Brantley is not much of a center fielder. He can run balls down but his arm is very deficient. I'm not convinced he's a major league regular yet, since he sure hasn't hit like a LF should.

You would assume that Brantley will be the center fielder.

Our outfield woes are solved

Their number may increase this week if Lofton and Baerga are successful in getting Albert Belle to come to camp.

I love to diss Mark Shapiro, as in my gambling and sports watching book he firmly deserves it.



That said, right now we have a bunch of interesting cards in camp to play out. Cheap as they might be.


I re-upped on my MLB.TV today.

Which are the cards that you find interesting? I like a lot about this team but not the OF is grossly susbstandard, even if Choo comes back to his usual level of achievement.

civ ollilavad wrote:Which are the cards that you find interesting? I like a lot about this team but not the OF is grossly susbstandard, even if Choo comes back to his usual level of achievement.

Choo in right, Brantley in center, and the spring training winner in left.

Choo will be back and will put up his best season to date.

Brantley has talent, motivation and ability.

Many clubs have won Championships with an odder lot of outfielders.

For my fellow mlb.tv subscribers here, has anyone had their card hit with the charge yet?

I haven't.

I gave permission for auto renewal at $99 and read somewhere the charge would hit in the last week of February. Thus far, no charge for me. A gray area for me is whether or not my iPhone app I purchased last year is still good this year. It was $14.99 well spent last season.

I hope we get more Spring Training Games than we have the past few years. I'll find out if my account is in order and working when I try to log on tomorrow.

Though tomorrow is the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap and I'll be in The Turf Club of the OTB right down the street starting at about Noon Pacific Time. I have no horses to tout, as I have not reviewed the form. But there a handful of nice horse maiden races on the card, and that's usually where I do my best handicapping.

Looks like the new HBO series, LUCK, has scenes filmed at Santa Anita.

seagull wrote:Looks like the new HBO series, LUCK, has scenes filmed at Santa Anita.

Yep. Hillbilly and you have been touting me on it, and Santa Anita brags often that it was the set for much of the filming.

Santa Anita really is a beautiful track...on the rare days the LA smog is not blocking the view of the nearby San Gabriel Mountains.

I hope to make it to the Breeders Cup down there again in November.

I rec'd an email from MLB about a week ago saying that my subscription would be renewed, and my card charged, on or about Mar 1. I haven't checked to see whether it has been or not. I think the real test is to see if I can still log in ...

VT'er wrote:I rec'd an email from MLB about a week ago saying that my subscription would be renewed, and my card charged, on or about Mar 1. I haven't checked to see whether it has been or not. I think the real test is to see if I can still log in ...

For what it's worth, I can get the mlb.tv radio today.....no TV available.

My card still has not been charged.

Well I haven't checked my credit card account ... ok lemme be honest here, I don't know how to ... but I just logged in to mlb.tv and am now viewing the NYY-PHI game played earlier today.

OK now I'm not because I hate the Yankees.

VT'er wrote:OK now I'm not because I hate the Yankees.

Though tomorrow is the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap and I'll be in The Turf Club of the OTB right down the street starting at about Noon Pacific Time. I have no horses to tout, as I have not reviewed the form. But there a handful of nice horse maiden races on the card, and that's usually where I do my best handicapping.



Frankly, I wish I had watched the Yankees. I pitched a very rare 0 for 4 shutout on my wagers at Santa Anita. The most valuable part of being a good gambler is knowing when it's not there and to walk away.

I did have a great grilled chicken breast caesar salad while there in The Turf Club though, and lots of people I've known for a personally surprising 10+ California years gave me pity and good thoughts about my leg cast.

Truthfully, I didn't walk away. I limped away. And then took a train to San Francisco with hopes of scoring cheaps tix for "Beach Blanket Babylon" tonight, but I lost on that one, too.

I did end up in an Irish dive bar that pours the best damned pint of Guinness I have ever quaffed. As they did tonight.

So, I guess I did end up a winner.

Of course, I bet on a sure thing.

The only unexpected part of the evening was that the cabbie from North Beach to the fringe of The Tenderloin told me he loved the bar he was driving me to. I was a bit surprised, as this is not a bar listed in Fodor's, and it's truly just Irish with assorted Tenderloin hookers and characters. I usually don't tell cab drivers which bar I'm going to when I go there, I just say "let me off at the corner of "such and such and such and such." I couldn't catch his accent, and I asked him if he minded if I inquired as to his home country.

"Yemen," he said. "I love the Irish." "Our struggles have been similar."

I'm sure this has been posted elsewhere, but...

Fausto Carmona - S - Indians

Roberto Hernandez Heredia, formerly known as Fausto Carmona, pitched one inning Monday at the Indians' academy in the Dominican Republic.

Hernandez was placed on baseball's restricted list after he was arrested in January on false identity charges, but he's still preparing for the start of the season. He is hoping to obtain a judicial pardon in order to return the United States and rejoin the Indians.