Baseball (MLB, WBC, College, etc.)

shin2 wrote:For old-time kama'aina, Wally Yonamine was a sports icon. Growing up in Hawaii in the 50's and early 60's, I remember my relatives talking about Yonamine. He led a very remarkable life.

Wow, learn something new every day: I never knew about Wally... The only Asian ballplayer I knew of until the recent flood of Asian players was Lenn Sakata.

gaijinmark wrote:There's a book out about Wally:http://www.amazon.com/Wally-Yonamine-Changed-Japanese-Baseball/dp/0803213816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299075473&sr=1-1#_

I got that book for my dad for his birthday. Like most of my older relatives from Hawaii, he was a Wally Yonamine fan.

bmwracer wrote:
Wow, learn something new every day: I never knew about Wally... The only Asian ballplayer I knew of until the recent flood of Asian players was Lenn Sakata.

Mike Lum pre-dated Lenn Sakata. Lum played mostly for the Atlanta Braves in the 60's and 70's. Lum was one of my early sports heroes--as a star high school QB. Yonamine, Lum, Sakata--all from Hawaii. :woot:

shin2 wrote:Mike Lum pre-dated Lenn Sakata. Lum played mostly for the Atlanta Braves in the 60's and 70's. Lum was one of my early sports heroes--as a star high school QB. Yonamine, Lum, Sakata--all from Hawaii. :woot:

Oh yeah, Mike Lum.... :victory:

I had a junior high school coach who was a relative of Mike Lum, if I recall correctly.... :)

Daisuke finally had a good start. Hopefully this means he'll be better once the season starts.

Jav_sol wrote:Daisuke finally had a good start. Hopefully this means he'll be better once the season starts.

They really need him and Beckett to rebound, :fingerscrossed: Beckett's got lit up in his starts, the hitters will carry them but only so far. Opening day for them is 17 days away, open up April 1st at Texas.

Jav_sol wrote:Daisuke finally had a good start.

I was reading the quotes from the previous starts when he was getting hammered and he kept saying it was okay "I'm working on stuff."

I thought, "You keep "working on stuff" like that and you're going to be "working on stuff" in Pawtucket!!"

:puppydog:

Atlanta Braves minor league manager Luis Salazar has lost an eye after he was struck in the face by a line drive while watching a spring training game.
Braves general manager Frank Wren said Wednesday that doctors were unable to save Salazarfs left eye after the accident March 9. The former major league player is otherwise recovering from his injuries and expects to manage Lynchburg of the Class A Carolina League this season.
The 54-year-old Salazar was standing against the railing on the top step of the dugout during a game between the Braves and St. Louis Cardinals when Brian McCann(notes) fouled a ball in his direction. Salazar was unable to get out of the way and fell head-first back into the dugout.
The game was stopped for almost 20 minutes so Salazar could be airlifted to an Orlando hospital. He regained consciousness on the way and was treated for multiple facial fractures, but doctors were unable to save his left eye.
gIn the big picture, and thatfs what we have to keep in mind, this is a good outcome,h Wren said. gHefs alive.h
McCann was badly shaken and didnft return when the game resumed. He visited Salazar in the hospital and has stayed in touch.
gItfs a crazy, crazy thing that happened,h McCann said the day after Salazar was struck. gSo unfortunate. You feel hopeless.h
Wren said that Salazar would spend about a week at home in Boca Raton, Fla., and then return to Braves camp at some point this spring. The minor-league season begins April 7 and Salazar had been serving as an extra major league coach when struck.
gDoctors have told us and him that there is no reason why, in about four or six weeks, he canft manage his team as he anticipated,h Wren said.
Salazar is in his first year with the Braves organization.

gaijinmark wrote:I was reading the quotes from the previous starts when he was getting hammered and he kept saying it was okay "I'm working on stuff."

At least it's better than what Lackey kept saying last season, after every poor start, he insisted, "it's the best I've thrown all season." :shakehead:

gaijinmark wrote:
I was reading the quotes from the previous starts when he was I thought, "You keep "working on stuff" like that and you're going to be "working on stuff" in Pawtucket!!"

This is an important year for Daisuke. People have lost their patience. Another bad year and he'll be booted out of here.

Jav_sol wrote:

This is an important year for Daisuke. People have lost their patience. Another bad year and he'll be booted out of here.

So true, needs to learn to throw strikes, while the batters have adjusted to him, such as taking his pitches, he hasn't adjusted or been unable to, :shakehead: not much of a market for $13M pitchers who can barely last 5 innings. :puppydog:

Dodger and Angels have their annual "freeway series" Monday and Tuesday. What intrigues me is, the Dodgers final exhibition game is at Dodger stadium Wed. night against Seattle. Would like to go see Ichiro, but how much will he play? One or two at-bats, or maybe not at all? :confused:

gaijinmark wrote:Dodger and Angels have their annual "freeway series" Monday and Tuesday. What intrigues me is, the Dodgers final exhibition game is at Dodger stadium Wed. night against Seattle. Would like to go see Ichiro, but how much will he play? One or two at-bats, or maybe not at all? :confused:

I think Ichiro will take a couple of at-bats at the minimum. :victory:

Nice to know some things never change. Last night Dodgers were leading the Angels 4-3 going into the 9th. In comes Broxton, Angels win 5-4. :beaten:

gaijinmark wrote:Nice to know some things never change. Last night Dodgers were leading the Angels 4-3 going into the 9th. In comes Broxton, Angels win 5-4. :beaten:

I knew it!

I went to bed hearing that they had lost 5-4 and thought "I'll bet Broxton blew the game for them..."

This is gonna be another excruciating season. :shakehead:

^^ Maybe them and the Sox should look at a trade of pitchers, don't the Dodgers have 6 starters? Sox have 3 closers in Papplebon, Jenks and Bard but really only 3 starters they can count on, perhaps I should contact Theo with my suggestion. :beatyou:

Dodgers beat the Giants in the season opener, 2-1, despite Broxton's efforts to blow the save. :shakehead:

He has go to go, plain and simple. :grumble:

Don't know about the LA fans who follow the blue, lot of put downs in the comments. :puppydog:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Apst6c9.qxz.iba459Y3F20RvLYF?slug=ap-giantsfanattacked

I hope the guy recovers. As is usually the case, it only takes a couple a**holes to screw it up for everybody else. As far as the comments go, those are pretty tame. You should see what the "christian" conservatives say whenever there's a story about Bill or Hillary Clinton! :shocked:

hitomi #1 wrote:Don't know about the LA fans who follow the blue, lot of put downs in the comments.

That's pretty much par for the course in any of those unmoderated sports threads.

They were tame but not Dodger fans is for certain.The real opening day began at 4:05 EST today and not good results for the good guys as they fall to the defending AL champs 9-5. :shamefulcry: Tied going into the 8th but Bard imploded giving up 4 runs, gotta feeling they're gonna need to score quite a few runs this year, more than a good team should be expected to score. :doh: