: name three more Reds, not counting Warren Beatty. Okay, catcher Devin Mesoraco is correct, but he’s still not playing after missing most of 2016 but he is supposed to be back soon. If not, Tucker Barnhart is perfectly capable. Zack Cozart is a really good shortstop who missed about a month last year but looked good at the plate as well. Former Giant (he’s still big) Adam Duvall hits the long ball and plays a decent left field. Right fielder Scott Schebler drove in 40 runs in half a season last year and Arismendy Alcantara backs up everybody, it seems, and can run very fast. Eugenio Suarez will be 26 in July and has power potential at third base. If 24 year old southpaw starter Brandon Finnegan comes off the disabled list and pitches like he did last season he will keep them in a lot of games. Second baseman Jose Peraza is looking like an apt replacement for Brandon Phillips with speed and power. So no one should relax against the Reds. They also have Anthony DeSclafani, who pitched very well in 20 starts in ’16, due to come off the DL in June. I mean, if Jumbo Diaz can’t make the team, watch out.