Rico Brogna, Good Fit (Cont.)

[metirish]

] metirish wrote: I swear I have read that same article several times the last few months..... I thought if we had it on the CPF, this would have been the thread for it. I didn't look anywhere else, but if its here, it might be in the "So You Want To Be a Sportswriter" thread. Later

Not meant as a slight towards you 62,just every article about Lenny is the same.

[MFS62]

Didn't take it as one, Irish.
No blood, no foul.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Content is the same, but that's far better written than the typical Dykstra article. I also didn't know that he was personally assigned to Reyes.

Rickey did a better job, I'd say.

[metirish]

Strawberry will throw out the first pitch tomorrow night....

[MFS62]

metirish wrote: Strawberry will throw out the first pitch tomorrow night....

I like that.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

Philadelphia Inquirer reporting that Art Howe may have interviewed for a coaching job with the Phillies, who fired three coaches when the season ended.

[metirish]

Bobby Valentine Lotte Burger

[Benjamin Grimm]

Cool!

Does Bobby live in Japan in the offseason? I'll have to try to track him down when I'm there next month.

[metirish]

No idea Yancy but how cool would it be to meet Bobby while you are there...300 yen = about $2:80

[seawolf17]

"Yeah, it's got a lotta meat."

[Benjamin Grimm]

In Japanese that would be Hai, takusan niku ga arimasu!

[Willets Point]

="Yancy Street Gang"]In Japanese that would be Hai, takusan niku ga arimasu!

But if you say that it brings great shame on you and your family.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'll keep that in mind.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

write him at his blog

http://www.bobbysway.jp/

[MFS62]

] Acta looks to manage By ADAM RUBIN DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER ST. LOUIS - Manny Acta plans to interview for the Giants' and Rangers' managerial vacancies, the third base coach confirmed yesterday. GM Omar Minaya said Acta will be allowed to interview during an off-day, but added that neither San Francisco nor Texas has yet formally asked for permission through Major League Baseball. Acta hoped to have one of the interviews yesterday, until the Game 5 rainout on Monday delayed the game a day and doused those plans. "It is my goal, and it is going to come some day," said Acta, who managed the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, and previously interviewed with Arizona and Los Angeles. "There's always time for everything. And I'm in a no-lose situation. Even if I don't get one of those jobs, I still have a great job with a great team that I think is going to be in the hunt for years to come." Meanwhile, Gary Carter, who won the Florida State League title as manager of the St. Lucie Mets, is expected to interview with the Rockies about their hitting-coach position. Minaya has been promoting Acta and bench coach Jerry Manuel to the Giants, Rangers and Nationals. Manuel indicated he's yet to learn if any club plans to interview him. "I'm not just tooting the horn of my guys because they're my guys," Willie Randolph said. "Manny is starting out, and I think he deserves a shot. He's a solid baseball guy. He's just getting into the process more or less. I think he interviewed last year, but I think he should get a serious, legitimate look again. "Jerry is the one who's surprising to me (that he hasn't been named a manager yet)," Randolph continued. "Jerry is a solid baseball man. Solid. He's already proven that he can lead a team and win at this level. He was Manager of the Year one year. Jerry to me is a gem, a treasure, who should get back and get another shot. Any club would really, really benefit from his knowledge and his leadership."

Hitting coach for the Colorado Rockies?
Isn't that like being fruit picking coach at the local orchard during harvest time?

Insert your own analogies for easy jobs here.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Al Pedrique, new job:

Pedrique to head Astros' Latin American operations

10/18/2006

Associated Press

Al Pedrique, a former major-league player and manager, will head the Houston Astros' operations in Latin America.

Pedrique, a native of Venezuela, will oversee the franchise's academies in Venezuela, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, general manager Tim Purpura said Wednesday. Pedrique will also be involved in developing and scouting players in Latin America, Purpura said.

"The Astros have always had a strong presence in Latin America and a significant commitment to our endeavors in the region, in particular our academies in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic," said Purpura. "As we attempt to take our operations in this area to an even higher level than before, we felt that Al has the perfect background and ability to take the lead on such an important component of our player development and scouting efforts."

Pedrique was the third base coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004, then served as interim manager after Bob Brenly was fired. Pedrique has also served as the manager for Magallanes club in the Venezuelan Winter League, during the 1998-99 and 2005-06 seasons. He will again manage the team this winter.

Pedrique played three seasons in the majors (1987-89), with the New York Mets, Pittsburgh and Detroit. He hit .247 with a home run, 18 doubles and 36 RBIs.

[metirish]

] Bobby V in pinstripes? Not right now, but given the chance to lead Yanks, he might go for it BY WALLACE MATTHEWS Newsday Staff Writer Published October 14 2006 The man who could be the next manager of the Yankees lives on a hilltop in Chiba, Japan, in an apartment with a view of Tokyo Bay. His commute to work is an easy half-hour, and he is widely admired for his accomplishments. The man says he has "a wonderful life and a wonderful situation," rich with good friends and fresh challenges. Yet the man says he might be tempted to chuck it all for what he considers "one of the great jobs in the world of sports." By now, you must have figured out the man is Bobby Valentine, and you have to suspect that American baseball has neither seen nor heard the last of him. This week, he has been rising early to catch his old team, the Mets, in their NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals. Because of the time difference, games start at 7 a.m. Japan time, but Valentine sets his alarm clock to make sure he doesn't miss a pitch. "Absolutely they have a chance to win it all," he said the other day. "I'll be watching and rooting. The timing is right for them. The Braves aren't good anymore, which helps. That's what life's all about, timing." Nor has he missed much of the news coming out of New York during the past couple of weeks, especially the rumors that Joe Torre's office at Yankee Stadium soon might be vacant. "I kept track of it for the first couple of days on ESPN over here," Valentine said. "And then the morning it was announced that Joe was coming back, my wife called me and told me what happened. Crazy, huh?" Crazy, yes. Valentine's life in Japan couldn't be further removed from his stormy seven-year tenure as Mets manager - if anything negative is written about him in the papers, he says, he wouldn't know because he can't read the language - yet he isn't ruling out returning to the United States should the most tumultuous job in pro sports someday become available. "I don't know if it's the right situation, but obviously, I'd listen," said Valentine, 56. "I've never talked to anyone over there, and I couldn't be happier with what I'm doing here. But who knows, I might be interested. Then again, I might not." As always, talking with Valentine is an exercise in semantics, carefully parsed sentences and hidden meanings. As he watches the Willie Randolph/Omar Minaya Mets, with their $125-million payroll and all-star-studded lineup, he says he harbors no resentment or wistfulness for what might have been had general manager Steve Phillips gotten the ax instead of him. "That's just the way it was. What am I gonna do, change it?" Valentine said. "Am I supposed to be mad at Steve because I got fired and he didn't? Something had to break, something had to change there, and usually it's the manager who goes." Valentine's Mets were as noted for the players they didn't sign - Alex Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero - as for those they did. Steve Trachsel is the only player managed by Valentine who still is with the team, but Valentine takes special pride in the development of David Wright and Jose Reyes, two players he says he urged the organization to hold on to at any cost. "I was kind of waiting for them," he said. "But my job was done there before they were ready." This year, Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines, who won the Japan Series in 2005, faded in the second half of the season and finished third. Former Mets Benny Agbayani and Matt Franco play for him. He lives alone - his wife lives in Stamford, Conn., and visits every six weeks or so - but he says he is not lonely, spending his days immersed in the baseball of both sides of the world. "I had a great experience in New York," he said. "I lasted longer than most managers who ever were there, I helped turned that franchise totally around. They were a drab, nothing, no-one-cared franchise and I brought them to a World Series and respectability. I developed talent. I'm very satisfied with what I accomplished in New York." Satisfied, but maybe not finished.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Craig Swan, Met fan:

Oct 19 2006 4:27 AM

Former Met Swan can't watch, but always listens

By Doris Yon

THE NEWS-TIMES

DANBURY -- Even though he practically spent his entire 11-year professional career with the New York Mets, ex-pitcher Craig Swan admits watching his former team can be a little tough.

"I figure I got burnt out because I was a starting pitcher and I watched four out of every five games I didn't get to play," said Swan, who lives in Stamford. "I watched so much baseball (as a player) I don't really watch it."

But that doesn't mean Swan, the guest on Friday's "Let's Talk Sports" on Comcast 23, does not follow his former team.

Instead, Swan said he rather listens to games on the radio. Part of that comes from his childhood, as he grew up listening to legendary broadcaster Vin Scully calling Los Angeles Dodgers games in his hometown of Long Beach, Calif.

Following the Mets is a little more fun for Swan this season, as New York snapped the Atlanta Braves' string of 14 consecutive divisional titles this year. But didn't just start keeping up with his former team this season.

"I have been (a Mets fan) more the last couple of years, ever since they got Pedro (Martinez)," Swan said. "For some reason, Pedro Martinez has put the fun back in baseball for me. Just to watch him, his enthusiasm, the way he conducts himself."

Playing in the postseason, however, was something Swan never experienced during his professional career.

While Swan had some individual success during his career -- he had an NL-best ERA of 2.43 in 1978 -- he never enjoyed much team success with the Mets, as his tenure was sandwiched in between two of the franchise's World Series appearances.

The Mets drafted Swan in June of 1973, the year they lost to the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. While Swan was called up to pitch in September that year during New York's pennant chase, but he was not available on the postseason roster.

After that run, the Mets didn't get back to the World Series until 1986, two years after he last played for them.

"The Mets really didn't get involved with free agency until they got George Foster from Cincinnati in (1982)," Swan said. "Up until that point, all the other teams were improving with free agents and we were letting people go rather than getting quality players."

Swan said he was happy watching some of his former teammates win the World Series in 1986, he admits he had some mixed feelings.

"I was happy for the team but I wished I was there," Swan said. "I was happy for the team and I was happy for the guys, but I was longing for it. Why couldn't I play two more years?

"I definitely would have liked to be on that team and had a chance to play in a World Series. That's a pretty big deal for players."

Shoulder problems forced Swan into retirement in 1985 -- the California Angels cut him on the last day of Spring Training that year. He did successfully come back from a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder he suffered in 1981, but he said he was unable to recover from a triceps tear in his right throwing arm.

Since retiring from baseball in 1985, Swan has pursued a career in Rolfing, a specialized massage technique which manipulates soft tissue in the body, much like yoga. Swan credited Rolfing as the reason he was able to come back from tearing his rotator cuff and pitch three more years.

"I found this Rolfer in 1981 and he was doing it all over my body and I started feeling great and was able to come back and pitch for a few more years," Swan said. "It was an injury nobody else had ever come back from because we didn't have the arthroscopic surgery perfected (in 1981)."

The new technique left a lasting impression on Swan, as he has been a certified Rolfer for almost 20 years and runs a practice in Greenwich. And his free time is spent following the Mets.

"They've got a good, solid nucleus," Swan said. "It's tragic that Pedro's a little banged up, (Orlando Hernandez) is banged up. They're hurting for starters now, so I'm sure they're going to try to get some good starters over the winter."

NOTE:

Craig Swan on "Let's Talk Sports" on Comcast 23 can be seen on Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at noon.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Two thoughts:

1. George Foster wasn't a free agent.

2. Let's all make a field trip to Connecticut to get rolfed by Craig Swan!

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

1. Well, Foster was in a position to play out his final contract year, which is why he was traded, and the Mets signed him to a new deal upon acquiring him. I'm sure that's what Swannie meant.

2. Yes, I could use a good rolfing now.

[Guest Edgy DC]

From what little I know about rolfing, I think that --- aside from both bieng somewhat based on some notion of integrating emotional and physical health --- it's not like yoga at all, and, for some people is quite painful.

Read up on rolfing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolfing

[Willets Point]

I've always been curious about rolfing but never knew where to go for it. Now I can find Craig Swan.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm going to feel like rolfing every time I see Yadier Molina from now on.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I was wondering when the first puke joke would appear in this thread.

I would have done it myself but I couldn't strike the right note.

[Valadius]

Dave Magadan has been named the Red Sox' hitting coach.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Orel Hershiser is going to interview for the Athletics managing job during the week of November 6.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'd like to see him get it.

[Guest Edgy DC]

This is the sort of journalism the Rico thread was born for. Check out the comment about Ed Kranepool. Classick. And look how deep the blue still is on his warmup jacket.

The headline lower-cases "player just missed" but capitalizes "Series."" Few things in life please me more than the "Area Old Guy Used to Be a Met!" stories.

Local player just missed Mets Series

Gosger played in the pros for over a decade

By RICK JAKACKI

Times Herald

Perhaps more than anyone in the Blue Water Area, Jim Gosger can relate to what the Detroit Tigers are experiencing by playing in the World Series.

Gosger, a Port Huron native, played 13 years of professional baseball as an outfielder, including eight in the major leagues. He never played in the World Series but was a member of two teams that did.

Gosger, 61, ended the 1969 and 1973 regular seasons with the New York Mets, who went on to play in the World Series both seasons. Unfortunately for Gosger, he wasn't on either team's playoff roster.

The 1969 Mets beat the Baltimore Orioles for the world championship, while the 1973 team lost to the Oakland Athletics.

"(Being excluded in) 1973 was a bigger blow, because I was up more that year than in 1969," Gosger said Wednesday. "That was really discouraging that I didn't get a chance in 1973, because I played (the last) half of the year with the club."

Gosger retired from the game in 1974, but his passion for it never has left. He still would love to coach in the minor leagues.

A former City of Port Huron employee who retired three years ago, Gosger is enjoying this year's World Series between the Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Cheering for the Tigers

Still living in the Port Huron house where he grew up, Gosger was an avid Tigers' fan as a youth. His allegiances, however, switched in 1962 to the Boston Red Sox, who took him in the amateur draft.

The Tigers now are his second-favorite team but are his first pick in this World Series.

Before the series started, Gosger predicted the Tigers would win in five games. Now, he's worried the Cardinals may make quick work of the Series.

"Unless they get into a mode where they start taking pitches and making guys throw more pitches, (they're in trouble)," Gosger said. "If they're going to keep swinging at the first pitch, they're going to have problems."

Gosger believes the Tigers have the better pitching but noted the more-experienced Cardinals look more relaxed.

He thinks the Tigers can bounce back, especially with Jim Leyland as their manager. Gosger compared Leyland to Alvin Dark, whom he called the best for whom manager he ever played for.

Gosger played for Dark while on the Kansas City roster.

"(The Tigers) hustle on and off the field, and it looks like Leyland has full command and the attention of everyone (on the team), which is tough to do," Gosger said.

Gosger said he has been watching World Series games from his home, although his basketball-officiating schedule has interfered a bit. He plans to catch the rest of the games and, hopefully, a Tigers' celebration.

Postseason snub

The best celebration Gosger was a part of came in 1969 when the Mets won the National League pennant on the final day of the regular season. He was in the dugout for the final out.

The 1969 season was the first year the two leagues were split into divisions.

Gosger also was in the dugout when the Mets clinched in 1973 but proclaimed the 1969 title more meaningful, because it was the Mets' first title and "in the last two weeks, we had to fight and claw to win it."

He described the dugout that night as "absolute chaos."

Gosger, a September callup who played nine games with the 1969 Mets, wasn't surprised he was left off the postseason roster that year. But in 1973, he was.

Gosger had been a platoon player who saw action in 38 games. His manager, Yogi Berra, told him the Mets were going to carry extra pitchers, thus eliminating his chances.

Gosger watched the playoffs from his home in Port Huron and was upset the Mets lost. The good news was he received a partial share of the Mets' money for getting to the World Series and a National League championship ring.

In 1969, he was sent $100. A full share for winning the World Series was $25,000, Gosger said.

Insulted, he sent the check back to Mets player-representative Ed Kranepool and told him to spend it on beer.

Gosger is most proud of the 1973 ring, which he calls his most prized possession.

Ultimate experience

Tigers first baseman Sean Casey, a nine-year pro, recently said he is cherishing his time in the World Series. He added it's more enjoyable than he could ever imagine.

Gosger said Casey is exactly right.

"You work so hard in the minors, and the ultimate goal is to get something out of the game," Gosger said. "A ring is probably the crowning effect of what you do.

"How many guys sign baseball contracts and never get the chance to win the ultimate?"

Even though he didn't play in the World Series, Gosger can sense how it feels. Win or lose, just being on center stage and being a finalist is something of which to be proud.

"I'm hoping the Tigers win it, just for the sake of the enjoyment the kids are going to get out of it," Gosger said. "They're getting a lot out of it anyway, but to win the ultimate is quite a feat. And some of the older guys, like (Todd) Jones, put the time in, and they deserve it."

Contact Rick Jakacki at (810) 989-6266 or

rjakacki@gannett.com

.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Amazinly, Ed still has some of that Rhinegold left over.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]Gosger, a September callup who played nine games with the 1969 Mets, wasn't surprised he was left off the postseason roster that year. But in 1973, he was.

Well, a sixth outfieder with a .261 slugging percentage wasn't exactly Yogi's top priority.