Mariners Cup
I’m sorry there hasn’t been a lot of content here lately. I’m very thankful to have found a job, but it’s been keeping me busy. If you haven’t heard, I got a job as a reporter for the Snohomish County/Mukilteo/Everett Tribune. My company puts out three different newspapers and I’m covering the Everett and Mukilteo beats. Most of my work involves covering local government issue and city happenings, but I did get the chance to cover the Mariners Cup in Everett a couple weeks ago, and it was awesome. The Mariners Cup is a high school showcase tournament that is the brainchild of Scouting Director Bob Fontaine. The Mariners used to send a team to the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif., but now host the Mariners Cup right here in Seattle and Everett. It was great to see some of the top local talent, as well as teams comprised of players from California and the Midwest. I’m excited to follow local players like Danny Oh from Jackson High School and Derek Jones from Snohomish High School this spring.

Bugs and Cranks
I found a pretty good new Web site today — www.BugsAndCranks.com. It’s a site that features more than 30 different writers — one covering each team. I thought Brandon Vogel’s little bio was pretty funny: “Brandon Vogel loves the Chicago Cubs and old country music, allowing him to make two unsubstantiated claims as: 1) the saddest person alive at any given moment, and 2) the only living sportswriter with a tattoo of Johnny Cash on his arm.” Check it out!

Neftali Feliz
Last night in Everett, I got a chance to see Neftali Feliz, one of the pitchers the Rangers acquired from the Braves in the Mark Teixeira deal and I was pretty impressed. His secondary stuff looks to be a work in progress, but the arm is legit. Feliz was popping the glove at 94-95 MPH and has a good presence on the mound. The Spokane Indians are using him in relief, but I’m not sure why. In general, I’m not a fan of guys moving to the bullpen until they’ve shown they can’t succeed in the rotation. Feliz is definitely a player I will be following.

Wes Littleton deserves an asterisk
Is there anything more ridiculous than a pitcher getting a save when his team wins 30-3? One more reason why the save statistic is pointless and outdated. If you haven’t already, read David Pinto’s recent articles on Baseball Prospectus about revamping the rules regarding issuing a save. Someone should issue an error to the official scorer of that game. I’m pretty sure I could have protected a 27-run lead for three innings…

Legos
I found the next site because the artist made a life-size model of Stephen Colbert, but you should really head over to www.brickartist.com and check out the work of Nathan Sawaya. There are some baseball-related pieces in there and it’s just amazing. Nathan does custom work and if I had money to blow, I think it would be awesome to have a Lego Safeco Field!