Room for Everyone

I know football season is upon us so I’ll touch on a few things at the bottom of the piece about the pigskin, but before I get to that I have a few thoughts to put forward about the game on the diamond.

Kenji Johjima will end his professional baseball playing days back in Japan after he decided to opt out of the final two years of his contract with the Mariners. Like the true gentleman he always conducted himself as while in the States, Johjima simply asked the Mariners to release him from the remaining two years left on his contract as he left $16 million on the table to return to Japan. “He walks completely on his contract here, and we start fresh,” agent Alan Nero said. “He’s made this decision without regard to financial consequence. He’s a free agent in Japan, and I’ll negotiate the best offer I can.” Kudos to a pro athlete actually following his heart and not being all about the money. Clearly, Scott Boras would never take Johjima on as a client.

Kendry Morales had a whopping 34 homers this season, this after hitting a grand total of 12 in his first 377 at-bats with the Angels in a great effort. Shockingly, only four of those homers came against lefties.

I’m still trying to figure out how Vincente Padilla has posted a 0.63 ERA over his two post-season starts. If you know how, drop me a line.

With backup middle infielders making multi-millions of dollars, isn’t it odd that hitting coach extraordinaire Rudy Jaramillo is in line to become the highest paid coach in the game if he signs with the Cubs for a reported $800,000 a year? Doesn’t that seem out of whack to you? Certainly does to me. The hitters have to have the talent, but a hitting coach can make a massive difference in the mindset and approach of hitters, to say little of their ability to help effect physical changes as needed. I draw the parallel of putting a supercharger in a Ford Focus. It would be fast as all hell once it was able to put the power to the pavement, but until a different suspension and setup was in place the extra power would do no good because the tires would simply go up in smoke.

Football Notes: Week 6

Did you catch the Patriots vs. Titans game over the weekend? I love the Patriots old look uni’s, and check out the final score of that game, a bloodbath if there ever was one: 59-0. That score matched the largest margin of victory since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Don’t worry, there were still two highlights in this game for the Titans. (1) Nate Washington had one catch that went for (-22) yards. Yes, (-22) yards. He took a pass, switched directions a couple of times, and basically tried to be like that 10 year old kid who thinks if he keeps running long enough sooner or later a hole will become available and he’ll take it to the house. (2) Before he was relieved by Vince Young, Kerry Collins completed two of 12 passes for (-7) yards. Young attempted two passes in relief and both were incomplete though one did end up in the Patriots arms for an INT. Luckily neither QB was sacked, though a (-7) in the net passing category is still abysmal for any team that isn’t made up of seven year olds.

The Saints are 5-0 and suddenly looking like one of a handful of teams that can legitimately be considered Super Bowl contenders. They have won all of their games by at least 14 points and became just the fourth team since the NFL-AFL merger to have seven different players score a touchdown in a single game in their 48-27 thrashing of the Giants in Week 6.

By Ray Flowers