“Behind the eye black in the Sunshine State” is a blog by Journal sports editor Jim Johnson, who is traveling in Florida with the Rainy River Community College baseball team. Warning: Reading this material will accelerate symptoms of spring fever and potentially lead to unsupervised men purchasing a new set of irons or a charcoal grill (always better than gas).
Unfortunately it’s come to this – a rain delay.
Storm clouds came in Wednesday night and it’s still coming down this morning. This is the first rain delay in four baseball trips for myself down to Florida (three as a player, one as coach). We could play Hibbing this afternoon, but it’s going to be wet.
Wednesday’s off day was perfect. Half the team spent the entire day at Disney World, five guys went to the “Wet and Wild” water park near Universal Studios, two players hung out with family members and Zach Severson enjoyed a relaxing day around the resort. Coach Koenig and I drove down to Sarasota to take in the Minnesota Twins playing at the Baltimore Orioles’ remodeled facility, Ed Smith Stadium. It was 88 degrees and sunny.
The Twins got destroyed – losing 11-2 – but there were hardly any complaints coming from us. We arrived a little late due to traffic after dropping the guys off at the water park, so we actually missed Francisco Liriano getting lit up (he surrendered five earned runs in 1 2/3 innings). However, we had to suffer through Jim Hoey getting destroyed, although it was hardly suffering. Vladimir Guerrero, Adam Jones and some guy named Ryan Adams hit moon shots for the Orioles, who played all their regulars except Brian Roberts. The only Twins regulars in the lineup were Denard Span and Jason Kubel. Top prospect Joe Benson was there, along with utility hustler Matt Tolbert. Bubble major leaguers Luke Hughes and Trevor Plouffe were also in the lineup. Matt Capps was the only Twins pitcher who looked decent, and even he had to strand a runner on third.
Back to the rain delay. It’s coming down real hard right now. Some guys are napping, Colin Barton just made a chicken salad that could feed an entire first-grade class and I put a few guys in charge of coming up with a list of the top five players in Major League Baseball right now. These aren’t their favorite players (although there will be bias towards favorites), but who they think are the top five players in the league.
Coach Josh Koenig
1. Albert Pujols, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals
2. Joe Mauer, C, Minnesota Twins
3. Derek Jeter, SS, N.Y. Yankees
4. Tim Lincecum, SP, San Francisco Giants
5. Roy Halladay, SP, Philadelphia Phillies
Kevin McNarland, IF/P (Boissevain, Manitoba)
1. Pujols
2. Hanley Ramirez, SS, Florida Marlins
3. Jose Reyes, SS, N.Y. Mets
4. Halladay
5. Chase Utley, 2B, Philadelphia Phillies
Mason Imhof, OF (Littlefork, Minn.)
1. Pujols
2. Mauer
3. Jeter
4. Lincecum
5. Robinson Cano, 2B, N.Y. Yankees
Coach JJSportsEditor
1. Pujols
2. Mauer
3. H. Ramirez
4. Halladay
5. Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Colorado Rockies
Honorable mention (just naming five was tough): Josh Hamilton, Lincecum, Felix Hernandez, CC Sabathia, Ryan Howard.
Game update: Thursday's games are off. Play Fergus Falls in a doubleheader Friday. Hoping to get a couple guys to sing karaoke tonight at the complex. We'll see...
Here are more Top 5 MLB players from Thursday afternoon:
Eric Erickson, P (Barrett, Minn.)
1. Pujols
2. Mauer
3. Halladay
4. Lincecum
5. Buster Posey, C, San Francisco Giants
J.C. Crane, C/P/OF (Tucson, Ariz.)
1. Pujols
2. Mauer
3. Lincecum
4. Tulowitzki
5. Evan Longoria, 3B, Tampa Bay
Mike Menard, IF (International Falls)
1. Pujols
2. Mauer
3. H. Ramirez
4. Halladay
5. Mark Teixeira, 1B, N.Y. Yankees
Tony Zelazny, P/OF (Anchorage, Alaska)
1. Pujols
2. Mauer
3. Halladay
4. Josh Hamilton, OF, Texas Rangers
5. Edgar Renteria, SS, Cincinnati Reds
Mike Dickerson, OF (Chicago, Ill.)
1. Jeter
2. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, Boston Red Sox
3. Sabathia
4. Pujols
5. Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, Boston Red Sox
Final Top 5 MLB update before going to play wiffle ball due to today's cancelled games. Losing team has to sing karaoke tonight...
Alan Strom, IF (Kensington, Minn.)
1. Pujols
2. Mauer
3. J. Hamilton
4. Halladay
5. H. Ramirez
Chad Sohlman, P (International Falls)
1. Pujols
2. Mauer
3. Halladay
4. Lincecum
5. A. Gonzalez
Evan Marsh, C/IF/P (Dauphin, Manitoba)
1. Pujols
2. J. Hamilton
3. Mauer
4. Halladay
5. Lincecum
Adrian Romo, P/IF (Douglas, Ariz.)
1. F. Hernandez
2. Tulowitzki
3. Pujols
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B, N.Y. Yankees
5. Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Colorado Rockies
Be back Friday, hopefully after two victories...
