Saddness Strikes

Hello all. I know it's been a long while since i last posted, but it seemed to be the most appropriate time. The baseball season is finally upon us, and already hearts are heavied. Following Wednesday nights Angels-A's game, 22 year old right hander, Nick Adenhart, of the Angels, was involved in a hit-and-run traffic collision in Fullerton, California. Adenhart and three friends where driving early Thursday morning, when a mini-van ran a red light striking the the car with the four friends and sending it into a street light. Three of the four young men, including Adenhart, where pronounced dead while the fourth is in intensive care. The young man driving the mini-van was found shortly after fleeing on foot, it turns out the 22 year old was driving on a suspended license with a blood alcohol content well above the legal limit. So, instead of taking a cab home after going out drinking and getting home safe, albeit with a little less money in his pocket, he decided to drive home and not only got in legal trouble but took the lives of three young men. Now instead of spending the money on a taxi he may spend the rest of his life behind bars, facing felony hit-and-run, felony DUI, and, now, murder charges. It's a shame that one act of stupidity can ruin so many lives.

Later in the day rookie right hander Joe Martinez was struck in the head with a batted ball. In the top of the ninth inning with two outs , in the Giants-Brewers game, Martinez toed the rubber stared in to get his sign rared back and fired a pitch towards the waiting Mike Cameron. Cameron squared up the pitch a drove it on a line right back where it came from, literally, unfortunately Martinez was unable to get out of the way or get his glove up in time. The ball hit with such force that it ricocheted directly off of his forehead to the backstop, dropping Martinez to the ground. You could see the pain even on Cameron's, who suffered a similar incident while with the Mets, face as he ran down the line. Martinez was able walk off the field under his own power. It is expected that he will make a full recover, suffering three hairline fractures on his face and a concussion. As of now he is on the 15-day disabled list, but it is hoped that when he is eligible to come off he will be ready to take the mound again. This is a happy ending to what could have been devastating. (link to video: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090410&content_id=4209782&vkey=news_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf)


May all of our thoughts be with these families and all of the families that face tragedy on a daily basis.


-Daemon

Manny

Today saw Manny Ramirez turn down a contract offer that would have made him the second highest paid player next season, at $25 million. The offer was a one year $25 million contract from the Dodgers, he had already turned down a two year deal worth $45 million. It is believed that Ramirez is seeking a 4+ year contract that would pay upwards of $25 million a year, but at 37 years old this wish looks less likely than a one or two year deal. The Dodgers have said they are still interested in retaining Ramirez, but not at the length that he is looking for, the Giants have said that they have interest as well, but they also won't go to the length that he is seeking. There is some speculation that he may want to join the Mets in New York, where he went to high school, and there is a fit seeing as they could use a left fielder and his bat would take pressure off the entire team. But as of now the front runner seems to be the Dodgers.

The most evident thing though is that regardless of where he signs he better be happy, or the team that gets him may get the Manny that was in Boston last season. And an unhappy Manny is not something that you want on your team. Just stay tuned, to see where he ends up.




-Daemon

Super Sunday

We have now seen a franchise win six Super Bowls, with the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23. It was a well played game, especially the second half, and ended up being a high scoring game. Arizona nearly pulled off the upset, if it wasn't for a touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to, Super Bowl MVP, Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds left. After trailing the whole game the Cardinals took the lead with 2:37 left on a 64 yard pass from Kurt Warner to, postseason star, Larry Fitzgerald, which immediately followed a safety by Arizona's defense due to an offensive hold in the end zone. All in all the game moved fairly quickly, even though there were plenty of penalty calls 18 in all. A lot of the calls could have easily been no calls, and in the biggest game of the year should have been, with Arizona feeling the burn more so to the tune of 11 penalties for 106 yards. Both teams witnessed strong play from their passing games, but lackluster performances out of the running attack gaining a combined 91 yards on the ground with the edge going to Pittsburgh with 58 yards. All that remains in the football season is the Pro Bowl next weekend.

Congratulations to the Steelers, and Cardinals.



-Daemon

New Hire

The St. Louis Rams have hired their next head coach, Giants Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. As Defensive coordinator, the 49 year old, turned the Giants defense into a force to be reckoned with, amassing 53 sacks in his first season plus a strong Super Bowl sacking Tom Brady five times. This season, even after losing two of his defense's stars (Micheal Strahan, retirement, and Osi Umenyiora, injury), he had his defense ranked 5Th over all. Spagnuolo has his work cut out for him, as the Rams are 5-27 over the past two seasons and have struggled on both sides of the ball, with the defense being ranked 28Th over all and the offense tied for 30Th scoring just 14.5 points a game. The Rams signed him to a four year deal, reportedly worth $12 million, in hopes that he can turn them back into the perennial playoff team they were not too long ago.



-Daemon

Bye Bye Chucky

Today the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired John Gruden. The high profile Gruden suffered a late season collapse to lose a playoff spot by being beat by his former team, the Raiders, in the season finale. Aside from winning the Super Bowl in 2003, he led the Bucs to the playoffs once. Giving him a 60-57, making him the winningest coach in franchise history, and to postseason appearances in seven season. Joining Gruden in the unemployment line is the General Manager Bruce Allen.

Set to replace Gruden is new defensive coordinator, 32 year old, Raheem Morris. Morris was set to take over the coordinator's job for the departing Marty Kiffin, serving as the Defensive Backs coach for the last two years, but after Gruden's dismissal moved right into the head coach's possession. The Bucs are hoping that Morris will turn out to be a whiz kid and turn the team into a perennial playoff team. Mark Dominik will take over the General Manager's possession, having served as the Director of pro personnel and been a part of the franchise for 14 years.

Good luck to all four men.



-Daemon

Stadium News

Baseball's great commissioner, Bud Selig, would like the city of Fremont to OK the building of a new stadium for the the Oakland A's. The stadium, primarily private financing, would cost close to $500 million and would replace the A's long time home in Oakland. Having already unveiled their plan in 2006, the A's have been waiting for the Fremont officials to okay the stadium. A plan of the A's, in partnership with Cisco Systems, came to an agreement to purchase 143-acres, that belongs to Cisco, in Fremont as the location for the new stadium. The A's hope to have their new stadium built and ready for the open of the 2011 season. In the case that Fremont doesn't approve the stadium, soon, Selig has given the A's permission to talk with neighboring cities in an attempt to find an accommodating city.



-Daemon

MLB

After losing John Smoltz to the Boston Red Sox, the Atlanta Braves have signed Derek Lowe to a 4 year $60 million contract. Lowe, most recently of the Los Angeles Dodgers also, played with Boston prior to the Dodgers. In four years with the Dodgers Lowe went 54-48, with sub 3.90 eras every year and averaged 200 innings. He was considered widely at the lowest the third best pitcher on the market. At 35 this may be Lowe's final contract, although pitchers have been throwing into their 40's in recent years. And on top of recent trends, Lowe is not your typical power pitcher who loses stuff as he gets older rather he is a ground ball pitcher who relys more movement and location. Although at $15 million a year it shows how deals,such as the Sabathia deal, affect the rest of the market.

Joining Lowe in Atlanta is Japanese import, the first Japanese-born player in franchise history, Kenshin Kawakami who signed a three year contract. A successful pitcher in Japan, winning the Central League MVP in 2004, he accumulated 112 wins in 11 seasons, he was widely regarded as one of the top Japanese free-agents on the market. In recent years there has been an in flux of Japanese pitchers, that tend to start strong but then fizzle out after the league adjusts seemingly unable to adjust to the teams new approach. Part of this may be because of the language barrier, but another may be the fact that by the time players come to the Majors they are already approaching or into their 30's and are already set in their way, not wanting to change their habits, plus they have already reached their peak and in some cases are already declining.

Smoltz finalized a one year $5.5 million contract with the Red Sox, and expects to start for them. Coming off of a shoulder surgery, like new team mate Brad Penny, it's unclear how he will preform. After 22 seasons with the Atlanta Braves this will be his first time playing for a different Major League team. This may be Smoltz's final season, but with a competitor like him it's hard to tell, only he truly knows, and at this point he may not yet either.



-Daemon