It was just another Monday night in San Diego. The Milwaukee Brewers were in town for the first game of a three-games series against the Padres. Lefty Randy Wolf was on the mound for the Brewers, facing young righty Joe Wieland for San Diego. It was the fourth big-league start for Wieland, still looking for his first win. He’d been rocked by the Los Angeles Dodgers in his major-league debut, giving up six runs — including three home runs — in five innings at Dodger Stadium. But he’d righted the ship somewhat, allowing only one and two runs, respectively, and no home runs, in his last two starts, both at PetCo Park.

Indeed, through the first fourteen games of the season, batters had hit only fourteen home runs at PetCo Park. Not Padres batters — they’d hit only six — but all batters. That’s not terribly surprising given PetCo’s notorious park factors for home runs: .59 for left-handed batters and .95 for right-handed batters, according to StatCorner.

On this night, Brewers slugger Ryan Braun had other ideas.

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We’re only three weeks into the season and MLB has already released the All-Star ballot for the 2012 mid-summer classic. That means speculation about who will participate in the Home Run Derby.

Too bad, really. I’m tired of the Home Run Derby. I’m tired of the complaints about who’s in and who’s out. I’m tired of the talk about whether participants change their swings to win the Derby. I’m tired of “back, back, back, back, back.” I’m tired of the only non-game activities during the All-Star festivities being about home runs. Because baseball is so much more than home runs.

In that spirit, I propose that the Home Run Derby be replaced with a baseball skills competition. The NBA and the NHL put on skills competitions during their all-star weekends. Sure, they’re a bit goofy, but they do a pretty good job of highlighting the different aspects of the game. Here, take a peak. First, the highlights from NBA’s 2012 Skills Competition:

Dribbling, passing, shooting. Yeah, there’s not a lot of defense involved — unless you count the human-shaped pylons. But it’s better than watching guys shoot bombs from half court.

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Friday marks the 100th anniversary of the first baseball game played at Fenway Park. The Boston Red Sox christened their new stadium on April 20, 1912 in a game against the New York Yankees. Those two teams will commemorate that first Fenway Park game by playing on Friday in throwback uniforms evocative of the time.  The game will start at 3:00 in the afternoon, just like that first game 100 years ago.

The Red Sox won the World Series in their inaugural season in Fenway Park, beating the New York Giants four games to three. But the Red Sox failed to makes the playoffs in any significant anniversary year. They missed the playoffs in the years of the 25th, 50th and 75th anniversaries, recording a winning record only in the 25th anniversary year. That year (1937) they went 80-72 but finished fifth out of eight American League teams. They also missed the playoffs in the years of the 20th, 40th, 60th and 80th anniversaries. In all but one of those seasons, they had a losing record. Only in the 60th anniversary year of Fenway Park did the Red Sox have a winning record, going 85-70 in 1972 and finishing second in the American League East.

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After Tuesday night’s games, the Washington Nationals sit atop the National League East with a record of 9-3.  Much of the team’s early success is due to outstanding pitching from both starters and relievers, who have limited opponents to 30 runs in twelve games. Only the Rangers have allowed fewer runs so far, albeit in eleven games. The Phillies have given up 33 runs.

But as good as the Nationals’ pitching has been, the Nationals have distanced themselves from Philadelphia so far with better offense: 46 runs scored for the Nationals to only 35 runs scored for the Phillies. And it’s veteran first baseman Adam LaRoche who is powering the Nats offense so far.

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A few hours before first pitch in the San Francisco Giants game against the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday evening, news broke that Giants catcher Buster Posey was pulled from the lineup. The problem? Posey’s come down with shingles.

Shingles is caused by the same virus (varicella-roster) that causes chicken pox in children. The virus remains in the body’s nerves in a dormant state until activated years later. According to the National Institutes of Health, those adults most likely to develop shingles are over the age of 60, had chicken pox before the age of one, or have an immune system weakened by medication or disease. Stress, and stress-related fatigue, can also trigger a shingles outbreak.

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Ubaldo Jimenez and Troy Tulowitzki engaged in a war of words over the winter. When the former teammates met on a baseball field in the last week of spring training, the war of words escalated. Jimenez pitched inside to Tulowitzki, hitting him on the elbow with a 90+ miles per hour fastball. Tulowitzki charged the mound. Jimenez came forward to challenge him. Benches cleared. When order was restored, Jimenez was on the mound and Tulowitzki was at the hospital getting x-rays. The umpires made no ejections and issued no warnings.

After the game, Rockies manager Jim Tracy called Jimenez “gutless.”  Jimenez said he did not intend to hit Tulowitzki. The Commissioner’s Office apparently disagreed, overruled the umpires and suspended Jimenez for five games, the equivalent of one start.

Change the names of the players. Change the teams involved. Change the circumstances leading to the beaning. It’s all about retaliation, a ritual as enmeshed in the fabric of baseball as stealing signs and never bunting to break up a no-hit bid. The Baseball Codes: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, as baseball writer Jason Turbow called them in his best-selling book and on his on-going blog.

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Dave Cameron laid out the methodology behind the rankings. Remember that the grading scale for each category is 20-80, with 50 representing league average.

2012 Organizational Rankings

#30 – Baltimore
#29 – Houston
#28 – Oakland
#27 – Pittsburgh
#26 – San Diego
#25 – Minnesota
#24 – Chicago AL
#23 – Seattle
#22 – Kansas City
#21 – Cleveland
#20 – New York NL
#19 – Los Angeles
#18 – Colorado
#17 – Miami
#16 – Arizona
#15 – Cincinnati
#14 – Chicago NL
#13 – Milwaukee 

San Francisco’s 2011 Organizational Ranking – #12

2012 Outlook: 54 (14th)

Last season, the Giants were the defending World Series Champions. This season, they’re trying to get back to the playoffs.

Since Barry Bonds‘ last year with the Giants in 2007, San Francisco has been all about pitching, pitching, pitching. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain have been an outstanding 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. Madison Bumgarner, just 22 years told, was pivotal in the 2010 playoffs and is poised to have a huge season. Ryan Vogelsong is back after his “comeback from out of the blue” year in 2011. And then there’s the $126 million man: Barry Zito, fifth starter.

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The San Francisco Giants reached an agreement today with right-handed starter Matt Cain that will keep Cain in orange and black at least through the 2017 season. Cain was entering the last year of his contract and had set an Opening Day-deadline for a contract extension with the Giants. That deal is now official.

The Giants will pay Cain $15 million for 2012 (the salary under his old contract), and $100 million for next five seasons (2013-2017). San Francisco has a club option for 2018 for $21 million but that becomes a player option if Cain reaches a certain number of innings pitched. If the Giants decline the option, Cain is guaranteed $7.5 million. If it becomes a player option, Cain can decline and still receive the $7.5 million. There is also a $5 million signing bonus. The contract includes a full no-trade clause.

With the signing bonus, and assuming the Giants pick up the option for 2018, the total price for the extension is $126 million over six years for an AAV of $21 million. If the Giants don’t pick up the extension, and buy out the option for $7.5 million, then the AAV goes up to $22.4 million.

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Dave Cameron laid out the methodology behind the rankings last Friday. Remember that the grading scale for each category is 20-80, with 50 representing league average.

2012 Organizational Rankings

#30 – Baltimore
#29 – Houston
#28 – Oakland
#27 – Pittsburgh
#26 – San Diego
#25 – Minnesota
#24 – Chicago AL
#23 – Seattle
#22 – Kansas City
#21 – Cleveland
#20 – New York NL

Los Angeles’ 2011 Organizational Ranking – #23 

2012 Outlook: 45 (19th)

While Magic Johnson and Stan Kasten and their team agreed to buy the Dodgers from Frank McCourt for more than $2 billion yesterday, these rankings were compiled before that became public, and the ratings reflect knowledge that the team would be sold but not to whom or for how much. There’s still much we don’t know about the Dodgers new ownership group and how their investment will impact the future of the team, but it’s probably fair to say that if we re-did the rankings today, the Dodgers would grade out a bit higher. After all, there are already rumors about the new owners upgrading via mid-season trades if they get approved in time and the team is contending. But for now, we evaluate the Dodgers outlook in 2012 based on the current roster.

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I’m Daily Notes Mystery Guest Author No. 1. It’s all down hill from here.

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Select Televised Games
2. Preparations for Opening Day-Japan

Select Televised Games
Notable games available on MLB.TV.

Atlanta at New York NL | 13:10 ET

The Red Sox aren’t the only team with a competition for Opening Day shortstop. The Braves came into camp expecting to name Tyler Pastornicky to the position with a mid-season call-up for prospect Andrelton Simmons. But Pastornicky’s been ho-hum this spring and some inside the Braves camp are pushing for Simmons to make the jump from Single A to the majors to start the year. Watch to see if either or both play against the Mets.

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