But let's just take a minute to celebrate the greatest player of this era, my era, The Steroid Era. After all, Barry was a tremendous player, an eight-time All-Star, a three-time MVP, even before he bulked up by using massive amounts of questionable, albeit not necessarily illegal, tactics. The steroids (and human growth hormone, insulin and whatever else he thought to ingest) didn't change his near textbook swing, and they certainly didn't improve his crystal clear vision, which is Bonds' truest, most powerful weapon against opposing pitchers. Yes, it's a time to celebrate. MLB didn't want Barry to catch the Babe. And they certainly don't want him catching Hank Aaron. But even Bud Selig can't deny that Barry Bonds is a truly special, memorable player.Sucker Punch
Michael Barrett has some 'splainin to do. I'm still trying to figure out what the Cubs catcher was thinking when he slugged fellow catcher A.J. Pierzynski in a 7-0 Cubs loss Saturday afternoon. Here's the setup: A.J. is coming home trying to score. Barrett, as catchers do, blocked the plate. Before the ball arrived, Pierzynski leveled over Barrett, got up and slapped the plate emphatically to indicate he scored. Everything's cool, right? Wrong. As Pierzynski gets up to grab his helmet, which flew off in the collision, Barrett grabs him, for some reason complains he didn't have the ball (even though he was blocking the plate) and then even more inexplicably, simply cold-cocks A.J. in the mouth.
After the punch, as Pierzynski put it, "all hell broke loose." The benches cleared. Full-out brawl mode takes place. In the end, four players were ejected. Inexplicably, in the umpires' infinite wisdom, they ejected Pierzynski, who after doing nothing illegal, simply walked away after being punched. I'm still trying to figure out why he got tossed. After all, he was the "victim" in this. Even stranger, Barrett, the one who, ya know, actually threw the punch that started this whole deal, wasn't immediately ejected! Yeah, good job there, umps.
In defense of Barrett, he owned up to his mistake after the game. Shouldn't have punched the guy. You never hit a grown man. And he expects to be disciplined. Barrett was doing what catchers do, and Pierzynski was doing what runners do. Barrett just snapped and wasn't thinking. And he'll pay a price -- hopefully a big price. My suggestion: 20 games. At least. It simply was a sucker punch, one that could have been much worse if Barrett had actually landed it cleanly.
The two teams conclude the series on Sunday. I would expect it would be a clean game, especially in the light that there could be major suspensions arising from this. Now when the two teams face off again in a three-game series at Wrigley Field, from June 30 to July 2, it could get really interesting. For some reason, teams don't tend to forget these types of melees.
Barbaro Breakdown
Poor Barbaro. One day you're on top of the world, the next your life literally flashes before your eyes. 
The Kentucky Derby champ and Preakness favorite entered as the only horse in the field with a chance to win the Triple Crown -- the goal of every horse each year. Barbaro had all the glitz, glamour and pressure of being a champion. And it showed, as he jumped out of the gates early with a false start. The second time, he waited, but he wasn't in the race long. He quickly faded, the result of a fractured ankle, an injury that could lead to Barbaro's being put to sleep. You see, we humans get bed rest after a fractured ankle. Six weeks. For horses, that is impossible. So to put them out of their misery, they are literally put out of their misery. Euthenization. The horse that yesterday all it all, now may have only a few days remaining in his life.
Big Easy to remain 'Chocolate'
Wow. Ray Nagin somehow retained his job Saturday. More than 52 percent of voters apparently think Nagin is doing a good job as mayor of New Orleans. Either that or the city has no faith in Mitch Landrieu -- the state's Lt. Gov., the brother of the state's senior senator and the son of a former New Orleans mayor. How bad does Landrieu feel right now? A challenging Democrat, in a democratic city, lost to the incumbent Democrat, who acts more like a Republican than a liberal. 
Coming off the heels of the worst natural disaster in America's history -- a crisis that pointed out Nagin's lack of leadership abilities -- the man whose approval ratings were in the low 30s just 8 months ago has been reelected. Simply amazing. I'm stunned. Nagin is a completly ineffective leader who loves to pop off at the mouth and scatter to the blame around anywhere but on his own shoulders. At times, he is incompetent. In fact, most of the time. Nagin makes Gov. Kathleen Blanco look like a powerful force in politics. And that's hard to do.
Where does Landrieu go from here? He still gets to keep his day job as Lt. Gov. -- a position held by Blanco before she became the state's top leader. But does losing to an incumbent mayor that nobody seems to like ruin your political career? It will be interesting to see how Landrieu bounces back. I think he's tapped out his potential -- any thoughts at a run towards the governor or a national Congress seat are pretty much thrown out the window now.
Quick Hits
It was a bad day for catchers, period. Braves catcher Brian McCann injured his ankle after being run over at the plate. McCann entered the game with an NL-leading .353 batting average.
Speaking of the Braves, how about they were destroyed by the D-backs. Brandon Webb, my fantasy team ace by the way, moved to 7-0 on the year with the win.
Let the countdown begin. Albert Pujols launched No. 21 Sunday, meaning he needs just 53 more to pass Bonds' single-season record.
Larry Hughes will play in Game 7 of the Cavs-Pistons series, which tips off at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on ABC. Hughes has missed the past 4 games after the death of his brother. He returned to the bench for Friday's Game 6 loss, but didn't play. ESPN Insider Chris Sheridan says LeBron's legend and Pistons' legacy are at stake.
Not that it's yet to the point where I'd actually care, but Buffalo beat Carolina to take a 1-0 lead in the NHL's Eastern Conference finals. Edmonton leads Anaheim 1-o in the West.
No comments:
Post a Comment