Monthly Archives: August 2006

Sybase Sluggers are on a roll

Since the debacle that I wrote about on June 7th, things have markedly improved.   After discussing with the team the negativity that was abounding, an assertive effort has been made to be eliminate criticism during play and only offer shouts of encouragement.  In addition, the team has a mandate to do a lot more cheering from the bench and on the field.  This sort of chatter has proven to be beneficial in elevating motivation.

It has worked and here’s the proof:

During that all-time low, we lost 3 consecutive games:  14-12L to the Flyers (the game that started the debacle), 7-5L to the Dodgers and a 19-18L slugfest to the Strikeouts – the ultimate low since this team was promoted from B and should not have been able to dress-down last year’s champs.  But it was this game where the attitude shift occurred.  Although it was a loss, it was one in which we didn’t lose because of errors and poor communication.

We followed those 3 losses with a very structured practice in which mental approach was the focus.  Since this practice we have gone 8-2 with the 2 losses coming to Farm Team (6-4L) and the Dodgers for the 2nd time this season (13-12L).  But the high point is that all eight wins have been large margin wins that include recent wins against teams we lost to earlier in the season:  a defensive masterpiece against Farm Team (9-3W), a ship re-balancing to Strikeouts (18-12W).

And that’s not all.  This team is starting to peak at the right time to gear up for the play-offs.  The last 2 games have been must-wins if we hope to finish 2nd in the league and get into the $$:  Last week we performed a monster thrash against the #1 team Flyers giving them a whooping they’ll not forget for quite some time:  21-8.  The beauty of this win is that they were working on an undefeated season and we were the only stopper left of preventing that.

Then there was last night.  Against the current #2 team Dodgers.  Two (close) losses against them so far.  Another loss gives them the confidence they sorely need to compete against us in the playoffs.  We have owned this team in the playoffs handing them heartbreak after heartbreak each year as we stepped over them to make it into the finals.   A sweep could give them that feeling they can actually beat us when it counts.  Even though the two losses to date this year were by two runs (7-5) and one run (13-12).

We came into this game coming off a big win and feeling that this game is a must win to have a shot at #2.  Now, there is more than just $$ on the line for #2.  With a #2 seed going into the playoffs, it ensures us home field advantage in the round-robin grouping, puts us in a separate division than the Flyers, and gives us home field through the knock-out rounds until we meet Flyers in the finals.  Which may not happen as was the case last year when we faced off against the Farm Team instead (and proceeded to defeat for the title).   With that on the line and a chance of re-establishing ourselves as the team to beat, we proceeded to trounce the Dodgers 33-14, perhaps the largest run total we’ve ever had in a single game.  This was accomplished in no small part by the 10 (yes ten) home runs (including a 3-run shot by yours truly) we racked up.  In total, in the last 3 games against teams #1, #2 and #3 we have won all three by a margin of 63-25.

The Sluggers have turned a page and are back to playing ball their way:  Selfless hitting, excellent defence, big 2-out rallies, and huge bats when it’s time to close shop.

We have 3 games left – if we can win 2 of those 3 we are guaranteed 2nd.

And a note to myself, who had lost his swing during the rough bumps:  swing down at the ball – that’s how you hit for power.  Who’d a thought a downward swing will result in an arcing ball flight that can sometimes result in HRs?

Roger’s Cup

The Roger’s Cup was held this week at the Rexall Centre at York University.   It was the men coming to Toronto this year.  Sonia had premium VIP tickets to go see some of the action on Tuesday but had to decline at the last minute because O.G. was going through the midst of a strept throat incident.  Tuesday was reserved instead for picking up antibiotics and nursing our little one back to health.

Not to be swayed, Sonia worked the web to get 2 tickets to the early session on Friday.  1st row of the bronze (section 136) for somewhere approx $70 a seat.  With these tickets there was a good chance that Nadal or Federer would be playing.

It turns out that I was to be the holder of ticket #2 – so with Grandma willing to babysit, we journeyed to York to watch some tennis action.

Due to stupid T.O. traffic, we didn’t make it there until after the noon hr so we missed the 1st match in its entirety.  We were early enough however to be able to walk around the grounds and check out the booths/promotions/eating facilities.  If you’ve ever been to a golf or tennis event you’ll know what I mean:  the grounds are kind of like a temporary village and shopping mall where the corp sponsors peddle their wares for outrageous prices.  There are deals to be had but you have to look very hard.  And the $$ of the food is ridiculous:  6 bucks for a hotdog.  4.50 for a BOTTLE OF WATER!!!  We were able to find what we thought was the best deal:  A chicken nacho salad for $10 – and it was large enough for one salad to satisfy us both.

Fortunately I had my Amex card which allowed us access to the AMEX VIP lounge where we could drink free (yes free) water and eat free (yes free) snacks.  No alcohol but for a couple of normal non-VIP access attendees, that ain’t bad.

We did catch some of the tennis:  Andy Murray vs Jerko Niemenin – one a young British hopeful, the other a tour lifer.  The match played out the entire 3 sets so I kind of felt that I got my money’s worth.  I’ve seen matches complete within 1 hr so I was hoping for at least a 2hr match which this one turned out to be with Murray taking it in the end.

After the match – instead of watching some doubles (which doesn’t really interest me), we walked around the grounds and took in the atmosphere.  We went to the grandstand (the other, smaller court) and watched a few points of another doubles match after unsuccessfully finding an outer court where there were some big names practicing.  Admittedly, in such a small arena it is very interesting to watch these pros play up-close and pick up some hitting tips.

The atmosphere got to us and we rationalized a reason to purchase 2 more tickets for the night session to watch number 1 Federer play young phenom (yet unseeded) Xavier Malisse.  With the blessing of Grandma we hung around to watch the highlight match.  Since Nadal was eliminated the day before, the day session didn’t hold any famous or exciting players so we felt a little bit cheated.  With the night tickets we were guaranteed to see a star….even though we were up in the nose-bleeds.  But the nose-bleeds at a tennis stadium are not really that bad — nor are they cheap!  We paid roughly the same for these tickets as we did for the very respectable seats we had earlier that day.

The match was excellent although we did have to leave before it completed.  It was clear that Federer was going to prevail even though he was taken to a 3rd set.

Some tips when going to these events:

1) Bring your own water and food

2) Try to score corporate seats – allows you to get the best seat in the house as well as some complimentary food and drink in the VIP lounges

3) Bring a sweater in case you do end up sitting in the rafters.  That wind blows up there and you’re not protected!  Even though it’s a beautiful sunny day it can get chilly up there at night.

Baseball Pool rant

It amazes me how people do not know how to put proper value on players.  Nor are they logical in figuring out how a trade can improve their position.  I had a trade situation where I was providing somebody with a couple of players that he did not initially ask for in the trade.  This particular person was interested in one of my starting pitchers because he believed he could gain points in wins, K’s, and ERA.  When I worked it through with him I looked like he could possibly get a point in W a stretch for a point in K’s and a possible gain in ERA.  That amounts to a possible 2 points, big stretch for 3.  So I walked him through a scenario where getting a closer from me (which is more ideal for me) would actually be more beneficial.  Initially he was downright adament against it but I walked him through the points he could gain:  1 1/2 pts GUARANTEED in saves.  This closer would provide about 2/3s the K’s of the starter, and has a lower ERA.  So 1 1/2 pts for sure, possibly 2 1/2.  I would throw in a lesser yet quality starter to help him with the W pt.  This amounts to 3 1/2 pts that are more realistic than the 3 with the starter.

Instead of going with that, the greedy bugger then re-offers a deal that included the original starter plus the closer for the same player.  That is pure buffoonery and is common practice amongst the clowns that play in this baseball pool.  Typically, owners are blatantly trying for deals that are way lopsided and not well thought out. 

While I’m ranting, a very strange occurrence happened with the waiver process.  I had three free agents I wanted to pick up in this order:

player a @ $20 and drop existing player d

player b @ $13 and drop existing player d

player c @ $5 and drop existing player d

Therefore, I wanted player a more than b more than c.  I.e. if I had a winning bet on more than one player, I would only get the player I had higher in the list.  This is ‘enforced’ by the fact that I had indicated the same player to be dropped in all cases.

As it turned out, I did not bid the highest on player a, but had bid the highest on player b and player c.  To my surprise, I did not receive player b, but received player c instead?  I was shocked.  And, insult to injury, the player that I’m trying to catch is just ahead of me in the standings received player b.

How did this happen?  Well, it happened based on a procedure used by the website that was not indicated to us by the commissioner nor was known by any other member in the pool.  The procedure is based on the waiver order.  It is common knowledge that the waiver pool was only used as a means to break ties when there are multiple bids on the same player.  The higher player in the waiver list gets the baseball player.  In this case, I had the higher bid but I still lost the player.  Here’s the unknown ‘other’ usage of the waiver list that is documented on the site, but WAYYYYY down in the out of the way “Help Centre” area:

The waiver list is also used for ‘calling up’ the players that are in the list of free agents being acquired for the period.  So, the 1st player in the waiver list, if he is bidding on a free agent then the first name in his list is ‘auctioned’ and determined who wins.  This is where I got screwed.  Somebody above me in the list had my 3rd pick as his 1st pick and hence it was auctioned.  I won the bid so that entailed dropping of player d.  When it came time for ‘my turn’ in the process, player a was already auctioned and lost so player b was auctioned.  I was unable to win this bid because I no longer had a player d to drop and thus the bid was ineligible.  The 2nd highest bid took the prize. 

So, the widely known process of being able to ‘rank’ your bids by dropping the same player for each bid is flawed for reasons not outlined up front.  If I had known this rule I would not have made my flyer bid on player c.  But I didn’t know and all other players would have made the same assumptions.

The fallout of this is that there is a poll being taken to determine if I do deserve player b based on the common knowledge, etc.  I doubt this poll will go in my favour.  But at least this obscure rule will be brought into the open so that it doesn’t bite other people – which I could care less.

Birthday Outings

Yesterday for my big 34 I went golfing. It turned out to be most likely the hottest weather I have ever played in. This includes outings I had taken when in Florida late August. It tipped 40C with humidity.

Tonight for a treat, Grandma came over to watch OG while Sonia and I went to see ‘Cars’ at the newer Princess cinema on King St. Why Cars? There was simply nothing new out there worth watching. So we watched a children’s movie in a theatre full of children for an outing away from our child. Regardless, it was a great movie and since we are de-sensitized to crying and noisy kids we were not annoyed with the audience.

Afterwards we went to the Barley Works to have a quick bite to eat before home. Not too bad for a birthday outing in my opinion.