But the time is short - something like that. You get the point.
It’s nice to escape to the relative calm of the good old UOLB, you know? A commenter wondered why I wouldn’t shut down this one if favor of the UCOB - quite honestly, I don’t need the drama in my life (approximately 58 comments on the last issue alone). The UOLB was never so much about baseball as it was about the people and the experience of being at the park. Like most of us, I tend to fall back on what I’m comfortable with, and for me it’s places like Out of Left Field, the UOLB, and a couple of other sites.
This week remains extraordinarily busy, but I wanted to throw a post out to let people know this blog will definitely continue. Thanks too to Neate and everyone who’s left a kind word or two over at the UCOB, it’s been much appreciated. It saddens me to have to walk away from it, but - it’s a story (blog post, actually) best left for another day.
The UOLB is still very much alive, and I’ve actually got stuff to post - problem is, between Little League and another project I’m working on currently, the blog suffers. Here’s a quick interview with good guy and FLP, Joey Hammond to tide you over until I get things back on the rails:
Finally, the winter from hell has come to an end. In this neck of the woods, more and more it seems that we have only two seasons - winter and summer. The transitional spring and fall seasons have disappeared. March 8-9, fifty freakin’ centimetres of snow. April 18, 24 Celsius.
Of course with spring comes the return of Little League, the only baseball we thought we’d have in the NCR in 2008. And quite honestly, as a family we’d made our peace with that. I continue to marvel at the quality of baseball played by 10 and 11 year olds. It’s all relative of course; we obviously don’t hold these kids to the same standards as an MLB player. But as spectators, we quickly grow accustomed to the different expectation level and get wrapped up in the game - every bit as much as any game we watched at Lynx Stadium (dare I say, even more so during a Little League tournament).
Warming up in the pen, May 3, 2008
Two seamer, on it’s way.
The next Orlando Hudson?
And even with gas prices sitting near $4 a gallon, there’s the proverbial road trip planned for the summer. Tentative plans include a trip to the Hall of Fame, and a couple of ball parks along the way. If we time this thing right, we hope to catch up with FLP and good guy Dusty Wathan when he brings his Williamsport team to FLO and good guy Ray Pecor’s Centennial Field to face the Vermont Lake Monsters.
You’ve probably seen this story already, but I thought it deserved an OT mention on the UOLB. Regulars know that I have a soft spot for heartwarming stories.
With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.
But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.
She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.
Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count — an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.
Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky.
I’m getting a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic: Cloverfield was about neither clover, nor a field. There. I’m better now.
Several FLPs caught our eye this weekend as they continued to place the seemingly endless hurt on the Former Lynx Team (you remember, AAA Philadelphia?). Howie Clark went 1-3 with a walk and run scored, Randy Ruiz 1-4 with a walk and a run, Heath Totten 3 IP scatttering 3 hits, 0 ER and 2Ks. Most surprisingly, Eli Whiteside (Eli Whiteside?!) went 1-4 with a home run and threw out a base-runner for good measure. Eli now calls Rochester, New York “home” and is backing up starting catcher Jose Morales for the Red Wings.
Eli was one of those players that we decided was a “good guy”. Good guys, by definition, were players who played the game hard and who did that little extra for the fans/kids. In August of 2006, Eli came out for the Junior Lynx clinic and spent the afternoon teaching kids the finer points of baserunning. Howie Clark, Brian Burres and Brooks Badeaux all took time that memorable afternoon. It’s noteworthy that Howie, Brooks and Eli were also playing that evening, so the Junior Lynx Clinic cut into their personal time.
FLC, John Russell is another one of the good guys. The manager encouraged his players to come out to the post-game functions, and last year most of them took the advice. Here’s a quick bit of audio from pre-season.
Thanks to Nick and Neate and everyone else who’s taken the time to send an email or link my way. Unfortunately, no sooner does Joe Thurston make the TSN Honor Roll with the Red Sox than he’s Designated For Assignment (DFA’d) - if he clears waivers, he’s back in Pawtucket (blogger: You could find yourself in worse places, I suppose…).
FLP Eude Brito is bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. He started the season with Washington’s AAA team (Columbus), but according to today’s New York Daily News he’s been picked up by the Mets and will report to their AA franchise (Binghamton Mets).
And finally, a report on Kane Davis who is now pitching in Syracuse for the Chiefs (Toronto). It’s a good story, found over at Syracuse.com (part of the Post-Standard paper) and it chronicles Kane’s long baseball career:
He’s still only 32 years old, and yet this is Davis’ 16th professional baseball season. And after Pittsburgh’s Gulf Coast League rookie club in Florida followed by Welland, Augusta, Lynchburg, Carolina, Altoona, Nashville, Akron, Buffalo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Colorado, Colorado Springs, the New York Mets, Norfolk, Camden, Iowa, Somerset, Ottawa and Philadelphia, the Chiefs are his 22nd professional outfit.
It includes some of his feelings about facing his former team-mates from Ottawa (for the record, he mowed ‘em down in a 2-1 Chiefs win last week). Nice to see that he’s at peace with where he’s at, and what he’s doing -
Now, there were times when the anguish got to him, when the bitterness took over, when the angry words flowing from his mouth served him rather poorly. In fact, the Cubs dumped Davis back in ‘03 because he’d become too big of a pain in the organization’s hindquarters.
But, he insisted on Sunday’s glorious afternoon, those days are gone.
“I’m past that,” Davis said after beating the poor IronPigs, who have fallen to a hideous 2-16. “I come to the park with a smile on. I’m happy to be playing and I’m happy to be healthy. The thing is, crying isn’t going to get you to the big leagues.”
Best wishes to all three FLPs from Ottawa.
Joe, beating the tag (Photo credit: Zechariah Kiiffner)
Really, how much of a surprise is it to see that blog favorite Gary Burnham has made a splash in Taiwan? Looking back at his career, all the way back to Clemson if you want, Gary’s made an impact in every city he’s played in. News (and video) comes by way of a friend of a friend (Patrick Shanks) - I love the home run call:
Turns out, Gary was the MVP of what appeared to be the March 23 game. Patrick nails it: Gary was a class act here, patiently waiting for the interviewer to translate what he’d said, and then responding to each question. It’s vintage Gary, home-runs, enthusiasm, and the ever present “eye-black” - even for the night games. Nice to see he’s digging the Taiwanese culture - and the seafood.
There’s actually two of them today. Reader and contest winner Nick left this as a comment on the previous post, but given the amount of work he’s put into it, it deserves a post of its own:
Here is a snapshot on how some former Lynx are doing around AAA.
Former Ottawa Lynx Batters
Tim Raines (Tucson) .333/.364/.864
Fernando Tatis (New Orleans) .255/.309/.937
Luis Terrero (Norfolk) .306/.382/.831
Chris Roberson (Norfolk) .273/.385/.748
Howie Clark (Rochester) .370/.333/.712
Danny Sandoval (Buffalo) .268/.286/.603
Joe Thurston (Pawtucket) .255/.294/.613
Henry Mateo (Toledo) .250/.264/.649
Brennan King (Lehigh Valley) .229/.269/.603
Andy Tracy (Lehigh Valley) .222/.286/.641
Bernie Castro (Scranton) .214/.254/.481
Jason Jaramillo (Lehigh Valley) .167/.186/.496
Former Ottawa Lynx Pitchers
Tony Armas (New Orleans) 0-1, 3.94 ERA
Tim Byrdak (Round Rock) 0-0, 4.05 ERA
Matt Riley (Las Vegas) 0-0, 4.05 ERA
Brian Mazone (Lehigh Valley) 1-2. 5.00 ERA
Hayden Penn (Norfolk) 1-1, 5.82 ERA
Kane Davis (Syracuse) 1-1, 3.68 ERA
J.A. Happ (Lehigh Valley) 0-2, 5.27 ERA
Gary Knotts (Lehigh Valley) 0-0, 3.12 ERA
Brian Sanches (Columbus) 0-0, 0.00 ERA
Andy Mitchell (Norfolk) 2-1, 4.91 ERA
John Ennis (Lehigh Valley) 0-1, 3.68 ERA
Heath Totten (Rochester) 0-0, 4.91 ERA
Thanks for taking the time to run those stats down for the blog, anything that makes my blogging easier is much appreciated!
Pardon the interruption, but there were some technical issues to attend to. In the meantime, we’ve had a bit of time for other things - +24C today was certainly more than welcome. If I get to it, I’ll have to post a before/after shot of the front yard - it’s come a long way from March 9.
A couple of quick notes, blog favorite Joey Hammond is on the move again - promoted to the Phillies AAA team. I’ve lost the link, but on a disappointing note, FLP Jim Rushford was released a few weeks back.
And for those of you still following the Sens post-mortem, Friends of the Lynx Erin Nicks and Neate Sager are poking through the entrails of the 2008 playoff [cough] run.
Reader Nick has picked up two tickets for the Rapids Opening Day. A brief excerpt from the winning submission:
There was one theory that seemed to have the support of most players.They believe that they could be cursed by Ottawa last year. How you ask?Well, when you play in Canada , your bat speed permanently slows down after a year there. Sometimes the bat slows down immediately, sometimes it takes years.
Honorable mention to Nelson who pointed out that Wednesday marks “Eskimo Night” at the Lynx’s new digs. It’s a decent enough promotion, and I have to confess that it’s nice that they don’t seem at all concerned (blogger: aware?) about the “political correctness” factor.
