Archive for the ‘Baseball’ Category »
The race to be baseball’s best is well and truly on, and over the next few weeks baseball fans are going to be gorged with some really good baseball, but at the end of the day, and probably in Anaheim’s case if they go down to the defending World Series champs, the mistakes that some players are going to make are going to cost them games if not this first round of the playoffs.
Today I had the pleasure of watching the once cursed Red Sox take it to the Anaheim Angels, and unlike the regular season where the Angels won eight of nine against the Red Sox, they went down 4-1 because they couldn’t rally enough offense against the hot pitching of Jon Lester who went seven innings while only giving up one run. Boston had things going their way from the sixth inning on while Anaheim lost their 11 straight to the Red Sox in post season play, that despite the opinion of baseball experts that the Angels were the best team in baseball.
They certainly didn’t look like the best team today, and if they continue to play like they did today they’ll be gone as faster than Vladimir Guerrero can run from first to third with one out. Boy did Guerrero make a glaring mistake today and as far as DSOS is concerned if it wasn’t for him attempting to gain third base (he was the tying run by the way) from first base on a hit that barely made it past first base, the game result could have weighed in the Angel’s favour.
Guerrero who isn’t blessed with much speed as a base runner (he carries a lot of weight), thought he could round second and make it to third before the 2007 Gold Glove winner could throw the ball to third, and he ignored the second base coach who told him to hold up. What a selfish, and utterly stupid thing to do. He was tagged out a good twelve feet from third base, and more importantly he was the second out. It was that moment that took the wind out of Anaheim’s sails as far as DSOS is concerned, and Anaheim fans began heading for the exits.
Guerrero would not make another appearance at the plate. Such is the life of a Designated Hitter.
Guerrero should be taken out of the line-up until he loses some weight, and/or learns to follow instructions from the base coaches as far as DSOS is concerned, but the Angels need his bat and that isn’t going to happen.
They can take keep him out of right field though, which is what the Angels did in game one, but he is a power hitter and the last thing the Angels want is for them not to be able to call on his power hitting late in the game with the go ahead run in scoring position. He’ll be in the line-up on Friday, and maybe then he can redeem himself.
Man he was slow rounding second. Whatever gave him the idea that he could outrun the throwing arm of first baseman Youkilis anyway?
Even the fastest of base runners would have known better than to try and outrun a Youkilis throw to third base.
Game 2 should be a better game for the Angels behind All Star pitcher Erbin Santana, but at the end of the day all the good pitching in the world isn’t going to matter if players aren’t going to do as they are told, or if the Angels can’t drive in base runners.
Can Anaheim fans say “sweep” for the second year in a row?
By the way, GO PHILLIES!
The list of steroid using baseball players just keeps growing and growing, and that list is as long as a Jose Canseco home run, and as far as I’m concerned that list is giving Major League Baseball a bad name.
When it comes to steroid use among baseball players, I think it’s about time the baseball commissioner, team owners, and the player’s association agreed on a zero-tolerance policy and put an end to it by expelling by permanently banning them from MLB altogether, no suspensions, no fines, no second chances. It would certainly cause pause for thought for any player who is currently using the performance enhancing drug, or is thinking about using it.
I’m fed up with it, and if my grandfather (a big Mark “The Bird” Fidrich” fan back in the day) were still alive I highly doubt he would have much of an interest in baseball given what we are learning about how rampant steroid abuse is in baseball.
Admitted users include Ken Caminiti, Jason Giambi, Wally Joyner, David Segui, Jose Canseco, Benito Santiago, Gary Sheffield, John Rocker, and Jim Leyritz to name a few.
And then there are those who have tested positive during their professional career, Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Sanchez to name a couple.
Then of course there’s the suspected users of steroids like Dave Martinez, Juan Gonzalez, Roger Clemens, Ivan Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Miguel Tejada, Lenny Dykstra, Andy Pettite, Maglio Ordonez, and Troy Glaus.
And last but not least is the Mitchell Report which includes names like Chuck Knoblach, F.P. Santangelo, Kent Merker, Alex Cabrera, Denny Neagle, Eric Gagne, David Justice and so on and so and so on.
The list of baseball players who have tested positive or are suspected of using steroids is a disgrace and embarrassment to Major League Baseball, fans of the game, and kids who dream of one day becoming a professional baseball player.
The story of steroids in baseball will have many, many sequels as long as the baseball commissioners, team owners, and the player’s association use kid gloves in dealing with the matter out of fear of losing at the ballpark gate. Face it, a steroid enhanced ball player is a big draw at ball parks around the U.S., if only for the numbers they put up hitting home runs and throwing fastballs.
Even minor league players are in on the “steroid act.” Take for instance Roman Carrasco and Luis Figuero, both minor league pitchers for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
They were each suspended for 50 games yesterday after the tested positive for using performance enhancing drugs, metabolite of nandrolone and stanozolol metabolites, two very common steroids that are used in professional sports to that edge to play in the big leagues.
As far as I’m concerned, if steroid abuse wasn’t so rampant among players, and the league wasn’t so reluctant to deal with the problem in more harsh and career ending manner, then minor league players would likely fall into line. Unfortunately, and like said, MLB is using kid gloves in dealing with the problem. Until they take off those gloves, the problem will never go away and it will likely get worse.
And then there’s Barry Bonds, while he has never tested positive for steroid use as a pro, there is more than an “air of suspicion” surrounding him, and because of that he is having a tough time finding a team to sign him, though I hear the New York Yankees are on the verge of throwing him a life-line. If the Yankees weren’t thinking of adding Bonds to their roster I would be tempted to say that Major League Baseball team owners were coming around, given that no other team was willing to sign him, but because the Yankees are pondering the idea I can’t say that owners are coming around. All team owners need to be on the same page if MLB wants to rid itself of the steroid image it has.
Zero tolerance, finished in baseball period. No second chances. That’s the only way MLB can get rid of the problem.
Test positive, kiss that big fat paycheck good. End of story.
Sphere: Related ContentIsn’t it funny that when the shit hits the fan for high-priced athletes and their extra-curricular activities outside of their marriage, you know like infidelity, the first thing that comes out of their mouths when they are called up on their alleged infidelity is, “We’re just friends.” They say this despite the fact that there is evidence that suggest otherwise. It’s common among athletes who have more money than brains to deny they are committing acts of adultery against their trophy wives, and Rodriguez is no different than say Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan in that regard.
There is a never-ending line-up of professional athletes who cheat on their wives and then deny it, and A-Rod just happens to be one of them.
Pro athletes who commit adultery are a dime a dozen and I would suggest to my readers that that more often than not they are telling bold-faced lies when they are called to task about their infidelities when a hefty divorce settlement is looming.
A-Rod is telling one whopper of a lie, and when his wife Cynthia files her divorce papers tomorrow, we just might learn a whole lot more about what is going on, and has been going on between Madonna and A-Rod, unless of course A-Rod does the smart thing and quietly reaches a discreet divorce settlement with his scorned wife.
Maybe it’s just me, but Alex Rodriguez must think we’re gullible and naive enough to believe him when he says there is not a sexual relationship going on between him and the other woman despite the fact that he has been spied making late night visits to Madonna’s Manhattan apartment during recent weeks. He’s an idiot if he truly believes that he isn’t having an affair with Madonna, and Madonna is an idiot too for making the same claim when everybody and their dog is more than a little familiar with Madonna’s carnal needs whether she is married or not.
That said; Rodriguez and Madonna have to lie about their relationship, if only because when it comes to the financial end of their impending divorces, they know their infidelities are not going to weigh in their favour when the time comes to divvy up their financial assets with their spouses. They’ll lie to protect their financial assets as would anybody whose wife or husband learns of their infidelities. It ain’t rocket science.
Then of course there are rumours, at least in A-Rod’s case, that his wife might have gotten a little payback of her own by jumping between the sheets with rocker Lenny Kravitz on a recent trip to Paris, but somehow I doubt that. If that rumour turns out to be true though, then that’s a whole different ball game in divorce court. Two wrongs don’t make a right though, and I really don’t think she’s that stupid, though she is claiming that A-Rod has had other affairs, and she did stay with him despite that. Maybe she is that stupid.
Who really knows for sure? Nobody but the players I suppose.
All up, and at the end of the day, I don’t think this story is going away anytime soon and as each day unfolds from tomorrow on, I think we’re going to be in for quite a show given the cast of characters involved in this story.
As Don Henley would sing:
I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry
Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I dont have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em all around
We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
Its interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry
Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry
You dont really need to find out whats going on
You dont really want to know just how far its gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre stiff
Kick em all around
Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybodys pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry
We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When its said and done we havent told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry!
