Short Hops: Potential obstacles in way of '11 All-Star Game in Arizona
Short hops, quick pops and backhand stops:
• All-Star Games normally come with party balloons, festive colors and streamers. The latest reminder that Arizona's 2011 game is on a collision course with politics arrived this week -- no balloons or streamers attached.
Instead, the Diamondbacks unveiled the logo for the '11 game in the most quiet, non-descript way possible, mailed in season-ticket renewal packages.
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| White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has already said he'll boycott the Game if he's asked to be involved. (US Presswire) |
Well, now, that's kind of like an unsettled pitching rotation for an upcoming series: TBA.
"It's unfortunate, because we should be celebrating the fact that we have it, and we shouldn't have to live with all this noise," Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall said during a telephone conversation just after the owners' meetings concluded Thursday in Minneapolis. "As an organization, we've made clear that we don't think baseball and politics should ever be mixed."
But the immigration issue is so volatile nationally, and with the state of Arizona the eye of the hurricane by enacting a law that is either -- take your pick -- draconian or simply enforcing the laws of the land ... well, good luck with that.
And it's not just in Arizona: Five people were arrested among the roughly 100 protesting the Arizona All-Star Game outside the hotel where the owners were meeting in downtown Minneapolis.
Consequently, after some six years of heavy lifting to obtain next summer's game, the Diamondbacks suddenly are both the victims of horrible timing and the target of some political zealots attempting to enact change in Arizona's law.
"It's not just us," Hall said. "It's the same thing with the [BCS college football] national championship game [scheduled for Glendale, Ariz., next Jan. 10]. And I've heard that there will be protests outside at Cardinals' [NFL] games."
Despite outside pressure to strip the All-Star Game from Phoenix, there was no talk of that at this week's owners' meetings. Nor is there expected to be anytime soon. Behind the scenes, the Diamondbacks remain confident that it will not reach that point.
For one thing, in baseball's view, comparisons to the NFL moving the 1993 Super Bowl out of Phoenix when the state refused to recognize the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday is a non-starter because it's a faulty example. MLK Day became a federal holiday in 1986, and by 1989, 44 states had officially recognized it. There is no such national consensus -- or anything close -- on immigration.
There very well may be some seriously uncomfortable moments to come regarding the 2011 All-Star Game. What if, for example, the White Sox win the AL pennant this year? Manager Ozzie Guillen is on record as saying he will boycott the '11 All-Star Game in Arizona if he's asked to be involved. If it comes to that, it would be embarrassing for baseball to find a new All-Star manager.
That's only one example. Who knows how many players might choose to boycott?
For their part, for now, the Diamondbacks are taking cover and keeping it low-key. Under normal circumstances, they would have very publicly unveiled the '11 All-Star logo a week or two after this summer's game in Anaheim, following precedent. Among other things, the proactive campaign helps generate excitement and sells tickets.
But these aren't normal circumstances, nor will they be for quite some time.
"I'd think we'll unveil it sometime before the season ends," Hall said of a more formal, public unveiling. "Even if it's early fall, that's OK, too.
"It's to our advantage to have the logo up and on display."
Whenever that moment is.
• The lowdown on the Reds-Cardinals this week: 1. Brandon Phillips simply voiced what many Cardinals' opponents think -- translation of him calling them "whiny little bitches": Tony La Russa and Co. play too many reindeer games -- but he should have kept his mouth shut. Because until you've actually won something, you shouldn't talk. And even then, you should pick your spots. 2. Hard to fault Yadier Molina for snapping after Phillips greeted him with the bat-tap to the shin guards -- especially the second time. 3. Johnny Cueto comes off looking worse than anybody on either team for kicking while wearing spikes. There are many who think he got off light with a seven-game suspension. And this isn't over where Cueto and the Cardinals are concerned.
• One more Reds-Cardinals series left this season, in St. Louis over Labor Day Weekend.
• Big week for talk: Just before Phillips grabbed headlines with the most colorful quote of the year, Giants left-hander Jonathan Sanchez proclaimed San Francisco will sweep San Diego in this weekend's NL West showdown series: "San Diego has been winning series all year," Sanchez told San Francisco reporters. "... But we're going to play San Diego now and we're going to beat them three times. If we get to first place, we're not going to look back." Look out, Sanchez starts the opener Friday night against Clayton Richard.
• At least one long-time scout agrees with Sanchez (long-term, at least): "I think the Giants will win the West," the scout says. "Someone said who would you pick, the Padres or the Giants. There's no question in my mind I'd pick the Giants right now because of their pitching."
• Given the Pirates' underachieving -- even for them -- in 2010, some in the industry believe manager John Russell will be bounced following this year (unless president Frank Coonelly has another secret extension for him locked in a drawer somewhere in PNC Park, or maybe in Primanti Bros.). So I asked Russell during a conversation this week about his level of concern, and here is what he said: "The day I start worrying about losing my job is the day I should lose my job. I'm not going to do my job very well if I'm worried about it. We knew this was going to be a tough deal when we took over. I don't worry. I can't. I love what I do. We've seen a lot of progress."
• Joe Kerrigan, fired as Pirates pitching coach on Sunday, declined the chance to take parting shots when we spoke this week about the Bucs. Among other things, he said he hadn't heard the reports in Pittsburgh that part of the reason he was fired was because of a lack of loyalty to Russell. "This is the first I've heard of it," Kerrigan told me. "I've closed the door behind me. I hope that doesn't come from within [the organization] because I pay the people I work with the professional courtesy publicly [of keeping things in-house] and I'd hope they afford the same courtesy to me. That was the way I was taught under the guys I learned from -- Earl Weaver, Dick Williams, Joe Torre, Felipe Alou and others. Those were some of the things they preached."
• Most interesting thing about Roy Oswalt's seven shutout innings in Philadelphia's 2-0 win over the Dodgers on Wednesday is also the latest evidence that, at 32, he's not the power pitcher he once was: He learned a new grip for his changeup earlier this year and is throwing it more than he used to. "He threw more changeups than I saw him throw in eight years," Dodgers catcher Brad Ausmus, who has plenty of experience with Oswalt from his days in Houston, told reporters in Philadelphia.
• Obviously, the Yankees missed an opportunity at the trade deadline: They should have bought the Rangers, absorbed Cliff Lee, then sold the Rangers.
• Seriously, the quick two-game set in Texas this week between the Yankees and Rangers was terrific theater, and they've got one more there Sept. 10-12 in what very well could be a preview of the American League Championship Series. That's one reason why the way the Yanks came back to beat Rangers closer Neftali Feliz on Wednesday was important: Both the Yankees and Feliz will remember that baby if they do meet again in October.
• Oakland's Ben Sheets had Tommy John ligament transfer surgery in addition to flexor tendon surgery? What, doctors couldn't fit in an ACL knee surgery, too, while they had him laid out on the operating table? Good luck to Big Ben in his long road back, and hope to see him back on a baseball field. Sheets is one good guy.
• Ozzie Guillen Tweet of the Week (from July 27): "If chicago stayed like this this hot i would live here all year.... but it get very very cold."
