I'd mentioned earlier that I'd post a recap of my first Smokies game of the 2009 Season, so here goes:

• This time is a collective bunch of Mighty Mights....there doesn't seem to be much size and bulk.  The lineup was sort of like watching LBR hit in the 1-8 spots.
• Casey Lambert got the start, and was impressive, although kind of in the way that Lilly throws 7 innings and only gives up a couple of hits, and you can't figure out how or why with his stuff.
• Other than Tony Thomas, who likes like a solid prospect with bat speed, power, and foot speed, and most importantly a little plate presence, the best looking prospect on the field could be found in the third base coaching box when the Smokies were hitting, and is somewhere around 50 years old.  Man that guy still looks like he can play.  He towers over most Smokies players-what does that tell you?
• After getting to watch the likes of Jake Fox, Sam Fuld, Doug Deeds, Josh Kroeger, etc hit at Smokies park the last few years, I think this will be a definite small ball year.  Don't get me wrong there's some potential hitters on this team, but there's no one who's a 30 hr type talent at the highest level, probably not even a 15.
  
• I checked with the Smokies pitcher who was working the gun for the club last night, and the home park gun is consistently 3 mph slow.  Frankly, I think it's more.  Mitts were popping at 87 according to the gun in the park-seems unlikely.
  
• Attendance was weak, probably less than 1000, but we lucked out with the weather as it poured literally two minutes after the final out.
• Beers were $4, cold, and flowing.  Probably the only thing Smokies Park has on Wrigley.  Otherwise, I had an Italian Sausage that looked like it was miniaturized in a Rick Moranis movie.
  
• The Smokies GM is a friend of mine and it was obvious he cannot contain his giddiness with who his manager is this year.  Hopefully, this scrappy but overall Punch and Judy bunch will continue to grind out wins and get the foks out to the ball park this year.
• Always a good time, but hopefully next time we have a few more guests and we can break out the cup game.

There will be a day where tonight doesn't hurt, I'm sure of it.  But I've got to ask, if there's a greater power, why does he do this to one group of people?  Now, before vanity runs amock, I realize that God could give a rat's ass less who wins this series.  But when is right going to be right, and wrong going to be wrong?  What's it going to take?

God damn, this hurts.

Got to my first Smokies game of the season tonight, and Tyler Colvin is impressive.  Sat a couple rows behind home plate, and the thing that really jumps out is how quick his hands are.  In his first at bat that I saw (Gm 2 of the double header), he turned on an inside fastball and hit it out down the right field line, about 60 feet up on the berm.  Line shot.  Later in the game, he put a ball in the gap that got to the wall in about 2 seconds, chugged around for a triple, later scoring when the throw to third was off-line.  He seems to simply get a longer look at the pitch with his hands being able to get through the ball so compactly and quickly.  Nice freakin' prospect.  He will find a way to Wrigley.

Donnie Veal, on the other hand.  I just don't get him as a prospect.  I've seen him pitch on three different occassions over the last two years, and he's never impressed me.  Sure, he throws hard but not that hard.  And we've already got enough pitchers in Chicago who have issues with handing out free passes.  Maybe I just manage to see all of his iffy starts, who knows?

Also, forgot to mention that the Deeds guy, the PTBNL in the Monroe deal, homered in his very first at bat.  The ball went out of the stadium, all in all about a 400 footer down the right field line.

Here's what I cannot get past.  Babe Ruth.  The Best Ever.  But a drunk.  To me, the most consistent theme of what steroids can do for you is not necessarily make you bigger (see Jerry Jr. listed twice on the report), but make you recover faster from exertion.  Well, if there isn't a guy who ever played the game who would've loved faster recovery than Babe Ruth, then I don't know who it would be (Mickey Mantle)?

My question:  if they knew it could make them better and recover more quickly from workouts (or whatever ailed them at the time), would these greats have taken the junk?  I say yes.  Especially considering that in their era the likelihood that anyone would've found out would have been nil.

It was the ultimate in irony as I was reading it.  Mariotti blathering away about what a suitable nickname for Fukodome might be, and then the words jumped out of the text like in a Prof. John Nash-like moment.  The words negative extreme.  NEVER have two words ever summed up one individual's collective body of work more than these.  For a man that thinks that every thing is the worst, I hereby propose that he be dubbed the Negative Extreme.  Perfect fit!

I positioned this idea in an email to Jay, and naturally suggested that if he went to listen to some kids singing Xmas carols or something, he might be able to find the levity to see something positive in sports.  I do not expect him to follow up on this thought.

This will be a tough series with the way that the Rockies can put up runs, and we apparently can't, but it would be nice to see some focus and life out of the boys tonight.  I think one positive, other than an obvious win, would be to see us start swinging at the good pitches and stop swinging at the garbage.  When the bases are loaded with no or one out, sometimes the first-pitch fastball down the middle is the best pitch you'll see.  Also, if we can't get some HR's in Coors, then I don't know where we can.  However, more of the same of what we saw in Houston and I think I can see a Mt. Lou eruption in our future.  BTW, is it just me or did the gloom and doom Lou showed after the Sori injury bother anyone?  I didn't like that approach at all-you've got to circle the wagons when something like that happens, not bemoan it.  

Finally, if anyone is ever interested in Smokies' info, I live here and see them fairly often.  On that note, I'm not impressed at all by Donnie Veal-93-94 on the gun my ass.  However, from what I saw earlier this year, Fox and Kroeger are going to be two damn fine hitters.  Fox also has an above-average arm in the OF if they ever choose to put him there.

Go Cubbies, let's wake up and remember what and who your playing for!

So exactly what is our hitting coach doing when it comes to teaching approach to at-bats?  It seems when our young kids come up from Triple A they come up hot, and then quickly fizzle out.  Then they go back, and start smacking it all around the place.  Our home run production is noticably down, in this series alone we've loaded 'em up several times with less than 2 outs and got next to nothing.  I'm all for patient at-bats, but we seem to take the best pitch on the first pitch the majority of the time.  What gives?