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New season brings new hope posted on 04/06/2012

Two thousand eleven was a difficult year for Major League Baseball.  There was no strike, no brawl in which a player grabbed an elderly coach and threw him to the ground, and no collision between players that proved to be career-ending for anyone.  (Buster Posey should be fine this season.)  On the field, things were good.  In the stands and outside the park, however, tragedy struck the baseball world.

Christina Taylor Green, the nine-year-old granddaughter of former Phillies GM Dallas Green and daughter of Dodgers scout John Green, was shot and killed in Tucson at the Gabrielle Giffords Congress on Your Corner event in January.

Bryan Stow, a San Francisco Giants fan, was beaten nearly to death outside Dodger Stadium on Opening Day.

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A baseball read to hold you over until Opening Day posted on 02/25/2011

If you’re looking for a baseball book that will keep you entertained until Opening Day, check out Dirk Hayhurst’s The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran.  The book details Hayhurst’s 2007 season at three different levels of the minors.  He describes long bus rides, living with host families, Kangaroo Court, and battling the urge to give up on a dream.  It’s an honest story about the arduous journey it takes so many ballplayers to reach their ultimate goal, knowing they may never achieve it.

Hayhurst has since made it to the majors, pitching in 25 games, making three starts, and compiling a 0-2 record and a 5.72 ERA for the Padres and Blue Jays.  The Kent State University graduate’s book received rave reviews from Bob Costas, Keith Olbermann, Tom Verducci and Tim Kurkjian, and made

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Yankees look to fill Pettitte’s shoes in rotation posted on 02/11/2011

Following Andy Pettitte’s retirement announcement last week, the New York Yankees are left with a big hole in their starting rotation.  CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, and A.J. Burnett are the team’s top three starters, while the last two spots are up for grabs.  Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre are options for Joe Girardi, but their limited experience in The Show may hurt their chances, as the Bronx Bombers tend to go with more established pitchers.  That leaves Freddy García (35) and Bartolo Colón (37), both of whom will try to prove they are not washed-up.

García won 12 games last season for the White Sox, but his 4.64 ERA is more indicative of the type of year he had.  I went to Chicago one weekend and actually saw him give up seven earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work against the Marlins.  The ChiSox eventually lost the game 13-0 in front of their home fans.  García surrendered three home runs in that game and 23 overall in only 157 innings pitched, numbers that are unlikely to improve if he makes half his starts at New Yankee Stadium.

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Who ever said pitchers can’t hit? posted on 01/28/2011

While it should come as no surprise that a professional baseball player holds the state of Georgia's high school home run record, it may come as a shock that the record-holder is not a slugging outfielder like Jason Heyward, Mike Cameron, Jeff Francoeur, Nick Markakis, or J.D. Drew.  It isn’t a catcher with pop like Buster Posey or Brian McCann.  It isn’t even “The Big Hurt” Frank Thomas or “The Georgia Peach” himself, Hall of Famer Ty Cobb.  In fact, the record-holder isn’t a position player at all: it’s Diamondbacks pitcher Micah Owings.

Owings’s 69 career high school home runs are fourth in the United States behind Jeff Clement (75), James Peterson (73), and Drew Henson (70), who have combined to hit a grand total of 14 in the majors.  Peterson hit 11 in the minors but never even played in the big leagues, and Henson collected one hit in eight major league at-bats before deciding he had a better chance of succeeding as a quarterback in the NFL.  Clement has shown decent power in the minors but has yet to prove he can hit major league pitching.  If he doesn’t do it soon, Owings – who won a Silver Slugger as a pitcher during his rookie year (2007) and has hit nine homers in his brief big league career – will likely pass him.

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Trevor Time calls it a day posted on 01/14/2011

Trevor Hoffman, Major League Baseball’s all-time saves leader, announced his retirement this week after an illustrious 18-year big league career.  The seven-time All-Star finishes his career with 601 saves, a 61-75 record, a 2.87 ERA, and 1,133 strikeouts.  In 1089.1 innings pitched – spanning 1035 games – he surrendered exactly 100 home runs.  Hoffman spent the bulk of his career with the Padres, with whom he won four division titles and one National League pennant.

Hoffman was drafted as a position player, but after hitting .249 and .212 in his first two seasons in the low levels of the minors, the Reds turned him into a pitcher.  Hoffman found immediate success on the mound, going on to become a dominant closer for nearly two decades, but Cincinnati lost him to the Marlins in the 1992 Expansion Draft.  After half a season in the majors, he was traded to San Diego in a deal that sent Gary Sheffield to Florida.  Hoffman would spend the next 15 and a half seasons in a Padres uniform.

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