Richard Justice writes a great article today about Sean Berry and his battle with cancer. At a time when you would think that baseball would be the last thing Berry cares about, it's nice that a game can offer so much to a man so ill. Being a baseball fan is funny sometimes. With some members of the team, you feel like you know them. A lot of us surely remember that Hunter Pence just can't seem to kick his World of Warcraft video game habit. On the other hand, a key part of our team has a deadly disease and we don't hear that much about it. This is sort of the "reality- TV" component to being a fan, I suppose. Best of luck to Mr. Berry and his family. TCB will be rooting for you. (I don't know if anyone has posted about this before, and if so my apologies.)
Derek Jeter argued with an umpire when he was called out attempting to steal third base yesterday. I wasn't aware that DJ could commit such an atrocity! I mean, he's above such things. Maybe he has a beef, though..
Breakthroughs are on the way for PitchF/X data. DQ and I recently had a conersation about the gains in HitF/X data and how close we are to being able to utilize both of these tools in similar fashions. I remarked that we may be like the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, when they looked at the Ark and their faces melted away because it was too much to handle. It's going to be interesting to see where this goes, but I can't help but think some of the mystery of baseball is diminishing.
Last, Zachary Levine gives his first half impressions of the Astros' minor league clubs. One of the pluses down on the farm has definitely been the performances of the Class A Lexington Legends starting rotation. I found this excerpt to be really interesting
A young, talented rotation including [Robert] Bono, Jordan Lyles, Ross Seaton, Kyle Greenwalt and Brad Dydalewicz gives the Astros several shots at producing big league talent in early 2010.
What a draft Bobby Heck had in 2008 if any of these guys is ready by early 2010. Anyone agree with Mr. Levine?