News and other interesting finds as the regular season thankfully begins..
The final roster heading into the season, is well final. Say what you will about age, Russ Ortiz making the big league team is a nice story. If he can contribute, and based on the spring it appears he can, it will be even better. Jason Smith, to nobody's surprise, is the utility middle infielder. Here is the roster, in full:
Rotation (5): RHP Roy Oswalt, LHP Wandy Rodriguez, RHP Brian Moehler, LHP Mike Hampton, RHP Russ Ortiz
Bullpen (7): RHP Chris Sampson, RHP Geoff Geary, LHP Wesley Wright, LHP Tim Byrdak, RHP Doug Brocail, RHP LaTroy Hawkins, RHP Jose Valverde
Infielders (6): Lance Berkman, Kazuo Matsui, Miguel Tejada, Geoff Blum, Jeff Keppinger, Jason Smith
Outfielders (5): Carlos Lee; Michael Bourn, Hunter Pence, Darin Erstad, Jason Michaels
Catchers (2): Ivan Rodriguez, Humberto Quintero
I suddenly dislike Carlos Zambrano a little less. This may have something to do with it. Makes you wonder if Z has any idea how special that place is to Cubs fans. The Yankees really relished playing in Yankee Stadium, it seems odd that Zambrano doesn't feel the same way about Wrigley
Speaking of the Yanks, check out their new digs. Palatial..
Fangraphs now has a Twitter feed where they tweet every play, and update the win probability for each team. Somebody buy Cecil Cooper an I-Phone, fast
Hicks Sports Group (headed by Rangers/Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks) has defaulted on loans totaling $525 million. He asks that the banks be "reasonable"... What does one use to secure such a huge amount? Just speculating on my part, but could the Stars or Rangers franchises be foreclosed upon, for lack of a better term, if something can't be worked out? For what it's worth, Hicks recently said he'd be willing to sell part of his interest in the teams...
Brian McTaggart has the Astros going 83-79 this season, good for third in the NL Central. Over/Under on that win total, anyone?
First, an awesome website. Second, some interesting information I learned from that site which surprised me.Home runs traveled further and left bats quicker in the NL than in the AL. The difference is negligible in both regards, but for a league that is often seen as inferior, this is something to hang our hats on..
A hors d'oeuvre idea for any Opening Day game viewing, perhaps? What scares me is that I can see myself not only eating those, but enjoying them
What can grow faster? Economic optimism over a recent stock market surge, or...
Finally, for those of us who are aren't exactly the coolest, some help
