Inside Pitch

By Mike Harrington

There might be some changeups on the mound tonight from Dave Bush and there will be a bit of a changeup in the broadcast "booth" tonight as the Bisons and Norfolk Tides open a four-game series in Coca-Cola Field.

With more mid-70s weather, Ben Wagner and Buffalo Baseball Hall of Famer Duke McGuire will take it outside this evening and do the game from a table on the club level from behind home plate for WWKB (1520 AM) and across the Internet at Bisons.com. Wagner tweeted a shot of the setup here (left) and I've already reminded him foul balls come in hot from right-handed hitters and I'm expecting some good plays to be made.

Bush (3-1, 1.61) continues to excel since returning from Toronto. He's given up zero or one run in three of his four starts and is coming off a solid one last Tuesday in Rochester, where he gave up one run in six innings and threw 57 of his 78 pitches for strikes. 

Moises Sierra is back in the Buffalo lineup batting third after sitting out Sunday's game following the hand plunking he took in the first inning Saturday against Louisville. He enters tonight seventh in the IL in batting at .354. Jim Negrych continues to lead at .420 while Josh Thole is fourth (.361) and league RBI leader Luis Jimenez is fifth (.360). 

Former Bison outfielder Jason Pridie is batting leadoff tonight for Norfolk. Ex-IL MVP Russ Canzler, who was signed by Toronto during the offseason and later waived, is batting third for the Tides, who are coming off a 7-1 homestand and are tied for the South Division lead with Durham at 20-10. The Bisons (19-9) continue to lead the North by two games. 

Here's Buffalo's lineup tonight:

Anthony Gose, cf
Jim Negrych, 2b
Moises Sierra, rf
Luis Jimenez, dh
Andy LaRoche, 3b
Josh Thole, c
Mauro Gomez, 1b
Ryan Langerhans, lf
Ryan Goins, ss
---
Dave Bush, p

A final note on the outdoor broadcast. It's not a first here. BBHOFer Pete Weber famously did one in 1989 -- climbing to the roof of then-Pilot Field to get an incredible panoramic view of the ballpark so he could see what it would be like to have a seat in the upper deck if the park was expanded for a major-league team.

You can check out the pic below from Weber's archives (h/t for the email assist from Nashville from the voice of the NHL's Predators). Be sure to click on the picture for a great full-screen view. You can see the old metal bleachers in right field, the old scoreboard and the old fence configuration. Ed Sprague is batting in the game against the Syracuse Chiefs, who were the Triple-A affiliate of none other than the Blue Jays! The Bisons, of course, were with the Pirates at the time.

And what's missing beyond the parking lot and Buffalo News building as you look past right field? No giant dome of First Niagara Center. How strange to see.

By Mike Harrington

ROCHESTER -- The Bisons have their second nationally televised morning game of the season today in Frontier Field, an 11:30 start against the Rochester Red Wings that you can watch on MLB Network. The broadcast will be handled by the Rochester crew with the play-by-play done by veteran Josh Whetzel, who also does the radio calls for University at Buffalo basketball during the winter.

The Bisons have dropped two of the first three games in this series, including last night's 4-3 defeat that saw them blow a 3-1 lead. The Bisons are 16-7 overall but just 4-3 against Rochester. Oddly enough, this is the last time they'll play the Red Wings until July 3 -- and the last time they'll be in this always-relaxing downtown park until Aug. 30-31.

Boo to the IL schedule for that. NO GAMES in Rochester all summer? That's just plain terrible.

Veteran Dave Bush (2-1, 1.65 starts today for Buffalo against Red Wings left Andrew Albers (0-0, 4.58). It's the final game of April and the Bisons have already clinched their best record in the season's first month of their modern era.

Here's today's Bisons lineup:

Mike McCoy, lf
Anthony Gose, cf
Moises Sierra, rf
Luis Jimenz, dh
Mauro Gomez, 1b
Andy LaRoche, 3b
Josh Thole, c
Lance Zawadski, 2b
Ryan Goins, ss
----
Dave Bush, p 

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- It's a dark, windy day down south and the Bisons are taking on the Indianapolis Indians about 90 minutes south of here in Bradenton. Be sure to catch up with my story in today's paper on Marty Brown's early thoughts on how camp is going 10 days before the season opener.

Bisons play-by-play voice Ben Wagner was here last week doing several interviews with potential Bisons players and many will air tonight at 7 pm. on WWKB (Radio 1520 AM). Wagner also taped a segment with this corner and you can listen to it below.

(Memo to Buffalo: I'm coming back in five days. Get the weather situation straightened out).

Mike Harrington with Ben Wagner

(Photo of Blue Jays minor-league complex. Look which logos is top center.)

By Mike Harrington

Former Bisons star Brandon Phillips is getting his first chance to represent Team USA at the World Baseball classic and, of course, is loving every minute of it (right).

Phillips, whose Twitter account of @DatDudeBP is one of the best of in professional sports and is approaching one million followers, was on Jim Rome's national radio show Wednesday afternoon. He talked about the WBC, how he's going to honor his 1 millionth follower, playing for Joe Torre, and still being unable to wipe out the memory of the Cincinnati Reds' collapse to the Giants in last year's NLDS.

Hard to believe it's 11 years since Phillips showed up with the Bisons after the Cleveland Indians' whopper of a trade with the Montreal Expos for Bartolo Colon. And Phillips' heroics for the Herd in its 2004 championship season? Nine years ago. Wow.

Click below to hear Phillips' interview with Rome.

Photo: (@DatDudeBP via USA Baseball)

This is one of the most baffling stats of the entire baseball season: Yankees ace CC Sabathia is 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA against the Red Sox this year -- but is 17-3, 2.40 against everyone else! That's going to have to change starting tonight when the Yanks and Sox meet in the opener of a three-game set in Fenway. (It starts at 7 and is a local New York City My9 game, which means you'll have to poke around on your service to find it. It's on radio on WECK-AM 1230.)

Both teams enter on two-game winning streaks and Boston has a 1 1/2-game lead in the AL East. The Red Sox, however, are 10-2 head-to-head with New York this year and the Yankees have a 5.98 ERA in the series. The teams have only one other series remaining, a three-gamer in the Bronx Sept. 23-24-25.

With a win tonight, Sabathia would become just the fifth Yankees pitcher to win at least 18 games in at least three straight seasons, and the first since Vic Raschi had four straight seasons of at least 18 wins from 1948-51. Sabathia will be opposed by John Lackey, who is 12-9 but has a ghastly 5.98 ERA.

Phil Hughes meets Josh Beckett on Wednesday while A.J. Burnett gives thanks that August is over to face Jon Lester on Thursday. Burnett had an 11.91 ERA and looked completely lost during his five August starts but still managed to go 1-2.

On the injury front, Alex Rodriguez (thumb) looks like he could miss the series while Derek Jeter (knee) could be out tonight. Kevin Youkilis (back) is starting rehab tonight for Pawtucket in Rochester.

For Jerry Sullivan's take on Sabathia, see this entry at the Sully on Sports blog.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

First things first. I really like Grantland, the new site from espn.com major domo Bill Simmons. There's a ton of great stuff. So much to read, so little time.

The other day I saw a story teased on the espn.com home page: "The Case for Carlos Beltran."

Part of the tagline for the story was a rewrite of the story's subhead, which reads: "The Giants' new right fielder has always been clutch — now maybe he'll be recognized for it."

As a Met fan, my knee-jerk reaction was, naturally: "WHUHHH!?!?!"

It was 2006, during the aftermatch of the epic October Storm that hit Western New York. It was Thursday, Oct. 19, and Game Seven of the National League Championship Series was that night.

As a Met fan, this Game Seven brought with it equal parts hope and an impending sense of anguish. If we win, it will be awesome, but it might even be a bigger relief that we didn't lose. That's because if we lose, it will not only be terrible, there will always be obnoxious Yankee fans who will remind us of it. Normally, I would spend an evening so momentous with two companions: my television and my couch.

Invite people over? What will they do when I start screaming at the TV? Or yelling at Tony LaRussa that he's not as smart as he thinks he is? Or holding my breath for inordinate amounts of time through at-bats?

But with skeletons of trees still strewn across streets and a groaning chorus of generators filling the darker-than-usual Northtown nights -- and my cable still out -- I had little choice but to head to Tully's on Niagara Falls Blvd. I went with a group of friends. We got a table. I told them the situation. I told them not to bother me. 

The game was tense. It was not that pretty. It was tied at 1-1 in the sixth when Scott Rolen hit a ball that scared me to death. That's because it looked like he got all of it. A "yeah!" came from a Cardinal fan somewhere in the Tully's bar area. Then, Endy Chavez made one of the greatest catches in baseball history, and I made sure the rest of Tully's knew about it as I let loose with a anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-louder "YEAHHHH!!!!!!"

We were going to win. Endy made the greatest catch ever. We were home at Shea Stadium, a hunk of concrete we loved even though everyone else said it was a dump. We had been down, 3-2, in the series, but now we were going to win.

Continue reading "Beltran, Grantland not so clutch" »

Lots of tasks cluttering my mind that include (gasp) a Bills column for Friday's paper. I'll have some thoughts on free agency, especially how Darcy Regier simply has a much easier road than Buddy Nix at this point in time. But there's never "out of time" when it comes to baseball and I've got a few thoughts here:

---Wish the Mets could have gotten more help for the '12 Bisons in exchange for Carlos Beltran. That said, the word is that Zach Wheeler is a solid pitching prospect and GM Sandy Alderson said today they went for one high-ceiling prospect (Wheeler was the No. 6 pick in 2009), rather than a package of three-lower prospects. Maybe he sneaks to Buffalo in the second half of next year. We'll see. 

---Wonder what, if anything, the Yankees do this week for pitching. Especially since Phil Hughes couldn't even beat the 17-loss-in-a-row Mariners in yet another game that showed the Yankees could use Felix Hernandez.

---How about a suspension when umpires make an obvious mistake? Can't think of any candidates offhand .... Can you, Jerry Meals?

---I love this MLB.com collection of calls on the Meals video from both teams' crews. ROOT Sports Pittsburgh's Greg Brown -- the former Bisons and Bills announcer -- goes utterly ballistic around 27 seconds. Classic.

---What a crazy couple of days in Syracuse. Columbus pitcher Justin Germano tossed just the fifth perfect game in IL history Tuesday over the Syracuse Chiefs but the Chiefs nearly got revenge Wednesday as Brad Peacock took a no-hittter into the eighth before a Beau Mills double broke him off. That was the only Columbus hit in a 2-0 Syracuse win. Crazy year in the Cuse. Ex-Bison Michael Aubrey had a four-homer game in June against Durham and now a perfect game.

---Courtesy of the Clippers, here's the final out of the perfecto and the clubhouse scene as Germano comes off the field.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

Not much to say about last night's MLB All-Star Game, a 5-1 win for the National League in Phoenix. Bud Selig insists it counts, so I'm sure the Phillies, Giants, Braves, Cardinals, etc are happy for the chance to have homefield advantage in the World Series.

The stage shifts tonight to Salt Lake City for the 24th Triple-A All-Star Game. It will air at 9 p.m. on MLB Network and Radio 1520 AM with Brad Mills (Las Vegas-Toronto) starting for the Pacific Coast League and Zach McAllister (Columbus-Cleveland) going for the International League. The Bisons' lone representative is pitcher Chris Schwinden.

Once tonight's game is over, the focus shifts to Coca-Cola Field, which will host the 25th anniversary game on Wednesday, July 11, 2012. The all-star game began at then-Pilot Field on July 14, 1988 but was a much simpler affair back then with few ancilliary activities. Next year's activities will include the Triple-A Home Run Derby on July 9 and a gala luncheon at the Adam's Mark on gameday.

The Bisons have opened ticket sales for the events, at $35 for the Home Run Derby and game, and $25 for the luncheon.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington) 

The MLB regular season winds down today (maybe -- more on that in a second) and you needed to stay up until 1:22 this morning to be fully versed on what was at stake in today's games. That's the time the Red Sox wrapped up a 7-6, 10-inning win over the Yankees in the second game of a day-nighter that stretched nine hours and featured the teams splitting 10-inning decisions.

Meanwhile, the Rays posted a 4-0 win at Kansas City. So that means the Rays and Yankees are both 95-66 heading into today's finales (the Yankees are at Boston at 1:35 on YES while the Rays are at KC at 2:10). Tampa has the tiebreaker edge so a Rays win wraps up the AL East and sends the Yankees on to Minnesota as the wildcard for the division series. The Yankees can only win the division with a victory in Boston and a Tampa loss. Dustin Moseley -- yes, Dustin Moseley -- will start for the Yankees today.

There is no one-game playoff, remember, because both teams have already qualified. In that case, Tampa's 10-8 regular-season edge is used as the tiebreaker. That's not going to be the case in the National League as we could be looking at the first three-team, two-day tiebreaker in history.

If the Padres win today at San Francisco for the third straight day and the Braves beat the Phillies, we would have three teams (Atlanta, San Diego and San Francisco) tied at 91-71. So what would happen? The Padres and Giants would play for the NL West crown Monday in San Diego with the loser going to Atlanta Tuesday to determine the wildcard. Oddly enough, it might behoove the Phillies to lose today to potentially force the three-teamer and make all of their potential NL opponents run through some pitching before the division series starts.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Radio/TV analyst and former PA announcer Duke McGuire is one of the true characters of Bisons baseball and he's getting inducted into the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. Richly deserved. Be sure to read our story in Thursday's paper about McGuire's long career in the game -- and his huge role in getting "The Natural" filmed in Buffalo as well as playing a member of the New York Knights alongside Robert Redford (that's McGuire with Redford in 1930s baseball duds)

A long career can produce a long story and you can never have enough space to tell all the tales about this true Buffalo original. Rather than lose so much of these anecdotes in the story, I collected thoughts about Duke here from his three broadcast partners over the years. 

Pete Weber (TV, 1990-95, currently with NHL's Nashville Predators)

On his broadcast style: "Because he has lived through the situations, he's very good at keeping things simple and explaining what could be complex. He never makes you feel like that football coach mentality of, 'You couldn't possibly absorb the info I'm about to impart to you here.' He's a teacher. He's used that in broadcasting and made it fun.

On a bizarre moment at the mic: "He uttered one of the funniest impromptu PA announcements I've heard in my life. He was announcing the license tag of a car needing to be moved [outside War Memorial Stadium] and as he's in the middle of the number, an M-80 or cherry bomb goes off on Dodge Street outside. Duke just keeps reading and when he finished the number he simply said, 'Your car has just blown up.' That dispays how quickly he could adapt to a situation."

On the Hall of Fame induction: "My mindset is we're not giving him a gold watch. This is somebody who has served so well in so many capacities with the team and is being properly honored."

Jim Rosenhaus (radio 1996-2006, currently with Cleveland Indians)

On his broadcast style: "He didn't take the game too seriously. He realized it was fun. The game was fun. When we had big games, it was a big deal but he would see the fun side of the game. He wanted to see the game played right. As a former player, he knew good and bad baseball. His persepectives gave him credibility too. I've seen a lot of baseball but he played it. He knew what guys were going through, especially as a former minor leaguer. He knew the challenges and that type of thing. He had a good perspective on the big club taking out five guys.

A bizarre moment: "WGR used a promo and it was a replay of a foul ball one night in Buffalo that hit [mascot] Chip in the head. I'm calling the play and before I even finished saying what was going on, Duke just blurts out, "Chip is down! Chip is down!" He made it sound like Ali-Frazier. They would play that all the time and it was hysterical."

On the Hall of Fame: "This is awesome for Duke. He would miss some road trips early in the season when school was still going on and to some extent for me, it never felt like baseball season till Duke went on the road."

Ben Wagner (Radio/TV, 2007-present)

On his broadcast style: "He sees things on the field before they happen and that helps the listeners. That can come out at any time, early or late in the game. He uses it as a tool to teach through our broadcasts as well, which I really appreciate. He helps the broadcast flow. He can move from the first inning and relate it back. He's been a player, a manager, worked in the front office. It makes a big difference."

On his wackiness in the booth: "I have to be alert at all times with Duke. From the "celebrity guest appearance" to the drop of something by 'The K-Man' in the stands. Duke is worrying about the ball -- and about the guy spilling a drop or two too."

On McGuire becoming a Hall of Famer: "I knew from the very beginning he was more of a connection to a fans that anybody I would ever have with me on the air. He's the connection to the current team and the years past. He's been the greatest resource to me in trying to learn Bisons history through regular conversation. It's not just players either. The Butcher came in and we started talking about him and that led to other cast of characters he had seen.

"He has longevity of the history but also the connection to all the loyal listeners out there. I've tried to use that to my advantage. It's huge for me to be able to connect to the history of this team through him."

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Photo: McGuire and Wagner earlier this month at Coca-Cola Field -- James P. McCoy/Buffalo News

CLEVELAND -- We're live from the press box at Progressive Field as the Washington Strasburgs, er, Nationals take on the Indians in the second big-league start for the game's newest phenom. How many strikeouts will he get? How many hits or runs can the Tribe scratch out? It's going to be interesting.

Stephen Strasburg, for his part, was taking a snooze on the leather couch in the middle of the Nationals' clubhouse when I checked in there around 10:45 this morning. Some TVs had a World Cup game on and others had a replay of a college Super Regional. Nothing fazed him. He was out.

Manager Jim Riggelman dealt with plenty of media in his office for his postgame chat and marveled at how TBS has the Nationals-Indians on today and booted off Red Sox-Phillies. The Indians are expecting a crowd of over 30,000 (they've sold around 10,000 tickets since Tuesday) and there's a few dozen extra media in the press box. All for one player.

"I haven't seen anything like this," Riggelman said. "Maybe they did this with [Sandy] Koufax and some others. I know Texas jumped up in attendance with Nolan Ryan pitching at home because I think people thought every time, "Hey, this might be the next no-hitter." But the national attention certainly has never been like this."

The game is on TBS (hold your breath on that "local" blackout back home). Those in the house today include ESPN, the MLB Network, CBSSports.com, NBCSports.com, USA Today, AOL Fanhouse and Baseball Prospectus. In terms of sports stories these days, there's the World Cup, the NBA finals and Strasburg. Heady stuff.

In addition to starting pitcher David Huff, there are five ex-Bisons in the Cleveland lineup to face Strasburg. It looks like this:

Trevor Crowe, cf
Shin-Soo Choo, rf
Carlos Santana, c
Travis Hafner, dh
Austin Kearns, lf
Russell Branyan, 1b
Jhonny Peralta, 3b
Luis Valbuena, 2b
Anderson Hernandez, ss

Keep it here for live updates on Strasburg's outing. Our live blog from his June 3 start in Buffalo was our best day ever at Inside Pitch. So we like the Strasburg Effect too.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Mid-1st: Here we go. It's a breezy, cloudy 72-degree day. The Nationals went down 1-2-3 in the first off Huff. The crowd is a disappointment in most places but a victory in Cleveland. Most of the lower level is full. Much of the deep RF upper deck is empty. Applause greets Strasburg as he takes the mound for warmups. He's been told to wait a few seconds before coming out and to slow his warmups because of the national TV broadcast. Dude likes to get it and throw.

End-1st: What a show. A 1-2-3 inning for Strasburg on two strikeouts and a liner to left. He threw 15 pitches, 10 for strikes -- four hit 100 mph on the ballpark radar gun and four others hit 99. Strasburg got Crowe swinging on a 100-mph job, burned Choo on an unhittable sinking fastball at 99 and then retired Santana on a scorcher to left that ended his streak of nine straight strikeouts -- one shy of the big-league mark held by Tom Seaver and Eric Gagne. The place was buzzing with every reading on the gun and there was applause every time it hit 100. Wow. 

Bot-2nd: The Nats scored in the top of the 2nd and the Tribe ties it as Hafner belts the second pitch he sees -- a 100-mph heater -- just over the wall in right to tie it at 1-1. (ESPN.com legend Jayson Stark notes that Strasburg gave up one HR to 210 minor-league batters and has given up two in nine innings in the big leagues). Strasburg recovers to get Kearns on a fly to right and fans Branyan and Peralta back-to-back. Four more at 99 that inning, two more at 100. Totals through 2: 2-1-1-1-0-4/30-20

End-3rd: An eight-pitch inning and three groundouts. One pitch at 100, one at 99. The score remains 1-1. That's how Strasburg can economize to last longer in games. Totals through 3: 3-1-1-1-0-4/38-25.

End-4th: An Adam Dunn HR puts the Nats up, 2-1. Strasburg survives a tricky inning unscathed, striking out the side around the first two walks of his big-league career. They came on 3-2 pitches to Santana and Hafner, which prompted a mound visit from Pudge. Message sent as Kearns and Branyan went down swinging. Strasburg had gone 10 1/3 innings and 36 batters in the big leagues before the Santana walk -- his first since giving a free pass to Bisons pitcher Dillon Gee on June 3. That was a 24-pitch inning. Totals through 4: 4-1-1-1-2-7/63-39. A note from ESPN.com -- No pitcher in the expansion era has opened his career with back-to-back 10+/whiff games. Strasburg is three away. Sick.

End-5th: Strasburg holds his 2-1 lead and has pitched five innings of one-hit ball. He struck out Peralta, got Valbuena on a pop-up to short, walked Hernandez and got a big assist from 3B Alberto Gonzalez to get the final out on a Crowe bunt. Totals through 5: 5-1-1-1-3-8/79-47. Thinking one more inning?

In other news, Ketchup nosed out Mustard in a photo finish in the daily hot dog race. Onion a distant third.

Top-6th: The Nats have Strasburg in position for his second win with a four-run rally after two out to take a 6-1 lead. Pudge got the key hit, a two-run double to left-center on Huff's first pitch. After a walk to Mike Morse, Frank Herrmann replaced Huff. This has been a long break for Strasburg. Almost certainly means last inning for him. Ian Desmond followed with a two-run 3B off the glove of Crowe in center, who took a terrible angle and had a bad jump. Grady Sizemore makes that play easily. Five-run lead should be plenty for the phenom.

Bot-6th..Strasburg is gone: Santana led off with a broken-bat single to right for the second hit off Strasburg. Fellow first-rounder Drew Storen up in the bullpen. Strasburg then started having a terrible time with the mound, specifically his landing area. Looked like it got inside his head. The grounds crew came out to tend to it and Riggelman was not happy about the situation. Walks to Hafner and Kearns ended Strasburg's day. As he walked to the dugout, he got loud boos from the Cleveland crowd -- which is patently ridiculous -- and a standing ovation from some behind the dugout. You boo the guy because the mound is bad? Bitter people here. Storen to face Branyan with bases loaded and Strasburg's line open.

Storen finds the mound to his liking getting Branyan on a popup and fanning Peralta. So Strasburg's final line reads like this: 5 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 8 K. 95 pitches, 52 strikes. 

Strasburg's two big-league outings: 12 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 22 Ks, 5 BBs, 2.19 ERA

Bot-8th: The  Nats have broken it open and lead 9-1. I was just in a group of 3 reporters talking to HOF Bob Feller,  who is a regular in seat 84 of the press box (I'm in seat 93 today). Be sure to check out the story in Monday's print edition. Feller did tell me,"He's got a very good reportoire" when asked about Strasburg's outing. And he cautioned, "He's off to a very good start but these aren't the '27 New York Yankees or the '48 Indians he's facing." Doh! 

Off to the clubhouse:  It took nearly 3 1/2 hours and Strasburg officially improves to 2-0 as Nationals win it, 9-4. Tribe rallied for three in the ninth.

(Photo: Associated Press)

Going around the horn with the national media's reports on Stephen Strasburg's day in Buffalo:

---Washington Post reporter Dave Sheinin covered 10 of Strasburg's 11 minor-league starts and here's his article on Thursday's game at Coca-Cola Field, which features this juicy stat nugget: "Strasburg averaged 10.6 strikeouts and only 2.1 walks per nine innings. Granted, he was facing minor league hitters, but in the past 110 years only three big league pitchers have completed an entire season with both rates as good or better than those: Pedro Martínez (1999, 2000, 2002), Curt Schilling (1997, 2002) and Randy Johnson (2004)."

---Strasburg says he just wants to do his job but it won't be that easy anymore. Every facet of his life will be dissected along the Beltway and an example is an item in the gossip section of today's Post about him trying to be low-key as a newlywed with his wife and dog. You don't get this much info on the normal first-round pick.

---Here's the Post's photo gallery from Strasburg's day in Buffalo.

---Colorful Toronto Globe & Mail columnist Jeff Blair, a former Montreal-based writer, reminds us of this interesting connector: Strasburg's final minor-league game came in a park that once hoped it could house the Expos (Bob Rich was looking to buy and move the club in the 1990 range), and his next start will be for the team that replaced the Expos.

I've known Blair, who possesses quite the dry wit live and on his must-follow Twitter feed, for several years and sat next to Blair and Sheinin Thursday. It was quite an enjoyable tag team to spend a work day with.

---In the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Bob Cohn tells the Pirates Strasburg is ready for Tuesday's debut.

---In the Syracuse Post-Standard, Lindsay Kramer has this message: "It could be a long wait before anyone with his talent, mound presence and turnstile appeal passes through town again." Couple folks e-mailed me Thursday's column from Bud Poliquin in Syracuse as well. Another solid farewell to a player who put Chiefs baseball on the map like never before.

---Minorleaguebaseball.com has this video highlight package of Strasburg's outing.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Photo: Mark Mulville/Buffalo News

It's Opening Day in lots of places today, including Progressive Field in Cleveland and the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Same for Wrigley Field, Citizens Bank Park, Busch Stadium, Petco Park and Safeco Field. Tomorrow, the Yankees get their World Series rings as they kick off year two in The House that George & Jeter built.

But the big one is today at 4 p.m. on ESPN when the Red Sox help the Twins take it outdoors in Minnesota for the first time in 29 years in the inaugural regular-season game at Target Field (above).

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune put together a special section on baseball's newest park and the Web presentation is worth your reading time. Great stories, great graphics. They also have a breaking news blog with minute-by-minute updates on the festivities.

Park looks great. Sure looks like it might be cold come October and (gasp!) November. But we'll deal with that when we have to. Good for the folks in Minnesota to get a chance to finally be outside. Good riddance, Metrodome!

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

AP Photo: Target Field during its exhibition opener April 3 against the Cardinals.

The spring training schedule opens today with the Braves and Mets at 1:10 from Port St. Lucie, Fla. Check it out on SNY beginning at 12:30 but be wary: Lots of Twitters on the Mets beat that it's raining hard down there. If they play, 2009 Bisons star Nelson Figueroa will throw the first pitch of the spring for the Mets.

(11:30 a.m. update: Looks like they'll play although Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News reports a very Bison-like lineup that includes possible 2010 Herdmen Jesus Feliciano, Mike Hessman, Ike Davis, Chris Coste, Jason Pridie and Luis Hernandez).

Now that the calendar has flipped to March -- and even though we have the NHL trade deadline staring us in the face tomorrow -- we'll be starting to crank up ye olde Inside Pitch blog as well. Mets/Bisons chatter, Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, Blue Jays and whoever else meets our mind.

Today's game is the only one on the schedule matching two big-league teams. Action really heats up Wednesday (including the Yankees' opener in Tampa against the Pirates) and Thursday, when everyone plays and the schedule is highlighted by CC Sabathia starting against Roy Halladay in a Yankees-Phillies World Series redux in Clearwater. Wonder if any Phillies will go down as payback from some of the plunkings A-Rod took last October, er, November.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

 As I talked about earlier today, the Bisons are advertising a "major event announcement" as part of Friday's sold-out Winter Hot Stove Luncheon in the Adam's Mark. The last time something like that came down, it was for the 1987 exhibition game between the Blue Jays and Indians that was played through the freezing rain of War Memorial Stadium. The media was furious because then-GM Mike Billoni billed it as "a major announcement for the future of Buffalo baseball" and folks thought Bob Rich Jr. had purchased the Expos or some other team. Buffalo has never had another major-league April exhibition since and probably with good reason. You might ruin your field for a month or more trying to play one. 

I have no official confirmation of what's up but International League president Randy Mobley will be in town tomorrow so I'm fairly certain the word is this: Buffalo is going to be named the host of the 2012 Triple-A All-Star Game. It would make sense because 2012 will be the 25th anniversary season for Coca-Cola Field and for the Triple-A version of the Midsummer Classic. Then-Pilot Field, remember, staged the first game on July 13, 1988 before a sellout crowd of 19,500. The IL hosts this year (Lehigh Valley) and the Pacific Coast League has next year in Salt Lake City so 2012 comes back to an IL park.

The game is broadcast every year on ESPN and a national network of radio stations and is held the day after the big-league game. In this case, you're looking at July 11, 2012, the night after the big leaguers play in Kansas City. But unlike 1988, this event has grown into a huge spectacle thanks to great hosting jobs in recent years by cities such as Rochester, Indianapolis and Portland. There's a home run hitting contest on Monday and a gala luncheon on game day.

You'll see the top prospects from around Triple-A meeting in an IL vs. PCL format and it will be a great show. I'm betting pretty solid that's what the announcement will be. Keep it locked at buffalonews.com Friday afternoon when the official word comes down.

---Mike Harrington

Buffalo News file photo of Coca-Cola Field by Mark Mulville

A reminder that my weekly power ratings are done through Thursday's games (on the theory that a new series starts on Friday). I give you that once-in-a-while reminder because I would have certainly put the Twins a little higher up this week if I was doing them at, say, midnight on Saturday.

Whereas it looked like every division race was basically over at the start of the week, we suddenly have a hot one in the AL Central as Minnesota is just two games behind the suddenly skidding Tigers after back-to-back victories over Detroit. A fly ball lost in the Metrodome roof (what else?) keyed a five-run fifth Saturday in the Twins' 6-2 win. And this is all happening wtih Justin Morneau and Joe Crede apparently gone for the year with injuries.

As for the rankings, it's certainly easy to put the Yankees at No. 1. But Nos. 2-6 remain quite a mess. This week, it went Dodgers, Angels, Red Sox, Phillies, Cardinals and only the Halos were in the same spot as last week. Pretty unusual for this time of year.

In other diamond doings:

---No Inside Baseball column just for this week due to a double dose of Bills chats and Sabres training camp. We'll be back starting next week and running all the way through the World Series.

---If you didn't stay up to see the Yankees' 10-1 victory in Seattle, they got a huge scare when CC Sabathia took a Franklin Gutierrez line drive to the chest. He was OK but it was a couple inches here or there from a potentially dramatic turn to the Yankees season and some serious damage to their big-money ace. Check out the video here.

---It's Durham (Tampa Bay) vs. Memphis (St. Louis) in Tuesday's Triple-A National Championship Game in Oklahoma City. Formerly known as the Bricktown Showdown, the game will be televised at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

---Cleveland's Double-A team, the Akron Aeros, won the Eastern League title in four games Saturday with a 10-6 win over Connecticut (San Francisco). Lots of nice prospects going up to Triple-A next season for the Tribe. Too bad they're still not coming to Buffalo.

---Mike Harrington

(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

Sometimes, it's not always about what happens on the field between the lines and Wednesday was one of those nights. To wit:

It was an emotional appearance at Comerica Park for ailing 91-year-old Tigers broadcasting legend Ernie Harwell, who recently announced he has inoperable cancer and came to the yard for the game against the Royals for what seemed like one final good-bye. Wonderful column in this morning's Detroit Free Press on Harwell by Michael Rosenberg.

Harwell spoke on the field in the middle of the third inning (left), earning a standing ovation from the crowd and both teams. Check out the MLB.com video here. Quite a scene.

And he came into his old haunt, the press box, to greet the media as well.  Here's the video of that session. Equally as touching as what took place on the field.

It was Hal McCoy Night in Cincinnati, as the Reds honored the retiring Hall of Fame writer from the Dayton Daily News. He's been on the beat 37 years, longer than any writer in the country. If you haven't read my post on McCoy from Wednesday, you owe it to yourself to catch up by going to this link.

McCoy threw out the first pitch prior to Wednesday's game and delivered it to close friend Aaron Boone, who prodded him to keep his career going six years ago when his eyesight began to fail.

Then there's the story of the Monforto family in Philadelphia. Daddy caught a foul ball during Tuesday's game against the Nationals and gave it to his 3-year-old daughter, Emily -- who promptly chucked it back toward the field. His that's-OK-hug has given Steve Monforto Daddy of the Year nods all over the Internet and the family even appeared on Thursday's "Today" Show. Here's the video below. Be sure to watch for Mom's reaction -- she's the woman on the left holding a baby on her lap.

---Mike Harrington

(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

(Ernie Harwell photo: Associated Press)