My Knees Are Dead

I was playing outfield in the baseball game last weekend, and when I ran a ball down I went from the grass onto some pavement. I took a step into the pavement, which I believed to be grass, slid and collapsed on my knee. Yeah, the "Doug Williams" fall.

As it happens, I blew out my knee. Well, both knees have the same softness and tingling sensation just below the knee bone, so I doubt I will ever reach the same speed I once did. This really stinks because it never should happen, and it was a freak play.

I cringe when I see injuries in baseball games. I stood mere feet away from pitchers taking comebackers under the eye, and watched strong baserunners suddenly pull up because of hamstrings.

I suppose I reached the age where your body and mind stop getting along. Eventually, my body is going to concede, and I will need to take up a new passion...SCRABBLE!

Broadcasting: It's Not a Job, It's FUN :D

After each working day this week, I watched some baseball highlights uploaded by the good people of MLB.com. Among the package of exceptional defensive plays and walk-off wonders are those basic plays that generate a more than exuberant response from the play-by-play announcers broadcasting the game to their home audience. My favourite call comes from the South Side of Chicago as White Sox announcer Ken Harrelson demonstrates with this four-bagger hit at Comiskey Park, no less ^_^



The use of pyrotechnics during the daylight hours is what really makes me laugh :D Ken's genuine enthusiasm is what makes the call so much fun to replay over and over, and when he "wills" the ball over the fence the call is that much funnier to listen to and enjoy XD



Recently, however, I discovered the San Diego Padrers have a cool broadcaster, too. Padres' play-by-play man Jerry Coleman has a colourful vocabulary to pump colour into any play on the diamond :) How is he on BIG plays? :D

If the World Series this year features the Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres, I'm going to see if I can watch both feeds at once because it would be hilarious XD LOL

Live Blogging on Baseball

Decided to do some live blogging while I watch the Houston Astros play against the visiting Washington Nationals in Houston, Texas.

1. The Houston announcers like to banter between pitches. They called Nationals reliever Todd Coffey a look-alike of the late Merlin Olsen, the football Hall-of-Fame defensive lineman from the old Los Angeles Rams' "Fearsome Foursome".
2. The Washington Nationals road jerseys look good when worn with red socks and Nike shirts, however they can also stripe it with navy socks and shirts. When the Expos relocated to Washington to become the Nationals, their road greys had 'Washington' in giant block letters and gold embroidery. Since then, Washington dropped the gold embroidery and the DC secondary logo I liked so much. I just hope they remain consistent with their gameplay, and their fashion sense.
3. Top of the Ninth: Nats down by one, and the Astros lead 7-6 with one retired.
4. Zimmer! ZIMMER!
5. Oh no! It's hooking...hooking...foul o_O
6. Houston announcers concerned over jersey sales in lieu of the trade deadline?
7. I remember when Jayson Werth led off for the Nationals. Then, Jim Riggleman resigned as manager o_O
8. Oh, wacky strike zone! I thought you were still in Toronto (2nd pitch to PHI Werth from HOU Melancon)?
9. Jayson Werth is HUGE!
10. Two outs, one batter hit by a pitch, and one walk to Werth later...Crisis averted, and not a moment too soon.

Houston defeats Washington 7-6 with the Astros shutting the door when they needed to ^_^

Fantastic Voyage o_O

Prepare to have your mind blown!

1. Purchase three dollars worth of candy Rockets from Bulk Barn (That should amount to seventy or so)
2. Log onto shop.mlb.com
3. In the Search bar, enter the words "Turn Back the Clock Jersey"
4. Click GO or Enter or whatever...
5. Whoa o_O

Similar to the Creamsicle jerseys of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of NFL football, these retro jerseys hail from a bygone era when players wore metal cleats with full-on nails on the soles of their feet, wool shirts, shrunken baseball caps, and cigarette advertisements on the walls of the outfield playing field were as commonplace as player's gloves left amongst the grass in the field of play. Jerseys, which were boring and/or disgusting back in the day, found special place in the hearts of today's supporters.

This is the HOME jersey of the Oakland Athletics from 1985. Yes, it says OAKLAND in giant capital letters on the front, nevertheless it is the HOME jersey (white jersey). There are no buttons on the front of the jersey either; back in the 1980s, stretch pants and pullover shirts were the rage in baseball as much as short shorts in basketball o_O Awkward comparison...

The Athletics wore this shirt when the Angels came to town, and the A's won the Turn Back The Clock Game against their rivals from Southern California. If I start collecting ATHLETICS gear, I'll definitely want to pick up this special number and get it customized ^_^

Now as for this...

No, you are not missing anything. This is the Red Sox vintage jersey from 1918, when the Fenway Park faithful LITERALLY went back in time to 1918. No public address system, nothing on the front of the jersey (I also believe the numbers were not on the back by this time as well, but I could be wrong?) The Chicago Cubs also donned special jerseys for the event; the game also reawakened the infamous Curse as the highlights will indicate. Aesthetically, the cream or ivory colour hails to an earlier, innocent, and peaceful time when baseball was the number one sport. I am a fan, although I can't wear ivory shirts like those of the Giants and Indians if I can't find the matching baseball pants -_-

Nice touch, though ^_^





In case you are worried, I believe Marlon Byrd is alright now.

I like these Turn Back The Clock events because they teach you a little bit about the history of the game, and where we came from ^_^ Now, if only they could do something about the old rainbow jerseys of the Houston Astros o_O

Phil's Birthday? Pirates in FIRST PLACE?! Woah!

The Pittsburgh Pirates are only one half-game behind the Milwaukee Brewers for top spot in the National League Central Division. What is more astounding is the Pirates were never as close to the division crown since 1992, and while the Pirates finished second place in the "Carpet" division in 1997 with a losing record, they were never this competitive at any time during the post-Internet age of professional baseball. Also, not since 1992 had a Pirates team held an above-500 record going into the All-Star break.



Yes, there are sixty-nine games remaining in the 2011 Major League regular season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the memory of the 1992 team and their last postseason run is not far from the memory banks. The new buttoned-up uniforms, the cursive Pittsburgh on the road greys, and of course left-fielder Barry Bonds before he became BIG are images long forgotten thanks to the Strike of '94. The Pirates finished 1992 with a 96-66 record for top spot in the then-National League East Division, but the season came down to a seventh game against the West Division champions, the Atlanta Braves.



Some questions about the last inning include:

1. Why was Doug Drabek still in the game in the ninth inning with left-handed batters coming up to the plate? He already lost two games in the series, and hit 0-for-6 with one walk in the postseason?
2. Why did Doug Drabek pitch to Dave Justice?
3. Why didn't Barry Bonds move in on the right-handed, pinch-hitter Francisco Cabrera? Cabrera was the Braves' last available non-pitcher to send to the plate, and fielding a short outfield prevents Sid Bream from taking extra bases (Blogger Dustin Parkes does a better job explaining this angle than I could: Check out his blog post in The Score.

Doug Drabek won 15 games for the Pirates that year, but by the start of the 1993 season was pitching in a Houston Astros uniform; he would never come close to having the same season as he had in 1992. Sid Bream was a Pirate until 1990, and he represented the game winning run on the final play. Barry Bonds, who made the desperate, one-hop throw from left field, would become a Giant and the focal point in one of the biggest and darkest chapters in baseball history. The overhaul and the Strike stunted the development of the team, whereas baseball clubs such as the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees rebuilt with good management, great farm systems, and capital from forward-thinking and multimedia-based ownership. The Pittsburgh Pirates would never reclaim the magic of that 1992, and would remain a sub-500 team for eighteen years.

The 2011 Pirates have big shoes to fill, but are they the real deal or just the next team around in the National League Carpet?

Midseason Madness

Just some tidbits about my past weekend interacting in the world of baseball:

1. In the weekend league, we defeated the preseason favourites by the score of 14-4. I played in left field for five of the seven innings; I never ran so much in my life o_O Thankfully, everything hit to me fell in my glove, and didn't pop out like something out of a Charlie Brown, "gravity is going to get you", cartoon. Hooray for not being a goat for the third weekend in a row ^_^
2. An old lady with fogged up glasses, a rickety shopping cart, and no sense of direction tried to end my burgeoning baseball softball career by ramming her cart into my left leg. Apparently, she believed it was the duty of everyone else to stop her cart, and that includes a stack of red plastic baskets and my anterior cruciate ligament (I hope I got the spelling right).
3. I ordered a pair of Kansas City Royals personalized authentic jerseys a month ago. According to their email and Purolator's online service, they delivered the jerseys to my office o_O Do you think my Dad is holding the jerseys as collateral, or secretly losing weight at the office so he can surprise the family with a new look and my new Royals jerseys. I saw old pictures of Dad when he was a college dude back in the 1970s...he can rock the slim ties ^_^
4. I don't watch/pay attention to the MLB All-Star Game. It really doesn't mean anything: Teams holding back players due to injury or fear of injury, fan voting for one-hit wonders over midseason accomplishments that are made irrelevant by season's end, and the disembodied voice of This Week In Baseball over-sensationalizing every little thing not including the Toronto Blue Jays don't do it for me anymore. There was a time when the All-Star game mattered, but that was before the "fixed" inter-league matchups guaranteeing playoff spots for the Yankees and Red Sox, and the Strike of '94 took place. The last time I remembered an All-Star game with such fondness? 1991; Toronto hosted it. Good times, I think...!
5. I am now going to spend the next five minutes looking for the Pete Rose play from the 1970 All-Star Game; I'll be right back. (Four minutes later) That took more time to search for on YouTube than I thought o_O Here it is...

In Memoriam

Take the time out to pause and remember the tragedy which unfolded in Arlington, Texas, this past week. 39-year old Shannon Stone, a Texas firefighter, succumbed to his injuries after falling twenty feet from the stands at The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, where the Texas Rangers play their home games during the season. The incident occurred as he attempted to catch a baseball tossed into the crowd by star Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton. Shannon attended the baseball game with his son, Cooper, and he bought a new baseball glove for his son before driving to the game.

In the next game, both the Texas Rangers and the visiting Oakland Athletics paused to honour the memory of the departed Shannon Stone and wore black ribbons on their uniforms.