Category Archives: Baseball

It’s A Play-In, Not A Playoff

Posted on by Sieve

Major League Baseball is set to agree today to expand it’s playoffs starting as early as 2012.  They are going to add 2 teams, one from each league giving each league 5 teams.  But they aren’t going to add a playoff series, but instead a one game playoff game.  Is this what we want? I think so. How many times have there been one game to decide who gets in? How exciting have those games been? I always tune in. There is something about a one or done situation to get the competitive juices flowing. As a baseball fan I can’t wait for this. I love those end of the season games when they do happen, and now we are guaranteed of this situation every single year! Who wouldn’t like that?

Yankees celebrate their 2010 World Series

Now I know there are purist out there, and I have read some of them today, that claim this is just leading to more dismantling of the tradition of baseball.  And I understand their complaint to some degree. Baseball is the most tradition rich sport in existence. They claim that changes like interleague play, the AL DH, to name a couple are ruining baseball.  I am still not sold on interleague, but I do think it is somewhat good for the fans.. well some match ups. It’s always great to see Yanks – Mets in the regular season, or Red Sox- Reds, national rivalries. Or even regional ones like say Royals- Cardinals.  But other match ups, and there has to be others, you can’t just play the big name series’ with the most to gain, like Mariners- Marlins. Who cares to see that?  So you have to take the bad with the good. Like with everything in sports and life.

But I don’t see how you can lose with a winner take all one game playoff.  The excitement will be off the chart every year. And with that, I am IN.

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Duff McKagan’s ESPN Column

Posted on by Sieve

For those who aren’t aware, Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver fame has been writing a weekly column for ESPN.  It is generally great stuff, although he does focus on his Seattle roots. But miraculously, he doesn’t blast our Thunder fan base. It’s a great read and want to pimp it to you guys. 

Jeter A No Show?

Posted on by Sieve

I know he wasn’t the only one, this All-Star game could be called the No Show game with all the replacements that took place this year. I mean there were 86 All-Stars! 86! 45 for the American League alone. I suck at math, but that seems like a lot.  So you get picked as an All-Star and you can just choose not to show? And the players are supposed to care about the fans? Come on.  I haven’t said much about this in a few days, I felt like I bashed Derek Jeter enough last week, then he goes out and has a game for the ages while racking up his 3,000th hit, and then some.  But he WAS healthy enough to play all weekend.  I mean, after just coming off the disabled list for a strained calf then playing in 7 straight games, nobody would blame him for wanting to use that time to rest. Which is what he did.  But he couldn’t come and tip his hat to the fans? He would have gotten an ovation of a lifetime.  And I am sure those fans in Phoenix would have loved to at least see the newest member of the 3,000 hit club.  And when these players decide not to show, why do they get replaced?  Bill Simmons of Grantland.com had a great tweet earlier today.

@sportsguy33 Wrote My MLB All-Star Game idea: We name the rosters… those are the rosters. That’s it. Anyone who bows out screws their league over.

What a great idea! This would be an awesome fix. Let’s hold players accountable to the fans.  I mean, don’t they pick up some extra fundage for just being named to the team? Is that first announcements, or replacements? If they are getting paid, shouldn’t they show up? Instead it was just a game of no shows.

 

(Agree, disagree, but leave a comment!)

Capturing Jeter’s Moment

Posted on by Sieve

Wow, my DVR is going to get some action this weekend. With Derek Jeter just 3 hits away from 3,000 I will be recording all the games from here on out until he reaches this great milestone. 28 Big Leaguers before him have hit 3,000, but he will be the first Yankee. So I’ll be recording it.  I don’t normally record anything but football as I talked about in a column here, but this is gonna be a big deal.  Just imagine all the greats who have worn the pin stripes . Mantle, Gehrig, Ruth, DiMaggio. None have 3,000 hits.  So when Jeter, the Captain, gets it, it’s gonna be special. And I am going to capture it.

Who Did You Vote To Be An All-Star?

Posted on by Sieve

For those of you who have voted in the All-Star balloting, have you watched any games? Honestly?  This is the rosters you chose for both the National League and the American League. This is probably why I myself have never voted. Shoot I would probably choose nine Yankees. But then there would be my first argument.   How many of those nine would actually be worthy? I know they are in first place but all nine are All-Star caliber?  This Year? See there in lies the problem.  Everyone has their favourite teams and hence have their favourite players.  So it is easy to just vote for the name you know, whether they are deserving or not.  Take a case in point,  if I chose to vote how I described above, I would have inevitably picked Derek Jeter.   So did apparently a bunch of you.  So Jeter has had an All-Star caliber type of  year?  More like a has been caliber type of year.  And I am a huge Derek Jeter fan.   To me he is one of maybe the top 5 players of all time.  But that is debatable.  And I am biased. But what I am not biased about is his performance this year.  It is mediocre at best. He has been chastised and vilified all season long for his below average play. And now he is an All-Star?  And a starter? Now granted like I said before he is one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and definitely one of the best shortstops, but the All-Star game should be about current quality players.  Now some may argue that there aren’t a many great American League shortstops right now and I would agree.  But players like Asdrubal Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta deserve to start ahead of him.  Just look at their numbers.  And Peralta wasn’t even slected! Jeter wins by default? Due to longevity?

I wasn’t going to make this out to just be about Jeter.  There are plenty of other injustices.  What about Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates? He is not having an All-Star type season? Certainly better than Jay Bruce of the Reds and I don’t care how many home runs he has.  And McCutchen, once again isn’t even a reserve.  Then we go to real injustices, CC Sabathia has 12 wins.  Most of anyone in the big leagues and he is not an All-Star? He’s not one of the best pitchers in the American League? Now I understand he is scheduled to take the mound in Yankee stadium the Sunday before the All-Star game so he wouldn’t have been available anyway.  But he doesn’t deserve the recognition? And maybe the biggest snub of all, Paul Konerko of the White Sox.  He might be the leading candidate for MVP and he is not an All-Star?  That is just silly.  But then this whole process seems silly.  And we voted on it.