Jeez, what a brutal last couple of weeks it has been. Not to bore anyone with my drudgery, but work has been consuming most of my time...hence the lack of posts on my part. It doesn't help that there was a ton of Yankee and baseball related goodness out there that I am now wading through. So far, here are a few things that I came across that I found particularly interesting.

There was a great article out on ESPN a while back referencing Nomar and his curmudgeon ways and it really made me think about those ballplayers that do take the time to brighten someone's day and realize how big of an impact their presence can have. Here's a great paragraph:

I wanted to tell him about George Bell and Ben Oglivie and Kevin McReynolds and Richie Zisk -- long-since-retired men with similar career numbers who nowadays can walk through most any spring training facility and go unnoticed. I wanted to tell him that fame is fleeting, and the ability to make someone's day -- to make a memory -- is a gift few of us possess. I wanted to tell him to wake up, take off his damn sunglasses and look these people in the eye. I wanted to tell him to treat fans like human beings; to remember that, when one gets right down to it, a major league baseball uniform is -- from a fashion standpoint -- a half-step removed from my 4-year-old daughter's Hello Kitty pajamas.

I wanted to tell him all of this and then some. But I was quite certain Nomar Garciaparra wouldn't listen. So I just stood there. And watched.

After this article and in light of what the Yankees organization has done for VT, today is a day when you puff out that chest a little more when you say you're a Yankees fan.

Also, speaking of human interest stories, I don't know how many people caught it but Karen Krouse reported that Daryl Strawberry has actually been at the Met's camp. The Mets hired Strawberry as a a special instructor in spring training among other things. Some people might scoff that Daryl is being given another chance to make good but hey, if you're looking for someone to teach people about what addiction can do to a man in the spotlight, Straw's not a bad choice.

“I’m going to give these young kids the same advice I give to my own boys about focus, choices, decisions,” Strawberry, a father of five, said, adding, “What it’s like to excel at a high level and really take care of yourself more than anything. What they have to deal with – the pressures and temptations of life.”
...
His long battle with drugs played out in public, giving Strawberry empathy for the players implicated in baseball’s steroids era who are now squirming in the spotlight. Asked what advice he might have for them based on his experience, Strawberry said, “Don’t quit under the pressure. Don’t give up. There’s going to be a lot of things said and a lot of people question who you are and what you are. We all make mistakes. It’s part of life. It’s not a perfect journey.”

Finally, when I saw that Horatio Ramirez was released a while back, I remembered his league avg seasons with the Braves and thought, hmmm, maybe he wouldn't be a bad longman/lefty reliever. Then I remembered how bad he was last year. How bad you ask? Well, check this out. His line allowed last year: .337/.400/.512 over 459 PA. Wow...and it gets better. He pitched in the pitchers haven that is Safeco so his home numbers are worse than you think. .315/.377/.445. He made every batter he faced into Derek Jeter (he of the 122 OPS+). On the road...and these numbers boggle the mind because of how many total innings they allowed him to pitch....358/.422/.575. He made all the batters he faced into Albert Pujols...with a better average. That's even worse than Kei was last year!