A Milestone Year for #2

This time of year, baseball experts and insiders start their predictions for the upcoming season.  Who will win the World Series?  Who will be MVP?  How many times will Manny Ramirez be suspended?  Will Johnny Damon ever be able to express himself in complete sentences?  A lot of these predictions are way off, like the fool from the Washington Post who said a few months ago that the Nationals would trade Iván Rodriguez in the off-season.  Ha!  With one year left in his contract and a young catcher to show the ropes to, I didn't think Mike Rizzo would do that.  And he didn't.  Anyway, I only have 2 predictions this year, one of which will more than likely come true.  The New York Yankees' Derek Jeter - an all-american hottie and humble, charitable and all-around nice guy - is starting the season with 2,926 hits.  This means that, barring a long stint on the Disabled List, Derek should reach the impressive milestone of having 3.000 hits in his professional career (a feat that would be easy to accomplish if you could count his post-season success).  Only 26 other players have ever reached that milestone, from Puerto Rico's own Roberto Clemente with exactly 3000 to Pete Rose with 4,256.  Even us "Yankee haters" are excited for Jeter; he's one of those guys that you just can't hate.  I just hope that he gets to #3000 in a park other than Yankee Stadium, so he can let us proletariat fans who can't afford the luxuries of "The house that Steinbrenner built" bask in the historical moment.  Yankee fans get everything; let the rest of us revel in a special moment for once!

My "probably won't happen but it would be nice if it did" prediction for the 2011 season is that Commissioner Bud Selig will retire and will name George W. Bush as his replacement.  Now, don't go calling me crazy, but don't you think Bush would make a good Commissioner?  Presidential politics aside (please!), he has owned a baseball team before just like Selig, yet he has the charisma and personality that Selig has always lacked.  I've never met Mr. Selig, but he seems to have the personality of Dick Cheney and the sense of humor of Ebenezer Scrooge.  And while Bush sometimes has that smirk that makes me want to slap him, at least he would be entertaining.

So there you have it - Mudville Mom's two predictions for the upcoming season.  I also wish the Nationals would end the season at .500, but some would consider that an unattainable dream.  Have a good weekend, my friends; I'll be back next week!  :-)