Bus ride back...We are currently watching Battle: L.A. I've seen it so I am only half paying attention. I really appreciate the positive feedback I've received with the blog. If you have suggestions, specifically, ways I can better take you behind the scenes, please feel free to let me know. I have some ideas in mind.
----------------------
Twelve games in and for the most part, each game has been decided in the early going. That was the case last night when the Voyagers fell behind early and were never really in it. The guys have still yet to win when their opponents score first. And it isn't really that they go down without a fight, its just that they begin to fight back too late.
One of the biggest things Buddy Bell preached to me during our phone conversation was patience. We were talking about assessing individual players, specifically those who were playing at a new level, be it an advancement through the system or from college to the pro ranks. While we were not really talking about it in the context of a minor league team's success, I think it applies the same. The guys are just two back and will have their fair share of opportunities versus division rivals, including seven homes games against both teams ahead of them in the North, Helena (3) and Billings (4).
There are several bright spots. Twelve games is a small sample. It is a tad easier to make projections for the entire season for hitters than pitchers, but I will say that I expect a vast improvement from the staff as time passes and our young pitchers adjust. I think its safe to say that we can expect production from De Pinto and Herbek, two college guys, throughout the season. Watching batting practice and understanding his work ethic and maturity, I'd have to imagine Mark Haddow's production will only improve. Michael Earley is hitting well (+.300) but I think we might even see more production out him. He has just one extra base hit and I look at that more as the extra base hits are coming than where has the power gone? Michael has a well-deserved reputation of a gamer and a hard worker, too.
At the end of the day with the hitters, with Gary Ward providing instruction, they have all the opportunity to make progress in their game if they so desire.
This seven game homestand will teach us a lot. At the end of it we will be 19 games into the season, which is exactly one-quarter of the way in.
----------------------
Missoula was a bunch of fun. It is a really neat college town. I went to Uptown Diner with Tim Rodmaker yesterday. Check out the milkshake I got. It is called a Snicker, as its ingredients are exactly that of a snicker bar, plus vanilla ice cream and most importantly, a cherry.
I am excited to go back in a few months.
---------------------
Hot Sports Opinion: As the season goes on I will be providing these more consistently....
As I made clear in one of my first entries, I love sports. All sports, for the most part. Sitting in my hotel room watching Wimbledon and the Women's World Cup was a treat. Watching the World Cup reminded me of something: Diving.
I can't stand diving and I truly think it has gotten out of hand. Not only has it escalated in soccer, but basketball as well. Baseball is weird, and maybe I am a hypocrite, but I like that in baseball you have to "sell" things. Maybe I am old fashioned in that regard.
Mark Jackson or Jeff Van Gundy I believe suggested this as it applies in the NBA so I am just piggybacking their idea (By the way, they were a great analyst tandem). Why not fine players for diving or flopping? You leave this responsibility up to either a committee or Stu Jackson in the NBA and his counterparts in the various soccer leagues. It is obviously subjective, so it needs to be clear. But there were so many times during the NBA playoffs where a player fell backwards and, I kid you not, WAS NOT EVEN TOUCHED! That stuff is ridiculous. If you are contacted with a relative strength, then do as you please. But flopping without contact or a harmless touch, that bugs me. Soccer is obviously a big culprit of this, too. I think fining people is the best way to fix this. Do not suspend them, because you do not want to punish a team for one person's actions. But fine them. Then let's see if they fall twenty feet next time they graze uniforms.
And, for the record, I get it...I get trying to win. I am not really faulting them. I would and used to do it too. One time, current NBA player DeAndre Jordan legitimately hurdled me on his way up for a dunk. As the plane of his body crossed mine, I fell backwards and drew a big charge. He didn't even touch me, not even his jersey. So, I am not perfect.
Selling a charge is really no different than selling getting hit by a pitch, but I guess that doesn't bother me as much. If they applied to fine system to that, i guess I wouldn't throw a fit, but for bang-bang plays, I think selling it is just a part of it. To solve that, don't blame the player, just get video replay, which is an issue for a separate entry.
No comments:
Post a Comment