MLB 2008: AL East
We have come to the start of another season of Major League Baseball,
and not a moment too soon. After a tumultuous and not all together
flattering offseason, it is good that we can start talking about what’s
going on on the field, rather than talking about what may or may not
have been injected into Roger Clemen’s buttocks.
This season the
Boston Red Sox will defend their second World Series of the decade
after not winning one for almost a century. This could be the first
season since 1992 to not see Bonds, Clemens, Piazza or Sosa (Sammy that
is) on the back of a major league jersey. Greg Maddux will hit 350 wins
and the Big Unit Randy Johnson needs 16 wins to reach 300. John Smoltz
needs only 25 Ks to reach 3000 career strikeouts. We will see Ken
Griffey, Jr. hit his 600th home run, as well as Manny Ramirez and most
likely Gary Sheffield hitting their 500th. This season holds endless
possibilities for excitement and intrigue. Lets get started.
Because
there is so much to talk about, I am going to break this down into
installments, by division. We start in the American League East, the
division of the reigning World Series champs Boston Red Sox. It seems
in all likelihood that Boston will again win the division. They are as
complete a team as you’ll find, ever. They can hit, field, and pitch.
They had four players last year with over 80 RBIs, three players with
over 20 home runs, and three pitchers with 15 or more wins and Curt
Schilling, a sure fire Hall of Famer, was hurt for a good part of the
year. They have an incredibly solid bullpen headed up by Mike Timlin,
Javier Lopez and Hideki Okajima, with arguably the best closer in the
league in Jonathan Papelbon to round out the back end. That being said,
they play in the same division as the New York Yankees, the most
successful sports franchise in history.
The Yankees have an
offensive lineup that is on its own level. They re-signed Alex
Rodriguez after he had one of the best seasons in baseball history.
Jorge Posada is coming off one of the best seasons of his career and
Robinson Cano has solidified himself as a top flight second baseman.
They have a somewhat aging but still potent outfield with Godzilla
Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu and Melky Cabrera. And Derek
Jeter is still their shortstop. The Yankees pitching is more of a
question. Chien-Ming Wang, who has been a genuine ace the past couple
years, has had a poor Spring. Andy Pettitte has spent a good part of
his spring dealing with the Congressional steroid rocket, which could
conceivably have an affect on his psyche. Moose is 39 years old and not
the same stud he once was. Philip Hughes and Ian Kennedy are expected
to be ridiculous pitchers, but this will be their first full season,
which is always a crapshoot. Mariano Rivera is 38 and had a tough year
last year, his age perhaps catching up with him. Flamethrowing phenom
Joba Chamberlain could replace Rivera if he falters this season, but
otherwise he is going to stay as the set up man for the season.
The
Toronto Blue Jays are an intriguing team this year, but unfortunately
for them they play in the same division as the Red Sox and Yankees.
Nevertheless, they have a solid lineup headed up by Vernon Wells, newly
re-signed Alex Rios, Scott Rolen and the still dangerous Big Hurt Frank
Thomas. They have a solid pitching rotation with Roy Halladay, A.J.
Burnett, Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum. The Tampa Bay Rays (stupid
name change) are going to be better than ever, which is admittedly not
much of a feat. That being said, they have an exciting young lineup
with, when healthy, one of the best starting pitchers in Scott Kazmir.
The Baltimore Orioles, on the other hand, are poised to have one of
their worst years in recent history. Daniel Cabrera is a strikeout
machine, but I have better control than he does. The only serious
pitcher on their team last year was ace Erik Bedard who was traded to
Seattle. Cabrera won 9 games last year with an ERA of 5.55 and a WHIP
of 1.54. He also had the most wins of any of the current starters. Nick
Markakis is the only truly legitimate threat at the plate with 112 RBIs
last year. Aubrey Huff had 72 RBIs last year, but he is as hot and cold
as you can get. Luke Scott has potential, but has yet to pan out. Ramon
Hernandez and Melvin Mora are both past their prime to be legitimate
threats and Brian Roberts gets on base and steals bases, but does not
hit a ton of home runs or RBIs. It is time to rebuild.
Labor Day Push
Labor Day has come and gone and that means the end ofsummer, a sad occurrence for all of us, particularly those of us whose
jobs get more intense after the holiday. The silver lining is, of
course, that the baseball season really starts to heat up now with the
final playoff push. Lucky for us, this is shaping up to be one of the
most exciting runs in recent memory. Lets go through each division and
the wild cards.
AL East
"The AL East seems to almost be a foregone conclusion."
I said that in a post on July 12 and at the time I was supremely
confident that I was right. Today I am less confident in that
statement, particularly with the Yankees’ recent sweep of the Red Sox.
I was even less confident last week, saying that I thought the Yankees
would push past the Red Sox and take the division. However, the Yankees
have now lost two in a row and are 5-5 in their previous ten games,
while the Red Sox have won three in a row, going 6-4 in their last ten.
Despite the fact that the Bronx Bombers have finally gotten their
roster healthy and their rotation set, the Red Sox still boast the
premier pitching staff in the AL and that’s the name of the game in
fall baseball. Even if the Yankees sweep the Red Sox again in Boston
(which I find very unlikely) I think they are too far behind with too
little time to make up that much ground. Red Sox win the AL East.
AL Central
I,
along with just about ever other baseball writer in the country, got it
dead wrong with the Twins and the Central in general. Never in a
million years could anyone have foreseen the season that Johan Santana
has had, particularly the second half, where he was 40-4 coming into
this year. In his last six games, Santana is 3-3. In those six games he
has given up a total of 41 runs and 17 runs with 39 strikeouts (17 of
those came in one game however). Minnesota is 10.5 games back of the
Indians in the division and 7 back in the wild card race, going 4-6 in
their last ten games. My reasoning for predicting that the Twins take
the wild card in July was that Santana is the most dominant second half
pitcher in the majors. That obviously has not worked out and neither
will the Twins. Although, at this point, this year’s playoffs are the
least of their concerns, with Torii Hunter almost certainly departing
after this year and Santana leaving after next season, both very
unhappy with the current direction of the team.
My pick to win
the division, the Tigers, went 11-18 in the month of August and have
all but taken themselves out of playoff contention. The Indians, on the
other hand, went 17-11, winning their last six of the month. Detroit is
six games behind the Indians and 2.5 back in the wild card race. They
are not going to catch the Indians and I do not think they will catch
the Yankees, although that is more likely. They were the team to beat
for a long time this season in the Central, but they are now, for all
intents and purposes, out of it.
The lone team left standing at
this point is Cleveland. They have gone 9-1 in their previous ten games
and are just tearing through teams. C.C. Sabathia has proven that he is
the Cy-Young caliber pitcher that everyone thought he was and Fausto
Carmona has come out of nowhere to be one of the most dominant pitchers
in the majors this season. The Indians gave up more than five runs only
six times in August and gave up three or less runs fifteen times. They
can score runs as well, scoring five or more runs thirteen times last
month. This was once a very tight division, but it is no longer so. The Indians win the AL Central.
AL West
One
of the few predictions made in July that I am going to stick with is
that the Angels will win the West, without a doubt. The only team that
was even competing for the division was the Mariners and they have now
lost nine of their last ten and are now six back of Los Angeles of
Anaheim of California of North America of Western Hemisphere of Earth
of the Milky Way. Nobody can compete with the Angels, and this is a
team that does not score a ton of runs. But they play a lot of small
ball and have a dominant pitching staff. The pitching staff as a whole
has a combined ERA of 4.18. John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar have been
unstoppable and Francisco Rodriguez is continually one of the top three
or four closers in the game. Oh, and they have Vladimir Guerrero, the
most underrated player in the majors and I argue the best hitter over
the last decade. He has had an above .300 average every year since his
second year playing in the majors and has hit above .300 every full
year. He has a career slugging percentage of .580 with over 100 RBIs
every year since 1998 except for 2003 when he only had 394 at bats. The
man is a machine. Just imagine what his career numbers would have been
like if he hadn’t spent his first eight years with the Expos. Needless to say, the Angeles win the West.
AL Wild Card
The
wild card race is tight, although not as tight as the NL race. New
York, Seattle, Detroit and Toronto are all within 5.5 games of each
other. Seattle looked like it was going to run away with the wild card
three weeks ago, but have lost nine of their last ten. Fortunately for
them, none of the teams contending for the wild card are on any kind of
a tear. The other three teams have a combined record of 16-14 in their
last ten games. That being said, I think that they have put themselves
out of it. The Yankees are just too good to not make the playoffs and
if they weren’t so far out of the division, I would say they would make
a run for that too. The Yankees take the Wild card.
NL East
Oh
boy, this is where it gets exciting. The NL is wide open, the East in
particular. The Phillies swept the Mets in four games last week and won
five in a row before dropping three straight. The Mets have won four
straight since the Phillies series. Oh yea, the Braves are still right
in the thick of things. This division is almost impossible to predict,
but I think the Mets are too good and the Phillies blew their shot
after they lost three in a row. The Mets’ lineup is too potent and
their pitching, despite being old, is pretty solid, particularly with
the return of Pedro Martinez. The Mets hold on to take the East.
NL Central
The
Central is even tighter than the East. The Cubs continue to look like
the team they were always supposed to be and the Brewers youth seems to
have caught up with them. Nevertheless, they remain only 1.5 games back
behind Chicago, with St. Louis only a half game behind them, and that
is without Chris carpenter. Carlos Zambrano really needs to become
consistent, as he has been all over the place this season. If he
returns to his dominant form, I think they will be hard to beat. The
Brewers’ pitching has been very spotty over the past month, with Chris
Capuano and Jeff Suppan going winless in over 10 games each. If they
can turn it around, and with the return of ace Ben Sheets, then they
can overcome the still underachieving Cubs. The Cardinals continue to
surprise everyone, despite not having Chris Carpenter and now Scott
Rolen. But they do have that impressive first baseman guy, Albert
something or other. Nevertheless, I think the Cubs’ lineup is too good
and I think now that he has his contract settled, Zambrano will turn it
back on. The Cubs win the Central.
NL West
We
got from one tight race to another. Every team is still in it in the
West with the exception of the Giants. But they’ve had enough
excitement for one decade anyway. San Diego currently leads the
division by one game over the Diamondbacks, but that will most likely
change three or four more times before the season is over. The Dodgers
are four games back and the upstart Rockies only a game behind them.
Neither the Dodgers or the Rockies are going to catch San Diego or
Arizona, but it will certainly be a lot of fun watching them try,
particularly Colorado. The Rockies finally have a staff that can pitch,
in Coors Field and out. Their lineup is young and a lot of fun to
watch. The D-Backs, despite having the ugliest uniforms in the majors,
are also young and a lot of fun to watch. Last year’s Cy-Young award
winner Brandon Webb is making a great case for a repeat this year. Eric
Byrnes has cemented himself as one of the best and most complete
players in the majors, with 20 HRs, 77 RBIs, and 39 SBs. Chris B. Young
is making a strong case for rookie of the year and 3B Mark Reynolds has
all but guaranteed himself a full time job.
Unfortunately for
them, the best rotation in the NL plays in San Diego. Jake Peavy and
Chris Young are battling each other for the lowest ERA in the majors.
Greg Maddux is a future hall of famer and is the team pitching mentor.
And he’s the number three man. And Trevor Hoffman is just the all-time
saves leader. While they could use some stronger hitting, it is nothing
to stick your nose up at. Adrian Gonzalez is the best hitter on the
team and one of the best hitters in the majors. He flys below the radar
because he plays first base, which is full of big hitters. But this kid
has yet to achieve his potential and when he does he will sure be
something special. Milton Bradley has provided some serious pop since
being traded from Oakland for a sack of balls. I said it before and
I’ll say it again, this team’s pitching is just too good. The Padres take the West.
NL Wild Card
This
is a, you guessed it, tight race. The Dodgers and the Phillies are both
three games behind the Diamondbacks for the wild card, with the
Rockies, Brewers, Cardinals, and Braves all bunched up behind them. I
think the Dodgers are done. They appeared to have peaked too early and
are not going to catch up to their western fellows. The Phillies are
the Phillies. I think they will make a strong surge towards the
division and the wild card, but come up short for both in the end. None
of the other teams have a realistic shot at overcoming their deficits
and overtaking Arizona. The Diamondbacks take the Wild Card.
Should be a great final month. Check back often for continuous updates. It looks to be quite the wild ride.
America’s Team
USA Today recently did a story on the famed Red Sox Nation, a fairlynew phenomenon that started in 2003 when the Red Sox made the playoffs
for the first time since 1999 and was cemented in 2004 when the Bo-Sox
won the World Series for the first time since 1918. It chronicles how
the Red Sox Nation (the group of fans that follow the team from city to
city, as well as those fans that live across the country) have become
quite the intense attraction for the team on the road. The Red Sox have
the highest road attendance average of any team in baseball, averaging
31, 136 people a game. This is approximately 1,300 more than the
Yankees draw and around 2,000 more than Boston drew in 2005, when it
was defending its World Series title.
The Red Sox players have
been elevated to what many consider "rock star status" due to the
number of fans that stake out their hotels and follow the team around,
similar to band groupies. This is, however, not an entirely good thing
for the Bean town stars. Numerous stories have been chronicled about
off the field confrontations between members of the team and their
adoring public, both positive and negative.
"We’re told to leave
it all on the field," Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis says. "But
with the fans around so much, it becomes a 24/7 thing. You can’t escape
it. The hardest time is at the hotel. Sometimes that takes away from
the whole experience."
According to the USA Today article,
The
Red Sox don’t reveal the hotels where they stay on the road, but it’s
hardly a secret among their fans, who share the information on blogs
and Internet message boards.When the Sox
came to this area to play the Devil Rays this year, the team — seeking
a little privacy — switched hotels from the Renaissance Vinoy in
downtown St. Petersburg to the Don CeSar Beach Resort, 10 miles away."There
were people staking out the floors" of the Vinoy, says Red Sox
traveling secretary Jack McCormick, who handles the team’s travel
arrangements. "If they can’t control it, the players can’t even come
out of their rooms."And yet, when the Red Sox went to the Don CeSar for the first time for a series in late July, hundreds of fans found them.
Red
Sox senior vice president of sales and marketing Sam Kennedy, a Boston
native, remarks about one Red Sox game from when he was working with
the San Diego Padres.
"I remember the first time (the Red Sox)
came to San Diego (in 2002) for interleague games, and I’m not
exaggerating when I say the stadium was half Red Sox fans," says
Kennedy.
This has prompted a new debate as to which team is
America’s team. Is it now the Red Sox? Or is it still the Yankees? And
while they have not been part of the debate, I do not think we can
leave the Braves out of the discussion. Does the emergence of this Red
Sox nation mean that they are now the most popular team in the country?
I do not think so. I believe that the Red Sox are a very trendy team; a
team whose bandwagon lots of people are jumping on. But I do not think
Red Sox nation is full of tride and true die hard fans.
The
Yankees have had fans all over the country for many many years. This is
certainly due to their being the most successful pro-sports franchise
in history with 26 World Series titles and if Boston wins several more
titles it would probably cement their support as well. However, if the
Red Sox don’t make the playoffs for a couple years, or go out in the
first round repeatedly, this Nation will shrink to just a region again.
The
numbers that were used in the USA Today article to support the claim
that the Red Sox are the most popular team in baseball are skewed
somewhat. Yankees beat writer Peter Abraham did some simple math, which
was supported by and expanded upon by a fellow blogger. Abraham claims
that the Red Sox road average of 38, 802, compared with the Yankees’
average of 37,906, is skewed because they play in tiny Fenway Park.
That is a difference of 896 people, which as Abraham remarks, "I’m not
quite sure 896 people means one team is more popular than the other in
the entire nation." Another interesting point is that when the Yankees
play on the road they fill 84 percent of the seats, the Red Sox only 82
percent.
The most intriguing point of the article is that what
the USA Today article fails to point out is that when the Red Sox play
in New York they are playing in front of 55,000 fans. When the Yankees
play in Boston, they are playing in front of just 36,000. The Red Sox
obviously benefit in the attendance draw numbers from that difference.
To expand upon Abraham’s article, a fellow blogger delved into the numbers, which can be found here.
The Red Sox
- The Red Sox are averaging 38,802 fans a game in 64 road games, which is 2,483,328 fans a game.
- The total attendance for the Yankees/Red Sox games played in New York was 329,704.
- The Red Sox’ total road attendance everywhere but Yankee Stadium was 2,153,624.
- In those 58 games, the total average attendance was 37,131.
The Yankees:
- The Yankees are averaging 37,906 in 62 road games, which is an average of 2,350,172 a game.
- The total attendance for the six Yankees/Red Sox games played at Fenway was 219,905.
- The Yankees’ total road attendance everywhere but Boston was 2,130,267.
- In those 56 road games, the Yankees average attendance was 38,040.
That
means the Yankees are averaging 909 more fans a game than the Red Sox
in games played outside the Bronx and Boston. That number is just as
negligible as the 896 more people the Red Sox are averaging overall.
Either way, both the Yankees and the Red Sox are huge draws on the
road, selling out stadium after stadium.
So who is truly
America’s team? I still think it is the Yankees. I think if you did a
national poll, you would find that there are more Yankees fans all over
the country than any other team. America loves winners and the Yankees
are winners. The Red Sox are not. One World Series in the last 80+
years is bad. It is almost as bad as one World Series total in 130+
years, ala the Phillies. If nothing else, the Yankees support has
swelled this decade after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center in 2001. It became very chic to root for New York the city, and
the Yankees are New York City. It is my belief that the Red Sox
swelling of support will taper off in a few years. Sox fans are forced
to travel the country to see their team play as it is almost impossible
to get a ticket to see a game at Fenway and their fans are frantic
because of their recent success. Yankees fans are so used to winning,
being frenzied over their team is almost beneath them.
Since
Boston fans have to travel so much, it gives the appearance that there
are more Red Sox fans around the country than there really are. I think
rather than there being more Red Sox fans, it shows that the Red Sox
fans are dire hard more than anything else. Nevertheless, I believe
that now, more than ever, the Yankees are America’s team, for better or
for worse.
To Live The Dream
Deep down, the dream of any die hard baseball fan is to complete"the tour" of every Major League Baseball stadium in America; to save
up some money and take a summer off (a dream only to be realized by
teachers and students?) and drive from city to city taking in what each
team has to offer. This is something that most people will never get to
do, especially not all in one shot.
However, one lucky fan has
gone out on his own and is currently on tour. He has a blog on
MLBlogs.com journalizing each city stop (although he is a little
behind). But it is definitely worth a read, as it provides a wonderful
insight into baseball in our cities and our regions of the country.
His trip schedule:
Here’s a list of the games I’ll be going to this summer. My
home is outside of Philly and I’m a Phillies season ticket holder,
which should explain some of the way the schedule was built and the
extra Phillies games on my list. Home team on the left:
Here is an excerpt from his opening post:
Today at 1:48 p.m., I turned in my final paper of the semester. My life is now officially baseball. For the next two months I will literally eat, sleep and dream baseball as I travel across the country and begin writing my book. I will be eating at ballpark concession stands and airport food courts. I will be changing cities more frequently than a major league team. And
I will be spending every “spare” moment researching the next day’s
pitchers, looking over statistics, and talking to anybody I can about
baseball.
I have no idea what to expect over the next two months, but I think that’s part of the excitement of the trip. Like a team on Opening Day, there are countless directions in which my season can go. While
I look forward to seeing so much baseball, I think part of the charm of
my book centers on the fact that I’m a 20 year-old college student
traveling all over the country by myself. I am excited for the adventure and can’t wait for it all to start tomorrow night in Baltimore.
I hope you guys all check this site throughout my trip, and that you’re as excited as I am to follow along.
The link for his blog is
http://anincavigliatruth.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/
It’s a great read and I suggest you give it a look. Ahh, to live the dream….
The Evolution of Father Time
Last week the Braves released 48-year-old Julio Franco. SportsIllustrated recently did a small expose timeline on his career which I
found very interesting. Hope you like it.
June 23, 1978 The Phillies sign 19-year-old Dominican shortstop Franco as a free agent.
October 24, 1981 Nationals reliever Beltran Perez is born.
April 23, 1982 A 155-pound Franco goes 1 for 4 against the Cardinals in his big league debut.
April 25, 1982
Franco walks against Jim Kaat, who faced Ted Williams on the final day
of the 1959 season. (Franco was the last remaining player to face a
pitcher who faced Williams.)
December, 1982
After being traded to the Indians, Franco arrives in Cleveland with no
coat, $5,000 stuffed into a sock and one questions, "Where are the
casinos?"
1984 Finds a Muscle magazine in the Cleveland clubhouse and soon becomes a fitness fanatic.
April 19, 1985
After beating the Yankees with a homer, Franco repairs to a friend’s
joint in the Bronx: "The next day was my brother’s birthday. After the
game, we began to celebrate." Franco misses the next day’s game. "Back
then I was wild," he says years later. "Very wild."
1989
Mild-mannered Tribe manager Doc Edwards tells the team he won’t return
in 1990 if Franco – who has a habit of bringing his rottweiler and
snake to the stadium – is still on the team. Franco is soon traded to
the Rangers.
August 13, 1991 Ron Kittle plays his last game.
December 29, 1991
Attends church with his brother in the Dominican Republic and becomes a
born-again Christian. He soon swears off booze, cigarettes and the fast
life: "I didn’t think I’d live to be 30."
December 28, 1994
Signs to play in Japan. He plays five seasons in japan, Korea and
Mexico, costing himself a shot at 3,000 big league hits. Still he has
no regrets about his time in Japan: "People [there] respect their
elders."
August 31, 2001
Braves G.M. John Schuerholz signs Franco, who had been hitting .437 in
Mexico but had just one major league appearance since 1997. Manager
Bobby Cox’s reaction: "My God, is he still around?"
April 6, 2004 Still a Brave, Franco becomes, at 45, the oldest regular nonpitcher in history, surpassing Cap Anson.
February 28, 2006 During a breakfast interview with The New York Times,
Franco ingests 20 egg whites, part of his six-meal, 5,000
calorie-a-day, junk-food-free diet: "I walk by bakeries, see things
that look good, smell good, but I know I don’t need that cheesecake."
April 20, 2006 Now a Met, Franco becomes, at 47, the oldest player to his a major league homer.
September 30, 2006 A sculpted, 210-pound Franco homers off Beltran Perez.
Why the hits record is the dumbest record in all of sports.
All this talk about Barry Bonds has got me thinking about Pete Rose.
One
look at Pete Rose’s career stats, and you will be surprised about how
pedestrian they are when compared to the legend he is made out to be.
160 HRs, 149 SBs, 1314 RBI are nothing special.
That’s not to
put him down completely. His career OBP was .375 over 24 seasons.
That’s nothing to sneeze at, especially since in my opinion OBP and SLG
are the two most important baseball statistics.
Rose’s fame
centers around the hits record. In my opinion, the hits record is one
of the dumbest records of all of sports. Leading the league in hits
likely means you don’t walk enough. If Rose had a better eye and had
taken more pitches, maybe he would’ve had an OBP above .400 like Rickey
Henderson. That wouldn’t have gotten him a fancy record, but would’ve
helped his team.
From a personal perspective, Rose was a
legendary cheater and jerk. Unlike Barry Bonds, Rose broke a baseball
policy that had been clearly in place and clearly enforced since the
Black Sox scandal. And if the stories are believed, Rose was such a
jerk that he would leave supposed "friends" at the mercy of the mafia
for his personal gambling debts.
Why do I bring this up now?
Because to me, Barry Bonds was ten times more talented than Pete Rose,
while being one-tenth the cheater and one-tenth the jerk. Why do so
many that hate Bonds laud Rose?
~Joe Paradise
RIP Phil Rizzuto
Yankees great Phil "The Scooter" Rizzuto passed away today at the age of 89.
Despitehis fairly illustrious playing career with the Yankees, which included
the 1950 AL MVP award, most fans in New York, New Jersey, and
Connecticut will remember him as the man on WPIX-11′s Yankees TV
broadcasts for 40 years. All of America can remember him as the voice
that called Maris’ 61st home run. Not known for his skills of
observation (he once created the box score designation "WW" for "wasn’t
watching"), Rizzuto endeared himself to the fans with his down-home
attitude. Whether it was discussing the restaurant he had eaten at last
night, giving messages to his wife Cora on the air, or joking about
having to leave the game early to beat the George Washington Bridge
traffic back to New Jersey, everyone knew Phil Rizzuto was a genuine
local. Perhaps my favorite Rizzutoisms were the incessant shout-outs to
friends in super-Italian New Jersey enclaves on their birthdays. Hardly
a game went by where he didn’t have a happy birthday for someone with a
last name with plenty of vowels living in Roselle Park.
He was
the ultimate homer, never coming anywhere close to being impartial.
Being a true local, born and raised in Brooklyn and spending most of
his life living in New Jersey while playing his entire career for the
Yankees, we accepted that.
Misjudging batted balls was another one of his specialties:
- "Uh-oh, deep to left-center, nobody’s gonna get that one! Holy cow, somebody got it!"
- "Bouncer to third, they’ll never get him! No, why don’t I just shut up!"
- "All right! Stay fair! No, it won’t stay fair. Good thing it didn’t stay fair, or I think he would’ve caught it!"
But we all loved every moment of it. His trademark,"Holy Cow!" made it all ok.
On
a more serious note, while working in the offseason in Bayonne (players
used to work in the offseason back then), Rizzuto met a boy who was
blinded by a baseball. He took an interest in the boy and his school,
St. Joseph’s School for the Blind. Rizzuto spent the rest of his life
as one of the school’s biggest donors and fundraisers.
Phil
Rizzuto was a great Yankee, a great ballplayer, a great announcer, and
a great New Jerseyan (despite being born in Brooklyn). He will be
missed.
Bonds Debate Continued
G:
Again, pitchers, and
Clemens, are completely irrelevent when discussing the fact that Bonds
cheated. Do I suspect Clemens? Sure. Honestly I am suspicious of pretty
much every player that has played or continues to play throughout the
"steroid era". This includes Arod who’s body shape has also changed
significantly. But Clemens steroid use did not make a great pitcher
into a nearly unstoppable one.
I also notice a certain dichotomy
in support of Bonds here. Is it steroids or the improved and admittedly
insane workout routines. Arguably Clemens is able to maintain his pace
by taking half the season off. Regardless, Clemens is still one of the
better pitchers of this generation, but his steroid use would be
cheating and his numbers scrutinized accordingly.
Also, steroids
were illegal in baseball in 1991. Fay Vincent sent out a memo saying
that use or possession of any illegal drugs, including steroids, was
illegal under the rules of baseball. Did it have teeth? maybe not, but
to say they weren’t breaking the rules is total BS.
Although I
will never support the way the league handled this, the players are
just as responsible (at least if you consider the MLBPA and Donald Fehr
to be the true representatives.) You have a Commissioner whose
interests, until Congress got involved, were more aligned with the rest
of the owners, and a Players Association that threatened STRIKE at
every advancement of testing. That is not a good combo, but lets be
honest…the players association had the upperhand in this battle due
to the damage the strike did in the 90′s and their ability to exploit
the owners weakness.
G:
Do
I think Bonds or any of the other players should have taken steroids?
Absolutely not. Do I blame them for doing so? Absolutely not. They took
advantage of all the options open to them at the time.
Your
libertine attitude towards sports is somewhat troubling. Maybe I’m
being obtuse, but that statement is rife with contradiction and to me
is an approval of cheating. No matter how you look at it, steroid use
was cheating. Sometimes people must stay within the rules to do things
right. I doubt anything you did that was outside the bounds of fairness
or the rules would be given such lenient analysis.
The
modern game is about home runs and scoring. It isn’t about bunting and
strategy anymore. This is true for all sports. Players adapted to meet
that need. It was the league’s responsibility to stop this, or to at
least guide this transition, and they failed disastrously.
I
had a very poignent response to this but it got cut off from the
previous post. Basically it disussed the smaller strike zones, smaller
ball parks and lower pitchers mounds and how a good player could
"adjust" to the game in numerous ways other than steroids. One of which
would be patience and strike zone control… and Bonds is the perfect
example of this. He was the result of great command of the pitches, a
great swing, and steroids. I’d argue that with 2 out of the three of
those, you could be a very successful ball players in this new league
you speak of.
G:
The modern game is about home runs and scoring
The
game is still about the same things it was back in 1903. . . winning
the World series. If it was all about homeruns and scoring, the
Phillies would be perennial champions. Small ball can still be useful
(White Sox).
J:
It’s
not about the World Series. That may be the end game for some or most
players, although for many players the end game is the paycheck and the
notoriety. But the game is about the performances during the game.
Fans, with the exception of die hard fans, watch their teams because
they want to see home runs and flame throwing fastballs. If their team
gets into the World Series, that’s great. But if they don’t, well it’s
not the end of the world. Fans want to see an exciting game with lots
of action. That’s the most important thing. The now. And I’m not saying
fans don’t care if their team wins the World Series or makes the
playoffs, they just care way more about the big plays.
And I
don’t want you to think I am condoning steroids or I think they are
good or I like this new era of big home runs and all. When it comes to
sports, I always favor strategy, matchups, and defense. This is why I’m
so drawn to baseball, as baseball has more strategy in it than any
other sport. I am one of the die hard elitist fans who thinks the new
NHL is worse now that it is way more about scoring and speed, rather
than gritty defense and hard hits. Whenever a sport adjusts to become
higher scoring and more "exciting," I think it loses something. And I
don’t think it’s good that players took steroids, and I was wrong to
say you can’t blame them for doing so. What I meant was that you can’t
be surprised. Players, and people for that matter, throughout history
have always looked for an advantage, a leg up. Does that make it OK or
good? No. But we certainly can’t be shocked and outraged to discover
that it was happening.
I still contend that it was the league’s
responsibility to face it and stop it. And I understand the MLBPA may
have had the upper hand, but if we are talking about doing the moral
thing even when doing the wrong thing is much easier, then the league
needs to be faulted as well. The hit baseball would have taken for
another strike would not have been anywhere near as bad as the stigma
it has now.
G:
Cincinatti, Florida and Tampa Bay are among the highest HR hitting
teams, yet have low or extremely low attendance. Meanwhile, boston is
slightly below average in HRs but has the highest attendance. Same with
the cubbies. People want to see their team win. Plus, teams make easy
money through media contracts, maybe over half their total revenue
(excluding revenue sharing). I doubt people tune in to watch home runs
on TV, but rather to watch their home team beat a rival, or even just
to enjoy a heated pennant race. Agree to disagree I guess.
The hit baseball would have taken for another strike would not have been anywhere near as bad as the stigma it has now.
Stigma,
sure. . . But I doubt the owners and MLBPA care much about stigmas and
that is the problem. Thats why Selig was a bad commissiner for the
steroid era. He is an owner and so long as the league, and his teams
and buddy owners’ teams, are making money, there is no real incentive
to do anything about it. Even this "stigma" hasn’t really hurt the
bottom line, so in their eyes all is well. i blame them both (owners
and players) wholly together.
J:
And
yet baseball has set attendance records for three straight years. The
average fan may tell you that he despises steroids and thinks Bonds is
a fraud. But he continues to watch the game regardless. He continues to
go and I argue it is partly because of steroids that he goes. The game
has gotten more exciting. More home runs, more runs scored, faster
fastballs.
The average fan will tell you that Bonds cheated and
that he has no respect for him. He’ll tell you that Hank Aaron is still
the real home run record holder and that Bonds’ record should have an *
next to it. And yet, that same fan almost certainly stayed up late last
Tuesday to watch the * happen.
Bonds Debate With A Twist
Below is a debate that Joe Paradise, our friend Grant, and I had overBarry Bonds and the issue of steroids in a message board over the
course of the past few days. I think it very much represents the
different feelings that people have on the issue. I hope you enjoy.
G:
Bonds is a coward. Many other words come to mind as well.
J:
How is he a coward? Even if he did do steroids, he is most certainly not the only one. Get over it. Hating Bonds is so old.
G:
I don’t hate bonds. But he is a coward. He is the most selfish player
in MLB history. And others have done it…so what. That excuses
nothing. I don’t feel bad for Selig having to fret over whether or not
to show up because he was very complicit in creating this situation,
but Bond’s record is ****.
He is a pain in the *** to watch,
especially because he tries to play the victim. Clearly he doesn’t
watch ESPN because they have been obsessed about him for the past 2
years.
He is a coward because he is a glory hound that turned an
incredible career in to a circus, only to fuel his megalomaniacal ways.
If there is any doubt in your mind that he used steroids you are a fool.
JP:
I still don’t see what any of this has to do with being a coward.
J:
He is not a coward. That is ridiculous. He is a megalomaniac. And he often times can be a total jerk.
But
he has been the victim. He is by far not the only player to take
steroids. Loads of pitchers have taken them as well. That would make
the matchups equal. But because Bonds is so abrasive and because he has
been chasing the home run record and now has broken it he has been made
the poster boy for the steroid era, which is completely unfair.
If
anyone is a coward it is Selig. He turned a blind eye to steroids until
he was forced to deal with it. And he now has the gall to act
self-righteous about it. Players throughout the years have tried to
find advantages. If steroids were as widely available when Babe Ruth
played as they are now, he would have shot up as well. It’s the job of
the league to make sure this doesn’t happen.
But if you are
going to complain about Bonds, then you have to ***** about McGwire,
Palmeiro, Sosa, Canseco, and of course Neifi Perez. Everyone who is
griping about Bonds is a total hypocrite.
G:
If steroids were as widely available when Babe Ruth played as they are now, he would have shot up as well.
This statement is ridiculous.
But he has been the victim.
As
is this one. Pitchers Cheated, yes. Pitching has changed very little
though. I don’t see a cadre of juiced up pitchers throwing 105 mph
fastballs. Ryan Franklin thrived on steroids. Juan Rincon was great. To
say things where even matchups is ridiculous.
And how is it
unfair that his chasing the all-time homerun record made him the poster
boy of PED’s?? Is it an unfortunate circumstance for Bonds? NO, he
cheated and his chase is a direct result of it. He would not have been
playing anymore, nor would he have anywhere near as many HR’s w/o them.
Aaron’s record was one of the greatest in sports, as well as the first
major record since the "steroid era" came under the spotlight, and so
it makes perfect sense. Remember, when Sosa and Mac were hitting HR’s
day and night the general fan population was ignorant as to any abuses
or cheating. **** even die hard fans were in the shadows. Andro was
advertised on the radio during games and it was considered just a new
form of Power shake or creatin.
That being said I was never a
fan of an overly inflated McGwire or Sosa or Canseco (Neifi Perez used
aphetamines which I find different in this situation…yet still
cheating). They were cheaters too. Bringing them up seems to be the
fall back argument for people trying to defend Bonds but it is really
irrelevant in this situation. I think they cheated and any record they
held was bunk, therefore I am not a hypocrite. Moving on.
The
problem with message board discussions is that it tends to lead to
literalization. While Bonds is not a "coward" in the sense that he
shows a shameful lack of courage or is a sissy, he is a coward because
I, subjectively, feel it is an deep insult. Just like Jon’s use of
hypocrite is not applicable here, but I get it.
JP:
Steroids didn’t make Barry Bonds a great hitter. He’s just flat better
than everyone else. He was better than everyone else in pre-1998 before
he allegedly started taking steroids as well.
Most people have
no idea of the effect of steroids in real life. Bonds didn’t just
allegedly take steroids as he got older, he also got serious about his
weight training and conditioning. This more than anything contributed
his his increased size and strength. It’s very similar to how Roger
Clemens had some of the best years of his career when he was already
"old" by baseball standards because of his outrageous workout routine.
The steroids, if he took them, may have provided a boost in these
efforts, but his increased strength/size was almost all directly
attributable to his hard work and determination.
JP:
I like what this guy had to say:
http://bugsandcranks.com/the-clubhouse/barry-bonds/
G:
Steroids
allows an aging athlete to sustain such workouts and gain that size.
Without them he would not have been able to do it. Steroids greatest
benefit is in recovery time of the muscles, allowing him to maintain
that work out schedule, making his size and strength increase a DIRECT
result of his steroid use. That is why steroids has a lesser impact on
pitchers, because they are not focusing all on strength and size, but
on more durability. And at the same time it enabled Bonds to continue
his career, too far in my opinion. He should at least be a DH.
I
have never been in the Barry Bonds ***** camp. I know he was the
greatest talent in our generation, as I suggested before. I can
appreciate that he was pre and post-roids the most capable hitter with
the best command of the strke zone. Perhaps that’s why I dislike him so
much. Because he didn’t have to cheat to be a first ballot HoFer. But
he cheated, so screw him, and this circus was created by him and the
reason that he is where he is now is attributable to steroids or PEDs,
more than the increased workouts and determination that would not have
eisted otherwise.
G:
A few problems with that article:
1. at the end it assumes that every major leaguer in inclined to cheat. That may be true but would hope not.
1a.
it also assumes that everyone in the world that thinks bonds is not so
deserving of respect as the author assumes steroids is the font of his
ability. Every person I know will admit BOnds talent. Again, to me that
is really irrelevant in the discussion.
2. Saying that hand-eye
coordination cannot be learned may be true, but the research on these
synthetic drugs show that some of them, such as the stanizol (sp?) that
Bonds used, can either prevent deterioration and/or aid regeneration of
the neurons that are responsible for this. This would be irrelevent for
say, the single season record, but paramount in the all time HR record.
3.
There are dozens of elements of hitting that can be aided by PED’s
above mere coordination that cause concern regarding his cheating.
Increased bat speed (just for example…i am not privy to any studies
of Bonds bat speed so am not sure) would not only allow you to be more
selective on your pitches, but give you more time to identify the
incoming pitch. Also, increased strength would marginalize mistakes or
mis-hits.
Now I must go to the gym without steroids in hopes not
that my hat size or feet grow, but to perhaps be able to throw a
baseball for 45 minutes without my back and rear shoulder being sore
for 5 days.
J:
Pitchers
Cheated, yes. Pitching has changed very little though. I don’t see a
cadre of juiced up pitchers throwing 105 mph fastballs. Ryan Franklin
thrived on steroids. Juan Rincon was great. To say things where even
matchups is ridiculous.
Are you telling me you think
Roger Clemens isn’t juiced up? The man is 45, has played in the majors
for 24 years, and has arguably been more dominant in the past five
years then he was the previous five. His numbers in Houston are
certainly skewed when compared to playing in New York because he was
playing in the NL Central, but his numbers are still ridiculous. I am
not one of those that think he has been better in the latter part of
his career than he was during his peak, but the fact that he is 45 and
still just as dominant as ever (perhaps with the exception of this
year) seems to go to the very heart of the debate over Bonds. Without
steroids he never would have lasted this long. Neither would Clemens.
That
being said, for a long time steroids weren’t banned from baseball. How
can you continue to blame the players for engaging in something that
was technically not illegal within their given profession? Why is the
criticism not laid more heavily upon the league? Do I think Bonds or
any of the other players should have taken steroids? Absolutely not. Do
I blame them for doing so? Absolutely not. They took advantage of all
the options open to them at the time. The modern game is about home
runs and scoring. It isn’t about bunting and strategy anymore. This is
true for all sports. Players adapted to meet that need. It was the
league’s responsibility to stop this, or to at least guide this
transition, and they failed disastrously.
J:
On the lighter side:
http://bugsandcranks.com/the-clubhouse/asterisks-are-forever-a-barry-bonds-movie/
Field of Mediocrity
Greetings from Florida. It has been hard getting internet access formore than 10 minutes ($2.50) at a time, hence the delay in posting.
With
the trade deadline looming less than two weeks away, teams are scouting
the amazingly underwhelming field of possible trade fodder,
particularly pitching. The Mets, Braves, Phillies, Red Sox, Dodgers,
and Padres are all looking for starting pitching. Who is it that they
have to choose from you ask? Well hold on tight as we rocket into the
realm of intense mediocrity. Being put on the block are the likes of
Matt Morris (God save us all), Jason Jennings (life sure is different
at sea level), Kyle Lohse, Scott Elarton, Jose Contreras (sigh) and
Steve Trachsel (retire already!). So while these contenders are looking
for a reliable starter, they are faced with the possibility of actually
downgrading their staffs by adding any of these masters of apathy. Matt
Morris for goodness sake! Jason Jennings is probably the brightest star
in the group and he is 1-6 with a 4.76 ERA on the season.
Relief
pitching is not as bad, but certainly not great either. The Astros are
trying to figure out what to do with Brad Lidge, Chad Qualls and Dan
Wheeler. All have closer experience, and most of that experience in the
past couple seasons has been sour. The Rangers are shopping all of
their 1.5 closers in Eric Gagne and Akinori Otsuka. Of the entire
field, Otsuka is certainly the best bet. He is mostly reliable and does
not command the large salary as Gagne at only $3 million this year. Oh,
but he just landed on the DL until at least early August. Gagne is
always just one pitch away from his next 60-day DL stint. The Pirates
badly want to part with disgruntled reliever Salomon Torres, but who
wants a guy who lost the closing job in Pittsburgh? Kansas City is
shopping Octavio Dotel, who has actually garnered some interest. The
front runners are currently the Woodbury True Value Hardware Store
Tigers, who are just one reliever away from winning the Wilson County
Little League championship (who have offered a Black and Decker power
saw and ten cases of 3/4 in. rust resistant long nails; they have also
agreed to send a fully loaded 2009 Makita power drill set if Dotel
meets certain performance achievements).
And it’s not that any
of these players couldn’t be of some help to a major league roster,
although I am hard pressed to find a contender that could benefit from
the services of great-uncle Steve Trachsel, but no GM is willing to
part with any serious prospect to do so.
"I don’t
know of anyone who will trade a potential impact everyday player for a
relief pitcher, especially one who isn’t a dominant closer," says
Minaya. Another contending GM says, "I don’t blame Dayton Moore for
trying to rebuild, but he wants a major league-ready positional player
for Dotel."
Or some power tools.
In a surprising
twist, Brian Cashman is perhaps the most relaxed GM out there. After
starting the year with a dessimated starting staff, he is about to come
into an overly crowded rotation. To anchor the end of the rotation that
currently includes Chien-Ming Wang, Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, and
Andy Pettitte, Philip Hughes is mowing down batters in AA Trenton and
will be back in the Bronx in a week or two after getting a cuople more
minor league starts in Scranton.
It basically comes down to the
realization that, with the exception of a couple minor additions and
subtractions, the current major league rosters are going to stay much
the same. Its gearing up for a very exciting race to the finish.
jsatwood
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