160 (Day Two)
So I'm thinking after the Sox get "colded" out on Friday that it would make a lot of sense to play the first week of the season in the warmer weather and dome cities. There are almost enough of them to make it work. Toronto, Minnesota and Tampa Bay (domes) and the four A.L. West teams could host the other seven American League teams. Atlanta, Florida, Houston and the five N.L. West teams could host the other eight National League teams. Only problems are Colorado as a home team and the fact that you've got the Angels/Dodgers and Giants/A's playing at home at the same time. That and you have half the teams not playing their home openers for a week. Not ideal, but is it worse in Colorado than it was in Cleveland where they got snowed out of three games or than at the Cell: one cancellation and two games that no one wanted to sit through? Having two teams in the L.A. and S.F. areas play at the same time isn't different from having the Sox and Cubs at home on the same days, which we've seen happen several times during the past few years. And being on the road for a week is how the Sox opened the season for a number of years. Yeah, you lose the excitement of an early Opening Day, but isn't that better than making Sox fans sit through weather that would test the mettle of Bears fans? Since baseball is considering switching the Angels' upcoming games in Cleveland to Anaheim, the Update isn't the only one with this idea. What do you think, or are you too cold to care?
As for the games, the Sox got a well-pitched game from Javier Vazquez on Saturday and beat the Twins, 3-0. The win, combined with Minnesota's loss, dropped the Magic Number to 160, which unfortunately is where it stayed after yesterday's loss to Johan Santana by the same score. Rookie John Danks, who holds down the fifth spot in the rotation (for now), looked decent in his Major League debut, but the Sox got no offense whatsoever against their nemesis Santana. He now has a record of 1,000,000-1 against them, or so it seems. He's as unbeatable against the Sox as Tiger Woods is in a Major when he has the lead. Oops, I guess that analogy doesn't work after Mr. Nike lost the Masters after pulling into the lead on Sunday. Well, maybe there's hope yet for the Sox beating Santana. Go Sox!
posted by Sherm Lollar at 7:45 AM
4 Comments:
Danks pitched pretty well, with the exception of the one bad inning (gee, doesn't that sound familiar?) and for the most part seemed to have the Twinkies on their heels. The pen held down the fort, and Aardsma seemed to be the guy the Sox thought they were getting when they traded Cotts for him.
As long as your seats were in the sun (and ours were for the whole game) the weather wasn't really that bad. The wind was down and a cloudless day made it pretty bearable. I pity thos who sat on the first base side as they were in the shade most of the game.
Maybe it's my having moved away from Chicago so long ago now, but I just can't take the cold anymore. Especially not at a baseball game. You're just sitting there for three hours or so with no movement to keep you warm. I'd rather watch on TV in that situation.
On ESPN Mike and Mike had a big discussion on the reasoning from MLB not to move cold-weather city games to warm weather sites for the first week or so of the season. Part of their reasoning was with Chicago and New York, they want to have one of the teams playing at home while the other is away. As if Sox fans really care whether the Cubs are in town or not (or alive, for that matter). I say send them to the warm or dome cities for the first week - make it easier on the players. It's hard enough playing 162 games in one season.
Be patient Sherm. With global warming coming cities like Chicago, Detroit, Boston will be ideal for playing baseball in early April. The tropical cities like Houston, Anaheim, and Arizona (not a city but baseball calls it that)and even St. Louis will be begging to have their teams play up north.
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