Puppet Show

It's pretty evident Gonzo benefited from PEDS. No clean player in history enjoyed such a late career power transformation. I dont think that makes him a pariah, necessarily, or all that unusual among contemporaries - nor does it negate earlier franchise glory, within such a broadly corrupted sport.

But if I was Kendrick, blustering about the game's old fashioned virtues whenever it suits me, I might think twice before eagerly tatooing '20' on the stadium next to Jackie Robinson. The same owner who planted "whispers" about Gonzo before contract negotiations, today cant fill seats with his own whisper of a team. So a compromised Kendrick finally adopts the popular WS hero to nudge ahead of the Nats and Reds in attendance - subordinating pious PED 'principle' to profit.















By all accounts, it was a welcome event for a near sellout throng, who paid premium rates to send off Gonzalez for the twenty ninth or thirtieth time. Ah, the joys of club sponsored, canned "tributes". Some say it signals a change of policy, or even of heart. Diamondhacks isnt so sure. We bristled when these stewards actively erased our heritage, and yes, we're complaining now when they embrace it. Because timing and track record are everything.

Gonzo's well attended and, let's face it, long underdue, honor is the latest in a string of puppet shows manipulated by Kendrick and Derrick Hall. It's what you dish out when you cant deliver the real thing. Dolls, puppets, cheap mass produced reproductions. Wide screen reruns of a distant World Series, co-opted by Kendrick after years of sneering at everything associated with it.




It's early August and we're already waist deep in increasingly dubious bobbleheads, which are plastic (formerly ceramic) puppets. Daron Sutton's oleaginous bidding and spasmodic theatrics evoke puppetry of a different kind. AJ Hinch was a figurative puppet. Ungainly characters in the ill conceived "Legends Race" are, literally, puppets. This entire organizational cast is inflated and painted for the show, yet relatively hollow inside.

Ironically, Luis Gonzalez seems to be the most human character among them. Fifty thousand came out to say so. To affirm that even with his wooden cliches and the spectre of steroids dancing overhead, something about Gonzalez is still more real and worthwhile than anything the current organization has to offer.

Dbacks Land Rivera, Bullpen Woes Solved

Nine years after an electrifying World Series (pictured, left), Arizona once again stunned the baseball world, as the slumping, mid-market Diamondbacks paid cash for the most storied name in relief pitching history.

Rivera!

The thirteen year pro ball veteran arrives from the American League, by way of Puerto Rico, and currently sports a 0.53 ERA, along with a 2-0 record and four saves.

The right hander was not on most fans' radar, as he was thought to be too expensive for this ownership group to pursue, however the acquisition should alter the balance of power in the National League West.

Developing....

The Gifts of Gonzo

It's said that half of life's success can be traced to just showing up, and Luis Emilio Gonzalez certainly did that. He showed up for two decades in the major leagues, and in two of his finest seasons, never missed a game.

He was an excellent, less than great player, who accomplished great things through discipline that infused his preparation and play. He stayed in prime shape, took pride in his job, and came early to practice, even after he was the best player on the team. A favored discipline of his era was the use of tacitly approved supplements, and it's likely he did that too.

Off the field, Gonzo was a cross between earlier, effusive ambassadors of the game - like Ernie Banks and Buck O'Neil - and today's aloof "professionals". He could sound politely scripted on camera, but was famously warm and engaging off it, especially to fans and so-called ordinary folk. That's a rare thing, to be nicer off camera than on. Most of us are the other way around.

Time and again, Gonzo would engage people, often the least among us. At the ballpark, at hospitals, at the malls Christmas shopping. the extent of Valley testimonials have become something of a joke around town:

Hey, I was drivin' down 7th to pick up grandma, when my right rear blew, an' five minutes later, whodya think pulls over and fixes my flat. Gonzo!! Then he treated us all to dinner!

For a superstar, he made a point of making eye contact and greeting fans on a first name basis. Whether that was his informal nature, or he felt it his duty, it played extremely well. People remembered. Felt close to him and personally connected with his fledgling franchise.

Here's a link to my favorite Gonzo remembrance - from a former teammate. Luis doesnt save anyone's cat or cure a child's cancer, and in fact there's no punchline really. It's just a summary from a credible voice who saw him every day, and I have a hard time getting it out of my head.

Yesterday's press conference stuck with me too, as Gonzo tearfully retired from a vocation that passed him by a while ago. It's easy to say he's a middle-aged kid who needs to grow up - and there's truth to that. But we also live in an era when sports stars are too often discouraged from being vulnerable human beings. They're wary of being themselves before an agenda-driven press and the insatiable scrutiny of joyless adult customers disguised as fans.



Despite that, Luis Gonzalez warmly welcomed people into his life, one person at a time. Mostly kids. His startling availability and friendly nature reminded Phoenicians of the power of kindness and decency. He taught countless children, at eye level, that professional athletes really arent that different, and that someday, they too might do extraordinary things. Those are marvelous, lasting gifts to a burgeoning metropolis. As big as any blooper.

Win 2001 Series DVD (Collector's Edition Set) !!

Baseball. Bloggers. Everywhere.

Wanna win a seven DVD boxed set of, like, the greatest fall classic ever? I thought so. A set we charge $69 for that is coveted by eleven or twelve people without jobs? Ok, then. Welcome to how this works.

Since we're all proprietors, it only takes three E-Z steps to make the magic happen:

• First, email me a recent picture of yourself (jpg or bitmp, full length preferred, please no "renderings").

• Second, after your photo's "approved" by The Pros here at DAM (Diamondhacks Advanced Media), look for the confirmation email with travel and other instructions.

• Third, fix yourself up nice, glide by my cube here in lower Manhattan, and go down on my All-Star crank.

That's it! One, two, three strokes. You're in!!

Did I mention it's FREE?

Welcome to My World! Only here on Blogspot!

I know it sounds a little crazy, but it's crazier not to go along with the craziness, right?

Almost forgot. Seems to be a little misunderstanding around here. This site is for absolutely EVERYONE. Not just The Pros. EVERYONE coming out of the woodwork who cant live without baseball 24/7 with bells on. But this special benefit is only open to the ladies. The rest of you bloggers should be tagging. Tagging along to get ahead. You'll want to tag like hell.

So, you wanna **** a baseball writer?

--Matt/DAM

Yes and No

Luis Gonzalez had happily smacked 59 memorable dingers that magical year, but none of them made a sound like this one. The sound rumbled through the valley and rattled in the dell, and it still echoes today.

Several autumns past, between rescue and recovery, the New York Yankees won the AL East by 13.5 games, and promptly dispatched a pair of 100 win clubs to reach the 2001 World Series, where they were heavy favorites to win their fourth consecutive World Series title - and fifth in six years - against a 92-70 expansion team. That bears repeating: a fifth championship in six years.

Phoenicians hoped that cocky Curt Schilling would send a loud message on the Series' Game 1 stage, about our team's character, about belonging - and he certainly made memorable statements later, on the field and in the pressroom ( remember 'mystique and aura'). But this was way before any of that endlessly documented bravado.

Specifically, in the top of the first inning of the first game, Schill grazed Derek Jeter on the hand with an up and in fastball. Moments later, Bernie Williams barely avoided a high pitch himself, and unbeknowst to Bernie, dinked a fluke run scoring duck beyond third base. 1-0 New York. Visiting Yankee fans laughed more than cheered, hooting that the Series was over before it really began. Expectant locals bit their lips, shaken. Enduring Dodger or Met fans was one thing, but maybe the inebriated clowns from Yonkers on my left were really on to something. Maybe this was a different kind of baseball for which Arizona was unprepared.

What's worse, Tony Womack led off the bottom half with an anemic, one handed whiff off Mike Mussina. That's when we heard it. The unmistakable sound. It came from the bat of unlikely NLCS MVP Craig Counsell, who launched a surprising game-tying homer into the first row of the right field bleachers. This sound was more than the snap of ash on horsehide. It echoed later, in the 2003 Game Six finale at a hushed Yankee Stadium, if you listened closely to the hum of Josh Beckett's fastball. It rose from Jason Varitek's hand when he shoved it into A-Rod's face. It is the angry sound that questions convention, teaches right from wrong and starts revolutions...and it sounds something like this:

"No."

No, we are not the Padres, Braves and Mets, going gentle into that October night. No, we are not just happy to be here and no, we couldnt care less about your titled past and entitled present. We've made other plans.

Counsell, like so many others, had a poor hitting Series - and his homer didnt even win Game 1, a rather lopsided affair. But with due respect to all the mythic ballyhoo that followed, his swing made it a World Series to remember by delivering a shocking message at an early, critical juncture - to his teammates, the champion Yankees, and to players and fans everywhere. The message was No, and the Yankees have heard nothing much since.

Craig Counsell has been saying no his whole life. People have told him he's too small or too slow to play professional baseball, and an objective comparison of his skill set with those of his peers confirms he has no business playing in the major leagues at all - let alone as an integral figure on two improbable World Series champions. He's been a union rep, managing player interests and saying no to management. And despite being a decent enough fellow, he doesnt accomodate fans as universally as Gonzo. He's the only Diamondback, according to Mark Grace, who stood up to Randy Johnson in the clubhouse, when the Unit's self absorption threatened to distract from team goals.

That wasnt Gonzo's job. Gonzo was this team's Yes man. Counsell was its No.

We know that Couns hasn't hit worth a hoot for some time now and it is time for him to go. It's easy enough for the brain to process. And so we say, Thank You to little number 4, for the not so little hits and those things most of us never saw. We should smile, looking back, and say, "Good Luck" as Craig Counsell heads out the door for that last time - but each time we do a familiar sound cuts us off, and says what's really in our hearts.

No.

(first posted at http://azdiamondhacks.mlblogs.com/diamondhacks/2006/10/yes_and_no.html)