Back from a break

Hola amigos! I was busy procrastinating and managing my time poorly so I didn’t get a chance to post anything substantive here over the past few days. Because of that, I won’t try to overwhelm everyone all at once. Instead, here’s a few recent stories, trends, etc. that I thought were interesting.

Let’s go:

Ryan Howard finding a seat on the bench with Greg Dobbs, Rod Barajas, Jayson Werth and Michael Bourn for last night’s game against the Diamondbacks’ Randy Johnson was something that raised eyebrows and caused a few to say to no one in particular, “Hmmph.”

Cosmetically, I suppose, it makes sense in that it was left-hander Randy Johnson pitching and Howard is a left-handed hitter. Add the fact that Howard got a cramp in his hamstring during the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s loss and perhaps manager Charlie Manuel was just being safe than sorry.

“(Howard’s) played five days and Randy is pitching,” the skipper said before the game. “I figured from a conditioning standpoint, everything kind of points to me giving him a day off. He’ll rest tomorrow although he is available to pinch-hit. He had a cramp and once he got over it he was fine.”

But from another point of view – namely Howard’s – that explanation was just silly. Though Howard is hitting .133 in just 45 at-bats against lefties this season, he hit .279 with 16 homers against southpaws in his 2006 MVP season. Interestingly, Howard has never faced Johnson during his career, though Johnson has faced such notable Phillies as Ruben Amaro, Mike Schmidt, Bob Dernier and Floyd Youmans.

How does Randy Johnson get to face Floyd Youmans but not Ryan Howard?

Regardless, the notion of sitting Howard against Johnson doesn’t work anymore. Sure, Johnson can still pitch and he showed that by holding the Phillies to just one hit and no walks on just 61 pitches through six innings. But that famous fastball, apparently, isn’t what it once was and in sticking it to the Phillies last night Johnson relied on a slider that got in on the right-handers as well as the overzealousness of the hitters.

How overzealous were they? Well, the Phillies were so anxious that even with Johnson out of the game the Phillies went down in order in the seventh inning against reliever Doug Slaten on 10 pitches.

Anyway, in regard to sitting against Johnson, Howard said:

“It is what it is. It’s fine. It’s done. It’s good.

“I told them I was alright. It was my hamstring. I told them it was alright. I’m sure when I grabbed my left leg, which is the one where I had the quad injury, everyone thought it was that. My quad is fine.”

The Phillies, however, are not in the best shape. After all, it’s quite reasonable that “The Team to Beat” could be up to a dozen games behind the New York Mets in the NL East before the first full week of June.

What did Jimmy Rollins, the author of the “team to beat” quote have to say about getting swept by the Diamondbacks and falling below .500.

“Unfortunately everything that went right for us in Atlanta went wrong for us here,” he said. “We get tomorrow off. Regroup, come back and get some wins against San Francisco.

“The losing record is only one game below .500 fortunately but we do have to play better ball. Things we did in Atlanta we have to do the rest of the season.”

With 109 games to go in the season, the Phillies’ best chance rests with the wild card. But if it will take 95 victories to win the wild card, the Phillies have to go 69-40 the rest of the way. That’s .633 ball, which is about what the Red Sox and Mets are doing these days.

Can the Phillies do that too?

***
No one asked me, but I think the Arizona Snakes would be a much more menacing nickname than Diamondbacks. I don’t like snakes, in fact, I’m probably afraid of them. A Diamondback does nothing for me. Snakes and Bugs would be a better team name… the Arizona Flyin’ Bugs? That has a nice ring to it.

***
If you are like me and a fan/participant of endurance sports, it’s worth noting that Martin Dugard has a blog. I just discovered it yesterday after hearing him interviewed on The Competitors radio show from San Diego.

Speaking of cycling (wasn’t I), the 2007 Men’s Pro Cycling Tour hits the area starting this Sunday with a race through downtown Lancaster. It culminates on Sunday, June 10 with the U.S. championship in Philadelphia.

Interestingly, folks in Lancaster complain about some of the top cyclists riding through their downtown streets, while in Philadelphia they turn the event into an all day party.

Yes, in that regard I believe the people in Philadelphia are smarter than the people in Lancaster.

***
Back to baseball…

The Phillies, the very minor flap with John Smoltz was fascinating not because of what Smoltz said regarding Brett Myers’ move from the rotation to the bullpen, but because of the way the Phillies reacted to it.

You know, because the Phillies go to the playoffs every year and the Braves have just one World Series title in their 124 seasons in the Major Leagues… wait, I think I got those mixed up.

Anyway, from the way I read the stories from the long-forgotten sweep in Atlanta last weekend, it sounded as if the Phillies reacted as though Smoltz offered his sage opinion regarding Myers’ move to the bullpen instead of simply answering a question posed to him by a writer.

Come on… baseball players don’t go around offering their opinions to anyone who will listen.

Oh wait… I forgot about this guy.

Digressing again, assistant GM told writers last weekend that Smoltz really ought to just butt out.

“The Phillies have a great deal of respect for John Smoltz and what he’s represented to the Braves and to this division. He’s a Hall of Fame pitcher. At the same time, I’m not sure it’s appropriate for him to be making comments about personnel decisions that we’ve made as an organization.”

The entire thing could be a matter of poor reading comprehension on my part, but I don’t understand why the Phillies chose to comment at all, nor why they would be so dismissive of John Smoltz. In fact, I remember talking to him back when he was closing games for the Braves and asked him about the move from the rotation to the bullpen and how it affected his golf game.

Big time, is my many years removed paraphrasing of the conversation.

Back then Smoltz said that the training regime for a reliever was much more intricate than that of a starter. As a reliever, Smoltz had to be ready every single day and he had to train for that during the off-season. As a starter, he could pace himself a little more.

Certainly, in regard to Myers, I don’t think he injured himself because he wasn’t strong enough, stretched out or couldn’t handle the work load, but the everyday-ness of relieving could have caused a slight muscle weakness. Myers will definitely work all of those issues out if he has a long-term future as a reliever/closer.

***
Hey… Barry Bonds comes to town tomorrow. I bet he gets booed.

Bonds hits town again

Typically, Memorial Day is a significant milestone during the baseball season. As the days begin to get hotter and the cooler evenings are spent with a game glowing from a TV fans finally can gauge what they are watching.

Is it a team that is going to keep one’s attention through June, July and the Dog Days of summer with the hope of late-night games in the autumn? Or is a team that is better left for the days when one simply needs to watch a game?

Here in Philadelphia it appears as if the Phillies will keep the collective interests piqued past Labor Day. Whether or not that results in games around Columbus Day or closer to Halloween is still to be determined.

But away from the everyday minutia and rhythms of the team trying to end a 14-year playoff drought is the historical. You know, the types of things that occur once in a lifetime or perhaps once every quarter century or so. The things that baseball fans as well as the larger fabric of the sports’ world deems significant enough to place one of those “Where were you when…” plaques on the memory.

They happen so rarely. In my lifetime I can remember Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb’s record for the most hits in September of 1985. Then there was Cal Ripken Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig’s unbreakable consecutive games streak in September of 1995. I was too young to remember Hank Aaron slugging home run No. 715 in April of 1974, but there is a good chance I’ll be in front of a laptop, television or at the ballpark on the day Barry Bonds surges past Aaron with No. 756.

Having had the chance to watch Bonds come up through Arizona State on rebroadcasts of college games during the early days when ESPN was digging for programming to fill the spots between episodes of Vic’s Vacant Lot and Dick Vitale, to his blossoming to a perennial MVP in Pittsburgh, this should be a major event.

Should, of course, is the operative word.

Yet like a lot of folks who follow baseball closely and even the most casual of fans, Bonds’ ascent to become the all-time Home Run King is more of a nuisance than significant event. It’s more spectacle than a historical event. Just like most fans I don’t know if Bonds surpassing Aaron should make me angry or just join in with the chorus of yawns that seem to be echoing from every spot on the map outside of the seven square miles surrounded by reality called San Francisco.

Certainly the debate over the importance of Bonds’ taking over the home run record is better served in the hands (and brains) of smarter people than me. That much is evident. So too is the reaction that Bonds will receive when he arrives in Philadelphia with the Giants for the four-game series to be played at Citizens Bank Park this weekend. Certainly Bonds will hear louder boos than J.D. Drew ever heard in his travels to play against the Phillies.

Nevertheless, instead of summer where baseball fans should rally around a significant milestone in the long history of the game, they have decided to ignore its biggest villain. Warranted or not, Bonds has slipped through the sports’ fans consciousness until he shows up in their hometown. Then they come out to boo.

But then again, even the commissioner of baseball says he hasn’t decided whether or not he will be on hand to witness the crowning of the new home run king. That, in itself, is odd. Since Bud Selig is presiding over the game during the so-called steroid era, he should be there when its poster boy breaks one of the game’s most sacred records.

It’s also possible that Bonds will inch closer to the record, too. Standing at 746 as of this writing, computer projections indicate that the record will fall before Independence Day. But unlike the Framers who gathered in Philadelphia on that sweltering day in July of 1776 whose place in history was never in question, it doesn’t appear as if Bonds’ legacy will be liberated from the clutches of public doubt any time soon.

It’s getting hot in here

A few years ago an old runner I know told me that training in the heat and humidity of the Northeastern United States was just as difficult as altitude training.

I don’t know about that. I understand the point he was trying to make, but it seemed to me that there is a little more involved, like, for instance, breathing. Trying to do speed workouts at 8,500-feet for a flatlander like myself is a lot like trying to teach a dog the multiplication tables… or maybe simply teaching them to a public school kid ensnared in the inanity of The No Child Left Behind Act.

But that’s a different argument.

Anyway, during my forays to higher altitude to run my biggest challenge (aside from breathing and making it up those “hills” with some type of movement that could be categorized as running) was getting out and back before the temperatures soared to 80 or 85 degrees. Humidity was never a problem because it rarely topped 30 percent, which made for pleasant summer days.

You see, at altitude a runner can crank out the miles like crazy – they will just be much slower than normal. However, after a week of running up high the first run at sea level makes me feel like I’m one giant lung. The feeling doesn’t last long, but it is fun for a day or two.

That is if the summer heat and humidity doesn’t take you out.

And that’s the trouble. Some summer days here in the east make it difficult to leave the air conditioning, let alone go out to run. Last summer I thought about those differences between Colorado and Pennsylvania after returning home to a heat/humidity wave. One my first day back at sea level after putting in 85 miles at 8,500 to 9,000 feet, it was so forebodingly hot and humid that I was only able to eke out 8 miles. As the week continued and the heat and humidity became more oppressive, I waited until 7 p.m. to start my runs, which was OK for a little while, but it definitely threw me off my schedule.

Anyway, as the summer season officially kicks off this week and the humidity begins to creep in for the next few weeks here in the east, I’ll be thinking about Colorado and those lucky folks running around up in the clouds…

I’ll trade humidity for altitude any day of the week.

Monday – 15 miles in 1:39:43
I want to go for at least two hours or 20 miles, but I was delayed because I was reading about The Sopranos on the Internet. I’m such a dumbass. Nonetheless, it would have been a good day to crank out some miles because I felt steady and strong the entire run. Hopefully I feel just as good tomorrow when I try to make up for not running long today.

Tuesday – 15 miles in 1:39:49
Felt tight (but not tired) at the start and it seemed like I was going kind of slow, but I was locked into a pretty solid pace and was able to keep it there until the last 3 miles or so. That’s when I dipped to 6:45 pace and started to feel tired. Regardless, the run was pretty solid and I had enough left at the end for another five miles at the same pace.

Wednesday – 18 miles in 2:01:14
Went for ART in the morning and then went out and had my ass kicked. Actually, it wasn’t all that bad. I ran steady 6:30ish pace for the first hour or so and then the heat, sun and lack of water took me out. After 14 miles or so it was a bit of a struggle, but I kept at it and focused on my form and elemental running. When I got home I was dehydrated and whipped, so I scarfed down two Clif Bars, lots of water and a big glass of Gatorade. That seemed to do the trick.

Thursday – 13 miles in 1:26:19
After five or six miles I felt great. My splits went 33:34 for the first five miles followed by 32:32 for the second five miles. Not only did I feel strong, but also my stride was good and my feet felt very comfortable hitting the ground. At one point I thought about taking it down to 6-minute pace, but figured I had to save a little for this weekend. But as I always say, “What the hell am I saving this for?”

Friday – 9 miles in 62:25
Ran with the stroller for the first time. It wasn’t easy, nor ideal, but I suppose it’s something I’ll have to get used for certain occasions in the future. Nevertheless, pushing the stroller with a 35-pound, three-year old in the seat wasn’t the hardest part — dealing with the heat and humidity was. Fortunately, today was a scheduled “easy” day so I felt no need to push the pace or mileage.

Either way, the boy seemed to enjoy his nine-mile ride around the neighborhood. Maybe sometime in the future he and I can trade places?

Saturday – 13 miles in 1:26:30
If it hadn’t been for the breeze and the hazy cloud cover, I definitely would have melted to nothing but a pile of salt today. The heat index was near 90 degrees and the humidity didn’t do anyone any favors either. Nevertheless, I ran fairly solid by going through the first five miles in 33:11 and the second five in 33:10. My last mile home was pretty decent, too.

On another note, the Vermont City Marathon was one year ago today. That one was hot, too, and definitely not as fun as today’s outing.

Sunday – 6 miles in 38:24
Ran easy and steady though I did the last two miles at 5:40 pace. That felt really controlled and strong without exerting much effort. Still, I definitely need to do more speed, that’s for sure.

I wore my Nike Air Mariahs today. There was also a pretty intense hail storm in the evening. I’ve only seen anything like that in Colorado.

That’s 89 miles for the week… maybe I should run around the block for an extra miles to give me 90?

That’s a fine howdoyoudo

Mike “Bronko” Zagurski, or “Li’l Krukie” as Larry Andersen called him on the radio, made an impressive Major League debut last night in Atlanta. In pitching a perfect eighth inning, Zagurski fired 10 pitches, threw six strikes and got two ground outs.

He also seemed to have a good-looking curve and a hard fastball, though I can’t say I know much about him. According to the stats, Zagurski spent all of spring training in the minor league camp, and after pitching part of 2005 for Batavia as a starter, all of 2006 for Lakewood, the first part of 2007 at Clearwater and six games for Reading, Zagurski found himself on the mound at Turner Field last night.

According to baseball people, Zagurski blossomed when he was converted from a starter to a reliever in 2006. That’s when his rather pedestrian fastball jumped to a stead 93 mph and the strikeouts piled up. In 16 1/3 innings for Clearwater, Zagurski had 30 strikeouts and added eight more in seven innings for Reading. All of that goes with a combined 1.16 ERA this season.

Either way, Zagurski has had an Apa Sherpa-like ascent.

So if you’re putting it all together, Zagurski – a prospect seemingly unworthy of an entry in the Baseball Prospectus annual – has pitched just six games and seven innings above Single-A ball and none in Triple-A. That, of course, is not counting his first Major League inning.

If you’re counting – and I know you are – four different players (all pitchers) have made their Major League debuts for the Phillies this season. Along with Zagurski, Joe Bisenius, Zack Segovia and Yoel Hernandez entered the record books this season. Better yet, the quartet has allowed six runs in 11 1/3 innings. Five of those runs came when Segovia allowed five during a five-inning start against the Marlins on April 8.

***
Zagurski should be with the club next weekend when Barry Bonds, James Earl Jones and Danny DeVito all turn up at the Bank. Bonds will be in town for the weekend series with the San Francisco Giants, which certainly will give the hometown fans someone to boo in addition to Rod Barajas.

Jones, according to the Phillies, will be at the ballpark on June 1 to participate in a special on-field reading of “Casey at the Bat” with the Phanatic before the game. Meanwhile, DeVito, known in these parts as the infamous Louie DePalma, will join “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” cast mate Rob McElhenney to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Sunday.

I’m told “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is a television show and not some odd phenomenon.

Enjoy your weekend, folks

Nation Mobilizes For Beautiful Weekend

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Can’t they all just get along?

Baseball players are babies… there, I said it. When one ballplayer has a beef with another player and wants to engage in fisticuffs, what does he do? Yeah, that’s right… he throws a ball at the other guy.

How silly is that?

Say I’m sitting in the press box at Citizens Bank Park or RFK or anywhere else in the country, and I have a problem with, say, Mike Radano. Do you think I’m going to throw an apple at him from across the room? No, of course not. If such a situation arises, I’m going to get up out of my seat, walk to the other side of the room, and punch Mike.

Hey, that’s how I roll.

I’m not going to shout and scream and carry on about beating up the other guy or yell about how tough I am. Instead I’ll introduce Mike to Jack Johnson and Tom O’Leary. Of course I’d probably end up in the roundhouse, but that’s a different story.

Anyway, every so-called baseball “fight” starts and ends the same way. One pitcher throws a ball that hits another player. Then, to retaliate, the pitcher for the team of the plunked hitter drills a player of the plunkers’ team. As you can see it’s a messy, tangled web.

Sometimes, when these bean balls get to a particular point a batter charges after the pitcher, which isn’t exactly a stealth move. It’s kind of like when the British Navy attacked the Falklands – first they told them they were coming, then they got in their boats and three weeks later they were in the southern hemisphere.

And then it was on.

Or at least a bunch of jostling and yelling takes place – like in the Phillies’ minor dust-up with the Marlins last night. In that instance Jon Lieber drilled Aaron Boone, then threw one behind Marlins’ pitcher Dontrelle Willis. When Lieber came up to bat in the fourth inning, Willis threw one three feet behind Lieber.

All even, right?

Apparently not. Apparently Lieber said something to Willis as the teams were changing sides at the end of the inning, which, according to sources, just might be the most Lieber has said about baseball all month since he has chosen not to engage the Philadelphia sporting press lately. Oh sure, he’s talking, but he’s not really saying much.

Nevertheless, Lieber’s comments stirred something in Willis to stand at home plate and call out the Phillies as if he was Tanner Boyle from the North Valley League Bears. Because of that, the Phillies’ bench spilled out onto the field and the Marlins emptied out and the tango was… well, it was more like the gang fight in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video.

So that was that. In the modern parlance, that’s a baseball fight. But in retrospect, perhaps baseball players aren’t wimps at all. Better yet, they seem kind of smart. After all, what good does fighting do?

Why, no good. No good at all.

***
Interestingly, one of the first Phillies on the scene of last night’s tango was maligned catcher Rod Barajas. In that instance, Barajas properly blocked a Marlin from advancing. It’s just too bad for the Phillies and Brett Myers that it didn’t come about 24 hours earlier.

***
More interestingly, in activating Ryan Howard from the disabled list the Phillies sent Chris Coste to Double-A Reading. Why Double-A instead of Triple-A Ottawa? According to assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., Coste was sent to Reading so that he can work as a catcher more often. In Ottawa Coste spent most of his time playing first base so that prospect Jason Jaramillo would get the majority of the time behind the dish.

Who knows, maybe with Coste going to Reading to catch means that he will be returning to Philadelphia as a backstop in the near future. It definitely seems as if the Phillies could use a reliable backup for Carlos Ruiz.

***
The umpiring crew featuring Dan Iassogna is working tonight’s game in Atlanta. Does anyone want to bet that someone gets ejected from the game? How about if I set the series over-under on ejections at five, or is that too low?

That was something

Yeah, well that happened.

Perhaps some day when Charlie Manuel is no longer the manager of the Phillies – say he gets fired or his contract is allowed to expire or something like that – the bottom of the ninth of last night’s inexplicable victory over the Florida Marlins will be shown over and over on a virtual loop.

Yes, it was that odd.

Where do we start? With Brett Myers starting another ninth inning with a four-run lead? With Greg Dobbs’ throw to the plate on a bunt? On Rod Barajas’ “For who, for what?” moment where Hanley Ramirez scored by going five-hole on him? On Myers’ injury? The comebacker that Clay Condrey snagged? Or how about how Condrey bounced back from his previous outing… that was something, huh?

Anyway, everyone seems to be talking about the Phillies’ crazy ninth inning from last night, so there is no sense in rehashing it here. However, I had been asked quite frequently today if I had ever seen the Phillies cough up a lead in such a manner.

Yes. Yes I have.

It was Sept. 3, 2001 at the Vet. A warm, Labor Day afternoon. The Phillies, in the thick of a race for the NL East with the Braves lost to the New York Mets, 10-7, by allowing five runs in the top of the ninth. Jose Mesa was credited with a blown save and the loss though his role in the loss was merely cosmetic. He simply blew it.

The real goat on that Labor Day was the reliever who followed Mesa, Jose Santiago. Santiago, as some remember, pitched in 95 games for the Phillies during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, compiling a 4.94 ERA, including a poor 6.70 ERA in 42 games during 2002.

But to me Jose Santiago will always be the pitcher who allowed the go-ahead run to score when missed the throw back from the catcher.

Let that sink in for a second…

Yes, he missed the throw from the catcher.

It wasn’t a wild throw or a hard one. He didn’t have to lunge for it or stretch with a little leap for it. He missed it. The catcher threw the ball to him and Santiago missed it.

He simply missed it.

As the ball trickled away from Santiago, Todd Zeile – not particularly the most fleet afoot – took off from second to third base and then scored when shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ wild throw skipped past Scott Rolen at third base. Jay Payton ended up going from first to third before scoring an insurance run.

The only thing missing was the circus music.

So when people ask about the ninth inning in Miami from May 23, 2007, tell them about the ninth inning at the Vet on Sept. 3, 2001 where the pitcher allowed the winning run to score when he missed the throw back from the catcher.

Just missed it.

***
Otherwise, waiting for the final prognosis on Myers’ strained shoulder must have a few folks at 1 Citizens Park Way feeling more than a little tense. Frankly, if Myers has a major injury, that could be all she wrote for 2007, folks.

***
From here the Phillies head to Atlanta for a weekend series against the Braves. Fortunately for the Phillies Ryan Howard will return to the lineup on Friday night. Even better for the scribes on the beat, The Vortex is in Atlanta, which, as they claim, is the place to go for burgers. From looking at the menu, it appears as if the joint is veggie friendly, too.

Not that anyone is interested in any of that silliness.

***
Today is Bob Dylan’s 66th birthday. Could Bob be the most notable person ever to attend the University of Minnesota? I say, “Yes. Yes he is.”

Happy birthday, Bob.

***
Special thanks to the good folks at The Mike Gill Show on 1450 AM in Atlantic City.

Not that guy again

When his career is over and he has his lone Cy Young Award and six Cole Hamels Awards in his trophy room (or a cardboard box in the garage), Phillies’ left-hander Cole Hamels could remember the 2007 season as the year he found his footing as a Major Leaguer. But until then Hamels is likely pretty peeved that he blew a two-run lead in the sixth inning of last night’s game against the Florida Marlins.

Worse, Hamels was touched up for a four-run, game-breaking sixth inning against Marlins goofy lefty Scott Olsen, who seems to be despised by opposing ballplayers and sportswriters equally. The players seem to dislike Olsen because he appears to talk an inordinate amount of trash for a rather ordinary player. Writers seem to dislike him because he ruined a few stories with poor pitching during last season’s wild-card chase.

If there is one thing that irks writers more than anything it’s having to rewrite a perfectly good story when deadline is quickly approaching. In that vein, Travis Lee was a killer during the 2001 season. Worse, he was miserable when approached in the clubhouse.

Nevertheless, Hamels could have been adding victory No. 7 to the ledger based on his first five innings of work and the fact that he was facing the combustible Olsen. Certainly seeing that dude on the other side is enough to give the opposition some confidence.

Said Hamels to reporters last night: “I definitely saw that light at the end of the tunnel. I knew I was pitching well enough to pitch another couple innings and get the ball in the hands of Brett. And when Brett has the ball, the game is over. I saw that. I felt it. I know the team definitely saw that, too. Especially when you’re playing against a pitcher that’s not on everybody’s good side. You want to go out there and win as bad as anything, but especially against him.”

If there is a bright side to the loss it’s that Ryan Madson pitched two perfect innings in his return from the disabled list. Madson whiffed two hitters and threw 16 of his 24 pitches for strikes. Certainly adding a healthy Madson back to the bullpen could be a huge lift for the Phillies.

***
It’s worth noting that last year’s first-round draft pick, Kyle Drabek, is pitching well for Single-A Lakewood. In two of his last three starts, the hard-throwing righty has tossed two-hitters through 7 2/3 innings and 7 innings. And in eight starts, Drabek is 4-1 with a 4.04 ERA and has 43 strikeouts in 49 innings. Opponents are hitting just .227 off him.

Meanwhile, struggling first-round pick Greg Golson has shown marked improvement this season. With five hits in his last 10 at-bats for Single-A Clearwater, Golson is up to .295 and is second in the league with 14 stolen bases.

Ovandy Suero, for the Lakewood Tigers, leads the league with 33 stolen bases in 35 games. Yeah, 33 stolen bases in 35 games… what are other teams thinking when he gets on base?

“Uh, guys. I think he might try to steal. Call it a hunch.”

Time for racin’

As the weather gets warmer and spring slowly morphs into summer – or something like that – the running and racing season gets into full swing. These days, certainly, there is no dearth of racing opportunities for anyone looking for a 5k anywhere on any weekend, but the well known, long-standing road races are looming.

Around here there is something called the Red Rose Run that is quintessentially a local five-mile run as opposed to a five-mile race that attracted world-record holders and Olympians that it did during its heyday. That’s fine, I guess, because I doubt most people really care if it’s Kenyans or local racers at the top of the leaderboard. Most people who run (based on my uneducated experience) don’t particularly care if they get faster from race to race or what place they finish. Everyone has a reason for running, and sometimes one doesn’t have to be fast to enjoy it – that’s the beauty of it.

Nevertheless, there are a few of us who don’t do this for our health. Deep down we’re aggressive, hostile and competitive. Running is the perfect place to channel those feelings.

Anyway, speaking of racing and really good runners, Khalid Khannouchi was back racing in a 10k through Central Park last weekend after dropping out of the London Marathon in April. Actually, the fact that Khannouchi was racing in New York was such a big deal that The New York Times offered a pre-race feature on the runner as he prepared to race against American Dathan Ritzenhein and Australian Buster Mottram. After the race Ritzenhein told reporters that he was “intimidated” at the starting line to see Khannouchi, the American record holder in the marathon, standing there.

As followers of the sport know, Ritzenhein finished the race in a Central Park-record 28:08, 17 seconds ahead of Mottram. Khannouchi, meanwhile, was 14^th in 30:06.

Perhaps the injuries that plagued Khannouchi in London resurfaced in Central Park? I couldn’t find any post-race comments from Khannouchi online aside from a rhetorical question posted on his web site:

Is Khalid back?
Obviously, not yet!!

According to the story in The Times, Khannouchi wants to race in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games and then call it a career. First, however, he has to make the U.S. marathon team, which doesn’t sound too difficult noting that he has the fastest qualifying time for the trials and that he is the only man in history to run under 2:06 three times. Khannouchi’s five best marathon times make him the fastest ever.

Yet for some reason his name doesn’t enter the conversation when talking about who will finish on the podium and make the Olympic team at the marathon trials in November. Never mind that there is no other American within three minutes of his best times. For some reason Ritzenhein, Ryan Hall, Alan Culpepper, Brian Sell, Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman are the runners to beat, while Khannouchi seems to be forgotten in the, “oh yeah… him,” sense.

Is that because he missed the trials in 2000 and 2004 with injuries that some whispered weren’t serious enough to really keep him out of a race like the Olympic Trials? Is it because of his age (he’s 35)? Could it be that he has completed just two marathons since running Chicago in 2:05:56 in 2002? Forget that only one American was even in the neighborhood of the times he did register (2:07:04 in London in 2006 and 2:08:44 in Chicago in 2004); he has run 2:05… three times!

Either way, the trials in Manhattan in November should be quite interesting. Take Khannouchi out of it and it’s the deepest American field in a long, long time. Add him into the mix it’s possible that the American marathoner could be one of the strongest teams in Beijing in 2008.

Anyway, I think I’m getting closer to deciding whether I will run a local road race or two in the upcoming weeks. Aside from that, I’m also continuing to build up for a marathon in October and/or November. So far my strength and recovery is pretty good but my speed… well, let’s just say I’m strong.

Here’s how the week of May 14 to 20 broke down:

Monday - 18 miles in 1:59:38
I was consistent and strong for the entire run. It helped that the weather was perfect, of course, but this was a good one. I only started to feel slightly tired toward the end and I’m quite sure that I could have busted out another hour with no trouble.

First 5: 33:21
2nd 5: 33:05
3rd 5: 32:56

Aside from a slow first loop, I was pretty rock steady consistent.

Tuesday - 13 miles in 1:26:48
Felt pretty good in the beginning. My legs had a little snap and I was raring to get out the door and get busy. But it was hot and sunny, which slowed me down as the run wore on. It wasn’t anything major, but it was quite obvious that the sun and heat were a drag.

Splits:
1st 5: 33:05
2nd 5: 33:24

Elsewhere, I read that Deena Kastor has skin cancer and has been battling the issue for a little while. Not so seriously (except for where it pertains to my finances), my car came dangerously close to overheating and I had to take it to the garage. Hopefully it’s not too major.

Tomorrow: ART.

Wednesday - 13 miles in 1:26:16
I actually veered into the Brick Yards today for some reason. I also had a fairly quick pace thanks in part to hard winds blowing a nice tailwind. Better yet, the wind and approaching rain storm brought the temperatures down to something more conducive to distance running. If only the weather would be 55 and overcast for two hours every day…

Thursday - 10 miles in 64:00
I didn’t sleep well, so I decided to get up and run early. Surprisingly, it went fairly well. I kept the pace steady and ran a few surges, though nothing that would constitute speed work or to get too excited about.

Friday - 15 miles in 1:36:49
This was really good one. The weather was perfect — 55, cloudy with drizzle — and despite feeling a little tight when I woke up, I was solid and smooth the entire time. Who knows… maybe I’m starting to get into shape.

Saturday - 12 miles in 1:18:24
I ran well and felt strong. I’m sure I could have put in many more miles, but I don’t want to overdo it quite yet. I guess I stopped because I want to pace myself. On another note, I added a few faux strides when I was finished. I definitely feel as though I have to do a better job with my speed work.

Sunday - 6 miles in 36:32
This one proved that I’m not in great shape and/or that I need to start getting busy with the speed workouts. I tried to run up tempo with the possibility of running a 5k time trial, and it didn’t really go as planned. I ended up just doing a tempo run, which wasn’t spectacular. I didn’t push it because I didn’t feel too good, but the times when I did push it ever so slightly, it didn’t feel good either. I ended up doing five miles in 29:24, which was disappointing, but at the same time, I really didn’t push it. Nevertheless, the point is that I have to get to work.

That’s 87 miles for the week.

It’s not the science, it’s the circus

Most nights my ride home the ballpark can be a pain. Firstly there is the Schuylkill, which quite possibly could be the worst stretch of paved road in the world. On top of the Surekill, there is some construction linking the Expressway near Valley Forge to the Turnpike that makes the 24 Hours of Le Mans look like a Sunday drive through the country.

Finally, there’s the distance, which comes to approximately three hours round trip. Sometimes the drive can be quite taxing, but I guess it’s my fault for living out in the middle of nowhere. That said, it’s much nicer here than in any of the neighborhoods that I surely would be priced out of – it’s a little slow to adapt to modernity or new ideas out here, but at least the sprawl has been fairly well contained (in comparison) for the time being.

Anyway, the drive back to the boondocks gives me plenty of time to listen to a bunch of the podcasts I subscribe to. A favorite is a radio show based out of San Diego called The Competitors Radio Show, hosted by former world class triathletes Bob Babbitt and Paul Huddle. Needless to say the show focuses on endurance sports like triathlons, running and cycling, which for geeks like me is really fascinating. As far as I can tell, Babbitt and Huddle host the only show like The Competitors and that’s a shame.

So while driving home on Friday night I listened to a rebroadcast of an interview with Greg LeMond, the three-time champion and first American winner of the Tour de France. LeMond is the man who put cycling in the U.S. on the map. In places like Philadelphia and Lancaster, cycling (and running) are mainstream participatory sports that exploded after LeMond won his first Tour in 1986. But frankly, that’s about all I knew about LeMond. Sure, I had heard about the comments regarding Lance Armstrong and now Floyd Landis, but it really didn’t seem like much of a big deal.

Isn’t every cyclist suspected of doping these days?

Still, some had written LeMond off as a bitter jerk since his record in France had been broken. No one seemed to notice when LeMond said Armstrong’s record run was the best thing the ever happened to cycling. But in July 2004 when LeMond said that “If Armstrong’s clean, it’s the greatest comeback. And if he’s not, then it’s the greatest fraud,” well, that made all the papers.

LeMond is right, of course, but you know…

Regardless, during the interview LeMond explained he realized doping took a firm grip on cycling when guys he never heard of rode by him like he was standing still – and he was in the best shape of his life with three Tour de France titles. Listening to LeMond it sounds as if cycling and baseball hit the doping era at the same time with similar results. While no-name riders were doing wheelies by the best rider in the world, the 50-homer plateau was topped 22 times from 1996 to now. From 1977 to 1995, one player hit 50 homers. Meanwhile, from 1961, when Roger Maris beat Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record, to 1996, only three players hit 50 homers in a season.

From listening to LeMond it sounded as if all cyclists Brady Andersons were slugging 50 homers every year.

LeMond also revealed that during Floyd Landis’ ride for the Tour de France title it appeared as if the statistics were back to normal. He noted that he was withholding judgment about the defending champion (for now), and that he had a confidential conversation with Landis that he was going to keep private. This interview was originally recorded last August.

Needless to say, a lot has changed since then.

Dressed in another bold, yellow tie with a dark suit, Floyd Landis faced cross-examination on Tuesday in the USADA arbitration hearing. It is from the those hearings at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. where it will be determined whether or not the Lancaster County native gets to keep his Tour de France title or becomes the first rider in the long history of the race to be stripped of his yellow clothing.

Oddly, though, a majority of the questions Landis faced were regarding LeMond and his role in a potential witness tampering, which bordered on obscene and insane. Instead of answering questions about whether he used performance-enhancing drugs during the now infamous 17th stage of last summer’s Tour de France, Landis had to explain his actions regarding Will Geoghegan, his “friend” and former representative who threatened LeMond by telephone last week by threatening to reveal that LeMond had been sexual abused of which as a child, and which only Landis knew about.

From Eddie Pells of the Associated Press:
“Would you agree, that as my mother used to say, that a person’s character is revealed more by their actions than their words?” U.S. Anti-Doping Agency attorney Matthew Barnett asked Landis.

“It sounds like a good saying,” Landis said.

Then, it got ugly, as Barnett dredged up events surrounding testimony LeMond gave last Thursday. On that day, the three-time Tour champion testified he’d received a phone call the night before from Landis’ manager, Will Geoghegan, who threatened to divulge LeMond’s secret.

USADA lawyers cross-examined Landis about everything from the color of his tie to the timing of his decision to fire his manager.

Barnett tried to portray Landis and Geoghegan as scheming together to keep LeMond from testifying, then not showing remorse until they got caught.

Landis said that although he was sitting near Geoghegan when the manager made the call last Wednesday night, he didn’t know what was going on until later.

Barnett tried to pin him down on when, exactly, he told his attorneys of the call, and why he waited to fire Geoghegan until after LeMond revealed details of the call on the witness stand.

Landis testified that he told his attorneys about the call as soon as he arrived to the hearing room Thursday, though nobody thought to fire Geoghegan until after LeMond’s testimony.

“In hindsight, I probably should have fired him immediately, but I needed someone to talk to,” Landis said.

USADA attorneys tried to portray Landis as an active participant in the LeMond plan. They pointed to his wardrobe that day — a black suit with a black tie instead of the yellow tie he’s worn every other day of the hearing — as evidence that he had it in for LeMond.

“That’s why I wore the black suit, because it was a terrible thing that happened,” Landis said. “It wasn’t a thing to celebrate by wearing a yellow tie.”

Was the black tie symbolic support for LeMond?

“No. It was a disaster. Nothing good could come out of that day,” Landis said.

Landis was also questioned about some unflattering Internet postings where he called LeMond a “pathetic human,” though didn’t seem to face much heat when it came to discussing doping.

The focus, as it appears, will be on the circus and not the science. That shouldn’t be too surprising, though. Credibility is the real issue in the arbitration hearing and to most folks it doesn’t seem as if Landis has any no matter what the science might say.

Why? Will Geoghegan, of course.

My mother used to say that a person is known by the company they keep. Or, as Rocky Balboa said in the original film, “If you have knucklehead friends, people will think you are a knucklehead.”

It’s difficult argue with that logic.

Look, we want to give Landis the benefit of the doubt and it seems like something is amiss with the tests and the ratios and everything involved in the epic ride to the Tour de France victory that should have been the best sports story of the year. But if Floyd is so willing to get down and dirty with a seemingly scorched earth attack where something as horrible as sexual abuse of a child is fair game.

Certainly Geoghegan was the one who made the calls to LeMond and Floyd said he was embarrassed by it all – but he didn’t do anything about it when it happened. To me that makes Landis complicit.

According to Lee Jenkins’ story in The New York Times:

Landis and Geoghegan were clearly close. Landis said he gave Geoghegan all of his phone numbers, including LeMond’s. And Landis told Geoghegan that LeMond had been sexually abused as a child, after LeMond shared that secret with Landis.

Landis’s choice of friends and clothes were both on trial Tuesday. Barnett asked Landis why he showed up in court for LeMond’s testimony Thursday wearing all black, when he showed up the other days in much brighter colors. Landis has an obvious preference for yellow ties, evoking the yellow jersey worn by the Tour de France leader.

Through it all, watching from the gallery were Paul and Arlene Landis, the Mennonite parents of the most notorious bike rider in history. I wonder what they were thinking?

For the best recaps of the arbitration hearing, check out Trust But Verify, Steroid Nation and ESPN’s page of stories. Better yet, check out The Competitors Radio Show interview with San Diego Times-Union writer, Mark Zeigler. Good stuff.

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Meanwhile, in baseball Jason Giambi says baseball owes the fans an apology for something and MLB wants to investigate. I guess being in baseball means you never have to apologize?

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Tomorrow: Back to Baseball.