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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

Photo Credit for Header: Alex Foucre-Stimes

Shadowboxing with Kevin Gregg and David Ortiz

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VMS reader Jimmy M. sends us this pic from last night’s Red Sox/Orioles game at Fenway Park. Full stadium on hand, as expected, to see Boston bludgeon the O’s by a final score of 10-3. But all anybody is talking about today is the “fight” between Red Sox DH David Ortiz and Baltimore pitcher Kevin Gregg. As Jimmy points out, the 8th inning provided and interesting series of events to have to explain to his 8 year old son Tommy. To be fair, what transpired between Gregg and Papi was a little a little confusing to even the most seasoned of baseball eyes.

As far as I can tell, the Baltimore Orioles are upset because they are playing like horse manure, having fallen a total of 16 games behind the steamrolling Sox. Papi has been walking his way down to first base since his days as David Arias so I’m not so sure why Gregg was so compelled to scold Ortiz on this particular occasion. On the other hand, Ortiz has no business overreacting to being pitched inside. That’s where you go to get him out. Everyone knows this yet nobody executes this strategy properly – see New York Yankees.

In the end, the only way Baltimore exacts any sort of revenge against Ortiz is to win the next two games vs the Red Sox before heading into the break. Even still, they would remain well behind Boston in the standings with very little cause for optimism over the remainder of the 2011 MLB season.

 

Monday Morning Musings

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Pop quiz hotshot. – Dennis Hopper from Speed

Bottom 11, tie score, and nobody out. Leadoff hitter doubles to deep left center. Now, runner on 2nd, still nobody out, and your two hitter coming to the plate. Perfect opportunity to sacrifice bunt the runner over to 3rd base and take your chances 1 out, number 3 & 4 hitters coming to the plate. Tie ballgame and remember you’re the home team needing only that 1 run to score to win. So what do you do?

What you shouldn’t do is have the 2 hitter swing at the first pitch and ground out sharply  to 3rd base leaving the baserunner stranded at 2nd base with 1 out. What happens next is just as ugly. 3 hitter, your hottest bat in the lineup, flies out to right field, deep enough so that if the runner were on 3rd base instead of 2nd, he would have been able to tag up and score fairly easily. But remember, the runner is still at 2nd base because the 2 batter didn’t bunt them over to 3rd with nobody out. With 1st base open, opposing team intentionally walks cleanup hitter and gets the next batter to hit into a fielder’s choice. Inning over. Tie ballgame, heading now to the top of the 12th.

The hubris of some of these American League teams. What ever happened to small ball or simply just understanding a situation. The Baltimore Orioles are not in the position – last place in the AL East for what feels like over a decade straight – where they can just potentially throw a game away because they fail to adhere to basic baseball strategy. (Editors note: the Birds would go on to win this game 5-4 over the Cincinnati Reds in the bottom of the 12th on a Derrek Lee solo jack to left field.) The only satisfactory explanation Buck Showalter could have given – and I’m sorry but I didn’t listen to his press conference after the game – was that with nobody out and Nick Markakis at the plate, he wanted to give a good hitter a chance with no strikes to move JJ Hardy, the runner on 2nd base, over to 3rd on his own. Since Markakis is a lefty, look for something low and in to drive to right field. Or take a strike after which the bunt sign is on. But to ground out to 3rd base on a first pitch with nobody out and a runner on 2nd in a tie ballgame in extra innings is inexcusable. Markakis, Showalter or whomever was responsible for this oversight can thank D Lee – he of the slider speed bat – for bailing them out in the 12th.

A Quick Trip Around the Bases (no more Orioles business I swear)

1B – You can imagine my amazement when I tuned into ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball only to find the Cleveland Indians taking on the San Francisco Giants. I could have sworn that the programmers up in Bristol would have gone at least one more week with only showing MLB games featuring either the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, or St. Louis Cardinals. But apparently they must have realized that there are in fact other baseball teams playing this season and wanted to throw a small bone to us, the disenfranchised, silent minority of fans. I’m sure we’ll be back in the Bronx for Yankees vs somebody later this week. (Bitterness over starting now. NOW.)

2B – Is it possible, I repeat possible, that Prince Fielder will be a higher valued free agent this coming winter than Albert Pujols? I know, I know, who thought the day would ever come but just think about for a second. Fielder is 4 years younger than Pujols, 27 to 31, and is putting together a MVP type season – if not for Jose Reyes – for the Milwaukee Brewers while King Albert toils on the DL for the next two months recovering from a broken wrist.*  Even if the prodigious Pujols still commands a larger contract than Fielder this offseason, he is most likely going to have to settle for a 6-7 year contract instead of the ARodesque ten year deal he was maybe hoping for during spring training.

*Wrist injuries aren’t exactly the type of injuries that baseball players typically have an easy time recover from, just ask Nomar Garciaparra.

3B – Too bad Washington, just when the Nationals were starting to play some pretty good baseball your manager Jim Riggleman decides to suddenly get up and vacate his post. Now 68 year old Davey Johnson takes over, he of ’86 Mets lore, and we are all left wondering if the Nats can leave the soap opera behind and keep their momentum rolling through the All Star break. I for one am rooting for this group because I hate to see a manager, or front office for that matter, determining the fate of a team midseason.

HR – And finally, what are the chances that the Pittsburgh Pirates can finish the season above .500? Currently the team sits at 39-38 and for a franchise that hasn’t had a winning season since 1992, this is a remarkable achievement. Good luck Bucs! May the power of Batman be with you!

That Time I was Booed at Camden Yards for Cheering On the Orioles

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In honor of the 3 game series opening this evening in Camden Yards between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, I figured this was an appropriate time to pass along the story of how I was heckled and told to sit down for rooting for the O’s in BALTIMORE!!!!

For years now, well really since the Orioles last winning season in 1998, and especially after Cal Ripken retired in 2001, the club has struggled to draw fans to Camden Yards. The appeal of the still gorgeous looking, trailblazing retro ballpark has not been able to overcome rosters full of overpaid (Albert Belle), over the hill (Miguel Tejada the 2nd time) players and an owner in Peter Angelos who Orioles fans loathe with a passion akin to maybe only the budding relationship between Jerry Seinfeld and Donald Trump. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, with its various attractions, restaurants, and aquarium, still attract tourists to the downtown area but these crowds do not always migrate the 6 blocks or so west to the Warehouse to catch a baseball game. That is unless the Orioles are hosting either the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees.

Like a swarm of locusts they descend upon the Charm City devouring anything that crosses their path. Merchants and hotels love it when these two teams are in town because it means a tremendous boost in sales. Orioles season ticket holders enjoy the return on their investment as Yankee and Red Sox fans are more than willing to shell out the extra dough for a game at Camden Yards because it still cheaper, travel down the northeast corridor included, than taking a family of four to a game at either Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park.

All of this being said, having so many Sawx and Yanks fans in OPACY does not make for an enjoyable experience if you happen to support the home team. Now to my tale. It had to have been around 5 years ago that my girlfriend, now wife, and I made what has become our annual trip down to Baltimore to catch a couple of Oriole games. For us, we go all in. Fancy Hampton Inn 25 minutes outside of the city? Done. Nothing but the finest dinners at places like Pizzerio Uno and Hooters? You got it! We live for the entire experience. That was until the moment where I was belittled in my own ballpark.

I think it was right after I stood up to celebrate a Jeff Conine home run against the Yankees that a New York fan in the Eutaw Street bleachers told me to “sit down and shut up”. If this were Yankee Stadium, I understand a fan defending their turf but this was Oriole Park and as an Oriole fan I thought I had a right to root for the home team. My reaction to this verbal chiding? Nothing. Zero. Bupkis. And here’s why, when the Yankees and Red Sox are in town, their fans outnumber Oriole fans 5 to 1. I must have been surrounded by an entire section of Staten Island’s finest. In this moment of spiritual survival I couldn’t locate a single ally.  A verbal and/or physical altercation would not have worked out for me. Speaking up also would have put my girlfriend in jeopardy of verbal abuse and I wasn’t about to bring that sort of ridicule and embarrassment onto her.

5 years, and as many losing seasons later, I have had to live with the shame of being booed in Camden Yards for cheering on the Orioles. I must also live with my wife constantly reminding me and anyone else who will listen that when confronted by a Yankee fan in Oriole Park, I stood down and did nothing. Of course pride is often the highest form of self indulgence so I can keep my head high while continuing to avoid Camden Yards anytime the Red Sox and Yankees are in town.

view from Camden Yards courtesy of @vtbeach

Leave the $12 Beer. Take the Roast Beef Sandwich.

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Last night at Yankee Stadium was my first time experience at a baseball game where I sat in a cushioned seat. I always deride the “haves” that sit below “the moat” at the new Yankee Stadium for being out of touch corporate entities that care more about the martini service than the actual game. However, after having experienced life as a member of the bourgeoisie I have an easier time understanding and relating to the Silver Spoons who occupy the upper reaches of the seating chart social pyramid. For a few fleeting hours, that was my cushioned life and those were my privileged people.

Zoom!!! Back to reality. Chris Tillman wasn’t fooling anybody last night. As I commented to one of my friends, it doesn’t look like Tillman has a single “out” pitch, something he can throw at any time, on any count, to retire a batter. The Yankees weren’t falling for either the 89 MPH fastball or the 81 MPH curveball that was breaking five feet in front of the plate. After two measly innings the score was already 6-0 Yankees and I was ready to drown my sorrows in an $11 Bud Light. AJ Burnett was strong once again for New York and if it wasn’t for a few late home runs by Matt Wieters and Brian Roberts I would have left the Stadium in a very depressed state. Alas, the season it still young and the Oriole offense is significantly better than it has been since the late ’90s. If Baltimore can get anything out of their young pitching -Britton, Matusz, Tillman, Arrieta – they should finish above .500 this season.

A few other quick fungos from last night:

– It’s April and the weather was gloomy but Yankee Stadium still felt like a ghost town. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the extra space, but I was just surprised to see so many open seats. Credit the Yankees for offering attendees free bleacher tix to a future home game.

– The ball was really jumping off the bat last night. ARod’s 1st inning oppo blast off Tillman looked like it was still rising when it hit the seats and the Wieters two run bomb in the 7th looked like it was shot out of a cannon. Do people still think it’s too easy to hit a homerun at the new Yankee Stadium? Haven’t heard much of this discussion since year 1.

– Highly recommend the Lobel’s steak sandwich. How often do you find stadium food served with plastic gloves? Well worth the mess if you ask me.

– I have some serious issues w/ Major Deegan – the expressway not the person. On the way home, we were stuck on 87 North for a good 25 minutes before switching over to a different artery. The one positive, listened to the end of Game 1 of the NHL Playoffs between the Rangers and Capitals. Caps came back to win 2-1 in overtime. Don’t know much about hockey but unlike the NBA playoffs, in the NHL an #8 seed has a legitimate chance of upsetting a #1 seed. Apparently it’s all about which team has the hotter goalie and with the Rangers/Caps series, Lundqvist > Neuvirth.

Looking forward to my next trip out to the ballpark. Hopefully Citi Field in early May. I hear there are plenty of good seats still available.