The Milwaukee Brewers would be hard-pressed to find a more engaging hometown hero to be representing them in the upcoming World Baseball Classic than utility-man extraordinaire Vinny Rottino, who was named as one of the catchers for Team Italy this week.

  I'm serious, talk to this guy for five minutes and you will feel like you've known him all your life.

  Rottino, 28, grew up in Racine, Wisc., a suburb of Milwaukee, graduating from St. Catherine's High School before playing his college ball at Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse.

  Undrafted out of college in 2002, Rottino actually started working on his graduate degree at pharmacy school before deciding to give baseball one more try. He ended up getting signed by his hometown team out of a tryout camp and the rest, as they say, is Brewers' history.

  After hitting .311 in his 2003 debut at short-season Helena, Rottino moved up to the club's Class A team, the Beloit Snappers, and pretty much became a local legend. He hit .304 with 17 home runs and a team record 124 RBIs, breaking the mark set the year before by Prince Fielder, and was the Milwaukee Brewers' Minor League Player of the Year.

  By the end of 2005 he was at Triple-A Nashville and while he has yet to become a full-time established big leaguer, Rottino has gotten call-ups to the Majors the last three seasons while compiling a .295 average over six pro summers.

  He really made his mark in his 2007 promotion when his 11th-inning RBI single against the San Diego Padres gave the team a 4-3 win and clinched the Brewers' first winning season in 15 years.

  But this year, as Rottino vies to make the opening day roster for the first time, he's putting his spring training quest on hold for a little while to represent the country of his paternal ancestors in the World Baseball Classic. .

  And you can bet his grandfather, Antonio, would be especially excited for him.

  Dr. Antonio Rottino, who passed away in 1991, left behind a baseball legacy in more ways than just his talented grandson.

  The elder Rottino was the chief pathologist at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City, and head of the hospital's Hodgkin's Disease Research Foundation. He spearheaded the research for a cure for that disease and even after his 1968 retirement continued to actively conduct research for nearly 20 more years.

  "His research team got grants from Mickey Mantle, because both his dad and uncle died from Hodgkins," said Rottino, whose given name is actually Vincent Antonio in honor of the hospital and his grandfather. "We have a lot of pictures of my grandfather with Mantle."

  Rottino was recently outrighted from the 40-man roster with the acquisition of veteran reliever Braden Looper but as soon as he had cleared waivers the Brewers immediately added him to their non-roster invitee list.

  What he brings to the table, along with a live bat and a ton of enthusiasm, is his newly-cultivated abilities behind the plate.

  This past season was the first time he'd been a full-time catcher, getting through the grind of 101 games back there after having been more predominantly a third baseman, first baseman and outfielder.

  In fact, though a shortstop in high school and college, he was signed as a catcher despite having never caught in his life.

  He's worked tirelessly with Brewers catching instructor Charlie Greene.

  "He's the most incredible teacher," raved Rottino. "He could teach catching to anyone."

  Rottino wasn't necessarily expected to be the Nashville Sounds' full-time catcher but when fellow catcher Lou Palmisano went down with a knee injury in the spring, that's what he became.

  "It was definitely a grind but I'm glad I went through it," he said. "It was a learning process and I love catching."

  Rottino looked at the opportunity to play for Italy as a bonus for several reasons. With veterans Sal Fasano and Mike Napoli choosing not to participate, he should be the starting catcher with Yankees rookie Francisco Cervelli as his backup, meaning playing time he might not have gotten as much of in camp with the Brewers, behind Jason Kendall and Mike Rivera.

  He had been invited to play in the 2006 World Baseball Classic as well, but that came at a different time in his career, his first big league spring training.

  In fact, Rottino had some reservations about this year as well, given that the Brewers have a new manager in Ken Macha and Rottino hoped to be able to make a good first impression. However Brewers general manager Doug Melvin and assistant GM Gord Ash assuaged those concerns.

  "They told me 'Go ahead and play, it will be a great opportunity,'" he said. "So ever since I got that go ahead I've been waiting to wear the Italian uniform with pride."

GotMiLB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, in your life are you the proudest?
Rottino: Making it to the big leagues after not being drafted. Six years ago I was in pharmacy school in Madison (Wisc.) thinking my baseball career was over.

GotMiLB: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?
Rottino: Well, I don't know but I don't want to be a pharmacist. Nothing against pharmacy. I didn't know what I wanted to do but I had majored in chemistry in college. I wanted to play ball and I thought that door had closed.

GotMiLB: Everyone has a "hidden talent." What's yours?
Rottino: I'm a phenomenal singer on Rock Band.

GotMiLB: Complete this sentence: It would surprise people to know that I...
Rottino: Am obsessed with the band U2.

GotMiLB: If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be and why?
Rottino: Bono, obviously.

GotMiLB: What reality TV show would you kick butt on?
Rottino: American Idol. I got hooked on it last year. My current favorite, no doubt, is the kid from Milwaukee who lost his wife (Danny Gokey) but it pisses me off that his friend (Jamar Rogers) got kicked off because he was better than half those people who made it. Last year I got hooked on it during spring training when it's easy to watch, but during the season I lose touch with it and have to follow it in the paper.

GotMiLB: Which aspect of life in the minors do you find to be the biggest challenge and why?
Rottino: Probably the travel, I'd say. Just because it's long and you're playing every day and not getting much rest. I'd rather take a 14-hour bus ride right after a game ends than have to wake up at 4 a.m. and fly commercial to the next city and get in at 2 p.m. and have to go right to the park.

 Once he showed flashes of his gift at age 3, Adrian Cardenas' parents had big plans for him. They made sure he practiced on a daily basis. They provided him with the coaching that he'd need to take that talent to the professional level.

  But the family of the Oakland Athletics' infield prospect never imagined their son would become a baseball star.

  The talent they encouraged? His remarkably ability as a classical pianist.

  "To this day, my parents don't know anything about baseball and the only reason I'm playing is because I worked so hard at it, not because I had some psycho father or mother bombarding me with demands to get out there and play," recalled Cardenas, who grew up in Miami. "They were more like that with piano and that's where I learned discipline. There were many times I wanted to quit and they made me stick with it."

  Until he was in high school, in fact, Cardenas' life was a three-way split: school, baseball, piano.

  "I'd get home from baseball practice at 6 and would have homework and then had to practice piano as much as I practiced baseball," he said. "Sometimes it was overwhelming. But I grew up with my parents thinking I'd go to Juilliard."
 
  It wasn't until his junior year came and he was getting attention from major college programs to play baseball that something had to give and his piano lessons finally fell by the wayside.

  With the opportunity to finally focus solely on baseball, Cardenas earned national High School Player of the Year honors as a senior shortstop at Monsignor Pace High School and had committed to play ball at Florida before being selected as a supplemental first-round pick by Philadelphia in 2006.

  That summer the left-handed hitter batted .318 in his pro debut in the Gulf Coast League before moving up to make his full-season debut at a new position, second base, for Class A Lakewood in 2007 where he hit .295 with nine homers and 79 RBIs, getting a bid to play in the All-Star Futures Game in San Francisco at age 19.

  Cardenas (it's pronounced CARDenas) started the 2008 campaign at Advanced A Clearwater and was batting .307 through 68 games there when the Phillies traded him, along with pitcher Josh Outman and outfielder Matt Spencer, to Oakland in the deal that brought ace Joe Blanton to Philadelphia. Cardenas finished up by hitting .279 between Advanced A Stockton and Double-A Midland down the stretch.

  He celebrated his 21st birthday as a member of the Phoenix Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League, where he saw time at shortstop and even third base while helping the club to its fifth consecutive AFL title.

  And this winter Cardenas got his first coveted invitation to big league spring training.

  "I'd been invited to a couple of games here and there but this is my first actual big league spring training," said Cardenas. "Right after the fall league I got a call from the As saying I was going to big league camp and I was so pumped up!"
 
  So pumped up that he made the trip from his Florida home to the Phoenix area a few weeks early so he could start working out with his new teammates at the Papago complex.

  "I would go over every day and get my workout in there," he said. "Some of the big league guys were there and they've been absolutely great to me so far, and have made me feel really comfortable."

GOTMILB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, in your life are you the proudest?
Cardenas: That's a tough question. I think my ability to focus on one thing and not worrying about what people say. I'm good at believing I can do anything once I set my mind to it and for the most part, knock wood, I've accomplished everything I've set my mind to.

GOTMILB: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?
Cardenas: As baseball players, we're in the limelight naturally just because of what we do and I think sometimes we need to get out there and be more vocal about the things we feel adamant about. We're in a position to make things better for people around us, people who aren't as fortunate, so I think I'd be doing something along those lines.

GOTMILB: Do you have other hobbies or creative outlets aside from baseball?
Cardenas: My God, yes. Not so much the piano anymore because it's hard to carry around, but I mess around with guitar. I'm nowhere near as good on guitar but it's fun, it's my escape when I'm worried or stressed.

GOTMILB: What is the worst job you've ever had?
Cardenas: Fortunately for me, my parents said that my job was to get good grades and practice my piano. So I never ended up getting jobs other than coaching or teaching kids hitting.

GOTMILB: What is your guiltiest TV pleasure?
Cardenas: "The Office." I could sit and watch that forever. I love that show.

GOTMILB: If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be and why?
Cardenas: Bob Dylan.

Just in time for the upcoming Academy Awards, we bring you Episode 4 of out podcast "Baseball Honeymoon," with this being our "baseball movies"-themed show ... I'll let Wayne explain in the one fortnightly bit of great writing he does for our podcast blog which, of course, you can read yourself at www.baseballhoneymoon.com, when you go to find the link for the podcast (which begs the question, why haven't you subscribed on iTunes yet???)

And as a teaser ... NEXT episode will be our "baseball books" episode with a few FABULOUS special guests (hints: among them a VERY popular blogger here at MLBlogs and one is one of my all-time idols who was perhaps the best interview we've had yet and trust me, that is saying A LOT!!!!!)

OK, here's Wayne's take on this week's show ... please listen and if you like it share it with everyone you know, have ever known, and may ever meet in the future. Not that we're begging or anything.

Well gang, we just keep outdoing ourselves. Every episode of Baseball Honeymoon sets the bar higher, and I am sure you will agree that #4 continues the trend. Of course, when the original bar is somewhere below Death Valley, it's not too hard to pull off this feat.

Fair warning: there will be no discussion of performance enhancement or steroids on this show.

It's Oscar time, no not Oscar Gamble, but the Academy Awards-- and the theme of Episode 4 is movies and baseball. We kick things off with Bagels and Boxscores, discussing the remaining thin crop of Free Agents. Lisa and Wayne divide them up into guys who should get multi-years, guys who should take a one-year deal if they get the offer, and guys who should stay home and take care of their grandchildren.

Our first interview comes at 9:12, when Lisa gets erstwhile big league manager Grady Little to talk about his experience on the set of "Bull Durham". Grady also discusses life after baseball for him and his wife, and their cookbook. Wow...a husband and wife doing a project together. I wonder what THAT feels like.

18:05-Music: "The All-American League Theme" from "A League of Their Own".

Next at 18:34 comes Trivia, and Lisa gives the answer to last week's question about "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". Instead of a new question, we imitate our podcasting idols, Adam Kempenaar and Matty Robinson of "Filmspotting", and do a version of their usually hilarious "Massacre Theatre". We'll call it "Murderer Theatre", and you'll see why. Lisa and Wayne do their very best to destroy the dialogue from a baseball movie, and you guys have to guess what movie that is.

At 24:43 Lisa then gets ex-Minor Leaguer Jim Betzsold to discuss his role in the 1996 epic "The Fan". We get some insight into what it's like on a movie set, and what it feels like to beat the crap out of Wesley Snipes repeatedly.

31:50-Music: "I'm Forever Blowing Ballgames", sung by John Sayles in "Eight Men Out".

At 32:18 Wayne and Lisa read some Listener Mail; the good news is somebody liked Wayne's "Song With Orange (and Blue)". Bad news is somebody also liked "Cotton-Eyed Joe". Worse news is, Wayne sings a bit of "Cotton-Eyed Joe". Oh, the humanity!

Curly W (aka Bill Heid) gives us some insight at 38:40 into his unique dialect at {}. Bill has always liked to use baseball metaphors for other items of interest; music and women, in particular.

42:37- Clip: Trailer from "Field of Dreams".

Our Top 5 baseball movies commences at 43:40 with a guest on hand to do the listing with us. It's Matty Robinson of the aforementioned "Filmspotting" podcast. To quote Lisa, "We're not worthy". Wayne talks to Matty for a bit, gets him to promise that he and Adam won't sue us for using all their ideas, and then the three of us list our favorite baseball movies. There is much overlap to be sure, but the BH crew do stump the FS guy with their co 2nd ranked pick. Matty provides some great insight into why it is that inaccurate baseball movies irk fans so much.

The three then close things out with a wonderful and heartfelt salute to "The Fan", which they all agree is the finest film about baseball ever made, maybe the finest film of the last 50 years.
Ain't sarcasm great?

64:13-Music: "Long Gone", Hank Williams.

64:23-The honeymooners close out episode 4 with a preview of the next show...kids, we got the immortal Jim Bouton to do a great interview for our books about baseball show, Baseball Honeymoon 5. Raise that bar again!

 Three years ago it would have been unlikely that Greg Burke would have imagined he'd be where he is right now, in a big league spring training camp, no less having a shot (albeit a long one) to break camp with the San Diego Padres as a member of their bullpen.

  Burke, now 26, graduated from Duke University in 2005 with a double major in business and sociology, having done the "five-year plan" after undergoing Tommy John surgery as a sophomore and red-shirting.

  The 2005 draft came and went and with it, for the time being, so did Burke's dreams of going into pro ball. But after signing with an independent league near his New Jersey home, he caught the eye of a scout who invited him to come to a tryout for the San Diego Padres the following winter.

  And voila, Burke was a Padre. He pitched in middle relief at Class A Fort Wayne and Advanced A Lake Elsinore in '06 and '07, putting up numbers that could be fairly described as unremarkable. And as a non-drafted free agent, he knew that he wasn't going to get an unlimited number of chances to pursue this dream that had been revived.

  "I felt this was do or die coming into last season," said Burke. "I needed to show someone something, I needed to shock people to make the Double-A team and open eyes."

  So that winter Burke hit the gym like a madman, lifting weights to fill out his admittedly skinny frame.

  The results? He not only made the Double-A San Antonio squad, he was one of the top relievers in the Texas League, posting a 2.24 ERA with 23 saves and striking out 92 batters while walking 17 in 84 1/3 innings.

  He collected saves in his last five games with an ERA of 1.62 in August.

  And having an off-season to remember didn't hurt either. Shortly after his team was eliminated from the Texas League playoff picture (swept in three in the semifinals) it was off to Arizona for Burke, where he was one of the Padres' participants in the elite Arizona Fall League.

  And a few weeks after his return home from Arizona, he walked down the aisle with his fianceé Megan, the culmination of a two-year engagement, and finally got some downtime in the form of a honeymoon in Jamaica with his bride.

  Before leaving for spring training in Peoria, the Burkes relocated to Maryland where Megan runs a Philly Pretzel Factory store outside of Baltimore (NOTE: Her store is the one listed in Nottingham, the second one down on this link, so be sure to go buy pretzels there if you're in the Baltimore area!!!)

  Burke continued to work out, gave lessons at a facility, and, while he was at it, learned how to make pretzels.

  "It was good," he said, "because I got to be with my wife and I got to eat all the pretzels I wanted."

  Despite his non-drafted tryout status, Burke has emerged as a true relief prospect for the Padres, with his likely destination Triple-A Portland as the Beavers' closer.

  "My goal is to make sure that I'm ready and 100 percent able to give whatever I have to my fullest potential," he said. "In the past I think I could have worked harder, and last season when I realized I had to put everything into it, I saw the results immediately."

GotMoLB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, in your life are you the proudest?
Burke: As far as personal accomplishments, graduating college was huge for me. I went to Catholic school and got good grades but when someone told me that Duke University was recruiting me and giving me a full scholarship I couldn't believe it. Now I have a college degree from Duke and never in a million years would I Have thought I could do that. And I still got to live my dream of playing baseball, so it was the best of both worlds.

GotMiLB: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?
Burke: There was a time in college when I thought that would be the situation immediately. I thought I'd go get a desk job somewhere and make decent money. Then I got a little taste of that and hated it. I thought about maybe staying in sports, not necessarily coaching but maybe a front office job somewhere. But it's tough to think about it until it's serious conversation.

GotMiLB: Everyone has a "hidden talent." What's yours?
Burke: I don't know if this is a talent or not but I have an uncanny ability of making people comfortable around me. But as far as physical talents, I can make pretzels, I guess.

GotMiLB: Complete this sentence: It would surprise people to know that I ...
Burke: Used to have the worst haircut in high school history. I don't know if it was a northern thing but I used to shave the sides of my head and the top was three to four inches long. At the time I thought it was awesome but looking back on the pictures ... I used to dye it bleached blonde on top and I was super skinny with big ears. (GotMilB note: Burke had said he'd send us a picture but sadly he apparently had second thoughts ... probably can't blame him but if he sends it, we will post it!)

GotMiLB: What is the worst job you've ever had?
Burke: I used to work landscaping and it was the worst. I worked for my brother, who was a couple of years older than me and the partial owner of this landscaping business my cousin owns. So I would get a job in the summer and go with him and since I was always new I was always low man on the totem pole, digging the ditches and picking the blocks up. I love my brother but he bossed me around and the hours were long. But I learned from it ...I learned what I didn't want to do.

GotMiLB: What is your guiltiest TV pleasure?
Burke: I'm all over the reality TV shows on VH1: "I Love Money," "Flavor Of Love," one of those shows. And I recently got into "The Real Housewives of Orange County". And I've been watching "Spongebob Squarepants" because Megan has three little nieces and I got hooked on it.

GotMiLB: What reality TV show would you kick butt on?
Burke: Probably "I Love Money." You have to play the game.

GotMiLB: If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be and why?
Burke: I'm not sure anyone specifically but someone on the Philadelphia Eagles. I'm a big fan of theirs so I'd like to get in that locker room and see what it's like.

GotMiLB: Who would play you in the movie of your life?
Burke: Obviously some good looking guy. I could see Vince Vaughn playing me.

GotMiLB: Which aspect of life in the minors do you find to be the biggest challenge and why?
Burke: The time away from my family and especially from my new wife. We've been together forever so this offseason was great because we got to be together but now I have to leave again. The good thing is now that we're married we can be together more consistently. It's like a dual lifestyle like some superhero, being away and being home.

GotMiLB: If you were commissioner for a day, which one rule would you change?
Burke: I'd outlaw buses. From now on the budget must include flights from city to city and we'd stay at nice hotels, comfortable places. The buses are horrendous.

    I am making it official right here and now. I am revving the engine of the train. I am polishing the wheels of the bright and shiny bandwagon. I am anointing myself captain of the team.

  THIS IS GONNA BE THE YEAR THAT BOBBY SCALES MAKES IT TO THE BIG LEAGUES!

  I mean, seriously, what more does this guy have to do?

  As he heads into spring training with the Chicago Cubs as a non-roster invitee, let's take a look at some of the facts:

  Fact: Bobby Scales can hit. In 10 Minor League seasons, the last five of them spent at Triple-A, he has combined for a .285 average. He's coming off his best pro season to date, when he hit .320 with 15 home runs and 59 RBIs at Triple-A Iowa.

  Fact: Bobby Scales is undeniably versatile in the field, and his defense has gotten consistently better. Originally a second baseman when drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 14^th round of 1999 out of Michigan, he added outfield to his resume in 2000 and 2001, third base in 2002 and 2003 and first base in 2007 and 2008. With Iowa last summer he played everywhere except shortstop and catcher.

  Fact: The switch-hitting Bobby Scales can bat anywhere in the lineup. With Iowa he batted everywhere but third (ironic since he's a high average contact hitter), and with Triple-A Pawtucket in 2007 he hit in every slot in the Pawsox batting order at one time or another.

  Opinion: He is a great guy off the field, in the clubhouse and the community, winning his respective team's Community Player of the Year award several times, including last summer in his first season at Iowa. He's especially active when it comes to going out into the community to work with the kids, not surprising since his off-season job is as a substitute teacher at his alma mater, Milton High School in Alpharetta, Ga.

  And he keeps things loose in the clubhouse, where, among other things, he entertains teammates (and some of the higher-ups as well) with his talent for impersonations. During his days with the Padres, he was well-known for his ability to mimic, among others, farm director Tye Waller (now the Oakland As' bench coach) and minor league manager Tony Franklin (now the skipper for the Yankees' Double-A Trenton Thunder), as well as Padres legend Tony Gwynn (I heard the last one and cracked up).

  "My wife says that I'm the most perceptive person she's ever seen in terms of noticing people's mannerisms," said Scales. "And you don't want to offend anybody but they're baseball guys so they have thick skin."

  Scales worked his way through the Padres system and spent all or parts of three seasons at Triple-A Portland before an amicable parting of the ways after 2005 when he explored the minor league free agent waters.

  He spent 2006 with the Phillies organization, hitting .291 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and 2007 with the Red Sox, batting .294 at Pawtucket, before signing with the Cubs prior to 2008.  Scales decided to re-sign with the Cubs for 2009 on Christmas Eve, while he was on his way to the mall to buy his wife Monica one last Christmas present.

  "I think I walked away from the Phillies after one year and I probably shouldn't have, and I walked away from Boston after one year and I probably shouldn't have, and I didn't want that to happen a third time," he explained. "All three of those organizations treated me like one of their own. At the time, I felt like if they wanted me in the big leagues, they would have called me up, but I realized it's just not that cut and dried."

  Scales realized it had to work both ways, and while it's not necessarily easy to be "patient" at age 31, it was something he needed to do.

  "I realized the only way to become one of 'their guys' is to stay there," he said. "I didn't want to walk into a big league camp clubhouse and have to start all over again for a fourth straight year."

  If I haven't convinced you yet why Bobby Scales should get his shot at the big time, maybe this Q&A will:

GotMiLB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, are you proudest?

Scales: For me, it's a combination of a few things. I'm proud of the community service work done in the various places I've been. I believe in that. I believe in helping out, reading to the kids, because education was always number one in my house, that came from my parents. Also, honestly, I'm proud of being able t graduate from college while still performing at a high level. I think a lot of athletes take easy classes and don't pursue their education with the same vigor as their athletic endeavors. In my house, if you didn't handle your business in the classroom, there was no baseball.

GotMiLB: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?

Scales: Honestly, I don't know. Ideally, if I wasn't playing baseball, hopefully I'd be in a position to be an athletic director at a college or university, or else in marketing with a company. I did an internship in college at Nike and got to see what was behind the swoosh.

GotMiLB: Everyone has a "hidden talent." What's yours?

Scales: My wife thinks my impressions are all terrible, and she doesn't get the same joy others get out of them, but that's probably the closest thing I have to a hidden talent.

GotMiLB: Do you have other hobbies or creative outlets aside from baseball?

Scales: I'm a golfer. I play golf until I can't stand up straight and then play more after that.

GotMiLB: What is the worst job you've ever had?

Scales: My wife has her PhD from the University of Georgia and when she was in grad school I worked at the jewelry store at the mall, the one gap in my substitute teaching career. We were in Clarke County where there was only one high school so there weren't a lot of substitute jobs available. The people I worked with at the store were awesome but the job was terrible.  I had to wear a suit and tie every day and count the jewelry every morning and every night and if you're off one earring you have to search the whole store up and down. But we did get a discount on our wedding rings.

GotMiLB: What is your guiltiest TV pleasure?

Scales: I love documentaries. My first plan going to college was to be a history major so I could go to law school and become an agent, but I realized that wasn't for me, that I had to do something with a sports angle. But I watch the History Channel like it's my job.

GotMiLB: What reality TV show would you kick butt on?

Scales: I would say anything with a physical challenge. Some of those "Road Rules" or "Real World" challenges, I could do well with those. I'm a good athlete and have enough smarts to figure certain things out, and I'm not going to give up.

GotMiLB: If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be and why?

Scales: Barack Obama. As an ordinary citizen, you only see the outside. What's it really like on the inside of that job?

GotMiLB: Who would play you in the movie of your life?

Scales: My wife asked me that question last night. She religiously watches "One Tree Hill" so I've gotten into it too (okay, another guilty TV pleasure). The main character has written a movie and they're trying to cast everyone. So she looked at me and said 'Who would play you?' If I was older I'd go with Denzel, but she says Torii Hunter. People say I look like him, and also like DeWayne Wise. And they say my wife looks like a younger Pam Grier.

GotMiLB: If you were commissioner for a day, which one rule would you change?

Scales: That the All-Star Game counts for home field advantage in the World Series. I think that's ridiculous. The team with the best record should have it.

GotMiLB: What is the best minor league promotion or visiting act you've seen? And the worst?

Scales: I still laugh at the Chicken. I've seen him 15,000 times and he's still my favorite. As for the worst, we were in Toledo and they had Drew Carey Night and they kept playing "Cleveland rocks" and trying to get the crowd to sing "Cleveland rocks." But we were in Toledo. We weren't in Cleveland. It didn't make sense.

 How could we not write a romantic entry about an Angel on Valentine's Day?

  Milwaukee Brewers catching prospect Angel Salome had a 2008 season to remember.
  He hit. 360 with 13 homers and 83 RBIs at Double-A Huntsville to run away with the Southern League batting crown and the Brewers' organization lead in that category. He also finished fourth in the system and fifth in the league in RBIs despite playing in just 98 games. He made his big league debut, joining the Brewers in September and getting pinch-hitting appearances in three games down the stretch.

  But Salome also made it a night to remember for more than 3,000 Stars fans in Huntsville, Ala., on May 24 when, surrounded by his teammates at home plate after a game against the visiting Birmingham Barons, he dropped to his knee and proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Johanica Coronado. They wed this past January.

  The two have been a couple since their high school days at George Washington High School in upper Manhattan, and are the proud parents of a lovely daughter, Kai-Angeli.

  Salome's somewhat nomadic lifestyle as a professional baseball player may have made it harder to settle down, but he knew it was time and he wanted to make the proposal something special.

  That meant, first, getting the blessing of the one person who has been his own biggest role model and influence: his mother, Aydin, a nurse who brought her family to America when her son was 3.

  Living in the Washington Heights section of New York City, where there is a huge Dominican population, Salome grew up bilingual and bicultural, a native New Yorker who is still very much grounded in his Latino roots.

  In fact, when he signed with the Brewers out of high school as a fifth-round draft pick in 2004, the hardest part of his adaptation process to the minors was missing his mom's home cooking.

  When he headed to Arizona for rookie ball that year, his mom overnighted him 15 pounds of beef. When he came to play for the West Virginia Power in 2006 and the team traveled up to southern New Jersey to play in Lakewood, Aydin came to town with trays of chicken and rice and beans.

  Salome needed that sustenance to keep weight on his 5-foot-7 frame, which is all muscle thanks to his number one hobby of working out.

  "People used to say to me, 'Aren't you too short to be a catcher?'" he recalled. "And I'd say, 'Yes, I am.'""

GotMiLB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, in your life are you the proudest? Salome: How my work ethic has gotten better. Thank God I went up to the big leagues where I was surrounded by veteran players like Jason Kendall and Prince Fielder. I would ask them, 'How do you do it? What do you do in the off-season?' Not every guy will do the same thing in the off-season. And now, thank God, during the off season I don't have to work (get a job). On the field, I'm proud of being consistent. I still have to work on a few things but I think things will just get better.

GotMiLB: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?
Salome: I'd probably be in college, maybe studying psychology, or be a real estate agent.

GotMiLB: Do you have other hobbies or creative outlets aside from baseball?
Salome: Going to the gym. I'm not a big fan of running or conditioning but I go to the gym every day and do pull-ups. And I play video games with my friends. I love "The Show".

GotMiLB: Complete this sentence: It would surprise people to know that I ...
Salome: ... made it because I'm so short.

GotMiLB: If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be and why?
Salome: My mother. Because of what she does every day to make me and my sister, and now my daughter, better. She's my role model. She got up at 4 a.m. every day to go to work, whether it was raining or snowing. She went through a lot of things that were hard.

GotMiLB: Which aspect of life in the minors do you find to be the biggest challenge and why?
Salome: Being away from my family. In the minor leagues you don't get paid a lot, maybe $600 every two weeks, and from that you have to pay bills plus you have to pay for your apartment. And having a (child) now you have to buy milk and diapers and pay the phone bill because how else are you going to communicate? That's one of the biggest things I've been through.

  And we're back ...

  When we left off yesterday, right-hander Nelson Figueroa Jr. had just been taken off of the New York Mets' 40-man roster but assured by the organization that he was in their plans for 2009.

  Knowing that he was going to be fighting for a job come spring, despite 13 years as a pro and the minor league crown in wins and strikeouts, Figueroa came home, spent some quality time with his bride of eight years, Alisa, and his young daughter, Renee, and then it was time to pack his bags again and set off, this time for the Dominican Republic.

  Back with Aguilas Cibaenas, the team with whom he'd caught the Mets' eye with a playoff-record 13-strikeout performance the previous January, he posted a 3.13 ERA in five games, striking out 24 while walking four in 31 2/3 innings.

  His next stop on his world tour was Venezuela, where he joined the Lara Cardinales for the playoffs. And on Jan. 18, almost a year to the day after he had wrapped up his Mets invite, Figueroa pitched arguably the best game in his 13-year career.

  Facing Zulia, Figueroa tossed nine innings of no-hit ball in a game still tied 0-0 after that nine innings. The team came back to win, 1-0, in 10. Overall, with Lara in the post-season, Figueroa was 2-0 with a 3.66 ERA in 19 2.3 innings, striking out 20.

  Pretty nice numbers to come home with and to leave the Mets to ponder as they make their potential plans for their 2009 staff. .

  So now, if you've been keeping track, Figueroa has pitched in Mexico, in Taiwan, in Venezuela, in the Dominican Republic. He's pitched in Japan and Australia. He would also appear to be pretty much a lock for the Puerto Rican team's staff in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

  So what is the best part of being able to be such a world traveler as part of his job?

  The money.

  No, not the salary or the income. But, rather, the actual coinage, the souvenirs Renee collects from his - and, sometimes, their - travels.

  "She loves the money from each place because it's so different," he explained. "She has a little cash register filled with coins, a collection of 'play money.'"

  Figueroa first met Alisa back when the two were at Brandeis and she was a student-trainer for the athletic teams, but they didn't start dating until years later. She had received her graduate degree from Syracuse University and was living in that area when Figueroa was assigned to Double-A Binghamton, an hour south.

  "I had my old student directory so I looked her up and called her and invited her to come to a game," he recalled.

  The two dated for a few years before he decided to pop the question in 2000, and did it in memorable style.

  Knowing that Alisa was a huge Winnie-the-Pooh fan, the set-up came at a 4th birthday party for the son of one of Figueroa's Tucson teammates, Ken Huckaby. During the festivities, who should show up but Winnie the Pooh, holding his ever-present "hunny jar."

  But when he pulled his hand out of the jar, it wasn't covered with honey but rather holding a ring. Which Winnie then presented to Alisa, as he took off the head and revealed ... well, you figure it out.

  The two wed that following off-season and have lived as happily ever after as they can when they are separated for so long during the year. The times they are together as a family are cherished down to every last minute.

  Most recently, before Figueroa left on Thursday for Port St. Lucie, they were spent painting the walls of Renee's new "big girl room," a color that Figueroa described in true "father of a 5-year-old" style as "a cross between Cinderella ballgown blue and Heffalump purple."

  Before that, the three went on a long-awaited Disney Cruise to celebrate the big girl's 5th birthday. And Figueroa was able to bring her to her dance and gymnastics classes (she is an outstanding athlete like her dad) and watch her perform there.

  "The hardest part of the baseball life that people don't see is the family you leave behind," Figueroa said. "I've gotten to play dad maybe four months in the last three years."

  But Figueroa, and perhaps more importantly Alisa, know that this is what he does and there will be time together soon enough. In the meantime, thank heaven for Skype as he's been able to watch his daughter grow up thanks to the wonders of modern technology.

  "Skype is awesome," he said. "I've been all over the world and I can still see her perform. She grabs her mike and dresses up and sings to me."

  Over the years, the Figueroas have also been actively involved in different community service projects together, but none quite so unique as one that came out of tragedy on Sept. 11, 2001.

  Figueroa was up with the Philadelphia Phillies on the road in Atlanta when the planes struck his hometown.

  "After the Towers fell, I was sitting in my hotel room in Atlanta and had a screen saver of a baseball on my computer," he recalled. "They were showing everyone putting up their American flags and I had the idea of meshing a flag and a baseball so I created the image on Photoshop and went down to Kinko's and made six T-shirts."

  When he got the to park that afternoon, he gave one to his teammate, pitcher Robert Person, and sent a few over to friends in the Braves' clubhouse, including pitchers Jason Marquis and Mike Remlinger, who had a cousin who worked with silk-screening T-shirts in Boston.

  Together, they had about 1,000 shirts made and distributed them to players on all 30 clubs for free. Players started wearing them, including the Florida Marlins who wore them as their batting practice shirts.

  Fans saw them and wanted them and that's when it clicked that they could raise money for the victims through the sale of those shirts.

  "The shirts said 'For all the heroes and victims, united we stand,'" Figueroa said. "We got the licensing from Major League Baseball and the Players Association and everyone was on board, at $10 a shirt with all proceeds going to the September 11 fund."

  With just two weeks left in the season, there wasn't that much time to keep the shirts in the public eye, but overall, along with an accompanying auction with items donated by superstars in the game, they raised over $400,000 for the fund.

  "A lot of the wives joined in with the fundraising part, and during the games they'd sit on the concourse to sell the shirts," he said. "At Shea, they sold out of 1,000 shirts in less than 10 minutes."

  So there you have it. And now readers of GotMiLB will be returned to their regularly-scheduled Q&As and my nattering about other topics, starting tomorrow with a special Valentine's Day version of Beyond the Boxscore with a real angel ...

  When last we met (that would be yesterday), it was the off-season of 2007-2008 and right-hander Nelson Figueroa, Jr. has been to as many countries as most of the teams in "The Amazing Race," pitching in Chihuahua, Mexico, in Taiwan and in the Dominican Republic in hopes of reviving his inexplicably dormant career and getting one of the 30 organizations to give him a shot, sign him to a minor league contract and let him pitch stateside in 2008.

  His hometown team, the New York Mets - the team that had drafted Figueroa in the 30th round of 1995 out of Brandeis University -- had already told him there was no room for him in the organization when he spoke to them.

  But that stance softened considerably one January night in 2008 in a Dominican Winter League post-season matchup.

  A playoff start for Aguilas Cibaenas was pushed back due to a rainout so Figueroa found himself on the mound on Monday, Jan. 7, facing Estrellas.

  In the stands that night was Ramon Pena, a special assistant to Mets GM Omar Minaya.

  "I struck out 13 that night and broke the Dominican record for strikeouts in a playoff game," recalled Figueroa. "In Mexico I had had 11 complete games in 18 starts to try to show them my arm was healthy and still nothing. Because no one was interested in a 33-year-old guy trying to continue chasing his dream."

  Well, Pena handed his card to Figueroa's older teammate, Luis Polonia, who passed along the info to Figueroa.

 "He asked me if I had a job in the states and said that he had a guy with the Mets who said he could get me a big league invite," Figueroa recalled. "Now I'd had my agent calling people left and right and I had talked to the Mets myself and they had told me they didn't have any room."

  After another good start on Jan. 13, Pena came to the clubhouse and told Figueroa face-to-face that he'd get him as good an offer as he could on the minor league side.

  "I still looked at him like he had three heads," laughed Figueroa, who ended up going 4-0 with a 1.45 ERA n the post-season there, but a few days later he had that contract in hand and within weeks was in camp in St. Lucie with his old team.

  "You know, I was so glad to be back with the Mets again," said Figueroa, who grew up in Coney Island rooting for the Mets teams of the 1980s. "To be with the team that I loved as a kid, the team that drafted me, the team I always wanted to play for. To be able to walk into the clubhouse where Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden and Howard Johnson were. "
  But just being there wasn't enough. As a non-roster invitee, at 33, Figueroa still had his work cut out for him. He started working intensively on the backfields with pitching coach Rick Peterson, and he saw the results both physically and mentally.

  "I had to show them I could pitch and that what I bring to the table was different than what they had," he said. "When I got there, Peterson told me there were a lot of things I could do that no one else could. And I thought he was out of his mind. I'd been doing pretty much the same thing for 13 years and no one else had thought I was special. And I don't know if he's just the best mind game professor in the game as far as getting you to believe in yourself, but it was working for me."

  It worked for Figueroa right through spring training 2008 and though he was a final cut from big league camp, he was summoned back fewer than two days later when Pedro Martinez went on the DL with a hamstring injury. 

  He appeared in two games in relief before making his first start as a Met at Shea Stadium against Milwaukee on April 11.

  Needless to say he had quite a cheering section on hand, and that cheering section had some pretty nifty digs: the private luxury suite belonging to Mets ace closer Billy Wagner.

  Figueroa had met Wagner during spring training, when he (Figueroa) was working on technique while Wagner was playing with his kids on a backfield. Wagner had offered the use of his suite to Figueroa any time he was pitching, knowing that he came from New York but had had little chance to pitch in front of family and friends.

  "I looked up and it was the fifth inning and I had a perfect game going," he recalled. "It was surreal ... the roar of the crowd, looking up at Shea Stadium and going to the home dugout and seeing fans over the dugout, and remembering when I was a kid sitting there and watching Dwight Gooden and Ron Darling coming back to the dugout."

   In that game, he allowed two runs on two hits in six innings, fanning six. Wagner got the save and gave him the game ball.

  On hand were Figueroa's wife Alisa, his daughter Renee, his parents, his grandmother, his siblings and an assortment of other friends and relatives.

  Figueroa would make four starts during that April/early May stretch, combining for a 3.86 ERA in that span and striking out 18 in 23 1/3 innings before hitting a rough patch in back-to-back starts in May. The timing was bad for him because that stumble came when they were ready to bring some pitchers up. Figueroa was designated for assignment and sent back to New Orleans where he remained for the rest of the summer, going 4-7 with a 4.43 ERA in 20 games for the Zephyrs.

  In September, working exclusively in relief, he posted a 1.35 ERA in seven games, allowing just one earned run that month.

  But due to the numbers game, Figueroa was removed from the 40-man roster once again following the '08 campaign, though the Mets told him right away that he was in their plans and that they wanted to resign him to a minor league contract with an invitation for 2009 spring training.

  "They called me even before they made the move to express their interest in keeping me and told me that everyone in the organization wanted me back and that I'd done great, I'd done everything I needed to do," he said. "I wasn't looking to hold out for $8 million. It wasn't about money, because honestly we get paid more in the Major Leagues than
anyone should get paid. But it was hard to have my roster spot taken away."

  But in the end, Figueroa took the offer. After all, it's the Mets. It's his team. And as he leaves his Phoenix home today to head east to St. Lucie for another spring training battle, he goes in with confidence and hope that there is a place for him there.

  "I think I'm a serviceable back end of the rotation starter or long man because I bounce back quickly," he said. "I'm looking forward to making his team out of camp in whatever way they need me. I just look at it as another challenge. You have to fight for a job every year when you're someone like me."

  Tomorrow, we look at Nelson Figueroa, world traveler and family man ... what has he been doing this off-season, where do his travels take him this month? And why is there a picture of him with his hand in a Hunny Jar?

 It's times like these that I thank heaven for having GotMiLB as an outlet. And I'm sure my editors do too.

  Trying to get everything awesome from an interview with a player like New York Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa, Jr., into a column that is supposed to top out at 1,000 words max is like trying to pour the ocean into a Dixie Cup.

  So while readers of MLB.com can enjoy the "encapsulated" version of Figueroa's amazing journey, here at Got MiLB I can give you the "full Nelson."

  It will, however, be spread out over three days ...

  Part 1 will be about his baseball life and career heading into 2008. And this will be more about his history so you can understand his present and everything that goes with it (so most of the interview excerpts will come in Parts 2 and 3).

  Part 2 (Thursday) will be about his return to his hometown team, the New York Mets.

  And Part 3 (Friday) will be about Figueroa, the guy behind the baseball player, and his amazing and beautiful family.

  And this week's Q&A, which usually runs on Friday, will be pushed back a day to Saturday.

  All straight? Then let's start pouring that ocean into that cup now ...

  First of all, it's hard for me to believe that Nelson Figueroa, Jr., will turn 35 this May. His green eyes still twinkle like a teenager's. He still exudes the amazing energy and passion that he had the first time I talked to him, back in 1996 when he absolutely blew away the hitters in the Class A South Atlantic League.

  In his first full season after being drafted in the 30th round out of Brandeis University in 1995, Figueroa took the hill for the Capital City Bombers in Columbia, S.C., in 1996 and went 14-7 with a 2.04 ERA including eight complete games, four of them shutouts. In 185 1/3 innings he scattered 119 hits and struck out a minor-league high 200 batters.

  Writing for USA Today/Baseball Weekly at the time, I dubbed him the "Brooklyn Cy Clone," several years before the Mets themselves moved their short-season New York/Penn League club to Coney Island from Pittsfield, Mass., and gave them the same name.

  Figueroa grew up in Coney Island and graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School. His fellow alumni there range from former Mets star Lee Mazzilli, Stephon Marbury and Marv Albert to Mel Brooks, Louis Gossett, Jr., Leona Helmsley, Arthur Miller and the Neils Diamond AND Sedaka.

  But clearly a guy who saw the big picture, he accepted an offer to head to Brandeis, a Division III school known more for its academics than its sports, rather than any of the Division I schools that showed interest.

  Brandeis' products include such luminaries as Abbie Hoffman and Angela Davis as well as actresses Tyne Daly, Debra Messing and Loretta Devine. But no other Brandeis Judge has made it to the big leagues aside from Figueroa.

  He'd been recruited by the coach there who had seen him in a New England tournament, and Figueroa's family was enthusiastic about the idea of their son getting a great education while also getting the chance to take the mound regularly from his freshman year on.

  To get drafted by the Mets, even in the 30th round, was simply ... cliché though it may be ... a dream come true for the skinny right-hander who idolized Dwight Gooden. And when he headed down to his first extended spring training before making his debut, he was given Gooden's old jersey to wear.

  After pitching in tiny Kingsport, Tennessee, in his debut, where he went 7-3 with a 3.07 ERA, he moved up to the Sally League and became something of a legend.

  The next summer he skipped right past Advanced A St. Lucie and went straight to Double-A Binghamton where he had his ups and downs, going 5-11 with a 4.34 ERA. A return to upstate New York to start 1998 saw him go 12-3 wit a 4.66 ERA before he was blindsided by an event that is so common in baseball but probably never expected, at least not the first time: he got traded.

  Figueroa was shipped with outfielder Bernard Gilkey to the Arizona Diamondbacks that summer in exchange for catcher Jorge Fabregas and pitcher Willie Blair. At Triple-A Tucson, he posted an more-than-impressive 3.70 ERA in seven starts, showing little trouble moving from a pitcher-friendly Double-A Eastern League to the hitter-happy Pacific Coast League.

  The next summer, "Figgy" went 11-6 with a 3.94 ERA with the Sidewinders and in 2000 he was finally called up to Arizona to make his Major League debut.

  But his path would be that of a journeyman over the next several years, and a well-traveled one at that. Figueroa moved from Arizona to Philadelphia to Milwaukee to Pittsburgh, jumping between the big leagues and Triple-A, between starting and long relief, trying to show anyone and everyone that he could fill in whatever role they needed him and do so capably.

  He reached double digits in wins in the Minors five times in that span and his ERA was always solid, often excellent.

  In 2005, though, his workhorse ways ground to a halt as a torn rotator cuff cost him the entire season and his 2006 comeback was a short one, spent primarily with the Washington Nationals' Triple-A outpost in New Orleans.

  And when 2007 rolled around, Figueroa could not find anyone willing to take a shot on a guy who ranked among the active minor league career leaders in nearly every key category.

  In fact, taking into account the time that Figueroa spent with New Orleans in 2008, the Mets' Triple-A squad that summer, the right-hander is the active minor league leader in wins (104), strikeouts (1,251), complete games (25) and shutouts (11) with an impressive 3.54 ERA in that time.

  "My greatest fear in the minors every year is when we get those team sets of baseball cards and people start looking at the back of them," he laughed. "They look at mine and think it must be a typo."

  For Figueroa, the frustration that has come with knowing that he's been tagged as a "four-A guy" can barely be expressed, especially when you look at his numbers.

  "I can't claim to be a big league pitcher if you keep me in the minors," he said. "I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had in the big leagues but I got the label early on of being a 'four-A pitcher' and it's taken me the longest time to get over. And I'm not sure I AM over it."

  So in the summer of 2007 he packed his bags and took them on the road, heading first to Mexico where he pitched for Chihuahua of the Mexican League, and then in September he headed to September where, a member of the Uni-President Lions, he was MVP of the post-season. His long strange trip continued to the Dominican Winter League where he struck out 13 in a game one night, fortuitously with a Mets front office executive sitting in the stands.

  To be continued ...

  SO, Episode Three of our podcast BASEBALL HONEYMOON is up and online, via either Switchpod and/or iTunes (and hopefully if you like it, you'll take a moment to either give it a whole bunch of stars at Switchpod or write a review on iTunes ... and if you don't, well, feel free to return to your regularly-schedule life) ...

  Our very vague theme this week was music (since it's Grammy weekend, even though I NEVER watch the Grammys or Grammies or however it's spelled) ...

  So among our special guests were Jeff Campbell, who is not only a baseball writer in the DC/Baltimore area but who founded an amazing organization, Hungry For Music ... noted jazz musician/songwriter Dave Frishberg, who has used baseball as his muse many times ... and of course known musicians Lars Anderson and Zach Daeges.

  Okay, so Lars and Zach are better known as two of the top prospects in the Boston Red Sox organization. But they are diehard music fans and my awesome friend David Laurila got them to interview each other, most of which they spent talking music rather than baseball.

  Also prominently featured is an interview with Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Fernando Perez who is simply the most amazing guy in baseball. (See what Reid Brignac had to say about him in the previous entry). That's him taking a bite out of the American League trophy.

  Anyway, since he worked hard on writing up the podcast blog entry, I'll just let my husband Wayne tell you about the episode so you can be even more tempted to go listen!

We're very proud of our 3rd episode of Baseball Honeymoon. We actually have a theme this time, and it's music and baseball. There are 4 interviews in the podcast, which explains why we couldn't keep it under an hour. We promise brevity will be observed on our next show, but when you see how much great stuff we have here, you'll understand why we go a bit long.

We start out with Bagels and Boxscores, where Lisa and Wayne get into the great free agent freeze of 2009, and discuss the possibility of whether this is a new form of collusion or not.

At 8:55 Lisa interviews Fernando Perez, Rays OF. Fernando tells of scoring the winning run against the Red Sox in the 2008 ALCS, and he also discusses the Rays clubhouse. Perez is quite the alternative music expert, and he names a favorite baseball song from that genre.

18:42: Music- "O'Brien/O'Brien's Nocturne"- M. Ward

It's Trivia time at 19:08. Lisa announces the winner of last week's contest, and then posits the question for this week, and of course it's about THE baseball song. No, not the National Anthem, but Take Me Out To The Ballgame.

Wayne interviews jazz legend/songwriter Dave Frishberg at 22:57.
Even if you're not a jazz fan, you might know some of Dave's classic tunes, like "Peel Me a Grape", "My Attorney Bernie" or "I'm Hip". Dave's phone was very low in volume, so in order to hear him, we had to do some sound editing magic. If it sounds like Wayne is a heavy-breathing stalker, it's just that when Dave was talking, we had to crank it up, and that brought Wayne's background noise way out in the mix. Wayne is a fan, but not a freak, OK? Dave tells some great stories, so don't miss this, and try to ignore the mouth breather.

29:15: Music- "Van Lingle Mungo"- Dave Frishberg

Definitely one of the highlights of the show comes at 29:38. Lisa introduces our guest correspondant, author and expert on all things Red Sox, David Laurila from Baseball Prospectus. David captures Boston prospects Lars Anderson and Zach Daeges interviewing each other. The questions they ask each other make Media Day at the Superbowl seem like a Gerald Ford press conference. They both play guitar, which explains why they are so out there.

38:15: Music- "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio"- Les Brown and his Orchestra

A Curly W appearance comes at 38:57, and Bill decides to go for the irony, giving us a hip-hop tune about why we should stop blaring pop music at the ballparks. You think if they played some Jimmy Smith during the 7th Inning Stretch, Bill might be OK with it?

At 43:14, Wayne regales (or annoys, you choose) us with his original paean to the Mets, "A Song With Orange (and Blue)". At 46:18, Wayne apologizes for the indulgence, and audially excoriates himself. At 46:30 Wayne breaks out into sobs and begins to blame it all on his childhood traumas. At 46:35, Wayne checks into rehab.

Seriously, at 46:18 Wayne begins his interview with Jeff Campbell, creator of "Hungry For Music", the very successful charity that brings musical instruments to needy children. Jeff explains how he started the endeavor, and why he got into producing CD's featuring baseball songs.

55:27- Music-"Take Me Out To The Ballgame"- Bruce Springstone

Lisa and Wayne list their Top 5 favorite songs about baseball at 55:38; they bring back a familiar artist from an earlier show (albeit from a different period in her life), plus some songs that play a special part of their history. Lisa makes a joke that goes way over Wayne's head....well more like under his posterior. In answer to her question, yes--we ARE six years old. You see, it IS possible to go scat and scatological in the same show!

End music: "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?"- Count Basie

  It was obvious my so-called knowledge of pop culture had gaping holes.

  Standing on the field in Huntsville, Ala., in the summer of 2007, I was set to interview Tampa Bay Rays shortstop phenom prospect Reid Brignac. We were adjusting his mic and checking levels when he said to me "I don't know what to do with my hands."

  "Well, don't worry about them," I assured the then-21-year-old. "We'll pretty much just focus on a closeup of your face anyway."

  Everyone cracked up. I was oblivious.

  Hey, dude, I am just not a Will Ferrell fan, what can I tell you? It was weeks, maybe months, before I finally saw the clip from the movie "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and understood what Brignac was referencing.  

  The next time I saw him, I think it was in the Arizona Fall League, I admitted that I FINALLY "got it." Duh.

  So last month, Brignac was one of a handful of elite prospects on hand for the annual Rookie Career Development Program hosted jointly by Major League Baseball and the Players' Association.

  Among the many worthwhile programs they offer is an in-depth look at how to work with the media. And of course, among the clips they showed, was that clip from the film.

  Needless to say, Brignac needled me about it over lunch. And I totally deserved it.

  But I can also add that it's been a lot of fun to watch how Brignac has gone from the unbelievably shy, sweet kid I first met during 2007 spring training, who probably DIDN'T know what to do with his hands, to one of the most engaging guys around.

  This past season had its highs and lows, as he made his big league debut on July 4, but missed the last month of the season, including playoffs with both his Triple-A Durham Bulls and the Rays, after having his wrist broken when he was hit by a pitch in early August.

  The Louisiana native, the Rays' second-round pick in 2004 out of high school, spent a few days with the big club before returning to Durham, where he finished with a .250 average with nine homers and 43 RBIs in 97 games.
 
  Brignac still projects prominently in the Rays' plans. In 2006 he won California League MVP honors after hitting .326 with 21 homers and 83 RBIs at Advanced A Visalia, going on to hit .260 with 17 homers, 81 RBIs and 15 steals at Double-A Montgomery in 2007, helping lead that team to the Southern League championship at just 21 years old.

  Now, with 2009 on the horizon, things are looking markedly better for Brignac who, now healthy, is already down in Florida working out with his teammates at Tropicana Field in anticipation of the move down the Gulf Coast to the new spring training digs in Port Charlotte.

  "It's part of the game, and it might not have been my time," he said. "But we've got a new year now and I'm really looking forward to competing for a job."

GOTMILB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, in your life are you the proudest?
RB: I've always been baseball, baseball, baseball. I've always wanted to make it to the major leagues. That was always my dream. So right now I'd have to say that was the biggest accomplishment for me personally. As far as teams go, we've won a couple of Double-A championships (with Montgomery) and that was exciting, celebrating and having a good time with my teammates, but I also won a state championship in high school with over half a team I'd known and played with my whole life.

GOTMILB: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?
RB: I'd probably be coaching baseball. I like to help young kids get better at the game and I think I'll always be teaching the game when I'm done with my career. I've learned so much through great coaches that I'd like to pass on what I've learned.

GOTMILB: What is the worst job you've ever had?
RB: I was a stock boy at a grocery store working in the cooler where it was freezing cold, stocking beer and drinks. But an even worse job was being an umpire when I was 13 or 14, with kids who were 9 and 10. I could tell right away it wasn't for me. I respect umpires and it's not an easy job. It's a reaction and once you make a call you have to stand by it, right or wrong.

GOTMILB: Who was your childhood crush?
RB: I grew up with three beautiful neighbors as a child. The oldest was named Paisley Broussard and I had the biggest crush on her. My parents would always say 'Whenever Paisley walks into the room, Reid gets SO RED." Now she's married and about to have a child.

GOTMILB: If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be and why?
RB: It would have to be something fun and exciting if it's only for one day. Being LeBron James would be a great day.

GOTMILB: Which aspect of life in the minors do you find to be the biggest challenge and why?
RB: That first full season was an eye-opener for me, being the first time I've ever had to play that many games and run out there every day. In high school you play 50 games max. I learned, going into the next off-season, how to better prepare myself for what I was going to go through. No one in my family, none of my friends, had ever been drafted so it was all new to me. And after that first full season I learned how to take care of my body, when to go out and when to stay home, certain things you learn as you get older.

GOTMILB: Who is the most unusual character you've met in your pro baseball career?
RB: (Rays outfielder) Fernando Perez, who is one of my best friends. He's such an intelligent person who could do anything he wants in life, he doesn't have to play baseball to be successful. I admire him for all the things he's accomplished in his life. There's nobody like Fernando and nobody will ever be like him.

GOTMILB: What is the best minor league promotion or visiting act you've seen?
RB: Myron Noodleman is my favorite. One of the first games my mom and dad came to watch me play was in Charleston, SC and he was the act for the night. We'd never seen him and we just loved him. He was hilarious and got the crowd really involved.

  They say the early bird catches the worm. But maybe the early bird just catches.  

  The Toronto Blue Jays' top catching prospect, J.P. Arencibia, was already settling into his Florida spring training digs well before the official "pitchers and catchers report" date and can't wait to get to his second big league spring training at Dunedin.   

  "I wanted to be able to come out here and catch the pitchers and get used to them," said Arencibia, who knew that many of the pitchers would already be in town working out at the complex. "It's something that you want to do as a catcher because it's touch to just go out there in a game situation and know exactly what each guy throws."

  A first-round pick by the Jays in 2007 (the 21^st overall pick) out of Tennessee, Arencibia was the Jays' top Minor League hitter last summer, his first full season, as he combined to hit .298 with 27 homers and 105 RBIs between Advanced A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire, ranking 10^th in the Minors in RBIs.  

  The 23-year-old, who is Miami-born and of Cuban descent, starred for the USA National Team as a college sophomore in 2006, helping lead that team to the gold medal in Cuba.  

  Though considered something of an "offense-minded" catcher, he's been working hard on improving all aspects of his defense and has garnered praise for his arm, his game-calling and his agility behind the plate.  

  Entering his second big league spring training, he may be a longshot to break camp with the team but right now, looking at the Blue Jays' catching situation, the heir apparent to the throne is probably not far off from his coronation.  

  The club has just one catcher on its 40-man roster, that being 33-year-old veteran Rod Barajas (who hit .249 for the Jays in 2008), after designating Curtis Thigpen for assignment this week when they added reliever Brian Burres off waivers from the Orioles. Thigpen, should he not be claimed, will likely be in camp as a non-roster player along with veterans Michael Barrett and Raul Chavez among others.  

  But it's Arencibia's development that will determine the timetable.  

  "I'm excited," he said about heading into camp next week. "I was in camp last year so I kind of know what I'm getting into. I know to just be quiet and listen. That's really the biggest thing, to go about my business and stay out of the way of these guys and listen to the veterans."

  He doesn't have grandiose expectations of breaking camp with the big boys, but just wants to take advantage of every minute of it.  

  "My goal is just to have fun, to play the way I always play, loose and confident," he said. "I don't want to put any added pressure on because baseball is hard enough."

   GotMiLB caught up with J.P. as he was in the process of moving into his spring condo right on the beach (and is unbelievably jealous of his -- and his roommate Travis Snider's -- proximity to her favorite restaurant, Frenchy's) but he was willing to take a break to chat (and GotMiLB also tips her cap to amazing and legendary South Atlantic League photographer extraordinaire for the very cool picture!!!)

GOTMILB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, in your life are you the proudest?  

JPA: Winning the gold medal with the USA National Team in Cuba (in 2006). We were the first US team to win gold on Cuban soil. We had David Price and Pedro Alvarez. It was a pretty ridiculous team.

GOTMILB: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?  

JPA: If I wasn't playing baseball I'd probably still try to be in the game, maybe as an agent helping out kids. I'd still like to be a part of the game. Maybe I'd get a law degree.  

GOTMILB: Everyone has a "hidden talent." What's yours?  

JPA: I'm the best breakfast maker in the world. My specialty is egg-white omelets with everything in it. I do the flip, the pan flip in the air, the whole deal. At hotels and any place where they make their own omelets, I would watch the cooks flip. I've always been a 'breakfast at night' guy. I eat breakfast every time of day. After a few failed missions at the house I finally got good at it.  

GOTMILB: Do you have other hobbies or creative outlets aside from baseball?

JPA: I love to golf. That's my outlet if I'm struggling.  

GOTMILB: Complete this sentence: It would surprise people to know that I ...  

JPA: Am pretty athletic for a catcher.

GOTMILB: Who was your childhood crush?

JPA: Carmen Electra.

GOTMILB: If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be and why?

JPA: Tiger Woods, because he's the best athlete in the world.  

GOTMILB: Who would play you in the movie of your life?

JPA: Adam Sandler.  

 GOTMILB: Which aspect of life in the minors do you find to be the biggest challenge and why?  

JPA: Trying to make the best of the negative parts of the game, the bus rides and travel.  

GOTMILB: Which aspect of life in the minors has surprised you the most, in comparison to what you might have imagined before you turned pro?  

JPA: Preparing yourself every day. You never ever know what it's like to play every day until you do it.  

GOTMILB: On your most recent club (the New Hampshire Fisher Cats), what was your favorite thing about playing there?

JPA: The atmosphere. I thought it was a great city and we got a good amount of fans for a game so it was fun to play there.  

GOTMILB: What are the best and worst minor league promotions or visiting acts you've seen?  

JPA: The best was Myron Noodleman. I would actually go to games in college just to watch him. The worst was the "crazy hot dog vendor" (in Reading).  

 On the mound, Daniel Schlereth has the potential to be the epitome of an ace closer.

  The Arizona Diamondbacks' top pick in 2008 out of Arizona has a fastball that's been clocked in the mid-high 90s, a power curve and the ever-popular bulldog demeanor.

  But off the mound, he's kind of a teddy bear. Hope I'm not outing him by saying that, because it's meant in the best possible way! At the recent Rookie Career Development Program, he was the first guy to show up for his interview, per request of my colleague Jonathan Mayo.

   Easy going and laidback, it's hard to imagine him in that context of going-for-the-jugular pitcher. Even harder when he shared that he's been taking yoga classes this off-season to work on his flexibility.

  But I suspect his affinity for yoga and fishing and hanging out in the great outdoors (he is from Colorado, after all) simply adds to his package ... he can bottle the energy for the mound and be totally chill off of it.

  Just to give you a few details on Schlereth, to make some of his answers clearer, his dad Mark was a longtime offensive lineman in the NFL.

    "I think it's one of my biggest advantages, being around my dad and seeing what he went through," Schlereth told Jonathan during his interview. "It's a different sport but the same mentality goes into it. It was an advantage to be around the pro athletes and see the grind they go through. I think I'm ready."

   Schlereth also underwent Tommy John surgery back in 2006 and missed time after that with a ribcage injury. But he got healthy and hot at the right time, flashing high 90s on the radar guns in the last few weeks before the draft to send his stock soaring even higher.

GotMiLB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, in your life are you the proudest?

DS: I'm probably the most proud of getting drafted this past year. I've overcome a lot of injuries and obstacles to get to this point. So I would think this 2008 draft was the best accomplishment so far. I've only played a month of Minor League baseball.

GotMiLB: What do you think you'd be doing now if you weren't playing baseball?
DS: I'd probably be dong something with my dad, something with football, or possibly coaching. My fiancée is going to be a schoolteacher so maybe I could coach at her school. If not that, maybe I'd be a firefighter. It would be something physical.

GotMiLB: Everyone has a "hidden talent." What's yours?
DS: I'm not sure. I'm pretty good at fishing, I guess. My fiancée would say I could sing a little, at least I do in the shower. And I can dance a little bit. A lot of little things, nothing special.

GotMiLB: Do you have other hobbies or creative outlets aside from baseball?
DS: I'm an outdoors guy, I like to fish and snowmobile and four-wheel.

GotMiLB: Complete this sentence: It would surprise people to know that I ...
DS: Am Japanese. I don't look it. My mom is half Japanese.

GotMiLB: What is the worst job you've ever had?
DS: Landscaping is by far the worst. I feel for those people. Landscaping and construction work are the two toughest things you can do.

GotMiLB: What is your guiltiest TV pleasure?
DS: Right now it's "Dexter" on Showtime. I bought the first two seasons at Best Buy and we just went and watched them all the way through. It's kind of twisted but it's addicting.

GotMiLB: What reality TV show would you kick butt on?
DS: Maybe "The Hills," because I'd switch it up and bring a rough-around-the-edges character to the show, because all those people seem kind of sissy to me.

GotMiLB: Who was your childhood crush?
DS: I went to a Britney Spears concert when she was sober so probably her when I was in seventh grade, but that faded quick. Maybe Jessica Biel. She's from Colorado where I'm from and my parents know her parents and I hugged her one time when I was in eighth or ninth grade. So that was pretty cool.

GotMiLB: If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be and why?
DS: I'd like to be a late night host like Jay Leno or David Letterman or Stephen Colbert.

GotMiLB: Which aspect of life in the minors has surprised you the most, in comparison to what you might have imagined before you turned pro?
DS: I was in A-ball for three appearances this year so I didn't really get a taste of it but the worst thing were the bus rides after the game. Traveling seven or eight hours after the game and then having to play the next day. I'd heard the bus rides were bad but I didn't expect that. That was brutal. I tried going to Target and getting a body-size pillow but when you're sitting next to someone on a cramped bus you can't get used to that.