EssVee thinks she knows a little something about baseball...

Hey y'all...

2010-06-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

I never post here anymore. I'm busy. Y'know. College.

If you're wondering how I'm doing, I am now a full fledged bitter, sarcastic baseball fan. That's what happens when Jim Leyland is the manager of your team.

But on the brightside, Kevin and his buddy started their own sports blog which is at www.fombsports.wordpress.com Check it out. The more people visit and comment, the more they'll update. I know that's backward, but they're lazy dudes.

The Tigers just lost pretty bad, so I'm headed for bed now.

Shameless plug: checkout my art blog www.essveeart.blogspot.com

Re-introduction

2009-06-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

I've never really said much about who I am or how I became a Tigers fan, but was just thinking about it because I saw another blog start an intro post.

So I thought I'd tell you a little about my baseball history, because I feel it's quite romantic.

My Name is Stephanie and I'm on the west side of Michigan. I live near the Grand Rapids area. I never was into sports, although my dad would regularly watch football and sometimes baseball. We're originally from Houston so my dad naturally roots for the Astros and the Cowboys (well, it used to be the Oilers, but they're non-existent). My dad actually made the netting that went behind home plate, to block foul balls. He tells me he'd get free tickets to games sometimes. He's seen some great players in action.

Anyway... whenever there was nothing on TV, I didn't mind watching a little baseball, but I never really knew there was so much to it. Just throwing and hitting, right?

In high school I met a boy. And we were sort of friends. After he graduated (three years ahead of me) we kept in touch. In 2006 we started to hang out, but I had a boyfriend. In 2007 we started to hang out even more and despite being in love with him, I still had the same boyfriend. So he decided to find himself a girlfriend. Yet, we still hung out.

And as this was all happening, he introduced me to the game of baseball. The real game. Not just the hitting and throwing.

Luckily for me, his girlfriend broke up with him. Luckily for him, I decided it was time to move on from my long distance boyfriend and finally give him a chance.

When we hung out, he'd take me out to eat for dinner, or even for dessert. The Tigers would be on (this was the in the second half of the '07 season). He'd take me to play catch, even though I didn't know how and never had tried before (he never once made fun of me). When I came over to his house to visit, I didn't mind sitting there with him while he watched the game. It just meant I got to spend time sitting next to him.

Eventually I had questions and I started to notice things about the game. How did Magglio hit the ball so conveniently? It was going to places were no one was guarding the field. It was going the opposite field for the runner to advance. Was he doing this on purpose?

And how did the pitcher conveniently get a ground-out? Fly-out? Can he really locate a 99mph fastball into 9 divided sections? How do they pitch to get the result that they want?

My friend of course loved to answer these questions. Come on. What male baseball nerd would not jump at the chance to teach a girl who wanted to learn more about baseball?

The answers he gave me intrigued me. Baseball was all about strategy. It was about math and science. Statistics. It was a game for intellectuals.

By August, the Tigers were out of the running for the playoffs, but my friend and I would (finally!) become an item. I was at his house almost every night for every game, even though the Tigers season was coming to an end. I even watched the playoffs and the World Series with him.

I still had so much to learn. So my boyfriend lent me a book: Baseball Between the Numbers. I took it to school with me in the fall. I'd attempt to read it every day. (Attempt... because it's a very dry read). I had people ask me at school what I was reading. To my boyfriend's delight, I would say matter-of-factly, "It's a statistical analysis of baseball." Keep in mind, I attend an art college.

It took me the complete off season to read that book. But I kept at it. I finished it. (I need to go back and reread it, now that I've followed baseball for a little over two years now. Now I "get" things. So it'd be nice to have a refresher on some stats.)

One of my favorite chapters was the one on catchers. I love catchers. The fact that they have to stay crouched like that, probably with achy knees. They can throw from home to any of the bases all from a squat. It's so awesome. I love the whole idea of them giving signs too. They have so much they have to learn. I love it.

During the off season, while I was trudging through the Baseball Prospectus book, my boyfriend gave me the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Something a little easier to read, not so fact and number driven. I loved it. It's now one of my favorite books ever. Having read that added a personal element to the game of baseball. Augh! I love this game.

And now I'm in on my boyfriend's inside jokes about Billy Beane and baseball. Now I can make inside jokes!

My boyfriend took me to my first game in September of 2007 in Chicago. The last game of the season for the Tigers, against the White Sox. I don't remember what happens in games much. I can't picture what happened in my head, but I know how I felt. I know I was excited. I know I was happy. However, I got a bad case of sun poisoning and fell really ill on the drive home.

During Christmas, I was given (one of) the first Miguel Cabrera jersey(s). No joke. I wanted a Maybin jersey, because he was new to MLB and so was I. I wanted to follow my own player through his own MLB journey. I felt connected. My boyfriend had my jersey ordered and was waiting for it to made when the trade rumors began. He had a feeling the trade for Miguel Cabrera was for real, so he called up the jersey place and had it changed. Sure enough, the trade happened. On Christmas day I opened up a box to see my very own Tigers jersey.

The next season would include me purchasing a subscription to MLB Audio and listening to all spring training games on my laptop with head phones, while at the same time, balancing a paint palette on my lap and multiple paint brushes in my hand. I read a lot of sports books. We'd go to 9 games out of the season, including on-field photo day for our anniversary. We'd witness some horrible losses. It was a bad season for the Tigers. And to be honest and fair, I wasn't the most pleasant person to be with on some of the trips to Detroit. The 3 hour drive out usually lead to conversations where my feelings would get hurt and I'd make it known. But I appreciated every game that I was taken to. I liked that he wanted to be there with me.

Now it's the new season. I know so much now. I know the significance of OBP, OPS, WHIP, etc... I can form my own opinions about baseball and they are actually fairly intelligent. We've already been to about 4 games. Next we're going to see the Tigers in Houston! Playing the Astros! We've already been to one on-field photo day this season, his third and my second. We've been to the World Baseball Classic in Toronto. We went to opening day in Toronto!! I was given a ball by Fernando Rodney. Got to have my picture taken with one of the nicest men in baseball: Andy Van Slyke (last season's pictures included signs, and the players went along with it politely). I got Josh Hamilton's autograph.

We have the whole summer and part of the fall yet to go. I have a good feeling about this season. But that's all I'll say. Because if anything, baseball has made me more superstitious... about sports anyway.

I am completely happy. With my boyfriend. With my new hobby. This is probably the greatest thing anyone has done for me: teach me about something new. Introduce me to something I could dedicate my time and effort to. It's because of him I have something to base my school projects on! I am inspired again. By both him and baseball.

Something my boyfriend has said recently is, "If you fail 70% of the time, you are a GOOD baseball player!" Now, I'm not sure if he took that quote from somewhere or not, but either way, isn't it the most beautiful thing? FAILURE is a success! (It's a little like failing a lot in love until you find the right one.)

Only in baseball.

Dontrelle

2009-06-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Another day, another horrible day out for Dontrelle Willis.

3.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 8 BB, 1 K.
88 pitches, 43 strikes.

We listened on the radio. I'm glad we didn't see it.
It's about time to pull him out of the rotation. Actually, it was time, a long time ago.
I've heard arguments that the reason we have to keep him is because of the money we owe him. However, even if we decided to eat his contract, there really is no other options to take his place. Especially now that Jeremy Bonderman is a post-rehab bust and has recently landed himself a spot back on the DL.

There's always Zach Miner, who I'm rather fond of, but even he has proved to be very hittable. However, we're in a bind, and I think Zach would be a better option right now than anyone else. What else can we do? Bring Nate back out of the bullpen? Hardly.

And no one has really popped up in the farm system.

The only option then is to find someone before the trade deadline. However, that is out of the reach of my knowledge, so I can't really expand upon that.

Willis seems like a nice guy, a funny guy... he's very likable. But right now, what he isn't, is a major league pitcher.

And don't even get my started and Jim "I want to eff up our lineup" Leyland. Josh Anderson leading off? Seriously?

But Josh Anderson batting THIRD?! What the...?

Has the man quit smoking? Is he having hallucinating withdrawals? Because he's gone crazy. The recent (and constant) line up changes prove it.

D-Train graphic

2009-05-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

Hello kiddies, just for fun. Even though he exploded yesterday.

Rick Knapp....

2009-05-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Fixes things.

Dontrelle Willis tonight:
6.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 0 ER

Very nice.

Now to figure out Armando :-/

Working in PS again, just messing around with pattern/colors. Will post a final when I get it all worked out how I want it.

Fun with photoshop

2009-05-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

I was a little bored tonight.

Wish I knew how to fix lighting. But I'm way to tired to get that in depth.

Media and baseball

2009-04-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

A win's a win and I'm not going to complain, because I'll take it no matter how we get it.

But I don't like this new media spin on Armando.

And by media, I mean the MLB Network. Now, they're already grinding my nerves, mostly because for some reason they think Harold Reynolds is best they can get for a game broadcaster. I think it's a general consensus that Reynolds is probably the most annoying person on the planet and is pretty much the Tyra Banks of broadcasting, in the sense that he can make everything about himself.

Last night I was watching Quick Pitch which recaps the day's games. They came to the Royals/Tigers game. They showed amazing clips of Armando's 7 strikeouts. And I'm sure people are watching going, "DAMN! 7 Strikeouts? Shit! That's pretty good!" Then they pull up pictures of the pitchers and show the stats:

6.0 IP, 1 R, 7 SO, 1.85 ERA.

And right now, all the casual Tigers fans are thinking: Here is our new ace. Armando is god. He should pitch all the time. Why oh why didn't ol' Jim-Marlboro-Reds-Leyland keep him in?

Well you see kiddies, MLB-N left out two very important details.

Pitch count and walks.

Armando was already well into the 100 pitches by the time he was pulled. Why so many? Ohhh, maybe because he walked 5, yes that's right: F-I-V-E batters! Oh, and let's not forget the 2 HBPs. Out of 107 pitches, 64 were for strikes.

But the baseball news would have you believe that Armando is our ace. Why? Because every team needs an ace. And there's this other story brewing... the one about a FORMER ace.... one who's not doing so hot. Think about it. How someone would pitch this: Big drama... Ace Justin Verlander has lost it! But amid this crisis arises a new one... the answer... Armando Galarraga!

The Tigers haven't been in the news a lot lately. Not in the big media stations. (Especially MSNBC. They seems to think an Astros come from behind win is news worthy, but not the Tigers, who were projected to be terrible). I don't like that the news is omitting important information. In the end, they're deciding what you'll think, and who you'll think it about. I don't like that at all.

But the media has the control. Do you think casual fans will look up the numbers themselves? Casual fans usually turn to ESPN or the like for their information. And we all know, you numbers reading, stat churning, analysis guys (because you're all males) are just nerds in your mothers' basements. Right?

It's just all really stupid.

So please correct anyone who calls Armando "our new ace." I think we have decently performing pitchers, who all have their ups and downs. But I don't think we have anyone of ace material.

Armando had a lucky night. Yes. Luck. Luck plays a big factor in baseball (see: BABIP) and I think last night was pure luck. And it sure was nice and helpful for our defense to finally show up.

Ok. I think I'm done now. /rant.

April 12th, 2009

2009-04-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

Photos from the second day after the home opener.

Our second game this season against the Texas Rangers. We were in sectoin 123 which was totally awesome. Apparently they're catered seats. We didn't take advantage of that however because of the 12% service fee. Great view though, so we're thinking of getting tickets in the section regularly.

When we got there people were trying to get autographs from the Rangers during BP. Josh Hamilton came up and signed A LOT of autographs for fans. It was pretty nice. I waited patiently and was listening to him banter with a fan. I started laughing and he noticed me and came over and signed my ticket. Woo hoo! I told Kevin on our way there that I WAS GOING TO GET JOSH HAMILTON'S AUTOGRAPH!.... And I did :)

The pitching match up was Edwin Jackson versus Kevin Millwood. I was excited because we saw a lot of Justin Verlander last season, so I was glad to see a different pitcher. We were getting pretty down because it looked like we were getting shut out and Jackson had given up 4 runs. I was getting annoyed at the crowds lack of enthusiasm. I know it sucks to sit and watch a losing game, but no one cheered or anything the entire time. There wasn't really a lot of people there. Maybe it was a mix of being Easter day, maybe because it was a Sunday, or people just didn't care because the home opener was over with.

However, thanks to Brandon Inge's rallying HR in the late innings, the crowd finally got into it. I did my best to start chants and cheers. There were little kids behind us really getting into it.

It was a great come from behind win. It was a good way to start our first visit to Detroit for the season.

Too bad when we got home we had a car fire.... but hey, a Tiger's win!

Recap of Opening day

2009-04-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

A little late, but I've been pretty busy with the final month of school.

When we heard that opening day was going to be in Toronto, Kevin and I both agreed that it was definitely a trip worth making. We knew that there'd never be any chance of us getting tickets to an opener at Comerica Park, but at Rogers Centre? We knew the probability was good. And so when Kevin told me he got us tickets for the 2009 opener I was super excited.

It's a 6 hours drive but the plus side is that the Rogers Centre is a dome so we knew a game wouldn't be cancelled because of weather. And boy, did we need that roof! The weather was nice leading up to the April 6th, but the night before there was 6 inches of snow on the east side of the state. The roads weren't bad going in, but it definitely was cold. Once we got into Canada the wind was nasty.

We left around 9am and made good time. We ended up with about 2 hours to spare once we got into Toronto. We don't know Toronto well (and I still hate their highway system)and didn't know where to kill time. We came across some fellow Tigers fans who gave us fists bumps (ugh) as we went to check out the souvenir shop. They disappeared and came back and were yapping about how they almost got into a fight with a Jays fan who was on ectasy (these were college frat boy looking fans, everyone's favorite for sure...). Well we ran into this guy outside quite a few times. Yes he was tripping on ectasy and shouting things, but he was polite, said hi, stayed out of our way and we stayed out of his and kept on walking.

We decided to venture around the streets and founds a sports bar. The Jays fans all boo'd us when we walked it. But they were good-natured about it and laughed and we laughed it off and no one bothered us. So far, so good. No food being thrown at us, no fingers being pointed in our faces. However, the wait at the bar ended up being a lot longer than we expected and my legs started to hurt from standing in one spot so we went back out to explore. We found a Dairy Queen, and for some reason on this cold and snowy day decided to get ice cream. After this it was about 5pm and the doors to the Rogers Centre were going to open early so we went back.

When we were let in the Tigers were taking batting practice. At Comerica, sometimes they won't let you down to the bottom to watch BP unless you have lower level seats. We thought we'd try our luck and go down. No one checked out tickets and we got to be right up there watching the team workout.

Man some of those hits went far! Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge especially! I'm not a huge Inge fan, in fact I don't really like him at all, but I can appreciate a well hit ball.

I was yelling and waving at players to come over and sign some autographs. I even spotted Jason Beck (tee hee) and then there he was: my boy Fernando Rodney (not to be confused with my boyfriend Miguel Cabrera.... now I hate me some annoying female fans, but come on, you got to love Miggy). If you remember from a few posts back that I made this wonderful t-shirt design and was able to meet Rodney on photo day last season and have our picture taken with him. He didn't say much but he was pleasant to meet.

Well that has now become my "game outfit" along with my black hat with my Miguel Cabrera jersey. Rodney was around with the rest of the team but ran out into right field to practice pitching. We yelled for him but he didn't see or come over. We watched as Armando was playing around with fans (doing the whole "is this side louder or this side" in the section above where they were pitching. He then threw it to the second level!) On their way back I persisted and with the help of Kevin's loud mouth got Rodney's attention and I pointed to my shirt (Kevin was pointing at me). Rodney nodded at me and threw me the ball he was holding. Kevin scooped it up and I was jumping up and down excitedly. Super cool. (I'll post a picture of the ball later, maybe)

The opening presentation was really neat.

Lights went out in the dome and then they did this strobe thing with the windows of the hotel in the outfield. They had the silhouette of players in the windows that would flash. The ribbon screens lit up gold and the screens on the outfield walls. The main screen had a really nice presentation on the history of Canadian baseball and Canada's contribution to MLB. Then there was the singing of the national anthems. This was probably the best version of Oh, Canada I've ever heard, sung by some quartet.

The start of the game did not go well for our side. Curtis took a walk but a DP and then a pop out quieted our offense quickly in the first. And then it took Verlander a lot of pitches to get out of the first inning while Toronto was already getting on the board. We were hoping to win, but I am not a big believer in Verlander (although I wasn't around in the 2006 season, I picked up around the end of the '07 season) and didn't expect much from him.

No reason recapping it all, because we all saw what happened. We lost. Badly. But hey, a Brandon Inge homerun!

Now we had to drive 6 hours home. And the weather got worse. It was snowing pretty hard. The highway out of Toronto was super icy and we were sliding a little bit. After we got out of the city and more into the country the roads were more and more snow covered. Kevin wouldn't allow me to sleep because he wanted me to stay awake with him and keep talking to him to help him stay focused. But after a while I ran out of things to say and began to drift. However I was back awake again when the weather and roads got nastier. Nothing was plowed and Kevin was trying to go over 70mph to get us home. But then we nearly ran out of gas. Because of Canada's stupid sign system (A sign that has a gas symbol on it... but that's just a sign. If there was a station it would list the logos next to it), we thought there was a gas station off one of the exits, but there was not. So we went until we saw a sign that actually listed a gas station on it. We had to drive off a ways from the high way. And sure enough, it was closed. So we went to find the other one. And it was closed. I was starting to panic. Kevin told me to stay calm and we had phones in case of any emergency (but who would we have called?). We stopped at a Burger King, just HOPING it was open late, because by now it was 1:30am. We were in luck and the woman told us how to get to a 7/11. By the time we filled up and got back to the highway, the plows has been through. We eventually caught up with them though and it was back to bad roads.

We were soooo happy to see America. And being American and having passports makes crossing the border super easy. Kevin floored it the whole way back and we made it home by 5am. We were exhausted. He had to be up for work by 8am. I think my whole sleep schedule was messed up for a whole week.

But hey, even though we lost, and the drive sucked, it was fun and we had a good time. And Canadian fans are probably the best we've encountered. No one was a jerk to us and actually we were left alone for the most part. Some were conversational.

Safe to say though, that we won't be making anymore one day trips to Toronto...

Next up (later)... Our trip to Detroit for the second game after the home opener on 6/12. (That recap won't be this long, I promise! I only have like 2 photos from that).

Gary Sheffield

2009-03-31T08:02:00.000-07:00

Released?! Sheffield's been released?!

Simply put: I am not happy. I realize there are fans who think he's just a worn out old man and wanted him off their team. But I didn't. I was excited for opening day, being at Roger's Centre and seeing his 500th home run! I was hoping for his come back... not a big come back, but a come back from his injury prone season last year. You kind of forgot about him this spring, he wasn't in the press much. But I was ready to see some great hits from him this year.

But now... what do we do with an open DH spot? We have Magglio and Carlos who are good candidates. Magglio doesn't want to DH. Carlos isn't really the best option for left field and did quite well as DH for the WBC... That's an option... So who would take LF? Thames? Larish? Both? Or maybe Josh Anderson? They want to improve defense and he is a speedy outfielder...

I guess we have 6 more days until we find out.

But I still feel robbed... Since I've only been in baseball now for 2 years, I have yet to see my milestone moment. I really wanted that 500th home run.

Edit:... I just realized, who is going to be the team badass?

WBC Semis

2009-03-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

Venezuela! Korea! USA! Japan!

We've reached the semi-finals, folks. I'm of course rooting for the USA, but because they're so Tiger-stacked, I got myself a Miguel Cabrera Venezuelan shirt:

What can I say? They won me over. Plus their logo/font is BAD ASS.

2 more weeks until opening day!

And one of my t-shirt designs was posted: http://designaterobertson.blogspot.com/

Quick update

2009-03-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

I will be coming back, I promise. I'm sure everyone looks forward to opinions from a girl who thinks she knows a little about baseball (it's a learning process, I'm getting there...)

Got our tickets for opening day. Not looking forward to the 7 hour drive on Canadian express ways, but hey, if we win, then it's worth it! (and even if we don't win)

Went to Canada for the first time in my 14+ years of living here in Michigan. Had a good time at the USA vs Canada game. Then we bought tickets to see Venezuela vs Italy. Felt good to see Grilli give up a home run on his second pitch to former team mate Carlos Guillen. (Thank goodness for retractable roofs, it rained practically the whole time we were in Canada)

Also glad to see Carlos and Miguel hitting HRs in this years WBC. Here's hoping that carries over into the regular season.

For now, have some photos (sorry about quality, my digital camera is 7 years outdated, while my SLR camera is out of service since the not-so-wonderful folks at Ford Field took away my telephoto lens):

2008-12-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

I realize I never posted images of those signs. So I will do that now (months later, ouch).

(And I did. Christmas 2008, baby!)

(A somewhat of an inside joke. But if you go to the games and hear their walk up music, you'll get it. It was the only thing we could come up with)

(I wanted "Re-Joyce for our Lord and Savior" but we weren't sure if he was one of those Christian baseball players who would get offended)

(Bobby Seay...)

(Heh...)

(Marcus Thames. He got a laugh out of this and took a picture with me holding it. He's great!)

(Ha ha...)

(Umm... an inside joke. But the people around us got a laugh when I took a photo with him)

(Yes! Zach got a laugh out of this, but unfortunately signing time was over and couldn't come over to take a picture. We were able to get his autograph thought, on the second to last game of the season. We went early to stand outside the parking garage. He was one of very few players who obliged)

(Have you seen my hair? He's got nothing on me...)

Baseball themed shirts

2008-08-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry, haven't posted in a while. I've been bad at keeping up, but it's not like I didn't foresee that. Oh well.

Have some art. Or rather, craft.

Post 1 of 2. T-shirts first, then posters later!

So I've been making t-shirts lately.
Used this method to turn images to stencils: http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/138/photoshop3ws.jpg
And this to make the silkscreen: http://community.livejournal.com/craftgrrl/3674467.html

I'll do this chronologically.

1) This was the image (this was made back earlier in the season, obviously before Grilli was traded to the Rockies):

The t-shirt:

The problem with this was I hadn't yet found the above tutorial for stenciling. I was using one similar to it, but not as nice looking (the link above takes it an extra couple steps to make sure it comes out crisp). Also, I used acrylic screen print ink, instead of fabric, so it bled into the details as it dried. And it dried dark and crusty. Also, I was being a little ambitious, as this was very small, so it needed a very fine brush, which I did not have.

2) (this was made last month) Next... not so much baseball.... this is an emoticon from the Something Awful forums. I wanted to try a multi-layer/color stencil.

The shirt:

I have to do another one though. The brushes I used ($1 pack of foam ones) were bad, and the lettering didn't come out crisp. Also, the paper over it when I was ironing had something photocopies on it and it got on the shirt, which is why there's all that black that looks smeared on there.

3)Billy Beane! General Manager of the Oakland A's.

Here's the practice shirt:

I went back in with the glue to touch up some of the smaller letters.
Final (white lettering on green shirt):

4) Last of the shirts. I wanted to advance my use of dual stencils/colors.

Fernando Rodney. We just thought this was a funny idea *shrug*

We got to meet him. He was nice :)

For the love of [the boyfriend who loves] baseball.

2008-05-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been writing much in this blog as you can see. I want to make it a habit to write more, but I would be doing so at the risk of sheer and utter embarrassment from my boyfriend* and the very probable chance that he may go into a statistical lecture of epic proportions.

See, boyfriend is a sports fanatic, with a reserved place in his heart specifically for (Tigers') baseball. He is the reason I was exposed to baseball in the first place. I quickly took to it and it became my love and a hobby as well. Unfortunately it was towards the end of the season. However, it would not be the end of my baseball venture, as we started dating and he taught me what he could as time dwindled and the Tigers would just miss the playoffs. So he did what any caring, sports-loving boyfriend would do, and gave me a book to read on the statistical analysis of baseball. It took me few months to read (but I finished before opening day of this season, like I said!) and what I took from the book was very general, because there were so many numbers thrown at me, but I learned what I was supposed to and what I would need to become a competent baseball fan, and not just a stadium slut with beer in hand going "wooooo!".

Maybe his plans to convert me to the church of baseball worked too well because, you see, I began to form opinions of my own. For example, I had been saying since the beginning that Miguel would be better suited at first base. He shrugged this off, but oh, what happened? That's right. And I still believe that Sheffield should go, Guillen should DH, and Inge should be playing third. I think all would be right in the baseball universe and we can live happily ever after (or not, but I still think the moves would be better for all players involved, and for the team).

But the problem with me being a newly birthed baseball fan is that sometimes I say silly things. I do not claim to know all, but I like to think I have a better understanding, and thus, an advantage of sorts over bandwagoners and casual fans. And when certain silly things come out of my own naive girl mouth, boyfriend wastes no time to jump on certain silly things and laugh at me and point out my ignorance. Don't get me wrong, he does it in a sort of father-corrects-son, or "aww aren't you cute" sort of way, but the haughty laugh is unnecessary, as well as the repeatedly bringing up of my mistakes in conversation, especially with other guys.

Ok, ok, so I didn't know what a "dinger" was. But I've only been really following the sport since the middle of last summer and hadn't heard the phrase used between then and now. I think I deserve some lenience.

And God forbid I used the phrases "move runners up" or "clog the bases" just once! Isn't it enough that I read Baseball Between the Numbers?! I value OBP! I value OBP! Moneyball was not written by Billy Beane! (Hey that rhymes...)

So you see, it's hard to write any type of award winning sports prose when said boyfriend would be breathing down my neck (or sitting next to me, rather) and analyzing and dissecting everything I type. I have to be a GOOD sports-loving girlfriend. I have to have the RIGHT opinions. Which, in reality, mean HIS opinions. Luckily, for the most part, my opinions do align with his. But when they don't, thank Jesus for patience, because boy will I hear it.

I think boyfriend should just appreciate the fact that 1) I can sit through an entire baseball game, WITH interest. 2) That I happen to love the thing he loves so much (and probably more so than me). 3) I can respect his (at times, unhealthy) obsession with sports, and not say things like "God, that's dumb, it's JUST sports!" and actually have some empathy for him. 4) I make the effort to actually learn this shit. 5) If I didn't say silly remarks, or ask naive questions, he would have no one to talk to about sports (and by that, I mean, someone NOT on an online forum)

My baseball ignorance is in fact, a blessing to him. Because he has someone to berate and push his opinions onto all day long.

Therefore, I will write what I want to write, and if he doesn't like it, well sir, there is the "comments" link right down there and you can write and rant to your hearts content. And don't forget you have your own damn blog! For your own damn opinions!

So since I will never learn to have better opinions without first voicing my own and being reprimanded, I present to you my sports blog. Please feel free to leave your own thoughts and opinions, so that I may grow to be a well-rounded, unbiased fan. And so that when I exert my elitist thoughts upon you, I can have a prepared argument, just like my boyfriend -- the prime example of the over-zealous and supercilious sports fan -- does to everyone else.

(*Kevin this is, in fact, all meant in jest.)

Finally! Curtis photos!

2008-05-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Better late than never. Finally the photos from Curtis Granderson's stint at the White Caps on April 18th. This coincides with Kevin's post here.

Gone, Grilli, Gone

2008-04-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

News of Jason Grilli's trade circulated quickly today. Many Tigers fans rejoiced.

Me? I made brownies. A promise I'd made and kept to my boyfriend when we first started dating. "If Grilli gets DFA, you have to make me brownies," he said.

I'd like to think this happened because of the shirt I made earlier last week and wore to Sunday's game against the Angels. Yes we lost, but maybe it was some sort of weird baseball jinx/voodoo.

Or not.

A fan can only hope that they have a direct impact on their team by mind control (remember Kev, when I said Miguel would be moved to first, and then it happened?)

Anyway... no, he wasn't DFA, but I'll celebrate, none-the-less. Grilli's gone, baby. (Although I'll possibly see him again, when I see the Rockies play later this season in Detroit. )

Photos from Detroit 4/6/08 (vs White Sox)

2008-04-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

So I finally got to visit Comerica Park for the first time. It was also my first real trip to Detroit (when you don't count short stints at the airport for flight connections). I brought both my digital and film camera with me. I'm still testing out my film camera; I bought a used one and the settings are a bit different from the one I used in photo class last semester. I have a telephoto lense but it only comes in handy when I am in the lower bowl. I have yet to discover the use of flash, so in the mean time, any photos taken when it is slightly dark out are turning out blurry. I may need to get a higher speed film, I've been working with ISO 400 since it's usually so versatile.

My digital camera is pretty old. It only has 2.5 megapixels, which pretty much means it's useless, so I only use it for touristy type snapshots.

I'm hoping within the next year or so to get a digital SLR, but we'll see how it goes. For now, it's good practice to learn the technicalities of the manual. I'm learning more by trial and error than I would in a class, when it comes to taking baseball photos.

Now... the photos from my first trip. I had to scan them in and not many turned out, so there's only a few. I think the next time I get photos developed, I'll spend the extra $2 to have them put on a disk.

What I love most about Comerica is the art. There are tigers all over the park. Here is one of two that prowls a top the scoreboard.

I love the attention to detail. At the end of the rows in the lower section, a design of a tiger holding a bat.

One of the excellent sculptures they have at the park. Here's a silhouette of the Willie Horton sculpture.

And here we have Magglio Ordoñez, right before the start of the game. Yeah, he was looking at me.

Here is Nick Swisher. First inning. Second pitch.

Home run.

Lastly, here is a photo of Miguel Cabrera. In the flesh. Yeah. Too bad we lost, miserably. Final score was 13-2. I like to think this was payback for the last game of last season that we played against them in Chicago. We beat them 13-3.

Anyway. That's that. Next week I will try and post the photos from Granderson's first stint with the Whitecaps last Friday.

Intro

2008-04-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've decided to finally activate my blogger account.
I figure it'd be a nice storing site for my baseball photos.
I'll start scanning and uploading with the next night or two.

On a random note, I discovered that Grand Rapids, MI had an all girl baseball team back in the 1940's. They were called the Grand Rapids Chicks. I would really like to get my hands on some of their memorabilia but so far it seems pretty hard to find anything for any teams but the Rockford Peaches. So if anyone comes across a GR Chicks patch, please let me know! Or any other historical tidbits, it'd be very much appreciated.