After last night's game the Arizona Diamondbacks began packing up for their first road trip of the 2008 season. Tomorrow is Opening Day for the snakes as they visit Cincinnati Ohio to face the Reds in a three game series. For months I have tried to find a reason to go to Cincinnati so that I could just happen to attend a baseball game too. But oddly enough I could find absolutely nothing that I could justify going to that city for. That's not necessarily a slam on Cincinnati Ohio, I am sure it is a very nice place. It's just that other than baseball I can't find anything to do in that town. And since Trina seems to believe that 81 regular season games and 2 Spring Training games at Chase Field is quite enough baseball that means I'll be sitting out this road trip. That means I am going to need to find another way to follow the Diamondbacks at least for the first six games of the season.
2008 Spring Training: March 2008 Archives
March 29, 2008
Yesterday was an emotional rollercoaster ride at Chase Field. While exciting to finally be back "home" enjoying my first game in Section 112 it was also filled with disappointment and in some cases fear as news continued to come out about Doug Davis and his impending battle with thyroid cancer. But while there seemed to be a darkening cloud on the horizon of last night's game today seemed quite the opposite. That doesn't mean there were not a few challenges. For example, today in downtown Phoenix not only are the Diamondbacks playing at Chase Field but there is also a home show across the street at the Phoenix Civic Plaza. That alone would not cause a problem with traffic but there was one other small event going on. At US Airways center the NCAA was holding an Elite 8 basketball game to determine who would be going to the Final 4. The game featured the UCLA Bruins versus the Xavier Bulldogs.
March 28, 2008
Today is a day I have been looking forward to for a very long time. After what seemed like forever there is once again baseball at Chase Field. Today marks the first of two Spring Training games that will be held at Chase. These are usually a lot of fun and give the fans and the team an opportunity to a tune up to get ready for when baseball counts and the regular season begins. With the gates beginning to open you would think this would be the perfect day but that is not necessarily the case. When I was a kid my brother and I used to play this game called Good News and Bad News. It went sort of like this. "Hey, I got good news. You don't have to go to school today!" My brother would reply, "Wow that really is good news!" Then I would respond with something like, "Yeah but I have some bad news, you have to go to the dentist." At that point he would get all bummed out. It was fun messing with his head that way. Well today's Diamondbacks game brought back memories of that goofy kid's game that went something like this.
March 27, 2008
For the past several years I have been using IX Web Hosting to host all of my sites. I have been relatively pleased with their service overall. As with any hosting company there have been some minor glitches but nothing that would lead me to move to another hosting company. Recently I have been having intermittent problems getting to my sites. After working with the technical support group of IX Web Hosting it was determined that the server I am currently on needs to be upgraded. As luck would have it, there is a planned outage as servers are moved into a new data center. As a result many of my sites will undoubtedly suffer intermittent periods where they are unavailable. Please don't worry, the sites are not going away, they are merely moving to hopefully newer and more powerful servers. The sites affected include
Please bear with me during this time. I'll attempt to update the blog with entries to catch up where necessary once service has been restored. These outages should all be resolved by March 31 at the latest (assuming DNS propagation occurs normally).
March 26, 2008
I woke up this morning in a panic. I leapt out of bed and rushed to the calendar and it was a case of good news and bad news. First of all I hadn't missed the Second Annual Evening on the Diamond. I thought the event was last night but I was relieved to find out it is tomorrow night. The bad news was that I still needed to raise the $50,000 for the dinner. I thought I had a plan but I wasn't exactly sure whether Trina was going to approve it. The first problem I had to overcome was the fact that Trina was going to complain that $50,000 was a lot of money for dinner. Oh sure if you compare it to what we ate last night it might seem excessive. After all that $50,000 could buy 46,728 Wendy's Double Stacker hamburgers and 1 small Frosty from their value menu but really that's not a fair comparison. After the first 46,727 Double Stackers do you honestly think you would want one more? Besides, I am guessing your arteries would completely seal shut at about 42,617 (a theory that will probably have to go untested I'm afraid).
March 25, 2008
Within the last week Major League Baseball modified their web site to give it an updated look and feel. I have not been a big fan of their site for quite some time but it was a necessary evil considering that is where most of the official baseball news is reported you had to go there. I immediately liked the new layout as it seemed like things were more logically placed (at least they were more logical to me; your mileage may vary). I did question why they would allow you to select your favorite team under the Headlines section and display the first three stories from the team web site. This seems counterproductive to the idea of driving visitors to the team web sites. Considering that MLB now controls all of the web sites for the various teams this doesn't make a lot of sense. Still, it looks more content driven and less advertising driven than the previous incarnation which is a very good thing. And since as I said MLB controls the team web sites I was anticipating that the Diamondbacks web site would soon follow suit with a new look and feel that would mimic that of MLB.com
March 24, 2008
In Spring Training 1999 the Arizona Diamondbacks had just finished their inaugural season and had been very active in the free agent market. They had signed or traded for several big name players including such notables as Greg, Colbrunn, Luis Gonzalez, Steve Finley, Tony Womack, Todd Stottlemyre, and of course Randy Johnson. The team had immediately gone from an expansion franchise to a play-off contender. There was a lot of excitement surrounding this club as fans began to wonder how good these players and this team could be. And while there was a lot of buzz around baseball around the Diamondbacks and their major league team they were also garnering press about some of their minor league players.
March 23, 2008
After all the preparations yesterday you would have thought that Easter morning would have gone off without a hitch. We had colored eggs, baskets for each of the children, enough plastic grass to rip a whole the size of Chase Field in the ozone layer of the atmosphere, and candy that would ensure the full dentist's employment act of 2008. What could possibly have been a problem then? Well it seems that I missed one important requirement during my egg-filling assignment. I was supposed to count the number of eggs that the Easter Bunny would be hiding. I erroneously assumed that a rabbit capable of standing on its hind eggs and carrying a basket despite not having opposable thumbs was somehow capable of mathematical cognitive skills. In layman's terms I didn't realize that the Easter Bunny can't count or he is incapable of such a simple task as documenting exactly how many eggs he had hidden. The ramification of this error is that I have no idea how many eggs were hidden nor was I privy to the secret hiding places a rabbit puts plastic eggs. We therefore have the dilemma of not knowing whether all eggs have been accounted for.
March 22, 2008
Traditionally the day before Easter at our house is filled with several activities that take the majority of our time and efforts. Early that morning I am responsible for making the trek out to the garage and try to remember where I had stored the Easter decorations and paraphernalia such as baskets, grass, and plastic eggs. This effort would be much easier if I would consistently use the same box or store it in the same place. The problem is that Easter usually occurs during Spring Training or worse during the regular season. This means that after Easter about the last thing I am thinking about is putting the Easter decorations in a place where I can find them the next year. Instead I am interested in checking off the item on the honey do list so I can get back to watching the baseball games. This means that the following year I will be once again sent to the garage to retrieve the decorations which will result in a near-death experience of narrowly escaping falling boxes that contain Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas decorations and a vow that this is the last year this will occur and an empty promise that I will for sure put the decorations in a place that is easy to find and retrieve for next year.
March 21, 2008
I am still moping around lamenting the fact that I missed a Spring Training game last week. Trina of course cannot understand why this is such a big deal. After all in another week or so I'll be settling in for 83 games at Chase Field so what does it matter whether I get in one more game or not. I likewise cannot understand the situation. How in the world could she even ask that question? Missing any baseball game is equivalent to skipping a breath. You never have that opportunity to ever get that breath back, it is just lost. You miss enough breaths and you pass out or worse die. "Do you really want me to die?" I asked incredulously. Trina of course countered with, "I think you are being just a little over dramatic." She'll think over dramatic when one day I just keel over and die at about 1:06 PM after missing yet another Spring Training game. Then she'll be sorry. I have half a mind to just do that; after baseball season of course. I don't want to miss a game.
March 20, 2008
For the past 24 hours sports fans around the country have been frantically searching the Internet for any tidbit of information that would give them an edge in selecting their NCAA basketball picks. Yes ladies and gentlemen we have now officially entered what is lovingly referred to as March Madness. It is that one time of year when suddenly everyone is a college basketball expert. And what better way to show this new found expertise than to successfully predict who will come out victorious and be crowned as college basketball's champion. For the past week my email inbox has been flooded with invitations to join this site or that site and pick the winners. The prizes are plentiful and impressive. One site is offering $1 million to anyone who can successfully predict every winner in the tournament. Another site offers an opportunity for the winner to drive away in a brand new car. The most fascinating offer came from a farmer who had his own tournament selection contest and offered his pig to the winner. I know there is nothing that says "I know basketball" quite like winning a pig. After reading that offer I began to imagine what life would be like should I win. Placing an official NCAA collar around my pig's neck I would proudly walk down the street where everyone would stop and point. I could even hear their whispers, "hey look at that! I bet that is that basketball genius guy who won the pig! That is some pig!" At that point all that I would really be lacking is a talking spider who could spell things using spider webs and I would have all the raw materials necessary for a great children's book and a really pathetic movie. Really there is only one thing stopping this fantasy from becoming a reality.
March 19, 2008
After years of therapy I still have not quite gotten over the fact that many of my teenage formidable years were spent in the 1970's when Disco roamed the earth. Music was not necessarily a big thing in my life. Much of that is probably due to the fact that I lived in Idaho which is not necessarily the music capital of the world. The fact of the matter was that we lived in the second largest city in the state of Idaho and it was serviced by 3 FMradio stations; all of them classic country music meaning rarely did you hear a country song dating past the 1960's. It was unbearable. For the first few times driving after I got my driver's license I would take my car to the mechanic for repair because the radio was making horrific sounds. They could not find anything wrong with the radio and finally the mechanic solved the problem. "Son your radio is not broken. That noise you are hearing is country music." Well you could have fooled me, when that "music" played the radio sounded busted. I remember when I was a sophomore in high school and one of the three radio stations decided to switch formats and play Top-40. There was dancing in the streets and scenes reminiscent of V-J Day that ended the second World War. There was of course a caveat. The station only played Top-40 during daylight hours. As soon as the sun went down they went back to country music. It was like a bad vampire movie. Kids rushed to their cars and stereos as the last rays of light faded for the day to turn them off before the shrieking sounds of cow-tipping, booze-drinking, woman-cheating, dog-killing cowboy tunes filled the airways. You would have thought that all would be good now that we finally had a Top-40 radio station even if it was just part time but that wasn't the case.
March 18, 2008
There are certain subjects that are just too painful for a Diamondbacks fan to write about. There is the 2004 season when the Diamondbacks were bitten by the curse of Richie Sexson and the subsequent 111-losses that year. There is the four game sweep by the "great Troy Tulowitzki" and the hated Colorado Rockies in last year's 2007 National League Championship Series. And then there is the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Los Angeles thing takes a little bit of explaining and even I don't fully understand it completely. It's not so much a Diamondbacks versus Dodgers thing as it is a Phoenix versus Los Angeles thing.
March 17, 2008
I'm not Irish. I've never been Irish and it's a pretty safe bet that I will never be Irish. And considering I grew up in Idaho, I am probably not the most knowledgeable guy on the planet when it comes to St. Patrick's Day. About all I really know of the holiday is that if you don't wear green you get pinched a lot as a kid. After getting married Trina and I began a family of our own. Having kids is a great responsibility and one that I take very seriously. Well as seriously as I take anything with according to Trina's assessment is that I don't take anything seriously. There are some things that I do hold in high regards. The Diamondbacks for example, I take them very seriously. Ok, that is about the only thing that I can think of that I do take seriously but hey that is something isn't it?
March 16, 2008
It's funny, Spring Training baseball games have been going for a little more than two weeks and Opening Day is still over two weeks away and yet a day does not go by that I don't get asked the question, "What is wrong with the Diamondbacks?" Oh what a difference a year makes. Last season everyone was wondering how many games below .500 the Diamondbacks would be at season's end and whether the team would miss former fan-favorite Luis Gonzalez. The team was in the midst of a full-blown youth movement and expectations were relatively low. But after the Diamondbacks shocked the baseball world by accumulating the best record in the National League and making it as far as the NLCS; all eyes are on the Diamondbacks every move. That being said, the concern is just a touch premature.
March 15, 2008
"Jeff, it's midnight." I barely heard Trina's voice. I was too busy standing at the front window peering through the blinds at the quiet street and the darkness of the neighbor's house across the street. "What are you doing?" she asked. "The postcard said that my Diamondbacks Season Tickets would be delivered on March 15" I replied still staring out the window. "I don't think that they meant that your tickets would be delivered the moment the calendar flipped to March 15" she said. "The postcard wasn't real specific so I don't want to take any chances" I replied. "Are you going to spend the whole night in front of that window?" She asked. "If that's what it takes, yes." I said in the most determined voice I possessed. With that Trina turned and headed upstairs to bed. She said something about obsession and mental health but I was too busy watching the window for movement to understand her completely. I have no idea how she could sleep at a time like this. Doesn't she understand what this day means?
March 14, 2008
You would think after yesterday's mail disaster that I would have been cured from going down to the mailbox and retrieving the mail. No one have ever accused me of thinking (at least not in the mainstream kind of way) so today I was the first to volunteer to go down and get the mail. After all, maybe my invitation to become a Season Ticket holder would be in today's mail. I'm still not quite sure I understand why I thought it was so important to get an invitation to be a Season Ticket holder. This fact of course dawned on me about halfway down to the mailbox. It was one of those smack your forehead and proclaim that you should have had a V-8 moments. By the time I got down to the box I was calmed down and my expectations were lowered as to what I would find in the box.
March 13, 2008
It's funny how quickly your week can go from great to crappy. Not funny in the sense of a clown getting a cream pie in the face. More like funny in the sense of seeing the guy in Wal-Mart dressed in a Phoenix Suns uniform but wearing a fur coat under his tank top then as you get closer you realize it's not a fur coat it is his back. Yeah that is kind of how this week is turning out for me. It started out with the idea of having a few days off from work and taking in a different Spring Training baseball game every day of the week basking in the warm Arizona sun and assessing a team's chances for the 2008 season. That dream was quickly destroyed with a pipe wrench. Then it really went downhill when I realized that I couldn't read a calendar. When the first half of your week goes this poorly there is not a whole lot more you can do except crawl back into bed and pull the covers up over your head and pray for the bad dreams to end.
March 12, 2008
Early in the week we had a family council where we sat down and decided what kinds of things we wanted to get done this week. Since it is Spring Break for the kids we wanted to make sure we did something each of them wanted to do. Trina of course was the sensible one. She wanted to make sure the bathroom faucets got fixed. This comment resulted in a large moan by everyone especially me since I would be the one having to fix them. Dakota want to go shoot guns and ride motorcycles. I have no idea why everyone stared at me when he said that. It is not like I suggested arming a biker gang of 10 year olds. Whitney suggested that we should go to the mall and shop. This got lots of moans and groans - from Dakota and me anyways. Tiffany just wanted to sleep which I guess is typical for a 17-year old. I of course wanted to go to a Spring Training game. Trina said she thought that was doable. At that point I probably should have left well enough alone but I just had to push the envelope a little by adding, "every day." This resulted in yet another lecture about how our lives do not revolve around baseball. I still don't understand why that personality flaw continues to get brought up. I can't help it if they have messed up priorities.
March 11, 2008
Some things just seem to go together: Sedona and Red, boys and girls, peanut butter and chocolate (hey I've seen the Reeses Peanut Butter cup commercials), Spring Break and baseball. Oh sure that last one might be questionable to some especially if you have ever watched MTV. According to that "network" Spring Break is made up of equal parts college students, alcohol, and bikinis. I have yet to figure out where all those wild Spring Break parties are actually located. Even when I was in college I never could find the people that are portrayed in all those Spring Break movies. The crowds I saw more resembled Revenge of the Nerds than Malibu Spring Break. And yet the stereotype of drunk young adults in clothing optional scenarios seems to proliferate every year. So if kids aren't spending Spring Break drunk or passed out waking up trying to remember where they left their clothes then where are they going and what are they doing?
March 10, 2008
When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded for Randy Johnson in January 2007 everyone wondered what they were thinking. Here was a pitcher who had health issues and questionable success while in New York and was characterized as a surly personality that was not a good clubhouse presence. I happened to be in the minority on that. I felt like Randy had reached a point in his career that he valued family and would be very beneficial in the clubhouse offering to help some of the young players as they began their big league careers. Whenever I mentioned my opinion it was usually met with skepticism and laughter. I felt somewhat vindicated when Randy found success after starting the season on the disabled list. That triumph was short lived when Johnson's season ended with another surgery to repair his ailing back.
March 9, 2008
March 9, 1995 was a big day. Some would say it was a life changing day. Ok nobody would say it was a life changing day except maybe me. We can probably all agree that is was a good day or at least an interesting day. While many will celebrate March 31 as the day the Arizona Diamondbacks were born in 1998 it was actually March 9, 1995 that saw the birth of a baseball franchise. At the owners meetings in Florida the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays were introduced as the newest franchises in Major League Baseball. This was a huge story in Arizona and even more so in our house.
March 8, 2008
There are not many things I hate more than plumbing. There's the "great Troy Tulowitzki", Rally Sally's upper deck dancing and maybe a trip to the dentist but other than that I can't think of anything else I detest more. So when I woke up this morning and saw all the women in my house hovering above me with what looked like a broken faucet handle I knew today was not going to be one of those days that I was going to enjoy. It's Saturday and Spring Training games have begun. Man was not meant to spend the day curled under a sink with a pipe wrench and Teflon tape looking for leaks. But considering that one faucet in the bathroom upstairs has been broken since the National League Divisional Series with the Cubs I had probably used up all the delays I could think of. Curse you Josh Byrnes! Why couldn't you invite me to Spring Training so I had an excuse for not having to do plumbing?
March 7, 2008
It's funny how your perception of age changes as you get older. I remember as a kid I thought anyone who was in their 20's had reached middle age. My parents were ancient when they were in their 30's. As a kid I remember asking my grandparents what it was like to live without electricity and indoor plumbing because they were so old when in their 50's. Now as I have a birthday coming up in the next few days I am constantly reminded of how old I am getting. My son firmly believes that I was first mate on the ark with Noah and more than once he has asked me which of the animals were hardest to take care of while we were stuck on that boat. Trying to correct him has become pointless as he will never believe his dad isn't that old. Now when he brings that subject up I just politely remind him that I am younger than his mom so if I'm that old just think how ancient she is. Trina of course finds very little humor in any of this and makes a conscious effort to remind the kids that while dad is technically correct, the age difference is only three months. Hey, three months is three month and I need any advantage I can get.
March 6, 2008
About 10 days ago I went online and ordered tickets to a select few games for the 2008 Arizona Diamondbacks tickets. These are in addition to the two Diamondbacks season tickets I have in Section 112 Row 8 Seats 7-8. It is important that I keep repeating our seat location. If I don't I'll never remember where I am sitting for the upcoming season. I can't think of many things more embarrassing than showing up for Opening Day and sitting in the wrong seats. The extra tickets were ordered so that the entire family could attend certain games throughout the season. Most of these tickets are for bobble head games or some other special promotion. Also included in these are tickets to games where we have friends or family who will be in town. I figured I needed to get tickets otherwise I'd never get to see them when they come to town since I would be at the ballpark. (Please don't start with the argument that I should stay home when we have company, I get enough of that lecture at home.)
March 5, 2008
I have a love/hate relationship with DirecTV. Maybe hate is too strong a word. I don't hate DirecTV in the sense that I do the "great Troy Tulowitzki" my winner for attitude rookie of the year. It is more of a "I can't stand being bullied about by a media conglomerate" displeasure. I've been a satellite user for 25 years. Wow, that sounds so dirty when I say it that way. My love affair with satellite programming began while I was in college. In order to help support myself in school I installed satellite dish equipment. At that time the dishes were between 8 and 10 feet in diameter and had to be moved with a crank by hand. There was no such thing as paid programming and encryption had not even been considered. Not only did you get standard programming on a satellite dish but you also got to see what happens during the commercial breaks when the camera is not live. That is of course good and bad. (No one should ever be exposed to Dan Rather picking his nose.) As technology has evolved my viewing habits have changed to follow suit.
March 4, 2008
I completely understand the Arizona Diamondbacks thinking when it came to establishing their Spring Training base. Tucson seemed very logical. First it would be the home to their Triple-A Affiliate the Tucson Sidewinders. Second it would allow them the opportunity to extend their fan base to be expanded to a more state-wide basis than it would be if they were based in the Phoenix valley. Third, it does allow the anticipation to build towards the regular season. While I would have no problem seeing the Diamondbacks every day during Spring Training and continuing the excitement throughout the regular season; I am not a typical fan (and so I have been told on numerous occasions).
March 3, 2008
Today the Arizona Diamondbacks face their National League Western Division nemesis the Colorado Rockies. This is the second time these two teams will have met this spring. The first game was February 28 and ended in a 5-5 tie which is kind of like taking your sister to the prom and giving her a good-night kiss. You had fun at the dance but it ended kind of creepy and will undoubtedly become a subject of conversation with your therapist. The starting pitcher for today's contest is right-hander Micah Owings. This is Owings second start of the spring having started the game against Colorado earlier. During that contest he faced 10 batters in 2 innings allowing 2 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks and 2 strike-outs. If he keeps that up Micah is going to get a new nickname as people start calling him the "Deuce Coupe". With Micah Owings his pitching is only part of the story.
March 2, 2008
One of the nuances of Spring Training is the concept of Split Squad contests. For those who have never been to Spring Training this term may not be completely familiar. Split squad allows a team to divide and play two games in a single day. This gives player development personnel an opportunity to view players in a game situation. It also gives more players an opportunity to impress the coaches. The Diamondbacks typically have three or four split squad games every spring. The first split squad is normally scheduled during the first week of Spring Training. The final split squad game is normally just before the team breaks camp to begin the regular season. The value of the first split squad game is to allow the team to assess which players should be assigned to minor league camp. It also gives the regulars a chance to limit their work this soon into the beginning of Spring Training which will hopefully keep them healthy.
March 1, 2008
Early last month the Arizona Diamondbacks offered a road trip to Tucson to see the Diamondbacks host the Chicago White Sox at Tucson Electric Park. This is an annual trip that the team plans to allow fans in the Phoenix area to see a Spring Training game and enjoy the company of other Diamondbacks fans. It is one of those things that if you are a D-Backs fan you just have to go and since I consider myself a fan I figured it was my duty to go. I expressed my desires to Trina and we finally agreed that it might be fun. For the record I always thought it sounded like fun while Trina struggled with the idea of being trapped in an entire bus filled with people just like me. I assured her that there are not any fans just like me. What I didn't appreciate was the zeal that she exhibited when she concurred that I was one-of-a-kind. I have a feeling that I just got slammed but it might take me a few days to figure out exactly what she was implying with her comments.
