Inside Baseball—6/13

Giants and Yankees Running on Empty

Two of the game’s premier franchises are mere shadows of their former selves. Both the Giants and Yankees have hitters who aren’t delivering in clutch situations; fielders whose range is poor; starters who consistently fail to get out of the sixth inning; and relievers who can’t throw strikes. Both teams have players with a lot of mileage and little in their respective farms systems that can offer immediate help.

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Batter Up June 12, 2005

For years the most vulnerable person on a major league baseball team has been the manager when the team hits the skids.

Times have changed.

As soon as a teams record dips more than ten games below .500 the coaches become the scapegoats. If hitting is the problem, the batting coach goes. If pitching is the culprit, then the pitching coach is held accountable.

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The NFL has it, college basketball toys with it, baseball certainly doesn’t need it.

It’s instant replay.

Regardless of the controversy surrounding a blown call in the Phillies Giants game this week, baseball gets along just fine without “further review” from the booth.

Who needs to see the umpires huddling in foul territory watching a television monitor as they try to figure out if a ball was trapped or caught?

If four umpires can’t figure out what happened on the field between themselves there is something wrong with the umpires, not the system.

The human element has always been a charming part of baseball.

I like yelling at the ump when I think he blows a call.

Let’s keep it that way.

Interleague play starts again this week.

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Batter up May 29th

“Sports Illustrated” tells us this week that the number of home runs hit this season in the majors has fallen dramatically. The implication being that drug testing has taken the power out of the game and that pitching is back.

I don’t buy it. The number of home runs will be right back on the upswing once the weather warms up and the pitchers get tired. Happens every summer.

The late esteemed Hall of Fame baseball writer Leonard Koppett was correct when he said that you can’t judge any baseball statistic until you see a full season’s worth of games.

The weather hasn’t even heated up in Texas yet, but the way the Rangers are hitting home runs, they might cure the power drought by themselves.

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As major league teams hit the quarter poll of the 2005 baseball season some things are becoming quite clear.

The A’s need to get to the .500 mark before they can be considered serious contenders in the AL West.

The A’s have to be careful not to fall double digits behind the Angels.

In years past, the team could count on a strong second half surge relying on the “Big Three” to carry them through the dog days of summer.

Not so now.

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Batter Up May 15th

Playing fantasy baseball gives fans a chance to run their own baseball team. As soon as you get the team in April it’s a thrill to trade players, pluck unknowns off the waiver wire, and make immediate changes in the roster.

Unfortunately a real baseball team doesn’t run that way.

Teams are built over the winter. Pieces are fit together during the six weeks spent in spring training. The finished product is put on the field in April.

Over the course of the first 50 games or so, the front office gets to see if the team meets expectations. If it doesn’t, minor changes can take place.

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Batter Up May 8th 2005

Baseball, like no other sport, plays out on a daily basis meandering week to week through an arduous 162 game schedule.

See your team win six of eight and everything is rosy.

If your favorite nine drops the same six of eight, the fans are ready to fire the manager along with the team mascot.

With over 130 games to go in the 2005 season, it’s time to check in on the teams off to good starts and the ones giving their general managers sleepless nights.

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Now that Barry Bonds is on the sidelines until further notice, the title of the biggest bore in baseball rests squarely on the shoulders of Boston pitcher Curt Schilling.

For some reason Schilling seems to have appointed himself the outspoken voice of baseball. His latest tirade directed at the competence of Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella implied that some of Piniella’s players blamed the manager for their losing ways.

First of all Schilling should worry about himself while he is on the disabled list. Secondly, if Schilling had any nerve he’d name the players who made the alleged comments instead of hiding behind anonymous quotes.

I actually miss Bonds, his ludicrous comments are more entertaining than Schilling’s weak diatribe by far.

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After watching the AL West play head to head during the first month of the season, it is clear to me that no team is going to run away and dominate this division.

The key to being successful in the long season is preserving your pitching staff. Overworking ones bull pen in April does not bode well for a stretch run in September.

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Forget all those things you read about the players in spring training, the regular season is a totally different kettle of fish.

Javier Vazquez pitched some nice games during the exhibition season, yesterday he didn’t make it out of the second inning.

If you are an Arizona fan you have to wonder if the NY experience has scarred him for life.

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