If I see one more broom...

Seriously, what a bummer of a weekend.  If I see one more broom, I’m going to hit somebody.  After a disastrous weekend, where do we stand?  In second place, 2 games out of first. But, more importantly, we are still ahead of the BoSox.  Funny thing is, the headline isn’t the sweep. The headline is Jorge taking himself out of the lineup after he found out he was batting 9^th.

Do I blame the guy? Yes and no. Yeah, I think he should have pulled himself out of the lineup. He should have pulled himself out when he couldn’t get himself anywhere near the Mendoza Line.  He should have taken himself out and taken a “mental” day at the end of April when he went on that 0-for-14 stretch. But on the other hand, I can understand why you want to stay in. It’s the only thing you’ve done for the last 17 seasons. It’s not something you want to give up so easily.  You want to be a part of the game, not sitting on the bench. As a veteran, I gotta imagine he is thinking to himself that there is still something he can contribute to the game.  And as soon he busts this slump I’m sure he will be a key factor, a necessary cog in the gears, which will take the Yankees to another post-season.

Now, my problem with this situation is that he waited till he saw he was dropped into the 9^th spot in the batting order to pull himself out.  Like I said before, he should have pulled himself out a long time before that. What he did was really poor sportsmanship.  He acted like a big baby.  He should not have taken the drop in the batting order as an insult but as a challenge.  Let me give you an example…

A few months ago I got invited to play in a softball challenge.  During the practice sessions I made sure that when I took my cuts I stated my case for position in the line-up.  I also made sure my fielding was up to par.  The day of the big game comes. I ask the “coach” where he wants me to play. Now, before the big reveal, I had been practicing in the outfield and at 1^st base.  Also consider that this is a coed game. Nothing against my female teammates, but some of them had never played softball before.  That being said, the “coach” puts me in a catcher.  CATCHER!  Seriously?!?!  One of the better arms on the team and I am being regulated to backstop duty.  I was upset, but did I request out of the game? Nope. I simply stated my case by making sure to fire the ball back to pitcher and making sure his glove popped.  After two batters, I got put out in right field.  Not my ideal position, but definitely and upgrade.  End result… I got an assist at second when the batter was trying to stretch a single into a double.  When it came time for us to bat, I asked “coach” where he wanted me to bat.  Honestly, I am thinking he is going to put me 3^rd or 5^th.  I would’ve been happy batting 6^th.  Where do I get put? 10^th! Seriously?!?!  Dead last in the lineup?  Again, I was upset, but I didn’t walk off the team.  The team needed me. So again, I stated my case.  End result… 3 for 4 with three singles and a ribbie. One of those singles was a “sure” out but I hustled enough to beat the throw.

My point is, you feel you’ve been insulted by being dropped last in the lineup? Don’t get all booty hurt and leave your teammates hanging.  Get mad, get even, get out there and prove you are more than last in the batting order.

I’m done venting.  And I swear… If I see one more broom!

Late

JV

The sky is falling... No, not really.

So, Mariano blew his second straight save opp.  Cries of "Is this the end of Mariano?" were heard all over.  Seriously people?  That makes it 51 blown saves in 17 seasons. That's 3 blown saves per season.  What's the big deal?  Trevor Hoffman averaged 4 blown saves per season. A total of 76 blown saves over his career.  Mariano has got a grand total of 51 blown saves up to now.  I think it's safe to say that Mariano is ok.

However, even if he has blown a few saves, the intimidation factor is still there.  You know that when you hear "Enter Sandman" the Yankees have a lead and Mo is coming in.  You know that Mo only has 2, maybe 3 pitches.  You know that you are going to see a few of his famous, or infamous if you are the batter, cut fastballs. You know that you are going to see a few busted bats.  And, in the end, you know that it is most likely the game is over.  When you know all this, it kinda takes the life outta you.  Intimidation.
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It looks like things are getting back to normal in the American League East. Yankees on top, BoSox and Rays fighting for second. Toronto and Baltimore fighting to stay of the cellar.
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Pop quiz, hotshot! You have bases loaded and no outs.  The batter hits one straight to third baseman. What do you do?  What do you do?!?!

Answer, you throw home and get the force out at home and then throw to first to get the second out.

This is basic baseball.  Anyone that plays should have gotten the answer to that.  Well, someone needs to tell those guys over at 2K Sports.  I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me while playing the latest baseball offering from 2K Sports, MLB 2K11.  There are so many stupid quirks with this game it is making it difficult to play.  About half the time, the middle infielder won't turn two on an easy double play ball.  I can't ever get the pitcher to leave the mound to cover first base.  Aaargh, it is so irritating.  At times like this I wish I had a PS3 so I can play MLB The Show. A much better game.

That's it. I'm done for a Monday.

Late
JV

21 = 42?

This past weekend, MLB celebrated Jackie Robinson.  Many players wore the number 42, officially retired in all of MLB, in honor of Jackie.  It was really cool seeing all the historical tidbits and “Letters from Jackie” interstitials.  However, I’m not here to talk about Jackie. That’s been done quite a bit by others who write better than me.  I’m here to talk about number 21, Roberto Clemente.

Someone (non-minority) asked me if I would support retiring the number 21 in all of MLB, ala Jackie Robinson.  I asked “why?”  They looked at me kinda dumbfounded.  “Well duh,” he said, “he was the first Latin player in baseball.  He broke the color barrier for you Spanish people.”  At this point I just shook my head and cried.  Not because this guy had a great idea and had respect for “my people”. No, I cried because this guy, a supposed baseball fan, had no idea what he was talking about.  Let’s set the story straight:

Roberto Clemente – First Latino baseball player… False. That would be Esteban Bellán. 1871, Troy Haymakers.

Wait, you say, the Troy Haymakers weren’t an MLB team.  *sigh* fine.

Roberto Clemente – First Latino baseball player… False. That would be Luis Castro. 1902, Philadelphia Athletics.  (Yes, the A,s were in Philly before making a pit stop in Kansas City and then moving to Oakland.)

Roberto Clemente – First Puerto Rican baseball player… False. That would be Hiram Bithorn. 1942, Chicago Cubs.

Roberto Clemente – First Latino All-Star… False. That award goes to Alfonso Carrasquel. 1951, Shortstop for the American League.

Rookie of the Year? Luis Aparicio, 1956. (Coincidentally, the year after Clemente made his major league debut).

No-hitter? Roberto did many things.  Pitching was not one of them.

First Latino in a World Series? Not Roberto. Adolfo Luque would be that person. 1919.

First Latino to win the MVP? Zoilo Versalles, 1965. (Coincidence #2, the year before Clemente won his.)

First Latino World Series MVP? Roberto Clemente, 1971. Seriously.

First Latino Hall of Famer? Roberto Clemente, 1973. First ballot, special election.

Ok, I think I’ve made my point.  Roberto, as a great player as he was, really wasn’t a first in many things.  If you are going to retire his number, the question is why?  Do you retire it because he was one of the greatest Latino players out there? If you do that, you start going down a slippery slope.  What defines great?  You will start to run out of uniform numbers pretty quick.  You would have to retire all the numbers of the players in the hall of fame. Why? Well, they are great players, aren’t they? If they weren’t great then they wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame.  Then you have to retire all the players that have over 3000 hits. Roberto had 3000 so anything above that is considered great.   Anyone that has multiple awards, won an MVP, played in multiple World Series or All-Star games would have their number retired because that would be great by Roberto Clemente standards.  You retire all those numbers then what?   Then baseball will look like Futurama with players wearing numbers like 7/8 or 10/16. 

You can’t retire his number because he was neither the first Latino nor the first Puerto Rican.  Are you going to retire Ichiro’s number because he was the first Asian player? Oh wait…

Ichiro Suzuki – First Asian baseball player… False. That would be Masanori Murakami. 1964, San Francisco Giants.

Ichiro Suzuki – First Japanese baseball player… False. Masanori, again.

No, I don’t think MLB should retire his number.  Sharon Robinson, Jackie’s daughter, said, “When you start retiring numbers across the board, for all different groups, you're kind of diluting the original purpose.”*

Roberto has been honored in many different ways. Schools and stadiums are named after him.  Even a day is set aside for him.  The Pirates have retired his number. Let’s keep it that way.  Let’s not dilute what Jackie has done and let’s respect what Roberto has done.  Leave #42 retired and leave #21 for those that want to wear the number in respect of Roberto.  Besides, I don’t want to have to give up my Yankees #21 jersey. C’mon you really didn’t think I was that big of a Paul O’Neill fan, did you?

(This is just a repost of blog entry I wrote a few years ago.  I just thought it would be appropriate to post again… with some minor changes.)

*http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2303977

*photo from SI