Paying the Price

Midway through the 2013 Major League Baseball season,  I realized that my favorite pitcher might be bidding his farewell two years before his free agent candidacy.

The number 14 will sure hurt once it’s gone.

Marc Topkin, the Tampa Bay Times’ Tampa Bay Rays beat writer, has resigned to the fact that it could be another solid deal for the Rays. After all, giving up James Shields did give us Wil Myers. Rays’ trades have helped us score some solid rookies that are groomed to be stars.

I see it like we’re transforming little league beasts to quality players.

Low budget teams mean cheap deals. We get the rookie kid with a nice pitch rotation and turn him into something spectacular by the time he’s in his late 20s. Then the ownership trades ’em like a binder full of baseball cards.

We’re lucky for these deals, in a sense.

My prime example of use and toss would be Carl Crawford. We let a solid bat depart for Boston with glum sadness. But what happened? We ditched a player who ultimately played for the money and cared little to play a quality game.

Did Crawford play better in Tampa Bay? I’d say so. We’re c0mparing nine years with the Rays to two with the Red Sox, but 104 home runs versus 14 is nothing to sneeze at. Then there’s his batting average: .296 versus .260. Interesting when you see the numbers, right?

The Rays take these rookies, these unknowns and Joe Maddon ‘n’ Co. groom them into solid stars. The kids are cheaper, after all. As soon as they hit their peak, they’re packed up and shipped to bigger teams with bigger budgets, i.e. Rafael Soriano to the New York Yankees.

Maybe I’m bitter, but some part of me notes that these fellas might end up a little home sick for the Bay. After all, their performances drop once they contend in teams elsewhere.

I don’t want to give up David. But if the Price is right, so be it.

Related articles

• David Price trade rumors: Rays P expects to be dealt (sbnation.com)
• Price: Rays history suggests I’ll get traded (espn.go.com)
• HBT: David Price expects to be traded this offseason (hardballtalk.nbcsports.com)

Seminoles’ Winston faces scrutiny, a look into college athlete publicity

Jameis Winston,19,  a freshman starting quarterback for Florida State University, is considered a suspect in a sexual assault investigation dating a year ago. He has led to ‘Noles in a 9-0 season with 2,661 passing yards.

He’s a bright star who has been yanked into the spotlight for investigation.

It’s troubling to think of how many young athletes get caught up in the college atmosphere, of days of training and nights of partying. Whether they are troubled in the beginning of their career or get caught up in the publicity firestorm, it’s a recipe for some disasters for student athletes.

There are exceptions, of course. We have athletes like Michael Oher who have been celebrated and kept on the straight ‘n’ narrow. But there’s this wondering of what we can do to improve conditions for college athletes so they don’t end up like Manti Te’o, scruntinized for imaginary girlfriends.

We can’t expect the coach, the school or the parent to be involved so late in adolescence and expect results.

I suppose I imagine a program for young athletes that teaches them social etiquette and positive publicity while remaining grounded in their true identities.

But maybe their personalities on and off the field are simply who they are.

Plight of the “bandwagoner” fan

I want to be a Lightning fan. I want to be a Rowdies fan. Maybe one day I’ll want to be a Tornadoes fan, too. But I’m not sure how to approach joining the fandom without coming across as the dreaded bandwagoner.

We all loathe them. The one fan who suddenly appears in the bleachers, desperately trying to throw around stats as they scramble to memorize a team’s star player’s name. They’re the same people who only like the Broncos for Peyton Manning or follow the team after a sudden winning streak.

I’m desperate to not be perceived this way.

It’s a sincere effort to join a fan base. Learn the nuances of the game, cheer on a couple of games and eventually, you’ll get a grasp of your new team’s attitude.

But how do you beat the sneers and eye-rolling of “veteran” fans?

Ignore ’em. The sports snobs aren’t your crowd anyway. Sure, their loyalty is admirable but they shut out the whole purpose of the game: community through competition. Plus, you’ll eventually catch up on that savvy knowledge and camaraderie with time.

Don’t be afraid to be a newbie to a fan base.

Major League Women: The entrance of female professional athletes in Tampa Bay

Club sports’ coed teams didn’t cut it for professional lady athletes.

Make way for the Tampa Bay Tornadoes, a team of professional football players. No skimpy uniforms, no sexualized game and no intention mud wrestling. Just classic American football.

The WIFL, or the Womens’ Indoor Football League, is spread across the  United States. Games scheduled for the spring include against Atlanta, Orlando and Montgomery, forming the Southern conference.

Open tryouts began in the spring as athletes gathered in Lakeland to test their skills on the field. Agility, pass completions and speed were tested through  various drills.

Valerie Nyitray, a student at USF St. Petersburg, passed through and has made the team roster. She expressed excitement for joining the first WIFL team in the Bay area and looks forward to the team match-ups against regional teams.

What does this mean for Tampa Bay? It could be the sign of a change of times, perhaps another shot at a professional women’s team.

But the best part? Maybe the ladies can do it better.

The inaugural season is set for spring 2014.

Carry On My Wayward Fan

It’s tough to be a fan of sports in the Tampa Bay area, excusing Lightning and Rowdies fans.

The Buccaneers are 0-6. A startling loss to the Red Sox knocked the Rays out of the playoffs. Then there’s that constant nagging from coaches to attend more games and spend more money on merchandise.

Isn’t it a little disheartening to be a fan?

I compare it to an immature high school relationship.”The fan” is the gal who is helplessly in love with the brutish manly man who just doesn’t give the time of day.

You give all you can, from 10 games a baseball season (if you’re especially generous). You own all of the bobble heads. If you’re not physically at a game, you complete your nightly ritual with a tray of nachos and beer, as both a celebration and a consolation.

You wear their jersey and hope to get some sort of acknowledgment one day while they prance across the field or ice.

Instead, you’re the blame for all their problems. Why they can’t pass, punt, shoot, or score. You’re also the reason why their stadium is in poor condition and why the league mocks them.

Why is that? Why do we take it?

Perhaps we are masochistic teenage girls. Or maybe we’re just hopelessly devoted to our teams. But like any relationship, when the strains become too much, it might be time to call it quits when our man pushes us to.

Zapping leader over the Bay area sports

There’s no beer coating the floors of the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The leather chairs in each level are pretty cozy, too. No griping about attendance, no whining about the early season performance and certainly no cursing the owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It’s different across the Bay.

Ice hockey would seemingly not belong in a hot, humid swamp like Florida. Baseball, basketball and football would fare at least a little better in the tropical heat.

Yet the Lightning has more reasonable turnouts and no blackouts.

The Lightning don’t justify with being a young organization, starting in 1992. They don’t blame the fans, either. Instead, the Lightning step up their marketing and immerse themselves in a community that may not have lusted for their presence in the beginning but follow in die-hard droves.

It might help that head coach John Cooper is a positive thinker with a teamwork mentality. It might be great that the Lightning can slow down the top goaltender in the league, Los Angeles Kings’ Jonathan Quick. It could be incredible how Lightning veteran Vincent Lecavalier has scored over 900 goals in his career and just happens to be likeable, too. It might even be better than owner Jeffrey Vinik is charitable and immersive in the community.

The Lightning makes hockey a sport for anyone.

Now that’s the sort of attitude that maybe the Buccaneers and the Rays could learn from.

Related articles

• Lightning Take Down the Kings (insidehockey.com)
• Bolts score early, pile on to beat L.A. 5-1 (TBO.com)

My teams are done for baseball, so I’m going to apologize to Justin Verlander and the Tigers before I switch to the NHL.

My next American League pick and why they should be yours too

The American League Championship Series comes next against the Boston Red Sox. Game 5 for the Oakland Athletics and the Detroit Tigers brings the American League to a boil.

So who is going to the ALCS?

In a breakdown between the teams’ averages, batting, pitching and overall history, it seems that it might be the year of the Red Sox.

Sure, the Tigers are fiery after a sweep last season in the World Series and their pitching remains strong with starters like Justin Verlander and batting heavy from Prince Fielder.

But I’m not sure they’ll be able to contend against Boston. The Red Sox have twice the RBIs than the Tigers with 22 to 12. David Ortiz blasts the Red Sox bats.

The bearded Sox have this momentum that began halfway through the season that was impenetrable. They have the motivation that the Tampa Bay Rays lacked and the star power at bat, on the mound, in the defensive line.

Note that the Rays barely squeezed runs out. It took luck of the draw base-hits to score even a single run in Game 4 of the ALDS.

So who has the better chance of facing Boston at the ALCS and winning?

The A’s are nearly doubled against the Tigers hitting AB, 136 to 128. The pitching ERA is tied at 3.60. Players that lead in the time, like the A’s Coco Crisp, and contentious starting pitchers like Sonny Gray will shake the Tigers.

Gray is 2-0 for his last three starts with 11 strikeouts. Verlander has 22. Maybe I’m biased because of my first name, but I’ll be pulling for the Oakland A’s tonight.

Who do you think will go on to the ALCS? Vote in the poll.

Related articles

• Video: Red Sox Celebrate ALDS Win In Tampa (boston.cbslocal.com)
• Red Sox sting Rays 3-1 to advance to ALCS (thasportsjunkies101.wordpress.com)
• A’s or Tigers? (boston.com)

Are You Awake, Baseball?

The games are quick enough in the Post Season. But the umpires sure aren’t.

Strikes are called as balls. Same goes for strikeouts. What about hits popped to center field and bounce within a foot of a fielder? Suddenly, these are outs in a double-play.

It’s not that fans don’t appreciate umpires. If it were in favor of our guys, we’d be clapping behind their dull call and jeering as the opposing manager screams irately in the face of the ump.

But it makes the game seem like the rules are bending.

Bias isn’t an issue in Major League Baseball, but proper calls are. Four to six umpires are on the field at a given time, all watching the pitches, catches, bouncing hits and stolen bases. How exactly do they miss key plays in game?

A single play can alter the outcome of a game. That’s why managers yell until they are blue in the face when they see a bad play. We’ll miss the tantrums of Joe Maddon and Terry Francona.

So what about that instant-replay option that MLB has discussed throughout the season?

In an Aug. 15 article featured in USA Today, Bob Nightengale writes:

Major League Baseball decided Thursday to implement instant replay on virtually every play but the strikezone – including three manager’s challenges per game – that will begin in 2014…

Fans will groan. Games will stretch longer without adding innings.

But when will we appreciate it?

That critical pop-fly into center field in the bottom of the 9th. In the Post Season.

Enny Romero, fresh pitches in September

The Rays’ pitching staff must really love turbulent Septembers.

In the final weeks of the 2013 season of Major League Baseball, up until the finale of the Rays and Orioles series, has been stressful enough for fans and players alike.

Pitching was weak against the Texas Rangers, but was revitalized with the debut of left handed pitcher Enny Romero.  The pitcher debuted with four and two-thirds innings, but it was enough to alter the momentum of the team.

Romero, fresh from the Dominican Republic, allowed only a single hit in his four and two-thirds innings. The Rays announced his debut Saturday night before his start on Sunday.

In a Times brief by Rays beat writer Marc Topkin, this was noted:

“Romero, 22, spent most of the season at Double-A Montgomery. He made one start for Triple-A Durham, throwing eight scoreless innings against Baltimore’s Norfolk team.”

Romero pitched in Double-A this season, putting up a 2.76 ERA. His fastball dominated the game, keeping the Orioles disoriented in the Sunday match-up.

“Unfortunately, they’ve been like workhorses lately but we have a bunch of them down there so we like it when they pitch a little bit less than a little bit more,” pitching coach Jim Hickey said to SunSports.

Just days before, the Rays rotated through over eight pitchers in games, in large part due to a struggling starter rotation. Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Moore and David Price have had shaky starts, which were not recovered in the series against the Rangers.

It’s a transition of pitching strength.

Over the weekend, starting pitcher Alex Cobb pitched twelve over eight and a third innings. In fact, the Orioles only scored once in the game. Cobb was pulled from the game and Rodney wrapped the game up quick.

The Rays must clinch a series against the Yankees to hold on to their top spot in the Wildcard Race.  The series begins tonight at 7:05 at Yankee Stadium in New York, SunSports. Starting pitcher is LHP Matt Moore.

Related articles

• Rays call up Romero for start vs. Orioles (TBO.com)
• Enny Romero Backs Up Bold Tweet in Tampa Bay Rays Debut (bleacherreport.com)