MLB
How lucky we are. We have seen some of baseball’s most sacred records be challenged and broken in the last few years. It takes an athlete who is superior over his or her counterparts to break a record and maintain it for a long period of a time. People say records are meant to be broken, but when I hear that statement I assume it means all records are meant to be broken fairly.
by Matt Wells
He’s known as one of the greatest pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball. He’s tallied 341 wins against just 172 losses during his big-league career. 4,502 strikeouts of opposing batters doesn’t sound too shabby either. Yet, Roger Clemens, not quite retired yet, isn’t pitching for a major league team currently.
Now, the “Rocket” is certainly contemplating retirement. Clemens implied that he was retiring after Team USA was eliminated from the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Of course, we’ve heard “retirement” stories from other greats in the game – Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, etc.
By Billy Fellin
The 2006 New York Yankees stumbled out to the game, posting a 7-8 record as of last night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. So why are the Yankees 4th in the East and a game under .500? I think I know why.
Welcome to the first of this season’s official SC Power Rankings. Power Rankings will be published every Friday throughout the season. Comments, questions, gripes are all welcome.
By Rob LaBrie
Although we are only a little over two weeks into a very long baseball season, I feel compelled to write about what has happened so far just because there’s been so much going on. We’ve seen an established superstar hit 9 jacks in 13 games and a guy with 19 career homers before this year hit 9 of his own through 13 games. We’ve seen a guy come close to breaking Joe DiMaggio’s timeless hitting streak record. We’ve seen a 40-year-old, “washed up” Mad Dog win his first three games in dominating fashion. We’ve also seen a pair of Sox, one young and one old, win their first three games. Oh yeah, we’ve also seen perjury charges and a homer-less 10 games for the guy with the biggest head in the game, literally. What better way to sum up the season than with the first annual TWIS Awards?
10. I’m sorry, but what you’ve heard is true. Chicks dig the long ball. Despite all the controversy that modern home run statistics are becoming irrelevant because of the live ball era, steroids, the lowered pitcher’s mound, maple bats, body armor for the hitters, diluted pitching talent, shrinking strike zone, global warming, outfield fences steadily marching inward, and the blasphemy above all- baseball being played in the thin air of Colorado- the home run is still revered above all plays in baseball. Do you remember anything about the playoffs last year besides bad umpiring? Yes, of course you do. You remember Albert Pujols tattooing a Brad Lidge fastball into the ozone layer. Just in the same way you remember crippled Kirk Gibson taking Eckersly deep to win game one of the series in `88, and Carlton Fisk’s body language that kept his deep fly fair to win the series game in `75. Almost every sports fan could recite verbatim the home run call when Aaron passed Ruth, yet would struggle on the first line of the Pledge of Allegiance. An old Nike commercial said it best: “Face it fellas, a low ERA just isn’t that sexy.”
“The stars… there’s no right or wrong in them. They’re just there .” – Elias, Platoon
A swing and a drive, followed eternally with a hop and a skip.
It was a big deal once, major news.
His joy was unbounded, unburdened, never prescribed to carry a synthetic image.
We were so ready for it to be real, zero questions were asked, no probing investigation regarding his jubilant sprint out into his fixed position in right, nary a cynic’s viewpoint following his indulgent celebrations.
The negativity had run its route. A new hero had emerged from a harrowing fog. Life not only welcomes simplicity in some instances, it demands it.
He is Sammy Sosa, in case we forget.
With the Barry Bonds witch hunt in full force, baseball shouldn’t forget the other key players.
Who’s sick of the Atlanta Braves? If I asked ten people, I bet nine would raise their hands. I was always sick of them. More than any Mets fan, Phillies fan or any NL East wanna be du-jour. They have been clogging up baseball’s postseason since 1991, with only one championship to show for, in the post-strike 1995 season, when about three people cared outside of Cleveland and Atlanta.
I hated them. More than any professional franchise in sports. More than the Yankees, the Cleveland Browns or Philadelphia Flyers.
I am out of the country, but I have been reading about how at New York Met games fans are chanting, “Yankees Suck” during late innings of Met victories. First let me say that I am a proud Mets fan, but this needs to stop.
The Mets are off to an 8-1 start. Eight and one people! Their best start since the 1985 season when Dwight Gooden won the Cy Young Award. Why not celebrate that? Why do Mets fans even care about the Yankees? To me it slightly taints the victory because we are not celebrating the players on the field