So much is right with this squad beyond the players. The general manager is a writer and lives on Zane Avenue. The GM also has an intrigue in the old Negro Leagues, which included the Homestead Grays The Grays played most of their home games in Forbes Field, home of the 2009 Grays. Beautiful. What about the players?
What could work: Pitching. The Grays will have the lowest ERA in the league. The ERA of the starting four (Kevin Brown, Gibson, Lefty Gomez and Lefty Carlton) should hover right around 3.00…more likely lower. A strong bullpen will hold any lead given to them. Backing the pitching staff will an excellent outfield of Doby, Giles, and Juan-Gone raking them in. The infield will be equally exciting with Brooks at third, Jimmy Rollins anchoring short and Roy Campanella catching. This squad performed as expected in spring, and might finally break the hoo-hum title of King of Spring.
What could fail: Last year the team had one of the lowest ERAs and twice the number of complete games of the other squads. However, some anticipated twenty-game winners ended up being 20 game losers. It could happen again…but it shouldn’t. The budget hitting squad might not live up to potential, especially in Forbes Field, perhaps the hardest ballpark to hit a homerun at with 462 feet to center. On the other hand, no no-hitters were ever recorded in the park.
Result: 88-74. Lefty Gomez, the number four starter on the squad, heard that Mark Fidrych used to talk to the baseball. In response Lefty said I used to shout at the ball…”Go foul. Go foul!!!” Gomez claimed that when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon he found a home run that Jimmie Foxx hit off of him in 1934.
No comments:
Post a Comment