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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

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Handshake From High Up

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Yesterday, September 4th 2012, something really remarkable happened. (And no I am not referring to Michelle Obama’s impassioned, empathetic meter turner at the DNC.) The Baltimore Orioles defeated fellow American East mates the Toronto Blue Jays 12-0 to raise their record to 76-59. Baltimore and the New York Yankees, who are beginning to look more and more like a team lost at sea, are now tied atop the division with 27 games remaining in the regular season. This is a substantial development for two reasons: 1) in the middle of July the Yankees held a 10 game lead in the AL East and 2) as we all know, the Orioles, who internally could care less about their negative run differential, are 6 measly victories away from procuring their first winning season since 1997. Here’s what is really freaky, they may have me to thank for their recent rise to the top.

Soccer has Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” and now baseball has what will forever be remembered as the “the handshake”. My brother in law Eddie and I were fortunate enough to attend last Thursday’s night session at the U.S. Open. For those sports fan who have yet to visit the national tennis center it is a must. Great for the family or a single night out on the town. Of course, it’s not cheap and you may need to either dip into the disposable income or, like us, graciously accept a few of freebies.

Back to “the handshake”, it all went down outside of Arthur Ashe Stadium in between Roger Federer disposing of some really short German guy and Venus Williams sadly looking like her best was a thing of the past. As we were bounding down the concourse steps, excited to be a mere 20 paces away from another Honeydeuce and $15 free range chicken sandwich, I noticed a small cluster of people milling around a lower level entry area. At first glance there was nothing spectacular about this group. A couple of fairly attractive ladies in sandals and sun dresses, a few younger business bros who were probably on their way to Montauk to crush some mojitos over Labor Day weekend, and 2 dudes in jeans and tshirts. One of the guys had on a trucker hat pulled way down low which made it nearly impossible to decipher his facial features. But because I’m an Orioles fan, and recovering baseball card collector, I could tell that the man behind the mask was none other than Baltimore 1B Mark Reynolds, who was set to take in a little tennis before the Birds began their crucial three game series against the Yankees the following night.

Without thinking, I turned on a swivel and began walking towards Reynolds who was caught completely off guard when, with right hand extended, I said, “Hey Mark. Huge O’s fan. Good luck this weekend.”. He graciously shook my hand but the whole time had this look on his face like “who the hell is this guy and how does he know I’m Mark Reynolds”. Scared or not, I walked away both extremely proud that I recognized the starting 1B on my favorite baseball team and that he may or may not have been intimidated by my hulking, moderately intoxicated, presence.

Flash forward. Friday night. Orioles/Yankees at the Stadium. Start of a three game series that would go a long way towards determining the AL East. Mark Reynolds, my new best friend, ends the night with 2 home runs, and a couple of remarkable diving stops at first base, as Baltimore rolls 6-1. But it doesn’t end there, in the five games since “the handshake”, Reynolds has gone 8 for 19 with 5 HRs and 11 RBI helping the Orioles to a 4-1 record and tie New York atop the AL East standings.

Now you can say what you want about karma or positive vibes, but if you were in my position and your favorite baseball team hadn’t experienced a winning season in over 15 years, wouldn’t you like to believe that you could play a roll, however minor, in your team’s recent success? Of course, I refuse to accept responsibility if things all of a sudden go bad for the Birds. Blame J.J. Hardy. He was with Reynolds on the night of “the handshake” and was too “distracted” on his cell phone to accept my praises. Who knows, maybe we wil meet again in September.

view from the Rogers Centre courtesy of @SentiaSolutions

 

 

Crossed Fingers For The Baltimore Orioles

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Baseball fans, like baseball players, are superstitious. The way we watch and talk about our favorite team is as important as the manner in which Derek Jeter prepares for an at bat or the reason why R.A. Dickey struggled in Cincinnati. Fear of breaking from the routine is the reason why I have been so reticent to write about the Baltimore Orioles. As you may or may not know the Birds are fighting for a playoff spot for the first time in well over a decade. With a little more than a month remaining in the regular season Baltimore is currently tied for the Wild Card lead but faces stiff competition from the Rays, A’s, Tigers, and Angels. Today I’m willing to shelve my silence and superstitions in order to bring greater notoriety to a team, my team, that has continued to fight on through the dog days. Here are just a few reasons why.

To steal a phrase from everybody’s favorite mid-90s sports centric rom-com, “You had me at hello Manny Machado. You had me at hello.“. There isn’t one person on the planet who could have predicted such a titillating start in the big leagues for one of MLB’s top prospects. Precocious baseball superstars have not been uncommon in 2012 (see Trout, Mike and Harper, Bryce) but what Machado accomplished in his first week with the Orioles surpasses what most fans thought possible for a 20 year old playing out of position. In his first four games with the Orioles, Machado went 6-16 with a double, a triple, 3 HRs, 7 RBI, and 5 runs scored to help him share player of the week honors with some guy from Fenway who allows teammates to borrow his phone and text message the owner. To think, some “analysts” thought his call up to the majors was premature and an act of desperation for a team searching for its first playoff birth in over a decade. Please, Machado was always the best available option at any level to help the big league club shore up its right side of the infield even after playing only two games at the hot corner in the minors.

Along with the bravado of Machado (put that on a poster won’t you) comes the panache of Manager Buck Showalter which has clearly infected players like Mark Reynolds, the latter having disappointed for most of the season until he launched himself into the hearts of Birdland after one of the most memorable Charm City tirades since the days of Earl Weaver and Mayor Schaefer. Reynolds was thrown out of a game against the Detroit Tigers Friday night for vehemently protesting a controversial call at first base. (Editors note: Tim Timmons needs to eat more carrots.) His post game comments were a thing of beauty and while some outsiders may argue that what Reynolds did and said crossed the imaginary line between competitive spirit and entitled petulance most Orioles fans could really give two shits about what anyone else thinks. It’s about time this team and franchise started to act like they gave a crap because their aren’t many fans left walking around the Inner Harbor who don’t list the Ravens first and Orioles second in the battle for the hearts and minds of Baltimore.

And how about a heaping of praise to Nick Markakis the RF who has reinvented his Orioles career with a transition to the leadoff spot in the lineup. The Greek God of Outfield Assists continues to get on base and hit for power. Some guys are just more comfortable in certain parts of the lineup and with Brian Roberts back on the DL, and JJ Hardy better suited in the two hole, the Orioles had very little choice but to go with Markakis and at just the right time too.

Another key ingredient to the Orioles prolonged success through mid August has been the still sturdy bullpen which everyone from Pythagorus himself seems to agree is destined to eventually implode into a fiery inferno like the ill fated Hindenburg. 8th inning guy Pedro Strop gave up his first run(s) Saturday night since all the way back on July 5. (Complaining about quick pitching is for sore losers and public safety directors.) Closer Jim Johnson has 36 saves good enough for second in the AL and with a reprogrammed Brian Matusz perhaps the Birds will find the valuable left handed reliever they have been searching for.

At the start of the 2012 season, most Orioles fans would have been satisfied with a final record at or above .500, a statistical feat that hadn’t happened since 1997, a prolonged streak of ineptitude that has many in Baltimore feeling like Captain Ahab. But now, 81-81 just isn’t good enough and with every series victory Baltimore becomes more and more resolute. The Wild Card is in our grasp. Take it. You never know when the opportunity will come around again.

view from Comerica Park courtesy of @Britt_Ghiroli

10 Bold Predictions For The 2nd Half Of The 2012 MLB Season

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Most informed baseball scribes are hesitant to make outrageous claims and statements for fear of the backlash. But as an uniformed hack I have the creative license, and general lack of viewing audience, to throw as much crap against the wall in the hopes of making just some of it stick. Here are 10 bold predictions for the second half of the 2012 MLB season starting with..

#1) the Boston Red Sox will make the AL playoffs and Bobby Valentine will be named AL Manager of the Year. There is much too much talent on this Boston roster to let a little dysfunction ruin the season. They are after all only 9.5 games behind the first place Yankees and can expect Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia, and Clay Buchholz to all return to the lineup soon. With enough time to make a playoff push look for Bobby V to garner much of the credit for changing the culture of the clubhouse by directly challenging the credibility and accountability of underachieving players OR things continue to backfire and Boston finishes dead last in the East and Valentine returns home to Stamford, CT where he will resume his duties as Director of Public Health & Safety.

#2) Speaking of health and wellness, the Texas Rangers will finish the regular season with the best record in baseball but fail to make it out of the divisional round of the playoffs due to a season ending injury to Josh Hamilton. Nobody wants to see an athlete get injured, especially one as talented and transcendent as Hamilton, but backs can be tricky things. There is no rhyme or reason to a bad back. I have a colleague who spent an entire morning on the floor of his office after spasming when he bent over to tie his shoe. Every time Hamilton swings through a first pitch changeup or runs into the outfield fence it looks like he is on the precipice of completely throwing his spine out of alignment. I hope I’m wrong about this because we all want to see the best teams and players on the field when it counts most.

#3) Which leads us to the Steel City where the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to win the NL central and Andrew McCutchen is your NL MVP. I jumped on the Pirate bandwagon pretty hard last year and that didn’t go so well but I’m hoping this year is different because @thecutch22 is the Man and there is just something about the way he carries himself on the baseball field that inspires confidence in others. A .362 average with 18 HRs and 60 RBI doesn’t hurt either. Props also for having the coolest twitter handle in baseball, a title formally held by @JoeyBats19.

#4) Cole Hamels will be dealt away by the Philadelphia Phillies before the end of the trading deadline. There is no guarantee that he wants to resign with Philly anyway, even if they do end up throwing boatloads of money his way. The smart move is to trade him away for a couple of major league ready prospects in the hopes that these new bats can add depth to a lineup that once again features a healthy Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Can we talk for a second about how good the 2013 Dodgers rotation would be with both Clayton Kershaw and Hamels? The Dodgers, who were my preseason pick to go to the World Series, may have too wait another year because…

#5)  The San Fransisco Giants are going to win the NL pennant. For the record, I’m basing a significant portion of this prediction off of what I witnessed in Tuesday’s ASG. And what the heck happened to Melky Cabrera? When he was with the Yankees nobody believed that the Melkman was going to be anything more than a 4th outfielder at best. If the Giants can get anything out of Tim Lincecum, who posted a 3-10 record with a 6.42 ERA during the first half, during the rest of the season then they have to be considered the favorites to win the NL where they will face…

#6) The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It’s like 2002 all over again. Except Mike Trout is faster than Darin Estrad and Mark Trumbo hits the ball an average of 100 feet further than Tim Salmon. And that’s before even mentioning Albert Pujols who, unbelievably, isn’t even the best player on the team right now. How long is his new contract again?

#7) Much to the disappointment of the entire state of Missouri, Robinson Cano will finish the season with the most homeruns in the AL. He already has 20 HRs and I’ll say he closes the year around 42. And for the record Kansas City, I wouldn’t have chosen Billy Butler for the HR Derby either.

Speaking of the derby,  for the 2013 ASG, MLB is going cut down the length of the HR Derby and add a skills challenge where multi tooled players like Mike Trout and Bryce Harper compete in a series of challenges like hitting the ball to the opposite field, robbing homerun balls, and a timed first to third sprint. And before all you baseball purists get your trading cards in a bunch, ask yourselves this question: does the HR Derby really need to take 3 hours? Wouldn’t one round of competition suffice?

#8) The Chicago Cubs will finish with the worst record in baseball but their young 1B Anthony Rizzo will win the NL Rookie of the Year Award over Bryce Harper. It’s going to take Theo Epstein a few years to right the ship but Cubs fans are accustomed to waiting. And with players like Rizzo and Starlin Castro providing a foundation for years to come, the future is bright on the Northside.

#9) At some point this season Bryce Harper will be sent back down to the minors. Bold right? And for Harper it’s not a question of talent but, in my opinion, the kid cannot be mentally prepared to handle a pennant race. He’s only 19 years old and when most of us were that age we couldn’t figure out how to get to class on time let alone lead a team to the MLB playoffs.

#10) And finally, months will pass and yet Tony La Russa will still be unable to offer up any sort of valid reason for why he chose not to start RA Dickey in the All-Star Game.

view from the AAA All-Star Game courtesy of @Joey_DAngelo

3 Simple Ways To Improve the MLB All-Star Game

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According to Commissioner Bud Selig MLB has never been healthier and while it’s easy to dispute this predictably obtuse claim that doesn’t mean that baseball did not enjoy itself an eventful and entertaining first half. Attendance is up across the country, there is an exciting crop of young talent making an immediate impact, and the Pittsburgh Pirates are 11 games over .500 for the first time since 1992.

But there are still certain improvements that could be made, especially to Tuesday night’s All-Star Game. A few years ago baseball decided to make the Midsummer Classic “count” for something by having the game determine home field in the World Series. Skeptics believe that this was not enough to raise the competitive level of the game and the change certainly hasn’t roused a significantly larger television audience. When you think about it, the ASG should be able to attract an enormous viewing audience especially considering that it’s the middle of July and there is absolutely nothing else on tv except for old Bones reruns and some new show called American Ninja Warrior.* 

Here are 3 very straightforward, albeit redundant, ways to improve MLB’s All-Star Game.

1) First pitch at 7pm instead of 8pm: Yeah, I understand this screws with West Coasties but you’ve been spoiled by 10AM NFL games for long enough now that it’s time for those of us back East to enjoy a primetime game in its entirety instead of falling asleep during the 7th inning stretch.

Personally I don’t buy all that crap about how we can’t expect the younger generation to appreciate America’s Pastime if the ASG is on well past their bedtime. Please. It’s summer. School has been out for weeks now and most kids who would even care to watch the game in the first place are already so hyped up on Red Bull and Arizona Iced Tea** that they’re going to be up well past their bedtimes anyway.

No, I want to the game to be moved to 7PM for parents of young children like myself who for 17 months now have found it quite difficult to stay up past 10PM because I’m either A) too tired from chasing around a 2.5 foot little person who finds a way to bump his head against the corner of every table in our house at least 30 times a day and who also happens to wet/crap his pants with the same frequency or B) already asleep on the coach. If the game were to start at 7 instead of 8 then there is a good chance I make it all the way to the end when they hold that awkward MVP ceremony where some Chevy exec gives away a fully loaded Corvette to a multimillionaire who probably already has a stable of high priced automobiles in the garage.

2) Eliminate the managers: Like most adults, coaches just end up screwing things up anyway. Want recent proof? Look no further than how Tony La Russa totally botched the NL starting pitcher decision by choosing Matt Cain over RA Dickey. No offense to Cain but RA Dickey needs to start this game. He’s a 37 year old knuckleballer with a 12-1 record and 2.40 ERA who is one of the main reason why the NY Mets continue to outperform all expectations and who also happens to be such a crazy Star Wars fanatic that he named his family minivan the Millenium Falcon. Has a knuckleballer ever started an ASG before? Take La Russa out of the picture and I guarantee the players pick Dickey over Cain.

And who wouldn’t want to follow along as a hidden camera records the goings on in the clubhouse as the players debate their starting lineups and batting orders? When I envision an ASG clubhouse without coaches and managers I see a surreal world that is equal parts Lord Of The Flies, ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’, and 12 Angry Men. And networks like Fox love reality tv because it costs nothing to produce and the ratings are usually solid. Throw a little Liev Schreiber narration in there and you’ve got yourself a 1/2 hour pre game show that people would much rather watch instead of a 90 minute televised intervention between George Brett and Tim McClelland hosted by Jim Gray.

The only question is, who holds the conch? If MLB is really going to ask each clubhouse to make these types of crucial decisions then one player on each side must emerge as the Henry Fonda type leader, someone with an understated charisma and humility who is also able to earn the respect of his peers. My vote in the AL goes to Curtis Granderson who just seems like the type of well grounded individual (his parents are both teachers after all) that would be able to take command of the room. For the NL team I’ll go with Buster Posey if for no other reason than he’s a catcher and those guys usually make the best leaders anyway.

3) Unlimited reentry for players in the starting lineup: No offense to Asdrubal Crabrera, who is a deserving All-Star, but the fine folks of Kauffman Stadium want to see as much of Derek Jeter as possible. By allowing Carbrera to pinch hit and then have Jeter reenter in the bottom of the inning gives fans the opportunity to see their favorite players determining the final outcome of the game.

I’m all for keeping it where every MLB team is represented by at least one player but that shouldn’t mean that all reserves see a significant amount of time on the field. This year is different because there are several ASG reserves, like Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, that everyone wants to see get several at bats.

In the end, we’ll all probably be watching the MLB All-Star game but mostly because ‘American Ninja Warrior’ airs on Monday nights.

*No, seriously. Look it up. This is an actual show on network TV. I’ll be sorely disappointed if it weren’t a half hour montage dedicated to old Chris Farley SNL highlights.

** Someday soon scientists are going to reveal that too many energy drinks make you sterile which is going to be a real shame for extreme sport athletes as well as the actors in those bargain basement 5 Hour Energy commercials.

view from Kauffman Stadium site of the 2012 MLB ASG courtesy of @AllStarGame

A Tip Of The Cap To Josh Hamilton

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After Josh Hamilton hit his 4th and final home run Tuesday night I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of despair and foreboding. As an Orioles fan Tuesday night was all about reality setting in after what has been an alarmingly hot start for the Birds. Over the first two games of the series, Hamilton and the Rangers brought Baltimore to their knees, completely exposing the team’s young, overachieving pitching staff. Tuesday night sadly, and somewhat temporarily, wiped away much of the momentum and enthusiasm gained after a great 5-1 road trip over the Yankees and Red Sox. Now it feels like the Orioles must clean out the cobwebs before spiraling into an all too familiar descent towards another sub .500 season.

As time passed, and Tuesday night turned into Wednesday morning, I realized that by wallowing in my Oriole sadness I was effectively minimizing the historic accomplishment of Josh Hamilton. Whatever you may think about Hamilton the person as he continues to wage a very public battle against the relentless demons of addiction, Hamilton the baseball player deserves a heaping pile of praise and platitudes for becoming the 16th major leaguer ever to hit 4 HRs in a game, the last being Carlos Delgado in 2003. Just to give you a sense of what a rarity 4 HRs in a MLB game is, there have been 20 no-hitters and 3 perfect games thrown over that same span of time. Of the 16 players to hit 4 in one game only 5 (Delahanty, Gehrig, Klein, Mays, Schmidt) have been elected to the Hall of Fame. Hamilton has his fair share of scars but you do not need to understand the person to respect the talent.

Josh Hamilton also has the sweetest swing in baseball, maybe even the best since Ken Griffey Jr was lighting up the Kingdome in the 90s. Hamilton’s swing doesn’t just look easy and effortless, it IS easy and effortless. Turn on a game and notice all of the current players whose overly mechanized swings amount to the total antithesis of any approach Ted Williams advocated for in The Science of Hitting. Watch Hamilton swing and notice how quiet his lower half remains through contact. He has the innate ability to stay balanced and maintain a significant amount of power behind the ball. His path to contact avoids any major parabolic detours while traveling in a straight line from point A to point B.

Because 4 HRs in a MLB game is such a rare occurrence, think Haley’s Comet or Tiger Woods contending in a major, it is important to break down each of Hamilton’s at bats Tuesday night to see if we can figure out just what makes the Rangers five tool superstar so good.

1st inning: Runner on first base and one out. Clean count and Orioles “ace” Jake Arrieta loops a hanging curveball over the heart of the plate which Hamilton summarily dismisses over the outstretched arms of Adam Jones as if he were sending back an undercooked ribeye . If there is such a thing as a book on Hamilton it’s that he’s a well known connoisseur of first pitch fastballs which is why more and more pitchers are starting him off with something offspeed. Problem is, when you leave your curveball up in the hitting zone instead of burying it below the knees you allow a slugger of Hamilton’s ilk, or really any professional hitter worth their salt for that matter, to extend his arms and drive the ball deep into the outfield. 8 times out of 10 he hits that spinner from Arrieta out onto Eutaw Street.

3rd inning: With two outs and a runner on first base, Arrieta falls behind in the count 2-0 before unleashing a really tidy 93 mph two seamer which tails away from the left handed hitting Hamilton. Most batters either take the strike over the black and wait for a better pitch to hit or drop the barrel of the bat and pop the ball up to the shortstop. Unfortunately for Arrieta, Hamilton is not most batters and on this particular pitch he is able to keep his hands inside the baseball making contact deep in the zone and driving the pitch into the left field seats for an opposite field homerun. His second of the evening. Unbelievable patience and balance.

7th inning: Zach Phillips is brought in from the bullpen for the statistically favorable lefty on lefty matchup. But Josh Hamilton is not your average left handed hitting platoon player. What makes him so successful against lefty pitching is his ability to keep his front side closed and head on the ball. That and an inordinate amount of natural ability and baseball instinct. Hit it where it’s pitched.  Phillips must not have been watching the first inning as he serves a 0-1 curveball that Hamilton crushes into the right/center bleachers. 3rd homer of the night for Hamilton and he is now one away from tying the record. Question is, if you’re the Baltimore Orioles, how do you even let it come to that?

The Big Leagues are full of player codes and unwritten do’s and don’t. Don’t bunt to break up a no hitter. Don’t steal the catchers signs. Don’t scream “I got it” to a third baseman when rounding the bases on a routine pop up. (see: ARod). Another of those unwritten rules could very well be that when opposing a player who has already hit 3 HRs in a game you must challenge them with strikes and not simply throw an unintentional intentional walk simply to avoid going down in the history books.

8th inning: So much for pitching around history.  Clearly Darren O’Day was undeterred by the record books as Hamilton drives an 83 MPH submarine ball into the center field ivy for his 4th home run of the game. O’Day was up 0-2 on Hamilton before leaving some sort of softball style changeup out over the plate. Why he even threw a strike in that situation is beyond me but poor location should not obscure what was a seminal performance by one of baseballs best. And to recap, Hamilton finishes the night 5-5 with 4 HRs, a double, and 8 RBI. Not too shabby for a player whose contract expires at the end of the 2012 season.

Speaking of Hamilton’s contract status, it’s really hard to imagine that the 31 year old won’t be able to command the same type of payday as Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols this coming offseason. Of course, with any Hamilton contract discussion comes questions about his health and past issues with substance abuse. The Texas Rangers have continued to do right by Hamilton but I’m sure there are more than a handful of teams with the resources and support system to lure Hamilton away from Arlington. Until then, let us all just enjoy the performance of one of baseball’s best.

view from Camden Yards courtesy of @backseatboombox