Home again

with an 0-2 NCAA record. The VCU women lost at Rutgers by six yesterday, another sad end to a great season. It seems like only yesterday we were preparing for our early November exhibitions against Virginia Union and now the seasons are over.

So let's talk some baseball. I plan to spend part of today doing a lot of reading and trying to get caught up because I've been a bit busy and am a lot behind.

Is Frank Robinson still the manager?

But seriously folks, did anyone read about the Bard signing and say, "Wow. THAT was the missing piece. I feel better now."

Is he really going to bring more than Wil Nieves?

It will shock you to learn I really don't know much about the guy. All I know is I get a bunch of Google alerts every time he's mentioned in print. I have a Google alert for Cla Meredith, the former VCU pitcher (who recently became a father for the first time) and current Padres reliever. Well, everyone knows that story. Meredith was part of a trade that included Bard. So every time Bard shows up the trade is mentioned and I get alerted. If I'd actually taken the time to read one of those stories, maybe I'd know something.

Cla, by the way, thought he might get moved in the offseason. He was hoping if it happened it would be to an east coast team. He's very close to his family and he has his own home in Richmond. I keep hoping the Nationals snag him. Great kid.

All that blather aside, here are some questions that pop into my head:

*Should Jordan Zimmermann's outing yesterday be a concern? I say no. I like his overall body of work and hope he gets a shot in the rotation. Great thing about being lousy is there's little risk in such chances.

*Anyone else think Flores starts the year on the DL? This "elbow strain" thing has gone on a LONG time. Maybe that's why they signed Bard - to back up Nieves.

*I still can't pick seven guys for the bullpen. Hanrahan, Rivera, Beimel/Biemel/Whatever and who else?

*Lannan, Olsen, Rivera, Martis, Zimmermann? Does that sound about right? Bergmann in the pen and spot starter?

My ticket package arrived while I was gone. I haven't opened it yet but I'm hoping the tickets in there have those cool pictures. I'm going to wait to open it because I'm just going to be steamed when I see my location for the opener.

I'm basketball-ed out. During my newspaper days, the NCAA Tournament was my reason for living. I loved it. I filled out brackets, I watched as much of it as I could when I wasn't covering it. Odd how that changed. I can't do pools anymore and I didn't look at a single grouping other than the one's that our teams were in. Now that they're done? Let's play baseball.