Palm Beach Cards Update

Hot- Ian Church, the outfielder, hasn’t been hitting the ball with great frequency (.257) in the past 10 games, but every time he does he makes it count. In the past seven games, Church has three doubles, three homeruns and a whopping 14 runs batted in.




Not- Brandon Buckman is hitting only .182 since being called up to Palm Beach, and he has no extra base hits. I am positive that Bukman’s batting numbers will improve, but so far he has struggled to figure out high A ball pitching, as evident by his five strikeouts in just 33 at bats.

News and Notes
6-21-07: Springfield - Called up pitcher Kyle McClellan from Palm Beach.
6-21-07: Springfield - Sent pitcher Michael Cooper to Palm Beach.
6-21-07: Springfield - Placed pitcher Jose Garcia on the disabled list. Called up second baseman/shortstop Jose Martinez from Palm Beach.
6-24-07: Palm Beach - Infielder Jolbert Cabrera (Memphis) and outfielder Jon Jay (Springfield) are on rehab assignments with Palm Beach.
6-25-07: Memphis - Recalled Jolbert Cabrera from his rehab assignment at Palm Beach and activated him for tonight’s game.

Stay Classy Chicago

Growing up a Cubs fan, Rod Beck was one of my favorite players: a regular guy who could save 50 games in a season. Beck is character you don't find in today's neutered clubhouses. He had his demons, but they were his. Beck wasn't out biting people at a strip club, taking steroids, collecting more guns than the U.S. Army or brandinshing a weapon at a McDonald's. Beck was a man who lived life the way he wanted and everyone that met him loved him; I wish I had the chance.

R.I.P Rod Beck



Kudo's to the Bears for setting a precedent that I hope the rest of the league follows. Releasing Tank Johnson was a good move (although a little late) by a classy organization. As for Tank, I hope he gets his life together.

Good Bye Tank Johnson

Season of Milestones

The 2007 MLB season could go down as one of the most historic in the history of the game. Before judging me of overstating the importance of this season, take a look at what has happened and what could happen, and you'll see why I believe this.


Let's just get this out of the way: I'm not a fan of Barry Bonds, I think he is on steroids and I hope he gets caught. Still, there is no denying of what he has done in his career, and he was a Hall of Famer before he started juicing. He is going to break "Hammering" Hanks' home run record soon, and that's pretty remarkable.

1)Hank Aaron- 755 HR's
2)Barry Bonds- 749 HR's

Before and After














Sammy Sosa recently hit home run number 600, becoming only the fifth player in MLB history to hit 600. He has the most 60 home run seasons by any player, and is undeniably one of the best home run hitters of all time.

600 Home Run Club

Aaron, Bonds, Ruth, Mays, Sosa

500 Home Run Club

Frank Thomas will become the 21st member of the 500 home run club in a matter of days. A-Rod, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome have realistic shots at 500. Gary Sheffield has an outside chance with 472 home runs.

3,000 Hit Club

Craig Biggio is five hits away from joining the 3,000 hit club and guaranteeing himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. The only other player who has a chance this year is none other than Barry Bonds.

300 Wins

Tom Glavine is four wins away from 300, and Randy Johnson is close (284), but probably not close enough to do it this year.

And don't forget, the Cubs are turning it around and will end their curse, making 2007 the most historic season ever.

The Most Diabolical Outfield of All-Time

Quick thanks to the new readers, I have noticed your comments and first thanks for the Pro Player correction, as for the question on St.Lucie, that would be my bad eyes, when you look at a list of 40 players the lines blend together he has not signed the player was Matthew W. Mallory. The Florida Marlins have a huge hole in center field and they are looking for players to fill it. Two names stand out Brady Clark and Elijah Dukes...here's why I want Dukes.



The Tampa Bay Devil Rays may be dumping Elijah Dukes, a.k.a. “Pac Man of baseball,” and much to my delight the Florida Marlins are one of the teams interested. My delight is for personal reasons; I would love to see the train wreck that would occur if the Marlins bring this crazy man into their clubhouse. The Marlins are one of the youngest teams in baseball, average age 27 and adding a player like Dukes has the possibility of being a calamity of hilarious proportions. But why stop there I’ve compiled a list of other outfielders that the Fish can add to create….

The Most Diabolical Outfield of All-Time

Left Field- Milton Bradley, the volatile outfielder was recently sent to the minors by the Oakland Athletics for "playing time issues.” Bradley career numbers .270, 70 HR, 292 RBI are decent for a man who can’t stay on a team for three consecutive seasons. Bradley also has a solid “diabolical” resume:
--- Traded from Indians to Dodgers after fighting with manager Eric Wedge. A
--- After a disagreeing over balls and strikes in 2004 Bradley left his batting helmet, gloves and bat in batters box, then threw a bag of balls on the field.
--- Suspended five games for firing a plastic beer bottle into the stands at Coors
--- Called an African American reporter an “uncle tom” and a “sellout” after being asked a question he didn’t like.
---The list continues but those were the highlights.

Center Field- Elijah Dukes, his career numbers aren’t great .190, 10 HR and 21 RBI’s. Although he is a young player, 22, Dukes does have an impressive “diabolical” resume:
---Has been arrested 6 times since 1998 a plethora of arrest ranging from pot possession to battery.
---May, 2007, reportedly threatened to kill his wife
---17 year old foster child in Dukes extended family accuses him of impregnating her; police say sex tape proves consensual sex.
---Has five children by four different women.

Right Field- Carl Everett is probably the best player on this list and for some strange reason in sans team this season. Everett is a former All-Star with a career batting average of .271, 202 HR and 792 RBI’s. Everett has an equally impressive “diabolical” resume:
---Alias include “Jurassic Carl” and C-Rex after his comments refuting the existence of dinosaurs. “I don’t know anyone that ever said, I saw a dinosaur”, very true Carl, but you believe in God yet I don’t know anyone who says I’ve seen God.
---After hitting a home run off of Jamie Moyer, C-Rex grabbed his crotch and spit at Moyer.
--- C-Rex is the model of humanity and understanding, stating that if he had a gay teammate he would retire or “set him straight”, nice Carl real nice.

Cards Mid-Season Awards

The Palm Beach Cardinals are just about half way through their 2007 season and so far they are the definition of average. Currently the Cards’ are 34-34 and tied with Vero Beach for second place in the Florida State League’s Eastern Division. The season has had its high points and low points and we’ve seen players come and go. I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce the new players and give some much needed credit to some of the Cards’ players.

MVP- Allen Craig has been far and away the best player in the first half of the 2007 season. The third baseman from UC Berkeley is hitting .306 with fourteen homeruns, twelve doubles and forty-five runs batted in. Craig has come through in big situations all season and even though he lost his protection in the line-up, Mark Hamilton, Craig has proven all year that he can hit no matter who is around him.





Pitcher of the Year- Tyler Norrick has been a dominate front of the rotation for the Palm Beach Cardinals all season, the lefty has a team leading six wins and a solid 3.20 earned run average. Norrick has stopped trying to overpower every batter he faces, he now is mixing a biting slider that has helped Norrick accumulate sixty-two strikeouts.




Player to Watch- At the start of the season the player I received the most emails about was A.J. Van Slyke. Although he struggled to find his stroke early in the season, A.J. has finally come around and started to live up to the early season interest. Van Slyke is hitting .273 with eleven doubles and nine stolen bases this season and his numbers should increase with steady playing time. Springfield has called up big hitting first baseman Mark Hamilton and Van Slyke is the early favorite to get some playing time at first.

New Faces
P.J. Walters was called up from Quad Cities on Wednesday to fill the spot left by starter Adam Daniels. Walters played his college ball at South Alabama and was 6-2 with a 2.62 in ten starts at Quad Cities.

James Rapoport is a left handed centerfielder that was called up from Quad Cities a few weeks ago. Rapoport is hitting .235 with two doubles and a triple in sixty-eight at bats.

Palm Beach All Stars
Tyler Norrick added another highlight to his impressive 2007 season Saturday, the Palm Beach starter earned the victory in the East v West All Star Game. Teammate Allen Craig hit a home run in the fifth and drove in two runs to earn MVP of the All-Star game. Mark Hamilton walked in his only at bat and Luke Gregerson struck out the only two batter he faced.

News and Notes

6-18-07: Springfield - Called up P Adam Daniels from Palm Beach.

6-18-07: Palm Beach - Called up P P J Walters from Quad Cities and placed OF Shane
Robinson on the DL with a broken foot. He's expected to miss 6 weeks.

6-19-07: Springfield - Called up 1B Mark Hamilton from Palm Beach.

6-20-07: Palm Beach - Called up 1B Brandon Buckman form Quad Cities.

6-21-07: Springfield - Called up P Kyle McClellan from Palm Beach

6-21-07: Springfield - Sent P Michael Cooper to Palm Beach.

6-21-07: Springfield - Placed P Jose Garcia on the DL. Called up 2B/SS Jose Martinez from Palm Beach

Florida Marlins: at least were not the Royals

Although there were beaning's, brawls and marlins cheerleaders, the most entertaining aspects of Wednesday's game took place in the press box. The night started with writers, television personalities and reporters making fun of the Sun-Sentinel for burying the story of Justin Verlander's no hitter.

Justin Verlander


Later in the game, Mike G turned to me and was both shocked and insulted to find out that he was denied an interview with the Kansas City Royal's General Manager. What made that even funnier is the fact that he did not let that go for most of the night.

As the game went along, we witnessed three Florida Marlins tossed from the game on one play. Taylor Tankersley hit Indians batter Grady Sizemore on an 0-2 count, which resulted in Tankersley getting tossed. Which prompted Fredi Gonzalez to go shooting out of the dugout to argue the ejection, which caused Fredi to get tossed. Simultanously, Aaron Boone was arguing with a different ump who ended up tossing Boone. A wild series event that led to a fun game......

What should the slogan for Florida Marlins Baseball? (Currently it's "You Gotta Be Here").

Here is a list that a few reporters came up with for new slogans:

Florida Marlins Baseball....

At least were not the Royals.

See us while you can.

Did that just happen?

We are better than Jupiter(their farm team)...we hope.

We're Sorry.

If you don't come, then we'll leave for Vegas.

Olsen dominates

Earlier this week I was given the rare opportunity to cover the Florida Marlins for ESPN Radio 760. The Cleveland Indians were in town for the first time since losing the 1997 World Series in what was then known as Joe Robbie Stadium. The Marlins took this opportunity to rub thier World Series Championship in the face of the Indians, by giving away replica trophy's and rings. Another gimick from an organization that thrives on minor league stunts to trick fans to attend games. But I'm not going complain because I got a nice little stash of Marlins paraphanela that I'll be able to re-gift to young family members.

Tuesday- This was one of the most fundementally sound games I've ever seen in person, neither team walked a batter and both teams commited no errors. Marlins starter Scott Olsen teased fish fans, by showing a glimpse of the ability that can one day make him a number one starter. The big lefty scattered three hits over seven dominate innings on his way to picking up his fifth win of the season. The Tribe wasted a great outing by phenom Fausto Carmona, he went seven innings giving up three runs and striking out six. All the scoring took place in the bottom of the seventh. Hanley Rameriez and Miguel Cabrera started off the inning with back to back singles, Camrmona nailed Josh Willingham with a fast ball to load the bases. Two batters later Miguel Olivo stepped up to the plate and bounced a ball over the head of third baseman Casey Blake, giving the Marlins a 3-0 lead. That was all the Fish needed, Kevin Gregg pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.


Quote of the Game
"Our starting pitcher threw awesome and ... basically we have nothing to show for it, I'll tell you this much, there's alot of guys in this locker room that want another chance at Olsen." Casey Blake.

Player of the Game

Scott Olsen

For the Fanatical Fan

Since the end of the 2007 First Year Player Draft the Florida Marlins have been busy. I've compiled a list of the prospects that have signed with the Fish. This is blog for a true Marlins fan because most of these players will never see Double A ball, much less any action in the pros.


76) Stanton, Michael Notre Dame HS CF R/R 6'05" 1989-11-08 HS 400K

106) Smith, Jameson Fresno CC C L/R 5'11" 190 1986-10-09 J2 400K

136) Petersen, Bryan UC Irvine RF L/R 6'00" 1986-04-09 JR 400K

376) Parcell, Garrett San Diego St U RHP R/R 6'05" 220 1984-07-12 SR 400K

796) Hagerich, Bryan U Delaware LF R/R 6'04" 1985-02-20 SR 400K

1119) St Luce, Kellen All Saints Cathedral School LHP L/L 6'03" 215 1989-06-05 HS 400K

Cards' swept by the Manatees

Getting swept by the division leading Brevard County Manatee's is not how the Palm Beach Cardinals wanted to start their week. The only positive that the Cards' can take out of their series witht he Manatee's, is the fact that they did not fall out of second place in the Florida State Leagues Eastern Division.

Monday- Great hitting was unable to overcome poor pitching in the Cards’ 12-9 loss to Brevard County on Monday. In what I would say was the worst outing by any Cardinals pitcher this season Trey Hearne allowed seven runs and recorded only two outs before being pulled from the game. He was relieved by Donnie Smith who didn’t fare much better, allowing four runs in just over three innings pitched. On the opposite end of the spectrum Cards’ hitters were on fire, Brandon Yarbrough hit his second homerun of the season on a fly by that just kept going and someone landed over the fence in right in the bottom of the sixth. Two batters later Allen Craig pulled a ball deep over the fence in left for his fourteenth home run of the season. In the bottom of the eighth, after three hits and a walk, Ian Church stepped up to the plate and delivered big time. Church jumped all over a fastball and ripped the ball over the left field fence for a grand slam pulling the Cards’ within three but that’s as close as they got.


Tuesday- The Cards’ can’t seem to catch a break, this time great pitching was wasted by an inability to get hits leading to a 2-1 loss to Brevard. Cardinal batters were only able to register five hits and there only run came off a RBI single by Dan Nelson in the sixth. Fernando Salas was the tough luck starter on Tuesday, allowing only two runs on four hits in six strong innings. Relievers Matt Trent and Kyle McClellan combined to allow only one hit but it wasn’t enough as the Cards’ dropped their third straight to the division leading Manatee’s.

Hot- Tyler Norrick- The Cards ace(pictured) has an earned run average of 2.76 and has won three of his last four decisions giving him a 6-4 record for the season. The 23-year-old left-hander has gone at least six innings in 11 of his 13 starts this season.

Not- Trey Hearne- Two loses in one week is bad all by itself but allowing eleven runs in under six innings pitched is ridiculous. This rough week has dropped Hearne to 3-6 on the season and raised his earned run average to 6.32.

News and Notes

6-08-07: Palm Beach - Activated P Robert Ransom off the DL.

6-10-07: Palm Beach - Activated OF Shane Robinson off the DL. Placed P Gary Daley, Jr.
on the DL. Daley Jr. has a blister on his throwing hand.

6-11-07: Palm Beach - Released OF Matt Lemanczyk

Hoot, Hoot, Hooray, Owls go Pro!

After another disappointing season for the Florida Atlantic University baseball team, the players were able to take solace in the fact that, at the conclusion of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft, six FAU players found their names off the board.

Robbie Widlansky The 2007 Sun Belt Player of the Year was selected in the 11th round by Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles. Widlansky also earned Louisville Slugger First Team All American honors and Second Team All American honors from Rivals.com.

Daniel Cook- The outfielder had a productive junior season and was a Second-Team All-Conference selection after hitting .349 with six home runs, 39 RBI and 15 stolen bases. Cook was selected in the 20th round by the Washington Nationals.








Brandon Cooney - This big (6'6) righty will join Widlansky in the Orioles' minor league system. After deciding to return to FAU for his senior season, Cooney was selected by Baltimore in the 30th round of the 2007 MLB draft. During his final season, Cooney was a valuable relief pitcher for the Owls, his powerful stuff allowed Cooney to strike out 57 in 55 innings pitched.

Other Notable Owls Selected in the 2007 First Year Player Draft

Mickey Storey(Twins, 22), Justin Phillabaum(Nationals, 29) were also selected on the second day of the draft.

MLB Draft 1st Round

Tuesday ESPN 2 aired the MLB draft for the first time in history, here's a recap of what the future holds for Florida baseball.

1) Tampa Bay Devil Rays
David Price LHP Vanderbilt - Price is a top of the line pitching prospect who can help the Devil Rays as early as the 2008 season. The other two times Tampa made the first selection in the MLB draft they selected Delvin Young and Josh Hamilton.



12) Florida Marlins
Matt Dominguez 3B Chatsworth (Calif.) HS - Dominguez appears to be a future replacement for Miguel Cabrerra. With the Marlins inability to resign their own MLB all-stars, the Fish will need to continue selecting replacement parts.



18) St. Louis Cardinals
Peter Kozma SS Owasso HS, Owasso, Okla. - Some experts think this pick was a bit of a reach but he fits what the Cards' like. He's a bigger, more athletic version of David Eckstien, the question is, does he have Eckstiens heart. We should see him playing for the Palm Beach Cards' by the start of next season.

Other Florida prospects taken in the first round on the 2007 MLB Draft.



7) Milwaukee Brewers Matt LaPorta 1B Florida

24) Texas Rangers Michael Main RHP Deland HS, Deland, Fla.

Up and Down Start to the Week

The Cards' start the week 1-1, winning convincingly on Monday then getting stomped on Tuesday. But at least they didn't have a break down like this Braves double A manager.





Monday 6/4- Monday’s Cardinals 11-5 victory was all about Mark Hamilton, the streaking first baseman was dialed in for the Cards’ match-up with the Thrashers. Hamilton pounded three home runs and drove in six runs in what was probably the most impressive performance of any Cardinal this season. Hamilton had a consistent swing evident by the fact that he hit all three of his home runs to right field. Adam Daniels (W. 3-5) set a career high for strike outs with eight, while pitching six strong innings and giving up four runs.

Tuesday 6/5- Palm Beach batters were unable to take advantage of another strong performance by starter Adam Ottavino. Nathan Southard and Rapoport registered four of the Cards’ six total hits off Clearwater pitchers. Ottavino gave up three runs in five innings while striking out six. With the game still in reach heading into the ninth, reliever Matt Trent had a disastrous inning giving up five runs on five hits allowing the Thrashers to put the game out of reach.

- Hot- First Baseman Mark Hamilton has five home runs, eleven runs batted in and nine hits in the past week. Hamilton’s big game on Monday set career highs for home runs and runs batted in. He is currently third in FSL with ten home runs.

- Not- Matt Trent gave up five runs on five hits in the Cards’ 8-0 loss on Tuesday; it was his first poor outing of the season. This performance really stands out because of Trent’s stellar performance in his previous outings.


News and Notes

- 5/29- Placed Outfielder Shane Robinson on the 7 day DL

- 5/31- Catcher Danilo Sanchez promoted to Springfield

- 5/31- Catcher Henry Guerrero sent to Palm Beach

I'm back

FAU News

First things first; I read a blog by fellow UP writer Dori Zinn and found yet another thing that annoys me at FAU: Fowl Owls. Give me a break! This is where FAU has sunk too low. For those who don't know, the Fowl Owls will take your picture and put it on their website if you're wearing clothing from another school. The fact that a group of self righteous students are trying to publicly humiliate a bunch of people into wearing what they want them to wear is an embarrassment of epic proportions. Why don't you just sew a scarlet FAU logo onto their shirts and get it over with. Here, this is just for the Fowl Owls:



A little recap of FAU sports this summer.

-FAU pitcher Chris Saldberg became the 81st Owl baseball player to sign a professional baseball contract. Saldberg was the 22nd pick of the Baltimore Orioles.

-Robbie Wildlansky received All-America honors from Louisville Slugger.

-FAU women's basketball rounded out their 2007-08 recruiting class.

-Nello Faulk is practicing with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Rest of the Sports World

I'm clinically depressed now that Lebron James has finally had his onions drop and stopped choking in the fourth quarter.




I want to say this one more time: the Fowl Owls are an embarrassment to FAU and I hope that no one supports this idiotic idea that, if successful, will lower FAU to bush league status.

Week in Review

The Florida Marlins had an up and down week starting with a loss to the Mets, followed by a sweep of the Cubs and finished with losing three of four to Chicago. The Marlins ended the week 4-4, fourth place in the NL East and seven games out of the Wild Card.






After a 4-2 record this week the Jupiter Hammerheads are fifth in Florida State League Eastern Division.




The Cards won four and lost three to stay in second place in the FSL Eastern Division.




Players of the week

Florida Marlins- The past week Miguel Cabrera had 12 hits, four doubles, six RBI's and two home runs.

Miguel Cabrera



Jupiter Hammerheads- Catcher Andrew Jenkins had four hits, five runs and four RBI's in the past week.

Palm Beach Cardinals- First baseman Mark Hamilton was on a tear last week; registering nine hits, five runs, two home runs and nine RBI's.

Mark Hamilton

Fish Treading Water

After sweeping my beloved Cubs, the Florida Marlins headed north on I-95 to take on the first place Brew Crew and order was restored to my baseball world. The Fish dropped three of four games to the slumping Brewers and theirs two ways to look at that. Either the Brewers are very good and have finally have broken out of their slump or the Marlins are a bad team, I'm OK with both.

The best thing about the Marlins Trip to Milwaukee was their front row seats to the greatest show on field turf.



Even though this past week my Cubbies reached their low point of the season this,losing to the Marlins (yes I know about Pinella going crazy Zambrano going UFC on Barrett, I still stand by my statement of the low point was losing to Florida). Anyways I feel that this is needed to boost my spirits.




I know this blog has been a mixed bag of Cubs and Fish, but here's whats up for the Fish. They start the week with a four games in three days against the Atlanta Braves. They do get a break at the end of the week, returning home for an inter league weekend series with the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

My prediction 3-4, the Fish will lose three to Atlanta and one to Tampa.

Probables

Monday- Wes Obermuller

Tuesday- Day- Sergio Mitre Night- Rick Vanden Hurk

Wednesday- Scott Olsen

Fantasy Tip

-Pick up Ryan Braun he singled, doubled, and homered scoring three times against the Marlins on Friday. Braun's second homer of his big league career was a two-run shot off starter Scott Olsen that traveled 427 feet. He's batting .278 with three doubles, two homers, and two steals in nine games since being promoted.