As usual in these situations, I’m going to cut to the completely unjustifiable chase.  We’re not getting the All-Star Game in 2012.  Kansas City is getting it.  I’ll give you a moment to recover from the shock before I continue, because believe me, this was one seriously twisted shock.  Okay.  Apparently, Kauffman Stadium recently completed major renovations.  How nice for Kauffman Stadium.  It’s brand-new, nice and clean, and very fan-friendly.  Congratulations, Kansas City; now Kauffman Stadium is just like every other ballpark that completes major renovations.

Just to review, the reason why we wanted the All-Star Game in 2012 is because Fenway Park will turn one hundred years old.  The oldest ballpark still in use in the United States of America will commemorate a century of baseball.  America’s Most Beloved Ballpark will celebrate its one hundredth birthday.  Think about what Fenway Park has seen in that time.  It’s seen the Royal Rooters, Tris Speaker, Duffy’s Cliff.  It’s seen Joe Cronin, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski.  It’s seen Nomar Garciaparra, David Ortiz, 2004, and 2007.  It’s seen a team of royalty followed by a team that committed cruel and unusual losses year after year after year, followed by royalty’s return.  If there is a structure in this country that embodies the history of the game of baseball within its very foundation, it’s Fenway Park.

And Fenway Park was denied.  Why? I have no idea.  What, they can give it to New York because it’s the last year of Yankee Stadium but they can’t recognize that America’s Most Beloved, and oldest, Ballpark will turn a century old? I mean, okay, so Kansas City hasn’t had the All-Star game in forty years and Fenway last had it thirteen years ago, in 1999 when none other than the Splendid Splinter threw out the first pitch.  But Fenway only turns one hundred years old once in a lifetime.  Kansas City could’ve gotten it in 2013.  In fact, it would’ve been okay by me if Kansas City had it every year for another forty years if only we could have it this one time.  Something just doesn’t seem right here.  I think I speak for all of Red Sox Nation when I say that we are extremely and profoundly disappointed and extremely and profoundly confused.

Zack Greinke won the AL Cy Young.  I’ll be very interested to see how he pitches next year.  I don’t think he’ll be as effective.  But I do think Josh Beckett is in line to have a break-out season so dominant that not even CC Sabathia can squeeze past him in the Cy Young voting.  Tim Lincecum won it for the NL, becoming its first repeat winner since Randy Johnson.  Andrew Bailey of Oakland and Chris Coghlan of Florida were the Rookies of the Year.  Mike Scoscia and Jim Tracy of Colorado were the Managers of the Year.  I don’t think I would’ve picked Mike Scoscia.  In my mind, there were three managers this year who faced significant uphill battles and who powered through them: Terry Francona, and then Ron Gardenhire and Ron Washington.  Terry Francona managed us through a lack of shortstop, the entry of a new starting catcher, a decline in the playing time of the team’s captain, a very public steroid scandal, and the worst slump in the career of the figure at the heard of said steroid scandal.  True, every manager deals with things behind closed doors, but what makes Tito’s job so difficult is that those doors are never closed completely.  It’s the nature of sports in Boston.  Gardenhire took the Twins from zero to one-game-playoff winners without Joe Mauer in the first month of the season, Justin Morneau in the last month, or a particularly effective bullpen.  And Washington almost made it to the playoffs this year without big-name talent.  All I’m saying is that, if the award goes to a Manager of the Year within the Angels organization, it should have gone to Torii Hunter, not Scoscia.  He was the real force in that clubhouse.  MVPs will be announced tomorrow.

Again, not much in the way of business yet.  Jason Bay rejected a four-year, sixty-million-dollar offer in favor of testing the free agent market for the first time in his career.  He’s Theo’s priority, though, and I still say he’ll end up back in Boston.  The Cards have already stated that they’re not interested, preferring Matt Holliday instead.  But I think this has the potential to be one of those long, drawn-out negotiations.  By the way, let’s not forget that Jermaine Dye is also a free agent.

We released George Kottaras, who has been claimed by the Brewers.  PawSox manager Ron Johnson will be our new bench coach.  We’re reportedly interested in Adrian Beltre, and we claimed reliever Robert Manuel off waivers.  Before the offseason is done, we’ll probably re-sign Alex Gonzalez and add a low-risk, high-potential starter.  Remember: in an economy like this, you do not need to, nor should you, empty your pockets to win a World Series, no matter what the Evil Empire might assume is the best practice.

Congratulations to John Henry on winning the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship.  Again, corporate social responsibility in this day and age is the way to go.  Unfortunately, though, ticket prices are up this year.  About half the seats were increased by two dollars, including the infield grandstand, right field boxes, and lower bleachers.  The field and loge boxes and Green Monster seats and standing room were increased by five dollars.  The outfield grandstand and upper bleachers weren’t increased.  Whenever you hear about price increases or decreases for tickets at Fenway, remember to always take them with a grain of salt.  Obviously we’d prefer a price freeze, but how many of us really purchase our Fenway tickets at face value anyway? I’m just saying.

So, as per usual this early in the offseason, we have more wait-and-seeing ahead.  Theo never reveals the tricks he has up his sleeve, so that’s really all we can do.

The Bruins suffered a particularly painful loss to the Islanders, 4-1.  I’d rather not talk about it.  We did best Atlanta in a shootout, though, and we eked out a win against the Sabres in sudden death.  That last one was particularly heartening, being that the Sabres are first in the division.  For now.  We’re only two points behind.  And now for the grand finale, let’s discuss Bill Belichick’s oh-so-positive judgment call on Sunday.  In the fourth quarter with a six-point lead, the Pats had the ball on their 28.  Tom Brady’s pass was incomplete.  With two minutes and eight seconds left on the clock, Belichick decided to go for it.  But Kevin Faulk fumbled the ball, and suddenly it was fourth and two.  Needless to say, we lost, 35-34, to the Colts, who are still undefeated.  I mean, it’s a tough call.  Belichick made the same decision against Atlanta and we won.  Then again, we had the lead, we had the time, and we had an opponent that wasn’t Indianapolis.  It was just bad.  It was just really, really bad.

Sawxblog/Derek Hixon

Looks like KC will host the 2012 All-Star Game. If true, then that means Boston couldn’t drive fah enough to score the wicked cool game. Too bad, Sully. The least-represented team in that game, sadly, will be the Royals.

Headed into the weekend, I want to start sharing the AFL videos I’ve promised more of since posting the one of Tanner Scheppers. Today, let’s look at Boston’s Dustin Richardson. Richardson is a 25 year old (turns 26 in early January) lefty with a very live arm. As is often the case with huge arms in the minors, he also struggles with his control. He was a reliever when he first got to the Red Sox organization in A-Short Season before moving to the rotation for all of 2007 and 2008. Despite a better than 9.0 K rate, he was destroyed once he left the comfort of A-ball, posting a 6.33 ERA in 22 starts at AA-Portland.

This facilitated a move to the bullpen in 2009 where he pitched 74 innings, 63 of which came at AA-Portland. With Portland, he struck out 11.4 per nine innings while walking 5.7. He held a 2.70 ERA, but his WHIP was 1.30 because of all of the walks. He got a quick stint in AAA-Pawtucket where he continued to blow batters away (13.5 K/9) and cut his walk rate down to 1.7 BB/9. Of course, a 10-inning stint tells us next to nothing so I wouldn’t put a lot stock in it. Walks have been the culprit in his 10-inning stint in the Arizona Fall League, as well. He has 14 strikeouts against seven walks resulting in a 6.52 ERA and 1.97 WHIP.

Check out his interesting delivery:

I’ve been to parties.

What happens at these things is that somehow the conversation can turn towards work because people really do define themselves by what they do.  Unfortunately, some professions aren’t that exciting or some people don’t have interests that are as easy to share in the context of a party.

As soon as people find out that I have been in nightclubs, entertainment, events, booze, etc. they want to know what some of my favorite things are.  And, as far as tickets has gone, what have been some of the best events or games or what have you that I have been to.

So here is a short list of a couple of my all time favorites:

2000 All Star Game in Seattle:

You know the one, where A-Rod moved Cal Ripken Jr to shortstop in his last All Star Game.  The one where Tom Lasorda went ass over tea kettle on a foul ball.  The one that had 8 Mariners in the game, at their home stadium, as the M’s were on their way to tying the all time record for wins in a season.

That was a great game and a great day.  I lived in Seattle at the time.  The city was jumping because of the Mariners, the All Star Game and the economy was skipping right along.  Everything was great in Seattle and this is one of my favorite games.

Game 6 New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 2005 ALCS:

This was the Curt Schilling game.  The bloody sock.  A-Rod slapping the ball out of the first baseman’s hand.  The strange thing is, I had a great time and barely saw any of the scoring because the lines at the beer stand were so long, but the buzz at the old Yankee Stadium was always just electric for these kinds of huge games.

Pearl Jam Night 1 Madison Square Garden 2003:

The November before I had moved to NYC from Seattle.  I had seen Pearl Jam a number of times over the years: Ft Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia and, even, Long Island.  This was the first time I had seen them in NYC at the Garden.  This was also the first time they had been in NYC since 9/11 and it seemed like the band wanted to try and heal the wounds of the entire arena with the show that one night.

In that way that if you have ever been to a really, truly, awesome show, game or whatever and you can feel the energy in the air, taste it on you tongue, whatever, that was this night at the Garden.  PJ played for about 3 hours, the bootleg was 3 discs, ripped up a lot of the songs you would know, even if you aren’t a Pearl Jam fan, brought out Ben Harper and had the stage shake beneath them for one of the few times in Garden history.

Awesome!  Awesome!

Those are three.  I have more that I really fondly remember and that are still vivid in my memory, but I actually have to look up dates just to make sure I don’t flub anything on them.

Until later,

Dave

As always, thanks for visiting “Raging Against the Dying Light,” all dozen of you. ( : I have a lot of loose threads in this one, my main articles for November and December are in formation and so now’s the time to spew out what I refer to as a “Geek Diatribe” to touch on all the incomplete facets of interest I write about on this site. This time it’s all light too, no politics or religion!

First off, the 2009 Baseball season is over. I find it a very depressing of an end at that…I’m not a vehement Yankee hater, I have extreme love for the history of the team and readily admit the talents and watchability of most of the current Yank roster, but I always have a bit of anger over the unrestrained budget the team has to work with and the idea that they can “buy’ the championship…and the fact that A-Rod alone earns a higher salary than several combined teams. So, there’s always the hope that they will be shutdown and it will be proven that money can’t suppress the drive to overcome that thrives in the underdog teams; the Phillies would have been a much more satisfying win. But the whole thing got me thinking about the structure of the current season; it’s November, and Baseball is just now wrapping up. It’s cold, grey over much of the country and well on the way to winter. Now, I never thought I’d specify that the season should be shorter since Baseball is really the only sport for me, but the season should be shorter! It’s a spring and summer game, and the now extended season length drags it into competing too heavily with football broadcasts and ticket sales, and the game just doesn’t seem appropriate this time of year for whatever reasons. I say, start it in early spring as is done now, start the post-season in September and have the World Series the first week of October. Anyway, as many people thrive for the play-off season when things heat up, as fun as that can be I prefer two other key baseball phases—the opening game through the first two weeks of the season and the events of and games leading up to July’s all-star game and home-run derby. A lot of this ties in with many of the teams still having a shot, but just as much at factor is the time of the year and the way it perfectly fits with the game. I imagine football fanatics feel the same way about fall and February.

Item two on the geek docket is the best music of the 2000s. I’ve pretty much got the 50 picked out for albums and almost for songs, I just have to properly rank them which requires listening to them and making the call on order. It’s a compulsive geek trait for any type of list like this, but you can’t just arbitrarily throw them together. There’s a distinctive reason why item A is at 17 and item B is at 16…or at least there should be. As I was working on my list I noticed that “Paste” magazine already has their “50 albums of the 2000s” on their site. I really like “Paste” and they’ve turned me on to a lot of good music over the years, but their list was off (in my mind) on several accounts—for one thing, it’s early November, there’s still 2 months of music yet to be released. Related to that, their “Best of ‘09” list isn’t up yet—it seems fairly backward to sum up a decade before the last year of the decade. As to the selections, there’s the obvious nerd-centric private idols that the publication adores and will rank highly and mention continuously even if no one else does as highly—everyone does this, my lists are guilty of it as well. “Paste” is very noticeable for adoring a core 5 bands that can never do wrong, as is Rolling Stone and AMG and it’s interesting because these core 5 never overlap in the same regard between these publications. That’s a very signifying factor that when it comes to art and pop criticism, there is no great science. There may be general critical consensus that something new and groundbreaking is “excellent” but it often differs from group to group and certain styles and personalities latch on to certain sounds. I won’t ruin the article for you, but the #1 album of the decade for “Paste” sums up their stance and personality as a publication, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m pretty sure my “1 choice does the same thing for me, as will RS and AMG’s. Another observation on “Pastes” selections is that they was heavily eschewed towards music made by bands established in the ‘00s, with a few ‘90s bands new work thrown in but very little attention paid to career artists releasing very notable work in the decade. No mention of critically acclaimed and massively entertaining work by Dylan, Young, Springsteen, U2, etc. Jazz, Hip Hop and Blues were almost completely overlooked as well, and although Indie is a major focus for “Paste,” they’re an eclectic publication so I expected more variety. The 2000s, looking at them as a whole, may very well have produced the bulk of music that will stay with me the longest. I was a junior in High school at the beginning of the decade and as it draws to a close I’m a first year grad student working on a Masters. In between there was college, work, marriage. I’ve moved several times and grown a lot, and the music I’ve heard that’s stuck with me from each phase of this decade is formative and memorable. Granted, most of my all time favorite albums were made long before this time, but there’s something to be said for what was new and vibrant amidst the average, waiting just to be found.

On to the next one; I always cap up the year’s best in graphic art and prose– comics and graphic novels—with a top ten list at the end of each year as well. This year has been phenomenal with trend breaking literate work in Graphic Novels- – “Asterios Polyp” by David Mazuchelli, The illustrated book of Genesis by R. Crumb, pretty much the entire Vertigo monthly catalogue, creator owned and controlled titles by Jeff Smith and Terry Moore (“RASL” and “Echo,” respectively) and notable work from indie publishing houses IDW (“Locke and Keye“), Boom Studios (“The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh“), etc. As far as mainstream work, generally meaning the “big two” (Marvel and DC), it’s become clear that despite cornering 65 percent of the market and being host to millions of loyal fans who refuse to read books published by anyone else, Marvel is far inferior to almost every other publishing company, especially DC. It just hasn’t been Marvel’s year. They sell out to Disney for a big paycheck. They opt for raising the majority of their titles to a higher price point– an entire dollar more, making most of their mainstream titles 3.99, a price DC reserves for special events and “important” stories. Unlike Marvel, when DC charges 3.99 they provide ten additional pages of story as well as better paper and ink quality. Marvel heads (here’s looking at you, Joe Quesada—by the way, stay retired from penciling, your art is atrocious) originally stated that this was the result of a tighter economy and to combat mounting paper costs but later Quesada admitted in an interview that it was really because “this is a business” and they wanted to see how much profit they could make if the cost of the titles continued to go up and sales didn’t dip accordingly. To make matters worse for Marvel, their output hasn’t been good enough to justify such tactics anyway. The only really smart move they’ve done recently is re-tool “Amazing Spider Man” last year, shedding the excess titles, hiring a great staff of rotating writers and artists for it, releasing it thrice monthly and generally making it the best popcorn, fun-for-everyone-over-13 book as possible. They have even (thus far) kept it price-pointed at 2.99 and the stories from it all year have been great escapist fun. Other than that, they’ve consistently dropped the ball. Big tie-in events and mini-series? DC’s “Blackest Night” is far better than Marvel’s “The List” or whatever they’re calling it now (since it’s an ever continuing fall-out tale from last summers “Secret Invasion” which was far inferior to DC’s “Final Crisis” at that). Thor? An Eisner-winning surprisingly smart book by Stracinzski is now moving on without Stracinzki and staying at 3.99 (without the extra ten pages). Then there’s the it-just-won’t-die slew of “Marvel Zombies” mini’s that get worse with each sequel. Or dumb ideas like “Marvel Apes” or “X-Babies.” There’s the never-reveal-the-ending-to-the-mystery compost-heap “Hulk,” which gets ever more ridiculous and stopped being fun half a year ago. They were building up steam with “Uncanny X Men” each issue after 500 then lost it having each issue be part of an asinine tie in to an asinine concept series. The only other worthwhile Marvel title right now is “Fantastic 4,” while DC has been on a run with their mainstream work as well. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank are producing the best Superman mini in years, “Secret Origin,” and their entire run on “Action Comics” was terrific last year. Since Batman’s death, every tie-in Bat title has been excellent., notably, “Batman and Robin,” with Grant Morrison and initially Frank Quietely but “Detective Comics” as well if only for J.H. Williams III’ impressionistic and unconventional art. “Green Lantern” and every “Blackest Night” tie in has been great sci-fi and “Wednesday Comics” was a truly original and successful idea. Of course, “JSA” has fallen off and “JLA” seems to never work, but the point is that much of their mainstream work is great and most of it is approachable and more affordable than their competitions. Most importantly, where DC has it’s “Vertigo” imprint which puts out a lot of great, intelligent adult-geared work and DC utilizes that imprint heavily, Marvel’s “Icon” imprint which allows creator funded work to be released doesn’t get nearly enough emphasis. “Criminal” by Brubaker and Phillips is back again with another miniseries, and it’s great. “Kick Ass,” is always fun whenever Mark Millar bothers to get it out (he’s late on everything lately), but what else does Icon have? And why no funding from Marvel? Why not more emphasis?

Okay, last up (and briefly) is “The Wire.” Harvard recently announced a college course that will utilize “The Wire” in its curriculum. If any show has ever been worthy of this, it’s this one. The smartest, most important and best produced television show of all time. Five seasons, so check them all out. That’s all for now.

I’ll get to my argument soon, but first a historical analogy:

It was September 1, 1939 and Poland was pissed.

The Germans began an unprovoked show of aggression, invading the Polish border with the ridiculous notion that world domination was their destiny.  The Nazi decision makers decided that Poland would be the first rest stop in this ambitious journey.  So the Poles did what any nation with an ounce of pride would do:  they pooled their resources and mounted a counterattack.

There was, however, one smaaaaall problem.

Those ‘resources’ that the Poles gathered was little more than a bunch of dudes on horseback with pistols and pitchforks; the kind of offense one uses to scare Frankenstein back to his castle.  In contrast, the Germans represented their cause with a healthy arsenal of tanks, planes and other heavy artillery.

Edge:  The Nazi War Machine.

Wait a minute.  You thought you clicked on a post about baseball, right?  If you are still reading to this point, bear with me.  Flash forward to the present day:

The winter meetings for Major League Baseball are upon us.  You know, those critical hot stove meetings that determine the direction of the sport for seasons to come?  Those conferences held by team owners and general managers that the casual fan casually ignores as they are still basking in the afterglow of the World Series?  Anyone?  Anyone?

There is more to these exclusive pow wows than just a bunch of MLB executives sitting around eating lobster tail in between rounds of golf at a swanky country club.  Decisions are made, coalitions are formed and the future of the game is determined.

This year, it is the humble opinion of the proprietors of Bacon Makes It Better that the status of the Designated Hitter be thoroughly evaluated (listen up National League).

To connect the historical analogy at the top of this post, the National League is to Poland as the American League is to Germany.  The difference between the two factions are their choice of weaponry:  The National League, by way of preserving tradition, insists that the pitcher bat for himself.  In contrast, the American League line-up is armed with a skilled hitter batting in the pitcher’s stead.

By giving into this romance with the preservation of baseball history, the National League give themselves a competitive disadvantage in head to head competition against their American League counterparts.  But don’t take my word for it; the statistics tell the most compelling story:

1.  Since the inception of interleague play in 1997, the American League has won 1,673 games to the National League’s 1,534 wins in straight-up competition.  That’s a difference of 139 games– almost an entire single season’s worth of games.

2.  The last time the American League lost an All Star Game was in 1997.  They enjoy a 12-0-1 record in the last 13 mid-season classics.  That is pure domination.

3.  Since 1997, the American League has won 8 of 13 World Series match ups– five of which were four game sweeps– against the National League.  The National League has not won consecutive World Series since they ran off four in a row from 1979-1982.

The disparity in competition between the two leagues hinges on their biggest difference:  the designated hitter position.

The appeasement of its fan base in their appetite for offensive baseball prompted the American League to introduce the designated hitter position into the game in 1973.  The American League first used their new gimmick as a spot to keep aging stars in the line-up (i.e. Minnie Minoso, Al Kaline) in a blatant attempt to boost fan attendance.

Soon, managers began to utilize the rule change for its original intent.  Offensive numbers became bloated like a distended beer gut.  Jim Rice, Frank Thomas and Harold Baines brutalized pitchers and redefined the position.  In 1995, Edgar Martinez became the first DH to capture a batting crown.

Adaptation being what it is, the American League pitcher was forced to evolve or risk extinction.  The result is a different brand of hurler who is accustomed to formidable batting line-ups and resistant to an offensive outburst by the opposing team.  AL pitchers attack hitters with aggressive pitching as they need not bat for themselves in the next half inning, thus avoiding any retaliation.

So focused are National League pitchers on their craft that they neglect batting practice.  The byproduct is the predictable bunt or strikeout in the 9th position of the NL scorecard– NL teams give away FOUR FREE OUTS per game.

It really should come to the surprise of no one that when the two leagues meet in direct competition, it is reminiscent of a chainsaw to a 2 x 4, advantage battle-hardened AL team.

Hold on baseball purists.  I understand the arguments against the DH.  I consider myself to be one of you.

I long for the original aspects of the game when strategy mattered and specialization was a communist idea.  I love timely pinch-hitting, hitting behind the runner, getting the bunt down, taking on a 3-0 count, getting the runner over, six-out saves, taking on a 3-1 count, three-man pitching rotations that pitch on three days and throw BP side-session in between.

But Hideki Matsui was just named World Series MVP (those damn Yankees), more proof that the designated hitter is not going anywhere.

I used to believe that the Wild Card would destroy the game.  It has since proven to be the best thing since the Iced Coffee with Vanilla Powder at the Coffee Bean Tea & Leaf (easy ice).

National League, it is with great reluctance that I type these words:  it’s time to evolve.  Give the DH some consideration.

Stop bringing a knife to a gunfight.

As long as the World Series lingers (thank you, Phillies), I’ll continue to give myself permission to post about baseball.

In 1977, the All-Star game was played at Yankee Stadium. My brother Sam and I, along with my friend Kurt Nunez, decided to get bleacher tickets. So we hiked up to the Bronx in the middle of the night to be one of the first people on line. To make sure we got seats for what felt like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience.

The plan worked.

I don’t remember much of the game (though I do remember those long droopy mustaches, like the pitcher is sporting in the poster to the right). But I do recall batting practice. We got to the stadium early enough to watch the players hit moon shots into the stands.

I remember in particular Fred Lynn, the often-injured but perennial all-star center fielder for the hated Boston Red Sox. During his batting practice hacks, Lynn lofted a ball that seemed to be coming right at me. It landed a few rows in front of where I was sitting, close enough for me to rush to the spot, close enough to spot the ball on the cement floor, close enough to see someone’s hands wrap around the ball, then hold it aloft like a trophy.

Lynn was a defensive standout and had an amazing rookie year in 1975 for the Red Sox, winning both the Most Valuable Player award and Rookie of the Year. What I remember most about Lynn, though, is not his grace or his power, but the formidable outfield he was part of, an outfield that included Jim Rice, one of the great and consistent power hitters of our generation.

They were an interesting combination, Lynn and Rice – who both came up in 1975 as rookies. One white (Lynn), the other black (Rice). In Boston, players have said, being black was not always conducive to kind treatment. Boston, after all, was the last team to integrate, and that came about in 1959, a full 12 years after Jackie Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

That was the narrative I knew as a kid – that Lynn somehow received favorable treatment compared to Rice because he was white.

Rice later claimed none of this was true. So maybe the New York media got it wrong, played a racism angle to stoke our hatred of Boston, which Mayor Ed Koch once derided as “that town.”

All that was forgotten, though, in the moment that Fred Lynn’s ball arced into the sky and then grew larger as it – much to my amazement – headed right towards me.

Jayson Werth continues to mash

Fire up that shower, Manny — this one is over. For the second straight year, the Phillies sent the Dodgers packing in the NLCS, cruising to a 10-4 win tonight to grab a spot in the World Series. Jayson Werth got Philly on the board with a three-run bomb off Vicente Padilla in the first and put it to bed with a solo homer — his fifth of the postseason — in the seventh.

Joe Torre’s decision to start Padilla over Game 1 loser Clayton Kershaw proved costly. After scoring three times on Werth’s homer in the first, the Phillies tacked on another run in the second on Pedro Feliz’s solo shot and a pair in the fourth on a Raul Ibanez RBI double and a bases-loaded hit-by-a-pitch by reliever George Sherril. Philly’s first six runs were all charged to Padilla.

So, it’s back to the World Series for the Phillies, where I’m hoping more than anything that Facepaint Guy will make a glorious return. Man, watching playoff games just isn’t the same without a creepy guy covered in red staring right back at you. If you’re out there my good man, please, please make a comeback. Those fake umpires that keep showing up at Jays games could learn something from you on how to sit behind the plate and be cool.

The World Series, by the way, tips next Wednesday, likely at Yankee Stadium, since the American League won the ever-important All-Star Game and every Los Angeles Angel not named Jeff Mathis forgot to show up for ALCS.

Having a family and all that goes with it (read that laundry!!!) I rarely get to blog on Saturdays.  I just browsed the newsflash and saw this little ditty on American Thinker.  Enjoy.  And send your patriotic friends!

October 10, 2009

Other Awards Obama Deserves to Win

David Hass
After 11 days in office, President Barack Hussein Obama was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. This is obviously now a meaningless prize. So, what other meaningful prizes does President Obama deserve to win?

The Cy Young Award for throwing the first pitch at the 2009 All Star Game that almost reached home plate. The Tour de France for riding his mountain bike around Martha’s Vineyard without a helmet.

The Nobel Prize for Fiction (shared with William Ayers) for inventing a compelling character named Barack Obama in Dreams From My Father who bears no resemblance to the man the world has come to know.

The Emmy Award for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Obama’s hysterical performance on the creepy David Letterman’s show.

The Goldman Environmental Prize for producing more carbon dioxide with Air Force One than any other President in their first 10 months in office. We now know that carbon dioxide helps the earth, contrary to the supporters of the hoax of man-made global warming. The trees thank you President Obama!

The BET Humanitarian Award for intervening in the racial profiling of the Cambridge, MA, Police Department. Oh, wait, there was no racial profiling by the police, no matter, give the President the award anyway. It will inspire him to do more in the future.

The 2016 Olympics Gold Medal for the new event, The Foot In Mouth Competition.

The Nobel Prize for Economics for destroying an economy faster than any other leader in recent history.

People Magazine’s Worst Dressed Celebrity for the homey outfit President Obama wore at the All-Star Game.

The Bill Clinton “Is is” Big Lie Award for saying that illegal immigrants would not be covered under Obamacare, and then painting Joe Wilson out to be a liar when he shouted “You lie.”

The Benito Mussolini Create a False Crisis Award for: 1) rushing the $787 billion Porkulus bill through Congress even though most of the spending wouldn’t occur until the second year; 2) rushing through the bailouts and illegal bankruptcy proceedings for Chrysler and GM; 3) trying to get the Cap and Trade bill through Congress in 3 weeks without public debate; 4) trying to reform America’s health care system in three weeks without public debate. Never let a crisis go to waste, even if you have to manufacture a crisis.

The Nobel Peace Prize for … uh, he actually won this one. Oops.

http://wp.me/pzfHB-eI

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Friday MLB Playoffs Free Picks

This park just screams over and if you had the under in the first game you had to feel like that you got lucky. On Friday this game will go over the total. For the Yankees A-Rod has busted out of his funk and has Kate Hudson watching

Kate should see some runs scored on friday!

and Derek Jeter is the real Mr. October there is not going to be any shutouts. For the Twins they finally have some rest and will face AJ Burnett and he has never made a start in the post season so jitters should be worthy of a few runs. Chuck Meriwether is behind the plate and he has had more overs than unders this year. In an interesting side note when he works a game that is posted at 10 the over is 5-2 in the last 4 years. The Over is 27-9-4 in Twins last 40 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600

Free MLB Pick: Yankees/ Twins Over 10

Friday College Football Pick:

This line has jumped so high because Nevada is one of the better home favorites in the country and La Tech has problems coming off of big wins. Nevada is 21-9 ATS in the last 30 games as home favorites and they have owned the Bulldogs. The Wolf Pack has cashed three of their last four against Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs have been muzzled in 11 of their last 12 ATS off a double-digit ATS conference victory. Take the home team on Friday night before this number gets any higher.

Free College Football Pick: Nevada -10.5

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Red Sox @ Angels

The big story is the fact that the Angels seem to have a problem beating the

Lester takes on the Angels

Red Sox in the playoffs but if they are ever going to have a chance to do it, now is the time. The Red Sox are under .500 on the road and Lester has been hittable for the Red Sox.

Lackey goes for the Halos and he has had a tough past against the Red Sox. Lackey is 3-7 with a 5.25 ERA in 14 regular-season games against Boston, and winless in three post-season matchups. Lateley he has looked better and hopes to go deep enough to keep the bullpen out of the gate.

The key to this game is the bullpens. The Angels have the highest bullpen ERA off all the AL playoff teams at 4.49

Boston has won its four previous series and has a 13-4 edge over the Angels in the postseason. The Sox have won 12 of the last 13 games and before losing Game 3 last year in Beantown, had won 11 in a row. The Sox have done well in this spot of late. The Sox are 9-4 in their last 13 as playoff chalk, 6-1 in Lester’s last seven outings as a favorite of up to $1.50 and 13-5 as road favorites overall. The Sox are 47-16 this year as a favorite and 28-4 off 5 or more home games. The Red Sox know it’s important to win this game to get in the head of the Angels and steal home field advantage.

Free MLB Pick: Red Sox -110

Colorado @ Philadelphia
Free MLB Pick: Under 8.5 +105

Another solid lefty for the Phils should keep the runs down and the Rockies counter with an excellent pitcher in Cook. Look for another low scoring game.

MLB Triple header Playoffs!

Bet on the MLB Playoffs here!

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Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies

The Rockies made another great run to reach the post season and we all remember what happened the last time they did this; they went all the way to the World Series. Ubaldo Jimenez starts for the Rockies and if you look at his last three starts you will see that he has better numbers than the starter for the Phillies, Cliff Lee. Lee was a great pickup for the Phillies but he has shown some weakness down the stretch and the Rockies have some great matchups against left-handed pitching. This pitching matchup and the edgein this game is too the Rockies. The Rockies are 6-1 in Jimenezs last 7 starts with 4 days of rest and -1 in their last 7 vs. National League East. The Phillies are 1-4 in their last 5 games following a win and 1-4 in the last five against teams with a winning record. I am not sold on the bullpen for the Phillies and look for a win by the underdog Rockies.

Free MLB Pick: Rockies +118

St. Louis Cardinals @ Los Angeles Dodgers

Will Wolf howl in the playoffs?

The Cardinals bandwagon is full but it’s the Dodgers that had the quick start out of the gate and the impressive season. While the edge in pitching goes to the Cardinals it may not be as lopsided as you think. Carpenter had a CY Young season and good luck trying to find a problem with him. However if Randy Wolf can pitch a decent game and keep this close the Dodgers have a chance. As a southpaw he has a very nice chance. The Cardinals hit just .233 overall on the road against lefties and come in at 2-8 in the last ten games. The Cardinals are 1-7 in their last 8 games as a favorite and the Dodgers are 29-14 in their last 43 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. Take the home team Dodgers in this game.

Free MLB Pick: Dodgers +128

Houston saw an unprecedented construction of sports stadiums in the first decade of the 21st Century. Other cities can now boast three “new” stadiums for baseball, basketball and football, but no city opened them up like Houston did from 2000-2003. It was because of these three new buildings Houston was able to host some of the country’s most important sporting events. Again, no other city in the country hosted the a Super Bowl, World Series, MLB All-Star Game, and NBA All-Star Game in such a small amount of time. These events created an unprecedented opportunity for Houston, a city that garnered little attention, to showcase itself in a multitude of ways.

Minute Maid Park
Opened: March 30, 2000
Capacity: 42,000
Replaced: Astrodome (capacity 54,816)

My first experience with the new generation of ballparks was the Ballpark in Arlington. While the Astrodome always possessed a certain amount of charm, it was nothing like the home of the Texas Rangers. I was thrilled when plans were finally set for the Astros to get a new ballpark. When Enron Field opened in 2000, I couldn’t wait to get in. However, I must admit a tad bit of disappointment. I guess I was a victim of my own high expectations. Nevertheless, as I started visiting the park more, it has set up a very special place in my heart. From the Crawford Boxes to the odd little mound called Tal’s Hill in center field, and (who could forget) our ubiquitous little choo-choo and it’s load of pumpkins, er, I mean, oranges.

After the collapse of Enron, Minute Maid stepped bought the naming rights, and changed the name to Minute Maid Park. A better name, don’t you agree? Although the name change gave root to its nickname as The Juice Box. In 2004, Minute Maid hosted the MLB All-Star Game.

This event was held a little over a year after Houston hosted the Super Bowl at Reliant Stadium. It was around this same time that I heard rumors Major League Baseball was considering making the World Series a travelling sports spectacle much like the Super Bowl. Houston’s impressive showing at this All-Star Game put the city on the short list for the first such event. Now I don’t know what happened with this particular idea, but Houston did get to host the Fall Classic the following season when the Houston Astros faced the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 World Series. The Astros were swept in one of the closest championship series, 7 run differential, in Major League Baseball history. I was incredibly upset when the ‘Stros were swept. Not because we lost, no, I have never been prouder to be an Astros fan than that particular summer. I was upset because I knew the sweep would mean that great team, who took this city on a wild ride, would be roundly forgotten in the annals of baseball history. Unfortunately, 2005 remains the last truly magical season for the Astros as they haven’t been back to the post season since. In any case, Minute Maid Park remains one of my favorite places to cheer a Houston team to victory.

Reliant Stadium
Opened: August 24, 2002
Capacity: 71,500
Replaced: Astrodome (capacity 62,439)

In my opinion neither of the other two new stadiums have had as great an impact as Reliant Stadium. Reliant is arguably the best of the three stadiums in its respective league. It’s mere existence is a testament to how Houston conquered the city of Los Angeles for the 32nd, and final, NFL franchise. I must digress because this is one of my favorite Houston stories. The National Football League had originally awarded its last franchise to the city of Los Angeles. At the time, it made sense, LA over Houston. Major market vs. mid market. Hollywood vs. well, the Ship Channel. However, the ownership team from Southern California ran into insurmountable financial and political hurdles to get the team off the ground. In stepped Bob McNair, who not only had the means to afford the NFL’s immense ownership costs, but had the political backing to get a new stadium built. It is for this very reason that I would place Mr. McNair in any Top 5 list of influential Houstonians in this decade.

Before we get to the stadium, I must also point out the greater victory represented in the victory of Reliant’s construction. Reliant is bigger and better than the home of Bud Adams’ Tennessee Titans. It is the most delicious of ironies Houston was not only able to right the wrongs at the hands of Bud Adams, but we built something he always wanted, and could never have in Houston.

So, let’s talk Reliant. It hosted the NFL’s greatest spectacle, Super Bowl XXXVIII, where the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers. It was also the Super Bowl that will always be synonymous with the term wardrobe malfunction. Ah, yes, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s infamous halftime show.

Trivia Time: Did you know the now famous nipple shield she was wearing was purchased at Erotic Caberet, in Montrose natch.

Some would argue the Super Bowl was the only time Houstonians have gotten an opportunity to see good football. Yeah, yeah I’m currently down on the Texans myself, but that is for another post. It should be noted Houston will host the 2011 Final Four and is attractively positioned to play host to some part of FIFA World Cup should the United States win its bid to host the worlds greatest sporting spectacle in 2018 or 2022. Of course, those events are in different decades, and thus irrelevant to this post. However, it is a testament to the high quality of Reliant Stadium that Houston has won or is even a part of such conversations today.

Reliant is also the site of what I believe to be one of the most excitement developments in Houston, the Texas Bowl. Believe it or not, Houston has a very rich bowl history. No, we’ve never seen the height of a Rose Bowl or even the Cotton Bowl of our enemies neighbors to the North. And, we really did kind of screw it into the ground with all that Gallery Furniture.com (Sorry Mr. McInvale) and EV1.net Bowls. However, and again credit to Bob McNair, the NCAA realized how important it was to have a bowl game in Houston, particularly in a stadium like Reliant.

So, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Houston was granted the Texas Bowl. I think we can all agree the name and logo are much better than the aforementioned incarnations. The Texas Bowl has a home field advantage over other bowls because of Reliant. All it needs is more support from the city of Houston. There, that is my gratuitous please for the day.

I could go on about how much the stadium has meant to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, but you get the idea. Reliant Stadium is good people.

Toyota Center
Opened: October 6, 2003
Capacity: 18,300
Replaced: Summit/Compaq Center (capacity  16,285)

Of the three new stadiums, Toyota Center is the one I have visited the least, but it might be my favorite. Its predecessor, The Summit, will always have a very special place in my heart. It was home to the Houston Rockets two championships in 1994 and 1995, and I own a piece of its original floor.  Despite the nostalgia, I never quite enjoyed attending games, whether they be Rockets or Aeros, particularly after they changed the name to Compaq Center.

When I visited the newly opened Toyota Center, I knew immediately what Houston had been missing. THIS was a basketball arena. As I said, I haven’t been to many Rockets games in the new arena, but everyone one of them has been fantastic. There is an electricity in Toyota Center that I never felt in the Summit.

I’ve always been intrigued by the quirky fact Toyota Center has the largest lower bowl seating of any arena in the country, giving Toyota Center a unique home court advantage. The Rockets have wisely banked on that tidbit, making their fans the centerpiece of their marketing campaigns. Toyota Center is built to give the fans a chance to alter games. If you don’t believe me, then I will point you to games 4 & 6 of last year’s second round series against the NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. I would put those two games in the Top 10, maybe even Top 5 greatest games in Rockets history. There was absolutely no reason the Rockets would have been competitive, let alone dominant, after Yao Ming went down with an injury after Game 3.

Toyota Center was also responsible for giving Houston the opportunity to host the 9th Annual Latin Grammys in 2008.

In the end, the Latin Grammys are a perfect example of how special these three buildings have been to the city of Houston. Together, they opened Houston to the world. Houston may never have the opportunity to host this many high-caliber events in so short a time again. But  as we look to the future, we will move forward with our heads held high because we will know we opened our doors to the world with a smile.

And the world smiled back.

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Detroit @ Minnesota

Current Line: Minn-163 / 8.5

Twins and Tigers play in a one game playoff

After a full season of baseball it comes down to a one game playoff game to see who wins the American league Central.

After a full season of baseball it comes down to a one game playoff game to see who wins the American league Central. It all comes down to one game in Minnesota. Rick Porcello will go for Detroit and face Scott Baker for the Twins.  Baker didn’t allow an earned run in five innings after struggling against the Tigers earlier in the year. He’s posted a 13-3 record since June and leads the club in wins with 15. Porcello has registered 14 victories for the Tigers in 2009. He has pitched his best baseball down the stretch, going 5-2 with a 3.19 ERA since August. While he has posted two strong efforts at home against the Twins this season, Porcello has a 6.30 ERA in two starts at Minnesota.

Look for a lot of runs to be scored as both pitchers can give up some runs and both bullpens are not perfect. The Over is 8-2-1 in Tigers last 11 games following a win and 4-1 in Porcellos last 5 road starts. The Over is 6-1 in Bakers last 7 starts vs. Tigers and 17-7-1 in Twins last 25 games as a favorite of -151 to -200

Play Over 8.5

Il fut un temps où j’aurai tué pour avoir un maillot de basket Jordan. Et je me rends compte que ce temps là est loin d’être révolu, surtout lorsque je vois l’édition collector réalisée par Mitchell & Ness du maillot porté par Jordan lors de son premier All Star Game, et présentée dans une boîte sublime célébrant l’entrée au Basketball Hall of Fame du plus grand joueur de sa génération.

1264 exemplaires numérotés (un par match joué au cours de sa carrière), 375 dollars, 17 ans à éclabousser les parquets de sa classe et de son charisme, le tout résumé en un chiffre culte: 23. Amusant, car c’est aussi le nombre de jours à patienter avant de mettre la main sur le maillot.

Via

Pour voir plus de photos de l’édition collector Mitchell & Ness du maillot de Jordan, vous pouvez cliquer pour

Easy with the knee, Agent Zero

So let’s get this straight — Gilbert Arenas, who signed a six-year, $111 million contract last summer with the Washington Wizards and proceeded to play in two of the team’s 82 games (after playing in 13 the previous season), is upset the organization. Say again?

Apparently Arenas, who has had three knee surgeries in the past year-and-a-half, is contending if he hadn’t worked with a personal trainer this off-season he’d still be sidelined, and it’s the Wizards fault for not providing means to get back to full health. Arenas worked out with Tim Grover in Chicago this summer and says he’s ready to go to work — “can’t nobody stop me now”, he claims.

Whether or not Arenas received proper treatment from the Wizards shouldn’t matter — he was the one hurt, he knew how he felt and if it wasn’t right he should’ve gone out and sought treatment earlier. Then to call out a team that has paid you $23 million to do barely anything the last two years? DeShawn Stevenson-esque move, if you ask me. (Pretty much anytime someone does something stupid, it’s fair to compare them to Stevenson, and it’s even more fiiting considering Arenas is his teammate.)

By the way, here’s a video of Arenas playing Russian roulette with his knee during a timeout at the 2007 All-Star Game — just two months before he fully tore his MCL. Not saying he tore it because of this, but it’s a bit of a risky move, especially for a guy like Arenas that’s so concerned about his well-being.

man plans, god laughs. that is quite a common adage. i had it planned perfectly. i had tickets to a yankees – angels game back in may and it was rained out, because $1.6 billion dollars will not buy you a roof over your head. this, along with the now infamous “wind tunnel” to right field field are the seemingly the only shortcomings to the new yankee stadium. now that the home run count (221 as of this writing) has exceeded the old yankee stadium total (with about 10 or so home games left on the regular season schedule), the wind tunnel will probably be extensively investigated during the off season. the game was rescheduled to monday, the 14th of september, so i got the tickets for the make-up game.

i know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows another guy who finally, after all these years, was able to get us tickets for the u.s. open men’s finals.  we had tried many times without success in the past, and had resigned ourselves to watching it on tv.  american express concierge service was as ineffective as the mets offense this year.  but, out of the blue, this guy came through.  we were finally going to the men’s championship round.  the timing was perfect.  the finals were scheduled for sunday the 13th, and the way the u. s. open had been going, it looked like a dream matchup….federer versus nadal.  these 2 had battled before and there was always an air of excitement  that somehow transcended their medium.  it was always like yankees-redsox, ali-frazier,and of course a little closer to home, sampras-agassi. as the matches prgressed through the first several rounds and the quarter finals, the stars were lining up perfectly.  then, without warning,  the stars became obscured by clouds……and rain…..and wind. we kept our eyes towards the skies on both friday and saturday as the players valiently tried to continue, but despite all their efforts, the final looked like it was going to be postponed until monday.  then, during the semi-finals, the unthinkable happened.  nadal lost to the # 6 ranked player.  a big, 20 year old argentinian named juan martin del potro.  it turns out that nadal had a partial tear of one of his oblique muscles, which caused him pain and restricted his movement.  neither of us had ever heard of del potro, but there he was in the final.   federer  beat djokovic to take his rightful place in the finals, but by this time, i had put my yankees tickets up on ebay, because even $1.6 billion dollars won’t buy you a clone, either.  the tickets were swooped up in a matter of hours, and in my ebay sale, i stated that i would email the tickets to the winning bidder.  unfortunately, as these were tickets to a make-up game, i could not email them.  ana had to schlepp to the winner’s home in staten island to deliver the tickets by hand.  this would , of course not have been that big a deal, but monday was the day that president obama decided to visit our fair city and that screwed up the traffic on the belt parkway.  ana still managed to get to staten island and back in time to see the williams sisters trounce their “opponents” in the women’s doubles finals.  each time serena wlliams would serve, people in the crowd yelled “foot fault”, in reference to her now-infamous meltdown during the women’s singles semifinals the previous day.

i worked half a day, then took the subway to willets point.  i figured that because the match was scheduled for monday, the crowds would be sparse.  boy, was i wrong! of course, the fact that it was 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky might have had something to do with it, but i was totally unprepared for the mob of people on the #7 train.  it looked like opening day at citi field.  opening day this year presented an omen that the mets should have paid attention to.  the very first batter to hit at citi field, the san diego padres’ leadoff hitter, jody gerut, knocked one of mike pelfrey’s pitches over the right field fence for an instant (and lasting) season long funk.

as the mob of people inched towards the gate, an interesting feeling settled on the crowd.  when you don’t have a vested interest in the outcome of a game or match, it is much easier to enjoy it.  when i watch a game between the yankees and redsox, (against my cardiologists strict orders, i might point out), every at bat is like a heart attack waiting to happen.  there is always so much riding on each game, each payer, each pitch!  last year, the all star game was held at the final year of the old yankees stadium.  the was a huge sense of drama as the best in both leagues prepared to do battle.   but there was something missing….the tension.  was that david ortiz and manny ramirez talking to, and joking around with derek jeter and mariano rivera?  it couldn’t be….and yet it was.  at the all star game, there was all the excitement of the world series, but none of the drama.  i have been lucky enough to have seen an all star game in both yankee stadium and, in 1964, its innaugural year, shea stadium as well.  i was too young then to appreciate what i felt now, but even my son, philip, who accompanied me said that it was exciting, but not interesting.

this same feeling was paplable in the throng as we entered the billy jean king tennis center at willets point. there was no tension because neither of the contestants was an american.  the matchup earlier this summer at wimbleton would have been a different story, as  andy roddick played federer, but here in arthur ashe stadium, there was no “home town favorite”. federer had faced del potro 6 times in the past and had beaten him each time.  of course, the journalists and pundits (i didn’t even know tennis had pundits) all pointed out that del potro took federer to 5 sets in the french open semi finals this year.  federer, it was pointed out, was the player with the most wins during the open era, and with his win at roland garros, he completed his career grand slam last year.  maybe, it was hinted, he didn’t have anything left to play for, maybe he was losing his fire, his edge?  we saw him at an earlier match, and it looked like he was just coasting. he defeated whoever he was playing seemingly without breaking a sweat.  as soon as he broke his opponents serve in the first set, he went in for the kill, and then won the match in straight sets. if you saw the penultimate point of his semi final match against djokovic, you saw someone at ease with being the undisputed number 1 player in the world.  but does success breed complacency? were the sports writers just trying to drum up excitement where there wasn’t any, or was this night going to be something special?

i  remember the fight between mike tyson and buster douglas almost 2 decades ago.  at the time, mike tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the boxing world.  he not only beat his opponents, he scared them.  they all saw what he did to michael spinks in91 nseconds of the first round with one punch.  spinks never fought again.  i saw that fight as well.  when spinks got hit, his eyes rolled up in his head as he fell, like something out of one of the “rocky” movies.   i didn’t know real boxers could hit that hard.  we thought that spinks might not ever regain conciousness.  i’m sure tyson’s opponents saw it too, and feared that the same fate might wait for them as well.  buster douglas, however, described as a “journeyman” (usually meaning mediocre, at best), despite tyson’s power and reputation, knocked tyson out in the 10th round and became the champ, if only for a short while.  before that fight, i remember reading somewhere that a boxing analyst predicted that whoever is going to come along and beat tyson probably hasn’t even been born yet.  remember that tyson was only 21 years old at the time. was it possible that something like that upset could happeen here? tonite?

by the time the first set was over, i was starting to get upset.  it took federer only 38 minutes to defeat del potro by a score of 6-3. ” i could have seen this and had enough time to get to the yankee game on time”, i complained.  ana, in her infinite wisdom, leaned over to me and whispered “shut up and watch the tennis”.  federer looked every bit the champ during that first set.  but del potro returned from having his first service broken and won the second set in a tie break.  federer came roaring back to take the third and was ahead in the fourth when del potro broke his serve and the ensuing tie break as well.  as the final set began, i had forgotten all about the yankees and angels because this looked like it might be one for the books.  federer had won here 5 times in the last 5 years and was going for a record 6th win in  a row.  by that 5th set,  del potro’s forehand had become devastating and federer was  sweating plenty by then. del potro broke federer twice in the final set to win the final set 6-2 and the championship to a standing ovation.  history had been made, but not a record breaking 6th win, an amazing first!

Recentemente anunciamos aqui no site que Houston seria sede do All-Star Game 2010 da Major League Soccer e hoje foi anunciado que o Reliant Stadium, com capacidade para mais de 70.000 pessoas receberá a partida. O estádio foi construido em 2002 e atualmente recebe jogos da NFL.

O All-Star Game em 2010 ainda não tem data e nem o clube que jogará contra as estrelas da MLS. Fiquem ligados na MLS Brasil para mais novidades.

I have to give the National League some credit on one thing –the only thing that separates it from the American League — the pitcher having to bat.  Growing up with the Rangers, it’s hard not to favor the DH.  Seeing more homers, more hitting, and watching the American League annihilate the National in the All-Star Game makes you think that the American League has a better system going, that they play the game the right way.  The National League hasn’t won the All-Star Game since ‘97, which is 13 years.  American League has won it 7 consecutive times though due to the tie in ‘02.  The point is that I agree with purists that pitchers should bat.  I know it’s not going to change, and I’m not going to change the team I root for just b/c of that rule, but here’s why I favor making the pitcher batt:

• Having to have the pitcher batt adds much more strategy to the game.  There’s much more emphasis on when you decide to pull your pitcher.  You have to think about when to pinch hitt and pitchers are forced to execute the bunt frequently which is a great team aspect of baseball.
• Also the total length of the game is usually shortened b/c usually the pitcher is close to an automatic out.  Baseball is a long enough game as it is.  Seeing a 10 or 15 run game in the National League is simply less likely to happen, and when I think of a good baseball game it’s going to have less than 10 runs in it.
• Finally, the pitcher being able to drive his own runs in and create his own lead makes the game much more wholesome to me.  A pitcher can be a hero from both sides of the field, just like any of the other 8 players.  If a pitcher is a good hitter in the National League (Hampton, Zambrono), he is rewarded, as opposed to the American where he is a no-factor on the offensive side.  I believe this also encourages more of a team spirit when a pitcher moves a runner over by bunting or picks up the guys on base by getting a RBI in a clutch situation.

On this Best Of episode of The Wheelhouse: Bower and “The Sweet Nasty” Chris Cause give you an entire show dedicated to the great american pastime, BASEBALL! Go back into The Wheelhouse vault and look back the boys 2009 MLB PREDICTIONS prior to the season, then check them out reviewing the MLB season at the ALL-STAR BREAK with Comedian Jimmy “Mr. Download” Failla and then we wrap up this special BASEBALL EDITION OF THE BEST OF THE WHEELHOUSE as Cause steps atop his soapbox to let you know how much he HATES the douchey cell phone guy that stands behind home plate!

Download the Podcast – HERE!

The Wheelhouse crew returns LIVE on Tuesday September 8th @ 8pm ET/5pm PT. Until then enjoy the LAST WEEK OF SUMMER with some of your favorite WHEELHOUSE MOMENTS!