Thoughts on Pedro Martinez

1999 was a special year.  The Red Sox, despite three appearances since Bill Buckner, had not won a play off game in 12 tries over 3 playoff series.  The Indians and the Red Sox were facing each other in the ALDS and in a normal year, I would not expect anything different.  The Indians were led by a (still normal) Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Roberto Alomar and Harold Baines.  The Red Sox had Nomar, and really not much else.  It seemed so long ago.

The difference this year was palpable.  One thing, I mean one Pitcher, slighter than my 13 year old son made this all different, all special.  Pedro Martinez won 23 games, had an ERA of 2.07 and led the league in Strikeouts with 313.  He won the Cy Young that year and was second in the MVP only because a couple of sportswriters decided not to put him on the MVP ballot (Thanks George King!!).  He was the difference this year that we did not have in 1986, 1988, 1990 or 1995.  Yes we had Roger Clemens, but he usually shrunk in the playoffs.  Not Pedro.

His Game 5 appearance, while hurt, while on fumes after leading the team this far, was one of the greatest performances in big league history.

That's what I was thinking while watching his Hall of Fame Speech and number retirement 16 years later.  He's a little pudgier.  He's a little more humble.  But Number 45 was still his huge personality self.  He was speaking off the cuff.  People hated that he didn't seem prepared.  He was still pissed about that 1999 vote and people were pissed about that.  But he was being himself and that what most of us loved.

Although he was only with the Red Sox for 7 years, they were 7 ELECTRIC years that we will never experience again.  Not many righthanders could do that.  And that is when the boys perked up.  All of a sudden, they were interested in Pedro.  The best righthander in Red Sox history?  All of a sudden, 1999 doesn't seem so long ago, when the boys are interested.

More importantly, he is a Red Sox for life.  And that is what's important to me.

2015 Home Run Derby Recap - Who is Todd Frazier?

I got tired of the Home Run Derby.  So many players taking pitch after pitch.  So many players complaining that the Derby was ruing their swing.  Way too much Chris Berman yelling "back, back, back."  There was very little drama and very little excitement.  Everyone would go in turn, the first round took an indefinite amount of time.  We rarely got past the First Round before everyone fell asleep. 

But this year promised to be different.  It would be head to head, rather than against the field.  Order of play was based on some random seedings (but who cares).  It would be timed, rather than based on outs (which led to 20 minute at bats for the more patient hitters).  Runner up last year, Todd Frazier would be in the groupings along with Josh Donaldson (one of C's favorite players), Prince Fielder and the honorable (yet steroid free) Albert Pujols.  We also had Kris Bryant, one of G's Favorite players.  We still had Boomer to listen to, but there seemed to be more excitement based on the fact that the timer makes things more needy for the hitters as time gets long. Mom and DLG almost immediately left the room, although to her credit, she did ask about how many home runs you had to hit to win.

The new format was immediately a hit, as the urgency was palpable and the interminable at-bats were long gone.  So what if Fielder and Manny Machado were gone?  Joc Pederson and Frazier were still in.  And the home runs were flying out of the park.

In the second round, it would be Frazier against Donaldson and Pederson against Pujols.  C was particularly excited because his favorite player was now flip-flopped to Pederson.

Joc

"Dad, have you heard a name like "Joc" before?" C asked me, clearly excited about his new hero.  I had never heard of the guy before, so my answer is "No."

G was not as excited about the Derby as C and I were, particularly when Pujols, one of his favorite players was knocked out by Pederson.  As Frazier beat Donaldson on a walk off last second wall scraper, the Derby became fun again.

Pederson went first and clubbed 14 home runs, including some of the longest home runs hit that night.  What was funny was the pro-Frazier crowd booing every home run and cheering every out.  Wow.  Frazier then came up.  He struggled at the beginning and took his time out.  After the time out ended, his roll began.  Although he needed extra time to do it, his first pitch in bonus time led to his win.

C and I were disappointed since we both wanted the other guy to win, but we were still interested.  Can't wait for next year, Hanley...

2015 New England AAU Championships - The Lost Weekend

Free baseball!  I guess I wouldn't call it free baseball since I pay through the nose for this stuff, but it was free in that both boys received at least 4 more games of baseball without me having to pay for it.  In our neck of the woods, playing AAU baseball meant playing some division games, some out of division games, and then if you are good enough at the end, playing in the New England Regionals. 

We were lucky because both of their teams made the playoffs.  Neither of the boys' teams last year made the playoffs, so it was exciting to see that BOTH of them made it this year.  The format was round robin with 4 teams in each pool.  The best four teams would then go on tot eh Championships the following weekend.  Although we could never afford going tot he US championships, it was fun to talk about Kansas as the next stop if either team won the New Englands.

Welcome to Connecticut!

U10 Team's Path.  I watched the first game at Little Fenway in Freetown, MA on Saturday afternoon.  We played the Lakeville Cardinals earlier in the season here and it was fun to see all of the same angles and the Green Monster.  Although we did not play at the Little Fenway park for the first game that I saw, it was still interesting to walk around the complex.  I Game 1, we played one of the tougher teams, the Northeast Gators.  We split with them in the first doubleheader earlier in the season so despite being the #1 seed, we thought we could take them.  Our ace was out of gas, though, almost immediately and gave up 8 runs in three innings.  G pitched and gave up one run and didn't do anything at the plate, himself.  Sunday was a different matter though, while Mom was with him, the boys won their second game on a walk off Grand Slam in extra innings.  G hit TWO home runs that game to keep it close.  Game 3 was won in a walk over.  It appeared that we were going to be a wild card entry.

U12 Team's Path.  Mom took C on his doubleheader on Saturday to Mansfield, MA.  Only a couple of miles away from the local Buffalo Wild Wings.  They split their doubleheader so they had to win to move on.  C pitched in Game 2 and while garnering the win, had to struggle to get there.  I took C to his final make-or-break game on Sunday.  It was against the Mass Hurricanes, the team that swept C's team in the regular season.  In what has become known as the telephone pole game, C and one of his teammates both hit home runs to left field striking the telephone pole that sat behind the fence.  Behind some strong pitching, we took that game 4-3.  C's home run was an absolute bomb that probably would have traveled 280 feet if not for the pole.  It was a tense game throughout and it was great to see the boys step up when they had to with big hits, big fielding plays and big pitching.  With that win, C's team won their pool and was moving on to the New England Championships.

Mound where G's HR landed

U12 Championship Game.  This was a tough one against the New England Storm.  We got slaughtered ignominiously.  C gave up a grand slam.  The other team's pitcher pitched a perfect game (although to our credit, it was only a 4 inning perfect game because of the slaughter rule).  It was tough.  To top it all off, we were in Brooklyn, Connecticut, which is in the middle of nowhere.  Oh well, it was still a great season.

U10 Championship Game.  G's team played much closer to home in Hanover, MA.  our first game was against the East Cobb Expos - a team from North of Boston.  G topped of a great playoff run with a bomb of a home run and 3 RBIs on two hits.  G's team won the first game to make the Championship Game.  Unfortunately, the run ended their as we again lost to the Northeast Gators.  Even though we had our other ace going, it was a tough row.  G's team kept it close but things fell apart in 4th inning as the Gators scored 9 runs to again defeat G's team by a slaughter rule.

Still a lot of fun.  Forget about how both Championships ended, we were both very proud of the boys.  Yes, it would have been nice to win the whole thing, but they learned a lot about where they are in pecking order.  Not a bad experience at all. 

2015 Diamond Nation And The Seadogs

12U baseball.  Williamsport, Cooperstown Tournaments, District play.  Baseball at this age is busier than anytime until you reach high school (and only if you play Legion ball at the same time).  C is no different.  He's an old 12 year old baseball player so a lot of Town baseball activities are over for him, but in AAU, he was still eligible for the 12U tournaments.

We were desperately looking for tournaments to go to.  He was recruited to play for on in the town next door, but it interfered with our plans for the Summer - not including our plans for that $1,000 that it would have cost him to play.  but there was one tournament we knew he would play - Diamond Nation's Memorial Day Tournament in Flemington, New Jersey.  We had 4 games - 2 on Saturday, 1 on Sunday and 1 on Monday (Monday?) and if we won our pool, we would keep playing into Monday night.

It was an interesting ride down.  8 hours, 5 stops (including an epic stop for Frank Pepe's Pizza in New Haven) and 250 text messages to his teammates later, we arrived at our hotel in Franklin Township.  Of course, he immediately tells me that he wants to go to Diamond Nation 30 minutes away to watch the games.  Seriously?  Seriously.  It was good to figure out how to get there though since our first game on Saturday was going to be 8am.

Game 1.  We played a team from Long Island, New York to begin our tournament.  The Long Island Sharks they were called.  All of a sudden I felt bad wearing my Sharks T-Shirt (me football team).  C was playing CF and batting 3rd.  We were smoked, losing 13-2.  C had an infield single for an RBI in the First Inning, walked and struck out. He made a great play from CF to throw out a runner on a single up the middle.  I guess we aren't going to play late on Monday.

Game 2.  C was starting and batting 3rd.  This was going to be an interesting game since we saw this team (Bucks County, PA) decimate the other team in our pool on Friday Night.  C hadn't pitched much this year because of arm troubles, but he seemed ready.  He gave up a run in the First on a walk, 2 stolen bases (don't get me started about our catchers) and single.  He struck out the side otherwise.  And struck out the side in the second and third inning.  Pretty impressive.  The Fourth inning featured a pop up and two walks.  Again, the catcher had some issues and let the first walk steal second and third and the second walk to steal second.  Runners were now second and third with one out.  Things started to get uncomfortable.  At the point that I started thinking that he was tiring, a passed ball led to a throwout at home.  And then another.  So the catcher being unable to catch a baseball may have actually helped C.  We were still down 1-0 in the bottom of the Fourth.

We started our half of the Fourth with a single from our 2 hitter.  He made it to second a steal.  A duck for C to help himself with and help himself he did with a single over the third baseman's head.  Tied 1-1!  C was left stranded at Second, however.  Fifth inning was like the 2nd and 3rd - K, K, K.  The Sixth Inning started harmlessly enough with a pop fly to center field.  And he drops it!  Leadoff Runner for Bucks County.  Not surprisingly, he steals send and third.  A walk and steal had runners at second and third.  While the coach was going to leave him in because it was his game.  but he came out as his arm was sore.  The next pitcher promptly gave up a three run homer.  We ended up losing that game 6-1.  C gave up 1 Earned Run and had 12 Ks.  Not bad.

Game 3.  Under the lights against Tri-Town, another team from Pennsylvania.  C was out most of the game with that sore arm, but stayed in as the extra hitter.  He had an infield single, hit-by-pitch and groundout.  We ended up losing on a walk off home run after blowing a 4-2 lead int eh Sixth Inning.  0-3 for the tournament.

Home Run Ball

Game 4.  This was the game on Monday afternoon.  The boys were playing for pride and to try to wake up the bats as we only scored 7 runs in the first three games.  The game didn't start well, though as we gave up 10 runs in the first inning.  Errors, walks, dropped third strikes, infield singles.  Ugh.  Although I was thinking about getting an earlier start on the road home.  That 10-0 lead disappeared within 2 innings though as the Seadogs made the score 10-7 highlighted by C's towering 3-run home run over the RF wall.  We were losing 15-7 in the fifth when another explosion occurred, again highlighted by C's tie breaking two-run ground rule double.  At this point at 250 people were watching the game (most of them pissed) as we went over our time allotment. We ended up losing the game in the sixth inning 18-16 despite having the lead going into the sixth inning.  A single finished of a 3 for 4 game. 

So we went 0-4.  We were in three of the games, blowing leads in the last inning of two games and being tied in the sixth inning of the third.  Not too shabby for a small little team from Southeastern Massachusetts.  C had a great tournament and had a lot of fun with his buddies.  On the way home C falls asleep in the car.  He wakes up briefly with a smile on his face.  "Remember when..." and he goes on to tell me a couple of stories.  I'll take it.

Are the Golden State Warriors Taking Over the World?

"Draymond Green is a beast!" C tells me as he grumpily gets up before school.

"Did you see Stephen Curry's fall?  It looked like he got killed!"  G tells me as he walks downstairs before school.  "One of the Splash Brothers went down."

"Is LeBron James still playing basketball?" DLG asks me.  Wrong team, I know, but she is still excited for the NBA playoffs.  Even if she doesn't know who is playing or what we're talking about.

"Do you know where my pocketbook is" Mom asks me.  She not worried about the NBA Playoffs, unfortunately.

Beast Mode

The Golden State Warriors are taking over the world!  C and I were listening to Game 4 on the radio on our way home from baseball Monday night.  Even though the Warriors played terribly, particularly in the First Quarter of Game 4, Curry was still raining threes.  Draymond Green was still hauling down rebounds.  Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson started amping up the defense after horrendous First Quarter.  Curry hits a couple of threes and C actually perked up.  It didn't matter that James Harden was on fire shooting and driving to the basket.

"He's a monster!  Did you see that?" No.  I am a part of the "We Believe" group though.

G can name everyone on the team, including Andrew Bogut and Leandro Barbosa.  After 67 wins, dominant, if not exciting, playoffs series wins, the Warriors are on the verge of the NBA Finals for the first time since the age of World B. Free.  The boys can't wait for the series to be over so the Lebronnies and the Warriors can play for all of the marbles.  If I could go to Oracle Arena tomorrow, I would.

But the Warriors' phenomenon is different.  In the age of Social Media, Curry and the Splash Brothers are an easy sell.  The Warriors play the pace and space game and kids hauling up 3s glom onto like flies on honey.  They even call themselves splash.  Do they realize that we live in Boston Celtics' country?  It also has a lot to do with the front runner status.  Kids like winners more than anything else.  And because the backlash by adults (and the kids who write sports columns) hasn't started yet (Hello LeBron!), the Warriors are the new home team.  Just like the Cowboys and the Steelers were the "home" team back when I was growing up in the 1970's.

It's human nature for a likable group to start taking over the world.  better them than ISIS, I suppose.

Oh yeah, I like the NBA Finals ad music.  Can't wait to listen to more of it.