Sunday, January 04, 2009

It's almost baseball time again!

Ok, so it's just January.  Opening Day hasn't come.  Spring Training hasn't started.  Pitchers and Catchers haven't even reported.

None of that matters.  Baseball is in the air.

Christmas came early last month for my New York Yankees when they acquired Mark Teixeria to replace Jason Giambi at first base.  They had already scored the pitching services of CC. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, adding to an already stacked pitching staff.  They may still acquire Andy Pettitte for another year.  Of course the cherry on top would be nailing down Manny Ramirez as well, but it's unlikely that the Yankees will continue to spend at this current rate.

The Yankees are heading to Atlanta for the first time in over six years this summer, and I am anxiously anticipating my opportunity to purchase tickets to each game of the series.  Yes, that's right, I'LL GO TO EVERY GAME IF I CAN.  If you are within the sound of my blog, and you have tickets, invite me.  I'll go.  Unless someone already invited me.  Which isn't likely, so invite me anyway no matter what you think.

The problem with getting Yankees-Braves tickets, is that you can't.  You can't just buy them.  Oh no no no no... you have to register to win the chance to buy them.  Or I can get season tickets and purchase them at my leisure, but I don't have the money to spend on season tickets nor the wife who would let me go to 20+ games in a season.  (She let me do that one summer, and that was enough for her)

I enjoyed my Braves season tickets while I had them, but it really is hard to get to the stadium that often.  And it's expensive!  Jeez, a dog and a Coke will crack you over the head for 10 bucks at least, and I'm not usually drinkin' Coke!  I like to get to Turner Field as often as possible, but it still only works out to about 4-5 times a year.

I added a few stadiums to my list last summer: Camden Yard, Angel Stadium in Anaheim, and the park where the Myrtle Beach Pelicans play (BB&T Coastal Field).  I'm hoping to add a few this year, but we'll see where I can get to.  I'll be in Boston in May, but the Sox will be playing away games.  Maybe I can visit my buddy Jeremy in St. Louis for the All Star game!

I always know when it is about time to start thinking about baseball when my email box fills up with league invites and roster notifications.  The one league i plan on focusing on is actually Jeremy's Friend and Family league.  It is fairly high competition, and good to keep my baseball senses sharp.  Jer's dad, Walt, emailed me my end of season roster from 2008.  I get to pick six keepers from the following list to start off 2009:
Chone Figgins
Kosuke Fukudome
Vladmir Guerrero
Brad Hawpe
Ryan Howard
Evan Longoria
Ryan Ludwick
Dioner Navarro
Jose Reyes
Willy Taveras
Joa Chamberlain
Ryan Dempster
Brian Fuentes
Trevor Hoffman
Jair Jurrjens
Gil Meche
Mike Mussina
Roy Oswalt
Joakim Soria
It's a great list, but a tough one to pick only six keepers from.  I can eliminate Mussina (retired) off the bat, and I don't keep closers as a rule so you can eliminate Soria, Hoffman and Fuentes.  Fuentes is so good, though, I might reconsider that.  Others like Navarro, Ludwick, Taveras, Meche... they don't even get a second glance.  But I have a bunch who are rock solid.  Maybe I can work out a trade.

More to come... thank goodness for baseball.

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