Scapegate

Ok, so the headline is a little strong. Willie Randolph’s firing was something everyone could see, but the timing…hour, day, month…was all wrong. I’m never one for firing a manager midseason, since I can’t remember the last time it actually turned the team into a win machine. And some teams have gone late into seasons and suddenly just started winning every game in sight (2007 Colorado Rockies, 2005 Oakland A’s). Personally, if the Mets were to fire Willie it should have been after last season, or if during this season at least a week or two ago before interleague play resumed to give the interim guy some time to fiddle around with less meaningful games (let’s face it, interleague games affect you much less than games against intraleague teams).
Cleaning House? The firing of first base coach Tom Nieto instead of doing something about the woeful offense is a mystery to me. Almost everyone who isn’t Ryan Church or Moises Alou (who are both injured) are underperforming in some manner at the plate. Rick Peterson I do not completely agree with the firing of (I began this sentence with what should be the end of it. Screw you, grammar). His one big oopsie is convincing Mets Heads that he could turn Victor Zambrano into something better than Scott Kazmir. Hahahahahahaaaa. On the other hand he molded John Maine into a pretty good mid-rotation starter and got Oliver Perez to perform somewhere between his one good season with the Pirates and the subsequent one and a half awful ones.

Things I am sad about:
The Mets missed out on Manny Acta. He got the Nats to perform way better than many people thought they would last year. Even though the Nats are on pace for a worse season this round I still believe that he could at least have a team like the Mets somewher north of .500. He doesn’t think in terms of small-ball or power-ball, he just thinks in terms of baseball.
Carlos “freaking” Delgado. One good season is all the Mets got, whoopee. Now he can’t hit for a decent average or power and he has no range in fielding. Imagine if the Mets had kept those prospects and had been in the running for some guy named Teixeira. Although 2006 might not have gone as far as it did, but 2007 wouldn’t have been an almighty season-ending turd.
Aaron “batting practice” Heilman. Whoever the Mets have take over Rick Peterson’s role, my hope is that he gets Aaron to realize what an utter shit-heap he is being so far. If he comes in with a large lead or deficit he can pitch perfectly…otherwise the game gets blown to hell.
Matt “is not” Wise. Nice free agency pick-up, testicle faces.
The inconsistent bullpen. There are a few guys that have been more or less solid, but it seems that when they have that one bad game it results in a loss, since the offense putters out all to often. There is also Jorge Sosa, who has coupled his 7.06 ERA with a sparkling 4-0 record. WTF?
I am about to hand the Phillies the NL East. The season is far from over, and there have been cases where teams with large leads have blown them late in the season. But as of now the Phillies are rolling strong and a few guys aren’t even performing up to par…RYAN HOWARD. They are on pace for about 95 wins, which is more or less a where they should wind up. Their Pythagorean W-L has them at 45-28 instead of the 42-31 they currently sit at. The Mets will be playing for the WC, if anything.
England. Why couldn’t you qualify for Euro 2008?
NY Islanders. Such a tease over the first half of the hockey season as I knew they were overachieving, but with Ted Nolan you start to believe that it can continue. I can only wonder were they’d be if the hadn’t traded three first rounders for that blubbering shite, Ryan Smyth.

Things I am happy about:
The Fantasy Baseball season so far. Sitting at first in one league and a smidge behind third in another, so far so good. Now I just have to see if all my steals are half-season wonders.
Brad Lidge. I’ve always liked Lidge, since his days in Houston. There isn’t anything wrong with a guy who likes his Herodotus.
Euro 2008. I love soccer. Croatia and Turkey have ripped through supposedly better teams and now have to face each other. I wonder how they’ll fare if one of them ends up facing the now tournament favorite Netherlands in the final.
US Soccer. World Cup Qualifying is underway and the US Men started with a 8-0 beatdown on Barbados. The second leg is in Barbados on Sunday, July 22nd. Meanwhile the Women’s team made up for their 4-0 finals loss to Brazil and beat them 1-0.
P2P TV. I will say that this is “legal” and awesome. I’ve been able to watch all sorts of baseball games in English and soccer in a multitude of languages (Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and Croatian so far). Google search: TVAnts, SopCast, TVUPlayer to start. Research and choose at your own discretion.

Things That Depress Me

Even though I am gamely employed, I am thoroughly enjoying this baseball season. However, there are a glaring number of things that I really don’t like and actually get me upset. Not UPS worker after 25 years upset but just a little down. Here are some of the things that actually get me kind of depressed.

1) That Carlos Delgado won’t be the Mets first basemen after this year
Long gone will be the days of 15+ million for an average defenese, 27 homer, .220 average, loud mouth road cone at first base. Carlos, you used to be a force to be reckoned with (especially in the Blue Jays days…good lord he was a monster) but now you suck and I’m upset you’re leaving the Mets. You are the number one problem with the Mets and to see you leave will bring a tear to my eye.

2) The Indians
This team should rock! Not only do they have Sabathoid and Carmonillionare as their 1-2…they have ANOTHER 1-2 punch in Cliff Lee (fucking unhittable) and Aaron “Funny Man” Laffey. Betancourt is a sick middle man (but wow…what a disaster as the closer) and Joe Borowski was supposed to be able to get it done (but who didn’t see that coming). With a 1-4 like they have you have no excuse for winning games…and their offense doesn’t suck at all! Pronk, Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez, Peralta, Ryan Garko…these guys can hit!!! WTF is going on with them??

3) The Tigers
Jesus Christ. I didn’t pick these guys to make the playoffs because their pitching blows, but I had no idea it would be this bad. Justin Verlander should walk out to every start from now on with a bag on his head. Bonderman has been far from stellar. Robertson shares his last name with my ex-girlfriend, so you knew he was gonna suck hardcore at some point. Everybody knew the pitching was questionable…but the offense?? This team should be brutally murdering opposing pitchers; I feel like I’m watching some huge bear toy with fish in the river, then release them. He’s got these f’n claws man!

4) That John Kruk isn’t a hitting coach somewhere
John Kruk is pudgy bastard who hit .300 in this league with a .400 on base percentage. He can tell you with any major league hitter why he’s doing well, or why he’s doing poorly. He’s a fantastic ambassador to the game and the only reason he should ever leave baseball tonight is to be a hitting coach. You don’t get by in the majors doing THAT well with THAT body without being a total hitting genius. I love Kruk.

5) Brett Myers will be getting twelve million dollars next year
That’s right folks, a big ol’ twelve million bucks. The guy who was dominant in spring training has officially lost his edge and is struggling to get it back. He’s given up more runs than anybody in the National League this year (seriously) and his head is way out of whack. The velocity on his fastball has magically disappeared and his slider is quickly becoming opposing hitters favorite to hit. If the Phillies are going to do it, its going to be this year and with Myers off the reservation that scares the crap out of me.

6) Chris Wheeler
Wheels is just a total shitbrick. You know it, I know it, Harry Kalas knows it.

7) That the 2007 Mets hangover has to end at some point. I drive alot in North Jersey, and listening to Mets radio is one of the highlights of my trip. All this finger pointing towards Willie Randolph literally kills me. Not a season ago was he being heralded as one of the best managers in baseball…all of a sudden their catcher doesn’t do HGH, Jose Reyes plays like a down syndrome 13 year old, Delgado shows his age, Beltran is injury prone, Pedro can’t pitch 5 innings in a row, Glavine is old, Wagner gives up big homers….yet this is all Willie’s fault. Sure he’s sensitive, sure he’s a little paranoid, and I don’t blame him. His entire team laid the biggest, smelliest turd in baseball history last year. If he’s a little pissy at his players, can you blame him? They’re going to put him out of a job, and fast.

If you’re noticed the lack of activity here at AllSwings, its because A) I finally got a job and B) everybody else has jobs. I just do mine poorly.

Don’t Look Now, But…

We’re roughly thirty games into this baseball season, and of course I’m enjoying it thoroughly. However, there are some serious oddities going on, and I thought I’d just point out a few that caught my eye.

-Justin Verlander. Good god…his fantasy owners should be declaring for reparations at some point. 1-5 with an ERA north of six? This guy has electric stuff but just can’t put it together. Nevermind the car wreck that has been D-Train in Detroit, Verlander was supposed to be the one constant on the staff and he can’t put it together. If he doesn’t, the Tigers won’t even sniff the postseason.

-Joe Saunders. Who? Exactly. Saunders flew under the radar in ‘07 throwing only 107 innings posted a respectable 8-5 with a 4+ ERA (not bad for the AL). This year however he’s been on fire. 6-0 with an ERA under 2.47. Will he keep it up? I think he’ll have a nice year (15-17 wins), but when you pitch to contact like he does it’s a dangerous game, especially in the American league. Up until his last outing Saunders was doing great (then he got his shit pushed in, but he was going against me in fantasy…so thanks, Joe) and should prove to be a steady arm all year.

-Things on the Phillies-(good)Pat Burrell, the bullpen and (bad)Ryan Howard. Pigs must be flying over a sheet of ice in hell because I never thought I’d say either one of those things. Pat Burrell is finally living up to his salary and his posting a .315 batting average while hitting over .400 with runners in scoring position! WHAT? Furthermore, statistically speaking the Phillies bullpen is ranked number one in the NL, with Brad Lidge becoming the proverbial hammer at the back end of the bullpen. (If you told me Brad Lidge would be lights out after choosing a Drowning Pool song, I would’ve laughed at you). And lastly, ManChild. Manchild is hitting somewhere around my weight (hint…I don’t weigh over 165 pounds) and while he says he’s improving lately, the numbers sure don’t show it. I’m glad I picked him to have a monster year and start the year off hot.

-Barry Zito sucks…wait, thats pretty consistent.

-The Youth Movement. In case anybody batted an eye, there is a serious youth movement going on in baseball and these guys are GOOD. Justin Upton, Lastings Milledge, Carl Crawford, BJ Upton(only 20!!), Tim Lincecum, Johnny Cueto, Joba Chamberlain, Geavanny Soto, Yovani Gallardo, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Hunter Pence, Cole Hamels, Jon Lester, Jose Reyes, Andrew Miller, Corey Hart, Prince Fielder, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some others. Every single one of these guys is ridiculously talented and 24 years or younger. Now if they just were sub-par blog authors that were lazy about posting…that’d be impressive. But until then, they’ll have to settle for millions of dollars and being famous. Suckers.

-Max Scherzer. Pitcher for the Diamondbacks who has two different colored eyes (heterochromic). One is brown and the other is ice blue. He also throws 100mph. That’s just cool.

I made Straight Cash Homey!

http://straightcashhomey.net/

Not nearly as cool as ozziecanseco’s Utley question, but cool none the less. Check out the Pratt jersey…opening day find!

Opening Week Observations - with a Happy Ending!

Teams that were supposed to be bad but are .500 or above: Orioles, Devil Rays, White Sox, Royals, Rangers, Marlins, Cardinals, Reds.
Teams that were supposed to be good but are below .500: Red Sox, Tigers, Mariners, Phillies, Mets, Rockies.
The only team performing where they should be is the Giants. There is no saving them. Aaron Rowand is not the answer, great CF, but CBP-inflated numbers in a contract year is a sure-fire way to become overpaid. Now all he can do is watch Barry Zito soft-toss BP to the opposing team.
Good thing the season isn’t over…oh, and all teams have only played two series.

In reference to the Tigers 0-6 start, a hard-thinking brain at Detroit News has come up with this…vaguishness.

The other day I was watching a game…of some teams who play baseball…and the only thing I remember is this interaction between Joe Morgan and…some other guy, probably Jon Miller, as they hypothesized (or decreed) who would win…all of it.

JM: I’m gonna have to pick Boston.
JM: Well, you can’t go wrong with that.
Me: Shut up, Joe Morgan.

The second JM is Joe Morgan, by the way. Anyway, the whole point of the baseball season is that you can and probably will go wrong with your pick for the big winner. Speaking without thinking is fun.

In the fantasy world I am surprised by the fact that my team is being carried by Nate McLouth. Now, I thought he would be a good player to have on my team in terms of power and speed, but I didn’t expect him to be outperforming Ryan Howard, Brian Roberts, Garret Atkins, and Troy Tulowitzki along with every other hitter I have. Sell High or ride him until I can only trade him for free agent Sammy Sosa?

Is it just me or are there more bases being stolen (so far) this season? Carlos Gomez and Michael Bourn both nabbed their 5th SBs today. And I just saw that Bourn got his 6th. Apparently they’re just being sent every time they get on base (ok, fine, every other time). Most pre-season predictions had both Bourn and Gomez pegged at somewhere in the mid 20s steal-wise. At this rate they’ll be there before a fifth of the season is done. There are six other guys with 3 SBs and there could be a few more before the night is done. Lance Berkman has 2 SBs.

Meanwhile the Mets are intent on SB failure and have managed to limp-wrist 2 HRs (although I heard at least two deep shots just barely miss leaving the hugantic Dolphins Stadium). The Phillies have no problem hitting HRs (CBP), but Brett Myers apparently wasn’t ready to resume starting. I can’t help thinking “DICK” as I see that Tom Glavine is in the process of making his ERA and WHIP better than Johan Santana’s…for a fraction of the price. Last time I saw him he was making me think “OH DEAR GOD NO!” for 1/3 of an inning. Both the Nats and Marlins have some major difficulties with their pitching, but the top halves of their batting orders are young and beastly.

This just in: The All-Star game will be replaced by a Bourn vs. Gomez 200m race.

Your baseball homework for the week: If you were to field a team of zombie ballplayers, which players’ abilities would translate best into undead format? Deceased players only…unless you come up with a creative way to knock off living players.

Your non-baseball homework for the week: Define Chronomatopeia.

Happy Ending!

Opening Day Notes from Moonlight Graham

So first, Costesflamingbat is a standup guy just for rolling out of bed so early for tickets. Without him, I would have been sitting in my office, doubly miserable when Gordon blew the lead. Instead I got to share in an exciting 8 innings of Major League Baseball with Costes and Hackdaddy.

So thoughts on opening day? SEPTA came through with a connecting Phillies Express from suburban. The electricity in the air reminded me of the last days of September of 2007. When Jimmy hit his lead-off double to start off the Phillies offense, the chants of “MVP! MVP!” almost brought me to tears. Baseball is back.

Spring training predictions of a shallow Phillies pitching staff were on-par for this game. Myers, unused to a start in awhile, perhaps, blew up in the 4th. Madsen let up a homerun. Gordon imploded.

Pat Burrell had a walk and a RBI, making me look like a fantasy genius. I told the screaming fat guy next to me as much when he ragged on Burrell, to which he responded, flushed with $7 beer, “Fantasy baseball? Are you kidding me? Gotta play fantasy football. Fantasy baseball is boring.” I almost stabbed him. He preceeded to tell us that fantasy football gave you time to have sex with your hot wife, so I stopped taking him seriously.

The truth is that fantasy baseball is NOT boring. It’s too interesting. While Burrell was on base, I was secretly checking out the scores of other games and found myself hoping that Wright would hit a homerun for the …. Mets! ARRRRG! Such a cruel game. I was awarded the “David Wright Illiteracy Trophy” for “Spreading Awareness about Illiteracy.” I admit. I’m a sellout. But I was crushed when Utley was taken second and with my third draft pick and in a panic about not having enough steals last year (44 all season…. ew), I took the only 3rd baseman I knew who had 30 homeruns, 30 steals, and 100+ rbis. So what if he can’t read? Eloquence isn’t a fantasy category. At least he doesn’t have herpes like some players… unless herpes related facial blemishes are a fantasy category.

9th inning and the Phillies’ hopes are gone in a Flash. Riding back with fans in a depressed lull, croweded on the Broad St. Line back into Center City, I was content to know that baseball was back. 1 down; 161 to go.

Opening Day 2008

Alright…so where to begin?

Opening day officially started for me at 7:41AM, when I rolled out of bed to make the journey to South Philly. I found out last week that the Phillies were releasing an extra 500 standing room only tickets at 9am Monday morning, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t one of those 500. So I play it safe, and get to the stadium at 8:20—except there’s already a massive line. The line was kind of fun; all jovial hopeful Phillies fans just hoping to get into opening day. We all agreed if we didn’t get tickets we were going to riot. Thank god I left my house early because I got tickets by the skin of my teeth. As long as I was going to Opening Day, I didn’t give a flying crap.

As it turns out my buddy Stew as going to the game as well, so we car-pooled our way there. After a brief stop at the liquor store we embarked on our Opening Day Journey. We finally pulled into our spots at the fairly soggy Citizens Bank parking lot. After many a beverage Stew decided to head to will call to get his tickets; I decided to hang back and drink with some new found friends.

Moonlightgraham and Hack Daddy were fortunate enough to have me buy tickets for them. What a guy, I know. Regardless we excitedly entered the park and dropped anchor on the third base side. The game began with many stupid phrases being rambled out like “BASEBALL IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING RIGHT NOW” and “THIS IS AWESOME”, without any explanation or reason for being said. But, we were ok with that.

The game is going along very well. Phillies actually manufacturing runs, Brett Myers doing a fine job through 4 innings. The fifth hits and he runs into a spot of bad luck, allowing 3 earned runs and 4 in all (J-Roll error…c’mon!!). Around the 6th Stew text’s me and says he’s going into McFaddens (stadium bar). He’s my ride, and it’s pretty cold so I oblige.

By the 7th the Phils have dug themselves a hole, but in classic 2007 fashion rally back and tie it at six. I finally get into McFaddens and run into a gem of a find. Check THIS out. Authentic, Pratt, Autographed. Three words I really didn’t think were ever to be used in a sentence.

The game ends, but the bar is fun. A fun bit: A guy hitting on a girl while waiting in line for the bathroom, and no joke using the opener “So…I’m married. Whats up?” She began berating him for being an asshole, to which he was laughing in her face and unphased said “so this is a picture of my son…can I buy you a drink?” Good stuff.

We’re in the outside section, when suddenly a lanky dude kind of bumps into me and walks past…and its Jeff Carter. I’m a monster Flyers nerd so I go up to him, congratulate him on a nice season and wish him good luck in the playoffs. I get back to Stew and tell him this…to which he explains there’s a bunch of Flyers here; Scottie Hartnell, Mike Richards, Joffrey Lupul, Jeff Carter and Riley Cote. I’d heard Riley Cote was a pretty cool dude so I walk over to him, where he’s surrounded by about 4 or 5 guys talking hockey. I know just about every fight he’s been in this year, so I pipe out of left field “Yo Riley, what the hell happened after that Andre Roy fight? He was PISSED.”

Riley looks directly at me like I hit the jackpot. For the next 10 minutes we had an in depth conversation about hockey fights, hockey fighters, and various fights he had this year, including using me as the opponent and showing how he knocked out Andre Roy and why he was pissed afterwards.

As Cote and I were talking Carter comes up and butts in our conversations and cuts off Riley mid-sentence. He’s a Philadelphia Flyer and a to-be multi-millionaire, but he’s not gonna be rude.  So I pipe up:

“Whoaa…I guess Mr. 17th overall draft pick is a little too important to wait to talk huh?”
(pause)
“Hey…it was 11th overall man, get it right.”(joking fashion)
At this point Cote and I both look at him then at each other and burst out laughing. I ask Carter if his agent is getting on doing his new contract, to which he replies, “dude….my agent is probably drunk right now.” Good times all around!!

Meaningless Predictions

It’s that time of year where anybody who posts anything on the internet feels the need to give you their 2008 baseball predictions. However here at AllSwings we like to go off the beaten path, not just giving you the regular “who will win what division, wild card, World Series, etc.”, but some more in depth predictions you just can’t find anywhere else. So without further adieu, lets get through the regular ones first.

AL East:

Bosox too deep. Yankees good, but too old and young at the same time (haha). Blue Jays got better but not good enough. Red Sox take this division with 97 wins. Tampa Rays will scare people but don’t have the depth. Baltimore…who cares.

AL Central:

Tigers=big hit happy body! Cleveland=most well rounded team in baseball. Minny=too young…but on the right path. White Sox=past their prime. Kansas City=Kansas City. Cleveland takes this division again this year…way too strong all around; 95 wins for them.

AL West:

Easiest division to forecast. Halos win the division, but its a bit closer than you’d think (Escobar really hurts them). Seattle pulls in 2nd, Oakland 3rd and Texas 4th. Halo’s get 92 wins, with Seattle nipping at their heels.

AL Wild Card:

Seattle! Seattle quietly made some ballsy moves this offseason, and I think having The King and Bed-tard at the top of the rotation is as good a 1-2 punch in baseball. If they can just get Sexson to hit at least. 250 this team can do some serious damage.

NL East:

Phillies have many question marks. New York Santana’s have the best pitching by far. Braves are getting lots of dark horse pub, but I’m not buying it. Florida and Nationals suck (but will be good, and soon). New York Santana’s take the division with 92 wins.

NL Central:

Brewers have the O but lack pitching depth (and lets see how well Gagne does). Cubs are an intriguing team and have made some nice additions this offseason. They’ll win the division with 89 wins. Cardinals will be a scrappy bunch but they don’t seriously scare anyone. Pittsburgh should be in AAA ball. Buster Olney best summed up Houston’s chances at the playoffs: “Roy Oswalt and pray for rain.”

NL West:

Now THIS is a division. Padres again have the arms but not the bats. With the departure of the Dragon Slayer I don’t see the Rockies doing it again this year. Dodgers will raise eyebrows but again will not have enough. The Diamondbacks are a frightening team with the best pitching in this division. They win the division with 91 wins.

Wild Card: Phillies! Best offense in the National League, with Myers back in the rotation and will have a very good year. I peg the Philzors at 90 wins.

World Series: Tribe over Cubs, with Steve Bartman pitching a scoreless 9th in game 7.

Milton Bradley Award (player due for awful karma based injury): I’d say Paul Lo Duca, but now that he’s off HGH and on the Nationals thats karma enough. I’ll say Elijah Dukes…beating your spouse isn’t looking kindly upon by baseball gods.

Scott Kazmir Award (player who was in an awful trade): Ladies and Gentlemen, the Mets keep it in the family with Lastings Milledge! Talk about a retarded trade…Lastings is a five tool monster who has the potential to be a super-duper star. Enjoy Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, because the Nats will enjoy Milledge for years to come.

Reverse Jack Elliot Award (New Japanese player most likely to have an impact): Gotta be Fukudome. Don’t look now, but the gap is narrowing between Japanese baseball and American baseball, and this guy can play. Had a dinged up 2007, but in 2006 hit 31 dingers with a .351 average and 104 RBI’s in generally bigger parks than American ones.

Brady Anderson Award (player with most precipitous fall-off): Curtis Granderson. I hate to say it cuz I love the guy but I think he struggles this year. That broken finger/knuckle he has will hamper him greatly (take it from somebody who’s had a very similar injury, your grip and strength is greatly compromised for a long time).

Hooked on Phonics Award (player who can’t read): Well…I think we all know who that is.

Play ball Mofo’s!

It’s Now Official

Raising illiteracy awareness

Rehab 101

…where 101 = the number of Mets who will be injured at the end of Spring Training.

This injury thing is now getting ridiculous and there isn’t a clear reason why the Mets are suddenly feeling the warm hug of an injury all over them.
A little less than a year ago I was talking to a guy who trained people for marathon running and asked him his thoughts on the influx of hamstring and leg related injuries the Yankees were experiencing. Running, and the stretching that usually goes along with it, helps loosen up the muscles in the legs, which in turn aids the quick reflex muscles that baseball players use much more than any muscles needed for running long distances. The new training went with the brilliant plan of deemphasizing running in their workout regimen and thus it began to have an effect on the players. Problem solved. The Mets on the other hand seem to have trouble with senior citizens (Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez, Carlos Delgado) and bad luck (everyone else).

I’m not so worried about Alou, as Endy Chavez or Angel Pagan can take over and do a decent job at the plate. They can also perform much better interpretations of a gas particle than ol’ Moises. Of course Chavez is also currently injured. Omar Minaya is inspecting his tradable options (i.e. no propsects) and any place holders that are available from other teams. So far nothing stellar.

The good news is that the healthy backups and backups of the injured backups have been performing better than expected. This could mean a whole variety of absolutely nothing considering that it is Spring Training, but it is a positive nevertheless. Additionally, Mike Pelfrey has been pitching well in his couple starts, which allows the Mets to breath a sigh of relief over El Duck before beginning to panic over their lack of reliable backup starters. Hooray!

Recent news over Mike Hampton’s return to the familiar friend called injury will soften the blows to the Mets, but the fact remains that most of the Braves and Phillies are healthy and waggling wood and balls (obligatory testicles tag) in the sunny oasis of Florida. Brad Lidge is the main Phil out at the moment, but he is progressing better than expected and shouldn’t miss too much more time. Many injured Mets are also expected back before Spring Training gives way to 2008, but they will have still missed a significant amount of valuable warm-up (yes, so will Lidge and Hampton).

Quick List of Players who are injured or have missed most of Spring Training so far:
Carlos Delgado - 1B, hip
Carlos Beltran - OF, knees
Ryan Church - OF, concussion
Moises Alou - OF, Hernia
Endy Chavez - OF, hamstring, ankle
Luis Castillo - 2B, knee
Ruben Gotay - 2B, ankle
Marlon Anderson - OF, INF, sternum
Damion Easley - INF, ankle
Brian Schneider - C, hamstring
Duaner Sanchez - RP, taxi accident over a year and a half ago
Orlando Hernandez - SP, foot, that thing where you can’t remember stuff because you’re old

And finally this tidbit:

Minor league catcher Sean McCraw, standing in a area seemingly protected by the batting cage, nonetheless was struck in the shin by a batted ball that probably would have damaged his leg if not for a shinguard. The impact startled all who witnessed it, including Church.

“I think I feel another concussion,” Church said.

The balls are in on it.