Opening Day(ish) Thoughts

After months of waiting, it's finally Opening Day for Major League Baseball!  Yeay!  You'd think that I would be over-the-top happy - after all, I would much rather watch baseball on TV than the "Roseanne" revival or the current season of "American Idol."  But admittedly, I'm just feeling "eh" about Opening Day, and here are the reasons why.

First of all, my Nationals aren't playing today because it's raining in Cincinnati.  So their Opening Day will be tomorrow, and their Nationals Park Opening Day isn't until next week.  I know - it can't always be 70 degrees and sunny without a cloud in the sky and Max Scherzer pitching at home with my husband and me sitting in the fifth row behind the Nationals' dugout, but the yucky March weather is giving me Seasonal Affective Disorder, it's cold in New York, it's raining in Detroit, and it's not fair that the Orioles get to open at home but the Nationals don't.   Oh, and I just found out yesterday that MASN won't be carrying any Nationals or Orioles games on local CBS stations like they have in the past, so I won't be able to catch any games on TV when I'm at work (because I'm too cheap to have cable in my shop).

"But wait, Mudville Mom," you tell yourself.  "Aren't you usually a 'glass half full' optimist?"  Why yes I am, my friend; (thanks for noticing!) so here's what I'm actually looking forward to this season (and it's going to be a very good season, I might add).  First of all, I'm looking forward to this year's All-Star Game being in my beloved Nationals Park.  I'm not dwelling on the fact that I gave up the perfect opportunity to volunteer at this year's "midsummer classic" because of work obligations; instead I'm looking forward to all sorts of tourists contributing to the local economy (and some even coming as far north as Frederick and potentially visiting my shop), a historic Home Run Derby (can anyone hit the parking deck behind left field?), and people around the world finally paying attention to that National League team that is consistently in first place in the NL East but constantly takes a back seat to the Redskins and that fool who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  So yeah - that will definitely be a fun few days in July.

Also worthy of noting this season is the duo of Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge playing together for the Yankees.  Now, I don't mind rolling my eyes about those who predict that the Yankees and Nationals will be in the World Series (there are 162 games to play before the post-season, and a LOT can happen before then), but I have to admit that having Stanton and Judge on the same team (especially one where the media is so vocal and has opinions about everything!) is pretty cool.  And staying in New York, I'm looking forward to Yoenis Céspedes having a good season for the Mets.  I'm a sucker for a man with a nice smile, and anyone who lets a clubhouse attendant drive his Lamborghini to go run an errand is just a nice guy.  Plus he has his annual "Céspedes Family BBQ" that has become a legendary tradition (feel free to google it); maybe I'll be invited someday.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Puerto Ricans Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa as two guys to watch this season.  Lindor is just so freakin' charming and charismatic, and Correa - well, come on, he proposed to his girlfriend on national TV after winning the World Series last year - he's just super cool.  When I grow up, I want to be just like him (though I can't help but wonder - if the Astros didn't win the World Series last year, would Correa have still proposed?).

And what's the position to pay attention to this year?  Definitely third base (sorry, Manny Machado - you should have stayed there!).  Anthony Rendón, Nolan Arenado, and Kris Bryant are badass (or is it "badasses?"), and if they can stay healthy, will be the game-makers who will (hopefully) take their teams to the post-season.  Schmidt and Chipper would be very proud of these guys (and they probably are - I'm talking like they're dead!).

So those are some of the players I'm looking forward to seeing this season (as well as a possible visit to a Mets game in New York?  This is the first my husband is hearing of this!).  Notice I made no mention of Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper, or José Altuve - these are guys who don't need me to keep an eye on them because they're just awesome without me telling you they are.  I also said nothing about Alex Rodriguez joining the ESPN Sunday night crew, because I want to end this post on a positive note.  So try to catch a game or two this weekend - whether on your local station, MLB-TV, or ESPN (as a last resort) - and keep checking in with me regularly, because surely I'll have plenty to say throughout the season.

LET'S PLAY BALL! :-)

The Tall and Short of It

At the age of 45, I am 5 feet, 1 inch tall.  I'm aware of my height challenges - having to climb on top of my kitchen counter to reach for something in an upper cabinet shelf (because I'm too lazy to get a stool) is a reminder.  Having to shop in the petites section of clothing stores is a reminder.  Not being able to find a nice pair of over-the-knee boots because my legs are so darn short has been the most recent reminder (fashion blogs say that us shorties shouldn't even be wearing tall boots, because they make us look even shorter.  Thanks a lot!).  I don't need anyone pointing out the fact that I'm short - I'm well aware of it.  It's not like someone comes up to me and says "Oh my gosh, you're so short!" and I'm like "Really?  I had no idea!"

From Dolly Parton to Prince to Yasser Arafat, the world has been full of "vertically challenged" people who have made a difference in one way or another for as long as the world has been around.  No one seems to care that Lady Gaga is short, Voltaire was still a successful writer despite being short, and Beethoven wasn't too bad of a composer despite only being 5'3.  So why is the media making such a big deal of José Altuve's height?  He's short... so what?  Are all athletes supposed to be at least 6 feet tall in order to be successful?  Ask Muggsy Bogues, Diego Maradona, or Lionel Messi - they're all under 5'7.  If being tall makes you a good athlete, then Altuve is proving everyone wrong.

José Altuve, the all-star second baseman for the Houston Astros, finished this year's regular season as the Major League batting champ with a sick .346 batting average (that's right up there with Pete Rose and Ted Williams - you may have heard of them).  And his 204 hits, 24 home runs, and 32 stolen bases this past season were nothing to jest at.  Oh, and in the first game of the American League Division Series against the Red Sox, Altuve hit THREE home runs (two of them off ace Chris Sale).  Not too shabby for a short guy!  How did 6'7 Aaron Judge do on HIS first ALDS game?  He struck out at all 4 plate appearances.  In your face, tall dude!

Speaking of Aaron Judge, the media was all aflutter during the All-Star Game this past summer when Altuve and Judge were standing next to each other, filling social media outlets and newspapers with pictures of the two side by side.  Don't you think Altuve was well aware of the height disparity?  He didn't need to be turned into a circus act just because he's a whole foot shorter than the tallest guy currently in baseball.  Just like Judge doesn't want to be known primarily for being so tall, I'm sure Altuve would rather be known as dedicated, consistent, and badass than being called "little man" or "unlikely hero" or "diminutive."  This native of Venezuela is the top contender for the American League MVP award, and if he doesn't get it, I will wear white after Labor Day, which for someone as fashionable as me, will be quite a travesty.

Is José Altuve going to be a big factor in the upcoming World Series against the Dodgers?  You betcha!  So WHAT if Clayton Kershaw is six-foot-four?  Who cares that Yu Darvish is six-foot-five (the tallest Japanese person I've ever heard of)?  I predict that Altuve is not going to let these "big guys" intimidate him.  I apologize to my uncle Junior, my cousins, and my pal Tim who are all die-hard Dodgers fans, but I'm picking the Astros to win the World Series.  I rarely side with an American League team, but with Altuve, Puerto Rican phenom Carlos Correa, and pitchers like Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel (nasty-looking beard and all), I'm thinking the Astros can take the Series in seven games.  My only issue with that is that they would end up clinching the pennant in LA, and I always hate when teams win when they're not at home, but I'm rooting for the Astros all the way.  It's time for the rest of America to notice José Altuve and realize that big things do come in small packages, and us short people can kick ass just as much as the tall "giants" of the game.

"Slow down! You move too fast!"

Over the past 35 years, the length of a regular-season baseball game has increased by 30 minutes.  This is mainly because batters spend way too much time “adjusting things” when in the batter’s box, managers make way too many pitching changes (one of my pet-peeves), and pitchers sometimes make way too many throws to first base whether the baserunner has ever stolen a base in his life or not.  Major League Baseball is aware of fans’ short attention spans and is proposing all sorts of wacky ways to shorten the game, and you know me, I just have to put my two cents into this discussion.

One thing MLB is proposing is to start the tenth inning of a game with a runner already on second base.  Seriously?  I have sat through many an extra-inning game, and while they can be frustrating because you have no idea how many total innings it will go, starting extra innings with a guy on second is idiotic.  Do you put the guy who was supposed to bat next?  What if he was going to hit a home run?  You just ruined it by putting him on base instead of giving him a chance to hit.  It’s like starting an overtime in football by automatically putting the ball on the 20-yard line.  Plus don’t you have to play the bottom of the inning anyway?  Just dumb!

Another suggestion was to make the game only 7 innings instead of nine.  Really???  Aren’t these guys making MILLIONS of dollars to play a full game?  Do they have to stop selling beer after the fifth inning?  And w ill a beer at Nationals Park cost $15 because there will be less beers sold due to games ending faster? Are they going to have the “Fifth Inning Stretch?”  This one has definitely not been thought out very well.

Here’s one that is actually being implemented this year, since it was approved by the Players Union:  Instead of throwing four pitches way off the strike zone to a batter who is being intentionally walked, managers can now tell the home plate umpire that he wishes to intentionally walk the batter, and the batter can just walk to first base without facing any pitches.  Now you all know how much I DESPISE the intentional walk – I may have mentioned that a time or two before – but I have seen many occasions where a pitcher is trying to intentionally walk a batter, the pitch gets away from the catcher, and a baserunner is able to advance.  Just letting the runner go to first base without seeing a single pitch affects pitch counts and really only speeds up the game by a few seconds.  Last year there was one intentional walk every two-and-a-half games.  So if you’re expecting this new rule to make a big difference. Don’t hold your breath.

So what can be done to make the game a little shorter (the current length doesn’t bother me, but most people aren’t as “baseball nerdy” as me)?  I thought you'd never ask!  Here are some bullet points to consider:

·        Stop letting players step out of the batter’s box after every pitch.  You had time to stretch while on the on-deck circle – once you step up to bat, quit dilly-dallying.  Hank Aaron agrees with me – he says players spend way too much time adjusting their batting gloves and helmets and making all sorts of unnecessary movements.  And if Hank says it’s unnecessary, I believe it.  He's like John McCain talking about waterboarding - the guy knows his stuff!    

·        Don’t let catchers have meetings on the mound.  If a pitcher is stressed out, he needs to learn how to calm himself down; he doesn’t need a catcher to say “There, there, my friend – it’s going to be OK!”  Again, these guys are millionaires – they don’t need to be babied.  And if you have your signals mixed up because there’s a runner on second base and you forgot what the signs were in that situation, then you’re an idiot.

·        Get rid of instant replay, or at least have an extra umpire in each park who can check the replay way faster than the dudes who sit in an air-conditioned office in New York.  And don’t allow managers to stall while his coaches are viewing the replay to see if the manager should challenge or not.  Pitchers are being instructed to stall so the managers can have time to decide whether to challenge a call or not, and this is just silly.  Baseball players and managers are terrible actors.

·        Stop putting in a pitcher to pitch to one guy.  The whole “lefty lefty matchup” or “righty throwing to lefty” thing is something I have never understood.  Yes, you’re now getting into the strategy of the game, but if the starting pitcher was able to pitch to both righties and lefties, why all of a sudden does a reliever have to be put in to face one particular batter?  It infuriates me when a pitcher is credited with a win when he only pitched to one guy.  It’s one thing if a reliever is struggling; but using seven “specialist” pitchers in one game just so they can pitch to one or two guys at a time is ridiculous.

So there you go, Commissioner Manfred – this is one of the reasons I wanted your job before you took it from me.  Let’s see how this “intentional walk” thing goes this season – surely I will have some insightful opinions about the matter.  In the meantime, we have a couple of things to look forward to before Opening Day:  Former Red Sox/Cubs catcher David Ross participating in “Dancing With the Stars,” and the World Baseball Classic, where I turn into a lunatic fan rooting for my Puerto Rico team.  We have Javier Baez, Carlos Correa, Carlos Beltrán, and Francisco Lindor – watch out Dominican Republic; we’re going after you! 

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Hello there, fellow baseball fans!  What's happenin'?  Well I'll tell you what's happening - Chris Heston, a 27-year-old rookie pitcher making just his 13th start for the San Francisco Giants, threw a no-hitter last night against the New York Mets at Citi Field.  I tuned in during the ninth innings with two outs, so I was able to enjoy the thrill of the no-hitter without the stress of sitting through a whole game wondering if the no-hitter was going to be broken.  Watching a no-hitter never gets old, and what made it interesting is that Heston actually hit three batters during the game!  Another interesting fact is that the Giants' catcher, Buster Posey, has now caught three no-hitters, which puts him in second place after the Red Sox's Jason Varitek, who caught four in his career.  You know me - I have to take a story and turn it so that the catcher looks good! (And if you read this blog regularly, you already knew that Iván Rodriguez caught 2 no-hitters in his career)

That was the "good."  The "bad" is that the Washington Nationals have lost 9 of their last 11 games.  They're still only half a game out of first place (because no one else in the NL East seems to want to win), but they're playing some terrible baseball.  Bryce Harper and Yunel Escobar seem to be the only ones hitting, 2 of their starting pitchers (Stephen Strasburg and Doug Fister) are on the Disabled List, and their bullpen just plain old sucks (except for their closer, Drew Storen, who hasn't seen much action lately).  It's very disappointing, though the season isn't even half over yet, and us "glass-half-full" people are trying to stay positive.  Luckily the Nationals don't play against the Mets until July, so they have some time to get their stuff together.

And now for the "ugly."  Staying with the Nationals for a minute... Shortstop Ian Desmond has committed FOURTEEN errors this season.  Who DOES that?  Do you think I would still have my job if I made 14 errors in 9 weeks?  And Desmond makes WAY more money than I do!  The thing is, they keep putting him in the lineup every day, and I think he just needs to sit out a game or two - a "mental health day" of sorts.  They have several guys (Escobar, Espinosa, Rendón) who can play shortstop while Desmond clears his head - and they probably wouldn't commit any errors!  It is so frustrating, because he's missing some pretty basic little-league-type plays; maybe he needs to get his eyes checked?  Seriously - how often do baseball players get eye exams?  I hope that's part of a routine physical at the beginning of each season; in Desmond's case, I would send him to an eye doctor right away.

Now in order to not end this blog post on a negative note, let me also mention that the Angels' Albert Pujols tied Mickey Mantle for 16th on the all-time home runs list with number 536.  That's pretty cool - anyone who has the potential to cleanly pass Barry Bonds on the list is a cool dude in my book.  Also hitting a home run on the same day was the Houston Astros' Carlos Correa.  This was his first homer (a long way from Pujol's 536) - but any time a kid makes his Major League debut and hit his first homer in the same week, that's pretty special.  And Correa is Puerto Rican (not a catcher), so there's that coolness factor as well.

So there you have it - highlights (and lowlights) from this week's baseball action so far.  See how I write more often when there's actually stuff about which to write?  Let's hope the next few weeks bring more excitement - I need to have things to write about once school is out and I'm done with work for the summer!

"Well I'm Proud to be a Puerto Rican, Where at Least I Know we can Play Baseball!"

The 2012 Major League Baseball Player Draft is upon us, and while it doesn't get the hype that the NLF draft does, it's still an exciting time for sports fans.  This year's draft has been a particularly thrilling one for us Puerto Ricans, since seven Puerto Rican baseball players have been selected so far.

The first overall player to be drafted by anyone went to the Houston Astros (that's the perk you get for finishing dead last and having the worst record in baseball last season).  They drafted seventeen-year-old Carlos Correa, a shortstop who just graduated from the island's Baseball Academy High School and is so young he still has traces of acne on his face.  He hails from the small town of Santa Isabel, where they gave him a hero's welcome yesterday.  He had already signed a commitment letter to play at the University of Miami, but I think the only trips he'll be making  to Florida will be to play for the Gulf Coast League.

Other Puerto Ricans selected in the first round of the draft include the fourteenth player, Nick Travieso (he wasn't born on the island but his grandparents were, so we'll gladly claim him as a "native"), who was picked by the Cincinnati Reds and pitcher José Berríos who was thirty-second and picked by the Minnesota Twins.

In the second round, Jesmuel Valentín was picked 51st by the LA Dodgers (speaking of Dodgers, did you hear that Tommy LaSorda had a mild heart attack yesterday?  He's 84 years old, though to me he's looked old ever since I was a kid); Edwin Díaz was picked 98th by the Seattle Mariners, Avery Romero was selected by the Miami Marlins as the 104th player, and Bryan De la Rosa was the Atlanta Braves' selection at 116th.

This is a very exciting time for us Puerto Ricans, because baseball talent on the island had been dwindling in the past few years.  Major League teams have spent millions of dollars in training facilities in both the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, where labor laws are more lenient and "buscones," or scouts, can easily groom little boys to believe they can make it in the big leagues (though many of them don't).  So while there had been a slight lull in the development of Puerto Rican baseball players in the Majors, hopefully in the next few years we will see a new batch of talent comparable to that of the Alomar and Molina brothers, Benito Santiago, José Oquendo, Iván Rodriguez (you knew I had to fit him in somewhere in this post!), Orlando Cepeda, and who knows - maybe a new Roberto Clemente-like Puerto Rican will emerge in the coming years.  So "play ball, fanáticos" - it's going to be a fun and exciting time to follow Puerto Ricans in baseball!

(Also worth mentioning is the second-round draft pick for the Baltimore Orioles, right-handed pitcher Branden Kline out of the University of Virginia.  Kline was a 2009 graduate of Governor Thomas Johnson High School, which happens to be the school where I work.  Hopefully we will see Branden play for our local Orioles' minor-league affiliate, the Frederick Keys, in the next year or so).