Racism in Baseball?

So it's been a while since I've written anything to the blogging world. The Packers won Superbowl XLV, the SF Giants won the World Series and the Heat did not win the NBA Finals--I mean, the Mavericks won (which was pretty sweet to see Dirk hold the MVP while Kidd kisses his first Championship trophy) . But I didn't blog about any of that. Sorry. I might have been lazy, busy, or both. But today, I'm flushing the laziness out of my system and clearing my agenda just to bring up an important topic: racism in sports.

What sparks this? None other than Curtis Granderson, the Yankees' savior this season. Here's one of the articles about Granderson's observation, click here. I'm sure most of you have heard about it briefly being discussed on espn, Scott Van Pelt talked about it for a short bit.

Basically, Granderson sees a trend of an incredibly low number of black baseball fans. During games, he's played a meta-game with his fellow teammates where they count the number of black fans in the stadium (excluding the workers). The goal is to find 10 black fans. The average number of seats in a baseball park is 44,234. To be as realistic as possible, let's say that 38,000 persons attend a normal game Granderson goes to (keep in mind that the Yankee's always draw in a bigger crowd). If there are three decks in the stadium, I think it's safe to say about 15,000 fans are on the first deck around the entire field. From all of those fans, we'll say about 1/6th are visible behind and to the sides of the Yankee's dugout. That leaves us with about 2,500 fans that can be seen by the Yankee Center-fielder. Surely, he wouldn't be able to see all of these fans, and of course these figures are not accurate but the rough estimate would show that there is a fair-sized sample portion that Granderson has to work with. Yet when he turns his head and barely sees 10 black fans in the stands.

Sure, it depends what city you play in, New York and Chicago win this game over Texas any day; but there is (I'd like to unpack,) a potential deeper reason behind this trend.

On ESPN radio, Scott Van Pelt had an interesting debate on how it may be marketing. Apparently, baseball might just not be heavily advertised in the inner city areas, which is understandable. There are not nearly as much space to have a baseball field inside the city, especially when compared to suburbia. I'm not a Marketing Major, but I'm pretty sure it would be more advantageous to market a sport that's more accessible in the city--such as basketball. Here's where this gets interesting... On the Scott Van Pelt show, they discussed how there has been a sociological study done with ten Philly black kids. Of the ten, more than half (I believe it was seven) knew who Lou Williams was. For those who might not know, he's the 76'ers' 6th man. Those same ten kids were asked who Ryan Howard was, to which less than half knew the answer. Lou made less than 5 million last year while Howard is making 20 million, one is clearly much more valued than the other by their respective organizations. I highly doubt that Lou Williams is marketed more in the city more than Ryan Howard--regardless of the accessibility of baseball in urban settings. So there goes the marketing argument, down the drain with my laziness.

One of my good friends and I had a conversation about this and we attempted to attribute it to economy. For instance, all you need to play basketball is a basketball itself. The rims are provided in the parks. And not just one or two courts are available, millions of them. On any given day, there would be easily at least 50 people at the courts and only one person on each court needs a ball--it's accessible beyond belief. With baseball, a ball is needed (which normally gets lost so make that a few baseballs), a large area is needed, gloves, cleats, and a baseball bat--excluding batting gloves, helmets, hats, bases, plates, foul line, additional baseball luxuries and etc. The total cost of all of these items is far greater than an individual purchasing a basketball, isn't it? But my colleague brought up a great example of how kids in the Caribbean "play with sticks and cardboard mitts." Of course, this shows the determination and immense interest these kids have in playing baseball. I guess the argument would be, why can't our poorer inner city kids use milk carton mitts and find a good ol' branch? Well I think this fast forwards us to the next point of the lack of space.

Growing in Queens, I had the opportunity to play basketball all the time but it would be a rarity to play baseball--and if we did, it would be on asphalt, which everyone knows it not nearly as fun. To play baseball, a field is required with manicured grass and bases and foul lines, etc. Surely, kids play and make way without all of those details--but that would be like playing basketball with a free-throw line and a three-pointer, just not as fun. As kids, we have an urge to mimic our role models and grow into those figures. How can a kid try to act like Ray Allen when there's no 3-point line? How can a kid attempt to play like Derek Jeter when the ball takes dangerous hops because of the cement or asphalt? Then again, the inner-city areas might be more populated with black kids than suburbia, but it's not like all African-Americans live in urban areas.

But let's get back to the basic questions: is there a racial discrepancy in baseball? Why is baseball's black athletes down 8.5%? If 60% of the NFL players are African-Americans and over 80% of the NBA players are African-Americans, why the polar opposite in baseball?

It's not just money, it's not just marketing, it's not just context of their environment, I can't even firmly say it's all of the above. If it's a role model that black kids need to have in the sport, then what better role model than Griffey? Surely he's not the Michael Jordan of baseball (by that I don't mean how Michael Jordan played baseball, rather MJ's presence in basketball), but Griffey was the poster-boy of baseball selling more video games in his sport than any other player. Even if he is not seen on the field, he made guest appearances in shows, movies, you name it! No matter who you are or how old you are, you know Griffey. He was a famous black baseball player celebrity. But sure, kids nowadays might not remember Griffey because they were young, hell I was really young back then too but I know who had the most beautiful swing to ever play the MLB. But there are the Ryan Howards, CC Sabathias and Derek Jeters out there (Derek Jeter is still a black athlete to me regardless of his interracial background). The role models are there, but for some reason the interest isn't.

Ultimately, I can't definitively escort the blame for black disinterest in baseball. It may be attributed to numerous reasons, but I can say this... I don't think the MLB is at fault at all--if Jackie Robinson Day, Jackie Robinson's story, Griffey's popularity, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollin's presence in Philly (for those Philly kids) and Jeter's 3000th hit can't get black kids more into baseball, than what will other than parents forcing their children to participate in Little Leagues? The MLB has played their cards right, sometimes we just can't explain why things happen.

An A-Bomb That Shakes The Record Books

On August 4th, 2010, Alex ‘A-Bomb from A-Rod’ Rodriguez hit his 600th home run in his MLB career and became the youngest member of the seven players in the 600 club. After hitting 599 on July 22nd, A-Rod slumped (in terms of home-run progression and average) for 12 games. Number 600 developed into a grand distraction; Michael Kay had to “layer” every A-Rod at bat as if it was going to be number 600, the umpire would deliver the specially marked baseballs to the pitcher and of the most inconvenient occurrence—the Yankees went 6-6 during A-slump.

The Yankees are tied for the best record in Major League Baseball with 67-40; unfortunately they are tied with their divisional rivals the Red Sox—excuse me, I meant to say the Rays. A-rod’s drought was not the sole reason why the Yankees lost, but if the clean-up hitter goes on a 2-24 drought—not even Gatorade can quench that thirst. To get some breathing room, the A-599 had to tell the media to “get comfortable” because he was not going to be A-600 for a while. What do you know—the next game, he hits his 600.

Now all the Yankee business aside, the big news lies under Barry Bonds’ comment, "Congratulations Alex on hitting your 600th home run today, welcome to the club. Stay healthy and focused, you only have 163 to go. I'll be watching and rooting for you along the way. Good Luck."

Barry Bonds is rooting for A-600 to become A-763? Do I believe it? No, not really—it’s just good P.R., and hey… can you blame him? Being the home run king with a tainted mark of HGH on your bat kind of hinders any public relations*.

But beyond that; we have arguably the real home run king (Hank Aaron) saying the following; "When you reach that plateau, no matter where it is, whether you're playing in the majors or the minors, it's a tremendous accomplishment. It means an awful lot to whoever reaches this achievement. ... It really doesn't matter what kind of asterisk you put by it -- 600 homers is something special."

And it is special. Extremely special. So special that the debate goes to an even more special platform—will A-600 get to A-763 and become the home run king?

Tim Kurkjian, on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight mentioned that there is no doubt A-600 will evolve into A-700, and at one point, Kurkjian even thought he’d become A-800, but not even Kurkjian knows if he’ll surpass Barry Bonds* (only to become Alex Rodriguez*).

Well let’s see what we got in his numbers. By not counting 1994, (A-Rod’s 17 game, zero homer season), he has averaged 37.5 home runs per season. Or we could even take it a step further and not count his 1995 season where he hit 5 home runs in 48 games—then his average would bump up to 39.7. A flawed way to calculate how many seasons it would take A-Rod to get pass Bonds would be to divide 163 (home runs left to be the leader) by 39.7 (average per season), which would be about 4.1 seasons. Since he is 35 years old, I think it’s safe to say that he has about another 5 or 6 years left in him.

But that method of calculating how long it would take him is flawed because he is not as dominant as he used to be; the last two seasons—he hit 35 and 30 home runs. This season, he is on pace to hit less than 30 home runs (which he hasn’t done since 1997 in the Mariners!). The exhausting search of HGH in America’s past time might or might not have affected A-Rod’s performance drastically, but if it hasn’t—then the umpires have to stop putting some kryptonite on the balls. During the 3 seasons he claimed he used the enhancements, he hit 52, 57 and 47 home runs—that’s his highest 3-year average in his career. And after the steroid drama, he is approaching his lowest 3-year average (again, this is without counting his first two seasons where he played less than 50 games).

A-600 will probably average about 30 home runs for the rest of his career (give or take 5 homers each season), and if that’s the case, it’ll average him 5.4 seasons to beat the record. So there are plenty of A-Bombs ahead of us, but how long will he be the king before Pujols comes around?

Pujols is up to 393, and he only 30 years-old. And unlike A-Rod, Pujols has consistently been hitting homers since he was 21when he hit 37 homers in his rookie season. Give Pujols eleven years, and I guarantee he will reach the 800 mark (if he doesn’t get severely injured like Griffey).

Once that happens, the home run kings will be the following:
(1) Albert Pujols
(2) Alex Rodriguez*
(3) Barry Bonds*
(4) Hank Aaron

Chris Paul to NY, Dallas, Portland or Orlando?

ESPN analyst Chris Broussard reports from his sources that Chris Paul has a “50/50” shot of leaving New Orleans to either of the above mentioned teams. Paul is looking to enter a team that has potential to win a Championship and can be a contending team—whether it is for the future decade or for next year is unknown, but winning is the goal. Surprise surprise.

Paul cannot leave his current team the Hornets without their permission and decision—but because of the poor economic state of the team, they simply might not be able to afford to keep him. Paul was injured last season and since his All-Star value is immense, the tension arises as to how the Hornets could pin the hornet on the Paul. Plus, the rising star in Darren Collison fulfills a potential point guard role for the future of the organization. You might remember Collison last year when Paul was injured; Collision threw some serious numbers on the box score with a bunch of 20-point games and a few 30 point games. The 23 year-old also dished out multiple 14+ assists games—even one 20 assist game!

But I digress; so let’s go back to Paul, where will he go? Of course I’d hope that such a prized player lands in Madison Square for a New York future in Stoudemire and Paul. If Paul were to come to New York, New York’s economy might also increase by a billion dollars like it did in Miami after the free agent signing. The Knicks can actually compete in the league and make a dent in the playoffs, rather than eating popcorn during the first round.

Or will he go to Dallas with Nowitzki and learn tips from the Kidd. The Mavericks are unbelievably strong in terms of the players on paper and this could be Paul’s home. Besides, he would reunite with Tyson Chandler!

Or will he go to Portland? Much youth and potential in Roy, Oden, Fernandez, Aldridge, Bayless, Cunningham, Babbitt, Johnson, Mills—seems like everyone was born after 84’! There are good amounts of talented youth and they are a team that does damage—at least they have shown capabilities!

Or will he go to Orlando, the serious contenders in the East? With Jameer Nelson being a bit outsized and injure prone, this could be the right piece of the puzzle for Orlando to finally win a title. Imagine alley-oops from Paul to Howard over and over and over again. If Paul can turn Chandler into one of the most frequent dunkers in the league (during the season they had together), then what would Paul do with a player with the most amount of dunks in the league year after year?

Where is he going to go? I have no idea and I don’t have the sources that could tell me where he will go but what I do know is this—Paul in any team other than the Hornets instantly pushes team xyz to the playoffs and probably into the top 5 seeds (of course I mean in terms of the teams listed above). Either way, no matter where he goes—he will become a magnet for Carmelo Anthony’s “decision” next year. And that’s the draw owners might be thinking about.

Rocky Road To Cy Young?

Ubaldo Jimenez (15-1), the 26 year-old phenom had an ERA of 0.78 after 11 starts this season. Since then, his ERA has evolved to 2.38, which is not horrible but not nearly as impressive as the previous mentioned statistic.

The Rockies ace has been the most dominant starter in baseball after the first 14 starts this season. Since then, the Colorado pitcher has had a bunch of rocky outings.

He gave up 8 earned runs his first 11 starts and then a total of 27 earned runs his last 8 starts. Jimenez was such a overriding pitcher earlier this season that he overshadowed his no-hitter with his overall ERA and record. And although his record is tainted by only one blemish on May 9th against the Dodgers, where he lost even though he only gave up one run in seven innings, Jimenez is not as feared a figure—at least not compared to the other lights-out pitchers in the league.

Jimenez has had four outings where he has given up 4 or more earned runs, and in those four outings, he is 1-0. He gave six runs in one game and seven in another, yet his outcome was neutralized and unmarked on his record. This isn’t to say that Jimenez is not a great pitcher but what this does say is that records are deceiving. For example; at this point, the strongest pitcher in the league is arguably Josh Johnson. With a 1.62 ERA and 130 strikeouts to 28 walks, he shows command and supremacy—but his record is 10-3. Again, don’t get me wrong—it’s a great record but not nearly as exciting as 15-1. Yet Johnson’s loss was the only game he gave up 4 earned runs (which occurred in the first game of the season against the Mets). Since then his two losses happened once in Florida on May 29th, where he gave up one run (unearned) in seven innings. And the other lost happened on June 26 at the Marlins residence—this time he pitched eight innings and gave up two runs (both earned). In total, Johnson has given up 12 less earned runs than Jimenez and 12 more strikeouts than Jimenez.

But who is a better pitcher this year? Jimenez (15-1) or Johnson (10-3)?

When it comes down to who I would give the Cy Young to, it would be Johnson—unless Jimenez turns it around and revives the residue of starts he had earlier this year. I would think Johnson is in the lead of this candidacy. Sure, he doesn’t have the most innings pitched (he’s 15th in the MLB) and of course he doesn’t have the most about of K’s (7th in the MLB), but he does have the 5th best K/BB ratio (4.64—Cliff Lee leads the major leagues with a 13.86 K/BB ratio, which is twice better than the second leader Roy Halladay!) and Johnson has given up the fewest runs, Johnson has the lowest ERA, Johnson has the second best WHIP, Johnson has one of the best K/9 ratios and Johnson has one of the best H/9 ratios.

What does Jimenez have? A no-hitter, the best H/9 ratio, major league-leading 15 wins, one of the top ground-out inducer (no one tops Tim Hudson), 2 shutouts, and an unbelievable ability to not lose regardless of how many runs he gives up. Records speak volumes but Johnson is the mute button. Regardless of the phenomenal year Jimenez is having, I don’t know if he will win the Cy Young or at least deserve to win the Cy Young. The year of the pitchers has created the most competitive pitching duels in recent decades.

In all honesty, I’m not even sure if either of these two pitchers will win the Cy Young over Wainwright—who is 14-5 with a 2.02 ERA and has pitched in the third most amount of innings than any pitcher in the major league this year. With such outstanding competitive action among the pitchers, this year’s Cy Young candidate will be a great toss up (at least we can count out Lincecum this year--or can we?).

Hey, maybe ESPN will do another special on “The Decision” and explain how the MLB picked the Cy Young?

Steinbrenner

At the age of 80, George Steinbrenner passed away today in Tampa, Florida. Of course, we all know Steinbrenner as the the die-hard Yankee fan and owner who would stop at nothing on his pursuit to win a championship.

The Yankees have won 11 pennants and 7 World Series during Steinbrenner's reign, which began in 1973. He was known as "The Boss" in the sports world because of his great deal of interactions with the clubhouse activities.

He has hired, fired, rehired, refired managers and has traded and signed big named players. Yankee fans could always trust him because he was just as much of a fan of the team than any other New Yorker. Of course, sometimes his fan-impulse mind would deter good decision making. The controversy with Dave Winfield (the person The Boss made the richest player in the Major Leagues), when he said, "Where is Reggie Jackson? We need a Mr. October or a Mr. September. Winfield is Mr. May. My big guys are not coming through. The guys who are supposed to carry the team are not carrying the team. They aren't producing. If I don't get big performances out of Winfield, Griffey and Baylor, we can't win." (Which is one of the reasons why Griffey never wanted to play for the Yankees).

Steinbrenner never took a back-seat, it was painful for the Managers but necessary for the fans. Except, Steinbrenner did take it too far at one point in his career and paid an individual named Howie Spira to find "dirt" on Winfield after Steinbrenner was sued by Winfield for not paying $300,000 of Winfield's contract.

Of course, The Boss returned to his owner position and continued his reign in 1993, except there was no more dictatorship. Steinbrenner played less of a role in baseball operations and did not dig up anymore "dirt" on other players. Steinbrenner let the farm system grow and groom players instead of trading prospects to win every year--which in turn developed Bernie Williams to become the promising center-fielder of the New York Yankees.

The team was flying high and although there was a drought of Championships for New York--he still is acknowledges as one of the most influential owners in sports history. Steinbrenner stepped down in 2006 and let his sons take over the team; again, proved to be helpful as the Yankees won in 2009.

The New York Yankees; one of the most successful franchises in sports history won 7 times under this owner. No matter what kind of owner Steinbrenner was, he is still a fan favorite in New York.

He becamse such a figure in New York that even the show Seinfeld had a Steinbrenner's character as a humorous figure. He was George's boss and although you never see his face, his mannerisms were mimicked and adored by all Seinfeld-viewers (COSTANZA'S IN THE BUILDING!).

So to the most powerful and passionate owner in the world; we recognize you today--the day of the 2010 All-Star game, and the day George Steinbrenner leaves his legacy: thank you for all you have done for NYC.

The Big Three

So it's done. The years of hype as to where LeBron is going--is done. During his 1 hour ESPN special, LeBron transformed Cavalier fans to barbarians, Knicks fans to LeBron haters, Bulls fans to either (a) disappointed or (b) happy that no one could try to overshadow Jordan, and the "self-proclaimed King"--as the Cav's owner Dan Gilbert would say, brought even more fire to the Heat.

James, Wade and Bosh are the new big three--completely trumping the tri-force of Allen, Pierce and Garnett. The Boston Three-party consist of a 35, 34 and 33 year-old. The hottest three of the Heat consist of three players in their mid-20's--at the peak of their career.

Suddenly, fans and sports-analysts have converted into believing that the Heat are now the team to beat in the East. Is it fair to the Celtics to count them out all of a sudden? If I felt strongly enough about the Celtics, I'd debate--but I truly dislike the Celtics so I won't really talk about that. Although I will say that the Celtics won games because everyone scored--I don't know if the fourth player in the Heat will average a double unless it's rebounds.

What I really want to talk about is how James' move affected his place in basketball history. Let's be blunt here; there was a bunch of analysts riding on the James ban-wagon claiming that he would be one of the best players to every play the game. I'm a part of that, I thought that if he continued to grow and mature as a player--he would be an unstoppable force. He still might be but it's no longer a true testament of challenge to him. He has now entered the realm of being a player who can win a championship (but not with his team). When marquis players move, it's interesting to see the dynamic of the players performance afterward. James is now a part of Wade's team. The king left his throne, he's now a court gesture.

Many people I have been talking to say that he took the "easy" way out. Well, I'd like to say no--he took the easiest way out. LeBron could have gone to Chicago and it would have been a great fit playing with Boozer (needed big man) and Rose (the Rondo-compliment to a star) and that would've been a very fun team to watch. Or he could have gone to the Knicks and played with Amare under the spotlight of MSG. Or he could have taken all the money he wanted in Cleveland and asked the owner to find another guy he wanted--he was the king of the city. But no, he decided to join two superstars in order to create a dynasty. He took a pay-cut and humbly became a South Beach player.

I am frustrated. As you can tell--all of this venting leads to no true point, it's a bunch of jub-jub (as Joe Buck would say). LeBron could never be the best player in the league, nor can he ever be considered as such a dominant force. Once a player leaves his legacy in a state after 7 years, there is a cloud above how dominant he was--and when that player leaves by taking a pay check for a team that signs two other stars, it shows that the player could not do it "on his own." Of course that figure of speech is ridiculous because no player could win a Championship on his own; you need an entire roster. But no matter how amazing Pippen was or how crazy Rodman was or how sharp Kere was--it was always Jordan's team and it was always Jordan being Jordan (a.k.a. winning another title). Jordan was a winner. James potential to win might have increased but he can never be a winner.

Of course James is nothing like Jordan and should/can never be compared to Michael, but things could have been different. James could have actually been a winner. But he's not.

Strasburg + All Star game = Helpful to NL?

Yesterday, I was sitting and watching some Around the Horn and they had a tab of conversation/debate on Strasburg being selected into the All-Star game. Should he be selected to pitch for the NL in the All-Star game? 3 of the remaining debaters said "yes" he should pitch an inning or two for the fans and because he will strengthen the NL pitching squad.

Now I'm an avid fan of Strasburg (aren't we all), and I even have him on my Fantasy team. But there were 15 pitchers in last year's NL All-Star team and I'd like to believe there there are 15 pitchers that deserve to pitch in that game before Strasburg. Not to take anything away from the young phenom but he simply has not pitched enough innings to qualify for such an honor, and overall pitching this year has stumped the past years of pitches. Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com wrote an article showing how the ERA of this year's pitching was as low as 1992--pitchers are dominating the field once again (there is a plausible correlation to the steroid era). http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100620&content_id=11417974&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb.

Before Strasburg is even mentioned as an All-Star nominee, I'd think you have to put the following in;

(1) Ubaldo Jiminez (obviously--the Cy Young candidate, the best pitcher in baseball right now)
(2) Josh Johnson (ERA is 1.80; no further explanation is needed)
(3) Adam Wainwright (Second most amount of innings pitched, more than 100 K's, and tied for second place with amount of wins, 10-4 record, oh and he has an ERA of 2.23)
(4) Roy Halladay (Most innings pitched, as always. And don't let his record of 8-6 fool you, he still has an ERA of 2.43 and is still the most dominant pitcher in the past half-dozen years)
(5) Matt Cain (Might not have as many strike outs as the other top-guns, but he certainly gets the job done with an ERA of 2.16 after more than a hundred innings of work)
(6) Tim Lincecum (Back to back Cy Young winner who maintains dominance with his "freak"-style of pitching. With him and Cain, I still wonder how the Giants are a game and a half behind the Padres for 1st in the NL West)
(7) Chris Carpenter (8-1 record with a 2.83 ERA and 88 K's in over 100 innings of pitching)
(8) Yovani Gallardo (6-3 record might not be as eye catching than 8-1, but he has a 2.59 ERA and has struck out more than a 100 batters, only Lincecum, Haren and Weaver have more strike-outs)
(9) Mike Pelfrey (9-2 record and a save for good luck. He has been mentioned in NY sports radio as the Ace of the team over Santana. He has a 2.69 ERA and has been one of the main factors as to why the Mets are one of the hottest teams the past month. Excluding his last start--he went 5 wins in 6 starts and brought his ERA from 3.14 to 2.39)
(10) Jaime Garcia (The unsung hero of the Cardinals, the 3rd pitcher in their rotation after Wainwright and Carpenter--has an ERA of 1.79! The only reason I dropped him down to number 10 is because he pitches five or six innings and goes seven once in a while. He doesn't go too deep into games and doesn't strike out many, but he never gets bombed. He gave up 3 earned runs in one game this season, that has been the most earned runs he's given up this year. He has a 7-3 record and a 2-1 strikeout to walk ratio.)
(11) Evan Meek (He is a relief pitcher for the Pirates and he has pitched 40 innings with an ERA of 0.68 and a WHIP of 0.83; when your ERA is lower than your WHIP, it means you are loading the bases every time you get up to pitch or that you know how to close out innings without handing runs--it's definitely the latter for this guy. For such an atrocious baseball team, Evan has maintained and excelled in his job of relief pitching and I think he deserves to be recognized for that!)
(12) Brian Wilson (The Closer for Giants has 20 saves with an ERA of 2.05, and 42 K's in 30 innings--he is definitely one of--if not the top closer in the NL)
(13) Billy Wagner (5-0 with 14 saves and an ERA of 1.23; he is dominant. Wagner is pitching better for the Braves than he ever pitched for the Mets, and this is definitely an All-Star year for him)
(14) Jonathan Broxton (3-0 with 16 saves and 0.92 ERA; Broxton is a beast and I'd say the the most intimidating closer in the NL today)
(15) Carlos Marmol (2-1 with 13 saves and a 1.71 ERA; but what really sticks out for me is that he has 58 strikeouts in 31.2 innings of work--he almost averages 2 K's an inning! I don't care what you think, that's a closers real job--I want my closer to come in and destroy the hope of the other team. I want my opponents--especially the Red Sox, to feel like they lost the game because my closer stepped on the mound. And of course as a Yankee fan, we have that affect already in Rivera. But Marmol has been the best strikeout closer this year. I'd take him in my 15 pitchers)

All of these pitchers should be selected before Strasburg and I would also probably pick another 3 or 4 pitchers before I even entertain the idea of having Strasburg on my All-Star game pitching roster. There are simply, way too many good pitchers this year. Pitching has been amazing this year and practically everyone on this pitching roster has an ERA less than 3! I couldn't even pick the closer with the most amount of saves for the team (Matt Capps) because he has an ERA above 3.

Sure, Strasburg has an ERA of 1.86 and a 2-0 record with 32 K's; but he has only pitched an out over 19 innings of Major League Baseball in his life. He has great control, giving only 5 walks and yes he has been fanning practically every batter he faced. But he is a rookie and has not had enough outings to show his dominance over a vast stretch. There have been countless pitchers that have started off a un-hittable and than batters have caught on to their styles--it happens all the time. And I'm not saying that he's not the real dea; I'm not saying that he will not continue being amazing. All I'm saying is that he is not an All-Star pitcher yet. At least not before the 15 named pitchers and probably another 3 before we can even think of him being on the roster.

Strasburg is 21 years old and people are already saying that he will be in the hall of fame--he probably will be if he lives up to even half the hype people have set on him; but let the kid grow. Let him pitch an entire year before you declare him one of the youngest players to pitch in the All-Star game (after Dwight Gooden who pitched in the big game when he was 19!). Let the kid grow--funny thing is I'm calling him a kid when I'm his age. He will be an All-Star pitcher and heck, he might even start the All-Star game in his life; but let's not prematurely put him on a pedestal that people have already built for him.

Let someone else pitch in this year's All-Star game; don't waste a spot on a kid who has 3 stars under his belt. Strasburg + All Star game = I hope you mean him watching from the bleachers.

Pirates Without Treasure

The Pirates have the least amount of hits in the MLB, the least amount of Runs and RBI's in the MLB, the lowest batting average in the MLB, the second worst ERA in the MLB, the second most amount of losses in the MLB, and the third worst defense in the MLB. The record of the Pittsburgh Pirates is 23-42 and they have lost their last 10 straight games. The team website says "Pride. Passion. Pittsburgh Pirates," but I don't know how proud any person can be of the Pittsburgh baseball team.

Last night, the Pirates made a striking 6 errors in a single game. SIX ERRORS. The record for a game is 12, which both the White Sox and the Tigers are infamous for--which happened in 1901 and 1903. It is uncommon to have a professional Major League Baseball team to have such a great amount of mistakes in a series--let alone a single game.

The team is poor, unmotivated and despicable. None of their starts have a winning record, only one hitter is hitting above a .273, and they have given up 60 stolen bases (only the Red Sox and Giants have given up more stolen bases--difference being that the other two clubs still win).

The Pirates are far from being the worst team to ever play the game (the 1899 Cleveland Spiders were 20-134, a total of 84 games behind first place); but in this past decade, the worst team was 2003 Tigers that completed the season with a record of 43-119. The Pirates would have to go 20-77 to perform as poorly as the Tigers. Such a dismal record his difficult to achieve, and I don't believe the Pirates will lose another 77 games--but I almost have to believe they can with their performance in this stretch.

The disappointing part for the Pirates is that they have nothing to look forward too; they are pushing for Andrew McCutchen to play in the All-Star game, and that might happen. He's batting above .300, and is 3rd in the NL for hits and 8th in the NL for runs, and second in the NL for steals. He'll probably make the All-Star game but he'll probably also get traded by the end of next season.

Being a Pirates fan must be difficult; it's like being a Knicks fan, except there will never be the hype of gaining a LeBron figure or somewhat equivalent for baseball--the Pirates are just not competitive. So to all the Pirates fans out there; I'm sorry, but this is one Pirate ship that doesn't even go looking for treasure.

Ken Griffey Jr.

My favorite player in the history of the Major League Baseball retired and I have yet to talk about it in my blog--I'm sorry Grif'.

George Kenneth Griffey Jr. has the most beautiful stroke in the game--and it is a rarity to find anyone that would combat that claim. Griffey has hit 630 homeruns in his career, had a lifetime batting average of .284, 2,781 career hits, and 1,836 Runs Batted In.

Griffey made the All-Star team 13 times, including the entir 90's decade. He has won 10 Gold Glove Awards, again throughout the entire 90's decade. He won the Silver Slugger Award 7 times. He was the 1997 AL MVP. He was also the 1992 MLB All-Star Game MVP.

Unfortunately Ken went through a barrage of injuries during the new century after he asked to move to Cincinnati (to remain closer to his relatives). However, although he was injured and his career took a major drop-off, he revived himself enough to receive the 2005 NL Comeback Player of the Year Award. This award explains the real Ken Griffey Jr. to me. Griffey was a fighter--and although that might sound cliche, it's realistic for him. Griffey became a injury prone because of the effort he displayed on the field. After much energy exhausted and many robbing homerun moments, he inevitably harmed his body to a point where he ruptured his right hamstring. He was never truly able to recover from his injuries but he still showed his trademark step after hitting a bunch of other homeruns (accumulated over the second decade of his career). His 3-time winning Home Run Derby bat speed, simply was not there.

If Griffey did not get injured, he undoubtedly would have been the home run king (without any asterisks by his name). When he was asked about his career, Griffey mentioned his pride of playing well defensively. He said that he would rather make a great play in the outfield than hit a homerun--as far-fetched as that sounds, Griffey truly meant it. His glove-work was his trademark and his homerun strut was just a bonus for the fans.

Griffey played for three teams in his life; the Mariners, the Reds and the White Sox. He started as a Mariner and retired as a Mariner. And although he was not as dominant in the second decade of his career, his image will never be forgotten as a young kid slapping 56 homers in back to back season with a 147 and a 146 RBI's in 97' and 98'. In a span of 5 years, he hit 249 homeruns. He almost average 50 homeruns in a five-year span! He was the epitome of consistency and honor.

His contribution to the game never went acknowledge as he was recognized as a member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Above his impact on the game, Griffey did a lot for children and the League with his presence and motivations. Nintendo abused his Griffey's name for baseball games as 4 games came out for Super Nintendo and the Backyard Baseball series began. Griffey performed in a Rap song titled "The Way I Swing." He participated in countless commercials with Pizza hut and Pepsi. I remember watching the commercial where he hit a foul ball to the dug-out because Sammy Sosa touched his drink.

By all of his greatness, he made an impact on the league in one aspect that no one has ever made. Ken Griffey Jr. was the first player to ask Bud Selig if he can wear the number 42 on Jackie Robinson Day. Selig approved and asked all the players to promote Jackie Robinson Day by wearing the number 42. Griffey was the player who pushed for this occurrence. He was a star and a hero.

The greatest low point of his career was not his injuries; but I'd say it was his retirement. His retirement was in the shadow of the 28-out perfect game. He was not as acknowledged and spoke of in the media, and he left without a proper goodbye.

The greatest baseball player of the 90's and the most popular baseball player in our generation should have had a more fanciful ending. Regardless of his closure; it must be said, Ken Griffey Junior is one of the best players to ever play the game--and I would go as far to say he is the best player to the center-field as long as you attach the preface that he played in the Steroid and HGH era--and he played it clean. Thank you Griffey.

Venting

Other than the Celtics being possessed last night, there were several key factors contributing to their dramatic win against the Lakers.

I have a bunch of pent up things to say so bare with me:

(1) It seems like the first quarter always starts off with 6 straight Celtics points in every game and this game started off the same way--once again, Garnett hits a field goal to start off the game. Can the Lakers start off a bit better next game?

(2) Garnett is playing like the vintage Garnett, and that's almost impossible to stop regardless of what jersey he has on.

(3) Grand theft Rondo is amazing. I have tried to repel the Rondo craze and overlook his intangibles but there is no way I could do this any further. Rondo is one of the most phenomenal point guards to watch--the kid can't shoot nearly as well as the other 29 starting point guards, but he is still uncontainable. I am thoroughly convinced that he is the best when it comes to finishing a lay up, regardless of where he is around the hoop. He shows a Usain Bolt quickness when he's on a breakaway. I don't even think his dribbling skills is at his peak but his speed outweighs any of those flaws. He will fight for every possession--just like how he got a tip in over the Lakers Forwards last night (he jumped over everyone to tip a put-back when he was about seven feet away!). Rondo is unselfish and patient--sometimes erratic but mostly patient. He is tough. Rondo pushed Artest after Garnett was unnecessarily pulled to the ground and Rondo went to defend the Big Ticket. When it comes down to it, he's the MVP of the team.

(4) Pierce was unable to miss. It seemed that everyone who guarded him put up a great defensive stretch--he just made his shots. I don't know if Pierce could do that in the Staples Center, but if he is able to--Artest better start playing a bit dirtier.

(5) The Lakers looked scared. They were not composed. There were points where I was even laughing at the ball-handling of some of the players. As John Candy once said in Cool Runnings, "You better stay loose out there!"

(6) Perkins brought up the ball and was called for a charge!

(7) Jackson was still composed throughout the entire game--he even taunted the Celtics in his huddles, explaining how they know how to give games away.

Galarraga's Perfect Game*

On June 2nd 2010, Armando Galarraga pitched 8.2 innings of perfect baseball only to give a "hit" to second to last batter he faced. On the box score, it seems unlucky for a pitcher to go the distance only to allow one hit at the last out--but by watching the game, there is no doubt that Galarraga is the 21st perfect game pitcher.

Umpire Jim Joyce called ninth-spot batter Jason Donald safe on a soft grounder to first--which forced Galarraga to cover first base. Galarraga did in fact cover first base and beat Donald out at first by a step to secure his spot in baseball history. Unfortunately, his spot in baseball legacy was stolen by the 1st Base Umpire Joyce.

Joyce called Donald safe; and umpires make mistakes, but to have a missed call on the last out of the game where a pitcher is supposed to have a perfect game is an error that simply cannot happen.

Joyce has been the umpire for more than twenty years and has been the umpire for All-Star games and even World Series. Less than an hour after the game, I looked up his name on Wikipedia and saw a subtopic of "Controversial Call," describing the occurrences that took place today.

He might have been one of the league's finest umpires, but this call will not only tarnish his reputation but hopefully will restrict him from umpiring and major baseball events such as the playoffs. Firing such a known umpire is implausible, but a perfect game is a greater rarity.

After the game, Joyce admitted that he blew the call--claiming that he believed he saw the play correctly. He also acknowledged how it was the biggest call of his life--but it was also the biggest call of Galarraga's life.

The umpiring this season has been sub-par at the very least. Between the balk-arama with Ozzie and Mark, the first balk-off walk-off since 1989, and let's not forget Madden's blow up over the Phantom call. The umpires have been well below flawless and well above tempered this season. Ejections have been delivered more this season than UPS packages, and what is the Major League to do?

Major League Baseball has told the Blue's all over the league to quicken the pace of the game but not to practice their omniscience.

But I digress; back to Galarraga, he pitched 9.0 innings, 0 walks, 3 K's, and gave up 0 hits***. Great job Galarraga and although the MLB does not practice reversing calls; I hope they make an exception. Congratulations. You pitched a Perfect Game.

The Magic versus the Celtics

So it has been a while since I wrote another article here--I'm sorry for that. End of the semester was hectic and all, but I'm trying to get back into it! The perk of not writing any articles for a little while is that there are many things to be spoken about!

I could focus on Dallas Braden's no-hitter a week and a half ago or I could talk about how Javier Vasquez might be moved to the Yankee bullpen or I could talk about how my NBA predictions busted horrendously (to my defense; Nuggets' George Karl was diagnosed with Cancer--so he stopped coaching, LeBron clearly did not put everything he had into the series--probably because he will get a blockbuster 6-year contract this off-season, the Bobcats did not scratch the Magic and that's probably because Stephen Jackson would be taken out of the game prematurely--but who am I to defend my predictions, they were wrong). What I will focus on today is the Magic and Celtic series at hand.

I would describe the teams as a half-court set offensive pair of a squads. Each team has a solid go-to big men and a sufficient supplementary shooters on the perimeter. The Magic are well known for their long-range snipers, but 22.7% will not cut it--as evidenced by Game 1.

The home-court advantage Magic lost 92-88. Unfortunate for Orlando--yes, is the series over, most definitely not.

The 30 point fourth quarter for the Magic (compared to the 18 point Celtic fourth quarter) was a great indicator of the Magic's true ability to score in spurts. The Magic gradually became comfortable with the ball--they started off scoring 14 in the first, 18 in the second, 26 in the third and 30 in the fourth. They progressively recovered their game, but by the end--they just were not able to restrict the Celtics from the clutch shots that Pierce made.

Although the Celtics won the first game, I cannot see the Magic losing in less than 7 games. Especially after seeing how the Magic improved within Game 1. Stan Van Gundy might not be the most articulate speaker in terms of the media but he designs beautiful plays to combat any defense. The day off will help him figure out how to attack using Howard.

Dwight Howard had 13 points and went 3-10 from the field after being A student from the field. He was able to grab 12 rebounds and block 5 shots (one of them being the clutch block towards the end of the game on Rondo) but he also had 7 turnovers. It is unacceptable and unexpected. Howard is a force, and I'd take it a step further and say the force in the Magic. If Perkins and Wallace did not frustrate him the way they did--his low post game would have spread the floor for a a bit more open three-point attempts for Carter and the crew. Instead, technical fouls were paraded to Wallace and Howard--causing Howard to get even more flustered. The issue here is that Wallace is a supplementary player to the Celtics, Howard is the focal player. Gundy knows that and so I'm sure that will be the main issue to tackle over the next day--but will Howard play composed?

Howard's downfall throughout the year has been his foul trouble and his passion--and at the same time, his passion has been his salvation. If he can orchestrate his temper a bit more positively--there will be more meandering of the scoreboard than a dominant one-sided game.

However, this is not to downplay the Celtic's skill or win. The rotation by the Celtics were flawless and articulate. I just see more depth with the Magic, which lead to greater amount of plays. The Celtics have Pierce, Garnett, Allen, Rondo and Wallace who are all offensive forces that play pretty much the entire game. Michael Finley who was once the Maverick star was used for SEVEN SECONDS during the game--why? There are simply too many solid shooters. The Magic have a variety of shooters but the shooters are not as trigger-happy as the Celtic players. Do not get me wrong, the Celtics have a great balance of shots by all the stars--but the dominant players are shooters (with the exception of Garnett but not even Garnett will be able to muscle Howard! and of course Rondo can penetrate but we saw what happened when he tried to drive in on Howard). The Magic have a solid big man surrounded with some silky shooters--that difference might be enough to put the Magic over the edge, I certainly think so. Problem is, my other NBA predictions have not fallen through--will this one?

The Future of Basketball

http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/02/nba-scouts-eye-10-year-old-hoops-prodigy/?icid=main|main|dl3|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2010%2F04%2F02%2Fnba-scouts-eye-10-year-old-hoops-prodigy%2F

A ten year old basketball player by the name of Jaylin Fleming is looked at as the future NBA star.

Please watch the videos in the following links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx1YNft8MP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jME6TEctLLY

I have a couple things to say about this; (1) He's ten and has a better ball-handling skill than practically my entire high-school basketball team (2) If this kid can grow under parents that teach him how to be humble--he's the second coming of basketball interest all over the world (3) Will he be a child-wonder and a flop later on in his career?

To tackle my first comment; a kid who is ten that can dribble with two hands and cross-over cones like he's Mike Bibby's Better Basketball instructor. To maintain the focus of dribbling two basketballs while looking up and crossing cones is more than just skill or talent, it's determination. This kid has immense focus and is trusting the obstacles that his father plays before him--that's how to get a kid to learn what basketball is about.

I have a nephew who is ten years old and I've been trying to get him to dribble for the past 3 years (not even dribble between cones, just dribble... and not shoot... for one day)--epic fail after every single attempt I had. Kids are simply stubborn and want to shoot like LeBron or they want to chuck up unorthadoxed shots like Kobe (the difference is Kobe is forced to take those shots and he is double-teamed, my nephew shoots against my four-year old nephew who eats ice cream 24/7--I'm sure the 10 year old kid isn't under much pressure). This leads me into my next commentary.

When a kid can play ball and understands his place not on the court but in life--society is blessed to have such a character. Kids on the basketball courts that can really ball, end up taking every shot no matter how difficult it is because they're the best kid on the court. Jaylin has a more basketball-quarterback like mentality. In all the clips I could watch this kid; I see him calling picks and taking advantage of players with a slower step (practically every kid against him) and if they double up on him, he pushes the opposing team to a corner and hits a reset man who is patiently open.

Basketball is a game of understanding spacing--that's how players get good shots, that's how players get dunks, that's how alley-oops occur, that's how you stop a team; it's spacing that matters. Sure the kid has phenomenal ball-handling skills and we saw him make a couple of shots either swished or high off the backboard because he's so small, but I'm more impressed by his attitude than anything.

And finally the last topic of conversation is where will he be in the future? I hope he succeeds--I really believe that the NBA needs more players with this kids mentality. I want to see more intellectual and multi-dimensional basketball players in the league. I want to see an Okafor gpa and a Dwight Howard skilled player. If this kid can progress at this rate and keep his mentality, my only prayer is that he goes to college and be an inspiration to the future kids growing up with basketball interest.

Beginning the season with a bang...

Albert Pujols is the number one pick in every fantasy baseball draft (except in those drafts where a baseball-know-it-all fanatic picks Hanley over him... in reality, no one should be picked over Pujols. Let's be real here.

Pujols played his first game of this season yesterday and hit two home runs (one in his first at bat). He had 3 rbi's in the Cardinals 11-6 win against the Reds. The sea of red-dressed fans (either for the Cards or Reds) could not help but admire one of the best players to ever play the game hit.

There have been many players who have hit two homers in the first game of the season but when a player who is projected to be the best player every year hits two homers, it foreshadows a scary season for the teams in the rest of his division.

Pujols went 4-5; he has constantly been attempting to get the triple crown year after year--he's off to a good start and although it seems highly implausible that he would win the great honor, he is the only player that is a legitimate nomination to accomplish this.

When there was the whole talk about Howard potentially moving to the Cards in exchange for Pujols--I found no credibility to such a claim (although it might seem interesting). The reality is Pujols is the perfect cover for the McGuire steroid era, and of course Pujols has helped McGuire's image by now having him as his hitting coach. Pujols will go down as one of the best players to ever have swung a bat, and he will do it in St. Louis.

The home run ticker has begun... game 1--two home runs. I'm projecting 55 homers, 140 rbi's, 17 sb, and a .349 average.

Nets

The 09'-10'Nets are not the worst team in NBA history.

Fantasy Baseball

Fantasy baseball drafts are exhilarating. Between the sleeper picks, the keeper leagues, the depth charts, the players who come back from injuries, the potential production in a new team--it's all incredibly analytical. I ended up with a pretty solid team in a twelve-man keeper league draft last night--my results were:
Round Pick Player Position
1. (4) Chase Utley 2B
2. (21) Jimmy Rollins SS
3. (28) CC Sabathia SP
4. (45) Derrek Lee 1B
5. (52) Johan Santana SP
6. (69) Matt Wieters C
7. (76) Chone Figgins 3B
8. (93) Carlos Peña 1B
9. (100) Francisco Rodríguez RP
10. (117) José Valverde RP
11. (124) James Shields SP
12. (141) Ryan Ludwick OF
13. (148) Brandon Webb SP
14. (165) Nate McLouth OF
15. (172) Ben Sheets SP
16. (189) Chris Coghlan OF
17. (196) Justin Duchscherer SP
18. (213) Ryan Rowland-Smith SP
19. (220) Joba Chamberlain SP
20. (237) Ted Lilly SP
21. (244) Russell Branyan 1B
22. (261) Ken Griffey Jr. OF

The main thing that worked well for me is stalling on the OF. I ended up picking an OF in my twelfth round in picking Ryan Ludwick. Of course I followed up two rounds later and picked Nate McLouth who was ranked about 70 something in Yahoo and is a great player--but by the time that teams get to him, they already have a filled up OF crew. This is where the key picks come in where you snag a really good player late in the draft.

Another good thing to keep in mind is the power hitters that are not ranked high. Carlos Pena isn't among the top picks but certainly is home run hitting beast who has a pretty good on base percentage. A valued pick late in the draft to secure the RBI's and Homers.

Take risks with pitchers. You will probably end up dropping and adding a lot of different pitchers because a bad start completely turns you off from certain pitchers. What I say is pick up those once amazing starters like Brandon Webb and
Justin Duchscherer and Ben Sheets (sure he got bombed in Spring training but he's an Ace of the squad for a reason).

And of course I did something similar by taking Ken Griffey Jr. He is my favorite player to ever play the game and just having him on my team makes me feel like this is going to be a good year. Who knows, maybe with the new Mariners--he can produce something? I don't know--but take the change.

The Mariners have one of the best defenses in the league and have a good line-up with a solid 1 and 2. I picked up their number 3 because I think he'll have a great deal of success; Rowland-Smith has potential and I say look out for him.

The countdown begins.

Madness... Just Madness

Alright, so we have March Madness, which is absolutely ridiculous right now. I wouldn't be surprised of any upsets anymore--the tournament is up for grabs in my opinion. When you have the number one overall dropping out when the President chose them--we got a crisis. Put that alert on red because somethings going down; we might have the apocalypse soon or multiple eclipses consecutively.

Cornell beating Temple and Wisconsin and then St. Mary's pounding away against Richmond and Villanova--brackets all over the world or destroyed. Nostradamus himself, couldn't have predicted this.

Where do we go from here though? What team will eventually win it? Well I can see Northern Iowa beating Michigan St. just because Michigan's top player got injured last game and well Northern Iowa is capable of anything after that second round win over Kansas.

Cornell was able to eliminate the tougher five seed that definitely should have been ranked a four seed in Temple, and then ultimately beat Wisconsin might be able to George Mason their way in a bit further into the elite eight.

Honestly, the tournament is up in the air to me and since there has been so many changes in the top seed--I don't know if there's a fair way to predict the champs. I'm going to put my money on Kentucky just because they produced the most amount of points in the tournament. They obliterated both the teams they faced by 29 and 30 points--and they averaged 95 points per game.

Or maybe UNI could pull out another few upsets and be the first team to be seeded over 8 to win the championship? Could the George Mason upset reference be changed to the University of Northern Iowa?

Barnes and Kobe

The rematch of last years finals and the Lakers did not pull out with a win. The game was tightly contested throughout the entire game and unfortunately Bryant was not able to pull three-straight Kobe-clutch shots. The Lakers fell short with one field goal.

The Lakers have gone on a three-game slide, but that doesn't matter because they are still regarded as one of the top 4 teams (in terms of power rankings). To me, the greater thing to look at from the game is Matt Barnes.

Barnes averages 8.7 points, 1.7 assists, 5.6 rebounds and .7 steals along with .4 blocks per game. His numbers are as surprising as Brett Favre coming back coming out of retirement to play yet another season. But what is impressing, is the defense and mental energy he exerted on irritating Kobe.

As you may know, I don't see the Magic going deep in the play-offs and I will stick with my predictions--except if Barnes can play that kind of defense on the top player of every team, I might predict otherwise.

The Magic have solid players all around, and their defense is the third best in the league (only behind the Lakers and Celtics). But what becomes important in the play-offs is to have a Bruce Bowen or Tayshaun Prince--that's what the two teams had over any other playoff contender; the had lock-down players.

Bowen could shoot, but I could think of five or even six players that could shoot better than him on that team. Prince is a great all-around player but Rip, Chauncey, Rasheed were the scorers (Prince scored around 13 per game). But if you would ask me what was it about those two teams that put them over the Lakers and even the Nets in the beginning of the decade, it would be their defensive stoppers.

Prince's crazy block over Ray Allen, Bowen's defensive lock-down on Kobe. If a player on your roster is used specifically to irritate and stop a scorer from scoring 15 in the 4th quarter and 30 in a game--you're team elevates to a new platform.

I haven't seen much of Barnes, but if he could play that defense on Kobe--he can play that defense on anyone (except I feel LeBron would physically overpower him), then the Magic have a much better shot. But again, since LeBron is a beast--I think he will end up winning this year.

Congratulations to the Magic and good luck having Barnes on LeBron.

Spring Training Tension

The Yankees versed the the Phillies yesterday in Spring training, but the world series tension was muted (obviously, it's the Pre-season). But the bad blood between Fielder and the Giants pitching staff was very much alive.

Last year, the Giants lost to the Brewers after Fielder hit a walk off-homer to destroy the Giants' potential of going into the post-season. When Fielder came home, he jumped on the plate and created an earthquake-like effect on the rest of the team as they all fell collapsed--it was one of the best celebrations I have ever seen.

Unfortunately, the Giants were severely angered by the celebration and made a remark of impending doom; one of the players said that the homerun would not be forgotten.

Well, I forgot about it and I assumed everyone else did too--but the Giants pitching staff did not. In the first inning, Fielder was beamed in the middle of his back. He walked towards first and threw the ball back towards Zito and started clapping his hands as if to say "Good for you--you got me back... in a pre-season game, congrats."

What is the point of such a play? Why would Zito retaliate in a pre-season game? More than 4 months have passed--could the Giants really still be that mad?

I think it was a poor decision and if there is any form of revenge--it should take place during the season. The blue behind the plate did not issue any warnings of any sort--but I think MLB should take some sort of action on this matter. If a team shows that they have a pre-meditated retaliation, why let this matter go?

Fantasy Baseball Draft Tips

Alright, let's talk about some fantasy baseball tips this year. I will have my own couple of fantasy teams in several different leagues and I was trying to figure out where there are major drop-offs and key elements to keep in mind.

Top-tier in each positions:
1B: Pujols, Tex, Howard, Fielder
2B: Utley, Kinsler, Uggla, Pedroia
3B: A-rod, Wright, Longoria
C: Mauer
SS: Ramirez, Rollins, Reyes, Tulowitzki, (maybe Jeter)
OF: Braun, Crawford, Kemp, Holliday, Sizemore
SP: Lincecum, Sabathia, Felix, Holladay, Santana, Greinke, Haren
CP: Broxton, Papelbon, Nathan, Rivera, K-rod, Soria

There are a bulk of 1B to choose from and I'd say it's even more important to snatch the top-tier ones. So with that being said, who are the top-tier 1B? Pujols, Teixeira, Howard and Fielder. Then there is a slight drop off with the next several top 1B like Morneau, Gonzalez, V. Martinez, Berkman, or Youkilis. The top 4 1B are going to go within the first two rounds of the draft and about seven of the top ten homerun hitters will be a first basemen this year, which makes it essential to have one of the top 1B to solidify your line-up.

Mauer, the one catcher that you might want to get will go the first round but I don't know if he will make that big of an impact as a first rounder than the others--but he does fill up the one position that no other batters are amazing at.

The top 3B will be going soon (I know I did not keep Reynolds as a top-tier batter but his average is too low for my liking). It's important to get the strong corner-infielders early because homeruns effect statistics more than anything! By getting a homerun; runs, hits, rbi's and average/slug./ob% all increase (obviously, but by understanding that possibly 4 categories increase--homeruns become one of the main focus for a team).

The top SS will be picked within the top four rounds, so you might have some more cushion to pick a good SS on the 3rd or 4th round--like get Jeter down there. But I'd say having a strong 2B is even more important because the top 2B seem to be better bats than the top SS.

I draft OF towards the bottom of the draft because there are so many more sleeper picks when it comes to OF. You could get a solid OF even up to the 9th or 10th round!

Getting a one of the top-tier pitchers above is essential to get within the first four rounds as well because having a guaranteed 7 K, 7 IP, and > 3.5 ERA performer is a good fall back. While getting a top closer can wait until at least round 7.

So with all that being said--this is the order of position I'd go for in a draft:
1. IF (1b or 3b primarily but any IF is good enough)
2. IF (one more to solidify that power hitting or great all around player)
3. SP (grab one of those top pitchers because you will need one to rely on)
4. 2B or SS (preferably one with speed and contact)
5. SP (especially if any of those top ones are left!)
6. C, 3B (Mauer will be gone so snag McCann!)
7. CP (Grab Broxton if no one has yet!)
8. P (You might want to get another top closer or solid pitcher--but do not go for another position because the drop offs of each position have struck already)
9. OF (It's about time to get one of those now--you'll see that you still have some pretty good bats in the field, grab the top one... or look to see if you have much speed and get an OF that could provide some stolen bases or one that purely gets runs)
10. C (If you weren't able to grab McCann or Mauer--get Doumit, Sotom Posada, Posey or Martin now)

From 11 onwards, it depends on the strong pitchers and which outfielders are left to choose from. Either way--you'll probably have your personal sleeper picks to choose from or have players you're not confident in and will probably drop once the season starts. In the past, I've dropped my entire outfield and picked up early solid hitters like McLouth, Ludwick and Quentin (all in one season). So again, don't worry about the OF!

Hopefully this was helpful--feel free to ask me any questions and good luck!