Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling announced he will be having a second shoulder surgery that will end his season and possibly his career. 

This, if you can recall, is the same man who has pitched through considerable pain more than once during his career.  I was reminded of this when watching Tiger Woods fight through the pain in his knee to win the U.S. Open - only to have season-ending surgery after the tournament.  Like Schilling, certain people felt Woods' injury was fake or some bogus story.  Perhaps these people have never played through pain, or perhaps these people cannot stand these two athletes so much that they will say anything to tick them off.

Regardless, these 'people' don't have a clue nor should they be taken seriously.

In fact, a lot of these people are here on this site on Foxsports blogging about it.  The same people who can't get an All-Star vote right.  The same people who recently crapped on Ken Rosenthal for questioning the New York Mets decision to fire Willie Randolph in the middle of the night on the west coast.  The same people who hailed Kobe Bryant as the most clutch player in the NBA - who proved once again that he's no more clutch than the next superstar.  The same people that call Chad Johnson selfish for celebrating a touchdown but applaud Brett Favre for throwing snowballs at teammates on the field.

So when I read about your comments regarding Curt Schilling as a (bleep) or a (bleep), my head shakes as I wonder how people can be angry at a man who's played the game the right way, kept his integrity off the field intact and has come through in some of the most pressure-packed games of our time.  We are a culture that supposedly embraces athletes with guts, yet people seem so eager to cut Schilling's guts out whenever they get the chance.  In case you haven't noticed, he is the anti-Jose Canseco, the anti-Barry Bonds, the anti-Rafael Palmiero and the anti-Roger Clemens.  

He may go into the Hall of Fame.  He may not.  He may wear his heart on his sleeve.  Is there a problem with that?  No.

And I would not call pitching with 1 leg in the 2004 World Series selfish either.  I doubt Schilling cares about the self-glory more than he cares about beating New York and winning championships.  The guy is a true winner, a true bulldog, and a type of human we may not see from the new crop of pitchers coming up. 

Appreciate what he has done for this game and the memories he has brought on the field.  Although I am a fan of most of the things he says off the field, people seem to complain about it more than people complain about Ozzie Guillen. 

In a world where athletes get arrested, cheat the game, cheat on their wives, we've actually been able to put a guy like Curt Schilling in that category of an athlete that fans can hate so much.  Goes to show why organizations, sports talk shows and paid-writers on this particular site do not take you seriously.

Curt Schilling deserves better.

On the field, off the field, it don't matter....

Like every baseball season there are changes and intriguing moments during this time of the year.  Of course this season is a little different as we approach this weekend with the ALCS still going.  Typically we would be preparing for the World Series tomorrow (Saturday), but instead we have a very interesting game 6 matchup in Boston with one of the best young arms in the Major Leagues in Fausto Carmona against arguably one of the best clutch pitchers over the last 15 years, Curt Schilling.

Boston did their job by beating the unsettled C.C. Sabathia, who hasn't pitched well once so far in these playoffs.  Casual observers of the game would scratch their heads watching his fastball sail outside the strike zone and wonder how he was so good in the regular season. 

Early Prediction: Game 6 will be a pitching duel with Schilling digging deep one more time.  Neither pitcher gets the win and Boston will finally chase the Indians bullpen during crunch time.  Game 7 will go to Cleveland and they will take on Colorado in the World Series.  How is that for Drama?

Last point on Boston: I know Manny Ramirez rubbed people the wrong way with his comments and I wonder why people are surprised?  He's been playing in the Major Leagues for 15 years I would assume you would have accepted who he is by now.  That said, his comments weren't meant that he doesn't care about THIS SEASON.  Unlike a lot of Boston hitters, ManRam has showed up.  His statements had more to do with handling the agony of defeat.  You may think that sounds stupid but ask a guy like Manny Ramirez to elaborate on deep feelings and you won't get a great answer.  Why?  Because he's just not wired that way.

COACHES

Dusty Baker will now coach the Cincinnati Reds.  Why would he want to coach them?  I'm guessing he was bored this season being out of coaching. 

Why hire Baker?  Because he is a name.  That is the best answer I have.  People like to talk about how he hung Mark Prior and Kerry Wood out to dry on the mound but I would not blame Wood's injury problems on Dusty.  Kerry's problems began WAY before Dusty arrived in Chicago.  Mark Prior on the other hand is a maybe.  Lets remember that when Prior first went on the DL back in 2004 his problem was with his foot.  Perhaps he was overcompensating and then his arm gave out.  We don't know.  I am not here to say it was a great hire for Cincy but based on their track record they have gotten a guy you could consider as an upgrade.

Speaking of upgrading, the New York Yankees will not be upgrading the managerial position as Joe Torre is gone.  Love how the Yanks spun the whole situation by giving Torre the power to come back.  BULLCRAP!  The seed had been planted when reports of Torre being gone were leaked during the ALDS.  That, along with the drama that has unfolded since the 2004 playoffs, would it have been worth the trouble of coaching a team loaded with big bats and questionable arms and a front office that doesn't care if you are still there?  Torre didn't need to accept the deal from New York because he would have been slapped in the face again sooner or later.  New York will now either use the inexperienced Don Mattingly or Joe Girardi.  Girardi may have worked wonders in Florida but its not an upgrade.  Not when the previous manager still had his clubhouse and the respect from the players in that room - something that gets lost when you manager in the league for a significant period of time.

THE OTHER SIDE

If I am Colorado right now I would be studying tape of both teams as much as possible during this time.  There should be no excuse for them to be unprepared. 

Side note: does Orel Hersheiser and Jim Kelly look alike?

Have a great weekend

I love this guy.  I will admit this.  I first became a fan of him when he pitched his heart out back in 1993 against the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series.  I went to Game 1 to watch the Jays tee off on him - only to watch him stone them on television in Game 5.  The other thing he was famous for was putting a towel over his head whenever Mitch Williams came in to close the game.  Obviously, he knew what he was doing.  Just like his interview with Bob Costas.

As a competitor he should gain the respect of every baseball purist.  In his prime he was one guy you would want to take the game ball if your life depended on it.  Because of people's short-sided view on this man, people will not admit that his heroics and greatness in October and his great career has propelled him to Hall of Fame status.  He has done enough to make the Hall of Fame - alongside his bloody sock.

Oh by the way, he said he'd allow his sock to be examined to see if the blood is his.  He stands by it because he is a man of integrity - something that is missing in several athletes today.

What has everyone's underwear feeling less than snug are his comments made on Costas's show.  Though we may not know this for sure, Schilling did not tell Costas to stay away from certain questions as Bonds has.  Schilling was asked a question and he answered it.  Whether or not you like the answers given Schilling was right.

As a member of the media, and a blogger, if I were to write a book on someone famous and made false claims I would be slapped with a lawsuit.  Some of you think athletes wouldn't go after the person and you could not be more wrong.  These athletes don't just worry about defamation of their character, but it goes much deeper than that; his kids get bombarded with insults from other kids saying their father is a cheater and a liar, his wife is embarrassed because her husband had been unfaithful and she didn't know about it for years and the picture that has been painted is even worse than anyone could imagine for one athlete.  This book, if false, could severly destroy a family.  The only way to rectify the situation is to prove this book is a total lie.

And yet here I am looking around and people are telling Schilling to "shut his mouth".  Again, he was asked a question and he answered it.  I cannot be more clear than that.  The best line may have been left for Mark McGwire as he was absolutely dead-on with his answer.  Otherwise, McGwire would be in the Hall of Fame if people did not feel the same way as Schilling. 

We cannot imagine suing someone because we aren't in the same position as Barry Bonds, or even Gary Sheffield for that matter.  We do not have an 8-figure bank account (most of us don't).  But if we did, and we were dragged through the mud by the media on claims that were 100% inaccurate we would set an example and go right after these people so they wouldn't write another piece of trash ever again.  We would set the precedence and never allow anyone to write another article, let alone book, that has no evidence of prior drug use. 

Face the facts - Curt Schilling was right.  He tells it how it is, and that's why I love Curt Schilling. 

I'm sitting in a room at work on a Friday night (yes, Friday night), chilling out watching the Raptors get their #### handed to them by the New Jersey Nets and listening to "Suburban Bass" in the background (show at the station).  It may be the weekend and my time to relax but there are a lot of thoughts going through this mind...

- The Toronto Raptors needed to make a statement in New Jersey's empty house.  They did, but not the statement they needed to make.  Despite the questionable flagrant foul on Morris Peterson (his second flagrant over the last couple of weeks which was also ridiculous), the calls have been fine.  The refs have not been the problem for Toronto - Toronto is the problem.  They let Jason Kidd nearly get a triple-double in the FIRST HALF.  Their stars showed up, plain and simple.  For a guy who loves his hometown team, I've been mellow all year about their accomplishments, not overblowing their season or their potential.  Now we are seeing why.

- Speaking of Kidd, this was a massive performance for his standards tonight.  Not only did he get 14 boards, 19 assists but went 7 of 14.  That said, Game 4's stats should come down which will give the Raps a shot at that game.  One thing you can rarely count on from Kidd is hitting his shots, which is why I would take Steve Nash in a heartbeat over Kidd.  And Kidd's defense has dropped considerably over the last couple of years where average guards are jacking him up.  My feeling is you will have a tough time stopping a great offensive player but won't need to stop a guy who cannot shoot.  Having said that, Nash is the guy.  Nash: 5th best all-time 3-point %.  The man can shoot the rock.

- Curt Schilling and the damn sock.  Talk about a non-story!  For the last two days I've sat here and wondered, "does it even matter?".  No, it does not.  Why?  Because we all know how messed up his ankle was and how gutsy his performance was in 2004.  He pitched on one-leg and he showed incredible will that we haven't seen in quite some time.  It resembled Michael Chang's performance in the 1989 French Open.  He's a bulldog and he's one of the most clutch pitchers over the last 20 years.  If I had a Game 7 to win I'd have him in my top 3 to choose from.  He, John Smoltz and David Cone come to mind. 

Blood or not, the pain he felt on the mound was real.

- The Buffalo Sabres have taken a 3-2 lead in their round 2 series against the New York Rangers.  So much for the Sean Avery factor.  No matter which way you turn with this team, they can either beat you with a great offense or strong goaltending.  But I will say this: May want to get more than 18 shots on goal in a game.  With that kind of depth on that team there is no excuse to have anything less than 25 shots on goal per game.  

- I wonder what Torii Hunter wanted to do to Zach Greinke after he got hit in the mouth?  Did he want to beat him up or give him a bottle of champagne?  When he got hit initially I was like 'oh damn'.  Then when he took three steps and then turned around I laughed my #### off.  It's like he thought to himself, "My mouth hurts like a ####".  Torii's first impulse is to always take on the pitcher after getting hit.  It's nice to show off your fighting abilities from time to time but is it too much to ask Torii to one day fulfill his potential in one baseball season? (translation: hit 30+ bombs, 100 RBI's and maybe steal 30 just once).

- Michael Vick needs to start putting Football first and forget about all the other bullcrap.  Atlanta is looking really bad right now by sticking by their first mistake of dropping all that cash on him.  The mistakes for both parties continue to pile up. 

- If the Chicago Bulls know what's good for them, they'd take over this upcoming 4th quarter and choke-out the defending champions.  I'm off...

Have a great weekend. 

I'd like to start off this post by giving a shout to every single blogger in the blog community.  This is the only way I know how:

hi

Now that is out of the way, we hear that Pedro Martinez could be facing retirement depending on how things go with his shoulder.  This is not the first time he has had problems with his shoulder.  Seemingly every year his shoulder has been a concern.  The real question is how does he stack up against the credentials of being a hall of famer. 

I don't think there is a debate.  Pedro is a Hall of Famer.

The 300 Wins club will be even more of a rarity as time moves on.  We think it can be reached because we see 2 guys currently in the majors who are already there (Maddux and Clemens).  We also forsee Tom Glavine reaching that plateau very soon.  But who has a legitimate shot at 250, let alone 300, out of anyone that's below the age of 35?  Pedro is the youngest of the following active pitchers who should find the hall of fame:

Pedro, Maddux, Clemens, Glavine, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, Curt Schilling, Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera.

Sorry Mike Mussina, David Wells and Jamie Moyer.

With all the arm injuries to pitchers these days, there has been a lack of consistency out of the pitchers that have been or are at the very top of the MLB.  Johan Santana is one guy that has been solid over the past few years and as long as he's healthy he can have a long and successful career.  We are seeing guys like Roy Halladay, Bartolo Colon and Mark Mulder lose starts and velocity because of injuries.  What about Barry Zito?  Roy Oswalt?  Can they put up the numbers necessary to get to the hall of fame?  What will be the numbers when its all said and done for starting pitchers?

Pedro is one case where he might barely be over 200 wins, but he has dominated for so long that he's earned his ticket to Cooperstown.  The problem we see with this picture is he's the youngest pitcher out of all the hall of fame-worthy pitchers I've mentioned alongside his name.  The torch from one future hall of famer to another seems lost now that Pedro could be retiring.  In 10 years or even less MLB will need to take a hard look at the criteria for hall of fame pitchers.  The benchmarks will be dropping considerably, or else we'll just be seeing hitters walking into the hall the way they've walked all over pitchers during their career. 

Let's face it, we're living in a hitters world.  It will be much tougher to see pitchers in their primes today find their way to Cooperstown New York.

I remember rolling into work one morning listening to the irritation sports channel in Toronto (seeing I'm the only sports dude on my station), and heard them asking why George Bell was not included in the best players the Jays have ever produced. Major League Baseball came up with a 'Hometown Heroes' vote which will be unveiled during the World Series. I believe Joe Carter was the winner in Toronto, which it really should have been Roberto Alomar. However not very many people have forgotten the epic homerun by Carter or the spitting incident from Alomar. People have forgotten how Alomar was the best all-around, clutch player during his tenure in Toronto as well as one of the biggest homeruns in the 1992 ALCS off Dennis Eckersley. Regardless, other baseball cities really screwed things up.

Take Washington, for example. They really did not get it right with their nominations. They were using recent players such as Jose Vidro and Brian Schnieder (yes, Brian Schnieder), yet they used Gary Carter as well. If they were using old Montreal Expos, then where was Dennis Martinez, Andre Dawson or Tim Raines in the nominations list? How could they be abolished and Brian Schnieder be put on? If it was pure Washington I would understand but to take Gary Carter and forget about the rest of Montreal's history is absurd.

And this wasn't a process done by the franchise themselves, they used a 10 person committee which you would think had more baseball historical knowledge of each team. Guys like Harold Reynolds, Don Sutton and Tim McCarver were part of this process. Did they all of a sudden miss 10-15 years of baseball over the last 30 years or so?

Take Arizona: Jay Bell, Luis Gonzalez, Matt Williams, Randy Johnson and Todd Stottlemyre. Todd over Curt Schilling?

How can the Marlins not have Gary Sheffield? Or how can Seattle not have Alex Rodriguez?

Here's a great one - Texas: Jim Sundberg but not a 2 time MVP in Juan Gonzalez, or even Ruben Sierra.

Can you imagine the Angels without Nolan Ryan but they have Jim Abbott and Chuck Finley instead. Sure, avoid a guy who had a few no-hitters, a bunch of complete games and miles of strikeouts during his tenure in California.

You all can take a look at this if you want: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/
press_release.jsp?ymd=20060717&content_id=1560868&
vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb#nominees

This
is absolutely ridiculous and the panel that developed these nominations should be abolished from ever making baseball decisions AND if they are voters for the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame, their votes should be ripped away from them.  Some teams might be correct, but some of these teams have players that make you shake their head.   

"I was shocked when I was informed about the positive "A" sample," she said. "I have requested that the testing of my 'B' sample be expedited and done as soon as possible."

Translation: "Im pissed off that I am the only female sprinter caught cheating because the other ####es are all over the same stuff I am.  Hopefully someone will rig the B test to clear my name for me".

Typical.  All Marion Jones had to do was retire after 2000 with her name, dignity and reputation still intact.  Now she looks like a cheater and a liar.  Guess we now know what she saw in C.J. Hunter.

...

People are talking about Tiger Woods destroying Jack Nicklaus's major championships record and proclaiming him as the best ever.  All this while two-thirds of the way there and at only 30 years old.  For Tiger's sake, he has done an incredible job so far in his career and he has had a knack for making other players fold whenever he took a lead after 3 rounds in a major.  He certainly knows how to go for the heart or the throat, something very few have been able to do.  But a couple of factors must come into play:

1) Although his career has been spectacular Tiger Woods would not be the best ever if he stopped winning championships today.  He is still too short of Jack to be called the best ever.

2) The top competitors Tiger has faced are: David Duval, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh.  Jack's competitors: Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson.  Advantage?  Nicklaus's era by a longshot.  Jack's era was much more competitive and much tougher.

3) A lot of sports fans neglect the past and that is simply not fair.  No clearer evidence of that fact speaks more volumes than the debate between Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds.  The game of golf has changed since the Golden Bear was doing his thing, but don't belittle what he and everyone else had to accomplish.  If you take one of the talented players away from Jack's era he would have won over 20 majors and still would have had a tougher battle with competitors than Tiger. 

I am one person who respects Tiger Woods's game and what he has accomplished.  But the whole comparison to Jack Nicklaus should be put to rest for now.

...

After dropping 47 runs in 4 games, New York drops 2 against Boston and still wins.  This was an embarrassment for the Red Sox who got swept in 5 games but lost Manny Ramirez as well.  ManRam should be back in a day or two but out of everyone in the Sox lineup, he was the best hitter during the series.  

Love him or hate him, Curt Schilling was once again correct about what his team needed to do to be successful.  He said the pitchers had to pitch better (not in those precise words), and they did not do that this weekend with the exception of maybe Curt himself and David Wells.  People might find Schilling arrogant and opinionated, but you can be both if you are right in what you say.

...

Lonny Baxter certainly did not shoot as well in Toronto as he did last week near The White House.

...

Blog Contest is still taking recepients from now until Thursday at 11:05 AM EST.  Check my last Blog Contest posting and you'll find the question underneath last week's winners.  Hopefully soon my radio station will be giving stuff away for things like that.  Keyword: Hopefully.  You can tune in to www.chevradioam.com every weekday from 9AM-Noon EST, and this Thursday at 11:05 to find out the contest winners.  Cheers. 

 

It seems there are a lot of people who dislike Curt Schilling. Is it because he's a great pitcher, or has been for many years? Is it because he's nails when there's pressure? Is it because he is a republican? Is it because he will crack people regardless of which team the player plays for? It could be a number of things, but Schilling is one of the most hated men in baseball.

It's strange because I cannot remember the last time Schilling beat the #### out of his wife or carried a loaded gun or sexually assaulted someone. If he has (which I'm about 99.9% sure he hasn't), then he could merit some hate votes. Things just don't add up.

I would have thought he had commanded the respect of his peers and teammates by going out to the mound with the use of one real leg for about 3 games. It was visibly noticeable that he was having problems with his ankle. Sure, people will claim he made his sock bloody for show. Let's call it the way it was: Curt Schilling's ankle was damaged. To even suggest that any part of that performance was an act is absolutely hideous. The man put himself and his career on the line for his team to give them the chance to become World Champions. If I'm a teammate, I'd love that guy to death regardless of how nice he is because he was the guy that drove his team to win the World Series. You don't think he uplifted the spirits of his team?

Yes, he cracked Johnny Damon last season. Perhaps he knew something we didn't about Damon. Maybe he knew Damon was going to leave Boston if he didn't collect his Ben Franklin's. Or that Damon could be a selfish player. Is that a real stretch? Well he did make a fuss for a long time to get out of Kansas City. Then again, would you blame him? He went after the cash leaving Oakland and now went for the cash to play in New York. Not much of a situational change in terms of success between the two teams, although the changes could reflect something different. But Damon could be very selfish and Schilling knew it.

Agree or disagree with Curt Schilling, he does not hold back and is an honest man. I loved it when he dropped 'vote for Bush' after winning the World Series in 2004. No, I am not on the GWB bandwagon seeing that I cannot vote in America due to my citizenship being from another country. What I saw was a guy who was honest, and that the media was outraged over it. Because I realize with certainty that mainstream media is more Liberal/Left Wing, he would have been ok if he said 'vote for Kerry'. But he was honest, and Kerry being from the same state Schilling plays baseball did not force Curt to change what he believed in. You want people to be that way, and those are the kind of people that other can admire.

Schilling is pumped to start the 2006 season with Manny Ortez. I think he'll have a massive season. Will he hit ahead of David Ortiz or behind Manny Ramirez?

On a final note: If I had to pick one pitcher to win me a game, it would be Curt Schilling. He has been the best big-game pitcher that I have seen.