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On "The Day After," the most predictable reaction of Reds fireballer Aroldis Chapman's bad day at the office Monday was:
a.) He's out of the race for No. 5 starter;
b.) He's not ready for the big leagues;
c.) Dusty Baker has ruined another pitcher.
The Reds blogosphere is ripe with speculation and gossip today after Chapman came back to earth in a scattered effort against the Rockies. He went 1.2 innings, allowing 2 hits and 4 unearned runs, walking 2 and striking out 2. But he had no command in his second inning, throwing a wild pitch and ending his day with 15 of 31 pitches as balls. He left the game with back spasms and will be treated and re-evaluated before he pitches again.
I'm one of the few who believed Chapman would not start in the big leagues. Reason: Exactly what we saw Monday. Yes, his back stiffened up, his defense failed him and one bad outing in nine-plus spring training innings shouldn't be held against him.
But Jeff Brantley nailed "it" during the telecast, Peter Gammons mentioned "it" on MLB Network, and we've all been needing to see "it" all spring: How does Chapman react to adversity in a game? What kind of maturity will he exhibit when things are going badly? All of that was on display in the seventh inning. And to me, he didn't pass the readiness test. "It" was predicted.
When Chapman signed with the Reds, I conducted a three-part Q&A with Cuban baseball expert Peter Bjarkman on Red Letter Daze. His most striking comments were about Chapman's composure and maturity:
"I saw him come badly unglued when he couldn't find the strike zone in early innings against a mediocre Puerto Rico club in the Huelga Tournament, a Havana trial for the 2008 Olympic roster," Bjarkman said. "He also struggled with his composure when he began to lose his command of pitches against Japan in the crucial WBC matchup at San Diego in March 2009."
"Aren't these the areas where pitching 'maturity' seems to be lacking, as we've heard from scouts?" I asked?
"Yes, that is what I see as his drawbacks," Bjarkman replied. "But of course he is young, and he does, indeed, have loads of natural tools to work with."
So far this spring, everyone--fans, media, Reds staff--has been looking at Chapman's results. We've needed to look for maturity, reaction and adaptability. He has blown away hitters with his fastball. But when he didn't have command, like Monday, and was throwing breaking ball after breaking ball, big-league hitters made him pay. He got flustered. His body language talked volumes. Catcher Wilkin Castillo went to the mound, what, three times in the seventh?
As Brantley said, there's actually positive in the negative of Chapman's outing, including baserunners taking off on his first move to the plate. All things he needs to learn from game situations we just haven't seen until now. Will he learn them in Cincinnati or Carolina or Louisville? Chapman's next two spring outings will tell us for sure.* What drives Reds prospect Chris Heisey? Devastating hardships at home, a nice piece by Jamie Ramsey of Reds media relations.
* MLB Network's "30 Clubs in 30 Days" series features the Reds tonight at 10 p.m. ET. The hour-long show is hosted by Trenni Kusnierek, who can't possibly make the same number of factual mistakes as Hazel Mae a year ago.
* You should be receiving your Reds season tickets by now. Yeah, the ones with each ticket being a replica of an old Topps baseball card. Damn things are gorgeous. Another great idea by the Reds' marketing folks.
* Eighty-five appeared on the season-opener of "Dancing With the Stars" Monday night, performing cautiously, nervously, and disappointingly. He did nothing outrageous. No stunts. No dropped dance partners. There's still time. The judges referred to him as having "raw" ballroom dance ability.
* The Bengals received three extra draft picks as compensation for losing players to free agency. Go ahead, say it: Three more ways to bleep up their draft.
* ESPN says it has zero perfect NCAA Tournament brackets remaining from a pool of 5.4 million entries. Only four entries have 15 of the Sweet 16 teams. Those four people are on dope and should be arrested.
* Legendary retired West Virginia high school basketball coach Gene Reid is a huge Reds fan and a great participant on our Red Letter Daze board. He built a dynasty at Class AA Wyoming East High and wisely retired on top after winning a state championship in 2002.
Last week, he attended the state playoffs hoping to see the Warriors win a third championship in five years. But his old school lost in the finals to a team they had beaten by 24 points in the sectionals. Gene is now shooting at rattlesnakes in his backyard.
* I've decided Chocolate Cheerios does not pass the milk test, thus is not one of the top 10 best chocolate cereals of all time.
* Hey, Cupcake, stop calling cupcakes a trend.
* One of my favorite Twitter follows is @LoveMyPhilly, the official site of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Several times a day, they tout amazing, easy-to-make main course and dessert recipes, such as this fluffy lemon fruit pie. Ummmm, fluffy . . . lemon (drool) . . . fruit . . . pie (drool).
* Offered without comment from @BizBallMaury because I can't stop laughing.
* Excuse me, but what dumbass ad executives decided a close-up of a hairy armpit and a disgusting sweat-spewing underarm will sell more deodorant?
* HBO's 10-part mini-series "The Pacific," chronicling the Pacific Theatre campaign of World War II, is already facing criticisms of slow-moving plot, language, excessive violence and lower-than-expected ratings. Inevitably compared to 2001's "Band of Brothers," the greatest war series of all time, "The Pacific" faces the obstacles of a different younger audience raised on non-stop action and computer-generated scenery instead of plotlines and backstories.
Perhaps the biggest difference in the two series--both produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks--is hero Dick Winters demanded "BoB" be made suitable for kids to watch in schools and learn about the war. No such agreement for "The Pacific."
* Did anti-Semitism prevent the Tigers' Hank Greenberg from breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1938? It's very likely, considering the cataclysmic worldwide posture at the time, as spelled out by Giles McDonogh's "1938: Hitler's Gamble."
* In an age where opinion is everywhere on the web, are newspaper editorial pages still viable and necessary?
* Apple's iPad arrives April 3 and already experts are predicting it will sell more units in the first three months than the original iPhone in 2007. Oh Dear God, please don't let Ms. R get wind of the diamond-crusted iPad.
* Are the Phillies messing with their championship mojo . . . by getting a new playing surface?
* Fox Sports Ohio will televise all 145 Reds games in HD this year. Congratulations, you're only two years behind the rest of baseball.
* Late last season, FS Ohio fell in love with in-game interviews. They would waste an inning with someone such as a college basketball coach or celebrity in the booth blabbering endlessly about dis 'n dat, putting the game on split-screen--and not always an HD screen for better clarity of the game. They started this annoying habit again in spring training. So, there were a bunch of guys in a broadcast booth and all of a sudden, a game inconveniently broke out. . . .
* April 4 is Easter Sunday, and you know what that means--Peeps. They're everywhere. There's a new retail store called Peeps & Company. There's a very popular web site called Peeps Research that tells us in good fun all about Peeps risk analysis, fear response and solubility testing. The Peeps mobile might show up in your neighborhood. And once again, the Washington Post is holding a Peeps Diorama Contest, which drew 1,100 entries last year. Check out the 40 best from 2009 in this slideshow.
Peeps is the Flavor of the Month at Rita's Italian Ice.
I remember (way back) when the baseball team was shown locally on channel 5-I cannot remember the TV crew (Pisarcek?)-there would be interviews over the action. That was great-the viewer could watch the live baseball and listen to, say, Stan Musial wax poetic about hitting and actually compliment the Reds' player at the plate.
Then the TV contract went from 82 away games to every other weekend's games on a station my Rabbit Ears couldn't get. I think George Grande was the Play-by-Play guy back then.
My frat at Ohio Wesleyan had a contest regarding how many Peeps one could fit in their mouth. I think one of the Offensive Linemen fit 6 in at once. Grossed out and funny at the same time.
I could never eat another Peep again, though. Still can't.
My kids love the peeps but they make me sick without the peep face stuffing
the cream cheese twitter feed may be the death of me.
The cream cheese site has been duly bookmarked for future and many times use. TY
Looking forward to seeing "Pacific". Think if you can find any of the veterans who went through it and will talk about it, you will find that it was not a stroll through the forest but very excessive violence and language.
Peeps, way to sweet for me, though our grown kids stil ask for them at Easter.
Ahhh, you are thinking of pretty boy Steve Physioc, I do believe.
I'm telling ya, that LoveMyPhilly site is spectacular. They have a chicken and broccoli alfredo under main dishes that is killer.
But can anyone explain this Peeps phenomena?
Mr. R., I don't buy that Chapman is going to melt under pressure. He's had rough innings before. He gave up a leadoff HR to Weeks in his only start, then dominated the rest of the way. nThe issue Monday was his back, pure and simple.
Folks interpreting it as some kind of internal weakness/emotional immaturity on Chapman's part are only trying to validate a previously held opinion. If you watched his outing, there were absolutely no signs of his coming unglued mentally.
bingo
I guess that to get the personal loans from banks you must present a firm reason. However, one time I've got a short term loan, just because I wanted to buy a bike.