The Plight of The Baltimore Orioles

So, the Orioles give their interim manager, Dave Trimbley, a contract extension and then proceed to lose 10 of the next 11 games; including 9 in a row and are "no-hit" by a rookie making his second major league start. They also lose a game; the game played the night he recieved the extension in fact, by a score of 30 - 3... the first time a major league team had given up 30 runs in well over a century (110 years to be exact...).

Now the O's find themselves in a battle of epic proprotions... to stay out of the cellar! Their lead over the last place Tampa Bay Devil Rays has shrunk to 4 games and tonight they start a three game series in Tampa Bay against the Devil Rays before heading home to face the mighty Boston Red Sox.This is the time of year when teams like Tampa Bay (and some would expect, the Orioles) to play the part of "spoiler"... the Rays did their part, in fact, by taking two of three from the Yankees in New York over the weekend!

But it could be that the Orioles are destined to free-fall through the end of the year.And that begs the question; should a manager who has just been given an extension be terminated before he starts his first full season as manager? Is it just coincidence that the Orioles have become a laughing stock almost the very minute the contract was extended?

My suggestion, much to the chagrin of the fans of the O's I'm sure, would be to tear that team down and rebuild it from the ground up. Trade who you can for what you can and release the rest. There is just something in the core of the Orioles that will not let them win; will not let them achieve even up to expectations; forget the magic of teams that exceed what they seem capable of... like the Arizona Diamondbacks this season...

So, I'd bring in the wrecking ball... and I'd start in the front office; getting rid of anybody who is involved in baseball decisions, because it's pretty obvious to an outside observer that those decisions have been wrong.

For well over a decade now...

BASEBALL AND MOVIES: BULL DURHAM

BASEBALL & MOVIES: BULL DURHAM

Costner and Sarandon Sizzle in the Best Baseball Movie Ever!

Though it's been almost twenty years since it was releases, Bull Durham still tops almost every list of great baseball movies.

Part of the allure is the quality of the baseball and part, of course, is the sexual chemistry between Costner and Sarandon.

(Spoiler Alert)

The movie opens with a young fireball pitcher named Ebby Calvin LaLoosh (played to the hilt by Tim Robbins) having sex with a young girl named Millie (Jenny Robertson in her first screen performance) in the bathroom of the clubhouse. He is due to pitch in five minutes. His manager is displeased that he is "leaving his fastball in some piece of ass" but Ebby Calvin proves him wrong. His fastball is still there, just uncontrollable as he walks an incredible 18 in his first start, plus hits any and everything in sight.

After the game, Crash Davis enters the clubhouse. Davis (Costner) is a AAA catcher who has been reassigned to A ball to help teach and mature the kid to prepare him for "the Show", as the Major Leagues are referred to. He is unhappy initially to have his contract bought out babysit the flavor of the month but getting a chance to play everyday is in his blood, plus he is closing in on the record for career minor league home runs.

Later that night, Annie meets both Crash and Ebby at a bar and takes them home with her. She lays out the ground rules for having a relationship with her but Crash leaves, telling her he's "not interested in a woman who's interested in that boy." So Annie commits to Ebby (who she nicknames "Nuke") for the season.

During the season Annie and Nuke's relationship grows all the while she and Crash start pining for each other. However, as she stated, she is committed to Nuke for the season, and she remains monogamous during the baseball season. However Annie finds frustration as she convinces Nuke to rechannel his sexual energy into baseball and he starts winning and won't have sex until he loses. Meanwhile she is getting hotter and hotter for crash who now spurns her again.

I won't divulge any more of the story, but will say that this movie; despite it's sports theme, is as much romance and personal drama as it is sports. And the acting and photography are as solid as any, the dialog is incredible. Despite being a sports-themed movie, it is also one of those films that you can almost forget is sports themed!

Costner was in his hey-day, Sarandon was in her prime, and Robbins played the perfect foile for both! I give this one a solid and well deserved 5 out of 5 stars!

And if you don't have it or haven't seen it, I'm pretty sure there will be a 20th anniversary edition next year! :D

WASHINGTON NATIONALS ACQUIRE WILLIE MO PENA

Red Sox send outfielder to DC for player to be named later.


The Washington Nationals picked up disgruntled outfielder Willie Mo Pena (seen in the accompanying picture after hitting a home run for his new team) from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a player to be named later this weekend. The move was made to make room on the Red Sox roster for outfielder Bobby Kielty. While Pena was an unwanted man in Boston, he had been a target of the Washington Nationals for a couple of years now.

Pena never found a regular job in Boston despite being considered a top prospect for years. He does have a lot of power and given consistant at bats should be good for 30 plus home runs per season.

The knock on Pena has always been his questionable defense. Hitting is beyond a doubt his forte. The plan in DC is for Willie Mo to platoon in left field and fill in occasionally in center and left field. Days that he doesn't start will probably find him in a pinch hitting role.

Nat's manager Manny Acta is a former minor league manager of Pena and several players on the squad are familiar with him from their shared time as memebers of the Cincinatti Reds, who traded Pena to Boston before the 2006 season.

The pickup of the outfielder is the most recent transaction that shows promise for next season as the DC team builds for their future in a new stadium. The signings of Dmitri Young and Ronnie Belliard also show this is a team that is thinking toward the future and building a nice mix of young players and quality veterans.

As it happened, Pena blasted his first home run as a member of the Nationals today. I suspect it is but the first of many he will hit for DC in the years to come.

I'm Back!

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=6487940

To quote the Terminator, "I'm Ba-aack"... been out of the country on business but will try to catch up on my postings here.

First off, my most recent post regarding Ty Wigginton; while I was gone from this forum he was indeed traded; ending up in Houston in a trade for Astros relief pitcher Dan Wheeler.

So I missed the destination, but I knew they'd use him to upgrade the bullpen. Give me half credit?

I also have received my copy of "Raspberries: Live on Sunset Strip"... and it was everything I expected and more.

As it happened I was order #18 out of the 300 that were pre-sold in December and came with the entire cd set of 21 songs plus all 21 songs performed on the DVD! It was only available online from http://www.rasperriesonline.com/ and came signed and numbered by the band along with some nice extras, like an official "Rasperries" pin. (The LE sold out so quickly that many long-time fans missed out, so the band has offered a special edition online as well... that gives you everything I got except the pin and outographs. If you're a die-hard fan of the 'berries, you'll have to get this. If not, a deluxe set is available in select stores, and through sites like amazon.com that contain 21 songs on 2 cd's along with a five song DVD... )

Lots of other events to discuss that I'll get to in future posts. Until then, take care all. :D

THE BIDDING WAR BEGINS: EVERYBODY WANTS WIGGINTON!

AS THE BASEBALL TRADING DEADLINE NEARS, EVERYBODY WANTS TY WIGGINTON.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in a position similar to the position they've been in at the end of every July of their existance. They are out of a pennant race. And some of their players are considered potential parts for other teams.

This season the guy getting the most notice is second baseman Ty Wigginton.

Wigginton is another of Tampa Bay's famous retreads; guys who washed out elsewhere but found new life and revived their career at the Trop (Tropicana Field in Tampa/St. Petersburg).

Wigginton (pictued with team mate Johnny Gomes) has been a major assett to the Devil Rays for the past two seasons. Playing third base, second base, first base and the outfield; as well as occasionally DH'ing, he was well on his way to a 100 RBI season before injuries derailed him in '06. This season he's batting .275 with 16 homers and 49 RBI as of this writing.

Rumors involving Minnesota and the Yankees interest have been floating around for weeks; one trade had Ty going to the Yankees for relief pitcher Scott Proctor.

Wigginton would be a huge assett to the Yankees; giving them a solid hitter at first base and flexibility at several other positions. Ty could fill in a super-utility role with the Pinstripers.

As of today however that trade has not been completed and now rumor has it that the Red Sox and Mets are two other teams that have interest.

The Red Sox interest me as a Rays fan; I know they've been disenchanted with Coco Crisp, their center fielder and I know that they have a couple of young pitchers who would look good in Tampa; and there has been rumor that Carl Crawford could be moved as well. A blockbuster trade is not out of the realm of possibility; especially now that John Lester, the Boston hurler who battled cancer, pitched so well his first game back in the bigs.

The Mets of course have a couple of talented prospects as well but I'm not sure they're as deep in pitching. Were this to turn into a bidding war, the Yankees hold the edge as they are have the strongest crop of young pitching prospects.

The trading deadline often produces little but sometimes trades that are made impact the teams for years to come... in 1987 for example, the Tigers were hot on the trail of a division title and needed that pitching boost. The Braves, then on a par with todays Devil Rays, had a proven starter named Doyle Alexander, who the Tigers wanted. They traded a minor league pitcher to the Braves and rode Alexander's arm into the playoffs that year, he was amazing down the stretch and went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA for the team down the stretch.

Oh yeah, the guy the Braves got? John Smoltz, a probable Hall of Fame'r when he retires; the only player in history with over 200 victories and 150 saves, and still going strong; a 10 - 5 record this season with a 2.78 ERA thus far.

Will the Devil Rays get someone like that for Ty Wigginton? Not likely, and certainly not intentionally... but then had the Tigers known what and who John Smoltz would become, he probably would still be with the AL Central team.

But there is no way to know how a player will mature or what injuries he might endure. Things have a way of never going exactly as you expect them to. Like the Mets, being interested in acquiring Ty Wigginton after they gave up on him once.

Will Wigginton end up in Boston, Minnesota, one of the NY clubs? Or will he remain in Tampa Bay, where he is a fan favorite for his hard-nosed style of play and clutch hitting? Time will tell... and most likely it will tell is in the next few days.

BELOW THE RADAR MOVIES: SWORDFISH

SWORDFISH (2001) (R)

Starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry & Don Cheadle

OK. It might be a stretch to say that a movie snuck "under the radar" if it sold over 12 million tickets between the US and the UK, but Swordfish managed to do it.

Opening with around $18 Million in ticket sales for it's premiere weekend in June of that year, Swordfish stayed in theaters and plugged away until the studio pulled it after the events of 9/11. (Due to an exploding building that is prominent in the movie.) When the box office totals were tallied, Swordfish totalled just short of $70 million compared to an approximate production cost of $80 million. Obviously with overseas tickets and DVD sales, a profit was turned but this was not a blockbuster by studio standards.

Which is a shame. Swordfish is a solid movie, a great story, and one hell of a ride. Travolta plays Gabriel, a somewhat shady government agent who hatches a scheme to steal several billion dollars that have been "lost and forgotten" by the government so he can finance a take-it-to-em war on terror. His sidekick is Ginger (Berry) who helps him recruit computer-whiz Stanley Jobson (Jackman), who had once hacked into government computers and will be sent back to prison if he is caught using a computer again.

Naturally the cop who originally arrested Jobson (Cheadle) almost immediately finds out that he's involved in something but Ginger tells him not to worry because she's actually a DEA agent who is undercover and knows about his problem and will vouch for him when the time comes.

Adding to the undercurrent is the fact that Jobson's ex wife has taken his daughter and won't allow her to see him. She has married a producer of adult films who has money, which Jobson no longer does, and can fight him in court with a team of lawyers if he tries to see the girl.

This movie has some wonderful performances, a good chemistry between the characters, and the effects are top notch. We're talking about a movie here that has a myriad of twists and turns and very few people are exactly who or what they seem.

There is some language issue here, there is a scene with a topless Berry, and some serious violence so be aware this is not a movie for the kiddees. But if the kids are in bed, or gone... or old enough to share a grown up movie, this is one that you will enjoy.

Better Late Than Never: Carlos Pena Lives Up To The Hype

DEVIL RAYS FIRST BASEMAN FINDS A HOME





Carlos Pena was a has been. Or more appropriately he was a "never was."



The former first round draft pick (#10 overall in 1998 by the Texas Rangers), great things have been expected from the native of the Dominican Republic virtually ever since.



While not a rocket ride, his trip through the Rangers farm system did nothing to diminish those expectations. He was labeled as their "first baseman of the future."



However just prior to Pena's expected rise to the bigs, the Rangers previous crop of rookies began to hit like there was no tomorrow. And while Pena did play in 22 games for Texas in '01, Hank Blalock and Mark Texiera made sure that there was no need for Pena to wear a Rangers uniform.



So the gifted hitter was packaged in a trade to the Oakland A's where he was deemed as the next coming, the best hitter to man the first base sack since Jason Giambi had toiled in Oakland. However Pena kind of stutter-stepped at the start and lost his job in Oakland by batting a dismal .218 with only 7 homers in his first forty games with his new team.



Many were surprised at just how quickly Oakland gave up on the much hyped hitter. However while Oakland chose to move in a different direction, Detroit was more than glad to give their first base job to Pena and traded for him.



Pena's stay in Detroit was a decent trial period. However he did fail to live up to the hype. Carlos finished up the '02 season as the Tigers regular at first base and kept the job through the '04 season. However his best year with Detroit, '04, yielded just a .241 batting average with 27 homers and 82 runs batted in 142 games. Pretty pedestrian numbers by first base standards.



When the first half of the '05 season showed no progress, Pena lost his job and saw his time in Detroit come to an end. After signing with the Red Sox and playing in just 18 major league games in '06, many thought that the super prospect had officially failed to live up to expectations. In fact few thought he'd ever have a regular job in the major leagues again.



Enter the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. A team that has never finished with more than 70 victories in any season tends to sift through other teams garbage hoping to find something worthwhile. They took a flier on Pena, hoping to piece maybe half a season out of him as a stop-gap at first base while their own heralded prospects at first base got some experience at the AAA level.



Suddenly, after a slow start, the Carlos Pena that the world had expected to see for the past five years showed up. At this writing he has a .297 batting average with 22 home runs and 60 runs batted in for his first 78 games at with Tampa. He is, in fact, 2nd in the league in OPS (on base plus slugging) percentage with a nifty 1.029, second only to Alex Rodriguez' 1.054.



I had a chance to catch the D-Rays in a pair of games at Tropicana Field in Tampa this season and Pena looked solid, made a dazzling play in the field and hit a ball that left the park in a hurry.



The Devil Rays have a few guys they have rescued from the trash pile. Guys like Ty Wigginton and Al Reyes who have resurrected their careers under the dome in St. Petersburg (where the Rays actually play their home games.)



Now the team is starting to think that Carlos Pena may indeed be their "first baseman of the future"... and Carlos Pena may have found an unlikely home at "the Trop."