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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

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View from Spring Training: 2011 Toronto Blue Jays

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2011 Toronto Blue Jays

NFL Equivalent – Cincinnati Bengals: Are OF Vernon Wells and OF Alex Rios Carson Palmer?  On the heels of very productive offensive seasons, the Toronto front office not only gave Wells and Rios the keys to the franchise, to the tune of more than $200 million, they also served them with a roadmap to nowhere.  Now Wells (Anaheim) and Rios (Chicago AL) are roaming the outfields elsewhere in the AL, and the only thing the Jays have to show for it are a string of 4th place finishes in the ruthless AL East.  In a similar case of misread production, the Bengals and their franchise QB Palmer definitely need counseling, with Carson recently threatening retirement.

Google Search: New Manager, former Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell, had a fairly busy offseason.  Early on, he shipped rising SP Shawn Marcum to the Brewers for highly-touted INF Brett Lawrie.  Toronto also added three veteran RPs in Octavio Dotel, John Rauch, and Frank Francisco, who is unfortunately best known for throwing a folding chair at a group of fans in Arlington.  Under the radar during this tumultuous AL East winter, the Jays also brought in speedy OF Rajai Davis to lead off and veteran slugging LF Juan Rivera to protect last year’s AL home run champ, OF Jose Bautista.

Famous Movie Quote: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.“ – Chief Martin Doyle, Jaws.

DH Adam Lind and 2B Aaron Hill had career years in 2009.  Ridiculous numbers.  Bautista hit 54 home runs last year.  Out of nowhere.  If the three of them each have career years in 2011, the Blue Jays will still be the Orca to the Yankees’ and Red Sox’s Jaws.  The AL East is simply contested on two planes: the penthouse, cohabited by the Yanks and Sox, and the super’s apartment, shared by the Jays, Rays, and Orioles.  To equate this disparity to one of my favorite NBA stories, we have to look back to All-Star Weekend, 1988.   Larry Bird, perhaps the most confident shooter of all time and two-time defending 3-point contest champ, walked into the locker room at the old Chicago Stadium and, without even really looking at any of his shootout competitors, asked to the ether: “Hiya, fellas!  Which one of you is finishing second?!”  At the risk of underlining the obvious, Basketball Jesus made it 3-in-a-row that night.  2011 prediction: 77 – 85; 5th Place AL East

view from Bright House Stadium courtesy of @michelleerin

View from Spring Training: 2011 Baltimore Orioles

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2011 Baltimore Orioles

2010 NFL Equivalent – San Francisco 49ers: Like their brethren from the Bay, the O-Birds have a rich championship tradition and loyal fan base.  But also like San Fran, it has been some time since Baltimore competed for a spot in the playoffs, let alone finished a season with a winning record. When manager Buck Showalter came aboard last July, the Orioles finished the 2010 season playing much better baseball and the 49ers are hoping that newly hired head coach Jim Harbaugh will have a similar effect on the team next fall.

Google Search: Their main offseason acquisitions: 3B Mark Reynolds, 1B Derrick Lee, DH Vladimir Guerrero and SS J.J. Hardy should all provide some much needed punch to the Oriole offense while new pitcher Kevin Gregg will be a candidate to close games.  Another interesting piece of winter news was that the Baltimore front office decided to raise single game ticket prices by an average of $3.  This seems like curious timing for a franchise that hasn’t raised prices since 2007 or had a winning season since 1996.  Camden Yards is too beautiful a park to leave empty or continue to see overrun by Yankees/Red Sox fans.

Famous Movie Quote: I’ll do what I can to help y’all. But, the game’s out there, and it’s play or get played. That simple. – Omar from “The Wire”.

Might not be a movie, but The Wire was filmed in Baltimore and is as captivating as anything projected across the big screen.  This quote sums up the 2011 Baltimore Orioles who need to look past the fact that they play in the AL East and convince their fans that, with the right combination of young starting pitching and an improved lineup, a division title isn’t out of the question.  Of course, w/roughly 40 games vs. Boston and New York, the playoffs might be a thing of the past. 2011 record: 82–80, 4th place AL East

view from Bright House Field courtesy of @D_Stro