July 2007 Archives

Ah the trading deadline, what a fun time during the season that is. Every baseball fan believes themselves to be a General Manager as they assess their favorite team and suggest scenarios that will bring the missing piece to the ball club that will catapult the team into the play-offs. Starting just before all-star break those inside and outside of baseball try to determine which teams will be selling off talent and which teams will be looking to acquire someone. For the shrewd General Managers it is possible to help their teams either this year or for years to come. The Arizona Diamondbacks always seem to be involved in one way or another in some kind of trade deadline deal. In 1998 they unloaded pitcher Willie Blair and catcher Jorge Fabregas in exchange for Bernard Gilkey (I said involved I didn’t necessarily mean their trades were successful). The question was, what deals would go down in 2007?

The Arizona Diamondbacks have set off on a very important six-game road trip through the National League West where they will face the two teams closest to them in the standings. After a day off today they begin a three game series against the San Diego Padres followed by a three game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Before we get wrapped up in the hoop-la of this road trip, let’s look back on this past home stand as I provide you with my feedback in my regular State of the Home Stand Address.

The Arizona Diamondbacks quite literally limped into the All-Star break having lost 7 of their final 8 games before the mid-summer classic. It looked as though youth and inexperience was taking its toll on the team and many baseball insiders began to write off the team and suggested that they begin looking at 2008. When games resumed for the second half of the season their assessment seemed sound as the Diamondbacks lost 5 of their first 8 games. But that seemed to change in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field on July 21. With a solid pitching performance by Juan Cruz, Tony Pena, and Jose Valverde the Diamondbacks beat the Chicago Cubs. This one game seemed fairly ordinary but it was a jumping off point for Arizona’s young team.

When the promotional schedule for the 2007 season was announced my kids gathered around to pick their favorite giveaway. I found it kind of sad that they were basing their game attendance upon what cool things they could get as they entered the stadium. My theory was to get them to the game regardless of the reasoning and maybe, just maybe they would become more knowledgeable baseball fans. The kids were extremely animated to find that there were so many bobble head games. I have to admit, I am partial to a good bobble head too so I was just about as excited. If for no other reason than to try and even out the number of Sedona Red versus purple and teal bobble heads that adorn the top of my desk. I have every bobble head that the Diamondbacks have ever given as a stadium giveaway and proudly display them in our living room (much to the chagrin of Trina I might add). She has gotten to the point where she tolerates them but has not yet accepted the bobble head as an appropriate interior decorating accessory. Give me enough time and enough bobble heads and I think I can get her to change her mind. With that confidence I was looking forward to tonight’s game as it meant my bobble head posse would be growing by one.

In a 1964 episode of the Flintstones, aliens land on earth and decide to clone an earthling releasing androids to attempt to take over the planet. The earthling they choose is Fred Flintstone and soon 10 exact replicas of “Fred” are running around Bedrock causing all kinds of havoc. The alien plans don’t work out as they can’t seem to figure out the bizarre behavior of the human species and end up abandoning their plan. As the aliens leave Earth Fred is left to try and explain to everyone in the town why he has been acting so strangely. It was a classic episode as the viewer quickly comes to the realization that Fred Flintstone was probably the worst example of a human being that they could have chosen and their plans were doomed from the beginning. We could learn a lot from animated cartoons if we would only listen. Unfortunately the Diamondbacks chose not to listen.

For the majority of the 2007 season scoring runs has been a real challenge for the Arizona Diamondbacks especially at Chase Field. Through 103 games which would include last night’s game the Diamondbacks had averaged just over 4 runs per game. On the surface this average doesn’t seem too bad but the numbers are somewhat skewed due to the fact that Arizona has scored 9 runs on Tuesday and 7 runs last night. This should come as much of a surprise considering that only one position player in last night’s line-up had a batting average over .300 (Eric Byrnes leads the team with a .308 average). This woeful set of statistics is one of the reasons that contributed to the dismissal of Kevin Sietzer as hitting coach. Personally I don’t feel like Sietzer was given a fair enough chance but with expectations set so highly for this team I understand the team felt some change was required. While the Diamondbacks struggles at the plate have accounted for their recent slide in the standings, it has had an even larger impact on the fan base and is quickly reaching critical mass.

Going to a Diamondbacks game is always an interesting proposition. You never quite know what is going to happen or who you are going to meet. For the most part the seats that are around us in Section 132 are made up of Season Ticket holders so after a few games you begin to see a pattern of who you will be sitting next to. What is somewhat surprising to me is the number of these season ticket holders who share their seats among a group of people. This is an extremely foreign concept to me as I have never really experienced anything like that before. I am usually lamenting to Trina that my season tickets only include 81 regular season games plus 2 Spring Training games. I cannot even imagine willfully giving any of these up and not attend. If anything I am usually looking for ways that I can somehow ADD games rather than subtract. Of course if I add any it would result in transportation and lodging costs since it would require me to go on the road with the Diamondbacks, an idea that after 9 plus years Trina is still not budging on. She always asks, “What is it about being at a Diamondbacks game that is so interesting?”

Remember when you were a kid and there were three holidays that you always looked forward to? There was of course Christmas where you had expectations of hitting the gift jackpot between relatives and of course Santa Claus. There was the fourth of July which gave you a legal reason to play with explosive devices and typically ended when you blew up something you probably didn’t mean to (hey, that was my story when I was 10 and I am not about to change it now since I still fear that my mom will find out what REALLY happened at “The Great Firecracker Incident of 1971” and she’ll call me and tell me I am grounded). Lastly there was your birthday. It was that special and magical day where you were the center of attention and your family gushed over what a great kid you were and how deserving you were of all the presents and wonderful cake. Your birthday was the most special of these three since you rarely had to share it with anyone else (unless you were a twin or your parents defied the laws of probability and had multiple children born on the same day but different years). As we get older we can never seem to rekindle the magic that those early childhood birthdays held. Families try to do their best but you feel a little awkward jumping out of bed first thing in the morning and rushing into the living room hoping the family would be gathered around the table surrounded by brightly wrapped presents and wearing cute little pointed party hats.

Tonight’s game marks the third Diamondbacks Opening Day that I will have attended this season. The first was when I went to Denver to watch the first game of the 2007 season against the Colorado Rockies. The pageantry and excitement were over the top with giant flags unfurled in the outfield accompanied by representatives from each branch of the armed forces and an amazing fireworks display. The second Opening Day for 2007 occurred in Phoenix when the Arizona Diamondbacks held their home opener against the Cincinnati Reds. This game too was filled with amazing sights and sounds with a military fly over and a capacity crowd cheering for the home team. So I am really looking forward to what the Diamondbacks have in store for this latest Opening Day. What is that you ask? Why is there an Opening Day during the third week in July?

While the Arizona Diamondbacks have only been gone a week it seems a lot longer than that. Part of the reason might be the fact that the Diamondbacks went 1-3 against the Milwaukee Brewers and 2-1 against the Chicago Cubs making the trip 3-4. Even the two wins against the Cubs yesterday and today seemed brutal. The Diamondbacks offense still seems to be dragging in the mud with hits being more valuable than a Todd McFarlane mini-figurine stadium giveaway. The one positive seems to be that whenever the Diamondbacks lost so did the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. Of course whenever the Diamondbacks won so did their divisional rivals meaning that the team remains 3.5 games back in third place in the National League Western Division and they have 7 fewer games to catch the leaders.

Ok, I admit it. I completely got sucked into the whole Harry Potter thing. As much as I tried to dismiss the idea of going out in public and possibly standing in line in order to buy a children’s book I just could not pull it off. Curiosity just got the best of me. Let me start by saying I am really not much of a Harry Potter fan. I have nothing against people who have lightning bolt scars on their forehead; I just don’t have a lot in common with a hormonally imbalanced British teen-ager who happens to be a wizard. We seem to have very little in common. I’ve never played Quidditch and I really don’t follow that sport. I couldn’t even tell you who played seeker at the last all-star game. I’m not pursuing an educational degree in magic and I’ve never even seen an Antipodean Opaleye (which according to my daughter is a dragon native to New Zealand whose favorite food is sheep which it only kills when it is hungry). About the only thing we do have in common is a hatred of evil wizards. In Harry’s case it is Voldemort where my loathing is directed to Derek Jeter. Given these differences it is hard to believe that I am getting ready to leave the house at 10 PM to brave the elements (hey it is still 105 degrees out there) to rub elbows (or some other magical body part) with the Potter-ites.

Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes continued to make news this week. For the past several days news reports have been surfacing that the colorful outfielder is looking to sign a contract extension and is hoping that he can work out a deal with the team to keep him in Sedona Red for the foreseeable future. This is a very interesting circumstance as Byrnes has shown that last season was no fluke where he was listed among team leaders in most categories. This season Byrnes picked up where he left off and is again leading the team in batting average, RBI, and stolen bases. Byrnes has made it known his desire to stay a Diamondback and has offered to give the team a “hometown discount”.

In his brief two years with the Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes is quickly becoming a fan favorite. His all-out style and eccentric personality makes him a natural attraction for the everyday fan. We all know someone in our own life that is just a little bit different and stands out from the crowd. This coupled with his blue-collar attitude and work ethic makes him the talk of the ballpark. Many of us remember as a kid how we played the game just for the love of it. We would come home from the ballpark tattered and torn with grass stains from head to toe. Usually our mothers would meet us at the door and lament of the work ahead of her as she tried to get our clothes clean and presentable again. Most kids wore those grass stains as a badge of honor as it showed everyone that you were a player and in the game. Each spot of dirt and stain held a story of some conquest during the game and we wanted everyone to know about it. Byrnes seems to be of the same mindset. He represents that kid in all of us who just played because it was fun.

The convoluted outfield of the Arizona Diamondbacks just got a little more difficult to decipher. Last season when the Diamondbacks traded Shawn Green to the New York Mets and declined to renew Luis Gonzalez’s contract I thought they finally had a plan for their outfield going forward. That has not necessarily been the case though. Through injury and lack of offensive production the outfield has been in a constant state of flux for most of the season. The trouble began in spring training when anticipated starter Carlos Quentin suffered an injury to his shoulder. This problem led to him being placed on the disabled list to begin the season. Once he finally returned Quentin has not been able to find his groove hitting a mere .210 for the season. The lack of success paid a heavy toll on Quentin’s confidence and finally on July 6 the Diamondbacks sent the beleaguered outfielder to Tucson to work out the kinks in his swing and regain his self-confidence. Since that time the landscape in the Arizona outfield has become even more clouded.

In all of the commotion of our vacation I completely forgot to acknowledge one of the great milestones in Arizona Diamondbacks history and to fill you in on my side of the story. On July 11, 1999 in just their second season of existence the Diamondbacks found themselves 7 games over .500 with a record of 48-41. This record was enough to keep Arizona in second place in the National League West just 2.5 games behind the division leading San Francisco Giants. The Diamondbacks were in the midst of a three game Interleague series with the Oakland Athletics. Arizona had already lost the first two games of the series and were desperately trying to avoid being swept at home. Nationally everyone was talking about the Diamondbacks and their dramatic turnaround from the previous season. Much of this was due to the addition of several key veteran free agents including center fielder Steve Finley, infielder Greg Colbrunn, relief pitcher Greg Swindell, and starting pitchers Armando Reynoso, Todd Stottlemyre, and of course Randy Johnson. For the July 11, 1999 game Omar Daal was on the mound to face A’s pitcher Jimmy Haynes. The 36,632 fans at Bank One Ballpark came to see if the Diamondbacks could stave off a sweep but what they saw was something they may never see again. As for me, it was a day I will never forget. Trina won’t let me.

In the latest installment of my State of the Home Stand I’ll discuss what’s new and my observations for the current home games of the Arizona Diamondbacks. This is a series that I have been running all season to give a fan’s perspective to how the 2007 regular season is progressing for the Arizona Diamondbacks. This home stand marks the first of the second half of the season and is a brief three games against National League Western Division foe San Diego Padres. Coming into the series the Diamondbacks had lost 5 games in a row and were in third place 3.5 games behind the league leading Padres. San Diego was not doing much better having won only 3 games in July while losing 5. This was an important series for the Diamondbacks if they hoped to keep their play-off hopes alive.

Over the course of the past nine plus years I have gone to my share of baseball games. Ok if you ask Trina then over the course of the past nine plus years I have gone to enough games to cover my share and the shares of three entire villages in Zimbabwe. The number of games I have gone to are not important (unless you are in a discussion with an unnamed wife who is trying to justify why she deserves jewelry as a result of being abandoned from mid-February through the end of October each year since 1998). For the sake of argument let’s just say that I have been to a few games. I have always had two season tickets to the Diamondbacks meaning that I was rarely at these games alone. For much of the time I take one of my children or Trina to the game where we can spend quality one-on-one time with each other. At times when one of the family cannot go to the game I then take one of my friends. There has been one friend that has always been with me and supported me and my dedication to the Diamondbacks. This friend never questions my devotion and is always understanding of my feelings for the team. Not a game goes by that this friend is not there for me. So when I found out that today’s game marked the final game that he would be going to my heart sank.

For the past couple of months I have been lamenting the fact that I have gained a few pounds and I am now heavier than I was when I was playing ball. Some of the weight gain has been as a result of getting old (by the way Trina is older than me so at least I have that going for me) and some of the weight gain is due to the fact that I am not as physically active as I once was. After sitting and complaining I finally decided that I would try and do something about it. Given my lifestyle where I spend nearly every waking hour in front of a computer monitor or parked at the ballpark I decided that I needed to make some changes and see if I could get back to a weight level I felt comfortable with.

The fire in Utah had set us back a full day. I had hoped that I could drive the distance in one day still making it home yesterday but with the limited sleep that both Trina and I had that was impossible. Instead we finally stopped for the night in Page Arizona. A sleepy little town on the shores of Lake Powell (which at this point looks more like Pond Powell due to the draught conditions). I had great intentions to leave at the crack of dawn to arrive in Phoenix mid-morning but exhaustion got the best of me and we didn’t get back on the road as quickly as I had hoped. I found myself in the car in a race against time. It was me versus the clock to see which would survive. I had to get home, get the game tickets, and be at Chase Field in time for the game (I was beyond hoping for batting practice at this point).

All along the plan for our family vacation was that we would leave after the final out of the June 28 game at Chase Field and that we had to be home by 4:40 PM on July 13 when the gates would open for the first series after the All-Star break. That seemed like a simple enough plan so I was just slightly tipped over when that plan was called into question. It was not the family who wondered whether the 4:40 PM July 13 deadline was hard in fast. They knew better than to question that. No it was actually Mother Nature who wondered whether I really meant that I needed to be home by this time.

I've written before about seat cushions. In fact, after doing a search on my blog I realized I sort of have an obsession about seat cushions. I am guessing that Trina would concur with that assessment as there is not a day that goes by that I don't mention them. So it really should not have come as any surprise that I packed the seat cushion material when we were getting ready for our vacation. I figured that if I didn't have a game to go to at Chase Field I could give Trina my undivided attention in helping her construct Seat Cushion 2.0. This was probably the last thing Trina wanted was my undivided attention especially when it comes to designing and sewing but she was going to get it.

For the first time since 2002 the Arizona Diamondbacks are represented by more than one player at the All-Star game. For the past few years Arizona has been one of those teams who fell into the “every team must have a representative” scenarios. It was not that there was not talent on these teams it was just that there wasn’t more than one player who was having a stellar or break-out season that warranted inclusion on the all-star team. This year that has changed and hopefully the trend of seeing multiple representatives from the Diamondbacks will become more of the rule rather than the exception. But like anything else, we are never content with what we have and always question why we didn’t get more.

Major League Baseball’s All-Star celebration is filled with all sorts of sights, sounds and activities. The festivities are not just about the mid-summer classic but include other events that at times overshadow the actual all-star game. It began on Sunday even before the first half of the regular season games had completed. The first event was the Futures game which featured many of the minor league’s best in a showcase of the future superstars of baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks organization was represented by two participants in this year’s Futures Game. Playing for Team World was outfielder Carlos Gonzalez who has been touted as one of those rare five-tool players capable of carrying a team on his back with both his offense and his defense. The second participant was Justin Upton who was the first overall pick in the draft in 2005. Upton has been making his mark this season quickly moving through the minor league levels. In just his second professional season Upton has gone from high Class-A Versalia to Class-AA Mobile. He quickly showed why he warranted the number 1 pick driving a ball into the outfield stands. And while it was impressive to see these youngsters showcase their talent the stands were relatively empty for such a big event. Many fans were waiting instead for the activities scheduled for Monday.

Never has a team needed a break from baseball as much as the 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks. During the month of July the Diamondbacks have only been able to secure a win once in the past 8 days. You cannot just point to one area where the team is struggling. It appears to be something different each night. When Arizona gets good pitching from the starters then the offense struggles and gives them no run support. When the bats come alive and the Diamondbacks score runs then their defense falters and they give up costly errors. When the defense is stellar then the relievers come in and give up late inning runs. On this road trip nothing seemed to go as planned. To his credit Bob Melvin tried shaking up the line-up, adjust days of rest for pitchers and position players, and modify everyone’s routine just to see if that might light a spark. None of these had the kind of effect that the organization was looking for. Now the team has the next 4 days off to try and regroup and see if they can find the keys to the success they enjoyed earlier in the season.

Today has been marketed as the luckiest day of the century. This is a result of the date being 07/07/07. According to the Gila River Casino advertisements 7-7-7 is always a winner and therefore lucky. A lot of people seem to be in agreement with that as the numbers of marriage license applicants for this day are substantially larger than any other day including the new millennium and Valentine’s Day. I’m not sure getting married on a lucky day is going to help any of these marriages to survive better than any other day but I guess it can’t hurt either. My thoughts today were not on marriage but on baseball. I know that probably comes as a shock to many of you. It amazed me too that I woke up this morning with baseball on the brain but rather than fight it I decided to embrace it. If there was ever a team that needed a little luck it was the Arizona Diamondbacks. Since the calendar rolled over from June to July the Diamondbacks have only been able to muster one win against the St. Louis Cardinals. At this point I was willing to accept help no matter where it came from.

Recently I received a notice in the mail from the Arizona Diamondbacks inviting me to renew my season tickets for the 2008 season. I had debated whether to take advantage of the team’s offer to renew now or to wait until after the 2007 season concluded and renew. It was not so much a question of whether I would renew my tickets or not; that was definitely a given. The real question was whether the incentive was enough to justify spending the money now versus later. With all of the time I had available to me during this vacation since I could not get a decent Internet connection, no games via satellite, and only one minor league game I had plenty of time to assess the situation and decide whether to renew or not.

Researchers say that each of us has a unique pain threshold which describes the amount of pain we can endure before it becomes unbearable and we seek medical attention. My physical pain threshold is relatively high. While I was playing ball I had a collision as a base runner where I collided with the first baseman breaking my wrist in 2 places and breaking the first baseman’s leg. He was carried off the field on a stretcher and I stayed in the game and played to finish that game and play the second game of the double header. Once the games concluded I went to the hospital to have my wrist set and cast for eight weeks. Given that experience I thought I was prepared to handle any amount of pain thrown in my direction but I wasn’t prepared for the idea of being without baseball for 15 days during the season without an opportunity to even see a game on television.

Independence Day was always a day I looked forward to as a kid. There is nothing cooler than legalized explosives to set a boy’s heart a flutter. Where we grew up there were statutes that regulated when fireworks could be sold and what types of fireworks were allowed. For the most part I complied with the law. The key term in that sentence was “for the most part”. It was just too tempting to go over the state line or onto the Indian Reservation and get those fireworks that were just slightly beyond the laws of our state. And by slightly I mean you could get stuff that would blow your hands off if you weren’t careful. While that dumb and dangerous attitude was exhilarating, I was always left feeling slightly guilty because I had broken the law. Today as I watched my kids leaving on a road trip across the border to get “a couple of special fireworks” I wondered if they too would feel the pangs of guilt that I did. It’s funny how our conscience can sometimes get in the way of pushing the ethical envelope. I wondered if there was a corollary in baseball.

Going to Idaho on vacation is a lot like finding a time machine that only goes to the past. There are definitely times where I feel like I have been transported into an episode of the Flintstones. Idaho is one of those places where you have both a love affair with the beauty of the surroundings with crystal clear streams, mountain meadows, and breath-taking views and a hatred at the backwardness of technology with inconsistent phone service, lack of broadband internet infrastructure, and no high definition television (what am I saying, you can barely get standard definition television). To give you an idea of what we are dealing with let me give you an example. Bone Idaho where ground squirrels outnumber the residents about 20-1 made the news recently when it became one of the last organized towns in the United States to receive phone service. So while the rest of the world is busy building the infrastructure to the information superhighway, these people are getting excited that they now have a way to communicate over a copper wire with people outside the hills they call home.

Now that we had agreement of when we would be going on vacation, it was time to finalize location and start packing. After a lot of discussion of the merits of various places it was finally decided that we would escape the triple digit heat of Arizona to something cooler (temperature and attitude wise). Trina and I both have family who live in Idaho and since it has been a couple of years since we have seen them we decided it might be best to travel there. My theory was that we were just a few short miles from Missoula Montana home of the Arizona Diamondbacks Class-A Rookie team the Osprey. I decided that I would just wait and spring that surprise on the kids once we got in the car. No use getting them all excited about driving 7 hours to a minor league baseball game. They were excited enough as it was. And it wasn’t like there was nothing to see along the way, we could always take a side trip to Yellowstone National Park and see a geyser or something. Just so we made it to Missoula in time for first pitch I was cool. Now that we had the location and the timeline, all that was left to do was pack. The question is; what do you take on vacation?

A lot of people will plan their vacations well in advance after consulting each child’s schedule and coordinating that with a list of potential destinations that everyone can enjoy. Some people will not plan their vacation at all making the whole relaxation experience spontaneous. Unfortunately that is not the way things work around our house. When you have an avid Arizona Diamondbacks fan in your family planning for a vacation is slightly different. It usually starts around the first of the year with each of the kids making a list of potential destinations they would like to go. These destinations are usually places like Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, or Six Flags something or other. After a long discussion with the parents the kids are sent back to the drawing board to think of more realistic locations for our vacation. Finally the family agrees upon two or three candidates for inclusion in the family vacation. No timeframe is set for the vacation that does not occur until around mid-February. The reason for this delay is that we have to wait for Commissioner Bud Selig to release the final baseball schedule for the season.