Baseball became a little more bland as two of its great personalities, Harry Kalas and Mark Fidrych, passed away Monday.
The return of Major League Baseball every spring is like a rebirth, where the long cold winter is shooed away, replaced by optimism and the hope that better days lie ahead.
I guess sports shouldn't be immune from what ails the rest of society, but the start to the 2009 season has quickly become shrouded by the black cloak of death.
It all started on Opening Day in Anaheim when a couple of over-served fans decided to tussle as they left the game. Some coward came up from behind to join the melee, cold cocking one of the combatants who would later die from his injury. Twenty-seven-year-old Brian Powers went to a baseball game and never went home.
Then early last Thursday morning, hours after pitching six shutout innings against the Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels right-hander Nick Adenhart was killed, along with two other passengers, after an alleged drunk driver - with a suspended license from a previous DUI - ran a red light and t-boned the car Adenhart was riding in. The 22-year old Adenhart's career was cut short before it could even start.
Both of these deaths, fuelled by alcohol, were tragic and totally avoidable.
But this Monday was a particularly dark day for the great game of baseball. It began with the news that long-time Phillies play-by-play announcer Harry Kalas, whose calls include Mike Schmidt's 500th career home run in 1987 and the Phillies World Series title this past October, had collapsed in the press box before Philadelphia's game at Washington. Kalas was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Kalas, 73, was also a long-time voice of NFL Films, having replaced the "Voice of God", John Facenda.
Long-time friend and former booth mate Dan Shulman had this to say about Kalas the man and Hall-of-Fame broadcaster when contacted on Monday.
"Harry Kalas was one of my favourite (play-by-play) announcers," Shulman said. "Above and beyond having pipes we all dream of having, he was an outstanding person. He treated everyone like a long lost friend, and made everyone he came in contact with feel special. Philadelphia fans were very lucky to have Harry as their play-by-play announcer for the last 38 years, and as sad as it is that Harry left us too soon, I'm thrilled the Phillies won the World Series again while he was still calling their games."
Then, as we prepared for Monday night's first game of a four-game series between the Jays and Twins at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, word filtered down that Mark Fidrych, the beloved "Bird" of the Detroit Tigers in the mid-70's who wowed the baseball world with his quirky mannerisms, had been found dead lying under his truck. His death, for now, has been ruled as accidental. Fidrych was 54.
Really not much else to say except these deaths, all unexpected, have left the game with the feeling of emptiness.
RETURN OF THE INJURY BUG
The games do go on despite these tragedies and for the Toronto Blue Jays, their powerful offence continues to keep the team in every game. Monday night's 8-6 win, their fourth in come-from-behind fashion, was dampened by the loss of Jesse Litsch in the fourth inning after he walked off the mound with a right forearm strain. With Shaun Marcum out for the entire season, Dustin McGowan's return still up in the air, and A.J. Burnett now with the Yankees, Litsch was elevated from the back of the rotation into the number two slot behind Roy Halladay. And with the rest of the rotation - David Purcey, Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond - having made just 17 combined career Major League starts, a lot was expected of Litsch. He will undergo a MRI on Tuesday and hopefully won't be lost to the team for an extended period, although reliever Jeremy Accardo also suffered from forearm stiffness last season and didn't pitch an inning in the Majors after May 9. Let's hope Litsch's arm malady is not quite that serious or another rookie - either Brett Cecil or Brad Mills - will find themselves in the Jays' baby-faced rotation.
EX-JAYS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Monday was a great day for a couple of other ex-Jays. Orlando Hudson became the first Dodger to hit for the cycle at Dodger Stadium, going single, home run, double and triple in his first four at-bats, three of those against Randy Johnson. In cold and damp Chicago, Ted Lilly took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Garrett Atkins of the Rockies grounded a clean single into left field with two out.
TOUGH TIMES IN NEW YORK
Baseball fans in New York City have to hope that Monday was not a sign of things to come this season. The Mets opened Citi Field, their new, opulent stadium which at first glance reminds many of Ebbets Field. Padres outfielder Jody Gerut christened the new ballpark by homering on the third pitch of the game as San Diego spoiled the Mets opener 6-5. Meanwhile, the Yankees provided the opposition as Tampa Bay opened their home season with a banner-raising of their first American League pennant. Then the Rays went out and scored 10 runs in the first three innings - eight off starter Chien-Ming Wang - en route to a 15-5 laugher. It got so bad for the Yankees that first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher had to pitch an inning. Both the Mets and Yankees are 3-4 after the first week of the season.
