Headlines and Haiku

Frank Thomas still needs one HR to move into the 500 HR club. He's at 499 and playing the next three games at the so-called homer dome so hopefully he should get a home run before the weekend. Too bad it couldn't be on the Chicago Southside where he played for so long.

Craig Biggio needs 4 hits to enter sacred territory. The Astros are on the road for the next three games, but home for the weekend series against the Rockies so his home park fans have a good chance of seeing him hit his three hundredth hit.

If you missed the eighth inning in Sunday's Cubs Sox game, you should watch the highlights on MLB. You can read my account of the very strange play on my Sporting News Blog.

One of the thinks I like about baseball is the way it lends itself to fiction, music, and poetry. Often I overhear and get involved in discussions about the best baseball movie. Some lines from baseball movies have even made their way into mainstream language. "There's no crying in baseball" and "if you build it he will come," for example.

Along these lines I recently I picked up a book at the library Baseball Haiku edited and translated by Cor van den Heuvel and Nanae Tamura. There are some marvelous haiku here. I recommend you take a look at the book.

Three of my favorites:

Rookie's first hit- picked off at first (page 5)

In memory of the recently deceased Clete Boyer and Rod Beck:

April shower

the obituary leads me

to an old baseball card (page 55)

And finally a perfect Little League or sandlot haiku:

long day

the right fielder is playing

with a dog (page 22)

Sorry about not providing better citations but I broke my left wrist on Monday and am typing (very slowly) with one hand.

Everyone have a nice, good day! Let's play two!

Major milestones being passed

Sosa's 600th home run has to be acknowledged. Personally I don't care about any of the claims of steroids, etc. for any of the players. Hitting 600 home runs is amazing and Sosa deserves credit for being the fifth to do so. With any luck we'll be able to see Ken Griffey Junior do the same later in the season. BTW for those who wonder about the Hall of Fame. If I had a vote, he'd be in.

The same goes for Bonds passing Aaron. I for one can't wait for him to break the record. I mean no on complained when David Aardsma took his place as the first player in the record book ;).

Continuing with HRs, Frank Thomas needs 4 HRs to break 500, the supposed Hall of Fame barrier. Alex Rodriquez needs just nine HRs to break in that elite 500 HR group. One can't help wondering if Frank Thomas will be voted into the HOF since many of his HRs have come when he has been at DH. Personally I say yes. 500 HRs is 500, but some so-called purists will probably will not vote for him. I don't understand why the Baseball Writers have such power. Some of them don't seem to know much about baseball and less about writing. I don't mind them having something to do with the voting, but it seems to me that baseball professionals also should be involved. They are the ones who really know what's going on.

And let's not forget that Craig Biggio is about to breakthrough that other HOF barrier: he needs just 11 hits for his 3000th hit.

From the pitching side of the game we should see Glavine get his 300th win this season. The last time I checked he was at 295. Randy Johnson needs 16 to break that barrier. It looks like he's going to come off the DL next week, but I don't see him winning 16 more games this year. If he's able to come back next season he should make it. After that it gets pretty thin. It might be awhile before we see another 300 game winner.

Thanks for reading. Congratulations again to Sammy.


Everyone have a nice, good day! Let's play two!

First Sacked MLB Manager

The first MLB ex-manager of the 2007 season has hit the road. Sam Perlozzo, manager of the Baltimore Orioles has been fired. The O's are 15.5 back of the Red Sox with no hope of catching them. Sam won't be traveling too far as the O's have announced he will stay with the organization in some capacity.

I always liked Sam. He was with Lou Piniella here in Seattle for a while. I always liked his calm, steady presence, especially when compared to the fiery Lou Piniella.

Sam had a brief major league career, but really blossomed as a minor league manager in the Mets' organization during the eighties. He always struck me as one of those managers who teaches better than inspires. This seems to be to be increasingly important. Especially these days when fundamentals seem to have disappeared from professional baseball. Frankly, I don't see the need for a rah rah type of manager. If someone needs to be inspired to play baseball professionally, something's wrong with them.

Everyone have a nice, good day! Let's play two!

Watson Breaks the Record!

Brandon Watson broke the forty-two year old hitting streak record today in Ottawa so he's first in the International League. That ties him for eighth all-time in minor league baseball. For the all-time streak list.

Congratulations Brandon. There's got to be room for him somewhere on a MLB roster.

Everyone have a nice, good day! Let's play two!