Talkin' Softball...I mean, Baseball

Well Mr. Burns had done it, the power plant had won it,
With Roger Clemens clucking all the while,
Mike Scioscia's tragic illness made us smile,
While Wade Boggs lay unconscious on the barroom tile...


We're talkin' softball...
From Maine to San Diego.
Talkin' softball...
Mattingly and Canseco.
Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw.
Steve Sax and his run-in with the law.
We're talkin' Homer... Ozzie and the Straw.

We're talkin' softball..
From Maine to San Diego.
Talkin' softball...
Mattingly and Canseco.
Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw.
Steve Sax and his run-in with the law.
We're talkin' Homer... Ozzie and the Straw.


This song is from a 1992 episode of The Simpsons.  It is one of my favorite.  In it, Homer and his buddies join the Power Plant softball team for fun.  However, when Mr. Burns' team starts doing well and could reach the Championship game, he hires nine ringers (who are also current (in 1992) baseball players) to work at the power plant and then join the softball team.

Hilarity ensues, of course, with each baseball player encountering something that keeps them from the Championship game leaving the original team members to play their best softball.  They win, naturally, with Homer getting beaned in the head with the bases loaded.

This seems like quite a bit to talk about and probably could stand on its own.  However, with Spring Training Baseball already in progress, I thought it was time to start thinking about the year in Baseball.

Naturally, as a Diamondbacks fan, I can't suggest that they are going to the World Series this early before the season has started.  But I can admit that I liked what they did in the offseason.  Sure, they got rid of great power hitters in Adam LaRoche and Mark Reynolds, but with great power hitters comes great strikeouts too.  And LaRoche and Reynolds accounted fore more than half of what the Diamondbacks were dealt last year (if that stat is off, it's not off by much).  Instead of two free swingers (take that out of context), the D-Backs managed to pick up a few solid contact hitters and even a couple of solid defenders (both of which LaRoche and Reynolds were not).

So here we are, five games into Spring Training, and the D-Backs are already looking in mid season (read losing) form.  I think they need a little time to get used to each other and to Gibby's (Manager Kirk Gibson) style.  He's aggressive and at least it's showing a little bit in the lineup.  That's a good thing.  Not sure if it will last until the season starts, or if it will help the D-Backs progress further than last place in the NL West this year, but it's a start.

But that's enough about baseball for today.  I'm sure the subject will crop up a few more times this year.



Until tomorrow.