2 & 9

One of the joys of baseball is the many parks that present the game. Chase Field in Phoenix is a terrific venue for baseball. Yankee Stadium is more of a cathedral. Wrigley is a trip back in time (now, more than ever with few bathrooms). Dodger Stadium is a great place to see a game. The Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is great if you are in a suite (it is extremely hot and uncomfortable for most of the games). Miller Park is one of the great restaurants in the nation as it is clear, eating is more important than the team on the field. But one of the most delightful baseball palaces is AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The view is frankly unbelievable. And the fans are absolutely into the game. They may be some of the best fans in the game today. Why is this possible? If you want to be outdoors (and what Californian doesn’t?), this is the place. If you want a view with your game, this is the place. If you want a winning tradition, this is the team. If you want post season play, this is the team that can provide it. And the food? This IS San Francisco.

So that was the way today’s article was going to go. It was more of a food oration rather than a venue description. But for the Pigsville crowd, wondering why the Cream City Nine is continuing their losing ways, gathering around the bar of Dave and Melanie’s at Sobelman’s Pub n Grill, the question is answered out loud: when are they going to fire the manager, Ron Roenicke? In what was one of Milwaukee’s original Schlitz taverns, another chimed in, ‘What about firing Doug Melvin? He’s the one who didn’t do anything in the off-season and told us that this is a better team than last year.’. The natives are getting restless in the land of bratwurst and beer.

The facts are that they now have the worst record in all of baseball. No team has won fewer games (2) and they are tied with the Marlins and Giants for the most losses (9) going into Sunday’s action. If not for Cole Hamels (7), Brandon McCarthy (6) or Anibal Sanchez (5), Kyle Lohse, the Cream City Nine’s #1 starting pitcher, would be leading the majors in most home runs given up in just the first two weeks of the season, four (4). As for fielding, the Miller Parkers have committed the third most errors so far this season (11), behind only the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees. Milwaukee is ranked at the bottom of the hitting charts this season, as they rank #30 out of 30 teams. And they did fire their old hitting coach and replaced him this year. And, they are ranked #28 in pitching with a whopping 4.69 ERA. Needless to say, they lead the world in Opponents Batting Average, giving up a .290 average. Hit against Milwaukee and you have a shot at All-Star numbers.

The Brewers did make one move this off-season: they traded their #1 pitcher for whom they received…nothing of consequence. Let’s see…if you don’t pitch, you don’t hit and you don’t field…you become today’s new old Chicago Cubs.

So, how is this team better than last year’s team that folded like a paper cloth last season?

Come on, Ron, tell us. Come on, Doug. Tell us.

So in-between frustrating talk over a meal consisting of the best burger in Milwaukee, we are still #watchingattanasio.

Play Ball!

Winter Met The Brewers

This was the weekend of a major showdown between two of the better teams in the National League. But what happened on Friday was that ‘Winter Met The Brewers’. Mark Twain hit the nail on the head when he said, ‘The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco.’ Amen to that, Mr. Twain.

On Friday at the lovely AT&T Park in the City by the Bay, inside the park the temperatures dropped as the breeze picked up. It honestly felt like winter was breaking in after a warm, if not hot, summer. And with it, the Milwaukee Brewers played as if they were upset with their mothers who said they had to get out of the house and play, even if it was cold outside.

By the Fifth inning, jackets are pulled up around the neck and gloves were on. Hot cocoa was one of the most delightful drinks of the night. For the Brewers, their starting pitcher and his long reliever gave up 142 pitches in four plus innings, an incomprehensible amount of throws that were punctuated with balls rather than strikes. The pitches were flying everywhere, beneath the catcher, around the catcher, over the catcher’s head but rarely over the plate.

Some fans in the stands who made their way in life by getting autographs of the visiting players and selling them, said the Brewers seems very focused and serious about this game. They were not giving many autographs. In fact the only Brewer who did was the manager, Ron Roenicke. That is a bad sign as the Crew lost the game 13-2. It was one of the worst played games this team has ever played.

Scooter Gennett looked sloppy. The temporary shortstop Elian Herrera looked exactly like that…temporary. Carlos Gomez just couldn’t catch anything. Even Gerardo Parra came over to talk about the tricky winds at the ballpark and how it affected playing center field after Go Go let two triples fly over his head, something that rarely happens. And in addition, he had a really bad throw to home (rather than to second to keep the Panda to a single) made for a continuation of the flood gates lifted for the benefit of the Giants.

Lucroy suffered behind the plate, first with a fast ball in an area you do not want a fast ball to hit and then just couldn’t get either of his first two pitchers to settle down.

Yet, for all of their frustration, the Cardinals lost to the Cubs and the Brewers who looked perfectly dreadful after a day off this week, were still in first place of the Central Division of the National League. Perhaps this team should not have a day off in any given week following a week in which they had two days off.

Everything lookout out of sinc. And the punctuation on this story was the sad sight of seeing Rickie Weeks wait until the last of the batters to take batting practice. Here was one of the best hitters in the league before he suffered those injuries. Now, even though he is reduced to a back up role, he should be playing at second because Scooter simply does not seem up to playing in the big games without making errors.

It was a long night at the ball park. And the funny thing about it was that when you walked outside, it was much warmer than inside and the Brewers were no longer looking like a little league team. And they were still in first place. Go figure.

Oh well, that’s why they call it a marathon.

Play Ball!

Another Perfect Game. There Used To Be A Ballpark…

When Matt Cain pitched a perfect game at AT&T Park in San Francisco this week, he became the 22nd perfect game hurler in the history of major league baseball and the first Giant ever to accomplish such a feat in the club’s 128 year history. It seems that every month this season, someone is throwing a no-hitter. Why?

It got me thinking about an old Frank Sinatra song, written by Joe Paposo titled “There Used To Be A Ballpark”.  As he sang it, “Oh, there used to be a ball park where the field was warm and green, and the people played a crazy game with a joy I’ve never seen.”

In the days gone by, the ballparks seemed bigger. Sure, I was smaller and everything looked larger. But there was the Polo Grounds where Willie made his famous catch off of a Vic Wertz smash into deep centerfield during the 1954 World Series. That year center field was 483 feet from home plate (it had been moved in from 505 feet in 1949). Imagine, a center field that deep. In fact, in the entire history of the game at the Polo Grounds, only four players ever hit a home run over the center field wall. They were Luke Easter, when he was playing in the Negro Leagues in 1948 before he came up with the Cleveland Indians; Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves on April 29, 1953. Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals did it on June 17, 1962 and Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves was the last player to do it on June 18, 1962. There is no ball park in the majors today to match these dimensions.

“How the people watched with wonder, how they laughed and how they cheered. Yes, there used to be a ball park…right here.”

Yet the Polo Grounds also had two short porches in left and right field. In left, only 279 feet allowed Bobby Thompson hit the ‘Shot Heard ‘Round The World’ in the famous 1951 playoff game against the Brooklyn Dodgers as the Giants went on to win the National League title. “The Giants win. The Giants win.” Down the right field line, it measured only 258 feet.

“And the air was such a wonder, from the hot dogs and the beer. Yes, there used to be a ballpark, right here.”

In modern times, Legendary Hall of Famer pitcher, Carl Hubble of the Giants threw a no-hitter in the newer version of the Polo Grounds (version IV from 06/28/1911 thru 09/19/1963) on May 8, 1929. Three Pirates reached base on two errors and a walk. No perfect game. On September 9, 1948, Rex Barney of the Dodgers hurled a no-hitter against the Giants at the Polo Grounds.  Again the three runners reach base for the Giants on one error and two walks, but no perfect game.

“And there used to be rock candy and a great big Fourth of July. With fireworks exploding all across the summer sky.”

Now, in the season of no-hitters every week, the Giants have their first perfect game in history. But they play in the modern ball parks that major league clubs call home. They are all smaller with nearly all having equidistant dimensions. AT&T has a centerfield that measures 399 feet from home plate. That’s a 9 iron for most golfers. Safeco Field in Seattle, where the center field is 405 feet from home, this past week saw six Mariner hurlers, including Kevin Milwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League and Tom wilhelmsen combine for a no-hitter and  in April on the 21st, Safeco fans saw a perfect game by Chicago White Sox pitcher Phillip Humber against the Mariners. On June 1st, at Citi Field in New York, another no-hitter was thrown this season where the center field is 408 feet from home. This time it was by Johan Santana against the St. Louis Cardinals. On May 2nd, Jered Weaver fired a no-hitter against the Minnesota Twins 9-0 in Anaheim at Angels Stadium where center field is a mere 400 feet from home.

“And all the people watched in wonder, how they’d laugh and how they’d cheer. And there used to be a ballpark, right here.”

Why so many no-hitters and perfect games this season? Five no-no’s are unheard of. My theory is this: Pitchers have become used to the ‘standard stadium size’. In this era of balanced teams, ground balls are in abundance because of sinkers, two seam snapper’s and limited space in the outfield where bigger ballparks would force outfielder’s to play deeper than they do today. How many center fielder’s do you see creeping up into shallow center field taking away the Texas leaguer? How many long one’s do you see over the head of the center fielder today? Smaller ballparks bring the speedy outfielders in closer thus eliminating a number of hits that would drop in at fields like the Polo Grounds, Forbes Field, old Yankee Stadium, Brigg’s Stadium or Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium.

“Now the children try to find it and they can’t believe their eyes ’cause the old team just isn’t playing. And the new team hardly tries.”

For those who say bigger parks created a better atmosphere for pitchers where no-hitters could be had, check the records. Now you can have center fielder’s hitting below the Mendoza Line but they are faster than a guy whose hair is on fire. Today in The Show, speed kills. And before the season is over, at this rate we will have 15 no hitters with 6 perfect games. Citi moved in their fences this season and you already have had a no-hitter in that ball park. It’s time to rethink the dimensions of the ballparks.

And the sky has got so cloudy when it used to be so clear. And the summer went so quickly this year. Yes, there used to be a ballpark, right here.”

For me, I love the home run and the grace and elegance of a triple is terrific. Doubles in the gap are nice. I love the chance of seeing the ball go beyond the reach of the outfielders. That is becoming more and more difficult in today’s game.

Ya Frank. There used to be a ballpark, right here.