Ever since Bryan Price left for Arizona, I’ve been waiting for the M’s to announce that King Felix will be wearing number 34 next season. The kid idolizes Freddy Garcia, and 34 is the number The Chief wore in Seattle and wears for the World Champion Chicago White Sox. Felix wore 34 in Tacoma in honor of Freddy, and it’s basically inevitable that he’ll be wearing number 34 on the mound at Safeco this season. So, why haven’t the M’s announced it yet? Money. Remember, Jeremy Reed wore number 58 in 2004 and during Spring Training of 2005. In fact, according to the M’s official site, he didn’t switch to number 7 until April 3^rd – just days before 2005’s Opening Day. Why wait so long? It’s not as if Reed making the team surprised anyone. The reason I believe they’re waiting so long with Felix is because they have a lot of jerseys and T-shirts with number 59 on them. They want to sell as many of those as possible before Felix switches to number 34 and the 59’s go on sale. It’s all about the Benjamins….

I recently received the first issue from my subscription to Baseball America. It’s awesome…but that’s not what this post is about. When I opened the magazine, the first thing I saw was an advertisement for the new MVP ’06 NCAA Baseball. Now, I was a huge All Star Baseball fan for a while, never really giving MVP a chance, even though I love the Madden series. However, when ASB died out, I switched over to MVP and wondered what the hell took me so long! EA Sports is awesome and I absolutely fell in love with MVP Baseball from day one. So…I was really bummed to find out that they lost their MLB licensing rights or something and are not releasing a Major League Baseball video game this year. Bummer. So…they decided to do the next best thing: college baseball. At first you might think, “College baseball? What’s next…Arena Football?” However, if you think about it from a business perspective, it was probably a good move. With ESPN airing more and more of the College World Series every year, college baseball is gaining popularity. Plus, because the college season begins earlier than the MLB season, EA gets to release its game before MLB 2K6 comes out. EA obviously has a solid reputation and I’m sure I’m not alone in my love for the MVP game – therefore I was willing to trust their collegiate endeavor.  After playing several games, fiddling with all of the options and simming through a couple of dynasty seasons with Jeremy Reed’s Long Beach State Dirtbags, here are my thoughts…

THE GOOD

• First of all, the gameplay is basically the same as MVP ’05. For me, that’s certainly a plus – because MVP Baseball ’05 is one of my favorite games of all time.
• During the intro, there are some cool video clips of current MLB players during their college days. You get to see Roger Clemens pitching for Texas, Bonds as a Sun Devil, Giambi and his mullet playing for the Long Beach State, Nomar at Georgia Tech and Todd Helton at Tennessee…among others.
• You may think the metal bats are annoying, but they sound perfect. And, if you hate them, you can switch the settings to “Summer League” rules and use wood bats.
• After the Tony Hawk series let you create your own skatepark, the create-a-stadium feature is something that I always wanted to see in a baseball game. Although it’s not too in-depth, it’s still a neat option for MVP ’06 NCAA Baseball.
• The throwing is better in this game than it was on MVP ’05. In the old game, when you were using the throwing meter to make a throw, if you only went a little way up on the meter, you would throw a little dribbler to your target. This time around, if you only use a little bit of throwing power, you still throw it to your target on the fly, it’s just a very soft throw. Obviously that’s not true if you’re throwing home from the warning track, but this is a lot more realistic and made me glad.
• The batter steps out between pitches and the catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher. These are minor details – but they make a nice difference in adding to the realistic quality of the game.
• And finally, there is a mid-game tuning option for all of the elements. Personally, I like to crank the pitch speed up all the way – it makes it more realistic.

Overall, the game is pretty good. It’s fun to play, but there are still some things that I didn’t like…

THE  BAD

• When I first discovered that a college baseball game was in the works, I was very excited for a “Golden Spikes Challenge.” In the NCAA Football game, there is a Heisman Challenge – where you create a player, they go through training camp and then are recruited by different schools. You pick which one you want to attend and then join the team as a freshman. You then have four years to play with that team and your ultimate goal is to win the coveted Heisman Trophy. I know that the Golden Spikes award isn’t as prestigious as the Heisman, but…c’mon…it only makes sense to have a Golden Spikes challenge. I was disappointed that it didn’t make it onto the game.
• EA is really hyping up their new “Load & Fire Batting” system. The ad in Baseball America states,

  “Past baseball video games have never succeeded in recreating the essence of what it’s like for a player to step up to the plate and take a swing at a pitch. Simply pressing a button just does not capture this feeling. There is no sense of being in total control of your swing. However, in MVP 06 the all-new Load and Fire Batting system does recreate that experience at the plate by using the right thumbstick. It’s similar to the hitting mechanic used in Tiger Woods PGA Tour with one notable difference. In golf the ball is just sitting there, while in baseball the pitch is flying at varying speeds and in different directions. Your job with Load and Fire Batting is to Load your back swing at the proper time and Fire your swing through the zone towards the pitch with the proper timing based upon where the pitch is located.”

  Sure, it sounds fun, but my first reaction is that it really blows. Often times I will try to hit the ball and it feels fine, but then I end up doing some half-assed check swing and I hit a six-hopper back to the pitcher. I can’t afford to break any more controllers! Now…perhaps I just need more time with it. I’ll admit that I absolutely hated the new Madden QB vision feature at first, but have since grown to love it. But I already switched my default MVP ’06 settings back to the classic zone hitting technique.
• You can’t change the names of the players. With my first issue for my Baseball America subscription being the college preview, I was ready to enter the names for the top prospects, only to be really disappointed that it wasn’t even possible. What gives? You can put in names in the EA Sports NCAA Football game!
• And, why can’t you save replays in the baseball games? I love saving cool replays on Madden and wish I could do the same for this game. I realize that Madden brings in a LOT more money, but it doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult to add.
• There’s no batting practice. I would much rather take plain old BP than the shitty arcade-style batting practice game they make you play. For a company that has the motto, “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game!” you’d think they would have normal batting practice. I don’t go to as many college games as I would like, but I don’t think any teams are taking BP with ramps and tractors out in the field. I would also love to see pitching and fielding practice.
• The baserunning can be clunky at times. It says that to advance all runners, you hold down the left trigger – however, I’m still not sure that works and I’ve been thrown out several times when I had plenty of time to beat the throw- it’s just that my guy either didn’t go when he was supposed to, or stopped, came back to the bag and then tried again. Also, players don’t run automatically when there’s two outs.
• The swings look really funky sometimes. Most everything from EA Sports looks fantastic, but some of the swings in this game are downright awful. Oftentimes, players will slide their back foot toward home plate when they’re swinging. No college hitter in the nation does this, and you would think that EA would try to perfect an aspect that is about 75% of the gameplay. Check out these screenshots I took of a bad swing and notice how much the hitter’s foot slides toward home plate upon missing the pitch…

• And finally, there are just a few minor quibbles I have about the game. One thing I really liked about All Star Baseball was that hitters could wave their bat through the strike zone, like many players do, while they’re waiting for the pitcher to start his delivery. You couldn’t do this with MVP ’05, and it’s still not possible with this year’s installment. Again, this is minor – but it’s something that I would enjoy and I think that it adds a nice element in making the game more realistic. The final minor quibble is that all games have four umpires. Again, I don’t make it out to many college games (although that’s one of my New Year’s Resolutions), but I really doubt that very many NCAA games before the College World Series have more than two men in blue.

So, as you can see, the bad traits of the game seem to outweigh the good ones, but obviously I’m grading on quality instead of quantity. Sure, there are a lot of complaints I have with the game, but they’re not equal – either to each other or to the things I enjoy about the game. The most important thing is that it plays virtually the same as MVP ’05, and that’s important. I loved that game and, although this one is different and it doesn’t seem that as much care was put into it, it’s still fun to play and I’m sure help me kill some time before MLB 2K6 comes along.

After working 80 hours between Sunday and Friday, Saturday was a much-needed day off from work! So, I spent it in the best way possible...I attended Mariners' FanFest at Safeco Field with my father. We woke up, got ready and drove through Starbucks on our way downtown. It was pouring rain and we got soaked walking a block to the stadium, but once we were inside I warmed up with the sight of the field, the smell of hot dogs and the thought that Opening Day is right around the corner. We headed straight to the first base line, where they were having the Dugout Dialogue series on top of the Mariners' dugout. Immediately, I spotted Deanna, who was already with Positive Paul and his brother-in-law, whom I actually knew vaguely as a customer from my store. I introduced myself to Positive Paul and we all chatted for a few minutes until a few guys started walking on top of the dugout. The first group in the Dugout Dialogue series included Jeremy Reed, Greg Dobbs and Felix Hernandez. Now, the questions for these things usually aren't too good. People asked Felix what's the fastest he's ever thrown, Kenji Johjima was asked if he's been eating American food yet and someone asked Jeff Pentland, the M's new hitting coach, why Ichiro pulls on his sleeve before he hits. I know I'm sleeping better knowing that the answers are: 99 MPH, Yes - I love Red Robin, and Rick Rizzs answering for Pentland, "Hitters are weird." Felix certainly won the award for "pimpest attire worn under his Mariners' jacket." Check it out...

Next up was Mr. Bill Bavasi. I really enjoyed listening to him speak at the USSM/BP event this summer, but he seemed to be more distant at FanFest, which is to be expected. Positive Paul asked Bavasi about the M's possibly acquiring Jeff Weaver. Bavasi said that the M's were basically tapped out financially, but added that he liked Weaver, noting that Weaver had grown up and "isn't such a goofball anymore." After Bavasi was done, our little crew packed up and decided to head out to the bullpen. On the way, I checked out some of the booths along the main concourse. I got some pamphlets and trivia cards from the SABR booth (I can't wait for the convention in Seattle!), got a Moyer Foundation bracelet, picked up an Aquasox schedule, and we took our pictures in one of those silly things where you stick your face through a wooden cutout before finally making our way downstairs to the bullpens. I had never been in the M's bullpen before, so it was a really neat experience to be able to throw a couple of pitches in there. I tried a knuckleball first, but I pick my nails too much to get a good grip on the thing and it sailed over the catcher's head. So, for the second pitch (everyone gets two), I went with a straight four-seamer and I think it was actually a strike.

After we all had our turn, Deanna and Positive Paul decided to head upstairs to get some autographs. I didn't want to wait in line, so my dad and I headed back over to the third base line and waited in line to catch a popup in the outfield. I was a little disappointed that when you were catching the pop flies, you were facing the outfield wall - not facing the infield, like you would be if you were actually catching fly balls at Safeco. However, it was still a fun experience to be on the field. I had been on the field before - the first time was when my dad and I attended "Play Catch in the Outfield" day at Safeco, and I have also been in foul territory several times - reporting for the Grand Salami and at my sister's high school graduation. But, it's always exciting being on the field and I caught both fly balls that were shot my direction. After my dad and I caught a couple pop flies, we headed back over to the Dugout Dialogue series. Now, the section by the M's dugout was really packed - this is because next up was Kenji Johjima and Jamie Moyer. I could tell from the press conference that fans are really going to love Johjima (or "Jo" as he says his teammates are already calling him) and the Dugout Dialogue just cemented that idea. When Johjima walked onto the dugout, I gave him a thumbs up, and he gave me one back. He was beaming the entire time and seemed genuinely happy to be in Seattle. He was very upbeat, he had everyone laughing, and you can already tell that the language barrier won't be a problem for him. Moyer said that his favorite place to pitch is Yankee Stadium, which made me throw up in my mouth a little bit since Moyer reportedly rejected a trade to the Yankees last season. For the record: As a Mariner, Moyer is 4-2 with a 5.10 ERA at Yankee Stadium. Whatever...

Anyway, people really cleared out after Johjima got off the dugout, so I moved to a better seat because I was really excited for the next group. Up next was Benny Looper, the Vice President of Player Development & Scouting, and Greg Hunter, the Director of Minor League Operations. They seemed really cool, but I felt bad for them because there were only about 25 people sitting in the section and the questions they were getting were pretty bad. I asked about Anthony Varvaro, and they said they're expecting him to pitch this summer. I think drafting him was a steal for the M's and I'm excited to see him this summer - presumably in Everett. If you're wondering, here is what Hunter and Looper look like (Aaron definitely got his father's ears!):

After those guys, Jeff Pentland, the M's new hitting coach came out to answer some questions. Reed and Dobbs had already raved about the guy earlier, and from listening to him talk, you could tell that they were being sincere. They both said that he was really easy to talk to and had a ton of knowledge. I don't doubt that he has a wealth of information (he said that he's now been coaching for 34 years), and it was apparent that he would be someone that is easy to approach. This is an important quality for a coach, especially if the team has a lot of younger players. Pentland said that his main expertise is power. He talked about helping Barry Bonds in college and about working with Sammy Sosa on the Cubs. He also said that he expects Jeremy Reed to improve a lot this season. I asked Pentland whether controlling the strike zone and patience is something that can be taught at this level, or if by the time guys get to the Majors, it's either something they have or they don't. He said that controlling the strike zone and patience were indeed two of the most important things he'll be working with players on during Spring Training. He said that he believes - and this is similar to what he told Doug Miller on the M's official site the other day - that a lot of times when players struggle, it's not because of something they're doing mechanically, it's because they lack confidence. Pentland made it almost seem that what a hitting coach does for its hitters is more psychological than physical. I hope he's right and I'm excited to see what he can do for the M's young hitters this season.

After that, Dad and I decided to call it a day. He was cold and I was tired and hungry. We decided to drive back to Redmond for some Thai food. As we were leaving, we stopped and looked at the Mariners Care Silent Auction. They had some crap that was being sold for way too much money, but what caught my eye was tucked back in the corner - the Mariners Garage Sale. Here, they had about 30 autographed balls that they were just trying to get rid of. You didn't have to bid, you just had to be willing to shell out $15 - $30 for autographed balls from crappy ex-Mariners. $15 for an Aaron Taylor ball? Ha! The funniest thing though was the chart that listed all the prices had more errors than Mike Morse. Miguel Olivio? Yorvealt Torrealba? Grerg Dobbs? I'm not making this up. But, that was that. I wish I hung around a little longer. I wouldn't have minded watching more Dugout Dialogue sessions - notably the one with Howard Lincoln and the one with Jarrod Washburn and J.J. Putz. I also would have liked to meet "msb" with Deanna, hit in the Mariners' batting cage and participate in the trivia contest, but as I'm sure I'll be saying in September...wait 'til next year!

There's been a lot of hoopla recently over Barry Bonds' decision to drop out of the World Baseball Classic. But, you know what? I don’t care. Good for him! In fact, I think more players should follow his lead. I’m sure Brian Sabean, the Giants’ ownership, Barry’s teammates and all of San Francisco’s fans are absolutely thrilled about his decision. And, why shouldn’t they be? Who really cares about some trivial, over-hyped, money-grubbing event like the WBC? As a Mariners’ fan, I can assure you that I don’t want Ichiro playing (and heaven forbid if Felix is allowed to participate!). I mean, can you imagine the backlash if a MLB player gets hurt during this exaggerated advertisement disguised as “competition”? I know that WBC supporters are thinking, “What’s the difference between getting hurt at the WBC and getting hurt during Spring Training?” Well, I’m glad you asked! Spring Training is just that…training! Players are training for the toll that a 162-game season will take on their bodies. The WBC is supposed to be a competition. However, it’s flawed because MLB players won’t be playing at 100%. To me, any competition that wants to be taken seriously shouldn’t have any restrictions placed on its competitors (outside of the standard rules for the game taking place!). However, during the WBC, pitchers will have pitch-count limits. How competitive is it really going to be when Buck Martinez has to pull Brad Lidge because Lidge has reached his limit of 20 pitches. Furthermore, the goal of the WBC is to determine which country is “the best” at baseball. But, how can that be fairly determined when the best players are dropping out? And, why does it even matter in the first place? You’ve got players playing for countries they may have never even been to (Mike Piazza and Italy) and new American citizens playing for Latin countries (Manny Ramirez). Face it…the WBC is a joke. It’s worse than the All-Star Game. Yeah, I’ll probably end up watching some WBC games, just because I love baseball so much. However, I won’t be rooting for an individual country as much as I’ll be rooting for all of the players to stay healthy – so they’re able to play when the games really matter!

UPDATE: Uh...yeah. What he said! Jayson Stark is the man.

I just got home for working a 16-hour shift. See, I work at the Seattle Team Shop, right across from the Qwest Field Event Center, and people are going crazy getting their Super Bowl gear. At 7:45 am, we were selling people shirts that were still warm from the printers. Anyway...this post is to just warn everyone that posting will be erratic for the next two weeks - maybe longer. Things will certainly be chaotic! I know I'm going to the Mariners' FanFest on Saturday, so there will be a post and pictures from that...but other than that, I'm not sure how much blogging I will be doing. On top of my crazy work schedule, I'm also planning a wedding. So, needless to say, this is a very hectic time for me! It's probably going to be work>sleep>repeat until sometime after the Super Bowl. Not that there's anything to really write about - luckily this crazy time in my life is coming during the slowest point in baseball's off-season! However, when the Super Bowl insanity dies down, pitchers and catchers will start to report to Spring Training, I will have a minor surprise to unveil, and I will have more time to write. But, in the meantime...GO HAWKS!

About a year ago on the Grand Salami blog, I recommended the MLB.tv searchable video service to people. It costs $10 for the offseason, and you have unlimited access to MLB.tv’s video archive. I paid the $10 again this year and I’m pretty bummed out with the service. It’s just not very accurate at all. For example, alot of the clips are out of whack. I tried to look at some of Felix Hernandez’s strikeouts, but very few of them actually worked. Sure, I saw some video – but it wasn’t of Felix striking someone out. In fact, it was rarely of him even pitching! One time it was Ichiro hitting and another time it was a freaking Saturn commercial! WTF? I wanted to watch Jacque Jones grounding out to Yuniesky Betancout, but the clip was of Ryan Franklin pitching to Lew Ford. Sure, there are some really cool things. Want to watch Sexson crush balls out of Safeco Field? No problem. Want to look at all of the times Jeremy Reed was caught stealing, or check out Marcos Carvajal, the new M’s pitcher from the Rockies? You’re a few clicks away. However, if you want to watch Jeremy Hermida hit a grand slam in his first Major Leauge at-bat…you’re shit out of luck. Yeah, it’s fun when it works – but it’s always a toss up. You sit there while the video is buffering, wondering, “Is it going to work this time? Is it going to be the actual clip I’d like to see?” At this point in the off-season, I wouldn’t even recommend subscribing.You’d think that such a huge entity, like MLB, could get their shit together and put together a service that works properly.

Just like most of the blogging community, I'm irritated by the Mariners signing Willie Bloomquist for 2 more years. Granted, it's not a lot of money, but it just goes to show that the M's value certain things differently than an outsider might. It's no secret that the Mariners LOVE Bloomquist. They drafted him twice. He's local, he hustles ("local hustler" just didn't sound right) and he "plays" almost every position. But, c'mon...two years? For comparision's sake, there were 27 players who signed one-year deals yesterday. The only two players who got two-year deals were Mark Teixeira and Willie Bloomquist. Go figure...

“Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything's dying.”

-George Carlin in Baseball and Football

One thing that's not dying is the Seahawks popularity. As much as I hate to admit it, Seattle is a football town. There's no doubt about it. I've been working at a team shop right down between Safeco Field and Qwest Field and it's insane how much more popular the Seahawks are, compared to the Mariners. Sure, the Mariners have drawn extremely well over the past couple years, especially when you consider their horrendous records. However, in Seattle, the M's are (at-best) second rate. I realize that the Seahawks are extremely popular this season because of their success. In fact, I’ve even heard this year’s Seahawks season compared to the 1995 Mariners season, and I bet they are quite similar. Right now, the Seahawks have their flag flying over the Space Needle, a new song written about them and tickets to this year’s playoff game sold out in 10 minutes and are going on eBay for about $200 apiece. It’s easy to tell that, for the Seahawks, things are going well.

But, just for fun, let's look at a few of the differences I've noticed between the Seahawks’ fan base and the Mariners’ fan base...

-The amount of Seahawks fans who dress up for the games is outstanding. At an M’s game, the most dressed up someone will be is wearing a jersey AND a hat. For the Seahawks though, people wear wigs, masks, jerseys and blinking lights. They’re also carrying signs and some have their faces painted. Sure, it’s probably a little over the top…some diehard fans actually wear shoulder pads under their jerseys. When’s the last time you knew of a guy wearing a protective cup to a ballgame?

-Speaking of the fans…Mike Holmgren gave a game ball to the fans and their “12^th Man Advantage” after the Seahawks beat the New York Giants a few weeks ago. “It was loud,” Holmgren told the Tacoma News Tribune. “Our folks were in it from the get-go and they stayed in it until the very end. That was great. That is what you need for a home-field advantage.” The Mariners, on the other hand, had a night last season when fans were encouraged to knit at the ballpark during a game.

Enough said…