My Aunt Kathy died yesterday after a long battle with emphysema. Kathy was one of the most hilariously sarcastic people I’ve known, and — for better or for worse — probably had something to do with my own sarcasm and resulting cynicism. She used to call me the little prick, from the time I was about 12, and sometimes, to change things up, called me the little asshole. That said, she really loved me and always told me I was her favorite and that she was my favorite (she really did say all of this). I’ll miss her a lot. Recently, I’m told, she started singing take me out to the ballgame whenever someone mentioned my new scouting gig. I like that a lot. She was also fond of saying she’d “haunt my ass” when she died. When I thought of that last night I got a big smile on my face. You can haunt me anytime Kathy.

On a brighter note our own Jackson Broder is expecting a baby girl at any second. The baby was conceived in the very early days of East Windup Chronicle. I’m not sure if he’ll remember this as well as I do, but he and I were on Yahoo! chat the moment he found out his wife was pregnant. He wrote something like “hold on…I have to talk to Pi Chen.” A few minutes later when he came back he wrote:
“You won’t believe this…”
“Pi Chen is…”
“P”
“R”
“E”
“G”
“N”
“A”
“N”
“T”

The only other time Jackson used that same chatting letter technique was when he spelled out the name of a (unexpected) player he’d heard through the scouting grapevine had taken steroids. I think he was a little surprised at first at the notion of being a father, but anyone who’s met Jackson knows he’ll be a good one.

As I sometimes do, I switched over to watch the AB of one of my fantasy players in a crucial situation. Nick Johnson was batting with the bases loaded against the Marlins, and he hit a bases clearing double for his fourth RBI of the game. I rarely switch over to check fantasy stats as they occur, but with my team dead last in three major offensive categories in the EWC league, I’m anxious to move up. Often times, early in the year, a four RBI game can move your team up a few places. Johnson’s double gave me 38 team RBI on the season. The person in 19th place had 54.

It’s mid/late April and the first kernels of Reds disgust are creeping into my stomach. I make no bones about it; when the Reds play badly I stop watching. Not entirely, but mostly. Today, down 2-0 after one, Bronson Arroyo versus Ben Sheets, I saw little point in keeping close tabs. I turned on Johan Santana instead.

Today my speed gun and camera arrived from the Cubs, but because of tariffs and other nonsense. I’ll have to wait until Monday to get it. I should probably be trying to act and write as though I’ve been scouting all my life, but I’m pretty humbled by the whole idea. Give me time. Soon I’ll be doing full, graded, mechanical breakdowns of guys I’ve never seen pitch. Or, I’ll just get shut down by my employer like this scout was.

You know who’s back? Clint Barmes. I jumped on his bandwagon when he was a rookie and rode his hot hitting to a nice fantasy ride. If I remember correctly he was nearly DFA’d last season. Despite having broken his collarbone carrying deermeat down Todd Helton’s staircase, I’m glad to see him doing well. Mostly because I just picked him up in two leagues. Mooha ha ha.

Yasuhiko Yabuta was blown up this afternoon and I felt bad. He got two outs following a walk to Bobby Crosby, but then proceeded to throw eight of nine pitches for balls. He’s a little anxious on and around the mound anyway, but this was different. He started hurrying his routine and trying to over-communicate with catcher John Buck. Tony Pena muffled a ball going to his right and a run scored. Pena could have been called for an error, but wasn’t. He then threw Jack Cust six straight changeups (his out pitch), the last one right on the outside part of the plate, but it was called ball four. Run scores. Yabuta looked pretty upset. Trey Hillman came to the mound. His final line 2/3 inn, 1H, 5ER, 4BB.

And opted for Hideo Nomo. Seriously, I’m not one to get caught up in empathizing for certain players, but Nomo came into the game with a 13.50 ERA and opponents hitting .389 off him. I kind of laughed at the notion of him coming back, but since he was called up I’ve been hoping he’d at least be usable. He gets Emil Brownto pop up to shallow left. Pena calls for it, drifts out of the infield, and then proceeds to let the ball drop with nary a soul in vicinity. It was pure little league. Two more runs score. Amazingly, it was ruled a single. Probably one of the worst scoring calls I’ve ever seen. I’ll leave the rest out, but it got a little worse. Nomo’s final line: 1/3 inn, 3H, 3ER.

Lotte won again and is now 12-4. This team is loose, playing well, and having a lot of fun. You can see it during the game. Today, as the team left the field Roysterjumped and shoulder-butted one of his players as they all slapped hands after the 5-2 win over Woori Heroes. Today ex-Pirate Marty McLeary turned in his first quality start. He didn’t get the win, but it was good to see.

The game was in Seoul, at Mundeok Stadium, where I’ll be next week for the 42nd President’s Cup. The Lotte fans, most wearing black clothes with orange bags on their heads, were screaming every pitch. They vastly outnumbered the Woori fans, some of whom had those white blowup noise sticks, but seemingly none wearing the teams burgundy and gold colors. It was kind of pathetic actually.