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How about Omar Vizquel opening the season with the Blue Jays at 45?

For the incomparable Omar Vizquel, baseball remains a game of joy: Bill Livingston | cleveland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2012/04/for_the_incomparable_omar_vizq.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Baseball began for most of us with a game of catch and the parental instruction, "Keep your eye on the ball."

Growing up in Venezuela, Omar Vizquel was probably saying, "A que no eres capaz." Or, "Betcha can't."

Vizquel has made many plays on the field that proved his hands were quicker than the eye's insistence that he had no chance.

During infield practice, which he made a must-see activity during his 11 seasons with the Indians, he would deflect the ball with the heel of his glove into his throwing hand with such speed and precision that the hop turned into a throw with hardly an interval of leather separating them. The eye could not follow the transfer. You had to see it to disbelieve it.

Now Vizquel's presence on the Toronto roster on Opening Day Thursday at Progressive Field might be his best trick yet. On April 24, he will be 45. The first time he steps on the field in a game, he will become the oldest shortstop in Major League Baseball history.

Blue Jays manager John Farrell, a former Indians pitcher, saw Vizquel play many times, both as a teammate and rival, then later as a Tribe executive. Said Farrell, "He can still make the plays. It doesn't matter if he gets them out by a quarter-step or a full step, he still completes the play. To me, he's the best shortstop in baseball history."

Vizquel was both more and less than the great players with whom he played here. He had more fans than most. He had more joy than most, too. He was the smiling face in an often sullen clubhouse.

After he made the Toronto roster, he said, "I love the game. I have a passion for it. I get up every day with the energy to go to the park. I love playing around with the guys. I love the smell of the game, the pine tar, the hot dogs. I love all the things around baseball."

Vizquel has less power than most other hitters. He didn't need to hit the long ball as a shortstop, although steroid abusers briefly threatened to turn it into a power numbers position. He also has less ego. He was willing to compete, as a certain future Hall of Famer, after winning 11 Gold Gloves, for a job as utility player.

Everyone loves the long ball, and so the Indians tried to keep Jim Thome by offering to name the home run porch after him. They failed. They named right field's second deck "Pronkville" for Travis Hafner. The sign is gone, and Hafner probably will be too after his contract is up this season. The place is a ghost town some nights.

It was the left side of the infield that belonged to Vizquel. In all of baseball history, only St. Louis' Ozzie Smith might have been better at the most demanding defensive position except catcher. The Indians should have named the patch of dirt between second base and third something, the "Little O-Zone" maybe. For it was there that authentic miracles grew. His stock in trade was amazement, every bit as much as were the tape-measure home runs of the steroid era.

Vizquel learned to play bad hops because he grew up with them. He bare-handed tennis balls thrown at odd angles off steps, walls and curbs around Caracas. He developed his reflexes by playing on fields that were little more than rock piles.

He made bare-handed plays during big-league games, but never for entertainment purposes only. The daring snags saved the split-seconds needed to shift the ball to his throwing hand. But he only took the bounce bare-handed when it was shoulder-high and on his right side. That way, he could keep his eye on the ball.

He didn't even need a glove. A skilled soccer player, he would enliven infield practice by deflecting the ball with his foot to the second baseman to start a make-believe double play. He could juggle the ball with his feet, too.

He is on the small side, hence the nickname "Little O," but he had the perfect build to play his position. Sinewy and quick, Vizquel is not encumbered by lots of muscles or thick thighs, as Cal Ripken was, which hurt Ripken's range. Same with Alex Rodriguez. Vizquel doesn't have an extraordinary arm, but his positioning, anticipation and ability to get his throw off from any angle made up for that. He was so good, he spoiled Clevelanders for everyone who followed him. With Jhonny Peralta, so many balls seemed just out of reach. Every ball seemed just within Omar's reach.

Asdrubal Cabrera, in a career year in 2011, bore a slight resemblance to Vizquel. Now Cabrera just has to repeat it, year after year, for almost a quarter-century.

"When you're 25, you wake up, get out of bed and you're ready to take an at-bat. You feel like you can hit a triple," Vizquel said. "When you're 45, you wake up and you have to go to the bathroom and you hope nothing is in the way. Every day, every hour, takes a toll on your body. I don't want to look worse than my age."

For so many years, Vizquel has cheated hitters. Now, on Opening Day in Cleveland, back where he belongs, the eternal boy of summer is cheating time, too.

Justin Masterson confident he'll have 'fun' with Opening Day start for Cleveland Indians | cleveland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2012/04/justin_masterson_confident_hel_1.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's the first time around for Justin Masterson, and he's just going to run with it.

The shoulder juice is in the right place in his surgically repaired left shoulder. He's coming off an Arizona spring when sometimes his pitches sliced and diced and sometimes they were hit a long way.

Typical stuff for Masterson, except for starting Thursday's season opener against Ricky Romero and the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field. This is new ground, a challenge to be sure, but something to be savored.

"I've never been there so I can't say how I'll do it," said Masterson. "I think I'll appreciate everything that comes with it. There will be excitement, joy. There will be some nerves and intensity as you go out there."

Masterson always comes at things from a different angle than expected. Throwing the first pitch of the season is no different.

"Part of you is going to just appreciate it and appreciate the moment," he said. "You never know when you'll have it again. Maybe this is my last year playing baseball, whether an injury takes you away or some other circumstance."

Beneath the anticipated adrenaline and buzz from a sold-out crowd, there is the reason why manager Manny Acta gave Masterson the start. He needs to pitch well against a dangerous Toronto offense and help the Indians start the season in style.

"You realize you have to go out and do your job," said Masterson. "The emotions are going to be there, but it will be a fun experience. That's what will keep things in check is realizing that it is fun, that this is a good time and that we can go out there and try and shine."

Masterson earned the right to face the Blue Jays by going 12-10 with a 3.21 ERA in 34 games, including 33 starts, last year. It was his first full season as a starter after 1 1/2 years of trial and error following the July 31, 2009 trade that brought him to Cleveland from Boston in exchange for Victor Martinez.

With the powerful Red Sox, Masterson pitched where he was needed. Sometimes it was the rotation, more often it was the bullpen. The Indians almost immediately made him a starter.

"Last year was nice," said Masterson, when asked if it gave him confidence, "but [confidence] was already there. My confidence level was and is and, I think always, has to be high. If you lose confidence, that's when you start feeling sorry for yourself. If something goes a little bit wrong than you're as frazzled as you can be."

Masterson was certainly tested after joining the Indians. Last year, he won his first five starts. Then he went 0-6 in his next 11. He had a 3.34 ERA during that stretch, but the offense scored just 22 runs.

In 2009, after he entered the rotation, Masterson ended the season 0-6 in seven starts. In 2010, he went 0-5 in his first 10 starts, making him 0-11 over 17 consecutive starts. It was the longest stretch by a starter without a victory in franchise history. The offense scored 39 runs in those games.

Through it all Masterson's personality didn't change. He stayed calm and cool.

"He keeps his emotions in check," said Acta. "He keeps things in perspective very well. That doesn't mean he's as passive as he looks when he's on the mound."

In the second half of the 2010 season, the 6-6, 250-pound Masterson was able to tame his delivery. Scouts and baseball people kept saying was a right-on-right bullpen guy, not a starter. Masterson, however, made a case for himself as a starter. He carried it into last season for the best year of his career. When it ended, he underwent surgery on his left shoulder to remove a cyst.

Here's how Masterson described the surgery on March 3 when Acta named him the Opening Day starter. "What was fueling the cyst was the tear in the labrum," he said. "My shoulder juice was leaking out of the tear and filling the cyst."

That would be shoulder juice ... as in shoulder juice?

"That's a technical term for you guys," said Masterson. "It was one of those things where you have to repair the leak and get rid of the cyst."

With that cleared up, let the season begin.

Go Tribe!

Go Tribe indeed! My son is going to be home from school for Easter. We'll probably head down to the ball yard for Saturday's game.

Go Tribe.....


congrats Omar on another opening day...

we just schedule whichever team Omar Vizquel is playing on for Opening Day now. he's 45, so that should work for another 10 or so more years

Leaving work in 15 to head down.. should be a good time. Here's to a no no thrown by batmasterson and pronk blasting one off the score board.

Hats for bats keep bats warm.

J/C

If anybody is hoping to watch the game but is out of market, the game's available on MLB.com as the free game of the day. Even better, if you have an Xbox 360, you can download the MLB app and stream the game through your TV.

It's out of my price range, but if you're a baseball fan, you can't beat it. Does the PS3 have apps?

I would buy the MLB package for my Roku ...... if I could watch the Indians live.

However, since I live within 75 miles, I can't.

3up, 3down (all SO). great start for Masterson

4-0 Tribe! Wahoo!

Jack Hannah(han) strikes again!

He is the king of April!

Like I said though, mlb.com and MLB on Roku do not let you watch live games in your home market ...... and your home market is something like within 75 miles of a team's ballpark.

You can't even watch the road games of a home team whose ballpark within 75 miles of you.

that's why those local TV deals are so financially good to MLB teams though. because they completely own the rights.

And the Tigers bully already ruined a Verlander jem.....hopefully it happens many more times.

didn't that happen early in the year last year too?

I seem to remember both the White Sox and Tigers having pen problems until June or so when both teams solved them. Would love to see them have the issues again.

#blownsave

First game, first blown save. Wonderful.

... and Perez just wasted a gem by Masterson. Good grief... Masterson has to be thinking "not again."

Cleveland rocks.

And please, Acta, don't take him out or anything. Let's see how many runs he'll give up.

How many pitches did Masterson end up with?

This is why I hate "pitch counts" or whatever...

They couldn't touch Masterson...

Leave him in, go home happy...

99 pitiches, 10k, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 8.0 IP

Perez ERA is now 40.50.

This is also why I hate the way "wins" are given out. If we somehow still win this game, Masterson deserves the W.

Tigers did the same thing with Verlander, although the tigers won it in the bottom of the ninth. (We just stranded Donald on third). Frustrating day for pitchers named Justin.

let's stay positive.

anyone else notice how great Carlos Santana is doing blocking all these "would have been wild pitches last year"?

(that's all I got right now)

Fall Ing A Part

Yes. He's doing great. Including on that ball that didn't actually hit the toronto batter.