Baseball Bits

Somewhere along the way I got on the mailing list for the Pawtucket Red Sox...I'm sure I entered a contest. I get emails from them, that I sometimes read. Yesterday in the mail I got their 16 page 'magazine'. On the cover is the Sox 2003 # 1 pick...David Murphy. He is on Boston's 40 man roster. A skinny, left-handed outfielder from Texas, a Baylor all-American. In the past I had noticed him when I had Googled my name. Will and Rob has his rookie card.

Since we signed up for the Kroger Plus discount card, we get Kroger mailings and circulars delivered in the mail. Usually we don't thumb through the Kroger quarterly Home Basics magazine, but yesterday Ceil sat down with the mail and gave it a look while resting. Lang's wife Isabel is in an ad for Caress Glowing Touch skin care products!

The USA manager Buck Martinez has a losing career record, I am pretty sure. Lang had asked why he was picked. Before this WBC started I asked if it would be good for Francoeur. The bats may be few, but at least they're under pressure situations.

Dimino interviewed Ron Bloomberg yesterday morning while I was in the car. I think Orlando Cepeda was the second DH, who batted for the visiting Red Sox in the second inning, after the Yankees retired the Sox in order in the first inning...thereby allowing Bloomberg to be the first DH.

Notable minor league coaches:
Larry Parrish: Mud Hens mgr
Leon Durham: Mud Hens coach
Juan Nieves: Charlotte coach
Ken Oberkfell: Norfolk mgr
Howard Johnson: Norfolk coach
Hensley Meulens: Indy coach
Frank Howard: Columbus coach
Dwayne Murphy: Syracuse coach
Greg Hibbard: Buffalo coach
Rochester's mgr & pitching coach are twins, perhaps identical.
Others in the Boston organization...
Dave Tomlin: rookie league coach
Luis Alicea: Greenville mgr
Mike Cather: Wilmington coach
U.L. Washington: rookie league coach
Consultants include Dwight Evans, Tony Cloninger, Tommy Harper, and Yaz.

Pete Orr was the starting shortstop for Canada.

The Atlanta sports talk radio stations give minimal attention to basketball, especially the NBA. Chris Dimino, the guy interviewing Bloomberg, loves baseball, and is my favorite of the bunch. Buck Belue is ok, but many of the others I don't care for.

Maybe it’s the fact that there has only recently been spring training baseball, But those WBC games are nice. Just a little bit of originality in the uniforms…seems like most of them were created by the same (MLB?) committee. They could’ve done a better job. Many are similar to the Nationals…pretty cookie-cutter. I haven’t seen South Korea or Japan. Doesn’t SK have the pinstripes, which is a traditional design for far east teams…much better than the DR, PR, or Venezuela. As usual, the USA could do better. Jay Mohr thinks the Cubans wear red pants to prevent defections.

I don’t know about the loss to SK, but I don’t see much shame in losing to Canada. The pitchers are behind the hitters this early in the spring, unless you are a workout fiend like Roger Clemens. In the late innings against Canada, the US was pitching off-speed guys, and Canada was countering with power pitchers. Nothing wrong with some of the lesser names the US was playing, like Chase Utley…though he celebrated a bit too early on his drive to center, that was caught. Francoeur made a nice play to get the runner at home, but I hear he’s not getting many ABs…true?

The Braves promotional schedule was recently published, which is always important to Matthew. Helped me pinpoint which Toronto, Pirates, Cardinals, and Giants games to go to.

Will’s baseball issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids came yesterday, with Andruw on the cover. Favorite subject? Math. Favorite sport to watch? Football. Didn’t know that he worked out with Smoltz after his dismal 2004 season. The magazine also had a full page photo of Francoeur, and the only Brave that made the list of top fantasy players was Smoltz. No sleepers or anything.