Platform change! dailyjakjob.mlblogs.com

Hey everyone,

I am changing over to the MLBlogs platform because it offers me a better opportunity in terms of readership. So from now on, all posts will be published at my new address, http://dailyjakjob.mlblogs.com. If you were a previous subscriber to this Blogger address, please subscribe via RSS to my new one! There is a nice easy link for you to click.

Cool thanks! Again, the new address is http://dailyjakjob.mlblogs.com so please check it out!

See you there!

Update coming later!

Sorry folks, it looks like Sundays will be evening update days, at least until the school year is up, as Sundays are the day I write my Cutoff Man article for The Tartan and I don't have the time to write two in the morning. I'll put an article up probably around 7!

Also: Happy tenth birthday Mathias Altman-Kurosaki! He is the little guy in my picture. Biggest baseball fan besides me and my dad - we're raising him right.

No ifs or ands, but...

I went to a career fair at PNC Park yesterday to see if any of the MLB teams in attendance had any openings for writers/any form of media. I got an okay amount of talking in, but it seems like most teams are only looking for people to work in sales and finance. My best bet right now is the Washington Wild Things.

If someone were to write an article about my experience, it would probably be titled something along the lines of "Jonas attends first career fair, but attempts fall short."

There always seems to be a "but" lurking around the Mets. Starting during the pre-game speculation, the "but" made its way uncomfortably through the game, popping up just when you most expected it. First, it was, "the Mets have some momentum coming off their first win in five games, but they have yet to show that momentum helps them at all." Coupled with that was, "the Mets have some momentum, but they have Oliver Perez on the mound." Further into the game, it got better, surprising us with, "Jeff Francouer made a bonehead baserunning play, but scored on a throwing error anyway!"

But unfortunately, things turned sour, and suddenly there was, "Oliver Perez actually pitched well, but now Fernando Nieve just hit a guy and walked a guy to load the bases!" Fans were befuddled thereafter, thinking, "Hisanori Takahashi has done very well in his last three appearances, Ryota Igarashi has yet to allow a run and as recently as yesterday was said to be the team's latest setup man, and Jenrry Mejia is supposed to have great breaking stuff that'll either get ground balls or strike guys out, but why does Jerry always choose the newest guy to put out the fire?" It's a question Mets fans have pondered for a while now, and one that reached a pinnacle last year when rookie Jon Switzer was brought in to face the Yankees instead of, well, anyone else, and gave up a three-run homer to give the Yanks a 7-6 lead.

But gripes aside, bringing in Raul Valdes didn't work out, and after Felipe Lopez hit his grand slam, the only "but" left was one the Mets have heard a lot over the past two weeks: "Mets fight back in ninth, but comeback attempt falls short." Jeff Francouer summed it up best. "I'm not going to lie to you, I thought we were going to win today," he said to mets.com's Anthony DiComo. "But it didn't happen that way."

The Pirates refuse to drop two games below .500, despite the best efforts of their bullpen. Reds starter Mike Leake pitched decently after an hour-long rain delay, giving up three earned runs in seven innings, but the Pirates' Zach Duke was better, pitching seven scoreless before walking a batter to start the eighth. He was replaced by Joel Hanrahan, Javier Lopez, and finally Brendan Donnelly, and when the dust settled, it was 3-2, and an inning later Octavio Dotel blew the save to tie the game.

But former Mets top prospect-turned-top target Lastings Milledge smacked a two-out single back through the box to score Andrew McCutchen in the bottom of the ninth, and the Pirates won 4-3. They are 5-5 on the year.

The Padres had a little walkoff action of their own on Friday, scoring a run each in the seventh and eighth to cut their deficit to 3-2 against Arizona. David Eckstein hit a two-out double to tie the game in the ninth for San Diego, and after an intentional, no-brainer walk to Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Headley Lamarr blasted a three-run homer for the 6-3 victory.

One way to avoid your bullpen imploding and blowing the game is to not let them pitch in the first place. The Cleveland Indians, whose bullpen is 1-2 with a 4.85 ERA, got a complete game victory from David Huff on Thursday and got another one from Mitch Talbot on Friday. I wish the Mets would get some more of those as it is, but Jerry Manuel is not a fan of them and tends to enjoy wearing out the path from the dugout to the mound.

The Giants' Aaron Rowand was hit in the face with a pitch from the Dodgers' Vincente Padilla last night. He sustained small fractures to his cheek and a concussion. In a bizarre display of logic, umpires chose not to eject, or even warn, any players or managers after the incident, even though earlier in the game, Giants starter Todd Wellemeyer had thrown high and quite tight to Matt Kemp. Hopefully Rowand will be okay, and hopefully umpires will continue to let the game go on without unnecessary repercussions.

Short hops: Nats top-prospect Stephen Strasburg dominated the world yesterday with 2.1 innings of one-run (none earned) ball yesterday before a rain delay in the second Double-A start of his career... Jorge Cantu got another hit, but couldn't drive in a run against the Phillies on Friday, ending his streak at ten for games with a hit and an RBI to open the season... Red Sox centerfielder Mike Cameron passed a kidney stone yesterday in one of the grosser injuries suffered by a player this season... The Blue Jays did their best Marlins impression yesterday, hosting a mere 14,779 fans to see them lose to the Angels on Friday.

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

The right foot

The Houston Astros, after starting off the season with an eight-game losing streak, finally got rookie manager Brad Mills his first Major League win with a 5-1 triumph over the Cardinals. Now with one win and eight losses, Houston is no longer the worst in baseball, as Baltimore stretched its losing streak to seven against Oakland yesterday to put its record at 1-9.

According to MLB.com's Nate Latsch, one of the main things the Astros did yesterday that was different than their eight losses was change the music in the clubhouse before the game... to Jason Michaels' collection of *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. And while at least it's not the Jonas Brothers, I think listening to "Bye Bye Bye" and "I Want It That Way" before every game in hopes of a win would make me think, "you know, I think I'd rather just lose."

But at least the Astros won, and Brad Mills got his first W. It's about time for the former Red Sox bench coach, who undoubtedly had hoped for a bit more from the start of his managerial career. If he actually is Terry Francona's protege as he is touted to be, I'm more than confident that he can turn it around a la 2005 Willie Randolph and make the Astros competitive again. Besides, Pittsburgh's getting antsy not being in the basement.

Mike Pelfrey led the Mets to their first win in six days when he shut down the Rockies yesterday with seven scoreless innings. The big righty is pitching like the Mets hoped he would, and after two starts is their only starter with two wins and an ERA under 4 (his 1.38 impresses considerably more than Johan Santana's 4.91). Pelfrey struck out six and, more importantly, walked none, which is always a bright spot for a Mets staff that finished second to last in the Majors last year in walks allowed and has already walked 37 batters this season, an average of 4.11 walks per nine innings. Just to make his day complete, Pelfrey also went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI to maintain his .500 average on the season. Still waiting for his first home run...

The Yankees' Robinson Cano couldn't have picked a better time to have a good game. The Yanks' second baseman, who was named after Jackie Robinson, hit two home runs yesterday during his team's 6-2 victory over Los Angeles of Anaheim. His performance came on a day when baseball honored the Dodgers' Robinson, also primarily a second baseman during his career; now that's something I bet even Cano couldn't have wished for.

Javier Vazquez, though, seems to have gotten off on the wrong foot during his second tour of duty with the Yankees. Seemingly acquired purely because the Steinbrenners saw him succeeding with a team other than the Yankees, he had hoped to win the fans over from the last time the Steinbrenners did the exact same thing. However, he is 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA to start the year. The fact that he considered "unfair" that the home fans booed him after he gave up four earned in 5.1 innings in a loss to the Angels reinforces what the Yanks should already have known: some people are just not meant to pitch in New York.

Short hops: Kris Benson will make the start for the Arizona Diamondbacks tomorrow as their fifth starter. Enjoy Anna, fellas! She's great in public relations... Toronto is still in first place after their 7-3 victory yesterday put them at 7-3 on the season. They are a half-game up on the Yanks and Rays... Jorge Cantu hit an RBI double yesterday to put his streak at ten straight games with a hit and an RBI to start off the season. Dating back to last year, he now has 14 such games in a row. The last time any player went that long was when Mike Piazza did it in 15 straight games in the middle of the 2000 season. I was at the thirteenth game in that streak.

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Happy Jackie Robinson Day everybody!

The headline on mets.com this morning read: "Mets rally, but Rockies get to Mejia in extras." True, the Mets did rally from being down 5-3 immediately after being up 3-1. Yes, the Rockies did technically get to Jenrry Mejia in extras; he came into the 10th and threw four pitches before the only batter he faced - catcher Chris Iannetta - hit a walkoff homer to give the Rockies a 6-5 win. So really, the headline could have just said, "Mets lose in extras."

When something bad happens, it is usually our natural reaction to try and disguise it so that it seems a little better. Silver linings are all the rage, especially if your name is Jerry Manuel, Omar Minaya or whoever is in charge of the Orioles right now. The Mets managed to lose yesterday despite homers from Jeff Francouer and David Wright, and after the game, Wright didn't even try to look for a silver lining. "I don't, and I don't think anybody else in here, takes too much pride in the fact that we fought back," he said according to Anthony DiComo on mets.com. "It is what it is, and that's another loss." They are now off to a 2-6 start, which is their worst since 1992.

Meanwhile, despite having to place Jimmy Rollins on the DL for two to four weeks, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino and the Phillies routed the fourth-place Nationals to move to 7-1, which is their best start since 1993, when they made it to Game 6 of the World Series. They are already five games ahead of the New York cellar dwellers, and if yesterday's five RBIs are any indication that Victorino has found his stroke again, not having Jimmy Rollins shouldn't be a big obstacle for the Phils.

The Orioles, similar to the Mets, are off to a historically bad start as well. After getting swept at home by Carlos Pena and the Rays, Baltimore is now on a six-game losing streak and has a record of 1-8. This is their worst start to a season since they started off the 1988 season 0-21. The team that lost to the Mets in the 1969 World Series is only 1-for-29 (.034) this season with RISP and two outs. Orioles manager Dave Trembley's winning percentage has dropped each season since he became the manager in 2007, from .430 to .422 to .395, and given Peter Angelos' short leashes with Sam Perlozzo and Lee Mazzilli, I'd give the Orioles another two to four weeks of playing like this before Trembley gets the can.

Poll: Which will happen first?
A) Jimmy Rollins returns from the DL
B) Dave Trembley gets fired
C) Jerry Manuel gets fired


It's no secret that the Cleveland Indians do not have much in the expectations department. That said, either their broadcasters have the best/worst noise-cancelling microphones in history, or their fans really do not want to be there (what little fans were that there to begin with). When something bad happen to the Indians, the crowd sounded like a cemetery. When something good happened to the Indians, the crowd sounded like a cemetery on a windy day. It's really a shame

Short hops: It was Pun Day on MLB.com, with headlines "Huff puffs way to inside-the-park-homer" and "Penny's stinginess gives Cards win." As a lover of all things wordplay, this greatly appealed to me... Florida's Jorge Cantu set a Major League record yesterday when he hit a home run in the third inning to record a hit and an RBI in his ninth straight game to start the season. Perennial video game announcer and current Reds announcer Thom Brennaman mistakenly said the record was for "a hit or an RBI" in nine straight games, which isn't impressive at all... Joel Pineiro of the Angels showed the Mets why they probably should have tried a little harder to get him this winter by pitching seven dominant innings against the Yankees yesterday. He allowed one run with seven strikeouts and no walks, making Alex Rodriguez look like a fool on more than one occasion.

For a great article on Jackie Robinson, check out Billy-Ball.

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

"Egad, lads! Bestir yourselves!"

Sorry this one's up so late guys...

Today's headline is courtesy of my grandpa, who often refers to that as the greatest baseball headline he ever saw; I believe my dad's favorite is by Lee Jenkins of the New York Times from 2004: "The Mets Trade for Hidalgo, Once a Future Star."

Egad, lads, indeed. Watching the Mets last night reminded me what makes them so hard to believe in sometimes: they play some of the most uninspired baseball I've ever seen. When they've got a good-sized lead and they know they have control of the game, it's great. But when they're down or even tied, it just feels like they're playing in a lull and just want to get it over with. After a few innings of it, I'm watching in a lull and just want to get it over with. And don't even get me started on their lack of ability with RISP, especially with two outs.

For me, the worst part of last night that wasn't the final score came in the first inning of the game, when Jose Reyes came to the plate and I wasn't excited at all. The only thing I was expecting was a popup, and I got it. Jose doesn't feel like the Jose of old. He just feels like an old Jose.

I won't go into how poorly John Maine pitched yesterday or how poorly the Mets played in the 11-3 Rockies victory. My grandpa summed it up best in an email he sent me this morning:

After last night's debacle,the jingoistic battle cry of the so called Spanish-American War should be altered to read "Remember The Maine - Must I?"

Perhaps the problem that everyone on the Mets is trying to shoulder the load and everyone is putting unnecessary amounts of pressure on themselves to get the Mets rolling. Maybe, like in years past when the guy batting cleanup was named Piazza, all it's gonna take is one big hit, one clutch homer to get the Mets a win and get the Mets rolling. I certainly hope. Then everything will click.

Speaking of uninspiring, Tuesday was a relatively uninspiring day in baseball. The most exciting news was that the Blue Jays' Ricky Romero became the second Major League pitcher this season to take a no-hitter into the eighth. Romero eventually gave up a home run to former teammate Alex Rios as the only hit he allowed through eight innings to go with his 12 strikeouts. Romero is coming off a year in which he went 13-9 with a 4.3 ERA; this year he is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in all of two starts. So, logic says, he is now baseball's next big thing. What was that I was saying the other day about bandwagons and the jumping thereupon?

Bernie Williams threw out the first pitch at the Yankees' home opener yesterday. The Yankees received their World Series rings before the game and gave one to Hideki Matsui as well, which was nice to see. The Yanks went on to win the game, 7-5, including the first home run of the year from Derek Jeter, who apparently considers Yankee Stadium openers special. Who knew.

I love defense, and it is pretty well known that the Mariners have a guy named Suzuki who is pretty good at it. The Oakland A's have a catcher named Kurt Suzuki who has been making some pretty sweet plays himself. The heads up play he made last night involved diving out from behind the plate to catch what would have otherwise been a wild pitch and immediately firing to third to catch Chone Figgins trying to advance.

David Ortiz right now is hitting .136 with 11 strikeouts, 3 hits and 2 walks in his 24 plate appearances. Two walks means he has 22 official at-bats, which in turn means he is striking out .500 right now; he even got some shiny headware with a four-whiff performance on Sunday. The Red Sox are going to have to figure out soon if he's actually going to turn it around Carlos Delgado-style or if they're going to have to start looking for a new DH before the production from their entire middle of the lineup suffers.

Short hops: Delgado is actually in the news today, as he is now rehabbing from hip surgery number two and hopes to get healthy enough to play again this season. Or next season. Or in a video game... The Reds' Jay Bruce, no relation to the late Lenny Bruce, apologized yesterday for making an "obscene gesture" toward his teammates after hitting a double to break out of a 1-for-17 slump. Coincidentally, Jay's gesture looked an awful lot like this... Jorge Cantu of the Marlins tied a modern-day Major League record by getting a hit and an RBI in his eighth straight game to start the season.

One more thing: I've been thinking a bit about how bad it is for me as a fan to expect nothing but disappointment. Does that make me a bad fan? Maybe. But I, as an educated fan, can take solace in the fact that I am not an idiot whose posts show up on MLB.com's "The Pulse of the Game" Twittering feature. For your viewing pleasure (keep in mind, these show up in real time on the site):

"maine sucks"

"The who! Mets? Their still a franchise? In the MLB? GO #ROCKIES"

"met fans..whats the best day/time to watch a game a citi, i know opponent matters but wat days/times get best crowds?"

"KEITH AND GARY STILL POLISHING A TURD"

Other gems from Ollie's start last week included "bay and francouer are hitting the crap out of the ball" and "GOD DAMN IT OLIVER."

I think I've made my point.

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

Baseball like it oughta be

Yesterday, Texas catcher Taylor Teagarden and Cleveland truck Travis Hafner collided at home plate in a beautiful explosion of old school baseball. In the bottom of the sixth inning, with the score tied 2-2, Matt LaPorta singled up the middle with Hafner on second. Julio Borbon, the Rangers' relatively rookie centerfielder, came up throwing with a terrific strike to the plate as Pronk lumbered towards home. Teagarden had the ball firmly in his glove a good second before the Indians designated hulk got there, and doing exactly what he should have done, Hafner smashed into Teagarden with a blow that only Mo Vaughn could withstand.

Teagarden held onto the ball. Hafner was out.

And it was glorious.

That's not something you tend to see anymore. I remember the first time Ty Wigginton did it with the Mets in 2002 (at least I'm pretty sure it was 2002). The first time he did it, it worked. He knocked the ball loose and scored, which was sweet; he kept trying it after that, and I think every other attempt failed. This was probably because he made it obvious by stopping and setting himself before doing it, giving a catcher plenty of time to brace himself. Or at least he did that once.

Nowadays, the collision at home plate is not done nearly as much as it probably should. More often than not, a guy will try some ridiculous hook slide to try to avoid the tag, or just straight up give in and slide right into the catcher's shin guard. If a guy does collide with a catcher and knock him flat, it starts a bench-clearing incident and sometimes ends in retaliation. And yeah, sure, Michael Barrett didn't have the ball when AJ pummeled into him, but it's still better to be safe and look like an asshole than sorry and look like an idiot.

Speaking of baseball like it oughta be, the Mariners brought back Randy Johnson yesterday to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at their home opener. Watching the replay of him throwing out the first pitch to ex-batterymate Dan Wilson was more touching than I expected it to be, far more so than watching Tom Seaver throw out the first pitch, twice, to Mike Piazza (I still think the best option would have been Jesse Orosco to Gary Carter. Just saying, it would've brought tears to my eyes). Randy Johnson was without a doubt one of the greatest pitchers in the game, and even if he did at some points demonstrate unprofessionalism (when he pushed over that cameraman en route to get his physical for the Yanks), he had a terrific, inspiring career. Seeing Johnson with Wilson, and having Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner and Ken Griffey, Jr. (but he had to be there) also in attendance was surely an incredible moment for Mariners fans everywhere as they remembered the glory days. Hopefully next year, the Big Unit will throw out the first pitch at the D-Backs' home opener, perhaps to Curt Schilling or Luis Gonzalez, and those fans can relive the glory of ten years prior when they took down the dynasty.

The Atlanta Braves did their best Pittsburgh Pirates imitation last night, allowing ten runs to the Padres in the bottom of the fourth (the same inning the Pirates messed up Sunday) en route to a 17-2 San Diego reaming. Although it may not have made much of a difference because all runs were scored before two outs were recorded, Braves messiah Jason Heyward reminded me that he's only a rookie by playing baseball like it ain'ta be. With one run already in off a bases loaded walk, San Diego pitcher Kevin Correia lofted a pop up down the right field line. Heyward, in a brilliant display of Victor Diaz-ness, clearly expected the ball to go foul and stopped sprinting after it, slowing his strides as the ball dropped unexpectedly fair. Two runs scored by the time Heyward got to the ball; I'm not sure if that second run would have scored had Heyward hustled all the way, but it at least would have made for a decent play at the plate.

The next few games for the Phillies just might show why they are better than the Mets, as much as it pains me to say it. Literally minutes before the Phils' home opener began - between the pregame introductions and taking the field - Jimmy Rollins strained his right calf and had to exit, being replaced by Juan Castro. The Phillies still won with Castro in place of Rollins and Jayson Werth also exiting midway through the game; the real test will be if the Phils can keep up the winning henceforth with Rollins out (Werth said he'd be fine). If they do, clearly they have more fight than the Mets, who played horribly without Jose Reyes last year.

Short hops: The Pirates lost to Barry Zito and the Giants yesterday, officially dipping below .500 for the first time this season. Bets on whether or not it's the last time they sniff that mark for the rest of the season? Feel free to voice up... Bernie Williams will throw out the first pitch at the Yankees' home opener today. Williams is a class act, but perhaps the only outfielder with a worse arm than Johnny Damon... Joba Chamberlain's mother was sentenced to four years probation after selling a gram of methamphetamine to an undercover cop last May. Yeah. That's almost as good as when Ugueth Urbina was accused of kidnapping and attempted murder.

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

The Cutoff Man: Jumping off the bandwagon

Published in The Tartan, 4/12/2010: https://www.thetartan.org/2010/4/12/sports/baseball

The first time I realized that ESPN was starting to get annoying was when I heard the following sentence actually read aloud on SportsCenter after Opening Day 2002:

“His two home runs put him on pace for 324, which would absolutely smash Barry Bonds’ single-season record.”

The Pirates’ Garrett Jones, the Blue Jays’ Vernon Wells, and the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols were among those with two home runs on Opening Day 2010. Jones and Wells both homered in their second game of the season as well, and Wells even homered a third consecutive day to give him quite an opening series.

Time, folks, to hold onto your hats, take a deep breath, and put away your record books. I won’t lie, I’d take a homer per day any day of the week and twice on Saturday (though they never schedule doubleheaders anymore). Even a homer every other day would be nice. But we know that won’t happen.

Wells’ projected home run pace dropped from 324 to 243 to 216 through those monstrous first three games, and after Saturday’s game was at a “mere” 129. His performance last week will be enough to earn him a starting spot in this year’s All-Star Game, especially with the voting seemingly starting earlier and earlier; mark my words, you will see the word “VOTE” splattered all over MLB.com come next week, perhaps earlier. Remember, folks: This time it counts.

Any baseball fan old enough to remember 2006 will recognize the name Chris Shelton, most recently of cut-from-the-Astros-in-spring-training fame. Shelton began the 2006 season as Detroit’s starting first baseman and took the American League Central by storm, becoming the first AL player ever to hit nine homers in his first 13 games. He received a plethora of early All-Star votes as everyone in baseball wondered who this guy was and where he came from.

Turns out he came from right where he ended back up that very July: the minors. He ended up hitting only 16 homers, with 102 hits and 107 strikeouts.

Wells, Jones, and Pujols should all have impressive numbers come the end of the season. After down years in 2008 and 2009, Wells seems to have regained his power stroke at least for now and will probably end up around 28 to 34 homers and right around 100 runs batted in. Albert Pujols will always be King Albert and there is no reason that he won’t one day win a Triple Crown. Jones will probably keep up pretty consistent production, but the league still has a bit of time to fully figure him out. I still expect a breakout season overall, even if he finishes it with another team — he is on the Pirates, after all, where no one succeeding is ever safe.

Short hops: Speaking of the Pirates, wins on Monday and Wednesday gave them their first 2–0 start since 2007. They then lost their next two games before winning Saturday to clinch at least a .500 mark in their first week of play. While it isn’t quite the Royals’ 9–0 start to the 2003 season, it’s something... The Mets are already partying like it’s 2009, leaving a combined 28 runners on base in their three losses through Saturday... It was a somewhat even start to the year, as only one team — the San Francisco Giants — had a perfect record after only four games.

Tune in next week and check out http://dailyjakjob.blogspot.com for daily updates on the happenings in Major League Baseball.

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

One down, twenty-six to go!

Welcome to week two of baseball. As a Mets fan, it feels like last year never ended after dropping two of three to both the Marlins and the Nationals and sittin' pretty in the cellar after six games. But it's only been six games. The eerie thing is that, like last season, the Mets' successes have been in series openers, and their downfalls have been, well, every other game. Including rubber games, when they especially tanked it last year.

Watching the Mets, though, has caused me to pay attention to Rod Barajas, who admittedly had a terrific game on Friday with two home runs. However, watching him has also caused me to cringe every time he swings. Mr. Barajas is one of many players I've seen over the years who, when he gets ahold of one, can smash the ball 400 feet, but will otherwise send a lot of flyouts to left-centerfield. I don't ever expect to see him ground out, which I suppose reduces his risk of hitting into a double play, but overall it makes for some frustrating at-bats when all you'd like is a liner up the middle and instead you get a popout, as was the case when he swung at a ball at his shoelaces on Friday in between home runs. In short, Barajas is a player whose stats at the end of the year perfectly demonstrate his approach at the plate: ~20 home runs, ~60 RBI, not a lot of walks and a ~.50 GO/AO ratio. At least he's not Rich Becker, though.

The Pirates are giving what little diehards they have a steady balance of hope and despair more frequently now. After starting off strong with their first 2-0 start in three years, they have suffered three lopsided losses to go with their third victory of the season as they are safely at .500 through week one. The seesaw tipped greatly towards the despair on Sunday, as the Pirates led 4-2 over the D-Backs through three and a half innings and trailed 15-4 after four. Lowlights included a two-run homer by Chris Young, a solo shot by Kelly Johnson, a three-run triple by Stephen Drew, a three-run double by Chris Snyder and a two-run homer to cap it off from Arizona pitcher Edwin Jackson. It reminded me slightly of the slaughter that was Game 6 of the 2001 World Series, when even Randy Johnson got in on the RBI action, but to see Jackson homer off someone who wasn't even a position player pitching was, well... You can choose your own adjective. Mine starts with "H" and rhymes with "Borrendous."

The first installment of The Cutoff Man, which will run in tomorrow's issue of The Tartan, is titled "Jumping off the bandwagon." I may or may not have thrown up in my mouth after seeing the headline "Chapman, Strasburg dazzle in debuts" on MLB.com today. Yes, they both won, and yes, they both looked good (Chapman especially). Yes, Chapman struck out nine and Strasburg struck out eight. And yes, Chapman pitched at Triple-A and Strasburg pitched at Double-A.

A much better feel-good story, in my opinion, was the debut of the Reds' Mike Leake, who made his Major League debut Sunday after spending zero innings in the Minor Leagues right out of college. Leake worked out of a bases-loaded, no out jam in his first inning of work unscathed and finished with a no-decision after 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

Success in any player's Major League debut is always encouraging. We always want to see guys with big futures live up to their potential. Success in one's Minor League debut is less impressive and at times it feels like members of the media are trying to suck up enough to maybe get Chapman and Strasburg to share some of their signing bonuses. The hype surrounding even their mediocre Spring Training performances and side-sessions was vomit-inducing. I expect both to succeed at the big league level someday, but keep in mind that that day may come in their second or third seasons in the show, so be patient, everyone - just look at how long the Mets didn't wait to see what Nolan Ryan could become.

Sometimes superb Major League debuts set the tone for greatness, but more often than not, an outstanding first game is but misleading for the beginnings of a mediocre, if not subpar career. The first time I learned this lesson was when Hideki Irabu was nicknamed "Mr. Broadway" by Yankees fans all over New York after his big league debut. Tabbed as the second coming of Nolan Ryan, the man George Steinbrenner once called a "fat pussy toad" saw his expectations quickly dip to the next Hideo Nomo, to the next guy in the rotation. And after apparently owning a restaurant in Arizona, he returned to independent ball last year and in August announced that he would attempt to pitch in Japan once more.

Short hops: CC Sabathia threw 7.2 innings of no-hit ball on Saturday before the Rays' Kelly Shoppach sent a single through the infield. The Yanks took two of three from the Rays, who have also given their fans a Pirates-like opening week... Toronto, strangely enough, is in first place in the AL East at 5-1. Baltimore is 1-5. Perhaps the Blue Jays will make me eat my words... No ace is safe so far, as Carlos Zambrano, Sabathia, Johan Santana, Josh Beckett, Chris Carpenter and some others I'm probably forgetting have all had bad outings this first week.

Look for The Cutoff Man in tomorrow's issue of The Tartan and online at thetartan.org!

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

Official JOB column coming Monday!

Starting Monday, Jonas On Baseball will feature my weekly column in The Tartan, called The Cutoff Man! Look for daily posts here in between each weekly installment and always pass it on to any and all baseball fans you know!

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

Hail Mary, full of grace; four balls, take your base

Published in The Tartan, 4/5/2010: https://thetartan.org/2010/4/5/sports/commentary

Ah, baseball season. Hope springs eternal. The crack of the bat, the pop of the mitt, the uninhibited stream of profanity coming from everyone in my family’s mouth toward the TV...

I believe baseball was the main reason we stopped trying to “keep it clean” in front of my baby brother.

Today marks the true beginning of the 2010 baseball season. Twenty-eight of 30 Major League teams play their season openers, many while we’re still in class, but with technology these days it’s impossible not to follow the game even without a TV or a ticket. If you like baseball, you’ll find a way.

True, the “official” beginning of the season was Sunday night, when major league baseball’s overzealous schedulers pitted the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox in the first game of 2010. Putting such a fierce rivalry front and center may be great for ESPN’s ratings, but season-opening series aren’t meant for that kind of intense history. Save those matchups and pile them on as much as possible later in the season, when both teams are playing must-win games, and there’s your rivalry. That’s what it came down to last year, as the Red Sox won all eight of their meetings against the Yankees from April to June before the Yanks won nine of the 10 remaining games in August and September en route to clinching the American League East title and, eventually, winning the World Series.

When my team, the New York Mets, open their season at 1:10 p.m. against the Florida Marlins, it’ll begin their 162-game chance to prove that their dismal 2009 season was a fluke, that they can stay healthy (they had 17 players on the disabled list last year), and that they can go back to being a serious contender. The Marlins will not be out to prove much; rather, like every year, they’ll hope to surprise. The Marlins, much like the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals, and Baltimore Orioles, tend not to have much in the expectation department each year; however, unlike the others, the Marlins have winning seasons every now and again. That’s where the surprise comes in.

Some Pirates were quoted in the off-season as considering the playoffs a pretty reasonable goal for the club. Others claim finally having any winning percentage at or over .500 is reasonable. After a professional sports record of 17 straight losing seasons and a relatively quiet off-season — acquiring infielder Akinori Iwamura was their one really big move — it’s hard to believe anything good at all will come from this season. But the season has yet to begin, and optimism is always the best option.

After all, stranger things have happened; the aforementioned low-to-no-expectations group of teams used to be larger. The 2003 Detroit Tigers lost an American League record of 119 games and were the laughingstock of the league until they came out of nowhere in 2006 to make it all the way to the World Series. The Tampa Bay Rays played losing baseball from their inception into the Majors in 1998 through 2007 before similarly making the World Series in 2008.

Even the Nationals, when they moved to Washington in 2005, were in first place for the first half of the season before they remembered that they were the former Montreal Expos and fell completely off the map in the second half.

Then there are teams like the Cincinnati Reds, who played shoddy baseball last year but made significant enough improvements in the off-season to put them on most people’s comeback list. The Seattle Mariners, who played laughably in 2008, went back into the win column last year and made a plethora of significant acquisitions over the winter. They are now the favorites to unseat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim as the AL West champions.

Unfortunately, the ball can roll the other way, as perhaps the new favorite to have the worst season in baseball is the Toronto Blue Jays. Formerly a sure choice for third place in the AL East behind Boston and New York, they fell behind the Rays in 2008 and 2009. Over the off-season, though, they traded their ace Roy Halladay and, combined with the Orioles’ minor improvements, enter this season with the unofficial motto of “The Rebuilding Has Begun.” Joining them as newer members in the written-off club are the Oakland A’s, the Cleveland Indians, and the San Diego Padres; the only bets people are placing on the Padres involve if and when they trade star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox.

But again, hope springs eternal. No club, not even Toronto, goes into the season thinking they’ve made their team worse. Who will be this year’s Tampa Bay? Who will be this year’s A’s? Who will be this year’s Pirates? At least that one’s easy. Here are my predictions for this year’s division champs and chumps:

AL East: Champs — Yankees, Chumps — Blue Jays
AL Central: Champs — Twins, Chumps — Indians
AL West: Champs — Mariners, Chumps — A’s
NL East: Champs — Phillies, Chumps — Marlins
NL Central: Champs — Cubs, Chumps — Pirates
NL West: Champs — Giants, Chumps — Padres

Happy baseball, everybody!

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

Satire! - Pirates owner Nutting invents time machine, ruins baseball history

Published in The Tartan's Scandal Issue, 3/29/2010: https://thetartan.org/2010/3/29/special/pirates

In a move not even science could predict, Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting revealed last Friday why he wasn't spending any significant money on improving the team: He was using the money to build a time machine. Nutting then offered a demonstration of the machine by traveling back 50 years ago to the most celebrated year in Pirates history, the year they won the World Series against the New York Yankees in stunning fashion.

Just to recap: the 1960 World Series saw the Yanks outscore the Pirates 55–27 with 16–3, 10–0, and 12–0 victories, but Pirates managed to pull it out with 6–4, 3–2, and 5–2 victories before a see-saw Game 7 that ended with Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski's ninth inning home run to seal a 10–9 victory and win the World Series.

"[Mazeroski's] famous home run did much more than win the World Series, it was a moment that has inspired our city and our region for 50 years," said Nutting earlier this year in a press release on the team's website. "It is a moment that continues to be passed on from generation to generation."

However, it's a moment that has now been struck from baseball history.

Once Nutting made it to 1960, he used his surplus cash to purchase the team from then-owner John Galbreath, convincing him that he "had come from the future with the secret to winning a championship." Nutting immediately implemented the same methods he uses today in running the team: already knowing the outcome of the season and the Series, he traded Mazeroski to the Yankees. Mazeroski, he said, because he hit the home run, might one day ask for more money because of it, even though history showed that "Maz" never did such a thing.

Logic would hope that Nutting would have at least traded Mazeroski for the Yanks' equally light-hitting second baseman Bobby Richardson, who, like Maz, also demonstrated uncharacteristic power during the World Series when he drove in a record six runs during Game 3. But, as Pirates fans today know, Nutting doesn't necessarily use the same logic as we do when it comes to baseball operations, and Mazeroski was traded for two Players to be Named Later.

"This is a move we deemed necessary not financially, but for the better of the team," Nutting said as he faked his way through a press conference regarding the trade. "Bill was a great piece of this franchise, and we will miss him dearly. However, the players we will eventually receive from the Yankees are sure to play a part in the rebuilding of this franchise as we work our way back toward a championship. I promise."

Mazeroski was not immediately available for comment, but a close friend quoted him as saying, "What the @#$% does that even mean?"

Nutting's only response was, "Wait and see. You'll thank me in 50 years."

Fans today are still wondering what Nutting could have been talking about, as all the move has done is removed a treasured piece of baseball history and eradicated the 2010 plan to build a statue of Mazeroski outside PNC Park, saving the team a lot of money to not spend on players.

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!

Baseball articles from last year

Here are some baseball articles I wrote during 2009 for The Tartan:

April 6th: Let's Go Pens! Why the Pirates won't win this year, either
April 27th: On Jackie Robinson: Breaker of baseball’s color barrier honored
August 31st: Here we go, Steelers! The Pirates are still losing

As always, if you like what you read, please keep coming back and follow the blog daily (there's a link in the sidebar), and please pass the JOB on to friends to help me get one!