Much to the dissapointment of many Goldeyes fans who I've spoken with, the Winnipeg Goldeyes have traded starting pitcher, and fan favorite Matt Rusch to Trois-Rivieres Aigles the Can-Am League at his request.
Matt Rusch
Rusch ended up with the Goldeyes two years ago because his girlfriend was moving here for a job. It's believed that his girlfriend is now moving back to Quebec, and Rusch asked to be traded for that reason. He'd previously played two seasons with the Quebec Capitales of the Can-Am League before playing in Winnipeg for two seasons.
It's a tough situation for Forney, who didn't want to trade the right-hander, but sometimes in independent baseball that's the name of the game.
"This was a tough trade for us to make because Matt brought so much to our organization and helped us win a championship two years ago," Forney said. "He expressed the desire and need to get back to the east and we're happy to accommodate him."
Cam Kneeland
In return, the Goldeyes acquired the reversionary rights to infielder Cam Kneeland. The 23 year old Kneeland is a versatile infielder who played first base, third base, and short stop for the Aigles last year. However, Kneeland's contract was purchased by the Baltimore Orioles, so the Goldeyes would only retain his services of he's released by Baltimore.
"He's a good young player that I really liked a lot last year," Forney said. "We had a chance to see him in six games against Trois-Rivieres. He was a real difference maker on that team. We wish him the best in his endeavour with the Orioles, but if it doesn't work out with them, we'd be awfully excited to have him be part of our organization."
In 99 games with Trois-Riveres, Kneeland hit .306 with nine homers and 62 RBI. He also had a .364 on base percentage. He finished fourth in average in the Can-Am League, and third in RBI.
A short 30 for 30 film was brought to my attention by my astute colleague Marc "Marcy Marc" Legace, that is perfectly fitting in this blog. (Side-note: If you love documentary films, and sports, you have to watch the 30 for 30 films, they're amazing.)
It tells the story of Henry and Holly Stephenson. A couple who made the entire Major League Baseball schedule, with a pencil, and some pieces of paper.
That's 30 teams, each playing 162 games, with heavy travel, and many other things that team's want to work around specific dates. The Stephenson's did it all.
I will let the film speak for itself, it's about twelve minutes long, and it's a nice, home-oriented, and heart-warming story about a modest couple who writes schedules.
Let me start by saying that this is not a post dedicated strictly to baseball. This is a post pertaining to sports, in particular sports culture, and what I think is so messed up about it.
I love sports, I always have, and I always will. But every now and then something happens in the sports world that shakes my confidence in not one, but all sports and the people who play them. This, of course is an initial reaction. Any betting person would say that the majority of athletes, and people associated with sports in general are nice people. When I step back to think about it for a bit, I realize that's it's just one rotten, crappy apple in the bunch.
Jonathan Martin
This moment recently came to me when I heard news of Miami Dolphins offensive linemen Richie Incognito, and his "less than acceptable" actions that got him suspended from the team. Or as I like to call them, his stupid, dumb, asinine, ignorant, stupid, stupid actions.
For those not familiar with the situation, let me give a brief background. Richie Incognito was suspended from the Dolphins for conduct that was deemed "detrimental to the team." Which is a nice way of saying he was being a bully. What Incognito really did was send text messages, and leave his rookie teammate Jonathan Martin voice-mails that were racist, and threatening.
While I do have a HUGE problem with that, he's just a shitty apple in the bunch. Though, this isn't the first time this year that the NFL has had to deal with racist remarks by one of their players. Before the season even started Philadelphia Eagles receiver Riley Cooper had been caught on film hurling racial slurs at an African-American security guard at a country music concert.
My real problem is with the people defending Incognito's actions. A lot of people who I've talked to have said that there is no other side to this issue, what he did is bad and that's that. I think that's just simplifying a complex issue. Maybe I'm reiterating what the majority of people think, I really hope I am, but from what I've seen on Twitter, there are some people who are throwing out the words "locker-room culture" or saying that Martin himself should share some of the blame. One incredibly ignorant example of that is the New York Giants Antrel Rolle saying that Martin should share the blame because he let it happen, which is the dumbest thing I've heard come from the entire thing. Hey Antrel, not everyone deals with bullying the same way as you do. There's no universal code on how to deal with bullies. Everyone handles it in their own way, and guess what? Sometimes people get upset by it, and it begins to ruin something they love.
I've seen people saying that Martin is a "big boy" so bullying isn't an issue for him. Really? REALLY?!?! Do they really believe that? I've seen sports fans get into fights because someone else is wearing a different jersey, or because they said their teams sucks. Sometimes sports fans can be so blind and ignorant they don't see the hypocrisy in their own words. If they get so upset about those things, imagine a teammate doing and saying those things, someone who's supposed to support you.
Plain and simple, those are all tiresome and ignorant defenses of bullying in sports. Because no matter what a players status is with any team, be it at the high school level, college level, or the pro level, they deserve to be treated with respect. BECAUSE SPORTS DOES NOT TRANSCEND THE LAWS OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIGNITY.
And there's no measure for my hatred of the words "locker-room culture." I've experience this so called "culture", and let me tell you it can be a terrible place sometimes. I've heard words like "fag" tossed around constantly, and yes, even racial slurs sometimes, for no reason at all. Though most of the time these words aren't meant to be hurtful in any way, they are, and they make people feel uncomfortable.
Rookie hazing isn't about hazing at all. Hazing is assault, and it's a crime. Yeah, someone's a rookie, so make them get the towels, make them fill the water bottles, maybe at the pro level they buy dinner from time to time, and if they don't want to do it then there's no way you can force them to, so if they say no, get up and grab your own damn water bottle.
Let's look at an example of Montreal Canadiens rookie Nathan Beaulieu. What the Canadiens did here is a classic NHL rookie prank. They let the rookie lead the team onto the ice, and stop behind him so he skates around by himself for a bit. Every team does it, and no one was physically harmed, no one was threatened, and no one was bullied.
But when you take it a step to far, when you physically or verbally threaten someone with homophobic or racist names and do it on a regular basis, that's bullying. There's no other term to describe the actions of Mr. Incognito. I've seen some things similar to it, and I find it disgusting.
All I can tell you is that if I were a coach and this happened on my team, you can be damn sure that that person would never play for me ever again. In fact, I would go out of my way to ensure that they never play their sport ever again, because people like Richie Incognito don't deserve to play in their sport.
I've always held the opinion that people who use racially offensive terms, whether they mean them seriously or not, are racists. Richie Incognito is a racist person, a disgrace, and he should never play another down of football in the NFL.
There is no logical defense for Incognito's actions, only ignorant one's. I don't care how important Incognito might be to his team, he shouldn't be allowed to play in the NFL ever again. I can only hope that the NFL and the NFL Players Association take the necessary steps to make an example of him, and let other players in the league know that this kind of crap won't be tolerated. There is no place for this in any sport, respect and human dignity DO NOT END AT SPORTS CULTURE. Sports is not exempt from those societal rules.
Though I do think that this is an isolated incident, (and I really really hope it is) I think that the term "locker-room culture" can, and should be re-appropriated. Your teammates should be your friends, they should support you. The locker-room culture should be a culture of promotion and acceptance. Once we start cracking down on, and condemning people like Richie Incognito, maybe we can begin to work towards that.
It was a magical year for the Boston Red Sox. Wait, that sounds lame, let me rephrase. It was an awesome freaking year for the Boston Red Sox. And an awsome night for Boston fans who witnessed their team win the World Series at home for the first time in 95 years, I think it's safe to say no one at Fenway Park last night had ever seen the Red Sox win a World Series at home. They'd have to be at least 100 to remember something like that. Not a lot of 100-year-olds are attending baseball games anymore.
The Red Sox have won two World Series' in the past ten years prior to this one, both on the road. In 2002 they swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games and ended the series in St. Louis. In 2007 they swept the Colorado Rockies, and ended the series away from Boston that year as well. And although those World Series victories are special, this one might be extra special.
Why was this year so special? Why does this Red Sox team get so much credit? After all, they are a big budget team with big wallets aren't they? Perhaps. But this team was different.
After winning just 69 games in 2012, and having what was their worst year in recent memory, the Red Sox needed to make a change.
They ditched some payroll by shipping the likes of Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, and Josh Beckett to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They fired their awful manager Bobby Valentine, hired former Blue Jays manager John Farrell, and they brought in some free agents who did their jobs, and the did them well.
They brought in Mike Napoli, a long time vet who contributed 23 homers and 92 RBI to the team this regular season. He finished with a .259 batting average and a solid .360 on-base percentage. He also brought a fierce passion and desire to win. He hit some big home-runs down the stretch to help the Red Sox clinch the division title. He also chipped in with timely hits during their playoff run.
They brought in Johnny Gomes, who also had a good year with the Sox. Though he didn't put up the numbers the Napoli did, Gomes came up huge for the Sox smacking 13 homers and 62 RBI in what was limited playing time due to the emergence of Daniel Nava. The Sox also went 10-1 in the playoffs when Gomes was in the lineup.
They brought inShane Victorino, the former Philadelphia Philly, who'd been described to me by a co-worker as a "has been". What Victorino brought to the team was speed, willingness to do whatever he needed to do to win, a veteran presence, and he wasas clutch as almost anyone in the playoffs. (Excluding his teammate nicknamed "Big Papi".) Victorino has 20 RBI's in the playoffs with the bases are loaded. Two grand-slams, one with Boston this year, and one with the Phillie's in 2007, and a three run double tonight sure helped him get there.
There was so much about this team that led them to where they are after last nights win. They worked hard, they wore pitchers down, and they had a different hero every night. Whether it was Big Papi's grand-slam against the Tigers, Victorinio's grand-slam in the same series, Napoli's home runs, Stephen Drew's fielding, the all around play of Dustin Pedroia, there was a different hero every night for this team. They knew what it would take to win, and they did it. They worked hard, they played for each other, and became more than a team.
I know this all sounds cliche, and that is a fair point, but if you watched this team progress as the year went on, a cliche is all you can use to describe this team, there's no other way to put it. They went from worst, to first, and they earned every inch of it.
The city of Boston needed a win, not just a win for their baseball team, but a win for the whole city. We all remember the bombings that happened at the Boston Marathon earlier in the year. What the Sox did was give the people of Boston something to cheer for, they gave them something to believe in. And with the Red Sox logo mowed into center-field with the worlds "Boston Strong" beneath it, the team went out and did just that.
Again, I know this all sounds very cliche, but great teams deserve high praise. And sports types love cliches, so why not use them?
In a series clinching game six, it all started with a single by lead-off man Jacoby Ellsbury in the 4th. After Dustin Pedroia advanced him to second, Johnny Gomes got hit by a pitch, and St. Louis rookie Michael Wacha gave the intentional walk to David Ortiz. Up steps Victorino who doubles off the green monster, driving in all three runs to give the Sox a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third.
Stephen Drew then put the game away for good, homering in the bottom of the fourth. Drew, who was 1 for 11 in the series up until that point took a Wacha pitch over the wall and into the bullpen for just his second hit of the series.
After that it was all Red Sox. Napoli and Victorino would drive in another RBI each, and the Sox cruised to a 6-1 World Series clinching victory.
Veteran John Lackey picked up the win for the Red Sox pitching 6.2 innings while striking out five and walking only one batter.
My God that's a big ass champagne bottle...
David Ortiz was named the World Series MVP (pictured to the left with that looks like a mutant champagne bottle.) Ortiz was 11 for 16 in the series with an unheard of .688 batting average with two homers and six RBI. He also finished with a .760 on base percentage.
Honorable mention goes to Red Sox ace John Lester, who went 2-0 in the World Series, pitching 15.2 innings, walking only one batter and striking out 15. Lester also boasted an insanely low ERA of .059. In total Lester was 4-1 in the playoffs with a 1.56 ERA.
Closer Koji Uehara had seven saves in the postseason, two of which came in the World Series. He struck out 16 batters, and didn't walk anyone in any of his appearences. He also posted an extremely low 0.66 ERA. After he entered Game 6, it was all but over.
There's no news on what they're going to do with the beards yet, but I'd say keep them. They look badass.
That's a wrap on another season of Major Leage Baseball. I'm going to try and post as often as possible from here on out, but I will post at least once a week. Give me a follow in Twitter @burnsy004
Hey ya'll. So I'd first like to apologize because I haven't been covering the World Series. I've been very busy. For any of you who are baseball fans, you know that the series is tied at two games a piece with game five being played in St. Louis as I type this.
If I had to make a prediction, I'd say that tonight's game will decide the series. If St. Louis can go back to Boston up 3-2 then they'll only have to win one game in Boston to take the series. If Boston wins tonight and goes up 3-2 it will be next to impossible for the Cards to beat the Sox twice at home. I think tonight's game will decide the series.
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Locally, the Winnipeg Goldeyes have exercised the option on 18 players from the 2013 team for the upcoming 2014 American Association season. The following list of players have had their option exercised for next season.
C- Luis Alen C- Jordan Guida LHP- Gabe Aguilar
LHP- Brendan Lafferty LHP- Mark Hardy (Canadian) LHP- Chris Salamida RHP- Matt Rusch RHP- Matt Jackson RHP- Patrick Keating RHP- Chris Kissock (Canadian) RHP- Kaohi Downing RHP- Taylor Sewitt IF-Yurendell deCaster IF/OF- Josh Mazzola IF/OF- Ryan Scoma IF- Amos Ramon IF- Casey Haerther OF- Ray Sadler These players still need to be signed to American Association contracts, or they can play out their option year with the Goldeyes. Forney would love to get all of these guys back and they'd be a force to be reckoned with if they could. This is a large portion of their core from last year, as well as a solid starting rotation. Should all these players choose to play in Winnipeg for the upcoming season, they'll have built a good team. Forney always does. Two players who didn't have their options exercised were speedsters Fehlandt Lentini, and Tyler Graham. The 36-year-old Lentini, who's currently playing in Mexico, will be given a chance to decide whether or not he wants to retire before the season starts. Graham, who served as the Goldeyes leadoff hitter for the majority of the 2013 season was released for the same reason, but was picked up off waivers by the Sioux City Explorers. This may have something to do with veteran issues, as American Association teams can only carry a certain amount of veteran players. One issue that Forney has to deal with is finding an everyday short stop. After Nate Samson's contract was purchased by the Chicago Cubs last season, Josh Mazzolla, a natural outfielder and first basemen played short for the Goldeyes for the remainder of the season. Although Mazzola did a good job at short, Forney may move him back to the outfield with the departures of Graham and Lentini, and try to find an every day short stop. Two other good American Association outfielders were also released by their teams today. Adam Klein, the 2013 American Association Championship Series MVP was granted release from the Gary-Southshore RailCats for his retirement, and the best name that's ever been, Jeremiah Piepkorn (pronounced "pep-corn") was released by the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. In other Goldeyes news, the American Association has announced that the Fish will host the 2014 American Association All-Star Game and skills competition. This will be the first time since 2010 that the American Association will hold an All-Star game, and Winnipeg has been given the chance to host it. You can see the full story on the Goldeyes website. http://goldeyes.com/news/news-releases/565-goldeyes-to-host-american-association-all-star-game
(WARNING: SOME OF THE VIDEOS IN THIS POST CONTAIN LANGUAGE THAT SOME MAY FIND OFFENSIVE) Now this....this is a post I've been waiting a long time to do. There's nothing better than seeing a baseball manager lose his mind on the field. There've been some crazy ones, some funny ones, and some are just plain strange. Sometimes managers have to put on a show and get extra fired up to defend their players, or perhaps get their team's fans fired up. When a player is ejected from the game, it is usually because they argue with the umpire too much, they throw their helmet, or he makes physical contact with the umpire in some way. For example, we have Brett Lawrie of the Toronto Blue Jays (he's Canadian). You can see here what happens when Lawrie tosses his helmet after what are two horrible strike calls:
Were they bad calls? Absolutely. Should Lawrie have thrown his helmet? Absolutely not. I don't know whether it was Lawrie's premature running to first after thinking that he took a walk that set the umpire off on him, but there was something possessing the home plate umpire to make those two calls. No matter what happens, you can't throw your helmet at the ump in any way. Situations like this pose dilemmas for managers. What Lawrie did was completely out of line yes, but it is the managers job to go out, and defend his players whether he thinks they are right or wrong. Here is a much more tamed examples of a player being ejected at home plate, where a manager may feel more inclined to defend his player. Joey Votto (also Canadian) of the Cincinnati Reds who was ejected just for saying something to the home plate umpire:
No matter why ejections happen, sometimes it's funny to watch a manager goes completely off the rails. Here are my top five manager ejections.
#5- Gary Allenson
Remember earlier how I talked about how some manager ejections are just plain strange? Yeah, this is one of those ones.
While disputing an overturned call on what he thought was a home-run by one of his players, Norfolk Tides manager Gary Allenson did something a little bit strange that held up the game for more than ten minutes.
#4- Jim Leyland
It's not often that you see old Jimmy go off the rails like he did against the Toronto Blue Jays here in 2011. The now former Detroit Tiger's manager (he resigned he was not fired) was upset because his player was called safe even though he was clearly out. When the umpires decided to change the call and call the base-runner out, this happened.
#3- Earl Weaver (WARNING: LOTS OF SWEARING! SERIOUSLY! PARENTS PUT THE EAR-MUFFS ON THE KIDS)
Earl Weaver. The man, the myth, the legend. The former Orioles bench boss loses his mind in this one. But the best part is when the umpire ejects him and yells "BOOM!" It's so great.
#2- Wally Backman (WARNING: THERE'S A LOT OF SWEARING IN THIS ONE AS WELL. SO MUCH SWEARING. PUT THE KIDS TO BED FOR THIS ONE!)
This one is probably my favourite. I can't give it number 1 status, but Wally Backman has some of the best meltdowns out there. Backman was managing at the time for the South Georgia Peanuts in the now defunct South Coast Independent League. The Peanuts won the championship that year, which also turned out to be the only year that the league existed. Whether you love him or you hate him, it's safe to say Wally always had his players best interests in mind, even if he didn't carry himself the right way. One thing the league did give us was one of the best manager meltdowns of all time. It should be noted that that weekend was a struggle for the Peanuts, who were playing at a crappy ball-park that didn't even have a clubhouse, the grounds crew couldn't even get the tarp on the day before when it was raining. Needless to say it wasn't a professional ball-park, and the umpires were not professional either, as the league office looked into the matter and suspended the home plate umpire for the ejection of both Doc Brooks and Backman.
For more Wally Backman you can find another good one hereor anywhere on Youtube as their one and only season was filmed in the documentary "Playing for Peanuts".
#1- Phil Wellman
Anyone who's seen any countdown of manager meltdowns has absolutely seen this one. There's not much else to say about it. Wellman was managing for the Atlanta Braves affiliate at the time. It's either a crazy man completely going off the rails, or it's a work of art.
There it is! Some of the craziest people to every be associated with the game of baseball, all because of one video that caught on in the sports world. There will be World Series posts up very soon, you can also follow me on Twitter (@burnsy004) for updates on the World Series, and more posts to come soon!
It started with a Johnny Gomes double off the Green Monster. Xander Bogearts drew a walk, and Tigers SS Jose Iglesias bobbled a grounder off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury, leaving the bases loaded for a struggling Shane Victorino in the bottom of the 7th in Boston, in game six of the ALCS, with the Sox leading the series three games to two, and down 2-1 in the game. Me, and a fellow CreComm classmate were texting during the game, and both of us agreed that Red Sox manager John Farrell should pinch-hit for the struggling Victorino. But who could they use? Daniel Nava? He hadn't played much at all in the postseason. Perhaps Mike Carp? But he hadn't played since the first round. Instead of doing that, John Farrell stuck to his guns. And you can see what happened here:
The team that will never die, the Boston Red Sox are on their way to the world series to take on the St. Louis Cardinals. This is bound to be a classic series. Each team held an identical 97-65 record during the regular season. They are two of the oldest, and most historic teams in all of baseball, and will square off for baseball's ultimate prize. It will be a rematch of the 2004 World Series when the Red Sox made their improbable comeback against the Yankees in the ALCS, and then steamrolled the Cards to sweep the final four games to none. Both teams have built great teams since then, but in very different ways.
The St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals grow and develop their core, and have been consistently good for the past ten years or so. Many people like to call them a "big spender" or a team that buys their players. While that may be true that they spend the big bucks, the Cards are an exception to that label. Yes they spend lots of money on their players, but they grow their players. Their players, for the most part start as mid-level, average players, and they're developed into superstars. Yes, they did sign players such as Matt Holiday, and Carlos Beltran, but those players chose to stay with the Cardinals for the long haul. This team has such a history of winning that it's almost become automatic for them. The Cardinals spend their money to keep the players that they develop. Unlike teams such as the Yankees, Phillies, and Angels, who will blow insane amounts of money on players who will leave any city or any team, if the money's right. (Thinking of Albert Puljos who left the now NL Champion Cardinals for more money for the Los Angeles Angels, who didn't even make the playoffs.)
The Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox on the other hand, are a different animal. Two seasons ago they held a nine game lead on the Tampa Bay Rays for the final wildcard spot heading into September. They blew that lead and missed the playoffs. There was so much negativity surrounding the Red Sox heading into the 2012 season. They had a manager that the players didn't like, they traded two quality players and a good pitcher to the Dodgers for almost nothing in return. This team needed a shakeup, and that's what happened. People believed that Ace Jon Lester was done, Clay Buchholz wasn't a good pitcher, and players like David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury were quote on quote "overrated." They didn't sign any of the big name free agents. They signed players like Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, and Johnny Gomes. Players who were good, but not great. Or so we all thought. The Red Sox are a never say die group of ball players who just won't go away, and they're building their foundation on their underdog status. When they started off hot, I thought to myself "Alright, the Sox aren't a bad team. They're doing well right now. But it's only a matter of time before the Yankees, Jays and Orioles take over." That never happened. The Sox proved a lot of people - including myself - wrong. They didn't empty their wallets like the Blue Jays and Yankees did. Instead, they put together a group of ball players who became a tight-knit group. A group of ball players who wanted to play for each other. And they found a manager who embodied that attitude in John Farrell.
This series is bound to be a classic. It's safe to say that the two best teams in baseball will play for the World Series. Two teams with great pitching, experienced lineups, clutch hitters, great leaders, and great managers. There's nothing more a baseball fan can ask for. For highlights from tonight's epic game six between the Red Sox and the Tigers, check out the link below! http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?cid=as_mlb_20131020_13359804&content_id=31164815&topic_id=60133816
Also, if you feel like it, follow me on TWITTER! @burnsy004
