changing of the guard?

With the roster set for Opening Day, it's something of a shock to note that the homegrown talent is dwindling. Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, and Ryan Madson were draft picks. Carlos Ruiz and Antonio Bastardo were international free agent signings. Chase Utley, of course, starts the season on the DL.

Congratulations to Michael Martinez and John Mayberry, Jr. for making the opening day roster, a first for both. The addition of Martinez, selected in the Rule 5 draft from the Nationals, means that the Phillies have three Rule 5 guys on the roster. The other two: Shane Victorino and David Herndon.

spring baseball tournament japan

Uomi Zenjiro, the friend who sent the photo (below) of the snowy coastal scene in Obama, also sent photos from the spring baseball tournament at Koshien Stadium. It's a national tournament held each March for high school teams and is followed in August by the national high school championship, also held at Koshien. If you like the sound of aluminum bat on ball, this is for you.

castillo cut

The short-lived Luis Castillo experiment is over. Despite his improved play in recent games, the former Met was released by the Phillies earlier today. Maybe being a late show last week after his acquisition did him in. Charlie Manuel has been singing the praises of Rule Five guy Michael Martinez, said to have made the team. While a defensive adept, Martinez does not dazzle at the plate. Let pitching and defense rule.

Astro starter (and former Phillie) J.A. Happ injured his oblique in an exhibition game last night. This is sad news as Happ has had chronic oblique problems. He was was to start on Sunday in Philadelphia.

fun and games resume at the park

I fell asleep last night listening to the Phillies' exhibition game with the Pirates. The game started at 7:30 and lasted more than three hours. Starter Roy Oswalt did not sparkle in his last tune-up before the regular season, but the Phillies won the game 8-5 before a crowd of 42,000+. The few regulars in the game were soon out of it and taking part in a night of fun and games at the ballpark. Shane Victorino was playing with kids in the Fun Zone. Cliff Lee was hanging out on Ashburn Alley. Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco worked some concession stands, while Utley and Lidge bartended at the Diamond Club. Roy Halladay dropped by one of the luxury boxes while Cole Hamels let his fingers do the walking, making random calls to fans. Two lucky kids got to spend a couple of innings sitting out in the bullpen.

It was a chilly night but it was dry. Today, maybe not so much. Friday, worse. Saturday, even less promising. Let's hope the weather forecasts are wrong.

Brad Lidge will be out at least three to six weeks with a partial tear of the rotator cuff. Jose Contreras will close in his absence, keeping Madson in his usual set-up role, at least for now.

snow on the coast

Old friend Uomi Zenjiro took this beautiful photo from his home in Obama, on the Sea of Japan, one recent morning of sudden spring snow.

bye-bye, clearwater

Nate Bump got the nod over Cliff Lee in yesterday afternoon's final game in Clearwater, against the Astros. I tuned in expecting to see Lee, but of course he was having his final tune-up in a minor league game. He is, after all, scheduled to face the Astros on Saturday in Philadelphia.

Instead, I watched Nate Bump, last year with the IronPigs, who had his sinker ball going and who ended up, I was happy to see hours later, getting the win. The Phillies pulled out to a 7-1 lead, which was then almost squandered by some shaky relief work from the low minors. But they held on in the rain for a 7-6 win, which put their Grapefruit League at 20-13. Good-bye, meaningless games!

The Phillies yesterday signed utility infielder Kevin Frandsen, who will start the season at Lehigh Valley. Frandsen adds to the growing stockpile of Triple-A infielders acquired because of Chase Utley's knee.

Two exhibition games with the Pirates, tonight and tomorrow afternoon, remain but they will be played in Philadelphia. I did not get my wish for a healthy spring training. Opening Day is on Friday. The forecast is for temperatures around 40 and rain. The Phillies will play the Astros. Could they not play them in Houston?

chooch gets a 'cy young'

First there was the sweet, funny tribute paid to catcher Carlos Ruiz in the perfect game commercial Roy Halladay did for MLB 2K11. Now, Halladay has given Chooch a "Cy Young" award. According to a recent Paul Hagen story in the Philadelphia Daily News, Halladay went through back channels to inquire about getting a copy made of the award that he received at the end of last season. When he learned it could be done, he got it done. The other day he left it, in a box wrapped in plain brown paper, on Chooch's chair in the locker room. In one corner of the box was To: Chooch, From: Roy. All done very discreetly but the media found out anyway.

lidge to dl

Here's Actaeon (in the background), before he is turned into a stag before Artemis turns him into a stag for looking at her naked. We all know what happened next: he was torn to pieces by his own hunting hounds. The painting is by Antonio Bellucci.

Yesterday it was the not-unexpected news that Chase Utley will start the season on the DL. This morning it was the news that Brad Lidge has shoulder pain and will start the season on the DL.

says it all

"I have snatched my share of joys from the grudging hand of fate as I have jogged along, but never has life held for me anything quite so entrancing as baseball."

This wonderful quotation, from famed lawyer and civil libertarian Clarence Darrow, is in H.A. Dorfman's The Mental ABC's of Pitching. More about that book later.

The Phillies, meanwhile, cannot get out of Clearwater soon enough. On Monday, Victorino and Ibanez had a full-tilt collision in the outfield, which luckily resulted only in a cut above the eye for Victorino. Yesterday, Roy Oswalt was hit in the back of the neck by a Manny Ramirez line drive. Happily, Ramirez did not square the ball up and Oswalt was able to walk off. He later commented that his friend Mike Coolbaugh had also been hit (and killed) by a line drive to the neck.

Add these two injuries to Utley's knee, Contreras' scratched cornea, Lidge's bicep, and Polanco's elbow. Enough dues paid already.

daffy

Three inches of snow this morning remind one that spring is usually an on-again, off-again kind of season in the northeastern regions.

Fish vs Twins

Batting practice at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, FL.


Just polished off some mahimahi tacos and sitting in the shade. Clear skies, 72 degrees in the shade, light breeze. Place is not sold out.

Oh noooo!! Found out that the new Marlins owner hates aqua and is replacing team colors with colors of the rainbow. I wish I had purchased an aqua cap before the changeover.




After a sedate 5 innings, Twins' Pavano lost his groove and gave up 3 to the Fish. The Marlins had Johnson pitching for them and though started shakey, he settled down and kept the Twins scoreless.



After the 5th, we moved to our real seats, just behind the Fish dugout.

All around us were young men on spring break, talking about the snow they left behind.

Some good hits by Twins' Nishioka, who left after 5 innings, trailed by translator.

The real season is almost here!

yay for ichiro

Mariner outfielder Ichiro Suzuki has reportedly donated 100,000,000 yen ($1.23 million) to the Japanese Red Cross for relief efforts in his devastated country. What the link here shows is that over the years Ichiro has been a consistent donor to various relief efforts in his home country.

http://mariners.sportspressnw.com/2011/03/18/ichiro-quietly-makes-huge-donation-to-japanese-red-cross/

some good news

There was some good news for Phillies' fans this weeek. Charlie Manuel got a two-year extension on his contract. Ruben Amaro, Jr. got a four-year deal. And radio play-by-play announcer re-upped for five years, putting to rest all the rumors about his going back to his home state of Texas. The franchise is in good hands.

more signs of spring

The crocuses are suddenly blooming and chipmunks are running back and forth across the road. It's a pity that snow is falling in Tohoku.

nothing but dreams

A postcard arrived on Monday from Spain with this poem by Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600--1681).

What is life? A frenzy.
What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a fiction,
And the greatest profit is small,
For all of life is a dream,
And dreams are nothing but dreams.

iwate, iwate, it all falls down

Early this morning, around one a.m., I first heard the news of the horrific earthquake in Japan. It was clear then that most of the damage was in northeastern Japan, my favorite part of the country. I lived off and on in the mountains of Iwate prefecture for many years, after first living in Kyoto, then Tokyo. Much later this morning I found out that much of the destruction was in Iwate. When I saw Kamaishi being engulfed by tsunami, I couldn't help but cry. I lived on the Kamaishi line, the only railroad in the world with station names in Esperanto. (Of course, Japanese, too.)

When I looked out the window here this morning, I saw that yesterday's hard rain and high winds had taken the prayer flags down. Up in the apple tree, a solitary crow sat crying.

My friends in Iwate all live in the mountains and are, I trust, safe. But I know that most of them have family and friends up and down the Pacific coast of Japan. What a tragedy.

utley's knee

Somewhere between indefinite and dire. That's where the latest news this morning about the condition of Chase Utley's knee seems to lie. More terms were added to the diagnosis, the most alarming being bone inflammation. While surgery remains an option, it too lies in the hazy future. All depends on how the knee reacts to a conservative approach. Utley has been, all things considered, surprisingly forthcoming on the state of his knee, which may be the most worrisome aspect of all. That and the fact that Utley is not even able to play. Again, I feel your pain, Chase.

Domonic Brown, meanwhile, had succesful surgery on Tuesday to remove the fractured hamate bone in his right hand. Get well soon and get back to doing what you love to do. As much fun as it will be to see you again with Lehigh Valley, I look forward to seeing you with Philadelphia.

juicin' jimmy

In an interview yesterday on a Philadelphia radio show, Jimmy Rollins talked about his off-season, notable because he started juicing and doing yoga. Juicing refers of course to getting his fruits and vegetables in liquid form. Rollins recommended in particular the energy boost provided by red beets, ginger, celery, apple, and cucumber. Better than coffee, he said.

Rollins is not the only Phillie turning to yoga in order to add flexibility. Ben Francisco is also hitting the mats and J.C. Romero has talked about a new 'yoga-like' regimen this off-season.

After discovering latent dairy- and gluten-allergies, Raul Ibanez this off-season cut both dairy and gluten from his diet and reports feeling a lot more energy and stamina.

Maybe Chase Utley will consider homeopathic treatment for his tendinitis?

Domonic Brown has surgery today on his hamate bone. Here's to a smooth recovery and swift return.

weekend of woes

The day started with the news that Chase Utley's tendinitis was not getting any better and he was having a cortisone shot. It ended in the third inning with the Pirates today when Domonic Brown fractured a bone in his hand, ironically while getting his first hit of spring training. Surgery is likely. If so, Brown will be out three to six weeks, then facing rehab. Welcome back to the Lehigh Valley, kid. It's been a tough go for Brown.

The news about Utley has me feeling faint. I'm also sure that a vocal part of the fan base is already raving again about Wilson Valdez. That talk pretty much makes me speechless.

happy chooch day!

Winter aconites are in full bloom, despite the chilly temperatures. Snowdrops are ready to pop. Seed packets are in the mail.

The new MLB 2K11 commercial featuring Roy Halladay and a stuffed doll of Carlos Ruiz is cute, hilarious, and a sweet tribute to catcher Ruiz. It ends with the tag, "Every perfect game needs a Carlos Ruiz." Halladay is very good, almost a natural, as an actor. Is a Ruiz doll on the way? It would fly off the shelves. See it at http://zozone.mlblogs.com/

On Wednesday Ruiz and his wife, by the bye, had their first child, a boy named Carlos. Ruiz has an eight-year-old son, also named Carlos. That's lots of Chooches.

raggedy prayer flags

"Prayer flags---mere rags on sticks, like wash-day in the slums...."

The quotation above is from Tulku, by Peter Dickinson and one of my favorites in the genre of juvenile literature. The story, set in China and Tibet, seems to draw on two intrepid, and eccentric, explorers: Isabella Bird and Alexandra David-Neel, both of whom I read when I was young. I'm now rereading the Dickinson book. When I came upon the quote on prayer flags, I had to take some more photos of the ones I hung early this year. I strung mine of rope I braided so they are not on sticks. That only means that they capture the washline imagery even more. Given the weather extremes they've been through for the past two months, I'm a bit stunned that they are still waving.

i feel for you, chase

Beautiful tea sweets in the shape of camellia blossoms, handmade by a traditional sweet maker in Kagawa prefecture. They were sent by an old friend in Kyoto, who grew up in Kagawa, which is on the island of Shikoku.

The first worrisome news from spring training came Sunday, when it was revealed that Chase Utley has patella tendinitis in his right knee. I feel for you, Chase. And I do wish you were trying homeopathics to treat it. Maybe some Arnica Montana or Rhus Toxicodendron? Joe Blantom, meanwhile, looked fine on Sunday and Roy Halladay like his old self on Monday.

Speaking of Halladay, the man he credits for much of his pitching success died on Monday at age 75. Harvey Dorfman, a sports psychologist, wrote The Mental ABC's of Pitching, a book that Halladay swears by. At the minor league pitching camp held early this year in Clearwater, he bought a copy of the book for all 33 minor leaguers in attendance.

On Sunday, Duke Snider, centerfielder with The Boys of Summer, died at the age of 84.