Good Job Giants.

I’d like to acknowledge the 2010 San Francisco Giants for winning it all this year. After the Yankees were eliminated, I hoped they would win. And they did.

It does come as a shock to me though. I mean, who would have predicted this in the preseason? Who would of even predicted it at the start of the playoffs? All the Giants really have is Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum and Pablo Sandoval. I doubt this will happen again next year. And that’s not saying that they were the 69’ Miracle Mets. Not that much of a miracle. Well, so much for Nolan Ryan getting champagne.  

Sad…

Today is a sad day for this blogger. The Yankees are out of it. I kind of knew it was coming. So, I hope the Giants win it all. Lincecum needs a ring. BUT YOU DON’T JOSH HAMILTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Suppose I’m Satisfied

When I went to bed in the sixth inning of Saturday night’s Yankee game, they were down five to zero. I thought it would be a loss and that we’d have a comeback in game two. Then, on Sunday morning, I woke up to watch the news with my mom and what do you know? I look on the ticker for the final score and find that they beat the Rangers six to five. So I am happy and surprised and having a better morning then usual, when later that day, the Yankees lose game two, seven to two. So I guess I’m happy with the ALCS so far, considering we got a free win yesterday and a loss today. Not so sure how Monday’s going to go though, considering it’s Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte on the hill. But Andy’s very good at home so I think it could be an exciting game. Hope the Giants win the NLCS on the other side of baseball.

A New Era Has Begun!

The Texas Rangers are in the ALCS, the Angels didn’t make the playoffs, weird stuff happened with the Padres that nobody can explain, and the Orioles are going to be a third place team next year! Why, what is going on?

It was really about time for the Rangers, who with Josh Hamilton heating up and Cliff Lee in Texas, it was bound to happen. I see them winning the AL West next year also.

Hooray! The Angels are out of the playoffs! Am I the only one board of seeing them represent the west every year?

I don’t know what happened with the Padres, but I can say it definitely won’t happen next year.

And why, you wonder, does Nickie think the O’s will be at third place in the east next year? Because at the the end of the year Buck made them play like winners. Nobody expected that.

And that’s my little update on what’s going on.

I Have Decided It’s Time For Me To Discuss The Cy Young and MVP Awards.

It is about time isn’t it? So, I begin with the NL Cy Young.

The NL Cy Young is in my opinion much easier to see into the future with than the AL Cy Young race. The candidates are…

Tim Lincecum of the Giants who won in 2009 and 2008 and he’s been an all star for the past three years. This year he has a 3.72 era in the 26 games that he’s played and is 11-8 with 173 strike outs. He’s not exactly having his best season ever. He may look a bit odd while pitching…

but he is quite a pitcher.

The next candidate is Josh Johnson who is 11-5 this year with the Marlins and he has a 2.27 era. He I believe is neck and neck in this race with Ubaldo Jimenez, but Ubaldo will in the end win it, because he’s 17-4 with a 2.66 era and is just pitching spectacular this season. The other candidate is Roy Halladay who will win if something bad suddenly happens to Ubaldo because he’s 16-8 with a 2.16 era.

The AL Cy Young

This race is much more hard to predict, but I have to say although Phil Hughes of the Yankees and David Price of the Rays are considered in the race, this one is definitely going to end up as either CC Sabathia winning as I hope will happen, or Clay Buchholz winning.

Clay is leading the league with a 2.26 era, and has an ok win total with 15-5.

CC is leading the league in wins, 17-5, and games started, 27. He has a decent 3.02 era and I hope and think will win it this year.

 

The NL MVP

Albert Pujols. That’s all I have to say on the matter. If you disagree, check out his stats

The AL MVP

Miguel Cabrera. And if you disagree, check out his stats

The Yankees Should Trade For “King” Felix Hernandez

Why? So he doesn’t pitch two hit, eleven strikeout, complete game shutouts to them like he did tonight! That’s two complete games in a row against the Yankees. Cliff Lee last night, and King Felix "(as the Yankee announcers call him) tonight.

Think about it. The Mariners need offense, which the Yankees have, and the Yanks need a better pitcher then Javier Vazquez, which the Mariners have.

The Yankees could give Brett Gardner, Nick Johnson, Javier Vazquez, (they have to get rid of him some how!) Chad Huffman, and possibly some cash. The Mariners in return would give King Felix, who would take place of Vazquez in the Yankee rotation.

This trade makes perfect sense to me! The Mariners are trying to get rid of Cliff Lee, so why not get rid of Hernandez instead, and make the team be able to score more runs with more offense. I should be GM for the Yankees someday. General Manager Nickie…that sounds cool!

What Year Is It In The AL?

Everything has changed completely from last year. It is all so unpredictable! Let me show you what I mean.

The AL East.

The Yankees of course are leading the way, they are 45 and 27. In the beginning of the year though, it looked like it was 2008 again when the Rays were in first place, and it still could be because the Rays are on fire in second. After the Rays are the Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Orioles who are all having different seasons than last year except for the O’s.

The AL Central.

The central is pretty much last years central, except for the fact that the White Sox have gotten reasonably better and the Indians reasonably more worse than they were last year.

The AL West.

The Rangers are surprisingly in first with an eleven game winning streak even though they are currently for sale. After them are the Angels, A’s, and Mariners who have been a complete disaster because of their lousy offense this year.

The AL Wild Card.

Tampa Bay leads that race, and I have a feeling it will take them to the play-offs at the end of the year, not the way they’d prefer to go to the postseason though.

So back to what I was saying before, I have no idea what year it will turn out to be like in the AL. Some of you are probably thinking " It’s 2010! Forget about past years! “ Well, I won’t forget about the past years! Because I have noticed that every year in baseball turns out very similar to another year by how the teams all do. You will see what I mean at the end of the year. You just watch.

I Kind of Feel Bad For Steven Strasburg…Just A Tad

The poor guy was the first round draft pick…that’s a lot of pressure. He may even know that he’s not the Nolan Ryan of the future that everyone thinks he is. Everybody is expecting great things from him. And in my opinion, the draft should not be how people rate players.

Here’s what I mean. Tim Beckham was the first round draft pick of 2008 and he’s still in the minors. Yet, there was a pretty big deal over him to. This is him.

The 2007 first round pick was David Price. He’s currently pitching for the Rays, and he’s 8-2 so far this year. Pretty successful for the Rays. Anyway, there are some big names in baseball that weren’t in the first round. Nolan Ryan was drafted by the Mets in the amateur draft of 1965 in the twelfth round by the Mets. You’d think he’d be a first round pick with his career numbers. So basically, the draft is just a lucky guess of weather the player will be good or not, and if he’s not, he is used in a trade. I do not believe the draft really makes a huge difference in teams very often. Sometimes it does, but usually not.    

Hey Mariners! You Should’ve Signed Matsui While You Could Have!

You sure did make a big mistake Mariners, because now that Ken Griffey Jr. is gone, you could really use a good DH. A lot of people were expecting you to signed him in the off season (including me) but you did not!

And although you have two great pitchers in Cliff Lee

and Felix Hernandez

Your new current DH, Mike Sweeny, is not batting nearly as well as Hideki Matsui.

Let me tell you the stats:

 

Mike Sweeny batting average .258

Hideki Matsui batting average .259

Mike Sweeny home runs 6

Hideki Matsui home runs 8

Mike Sweeny RBI 16

Hideki Matsui RBI 32

Mike Sweeny hits 23

Hideki Matsui hits 50

Mike Sweeny runs scored 11

Hideki Matsui runs scored 17

In Mike Sweeny’s defense, he has only played 27 games, and Hideki Matsui has played 55, so Hideki has a bit of an advantage, but you still should have signed him! I rest my case.

I Really Hope David Huff Is OK

This Yankee fan just witnessed the scariest baseball hit ever. Alex Rodriguez just nailed David Huff straight in the head during the Yankees vs. Indians game. David Huff fell down right away and had to be carried out of Yankee Stadium on a stretcher. It was so gruesome I’m not going to put a video of it happening because I wouldn’t want you to be sick. Even the replays were scary. If you really want to see it, it’ll probably be on Sportscenter tonight. I won’t be watching.

The First No-Hitter

So, the first no-hitter of the season has finally arrived! From a very unexpected pitcher. Ubaldo Jimenez tossed it out on Saturday against the Braves at Turner Field. It was the first no-hitter in Rockies history, and I think it will be the last of the season for the Rockies, but I do think the Rox will win the National League West this year, mostly because of their starting rotation. They have Ubaldo Jimenez,

  A 26 year old righty who’s pitches often hit the 100 mph mark.

They have Aaron Cook,

a 2008 all-star.

Plus, Jorge De La Rosa

Who had a 1.378 WHIP last year.

And they have Jason Hammel

who should really be in the bullpen because he’s 17-24 in his career.

And not a bad lineup I suppose. Anyway, the Rockies will win the NL West this year. And I’ll be the only one expecting it. I won’t be wrong.

Opening Day?

So I heard today that the Yankees will be playing the Red Sox on opening day. Not just opening day for the Red Sox, but opening day for Major League Baseball. This struck me as strange because the Yanks and Sox have only faced each other on their own opening days 29 times before. Never on the MLB’s opening day. The record for this opening day rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees is 18 wins for the Yankees, 10 for the Red Sox, and one tie. This made me think “I wonder what would happen if these two teams faced each other on opening day, with their best players on the team in the team’s history.” So I made up an all star lineup for each team. (Babe Ruth is not in it because he was on both teams.)

                                RED SOX                         

Starting pitcher: Dick Radatz

A terrorizing pitcher from 1962-1966 Dick Radatz had a career 2.65 ERA.

Catcher: Victor Martinez

 

Sure, he may not be the best catcher in Red Sox history, but you can’t keep a guy with four MVP’s out of the lineup can you? Plus, he’s a switch hitter.

First Base: Mo Vaughn

 

328 home runs and 1,064 RBI’s? How many other first baseman's have done that?

Second Base: Dustin Pedroia

OK, he’s only played for four years. But in those four years, he has a .307 career batting average, an MVP, a Silver Slugger, a Golden Glove and two all-star appearances. 

Third Base: Mike Lowell

 

A good third basemen, and the MVP of the 2007 World Series for the Red Sox.

Shortstop: Nomar Garciaparra

No doubt Nomar is the best at short in the history of the Sox. No doubt at all.

Left Field: Duffy Lewis

Played with the Sox from 1910-1917 and had 1,248 hits with the Sox.

Center Field: Tris Speaker

A flat out amazing player, he was part of the “million dollar outfield” with Duffy Lewis and Harry Hooper.

Right Fielder: Tony Conigliaro

Although he only played 876 games, he did get two MVP’s.

                                    YANKEES

Starting Pitcher: Whitey Ford

One of the Yankees many retired numbers, Whitey Ford is a very popular Yankee, and a Hall of Famer.

Catcher: Yogi Berra

 

A 15 time all-star, Yogi is one of the best catchers in history.

 

First Baseman: Lou Gehrig

 

One of the greatest first basemen of all time, the iron horse has 11 MVP awards, and is a 7 time all-star.

Second Baseman: Robinson Cano

 

Though many people have doubts about Robinson Cano being the best Yankee second baseman ever, he sure shows good stats.

Third Baseman: Alex Rodriguez

The youngest player EVER to hit 500 home runs, a-rod is a strong possibility for the hall of fame.

Shortstop: Derek Jeter

The greatest shortstop in Yankee’s history without a doubt, Derek Jeter has the most hits in Yankee’s history with 2,747, 11 MVPs, 10 all-star appearances, 4 Silver Slugger awards, 4 Golden Gloves, and he won rookie of the year in 1996.

Left Fielder: Mickey Mantle

 

One of the most loved Yankees, Mickey was a powerful switch hitter and great outfielder from 1951-1969.

Center Fielder: Joe DiMaggio

 

With 361 home runs, Joe DiMaggio is a Yankee legend known even by Yankee-haters.

Right Fielder: Roger Maris

A four time all-star with 275 home runs, Maris was one of those under-estimated Yankees.

 

So that concludes my dream roster that I’d love to see in action, if that were possible. I just wonder who would win. Hhmmm…

Johnny or Curtis?

So today the Yankees played the Tigers…or should I say Johnny Damon played Curtis Granderson. I say so because secretly, all the Yankee fans have been wondering ‘is Curtis Granderson really worth Phil Coke?’ and ‘Johnny might be better than Curtis, I mean Johnny was an experienced veteran and was good in the lineup.’ Meanwhile all the Tigers fans have been wondering ‘No more Curtis Granderson, do the Tigers have a chance at all this year?’ and ‘Johnny Damon? He’s too old to play anymore!’ But today was the day that the Yankee and Tigers fans realized the truth. And it pains me to say it, being a Yankee fan and all, but it seems the truth is that Curtis Granderson is worth more than Phil Coke and Johnny Damon put together. And also that Johnny Damon probably should have retired. Sorry Yankee and Tigers fans, but it is the truth. I mean look at Johnny Damon in a tigers uniform,

it looks odd and unusual doesn’t it? And Curtis Granderson in a Yankee uniform,

well, that looks a little odd too. I guess I’m just not used to it. We’ll see how the season goes, maybe I’ll be wrong. Anything’s possible.

The 2010 Season

Well with less than a week until the first spring training game, I think everybody is getting excited in baseball, including the players. Take a look at how thrilled they look.

I’d be shocked if I found out that you watched that whole thing without falling asleep. My point is, everybody is making such a big deal about spring training this year and they all seem to think that the players are as pumped up as they are. These guys are in the MLB, they do this every year!

No more Tom Glavine?

Well, Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves has officially retired. I am quite upset by this. I mean the guy did play for twenty two seasons and all, but I’m going to miss him. Though I’m not a Braves fan, I sometimes watch replays of old world series, one of those series being the 1995 world series, which he was the MVP in. Sure, I knew it was coming, but it’s still a bit of a downer for me. So I found a few photos of Tom Glavine, and put them together below.

Photo from cdn.picapp.com

Photo from sportsmemoribilia.com

Photo from sportsmaven.files.wordpress.com

Yes, he was on the Mets too.

Photo from assets.espn.go.com

Photo from media.scout.com

And if you’re wondering why I miss Tom Glavine, it’s because he was a pitching genius with 305 career wins. But, there’s still some pitchers in the league that I’ve been watching lately. Ricky Romero from the Blue Jays seems like a real future prospect to me.

Girls Should Play Baseball

I had a request in the comments for a post on girls playing baseball. I found that no girl ever played in the major leagues, but that there was quite a famous girls league during World War Two. Take a look:

 

I also discovered that there was one girl in the Minor Leagues that struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back to back. Here’s the story.

In 1931 the owner of the Southern Associates AA Chattanooga Lookouts, Joe Engel, signed a 17 year old pitcher named Jackie Mitchell. On April 2, 1931, Chattanooga played an exhibition game against the Yankees. The manager, Bert Niehoff, began the game with Clyde Barfoot, but removed him after he gave up a double and a single. Niehoff put in Jackie Mitchell, who was to face Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Tony Lazzeri. She threw the Babe ball one, then two strikes that he swung at, and a third strike that he looked at. Then came Lou Gehrig who swung at all three of her tricky little curveballs, and went back to the bench. Then came Tony Lazzeri who walked, at which point Niehoff removed Mitchell and put Clyde Barfoot back in. The Yankees ended up winning, 14-4. When I first learned all this, a thought to myself, there are men to this day who can’t even strike out a bench warmer, men who won’t even give girls a chance to prove that they can play ball, and yet, those men know on the back of there minds that there was a girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and still they won’t give girls a chance to play real baseball. And I think the girls of the world deserve a chance. A chance to play and live up to Jackie Mitchell, because really, how many pitchers do you know of these days that might’ve been able to do what Jackie Mitchell did? To strike out two of the greatest hitters of all time.There really isn’t a written rule that states that girls can’t play in the MLB, but every time you mention it to someone high and mighty in baseball, they just laugh at you. Always. But, girls and baseball have made progress. There have  been some female major-league umpires, and here’s an interview with a particularly famous one

here. Hopefully, there will be more girl umps in baseball in the future, and maybe even girl players.

Target Field

With so many things going on with free-agents this off season, everyone seems to be forgetting some of the other excitements of the winter in baseball. For example, I haven’t heard anyone mention the Twin’s new ballpark that will open on April 12. It’s a mystery to me why I haven’t heard anything because it is going to be the Twin’s sixth ballpark since the team started as the Senators. And it’s the first field specifically made for the Twins. 

Picture from TwinsBobbleHeads.com

Pretty nice stadium right? Of course everybody’s going to make a big deal out of it once the season starts, but I’ll be the only one who talked about it before hand. Maybe I haven’t heard about it because I don’t live near any Twins fans? I don’t know. Here’s a little history about the Twin’s old field, The Metrodome.

• The Metrodome opened officially in 1982
• The Vikings and Twins wanted a new stadium since the early sixties, but the city of Minneapolis rejected for years
• It cost The Industry Square Development Corporation 14.5 million dollars for the land where the Metrodome is
• Construction on the Metrodome started in December, 1979

And so, I still wonder why I haven’t heard anything about the Twin’s new stadium. The Twins must feel so unpopular right now.

Carlos Ruiz, still a Philly.

Yesterday the Phillies signed Carlos Ruiz to a three year contract extension for 8.85 million. Now Ruiz seemed like a very decent player to me, but personally, I think the Phillies have gone a little crazy trying to sign and resign all the same players that have been on or are on the team. For example, they also recently signed Chad Durbin, Shane Victorino, and Joe Blanton. It seems to me that they’re going crazy trying to make the perfect team for this year so they’ll win the World Series. Thing is though, they don’t need the perfect team. They won the National League Pennant two years in a row and won the series in 2008. They already have a great team if they accomplished that. Nobody’s going to want to play them anyway especially since they have star pitchers Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. Here’s a look at Carlos Ruiz from photobucket.com

 

So, the Phillies may have gone completely wild, but Carlos Ruiz was a good choice for a catcher.

Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire, though not getting into the Hall of Fame this year, is still receiving a whole lot of attention at the moment. Why? Because he just admitted taking drugs for over ten years of his record-breaking carrier. He must of thought that it was a perfect time to admit it, because he didn’t get into the Hall of Fame, so nobody would have really cared what he was up too since he didn’t get in. Well, he must not have thought about it much. In my opinion, it was a pretty stupid move admitting it now, when he’s going to be the Cardinals hitting coach this year, and if he does a good job at being a hitting coach, he might have gotten into the Hall next year if he didn’t admit it.

I mean really, everyone suspected that he did take drugs, otherwise he might be in the Hall of Fame by now. Look at his stats, by admitting it now, he probably made a whole lot of people forget about his stats and start thinking about his drug abuse. This video is pretty much what I think of him.

     Video from ESPN.go.com

You have to admit, Mark McGwire was a great hitter, being number eight on the all-time home run list and all, but we can all agree now that Mark McGwire wasn’t the good man we all thought he was.

Andre Dawson

It is now official. Andre Dawson, age fifty-five, has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. A great player from the beginning, his major-league debut was September 11, 1976 with the Montreal Expos. Some of the accomplishments in his career are 2,774 career hits, 438 home runs, and 1,591 RBI’s. Also, eight golden glove awards,(playing center and right field) and  he’s an eight time all-star. He got 79.9% of the votes to get into the Hall of Fame, making it in by a landslide.

Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven came close to getting into the Hall, but Dawson finally made it in. It sure should be interesting to see him take that podium in the summer and see his plaque go in. I always thought that Dawson would make a good coach though, but he never did coach.

There’s no doubt about it though, Andre Dawson will be remembered for a long time for his great statistics and love of the game.        

 

 

The 2010 Hall of Fame contenders

Once again the Hall of Fame contenders have been picked, and some good names are among them. The names are: Roberto Alomar, Harold Baines, Bert Blyven, Andre Dawson, Andres Galarraga, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Tim Raines, Lee Smith, and Alan Trammel. Some names to watch for are Don Mattingly, who’s been a contender ten times. Also, Mark McGwire, who is number eight on the all-time home run list and has been a contender four times now.

I actually went to the Hall of Fame myself in November and I highly recommend any baseball fan to go there because it really is a great place. The town itself is sort of in the middle of nowhere, but other than that it’s a great place and it really gets you in the baseball mood and there are some great baseball stores around the town of Cooperstown.

So with that, the Hall of Fame contenders seem very decent this year and those contenders lucky enough to get in the Hall of Fame will be announced on January sixth. 

Jason Bay

Jason Bay

Now we all know Jason Bay was a great name with the Sox, and a big name in the league. The thing is though, everyone is questioning if he will hit well in Citi Field. In my opinion though, I don’t think there is question at all about him hitting well at Citi Field. He is a good hitter, and good hitters can adapt to a new park. The guy did hit 36 homers last year and 119 RBI’s. Sure he may have a little slump at the beginning of next season, but only because he’s not used to Citi Field, which is very big, but he is used to a small field (Fenway Park) with a wall twice the size of the average left field wall. (The Green Monster.) And because of this, all the MLB reporters have gone totally overboard and poor Jason Bay probably has loads of pressure on him.

I also believe the Mets made a wise decision in signing Bay because they need a lot of additions to their lineup this year and a power hitter playing left field is a good place to start in my opinion. I’m also wondering if the Red Sox are planning to try and get Johnny Damon back in there lineup this year, him being a free agent and all. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to sign him to a four year deal because that’s what he wants from the Yankees. But, that’s another article. For now, we will see what happens with Jason Bay, and his deal with the Mets.

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