Well thats an interesting take--im still not sure if i buy it though.
It also said:
Young agrees with the fans and critics who contend that the Nationals are paying him $10 million, and they have to put the best team on the field that they possibly can.
And Soriano, for all his love of second base, is closer to being the worst of all time than the best at his position. His speed would make him at least a decent outfielder.
But playing in the season that will lead to free agency, his maximum value to himself is at second base. A middle infielder with 35-home run power is more highly sought than a corner outfielder with that kind of bat.
I remeber all your remarks last year about Soriano's play at 2nd, 35 HR's or not -you have to question his overall value to a team with his type of defensive record at 2nd...I would think (of course Im not the guy ponying up the millions that he is looking for..) that if he proved himself as an adequate outfielder as well as a mediocre 2nd baseman with his bat it would make him yet more valuable--but what do i know.
i remember when the trade was made the Nationals immediately announced that he was going to the OF--Im surprised that they didnt address it and deal with it until the day he showed up--seems sort of shortsighted.....
Over (up?)my way Im sort of wondering about this kid we got from the Reds, Wily Mo Pena. who supposedly has the power of Ortiz and Manny combined but no plate discipline....Being all three Dominicans Im hoping that Ortiz and Manny will help him to mature . He could be great, but I have seen too many kids "with unlimited potential" disappear before. On paper it looks like it could be good for both teams. Although I didn't like to see Bronson Arroyo go, He's a a good kid, a good ballplayer, and genuinely loved it here.
I've been thinking about that article some more... but it's not like the Nats walked up Monday and said "play outfield"... they've been telling him all along that is where they want him to play... and of course all along he's been telling them no... today I heard there's even more... that during middle infield practice, you know when they're hitting grounders to the guys and they peel off and the next guy comes up... that the coach hitting the grounders wouldn't hit any to him... anyway... he needs to bank this $10 million... because his next contract won't be as good... at least I don't think so but who knows with these owners?
Now as for your new kid... you better hope that Ortiz has more influence on him than Manny!
Wily Mo hit his first last night-a screaming liner all the way--this kid can hit it amile --if he makes contact, which seems to be the big if right now
That's good... now... can he hit it "up" like Papi and Manny? Or is he gonna count on it going through the wall? (I think that's the real reason Juando didn't join your team... the park doesn't fit him... he'd just end up with a bunch of hard hit singles (they'd probably bounce back to the shortstop)...
The Bosox just picked up Hee Seop Choi. Thank you, Boston!
I wonder if the Fenway Faithful will be chanting HEE SEOP CHOI like a drumbeat everytime he comes to bat like Dodger fan did. Somehow I doubt it. As T J Simers said in mid season last year, imagine how crazy the crowd would be if he ever hit as high as .250!
I'm happy to have Nomar at first base, and pulling for a 'comeback player' of the year from him, rather than sporadic hit, no field ,Choi.
I think Hee Seop is going to go to Triple A, and be kept in reserve in Pawtucket. Im looking for Kevin Youkilis to have a breakout year at first (or third), He has always been a good hitter but never really gotten the playing time--He'll be sharing first with JT Snow.
It odd having an (almost) all new team, the 2004's being almost all gone already.
Ive beat it to death But I still cant get used to it.
I'd like to see Nomar have agreat year too--its been tough for him the last several years, but when he is on there is no one more exciting to watch day after day.
I heard a great quote from one of the Sox the other day about Bill Mueller, 'Billy Ballgame' which rang true
"He was always in the spotlight and you never saw him"...
I wish I had some sort of cable where I could watch the LA Red Sox this year
I dont know about much yet honestly, Schill says he is ready but of course he said the same thing last year, when he was three bad starts and out until the end of june Foulke is a big question mark, as is Lowell at 3rd.(which i am guessing is why they picked up Pena). Im looking forward to watching Coco -he looks exciting -and on paper the defense looks good..real good... I'll be settling in to get to know these guys. As always a lot of if's combined with huge amount of potential....if
They are not looking quite like the happy go lucky idiots anymore, having had two bench clearing incidents two days in a row-- (in spring training no less---). Becketts a hot head--so is Tavarez, which I could do without--Who knows what kind of identity teams will eventually adopt this early on --They're being called the Fightin Franconas at the moment.
Its a new team and an entirely new feel, if (big if) they can gel together and avoid injuries (or at the very least play around them) I Like our chances and think we could surprise alot of people.
That name will go along nicely with "the fighting Showalters" we have...
Don't know about Clemens... they'd sign him in a second if he would, Hicks took him to the Rose Bowl, he's been at spring training, he's taking him to The Masters, etc...
It's up to Roger and I fear he's just going to play us again like he always has... and then hook up with the Astros (and his son) this summer...
BUT
we are excited about our team... not really excited about being in the AL West... but excited about our team...
Well... I don't know if they're a 'surprise' team or not with all of their off season activity... but your boys better take heed of the Bluejays...
In the NL it's probably going to be the usual suspects but I think the Brewers might do better than folks expect... there's just not many teams over there that impress me... It will be interesting to see how the Padres do with their two 'Ranger' pitchers (Park and Young) in a ballpark known to be pitcher friendly.
We are excited about the stRangers though... but the AL West is tough...
....I guess yous guys better shell out the dough for Rocket then....
What does he want about $22 or 23 Million?
How much is that per win?......
Im watching the same thing with Beckett who has had a blister problem that has put him on the DL for the last few years.
A Blister problem?
Pedro's got a big toe problem with the Mets,
Eaton has a middle finger problem.....
I gotta wonder what Cy Young who regularly pitched both ends of a double header ( and probably made about $50.00 doing it )would think of these guys....
I might be wrong but I cant see players of that day going up to a John McGraw and saying "my Finger hurts --Im not playing for awhile" and lasting more than a few minutes.
...anyway I'll shut up on that ....Bronson Arroyo has a shutout through 7 against the Sox and I have a hard time believeing someone believes the Mets are 5-1
Edit;
Just for grins i checked the record book on Young--He averaged nearly 300 innings a year over his entire 22 year career, including 453 innings with 48 complete games one year.
I'll go way out on a limb and say no one is going to approach those numbers for awhile, at least as long as we continue to have this hangnail and blister epidemic
That limb you're out on isn't a very long one... NO ONE will ever break Cy Young's records... (and you can quote me on that)
Whatever they pay Rocket would be pretty much recouped in ticket/souvenir sales... but he's just milking the UT connection with Hicks... why would he pitch here when he can pitch in air conditioning???
Oh well... maybe Daniels can come up with an arm without giving away too much or Buck will just have to try to work some magic again this year... they're scrappy and until they're mathematically eliminated THEY'RE GONNA WIN IT ALL!
Im not expecting for 110 wins over here but hoping they are consistent, have a few pleasant surprises. not too many bad cycles, gell as a team, and just get in the playoffs when they are hitting their peak.
(looking to the skies) Is that to much to ask?
I hope this steroid thing isnt ahuge shadow over the year either, I'll be glad when thats all over...
Im still blown away by Youngs 453 innings ( thats three very solid pitchers these days) and 48 complete games (did all of MLB have that many last year?)
I hope this steroid thing isnt ahuge shadow over the year either, I'll be glad when thats all over...
Here's a column by one of the DMN writers today. It's an interesting take. (I'll just post it here so that you won't have to register... but if you want to it's at www.dallasnews.com). He makes some good points here it is:
Selig striking out in cleanup role
Commissioner can only lose in probe, which won't end steroids mess
By Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News Sports Feature Columnist,
01:29 AM CST on Friday, March 31, 2006
"Kicking and screaming all the way, no doubt, Commissioner Bud Selig announced that Major League Baseball will launch an investigation into an enormous problem people have known about for years.
What a blue ribbon day for baseball.
With the announcement that former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will head the investigation into the game's steroids problem, Selig initiated a battle that he has to fight but cannot win. Those are never fun.
If Mitchell and his investigators turn up new evidence beyond what has already emerged from the BALCO investigation regarding Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, well, that won't reflect kindly on Selig's stewardship of this game.
And if they don't come up with anything more than the San Francisco Chronicle reporters did in their exhaustive book, Game of Shadows , well, then that doesn't look like it was much of an investigation, was it?
Selig cannot win here. If he doesn't investigate, then critics continue to wonder why he has his head planted so firmly in the sand. If he does, then it's too little, too late.
But that is his own fault. Selig knew the game had a problem long before Jose Canseco's book detailed his and others' steroid use. After finally getting the Players Association on board with testing, more than 5 percent of the game's major leaguers tested positive in 2003.
Why didn't the investigation start then?
It's quite simple. The money was still rolling in as long as major league stadiums had turned themselves into launching pads for the game's chemically-enhanced sluggers.
When the money's stacking up, you don't spend much time asking, "What's the problem?"
It's hard to fathom what conclusions can be reached in this investigation. Players such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro were called in front of Congress a year ago.
They either said nothing or, quite possibly in Palmeiro's case, based on his subsequent positive test, flat out lied.
Are they going to be more forthcoming with these investigators than they were under oath before Congress?
My major concern with the investigation is that it is all fueled by Bonds and his pursuit of not just Hank Aaron's all-time home run record but Babe Ruth's mark that stood until 1974.
Lots of folks will tell you that baseball, the media, even the fans don't want to see an angry black man pass a revered white man in the record book. There's no denying that, for some, race has to be a part of the steroids fervor at this moment.
That doesn't mean it's the whole story or the major component. But, for some, it's definitely a piece of it.
Everyone could see that McGwire had grown to massive proportions when he broke Roger Maris' record in 1998. Although surly at times, he was mostly portrayed as a lovable lug.
And Sosa was the happy-go-lucky Latin player who actually made McGwire more likable with his smile and support of the Cardinals first baseman as the two pursued Maris together.
So nobody looked real hard to get behind the scenes as to the source of their unmatched power.
By and large, Bonds generates no such love, not to anyone outside the Bay Area, anyway. And now that his use of performance enhancers has been detailed in a book, he's left with no real option other than to say, as he did in front of a grand jury, that he didn't know what his trainer was giving him was a steroid.
And hope that five people out there buy that story.
But you have to know that given the number of players who tested positive a year ago, many of them not great home-run hitters – many of them pitchers, for that matter – that Bonds wasn't the only one cheating the game in recent years.
So when all is said and done and the latest investigation is complete, what do we do about his achievements? And is Maris restored as the single-season home run record holder if incriminating evidence against McGwire and Sosa is uncovered?
Yes, it is an unholy mess. But it's one that Selig and Players Association director Donald Fehr and teams such as the Giants – who knew what Bonds' trainer was all about, yet still permitted him clubhouse access – either ignored or fueled.
Baseball is our one sport that we can break down into the minutest details to get at the game's inner workings. New statistical analyses are created each year, lending us mathematical credence as we argue about the game's best hitters and pitchers.
This investigation won't end with a nice, clean slate that tells us whether or not Bonds or Sosa or Palmeiro or anyone else is a true Hall of Famer.
A mess of this enormity, with so much evidence either unavailable or destroyed, can only be examined. It cannot be cleaned up. "
I'm not predicting anything this season. It seems like every team is a mystery. The Yankees could be great or awful. The Bosox are a mystery, as are the Jays. Who knows if the Chisox can maintain, or if the Twinkies are any good. The Angels could go south or gel, and the A's mariners and Strangers have holes.
The Dodgers MIGHT do well in an awful division IF they're healthy. I do like the Bizarro Red Sox team they have now, though , and am looking forward to the season for a change. Giants, Padres, Dbacks-yawn.
Are the Cards really good? or the Astro's? The Central is a crapshoot to me. Will the Braves win another division only to fade in the playoffs?The Mets and Phillies keep trying to catch them but never seem to get it together.
Dodger Stadium was somewhat renovated over the winter, with new seats colored in the same 'pastel' colors they originally were in '62. That sounded scary to me until I saw the place-it really looks good, and I can't wait to get back to my favorite section in the loge. Unfortunately the barrage of ads and loud music will still be there, creating a bizarre mix of old school ballpark and modern day cacophany.
I don't even want to think about the next 5 years though, with with a Universal citywalk, type 'Dodgerville' being planned outside the stadium, and condos built all around, destroying the view and serenity of the place. I'm enjoying it while i can.
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kimberly
I missed the LLWS. The boy had baseball practice 4-7. Playing in a USSSA tournament this coming weekend. The new season has just started. Can ya'll believe we are in September of the ML baseball s
mstar1
Dont scare me like that Bolsh--the way you posted I wasnt sure if it was a done deal--I had to go check....Im on the fence whether to go for Halliday or not---I'd love to have him but I'd hate to give
hiway29
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mstar1
Well thats an interesting take--im still not sure if i buy it though.
It also said:
I remeber all your remarks last year about Soriano's play at 2nd, 35 HR's or not -you have to question his overall value to a team with his type of defensive record at 2nd...I would think (of course Im not the guy ponying up the millions that he is looking for..) that if he proved himself as an adequate outfielder as well as a mediocre 2nd baseman with his bat it would make him yet more valuable--but what do i know.
i remember when the trade was made the Nationals immediately announced that he was going to the OF--Im surprised that they didnt address it and deal with it until the day he showed up--seems sort of shortsighted.....
Over (up?)my way Im sort of wondering about this kid we got from the Reds, Wily Mo Pena. who supposedly has the power of Ortiz and Manny combined but no plate discipline....Being all three Dominicans Im hoping that Ortiz and Manny will help him to mature . He could be great, but I have seen too many kids "with unlimited potential" disappear before. On paper it looks like it could be good for both teams. Although I didn't like to see Bronson Arroyo go, He's a a good kid, a good ballplayer, and genuinely loved it here.
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Tom Strange
I've been thinking about that article some more... but it's not like the Nats walked up Monday and said "play outfield"... they've been telling him all along that is where they want him to play... and of course all along he's been telling them no... today I heard there's even more... that during middle infield practice, you know when they're hitting grounders to the guys and they peel off and the next guy comes up... that the coach hitting the grounders wouldn't hit any to him... anyway... he needs to bank this $10 million... because his next contract won't be as good... at least I don't think so but who knows with these owners?
Now as for your new kid... you better hope that Ortiz has more influence on him than Manny!
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mstar1
yeah I hope so--one Manny is enough!
He is already being Manny, dark beard and long blonde* dreads
just heard that Soriano did play left today-
I think for 10 million they could tell me to play just about anywhere
* Speaking of Blonde- I heard great blonde joke today HERE IT IS
Edited by mstar1Link to comment
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Tom Strange
pretty good starman... how far did you go?
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mstar1
LOL Tom--Too far
Wily Mo hit his first last night-a screaming liner all the way--this kid can hit it amile --if he makes contact, which seems to be the big if right now
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Tom Strange
That's good... now... can he hit it "up" like Papi and Manny? Or is he gonna count on it going through the wall? (I think that's the real reason Juando didn't join your team... the park doesn't fit him... he'd just end up with a bunch of hard hit singles (they'd probably bounce back to the shortstop)...
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hiway29
The Bosox just picked up Hee Seop Choi. Thank you, Boston!
I wonder if the Fenway Faithful will be chanting HEE SEOP CHOI like a drumbeat everytime he comes to bat like Dodger fan did. Somehow I doubt it. As T J Simers said in mid season last year, imagine how crazy the crowd would be if he ever hit as high as .250!
I'm happy to have Nomar at first base, and pulling for a 'comeback player' of the year from him, rather than sporadic hit, no field ,Choi.
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mstar1
I think Hee Seop is going to go to Triple A, and be kept in reserve in Pawtucket. Im looking for Kevin Youkilis to have a breakout year at first (or third), He has always been a good hitter but never really gotten the playing time--He'll be sharing first with JT Snow.
It odd having an (almost) all new team, the 2004's being almost all gone already.
Ive beat it to death But I still cant get used to it.
I'd like to see Nomar have agreat year too--its been tough for him the last several years, but when he is on there is no one more exciting to watch day after day.
I heard a great quote from one of the Sox the other day about Bill Mueller, 'Billy Ballgame' which rang true
"He was always in the spotlight and you never saw him"...
I wish I had some sort of cable where I could watch the LA Red Sox this year
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Tom Strange
DirectTV and some extra cash Mstar!
so... "some" are saying look out for the Blue Jays this year... ? Well, they look good based on their acquisitions... but let's see 'em play!
Next weekend!
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Tom Strange
What's up with your BoSox Starman? Are they entering the Golden Gloves this year?
I know it's only spring training but a 12-11 final score kind of indicates they need to be worried more about their pitching than posturing!
Is Schilling going to be ready for opening day?
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mstar1
I dont know about much yet honestly, Schill says he is ready but of course he said the same thing last year, when he was three bad starts and out until the end of june Foulke is a big question mark, as is Lowell at 3rd.(which i am guessing is why they picked up Pena). Im looking forward to watching Coco -he looks exciting -and on paper the defense looks good..real good... I'll be settling in to get to know these guys. As always a lot of if's combined with huge amount of potential....if
They are not looking quite like the happy go lucky idiots anymore, having had two bench clearing incidents two days in a row-- (in spring training no less---). Becketts a hot head--so is Tavarez, which I could do without--Who knows what kind of identity teams will eventually adopt this early on --They're being called the Fightin Franconas at the moment.
Its a new team and an entirely new feel, if (big if) they can gel together and avoid injuries (or at the very least play around them) I Like our chances and think we could surprise alot of people.
Are the stRangers gonna sign Clemens or what?
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Tom Strange
That name will go along nicely with "the fighting Showalters" we have...
Don't know about Clemens... they'd sign him in a second if he would, Hicks took him to the Rose Bowl, he's been at spring training, he's taking him to The Masters, etc...
It's up to Roger and I fear he's just going to play us again like he always has... and then hook up with the Astros (and his son) this summer...
BUT
we are excited about our team... not really excited about being in the AL West... but excited about our team...
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Tom Strange
Clemens will reportedly attend the Rangers' opener against Boston on Monday, as the guest of Tom Hicks.
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mstar1
So I heard--I even saw a newpaper article somewhere that said "Clemens to start season with Rangers"
:blink: , which was a nice fake by the headline writer to make me do a double take.
Who is your surprise team going to be this year?
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Tom Strange
Well... I don't know if they're a 'surprise' team or not with all of their off season activity... but your boys better take heed of the Bluejays...
In the NL it's probably going to be the usual suspects but I think the Brewers might do better than folks expect... there's just not many teams over there that impress me... It will be interesting to see how the Padres do with their two 'Ranger' pitchers (Park and Young) in a ballpark known to be pitcher friendly.
We are excited about the stRangers though... but the AL West is tough...
Anybody else got any ideas?
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Tom Strange
great... just great... Adam Eaton is going to start the season on the DL... same finger problem as last year...
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mstar1
easy Tom --- There is a long long way to go.......He'll miss what? 1 or 2 starts? or are you taking it as an omen of bad things to come ?
Its too early to get frustrated--so far everyone is even and every one has question marks--
The crucial time for the Rangers always seems to be end of July and through August...isn't it?
We all have a long way even to get to there.....
I'll try to find you that $250,000 stash by then, thats good for stress ( or so Ive heard)
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mstar1
Well ---if you are a bettin man here are the preseason odds from Las Vegas for the World Series winner
New York Yankees 7-2
St Louis Cardinals 7-1
Boston Red Sox 10-1
Los Angeles Angels 13-1
Atlanta Braves 25-1
Houston Astros 30-1
Oakland Athletics 13-1
Cleveland Indians 14-1
Chicago White Sox 9-2
Minnesota Twins 25-1
Florida Marlins 250-1
Philadelphia Phillies 30-1
Chicago Cubs 12-1
New York Mets 5-1
San Diego Padres 40-1
San Francisco Giants 23-1
Texas Rangers 40-1
Los Angeles Dodgers 20-1
Toronto Blue Jays 30-1
Baltimore Orioles 100-1
Washington Nationals 100-1
Milwaukee Brewers 40-1
Cincinnati Reds 175-1
Arizona Diamondbacks 100-1
Detroit Tigers 100-1
Seattle Mariners 60-1
Pittsburgh Pirates 100-1
Colorado Rockies 300-1
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 350-1
Kansas City Royals 400-1
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Tom Strange
The odds on the Reds, the Rockies, the Rays and the Royals... must be something about the "R"... (not the stRangers though)...
Word I got this morning from the daily email was that Eaton might be out for the first half of the season...
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mstar1
....I guess yous guys better shell out the dough for Rocket then....
What does he want about $22 or 23 Million?
How much is that per win?......
Im watching the same thing with Beckett who has had a blister problem that has put him on the DL for the last few years.
A Blister problem?
Pedro's got a big toe problem with the Mets,
Eaton has a middle finger problem.....
I gotta wonder what Cy Young who regularly pitched both ends of a double header ( and probably made about $50.00 doing it )would think of these guys....
I might be wrong but I cant see players of that day going up to a John McGraw and saying "my Finger hurts --Im not playing for awhile" and lasting more than a few minutes.
...anyway I'll shut up on that ....Bronson Arroyo has a shutout through 7 against the Sox and I have a hard time believeing someone believes the Mets are 5-1
Edit;
Just for grins i checked the record book on Young--He averaged nearly 300 innings a year over his entire 22 year career, including 453 innings with 48 complete games one year.
I'll go way out on a limb and say no one is going to approach those numbers for awhile, at least as long as we continue to have this hangnail and blister epidemic
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Tom Strange
That limb you're out on isn't a very long one... NO ONE will ever break Cy Young's records... (and you can quote me on that)
Whatever they pay Rocket would be pretty much recouped in ticket/souvenir sales... but he's just milking the UT connection with Hicks... why would he pitch here when he can pitch in air conditioning???
Oh well... maybe Daniels can come up with an arm without giving away too much or Buck will just have to try to work some magic again this year... they're scrappy and until they're mathematically eliminated THEY'RE GONNA WIN IT ALL!
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mstar1
Good Luck Mr Strange---
Im not expecting for 110 wins over here but hoping they are consistent, have a few pleasant surprises. not too many bad cycles, gell as a team, and just get in the playoffs when they are hitting their peak.
(looking to the skies) Is that to much to ask?
I hope this steroid thing isnt ahuge shadow over the year either, I'll be glad when thats all over...
Im still blown away by Youngs 453 innings ( thats three very solid pitchers these days) and 48 complete games (did all of MLB have that many last year?)
Good luck to your guys too Senor Hiway
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Tom Strange
Here's a column by one of the DMN writers today. It's an interesting take. (I'll just post it here so that you won't have to register... but if you want to it's at www.dallasnews.com). He makes some good points here it is:
Selig striking out in cleanup role
Commissioner can only lose in probe, which won't end steroids mess
By Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News Sports Feature Columnist,
01:29 AM CST on Friday, March 31, 2006
"Kicking and screaming all the way, no doubt, Commissioner Bud Selig announced that Major League Baseball will launch an investigation into an enormous problem people have known about for years.
What a blue ribbon day for baseball.
With the announcement that former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will head the investigation into the game's steroids problem, Selig initiated a battle that he has to fight but cannot win. Those are never fun.
If Mitchell and his investigators turn up new evidence beyond what has already emerged from the BALCO investigation regarding Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, well, that won't reflect kindly on Selig's stewardship of this game.
And if they don't come up with anything more than the San Francisco Chronicle reporters did in their exhaustive book, Game of Shadows , well, then that doesn't look like it was much of an investigation, was it?
Selig cannot win here. If he doesn't investigate, then critics continue to wonder why he has his head planted so firmly in the sand. If he does, then it's too little, too late.
But that is his own fault. Selig knew the game had a problem long before Jose Canseco's book detailed his and others' steroid use. After finally getting the Players Association on board with testing, more than 5 percent of the game's major leaguers tested positive in 2003.
Why didn't the investigation start then?
It's quite simple. The money was still rolling in as long as major league stadiums had turned themselves into launching pads for the game's chemically-enhanced sluggers.
When the money's stacking up, you don't spend much time asking, "What's the problem?"
It's hard to fathom what conclusions can be reached in this investigation. Players such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro were called in front of Congress a year ago.
They either said nothing or, quite possibly in Palmeiro's case, based on his subsequent positive test, flat out lied.
Are they going to be more forthcoming with these investigators than they were under oath before Congress?
My major concern with the investigation is that it is all fueled by Bonds and his pursuit of not just Hank Aaron's all-time home run record but Babe Ruth's mark that stood until 1974.
Lots of folks will tell you that baseball, the media, even the fans don't want to see an angry black man pass a revered white man in the record book. There's no denying that, for some, race has to be a part of the steroids fervor at this moment.
That doesn't mean it's the whole story or the major component. But, for some, it's definitely a piece of it.
Everyone could see that McGwire had grown to massive proportions when he broke Roger Maris' record in 1998. Although surly at times, he was mostly portrayed as a lovable lug.
And Sosa was the happy-go-lucky Latin player who actually made McGwire more likable with his smile and support of the Cardinals first baseman as the two pursued Maris together.
So nobody looked real hard to get behind the scenes as to the source of their unmatched power.
By and large, Bonds generates no such love, not to anyone outside the Bay Area, anyway. And now that his use of performance enhancers has been detailed in a book, he's left with no real option other than to say, as he did in front of a grand jury, that he didn't know what his trainer was giving him was a steroid.
And hope that five people out there buy that story.
But you have to know that given the number of players who tested positive a year ago, many of them not great home-run hitters – many of them pitchers, for that matter – that Bonds wasn't the only one cheating the game in recent years.
So when all is said and done and the latest investigation is complete, what do we do about his achievements? And is Maris restored as the single-season home run record holder if incriminating evidence against McGwire and Sosa is uncovered?
Yes, it is an unholy mess. But it's one that Selig and Players Association director Donald Fehr and teams such as the Giants – who knew what Bonds' trainer was all about, yet still permitted him clubhouse access – either ignored or fueled.
Baseball is our one sport that we can break down into the minutest details to get at the game's inner workings. New statistical analyses are created each year, lending us mathematical credence as we argue about the game's best hitters and pitchers.
This investigation won't end with a nice, clean slate that tells us whether or not Bonds or Sosa or Palmeiro or anyone else is a true Hall of Famer.
A mess of this enormity, with so much evidence either unavailable or destroyed, can only be examined. It cannot be cleaned up. "
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hiway29
I'm not predicting anything this season. It seems like every team is a mystery. The Yankees could be great or awful. The Bosox are a mystery, as are the Jays. Who knows if the Chisox can maintain, or if the Twinkies are any good. The Angels could go south or gel, and the A's mariners and Strangers have holes.
The Dodgers MIGHT do well in an awful division IF they're healthy. I do like the Bizarro Red Sox team they have now, though , and am looking forward to the season for a change. Giants, Padres, Dbacks-yawn.
Are the Cards really good? or the Astro's? The Central is a crapshoot to me. Will the Braves win another division only to fade in the playoffs?The Mets and Phillies keep trying to catch them but never seem to get it together.
Dodger Stadium was somewhat renovated over the winter, with new seats colored in the same 'pastel' colors they originally were in '62. That sounded scary to me until I saw the place-it really looks good, and I can't wait to get back to my favorite section in the loge. Unfortunately the barrage of ads and loud music will still be there, creating a bizarre mix of old school ballpark and modern day cacophany.
I don't even want to think about the next 5 years though, with with a Universal citywalk, type 'Dodgerville' being planned outside the stadium, and condos built all around, destroying the view and serenity of the place. I'm enjoying it while i can.
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