Bert "be home" Blyeven

One of my favorite sports announcers of all time is Steve Berman. He is famous for giving people nicknames.

Some of my favorite ones are:

Tom "Cotton" Candiotti
Tim "Purple" Raines
Jerry "Rolls" Reuss
Mark "Amazing" Grace
Heath Slocumb "if you got em"
Tom Henke "Panky"
and finally Bert "Be Home" Blyleven

Last night I was watching the game between the Marlins and the Padres, not really the most exciting match up but I had a reason. I wanted to watch Tim Stauffer of the Padres. He was a first round pick of the Padres a few years back and he hails from Portland, Maine. He looked great for the second straight start. But when you play for the Padres, wins are pretty tough to come by.

He was opposed last night by Rick VandenHurk. He did pick up the win and pitched well. I was reminded as I watched him pitch, of how well he had pitched in the World Baseball Championship for The Netherlands. His squad played extremely well as they upset the Dominican Republic and almost knocked out team Puerto Rico. The pitching coach for Netherlands was Bert Blyleven, who was a great pitcher during his days.

Blyleven pitched 23 seasons for 5 different teams. He pitched for the Twins, Rangers, Pirates, Indians and Angels. He fell just short of the 300 win mark with 287 career wins. He also managed to lose 250 games. In 1973 he had his only 20 win season yet he managed to lose 17 games that season.

When a veteran pitching coach gets a hold of a young player he can make a huge difference. I think the same thing can be said about a veteran pitcher. Here are a couple of pitchers I think would make good pitching coaches either now or in the near future. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz. There is a common denominator, they were all stars on their Braves team in the 90's, and they have pitched for a long time and had lots of playoff experience. I am sure they have seen it all, and experience is crucial.

I watched the Sunday night game on ESPN on Sunday night. Derek Holland was pitching for the Rangers and was struggling so he was pulled after 4 innings. You could tell he was dejected after seeing this happen. The next time they showed Holland in the dug out veteran Omar Vizquel came over and talked to the youngster. He was encouraging his teammate.

I also saw earlier in the week Ken Griffey Jr and Mike Sweeney take some of their young teammates aside. The announcers talked about how those two payers set the tone for the entire team by keeping them loose. Veteran players are such an asset to their teams. I believe that you can have a lot of talent on your team, but without a couple of solid experienced players on your squad, you won't be successful. SO let's applaud the veterans of MLB.

Here are a few of them I want to "Bermanize":

Jamie Moyer "or Less"
Matt "don't fall down the" Stairs
John "Light up another" Smoltz
and Mike "Lights" Cameron, "Action"

Have you got some good nicknames you can add? Be creative, you can post some of them in the comments section.