Cal Ripken Jr.

In light of Jorge Posada playing himself out of New York, and let's be honest... the New York Post said it the best; he's pretty much done like a charbroiled steak, let's talk about aging stars and what to do with people when they're past their prime, but they're still loved.
Take the biggest love fest in history - Cal Ripken Jr... this man is truly slobbered over in Baltimore except when it comes to people wanting to pony up $100 to buy my 1982 Topps Traded Set complete with PSA8.5 Cal Ripken rookie. It's like Harvey Keitel said in Pulp Fiction... only people have already started and there's no stopping...
Ripken's biggest claim to fame is that he played 2,632 consecutive games. This went from May 30, 1982, to September 20, 1998. During this time, he played 8,243 consecutive innings from June 5, 1982 to September 14, 1987. During this time, he also hit roughly .300 and pounded out more than 25 homers a year during a period in time where the average short stop was Ozzie Smith.
However, in 1991, Cal Ripken had his last great line in baseball: .323, 34, 114. After that, everything was above pedestrian, BUT it wasn't super wonderful mega fantastic. SURE... he was playing every game. Yet he was still playing every game for 7 full years. The Orioles may have moved him from short to third, but there was no future contingency, and they came to suffer for it years later.
Nobody thought about that when they were winning (shades of New York, anyone?). In 1983, the Orioles won the World Series. Until 1996, they weren't in the playoffs again. However, thanks to Jeffrey Maier, they lost in 96 and in 97, they lost to a Cleveland team that was one at bat to Edgar Renteria from winning the World Series. For Baltimore, that was it. The Yankees got dominant, and the future was cast in stone. Thank God for the Devil Rays to keep them out of the cellar most years.
When it was all said and done, Ripken went from the man who broke the streak of Lou Gehrig (a streak Gehrig only stopped because of life-ending injury and pride in being complimented for pedestrian accomplishments) in 1995, resurrecting baseball with a happy moment after the strike, and eventually gave it up to just as much tremendous fanfare. Thus, he was forever enshrined as an institution in the Chesapeake Bay (in no small part because he was born there and stayed there to be dominant - that generation's Joe Mauer).
So who knew that the man who had no business being at the 2001 All Star Game (at least until he hit a home run and got to play short stop as Alex Rodriguez stepped aside to make the old man feel at home again with an MVP award) was involved in a vicious rumor that he pummeled the tar out of Kevin Costner for hooking up with his wife? Interestingly enough, now I do, and now many people on the web do. It's a BS rumor dispelled by Costner, Ripken, and Snopes, but yeah... you've gotta love the Internet where EVERYTHING is true.
So for what I've learned, be it Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Willie Mays, or a constantly banged up Chipper Jones, there comes a point where a player has to call it a day and know when to say when.
They can go the easy way like Andy Pettite and don't go in a decline. They can be forced out like Griffey. They can change from Big Papi, the hero of the Red Sox dynasty years to Big Sluggi, the steroids mirage who doesn't show up to play until May, or they can just keep hoping that this year will be the year that they turn it around - maybe one last time like a hobbling Kirk Gibson in a World Series moment for the ages.
Sadly, we know which way it's more likely to be.

Jorge Posada

Normally, and by normally, I mean if I wasn't married to my wife or hoping for a relationship (as was the case for Game 6 of the 2003 World Series - the one where Beckett lights out-ed the Yankees - I did see the end of that one with the pile on celebration after the date sucked), I would be spending the entire weekend draped in a Red Sox jersey over my "certified Yankee hater" shirt, wishing death on the Evil Empire.
Several things have changed this:
1) On December 1, 2007, I met my wife. She's awesome and I'd rather go see Brides maids with her than watch a "relatively meaningless" season game. Granted, it counts in the standings and for the total of wins against each other per year (if we end up tied and have to determine post season home advantage), but alas... it's just not the same as it used to be.
2) In those days before my wife, the Red Sox had won one World Series, and until then, things were even worse. Hell, let's be honest. Things were worse because of the win, but the second win...
3) The year the Yankees didn't even make the playoffs (2008)...
4) The fact that it's hard to be attached to this group of players... many who weren't even around for either team's historic runs... and if they are, they're older than velociraptors...
So yeah...
Here we are in da Bronx and the Red Sox are officially victors in the first 2 games of the series. While the first game got close at the end, the 2nd game was a 6-0 laugher, and well, that's really what it is.
The reality here is not in the box score... it's in the aging of the old guard as Jorge Posada asked out of the lineup as his average rises to .165 after being as low as .125 at the end of April. There are 6 home runs, but in 108 at bats, there are only 18 total hits.
He's not the only one.
Derek Jeter is at .267 with 2 home runs.
Mark Teixeira is at .254 with 9 home runs.
Alex Rodriguez is at .252 with 6 home runs.
Curtis Granderson and his .281, 12, 26 line is the star. Even Robinson Cano isn't leading the team yet. Did I jinx the guy by picking him for fantasy (.279, 9, 25)?
In the beginning, the Red Sox and the Rays were 0-6, but both rebounded. Now, the Rays are in first place and they're cold kicking ass on all opponents. While not as good as Philly or Cleveland (and Cleveland is actually the 2nd best team - by default of playing one less game than the Phillies), we can see that there is a new guard in baseball that isn't including the money teams (well, save Philly, which is somehow moving around Ryan Howard's move to #2 in strikeouts to ride his hits and homers to victory).
For a team that played tough against Texas (4 wins), they lost 2 to Kansas City in the stadium. They've lost 4 of 5 to the Red Sox, and today, they face the Sox with Freddy Garcia on the hill against Jon Lester and a Boston team that is trying desperately to get to .500 (while 19-14 since the 0-6 start of the season, they're below the mark, and frankly, every time they've been getting to .500, they always find a way to phone it in and stay mired below.
Is today the game that they go otherwise? Or is this the continued loss of power from a once great dynasty / stable of big contracts?

Pete Gray

On the recommendation of a student that I taught last semester and this semester, I read Pete Gray's book - One Armed Wonder, which tells the story of the St. Louis Browns outfielder.
In the first class that he took, which I taught, we used to heroic passages to write summaries and research papers. I used the tale of Adam Bender, and he found this book and the story of Jim Abbot as comparable tales to the life of Adam Bender, a one-legged boy who still plays baseball (he's a catcher) and high school wrestling as well as quarterbacking for youth football.
I've always said that despite age, we don't look down to find our heroes, and the reality is that Bender who is currently 10 has more leadership and heart than most grown people that I know. To be honest, I wish I had more of what makes him tick.
The same can be said about Pete Gray who always wanted to play at Yankee Stadium despite losing his right arm in a truck accident. World War Two's diluted player pool gave him the opportunity to do that, but he gave himself the ability to make the opportunity count. He learned to hit one armed. He learned to catch a ball and throw it to the infield with one arm. Nobody stopped the game for him, and despite the fact that the switch from glove to arm with the ball tossed into the air in the meantime took a few seconds, Gray did what it took to get better.
He even hit 5 home runs at Memphis in 1944 before making it to the St. Louis Browns in 1945. This was one year removed from their historic 1944 campaign where they played the Cardinals in their first and only World Series losing 4 games to 2 (and almost winning a third - quite an accomplishment for perennial cellar dwellers - even in a time where players were there because they were unable to be drafted for war service). Quite simply, he wasn't an also ran or a gate attraction like some people made him to be.
Instead, he was inspiration to the young and the injured war vets, who he had more respect for than they had for him (and that's saying something).
He was a hero - be it from roughly the same area that I live in (give or take a few hours) or from the world in general. He didn't let life get in his way. He didn't let those people who belittled him get him down. He fought to be on the diamond and to give his best, and he truly did. Be it in the majors or the minors, he was a great part of the game. In addition, his 11 strikeouts in 77 games would be something that many of today's free swingers took note of. Gray might not have had the muscle power to do one-armed Mickey Mantle shots in the pros, but he knew enough about small ball to get the hits, the bunts, and the seeing eye dribblers that put him on base to steal second. In this, he was a fierce base runner (more minors than majors, but still).
And like Jim Abbot (who wanted to be more like Nolan Ryan than Pete Gray) tossing a no hitter to celebrate his abilities and competitive nature, there is pride in any person overcoming their obstacles (be they disabilities or doubts or being picked second) to be great. Abbott did his no hitter against Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, and Albert Belle in 1993. Those Indians weren't exactly the Cleveland Spiders.
Heart is all about what you make of your circumstances.
Pete Gray may not have had a right arm, but he had a lot of heart.

Rick Monday

Symbolic speech is to be protected by the First Amendment, and while it can be a "necessary" political protest, it can also be a dangerous thing in the hands of people pushing solidarity with the wrong ideas. With that, we'll get to Ben Haas, but first, some background with regard to baseball.
On April 25, 1976, 2 protesters went on the field at Dodger Stadium to burn the flag. In the midst of trying to get it to light, Rick Monday came and saved the day by yanking the flag out from underneath them. For a career, he batted .264 and hit 241 home runs. He played from 1966-1984, and he knows what it means to win a World Series, but he will always be the guy that saved the flag.
Never mind that flag burning represents a symbolic gesture that when the flag is tarnished, this is the proper way to "dispose" of it. For what was the protest in 1976? America's legacy of injustices read out like some book? Maybe back then it was new... left over hippies and academics telling their findings and banging on the podium that if you don't believe me it's all in here... it's so old hat and partisan now, and I get it... there are lots of people that have belittled, marginalized, discriminated against, and killed for this country to be, but at the end of the day, it's our country, for better or worse, and we live here. We're not about making ourselves less to make other people around the world feel more, especially when we didn't discriminate, but alas, that's not what this blog is about. It's about baseball and the right to be great. The right to feel the other part of the holy trilogy (mom and apple pie being the other 2 - even if I don't eat apples).
As Ken Burns makes abundantly clear, baseball has done much to make American injustices go away. Sure, there were the years of Jose Feliciano being ostracized for daring to sing the National Anthem differently (making it possible for Christina Aguilera to forget the lines while doing her screaming siren rendition). We integrated African Americans before much of America. We fought for labor rights, for better and for worse. We brought the country together in a show of patriotism as teams played to make us forget 9/11 happened.
And somehow now... we know that we can't forget 9/11, and for that, we have to address the villains of that day with more than tough talk and rebukes. We need to end the Osama Bin Ladens, Ayman al-Zawahiris, and Abu Al-Asad Zarakwis of the world. We need to make sure that there are no more Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahis that can get released. We need to make sure that there can never be a show trial like the one that will someday come for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. We may not like that there need be violence. We should want for peace and happiness and the good things that PIXAR movies show to us, but at the same time, we should be thankful that men with guns go out in the middle of the night and put a bullet in the skull of Osama Bin Laden.
So if Ben Haas has a grudge with the US, one has to wonder why? Are his ethics so elevated that even terrorists who kill nearly 3,000 on a late summer day in 2001 deserve human rights when they don't extend them to their own people? Is this guy for real?
LSU responded to his protest that was quickly shut down by angry, patriotic protesters shouting for this "hippie" to "die:"
"With our commitment to free speech occasionally comes events that offend our standards and values. Burning an American flag offends the vast majority of the LSU community. Still, freedom of speech ensures that even objectionable expressions of opinion will exist. While we accept this reality, please join me in continuing to express our support for this great nation and the symbols that represent it."
Martin added that he was pleased the student changed his mind and opted not to burn the flag.
"I’m happy that after talking to university officials and realising how many people are against flag-burning, that he thought better of it. 'This is what a flagship university, and Free Speech Alley, is all about – good civil discourse, dialogue between all parties and discussions of diverse opinions. This is how students learn from each other and grow as people. I also thought today brought out a wonderful display of patriotism among the students conducting the counter-protest."
At this site, we wish Mr. Haas no ill - even if his protest was ill-conceived shock and awe for the radical left and extreme libertarian right and served no purpose other than to piss off main stream America, but alas... One would have to wonder how far his ideas would go with those he wanted to defend today, but no matter. Will this make him more like Adam Gadahn? Will the water balloons and screams of the military men and women and their families, friends, and supporters do anything to change his mind, to make him see the error of his way?
When the teams take the field, will he rise for our anthem and put his hand on his heart? Will he even take off his hat?
In the end, it doesn't matter because this is his right to believe how he wants to believe, but with that, people have the right to tell him he's wrong in the same "respectful" way he told them that they're wrong.
Somewhere out there, there is a sense of pride and respect, the same pride that once emenated from a guy who once wore Dodger blue (and red and white), and it is filling Louisiana. These are people that see what's coming down the Mississippi. These are people that feel the effects of our economoy. But these are people that are standing up for the good things in America that are and that will be.
This is something Haas has absolutely no clue about.

Tony Larussa

I've never been a fan of Tony Larussa. I'm pretty sure I've said that. He's the National League's version of Terry Francona - that other manager I REALLY don't like - though it should be said that at least he's not just letting Bill Dewit pull his strings; instead, he's a surly dinosaur who tries to be "outside the box" with ideas like batting the pitcher eighth. Really.
If I had to think of a manager that I like, it would have to be Ozzie Guillen, who at least has the heart to call out his players when they need it. He doesn't pull punches, and a lot of the time, his guys get the job done - even though there aren't that many very good to great players on the team (Mark Buehrle, Paul Konerko, Carlos Quentin, Adam Dunn (done for, more like it - he's batting .184 with 3 home runs), and Jake Peavy (remember him?) make up the core of Chicago's 2011 team.
Hell, if you're a White Sox fan (real or pretend, Mr. President), you've got a closer named Sergio Santos. Gavin Floyd and Philip Humber are your star pitchers. You hope Alexi Ramriez makes the transition to the bigs, and you still get happy when AJ Pierzynski is a jerk (but at least he's your jerk - like that ALCS stunt he pulled in 2005).
You rememer names like Minnie Minoso and Shoeless Joe Jackson. You may even remember a player like Eddie Cicotte. You don't really have much to remember lately except Harold Baines.
But nonetheless, at least you have Ozzie... a colorful manager who makes a difference.
In St. Louis and with no harsh feelings regarding our feelings towards him for his mis-management, Larussa has never been a colorful manager. But now that he's currently on medical leave, we come to understand how difficult his life has been lately since he has just been diagnosed with the shingles.
Most people don't know what the shingles are. Actually, they're caused by the herpes zoster virus, which has nothing to do with herpes that a person gets stung with sexually. It actually is a very nasty skin rash that people could get from someone who has it if they didn't get chicken pox as a kid. That said, if your parents made you pal around with the kid who had chicken pox to get this virus out of the way, you might want to thank them for it. As for me, I had chicken pox twice, so I'm a rare and special case, but all the same, I'm glad I don't have to worry about that aspect of it. Nevertheless, there is a way that the chicken pox virus reactivates and causes shingles in people. Apparently, nobody understands how this happens, but it does.
Nevertheless, if you do get them, they're a nasty skin rash that takes quite some time to heal and that can be worse if you're older when you get them. They do have rare complications that can affect a person's vision permanently. Let's hope that Tony doesn't face that.
Here's to a quick recovery and some time to think about how to be nice to Colby Rasmus and to help Albert Pujols regain his swing while getting Chris Carpenter some wins.

Milton Bradley

At the end of the day, it's all about being productive, and what better way to be productive than to celebrate the 27th anniversary of a game that was played for 25 innings (just over 8 hours)? Thank you Harold Baines for wrapping that one up (while not the longest ever by innings - Boston and Brooklyn battled to a 1-1 tie after 26 innings in 1920 - it was the longest by time). And with that, here's to baseball history, present, and future.
So let's see who's being productive at the end of the 5th week of baseball 2011...
(definitely not my fantasy team who lost for the first time all year in head to head games).
Derek Jeter lost his power, and then he got it back with 2 home runs in one day after not hitting one in his previous 256 at bats. Is this the end, or is this Jeter bouncing back to glory? He did have 4 hits and a stolen base to go up to a .276 average, so that has to be something.
HOWEVER, not everyone had a good day on Sunday. Take Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson, who were swept out of the playoffs... not that we care, but that said, it's great to see the NBA's Ben Roethlisberger getting sent home early with his little Zen buddy and the Kardashian circus tag along getting sent back for siesta in most unceremoneous ways. No offense to Phil and Lamar, but when it comes to those who commit sexual assault (and only get out of it by using their fame against their accuser), they should all go drown.
But alas, that's just me.
All the same, today is the end of the road for yet another Milton Bradley adventure. While he did just get ejected against Boston not 2 weeks ago, it wasn't his attitude, but it was his bat failing to live up to its potential that sees Bradley getting ready to tread the unemployment lines of baseball as he faces outright release or trade due to being put up for assignment. Batting .218 with 2 home runs and 13 RBIs will do that to a man.
Thus, in honor of the man with the most unfortunate name in baseball (even worse than Coco Crisp since that's at least a fun name, and apparently, it's not the kind of name that inspires a player to go loco), there are the many problems of Milton Bradley: bottle throwing at fans who litter the field around him, accusing teammates of racism, accusing fans who hate his foul attitude of racism for sending him hate mail, screaming at teammates, screaming at managers, and trying to scream at announcers. Yep... he's done the whole spectrum... from umpires to oppoents, there is a world out there that hates Milton, and frankly, there's no internal locus of control to make sense of it all.
While not always his fault, it's all about how a man walks the walk after hearing the talk, and unfortunately, for this, Bradley's potential has been cut short.
We'll see if he comes back, but until then...

Justin Verlander

So it's Friday night, and Derek Lowe is announced as having a potential no hitter going, but 2 batters into the 7th, he had lost the no hitter and now faced runners on 2nd and 3rd after Polanco hit a ground rule double, so he was gone. Nevertheless, the Phillies were shut down and beaten by the Braves.
Then, Jaime Garcia is announced as having a perfect game going. This goes nicely until he gets to the 8th inning, when he gets the first batter out but loses the perfecto with a walk to McGehee and a single to Bettancourt that immediately followed. However, one double play later, the threat was done, and save one Rickie Weeks double in the 9th, the Cards were victorious.
The next night, the Brew Crew followed up their loss with a pitching performance of their own as Yovani Gallardo threw a 1-hitter against St. Louis, stifling Pujols, Holliday, and Berkman, but losing it all in the 7th to Daniel Descalso and his .229 average.
Sunday night, Anibal Sanchez took a no hitter into the top of the 7th. Things aren't pretty with an error and a hit by pitch, but it's another close, but no cigar proving that he's worth more to the Marlins now than Josh Beckett is to the Red Sox (who did get a good game out of Clay Bucholz on Saturday as well, but he was yanked after 5 innings due to a long rain delay).
But the game of games was Justin Verlander, whose 2nd no hitter is establishing his dominance in a Mark Buehrle kind of way (he's now the 30th pitcher with 2 no nos). Sure, he's got a great WHIP (.98) and a very good ERA (3.16), but he plays for Detroit. Sure, he has a lot of strikeouts, and he does have a mid 3 ERA for his career (1 bad year in there), but he's not the posterboy for glossy greatness.
Nevertheless, he was flat out dealing against the Blue Jays on Saturday when he literally mowed down Toronto only to get hosed on a walk that he let up in a 12-pitch at bat in the 8th.
And while Jose Bautista, who is REALLY surprising me this year, wasn't in the lineup, he was dominant to the tune of fooling batters with 100 mile per hour heat. He may have only whiffed 4 of them, but with only 1 runner on base... that's nasty (as compared to 12 strikeouts and 4 walks in June of 2007).
So alas... it really is becoming part 2 of the year of the pitcher.
Here's to more and nastier... even if we don't get a repeat of Dallas Braden's Mother's Day perfecto.

Bill Bergen

Andre Ethier part 2... oh, how the mightily above average have fallen.
The streak hits 30 and stops there.
So it goes.
But alas, when one gets thirty games in a row, that's the mark of success, but when one fails 46 times in a row and has a career average of .170, that's the mark of futility.
I guess you can call him the 2011 Jason Varitek of his day. He was a good backstop that called the game well, but in the end... he never hit above .200. Too bad because he never had a George Brett character (or Bruce Bochte and Tom Paciorek) to playfully create a Mendoza Line in the stats to remember him by.
From 1901-1911, he played the game and finished with no seasons above the Mendoza Line. He hit 2 home runs in his storied career, and while that may have got him some lovin' from the ladies, I'm sure it made a couple of pitchers want to jump off of the Brooklyn Bridge. The first of these was in his rookie year with the Reds, and the second one was 8 years later with the Brooklyn Superbas whose legend is almost as lost as Bergen's is.
Nevertheless, he is the epitome of failure in major league history, and that is saying something. Maybe with that being said, his backstop ability to call pitches is better than that of Jarrod Saltalamacchia, whose non-ability just continues to amaze all who wonder how Boston could be so free spending on everyone from Daisuke Matsuzaka to Wacky Lackey and not pony up for someone with more upside than "if he works out, the sub 7 figure contract will seem like a bargain and make up for the adventure story that is played every time Daisuke gets to 2 strikes and can't close the deal.
Yep... Bergen was something in his day, and perhaps it was an act of niceness that he stuck around. Compared to Mark Reynolds' over-priced and high strikeout self (or Austin Jackson for that matter), Bergen's one in 7 K rate for a career is still better than 1 every 3 or less for some of the free swinging no power hitters of 2011. Granted, he's not Ted Williams (27) or Joe Dimaggio (13) in 1941, but we can't always have a choice to choose between the .400 guy or the guy with 56 games in a row (or 74/75 games that he hit in).
But if Ethier is our mark of success, let us wish him well. If he's a flash in the pan... this year's Willie Tavarez, at least he topped it out and got to 30 games.
That is saying something.

Andre Ethier

Andre the Giant, he's not. He's about a foot too short, and he's not French. On top of that, he just doesn't have the hair. He doesn't have the strength to last a full season either. He's also not the kind of guy that can scare the beejesus out of an in his prime Hulk Hogan. However, he's still one of the greats of the game of baseball - still coming into his stride and deciding what kind of player he wants to be.
For example, last year, Andre Ethier lost his .300 average on July 28th. He battled to bring it back, but by August 26th it was gone. For an average that was as high as .394 after 30 games, he lost it all only to go 7/10 in a meaningless final weekend against Arizona on the final weekend to take it back to .292.
Tonight, Ethier attempts to be the 54th player in baseball history to get to a 30-game hit streak. Seeing as he sat out against Carlos Zambrano on Wednesday night, one has to wonder if it's still a record if we pick and choose who we face in getting our hits. Alas, unlike Terrance Mann, we have to go with the idea that a record is a record. Joe Dimaggio didn't get to pick and choose his 56 games. Hell, he didn't even choose to sit out after the streak was over. He went right back to hitting in 19 straight games, but alas... players today are wusses.
Eric Chavez is a perfect example. As a player that isn't shy about expressing how he sits out against tough pitchers like Randy Johnson, he stands as a player that is over-rated, over-paid, and over-exposed - especially now that he is in New York - though currently injured like Derek Jeter who isn't really injured, but he isn't playing and he is replaced in the lineup, Chavez's opposite in every way. Despite this, in 2006-7, he made $9.5mill each season. This increased to $11.5mill per and went to $12.5mill in 2010. What did the A's get? He went to the field 137 times and earned a Gold Glove in 2006. Nevermind that Gold Gloves are a way of giving love to a popular player from years past as opposed to rewarding CURRENT defensive awesomeness, but yeah... After that, he played 90 games, 23, 8, 33, and 17 games. He went from a .240 batting average in 2006 to a .241 the next year, but seeing as it was over limited games, it's not rerpesentative of anything - simply a bad investment on an over-hyped player.
Now, while it would be wrong to wish him into a speedy retirement, the reality is that other than a feel good story in limited at bats in the Bronx, it's hard to wonder what the Yankees were getting, but that makes us thing about Mark Prior, Freddy Garcia, Kerry Wood, (pre St. Louis) Lance Berkman, Bartolo Colon, Chan Ho Park, and Austin Kearns (who all played for the Yankees in the past calendar year).
In this, it's hard to think what they thought they were getting. Granted, when they signed Jose Canseco in 2000, it was to keep him away from Boston - smart business sense. But these guys were all considered washed up. It's not like they went into a city that would just show them love unconditionally (St. Louis does this) for what they could be and bring them back to life.
Los Angeles still has hope for its stars. How long did Mannywood last after Manny Ramirez showed his true colors? The fans still believe in Matt Kemp as they turn a blind eye to his strikeouts and look only at his times connecting with the ball. And tonight, they'll have hope for Andre Ethier, but for us... we just wonder who this guy is.
But don't think anything of it... it's probably East Coast bias.

Raul Ibanez

Ok, so Raul Ibanez is having a few good games, so we can either look at this blog as:
1) celebrating his return to form.
or
2) a final curtain call before he bows out gracefully.
There was that late career career-year that he had in 2009 (34HRs, 93 RBIs, and .272 over 134 games), which led the Phillies to a 2nd place finish against the Yankees in the World Series (no thanks to their offense crapping the bed when it counted as Mighty Ryan whiffed 13 times in 25 plate appearances and only hit a home run in an already decided last game of the season).
This year, he's 22 for 103. If not for the 3 game 8 for 12 swing, he was 14 for 91 before facing Washington's not so formidable pitching staff. On top of this, he has 27 whiffs for those first 91 at bats (none since).
Will he keep his average over the Mendoza Line, or will he go to seed against Atlanta?
I know where my money is (5 whiffs and 2 for 12 in the first series he played against them this year).
Philadelphia fans are fickle. They booed Santa Claus and threw snowballs at the jolly guy back in 1968. In 1999, they greeted JD Drew with D cell batteries after he refused to sign for their team (he never did have that career both the Phillies and Cards thought he would). They booed Mike Schmidt, who is considered the greatest third baseman EVER.
Do you think that they give a hoot about keeping around an over-priced guy who can't get a hit between April 18th and May 3rd? Do you really think a 1 time all star that played 2 stints with Seattle around a few years with Kansas City is going to cause fans to feel bad for his loss? They're already celebrating the fact that Jayson Werth took his over-priced talent to Washington and isn't doing well (.230 with 4 home runs, 8RBIs, and 27 strikeouts).
The Phillies are more concerned about not having Chase Utley and Dominic Brown than not having an aging outfielder that has been on the decline for ages with a few years of over-achievement. To this, I knew what was coming, but alas, the guy in my fantasy league that begged me to have Ibanez (I wouldn't budge - I'm not known for giving in when I know that I'm right) wanted to pretend differently (even though he tried to pass him off like a free T-shift giveaway that nobody really wants (but you can use it to wipe off your car oil after you change it!).
The reality is that of the 2 choices for what this blog today is, it's all about what Ibanez isn't and that he should go the way of the dodo bird. In this, I'm not alone - Eric Seidman of ESPN concurs with me as he says, "These are all signs that point to the end of a player's career. Ibanez will undoubtedly have a hot streak or two this season wherein Phillies fans and fantasy owners will convince themselves that he has regained his stroke. The streaks are temporary fixes, however, like using a piece of gum to plug a hole, and before we know it the Ibanez who looks his age will be back. Other players may have been prematurely written off in the past, but the same cannot be said of Ibanez. Practically everything he has shown so far this season suggests that he has reached the end of his career."
The only question is when can the Phillies get their injured players back and when can they start dealing with other teams that have called the game early?
And let's be honest - there aren't many teams ready to call their seasons (Houston and San Diego are about it, and even they aren't THAT FAR off of the .500 pace that could take them back into contention). Hell, even Kansas City and Pittsburgh are playing competitively.
Which really says we are in new baseball times.

Jason Kubel

Sometimes, the difference is one moment - or in the case of the game between the Twins and White Sox last night, Jason Kubel hitting a solo home run in the 4th inning off of Edwin Jackson. Jackson had a really good game... 6 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Francisco Liriano had a better game. He also had 2 strikeouts, but he went 9 straight zeroes on runs and hits. While he let up a base on balls for every hit that Edwin Jackson had, he still gets the no no and the win while Jackson takes the loss.
In the end, it's the first of the year, and so we continue the decade of the pitcher (even if the Angels dynamic duo just got beaten up on by the Red Sox - the only team that they can tame; well, really, they own the Angels).
And on this rainy Wednesday morning, Liriano is now 2-4 with a 6.61 ERA. His ERA prior to this game was 9.13. His ERA hasn't been better than 7.40 ALL SEASON! In fact, he was so bad, I got rid of him from my fantasy team after 2 games. Sure, last year, he was great again (I turned down a trade to ship him out), something we talked about on this site already, but last year is last year.
At one point, the Yankees drooled over him and thought about getting him. As Phil Hughes turned into mystery arm problem man (0-1, 13.94, and 3Ks in 3 games), things looked really problematic in da Bronx. Then, Bartolo Colon came along and made everything better (2-1, 3.00, and 38 whiffs), which means that he is having a year that made fans remember his Cy Young year (2005). So whether or not the Yankees want him with CC putting 14 batters on base in 7 innings and blowing the game last night to the Tigers remains to be seen, but as long as Ivan Nova isn't great, it's a possibility - unless Freddy Garcia continues to think it's the first half of the decade as well.
Nevertheless, when a player has one good game in a year (albeit a great game), it tends to make all the things that haven't gone well (or at least close to expected) better and leave a permanent highlight as it will be forever immortalized in Cooperstown. That said, it might not be enough to keep a career going (see Len Barker), but yeah... there is upside to being traded or signed to a team that is investing in long since dead players (see Mark Prior) AND that means that said players can end up in the playoffs deep into October (as opposed to getting bounced in the first round because your reliever (uh, former closer) sucks to begin with (and more so after the injury).
So here's to the moment of greatness. Now, let's carry it through to resurrect the rest of the Twins season.

Shin Soo Choo

So OK, you're Manny Acta and your Indians are literally kicking everyone's butt in the American League (the League of Champions). You're gunning for the former manager of your team's new team in the World Series because you've literally pulled a red hot start of the season out of nowhere and surprised the entire baseball world (if you don't know, you're obviously not following the standings). You're off to the best start in baseball (20-8), and you have to deal with one of your stars / idiots getting a DUI (over 2x the legal limit) in the midst of your best season since Ricky Vaughn, Jake Taylor, Willie Mays Hayes, Roger Dorn, and Pedro Cerrano.
This isn't some schlub that decided to put the key in the ignition after having a few too many - this was a star on the South Korean team when they won the gold medal in the 2010 Asian Games, which got the whole team dismissed from having to serve in compulsory military service (taking up a gun for the country in Korea is pretty much a necessity with Kim Jong-Il being their neighbor to the north). This is a guy that the team counts on for offensive production while ensuring that their fans (the few who show up for games) can have his likeness on a bobblehead.
So what do they do to make ammends? First, there is the "heartfelt" apology to all of his team:
"I am hopeful that this incident will not be a distraction to the Indians organization while we remain focused on continuing to play winning baseball."
But is this enough? We have to face the fact that he's the 6th Major Leaguer since January 1st to have a DUI (the Braves already have one of those to deal with from Derek Lowe, who just compounds that team's off the field problems), and that's saying something.
We have to wonder what it takes for athletes to realize that they're our idols, sure, but we're not bending over backwards to please them.
But alas, the world just isn't that smart right now. Take the case of the Texas cheerleader that the Supreme Court wouldn't hear (how it got past the school's problem solving capabilities is beyond me, but alas...). The cheerleader in question was 16 years old and had been assaulted by Rakheem Bolton, a basketball player who took a misdemeanor for his rape of her (I'm sure the anger management classes helped), and she was now being asked to cheer him by name as he stood on the foul line. She made a moral case of not cheering him because of the things that he had done to her, and the school told her to cheer or that she was finished with participating on the squad. In the end, she was kicked off the team and filed a lawsuit against the school, which she lost in federal court on the grounds that she was a mouthpiece for the school as a cheerleader and was cheering him for the school - not herself.
Were there ways to deal with this? Yes. Tell her to go to the bathroom if she wants to "sit the play out." Create a level of solidarity with the gals on the team. After all, this should be women defending women's sexual dignity (even as a man, I know what this dignity SHOULD mean). But no... everything's dumber in Texas (and Colorado - gotta love what passes for terms of endearment from former CU President Elizabeth Hoffman).
And was there ways to make Shin act like a responsible adult? This would have meant that Bud Selig took action on Miguel Cabrera, Adam Kennedy, Derek Lowe, Austin Kearns, or Coco Crisp. If there's no precedent, there can't be future punishment.
With management like Bud, do you ever wonder how there was a steroids era in baseball?