There are just a handful of stories to spend time on today. The biggest event yesterday was obviously Roy Halladay’s perfect game. Here is a pretty good Matt Gelb piece about the locker room after the game. Halladay giving so much credit to his catcher, Carlos Ruiz. Apparently, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria had the pitcher mound dug up as a gift to Halladay. Is Loria trying to show what a great guy he is these days? Or is it just that it would seem bad luck to have the rubber where an opponent pitched the perfecto remain- especially since his own pitcher Josh Johnson had pitched so well. Johnson’s start actually would have been noteworthy had it not come against Halladay and his perfect game.

In Detroit, it seems they are giving up on Dontrelle Willis. This John Lowe piece gives the details about how Willis has struggled with the club. Interestingly, Willis seemed to fall off the map quickly after truly shining in Florida for several years. I have friends who scouted Willis and watched him when he in the Cubs system, and said the young man had huge trouble making eye contact and never smiled. They were always surprised by the outgoing smiling guy they saw take the mound in Florida. It all makes me wonder if Willis may have been put on some sort of anti-anxiety medication that became banned by the stricter drug protocols put in place only a few years ago. I am not saying steroids. I am saying that perhaps he had to change to a different kind of ritalin or something, and that has led to the return of much of his earlier issues. That is a shame.

Good news for Tigers fans though- they get to see Max Scherzer, and see if he is the next Rick Porcello. We will all know soon if Scherzer is worthy of the hype- and hopefully he can help the Tigers out a bit.

The last big league story I am going to point you to is that- which I am sure you have seen a ton of by now- of Kendry Morales breaking his leg when he tried to jump onto home plate after hitting a walk-off grand slam.  Though many are now calling for a change in how players and teams celebrate such things, he could have very easily have just twisted his ankle running the bases and broken it.  It really does mean trouble for the Angels bid to win the West, as Morales was the Angels best hitter.

And now to independent ball. Here is a great piece from Josh Dubow about the young Japanese woman knuckleballer who made her debut last night for the Chico Outlaws becoming the first woman to pitch professionally for two countries.

And last night I too took in a minor league game, at the Bridgeport Bluefish.  The Blue fish hosted the Camden Riviersharks.  The Bluefish play in the Atlantic baseball League which has clubs from Sommerset Massachusettes all the way down the east coast into Vriginia.  The Bluefish have a beautiful park, comparable to many AA parks you are going to run into.  Overall, it was a pretty good experience.  The between inning entertainment lacked a bit.  One kid had to race the mascot around the bases, but since he was a kid that had been on the field prior to the game, it seems he might have been the son of a player.  A couple of other bits weren’t carried off so well either, but the pick your prize by choosing a bucket with something in it was sponsored by PC Richards- and all three containers had some very good prizes in it.

The interesting thing about independent baseball is that often these are players that were drafted by a major league team but either never made it above a certain level, or got injured and are trying to work their way back.  The Camden Riversharks featured Jason Botts, who played for the Texas Rangers briefly.  He was a great hitter without a position, and his contract was sold to Japan where he played in 2009.  Though we didn’t see him last night, Antonio Alfonseca who pitched in the big leagues from 1997 until 2007 played for the Bluefish.  Last year, he apparently played in a Mexican League.  Sometimes if you do this for too long, you just want to keep going until you can’t anymore.

Independent ball, just to be clear, are teams that are not affiliated with any Major League team.  They often fill a void left by the minors, providing affordable entertainment where big league teams or official minor league teams aren’t placed.   They also give a lot of opportunity to players either on their way down or hoping to get a better look from a major league club.  Remember, Ricky Henderson went a couple of rounds in independent ball- so you never know who you might see.