Orange With Envy

As you probably know by now, the Washington Nationals were eliminated in the first round of this year's baseball playoffs.  Yes, just like in 2012, the team that led the National League in wins was defeated by the Wild Card team, in this case the San Francisco Giants.  All the talk of a "Beltway World Series" between the Nationals and Orioles quickly faded away and is now a distant memory.


So what happened?  Well the games weren't really that exciting.  In game 1, which my husband and 10-year-old son attended, Bryce Harper and Asdrubal Cabrera hit home runs, but they were the only runs scored by the Nationals in the 3-2 loss.  Don't get me wrong - we had a great time at the game.  My main purpose in going was to create some unforgettable memories for my baseball-loving son, and I'm pretty sure we achieved that.  He got his curly "W" pretzel, we bought a post-season program, and we were given free rally towels, which we can bring to future games (those rally towels, I might add, are very hard to spin.  I mean, I can do the "Macarena," I can jump a mean double-dutch jump rope, but for the life of me I could not spin that thing without wrapping it around my hand or swatting my husband with it across his face).  My son enjoyed the pre-game military fly-over and was able to experience one of the hardest-hit home runs at Nationals Park.  For us, it was a good day.


The second game was a disappointing one.  The Nationals were leading 1-0 in the top of the ninth inning with two outs, and Jordan Zimmermann (who had pitched the entire game) was removed after walking his first batter.  That is the move - not the wild pitch in game 4 - that cost the Nationals the game, the series, and a lot of sleep (you see, that game ended up going 18 innings, ending in a 2-1 loss).


Game 3 was a little better, since the Nationals won it 4-1 in San Francisco.  But they lost the next game (and the series) again by a score of 3-2.  So in four games, the Nats were only able to muster 11 runs.  The pitching was fine - all four starters pitched respectably - but no one was hitting.  I shouldn't say no one - Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendón's bats were somewhat hot - but leadoff hitter Denard Span, who ended the regular season with a team-record 184 hits, failed to get on base much during the playoffs.  Adam LaRoche and Jayson Werth, the heart of the Nationals' batting order, went 2 for 35.  2 for 35!  I don't have an explanation for their lack of offense - they just plain did not hit.


So what does it feel like when your team is eliminated so early after showing so much promise during the regular season and after being picked by many to win the World Series?  Well it just sucks - plain and simple.  You spend six months following these guys - 162 games day in and day out.  You memorize their statistics and batting stances.  You start calling them by their first names or nicknames as if they're your buddies or neighbors (in my case, my younger brothers).  You get totally consumed in all things Nationals, wearing your red "W" lanyard at work and helping your son pick between his Werth jersey or his Harper one.  And then all of a sudden the last out of the last game is made, and it's all over.  Just like that.  Change out your lanyard, put the jerseys away, and forget about bidding for a Jayson Werth garden gnome on eBay.


What makes it more frustrating is that baseball is not over.  There are still plenty of games to be played this postseason, with 4 teams still vying to make it to the World Series.  The Orioles and Royals are playing in the ALCS, and the Giants and Cardinals (again!) are at it in the NLCS.  But the Nationals - their players, managers, massage therapists and athletic trainers - are all back home licking their wounds.  They were not the underdogs, like the Royals - they were the top contenders and they lost.  This fan, at least, is disappointed and feels let down. :-(  I did watch game 1 of the ALCS (and will continue to watch until the last out of the last game of the World Series), but it just wasn't the same.  I was watching as a casual fan, rooting for the hometown Orioles but not disappointed when the Royals (whose players are cuter) scored some runs of their own.  Oriole Park at Camden Yards, only an hour away, was packed with fans - some of whom I knew - in their orange sweatshirts waving their orange rally towels, smiling and cheering and rooting for their birds while I sat on my couch wanting to get excited but just not able to.


But hey, wait a minute!  This is actually way less stressful!  I have nothing invested in any of these teams; I don't own any jerseys or t-shirts for any of these clubs and I don't have to wait for a commercial to go use the bathroom!  I can go to bed at a decent time before a game is over if I want to!  I can root for Yadier Molina and Buster Posey at the same time!  I can make fun of the color commentators instead of getting upset at how little they actually know about the Nationals!  I can like both Markakis and Moustakas and any other player with a Greek last name who happens to come along!  I can side with the umpires during a play challenge and laugh at the fans who get upset when a call in their team's favor is overturned!  Hey, I can enjoy these last 2 weeks of baseball - and guess what?  I WILL!

Goodbye to #2

In case you've been living under a rock and didn't know that Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees is retiring at the end of this season, let me be the first to tell you (of course, if you've been living under a rock for over 20 years, you may not even know who Derek Jeter is, so stop reading this now and go take a shower!).  Jeter has had a storybook career full of personal and team accomplishments and free from scandal, gossip, or inappropriate tweets.  Look up "All-American boy" in the dictionary, and there is a picture of Derek Jeter.




Much has been hyped about Derek Jeter's retirement; not only because he announced it about six months ago and has had a whole season to milk it wherever he goes (he has received numerous retirement gifts at each city the Yankees have visited), but because Derek Jeter is pretty great.  Yankees fans idolize him, and even us Yankees dis-likers who have followed his career ("hate" is too strong a word, reserved for liver and onions, dental work, and my first marriage) have to admit that he's a pretty cool dude.
 


Born in New Jersey and raised in Michigan by a substance-abuse counselor father and accountant mother, Derek was drafted by the Yankees in 1992 and has exclusively worn pinstripes ever since.  Among his accomplishments (I can't include all seven hundred of them) are 14 All-Star game appearances, five World Series championships, the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1996, and over 3,460 career hits (sixth in the all-time hits list).  He has had many "storybook" moments, like when he hit his 3000th hit for a home run and had a walk-off single in his last game at Yankee Stadium.  He is also very philanthropic, starting the Turn 2 Foundation to help teens with substance abuse.  His jersey number, 2, will most likely be retired by the Yankees in the near future, leaving no more single-digit numbers for future Yankees players to use.



Off the field, this "golden boy" had cameo appearances in a handful of TV shows and movies (my favorite was in the movie "The Other Guys"), and he endorsed many different products from the typical ones like Gatorade and Nike to more interesting ones like his own "Driven"cologne by AVON.  And I'm sure he's not done - we will surely be seeing Derek Jeter's pretty face on TV for decades to come.  I'm OK with that, as long as he has a self-deprecating sense of humor and doesn't come across as having no personality.



How "great" is Jeter's legacy?  It depends on whom you ask.  Some say he's better than Babe Ruth, while others say he was just an OK shortstop who happened to play for a long time.  While Omar Vizquel will always be my favorite defensive shortstop, I will always admire Derek Jeter for his offensive talent, his leadership as the Yankees' captain, and for his ability to keep his nose clean and scandal-free in New York, which can be a tough city to live and work in if you're a celebrity.



So now that Derek Jeter has played his final game at Yankee Stadium ("the house that Derek built"), let's get excited about playoff baseball - WITHOUT the Yankees! :-)

Rip Van-Me Finally Woke Up!

So much has happened in baseball since I last posted on my blog!  The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw notched his Major League-leading nineteenth win on his way to yet another Cy Young award (remember my previous post about being "bad-ass?"  Kershaw is definitely one of those!); the Houston Astros fired second-year manager Bo Porter; team owners elected a new Commissioner who will take over after Bud Selig retires in January (and they didn't pick me!); the Kansas City Royals inched their way closer to a playoff spot; and did you hear that Derek Jeter is retiring?  I know; I had no idea either!


Let's take a peek at the division standings and how things look playoff-wise now that I'm back to the grind (by the way, my husband and I went to two games at Nationals Park during my hiatus, so I was definitely paying attention!).  In the AL West, the Los Angeles Angels (which in Spanish means "the angels angels") became the first team to clinch a playoff spot and have the best record in the Majors.  People will watch them because of Albert Pujols and Mike Trout, but they should also pay attention to Matt Shoemaker, Howie Kendrick, and Erick Aybar.  They're surely going to have the AL West clinched by the end of the week, and people better start paying attention to these guys.


In the AL Central, things aren't so cut-and-dry.  The Detroit Tigers are only a game and-a-half above the Royals, who refuse to give up and are hungry for a playoff birth.  Some people are tired of the Cabrera-Verlander-Scherzer Tigers and want to see the Royals have a go at a pennant (they haven't amounted to much since the days of George Brett.  Pine tar, anyone?).  I would be happy with either team.  The Tigers are always fun to watch since they have such collective talent, but the underdog Royals would be a breath of fresh air.  And they have some cute guys on the team too!


As far as the AL East, it's Baltimore all the way.  They hope to clinch their playoff spot tonight (or may already have, depending on when you read this), and they've played some really good baseball despite injuries to key players.  Last year's home run leader, Chris Davis, has to serve a 25-game suspension for not submitting the appropriate paperwork to allow him to take his ADHD medication, but it's not like he was hitting anywhere close to last year, so the Orioles will be fine without him. 


On to the National League, where my mighty Nationals are also hoping to clinch a playoff spot tonight (if they can beat those annoying Braves).  Their lineup is solid, their starting rotation is strong (with Geo Gonzalez as the weakest link - who would've thought that would be the case this season?), and their bullpen is decent.  They fired Rafael Soriano as their closer and replaced him with Drew Storen, who was the closer when the Nationals lost to the Cardinals in the 2012 playoffs, but Storen has matured a lot and is better able to handle stressful situations.  Now if only I could afford to attend a playoff game...


In the NL Central, those darn Cardinals are in first place AGAIN.  Aren't we all sick of the Cards?  Really; give those Pirates a chance, will ya?  The Bucs are only 3 1/2 games out, and are technically still "in it."  Plus they have Andrew McCutchen, whom everyone loves, and a nicer ballpark and better fans.  Plus the "pirate" was my high school mascot, so there's that.  A lot depends on how the San Francisco Giants do (that whole Wild Card thing is a whole other story).


Lastly, the NL West belongs to the Dodgers, who have excellent pitching, a great manager in Don Mattingly, and an enigma named Yasiel Puig.  While an all-LA World Series would be boring to most casual fans, I would find it interesting and would actually root for one if the Nationals and Orioles are eliminated in the playoffs.  I could easily live vicariously through the LA fans but would have a hard time picking a favorite team (while I usually root for the National League team in the World Series, I like the Angels a little more than the Dodgers, so I would definitely be torn).  Yes, a "Beltway Series" would be super-exciting for those of us here in the mid-Atlantic, but a west-coast series would suffice.


So as you can see, there is still a LOT of baseball to be played and most playoff teams to be decided.  As for me, I promise to blog more, because I really missed writing while my life was busily filling up with family obligations, kids' activities, and the demands of my "real" (paying) job.  I'll be back soon with more predictions and more shallow commentary (sorry!), but in the meantime, keep rooting for those Nationals, Orioles, and Pirates! 

A Trade-Trade Here and a Trade-Trade There (with a peek at our next Commissioner?)

Every year, the end of July brings with it a lot of wheeling and dealing between Major League baseball teams.  With a deadline of July 31st, teams in contention do whatever they can to strengthen their rosters, and loser teams give up some good players with hopes of getting some prospects or cash in return.  Many of these players being traded are going to be free agents at the end of the season, so they're being traded solely for the purpose of helping a team get to the World Series and sometimes don't return with that team the following season.  It makes things exciting, because most teams wait until the last minute to make their trades, leaving us nerdy fans at the edge of our seats until 3:59 pm (after 4:00 on July 31st, no more trades can be made).


This year was no exception.  The day started with the Oakland A's surprisingly getting rid of slugger (and two-time Home Run Derby champ) Yoenis Céspedes in exchange for starting pitcher John Lester and older-than-dirt Jonny Gomes, who has played for more teams than I can count (he's actually only 33, but he has played for 7 different teams, so it seems like he's been around forever).  This trade left me going "Huh???" because it doesn't seem to make much sense.  While I normally don't question anything that A's General Manager Billy Beane does, I think renting Lester for 2 months (he will be a free agent at the end of the season) at the expense of losing Céspedes was very risky.  But Beane has made it very clear that he wants to make it to the World Series this year, so I guess he has the off-season to worry about restructuring his ball club.  In the meantime, the Red Sox are going to be hitting home runs left and right with Céspedes and David Ortiz, but will sadly remain in the basement of the AL East.


Another trade worth mentioning involved three teams.  Former Cy Young Award winner David Price went to Detroit (a team that now has three Cy Young winners in its rotation), the Tigers' Austin Jackson went to Seattle, and Drew Smyly and Nick Franklin went to Tampa Bay (Smyly was with the Tigers and Franklin was with the Mariners).  I know; very confusing!  What killed me was that Austin Jackson was removed in the middle of the Tigers' game against the White Sox - manager Brad Ausmus went out to the home plate umpire in the middle of the seventh inning to let him know that Jackson was being removed because he had just been traded.  Couldn't they wait for the inning to finish?  Poor Jackson looked a little confused, and when he reached the dugout, all his teammates were giving him good-bye hugs.  That's when I feel like these guys are treated like cattle, but then I remind myself how much money they're making, and I stop feeling badly.  Still - were they going to give Jackson a few minutes to go to his apartment and get his things? 


And of course my Washington Nationals couldn't sit there and watch everyone else get traded; they had to get in the game as well, acquiring infielder Asdrubal Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians for Zach Walters and some cash.  Cabrera will be a welcome addition to the Nats' infield, since third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has a Type 3 hamstring strain that has him on the Disabled List for a long time (in case you were wondering, "Type 3" means his hamstring is so messed up that it's practically hanging by a dental-floss-thin muscle fiber and can roll up like a cheap window shade at the slightest movement).  Ryan's absence has me so sad, because he's the quintessential clutch hitter who always came through in the bottom of the ninth inning.  The Nationals are trying to fill that void by moving Anthony Rendón from second base to third (his natural position) and putting newly-acquired Cabrera at second base.  Problem is, Cabrera is a natural shortstop and hasn't played second base since 2009.  Is that an issue?  I don't know; I haven't made the transition from shortstop to second base myself, so I can't speak from experience.  


Something else that is noteworthy from this past week's baseball action was the appearance of former President George W. Bush when the Texas Rangers hosted the New York Yankees.  Bush was there as part of a pre-game ceremony in honor of Derek Jeter (have you heard that he's retiring?  I KNOW - I had NO IDEA!)  And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Ivan Rodriguez was there too.  Anyway, I have always thought that "W" would make a good baseball Commissioner.  No, I'm not high; hear me out for a minute.  He's a former team owner like current Commissioner Bud Selig was (I'm OK with former owners being Commissioners as long as they know a baseball from a softball), he is a genuine fan, and regardless of my political views, I can admit that he has charisma.  He definitely seems more personable than Selig, and he would do a better job at throwing out a first pitch than most people who make that attempt.  So if they're not going to offer me the job, the next-best person may just be POTUS #43.  Again, my observation has NOTHING to do with my political views!


Alrighty, friends - two more months of regular-season baseball left and two more games for my husband and I to attend.  Keep cheering for the Nationals and Orioles (or at least cheer against the Phillies, Braves, and Yankees), and keep an eye on José Abreu of the White Sox, who currently has a 20-game hitting streak going.  Gosh, I hope I didn't jinx him by mentioning it!

Halfway Over Already???

Happy All-Star break, my friends!  As we look back on the first half of the 2014 baseball season, we Washington Nationals fans should be pretty pleased with our team.  Not only are the Nationals in first place in the NL East (percentage points above the Atlanta Braves); the Nats have won 10 of their last 14 games, their bats have come alive, and their pitching continues to be solid.  And I have to mention the Baltimore Orioles too - just because Chris Davis isn't hitting doesn't mean the team doesn't deserve to be in first place in the AL East - go Os!

While some ESPN critics claim that the Nationals have “under-performed” during the first half of the season, I have to say that these people are idiots and are only looking at statistics on paper.   The Nationals are tenth in the National League in batting with a team average of .246, and their best average is held by cutie Anthony Rendón, who is batting .287 (number 22 on the NL list).  But that doesn’t tell the whole story.  The Nationals lead the NL in pitching, with a 3.08 team ERA, starter Stephen Strasburg leads the league with 149 strikeouts, and closer Rafael Soriano has 22 saves with a 0.97 ERA.

And how about all those guys on the Disabled List?  Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, and Wilson Ramos all spent most of the first half of the season on the DL, and as far as pitchers, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez also had short stints on the List.  So chill out, critics; the Nationals are right where they need to be at the halfway point of the season.

But what do the Nationals need to do to remain on top?  First, Bryce Harper needs to do some hitting.  Since his return from the DL, Harper has gone 6-40 with one home run.  Bryce is a talented kid – I know he can hit!  Hopefully he can analyze his swing during the break (isn't that what they all do - "review the tapes?"), take some pitches from his dad, and come back ready to do some damage.  Just think about your parents, Bryce; you're embarrassing them!

The Nationals also need to get rid of Danny Espinosa.  Don’t send him down to the Minors – trade him for some prospects or some cash or for a nice hand-made Amish quilt.  He calls himself a switch hitter but can’t hit from either side, and just being a good fielder is not enough if you can’t hit.  Danny has to go - he plain old sucks.

Finally, the Nationals HAVE to beat the Braves.  They have nine games left to play against the Braves this season, and they need to win at least 5 of them.  The Braves aren’t all that – their hitting has been up and down and their pitchers aren’t as dominant (except for that Craig Kimbrel guy with his weird pitching stance) – so there’s really no reason why the Nationals can’t win most of their remaining games against the Braves.  If anything, they need to win the games in Atlanta so I don’t have to hear that annoying “Tomahawk Chop” that their fans do when their team is winning. 

How about the rest of the teams in the Majors - any surprises during the first half?  Well I'm glad you asked!  I'm surprised to see the World Champion Red Sox on the bottom of the AL East; I'm a little surprised that the Oakland A's have the best record in baseball; and I'm saddened that the Cardinals' Yadier Molina is going to be out for a while with a torn thumb ligament.  Ouch!  I was even sad to see a Yankee go down (and that's rare for me!) when rookie pitcher Masahiro Tanaka suffered a partial tear of the ulnar ligament in his pitching arm.  He had my vote for Rookie of the Year, but now he has to undergo all sorts of aggressive rehab which will sideline him for a while.  Luckily, he may be able to avoid Tommy John surgery because he had platelet-rich plasma injected into his elbow, and that's supposed to make the tear heal itself.  Let's hope it works, but not if the Yankees make it to the post-season. :-)

So, my friends, the second half of the season should be a good one.  Enjoy tonight's Home Run Derby (I'm rooting for Giancarlo Stanton) and tomorrow's All-Star Game (National League fan, obviously!), and may the second half bring good health and many home runs to the Nationals and Orioles.  I, for one, would love to see a "Battle of the Beltways" World Series-style!

Phew! I'm Back!

Mercy me!  It's hard to believe that I hadn't blogged in over a month!  May was utterly crazy with 3 family birthdays, my daughter's 8th-grade graduation, my son's hectic and unpredictable baseball schedule, and house guests.  Now that life has settled down a little and my husband and I have returned from our vacation in Italy (sans kids - it was just terrible!), I can finally take a breath and focus on my blog.


A lot happened in Major League Baseball during my hiatus - the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw no-hit the Rockies, Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn passed away, and my husband and I went to Nationals Park to watch the Nats gets their butts kicked by Yu Darvish and the Texas Rangers.  But hey, my Nationals are in first place in the NL East, so there's that.


One thing I've neglected to do this season, which I usually do in May, is to submit my All-Star ballot.  Since it's better to do it late than not do it at all, I went ahead and voted earlier today (it's Primary Day here in Frederick, so why not vote?).  Some of my usual players are there (Miggy, Canó, Yadier) and some are new (Blackmon, Prado, Perez).  Here are the players who got my vote and the reasoning behind my selections:


AMERICAN LEAGUE
First base:  Sorry, Orioles fans; the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera always gets my vote.  Until he decides to have a crappy year or switch to DH, he will always get my vote over Chris Davis.


Second base:  I could have voted for José Altuve, but just like with first base, Robinson Canó always gets my vote.  He is just bad-ass, especially since he's no longer a Yankee.


Shortstop:  Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox gets my vote this year.  Not voting for Derek Jeter should come as no surprise to you if you've read my blog in the past.


Third base:  I really wanted to vote for Manny Machado, but since he was out for the beginning of the season, I had to go with the Rangers' Adrian Beltre.  He's batting .309 so far this season, so there.


Designated Hitter:  As much as I hate the DH, I forced myself to vote so I would have a full ballot.  No, I did not vote for "Big Papi" or for the Tigers' Victor Martinez - the Orioles' Nelson Cruz got my vote, because he has proven that you can come back from a drug suspension and still kick butt.  Not that I think he should have taken PEDs in the first place, but if MLB is going to give him a second chance, he has certainly made good lemonade out of his lemons.  Plus I had to vote for an Oriole.


Outfield:  This is the hardest category by far.  I wanted to vote for six players, but I had to cut it down to Alex Gordon of the Royals and the Blue Jays' Melky Cabrera and José Bautista.  That left out Nick Markakis and Adam Jones of the O's and Mike Trout of the Angels.   Sorry guys; I can't vote for EVERYONE!


NATIONAL LEAGUE
First base:  I voted for Adam LaRoche because he can play a mean first base and he's leading the Nationals in batting.  He'll probably be named as a reserve player, but at least I can say I voted for a Nationals player.


Second base:  I had to vote for the Pirates' Neil Walker even though I love Anthony Rendón of the Nationals, because Walker is just having a better year and Rendón has been playing at third base lately.  Chase Utley is having a good season too, but I don't vote for Phillies players, so he's out.


Shortstop:  Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies, hands down!


Third base:  I chose Martín Prado of the Arizona Diamondbacks because Chipper Jones and Mike Schmidt are retired.


Catcher:  Sigh!  Jonathan Lucroy of the Milwaukee Brewers is having a great season, but I had to go with my Puerto Rican heart and vote for the Cardinals' Yadier Molina.  He's kind of trashy, but he's the best catcher in the game today.


Outfield:  I left out the three "P"s who are playing well - Angel Pagán, Yasiel Puig, and Hunter Pence - and voted for three players who are playing better:  Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates, Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies, and Carlos Gomez of the Brewers. 


So there you have it - now I have to wait and see how many of the players I voted for end up making the All-Star team.  So much of it is a popularity contest, but I like to think that I actually put some thought into my voting.  Enjoy the last 3 weeks of the first half of the season, and don't forget to watch some World Cup soccer too!

From Mudville Mom to Proud Mom

(Warning:  "Mudville Mom" is taking a break from her snarky, tell-it-like-it-is, opinionated views to bring you a heartfelt account of her life as a baseball mom.)

Hello, baseball fans!  It's been a while since I've blogged, because honestly, there hasn't been much worth blogging about lately.  I was going to write about Nolan Arenado's hitting streak, but it stopped at 28 games.  Yu Darvish's no-hitter?  No, it was broken up in the bottom of the ninth inning.  José Fernandez being on the DL?  That's just so devastating for baseball that I don't even want to think about it.  So instead of blogging, I've been enjoying my son's Little League baseball games and beaming as a proud mom.

My son is 10, and by no means is he the next Babe Ruth.  He tried machine-pitch baseball in first grade, but thought that he was better-suited to play soccer, which he has played since Kindergarten.  I can honestly say that he's lightning-fast, but he's way too nice on the soccer field.  The competitive Puerto Rican in him has not come out yet, and he's more of a "No, it's OK; YOU go ahead and kick the ball!" type of kid.  But he's been with the same teammates since first grade, and he genuinely likes to play soccer every fall.

This spring, Son decided to give baseball another try.  He has always enjoyed watching baseball with me, and now that he has a good understanding of the game, he figured he could give it a shot.  So we took him to tryouts and were disappointed to find out that Son was placed on a machine-pitch team again, while his best buddy was moving up to the Minors.  Son was devastated, and I thought "Boy, this is going to be a LONG season!"  I thought he would whine about having to go to practices and we would have to drag him to all his games.  Well, putting my kid in machine-pitch turned out to not be such a travesty after all.

For those of you not familiar with Little League rules, machine-pitch is a level where they focus on instruction, skill development, and fundamentals.  They don't officially keep score at the games (though there is always someone keeping very detailed track of each at-bat, hit, out, and run), and each game lasts less than two hours.  You also aren't allowed to heckle (gone are the days of "go batterbatterbatter, SWINGbatter!" and "We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher!"), and all the parents had to take some sort of oath on Opening Day promising they weren't going to be obnoxious potty-mouths and were going to behave themselves appropriately while spectating (they clearly haven't seen me during a baseball game).  Now I must say, I've been pretty good so far, though I have questioned two plays with the coach and have asked if the infield-fly rule is used in Little League.  I'm sorry; I know the game, so I'm going to question!

So why has my son had such a good experience so far?  First of all, he's one of the biggest kids on the team (since he's on the older side for machine-pitch), so he's naturally beyond the "playing with the dirt in the infield and looking at the birds in the outfield" phase.  He always plays hard, and because he knows the game, he knows where to stand, who to throw the ball to, and how to get someone out (when playing first base one time, he decided against trying to make a leaping catch because he figured it would get him off the bag, and as the catcher at last night's game, he made the last out because he knew he had to cover the plate and tag the runner coming from third base when the ball was thrown to him).  He also has a very good coach, a parent-volunteer who stresses fairness and good sportsmanship and has even called out a few opposing coaches who have not played nice.  His kid is not the best on the team, which my son finds refreshing, and he genuinely likes to teach little kids how to play good baseball.

My son still has a long way to go - remembering not to slow down as he's reaching first base (he's afraid of running into the kid covering the base); working on catching fly balls; following his swing all the way through so his hits can someday leave the infield - but he's already come a long way, and whether he decides to play baseball in coming years or not, at least I know I'm raising a kid who plays hard, can think under pressure, and gets along with his peers.  I may consider myself a die-hard baseball fan, but I am a mom first and foremost, and my kids make me proud every day.

Happy Homers and Happy Birthday!

When the Anaheim Angels arrived in Washington, DC earlier this week to take on the Washington Nationals, all the talk was about phenoms Mike Trout and Bryce Harper playing against each other.  Both young outfielders won the Rookie of the Year award for their respective leagues in 2012, and both are hard-working, hustling guys who play the game hard (except Trout is having a better season than Harper so far, plus he does commercials for Subway and Bryce does not).  Another reason that this series was under the radar of baseball fans was that José Alberto Pujols (known to everyone in the world except his family as "Albert"), was coming to DC with 498 career home runs under his belt.  After having the worst season of his career in 2013, most people (including me) thought that he may hit number 499 during the series, but 500 didn't seem likely for a few more days.

Well, at Tuesday night's game with the Nationals' Taylor Jordan on the mound, Albert Pujols became the only player to hit home runs 499 and 500 in the same game.  He is one of only 26 players to reach the 500 home run milestone, and is only 5 homers away from passing Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.  Pujols is only the fourth player in the 500 Home Run Club to be born outside of the US, with Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and Manny Ramirez being the other 3 (with Pujols being the only one who has never been implicated in any kind of steroid scandal).  He's one of those Derek Jeter-type of likable guys who gives money to charity and loves playing the game.  Pujols is a true family man, having created a foundation with his wife to increase awareness of Down's Syndrome (a condition that one of his children has).  Oh, and I can say I saw him play twice - as a St. Louis Cardinal against the Nationals in 2012 and as an Angel against the Orioles in 2013.

Instead of filling my post with all sorts of statistics and listing all the accolades that Pujols has earned during his Major League tenure both with the Angels and the Cardinals, I surfed the Internet looking for the most interesting fact that I could find on Albert and here's what I found in Wikipedia (you can choose to believe it or discard it):  Albert Pujols scored a perfect 100 on his citizenship exam when he became a U.S. citizen in 2007.  Have you SEEN some of the questions on that exam?  Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

Also worth noting is that Chicago's Wrigley Field, home of the sorry Cubs, is celebrating its 100th birthday.  "The Friendly Confines," with its ivy-covered outfield and manual scoreboard, is an icon of baseball history, having housed players like Ernie Banks (who I was surprised is still alive!), Ferguson Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, and Andre Dawson.  Like Busch Stadium in St. Louis, I've only been to the outside of this historic ballpark, but I'm hoping to visit in the next couple of years.  I'm sure the bathrooms smell like 100 years of pee and the concession stands and concourse area are cramped, but it's a piece of Americana that all baseball fans must visit.  Happy centennial, Wrigley Field, and "felicidades" to José Alberto Pujols!

"Gettin' Jiggy" with Miggy :-)

Opening Day is finally here, my friends!  Actually, the season began last night with the San Diego Padres hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers in a game that was blown by Brian Wilson (you know, the hairy guy who has been struggling for the past couple of years).  The Padres scored 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Dodgers 3-1.

Before the season gets too far underway, I want to address two topics that I've been asked to write about and express my opinion (yes, someone out there is actually reading this blog regularly and wants my expert opinion on a few things!).  First is the $292 million contract that Miguel Cabrera signed with the Detroit Tigers through 2023, and second is my predictions for the 2014 season.

As many of you know, I am a big fan of Miguel Cabrera, and seeing him play in Cleveland last summer was a highlight for me.  The 2012 Triple Crown winner and 2013 MVP is one of those players that only come around once in a lifetime - that kind of player that you tell your grandkids about and whose baseball cards will be worth a lot of money someday.  But Miggy is also getting bigger (now reportedly up to 260 pounds), slower, and more prone to injury (last season he missed several games with back issues).  Ten years is a LONG time for anyone to commit to a player, especially one who is already over 30 years old.  It makes me think of the long-term contract that Alex Rodriguez signed with the Yankees a while back - I forget how that one turned out!  Then there's Albert Pujols - how did he do last year again?  The amount of money the Tigers want to pay Miggy doesn't bother me since baseball players are overpaid anyway; it's the number of years in the contract that I think is excessive.  Yes, he can prolong his career as a designated hitter, but 10 more years?  Really?  A little much, if you ask me.

Now as far as my predictions for this season, this may come as a shock to you, but I don't think I'm going to make any.  I know, it's kind of a cop-out, but with 162 games in a season, anything can happen.  Yes, I would love to say that the Nationals will win the NL East and the Pirates will reach the playoffs again, but so much can happen between now and September.  Look at the Atlanta Braves, who played so well last year and are now starting their season with half of their players on the Disabled List.  And how about the Toronto Blue Jays, who were supposed to be the be-all end-all last season - will they fare any batter than last year?  And without Mariano Rivera, will the Yankees suck this season?  Well they got 4 key players during the offseason - Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltrán, Brian McCann, and Masahiro Tanaka; but they only look good on paper at this point.  I could pull out all sorts of rankings and statistics and SABR-metrics numbers to support my predictions, but all I can do is tell you which team I would LIKE to see in the playoffs - not necessarily the teams that the bettors in Vegas are picking.  And really, after seeing our NCAA basketball brackets ruined after the first round of March Madness, can statistics really tell us everything?  So here are the teams I like and my un-scientific reasons for liking them.

AL EAST:  I'm going to root for the Baltimore Orioles.  They were a mess in the off-season and didn't get their act together until early March, when they signed a bunch of last-minute players and made some impromptu trades.  Yes, Manny Machado is starting the season on the DL, but we all know that one guy does not a team make, so why not root for the team that played so well during Spring Training?

AL CENTRAL:  I want to see the Kansas City Royals play in the postseason.  Really, I do.  They went 86-76 last year, and if it hadn't been for the 12-game losing streak they had, they would have contended.  I'm picking the Royals and I'm not changing my mind.  Sorry, Tigers and Indians!

AL WEST:  This is one division about which I never really cared.  I guess I'll pick the low-budget Oakland A's even though the Mariners now have Robinson Canó and the Angels have hottie Mike Trout.  They have great pitchers and very good defensive players, so they should do well.

NL EAST:  I don't know if this is jinxing my team, but I'm going to go ahead and pick the Nationals.  The Braves annoy me, the Mets are a mess, the Marlins have no one except for José Fernandez, and the Phillies might as well turn their clubhouse into a nursing home.  The Nationals have a solid pitching rotation (even with Doug Fister starting the season on the DL), guys who can hit, and a feisty new manager.  And we're going to 5 games this season, so they better play well!

NL CENTRAL:  How can you not root for the Pittsburgh Pirates?  Those of us who are sick of the Cardinals have embraced the Pirates and their never-give-up attitude.  Plus they're opening the season against the Cubs at home, so what more of a confidence boost does a team need?

NL WEST:  I am determined to not pick the Dodgers (since everyone else is), so I'm going to go with the San Diego Padres.  I don't think they will win their division outright, but I believe they can get a wild-card spot and make the playoffs with their decent pitching.  Now if they could only get rid of those ugly camo uniforms that they wear on Sundays during home games!

As you can see, my picks are purely based on my shallow opinions and do not carry any statistical weight whatsoever.  It took me exactly 20 minutes to come up with my selections - this way if I totally blow it, I won't feel like a total failure who spent way too much time analyzing data.

All I know is that it's finally time to play ball.  Time for seventh-inning stretches, racing presidents (and sausages), and injury reports (short ones, hopefully).  Enjoy the season, and keep checking in for my thoughts, insights, and of course, my unfiltered opinions.  Let's go Nats! :-)

It's Almost Time!!!

First and foremost, I just want to say how much I enjoy writing my own blog.  Nobody edits what I write, so my opinions (not that I ever have any!) are unfiltered and honest.  I say this because I am the Washington Nationals' blogger for a local publication, and they're often editing my comments.  I had considered applying to become a regular contributor to the print edition of this publication, but I don't think they are looking for someone as opinionated and frank as myself.  Their loss.

OK,  now that I got that off my chest, let's talk some baseball!  Opening Day is just a breath away, and for those of us not following NCAA basketball (though I do have 8 teams left in my Sweet 16 bracket!), next Sunday and Monday is our version of "March Madness."  The rosters have been cut, the starting pitchers have been named, and fans in cold-weather cities are praying for warm weather next week.  Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith even spearheaded a campaign to make Opening Day a national holiday, claiming that too many people call in sick to work on that day.  Smith was able to get the required number of signatures required for his idea to be taken seriously, so we'll see where that goes.  I don't think it's necessary to call it a national holiday, because only 15 of the 30 teams will be hosting a game for the first series, so what happens when the other 15 teams host their own Opening Day after that - do we need a second national holiday?  My Nationals, for example, open the season in New York next Monday (March 31) but don't open at home until April 4.  I wouldn't call out sick on the 31st since I can watch the game from my work computer (shhh!) but would call in sick on the 4th (if I had tickets, which I don't).  It's a silly proposal from Ozzie.

So what do we have to look forward to this season?  First of all, the Yankees are no longer the team with the highest payroll in the Majors, which is quite refreshing.  That honor now goes to the Dodgers, so we'll see where they end up at the end of the season.  I'd pick the Dodgers over the Yankees any day, so I'm OK with them making a lot of money.  Let's just hope Yasiel Puig can develop a personality this year.

Also interesting to note is the expanded use of instant replay in the Majors.  A manager is allowed to formally challenge an umpire's call in certain cases (hone runs and stolen bases, not balls and strikes), and after the sixth inning, umpires on the field can ask for a second opinion if they themselves are in doubt of a call.  Who do they turn to for a second opinion?  The people in the Major League Baseball Replay Center, a high-tech facility with at least one umpire, one trained technician, and 37 high-definition monitors that will show every angle of every game.  When a manager challenges a call, umpires will appeal to the umpire working at the headquarters, and with the technician's assistance, will examine video of the play from different angles.  The review umpire will communicate his assessment to the on-site umpire and send the video to the home ballpark for broadcast on the scoreboard along with the text message description of the play.

How long will this take?  Less than 2 minutes, experts seem to think.  Now, I was opposed to this idea at first , thinking it would take away from the accuracy of umpires and the charm of the game, but after having seen it used twice in Spring Training games, I'm OK with it (it helps that both times it was the Nationals' manager, Matt Williams, challenging a call and both times he was right).  The first time I saw it, Bryce Harper was called out trying to steal second, when it was pretty clear (even to me, the blind one) that he was safe.  After Williams's challenge, the umpires reviewed the video taken by the Mets' camera people and determined their call was erroneous.  This took 1 minute and 47 seconds.  The second time, Denard Span caught a shoestring catch in center field and the runner was called safe.  Further review showed that Span not only caught the ball, but he held on to it after rolling on the ground a couple of times.  This one took exactly 2 minutes, but both instances were reviewed with the video from the local camera people.  Beginning Sunday, the videos will come from that fancy place in New York, and it should make the process a little more smooth (we hope).

Another thing that doesn't bother me about this expanded replay thing is the fact that managers probably won't be challenging calls during every game.  According to MLB.com, there were only 377 out of some 50,000 calls that merited review, which comes out to about 1 every 6.4 games (check that out - I did that math all by myself!).  Only 27 times did questionable calls happen twice in a game, which gives umpires an extremely high level of proficiency.

So as long as umpires keep doing their job as well as they've done it lately, managers shouldn't be challenging calls too much and baseball games shouldn't (hopefully) drag on much longer than they already do.  It's one of those things us baseball purists are just going to have to embrace, like the cotton-poly uniform, the use of batting gloves, and the high price of ballpark concessions.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em and buy the overpriced beer.

Sunday night will bring us the first game of the season with the San Diego Padres hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers, who technically started their season in Australia last week, where they played 2 games against the Arizona Diamondbacks and won them both.  Most other teams begin on Monday, with games including the Mets hosting the Nationals and the World Champion Red Sox visiting the surprisingly-good-during-spring-training Baltimore Orioles.  My husband and I will be at Nationals Park the following weekend for the series against the Atlanta Braves, officially kicking off our 5-game season.  While we may not visit as many different ballparks as we did last year, we are ready to root for the much-improved Nationals and hope you are ready to root for your favorite team.  It's almost time, people; let's play some ball!

Baseball 101? I'll Teach It!

Spring Training is in full force, my friends – a time for tweaking your batting stance, working on your curveball, and writing a research paper.  The latter is what 19-year-old Josh Hart of the Baltimore Orioles had to do earlier this week.  Hart, an outfielder who was selected 37th overall in last summer’s amateur draft, was introduced to Hall of Famer Frank Robinson during a Spring Training practice, and Hart did not know who Robinson was.  So Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter told Hart to write a one-page paper on Robinson and have it on Showalter’s desk the next day.  Hart complied, and is now vastly knowledgeable in all things Frank.

With this story fresh in my mind, I decided to do my own little study to see if kids approximately the same age as Josh Hart had any knowledge of who Frank Robinson is.  I asked several students at Governor Thomas Johnson High School, and was disappointed to see that most of them had no clue.  18-year-old Jacob, a very smart Senior who wants to attend Duke University to study engineering, said “The name sounds familiar, but I don’t think I know who he is.”  Mickey, 17, asked “What class does he teach?”  The closest was one of our military academy hopefuls, who said "He's what that movie '42' was about."  To the defense of my students, some of the kids I questioned admit to not following baseball too closely, and they’re not being paid crazy amounts of money to wear a uniform and play 162 games a year.

So how important is it for current Major League baseball players to know the history of the game and the names of the greats?  I think if you’re going to have a job with such a high-paying salary, you should have an idea of who came before you, stood on the same field as you, and had a locker in your clubhouse that could even be the locker that you’re currently using (especially if you play in one of the older ball parks, like Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, or Dodgers Stadium).  These millionaires need to feel humbled by the greats who played before them.  Guys like Bryce Harper and Mike Trout need to appreciate the leaping catches that Kirby Puckett made in center field.  Sluggers like Miguel Cabrera and Michael Cuddyer should feel small next to Pete Rose and Joe DiMaggio.  Jacoby Ellsbury and Eric Young should take base-stealing pointers from Rickey Henderson or Lou Brock.

Here is what I think Major League Baseball should do:  They should have the annual player draft in Cooperstown, NY, so that prospective players and their families can tour the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and get a lesson in baseball history.  Most of these guys haven’t been to the Hall, so they haven’t seen the majestic room full of inductees’ plaques, the museum with the Babe Ruth room, and the movies and interactive displays that take you from the game’s beginnings to the record-breakers of the modern era.  Cooperstown is in the middle of nowhere, so your typical draft candidate probably hasn’t made the trip there before, but if he has the potential of being signed by a Major League team and can learn a thing or two about the game’s history, you bet he’ll take the trip to New York!

You don't like that idea?  Then how about Major League Baseball send me to visit all 30 teams so I can give the players a history lesson?  I can have Power Points and handouts and trivia questions and everything!  I like that idea better!

I know a lot of the current young players were born in the 90s, a decade full of PEDs and not much excitement.  They probably looked up to guys like Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire, and maybe even great players like Greg Maddux, Wade Boggs, and Ken Griffey, Jr.  But just like high school students have to learn about what happened in history 200 years ago, current baseball players should have some basic appreciation for the men who played before them.  They don’t need to rattle off the names of all the baseball commissioners (not even I can do that without some deep thinking and a check on Wikipedia), but they should have a general knowledge of the players from the past – Cobb, Ruth, DiMaggio, Gehrig, Clemente, Koufax, Seaver, Aaron, and Robinson (both Frank and Jackie). 

The Off-Season in Review (with my comments, of course!)

Football season is over and the Olympics only go for two weeks – what comes next?  Why baseball season is just around the corner, of course, and for those of us who are tired of these record-cold temperatures, we’re hoping that the start of a new baseball season brings with it some warmer weather.

So once you’re done rooting for Lolo Jones, Bode Miller and Shaun White, it’s time to get geared up for the 2014 baseball season.  Before you don your Orioles shirt, Nationals cap, or Yankee pinstripes (ugh!), you may want to catch up on what went on during the off-season, after the Boston Red Sox won the World Series.  Well here’s a recap of what transpired since November in a nutshell (start your stopwatch – this should only take two minutes to read):

·        Detroit's Miguel Cabrera earned his second consecutive Most Valuable Player Award in the American League, took Players' Choice top honors and added a Silver Slugger as well. 

·        The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw won his second National League Cy Young Award in three years, and José Fernandez of the Marlins received the well-deserved reward of NL Rookie of the Year award.  (Remember him?  He’s that Cuban kid who spent time in immigration jail before successfully defecting by coming over on a makeshift boat that hit rough waters and a bunch of people fell overboard including his family.  And he can really pitch!)

·        Free agents:  Robinson Canó went to the Mariners, Jacoby Ellsbury is now a Yankee, Shin-Soo Choo signed with the Rangers, and Japanese pitching star Masahiro Tanaka went to the Yankees.  Who didn’t see that one coming?  Oh, the Yankees also signed outfielder Carlos Beltrán and catcher Brian McCann; they’re clearly trying to buy their way to another World Series.  Whatever!

·        Trades: The Rangers acquired slugging first baseman Prince Fielder from the Tigers for second baseman Ian Kinsler, a doozy of a deal featuring All-Star talent and big bucks. The Cardinals followed by sending third baseman David Freese to the Angels for Peter Bourjos.

·        New managers:  Bryan Price in Cincinnati, Matt Williams in Washington (it should have been Sandy Alomar, Jr.), Brad Ausmus in Detroit, Lloyd McClendon in Seattle, and Rick Rentería with the Cubs -- and don't forget Ryne Sandberg in Philadelphia, a late-season addition.

·        Oh, and in case you didn’t realize this, the Orioles lost their closer, Jim Johnson, to the Oakland A’s.  I felt really bad about that one – despite Johnson’s blown saves last season, he was a good pitcher and will be hard to replace.

·        What about my Nationals?  They acquired starting pitcher Doug Fister from the Tigers and were able to avoid arbitration with pretty much every player who was eligible for it.  They also announced “Jayson Werth Garden Gnome Day,” which is pretty exciting.

·        Notable quote:  Curtis Granderson went across town from the Yankees to the Mets, saying “True New Yorkers are Mets fans.”  That one made me smile, since I started out as a Mets fan back in the 80s.  Too bad the Mets will suck again this season.

·        Three of the all-time great managers were honored with their election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame -- Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre, all heading to Cooperstown in July.

·        In an election that again was preceded by considerable debate, the BBWAA elected three first-timers on the Hall of Fame ballot: pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, and hitting star Frank Thomas.

·        Lucrative deals:  Lefty Clayton Kershaw agreed to the richest deal ever for a pitcher, signing a seven-year, $215 million contract through 2020.  The Tigers then signed AL Cy Young winner Max Scherzer to a one-year, $15.5 million deal, and the Rays signed David Price  to a one-year pact worth $14 million.

So there you have it – now you know what went on during the “Hot Stove” season and you can pretend like you know what you’re talking about when necessary.  Stay warm, enjoy the Olympics, and remember that Opening Day is only about seven weeks away!  

A-Rod, PEDs, and a Shocking Conclusion!

As I'm sure you've heard by now, New York Yankees' third baseman Alex Rodriguez has been banned from baseball for the entire 2014 season (post-season included, if the Yankees make it that far) for cheating, lying, and being a jerk (OK, those aren't the official reasons, but they describe A-Rod in a nutshell).  Rodriguez was involved in the Biogenesis scandal where 13 Major League Baseball players were suspended last season for having used performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).  A-Rod was the only player to appeal - all others admitted their guilt, served their punishments, and moved on.  Not only did Rodriguez deny having been injected with PEDs by Anthony Bosch of Biogenesis, but he's gone on to sue everyone from his doctors to the Yankees to Major League Baseball.  It's one of those cases where the more you lie, the more you start believing that those lies are true.

What's my take on the A-Rod situation?  Honestly, I just don't care.  I have never liked "A-Fraud" (especially after reading Joe Torre's book), and I find the whole PED thing very disappointing.  I was heartbroken when Lance Armstrong fessed up to using PEDs (about as heartbroken as I was when I read that Sports Illustrated article depicting Kirby Puckett as a wife beater and women-groper).  Finding out that a previously-superhuman athlete is really a fraud is very deflating and discouraging.  I never felt like that about A-Rod (I just want him to go away), but there's a certain part of me that is expecting to feel like that in 2017 when my idol, Iván "Pudge" Rodriguez, is eligible for a Hall of Fame nomination.

While Pudge's turn won't come for another few years, this whole A-Rod thing has me thinking.  When an elite baseball player retires, the question of whether or not he will be elected to enter the Hall of Fame comes up. In the case of Pudge, the answer to that question is a bit complicated. Based on Iván's merits and statistics alone, he's a shoe-in.  He has the most games caught of any catcher, finished his career with almost 3,000 hits, won an MVP award, a World Series MVP award and was arguably the best defensive catcher of all time (go ahead, argue that one with me!).

But then there’s the PED problem (I know, I hate talking about Pudge and his possible use of PEDs!).  As we’ve seen in recent years, players with any PED associations are basically blackballed from Hall of Fame consideration no matter how strong their on-the-field performance was throughout his career.  No Bonds, no McGwire, and no Sosa in the Hall, but yes to Frank Thomas, who was never implicated in any PED scandals despite hitting a ton of home runs.  Basically, if the members of the BBWAA have morals and think you don't, you’re not getting into the Hall of Fame.  As someone who longs to be a member of the BBWAA, I have to agree.  The Hall of Fame is for the elitest of the elite; if you did something dirty that affected your performance, you don't belong in the Hall of Fame.  Like Pete Rose, who did not deserve to be banned from baseball for life but does not deserve to be in the Hall.  Sorry; Rose also wrote a good book, and I like the guy, but betting on baseball while you're an active participant is a no-no.

So where does Pudge Rodriguez fall in the PED-scheme of things?  He was not named in the Mitchell Report or as part of the Biogenesis scandal.  He has not been revealed to be on the famous list of 103 ballplayers who tested positive during baseball’s pilot testing program in 2004 (which was supposed to be anonymous but wasn't).  He has not admitted to any PED use.  So doesn't that make him a first-ballot shoe-in?  Not so fast.  Former teammate José Canseco wrote in his book (one book I actually don't care to read) that he personally injected Iván with steroids (even though we all know that Canseco is a big fat liar).  And when asked if Canseco's statements were true, Iván just said "Only God knows!"  What's THAT supposed to mean?  Hmmm...  Then there's the first team he played for, the Texas Rangers, where he played with known juicers Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, and A-Rod himself.  Plus, those of us who have paid close attention to Pudge's body over the years (for different reasons!) noticed that he was beefier before the drug testing years and noticeably smaller once testing was implemented in MLB (not that it ever bothered me!).

All of this is circumstantial evidence at best, inadmissible hearsay at worst.  In the world of baseball, any more or less reasonable suspicions that Pudge did, in fact, take PEDs are more than enough to get writers to withhold votes.  So would I vote for Pudge if I was on the BBWAA?  I know some of my posts tend to be shallow and you all know how much I love Pudge, but since I would take my vote as seriously as everyone else, I'm not so sure I would vote yes.  At least not in his first year of eligibility.  Surprised?  I know; I shocked myself as well.  But unless something happens to change the current pattern of Hall of Fame voting or Iván does a better job of denying his use of PEDs, I think he will be on the outside looking in for some time, and I will no longer wish to join the BBWAA.  Sigh!

(I hope my priest reads this so he knows the extent to which I will uphold my morals.  Not even hottie Iván Rodriguez can sway me from trying to be fair and honest!).

Are you Hall of Fame-Worthy?

Happy new year, my friends!  2013 was a great baseball year for me, since I was able to go to 5 Major League games in 4 different ball parks.  I'm not sure we'll visit that many this year, but Fenway Park is a definite possibility, so I'm excited about that.

With every new year comes the announcement of new inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and this year is no exception.  Over 600 members of the BaseBall Writers Association of America (BBWAA) received ballots this year (unfortunately I wasn't one of them, since they haven't decided to allow me into their exclusive club), and all the votes have been counted.  The winners will be announced next week on January 8, and this year's list of inductees promises to be a good one.

Heading the list of new candidates are pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, as well as first-baseman/designated hitter Frank Thomas and second baseman Jeff Kent.  Maddux and Glavine both get my vote, though I know it doesn't count for anything.  Greg Maddux pitched for 23 seasons with 4 teams, most notably the Atlanta Braves (1995 World Champions).  He had two 20-win seasons (1992-93) a record 17 straight seasons with at least 15 wins (1988-2004), won four consecutive Cy Young Awards (1992-95), and won 18 Gold Glove Awards, which is the most all-time at any position.  Maddux wasn't the most personable guy - he was kind of quiet and serious and very particular about who his catcher was (I didn't like the fact that he never wanted Javy Lopez to be his battery mate), but he was a darn good pitcher, and he deserves to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Tom Glavine, also a pitcher with the 1995 World Champion Atlanta Braves, pitched for 22 season with the Braves and Mets, won the Cy Young Award twice (1991, 1998), and was pretty good with the bat.  Glavine had five 20-game seasons, 14 seasons with 200-plus innings pitched, and six seasons with an earned-run average under 3.00.  Two Braves who played together being enshrined into the Hall of Fame together would just be storybook.  And you know how sentimental I am; I'm all about storybook!

So should anyone else be inducted this year along with Maddux and Glavine?  Nope!  Here are the other names on the ballot, with my reasons why they should be excluded.

Mouses Alou, Armando Benitez, Sean Casey, Ray Durham, Eric Gagne, and Jacque Jones - All first-timers on the ballot, but not of the same super-star caliber as Maddux, Glavine, and others.  Non-nerds are familiar with the Alou name, but ask a casual fan who Armando Benitez is and he may think you're referring to the guy who mows the neighbor's lawn or the successful owner of the local Mexican food restaurant chain.  All of them were good players, but not extraordinary players.

Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio - Both of these guys played their entire careers with the Houston Astros.  Bagwell was Rookie of the Year in 1991 and NL MVP in 1994, and Biggio (who still looks like a teenager) ended his career with over 3,000 hits (3,060, to be exact, which puts him 21st in the all-time hits list).  I used to have the biggest crush on him!  Anyway, both of these guys are Hall of Fame worthy, but not yet.  They should have been picked last year, so they could have been inducted together as Astros and had a Texas-sized celebration in Cooperstown.  They won't be chosen this year either, so they may have to wait until the Veterans Committee selects them in a few years.

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGuire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Sammy Sosa - NO, NO, NO!  Need I say more?

Luis Gonzalez -  "Gonzo" had a few good years, mainly with the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He ranks as the Diamondbacks' all-time leader in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, games played, runs, hits, total bases, doubles, home runs, RBIs, and walks.  I remember him best during the 2001 World Series, when he drove in the winning run in game 7 to lift the Diamondbacks to their first World Series title with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning.  It was very dramatic.  Gonzo should be in the Diamondbacks' Hall of Fame, but that should be it.

Todd Jones, Jeff Kent, and Paul LoDuca - Also first-timers on the ballot.  Jones pitched for way too many teams, Kent was a good hitter but not the best second baseman I've ever seen, and LoDuca was a decent catcher but not the greatest.

Edgar Martinez - Edgar has been on the ballot for 5 years, and while he played all 18 seasons with the Mariners and led the American League in batting several times, he was just not a very popular player outside of Seattle.  He was one of those guys who let his hitting do the talking, because no one ever heard him speak.  Good guy, great player, but he will never be elected by the members of the BBWAA.  That is the sad reality and one of the many reasons why I want to join the BBWAA!

Don Mattingly -  Poor Don has appeared on the ballot for like a hundred years now and he still hasn't made it.  The problem with Don is that he only played for 14 seasons, which is not as many years as other players on the ballot.  He was a very good hitter and first baseman, but he didn't play for the Yankees of the Golden Era of Joe Torre.  He's doing fine as a manager; perhaps he can make the Hall under that category someday.

Fred McGriff -  When did Fred McGriff retire?  I thought he was still playing!

Jack Morris and Alan Trammell - Both former Detroit Tigers have been on the ballot for over 10 years.  That makes me feel old!

Mike Mussina - Won't be selected because there are too many first-time candidates who are pitchers, and they were all better than him.

Hideo Nomo - Rookie of the Year in 1995, struck out a gazillion hitters (reached 500 career strikeouts before anyone else) and pitched two no-hitters. Hall of Fame worthy, but not as a first-time candidate.

Mike Piazza - This twelve-time All-Star and 1993 Rookie of the Year was a hell of a catcher.  If he was voted in this year I wouldn't complain.

Tim Raines - Played in the Majors for 23 years, and therefore should have had way more than 2,605 hits.

Kenny Rogers - Yes, he pitched a perfect game in 1994 for the Texas Rangers (with Iván Rodriguez as his battery mate, of course!).  No, he's not the one who knows how to hold 'em and how to fold 'em.  Yes, he was a hero in the postseason with the Detroit Tigers.  But again, he wasn't as good as some of the other guys on the pitcher-crowded ballot.

Curt Schilling - Oh, poor Schilling!  I love him!  He was part of so many dramatic moments - the Diamondbacks' World Series victory in 2001, his bloody sock with the Red Sox in 2004... I'm rooting for Schilling, hoping he makes it in next year or in the near future (especially since his video game company went bankrupt.  Curt needs some good news!).

Richie Sexson, J.T. Snow, Frank Thomas, and Mike Timlin - YAWN!  None of these guys were interesting to me when they played (except for maybe Thomas, but that was just because he looked good in his White Sox uniform - all big and manly and menacing).

Lee Smith - He's still on the ballot?  I swear he played like fifty years ago!

Larry Walker -He won a ton of Gold Gloves at right field and was the MVP in 1997.  But poor Larry is cursed with having played for crappy teams (until he reached the NLCS with St. Louis in 2004 and 2005).  He's one of those guys whose name will get lost in the shuffle.

So there you have it.  If Maddux and Glavine don't get elected into the Hall of Fame this year, I will change my Facebook profile picture to the Atlanta Braves logo for an entire month.  We'll find out on January 8th!