Saturday, April 5, 2008

Farm Report

Bisons (2-0): Josh Barfield and Jordan Brown have each had 5 hits in two games. Also, Barfield has walked once in ten trips to the plate. Ben Francisco has had 3 hits and 2 walks. He also has an error.

Aeros (0-0) They are tied 5-5 in the tenth inning of a rain suspended game.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Martinez expected back Friday

Victor Martinez should be back in the lineup soon. He is apparently hitting in the cages and riding a stationary bike. Martinez is doubtful for today's game, in large part, because of the cold weather.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Hegan and Hamilton

I like our radio announcers. But they live in a small world.

In the bottom of the fourth, they talk about the Larry Bowa situation. Larry Bowa hates the new rules that have been put in place. (The rules were put in place, because a first base coach was killed by a foul ball.) To show how much he hates the new rules, Bowa broke the rule by standing closer to the plate. Bowa was warned, repeatedly, not to do that. Bowa intentionally broke the rules, because he wanted to be tossed for the game. Then he threw a lame tantrum.

But Hegan and Hamilton misread the situation. They think Bowa broke the rule by standing farther from the plate. They note that ttfc's coaches are also standing outside the coaches' box. That is, they are farther from the plate than they would be if they were standing in the box. And they defend Bowa as a rational person for wanting to be as far from harm as possible.

Please Mike. Please Tom. Read the newspaper or catch Sportscenter. Know something about the world before commenting on it. Otherwise, you end up defending the childish behavior of self-important dolt.

Note: Thanks to Matt commenting at Baseball Musings for pointing out that Coolbaugh was a first base coach.

Wedge in 08

This is the year that we find out how good Eric Wedge is.

Strategically, Wedge is very vanilla and by the book. This is not a strength nor weakness of his. His strength is supposed to be a calming but constant force. He is a "grinding it out" manager. Sorta in the Joe Torre mold.


But here are the issues facing ttfc this year and how they will tell us about the value of Wedge as a manager.

1. Wedge needs to manage Sizemore and Halfner. He must find a way to continue the development of Grady Sizemore. Sizemore is a key piece of this teams present and future. Wedge must make sure that he doesn't plateau but reaches his full potential. Hafner had a bad year last year and is signed to a large multi-year contract. Wedge must find a way to help Halfner to rebound. Baseball Prospectus is calling for a steady decline in Halfner's performance. Wedge cannot let this happen.

2. Wedge needs to continue the development of his young players. Wedge must find ABs for Marte and put Marte in a position were he can succeed. Wedge must protect Franklin Gutierrez and Asdrubal Cabrera.

3. Wedge needs to properly utilize his role players. I know that many people think that David Dellucci is about as valuable as a can of warm Schlitz. But properly used, Dellucci can give you league average production (or at least close to league average). Same goes for Jamey Carroll and Jason Michaels. Wedge must determine how many ABs to give them and where to bat them in the lineup.

4. Lastly, Wedge can't wear down his arms. The prevailing theory of Cleveland's October meltdown is that his pitchers were tired. That can't happen two years in a row. Somehow you have to both make the playoffs and be rested and ready for the playoffs.

Racism in baseball.

Found this interesting. Good to hear that Goldstein wasn't referring to members of ttfc.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The Tag at the Plate

Someone needs to take Kelly Shoppach to a tower with some lead balls. Here is explanation of the tag at home in the eighth inning.

"The ball was there in time, it was just a little high," Shoppach said. "You just have to be heavy enough to come back to the earth quick enough. And maybe I was."

Officially, ttfc thinks he is joking.