Major League Baseball Manager Joe Torre on 'Sharing Miracles'
WASHINGTON, /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Washington Examiner recently
reported that the public affairs television program 'Sharing Miracles' is
featuring Major League Baseball (MLB) manager Joe Torre during the month of
November. In this episode, the baseball legend discusses his career and his
battle against prostate cancer.
'Sharing Miracles' is a 30-minute public affairs television program that tells
the compelling and inspirational stories of real patients. The program is
produced by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
An iconic figure in baseball, Torre was a noted slugger for the Milwaukee (and
later Atlanta) Braves, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the New York Mets. He was
voted to the All-Star Team nine times and was named National League Most
Valuable Player in 1971.
Today, Torre is best known for his nearly unmatched success as a big league
manager. In his 12 seasons with the New York Yankees, he led the team to the
post-season playoffs each year, winning six American League Pennants and four
World Series titles. He is now the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had
the best record in the National League this season before losing to the
Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series (NLCS).
However, his baseball career was almost ended by a foe more formidable than
any he faced on the field when a routine check-up led to a prostate cancer
diagnosis in 1999.
Torre's battle with the disease was successful and he remains cancer-free
today. His experience has taught him the importance of using his public
persona to spread the word about the importance of being tested: "I've had so
many people come to me and whisper in my ear, 'Because of you, I'm getting
checked for cancer.'"
PhRMA represents the country's leading pharmaceutical research and
biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow
patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. According to
PhRMA's 2009 medicines in development report, there are more than 800
medicines in development to treat cancer, including 103 intended for prostate
cancer.
'Sharing Miracles' airs every Sunday morning on more than 300 television
stations nationwide. To see the schedule or watch the most recent episode
online, visit the show's website.
(c) Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.
For World Series, tradition still trumps instant replay
Commissioner Bud Selig won't be expanding the replay system, despite a series of bad calls by umpires this postseason.
Reporting from New York - If the World Series at all resembles the first two rounds of the baseball playoffs, an umpire will make a bad call, a call so bad that instant replay will reveal the error for all of America to see, in living color, in high definition, and within seconds.
The manager will charge onto the field to argue. The umpire will defend his call. The game will go on. The error will not be corrected.
With a limited replay system and supporting facilities already in use, Commissioner Bud Selig could authorize a broader use of instant replay by the time the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies play Game 1 of the World Series tonight at Yankee Stadium.
Yet, the commissioner insists he has no plans to expand the replay system, not for the World Series and not for next season, not as what he would see as a knee-jerk response to a rare and sudden epidemic of high-profile blown calls.
"I think you can overreact to situations," Selig said. "It isn't change I'm afraid of. I'm not sure that would contribute to the improvement of the sport."
The postseason that should be all about Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia and about Ryan Howard and Cliff Lee has been about the umpires too.
The postseason also has been about CB Bucknor, who blew three calls at first base in one game between the Angels and Boston Red Sox, and Tim McClelland, who blew two calls at third base in one game between the Angels and Yankees, and Phil Cuzzi, who blew a call that quite possibly cost the Minnesota Twins a victory in their series with the Yankees.
The incidents have left critics wondering why baseball would not embrace technology rather than resist the chance to correct a mistake obvious to every fan with a television set.
"I understand the concerns that have been raised," Selig said. "I watch every game. I don't take any of this lightly.
"The umpires for the most part have done extremely well over the course of the season. I'll admit to you there have been some controversial decisions. At this point in time, I really feel if you begin to expand replay, it not only is injurious to the pace of the game, but it opens up a Pandora's box: Where do you start? Where do you stop?"
That appeared to be a more relevant question last season, when a sport that has long colored itself in tradition and the human element gave way to replay technology.
The system approved by Selig and implemented in August 2008 strictly limits the use of replay to resolve three questions: Was that home run fair or foul? Did the ball actually clear the fence? Did a fan interfere with a ball in play?
Replays were used to review 58 calls this year -- none so far in the playoffs -- and the umpire's call was reversed 20 times, according to Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney.
Umpires leave the field to review television replays fed to the ballpark by MLB officials. The average replay has taken "a little bit longer" than the two to 2 1/2 minutes baseball officials had projected, Courtney said.
Selig appears wary of expanding the replay system in part because of the possible delays in reviewing less conclusive plays from multiple angles, concerned in particular about the effect on a pitcher who has to wait on the mound for those extra minutes.
Fox plans to cover the World Series with 20 cameras, all with built-in recording devices, spokesman Dan Bell said. He said local broadcasts, such as on Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket, might have half as many cameras, some of which could require a separate recording device.
So, while determining whether a ball bounced above or below a yellow line on an outfield fence can be relatively simple, the multiple angles necessary to decide whether a runner was tagged out or beat a throw to first base might not be readily available for every game, or be conclusive.
"Some replays, you take one look and you've got it," Fox Sports President Ed Goren said. "Sometimes, you have to go back a few times to get something definitive, or you might just end up sticking with the call on the field."
Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, who witnessed much of the October cavalcade of errors, said he would not support additional use of instant replay.
"I don't think it's practical. I don't think it's needed," Scioscia said. "As much as you see us argue, and you see players argue, it sounds like [the umpires are correct] 51%. But 99% of the time they're correct with their calls.
"If you're playing at a certain level, you should be able to absorb a call that doesn't go your way, a bloop hit, an error that maybe somebody in the field makes, and still play at a high level to absorb that and come out on top. So I don't think it's anything that should be expanded in baseball."
When the limited replay system was adopted, Selig vowed it would not be expanded so long as he was commissioner. He restated his position this week but declined to declare the issue dead once and for all.
"I will never say never to anything," he said.
Yet, in his daily conversations with owners and general managers, he said expanded replay has not come up.
Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen said he would not support expanding instant replay at this time.
"It's very, very hard to make that move," he said. "You have to respect the integrity of the umpires."
However, he said with a laugh, he would not object should baseball eventually broaden the replay system. It might save him a few arguments, a few ejections, and the fines that come with them.
"I spend all my money paying my fines," he said, "every time they throw me out of the game."
(c) The Los Angeles Times.
No lead is safe for any team this baseball postseason
ANAHEIM, Calif. --- The face of baseball's raucous postseason so far? Ryan Howard? Alex Rodriguez? Mariano Rivera supposedly publicly spitting on the ball, and this during a flu epidemic?
No, wait. Yogi Berra?
The most famous Yogism long ago made its way onto the cliche landscape of the general population. It ain't over till its over.
But ain't it the truth? Especially lately.
We pause after Monday's double scoop of late-inning angst -- two league series on two coasts, and two walk-off victories -- to take note of all the screwballs this October has seen.
Counting the Minnesota-Detroit sudden-death playoff, 11 of 21 postseason games through Monday had been decided by one run. Six were walk-offs. Four other victories came on the winning team's last at-bat.
Turn to baseball on television at any given moment, and you have en excellent chance of seeing one of three possible images.
A commercial, of course.
A pitching change.
A gaggle of 20- and 30-year-olds leaping into one another's arms, the winning run having just slid across the plate. Then the camera swings to the poor stricken relief pitcher, taking the long walk to the clubhouse after throwing the losing slider.
Holding onto leads has been like holding onto a hot radiator cap.
Four leads have been lost in the eighth inning, five more blown in the ninth, one in the 10th, another in the 11th.
"All it takes," Jimmy Rollins said in Philadelphia after his two-run single beat Los Angeles Monday night, "is a slip-up of a pitch, one swing of the bat, an error, anything to get the ball rolling."
Maybe that's why when so many buttons are being pushed, some of them have to turn out badly. Yankees manager Joe Girardi went through eight pitchers in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, and everything was peachy. He went through eight pitchers in Game 3, and now stands accused of being trigger happy with his bullpen.
"If you manage a game not to be second guessed, then I don't think you're managing the game correctly," he said Tuesday.
This has been a particularly bloody month for closers. Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan, Huston Street, Ryan Franklin, Jonathan Broxton -- victims, all.
This all fits the current motif -- unpredictable, unusual and sometimes unkempt.
The Dodgers and Cardinals combined to leave 30 runners on base in one game. The Twins stranded 17 by themselves against the Yankees.
Philadelphia's Cole Hamels was slapped around by the Rockies, then had to leave the ballpark in a police car to go help his wife deliver their first child.
Boston manager Terry Francona got food poisoning. He would have been nauseous anyway when he saw the Red Sox with almost as many errors (three) as hits (four) in the first game against the Angels.
Matt Holliday dropped a ball that cost St. Louis a game. Two days later, the Cardinal fans gave him a standing ovation in a show of support. The Cardinals were swept anyway.
The normally reliable Angels had five errors in their first two games against the Yankees. The normally clutch-hitting Yankees were 3-for-28 with runners in scoring position the first three games against the Angels.
Philadelphia All-Star second baseman Chase Utley had four throwing errors all season. Two days in a row against the Dodgers, he sent relays into the dugout.
The Phillies blew away the Dodgers 11-0, scoring more that day than the Eagles did in a 13-9 loss at Oakland.
Then came Tuesday and Spitgate. A tape flew around the Internet showing Rivera spitting while holding the ball behind the mound during his one inning Monday. Yeah, that's how he's gotten all those 10,000 hitters out.
Major league baseball, apparently studying the tape as if it were a pitching Zapruder film, issued a statement that there was no evidence any illegal moisture ended up on the ball.
"I'd be shocked if there was anything to that," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
"To me, it's a dead story," Girardi said. "I caught Mo for four years, and I know for sure he never did anything."
That's this October for you. Every entity can turn into a crisis, including saliva.
(c) 2007 USA TODAY.
Resurgent Rollins catalyst atop lineup
Shortstop has shown flair for dramatic throughout career.
It was Jimmy Rollins who scored the winning run in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, leading off the ninth inning with a single and eventually scampering home on a sac fly.
It was Rollins who ignited the Phillies' improbable series-clinching comeback in Game 4, stroking an infield single with one out in the ninth.
And when the hugging and reveling was complete, it was a champagne-soaked Rollins who led the talk of defending Philadelphia's title. No NL team has won consecutive World Series since the 1975-76 Reds, known as the Big Red Machine.
"Maybe they'll call us the Little Red Machine," said Rollins, who made the most of his his three hits against the Rockies. "We're going to give it our all. I can tell you that much."
But for Rollins, this is all nothing new. The Phillies' longest-tenured -- and, at 5-foot-8, shortest -- player has always had a flair for the dramatic, from his 38-game hitting streak in 2005-06 to his leadoff home runs in Game 4 of the 2008 NLDS and Game 5 of the '08 NLCS.
That characteristic Rollins spunk was missing for much of 2009. He hit .205 with six home runs, 27 RBIs, a .250 on-base percentage and a .319 slugging percentage through July 1. He was benched for four consecutive games in late June, and fans were screaming for manager Charlie Manuel to drop him in the lineup.
But after snapping a career-worst 0-for-28 slump on July 2 against the Braves, Rollins hit .288 with 28 doubles, four triples, 15 home runs, 50 RBIs, 59 runs scored and 20 stolen bases. He had a .334 on-base percentage and .510 slugging percentage over that span.
Rollins finished the year with 21 homers and 31 steals -- his third career 20-20 season, and one of a franchise-record three Phillies to have 20-20 campaigns in '09.
And the 2007 and '08 Gold Glove Award winner did not miss a beat defensively, posting the highest fielding percentage (.990) and third highest zone rating among Major League shortstops.
His midseason resurgence is especially important as the Phillies stroll into their second straight NLCS against the Dodgers.
Last October, Rollins hit just .143 (3-for-21) against Los Angeles. Philadelphia won that series, of course, in five games. Yet the Phillies tend to do better when Rollins gets hot. They were 13-7 (.650) when he homered this season, 32-15 (.681) when he recorded two-plus hits and 61-19 (.763) when he scored at least one run.
Although Rollins doesn't have much experience against the Dodgers' projected staff, some matchups appear favorable. He is 3-for-6 (.500) with a home run against lefty Randy Wolf and a respectable 3-for-11 (.273) with a double and an RBI against lefty Clayton Kershaw.
Facing righty Chad Billingsley, whose status for the NLCS is still undetermined, Rollins is 4-for-12 (.333) with two doubles, a triple, a hit-by-pitch and an RBI.
It's no wonder, then, that Rollins is expecting big things over the next couple of weeks.
"It's going to be one of those epic series," he said. "We're not afraid. We're not afraid of anybody."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Red Sox Vs. Angels: 2009 ALDS Preview
About The Boston Red Sox:
The 2007 World Series Champions Red Sox look to regain their title after Tampa Bay knocked them out of the ALDS last season.
They come in as the AL wild card, clinching it with a 95-67 record. This is a much different team than the 2007 Championship squad, but they have the tools to get back there. It starts with their pitching, behind Josh Beckett (17-6, 199 Ks) and Jon Lester (15-8, 225 Ks).
Look for either Daisuke Matsuzaka or Clay Buchholz to get the Game 3 start. Jason Bay is the new Manny Ramirez, and has shown up the former star quite well, with a .267 average and 36 home runs in 2009. He once again takes the pressure off of David Ortiz, who after struggling, bounced back with 28 home runs and 99 RBIs.
Mid-season acquisition Victor Martinez, hitting .336 since being acquired by Boston, fills in nicely with Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, and the rest of the Boston squad, who are stacked from top to bottom. Despite some middle inning bullpen issues, if they can get to the eighth inning, look for Billy Wagner to set up nicely for lights-out closer Jonathon Papelbon (1.85 ERA, 38 saves).
About The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:
The AL West winner is still looking for title number two, but those pesky Red Sox are in the way again.
The Angels finished the season at 97-65. A more patient approach at the plate has worked out for them, as they are second in the AL in runs scored and sixth in walks. Howie Kendrick has hit .379 since the All-Star break, but the addition of Bobby Abreu (.293, 103 RBIs), and the emergence of Kendry Morales (.306, 34 HR, 108 RBIs), has helped the squad adjust to a declining Vladimar Gurerro. The starting pitching is so deep, 11-2 Matt Palmer is coming out of the bullpen. John Lackey needs to shake off his past performances against Boston (3-7, 5.00 ERA), so he can get out of game one with a win. The Angels bullpen is suspect, which explains why they lead the majors with six complete game shutouts. Look for some of their deep rotation to be thrown in middle and long relief.
The Matchup:
The Red Sox seems to have the Angels number in the playoffs, winning the last three series by nine games to one. However, Los Angeles isn't worried about the past, as they took the season series 5-3, scoring 47 runs, a much greater output than the 16 they put in the three playoff series. Boston has a great pitching squad, and the Angels will have to preach heavy patience in order to tire them out. The Red Sox arguably have one of the best teams from top to bottom, but the Angels have a strong pitching presence, that, if they can work them into the late innings, will work in Anaheim's favor.
The Pick:
This series could start Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the play-off game in the AL Central. Either way, both teams are ready, and Los Angeles is extremely excited to shake off the three-playoff series losing streak. However, I don't see Boston letting that happen, and Boston wins it in five.
(c) 2009 Bleacher Report, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Lind has breakout game for Jays
BOSTON -- Adam Lind couldn't help but think back to his high school days.
Hitting three home runs in a game doesn't happen very often, but the Blue Jays slugger turned the trick in Tuesday's 8-7 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park, adding another achievement to what has been a breakout year for the designated hitter/left fielder.
Three days after notching the first multihomer effort of his career, Lind one-upped himself on Tuesday by going deep three times in Toronto's first six-homer game since July 8, 1999. And the Jays have gone deep nine times in the first two games of this series vs. Boston.
"I hit three home runs once in high school, so I guess I've been there once before," said Lind, who took Boston starter Clay Buchholz out of the yard twice to center field before touching up reliever Takashi Saito for a seventh-inning roundtripper off Pesky's Pole in right field.
"But to do it here at Fenway Park is pretty special."
The trio of taters was the most by a visitor at the Fens since Frank Thomas belted three dingers as a member of the White Sox on Sept. 15, 1996. Thomas was also the last Blue Jays player to hit three long balls in a contest, a performance that came against the Red Sox in Toronto on Sept. 17, 2007.
A third-round pick by the Jays in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, the 26-year-old Lind entered 2009 with career totals of 22 home runs and 94 RBIs in parts of three Major League seasons.
This year alone, the Indiana native has racked up 35 homers and 114 RBIs to emerge as one of fine young power hitters in the American League.
"Outstanding," manager Cito Gaston said of Lind, who is batting .313 this month with eight homers and 25 RBIs. "This kid's just had an outstanding season and pretty much helped carry this club the whole year."
Lind's heroics came at a price on Tuesday, as he was drilled in the right elbow with a ninth-inning fastball from Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. X-rays taken after the game were negative.
"I'm pretty sore," Lind said. "I can't really move my arm too much from my elbow down ... just a lot of throbbing and aching."
Lind said he did not believe there was intent behind the pitch from Papelbon, who twice apologized to Lind on the field after the plunking.
"He was just trying to get me out, trying to hit his spot," Lind said. "I don't know what the catcher called, but I've been pitched [inside] a lot. He just missed his spot."
Toronto needed all three of Lind's homers to crack the win column, as Boston staged a furious rally in the final two innings to pull within a run of the Jays.
"He's unbelievable," winning pitcher Ricky Romero said. "He's done it all year for us. What a great way to have a good game, especially here at Fenway. I'm happy for the guy."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
MLB opens China training center to find new talent
WUXI, China --- There's a Babe Ruth in training right now. Here in China.
Well, the sturdy 13-year-old is really Luan Chenchen and his teammates call him "Baby Ruth," but someday, his coaches hope he might grow into the sort of talent that made Babe a legend.
Luan is one of 16 kids in the first class of Major League Baseball's first professional development center, part of a program in this eastern Chinese manufacturing center aimed at finding and nurturing future talent -- and promoting the game in China.
"With any sport, the best place to start is with the kids," MLB president Bob Dupuy said Wednesday, inaugurating the center. "Then they grow up, and become fans and encourage their kids to play."
Basketball has boomed in China, helped by Shanghai-born star Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets. State television began showing NBA games in the late 1980s, and in 2004 the Rockets and Sacramento Kings played the league's first games in China, a pair of preseason exhibitions.
Teams and sponsors have also found a lucrative market for merchandise, and NBA stars LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard receive rapturous receptions during offseason visits.
MLB is trying for a similar transformation.
After all, baseball has an even longer history in China: The game was first introduced in Shanghai in the 1860s. The sport quietly endured throughout falling dynasties, revolutions and other political upheavals, in part, historians say, because of the military's desire to build up grenade-lobbing muscles.
China has a seven-team professional baseball league and the national association says about 1,000 schools have teams, including 140 at the tertiary level. China has fielded teams at both the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic.
Still, few Chinese play or know much about the sport and games are rarely shown on television. Beijing already has demolished its own Wukesong Olympic baseball stadium, and the local professional league struggles to draw spectators.
Worse still, baseball has been cut from the Olympic program, giving the country's medal-focussed sports officials little incentive to back it.
In China, MLB has been running summer training camps for kids and supporting university baseball programs, among other charitable and cooperative efforts.
For its development center, it chose Dongbeitang High School, a new facility complete with a baseball diamond, thanks to the school's baseball-fan principal. There, the boys selected for the program attend regular classes, baseball training and English lessons.
"What did we learn last night?" asks Jeff Brueggemann, an Illinois-native who once played Triple-A ball and has moved to Wuxi to teach at the MLB center.
"Don't be late!" yell the boys, falling over each other in laughter.
"What else?" the coach coaxes.
"We love baseball!" they shout.
Brueggemann and fellow teachers Sam Lee and Rick Dell, former coach at The College of New Jersey, run the 12- to 13-year-old boys through a quick but strenuous practice. Apart from the coaches' shouts of instructions and encouragement, the only sound is the slap of ball in mitt.
The kids are like kids anywhere, says Dell.
Maybe not exactly. Demonstrating the kind of discipline rarely seen in an American group of teens, the boys' classmates, in identical blue and white track suits, sat watching, stock-still and silent, for at least two hours.
Most of the boys initially recruited for the full scholarship program, funded by MLB, come from nearby Wuxi, a city not far to the west of Shanghai. But some, like Luan, are from elsewhere. Luan's family lives in Lanzhou, a city in remote northwestern China.
Attending the school offers a way out of poverty for some of the students. For all, it's a hard-to-come-by opportunity to get an education, daily coaching and play dozens of games.
It's an investment that MLB hopes will pay off, too, with an expansion of the game from international strongholds in nearby Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and in Latin America. And with Chinese talent eventually finding its way to the United States -- already nearly one-third of all registered Major League players are foreign born, though none are from mainland China.
"We're very excited to think that some of the youths here might grow up to play professional baseball," Dupuy said, "after hitting their first home runs here."
(c) 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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