Hey everyone,

It is the eve of spring training.  I have my physical tommorow, and then we have our first workout after.  Before I get to my post I have a few things on my mind.

Today was a bad day for Clemson Tiger fans.  The basketball team continued their slide, and looked pretty bad in doing so.  The baseball team lost to our heated rival, the Gamecocks of South Carolina.  They got 2 hit, ugh. On a lighter note, the Buccos pulled out another win in a close game today, and improve to 3-1. I know these games are supposed to be somewhat meaningless, but hey I’m happy about it and I think Pirates fans should be too.

Now on to the post topic. I realized recently that people probably don’t know that much about me. So this post is going to be all about that.  Ask me questions, anything you want to know, and I of course will answer them. Just about anything goes.  It should be fun, so let’s get this started.

Until later.

Moskie

Tomorrow at http://theburghblues.mlblogs.com/ there will be an interview with myself. Everyone should stop by and check it out.

First of all this is in no way shape or form a post that is in support of steroids. I do not endorse them, I do not take them, I simply am trying to stir up some conversation.

Ok, hey everyone, apparently not everyone is as interested in the Presidency and the shape of the economy as I am. No problem, baseball fans should take interest to this next topic.

I will start with an update on life. I have yet another bullpen tomorrow, and more and more players continue to show up at Pirate City. The feel of spring training is in the air.  My parents are coming into town for the weekend, and I am pretty excited about that.  I think I am going to take the pops out for a round of golf on Saturday, and then spring training officially starts for me on Sunday.

Now onto the topic of steroids.  They are by far the most controversial subject in all of baseball.

Ok I have to interrupt the post to talk about the bunker shot thatTiger just hit. On verge of going down 4 holes, he holes his bunker shot to win the hole. Unreal!!!!!

Back to steroids.  I will start back in 1994, the year of the strike and the cancellation of the world series.  This caused baseball fans everywhere to experience negative energy towards the game of baseball. So much so that in 1995 the TV ratings were lower than those of the year of the strike, and around all-time lows.  For the next few years the baseball enterprise struggled mightily as fans had completely lost interest in the game.  Then in 1998, something miraculous happened. Many know it as McGwire versus Sosa.  Both players ended up breaking Roger Maris’ homerun record that had stood since 1961.  Mac wound up hitting 70 and Sosa 65.  Both players have later been associated with the steroid asterik. Yet what their home run race did for the game of baseball will be difficult to discount.  TV ratings were back up, people had a new found interest in the game. So much so that in 1998 they brought in 2 new expansion teams, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays ans the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Then 3 years later, fans were treated to the newest lead act, Barry Bonds.  Fans didn’t have the pleasure of a home run race this time around, but they did get to see a prolific home run hitter knock 73 home runs out of parks around the United States.  In doing so he also destroyed other offensive records such as walks per season and slugging percentage.

The assumption that steroids helped in the recovery of baseball takes on certain assumptions of its own.  You have to assume that fans enjoy seeing the spike in offensive categories.  The time known as the Steroid Era is also known as the  Power Age, due to the increase in all power numbers, and essentially all offensive categories.  A few of the explanations have been: new, smaller ballparks; juiced baseballs; watered down pitching due to there being too many teams; and perhaps juiced players.

Now some numbers that show the what I am attempting to explain.

In the year 2000 there were 5693 major league home runs hit. In 2001 there were 5458, and in 2004 another 5451.  Yet in the years 2007 and 2008 there were 4957 and 4878 home runs hit.

In the 1997 season 2 players had 50 or more home runs, 12 players had 40 or more, and 31 had 30 or more.  In 1998 2 players had 60 or more, 4 had 50 or more, 13 had 40 or more, and 37 had 29 or more.  Finally in 1999 2 players had 60 or more, 13 had 40 or more, and an astonishing 45 players hit 30 or more home runs that year.

In the 2007 season 2 players had 50 or more home runs, only 5 had 40 or more, and a measely 25 had 30 or more. Again the numbers were down in 2008 as nobody hit 50, only 2 had 40 or more, and 25 had 30 or more.  Big differences in home run production.

Now there is definitely no doubt about the fact that steroids are harmful to the baseball players themselves; however, I think that a shadow can be cast as to whether they are harmful on the game of baseball itself.

Just a little extra sidenote. Just because I make a new post, that does not mean that commenting on the old posts has to stop. If you have an opinion or a question on an older topic, feel free to post it. I get an email everytime I recieve a comment, and it also tells me what post it is in reply to.

Until later,

Moskie

Hello Everyone,

Since my last post a few things have happened. First of all the Pirates took down the defending champs today 8-2. A nice start to the spring. Also tomorrow my roommate Jimmy Barthmaier makes his grapefruit league debut. Good luck to him.  I threw a pretty good bullpen on Tuesday, and as more people begin to show up at Pirate City, the itch to start playing continues to get stronger.

I can’t bring myself to write an entire new post with out mentioning Tiger Woods. The man has to be an inspiration to athletes everywhere. He is simply unbelievable. He looked like he never missed a day, much less 8 months. Just blew my mind today.  Right now Clemson is in the middle of a really good game against Virginia Tech, a real nail biter so far.  I also just finished watching this weeks episode of 24, goodness this show is amazing.

Ok enough rambling, on to the real topic of my post. I spent some time thinking about what my next post should be, and then it hit me.  Not too long ago we had one of the most prolific things happen to our country. We elected a black president, something that is unreal and groundbreaking.  Something that speaks volumes about how far our country has come.

Now I myslef did not vote for President Obama, but I have to say that I am an avid supporter now, and I hope that he does great things for our country.  Recently he has proposed a stimulus package.  This is something that is a very controversial topic amongst politicians, and is a very volatile situation for our economy. There is alot of uncertainty in our society today, and no doubt are we in a recession.  However, where do people see our eceonomy going in the future? Is Barack Obama the answer to our problems? Will the stimulus package do what it is supposed to and bail us out?  Is everyone pleased with Obama’s performance thus far?

As always give your input, we have had some great interaction so far, lets keep it up.

Until Later

“For any inning beginning with the 13th inning, the Team at bat shall begin the inning with runners on first and second base. The batter who would lead off the inning shall continue to be the batter. The runner on first base shall be the player (or substitute) who immediately precedes the batter who leads off the inning and the player on second base shall be the player (or substitute) who immediately precedes the player on first base. Any player removed for a substitute shall be ineligible to return to the game.”

Listed above is the the international tiebreaker rule for baseball games.  Is this something that everyone thinks is a good idea or a bad one.  It seems like it should make extra inning games more interesting, Almost like overtime in a college football game.  I almost think that we shouldn’t wait until the 13th inning to use the tiebreaker rule.

Everybody let me know your opinions. Also, on Friday the Burgh Blues is posting an interview, be sure to head over to their website and check it out.

Until Later

Alright Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is Monday night, I just watched a pretty good episode of Heroes, and it is about past my bedtime.  So I figure its the perfect time for a post.  First of all today the pitchers had their first trial run at our running test. It is a mile and a half run in under 11 minutes. Now most of you probably say thats pretty easy, but for some reason it just isn’t. I struggle mightily with running long distances at a quick pace. However, I didnt disappoint, finishing in 10:40. So yay for me. Rinku can really run, he finished in 9:45, made it look easy.  I have another bullpen tomorrow, and I am really getting the itch to face some live competition.  One more point and then I will knock off the rambling.  How did Clemson not move up in the polls today? Instead they got jumped by an Arizona State team that plays in one of the weaker conferences, and that has maybe 1 or 2 quality wins. We beat a team by 30 points that just knocked off UNC, can we get a little respect.  Oh well, onto the main topic.

The WBC or World Baseball Classic.  I love the idea of the event, a great way to put baseball on the public stage, especially if they are going to remove it as a sport from the Olympics.  I have actually been to the field that hosts pool play in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It is a magnificent stadium, and I was very surprised when I saw it.  Now coming into today, the odds on favorite to win the classic were none other than Team USA, followed closely by the Dominican Republic.  I found this to be a bit surprising, even though I like our chances as much as anybody elses.  We really underachieved in the last WBC, not even advancing from pool play. However, we do post a super-star cast on our roster, despite a few players turning down the opportunity.

A few fun facts. In first round action Japan is favored to beat China by 11 runs. Yikes.  Also Cuba is favored to beat South Africa by 10.5 runs. Thats a whole lot of runs for a World Baseball Classic game.  Also, I actually know personally a few players that are going to participate in the Classic. That is very exciting to me, getting to represent your country. I wish all of them the best of luck.  However, I still hope that Team USA can put together a Ryder Cup like performance and bring home the championship.

My questions to those out there are these:  Will USA come through and take home the championship? Will we disappoint? Will Japan repeat? Will there be a surprise team this year like South Korea last year?

As always input is much appreciated, and please feel free to post any of your opinions.

i would like to start this post off by apologizing to jpbucco, my comment was unnecessary. however you have to understand that for someone who works as hard as i do that it really upsets me when people put so much value in a rumor that they hear through the grapevine.

so i hope you accept my apology jp.

this incident actually inspires my next post on here. i think its a pretty good topic, so you know what the offseason of a minor league baseball player is.

ok so i spent this offseason in charleston, south carolina. which is a great city, and is only 2 hours from where my parents live in chapin, south carolina.  i was there because my girlfriend lives there and is attending the medical university. another reason i was there was because my grandfather lives there and his wife, my grandmother, of 42 years passed away this year, towards the end of the season. so i was there to keep him company and keep his mind off things.

while i was in charleston i was able to find a personal trainer. his name is brian devlin and he is a genius in terms of neuro muscular efficiency. to put it simply he killed me for three months. if you go to his website www.briandevlin.com there is acutally a video of some training clips on the front page.  the wheel of death is the first thing shown and its shown at the end of an hour long workout. i would also like to note that i finished by purging myself in the nearby bushes, which was not a rarity this offseason.  the video clips help so much because we were able to identify weaknesses in my body and atttack them.

as far as my throwing a conditioning went, i threw with a catcher at bishop england high and ran in the field and through the town that it was in. the catcher is actually signed to go play baseball at the university of south carolina, so you can imagaine how we got along. im just kidding, he was very nice.

well thats it for this post, as always comments and questions are appreciated

until later

ok everyone,

that first post seemed to be a success. i am overwhelmed with my following thus far.  big day in college basketball. unc got taken down today, which if im not mistaken puts clemson in a tie for the lead in their division. played a round of golf today with matt capps, mike felix, and jimmy barthmaier out at legacy country club. its really a beautiful course. i threw a bullpen on friday, it was 45 pitches and im really starting to feel good. i cant wait for the season to be here.

ok now on to the topic of this post, which is upon request.

tv is a big part of the life of a minor league baseball player, and i am no exception to rule.

i am going to stick with current tv shows, and i dont know if i will be able to keep it in a top 5 format.

1. heroes/ 24

2. prison break

3. lost

4. dexter

5. weeds

others that were very close to the top 5 would be family guy, the simpsons, sportscenter, and baseball tonight. although i thought it would be unfair to include the sports programs because i have some bias.

let me know what you guys think, i love the input.

the interaction is what makes this whole idea great

hey everyone,

ok so this post officially kicks off the daniel moskos blog. spring training is just around the corner for me, big league camp has already started and the baseball buzz is in the air. i personally cant wait for the spring to start, anything mroe than 3 months away from baseball is too much for me.

due to the fact that i reside in bradenton i do not have to stay in the dorms during spring training, and this spring i actually have a roommate. his name is jimmy barthmaier, im sure you all know who he is. he is a really good guy. 

now on to the blog. i think we are gonna have some fun with this. everyone can ask me questions, and it isnt gonna be strictly about baseball.  if anybody sees a new movie, new tv show, new video game. anything that interests you guys and girls.

i hope we can make this really cool and interactive, i encourage participation from everybody, as i will try to get to everyones comments and questions. i only have one rule and that is to be respectful with the language you use, and to be respectful to me. i am doing this because i thought it would be something that would be a great experience and fun for all of us. as well as giving fans a chance to get to know me and the life of a minor league pitcher.

so thats it for the first post, im off to the field to throw a bullpen, run, and workout.

until later