Bryce Harper is Going Going Gone!

Today's callup of Bryce Harper to AA Harrisburg ends "Harpermania" in Hagerstown and slowly eases Bryce Harper into the pages of Suns history.
Oh,you'll still see the Harperstown shirts around for a few years as they dwindle in number and the Suns would be less than smart if they did not do some sort of Harper related giveaway next season for the collecting crowd,but Bryce Harper is beginning to make the transition from player to memory in Hagerstown.

What kind of a legacy will Harper have here?
Well,to the average fan that saw him play a few times,Bryce Harper will be remembered for long homers,a powerful throwing arm and autograph lines that almost could have walked him to Harrisburg.
I do not want to speak for the average Suns regular,but I would wager that most of them are not unhappy to see Harper hit the bricks out of town.
It certainly weakens the team on the field,but the fan experience just improved 100 percent at the Muni.
The fan that came to games to see Bryce Harper will now drive up I-81 and leave us fans here in the Hub City alone to enjoy our little club without the invaders looking to get something signed from the baseball messiah (this coming from an autograph geek) or just wishing to see the projected "next big thing".

I never spoke to Bryce Harper in his three months here in Hagerstown.
Never asked him for an autograph (Full Disclosure,David Sloan did get me one for my collection),never asked for anything from him.
I just sat back and watched the show from the cheap seats and I did not always like what I saw.
Some nights,it was not bad-long homers and his consistent hustling play made one unable to find issues with his efforts.
I think very highly of Harper as a player and a prospect and on those nights,he was usually accommodating to the fans and signed for many fans-those were the good nights.

However,there were the bad nights,that saw the immaturity of temper tantrums,the refusal to even look at fans as Harper trotted onto the field (or sprinted off) as if the residents of this small town were beneath the latest sports hero of exalted status as dubbed by various media.
As Harper's stay lengthened,he began to revert to his behavior when he first hit town acting as if he was above it all.
A recent conversation that I witnessed went like this.
Person-"Hey,Bryce,great game last night,nice shot".
Harper-"sdieif" at a low decibel that only dogs and people as close as I was could hear that much.

I will not miss watching people not just ask for any autograph,but literally beg and lower themselves for Bryce Harper to sign an item.
Some of these people would get their item signed and others would not,but even if you were lucky enough to get the signature,would the memory truly be a good one?
I mean,it was not just asking in many cases,but literally lowering yourself to the begging area for the chance of an eighteen year old "Mr Harper" to scribble his name on your item?
To me,that would not be worth remembering.

I often comment on the weirdness of this hobby that I am involved in.
I got into the hobby as a way of staying close to the game that I love after simply tiring of the politics of youth baseball and it is fun for me even to this day.
As I once said to Battlin' Bob about this blog and about his -"When the day comes that it is not fun,stop doing it",that applies to the autograph hobby as well.
When it is not fun,I'll quit.
Really,when you boil it down,what we do is ask young men to sign their name on pieces of cardboard.
Silly?Yep,but not more silly than women driving to Ohio to spend hundreds of dollars to buy baskets to hold house keys in or dressing up like Chewbacca from Star Wars or blowing animals to kingdom come for sport or any other of the millions of things that we Earth inhabitants use to occupy our downtime.

Bryce Harper may or may not be the player that many fans expect to see patrolling the outfield for the Washington Nationals,but despite some nice stories about the night he slammed a ball over right center in a shot that ranks as the longest shot I have seen in Hagerstown and being possibly the best player to spend a decent amount of time in a Hagerstown Suns uniform,the overall experience was bittersweet at best.
And now,life returns to normal and back to what makes me come to the parks that I visit-the game that I love so much..

Photo Credit:Cherie Heimberger

First on the "Marquis"

The Pittsburgh Pirates managed a split of their series with the Washington Nationals with a 10-2 blasting that saw eight Pirate runs off Jason Marquis and Collin Balester in the first two innings.

Sorry about no link,no record for winning pitcher Kevin Correia and no other information.
I'll clean this up tomorrow,but I do not want to find out the results of today's afternoon game against Houston and doing those links adds to the chance of me finding out the result....

Pirate Hooks

1) Andrew McCutchen just murdered the ball in the series.
I have no exact numbers,but it seemed like every at bat resulted in a bullet to the gap.
Cutch has really hit the gas of late and had he started just a hair sooner.....

2) Would have easily made the All-Star team.
The All-Stars is not really the achievement that it should be considering the process,but choosing by the player ability and nothing more-McCutchen should have been there...

3) Not that Joel Hanrahan and his perfect 24/24 in save chances didn't deserve it,he certainly did,but credibility takes time and until the Pirates earn respect,they are going to be a one player team....

4) The Bucs returned Brad Lincoln to Indianapolis after his Saturday start and added Chris LeRoux from AAA.
LeRoux mopped up the ninth inning of the win.
So essentially,it was LeRoux for Tim Wood,which is fine with me....

Sorry for the short post.,but check the reasons above for the shortness.
Another post coming soon.

Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

Klitschko dominates Haye

The first round or two had some interesting moments and round twelve was entertaining, but the sandwich in between was pretty dull as Wladimir Klitschko added the WBA heavyweight belt to a stocked trophy case in a lopsided unanimous decision win over David Haye.

The only counted knockdown came in round 11 when Haye, who had been slipping/pushed to the canvas all fight had one counted as a knockdown.
On the rare occasions that Haye did engage, his looping right did find an occasional target and seemed to have stunned Klitschko in the final round, but the punch only emboldened the IBF champ as he opened up his offense and hit Haye with some quality shots.
Klitschko used his jab and stuck with it in a bout that was far from a classic but was not as awful as Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant of HBO seemed to think.
Merchant was in rare form in his role as a cranky curmudgeon and dropped a few lines that had Ryan and I laughing out loud.

The best part might have been a pre-fight video that looked to be right out of World War II-era complete with "Read all about it" paperboy and Vitali Klitschko along with George Foreman reading papers on a park bench with German subtitles.
Hilarious and add in Foreman rapping on Klitschko's dressing room door at fight time brought back memories of the WCW Goldberg entrance.

All and all, not a great bout, but some entertaining stuff and had a great time watching it with Ryan.






AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE

"Fryed" and split

The key plays in the nightcap of the doubleheader were by rookie catcher Eric Fryer,who threw the ball into left field in the eighth inning to allow Washington to score the tying run and could not come up with the throw from right field as Washington scored what proved to be the winning run in a 4-3 Pirates loss.
Tony Watson was the loser in his first MLB decision.
The Pirates won the non-televised opener with three runs in the last two innings to grab a 5-3 W.
Jose Veras was the winner (2-2) with Joel Hanrahan finishing for his 24th save.
Andrew McCutchen (12) and Garrett Jones (9) homered in the victory.
The series finishes today with Kevin Correia (10-6 3.79 ERA) taking on Jason Marquis (7-2 3.62 ERA) at 1:35.....

Pirate Hooks

1) Keeping things to Game two for the most part,but Andrew McCutchen hit for the cycle between the two games.Cutch has been on fire recently and is making a real bid for his first trip to the All-Star game.

2) Brad Lincoln looked good in his spot start appearance in allowing two runs over six innings.
Lincoln struck out four and walked three,but his control of the fastball seemed to be improved.
Lincoln needed that control as he threw very few breaking pitches and stayed with the fastball for the most part...

3) Eric Fryer did get his first big league hit in the loss.
I have problems being too hard on Fryer because he is simply beyond his level right now due to the Pirates catching woes.
Hard to believe that just six weeks ago,Fryer was backing up Tony Sanchez at AA Altoona and he now has to be relied on as a big league alternative...

4) That said and Fryer's throw was not great,but Brandon Wood HAS to at least knock that ball down.
The throw was not so awful that Wood had no chance and the third baseman needs to pick an inexperienced catcher up on occasion.
Wood did not.

5) Tim Wood was sent down to Indianapolis to make room for Lincoln.
After his poor outing on Friday,I see no other viable option to drop from the roster...

6) The Pirates were not expected to make a huge Latin American push this season,but they did sign Colombian outfielder Harold Ramirez for 1.05 million.
Baseball America ranked Ramirez 15th in their Latin rankings and as a plus runner and bat....

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

Klitschko vs Haye

A quick selection on today's Heavyweight title unification between IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko and WBA titlist David Haye in Germany.

This is the most important heavyweight fight in years and has the potential to be a wild one,IF Haye fights as aggressively as he talks.
Both fighters have plus power and both have been knocked out in the past,so anything could happen,but I'll take the bigger Klitschko by a late round stoppage,but if the odds were right,I would not be against a few bucks on an early round Haye stoppage.
Haye has to get get Klitschko out early,the longer this one goes,the more likely a Klitschko win becomes....
The bout is televised by HBO at 4:45 EST live with a replay later in the evening.

Coverage here today or tomorrow on the fight.

Devils re-sign Greene and Hedberg

The New Jersey Devils chose to not take part in the apparently insane free agent signings yesterday and instead kept their dollars in house with the re-signing of defenseman Andy Greene and goalie Johan Hedberg.

Greene was signed to a four year deal for 12 million over the life of the deal.
The cost was not excessive when you look at the deals handed out yesterday,three million per for a player that already knows your system is not out of control.
My biggest red mark is the length.
Signing Andy Greene to a four year contract means that the Devils defensive corps is going to be pretty much intact for the next few seasons on the veteran side (Greene,Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder) and the teams hope for an impact player resides with the development of first round draft pick Adam Larsson.
If this was a two or even a three year agreement,I would like it a bit more and if there is one valid criticism of Devils GM Lou Lamiorello,it is that he has given contracts that have run too long in length to more players than has turned out to be prudent.

Johan Hedberg signed a one year deal to remain as Martin Brodeur's backup.
No financial terms have been announced,but this works for me.
Hedberg played reasonably well when Brodeur missed time last season and he is the type that can keep a team competitive in a long term injury situation.
The signing also enables the Devils to keep younger goalies such as Jeff Frazee playing in Albany instead of sitting in Newark...

A trade that has been sitting in my inbox for a week or two saw the Devils attempt to upgrade their defensive corps in Albany as the team obtained defenseman Maxim Noreau from Minnesota for David McIntyre.
The 24 year old Noreau led AHL defensemen in points on the power play and finished third among them in overall points from a defenseman.
This will have little effect on the parent club,but it should be a huge pickup for the AHL unit....

Photo Credit:AP Photo

Wood not Woodward

Tim Wood pitched more like Bob Woodward last night in Washington and it was the difference in a 2-1 Pittsburgh loss in Washington to the Nationals.
Wood took the deserved loss (0-3) in a game that once again featured little from the Pirate bats.
The series continues today with a doubleheader with no television for Game 1 (More on that below).
The Pirates will send James McDonald (5-4 4.52 ERA) in the first game against Livan Hernandez (5-8 3.81 ERA) with Brad Lincoln making his season debut against John Lannan (5-5 3.48 ERA) in the nightcap.

Pirate Hooks

1) If you really wanted to blame someone besides Tim Wood for the ninth inning,try Clint Hurdle.
Hurdle pulled Charlie Morton,who had pitched brilliantly too early,forced him to use Tony Watson in the sixth instead of the seventh and then used three more pitchers (McCutchen,Moskos and Resop) in the seventh and eighth.
Wood really was the only choice if you do not want to wear out Jose Veras and Chris Resop by using both every night,but with more judicious use by Hurdle,it could have been one of the already used hurlers on the mound in the ninth instead of Wood.....

2) Great job by Chris Resop,who killed a Nationals threat in the eighth by striking out all three Nationals batters with the lead run on third.Resop's stuff was just nasty in this one....

3) Charlie Morton was sharp as well in his return to the rotation after skipping a start for some needed rest.
Morton allowed just three hits in just under six innings of work and other than his homer allowed to Roger Bernadina,looked like the pitcher that started the season so strongly....

4) The Pirates offense continues to slumber with just six hits and no player with multiple hits on the day.
Much of this is due to the constant shuffling of players in and out due to injuries,but if the Pirates want to stay in the NL Central chase,the hitting needs to pick up.
I do not see the pitching getting any better in the second half and it is more likely to drop a bit,so the needed punch has to make up the difference...

5) The first game of today's doubleheader is not televised due to the silly MLB restrictions on the Fox game of the week also known as the Yankees and/or Red Sox game of the week.
I normally rail about paying for the Extra Innings package and missing these "paid for" games,but this time it is worse when you consider that the game is involving Washington and in my MLB "local area" and it still is not televised?
MLB's television policy is the worst of the four major sports-Bar None!

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images