Back with some Baseball Chatter

Two months is a long enough hiatus, even for me. Plus, at least three people have complained about my lack of writing, so clearly there is huge demand to read my stuff. So I’m back, and the blog will stay active (more or less) through at least college hoops season. As always, guest columns are welcome and comments are encouraged. I thought I would start off with some baseball chatter….

Let’s start with baseball. The Phillies seem headed straight for where they have been the last several years. In it until the end, then just short of making the playoffs. Somehow, this team sucks me in. They play hard, they seem to like each other, and they are exciting. Even Jolly Chollie has avoided getting on my nerves too badly this year, although we all know his strategic abilities seem to be on a similar level to George Bush when it comes to Iraq. The real problem with the Philberts is that Pat Gillick has done a mediocre job at best. He went out and signed Adam Eaton to a ridiculous contract last year, and has been rewarded with Eaton earning the worst ERA in the NL. Then at the trading deadline he did not do enough to shore up the bullpen. Dealing for Russell Branyan is not going to get you into the playoffs. So I will continue to watch (I have to because my 4 year old’s world seems to revolve around this baseball team), but I am convinced this team will end up just short, AGAIN.

As for the rest of baseball, the Yankees are coming on like a closer in the derby who spotted the field 20 lengths in the first half mile only to draw just about all the way back as Dave Johnson screams “Down the stretch they come!” The AL better hope that they can keep the Bombers out of the playoffs because they do not want any piece of a team that can throw Wang, Clemens, Pettitte (a great big game pitcher), and Hughes or Mussina to go with that offensive juggernaut. It will be really interesting to see if A-Rod can keep up his offensive wizardry as the pressure begins to mount and the competition gets better down the stretch (the Yanks feasted on bad teams after the All Star break).

Bonds breaking of the home run record may not mean as much as it would have because of steroids, but Bonds has proven himself to be the best player during the steroids era. After all, there were a lot of other guys using the sauce during the past 15 years, but only Bonds hit more homers than Aaron did. McGwire, Palmeiro, Sosa and scores of others all came up short. And Bonds was a legitimate 5 tool player for much of his career. I am not condoning what he has allegedly done, I am simply saying that while the steroids may have padded his stats, they also blurred this man’s great accomplishments. Maybe in retrospect Barry would have thought twice about using. However, let’s say Barry would have stayed clean and ended up with 600 or 650 home runs. America probably still would have assumed he cheated.

Back tomorrow with some NFL and NBA discussion….