Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame

The issue of Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame is in the air once again. The discussion arises every year around the induction of each new class into the Hall. Hank Aaron added to the “should we or shouldn’t we” with his remarks that we should. The talking heads on ESPN yammered for a day or two under the banner: Bud Selig considering lifting the ban…

Yesterday there was a review of a new book on the Hall by Zev Chafets, who argues, according to the review, that the Hall is already filled with drug addicts, drunks, cheats, the mentally ill and the morally challenged. “Cooperstown Confidential” seems to leave no doubt that the selection process is seriously flawed and that players who should have been voted in early in their eligibility have been made to wait (Jim Rice, Fergie Jenkins) or been denied entrance altogether while some who have not deserved it were voted in by their cronies (the veterans committee).

But none of this means we should keep on making the same mistakes and vote in Rose. Pete Rose was a ballplayer who did everything right on the ball field and everything wrong off it. He played with an intensity and competiveness missing in many quarters today. But he bet on baseball and he lied about it. Repeatedly. His accomplishments are Hall of Fame worthy but he is not.

A postscript to my son, Peter: You are not named after Pete Rose. I would never do that.

The Washington Nationals

I had every intention of being a loyal Nat fan when I moved to the area a while ago. But it’s very, very hard. They really are a double A team which can’t spell its own name, playing in the NL East. By and large they play from behind, pitch from behind and end up behind.

Last night was an exception though. Despite shaky starting pitching from Craig Stammen, one of the bright spots among the young starters, the Nats overcame a 2-0 deficit with two grand slams by Josh Willingham.

Willingham is a good young player, one of the reasons there’s some basis for optimism about the future. So is Nyjer Morgan, recently acquired from the Pirates, who is a legitimate lead-off hitter and base stealer. So too is John Lannan, who at the ripe old age of 24 is the dean of the pitching rotation. On a more talented team, he would be a third or fourth starter, learning from older pitchers. Here he is numero uno and sometimes looks like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. I hope he gets some help soon.

But there are way too many retreads, tried and failed and trying again players on this roster.

The Nats website contains this offer, presumably with no irony intended, “Take the Nationals with you, wherever you go.” Such a deal.

The A.L. Central

With last night’s extra inning win over the White Sox, the Detroit Tigers increased their lead in the AL Central to three games. The Tigers have always been one of my favorite teams and Jim Leland is one of my favorite managers so I am enjoying this race quite a bit. Add to this my dislike of the White Sox (except Mark Buerhle and Jim Thome) and you have true happiness. The win is especially sweet since it came after a blown save in the ninth inning by Bobby Jenks who should seriously consider a second career as in the “even a caveman can do it” ads for Geico.

While the AL Central doesn’t get half the attention that the East does, there are always compelling stories here. The Minnesota Twins who always seem to find a way to contend despite their tiny payroll. The Kansas City Royals who put out a ray of sunshine every April and are hopelessly out of the race in July. The Cleveland Indians who arose from baseball’s graveyard in the mid 90s with one of baseball’s best faux retro stadiums and some exciting teams only to tumble back to mediocrity of late. Ah, the Midwest. You gotta love it.

Fox Sports Comes Through

Fox Sports Saturday game in my area was the Orioles v. the White Sox with Dick Stockton and Mark Grace in the booth.

Two teams that seldom get national exposure with two broadcasters who actually are fun to listen to. Add two excellent starting pitchers, the underappreciated Mark Buerhle and one of the baby Orioles, Brad Bergeson, and you have the makings of a great game. And it was. With Buerhle pitching his usual quick, efficient game and Bergeson going right after one tough hitter after the next.

Those of you who don't see the Orioles on a regular basis like I do have been spared the Matt Wieters debut. Wieters rose quickly through the Orioles farm system with great fanfare. His call-up earlier this season was like a coronation, carefully timed and orchestrated. Thousands of extra tickets were sold for his first game. And how has he done? As of this morning he is hitting .239. His game calling and defense have been about what you can expect from a 23 year old handling a young staff. Another example of what his manager calls learning to play at the major league level.

Contrast this with another Oriole rookie, the left fielder, Nolan Reimold. Reimold seemed to just appear one night with no hype at all. He's hitting 30 points higher than Wieters, with twice as many RBIs. Of course it's still very early for both these players and it will be fun to watch them grow.

Here We Go Again

The Astros have quietly begun their annual journey from the cellar to contention in a weak NL Central division. Most years the Astros begin the season by digging themselves into a hole and spend the rest of the season digging almost, but not quite, all the way out. They alternate that with a strong start which fizzles in June and ends in mediocrity. Either way the result is the same. Drayton McClain gets his seats filled, the team gives the fans something to cheer about and nothing changes.

This year the charge is being led by the strong pitching of Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriquez. Oswalt is the best pitcher most casual fans have never heard of and whose name they mispronounce. Wandy has quietly become a top of the rotation pitcher. Unfortunately, after that we have the following: Mike Hampton acquired from the infirmary in what is typical Astros acquisition strategy, i.e. get a guy late in his career cheap and see if he can still play. The answer is usually no but the pattern is well established. Hampton, who left Houston ten years ago to chase dollars in New York, Colorado (it was a lifestyle issue, he said) and Atlanta had his last really good year in 2003.

He is joined in the rotation by Brian Moehler, acquired from the senior citizens center, whose rookie year was the same year the NL last won the All Star game (hint: 1996). Moehler, with a career ERA of 4.75 does a decent job if you like lots of hits and runs. And finally there is Russ Ortiz whose last winning season was 2004.

So the Astros travel to LA to start the second half and beat up on the Dodgers in the first two games of the series with Wandy and Roy pitching. Next up Hampton and Ortiz. Let's see how it goes.

The Day After

Yesterday was the dreaded Day After. One of the only days during the season on which there is no ML baseball. After yet another NL loss in the All Star Game, I considered my options. The most obvious was a trip to the local minor league (Class A) Frederick Keys. It's a nice little ball field and I've seen some decent games there. I decided to pass. After all the All Star hoopla, I needed a break. So yesterday was a baseball-free day. Tonight its the Cubs at the Nats - stay tuned.

Home Run Derby

Home Run Derby: a completely meaningless commercial event created by MLB and the entertainment media. Didn't watch, will never watch, don't care.

The New York Yankees

I will now confess to having an almost pathological dislike of the NY Yankees. I come by it honestly, having been raised by someone who firmly and sincerely believed that rooting for the Yankees was like rooting for US Steel. So when I check the Yankees score I am, admittedly, looking for a loss. Alas, this has not happened this season when the Yankees play the Twins. The Twins lost four straight in NY and all three games played in Minnesota. With one exception, the scores have been close, the Twins often lead and then lose late. I’ve come to expect it, just as (oh joy) I expect the opposite result when the Yankees meet the Angels. The Angels don’t seem to care that these are the vaulted NY Yankees and that you are supposed to find a way to lose. Instead, they find a way to win.

Today they did it again, beating the Yankees 5 to 4 and sweeping the series in Anaheim. Brian Fuentes got the side in order in the ninth, facing Jeter, Teixeira and ARod. He threw 14 pitches, 10 of them strikes. No fear, it’s just the Yankees.

Go ahead, no-hit me

Proving once again that almost any pitcher in the majors is capable of pitching a no-hitter, especially against an anemic line-up, a young lefty called Jonathan Sanchez pitched one last night against the Padres. Sanchez, starting for the Giants after being demoted to the bullpen, offered all sorts of explanations for last night’s success –altering his motion, improving his release, etc. but the truth is he had been a spectacularly unsuccessful major league pitcher with a lopsided losing record and a bloated ERA. Yet last night he was perfect. Is the new and improved Sanchez permanent? Will the real Jonathan Sanchez please stand up.

The Comeback

Watching the Mariners and the Orioles on a lazy afternoon with the Mariners firmly in control one would be tempted to take a nap or turn to something else. After all, the O’s had squandered several golden opportunities, including loading the bases with no one out and leaving them that way. That inning ended with a strike-out and a double play and the Mariner’s 2 -0 lead in tact. Then the M’s added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth.

But, folks, these are the mighty Orioles, they of the ten run come from behind win against the Red Sox recently. So I stayed tuned. And sure enough, a scratch hit here, an error there, a double, another error and presto, the O’s walk away with five runs and a W. Ah, winning sure beats losing.

Which brings me to my second topic of the day, that the Orioles are actually the Astros of the East. Yesterday’s lineup featured key hits by the following O’s, all ex-Astros: Luke Scott, Aubrey Huff, Ty Wiggington and Geoff Zaun. It sure is nice to see them all doing so well for another team.

But there is one Astro who deserves a tip of the cap this season and that is Wandy Rodriquez. I must confess that when I lived in Houston and had a chance to go to a game I’d try to pick one that didn’t involve Wandy. Except in 2007, when the Astros inexplicably signed Jason Jennings, who immediately morphed into the human losing streak, Wandy was the starter to avoid. He rarely went deep into a game and rarely won. He was, frankly, boring. That was then; the 2009 Wandy just pitched a complete game shut-out, striking out ten and lowering his ERA to 2.96. A pitcher who has never won more than ten games in a season already has eight before the All Star break. So what’s going on here? Well, if you look at the stats, you can see that he’s been improving slowly every year, lowering his ERA, raising his strikeouts, walking fewer guys, etc. It’s called learning to pitch. Sometimes, I guess, it just takes a while.

The Colonel Was a Pitcher

Just finished a wonderful book about a pitcher for the old Philadelphia A’s and Cleveland Indians of the late 40s and early 50s, Lou Brissie. I’d never heard of him before catching an interview with the author on the radio recently but he was quite a guy. Severely wounded in Italy in World War II, Brissie, a lefty with a 100 mile an hour fastball, willed his way to the major leagues despite his injuries which included a leg that would have been amputated had he not insisted to the surgeons that they had to try to save it so he could pitch. And so they did.

He pitched with his left leg in a brace, pretty much in constant pain, and always in danger of infection. If there had been speed dial in those days, he would have had his surgeons on it. And yet he was always grateful that his life had been spared and that he had been given the chance (by Connie Mack) to pitch in the majors. His career was relatively short. After three good years with the A’s, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians who used him sparingly, demoted him to the minors and refused to trade him to a team that wanted him in the starting rotation. But he never complained. Instead, he retired and took a job with the American Legion baseball organization, the first of a number of baseball-related jobs, helping young men play baseball. He remains active in the community, meeting with injured Iraq war veterans well into his 80s. He has lived his life with dignity and honor.

Not to spoil the mood, but compare this to the antics of some young players today. Compare it to the Cubs latest bust, Milton Bradley, an extremely talented player who after a career year with Texas signed for three years at $30 million. He has trouble with umpires, water coolers, his manager and remembering how many outs there are. In today’s NY Times, Bradley’s teammate, Derek Lee offered this explanation: “You have Chicago fans who are die-hard, into every at-bat, every pitch…You have Wrigley Field, which is different, and you have day games to get used to.” Yeah, life is tough for Milton. Just ask Lou Brissie.

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Baseball for Dummies?

This is about my love-hate relationship with ESPN Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball. First, let me say something unequivocally positive. For twenty years I’ve enjoyed seeing games that I otherwise don’t have access to. This was especially true before the days of mlb.com or TV all access packages. Now it’s just that I enjoy getting those games for free.

Now for the kvetching. First, I’d love to know what percentage of those games actually involved the Mets and Yankees because to me it seems like an awful lot of them did. Those that didn’t involved the Cubs, Braves and Dodgers. Precious few were like last night’s game, the Rays and the Rangers, two teams that those of us who don’t live in their hometowns, virtually never see. How often have the Rockies and the Astros been featured? Or the Indians and the Reds? Only when they play the NY teams, I think.

Second, ESPN can’t seem to decide who it is appealing to. Its ads are obviously aimed at morons who think a team is composed of one star and some other guys with bats and gloves as in, “Alex Rodriquez and the Yankees take on David Ortiz and the Red Sox.” Its broadcasters run the gamut. Some have been so crammed full of meaningless statistics (“Yeah Joe, he is batting .313 with men on first and third who are wearing Number 17 and 31”) that they are bursting at the seams. So is the booth itself with the pointless addition of Steve Phillips as a third voice. Others, former players like Joe Morgan, point out things that might actually interest a baseball fan.

My favorite nights are when there’s a rainout and no national back-up game is available. ESPN, bless its pointy little head, then switches to local feeds and we hop from game to game, inning after inning, picking up local broadcasters and coverage. Then the rain lets up, the tarp is removed and “Alex Rodriquez and the Yankees take on……

Jason Marquis

Jason Marquis pitched a two-hit shutout the other night against the Dodgers for his tenth win of the season. Pretty good, right? How about this: a total of 86 pitches, 66 of them strikes. Now that’s impressive. Oh, and then there were the two RBIs he had. Marquis has always been a good but not great pitcher with good but not great teams – the Braves, the Cardinals, the Cubs and now the Rockies. The result: he has been with a team that has been in the playoffs in each of his nine major league seasons. The question: with the Rockies closing out the month of June with something like 21 wins, will this be his tenth?

So You Think You Know Baseball

I’ve watched enough games in my time to know that it ain’t over till it’s over, as Yogi or someone said. But I’ve also watched enough games to know that when your team is down by nine runs in the seventh inning it usually is. Especially when your team is in last place facing the one of the best teams in baseball. And yet. And yet last night’s Orioles-Red Sox game reminds us that it really aint over. It was 10 to 1 when the O’s came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. When a lineup filled with players that no one outside the mid-atlantic ever heard of scored five runs in the seventh and five again in the eighth against one of the best bullpens in baseball.

Apparently both managers forgot the “it aint over” rule too. Dave Trembly had removed Melvin Mora from the O’s lineup and Terry Francona had pulled Jason Varitek. Also forgotten was a decent start by John Smoltz and another awful outing by Rich Hill and the hour or so rain delay. Because at the end it was just magic.