Baseball Across The Time Zone Ocean via Radio
"A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure." -- Segal's Law

Got home in time last night to listen to the sole MLB "day game" via WHB in KC, to my preseason AL Central favourite-ChiSox pound their division rival KC Royals in their renovated US Cellular Field home opener. US Cellular Field has been the butt of jokes and an object of derision since it opened as the "new" Comiskey Park in 1991. According to the reviews, the latest renovations lend an "old" Comiskey feel to the South Side ballyard. A refurbished upper deck, an expanded center-field "fan deck" and a fresh paint job were among $28 million in off-season improvements.

Two things that jumped out me (and neither of them were drunken Chisox fans leaping over the rail onto the field): Cy Young 2003 bridesmaid, Esteban Loiza, 21-9 with a 2.90 ERA last season, appears to need more time to find his top form, surrendering 4 homeruns in a failed effort to give up the victory single-handedly. Secondly are the Chisox bats, and in particular, Paul Konerko is looking as though he wants to make up for all the wretched impressions he's given fans over the last season and a half. He's batting .370 with six runs batted in their first seven games. While you're at it, you might note that the Fearsome Foursome of Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, Konerko and Carlos Lee, appear anxious to repeat 2000, the last time the Sox took their division, when those four combined for 120 home runs and 458 RBIs.

How about those Venezuelans? By all accounts, Ozzie Guillen is not a manager who is going to allow talent to go to waste in favour of player ego. Meanwhile, Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio, fellow Venezuelans who preceded Ozzie Guillen as All-Star shortstops for the Sox, joined new manager Guillen in throwing out ceremonial first pitches. We already remember Aparicio, but this Carrasquel feller...he was a 4 time All Star for the Sox in the 50s before being traded with Jim Busby to the Cleveland Indians for Larry Doby. However, Chico's MLB accomplishments pale in comparison to the understated grandeur of Estadio Alfonso Chico Carrasquel.

The Old Man and the Cards

Our grandest of dreams remain dashed. Whilst Andy Pettitte assures the world his cranky elbow nothing to panic over, Roger Clemens continues to defy the logical world outside of Nolan Ryan, this time moving past Terrific Tom Seaver in moving to 2-0 in April 2004, and shutting down the St Louis Cardinals on one run and two hits over 6 2/3 innings. His ERA, in the days we shall remember with dread and revulsion, is 0.66 in his two starts of the 2004 season.

The old man, who might still join the Hall of Fame in an Astros hat, was consistently hitting 93 mph into the sixth as he neared his 105 pitch total that earned a mere 3 strikeouts. Perhaps he was concentrating on hitting out in his two official at-bats to drop his 2004 batting average to .250. Four at bats and not a single fastball under his chin. Is Clemens the only philsopher on the mound who believes that hitting batters is a good way to keep them off the plate?

More notable to Astros fans might be Octavio Dotel's continued jitterbugging from the bullpen. Dotel gave up back-to-back homers to Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen to lead off the ninth, but finally got the final four outs for his first save of the season.

Rally Monkies Bigger Than Mariner's Bullpen

Then, as dawn broke over the misty sheep fields of Warwickshire, the Rally Monkey was busy making its first appearance of the 2004 season as I listened over KOMO radio in Seattle. It isn't enough that the un-Met, Vladimir Guerrero, hit his third homer of the young season while Met fans pray collectively that a certain disc might herniate a certain former free agent to the disabled list in a vain effort to prove that tossing that much money on "damaged goods" would have resulted in just another Fat Mo. The Mariners were up 4-2 until the 6th when Bengie Molina hit a two run homer to tie the score. From thereonafter, it was only a matter of time for the Mariner's leaky bullpen to disintegrate. The "Herky Jerky Lefty" Mike Myers did a number on Mariner hopes by sheparding

Yup, looks like the Mariners, in losing their 4th straight game against the Angels, blowing 4-0 leads, are conceding the AL West already, choking a good four months earlier than usual. They have given up an unprecedented number of runs when they already have two outs. Last night's game saw them surrender two two-run homers with two outs. Whaddaya know, Mariners, holding steady in last place with one win in seven games thus far. Good. That's for Starbucks, baby.

Can anyone say "Repeat"?

Marlins sensation Miguel Cabrera homered twice, drove in three runs and extended his hitting streak to seven games and Brad Penny struck out ten and gave up only two hits over 8 innings as the Marlins continued their hold on first place.

In what should be a continued battle all season, it might be fun to keep a running count of basic batting stats between Cabrera and St Louis' Albert Pujols.

Thus far:

Cabrera: 7 games, 1.000 slugging, .429 OBP, .385 batting average, 5 homers, 8 rbis in 26 at bats. For those of you playing at home, that pans out to about 116 homers and 185 ribbies for the season. And they say that the dismissal of steroids and the advent of supahstah pitchers spell the doom of such numbers...

Pujols: 9 games, .725 slugging, .405 OBP, .294 batting average, 4 homers and 11 rbis in 34 at bats. You can almost feel him losing his grip on everyone's favourite phenom, can't you?

Of course, when you're thinking about MVP again, you're thinking about Barry Bonds, who after hitting 661 doesn't appear to wither from the steroid critics who have still only proven by implication, not by fact.

Bonds: 8 games, .960 slugging, .588 OBP, .440 batting average, 3 homers and 8 rbis in 28 at bats.