Half the Man I Used to Be Update

Are you planning on attending the AARP national convention in San Diego September 4-6?  Do you know anyone who is?  If you are and if you do, I have some exciting news.  You can look for Half the Man I Used to Be on display at the AARP Ideas @ 50+ San Diego Author Solutions booth!  A description of the book along with a picture of the cover will also appear in the AARP Fall 2014 event catalog.  I will have more details as the event draws closer.

Also, I would like to mention that I am available for speaking engagements.  If you would like me to come speak to your church, hospital, men's group, community group, or other various group, please let me know.  You can reach me at halfthemanmogram@gmail.com.  

So Much For 4-6 Weeks!

So much for 4-6 weeks!  It seems that my book is available already at the following online locations.

Amazon

http://amzn.to/1hqvq9n

Barnes and Noble

http://bit.ly/1oA2MYv

Books A Million

http://bit.ly/1ikgVUL

It is available in hardcover, paperback, and digital format.  NOOK and Kindle readers can download it straight to your tablet.  I am grateful to anyone who takes the time to purchase my book.  After you read it, please go to the website where you purchased and leave a review.  It will be greatly appreciated.  Hope you enjoy!

The Big Announcement

For the last several months, the blog has been eerily quiet.  Much of that time has been spent working on a project.  That project has now been completed and I am thrilled to announce the publication of my memoir, Half the Man I Used to Be: My Yearlong Journey to Stronger Faith and Better Health.  Many of you have followed my health concerns over the past eighteen months and this book recounts my struggle to overcome my declining health and my pursuit to live a healthier, and consequently happier, life.   I have faced the challenges of being severely overweight and I have overcome those challenges by placing them in the hands of a loving, caring Father.  If you face the same challenges, don’t be afraid and don’t give in to defeat.  You can overcome.  If was able to do this, then surely anybody can.  And the best part is that you don’t have to do it alone.  Let go and let God.  I used to think those were just words to make people feel better, but they can be so much more if you let them.  

 For now, the book is only available on the publisher’s website, iUniverse.  If anyone is interested in a copy, you can access the book in paperback, hardcover, or ebook at the following website: http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000648807/Half-the-Man-I-Used-to-Be.aspx.  The book should be available at places like Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other retailers within the next 4-6 weeks.  As a preview, I have included an excerpt from the first chapter on the blog.  Hope you enjoy and please share with all your friends and family.    

Chapter 1

The Man-Mogram

Randy Travis sang in the classic country song “1982,” “They say hindsight’s 20/20 but I’m nearly going blind.”  When you think about it, that makes a lot of sense.  Looking back on things, we can see them clearly but often if it is unpleasant, we choose to still not see it for what it is.  Most of us have been through something we would rather not look back on with the clarity that time and distance give us so we choose to remember it the way that makes us feel the most comfortable.  This, of course, is usually not a great idea.

            My eye-opener came in the spring of 2012, and looking back, I should have recognized it for that instead of treating it as no big deal.  I am usually pretty good at dealing with things and accepting difficulties that life throws my way.  But we all have times when, in retrospect, we would have done things differently.  I believe the Lord was trying to tell me something that spring, but I chose to look at it blindly instead of realistically, and several months later my whole world almost came crashing down on me.  It went a little something like this.

            One day when I was coming home from educating the youth at the juvenile detention facility where I teach, I noticed the seatbelt was rubbing across my right nipple and it was rather painful.  I thought maybe one of my three rambunctious kids had hit me there by accident and left a bruise in that sensitive area.  When I got home and started feeling around, I discovered a knot right under the skin by the nipple.  Needless to say, I freaked out.  The knot wasn’t excruciating but it was painful and uncomfortable to touch.  So I did what any guy who loves and respects his wife utterly and completely would do: I didn’t tell her about it for nearly a month.  I figured it would clear up sooner or later.

            Naturally, it didn’t happen that way and eventually I broke down and told my wife, Kristy, what was happening.  By this time I was really starting to get paranoid.  There was so much in the news about men getting breast cancer and I was greatly concerned.  I did not have a doctor at the time; the one I had been seeing was no longer in private practice.  Kristy called her doctor to get me an appointment … but they could not see me until October.  She went ahead and made the appointment so I could get in with her doctor, but my lumpy nipple hurt, and I wasn’t going to wait almost six months to get it checked out.  That’s when things began to get weird.

            Kristy has a friend who is a gynecologist, and she called to ask his opinion about what I needed to do.  He told her, “Tell Brian to come by the office tomorrow, and I’ll check him out.  Tell him to tell the receptionist that he is here to see me, and that I know what it’s about.”  I know what you’re thinking, because I was thinking the same thing: How can this NOT go wrong?  It had disaster written all over it.

            I showed up at his office the following day, and to say I was hesitant about stepping inside the doors would be an understatement akin to saying the Titanic had a slight mishap in the Atlantic Ocean.  I was completely and utterly freaked out and my mind was not put at ease when I entered the waiting room.  I looked around and there were at least half a dozen elderly ladies waiting patiently to be seen by the doctor.  I walked up to the receptionist and said, “I’m Brian Gross.  I’m here to see the doctor.  He knows what it’s about.”  She looked at me, clearly puzzled, but then said, “OK.”  I wondered how many other guys had come in and said the same thing.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long before the good doctor came to get me because one can only stare at a floor for so long. 

            Unfortunately, being ushered back to the exam room did nothing to allay the hurricane of nerves I had swirling in my stomach.  The doctor grabbed me by the elbow and almost started running down the hallway.  I had the impression he really didn’t want anyone to see him with me.  The whole time he was muttering something incomprehensible to himself before saying, “Come on.”  When he finally got me into an exam room, he decided it was not the right place, and we then went in search of another room and found one: a storage room/broom closet.  Actually, it had been an examination room at one time but was now the catch-all for things that weren’t currently being used.  Before rushing out of the room, he looked at me and said, “Take your shirt off.”    When he was in the hall, I overheard him tell a nurse, “There’s a man in this room.  Don’t let anyone else go in there.” 

            The wait seemed to last forever and it was pretty cold in the room.  It struck me as a little strange that he had instructed no one to come into the room, but it also helped to calm my nerves for a few minutes as I stared at myself in the large mirror that was directly across from the chair in which I was sitting.  There are many thoughts that rush through the mind of a nearly 400-pound, topless man as he sits in solitude, ogling himself in a large mirror.  One of those thoughts was, I’m glad he told the nurse to not let anyone come in here. 

            Of course, someone didn’t get the memo, and the look on the poor lady’s face when she walked into the supply room and saw me sitting there bare-chested was beyond compare.  I guarantee that a very large, half-naked man was the last thing she was expecting to see at work that day.  She didn’t know what to say and neither did I, so we just looked at each other for a few seconds, and then she mumbled something, grabbed what she was looking for and made a beeline for the door.  I was wishing I could do the same thing.  As she closed the door, I could hear her as she asked someone, “What is that man doing here?”  The nurse who epically failed to keep anyone out replied, “He’s here to see the doctor.  No one was supposed to go in there.”

            From that point on I was taking no chances.  I put my shirt back on while the storm in the pit of my stomach continued to rage.  Shortly thereafter the doctor came back in and looked at me with an odd expression.  He said, “I thought I told you to take your shirt off.”  Then he thought for a second and followed that up with, “Oh, yeah … the nurse.  OK, just pull your shirt up.”  He felt around my right breast for a few minutes, found the nodule, and asked some cursory questions.  Upon completing the examination, he said, “I’m pretty sure the lump isn’t serious.  Losing weight will probably take care of it.”  I couldn’t keep myself from thinking, I’ve dodged another bullet.  I was abruptly brought out of my reverie, however, when he went on to tell me, “But just to make sure I want to get that checked out at the imaging center.  Let’s go up to the front desk so we can get you an appointment for a mammogram.”

            My mind started racing, and I wasn’t so sure I heard him correctly.  He assured me it was only to confirm the lump was what he thought it was and not something significant.  He paraded me up to the receptionist I had spoken to earlier, and he said loud enough for the people in the building across the street to hear, “Call imaging and get this man scheduled for a mammogram.”  OK, so his volume was not quite that loud, but he was no longer acting as if this were some kind of clandestine mission, perhaps because the cover had been blown by the unsuspecting nurse. 

            As I was leaving the office, relief washed over me.  I was glad to be getting out of that bizarre situation, and I was hanging onto the fact that he was reasonably sure it was nothing serious.  I was a little freaked out by needing to have a mammogram, but the whole situation was beginning to get funnier.  Being the self-deprecating soul I am, I couldn’t help but wonder to myself, When a man has a mammogram, is the proper term for it a man-mogram?  The thought made me chuckle at the humiliation I had just subjected myself to and made me wonder what would be in store for me when I actually had my man-mogram.  

Miracles Come in All Sizes

I have always believed in God.  I have often felt the presence of God in my life.  Sometimes it is easier to recognize God’s presence than others.  Obviously, on the days my children were born, I felt God’s presence in my life intensely.  I could also feel the same unmistakable presence as I was coming up out of the water in Panbowl Lake on the day that I was baptized.  Other times, that presence has been more subtle but no less reassuring.  But last Friday night, I had an experience that I had never had before.  Not only did I feel the presence of God, I felt the physical touch of God.  Some of you may dismiss what I am about to tell you and that is fine; you have the right to do so.  But I know what I felt and the only way I can explain it is the Holy Spirit lifted me up and kept me running.
                                                                                            
Last Friday evening, I ran my third 5K.  It didn’t start until 9:30 that night so I was curious to see how my body would respond to running so late after working all day then spending several hours at home.  Normally, I do my running on the treadmill as soon as I get home from work.  If I run on Saturdays, I usually run as soon as I get up in the morning.  Knowing my routine, I was pretty sure this race was going to present a challenge for me and I was not wrong.

I started the race at a good pace and was feeling really good about the way things were going.  More people had signed up for the race than I had anticipated but I knew I was not competing against them because I had my own goals already established.  As usual, I didn’t want to finish last and I wanted to be able to run the entire race without walking.  The biggest goal for me, though, was to finish the race in less than 40:00 minutes, which meant I would need to cut off nearly 1:20 from my previous 5K in June.

The course was three laps and after running the first lap, I was feeling really good about things.  I glanced at the timer at the start/finish line and could tell that my time was under 13:00 for the first lap.  The second lap was becoming more of a struggle and I could feel my legs starting to get tired about halfway through the lap.  I muttered a prayer asking God to keep me going as long as he possibly could.  I really didn’t want to have to walk  but my legs were beginning to feel a little rubbery.  The clock was just under 26:00 as I started my third lap.

My struggle intensified and I knew that it would take a miracle to complete the race without walking.  And that is exactly what happened.  About 1/3 of the way through the final lap, my legs sent a message to my brain that they were done.  Finished.  Not able to run another step.  I could feel my legs going from a trot to a walk and there was nothing I could do about it.  But God could.  I was trying to prepare myself to mentally finish the rest of the race despite taking a few seconds to walk when I felt something wash over the lower part of my body.  For three steps, it was as if I were walking on air.  I literally did not feel the ground for three steps.  I wasn’t numb because I could feel a presence touching my legs and then I started to run a little faster.   I was renewed and was able to finish the race strongly with a time of 39:23.  If I had slowed down and walked like my body had wanted to, I would not have reached my goal of finishing in under 40:00.

Now, by calling this a miracle I am in no way comparing it to Jesus turning the water into wine or to feeding the masses with just a few fish and a few loaves of bread.  I am certainly not comparing it to healing the blind, raising people from the dead, casting out demons, or conquering death and washing away our sins.  But in my opinion, it definitely qualified as a small miracle.  Matthew 21:22 tells us, "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."  I prayed and I received.  Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witness...to the end of the world".  I can attest to feeling the power so now I am fulfilling my obligation to witness. 

Like I said earlier, I had felt the presence of the Holy Spirit many times, but actually feeling the touch of the Spirit is indescribable.  I know it was just a little 5K in Ashland, KY on a Friday night but God saw fit to let me know that he was with me that night and that he has been with me since I started this journey 10 months ago.  In October, I was facing the most daunting challenge I had ever been faced with.  It was literally a matter of life and death.  I chose to fight for life and God has been with me every step of the way and for that I am eternally thankful.  I could try to find the proper words to express my gratitude but Psalm 28:7 sums it up best: "The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him."  Until next time, keep the faith good people.  I know I certainly will. 

You've Not Seen the Last of Tim Hudson

Anybody who has been around sports in any capacity for any period of time can tell you this: sports are cruel.  Last night that reminder hit the Atlanta Braves and their star pitcher Tim Hudson head-on when he was lost for the season due to a broken ankle that will require surgery.  Hudson was pitching his best game of the season and had been Atlanta’s best starter for the past two months.  With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and two runners on, what should have been a routine play turned into the heart and soul of the team lying at first base in agony, only to be followed moments later by a stretcher, a cart, and an ignominious exit.  Yes sports fans, we follow a cruel, unjust spectacle that oftentimes leaves us feeling vacant and unrewarded.

But we only have an emotional tie to the event and last night Tim Hudson had the physical reminder of the random viciousness that befalls a professional athlete.  It was a type of play that Hudson had made thousands of times in his career and is a basic that is covered in spring training relentlessly year after year.  The pitcher MUST cover first base on a ball hit to the first baseman so the first baseman can toss it to him instead of trying to outrun the runner to the base.  Last night, a perfect storm occurred on what could have been a routine play.  First, a sharply hit ball by speedy base runner Eric Young, Jr. takes a bad hop and hits first baseman Freddie Freeman in the chest and trickles away.  Even with a runner on first and second, Freeman is playing in close out of respect for Young’s speed.  Second, Hudson makes a mad dash for the bag trying to beat the speedy Young and be in position to catch a toss from Freeman.  Third, Hudson doesn’t have time to grab the bag and position himself to receive a throw.  His foot landed on the foul side of the base which he stabbed at blindly because the throw from Freeman was already on its way.  Fourth, Young arrives at the base a split second after the ball arrives but accidentally lands on Hudson’s leg; and as close-up replays have shown us many times, legs and ankles aren’t made to bend like that. 

Just like that, Hudson’s season had come crashing to an end.  It was obvious that the injury was serious when Eric Young, Jr. came running back to the base to check on Hudson and you could tell he was visibly upset that he had injured him.  (This is a good time to point out that Young did nothing wrong.  It was a freak accident  and there was nothing he could do but it is refreshing to see an opposing player have that kind of compassion toward another player.)  The whole Braves team on the field huddled around first base out of concern for Hudson, a man well-respected in the MLB community and who has the longest tenure of any current Brave and by far the most experience in the clubhouse.  You could tell the wind had gone out of the team’s sails.  Mets superstar David Wright even came out on the field to check on Hudson and stood fraternally beside Braves catcher Brian McCann until the cart arrived and Hudson was carried away.  As Huddy, the affectionate nickname bestowed upon Tim by his teammates, was loaded onto the cart, Young took a moment to apologize to Hudson and you could see Hudson telling him it was ok.  As Young walked back to the dugout, it appeared that he was wiping tears from his eyes with his jersey.  Tom Hanks may have famously said, “There’s no crying in baseball!” in A League of Their Own but it was apropos last night.  When the cart finally began to drive off the field, the New York Mets fans, a rabid fan base that is infamous for booing anyone with a pulse (they have booed Met first baseman Ike Davis so much this year that he said he feels like an away player when he plays at Citi Field), stood and respectfully cheered Hudson’s exit.  In a footnote, the Braves held on to win the game 8-2 and Hudson was credited with his fourth straight win.

There are two cruel ironies (one I will mention now, the other will come later) that come from Hudson’s season-ending injury, the first of which is getting the win last night made him 8-7 on the season and ensured that he would finish the season with a winning record for the 15^th consecutive year.  Even in 2009 when Hudson returned from Tommy John surgery, he only started seven ballgames but still finished the season with a 2-1 record.  This remarkable streak seemed to be in danger a month ago when Hudson was sitting at 4-7.  To grasp the magnitude of this feat, it has only been accomplished by one other pitcher in the history of baseball: Grover Cleveland Alexander, who never had a .500 or worse season until his 20^th  and final frame. 

Hudson is 38 years old and it is too early to say how long recovery on a surgically repaired ankle may take.  Just ask Derek Jeter; it’s not easy for a player of that age to make a speedy recovery.  He has been in Atlanta since 2005, just missing the heyday of the franchise.  In that time, he has won 113 games in nine seasons, good enough to rank him fifth on the all-time Atlanta Braves win list (not franchise wins, just since moving to Atlanta in 1966) behind one Hall of Famer (Phil Niekro) and three probable HoFers (Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz).  But beyond his accomplishments on the field, he is the unquestioned leader of the clubhouse and a man who is highly regarded by teammates and competitors alike.  He is a tenacious competitor on the field who rarely loses his professionalism and according to those who have played with him, he is a pleasure to be around off the field.  He and his wife are even very active in the Atlanta community and have their own foundation to serve children in need as well as being visibly active in other charity projects as well.  All in all, they just don’t make them any better than Tim Hudson, which brings me to another cruel aspect of the game: business. 

The business side of the game is a necessary evil, one that fans would like to forget about if they could but I guarantee Braves GM Frank Wren woke up this morning with many more questions than answers.  A month ago, the team was in great shape and many guys were beginning to recover from injuries.  The starting rotation was in tact and it appeared as if they may have a surplus of arms to get them through the season.  The only need was in the bullpen where three guys have fallen victim to TJ surgery but the need was not glaring.  But all that has changed in the last few weeks and has been put under a microscope after last night.  It may seem cruel to be thinking about the business side of the game so soon after a devastating injury but that is Frank Wren’s job.  Here are just some of the questions that he and Braves face moving forward.

1)      Who fills the spot in the rotation?  Well, the answer to that may just be the second cruel irony that I mentioned earlier.  Brandon Beachy was to make his final rehab start last night on his road back from TJ surgery that ended his great start to last season.  The question had been who gets bumped from the rotation.  The likely candidates were either Paul Maholm who has been atrocious in road games this year or Kris Medlen who has been unable to repeat his miraculous season of a year ago.  The Braves also have planned to insert highly touted prospect Alex Wood into the rotation at some point giving them seven arms for five slots.  One thought was to move Medlen back to the pen where is has proven he can succeed.  But now Maholm hurt his wrist and will likely be placed on the 15-day disabled list and Hudson is out for the season.  That means the most experienced starter in the rotation is Mike Minor who has made 73 career starts compared to Hudson’s 426 and Maholm’s 236.  The young rotation of Minor, Teheran, Medlen, Wood, and Beachy (combined 187 career starts) may be the way to go.  Funny how things tend to have a way of working out, isn’t it?  But there is another possibility.

2)      Are the Braves now in the trade market for a starting pitcher?  One, and possibly the only, fortunate thing about the Hudson injury was the timing.  The trade deadline is just six days away and if this injury had occurred a start or two later, a decent trade would not have been a viable option.  The major holdback is there just aren’t many quality starters, or players for that matter, on the market.  The Rangers put the ball in play pulling the trigger on the Matt Garza deal.  The three other most talked about names are Jake Peavy, Bud Norris, and Ervin Santana.  The Braves know firsthand from seeing Peavy handle them last week in Chicago that he still has very good stuff…when he’s healthy.  Health has been a concern for Peavy since being traded to the White Sox in 2009.  Peavy is also more than just a rental as he is under contract for $14 million next year.  Bud Norris, the man who would be the Astros ace if you had to declare one, has only won 34 career games and has not even had a sniff of the postseason.  Ervin Santana has been a solid pitcher over the past six or seven years but he is strictly a rental and while he does have postseason experience and has won over 100 games, is he worth giving up prospects for? 

3)      What will happen to Tim Hudson after the 2013 season?  His contract is up and it is speculated that the Braves will not be able to re-sign him especially when they have so many young arms already in their stable.  Some of that may depend on how long it takes Hudson to recover from the injury.  There will be a market for a man of his experience and talent but at what cost?  The Braves have shown in the past that they are not afraid to let veterans go to save some cash and if they are in a situation where they can only sign either Brian McCann or Hudson, I imagine they would go with McCann because of his age.  In a perfect world, Hudson would rebound flawlessly from this setback and sign a lower than market rate one-year deal to stick around in Atlanta.  If for no other reason, doing so would allow him to have a much better final image as a Brave than being carted off the field, an image we all wish we could erase.  But that happening is highly unlikely. 

One thing we do know for sure is that Hudson will handle this adversity with great class and professionalism.  In a week where there has been so much negative attention on MLB (thanks Ryan Braun and A-Rod), it would be a nice change of pace to hear more about the truly good guys of the game.  It’s a shame that it takes a freak injury for everyone to realize that there are still great guys in the league.  So, here’s to you Tim Hudson and all that you have done (and hopefully will continue to do) in an Atlanta Braves uniform and as a beacon in your community!  Good luck and God bless, #15.

MLB Midterm Review

Now that the MLB All-Star game has been played, it is time to take a look back on what has happened thus far in the 2013 season.  On opening day, I made several predictions (and if you want to check them out you can just click here http://bit.ly/YWPdDP), and to be honest not too many of them were very good.  The worst prediction I made was that the Angels and Blue Jays were going to be the cream of the crop in the American League.  Boy was I wrong about that!  Both teams have been subpar.  I successfully jinxed both of my Cy Young winners; Jered Weaver suffered a freak broken elbow in his non-pitching arm and Stephen Strasburg has been pretty good but still has a losing record at the break.  Joey Votto was once again an All-Star but is hardly having an MVP season and Mike Trout is having an MVP season but it is for the most disappointing team in baseball.  The Rookie of the Year race in both leagues is up for grabs but the talent seems to be all in the National League where Evan Gattis, Shelby Miller, Julio Teheran, and Dodger phenom Yasiel Puig seem poised for an exciting finish whereas the lackluster AL rookie battle can conceivably be won by a player who has less than 20 RBI at the break.  It’s like Joaquin Andujar once said, “You can sum it up in one word: You never know.”  Without further ado, here are my most pleasant surprises and most disappointing ones for the first half.

Most Pleasantly Surprising Team

NL-Pittsburgh Pirates: How can anyone not root for these guys and this franchise that has not had a winning season in 21 years?  I am not completely surprised that they are having a great season but I am surprised that they have the second best record in the NL thus far.  They have a nice mixture of young talent (Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, Pedro Alvarez) and some strong veteran leadership (A.J. Burnett, Russell Martin, Francisco Liriano), not to mention what may be the best story in MLB this season in closer Jason Grilli.  Grilli has converted 29/30 save opportunities and has an ERA less than 2.00.  Not bad for a 36-year-old guy who only had five career saves coming in to this season. 

AL-Cleveland Indians: It is hard to imagine that the Indians are only one game behind the Detroit Tigers for the Central division lead.  Seriously, who does this team have?  Well, they were aggressive in the offseason getting guys like Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher, they have made great trades over the past few years acquiring Justin Masterson, developing young talent like Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana, and going to the scrap heap to revive the careers of guys like Mark Reynolds and Scott Kazmir.  Oh yeah, they also brought in some guy named Francona to manage them.  Supposedly he broke some kind of curse in Boston or something.  Maybe he can do the same in Cleveland, a town that has not won a professional sports championship since 1964. 

Most Disappointing Team

NL-San Francisco Giants: To think that the team that has won two of the last three World Series is twelve games below .500 at the All-Star break is unfathomable, especially when you consider it is pretty much the same group of guys.  The starting rotation still includes Cain, Lincecum, and Bumgarner and the lineup still has Posey, Scutaro, Pence, and Sandoval.  Bruce Bochy hasn’t forgotten how to manage.  So what’s the problem?  Some of it has been injuries but most of it has been lackluster pitching combined with mediocre hitting.  I believe the Giants will get things turned around but they have too far to climb to be a contender this year.

AL-Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: The Blue Jays made a million trades in the offseason and were poised to have the best rotation in the AL if not all of baseball so the fact their pitching has been atrocious (and that may be a kind description) makes perfect sense, right?  And the Angels have spent billions of dollars the past two offseasons getting arms and bats so it just stands to reason they are only mediocre.  What else can you say about these two teams other than there is no reason they should be a combined nine games under .500 at the break.

Pleasant NL Youth Movement

Young arms have emerged and dominated in the National League this year.  The hapless Mets have a young stud in All-Star Game starter Matt Harvey and they have another waiting in Zack Wheeler, whom they received at the trading deadline two years ago in the Carlos Beltran trade with San Francisco.  These two could the cornerstone of the Mets rotation for the next decade.  Shelby Miller has been a rock in the St. Louis Cardinals rotation.  It seems the Cardinals have an endless abundance of starting pitching just laying in the weeds.  No wonder many analysts say they have the best farm system in baseball.  Patrick Corbin has been phenomenal this year for the first place Diamondbacks.  He has more wins that Harvey and the same ERA but gets much less hype due to playing in the desert.  And there are some young bats, too.  Evan Gattis, Jean Segura, and Yasiel Puig will make the highlight reels for many years to come.

Disappointing Veteran Free Agents

It doesn’t get more disappointing than B.J. Upton and Josh Hamilton.  Upton signed the largest free agent contract in the history of the Braves organization and has been an utter embarrassment at the plate through the first 95 games.  Upton has amassed 8 HR and 20 RBI in the first half.  His brother, Justin, who the Braves traded to get in the offseason, had those numbers three weeks into the season.  Josh Hamilton signed a mega-deal with the Angels much like the one that Albert Pujols signed after the 2011 season.  At the break, Hamilton has 14 HR, 39 RBI, a .224 AVG, .696 OPS, and 95 Ks in 339 at-bats.  Braves rookie Evan Gattis has 14 HR, 37 RBI, a .246 AVG, and an .873 OPS in 167 at-bats while making the major league minimum. 

All-Surprise Team : )

NAME                        TEAM             POS     HR      RBI     AVG  
Evan Gattis                 Braves             C         14        37        .246
Paul Goldschmidt       D’backs           1B       21        77        .313
Matt Carpenter           Cardinals         2B       9          45        .321 (NL leading 72 runs)
Jean Segura                Brewers           SS        11        36        .325(27 Stolen Bases)
Josh Donaldson          A’s                  3B       16        61        .310
Domonic Brown         Phillies            LF       23        67        .273
Carlos Gomez             Brewers           CF       14        45        .295 (21 SB)
Yasiel Puig                  Dodgers          RF       8          19        .391 (1.038 OPS, 38 Games)

                                                                        W-L     ERA    K         SV/OPP

Matt Harvey                 Mets                SP        7-2       2.35     147
Patrick Corbin              D’backs           SP        11-1     2.35     109
Shelby Miller               Cardinals         SP        9-6       2.92     112
Jason Grilli                   Pirates             CL                   1.99     63        29/30

All Surprise Team : (

NAME                         TEAM             POS     HR      RBI     AVG
Miguel Montero          D’backs           C         8          33        .224 (16/87/.284 2011-12)
Ike Davis                     Mets                1B       5          18        .165 (32/90/.225 2012)
Danny Espinosa          Nationals         2B       3          12        .158 (19/61/.242 2011-12)
Starlin Castro              Cubs                SS        6          29        .243 (12/72/.296 2011-12)
Mike Moustakas          Royals             3B       6          17        .215 (20/73/.242 2012)
Josh Hamilton             Angels             OF       14        39        .224 (34/111/.291 2011-12)
B.J. Upton                   Braves             CF       8          20        .177 (25/79/.244 2011-12)     
Josh Reddick              A’s                   RF       4          32        .218 (32/85/.242 2012)

                                                                        W-L     ERA    K         SV/OPP

Matt Cain                    Giants              SP        5-6       5.06     103
Josh Johnson               Blue Jays         SP        1-5       5.16     67
Mark Buehrle              Blue Jays         SP        5-6       4.89     77
R.A. Dickie                 Blue Jays         SP        8-10     4.69     92
Fernando Rodney        Rays                CL       3-2       3.79     56        22/27

Triple Crown Watch

Now that it has happened in my lifetime, I have come to expect someone to win the Triple Crown every year.  The best candidate to do so is, shockingly, Miguel Cabrera.  Coming off his 2012 Triple Crown MVP season, Cabrera only became the first player in MLB history to achieve 30+ HR and 90+ RBI at the All-Star break; all while batting a cool .365.  He could be on his way to becoming the first man ever to win the Triple Crown in back-to-back seasons.  (And let’s not forget this cat just turned 30 in April).  To accomplish that feat, though, he will have to surpass Baltimore’s Chris Davis who has 37 HR and only trails Miggy by two RBI.  I’ll say the odds are pretty good that Cabrera doesn’t repeat, but wouldn’t it be something if he did?

All in all, the first half of the season has been amazing and I see no reason why the second half won’t be even better.  The trading deadline is in two weeks and many teams will be looking to make moves.  Hold on tight, baseball fans!  It’s going to be a fantastic ride to the finish line. 

A Night to Remember

This past Friday night was a dream come true for me.  As you all know, I am a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan but I had never been to a game at Turner Field.  I had checked into going many times but it just never seemed to work out.  So when I found out in January that the Braves were going to be retiring Chipper Jones's #10 (check out my ode to him from September http://bit.ly/TCxILE) and he was going to be inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame on June 28, I knew I had to make every effort to attend and as luck would have it, the timing worked perfectly into our vacation schedule.  And what made it even more special was that I was going to get the share the experience with my wife, my three kids, my father, both of my brothers, three nephews, and a niece. 

During the day on Friday, I got to walk around Turner Field and my wife, Kristy, took several nice pictures of the stadium and the monuments in the plaza outside the stadium.  I was able to walk around and spend time enjoying the stadium instead of being rushed like it usually is when we go to a ballpark.  Of the four Major League parks I have now been to, (the others being Great American in Cincy, PNC in Pittsburgh, and Comerica in Detroit) Turner Field ranks as the second nicest behind PNC. 

The icing on the cake for the day, however, was the most unexpected surprise I ever could have imagined.  I knew I was going to get to see the jersey of my second favorite Braves player of all time get retired but I had no idea that I was going to get to meet my childhood hero and get his autograph.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out I was going to have the opportunity to meet Dale Murphy (see why he belongs in the HOF http://bit.ly/USlOLA) and get him to sign a baseball.  I felt like I was eight years old again.  We made a mad dash to the autograph session where Murphy was signing as soon as the gates opened so we could get our place in line.  Even though I am almost thirty-five, I must admit that I got a little star-struck when I shook Murphy's hand and got my ball signed by him.  My son, Brayden, was so excited by meeting Dale Murphy that he decided to put his signed ball in the case we had just bought him for his game ball the he received a few weeks earlier during his youth baseball season. 

The euphoria of meeting my childhood baseball hero had not worn off by the time we made it to our seats to watch the jersey retirement ceremony.  As I sat there watching the presentation on the field and the unveiling of the #10 on the ring around the stadium, I couldn't believe how great the day had turned out to be.  The first pitch had not even been thrown and I had already had the greatest sports spectating moments of my life.  What could have been better?  Oh yeah, the Braves actually winning the game, which they did 3-0.  Back in January when we ordered the tickets and you would have asked me what the perfect night for June 28 would look like, the story I would have told you would not have even come close to the perfection of the reality of that night.  I guess sometimes reality is more unreal than a lifelong dream.