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! 

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!

Who's Bad(ass)?

After watching tennis player Serena Williams win her 17th Grand Slam tournament this weekend, I commented on my personal Facebook page that I thought Serena was a "badass."  My friends at Merriam-Webster define "badass" as "1. ready to cause or get into trouble : <pretending to be a badass gunslinger — L. L. King>2 of formidable strength or skill <such a badass guitar player — N'Gai Croal>"  I was referring to Serena with the second meaning of the word - she is an extraordinary tennis player who can out-play and out-last anyone; someone you just couldn't imagine yourself beating no matter how good you were (like Hussein Bolt on the running track or Lebron James on the basketball court - sheer dominance). 

So that got me thinking...  Which baseball players, past and present, qualify as "badasses?"  Here is my list, divided into three parts:  The past, the present, and the wanna-bees (my top five in no particular order).

BADASSES OF THE PAST:

Roberto Clemente - Hello!  Who showed "formidable strength or skill" more than this guy?  No one dared to try and score from second or third base knowing Clemente was in right field.  He was about as formidable as they get.

Pete Rose - Yes, he made stupid decisions in his personal life, but at the plate, on the bases, and on the field he was quite the man.  They didn't nickname him "Charlie Hustle" for nothing!

Randy Johnson - At 6'10, "The Big Unit" just had to stand on the mound to look intimidating.  His 100-mile-an-hour fastball and hard slider were ridiculous, and he didn't win five Cy Young Awards for being sweet and charming.

Jackie Robinson - Who said badasses had to be flamboyant and arrogant (insert picture of Rickey Henderson here)?  #42 got the job done quietly and professionally, and was the classiest badass ever.

Nolan Ryan - He just exuded "badass-ness."  He had no problem hitting batters on purpose, throwing no-hitters (7 of them) or striking out bazillions (5,714 in his career, with no one even close to that record).  He may look old and haggard now, but he was pretty fearless in his day.

BADASSES OF TODAY:

Ichiro Suzuki - Ichiro is the most badass current player, hands-down (despite being a Yankee).  He can still hit, throw, and run with the best of them, and recently hit his 4.000th hit as a professional (counting his years playing in Japan).  Derek Jeter can't even say that (yet).

David Ortiz - He may seem more like a big teddy bear, but "Big Papi" is definitely badass.  He knows how to get his teammates and fans worked up and excited, and his passion for the game and charitable work off the field make him one cool dude.

José Fernandez - Who?  This guy has such an interesting story that he definitely makes my list.  He unsuccessfully tried defecting from Cuba three separate times and spent time in jail after each attempt.  On the fourth try, his mother fell overboard in turbulent waters and he jumped in to rescue her.  He is my pick for Rookie of the Year, especially since he one-hit the Nationals recently. 

Mike Trout - Last year's Rookie of the Year in the American League, Trout has not suffered from the "Sophomore Slump."  He's currently batting .338 with 23 home runs and 32 stolen bases, and can make a leaping catch in the outfield to steal a home run off anyone.  Seeing him make one of those amazing catches was the highlight of my trip to Camden Yards this season.

Yasiel Puig - Another Cuban defector (though his story isn't nearly as heartwarming as Fernandez's), Puig became the first player in major league history to record at least 34 hits and seven home runs in his first 20 games and set Dodger records for most hits through 20 games.  Some people say he's not very friendly, but since this is not a list of guys I'd like to see become the next Pope, I have to include him.

WANNA-BE BADASSES:

Bryce Harper - Bryce has the potential of being one badass baseball player, but his season has been plagued with injuries, so he didn't make the cut.

Prince Fielder - Yes, he's one big dude, but he just doesn't do it for me.  He also doesn't look very smart.

Derek Jeter - Sorry, Derek; you're too goody-two-shoes to be considered a badass.  I still like you though!

Jayson Werth - Looking like a member of the Duck Dynasty doesn't automatically get you on my list.  He's having a great second-half of the season, but has been to inconsistent in the past couple of years to make the list.

Then there are the guys I had to leave out.  They're pretty awesome but just not badass enough for me:  Justin Verlander (too quiet), Chris Davis (he needs to be this good for a few more seasons), Andrew McCutchen (my favorite current Pirate), and Mariano Rivera (one classy, superhuman guy) - all players I respect and would love to meet, but I had to draw the line somewhere. 

Notice I left out Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Roger Clemens, and Lenny Dykstra - all of them linked to steroids or performance-enhancing drugs.  That, in my mind, does not make you a badass.  And Ryan Braun?  Even when we didn't suspect him of taking PEDs, he wasn't all that in my opinion.

So there you have it - my just-for-fun list of badass baseball players.  Feel free to comment (you know who you are!); I would love to see if you agree with me or not.

"Shining Star, No Matter Who You are"

It’s that time of the year again – time to start considering which players to include in my All-Star Game ballot.  Honestly, this is not a good time for me to ponder such things, as I am currently a very disgruntled Nationals fan.  But since I only planned to include one Nationals player in my ballot anyway, now is as good a time as any.

This baseball season has showcased a lot of talent, especially from veteran players who continue to be consistent.  It’s definitely the year of the hitter, with many players still batting way above .300.  So who did I choose on my ballot?  Well I’m glad you asked!

AMERICAN LEAGUE

First base:  Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles is batting .312 with 13 home runs, so I chose him over Prince Fielder.  I’m tired of Prince; he’s not exciting to watch anymore.

Second base:  The Detroit Tigers’ Omar Infante can play a mean second base.  I struggled with this one, because I’ve voted for Robinson Canó in the past and Canó is one of the reasons the Yankees are in first place despite having about 35 players on the Disabled List, but I chose Infante.  He probably won’t get the fan vote, but he’ll likely be asked to play as an alternate.

Shortstop:  Jhonny Peralta, another Tiger, got my vote because Omar Vizquel was not on the ballot.  I could have voted for J.J. Hardy, but I didn’t. 

Third base:  Oh, this was the toughest one of all!  I love Miguel Cabrera and have voted for him for many years in a row.  He will get the starting job at third – after all, he won the Triple Crown last year and is still on a tear, batting .384 with 12 home runs and 42 RBIs.  But there’s this young guy in Baltimore who plays with such drive and has clutch hits in crucial situations – I just couldn’t pass up voting for the Orioles’ Manny Machado!  Not only did he play for a short time here for the Frederick Keys (high A), but my husband and I watched him play once for the Delmarva Shorebirds (low A), so I can’t help but feel like I need to vote for the “hometown hero.”

Catcher:  Carlos Santana is the only Cleveland Indian who was worthy of my vote (sorry, Asdrubal Cabrera!).  He’s batting .290, which, when comparing the stats of all the AL catchers, made me realize that most of them are not batting well this year. 

Designated Hitter:  This (in my opinion) bogus position goes to David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox.  I almost voted for the Texas Rangers’ Lance Berkman, but “Big Papi” is still playing well despite being 37 years old.  Ortiz is the “poster old-man” for those who believe that having a Designated Hitter can prolong a player’s career.  I can’t argue with that one when it comes to Ortiz.  He has 408 career home runs (with 7 so far this season) and does an awful lot of charity work in his native Dominican Republic.

Outfielders:  In the outfield, I picked the Orioles’ Adam Jones (a “tell it like it is” kind of player who always plays intensely; Alex Gordon of the Kansas City Royals (who is originally from Lincoln, Nebraska just like my ex-husband but I voted for him anyway); and Coco Crisp of the Oakland A’s.  Crisp is only 33 – it seems like he’s been around forever and this season has an impressive nine stolen bases so far.

 That’s three Orioles on my AL ballot and no Yankees.  I’m happy with that!

NATIONAL LEAGUE

First base:  I couldn’t find a first baseman that I truly liked and thought was deserving, so I went straight for the guy with the best stats so far.  Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks is batting .323 with 12 homers and 36 RBIs, so he got my vote even though I haven’t seen him play yet this season (the D-backs don’t play the Nationals until late June, so I’ll get a glimpse of him then).

Second base:  I chose Marco Scutaro of the San Francisco Giants because I enjoyed watching him play during last year’s World Series.  I really wanted to vote for the Pirates’ Neil Walker, but he has had some injuries and is not playing much this year.  Scutaro is currently batting .337, and he can field his position pretty well.

Shortstop:  I couldn’t convince myself to vote for the Nationals’ Ian Desmond, so I chose Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies.  I know I bad-mouthed him in a previous blog because he’s a Jeter lover, but “Tulo” can hit, run, and play shortstop pretty well.  Just keep your mouth shut, Troy!

Third base:  Since the Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman has committed nine errors so far at third base, he was out of the running for me despite seeming like a totally nice guy.  I had to opt for “Kung Fu Panda,” the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval.  He’s batting .308 with 8 home runs and 34 RBIs, and like David Ortiz, he’s one of those guys whose smile just lights up a ball park.

Catcher:  Posey or Molina?  Definitely Yadier Molina!  Yes, he has ugly neck tattoos.  Yes, he plays for the St. Louis Cardinals (who eliminated the Nationals in last year’s playoffs).  And yes, he’s just flat out unattractive.  But “Yadi” has a career success rate of 44% getting runners out trying to steal a base, and that’s pretty darn good (my pal, Iván Rodriguez, ended his career with a 46%).  Posey is good and all, but Yadier having a better season so far.

Outfield:  This was the easiest one.  Bryce Harper (Washington Nationals), Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh Pirates), and Carlos Beltrán (St. Louis Cardinals).  I almost didn’t vote for Harper for fear that he’d hurt himself during the All-Star Game, but he deserves to be there.  All three players are having good seasons (even the 36-year-old Beltrán, who many thought was “washed out” is hitting consistently and fielding very well.

No Phillies players on my NL ballot – no shocker there!

So there you have it – my All-Star Game ballot, which I like to think was well thought-out.  I don’t just vote for the cute ones (have you SEEN McCutchen?) or the skinny ones (hello, Sandoval!); I like to think that I vote for those who play well, play consistently, and play hard.  Let’s see if the rest of America agrees with me. 

"O" What a Game!

One of the many things I like about baseball is that for the most part, I know when a game is going to end.  If the home team is leading, the game only goes on for 8 1/2 innings.  If the visitors are leading, you go to the bottom of the ninth and hope that your team can make a comeback.  However, if the home team comes back to tie it, they have to go on to extra innings (not one of my favorite things).  At that point, you have no idea whether the game is going to end in the tenth, the thirteenth, or as was the case in yesterday's Orioles-Red Sox game, the seventeenth inning.  Yes, the first-place O's beat the struggling Red Sox in a six hour marathon, which my cousin-in-law said that at times it felt like watching a cricket match.  And sometimes, when you have these long games, you end up using up all your pitchers and the manager then has to get creative.  In yesterday's game, Orioles' manager Buck Showalter told DH and infielder Chris Davis to warm up and go pitch the sixteenth inning.  Davis had not pitched since his days in junior college back in 2006, but he surprised everyone with a 91mph fastball and a split-finger pitch that confused Red Sox batters.  Davis had gone 0-8 including 5 strikeouts, so why not try pitching, since hitting obviously wasn't going well?  The O's ended up winning 6-9, sweeping the Red Sox and winning their last 5 games.  I am very happy for the Orioles and their fans - I hope the players got a good night's rest and are ready to take on the 18-10 Texas Rangers at Camden Yards starting tonight.  Go O's!

But what about that other team in the DC area?  Well the Nationals (also in first place) had an interesting game last night, losing to the Phillies 9-3.  The game got testy right from the start, when Phililes' pitcher Cole Hamels deliberately hit Nationals' left fielder Bryce Harper on the back in the bottom of the first inning (Hamels admitted after the game that he did mean to hit Harper as a "welcome to the big leagues" gesture).  Harper answered by scoring a run, but not in a traditional fashion.  With Hamels distractedly throwing pickoff attempts to first base, Harper stole home and scored the Nationals' first run.  I was so excited to see such a seldom-done feat that I called everyone into the living room to watch the replay.  When I was a little girl, my father used to tell me how he saw Puerto Rican baseball player Victor Pellot (known in the US as "Vic Power") steal home twice in one game; now my son can tell his kids that he saw Bryce Harper do the same thing.  It was pretty cool!

Unfortunately, the game's excitement pretty much ended there for the Nationals (except for Nats' pitcher Jordan Zimmermann hitting Cole Hamels in the top of the third).  In the sixth inning, right fielder Jayson Werth broke his left wrist trying to field a ball - the same wrist he had broken before that caused him to miss the entire 2006 season.  While Werth's lack of hitting won't be missed, he is an excellent right fielder and will be hard to replace out there.  The Nationals lost 9-3, but they won the series and are still in first place.  Now they go on to Pittsburgh, where I have a bet going with a co-worker.  If the Pirates win the series, he owes me a cookie and vice versa.  I can taste the chocolate chips now...

So this whole thing about hitting batters on purpose... what's that all about?  Despite being female, I like to think that I know as much about baseball as many men out there; but this hitting batters thing, I think that's a guy thing that I'll never understand.  Nolan Ryan was a big bully in his day, hitting batters on purpose or pitching them way inside to make them flinch.  Why is that?  I find that so immature!  And then later in the game, the pitcher from the team whose batter was hit feels obligated to hit a batter too.  Then the umpires are obligated to issue a warning and the fans have to boo.  Is all this really necessary?  At least we don't have bench-clearing brawls anymore, like we did during the "steroid era" - I saw many a fight involving Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens, and now-in-prison Lenny Dykstra.  Those episodes were considered "entertaining," yet one guy spits at an umpire and his Hall of Fame membership gets questioned!  Just because you're playing a boy's game doesn't mean you have to act like little boys - grow up and stop hitting each other!  That's about as stupid as the intentional walk!

OK, cleansing breath... time to think about more positive things, like the fact that Albert Pujols FINALLY hit a home run and Robinson Canó hit a grand slam yesterday.  See how exciting baseball can still be without people hitting each other?  Let's just all get along, and everything will be fine.