Palm Springs Life: Even in Absentia, Maria Sharapova is Hot Topic

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

This was the scenario at the BNP Paribas tournament Wednesday (March 9): The ladies who were there, if not yet playing — champions such as Angelique Kerber, who just won the Australian Open, and Petra Kvitova, who has two Wimbledon titles — were compelled to talk about the lady who wasn’t there.

That, of course, would be Maria Sharapova, who pulled out Indian Wells with a sore forearm — that’s forearm, not forehand — before it was announced she had failed a drug test and faced a suspension from the game.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Samardzija on Giants-Dodgers: It’s a rivalry for sure

By Art Spander

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — They were booing the announcement of the other team’s lineup. Before an exhibition game. Before what, in effect, is a workout, if with a lot of accoutrements. But it was the Dodgers, and for a sellout crowd of 12,127 at the Giants spring ballpark, that fact transcended everything else.

As one of new kids on the block, and on the mound, understood full well.

“It’s a rivalry for sure,” said Jeff Samardzija. “I love it.”

The majority of the fans at Scottsdale Stadium did not love the result, the Dodgers winning 5-2. It wasn’t a good day overall for the Bay Area against L.A., with the Lakers throttling the Warriors.

Of course, that one mattered, in the standings and in the records. This one mattered only for the emotions of the spectators. Not that they should be ignored.

When people are chanting “Beat L.A., Beat L.A.” in Arizona, in early March, one grasps the significance of what, other than the individual performances, is a contest of insignificance. Except for the people who buy the tickets and buy into the idea that beating the Dodgers makes their lives better.

“It’s to be expected,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. He didn’t need to add that the Giants and Dodgers have been facing each other since 1890 when the Giants were in one New York borough, upper Manhattan, and the Dodgers in another, Brooklyn. They’ve played more than 2,400 times, not including exhibitions.

“The booing, the fans, probably adds a little excitement for the players,” said Bochy.

As usual this time of year, Bochy doesn’t get too excited or depressed, other than for a serious injury. He was upbeat about Samardzija, in his second Cactus League start, going three innings, striking out five and allowing just one run. It’s what the Giants need from a man signed as a free agent for $90 million who is supposed to be No. 2 or No. 3 in the rotation.

If Giants relievers Clayton Blackburn, who was the loser, and Jake Smith each gave up two runs, well, nothing to be worried about. Even if it’s against the Dodgers.

The Giants' lineup was without Buster Posey, taking a day off, and Hunter Pence, who’s been out with soreness in an Achilles tendon but is supposed to be ready on Wednesday.

Brandon Crawford again was the designated hitter — even when two National League teams meet, the DH is in effect in the exhibition season — because of a sore throwing arm. He should be back at shortstop the middle of the week. Crawford’s swing is fine. He homered in the sixth.

The Dodgers' Yasiel Puig, who singled and drove in a run, was the main target of the derision. Giants fans simply do not like the man. And Chase Utley, who reportedly has won the appeal of a two-game suspension he received for taking out (and breaking the leg of) Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada in the World Series, also was booed loudly.

“You’ve got two passionate fan bases,” said Samardzija, “and they’re going at each other more than the players are. That’s good.”

Although he’s new to the Giants, Samardzija is not new to rivalries. He pitched for the Cubs, who couldn’t escape the presence or success of the Cardinals. Before that, he played football for Notre Dame.

“It could be USC or Michigan,” said Samardzija. “Those were big games for us. We could have a down team or they could have a down team. It never really mattered. There was so much at stake.”

A wise man would say that virtually nothing is at stake in baseball during the first week in March, but when the opposing team has LA on its baseball caps, logic is secondary. Memories of Tommy Lasorda lording it at Candlestick Park remain, even with Lasorda retired and Candlestick destroyed.

For years, the Giants were the Dodgers' foils. As the lyrics went, paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep.

Giants fans cannot forget or apparently forgive.

“For the players, these games are just workouts,” said Samardzija. “But we have to understand the people take these games seriously. You don’t want to go out there and be too loose.”

To borrow from Samardzija’s thoughts, don’t we just love it?

Newsday (N.Y.): Royals ready to repeat, but they know it won’t be easy

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SURPRISE, Ariz. — This city was created in 1938 on Sonoran desert scrubland 25 miles west of Phoenix. “I’ll be surprised if the town amounts to anything,” said Flora Mae Statler, the founder, unintentionally providing a name.

The population of Surprise — surprise! — now is more than 117,000.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Will Giants be end of Ricky Romero’s long road?

By Art Spander

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — There were days when Ricky Romero would sit and wonder, “Why me?” Why someone in his prime, someone so skilled, someone “so dedicated and passionate about the game of baseball,” as he described himself, would suddenly have his body fail him and send him crashing not just out of the majors but out of the game.

He was the sixth overall pick in the 2005 draft, from Cal State Fullerton, and in six years an All-Star for the Toronto Blue Jays. So perfect an arc for anyone, especially a kid from the barrio, from East Los Angeles. A lefthanded pitcher, and you know how valuable they are.

In his late 20s the value diminished. An elbow ache. He compensated by trying to drive harder off the mound, and both knees — sore from running the stadium steps to get in shape — went bad.       

As did his ERA, ballooning to 5.77 in 2012 from 2.92 the previous year. He underwent surgery on each knee. And struggled. Although he had $8 million coming, in 2014 the Jays sent him to Triple A Buffalo. He was pounded in two starts and cut.

“I asked myself, am I just going to sit here and feel sorry for myself or am I going to go to work and do what I have to do?” Romero remembered. “There were a lot of rehab days where I said, ‘This is it. I’m just tired of being in pain.’ Then finally the Giants called. They said, ‘We don’t want you ready for this year (2015). We want you ready for next year.’ I thought, let’s do it.”

Next year arrived on a humid, 84-degree afternoon Saturday at Scottsdale Stadium. For the first time in two years Romero pitched against major leaguers. He started the Giants’ Cactus League game against the Texas Rangers, went 1 2/3 innings and although allowing a hit and two walks didn’t give up a run.

Eventually the Giants would be beaten by Texas, 7-5, before a sellout crowd of 11,351. Yet that seemed unimportant. Romero was not. “This was a big day for him,” affirmed Bruce Bochy, the Giants’ manager.

“This,” said Bochy, “has been a long road for him.”

Where it leads is impossible to suggest. Does Romero regain the dominance of the past, at the least find a spot in the rotation of the Giants’ AAA affiliate in Sacramento and then, when and if someone on the San Francisco staff falters or is hurt, move up to the big club? Or does he never make it back to the majors?

“Look at his track record,” said Bochy, an unrelenting optimist. “You can tell he’s got experience just by his poise and how he pitches.”

This comeback hardly is a lark for Romero. He misses the game, misses the clubhouse, misses the feeling of making a contribution. At 31, he doesn’t need the money. He needs the acceptance.

“At this point in my career,” said Romero,” there’s no pressure. I’ve been through it with injuries. Whatever happens, happens because of the work that I put in. I think I did a pretty good job of that. Just to be part of this team, with a coaching staff like this, is pretty cool.”

The knee is healthy. The outlook is healthy. Time and patience were necessary. Obviously a team like the Giants, with pitching depth, a perceptive front office and a large budget, had the smarts and wherewithal to go about it in a proper manner.

“I’m being smart about certain things,” said Romero. “I’m not 23 years old anymore. It’s been a process. After I signed here, I still was rehabbing. I showed up on the minor league side. They saw me play catch for the first time. They’re like, you’re not going on any mound yet, even though I had thrown live batting practice in Toronto.

“So I took a step back. This ain’t a race I had to get back into the year I signed.”

Now the race is underway again.

“My agent asked me over the winter if I wanted to go back with the Giants,” said Romero. “I said, 'If they want me back.' They did the job helping me get healthy. If I can help them in whatever way, I will help them. You might be the guy they call up. These guys are winning for a reason.”

Ricky Romero can only wish he’s part of that reason.

Greatness of the A's lives on in Mesa

By Art Spander

MESA, Ariz. — Spring training is supposed to be about the future, about preparation for the season ahead. And while the Oakland Athletics are no less diligent than any other major league team in that assignment, so much here at their home ballpark, Hohokam Stadium, is about a glorious past.

Along the main concourse that leads from the entrance to the stands are posted huge photo murals of former A’s greats, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, the late Catfish Hunter and others, memories of the championship years, of the last franchise in baseball to win three World Series in succession.

So far away, and these days apparently so unattainable. In 2015, the A’s had the worst record in the American League. Such a contrast to the success reflected in the photos. Still, this is the time of hope and optimism in baseball. And on Friday afternoon, with the A's 9-4 winners over the Colorado Rockies, there was a great deal of both.

Now in his sixth year as manager of the A’s, Bob Melvin sees last year as an aberration, a failure unusual for the organization, a failure created by an obscenely high number of injuries.

“We were in the postseason three years in a row, so last year did not sit well with anybody who’s still here,” said Melvin. “Look at the injuries we had to the guys who were performing well. We’re completely redoing our bullpen, which was a big issue for us. So we didn’t feel like we were that far off.”

Melvin is 54, a onetime catcher from Cal whose career began with Detroit and continued with the Giants. “My first day at Candlestick Park in 1986,” recalled Melvin, “and Willie Mays (coaching) and Willie McCovey have the lockers on either side of me.” If that wouldn’t intimidate a young player, nothing would.

The trades by A’s GM Billy Beane are just another issue, part of the job. Melvin managed the Diamondbacks to first place in the National League West in 2006, then did the same thing with the A’s in the AL West in 2012 and 2013.

“We didn’t feel we were that far off,” said Melvin about the current A’s. “Shore up a couple areas, and we feel we’ll be a lot better.”

The area where the A’s were supreme was pitching, and Melvin, hardly alone in the dugout or the clubhouse, was enthralled with the performance of Sean Manaea, the lefthander Oakland obtained last July from Kansas City who was making his first start. It was impressive.

Manaea went two innings, allowed one hit and struck out four.

“Up to 97,” said Melvin, “throwing four changeups in a row, which is kind of his work-on pitch to get a strikeout, breaking balls, two-seamer (fastball), four-seamer. We were impressed with him before, but even more so right now.”

Manaea is from Indiana State, Larry Bird’s school. Maybe he can’t hit 20-foot jumpers, but he can hit the corners of the plate. He did miss the first baseman on a pickoff, but that didn’t bother Melvin, who said, “He likes to throw over, and he had him off balance, he would have picked him off.

“When you see a young kid like that trying to perfect his game, something we talked about early in camp, the little things to get yourself ready, get better every day, it’s definitely impressive.”

So the A’s have pitching, they believe. They also have hitting. Franklin Barreto, who was with Stockton in the Cal League last season, homered as a pinch hitter. “Didn’t take him time to get going,” said Melvin.

Asked if it were a surprise, Melvin said, “No. When you watch him take batting practice, watch him go about his business here, he knows what he’s doing. When he steps up like that, first time up, that was...”

That was what's making the A’s impatient for this season and beyond. Khris Davis, picked up only a couple weeks ago in a trade, had a double and three runs batted in.

“We’re always optimistic here,” said Melvin.

Just keep looking at those photos of the good old days. If the A’s could do it then, certainly they could do it now.