The All-Star Game

I'm not a big fan of the All-Star game deciding home field advantage in the World Series. I feel the game should be played primarily for fun. There are 162 regular season games played which can decide home field advantage.

Yes, Soriano was animated after his two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth made it a one-run game. Dmitri Young was bopping and smiling in the dugout as the NL loaded the bases thanks to three walks. The only person who didn't seem to be enjoying himself was AL manager Jim Leyland. Well, him and J.J., who gave up Soriano's homer.

And I have to admit, I was on the edge of my seat too.

Then again, I probably would have been anyway. The players would probably have been juiced too, given that they are hyper-competitive athletes. The managers might have been a little more relaxed, but they probably enjoy bragging rights too. Plus home field advantage is only going to matter to two teams. Did Gil Meche really care about gaining home field advantage for his league?

The art of negotiation

Mark Buehrle wanted to stay with the Chicago White Sox. His teammates wanted him to stay with the Chicago White Sox. The Chicago White Sox wanted him to stay with the Chicago White Sox.

And yet it looked, briefly, like Mark Buehrle might be leaving the Chicago White Sox.

He isn't now, having signed a four-year, $56 million deal. But the mere fact that it was even in doubt goes to show how ridiculous contract negotiations can be in professional sports. ESPN.com ran a story on July 7 written by Buster Olney that said, "Now it appears that his [Buehrle's] contract talks have broken down for good, and he may soon be traded."

The mind boggles.

Stalled

Is what this blog is.

Just like the Yankees.

Paul is busy touring - mutil-talented is my young american friend - while I have been busy working. I've also had to replace my laptop, which took much longer than it needed to. I now have a new laptop but it refuses to connect to the internet. These are the problems of living in a developing economy.

Once Paul is done touring, he will be moving to New York (the state, not the city), where he will begin teaching little kids math and coach 'em at baseball and soccer. He will, hopefully, also start contributing to this blog again. In the mean time, we'll have a couple of other contributors too. I'll let them introduce themselves when they sign up.

I'll also add, very quickly, that I have been very surprised by the Detroit Tigers this year. I was expecting a "sophomore slump", figuring last year would be a tough act to follow with everyone expecting the team to be as good this year.

I could not have been more wrong.

The team is only a half game out from having the best record in the major league, and is probably playing the best baseball of any team heading into the All-Star break. Once the Tigers get their relief pitching in order, I'd be afraid. Very afraid.

New York, New York!

Yes, Pauli beat me to a Yankees story. But only because I was busy with my day job: researching and writing for the Wall Street Journal. Besides, what is Pauli going to do if I don't write? Fire me? The Journal, on the hand, would do exactly that. It was an easy choice to make.

Obviously I'm glad the Rocket is coming back to NYC. I'm glad he decided not to go to Boston. That would have sucked. He is a huge upgrade for the Yankees, even if he turns out to be only 75 percent as effective as he has been the last two years. Yet I can't help wondering, as great as the Rocket is, and he is probably top five all-time, where is his defining clutch moment?

Schilling has the bloody sock. Pedro has the those six innings in relief (among others). Jack Morris has the greatest World Series game ever pitched (yes, better than Larsen's perfect game). Orel Hershiser put the Dodgers on his back. The Big Unit shut down the Yankees in relief when he was in Seattle, then dominated them again in 2001. Josh Beckett shut out the Yankees to win the World Series.

Clemens gave us the case of the mystery blister in '86.

To be fair to the Rocket, he left Game 7 in 2001 with a 2-1 lead. A lead nobody expected Rivera to cough up. A lead that would have given Clemens a World Series clinching victory in a must win game. I watched that game. I was crushed by the outcome, which, and I think this is telling, I would not have been if Clemens had left trailing 2-1. With Rivera on the mound, I felt the Yankees were invincible. Not once did I feel so with Clemens. I expected him to pitch well (he did). After all he is Roger Clemens. But I found myself willing a dominant performance from him rather than expecting it.

That said, I'm still going to be excited when Clemens makes his season debut. Go Yankees!

Yao and Rockets Out. CY and Rocket to NY.

It's a tough week to be a Houston fan. My boy, Yao Ming, couldn't pull it off and the Rockets fell to the Jazz. Then everyone's boy, Roger Clemens, fell to another land of Jazz, New York. (weird) So the country's 4th largest city took a hit this week. Which is fair to say, since the rocket will be taking his SEVEN Cy Young Awards to the Bronx.

Hang on, did I just beat Tariq to a Yankees story?

That's like beating me to a Scott Rolen hits for the cycle in Ankiel's first win since 2004 story. Feels good.

Anyway, I don't see how this is nearly enough for the Yankees. They'll need way more than one Clemens to do anything this year. They lost a game by 4 runs after they scored 11!

This story's too good to not have Tariq write on it. Even I want to read that. I'll leave the good analysis to him. Here's my prediction. Clemens makes 26 starts; 14-6. He drops a 3.02 ERA on the AL. I think the Yankees will miss the playoffs despite A-God and the Rocket.

Tariq, you're up.

Need an Outfielder?

I know the Cardinals do. Jim Edmonds can't even run as well as he strikes out. Padres, D-Backs, and anybody that thinks they have a shot this year may be looking to get a hitter. What if I had a guy that could play in the OF and hit you 15-20 HR in the second half? He's sort of old, but if you're an AL team you can stick him up your ass for all you care. What if his baseball want ad read,

POY Lfty OF Slgr w/ HOF Nos for hire

A Former Player of the Year with 3,000+ Hits, 569 HR, and one serious steroid scandal listed in his dossier. You may have guessed it, or maybe you just saw the picture below, but I am seriously talking about none other than Rafael Palmeiro.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It takes a year. You get off the roids, and you take a year to figure out how to swing a bat instead of a needle. We know Giambi did it. From my bit on Barry, "In 2003 Giambi announces steroid use during his 41 HR season that year. In 2004 he gets off the juice and hits a dinky 12, sluggin .370. A year later, he's back up to 32 HR, and sluggin .535."

Look at Sammy Sosa for christ's sake. He didn't even play in 2006, because in '05 he managed 14 HR in 102 Games with 84 SO. If you saw it, then you know he sucked. He takes a year off, comes back, and now he's got 7 dingers in 86 AB and 20 RBI in 23 games. If we're talking "on pace," then Slammin' Sammy will finish 2007 with 49 souvenirs and 140 ribs. Not bad for a guy who was run out of the game.

So what is Raffy doing? He's 42, but that hasn''t stopped Barry from jacking one every 7.875 at bats in 2007. If Palmeiro has been taking BP AT ALL during his hiatus you would be a fool not to sign him. If you're the Giants you probably have no hope of winning, but your fans might not hate the All-Roids team in the outfield. You don't even have to play him until his bat speed is back. You can hire professional pitchers on your staff to do nothing but throw him live pitching. Give him a week in AA and two in AAA and he'll be ready for the show. You can pick him up without having to worry about being outbid. Get him a place with some good fans, and pay him what he wants.

Trust me, he'll hit.

More Yankees

Tim Keown of ESPN.com, who I love reading by the way, asks in his latest column "will there ever be a time when even one person in the media suggests that it just might be Joe Torre's fault?

I understand Keown asking the question. I just don't get the timing. Is it Torre's fault Wang, and Mussina were on the DL (Mussina still is)? Is it Torre's fault Carl Pavano is the worst kind of baseball player? Is it Torre's fault Phil Hughes, who was working on a no-hitter through six innings in just his second big league start, felt his leg go pop in the seventh?

Do I need to answer these questions?

No. No. No. And no!

The rest of the column is exemplary as usual, especially his take on Brady Quinn and the NFL draft. You can read it here.

Passing

Josh Hancock.
1978-2007

R.I.P.

More irony

When Yahoo drafted Mariano, Hoffman and BJ Ryan for me (I couldn't be at the draft, time zone differences), I thought here's one category I'm going to dominate.

Boy, was I wrong.

Yes, it is still early but Mariano and Ryan have ERAs over 12 and Ryan is on the DL. And Hoffman just blew his second straight save, first time he has done that in almost 10 years. And his ERA is over 7.

I'm currently lying second-to-last in my league in total saves with five. The only reason I'm not in last place is the guy who is didn't draft any closers. He figured saves are just one category and so he drafted a gazillion starters instead. He's also the guy whose leading the league with a 27-6-3 record.

A little late

Friday morning (Thursday evening for folks in the U.S.) I dragged myself out of bed at 5:15 to watch Phil Hughes make his big league debut. I did this despite having only gone to bed at 1 and despite having to be at work by 9. I did it because I'm starting to panic and I needed a genuine reason to be optimistic about Yankee pitching.

I'm not sure I got it.

I watched innings 3-4-5 (I couldn't drag myself out of bed at 4:30 a.m. for the start of the game, even though I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m.), and came away feeling slightly underwhelmed. I was hoping for a Jered Weaver type debut, the kind that reels off seven straight wins. Instead, what I got was a look at a pitcher with a lot of promise.

But promise ain't going to win games. And the Yankees need to win games starting now. They've lost seven straight and there seems to be no respite in sight. Even Mariano seems human, giving up four runs in a nothing situation, pushing his ERA over 12 (12!!!).

(In the interest of full disclore, I attempted to pick up Hughes in both my fantasy leagues. I was beaten to the punch both times. The photo is courtesy minorleaguebaseball.com)

The cycle continues

Grant Hill.

That's who popped into my head when I read about Mark Prior missing another season after another aborted "comeback".

Hill and his Orlando Magic are currently down 2-0 to the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The point is Hill is in the playoffs when it looked like he may never play basketball again.

The doctor who is operating on Prior's shoulder on Tuesday is confident Prior's career is not over, with Cubs general manager Jim Hendry saying Wednesday, "Dr. Andrews feels comfortable that he [Prior] will still have a career. This is certainly not career-ending. He felt optimistic that he would be able to pitch next year. ... At his age, he should not have a problem responding and coming back after a strenuous rehab."

I sure hope he is right. It would be a shame if baseball and baseball fans were deprived of the talents of Prior, even if they might be somewhat diminished.

p.s. Like Paul said, I did pick the Cubs to win the NL Central. The reason I didn't run my predictions out there is because being in India, I don't have a lot of access to baseball. So I don't feel like I should make predictions [in public] based on incomplete information. But I don't mind running my mouth among friends. I even managed to convince one or two people to jump on the Cubs' bandwagon. I'm proud of that.

A Beer Battered Central

Old Style, I believe, is the official beer of Wrigley Field. It hasn't, however, stopped the Brewers of Miller from coming in and taking the first two games in this week's series. They're playing the 3rd at the time of this writing. The Cubs just ran into an out at 3rd on some sort of baserunning blunder. If you're not a Cubs fan, it might be hard to picture, but just imagine something stupid.

With Sheets on the mound and the Cubs being the opposition, let's assume the crew finishes this sweep. That puts Milwaukee at 7 games over, and drops the Cubs to 7 below in their first 21 games. 14-7 would be the best record in the big leagues at the moment. Milwaukee's 3.5 game lead over the Reds would be the largest of any division. Even if it's a blowout, the Brewers already have a league-leading 9 saves. J.J. Hardy is also among the league leaders with 6 knocks. They have a healthy Ben Sheets, and they bought Jeff Suppan from the champs. Suppan is a fantastic inning eater, really paints with his pitches, and is a tested postseason gem should they make it there. With a young core of guys like Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks, as well as a strong relief core, could it be a beer-batterd central?

Well you already know that my pick is the Cardinals. Milwaukee split a short set with the Busch Boys earlier this year, so we don't know just yet how they'll match up. Tariq hasn't made it public, but he picked the Cubs to win the central. This is always a dangerous choice, and although it's early yet, 7-13 through 20 might give him a sense of what it's like. I guess we'll learn a lot when the Brewers head to Busch on Monday.

God I love Baseball.

Irony

Don't look now but the principal reason the New York Yankees have a winning record is a certain gentleman who goes by the name of Alex Rodriguez.

A-Rod has hit a league leading 10 home runs in 14 games, two of them walk off dingers. He also leads the league in RBI with 26 and is batting a tick over .350.

The reason for his offensive outburst: "It's just fun," Rodriguez said after his latest game winner against the Indians on Thursday. "It's going out and not trying to do too much, and help the team win."

At a time when the Yankees pitching staff is reeling, A-Rod has been the glue holding the team together (Jeter leads the league in errors with 6). Yes, he still needs to show he can do this in October. But perhaps the knowledge that he can walk away from all this at the end of the year has given A-Rod a sense of freedom he didn't have in the Bronx prior to this year. And that freedom is allowing him to swing the bat without worrying how each particular swing is going to define his legacy.

He's just a guy playing ball. And that's good for A-Rod and the Yankees.

Lid put on Lidge

It didn't take Wayne, my father and Van Pelt to my Stu Scott, too long to realize that game 5 of the 2005 NLCS was the beginning of the end for Brad Lidge.

I can recall a time when Brad Lidge was a nearly untouchable fireballer. His ERA in 2005 was 2.80 with 42 saves, and in '04 it was 1.90 with 157 K. That was back when Jeff Suppan (who?) beat the Rocket, and the Cards won game 7

In 2005, when his team finally pushed past the Cardinals, Wayne pointed out the sorrowful irony. For Brad Lidge, things would always get harder than when he LOST in 2004. Although he was heading to the Series, he would never be the same.

His team would go on to be expectedly dominated by the White Sox. In 2006 he had his ERA explode to 5.28, and In his 2 games in '07, Brad Lidge earned an ERA of 16.20 and his way out of a job. As I watched Bradley give up 5 runs to the Redbirds in 2/3 of an inning, I knew it was done. He was quickly removed from the game, and I imagine he learned that night that close he would no longer.

It really does go back to that night Albert Pujols ripped the World Series from the Astros, even if only for that night. He crouched on the mound and watched the ball go, ruined. It was Andy Pettite that gave it away. We all read his lips when he said "Oh my gosh," and watched the Pujols show, but he wasn't watching a baseball fly over the train tracks.

He was watching a man's soul leave his body.

Coming late to the party

Living in India, the only televised regular season baseball games I will get to see are those involving either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. And not always live either. Of course live games mean getting up at 4:30 in the morning. And delayed games mean not watching them at all cause I'll be at work.

So the bottom line is I won't be watching much baseball this season.

Which sucks.

So far I've seen four innings of Dice-K, and like everyone else I thought he looked superb. Of course he was pitching against the Kansas City Royals. I'ma wait to see what he does against the Yankees. Both Schilling and Beckett have proven ability to slay the pinstriped dragon. If Dice-K can emulate either of them, that might tilt the balance of power in the AL East.

Especially since the Yankees don't seem to have any pitching to speak of. I watched three innings of Moose pitching against his old team (These seven innings make up the sum total of my basbeall viewing thus far), and he looked very, very hittable. As indeed he was. Then again, if A-Rod keeps hitting, two-out grand slams in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees have nothing to worry about. Wait!! What am I thinking??!! No, it felt good to read about A-Rod coming through in the clutch for the Yankees. Really. While I'm not a fan of his, I'm a fan of the team, and so I want him to perform when the teams needs him. The rest of the time he can go 0-fer-whatever for all I care.

A Game in the Life of a Shitty-Team Fan

Alternate title: My Day at RFK. In my quest to visit every ballpark, I thought it a shame I had visited DC just days before April. Well what the hell, I'll just go have a look. I took the Metro to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and had a peek. "Tickets, Tickets," I heard.

HUH? It's still March.

Next to me on the walk up was a moustached man with a pony tail to his ass in a Nats cap and jacket. I asked if there was a game today.

He said "yeah, exhibition against the O's."
Any tix left you think?
Probably, why you want one? (He reaches into his jacket pocket.)
Yeah, how much?
Buy me a beer.

OK! Now I am sitting behind homeplate with some stranger in RFK watching the Nationals, and it starts to dawn on me... it's not so bad to be a shitty-team fan. He explains these tickets are only 20 bucks, and you can get in for 8. Food's cheap. Beer's cheap. What else do you want? The place is never full, so you can spread out and relax, and you never have to worry about a sellout. If you wanna see a game, just buy a ticket. Or just ask someone, maybe it'll cost you a beer.

Pretty soon I figured out, it wasn't all a good deal. I was quickly reminded that the Nationals were as promised a shitty team. We turned up in the 3rd and the Nats promptly gave up back-to-back crank jobs and put on a showcase of infield errors. Since there was no baseball in the district for 30 years or so, the fans had no idea what to do. On the rare occasion that the Washington pitcher would strike a guy out, people would go on with their conversations like they had never heard of strike 3.

One of the real highlights was the 7th inning stretch, led by Harry Canary, the lovable Caray-morphic blow up bird like-weird costume thing/person. They played a recording of Harry and everyone loved it. Harry Canary was actually a bigger star at this thing than Screech, the Nats Mascot, a tattered, dirty, and particularly short bald eagle. They stole a page from the Brewers playbook by having the Presidents race, but I think I missed it when I went to buy my $6.50 Red Hook ticket to the game.

American Picks 2007

I am standing in a conference center in DC. I saw Gilby and the Wizards blow a game yesterday, and today I am at a teacher hiring conference/meat market. Given that today is March 31st, my mind is elsewhere. Most of all my heart is in Saint Louis, basking in the sun and glory of Busch Stadium. The good news is that tomorrow my body will be there along with it.

Look how jealous you are!

Yes I have opening day tickets to watch a rematch of that great NLCS Cards Mets matchup. I'll of course be reliving the event in blog format, which you're now dreading. The objective of this post is to go on record with my predictions for the 2007 season. My Indian counterpart will be doing the same shortly. This will be your reference point for further mockery, especially when Tariq picks the cubs to make the playoffs.

National League East

The Fish baby! Who's been more successful in the 21st century? Twice now they've harvested Championships and burned the crops. It's scary. In 2006 they came back from 20 below to make September interesting for their 100,000 fans. They really were a year away, and the heat they showed in the second half sticks around. It's Florida! I predict at least 2 geriatrics die of cardiac arrest when the D-train drops 18 Wins on 'em, and of course they narrowly win the division over Carlos Beltran.

National League Central

Here's a surprise; The Cards win the Central. As for hitters, the champs lost Tongue Boy at 2nd. He was replaced by Eckstein's other middle-infield Championship mate, Adam Kennedy. They lost the rotation and replaced it with some guys that threw in Spring Training for an ERA that was sub 1.00 as of last Tuesday. Adam "The Warden" Wainwright has moved nicely back to the starters role. He locked 'em up for a good 0.98 ERA in the Spring sessions. Izzy's back to closing. Closing, despite making it interesting. Scotty plays healthy for the the first time in a long time. He bangs 35HR.

Oh, and I heard a guy named Albert plays for them too.

National League West

Does anyone care about the NL West? When was the last time they made it through a Divisional series? Is any team from the west a threat to win the World Series? Or even the Pennant?

Probably not.

I think a lot of people are loving on the Dodgers, but I'm going elsewhere. Big ups nonetheless to LA for unloading that piece of garbage JD Drew. If he plays 80 games for Boston they'll be lucky. Anyway I think the Barrys have a good shot at it, but I'll stick with he pitching Padres. Like I said, who cares?

American League East

A-rod does it for real, but the Yankees pitching doesn't quite hold up like you might think, and they don't actually score 1,000 runs as predicted. That team may be restructured after the year. Ortiz and Ramirez are the same old machines in the middle of that Red Sux lineup, so you know they'll be OK. Daisuke Matsuzaka will probably win close to 18 or so games. I am afraid the legends are real here. He has at least 5 great pitches that he can throw for a strike in any count. His entire approach to pitching is different for MLB hitters, and he will seriously stand out and carry the Sawks to October, no matter how much I hate it.

American League Central

Sort of a trendy pick I guess. When you look at the central it's basically Twins, Sox, or Indians. The sox seem to have little chance. There are questions with their closers arm, and the lineup just isn't as scary anymore. I get the feeling that last year was about as good as that Twins team can be. They added a couple bats, but I don't get the feeling that they can be better than they were last year, and I think actually they drop a bit. That kind of fluctuation just happens. When you look at the Indians, you get a sense that can be WAY better, and I just have a hunch that they will. Plus you already know what you get when it's half project, half donkey.

American League West

Another trendy pick. Well Ken Griffey Jr. is my favorite, but after that, Big Bad Vlad sure hits a fun homerun. What's even better for the Angels is that they aren't just fun, they actually happen pretty often. He's had 30+ HR in 6 straight seasons or something like that. Take a look for yourself. It's a good team. I'm tired of writing this thing.

Baseball is the best. Go Cards!

Re: Barry Lamar

Since we're on the subject... Barry Bonds is fairly unlikeable. He's a bad team mate, for one thing. He's not quite the "cancer in the locker room" that Andy York was for our Intramural Basketball team, but he's not exactly full of team spirit either. He's had media issues, you could say, but Tariq's right. You can't quite blacklist a guy who hasn't even had a positive drug test.

Here's my point. The dude can play. Let's make the totally unamerican assumption that he is indeed guilty of steroid use. Did steroids get the guy a career fielding percentage of .984? Does steroids give you 9 gold gloves? Combine that with some moderate .280-.300 hitting, and you're a fairly big time dude in the bigs anyway.

In 2005 he came back from whatever. He couldn't exactly move too well, but he was still hitting. At the end of that season he came back and hit 5 HR in 42 AB, and you know he wasn't on them then. It was like every night on Sportscenter, and no steroids.

In 2003 Giambi announces steroid use during his 41 HR season that year. In 2004 he gets off the juice and hits a dinky 12, sluggin .370. A year later, he's back up to 32 HR, and sluggin .535. These aren't monumental numbers, but you see similar stories in the steroid saga. Seems like it takes a year; About a year down the line, you remember how to hit without the needle. Interesting.

If you're a guilty Barry Bonds with projections of 756, when the scandal, new policy, and hard testing come down, maybe you take a year off. Maybe it turns out that your knee's not healing like it should. Who knows? But maybe then you can show up at the end of 2005, hit clean for a bit and actually HIT. It's a bold theory, but I don't think it's out of the question.

Go on Barry. Hit 'em hard. I don't like you that much, but hey it's not like you'll stay number one forever. I think a couple young fellows and a dude in the Bronx have a line on some big numbers.

I should add

that Congress held hearings on steroid use in baseball because steroid use is potentially devastating for the human body, and Congress was worried about the example being set for young kids. The hearings had nothing to do with cheating at baseball. If steroids were good for you. If steroids made you healthier, there would have been no hearings.

p.s. Those that took steroids before Baseball's rules banning steroids did not cheat in the first place.

Bonds, steroids and the home run record

I want Barry Lamar Bonds to break Henry Louis Aaron's home run record.

And I want us all to take a long hard look in the mirror when he does.

Bonds is not the villain here, although MLB wants him to be. What he is is a symptom of the willingness of MLB, fans, managers and the media to turn a blind eye to the growing use of steroids in the 1990s. We are the villains, you, me, all of us. We ignored the growing evidence of steroid use in the quest for thrills and home runs. We welcomed Maguire and Sosa into our hearts in 1998. We loved and cherished every moment of their epic (yes, still epic) duel. Like a spouse who doesn't want to believe he or she is being cheated on, we chose to look the other way and pretend that God was in heaven and all was well on Earth.

But now the ugly truth is out in the open and those of us who are culpable have no desire to point the finger at ourselves. We feel cheated, even though we were cheating ourselves. We'd rather make Bonds, someone almost universally disliked, the scapegoat. Especially if he is about to break one of baseball's most cherished records. Perhaps if we shout loud enough, we will drown out the voices in our heads.

Isn't it strange that Bonds, who has yet to fail a drug test, is condemned while someone like Shawn Merriman (yes, he is an NFL player but the example still stands), who actually tested positive for steroids, is welcomed back into the fold with open arms? Stranger still, is the refusal to acknowledge that pitchers could well have been taking steroids too. Besides, if taking steroids is such a travesty, shouldn't one positive test end a career?

So when Bonds passes Aaron sometimes in the summer of 2007, I will celebrate. I will celebrate because this is what we wanted all those years ago, when we made our Faustian bargain. I will celebrate because maybe, just maybe, Bonds eclipsing Aaron will force us to take stock of what really happened. And then, maybe, we can all begin to move on.