Our manager John Farrell turns 50 today. I wonder what he'll be wishing for when he blows out his candles. Likely that he doesn't have to talk to the team trainer for a few days.
John was a pretty good pitcher with the Indians until an elbow injury put him out for 2 seasons and, when he came back, he wasn't the same pitcher. His first season back, 1993, he went 3-12 with a 7.35 ERA in 17 starts. His pitching career was pretty much over.
He became the Director of Player Development for the Indians in 2001. In 2007 he became the Red Sox pitching coach and, well, you know the rest.
Farrell had been a .500 manager for us, until this week brought everything crashing down.
Also turning 50 today is former Blue Jay pitcher Roger Clemens. Roger won 41 games and 2 Cy Youngs, in his 2 seasons with Toronto. He'll tell you that he did it all without the help of PEDs. It must be true, a jury believed him.
And turning 30 today, another former Jay pitcher, Josh Roenicke. Josh is having a good season with the Colorado Rockies. He has a 2.40 ERA win 43 games there. Much better than the 6.38 ERA he had with us. Maybe we should have been a bit more patient with him.
So Happy Birthday John (and Roger and Josh). It would be ok to celebrate it with a victory.