Top 20 Rockies Games of 2018
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Colorado Mojo from 2018
Let us listen to the purple row and not forget the magical season of 2018 for Colorado's professional baseball team...
Top 20 Rockies Games of 2018
Top 20 Rockies Games of 2018
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Criminally Undervalued Free-Agent Roster for 2019
In an effort to defy the de-humanizing trends of the mighty mlb empire -- in this case the owners siphoning all the excitement and anticipation out of a fast-approaching Spring Training by colluding to keep veteran wizards unemployed -- I'm obliged to construct a roster of remaining free-agents entering the 2019 season.
If some of us place an aesthetic appreciation of the beautiful game of baseball (as a player, fan, dreamer, etc.) and, in particular, an aesthetic appreciation of all those highly skilled mlb players who make it look so easy as the primary source of our enjoyment (even above winning), such an opinion would no doubt be lambasted by the fiscally anal mob of trolls on the web just as much as the number-crunching poindexters pontificating the virtues of wOBA on their insular little forums.
So be it.
Before I introduce the new team, conceived as an expansion team formed in protest against the collusion of mlb owners, based in .... say .... Montreal (and still going by the name of Expos), let me be frank in addressing the key to my team's success: stylized defense, unorthodox lineups, intelligent hitting approach, and the inherently unquantifiable qualities of spirit, style, and aggressiveness hiding therein.
25-man roster
C: Martin Maldonado (R)
1B: Hanley Ramirez (R)
2B: Brandon Phillips (R)
3B: Yangervis Solarte (S)
SS: Jose Iglesias (R)
LF: Marwin Gonzalez (S)
CF: Adam Jones (R)
RF: Carlos Gonzalez (L)
DH: Evan Gattis (R)
UTIL: Josh Harrison (R)
Bench:
OF - Cameron Maybin (R)
OF - Gerardo Parra (L)
IF - Danny Valencia (R)
Starting Rotation:
1. Gio Gonzalez (LHP)
2. Bartolo Colon (RHP)
3. Ervin Santana (RHP)
4. Brett Anderson (LHP)
5. Edwin Jackson (RHP)
6. Doug Fister (RHP)
Long relief:
1. Jorge De La Rosa (LHP)
2. Jake Diekman (LHP)
Late relief / Closers:
1. AJ Ramos (RHP)
2. Drew Storen (RHP)
3. Santiago Casilla (RHP)
4. Sergio Romo (RHP)
BATTING ORDER:
1. Gonzalez, Marwin - LF
2. Gonzalez, Carlos - RF
3. Hanley Ramirez - 1B
4. Gattis, Evan - DH
5. Solarte, Yangervis - 3B
6. Jones, Adam - CF
7. Phillips, Brandon - 2B
8. Maldonado, Martin - C
9. Iglesias, Jose - SS
Bring it on.
If some of us place an aesthetic appreciation of the beautiful game of baseball (as a player, fan, dreamer, etc.) and, in particular, an aesthetic appreciation of all those highly skilled mlb players who make it look so easy as the primary source of our enjoyment (even above winning), such an opinion would no doubt be lambasted by the fiscally anal mob of trolls on the web just as much as the number-crunching poindexters pontificating the virtues of wOBA on their insular little forums.
So be it.
Before I introduce the new team, conceived as an expansion team formed in protest against the collusion of mlb owners, based in .... say .... Montreal (and still going by the name of Expos), let me be frank in addressing the key to my team's success: stylized defense, unorthodox lineups, intelligent hitting approach, and the inherently unquantifiable qualities of spirit, style, and aggressiveness hiding therein.
25-man roster
C: Martin Maldonado (R)
1B: Hanley Ramirez (R)
2B: Brandon Phillips (R)
3B: Yangervis Solarte (S)
SS: Jose Iglesias (R)
LF: Marwin Gonzalez (S)
CF: Adam Jones (R)
RF: Carlos Gonzalez (L)
DH: Evan Gattis (R)
UTIL: Josh Harrison (R)
Bench:
OF - Cameron Maybin (R)
OF - Gerardo Parra (L)
IF - Danny Valencia (R)
Starting Rotation:
1. Gio Gonzalez (LHP)
2. Bartolo Colon (RHP)
3. Ervin Santana (RHP)
4. Brett Anderson (LHP)
5. Edwin Jackson (RHP)
6. Doug Fister (RHP)
Long relief:
1. Jorge De La Rosa (LHP)
2. Jake Diekman (LHP)
Late relief / Closers:
1. AJ Ramos (RHP)
2. Drew Storen (RHP)
3. Santiago Casilla (RHP)
4. Sergio Romo (RHP)
BATTING ORDER:
1. Gonzalez, Marwin - LF
2. Gonzalez, Carlos - RF
3. Hanley Ramirez - 1B
4. Gattis, Evan - DH
5. Solarte, Yangervis - 3B
6. Jones, Adam - CF
7. Phillips, Brandon - 2B
8. Maldonado, Martin - C
9. Iglesias, Jose - SS
Bring it on.
Monday, January 14, 2019
The Old Man and the Seed
Inverting Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea and turning it into a baseball allegory
Baseball already plays a prominent role in the book:
The Seed --
The technical language surrounding fishing, boating, sailing, etc. will instead describe baseball equipment, tactics, fielding/hitting/throwing techniques, etc.
The Icarus/Daedalus archetype could also still apply, perhaps in the form of a hitter going the distance to break DiMaggio's hit streak record of 56 consecutive games and destroying himself (or his record) in the process.
Nature as presented in the typically modern/masculine/christian-european way, in the form of Man imposing his will upon the sea (discussed as being both feminine la Mar and masculine el Mar) and the battle of Man vs. Nature (with the multitudinous force of Nature getting the best of the heroic masculine individual) is now deconstructed and re-presented as human nature (i.e. errors) and the nature of the game (i.e. failure) and overcoming the odds through solidarity, cooperation, teamwork, ingenuity, imagination, experimentation, and guile.
Baseball already plays a prominent role in the book:
- Santiago admires and idolizes Joe DiMaggio
- Manolin, the boy, shows a similar reverence for Jolten' Joe and the Jankees
- Santiago teaches Manolin about "the baseball" just as he teaches him about fishing
- Manolin's eagerness to learn the art of fishing from the old man could be transposed as an eagerness to learn the art of playing baseball...
The Seed --
- sunflower seeds
- top seed / bottom seed
- the ball when hit hard and fast, with little or no arc (on the ground, line drive)
- the ball when pitched at high velocity
- the ball when thrown across the diamond
- sowing the seed of "a love for baseball" in the mind of the youth
- symbol of youth itself, a seed compared to the old hickory
The technical language surrounding fishing, boating, sailing, etc. will instead describe baseball equipment, tactics, fielding/hitting/throwing techniques, etc.
The Icarus/Daedalus archetype could also still apply, perhaps in the form of a hitter going the distance to break DiMaggio's hit streak record of 56 consecutive games and destroying himself (or his record) in the process.
Nature as presented in the typically modern/masculine/christian-european way, in the form of Man imposing his will upon the sea (discussed as being both feminine la Mar and masculine el Mar) and the battle of Man vs. Nature (with the multitudinous force of Nature getting the best of the heroic masculine individual) is now deconstructed and re-presented as human nature (i.e. errors) and the nature of the game (i.e. failure) and overcoming the odds through solidarity, cooperation, teamwork, ingenuity, imagination, experimentation, and guile.
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