The Slav's Baseball Blog - BASEBALL 24-7-365
The Slav's Blog about anything relating to the great game of baseball
- and other less important issues from outside the diamond.
The best baseball blog that you have never heard of.
Apparently, the answer lies somewhere between the above picture and this scumbags relationship to the Gang of 535.
Hate to say "I told you so" but let's see how fast these congressman demonstrate how seriously they actually take being lied to by one of their own. Presumably, it should hurt them more than being lied to by mere baseball players like Roger Clemens and Miguel Tejeda.
"Then only thing that could top today's epic market insanity and hilarity, would be that Corzine is himself about to be Corzined. And just released from Bloomberg:
MF GLOBAL'S CORZINE ORDERED FUNDS MOVED TO JPMORGAN, MEMO SAYS
CORZINE'S `DIRECT INSTRUCTIONS' CITED BY CONGRESSIONAL PANEL
MF GLOBAL TRANSFER WAS USED TO COVER OVERDRAFT, PANEL SAYS
MF GLOBAL FINDINGS CITED IN MEMO OBTAINED BY BLOOMBERG NEWS
And so we can now add perjury to felony embezzlement. Which means we now have to wait to find just which MF'er (and JPM'er) will be given a promise of untold millions if they only get Fab Tourre'd for a few years, and spend 5-7 in minimum security state prison instead of brave Jonny.
THE TORCH AND PITCHFORK CROWD!!! Needed more now than ever before.
We're going to have to make the trek up to Beloit to see Mr. Norman pitch. The team is off to a slow start, but Alex is 2-1 with a 1.64 ERA and 15K's in 22 IP.
Only 18 H's, only 3 of which are 2B, no 3B and 0 HR's That's keeping the ball in the old ball yard. It seems as if he's keeping guys off balance, as usual. Good job.
The kids that Alex's dad mentioned are raking the ball as well. All good to see.
We had featured Alex in a previous post and his Dad keeps me updated (below) on his progress.
One of Alex's teammates from HS, fellow LHP Austin Park appears to be doing well for University of Northwestern Ohio. Austin is currently 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 9.2 IP.
Good to see he is keeping the academics in order as well.
2011: Park was named to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference All-Academic team. … Led the Racers with 10 starts, 54.1 innings pitched and 43 strikeouts. … Went 3.6 with a 4.31 ERA and two complete games. … Allowed only 19 extra-base hits against 214 batters faced.
I'm glad to see these guys doing so well, both were great kids to coach. The only negative thing to come out of their success is, it forces me to come to the realization that -- with all that talent to work with -- I really should have had a better record.
Alex had two teammates that were players to watch in D3:
Shortstop - Jordan Jaenicke. Janni was his first year roommate (and oddly shares the same birthday as Alex), AND
1st Sacker - Jake Tresemer (Tres).
Jordan also won a Gold Glove at third a couple of years ago.
These two kids can rake.
bob
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This was right on the money Charlie. I saw Jamie Moyer on MLB network a couple of weeks ago, throw a two hit shut out at the AGE OF 47. One of the 50 greatest games ever per MLB. In the process, Moyer "got" the two SONS of players he played with previously. Garry Matthews Jr (son of Sarge when Moyer was with the Cubs) and another son that I can't remember.
I loved your line about guts and guile and finess, and pitching your ass off, while people stare at their radar guns. Alex had a 1.55 era this summer against a boatload of DI's this summer. I will take him in a key game against anybody out there.
My favorite game for Alex though was last Spring during Beloit trip to Florida - against Webster, ranked 20th at the time. 11 hit shutout (3-0 win) against one of the best pitchers in DIII (another Alex by the way). 4 double plays behind him, three in crucial spots – and 3-4 strike outs looking on three different pitches. The other team had to be thinking how did we not score off this guy. The guy doing the broadcast for Webster said "this was two great Alex's – theirs was just a little better today. This was two pitchers going toe to toe." COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF.
What an inspirational story!! An early candidate for College Baseball Player of the Year.
The Collegiate Baseball story makes note of the fact that this kid and his dad studied
Barry Bonds' hitting mechanics to come up with a way to compensate for having to hit with one-arm. Lost in the fire-storm over the PED witch-hunt was the fact that Bonds is in a league with perhaps only Ted Williams as a bona-fide genius in the art of hitting a baseball. Bobby Cox witnessed Bonds' pitch recognition ability during an All-Star game and talks about it with amazement. The efficiency of Bonds' hitting mechanics are validated with this incredible story.
Obviously, this kid is not using PED's to generate power. Great story.
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FROM GORDON COLLEGE WEBSITE:
The Gift of Adversity: Freshman Baseball Player Overcomes the Odds
Gordon College baseball player Dillon Coleman ’13 was born with only one hand, and to him that’s a gift. In fact, ask him about the challenges that he’s needed to overcome and he never mentions how difficult it is to switch from glove to bare hand fast enough to throw someone out.
He also won’t talk about the disadvantage of swinging the bat with only one hand. Instead he says, “The biggest challenge I’ve had to overcome was convincing my coaches over the years that I was good enough to play at the team’s level.”
Dillon’s love for the game—and his ability to confront adversity—came from his father, who began pitching to him when he was 3 years old. “My dad has been my greatest inspiration, encouraging me to try my hardest and convincing me that I could do anything I set my mind to.”
..........
Dillon grew up in Cromwell, Connecticut, and learned about Gordon through his church, Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church in Wethersfield, Connecticut, from some of his friends who are also Gordon students. “I was looking for a Christian college with an art program and a baseball team, so Gordon was perfect,” Dillon says. With a knack for stealing bases and an eagerness to hit the ball into the gap, Dillon approaches baseball with the same passion and determination he does with everything else. one that exceeds all expectations. And with Gordon’s first season game approaching, he is excited about what he will contribute to the team. “I want to step up my game,” he says, “and show even more people the gifts God has given me.”
MORE ON DILLON COLEMAN: The complete, in-depth story is available in the Feb. 24, 2012 issue of Collegiate Baseball. We find out how Coleman can hit the ball so far despite only having one hand and how the mechanics of Barry Bonds helped him.
WENHAM, Mass. — Dillon Coleman of Gordon College is an amazing story. Born with no left hand, this 6-foot-2, 160 pounder has overcome great odds to play college baseball.
The journey has been difficult to say the least. He was cut from his junior high baseball and basketball teams.
Coleman had his left eye fractured when he was hit by a pitch as a youngster and also was hit in his right eye on another occasion when a ball ricocheted off his bat.
Through it all, his incredibly caring family has encouraged him to keep playing the sport he loves in baseball.
And while many of his friends stopped playing baseball after Little League, junior high and then high school, this junior at Gordon College keeps playing as a starter.
Last season, one of the most amazing things in college baseball history unfolded. The left side hitting Coleman, who plays leftfield and centerfield with no left hand, did the unthinkable.
With only his front hand to guide a regulation 32 inch, 29 ounce bat through the strike zone, Coleman belted the first three home runs of his life all over an 8-day span.
Last season when record low offensive numbers were turned in by college hitters across the board with the new BBCOR regulation bats, Colman put on a power display for the ages over those magical eight days — his only home runs of 2011.
Stop for a moment to realize how difficult it would be to hit a home run 300-plus feet with only the front hand essentially being utilized during the batting stroke and little help coming from the back arm. Also consider that this trio of home runs were the first circuit clouts ever hit by anyone from his family. His dad Jeff never hit a home run in his baseball career, and neither have his two younger brothers.
As a left side batter, Coleman utilizes his front right hand, but he doesn’t have a hand on his back left arm. As he steps to the plate, he chokes up on the bat about an inch with his right fingers on the bat. The end of his other arm is a small section of bone covered by flesh which rests against the bat next to his right hand. The athletic movements his body makes to gain torque and power through the hitting zone is incredible.
If the Peyton Manning deal didn't kill him, the Tebow trade might have pushed him over the edge as well. Some folks take this football stuff way to seriously.
according to the opening paragraph of his obituary in the Columbia Tribune:
James H. "Jim" Driver, 78, of Eagle, Colo., formerly of Columbia, passed away Monday, March 19, 2012, at South Hampton Place in Columbia after a brief illness. An avid Broncos fan, he abhorred Manning and evidently wanted out before a deal was done.
Elway still leads the "NFL GM who most resembles his team logo" competition. JACKASS!!
He comes off looking like those LL or AAU dads that are jealous because some other kid is the star of the team, so he gets the board to appoint him manager and then trades / benches the other kid just for spite.
I'm not sure you're actually allowed to trade kids in Little League, but AAU or most travel ball leagues
I would say allow for it. As long as it's a straight cash transaction -- not trading one kid for another -- 'cause that would be just plain wrong.
Good luck on Broadway Timmy-boy. Don't let the comments of that lecherous, old, drunken, has-been Joe Namath or Antonio Cromartie bother you"
This Jet cornerback may be better at conceptions than interceptions.
Antonio Cromartie has nine children with eight women in six states.
That's one more kid than the eight he haltingly listed last month when asked to name his children on HBO's reality show "Hard Knocks."
Maybe the oversight is because his pressures as a pro football player pale against the soap opera of his life off the field. He juggles daddy duties for a 6-month-old girl with his wife, model Terricka Cason, plus eight kids up to age 5 from women he knocked up.
At only 26, Cromartie's conquests range from a then-17-year-old girl in his hometown Tallahassee to a lawyer and beauty queen.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound former San Diego Charger has left a nationwide trail of paternity suits, visitation agreements and child-support orders totaling tens of thousands of dollars a month. Last March, the Jets fronted him $500,000 of his salary to pay at least $25,000 in arrears and other custody-related costs. He's in the final year of a five-year, $12.5 million contract.
Joe Namath commenting on Chad Pennington. Look how much Joe's opinion helped old Chad.
Joe Namath Drunk
This is just going to look so wrong, so awful -- Tebow with "Gang Green", but I suppose it could be worse, he could have wound up with the Eagles. Then I might have wanted to end up like that recently deceased Denver fan.
Oh well, good for the NFL. The two most popular QB's in the league -- ranked #4 and #5 in jersey sales for 2011 -- just changed teams. Conspiracy? No, just coincidence....I think.
There are many days I wonder about falling victim to practice. Definitely a creature of habit, just have to make sure that I'm choosing the right habits and mind-sets.
When I coached, I had to struggle to remember not to frame the talk around negatives like "Don't walk this guy" or "Don't give him anything good to hit". "Don't" leaves too many open variables and options for the mind to consider. You don't effectively convey what you want the athlete to "DO". Often you end up subconsciously talking the athlete into the outcome you wanted them to avoid.
From the New York Times:
A Creature of Bad Habit: Why Mistakes Are Repeated
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Published: July 18, 2009
Daniel M. Wegner, a psychologist at Harvard, is a professional scientist, not a professional athlete, and in a recent issue of Science magazine, he reviewed the research on the problem. A recent article in The New York Times explored the social implications.
When the pressure is on, Wegner wrote, the unconscious attempt to avoid errors consistently increases their likelihood of occurring. The same happens with words and thoughts as it does with physical actions. Tell someone, “Don’t think about a white bear,” and you can almost be guaranteed that for the next 10 minutes, white bears are all the person will think about.
Under even a little stress, the problem becomes worse. If you tell people not to think of a given word, then give them a word association test under time pressure, they are likely to blurt out the forbidden word as a response. The concentrated attempt not to think about it becomes just another way of thinking about it. Wegner calls this “the ironic return of repressed thoughts.” Baseball managers, and athletes suffering with the disorder, may have other words for it.
It can become quite embarrassing, and not just on a baseball field or a golf course. Experiments have shown, for example, that if you ask people to concentrate on suppressing prejudices like racism, sexism or homophobia, they blatantly express those biases despite — or perhaps because of — the effort to control them.
In one experiment, researchers put eye-tracking cameras on soccer players and instructed them to avoid a particular part of the goal in making a penalty kick. Guess which part of the goal their gazes most often fell?
A picture is worth a thousand words? I just saved y'all a thousand words. The picture above shows your brain and your brain on football (or any sport with a high risk of repeat trauma to the head. Any questions.
From ESPN: Players still willing to hide head injuries
Ask Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew whether he would try to play through a concussion or yank himself from a game, and he'll provide a straightforward answer.
"Hide it," the NFL's leading rusher said.
"The bottom line is: You have to be able to put food on the table. No one's going to sign or want a guy who can't stay healthy. I know there will be a day when I'm going to have trouble walking. I realize that," Jones-Drew said. "But this is what I signed up for. Injuries are part of the game. If you don't want to get hit, then you shouldn't be playing."
Other players say they would do the same: Hide it.
Results of AP's Concussion Survey
The Associated Press recently interviewed 44 NFL players -- at least one from each of the league's 32 teams -- to gauge whether concussion safety and attitudes about head injuries have changed in the past two years. Results
In a series of interviews about head injuries with The Associated Press over the last two weeks, 23 of 44 NFL players -- slightly more than half -- said they would try to conceal a possible concussion rather than pull themselves out of a game.
Changing the Culture of the Game or the Mind-Set. I'm not sure what it is going to take, but something will have to give.
The NFL likes to say that views about concussions have shifted from simply accepting they're part of the sport to doing what's possible to lessen impacts. Commissioner Roger Goodell talks about "changing the culture," so players don't try to "walk it off" after taking hits to the head.
Yet the AP's conversations with players showed there is room for more adjustments, which did not surprise Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, co-chairman of the NFL's head, neck and spine committee.
"The culture change takes awhile," Ellenbogen said in a telephone interview. "Why would these guys want to go out? They love playing the game. They don't want to leave their team. They want to win. I understand all that. And that's why we have to be on our toes with coming up with exams that are hard to beat, so to speak."
The typical jock advice to suck it up and get back in the game is not only bad, it's potentially life-threatening.
"If in doubt, sit them out" is the strong recommendation of Dr. Robert Cantu, one of the nation's leading experts on sports-related concussions and their consequences. Dr. Cantu, a co-author of the National Athletic Trainers' Association position paper on managing sport-related concussion.
The consequences of a repeat concussion are often long-lasting and sometimes permanent: persistent headaches, fatigue, difficulty paying attention, memory problems, mood swings and personality changes. In some cases, the result can be death.
At least four American high school students died last year from football head injuries. Most suffered from what is called second-impact syndrome, a rare but catastrophic dysregulation of brain activity that can occur when a young player sustains another hit before the brain has recovered from an earlier concussion."
1. Joey Bart 6-2, 215 C Power arm and a power bat, playing a premium defensive position. Good catch and throw skills.
2. Heliot Ramos 6-2, 185 OF Potential high-ceiling player the Giants have been looking for. Great bat speed, early returns were impressive.
3. Chris Shaw 6-3. 230 1B Lefty power bat, limited defensively to 1B, Matt Adams comp?
4. Tyler Beede 6-4, 215 RHP from Vanderbilt projects as top of the rotation starter when he works out his command/control issues. When he misses, he misses by a bunch.
5. Stephen Duggar 6-1, 170 CF Another toolsy, under-achieving OF in the Gary Brown mold, hoping for better results.
6. Sandro Fabian 6-0, 180 OF Dominican signee from 2014, shows some pop in his bat. Below average arm and lack of speed should push him towards LF.
7. Aramis Garcia 6-2, 220 C from Florida INTL projects as a good bat behind the dish with enough defensive skill to play there long-term
8. Heath Quinn 6-2, 190 OF Strong hitter, makes contact with improving approach at the plate. Returns from hamate bone injury.
9. Garrett Williams 6-1, 205 LHP Former Oklahoma standout, Giants prototype, low-ceiling, high-floor prospect.
10. Shaun Anderson 6-4, 225 RHP Large frame, 3.36 K/BB rate. Can start or relieve
11. Jacob Gonzalez 6-3, 190 3B Good pedigree, impressive bat for HS prospect.
12. Seth Corry 6-2 195 LHP Highly regard HS pick. Was mentioned as possible chip in high profile trades.
13. C.J. Hinojosa 5-10, 175 SS Scrappy IF prospect in the mold of Kelby Tomlinson, just gets it done.
14. Garett Cave 6-4, 200 RHP He misses a lot of bats and at times, the plate. 13 K/9 an 5 B/9. Wild thing.
2019 MLB Draft - Top HS Draft Prospects
1. Bobby Witt, Jr. 6-1,185 SS Colleyville Heritage HS (TX) Oklahoma commit. Outstanding defensive SS who can hit. 6.4 speed in 60 yd. Touched 97 on mound. Son of former major leaguer. Five tool potential.
2. Riley Greene 6-2, 190 OF Haggerty HS (FL) Florida commit.Best HS hitting prospect. LH bat with good eye, plate discipline and developing power.
3. C.J. Abrams 6-2, 180 SS Blessed Trinity HS (GA) High-ceiling athlete. 70 speed with plus arm. Hitting needs to develop as he matures. Alabama commit.
4. Reece Hinds 6-4, 210 SS Niceville HS (FL) Power bat, committed to LSU. Plus arm, solid enough bat to move to 3B down the road. 98MPH arm.
5. Daniel Espino 6-3, 200 RHP Georgia Premier Academy (GA) LSU commit. Touches 98 on FB with wipe out SL.
2019 MLB Draft - Top College Draft Prospects
1. Adley Rutschman C Oregon State Plus defender with great arm. Excellent receiver plus a switch hitter with some pop in the bat.
2. Shea Langliers C Baylor Excelent throw and catch skills with good pop time. Quick bat, uses all fields approach with some pop.
3. Zack Thompson 6-2 LHP Kentucky Missed time with an elbow issue. FB up to 95 with plenty of secondary stuff.
4. Matt Wallner 6-5 OF Southern Miss Run producing bat plus mid to upper 90's FB closer. Power bat from the left side, athletic for size.
5. Nick Lodolo LHP TCU Tall LHP, 95MPH FB and solid breaking stuff.
