2000 Thoughts
9/24/00
In yesterday's Plain Dealer, Omar had this to say about the wild card race: "There's suspense every day. It's like a movie, you don't know what will happen. You need scary music and Freddy Krueger walking around." !!!
7/23/00
Congratulations to Omar on tying the AL record (with Cal Ripken) for going
95 games without an error! I'd like to comment on this further because my husband was teasing me last night, saying, "Omar choked!" and "How come he blew it on such an easy play?" The easy answer is, "Astroturf," but I think there is more to it than that. As one who has researched the area of expertise with learned skills, I can actually shed some light on what happened. People who are at Omar's level--in whatever field in which they specialize--are considered experts. One of the characteristics of expertise is that the skill is so well-learned and practiced that the expert no longer needs to think about what he or she is doing. Usually the expert can not even explain how he does what he does. We see this when the broadcasters interview Omar, asking, "How did you make that catch/ execute that throw/ turn that double play?" and Omar says, "Gee, I don't know. I just did it." When an expert does try to think about what he's doing, he actually interrupts the natural flow of executing the skill, and can perform poorly. In this situation, I think that the awareness of the errorless streak and the records being close at hand made Omar start thinking more about what he was doing--hence the "almost" error on Wednesday night's game against KC ( I was at that one), and the actual error last night vs. the Twins.That's about enough of that for now. So a round of applause to our resident expert, Omar, for his many effortless performances!
7/12/00
Incidentally, I found this entertaining comment from Omar on ESPN writer Jayson Stark's page:
Chili lover of the week
Omar Vizquel had two home runs all year before last weekend. Then he exploded for three in two days in Cincinnati. So Vizquel now has 39 career homers--and five of them have been hit against the Reds. "I don't know where the power is coming from," Vizquel said. "It must be the food in Cincinnati."
7/10/00
Not a lot to write about regarding Omar until this past weekend. Undoubtedly his play in the field this season is as remarkable as it has ever been; but you never want to mention the errorless streak (dating to last season) lest you then jinx it. However, I can certainly feel comfortable commenting on Omar's first-ever multi-homer game! Wahoo! This from the guy who doesn't often have multi-homer months. Of course I do become concerned when he and Kenny start hitting too many home runs, because then they tend to get swing-happy and strike out as much as ... well, you know. It looks like Omar is really starting to come out of his slump, though, and hopefully will have a more productive second half at the plate. (I'd like to think that last season was more than just a fluke for Omar.)
5/29/00
Recently, newsradio broadcaster Mike Trivisanno (WTAM 1100) was asked by a caller who the "most loved" Cleveland althletes are right now, in the tradition of the Cleveland fans' love for former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar. Here were Mike's top five (incidentally, I correctly guessed this list in order):
I was also glad to see that on a recent poll Cleveland Indians fans voted Omar as the player they would most like to have at the plate when the game is on the line. This means that people have really paid attention and know that Omar is a great clutch hitter!
5/21/00
Omar's been struggling a little bit offensively at the beginning of the year--but then, so has about half the team. And let's remember, Omar's not being paid to be a slugger. I was encouraged by his 4 walks yesterday in the win over the Yankees--maybe focusing on being more patient at the plate will help bring him out of it.
I was at the Tigers game this Wednesday when they announced over the loudspeaker that this was the day that Robbie and Omar were to receive their 1999 season Gold Glove awards. You can image the thrill I felt as I imagined my good fortune at jo-so-happening to be at this game! You can also imagine the disappointment as they flashed a picture of the smiling pair on the jumbotron and noted that the awards were presented at a ceremony that took place earlier in the day....
By the way--there is an Omar fan out there (Gary) who wants to know if Omar still owns the purple Plymouth Prowler that he had two years ago. Any information you can forward to me is appreciated.
4/8/00
Happy New Year and Happy New Season to all of you Omar fans out there. This year I will try to do a better job of updating this site regularly. Last year was tough because I was running back and forth between Cleveland (home) and Michigan State (school) to finish my doctoral dissertation. Now I am finished (you may call me "Dr. Becca"!) and hopefully my life will be a little more relaxed this year.
I know I've been needing to get the first message up here, and after I saw Omar's GRAND SLAM last night I knew this was the time. Wow! Omar's offense had rapidly improved over the past couple of years, without much or a difference in the defensive display that we have come to know and love. (For example, the amazing catch he made in mid-left field just a couple days ago. In the announcer Tom Hamilton's words, "I don't think any other shortstop in the league gets to that ball.") I truly did not ever appreciate defense in baseball until Omar came to this team. Probably the most important part is that Omar's offense is at it's best when he's in clutch situations.
Let's all enjoy what will looks to be another Gold Glove and All Star year for Omar!