Fastball Fans

The Gold Glove winners (for defensive excellence) have been announced for both leagues. They announced the AL winners a few days prior to the NL winners and made me wait (I follow the NL much more closely).

Here they are (Position/Player/Team/# of Gold Gloves):

NL

P Greg Maddux CHC/LAD 16
C Brad Ausmus HOU 3
1B Albert Pujols STL 1
2B Orlando Hudson ARI 2
3B Scott Rolen STL 7
SS Omar Vizquel SF 11
OF Andruw Jones ATL 9
OF Mike Cameron SD 3
OF Carlos Beltran NYM 1

AL

P Kenny Rogers DET 5
C Ivan Rodriguez DET 12
1B Mark Teixeira TEX 2
2B Mark Grudzielanek KC 1
SS Derek Jeter NYY 3
3B Eric Chavez OAK 6
OF Torii Hunter MIN 6
OF Ichiro Suzuki SEA 6
OF Vernon Wells TOR 3

How can you not love Maddog getting his 16th and tying the record for the most Gold Gloves in a career? And of course I was glad to see my boy Andruw up there with his 9th consecutive Gold Glove Award, although I can’t say I didn’t expect that.

Most of the names, in fact, were expected, however a lot of people would like to debate on who was worthy and didn’t make the cut, or who did make it but didn’t deserve to. Feel free to leave your opinions.

MLB, Baseball, Major League Baseball, Gold Glove, Gold Glove Awards

*Don’t know what “Trick or Cleat” is? Want to read more about it? Then head on over to the Oddball section of this blog.*

I think I spoke a bit too soon about this being over.

I received an envelope form the Orioles yesterday, and although it was the smallest and therefore contained the least amount of “goodies”, it was a delivery nonetheless. =)

It contained a handful of stickers of various sizes, two player cards, and one card of the mascot, all of which were the size of a postcard.

This means that I have either received an email or a package from 1/3 of the MLB teams, which is not too bad if I do say so myself.

And if this one arrived late, who knows what could still be on its way.

MLB, Major League Baseball, Baseball, Fan Pack, Baltimore Orioles, Orioles, Trick or Cleat

The MLB team may have tied the Giants, but there was no tie in this morning game against the Japanese All-stars which are made up of players from Nippon Professional Baseball.

MLB scored a run early on in the second on a Chase Utley ground ball.

They scored two more runs on a Dye homerun in the third, and held on to win 3-2 in what turned out to be a close and well played game on both sides.

Homeruns seem to be doing it for the MLB team, having had a barrage of them in the exhibition game against the Giants to tie it, and now a decisive HR by Dye to secure the win.

Let’s hope the power continues in the next four games of the series, the next game of which is tomorrow.

MLB’s record in the series against NPB: 1-0

MLB, Baseball, Major League Baseball, Utley, Dye, NPB, Japan All-stars, Nippon Professional Baseball

The pond becomes fuller yet with names like Piazza, Lofton and Mulder who joined his old A’s teammate Zito in free agency today.

Not just are there plenty of free agents to go around, but there are plenty of big name/big skill players in the bunch. The coming weeks will be very interesting; seeing who else files and who makes moves to pick all of these 161 guys up.

Fun times ahead! I will keep you all up to date.

MLB, Baseball, Major League Baseball, Free Agency, Piazza, Lofton, Mulder, Free Agent

Alright folks, it has now been well over two weeks since I first sent off the email to all of the teams. It seems that that the email responses have stopped some time ago, and although I received a package only 2 days ago, it was from a team which I had been in contact with via email. I don’t really expect anything else to come, even if teams are slow in reading the email, why would they send out a holiday goodie for a holiday that is long gone?

So… here is how things stand:

Email Responses: 5
Teams: Mariners, Astros, Royals, Giants, and Padres

Package Deliveries: 6
Teams: Indians, Yankees, Mariners, White Sox, Brewers, and Padres

Teams who sent either an email or a package: 9
Teams who DID NOT send either an email or a package: 21

All in all, I think Trick or Cleat was a success. I got some free goodies; people working for the teams got to read an odd little email of mine… we all had some fun. =)

See you all in the same place and at the same time next year!

Trick or Cleat, MLB, Fan Pack, Baseball, Major League Baseball

Ok, so the first game that the MLB played in Japan is over. It was an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants. It ended in a 7-7 tie. Yes, ties are acceptable in Japan, unlike in the US where the last one in an all-star game brought an outcry.

Now let me first brag about my boy: Andruw Jones. I don’t see how I can avoid doing so about my favorite player. He had two homeruns in the first game of this rather distant road trip. Good news for us fans of his as it shows he can’t be too sore from the regular season. I suppose his first postseason off, as sad as that is to us Braves fans, gave him ample time to rest up.

The MLB was down by three in the ninth, but Andruw’s second homer brought the Giants’ lead down to two, and Wright ended up hitting a two run shot to tie it, which is the way it ended, as strange as that is to most MLB fans.

So,

MLB record: ???
Andruw Homer total: 2

=)

MLB, Japan, Japan All-star, Andruw Jones, Major League Baseball, Baseball, Wright, Yomiuri Giants

On the first day that players could file for free agency, 59 players took the liberty to do so. Bonds, Nomar and Frank Thomas were among the biggest names to jump into the free agency pond on day one. However, they were hardly the only big fish to do so.

Yesterday they were joined by players which included Zito, Maddux, Sean Casey, Jeff Weaver, and Gagne.

Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte of the Astros have stated they will file for free agency soon, but are unsure if they will come back for another season. Both are feeling the pain of a fruitless season after having pitched so well throughout the season.

Big names are a plenty in the free agent market this year, and there will be millions upon millions of dollars thrown around to scoop these players up. But who, when and if in the case of Clemens and Pettitte are the questions we all want answered.

The tally is up to 143 fish in the pond, with a possible 50 more to join in the coming week and a half. The pond is getting awfully full in my opinion. =)

Free agent, Free agency, MLB, Major League Baseball, Baseball, Bonds, Zito, Maddux, Clemens

*Don’t know what “Trick or Cleat” is? Want to read more about it? Then head on over to the Oddball section of this blog.*

Well, it finally came today. =)

No autographed memorabilia, *cough* cleat *cough*, but who can complain about free goodies. And it came on Halloween! It doesn’t get better than that! Those Padres sure have some good timing.

Here is the email I got word for word telling me what was in the package:

“4 Post Cards (2 of their stadium Petco Park, 1 of pitcher Jake Peavy, and 1 of pitcher Randy Jones

A San Diego Padres “Play Downtown” Sticker (round)

A 2006 Schedule for the San Diego Padres “National League West Champions 05″

A 2006 Schedule for Lake Elsinore Storm Baseball (Stormbaseball.com)

A “Limited Stadium Edition” of their Official Souvenir Program “Inaugural Tournament March 2006″ ‘06 World Baseball Classics (96 pages, selling price of $10)

An Official Program “World Series 1988″ Major League Baseball “The Fall Classic (104 Pages, selling price of $10)

A San Diego Padres 2006-2007 Calendar & Schedule (full size calendar)

3 Bobble Heads (small 3″ high): #44 (Jake Peavy), #3 (Greene), #15 Bochy and a one-side thin card (hole punched in bottom) for each which lists their Residence, Birth Date and Place, and Height and Weight”

Sounds good to me.

My room is going to be overflowing with baseball stuff when I get home.

I can’t wait!

MLB, Major League Baseball, Baseball, Fan Pack, Sand Diego Padres, Padres, Trick or Cleat

The postseason is over. The World Series Trophy has a new home in St. Louis.

The question is there… right in front of your face. What do I do until February 15th? (Because of course, we all know that is when pitchers and their catchers arrive at spring training.)

The answer is that there is plenty. Personally I am waiting to see how my boy Andruw does in the Japan All-Star Series which starts in just four more days.

There are plenty of big name free agents out there, and most likely soon to be even more. Player activity is always fun to watch in the off-season. Seeing how your team will perform with their new acquisition and or lose of a player. The Winter Meetings should provide for some juicy trades this year.

There are plenty of teams out there that can’t afford big loses, and others that need to recover from the same type of loses from a year ago if they want to pull themselves off the ground and make a run at their respective divisions next season.

2007 isn’t far off, and neither is the 07′ season (If you have the incessant need to see how many days/hours are left until the season sees its first pitch you can give Al’s countdown clock a visit at his Cubs/Baseball blog). And in the off time, sit back, get some of that work done that has been piling up as you were glued to the TV and the playoff games it contained and keep an ear out for interesting trade rumors.
=)

Baseball, MLB, Major League Baseball, Japan All-Star, off-season, offseason, Winter Meetings

They won tonight to claim a 4-1 World Series victory over the Detroit Tigers. They didn’t earn it; the Tigers gave it to them with their pathetically poor play.

I was rooting for the Tigers simply because I felt they deserved to win and would because they were the better team for the postseason. But no, they didn’t even come close to winning the series.

The postseason used to be the two best teams in baseball playing each other to claim supremacy as the World Series champion. What is it now? Teams with inferior records in relation to other teams in their league scooting by on errors and luck to claim victory and the World Series trophy.

The current postseason structure allows more teams a shot at a World Series trophy, but do they deserve that shot?

I suppose it is all in your definition of the “best” team. Whether best constitutes having the best record over 162 games, or the best record in three post season series. I define best as the best record over the 162 game season. The team that can claim to have done that has proved themselves as a strong team that can overcome the many difficulties associated with such a long and rigorous schedule/season.

But my definition apparently doesn’t count, and so the Cardinals are the World Series champions.

Congratulation to all you Cardinal fans out there. Take pride in the fact that the Tigers gave you a trophy that you shouldn’t even have been eligible to win.

Baseball, Major League Baseball, MLB, St. Louis Cardinals, Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, Tigers, Game 5, Postseason, World Series, World Series Champions

This is getting ridiculous. I mentioned the Detroit pitching errors in a previous entry, but guess what… they got another one!

There were so many bad/weird plays going against Detroit that it seems as though the Cardinal have to win this Series for some divine reason. I mean… wild pitches, balls thrown behind the third baseman, balls thrown over the first basemen, outfielders falling down, balls bouncing off the tip of a glove on a diving outfielder; madness!

Now the Cardinals are up to a 3-1 Series lead, which means if Detroit actually decides they want to play like a team… a good one, they need to win the next three in a row. They certainly are capable of doing it, but not if they don’t step up their play and cut down on their errors.

How can a team that won three straight against the Yankees in the playoffs be playing so poorly against the Cardinals? Now, the Cardinals are a good team and all, but they are no Yankees, and they aren’t a team that Detroit should be down 3-1 against.

Baseball, MLB, Major League Baseball, Playoffs, World Series, Game 4, St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, Cardinals, Tigers

I can understand the Cardinals not wanting to get swept in the World Series, but they are taking this a little too far. They lead 2-1 now!

I want to complain about all the Detroit pitching problems that lead to most of the Cardinal runs (a wild pitch = 1 run, errant throw to third = 2 runs), but even without those three runs they still would have been shut out.

I thought the long rest would help Detroit, but apparently I was wrong seeing as how all of their starters that had long rests are giving up runs. Then again, the offense hasn’t been there either.

Kenny pitched a great Game 2 after he was found with some brown “junk” on his hand in the first inning. Maybe the other Detroit pitchers should follow his lead and pray they can pitch shutouts as well. With the way the Detroit offense was last night, they will need them.

Detroit better get to work if they want to make me a happy person!

MLB, Major League Baseball, Baseball, St. Louis Cardinals, Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, Tigers, World Series, Playoffs, Game 3

*Don’t know what “Trick or Cleat” is? Want to read more about it? Then head on over to the Oddball section of this blog.*

*Want to refresh your mind on what I am “Updating”? Then check out their initial response.*

I got all giddy reading this:

“Dear David,

In light of your curious quest, I would be happy to supply something
that would certainly qualify as “something above and beyond” a Fan Pack.

Please respond with your shipping address and your package will be in
the mail shortly.

Chris Tran
Corporate Communications”

Now tell me that ain’t something. They brought in another whole department to deal with me. =) Can’t wait till it arrives… Go Padres! =)

However, I have the eerie suspicion that I will be getting a big box from the Padres that will contain something like a single, individual M&M. A treat that will act as quite the trick…

Anyhow, I shot Chris back an email, here it is:

“Dear Chris,

Thank you for your timely and enjoyable reply.

My shipping address is:

*My Name*
*My Address*

I will eagerly await the package.

Thanks again,

~David Macomber”

This makes me rethink the whole not defining the fact I am doing this as a continous blog update in my emails to ALL the teams. I don’t think that would have really changed anything though, but who knows?

Well, my fingers are crossed; feel free to cross yours for me as well. =)

MLB, Major League Baseball, Baseball, San Diego Padres, Padres, Trick or Cleat

*Don’t know what “Trick or Cleat” is? Want to read more about it? Then head on over to the Oddball section of this blog.*

Ah, the last delivery of the day, the “big” envelope! This was yet another Fan Pack, but it was certainly a rather nice one. It contained the following: two pencils, a pin, some stickers, some magnates, five oversized player cards, a large magnate of their schedule, and a 2006 team poster.

The Yankees’ Fan Pack sounds like it will be rather hard to beat unless one of the teams comes through with a big item.

I certainly can’t complain at getting these nice Fan Packs, but I await the big catch. =)

MLB, Major League Baseball, Baseball, Fan Pack, Milwaukee Brewers, Brewers, Trick or Cleat

*Don’t know what “Trick or Cleat” is? Want to read more about it? Then head on over to the Oddball section of this blog.*

“Normal” Envelope #2 on the day.

The White Sox’ version of the Fan Pack consists of a “thank you” letter, a sticker, their schedule, and a poster. A rather small Fan Pack, but they did send something, and they sent it rather quickly. I assumed the best I would get were Fan Packs, but my small dreams of something better shrink a bit more with each one that arrives in the mail.

MLB, Major League Baseball, Baseball, Fan Pack, Chicago White Sox, White Sox, Trick or Cleat