Mountain time.

I remember when I was a kid, like eight or nine maybe, my grandma had this watch that she sometimes wore on a chain and around her neck. When she did this my grandpa would pronounce that if you asked her the time, whatever time it was would be considered to be from the Mountain Time Zone. Pretty damn funny, I used to (and still do) think. We lived in Iowa back then.

Today, in baseball, the Mountain Time Zone is still somewhat of a joke. For starters, Kevin Millar, on MLB Network spoke out about the Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki saying that he's not a superstar because he's never tallied more than 110 RBIs in a season. Yeah. Whatever. Apparently 20+ home runs in six weeks of baseball (dating back to last season) is lame.

I'm pretty sure that if a little-known second basemen who goes about 5-9 and 150 lbs was getting on base at a clip of just under .600 for the Yankees (that's Venezuelan Johathan Herrera I'm referring to), the Baseball Gatekeepers (I'm talking about the ESPNs and Sporting News and MLB.coms and Sports Illustrateds and the like) would be going off the hook bragging about him and proclaiming him to be the next prince of New York.

If Troy Tulowitzki played for the Yankees, Derek Jeter would now be a DH at best, and as close to a foot note as he's ever been in his career.

I would assume that if either the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox were 11-2 after 13 games into their season, there would be a considerable amount of chatter.

It boils down to the fact that, in the baseball lexicon, the Mountain Time Zone is forgotten. Good, I say. Keep it that way, I say. No need to get all up in their faces about how none of the Rockies' starting pitchers have recorded a loss. How the only two losses the team has are in extra-inning games.

You guys over there on the East Coast just keep covering the surprisingly horrible Red Sox and a Yankees team whose starting rotation is already showing signs of cracking. Pay no attention to us over hear in the mountains.

Giant bullet dodger

I was very keen on last night's match-up between the Dodgers and Giants—the first such match-up since the last series ended. The last series started with the bludgeoning of a Giants fan by some dumb ass Dodgers fans in Los Angeles. The bludgeonee, Bryan Stow, is still in a coma. I was concerned that a retaliation of some kind might be in order seeing how last night's game was in San Francisco. I had the game on but was unable to pay more attention to it than a glance here and there so it wasn't until this morning that I learned of some good news.

Both teams held a pre-game ceremony in which there was a moment of silence and after which Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt (a former Rockie) took the microphone and talked for a spell about what a great rivalry the Giants' and Dodgers' has been and how it's OK to want your team to beat the other while the game is on, but once over, it's back to peace, love and understanding. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but what I'm not paraphrasing is what happened between fans at AT&T park. To my knowledge there was no retaliatory bullcrap. It was, as I paraphrased, peace, love and understanding.

UPDATE: Just when I thought this thing was mellowing out and cooling down—aside from Bryan Stow's condition, obviously, who's still in a medically-induced coma, and had part of his skull removed to allow for the swelling of his brain—I read what this tool from Pittsburgh has to say. John Steigerwald writes for the Observer Reporter, a paper serving Washington and Greene counties near Pittsburgh. He is obviously fishing for links and clicks because suggesting that it's Bryan's own fault for what happened to him simply because Mr. Snow was wearing a Giants jersey in "enemy" territory is one of the most stupid things I've heard ever. I'm not sure who I'm more appalled by: the thugs who beat up Bryan Stow, or John Steigerwald.

Thoughtservations…

I want to get to this first because it cannot be overstated how sadly messed up it is. Last Thursday, at Dodger Stadium, opening day for both the Dodgers and visiting Giants, a Giants fan was beaten to a pulp by a couple thuggish Dodger fans after the game. It is said that he has brain damage and is obviously facing an arduous recovery. It is also said that over 100 people may have witnessed the beating, yet the thugs are still at large. In fact, there is now a $150,000 reward for information leading to their whereabouts.

As baseball rivalries go, this is a good one, dating back to both teams' days in New York, but going to a baseball game should not be a life-threatening event. I don't care how much you love your team, and "hate" your teams' rivals, you don't kick the shit out of someone to prove your team loyalty. I have been heard to say things like "I hate the Yankees" or "I hate the Dodgers" because I always have "hated" those teams. But not hate hate. I don't wish ill will on their fans or players. Hell, I went to a game once at Dodger Stadium, versus the Rockies, and I was wearing my Rockies jersey proud, and I don't recall even a sour glance. But it's unnerving to think one could go to a baseball game wearing the out-of-town colors and get the crap beat out of him.

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Appendix(citis) A: The baseball season is just a week old, but already two guys this year have had their appendixes surgically removed. Matt Holiday and Adam Dunn (who apparently has the healing powers of a wolverine). What is up with that? Add Andres Torres from late last season, and that's three guys in two months of baseball with emergency appendectomies.

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There are two still-winless teams, and their identities are pretty surprising. Boston and Tampa Bay. Say what? Pretty much everyone predicted the Red Sox to win the World Series. And pretty much not quite everybody, but at least a handful of pundits had Tampa Bay finishing right behind them in the AL East. Wanna know who's leading the AL West? Baltimore. Say what?

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For those of you who don't particularly care for baseball because there's not enough contact, Minnesota second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka had his fibula busted by Nick Swisher trying to break up a a double play today.

Closing Day.

That's what today is. Guess that makes tomorrow Opening Day. Yup. Pretty much. 12 teams get baseball officially started up tomorrow. And I'd be remiss if I didn't weigh in on at least a thing or seven.

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There's a lot of chatter out there about the Red Sox winning it all this year. Easy money is what that is. It's about as good a bet as any in baseball. Last year they were devastated by injuries, and still finished 16 games above .500. This year, if they're pitching staff can stay healthy, they own an an offense that could be scary good.

But that's not where I'm headed. There's another team garnering a fair amount of chatter, too. A team that a lot of people are expecting good things from this year. And I can't say it's not because of a good deal of unintended spin. I'm talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates. They're the owners of a major-sprots-league-best 18 consecutive losing seasons. A handsome number of know-it-alls connected with baseball are suggesting, hinting, alleging (read: definitely not "predicting") that might change this year. I think it's because the Bucs are all decked out with a new manager this year. One who knows a little something about getting a team to the World Series sans expectations. Clint Hurdle did just that with the Rockies in 2007 when they won 21 of they're final 22 regular season games that year, and went on to sweep the first two rounds of the playoffs, only to have their brooms turn against them in the World Series by the Red Sox.

Nothing against Clint Hurdle or the Pirates. If I have a second-favorite team, it's the Pirates. And I like Hurdle a lot, as baseball guys go. But I think that's where some of this misplaced spin is sourced. I don't think the Pirates have a pitching staff worthy of consistent run abatement. Although they do have a good core of hitters. And one of the best center fielders I've seen in Andrew McCutchen.

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I'm really geeked up about the Rockies' chances this year. Like any team that captures a World Series title, they've got to have a bunch of stuff go right for them this year, but they've got more depth right now than I can ever remember. To wit: Their last Spring Training game was actually what they call and Exhibition Game because it was versus their AA affiliate in Tulsa. The Drillers no-hit their Major League elders for eight innings, and won 5-3.

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If I were forced to pick a team to watch out for—a team who, like the Padres last year, stays unexpectedly competitive till the last day of the season—it would probably be the Florida Marlins. Their pitching staff is dominant. And they've got Mike Stanton, who many scouts project 40+ home runs out of this year. If they were in the NL Central, they would almost certainly contend.

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Speaking of the NL Central, what a bummer for the Brewers, who plucked Zack Greinke from the Royals this off-season, only to find out that he will be nursing an injury until early May. Good thing they're in the NL Central. Could be the worst division in the bigs.

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The World Series champs Giants announced their opening day roster today and it features rookie Brandon Belt at first base, for whom they designated Travis Ishikawa for assignment. The guy's so young and inexperienced at this level that I'm pretty sure his Little League team just stopped practicing together a couple months ago. I'm not convinced this was the right move for them. But when you're coming off of a World Series win, you can do no wrong. Maybe that's why so few teams actually repeat the feat the following year.

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I saw some buzz today about how the Rockies installed some new purple lights atop the outside of Coors Field. They look pretty cool. But no one's talking about how they switched those ubiquitous dimpled floor matt-like things at intersections from neon yellow to Rockies purple. Rode my bike by there the other day and crews were replacing them. Brilliant, I thought.

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Lastly, there's not a better time in recent memory for the Rockies to capture the hearts of local sports fans than now. The Broncos and Avalanche stink. And the NFL and NBA (and maybe even the NHL) are facing labor pains (sorry, couldn't resist) that could shut down those sports temporarily. How huge would the Rockies become in the minds of potentially erstwhile Broncos fans if they contend all year, and make a run at the World Series? Pretty darn huge, if you ask me.

Rankings, ranklings, and hankerings.

A couple weeks ago or so I opined about which teams will finish last in each division this year. Let's take a quick look at how my guesses compared to the recently-released predictions of Buster Olney in ESPN: The Magazine. I didn't guess team's records, but The Magazine did, so I'll show those in parenthesis.

AL East:
My pick - Toronto Blue Jays (79-83)
Their pick - Baltimore Orioles (77-85)

The reason I went with the Blue Jays to lose the battle of the birds is vindicated by something The Mag wrote in their synopsis:

The real drama could be at the bottom of the division, where the Orioles—who brought on slick-fielding shortstop J.J. Hardy, 40-home run threat Mark Reynolds and nine-time All-Star Vladimir Guerrero this off-season—might have the goods to snap a 13-year streak of losing seasons, longest in the AL.

Yeah, I didn't go with the idea of "might," but rather "will."

AL Central:
My pick - Kansas City Royals
Their pick - Kansas City Royals (69-93)

I love it when that happens. I have to mention, though, that this could be the last time in a long time the Royals finish last. They have stocked up such a tremendous trove of talent—both through trades, and by great player development—that they could realistically start to contend as soon as next year. And when they do, I expect them to continue to do so for years to come.

AL West:
My pick - Seattle Mariners
Their pick - Seattle Mariners (70-92)

So when do I start getting paid for this stuff?

NL East:
My pick - New York Mets (79-83)
Their pick - Washington Nationals (73-89)

The Mag actually picked the Mets to finish third, above the Marlins and the Nationals. This is just crazy. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Buster Olney. He is one of the most balanced and level-headed baseball guys out there. But what are you thinking, Buster? The Marlins have one of the best—and obviously under-rated—rotations in the game. The Nationals certainly are no threat to make a surprise run at a division title, but they are really pretty average. They have a maybe-a-tick-below OK pitching staff and above average (although not by much) offense, which means to me that they finish just below .500, in my opinion.

The Mets, on the other hand, are one jacked up bunch. They have no ace (or at least not until mid-summer when Johan Santana is expected to return), they just released their second baseman, José Reyes Luis Castillo, to whom they still owe six million dollars, and their ownership group is under constant scrutiny due to their involvement with that rapscallion Bernie Madoff.

In my defense, he has the Mets finishing only six games out of the cellar.

NL Central:
My pick - Houston Astros
Their pick - Houston Astros (69-93)

I would say that I don't mean to brag, if only it were true. Olney says:

The Astros have been teetering on the edge of disaster for years and could finish last for the first time since 1991. That would mean progress for the Pirates.

Which is exactly what I said. Kind of.

NL West:
My pick - Arizona Diamondbacks
Their pick - Arizona Diamondbacks (73-89)

As my cousin once wrote, "I don't know much, and much of what I do know, I only think I know," but I like how I did against one of baseball's best banterers. Four identical picks, one close one, and one head-scratcher.

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I love it when managers say things on the record that they probably shouldn't really say. Like a couple years ago when White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said that he pukes every time he goes to Wrigley Field (as they do once a year as part of inter-league play to take on the Chicago Cubs). Well just yesterday in the April edition of Mens Journal, Orioles manager Buck Showalter (and former Yankees manager, it is worth noting) didn't have anything nice to say about their division foe Yankees, and specifically had this to say about Boston Red Sox' off-season acquisitions:

You got Carl Crawford 'cause you paid more than anyone else, and that's what makes you smarter? That's why I like whipping their butt. It's great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying, "How the hell are they beating us?"

Ahhhh yes.

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Spring Training is about to give way to the whole raison d'être there's Spring Training in the first place. Major League Baseball's season opens on March 31st featuring six games. The Rockies start the following day, at home, against the Diamondbacks, with me in attendance. That's a week from tomorrow. Already I'm checking the forecast, and it's looking lovely. 70º and sunny. And I'll probably start out with a Maharaja Imperial India Pale Ale on tap from FreshCraft or The Falling Rock Tap House. Not that I'm putting too much thought into it or anything.

Why local is where it's at.

I have this thing about having to go to Home Depot. Just having to think about going there is obtuse. Being there is worse. Because when you get there, the parking lot is a freaking mess. It simply does not matter which of my local Home Depot's I decide to attend, each one is equally maniacal.

And then… you have to go inside.

Oh my god. Why did someone decide to build a shopping mall, and then at the last minute tear down all the interior walls holding up the roof and fill the newly-opened expanse with screws, lumber, paper towels, cement floors, people in orange aprons, dust, and candy bars and call it a Home Depot? Or Lowes? Or Super Walmart? Or to where ever the frick people are fricking flocking these days?

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Perhaps growing up in a small town which featured, quite proudly, a one-square-block-perimiter of retail stores from which one could buy daily wares—like screws, or paper towels, or orange aprons—finessed me into a guy who likes to be coddled when he buys something. Don't get me wrong. I don't need my hand held when I'm shopping. I'm that guy who actually likes to forage for what he's looking for. But when I have a specific need that needs filled, I need it filled by an aficionado, not a clerk.

But I don't think my growing up in said small town had everything to do with it. It's many things, including the fact that I run my own small business—more of a business-to-business business, but still. I know when to—and how to—tell the difference between a store owner who appeals to the masses, and one who digs the community. And it's not to be poo-pooed. I—and by "I" I mean my family—go out of my way to support local business owners. It's a big deal, really. Among the questions I ask myself:

Is there somewhere in our neighborhood we can buy the same thing or service?
Whose pockets do the profits line?
Why is there a scantily-clad mannequin in front of your coffee shop?
Are you a locally-owned bar, and what are the other bars you own?
When is your fine-foods market going to open up shop three blocks from my house?

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Supporting the locally-owned little guys help give your community a personality. This is important to the vitality of your neighborhood. Not just important, but mandatory. "What have we, if we have not a community?" I just made that up to sound like something Ben Franklin, or Thomas Jefferson, or someone really stately and smart would say. Because it's true.

Take, for example, the neighborhood liquor store I frequent. I walk in and I am usually greeted, if not by name, by a knowing smile. With a knowing regard for what it is I am hankering. Not unusually by a guy who knows my name. He knows my name because of my guerilla shopping mentality. Because I insist on disregarding the stores whose profits fill the pockets of yonder boys—corporations who probably don't give a shit about you.

Do me a favor. Think, for a second, about where you buy stuff these days. Probably online a lot. Probably at Walmart a lot. Probably at Starbucks a lot. But do you ever think about opportunities about buying stuff like that from proprietors who are also your neighbors? Look, I don't meant to get all ideological on your asses, but think about what you buy, and from whom you buy it, from now on. Why not buy your next steamed mocha half soy venti non-decaf grande latte from your local coffee purveyor? Because it will suck? Highly unlikely. Because it will take longer? It might; it might not. Because you are helping build a more socially verdant community? Yes.

And because it sucks that Home Depot drove so many neighborhood hardware stores out of business because those neighborhood hardware stores employed aficionados. Home Depot employs clerks.

Some stuff I thought of once. A little while ago. Like, today.

The Rockies had a double-header today at their still-brang-new Spring Training facility in Scottsdale, AZ, which has been Bantered About By One here. I don't have the figures at my fingers (which is to say, I'm too lazy to do the research to find them—which the Banter of One will hereafter refer to as "research") as to what the record is for a double header at their erstwhile Spring Training facility in Tucson, AZ (Hi-Corbett Field), but I would be happy to buy you dinner if you can prove to me that it was greater than today's combined attendance of 23,600.

It seems to me, from research I've gathered, that attendance at most ballparks, in the Cactus League at least, has been baron. But not at Salt River Fields. No siree. Seriously, the Rockies basically pulled off two sellouts in one day. In One Day. Even weekday games at Salt River Fields are faring better than their Cactus League counterparts, according to my research.

Indeed, according to this article, attendance is trending upward in the Cactus League. And I especially like how it doesn't even credit the Rockies in this trend:

"This year, the elevated number of attendees can be attributed primarily to two factors: the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are playing their first season in the Valley after moving their spring-training home from Tucson, and the San Francisco Giants, the 2010 World Series Champions…"

See, the Rockies share Salt River Fields with the Diamondbacks. And the Diamondbacks call Phoenix their regular-season home. I have this sneaking feeling that if the Rockies and their entire slate of Spring Training competition Spring Trained in Denver (provided the weather allowed them to do so), attendance for the Rockies would be sensational. Sensational, and all the synonyms you can come up with for sensational. To wit: During the 2010 regular season, Colorado averaged greater than 10,000 per game more than the Diamondbacks. Even in 2001, the year that the Diamondbacks won the World Series, the Rockies still out-attended them by an average of over 5,000 fans per game. Now that's research backed by some serious research.



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The AppleTV is a really cool gadget. Especially now that its most recent software update allows it to stream to me my MLB.tv subscription. My wife and I took our dog for a long walk in City Park, after which I camped out on the couch and watched the Giants and Dodgers do some Spring Training battle. And then later in the day I kept track of the Rockies and Diamondbacks tilt. All on the 46 inch TV in the living room, as opposed to the computer.

So I've got that going for me.