Home Run Derby

Everyone’s going La-La over the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 13-0 start at Dodger Stadium so far this season.  Even though it is indeed an MLB record for most consecutive wins at home to start a season … I would like to remind everyone that it’s how you finish, rather than how you start. 

And teams that start off REALLY hot at home … well, let’s just say that none of them have ever enjoyed a home-field advantage in October. 

So far as I can tell, there have been six MLB teams (including the 2008 Dodgers) who have started a season 10-0 or better at home.  The previous five didn’t make the playoffs.

Best MLB Home Starts

Mind you, most of those teams made their early run before the advent of Baseball’s current three-divisional format, and all but one of them would have made the playoffs if there was a WildCard playoff entry.  

That would be the 2003 Royals, who went 29-40 at home the rest of the season.  To make matter worse for the Royals – there was a WildCard that year … and they still couldn’t make the playoffs.

I love Jim Thome. 

I don’t have any rooting interest to be a fan - seeing as I’ve never been a fan of the Indians, Phillies, or (shudder) the White Sox.  But I always want that guy to do well.

And he usually does.

Yesterday, the White Sox were losing 2-1 to the Royals in the eighth inning.  Thome came up with two on.  Three Run Bomb. 

I was listening on the radio and just knew Thome was going to crush whatever junk Kyle Farnsworth threw near the plate.

He did. 

Here’s the video from a fan behind home plate …

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The Golden Sombrero
Four At-Bats, Four Strikeouts.

It’s a badge a hitter doesn’t want. 

And it rarely happens to the best hitters in the league.   And it should NEVER happen to a three-time MVP who happens to be the highest paid player in the history of the game.

But it did last night.

Against the Kansas City Royals, Alex Rodriguez struck out looking three times against Brian Bannister (!) and flailed away against Ramon Ramirez.  Watch for yourself.

Travis Buck, Matt Holliday, and Chris Young (D-Backs) have all worn the Golden Sombrero this season.

There’s lots of reasons to go to a Major League Baseball game …

But sometimes, that’s just not enough to make you pay $40 for a ticket and drink a beer for $7, especially if the team sucks … and MLB Teams know it.  So they offer trinkets and bawbles to get your butt in a seat.  Yep, we’re talking promotions and giveaways.  And we usually fall for it.

The majority of these handouts are overdone retreads of stuff like t-shirts and floppy hats and plastic doodads like keychains and flashlights and bobbleheads.  Bobbleheads are great, but unless you’re the table in front of Mike and Mike or Mottram and Steinz, how many do you need?

But sometimes, the team’s marketing squad does something creative … here are the best ones you can try to grab in 2008.

Joe Mauer Fishing Lure - Minnesota Twins (May 2)

Now this is cool.  In a state with 10,000 lakes, you’re gonna need something to catch bass with when the Twins are on the road.   

Mind you, I’m not sure how many times an MLB team has given away anything with six sharpened barbs on it before.  This could be a one-and-done event, because you just know someone’s gonna lose an eye from this thing.  Given out to the first 5,000 fans over the age of 18.

No boys, this will not help you catch anything like Mauer’s ex-girlfriend, former Miss USA Chelsea Cooley.  No girls, this will not help you catch Joe Mauer.

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And so we begin our journey to preview 30 teams in 30 days.  Be sure to check out SkyKing’s preview too! 

We start in Kansas City (order was determined by team homeruns in 2007), a team that hit a paltry 102 Home Runs last year on its way to slugging .388 as a team.  Just to provide some contrast, the Milwaukee Brewers hit over two times as many dingers (231) and slugged almost 70 points higher (.456). 

Good lord it is hard to be a Royal fan.  It is even harder to talk about the long ball for a team that had only two players: John Buck (18) and rookie Alex Gordon (15) hit double digit Home Runs last year.

Surely the addition of Jose Guillen will add another double digit home run hitter to the team, but when your other big offensive addition is Miguel Olivo…you got problems.  Oh wait, they did add Alberto Callaspo too! Yep, I don’t know him either.  Apparently, he came via trade from Arizona. 

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We’ve analyzed the Senior Circuit’s 2008 trip through the American League … let’s move on to the Junior Circuit’s 2008 Interleague opponents. 

Teams from the American League always have a bit of a dilemma for their road Interleague games, because there’s no DH in NL Parks.  On top of that, AL pitchers have to hit for themselves, which they don’t do in their other 144 games. 

Is it a disadvantage?  The AL leads the NL 1,250 to 1,202 in Interleague games over the past ten seasons … so not really.  Then again, maybe that Win-Loss Record would be even more in favor of the AL if DH’s could rake against NL Pitchers.

But it still doesn’t sit well with some AL Managers …

We hate it when our pitchers have to start hitting. We have to do a lot of extra work and take a lot of risks for not that many at-bats.
Ron Gardenhire, Manager, Minnesota Twins (2005)

Gardy’s gonna dislike it even more this season, without the NL-killing Johan Santana in his rotation anymore.

But when you’re 100-75 in ten years of Interleague Play, you don’t seem to mind …

If we played National League teams, the Central Division, we might win 150 games in that league.
Ozzie Guillen, White Sox Manager (2006)

Let’s take a look at the AL Central and see if there’s anyone with an early schedule advantage … on paper.  Matched up against the pitching-rich NL West … someone will surely have an advantage if they avoid two of the tops teams.

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In 2008, the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals are going to do something that no baseball team has done since 1991.

They’re going to break out the Powder Blue Uniforms. Mind you – they’ll be only occasionally be used as home alternate uniforms, but that’s a feat in and of itself. I don’t think anyone’s ever worn the powder blue in their home stadium before.

The Royals will be wearing blue shirts (with white pants) while the Blue Jays will go completely retro and bust out the baby blue from head to toe. The Jays will also bring back their old logo, a pullover jersey, and their old two-color cap. I have one of those hats. I love it.

There’s no word yet as to how often the Royals and Jays will do this in 2008, but the vibe is that they’ll do it enough that they petitioned MLB to add the uniforms to their regular cache of kits.

The St. Louis Cardinals have worn powder blue throwbacks in road games twice (2005 vs Tampa Bay and 2007 vs Milwaukee).

Considering that we’ve hardly seen powder blue for the last sixteen seasons (and the fact that no one under the age of 21 likely has any memory of powder blue baseball) let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the teams that dared … to wear blue.

Prepare yourselves for a trip when the blue wasn’t just in the azure sky over the field. And watch out for lots of polyester pullovers and stirrups.

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The mascot brackets return with a Feline throwdown – Time for a AL Central Catfight.

NO, not that kind of catfight.

#4 Sluggerrr (Kansas City Royals) vs #5 Paws (Detroit Tigers)

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So I was checking out some 2007 Topps baseball cards the other day … and for some reason, the Kansas City Royals’ cards caught my eye.

Well – one card in particular.  It wasn’t a Mark Grudzielanek, Mark Sweeney, or even the elusive Jimmy Gobble card that caught my eye …

It was the team card.  You know, the one with the team picture on the front and the team checklist on the back.  You usually flip right past that one …

Except this card was missing something …
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