Spring Training Report

I guess there hasn't been any news for a while, eh. Well today's blog is a response to the action I've seen in spring training this year. I'm checking out the Grapefruit league.

Game 1: Boston @ Toronto

• Boston ended up being a split-squad to my complete disappointment. This meant no Matsuzaka mania, no Manny being Manny, no Drew being due (injury that is), no nothing. I was really hoping to scout out Pedroia, since the Sox are handing him the job. Well he did play, and looked fully capable of being as competent as Mark Loretta. Nothing exciting to see here.
• The Jays on the other hand, played everybody but the Big Hurt. Halladay was there and made quick work of the minor-Sox.
• I was happy to see Hansack pitch. He looked good until giving up a two-run homer to Aaron Hill. He did strike out 3 in 1 and 2/3.
  

Game 2: Detroit @ Houston

• Got the full treatment here: Bonderman VS Oswalt. Bonderman and the Tigers were a step ahead of the Astros for the entire game. I wasn't confused for a second which team was representing it's league championship from the previous year.
• The wind was blowing out all game, so there were several homeruns. The most notable to me was that of Hunter Pence. Arguably the Astros best prospect, he looked good at the plate and even better defensively. I'm suddenly more excited about him than anyone named Brian Anderson.
• Jordan Tata is supposed to be first-in-line to a rotation spot in Detroit. He couldn't find the plate and looked awful.
  

Since I'm near Disney World... that's all folks.

Playoff schedule

Just some quick thoughts on the MLB playoff schedule this year:

1. I'm rooting for the A's, but the A's are playing at 1:00 AM ET. How am I supposed to watch that? The A's are used to playing late night games. Could it possibly be more unfair than to make them play at 10:00 AM PT? That's ridiculous!
2. The Yankees are playing at primetime. Obviously they're the money makers, so they get the best time slot. But does this mean they get more money than say the Twins who won't have nearly as many tv viewers? Thusly the Yankees make more money to spend more money next season? Thusly they're even better next year? This is an outrage! At least America will know who the Tigers are after this series.
   
3. The world would end if playoff games were played simultaneously.
   
4. A five game series should only have one off day, the one in between the second and third game. Anything else is stupid and creates an advantage for the team with the best starting pitcher.
   

To summarize I hate everything about MLB's playoff scheduling. It's all about greed. I refuse to watch any World Series that includes the Yankees. Please don't let that happen again this year.

Finally, Video Game News

E3 is changing.

The Entertainment Software Assocation, which hosts E3 each year, announced today that going forward the Expo will be an "intimate event" rather than a massive trade show, hosting press events and small meetings with media, retailers, and developers. According to Electronic Arts, the redesigned E3 will now take place in July.

May I be the first to say it's about time. Well, I'm probably not the first, but you get my point. I've been grieved by the "Hollywood" attention video games have received the last few years and this is a step in the right direction. Commercialization killed the Homerun Derby and it's been killing the game market.

The real video game news of the day is that Super Monkey Ball Adventure was just released for the GameCube. Let's hope it lives up to franchise name.

Happy Fathers' Day Mark Prior

Apparently Mark was reunited with his long-lost father at yesterday's Cubs game. That's right Mark, the Detriot Tigers are your daddy. I don't know about you, but it makes me feel good inside to see Mark doing his part to help fight prostate cancer:

For 11 days leading up to Sunday, 60 games were selected for the Home Run Challenge. The total number of home runs hit in those games, multiplied by the total pledges, will result in an amount given to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

As I recall, the pledges for Tigers/Cubs game was $20,000 a HR. That's a couth $220,000 Fathers' Day gift.

I blame A-rod too

Alex takes blame for loss - New York Daily News
From the article:

"If you guys want to write the worst about someone, today's a good dayto do it about me," Rodriguez told reporters. "I get a hit there, Ithink we win.

"Rip away, rip away, rip away. If I was a writer, I'd probably bewriting some nasty things. If I was a fan, I'd be booing me, too."

You're right Alex. You blew the game. You smell like an oaf. Boo...

What am I? Five? I don't care about the Yankees. I don't care about A-rod. But it is nice to see that even he recognizes he isn't worth the $20 million dollars he's making this year. I wish he would give some of it away to a worthy cause like steroid testing.

You know who else I don't like? The jerk who took the page couth.blogspot.com. He writes one useless blog and now I can't register the name. I bet it was A-rod.

Initializing Your Variables

$couth=1;
Let me introduce myself. I'm a twenty-something programmer and like talking about computers, video games, math, and sports. I'll probably keep up with this blog for about five minutes before moving onto the next thing. But I was bored and wanted to try out this new Flock web browser. Now that I've been initialized, maybe later I can make some comments. And couth is obviously the best word ever. Use it every chance you get, even if it means using it in an uncouth manner. I sure do.