A Spot of Red in Cubland

I (think I) Believe in Ryan Braun

2012-02-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

(Photo Courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal)

Each time a baseball player -- be it a star or some lesser known role player -- tests positive for performance enhancing drugs, you hear a familiar refrain from the "sports talk" world...."If I were suspected of using PEDs and I were innocent, I'd be proclaiming my innocence for all to hear." Some players have done just that, only to find their reputations further damaged when their stories fail to hold up (yeah, looking at you Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro). When news leaked that Ryan Braun had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, he emphatically denied that he was guilty, but unlike Rocket and Raffy, spared us the finger wagging theatrics (at the advice of his legal representation).

As it turns out, that was very good advice. Braun has been mostly quiet while we've been waiting for the verdict from his appeal -- though he has taken a few opportunities to remind us that he's not guilty. Earlier this week, his 50 game suspension was overturned -- the first time that has happened -- due to a delay in delivering his urine sample to a Fed Ex shipping facility after it had been collected on October 1.

Braun met the media yesterday (2/24) and, at least to my ears, sounded every bit the innocent man that he's proclaimed himself to be. But while he sounded like an innocent man, there are still lots of questions surrounding his positive test. We don't really know why his testosterone levels were elevated, but we do know that the testosterone detected was synthetic. We do know that roughly 44 hours passed between his urine sample being collected and the sample being delivered to Fed Ex for shipping to the testing facility in Motreal...but we don't know exactly why it took so long. And we know that under Major League Baseball's testing system, all of the details that we have come to know should never have become public knowlege...but we don't know who is behind the leaked information.

Had things gone according to the rules, none of us would have ever known that Braun tested positive and that he had appealed the decision and won. Regardless of what questions you might have at this point of the story, that's a disservice to Braun, the Brewers and baseball fans in general. The system was put in place for a reason, and while it mostly worked (Braun doesn't have to sit 50 games, after all), there are those that will never believe he's clean. If he continues on his current career pace, that just might cost him a spot in the Hall of Fame. That's not fair.

I'm not a Brewers fan, and prior to last season, really didn't care much for Braun (the change of heart, I'll admit, is due to the fact that he kept me in the running in my fantasy baseball league last season). But, I've appreciated what he has done in his career to this point, and I hate the fact that yet another baseball star is tainted with the "CHEATER" label.

I feel like there are more facts out there that will come to light in the coming weeks, and from what I've seen so far, I believe that Braun is the innocent man that he claims to be. I don't see the fact that he got off "on a technicality" as proof that he's getting away with cheating -- I simply think his representatives looked at the case and used the defense that gave them the best chance to overturn the ruling. I'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough when it comes to the science of these tests and how the results might have been impacted by the delay in delivery. I don't know that I believe the sample was tampered with, either. What I do know is that, to my eyes and ears, Braun doesn't look the part of a drug cheat, and more importantly to me, he isn't carrying himself like one. He sounds very reasonable, and like a man that believes himself to be innocent.

Perhaps he's just a good actor. Lord knows, it won't be the first time I've believed in an athlete only to be proven wrong. I think it's hard to fake sincerity on this level, though. McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, Giambi, etc, always seemed to me like they knew they had done wrong. In fact, I think Braun's speech ranks right up there with Andy Pettitte's -- though there are some obvious differences there as Pettitte's involved an admission that he had used HGH. But where I find them similar is that I believe that Andy only had the one transgression, even though you're tempted to question the convenience of that story (and, yes, it is true that I am a Yankees fan -- especially of the teams of Pettitte, Jeter, Posada and Rivera -- so I wanted to believe his story). And I want to believe in Braun. As with Pettitte, there's some bias there because my chances of winning a game are better if Braun is playing a full season. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have questions. I'd be foolish if I told you I expected answers to all of them. So, for now, I'll just stick with my gut and believe in the player -- and hope that, as has often been the case, I won't end up wishing that I hadn't.

One last look back at 2011

2012-01-07T17:30:00.001-08:00

Before closing the books on 2011, seemed like a good time to look back on some of the bigger things that happened. Being a blog on MLBlogs.com, that will obviously be the focus, but I’ll waste a little bit of space to talk about some favorites in music, TV, movies, etc.

And what a year it was to be a Cardinals fan. Not an awful one to be a Yankees fan, either. The Cardinals brought home their 11th world series title with an unlikely run that didn’t see the Wild Card locked up until the final day of the baseball season. The Cards backs were literally against the wall throughout most of August and all of September and October, culminating in a World Series game 6 that was arguably the most exciting game in World Series history — unless of course you were rooting for the Texas Rangers. That game 7 was a bit of a letdown is a huge testament to what a great game #6 was. The Cardinals came back twice to win the game finally forcing a decisive game 7 after hometown hero David Freese’s walk off home run in extra innings.

The post season, as a whole, was a fitting encore to a final day of the regular season that was equally exciting. The Wild Card berths were in doubt until late into the evening. The Cardinals easily beat the Astros to guarantee a shot at a one game playoffs. Then the Braves choked away a lead against the Phillies (an especially bitter pill for Braves fans, as the Phillies had little to play for except keeping their division rivals out of the playoffs). With the benefit of hindsight, the Phillies might have found more luck if they’d let the Braves win that game, as their vaunted pitching staff came up a bit short against the Cardinals’ team of destiny. Seemingly within minutes of the Phillies putting an exclamation point on the Braves collapse, the Yankees saw the Rays pull off an improbably come back to win their game while the Orioles stunned the Red Sox to send them home without October baseball. The Braves collapse was probably the more drastic of the two, but the Red Sox being such a high profile club meant a shakeup of epic proportions for the New England team. Terry Francona was fired amid claims that he’d lost control of the club house (which included the bombshells that pitchers John Lackey and Josh Beckett were drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse during games), and a couple weeks later, Theo Epstein said good bye to become the savior of the Chicago Cubs.

While the Yankees did endure another less-than-successful October, it was a good year in the Bronx. The Yankees captured another AL East crown, and better still saw the rival Red Sox revert back to their pre-2004 persona with an epic collapse that left many Red Sox fans sniping at the hated Yankees. I’d be lying if I suggested that this didn’t give me at least a little bit of joy — and is a big reason that another poor showing in October didn’t cause the usual hand wringing that a typically accompanies a divisional series exit from the playoffs. It also helped that the Yankees provided their fair share of magic over the summer. Derek Jeter became the newest member of the 3,000 hit club, and became the first lifetime Yankee to reach the milestone. After enduring a rough start to the season, Jeter returned from the DL and capped his magical run to 3k hits by collecting #3,000 on a surprising home run. The day itself turned out to be a classic Jeter game as he provided most of the Yankees’ offense in a win over the Rays. The season also saw Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera become the all-time saves leader — a mark that is not likely to be eclipsed any time soon. The “core four”, as they had become known during their 2009 championship year, shrank to three as Andy Pettitte retired prior to the 2011 season. The year played out with the knowledge that it would likely be Jorge Posada’s last in Yankee pinstripes, and while he has yet to officially retire as I am writing this, I’m really hoping that he does decide to call it a day. It appears that Jeter and Rivera still have at least one more year together for fans to look forward to in 2012. The Yankees (and Red Sox) closed out 2011 with what has been a surprisingly quiet off season that has seen the big name free agents (aside from Prince Fielder and Yeonis Cepedes — who have yet to be signed) sign with other teams.

The big free agent domino, of course, was Albert Pujols signing with the Angels — a tough pill for Cardinals fans, who ultimately realized that the team likely did the right thing as their last offer would have committed a huge sum to an already 32 year old slugger. Pujols will be missed, and probably cursed by many Cardinals fans. While I’m sad to see him go, I do realize it was probably the right move on the Cardinals’ part. The Cardinals did offset the loss of Pujols by resigning Rafael Furcal and bringing in outfielder Carlos Beltran. It won’t replace what’s lost in saying good bye to Pujols, but with the Brewers losing Prince Fielder to free agency and Ryan Braun slated to miss the first 50 games of the season due to a positive PED test, the Cardinals shouldn’t have much competition in the NL Central — though the Reds are a talented team and should be a force in 2012. Regardless of what happens, 2011 will be a tough year for baseball to top.

And with that, I’ll put an end to the baseball talk for now. Which means I’ll waste some space talking about a few of my other favorite things from 2011…

Favorite Television: Hands down, the best new show that I watched in 2011 was Showtime’s Homeland. I came to the show fairly late — just as the first season finale was about to air. I had read a lot of good reviews of the show and decided to check out a few episodes that were available on-demand. 4 days later, I had watched the entire first season including the season finale. Claire Danes gave an emmy worthy performance as a CIA analyst while one of my favorite actors, Damian Lewis, was equally good as a rescued POW turned suspected terrorist. I won’t say too much more for those of you that haven’t yet seen this show, but I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The best returning show, for me, was Parks and Recreation. This show started out as a clone of the Office (which, by the way, should have been cancelled with Steve Carrell’s exit — I thought it might be able to reinvent itself, but decided to got he easy route and is trying to capitalize on Ed Helms’ post “Hangover” popularity. And is failing miserably), but is now perhaps the most satisfying comedy on television. It is a show the requires a little bit of patience — you have to get a feel for the characters before you really become hooked. But once you invest a little time, you’ll realize that the show features some of the best written stories and characters that we’ve seen.

Favorite Movies: Having a young daughter at home has severely limited my movie watching to films available on DVD, so I haven’t seen many of the year’s most highly regarded flicks. Those that I did manage to see were more of the blockbuster variety — Bridesmaids, XMen: First Class, and the final Harry Potter. I found Harry Potter to be a bit of a letdown, though I think on the whole, they did as good of a job bringing the books to life as was possible. I was also disappointed in Bridesmaids…but I suspect that has as much to do with the fact that I did not see that film until New Year’s Eve, and had heard so many raves about the film that it couldn’t possibly live up to the expectations that I had. I did not have such high expectations for XMen, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. I liked the first two movies, but found the third movie to be close to awful and the Wolverine solo movie not much better. But First Class was a great mix of retro style, thrilling super hero action and a surprisingly deep story. If you’re not completely sick of the super hero blockbuster by this point, then I think you’ll find it a worthwhile way to spend a couple of hours.

Favorite Books: As with movies, I don’t read quite as much as I’d like to. I did enjoy Ian O’Connor’s biography about Derek Jeter — and think most baseball fans would feel the same unless they absolutely hate Jeter (which I know many do). I found the “ESPN book”, Those Guys Have All the Fun, to be interesting, but ultimately far too long and conciliatory to ESPN (and I find that I like ESPN less and less these days). I found Erik Larson’s tale of pre-WWII Nazi Germany, In the Garden of Beasts, to be a great read — and still find it amazing that the powers that be in the 1930′s were able to turn a blind eye to the horrors of Hitler’s reign. I have not yet finished the book, so I can’t count it as a favorite of the year, but at just under half way through Stephen King’s latest, 11/22/63, I have to say that it’s the best King novel I’ve read in a long, long time.

And, finally, my top 10 album for 2011… I found 2011 to be a great year for music — or more specifically, for music that I happen to like. A few “ground rules” for my list — these are the albums that I liked the most on the year, which means that I own the albums. So if your favorite isn’t represented, I’m not slamming it — it’s either not my cup of tea or I just never got around to hearing it. I had a tough time with this list…as I knew that my favorite album of the year was released very early on in the year. The fact that the same band, R.E.M., happened to call it a career in the same year attached a certain sentimentality that would be tough for any other album to overcome. But, two late entries actually end up captivating me a bit more — perhaps because they were a bit fresher in the memory banks. I also left off best-of sets from R.E.M. and Pearl Jam (well, PJ20 was sort of a best of for die hard fans). So here goes….

10. ”The King is Dead” – The Decemberists: Did I mention that I’m an R.E.M. fan? Probably had a lot to do with me liking this one. The Decemberists stopped making concepts albums and featured Peter Buck as a guest performer in an homage to R.E.M.’s younger days. The only knock is that the homage feels a little bit too much like a retread at times.

9. ”Whatever’s On Your Mind” – Gomez: Again, I’ll stress this is my list of favorite albums of the year — not necessarily those that make the biggest contribution to music. And I’m not saying that as a slam on Gomez or any other band on this list. What Gomez might lack in treading new ground however, I feel is made up for by the fact that they’ve started to revisit many of the things that made their earlier work so interesting, while still embracing the more “Adult Alternative” sound that typified their previous two albums.

8. ”Wasting Light” – Foo Fighters: Best Foos album since their first. Another band where you might slam them for not treading new ground, but I think you have to give them credit for doing what they do as well as it can be done. Another one that sounds great blasting on the car stereo.

7. ”The Whole Love” – Wilco: I do like Wilco, but more often than not, their albums tend to be those that I feel like I should like as opposed to ones that I actually really end up liking. This one is a bit more experimental than their last few, but I am not sure they’ve produced a song that I’ve liked more than “I Might” since the “Being There” album.

6. ”Helplessness Blues” – Fleet Foxes: The opening song grabbed me right away, and before long, the whole thing settled in as one of the better albums I’ve heard in a long time. It feels retro and current all at the same time. Not an easy trick.

5. ”Codes and Keys” – Death Cab For Cutie: I think this was a very underrated album. It’s happier than previous DCFC albums (but not so much so that it’s annoying). Ironically, one of the better songs – “Stay Young, Go Dancing” – is also the most out of place. Feels more tacked on than “Her Majesty” at the end of Abbey Road.

4. ”Bon Iver” – Bon Iver: Downloaded this one strictly based on word of mouth, and am very glad that I did. The first song grabbed me, and I was hooked. And yes, the last song sounds like something from the Karate Kid 2 soundtrack.

3. ”Collapse Into Now” – R.E.M.: Prior to December 6, this would have been my choice for favorite of the year — unfairly so. This is the best post-Bill Berry album R.E.M.released, and it plays like a greatest hits album. Each song harkens back to earlier times, but doesn’t sound like a rehash. It Happened Today is perhaps my favorite R.E.M. song to be released in 10 years. Knowing what we know now, it is also a fitting swan song. The lyrics in many songs — notably All the Best and Blue — sound like a band saying “so long…”. And doing it with style.

2. ”El Camino” – The Black Keys: While I liked “Brothers”, I wasn’t blown away by it. There are great songs, but I have found that I can rarely sit and listen to it start to finish. Hardly the case here — as each song builds on the last. This is going to sound incredible blasting out of the car windows when summer rolls around. There are no lame ballads, no missteps. Every song is great, and the album is a perfect length, clocking in just under 40 minutes.

1. “Undun” – The Roots: I didn’t intend to buy this one, and just downloaded it on a whim after reading one of the many glowing reviews of the album and an article where Questlove mentioned it was inspired by a Sufjan Stevens song (really….a hip hop band that is inspired by a weird folkie from Petosky, MI…how cool is that?). It tells the story of Redford Stevens…in reverse. I have no idea why — I’m not a huge hip-hop fan, and there’s little I can identify with personally in the subject matter — but there’s just something about the music that grabs you, pulls you in and begs you to listen for more. And, like “El Camino”, it clocks in at an economical 38 minutes.

A few honorable mentions that spent a good bit of time playing on my iPod, but fell outside my top 10: ”Zonoscope” – Cut Copy, “21″ – Adele (I simply lover her voice), “Kiss Each Other Clean” – Iron & Wine (a step back from “Shepherd’s Dog”, but still really, really good), “Angles” – The Strokes (saw them open for Pearl Jam, and liked them almost as much), “Ukulele Songs” – Eddie Vedder (bought this during my PJ kick this year but surprised at how good it was — and the version of Can’t Keep buries the “Riot Act” version by a mile), “Dye It Blonde” – Smith Westerns (how do 19 year old kids do such a dead-on George Harrison impersonation?), “Stone Rollin’” - Raphael Saadiq (retro without sounding cliche), “2011″ – The Smithereens (proving they are still a dependable, if somewhat predictable, band).

Thanks for reading….bring on 2012.

Less Brains, eh Braun? (and a bit more on Albert)

2011-12-11T09:45:00.001-08:00

Big news in baseball — Ryan Braun may be baseball’s latest PED cheater. I’m not a Brewers fan by any stretch of the imagination, and honestly, some of their little celebrations over the years have really annoyed me. At one point, I thought Braun was most likely to have a ball thrown at his ear because he seemed to spend a little too much time admiring his own handiwork.

But, as often happens to me in this era of fantasy sports, picking up Braun on my NL only fantasy keeper team has softened my opinion of him. Especially coming off an MVP season where he almost single handedly kept my team in the running for the league title. With the defection of Pujols to the AL, Ryan Howard’s achilles injury and the chance that Prince Fielder would also wind up on the AL, I was feeling pretty good about my decision to hang onto Braun, even though I had him at an inflated price ($50 for you roto-heads, thanks to the owner that originally drafted him).

Now, I may well find myself without his services until May. Tough pill to swallow, for sure. But, one thing you always hear pundits say is that if they stood accused of using PEDs, they’d scream from the mountain that they were innocent. Braun’s done that, and issued a statement professing his innocence. Love him or hate him, I hope he does prove his innocence. Baseball has too many stains on its reputation already, and I don’t want another star tainted this way. Braun is an exciting player to watch, and it would be a shame if we had to discount what he’s done to date. So, even though my thoughts are somewhat driven by my unhealthy addiction to fantasy baseball, hope this one is ultimately proven false.

Speaking of PED and players suspected of using them, Pujols is a guy that had drawn his fair share of speculation on the topic. I myself have some doubts, mainly because he’s had a few injuries, such as last year’s arm fracture, that he came back from pretty quickly. There’s some obvious bitterness to the sentiment, but there’s a tiny part of my brain that wonders if his jumping at the big payday in Anaheim has anything to do with the HGH testing that is part of the new CBA. And, yes, you’d be correct in assuming that I’d never put that thought to print if he had re-signed with the Cardinals.

Seeing Albert in an Angels uniform was weird, but as with the whole thing, not as weird or painful as I thought it would be as we’ve worked our way towards this day. I do wish the man well. I do think that he believes this is about more than money, and that Arte Moreno made him feel a bit more wanted than DeWitt and Mozeliak did. I also think that the Cardinals did the right thing by not going to the extreme to keep him. Furcal’s now back in the fold, and talk that the Cards are going after Beltran is still out there. No, that doesn’t replace Albert, but it does set the Cards up with a decent enough chance at making another run in 2012. The offense will be a bit less than it was, but with Waino coming back, the gains to the starting rotation offset that a bit. And Cardinals fans can rest easy now that it’s apparent that the team isn’t just pocketing the savings.

Goodbye #5

2011-12-09T09:37:00.001-08:00

With the first 24 hours of the post-Albert Pujols era now in the books, it's time for a little reflection. Obviously, first post in a long time and to say a lot has happened would be an understatement.

The Cardinals are World Champs -- and as ulikely a champion as we've seen since the 2003 Marlins (or as the popular joke goes, the 2006 Cardinals).

But the big news now, of course, is the departure of Pujols. Looking at things now, it seems like we saw this one coming, but that doesn't soften the blow. All season, the standard quote regarding Pujols' impending free agent status was something like "I just can't imagine him anywhere but in St. Louis." But, to me, that always felt more like wishful thinking than anything near a fact.

My first reaction was the same as most Cardinals fans....disbelief followed by anger followed by disappointment. This quote from a 2009 article on MLB.com is exactly the type of thing we'd heard Albert say time and again when he discussed being a free agent for the first time in his career:

"Do I want to be in St. Louis forever? Of course," Pujols said. "Because that city has opened the door to me and my family like no other city is ever going to do. I don't want to [go to] any other city, but if that time comes I'm pretty sure wherever I go they are going to do the same way -- hopefully, open the doors. But I don't think it's to be anything compared to St. Louis.
"People from other teams want to play in St. Louis and they're jealous that we're in St. Louis because the fans are unbelievable. So why would you want to leave a place like St. Louis to go somewhere else and make $3 or $4 more million a year? It's not about the money. I already got my money. It's about winning and that's it. It's about accomplishing my goal and my goal is to try to win. If this organization shifts the other way then I have to go the other way."

As fans, we want to believe that all of our favorite players fall in line with this line of thinking. And I do believe that Albert wanted to stay in St. Louis....really, I do. I also think that had the Angels not stepped in with such a huge offer (and full no trade protection), then Albert would have accepted the Cardinals offer. But, the Angels played this perfectly. They let the suddenly flush Marlins up the bar, and then swooped in full force -- no doubt inspired by losing out on every big name they had pursued the past few offseasons. This time, they did not get turned away. And with that, Albert is now a former Cardinal.

In spite of the sting at watching perhaps the greatest player of this generation move on, you have to realize that we've been lucky enough to witness an 11 year run that rivals the greats of the game. Albert's numbers belong in the conversation with names like Ruth, Dimaggio, Mantle, Musial and Williams. That hasn't changed. And he did it wearing the birds on the bat. And now he'll do it wearing the red and white of another team. That is the nature of baseball (and pro sports, in general) in 2011.

And I'm OK with that. I'm not on the ledge. Really. Will the 2012 Cardinals suffer from the loss of #5? Probably. Are they doomed to be a repeat of the 2007 Cards? I don't think so. First off, the roster isn't as much of a patchwork as the 2007 Cards were. The rotation is in decent shape -- Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia and Lohse/Westbrook are still a solid 1-4, and fifth starters are a little easier to develop and/or sign than the other positions in the rotation.

The bullpen also seems to be in a bit better shape...Motte may not be the next Mariano Rivera -- or even the next Jason Isringhausen, for that matter -- but he showed he's learned how to handle the ninth inning in pressure situations. Kyle McClellan, Mitchell Boggs, Scrabble (not going to even try to pretend that I can spell his last name)...these are solid building blocks. The team wants to add another lefty, and there are still some big name late inning guys on the market (such as Ryan Madson) that could make it possible for the Cardinals to be a team that doesn't have to score more than 3 runs a game to win.

On offense, Berkman and Holliday still give the Cardinals some thunder in the middle of the lineup. Add to that a (hopefully) healthy David Freese and Allen Craig, and it could be more than adequate. There are some "ifs" -- will Craig be exposed with more at-bats? Will Freese stay healthy for a full season? Who is going to play shortstop and second base? What about a full year with John Jay as a regular rather than a 4th outfielder? Is Furcal coming back? What about adding Carlos Beltran? Or Jimmy Rollins? Or does the team make a run at Prince Fielder -- who just might decide to take a shorter term deal in hopes of having a second turn on the free agent market in a few years. Regardless of the path they choose, Mozelik has earned a vote a confidence in my opinion. This Cardinals team has felt like a playoff contender every year that he's been in charge, and I don't think that will change in 2012.

And again, I don't think this team was ever going to repeat. It's tough to win a World Series. It is even tougher to do it a second time. That bullseye is on the Cardinals' backs now -- and that was true whether #5 was staying or not. I'm hardly the first or last to say this, but in reality, this probably sets up the Cardinals better for the next 10 years than if Albert had taken the $210 million/9-10 year deal that was reportedly on the table. True, Cardinals fans would probably tolerate a decline in his skills through his late 30's/early 40's more than any other fan base, but the fact remains that Pujols is most likely not going to get any better than he has been for the last 11 years. To pay a premium for those years is not something a successful franchise does. One of the things that made the Atlanta Braves so successful for so long is that they were not afraid to change the individual parts to improve the whole. They weren't afraid to send a good player packing if it meant saving the team from a bad contract that would hinder the team for years. True, they never faced that type of dilemma with a player like Pujols, but the point is the same even if you're only talking about David Justice.

So this is a sad day for Cardinals fans, but it isn't really a bad day. The Cardinals still have a good team, and have the financial flexibility to address some things that they would not have had if Albert stayed. Someday, we'll look back fondly on the career of Albert Pujols, who will go into the Hall of Fame as a Cardinal. We'll marvel at the 3 homer game against Texas, the time he put out one of the letters in the in the 'Big Mac' sign, how he played second base for a few innings in 2010 and played a few games at third in 2011. Maybe we'll even be giving him a standing ovation as his #5 is retired (though personally, I'm not quite ready to afford him that honor just yet). But as someone said on twitter yesterday -- "I was a Cardinals fan before Pujols and I'll still be one after Pujols." We root for the birds on the bat. Period. It's a shame that Albert Pujols is no longer wearing them. But it is not the end of the world.

REM: The Warner Bros. Years

2011-09-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

My original plan had been for this to be 2 posts, but a few more days to "ease the pain" of REM's breakup have made me realize that I'm basically now just doing it to follow up on the previous post and then I'm back to blogging about baseball and other sports. So, a quick spin through each of REM's albums for Warner Brothers.

Green was released the day that George Bush (the first one) was sworn in. REM's first for a major label also saw the first time that lyrics for a song were printed in the album's liner notes. "World Leader Pretend" was a continuation of political themes in REM's music. Green also features the first songs where Peter Buck played mandolin (crowd favorite "You Are the Everything", "The Wrong Child" and "Hairshirt"). The acoustic numbers were balanced out by several arena-ready rockers -- "Pop Song '89" (which despite its title has held up very well over the years), "Get Up" (completing arguably the second best 1-2 punch to open an REM album), "Orange Crush" and "Turn You Inside Out". The song "Stand" became a huge hit and for many fans (excluding myself) has become one of the more cringe inducing songs in the REM catalog. Another oddity is that on the front cover, the letter 'R' in both the words GREEN and REM has a number 4 superimposed over the letter. When you check the numbered track listing on the back, track 4 ("Stand") has a letter 'R' instead of the number. Probably one of those silly little meaningless things the band did knowing their fans would probably spend hours trying to come up with a hidden meaning.

Green spawned a massive tour (which included my first show in 1990 in Champaign, IL). After such a lengthy tour, REM took a bit longer to finish their next release...and biggest hit to date. Anticipation was high for Out of Time. It marked the first time that REM let more than a year pass between releases. Thanks to "Stand", REM was firmly entrenched in the mainstream now. As you'd expect, REM did an about face from the arena rock sound of Green in favor or a much more lush sound. Lead single, "Losing My Religion" and the accompanying video became an unlikely hit (and added another song to the list of overplayed songs that would eventually cause more eye rolls than agreement when you told someone you were an REM fan). REM also brought in some notable guest stars - Kate Pierson of the B-52s and rapper (yes rapper) KRS-One. Pierson sings back up on "Shiny Happy People" (the one REM song I almost always skip when it pops up on the iPod) and album closer "Me In Honey" -- one of the stronger tracks on the album. KRS-One raps over the end of opening track "Radio Song". As they'd done before, REM threw caution to the wind -- songs featured mandolins, strings. Stipe's vocals were now fairly clear and much more prominent in the mix (though the lyrics proved to be as cryptic as ever). This album is also Mike Mills finest moment. His harmonies had long been one of the secret weapons of REM's sound, perfectly complimenting Stipe's voice, but on Out of Time Mills takes lead on two of the better tracks - the Brian Wilson-ish "Near Wild Heaven" and "Texarkana" (one of my favorite tracks on the album). The album was REM's first #1 and was nominated for album of the year but ended up losing out to Natalie Cole's Unforgettable -- something that irks me to this day.

REM decided to take a break from the road and did not tour in support of this album. While it took more than a year for the follow up, Automatic for the People seemed to follow very quickly - mainly because REM was now a fixture on radio and MTV. "Alternative" music was no longer an alternative to the mainstream -- Nirvana's Nevermind is often credited as the album that broke alternative, but the truth is that bands like REM had been paving the trail for years. Like it's predecessor, Automatic worked its way to the top of the charts. The album is full of many melancholy tunes that deal with mortality....some very directly ("Try Not to Breathe", "Sweetness Follows"), other's less so ("Monty Got a Raw Deal"). Lead single "Drive" became an unlikely hit and couldn't have sounded less like "Losing My Religion". "Everybody Hurts" became the huge hit, adding another drop in the bucket of REM songs that caused detractors to roll their eyes and long time fans to bemoan the fact that their cult band was now a hitmaker. Overplayed hits aside, some of REM's best work can be found on this album -- "Man on the Moon", fan favorite "Nightswimming" and "Find the River" (another personal favorite). "Ignoreland" -- a rant against a Republican lead government -- was the only 'political' themed track.

Two straight mellow records left REM ready to rock -- and lead many to feel that they were simply cashing in on the grunge movement. Monster was yet another about face, but the results were mixed. The album was well received initially, but the backlash against REM's popularity had been steadily growing. The album features many strong tracks, such as "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", "Star 69", "Circus Envy", "Crush With Eyeliner" and the Kurt Cobain inspired "Let Me In". But the album as a whole has not held up as well as some of their other albums and the heavy guitars give the album an early 90's feel. Songs like "King of Comedy", the "Everybody Hurts" style "Strange Currencies", the odd falsetto driven "Tongue" (the song the band played as Bill Berry suffered from a brain aneurism) and the almost tuneless pair of "Bang and Blame" and "I Took Your Name" all drove this album to be a common inhabitant of the bargain bin at your local record store.

This was followed by one of the longest and most underrated efforts - New Adventures in Hi Fi. Many of Hi Fi's tracks were recorded during soundchecks for the Monster tour, giving the album feel almost like a live album. Sonically, it settled in somewhere between the noisy Monster and REM's earlier work. This was the first one that was declared to be a "return to form". At fourteen tracks and an hour in length, this album would have been a classic had REM exercised a little extra restraint. "How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us" -- with it's weird spaghetti western style melody and haunting piano -- sets an immediately weird tone making this the WB era counterpart to Fables. Stand outs included "The Wake Up Bomb", "Undertow", "Bittersweet Me" and "Electrolite". "Leave" checks in at over 7 minutes giving it the honor of being the longest song in the REM catalog. Several songs feel like retreads of others - "Departure" and "So Fast, So Numb" don't sound radically different from "Undertow". "Low Desert" is nearly as tuneless as Monster's "I Took Your Name", and instrumental "Zither" just feels like oddity for the sake of oddity. "E-Bow the Letter" featured guest vocals from Stipe's hero, Patty Smith, and is perhaps the weirdest (though underrated) REM single ever released.

Bill Berry's health issues zapped some of his passion for the rock and roll lifestyle, and in 1997, he left the band after extracting the promise that his departure would not spell the end of REM (the band had always maintained that if any one member left, they would never be able to continue as REM -- if they continued at all). Many fans wish they'd have kept this promise, and 1998's Up did little to really change anyone's mind. It is far and away REM's most challenging and odd record. Berry's contribution to the band may have seemed minimal, but the shift in songwriting and mood is evident. Rather than replace him with session drummers or a full fledged replacement, REM added electronic percussion to many of the tracks. The mood is somber and very introspective. For the first time, full lyrics are included with the album. Lead single, "Daysleeper" sounds like an outtake from Automatic and gave the impression that REM as a trio would sound a lot like the quartet, though a listen through the full album would prove that to be misleading. The album starts out with "Airportman" which flows immediately into the one rocker on the album - "Lotus". "At My Most Beatiful" lives up to the title and sounds like it could have been co-written by Brian Wilson (Stipe admitted that this was his tribute to one of Mills' and Buck's heroes). The album is interesting and like Hi Fi, much better than it's given credit for being. Hi Fi was the first step in REM's descent into being much less relevant to the mainstream, and Up only sped up the process.

2001's Reveal proved to be a bit sunnier, and REM sounded much more comfortable as a trio than they did on Up. Many would trumpet this as yet another return to form. There were some classic REM sounding songs to be found -- "Imitation of Life" featured almost the same chord structure as "Driver 8" and sounded like a lost track from the 80's era albums. "She Just Wants To Be", another of the albums stronger tracks, seemed to encapsulate the prototypical later-era REM song. Minus the electronic accents, "Disappear" could have been an outtake from Out of Time. Reveal feels like a summer album -- it has a tracks named "Beachball" and "Summer Turns to Hight", after all -- and while the happier sounding melodies were a welcome change from the previous album, many of the songs feel almost formulaic in hindsight.

2004 brought another "return to form", and the one REM album that made many of their most devoted fans question whether or not it was time to call it a day. Around the Sun is the low point for REM. There is nothing truly terrible on the album -- and in fact, its high points are as good as anything in the post-Berry era. "Final Straw" shows that REM's political fire is alive and well. "Leaving New York" is a surprisingly straightforward love song. The big problem I have with the album is that it sounds like a stab at "Adult Alternative" schmaltz. Songs follow fairly standard verse-chorus-verse structure and the lyrics are rarely cryptic at all. Though my initial reaction was positive, this is the one REM album that I rarely listen to - hence the lack of mention of many specific tracks.

While REM albums were suffering a bit, the band was touring regularly, and becoming quite a good live band. They had added Bill Rieflin and Scott McCaughey as full time touring members, and with 2008's Accelerate, the duo became defacto members of the band. Accelerate proved to be a very appropriate title. The album clocks in under 35 minutes with only two songs exceeding 4 minutes. The usual "return to form" description felt a bit more appropriate this time around, as many of the songs featured here would not sound out of place on any of the Warner Brothers releases. It's not a great album thanks to a few minor missteps, but it was easily the best post-Berry album yet. "Sing for the Submarine" sounds a bit too forced of an attempt at weirdness, but does name check several older REM songs. Other songs, such as "Hollow Man" and "Until the Day is Done" sound a little bit too much like "REM by numbers", but the highlights were reason for fans to be optimistic. "Living Well is the Best Revenge", "Man Sized Wreath" and "Supernatural Superserious" get things rolling into high gear. "Houston" finds Stipe telling a post-Katrina inspired story, showing that time hadn't mellowed the band's political fire. I've always read that Pearl Jam's "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" is one of the better REM-songs-not-written-by-REM songs, and "Horse to Water" sounds like a return of the favor.

With REM rocking again, hopes were high for Collapse Into Now and for the most part, fans were rewarded. I do recall a few reviews of the album calling out the fact that this was the final album due under REM's current contract with Warner Brothers and that elements of this album felt like a swan song. Of course, as of 9/21/2011, we know that is exactly what Collapse is, and it's not a bad way for the band to go out. Another "return to form" album, it sounds very much like Out of Time era REM. I believe the first five tracks are as solid a start to an REM album as anything they had released that album. On the negative side, REM could have written many of these songs in their sleep. Stipe's lyrics have become far more understandable over the previous few albums, and with most of these tracks, you get what he's singing about almost immediately. That doesn't mean the lyrics are bad, however, as he turns several interesting phrases -- beginning with "Discoverer" (Just the slightest bit of finesse / might have made a little less mess). Listening to the album today, and you pick up on lyrics that seem to suggest that REM knew this would be it as they were making this one. Stipe says in "Discoverer" that "this is not a challenge, it just means that I love you as much as I always said I did." Your first inclination is that he's talking to a friend or partner, but he might just as well be talking to their fans. "All the Best" sounded like a goodbye from the first moment you read the lyrics..."I'll give it one more time / I'll show the kids how to do it, fine..." and "It's just like me to overstay my welcome, man." "Uberlin" is one of the better songs they've written in years, and "Oh My Heart" is an update on the characters from "Houston". "It Happened Today" is as cryptic as things get lyrically, and the song takes off into a wordless chorus by Stipe, Mills and guest Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam played this song in tribute to REM during their 9/21 concert in Calgary). "Everyday is Yours to Win" sounds like an update on "Everybody Hurts" -- or alternately some thoughts to prop you up as you mourn the loss of your favorite band. The album closes with "Blue" -- which, thanks to Patty Smith's appearance sounds like "E-Bow the Letter" crossed with "Country Feedback" and lyrics that were recorded in the same manner as "Belong". Stipe declares that he wants his "Brothers Proud" -- another indication that maybe he's saying that REM can turn the final page of this book without any regrets.

With the benefit of time, I think more respect will be given to REM's last few albums, particularly the final two. They'll never be mistaken for the best of the bunch, and most fans won't try to tell you that they stack up. But, there's no denying that REM did their best to remain interesting to their fans throughout their 31 years. If, as I now believe, they knew that Collapse Into Now was going to be the end of the line, then it's a fitting love letter to their fans. It will always take on a slightly sadder tone for me now that I hear it in a context of finality, but it also makes me feel like it is 1991 again -- when REM was just about to take that final step into the mainstream, but were doing it completely on their own terms. And I still maintain that with the possible exception of Around the Sun, that REM has never made a truly awful album....that their lesser work is still better than many bands' best....even if it is a bit more of a stretch with some of the later efforts.

If you've bothered to read any of these last 3 posts, I'd love to hear your comments or thoughts. These were written strictly for myself, and I'm not delusional enough to think that anyone really cares what I think of REM. But it's been fun for me to step back and look at their career as a whole. If you are reading this....then thanks for your patience and perseverance. As I'm writing these last few lines, I'm listening to "Every Day is Yours To Win"....and that 17 year old kid that I used to be (and sometimes forget that I'm not anymore) is thinking that it would sound pretty good coming from the headphones that I used to wear as I fell asleep every night. And maybe that's a fitting end to this little exercise....so off to grab some headphones and fall asleep to the sound of Berry, Buck, Mills and Stipe one more time.

R.E.M. - IRS years

2011-09-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

Another one more for myself than anything....and due to my frustration at the Cards looking like they'll lose the first of 3 to the Cubs (while losing another game on the Braves) and a Yankee rainout...well, I don't want to talk about baseball tonight anyway.

My first thought was to write up a post each talking about each of REM's albums (I'm omitting the '.'s for simplicity's sake)....but that's a lot of typing, I'm already bordering on extreme overkill, and writing something meaningful about Around the Sun would mean I'd have to listen to it again, and I don't feel like doing that, because it is the one record REM made that makes me think they should have called it a day sooner (although I did think it was decent right when it first came out).

It's still overkill, but I decided to split this up into 3 posts (that may yet be trimmed down to 2):

The early years / IRS discography
The early WB years
The Post-Bill Berry albums

I think if you poll most fans, 97% would say this is the period that really defines REM's greatness -- and probably the one that most of us "REM snobs" assume the masses overlook when they roll their eyes at the mention of REM. When I saw the band on the tour supporting Up, I remember being pleasantly surprised to hear the band play "Pilgrimage" (one of my favorites), and hearing some idiot sitting a few rows ahead of me yelling "Play the old stuff!" He was very pleased when the next song was from "Green". That's why I tend to assume the masses have never listened to anything earlier than Document.

I'm skipping Chronic Town since it was only an EP and technically was just a re-issue on IRS. So starting off with the debut, and probably REM's most highly regarded album....Murmur.

Murmur, great as it may be, is not my favorite REM album, but it's close. The album kicks off with a reworked version of REM's first single, "Radio Free Europe". While this version isn't as good as the original Hibtone version, it's still a solid opening track and perfectly fits in the context of the full album. For the younger set out there...this was also a time when albums were meant to be listened to in their entirety. (Sorry, I'll try to tone down the cranky old man thing). This album is nearly perfect, the one slight misstep being "Shaking Through". It's not a bad song, but just not quite as engaging as the other tracks. As I mentioned, "Pilgrimage" is a personal favorite and keeps the momentum from the opener rolling along perfectly. "9-9" is another standout and one of the few true 'rockers' on the disc. To someone hearing this for the first time today, it might sound a little dated, but when you consider that the big hits of the day were albums like Michael Jackson's Thriller and the Police's Synchronicity, you realize that this really was like spending 44 minutes in an alternate reality.

Rather than fall into a sophomore slump, REM returned with Reckoning. Where Murmur sounded very crafted and lush, Reckoning was raw, more up tempo -- yet instantly identifiable as REM. "Harborcoat", "Pretty Persuasion", "Second Guessing" and "Little America" give the album a more rocking feel, but the mid tempo classics "So. Central Rain" and "Time After Time" give the whole thing a feeling of depth. The best moment of the album comes near the end, when the originally punky opening of "(Don't Go Back to) Rockville" gives way to a rolling country tune. Long time fans seem to take turns naming each of REM's first three albums as their favorite, but I would guess that Reckoning would slightly edge out the other two.

For their third record, REM once again managed the neat trick of sounding like the same band but completely different. Fables of the Reconstruction is much darker and has a very weird, Southern feeling to it. Songs such as "Old Man Kensey", "Wendell Gee" and "Life and How To Live It" tell stories about eccentric local characters, while "Feeling Gravity's Pull" amps up the weirdness right off the bat. The album features some of the bands better hits as well -- the faux-funk of "Can't Get There From Here", "Auctioneer (Another Engine)" and the classic "Driver 8". Overall, this one is not quite as satisfying as the previous two albums, but still a very strong album.

The reason why none of these albums is my favorite is because their fourth album, Lifes Rich Pageant is just so damn good. And yes, the band intentionally left the apostrophe out of the word "Lifes". This album sounds bigger, more straight ahead. Stipe's vocals are as clear as ever, though the same cannot always be said about his lyrics. The album opens with one of the best 1-2 punches in rock history -- "Begin the Begin" and "These Days". "Fall On Me" and "Cuyahoga" are the first songs that make it obvious that Stipe cares about the environment. There is not one skip-worthy song on this album, and closes perfectly with the trio of "Just A Touch", "Swan Swan H" and "Superman" (a cover of an obscure 60's 'hit' by the Clique). REM's fifth album was the breakthrough, but Pageant is the one that really pulls it all together.

Document keeps the big sound of Pageant but adds an element of chaos to the mix. The jangly 12 string guitar is all but gone at this point. The opening track, "Finest Worksong" sounds like arena rock, and it wouldn't belong before REM was filling arena's. "The One I Love" was the band's breakthrough hit...misunderstood by many as a love song, when in reality it is anything but. "It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" is the other big 'hit' and one of the band's more recognizable songs. It's not all arena rock, though -- "King of Birds" and "Fireplace" provide a mellow counterpoint to the chaos. "Welcome to the Occupation" -- far more political than anything the band had done to this point -- would have been at home on either of the previous two albums.

And with Document, REM was no longer that underground band that you kept hearing about and wondered what the fuss was about. They were on the path to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world and were slowly paving the way for the alternative music revolution that was soon to start.

Wake To a New Today Tomorrow

2011-09-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

A quick disclaimer -- I'm long winded by nature, but I'm going to outdo myself on this one. As a long time R.E.M. fan (obsessive?), this is meant more as a little cathartic exercise than an attempt to really write something worth reading. It may well be a waste of time, though I'll always appreciate anyone who takes the time to read anything that I might write. If you make it all the way through, I hope you enjoy it, but if you get a sentence or two further and give up....well, you've been warned.

You'd think with one of my favorite teams making an improbably push towards the Wild Card, I'd be posting daily thoughts on the Cardinals. But as dramatic as the home stretch of the baseball season has been, there's only one topic on my mind as I start writing tonight....After 31 years as a band, R.E.M. has decided to -- as they put it -- "...call it a day...".

(Photo taken from RollingStone.com -- http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/r-e-m-in-the-real-world-rolling-stones-1987-cover-story-20110921)

Some will tell you that hearing (fill in R.E.M. song here) for the first time changed their life, I think most stories would sound similar to mine. I honestly can't remember the first R.E.M. song that I really heard, but it was "The One I Love" and Document when I first really became aware of R.E.M.'s music -- this was my sophomore year of high school. And at first, I wasn't a huge fan. But a friend of mine was insistent that this band was awesome (he'd previously tried to convert me to the Cure, which oddly enough is a band that took another 3 or 4 years for me to fully appreciate). He was so convinced that I would be hooked that he dubbed a cassette with Life's Rich Pageant on one side and Document on the other. By this point, "The One I Love" had been in constant rotation on the radio -- and the few "long time" R.E.M. fans at my school were converting new fans all the time....so if anything, they were what the "cool kids" liked, and that gave me reason to listen. "It's the End of the World As We Know It" was another one the clicked right away. I flipped the tape over and thought "Fall On Me" and "Superman" sounded vaguely familiar. But outside of these songs, not much really drew me in and for the time being, my musical tastes tended more towards classic rock such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

But the "coolness factor" kept increasing for R.E.M. so more and more of my classmates were becoming fans. Later that year, a few of the "cool kids" decided to play "The One I Love" at our school talent show. Starting to come around, but still far from a fan. Fast forward to the next summer....one of my best friends goes away to camp, comes back with stories of a guy that he had met that had "great taste in music". So a few weeks later, the new friend comes to visit, and struck me as a pretty cool guy. And the fact that he didn't seem to think I was a complete idiot didn't hurt, either. He's got a cassette with him that would change my musical tastes forever. Ironically, it was -- of all things -- a Warren Zevon album. The album, Sentimental Hygiene, featured R.E.M. as Zevon's backing band, and all this new friend could say was that this was a great album and that it sounded like an R.E.M. album. Wanting to fit in, I made a copy and started playing the album for hours on end. The more I listened the more I liked it.

A few weeks later and my family heads out for one of our annual vacations...this one out west to Colorado. As I said before, I was a pretty typical 15 year old in that I would listen to Warren Zevon basically because someone that I thought was cool told me it was good. And like most 15 year old kids, I had also developed a nice little surly streak (my family would probably tell you that it's never really gone away). Staying home wasn't an option, however, so packing a walkman and as many cassette tapes as possible was a must. Traveling from central Illinois to Colorado by car involves more than a few hours in the car, and many of the miles are typified by flat terrain and very sketchy radio reception. I'll tell you today that my parents have excellent taste in music. They introduced me to bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Jefferson Airplane/Starship....There are many songs, bands and albums that I still love today because I remember hearing them in the car during a family trip. But, at 15, I'd have made no such concession, and with the exception of the Beatles, just about any tape they played on the car stereo was met with me putting on a pair of headphones.

You can only listen to one Warren Zevon album so many times as you traverse states like Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, etc., so eventually I had to pick something else. Somewhere along the way, I decided to put in the R.E.M. cassette that had Document and Pageant. The former was the bigger draw because of the hit songs and the sound closer to the Zevon album, but after a while, it was Pageant that really settled into my brain. I think I may have listened to this cassette non-stop for the rest of the trip. Or at least that's the romanticized way I'm choosing to remember it. And from that point forward, I started to count myself as an R.E.M. fan.

As Junior year gets underway, news breaks that Van Halen (or Van Hagar as they were referred to at the time) was coming to the Peoria Civic Center. I hadn't completely forsaken classic/hard rock at this point, and Van Halen was still a big deal. Different "cool friend of a friend" spends the night talking about R.E.M.'s new record, Green, and that we needed to go right out and buy a copy for ourselves. Back then the $15 necessary to buy a CD seemed like a lot of money, and it took me a couple of weeks to save the cash. But as soon as I did, my dad drove me over to a local record store, and I bought a copy (the first R.E.M. ablum that I actually bought as opposed to copying from a friend). "Orange Crush" was a song I liked right away (and had heard on the radio) and "Stand" hadn't yet hit the airwaves. Hooked, mesmerized....however you want to put it, that's where I was. This album had the dual benefit of being something that I really loved AND something that was cool to listen to.

The school talent show rolls around again, and the same kids that had performed an R.E.M. song the year before play "Driver 8". How did I not know this song yet? That I don't know, but I do know that I immediately bought a copy of Eponymous (the IRS greatest hits album that came out at the same time as Green). And so now I also loved "Radio Free Europe", "Talk About the Passion" and "Don't Go Back to Rockville". Some friends -- more of those "cool kids" that I wanted to be in good with -- were driving up to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin to see the Rolling Stones on their Steel Wheels tour. My parents were pretty cool (again, something I probably wouldn't have admitted at the time) but piling into a car with friends that hadn't been driving very long and driving a couple hours north was not something they were agreeable to. But to soften the blow, they did say that I could find another concert that wasn't quite so far away and they'd let me go. Then a friend mentions that R.E.M. was about to play a show in Champaign, which was only about 90 minutes away. The P's still weren't up for letting me ride with friends, but since we knew guys at U of I that were going to the show, we had an apartment where my Dad could sit while I went to the show with my friends (an aside -- I was cool for a short time because I'd been the one to get the group together to go see R.E.M. -- life was good). Again, my parents are pretty cool....looking at this now as I'm just about to turn 39, I can't believe my Dad did this just so I could go to a concert.

If my life didn't change the first time I heard an R.E.M. song, it did the first time I saw them live. To this day -- and I realize that it has been built up over the years in my mind -- I still hold the memory of this concert very close to my heart. They played most of the songs that I wanted to hear (though sadly not "Driver 8") and played several more that have since become favorites (such as "Perfect Circle"). But without a doubt, this is the point where I went from being an R.E.M. fan to being an R.E.M. obsessive. If there was an album I didn't have yet, I bought and/or copied it. I fell asleep most nights with a pair of headphones on and an R.E.M. album playing. I started listening to other bands that were in the same vein -- we called it college rock back then. I found a lot of great music, much of which I still love today and that takes me back to that time whenever I hear it. But there was never a band that compared with R.E.M.

It only got worse in college....I annoyed, then converted my roommate freshman year. I begged another friend to drive me the 16 miles from campus to the closest record store to buy a copy of Out of Time the day it was released. A friend and I would sit in the quad playing our guitars -- the only two truly recognizable songs we could play were "Driver 8" and the Indigo Girls' "Closer to Fine" -- which is what we'd play if anyone that we knew came along and asked us to play something. Junior year brought Automatic for the People and me convincing my then girlfriend (and now wife) to go stand in line with me for the midnight sale that the new record store was holding. She bought a copy, too, and still loves many of those songs (though we both really still hate "Everybody Hurts"). Another midnight sale for Monster (and my second R.E.M. concert), which I initially loved, but is now my least favorite album featuring Bill Berry.

By the time New Adventures in Hi Fi came out in 1996, I had just moved to the Chicago area and seen my tastes shift a bit towards "jam bands".....but, of course, I still stopped at Tower Records on my lunch break to get my copy and still spent the afternoon in my cube at work trying to look busy while listening to the album. Not long after, Bill Berry quit the band, and I fully expected them to be done. But Up soon followed, coming out just days before I got married. Thanks to the wedding and the ensuing honeymoon, this was the first time since Green...and last....time that I would not buy an R.E.M. album on the day that it came out. This album and the next 2 don't really merit much more mention. I don't hate any of the 3, and while I think they all have some great tracks, I always lump them together as R.E.M.'s lost period -- as I'm sure many of my fellow fans do. I do recall, however, that when the band stopped in the Chicago area during this tour, I convinced my wife that we needed to go because I was fairly certain this would be my last chance to see them. Didn't think they had more than a year or two left.

So that leaves Accelerate (along with my final R.E.M. show) and Collapse Into Now. These albums were not as good as the ones that I was obsessed with in the late 80's/early 90's, but they were a welcome change after previous 3 post-Berry releases. And their Chicago stop in support of Accelerate is easily the 2nd best concert of the 4 that I've seen. Collapse saw me as excited for a new R.E.M. album as I'd been since Hi Fi. And today, I'm listening to it in a new light -- especially the song "All the Best" -- "I'll do this one more time".....

I recall reading several reviews that suggested that this might be R.E.M.'s swan song, but I refused to believe that could be true. But of course, that is exactly what it turned out to be. And, honestly, it isn't a bad way to go out. Once the news of their break-up hit, I was following twitter looking for that sense of community that you have when you have a shared love for a band. As you'd expect, mixed in were the typical comments slamming the band -- everything from "they haven't been good since (fill in IRS era record) or (Automatic)" to "I hated 'Losing My Religion'" to "So tragic to say goodbye to a band that hasn't been relevant in at least 10 years." Actually, that last one really pisses me off -- first of all, R.E.M. meant a great deal to a lot of us. I'm sure there are an infinite number of stories out there similar to mine (though I doubt many of them are as long winded). And since when did relevant = greatness? It seems relevant is the same as hit songs to many people -- and by that logic that means Demi Lovato, LMFAO, Maroon 5 and Lady GaGa are a bigger deal than R.E.M. Ok, perhaps this particular moment in time, they are, but check back in 5 or 10 years -- I think R.E.M.'s work will hold up while many of the hitmakers of today will be just as anonymous as all of those bands that were big 2 or 3 years ago but are now long forgotten by anyone that isn't a die hard fan. So basically, you can stick your relevance up your.....

Sorry -- soap box. And so, 9/21/2011 is the day we bid R.E.M. a fond farewell. It's a sad day in many ways, but the music will live on (and will undoubtedly annoy the crap out of my wife as I'm sure to be playing it non-stop for the next few days -- though I'm sure she'll be thankful that this puts an end to my Pearl Jam fixation that's been with me since the PJ20 shows at Alpine Valley a few weeks ago). As I said in the little disclaimer at the top of the post, this one isn't really being written for anyone but me. R.E.M. has been the soundtrack to my life for the last 24 years. Even the albums that I first heard several years after their initial release trigger memories of a particular person, experience or place. Maybe they stuck around a bit too long. Maybe listening to R.E.M. isn't the badge of honor that it once was. Doesn't matter, because right now, I just want to say thanks. It feels like I should say more, but I don't know what that would be. I'll never, ever, love another band the way that I love R.E.M. And while I'm sad that I don't have much more than a new greatest hits album to look forward to...and that I never got to hear them play "Driver 8" live...I'm so thankful that I have 15+ albums worth of music that is so much more than lyrics and melody....It's a time machine...a window into my life at any given time. And to that one guy on twitter -- that's why so many people are lamenting that band that you think is no longer relevant.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and indulging me for a little while. (in my head, "Find the River" is providing a fitting close to this post). Oh, and if you didn't know, the title of this post is taken from a lyric for "It's a Free World, Baby".

Next big thing, or next big headache?

2011-08-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, by now most of you have probably seen video from Sunday's Cubs/Cardinals game showing Starlin Castro doing everything but paying attention to the baseball game. At one point, he seems to completely miss the fact that Cubs' pitcher James Russell throws a pitch to the Cardinals shortstop, Daniel Descalso. You know it's bad when Mr. No-Attention-Span himself, Alfonso Soriano, is the one who tells you that you missed an entire play. Castro admitted that he didn't know he had missed the play until he saw it on TV later that night. Castro and the Cubs were roundly criticized during the game and Castro got a day off on Monday, presumably as a form of punishment.

There's a part of me that wants to join in. Castro's one of the only possible "stars" for the Cubs to latch their wagon to, but honestly, I think he's just got too far to go development-wise to justify the fuss. It is beyond clear that the kid has talent, but it is also apparent that he's lacking a bit in maturity. I've heard folks throw out comparisons to Jeter, which just makes me laugh. As a huge fan of Jeter's, I have to admit a strong bias here, but even during his early years in the majors, Derek never took his eyes off the ball. And while he still commits his share of errors, generally, he's the kind of player that makes all the plays he's expected to make. With Castro, sometimes it is the highlight reel plays that look easy and the easy plays that end up looking embarrassing.

But ultimately, I this highlights a big problem I've seen with the Cubs over the last several years...and to a certain extent in pro sports in general. The Cubs have a long history of enabling less than acceptable behavior when it is generating the optimal result. Sammy Sosa always seemed to get away with being a poor teammate -- until such time that he stopped hitting home runs at an incredible rate...then he was banished to the Orioles. Corey Patterson was brought up through the minors as a #3 hitter in the order, then became a problem child when he wasn't able to change his mindset to be a leadoff hitter. Carlos Zambrano looked to be a Cy Young caliber pitcher and earned himself a big payday...and, well, saying that hasn't turned out well is an understatement. And now we see Castro -- star of the future -- gifted with amazing natural talent, and yet it isn't until ESPN's cameras catch him popping sunflower seeds in his mouth and kicking at the dirt that he gets reprimanded. I have a hard time believing this was the first time the kid has zoned out during a game, yet this is the first time Quade (more likely someone in the front office) has seen fit to give Castro a day off.

Castro has the talent to be a very good -- if not great -- major league shortstop. He could be the next big star for the Cubs. He could also be yet another player in a frustratingly long line of guys that are content to compile stats and be the "big man" on a mediocre team. I really hope the former will turn out to be the case, but I fear that the latter is far more likely.

Goodbye, Colby.

2011-07-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Looking back on it now, it seems like something that was inevitable. Colby Rasmus is an ex-Cardinal. To a certain degree, I think the Cardinals have made a bit of a mistake. Rasmus has issues, and had earned a fair bit of the ire that he's received from some corners of Cardinals nation. He's requested trades, and by many accounts, ignores the advice from the coaches that are paid to make him a better player in favor of the advice that his Dad (also his former high school coach). This has never sat well with TLR....and that is completely understandable. At the same time, it seems that La Russa has had his mind made up regarding Rasmus while he was still working his way up the minor league ladder.

Regardless, it isn't a stretch to say that Rasmus wasn't living up to expectations this year. His numbers have tumbled mightily after getting off to a good start, and he's started losing playing time to John Jay. He's one of those players that has so much natural talent that it can sometimes appear that he's loafing it in the outfield. Add to that a few dropped balls in some key situations, and you have a scenario that rarely plays well with a fan base that values hustle and "playing the game the right way."

So Rasmus leaves, along with relievers Brian Tallet, Trever Miller and minor leaguer P.J. Walters. The centerpiece of the players coming back is Edwin Jackson, an free agent to be who is in the midst of his best year in the majors. He'll be tough to resign, especially if he performs well now that he's moved over to the NL. The Cards also get relievers Octavio Dotel, Marc Rzepcynksi and former Cub Corey Patterson.

This deal does seem to make the Cardinals better for the short term. The offense hasn't had much trouble putting up runs, the rotation has been decent, but the bullpen has shown a propensity to blow a lead in close games. This allows Skip Schumaker to see a little more time in the outfielder, so in theory the infield defense should improve a bit (though with the personnel in place, it will be a minimal increase). The team also expects Allen Craig back from a rehab stint sometime in early August. Kyle McClellan will move back to the bullpen, and the rotation shouldn't suffer from the addition of Jackson. Rzepcynski will hopefully be an upgrade in the left handed reliever department, Dotel has closing experience (a role I hope he never fills in STL) and there are worse backup outfielders in the league than Patterson.

I have mixed emotions on the deal. On one hand, Colby wasn't looking like the player that we expected him to be. But at 24, it isn't like he's reached that point in his career where he settles in as a 'good' player rather than improving and becoming a great player. Last year, Ludwick was sent packing after an underwhelming and injury filled first half, and Jay faltered a bit down the stretch as he went from sub to starter. But now we're sure he's ready to handle things as the starting center fielder? Then again, the only season that we should be worried about here is 2011 -- we might well wish this trade has never happened a year from now, but if the Cardinals can use this move to get into the playoffs and hopefully make a run to the World Series, the trade of Rasmus will be nothing more than a footnote to the season.

Sometimes you can't win for trying

2011-07-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 9, 2011.....the day Derek Jeter became the 28th major leaguer to collect 3,000 hits. Only the 14th to collect all of his hits with one team. First Yankee to get 3,000 hits. 2nd player to homer on hit #3,000. Jeter had quite a day as I'm sure you've heard....going 5 for 5 (half of the Yankees total hits), missed the cycle by a triple, but did manage to drive in the winning run. It was the kind of day that sadly has been in short supply for Jeter in 2011.

Leading up to this historic weekend, I was somewhat taken aback at all of the negativity surrounding Jeter and his chase for 3000. I fully understand why the average baseball fan is sick and tired of the "Damn Yankees", and by extension, tired of Jeter. Negativity from those types of people is to be expected. But much of the furor was coming from Yankees fans themselves -- many thinking that there is no way this team wins the World Series with Jeter as the full time shortstop. The Yankees did play well while Jeter was on the DL, and his replacement, Eduardo Nunez, did little to disprove the idea that he may well be the Yankee shortstop of the future. Once Jeter was off the DL, there was also a fair bit of talk that Jeter did not deserve his starting spot on the AL All Star roster (I won't disagree with this thought).

With 3k no in the books, the negativity turned to the events of the day. Quite a bit was made of the storybook nature of the kid who caught the home run ball. First it was that he couldn't possibly be what he seemed on TV (the suggestion being that he was coached up by Yankee big wigs). Then he was naive for not trying to cash in on the ball. Then Jeter was a jerk for not offering up cash to the kid even though he demanded none (and got seats in a luxury suite for the remainder of the season through the playoffs).

Finally, with all of those topics beat to death, Jeter decides to skip the All Star Game, and that's dominated the talk since. Honestly, do we not have anything better to talk about? Well, maybe not -- baseball is taking its annual break and the other two major sports are both in lockout mode. There was the US Women's team's thrilling victory over Brazil on Sunday in the Women's World Cup, but soccer always seems to stir up as many detractors as it does win fans during these tournaments.

So, the debate rages on. Sports writers, fellow players -- even the likes of Hall of Famer Willie Mays -- all had their say. Ad nauseum. I'll freely admit that as someone who is a huge fan of Jeter, I'm inclined to give him a pass on this where I might not be so generous if we were talking about some other player. And Jeter's been a good "baseball citizen," too. He's played in All Star Games, he's played more post season games than most any player currently in the majors and been a part of both World Baseball Classics. He's represented the Yankees and the game with class and dignity basically any time he has been asked. And no matter what any of us average joes think, playing baseball isn't a game for a guy like Jeter, it is a job. And chasing a milestone like 3000 hits in a media market like New York is a tiring affair. I don't doubt that Jeter needed the rest.

I'd also like to believe that an unspoken reason that Jeter declined to attend is precisely the one that many are using against him. There seems to be some sentiment that Jeter owed it to baseball to allow the fans to applaud his achievement at the All Star Game. But given the way Jeter has always conducted itself, I don't think it is just my particular bias that wonders if, in part, Jeter stayed away to allow the spotlight to shine on all of the selected All Stars rather than to let it become DJ3K Celebration, Part 2. It makes a certain amount of sense, doesn't it?

Again, I am biased. Jeter has been such a great player -- a great Yankee -- and I admire the way he's been able to sidestep most of the kinds of things that have dogged pro athletes in the internet/social media age. When you consider just how big the microscope is that any celebrity is under these days, it's simply amazing that Jeter's never been the center of the type of controversy that's dragged down the likes of Tiger Woods, ARod or Roger Clemens. Jeter hasn't even been surrounded by something like the Michael Jordan gambling incident. His biggest crimes seem to be fighting for a contract this past off season, displaying the diminished physical skills that would affect any 37 year old and deciding he needed to skip the All Star Game. It seems to me that maybe we'd all enjoy things like the All Star Game more if we spent as much time saluting the players that are deserving to be there as we do worrying about one player that isn't.

And I wouldn't be shocked to see an article tomorrow blaming the NL's newly minted ASG winning streak on the absence of a certain AL shortstop that decided to skip the game....

Incredible? Yes. So then why am I so worried?

2011-07-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

This should be good news. I should be thrilled. I should be rushing to tell a certain Facebook friend/Cubs fan that "The Machine" -- Albert Pujols if you're not familiar with his nickname -- came back from injury early.....AGAIN! This isn't the first time Albert's pulled off this trick. In 2006, he came back from an oblique injury after missing just a couple of weeks. In 2009, people were sure it was a matter of time before he blew out his elbow. He played the entire season, and missed a minimal number of games. This one is perhaps the most amazing.... Pujols seems to be finally working his way out of a season long slump (which in his terms is a decent season for a lot of really good players out there) but collides with a runner while reaching for a throw on Father's Day. Pujols immediately goes down and the injury looks serious. Turns out to be a fracture, and he's expected to miss AT LEAST 4-6 weeks. (Quick aside -- I'm ticked because I have tickets to the 7/29 game vs. the Cubs and was facing the prospect of my first Cardinals game since '98 that didn't involved Albert).

Image courtesy of STL Today/Cardinals (http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/)

Then late last week, news came out that Albert was making incredible progress in his recovery and that it was looking like he'd be back early. The worry doesn't start just yet....the guy's known as a quick healer, and I'd begun to expect (hope?) that he'd be returning sometime around the game I have tickets for. But this is a fracture....even if you're a quick healer, it just takes what it takes for a bone to heal, right? So I was more than a little surprised to see the MLB TV "Ballpark Cam" trained on Pujols and his trainer as I was waiting for the Yankees/Indians game to start yesterday. Then I hear the announcer say that Pujols may be "....back as soon as tomorrow." Tomorrow was Tuesday, July 5, 2011 (today as I'm writing).

And that's when it started....The worry. Started out wondering if the Cardinals doctors are just that incompetent. These were the guys, after all, that had played havoc with my fantasy team the week I traded for Matt Holliday, and these same doctors let Holliday play through a quad injury that ultimately landed him on the DL. Worse yet, since he'd tried to give it a go, they couldn't retro the date. (Incidentally, I traded away Jay Bruce who went on a hell of a tear just as he joined the other team's roster. I know -- no one cares about your fantasy team but you, but I can't help talking about it a little). So maybe they'd misdiagnosed Albert's injury.

Then the conspiracy theories started. Was this some plot to keep Pujols out of the line up and drive his value down? Who knows? Or did Pujols play up the injury to get a little break and also add to his legend (and eventual payday)? Both seem a little far fetched, sure, but crazier things have happened in baseball history, so maybe this was it. Or maybe he's pushing his way back too early trying to salvage his numbers ahead of free agency. Maybe he's coming back before he's ready and this is setting up a season ending injury (which would likely end what chance the Cards have at making an October run).

But ultimately, my real worry -- my 2nd biggest baseball-related fear, to be more exact -- settled into my head and has been sitting their weighing on my thoughts since. What if this recovery -- and I guess by extension the previous ones that I mentioned -- was accomplished by less-than-natural means? After Manny Ramirez, I can't imagine that any big name player is stupid enough to test his luck with MLB's drug testing policy and use steroids. But HGH? I don't know. They can't test for it, so any current MLBer could be taking the stuff and we wouldn't know. Pujols is a big guy, too...There are more than a few Cards haters out there that would suggest that the guy can't be doing this without some kind of booster. A quick google search brings up all kinds of possibly legit information suggesting that HGH could speed bone healing.

I don't want to believe this is true. I hate that the thought even crossed my mind, and I suppose I'm being somewhat irresponsible putting pen to paper as I've done here. The only thing the could shake my passion as a fan more than Albert Pujols being found out as a drug cheat would be if we learned that Derek Jeter was one. I'd be a little less surprised if this did prove true for Albert, but my disappointment would be indescribable. With Jeter, I'd be upset because his general demeanor -- as I read one writer suggest -- is that he thinks he's just better than the type of guy who'd take PEDs. Where Pujols is concerned, it's more the fact that he's said more than a few times "Don't be afraid to believe in me." He says it would be an insult to his faith to cheat his fans. He says that his wife would kill him, and he's more afraid of her than any fan based wrath he would have to face. He says all the right things, and I want to believe that he's the real deal. I want to believe that I'm seeing one of the greatest of all time giving his all game in / game out.

The sad fact is, even after all this time, no matter how sick I am of talking about PEDs, they are still a part of the game. I still remember turning a blind eye to them as Sosa and McGwire were crushing Maris' home run record. I'm ashamed that I've left ballparks satisfied that I saw one or both of those guys clubbed one. I said the same after seeing Bonds hit one in Coors when he took over as the game's premier slugger. I've seen the legacy of some of my favorite teams of all time tainted by the likes of Roger Clemens. I sympathized with Andy Pettitte as he admitted his own HGH use. I've felt the mix of sympathy and "yeah, so now you guys have your cheats, too"-itis as the key duo to the '04 and '07 Red Sox teams were outed as PED users. There have been a steady string of no names that have been busted. I should be numb to it by now. But this is different. This is Albert. This is one of my favorite players -- my favorite Cardinal since Ozzie (except maybe for Stubby Clapp). It's hopefully just one of those stupid little things that I decide I need to worry about, and I'll tell stories one day of how I saw the great Albert Pujols come back from a fracture in 15 days. But in 2011, it is hard to be sure about anything, no matter how badly you want to be wrong.

Both Barrels

2011-06-21T20:05:00.001-07:00

Rough times for Cardinals fans....Pujols is out 4-6 weeks with a fractured wrist and all of a sudden, the Cardinals look like a very mediocre team. Of course, anyone who's a fan of a team in the NL Central has to acknowlege that even the best team in the division might be mediocre. Injuries have been a big part of the story of the 2011 Cardinals, but when you have a guy like Albert Pujols in your lineup you tend to weather the storm. But even with guys like Holliday and Berkman around to help keep this ship on the right course, you don't lose a guy like Albert to injury and not see some kind of impact. I didn't think the impact would be quite this noticeable, though.

One thing that I never do is celebrate injury. I think the vast majority of Cardinal fans are with me on this one. As a whole, we're a part of a fanbase that appreciates good baseball, and so that's why a recent post by a friend on Facebook has been bugging me for the last few days.

"My condolences to the Cardinals fans on the loss of your Pujols for 4-6 weeks. Today's message is brought to you by the letters H and A!! ;)"

Now to be completely honest, I'm married to one of THE greatest Cubs fans in the world. Her first words when she heard of the injury were "So we won't see Albert when we go to St. Louis?" (We're making our annual trip to Busch for the 7/29 game vs. the Cubs). That's how a real fan reacts. But too many Cubs fans seem to fit the comment above. Well, folks, it's a little too easy, but rather than respond directly to this "friend" I decided this was a better forum to blow off a little steam with responses that I'd have to that statement. With both barrels.....

Well now I feel bad....I didn't share my condolences when Darwin Barney...your team's best player....hit the DL.
Umm, when you posted this, you were still 5 games behind the Pirates. now you're 8.
(the LeBron answer) But when you wake up tomorrow you're still going to have the same problems....you're still rooting for the Cubs.
The hand gesture I'm showing you has been brought to you by the numbers 1, 9, zero and 8.
My favorite joke from 2006 was "What do the Cubs and Cardinals have in common? Neither team has won a World Series in their new stadium." Of course, the Cardinals ruined it by winning the 2006 World Series. I resurrected it in 2009 with the Yankees (my other favorite team) instead of the Cardinals. They ruined it, too. Doesn't have the same zip if you plug in the Twins, does it? Ahh, but it's still fun.
Good for you....maybe you'll only finish 15 games behind the Cards instead of 20 (or more).
Feels like I should be able to come up with a really witty response, but after 100+ years of this, I've grown weary of making fun of the Cubs (Ok, not old enough to have done this for 100 years, but you get the idea...).

Thanks. Felt good getting that out of my system.

(and seriously, this is meant in fun, and with the type of spirit that makes the Cardinals/Cubs rivalry the most fun in baseball)

LeBron could learn from ARod, Jeter

2011-06-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

It might be the most I've enjoyed a championship that didn't involve a team that I cared about. It's also probably the first time since the Jordan era came to a close that I've really watched an NBA Finals series that didn't involve the Celtics. The rational human being that lurks somewhere inside my head wanted to feel at least a little bit sorry for LeBron and Heat as they fell short of their own expectations, but the obnoxious sports fan - as he often does - took over and enjoyed every second of the Heat's demise. He even switched over to see just how dejected the losers looked after the last two losses. I don't think I'm much different from any fan out there that doesn't hail from Cleveland. I don't really have any reason to hate the Heat and LeBron except for "The Decision" and the premature championship celebration. No use in spending more time talking about those events. Bottom line, you celebrate a title that you have yet to win, and people are going to love watching you lose. At times, I feel a bit uneasy at how we put people up on a pedestal in our culture and then try to tear them apart. Yet, you just know that one day, after LBJ has failed to win title after title, he'll be the sentimental favorite.

One thing that just baffles me about LeBron is how he simply refuses to learn from his previous gaffes and continues to give the public things to pick apart. He really has replaced ARod as the most needlessly dissected athlete in America.....at least until the next girlfriend is caught feeding ARod popcorn at a sporting event. Truthfully, the steroid fiasco took some of the fun out of hounding ARod. So we've moved on to LeBron. He doesn't come off as calculated as Rodriguez, but he does have the same talent for saying something completely dumb at the worst possible time. Case in point, LBJ was doing a decent enough job answering questions during the post-game presser after the Mavs clinched. Then, all of a sudden and seemingly out of nowhere, he responds with a quite that sounded to many as if he was essentially saying "I'm still 'King James', you're still a bunch of peasants, and when you wake up tomorrow, then next day, the next month, that will still be the case." It's up to you to decide what he really meant with the statement, but everyone agrees it was a poor choice of words. LeBron could learn a thing or two from a guy like Derek Jeter -- a guy who very rarely seems to be the center of controversy even playing in New York. Instead, LeBron seems to have taken a few pages out of ARod's "Guide to Embarrassing Yourelf In Front of the Media."

Thanks to my infrequent posting, a few other thoughts to share.....

Someone in the Post Dispatch floated the idea that the Cardinals might be the best team in the majors, and the Cards answer with a 7 game losing streak that finally came to end against Kansas City on Saturday. When healthy, the Cardinals should be as much a contender as any other NL team. But, the injuries have caught up with the team a bit, and now we're facing 4-6 weeks without Albert Pujols....although knowing Pujols, it will only be 3 weeks.
Speaking of Albert, the silver lining may be that it lowers the price tag a bit for 2012. Still can't imagine him playing in another uniform.
I'm sure this will read as a Cards fan picking on Cubs fans, but I had to laugh that many of the Cubs fans I follow on twitter suggested that their team was putting itself back into the NL Central race. We all know the NL Central is a shaky division at best, but really, when your team comes off a nice stretch where you've made up ground and you're STILL 9+ games out.....well, you were that far back for a reason, and post-Memorial Day, these things don't tend to change. Sorry.
Picking on the Cubs, Part II: Many Yankees fans that I follow on twitter said that the shine was off of young shortstop (of the future?) Eduardo Nunez now that they'd had a look at Starlin Castro. Wonder how they feel after watching the full series. To my eye, and it is admittedly one that looks for things to not like about the Cubs, Castro is much like Carlos Marmol and Carlos Zambrano -- tantalizing talent that makes you think he could be special, but a head that just as often makes you wonder how quickly he can get out of town.

Can't think of anything else that needed to be said....thanks for reading.

The I-55 "Rivalry"

2011-06-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

With the possible exception of Celtics vs. Lakers, the I-55 rivalry is hands down my favorite in sports. I don't think it's one that translates outside of a particular geography, though, in the same way that C's/Lakers, Yankees/Red Sox or Packers/Bears does. A big reason for that was on grand display this past weekend.....It has seemed to be very rare in my 38 years that both the Cubs and the Cardinals have been good in the same season. They have been closer in the standings in the last decade, but the last time that this rivalry seemed to have real teeth was back in 2003 as the favored Cardinals just couldn't hang with Dusty Baker's surprising Cubs. But then in 2004, the roles flipped and the Cardinals returned the favor by being a juggernaut team (that eventually lost to the more...er, umm ....juggernaut-y Red Sox). But more often than not, it seems that when one team is a serious contender, the other fades by mid-August if not sooner. And we've certainly never seen any games with the kind of drama that was on display in the 2003 and 2004 playoffs when the Yankees and Red Sox met in the ALCS in consecutive years. It was those two series that really lead ESPN to believe that the nation really cared about that rivalry (and they've been shoving it down our throats ever since.....and I mean no disrespect -- I am as much a Yankees fan as I am a Cardinals fan).

But still, growing up in Central Illinois, this is the rivalry that seemed to matter above all others. Peoria is about 3 1/2 hours from St. Louis and about 3 from Chicago. Peoria' local Midwest League has been the low A affiliate to both the Cubs and the Cards at different points in the franchise's history -- and has seen the beginning of the careers of such talents as Greg Maddux, Mark Grace, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. I had friends growing up that shared my love of the Cardinals, and I had just as many friends that were Cubs fans. (Side note....only a handful of folks cared about the White Sox until they donned black hats in the 90's. And even after that, they are a distant #3 in terms of baseball pecking order....maybe further down with the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox and Braves having dominant stretches that attracted fans). For my 8th grade class trip, we had a choice of going to the St. Louis Zoo and a Cardinals game or spending a day at Six Flags. We voted for the former simply because it was the option that got us a day off of school. My 8th grade teacher, herself a huge Cubs fan, gave a lecture to the class that for the Cubs fans, it was one thing to go to St. Louis and cheer against the Cardinals, but another to do so wearing a Cubs hat (the opponent was the Braves). In other words, leave your Cubs apparel on the bus or at home.

The other reason that I love this rivalry -- it really is a friendly rivalry. I've watched games at Wrigley field, proudly wearing my red, and not been the least bit worried about being an opposing fan in "the enemy's ballpark." Same has held true for my wife when we've taken in games in St. Louis. Sure, you get a few good-natured barbs thrown your way, but I've never once felt like things would turn ugly (the same can't be said when I've worn my Yankees gear as a visiting fan). In truth, though my loyalties are rarely at odds (though I will admit to rooting for the Cubs in 2003 once the playoffs started), I just can't muster up much hatred for the Cubs. Doesn't mean I enjoy watching the Cards lose to them, but on days like today -- where the Cards have finished a heartbreaking sweep of the Cubs -- I really feel pity for Cubs fans as much as anything.

There are two players on the Cubs that I truly dislike....Carlos Zambrano and Carlos Marmol. I think both are perfect examples of the kind of misguided talent evaluation that has taken the Cubs from contenders in 2003, 2004 and 2007-09 and put them where they are today. They have great "stuff", but they also have screws loose that will ALWAYS prevent either from ever reaching his true potential. The Cubs will never win a World Series with Big Z in their rotation, and if they do ever get to a pressure packed game 7 in the NLCS with Marmol as their closer, I have no doubt that he'll fold just like he folded today. Zambrano is a bit easier to explain...I'm not sure where I picked up the intense dislike for Marmol.

But aside from that, there are a lot of Cubs players that I semi-root for....especially the young guys like Colvin and Barney. So on a day like today, I'm marveling at the way Pujols, in a down season, ended two straight games (one on a pitch that wasn't all that bad) in walk-off fashion. But I can't help but feel a bit sorry for a fan like my wife. She loves her team -- always will -- but has always had respect for the Cardinals. Of course, she like me, is married to a fan of the enemy, and related to several more such fans. But even in the worst of times, her stripes don't change. One change has happened, though. The cluelessness of the Ricketts family combined by the occasionally brilliant but mostly awful reign of Jim Hendry has made her somewhat apathetic to her team. For the second straight season, we're not going to make a single trip to Wrigley, which is especially note worthy because the Yankees come to play this year. In 2003, I burned a vacation day to buy tickets for the same series. This year, we decided that we didn't want to put any money in the Cubs' wallets. I'm thrilled with the way the Cardinals have hung in there all season -- one in which my expectations were fairly low -- but I do feel sad that a fan like my wife hasn't been able to feel the same sense of hope around her team. It's been years and years of either waiting for the bottom to drop out (when they're good) or just wondering how far down the bottom is (how she feels this year).

Brain Junk - 5/18

2011-05-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

Several random thoughts that I've had in mind but that did't seem to warrant a lengthy post.....

I decided when my Grandfather passed away in January that one of the things I was going to do to honor him was to "be a Cardinal fan" for 2011. It isn't a stretch -- I am a Cardinal fan, but typically would answer the question of favorite team with "Yankees". While I'm less invested in these Yanks than I have been any team since the mid 80's, it isn't like I just flipped the switch and dumped the team from my sports consciousness. But this current Posada/Jeter mess is just yet another example of what's become harder and harder to like about the team. My original plan was to write something about how tough it is when your longtime favorites no longer live up to the image you have of them. That has been both Jeter and Posada this year, and things came to a head with Jorge on Saturday when he asked out of the lineup. Rather than try to write something, I'll direct you to this article by Matthew Leach, which is far better than anything I could come up with. I couldn't help think of Ozzie Smith when I read this. I fondly recall the 1996 playoffs, mainly as the year that the newest Yankee dynasty was born, but the Cardinals were also one win away from treating me to a World Series featuring my two favorite teams. Watching that series very nearly rekindled my passion for the Cards the way the Yankees victory did my passion for the Bronx Bombers (before you say "fairweather fan", I'll remind you that this was still early days after the '94 strike, and it took a while for me to come back). I had actually lost some of my love for the Cards as TLR ran Ozzie out of town in favor of Royce Clayton. Didn't matter that it was time...this was Ozzie, and I STILL revert back to my 10 year old self at the mere mention of the man's name. I'm quite a bit older now and the attachment to Jeter and Posada is different, but it is still sad to see them both decline as they have. I still think Jeter makes something of the season, but Posada seems past done.
Ok, a little longer than I intended....So just when I think the Cardinals are looking like a contender in the NL, they go to Cicni and get swept. The Reds took a bit to find themselves, but they seem to be rolling now. And as the weather heats up, so do their bats....they have the potential to be a very formidable team -- especially if they make a few solid moves at the deadline. Walt Jocketty has a habit of making shrewd moves at the right time.
Speaking of the Reds, I think this has the potential to become one of the best rivalries in baseball this year. Dusty Baker and TLR don't like each other and that has definitely spilled over onto the field. There seems to be some little extra curricular thing that pops up every time they play. Hopefully it doesn't turn ugly like the fisticuffs last summer, but there's no doubt that there will be an abundance of drama.
Slight diversion from baseball....How much fun was it watching the Bulls blow out the Heat on Sunday? Loved every second of it. I still think the Heat win the series, but definitely rooting hard for the Bulls.
I've referred to the Cardinals as contenders in a few posts now. If that is to be believed, then something needs to be done to address the defense. I think some of it is just bad luck, but the fact remains that they allow more unearned runs all but one or two other teams. That is never a recipe for success.
Has Tony LaRussa ever met an outfielder that he didn't think was better suited playing 2B? But, good to get Craig's bat in the lineup.
Interleague play is almost here. I used to love it, but now my usual response is just "meh". I really think the novelty has worn off. For all the excitement of a team like the Cubs making their first trip to Fenway in over 90 years, or the Yankees coming to Wrigley for only the second time since the 1940's (didn't look that up, might even be 30's...yes, sometimes I'm too lazy for my own good), most of these series are of the ho hum variety. Even the cross town/cross state rivalries seem watered down. It'd be one thing if you had a situation where all the teams involved were at least mediocre. I really think MLB needs to cut the geographic rivalries down to one series per year. Or, given that you'll never convince an owner that it is good to give up the gate for those games, make it a 4 game series with 2 home games each. And then that's it for the year. Sure we'll still be stuck with that classic Padres/Mariners grudge match, but at least you restore some of the novelty to the event for the ones that fans do care about.

That's all the time I'll waste for today. Thanks for reading....

Vanquish the Cubs, Bring on the Reds

2011-05-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

More time passed since my last post than I had intended, and the outlook has changed considerably since then. With my last post, Mitchell Boggs had just taken the closer reigns from Ryan Franklin, and the Cardinals were just starting to show some signs of life. As it stands today, they are atop the NL Central (tallest midget, some would say) and at times look like a serious contender in the NL. Boggs has given way to Eduardo Sanchez as the "head" of the closer committee, although we've also seen Trever Miller and Fernando Salas close things out.

We've also seen the first installment of the I-55 rivalry for 2011 - a time that is always a little tense in my household (as my wife is a huge Cubs fan). The Cards took 2 of 3, which -- and I don't mean this as anymore than a statement of fact in terms of the Cubs -- is the minimum you'd expect given the start of both teams. The sad fact of the matter, for Cubs fans, is that the team just isn't very good. There is some hope for the future as the Cubs continue to fill the gaps with young talent from the farm system. Geo Soto and Starlin Castro have both settled in as fixtures in the lineup, and while it is too early to proclaim him the real deal just yet, Darwin Barney is looking like the type of player that might hold down 2B for a couple of years. Tyler Colvin has struggled to start the year, and may earn a trip back to AAA Iowa, but playing behind the likes of Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome and Carlos Pena means that either ineffectiveness or injury is likely going to give you a shot sometime soon. The young pitchers are also starting to gel a bit -- Samardzija is starting to develop something useful besides his fastball and Andy Cashner looks like a top 3 starter (and is getting closer to coming off the DL). So while 2011 looks like another "wait for next year" type of season, the tide may be turning.

Of course, you can't talk about the series in Chicago without mentioning "The Hug". During batting practice prior to the first game of the series, Cubs GM Jim Hendry and Pujols greeted each other with a hug.

Many a hopeful Cubs fan decided that this was just the latest sign that Pujols would ditch the Cardinals to sign with the Cubs. The Cubs also have several big contracts coming off the books and would be able to offer the huge contract that Pujols is looking for. It would certainly be a coup for the Cubs to sign the megastar player away from their rivals, but this would be a terrible move on several fronts.

First off, Pujols isn't going to the Cubs for any less than he's demanding of the Cards. You needn't look any further than left field at Wrigley to understand why you don't give a player in his 30's a lengthy free agent deal. Plus, with all of the contracts coming off the books, the Cubs are going to have a few holes to fill. Even if Pujols took money over than winning, who are you putting at 3rd? Right Field? What about the rotation? Obviously, I'm far from unbiased, but I really don't see it happening, and if it does, I think it would be yet another signal that Cubs management just doesn't get it.

The Cardinals left Chicago and rolled into Cincinnati ready to take on the Reds. The Reds have been a bit of an enigma this season. They started out the season looking like a powerhouse, then came back to earth. But with Cueto and Bailey back in the rotation and Scott Rolen returning to face his former team, the Reds are poised to take the lead in the NL Central if they can sweep the Cards. Friday's game was one that has become typical of this rivalry as the Cards jumped out to the early lead only to having the Reds continue to hang around until Joey Votto's walk off single in the 10th. The remaining two games in this series should prove to be equally as dramatic.

Closing Time

2011-04-18T11:42:00.001-07:00

The jinx is not dead apparently. No sooner do I post something talking about the Cards' improved performance in the last week and that they are in line to sweep the 4 game set with the Dodgers - winning their 5th game in the process, when Ryan Franklin comes in and fails to convert yet another save chance.

After an epic battle between starters Chris Carpenter and the Dodgers Chad Billingsley, Terver Miller took to the mound to start the 9th inning. His job was to retire lefty hitter Andre Ethier, and would then give way to closer Franklin to finish off the sweep. Miller did not get the job done, and Franklin servered up the walk off to the red hot Matt Kemp.

And with that, the closer carousel will very likely spin. The odds-on favorite seems to be Mitchell Boggs, who has been off to a great start this season. Jason Motte is another popular choice, although he has had his own issues early in 2011.

Personally, I feel for Franklin. I want him replaced, but you have recognize the contributions he's made to the Cardinals for the last few years. He stepped up early on in 2009 when Jason Motte tried and failed to take on the role of closer. It is not an easy job. Franklin -- a less-than-successful starter in his career -- seemed an odd choice, and while he doesn't have classic closer stuff, you have to recognize that he's been effective in the role...even appearing as an All Star. He's kept the seat warm while the "young 'uns" developed, but the writing's on the wall now. If TLR opts for loyalty over the stark reality that Franklin might need to return to a setup role, then the crowds at Busch Stadium during the upcoming homestand may hunt him down in a scene that could be eerily reminiscent of the original Frankenstein movie.

Things are looking up.

2011-04-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

Just a week ago, even the most optimistic Cardinals fan would have had trouble finding the silver lining to the Redbirds sluggish start to the season. The Cardinals were seemingly finding ways to lose games, and we had just witnessed perhaps the most heartbreaking instance yet -- Ryan Franklin blowing another save and Colby Rasmus turning the final out of the game into a game winning double for Miguel Tejada. Personally, I hang that one on Franklin...Rasmus has no excuse for not making that catch, but Franklin allowed two ducks with two outs. I don't completely disagree with Tony LaRussa's assertion that while Motte and Boggs are viable candidates to close in the future that they may not be any more ready for the task than Franklin is right now. But, I think I'd be a little more inclined to gamble on handing the job to Boggs to see what he can do.

After that loss, the Cardinals picked things up. They pounded the Giants in the series finale and then took 2 of 3 from the D'backs and are on the verge of sweeping the 4 game series with the Dodgers. We've also seen the bats wake up in a big way, which is very likely due to the return of Matt Holliday to the lineup. His recovery from adbominal surgery has been rather amazing, and with him back in the cleanup spot, the offense looks more like what we expected. Lance Berkman's bat has also woken up and he's hit 6 round trippers and driven in 12 runs over the last 7 days -- and is hitting .476 over that same stretch. Rasmus' bat has also continued to be hot as his average sits just below .400.

Of course, a week ago, I was saying it was far too early to hit the panic button, so the same caution has to be applied after a very good week. Both the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks are in the bottom 3 in ERA in the NL and are the two worst in homers allowed per 9 innings (although you could also point to the fact that Cardinal hitters do have something to do with those stats). The more encouraging stat is the fact that Cards have scored at least 6 runs in every game over the last 7 days, which includes a 13-8 loss to the D'backs -- the only loss in that span.

The upcoming week is a big one for the Redbirds...they return home to face the Nationals Tuesday through Thursday and then welcome the rival Reds to town for the first meeting of the year. There's no love lost between these teams, and I have a feeling that Johnny Gomes is going to find himself with a target on his back after the comments he made in response to Wainwright's injury. The Reds are currently 1.5 games ahead of the Cards and leading the NL Central. They figure to be the team to beat in the division, and this is just the first round of what promises to be a great season-long battle.

(Picture courtesy of stltoday.com, stats courtesy of fangraphs.com)

Uh Oh

2011-04-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

If the first week is any indication, we're in for a long season. So far the Cardinals have been a mess....Starting pitching is just poor enough to lose, the closer has blown 2 out of 3 save chances, the mega star has hit into more double plays than he has driven in runs and the other super star missed the week due to an appendectomy. Not a good way to start a season in which you're already missing your co-ace due to Tommy John surgery. Indeed, it could be an agonizingly long season for the Redbirds.

Hitting the panic button on April 9 is foolish. It goes without saying that there is much baseball left to play, and there is reason to believe that this is just a team finding its legs a bit in the early going. But the Adrian Gonzalez-less Padres proved to be just as tough a match-up as they were last year, and while the Pirates aren't headed for October baseball, they are not the doormat that they have been in year's past. Still, posting a 2-4 record against these teams wasn't what even the most pessimistic fans expected.

The West Coast swing will be critical. Losing to the defending champs in extra innings isn't so much of a worry, but the way that the Cardinals lost is. First there was another blown save by Franklin, and that was followed up by some shoddy defensive play. They committed 3 errors, but none more costly than Albert's drop of Brian Tallet's throw that would have completed an inning-ending double play. It isn't a good idea to give a team more than 3 outs in an inning, and the Giants took advantage when Aaron Rowand's two out single drove in the winning run. This could have been a game that signaled the start of a turnaround for the Cards -- they had battled to stay in a game and scored more than 3 runs for the first time this season. This was a win that had the potential to carry over to the next couple of games and help the Cardinals right the ship, but instead it was another frustrating loss by a team that really should be better than this. Matt Holliday is supposed to return this weekend, so hopefully he can shake the effects of abdominal surgery quickly and help put a little punch back in the lineup. It's early, folks....not time to hit the panic button just yet, but the fact that we're mentioning the panic button this early into the season isn't a good sign.

There have been some bright spots early on.....

Cobly Rasmus - He's hitting .348 out of the two hole (and has an weighted average of .423). The walk rate is up and the strikeout rate is down. An even better sign? He's started every game this season and hit in the same spot in the lineup every game.
Allen Craig - Called on to help fill in for Holliday, Craig may have earned himself more playing time. He can fill in for Berkman in right and spell either corner infield spot if needed. He's driven in as many as Albert (4) in 8 fewer plate appearances, and has stolen 2 bases on top of that. His only hitting .238 (weighted average is .275), and aside from a propensity to strike out, he's been a plus for the birds.
Jaime Garcia - It's only one start, but striking out 9 while only walking 2 in a complete game shutout was a nice boost after the Cards had dropped their first two games of the season to the Padres. With his second start coming in spacious AT&T Park against a light hitting Giants offense, he might be able to post a second quality start. With Matt Cain starting for the Giants, getting a win will be difficult given the Cardinals' struggles on offense.

And some not-so-bright spots.....

Pujols - Hitting into double plays, committing errors, leaving runners on base. These aren't things you think of when you mention Albert's name, but that's what we've seen so far. Pujols is truly one of the all time greats, so as with the whole team, it is far too early to worry. Not even the best player in the game is immune to a cold streak, so the turnaround is coming. But right now -- tough to watch.
Ryan Franklin - Hardly a dominant closer on his best days, but two blown saves and an ERA of 6.00....not what you want from your closer. He's averaging 3 HR per 9 IP -- also a concern. It is very likely that LaRussa and Duncan are going to have to turn to another option if/when Franklin hits his annual late season slide -- if not long before.
The Offense - 3rd lowest number of runs scored in the majors (behind the 1-6 Rays and the 3-3 Dodgers -- although the Dodgers were postponed on Friday and have played one game less). They've produced 4 runs exactly once in 7 games, and that was last night's loss to the Giants. They are striking out more than they are walking and have the 3rd worst batting average in the NL. Switch to weighted batting average and this is the worst hitting team in the NL. Losing Holliday certainly hasn't helped, because no one's pitching to Albert. But then again, he hasn't done much with the pitches he's been able to hit.

Today is a new day, and the Cardinals can turn things around by beating Cain and the Giants. After they leave the Bay area, the Cardinals face the D'backs, who split two games with the Rockies and dropped a series to the Cubs before handing the Reds their first loss of the year last night. Arizona has the type of pitching that can make mediocre hitters look good, so if the Cards can take the next two from the Giants and head to the desert with a little confidence, things might look a bit better in a week's time.

(Stats courtesy of Fangraphs.com. Photo courtesy of stltoday.com.)

A New Season

2011-04-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Baseball is back...and as always it feels good. The opening week of a new season is always one of my favorite times of the year. This year opens with a somewhat bittersweet feeling for me. This past January, we said goodbye to my grandfather, and I can't help but think of him as a new season gets underway. I can still remember going to the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis to root on the Cardinals. They were a good team when I was a kid and my grandfather was always as big of a Cardinals fan as there was. He and my uncle were in attendance when the '82 Cardinals took game 7 of the World Series, and for years, my sister and I would sneak into his bedroom to look at the ticket stubs from that game that he had taped to the mirror. I still have an old Coke that he bought for me after that game. No idea if it is worth any real money or not (I'm guessing yes, since it has never been opened), but it would take a pretty lofty sum of money to get me to even think of parting with it.

But of all the great memories I have of the time I was fortunate enough to have with my grandfather, perhaps my favorite memory comes from the 2006 World Series. My passion for the Cardinals had faded a bit over the years, until I made a trip back to Busch Stadium for the first time in many years. This was 2005, and it was the final season for the old stadium. For a long time, this was the only stadium I had known, and was the benchmark for all other parks. I had never been to another major league park until I was in college when we road tripped to see the White Sox and Yankees play at the new Comiskey Park in 1994. Later that same year, I made my first trip to Wrigley. I've since been to Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Coors Field, Great American Ballpark, Miller Park and the Metrodome (and, of course, the new Busch Stadium), but I've never been to a place that brings back that magical feeling the way old Busch did. That trip in 2005 rekindled the fire, so to speak, and the Cardinals were all of a sudden a team I followed again. Good timing, I guess, because it was the next year that they shocked the baseball world by winning the '06 Series.

As much as I enjoyed watching that playoff run, what made it truly special were the emails that I traded with my grandfather as the Cardinals won each game. I'm 38, so while I'm far from "old" I do remember a world without the internet and a personal computer or 3 in every house. My grandfather grew up during the Great Depression and was a WWII vet.....reading emails was not something he picked up from his peers. But he learned how to use it because it gave him an easy way to keep up with his grandkids. His emails were priceless. Names were not his strong suit -- and even though I know he played it up to get a laugh out of me, he probably had no idea that it took me a solid 30 minutes to figure out who "Escusian" was (that'd be Juan Encarnacion) and I had to text my uncle to find out that "Chug Chug" was Yadier Molina. While I had a few good laughs reading the notes he'd send, I knew at the time that this was going to be one of those things that I'd remember fondly for the rest of my life. He was so excited after the Cardinals won it all that he went out and bought a Cadillac after they won. For Christmas that year, I got him a customized name and number t-shirt with #2 and "Papa" on the back (that was our nickname for him). I only got to see him wear it once or twice, but my uncle told me that he wore it quite a bit when the Cardinals were on TV.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. I've decided that as a small token of respect for him that I'm mostly a Cardinals fan for 2011. The Cardinals are trying hard to make that seem like a really bad decision at the moment. 4 games in, and they haven't scored more than 3 runs in any game. Pujols might be playing his last year wearing the birds on the bat, Ryan Theriot is being sold as a defensive upgrade over the departed Brendan Ryan, Wainwright is out for the year with Tommy John surgery and Matt Holliday is out with appendicitis. You wonder what's next, but then again, it might be better to not have to find out. It might be a long season. But, even if this turns out to be a terrible team, I won't watch a game all season where I don't pause for a moment and thank my grandfather for helping to teach me to root for this great franchise and love this great game. And wherever he is, I'm sure knowing that will bring a smile to his face.

Hail to the Cheaters!

2011-03-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Something really bugging me on the eve of College Basketball's big dance. Every year, seems like at least one big name baseball player is caught using performance enhancing drugs, and it is almost like the nation spins into crisis. The game is tainted, we can't trust the record books, civilization as we know it may cease to exist. But year after year, big name college programs get caught breaking the rules and at least half the people out there spend their time making excuses for the players, coaches and programs. I don't get it.

It is such a maddening double standard. Cam Newton spent most of last season under a cloud of suspicion, but yet somehow the officials determined that it was his Dad that was at fault and Cam could continue leading the Auburn Tigers towards a National Title. And just before playing in their BCS bowl, several Ohio State players were found guilty of violations -- but instead of handing out proper and fitting punishment and keeping these kids out of the bowl game, they're suspended for the first 5 games of the 2011 season. A few weeks ago, we learned that Jim Calhoun will be suspended for a few games next year for recruiting violations, yet there he was last night celebrating a victory in the Big East Championship game and talking about the "other stuff" as if it were a legitimate hardship. And then there's Jim Tressell, who will sit out two games next year for violations.

It is a separate conversation to discuss whether or not you agree with all of the rules and regulations that the NCAA places on sports programs. Certainly, and in spite of what most programs and the NCAA would like you to believe, universities wouldn't place the importance that they do on football and basketball if there wasn't money to be made. And you could argue that the free education that many players don't really value (or take advantage of) is nowhere near enough compensation for what the schools get in return for exploiting these kids. It's not a black and white issue to be sure.

But what is black and white is that time and again, coaches and players break rules that are documented and for the most part, we turn a blind eye to the issue. Worse yet, when it is a "big school" that is likely to bring lots of fans to a bowl game or a tournament, the punishment is hardly swift. If Ohio State were playing in a the Motor City Bowl instead of a BCS bowl, don't you wonder what would have happened to those players? And if UCONN weren't a big cog in the best basketball conference in the country -- on the verge of a possible tournament run -- do you think Calhoun would have been let off so easy? And Newton -- what a mess. I think one thing that bugs me more than any other is the way these kids are taught that as long as you're good at a sport, you can escape consequences. Do you really believe that many of these athletes that take money or cars or clothes are so naive that they don't understand that they are breaking the rules?

The classic excuse -- Oh, every program is a little bit dirty -- just smacks of B.S. You know, if I'm driving on the interstate and start driving 85 because I'm passed by 3 cars doing at least that -- I don't think the state trooper that stops me for speeding is going to accept that defense. And it may well be that the 65 mph speed limit we have in Illinois is too low and it should be 75, or 80 or whatever. That doesn't excuse the fact that I know it is 65 mph and if I decide to drive even 66, then I'll have to live with the ticket that I might get.

We've set such a dangerous precedent in our sports minded culture that if you can do amazing things in a sport that you're above the law. We have more examples than we can count of players that want you to believe they are honorable citizens, but prove the exact opposite with their actions. But make it to a Super Bowl and it's "He's put his life in order and learned from his mistakes." Unless, of course, you're a baseball player that has used steroids or HGH....then I'm not sure the chair is punishment enough.

I'm as sports obsessed as anyone and the NCAA tournament -- the first two rounds especially -- are perhaps my favorite sporting event of the year. I'll still be filling out a bracket and entering a pool and I'll still be parked on my couch Thursday through Sunday watching basketball like my life depended on it. And, I'll still be excited next September when the weather starts to get a bit cooler and college football is in full swing. And I'm already eagerly anticipating opening day on March 31, even though it's likely to feel more like football season here in Chicago. But each year, it gets just a little bit harder to live with all of the behind-the-scenes stuff that we know is there but try to ignore. We did that in baseball, and look at how that has turned out.

Like It's 1991....

2011-03-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing in life that can dominate my brain to the same extent that the approaching baseball season currently is, it is a new album from R.E.M. I'll spare you the recap of their career that feels obligatory when you're about to talk about a new album from the 2000's era of the band's career -- and I'll also dispense with my attempt to prove my chops as a true R.E.M. fan. Let's just say that I've been captivated to one degree or another by almost everything the band has done since the lightbulb when off for me during that family vacation in 1988 where a cassette copy of "Life's Rich Pageant" and "Document" played endlessly in my walkman and I finally understood what several of my friends had already figured out. That to my 15 year old sensibilities, this was a band that would change and ultimately shape my view on the world. Truth be told, it was actually a Warren Zevon album, "Sentimental Hygiene" that had me going back to re-listen to the cassette that a friend had made for me.

But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the band that held my attention like no other...that had me saving every dollar I could muster to head up to the mall and buy all of their albums...that had me trying to learn to play guitar just like Peter Buck...that had me trying to decipher the meaning of lyrics like "man ray kind of sky" and "shoulder's high in the room"...would still be making music that I'd want to listen to when the calendar turned to 2011. And that I'd feel like that 18 year old freshman at Eastern Illinois University that begged a friend from the dorm to drive him the 16 miles over to Mattoon, Illinois to the closest record store to buy "Out of Time."

But here I am, 38 year old, a dad and supposedly responsible adult who is looking for any excuse to grab the ipod to listen to the new R.E.M. record on. I haven't truly hated any record they've ever made -- even "Around the Sun" has its moments -- but it has also been a long time since their music has stirred my emotions the way I think "Collapse Into Now" is at the moment. I say *think* because I do recall that my initial reaction to "Reveal" wasn't completely dissimilar, and over time, that one has faded for me. "Accelerate" was a breath of fresh air for all of us longtime fans, but -- though I love that record -- there are a few songs that are pretty thin and don't hold up a few years on. "Collapse", though, feels like one that will stick.

"Discoverer" is a perfect track to kick things off -- it has the same aggressiveness as "Living Well Is the Best Revenge", and the minute you hear Stipe chime in with "Hey Baby / This is not a challenge / It just means that I love you as much as I always said I did", you can't help but smile. It's one thing to make a comeback album like "Accelerate", but it's quite another to keep the momentum going. Things get even better with "Uberlin" and "Oh My Heart", which instantly sound like the R.E.M. of the 90's without feeling like cheap rip offs. "It Happened Today" follows and might be my favorite song on the set. Of course, if this truly is the best album that R.E.M. has made since the late 90's, my favorite song on the album will be subject to change on a daily basis for the next few weeks. Unlike any of the post-Berry albums, there isn't a bad song on the album, though "Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I" does come a little closer than any of the other songs.

As with "Accelerate", the band has the good sense to fight the urge to make this an overly long album. I really hate the trend that started with the CD and has grown worse in the digital age -- that bands feel the need to give you quantity over quality. The result is that there are very few albums that come out that capture my attention the way some of R.E.M.'s classic albums did. "Collapse" is a tad longer than the previous album, but at just over 40 minutes seems fairly brief by today's standards.

I used to worry that R.E.M. was no longer making the kind of albums that everyone seemed to want to talk about. It bugged me that they had gone from that band that you liked to be cool to that band that it was cool to hate. I felt like you always had to talk in caveats when discussing their recent output -- "Yeah, it's no (fill in your favorite album here) but it is still not bad." As I listen to "Collapse", it strikes me that I'm not thinking about the fact that this is their best post-Berry album or their best in probably 15 or 16 years for that matter. I'm not thinking about the fact that both Stipe and Buck are over 50. I'm not thinking about the fact that this may or may not be as good as whichever album is your favorite. I'm simply thinking about the fact that even if they aren't quite what they were in 1991, they are still a pretty great band and this is a very good album.

Thanks for reading....

(There are so many reviews that are more worthy of space than mine.....a nice way to sample what real critics are saying is to check out Metacritic here).

Personnel Matters

2011-02-21T06:47:00.000-08:00

Something that seems to impact the fan much more than anyone else involved with a sports franchise is the subject of player movement. Every fan has her or his favorite player(s) and when that guy leaves your team, it can be almost like losing a family member. Sometimes it is a case where a player no longer fits with a teams plans. Other times, it is the team that doesn't fit the players plans. Or it might be that he is too old to keep playing at a level where it is worth putting in the work. Or maybe it is the club telling him he is too old. Regardless of the situation, it is a topic that is hitting close to home for two of my favorite teams at the moment.

I chose "A Spot of Red in Cubland" as the title for my blog because I'm a Cardinals fan that lives in the Chicago suburbs. But I also liked it because it made a subtle reference to my favorite team in the English Premier League, Liverpool FC (sometimes referred to as "the Reds" because of their red uniforms)...a team and sport that has come to dominate my sports interests during the offseason in baseball.

It is Liverpool where I take us for the first "crisis" involving a player. A quick primer on how player movement works for those of you that don't follow the EPL. For the most part, player movement is restricted to the transfer windows. The window starts at the end of one season (usually mid-May) and runs through August 31st. A mid-season window also opens for the month of January. During the window, teams are able to bid on players whether they are under contract or not. If the player is currently out of contract, then the club only needs to agree to terms of a contract with the player. More often, the player will still have a valid contract, so first the front offices of two clubs need to agree on a transfer fee, and then the club buying the player needs to agree to terms on a new contract for the player. There are variations on this, of course, and would take much more space than I want to use to cover, so for now I'll just refer you here for a more detailed breakdown.

Liverpool is a storied club in English Football, but things have not gone well after the club finished 2nd to Manchester United in the 2008-09 season. Instead of building on the promise of that campaign the club saw its two American owners (Tom Hicks - the guy who also tried to bury the Texas Rangers - and George Gillette) saddle the club with a huge amount of debt. Instead of using the proceeds from the sale of some top players to fund the signings of suitable replacements, the cash went to pay down the debt. Again, the topic would take a lot more space than I intend to spend to do it justice, so you can read about Liverpool FC's history here. A season and a half of sub-par football followed, a popular but somewhat poloarizing manager was "sacked" and eventually the club was sold to New England Sports Ventures, the owner of the Boston Red Sox. Early season struggles left the new owners with no choice but to replace new manager, Roy Hodgson, with LFC legend Kenny Dalglish. After a few rough matches, Dalglish got the team rolling, and the team's best striker, Fernando Torres, seemed to be regaining the form that had been largely missing for over a year as the player battled injury and was forced to play in a style that clearly didn't suit his strengths. Three straight wins, and fans were seeing the club climb the table (standings). The club also looked to be bolstering their attack by adding striker Luis Suarez from Dutch club Ajax. But news of Suarez' signing was followed by rumors that EPL rivals Chelsea had placed a bid on Torres that had been turned down. This was met with plea from Torres for LFC to at least negotiate with Chelsea.

Liverpool fans were outraged. How could "El Nino" want to leave just as things were turning around? He had professed his love for the team, for the fans and even said that he was proud that his kids would be raised as "Scousers" - a term used to describe someone from Liverpool. Now, he was looking every bit the mercenary as he not only wanted to leave, but wanted to join a West London club that has seen much success in recent years, but was short on the type of true history that is the source of pride for many Liverpool fans. Again, for those of you that don't follow the EPL, Chelsea would be like the late 90's Orioles or the '97 Marlins. An owner (Russian billionaire Roman Abromowich) that will spare no expense to build a winner, and splashes out huge sums of cash in the process. Notice I didn't compare this to the Yankees -- the reason being that the Yankees, for all their financial muscle, have been the "Damn Yankees" for much of the last 100 years.

So off Torres went, but the new owners proved they aren't like the old owners. In addition to Suarez, LFC also brought in Newcastle United phenom Andy Carroll. All of a sudden, the Reds were looking like not only a team that had averted disaster, but had also gotten a bit younger in the process. Torres is nearing 27, and the clock is ticking on his days of being a top striker. Both Suarez and Carroll are in their early 20's. Ironically, Torres' first match for Chelsea was against his old team, but the storybook quality of the tale ends there -- for Torres. Liverpool turned in one of their most resilient performances of the season, and scored the game's only goal just after Torres was taken off in the second half. That Torres has yet to play an "El Nino" type game wearing Chelsea blue is a comfort to LFC fans, but the pain still remains that a beloved player didn't want to stay our club. In the weeks since his departure, Torres has explained his reasoning, and shown some respect for Liverpool -- both the club and the fans. But his words and respect will never change the fact that he is now the villain.

Turning to the world of baseball, spring training is officially underway. While this is typically the time of year where I start dreaming of sunshine, warm weather and Opening Day, there is also a sense of dread surrounding the Cardinals. After a disappointing 2010 campaign, the team is looking to rebound. The rotation looks to be as good, if not better -- Wainwright and Carpenter are still there as co-aces, 2010's surprising rookie Jamie Garcia looks to build on a great season and Jake Westbrook was resigned to be that solid #3 or #4 starter. If Kyle Lohse can be simply serviceable, this rotation might be as good as any rotation outside of Philadelphia, where they can boast 3 1/2 aces (Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hammels), or San Francisco, where the strength of the rotation carried the Giants to a title. The lineup looks to be improved as well....Lance Berkman comes in to add some firepower to the 1-2 punch of Pujols and Holliday. Ryan Theriot may not be the most exciting player in baseball, but he's the perfect type of player for a Tony LaRussa team. Colby Rasmus is another year older, and hopefully will continue to improve (and be allowed to improve by TLR).

But that cloud hanging over the Cardinals as Spring Training opens is Albert Pujols' next contract. He won't be a free agent until after the 2011 season, but there's little doubt that many of the club's moves over the last few years have been to convince Albert that the Cardinals are committed to building a good team around him. The problem with taking that tact, however, is now apparent...the club has big money invested in Holliday and Carpenter. Wainwright is nearing a time when he'll need to be resigned, and the farm system, while improving, has yet to become the NL version of the Minnesota Twins, where you simply plug in a guy from AAA and never see the difference.

Pujols is the best player in the game, and the Cardinals have used that image to sell a lot of tickets over the last 10 years. More than any other player in baseball he IS the face of his franchise, and now that we're past his self-imposed deadline, he claims there will be no negotiations regarding an extension until after this season is in the books. He wants to be paid like the best player in the game, and is using the A-Rod deal as his model.....$300 mil over 10 years is what it will take. The Cardinals have made offers and if reports are to be believed, they are giving Albert a choice between the average annual value of the contract and the length of the contract.

Intellectually, I understand the Cardinals' position....Pujols is 31, and in the post-steroid era it is rare to see a player get better as time passes. Pujols' is a "leave it all on the field" type of player, and I can't help but think of Larry Bird during the last few years of his career when I imagine what Pujols will be when he's my age (38 as I'm writing this). In truth, while he's still putting up numbers that seem to cement his spot among the game's legends, I think most Cardinals fans recognize that he has slipped slightly as he's moved into his 30's. So you can understand why the Cards' brass wouldn't want to tie up that kind of money over that long of a period.

I can also understand why Pujols is holding firm to his desire to be paid like the best in the game. How many dollars has Bill DeWitt, Jr. made on Pujols' back? When Pujols comes to bat, the stadium stops. Everyone watches. Pujols tshirts and jerseys outnumber those of other players at least 2-1. Most don't expect him to really sign somewhere else, but the fact that we've passed the deadline and didn't even see signs of progress has me preparing for the day when Albert is playing somewhere else. In my heart, I don't believe it will happen, but you just never know how these things will turn out. I never thought Fernando Torres would leave Liverpool for Chelsea, but look how that turned out. I still think something gets done during the season. As the calendar turns to May, I think Mozelik calls Pujols' agent, floats a few numbers, finds the common ground, and the deal gets done. Ok, maybe "hope" belongs in there more than "think".

Finally, we also saw the retirement of Jim Edmonds last week. He's been gone from the Cardinals for a few years now, but had signed a minor league deal before spring training in hopes of earning a bench spot. As things got underway, he found that he simply could not be the player he wanted to be, and decided that it was time. I'm glad that he is able to retire as a Cardinal. To be honest, during most of his tenure in red, I was more focused on my other favorite team (the Yankees), but I've always marveled at Edmonds' knack for stepping up when the stakes were at their highest.

So for now, I'm simply looking forward to the season. I'll worry about Pujols when it's time. I'll count the days until that first spring training game is shown on MLB.tv, prepare for my annual fantasy baseball draft and look forward to the start of another season. I'll also spend my weekend mornings keeping up with my soccer addiction and hope that Liverpool can continue their recent form and possibly rise as high as 4th (which would qualify them for the Champions League), and pettily hope that it comes at the expense of Chelsea and their new #9. I'm tired of worrying about this player or that player and where he'll be next season, so I'll just do the one thing that always gets you through the heartbreak....I'll enjoy the games.

Jay Cutler

2011-01-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

Well, despite my best intentions, here it is a month after my last post. But, with the events of the past weekend in the NFL, I figured it was time to put pen to paper so to speak. By now, you probably know that the Bears and the Packers -- the NFL's longest running rivalry -- met in the playoffs for the first time since 1941. I have to say that the buildup to this game was unlike any I've ever experienced. I've lived in the Chicago area since 1996...and no matter how big of a deal the Bulls, Cubs, Sox or Blackhawks might be in any given stretch of time, I've seen nothing that tops the excitement that settles in around "Chicagoland" like the Bears making a run in the playoffs. This was different, though -- I was in grade school when the '85 Bears were carving out their niche in history, so I can't say this for sure, but I would imagine it was something like what we saw last week. I almost hated for gameday to actually arrive -- it was a little like Christmas. I love the anticipation of Christmas Eve, but then you hit the actual day, you open all the presents and realize that now it's 365 days until you get to do it again.

But, gameday did arrive, and I'll freely admit that while I was openly telling people that I really expected the Bears to lose, in my heart, I had a feeling they'd win. (Quick aside -- that usually means heartbreak is on the horizon). The game, honestly, was kind of a stinker despite a drama filled final quarter. Overshadowing the whole affair, though, is the fact that Jay Cutler came out of the game after the first series of the 3rd quarter. It was ugly before that, but it seemed that the anti-Cutler forces of the universe all converged at once. It got to be so uncomfortable that you could actually hear Rick Reilly saying "See, told you he was a putz." (Cutler photo courtesy of Life.com: http://www.life.com/image/92598784)

I'm ashamed to admit that during the game, I was finding myself wondering if Cutler had taken himself out of the game. I think the point is overblown, but I do agree that Cutler wouldn't draw the flack that he does if he carried himself differently on the sideline. Now, to be fair, I've also spent a fair bit of time criticizing Alex Rodriguez for what I call his "Fake Derek Jeter impression" -- you know, the one where he's always on the top step cheering his team on, doing the fist pump -- whatever you'd think would play well on TV, except in my opinion it comes off as obnoxiously fake. So if Jay's not a "rah rah" type of guy on the sidelines, I'd rather he just be himself than be fake. Still, you wish an agent or someone would say "Look, Jay, I know this is total BS, but just take these crutches and use them as you're hanging out on the sideline, okay?" I won't rehash all of the comments, because by now you're probably so sick of them that you're wishing for a big steroid admission or something to change the topic.

Once the emotion of the game faded and I had some time to think things over -- and hear some of the comments that had started hitting the newswire -- I started to rethink my knee-jerk reaction that Cutler was tough, but maybe a little mentally soft. Most aren't foolish enough to question the guy's physical toughness. He was sacked more than any other NFL QB this year, and for two solid seasons has been tossed around the field like a rag doll. Yet through it all, you've seen him give very little indication that he's feeling anything. The guy takes hits that would make Walter Payton wince, and I've never seen a tougher football player than Payton. You rarely see him rolling around on the ground in agony....you just get that same flat expression. I can understand how some interpret it as arrogance (but you've got to have some to be a pro athlete, don't you?), some interpret it as "me first" or disinterest. I think it is just Jay.

Until he steps up and plays like a champion in a big spot, the mentally weak label is going to follow Cutler. That doesn't put him in bad company, though. Peyton Manning couldn't beat Florida, couldn't win in the playoffs and would never win a Super Bowl. Then came 2006 (sadly he had to break through against my favorite team), and now he's a winner. Elway couldn't win a Super Bowl. Marino couldn't either. Beyond football, there was a time in the late 80's when I remember reading articles that the Chicago Bulls would never win an NBA title with Michael Jordan. There are people out there that think LeBron James doesn't have what it takes to win a ring. This side of the Cutler detractor's argument is fair -- until you do it, people will wonder if you can handle the spotlight. Regardless of what anyone says, Cutler didn't handle the spotlight on Sunday. He played poorly, and whether it was due to injury or not is irrelevant.

But the level of piling on that we're seeing -- much of it from Bears fans -- is just insane. Honestly, can you tell me that the Bears have the season they just finished if Kyle Orton is still the QB? Does a guy that was sacked 52 times during the season suddenly get scared because the Packers are harassing him? I really find that hard to believe. We haven't seen the evidence that Cutler is capable of rising to the occasion and playing like a top NFL QB, but we also haven't seen evidence that the guy doesn't have heart. And quite frankly -- I've lost a huge amount of respect for some of the people that have felt the need to comment. I'm talking about you Mr. Jones-Drew -- who is so tough that he played a whole season on a knee injury, but skipped the final two games of 2010 with his team still in playoff contention. I'm also talking about you Mr. Sanders, or Neon or whatever. You have your rings, and I haven't seen too many other players that have changed a game the way you did in your prime. But, I also haven't seen too many players that would go to greater lengths to avoid contact, which is saying something in football. Gentlemen, I don't question your talent, your toughness or your heart, but I would suggest that you could use a lesson in conducting yourself with a little class. As your mother undoubtedly told you -- "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

I think Bears nation will eventually rally around Cutler. And I want to believe that Cutler will rise to the occasion and prove his critics wrong. His God given talent has never been in question, but even the most ardent Cutler supporter would agree that he does have room to improve. But, one thing Lovie does better than most head coaches is make his team believe that the world is against them -- that no one believes they can win. He's got the perfect storm building around his QB and his team, so in 2011, he can use that speech for the entire season. And Jay Cutler just might show all of us that he does have heart, he is not a quitter and worthy of our adoration.

A little long winded (I know, as usual), but thanks for reading.

What if the Beatles hadn't broken up?

2010-12-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

I originally moved "A Spot of Red in Cubland" over to blogger.com in part because I thought it was a bit more appropriate to blog about non-Baseball topics on a site that wasn't hosted by MLB.com. In typical fashion, since making that move, I don't believe I've written more than one or two posts that were non-sports related. So time to change that....

This past week, we passed the 30th anniversary of the day that John Lennon was killed outside of the Dakota in New York City. The increased coverage has had me listening to more solo Lennon work than is really typical for me. Honestly, I've never been a HUGE fan of Lennon's solo work, and prior to this year was content to own a couple of greatest hits type compilations. And honestly, if it weren't for library cards and CD burners, I wouldn't own any proper albums by solo Beatles aside from Harrison's "Cloud 9", "Brainwashed" and the first Traveling Wilburys album.

That is until the magic of iTunes hit me -- I did buy a copy of "McCartney" a year or so ago when a remastered version became available (and really, can honestly say I don't care for it as an album). And then this past October, another round of remastered Lennon albums were made available, and I has a gift card or two to burn -- so no I own "Plastic Ono Band", "Imagine", "Mind Games" and "Walls and Bridges". As with the other solo Beatles stuff, I don't care for it anywhere near as much as my least favorite Beatles album (probably "Let It Be", but might be "Magical Mystery Tour"). But, as a -- I guess -- more mature consumer at the time of purchase, I do find them to be fairly interesting.

So between the press over his 70th birthday and the 30th anniversary of his death, I've spent a bit more time listening to solo Lennon work and thinking about it in the context of the Beatles (which are always in rotation on my iPod). Perhaps it is because I'm finally listening to his music with some kind of recognition of where it appeared in relation to the final Beatles albums, but my thoughts finally turned to the idea of what the next Beatles album might have sounded like had they averted the breakup. Sure, I've made mixes before where I alternated solo Lennon and McCartney hits, but these were greatest hits mixes with no attempt to discern what an actual Beatles album would have been in the early 70's.

Then, my thoughts turned to what I knew of the breakup. I'm far from a scholar, but I have read a couple of books -- on transcribing tapes from the "Get Back" sessions (sorry, it hasn't found its way to my bookshelf in my last move, and can't remember the title/author) and a great history of the Beatles by Bob Spitz. As you may or may not know, the final years of the Beatles were full of turmoil, and I believe every member "quit" the band before McCartney's press info for his first solo album announced things officially. At one point, there was even talk that Eric Clapton would join in to take George's, and later Paul's spot (I think I have my facts correct on "God" replacing Paul, though I'm sure a real Beatles scholar will correct me).

So -- In my head I have a sort of alternate history....everything that we know happened does happen, but pleas to Paul to hold off on releasing McCartney work, and that album never hits as we know it (he does release it, but in a bit different form). He does also briefly quit the Beatles and is replaced by Clapton. During sessions, the other 3 realize that, while a special musical "happening", they aren't the Beatles with Clapton (oh, and Billy Preston, too). So the sessions yield a fantastic one-off album of blues/classic rock n' roll covers, but that is not the next Beatles album. After some time away, the Beatles get together and start to work through the material that all of them had been putting together for their intended solo albums. But realize that they are, and have always been, better together than apart.

So I get through all of this thinking, and do a few quick google searches on the subject only to find that it is a favorite hobby (and blog topic) of Beatles fans all over. Not sure why that surprised me. Also surprised to find out that a lot of what I picked is chosen by my fellow fans. I find that interesting. A couple of articles I enjoyed are an idea on "Alone Together", which while a good article, a title I can't accept mainly because I remember a Crowded House album called "Together Alone." Then there's "Hot as Sun" and an article I point out because it references similar articles and concepts. I'm sure there are an infinite number out there, and these are only just a few that I've found.

So for what it is worth, here is my "next Beatles album." I imagine that the title would be simply "John, Paul, George and Ringo." I did follow a couple of rules:

With one exception, all of the songs had to be from, or at least known to have existed, in the 1970-71 time frame. I imagine this album to have appeared in late '71 or early '72.
Usual "Beatle" rules were followed -- meaning a fairly consistent mix of Lennon vs. McCartney songs. When he agreed to come back, George would have insisted on more than two tracks of his own. He didn't get two that he actually sang, but did get a 3rd song that he helped write. Ringo gets to sing two....because he never really caused much turmoil and it was his plea to Paul that prevented the release of "McCartney" at the same time as "Let It Be". That plea was made in reality, but as we know, Paul did not listen to it.
Tried to keep the running time consistent with what would have been possible on vinyl. I'm a bit over, but assumed that these songs would have turned out a bit differently had they been Beatles songs.

So here goes.....

Side A:

We open with "Too Many People". And, yeah, the veiled comments on John do make it into the final. For a time, the album would have included either "How Do You Sleep?" and/or "God", but eventually Paul clears the air and explains that really only one line refers to Yoko in the studio. (As a side note, Ringo and George tell Paul that they don't like Linda being in the studio any more than they like having Yoko around).
Next comes "Remember". Of all of John's early solo music, this is the one that sounds the most Beatle-ish to me. Plus, I like the reference to Guy Fawkes and the abrupt ending of the song.
Next comes "Instant Karma", which had been intended to be a solo single by John, but was held because the other guys loved it.
Then Paul chimes in with "That Would Be Something". George admitted this one was a good one, and I agree with Allyn Gibson that the song is much better once the other Beatles have their input.
Then we get "Wah-Wah". You listen to "All Things Must Pass" and you wonder how Paul and John kept some of these off their albums. This one was written when George briefly quit the group, and it's a nice, peppy song. And it's not the best George has to offer, so John and Paul still have the satisfaction of keeping George in the background.
So my one big cheat -- "I'm the Greatest" from the "Ringo" album. I picked this one specifically because it's really a Beatles song in a very broad sense. John wrote it, and all four play on it. So while no one really thought Ringo ought to sing more than one song on an album, he gets to sing one that John wrote for him.
We close out side A with "Another Day." A song John hates, but Paul won't agree to leave out.

Side B

The second side opens with "Mind Games". The song sounds a bit different without Phil Spector's production, but this is one John had been working on as early as the "Let It Be" sessions, and fits perfectly with his love and peace message of the times.
Next up...."Dear Boy." Paul always seemed to have one of these kinds of songs ready, although this one isn't nearly as cheesy as "Martha My Dear" or many of his solo hits.
"Hold On" is next. The rest of the band wasn't wild about the Yoko name check, but John agreed to put "How Do You Sleep?" on the shelf as long as he could include a song that reflected his love for Yoko.
George gets his second track with "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp". Many of you would probably say that this was an odd choice when "My Sweet Lord", "What is Life", "Isn't It A Pity"....and many others have been left off. The reason, to me, is simple....John had already rejected "Isn't It A Pity", and neither he nor Paul were wild about George showing them up as he'd already done with "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun" on "Abbey Road". So George throws out this underrated gem.
John's "Gimme Some Truth" comes next. As with "Remember", it had more of a Beatle feel to me than some of his other solo songs, and choosing "Imagine" seemed too easy. In truth, "Mother" probably would have been John's contribution, but I've never cared for that one, so I'm sticking with this.
"It Don't Come Easy" features an unheard of 2nd song sung by Ringo, but since George gets the co-writer credit, he's happy to have this one make the final cut.
And we close out things with "Maybe I'm Amazed"....which is hands down my favorite McCartney song....Beatles, solo or otherwise.

I was very tempted to include "God" in the mix, but couldn't imagine the other members allowing the line "I don't believe in Beatles." At one point, though -- before I had settled on "Remember" -- I had that one closing the album, and the Beatles announcing their break up with the release of the album. But the band never did things with that much forethought, and while was a better storybook ending than what happened in reality, just didn't seem to feel right.

I listen to this collection of songs -- and try to imagine what they'd have sounded like with George Martin producing and I think this is a fine album, though perhaps not "the greatest album never made." But let's face it....."Let It Be" wasn't a great album by the Beatles' standards either. So that's how I see it -- and I'd love any comments you might want to leave.

Thanks for reading.

Jeter, Gonzo, Crawford and Waiting for Lee

2010-12-11T12:28:00.001-08:00

So, quick tangent before I get to my main topic....Finding time to write anything is a little tougher when you have a 8-10 month kid cruising the house. I'm as worn as I've ever been in my life, but no way would I trade one second of it for anything. Not conducive for blogging, though.

But, seeing as my last post was in late September, a lot has happened since my last post. First off, the Giants became the latest team to end a long wait for a title, the Yankees were made to look like a 2nd rate team against the Rangers, and the Phillies are starting to look like the 2003-04 era Yankees.

The off season has also been somewhat tumultuous. As I'm writing, we still don't know if Cliff Lee will be a Yankee or a Ranger or whether or not a mystery team will swoop in at the last minute. Smart money (and a dumb 7th year) says the Yankees get this done now that they have Jeter and Rivera resigned.

Speaking of Jeter -- I was a little disappointed in how the Yankees went about these negotiations, although not surprised. But Jeter has been the picture of class for his entire tenure in the Bronx, and for the club to try out the "greedy player who wants more than he deserves" angle....well, that's a bit of an insult to the fans. We all knew that Jeter wanted to remain a Yankee, that the Yankees wanted him back, and that whatever they paid him -- it would be more than he was worth on the open market. Look, we all know he's an aging shortstop with declining range (that many will say was never that good anyway). He was coming off his worst year of his career, too. But Derek Jeter IS the Yankees. Plain and simple, and if you didn't take care of him, you'd have angered quite a bit of your fan base. I can say that aside from Albert Pujols, he's hands down my favorite player, and I'd have strongly considered turning my back on the Yankees had they let him go. I've been a Yankees fan for a long time, but it has been during Jeter's time in the Bronx that I've been at my most passionate. I'm sure many of you would point out the fact that I sound like a fair weather fan with that statement, but Jeter, much like Ozzie Smith in the 80's, is a guy that I will always root for no matter what uniform he puts on (although I don't ever want to test that out if he should sign in Boston).

The big players in the offseason, though, have been the Red Sox. They pulled off the big move for Adrian Gonzalez -- who was formerly #3 on my list of current favorite players. I saw him play for our local A club, Kane County, when he was coming up in the Marlins system, and saw him play during Spring Training just after he had been traded to the Padres. Right after that, I grabbed him off the wire for my fantasy baseball team, and I've been a huge fan since. He'll do well in Boston, and I'll miss having him play for a team where I was able to root for him. The Sox also added Carl Crawford to play left, and now have the option of trading either Mike Cameron or Jacoby Ellsbury for some more pitching. The Red Sox -- on paper at least -- look to have put themselves back in the conversation in the AL East, and will very likely be a power.

Talking to a friend of mine -- a fellow Cardinals fan who spent his college years in Boston. He is now and always will be a Cardinals fan, but did begin rooting for the Sox while living out East. His comment was that the Red Sox have become a bit tougher to like the last several years because they are now just as bad as the Yankees (he, like most other baseball fans, hates the Yankees with a passion). Hard to argue with that after the two moves they've made.

Of course, that is until the Yankees make Cliff Lee an unimaginably rich man and lock him in for 7 years.

Revisiting the NL Playoff Picture

2010-09-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

As we head into the final week of the 2010 regular season, I thought it might be worthwhile to revisit a post from a couple of weeks ago... In that post, I bemoaned the fact that the Cardinals weren't able to do the one thing that is required of all good/great teams -- beat up on the little guys. The Cardinals have been terrible against "lesser" competition, and in the time since I wrote that post, they've only gotten worst. You might not realize it, but they've posted the worst record in the NL since the All Star break. Of course, on weekends when they do play a team that still has a shot at October, they surprise by taking 2 of 3. Then they play the Cubs and get swept. And thus you have the frustration of the 2010 season as a Cardinals fan.

But, my intent here is to revisit the teams I talked about in that previous post -- the Padres, the Giants, the Reds, the Phillies and the Braves. Since they've put themselves squarely in the hunt, I'll also touch on the Rockies.

Let's start with the Phillies.....Back in June, it looked like they wouldn't even make the playoffs, but as they have the last several years, they turned on the jets at the right time, and basically wrapped up the division with their recent sweep of the Braves. They head into the playoffs with a rotation that starts with Roys Halladay and Oswalt followed by Cole Hammels. Yeah, they have a great shot at reaching their 3rd consecutive World Series.

The Braves have slipped a bit since my last post. They still have a lead in the Wild Card race, but the 3 teams in contention for the NL West are still in the mix. I think the season is a disappointment for the Braves if they don't make it as the Wild Card, and personally, I would love to see them make the World Series and send off Bobby Cox in style (provided they don't have to go through the Yankees to do that).

The NL West remains the last compelling race in any division in baseball. The Padres decided to quit winning and saw a 6+ game lead evaporate. Since that time, they've spent days alternating with the Giants for the division lead. The Padres play a Cinci team that may be resting stars for the post-season and then welcome the Cubs, who have played better under interim manager Mike Quade. The Giants get the Rockies and then the Diamondbacks. Then the two teams square off in San Fran, and just might have the division and a spot in the playoffs on the line.

Unless of course the Rockies spoil everything by getting back in the groove after stumbling a bit against the D'backs. Troy Tulowitzki has had a September to remember and has been clubbing home runs at an unconscious pace. He's cemented his spot as the premier short stop in the NL, and might just earn a spot in the MVP voting if he can help the Rockies turn October into "Rock"tober.

The Reds, of course, have things basically wrapped up as the Cards are starting to give time to their September callups. Dusty Baker worked magic with the 2003 Cubs, and may be improving on that story with the 2010 Reds.

It is going to be a fun October.

Much Ado About Nothing

2010-09-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

During last night's Yankees/Rays game, Derek Jeter spun away from an inside pitch, immediately grabbed his left arm and wrist as if the pitch had hit his elbow, and was awarded first base by the umpire. Before taking first, the Yankees trainers came onto the field to check out the damage done. Only problem with all of this is that replays showed that the ball hit the end of the bat -- not Jeter's arm. So he was acting -- and now has thrown the baseball world into a tizzy.

Honestly people, get a grip. Did Jeter fake things and play it up to get on base? Of course he did -- he admitted as much after the game, saying that it was his job to get on base any way that he could. So now, the twitterverse, blogosphere and sports talk radio is abuzz with the great debate: IS DEREK JETER A CHEATER?

Look, this is a fact of life in sports -- not just baseball. How many wide receivers dive for a ball, tumble over things and then come up holding the ball as if they just one-upped the "Immaculate Reception"? Happens several times a game. How many times does an outfielder dive for a ball that bounces on the ground and quickly in his glove and them holds his glove up to sell the catch? Everyone this side of Adam Dunn pulls that one. The flop that gets the charging call -- yep, those are part of the game, too.

I know these things are maddening when they happen against your favorite team. I'm as guilty of villifying a player for these types of things all the time. But I fail to see the side of this argument that would suggest that Jeter's somehow a tarnished idol now, or that this kind of thing is beneath him. This is part of the game, people, and we'll ALWAYS have to live with players trying to get away with some little thing or another to gain an edge. It's not cheating, it's not amoral, it's just a fact of life in the sporting world.

I'm fairly certain that there's perhaps maybe two players in baseball that might have stirred up a bigger mess of ridiculousness than the one that's surrounded Jeter today -- ARod and Manny Ramirez. Aside from those two guys, if ANYONE else does this, we're roundly saluting him as a heads up and savvy baseball player. Dustin Pedroia does that, and he's a "gamer", but somehow it's beneath Jeter. (That's not a shot at a Red Sox, plug in any player you want, and I'd make the same argument.)

Now, having said all this, I do agree that this is just one instance where we see that MLB really could benefit from the use of instant replay. The technology is there, and with a little planning and forethought (I know, not exactly Bud's strong suit), the game can be even better than it is, and I don't think the fan will have to suffer through too much dead time during a game -- or at least won't suffer through any more than they've become accustomed to.

But for now, let's all take a few deep breaths and just realize that this really isn't that big of a deal.

Time to look ahead

2010-09-15T21:26:00.001-07:00

Not exactly breaking news to say that the Cardinals' season is over. If 3 straight losses to the Cubs don't signal the end in humiliating fashion, then I don't know what would. The way it is ending is not quite what I had envisioned -- nor I suppose what most experts envisioned. Some had tabbed the Reds to surprise and win the NL Central, but many of those same experts also picked the Cards for the Wild Card.

What's upsetting is this is a team that clearly has the talent to make a playoff run, and they just don't play up to their potential. When that happens, you start doing what Cubs fans have become famous for -- waiting for next year. The Cardinals future might be equally as uncertain as the Cards, too.

If I were GM, here's my list of priorities:

The team may be in the market for a new manager. TLR has been taking it year to year for some time now, but this is the first time I've wondered if he'll come back or not -- and also whether I WANT him back. He's a hall of fame manager, and one of the greatest of the modern era if not all time. But, maybe he's finally reached the end of the line in St. Louis. The team certainly seems to have tuned him out, and with rumored friction with some of the young stars (Rasmus), might be time for a new voice. I'm not opposed to bringing in that new voice, but worry that Mozelik isn't the guy to find him. A bigger concern to me is the fact that if TLR hangs it up, it probably means that Dave Duncan is on his way out, too. Now, there certainly are other great pitching coaches out there, but Duncan is a true wizard and has more reclamation projects on his resume than anyone else.
Pujols -- you have to get him signed to an extension this offseason. We, as a fan base, don't want to see what would happen if 2011 opens and talks are stalling.
Role players. The team has guys that looked to be solid role players, but all of them seem to have gone in the tank at the same time. Brendan Ryan, Felipe Lopez, Nick Stavinoah....all have shown they have it in them to put up solid numbers, and all of them have had disappointing seasons. Plus, TLR relied too heavily on rookies such as Craig and John Jay. While they've given an indication that they are legit big leaguers, they just can't match the veteran presence -- such as what Ryan Ludwick brought to the table.
A closer. I like Ryan Franklin, and he's been better than any of us had a right to expect. But -- he isn't a guy that is going to close for a World Series contender. It may be that one of the other arms in the bullpen will step up, but I think the team needs to look elsewhere. Perhaps Matt Capps, Brian Fuentes from the Twins will become available. Or, maybe the Twins would look to trade Joe Nathan as he rehabs his injury.
Third Base -- We can't trust Freese to stay healthy. A third baseman with a little power and a decent average would do wonders for the offense, and give the team another option behind Pujols, Holliday and Rasmus.

I suppose the optimist -- which I try to be -- believes that a little retooling will do the trick. It might be, though, that some of the pieces that we thought were solid enough are little more than filler. It should be an interesting offseason to watch.

Good Teams Beat the Teams They Are Supposed to Beat

2010-08-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, a World Series contender is supposed to beat the bottom feeders, not play to their level. If the Cardinals end up on the outside looking in when the playoffs open, they'll have no one to blame but themselves. Yet again, we see a team that was supposed to be the class of the NL Central drop two games to a team they should be taking 2 of 3 from (if not sweeping). No disrespect meant to the Pirates -- they have some intriguing young talent for the first time in what seems like forever. But, the Cardinals have a payroll that suggests contender, they've signed free agents thinking it enhanced their standing as contenders, and they've made late season trades that are consistent with moves a contender would make. Yet here we sit on 8/25 and they are 3.5 games behind the Reds for the NL Central lead and are 1 game out of the NL Wild Card. Obviously, plenty of time left, but you gotta get it going. NOW. This season won't be considered successful in St. Louis without a solid showing in the playoffs.

Here's a quick look at what's at stake for other NL playoff contenders:

Reds - The season's a success at this point -- no matter what happens. That said, Walt Jockety has done a nice job of mixing veteran players with the young talent that the Reds had developed. This team has really taken on the challenge of being a power in the NL -- not just a surprise.

Braves - Many tabbed them to have a good season, and they've delivered. Winning one last division for the retiring Bobby Cox would be a fitting end to one of the greatest managerial careers in the history of the game. I don't see them letting go of a playoff spot at this point, but Philly always seems to make a late charge, so they may end up the Wild Card. Missing the playoffs is always considered disappointing for a team with Atlanta's recent history, but would be especially painful after the season they've had so far.

Phillies - While currently on a 3 game losing streak, the Phillies are starting to play like the team that many expected them to be when 2010 opened. They are currently tied atop the Wild Card standings, but are only 2.5 out of the division lead. Outside of the Yankees, there probably isn't another team in baseball that will see more negative press for missing the playoffs. If/when they make it to October baseball, they'll be a tough out for anyone with a rotation of Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels.

Padres - They've been the surprise team of the year, and they just keep rolling. Their pitching is as good as anyone's despite the fact that it doesn't have the name recognition. Their offense isn't as feared as other teams', but they excel at getting the key hits when they matter. A nice playoff run, and Adrian Gonzalez could be a full fledged star -- not to mention one step closer to being a former Padre. It'd be disappointing, and a little surprising, to see them lose their 6 game lead at this point, but the season is a huge success simply because they played well enough to hang onto A-Gon and Heath Bell all season -- players many predicted would be gone long before the non-waiver trading deadline.

Giants - The division is a longshot at this point, but they're tied for the Wild Card. Buster Posey has had a monster season, and could easily end up winning Rookie of the Year, which would be quite a feat considering the great play we've seen from rookies in 2010. Their big guns in the rotation haven't been as good as expected, but you can't count out a team that can go into a short series with Lincecum and Cain pitching the first two games.

Where Did the Fight Go?

2010-08-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

I had the best intentions of writing a post about the now infamous fight in Cincinnati last week, but the reality of life with a 6 month old child and 40+ hour a week job (not to mention being old and needing sleep) got in the way. With the extra few days of perspective, my viewpoint changes, and not really for the better.

The Cardinals finally looked like the team most expected them to be during that series versus the Reds. They were ticked at Brandon Phillips calling them "little bitches", and they set out to show him and his team why they were still the team to beat in the NL Central. It was a much anticipated series, and turned out to be a bit of a yawn. With sweep in hand, the Cards returned home to face the lowly Cubs and a roster that looked like it belonged in Des Moines. I was thinking sweep, or 2 of 3 at the very least.

Now that the Cards have dropped 2 of 3, I'm starting to become more and more convinced that this is a team destined to go out with a whimper once October rolls around -- assuming they even make it that far. For the second straight series, the Cardinals can only manage one win against the Cubs. Had the Redbirds shown any streak of consistency at all in 2010, I might chalk this up to the rivalry and the fact that these series against their biggest rival are about as close to meaningful baseball as the Cubs are going to see from here on out. We've seen this series after series with this year's Cardinals, though, and unless that mythical switch is out there just waiting to be thrown, we might be seeing a team falling far short of expectations. A shame, given that so many things are going right:

Wainwright is having his second straight Cy Young worthy campaign.
Pujols has turned things on and just became the only player in history to hit 30 HR in 10 straight seasons.
Matt Holliday is putting up numbers consistent with a guy who commanded huge money on the free agent market.
Jaime Garcia has more than made up for the departure of Joel Piniero and softened the injuries of Lohse and Penny.
Rookie Jon Jay has been raking and is an almost permanent fixture in the 2 hole.
Colby Rasmus still has some room to grow, but is clearly blossoming into one of the team's best players.

In spite of all of this, the Cards still find themselves trailing the Reds on 8/16. Why is that? You can point to some of the under-performers -- Ryan, Schumaker, Lopez, etc. Then there are injuries to guys like Freese, Lohse, Penny and (since traded) Ludwick. The big problem, though, is that the team doesn't seem to play with that "Win or Die" mentality that Tony LaRussa managed teams seem to carry. Tough to pinpoint a simple reason why that is missing, but if this team doesn't find its heart soon, then we'll be talking 2011 much sooner than any of us would have thought.

ARod reaches 600 and Trade Deadline Reaction

2010-08-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Alex Rodriguez FINALLY hit #600 in his first at bat against the Blue Jays today. I'm sure a nation of Yankee haters can rejoice that the daily updates on ARod will be coming to an end after a day of tributes. The milestone leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I've come to appreciate ARod for the fact that he's finally done what I'd always wanted him to do -- cut out all the "I need to be the perfect superstar ballplayer" crap and just turned into a ballplayer. The flip side is that he's an admitted PED user, so his 600 doesn't mean as much as a guy like Ken Griffey Jr. reaching the same level. I guess in many ways, ARod has come to represent what I started to dislike about the Yankees betweeen 2002 and 2008 -- the excess, the flaunting of their financial power, the ability to hate without admitting you respect the team/player. Those were cornerstones of Torre's early years, and I felt like after losing the World Series in 2001. But still, it's a milestone, and I think years from now, as the dust settles from the steroid era, I think ARod will get his due for being the player that he is.

Last weekend also saw the non-waiver trading deadline come and go. For all the talk that it would be a quiet deadline this year, it sure seems like there was a lot of activity. The Yankees added Lance Berkman, Austin Kearns and Kerry Wood. I was pleased with all three acquisitions, and think this might strengthen the team to a point where they'll be awfully tough to beat in October, providing their starting pitching returns to full health. Wood is a player that I was especially pleased to see in pinstripes. I've watched his career from the beginning, and really was annoyed with the way the Cubs shuffled him out of town. He adds depth to a bullpen that has been struggling of late.

Down in St. Louis, it has been a bit of a mixed bag. The Cardinals ripped off 8 straight wins after the All Star Break, but have been a model of inconsistency since. Most frustrating for me is that they seem to play poorly against teams they should be beating. Both Houston and the Cubs are teams that are struggling and there really is no excuse for expecting a team to take 2 of 3 games in a series from these teams. But, time and again, we've seen this team lost 2 of 3, and that just doesn't give you a good feeling as we get closer to the end of the season. Cincinnati hasn't show much sign that they are going away, and a team with championship aspirations MUST pad a lead against the lesser teams in the division.

The trade deadline was a bit quieter in St. Louis. The team was in the mix for Roy Oswalt, but had to settle for Jake Westbrook. Westbrook, who is a groundball pitcher, seems like an ideal guy for Dave Duncan and the Cardinals pitching staff, and the depth helps negate the injuries to Lohse and Penny, not to mention gives you some protection against Jaime Garcia hitting the rookie wall. The trade did spell the end of Ryan Ludwick's time in St. Louis and I'm very sorry to see him go. His was a great story and you love seeing a guy like that stick with things and finding his chance to be an everyday player. His playing time had slipped due to injury and the emergence of hot-hitting rookie John Jay, so something had to give. Ludwick should fare well in San Diego. They're a team that reminds me very much of the Cardinals of the last few years, and they should have a regular spot for "Luddy" in their outfield. They are a possible playoff opponent, should the Cardinals hold off the Reds, so you do worry a bit about him coming back to haunt his old team.

D. Lee - Loser, Part 2: ....And we have our answer

2010-07-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

I had started out the day thinking about my post regarding Derrek Lee and the possibility that he'd veto any deal that would send him to a contender. One very plausible reason that Lee would veto a trade -- something I knew about but wasn't thinking of as I wrote my entry -- is because his daughter suffers from a rare disorder called Leber's Congenital Amaurosis. You can read more about Lee's Project 3000 here.

I would give Lee a pass here if I truly believed that was the reason, but there is some evidence to suggest that a bigger reason is just that Lee would prefer to draw his salary and finish out the season with the Cubs and doesn't care in the slightest about having a chance to compete down the stretch -- and of course rebuild some of his value as he heads into free agency.

The topic came up on WSCR's "The Mully and Hanley Show" this morning as the hosts spoke with Chicago Tribune baseball writer Phil Rogers. You can listen and judge for yourself, but to me, Rogers tone of voice confirmed what I've thought and written about -- that Lee doesn't put much importance on winning. Rogers even mentioned that when asked about going to a contender, Lee commented that he'd "...been on 100 loss teams before..." when he was in Florida. Hardly sounds like a guy that values the ring, huh?

And now we have proof as ESPN1000's Bruce Levine has confirmed that Lee will turn down any opportunity to join a contender, in spite of the fact that we know that both the Rangers and the Angels have inquired about making a deal. I can now say, with certainty, that Derrek Lee is the PERFECT poster child for the mess that the Cubs have become.

D. Lee: How to admit you're not a winner without actually saying so

2010-07-26T12:46:00.001-07:00

When he was first traded to the Cubs, I thought that Derrek Lee was as classy of a player as there was in the NL. He also chose that time to start putting up some pretty impressive numbers, and so I thought the Cubs at least had a player around that I could root for. Now, in 2004, I was probably closer to being a bandwagon Cubs fan than I've ever been at any time in my life. Let me explain that real quick -- I grew up a Cards and a Yanks fan, but lost touch with baseball a bit when basketball was top dog in sports. I also drifted away from the Cards a bit because of some down years and then Tony La Russa's decision to force out my all time favorite player -- Ozzie Smith -- in favor of Royce Clayton. Had the Cards won the NLCS in '96 and faced the Yankees in the World Series, this point would be moot. 1996 was also the year I had moved to the Chicago area, and was dating my future wife, who is a HUGE Cubs fan. I had so much fun watching the 2003 post season through her (and other Cubs fans that I know) that it was tough not to get a little caught up in things. As 2004 opened, my wife and I made our first trip to Spring Training in Arizona, and it seemed like the Cubs were about to put it all together. Statistically speaking, they had a better year than many realize, but what you saw playing out in reality was a team built to win that had put itself in position to do just that -- and then choked the whole thing away with as unlikeable group of players as I've ever watched. Chief among them for me -- Sammy Sosa, Moises Alou and (possibly my least favorite player of all time) LaTroy Hawkins. In '05, I made the first of my yearly treks down to Busch Stadium -- this one for the final time at the second version of the park -- and it rekindled my love of the Cardinals.

(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Sorry, that was quite a tangent....but does speak to the respect I had for Derrek Lee. He's hit .282, averaged around 25-26 homers, stolen over 100 bases and driven in 983 runs in his Cubs career. He's played gold glove caliber defense for most of this time, and has won the award in '05 and '07. He also won the Silver Slugger award in '05. He had done all of this with a quiet grace, and I took him as a player coming into his own that lead by example. He was easy to root for. The one thing I always bristled at -- and, yes, largely because of my rooting interests -- was that the Cubs had their answer to Albert Pujols. Sorry, Derrek Lee has NEVER been anything other than a poor man's Pujols on his best days.

Earlier this week, Jayson Stark of ESPN tweeted the following:

A source who has known Lee for years says it's "highly doubtful" he'd waive his full no-trade to OK any deal at this stage.

My opinion of Lee has been on the decline over the last few seasons, and I think it may have bottomed out with this revelation. Obviously, until we get to the end of this season, we can't close the door on the topic, but to me, this confirms what I've started to suspect for the last couple of seasons -- that Derrek Lee just isn't a player that is driven to win. I started to notice a shift in his body language the last few years and saw signs that he was far to nonchalant towards the game. Sure, there were the flashes of anger as he'd slam his bat down after striking out at a key moment in a game or when he'd hit into a(nother) double play -- it got to a point where the sports media here in Chicago started calling him "DP Lee". He rebounded nicely in the second half last year and I thought his impending free agency coupled with the arrival of Rudy Jaramillo would be key factors in a big year for Lee.

That hasn't been the case. He's currently hitting .251 with 11 HR and 44 RBI. Not awful numbers, but not what you've come to expect from D-Lee. According to baseball-reference.com, his runs above replacement has dropped from 45 in '09 to 4 in '10. Pretty big drop, huh? His wins above replacement has slipped from 4.7 to .4 in the same time. I've also heard mention on WSCR (a Chicago sports/talk radio station) that both Lee and Aramis Ramirez were players that had refused instruction from Jaramillo earlier in the season. They may not have agreed with his teachings, but given the sluggish start both players got off to, there is no earthly reason why you wouldn't talk to your hitting coach to see what he might suggest.

If Lee refuses to be traded to a contender, that cements it for me. (How could a Southern Cal native not see the benefit of playing in LA?) He's just another player out there who puts up good numbers, plays the game well during his time and then fades into the background after he retires. I think Lee has the talent to have been an all time great player -- if not at least an all time great Cub. As it is, I don't think he'll be all that fondly remembered....He'll be missed next year certainly, but 10 years from now, I don't think he pops to mind as a defining player of this current Cubs team. And that's too bad, because I think we're seeing proof that he is all too good a representative of this decade's Cubs -- talented, capable, but ultimately forgettable.

I-55 Showdown, Lou Retires, Cards Finally Lose a Game

2010-07-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Cardinals opened the second half with 8 consecutive wins. During the run, they played as well as they have all season. The offense, for the most part, resembled the one that we all expected coming into the season. The most gratifying of the wins in this stretch was a come-from-behind win vs. the Dodgers last Sunday -- all with Albert Pujols taking a much deserved day off. Birthday boy Allen Craig filled in at first and had a big day -- driving in 3 runs, including the tying run. Matt Holliday, who is starting to look like a player worthy of being a team's highest paid, drove in the winning run. The Cards followed up the sweep of the Dodgers by taking 3 of 4 from the reeling Phillies before falling 2-0 in extra innings yesterday. From here, the scene shifts to Chicago as the I-55 rivalry is renewed. I've said time and again that for my money this is the best rivalry in baseball. The one element truly missing, however, is that it is extremely rare to have both teams in position to win it all. The last time this rivalry was ratcheted up due to a playoff berth was 2003. Both teams have been in the mix since, but that was the last time that you saw the off-field quotes that make a rivalry all it can be.

We also learned this week that Cubs manager, Lou Piniella, has decided to hang it up after this year. His time in Chicago hasn't been as successful as many had hoped. He did lead the Cubs to two consecutive division titles in '07 and '08, but both times the team was swept out of the playoffs. In '09, it was the Cardinals turn to win the division and get swept by a team from the NL West. 2010 has seen the Cubs underperform at almost every turn, so it comes as no surprise that Lou is ready to move on.

So the spotlight in Chicago shifts to the search for a new manager. Many expect Hall of Fame 2B Ryne Sandberg to take over, as he's paid his dues managing in the Cubs minor league system for the past 4 years, working his way up from low A to the AAA Iowa Cubs. I've had the pleasure of seeing him manage several games at for the single A Peoria Chiefs, and have to say that I'm surprised at the great job he did working with the young players. That said, I really hope that he doesn't get the job. I am always of the belief that your franchises great players get nothing but trouble when they return to manage/coach their team. Too often, you're just setting yourself up to boo and ultimately fire one of your great players. With apologies to Cubs fans that might read this, I really don't see the Cubs being World Series contenders over the next few years, and in this day and age, no manager gets long to prove he's the right man for the job. I would expect the 2011 Cubs to be similar to the 2010 edition, so you've already got one down season for Ryno if he gets the job. It could be as soon as 2012, then, that you start to wonder about his job security. Ryno's been far too classy of a player and now manager to put him through that.

I do think the Cubs need to promote the guy, though, and would think making him the bench coach/manager in waiting is a good move. Some other names that have been floated are Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Bob Brenly, Pat Listach and Freddi Gonzalez. I'd be shocked of Girardi leaves the Yankees for the Cubs -- even though he is an Illinois native and began his baseball career with the Cubs. Torre would be intriguing, and would be amenable to a shorter term deal, but the fact that he'd be replacing a retiree that is younger than he is to manage a team that doesn't appear to be WS ready -- well, that makes me skeptical. I don't know much about Listach, who currently coaches for the Nationals. Gonzalez is believed to be the man that will replace Bobby Cox in Atlanta.

That leaves Brenly, and I really believe he'd be a fine choice. He's better equipped to ride out some of the bad contracts as the team phases out some of its veteran players (Soriano, Zambrano, Ramirez) in favor of a younger team (Castro, Colvin, Wells). I think Ryno would have a great influence on these guys, and Brenly's no-nonsense, "Just play hard" attitude would help to teach them the right way to play like a big leaguer. A younger Piniella would likely have been better for them, but you sense that he came to Chicago thinking a title was almost assured and that he didn't have much to do besides sit on the bench and let it all come together. Not to suggest that he hasn't done a better job than many give him credit for -- winning the division two years in a row is an accomplishment that you can't really discredit. But I also don't think this is the same guy that managed Cinci to a title and turned the Mariners into perennial contenders.

But first things first, the Cardinals are in town. I expect the Cardinals to take 2 of 3, losing on Friday, then winning both weekend games. No matter what, it will be a great weekend for baseball.

As it often goes in New York, much ado about nothing.

2010-07-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Yankees said their official goodbye to George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard last night, and as always, the Yankees do these things in a way few other teams can match. The ceremony was followed with a thrilling walk-off win as Nick Swisher delivered a game winning hit in the bottom of the ninth. Earlier in the day, New York papers made an issue out of the fact that none of the current or former Yankees players attended the funeral of Bob Sheppard, and have made a particularly big deal out of the fact that Derek Jeter did not attend the service as the team's representative.

I understand the point, and while I'm mildly surprised by it, this is just one of those things that proves that players in New York deal with media pressure that few other markets can match. Especially in the case of Jeter, you are a little surprised, because he's crafted a public persona that exudes class and he always seems to know the right thing to do. At the same time, we tend to forget that its not at all uncommon for people to deal with these types of situations in their own way, as Jeter and Joe Girardi both suggested before and after yesterday's game. So I agree that it is a little surprising to see the franchise that does ceremony so well not send at least one player to the funeral, I really don't see why its the big deal that it is being made out to be.

In the same article about Jeter, the point is made that the game was a fitting tribute to the Boss, but that it would have been even more perfect if Jeter had been the hero of the game. Personally, I think it was more fitting that Swisher was the hero, because he is a perfect metaphor for what has been so right about the latter half of the Steinbrenner reign and what was so off about the lowpoint in the 80's. For all the talk of the Yankees buying their championships, they have had their greatest success when the team is built around homegrown players and guys that were acquired through shrewd trades. You've got the core four players (Jeter, Posada, Pettitte and Rivera) along with other farm products like Cano and Gardner. There are the big names of A-Rod, Teixeira and Sabathia -- the Yankees have always signed big name players -- but its moves like Swisher that really make this a team that I root for. The same could be said for the Torre lead dynasty. Swisher, to some degree, reminds me a bit of Paul O'Neill. I don't mean to suggest that Swisher is as good as O'Neill was, but when the Yankees sent Roberto Kelly to Cinci for Paulie, O'Neill wasn't an every day player. He wasn't one for his first season or two with the Yankees, either. Swisher wasn't supposed to be one, but became one after an injury to Xavier Nady opened up more playing time.

Swisher has responded to playing in New York, and you can bet that the Boss would have had kind words for his play over the last season and a half. He's far from the best player on the team, but he's been as important to the Yankees success in 2009 and 2010 as any player out there.

All Star reaction, Odds & Ends

2010-07-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

The 2010 All Star Game is in the books. The streak is over. The NL finally won a game. Ding dong the witch is dead.

Honestly, I thought it was a good game. It kept me watching, which isn't always the case with these exhibitions. I've already blogged about things I don't like about the affair, but the game itself is always fun for me. As a kid, I used to marvel at seeing all of the different uniforms, seeing all of these great players that I idolized playing on the same team. I'm sure this will come off as a little cliche and really sappy, but I still get that feeling watching the teams come out -- even if FOX does try to sap ever ounce of enjoyment out of the telecast by making the pre-game drone on and on. Didn't mind the "All Stars Among Us" stuff, but do we really need a cast member of Glee out singing extra songs? She did a great job with the anthem, but I guess I've grown a bit weary of anything to do with that show.

But, yeah, the NL did it. So whichever team decides to play well enough to represent the NL gets home field advantage. I still hate that wrinkle, by the way. If I had to choose right now, I'd say that the Yankees and Braves will meet in the World Series this year -- and I say that with an attempt to strip away as much bias as I can. I'd love to say Cardinals/Yankees in the WS, but honestly, don't want that to happen because I don't want to be forced into rooting against one of my favorite teams, and I just don't think the Cards are playing well enough to get there. There's a lot of time, obviously, to change that, but as of the 1/2 way point, doesn't look like they are going to get the job done.

I haven't been as active the last few days, so a few random thoughts -- some baseball, some not:

It has been a horrible year for Cubs fans, but Marlon Byrd has been a pleasant surprise. I thought he'd be a bust for Chicago, but as it is, he's the one player on that team that I enjoy watching this year. Glad to see him come up big in last night's game.
I know the LeBron/Wade/Bosh thing is old news by now, but that introduction ceremony? C'mon -- even the Yankees don't trot guys out like that. It made Jason Giambi crying as he put on his pinstriped jersey look positively normal. I was always taught that as you play sports you should always act like you've done good things before and expect to do them again. I think that also includes don't celebrate like you've won a championship when you just signed a couple of players -- no matter who they are.
Sticking in the NBA -- Kyle Korver has a new fan in me for having the guts to stand up at a press conference to announce his signing with the Bulls and admit that he hated Jordan and the "Unbeata-Bulls". Good job, Kyle. I love it.
Also had no problem with Joey Votto saying he didn't congratulate Byrd because he's a Cub. Maybe not the classiest moment ever, but all sports are better off when there's animosity between teams and players. There's far too much back slapping and chit chat these days.
Wrote a full post on Steinbrenner, but one more note on the guy....I think he was great for baseball and he made the Yankees great for baseball. I know most people hated him and hate his team, but that's what is good about them. Love 'em or hate 'em, you tune in to watch 'em. That's good for the game no matter how you slice it.
Speaking of the Yanks -- people were up in arms as they ALMOST traded for Cliff Lee last week. "The Rich Get Richer" is what I heard from a few friends. Look, I get why the Yankees and their payroll are not popular, but when you've got the prospects to get a deal done, it has nothing to do with the rich getting richer. It has to do with smart baseball people understanding how to market the talent in their farm system. When they sign Cliff Lee to a big contract during the offseason, complain all you want. Until then, understand that trading is about having what the other team needs, not flexing your financial muscle.
Another note on that topic....How come nobody ever cites the fact that other teams contribute to the problem? I apologize for picking on the Cubs again -- well, no I don't -- but look at the deal they gave Soriano. No one else was offering anywhere near that much money. So after that deal, there were a bunch of players saying "I think I'm worth Soriano money." During the same off season, they overpaid for Mark DeRosa, which in hindsight worked out well, but at the time was questioned by writers here in Chicago. They also overpaid for Jason Marquis. The next year they extended Zambrano's contract and spent too much on Milton Bradley. I know that some of the spending is done to "keep up with the Jones" -- or Steinbrenners as the case may be -- but its always the Yankees fault when you talk about the contracts. Not arguing that the Yankees don't deserve a bigger share of the blame, just pointing out that a lot of teams give out a lot of dumb contracts that end up driving the asking prices higher, and soon you get the Yankees signing Teixeira, Sabathia and Burnett and most teams can't afford one of those guys.
I love the World Cup, but the final was brutal. Still, I am going through some serious withdrawal and can't wait for the Premier League to start back up in August. There are two things that I won't miss about the World Cup.....Soccer snobs who tell me I can't properly enjoy the game because I didn't play and American sportswriters tripping all over each other to say how boring the game is and that it's still not "on the rise" in this country. Both camps -- go away now. The snobs do more to hurt fandom over here, and the writers should be ashamed for going to the same well every four years. Come up with something new already.
Ok, a non-sports diversion. Last September, they re-released the Beatles' catalog, and I've been slowly updating my collection. I bought the remastered White Album today -- which has a lot of great music, but as a whole has never been my favorite Beatles album (Abbey Road is far and away my favorite, followed by Revolver, then Sgt. Peppers, then Rubber Soul). Listened to it during my afternoon commute, and was struck by 2 things: (a) Even when they weren't at their best, the Beatles made more interesting music than most could only dream of and (b) I have yet to find a double album that wouldn't be better as a single album. I mean, if the greatest band ever can't make a great one, who can?
Almost forgot -- Bob Sheppard. I have only been fortunate enough to go to Yankee Stadium (the old one) once. It was back in 2000 and I saw the Yanks and Clemens face a young Barry Zito and the A's with some tickets that a co-worker had been given. The Yanks were losing 2-1 late in the game, when my co-worker says "It's a school night for us. Do you mind if we take off at the end of the 7th?" No problem -- I was sure that I was jinxing them, and we did have an hour's drive back out to CT. So we leave, get to the car and turn on the radio to hear the end of the game. Right as we turn it on, we hear David Justice hit a home run to win the game in the 9th. The two things I'll always remember from that night are that you don't ever leave a game early and Bob Sheppard's voice is even more amazing in person. I'm glad I got to hear it for myself at least one time.

Thanks for reading.

The Boss

2010-07-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

(Photo courtesy of the NY Daily News)

I had intended to put this up last night, but a failing wireless router and a more-entertaining-than-I-expected All Star Game got the better of my evening.

It's hardly news at this point that George M. Steinbrenner III passed away on Tuesday after suffering a massive heart attack. It was widely reported over the last few years that his health was slipping, but this was a bit of a shock just the same. To paraphrase Derek Jeter at the All Star Game -- you just always thought the Boss would be there.

Many tributes have already been written, and will be far more eloquent than anything I could come up with, so I won't waste much space actually eulogizing the man. I will say that the news hit me a bit harder than I really suspected. Growing up in the 80's, I'd have probably been counted among those that didn't like the guy -- although I wasn't old enough to really understand much about him. Most of my opinions at that time were formed by what I'd heard my Dad say, and he thought he was a jerk. I believe most Yankees fans -- I guess I should say most baseball fans -- thought he was just this side of the devil, if not Satan himself. He was loud, boisterous, intolerant, quick tempered, and he pushed baseball into an age where most consider players to be overpaid jerks who are out of touch with reality. And, in truth, the 80's were years where I was a much bigger Cardinals fan than I was a Yankees fan (though I did always claim both teams). I should also point out that during this time, I fancied myself as a future NBA star -- a thought that is so far beyond laughable if you know me that I have to laugh as I type that -- and was far more invested in the Boston Celtics and the NBA at the time than I was in baseball.

As the 90's opened, I did start to follow the game a bit more closely, and was among those that wasn't all too upset when George was banned from the game. Of course, this also coincided with Buck Showalter and Gene Michael gaining control of baseball operations and starting to turn the franchise around. When Steinbrenner did come back, he balanced the larger than life personna that many saw with a guy who would let his baseball people do their jobs, and we all know how that turned out. He somewhat reclaimed his free spending ways after losing the World Series in 2001, and I've always maintained that is why the team didn't win it all again until 2009. By this time, Hank and Hal had taken over things, so while "Big Stein" was still in the picture, he wasn't the force he'd been in the past.

Over the last two days, we've been flooded with story after story about what a giving man he was, how nice he could be -- if you didn't work for him -- and how he was great for baseball. The most descriptive word that keeps popping up to describe him is "complex"....which is completely appropriate, because you also heard reminders that he was twice suspended from baseball -- once for illegal campaign donations and then again when he'd paid a gambler to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield. And no mention of Steinbrenner would be complete without talking about how he fired manager after manager after manager.

When someone passes away, we have a tendency to focus on the positives of the person. It is hard to do that with a guy like the Boss. When he was banned from baseball the second time, Yankees fans at the old stadium stood and applauded for 90 seconds. Yet, if you polled most Yankees fans today, I think the majority (myself included) would say they liked the Boss and will genuinely miss him. And I think most honest baseball fans would admit that among the reasons they hated the guy was the fact that didn't own their favorite team. He was a flawed man, and you couldn't always understand why he did things he did. But, you hear a story of how he interacted with kids, made an employee's mom feel like she was the most important person at a game or picked up a the tuition for the child of one of his fired office employees and you realize that for all of the negatives you could throw out he really was a decent person. Even a Boston sports writer wrote a touching tribute to the Boss. My favorite part of the article is when he points out that the Red Sox were better for having Steinbrenner's Yankees to keep up with -- a point that is true of many teams in baseball. Some of us loved him, many of us hated him, and often times we did both. He helped change baseball from the game that our fathers grew up with into the game that we know and love today.

R.I.P. Big Stein. We'll miss you.

Getting caught up.....

2010-07-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

Started out the week intending to continue commenting on the All Star Selections, specifically how I don't think Strasburg is among the "snubs". I started writing that last Sunday night, and here we are a week later, and haven't finished that thought. In lieu of a bunch of disjointed posts, I thought I'd just get a bit caught up on things I had wanted to cover over the last week.

All Stars -- I know that many wanted to see Strasburg make the NL team - and he might yet be an injury sub - but I don't think it was a big deal that he was left off. In fact, I think there are a number of more deserving young pitchers that have earned a spot ahead of him. Jaime Garcia, Matt Latos and Tyler Clippard all deserve to be there.
I know that Ubaldo Jimenez is the choice of most to start for the NL, but I think Josh Johnson has been the better starter. Of course, hard to argue with 15 wins.
Felt like 1999 again on Wednesday, as a record number of HRs were hit. Remember when it was like this EVERY night?
We almost saw a near perfect game last night (Saturday) as Reds rookie Tim Wood carried the Perfecto all the way until the bottom of the 9th. While he was more hittable, Roy Halladay matched Wood with zeroes all the way, and the Phillied ended up prevailing in extra innings. I really felt bad for Wood -- as you almost feel like this is a game that could end up having a negative effect in the long run, because he almost certainly feels like he let his team down in the end.
Wood is just the latest rookie to have an impressive night. Rookies have been the big story this year, and I can't remember a year that has been dominated by youngsters like 2010 has. Here is a quick rundown of what a rookie All Star team might look like. Don't think this would be a bad team at all....

Catcher - Carlos Santana - CLE - Only hitting .425 through 29 games. Buster Posey could back him up. You lose some on offense with him....he's only hitting .389 through 38 games.
First Base - Ike Davis - NYM - The guy that Mets brass wanted to shield from being viewed as the savior of the club keyed the team's turnaround by hitting .337 with 11 HR and 40 RBI in his first 75 games.
Second Base - Scott Sizemore - DET or Neil Walker - PIT - Weaker position for the rookie class, but both of these guys have serious potential and are hitting at or near .300.
Third Base - David Freese - STL - OK, giving the nod to my team over the more hyped Pedro Alvarez. But Freese earns it, checking in hitting .361 with 4 HR and 36 RBI.
Shortstop - Starlin Castro - CHC - He's been a brighter spot for a struggling Cubs squad, and drove in 6 runs in his debut. He has struggled a bit after his first night, but he's only 20.
Outfielders - Jason Heyward - ATL, Tyler Colvin - CHC, Brennan Boesch - DET - Heyward is the most known of the trio, but Colvin has played his way into regular playing time in recent weeks. Boesch has the best stats of the three with a .397 average, 12 HR and 49 RBI.
Starters - Jaime Garcia - STL, Mike Leake - CIN, Stephen Strasburg - WAS. Garcia has been as dependable as any starter for the Cardinals, and has stepped up with 8 wins after injuries to Kyle Loshe and Brad Penny. Leake make the Reds opening day roster bypassing the minors completely and has already racked up 109.2 innings and 6 wins. Strasburg, of course, is THE guy we were all waiting for, and he has not disappointed. While I'll continue to make the case that others are more deserving of All Star spots, there is no denying that Strasburg has lived up to the hype through his first several starts and looks like he could turn out to be a once in a lifetime type of player.
Relievers - Neftali Perez - TEX - Perez has 23 saves for the first place Rangers. When baseball Pundits spoke of him early on, you hear the classic phrase "...his stuff is nasty."

Now we head into the All Star Break....the Home Run derby is on tap for tomorrow night -- an event that really isn't as exciting as it used to be, and something promises to give us several more hours of Chris Berman than anyone this side of his mother really cares to listen to in a single evening. But, despite my complaints, I usually watch and generally enjoy the event. The game itself should be interesting. We have a great mix of veteran and new talent at the game, and I really am rooting for the NL to finally break through and win one. See you on the other side of the break, and as ever, thanks for reading.

** Stats courtesty of MLB.com **

Fix this please....

2010-07-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

I have no doubts that by the time we sit down to watch the 2010 All Star Game, many of the "crimes" committed with the initial roster will have been corrected. I enjoy the debate, but usually feel like too much fuss is made over the rosters. This year is proving to be an exception, as we've seen a few head scratchers. The biggest one, and the one that tips me to the side of really being annoyed, is Omar Infante. I have nothing against Infante -- I like him as a player, recognize his value to the Braves, and generally root for these types of guys to do well. But, aside from a week or two when he was filling in for an injured Chipper, Prado or Escobar, he hasn't come close to resembling an everyday player. But Infante was chosen for the game, while the likes of Joey Votto -- arguably the second best first baseman in the NL -- sits at home. Most opinions, mine included, point to this being an attempt by NL Manager Charlie Manuel to add some flexibility to his roster to try to end the NL's losing streak. Of course, as we all know, this game "counts", and I've always felt that it was one of the dumber wrinkles that we've been subjected to during the "Reign of Bud". Of course, he is listed on the ballot for the final vote, and has an early lead, so hopefully, the fans will get this one right. No guarantees, though, because when you look at the list for the final NL spot you realize that everyone listed deserves to be there over Infante.

Selig and Fox long for the days of Pete Rose bowling over Ray Fosse (in the 1970 All Star Game). The fact of the matter is that today's player just doesn't approach the game the way that guys did back in the 70's. In Rose's day, a passion bordering on obsession was a must for a major leaguer -- after all, many players still needed jobs in the off season to get buy. Even the lowest paid players in today's game make salaries that are out of the common man's reach. Your body is what you depend on to bring in that money, and you can understand why the idea of a break in the middle of a long season might be appealing. You can also understand why a guy like A-Rod (who, like Infante, is going to Anaheim while more deserving players are left on the outside) might simply let himself be tagged out rather than trying to knock the ball out of Yadier Molina's hand. We can long for these days all we want, but they're not coming back. The game is different now, and trying to put artificial importance on what's approached as an exhibition is foolish.

The real baseball fans are going to watch the game no matter what -- even if the game moves to ESPN or MLB Network. The fringe fans are going to lose interest at some point, and home field in the World Series won't change that. You can argue that it works as a short term fix, but I don't think it works long term.

We'll always have room for debate when it comes to the All Star Roster, and it adds as much fun to the process as frustration. Debate is fun, but Bud's attempt to place importance on an unimportant game is starting to move past debate and leaving us with a serious injustice.

Torre vs. Yankees

2010-06-28T20:33:00.001-07:00

I honestly have grown weary of interleague play. The first few years, the novelty carried it. Things peaked for me in 2003, when the Yankees made their first trip to Wrigley. During that series, I watched Roger Clemens battle Kerry Wood in an attempt to win his 300th game. Both pitchers were dealing, and the Cubs ultimately won the game on a late rally. Of course, that just cemented my belief that I am a jinx -- as I very rarely saw the Cubs win up to that point, and now saw them play like a good team against my favorite team. The years have tarnished that game somewhat. Of course, that was the same season of the infamous "Bartman" game, and then the Yankees won in extra innings of ALCS game 7, only to come up short against a Marlins team that probably shouldn't have made it to the World Series, and I'd have been rooting for had it not ruined the post season for everyone in my household (my wife is a HUGE Cubs fan).

Since 2003, the matchups seem less and less magic. Since I don't live in NYC, or even NY state, I don't get overly excited for Yankees/Mets. I don't live in Missouri, so I don't have much reason to care about Cards/Royals. I do enjoy the Sox/Cubs rivalry, but not having a rooting interest just makes it a diversion. But the geographic rivalries have been a bit watered down by 6 games every season, just like the unbalanced schedule has taken some of the magic away from great divisional rivalries like Yankees/Red Sox, Cubs/Cardinals and Giants/Dodgers. There have been seasons where the number of games have added to the tension, but more often, it just allows the hype machine to annoy us to the point of not caring. I mean, the first Cubs/Sox series here in Chicago featured two teams that didn't look to be going anywhere. So unless you're born and bred in the city with the geographic rivalry, I don't think you really feel the excitement of these games more than any other series.

Of course, there are exceptions, and we just finished one for this year -- Joe Torre's first series managing against the Yankees. So many subplots -- most of which don't really deserve space in print -- but there's no denying that Torre will go down in history as one of the great Yankee managers of all time. Maybe the greatest, because he did his thing in an era where you can't so much as belch without it becoming news. Torre's become synonymous with the cool and collected demeanor -- the steady calm that always seems to rise above the fray. But, during last night's rubber game in the series, you could see the agony on his face as the poor man's Rivera that he's got in LA failed to nail down the win. It was a thrilling win for Yankees fans, and a heartbreaking loss for Torre and Dodger nation. Torre in LA has never seemed that weird, until I saw photos of Torre greeting Jeter, Posada, Pettitte and Rivera. Other members of the current Yankees obviously played for Joe, but these 4 guys were such a big part of Torre's run. It was strange, and one of the first times I've really felt bad for the losing team while watching a Yankee win.

My All Star Ballot

2010-06-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

Right -- so I'm sure you're sitting there thinking -- Wonder who Chris is voting for on his All Star Ballot. Right, biggest question I get each summer. (if you can't pick up on the sarcasm....)

So, without further ado, my AL picks are:

1B - Miguel Cabrera -- Tough call between Miggy, Morneau and Konerko for me. Probably wouldn't notice Paulie if I didn't live in Chicago. Picked Miggy because he had more RBI and HR than Morneau
2B - Robinson Cano -- No contest for me here. Cano has been crushing the ball, and he's underrated on defense.
SS - Derek Jeter -- I have to be honest....I voted Jeter because he's my favorite player. He's having a typical year by his standards, but really would have voted Jeter unless he was having an awful year.
3B - Evan Longoria -- His New Era cap commercial almost killed it. But he's got great all around numbers, and gave him the nod over Beltre because of the steals.
C - Joe Mauer -- Really, a popularity pick. Mauer's having a decent, but not great season. No one else jumps up and gets your attention though, so voting for the name.
DH - Vlad Guerrero -- Raise your hand if you thought he was all but done. I don't care if its the Texas affecet -- he's having a great year.
OF - Carl Crawford, Jose Bautista, Torii Hunter -- I think Crawford may be the best all around outfielder in the game. He can beat you so many ways. Bautista has come out of nowhere and is having a great year. Probably a player or two more deserving than Hunter (Hamilton, Wells, etc), but always liked Torii and felt like the home town team needed someone in the starting lineup.

NL:

1B - Adrian Gonzalez -- I almost always check Pujols off and don't think twice. But looking at stats, AG is right there with big Albert, and the Padres have been a pleasant surprise. Tie-breaker with to Gonzalez because he's a West Coast guy and its a West Coast All Star site.
2B - Martin Prado -- I could make an argument for Brandon Phillips, Rickie Weeks and Kelly Johnson. Went Prado because the Braves are playing great right now, and this guy just seems to be the classic unheralded guy that is getting it done.
SS - Hanley Ramirez -- Really, really, really wanted to vote for someone else here because of his display after getting benched for dogging it. He deserved the benching, but the stats didn't give me a good enough reason to vote for someone else.
3B - Scott Rolen -- Ok, a little bit of a vote with the heart here. Rolen's bounced back nicely after returning the NL, and no one else was so much better across the board. Wright, McGehee, Freese, Zimmerman were all considered.
C - Yadier Molina -- Ok, I'll be accused of voting for the guy on my favorite team, but ignored the stats and went with the guy that calls a great game and shuts down the running game. Average aside, he's not terrible on offense, either.
OF - Ryan Braun, Andre Ethier, Carlos Gonzalez -- Ethier's tailed off after returning from injury, but still has great numbers. Braun is as consistent as they come, and honestly, you need the big bat if you hope to beat the AL. Gonzalez is a bit of a surprise, but as I was comparing stats, noticed his numbers match up favorably with Braun. I thought that earned a vote. I really wanted to vote for Jason Heyward here, but his recent slump makes it a tough sell.

So there you go. I really hope the NL wins this year -- I'm more a fan of the NL style of game than the AL, plus it is getting boring seeing the AL win every year.

Is Strasburg an All Star? Join the debate.....

2010-06-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

My cousin (and fellow blogger over at BeOnDeck.com) and I have long talked of how great it would be to have our own radio show where we could talk sports and debate the topics of the day. The great thing about it would be that we both generally see things the same way, but differ just enough to stir a lively debate. He's written a great piece advocating Stephen Strasburg being named to the 2010 All Star team. Fulfilling our long held dream, I'm taking on his piece with my $.02. I would love to hear your comments, as would he, so please feel free to comment here, or over at beondeck.com.

I've heard good and bad arguments for Stras-mas, as it has been called, to extend to the All Star game. The two best reasons I can come up with to support his inclusion are:

The All Star game determines home field for the World Series, and Strasburg gives the NL a better chance at winning.
Strasburg is a huge draw for the fans, and the All Star game, at the end of the day, is for the fans.

Honestly, the fan in me would like to see him get a shot to pitch against the best of the AL, and I wouldn't be the least bit upset if it happens. I think Bud Selig has already tarnished the game by pinning home field on it, so including a player that has only made 4 starts to date, and will only make 2 more before the break, is no big deal.

Where I start to have a bit of a problem with things is when you start to wonder how many players the Nationals will send to the game. While there are other guys manning third base with better numbers (David Wright, Scott Rolen, David Freese to name a few), I find it hard to go too deep down the list of NL thirdbasemen before you hit Ryan Zimmerman. He's been a solid player for a couple of years, but has been somewhat underrated after a strong rookie campaign. He's putting up his usual solid numbers this year, and is among the best in the game on defense. Does Strasburg get the nod over a full time player if only one Nat is representing the team in Anaheim? If I thought the fans would vote him as a starter, I'd feel differently, but I think a guy like Wright will be the starter on name recognition and his home market alone (although I'm not meaning to suggest he hasn't earned the spot).

I also think Tyler Clippard gets slighted if you put Strasburg on the team. Clippard has been a revelation out of the pen, and has become one of the best setup men in the game. It's equally a testament to his potential and an indictment of the Nationals' rotation to point out that Clippard is among the wins leaders in the NL, but I think it does warrant considering the former "Yankee Clippard" for a spot.

I do think the All Star game is meant to reward the players who have had a solid first half. By letting the fans determine the starters, you already routinely see undeserving players starting the game. So I don't think it's a slam dunk to hand a spot to a guy that didn't even make it to the majors until early June -- especially when it comes at the expense of a guy that's been getting it done since April 6th. Strasburg is an exciting talent, would be a huge draw for the fans, and likely bring a number of casual fans to the game. I'm just not sure I completely agree that it's the right thing to do for a game that has already been subject to some poor decisions on the commissioner's part.

Please join the debate and leave a comment.

Time to give Josh his due

2010-06-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game against the Marlins. Ubaldo Jimenez tossed a no-no against the Braves. Stephen Strasburg has set the record for most strikeouts through the first 3 starts of a career. Mike Leake skipped the minors and made it until mid-June before losing a game. Tim Lincecum, despite a few rough outings, is having another typically stellar year for the Giants. Adam Wainwright is looking more and more like the #1 starter in the Cardinals rotation. Armando Galaraga pitched what many are already calling the first 28 out perfect game in history. Rotations everywhere -- especially in the NL -- are dominated by young, up and coming pitchers. And sooner or later, Cuban import Aroldis Chapman will get the call from AAA Louisville to help settle down the Cincinatti Reds starting rotation.

It just might be the biggest year for pitchers since the dead ball era ended. Yet for all of the talk about other names, one pitcher out there continues to amaze with little hype, if any at all. Josh Johnson looked like a star in the making after going 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA and 133 Ks in 2006. His 2007 season ended early and Johnson hit the DL after only pitching 15.2 innings. Tommy John surgery followed, but Johnson made it back to pitch towards the end of 2008. Johnson was decent, but took some time to settle in as his control returned. 2009 saw him return to the form many expected as he won 15 with a 3.23 ERA and 191 Ks. As we opened 2010, many expected Johnson to be a Cy Young contender.

He struggled out of the gate this season as he failed to go deeper than 6 innings in each of his first 4 starts while posting a 1-1 record. Then on April 26, he tossed a complete game giving up only 3 hits and 1 earned run, and it looked as if he had turned a corner. He followed that game with two somewhat rough outings vs. the Nationals where he gave up 5 ER in 12 total innings, but did record one win. From that point forward, the man has been among the best -- if not the best -- pitchers in baseball. He's in the midst of a sting of 8 games where he's pitched at least 7 innings in every game except one, and has not given up more than one earned run in any of those starts. He's seen his ERA shrink from 3.35 on May 8 to 1.80 after a dominating 8 inning, 6 hit, 1 run performance against one of the best teams in baseball - the Tampa Bay Rays. He's also faced the Phillies' Roy Halladay twice in that span -- losing one as "Doc" pitched a perfect game and winning the other.

He's a sure bet to be an All Star and has put his hat into the ring for the NL Cy Young. If Johnson pitched anywhere besides South Florida -- where you might be pitching in front of a crowd of 3,000 on a good night -- he'd be a household name. As it is, he might just be the most underrated starter in the game.

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Most of this is a post I wrote for Father's Day last year. This year's Father's Day is still special for all of the reasons that I wrote about last year, but also for the fact that I'm celebrating my first one as a Dad. My daughter, Quinn, was born this past January, and the last 5 months have been an incredible ride. All that I can say is that I've been told by many people over the years what it feels like to be a Dad, and never understood a single word of it until I saw that little face looking back at me on the day my daughter was born. My heart skips a beat everytime I see her smile at me. Its the greatest feeling in the world. Later today, I'll be taking her to her first Kane County Cougars game, and I can't think of too many things that I've been more excited for in my life. Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there, and if you haven't done so yet -- go call your dad right now and wish him a Happy Father's Day.

****************************** From 2009 ********************************

My Dad has basically had it with baseball. He has always been a Yankees fan, but for the most part refuses to watch a game. As with most kids, my Dad bought me my first glove -- taught me how to catch, how to swing a bat, how to curve up the bill on my hats so I didn't look like a dufus. I do wish he'd have taught me how to pitch, because as a lefty, it seems as if you don't have to be that good to stay employed.

(a shot of my Dad and I while on vacation last summer in Petosky, MI)

The modern athlete has taken a toll on his love for the game (and sports in general, truth be told) and the Players strike in 1994 was the final straw. He has not set foot in a Major League Baseball stadium since....although he will take in a Minor League Game on occasion. As with many fans who grew up in the 50's and 60's, my Dad's favorite player is Mickey Mantle, and "the Mick" is the reason he became a Yankees fan. Even though he has sworn off the rituals of being an active fan, he does still read a few books about the game and its history, and surprises me with a story or two about players that he has seen. One of my favorite baseball/Dad memories is watching the movie "61*" with my Dad. It was a fairly well made movie, and for those of you who haven't seen the film, it tells the story Mantle's and Roger Maris' chase of Babe Ruth's single season home run record during the 1961 season (one which many would argue he still has). My Dad actually feels bad today at the thought of how pro-Mantle he was at the time, and says that he remembers my uncle taking a club or a bat to a tree in their backyard any time Maris would homer and Mantle would not. My Dad is the reason that I love the New York Yankees -- even though he isn't as big of a fan as he was when he sat me down to watch Reggie Jackson back in the late 70's, it is still something that means a lot to me because it is something I share with my Dad.

My maternal Grandfather is a HUGE Cardinals fan. My first memories of actually attending a game are of seeing Ozzie Smith and the Cardinals play in the old -- but not oldest -- Busch Stadium. To this day, that is my subconscious measuring stick for any ballpark I visit. He also used to take me to see the Springfield (IL) Redbirds, the AAA team for the St. Louis Cardinals, which has since moved to Louisville, KY and on to Memphis, TN. I used to have a closet full of those plastic batting helmets that he would buy for me and my sister when we'd go to games. He's told me stories about Dizzy Dean and Bob Gibson, and gave me my one real piece of baseball memorabilia -- a commemorative Coke that he bought for me at Game 7 of the 1982 World Series. I still have the Coke, and it has never been opened (I'm told that makes it worth more money, but you couldn't give me enough to part with it). During the 2006 playoffs, I exchanged emails with my Grandfather talking about the games. He has a habit of butchering players' names whether he's saying them or writing them, so it made for some great laughs reading his nicknames for players. When I think of that team, I think of two things -- those emails and Cadillacs. Why Cadillacs? Because he was so excited that they won the Series that he used it as an excuse to go buy a new car.

My paternal Grandfather is sadly no longer with us. He passed away in 1992, and I miss him to this day. He was the kind of man that I didn't always appreciate when I was a kid. He didn't spoil us with toys or anything like that, but I came to realize that of all the men I knew, he may have been one of the finest. He loved to watch baseball -- mostly the Chicago Cubs, although he also rooted for the Yankees. I think the thing that I really learned from him was how to watch a game and appreciate players that were good -- even if you hated the team they played for. I can remember sitting and listening to him talk about Darryl Strawberry. I have always hated the Mets, and aside from his Yankee tenure, have never been a Strawberry fan. But I remember that my Grandfather enjoyed watching him play. I wish I'd have made more of an effort when he was alive to simply stop by his house and sit and watch a game with him, but I'd like to think that he knows that I always think about him when I sit down to watch a game.

I've been told by several people that I'm not a real Yankees fan or a Cardinals fan because I try to root for two teams. I understand why you might think that, but I have to disagree. I feel like my love of the Yankees in some way pays tribute to my Dad and my love for the Cardinals pays the same to my Grandfather. It's a cliché, but baseball has always seemed to be a special thing that a kid shares with his Dad or Granddad.

I've been extremely blessed to have these three men play such a huge role in my life. I've tied everything to baseball for the purposes of this post -- what else would you do when you're writing something on MLBlogs.com -- but that is just one small and unimportant reason why I'll be thinking about all three of them tomorrow.

I love you, Dad.

I love you Grandpa George.

I love (and miss you) Grandpa Alf.

Thanks for everything. And thank you for reading -- now go call your Dad and wish him a Happy Father's Day.

We were robbed

2010-06-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

Through 45 minutes, it seemed the US Men's soccer team was living up to their reputation as a somewhat talented team that wilted on the big stage. Here was the "underdog" Slovenia leading the US 2-0 at the half. Looked pretty bleak for the Americans.

But, unlike in World Cups past, the US came out and attacked the opposing goal with an intensity that is often missing for this side. Landon Donovan slammed home a goal to cut things to 2-1 and gave the team some hope. After a few squandered chances, Michael Bradley, the son of the US coach, fired home the equalizer, and the match was tied.

This would have been a fine result considering the early deficit, but the US kept pressing, and won a free kick late in the second half. Landon Donovan sent a beautiful ball heading toward the box. The ball found sub Maurice Edu, who seemed to put the possible game winner in the net at the 86th minute. But -- just as the team and announcers started to celebrate, the referee called off the goal. The first thought was that it was an offsides call, but replays showed that all of the US players were, indeed, onside. The call was a foul on the US. I'm far from a soccer expert, but have not seen anything close to a foul committed by a US player in any replay. ESPN's experts have not been able to explain the call, either.

The final match of the day saw England draw with Algeria at 0-0 -- a result that will no doubt have the Brits feeling pressure at home that most of us can't understand. This result was nearly as shocking as the horrible call that denied the US the win vs. Slovenia. The English team looked to be afraid of screwing up the game, and the end result was a game that was ....well, screwed up. The only parallel I can draw to what it must be like to play for England is playing for the New York Yankees. Some players thrive, but many find the white hot spotlight that comes from playing in NY to be too much to contend with, and their game suffers.

The US controls their fate. If they beat Algeria, they are through and advance to the next round. Should the US earn a draw in their next match, and England also earns a draw, the US will likely be through on goal differential. Things are looking up, but the US team can't take Algeria lightly. They held England scoreless, and while you put most of that on England's talented squad, you do have to give the Algerian's credit. Today was the first game in US World Cup history where the Americans came from behind to earn a draw. If we can build on that momentum, then we're moving on to a round that validates the supposed improvement in the team.

Celtics, World Cup and some music

2010-06-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

Game 7 didn't disappoint -- unless, of course, you are a Celtics fan. This is the great thing about the 7 game format....I started the series thinking "The Lakers are going to win, just don't get embarassed." After Game 2, I was basically happy because the Celts proved they could hang with the migthy Lakers. Game 3, hung tough, but lost when Derek Fisher decided to be clutch. Game 4 - same as Game 2. But then we get to Game 5, and the Celts take us back to LA with a 3-2 lead and a chance to shock the Lakers on their home court. That was the point where this series changed for me, and I knew that I'd be upset of the Celtics didn't win the title. But they played Game 6 like a team that knew it had 2 shots at winning it all. They acquitted themselves well in Game 7 and played with the heart of a champion -- and for that I'm glad. But I can't help the fact that I have a bitter taste in my mouth this morning because I know the Celtics could be champions right now.

All of that being said -- I really don't care for him, but I have learned to respect Kobe Bryant as a player. I don't think he'll ever be considered the best player ever -- He simply is not as good as Michael Jordan was. What I do think he is, though, is the best player in the game today, and one of the best of the current generation.

Switching gears a bit to the World Cup -- the first round of games have been somewhat boring....and I mean that in the context of someone who DOES NOT find soccer boring. In spite of the slow start to proceedings, though, the week has produced some interesting results. First there was Spain falling 1-0 to Switzerland. The Spanish team played a solid game, but couldn't net an equalizer despite numerous chances late in the match. Thursday saw 3 very compelling matches. First, Argentina took down South Korea 4-1. Argentina's my pick to win it all, and they showed a bit of flair in this match. Then we saw Greece eke out a win vs. Nigeria. Maybe not the most technically pleasing match, but anytime you've got two teams clawing for their survival, it tends to be compelling. The day finished up with Mexico downing France 2-0 in a very entertaining game. Can't muster much love for the French team, even though they are stocked with players that I have followed in the EPL. Maybe it's because of the whole Thierry Henry handball against Ireland that I can't let go of.

Today is off to a good start as Serbia stunned Germany 1-0. Germany breezed to a 4-0 victory in their opening match, so this was a bit of a surprise. As I'm writing, the US and Serbia are just about to get underway. This is a huge match for the US -- much bigger than last Saturday's game against England. True, producing a draw against England gains some respect for an improving US team, but these next two games are against opponents that the US is expected to beat. That's a different kind of pressure to play under, and if the US really wants to prove that it has started to become a power in World Football, then they have to take a minimum of 4 points from these two games. Doing so should get them out of the group stage.

So wrapping up a longer than necessary post with a quick note on music. I heard on WGN 720 this morning that Billboard has determined that Michael Jackson's most popular song of all time is "Say Say Say", which most will remember was a duet with Paul McCartney. Since his death, most have focused on Jacko's talent rather than his...ummm....unique personality. While it is true that Jacko shared writing credits on the song, I find it somewhat ironic that his most popular song was one that appeared on a Paul McCartney album.

How could I write about rookies and not focus on Garcia?

2010-06-18T05:53:00.001-07:00

One of my first posts at Spot of Red's new home talked about 2010 being the 'Year of the Rookie', and I focused a bit on the great season that David Freese is having. Well, after the other night's Cards/M's game, I'm finding it hard to believe that I focused on Freese over Jaime Garcia. Of course, Freese is having a great year, but if you had to pick a ROY candidate from the Cards, I'd say Garcia has earned the honor. You figured he wouldn't be terrible, given that he parlayed a strong spring showing into a job as the 5th starter. But I, for one, certainly didn't expect to be sitting here in mid-June with the kid sitting at 6-3 with a 1.59 ERA. Brad Penny was expected to be the "replacement" for Joel Piniero as #3 starter -- but injuries to him and also to #4 starter Kyle Lohse have pushed Garcia to the defacto #3 spot. And he has responded. While I think 'Year of the Rookie' is a more descriptive way to describe 2010 thus far, I've heard/read others refer to it as the 'Year of the Pitcher'. Strasburg and Heyward have garnered most of the headlines, but it just might Garcia who ultimately winds up being rookie of the year.

News and Notes - 6/15

2010-06-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, its been a rough week for the Cardinals. They just finished a 1-5 West Coast road trip which saw them swept at the hands of the Dodgers and losers of 2 of 3 to the Diamondbacks -- including a heartbreaking walk-off loss in the finale on Sunday. The offense continues to be a bit less than what we had expected, as we all wonder when will Albert and Holliday get things rolling. NOTE: Neither has been terrible to date, but aren't producing to the level that we've become accustomed.

A couple of notes -

Ryan Ludwick has been a bright spot of late on both offense and defense. He's driven in 15 RBI over the last 15 days and is hitting at .297. He fits Tony LaRussa's mindset perfectly, and seems to be at home almost anywhere in the order -- hitting 2nd a few games, then switching to 5th and even making an appearance as the cleanup hitter.
Speaking of cleanup hitters -- Matt Holliday moved up to the 2 hole and went 2-4 with a base on balls and 2 runs scored. Don't expect this to be his regular slot in the lineup.
Slightly scary moment during last night's win over the Mariners as Albert Pujols took a Jose Lopez throw off the ear hole of his batting helmet while trying to score on a ground ball. Albert stayed in the game, and it'll likely take more than that to move him to the bench for more than a routine day off.
Adam Wainwright improved to 9-4 tossing 7 innings of 3 run ball while striking out 6. It was his 9th consecutive start with at least 6 Ks.
Jeff Suppan makes his return tonight and will face off against M's lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith. Rowland-Smith is sitting at 0-5 with a 6.62 ERA. Suppan's time with the Brewers was somewhat less than successful as he comes with an 0-2 record and a 7.84 ERA. He only started 2 for the Brew Crew and totalled 31 innings pitched before being released on 6/7. The Cards are hurting for starters at the moment, but if all goes well, Suppan is in line to get a second start against Oakland this weekend.
LaRussa's lineup shuffle worked for at least one night as the Cards put up 9 runs against the Mariners. The Holliday-Pujols-Ludwick combo reached base 10 times and drove in 6 runs. Colby Rasmus homered to drive in another 2 and rookie David Freese drove in the other. A different look is certain for tonight with a lefty on the mound.

USA! USA! USA!

2010-06-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Interupting baseball talk for a quick diversion to the World Cup. I was out of town for the weekend, and aside from a couple of tweets, didn't have the chance to comment on the match between England and the US this past weekend, but was fortunate enough to see most of the match. Obviously, it would have been great to get the win, but a draw was very impressive just the same. The last time we played England in a friendly (exhibition soccer match, for the uninitiated), we lost to the Brits 2-0. So this is an improvement. Plus, England has a fairly talented team, and most British soccer fans see this as a loss. You might think that it was pure luck and that England's Keeper, Robert Green, had as much to do with the draw as anyone from the US, but that is simply not the case. All of the scoring took place before the half, so you had to expect that England was going to come out and pour it on in the 2nd half. Most of the half was spent with England attacking the US goal, but thankfully, Tim Howard was up to the task.

The US had no pressure in this game -- there would be no shame in losing 4-0 to England. That's not the case with the next two matches -- against Slovenia (6/18) and Algeria (6/23). These are matches where the US will be favored, and we must get maximum points if we want to make it out of the group stage. This US team has the talent to do just that, so hopefully they live up to their potential.

One more comment -- saw several of my fellow "Yank" Liverpool FC fans on Twitter and Facebook voice the opinion that they were rooting against the US because of the whole Hicks/Gillette ownership fiasco (Hicks/Gillette are American owners of the Liverpool football club, and in short, they have saddled the club with tons of debt and erased hope that LFC will contend for the Premier League title anytime soon). Honestly, cheer for who you want to -- and I realize soccer is a 2nd tier sport in the US. But I will say that the logic behind this is a bit flawed, as these gentlemen have NOTHING to do with the US National Team. I seriously doubt there are any British Soccer (of course, they'd say football) fans that are rooting against their national team because of what BP has done to the Gulf of Mexico. If you want to root for national teams featuring your favorite club players, then fine by me -- but pretending to be a soccer snob and rooting against your country's team because of two businessmen that own a club -- well, that's just another reason why soccer remains a 2nd tier sport over here.

Thanks for reading -- promise I'll try to keep the soccer talk to a minimum.

Electirc

2010-06-14T14:12:00.001-07:00

Originally posted on illinoisemaker.mlblogs.com. Posted on June 8, 2010 at 10:34 PM:

So -- quiet night in baseball, huh? Not much to talk about...

Hard to recall a single season in recent memory where rookie players have played such prominent roles for their teams. But as prominent a role as rookies have played this season, they expectations pale in comparison to what is expected of Stephen Strasburg. He's been the talk of baseball since touching 103 on the radar gun as a college senior. His minor league starts have been available on MiLB.TV and his final start in the minors was also picked up by the VS network -- a decent little coup for a channel dominated by hunting and fishing shows.

All eyes were on Strasburg tonight -- and all seats were full for the first time since Nationals Park opened a few years ago. The atmosphere was electric, and the event was hyped like a Yankees/Red Sox match-up. Time will tell if this kid is truly the "best pitching prospect ever", but you'd have to say he lived up to the hype in his debut. He went 7 innings, only gave up 4 hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out 14. He did surrender a 2 run shot to Delwyn Young, but was lights out aside from that one mistake. Tyler Clippard took care of the 8th and Capps closed things out in the 9th.

Somewhat overshadowed was Mike Stanton's debut for the Marlins. He went 3 for 5, scored 2 runs and struck out once. Not a bad night by any stretch, and while he fell a bit short of Jason Heyward's monster debut with the Braves, still mighty impressive for a kid that's only 20 and hasn't played above AA.

The rookies carried the night - without a doubt (the Mets Ike Davis also downed the Padres with a walk-off blast). 2010 has been the year of the rookie, and with any luck, we're seeing the dawn of the next age of baseball superstars that will take the torch from the likes of Jeter and Pujols and carry us into the next generation.

Rough Road

2010-06-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

A 1-5 road trip came to a close as the Cards fell to the D'backs 7-5. The Cards showed a bit of moxie in tying the game at 5 in the top of the 9th, but Kyle McClellan served up a 2 run homer to D'backs CF Chris Young. After getting swept at the hands of the Dodgers, you'd hope that an inconsistent team like Arizona might offer some relief. Sadly, that was not to be the case, and the pitching woes hit the bullpen. Carpenter wasn't spectacular and found himself having to pitch out of trouble a few times during the game -- and did help himself out at the plate by getting on base twice. The final 3 innings were handed to the bullpen, and 4 ERs later, the Diamondbacks took the rubber game of the series.

While it's hardly time to panic in Redbird Nation, you do worry a bit that this Cards team isn't quite living up to expectations as one of the better teams in the NL. The injuries in the rotation are hardly helping, and it doesn't look like the team will be able to make due with reinforcements from Memphis. Suppan's on the way, and you have to think Mozelik's working the phones trying to find more reinforcements (Hey, isn't Looper still sitting around waiting for a call?).

Next up -- interleague play, as the Mariners (speaking of teams that have not met expectations) come to St. Louis. The Mariners' offense has largely been MIA this season, so maybe this is a chance for the Cardinals to wash away the bad taste that the road trip left in everyone's mouths.

Welcom Back, Suppan

2010-06-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

The Brewers recently sent Jeff Suppan packing, and the suddenly pitching starved Cardinals decided it was time for a reunion. Nice, low risk signing, but you wonder if Sup has anything left. Given his track record, you have to give Dave Duncan the benefit of the doubt, but Suppan was TERRIBLE for the Brewers. Memories of the 2006 postseason give me a sense of patience about this, but so far the 2010 season hasn't been quite what the Cardinals -- or their fans -- envisioned.

The pitching staff is in a bit of a shambles these days. While Carpenter and Wainwright have been their usual dependable selves, things aren't quite so steady with spots 3-5. Kyle Lohse is recovering from surgery and may not be fit for the rotation when he's healthy. Brad Penny's injury is looking a bit more serious than first thought. Jaimie Garcia continues to be a pleasant surprise, but now that he slots in as the #3 starter, you worry that the rookie wall is looming. The Cards have tried filling in with Walters and Ottavino from AAA, and while both have shown potential, they've proven that they probably aren't ready for a full time gig in the majors. So that leaves us looking outside of the organization for help.

Year of the Rookie

2010-06-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

Something I alluded to in my last post (on mlblogs.com) -- Can you remember a year where rookies have had such a huge impact on baseball?

Consider the fact that you've got a guy like David Freese -- he of the .311 average, 4 home runs and 32 RBI stat line -- and the guy is going almost unnoticed outside of St. Louis because of the likes of Strasburg, Heyward and Stanton. I personally think it's great to see, though. I like that teams are starting to look inwards a bit and bringing up players they are developing rather than just going out and buying the best free agent. For some teams like the Twins, Marlins and Rays, building from within is a must. But even teams like the Yankees are starting to look at their farm systems for help -- which isn't to suggest that they are done spending gobs of cash on big names.

If this were 2005, injuries to Curtis Granderson, Nick Johnson and Jorge Posada would have triggered a trade or two, and probably the signing of some free agent sitting out there waiting for a call. Of course, you knew the Yankees were operating with a different mind set when they let Johnny Damon walk and finished spring training with Brett Gardner as their starting left fielder. But even as injuries mounted, they were content to promote guys from AAA rather than make a reactionary move.

Strasburg, of course, is the big name that EVERYONE knows at this point, but he's far from the only rookie out there worth watching.

It's Moving Day!

2010-06-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

I've been writing "A Spot of Red in Cubland" for just over a year over at illinoisemaker.mlblogs.com. Felt like that gave me a good spot to start, but always felt compelled to keep the topics to baseball -- I mean, it was a site owned by MLB.com, after all.

While I'll spend more time talking baseball than most other topics, I felt like a switch to a more general area would free me up to talk about some of the other sports and random things that might come to mind. For example, I've become a huge soccer fan over the last couple of years, and will probably talk a little World Cup. I also love TV and music, so I'm sure sooner or later, I'll write something devoted completely to one of those topics and won't mention sports at all.

Anyway, I encourage any comments and hope you enjoy the read. If you do, please share with your friends.

Thanks for reading!