MLB
Two weeks ago my friend and I were at the Mets game. On the way into the stadium my friend looked at me and said, “I hope that either Julio Franco is starting or pinch hits at some point in the game.”
I looked at him with the same face Matt Leinart had when Tagliabue announced the Jets selected D’Brickashaw and said, “What?”
Its been over 60 years and Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak still stands. Will it ever be broken? Does it stand alone as sports’ ultimate record?
Even knowing as much as I do about baseball, there are still certain things I just don’t get.
One of them is why players wear sunglasses on top of their hats while in the field, and another is how the Oakland Athletics could possibly have let reliever Eric Plunk get away during the 1989 season, when they were destined to acquire hurler Joe Klink the following year.
The All-Star Game has past. The trade deadline has past. Barry Bonds’ grand jury has expired. Which means the playoffs are rapidly approaching, however, while this should be the beginning of the most exciting stretch of the baseball season, we are inundated with news from football training camps across the country, and for some of us, a panic that our basketball team might pack their bags and head east.
And speaking of heading east, your faithful weekly power rankings writer will be doing the same, taking a jaunt into the Idaho wilderness for an obscure music festival in the mountains. How does this affect you? It probably doesn’t, but for four days you’ll be able to talk all the smack you want without me being able to defend myself.
As the MLB Trade Deadline enters its final hour, we have already been exposed to a plethora of trade possibilities. However, some questions still loom, including the futures of Nationals’ MVP candidate Alfonso Soriano and Philadelphia’s overpaid Bobby Abreu. While the fate of these trades may surge one team into the playoffs, it is the issue of Alex Rodriguez that appears to have the whole league talking.
Despite the fact that it is July 29, I thought that with the Trading Deadline on Monday, I’d take an early look at free agency.
The sports talk shows in New York have been alive with Mets fans debating whether or not the Mets should trade for Barry Zito. In my years as a New Yorker and a Mets fan, I’ve never heard so much talk about a move or not making a move that had fans so divided.
Welcome again to another week of the Sportscolumn Power Rankings. The Tigers extend their lead in the AL Central and the Yankees have overtaken the Wild Card. The Dodgers have fallen off the face of the earth and Cincinnati is still clinging to playoff hopes by the skin of their teeth. And although the division leaders are all still the usual suspects, half of baseball is still in the playoff hunt. Right now there are 12 teams within four games of the division leader and 3 more teams within four games of the Wild Card.
If the Texas Rangers want to have a markedly better chance to end their long playoff drought this season they will ignore the naysayers and focus their efforts on getting Livan Hernandez, the one pitcher that can truly help them.
What is wrong with pitchers? One hundred pitches and they call it a night.
Times have been a changin’ and not for the better in baseball.
You hardly see any pitcher go the full 9 innings and throw over 120 pitches. Come on, suck it up. You get paid to pitch, what could be better?
The mind set for pitches has changed dramatically since the days of Feller, Koufax, Gibson and Guidry. It used to be, throw the complete game. Pitch as much as you could and not give in at first sign of fatigue and pain…