All-Star Festivities

All is right in the world of baseball after last night’s Home Run Derby. Well maybe not, and you know me, I’ve always got something stuck in my craw to complain about, that’s why you all love me isn’t it?

The Game Contestants

What is the point of having a set roster if half the guys are going to pull out with some injury resulting in a replacement being added? I don’t know, guess I’m just bitter that Pablo Sandoval didn’t make it despite all the late additions. Have I mentioned that bitterness before? Think I have. Gotta tell you though, the additions of Carlos Pena and Nelson Cruz just don’t make any sense to me at all.

Pena leads the NL in home runs with 24, but he also is second in the league with 111 Ks while his batting average of .228 is 76th amongst qualifiers. The homers are great, and sure his team did a great job last year making it to the Series, but seriously? Just an awful choice.

Cruz doesn’t deserve to be in the All-Star game, and I’ll prove that in a second. Still, the man can rip it in BP so he was certainly a welcomed edition to the HR Derby. Why doesn’t he deserve to be on the team? Let’s compare his work to another AL outfielder who didn’t make the game.

Cruz: .263-22-53
Dye: .302-20-55

Dye is clearly ahead. The distance between the two only enlarges when we look deeper.

Cruz: .326 OBP, .539 SLG
Dye: .375 OBP, .567 SLG

Again Dye is ahead, and overall his OPS is .077 points higher. Does anyone really think the 13 stolen base advantage Cruz enjoys overcomes that? Not me, especially when we note that Cruz has hit all of .212 over his last 118 ABs.

Home Run Derby

Don’t know if anyone bothered to add it up, but we all know that the AL’s foursome in the HR Derby is a bit of a joke. Entering the contest the four, Joe Mauer, Nelson Cruz, Carlos Pena and Brandon Inge, have a total of 407 career home runs. Over in the NL, Albert Pujols has hit 351 just by himself.

Anyone besides me think that Chris Berman and his “back, back, back” call should go all the way back to the bench? Once upon a time it was cute, not it’s just annoying.

I wonder how much MLB is selling those special “gold balls” for (the money ball the players were hitting when they got down to their last out)? A quick check of MLB’s website shows that they only cost $34.99. You can either buy one of them or take your girlfriend out for a couple of drinks to loosen her up. I know how I would spend my 35 bucks.

What the hell is that yellow/green line that ESPN was using to track the baseball’s flight? Is it me or did that bring back nightmares of the NHL’s attempt with the glowing red puck a couple years back. Silly me, I thought I was watching a major league baseball event and not playing an interactive video game.

How long should a HR Derby last? Seems to me that 14 hours, or however long it went, is too much.

Erin Andrews is the perfect combination of the blonde bombshell looks, the voice, and the knowledge of the game. It certainly doesn’t hurt that she is beautiful, but she knows her stuff. Unfortunately she might need to hire a new wardrobe consultant. What was that bumble bee colored get up she was wearing at the Derby? Not that I really cared mind you.

Having recently been in St. Louis I can speak to the great atmosphere of the park and the interest of the fans who were great. How is it that baseball hasn’t had an All-Star game there in 43 years? I’d throw out the word pathetic, but you know what I think about Mr. Selig and his cronies – I’m never really shocked at what they fail to do.
I can’t help it. For some reason every time I hear Steve Phillips I come away impressed. I know Mets fans are throwing tomatoes at me right now.

What’s the deal with the running foot marker for the balls while in flight? What is this, a video game? Wait, didn’t I already make this point? Baseball isn’t meant to be “cute” guys, so leave it be.

By Ray Flowers

Getting Warmed Up

On a Monday with everyone is jazzed up about the Home Run Derby that will start in mere minutes, here are some of my thoughts as I try to stay focused enough to write something worthy of reading before I put on my “fan” cap to watch the event.

What’s wrong with rookie contracts? Take this example to heart. Tim Lincecum, you know the guy who won the Cy Young last season and the guy who is starting the All-Star game for the NL after an even better first half this year (10-2, 2.33 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 149 Ks in 127.2 IP), will make $650,000 this season, this a year after he made barely $400,000 during his Cy Young season. So, what in the world is Stephen Strasberg thinking when he and his representation have floated the idea that they are looking for a deal that potentially could reach $50 million before he has thrown a single major league pitch? Sheer folly. That doesn’t mean that Strasburg won’t get $15-20 million though, which just goes to show you that potential, beyond production, still holds sway. For those of you interested in learning more about the 100-mph throwing Strasburg, click on the link to MLB Draft Thoughts who was drafted first overall by the Nationals in the June Entry Draft.

I touched on it the other day in It’s Surreal, but here is yet another reason to be concerned about the direction of the NFL. The Chargers’ Antonio Cromartie admitted that it was hard for him to focus last season because of the off field distractions he faced. What were those distractions? “Last year my head wasn’t in there,” Cromartie said. “I was dealing with my kids and their moms. It had my mind somewhere else.” Apparently the DB has seven children with five women in five different states. There is nothing illegal about doing that, it’s not like he is out dealing drugs like Travis Henry, but I just can’t get my head around why it’s so hard for so many of these professional athletes to practice safe sex? Maybe they should have paid more attention to sex ed in school and less to how much weight they could bench press.

Here are some random thoughts.

Harold Reynolds loves his job. That guys was hoping all around during early BP at the All-Star game on Monday with a huge smile on his face. He may not always seem to be the brightest guy in the world, but he brings passion to his job.

Speaking of the MLB broadcasting teams, Joe Magrane is a bore whereas Al Leiter brings all kinds of passion an insight.

Alex Gordon should be back with the Royals on Friday after missing three months due to hip surgery. Don’t know what to expect from him exactly, but he started off his minor league rehab stint hitting well with a .364 mark through 11 games. No matter what happens I feel confident in stating that I believe he will do better than he did at the start of the season when he hit .095 with a .507 OPS in 21 ABs.

Don’t know how many of you saw it, but minor leaguer James McOwen just lost his minor league hitting streak at 45-consecutive games. “I’m pretty happy with the way the last month and a half has gone. There’re no regrets and, hopefully, I’ll start another one tomorrow.” McOwen, a Single-A outfielder for the Mariners, is batting .347 on the season with 53 RBI in 73 games thanks to the streak that saw him hit a rather amazing .398 over the course of 181 ABs. McOwen did set a California League record, the previous mark was 35 games, but his streak of 45 games was actually just the 8th longest streak in minor league history. Two men, Joe Wilhoit in 1919 and Joe DiMaggio in 1933, both had streaks of over 60 games – Wilhoit went 69 games while Joe D. posted a 61 game streak while playing for the San Francisco Seals. Isn’t it amazing to think that DiMaggio had two hitting streaks of over 55 games?

By Ray Flowers