( 11:06 AM )
Baseball Diaries
Joker Marchant Stadium: Lakeland, Florida
Houston Astros vs. Detroit Tigers
3/25/05
Construction on Rte. 19 leaving Clearwater notwithstanding, I find I-4 headed east. I am a mere 45 miles from Lakeland. I may not make first pitch but I won’t be pulling up in the second inning like I did for the early game.
As expected, traffic is heavy. I drive through Tampa, passing the Big Sombrero, Legends and Tropicana Field along the way. I also see signs for Pinellas Park, Florida, home to Terri Schiavo and more recently about two hundred members of our esteemed press corps.
Passing through Pinellas Park had weighted on my mind since I left Ft. Lauderdale 8 hours ago. On my stops along I-75, I made it a conscious effort to pick up some local papers, to see exactly what Floridians are thinking.
The Lakeland Ledger, like the Port St. Lucie News and The Press-News, run NY Times or the Washington Post Op-Ed’s. Certainly not a “blue state” perspective and not what I’m looking for. After tossing aside many numerous papers, I finally came across an Op-Ed in the Naples Daily News by Betsy Hart.
Showing off her social conservative credentials, Hart bashes Terri’s husband Michael writing: “Whatever his own motives, whatever the law, Michael Schiavo chose to effectively end his marriage when he moved in with another woman and essentially became a husband to her, and so he no longer has he moral right to act as husband. If he could not bear to keep his vow of “in sickness and in health” then he should have lawfully divorced Terri, moved on with his life, and allowed her parents to become her guardians. If he wanted to act as her husband and make decisions on her behalf, then he should have continued in faithful marriage to her, however hard that would surely be. Morally, he has no right to do both. As a culture, we should have forced him to choose one or the other.”
Simplistic as her take is, Hart does have a valid point. It has nothing to do with the underlying case of a persons right to die without the state and federal government all in your business. Michael Schiavo hasn’t been Terri’s husband for years and there is a case to be made that he shouldn’t be able to inject himself into this important decision.
Outside of Tampa, the traffic lets up. The Black Honda Accord gets up to 90 in the fast lane, and shortly I’m in Lakeland. More construction. It’s among the tractors and the orange cones, that I see signs pointing me toward Tiger Town. I can see the ballpark lights off in the distance and I immediately get excited. The Tigers have a rich tradition here in Lakeland, calling this same spring training home since 1962.
Like always, parking is $5 bills, but unlike all the other stadiums, my spot tonight is close to the stadium. I scalp a $15 ticket from a guy outside and I’m surprised when I reach my seat that I’m two rows behind the visiting dugout. It is by far the best seats I’ve had on my trip and being so close to the Astros, I have to call the Feed, who is the biggest Houston fan I know.
The Feed tells me he’s jealous and why shouldn’t he be? I’m two rows behind the visiting dugout. Between innings I’m chatting with coaches Cecil Cooper and Jose Cruz. He gets even more jealous when I tell him that this is my second game of the day and that the weather is hovering around 75 even though the sun has gone way down. The Feed is in Philly and like the rest of the east coast he has experienced a brutal winter.
It’s already 3-0 Astros who have Brandon Backe on the mound. The few Tigers I want to see hit, Pudge, Magglio and Brandon Inge, are not in the game. The Tigers I want to see pitch, Urbina and Jeremy Bonderman won’t get any work tonight. But, hey, Rondell White is in the house. The Astros, with no Bagwell, Berkman, or Biggio, surely don’t have their Game 6 team on the field either.
The couple next to me were also at the Phillies game. The left before extra-innings, so I filled them in on the score. A guy in the front row wore an Al Kaline jersey. A guy behind me kept telling his buddy on the cell phone that he’s “sitting three rows behind the Asteroids dugout.” His says this three times, yet his buddy fails to correct him. We’re so close to the dugout that Morgan Ensberg (also not playing) may come out and drill it into him.
Omar Infante and Carlos Guillen get on base for the Tigers and they have something going off Backe. Rondell White has runners in scoring position with no outs. If he were in a Yankee uniform he would have struck out. Here, White walks and that brings Dmitri Young to the plate. Young drives in a run and I immediately wonder if he is available in my fantasy leagues. Backe is getting wild, and he walks Bobby Higginson to make the score 5-3.
Vance Wilson, ex-Met strides to the plate and I remember that I still haven’t figured out who he was traded for earlier this year. A single would tie the game and you remember how many times you’ve said that as Wilson strode to the plate in clutch situations for the Mets. He seldom delivered, tonight he did. Wilson crashed one to right-center to clear the bases. In all his years as a Met, I don’t remember Vance Wilson hitting a base-clearing triple. That would be the only hit the Tigers got all inning. Five runs on one hit.
Both of these teams have an all-star roster of coaches. In addition to the aforementioned Cooper and Cruz, the Tigers sport Lance Parrish, Juan Samuel, ex-Met, and Kirk Gibson. Luke Scott puts the Astros back in the lead with a three run home run. Jason Johnson is on the mound for the Tigers and like Backe, he is not faring very well. Scott’s home run travels well over the 340 sign in right field and with that pitch it’s the end of the line for Johnson, and its not a pretty line: 3 1/3 innings pitch, 8 runs and 10 hits. And here I thought Victor Zambrano was bad.
I head out to grab some food and see what the souvenir goodies look like. Joker Marchant Stadium, like the franchise, is old but its age is where its charm is. This stadium, like the others, have the handwritten lineups posted on tunnel into the stadium. The vendor’s nametags have their name with the added touch of which Michigan city they hail from.
As I’m trying on Detroit lids trying to find the right size, the sky opens up over Lakeland and dumps a steady rain over the stadium. People flood to the tunnels in droves to fine shelter under the roofed concession area. The rain last less than 4 minutes and other short blast comes less than 20 minutes later. I wait that one out at my seat, watching Kyle Farnsworth trying to regain his past glory.
Farnsworth was on my team last year because I needed middle relief who was lights out. Farnsworth throws gas but he throwing that gas got him hurt last year and disposable in Chicago. If Farnsworth can regain his dominance, adding him to the mix with Urbina and Percival, give the Tigers one of the deeper and experienced pens in the league.
The guy in the Al Kaline shirt is telling the groovy mom next to me how great ‘Five for Fighting’ is. Kaline is well into his 50’s, yet he seems to be on top of today’s music. I tell him to check out Bright Eyes selling him on Conor Oberst’s Dylan comparison.
Another treat for us pitching obsessed fantasy owners Brad Lidge starts the 6th. Last year, Fish beat me to Lidge. This year, with closers devalued, I didn’t make much of an attempt to at drafting the NL’s best closer after Gagne. Troy Percival pitches the 9th for the Tigers and I’m hoping he does well this season. The better he does, the more inclined the Tigers may be to do away with Urbina. The Mets could use Urbina, the one middle relief pitcher we didn’t see this evening.
By the time I get to the Black Honda Accord, Spartans had beat Duke, so at least one team from Michigan won this evening. The plan is to overnight in Lakeland, so I start scouting for a hotel. I spy the Holiday Inn and they’re advertising free Wi-Fi. Done.
Too bad the Holiday Inn had no vacancies. Their other hotel, five miles, had plenty vacancies but no Wi-Fi. I didn’t bother trying to find another hotel with Wi-Fi, nor did I spy advertised on any marquees during my five mile drive. I do see a Starbucks and that’s a good sign. One would think.
There is no Wi-Fi at the Starbucks in Lakeland and the Elvis Costello fan behind the counter tells me that T-Mobile doesn’t plan on putting a router in the store anytime soon. She tells me that the demand for it just isn’t there. She says Lakeland is a small town despite its 100,000 residents. We chat more as my Grande White Chocolate Mocha is being made. She loves New York City history and I tell her, if that’s the case, she needs to read the ‘Power Broker’ Robert Caro’s biography of Robert Moses. She tells me if I’m headed near Sarasota, I should seek out Siesta Key. She’s about to transfer schools and is studying education. She wants to be a teacher. I like teachers. When she brings me a free slice of chocolate cake, I like her even more.
I open the iBook G4 and jot down some of the notes I took at the game, and flip through the Friday New York Times, which the Lakeland Starbucks does have. I guess there is a demand for Frank Rich runs rampant in Lakeland. They throw me out at 11pm and I return to my hotel just in time to see the Knicks take the Sonics into overtime on a Tim Thomas three.
I’m fast asleep before the five-minute overtime is over.
The List:
Miles: 45
Traveling Songs: Maceo Parker: ‘Live @ The Chicken Box, Nantucket, Mass, 8/1/03’, Mudville: ‘The Glory of a Man is Not in Vogue’
NJ Plates Seen: 3
Hotel Room Number: 214
Ex-Mets: 3
Name of Starbucks Employee You Had Friendly Banter With: Amelia.
Snack Bar: Italian Sausage, free chocolate cake.
Souvenirs: Detroit Tiger Fitted Baseball Hat ($22)
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( 12:25 PM )
Baseball Diaries
Bright Field House: Clearwater, Florida
New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies
March 25, 2005
It’s 3-2 by the time I arrive at my seat. I can see Carl Pavano on the hill for the Yanks and I’m immediately reminded of an encounter I had with Pavano last fall.
I had been shopping for CD’s in some soulless Ft. Lauderdale strip mall and walking back to car I passed a Sprint Store. A handmade sign outside the store said ‘Meet Marlins Pitchers Carl Pavano and A.J. Burnett Today 3pm’. It was 2:50 and probably 3 people inside. It was the beginning of the free agent season and I wanted to ask Pavano if he had any interest in joining the Mets staff.
Both arrived separately and late. Pavano is a big boy. If he had handle, he’s tall enough to run the point. The crowd had not swelled and you could see the disappointment on their faces. Hey, it’s Florida and its football season. Fans hadn’t given up on the Dolphins yet and the Canes were still in the BCS hunt.
I had a copy of Bill James Baseball Abstract in the car and I figured I could get them to sign it. I handed the book over to Pavano and the idiot starts to sign his name on the front cover. As if he were Bill James. I stopped him and turned to a blank page for him. As I was doing that, Burnett leaned over to him and said: “You don’t sign the front cover of the book.”
It’s the top of the second and Jeter is leading off for the Yanks. Jon Lieber is pitching for the Phillies and gets Jeter to fly to right. A-Rod isn’t playing and Matsui is hitting in the two slot. He singles to right and before I can get the camera out to snap a picture of him on first, he’s pitch run for. Jorge Posada drills a single and the Yanks have runners on first and second with two out. Ruben Sierra laces a shot into center and drives in a run, giving the Yanks a 4-2 lead.
I’m in Section 105, Row 5, Seat 10; five rows behind the Yankee dugout. Slightly to my right people are looking over the fence down on the tunnel leading from Yankee dugout to the clubhouse. They probably caught a glimpse of Matsui headed to the showers. Later, I would spy an in uniform Yogi Berra headed to the clubhouse.
Jimmy Rollins leads off with a single and I’m lucky to get a shot of him before he steals second. Pavano’s next pitch gets by Posada, Rollins takes third and the Phils have a runner on third with no outs. A good sign for the Yanks occurs next, as Pavano retires the next three batters, including striking out Bobby Abreu, Chase Utley, and getting Pat Burrell to chase a bad pitch that he lazily flies to Sierra in right.
In the sixth inning, they prop a six-year old girl atop the Phillies dugout to give today’s trivia question. This is by far the hardest question I’ve heard at any baseball game and I didn’t even get the answer because they neglected to flash the name on the centerfield scoreboard.
The question was who is the only player active the year Babe Ruth retired and the year Hank Aaron was a rookie?
If you happen to know the answer, email me at: gjoseph@2walls.com.
Tom “Flash” Gordon starts the 6th and promptly strikes out the first batter he faces. You can hear chants of ‘Flash’ from the crowd and all around me, I see a sea of Yankee hats, jerseys, t-shirts, windbreakers, sun visors, socks, and baby bibs. I even saw a Yankee tattoo on the ankle of a woman as I’m leaving Bright Field House later that afternoon.
I sporting the Philly cap I bought at their new ballpark when I saw the Mets beat them on a late inning Todd Zeile home run. Fish and I had drove down from the city for a 7:05 game and had a hell of a time finding Geno’s after a couple of beers.
The Phils get something going against Gordon with back-to-back singles by David Bell, who made a beautiful backhand stab the inning before, and Mike Lieberthal. Burrell redeems himself for his missed RBI chance earlier and does “yard work” over the left-field fence to tie the game.
The Yanks go quietly in the top of the inning but the crowd rises to its feet as they trot on the field, as former Philly and more importantly former Teaneck Highwayman, Doug Glanville strides into right.
I try to get Glanville’s attention but my entire section is calling him “Douggie” the same name we called him when he played for Community Bank in Teaneck Little League. I shout ‘Teaneck’ as loud as I can, but he’s locked in and giving nothing high-fives to his teammates.
The attendance for today’s game is 9,117 and it’s a record crowd, the second one I’ve been a part of on this trip. Bright Field House is by far the biggest facility I’ve been in but it’s just as intimate as the others.
The Yanks take a one-run lead in the 9th but the Phils get one right back in the bottom of the ninth and we’re headed for extra-innings. This is best thing and the worse thing.
More baseball is always a good thing but today, I’m trying to do a double dip. Catching this 1:05 game in Clearwater and hopefully making it over to Lakeland for a 6:05 in Tiger Town. It’s 4:05 now and Friday rush-hour traffic, plus game traffic are likely to be encountered along the way.
Mike Bascik, ex-Met takes the mound for the Phils in the 10th. He’s throwing to Todd Pratt, ex-Met, which makes this an all-Shea battery. He shuts down the Yanks in their half of the inning and the Phils immediately get something going in the bottom half, as Chase Utley, who is due, according to the guys behind me, leads off with a single.
It’s at this point where I must be honest with you. I’m not sure who drove in the run for the Phillies because it was an extra inning spring training and all sorts of substitutions took place between the 5th inning and now. I do know that walk-off hits are exciting whether they come in spring, summer or fall.
I make one last ditch attempt to get Glanville’s attention to no avail. I lean over the fence but all the Yankee starters are long gone. I see a parade of faces I’ve never seen, carrying equipment Gary Sheffield hasn’t carried in 17 years. I check the souvenir stand but I’ve already got a Phillies hat and the cap for the minor league team isn’t really doing it for me.
By the time I get to the car, its 4:23. I’m about 62 miles from Lakeland. I got a full tank of gas. It’s not quite dark yet, but I’m still wearing sunglasses.
The List:
Miles: 424
Traveling Songs: Sugar ‘Copper Blue’, The Meters ‘Anthology. Volume One’, Lauren Fine ‘For the Breaking’, Chris Van Cott 'Gold Like the Sun'
NJ License Plates Seen: 9
Alligators Seen Driving Along Alligator Alley: 1 (I admit, this was disappointing)
Top Speed: 113 mph
Bad Blues Brothers References: 1
Ex-Mets: 3
Best T-Shirt: Seen entering the Stadium: “WWPD: What Would Paris Do?”
Best Billboard: Along I-75 between Sarasota and Tampa: ‘My Apprentices Never Get Fired - God.’
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( 10:19 PM )
Baseball Diaries
Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter, Florida
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Florida Marlins
March 22, 2005
No rumbling in the stands. It was said in jest but listening to the late arriving senior and his party of four complain about someone being in his seat, you’d think someone was headed for as beat-down.
My day off from the road was spent more or less by the pool. As the south Florida temperature hit the mid-80’s, I couldn’t think of better place to spend a few hours, especially since three Florida blondes were parked on beach chairs soaking up rays. The I-Pod spit out a live version of ‘Ya Mar’ by Phish, ‘Miss Gradenko’ that great Stuart Copeland song off Synchronicity by The Police, and ‘My Home is in the Delta’ by Muddy Waters as the strong sun came out from behind the clouds.
Jupiter is closer to Ft. Lauderdale, so I didn’t have to get such early start. This gave me a chance to catch up on some reading. It hasn’t struck me odd that the New York Post has been woefully silent on the whole Terri Schiavo scenario. The “Best Use of a Quarter” hasn’t run one Op-Ed on any of the congressional, presidential or judicial actions this week, opting instead to rake the NY Daily News over the coals for its fraudulent scratch off game.
Instead of trotting out conservative heavyweights like Robert Novak, Nicole Gelinas, Michelle Malkin, John Podhearst, and Deroy Murdock, the Post brings TV critic Linda Stasi to the table. Granted, Stasi is on the right side of the issue writing under the headline ‘Stay Out of This, Congress, You Have No Right’ the critic who recently gave 3 shark fins to CBS’ dismal ‘Spring Break Shark Attack’ warns: “The government has no business in our homes, and in our lives, and in our deaths. Death is a family matter. Congress needs to stay in its own house on this one.”
Roger Dean Stadium is located within a plethora of brand stinking new development. Shopping plaza, movie theaters, even the Antigua Condos. Like Port St. Lucie, its 5 bills to park but unlike Tradition Field, the walk is much closer. Tradition Field also has a much grander stadium. You wouldn’t know there was a baseball stadium among all townhouses if it weren’t for all the mid-afternoon drinking.
This is the first game that I didn’t get tickets in advance for and it being a Tuesday, the swelling crowd looks almost weekend-like. I bought a $20 ticket along the first base line from a guy in powder blue shirt and entered the gate as the leadoff hitter was coming to the plate.
My seat was a little further down the line than I had expected but offered a great angle of the across the diamond throws to first that the right side of the infield would make all game.
Jeff Kent, ex-Met, didn’t make the trip to Port St. Lucie Sunday, but he was in the lineup today. With Robbie Alomar retiring Saturday, my thoughts shift to whether or not Jeff Kent is a Hall of Famer. I heard Michael Wilbon say on ‘PTI’ that Alomar goes to the Hall but not as the greatest second basemen of all-time. Well, if Alomar goes in than certainly Kent must. The only thing preventing Jeff Kent from making the Hall is that he has been such an asshole his entire career.
A slow roller is dribbled down third and Mike Lowell makes a barehanded stab and throw to get the runner. It’s the same kind of play David Wright made the other day, the type of play Brooks Robinson use to make with ease. Pete Rose once said that Brooks Robinson belongs in a league “higher” than Major League Baseball. Hopefully, in a few years we’ll say that about David Wright.
Melvin works at Addison Drywall located in nearby Hobe Sound. His boss, the same guy I bought the ticket from, took all of his employees, about 15 to the game. He even gave them $10 bucks for BBQ Turkey Legs and Grilled Corn on the Cob. As Carlos Delgado lifts off to right-center for the first run of the game. Melvin asks me as a Mets fan if I’m sorry that we didn’t sign Delgado. I tell him basically the same thought I had on Saturday when I saw him sky-out to left and he seems to agree.
Melvin does think however, that the Marlins have on of the best lineups in baseball. I mention the Orioles, who bring nothing but future Hall of Famers to the plate it seems. Sosa, Palmeiro, Lopez and Tejada to go along with Melvin Mora, ex-Met and the speedster Brian Roberts setting the table for those sluggers. And as I let him know, when I sat front row at a O’s and Mets game in Ft. Lauderdale, I expect big things from Larry Bigbie.
Melvin does make a valid point on the Marlins lineup. Lowell, Cabrera, Delgado, Pierre, and Castillo are hard outs. And who knew that Alex Gonzalez hit 24 home runs last year?
Jason Phillips, ex-Met, leads off the third. I tell Melvin that this is probably his first at-bat with his new team. The trivia question for the game is broadcasts over the PA and is shown up on the centerfield scoreboard: Who was the only Florida Marlin to win the All-Star Game MVP?
I immediately yell out to all who will hear me Jeff Conine. I remember him hitting a home run in some All-Star Game and winning the MVP. We won’t get the answer for a couple more innings, but like Sunday in Port St. Lucie, I’m right about this one.
Kent drives in the first Dodger run and an error by Cabrera puts him on second. Even though his outfield defense is not his strong suit, Miguel Cabrera will be this years NL MVP.
Milton Bradley grounds to second and fails to drive in or advance Kent. As he is running back to the dugout, I ask him to throw a couple of bats from the dugout at one of the umps.
“Your choice,” I said.
If Bradley wouldn’t throw bats than perhaps he could charge the mound or tell Jim Tracey to “piss off.” Hey, this is spring training and just like you have to work on your timing at the plate or the break on your curveball, you also have to work on your temper tantrums. Judging by the way Bradley throws his, I wouldn’t guessed he works all spring on them.
Jason Phillips comes up for his third at-bat of the game. I tell Paul, another employee at Addison Drywall, that he’s not going to get a hit. Phillips already has a single to his credit and having watched Phillips for three years, I know that he has reached his normal game out-put offensively.
Elmer Dessens is trying to catch on with LA and Mike Lowell welcomes him to the game by lifting-off to left center. I still can’t believe that Alex Gonzalez hit 24 home runs last year, but with guys like Dessens around, anything is possible.
The Marlins have been playing in Jupiter for only two years. The original home for them was up in Viera where the Nationals call home. They share Roger Dean stadium with the St. Louis Cardinals, making this the spring training home of the last two NL Pennant winners.
A woman in the row in front of me asks me what I’m writing. I would normally consider this a little intrusive but at the ballpark you tend to be a little more open. I tell her I’m writing English and that draws a few laughs. The father of the family of three in front of me asked me the same question, a mere 10 minutes ago.
I guess the site of a non-credentialed writer jotting down barely legible words into a legal pad is an unusual site at a ballgame. I jot down a few more words when I see sidearm thrower Kelly Wunsch loosening up in the bullpen in front of me and tell them about the trip and the Baseball Diaries. I even give Melvin the 2Walls web address and navigation directions to the ‘Blog Jam’
Guillermo Mota enters to the game for the Marlins. He is the real key to the Marlins success this year. People may forget with the arrival of Delgado, the emergence of Lowell and Cabrera, that the real MVP of the 2004 Marlins was Armando Benitez, ex-Met. If Mota ends up more Octavio Dotel than Brad Lidge, after they made the jump from set-up to closer, it doesn’t matter how many dingers that trip hits, it won’t result in wins.
Joe Thurston lays down a nice bunt as Paul Bako broke for the plate. Mota fielded the grounder but his throw to the plate wasn’t in time to get Bako, nor was the throw the first there in time to get Thurston. It was a perfect suicide squeeze and even though it happen against the home team, the crowd in the stands appreciate textbook baseball when they see it and give as round of applause.
Yhency Brazoban closes out the game for the Dodgers. Brazoban, along with Aquillino Lopez will be great relief pitchers for years to come. I hope the Dodgers don’t give up on non-roster invitee Lopez but if they do, I sure hope he is on the Mets’ radar screen.
He’s on the Marina Milers’.
After the game, I drive up to Vero Beach to see if I can grab a hotel room and spare myself the three-hour drive for tomorrows game at Dodgertown. I had been fighting as sore throat (probably from all the cheering I’ve done for David Wright, Jose Reyes and the Mets middle relief corps) and really wanted to be at home sleeping in my own bed, so I wasn’t very angry when I was told that the only vacancies are 65 miles west.
I opted to drive south on A1A for a little while. I had been on 95 constantly since Thursday and needed a change of scenery, even if for only a dozen miles. Most of the hotels on the beach are still closed from damage occurred during one of the three hurricanes that ravaged Florida last fall. You can see boarded up windows, torn apart roofs and beach erosion. As the Honda Accord rolls into Ft. Pierce, I see a NJ License Plate and that ties the single day record set on my first day. Two cars pass and I see another Jersey plate and a new record is set. I saw six more Jersey plates on a five-mile stretch of A1A in Ft. Pierce. I could’ve been on Route 208, with an ocean view.
I got back to Ft. Lauderdale right in time for an hour of ‘Scrubs’ and right before my Chinese food place stops delivering.
The List
Miles Traveled: 231
Traveling Songs: Henry Butler ‘Blues and More. Vol. 1’, Coldplay ‘Parachutes’,
NJ License Plates Seen: 16 (Including being parked next to one at the stadium)
Snack Bar: Dean Dog, a foot long hot dog with grilled onions and peppers. Fresh Florida Lemonade.
Ex-Mets Seen: 4
Souvenirs: Red Palm Beach Cardinals fitted baseball cap. ($25)
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( 8:24 PM )
Baseball Diaries
Tradition Field: Port St. Lucie, Florida
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets
March 20, 2005
I can’t imagine a better way to spend Spike Lee’s birthday than an afternoon at the ballpark. I took to the road soon after ‘ESPN’s: The Sports Reporters’ opting to skip out on the talking heads that normally dominate my Sunday morning routine. It would have been nice to hear Republicans trying to defend their proposed rule changes that would make filibusters of judicial nominees impossible. All of this fuss over Patricia Owen doesn’t seem worth it people.
George Will writing in the Washington Post fired a warning certainly to be heard over at the RNC. Writing under the title ‘GOP May Rue Rule Change’, Will does his best to remind the party of small government that we shouldn’t go changing rules just to advance their agenda. Will writes: “Some conservatives oddly seem to regret the fact that the government bristles with delaying and blocking mechanisms – separation of powers, bicameral legislation, etc. The filibuster is one such mechanism – an instrument for minority assertions. It enables democracy to be more than government-by-adding-machine, more than a mere counter of numbers. The filibuster registers intensity, enabling intense minorities to slow or stop government.”
The Mets give out the Post St. Lucie News at the gate and this is where I find the George Will column on the Opinion Page reprinted from the Post. Friday, the paper came wrapped in a Braden Looper poster. Later that evening, he blew a save. Today, the paper is wrapped in a Jason Phillips poster. Later in the evening, we learn that Phillips was traded to LA.
Could the Post St. Lucie News be the new ‘SI Curse’?
My complimentary copy of the Port St. Lucie news reveals more than the transactions regarding current Mets, but former Mets as well. 12-time All-Star and career .300 hitter Roberto Alomar called it quits Saturday. He had been trying to catch on with the Devil Rays and if you can’t make the Devil Rays squad, it’s time to hang them up.
Alomar was the poster child for the last high spending, low performing team the Mets put on the field. What we didn’t know that his career was over by the time he got to New York. Alomar ends his career with 10 Gold Gloves, a .300 average and 276 hits away from 3,000.
Yesterday, I was part of a historic crowd that gathered at Tradition Field. In total, 7,053 fans gathered for the game versus the Marlins, making us the largest home crowd for a Mets game since the team moved to Port St. Lucie in 1988.
The Grapefruit League got its start in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1914 with the St. Louis Browns. No team has been in one spring training location for as long as the Detroit Tigers, who have been in Lakeland for 69 years. Not sure if I’ll make it up to Lakeland on this trip but from what I’ve been told, Tiger Town is a must-see for any baseball fan.
Traveling at speeds in excess of 110 miles per hour, I make it in more than enough time to watch Pedro Martinez finish up his pre-game bullpen session. I have never taken my car to such a high speed before, and to be quite honest I didn’t think the 96 Honda Accord to get that high on the dial.
I snap a few pictures of Pedro warming up. The bullpen resides on the down the left field line and I’m not the only one taking advantage of the friendly confines to take a digital photo of a future Hall of Famer. Today’s game is a split squad game but the Mets have more than their share of starters in the game. With the exception of Matsui and Doug Mientkiewicz, all healthy and available starters are in the game.
For the first time in two games at Tradition Field, I am sitting along the first base side. I normally like sitting on the third base side because you can keep an eye on the dugout. First base however gives me a great shot of the players coming off the field. The jostling they do with each other, the dejected faces on the players who errors. They’ll be six errors in today’s game, four of which were committed by the Mets. The dejected faces were to be a running theme of the day.
After an inspiring national anthem by a local Latino singer Onaney, Bobby Rodriguez of the Latino Chamber of Commerce for the Treasure Coast throws out the first pitch. It is Latino-American Day at the park today and after each announcement over the public address system is preceded by a Spanish translation.
The Mets take the field to the AC/DC song ‘Thunderstruck’ and the crowd, which has the perfect balance of kids, seniors, teens and adults, erupts in applause.
Victor Diaz drops a sure out fly ball. This is the third time I’ve seen Diaz drop a lazy fly. His bat, which hit 24 home runs in AAA last year, is not exactly lighting up the Grapefruit League. Odds on, Cameron, who is moving from center to right field, will probably be better defensively than Diaz. But Diaz is also new to the outfield, having spent his early years playing second.
I still think that the best value Cameron has for the Mets comes on the trading block. The team needs middle relief and Cameron is the perfect bait for a desperate GM who under-values a guy who can get three big outs.
With two on and two out, Pedro comes up with his first big strikeout of the game. The Dodgers threatened but didn’t put anything across and Diaz grimaces as he comes in from the field.
A father and son, sit to my right. To my left, two big Latino guys who very well could be New Yorkers on a little vacation trip. They’re drinking Mojito’s and eating nacho supreme: two of the dozens of special menu items featured on Latino-American Day.
The trivia question is announced before the Mets take their first at-bat. Who is the only Met to have 6 hits in one game?
I remember that game in Houston when Edgardo Alfonzo had six hits on the road against Houston. I remember listening to that game on WFAN and causing quite a ruckus when the Mets finally won the game in extra innings. I’ll have to wait until the 7th inning to find out if I’m right, but for some reason, I feel luck is on my side today.
The Mets go in order in the first and after one batter in the second inning they’ve committed their second error, as Piazza drops a pop fly that he really should’ve let David Wright catch. A stolen base on the next pitch puts the Mets back in the same position as they were in last inning. Just like last inning, Pedro comes up big with another key strikeout and they Mets escape once again.
Diaz atones for his 1st inning error with a RBI pop fly to center that scored Piazza, who also made up for his error with a leadoff single. The stage was set for Diaz after David “Franchise” Wright walked and left-fielder Ron Calloway grounded into a fielder’s choice. With The Franchise on third, Pedro helps himself out, or I shall say the Dodgers help Pedro out, and misplay a weak ground ball. The play at first is close but Pedro digs hard the whole way and gets rewarded with the call.
Pedro cruises over the next few innings and the Mets pound out hit-after-hit, to gain a 6-0 lead. The Franchise hit a double into the left-center gap that scored two. He finishes the day 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and a run scored. Piazza also picks up an RBI, to go along with his run scored. Reyes managed a hit and a stolen base. Beltran walked twice, scored twice and also picked up a steal.
Ron Calloway had a special meaning in this game as well. I’ve been going to baseball games for nearly 30 years and I’ve never even come close to catching a foul ball. But today I was feeling lucky for a reason.
Calloway stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning and popped a fly ball that glided over toward Section 208. Like the good writer, I was jotting down notes when the bat made contact. I picked the ball up in midair and watched its flight. It was going to be close. It may not land in this row, but this is close.
Now, I’ve been at games for too long to not know how to properly go after a foul ball. See, you don’t go after a foul ball, unless you’re the only person in the area and you have no competing arms and hands to deal with. When you see a group of people all going for a foul ball, which was exactly the case here, your best bet is to wait for it to be dropped and get it after it hits the ground.
A bunch of people made an attempt for the ball and as I rose to join the crowd, I was too late but also right on time. The ball fell to the ground below the seat next to me. I cut short my attempt to stand up and simply reached down and picked up the ball.
I kept my arm below the seat and the people behind us could not see who actually came away with the prize. When I raised my arm in victory I received a hearty round of applause. I received a heartier round of applause when I handed my prize to the four-year old sitting next to me.
The Mets were cruising. Pedro went 5 innings, gave up 2 hits, and one run. He walked two and struck out five. He looked great! Heredia was the first out of the bullpen and he too was brilliant. In his one inning of work, he gave up one hit while striking out two.
Things didn’t get real bad until Mike DeJean and Braden Looper came into the game. First DeJean, who I’ve seen pitch this year to stellar results, got roughed up by the Dodger AAA club. He surrendered 3 runs on 3 hits, while striking out 2. Worse of all, he left the game in Looper’s hands with the Mets clinging to a one-run lead.
Looper was given no insurance by the Mets in the bottom of the 8th and he needed it. In world-class time, the Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs. Cries of ‘Loser’ came over Looper as he backed up third on a single that gave up the tying and go-ahead run. Looper would give up two more runs and put the Mets in a three run whole going into the last frame.
So, you say spring training games don’t count. Everything counts in baseball. It may not count in the standings but it counts in the minds of the players on the field. The Mets didn’t die and they didn’t say, well, its only spring training and it doesn’t count. They put a quick run across to put the score at 9-7. The Mets then put two more on base and bought Eric Valent to the plate.
When the ball left his bat, everyone knew it was gone. The people that stayed for the Mets last licks all leapt to their feet. The leftfielder made no attempt at the ball, that’s how out of the park the ball was. Mets came running out of the dugout as the umpire gave the round-trip signal.
A walk-off homerun on my last game in Port St. Lucie is not a bad way to end this leg of trip.
The List
Miles: 562
Traveling Songs: Lucinda Williams: ‘Car Wheels on a Gravely Road’, ‘Counting Crows: ‘VH1 Storytellers Live’, Elvis Costello: ‘Get Happy’
NJ Plates Seen: 9
Snack Bar: Two Beef Empanadas.
Best Bumper Sticker: Hand made written in pen: ‘Save SS Impeach Bush’
Best Shocker: $2.34 a gallon for gas in West Palm Beach. Hey, we all ain’t the Kennedy’s here.
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( 10:42 AM )
Baseball Diaries
Tradition Field: Port St. Lucie, Florida
March 19, 2005
Florida Marlins vs. New York Mets
As soon as I got to my seat, David Wright hits an opposite field home run. I had been caught in that damn West Palm Beach traffic again, and I was 40 miles away when the first pitch was being thrown. The home run gives the Mets a three run lead. I’m not sure how the first two runs were scored, but I’m sure one of the die-hard surrounding me will fill me in on what I missed.
Arriving a few innings late meant I didn’t have to fork over the five bills to park. Plus, I got a better spot, one closer to the exit than the night before. I was a few rows further up than the night before, and the game day temperature was hovering around the mid-80’s. There would be no need for coffee today.
Wright follows up his home run with a bare handed grab and put out of a weak hit ground ball. To steal from Karl Ravech: yard work and a “web gem” all in the same inning. With Wright’s glove work, Ramon Hernandez needs 6 pitches to get through the fourth.
Jose Reyes is a special player. I have never lost my faith in the power of Reyes. I still believe that he is going to be as special as he has been advertised. Jose Reyes is going to make you forgive about the Mets not signing A-Rod.
Reyes triples to left center. I’ve seen Reyes hit a triple live once before and today was just as exciting as I remember it. Reyes triple scores Gerald Williams and stretches the Mets lead to four. Beltran follows a weak Miguel Cairo ground out with an RBI double. It’s Beltran’s second double of the game.
The Marlins are throwing Dontrelle Willis at the Mets today and even at his young age, it is looking like his best years are far behind him. He has already given 5 runs and coming to the plate is Andres Galaraga, who has already tagged D-Train for a two run home run in the first. That last piece of information comes courtesy of Sammie, who is keeping score in the seat next to me.
Over my shoulder, I can hear a father tell his son that the guy at the plate has the nickname The Big Cat. True to form, the child asks why Galaraga has that nickname and the question has the father stumped.
Nicknames like the Big Cat are hard to explain. Pee Wee Reese got his nickname because he was small. If your inquisitive kid asks you how did Pee Wee Reese get his nickname, you would tell him it was because he was short, and then wonder how in Earth you’re raising such a stupid kid.
The Big Cat delivers a single that scores Beltran and gives the Mets a 6-0 lead. The derailed D-Train has given up 6 runs and 8 hits. It’s become ever so clear why he was available in the late rounds of both Fantasy drafts last week.
Mets fans have a new enemy this year and his name is Carlos Delgado. I heard the boos as I walking up the stadium when Delgado took his first at-bat on the game. They’re even more vicious by his second at-bat.
He comes to the plate with two on and two out. Jae Seo started for the Mets and even though I didn’t see it, Sammie informs me that he pitched three innings and gave up 3 hits. Woo is pitching now for the Mets and even though he has given up a walk to the lead-off man, he rears back to strike out Miguel Cabrera.
Delgado gets a hold of one and the crowd rises to its feet. As if the entire stadium can hear me, and as if I’m actually talking to someone, I belt out: “That’s still in,” and it was, as Victor Diaz nabbed it three steps onto the warning track.
In essence it was merely a long out that and in my mind, I envision that long outs would have been a reoccurring theme if Delgado had signed with New York. On fact checking Monday, I’ll make sure that the Marlins have a shorter right porch than Shea. I have a feeling that a lot of home runs in other parks for Delgado would be outs at Shea.
Mike Piazza can tell you all about that. (And those thinking Beltran will match his last year power number think again).
The bottom of the sixth brings more mass substitutions and Sammie, who is scoring learns the valuable lesson that scoring spring training games is nearly impossible. The scoreboards don’t give off the plethora of information that scoreboards in major league parks do. No player statistics. No radar gun.
Sammie is still angry that Gerald Williams is still on the roster. He can’t understand why a guy who hits barely .240 and is well into his 30’s, is still taking up space on the Mets roster. I have to agree with Sammie on this one. The Mets have young outfielders like Diaz, Kerry Robinson and Ron Calloway, to name a few.
None of them are as developed as Williams but that’s what spring training is all about, development. It’s going to be hard to get these kids their at-bats when you got guys like Gerald Williams clogging up your clubhouse.
It’s always great to be part of history and the PA announcer informs the us that we are the largest crowd ever assembled in Tradition Field to see a Mets game. The largest crowd in history is now watching Mike Matthews trying to put a close to this game.
You think back at the magical year Mike Matthews had for San Diego in 2002. If you played in a Fantasy League with holds as a category then you probably remember the first-half of the season Matthews had. If he could return to even a shade of himself, than he is going to help the Mets where they need it most, middle relief.
The List
Miles Traveled: 318
Celebrity Sightings: 1
NJ Plates: 4 (surprising too, especially since I saw the first one only after 5 minutes on the road. I did, however, see a NJ plate on an old 1982 Volvo DL)
Traveling Songs: Manu Chao ‘Esperanza’, Galactic ‘We Love ‘Em Tonight’, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress ‘Giving up the Ghost’
Snack Bar: Chilean Sea Bass with risotto cake and sautéed spinach. Served at Brio on Las Olas Blvd., in Ft. Lauderdale.
Favorite T-Shirt – Mets Baby T’s on the huge assortment of hotties notwithstanding, the best t-shirt I spied at the park Saturday didn’t say ‘Let’s Go Mets’ it said: “Blame Flanders.”
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( 10:42 AM )
Baseball Diaries
Tradition Field: Port St. Lucie, Florida
Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
March 18, 2005
The Black Honda Accord is northbound on I-95 by 3:30. It’s a 7:10 start and the drive to Port St. Lucie from Ft. Lauderdale is only 79 miles away according to the Sun Sentinel. Of course, this is the same Sun Sentinel who thinks Al Leiter in a young Marlin locker room is a good thing.
With nearly a three-hour head start, it’s safe to say that I don’t trust the Sun Sentinel much.
I had spent the early part of the morning at the Riverwalk in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. The I-Pod shuffled ‘Desafinado’ by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, ‘Tequila’ by Wes Montgomery, and ‘Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) by Otis Redding by the time I arrived at my first destination. I had recently acquired the need for a shoe-cobbler, and I was told that in the Riverwalk resides one of South Florida’s best.
I waited outside his kiosk, reading various newspaper articles attesting to his greatness. Most of them read as if we should all be surprised that a shoe cobbler can actually make a living in our global economy. Five more minutes had passed when I poked my head into Clark’s Out of Town News to ask the counter person if she’s seen the shoe cobbler.
“Haven’t seen him all week,” she replied.
“Not a good sign,” I replied. “It’s the revenge of the global economy.”
As she shot me one of those Mark McGwire right before I lean back and whisper to my lawyer blank stares, I grabbed the Times and the Post, even though my out-of-town news stand of choice is Bob’s, not Clark’s.
Striking out with the shoe cobbler, I ventured up Las Olas Blvd., to grab a quick lunch and to connect to the Wi-Fi at Starbucks. I opted for lunch at Salad Creations, a make-your-own salad place that are a dime a dozen in New York but few and far between in Ft. Lauderdale.
My lunch was a spring mix salad, with chicken, fresh bleu cheese, red onions and tomato, and black pepper with the balsamic vinaigrette. I took the Post to one of the outdoor tables, trying to enjoy the little burst of sunshine, on this otherwise breezy, cool day.
Not long after the salad and a quick jump online to catch up on email treads from my fellow writers here at 2Walls and to reject two fantasy baseball trade offers: one for Ben Sheets and the other for Brad Wilkerson, I hit the road. Traffic gets heavy around Palm Beach, with construction cutting us down a lane for 18 miles. I had been cruising up to that point and I always hate slowing down to a crawl when I've been doing 90 for dozens of miles.
The Mets play their spring training games at Tradition Field. As soon as you come off on Exit 121, you see cars lined up trying to make the right turn onto the road that leads to the stadium. I need batteries for the camera and turned quickly into the BP on the left away from the traffic.
Parking at Tradition Field is $5 bucks and along walk to the gate, you can hear the minor leaguers taking BP on Field 2. Field 1 is beautiful, with the grass a perfect outfield green. Tradition Field is minor league stadium small. Even though I’m in the second deck, I couldn’t have asked for a better seat for $10 bucks.
The Nationals are taking BP and it’s hard to tell who is who without the benefit of names and numbers. The cool weather has forced the players to take BP in their warm-ups. Truth be told, outside of Jose Vidro, Livian Hernandez and Nick Johnson, I couldn’t tell one National apart from another. I know Brad Wilkerson hit 32 home runs last year but I wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a line-up if my life depended on it.
A grassy knoll beyond right field gives the children who are not hounding for autographs something to do before first pitch. This scene is what I was thinking spring training would be. An easier, more relaxed approach to taking in a game. No 4, 5, 6, or 7 Train during rush hour. No drunken Wall Street guys.
Tradition Field has standard fare for baseball stadiums and as far as I saw, not a place you’re going to find sushi on the menu between the Sausage and Peppers anytime soon. I like the basics at a ball game except when I’m at Camden Yards, there its all about the Boog’s BBQ.
The Mets feature sauerkraut at the free condiment stand, an added plus, especially when you’re not a relish guy like me.
The Mets are wearing green hats in honor of a holiday that passed 24-hours ago. The Mets have a thing with bad uniforms and uniform consistency for a number of years now. It was one of the things that I was hoping Willie Randolph would remedy. I’d like the team to be consistent in play and in appearance. There’s no need to switch from white-to-black-to-pin-striped over a three game series. And don’t get me started about the hats.
The announced temperature is 67 degrees but everyone around me agrees that it’s much colder than that. Granted, it’s not April in Queens cold but we sure don’t have a hot, muggy Florida night on our hands here in Port St. Lucie.
Two kids from the Make-A-Wish-Foundation throw out the first pitch. The gentleman too the left of me informs me that that is his grandson. I snap a picture only to get a ‘Depleted Battery’ signal popping up on my HP.
Kris Benson is on the mound tonight for the Mets, and like any straight-male Mets fan, I immediately scan the crowd for a glimpse of his wife, Anna. Benson is a key to the team success this year and his importance has become even greater now that we don’t know the status of Steve Traschel.
All but two opening day starters are in the line-up tonight. Cliff Floyd and Mike Cameron are both injured and not playing. Cameron hasn’t played all spring, and Floyd not that much. Starting in place for Floyd is Eric Valent, who hit the cycle for the Mets last year, while playing both outfield and first base.
Victor Diaz is playing right in place of Cameron. Diaz reminds me a smaller Manny Ramirez. He’s got power: 24 home runs in AAA and 3 in 15 games with the big club last year, and hits for average batting .292 in the minors last season. If this kid can turn it up in the last few weeks of spring, the Mets should give up Mike Cameron for some middle relief.
One person that definitely won’t be headed north with the team is Joe McEwing, who was cut Wednesday. It’s hard not to like a guy like Super Joe. Not the most talented but the hardest worker. His versatility helped the Mets win countless games and with his departure leaves Piazza as the only link to that magical 2000 World Series run. Even after his pathetic testimony in front of the House Government Reform Committee Thursday, the only reason I still don’t believe Mark McGwire did steroids is because Super Joe says he didn’t it.
But hey, we’re not here to talk about the past.
The crowd around me is decidedly older than the grassy knoll crew. Next to me, a couple from the City, Mets fans from Day One I would presume, sit bundled up. The husband asks me what happen to Vance Wilson, was he traded or outright released.
“Man, I miss baseball fans,” I said to myself.
I didn’t actually know what the transaction deal surrounding Vance Wilson was. However, they told me they’ve been coming to Tradition Field for the past 12 years and that they’d be in the same seats for the game Saturday.
“I’ll be a few rows up, I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
Jose Reyes drives in the first run of the game, a single up the middle that scores Victor Diaz who walked. Reyes scoring runs, not driving them in is something I’m expecting to see a lot of this year. His move back to short seems also seems to be going smoothly. He bobbles a sharp grounder in the second but recovers in time to still get the out.
At second, Matsui looks comfortable, much more comfortable than he looked at short all last year. He goes up the middle to back hand a grounder to start a 4-6-3 that brings to crowd to its feet. Matsui had the first hit of the game in the first inning, a rocket single to right-center of Estaban Loiaza, the Nationals starter.
Kris Benson has given up three hits and has struck out five after three innings. I didn’t expect to see more than two innings from Benson, or for any of the starters (especially given how cold it was) but it wasn’t until the top of the sixth that the first non-roster invitee got into the game.
Carlos Baerga, ex-Met, is trying to catch on with the Nationals. Judging from the fact that he’s wearing number 77, he has about as much of a chance of going to DC with the team as the grandfather sitting next to me in Section 211, Row P, Seat 22.
During the bottom of the eighth, we see one of those things that you only see at minor league games. The Tony’s Pizza Car, a Chevy Malibu (I think) adored everywhere visible with the Tony logo and pictures of fresh pizza. (772) 336-1132 painted on as far as the eye can see.
Mike Piazza still gets the most applause from the Mets faithful but as I see the little girl in front of me kiss her new David Wright 8 x 10, I know it won’t be long before that changes.
The fans are still getting use to Carlos Beltran, myself included. I have no doubt that Beltran will be a productive player. He may very well be deemed overpaid at the end of the day. But there is no doubt that he makes the Mets better and gives them automatic swagger going into this season.
Brad Wilkerson misplays Beltran’s lazy fly and he makes it to second. It hasn’t been a good game for Wilkerson, who already has a strikeout to go with his error. Piazza reaches on a throwing error and Beltran takes third. He is soon knocked in on a Doug Mientkiewicz fly ball to right.
I’m going to say this all season long so get use to it; the key to the Mets season, outside of staying healthy is the productivity of their middle relief.
Tonight, we saw two guys, one on the team and hoping to make it. Right-handed pitcher Manny Aybar pitches two innings, giving up no runs but he did walk a batter. Mike DeJean was lights out in the one inning I saw him and should be the anchor of promising middle relief corps.
With the Mets ahead 2-0 going into the 9th and the starters sprinting along the warning track, it was time for me to grab some warmth and head for the car. Watching Ramon Castro, Luis Garcia, Termell Sledge, and Gary Bennett was exciting and all, but I couldn’t feel my fingers. When you’re old school like me, you’re using pad and pen.
Frozen fingers makes it pretty much impossible to write.
The List
Miles: 134
Driving Tunes: Stanton Moore ‘All Kooked Out’, Tanya Donnelly ‘Whiskey Tango Ghost’, Jack Johnson ‘Brushfire Fairytales’, De La Soul, ‘Stakes is High’
NJ Plates Seen: 10
Snack Bar: Two Hot Dogs with mustard and sauerkraut, one salt-less pretzel, coffee (told you it was cold)
Brushes with the Law: 0
Souvenirs: Grey New York Mets Spring Training T-Shirt, Orange Mets ‘Let’s Go Kids’ Wristband.
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( 12:50 PM )
Steroids For Breakfast
I woke in the mood for Sportscenter all morning, so I was a little amiss to find that ESPN, along with EPSN 2 and ESPN News, were carrying the Major League Baseball Steroid hearings live. I’m too old school to watch politics go down on the network that brings us ‘Playmakers’ and ‘Season on the Brink’ so I venture over to C-Span 3, which in custom C-Span style, is doing gravel-to-gravel coverage.
I was hoping the good stuff would fly before the tournament started around noon. It was in this dream state, I forgot that this is Congress and that they would save the best soundbites for the evening news hours.
Only in Congress can you go to a hearing on major league baseball and have a Bush League softball game break out. Government Reform Committee: Chairman, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) starts missing the plate. Like everyone else on the Committee, Davis waxes nostalgic about the game of baseball. Tells us that his love of politics didn’t blossom until after the Senators left town. This longing for the days of old are highlighted by Sen. Jim Bunning, who testifies that the heroes of yesterday didn’t need steroids to hit all those home runs.
Yeah, all they needed was whiskey, hookers and a systematic understanding that the game would be off-limits to even the most talented players solely based on the color of their skin.
I generally love hearing from stories from old baseball players but I could be spared Bunning’s act. This isn’t his game and it hasn’t been for a long time. Before you start blaming the demise of baseball on steroids, remember, human growth hormones had nothing to do with the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn or lights at Wrigley Field.
Like every other cable channel, even C-Span has a ticker running at the bottom of the screen. This ‘News Update’ tells us that Rep. Bob Portman has been nominated for U.S. Trade Representative.
Another point revealed by Rep. Davis happens when he states that the Committee didn’t rush into judgment on whether to hold hearings or not. This means that a steroid hearing without Barry Bonds, without Olympic athletes and IOC officials, without professional football players, professional wrestlers and promoters, was not an oversight but a well though out plan.
Lastly, Davis could’ve been spared us all that lame reworking of the classic ‘Casey At Bat’ poem that Rep. Davis stuck in at the end of his testimony.
The ‘tugging at the heart strings’ moments came when the ball players, politicians and MLB executives all through a bone to the children. If we listen to Congress and Katie Couric, than all children are doing these days are shooting up steroids in between all the causal sex they’re having.
Why does the blame for the rise of steroid use among high school students get solely pinned on the shoulders of ball players? Many on the Committee tossed out stats that say more students are using steroids today than they were 15 years ago all the while forgetting major point.
It is much easier to get steroids today than it was 15 years ago. Steroids exist a click away from any high school student. You couldn’t say that 15, hell, even 10 years ago. Blame broadband for the spike of steroid use among teenagers and get off Ken Caminiti’s back.
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