Position Players Pitching…

If you were watching the end of the Florida Marlins game on Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies, you probably saw Cody Ross make his first appearance on the mound for the Fish. Ross did not come to Florida in a trade, or on a jet from the triple A Albuequerque Isotopes, but instead from… right field? That’s right, while the Marlins were on top of the world of baseball a week earlier with an 11 – 1 record, on that sunny Sunday at Dolphin Stadium, the bullpen was so depleted that an outfielder was relegated to mop-up duty in the Marlins’ sixth straight loss.
Four hours up I-75, the New York Yankees had faced a similar problem thirteen days earlier, as outfielder Nick Swisher took to the mound to slow down the Tampa Bay Rays, who had already put 15 runs on the board against the Yanks. The Bronx Bombers got whipped twice more in the next 5 days by Cleveland Indians, leading Yankee fans to chant “We want Swisher.”
But do we really want our position players to pitch? The answer is a resounding no. For all we think of Albert Pujols, Kevin Youkillis, Hanley Ramirez, Derek Jeters and others as superheroes, the truth is there’s a stronger kryptonite than an 0 for 30 slump out there. It’s called a wrecked arm.
Yes, it’s true that Swisher and Ross did what the rest of the staff could not on those days—pitch scoreless innings against the teams that met in last year’s World Series. And yes it’s true that Ross once pitched a perfect game in high school. But it’s also true that Jose Canseco—a star batter in his own right in the 1980s—blew out his arm pitching for the Oakland Athletics.
Now, Canseco is not known as being the brightest tool in the shed. He once let a ball bounce off his head and into the stands for a homer. So he may not have known how to warm up or even pitch properly. But bringing in a Swisher or Ross without the proper throwing and rest routine can really wear out their arms easily. Worse, an injury to these players takes a bat out of the lineup and a glove from the field. To make the big league club, these guys had to show something at the plate or in the field, so it hurts the team more than the loss of a bullpen arm.
So despite the temptation, teams should avoid hanging their position players out to dry on the mound. Cause no matter how bad a game is going, it can get a whole lot worse.

Canes squander it all…

Well, that’s all she wrote, boys and girls.

Canes baseball got swept by North Carolina this weekend, scoring one run in Friday and Sunday combined. While the pitching was solid, everything else cost them the series, and likely any chance of making anything of the season. Miami are back to what everybody expected before the season opener, solid team, but inexperienced and no real shot at Omaha.

The problem is that Miami aged backwards, kind of like a Benjamin Button story. Aside from defensive gaffes of historic proportions in the first weeks of the season (Chris Hermann 4 errors in one inning: COME ON!), Miami went on a run few other teams at The U have done, even last year’s squad that on sheer talent was probably a Top 5 alltime college team. A sweep of Florida in Gainesville, another of North Carolina State in the Gables when the Wolfpack were expected to be better than they’ve turned out, and people around South Florida were thinking Omaha. And not Carlos Gutierrez throwing a ball into rightfield against a severely inferior Georgia team (and the season with it). People were thinking another ring to shove in the miserable face of Mike Martin, the Florida State coach who like so many in the past 25 years have been taught the hard way to respect the U (although he still refuses to do it, either for lack of brains or coaching talent).

Well, all that’s gone now. Against teams ranked higher than them, Miami has a respectable gone 1-2 in weekend series, dropping the last two to Georgia Tech at home and now the second UNC sweep in 3 years over the Green and Orange. (For the record, Miami has not been swept by anyone else in a three game series in between). Still, Miami has lost three of its last four ACC series, including one to Clemson, ranked lower than the U. It would likely be 4 in a row if not for D’Vontrey Richardson’s boot of the century in right field during the Saturday game in the FSU series at Alex Rodriguez Park. At a time when other teams are stepping it up, Miami is slumping into the postseason.

What’s gone wrong? In a nutshell everything. While the defense has tighened up, mistakes such as Nathan Melendres nearly colliding with Hermann in the outfield and turning a single or web gem into a stand up triple have come at the worst possible times. The team has forgotten how to hit with runners on base and scored one run or less in three of the last six games. Stud JuCO transfer and middle reliever Taylor Wulf hurt his arm, and no one else has truly nailed down the crucial spot in front of All-American closer Kyle Bellamy. Perhaps overworked, Bellamy has been touched up quite a bit in the past couple weeks as well, getting the loss in extra innings Saturday. While Chris Hernandez has largely overcome his early jitters (unlike Chien Ming Wang), David Gutierrez and Iden Nazario have regressed bigtime—although the trio pitched well against the not-so-potent UNC offense.

Note: Speaking of UNC, they’ve dominated the Hurricanes in baseball the past several years as they have in basketball and football. Since 2006, Miami has beaten the Heels in the big three sports in 2 of 16 regular season meetings, including 1 of 9 in baseball. In all sports, including baseball, beating the light blue and white may be key to avoiding further marginalization from college sports prominence.

The ACC is still there for the taking, and Miami has a mostly easy schedule left of three midweek nonconference games against state teams and a weekend series against Bethune Cookman at home to go with the upcoming Virginia Tech series in South Florida and trips to Boston College and Wake Forest. However, with convincing head-on-head losses to two teams in their division, it will be hard to imagine Miami rising to the challenge at the ACC tournament in Durham and at whatever regional they are sent to (likely as a higher 2 seed, as the team will probably be ranked somewhere around 20 by the end of the year).

So there goes the best chance for the Hurricanes to bring back the rings this decade.

“Outta here…”

Today was a dark day for baseball. The longtime voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, Harry Kalas, died at age 73 after collapsing in the broadcast booth in Washington before the Phillies played there in the Nationals’ home opener. While Kalas may be known around South Florida as that guy from the Campbell’s Chunky commercials and NFL films voice over (if anything), for the people of Philly, he was so much more. Being the voice of the losingest team in baseball history is not easy, but Kalas did it with a pizzazz, smooth style and gentle baritone that others couldn’t. He’s known for his deliberate “that ball is back…it is ouuuuta heeeere!” call on home runs (a call that will echo around Philly for years to come), for calling UM alum Pat Burrell “Pat the Bat” frequently on air, and for 39 years of memories in the booth at Veterans Stadium and now Citizens Bank Park. He genuinely cared about the Phillies and never gave up on them, even when the rest of the city did. He got to experience the highs of the clubs only two world championships, and was a part of the celebration at Citizens Bank Park this past October. Many fans felt that the Phillies won the title not just for them, but for “Harry the K” as well. He was as much a part of the city of Philadelphia as Allen Iverson (before 2007), the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin, Rocky, the Eagles, William Penn and cheesesteaks. Say what you want about the City of Brotherly Love and its sports fans, but being a part of the framework in Southeastern Pennsylvania is quite a feat, and Kalas was a class act all the way.

While I have never lived in the City of Brotherly Love, my dad grew up in Philly, listening to that baritone and soothing “outta here” since he was 10 years old. He listened as Kalas called games during the 1980 championship run (not the World Series-MLB didn’t allow local media to call games in the playoffs back then), the lean times of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the new beginning at “the Bank” and the return to ultimate glory. “I’m very sad,” my dad told me of Kalas’ passing, adding that he did not expect Kalas to be outta here so early in the ballgame. Kalas was born in 1936, the same year as my dad’s father, who still lives in Philadelphia today. The preciousness of the span of one’s time on earth is as much of a stunner to us Brooks men as the sudden departure of Kalas from this ballgame of life.

Whether or not you are literate in the sports world outside Dade and Broward, take a moment to pause and remember a true icon in the world of sports and broadcasting. There will never be another Harry Kalas, but the world was better for his time on it and his legacy will always remain.

-Dylan Brooks

University of Miami Men’s Tennis Notes

Daniel Vallverdu won Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week honors for the week of March 30-April 5. Vallverdu helped Miami go 2-0 on the road at North Carolina State and Wake Forest. Vallverdu, ranked 15th, won two matches against ranked opponents and has won 5 straight matches over ranked opponents, as well as 7 matches overall (as of 4/12/09)

Miami clinched a #2 seed in the ACC tournament with a 7-0 win over Maryland in the season finale for both teams Sunday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables. The sweep was Miami’s 5th stright win to end the season. The Canes are ranked 23rd in the country at 13-7 entering postesason play, but 9-2 in conference play, matching a Miami record for Atlantic Coast Conference wins. Additionally, freshman Ignacio Taboada became the first Miami freshman to win 20 matches since Josh Cohen in 2003-2004. Miami will get a bye in the ACC tournament (given to the top 4 seeds) and face the winner of the 7-10 first round matchup. They will not play Maryland in a repeat match. The Terps, who are 7-13 overall but 1-10 in conference, will get the 11th seed. The top seed is Virginia, who are the top ranked team in the nation with a record of 11-0 in conference and 26-0 overall.

Scaredy Gators…

Shame on you, University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, for denying the chance to get the Miami-Florida rivalry going again. It’s already disgraceful enough that the teams have a 4-year hiatus between games (the next scheduled game is at Dolphin Stadium in 2013), but Foley flatly turned down a very fair UM proposal to let the teams play a home-and-home every other year so that every 4-year player on both sides could experience a home game against their in-state rivals. Both schools’ players get this privilege twice with Florida State, and it would be for the benefit of college football in the southeast for this to happen.

But, ever since Florida started winning championships in basketball and football, they’ve decided to defend the titles by hiding in Gainesville. No out of conference road games for either sport are allowed (or at best, very few). This schedule softening has already cost the Gators basketball team an NCAA Tourney bid this year (soft schedule + soft conference = NIT) and it may soon hurt football with the rise of other conferences and the impending loss of Tim Tebow to graduation in May 2010. Until then, all roads go through Gainesville.

But what does UF have to lose? When Miami was in Florida’s position less than a decade ago, they still played tough road games to validate their status and keep that swagger and bragging rights alive. Indeed, Miami has more to lose now by playing superior Florida teams than do the crocs. the irony is that by 2013, the Canes will likely be better than the Gators, or at least at their level. If UM wins a football title or two in say 2011 and 2013, will the Gators come begging to play Miami, even in Dolphin Stadium. You betcha! Why not just get it overwith now? It’s better for the sport, the University of Florida’s image and everyone involved. No more hiding behind the Swamp and the SEC. Play the Hurricanes, before their rise blows you away, UF!

Miami Men’s Tennis Rebounds

The University of Miami men’s tennis team, coming off two tough road losses to in-state rivals, righted the ship on Saturday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral  Gables. The Canes defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 5-2. UM won the doubles point by taking two of three doubles matches, including the first vicotry of the season for top duo Daniel Vallverdu and Carl Sundberg. Vallverdu, ranked 27th in the country in singles play, fell to 11th ranked Guillermo Gomez in straight sets, but four of the other five singles matches went to the Canes. Christian Blocker, David Rosenfeld and David Simon each won in straight sets, while Carl Sundberg and Ignacio Taboada extended their matches to third sets, with Sundberg winning his match and Taboada (a freshman from Tech’s home of Atlanta) falling to Miguel Muguruza. Miami is now 2-1 in ACC play and 5-4 overall, while Georgia Tech is 1-1 in league play and 5-5 overall. This was Miami’s first home match in a month but the Canes can’t get to familiar with defending home court – they head out on the road again this weekend to take on in-state foes University of South Florida on March 13 and Univeristy of Central Florida on March 14.

10 Things I Don’t Get in Sports

1. Why there is a “Thug” bias against Miami. Florida State starts a brawl with the UM baseball team last year, Florida tries to do the same this year and FSU has a cheating scandal, players that beat up cops and don’t get suspended and a rap sheet long enough to make the Seminole tribe consider revoking naming rights. Yet, for actions that occurred when current students were toddlers and a horrific brawl with FIU (that’s not as unique around the NCAA as many would believe), good people like Jack McClinton are called “thugs” for a retaliatory slap, suspended players are called “thugs” even when the infraction is sneezing. It ain’t right!

2. Why there is a pro-Red Sox bias in media coverage. If y’all hate the Yankees so much, America, don’t pull for the ugly clone up the road.

3. Why anyone, ANYONE would root for the Clippers. (And this is coming from a Clippers fan.)

4. Why NBA arenas play DE-FENSE chants over the loudspeakers. Get real!

5. Why hockey is considered a major sport in America.

6. Why NASCAR races have to be 4 hours and 500 miles long. The first half is generally BORING!

7. Why a baseball-loving region such as South Florida can’t support their 2-time champion Florida Marlins.

8. Why the NBA and NHL have four 7-game playoff rounds. It brings down the level of play and makes the playoffs insignificant. Instead of no-room-for-error, like the NFL, we have a second season that lasts longer than the first, for arena sports, no less.

9. Why the NFL can’t have a longer season by a couple games. 8 home games ain’t enough for the greatest sport on earth!

10. Why people connect sport with life. When it all comes down to it, support is all in good fun. It should not take a 9/11 to remind us all of how insignificant sports are in the grand scheme of life.

MVP for LBJ

The calls come from all corners of the American Airlines Arena, from Uptown to the baseline seats. Whenever Dwyane Wade shoots free throws in front of his South Florida base that loves him as none other this side of Dan Marino, the “M-V-P” chants start. It does not matter that this game is in November against the lowly Indiana Pacers, or a meaningless early February tilt against the Los Angeles Clippers. The fans want it known that Wade’s renaissance should bring hardware.

Should, and would in many other years. Not this one though.

LeBron James proved those believers (this author included) wrong on a chilly March night in Miami. He and his Cleveland Cavaliers took Wade’s best shot – a 41 point outburst, along with 9 assists, 7 rebounds and 7 steals – and still came out on top. How did they do this? Well, double teaming Wade near half court helped cause turnovers, sure, but the Heat’s firestarter still blasted off. Instead it was James taking over this game with a lethal repertoire of outside jumpers and inside drive and dunks. Aided by his sharp-shooting sidekick Mo Williams, James helped the Cavs claw back from down 11 in the fourth quarter on the road for a dramatic victory. Yet, it was James who did what Wade supposedly does best – take over the game in crunch time. The man known as King scored 8 straight Cavs points in the final 3:30 of the game, turning a 93-92 Heat lead with 3:47 remaining into a 100-95 Cavs lead with 42 seconds left. And the way in which he did this was unstoppable: two three-pointers and a drive past Mario Chalmers for a game-sealing dunk after the Heat re-trimmed the Cleveland lead to 98-95.

In essence, James out-Waded Wade, showing he could change the game from any angle on the floor. Well done, King James. You are truly this season’s Most Valuable Player.

Miami Men’s Tennis Team falls to another Sunshine State foe.

It’s not often in Miami athletics that a team must face the rival Gators and Seminoles on the road in back-to-back matches, but that’s what the men’s tennis team was up against in the past week. Miami could not beat Florida or Florida State on the road either, losing 5-2 in Gainesville last Sunday and now being edged 4-3 in Tallahassee. Christian Blocker, Keith Crowley and Carl Sundberg picked up consecutive singles victories to erase an early 3-0 FSU lead, but Maciek Sykut clinched the victory for the Noles. The Noles picked up the doubles point over the Canes as well. Miami, ranked 24th, fell to 4-4 and 1-1 in conference play. Florida Sate improved to 10-4 and 1-0 in the ACC. Next up for Miami is an ACC match on Saturday, March 7 vs. Georgia Tech at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, FL at noon. The match will be Miami’s first at home in a month.

Gators best Canes…again.

The Florida Gators men’s tennis team came to Coral Gables last season and lost to the Miami Hurricanes 4-3. Although they beat UM in Gainesville that same postseason, eliminating them from the playoffs, UF knew that pride and their ranking were on the line in Sunday’s match in Gainesville. The 11th ranked Gators prevailed, 5-2, with David Simon and Carl Sundberg picking up singles victories for the 24th ranked Hurricanes. Miami’s top doubles pairing of Daniel Vallverdu and Sundberg, in their first match together this season, fell to the Gators pairing of Joey Burkhardt and Antoine Bennetau, 8-2. The Canes fell to 4-3 on the season and will be on the road again next weekend, at Tallahassee to face ACC and Sunshine State rival Florida State, ranked 16th in the nation.