Big Red Machine

Ah, the Big Red Machine.  How could we overlook the Big Red Machine.  I guess we just discount their pitching and say, “they’ll hit a ton, but can they really contend ?”  Dumb question to ask.  Steve Tate has returned once again to the helm of the the Queen City’s favorite franchise and we all know his pedigree.  Steve has a few pennants and a KOD championship under his belt, so we all know he will be a formidable opponent.  I find it hard to malign any pitching staff that has Tom Seaver as it’s ace.  Tom Terrific will always be remembered as a Met, but his 6 years in Cincy, minus 1982, were HOF caliber.  In fact do I dare commit heresy and say he was robbed of the Cy Young in 1981 when he was 14-2 , because of this thing called Fernando-mania ??? Dare I ???  Gary Nolan, Don Gullet, Mario Soto and Jim Maloney are rock solid.  The more you look at this staff the more you start to think they will pitch good enough with that lineup of stars scoring runs for them game in and game out.  Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, George Foster and Joe Morgan are all HOF’ers or HOF quality  Plug in Dave Concepcion with his flashy leather and timely hitting and there are absolutely no holes here.  That pennant that was conceded to the Dodgers a few posts ago is now back up for grabs !  Look out for Cincy !

Friars

Joey Scigliano has been the Friars only manager in franchise history.  KOD 11 was his breakout year as the team from La Jolla finally made the KOD playoffs for the first time in franchise history.  Joey will be looking to build on that momentum with a team setup to overachieve.  Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn, will be his go to guy on the offensive side.  The Padres have a lot of interesting parts like Nate Colbert who during their early years was a diamond in the rough who provided a lot of muscle and RBI’s.  Garry Templeton will be at short, because if he “ain’t startin’ he ain’t departin’”.  He will pick it with the best of them and his switch hitting bat will put him up on top of the lineup vs all pitchers.  The pitching staff will be led by Cy Young winner Randy Jones & the Andy’s:  Hawkins and Merchant of Benes.  Joey will have to go with a bullpen by committee to finish games up in the wild and wacky NL West.

Giant Concerns

Giants rookie manager Keith MacDonald will have to figure out how to beat the arch rival Dodgers.  The classic rivalry that has stretched across a whole century and 3,000 miles will once again renew itself in KOD.  Before awarding the NL pennant to the Boys of Summer one needs to take a close look at the potent lineup the boys from Candlestick and Coogan’s bluff poses.  Start right at the top with Willie Mays, who is arguably the greatest 5 tool player to lace up a pair of spikes.  Pitching around the “Say Hey Kid” means you’re choosing the poison in the form of Cepeda, McCovey and Thomson.  Good luck with that.  The Jints come up a bit short in their middle infield and lack of tablesetters.  A lot will be expected from Tito Fuentes, Robby Thompson and Alvin Dark.  If they have breakout seasons the Giants will haunt the Dodgers all year.  Pitching, while not on the same par as Brooklyn/LA, is still really good.  The high kicking “Dominican Dandy”, Juan Marichal is the unchallenged ace.  Gaylord Perry and Sal “the barber” Maglie will back him up in the rotation.  Larry Jansen, Marv Grissom and Jim Barr will vie for the final 3 slots.  The pen will start and stop with HOF’er Hoyt Wilhelm, who’s knuckleball needs to flutter at all the right times to close out games.

Boys of Summer

Dem Bums are downright scary.  In fact there isn’t a bum in the lot.  Original manager Georges Bseraini returns for his 12 seasons on the Dodger Bench with his strongest team ever with 7 HOF’ers and 6 or 7 borderline HOF’ers.  The only weakness on this team is the fact that there isn’t enough playing time to keep all the egos happy.  Bseraini, who has won 1 World Championship and 2 pennants hold the KOD record for most consecutive seasons managing the same franchise.  Quite frankly, this is the Dodger way.  In the tradition of Walter Alston (24 seasons) and Tommy Lasorda (20 seasons), Bseraini fits right in.  His pitching staff is an embarrassment of riches.  Nobody should be shocked at the 1-2 punch of Koufax and Drysdale at the top of the rotation.  Nothing needs to be said about their pedigre.  Sandy is the only 200+ inning pitcher in the league with a sub 2.00 ERA.  Drysdale will keep hitters off the plate anytime they even think of crowding it.  Who are the 3-4-5 starters ?  Try picking just 3 from the list of:  Don Sutton, Tommy John, Orel Hershiser, Don Newcombe, Preacher Roe and Fernando Valenzuela.  Break up the Dodgers is all I have to say and I haven’t even talked about their lineup that is.  Oh, and what a lineup it is.  Gil, Pee Wee, Campy, Duke, Skoonj and Robby for starters and we haven’t even gotten out of Brooklyn yet.  Head to LA and you get the Davis boys, Maury Wills and his fleet feet + Garvey, Cey, Smith and Scioscia.  Stalwarts like Russell, Baker and Lopes didn’t even make the roster that’s how strong the varsity is here.  The pen might be the weak part of the team, but calling it a weak spot is like picking on Cindy Crawford for having a beauty mark.  Any pen that has Ron Perranoski, Jim Brewer and Jay Howell can’t be too shabby.  With all those great starters in front of them they might actually wind up working as hard as the Maytag repairman.

Spahn & Sain and no need for rain

After suffering through a season without pitching in Philadelphia manager Justin Ryan heads down to “Hot-lanta” to pilot the Braves.  Ryan, a lifelong Met fan, is in the process of making the rounds managing franchises he grew up hating and despising.  At his disposal will be a staff that features 3 HOF’er on the front end.  Lefties Warren Spahn and Tommy “I hate the 1st inning” Glavine will be joined by top knuckleballer of all time, Phil Niekro.  1957 World Series MVP Lew Burdette will be the #4 guy if you can believe that  and John Smoltz is being penciled in as the best #5 starter in KOD history.  To say Ryan finally has the pitching he has coveted for seasons is an understatement.  The lineup is flat out awesome.  Opposing hurlers will quake in their boots when they see the names:  Aaron, Mathews, Adcock, Murphy, Torre and Horner up on the scoreboard.  Chief Knock-a-homer will need to have Geico insure his Teepee for projectile damage when this crew plays.  The soft spot for this team might be the pen.  Gene Garber and Cecil Upshaw will have a lot of pressure on them to protect leads.  Thankfully workhorses like Spahn and Burdette won’t need much relief.  Johnny Sain will be a key man as a spot starter, long reliever and possible setup man.

Astro-nomical !

Nolan Ryan, J.R. Richard, Larry Dierker, Joe Niekro and Don Wilson will be the rotation.  Niekro, the knuckleballer, is the only one who won’t be turning lumber into kindling.  This staff is so good, 1986 Cy Young Award winner Mike Scott, might wind up being a long reliever.  Expect to see a lot of opposing hitters walking back to the dugout shaking their heads in disbelief.  Pitching in the cavernous Astrodome is only going to make these guys just that much tougher.  While not outstanding the lineup isn’t exactly chopped liver.  Le' Grande’ Orange’, Rusty Staub will team up with the “Toy Cannon” Jimmy Wynn and a young but raw Joe Morgan.  Craig Biggio will be the greatest utility player the league has ever seen with his ability to play almost every position and hit like a centerfielder.  Jose Cruz, Cliff Johnson and Cesar Cedeno will make the most of their spots in the lineup.  Manager Mike Johnson’s second season in Houston will be a pleasant one considering all the arms he has at his disposal.  His pen will feature lefty Joe Sambito and righty Dave Smith on the back end.  Ken Forsch and Jim Ray will be the setup guys.

The Bucs stop here

Maybe the most potent lineup in the NL East, and quite possibly in the top 2 or 3 in the whole NL.  Mega-star Roberto Clemente patrols right field with a howitzer for a right arm and a bat capable of producing in every situation.  “Pops”, Willie Stargell will hit clean up and knock in runs at an alarming rate since fellow HOF’er Ralph Kiner will be hitting behind him most of the time.  Pitching around Pops is not even an option.  Maz will turn more DP’s than any other second sacker in the lop.  Mad Dog and Hebner will be a very potent lefty/righty platoon over at the hot corner.  The staff will rely on “the Deacon”, Vern Law and Steve “under control” Blass in the top spots along with the “Candy Man” and Bob Friend.  With Elroy Face and the submariner Kent Tekulve coming out of the pen this staff should have no problem closing out games when given the lead.  Tony Pena will be handling the staff behind the plate and making snap throws to first to catch dozing baserunners off guard.  Manager Mark Angle returns for his second season as Buc skipper.  In his first season Angle led the Bucs to the best record in the NL, but suffered a playoff disappointment by losing the the Metsies in the NLDS.

Phil-er Up !

Manager Jesse Elicker returns to KOD after a 2 year hiatus and moves across the state to Philly after managing Pittsburgh for so many classic KOD seasons.  He’s excited to have the enigmatic super star Richie Allen in his lineup anchoring one corner of the infield while HOF’er Michael Jack Schmidt will be at the other other corner.  Philly will have more than just Schmidt and Allen attacking the fences.  “The Bull”, Greg Luzinski, Johnny Callison, and Del Ennis can go deep with the best of them.  The ace of this staff is Robin Roberts, who averaged 24 wins during his 5 year best stretch in his career.  No other pitcher in the loop can even hope to approach this.  With Roberts as the ace, “Lefty”, Steve Carlton becomes arguably the best #2 guy in the league.  Curt Simmons and Jim Lonborg must have big campaigns in support of the big 2.  Tug McGraw and Jim Konstanty will offer a nice lefty/righty option for Elicker out of the pen.

Un-Expos-ed

How can a late expansion team compete in this star studded league ?  Well first you build you team holistically like the Expos did, with good young talent and secondly you hire yourself a manager who’s had some good post season experience in KOD.  While having only 2 HOF’er at their disposal (Andrew “Hawk” Dawson & Gary “Kid” Carter), the Expos have a lot of rock solid All-Stars to surround them.  Tim Wallach and Larry Parrish will be well above average at the hot corner, while Larry Walker and Ellis Valentine will hit for power and dare base runners to go from 1st to 3rd on their cannon arms.  Often overlooked in HOF balloting is “the Rock”, Tim Raines, who has that unique combination of speed and power and an uncanny ability to get on base when it counts most.  The pitching staff does not really have an ace, but it is solid all the way through.  Steve Rogers will be the defacto ace and Scott Sanderson, Steve Renko and Bryn Smith will back him up.  El Presidente, Dennis Martinez, could be the wild card.  If he has a great season the ‘Spos will go far.  Jeff Reardon will close games out as the stopper from the pen.

Let’s Play 2…

This stretch of history (1947-1993) c0vers an era where the the hapless Cubbies made the post season only twice (1984 & 1988).  Most pundits would write Jim Walden and his team from the North Side off, but how can you do that when you have an every day lineup of: Ernie Banks, Rhino, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, The Hawk and Billy Bucks.  The Achilles heel for the Cubbies typically would be their pitching, or lack there of.  If you look closely you’ll start to realize that pitching isn’t a weakness at all here.  Fergie Jenkins is easily the #1 starter.  This goes without saying.  The tall Canadian righty anchored the Cub staff from the mid 60’s through the mid 70’s like no other hurler in club history.  Behind him in the rotation is a rock solid group featuring a young Greg Maddux, lefty Kenny Holtzman, Big Daddy Rick Reuschel and Rick Sutcliffe.  The pen has HOF’er Bruce Sutter, which means the starters need only get 7 quality innings of work in before handing the ball off to the bearded one.

It’s in the Cards…

The Redbirds will feature a balanced attack with speed (Lou Brock, Vince Coleman, Willie McGee & Ozzie Smith) and power (Stan Musial, Ken Boyer & Joe Torre).  Simply put the Cardinals will be able to run wild and go deep.  This might be the most balanced offense in the league.  A gold glove infield featuring Mex (Keith Hernandez), Ozzie Smith, Ken Boyer and Red Schoendienst will stop ground balls in their tracks.  McGee or Curt Flood will track down pretty much everything hit into the outfield.  The pitching revolves around the great Bob Gibson.  Nobody comes up bigger in big games than #45.  A young Steve Carlton needs to be up to the task to be the #2 guy as the rest of the staff is pedestrian at best.  Worrell, and the Mad Hungarian “Al Hrabosky will have to close out games in a tidy fashion by entering early when Gibby and Carlton aren’t on the hill.  Skipper Bike Mike Roberts will be returning to the Cardinal bench for his 10 time in the last 11 seasons.  Last year Mike had the opportunity to manage the the field for the Browns and did an excellent job getting that moribund club over the .500 mark.

Amazin’, Amazin’, Amazin’

When your rotation is:  Seaver, Koosman, Gooden, Cone & Darling you are going to win you fair share of games.  One thing is for sure, the Shea crowd will have top tier pitching & pitching is 85% of the game.  The lineup will be centered around enigmatic slugger Darryl Strawberry, who can blast them out of any ballyard.  Gold glovers like Keith Hernandez, Felix Millan, Jerry Grote and Buddy Harrelson will anchor the infield and get on base for the big bats of Straw, HoJo and Kevin Mac.  Having Grote behind the plate will almost neutralize the speed game of many national league teams.  During his prime Grote was known to be the best catch and throw backstop in the league.  When asked what he would do if he was on the same team with Grote, HOF’er Johnny Bench said, “I would have learned to play 3rd base”.  Manager Andy Weinrib returns to the Met bench for his 12 consecutive season.  Last season he piloted the team to the NLCS, so big things are expected from the big man !

NL East Preview

Ah the traditional NL East featuring:  Pittsburgh, Philly, Montreal, Chicago, New York and St. Louis.

I think back to the Pirates of the 70’s:  the Lumber Company, or those Philly teams of the late 70’s and early 80’s that always found a way to outlast the Expos and win the division by a game or two. or the great Mets/Cards/Cubs rivalries of the 80’s.

 

Twin Killing

Nobody hit more round trippers in the decade of the 60’s than the “killer” himself Harmon Killebrew.  Put it down in ink that “the killer” will be hitting cleanup and crushing balls deep into the night.  His old teammate Tony Oliva, who IMO is a HOF caliber player, will be in right field and hitting just in front of Killebrew.  Stars of the 80’s like Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett will join the stars of the 60’s to make this a very potent lineup.  Newly elected HOF’er Bert Blyleven will lobby for the #1 slot in a rotation that has former Cy Young award winner Frank “sweet music” Viola and everyone’s favorite lefty, Jim Kaat.  “Aggie”, aka..Rick Aguliera will be the closer.  Rod Carew will be at the height of his base hitting machine powers.  Marvin Sik will be returning for his league record 11th straight season as Twins skipper.  Next to Killebrew and Hrbek, Marvin is the most beloved figure in Twins franchise history.  Prior to managing the Twins in KOD2, Marvin cut his teeth in KOD1 as a mid season replacement manager for the ‘79 Pirates.

Royal Treatment

This staff is loaded.  Mr. Odd Year himself, Bret Saberhagen is the ace, IMO.  Gura is darn good too.  Kevin Appier is no slouch and has the best ERA of all the starters.  Montgomery and Quiz anchor a strong bullpen.  The highest ERA on this staff is Splittorff (3.65)
The lineup is going to have a lot of speed, which plays right into manager Justin Ryan’s strength...aggressive base running.  8 guys are in double digits for steals.  Willie Wilson hits .311 and steals 58 bases.  Freddie Patek almost plays a gold glove short and steals 41.  Amos Otis will play a gold glove centerfield and swipe 29.  Any lineup that has George Brett in it is going to score runs.  Brett brings a .330 average to the table.  The power will come from Bye Bye Steve Balboni, Danny Tartabull and John Mayberry.  Frank White (2B), Otis (CF) and Wilson (LF) are gold glovers.  Patek (SS), Cowens (RF), & Brett (3B) are close behind.

Straight A’s

In 1987 a 40+ year old Reggie Jackson, in his final year, got to hit in the same lineup with the up and coming “Bash Brothers” Canseco and McGwire.  Reggie could only hope and wonder what it would have been like to have played with these two when he was in his prime.  Well now he’ll get his chance.  The “straw” that stirred the drink will hopefully be able to keep those two miscreants in line as the A’s attempt to outpower and outpitch the AL West.  Table setters like Bert Campaneris, Billy North and Tony Phillips will do their best to get on base for the big guns.  On most days a young basepath daredevil named Rickey Henderson will lead off.  Arguably the games greatest lead off man, Henderson offers the rare compliment of speed, power and a great batter’s eye.  The staff will be anchored by the great Catfish Hunter and the phenom Vida Blue.  Dave Stewart and Bob Welch will slot in nicely in the 3 and 4 spots with Mike Noris and Blue Moon Odom vying for the #5 slot.  Once you get past the starters it gets even tougher thanks to a pen that has Lindblad and Aker as the setup men and dual HOF closers in Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley.  Marc Weiss will be returning to the A’s bench after leaving the franchise to head to Chicago for one season.

South Side of Chicago

The defending KOD champions will have a new skipper on the bench this season.  Actually he’s not new at all.  Dan Holm will be returning to the bench after taking a season off.  Chicago decided to part company with interim manager Marc Weiss, who will be moving back to Oakland to manage the A’s.  Holm has had many good seasons with the Pale Hose including his pennant winning 1974 Sox that lost to the 52 Boston Braves in a hard fought 7 game series back in KOD9.  Holm will be taking over a team that is built around speed and pitching.  Tommy John, Wilbur Wood, Joe Horlen, Jack McDowell and Eddie Fisher make some formidable staff.  The pen is top notch too with Terry “Big tub of goo” Forster, Bobby Thigpen and the venerable Hoyt Wilhelm closing games out.  Look for the Chisox to manufacture runs with running mates Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox anchoring the top of the order and playing gold glove baseball in the middle of the infield.  Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines and Minnie Minoso will be featured prominently in the middle of the order.

Home on the Range(rs)

When you think Texas you think offense, and lots of it.  Add to the mix some of the players who played for the franchise when it was in Washington (1961-71) and you have some balance.  It will be interesting to see how the “Capital Punisher” Frank Howard fares in a lineup where he’ll finally have some protection.  All those years that he toiled in anonymity in our nation’s capital, Hondo had no one of any stature hitting in front or behind him.  Amazingly he hit 40+ homers 3 years in a row.  On this team he’ll have “Mr. I have never taken steroids” Palmeiro and Juan “Gone” hitting in front or behind him.  Pitchers beware !!!  Newcomer Jamie Watkins will be joining KOD for his first season of online baseball.  His biggest challenge will be cobbling together a pitching staff that probably will have Kevin Brown as it’s ace along with an aged Nolan Ryan, who still had 2 no hitters left in his tank deep into his 40’s.

Angels in the Outfield…

The Los Angeles Angels shocked the baseball world by finishing in the first division (3rd place) in just their second year of existence.  In fact they hold the record for the best record for a 1st year expansion team.  This Angels squad has some good arms.  The staff is anchored by Nolan Ryan during the height of his powers.  While in Anaheim Ryan finally harnessed his great power and began striking out batters at an alarming rate.  I wouldn’t be shocked to see “the Express” flirt with a no-hitter during the league.  Frank Tanana will look to defend his KOD11 Cy Young award by being Ryan’s #2 guy.  The lineup is much better than expected.  Mickey Rivers will be a catalyst in the lead off spot, which means Rod Carew will see many fastballs in the #2 hole.  Reggie Jackson and Don Baylor will provide the power.  Any shortcomings that this team might have will be turned into positives as veteran skipper Douglas Zaner will be on the bench calling the signals.  Since taking over the Angels franchise in KOD 4 (8 seasons) Zaner has won 3 AL Pennants and 1 World Championship.

Arms for the Tribe

If you read:  The Curse of Rocky Colavito, you’d know that the Indian franchise had a 30 year period of ineptness running from the early 1960’s until the early 90’s.  Knowing that as a fact one would assume that this Tribe offering would be mediocre at best.  Wipe that thought out of your mind.  Remember prior to the 60’s the Tribe was a perennial contender from the late 40’s until the time of the curse.  During that period no pitching staff dominated baseball more than Cleveland’s.  This staff will have the best of Feller, Wynn, Garcia and Lemon + Luis Tiant at his fireballing best.  The lineup will have “The Rock” plus a cast of characters who could flat out hit the cover off the bal.  Another fact to recall is that during their period of ineptness this team had some great hitting and zero pitching.  Manager Bill Keller gets to combine the prowess of those great pitching teams with those all hitting teams from their dark days.  He also had a secret weapon in his arsenal:  Sudden Sam McDowell.  I pity the left handed hitter who has to face that guy late in the game.  Keller himself is coming off a pennant winning season in KOD11, where he piloted the ‘37 Reds to the NL Pennant.  If the fielding holds up Keller’s Krew might just shock the world.

Brew Crew Bukal

Call them Harvey’s Wallbangers or Bukal’s Brew Crew, on thing remains the same:  This team will score runs…and lots of them.  Feast or famine, nobody this side of Mickey Mantle is more fun to watch at the plate then Gorman Thomas.  Thomas won’t exactly make you forget Willie Mays in centerfield, but he will hit some tape measure shots that will fly off your monitor and onto your docking station.  Cecil Cooper will flash lots of leather at 1st and hit well over .300 in the process.  Mr. Brewer himself, Robin Yount will ride his Harley into County Stadium and hit like a centerfielder while playing short.  The pitching will be average at best, but with all the runs this team will score the pitching will just need to be  average.  Expect a pair of lefties, Mike Caldwell and Teddy Higuera, to be this team’s respective aces.  Manager Joe Bukal, returns for his second season in the dugout for the Brewers.  Joe had a rocky rookie campaign, but expects to get the Brew crew out of the second division and into contention.

Hold that Tiger…

Hovering just below the radar screen are the boys from Motown.  This squad has a well balanced lineup that features players from their glory year runs of the mid 60’s-early 70’s and the mid 80’s.  Any staff that has the 10 clutch Jack Morris is going to be formidable.  Add to that the rubber left arm of the equally clutch Mickey Lolich and you’ve got some tandem.  If manager Tom Davis can keep Denny McLain healthy and out of the casinos in Windsor he has a top notch 1-2-3 punch at the top of his rotation.  Guillermo “don’t call me Willie” Hernandez will be at the back end to close out games.  The offense is never anything to worry about in Motown.  Everyone’s favorite Tiger, Al Kaline, will lead the offense.  They keystone combo of Trammell and Whitaker will be together anchoring the middle of the infield.  The key to this team is manager Davis, who is returning to Detroit’s bench for his 11th consecutive season.  Davis has led the Motor City Kitty to the playoffs in each of the past 2 seasons only to be upset.  Davis won the KOD3 pennant with the 2006 Tigers and won the KOD8 Championship with the 1957 New York Giants.

X’s and O’s

Boston might have a lineup that matches up with the Bombers, but the O’s have the arms are might even be better than the team from the Bronx.  The big 3 of Palmer, McNally and Cuellar are set to do battle and vie for the AL East title.  No team has a better left side of the infield defensively and Baltimore with Brooksie and Belanger, when Cal Jr. DH’s.  Eddie Murry will anchor 1st base with his switch hitting power skills.  A bullpen by committee will come on board on those rare days when the arms falter.  Manager Martin King in his second season has all tools at his disposal to make some noise in the East.  King suffered through KOD11 with the ‘77 Toronto Blue Jays.  This pitching staff will make the man from north of the border a happy camper.

Red Sox Nation has something to smile about

If manager Eric Stouber was from New England he would probably be heard saying, “Beating the Yanks will be wicked had”.  Well Eric is from New York and he is a dedicated lifelong Yankee hater.  His goal will be to take the Sahx and make the post season or possible upset the “Evil Empire” and take the AL East.  Look at that lineup he has !  He won’t even have to worry about Teddy Ballgame not being able to cover left field since he can now DH.  The lineup here is unbeatable, but can the pitching hold up ?  Mel Parnell and the pre-steroided Roger Clemens will be the aces.  Fireballer Dick Radatz will be the stopper out of the pen.  No you won’t see “the Eck” as the closer, because during his tenure in Fenway he was a top line starter.  Will anyone run on Dewey Evans’ arm out in right ?  We will soon see.

Damn Yankees…

The consensus says that Michael Hopcroft and his Bronx Bombers are the odd on favorites to win it all.  Ah, art is now truly imitating life.  Surely Michael has a bushel full of talent, but can he keep all of those big egos in check like Bob Lemon or Joe Torre did or will he fan the flames like Billy Martin or Lou Piniella ?  Lots of pressure managing in the Big Apple with 3 Daily Newpapers and 3 Sportstalk radio stations monitoring every move you make.  It will be interesting to see how Reggie responds on those days when Maris starts in RF and he rides the pine.  How will Joe D handle “the Mick” starting over him in center ?  Ellie, Thurman or Yogi behind the plate ?  We can hardly wait !