ESPN actually had a feature on this morning listing their Power Rankings, anchored by Mark Teixeira and Tim Kurkjian. They compared the rankings by ESPN's panel of experts with Teixeira's choices. The only one who had it right was Kurkjian, who said, "If this were football, we'd be making these selections in the middle of the second quarter of the first game. I don't think I can do this." Of course not. there are better than 150 games to go. Players often say they need about 100 at-bats before being comfortable to judge how they're doing. That's about 25-30 games, they've played about 8. Show a little patience will you?
Expert prognosticators are silly, anyway. No matter what the sport, pre-season predictions all end up being the same: they are basically recaps of last season's finishes. The Cubs beat the Indians in the World Series? Okay, I pick Cleveland and Chicago to win their leagues. Wow! Way to go out on a limb there, fella. If an underdog team starts to lead the pack, the experts have the excuses ready. "Well, their young guys put it together faster than anyone expected." Not "anyone," just the experts. They actually begin hedging their bets in pre-season. "If they're gonna do anything, their 36-year old pitcher will have to pitch like he's 25." Or one of their outfielders will have to hit like he did when he was the League MVP. "When was that Bob? 2010, when he was 29? Well it could happen. His broken tibia has had two years to heal, it could happen. He's only 36." There you go. Now if that team happens to do something, this expert is covered.
How to suffer along with your players.
It was announced that Yankee phenom, Gary Sanchez, will miss about 4 weeks with a muscle strain on his throwing arm. General Manager Brian Cashman, on the other hand went into intensive care when he saw Sanchez grimacing in pain after taking a practice swing. He should be back making deals by the end of the month, depending on how Sanchez responds to treatment. Hang in there, Brian.
ESPN question: Is baseball boring?
If you like the game, the answer is no. If you don't like it, you won't even watch, so how can you answer? Anything can be improved and baseball is no exception. The question is, what part of it needs improvement the most?
When this debate gets going, one answer that always comes up has to do with rule changes. The rules are what makes the game, why would you mess with that? Annie-O and I watch all the Yankee games and I think there are only two changes that would make our viewing pleasure immensely better.
1) Shorten the game and this is easier than you think. Unless a pitch is struck, the batter stays in the box. And by staying in the box, a pitch is legal at any time. If he steps out, it's an automatic strike. Plus, a pitcher must pitch within 20 seconds or an automatic ball is called. There! Problem solved.
2) All the announcers and/or color men in the booth: Shut the heck up. They act like a gas - they expand to fill the available space. All your statistics are not that interesting, especially early in the year when a batter can raise his average by 150 points by going 2 for 2.
Remember, it's not a radio broadcast. You don't have to say things like,"...and here's the pitch." We can see that. Tell us the count and be quiet. Oh occasional stories or rule explanations are okay, but don't come to the game armed with 50 of them. In short - SSSSHHH!
***THEY SAID IT***
" Wintry weather tonight in Chicago. Blame whoever said hell would freeze
over before they raised a championship banner at Wrigley." -- Janice Hough
" Ichiro says he wants to play in the major leagues until he's 50. Who does he think he is? Tom Brady?" -- RJ Currie
"Oregon came within a point of making it to the finals. This proves wearing uniforms bright enough to blind the opponent works." -- Brad Dickson
CP-
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