Posts belonging to Category Players

–  Congrats to Tim Wakefield on his 200^th win.  Dude is 45 (2^nd oldest pitcher to ever record 200 wins btw) and throws a flippin’ knuckleball.  That tells you a lot about the guy.

–  Was J.P. Howell actually crying in the dugout after giving up that dinger to Matt Weiters?  I wonder what Jimmy Dugan would have said to him.

–  Does anybody else think that Charlie Furbush might have been a beaver trapper in some previous life?  And was Doug Fister a former Gonzo style actor?  Where does Seattle find these names?

–  I am not sure which one of these home runs got out of the yard faster, but I would have been getting out of the way of both Ryan Braun’s walk-off and Josh Hamilton’s laser. (Unless I had a glove of course…but I am no longer 7-years-old and when I go to games my hands hold beer.)

–  Speaking of homeruns, I am unsure of which homerun swing is more fun to watch…that of a fat kid named Prince, or the swing of a miniature named Dustin?  Either way, I love watching these two guys take hacks.

–  I loved watching Gerardo Parra drop trou (short for trousers you morons) and squeeze out a Clevland Steamer all over a Hong-Chih Kuo’s fastball after getting buzzed.  And I appreciated not only his massive pimping of that homerun, but that he looked at Kuo and grabbed his nuts after the up and in pitch…classic.

–  Troy Patton got the 1^st win of his big league career last night.  Congrats buddy.  I was fortunate enough to be teammates with Troy at the 2003 Tournament of Stars and watched him mow through hitters like a riding lawnmower.  Congrats Troy, it’s about time you got that W.

–  Does Rick Ankiel ever look back on his past and think, “Why did I ever waste time trying to pitch?”  Probably not, but I think that after watching him throw out yet another runner last night.

–  And to close out this edition of Changeups and Screwballs, the way he has done 600 times for the Yankees, is Mariano Rivera.  He’s closed out every last game with one team, and one pitch.  Congrats, Mariano.

In conjunction with Dee’s post about our recent Grinnell College alumni weekend, I thought it would be a nice change-of-pace to post some videos from our glory days.

We’ll get things going with a yardball from Dee circa 2008.  He may have only hit a couple in his college career, but that no-doubt trot would have you think otherwise.  Things to look for: the light wind that accentuates his flowing mane; his Brandon Phillips-like speed around the bases; Dee screaming “Gotta Eat!” right before touching the plate.

“It’s gotta be the hair, Cotton. It’s beautiful! Feathered and lethal.”

Here’s a double-dose of Dee.  In this video, he demonstrates his defensive prowess:

Next up is yours truly, going yard and unabashedly pumping my fists before hitting first base:

I know, tough act to follow. But this just might top it. Here’s Ryan Harris getting knocked cold while trying to catch an infield pop up.  This is precisely why the pitcher needs to get the hell out of the way, unless you’re Harris, who lives for these plays.  Not only did he catch the ball, but he also received a few stitches to commemorate the play.

And now for the Sombrero’s newest staff writer, Jim Malewitz. In 2008, Jyme Tyme was an extra-base machine. He also happens to be a ginger, which frankly frightens the crap out of me.

And last but not least, me again.  This might be the best catch I’ve ever made (in the outfield). I was told I should have pimped it and flipped the ball to our fans, which would have only been for show.  It’s not like we can afford to just give away game balls like that in Division III baseball, folks.

Of all people, Juan Francisco clubbed one of 2011’s more impressive home runs in the second inning of Monday night’s game against the Cubs.  Francisco unloaded on a 1-0 “fastball” from Rodrigo Lopez, blasting it out out of Great American Ball Park to right field at an estimated 502-feet.  ESPN Home Run Tracker (formerly Hit Tracker Online) estimated it’s true distance at 482-feet, which is still pretty remarkable. The video also features Brandon Phillips’ upper-deck, tape-measure shot off Lopez, which traveled 422-feet.

–  How bout those Rays?  Can they really pull the rabbit out of the hat and clench a playoff berth?  I mentioned this earlier as a joke, but the Tampa Bay Rays are about to pull a Houdini.

–  But which is more impressive- The Rays surge, or the Boston Red Sox collapse?

–  Good old Manny being Manny again…or is it Manny being Kirby now?  Either way, at least Manny Ramirez’s legacy was already tarnished, right?  Makes this episode just a bit less shocking.

–  I am not sure what all the hullaballo was about MLB not allowing the Mets to wear hats that did not meet the “uniform” requirements as written in the rulebook.  It is a rule people.  And it is not like there were not other ways that the Mets, and every other NFL and MLB team used to show support for all of 9/11.  Sure, they could have shown a little leeway, but then they might be setting a precedent that could cause problems somewhere down the unforeseen road.

–  Someone asked me to describe teaching 6^th graders in a single sentence the other day…and this is what I came up with- “Teaching 6^th grade is the equivalent of herding cats.”

–  Watching a player begin his decline as a ball player is always difficult.  It is even more difficult when said player has never given anyone a reason to hate.  That said, it will be interesting to see how Ichiro Suzuki‘s 2012 campaign goes.  Is him not reaching 200 hits that big a deal this year?  Does it mark the start of his decline?  Only time will tell.

–  Good luck to Andrew McCutchen while negotiating what hopefully turns out to be a favorable deal with the Pirates.  It’s really exciting to see a team like Pittsburgh rising from their grave.  It gives Astros fans hope.

–  Speaking of the Houston Astros, we currently host 16 rookies on our roster, with 10 of them being pitchers.  Yikes.  Talk about rebuilding.

 

Labor Day weekend across the United States marks in many ways the end of summer.  For students this means a return to the lab and the classroom.  For working Americans it means, well, I’ve never really been a “working American”, so I’m not exactly sure.  Regardless, at Grinnell College in central Iowa, Labor Day meant, at least for a collection of baseball alums, a return to the town and school that was our home for four years.  For this particular alum, it marked the first return trip since 2008.  In fact, despite frequent communication via text, email, and this blog, I had not seen Arlo (Mike) since we bid farewell to Robbie prior to his departure to London for veterinary school around three years ago.  Words simply cannot explain what it meant to see these people again.  In many ways the entire weekend truly felt as though I was still a member of the GC baseball team getting used to a new semester back in Iowa with my friends and teammates.

Grinnell College and Tim Hollibaugh, the head coach of the Pioneers, have shaped the lives of each player who has stepped between the lines for GC.  It is impossible to say what each of us would be doing had we not been teammates at Grinnell, but what each of us has done since we graduated is rather inspiring, at least, for me.  We all seem to be moving in directions that will allow us to be happy adults and positive contributors to each of our environments.  While we all probably had very busy weeks and months ahead, everyone seemed able to let go of work/school for the weekend and very relaxed as a result.  During our time together, I’m not sure any of us had what could possibly constitute a serious conversation.  Amidst an entire weekend full of inside jokes and recollecting our times shared years ago, we walked away from Grinnell still in nearly every way the same kids and ballplayers we were during our time in the scarlet and black.

The good fortune and persistent recruiting that somehow was able to land us all in the same small town in Iowa will never fully be accounted for by any of us, but there is no way to really describe how thankful I am now for spending my collegiate experience there with the group of guys that I did.  In talking with some of the current GC players, I was reminded of just what it felt like to be a student and athlete there.  They surprised me with how aware they were of who they are and what the game and the team meant to them.  The Pioneers of today make me endlessly proud to call myself an alum.  I am very confident that they will hoist the MWC trophy in 2012.

I don’t think the game ever leaves our lives, even after our play between the lines comes to an end.  During fungo work over the weekend, I was reminded of what it was that made me a valuable member of the Pioneer team and even before.  My hands in the infield allowed me to stay on the field well beyond what my bat could justify, and picking the ball up was always something I could do pretty well.  In watching Robbie and Arlo take cuts, I was reminded of just how well they swung the bat.  Robbie got more out of his set of tools than anyone I’ve ever known and continues to do so in London today.  Mike may not even be done improving.  His arm has held up better than any of the rest of the other alums’, and I think his bat has a little more lift in it than it used to, although it’s a little tough to recall since I had not seen him take a cut in three years.  It is my belief that if not for baseball and constantly trying to grip four-seams as quickly as possible that my hands could not adequately control a dental handpiece or forceps.  Labor Day weekend reminded me of that, but this time it likely was dentistry that had kept my hands in decent shape for groundball work instead of vice versa.

My experience at Grinnell is something I am very proud of, but I don’t think I understood how proud until I returned after some time away.  Seeing the new yard and the new athletic center as well as the current crop of players reinforced in me the positive direction in which the program is headed.  I feel very proud when Coach Hollibaugh suggests that Rob, Mike, and I helped begin the program’s climb, even though it is my belief that Kevin Byrne essentially taught us how to be captains.  As we’ve moved into our own lives independent of one another, this weekend, more so than perhaps anything else, reminded me that we are not and will never be fully independent of our teammates.  My time at Grinnell particularly shapes what I do on a daily basis, and I could not be prouder of the friendships I made while I was there and the time I spent as a Pioneer.  I would like to thank all of my fellow baseball alums for making Labor Day weekend as meaningful as it was for me.  Marsh, special thanks to you for helping organize it.

GO PIONEERS!