Building A Better A-Rod pt.2

Much better. I'll whip up a final one tonight to take the place of the one from a few days ago.

Building A Better A-Rod

I decided to have another go at caricaturing A-Rod after the absolute disaster I posted yesterday. It's still not 100% there, but it's at least a billion percent improvement. My cold must have been pretty bad yesterday for me to even think about posting that piece of crap. I'll try again later this week.

New Projects - Jeter, A-Rod

I am feverishly at work building up my portfoilio right now. Not only am I trying to become an exhibiting member of the Shrewsbury Creative Arts Guild here in NJ, but I'm also on a mission to develop some sort of working relationship with the major sports leagues and memorabilia distributors and manufacturers. It's time to make the jump to full-time professional sports artist and move my desk and easel out of my bedroom and into a studio. My ultimate dream right now is to have at least one of my pieces hanging in the new Yankee Stadium and the new Giant/Jet Stadium.

So, I'm jumping back and forth from one project to the next to keep each one (and myself) fresh, but I'll post updates on each as I go along. Here are some pastel sketches of what will become acrylic paintings. The first is a 36'x24" canvas of A-Rod hitting his 500th home run. The second is a 16"x20" canvas of Capt. Jeter doing his trademark "Veni, Vidi, Vici" fist-pump.

Game 16 - YANKEES 15, Red Sox 9

The first pitch of last night's Yankee/Red Sox game was thrown aboard the International Space Station and, afterward, the two teams went on to do some astronomical scoring (You see what I did, there? Pretty clever, huh?). I've got a truckload of projects to do over the next few months, so my posts are gonna be less words, more pictures. Here's a pen-and-ink jobber of A-Rod hitting his 522nd home run last night, a real moon-shot (See? I did it again!), thus passing Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for sole possession of the 15th spot on the all-time home run list.

Game 8 - Yankees 2, ROYALS 5

Ouch. Not a good one. Like I keep saying, though, it's early. Phil Hughes got squeezed a little yesterday, but he still needs to have better control and fight through that stuff. I'm sure he will in the future. He is still just 21, remember. With the exception of Ohlendorf getting a little wild in the fifth, the bullpen once again looked good. The offense still isn't working, but I'll be charitable and chalk it up to the quick turnaround between playing at 7pm on Monday in the Bronx and then 4pm the next day in Kansas City.

As for the Jeter and Posada injuries, it looks like Jeets could be back in Fenway this weekend and Posada will get an MRI today. I'm not too worried about either. In fact, with Posada it could be good news. Molina is a more than serviceable backup and this could leave a little extra gas in the tank for Jorge at the end of the season. It looks like April could be a tough month, but as long as they can hover over .500, I think they should be fine.

Despite it being so damned early, the baseball landscape is interesting right now. Are the Tigers this bad? Are the Orioles and Cardinals actually good? The Rays and Royals look like teams on the come, though. I don't know that they'll do too much this year, but it appears that ownership for both teams has committed to putting a better product on the field. It'll be interesting to see where it takes them.

On another note, I don't want to hear about what a classy act it was for the Sox to bring Bill Buckner back to throw out the first pitch at Fenway this year and how great the fans were to cheer and "forgive" him. The classy thing would've been to do it 10 years ago, not after they've won two championships. And, the real question should be whether Buckner would forgive the fans, not if they would forgive him. If I were Bill I would have come to the mound with two middle fingers raised high, then brought Bucky Dent out to throw the first pitch.

I'll give the Sawx fans credit, though, just when you think you have all the reasons you need to hate them, they give you another. I'm at the point now, I'd dislike them even if I weren't a Yankee fan.

Today's sketch: a scribble of A-Rod's fourth strikeout of the day. Forgive me for not putting a whole lot of effort into it. After yesterday's game it was tough to get up for.

Game 2 - Yankees 2, BLUE JAYS 5

I don't have too much to say about this one. I was getting my taxes done, and by the time I got home, the Yanks were down 5-0. I settled in just in time to see A-Rod hit his 1st home run of the year, which I commemorated with a quick pen and ink sketch. It looks pretty cool, except for the fact that I drew his head too damn big.

Overall, if you're a Yankee fan, you just have to say 'Hey. Their pitching beat our pitching'. From what I understand, Mussina was decent and Farnsworth and Ohlendorf did what they get paid to do. I'd like to see Farnsworth's control a little better, though. Sometimes, you're just gonna have those cold days that are tough to play in and the other guy on the mound is gonna be too tough to beat. I tell you this, though, the Jays look like they have some good pitching. If they stay healthy, the AL East could be interesting this year.