Further Musings

With six days of baseball after the All-Star Break, the author had a lot of ideas, but none deep enough to fill an entire column.  Here are some more random musings…  

The Mets Won Ten in a Row…before dropping a game to the Reds last Friday. As evidenced by the ugliness of last night’s loss to the Phillies, where the Mets bullpen, sans Billy Wagner, gave up six runs in the ninth inning to blow a 5-2 lead, if this team ever hopes to win it needs to grow up.  A lot.  These issues still run back to the firing of Willie Randolph.

The Mets are a talented team supposedly comprised of veteran leaders and young talent.  On paper, they have pitching, defense, speed, and power.  The fact that before they went on their run, they found themselves mired in third place was a travesty.  At the heart of the situation, there was a clubhouse divided into two warring factions.  Rumors pointed to the idea that the Latin players and the Caucasian players did not get along.  Jose Reyes, one of the fastest men in the league consistently lollygagged his way around the field.  Carlos Delgado looked like he was 904 years old.  Nobody scored runs for Johan Santana.

One of the most important duties a major league manager has is to manage the clubhouse.  Game strategy, pitchers’ mechanics, batting stances and approach can all be left in the hands of the assistant coaches.  Managers have to resolve clubhouse issues and get as much as they can out of their respective talent, without stepping on anyone’s toes or wounding egos.  It’s a thankless and complex job, but when done wrong, it’s pretty clear.

Willie Randolph did it wrong.  Last season, his team completed the biggest choke job.  Ever.  Was it entirely his fault?  No.  Was the firing of Willie Randolph horribly botched and classlessly executed?  Of course.  Omar Minaya should never have let Randolph go at 3:15 Eastern time.  Randolph should not have traveled 3,000 miles to manage one game and lose his job.  Before last night, did it seem like Jerry Manuel was a better man for the job?  Ten in a row and eleven out of thirteen speaks for itself.

Look at the Mets’ roster.  David Wright and Jose Reyes are two of the best players at their position.  Beltran is a top 20 outfielder.  Delgado has been red hot, and is showing signs that he may still have a respectable year.  Johan Santana has been the best pitcher in the league for multiple years.  Billy Wagner is a top ten closer.  The fact that the Mets have languished around .500 for most of the season falls not on the manager’s shoulders, but the players’.  No matter the person at the helm, the players get paid to play—and they get paid a lot.  The Yankees hated Casey Stengel.  They still won multiple World Series for him.  At the end of the season, many of the Mets need to do some soul searching.  Either consciously or not, they sabotaged their manager.  Ultimately, the Mets organization needed a change, and in the business of professional sports, it is much easier to replace a manager than player personnel.  Willie Randolph and his staff took the blame for his players’ malaise.

Just saw The Dark Knight…It was one of the better movies I’ve seen in years.  It totally lived up to the hype.  In my opinion, it transcended the genre of “comic book movie.”  It was an insanely intense crime movie, where the protagonist just happened to wear a mask and a funny costume.  From Chris Nolan’s refusal to rely on CGI to Gary Oldman’s understated performance of Jim Gordon, this was a movie grounded in reality.  Everything about it worked to perfection.

Then there was Heath Ledger.  He stole the show.  Legendary actors, such as Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, along with modern cinematic dignitaries, such as Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart, all turned in fantastic performances, but you just couldn’t take your eyes off Ledger.  Beneath the make-up, facial tics, and body language, it was impossible to discern the actor from 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight’s Tale, or Monster’s Ball.  He thoroughly inhabited the Joker.  All due respect to Cesar Romero, Mark Hamill, and Jack Nicholson, but no performer has ever done what Ledger did with the Joker.

It just goes to prove my theory: take a strong script, combine it with a good director and good actors, and chances are that you will have a movie that people will want to see.  Honestly, I should be in Hollywood.  These ideas would revolutionize the town.

The  Texas Rangers Scouts Know Offense…

Ian Kinsler: .324 BA , 14 HR, 59 RBI, 85 R , 24 SB , .908 OPS
Milton Bradley: .309 BA, 19 HR, 57 RBI, 55 R, 1.014 OPS
Josh Hamilton: .308 BA, 22 HR, 98 RBI , 61 R, .911 OPS

Now, if only they could evaluate and afford pitching…  

The Race for the A.L. East…is tightening.  The Yankees have proven right those who argued that they were a second half team.  The Red Sox continue to play good baseball, and may soon get David Ortiz back.  The Rays are starting to hear footsteps.  As of this moment, they lead Boston by a half a game, and New York by three and a half.  At home, the Rays are 39-16, and 19-25 on the road.  Of the 63 games they have remaining, more than half will be on the road.  The Sox have about ten less road games than both the Yankees and Rays.  The way things are shaping up, New York and Tampa will probably duke it out for the Wild Card, and in that fight, experience gives the edge to New York.

How Do the Twins Do It? Every year, this team contends.  This winter, they lost beloved son Torii Hunter to free agency, Francisco Liriano to injury, and brought in a thousand-and-two-year old Livan Hernandez to anchor their pitching staff.  Hernandez leads the team with 10 wins.  He also possesses a 5.39 ERA.  The Twins have a payroll of about $57 million—about $75 million less than the White Sox.  Nevertheless, they find themselves only two losses behind the Chicago White Sox, and in eminent contention.

The Incredibly Intense N.L. Central…Since the All-Star Break, the Cubs have lost four of five, the Brewers have won five of five, and the upstart Cardinals have won four of six.  With the trade for C.C. Sabathia, Milwaukee pushed all its chips to the middle of the table.  They were willing to trade some of their future for a shot at the present.  It was a gamble.  It seems to have paid off.  Sabathia has energized the team.  Seeing the management put it all on the line for success this year, seems to have convinced the players to lay it out there as well.

In the past, as July 31 ^st approached, the Brewers started saying their good-byes to players with expiring contracts and future stars.  Now, they bring in a Cy-Young winner.  With Sabathia and Sheets at the front of their rotation, they will be a force through the second half of the season.

The Cubs countered by acquiring Rich Harden.  His addition to the team has not been the same morale boost as that of Sabathia, but he shores up a strong starting rotation as well.  Assuming he stays healthy, which is always a concern, the Cubs’ rotation now runs five deep, depending on how Jason Marquis feels on any given day.  The Cubs have outscored their opponents by a league best 102 runs and look to get Alfonso Soriano back by the beginning of August.

The biggest obstacle the Cubs face right now is that of the self-fulfilling prophecy.  Cubs fans expect to get burned.  They look for the play that will tank their season.  No matter what the players say in public, knowing that a key error has the possibility of deflating an entire fan base must weigh heavily in their minds.  Add to that the fact that the Brewers are playing like a team possessed, and the Cardinals simply will not go away, and the stretch run in the Central looks to be an intense one.

If the A.L. East is Ralph Cifaretto v. Tony Soprano, where the size and strength of the Yankees and Sox will eventually overwhelm the groin kicks, frying pan shots, and insecticide sprays of the Rays; then the N.L. Central is the car chase scene from The Dark Knight, where everything has the possibility of being blown up, nobody knows what will happen next, and an eighteen wheeler could flip end over end.

A-Rod, Madonna, and Kabbalah (I just referenced US Weekly to get the spelling of that correct) I have avoided writing on this for a number of reasons.  1)  It has nothing to do with baseball.  2)  It has been quite clear for some time that, on a personal level, A-Rod is a jerk, who has dogged his wife for years, possesses a ginormous ego that often requires stroking, and is somewhat socially awkward (Watch him during a walk-off celebration some time.  He clearly is excited and wants to show emotion, he just doesn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, where he should run to, who he should slap on the back, or if it’s appropriate to hug someone.  His involvement in any celebration brings the awkwardness to an eleven.).  3)  If he continues to drive runners in, and earn his paycheck, why should any of us comment on his private life?  We all know people that are jerks, have decently sized egos, and partake in some morally questionable activities, but unless we are friends, we don’t intervene.  The only time an intervention occurs is when that person’s private life affects his or her work.

That being stated, this situation reflects a larger cultural issue in professional sports.  As Karen said to me, “When a woman marries a sports star, she’s basically signing up for an open marriage.”  Why is it news or a surprise when we find out that a professional athlete, who has money, fame, and constantly travels, has extramarital relationships?  Our sports stars possess wealth, power, status, and visibility in a society that exalts all of those ideals.  Like it or not, there are people out there who will get close to these stars basically for the story and the possibility of their fifteen minutes.  Unfortunately, the professional athlete that has remained faithful to his spouse is the minority.

Do I condone this behavior?  Absolutely not.  Is it something I have grown to accept?  Absolutely.  Much like players using steroids and PEDs, the suspicion will always be there.