What could be better than baseball at 6:00 a.m.? Almost anything, actually, but for fans of the World Champion Boston Red Sox, the early start was made worthwhile by the final result, a 6-5 extra-inning thriller at the Tokyo Dome over the Oakland A's, in a seesaw game that had a little of everything, with not much going as predicted. For example:
1) Conquering hero Daisuke Matsuzaka would shut down the A's for seven innings or so, and the Boston bullpen would finish them off.
Uh, not so fast. Matsuzaka looked nervous and wild early, allowing two first-inning runs and loading the bases in the second, before settling down and looking good in the 3rd, 4th and 5th. His final stats, 5 IP, 5 BB, 6 K, 2 runs allowed, in an outing that could have been much worse. He actually left with the lead and had a chance at a win, before Kyle Snyder came in to pitch the sixth and immediately coughed up the 3-2 Boston lead, allowing a two-run homer to Jack Hannahan.
Then, in the tenth, with the Red Sox leading 6-4 and Jonathan Papelbon looking for save number one of the season, Oakland tattooed him, scoring a run and not tying the game only because of a bonehead baserunning play by Emil Brown, who got caught in a rundown between second and third after driving in the 5th Oakland run. Papelbon eventually nailed down the save, but he looked eminently hittable.
The best performance came from unheralded Bryan Corey, pitching because Mike Timlin is unavailable, and the other Japanese conquering hero, Hideki Okajima. Both men pitched a scoreless inning for the Sox, with Okajima picking up the victory.
2) J.D. Drew would improve on his lackluster performance in 2007 in right field for the Sox.
Drew actually did help the Sox, although not in the way people might have expected. He pulled himself from the starting lineup with back spasms, clearing the way for last season's Pawtucket Red Sox (AAA) MVP, Brandon Moss, to play instead. All Moss did was go 2-5, driving in the lead run in the sixth inning and then homering in the ninth off Oakland closer Huston Street to tie the game and force extra innings. It was Moss's first big-league home run.
The man who has had trouble staying healthy for his entire career is starting out the 2008 season in typical fashion, but at least for today, it all worked out for Boston.
3) Manny Ramirez would have a monster season in this, his contract year.
This expectation, at least after one game, looks like a keeper. Manny hit the ball hard, going 2-5 with a pair of doubles and 4 RBI. In keeping with his goofball persona, Manny stood at home plate admiring his second double, in the tenth, and nearly got thrown out at second base. Some things never change.
4) Jacoby Ellsbury would hit leadoff and run wild on the bases.
After a slow start at the plate this spring, manager Terry Francona elected to take some pressure off the rookie and returning World Series hero by hitting him down in the lineup. Batting eighth, Ellsbury went 1-4 and was a non-factor offensively, but made an outstanding leaping catch in deep center field that Coco Crisp would have been proud of, crashing into the wall and barely hanging on to the baseball.
5) The Tokyo fans would be a loud and raucous bunch.
At times the Tokyo Dome seemed almost eerily silent, especially considering how loud the fans are when their own Japanese League teams are playing. They seemed knowledgeable and respectful, only really getting loud when Matsuzaka or Okajima did something special.
A few thoughts and observations as I watch the Celtics march, workmanlike, toward their 56th win of the season, the best for the franchise since 1991.
- North Carolina is quite simply the best college basketball team in the country. Hopefully they have enough room in the trophy case at the Dean Smith Center for the 2008 National Championship trophy, because that's where it's headed. The Tar Heels have it all: size, speed, outside shooting, rebounding. They can push the ball up the floor or sink three-pointers, depending on what the defense gives them.
No disprespect intended to Memphis, UCLA, Kansas or any other team still alive, but but based on last weekend's action, it's hard to imagine anyone beating UNC until next winter.
- How can you not be excited for the Davidson College Widcats? After coming back from a 17-point deficit in their opening round game against Gonzaga to win going away, 82-76, they made it to the Sweet Sixteen with another big comeback victory over Georgetown, 74-70. And "Cat" is a perfect description for the dynamic and lightning-quick Stephen Curry, the Sporting News second-team All-American who has scored 70 points in Davidson's first two tournament wins, 55 of them in the second half of those games.
Prior to last weekend, Davidson College's last NCAA Tournament win was way back in 1969, and their improbable run continues Friday night against Wisconsin in a game that's looking a lot less like a three seed against a ten seed and a lot more like an upset special.
- Who slips on a fast-food wrapper? Did you see the story about Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who supposedly did exactly that, putting his arm through an entertainment center in an attempt to brace himself, and suffering an injury requiring stitches? Not exactly a smooth move, and a situation that makes you wonder if maybe there's not more to the story than what is being told here. Hmmm.
- Big surprise: Chad Johnson is skipping the Cincinnati Bengals offseason workout. Is there anyone in the world who expected Johnson to be there? He has made it perfectly clear for months how unhappy he is in Cincinnati and if there's one thing Johnson is not, it's subtle.
For their part, the Bengals organization is downplaying the absence, pointing out that the workouts are voluntary and that T.J. Houshmandzadeh isn't there either. The Bengals continue to insist they won't be trading Johnson. We haven't heard the end of this story, unfortunately.
-It's finally Opening Day! Whether you're a fan of the Red Sox or A's, or can't stand either team, if you love baseball, this is the day you've waited for all winter. There's plenty of other action to keep a sports fan's interest over the long winter months, but for a baseball fan this is the day you marked on your calendar months ago. It's about time!
The clock continues to tick down to Major League Baseball's Opening Day, the day fans everywhere look forward to, beginning, oh, roughly ten minutes after the final out of the World Series the previous year. Hang on, we're down to just over a day left before the start of the new season.
In 2008, of course, MLB proves just how small our little world is getting, as Opening Day will take place in Tokyo, Japan, joining 2000 and 2004 as the only time regular-season baseball games will have ever been played outside of North America.
To celebrate the occasion, the two teams the bigwigs in charge of scheduling at MLB chose to represent the sport on this foray into Asia are, quite naturally, the Boston Red Sox and the...uh...Oakland A's?
Picking the Sox to represent MLB is a no-brainer for a couple of reasons, the most obvious being that they are the reigning World Series champs, and who better to show off the sport than its' crown jewel, based on last season's results?
The other thing that makes the BoSox an obvious selection is the fact that two key components of their pitching staff made their way to the shores of this country just one year ago from Japan - Dasiuke Matsuzaka will fill the Number Two slot in the rotation after winning 15 games in the regular season and striking out over 200 batters last year, and Hideki Okajima came out of nowhere, dazzling major league hitters to the tune of a 2.22 ERA in 66 appearances and making the A.L. All-Star Team in his rookie season at age 31.
So sending the Sox to Japan to kick off the 2008 season makes perfect sense, but Oakland is another story entirely. A glance at the Athletics active roster shows exactly zero Japanese players. It appeared Kurt Suzuki might be a possibility, but he was born in Hawaii, meaning he probably is as familiar with Japan as I am.
Now, I realize the point of the trek halfway around the world is to show off Major League Baseball, not bring as many Japanese players back to their homeland as possible, but given the intense interest Japan's people have shown in following the progress of their native players in the big leagues, wouldn't it have made more sense to send either the Seattle Mariners or the New York Yankees to Tokyo as opponents for Boston, rather than Oakland?
Seattle, it would seem, is the obvious choice. One of the closest teams on our shores to Japan in terms of distance, the city also features one of Japanese baseball's biggest former stars, Ichiro Suzuki. Wouldn't it have been a treat for the fans in that country to see Dice-K face off against Ichiro in one of the two regular-season games?
Or how about the Yankees? In addition to the fact that MLB would have had an opportunity to showcase one of the sport's biggest rivalries, the Yankees also feature one of Japanese baseball's biggest former heroes, Hideki Matsui. The same argument applies to a Dice-K-Matsui matchup that applies to Dice-K-Ichiro, and that is this: It only makes sense to offer the rabid baseball fans of Japan an opportunity to see two of their own people who have made it big in the Bigs, up close and personal, rather than Dice-K facing off against, say, Oakland's Jack Cust.
Once again - big surprise - it appears the people in charge of baseball have shot themselves in the foot. There is no doubt whatsoever the two-game series between Boston and Oakland will be a success and will be followed by other MLB regular-season matchups in the Far East, but come on, Bud Selig, you're pulling down in excess of $15 million a year, couldn't you have used a little common sense in choosing this historic matchup?
The amazing ability of Major League Baseball to #### on its own shoes seems limitless. The organization that has seen its total revenues jump by a whopping 100% since 2000, reaching the staggering total of $6.075 billion for fiscal year 2007 (That's right, that's billion with a "B"), tried Wednesday to strong-arm some of its lowest-paid employees into making a company-mandated business trip without compensating them.
The season-opening two game series between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics in Japan next Tuesday and Wednesday almost didn't get off the ground, literally, as the Red Sox players refused to board a bus to the airport for their trip to the Far East until the issue of pay for the team's coaches and staff was ironed out to their satisfaction.
Incredibly, the $40,000 stipend which was promised the players as compensation for making the trip was never promised to the coaching staff, including manager Terry Francona. Considering Tokyo is known as one of the most expensive cities in the world, especially for visitors, the notion that MLB thought it would be acceptable to send their employees on a 7,360-mile business trip without giving them any sort of travel money is ludicrous.
You want a Domino's Pizza in Tokyo with italian sausage and mushrooms? You can get it, provided you're willing to spend $30.39. Of course, according to pricechecktokyo.com, that is what the average Tokyo-ite (Tokyo-er?) can expect to spend. Prices "for American and European expatriates are usually higher." How does fifty bucks sound? Maybe you'd like to see a movie after you chow down on your pizza - plan on spending $18.21 per ticket at the door.
You get the point, right? It's going to be expensive for these people to make this trip which has been mandated by their bosses, one of whom is Bud Selig, the man making over $15 million this year; the man who has a private jet at his disposal for all that important commissioner travel which is so critical he can't fly commercial.
How much does a batting coach make, does anybody know? I researched it but couldn't find the answer anywhere. You can bet it's less than the major league minimum salary of $390,000, undoubtedly a lot less. And yet Dave Magadan, Boston's batting coach, was expected by Bud Selig and his bunch of cold-hearted cronies to foot the bill for his living expenses in a league-mandated trip to one of the most expensive cities in the world.
The reaction of the commissioner to all this? According to a quote attributed by the Associated Press to Boston Manager Terry Francona, "Mr. Selig was justifiably concerned about playing the game." He wasn't talking about the game next week in Tokyo. The thing that had the commissioner's panties in a #### was the exhibition game that the Red Sox players refused to take the field for Wednesday until the issue was resolved.
That quote by Francona is what is known as not biting the hand that feeds you. "Justifiably concerned," that's a good one. Francona might as well have come right out and admitted it - as a low-level member of MLB's management team, you never know what the upper-level geniuses are going to do next. Better not make them too angry, or else you might find yourself looking for work.
Ah, spring, when a young man's thoughts turn lightly to...the big score!
Every year there are a handful of players in Major League Baseball who are accomplished enough to warrant big money but, unfortunately for them, lack the service time to qualify for free agency or even arbitration. This puts them in a position where "negotiating" a contract is a bitter illusion.
The only negotiating that goes on in the case of these players is between their team's General Manager and Chief Financial Officer. They reach an agreement on what to pay the player, then they inform the player that his contract has been renewed and what his salary will be for the upcoming season.
Most of the time, the player understands his position and not a big deal is made of it. The player knows and the team knows that as soon as the guy reaches a certain amount of service time, usually the three years required to be eligible for salary arbitration, he'll be in the big money - check that, he's already in the big money if he's making hundreds of thousands of dollars to play baseball, so he'll be in the really big money - and not a lot is said about it either way.
Every so often, though, the player has accomplished so much in such a short time that he feels cheated by getting renewed for what he views as spare change, which is the situation with Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers. He was resigned to getting renewed last year, but then, after hitting fifty home runs and driving in 119 runs in 2007, was none too happy to get renewed by Milwaukee again.
Then there's the case of Jonathan Papelbon in Boston. He made $425,500 last season, a year in which he saved 37 games in the regular season, becoming the only Sox reliever in their history to save over 30 games two years in a row, and then went 1-0 in the postseason, along with four saves, including the World Series clincher against Colorado.
Papelbon wants to negotiate a deal with the Red Sox but, like Fielder, doesn't have enough service time to give him any leverage whatsoever in negotiations. Thus, he will be renewed Thursday at whatever salary Boston's management team feels is reasonable.
Papelbon seems to understand his position, admitting, "I'm at the mercy of the club right now..." He should have stopped right there, but goes on to say he feels an "obligation not only to myself and my family to make the money that I deserve but for the game of baseball."
He then says that Mariano Rivera of the Yankees has established the salary standard for elite closers over the past ten years and that "with me coming up behind him I feel a certain obligation to do the same."
Oh, brother. As a Red Sox fan I love Jonathan Papelbon. His intimidating presence on the mound, his bulldog attitude, his outstanding fastball and splitter all make him one of the game's best closers. But please, Jonathan, don't expect me to buy into the notion that you want to make millions of dollars in order to help out the game of baseball.
For the game's owners, collectively a group of people I've torched in the past but in this instance stand behind, finding a young, outstanding player without a lot of Major League service time, is like being a kid and waking up on Christmas morning. They can get a couple of years of great baseball at a relatively bargain price before having to break the bank if they want to keep him.
Heck, for some small-market teams, this is the only way to stay competitive. Oakland and Minnesota come immediately to mind. Teams like these and others look to scouting and their minor league systems in the hopes of finding enough young talent to make a run at a playoff spot before inevitably losing their good young players to teams with deeper pockets.
So, Jonathan, close your mouth and bide your time. Another year or two like your first couple of seasons and you will replace your meager half-million dollar a year salary, which seems so miniscule to you but which the rest of us would love to experience, with the Monopoly money of the truly rich. Soon you'll be like Ryan Howard, who, after being renewed last year at $900,000 is now making more than a thousand percent more than that, or ten million dollars this season.
Ah, spring, when a young man's thoughts turn lightly to...arbitration and free agency.
Hey everyone, I know it must seem like I've dropped off the face of the earth, but it's nothing like that.
I've been busy writing - two full-length novels so far, plus over a dozen short stories - and working hard to try to get an agent. If you are curious and have a few minutes, check out my website, www.allanleve rone.com.
If you're a literary agent or if you know one, by all means contact me! In the meantime, I'll be here when I can - love this forum - and as always, thank you for checking out my blog, especially considering how many great ones you could be reading instead....
