The Triple-A All-Star Game is tonight. It's airing on ESPN2 - starting at 10pm. For some reason, it's in Portland, Oregon. Bizarre. Bud Selig agreed to start the World Series before 8pm for the first time in 30 years this year, because the games were so late in the eastern time zone. But the AAA All-Star Game starts at 10pm. Go figure.
The Yankees have two outfielders on the IL team this year: Austin Jackson in CF and Shelley Duncan in left. Drew Stubbs, probably the top prospect in the Reds system, is in right.
Six years ago tomorrow, Bubba Crosby was playing in the AAA All-Star Game. He started in right field, for the PCL.
And five years ago yesterday, Andy Phillips had a spectacular night playing in the AAA All-Star Game. He played 2B, and hit a walkoff homer in the 10th. He was chosen MVP.
Even better, the game was played in Pawtucket that year - the Red Sox AAA affiliate. (Andy is quite the Sox-killer. He homered in his first big league at-bat - at Fenway.)
The pride of Rice University, Paul Janish, had another stint as a relief pitcher last Monday. Once again, it was because the game was a hopeless blowout, and Dusty Baker wanted to spare his bullpen. Janish was hoping to lower his 45 ERA; instead he increased it. He did get through the inning, though, and that's all Dusty wanted. He called Janish a hero for keeping the pen fresh.
Driveline Mechanics analyzed Janish's pitching, and think he's good enough that he should be moved from SS to relief pitcher. He did break 90 mph, which is pretty impressive for a non-pitcher.
Being the magnanimous guy he is, Janish was cool enough to review his pitching exploits with Half-Year in Review.
• On roaring into the books alongside Johnny Lindell: "You know, records are made to be broken. And I'm definitely breaking records. They're just the wrong damn records."
• On his picturesque delivery (as a former college closer): "Yeah, it's smooth, all right. But apparently, 88-89 [mph] on a string is not going to work."
• On his ERA (45.00 after his first outing, 49.50 after his second): "When I came in there, I figured, well, the good thing is, at least I'll bring my ERA down. It started at 45.00, so it would be tough to go up -- but I found a way."
• On whether he thought he could now pitch 31 straight shutout innings and get his ERA down into the 3.00s: "I think I'm out of luck. … What I really need to do is talk to my agent to see if we can bring this up in arbitration: multi-faceted player."
• On his proudest achievement as a pitcher: "Well, I did get a standing O in Philly. And not many visiting players can say that."
McNair was only 36 - young enough to still be playing. He was the first round draft pick of the Houston Oilers in 1995. My friend D. always used to tell me that "Air" McNair was one of the best (and underrated) quarterbacks in the NFL.
Alas, poor Paul Janish. He was finally getting some playing time with the Reds, after Adam Rosales was sent down. He didn't hit as well as he had earlier in the season. (Perhaps not surprisingly, since he was so buried on the bench I sometimes wondered if he'd been abducted by aliens or something.) His glove had been solid...until last night, when he made an error that resulted in the Cardinals taking the lead (and eventually winning). Ball took a tough hop and bounced off his belly. It was a tougher play than it looked, but still...I bet he didn't sleep too well last night.
Edwin Encarnacion is back in the lineup, so Janish probably won't getting much playing time. Have a cookie, kid, and make yourself comfortable on the bench. You'll probably be there for awhile.
Looks like Andy Phillips was 1 for 5 in yesterday's (today's) game. Wish I could find a site that gave box scores in English.
So far, so good for Andy Phillips. He went 0 for 4 yesterday, but was 2 for 4 with a double today. At least judging from the stats posted here.
"Carpfan" posted this cool link. It appears to be a URL where you can watch streaming video of Yomiuri Giants baseball games. (That would be Hideki Matsui's former team.) I assume it's live, which means late at night or early in the morning for us Yanks. The Carp play the Giants again in early August; if I can, I'll check it out then.
This site has some good information about Japanese baseball for English speakers. Andy's page is here. Still not much on it; they are asking for help filling out his biography. And here is the Carp schedule for the year.
They also have information for players who want to play in Japan.
Judging from the katakana on the above screenshot, Andy's known in Japan as "Firippusu."
Andy Phillips homered in his first Major League at-bat, and apparently he's not wasting time in Japan, either. An anonymous tipster left a comment with a link to a YouTube video of Andy's first homer in Japan:
The Carp stats can be found here. Andy was 1 for 4 in his first game, but the one was that homer.
Thanks for the link, Anonymous! Very cool. Nice to see that Andy's doing well (so far, at least!).
The McPaper has an article today about how the economic crisis is affecting retired athletes. These aren't the guys who blew it all on "booze, blow, bling or Bentleys." They're people who thought they were being careful and doing the right thing.
...Carson has gotten calls from nervous ex-teammates and competitors who've lost their jobs. They're dealing with unemployment, unpaid bills and growing debt. With mortgage, car and tuition payments piling up, they're fearful for their future.
"You can hear the desperation in their voice," he says.
To help those in need, he forwards some of the personal appearance requests he gets on his website. His old mates are happy to get them, too, no matter how meager the pay or how modest the Pop Warner dinner.
"I've gotten two e-mails from guys who've told me flat-out: 'I need some help. Anything you can do would be greatly appreciated. I've been out of work for two years. I won't turn anything down. If somebody needs an autograph for $2, I'll give it to them.'"
Very sad. And I suspect there are a lot of ordinary people in the same boat...and that there will be a lot more before this is over.
The financial world is turning upside down, and people's expectations are being trashed. Boomers' retirement dreams are being downsized, if not fading away altogether. People already retired are going back to work. Those who did the right thing - buy and hold, dollar-cost averaging - are losing their shirts compared to people who just invested in CDs. I'm starting to think we were all handed a bill of goods. Those "safe" strategies don't work any more, if they ever did.
And no, I don't think those "green shoots" are for real. There's been a summer bounce in the economy, probably driven by the falling prices. Houses, stocks, vacations, clothes, etc., suddenly look cheap, because prices have fallen due to low demand. So some people are snapping up the "bargains." The same thing happened during the Great Depression. People rushed in to buy the "bargains," only to be ruined when prices dropped further. Rinse and repeat.
The problem is that the fundamentals of the economy are still terrible, and nothing has been done to fix it. The foundation is crumbling, but so far, all they've done is slap another coat of paint on the walls. Bad banks have not been forced to reveal their balance sheets and take their medicine. American consumers, responsible for 2/3 to 3/4 of the economy, have had their spending power slashed. Wages have not kept up with inflation for years; instead, we sustained our lifestyle via credit card debt, and home equity lines of credit. But now banks are cutting back on consumer credit, and falling housing prices mean people can no longer use their homes as ATMs. Wages can't rise to make up for that lack of spending power; the economy is too bad. With unemployment so high, people's earning power as well their credit lines are down. Until this reverses, the economy won't improve. Which might not be for years, if ever.
The Hiroshima Toyo Carp have posted some photos of Andy Phillips at their official site.
Apparently, they think he's good-looking. According to the Google translation, it says (among other things):
Tom Cruise?!! Brad Pitt?!! Female fans must see!!! Phillips played in Japan's new foreign player studmuffin, held a press conference after signing.
It looks like the rest is what he said at the press conference. He thinks living in Japan will be a good experience for his family, some comments on the field and how he'll try to hit. He also says his lucky number is 2, hence his choice of 22 as a jersey number.
No, I didn't take this photo of last night's vivid sunset over Bailout Ballpark. I wish I did, but the photographer is Reuters' Shannon Stapleton. Awesome photo, man.
The Mets looked more like the Bad News Bears last night. Ridiculous errors. The Yanks did hit well. Especially Brett Gardner, who was 5 for 6 with a home run and a triple. (He'd have had a cycle if Sabathia weren't clogging up the bases in front of him for one of his singles.) His OPB is an insane .479 for June (and .417 for May). I doubt he can maintain that production; I doubt anyone can. But it's fun to watch while it lasts.
Andy Phillips issued a statement about his new job:
"I'm really looking forward to playing for a team that has a long history in such a great country," Phillips said on the team's official Web site. "I'll do every thing I can to help the team win a championship."
The Carp have an American manager: Marty Brown. Brown is from Oklahoma - where Andy is living (or was - his family will be moving to Japan with him). So he'll have someone to show him the ropes.
The Hiroshima Carp have agreed to a one-year, 40 million yen deal with former New York Yankees first baseman Andy Phillips, the club said Friday.
That's about the same as minimum wage in the big leagues - roughly $400,000. A lot more than he'd make with the Charlotte Knights, but less than half of what Aaron Guiel got when he went to Japan. But then, the season's almost half over now.
And if you're wondering how Ralph Malph is doing in the land of the rising sun...he's still playing for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
In early 2007, Aaron signed a 1-year, $900,000 (US) contract with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows with a club option for a second year. His curly blond hair and gentle behavior earned him the nickname "Angel" from the team's fans. At the All-Star break, he was leading the Swallows with 18 homers and drawing walks but struggling to make contact. He homered in five straight games in September, tying the Yakult record held by Chuck Manuel and Larry Parrish. Guiel finished with a .245/.381/.493 batting line with 35 homers and 88 walks. He was 9th in the Central League in runs (78), tied Yoshinobu Takahashi and Tyrone Woods for second in homers (one behind leader Shuichi Murata), led in times hit by pitch (23), was second in strikeouts (147, trailing only Woods), was second in walks (also behind Woods) and finished 4th in OBP behind Norichika Aoki, Woods and Takahashi.
He was re-signed for $1.3 million (US) in 2008. Unfortunately, he succumbed to injury part way through the season and was sent down to the Yakult farm team for recovery, having played only 79 of 144 games and with a disappointing 11 homers and .200/.306/.396 batting line.
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows announced (in January 2009) that they have re-signed Aaron for the 2009 season. His remuneration has not been disclosed. He is also on the provisional Canadian roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic. On June 14, Guiel hit a grand slam for the 10th straight hit by Yakult in a 14-10 win over the Orix Buffaloes, tying the NPB record; it would be broken when Yasushi Iihara followed with a double.
"The ?Que Pasa? Kid" posted in the comments here that Andy Phillips might have quit the Charlotte Knights in order to play in Japan. Give the man a prize. He was right:
Baseball: Hiroshima set to sign White Sox minor leaguer Phillips
The Hiroshima Carp are in talks to acquire the services of Chicago White Sox minor league infielder Andy Phillips, team officials said Tuesday.
The 32-year-old Phillips has had a stint with Triple-A Charlotte this season. In the majors, he has a .250 batting average with 14 home runs and 70 RBIs in 259 games.
Aaron Guiel said when he went to Japan that the reason was because the pay was much better there (compared to the US minor leagues, I assume). He said he needed to provide for his family. (I think Guiel got at least a million dollars to play in Japan.) I would guess Andy's made a similar calculation.
HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) The Hiroshima Carp are in talks to acquire the services of Chicago White Sox minor league infielder Andy Phillips, team officials said Tuesday.
The 32-year-old Phillips has had a stint with Triple-A Charlotte this season. In the majors, he has a .250 batting average with 14 home runs and 70 RBIs in 259 games.
"He is not known for powering hitting but he can also play outfield. I think that we should be able to iron out a deal shortly," said Hiroshima team owner Hajime Matsuda.
Phillips played four years for the New York Yankees from 2004 and is currently a free agent.
