Alright, so I’m living in Cincinnati at the start of the ‘06 baseball season. I’m managing a restaurant that has a sports bar in it. One of our bartenders, we’ll call him John (because that’s his name), is a huge Cubs fan. He wore his Cubs hat everyday, went to all the games when the Cubs came to Cincy, even made a few road trips during the season to see Chicago. Anyway, one day I’m reading through the Cincinnati Enquirer sports section and come upon an article about Kerry Wood and Mark Prior landing on the DL. It just so happens that John walks in just as I was finishing the article.
Wanting to take full advantage of my buddy’s misery I asked him if he had read the Enquirer yet today? (Of course I knew he hadn’t, he always waited until he got to the restaurant and read our copy, way to save a quarter.) He says no and I proceed to tell him that they did a write up about the Cubs, but made a mistake. He asks of course what the mistake is, and I tell him that the Enquirer ran the same article as last year. He takes one look at the paper and shakes his head…
Mark Prior has moved on. Kerry Wood has been anointed the new closer in Chicago, but you have to wonder how long this experiment will last. But the question on your mind is probably, “what does this have to do with Cleveland sports?”
I don’t think I’ve seen as much anticipation or hype surrounding a pair of pitchers in Cleveland as Sabathia and Carmona have gotten over the past six months. But baseball is a funny game, and it has a history of wrecking our perceptions about who is, and isn’t destined for greatness. Pitchers in particular are one second, one throw away from never being the same again. I came across an excellent article written by Tiger’s pitcher Todd Jones for the Sporting News that talks about this.
But in my humble opinion, a guy gets the chance to play this game at the highest level for only so long. When that time is up, there’s not much that can be done about it.
Now there is nothing in Sabathia or Carmona’s deliveries or past to suggest injury, but in baseball you never know what will happen. Let’s just hope that our “pair of Aces” are able to go the distance this year and lead us to a place that Wood and Prior couldn’t.
Author: Rick
Rick is a co-founder and editor of WFNY. His love of Cleveland sports is surpassed only by his faith and love of his family. Follow him on Twitter- @rickwfny.Rick has written 743 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
rick, if u just jinxed our two pitchers, i will gather a following of fans and hunt you down….
like the comparison though…lol
there are several teams attempting to play the “ace” card this year… webb and haren in ARI, lackey and escobar were supposed to be in LAA, and of course Boston feels that they have the same in Beckett and Dice-K.
I think the difference between Wood/Prior and our duo is age – at least with CC. Prior and Wood were both very young. Wasn’t Prior about 22 when that all went down?
Prior was 22, and 23, and 24 and ….
“I don’t think I’ve seen as much anticipation or hype surrounding a pair of pitchers in Cleveland as Sabathia and Carmona have gotten over the past six months.”
Jack McDowell and Charlie Nagy??
Cough…cough…chokes on own tongue….