Whether under the auspices of a master fortune teller or more commonly as a “baseball expertâ€, many people like to share their pre-season predictions on who will finish where at the end of the upcoming baseball season. I like to join in with the fun and I will be sharing my “wisdom†with you tomorrow, but it’s only fair to preface my predictions by having an honest look at how last year’s turned out.
Only a few spring training games to go now for each team. The real games are about to start, where all batting averages and ERAs head back to zero. The good thing about performances in spring training is that they can be turned to your advantage whatever the situation.
Seven days to go. Seven days until the Mets and the Cardinals kick everything off for another season. Seven days too long really, but we’ve waited for over four months now so I guess one more week won’t hurt.
Would you go to a baseball blog to find out about air conditioning? Didn’t think so. You probably wouldn’t expect to hear about air conditioning during a baseball broadcast either, but put this down as yet another unique quirk of Spring Training. I’m currently watching the A’s take on the Rangers and have just been treated to a half-inning discussion all about how to be energy efficient with your air conditioning (useful to a Texas native, not such a burning issue for me). The great thing about it was the sheer delight in the guy’s voice when he started mentioning that being energy efficient was now the “in” thing. You kind of got the feeling that he had spent years being the “energy saddo” and now all of a sudden he has become trendy. He seemed like a nice enough bloke, so good for him!
If your interest has been raised, take a look at Reliant Energy’s website (not that they plugged the company’s name much during the segment of course) . I think I’ve learned more than enough about air conditioning today already, thanks very much!
Liverpool FC fans will no doubt be looking for clues as to the direction their new American owners will be taking their club. The recent stadium developments in Texas may be of great interest to them.
I hope you’ve all been having fun watching/listening to some Spring Training action (I doubt it’s been hailing in Florida or Arizona today!). Am I the only person who gets a bit frustrated by the way some commentators constantly refer to spring training stats though? You can’t tell much about how a pitcher is throwing on the back of 15 innings work in practice games, just as a guy who gets 8 hits in 16 at-bats isn’t now a true .500 hitter.
We’re halfway through Spring Training and Opening Night is now only seventeen days away. So near and yet so far. MLB.com has a countdown on their main page and baseball fans the world over will be counting down the days one by one until the Cards and Mets renew their rivalry on 1 April to kick everything off once again. Continue reading
Everyone knows about Curt Schilling’s ability on the mound, but he’s also got a reputation for speaking his mind. It’s no surprise then that he has recently started writing his own blog (using the same WordPress system as this blog). Schilling’s outspoken nature wins him friends and enemies in equal measure, and this is reflected by some of the comments that have already been posted on his site! Personally, I think it’s refreshing that a top sportsman is prepared to have an opinion on things (and to make them known) rather than just sitting on the fence and trying to please everybody. Different characters and opinions help to make life interesting and I’m sure Curt’s blog will make for interesting reading.
So much for spring training games being gentle, laid-back affairs. The Red Sox and the Tigers had a bit of a stand-off yesterday. Josh Beckett’s attempts to throw a few inside pitches resulted in a couple of hit batters and led to Todd Jones retaliating (or attempting to, in any case) and everyone getting into a bit of a tizz.
Just a quick reminder for British fans that Daylight Saving Time (DST) in America and Canada takes effect from midnight tonight. Previously this has started on the first Sunday of April, but it will now be the second Sunday of March. This means that for the next two weeks (until we shift to British Summer Time on Sunday 25 March), the time difference will be reduced by an hour.
So from tomorrow (Sunday) to get the British start time for games listed with a Eastern Time (ET) start add 4 hours, add 5 hours for a start time listed on Central Time (CT), and 7 hours for Pacific Time (PT). For example:
Eastern/Central/Pacific/GMT
13:00/12:00/10:00/17:00
We will then revert back to the 5 hour/6 hour/ 8 hour difference when we put our clocks forward an hour in time for games on Sunday 25 March. From this date you can refer to a time list in my previous post, “Tales of Time Conversion”, from April last year.