Notes From The Nat

If any of you Internet Explorer users out there were having trouble reading the site recently, sorry about that - I’d made some changes to the blockquote code that looked great in Netscape and Firefox (you know, the browsers that aren’t like an open gateway to viruses and hack attacks), but looked rotten in IE and made everything hard to read.

Thanks to Rob for letting me know. I had no idea there was a problem until I got his email.

Also, a big thanks to the makers of Wordpress, who made it ‘Aaaah So Easy’ to delete the latest round of European spam commenters before they even got a chance to be seen.

And speaking of Aaah So Easy, I’m not usually one to plug an advertiser here, but I’m of the belief that when you get really great service from a really great company, you ought to tell people about it. The fact that Aah So Easy advertise with the C’s only makes it more of an imperative for me to do so.

A few years back, after hearing one too many mentions of Aaah So Easy Mobile Mini-Storage on the Vancouver Canadians webcast, I decided to use their service during a house move, mainly because I was too cheap to rent a truck. I was duly impressed enough with their service enough to use them again this past week.

The deal is, they drop off a storage cube outside your front door, you load it up at your leisure with your furniture, boxes, etc, then at a given time/day, they take it away on a truck, either to be stored at their facility or dropped at your new address. You then empty it at your leisure.

As anyone who has moved house with a rental truck knows, A) it’s expensive to do so, B) you can never get one at the end of the month, and C) you’re in such a rush to get it back to the rental company by 4pm, you end up practically throwing your furniture off the back of the thing.

The ASE cube, however, can stay there for days if you want it to. No rushing back. No big expense.

So now that I’m selling my place on Broadway and Kingsway ($299k for a 2BR, 2 bath condo with a den and city and mountain views from every room, in case you’re looking) and moving to Steveston (don’t ask), I opted this past week to load most of my stuff into an ASE cube and have them store it all for a month, so I could show potential buyers through my place and have it showing at its best. After all, who wants to see all my crap lying around?

The cube arrived at 7am, I loaded it up through the day, and at 7am next day it promptly disappeared - gone until I call and ask for it back. Seriously, with no shillery intended, that’s ‘ah so easy’.

So if you’re a C’s fan and want to reward an advertiser, take note. And if you’d just like to not have to eal with moving vans ever again, even more reason to take note. They’re in the phone book, and they hereby get the NFTN Candadians Advertiser of the Month Award.

Every year around this time, the major prospects of each team’s minor systems gather in Arizona for a little Fall Ball. The concept goes that each team supplies six players from AAA or AA and one from the lower leagues to one Fall Ball team, which is duly shared by several other teams. The league serves as a means of getting primo prospects more development time, or getting kids who were out with injury an opportunity to catch up on some of what they missed.

The Oakland Athletics are a part of the Phoenix Desert Dogs organization, which also includes the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, and here’s how the former Vancouver Canadians (and others) selected in this year’s batch were making out in their first few weeks of ‘Zona. 

Pitchers:

Marcus McBeth: 0-0, 4.50 ERA, 2 saves, 1BB, 8K over 6IP
Jared Burton (Van 2002): 0-1, 13.50 ERA, 0BB, 1K over 2.2IP
Mike Mitchell (Van 2005): 1-0, 1.69 ERA, 0BB, 6K over 5.1IP
Connor Robertson (Van 2004): 0-0, 15.75 ERA, 3BB, 4K over 4.0IP

Hitters:

C - Landon Powell (Van 2004): .261, 0HR, 0BB, 3K over 23ABs
2B - Kevin Melillo (Van 2004): .222, 1HR, 1BB, 8K over 45ABs
RF - Travis Buck (Van 2005): .250, 1HR, 1BB, 4K over 24ABs

Travis Buck (pictured above) got off to a flying start after spending some of season 2006 on the DL with a hip flexor strain and a sports hernia, but he’s sunk back to the pack kfairly quickly. The big story of the Fall season so far is reliever Mike Mitchell, who never gave up an earned run while in Vancouver in 2005, and has since shot up the charts in a big way, even getting a few outings in AAA ball this season.

Travis Buck fans will enjoy the fact that he’s actually doing a weekly blog post on minorleaguebaseball.com. You can catch those right here.

In other off-season league news, Rotoworld points out that 2004 Vancouver Canadians shortstop Gregorio Petit is kind of on fire in the A’s Venezuelan League team right now:

Gregorio Petit delivered a pair of solo homers in Tuesday for Caracas of the Venezuelan Winter League. He’s 5-for-16 and has a triple to go along with the two homers. Petit was moved off shortstop this year because the A’s like Cliff Pennington better, but he’s back at his original position in Venezuela. Although he didn’t have a very good offensive year in the California League, batting .256/.310/.378, he still has a chance to be something more than just a utilityman.

I knew about this a few weeks back, but decided against posting about it because… well, excessive publicity tends to make cool events like this no longer annual affairs, if you know what I mean.

Regardless, the University of British Columbia baseball team had their yearly reunion game this past Saturday at Nat Bailey Stadium, and just as he did the year previously, Colorado Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis turned out to play in the outfield. According to reports from the Tbirds Baseball Fanpage, he accounted for himself pretty fairly too - as did the other current pro UBC alums in attendance.

The 2006 University of British Columbia Alumni game was entertaining, and included some good defensive plays, but the star of the show was clearly Yankee farmhand and Canadian Olympian Cory Stuart.

A relief pitcher in real life, Stuart played left field and shortstop on this occasion. He got two hits, and made a couple of very good defensive plays at shortstop. UBC Assistant Coach Cavanagh Whitely said, ?Somebody should call up George Steinbrenner and let him know that there’s somebody in his organization that can hit.?

Turn-out was so good that they had to divvy the attendees into three teams - young, middle-aged and old - and just as with previous seasons, the oldies gave a good account of themselves. For a full breakdown of the day, head on over to Bob’s Tbirds Baseball Fanpage.

Hat tip to Bob Broughton for the pic of Cory Stuart above

Well, you kind of saw it coming, I guess, but it still sucks when it’s official. Mike Klug, the team MVP and underdog fan favorite, has been let go by the Oakland Athletics. 

This is kind of an end-of-year dirty deed that the team simply has no choice but to engage in if they’re to make room for next year’s draftees, so it’s probably good it happens sooner rather than later, but we love The Keg here at NFTN, as he not only took on any team role that was going, from bullpen catcher to emergency outfielder to first base coach, but he also left a piece of himself on the field whenever he got a chance to go out and take a swing.

According to the Road Kill Sports Blog:

2006 Vancouver Canadian Utility man Mike Klug has been released by the Oakland Athletics. Klug was more of a inspirational leader to the club by August, as the middle infield was stacked and there was no room for his then .182 average. Klug won team MVP, edging out Larry Cobb, Alex Valdez and Matt Sulentic.

Here’s hoping the kid takes another crack at pro ball - who knows, maybe he’ll catch on at an indie club, like Kevin Millar and Rey Ordonez did, and find his way to The Show after all.

Either way, thanks for giving it your all, Kegger. Don’t be a stranger.

Vancouver Canadians GM Delany Dunn has just announced the fireworks lineup for the C’s 2007 season, and it’s a thing of beauty.

You don’t just get one fireworks night. You don’t just get two. You get SIX fireworks nights - that’s nearly one every two weeks of the season!

The official release follows:

After the release of the 2007 schedule last week, the Vancouver Canadians are excited to announce six fireworks shows throughout the ?07 campaign beginning with the C?s home opener on June 19^th!

Other games that will ?end with a bang? include the Canada Day Celebrations on July 1^st, July 17^th, August 3^rd, August 13^th and August 30^th. All fireworks shows will follow their respective games and will boast an exciting display of light lasting between fifteen and twenty minutes in length.

And you want even better news? Ticket prices are going to remain at 2006 levels. Bargain.

Word on the street is that former A’s killing pitcher, Orel Hershiser, is interested in interviewing for the vacant A’s managerial position. Some have asked "why Orel", and crass puns aside, the answer is simple: He qualifies.

But what does it take to qualify for an interview with the Oakland Athletics? What is General Manager Billy Beane looking for in an applicant?

Notes From The Nat was recently slipped a copy of the official form that Billy Beane requests all applicants fill in before being granted an interview, and apparently Hershiser ranked very highly in all categories, thus he’s in the running.

So without further ado, here it is. 

Oakland Athletics Job Application Qualification Form:

Please mark each box that pertains to your qualifications with a tick. Failure to mark each box rules you ineligible to work for Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s at this time.

[  ] Are you experienced in professional baseball?
[  ] Are you experienced in coaching professional sports?
[  ] Are you prepared to work long hours?
[  ] Are you prepared to relocate to the Bay Area?
[  ] Are you inexpensive?
[  ] No, like REALLY inexpensive?
[  ] Seriously, we’re talking soup kitchen inexpensive here.
[  ] Can I borrow a dollar?
[  ] Will you bark like a dog if I tell you to?
[  ] Go on then. Bark like a dog. A little one. One of those Taco Bell dogs.
[  ] Okay, now a Golden Lab. With a sore throat.
[  ] Not bad. Can you do an impression of Charo?
[  ] I don’t care if you can’t. Do it anyway. Something from a Broadway show, but in Spanish.
[  ] Drop and give me twenty.
[  ] Go get me a sandwich.
[  ] And none of that mayo crap. I’m on a diet.
[  ] Sockpuppetsayswhat?

Fine. You’re signed.

 

You’ve gotta love the blog world - The Future of A’s Baseball got this from Scout.com, who got it from Baseball America. And I got it from TFOAB.

The blogosphere is just one huge collection of ‘borrowed data’, ain’t it? 

So here it is, without further ado, the list of A’s minor leaguers who have played their time, are now officially unprotected, and can sign with other teams if an offer comes their way.

Vancouver fans need not get too worried, as only two former Canadians are listed, and one of those only played one game:

1B Nate Espy
3B Scott McClain
SS Ron Merrill
OF Matt Allegra (2001 - .220 BA, 11HR)
RHP John Birtwell
RHP David Bradley
RHP Kenny Durost
RHP Victor Moreno
RHP Kevin Olsen
RHP Brandon Puffer
RHP Alex Santos
RHP Eric Sheridan (2006 - 0-0, 0.00, 1.2IP)
LHP Ray Aguilar
LHP Heath Castle
LHP Seth Epstein
LHP Adam Pettyjohn
LHP Mark Watson

Know how many of these guys the A’s wanna keep?

"There’s a lot of oooold guys up there" - Keith Lieppman, A’s farm director, on the A’s Triple-A team, to me during the final weeks of season 2006.

How old? Well this is Brandon Puffer’s transaction sheet:

Drafted - Selected by Minnesota Twins in 27th Round (743rd overall) of 1994 amateur entry draft (June-Reg)  Jun 10,1994 - signed 

May 6,1996 - Released by Twins. 

May 28,1996 - Signed as Free Agent by Angels.  Dec 15,1997 - Released by Angels. 

Jan 14,1998 - Signed as Free Agent by Reds.  Oct 16,1998 - Granted Free Agency. 

Nov 17,1998 - Signed as Free Agent by Reds.  Oct 15,1999 - Granted Free Agency. 

Nov 18,1999 - Signed as Free Agent by Rockies.  May 18,2000 - Released by Rockies.

May 1,2000 - Signed by independent Somerset (Atlantic)   

Jul 17,2000 - Purchased by Astros from Somerset (Atlantic).  Nov 19,2003 - Released by Astros. 

Jan 7,2004 - Signed as Free Agent by Padres. 

Jul 2,2004 - Purchased by Red Sox from Padres.  Oct 15,2004 - Granted Free Agency. 

Dec 15,2004 - Signed as Free Agent by Giants.

And that doesn’t even include 2005-6.

If any of these guys turn up in Sacramento next year, it’ll be a surprise. 

The powers that be in big baseball this week came to terms on a new labour agreement (that’s right, I said ‘labour’ - we use the Queen’s English up here, kids), and surprisingly enough, there was precious little argument from either side.

There are several changes to the way baseball does business from now on, such as changes to revenue sharing and deadline dates for arbitration and free agent signing, but the biggies for the minor league crowd are encapsulated below, and the first one is a biggie:

Amateur Draft:

1. Clubs that fail to sign first or second round draft pick will receive the same pick in the subsequent draft as compensation. Club that fails to sign a third round pick will receive a sandwich pick between rounds three and four in the subsequent draft as compensation.

Nobody is talking about it yet, but this is huge. The Oakland A’s have traditionally gone after ‘under the radar’ draft choices, because they figured signability is a small market club’s biggest issue in the draft. Why draft a kid who wants $3m a year when you know that’s twice your budget?

But from now on, the A’s will be able to go hell for leather after the big guns, and if they can’t sign a deal, they don’t waste a pick - it just comes back to them the following year.

(more…)

Kenny Rogers, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, had brought into this year’s major league playoffs the highest ever career playoff ERA. He was, for all intents and purposes, a playoff loser of the highest level. A choker. Which seemed kind of odd, since through the season, he was normally pretty tough to hit.

Well now it all makes sense.

Rogers, while pitching against the St Louis Cardinals in last night’s World Series game, was asked by umpires in the second inning what the dark stuff on his hands was. "Dirt" replied Rogers, before scurrying off to wash his hands. He then proceeded to pitch the final six innings of 23 consecutive shut-out frames in these playoffs.

But hang on a second… "Dirt?" Where do you find dirt on a ballpark diamond? The infield is all grassed up, the diamond is made of clay, so where would dirt come from? And hang on a second, if you look at the pictures above, courtesy of ESPN, of Rogers pitching against Oakland in the ALCS (left), and Rogers pitching last night in the Series (right), you’ll see that he ALWAYS had that ‘dirt’ on his hand, and always on the base of his thumb - the part of the hand where you’d rub your fingertips if you needed to coat them in something that would help you put spin on a breaking ball.

Kenny Rogers has been pitching with pine tar on his hands. But if that doesn’t convince you, there’s a ton of more circumstantial evidence that will help build the anti-Rogers case.

For example, why was he wearing a black Detroit Tigers ‘World Series 2006′ ballcap last night with a black underbill, and not the usual gray-underbilled Tigers cap that his teammates were wearing? And why do, according to Jim Rome this morning, Rogers’ former teammates say that The Gambler always used to choose to wear the ‘darker’ road uniform when he was pitching, even if the weather was hot? Anyone who has played a sport knows that dark uniforms get mighty warm in hot sunny weather…

I’ll tell you why. Because Kenny Rogers pitches with pine tar, and black clothing gives him more places to put it.

Last night, after being asked to wash his hands (something Rogers now denies happened, even though his manager confirms it did), Rogers continued to throw like fury, giving up only two hits. In cold weather. Cold weather that, usually, make it tough to snap off a breaking ball properly.

Check the video footage of the game (you can download it from MLB.com, though it’ll cost you) and you’ll see what Rogers did before each pitch - he’d bring his pitching hand to his face, blow on his fingers, and wipe those fingers along the base of his thumb - exactly where the ‘gob of dirt’ was. Then he’d rub the underside of his (strangely black under-billed) cap. Then he’d touch the back of his (black) cap. Then he’d fire in a pitch that would break off wickedly and strike out a Cardinal.

Why did he always suck in the post-season previously? Maybe because the post-season brings more cameras, more TV, and a lot more attention. Presumably, Rogers didn’t want to subject his cheating ways to the extra attention such games bring about. One could also pontificate that, now that he’s older than Milton Berle, he wanted to finally win a post-season, and decided it was worth the risk of being caught cheating to make that happen.

And the worst part is, it seems he was right, since the umpires didn’t do their duty and actually search him for tar, as the rules dictate they should.

The awesome Seattle Mariners fan blog, Lookout Landing, has an alternate take on the subject:

I think it was sh*t. Seriously, bear me with me here.

When they asked him about it, he seemed very embarrassed and pussy footed around the question. When both managers were asked, they refused to comment. And also, during the game after the announcers commented about it, Pudge wispered in his ear and Kenny ran into the dugout and came back out with clean hands a new pair of pants.

[…] Kenny Rogers literally sh*t himself during game 2 of the World Series. 

CHEATER! Let it be known across the sporting world, Kenny Rogers is a damned cheat! He’s been cheating for years, he’s defrauded ball fans and opposition players and game officials for most of his career, and rather than pull him up for it and search him for evidence - like maybe test the balls he was throwing last night - he has been all but let off for doing it, repeatedly. Major League Baseball says nothing, does nothing, and once again allows a play-off series to be dictated by rulebreakers and frauds.

Shame on Major League Baseball. Shame on Kenny Rogers. Any fan of the Oakland A’s or the New York Yankees should be screaming from the rooftops - we got defrauded by The Gambler, a man who epitomizes everything bad about professional sports, and we demand retribution.

Anything less than a suspension would be letting him off. What should REALLY happen is last night’s game is called a no-result.

Hat-tips to Athletics Nation, Lookout Landing, ESPN, Fox Sports and Jim Rome for the info and images in this piece. Credit where it’s due, and all..

It’s never too early to start thinking about baseball, especially when there have been rumors of the league radically changing structure next season, so the news today that the C’s have announced their ‘07 schedule in the Northwest League is confidence-boosting.

Here’s the official release:

Vancouver, BC ? The Vancouver Canadians are proud toannounce the release of their schedule for the 2007 Northwest League season. TheC?s will open the ?07 campaign in the friendly confines of NatBailey Stadium on June 19, 2007 as they take on the Colorado Rockies NWLaffiliate the Tri-City Dust Devils at 7:05PM. The 2007 schedule also boasts tenmid-week Sports Action ?Nooners at the Nat with 7 on Wednesday?sand three on Friday?s. A highlight of the season will again be the CanadaDay celebration including fireworks at the Nat as the C?s host the 2006NWL champion Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, affiliate of the San Francisco Giants ofMajor League Baseball. More great promotional dates will be released in the comingmonths.

VancouverCanadians season ticket, ticket packages and single game tickets will soon beavailable and on sale for the 2007 season with prices holding firm from?06. Tickets can be purchased at the Nat Bailey Stadium Ticket Office, bycalling 604-872-5232 or by visiting: www.canadiansbaseball.com. Singlegame tickets for the ?07 season are priced as follows: ServiceMasterDiamond Club $20, Box Section $12.50, Premium Festival $11.00 and GeneralAdmission $8.00 (all prices include all applicable taxes).

Fireworks night!

Wednesday nooners!

$8 tickets!

Who has two thumbs and is excited for 2007?

"This guy."

One of the questions I often ask Vancouver Canadians players each year is, "how awesome is it to be able to play yourself in a video game?" The answer, always, without hesitation, is "Awesome. It’s so freakin’ awesome!"

But clearly not everyone feels that way. Ethan Albright is listed in the latest incarnation of John Madden’s NFL video game, Madden 2007, as the worst player in the game. We may never know how Mr Albright, who could kick your, my, and your entire family’s ass withotu blinking, feels about this slight on his talent and character, but we can imagine, courtesy of The Phat Phree…

Hi, John, my name is Ethan Albright. I play line for the Washington Redskins. You probably already knew that, so I?ll continue. I am writing in regards to the overall player rating of 53 that I have received in Madden NFL Football 2007. I feel that this is f**king bullsh*t and you should kiss my mother-f**king ass. Ahmed Carroll was rated a 78 and the Packers just cut his ass on a Tuesday morning after his performance in a Monday night game. That is pretty terrible. The worst part is that his overall rating was sniffing 80.

You know what, John? Two can play this game. I rate you a f**king 12. I rate you a f**king 12 in Ethan Albright Football 2000-ever? except for in the category of ball-licking. That is where I will spot you a 98 rating. You will receive this score because I will never give your blubbery ass a 99 in any category. Take that, pencil-d**k. Go do Al Micheals or something. Boom. Score one for Red Beard.

It?s also pretty wonderful that my awareness ratingwas 59. You make it sound like I wake up in the morning, helplesslysh*t and p*ss myself, then lose three of my teeth before I discoverthat I am trying to eat a rock for breakfast.

Go read the rest. Trust me, it’s priceless.

Hat tip to the Daily Link Dump at Athletics Nation for the find.

The Best Damn Sports Show Period is perhaps the best show on TV with the word ‘period’ in its title. Other than that, it sits pretty low on the scale of all things must-see, at least as far as I’m concerned, and of late they’ve started on the VH1 ‘list show’ route, with such outings as Top 50 Most Outrageous Things in Sports, Top 50 Reasons Not to Date Lawrence Taylor, Top 50 Things Joe Namath Will Say While Drunk and Nailing a Cheerleader, etc etc.

Tonight’s effort was one that I just couldn’t pass up, however, being as it was the Top 50 Most Devastating Hits in Sports.

I do love a good jaw rattler - in fact, I was sent off many times back in the days when I played semi-pro soccer, usually for fair shoulder-to-shoulder hits that, according to a strict interpretation of the rules, were perfectly legal. Oddly, nobody else ever seemed to agree with me… but I digress.

So I’m watching a pretty awesome collection of hockey, football and baseball collisions - some intentional, some not so much (ah, Johnny Damon.. how I enjoy watching your own teammates head butt you on the fly), and who should come in at number one? That’s right, your friend and mine, former Vancouver Canadians outfielder Rodney McCray, who famously tracked a deep flyball over his shoulder in Portland and forgot to check where the wall was.

You’ve undoubtedly seen it on many blooper reels at sporting events across the world, but in case you haven’t, McCray bolted back towards the wall looking for a high fly, before hitting the Flav-R-Pac sign and going clear through it in an explosion of plywood and player. McCray was unhurt, but has since become infamous for what will henceforth be known as the official Most Devastating Hit in Sports.

To top off the honor, McCray was invited onto the show (he made an entrance by running through a prop wall, natch), then answered a few questions, which I, in turn, kinda jotted down as best I could on the fly:

(more…)