Firsthand Farm Report

I reached Memphis at 6:15pm yesterday, just in time to check into my hotel and drive over to Autozone Park for the Memphis Redbirds hosting the Iowa Cubs. I picked up a ticket in the second row above the entrance to the Cubs dugout. A couple of thoughts:

1. Ben Grieve is too good for Triple A. I know they don't have room for him, but it was like he was practicing with the JV team. He tagged the first pitch he saw about 410' to left center off of Adam Wainwright. He also picked up Wainwright's curveball -- the one all the scrubs struck out on -- and took it for a pair of walks. I don't really have an idea as to how they might fit him in, but there it is.
   
   
2. How is Trenidad Hubbard still in the league? I just checked -- he's been in the big leagues for nine teams. Here he is at 39 years old, leading off for the Iowa Cubs. To his credit, he looks like he's having fun. He's all smiles from ear to ear. More power to him, I guess. He also had a couple of hits, tagged up to take second base on a deep fly to center, and hustled all around. Plus, he was born in Chicago, so hopefully he can come up on the forty man roster this September, and enjoy watching the World Series run.
   
   
3. Rich Hill has a big league curveball. He's a lefty, racing his fastball up there from 89mph to 91mph or so, with a curveball that snaps better than most big leaguers. The only problem? Control with the fastball. He left it up and in the middle of the plate, and three Redbirds just blasted homeruns. That includes Wainwright, the pitcher. Umm, yeah. If Hill can ever figure out how to keep the fastball off the corner and down, those curveballs will translate to a lot of big league strikeouts.
   
   
4. What's wrong with Jon Leicster? He does not look good at all. Is it physical, or mental, or both? He gave up a two run homerun in the 9th (good thing they were up three) where he just served up a beachball. That kid must have really been rattled by the demotions and schelackings he took. I hope he can figure it out before too much longer. You know, just in case.
   
   
5. Cedeno & Fontenot are a very good middle-infield combo. Watching on TV, I had no idea how short Fontenot is. He can't be taller than 5' 6" or something. (That could explain the walks he took during his cup of coffee.) Cedeno carried himself like he was ready to go back to the big leagues, though. He just had that confidence about him. He started a hell of a double play on a great play to his left, and scored a run. He cracked his bat, and gave it to the kid sitting in front of me. There was also this drunkass heckling him, "Go back to Triple A." His friends had to tell him this was Triple A. The guy honestly got it dead wrong, just like a cliche. Cedeno just smiled at him -- acknowledging him, but not feeding the fire. Well done.
   
   
6. How broke are the Cubs if their Triple A manager is also acting as third base coach? A game like this reminds you that Triple A is a lot closer to Double A than it is to the show. No wonder the big leagues overwhelm a lot of kids their first trip up.
   
   
7. Autozone park, however, is a great place to watch a game. It's set right in the heart of downtown Memphis, with a general admission hill to catch homeruns in left field, and luxury condos with porches overlooking right field from across the street. There's old warehouses and buildings overlooking it, and it looks like they cleared out just enough space for a ballpark -- to fine effect. On an eighty degree Monday evening, I couldn't think of a finer place to be. Other than Wrigley, that is...
   
   Posted Tuesday, June 7, 2005 by JCB

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   1 Comments

   Joe | June 8, 2005 8:14 AM | Reply

   I had a chance to meet Trinidad Hubbard and he's a good guy.

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