Having not written anything recently, I feel completely lost as I try to put together something for Sombrero Nation.  I checked the files on both my work computer and home computer, and found out that I have eight different blog posts started, just waiting for me to finish them.  For whatever reason, I just have not finished anything I started to write.  It is time to fix that.  Forget the lead in.  Forget fluency.  Forget about even reading a “true” article.  All this is going to be is a collection of my thoughts on baseball.  I call them…Randoms.

-       Tim Kurkjian recently said he believes that the Astros will lose 300 games over the next 3 years.  Oddly, I am not surprised by, or in tears because of, this estimate.

-       Bubba Starling choosing the Royals over the Huskers makes me smile.  For one, I hate watching phenomenal athletes waste their time playing other sports when they could be playing baseball.  Secondly, Nebraska is where college quarterbacks go to die, and that would be a terrible endgame for such a gifted athlete.

-       I tried to explain that opinion to my mom at dinner last night.  All she could do is smile and nod her head.  At least she checks the blog on a daily basis.  Love you, mom!  Thanks for your support.

-       I wish Brettsta would write more for the Sombrero.  He has nasty wordplay skills.  (Editor’s note: I agree and welcome any and all submissions.)

-       Being an Astros fan is finally exciting again.  As much as I will miss competing, I find the direction the club is heading to be fulfilling enough right now.

-       Why is Carlos Zambrano so far removed from his own sanity?  Was he dropped on his head as a newborn?

-       I had a legitimate discussion with one of the 6^th graders in my classroom about how Justin Verlander should win the AL Cy Young.  I was very impressed, to say the least.

-       Will somebody please kick Bryce Harper in the junk already?  Seriously, this is inexcusable at the professional level.

-       Why do I keep falling for Ricky Nolasco’s Jekyll and Hyde routine?  That 33 era he posted the other night might have finally done it for me.

-       I really wish I had learned how to throw a cutter when I was in college.  It is just such a nasty pitch from the left side.

-       The Fantasy Focus baseball podcast on ESPN is excellent.  I listen to it everyday at lunch and thoroughly enjoy listening to the hilarity interspersed with fantasy analysis.  If you have not listened to it, I suggest you check it out.

-       I would really like to find out how many other people are tired of the Brian Wilson “I’m Trying Really Hard So Somebody Please Look at Me” show.  He should really just sit down with Timmy Jim, burn one down, and relax.

-       This was a fun piece to write.  Let me know if I should do something like this once a week.

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Bottom 2: Xavier Nady called out on strikes against Madison Bumgarner

Bottom 4: Nady struck out swinging against Bumgarner

Bottom 6: Nady struck out swinging against Bumgarner

Bottom 9: Nady struck out swinging against Brian Wilson

Final Line: 0-for-4, 4 K

Notes: Nady’s golden sombrero on Wednesday raised his season strikeout total to 32, which is also how many hits he has thus far.  And just to add to insult, Wilson fanned Nady on three consecutive pitches in the ninth.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 43

Top 1: Carlos Gonzalez struck out on a foul tip against Ryan Vogelsong

Top 4: Gonzalez called out on strikes against Vogelsong

Top 6: Gonzalez struck out swinging against Vogelsong

Top 9: Gonzalez struck out swinging against Brian Wilson

Final Line: 0-for-4, 4 K

Notes: CarGo struck out swinging in each of his four at-bats on Sunday against the San Francisco Giants.  Three of his strikeouts were against Ryan Vogelsong, who is pitching out of his mind right now.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 37

• Splashing Pumpkins takes a look back at some of the more notable home runs hit by the San Francisco Giants in 2010 thanks to information provided by Hit Tracker.  With sluggers like Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff, and Pablo Sandoval, you will never guess who owns the year’s biggest bomb…

• These days I feel like most of us have forgotten how good Grady Sizemore was from 2005-2008.  Over those four seasons, Sizemore appeared in three All-Star games while playing in 639 of 748 possible games for the Cleveland Indians.  But after several injuries – the most recent being a microfracture in his knee – Sizemore has only played in 139 games over the last two seasons.  Now in the last year of his contract, Craig Calcaterra speculates whether the Indians will pick up his $8 million option for 2012.

• After the success of the HBO Series Hard Knocks and Penguins/Capitals 24/7 (although I am admittedly a bigger fan of the MLB Network’s programming), Showtime has decided to feature a similar, all-access show on the San Francisco Giants.  As if Brian Wilson didn’t already treat his life like it was a reality series…

• After being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, Ryan Theriot took several jabs at his former team and new rival, the Chicago Cubs.  More specifically, Theriot stated that he was, “Finally on the right side of the Cubs-Cards rivalry.” His former teammates, especially Koyie Hill, didn’t appreciate “The Riot’s” remarks.  He hinted that the Cubs will likely retaliate when Theriot comes to Wrigley, and even acknowledged that, “There’s probably a chance he’s going to feel how hard the dirt is around the home-plate batter’s box.”

• It’s ‘Hideous Ballplayer Week’ over at Diamond Hoggers, and they are gladly accepting any and all suggestions.  What is ‘Hideous Ballplayer Week,’ you ask? Well, I’ll let them explain it:

• “These guys don’t have to be the guy who failed to get a hit in 18 career at-bats. That’s almost not even having the chance to qualify for being hideous. If you’re thinking of the guy who constantly got on your nerves by having one horrible at-bat after another over the course of his career; you’re on the right track. If you have a story or anecdote that illustrates something surrounding the game of baseball that is completely inexcusable and awful, we need it.”

• Our noble leader of the General Chapter in the Baseball Bloggers Alliance wrote a compelling article that evaluates whether Andy Pettitte is a Hall of Famer.  By comparing his career numbers to several Hall of Fame pitchers, and some who are Hall of Fame hopefuls, Blogging From The Bleachers puts Pettitte’s great career in a new perspective.  Although his numbers and accomplishments place him in an elite group of pitchers, the fact that he used PEDs  (although I am able to look past it considering that he was one of the few who told the truth) will ultimately be the deciding factor in his Hall of Fame candidacy.

• As a Chicago White Sox fan, I was thrilled to learn that Joe Crede is back in baseball after signing a one-year, Minor League deal with the Colorado Rockies. Crede, who was an integral member of the 2005 Championship team, is my second-favorite White Sox third baseman of all-time – after Robin Ventura, obviously.  Many forget just how good Crede was (+57.9 career UZR) before an assortment of injuries derailed his career and nearly wiped him off the map.  This past weekend, while at the Missouri High School Coaches Conference, I talked with a coach who played against Crede in high school.  Without hesitation, he asserted that Crede was the greatest player he had ever seen, and his success in 2005 was a long time in the making.

Around The League is a series that highlights some of the baseball’s best articles and writers.  Have an article that you would like us to consider?  Be sure to either email us or send it our way on Twitter.



When Dad and I woke up for the final day of the Four Ballparks, Four Cities, Four Days trip, we realized immediately that we had some serious ground to cover.  Although we could walk to Ballpark #3 from our Los Angeles Hilton, it was located a full 375 miles from Ballpark #4—Chase Field in beautiful downtown Phoenix, Arizona.

So off we went into the desert, our trusty Toyota Corolla pointed directly toward The City that Sleeps at 7PM.  I wasn’t sure what to expect in the six-hour drive, save for a colleague’s admonition from before I left the office—make sure your air conditioning works.  At first I wasn’t sure how seriously I needed to take this on a beautiful 80-degree day in Los Angeles.  However, as we drove deeper into the desert, the temperature steadily climbed into the 90’s before finally cracking the triple digits.  Before we crossed the Arizona state line, the Corolla’s thermometer read 105, which (not coincidentally I am certain) represented a higher number than the populations of several towns we passed along the way.

After lunch at Carl’s Jr, which brought back fond memories of the “2 for $3” burger days at the Hardee’s on West Street in Grinnell, we arrived at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, less than half a mile from the ballpark.  After a quick check of scores around MLB (a first-inning Carlos Gonzalez bomb had given the Rockies an early three-run lead at Coors Field), we walked over to the ballpark for the final game of the four-day trip.

Chase Field was the first indoor baseball stadium I had ever visited.  Located in the middle of downtown Phoenix, the surrounding area is upscale and modern, but like Los Angeles, there is a dearth of pre- and postgame options.  This was unsurprising given the fact that most of the town (aside from Walgreens) shuts down at 8PM, and as a result, we did not see many people hanging out around the ballpark, though of course the Diamondbacks’ anemic record undoubtedly contributed to this phenomenon as well.

The ballpark itself opened in 1998, the first year of the Diamondbacks’ existence.  Though it does not have the history of Dodger Stadium, a 2001 World Championship banner still hangs proudly within its gates after a World Series when the Diamondbacks went 4-0 at home, denying the Yankees a fourth straight title after the famous Luis Gonzalez walk-off single off of Mariano Rivera in the most important save opportunity of his storied career.  This year’s Diamondbacks, however, were not of championship caliber, even if their uniforms did look better.

As we settled into our seats right behind home plate (and incidentally, right behind baseball operations analyst Sam Eaton), we could not help but think the idea of playing baseball indoors was a strange one.  Having a roof over our heads as we watched batting practice was a brand-new experience, and although the roof was opened immediately prior to game time, the game still had an indoor feel to it.  Although the indoor experience was certainly not unpleasant by any standard, it did feel like a little bit of a gimmick (like the stadium’s “Party Pool” in right-center field) to someone who has watched hundreds of professional baseball games, all in outdoor settings.

The announced attendance was sub-20,000 and the number of fannies that actually ended up in seats was well below even that paltry figure.  And true to form, the home team gave them very little to cheer about as the Giants took a 3-0 lead on an Aubrey Huff bomb and a Jose Guillen RBI single before the D-backs even grabbed their bats.  Tim Lincecum, though, coming off a shaky August, was brilliant.  He didn’t allow a baserunner until Miguel Montero singled with one out in the fifth—the only offense the D-backs were able to muster before the seventh inning, when Lincecum gave up a couple of triples, another single to Montero, and a Chris Young bomb to cut the deficit to three before giving way to Javier Lopez.  But the Diamondbacks could get no closer against the Giants bullpen, even without Brian Wilson and his famed facial hair, and Lincecum’s Giants walked away victorious by a count of 6-3.

One big highlight of Chase Field actually became evident in the seventh inning.  We were hungry after the long drive, so I told dad I wanted a hot dog.  “Get me one too,” he said and handed me a twenty.  As I ascended the stairs and gazed upon the menu at the nearest concession stand, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw hot dogs on the menu for a mere pittance of $1.50 each!  I quickly purchased three, thinking it must have been a mistake, but when I received a ten, a five and a couple of quarters in change, I thought I was in concession-stand heaven.  We quickly devoured our $1.50 hot dogs (just as good as my $5 Dodger Dog, if a little smaller), and had absolutely no traces of food poisoning the next day.

After the game, and a conversation with Eat-a, proud employee of the Diamondbacks, we headed back to our hotel in search for more food, figuring that we shouldn’t have too much trouble grabbing a quick bite somewhere at 9:30.  After much fruitless searching, we finally asked one of the hotel employees, only to be told that the only available food was at “a convenience store about three and a half blocks that way” and so for the first time on the trip, we went to bed hungry.

The Four Ballparks, Four Cities, Four Days trip was unquestionably the best vacation I’ve ever had, and it is one that I will never forget for the rest of my baseball-watching life.  While taking the Metro over Nationals Park for a ballgame is always fun, taking in the ballpark experience of fans on the other side of the country was truly awesome.

With the season long over, there won’t be any more ballpark descriptions for a few more months.  However, the beginnings of a plan are in place for next year’s Four Games, Three Ballparks, Two Cities trip as we head to the Midwest for games at Wrigley Field, US Cellular Field and Milwaukee’s Miller Park.  For now, though, I’ll be watching bowl games, cheering on my fantasy football team, and maybe (just maybe) catching a Capitals game or two in a feeble effort to tide me over to Opening Day.  It may be a long winter, but pitchers and catchers report in a couple of months.

I can hardly wait.