Unrelated comments:
- Is there anybody else out there who is completely sick of the NFL draft already? Next they're will be breathless reporting of Vince Young's breakfast menu and Reggie Bush's latest stool sample. We're talking about 22-year-old kids. At least baseball tends to be more measured about their entry-level talent.
- Baseball announced that they will "not celebrate" Barry Bonds' 715th home run. Give me a break. When Bonds hit 661, the Giants made a huge deal about it. Either it's a real accomplishment, or it's not. If it's a real accomplishment, give it its due. If it's not, suspend him. Yeah, the steroid era was bad for the game's reputation, and we all pretty much know in our heart of hearts that Barry was doing something naughty. So were a lot of the pitchers he was facing, and the owners were cynically bringing in the fences 30 feet, and God knows what to believe about the baseballs. I don't see ownership giving back the money. Bonds may seem like a jerk, but he's hit 711 home runs, which is more than all but two people in history. If he's actually doing it dishonestly, stop him. If you can't prove that, shut the hell up. This limbo where Barry Bonds is being semi-ignored is just hypocrisy.
- Cleveland's bombardment of Boston yesterday seemed to me to be aided and abetted by more than a slight bit of homerism from the home plate umpire. The Indians got several close pitchers on both sides of the plate. It's probably just a coincidence, but the idea that the umpires could manage pennant races for increased excitement has to have crossed somebody's mind at some point; the Indians were in danger of messing up the pennant race early by soiling the bed; and the Yankees need some help as they have spectacularly poor timing in the run scoring escapades.
- Will super-prospect Delmon Young's action, hitting an umpire with a thrown bat in AAA on Wednesday, cost him the rest of the season? Anything less sets a terrible example for the rest of the game.
1 comment:
Dunno, Doug. A full season is a really harsh punishment for that. He was immediately contrite about it and said exactly what you would want to hear afterwards.
The video of the incident is a bit incomplete. I'd like to know if he was just throwing the bat in the general direction of the ump (which, although not very common, isn't the first time I've seen a bat thrown), or he was really throwing it at the ump. If the former, I'd be satisfied with a 10-15 game suspension. If the latter, perhaps 60 games. That's more than a drug offense, and about half of a minor league season.
The problem is that the minor league umps are on strike and the current set are replacements. They are probably pretty poor umpires, and unused to dealing with players. It's a potentially explosive situation.
That said, I would not condone what Delmon Young did, and there is no doubt Young should be suspended. He should also be warned that any further confrontations with umpires (ejections, etc.) in the next three years will result in an automatic suspension.
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