On the signing front-Southern League

I begin the long process of catching up on the massive amount of cards from the second half of last season,but I'm going to do things differently this time.

I'm going to start with the things in the box that I was able to add from my friend in Tennessee in Corey White and the Southern League.
Next time out,I'll devote the post to the Eastern League and my friends there in Jason Christensen along with Tom O'brien.
After that,I'll add my stuff as we went along with the 2012 campaign with my regular travel pals consisting of (at various times) Kendall Morris,Derreck and Tyler Chupak with of course my long term traveling buddy Bill Cover's help as well.

Corey and I traded All Star sets from the AA leagues this season,since the Southern League tilt was in his home park this season.
The biggest pickups from that set from the Southern Division were Arizona righthander Tyler Skaggs,Diamondback outfielder Alfredo Marte and yet another Arizona prospect in powerhitting third baseman Matt Davidson.
The Reds added two from that set with flashy fielding shortstop Didi Gregorious with hard throwing Daniel Carcillo.
Ethan Martin was with the Dodgers then for the set,but I was able to get him later at Reading as well after he was traded to the Phillies and the best of all was the 2011 second overall pick with Seattle's Danny Hultzen signing his all star card and his bowman chrome.
Corey told me that Hultzen was promoted to AAA immediately following the All-Star game.


Corey helped with some players as they came through as well.
Huntsville is a Brewers affiliate and he helped me with several players,most notably a decent amount  for Hunter Morris,Kentrail Davis and Scooter Gennett,all of whom have lots of cards.
Corey also got former Suns manager Darnell Coles to sign some stuff that we didn't get during his tenure here,but I told Corey of the night Coles threw a bucket of balls on the field here.
Corey said Coles smiled and remembered it,but that same night was thrown from the game and did the same thing.
Could it have been that I planted a seed????

Chattanooga is the home for the AA Dodgers and Corey came through again with former Texas Longhorn slugger Kyle Russell,the top two Dodger pitching prospects Zach Lee and now Red Sox Allen Webster.Matt Magill signed his bowman chrome and Chris Withrow signed all three that I sent for him.
Chattanooga had two former big leaguers on their coaching staff and I was able to add both in Franklin Stubbs and Chuck Crim.
Corey reports that Stubbs was somewhat unhappy about signing,but was able to get him for me.

I didn't need as many for the AA Birmingham Barons as I get two shots as them as a White Sox farm club,but I did get Jared Mitchell on his All-Star card along with a older (for the minors) card of Jon Gaston,who was released shortly after his stop in Tennessee.
Same went for the AA Mississippi Braves and I was able to have a few that I missed in Lynchburg finished with Joe Leonard,Zeke Spruill and Sean Gilmartin as notable additions.

The best part of a team that I had few for in the Jacksonville Suns was knocking out a six year old Jamestown card in pitcher Graham Taylor.
Taylor joined another former Hagerstown Sun in Jake Smolinski for that series.

Corey swapped me a Tennesse Smokies set for a Suns and those cards were nice!
The Smokies of note were Jae-Hoon Ha,Matt Cerda,Trey McNutt.Matthew Szczur and former Hagerstown Sun Michael Burgess along with former Colorado top pick Casey Weathers,who continues his comeback from arm woes.
Weathers being there enabled me to get a lot of old cards out of the box and into the signed binder!
I also added two old Jake Brigham cards finished after Brigham was acquired in the Ryan Dempster trade with Texas by the Cubs.

The newest team in baseball hit Tennessee late in the season as the Reds AA squad,the Pensacola Blue Wahoos arrived and Corey said the signing front with Seiverville was like never before with the arrival of shortstop Billy Hamilton,who would set the record for steals in a season.
Corey's report was that the scene was nuts,but he did get Billy on a Midwest league prospect card,so thanks for braving the riot!
Long time Indian farmhand Beau Mills added two straggler cards as well.
Juan Carlos Sulbaran was a pitcher that I had tons for and Corey came through with Sulbaran,who was traded in the middle of a game against the Smokies.
Corey asked for something from him,since the equipment would not be re-used and J.C.returned with a game used Pensacola hat,which he then signed!
Cool stuff!

Mobile finished things up and the Diamondback team had former Pirate Jay Bell as their manager,who Corey got everything of as and in a really cool card of Smokies coach Mariano Duncan that features Bell sliding in on Duncan finishing a double play,Corey was able to get both players to sign the card!
It looks super sharp!
Some other Bay Bears of note that weren't in the All-Star set were Chris Owings,former White Sox farmhand David Holmberg,Eric Smith,former James Madison pitcher Kevin Munson (love those college cards) and former Pirate Brett Lorin on his 2011 Bradenton card.
Lorin was always very nice when I got him in the past.

That wraps up the SL tour and I would like to thank Corey for all his help.
I hope I was able to help you as well and keep an eye out for something that I mailed out today to you.
Hope you like it and thanks again for everything!!!!

Giants gain one more day...

The San Francisco Giants are not known for their power hitting,but the Giants led the game off with one blast by Angel Pagan,had another one in the next inning by Gregor Blanco to bolster the lead and then used a massive homer by Pablo Sandoval to put the Cincinnati Reds away as the Giants raced away to a 8-3 win and tie the NLDS at two games apiece.
Tim Lincecum fired four and a third innings from the bullpen to earn the win after Barry Zito was unable to complete the required five innings from a starter to qualify for a win.
Game five will be Thursday afternoon at 1:00 in Cincinnati with the winner moving on and the loser having its season ended.

Giant Steps

1) I had written yesterday that the Giants bats were going to have to erupt with Barry Zito on the mound and they did just that with eight runs,but the Reds had their chances early on,but left ten men on base including the bases loaded in one instance.

2) Bruce Bochy is often maligned by the Giants fan base,but he managed the early innings like he would the final two and as a result on this afternoon shut the Reds down.
Bochy yanked Zito well before he might have in a normal game,used matchups (Jose Linares to face Joey Votto in the 4th) to get outs one at a time and double switched early in the game to get the maximum use of Tim Lincecum.
On this day,thumbs up.

3) As for Tim Lincecum,it has been well documented that this has been a nightmare season for him,but today in the pressure filled cauldron that is playoff baseball,Lincecum turned back the clock and was the "freak" of old.
Lincecum allowed just one run and two hits in just under five innings with six strikeouts.
Could this be a down the road snapshot of Lincecum's future as a bullpen ace?

4) Pablo Sandoval's homer off Jose Arrendondo was just crushed.
The bomb to deep right disappeared down a open space and bounced into the deep recesses of the stadium.
Great American Ballpark is a noted hitters park,but I would wager that the park had little to do with the length of that shot.

5) As surprising as the Giants slugging was the clear surprise was the second inning homer by Gregor Blanco.
Blanco is the latest journeyman outfielder that hits San Francisco and suddenly boosts themselves up a level over their track record.
Blanco and Andres Torres before him are players that are nothing special before and after their Giants tenure,but overachieve by the bay.

6) Matt Cain struggles against the Reds,Mat Latos pitches well against the Giants,so on paper the fifth game favors the Reds,but the playoffs are often a different animal,where the opposite happens.
We will see in a short 12 hours....

Photo Credit:AP Photo

Giants stay alive with extra stanza win

The San Francisco Giants bats did not have much in them in two losses to the Cincinnati Reds at home by McCovey Cove and the bats did not appear to travel with them as the Giants only rapped three hits in ten innings against Cincinnati hurling,with two of the three in the tenth.
Fortunately,San Francisco manufactured runs in the third and tenth,using every possible manner beside the scattered hits to score runners.
The Giants used a walk,a hit batsman and a sac fly by Angel Pagan to score in the third to force the extra play and after leadoff singles by Buster Posey and a gimpy Hunter Pence,used a passed ball by Reds backstop Ryan Hanigan to set the stage for an error by usually leather friendly Scott Rolen of the Reds off the stick of Joaquin Arias to stave off elimination with a 2-1 win.
The Reds still lead the series two games to one,so the Giants are still one loss away today from ending their season.
Sergio Romo pitched the ninth and tenth to earn the teams first post-season win of the season.
The Giants will send lefthander Barry Zito this afternoon with Cincinnati undecided on their pitcher as they have to choose between Mat Latos and Mike Leake.

Giants Steps

1) I didn't have much to write about in the two losses,which is why I didn't.
Game one was spent at the work office jumping back and forth with the Ohio State-Nebraska game and Game two was so lopsided that I decided to say to heck with it.
This one though was able to be watched from beginning to end.

2) I have never been a Ryan Vogelsong fan dating back to his days as a Pirate,but getting through five innings with his control way off,showed some grit.
Vogelsong has struggled badly over the last month and I was a bit hesitant when I saw that Bruce Bochy was going with him over Tim Lincecum,but it was a passable start considering....

3) Give it up for the San Francisco pen-four pitchers,five innings and just one hit.
The Giants bullpen was questioned by some entering the series and maybe with justification,but not on this day...

4) Those of you fantasy baseball players out there should take notice of Homer Bailey of the Reds.
Bailey,who no hit the Pirates last month,struck out ten and allowed just one hit in seven innings.
The power armed Bailey had great command of his fastball,which has taken some time for him to grasp at the major league level.
Watch for Homer Bailey to break out next season and give the Reds a big three that can match anyone in their rotation with Bailey,Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos,

5) Interesting note as with the exception of role players (not playing every night) Joaquin Arias and Gregor Blanco,only Buster Posey is hitting above the Mendoza line for the series.
Going to be tough to win these next two games with weak sticks such as that.

6) Hunter Pence did not have a hit in the series until his final at bat,in which he limped up the line with awful calf cramps.
If Pence does not get rolling (or at least avoid cramps) today,it becomes difficult for the Giants to win.

7) Why the above? Barry Zito may win games,but he always gives up runs.
For the Giants to win today,it will take at least three runs and likely more..

8) Contact? Not much to see here as the Giants struck out an eye popping 16 times.
Yuck!

More on Game four from the road office later tonight!

Reviewing the tape:Browns drop to 0-5

The Cleveland Browns raced off to 14-0 lead in New York and my comrade for the day-"Hank" said the Browns looked good and might be on their way to a win.
I wasn't so sure as I had doubts on covering the Giants pass catchers.
Not only did that prove to be correct as Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz three times for touchdowns,but the ground game could not be stopped either as Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for over 200 yards in a 41-27 win for the Giants.
The Browns drop to 0-5 with the defeat and will host the Bengals next Sunday in Cleveland.

Brownie Bits

1) Good news for Brandon Weeden as he threw for just short of 300 yards and two touchdowns,but the best snippet of the day was the long touchdown pass to a streaking Josh Gordon in the first quarter.
Weeden showed the one edge that he has over backup Colt McCoy as he almost effortlessly tossed the ball to Gordon.
Weeden has his share of questions,but arm strength isn't one of them.
I hope the Browns continue to allow him to toss the deep ball and even do more of it.

2) Bad news for Brandon Weeden as he tossed two interceptions and neither were "good" picks.
The first was a ball that he should have thrown away and instead threw off his back foot and prayed.
Inexperience came to the front on that one and he hopefully will learn from that as the Giants easily ended a scoring drive.

3) The second pick might have worse as Cleveland had gotten to the Giants ten yard line and a touchdown would have trimmed the Giants lead to just one score,but Weeden never took his eyes off Ben Watson and Chase Blackburn made the easy interception.

4) More Weeden,I know everyone makes mistakes but the pass off a deflected pass by Weeden (illegal to make two forward passes) looks bad when you consider some of his other decisions.
Some of that is part of the process,but starting to occasionally wonder about where Weeden's head is at all times...

5) I know the Cleveland media is ripping Pat Shurmur for not even having Trent Richardson on the field on a third and one that saw Weeden's first pick result and maybe so,but maybe I am numb to this stuff but I have seen that call SO many times by the West Coast posse coaches that I just understand how they think.
That situation screamed that call from the Holmgren,Reid etc family tree that I saw the call coming and the Giants had to see it as well...

6) Two receivers had nice games with Jordan Norwood catching nine passes and Josh Gordon catching two TD's.
Gordon showed what he is capable of by just blowing back the Giant defender and outrunning him on the 62 yard TD pass.
I like Gordon's strength and speed,but the downside was that he had eight passes thrown his way and only grabbed the two touchdowns on the day.
Not all of that is on Gordon,but there is still work to do.

7) I figured the Browns would have trouble covering and they did so.
Dmitri Patterson was beat once by Victor Cruz and wound up missing the second half with an ankle injury that will see him miss a few games.
Typical Browns luck as Patterson leaves just as Joe Haden returns.
This team is just so weak in the back seven that any injury just kills this team...

8) More injuries as the Browns lost the aforementioned Patterson,D'Qwell Jackson and Ahtyba Rubin during the game.
Take those three guys out of the lineup along with Haden and the Browns defense is not just bad,it's barely pro level...

9) Trent Richardson continues to impress despite defenses being geared to stop him.
Richardson does not take plays off and I think that he is going to be the best back Cleveland has seen since Leroy Kelly.
High praise,I know,but Richardson has proven himself to me.

10) I expected the Browns to be 0-5,after the loss to Buffalo and these losses have shown some signs of progress even in defeat.
The next two weeks will tell just how far they have come.
The Browns "battled" the Bengals tough in Cincinnati and now they get them at home and the Colts in Indianapolis will go some distance is seeing forward movement as the two teams are so similar.
2-5 buys the team some time.0-7 not so much even if more progress is made.

Photo Credit:John Kuntz:Cleveland Plain Dealer

Terry Francona in as Tribe bench boss

I'll get to the Browns review of the tape of their loss in New York to the Giants tomorrow and maybe a look at the West Coast Giants baseball version's two home losses to the Reds as well.
I thought that the Indians hiring of Terry Francona as the new Cleveland manager should take precedence today and a few thoughts on what I think on this topic

Well,what I think about is this-What is Terry Francona thinking???
This is a manager with two titles on his resume' and this is the job that he takes?
The man that ended the Curse wants this job?
And he WANTS to work with Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti?

OK,Terry Francona is quite an addition to the organization-I get that,but to take over a bad baseball team with little hope on the horizon for impact help from the minor system shows that Francona was pretty desperate to return to the field.
Keep in mind that the great minds that put the Indians in this situation are still the same people running the team in Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti and as good of a manager as Francona is,his experience in Philadelphia with the Phillies when the team was in a similar situation as the Indians (read bad baseball club) shows just how much a manager can do with a lack of talent.
Francona never won more than 77 games in four full seasons with the Phillies and yet won two titles in Boston.
Rule of thumb-good managers cannot overrule bad talent,but bad managers can ruin good talent.
Terry Francona is undeniably a good manager and the Indians would have been lambasted in the media had the Tribe made an uninspiring hire,but unless the front office gets their act together and I see no reason to believe that will happen anytime soon.

Francona knows the way things are done with the Indians having spent time with the organization before accepting the Boston position,so he cannot go into this blind.
He knows the teams less than stellar record in trades and free agency,the awful drafting and player development and Francona has to know about having one of the smallest budgets in the game to work with.

So again,the question-Why would Terry Francona want this job?
It has to come down to love of the game and maybe his love of the Indians>
I cannot come up with any other reason.
I wish him luck,he'll need it....

Photo Credit:Aaron Josefcyk:Reuters

Run and Gun in the Big Ten!

Big Ten football is not known for high powered offensive shootouts,but one was delivered in Columbus as Ohio State pounded Nebraska 63-38 to improve their record to 6-0 and 2-0 in the Big Ten.
It was the Buckeye ground attack that led the way as Braxton Miller finished with 186 yards and a touchdown while Carlos Hyde rushed for 140 more yards to go with four touchdowns.
Ohio State will face Indiana next week in an attempt to go 7-0..

Buckeye Leaves

1) This has nothing to do with the win,but I couldn't help but think of Gene Smith,the athletic director at OSU.
Had Smith shown a bit of forethought and kept a 6-6 team at home last year instead of meaningless Gator Bowl trip,this team might be headed for the National Championship game.

It is those types of decisions that should get people fired...

2) For the first time under Urban Meyer,I saw an offensive line that was blowing holes in the defense and allowing runners to go through them instead of relying on Braxton Miller to scramble around and make something happen.
The line is beginning to jell and that does not bode well for the remaining Big Ten foes...

3) Bradley Roby intercepted two passes,bringing one back for a touchdown and the other deep into Husker territory to set another score up.
Roby reminds me of a corner that will make and allow big plays,but is not a true shutdown corner.
Roby is a gambler and as frustrating as that can be,will make plenty of big plays....

4) I talk John Simon every week,but what a dominant player he was again with five tackles for loss and two sacks.
Even when Taylor Martinez managed to get a pass off,he still was contending with Simon and Jonathan Hankins consistently.
The defensive line is starting to get the bully mentality of beating down an opponent.

5) What else can I say about Braxton Miller?
Miller still runs the ball more than I would care for him to and he still needs more touch on his long to intermediate passes,but Miller even is improving there as shown on his 18 yard pass over the middle to tight end Jeff Heuerman.
Braxton Miller might not be an NFL quarterback,but he is perfect for Urban Meyer and the college offensive game...

6) Another thought on this game from the what if club,What if Jordan Hall,the best back had played would Ohio State finished with even more than 371 yards on the ground,which was a record number allowed by Nebraska?
Maybe,but not much of a difference.
Hall might have used his breakaway speed for more yardage,but that likely would have trimmed Braxton Miller's numbers a bit..

7) Backbreaker in this one? Has to be the Corey Brown punt return for a score in the third quarter.That moved the lead to 18 points and a visible sag in the Nebraska shoulders.
You could see in the body language that Nebraska knew that this game was finished.

8) Ohio State did allow 38 points and that (of course) is far too many,but some of that came when Ben Burkhead was in the game before a third period injury.
Ohio State was having major issues stopping Burkhead as he averaged over eight yards a carry when he was in the game.
Without Burkhead,Taylor Martinez was forced to throw both by being behind in the game,but having the main horse of the ground game unavailable to him.

9) Etienne Sabino left the game in the first half and did not return.
The fifth year senior is not the Buckeyes best linebacker,but he is immensely valuable due to his experience as the remaining backers with the most playing time are not veteran players other than Ryan Shazier,who played a lot despite being a sophomore.
Sabino's injury will be a interesting one to follow next week....

10) I still would like to see the Buckeyes take care of the ball better.
Braxton Miller coughed up two (lost one) and Carlos Hyde lost another on a drive that could have ended this game sooner than it was.
Fumbles will happen with mobile quarterbacks,but I still think that this problem could be minimized with a few less hits on Miller,which also has the effect of keeping Miller healthier.

11) That leads me to Miller being around for the entire season.
In each of the last two games,Miller has left the game with injuries to an ankle.
The ankle is the anchor for a player that depends on sticking his cleat in the ground and juking the tackler.
When the ankle is weaker,it is only natural that could eventually take a toll on Miller's effectiveness.

12) Very disappointed that next week's Indiana game is a night game as the road office does not have the Big Ten network.
I'll likely watch the first half before I go to work and then if the game is not out of hand,I'll listen via XM at the road office.
No guarantees on a quick recap with that in mind....

Photo Credits;Cleveland Plain Dealer.....

Another quick PPM

Time is short,so another quick PPM!

College Football
Ohio State over Nebraska 21-19
Bowling Green over Akron 25-21
Oklahoma over Texas Tech 31-21
Game of the Week
South Carolina over Georgia 51-43

Pro Football
Giants over Browns 24-14
Saints over Chargers 42-21
Game of the Week
Eagles over Steelers 17-13

Last Week 5-2
Overall 23-8