April 29, 2008

Nothing Could Be Finer Than

Knowing you have a $14.5 million dollar man in the bullpen to help you – especially when he’s not doing it as a starter.  What are the odds that Barry Zito will find his way out of troubles coming out of the bullpen anytime soon?

Barry Zito

Since winning the Cy Young Award in 2002 (23.5, 2.75) with the A’s and signing that mega 7-year deal as a free agent with the Giants 17-months ago, Zito has been a bust since jumping across the Bay.  He’s pushed across only 11 wins with 19 losses and has a toasty ERA of 6.05.

Zito has never missed a start or registered a losing season until he joined the Giants last year… he had led the majors in starts the past eight seasons and now, until the foreseeable future, Barry Zito will trot out to the mound as a reliever trying to regain the ability to throw his fastball.

Seeing Roger Clemens in a compromising position with a 15-year-old makes my skin shrivel.

Country singer Mindy McCready confirmed to the Daily News that she and Roger Clemens have had a long relationship, but did not specify the nature of the relationship.

When push comes to shove, is becoming very clear that the baseball player known as Roger Clemens was one heck of a pitcher, but the man known as Roger Clemens is a liar and undoubtedly has plenty more skeleton’s hiding in his closet that we could be seeing very soon. 

Former Clemens’ personal trainer Brian McNamee has got to be dancing in the streets right now… without opening his mouth, without finding more evidence, McNamee is handed the biggest piece of evidence that can and will be used against Clemens who is suing him (McNamee) for deformation of character.

Being a Tampa Bay Rays fans these days has made many fans forget the past ownership group that virtually made the organization the laughing stock of major league baseball.

What Stuart Sternberg has done in a little over 2-years as the majority owner has made lots of believers out of the folks in St. Petersburg, Florida… yes, St. Petersburg (it’s not a typo) and not Tampa.

Despite trading away outfielders Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes, losing Rocco Baldelli likely for the season with a medical condition known as mitochondrial disorder (causes extreme fatigue) and starting the season with five players on the DL, which included you ace in Scott Kazmir, the Rays are turning heads in the AL East.

Watching this team play is exciting.  They run, they can hit, they can pitch, they can play baseball and they can play defense.  These guys are good and will only get better. 

There was nothing finer this past Sunday than watching James Shields mow down the Bo Sox en route to a 2-hit shutout against Josh Beckett, giving the Rays their first ever sweep over the Sox.

There was nothing finer than seeing rookie Evan Longoria slam his 3^rd major league home run off of Beckett, giving the Rays a needed insurance run… or watching him make some big plays in big spots.  Since his promotion the Rays are 9-6.

At 14-11 heading into Tuesday’s game against the Orioles, the Rays have the best record in club history after 25 games and share the top spot in the AL East – the latest into any season that the Rays have been in or shared first place.

Watching the Red Sox pitching staff come back down to earth is of importance to the non-Red Sox Nationers.

The great early pitching success of the Sox shown in 2007 has yet to make an appearance.  Maybe it’s been all the early season travel, but for what it’s worth to Red Sox haters, nothing could be finer.

Boston’s power lineup isn’t the issue, despite the hitting woes of David Ortiz, or the loss of Mike Lowell – it’s been their pitching – starters and bullpen.

Through the first 27-games, the Sox have walked 117 – the 3^rd most in the AL and 36 more than they had after 27-games in 2007. 

The relievers are 5-6, and at this point last year the bullpen had just four decisions to go along with a 2.41 ERA.  So far, the pen’s ERA stands at 5.31.

Watching Josh Hamilton beat all odds continues as my feel-good story for 2008 (at least up till now).  We all saw what he did in 2007 and so far in ’08, Hamilton didn’t lose a beat.

Hamilton’s offensive production was never an issue – everyone knew this kid could hit.  Everyone also knew his talent’s… The major issue though has been staying healthy for an entire season, which Hamilton has never been able to do in his professional career.

Limited to just 90-games last year with the Reds, he made adjustments to his off-season training to improve his health and stamina and it’s paying off. 

He’s started every game (26) for the Rangers, has remained in the No. 3 hole, and ranks among the league leaders in RBIs (27) and extra base-hits (15).

The Bronx Zoo is open for business and this time around it’s not the “Evil Empire” stirring up the animals in the cages – but oldest son Hank Steinbrenner.

I just love it… this guy goes from raising horses to raising the blood pressures of his GM Brain Cashman and new handpicked manager Joe Girardi when he told a reporter that “only an idiot” wouldn’t move Joba Chamberlain from the bullpen to the starting rotation.

Hank may be his father’s son, but he’s no George when it controversies.  Only George can create the best of them, Hank has a long way to go on that front.

But getting back to Joba (pronounced Job-a, not Jo-ba), he is the one reliable pitcher this team has right now, and setting-up Mario Rivera is right where he belongs.  For every game he would start and not finish, who would the Yankees go to before the arrival of Rivera in the 9^th?

Zip… nada… zilch… that’s who.

I still don’t get it when over 50,000 fans demand that a player come out of the dugout for a curtain call – especially if the player feels they are not deserving of such.

This was the decision that Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado took on Sunday, after smacking his 2^nd homerun of the day against the Braves… I applaud him.

Delgado has been struggling all season, hitting .186 entering Sunday’s game and all season long the New York fans have let him know how much they are fed up with his non-production.

New York is a tough city to play ball in – it doesn’t matter what sport one plays.  If you don’t produce, the fans will let you know faster than Clark Kent jumping into his Superman cape.

The boos for Delgado have been so loud this season that they have silenced the sounds normally heard of the low flying jets taking off or coming into LaGuardia Airport.

Delgado insisted that he was snubbing the fans for his non-curtain call and defended it by saying, “I remember taking only two curtain calls… after hitting my fourth blast during a four-homer game and after hitting my 400^th career home run.” 

“The way I look at it, I hit a solo home run in the seventh inning,” he said. “I’ve got a great deal of respect for the game. I don't think that’s the place for a curtain call. I’ve been playing for quite a few years and I think I came out for two curtain calls.
“The home run didn’t win the game, I didn’t hit a grand slam, I didn’t hit a tiebreaker or go-ahead in the ninth inning.  We appreciate the support of the fans, but we’re here to play the game. They pay me to go out and hit the ball and drive in runs, so I didn’t think it was the right situation. Having said that, I’m not going to lie, I feel good. It’s a lot better than the boos.”

Mets manager Willie Randolph also backed Delgado.

“I think a curtain call should be special. A ninth-inning homer, an event, something to be remembered,” Randolph said.

New, Notes and Ramblings…

Major League Baseball today marked the official beginning of All-Star Balloting for the 79^th All-Star Game, which will be held on Tuesday, July 15^th, with a special on-field ceremony prior to the Detroit Tigers-New York Yankees game at Yankee Stadium, the host of the 2008 Midsummer Classic.

Starting today, fans can cast their votes for starters up to 25 times with the Monster 2008 All-Star Game Online Ballot at MLB.com and all 30 Club Web sites until Wednesday, July 2^nd at 11:59 p.m. (EDT).

The 2008 American League and National League All-Star Teams will be unveiled on Sunday, July 6th on the 2008 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show Presented by Chevrolet, televised nationally on TBS following the Sunday MLB on TBS Game of the Week. The American League All-Star Team will have nine starters elected via the fan balloting program, while the National League All-Star Team will have eight fan-elected starters. The pitchers and reserves for both squads - 23 for the N.L., 22 for the A.L. - will be determined through a combination of “Player Ballot” choices and selections made by the two All-Star managers - American League skipper Terry Francona of the Boston Red Sox and National League manager Clint Hurdle of the Colorado Rockies - in conjunction with Major League Baseball.

If you like this column, Althea also writes the NHL Insider, the Rays Corner and Lightning Nutz and Boltz all while serving as VP of Sports for NutzMedia.  Listen to Althea on TBSNRadio510.com Saturday's, live from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm as Althea Co-hosts "Speaking of Sports" with Ted Fleming.