Angels Will Roll the Dice on a Shaky Ortega

The Angels have a decimated pitching staff, apart from the tragic death of Nick Adenhart.

In the bullpen, Arreondo and Shields have been shelled. Fuentes has been no K Rod.

On the front lines, Lackey, Escobar, Moseley, and Santana are on the DL. Saunders has been ok, but the door is opening to a tripod of triple a prospects and retreads. A guy named Matt Palmer won with five earned runs yielded yesterdeay.

Now they have to hope they can hit the lotto again Saturday against the Mariners.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before Thursday’s game that the decision has been made (Anthony Ortega) on who will start Saturday (Anthony Ortega) but won’t be announced until Friday (Anthony Ortega).

The pluses with Ortega? He is a well-regarded prospect with at least some Triple-A experience (six starts in Triple-A last season and three there this season). He’s already on the 40-man roster (making for less roster juggling) and he would be working on four days’ rest.

The minuses? He reported to spring training with inflammation in his forearm and was set back in his throwing program at a time when he was supposed to be competing for a spot in the Angels’ rotation. He hasn’t pitched particularly well in his first three starts for Triple-A Salt Lake — including nine runs allowed on 12 hits and a walk in four innings Monday at Reno.

The Angels tipped their hand by promoting Double-A right-hander Sean O’Sullivan to Triple-A Thursday and Trevor Reckling from Class-A to Double-A in the trickle-down wake caused by pulling Ortega from Salt Lake’s rotation.

Here is the thing for fantasy players. You may strike lightning and score with a triple A pickup, some guy who did not get past the spring training cuts. A new guy comes up, hurls a gem, and is suddenly a star. But the Brian Bannisters of the world fall down. The one hot start is a fluke. Play this fantasy wire game and it will bloat your fantasy era and whip, causing your good outings by a Billingsley or Lincecum to dog beat because you think you scored big on Chris Jabukakas. You know, he won for Seattle his first time out and then was shelled in his second start.

The better way to play fantasy ball is to lock in a steady pitching staff that you do not have to juggle in daily leagues by the prospective call ups. Most fail. Most will kill you. Yes, a few will become stars, but if you are playing that roll, cause you are sitting with 100 points in hitting and only 50 in pitching and you are in the middle of your league, understand you are gambling, rolling the dice, and letting it all ride not on the 25 mainstays you chose but the one you are desperate to pick up in the hope that he may deliver. Not a winning way to play.

So Anthony Ortega is on his way to the bigs, for better or worse, free and available in most daily leagues. Wanna roll the dice. After all, Angels hitting behind him, weak Mariners in front of him, who knows what the roll will be?

Sipping A Cup of Major League Coffee

It might not make sense to anybody else, but that doesn't really matter.

Left-hander Tony Sipp, promoted from Class AAA Columbus on Tuesday night, said he felt better walking into a big-league locker room Wednesday with a scar on his left elbow from Tommy John surgery than if he'd done it without having the surgery.

"I had a lot of success early," said Sipp before Wednesday's game against Kansas City. "I'm not saying I'm this type of guy, but I didn't want to come into this clubhouse with a chip on my shoulder. Saying I did this, I did that.

"I've had a lot of time to myself to figure out everything when I was injured. To think about what should happen and how I should get back to where I want it to be."

Sipp remembers lifting five-pound weights at the beginning of his rehab from the 2007 surgery. He was still six months away from picking up a baseball.

"I learned how to deal with a different kind of adversity," said Sipp. "I think that helped a lot. . . . Now I actually have a background to how I got here. It wasn't so easy. It wasn't just success, success, success."

One more human interest story in the game of baseball. Tony Sipp fulfilled his dream last nite, one inning, no hits, one strikeout, and a chance to say for the rest of his life he played in the major leagues.

Bernadina's Big Break Leads to a Bad Break

More on the great catch above in just a moment

Not the Kind of Break Out I Wanted : Lowrie Down

Jed Lowrie may need wrist surgery, one of the guys I handpicked as a breakout candidate for Boston. Why not? Like Dustin Pedroia a year before, he had a soft start on a strong team. But he scored 40 runs and had 40 rbis in half a season for the Bo Sox sluggers. He was destined to score a hundred this year. Not bad for a shortstop at all. So he is hurt and as fate would have it, Julio Lugo is just getting better. Fortuitous for Boston, but do not expect the world out of an older beaten up Julio. No more 38 steals for him.

Speaking of shortstops I said not to bet the farm on, why did the Reds trade Keppinger? Alex Gonzalez is hitting .079, and his backup Paul Janish, a defensive whiz, won’t hit much better. I think A Gon has been gone too long. And those human growth hormones he used to build up his strength after that shoulder surgery a few years ago, well you just can’t use them anymore.

But the worst break of the week belongs to Roger Bernadina of the Washington Nationals. This is a devastating story of hurt. He is in the majors first because the Nats sent down Milledge. Then he gets a start only because Dukes does a Dukes like thing and the bad boy shows up late for a game. So Manny Acta benches him and goes with Bernadina. Roger responds with a game saving catch against the right center field wall with the bases loaded, denying Dan Uggla a clear bases clearing triple.

Later in the game, tied, Uggla is up again with the bases loaded, and he crushes it to center. It is either gone or off the wall. But Bernadina will not be denied. He leaps high, over the fence, and pulls it in. What could have been a two homer seven rbi day for Uggla is going to be an 0 for 6. They show him in the dugout sulking. He is depressed. Meanwhile, Bernadina is on a stretcher. You could see him land on his ankle and then the force of his body made mince meat out of it. They called it a sprain initially but I said no way.

In my Grand Slam Uber League, I claimed him as a free agent at one p.m. By 4:30, I knew he was history. I dropped him. Hours later, he was on the Disabled List with a broken ankle. Talk about bad luck. First day in the Bigs this year. Two awesome catches and a broken ankle.

Reminds me of the dude a few years ago who was beaned in his first at bat and out for the year. Never made it. Can’t remember his name. Just another one of those amazing human interest stories that do not make the boxscore.

Roger Bernadina got his shot for a brief moment in the sun. It rained that day all over his parade.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/18/AR2009041802296.html

One defensive note for Elijah Dukes, who was warned if he was late again he would be returned to the minor leagues. He was apparently at a free unauthorized signing of autographs for a bunch of inner city little leaguers. Don't you cut him some slack for that?

Colonel Sanders Jailed in Japan

TOKYO - He was covered in mud when pulled from the river, and had lost both legs and hands, not to mention his glasses. But Colonel Sanders still had his trademark smile, 24 years later.

A statue of the KFC mascot has been found in a river in Osaka, a city official said Wednesday, nearly a quarter century after being tossed in by crazed baseball fans who felt the image of restaurant founder Harland Sanders resembled a key team member.

"He was apparently found standing upright, which is fitting, because although he was a nice man he could also be very strict and demanding," said Sumeo Yokakawa, a spokeswoman at the chain's Tokyo headquarters.She said the statue was taken from a nearby KFC restaurant and tossed in the river as part of a celebration by baseball fans in 1985, the year Osaka's baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers, won the national championship.

Local fans thought the Colonel bore a resemblance to Randy Bass, a bearded power hitter and first baseman from the U.S. who played for the team at the time.

Colonel Sanders rises from watery graveMarch 11: Divers searching for World War II bombs in Japan discover a statue of the KFC icon.msnbc.com Fans often jump into the murky river to celebrate the team's successes, but there has been little to celebrate in recent years. Many fans feel the team has been plagued by the "curse of Colonel Sanders" since his effigy was submerged in 1985.

It has failed to win a national championship since, although it did win its division in 2003.

The upper half of the statue was found Tuesday in Osaka's Dotonburi River during construction work to build a new walkway, according to city official Hideo Yuko. His legs and right hand were found Wednesday morning.

Colonel in police custody

The colonel will be kept in police custody for the time being, but Yokakawa said KFC is considering donating him to the home stadium of the Tigers in Osaka. The store where he originally stood has since closed.

The KFC chain currently operates about 1,160 restaurants in Japan, and has about 1,000 Colonel Sanders statues in the country.

Random Roto Thoughts and Some Guys to Think About

The Red Sox staff is already depleted with Dice K down. Look for Justin Masterson to move into the rotation to replace him.

The injury to Alex Gordon moves Teahen to third base indefinitely. It opens up a slot for Mitch Maier to prove that he can play major league baseball and make it in the KC outfield. He is no Nelson Cruz but has never gotten a fair shot. This could be his time. Many guys like that.

The Red Sox need a SS. Don’t be surprised if they deal. Gil Velazquez and Travis Denker are not the answer. Neither is Julio Lugo anymore but they seem to have a false reliance on him.

Cameron Maybin is showing signs of being overmatched. Looks like super utilityman Alfredo Amezaga may be more useful than originally anticipated. Don’t blame Maybin yet. Batting a free swinger eighth in the order was not bright. But then who can fault the Marlins for anything right now?

No surprise to see ageless Doug Mienkevichski go down for LA, on a base hit no less, but it opens up the door for Blake DeWitt to come back to the majors. Speaking of which, kick myself surely, I had Eric Stults as a reserve in every league, and released him before the season when he was torched in his last Spring start and LA sent him down.

Then Kuroda gets hurt, and Stults shows up on the early morning roto news as his replacement, and is swooped up in every league. He is 2-0 already and a good pickup to grab and deal. His history suggests a lack of dominance and while steady, you might get more for him now then he is actually worth. Or if you need pitching, you scored a free agent steal.

Then there is the entire softball team of outfielders on the Nationals. Someone go get Willingham. He has to wind up playing everyday somewhere. Too good a HR hitter to ride pine all summer. But the way they have been going down, it may be in Washington.
I see Dukes already pissed off the team and Bernadina ran into a wall and Justin Maxwell is beckoning.

Also surprised to see that the Angels went with Izturis at DH last nite over Gary Matthews when Vladdy went down. How does that happen? What does that say about how little the manager likes Matthews? He has got to play more now.These are how one dollar reserve pick stars are born. Doors open up that you would never anticipate.

No one is surprised Glaus is out but everybody assumed that David Freeze would be handed third base by LaRussa. Don’t ever. He is totally unpredictable. The early running suddenly has one time Dodger phenom, Joey Baseball, AKA Thurston, playing everywhere everyday and performing ever so well. And with La Russa, it does not matter if like Ludwick, you hit two homers on Tuesday, he sits you on Wednesday. So is Ryan Franklin the new closer? Yes, until tomorrow.

You see, picking players for your roto teams means knowing who the managers are as well. You pick a player for a Pinella team and you are better off with Reed Johnson then Felix Pie because you knew last season the rookie just was not going to get a fair chance. Same with Dusty Baker, who was fine managing septogenarians in San Francisco. Some managers prefer the vets they can count on for the mental part of the game. They value it more than the physical.

Ronnie Paulino is 8 for 16 to open the season and before you know it this twice traded afterthought who was a fantasy dream two years ago could suddenly become a full time one dollar platoon catcher on a winning team. And you spent fifteen dollars on AJ Persnickety. Playing roto ball means more than drafting the stars. It means playing the waiver wire when the season begins to see who is moving into a 7th inning hold role, and who is the backup behind the closer whose manager has a job on the line when the dude loses two or three saves in a row. So prudent guys hold on to a Corpas or Lyon, but many leagues limit reserves, so your task is to be the quickest with the finger on the add button in first come first serve leagues.

If you are not so intense, and play in weekly leagues, you have time to cruise, pick, select, and drop. The difference is like the guy who plays softball once a week as compared to the guy in three leagues five nites a week. The intense warrior is better for the battle than the couch potato.

So here is some specific advice:

Check out teams off to slow starts who typically do not win. Their patience will be less. Look at their minor leaguers.

Look at the guys who got cut on March 30; like Erich Stults, last cut, first up.

Looking for pitching, don’t be afraid to track Double AA guys with dominance. More teams are using Triple A for retreads and older players without ceilings, and promoting kids from double AA.

Anyone who thinks a part time DH player can’t help a deep league ought to see what Jason Kubel did last nite. Wow, Hudson, Kinsler and Kubel have all hit for the cycle in April. No such thing as pitchers being ahead of the hitters anymore in April.

Do you think the Angels are regretting losing KRod? How many saves have Shields, Arrreondo and Fuentes blown already?

That’s all for now. Gotta go.

Sizemore Steals Away First Day at the House that Steinbrenner Built

The Opening of Yankee Stadium

A 1-1 game for seven innings and then the Bronx explodes: with nine runs in a single inning- but for the wrong team. The Cleveland Indians and Grady Sizemore steal the day, one that will be etched into New York history forever. The Bronx Bombers bombed at the opening of their new park. This is not the way it played out in 1923 when The House that Ruth Built was greeted by Babe Ruth with its first homer. Of that, legends are made. Instead, for the next fifty years, Yankee fans will now want to forget its first regular season game. I guess they will focus on the game that they won last week against the Cubs in an exhibition contest.

Don't even attempt to say the first game at a new stadium does not matter. For twenty years, it was a trivia question about the first home run ever hit at the Houston Astrodome. Why? Because it was hit by New York Yankee Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle.

And if you are a Dodgers fan as I have been, you have been listening to Vince Scully say for 45 years how Wally Post of the Cincinnati Reds spoiled the debut of the Los Angeles Dodgers in their first game ever at Chavez Ravine by homering them out of the game in the seventh inning with a 6-2 victory.

And while David Wright homered for the Mets at Citi Field in their debut, it was Jody Gerut who hit the third pitch of the game into the right field stands for the first hit and first homer in their new ballpark. And Met fans did not want that to be the trivia answer to the question of who scored the first hits and runs ever in their new yard. But at least the Yanks had the smarts to go with a Cy Young winner in the debut game. How the Mets did not start Johan Santana for that game is beyond my comprehension. I mean 20 years from now Johan Santana will be a Hall of Famer who could have forever been remembered as the man who opened the new world for the Mets. 20 years from now no one will even remember Mike Pelfrey's name.

Oh well, it is what it is. Anyway, I have been swamped and not had a lot of time to blog lately, but as a followup to the story I did a day or two ago on the battle between Jon Papelbon and Howie Kendrick, with twelve consecutive foul balls, in a game ending showdown, how about last nite- with Chris Sampson of the Astros battling Freddy Sanchez for fifteen foul balls before a fly out?

As for the piece about guys on the DL, sorry to see young Alex Gordon wind up there. He was to blossom, not burst this year. He was a cornerstone. And I was even more surprised to see one of my break out candidates, Jed Lowrie go down. The Sox are hurt by this. But I had to laugh at my AL online National Fantasy Championship team. It is a cheap $125 winner take all league for just AL owners, with 15 teams, so most owners are playing with minor leaguers in their active rosters. Can't even tell you how much bad luck I had this week. It is hard to believe that on the same team I have Dice K, Jed Lowrie, and Alex Gordon, all of whom went down in one week. And I already, in the early March draft, had selected Joe Mauer in the draft. So our squad has been relabeled Kent's Disabled Americans.

Paramedic Gets Call from Ambulance to Marlins Bullpen

This is the kind of human interest story that I love. Found it in the Palm Beach Post.

Imagine the buddy you work with every day, sitting in your office and tell you that he's quitting, in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Depression, because he just got a new job - as a catcher for the Florida Marlins.

That's just about what happened at Miami-Dade Ambulance last weekend when Jeffrey Urgelles told his fellow firefighter-paramedics that he was trading his medical uniform for a Marlins uniform.

"It definitely came out of the blue," said Urgelles, 26, a former minor-league catcher with the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds.

At first, his co-workers thought he was trying to pull a fast one. Sure, they recalled him talking about his days in Class A and Class AA, including playing in the Florida State League against a rising prospect named Hanley Ramirez.

But now, more than two and a half years after quitting baseball, he finally was getting called up by the Marlins?

"He told me, 'Hey, I know you're not going to believe this, but I got picked up by the Marlins,' " recalled Lazaro Fuentes, who has partnered in an ambulance with Urgelles for the past year. "I said, 'Nah, you're kidding me.' When I finally realized it was true, I got so excited I started sweating."

"They all said I was playing around," Fuentes said. "When they saw him on TV (Monday), they had smiles from ear to ear."

With Urgelles, Marlins relievers know they'll be in good hands. After all, on what turned out to be his last day as a paramedic, he helped revive a woman who nearly went into cardiac arrest.

"That day I saved a lady's life, and a couple of hours later I received a phone call with an offer to become the bullpen catcher for the Marlins," Urgelles said. "The whole day was exciting."

I would say so, wouldn’t you?

Who Woulda' Thunk It? Rays Get Rings!

The 2008 American League Tampa Bay Rays championship ring is shown before a baseball game against the New York Yankees Tuesday, April 14, 2009 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

From Evan Longoria to Matt Garza, it was the feel good story of 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays winning the AL pennant. And the NY Yankees were there in Tampa last nite to watch the ceremony where their division rivals collected these beautiful rings.

After years of getting first picks, the Rays won a championship with a youthful, driven squad, and celebrated their home opener by crushing the Yankees with 15 runs. They have it all again this year, young pitching, a solid outfield, good hitters, veterans sprinkled in the mix, and a team placing its fate on youth and health.

BJ Upton has joined the club, and promptly made a Willie Mays like circus catch look like a can of corn. Longoria has torn up the diamond the first week. Kazmir looks strong. Carlos Pena has been rocking the ball. You know Pat the Bat is good for 25 dingers. Jason Bartlett is stroking the ball like the line drive hit machine he used to be. They stole a set up guy from the Marlins.

What is not to like about the Rays again? Well, they could use a closer. Izringhausen and Percival are very short term solutions. See the column below on the DL. But they do have some guy named David Price starting the season in the minors, and if they really need a 100 mph closer to back up Percival when he breaks down next week, they don't have far to go, do they?

Disabled List Contains Few Surprises So Far

No Surprises as the DL List Stacks Up

A running joke in one league had a pool predicting how soon Milton Bradley would get hurt in a Cubs uniform. The under 7 days card beat the over. But is it real surprising that the list has in less than two weeks expanded to now include Eric Chavez, looking for X Rays for his tendinitis? Too bad, after a slow spring but very hot start in Oakland. Is it Jack Hanrahan time yet? Well, a good fantasy backup and maybe not a bad stash.

Chris Carpenter may win the Cy Young after pitching 13 scoreless innings to start the season but his rib strain last nite caused him to leave the game and may send him to the DL, where he will be joined no doubt soon by Ron Belliard, who seems to be inclined to finish his career hurt. But they will not be alone. I see that Nomar Garciaparra, one nite after homering, and keeping young rookie prospect Daric Barton in the minors, could not play last nite. Calf tightness. Cristian Guzman, as good as he is, won't be far behind.

And I wish the Dodgers went with Blake DeWitt instead of Casey Blake, but I just traded for Blake in one league, cause well, damnit, team after team seems to go with the dead veteran instead of the live prospects. Why, I don’t know. Bring up a young Travis Snider or Dexter Fowler and your team is electric and exciting. Who would rather not see Cameron Maybin in Centerfield for the Marlins over a reincarnation of Mark Kotsay, now recovering from back surgery? And you just wait a few weeks, and those rookies will find their way to the bigs as the GMS find their senses and realize the future is not in lining up a row of Jamie Moyers and Livan Hernandezes to anchor your rotation, but in bringing up the Trevor Cahills and Brett Andersons. Billy Martin tried that with the A’s in the early 1980’s and won a pennant. Blew out a lot of arms, too.

Baseball is a sport for young men, but there are lots of seasoned veterans who know how to play the game that hang on for dear life, because like Roy Campanella once said, ‘you gotta have a lot of little boy in you to play this game.’ Look, last season Melvin Mora had an unreal second half, hitting almost .375 and he was drafted a lot in fantasy ball this spring. But is it a real surprise that after two weeks he too is going on the DL with his newest injury. I knew Wigginton would have value in Baltimore. He is a 25hr/80 RBI guy that signed with a team whose third baseman is always hurt. Hank Blalock is back in the lineup too, after a red hot start, but is it not a caution sign to everyone that he already missed a game or two with a neck strain?

The bottom line is this. When drafting fantasy players, stay with guys you know are healthy. You roll the dice on too many Chris Carpenters, and your team is doomed. Use the older vets as the backups to prime the pump, not the starters to ignite your squad. Come July, the Dodgers will be dying to bring up Blake DeWitt, whose fantasy value will soar, and I will be holding Casey Blake, whose three year contract and salary the Dodgers will be looking to dump on a pennant contending team looking to add a corner guy off the bench. And he will have no trade value. So why did I do that again?

And Geoff Jenkins and Richie Sexson and Jim Edmonds will all be looking for jobs, and their love for the sport will carry them to an Independent League in Minnesota, but most will have to come to recognize their day in the sun has passed.

The saddest DL story thus far has De Wayne Wise going on the shelf with a broken shoulder while making a phenomenal diving catch. Here is a guy who moved into a regular spot in the White Sox lineup last summer when Nick Swisher fell flat on his face. Well now the Sox are forced to go with two guys they don’t want, Jerry Owens and Brian Anderson, the latter a prospect who failed last season.

If you are a forward thinking owner, and you know the way Ozzie Guillen likes to play, this could be the time for the Sox to make a move on Juan Pierre. And since he went for next to no bucks in most fantasy leagues this season, he could turn into one huge steal, thanks to the dive Wise took.

And I would not bet the farm on Julio Lugo coming back and leading the Red Sox. I was very disappointed to hear about Jed Lowrie, who I labeled a break out year candidate in an earlier post. Had no clue about his injury. But I think the Sox may trade for a shortstop, and guys like Michael Young had been available over the winter, so we will see what shakes out there. The Sox once had a great SS prospect, but they won a World Series by trading him away to get Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. You may remember who that young man was. Goes by the name of Hanley Ramirez.

One Pitch, One Out, One Win for Ed Mujica in Citifield Debut

Above you are looking at the winning pitcher in the first regular season game ever played at the New York Mets home, Citifield. I was not there and it will bug me forever. I was at the first game ever at Shea Stadium, and I cut junior high school classes to get the Number 7 train to Willets Point in order to be there. Of course, I was 14 at the time. Now I am pushing 60, and I was in United States District Court instead, representing a gentleman charged with trafficking in marijuana. So adulthood goes.

Enough about me. As the announcers were discussing who would get the first hit at the new park, leadoff hitter Jody Gerut became the first guy ever to hit a home run in a brand new stadium in the first at bat at that park. That will become a trivia question forever. On the third pitch of the game, Gerut hit the ball out off Mike Pelfrey, who clearly should not have been starting. That honor should have gone to Johan Santana, who should have been held back a day and not started the day before in Florida. But the Mets do not have a flair for the dramatic. Flushing is not Broadway.

Meanwhile, in Tampa, the Rays opened their home season at an old park crushing the Yankees about 19-5, so bad the Yankees finished the game with first baseman Nick Swisher pitching. And he did okay, even picking up a strikeout. Edward Mujica did not get a strikeout in Citi Field. Ed Mujica will though be forever remembered as the first winning pitcher at Citi Field.

He did not work hard to get it, this refugee from the Cleveland Indians. He game into the game in the bottom of the fifth, with the score tied 5-5. He threw one pitch, got a fly out, and was pinch hit for in the top of the sixth when the Padres went ahead to stay ahead and win the game.

For Mujica, it was a short nite. One pitch. One out. One win. Not bad. Fantasy players though probably do not have Mujica on their team. They are moaning the starting staff did not chalk up the V. I remember Tom Niedenfeur came into a game for the Dodgers in the 80's and picked Ozzie Smith off. LA scored in the bottom half of the inning and he got the win without ever throwing a pitch to home plate. It happens.

You throw a gem and the guy who comes in to save it gets the win. Happened to the Marlins the other day. Annibal Sanchez leaves the game after pitching a six inning shutout. Lindstrom blows the save, gets the win. Someday Mujica will cost someone a win. Today he got it. With one pitch.

The 'Bird,' Mark Fidrych Loses Life in Apparent Accident

Sometimes I get lazy and let the dishes stack up, but they don't stack too high. I've only got four dishes."

The 1976 Rookie of the Year- Mark Fidrych, The Bird, is Dead.

It was an apparent accident while working at home in Worcester on the trucks that he loved.

He was baseball’s magical star that year, capturing the imagination of fans across the nation with exuberance, energy, and his resemblance to the cartoon character on Sesame Street, The Big Bird.

He finished second in the Cy Young voting that year, while winning 19 games, leading the league in ERA, and how ‘bout this modern era baseball, completed 24 games. He electrified the nation by being the starting pitcher in that year’s All Star Game. He was Fernando Valenzuela before Fernandomania. He became an idol and icon by his antics on the field, manicuring his mound, and generating a youthful exuberance that was innocent and non offensive. No insulting fist throwing.

What I liked about him was that in spite of all the fame and notoriety he did not opt, as Manny Ramirez has for a $2,000 a nite penthouse apartment at the Sheraton. Nope, he lived in a small Detroit bachelor pad apartment, saying his league minimum salary of $16,500 was still more then he would make if he had been pumping gas in Northborough, his home town. It was that devil may care manner which landed him on the cover of Rolling Stone, the first athlete ever to reach that pinnacle. Sorry Michael Jordan.

Like Valenzuela years later, Fidrych packed Tiger Stadium in every one of his home starts. How much so? His 18 appearances accounted for half the attendance for all of the Tigers 81 home games that year. Over a million bucks for the Tigers. He wound up signing the next year for less than 10% of that, without an agent, saying he did not want to screw a good thing up.

Amongst the hurlers he beat that first year were Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry, Bert Blyleven, Luis Tiant, and Dock Ellis. While his one spectacular season will be etched into the record books forever, he did not pitch long and will not make the Hall of Fame.

Forever, however, Mark Fidrych will be scorched into baseball’s lore as one of its most loving, energetic positive personalities, who brought a youthful zeal and spirit to the game that will be etched forever into America’s soul.

As we get older, the daybreaks pass and sunsets come upon us. We get nearer to the shadows and the shade than to the sunshine and the surf. Let history record that on the diamond Mark Fidrych brought us sun and smiles and sportsmanship, and I for one will never forget it. If you lived it, neither will you. This is another sad day for baseball, losing also the great Phillies announcer Harry Kalas. That for another blog.

A Reprise of 05? The Fluke of Zach Duke!

It is early in the season and one start does not a season make.

But today I talk about the fluke of Duke. And I do not mean me. I mean Zack.


Here we were, my partner Alvin Entin and I, in the Aventura 5 by 5 Roto Draft last Sunday, with him urging me to take Zach Duke.

"Why," I asked, "because he had a hot spring or because he was 8-2 with a 1.85 era in 2005 when he steamrolled onto the fantasy scene?"

"Why," I asked, "would I take a dude who has been 18-37 since with an era of 5.67 and a whip of 9000 pitching on a lousy team?"

I play safe with pitchers. I like good ones you can count on, and okay ones you can win with. If I get a journeyman, he has got to get me 15 wins. If I am going to suck it up with a 5 era, the man had best win a dozen games and go 150 innings. He has to help in at least one category if he is bringing me down in others. And I take him only if I need innings and I have a Santana type to balance off the rodeo he brings to my whip and era.

Anyway, as I pointed out to my partner, there was no rush in selecting Duke; that he would be available with the last pick of our reserves after 15 teams had drafted 225 players, and then selected another 120 reserves. So there we were, 345 players gone and Duke still available. "See, Alvin, I told you so..."

Nine more players selected in the ninth and final reserve round. We had the tenth pick, number 355, and Zach Duke was still on the board: "Now is your chance, Alvin, if you want him grab him. You have a choice, Kevin Millwood, still available, Zach Duke, or Carlos Carrasco, the hot throwing potential star prospect for the Phillies." He said, okay, go with the kid. And Carrasco is on our reserve list today, still not in the majors. Millwood, already 2-0, spotless with Texas; The Duker, after today's shutout against Houston, 2-0.

And in this league with a free agency budget of $200 for the whole season, I bid mildly on both Millwood and Duke yesterday. A ten spot on each. Did not get either. They went for 30 and 24. Guys no one wanted now going for 15% of their whole season's free agent budget.

So I go into week two with an awesome offensive powerhouse that includes Kemp and Quentin and Kinsler and Utley and McAnn and a pitching staff which features Jason Marquis and Andrew Miller. It is gonna be a long season trying to pull the next Zach Duke out of the bag. But someone may have. His name just might be Zach Duke.

Gameboard's Injury Leads to Game Saving Catch for Reed Johnson

Chicago Cubs' Milton Bradley leaves the game after he hurt himself running to third base during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Sunday, April 12, 2009, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Milton (Gameboar) Bradley left Sunday night's game in the fourth inning after straining his groin while running the bases, the Associated Press reports.

Reed Johnson replaced Bradley in the game and later robbed Prince Fielder of a game tying grand slam home run with a spectacular leaping glove-over-the-fence catch. Here it is:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS318US318&q=reed+johnson+game+saving+catch

For now, to steal a line from RotoWire's Herb Ilk, those of you who had April 12 in the Milton Bradley injury pool can now go to the pay window.

In the meantime, roto fans, Dempster gets a win because of Reed Johnson, who was not even supposed to be in the game.

In the meantime, Dempster's line does not read 4 2/3 and 6 earned runs yielded. Fielder does not have 4 rbis, and like Joe Morgan says, even if he ends the season with 96, that catch he will remember. ESPN repeated it often. No wonder. It was awesome, athletic, and shows how a game can turn on inches.

Later on in the game, Kevin Gregg proved why Carlos Marmol will be the closer in a month or less.

Papelbon and Kendrick Meet in Classic Confrontation

It is what you call earning a save.

Jonathan Papelbon came into a 5-3 game with two out in the bottom of the eighth. Terry Francona just had a hunch he would be better off going with his ace right hander against Vladimir Guerrero. Good call, as Vladdy flied to left.

Papelbon has been next to perfect against the Angels over the past few years. He has gone 18 innings without giving up a run. And now we go to the 9th in Anaheim and the big guy is going to have to earn the save. Hunter leads off. The best of Anaheim is coming to the plate, but Torri electrifies the crowd of 30,000 by leading off the bottom of the ninth with a Home Run off Papelbon. That just does not happen to Paps. It gets worse, as Kendry Morales, a Cuban defector, finally getting a full chance to play at first for the Angels, ropes a line drive double off the right field wall. The tying run is now at second with no one out.

This is what closing is all about. Juan Rivera grounds to shortstop, and the runner holds. But Mike Napoli is now the batter, and he already has two homers this afternoon. The tension builds. Paps has an open base. He pitches around Naps. He walks and Aybar, a light hitting SS is now up. But a slap hit is all he needs to tie the game and ruin Papelbon’s streak of perfection. The big guy fans Aybar, but promptly gets into more trouble by walking Chone Figgins to load the bases.

The game is now on the line. It is 5-4, the bases are loaded, Hit Man Howie Kendrick comes to the plate and Johnathan Papelbon, already 30 pitches into his relief stint, uncorks some 95 mph heat, going ahead of Kendrick 0-2. Papelbon refuses to waste a pitch. He comes back with in zone smoke for the next three pitches and Kendrick fouls them all off. The count remains 0-2. And Paps reaches back, Kendrick reaches in, and he fouls off the next pitch. And the next. And the next. And the next. And you look up and suddenly realize a classic confrontation is unfolding.

With an 0-2 count, Kendrick has now fouled off six consecutive 95 plus mile per hour fastballs. Says the announcer “he wants to win or lose the game on his best stuff.” But surprise, the next pitch is off speed. And it too is topped foul. Paps comes back with heat, and Kendrick sizzles one down the line, just foul. 8 in a row. 8 strikes. 8 fouls. All with the game in the balance. The tension has gone beyond peaking.

Two more times Papelbon reaches back and two more times Kendrick fouls the ball off sharply. On the thirteenth pitch of the at bat, after two strikes and ten foul balls, Kendrick makes fair contact. He scorches a line drive to the right fielder. It is right at him. He catches the ball. The game is over. The fans let out a huge sigh. Papelbon and the Red Sox have prevailed, barely, over the Angels once again. Barely.

If you are a fantasy fan, you go to the play by play, and it will read of this classic confrontation, a battle that earned World Series drama, that captivated thousands of fans, it will read in the play by play that:

“ Kendrick flied to right.”

That is all it will say. And you will understand how reading a box score or a play by play may tell you nothing at all about the game or the battle that Howie Kendrick and Jonathan Papelbon had last night, which they will each remember for years. Baseball players do remember moments like these, and though they may not be a fantasy stat, it’s a memory the athletes treasure.

Emilio 'Who?' Bonafacio Has a Fantasy Opening Week to Remember

There are great games in baseball every nite and last nite in Miami fans got to see one of them.

It started off with Anibal Sanchez weaving his way in and out of trouble but completing five scoreless innings, behind the Home Run bats of Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla. You knew the 2-0 lead would not hold as the Mets bats were not going to remain silent off the Marlins’ pen. And so Carlos Beltran launching a Home Run off Dan Meyer was no big surprise, but it lent drama to the play that was developing.

The Mets tied the game in the top of the 7th when they could have broken it open. Pinch hitting with the bases loaded, Fernando Tatis had to settle for a Sac Fly when he just undercut a Leo Nunez fastball. And Nunez was surely a bullpen star for the Marlins in this game, getting out of a bases-loaded, one out jam in the 7th and then retiring David Wright in the 8th with a runner on second.

Still, the real story of the night for the Marlins was again Emilio Bonafacio, whose multi faceted play this first week is taking this town and the major leagues by storm. Going back to opening day, when he led off the game with a line drive single and stole second, to his inside the park homer, he has been electric. And again last nite. After Bobby Parnell retired two Mets easily on fly balls in the bottom of the seventh, Bonifacio, batting lefty, took the Mets by surprise when he dropped a one hop bunt down the third base line. David Wright was caught flat footed and the Fish had a two out runner. Parnell then threw over to first a half dozen times to hold Emilio.

Did no good. John Baker blooped a short fly into left field, and it found turf in front of Murphy; Bonifacio came speedsliding into third base. Parnell had no chance against the red hot Hanley batting next. Ramirez would line a tie breaking single into center field, but Bonifacio’s surprise bunt is what launched the inning for the Marlins.

As it applies to Fantasy, Bonifacio’s success is killing Cameron Maybin’s expectations, who has been dropped to 8th in the order. First, when Maybin gets on with two out, you can’t have him run because you do not want to start the inning with the pitcher leading off. Second, already known as too much of a free swinger, the impatient Maybin is not getting good pitches but is swinging at them anyway. Third, he is not in the ‘heart’ of the game or the lineup to generate runs scored.

This was not the way it was supposed to play out. Gaby Sanchez was supposed to play first base, He got hurt in the Spring and was in the minors on Opening Day. Jorge Cantu moved to first, and it opened up a slot for the long awaited prospect, Dallas McPherson, 42 homers last season in Albuquerque, a powerful left handed bat the Marlins needed after trading away Mike Jacobs. But Fredi Gonzalez and the Fish surprisingly cut McPherson, announcing to the surprise of everyone that Emilio Bonafacio, second base eligible in roto leagues, would get the nod as the starting third baseman. I, for one, thought it was a fluke; a stop gap. It is not.

Bonifacio is demonstrating the talents you need in a lead off hitter, speed, bat contact, situational hitting. And opponents are woefully underestimating him. One week does not a season make, but I am one roto fan kicking myself in the butt for not seeing the dimensions of the game Bonifacio is bringing to the table. Before long, it may be Cameron Maybin sent to the minors for more seasoning. Who knew?

As for the game, Lindstrom came in and picked up where he left off Wednesday, yielding line drive after line drive and a game tying hit in the top of the 9th. No surprise there. You can’t just throw fastballs. You have to mix it up. He has got to learn that. In the meantime, fantasy friends, if you have Lindstrom, buy Nunez.

So what happens in the ninth, you ask? Brett Carroll lines out. Some guy named Emilio Bonifacio hits a chopper towards shortstop, but the kid beats it out, of course. Moments later, after a walk to Hanley, Jorge Cantu ropes a one hop line drive base hit to left field. With Uggla on deck, maybe you hold Bonifacio at third with only one out and the bases still loaded. But this kid is racing around home and sliding into the plate by the time the Met left fielder throws the ball.

Emilio Bonifacio. Starts the go ahead rally not once, but twice. Wins the game with his speed, with his bat. Wins the fans with his heart. He is on his game. More so than me. I don’t have him in a single league.

Los Angeles Angels' Star Prospect Killed in Car Crash Hours After Season Debut

Say it ain't so. There is just no fantasy in the sport today.

Angels rookie right-hander Nick Adenhart died early Thursday morning after a car accident in which two others were killed and another was seriously injured. Authorities were blaming the accident on a motorist who ran a red light with his van and then fled the scene on foot. He was later captured and charged with felony hit-and-run.

Adenhart, 22, made his season debut against Oakland on Wednesday night, shutting out the A's for six innings in a game the Angels eventually lost, 6-3.

A 14th-round Draft choice in 2004, Adenhart made his Major League debut on May 1 last season and made three starts, winning one of them.

Hours ago, I was watching this young man on satellite tv, kicking myself for not acquiring him in more leagues. Last year, he was one of my hottest prospects, a hard throwing right hander for a great team. Last nite, I saw him work his way in and out of trouble playing a game in a sport he loved. "This kid," I thought to myself, "is going to be very good." He was denied a win when the bullpen blew the game. That is probably what he was thinking on his way home.

But on the highways of LA, in the road of real life, late at nite, he ran into trouble he could not escape. And there is a void in baseball today, in my heart as well. Once more, a young life is snuffed out by a terrible tragedy that leaves you without words, feeling only an emptiness in your heart. This young man, so much alive on a ballfield just last nite, so very gone today.

What a tragedy.

Hold This, Save This, Win This: How Stats Lie

Hold This, Save This, Win This

Statistics lie. You have heard it your whole life. No more so than in baseball, where a guy can throw 8 innings of two hit shutout ball, striking out ten, and come out of a game with a loss, 'cause the guy he left on first base came around to score when the reliever gave up a triple.

Today’s Marlin game exemplifies a sample statistical anomaly. Now it was not one of those games where a pitcher came in, picked a guy off, and his team got a run in the bottom of the inning so he won a game without ever throwing to a batter. But you have seen those. We all have.

Today I will turn to Andrew Miller, who comes into a 3-1 game in relief of Chris Volstad in the sixth inning. His first pitch to home plate is to Ryan Zimmerman, who rockets it off the left field wall for a double. The next batter, Adam Dunn, ropes a bullet at 200 mph down the first base line. Somehow, Cantu spears it, turning a triple into a near double play. Then Josh Willingham and Austin Kearn proceed to the plate, promptly walked on a series of pitches nowhere near the plate. Catcher John Baker saves two from reaching the backstop. Miller has loaded the bases in ninety seconds. Out to the mound comes Manager Fredi Gonzalez and out of the game comes the young left hander.

Kiko Calero comes into the game, and is as dominant as he was in Spring Training. He strikes out Belliard, and Bard pops to left. The Marlins hold the lead. Kiko always impressed me as a young Cardinal, and maintained excellence in Oakland. He will be a real find for the Fish this season.

It is now the bottom of the ninth, and the lead is 6-3. Matt Lindstrom comes in for his first save opportunity of the young season, his arm healed from the World Baseball Classic strain. He has a jaw-dropping, eye-popping fastball. We get to see it against Nick Johnson. Unfortunately, none of the pitches are near home plate. He walks on four. Uh-oh.

But Lindy comes back, getting Guzman on a 3-2 pitch to swing and miss. Thank guzness, Christian would swing at the kitchen sink if it were thrown at him. He goes to two strikes on Elijah Dukes and you feel good things happening, until Elijah laces a rocket into left center for a base hit. The ball came into the plate at 98 mph. It was hit back at 125 per. Not looking good. Zimmerman now up, a slow chopper to Uggla on the grassy part of the field, he can’t make the play. Bases now loaded. Uh-oh, twice. How many times this season, I think to myself, will the Marlins be foiled by the weak defense an infield of Cantu, Uggla, and Bonifacio bring. Not gold gloves, any of them. Later on that.

Anyway, the next batter, a backup on the Nats, is Josh Willingham from Alabama, and a hero here in Miami, where he has played his entire career. He is known as The Hammer, and he pummels a shot down the line, but it is just foul. Fouls off a couple more, but I am thinking I will miss this hard nosed young kid who has been hampered by injury the last season and a half. I do not see him riding the pine in Natsville. He is just too good, too consistent, and has too much pop in his bat. But they went out and signed two stronger twins in Kearns and Dunn, and the Hammer can't play center. So he is on the bench, and it makes little sense.

The Nationals have overstocked on outfielders. Forget Willie Harris as a speester backup. They have Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge and the athleticism of Justin Maxwell, a real star in the making in the minors. The Nats have overindulged and by so doing from a fantasy standpoint, reduced the statistical value of all six players. So some fantasy owner with patience will score with one of them But on this, the third day of the season, no telling who. Maybe you dump them now and get what you can get. In real life, benching a young active star plays with his head. If you have a power stroke, you need to be in there day after day to keep your timing. I digress, though. Back to the game. Willingham does not get redemption against the Marlins. Lindstrom instead gets his second strikeout.

It is now up to Adam Dunn, the game’s most consistent slugger, 40 HR’s a year five years in a row, the last player to do that probably Hall of Famer Duke Snider in the 1950’s. But Dunn sees nothing near the plate, and is walked on six pitches. A run is in; it is now 6-4, the bases still loaded.

Austin Kearns steps into the box and laces a frozen rope into left field over the shortstop’s head. The crack of the bat made the small crowd wince. Brett Carroll dives, stretches, every limb in his body reaching to catch the sinking liner. The game was about to be tied on a two run single, and if it gets past a diving Brent Carroll, the game is lost.

There is no way he is going to catch this ball. The speed of his body carries him over the top of his glove and the ball. You can't see. Did he hols on? The umpires say yes, he raises the glove, the ball is still in it and the game is over. The fans celebrate in the Miami sun. I am one of them. I do too.

Not a sweet outing for Lindstrom. Every shot hit off him was a rocket. Every other ball thrown was out of the strike zone. Worse for Miller, no control and bullets hit off of him.

Fantasy fans reading the box score tonite will see the game differently tonite. They will see that Andrew Miller chalked up his first hold and Matt Lindstrom his first save. Their coaches and managers may see things in a different light, unless they too, of course, have a fantasy team.

New Closers Can't Shake Rocky Roads

Minnesota Twins' Alexi Casilla, left, celebrates with bullpen catcher Mike Redmond after Casilla singled in two runs in the ninth inning to give the Twins a 6-5 win over the Seattle Mariners in a baseball game Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Tom Olmscheid)

One thing fantasy writers have been getting right these past few seasons is not to spend too much of your budget on closers. Matter of fact picking closers this season has been next to impossible because so many teams are so undecided and so many announced closers are going to into the season so new their job is so on the line. So here you go. Two days into the season, and Jason Motte the Superior got torched by the Pirates on Opening Day for four runs and a loss in the 9th inning. And the Cards sent Chris Perez down. My Aventura League saw Motte the Invincible go for as much as Jenks, with 90 saves.

I see that Lyons landed a loss for the Tigers today, wasting an Ed Jackson effort, and Brandon Morrow, the answer to all of Seattle's prayers, just met fate in Minnesota. The picture is of Alexi Casilla celebrating after a game winning hit off Miguel Batista, who came into the game as the almost closer after Morrow loaded the bases.

Closers, can't win with 'em, and can't win with 'em. But let's not forget that talented athletes have a way of rising to the occasion too when the game is on the line. The best meets the best and sometimes we get to see the worst. Welcome to the club, Jason Motte and Brandon Morrow.

No shock here, this is what I said this past weekend.

http://normkentsfantasybaseball.blogspot.com/2009/04/huston-street-wins-permanent-job-as.html

Magical Opening Day For Marlins Turns Cold on Tuesday

It was Emilio Bonafacio Day in Miami yesterday.

An unheralded utility player with no power electrified a crowd of 35,000 from his first swing in his first at bat on the first pitch of the game with a line drive single in right center field. Before you could blink your eyes, he had stole second and scored, sliding into home as Adam Dunn misplayed a John Baker line drive. By the fifth inning, he had an inside the park homer and another stolen base to add to his debut resume.

Just like that, a new era began for the Marlins, one without Willingham and Jacobs, power hitters they relied on. The kid that everyone on the Marlins had been talking about for years, Cameron Maybin, the one that came over in the Miguel Cabrera deal batted 8th and had a quiet day. In fantasy circles, Maybin is owned in 98% of mixed leagues with 15 teams and had been protected everywhere as a star prospect. Emilio Bonafacio was Robert Andino lite, and no one knew of him, had heard of him, or protected him, until Manager Fredi Gonzalez said a week or two ago he would start at third, Cantu would move to first, and Gaby Sanchez would go to the minors.

In leagues everywhere, in the offseason, when Mike Jacobs got dealt from Florida to Kansas City, fantasy sleuths grabbed up Gaby Sanchez as the new Marlins’ first sacker. He was so hot a team dealt me Dan Haren in a package for him. So it goes with prospects in the offseason. Everyone wants to be the guy who finds the next Evan Longoria.

In Florida yesterday, the sun was shining, and it was close to 93 degrees. Meanwhile, the White Sox opener was snowed out. The second game for the Marlins might as well have been. Same team. Same production. Power and speed and an 8 zip lead against the Nationals by the third inning, off their old teammate Scott Olsen, never the same since his DUI arrest in North Miami in 2007. People forget how personal lives affect a player's performance. Scott has had some problems.

The fans and the feel of the game was different by Tuesday nite. The sun was gone. A cold front moved in. The electricity of Monday’s sold out opener faded to the reality of a sparse crowd on a frigid Tuesday, maybe 8,000 fans spread across a stadium that seats 60,000. It was like being in a minor league park, where the angry fan on the third base line could shout out to the umpire in the box, who would wince at the words he would hear like it or not. I sat in my new seats on the first base line Box 145, Row 30, Seats 1 and 2 in a 24 seat row. I was the only person in the entire row. None in the row behind me. None in the row in front of me. Surrounded by a sea of lonely orange seats. Just the way I like it. Alone to enjoy the game. I get my wish to often in Marlinville.

I won’t be at the game tomorrow. To compensate for the Jewish Holiday Passover, the game is at noon. I suspect less than 6,000 will show up on a sunny day to watch a major league team play to minor league crowds. Have a special noon game at Wrigley and 50,000 people would try to figure out a way to get off work and squeeze into the stands. Not in Miami. The picture you see above is of a real Marlins/Nationals game on the afternoon of September 13, 2007. The smallest crowd in the history of the game: 913 fans. Won't be that many more paying fans tomorrow, though if past practice is an indicator, there could be lots of freebies for school kids and the girl scouts. But you get the idea. It is not the way it should be at a major league ballyard.

In Left Field, the team's new banner celebrates their founding year, and two world series championships in 1997 and 2003. The Cubbies have not had such a banner since 1908, 101 years ago. They came close in '03, but the Marlins and some kid in their left field stands did them in.

The flashy Marlins' banner also notes the year 2012, when their new stadium on the old Orange Bowl site will be ready. I think the difference is it will not only be packed on Opening Day, but early into the season, mid week crowds of excited Latinos filling the ballpark with an energy and enthusiasm you do not capture in the suburban air of Northern Miami, where no buses, trains, tri rails, trams, or downtown thrives. I think the Miami Marlins will be successful in selling seats.

But will Hanley still be there? Will Maybin? Or will the Marlins again sell their soul for the promise of tomorrow’s youth? They have not done bad with the process, but a lot of the guys they dealt wound up in the playoffs and on championship teams. In the meantime, everyone is buying up a guy named Emilio Bonafacio, a light hitting utility player no one had ever heard of, who was supposed to be a back up, who was not supposed to start. And Hanley, with a grand slam homer is already paying dividends. In one 5 by 5 league I play in, with a $260 cap, an owner paid more for him than any player ever bought in that 16 year old league, an astounding $58. One fourth of your 23 person team on one player. Wow.

Can’t wait til Friday. Mets will be in town. Lots of fans in the stands, too. Unfortunately, though it is likely there will be more Mets fans than Marlins fans, and that is not the way a hometown ballpark is supposed to play out. In 2012, that will change.

As for the team, they won again large on Tuesday. Once again, they open the season with a solid team. Once again, management produces. If only the fans would respond. If they don't know what they have been missing, let me tell them. It's major league baseball in a minor league town.

'King Felix' Shows Flashes of Brilliance in First Start

Watching Felix Hernandez on television last nite, I saw some great pitching. Throwing curves with Sandy Koufax-like snaps. Incredible dominance. Amazing movement. Flashes of brilliance which make you think this has got to be the year he blossoms and wins big time.

One warning. The guy is doing this, ever so obviously, on a very bad, sore ankle, and that is a very bad, sore thing for a pitcher to go lame with. You have to push off, throw off, and move hard on that ankle. Look at his wind up. The follow through. Everybody knows how good he can be; how many times he has shown himself to be this stellar. He played through lots of pain last nite.

You can win softly like Joe Saunders, Jamie Moyer, and you can win with awe and lightning. King Felix is the latter. And even in Seattle, even in the AL West, he is a pitcher you enjoy watching on the mound whether or not it is for a fantasy team. But if you are going to land an ace this year, he might be one whose numbers blossom. Just barely above .500 for his career, with about 600 strikeouts in 700 innings, he is clearly a rising star who has yet to crest. Hardly unknown to fantasy leaguers, and for good reason.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTzUHNIipw3BTYIuFJNfJf7d2_YAD97DC3U81

Photograph of the Day

Well we call Milton Bradley 'Gameboard.' We know he is a problem child. We know he gets injured too often. We know that he wears out his welcome wherever he goes. Today we see why.

Chicago Cubs right fielder Milton Bradley goes on his head after failing to make a sliding catch on a ball hit by Houston Astros' Geoff Blum in the ninth inning of a baseball game Monday, April 6, 2009, in Houston.

He should be back in a month or so, right?

(AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Julio Cortez)

The Improbable Story of Peter Moylan Takes a New Turn

When I last blogged about Peter Michael Moylan, I thought his career was over. It was a year ago last April, he was 30 years old, and there was a nasty bone spur in his ulnar collateral ligament. He was transferred to the 60 day DL and scheduled for Tommy John surgery.

His trip to the majors though was totally improbable to begin with. He drew the attention of major league scouts in the World Baseball Classic in 2006, when he was already way past his prime, at 28 years old. He had been pitching for the Australian team and entered a game with a blazing 98 mile per hour fastball. He proceeded to strike out Bobby Abreu, Ramon Hernandez, and Magglio Ordonez.

Who was this sidearm guy, everyone wanted to know?

Ten years before, in 1997, when he was 21, he had tried out for the Major Leagues. But he failed to find a team to sign him. So like many whose dreams were not fulfilled, he returned to Australia and his family, and took a full time job with a modest salary as a pharmaceutical salesman. For nine years.

With the advent of the World Baseball Classic, a decade later, he gave baseball another shot, and made the Australian team, not expecting to do too much more other than showcase his talents for his country. But he so impressed the scouts that he was given a chance by the Braves, invited to jump from the WBC tourney to the Braves spring training squad in 2006. They signed him.

He toiled for a year in the Braves minor league system, with a couple of cups of coffee in 2006, up and down with the team. Then in 2007 he hooked on permanently, pitching so dominantly he won a few ballot nominations for Rookie of the Year. He finished the season with a 5-3 record with a 1.80 ERA. He won his first major league game at the age of 29 in April of 2007 in Miami against the Marlins.

After getting hurt last year, he wondered whether his ‘dream ride’ was over, and whether he could come back and ever pitch again. Tonite, in the cold of Philadelphia, after a year of rehab, and maintaining the belief that modern medicine could bring him back, Peter Moylan is in a major league uniform again.

If you watched tonite's game, Moylan was in the bullpen warming up in the 8th inning. His improbable dream has come full circle once again, and a guy who could have been selling you Advil was instead tossing 95 mph pills in the bullpen.

Shot of the Day

A Yankee fan makes his way to the Upper Deck in the new stadium in its first day game ever, an exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs. The Yankees crushed the Cubbies and go to Baltimore to open the season Monday............

Rotoworld's Line of the Day

Shin-Soo Choo had two hits and two runs scored Saturday in the Indians' 4-3 victory over the Astros.

Then Rotoworld wrote:
'We'll highlight Choo, but the big story here is that Carl Pavano and Mike Hampton started the game and the stretcher didn't have to be brought onto the field even once.'

Mike Hampton, a heart condition two days into Spring Training. Pavano has not won in the four years since the Yankees stole him away from the Marlins.

But Hampton owns a piece of history. Remember after pitching the Mets to the Series against the Yankees in 2000 he signed with the Rockies to be traded to the Marlins to be traded to the Braves, and each team wound up dividing part of his $122 million dollar contract?

So now he has four separate teams paying for his salary?

He should get a job with AIG.

Should Your League Switch to OPS from OBP?

Ted Williams Territory: one of the best in OPS and OBP

There is a growing debate in fantasy baseball over a new statistical category.

Many of the more intense fantasy leagues have already added a category of on base percentage as a measure to gauge a performer’s real life utility to a team. So a Todd Helton who may not hit homers anymore still becomes golden because he walks often and strikes out rarely. A number of leagues though are now waiving OBP in favor of OPS.

On Base Percentage (OBP) is a very important indication of a player or team's value. The statistic takes batting average, which is the percentage of at bats in which a batter gets a hit, and expands upon it, adding in the batter's ability to draw a walk or otherwise get on base, as well. On base percentage is basically the percentage of all times a batter goes to the plate that he gets on base.

To on base percentage, take the total number of hits a player has, and add the total number of walks and hit by pitch to that number. Next, add that total by the total number of at bats, walks, hit-by-pitch, and sacrifice flies.

To understand what this means, you can always think about OBP as a percentage or a ratio. In other words, a hitter with a .406 on base percentage reached base in 40.6% of his trips to the plate. We are talking Ted Williams Territory.

I was in the stands at the World Baseball Classic and one of the stats on the board was not OBP, but OPS. Nine of ten fans I talked to had any clue what it was. I was explaining it to everyone. But no one cared; it was too complicated. They wanted to just watch the game.

OPS is the evolution of OBP. On base percentage plus slugging percentage equals what is now known as OPS.

Slugging percentage measures the number of types of hits that a batter gets- like singles, doubles and triples, divided by the times at bat. TB stands for total bases and the total formula for calculating OPS goes like this:
AB (H + BB + HBP) + TB (AB + BB + SF + HBP)/ AB(AB +BB + SF + HBP) = OPS

Generally the OPS of a good player is considered to be around .900 to .950. An OPS of 1.000 is generally the high standard for an exceptional player. An OPS of 1.000 or higher is scored by the baseball greats. For example, Babe Ruth has the highest career OPS at 1.1636. He is followed by Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig. Barry Bonds stands fourth in the rankings for career OPS with a 1.0533 measurement. He has the two top-rated seasons for OPS.

Wonder how he would do today. Reminds me of a great Ty Cobb line when he was asked-30 years after he retired- how he would hit in the new modern ball era.
He replied: "only about .320"
The reporter asked, "Why so low?"
Cobb, the Georgia Peach, responded: "You have to realize, I am 73 years old."

Some critics feel that the OPS is not a great formula for measuring performance. They feel that the on base percentage is nearer to the mark than the combination of on base percentage and slugging percentage. On base percentage tends to more accurately indicate the likelihood that a player will actually make it to the home plate and score a run. If you are in a keeper league thinking of making a switch from OBP to OPS, it won’t dramatically impact your squad.

One of my favorite and more enthusiastic leagues is the 20 team Grand Slam Uber Society, where owners are a zealously competitive lot. They use a variation of OBP and OPS which is called BBKO, or a player’s ratio of walks to strikeouts. You get an Ivan Rodriguez or Russell Branyan and they will decimate your team’s stats by striking out and never walking. You think that new kid on Texas, Chris Davis is helping you with homers, or Corey Hart is helping you with steals, but damn, then you apply this category and you see you these guys are like playing with a pitcher who wins 15 games with a 5.8 ERA.

The key is balance. Finding it opens the doors to victory

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Breakout Season Pick of the Day: Jed Lowrie

Ryan Spilborghs had a homer and an RBI groundout Friday in the Rockies' 6-3 win over the Mariners. He's hitting .328/.397/.734 with five homers and six steals. He should be owned in mixed leagues. I think he is going to produce this season, but what pressure. Look at Corey Sullivan. Not a big window for Ryan with Dexter Fowler in the wings. It is even tougher in major markets. Look at what LA did with Ethier and Kemp waiting in the wings last season. They went out and signed Andruw Jones. Foolish or what?

I also just like this kid Murphy on the Mets. Good swing, natural hitter, lots of contact. Like him a lot. Traded him over the winter for a front line starter thinking the Mets would bring in a bat like Burrell and make him sit. Now they hook Sheffield, a waste I think as I say in my last post. Truth is that some of these young kids make for the excitement you want on your fantasy team.

Curtis Granderson breaks out big time with 20/20 plus electricity in Detroit. People forget he started off last season on the DL and never recovered. Decimated the Detroit team as they played with IRod 'I never take a pitch' at lead off and Miguel the Cavernous starting the season oafish and sluggish. Not this year. Granderson is grand.

My next surprise pick is Jed Lowrie, pictured above at Stanford. Hey, 46 rbis in 260 at bats for the Bo Sox? Play that out over a season in Beantown. Homers? Don't expect lots of those from a SS but think what Pedroia did in his second season. And in middle infield, if Emanuel Burris hits, and SF lets him run, this is a guy who put up 70 steal numbers in the minors. And there is not a lot of power left in the SF lineup. They have to run if they get on. Only way they will score.

Shin Soo Choo. Sneaky power. Under the radar in Cleveland. But so once was Crispy Coco. If his second half was real and can be replicated, you get 25/100/15 numbers from an unheralded outfielder. Without the pressure of someone breathing down his neck. Same way that Jayson Werth will do that playing full time in Philly. But he never has played over 130. Maybe managers know something we do not. People are talking about Nelson Cruz again, but isn't he like 29 already? How many years can you have potential before you wind up like Jason Botts, Jeremy Reed, and Chris Snelling?

For teams playing under the radar, a young rookie might make it. But you come to the Big Apple, if you are Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner, and don't cut it, you are gone in a New York minute. That is why Phil Hughes has such a short leash.Why the Mets once foolishly traded Scott Kazmir for a one year fix that did not, Victor Zambrano. In the NY lights, you better shine in a hurry.

Just dawned on me that Livan is a Met. Sheff is a Met. Castillo is at second. Too bad they did not sign Renteria and Floyd again to pinch hit. Then they could have had five guys from the 1997 Florida Marlins championship team. Note I said 1997. We are talking 12 years ago.

Don't Bet the Farm on the Return of Sheffield to the Big Apple

“You can’t take for granted that just
because you’ve got all this talent, that
everything will just come together
because it’s supposed to.”

Gary Sheffield when the Tigers signed him

This is one apple the Big Apple did not need. For now, though, score one for the Mets. For the salary of Jeremy Reed, they have landed the 'Sheff.' He may not be good at paying child support. He may not be good at being a role model. But he fits right in on a team that once hosted Dwight Gooden and Darrell Strawberry.

If he has a remnant touch of his past power and glimpses of gold, in that marvelous swing, he can hit number 500 for fantasy enthusiasts at Citi Field. The Tigers could care less. The nine time All Star was hitting .178 in the Grapefruit League after a .225 BA in 2008. Not the way to build with the future when you can acquire Josh Anderson and have Curtis Granderson in center.

The real play here is can Sheff come back from injuries, a year at DH, and be the stunning slugger he once was? The guy is now 40. He is no longer the five tool player who started his career with the Brewers, Padres, and Marlins. He is past his prime, lingering in the yard perhaps too long. But he was once a terror in the lineup, more than just for fantasy ball.

But how does it effect the balance of your squad if you have made a play on Daniel Murphy or Ryan Church? Sheff, if he plays, has to bat and play the field. One of those three will sit. My take is this, a couple of weeks in the minors and the Mets give Sheff a full time run at a stint in left field.

There is always time to let Murphy develop. No reason why they can’t platoon him now with Ryan Church, still recovering from that concussion last year. The Mets play Sheff, see he is this year’s Andruw Jones, and they call it quits by June, when they see his shoulder and swing ain’t what it used to be.

Hanging ‘em up is never easy. Not for Willie Mays, Steve Carlton, Warren Spahn or countless others. But Sheff’s glamour days are gone. And returning him to the Big Apple for the occasional blast might be more rewarding if they told him up front he was going to be a pinch hitter. I know this, I would not bet the farm on him. I don't think the Mets need to sell tickets at the new park. But having Sheff in the lineup, even off the bench, brings an awe to the crowd in a close game. Might end with an aww, shucks, but when his name is broadcast to the fans by a PA announcer, it justs gives you more hope than hearing his name than say, oh that Marlon Anderson is coming up to hit with the game on the line.

Jeremy Reed hung on only because of a strong spring and is likely no more than a defensive late inning replacement. Nick Evans takes a hit with Sheffield on board. So does Fernando Tatis, a surprise and fluke last season who the Mets cannot count on for 2009 except off the bench as a pinch hitter. And that is where I see Sheffield winding up.

Hard to believe, for sure, but this is baseball, and it is a sport of changing generations. Sheffield may have played Hall of Fame baseball in 1999 and we will remember him that way. Don’t see that happening in 2009.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2009/04/04/2009-04-04_mets_and_yankees_fans_go_gaga_over_new_y.html

Fantasy Auction for Madoff Tickets at Citi Field?

Mets season tickets, just behind home plate, will likely be resold by the trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Wonder if the National Fantasy Baseball Championship can sell them off to Greg Ambrosius for the winners?

"We have no intention of not monetizing them and letting them go unused," trustee Irving H. Picard said Saturday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "When we have something to announce, we will do so." Monetizing? That is a new word invented for bloggers trying to sell ads. Means: 'how can we make some money on this?'

Mets executive vice president David Howard said the seats were paid for and were in either the first or second row behind home plate, a section known as Delta Club Platinum. They list for $695 each for opening day on April 13 and June interleague games against the Yankees, all classified as platinum by the Mets.

They cost $595 for gold games, $495 for silver games, $395 for bronze games and $295 for value games. Overall, the season ticket comes to $40,095 per seat, an average of $495."They're paid for. They can do with them what they want to," Howard said.

Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz were close to Madoff, who pleaded guilty March 12 in federal court to 11 counts, including securities fraud and perjury, stemming from a Ponzi scheme prosecutors said was worth $64.8 billion. The 70-year-old Madoff could get up to 150 years in prison at sentencing June 16.

Wilpon, Katz and many entities of their company, Sterling Equities, and various affiliated foundations are among the swindled creditors. It will bring a new dimension to the team when the first base is stolen at the new stadium. It won't have been by an athlete. It will have been by Bernie.

What I really want to know is why are we still calling it Citi Field after Citi Bank? I am thinking it should be:

a) Taxpayer's Park

b) Bailout Ballyard or

c) People's Stadium

Or do something different. Let's name it after a hero. Let's call it Jackie Robinson Park.

Yankees 2009 Fantasy Team Won't Win a Pennant

If fantasy becomes reality this year, we will see a repeat of 2000, and the Mets will play the Yankees in the World Series, in their new ballparks, and I will be there.

Is that asking too much? Yes, probably. Here is why. The Yankees, for one, won't make it.

I sat home tonite, after a day as traffic judge, and reminisced how as a kid I would take the subway back and forth between the games in the Bronx and Queens, for the Yankees and Mets.

On satellite tonite, flipping back and forth between direct tv channels, I saw games at the Yankee's new Stadium and the Mets' Citi Field. I flashed back 47 years to my first days at the old parks, entrenched in my mind forever.

I remember my seats in Uncle Herb's Box 24J at Yankee Stadium in 1964 when Mel Stottlemeyer, who finished 9-3 that year, made his major league debut. But I virtually lived at Shea as a kid, cutting school and taking the number 7 train to Willets Point to catch the Mets, a Brooklyn boy's replacement for the Dodgers who went west. I remember the World's Fair, the Unisphere, and the Newsday logos above the left field club level, where I saw my first game from. Memories, good memories of days when we were younger.

As the Yankees enter this year, I am not optimistic for them from a fantasy standpoint. And in the Green Diamonds League I am part of, I foolishly bet the world on them, and will have to spend most of the year rebuilding. So here is why I think the Yankees go bust this year. Start with their catcher. Jorge is too old and too injury prone and no matter how good he once was, his best years are behind him. He can't throw people out anymore. And behind the backstop for the Yankees, they have no backup.

At third base, A Rod is hurt, bombed by allegations of steroids, and the hip hurting him today won't be cured swiftly swinging a bat regularly all summer. Hip injuries do not a batter make. Next to him, the consistent Mr. Jeter has numbers going down each year. Like Mike Young of the Rangers, he is a picture of consistency in games played and batting average, but the numbers which were once there are no longer going to come. He cannot cover the field the way he once did, and the Yankees have no game plan if he gets injured, no Gordon Beckham in the wings.

Robinson Cano blossomed in 2007, surrounded by a hitting jugernaut, but the sophomore slump leaves you asking which year was real. Of course having Tex at the corner playing off A Rod is awesome, and there you have the Yankees only real and established rising star in the lineup. But will teams simply pitch around him?

I drafted Matsui and Swisher and regret both choices. If Swish could not hit higher than .219 in Chicago surrounded by bats like Carlos Quentin, Jim Thome, and Paul Konerko, why should I expect more from him in the Bronx? He failed to meet expectations in Oakland and outright failed on the South Side of Chicago, and has been so unimpressive Joe Girardi has journeyman Xavier Nady playing right field ahead of him.

There is nothing not to like about Hideki, who homered tonite in the new Yankee Stadium but has been hurt for two of the past three years, and is likely to get injured again over the course of six grueling months. Already this spring it's been a hammie. We know how good he was just a couple of years ago, but we forget how long he played in Japan before he came to NY. His better days are behind him too. He has crested. The Sox signed Bay. The Rays, Burrell. The Yankees have Melky? Please.

Brett Gardner? Please, again. This is a sport that has developing outfield stars in Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Gomez, Jordan Schaffer, Dexter Fowler, Cameron Maybin, and Andrew McCuthen. In the past two years, we have seen Hunter Spence, Matt Kemp, Corey Hart, Nate McClouth, and Nick Markakis emege. Brett Gardner is not even mentioned in their breath. The guy barely beat out Melky Cabrera. Sure, the Yanks still have Johnny Damon, but his World Series star was worn five years ago. He too is older and prone to injuries. And Abreu is gone.

The Yankees may play to their peak and will be good but they will never be great with this lineup. Too much happens along the way to make them a picture of consistency. Only if they remain entirely injury free will these stars shine. There is much too worry about, especially in a depleted and overhyped farm system.

Great pitching may make their good lineup good enough to win more games then they lose. But Boston is more balanced and Tampa Bay is younger and hungrier. Only the arms could save the Yankees this year. AJ Burnett struck out 230 last year. CC is awesome. Rivera is still spectacular. But know this. CC has lost time to injury. Rivera had his shoulder operated on over the winter. With AJ, 200 plus k's last year notwithstanding, you are always holding your breath. Phil Hughes had a freak injury. Ian Kennedy is not god. There are weaknesses in the armor, chinks that suggests if you bet on the Yankees you will be burned.

My advice is to grab comparable ballplayers on lesser teams that give you better stats without the hype or the hurt.