The Wild Weekend Upon Us

The Wild Weekend Upon Us

This weekend features a slew of games with divisional and wild card implications. As a baseball fan, you couldn’t ask for anything better. You’ve got Yankees-Orioles, Rays-A’s, Indians-Tigers, and Cardinals-Pirates. The Reds also face an important series against the Rockies, 3.5 games back while the two teams ahead of them beat up on each other.

The two teams facing the most pressure this weekend are the Yankees and the Pirates. The Yankees sit 5 games back and need all the help they can get in addition to taking care of their own business. Considering all the injuries they suffered through during the season it’s a miracle they are even in this position. The Yankees-Orioles matchups are usually dog fights between two evenly matched teams and I expect this weekend to be no different. CC Sabathia needs to get back on track and be the pitcher he has been in the past if the Yankees want to have any kind of shot at the playoffs. He needs to step up big time tonight and set the pace for the rest of the series.

The Pirates are in very unfamiliar territory playing meaningful games as the calendar hits September. They were able to overtake the Cardinals for a stretch when the birds fell silent, but they have since fallen back into second place as the Cards have gotten hot again. The games are being played at PNC Park so you know the fans will be bringing their A game and will be out in full force to give the team that little bit extra it will need. If the Pirates want to avoid the one game playoff this is the series where they need to make a statement and build some momentum for the stretch run.

The Rays-A’s series will be an entertaining one for sure. They are the two wild card representatives in the AL at the moment and both are hoping the Indians, Yankees, or Orioles don’t sweep and really put a threat into their standing. Just like the Pirates fans, the Oakland fans will be out in full force and ready for the series. In my opinion Oakland has the best fans in the game. They are loud, creative, and have bonded with this team of non-superstars.

Lastly, the state of Ohio will be watching intently this weekend as their two teams look to make a statement. Cincinnati travels to Colorado and can keep their hopes for a division title alive by taking care of business. The Indians face a tough task with the Tigers and their pitching staff and I see them as the one team in the bunch who will play themselves out of contention this weekend.

Whether this weekend clears up the playoff picture or does even more to mess it up and throw it in shambles it will be exciting. Who will rise to the challenge? Who will falter? Buckle up and get ready for a tremendous weekend of action baseball fans.

What If?

What If?

Today we are going to ask a question that has become prevalent in the world of sports. What if? If something happened that changed the course of history or the outcome of a certain event, how would things be different right now? What would the after effects be? The specific what if question I would like to get into today is this, what if Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens didn’t hold the respective records for all-time home runs and Cy Young awards? Would we still care so much about the steroid era? Would we still ridicule and vilify them?

Before getting into Bonds, let’s go back a little further. The year was 1998 and the whole world was captivated by the home run chase of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Baseball was still digging itself out of the grave due to the strike of 1994 and this home run chase was the shot it needed (pun very much intended). Attendance, ratings, revenue, and general interest sky rocketed and baseball was back at the forefront. One of the coveted records in the game had a chance to be broken by not one, but two men. As we know both men broke the record, and later became embroiled in the steroid scandal, and it came out that both had been using performance enhancing drugs for years. The thing is though, we as fans had a sneaking suspicion while the chase was happening. We all were asking the question, but we were afraid of the answer. These men gave us a reason to get back into the game we all loved so much and reminded us why exactly it was we did love it so much.

Now fast forward to Barry Bonds. In 2001, he broke the record, now being held by McGwire, and once again the nation was captivated by what they were witnessing. This time, unlike in 1998, we weren’t captivated by popular, well liked players. Barry Bonds had always been a conceited, arrogant individual, so people weren’t excited to see him break the record. They were just captivated by the fact this performance was not at all humanly possible. How, at such an advanced age, could Bonds be putting up numbers the likes of which we had never seen? Of course it then came out that later in his career Bonds was using steroids and an already despised player watched his unpopularity soar to new heights.

Roger Clemens was just like Barry Bonds. He took the league by storm and put up numbers that were Hall of Fame worthy even before the steroids came in to play. He was also a conceited, arrogant individual who was not well liked, just like Barry. Fans watched in utter amazement as he dominated the competition at an advanced age, on his way to a record seven Cy Young Awards.

Here now is where the what if comes in. These two men own records in baseball history that are held in such high regard and thought of as bench marks for Hall of Fame candidacy and overall legacy building. What if they didn’t hold these records? They would still be unpopular because of the attitudes they played with but would we as fans be making such a big deal over the steroid era? Guys like Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi have admitted to steroid use but they don’t hold all-time records and are viewed as nice guys and good teammates. It’s almost as if they get a pass. As a Yankee fan, I worship the ground Pettitte walks on, so I’m just as guilty, but the fact remains he still used performance enhancers. What if Ken Griffey Jr. held the home run record? What if Greg Maddux or Randy Johnson won the most Cy Young’s? All three of those guys are clean as far as we know. No evidence has ever come out that they were cheaters. So, if they held the records would we really care as much about steroids? Who cares if guys cheated when the clean ones had all the glory.

I personally think the answer is no. When the cheaters were breaking records we were enthralled with their performances. No one gave a damn how they were achieving these feats. We wanted to believe they were innocent, but there was so much buzz and excitement that we took an attitude of let’s wait and see what happens. Why question it in the moment? It ruins everything. Questions should be asked later when it’s not as relevant. Well, when the news came out, these guys may as well have been Satan reincarnated because they were Public Enemy No. 1. If guys who were clean held these records it would be time to build shrines and pedestals to place them on. Take that cheaters, he didn’t need help to achieve greatness. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are not victims of circumstance; they’re victims of their own attitudes.

The Hit Machine

The Hit Machine

Last night we all witnessed an historic occurrence at Yankee Stadium. Some of us, myself included, were witnessing this feat for the first time in our lifetime. Ichiro Suzuki became just the third player in professional baseball history to accumulate 4,000 hits. Ty Cobb and Pete Rose are the only other two players to accomplish this feat, Rose being the last to do so on April 13, 1984, one year before this author’s birth.

Unlike Cobb and Rose, Ichiro did not get all 4,000 hits in the United States playing Major League Baseball. Playing professionally in Japan Ichiro totaled 1,278 hits, which some will hold against him when it comes time to his place in history. However, they couldn’t be any more wrong. No matter where you get some of these hits 4,000 is 4,000. It is an accomplishment to be celebrated and an accomplishment that could possibly never happen again in our lifetimes.

Ichiro made a splash on American soil debuting for the Mariners in 2001. Some believed he was too frail and wouldn’t be able to handle the 162 game schedule that comes with being a part of the American game and again, those people couldn’t have been more wrong. Ichiro set a rookie record for hits in a season with 242 and became the first player since Jackie Robinson to lead his league in batting average and stolen bases (.350 and 56 respectively). He would become an All-Star, win a Gold Glove, and win both the Rookie of the Year Award and the MVP Award. Not only that but he led Seattle to a Major League record tying 116 wins on the season.

Since 2001 Ichiro has made 10 All Star Games, won 10 Gold Gloves and 2 batting titles, proving that he is one of the greatest to ever step on the diamond. Always humble and not one to seek attention, Ichiro was visibly emotional when his feat was recognized by the Yankee Stadium faithful and his own teammates who flooded out of the dugout to congratulate him.

It has been a privilege watching Ichiro play, especially since joining the Yankees last season and seeing him every day. He is the consummate professional and a sure fire Hall of Famer. He may not like the spotlight and the attention but he is deserving of every bit of it.

Not Your Typical Hollywood Script

Not Your Typical Hollywood Script

The date was June 22^nd. The Los Angeles Dodgers were 30-42, 9.5 games back in the NL West with the worst record in the division. They played in San Diego that night with the seat being hotter than the Maxim 100 issue for Don Mattingly. The Dodgers took on massive payroll at the start of the year and were ready to be a top contender in the National League. It was looking like anything but up until that night when a funny thing happened….they defeated the Padres 6-1 and have not looked back since. Between June 22^nd and the All-Star Break on July 14^th, the Dodgers went 17-5, bringing them to the .500 mark. The few days off didn’t cool them down either because since the All-Star Break they’ve gone 23-3.

This feat is nearly impossible even with a healthy roster but the Dodgers have been ravaged by injuries all season, making this run even more incredible. They’ve barely gotten anything out of Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez missed time, and Zack Greinke broke his collarbone. These are not injuries that a team can take lightly, they are three of the highest paid players on the team and guys expected to make major contributions. Greinke and Ramirez came back from their injuries and have done just that, but the biggest reason for the turnaround is none other than Yasiel Puig. Puig came to the Dodgers and has lit a fire under everyone with his all-out fantastic play. He has swung a hot bat, shown to have a laser for an arm, and outhustled everyone by miles. He was the spark plug this team needed to get going. Seeing his play and effort makes teammates raise their game to another level in order to keep up. Puig probably won’t get the MVP Award because he hasn’t played a full season, he’s a rookie, plus he has a showmanship about him that crotchety voters won’t like, but there’s no question that the word valuable applies to him more so than anyone else in the National League.

Another fantastic Dodger is Clayton Kershaw. He is one of the front runners for the Cy Young Award and also has a chance to snag that MVP Award that should go to his teammate. His record is only 11-7 but that is through no fault of his own, that falls on his offense and their lack of run support for him. He has a Major League leading 1.88 ERA, which is almost unheard of, and is basically a guaranteed win every fifth day as long as the offense shows some punch. Coupled with Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has been a major find for the team and you have a capable staff to carry you into the postseason.

The rest of the NL West has collapsed while the rise of the Dodgers has occurred, allowing the Dodgers to most likely walk into the postseason without breaking a sweat down the stretch. The hard part is over for them and they can look forward to a postseason berth and a chance to prove all the prognosticators right when they said at the beginning of the season this was a championship caliber team. The lights will shine brightest in October in Tinseltown so let’s see whether this shooting star continues to streak across the sky or burns out too quickly.

 

Has Fredi Gonzalez Changed the Course of the Pennant Race with One Move?

Has Fredi Gonzalez Changed the Course of the Pennant Race with One Move?

The Atlanta Braves started off the 2013 season on a torrid pace and despite playing only .500 ball until recently have never been in danger. The rest of the NL East is so bad that a mediocre Atlanta team has run roughshod over the division. One of the main reasons for their tremendous start was the start of Justin Upton. He tore through the league for the first 20 games or so and Atlanta was looking like the best team in the game bar none. Upton began to cool down and Atlanta’s reliance on the long ball came to the forefront. If they weren’t hitting home runs, they weren’t winning, but again, none of that mattered because the division was so bad.

Over in the NL Central, the Cardinals, Pirates, and Reds emerged as the cream of the crop and were in a three way dog fight for supremacy. A funny thing happened though on the way to a Pittsburgh or St. Louis pennant celebration. The Atlanta Braves got hot once more. Justin Upton has been blue flame Bunsen Burner hot, and as he goes so do the Braves, but something else has helped turn them around, and the embattled Fredi Gonzalez deserves all the credit.

The Atlanta Braves do two things extremely well; they pitch and they play defense (despite having Dan Uggla with a glove out in the field). Starter, bullpen, or closer, it doesn’t matter, the Braves have guys who can continuously get the job done. Julio Teheran has been a revelation for this team, an under the radar arm just as good as the Harvey’s, Fernandez’s, and Locke’s. In a big game he should be the man to get the ball and have the chance to lead the Braves to victory. Craig Kimbrel has already put to bed the debate of best closer once Mariano retires and is as sure of a thing in baseball than anyone else.

There are some things the Braves weren’t doing too well also. First and foremost was their reliance on the long ball as mentioned above. Like the Yankees before them, they were a great team who lived and died by the home run. Lately however, that has changed. They have been getting clutch hits and hitting balls into the gap with regularity. Another Achilles heel of the team was the lack of production from the leadoff spot. For as great of a team as they were and could be, they had no one who could leadoff. This is where Gonzalez and the smartest decision he’s ever made come into play.

Fourteen games ago, Fredi decided to bat Jason Heyward leadoff. Heyward isn’t prototypically a guy you would think of as a leadoff hitter but he can handle the bat and get on base. He won’t set the base paths on fire with his speed but he’s more than capable of stealing a base here and there. Since making Heyward the leadoff hitter, all the Braves have done is win 14 games in a row and show no signs of slowing down with two more games against the Marlins to finish off the weekend set. Having Heyward, Upton, and Freeman (who has undoubtedly taken over for Chipper Jones as the face, heart, and soul of the Braves) as your top three hitters is just unfair. Add in the fact that hitting behind them is Chris Johnson, who could very well go on to win the batting title, and things are looking rosy in the peach state. Other managers and pitchers have to be so selective and overthink strategy that they are bound to make mistakes and these guys will make them pay.

Fredi Gonzalez gets criticized for many things, and deservedly so, but this decision very well could’ve locked up a World Series victory for the Braves. Barring any kind of injury and the dependence on the long ball fading, Atlanta is without a doubt the most complete team in the league. Come October the streets of Badstreet, USA will be filled with tomahawk chopping and baseball clobbering, and Hotlanta will make everyone forget about cold weather.

The NL MVP Vote Will Be the Most Exciting Race Down the Stretch

The NL MVP Vote Will Be the Most Exciting Race Down the Stretch

As we wind down the 2013 Major League Baseball season in the National League, there’s one word that comes to mind, and that word is boredom. All playoff spots have pretty much been decided, barring a total collapse or a run from a team that hasn’t shown any capability to do so. There are about 45-50 games left give or take, so what exactly is there to get excited about? The answer is the NL MVP. There isn’t a single player who has played to a level where they’ve locked up the award, but there are two frontrunners and two dark horses who could come away with the hardware.

The two frontrunners for the award are Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Molina, who is second in the league in batting average, was having a career year for the Cardinals before a trip to the disabled list. He isn’t a home run threat or huge run producer, especially in that lineup, but the intangibles are where Molina exceeds over all others. He is without a doubt the best defensive catcher in the league and calls a game like no other behind the plate. He is the heart and soul of a Cardinals team that was tearing through the league until a recent slump has brought them back to Earth. The trip to the disabled list will hurt Molina’s chances some, especially because his numbers are not out of this world and it comes at an inopportune time in the season, but his contributions cannot be discounted.

The one guy who benefits from Molina’s ailments and has catapulted himself into the discussion is Clayton Kershaw. Some may say, how can a guy with 10 wins be the MVP but his numbers are so much more than that. The 10 wins are through no fault of his own, his team cannot score runs for him, but the rest of his numbers are better than last year when he won the pitching Triple Crown and he has solidified himself as the best pitcher on the planet. There is no one even close to him, so all the Matt Harvey and King Felix fans need to take a seat. Kershaw ranks second in innings pitched and strikeouts. He is first in WAR (Wins Above Replacement) with a staggering 6.0 and has an unheard of ERA of 1.91. Only having 10 wins with an ERA under 2 is a clear sign of his offense’s inefficiency. Winning the Cy Young will hurt his chances some in winning MVP but just like Verlander before him, dominating pitching stats when no hitter is dominant can lead to the double prize.

The two dark horses in the race are Russell Martin of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Both will most likely not get serious consideration, for different reasons, but at the same time need to be praised for what they are doing. Martin can be considered a candidate for all the same reasons as Molina, but given that Molina is having a better season it pretty much cancels him out. What Martin has going for him is the fact that Pittsburgh is on its way to their first winning season and playoff appearance in 20 years. Martin’s impact on the pitching staff of young guns and thought to be washed up talent cannot be discounted. Neither can his veteran leadership in a clubhouse of guys who don’t know what it’s like to win. Also, Martin has four walk off hits this season, including one this afternoon against the Marlins. Seeing what he’s doing makes this Yankee fan miss him terribly, especially given our catching deficiency. Goldschmidt is having the MVP type season you expect from the winner, with 26 home runs and 90 RBI, ranking him second and first respectively in the league. He is one of the best up and coming power hitters in baseball and will certainly be in the running for the award a few more times in his career but he will be hurt by Arizona not making the playoffs. The voters tend to shy away from guys whose teams do not make the dance, unless their numbers are so earth shattering they have no choice, which Goldschmidt’s numbers aren’t, at least until this point.

My personal take on the whole thing is that Kershaw will walk away with the double hardware, unless Arizona makes a run to overtake the Dodgers. If that were to happen then Goldschmidt absolutely deserves the award. A lot can happen in 50 games, but other than the run by the Dodgers, have we really seen any indication things will be different at the end of the year than they are now? Either way, let’s sit back and enjoy the final leg of the season and how everything unfolds.

The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing

This piece will not be about Brock Lesnar, so my apologies to him. No, “The Next Big Thing” goes by the name of Jose Fernandez. At 21 years old, Fernandez is having a fantastic season for the Marlins, topping it off with an appearance at this year’s All-Star Game. With a fastball that tops out at nearly 100mph and a slider/sweeping curve that drops the hammer on hitters, Fernandez is a bright spot on a roster filled with young up and coming talent. Fernandez has come a long way and been through more in his first 21 years than most of us would go through in a lifetime. His story begins in Cuba, in search of the American Dream (no not Dusty Rhodes).

Born in Cuba on July 31^st, 1992, (you know you’re getting old when you’re writing about baseball players born in the 90’s) Fernandez always loved the game of baseball and one day hoped to play in the Major Leagues. In order for that dream to become a reality he first had to defect from Cuba, which is certainly no easy task. Fernandez attempted his escape three times, getting caught each time, and being thrown in prison. While in prison he was housed in cells with murderers and hardcore criminals, something he attributes his lack of nervousness and tension to on the baseball field. When you’re living that hell at such a young age there really shouldn’t be much that fazes you or affects you. Fernandez made a fourth attempt at defection with both his mother and sister in 2008, in which they were successful, but not without any hardships, as had come to be expected. The boat that the family was in hit turbulent waters and Fernandez’s mother fell overboard. Jose had to jump into the water and rescue his mother, one more instance of life making baseball seem so meaningless and effortless.

Fernandez quickly ascended to the majors, having pitched no higher than Single A, and his dream was a reality. Before reaching the majors though, Fernandez pitched for the Greensboro Grasshoppers, where he made a connection with a special fan and a friendship was born.  

Zeb Vance is a 25 year old with special needs and a Greensboro resident. Every Marlins player that passes through Greensboro knows Zeb and his family because they regularly attend games. Players would always stop and say hello and high five Zeb, but for Fernandez it was different. He invited Vance to walk to the mound with him before a start in Greensboro and remained in contact with him and his family since. Last night, before facing the red hot Cleveland Indians, Zeb once again walked out to the mound with Jose, telling him to play good, to which Fernandez said he would win for him. Fernandez only went on to throw 8 scoreless innings and strike out 14 batters, becoming only the second Marlins rookie to have back to back double digit strikeout games, striking out 13 Pirates in his previous start.

Fernandez is having a rookie season for the ages, giving Marlins fans something to cheer about and making every 5^th day appointment television. His 8-5 record is not overly impressive but that is more indicative of the Marlins offensive woes, but his 2.54 ERA is very impressive. Since the All-Star break, Fernandez has 35 strikeouts in 23 innings of work while only surrendering 3 walks. If his rookie season is any indication of how his career will go then we as fans are in for a treat.

His personality is loud and infectious, making sure he is high fiving all teammates and going crazy when good things happen, as seen here (Jose Fernandez is very excited). He loves the game of baseball and being part of a team, especially considering he never knew whether he would actually get the chance. At 21 years old the love he shows for the game and his antics are to be understood and appreciated as a kid living in the moment, but at the same time, the emotional maturity he shows when it comes to prison sentences, rescues, and connecting with people who have special needs make this kid someone to cheer for. No matter what team you cheer for and follow, I recommend buying a ticket for the Jose Fernandez bandwagon and enjoying the ride because it will be one to remember.