Having an interleague game everyday is just plain stupid...

                                        Usually, I try to start my entries here with some sort of cross referencing, ala Dennis Miller, pre 911 ( before he became a FOX news stooge); but this year's upcoming MLB schedule has me so angry, that I'm going to be, as Nick Lowe would say, "subtle as a flying mallet" (O.K., I got that one out of the way).  I am no fan of interleague play to begin with, but playing an interleague game EVERY DAY?  What is Selig thinking?  It's almost as if he's single handily trying to kill the pennant race...oh sure, there's the one game playoff...oh, and about that...


                     Sure, last year's inaugural one-game playoff was pretty good, but it seemed a little contrived; why force excitement, when it can come naturally. For example, the Tigers/Twins one game playoff a few years back was pretty awesome...it ended in extra innings after a long season for both teams.  One of the first games I remember as a kid was the (for me) heartbreaking one game playoff between the Red Sox and Yankees on October 2nd, 1978.  After 162 games, each team had a 99-63 record, and had to play one more game to decide the AL east...there was no Wild Card then...
The Yankees started the eventual AL CY Young award winner, Ron Guidry, while the Sox featured the AL MVP, Jim Rice.  It's now known, of course, as the Bucky "bleeping" Dent game, after his home run in the late innings.


                 To go back even further, before the League Championships Series era (1969-1993...1995-2011, was the Wild Card era, and 2012-onward will be known as the Wild card and a half era ), teams who had the same record at the end of the year had to play a best of three playoff, ala  the Giants/Dodgers in 1951...you know, the "Shot heard 'round the world" series"...but all of those short, exciting series and /or games will be less frequent with this whole interleague on an everyday business they're doing this year...here's a scenario:


           Let's pick two random teams in the same division, say The Rangers and the Angels...now, usually, teams in the same division will often play each other at the end of the year. And let's say these two contending teams happened to be playing each other at season's end and also happened to have identical records...well, they would have to play each other in a sudden death like end to the season (for one team,anyway). Now, with the new format, the likelyhood of that happeneing becomes less frequent.  I mean, sure,  I was absolutely horrified when Boston lost to the Orioles on the last regular season game of 2011, just minutes before Evan Longoria's walk-off beat the Yankees, ensuring the Wild Card went to Tampa...but it was exciting....oh, and I also got to meet this guy Mick, who worked at the bar next door...the only Rays fan I ever met.  He bought me a shot because he felt sorry for me...O.K., now I'm pissed;when does the season start?

Me and baby brother...

                                  For the next few years, 2/3rds of the Atlanta Braves  starting outfield will consist of brothers B.J., and Justin Upton.  They are the only brothers to ever go no. 1 and no. 2 in the baseball draft. B.J., the older of the two, has been somewhat of an underachiever (except for the 2008 ALCS, where he murdered Red Sox pitching ), while his baby brother has been more consistent.  Along with Justin Heyward, they make up one of the best outfields in baseball.  Brothers playing on the same team is not that unusual; a few years back, the Laroche brothers both played for the Pirates at the same time, while for a brief time during the late '80s and early '90s, Cal and Billy Ripken were a double play combination.


                   Now, as far as brothers playing in the outfield, the Alou brothers from the '60s take the cake...not just two, but THREE brothers started all three outfield positions in 1963. After briefly playing together for the San Fransisco Giants that year, they all went their seperate ways...The oldest, Felipe, was the power hitter of the bunch, hitting 206 in his career.  Matty, the middle child, won a batting title ( w/ Felipe finishing second ) with a more Rod Carew-like approach to hitting.  He died a little over a year ago.  The youngest, Jesus, was actually a bigger prospect than the other two, but never lived up to his potential.  I remember getting his baseball card in the '70s when he was on the Astros...it kind of freaked me out, going to Catholic school and all...Spanish wasn't spoken much in Milton Ma. back then.

          As far as post careers go, Felipe by far had the most exposure.  He managed the Expos to a 70-40 record, before the strike ended the season in 1994. One of the members of that Montreal team was his son, Moises, who would have a better career than his dad and two uncles. In fact, you could say his numbers are borderline Hall of Fame-worthy, playing for a number of teams (btw, he was the one who tried to make that catch in the 2003 NLCS that was interfered with by Steve Bartman...sorry, Cubs fan ).  Later, Felipe would manage his old team, the San Fransisco Giants to some successful seasons.  So, as for the Braves this year, they should have a great outfield...if Justin continues to play like he has the past few seasons...and his brother pretends it's the 2008 ALCS...and if Justin Heyward hits like he did a few years ago...ah, the word "if"...it's not just Bread's second biggest hit...oh, btw, I realize that I never once mentioned the band "War" in this piece, despite using one of their song titles as my main title...what can I say, it's my favorite song from them...      

Lonnie was the kingpin...

                            In 1973, Steely Dan released their second album, "Countdown to ecstasy", which, if anything, was weirder and more perverse than their first release, "Can't buy a thrill". Seven years later, while perusing through my brother Brian's record collection, I stumbled upon it.  One of the songs that stuck out to me was a tune called "The Boston Rag"; a song that, like most of Steely Dan's early work, dealt with subjects such as drug dealers and prostitutes.  In this particular song, there was a drug dealer named "Lonnie"; it was the first time I had ever heard the name Lonnie for a man....The only other "Loni" I knew of was Loni Anderson, who portrayed Jennifer Marlow, the beautiful, intelligent secretary from the hit T.V. show, "WKRP in Cincinnati". Then the 1980 World series aired, and I finally saw my first male Lonnie;  Phillies rookie Lonnie Smith.


                 Smith had come up briefly to the Phillies in both '78 and '79, but when they brought him up half way through the '80 season, he was there to stay. He finished 3rd in rookie of the year voting, and played a large part of the Phillies first Championship ever...two years later, he was traded to the Cardinals, where he led the league in runs scored and stole 68 bases, although he was caught stealing a league leading 26 times as well.  The 1982 Cardinals offense was built on speed; manager Whitey Herzog gave everyone the green light, from the biggest stars, to the popcorn vendor...and when St.Louis went to the series that year, they faced their polar opposites, the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Brewers hit 216 home runs that year, and sported a team who mostly looked like extras from the show "Sons of Anarchy". The Cards won that series in seven...it would not be Lonnie's last.



                      Fast forward to 1985...Lonnie's now in the WS again, this time for the Kansas city Royals, facing his old team the Cardinals. The Royals won this series in seven, mostly with some help from a terrible call from umpire Denkinger (Jorge Orta, anyone?). W/ this series victory, he became the only position player to play on three different World Champions, and he did it within 5 years of each other (Jack Morris and Dave Stewart did it as pitchers) .  It was also during this time where his drug problems became an issue.  Of course, it wasn't just him that was doing cocaine...you could make an All Star team with the known users then.

             Despite his drug problems, Lonnie pulled himself together and ended up on yet another pennant winning team, the '91 Atlanta Braves. It was this series he was most famous for, but not in a good way.  Late into game seven, a pitcher's duel to end all pitcher's duels between Jack Morris and John Smoltz, Smith was on first, when one of his teammates doubled...instead of scoring easily, Lonnie was faked out by the Twins 2nd baseman Chuck Knoblaugh, who pretended he had just thrown the ball...the deception was just enough to halt Smith for a bit, and only let him advance to third.  The score remained tied at 0-0 until the bottom of the 10th, when the Twins finally scored.  I think it's a shame that Lonnie's remembered for this one play, rather than him being on four different pennant and three different World Champion teams.  Down worry Lonnie, you're not alone...Bill Buckner knows your pain...

R.I.P. the Earl of Weaver...

                                  I remember the first Earl Weaver card I had; it was a Topps 1978, which displayed every year he played up until 1977.  Earl never made it to the majors, so it just showed his minor league stats...all 13 years of them.  For some reason, baseball cards didn't show a managerial record then, which is a shame, because Earl was one of the greatest mangers ever.  Sure, we all know about the four pennants and one World championship in 1970; but did you know the Orioles never finished below third the entire time he managed from 1968-1982?  The man knew baseball, especially how to handle pitchers...in particular, the headcase known as Jim Palmer...


                   Jim Palmer...hall of fame, three time CY Young winner, underwear spokesman, apparently was a bit difficult to deal with.  Tom Boswell, who covered the Orioles writing for the Washington Post has said that "Palmer's complexes had complexes" and also that "If it weren't for Earl Weaver, Palmer wouldn't have won 50 games in the majors".  In 1971, the Orioles set a record that will probably never be broken, when four pitchers, Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Dave MacNally and Pat Dobson each won 20 games. Earl's "pitching, defense and waiting for the three run homer" strategy, may have rubbed some people the wrong way, but you can't argue with results.


            Five Hall of famers played all or a good amount of their career under Weaver; Brooks  Robinson, Frank Robinson ( no relation ),Palmer, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken, who Earl convinced to move from third to shortstop and was the manager at the beginning of his record breaking streak. Reggie Jackson also played for Earl for one year in 1976, in between his A's and Yankee years.  Reggie has said that Earl was one of the funniest men he has ever met, and had set a then record of consecutive games with at least one homer...


            Oh yeah, there was his personality...he was ejected from a then- record game 91 times (since broken by Bobby Cox ), often getting in the ump's face,  backward cap and all and screaming...he didn't do it for show, he simply didn't want his best players being thrown out.  There's an infamous "Manager's corner", an Orioles post game show, in which the host asks Earl a bunch of seemingly harmless questions, only to be met with angry, four letter responses.  I've included the audio on here.  I've also included a classic Earl ejection, which I believe happened in the first inning of the first game of 1980 (I could be wrong about the details, but it's absolutely hilarious ).

            So, R.I.P., the Earl of Weaver.  He was one of my favorites;I've even included him in one of my bits, which I'll also include, because, why not?...Every time I see the Orioles hitting coach Terry Crowley on T.V. during a game, all I can think about is... "Terry Crowley's lucky he's in fuckin' baseball, for Christ sake's...

Take off to the great white north...

                                            It was October 23rd, 1993; my band The Keep were playing a show at T.T. the Bears in Cambridge Ma., opening for some band called, "Ghost of an American airman"...they were signed to Elektra records, apparently.  This date is significant for two reasons: 1) It was my friend Jesse's last show with us after 2/12 years, and 2) It was the last time the Toronto Blue Jays came close to greatness...We all know about the Joe Carter home run off of the Phillie's Mitch "Wild thing" Williams (and the announcer yelling "Touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life" ), especially if you watch MLB network too much like I do.  I saw the aforementioned shot in the club's bar before we went on, although my friend Alex kept telling people it was George Bell who hit it (He had left the Jays years before), and I had to keep correcting him.



                      Toronto got to where they were in the early '90s by trades and free agent signings...they traded Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff to the Padres for Carter and future hall of famer Roberto Alomar... picked up center fielder Devon White from the Angels, signed free agent Paul Molitor (another future hall of famer), Dave Winfield (see Molitor), and got veteran hurlers with playoff experience like David Cone, Dave Stewart and Jack Morris.  These players, along with homegrown talent like John Olerud and Tony Fernandez (who came back after his brief stint with San Diego), were easily the best team in baseball, and won back to back World series titles in 1992 and 1993.  They looked formidable for years to come...and then, the strike happened.



               The 1994 strike almost completely killed MLB baseball in Canada; in fact, it pretty much sealed the fate of the NL's Canadian team, the Montreal Expos.  Montreal had the best record in baseball in '94 with a 70-40 record when the strike happened, and were drawing record crowds to Olympic Stadium.  After play resumed, they never could get the fans back;  revenue diminished greatly, and  they lost their T.V. contract. A few years later, they were reduced to playing a portion of their "home games" in Puerto Rico ...eventually of course, they moved the franchise to Washington. 



                The Blue Jays were also drawing record crowds in the early '90s. After the strike, they fielded some pretty good teams, and had such star players as Carlos Delgado and Pat Hentgen; but they couldn't keep up with the free spending Yankees and Red Sox.  When the cash poor Rays started competing a couple of years ago, and the Orioles decided to become a viable team again, the Blue Jays organization figured enough was enough, and decided to spend.  Of course, if you're going to gut another team, who better to start with than the train wreck known as the Florida Marlins...



               At the beginning of the 2012 season, Florida decided to first, change their name to the Miamim Marlins, which included a cap and uniform change.  This resulted in the UGLIEST uniforms since the heyday of the '70s and '80s Astros . They hired the most volatile manager in baseball in Ozzie Guillen, who probably misses Chicago more than anything now... Then they starting spending all the money they got from their new stadium on free agents like Jose Reyes, Mark Buerle, Heath Bell and so on...of course, those first two players are on the Jays now, along with another quality arm from Miami in Josh Johnson...Toronto didn't stop there though, deciding to pilfer from another wounded organization, the New York Mets...the Mets had been hurting for years, ever since the Madoff situation financially wounded the team.  No one thought R.A. Dickey would win the CY Young last year, but who would have thought that after he did, the Mets would TRADE him...

                  So, as it stands, the Blue Jays are looking pretty scary, at least on paper. It's still the American league east,  so even though New York didn't make many moves, and the Rays lost some players, and the Orioles could be a fluke, and the Sox made some weird -ass moves, there are no guarantees.  Every one's picking them to at least win the East, thinking that maybe Detroit is still the team to beat in the AL ( I agree), but, if anything, it shows the Jay's fans that they're going for it...it's like the ealy '90s all over again...now where's my cassette of Nirvana's "Nevermind" ...

For no one...

                                  Are you kidding me?!...Are you FUCKIN' kidding me?!?!....NOBODY got elected into the Hall of fame?  A few days ago, I did a blog about how I thought Tim "Rock" Raines deserved to be in the HOF.  Did I think he would be? Maybe.  It was more wishful thinking...But this?  Sure, I can see them maybe punishing the PED trio of Bonds, Clemens and Sosa until further notice ( that's a blog for another time, I guess ), but no Piazza?  C'mon, he's the greatest hitting catcher of all time, and as far as I know, was never known to use steroids. I already had an entire piece ready about him getting in, entitled "I'm not gay", referring to the New York post headline which featured Mike on the front of the sports page with two strippers days after someone alleged that Piazza had been leading an alternative lifestyle.


                Man, even if Piazza didn't get in, I could do something on Jeff Bagwell, the man involved in one of the worst trades in Red Sox history; Or maybe his teammate, Craig Biggio, who was the model of consistency, getting over 3,000 hits and, along with Bagwell, stayed with the Houston Astros his entire career...could have been a tandem election.  BUT NOOOOOOO... I Mean, I wasn't expecting Jack Morris and his high ERA to get in, nor his Tiger teammate, Shortstop Alan Trammel (though, it would have been nice to have at least one HOF Representative from that amazing 1984 Detroit team), but at least give us someone.  You know, someone born within the last 100 years...



           For the record, I think Bonds, Clemens and Sosa probably should get in; Hey, Gaylord Perry's in, and he threw an illegal pitch his entire career.  Others HOF members have other obvious flaws:

Ty Cobb ( Racisit, total dick on top of it )
Tris Speaker ( Klan member...which I guess qualifies as racist too )
Rogers Hornsby ( See: Speaker )
Babe Ruth ( Womanizer )
Pete Rose ( Womanizer and gambler...Hah!...just wanted to see if you were paying attention...)
Ernie Lombardi ( Was really unattractive )
Mordecai "Three finger" Brown ( His deformity allowed him to cheat )
Mickey Mantle ( Terrible acting in the Doris Day vehicle "Safe at home" )
Willie Stargell ( Ugh!, those late '70s Pirates uniforms...)
George Brett ( A lot of issues with his ass )
Joe Morgan ( Worst...broadcaster...ever...)
Phil Rizzuto ( Doesn't belong in the HOF as a player...HOLY COW! )
Fresh ass Johnson ( Doesn't actually exist )
Rod Carew ( I don't  believe his conversion to Judaism for one second )
Reggie Jackson ( The "Reggie" bar tasted...just...awful...)
Lou Gehrig ( Turns out, he didn't even have his own disease )

...and so on....And I haven't even started my rant about Ted Simmons not getting in.  There needs to be a big change in the voting...Does MLB think this is fair for the fans?  Piazza probably would have gone in as a Met, and they could use a lift after losing R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays...Selig is at fault, I'm guessing.  The HOF itself is probably pissed; No inductees, means no inductions, which brings in plenty of loot for the Hall.  There better be like five inductees next year, on top of Selig's firing, Joe Buck's retiring and finally: The return of the bullpen car...

Solid as a "Rock"...

                                      In four days, the Hall of fame inductions will be announced, and while there are many big names on the list, one name that I think should be getting more attention is Tim Raines.  In what I believe is his fourth year of eligibility, "Rock" Raines has been overlooked, mainly due I think to playing most of his career with the Montreal Expos. He has definite Hall of fame numbers; 808 steals (4th all time including a record 40 in a row one season, which has since been broken by Ichuro Suzuki) and over 1,500 runs scored, although oddly, zero gold gloves.


                    During the mid '80s, in the prime of his career, he was one of the players who admitted to using cocaine on a regular basis...it was said that he would always slide head first into bases so he wouldn't break the cocaine vials he kept in his back pocket.  Many people believe that this may be the one thing keeping him out, although I can't see why;While it can keep you awake and give you a brief burst of energy, it's not exactly a "performance enhancing" drug.  He eventually went to play for The Chicago White Sox in the early '90s, and then won two World series with (who else) the New York Yankees in '96 and '98.



      If he gets in, he will most likely go in as an Expo, which would make him only the third player to play at least ten years in Montreal to enter the Hall (The late Gary Carter and Andre Dawson, who chose to go into Cooperstown wearing a Cubs hat for some reason are the other two).  And, when you think about it, he may be the last player in the HOF who could legitimately go in wearing a cap with "MB" on it; Moises Alou is the only other player I can think of, and he played with so many teams, it'd be hard to choose...it's probably moot though, because I don't believe the son of Felipe has a chance...

                So, will the National league version of Rickey Henderson get in the hall this year?...Who knows, but I'm pulling for him, oh, and I just thought of another player who could possibly go in as an Expo; Vladimir Guerrero, who spent half his career with them in the '90s, but actually had his best years with the Anaheim or California or Los Angeles Angels, or whatever the hell they're called.  During this era of steroids, or at least of suspected steroid use, using cocaine seems downright quaint , so I'm pulling for Rock...and yes, I get the irony of a man nicknamed "Rock" who used to do cocaine (although crack would be more appropriate) so don't bother pointing that out...