MLB
by Matt Wells
With the days of free agency and money-chasing upon us, we expect players in all four of the major sports to eventually depart to different clubs. It seems inevitable nowadays.
However, don’t you think fans of the players’ former teams should forgive and forget if a player ends up going to a different team? Don’t you think the players should be forgiven for leaving if they were successful for their previous teams?
Well, tell that to baseball fans.
There are no handlebar moustaches to be found. No skin-tight plaid bellbottoms, either. And there’s no basket near the door for your keys. But the Oakland A’s are certainly doing their best to re-earn the nickname “The Swingin’ A’s”. By charging the mound against the Angels Tuesday, Jason Kendall scared away any remaining perceptions that the A’s are still the fun-loving, beer-chugging misfits they once were. Gone are the Lost Boys carrying out Jason Giambi’s never-grow-up credo; in their place is a group of veteran castaways who have taken control of the team, and instilled a fighter’s mentality. Given the way these A’s play, don’t be surprised if they end up in a few more scraps before the year’s over.
The imminent return of one of Baseball’s best hurlers is scheduled to take the mound sometime in June according to Jim Molony at MLB.Com. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Texas Rangers are holding their collective breath as to exactly when the future Hall of Famer will take the mound.
If MLB expects to continue to be referred to as America’s Pastime, it will need to do a far better job of recruiting right here at home, where there still remain a ton of great athletes from the black community. But they will not find them on Capitol Hill or in ivory towers, but rather in their very own backyards.
Today is April 29, 2006. A well awaited weekend for the gridiron rooks, and a chance to become a NFL fan for one day before the season starts. But, besides the draft, today marks a day in the baseball season that gives a glimmer of light foreshadowing the future. Whether it’s records, statistics, injuries, breakout or slump prone players, the end of April allows us to structure a hypothesis regarding seasonal outcomes. The 12-10 Yanks, the division leading Reds, or Cecil Jr. making a quick entrance, this last month has summed up many holes in baseball and has truly succeeded our prestigious times.
Yes! The weekend. No! The Giants picking who? After witnessing the Giants trade their 25th pick to Pittsburgh, and selecting some defensive chump at the 32nd pick, the world needs to inflict faith and hope into some other higher force. That force is the Colorado Rockies. Yes, those Coors Field comrades from the West, that believe it or not, have more than a snail’s chance to win that weakly impaired NL West.
by Matt Wells
Welcome to Major League Baseball in the 21st Century. For the past decade, free agency has made the possibility of a player staying with the same team for several years at a time virtually unthinkable. You can thank free agency, I mean that. Free agency has helped make the game more exciting, as fans now get to see players playing for teams that we never thought possible (Frank Thomas in Oakland??!!).
You can also thank those green bills we call “money.” It’s the money that has helped move free agency along. The days of Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, and Barry Larkin are gone. Players just don’t stay with the same teams throughout their careers anymore.
Welcome to the second week of the Major League Baseball Power Rankings. Remember, questions, comments, and complaints are always welcome. Feel free to talk some smack, but be prepared to have it sent back at you.
Fantasy baseball insiders think they’re so smart writing articles about Chris Shelton after he went on a streak praising him. Did anybody know Shelton was gonna have a streak. NO. The only reason I went through the trouble of drafting him was because he was mentioned as number 16 in the top 30 1st basemen in baseball in a sports illustrated I read. In fact, go back in time and you probably won’t see an article about him on most fantasy sites until he hit his first or second homerun. Here’s someone else they still haven’t recognized.
The flamboyant and egotistical nature that makes Barry Bonds one of the most talked about players in all of sports will no doubt be overshadowed by invaritable self destruction.
Ahhh, baseball in 06′. Nothing more can deliver a harder punch to the gut. I’m sorry you diehard, do or die fans, that are so attached to baseball that you won’t admit the obvious. This year, baseball has become lack luster, proving to be dull and unsatisfying., but we always have next year. The start of this year’s season has delivered such oblivion to not only sports, but to life, that it has fathered the truth that nothing is for sure. We have lost the faces of the past and are forced to witness baseball today, changing for the worst.
It has passed us bye. America’s pastime has reserved a seat for the future. New faces, new places, repetitious and extremely bothersome talks of Barry Bonds and his steroid accusations, are ingredients in the recipe for disaster. Going off the record, Bonds will forever be an ageless icon, no matter how many pills he pops. There are a few things that seem to be missing from this year’s season, in which, have gradually submerged themselves towards death.