Sports done the right way » MLB

Rangers are looking good through 7 innings.

#1 Sportsfan — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:45:51 +0000

Through seven innings tonight the Rangers have been dominating. Particularly in the fourth inning where the Rangers scored 8 runs. Napoli and Hamilton both homered in the fourth inning to help the Rangers take a 9-1 lead going into the 8th inning. Time is slipping away for Cleveland not just in this game but in the Wildcard race. They will probably not get a slot in the playoffs at this point. Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers lead the American League West by just two in a half games over the L.A. Angels. If they do manage to slip below the Angels, its going to become increasingly difficult for them to even make a Wildcard with some of the other teams in the AL this season. Its going to be a tight race to the end for sure. Cleveland needs to h ope for a really bad streak for Detroit but that does not look like its going to happen as they are already on a 12 game winning streak. Texas Rangers look to make the playoffs and will hopefully be poised to fight for a World Series Championship. The city of Dallas and the State of Texas could really use some good new for once in a while as over 3.5 million acres (about the size of Connecticut) have burned since November of last year. Let it be known that it was still 9-1 going into the ninth inning so bearing an incredible comeback by the Cleveland Indians, it looks like the Texas Rangers will have their 85th win this season (still with a chance to get to 100).

A-Fraud Gone Wild!

#1 Sportsfan — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:34:56 +0000

Self proclaimed bad boy Alex Rodriguez has found himself in a heap of trouble once again. At least, that’s what we have been hearing for the past week. Now we are getting reports that Major League Baseball isn’t going to do anything about it. Are you kidding me? Supposedly, ‘”He will be warned again and not lightly.”Major League Baseball investigators still want to speak with Rodriguez about his alleged involvement in the high-stakes games and are expected to do so “in the next couple of weeks,’ a source with close ties to Rodriguez told ESPNNewYork.com’s Wallace Matthews on Thursday.“ Can you say enabler? I mean what do we have to expect now, that the New York Yankees (as money driven as most of them are) are going to discipline their own star player for something that the League as whole has no problem with? A slap on the wrist isn’t going to keep this guy from eventually pulling a Pete Rose and being laughed out of baseball for the rest of his life. Whose to say that some Atlantic City casino doesn’t already have their hooks in him right now? That’s a dangerous game to play if you ask me, but when no one is there to say, “NOOOO you can’t go into that room with the illegal gambling….Yes, I mean the one with the poker table in it.” I realize that there are not been a full investigation or conclusion as to what is exactly going on (and I doubt the actual truth will ever come out) so maybe I am wrong and have no idea what I am talking about…but it all just seems a bit much to me. Gambling when you play professional sports is a slippery slope my friends, then second you get down, the first thought goes to point shaving. If sports aren’t real then the people who watch them will not care. In order for him to have gotten in trouble he probably would have had to have made a side bet at the poker table on baseball…We all know that side bets is basically small talk at the table and everyone knows A-Rod as a baseball player. How much do you want to bet it got brought up?

Rangers Fan Shannon Stone Dies in Stadium Fall

#1 Sportsfan — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:47:12 +0000

For the second time this season, a fan has died when trying to catch a foul ball at a Major League stadium. We will warn you now, as the video will that the video might contain gruesome parts that may not be suitable for children. The worst part about it in my opinion is that his kid saw the whole thing go down. I am not really sure what to say about this other than we need to make these stadiums safer or post warning signs possibly or something. The fact that two people have already died this season alone from trying to catch a foul ball is ridiculous if you ask me.

MLB Trade Deadline Biggest Winners and Losers!

#1 Sportsfan — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:23:47 +0000

This past weekend marked Major League Baseball’s trade deadline which meant that any team hoping to get that extra oomph for the upcoming playoffs had to join in on the fire-sale that was this years trading block. I seriously doubt there has ever been a bigger stage for players on the trading block than this years July 31rst deadline. The past month all I have heard about on TV, Radio, and the Blogosphere is about either Lebron James and the Miami Heat or baseball’s crazy moves. I fear that baseball is headed towards the problems that Formula One is having right now and start having teams that can no longer afford to spend the kind of money that these other teams (Yankee’s and Red Sox) have been spending over the past few years. I personally believe that would be bad for baseball just because you get these super-teams that kind of rule the whole league. Some of the teams who made off like a true champion would are:

New York Yankees – I figured I would start out with the team that is always making huge moves. Because I put them first, does not mean that I actually think they made off the best, I just figured I throw the obvious stuff at you first. While they did not get the player they were after at first (Roy Oswalt) they were able to pick up Lance Berkman, Kerry Wood, and Austin Kearns. These moves are considered to be gap fillers at this point, but I think it might be just what they need to pull off another World Series run.

Texas Rangers - Wait a second??? I thought they were operating in Chapter 11?? Yes, they actually are, but they made out like rats still. They picked up the best player that was available in Cliff Lee, then managed to wrangle up Jorge Cantu, Bengie Molina, and Christian Guzman. I know, I know…This is the baseball team who has an 8 game lead in their division. It does not take a genius to realize the implications of all of these moves. While having to give up their top first base prospect Justin Smoak, you only need to look past Lee to see how good of a trade the Rangers got.

So we have had a great look at the two biggest winners. I would have to say Honorable Mention goes to the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves for their decent moves over the past weekend. Both are looking forward to the rest of the season. Lets take a look at the biggest losers (aka teams that really busted over the past few weeks) shall we?

San Francisco Giants – There was word they were interested in several people but as usual the Giants end up with jack diddly just a game in a half back in the NL West. If tomorrow were the playoffs they would be in the last spot so you would think they would really be out there looking for someone to get. They apparently were just not serious about it. They need a big bat to increase some offense going into the playoffs because they have a clutch playoff pitching trio.

Tampa Bay Rays – So if you are in the same division as the New York Yankees, one would think you would want to be out there shopping for something. At first I thought they would end up with Adam Dunn but such is life…then when the Yanks picked up Berkman I freaked out because I think any chance of winning the division has now gone and passed for the Rays. I would have to say that the failure to go out and get some offense is really going to hurt them in the long run. I wouldn’t be looking for the Rays to go very far through the playoffs this season.

Boston Red Sox – Are They Dead in the Water?

#1 Sportsfan — Sun, 02 May 2010 23:48:06 +0000

It’s a big week coming up for the 11-13 Boston Red Sox. They have gotten off to a bad start but have won the past two series. They need to get business taken care of right now though because they have the LA Angels and the Yankees after these upcoming “easier” series with the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles. Still 3 games below .500 baseball, it not only looks bad because of their position in their division (4^th out of 5), but they are also 11^th place overall in the American League. Whoever thought that the Blue Jays series and Orioles series would be so important to the Red Sox nation. If they want to continue to fill seats in Fenway Park then they should start winning games because fans aren’t going to want to go to games if they soon become irrelevant because the Sox are 20 games out of playoff position.

They were able to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3 games in a row to take that series but they have lost both games to the Baltimore Orioles. Its not looking good considering they lost in a 10 inning game on Friday and then lost again last night despite a late 2 inning run in which 5 runners came in. The Red Sox had the lead for innings 2-4 leading 4-1, but in the 5^th and 6^th innings Baltimore score 10 runs. That pretty much sealed the deal if you ask me because its almost as if the Red Sox had been deflated after that and 35,000 fans were cheering the home team on. Daisuke Matsuzaka did not help things by making his season debut not only below average, but I would almost say lets send him back to the farm league. He starts his season with an 11.57 ERA…A far cry from anything anyone could consider “Big League” material. I guarantee you that the Boston Red Sox were wishing they were at Fenway park last night. Thank goodness Matsuzaka didn’t have to deal with his home crowd booing him…well at least not in person. I was certainly yelling at the TV. He seriously could not stay out of the middle of the plate. He was great for 3 innings and then just gave up or something. Boston baseball is not safe, lets just say that. I worry about the future for them being 4^th in their division. Oh well, thank god I am a huge Atlanta Braves fan. Oh wait, they suck too…Great. And people wonder why no one watches baseball anymore.

Mark Mcgwire admits to using Steroids

#1 Sportsfan — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:02:57 +0000

Another one bites the dust. A report came out today that Mark McGwire, who broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record with 70 home runs back in 1998, admitted today that he used steroids through the 90′s while playing baseball. This includes his record breaking season which hurts me because I really looked up to the guy back in the day. While he was not my favorite player, he was one of them. The day Greg Maddux comes out and says he has used steroids is the day that I stop watching baseball. This comes at no surprise to most baseball fans as he dodged a lot of the questions in his testimony in front of the Senate. Most of his fans are actually coming out in support and Bob Knight has even come out in support of the Mark McGwire legacy. ”I wish I had never used steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake.” Those words make me think that maybe McGwire isn’t sleeping too well these days. The media claims that its probably because he is taking a new job. His family seems to be very understanding just giving him words of encouragement throughout this whole ordeal. He was a baseball icon back in the 90′s with his grandiose physique and a swing that only a 12 year old dreaming of hitting that home run in the 9th inning of the World Series could appreciate. With the swing came the fans barreling out of their cars three hours before the game even started just to see a glimpse of the home run machine that was Mark McGwire. With this I can only say that in my mind Roger Maris is now the single season home run leader (Sammy Sosa and McGwire being the only two players to have statistically more home runs in a season).

Who Cares about Steroids?

#1 Sportsfan — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:23:45 +0000

Seriously? On the eve of Sammy Sosa being labeled as one of the 104 names on the list of players who failed drug screenings back in 2003. First of all, are you really that suprised about it? Sammy Sosa lied in open court about the use of the substances, but who didnt lie? Did you expect him not to lie? I am not saying that since everyone lies, it makes it alright, but this was back in 2003 (6 years ago) and I think its crazy to think that we are still talking about this and I know over the next few weeks there will be more and more names let out of the bag. To be honest with you, if I were Sammy Sosa, I would be trying to figure out which law firm decided to leak this information out into the public because they were supposed to get rid of the document, destroy it, and never look at it again. Obviously thats not whats going on here, someone has the list and is leaking it to the New York Times. I think what makes me angry about the whole situation is that 10 years from now, this isnt going to be a big deal. In fact I am almost certain that Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, Roger Clemens and others will still be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and if that happens what was the point in even talking about it in the first place. I understand that this baseball era (1980′s-Present) will be known as the “Steroid Era” and it looks like America’s Past Time has now reverted to Football, but that doesnt mean we have to freak out about everything considering I would be willing to bet that at least half of NFL players have taken some sort of performance enhancing drug. I understand they test for illegal drugs which has gotten several players in trouble, but what about performance enhancing drugs? I guess what I am trying to ask is does anyone really care about this issue or would you rather get mad at the football players who are getting wasted and killing people with their cars. Dante Stallworth got sentenced to just 30 days in jail, his career is not ruined, and he will more than likely end up getting the same punishment from the commissioner of the NFL as Michael Vick. What do you think about it?

Last Place in Salary is First Place in MLB

#1 Sportsfan — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:24:40 +0000

Thats right, the Florida Marlins are tied with the Atlanta Braves for first place not only in the Eastern Division of the National League, but all of Major League Baseball through the first two weeks. They have scored 37 runs in their first 6 games which to me considering last year they were only 3-3 through the first 6 games only scoring 21 runs. November 11th, 2008 is a day that the Florida Marlins will not forget for a while. Its the day the Washington Nationals traded Emilio Jose Bonifacio (a pitcher from the minor leagues) to the Florida Marlins. So far through the first 6 games he is batting .500 has a home run and 5 RBI’s. Believe it or not that Fantasy baseball league has adopted this guy because over 80 percent of them own him on their baseball team. So whats so great and amazing about Florida being on top of the world right now? The fact that they pay their players the least amongst all MLB teams. Their team salary right now is $22,650,000 whereas the New York Yankees pay their players the most with a team salary of $207,108,489. So where is this near quarter billion dollar team at in the standings? They started out 0-2 but have now jumped to 3-3 tied with the Rays for 3rd place in the American League East Division. This is not surprising for me as the Yankees spent the bank in the off season picking up players left and right and paying them whatever they asked for. If you have the money, great, but why don’t you go spend it on some of the local business that seem to be failing in New York? All in all I expect big things for the Marlins and look for them in the wild card position by the end of the season. I doubt the Yankees will even make the playoffs. You have heard it here on SidelineBlog.com, the Yankees will not make the playoffs.

Here is a list of all the team salaries as of right now. If you take a look at their records vs. how much they pay their players, I think that you will find it pretty funny how it ends up working out in the end. This table only represents how much the teams pay their players, not their staff or anyone else.

Team	Payroll (US$)
1. NY Yankees	207,108,489
2. NY Mets	137,391,376
3. Detroit	137,290,196
4. Boston	133,220,112
5. Chicago Sox	121,189,332
6. LA Angels	118,825,333
7. LA Dodgers	118,188,536
8. Chicago Cubs	117,954,333
9. Seattle	116,876,482
10. Atlanta	102,849,666
11. St. Louis	99,624,449
12. Toronto	97,001,500
13. Philadelphia	95,479,880
14. Houston	88,930,414
15. Cleveland	78,970,066
16. San Francisco	76,194,000
17. Milwaukee	74,687,499
18. Cincinnati	74,117,695
19. San Diego	72,626,616
20. Colorado	68,655,500
21. Baltimore	66,806,249
22. Texas	66,312,326
23. Arizona	66,202,712
24. Kansas City	57,855,500
25. Minnesota	56,932,766
26. Washington	54,166,000
27. Pittsburgh	48,689,783
28. Oakland	47,167,126
29. Tampa Bay	43,422,997
30. Florida	22,650,000

Just goes to show you a lot about money. Not only doesn’t it buy you happiness, but also a winning baseball team.

Major League 2009 Picks

#1 Sportsfan — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:53:38 +0000

I have not been blogging for a while with this blog, but I have decided that I want to start it up again in honor of my Mother Barbara Janette Sherrill. She died September 25th, 2008 and I kind of lost touch with everything after that. I realize now that sports has really gotten me through a lot of the hard times and I want to give back to the sports world by talking about it. Anyways, here are my picks for the 2009 MLB season:

American League

East – Boston Red Sox
Central – Cleveland Indians
West – LA Angels

National League

East – Atlanta Braves
Central – Chicago Cubs
West – LA Dodgers

I know that some of you are going to think I am crazy for making those pics, but I really do believe that these teams are playing the best RIGHT NOW. I cannot help if it players decide to hurt themselves…lets just hope CC Sabathia doesnt decide to shoot himself in the leg.

CC Sabathia…the Yankee

#1 Sportsfan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:12:45 +0000

To this point I couldn’t tell you where the largest prize on the free agent market was going to be heading for next season. I was almost sure that it was not to the New York Yankees because CC himself has come out saying he did not want to live in the city. Several credible sources are saying that is the case now just like in the case of Mike Mussina before. This time they didn’t have Joe Torre on the phone telling him how he doesn’t have to actually live in the city, just in the suburbs and what not. Is this a good move for the Yankees to lock up this work horse of a pitcher? He carried the Brewers into the playoffs this year and them dropped them off at the ball park. He has not proven to me yet whether or not he can make it in the post season. For his career, CC Sabathia is 117-73 with a 3.66 ERA in 254 games. He has however completed 26 full games and he has 10 complete shutouts in his career with 1,393 strikeouts.