On Competitive Balance

Keith and I were engaging in a text conversation about competitive balance and MLB versus English Premier League soccer. We were discussing the news that Chelsea is interested in Liverpool striker Fernando Torres when I made the following throwaway comment: "well, EPL is the original MLB when it comes to money. Although MLB has more competitive balance."

Well, I only thought it was a throwaway comment. Keith of course hates baseball, so this led to a discussion, which led me to this thought:

How do you frame competitive balance?

What defines it?

Keith and I, two avid sports fans, two guys keenly interested in world futbol, came from this concept in totally different directions. I am going to lay both lines of thought out briefly, although I probably won't do Keith's justice.

I argue that MLB has more competitive balance than not only the EPL, but at least comparable to every other American sports league. I think this is true for these reasons:

• baseball has had many winners in the last decade - 8 in 10 seasons if my memory serves correctly (Yankees-2000, Dbacks-2001, Angels-2002, Marlins-2003, Red Sox-2004, White Sox-2005, Cardinals-2006, Red Sox-2007, Phillies-2008, Yanks-2009).
• baseball also had by my unofficial count 23 of 30 teams that made the playoffs in the first decade of the 21st century (the lone clubs to not make the postseason - Bucs, Reds, Nats, Royals, O's, Blue Jays, Rangers).
• baseball has a playoff where anything can happen

Keith's reason against baseball (again, I apologize for any overarching simplicity) was that, in any given year, there are only approximately 5 teams that can win it all. When pressed to name pre-season favorite this year, I would name the following: Yanks, Red Sox (those 2 every year), Rays, Phillies, Cardinals, Twins. I could only name 6, and that might come from having played almost two months already, and it also might come from the way I think about baseball.

In any event, this leads me to the question that I hope will solicit comments - what exactly is competitive balance? How should Keith and I frame this argument?

2010 Minnesota Twins

I need an outlet to describe my jubiliation after a 5 month advent of sorts. Baseball is freaking here y'all! Without further ado, here are the top five developments in my favorite organization over the offseason that have me busting with anticipation. Busting, Jerry, I'm busting!

5) The Projected Bounceback of Francisco Liriano (Gardy name = Frankie)

I was listening to a Baseball Today podcast featuring Jayson Stark (4/9), who astutely said that out of anyone on the Twins staff, Liriano is the guy who can win on stuff alone. Now, I am a huge fan of Kevin Slowey and Nick Blackburn trying to paint corners and induce soft contact, but there is something sexy about stuff, no? Liriano was so-so last night, putting up a quality start but walking 5 and only striking out 3. I am interested to see if he will dominate, however in June, July and August when that slider is not stifled by the cold midwestern air. On a side note, the jury is very much out on whether he can bounce back mentally from any rough starts in April and May as he seems to be his own worst enemy.

4) Gardy potentially turning his back on Nick Punto Hollywood Hogan style

Minnesota fans can probably think of nothing more unlikely than Ron Gardenhire benching LNP (Little Nicky Punto) in favor of playing Brendan Harris. Gardy is an "aw shucks," "gettin after it," "play your butt off" kind of guy, and in his mind, no one personifies those plucky traits more than LNP. If you want to see diving stops at third, sliding headfirst through first base and some nifty baserunning, than LNP is your guy. Unfortunately, you're going to have many botched sacrifice bunts, pop-ups with one out-man on third situations, and many many routine fly balls to left. In a straight up numbers comparison, Harris seemingly hasn't shown much greater offensive prowess, and has had a similar number of ABs. However, his proclivity for the clutch hit, his potential for 15-20 HR from that number 9 spot and his not tugging at Gardy's shirttail every time the camera pans to him on this bench makes me favor Harris.

3) Umm...Target Field?

Did you hear the Twins have a new ballpark? It doesn't have a huge off-white Teflon roof covering it. The seats face home plate. The concourses are wide enough that you don't have to plan your exit strategy in the sixth inning. For Pete's sake just look at the thing!!! Look at the food!!! I was lucky enough to score tickets to the home opener on Monday (I've never been to a home opener!) and I more excited than this boy.

2) Bye-bye Carlos!

The organization traded Carlos Gomez straight up for J.J. Hardy. I'll let you discover the beauty of this on your own. Let's just say look at the stats in August. You'll understand. You just will.

1) Joe and Denard

Knowing that your club has signed the best overall player in the American League until 2018 is like sitting down to your fifth delectable dinner in a row and just having the satisfaction that you married well and you're going to be having Shrimp pasta dishes and Pork Tenderloin and fine bisques regularly for a REALLY long time. Knowing that you also signed the best kept secret as far as AL leadoff hitters go for peanuts so you can afford the shrimp, pork, and bisque makes your smile grow that much more.

Twins are on the rise baby! Can't Wait...

Rebuilding the Bucs

One of a negative Pirate fan’s greatest weapons in his mind is to say the following: “…same old Bucs. We do the same thing every year. Trade the good players away for minor leaguers. I’m not going to follow them anymore.”

This is the type of criticism that I hate, because it usually comes reflexively without looking at the facts of the situation. To counter these claims, we need to start with a couple of salient points about how to win baseball games in a big way. Here is how you have to win in the MLB:

• Drafting and development is the key. You have to field a team of mostly homegrown players.
• Give the kids time in the majors to either sink or swim. You need to see what you have with what you’ve drafted and developed.
• After you’ve seen what you have, fill in the holes. This can be done through free agency or trades. The trade aspect is why you have to continually draft and develop well.
• Stay away from bad contracts. Perhaps much easier said than done.
• Keep your stars but choose wisely!

That’s it. That’s how you win. These steps are magnified for small market teams; the smaller the market/payroll, the more important these are. Now, let’s compare the Pirates performance in these ways under Dave Littlefield and Neal Huntingdon.

• Drafting and development – Littlefield’s failure in this key area is why the Bucs are in a position where they have to rebuild. First look at his first round picks. The only ones currently with the team are Paul Maholm and Andrew McCutchen. The Cutch pick was out of character for Littlefield; he was a high schooler with a lot of upside. The Maholm pick was more in line with his philosophy; college arms with low ceilings. Maholm represents the only success among these college arms; Bryan Bullington and Daniel Moskos represent the worst of these decisions. He also missed on Neil Walker (perhaps being blinded by the fact that Walker is a local product). Neal Huntingdon has only been in charge for two drafts. However, in his first draft he showed a willingness to go for upside and to pay overslot for top talent. This draft featured Pedro Alvarez as the top pick (who has been tearing it up at AA Altoona in July), but also contained lower round signability guys like Robbie Grossman, Quinton Miller and Wesley Freeman. All in all, the Bucs spent almost $10 million on the 2008 draft signees (which ranks in the top 5 in history). This year, the Bucs went even more extreme in the draft, taking a low risk, low upside guy at #4 overall (Tony Sanchez) in the hopes of spreading even more money around in the later rounds. They drafted a bunch of high upside high school arms like Trent Stevenson (signed away from LSU), Zach Von Rosenburg (currently committed to LSU), and Colton Cain (Texas). Allowing the draft budget to be the same as 2008, and giving the $2.5mm slot deal to Tony Sanchez, that leaves around $8 million for the Bucs to spend on getting these guys. It is important to get young arms en masse, because young arms routinely fail, all the time. The more arms you get, the more chances you have to succeed, and the more upside they have, the better chance you will unearth a star or two. It has to be said that Huntingdon is a big improvement over Littlefield in this area.
• Letting the kids play – Under Littlefield, the Bucs were famous for misevaluating talent and pulling the plug way too early on experiments. Nate McLouth sat on the bench for 2 years before the Huntingdon/Russell combo realized he deserved a full time chance. They ruined Zach Duke when Jim Tracy came aboard. Craig Wilson saw sporadic playing time for the likes of Raul Mondesi and Jeromy Burnitz. The tone under Huntingdon has changed dramatically. McCutchen was given a full blown opportunity at the MLB level once McLouth was traded; he has run with it and proven that he can be part of the core of the next great Bucs team. Young guys Snell and Gorzelanny were given plenty of time to sink or swim; they sunk. Steve Pearce and Lastings Milledge will play every day for the rest of the year. These are the kinds of things that will hasten the process of building a model organization.
• Filling in the holes – Huntingdon hasn’t reached this point yet, so he can’t be judged. But lets illustrate what he has to “live up” to. Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa, Chris Stynes, Raul Mondesi, and Matt Morris were just some of the guys that Littlefield handed big money to. For those Bucs fans that complain about payroll, wouldn’t you rather spend the money when McCutchen needs to sign a long term deal in 2012 than spend it on these chumps? The answer to this, if you are serious about winning, has to be yes.

Rebuilding a franchise takes a lot of effort, and it is vastly unpopular. That ultimately is why Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield never did it. Neal Huntingdon is one of the 3 most unpopular people in Pittsburgh right now, but he did the right thing. Trading the mediocre pieces we had right now for the best we could get would help speed up the process of rebuilding. Targeting young arms in large numbers is a great strategy to get some quality big league arms. Another strong trend is getting players who were previously well-regarded but for some reason cast aside and undervalued by their previous organizations (Milledge, Gorkys Hernandez, Jeff Clement). With these trends, plus his proven proclivity for taking reasonable risks in the draft, means that Huntingdon is doing things the right way. Some moves will succeed, probably more will fail, but the plan is being executed, and that is the important thing right now. It is certainly different than anything else attempted in these 17 shameful years of losing.

Trading Deadline Special: AL East

One of the problems with having a limited amount of contributors (and an even more limited amount who actually post—I’m pointing at myself here) is the problem you run into of sharing fan bases. I can think of a few of our beloved staffers who bleed Black and Gold. I seem to share a good deal of teams in common with the Gentleman from South Dakota. Such is the case here and while I am much more knowledgeable in all things AL Central, in the attempt at fair coverage (although this division gets more press than Lindsay Lohan…wait where has she gone?) I will pontificate on the trade issues affecting the AL East.

I once had a love affair with New York Yankees. It was torrid. It was illicit. It seemed bandwagon-influenced, but rest assured it was geographically based, and thus legit to enter and leave that relationship. Repeat I am not a Bandwagon Jumper. If you have doubts, please read rules 18-20 of Bill Simmons’ rules on fan loyalty. Anyway, I have not followed this division much lately, so I figured what better way to inform myself of its state in general than taking in an interdivisional game? Here’s what I learned about trades in the AL East and other things from watching the ESPN telecast of the Yankees vs. Rays:

--The Roy Halladay front is all quiet. Personally, I think the Phillies-Indians trade made both teams better and the Phillies were wise to go after Lee rather than give up too much to get Halladay. Really, you have to think the Fightin’ Phils have the best shot to win the NL again…getting away from the AL East…dangit!

--I miss Matt Garza. Wait Derek Jeter just tripled to open the game…I don’t care…Garza’s stuff is electric and Delmon Young is now riding the pine in Minnesota full time behind Carlos Gomez and his sub-.650 OPS…AL EAST, AL EAST…c’mon Aaron, you can do it!

--By the way, allow me to throw in a plug for Jim Beam sourmash bourbon-style whiskey. A good sipping whiskey is to baseball what Jenny is to Forrest…may be a stretch, but I’m enjoying myself.

--Jason Bartlett is hitting .332 (3rd in AL) and he’s hitting 9th? Is the Rays’ lineup really that good?

--Steve Berthiaume intrudes with a Breaking Trade Update…Freddy Sanchez is going to the Giants for some minor league prospects…once again, I’m caring none for the AL East right now and only cursing Twins GM Bill Smith and pouring another glass of J.B. How can we do nothing again? Even as Morneau, Nathan, and even Mauer (very soft-spoken) are pitching fits to Star Tribune reporters daily. How are we going to re-sign Mauer after next season when management shows no commitment to be anything but an 88-win team every year? Actually, there are lots of retorts to this, which could jumpstart many a lively discussion. There have been many teams who’ve screwed themselves for years going after that “one extra piece.” Should Nathan and the M and M boys be questioning their middle infield instead? Perhaps their own crew of starting pitchers who were shaping up to be a very good young group last year, but who have been middling at best this year? Perhaps their over-hyped aging adolescent manager? Is blaming the front office at the trade deadline really the wisest take as a fan? I don’t know, but it is fun…

--Steve B. cuts to the A’s-Red Sox only to see Brad Penny get rocked for 5 runs in his first 37 pitches. With an unhappy Matsusaka (stressed out because of an off-day throwing schedule? Please…) and an injured bullpen, it will be interesting to see if Boston does anything to bolster their pitching in the next couple of days. Penny was on the block as recently as last week (prime candidate for a trade being that he only signed a one-year deal in the off-season) but I can’t find anything that suggests anything is brewing tonight…although really, if you need pitching are you really going to get rid of Brad Penny when you seem primed for another post-season run? I think not.

--Jeter just put down a beautiful bunt single for his second hit of the night…he’s hitting .325 with 11 HR this year (.855 OPS)…Nice production out of my shortstop, especially for one in his 14th season (I know he’s a below average defender). Speaking of needs for the Yankees…I know they are perpetual buyers, but I don’t see them making a trade for another bat at least…they have the best 1-9 in the game…and with the Phils (Koke and Hughes...sounds like a law firm) coming on strong in the bullpen with Rivera, and with 4 strong starters (Joba, Andy Pettitte, Burnett, and Sabathia) it’s hard to believe they’ll make a big trade…maybe one more bullpen arm if anything.

--Steve Phillips is talking like the Red Sox or Yankees are still trying to put together a package for Halladay, but I can’t believe the Jays would trade him within the division…I’m saying the Sox have more of a chance of doing this if it were to happen, but look for him to go out West if he’s going to go anywhere…Phillips is stressing right now that the AL East is a two-team race between the Yanks and Sox…he doesn’t think the Rays can hang in…they’re under-performing this year, but is a line-up that features B.J Upton, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and Carlos Pena out of it just yet?...Yeah, just checked the standings and they’re 6.5 back…thought they were closer than that…with Boston, Seattle, and Texas all in good shape for a potential wild card, it will be hard for TB to overcome…it looks as though they’re more than one piece away at this point. Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal are reporting as of tonight that the Rays may be a “long shot” to try and get Halladay. But they are also mulling getting some more bullpen help, just after they considered moving relievers yesterday…once again doesn’t seem like they are just one piece away.

--As I am writing this, I see that Yanks’ Brian Cashman has in fact gone after some pitching, but in the manner I expected…taking a flier on Jason Hirsh from the Colorado Rockies and re-assigning him to AAA Scranton-Wilkes-Barre. Don’t know what Cashman sees in Hirsh as he’s 6-7 with an ERA of 6.66 this year pitching for the AAA Colorado Springs. They only gave up a player to be named later, and upon further research, it looks like they’re only doing this for depth in the organization to protect against injury down the stretch.

--The Orioles suck and have sucked for a long time. I don’t feel like wasting time researching their needs, which are many. Besides, I’m teaching the second installment of my Faith and Film class at church next Friday and I need to prep for it. Peace out baseball lovers!

5 Reasons to Watch: Bucs 2nd Half

Well, as we near baseball's midsummer classic (a week from today!), the evidence starts to pile up. This will not be a winning season for my beloved Bucs. They are currently 9 games under .500 and in last place in the division (although, quirkily, they are only 7.5 back of the Cards). However, I am feeling a lot more optimism for this team than I have in the July's of past. Why is that? Well, here are 5 reasons to watch the Bucs in August and September that will keep you optimistic:

1. The outfield situation - in the last two seasons, the Bucs have traded away four starting outfielders. This may be a technicality, since Nyjer Morgan shouldn't start on any contending team, but they still traded the guys who took the majority of the outfield at-bats. However, the situation here is exciting, looking from the major league roster to the depths of Single A West Virginia. McCutchen has been a revelation in center; he is going to be a star for the Bucs for at least the next 5+ years. Brandon Moss has been mostly a failure so far in RF, but he should still be given chances to produce over the next two months. Lastings Milledge has the pedigree (as a former No. 1 overall prospect of the Mets, as well as leading the Nats in HR and RBI last summer) and now should be given a chance; he won't be sent down to AAA after 7 starts like he was in April by the Nats (at least for performance purposes). Garrett Jones, Steve Pearce, and Delwyn Young will still get opportunities to show what they can do by getting spot starts all over the outfield (although I'm not bullish on any of the three; Young has the most potential as a pinch hitter). In the minors, the Bucs have at least two potential above average major leaguers at Altoona in Gorkys Hernandez and Jose Tabata. Robbie Grossman is performing admirably for a 19-year-old rookie at West Virginia, and Starling Marte has shown a lot of promise in his 2 weeks with the team. Overall, the Bucs have greatly improved their outfield depth throughout the organization while sacrificing only one above average major league player (Jason Bay).

2. The 2009 Draft Class - the Bucs just went Moneyball on everyone's @$$ and people still aren't recovered. They drafted a bunch of high upside high school pitchers after quickly coming to terms with Tony Sanchez at No. 4 overall. They will be tough signs, but it is worth watching the situation until August 17 to see who the Bucs are able to sign. Also, the Latin American market is clearing up, and it appears that the Bucs should be able to sign Miguel A. Sano. This will be the biggest international signing yet for Neal Huntingdon, who has signed players from all six baseball playing continents in his less than 2 years on the job. Seriously, he has signed players from: Holland, South Africa, Australia, India, Taiwan, and various Latin American countries.

3. The pitching depth - Maholm and Duke are probably locked in as #3-4 starters. Ohlendorf has sparkled at times this year, and he's almost a certified genius, but he isn't throwing as hard as he did last summer. Charlie Morton is the big variable; he has the best stuff of anyone on the staff but it needs to translate into major league success. His first four starts have been encouraging; he bears watching. In the minors, top prospect Brad Lincoln needs to prove his stuff at AAA Indy after being dominant in Altoona. If he does, he may earn a rotation spot for next April. Snell and Gorzo still have major league success in their backgrounds, if they can ever throw enough strikes again they could still be viable major league options. All of this coupled with the aforementioned draft has greatly improved the Bucs pitching situation; it should only get better from here.

4. The trade deadline - We don't have anyone who is going to bring back a ton this year, but Grabow, Ad. LaRoche, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, and Capps are all candidates to be dealt. The question about the middle infield lingers into 2010; if Sanchez and/or Wilson are traded, there aren't people to replace them yet in the system. Which of the guys will go, and how much will the fanbase cry over their departures?

5. The march to 82... - wins or losses? Well, it was said here earlier that it will be losses, and in truth it will probably be many more than 82. This will mark a 17th consecutive losing season, a record for American professional sports. There isn't too much more to say about this. It's inevitable. It will probably happen around September 13-14; all I hope is that its not against Houston, for some personal reasons.

Anyway, this second half should be more exciting for the Bucs than it normally is. This is a sign that the team is going in the right direction. Let's hope that Huntingdon and company keep it up to meet my 2012 deadline; they have to compete by then for me.

Saving the Bucs with Moneyball (Part 1)

I think the case could be made that the Pirates moves in the last two weeks have been filled with Moneyball principles, in a very good way. To me, this theory’s biggest argument is that there are market inefficiencies in baseball; traits that the market values too much, and other traits that the market doesn’t value nearly enough. A team in a financial position like the Pirates is at a great advantage when they can peg those inefficiencies ahead of the curve. From what I can remember, there are two areas in which the A’s were ahead of everybody else utilizing these inefficiency principles: on-base percentage and relief pitching. The Bucs, over the course of the last week, have tried to exploit different inefficiencies. To wit:

• Trading McLouth – the words that were continually thrown around to describe Nate were “All-Star” and “Gold Glove”. It has been covered ad nauseum that his Gold Glove was kind of a joke. I won’t make the argument that his All-Star appearance falls under the same umbrella; he deserved to make it with his great first half last year. However, to use this term to describe him is a bit misleading. Albert Pujols is an All-Star; Nate McLouth made an All-Star Game. There’s a difference to me, but the two are lumped together in media coverage and in the average fan’s mind. The baseball market overvalues terms like “All-Star” and “Gold Glove”. The Pirates exploited this.
• It seems that generally in baseball these days, prospects are also overvalued; teams are less willing to give up “the farm” in order to procure the best major league talent. The Bucs worked a trade that worked in the opposite order of this; of course the argument is that they didn’t get enough.
• To that last point, we look at the return for McLouth, where I believe the Bucs got commodities that are undervalued at the present time. We were able to get two pitchers; pitching is famously a rare commodity to receive in a trade. Further, the Bucs received a LHP who throws mid-90s. Lefties who throw this hard are also rare. In the outfield, they got a centerfielder; the famous axiom in baseball states that talent up the middle is difficult to obtain. Therefore, they were able to get three players that were undervalued by the Braves, because their positions are more difficult to fill.
• Along the lines of this, Gorkys Hernandez signals a trend toward which the Pirates are moving and which has been less valued in the majors: outfield defense. As Charlie at Bucs Dugout has recently shown, the improvement in the Bucs outfield defense has more or less made up for the loss of production by the Bucs OF with the bats. Trading McLouth and inserting McCutchen into the lineup improved what was already one of the top defensive outfields in the league (it could be argued it was the only way to improve on an already stellar outfield defense). Gorkys is a centerfielder who probably will be moved with McCutchen manning this position in Pittsburgh; he’s most likely the replacement for Nyjer (or whoever replaces Nyjer) whenever he is ready. Anything that he can develop with the bat over what Nyjer gives the Bucs (which is little) is a bonus.
  

These are all of the implications that Moneyball and its principles had on the trade that the Bucs completed last week. The average Bucs fan was irritated by this trade; it’s just the same old Pirates, trading big leaguers for prospects, shaving money off of the payroll. McCutchen will be traded in the offseason for four minor leaguers – I received an actual text that stated this. A couple of points about this, before moving on to the Bucs Moneyball draft:

• As stated before, McLouth was expendable. The Bucs actually were ahead of the curve because they traded him near his peak value. This is different from any trade in which the Pirates have previously engaged. Critics point to trades like the Bay and Nady trades of last season, the Kendall trade of 2004, the Aramis Ramirez trade in 2003, the Giles trade of 2004, and a litany of trades made in the 90s (when this procession of futility began). Let me comment on those each of those trades individually:

1. Jason Bay – not at his peak value; in fact, he was at about bottom value after the 2007 season (witness the package the Indians offered for him that offseason). The Bucs were lucky that he was as good as he was during 2008’s first half, increasing his value. At his age and contract situation, he was not a guy that was going to be part of the next great Bucco squad.
2. Xavier Nady – (and Marte if you want to throw him in) he was in the middle of his career season. His value was inflated, so by that standard, it is the most comparable to the McLouth trade. But Nady didn’t have a history of doing what he did in 2008; instead, his history was riddled with injury. It isn’t surprising that he hasn’t been anything like his April-June 2008 self since getting to the Yanks.
3. Brian Giles – he was on the decline, his contract was onerous, and the clouds of steroids have gathered over him since he left Pittsburgh. A return of Bay made this trade good enough.
4. Jason Kendall – one of the biggest contract blunders in a long list of contract blunders for the Bucs. They signed a singles hitter to a $60 million contract right before moving into PNC Park to signal a “commitment” to winning to the fanbase. The Bucs couldn’t get him and his bloated salary off the book quickly enough. This is the problem with allowing the fans to dictate moves made by the front office.
5. Aramis Ramirez - the only trade on this list that is indefensible and unacceptable. There is nothing I can say to make this trade feel better. The Bucs were under the gun to cut payroll immediately, and this is how they chose to do it. We could talk about the fact that A-Ram had been struggling for a season and a half before this trade, and how he wasn't at that time worth the salary that he was making. However, he was about 23 years old and to just give up on him was disappointing. There isn't really much else to say. When the current front office trades McCutchen for a decendant of Bobby Hill, then I will give up on them, but until then I will believe they won't make a trade like this.

This is just a short exposition on the Bucs, their front office, and how they are employing the techniques outlined in Moneyball. It is the first of a two part series. The second part will be posted some time this week, when I have a chance to hash out these thoughts, but it will focus on the draft, the minor leagues, international signings, and player development, in light of Moneyball principles.

Sugar

A lot has been going on. Consequently, my sports viewing has tapered off a bit. (I have still been a frequent reader of Matt Mosley and Peter King, and have checked the standings to see the typical peaks and valleys of another infuriating Mets season) But down here in Asheville, NC I have had two brushes with a wonderful part of the American professional sports landscape: Minor League Baseball.

My fiancee Marianne and I went to an Asheville Tourists game on Thursday (the Tourists are the single A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies). We bought the cheap seats, because I wanted to be "high up and behind home plate." Of course, in this minor league stadium, there is no "high up." There is one deck where the "box" seats are separated from the bleacher seats by 5 feet.

The stadium was built into the side of a hill, and was thus quite a-symmetrical (360 to the power ally in left, 320 to right, with a slightly elevated wall in right field) The stadium did have an electronic scoreboard that flashed player pictures, info and stats, but I was annoyed that the batting order wasn't posted anywhere on the scoreboard.

The game promotions were a good time. One involved asking a little girl to guess the game's attendance from 3 choices. She guessed 1,410, which was said to be the correct answer. They were clearly lying. Some people had shuffled out by this late point in the game, but I thought there were about 300 people in the stadium at that point of the game. I'm not entirely sure the stadium could fit 1,400.

A second promotion required Ms. Asheville to successfully throw a baseball into the back of a hatchback from about 20 feet. That's right, the back of a hatchback. She couldn't do it. Perhaps next time they should use the broad side of a barn. Now, Ms. Asheville can be exonerated since she was wearing wedge shoes, but she must be chided for not thinking to take the shoes off. Let's hope she doesn't talk about "U.S. Americans" and their dearth of maps during the Q&A portion of the Ms. North Carolina pageant.

Another favorite was the "frisbee toss." No high-powered mechanical guns needed to propel them into the stands. Just a girl throwing frisbees at people.

The game stunk -there were 9 errors, but the concessions were good. Good local beer at a reasonable price is a big plus.

In all of this, what strikes me the most is the juxtaposition of serious and silly, professional and wildly unproffessional. There are men here - serious athletes - who are pinning serious hopes on their performances in these game. But in between innings, beauty contestants are trying to throw baseballs into hatchbacks. The professional seriousness of the stadium workers, juxtaposed with the silliness of a lot of their work captured this. (Like the worker who was very seriously carrying the life raft that was used in their version of the pierogie race)

Today I watched the independent film Sugar. It's quite a good film about a Dominican pitcher trying to make it in the big-leagues. It is completely non-formulaic. You should see it. It does a good job of capturing the strange juxtapositions I spoke about - it combines funny, serious, silly and absurd scenes very well. For such is baseball. For such is life.