Newark Bears begin 2013 season
Riverfront Stadium (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
The Newark Bears opened the 2013 Can-Am League season with a 6-4 loss to the Rockland Boulders on Thursday night. Newark’s Mike Ness allowed five runs on six hits and a walk over six innings, but three of those six hits were home runs. D’Angelo Jimenez was the star of the game for the Bears, putting together a three-hit night and driving in a pair of runs while scoring one.
On Friday, the Bears will kick off their home schedule and try to even things up with the Boulders at 7:05 p.m. at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium. Former Negro League pitcher Bob Scott is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, the first 200 fans will get a free Newark Bears cap and a post-game fireworks show.
I don’t know how many games I will be able to get to this summer, but I plan to be there for Opening Night. I hope to see a few of you at the ballpark.
Registration open for cancer-fighting fundraiser at Yankee Stadium
Registration started yesterday for the fifth annual Damon Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium, which will take place on Sunday, August 18th.
The 5th annual Damon Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium will be held on August 18th. (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
Since 2009, the 5K has raised more than $2 million for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s efforts in the fight against cancer.
Participants are responsible for a $40 registration fee and a $60 fundraising minimum. On July 1, the registration fee increases to $50.
The course takes runners and walkers through Yankee Stadium’s concourses and ramps, but the highlight is two laps around the warning track that circles the field. Friends, family and supporters will be able to watch the race from the Delta SKY360° Suite overlooking home plate and meet the Damon Runyon scientists their contributions help support.
“Over the past five years, the proceeds from the Runyon 5K have allowed us to fund amazing cancer researchers doing incredible work,” said Lorraine W. Egan, President and CEO of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation in a press release. “Our 5K participants are making breakthroughs possible – it’s as simple as that.”
To register, or for additional information, visit www.runyon5k.org
Do these Mets losses even matter?
Citi Field during a recent Mets loss (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
The New York Mets lost their 21st game of the season Monday night, falling seven games below the .500 mark for the first time.
Only the most wildly optimistic fans expected the team to contend this year, and many felt the team would finish with a losing record for a fifth straight year. So it’s really not a surprise that the Mets are losing more often than they win.
The Mets will never use the term “rebuilding,” but everyone knew that 2013 was supposed to be a transition year. The last of the big Omar Minaya-era contracts are ending, the prospects we’ve been hearing about are here or arriving soon… it should seem like there’s a bright new future on the way.
And yet, on a day that Sandy Alderson signed 33-year-old journeyman outfielder Rick Ankiel to address one of the team’s glaring black holes, that future seems to be miles away.
Rick Ankiel is the newest Met…
Rick Ankiel’s 2000 Upper Deck SP Authentic Chirography autographed rookie card from my collection
Outfielder Rick Ankiel is Sandy Alderson‘s latest reclamation project. The 33-year-old former pitcher will become the 954th player in Mets history tonight, and the eighth to wear number 16 since Dwight Gooden left.
Keeping in mind the dangers of looking at a small sample size, Ankiel does offer an advantage over the Mets’ other center field options, especially considering his defense:
|
Age |
OBP |
SLG |
AVG |
AB |
HR |
|
|
Rick Ankiel |
33 |
.231 |
.484 |
.194 |
62 |
5 |
|
Juan Lagares |
24 |
.200 |
.182 |
.152 |
33 |
0 |
|
J. Valdespin |
25 |
.292 |
.433 |
.239 |
67 |
3 |
|
Collin Cowgill |
26 |
.173 |
.294 |
.157 |
51 |
2 |
|
Kirk Nieuwenhuis |
25 |
.176 |
.178 |
.125 |
16 |
0 |
But considering the little fact that the 2013 Mets are a fourth-place team going nowhere, they’d probably be better served by running Jordany Valdespin out there against right-handed pitching instead of Ankiel. (And I say this as someone who is not very fond of JV1′s showboating.) Maybe he would show that he can hit well enough to be a fourth outfielder or a utility player on a good team.
Instead, we’ll get to see Ankiel try to hang on a little longer. Maybe we’ll at least get to enjoy some highlight-worthy defensive plays.
At least Juan Lagares will still get to play against lefties… until Terry Collins changes his mind.
Photos from Mets Banner Day 2013
Well, the less said about this weekend’s Mets games, the better. But I do want to share photos of some of my favorite Banner Day entries:
This was the winning entry in the Banner Day contest. It’s a simple, well-crafted and well-executed idea – the home run apple even raises and lowers – but I thought that the other finalists (and some that didn’t make it to that stage) showed more cleverness.
Baseball needs to address its umpire problem
It’s been clear for quite a while that the state of umpiring in Major League Baseball is not especially good. Most of the focus on fixing the problem has fallen expanding the use of instant replay, under the theory that cameras can’t miss seeing plays like the human eye can.
Wednesday night, Angel Hernandez proved that instant replay is not the panacea its proponents want it to be.
Oakland Athletics infielder Adam Rosales hit a game-tying home run – or at least he would have, if Hernandez had seen that the ball bounced off of a railing above the home run line on the outfield wall. Instead, he was credited with a double.
And to be fair, Rosales stopped at second base and it’s not hard to imagine an umpire being uncertain about where exactly the ball hit. That’s why have replay, so that the umpires have the technology they need to get those important calls correct.
Hernandez and two other members of his crew went off to look at the available video for several minutes. And they still got the call wrong.
MLB executive vice president Joe Torre, whose job seems less relevant than the Maytag repairman’s, agreed that Hernandez botched the call but basically told the Athletics ”tough luck.”
If Hernandez is facing any consequences, I haven’t heard about them.
Peter Gammons went so far as to suggest that Hernandez made the wrong call on purpose as a protest against the use of instant replay.
Now there’s a impression – right or wrong – that Major League Baseball needs to address.
But Hernandez isn’t the only umpire who made the news this week.
Last night, Fieldin Culbreth, Brian O’Nora, Bill Welke and Adrian Johnson demonstrated complete ignorance of Rule 3.05 (b).
If the pitcher is replaced, the substitute pitcher shall pitch to the batter then at bat, or any substitute batter, until such batter is put out or reaches first base, or until the offensive team is put out, unless the substitute pitcher sustains injury or illness which, in the umpire-in-chiefs judgment, incapacitates him for further play as a pitcher.
Culbreth and company allowed Houston manager Bo Porter to pull Wesley Wright before he faced a batter after Angels manager Mike Scioscia put up a pinch hitter.
At least this time, Major League Baseball did something to address the problem: Culbreth was suspended for two games and all four umpires were fined.
But it’s time to do more – Major League Baseball needs to do everything in its power to make sure that players and fans have no reason to doubt the men who are enforcing the game’s rules.
Almost Perfect
And this is why it’s worth watching, even in a frustrating season.
{click to enlarge}
{click to enlarge}
