The baseball thread

[PKBasu]

Rather belated, but better late than never! Congratulations to the Phillies for winning the World Series. I must say their failures got me to lose any slight lingering interest I had in baseball within about 6-7 years of leaving the US (in 1994, the year after the Phillies last made the World Series in 1993). I don't even know the names of more than a couple of their players, but it is nice to see the Phillies (any Philadelphia team actually!!) win the game's Championship.

[suresh]

Unlike PKB, my favourite American sport is baseball. Needless to say, I followed the Phillies very closely and enjoyed their win over Tampa Bay. This team is rather special. Last year, they came from behind (pipping the NY Mets) to make it to the playoffs only to be swept by the Colorado Rockies in the first round. This year, they started off as favourites in the NL East but fell behind after a rather slow start. The team however never gave up and picked the pace and were leading NL East. There was brief period when the NY Mets took over the lead but it was only a matter of when the Phillies would get it back. The LA Dodgers and the Phillies were probably the best teams in September heading into the playoffs and played each other in the second round where the Phillies won comfortably (I didn't expect it). In the finals (I hate to call it the world series), all the experts picked Tampa Bay only to be surprised by the Phillies. The strength of the Phillies lay in the big hitting, super set of relievers and a reasonable but not great set of starters (including Cole Hamels who was great all year). Cole Hamels deservedly won the player of the series in both the finals and the NL championship.

Suresh

[PKBasu]

My favourite American sport was probably baseball as well. OK, second to basketball. When I was in the US, I used to watch NBA action quite a lot, and most of the play-offs on TV (Lakers' Karim Abdul-Jabbar was the one non-Olympics American sportsman I knew of since my middle-school days; then there was a smooth hand-off to Magic Johnson, with a little bit of lingering interest in Detroit Pistons' Isiah Thomas, and of course our 76ers' own Charles Barkley, who had more success when he left Philadelphia to join the Phoenix Suns and less so the Houston Rockets after their glory years). But I never actually watched an NBA game in the stadium, but I did go for a few Phillies games -- and was bored to tears. Baseball definitely makes cricket look like a fast-paced game, with so much happening on almost every ball (while in baseball, hardly anything happens most of the time, with all those strikes and hardly any runs scored). Nonetheless, Dykstra, Schilling and gang did capture some of my attention during their run to the World Series, and I followed Schilling's long career.

But I find that I no longer even watch NBA action much, because the timings aren't exactly conducive to a Singapore resident (matches being played during office hours here). And as all the familiar names have left the scene, I can't really relate to baseball much -- and stopped following the scores even cursorily a couple of years ago. Of course, that's just when the Phillies finally decided to start making noise...

[Kumar]

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove?eref=fromSI

According to a report from Yahoo! Japan, the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed a pair of pitchers from India, Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh. Pirates GM Neal Huntington would not confirm the report to MLB.com, but he did tell that site "We have seen the pitchers and are very interested in signing them."

Patel and Singh, both 19, won a Million Dollar Arm contest last year that set out to find the hardest throwing players in the country. They worked out with USC pitching coach Tom House for six months, then auditioned in front of three dozen major league scouts in Tempe, Ariz., earlier this month, with Patel touching 90 mph and Singh hitting 84 on the radar gun.

[PKBasu]

I was going to suggest that India should go out and try recruiting an American or two into the IPL. But unfortunately, baseball is a poor cousin of cricket (having developed from the inferior version of cricket played by school-boys called Rounders), so all skills required in baseball are utilized in cricket (pitching/chucking, catching -- with bare hands -- and of course batting), but most cricketing skills are not employed in baseball. We can find good six-hitters among baseball players, but not necessarily ones capable of blocking, cutting, hitting along the ground, bowling, fielding (without gloves), etc.

[gbelday]

The two pitchers from India (Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel) are featured in a CNN SI article today..

Indian pitchers are first for America's national pastime
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/11/india. ... index.html

[usaindian]

may be a movie deal for our pitchers
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29600173

[prasen9]

Indian origin pitcher, Rohan Handa got picked by the San Francisco Giants at the 5th round of the MLB draft. There are several stories about how he reinvented himself after the virus hit. Yale -> MLB and Ivy league got creative. Handa's speed of 97 miles is elite speed. Of course, pitching is a lot more than having a good fastball.

A few years ago, Karan Patel, who represented the U.S. in U-19 cricket, was also chosen to be part of the Chicago White Sox minor league teams in the seventh round. I think Karan was the first Indian-origin player drafted. He is now in the Low-A associated team this year. Hope he develops and makes his MLB debut.

[jayakris]

Rohan handa seems to be the real thing. Wow, that moustache! Rollie Fingers will be proud.

A half Indian American also got drafted this time. Kumar Rocker, picked up in the 10th round by the Mets. Mom is Indian.

Why is this thread under general chit chat? I should move this to the regular "other sports" forum.

[suresh]

A half Indian American also got drafted this time. Kumar Rocker, picked up in the 10th round by the Mets. Mom is Indian.

I was wondering about that first name. Kumar got picked 10th overall (not in the 10th round which is not great) and so he is a great talent.

[jayakris]

Oh, I misread. You're right. He was 10th overall. That means he is some sort of a phenom!

[arjun2761]

Yes, Kumar Rocker has been a phenom for some time. Dropped to the 10th pick but is still considered by most to have the highest ceiling among the pitchers. Should be in the majors pretty soon!

[Kumar]

There were rumors he could have gone earlier, but he refused to play for teams like Rockies (baseball purgatory for pitchers)

[prasen9]

Yes, this thread should go to Other Sports.

[suresh]

There were rumors he could have gone earlier, but he refused to play for teams like Rockies (baseball purgatory for pitchers)

Rocker the Rocky would have sounded good.