When you find an answer, doesn't there have to be a question? Who exactly was demanding instant replay on home run calls in baseball? If not managers, players, owners, or umpires, then who? When was the big fiasco that prompted replay as a fix? What key game was decided by a fair or foul call?
Wasn't the problem with baseball that the games lasted too long?
This will help.
The way I understand it, the Big Giant Head will be in New York looking down every foul line in major league baseball, waiting for the disputed call that probably won't come. Over the course of a season there will likely be less than a dozen which should be reviewed.
But that isn't what will happen.
Because the technology is there it will be used. And we'll have fifty or sixty calls a year looked at, and forty or five calls upheld.
It gets worse.
Currently if the call by the umpire on a long drive is foul, the runner stops running and goes back to the plate. What happens now? You run out every long drive near the line because it MIGHT be ruled fair?
What if you accept the umpires argument and head back to the plate. The the BGH turns on the magic light and the umpires disappear off the field to meditate under the golden hood. The ball is ruled fair and you have to run back around a base you already passed. What if there are already three men on base?
I'm getting a headache, and its name is Selig.
What happens to the pitcher while all this is going on? How many warm up pitches do you allow, given that you just interrupted the game?
And who says a video review won't be distorted by bad camera angles and no more likely to be right than an umpire on the field making the call?
Baseball is alright. It isn't broken, and if the powers that be will just stop trying to fix it everything will be fine.
As Casey Stengel used to say, you can look it up.
Offense went down, so baseball's rulers lowered the mound. Now they can't figure out why starting pitchers can't go 200 innings in a season without a risk of arm injury.
They thought the DH was a grand idea, but only implemented it in one league. Now the World Series is dominated by the AL because they win a match up between real DH's and pinch hitters.
Baseball couldn't reign incompetent umpires, so they tinkered with the strike zone to accomodate them. Now the high strike is gone, three ball counts are on the rise, and the game takes forever.
Now this.
Memo to Bud Selig. Just go away.
You don't have to quit as Commissioner. You can go to all the games you want free, hang out in New York. Take in a Broadway show. Eat at the Carnegie Deli. Walk through Central Park. Go all the way to the top of the Empire State Building.
The difference between major league baseball and A ball?
The signs on the outfield walls. In Greensboro you get grease disposal tips from the city water department (in case you're wondering, you should take care to clean out your pans before washing them out in the sink).
During today's 6-1 Greensboro Grasshoppers win over the Greenville Drive I also noticed a sign for "Our Congressman Howard Coble" and one for "Our Other Congressman Brad Miller". We have three congressional districts in Guilford County. I guess the third congressman (Mel Watt) didn't want to put up a sign billing himself as "Our Other, Other Congressman".
Minor league baseball doesn't take itself too seriously, which is a good thing. But it's still baseball played with a high level of skill. And today at least, it was day baseball. In a better world all baseball would be day baseball, and Al Gore would be trapped in his home by massive snow drifts.
You can't have everything.
Started the day sitting behind four corporate types (two male, two female) half listening to their conversations. One of the men felt compelled to explain the game to the women (I don't know, but I'm guessing you get tired of us doing that). Most of what he explained was wrong (I suspect you know that), but he meant well (which we count on you knowing).
They left after two innings when one of the women deduced that front row seats just down the line from third base might be prime line drive foul ball territory. Little did she know that with me sitting behind them there was little chance of a foul ball coming anywhere near them. I am foul ball proof.
The game itself was a contest of minor Marlins and Class A RedSox. Lots of high draft picks in Greensboro, a number of undrafted free agents for Greenville.
Part of the fun in a minor league game is picking out guys who'll make it to the big leagues. There are a few more, but here's some who caught my attention:
Matt Dominguez. A 2007 first draft pick who put the ball completely out of NewBridge Bank Park. It's not as impressive as it sounds, because like many newly minted ballparks the power alleys are too close. But Dominguez is the real thing. As he matures he'll gain even more power and he has a strong arm at third base. (Message to Jorge Cantu of the Florida Marlins-rent, don't buy.)
Jose Ceballos. The Grasshoppers 18 year old catcher already he has good power. Better still, he's got a good arm and instincts. I was very surprised to find out his age, because he handles his catching duties like a much more experienced receiver. One more plus, he appears to enjoy the game.
Mike Rozier. A left handed reliever for Greenville. You don't normally get excited by middle relievers, but here's one who can get ahead early in the count with an off speed pitch and then go twenty miles per hour up the speed gun on the next pitch. If the RedSox put some time into his development he could be an asset in a major league bullpen. You wonder why he's still in low A ball at 23.
Some guys don't impress you. The Greensboro shortstop who didn't run through the base on ground ball outs, for one. Give up on plays in low A ball and soon organizations give up on you.
Greenville had a guy who was the exact opposite. Oscar Tejeda, a shortstop, hit a grounder with two men on and went down the line hard on a routine play. As he crossed the bag he was chewing himself out in Spanish. He's Rafael Soriano big for a middle infielder, and shows good bat speed. But it's that hustle and attitude that might make the difference.
Mike Stanton is the big prospect for Greensboro. The Marlins nearly
got Manny Ramirez, but didn't because the Pirates (the third team in
the deal) wanted Stanton in the trade. He's a center fielder who
will eventually be a power hitter at the major league level. At the
plate his stance is very open, kind of like you see in old pictures of Joe
DiMaggio. He'll be very good some day, but today he looked ordinary. Baseball can do that to even the best of players.
Some guys you pull for just because. Matt Cooney, the Greenville catcher, came up to bat with the scoreboard showing .156-0-0. Oh for four today with two strikeouts doesn't help. Called a good game, though. He's from Massachusetts. Hope he makes it to Fenway.
Fun to watch the two man crew working the game. The home plate guy was smooth and managed to go an entire game without anyone, even the fans, commenting on a single ball/strike call. The first base umpire hustled, but missed a phantom double play at second that was as bad as any I've ever seen.
Then you have the managers and coaches. Every time they visited the mound today, something bad happened. The Greenville starter walked a batter and went to 3-1, which brought the resident expert to the mound no doubt to say something along the lines of "Just put it over the plate". He did, and Ceballos put it out of the park for a 2-0 lead.
In the minors you also get the toilet seat lid horse shoe toss, the summo wrestling contest, and the mascot racing some little kid around the bases (just once I want to see the mascot make some grade schooler eat dust).
In Greensboro all the in game entertainment is presided over by a young guy wearing a jester's hat, wearing a jersey with "Spaz" on the back. The best you can say for the name is that it's bad manners. The best you can say for the act is that it's old.
The game ended 6-1 Greensboro. Four thousand nine hundred and two fans (announced), at least a thousand disguised as empty seats, headed home.
Here I am watching women's Olympic basket soccer on TV. I think it's called team handball, but I like basket soccer better. You have dribbling, and just like the NBA you get to take up to three steps with the ball and nobody calls it. Then the ball carrier throws the ball at the net and tries to get it past a goal keeper.
Basket soccer.
It's fast paced, fun, and competitive. Who knew? And when can we replace arena football with it?
I might as well admit it. I'm enjoying the Olympics. I would prefer not to. When I watched the opening ceremonies from Beijing I kept thinking Leni Riefenstahl would have loved it. Every trace of individual identity ground under the heel of an authoritarian state. All of it carefully managed by a government whose biggest worry is stopping Bible smugglers.
Image the 1936 Olympics with Jim Lampley and Bob Costas doing commentary.
Jim Lampley? I remember when he was hired out of college because of his youthful look. Now his on-air presence is so unmemorable that you couldn't trace a chalk outline around his dead career.
It could be worse. At least Bryant Gumbel and Jim Rome aren't there. Together with Lampley and Costas, they form the Four Horsemen of the Inane. Picture them together in one room.
(Gumbel) "Enough of about you, let's talk about me."
(Costas) "I remember Mickey Mantle. It was October of 1956."
(Rome) "Dude,do not concur. He wasn't all that. Now the dude could rake. But he's no ARod. Get 1956 out of your head, clone, and have a take."
(Costas) "Forty four years old, and you can't talk in complete sentences without pausing for a ten count? You need to see my Emmy collection."
(Lampley) "Emmy? Which was one Emmy? I promise you I've never met the woman and I did not, repeat did not, violate that restraining order."
(Gumbel) "The inability of white American sportswriters to own their collective guilt continues to astound this reporter."
(Lampley, Costas, Rome) "Shut up! Just, for once in your life, shut up!"
I'm enjoying the Olympics despite the announcers. Especially the sports I wouldn't normally get to see. Rowing is fun and seems to be on constantly. I like hearing what sounds like a car horn going off each time a team crosses the finish line. You hear that horn and have images of someone jumping out of their boat, grabbing their medal, and running across a parking lot to a waiting truck. "Thanks, guys, but mom's waiting. If she has to honk that horn a second time she'll leave me here."
Basketball hasn't been much to watch. Team Nike is crushing every thing in it's path. Poor guys. When they lose they are a national disgrace, and when they win we'll complain that it was all too easy. Not to worry, the important thing is how it all looks in the next Swoosh commercial.
Speaking of which, Liu Xiang, the poster athlete for Nike this Olympics went down with an injury. The statement out of Beaverton read, "Nike is proud of being able to cooperate with Liu Xiang closely. At
this time, we fully understand his feelings,and expect him to return to
the field after he is fully recovered."
Unless he and his family disappear in the middle of night, but that just goes without saying.
Michael Phelps? I've heard the name, but can't quite place it. Seriously, though, where does he rank among the all-time great Olympic athletes? I always give the track and field guys an edge over swimmers, whose events are more similar and can accumulate medals more easily.
Finally, would someone tell the US baseball team there is no crying in Olympic baseball? The Cubans threw high and tight at a US batter in a bunt situation and Davey Johnson acted as if it was a bad thing. Say what you will about Cuba, when you watch the Cuban team you are watching baseball played right and well.
Soon the Olympics will be over. I'm going to miss it.
(Test administrator) Okay, I am now administering the sodium pentothal. Let's wait just a moment and then begin. Please try to relax. It is 9PM on August 10 and I am here on behalf of the ownership of the Colorado Rockies.
Alright Mr. O'Dowd, are you the general manager of the Colorado Rockies?
(Dan O'Dowd) Yes, yes I am.
(Test administrator) And you recently placed a waiver claim for Livian Hernandez?
(Dan O'Dowd) Yes, yes I did.
(Test administrator) Very good. Now, were you aware Hernandez had given up 206 hits in 142 innings and only struck out 55 batters?
(Dan O'Dowd) I do not think I was aware of that at this time and probably was not aware of it at the other time at which I did not know that of which you spoke in the first part.
(Test administrator) Now, for your safety and to ensure the accuracy of this test, I must ask you, have you consumed any alcoholic beverages in the past 24 hours?
(Dan O'Dowd) Why, whatever do you mean, officer?
(Test administrator) Had you ever heard of Livian Hernandez before you assumed the remainder of his $1.65 million contract?
(Dan O'Dowd) The Twins said he was a nice man and a good teammate.
(Test administrator) But did they say he could still pitch?
(Dan O'Dowd) Not that I recall.
(Test administrator) Now, why did you allow Mr. Hernandez to start Sunday knowing this would place spectators beyond the outfield walls and your own players at grave risk of physical danger and place your employer at risk of personal injury lawsuits?
(Dan O'Dowd) Bob Apodaca, our pitching coach, watched him warmup. He told the press "This wasn't
touch-and-feel. This wasn't to see what kind of stuff he has. I mean he
was 10-8 in the hairy-chested American League."
(Test administrator) I'm sorry, I confused.
(Dan O'Dowd) Hi, I'm Dan O'Dowd, pleased to meet you. I understood Bob perfectly. He evaluates pitchers based on the chest hair content of the league they pitch in. That is why we don't promote players from A ball. They have not had sufficient time to grow the amount of chest hair necessary to pitch in the majors.
(Test administrator) Huh?
(Dan O'Dowd) Exactly.
(Test administrator) Moving on. During Sunday's game when did you begin to suspect it had been unwise to acquire the services of Mr. Hernandez?
(Dan O'Dowd) It's hard to say, it all happened so fast.
(Test administrator) Take your time.
(Dan O'Dowd) Well, it was probably the first inning, some time just after the first batter singled. And then the second, and when Brian Giles doubled them in. I didn't even know he was still playing, I thought he had retired. Or maybe that was his brother. Anyway I'd say it was between then and when the Gerut kid took him deep. I knew we should have pitched him more carefully. He did hit 11 home runs that year at Salem.
(Test administrator) Now, one thing I'm unclear on. You were 12 games out at the time you acquired Hernandez. Why did you feel compelled to acquire a veteran pitcher?
(Dan O'Dowd) In time I thought we could close the gap to 11 games.
(Test administrator) Now, you released Kip Wells to make room for Hernandez and owe him $900,000 for not pitching the rest of the year.
(Dan O'Dowd) Have you seen him pitch? It was money well spent.
(Test administrator) So, if I have this right, you'll spend $1.4 million over the next two months to pay Hernandez to not pitch well and Wells not to pitch at all.
(Dan O'Dowd) We have that all figured out. If we can just sell 119,000 more hot dog and beer combos over the next two months that should about cover it. And, with Hernandez pitching we think there will be a lot more drinking at games. Heck, we're thinking Hurdle and his coaches are going to put a big dent in it even before the fans start.
(Test administrator) So, you take sole and complete responsibility for signing Hernandez?
(Dan O'Dowd, begins singing) Regrets, I've had a few, but then again too few to mention. I did it my way!
(Test administrator) OK, we're done, just relax and someone will be along to drive you home. It's now 9:22 and the O'Dowd interview is concluded.
(Dan O'Dowd, continuing to sing) Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? (hitting high note) About time.....
I'm not running for anything, so I can take a position and stick with it. Besides, it always seemed to work for John Wayne.
FOR The RedSox trading Manny Ramirez and for the Dodgers acquiring him. Win/win. Ramirez will play hard and hit well, if for no other reason than to show up the RedSox. On the other hand, who can blame the BoSox for believing that fruitcake is not a summer delicacy.
AGAINST The sportswriter who criticized Erin Andrews. I suspect there is a fair amount of jealousy involved in that a)nobody has heard of the writer and b)everyone has heard of Andrews. Is Andrews where she is because of her looks? Was Walter Cronkite the anchor at CBS all those years because of his voice? Your gifts get you to the table, your hard work keeps you there. Andrews deserves her place.
FOR Brett Favre playing this season with some team other than the Packers. Thompson and Company were ready for the changing of the guard before Favre had retired and he knew it. If he still wants to play, make the deal. Sixteen seasons and great numbers ought to buy some measure of respect. It's his life and the window of opportunity on his being a football player is closing fast.
AGAINST LeBron James signing with a Greek team as a free agent when his Cavalier contract is up. I know it wasn't going to happen despite the rumors, but I want to go on record. How can I blog about James if he's scoring 50 a night against Kolossus Rodou?
FOR Mandatory drug testing by the NCAA prior to high school players being allowed to sign a scholarship offer. It would be a great positive incentive for high school kids to stay away from drugs at a critical time in their lives, and keep many hard core abusers from coming to school and creating disciplinary problems. (By the way, wonder why absolutely no one even mentions this as an option?)
AGAINST Fantasy football. I'm terrible at it.
FOR Self delusion. The Astros have declared they will "never" be sellers at the trade deadline. That would be the same Houston Astros who thought Shawn Chacon was just the free agent pitcher they needed.
AGAINST Mark Cuban buying the Cubs. He should buy his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates instead. A small market team with a bottomless cup of payroll beats another mega market team with unlimited payroll. (I know the Pirates aren't for sale. But they should be.)
FOR A typhoon hitting the Olympics. The Olympics are to sports what infomercials are to late night TV. Besides, it couldn't happen to a nicer government. Possible downside-the number of meteorologists who will be detained and "reeducated".
AGAINST Terrell Owens missing practice two days in a row. You just know that he's thinking that we're thinking that he's thinking that we're thinking....
FOR Tony Stewart winning a race. Stewart has zero wins. The natural order of the universe has been disturbed.
AGAINST Guys named Busch winning NASCAR races (see above).
FOR College football season starting and with it blogs full of trash talk and rash predictions.
AGAINST Penn State becoming the state pen and the SEC becoming an expansion franchise of the federal prison system.
Ron Artest let his new teammate Yao Ming know that he was "still ####".
I'm still suburb. Whatever that means. As if geography is destiny and free will doesn't exist. Martin Luther King spoke of a day when people would be judged by the content of their character. Maybe we're not there yet. But if we are, what do Artest's comments justifying physical confrontations on the basis of "respect" say?
This week West Virginia quarterback Pat White, who has been
drafted more than once by major league baseball teams, said he wouldn't
be going out for the team at WVU after his football career was over.
"In my knowledge of West Virginia baseball, there's not been many
players of my race on his team. He's (Coach Greg Van Zant) not too high
on it." He went on to add that the team's players disliked the coach,
the team wasn't very good, and that perhaps he would play baseball if
the team had a different coach.
One small problem. White acknowledged he hadn't spoken directly to Van
Zant. It was a hit and run accusation coming from a Heisman trophy
candidate who is very popular in the state of West Virginia. Van Zant
is now in the position of defending himself against comments he didn't
make to a player he hasn't spoken to.
Van Zant has a reputation as a poor communicator with a good won-loss
record. But nobody has accused him of prejudice, and there isn't any evidence of it beyond the fact that there aren't many African-Americans on his teams (or on many other college baseball teams). But Van Zant will be carrying the weight of White's words as a tag line the rest of his career. "Greg Van Zant, once accused of racism by WVU quarterback Pat White."
Then again.
It is a sports world inhabited by Redskins, Braves, and Indians. No stereotyping or prejudice there, right? Why are the Redskins called that? Because they were originally the Boston Football Braves. Moving to Fenway Park they became the Boston Redskins, presumably to clear up the name conflict with the Boston National League baseball team.
The baseball Braves were named not for native Americans but for a Democratic Party political machine. In the late 1800's New York politics was dominated by Tammany Hall, a sort of political machine and lodge that used native American phrases and symbols and referred to it's meeting place as a wigwam. When New York politician James Gaffney bought the team they went from Boston Rustlers to Boston Braves. By which logic, the Atlanta Braves ought to have a picture of a smiling politician on their logo.
The Indians of Cleveland were the Naps, after their captain Nap Lajoie. When Lajoie was sold to the Philadelphia A's, sportswriters were asked by the team to come up with a new name. They chose Indians, in part because of Cleveland player Louis Sockalexis, a native American. Ironically, Sockalexis died within a few years due to alcoholism. It was reported that a reason for his heavy drinking was the racial slurs hurled at him by fans.
Where am I headed with all this? Where are we headed?
We could start with the idea that words matter.
Ron Artest should consider, and probably won't, that endorsing violent responses to perceived slights is not evidence of culture but of a curse laid upon generations. It will continue, is continued, by thoughtless statements from athletes and entertainers.
It would be nice if someone, anyone, from the administration at West Virginia University publicly called out White for his reckless comments (unless he can back them up, which he hasn't so far). But the simple fact is White's performance on the field makes his happiness more important than the reputation of a 14 year employee of the school.
Oddly enough, it must be some warped sign of progress in this country that white fans in West Virginia were quick to go to college football message boards and throw their white coach under the bus lest any criticize their African-American quarterback.
Which brings us to the Redskins. Once a year I come out in favor of retiring the name. Once a year people get mad and say I'm a politically correct liberal trying to force my ideas on other people. In fact, I'm somewhat to the right of Ghengis Khan politically, but that's neither here nor there.
I have been blessed to be raised in the South. We get things wrong. Boy, have we gotten some things wrong. But we were raised to understand that you thought about your neighbor and went out of your way not to cause offense.
That said, I say we rename the Redskins (who used to be the Braves). The Indians we can talk about, but the smiling Chief Wahoo logo has to go. The Braves? Probably not an issue anymore, but I do think the smiling politician should be worn for at least one season.
Do you ever wonder if you could retire, change your mind, and then call your employer's bluff by showing back up to work? And do you think Brett Favre will ever realize that George Constanza actually tried this first on an episode of Seinfeld?
Ever think back on your days in college and wish you could of cruised around campus in an SUV with tinted windows, an automatic weapon under the seat and some residue in the ash tray just so you could have been there when an employee of the university looked at the cameras and said, "I'm not giving up on this kid. I looked him in the eye and saw something worth saving."
Think you might want to go into work tomorrow and announce to anyone who will listen, "I'm sick of this organization and they're sick of me, so why don't they do something about it?" On your way out the door maybe you could knock down an elderly employee and curse at him because he couldn't get you enough free tickets to the company picnic.
Remember the day at work when somebody said something to you, you said something to him, there was some pushing and shoving and next thing you knew you were hitting him over the head with a hockey stick? So they gave you ten minutes in the break room and sent you home for the day.
Try this on your wife some time. Get implicated in using drugs banned by your employer, then tell everyone you know nothing about steroids, but a buddy of yours came over to the house and injected your wife because she wanted to look younger for some photos.
Some of you may have already tried this. Once you hit your eighties ignore the hints you're getting at work that you should retire. Let everyone know you'll make the decision year by year and you'll let them know when it's time. But not now.
Ever consider what you'd do if a fight broke about between a large group of women at work? OK, get your minds out of the gutter and think this through. Would knocking a 36 year old mother flat to break up the fight be an option?
Have you ever thought about what you'd do if you owned the Coliseum in Rome? Sure, it's a part of the country's heritage and all, but it's a real dump and knocking it down to make way for a new one would be real money maker for you (provided the city paid for the infrastructure to support your new coliseum)?
Were you one of those guys who thought once China got the Olympic games they would let dissidents speak out, ease restrictions on the press, and become more open to democracy? A related question? How much stuff around your house was bought after 2 a.m. during an infomercial?
Are there any asterisks in your personnel file beside your annual ratings because some of your best work was done with the aid of drugs?
Finally, think there are any good driving jobs where they encourage you to break the speed limit and all you have to do is make continuous left turns for three hours once a week?
I know, got to spend less time listening to Hendrix. My point is this. If the defenders of baseball's collective morality have protected us from Barry Bonds by not letting him play, what has been preserved? And at what cost?
Are there any fewer players using performance enhancing drugs because Bonds hasn't stepped onto the field? If Bonds is a threat to "team chemistry", first define for me what that is? And whether, in the most individual of sports, it even matters? Have the "youth of America" stopped playing "Grand Theft Auto" long enough to be corrupted by Bonds?
Shakespeare said it well. "Use every man according to his desert, and who shall escape whipping?" If purity of mind, body, and spirit is the standard, who indeed?
What about Manny Ramirez? He pushed the RedSox travelling secretary down because the slugger didn't get enough tickets to distribute to family and friends. At least he didn't take the man's AARP card. Then, according to a sportscaster close to the team, Side Show Manny intentionally struck out in a game against the Yankees after he was fined over the incident.
Maybe Alex Rodriquez? Admittedly, we'd have to do without a lot of players if the bar was set at cheating on your wife. But who is the bigger jerk? Bonds for trying to keep up with McGwire and Sosa in the steroids arms race or ARod? And give Barry a few points for not making a spectacle of himself with Madonna.
Then you've got Brett Myers of the Phillies. Management rallied around him like a fallen flag in battle after he knocked his wife around on the streets of Boston. Last I heard he was still pitching, and recently commented that he was getting his swagger back. Now there is a cheery prospect.
How about the General Managers who watched as not just Bonds, but a good chunk of baseball's power hitters turned baseball into one big chemistry experiment? Come to think of it, did even one of them get named in the Mitchell Report? And what of Bud Selig who presided over it all? Think he should join the ranks of baseball's unemployed?
The truth is, baseball made an example of Barry Bonds for three reasons. One they just don't like Bonds, who has all the charm of an abandoned Russian chemical weapons lab. Two, he became the public face of a steroid scandal baseball's executives were trying mightily to ignore. And three, at 44 he has more value utility value to baseball's leaders as a bad example than as a hitter.
Bonds should have been in uniform from Day 1 this spring. Nobody can tell me he wouldn't have added value to some American League team's lineup. Or that, for reasons good and bad, he wouldn't have put bodies in seats everywhere he played. And there is no doubt he could have been a difference maker to a contending team.
The same guys who told us baseball had no serious problem with steroids now tell us it is mere coincidence Bonds has not been signed. That the collective brain trust that is paying Eric Gagne, Andy Pettite, Jose Guillen, Tom Glavine, and Andruw Jones a total of $65,000,000 this season all spontaneously decided a player with 28 home runs, an OBP of .480, and slugging percentage of .564 was too risky a gamble to take.
Sure, Bonds had a good year they say, but Pedro Feliz was available at a mere $8,500,000 a year.
Baseball embraces its history like no other sports. On May 25, 1935 Babe Ruth hit his last home run. Three of them, in fact, with the last one leaving the park and traveling (based on accounts of where it landed) 600 feet.
The morally superior men who run the game of baseball are depriving fans of one of those moments in time. Nothing is going to be gained by preventing it, and nothing lost by letting Barry Bonds take the field one more time.
Good deal all around. Most pitchers give a 50/50 chance of victory. About a dozen shift the odds to 60-40. With Ben Sheets and Sabathia the Brewers can win the division as long as the 3-5 starters give them anything.
The Indians get years of outfield prospect Matt LaPorta in exchange for three meaningless months of C. C. Sabathia. In a perfect world the Indians could hold on to their best pitcher, but in this imperfect world the odds were against it.
And so the wheels turn and Rich Harden becomes a Cub. The A's get Matt Murton, who hasn't been able to crack what often has been a mediocre outfield. Throw in Sean Gallagher, who eventually will be 70% of the pitcher Harden already is, and Eric Patterson. Patterson is alot like the guys who go to plumbing supply conventions. A couple of trips a year to Chicago, alot of noise, nothing to show for it. Oh, and a catcher who isn't hitting in Peoria.
A real Dusty Springfield trade for the A's. As in, wishin' and hopin'. The worst part is they had Harden through 2009, during which time a better deal surely would have come along. Might as well pop the champagne corks in Anaheim, because the second best team in the AL West just conceded.
Then you have the Mets, who are on a 3 game winning streak. Woo hoo! Don't get too excited. Baseball games are won by the team that gets the big defensive play late in the game, the clutch pitching performance to break a three game slide, the shut down relief appearances in the critical 6th and 7th innings, and the occasional three run home run. The Mets might get the starting pitching part of that equation, but forget the other three parts.
I blame it on the hats. Those awful black caps with a blue bill. The Mets uniform IS the Mets, but A.O. (after Omar) they wear uniforms that look like something a metal band road crew would sleep in.
The Yankees compromised their heritage with the red, white, and blue NY the other day. Sure, it's to honor veterans, but raise the money another way. The Yankees uniform along with that of the Montreal Canadiens should never be altered. I guess if you're taking a wrecking ball to the House That Ruth built it's OK to patriotically pimp out the uniform. Maybe we'll see one of those snazzy red tops on Sundays next year. Anything for a buck.
Speaking of compromised heritage, when do the Yankees send Alex Rodriquez packing. Don't get me wrong. Ruth, Mantle, and Ford weren't choir boys. But they never were so willfully blind to the consequences of their actions and how it reflected on the team. If Alex Rodriquez is a New York Yankee I'm an astronaut.
A word about pitching. In 1968 the rules makers of baseball reduced the height of the pitcher's mound from 15 inches to 9 to put more hitting into the game. It worked. At the same time arm injuries to pitchers have reached epidemic proportions. Give the hurlers back three inches of leverage. It won't hurt the offense much and it will keep the game's best pitchers off the DL.
"And when they light up our town I just think, what a waste of gunpowder and sky." -Aimee Mann "4th of July"
It started slowly. A fastball that got by, he once would have turned on. Reporters he once would have eluded, catching him coming out of a strip club in Toronto with a woman not his wife. Reflexes which once would have turned from the camera, now caught like a deer in headlights. The numbness working it's way up, until finally the ability to think and see straight was lost. A once great athlete, now a shell of himself pursuing a broom factory test pilot old enough to be his stepmother.
So it was 69 years to the day after Lou Gehrig made his famous speech that ARod, Alex Rodriquez, made his way to the microphones.
Fans, for the past week you have been reading about the bad break
I got. Who knew apartment house doormen were such gossips? Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this
earth. I have been in ballparks for fifteen years and have never
received anything but ever increasing paychecks and an ever decreasing sense of personal responsibility.
"Look at you poor saps. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight
of his career just to hang with me for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky.
Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Madonna? Also, Lenny Kravitz? What a guy. And so concerned about my wife. To have spent seven years in that
wonderful little town, Seattle, and set an example the Seattle Supersonics have emulated by running as fast as they can away from there? Then to have spent the next three
years with that outstanding leader, that endless bucket of cash, the
best owner in baseball today, Tom Hicks? Sure, I'm lucky.
"When the Boston RedSox, Los Angeles Angels, Detroit Tigers, and Cleveland Indians, all teams you would give your right arm to
beat, and vice versa, send you a gift basket of doughnuts for reasons I'm not entirely clear on-that's something. When everybody
down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats walk up to you so concerned and ask if you're crazy - that's something. When you have a wonderful ownership team here in New York who takes
sides with you when you're out doing things they would never tolerate being done to their own daughter - that's something. When
you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can end up being on TMZ more often than Lindsay Lohan- it's a blessing. When you have a wife who
has been a tower of strength and has never once registered to carry a concealed handgun (I know, my lawyers checked)- that's
the finest I know.
"So I close in saying that I may have had a tough
break, but I have a lot more to live for, assuming the checks keep rolling in."
Mrs. Alex Rodriquez: Keep your weight evenly distributed during the swing and make sure the trademark faces up. And you might want to consider one of those maple bats.
Brett Favre: Two words for you. Arena football. When was the last time you saw an arena football quarterback get hit? You could be making comebacks into your mid-40's.
Barry Bonds: There is a point in most episodes of Law & Order when the defense attorney leans over and, with a look of great seriousness, nods his head at the offer the DA just made. You can't see me, but I'm giving you that look. The feds don't care about Barry Bonds, they want to take down a network of steroid distributors. Give them what they want before you end up in some federal prison getting an asterisk carved into your back.
Ed Wade: Don't bother people while they're eating.
Manny Ramirez: Two words. Stub Hub.
Tiger Woods: You've got some free time. Shake up your image. I'm thinking some NBA style tattoos, body piercings, pimp up the old Buick. Get seen in public wearing that green jacket inside out with a sideways ball cap. Then go on the Golf Channel and tell them your one regret is that you'll always wonder how good you could have been if you'd actually enjoyed the game. You might want to wait until next April 1, but feel free to do it earlier if you get bored.
O.J. Mayo: Decide early on who you are and what your game is going to be about. You can be who Stephon Marbury is, or who he could have been.
ESPN: Get over yourself. The ESPY awards? Nobody cares. You're in danger of being what MTV is to music. A network about culture that forgot what its core business is.
LeBron James: Just go to New York already. The NBA will work something out. But if you do the dance of a thousand veils for the next two seasons you'll turn off the fans in Cleveland and alot of other places. Stay. Go. Just make a decision now.
Tony Stewart: Hire a weather guy. No excuse for coming in at New Hampshire when everyone could see rain was going to hit the track. All that stood between you and your first victory was not having some kid with a laptop and the URL of NOAA looking at the nearest radar. For the want of a nail...
The City of Seattle: Take the NBA's $75 million and let the Sonics go. Then look into creating an ABA for the new millennium. Eight team league to start, four overseas, salaries about half of what the NBA offers but a league bounty to go after a few big name stars. Emphasis on old school, fundamental basketball. The anti-NBA. Just crazy enough that it might work.
And finally.....To the New York Mets. Get rid of those awful black and blue caps. They symbolize everything wrong with the current direction of the team. The Mets are supposed to look like the likable alternative to the Yankees, not Brittany Spears roadies.
Changing channels I heard someone talk about how long it had been since a player had tasted victory. What does victory taste like? Chicken? Really good Gatorade?
If you're a Cubs fan it would be really smooth. It should, seeing how it's aged for one hundred years. Yankee championships taste like cigars wrapped in thousand dollar bills.
I like hearing the NASCAR announcers talk about a driver being able to smell victory. There's Dale Jr. coming into the last lap, talking to his crew chief. "Don't worry Dale, that's not the transmission, just the smell of victory. You probably don't remember it. Just give us one more lap."
The smell of defeat hangs on like Scott Boras trying to leach out the last five million in a seven year deal. Kobe Bryant probably is tired of hearing his kids ask him why the house smells like the New York Knicks.
Animals can smell fear. I'm betting the horses at the Belmont could smell Big Brown coming. They were probably rolling their eyes at each other when he came onto the track. "This ought to be good, he smells like the Mets in September".
Gene Mauch, the Phillies manager during their epic 1964 collapse, said he knew the season was lost when he looked into the eyes of his closer and saw fear. I imagine Joe Girardi looking into Sidney Ponson's eyes and seeing the Golden Arches.
Some sports images are gruesome. College coaches are fond of saying "My guys played their hearts out tonight." Imagine the phone conversations. "Mrs. Smithers, I'm sorry but we were down two touchdowns to State late in the 4th quarter and your son played his heart out. What's that? Yes, mam, I know it was a non-conference game, but your boy was a real competitor."
Most college coaches are deluded. They see things none of us see. Bobby Ray Jim Bob may have residue in the ash tray, an automatic weapon under the front seat, and a hooker in the back but somehow you know his coach will say "I looked in his eyes and saw a young man who needs athletics to put his life back together." Just once I'd like to here the coach say, "I looked in his eyes and saw "Law & Order" reruns. I wished him well and sent him home."
Then you have the phychic broadcaster. "I can feel the momentum changing, Bob." I'm skeptical, because it seems like they always say this right after some team has run off eight straight points. There may be one or two who can actually feel momentum shifting. I feel sorry for them. Their social lives have to be a nightmare. "I was out with Linda last night and suddenly I felt the momentum shift, so I dropped her off at the curb and went home."
Some poor guys can feel the electricity in the air. It's a little known fact that #### Vitale once threw himself on top of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski during warmups of a Duke-Carolina game when he felt too much electricity in the air at the Dean Dome. Unfortunately, it was just accumulated static from Mike Shulman's scalp.
Finally, who are these guys who play for "pride". "No, no, you keep the $7.5 million I'm owed this year, I'm playing for pride." Does this mean there others who play because of deep seated self-loathing? "Mike, in the 4th quarter we were down 18 and I just hated myself so bad I threw myself under Tank Johnson and prayed the end would come quickly."
Gotta go. I smell victory. Or bacon. I get confused sometimes.
A GM, J.P. Ricciardi of Toronto, publicly bashing Adam Dunn of the Reds on a call-in show. Not something you see every day. If there is an opposite of tampering, this was it.
Here's Ricciardi on Dunn:
"We've done our homework on guys like Adam Dunn and there's a reason we don't want Adam Dunn."
"Do you know the guy (Dunn) doesn't like baseball that much? Do you know he doesn't have a passion to play the game that much?"
Should Ricciardi have been that candid with a Blue Jays fan? Of course not. It did nothing for the Toronto Blue Jays. And agents of future free agents probably didn't admire his candor.
But this was a rare glimpse into how big league general managers view players. And even though Ricciardi apologized afterward, it raises some interesting questions.
Since, as Dunn pointed out, Ricciardi doesn't know him, where did the damning evaluation come from? Here's a hint. Dunn has only played for one organization in his career. The Cincinnati Reds.
Who defended Dunn, a free agent after this season, afterwards? Not Reds GM Walt Jocketty.
"I'd rather not comment. You look at his
run production. But it's not my position to give a scouting report on
him. I like him as a player. He's someone we're going to have to decide
on. He's still young, so that's not a factor."
Nothing about how hard Dunn plays, or doesn't. Not a word about his passion for the game, or lack thereof. Dusty Baker did manage to describe Dunn as a "gentle giant".
How does Ricciardi know Dunn "doesn't even like baseball that much"? Ricciardi's information comes from somewhere. And while Dunn has every right to be mad at the Blue Jays GM, he should be more concerned with who in Cincinnati believes the Reds slugger isn't that into the game.
Who are these "players like Adam Dunn"? Are we talking about power hitters with an all or nothing approach to hitting? Players with low batting averages and good on base percentages? Physically large players? Players with questionable attitudes?
Who knows? But it is safe to say there are a lot of teams who will be interested in a player like Adam Dunn when he becomes a free agent. Just not the Blue Jays or Reds, apparently.
Here's the balance sheet on Dunn:
Four straight seasons at 40 home runs and at least 90 RBI, should make five this season.
One hundred fourteen walks per 162 games and 181 strikeouts.
A lifetime on base percentage of .381.
A range factor in left field substantially above the league average.
Twenty-seven years old, and no noticeable decline in stats.
Relatively healthy throughout his career.
What's not to like?
It comes down to this. Dunn easily fits a stereotype. The big swinger who goes for broke.
If you believe home runs are the big guns in an offense's arsenal, and walks are as good as hits, you have a place on your team for Dunn. If you think a strikeout is a momentum stopping offense killer and that baseball is about putting the ball in play, you hate Dunn.
Think that anyone over 6'1" is a lumbering Neanderthal who isn't hustling and doesn't care about the game, or that quiet equals disinterested and you have a reason not to spend on Dunn. Or, maybe, to hope nobody else does and you can bring him back to the Reds at a discount.
You can make a case for or against Adam Dunn. J.P. Ricciardi has made his decision, and I'm guessing the Reds have. But before they publicly bash Dunn or give him luke warm support, they ought to consider that someone will sign him in 2009. It might even be a team that comes to Cincinnati or Toronto in a key series.
Greatest players in each sport. Twenty seconds to think. Ready set go.
Odds are many of you named Ruth in baseball, Michael Jordan in basketball, Jim Brown in football, Gretzky in hockey, Pele in soccer, Tiger Woods in golf, Pete Sampras and Martina Navratilova in tennis, and Dale Earhardt in NASCAR. OK, throw in Secretariat in horse racing with Willie Shoemaker along for the ride.
Miss anyone? Most of it is conventional wisdom which changes over time. But is it right? And if these guys are number one, who is number two? And who on that list makes a good claim at possibly being the best?
Baseball. Barry Bonds wrote himself out of this spot. Who can say what he's guilty of? Who can say what he isn't? Ty Cobb? Madison Avenue hasn't invented the PR firm which could reform his image. Not much power, either. Don't talk to me about Alex Rodriquez. We don't have that much time. Ted Williams? Not a complete player. Hank Aaron? Wagner, or a man who might well be the best ever, Nap Lajoie?
So, who's in second? I'll take Christy Mathewson. Before Ruth came along, Mathewson made New York fall in love with baseball. Mathewson set all kinds of records, but more than that gave baseball respectability with the upper class (and the chattering class-the media). Quite possibly the best pitcher of all-time, a master of control who never stood taller than in the spotlight of the biggest games. Erudite, largely a cipher, and the coolest customer of them all
Football. People get sentimental about Unitas, and he was the first great TV quarterback. But not as good as Elway. Jerry Rice is Cal Ripken. Joe Montana the definition of a professional. Lawrence Taylor a force of nature. Maybe Manning or Brady? Before it's over that argument will be made for one or both.
I'll go with #### Butkus. Taylor had more talent, but Butkus was football. If you ever get a chance to watch one of his games on video, keep an eye and an ear open. Hard to describe, but a Butkus tackle sounded like a car wreck. Forward momentum ceased. Strong men flinched. Butkus and Brown had the hearts of lions.
All that aside, it always bugs me that Terry Bradshaw's name isn't higher on these lists. The man worked hard to harness enormous talents and won Super Bowls. The Steelers without Bradshaw would not have been any where near successful. Put aside the laughing image. This was a great, great quarterback.
Basketball. Russell for all the banners in the old Boston Garden, Chamberlin for how he changed the game. Jabbar for the sustained excellence. Bird and Johnson, linked forever in time as competitors and showmen. All were great.
I'd throw two other names in, along with a qualification. I don't believe Jordan was the best. Maybe not even in the top three. I've seen Julius Erving play and Doctor J. would eat Jordan's lunch. Heresy aside, the best all-around player the game has seen may be Oscar Robertson. He had it all. Scorer, tremendous assist man, solid rebounder, tenacious defender. If not the best, then certainly no slouch at #2.
Hockey. Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull were tremendous scorers. Rocket Richard maybe the most glamorous player ever. Too many goalies to name.
This is easy, though. It has to be Bobby Orr at #2, maybe even #1. The pure excitement of Orr rushing out of the Boston zone into open ice is perhaps unmatched in sports. Fifteen thousand people catching their breath at one time. Pure magic. Skills rivaling Gretzky's from a defenseman. Hard to explain to anyone brought up on today's game. There may be another Gretzky. There will never be another Bobby Orr.
Soccer. A subject I know little to nothing about. I don't put Beckham in Pele's league, however, and someone who knows more history might even suggest two or three better. Pele dominated his sport in the way Ruth did baseball for a time.
Golf. Palmer or Nicklaus. Toss a coin. I'd take Nicklaus on talent. If they somehow could be matched in their prime I'm not sure Nicklaus wouldn't have beaten him if the played just once. Over a stretch Woods is better, but he never had other great players to press him the way Nicklaus did.
Tennis. I suppose you're supposed to say Rod Laver, who may have been the best. I'd go with Bjorn Borg. And if I had to have someone go out and win one match, not sure that Jimmy Conners wouldn't find a way to win. The women's side of the coin is much clearer. If not Navaratilova then Evert.
NASCAR. I think we forget RIchard Petty all too easily. Behind the image o####ood natured man in retirement is a record of unparalleled excellence. Earnhardt had the advantage of being around when the rest of the country discovered stock car racing. Petty was there at the beginning of the climb and won on guts and smarts.
Horse Racing. Secretariat may not be the greatest horse of all time, but he had the greatest film clip, pulling away from the field by what seemed like miles. Man of War, though, could easily be the best. What I wouldn't give to have seen them race.
Jockeys? I'll put one name in. Pat Day. Here it may be sentiment on my part, having seen Day ride and admiring his work for years. He perfected what is simply known as "the Pat Day ride", always knowing exactly when to make his move. Was he the best? I don't know, but he's the best I ever saw.
Number two is not a bad place to be. We don't remember number two, but we can always argue number one. It part of what makes sports so much fun.
"Let's do something, even if it's wrong.." Roy Drusky
Something must be done!
And so it was, and so Willie Randolph joins the ranks of the unemployed. And the question you have to ask, the only one that matters, is whether the Mets are better off.
Absolutely, positively, well, probably not.
Because the problem is not Randolph, but General Manager Omar Minaya. The man who assembled the defective machine which failed to deliver a pennant last year or even the hope of one this year. A team with no head or heart.
And no bullpen.
Make no mistake, keeping Randolph wouldn't have changed the situation. Randolph was Gamelin, in charge of the French Army of 1940. On paper he had an edge, in the field, alas, a different story.
Back in the back of the pitching staff, behind Johan Santana and John Maine, stands a fire brigade of arsonists. A bullpen that has yielded 25 home runs. And a surprisingly weak rotation. Grim indeed is the question Nelson Figueroa or Claudio Vargas is the answer to.
Minaya, and not Randolph, rolled out the duct tape which binds this fetid assemblage. It seems he has a rolodex somewhere of every past prime pitcher in the universe. The height of this depth plumbing approach was four horrendous starts by Jose Lima in 2005. Seventeen innings, 25 hits, 19 earned runs, 10 walks, 12 strikeouts and four losses. Pregnant women who watched those games will have children who spend their lives flinching at the sound of bat contacting ball.
The signing of Pedro Martinez, for which Minaya has been widely hailed, has been a mixed blessing. The Mets tied up over $52 million in payroll to procure the services of a pitcher widely known to have a bad arm. It paid off in one good season, much less so in three others where the team's rotation and planning have been disrupted by his presence and absence from the roster.
Minaya's other acquistions? Carlos Delgado. A study in decline. Carlos Beltran. A player who is probably not up to the unique pressures of playing in New York City. A past his prime Luis Castillo. The dreadful Jorge Sosa who, if one man can cause another to lose his job, more than anyone did in Randolph.
The John Maine trade has to go into the plus column. Xavier Nady for Oliver Perez is starting to look a net loss. Moises Alou, an aging illusion. The loss of Heath Bell, Matt Lindstrom and Dan Wheeler from the bullpen has been a source of constant grief, and likely cost a pennant last year. Billy Wagner is the classic blessing and curse.
Mostly, though, the Minaya Mets are less than the sum of their parts. A team which finds a way to lose, the double play not turned, the weak grounder with two out and men on in the late innings. It is a team no manager could win with.
Was Randolph to blame for not lighting a fire under a listless pile of kindling? Probably. Should he have held pitching coach Rick Peterson to account for the team's pitchers failing at inopportune times? Absolutely. Should he have found a way to get through to Jose Reyes? Of course.
But did Randolph deserve to twist in the wind for weeks while Minaya vacillated and the Wilpons schemed? And does it make sense to replace Randolph with one of his coaches?
Jerry Manuel won't fix the Mets. Nor will anyone else. It is not a time to hope for miracle comebacks, but a time to gut the interior of a badly damaged house and start over.
