Random musings on rainy Saturday

While we wait for the rain to lift so Cliff Lee (leading the majors in quality starts) can continue his torrid run tonight for the Phillies, I checked up on some posts at baseball-reference.com.

(Warning: Not much SoxnorPhils content.)

Normally, I don't click on posts with an unclear headline (yes, I know this post doesn't have a good title), but I decided to read "Getting on Top and Staying There."

Instantly, I loved the theme. A scrubby player wondering "what if" his entire career was as good as his best moment. It was penned by Buddy Biancalana, one of my favorite names from the 1980s, who is the classic example of a scrubby infielder shining during the World Series before crawling back into a hole of suckitude. After helping the Royals win the 1985 World Series, Biancalana was out of baseball by 1988.

Despite the interesting premise, the essay quickly devolved into an advertisement for Buddy's Perfect Mind Perfect Motion - some kind of new-age mental focus program for athletes that focuses on slowing down the perception of time.

The experience of time is the first fundamental in every sport. Great athletes experience this, because when they perform their best, everything feels like it is in slow motion. They can't teach this experience to anyone, but they don't have to, they just do it. What I discovered was that this experience can be taught and it can quickly make a huge, career- changing difference.

If I had this knowledge 20 years ago, there would have been no "what ifs." I very well may have lived the dream for another 15 years until I retired. But at least now, I can teach my students to set up by choice what I experienced by chance, in the seven greatest games of my life.

Um, no. Maybe you were just a scrubby major league baseball player who got hot at the right time, which is nothing to be ashamed of. You're still better than 99.9999 percent of us. And, you have a ring.

Also posted today was a new From the Bill Chuck Files; he's a writer who posts random interesting tidbits. Like Christine, he's obsessed with Burrell, but just Pat, not Elvis. Today's mention:

4. The Rays are still waiting for Pat Burrell to get hot, after 33 doubles and 33 homers last season with the Phils; Burrell is only 13 and 12 this year.

But that's not why I bring it up. The relevant point, for which I'll get a glare from Christine, is No. 19:

19. A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has exceeded 130 at bats, which eliminates the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval who had 145 at bats last year. Sandoval is hitting over .330, leads the league in doubles, and has a .933 OPS.

I apologize again.

Please hope for a dry rest of the day.

Confessional

****Cycle correction**** (Correction on a correction post - Christine's not too happy with me.)

When you're married for not-quite seven years, you sometimes have to 'fess up. When you also co-publish a blog with your spouse, sometimes that confessional has to be done in public.

Last week, Christine and I were discussing some writers' midseason award picks. Christine mentioned how no one brought up her NL Rookie of the Year pick, Pablo Sandoval.

Impossible, I thought, he's in the MVP discussion (.333/.385/.550). He may have been more deserving of being added to the All-Star team than Shane Victorino or Jayson Werth.

There is a good reason he's not getting any ROY love: He lost his rookie eligibility with 145 at-bats last year.

Oops.

Dirty little secret. When it comes to SoxandPhils preseason predictions, I sometimes help Christine whittle down the rookie class if there's no obvious Phillie candidate (we thought J.A. Happ would be stuck in the bullpen all year). I recommended Sandoval based on a baseball-reference blog that listed him as a rookie. This one's on me, but at least I can say I never voted for a sophomore for rookie of the year.

Tonight's games: We're booking out early for a top-secret baseball-related mission (details to come later), but hopefully Jimmy Rollins hits another cycle as the Phillies start a series against the Cubs. Rodrigo Lopez looks to keep his job against Ted Lilly.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, look to end their mini skid with a series against the Rangers opened with a showdown of two former Braves: John Smoltz and Kevin Millwood.