Jim Caple's "Baseball in my Backyard" Series

Seattle-based ESPN writer Jim Caple has completed a five-part series of articles about different levels of baseball "in his backyard." The series "Baseball in my Backyard" illustrates the tremendous differences between various levels of baseball, from the luxuries present in Major League Baseball to the struggles present in independent ball. If you are a baseball fan, or simply interested in the lifestyle of professional baseball players, Caple's series really shows how becoming a major league is truly and unglamorous road.

There are 5 articles, and each article has the link to the rest. I'll link my two favorite articles:

One Last Chance: profiles the Victoria team in the Golden Baseball League, an independent baseball league.

Life of Luxury in the Majors: profiles the Seattle Mariners Clubhouse

Lou Pinella Raising the Standard

Before the Cubs game on Sunday, the Cubs and Lou Pinella announced annouced he was stepping down at the end of Sunday's game after 23 years as a manager and 1835 wins. Previously on July 20, Pinella had announced that 2010 would be his final season as a major league manager and had intended to stay in his position for the remainder of the season. However, with his mother's declining health Lou was unable to remain with the team past this weekend.

Effective Monday, Cubs 3rd base coach Mike Quade, a former manager for the Cubs Triple-A team, will take over as manager for the rest of 2010. Presumably, the Cubs will decide on their next manager following the conclusion of the World Series. The Cubs next manager will not be Alan Trammell, who GM Jim Hendry ruled out as a candidate to become the Cubs next manager. Much attention has been given to the prospect of Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg becoming the team's next manager.

I think Lou Pinella's term as the Cubs manager should be thought of in high regard. Of course, the Cubs season hasn't gone the way anyone would have imagined, Pinella had no control over the player's contracts and respective performances. Overall, as the Cubs' boss, Pinella was compiled a 316-393 record with the club over three-plus seasons. He guided the team to the National League Central title in his first and second years in 2007-08, and the Cubs posted the best record in the NL in '08 at 97-64. After the 2008 season, Pinella was named manager of the year. Most significantly, I believe, is the fact that Pinella is the first Cubs manager in 100 years to lead the team to consecutive postseason appearances.

Lou Pinella's legacy on the Cubs organization is that he has elevated the standard of success that Cub fans expect. While he didn't lead the team to a championship, Pinella has I think because of Pinella's efforts, Cubs fans consider the playoffs as a basic benchmark of the team's performance. Pinella came into the organization and changed the team's culture. Unfortunately, Pinella did not have a great deal of success and the Cubs lost to the Braves on his final day. Nevertheless, the team has struggled and Sandberg, or whoever gets the job next year, has a lot of work to do.

I also think the Cubs did the right thing in not using the rest of the season to let Sandberg show what he can do. Sandberg would not have a fair advantage because there is little to play for this season. If he was called to manage and the team preformed poorly, it would simply not make him look good/prepared as a major league manager.

Thank Goodness for the Pirates...

Because the Cubs are an absolute train wreck this season. Their loss to the Braves yesterday, marked their eight straight loss at Wrigley Field (The Unfriendly Confines), and dropped the team to a record of 50-73. Although the Cubs are 21.5 games behind the division-leading Cincinnati Reds, they are not in last place. The perennial losers, the Pittsburgh Pirates stand at 40-82 after losing last night.

The Pirates' loss last night assured them of their 18th consecutive losing season, extending the longest losing streak in American pro sports history. However, this season is one of the Pirates worst. They are nearly on pace to break the single season loss record and have 4 pitchers who have lost 10 or more games. In comparison, the Cubs' Randy Wells is the only pitcher on the team with 10 or more losses. To really put the Pirates last two decades in perspective, consider this:

-During their 18 season losing streak:
-The Pirates have never been 7 games above .500 in any point.
-In the same time span, the Pittsburgh Steelers who play 1/10 of the games as the Pirates, have achieved that mark 4 times

Thanks to the Pirates, it seems unlikely that the Cubs will finish in last place. However, it still remains possible that the Cubs will lose 100 games.

At 50-73, there are 38 games remaining. If my math is right, the Cubs will lose 100 games if they go worse then 11-27. The Cubs in August are 4-14, and 2-8 in their last ten, so 100 remains very possible.

Yikes!

Baseball Bits

Back from vacation...

Bobby Thomson, who hit one of the most famous home runs in baseball history, passed away Monday night. In 1951, Thomson hit a home run, deemed the "The Shot Heard Round The World," which helped the New York Giants defeat their arch rival Brooklyn Dodgers and go to the World Series.

Bryce Harper, the top overall pick by the Washington Nationals in the 2010 MLB Draft, agreed on to a contract with the team just minutes before the signing deadline. Harper is somewhat like baseball's LeBron James, who he was compared to in a Sports Illustrated article last year. He is just 17 years old, and skipped his final two years of high school to get a GED and play baseball at a community college.

New York Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez is likely out for the season, as a result of a thumb injury that occurred during his domestic altercation. Sports Illustrated's Michael McCann writes about the possibility of the Mets' being able to void Rodriguez's contract.

Mark Prior back in Baseball

Former Cubs All-Star pitcher Mark Prior has signed and made his debut with the independent league Orange County Flyers. He last pitched in the majors in 2006 and spent last season in the San Diego Padres minor league system. I wonder how much he has left in the tank. I'm sure Prior will get an invite to some major league team's spring training in 2011.

Movie about Indian Pitchers in the works

In a twist on Slumdog Millionaire, there is a movie in the works about two Indian minor-league pitchers who grew up poor in Lucknow, India and finished first and second in a reality TV show called "Million Dollar Arm." Before the reality TV show, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel had never touched a baseball, but went on to sign contracts with the Pittsburgh Pirates, becoming the first Indian players to sign baseball contacts in the US . Singh and Patel are currently withBrandenton in the Gulf Coast League.

As indicated in the article the movie script has almost finished being written and the movie should be done next year. I can't wait to see it.

More links on Singh and Patel:

-Visit their blog, The Million Dollar Arm Blog

Rinku Singh's baseball stats

Dinesh Patel baseball stats

Cool All-Star Game Stats

During the All-Star Game, the broadcasters mentioned some pretty cool stats about some of the All-Stars:

Before the Game, the AL was unbeaten in 13 straight All-Star Games, including 7 straight wins.

David Price: youngest All-Star starting pitcher since Doc Gooden
Albert Pujols: on pace to be the first player to have 10 years straight of .300, 30 HR and 100 RBI
Ryan Howard: His 215 home runs since 2006 are the most in baseball
David Wright: last year (.307, 10 HR, 72 RBI), this year (.314, 14 HR, 65 RBI)
Ryan Braun: 1st Brewer to start 3 All-Star games in a row
Vladimir Guerrero: Most HR and RBI for anyone who switched teams with, has 11 seasons of .300 BA and 25 RBIs
Joe Mauer: 3 time batting champion, batting 7th in the AL lineup
Andre Eithier: Never played center field in the big leagues (started in the All-Star game)
Robinson Cano: 990 Hits since his debut leads Major League Second Baseman
Andy Pettitte: 103 games over .500
Josh Johnson: has won 31 of his last 40 decisions
Derek Jeter: through 36 years and 72 days, has more hits than Pete Rose (all-time hits leader)
Roy Halladay: 51 complete games since 2003, by far the most in baseball since then
David Ortiz: 292 HR as a DH, most in baseball history for a DH
Ian Kinsler: .398 career hitter at Angel Stadium

All Star Game thoughts

*I liked how FOX opened with the Steinbrenner tribute. It was a very good piece and shows that they were able to adapt on the fly with the news of George Steinbrenner's passing today.
*The player introductions are one of my favorite parts of the All-Star game and their were huge cheers for the Angels two players, Jered Weaver and Torri Hunter, as well as their manager. Red Sox and Yankees players received lots of boos. One Yankee All-star, Mariano Rivera was not in attendance even though he wasn't planning to pitch, but should've been there.
*Ichiro got a ton of applause as did former Angel Vladimir Guerrero
*As Cliff Lee was introduced, I thought of how it's probably the first time a lot of people have seen him in a Rangers uniform since his trade from the Mariners.
*I hadn't heard of Glee's Amber Riley (I don't watch the show) but she did a good job singing.
*The AL lineup was stacked; Joe Mauer (3x batting champ) batting 7th, Cano batting 8th!
*Derek Jeter's recorded introduction from the late Bob. Sheppard was awesome.
*Did I mention there's great pitching.

Baseball gets political

The 2011 MLB All-Star Game will still be held as planned in Phoenix next year, which is not the most popular decision in the baseball community. This is not necessarily new; when the immigration law was first enacted, there was dismay about Phoenix as the All-Star location and pressure for MLB to move the All-Star Game. However, nothing happened. In mid-May, commissioner Bud Selig announced that the game would stay in Phoenix.

However, with the on-going 2010 All-Star Game, the 2011 ASG in Phoenix has been revisited. Some of the Hispanic-born have drawn notice to Arizona's immigration law and are hesitant to participate in the 2011 ASG, if selected. In a report today, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Yovanni Gallardo vowed to boycott an Arizona All-Star game. Other players such as Joakim Soria and Jose Valverde would also support a Latino boycott.

In other news today, Selig received 100,000 petitions to move the games from Phoenix. There has been increased media coverage about the possibility of moving out the All-Star Game. The Washington Post called for Selig to take a stand against bigotry and intolerance. The article also mentions the fact that nearly a third of major leaguers are Hispanic born. The politicization of the 2011 All-Star Game was also part of Amy Nelson's ESPN's Outside the Lines story today focusing on the civil rights aspects of Arizona's Immigration Law.

The extent of the law or if it gets overturned, would help build momentum for a boycott or suppress the notion all together. I'm not sure if the All-Star Game should be moved from Phoenix just because of the law or not. Every National League team (half the teams in baseball) play at least one series in Phoenix, so latin players are constantly playing baseball there with nothing changed yet. However, the law hasn't taken effect yet, either so it is hard to tell how things will change.

Arizona's Immigration Law (SB 1070) can be read here.

Baseball All-Star Game tidbits

With the start of the All-Star break at the conclusion of yesterday's games, the All-Star rosters have basically been determined. I blogged last week about how the rosters have increased to 34 players in each league and yet their were still players deserving to go. As it turns out, the total number of All-Stars this year is 82, an unbelievable amount. The rosters had to be finalized yesterday because any pitcher who pitched on Sunday would be ineligible for the All-Star game, necessitating a replacement.

In other news, the Home Run Derby is scheduled for 8 PM ET tonight on ESPN and ESPN3.com.

Great Red Sox Column

If your a Red Sox fan or even a baseball fan in general, be sure to check out Jeff Passan's column aboutDaniel Nava and Darnell McDonald, two outfielders who have made their way into the Red Sox starting line-up, despite long-odds against them.

MLB All-Star Game Selections

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday weekend.

Over the weekend, the Major League Baseball
All-Star teams were announced. This year, the selection of the All-Stars was probably more scrutinized then most years because of the question surrounding whether rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg should make the All-Star team despite having only made six starts before the rosters came out on July 3rd. Here are the rosters, of which Strasburg was left out of the National League team. While some believe that MLB should have displayed its biggest phenom to a national audience, Philles manager Charlie Manuel (the manager of the NL All-Star team) justified his decision not to include Strasburg. Manuel did the right thing, I believe. There is simply too much great pitching in the National League, to leave out a veteran who has pitched 3 times as much as Strasburg. While there is still the possibility that Strasburg can be selected as an injury replacement, I hope more deserving pitchers get selected.

This leads me to my other thoughts about the selection of the MLB All-Stars:

1.Even though the All-Star rosters have increased to 34, there are still many deserving players left out...

2. such as Cincinati's Joey Votto. Votto is a candidate for the Final Man on the NL Roster and you can vote for him here. He is leading the National League in OBP (On base % plus slugging %), and is easily the biggest snub of the all-star picks. So far he is leading the Final Man competition. I hope he gets it, he deserves it...

3. as does Jered Weaver of the Angels, who is leading the American League in strikeouts, but did not get selected to the dismay of teammates and his manager Mike Scioscia. I think it is weird that the Angels, who are hosting the All-Star Game only have one representative. Teams who are hosting the All-Star Game should have mulitiple representatives if they are deserving such as Weaver...

4. but naturally, every team has to have one representative, which I think is the right thing to do as long as players on bad teams have had seasons worthy of All-Star consideration. For the most part, the players who are their teams' sole representatives were selected by their peers to the All-Star teams and were good enough to be considered an All-Star.

5. The most baffling pick of the All-Star teams was Atlanta's Omar Infante, a pretty good utility player but certainly not an All-Star. He's a decent player, but doesn't even have enough at bats to qualify as a statistical leader. Futher reason to vote for Joey Votto.