BIG NEWS!

ottawalynx.blogspot.com has hit the BIG TIME! To celebrate the 1000th hit on the blog, I've teamed up with the Lynx to offer some FANTASTIC prize packages to blog visitors. Starting on December 2, 2006 I will be accepting entries for the contest, which will close midnight January 4, 2007.

How do you enter? Just send an email with your name to lynxblogcontest@hotmail.com. One entry per person, per day. Winners will be announced on January 5, 2007. To quote Jeff Probst (Survivor), in one of the show's most overused phrases:

Wanna know what you're playing for?

There are two prizes and one Grand Prize to be awarded:

Grand Prize: game-worn jersey + 4 tickets to
Opening Day + $40 Cat Cash

1 x 10-game flex pack (lower level) + $30 Cat Cash

1 x 10-game flex pack (lower level) + $30 Cat Cash

Everyone's welcome to enter - even if you're from out of town (in the
event you win, I'll make arrangements to get your prize to you).

My thanks to the Lynx for helping to sponsor this contest! You can start entering on Saturday, December 2, 2006!

Clearwater (revisited)

Thanks to "Kevin in the Ticket Office" from Clearwater for the update on Scott Mathieson - "Scott Mathieson is injured and will probably miss the '07 season".

When I looked at the Clearwater website last month, I noted that they "obviously had a good sense of humor". Check out the following video from Youtube.



Their groundskeeper, Opie, is featured in a series of commercials and he's got his own website which you can find here. As Johnny Carson would say, "It's wild, wild stuff!" The Threshers blog is here, and I notice that "Kevin in the Ticket Office" is one of their contributors.

Weather

God knows that no one hates Ottawa weather more than me during the winter. No one. However, a few posts back I took issue with the perception that we're always cold. Anyone who's spent any time in Ottawa in June, July and August knows that isn't the case. But how much better is Scranton in April? The answer: not much.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre vs. Ottawa
Average high: 59F ------------51F
Average low: 38F -------------32F

Buffalo's even closer to Ottawa with an average low of 36, a scant 4 degrees better, and an average high of 54 - only 3 degrees more than Ottawa. Columbus (Ohio) is virtually identical with an average low of 32 (the same as Ottawa) and high of 53 (+2). Rochester is also virtually identical - 35 and 55. Syracuse? 35 and 56.

Out of fourteen teams in the IL, 5 have weather very close to Ottawa's in April. Can we put the weather thing to rest now?

Bekah on a scorching Sunday this past year, just after running the bases.

Lakewood Blueclaws

One of my many ongoing blog "projects" is the profiling of the other minor league teams in the Philadelphia farm system. So far I've looked at Clearwater, and to a lesser extent, Reading. The Lakewood Blueclaws play in Lakewood, New Jersey and are an "A" affiliate. I'll have more on the Blueclaws later, but for now, here's a short video of them winning the South Atlantic League Championship.

Lakewood Wins!!!!

Add to My Profile |

Hey!

John Russell, we will get to know ye!!!! Sorry, that's a reference to this post back in October. According to this story on the Lynx's website John Russell and his coaching staff from Scranton Wilkes-Barre, will all be returning next year. Good news!

Our second favorite catcher

Here's an interview with Eli Whiteside from August of this year.

Who had the best fastball?

ITW: Since you’re in a position to catch all these guys, who would you say has the best fastball on the staff?

Eli: I would say Hayden [Penn]. Hayden’s got a good fastball and he’s got good command of it.

(more) Loose ends

Couple of things this morning. Unfortunately, for all the strengths of a blog, old posts get pushed down into archives, and unanswered questions get left, well unanswered or forgotten.

Having said that – I’ve found out about Cat’s Pride, the Lynx booster club. Thankfully, the club still exists – just not their website. Here’s an email address if you need to reach them: catspride_clb@yahoo.com
Moving on, in my post yesterday “Tough Questions”, I really should have given some context – we were at a friend’s place on Sunday and they asked us about the ball team. I was caught flat footed and didn’t really give a good answer. The thought occurred to me on the drive home that we’ll all be facing these questions soon and it would be helpful to have some answers (hopefully good ones).

Finally, my very first post dealt with “Full Disclosure” – since that post is buried under 100+ others, I thought I’d revisit it for a moment. Just so we’re clear – this blog is more than just a clearing house for information on the team, occasionally you get some opinion, mostly mine. Okay, all mine (although everyone’s free to leave comments). As most regular visitors now know, I’m an unqualified supporter of the team – all the way from the product on the field through management and ownership. Full stop. There’s my bias. If you’re looking for objectivity, you won’t necessarily find it here.

Tough questions

When I ride, I usually look at two “critical” pieces of data – my heart rate, and wattage. Both can be measured extremely accurately by equipment attached to me and the bike. It’s not always necessary though; some days you know things are going bad, and you really don’t need to look at the data being spit out. Translation: I know when I feel like hell and I don’t need it confirmed by the computer.

As Lynx fans, we find ourselves in a similar situation – we all know this is a rough spot we’re in right now, but how do we handle media reports and questions from people when it comes to the team? What do we say?

I bring this up now, because you know it’s coming – if it hasn’t already. You know what the headlines will be on Opening Day next year. I will bet that every single article printed will be qualified with details about “the impending move”. So, like my heart rate monitor and my Power meter on a bad day, I intend to ignore them. Scout’s honor – I’m going to try and keep the blog rant-free. I did say “try”.

But what about the questions from friends? My advice?

1). Concede nothing. My understanding is that the only person who can move this team is Mr. Pecor. Until I hear officially from Mr. Pecor or Kyle – everything’s in play. Everything.

2). I don’t play the “blame game” (outside of the blog). Despite what I may feel about the City crippling this team, it’s not the time. I respond that I’m going to the games next year and I’ve bought my tickets. Why don’t you join us for a few games?

3). “Come on. What do you really think?” I think anything can happen, beyond that, what I think doesn’t really matter and I’m not going to speculate. Speculating about the future of this team is a fool’s errand – so I’ll leave it for the media.

I’m trying my best to prepare my son for the media onslaught which I’m certain is coming. Quite frankly, if things play out the way “they” say it will, he will be crushed. He’s an emotional kid; like his Dad, he cries easily. Not when he’s hurt physically – he’s actually pretty tough there. But the tears will flow when the hurt is caused by things that matter to him. And the Lynx matter.

I suspect the lead up to the home opener will also be tough for the Lynx front office staff – I anticipate media reports to have a negative bias. They’ve faced it before, and I’m certain they’re up for the challenge again. But I’m concerned for them, and as fans, I would hope that everyone would get in behind them – for what it’s worth, they have the full support of my family.

Buy your tickets.
Show up at the games.
Invite your friends.
Support the staff.
Enjoy the games!

Prospects

A list of the Phillies top 10 prospects for 2007.

I'm guessing we might get a look at Scott Mathieson (P), Gio Gonzalez (P), J.A. Happ (P) and hopefully, Michael Bourn (OF). Bourn ended his season last year with the Phillies, but pundits suggest he might need a little more time in the minors - I'd like the chance to see his "Esix Snead"-like speed here in Ottawa, if only for a few months.

I'll talk to Pat.

Ottawa

It seems that certain corners of the Phillies 'blogosphere' have picked up on comments that Pat Gillick made recently about their catchers - he's looking to sign someone to catch 50-60 games next year. Does this threaten Carlos Ruiz (who I discussed here), or Chris Coste? Who knows? Certainly not me. What caught my eye in the blogger's discussion was this:

"Needless to say, backup opportunities appear limited, which is why trading for a young, albeit ML-ready player might be the best answer. It would seem less likely for a free agent -- minor league or otherwise -- to gamble on winning a job in spring training, with Ottawa, Canada as their most likely destination ..."

Here's the link.

You'll see this type of comment a lot. Too much for my liking, because it strikes me as a comment born out of ignorance of our city. Yes, it's cold in April. But colder than Buffalo? Colder than Rochester, or Syracuse, or Toledo? Are people less friendly here? Is the city more dangerous? Less clean? Is there nothing to do in this area that has close to a million people?

Let me be clear - I am probably the least anti-American Canadian you'll ever meet. Let me rephrase: I am probably the most pro-American Canadian you'll ever meet. My parents are landed immigrants (my Dad's from Maryland, Mom's from St. Louis) and I've encouraged them to retain their US citizenship. The American flag flies proudly above my door step - despite having been stolen/vandalized several times.

Clear? Good.
Here goes.

Why can't Americans get past this "cold" thing? This "Canada as a desolate backwater" thing? I gotta tell you, if I was being offered an opportunity at a MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL career, I would play in Siberia in January - or July. I'm not sure which would be worse. I would play on a tiny island off of Antarctica, in front of penguins if I had to. And if you aren't playing for the LOVE OF THE GAME, did you see what Soriano's getting paid? Carlos Lee?

How freaking soft are these guys?

I don't want to play in Ottawa, it's too: cold/boring/tired/unfriendly.

If my son EVER said something like that as a prelude to holding out on an opportunity to play MiLB - well, there wouldn't be much left after my wife was done with him. She's very creative, which also makes her dangerous.

Don't ask.

Signings

Man, it's a good thing I've got the entire off-season to catch up...
This week, former Lynx pitcher Tim Kester was signed by Baltimore to a minor league contract, as was Brian Bowles (by San Francisco). Philadelphia signed 1B Gary Burnham, LHP Allen Davis, OF Ryan Fleming, OF Branden Florence and RHP Tim McClaskey - all to minor league deals. Last week, the Phils also signed Joey Hammond - I'll have to see if it's been determined where he's meant to be assigned. Bobby Scales was picked up by Baltimore for "future considerations" (which means we won't see him in anything but a Tides uniform this year).

Stay tuned, and/or let me know if you see anything.

Quick update

Busy day at the office - blogging's taking a back seat today. One thing I should note: A few posts back, I expressed my envy of another blog's "Google" search function. Clearly, I'm an idiot - or I've had a stroke; in the upper left corner of MY blog, Blogger already provides a search function.....

Huh?

I was just looking at the Lynx roster on their website to see if there'd been any changes since I was last there. All the former (Baltimore) Lynx players are gone, except for Andy Tracy. I took a quick look at a few websites and Googled to see if I'd missed an FA signing, but came up empty. Did I miss something or is this an error on the website?

Mr. Tracy's a bit of an enigma for Lynx fans. Some days he'd toss every ball into the stands on his way back to the dugout (after recording the last out) - other days he wouldn't throw any. Just when you were starting to think he was a jer...., er.... aloof, he'd stand around after the game ended, signing autographs until the Sharpie ran dry.

Will he be returning to Ottawa in April? I'll keep checking and let you know.

MVP

Our friends in Philadelphia are justifiably proud of Ryan Howard winning the NL MVP award. Reading was also very proud of their alumnus.

More blog reaction to the win can be found here, here, and here.

Over at the Baron's Corner, Larry Shenk, the VP of Public Relations for the Phillies explains how they prepared for the win they weren't sure was coming.

In Canada, for the most part, Canadian Justin Morneau's AL MVP win was overshadowed by hockey news. Too bad.

Site update

Please permit me to be the proud owner of this blog for a moment. I'm not computer illiterate, but I have no experience working with HTML. Having said that, I've been able to pilfer the 15th Anniversary logo off the Lynx's website and add it over in the right hand column where it will always stay visible near the top of the blog. I'll add 15th Anniversary items over there when they come up.

Joey Hammond

I had a request for information on a former Lynx player, Joey Hammond. It turns out he's in the Phillies farm system, playing at AA Reading. Here's their review of his performance in 06:

Hammond, Joey (IF/OF): Spent the entire season with Reading (EL-AA) … Won Reading’s Commonwealth Orthopedic Iron Man Award … Led Reading in G (129), AB (469), H (125), BB (57) … Established career-highs in G (129), AB (469), H (125) and RBI (55) … Appeared at 1B (4), 2B (1), 3B (76), LF (34), CF (2), RF (22) … Hit .423 (11-26) and was named Phillies Minor League Player of the Week 5/29-6/4 (4 R, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 4 BB) … Hit .348 (32-92) in July … Hit .299 W/RISP (41-137) … Hit .412 (21-51) during 13-game hitting streak 5/25-6/7 with 3 2B, 2 RBI (Tied for longest on team, Gary Burnham) … Hit .425 (17-40) during 10-game hitting streak 7/6-7/18 with 5 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI … Had two 4-hit games, 5/26 vs. Connecticut (SF) and 6/12 vs. Altoona (PIT) … Reached base safely in 20 consecutive games 7/2-26 (.403, 31-77, 14 BB) … Reached base safely in 16 consecutive home games 7/30-8/28 (.321, 18-56, 10 BB).

He sounds like a true "all-rounder" - he plays most infield positions and has had a few stints as a relief pitcher.
Here's an older bio from the Reading Phillies website.

To the victors...

Here's a very short video showing the end of the AFL championship game (Phoenix over the Grand Canyon Rafters). None of the Phillies prospects made it to the final game, but Jason Jaramillo was named to the "All Prospects Team".

15th Anniversary - UPDATED

I had no idea this was coming. Go to the Lynx website for all the news on the 15th anniversary season.

** UPDATE **:

There's more to the story than just a special anniversary logo. The Lynx are kicking the 15th year off with the "Salute to 15". Everyone's invited to complete the survey, tell the team about some of your fondest memories and submit photos - some stories/photos may get highlighted in the 2007 collector's edition program.

Here were my Top 10 from last year. I may save some time and instead of gathering all my stories, pictures and video, I'll just submit the blog!

The cardboard box

I'm certain that everyone who has kids has one of these - a cardboard box where things that just don't 'fit' anywhere else get chucked. My daughter's Cinderella wand that flashes and makes what has to be the most annoying noise known to man, Zak's plastic farm animals from when he was three - you get the picture. So now I've got one for the blog as well.

First CB item - I've pulled the link to my email address out of the "My Profile" section and just included it in the little "About Me" section (after removing the "@" symbol) - I was getting way too much spam.

Second - there's still no word on "Cat's Pride", the Lynx booster club. I fired off an email to them, but there's been no reply. Through archive.org I was able to salvage some material from their website, which I may post here as next season gets closer.

Finally, I'm still waiting for a reply to my question that I left on the larryformayor website. I guess I'll have to put it in writing and fire it off direct to City Hall once he takes office (next week?), although I may have a bit of an inside track.... I'm also still waiting for the operating agreement.

P.S. The internet never ceases to amaze me - can you believe there's an image with a baseball flying into a cardboard box out there?

Toughest leap

There's an interesting article posted here discussing the progression of players through the minor leagues - the issue being batted around is "Which promotion is toughest". Initially, like many others I'm sure, I believed that for the most part, a player's progression was linear - i.e. low A, A, AA, AAA and finally to the major league. There were a few players who would skip a level, or as in the case of John Olerud, not have a single AB in the minor leagues. For many players, the linear projection does occur, but the jump between divisions is not (at least according to the panel discussing it) always equal.

Here's one 'take' on the subject:

Bobby Vangelatos, InsidetheDome.com:

"For me, the jump between High-A to Double-A is by far the hardest jump for a player to make in the minor leagues. The talent levels between players in Double-A and players in Triple-A are not that far off. The talent change from High-A to Double-A, however, is drastic. You can simply get away with a lot more in High-A. If a pitcher throws a bad pitch, the opposing batter might simply foul it off, or even miss it completely. A lot of hitters at the High-A level will simply look for one single pitch, and if they don’t get it, they have no shot of getting a hit."

If you've got the time, it's worth a look.

Another prospect

Joseph Bisenius is another pitcher we might get a look at next season. I found this article about him in The Reading Eagle . Bisenius played in the recently ended AFL, but didn't see much action. His first outing skewed his era (a whopping 162) as he gave up 6 runs, before recording only 1 out. He spent most of last year in Clearwater, where he went 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA as a reliever over 35 games. He also appeared in 16 games at Double-A Reading, compiling a 3.09 ERA. Here are his stats at AA Reading.

Another FOTL

That's 'Friend of the Lynx'. I generally avoid local media opinion on the Lynx when I go looking for blog material, mostly because it's disproportionately negative and frequently lazy - the reporters don't do their homework, relying instead on other media reports which suffer from the same problems. Too often what we're served up as reporting is little more than recycled news. Wow - was that too harsh?

Anyway. I came across this article written by Erin Nicks of the Sun media chain.

Money quote:

No offence meant to the Sens, or any other local team for that matter. I'm a firm believer in allowing all Ottawa franchises to co-exist. But there's something special about the Lynx. Maybe it's the gratitude you can sense that's almost palpable, and it seemingly extends from the front office right down to the ticket-takers at the front doors. It's never overbearing or desperate, but simply appreciative. And in the face of all the gloom that has surrounded the franchise for years, it's a difficult, yet highly impressive task to pull off.

Which echoes the sentiments of many Lynx fans - I noted my similar feelings in an email back in April. Howard Bloom expressed his opinion of the franchise, past and present, here.

Ms. Nicks also runs a blog which you can find here. I envy the 'Google' search function on her page - I've gotta figure out how to add it to my own.

My favorite quote, God love her, is from one of her posts in August:

No matter what anyone says, I will continue to support the Lynx for as long as they are here. Ray Pecor is a quality owner with the patience of a saint.

I've made a point of explaining to my son that this is the kind of girl to bring home to meet Mom - a blogger (with a career), who's loyal, and is passionate about sports.

AFL update - UPDATE

Light blogging today my friends.

Today is the final day in the Arizona Fall League season - the Phoenix Desert Dogs are playing the Grand Canyon Rafters for the championship. The Saguaros finished second in the west with a 15-17 record. Phoenix was the only team to finish above .500 with a 20-11 record.

** UPDATE **: The Desert Dogs come out on top.

Trying to keep up. - UPDATED

Unfortunately the job that pays the bills is demanding that I pay more attention to it than the blog today.

I took a look at the Norfolk Tides site to see what was happening with our former Lynx players - their roster of 18 players is here. What has me somewhat confused is that a number of these players (e.g. Brandon Marsters, Keith Reed, Gracesqui) are FAs. I'm presuming that for administrative reasons, they just stay on their most recent club's roster until they sign new contracts.

If you see any interesting moves that I've most certainly missed, please drop me an email or leave a comment.

** UPDATE **: Turns out I was 'sort of' right about the rosters. We should get a better picture about the 2007 roster after Winter Meetings end (December 7).

Sneak preview

Found this Youtube video which was shot a few weeks ago. There's a bit of footage of Jason Jaramillo and Gio Gonzalez - two guys we might get a look at next year.

Arizona Fall League 2006: Saguaros Host Solar Sox

Lots of stuff going on

I rarely look at the Philadelphia Phillies home page for information, but with all the draft stuff lately, I thought I'd surf on over and get whatever I could from the 'horse's mouth'. They've linked to the Lynx 20 man roster posted on the Lynx website (how did I miss this?). I noticed a couple of the names I'd been hoping for - Jaramillo, Scales and Swann - a few others have made the Phillies 40 man roster - e.g. Ruiz and Bourn. As I understand it, during the regular season only 25 of the 40 will be up with the parent club, leaving the remaining 15 for assignment throughout the organization (ie. A,AA,AAA); which means we may yet get to see Bourn tear up the basepaths in Ottawa.

Welcome back? - UPDATED

** UPDATE **: Links corrected


Is Pedro Swann headed back for a second stint in Ottawa? - I sure hope so - he was the Ottawa Lynx MVP in 2003, and he sounds like a classy guy.

"Leiper, who rejoined the Lynx this year after managing in the Boston chain last season, said he developed an appreciation for Swann from the opposing dugout.

"Managing against him, I knew he was a good player," Leiper said, "I had a lot of respect for him, but you never (appreciate it) until a guy like that is in your room. You can't outwork him, doing anything; lifting weights, running, anything. He does everything right. He's awesome to have everyday."

Swann said he wouldn't have it, couldn't have it any other way.

"You can't just show up at the field and expect good things to happen," he said. "You have to prepare yourself. If you need work in one area, you come early, and work on that.

"Game preparation is a big part of (how I play). I couldn't just see myself just showing up and playing the game." "


Read the whole article. And cross your fingers.

Housekeeping - UPDATE

I've added a section on the right, "Instant Replay". I'll add videos that have been scattered throughout the blog in this section.

** UPDATE ** Junior Lynx clinic video has been restored.

100th post!!!

Didn't think I'd be here until sometime in January!

Yesterday, Zak was watching the video I made of the Junior Lynx clinic back in August. When it was over, he commented that he'd noticed that Eli Whiteside's shins were all bruised and his hands were sort of 'lumpy'. I explained that that's what happened to catchers. I scoured the net for the play where Buck Martinez, after being bowled over at the plate, left semi-conscious, somehow had the presence of mind to find the ball and while sitting on homeplate with a broken leg threw the runner out at third.

I couldn't find it, but I did locate these two:





After watching the two (particularly the second), he made a career choice.

"I don't want to be a catcher."

Phillies organizational meetings

John Brazer, media spokesperson for the Phillies runs a blog which I've mentioned previously - "Brazertime". In a post from Monday of this week, he details their recent organizational review.

"Starting last Tuesday, the group dissected every player in our system. One of Pat’s many strengths is that he utilizes his staff to the fullest. When a player’s name was brought up, Pat wanted to hear everyone’s opinion. If it was someone on the 25 man roster, he wanted to hear opinions about their strengths, weaknesses, areas of potential improvement, fitness and overall health. Five minutes could be spent on a player or several hours depending on the situation. For the minor league players, he encouraged a lot of dialogue about the players whether they played in the Gulf Coast League or AAA. By getting as much information as possible from various sources, key decisions can be made…should someone be included in trade scenarios, should a young pitcher be a worthy candidate for a bullpen spot, should a minor league position player be converted to pitcher or catcher, should a starter be groomed as a closer, how are certain players looking in winter ball, what level should players start in 2007? Discussion also took place concerning potential free agents and players under contract from other teams that would fit nicely into the Phillies system should a trade be made possible.
"

Here's the rest of the post. I remember when Pat Gillick and Gord Ashe were running the show in Toronto during their glory years - the duo instilled confidence; you knew that if they needed somebody, they'd go out and get him. Al Leiter, Mookie Wilson, Tony Fernandez, Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, Ricky Henderson, Paul Molitor... oh man. Good times.

Skratch Washington...

from the list of places John Russell may end up. This move was rumoured for the last few days, before being confirmed yesterday.

As disappointed as I'm sure he is, I'd be more than happy to see Mr. Russell in a Lynx uni next season.

More player moves

SWB/Lynx second baseman free agent, Joe Thurston has signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals.

Honor.

It was nice to see Mr. Chiarelli ‘man up’ last night, swallow his pride and congratulate Mr. O’Brien in person, declaring him the winner of the mayoral race. It was a classy move, and I certainly respect that. About a month ago I wrote that I thought that he’d lost his ‘honor’, something I still believe to be the case. However, it’s not something which is irrevocably lost, and I would hope that he would man up one more time and apologize to the Lynx. Why do I care? Because honor’s important, and I’d like him to reclaim his.

Ten years ago I met some of my biological relatives for the first time – the Japanese side of my background. In order to give me some perspective about growing up in a Japanese family, my aunt told me that every evening at dinner their family would sit down, pray and then my grandfather would ask each of the three children: “What did you do today to bring honor to the family?” (Unfortunately, one evening in 1967 my then sixteen year old biological mother had a less than stellar response.)

The question resonated, and I never thought about honor the same way again – it’s not a concept, it’s a way of living. And it was important. So for his own sake, I’d like to see Mr. Chiarelli’s honor restored, as well as the apology for those he dishonored.

Congratulations Eddy!

Missed this one a couple of weeks ago - Eddy's been signed by the Marlins to a minor league contract with the Albuquerque Isotopes (love that name!) in the Pacific Coast League.

Instant replay

According to USA Today it appears that instant replay is once again a subject which has come up at baseball's GM winter meetings. I hate a blown call as much as the next guy, but from my perspective, the element of human error is a huge part of the game of baseball - more so than most (all?) other professional sports. The game is a game based on subjectivity (e.g. the strike zone) and to eliminate that would, in my opinion, cause serious damage to baseball. Baron's corner weighs in on the debate here.<

Gold, Jerry. Gold!

Ironpigs.

'nuff said.

Quote of the day

"We struggled much of the season last year with his game-calling,” Forbes said. “We were actually butting heads. JJ’s stubborn, and that’s a good thing, but JJ’s stubborn and that’s also a bad thing..."

He's referring to Phillies catching prospect Jason Jaramillo - read the entire article here. Hopefully his game progresses to the point where we get to see him here in Ottawa.

Arizona Fall league update

I haven't been following the AFL as closely as I'd intended over the last couple of weeks. Here's an update on how the Phillies prospects are doing, with particular attention to Kyle Kendrick.

As I write this Saguaros is tied 2-2 in the 9th with Phoenix, and has a 13-14 record.

Local boy makes good

Sorry, light blogging today - between work this morning, an outage on Blogger and the movie this afternoon, there's not been much time. I found this story in the Citizen this morning about a local teenager, Chris Bisson, who's off to the University of Kentucky on a baseball scholarship. Maybe he can be brought out to the park for a proper sendoff over the summer.

Another friend of the Lynx

I know what you're thinking. The soup Nazi's a friend of the Lynx?!! Bear with me for a moment.

Do you remember last season when the Senators were wiping out the competition and really running up the score? You'll also likely remember that Pizza Pizza had a promotion - if the Sens score five goals, you brought in your ticket and got a free piece of pizza. We went to the first home game last year against Buffalo, and I believe Ottawa scored six or seven goals. We brought in our tickets the next day, everyone was happy, and the Pizza Pizza staff seemed unfazed by it. As you know, the Sens did so well that Pizza Pizza had to alter the promo - now the team had to score six goals. It seemed that 18,500 free pieces of pizza for each of the forty home games was a little more than Pizza Pizza had bargained for. They still got dinged as Ottawa just kept filling the nets. The next time we went in with our tickets was about a month later. There were signs everywhere - tickets had to be presented at the beginning, your only choice was pepperoni or cheese, glares from counter staff were not optional. It got so bad that they didn't even look at you; they just dropped your pizza on the counter and walked away. Studies say that holding your customers in contempt is bad for business.

So where am I going with this? As I mentioned a few posts ago, I really enjoy going to the movies. The Lynx had hooked up with Rainbow Cinemas at St. Laurent, so we took the kids several times, getting the free ticket deal with our Lynx winning game tickets. Staff at the theatre always accepted the tickets happily, frequently asking if we'd enjoyed the game. That's the way these partnerships should work and as a season tickets holder (okay, then 1/2 season ticket holder) I was happy that the team I supported hooked up with a partner that displayed professionalism, as opposed to one that was an embarrassment.

Congratulations Winston!

I guess we'll see more and more of these former Lynx FA signings as the off-season progresses towards spring training. It was nice to see that Winston Abreu was picked up by the Nationals. According to what I've read, the speculation is that he'll start the year in AAA with the Clippers, but could wind up in the Nationals bullpen. Winston didn't fare so well in his brief appearances with the Orioles, but his AAA stats were fairly impressive with 2.48 ERA and a 78/20 strike out to walks ratio. Here's hoping he gets a chance in Washington - but only after we get to welcome him back in June!

The Call

You can't make up stuff like this. It's 8.20, and I'm watching one of the only shows on television that I make time for - Survivor (the other is The Amazing Race). We're right in the middle of the 'Reward Challenge', the kids are downstairs pestering their mother who's trying to watch Grey's Anatomy, when the phone rings. You've got to be kidding me. I pick it up.

"Good evening, my name is David and I'm calling on behalf of the Bob Chiarelli campaign. The municipal election is this Monday and we're calling to see if Mayor Chiarelli has your support."

So many metaphors - 'Right in my wheelhouse', 'Catching a guy with his head down', 'Right in the trolley tracks', 'Dead to rights', etc....

As a father, I try to teach my son to be a good sport, and there's nothing I respect more than an athlete who holds up, rather than plastering someone a la Lindros on Dackell. So I held up and didn't take the cheap shot - but man was I tempted. I'm sure 'David' sensed my wry smile.

"No. I'm afraid he doesn't."

Cat's Pride

Where have you gone?

MLB's new collective bargaining agreement

Add this to the list of something I know absolutely nothing about. However, it seems that the new CBA may not be a benefit to minor league players, particularly those not on the 40 man roster:

"First, under the old rule, clubs had a huge incentive to sign their top picks because they wasted those draft picks if they didn't sign them. Now it's not a big deal if the clubs don't sign the player because they'll get that same pick again in the following year's draft (in addition to the pick they would otherwise have that year). Second, under the old rule, the clubs lost the rights to the drafted player when the player entered classes in the fall. While the new rule merely shortens the negotiation window by a few weeks, it will affect the ability of players to "hold out" during the negotiation process. Finally, under the old rule, clubs were forced to put minor league prospects on 40-man rosters a year sooner than they will be forced to do under the new rule." The entire article can be found here.

Here's a slightly less animated review of the agreement.

Someone to watch

Mike Costanzo is a prospect in the Phillies organization at third base. He's slated to start the season in Reading this year after spending 2006 in Clearwater with the Threshers.

Mr. Costanzo is also a contributing writer for PhillyBaseballNews.com, unfortunately most of his stuff will be subscription only. His last entry is a little sombre, and I'll add part of it here:

"Well, there's been pretty much going on, but not all of it is good. Unfortunately, since my last article, I lost my best friend in a motorcycle accident. Dominic was just 22 years old and we knew each other almost all our lives, going to school together. The news really hit my heart pretty hard and made me think about everything. It all gives you a different perspective when stuff like this happens to someone you know and care so much about.

If anything, losing Dominic has made me more motivated to succeed. The motivation comes from the memories that I have of my friend and all of the good times that we shared. I'm dedicating this season to him and I know he'll be a part of my life forever."

Hopefully everything will turn out for Mr. Costanzo in 2007.

Whatch'ya doing this weekend?

Sorry about the pace of blogging today. Without revealing too much about my political stripes, suffice it to say that last night's US electoral result has me a little down.

In any event...

Since the kids came along, one of the few things I miss about our "pre-kids" days is going out and catching a (hopefully) good movie. However, there's a great theatre set up with families in mind - the Ottawa Family Cinema. One of the nice things about this theatre is that it's designed to be 'kid friendly', particularly the Saturday shows. No one will get terribly bent out of shape if the kids get a little restless, or laugh a little longer at a bad joke or some bit of slapstick humor that the adults no longer appreciate. The theatre exemplifies many of the same qualities I find at Lynx games:

1) Family friendly
2) Fun
3) Value

The other thing about the theatre is that it's run entirely by volunteers, with all of the profits going to charity - usually the local fight against childhood poverty. Fortunately, they fly low enough below the radar that the City hasn't expropriated and sold off all of their free parking. Yet.

Sorry, I digress...

Saturday shows start at 2 p.m. with a cartoon, a pre-show which always includes door prizes (and the launching of prizes into the audience during the "3D prizes" segment) and birthday announcements. Seasonally, they have special shows at Hallowe'en and Christmas - always great events. After every show, kids are usually given posters, or other movie type promotional stuff; after the Hallowe'en show, everybody in the audience was given limited edition Star Wars watches.

This week's movie is Everyone's Hero.



"A young boy finds himself at an extraordinary crossroads: He has a chance to be a hero - and make a difference against incredible odds - or he can play it safe. With faith in himself instilled by his family, he teams up with a sassy young girl and some off-the-wall sidekicks and embarks on a sometimes perilous, often funny, cross-country quest. In the process, he restores his family's honor, befriends the world's biggest sports superstar, and reveals the hero within.

Rumor mill

Not much going on today - but it's still early. We can now add Texas to the list of teams that John Russell will NOT be going to - they've hired Ron Washington to replace Buck Showalter. Philly's made all of their coaching moves, so they're out. But yesterday I came across this. Looks like he's at least in the running for the Nationals managerial position.

So quick to judge

I just, just got off the phone with the City's Freedom of Information department. This is with respect to my request to obtain a copy of the lease agreement. Apparently, the request was made, but the response from one of the other departments was that there was no "lease agreement". Normally what would happen is the FOI department would send me a note stating the document doesn't exist - in this case, God bless her, someone called me seeking a clarification. There's no "lease" agreement, but there is an "operating" agreement. She's going to note the clarification on my request and get the appropriate agreement out to me.

FYI.

Reading

As in Reading, Pennsylvania. I was looking at the website for the Reading Phillies and was really impressed by what I saw - it looks like this city has a lot of fun with this team. You can look at their website here. I'm not sure why, but it appears that MiLB has imposed a template website on all the AAA franchises, at least in the IL. It'd be nice for the teams to have a little more creative freedom/indivduality, but I suspect that it just isn't permitted.

If you've got the time, check out the site - I particularly liked the "Tooth Fairy" - it's just classic small town, Mark Twain, apple pie, God Bless, America.

Testify brother.

Testify.

...as someone who's not a professional politician, and who's never run for political office before, what's been your biggest personal surprise in this campaign?"

"I think just the pure politics of it. It's not as accountability intense as I thought it would be. As the CEO of a publicly traded company, I know that we have to be very careful of every word we say, we have to be absolutely honest otherwise we could wind up in jail. But in politics, it seems you can say whatever you want with the facts even if it's not true." (ed: Bold face is mine.)

Read the whole thing here.

Shocking video

The horror

Really, this is borderline PG. Particularly if you despise winter as much as I do. You've been warned, proceed at your own risk.

Must see TV(?)

I had hoped to show up at the debate this evening, armed with the City's lease agreement with the Lynx. Not surprisingly perhaps, I have yet to receive said lease. In any event, the debate will be broadcast on Rogers Television starting at 7 p.m. But don't worry, if you'd rather watch the Sens game, I've got your back; I'll record and burn the relevant portions onto the blog.

And to think I was worried... (UPDATE)

that I'd run out of 'blogworthy' material. I found this last week while I was looking for information about Jay Shiner (recently promoted) by the Orioles organization.

Looks like this was a great promotion, although no one seems to have followed up on the web to detail the result. In case you're interested, Ottawa won the season series 10 games to 6.

*** UPDATE:

Red Wings GM hits 'low point' as bat boy. (author: none other than Dave Gross!)

Tenacity

Regular readers will know that one of the individual character traits I respect most is tenacity. I watched Lance compete in this year's New York City Marathon with some interest - he'd hoped to come in in less than three hours. For the first 20 some miles, he was on pace to meet his target. The last few miles though were a complete 'gut check'. He struggled in, with a finishing time of 2:59:36.

However, in my opinion, one of his greatest displays of tenacity came in the 2003 Tour de France. Battling dehydration suffered in a time trial two days previous, and a fever, he struggled in +100F temperatures in this stage in the Pyrenees. Sick and completely isolated from his team, he would have been forgiven for stepping off the bike at this point.

(Recommended only if you've got broadband.)



Never quit.

Updates

Sorry about the outage over the weekend - as a parent, are there any four worse words to hear than "Daddy, I feel sick."? I don't think so. Mercifully for the van, I managed to get it pulled over in time.

Anyway.

Over in the AFL, the Saguaros record now stands at 10-12 and they sit in second place in the west. The season wraps up in less than 2 weeks.

No sooner did I mention Luis Terrero than this hits the wires. Congratulations Luis!

Cut!!!!!

I finally got Google Video Uploader to work, so I didn't have to hack the original to pieces. Having struggled mightily with this, I expect each and every one of you to sit through the full 8:43 of riveting video.

Friends of the Lynx (II)

As I posted earlier today, I've set up a "Friends of the Lynx" header in the right hand column. I've added Dave Gross, for reasons that I first noted here, and the UPS store on St. Laurent Boulevard here in Ottawa. Earlier in the season, the team offered customized baseball cards for the kids out on the concourse. Zak had his picture taken by Francois (then intern, now of Sens fame) and later picked up his cards. Later in the season, I needed to get a copy of one of the cards, and I noted that the UPS Store had some hand in producing them. I went to a UPS Store, and they referred me to the St. Laurent location. Once there, the owner (?), with obvious pride, told me that it was her husband who'd set up the program that generated the cards. When I explained what I needed, she took care of it, getting the cards back to me in a day - all without charge. While I was in the store, I noticed many Lynx related pictures, not all strictly "team" related. I made a mental note to support this location in the future.

Stats (redux)

I’ve pasted in a chart showing the number of daily visits to the blog over the last month. On October 13 we passed the 300 hit mark, roughly 5 weeks into the life of the site. As of today, just three weeks later, we’ve sailed by 650 – this isn’t pride or hubris, quite the opposite; it’s very humbling to know that people are looking in, reading the stuff I post and hopefully coming back.

From my perspective, every hit is one more person that is interested in this team, and as I watch the numbers climbing, I am heartened.

Thanks again for being part of it.

Rant-free Fridays

I've declared Fridays "rant-free" on the blog. No telling the mayor "to shut-up" (which I thought was very strong), no typing in all caps to simulate yelling (Gold Jerry! Gold!), nor stuff like that bit I wrote, suggesting the council and City bureaucracy were incompetent (just too funny). (ed: Sarcasm people, sarcasm).

Guess who dropped by the blog? I've reposted my question on his blog which you can find here.

Finally (for now - 6.20 a.m.), I'm going to add a "Friends of the Lynx" section on the right hand side of the blog - if anyone has any suggestions for links, please leave them in the comments section or flip me an email.

Update from Philadelphia

It's always interesting to see what's going on at the MLB level, but this is a fairly unique perspective. I noted this blog earlier this week, and it appears that it gets frequent updates. The blogger is Larry Shenk, Vice President of Public Relations for the Philadelphia Phillies - in his most recent post he notes:

Pat (Gillick), Ruben Amaro Jr. and Mike Arbuckle will head the Phillies delegation for the General Manager’s meetings that will take place in Naples, FL, later this month (13-17). Baseball’s annual winter meetings will be held at Disney World the first week of December (4-7).

Free agents, trades and the international market will be explored in an effort to fill the Phillies shopping list.

Get ready for some wild rumor rides.

Youtube update

Sorry, last post for today. I'm still trying to get the Talk Ottawa stuff up. The problem is the size of the file - Youtube restricts uploads to 100MB - the file, even at a reduced quality is 286MB. I've been trying to split it into thirds and then upload, but this requires the one commodity I don't have - time.

Sooooo, if anybody absolutely needs to have it before the weekend, I've got the program burned to DVD, just drop me an email.

The other option I've looked at is Google's video service - they say they allow files in excess of 100 megs, but I can't get the freakin' thing to work (i.e. first turn off your firewall, then disable popup blockers, then reload software, confirm password,....). If anyone's got suggestions, or alternative video hosting websites, please let me know.

I don't like my chances.

In light of this article in today’s Ottawa Citizen, somehow I don’t think I’ll be getting a copy of the lease agreement before Election Day. Granted, when it comes to the LRT deal, the stakes are somewhat higher for taxpayers, but it seems like document release may be a little slow over at City Hall – the Citizen’s been asking for the LRT information since August.

And then there’s this in this week’s Ottawa Business Journal . First off, let me be clear: I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I don’t think the mob assassinated JFK. On the other hand, I do believe the Americans landed on the moon. Sometimes, the facts are what they are, and things are just as they appear. The Christmas presents under the tree? Santa Claus. Don’t even go there….

But back to the matter at hand, and I think its worth some thought - it appears that some people believe that the land where the stadium sits on Coventry Road could be quite valuable. So, I’m presuming someone down at City Hall has done the math:

Annual rent from the Lynx …………………….. $X
Annual parking revenue…………………………. $Y
Total $X+Y

vs.

Sale of lands at Coventry Road………………….$Z

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not arguing that this is some long, well thought out City scheme to destroy the Lynx – mostly because it’s an oxymoron; the council as it’s currently constituted and the bureaucracy are incapable of a well thought out anything – but also because I just don’t believe it. And as the article notes, another "factor that makes it difficult to predict the facility's fate is its ownership by the city. "The city might not necessarily do things for best use," Mr. Wolfgram said. "Maybe it will sit empty, like Lansdowne Park." I think that’s a very diplomatic way of saying, “sometimes the City does things which defy common sense”.

What do I know? Sweet diddly.

I’m just sayin’.

Congratulations, Mr. Trembley!

A few familiar faces won't be back when Norfolk comes to town.

"According to The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Orioles coach Rick Dempsey will be moved from first base to the Orioles' bullpen and Tom Trebelhorn will take over Lee Elia's bench-coach duties for 2007. Dave Trembley, who managed the organization's Triple-A team last year, will also be named to the Orioles' staff as major-league field coordinator. Both batting-practice pitcher Orlando Gomez and bullpen coach Larry McCall will be reassigned, with McCall likely becoming Triple-A Norfolk's pitching coach. The Orioles also have promoted minor-league strength and conditioning coordinator Jay Shiner to replace Tim Bishop, who resigned after 16 seasons with the club." (Link to story is here.)

Yikes.

Here's the list of Lynx players who were declared free agents following the '06 season:

C Raul Chavez
C Sandy Madera
C Brandon Marsters
C Franklin Tua
1B Leo Daigle
1B Mario Delgado
1B Andy Tracy
2B Brooks Badeaux
2B Bobby Scales
3B Napoleon Calzado
3B Tripper Johnson
3B Pete Maestrales
SS Ryner Bautista
SS Angel Chavez
SS Eddy Garabito
SS Pete Shier
OF Quincy Ascencion
OF Todd Donovan
OF Noah Hall
OF Keith Reed
RHP Brian Bowles
RHP Matt Bruback
RHP Tim Kester
RHP Julio Manon
RHP Chris Piersoll
RHP Luis Ramirez
RHP Eddy Rodriguez
LHP Tim Byrdak
LHP Brian Forystek
LHP Franklyn Gracesqui
LHP Jason Pearson
LHP Scott Rice

Full disclosure: Just in case people are just joining us - I love baseball, but I'm about as far as you can get from being an authority on the subject. Translation: I don't know whether I shouldn't be surprised by any of the names on that list or not. Having said that, I'm surprised that Baltimore wouldn't work to prevent a guy like Keith Reed from becoming an FA - speed, good glove, decent arm. He hit .279 and was second only to Terrero in slugging (.441). And again, as a layperson, I would hope that they at least struggled with the decision to let Eddy Rodriguez go. I know the miniscule ERA didn't hold at the big league level, but man, a 1.71 ERA with hitters averaging only .191 against him.

(Stats source can be found here.)

The Phillies list is even longer:

C John Castellano
C Dusty Wathan
C Jeff Winchester
1B Gary Burnham
1B Brandon Gemoll
1B Randall Simon
2B Carlos Leon
3B Brennan King
SS Avelino Asprilla
SS Jonathan Johnson
SS Jesus Merchan
SS Juan Sosa
OF Peter Bergeron
OF Ryan Fleming
OF Gary Harris
OF Josh Kroeger
OF Matt Padgett
OF Brian Sellier
OF Pedro Swann
RHP Ryan Cameron
RHP Jeremy Cummings
RHP Daniel Giese
RHP Talley Haines
RHP Nick Mattioni
RHP Tim McClaskey
RHP Travis Minix
RHP Brian Reed
RHP Ben Shaffar
RHP John Stephens
LHP Jim Crowell
LHP Allen Davis
LHP Luke Lockwood
LHP Matt White

And I'm even less qualified to talk about these guys. Minix was one of the few names I did recognize - Scout.com had him at #50 in the top 50 prospects in the Phillies organization and had this to say:

There's a lot to like about Minix' numbers from 2006. He was tough on both right-handers and left-handers (lefties hit .246, righties .231 against him), but he didn't get a lot of innings pitched for the amount of games that he was in. He pitched more than one inning in just 12 of his 40 games and pitched less than a full inning in 10 games.

The bad news in his numbers comes when runners are in scoring position, which is a fatal flaw. With runners in scoring position, opponents hit .309 against Minix and with runners in scoring position and two outs, they hit .292 against him. Those are numbers that could be a bit scary for a right-handed reliever.

Analysis: When Minix joined the organization just prior to the 2005 season, he was happy to be out of the Devil Rays' organization where it seemed he was constantly being overlooked. Now, having posted a two-season mark of 3-4, 2.21 with 11 saves with the Phillies, Minix again appears to have been somewhat overlooked. His future could be elsewhere if he hits minor league free agency.

Stuff happens

Interesting story out of Columbus.