Sunday, July 30, 2017

IF I WERE COMMISSIONER...

...there's a few things that would be changed.

** Eliminate the Automatic Intentional Walk. You're not really saving any significant time and things happen. Balks and wild pitches can occur.

** There's no such thing as Defensive Indifference. Players care so much about their personal stats, let them pay for giving away an extra base. You let him get to second base than the runner gets a stolen base and it goes on your record that you gave up one.

** Institute the Designated Hitter in both leagues. Does it make the game different? Sure, it does. So What? One of the biggest reasons for it, is it keeps older players in the game longer. How do you think Boston would have felt if David Ortiz could only pinch hit all year? As for the purists, there is no rule that says you have to use a DH. Play your team that way but don't claim your opponent has an advantage by using the DH.

** Eliminate the Interleague play. Other than a few intercity rivalries, there's no big deal in having Tampa play Cincinnati or Arizona going against Boston. Let it go.

** Return the Hall of Fame Game. It was part of the celebration of the induction of the newest members. You can always make the game count in the standings. Let's celebrate the players superior accomplishments with the actual game that they excelled in. (We'll hear more about this when I ask to be in charge of the Hall of Fame.)

** Institute a code of behavior for umpires. We'll have an investigation every time a player or manager is ejected. If an umpire kicks a guy out, he better have a damn good reason. If an ump goes after a player or manager, there better be a compelling reason. When an umpire walks over to a dugout and tosses a guy, the ump is wrong. Being an over-officious jerk on the umpires' part will get him suspended. Here's two of the latest examples:
A) Home plate umpire Will Little (certainly an appropriate last name) threw out three Blue Jays in the course of one at-bat. The manager, the pitcher and finally the catcher all got the hook. Why? Little's strike zone was quite erratic and players complained. Umpires are often referred to a arbiters. An arbiter, by definition, a person whose views or actions have great influence over trends in social behavior. This means that when you make a decision,someone is going to be unhappy. So don't be surprised when they object. You asked to be an umpire, so live with the complaints.
B) Same game, umpire Gerry Davis threw out Adrian Beltre because he wouldn't stay in the on-deck circle. NOBODY stays in the on-deck circle. NOBODY stays in the coaches box either. NOBODY stays in the batters box. Why don't you do something about that? 
Actually, we can make this easier. Watch whatever Umpire Joe West does and stop umpires from doing that.

** Please follow the rules. This is one of my favorite sore spots. "An umpire shall not call time once the batter is in the box and the pitcher has started his windup or is in the set position on the mound."
This is an actual quote from the rule book, yet umpires do it all the time. It also says the umpire should not allow a batter to be out of the box for longer than reasonable, but that's so vague, there is no way to enforce it. You might try not allowing them to re-tighten their batting gloves four times or more during an at bat.

** Post Season games should start by  7:05 PM EST. That's first pitch at 7:05, not the start of pre-game.

Do you hate sports cliches as much as I do? Read Hartley Miller's take on them:

There you have it. All improvements in my mind, at least. Of course, there's little chance of any of these actually occurring, but I can dream, can't I. Now you have some idea of what Annie-O has to listen to every night. That's when I can get a word in when the broadcasters take a breath. If they ever do.

NY Post back page headline after Brett Gardner's walk-off single:
"Guard-ian Angel"

***THEY SAID IT***
"It has become more than somewhat official that Odell Beckham Jr. has become the latest New York City sports star to think that having an unspoken thought is against the law."  -- Mike Lupica
"British Open winner Jordan Spieth took 30 minutes before taking a shot on the 13th hole. It was so slow, Major League Baseball offered suggestions to speed up play. -- Alex Kaseberg
"Star receiver Dez Bryant  reported three hours late to Cowboys training camp  after hosting a hometown barbecue the day before to thank his supporters. Team publicists, already in midseason form, listed him as day-to-day with greasy fingers."  -- Dwight Perry
"Whenever I listen to Sterling I hear a man doing an imitation of Ted Baxter.”  -- Sportswriter Doug Branch
"Alabama DE Da’Shawn Hand was arrested for alleged DUI last night. The Tide open Sept. 2 against Florida State. But I’m sure Nick Saban will send a strong message by suspending Hand for the first quarter of the Sept. 9 Fresno State game."  -- Janice Hough
"I told my wife to buy Tom Brady’s upcoming self-help book: not because it'll make me a gifted QB, exceptionally handsome or very rich, but because I live with a supermodel. She said: “We’re still not getting an 80-inch TV."  -- RJ Currie
"How excited was Minnesota coach  P.J. Fleck at Big 10 media days? Picture Richard Simmons with his finger in a light socket."  -- Brad Dickson
"China has banned Disney character Winnie the Pooh due to comparisons made to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Look for America to follow suit, when the White House will ban the Disney character Pinocchio."  -- TC Chong [Okay, not sports, but I like Tony - CP]
" You can come out now! Al Leiter is off for a while from YES’ Yankees telecasts. Even while inhaling, Leiter doesn’t stop talking. He’s like the universal sister-in-law."  -- Phil Mushnick
" With Chris Paul and James Harden sharing a backcourt, every Rockets game will be a flopping clinic. There will be times when one of them takes a shot and both of them fall down."  -- Scott Ostler
"With two tough losses, SF Giants blew great chances  to climb within 30 games of the Dodgers."  -- Janice Hough
"The LPGA is enforcing a conservative dress code, including limitations on leggings and racerback tank tops. Yep. That'll convince young folks golf isn't an old fuddy-duddy sport."  -- RJ Currie
"LaVar Ball is another one of those guys in sports about whom you have to ask this question:
Does he ever run out of saliva?"  -- Mike Lupica

CP-







Saturday, July 22, 2017

A FEW COMMENTS

Around the horn with Chad:

** The #1 rule for athletes (or what should be #1). Look like you've been there before. Aaron Judge belted another long, long home run last night. Did he pose at home plate? NO. Did he do a big bat flip? NO. Did he trot very slowly around the bases? NO. Did he affect some stupid pose while running the bases? No. He hit it, knew it was gone and trotted around the bases. THAT is the way to do it.

** Pablo Sandoval has resigned with the San Francisco Giants after being released by the Red Sox. The Panda's whole salary is being paid by the Red Sox, but the Giants won't be getting off scott-free. They will have to substantially increase the size of the post-game buffet now that Pablo has brought his fork and spoon to the west coast.

** Don't you think some pitchers should be declared illegal? Last night, Chris Sale looked like he accidentally wandered into a Little League game. As the Angels looked like a Little League team. Note: The Yankees have won both games that Sale has started against them this year. But they never beat him. After facing Sale, the Red Sox bullpen looked like Little Leaguers to the Yankee hitters.

** What's the date? OH yeah, it's July 22nd. ESPN has already declared that Houston & the Dodgers will meet in the World Series. I guess that's why ESPN allots at least one hour a day analyzing the coming pro-football season. Why are they bothering to play the rest of the baseball season. Couldn't be the money, could it? Nah!

** Sam Miller, in what I hope will be a very short tenure at ESPN, has declared that home run videos  are the worst because you know what's going to happen. That's the criteria? Does that mean we shouldn't watch Chris sale pitch because we KNOW no one can hit him? I think Sam Miller may be there to make the other ESPN writers look smart. And while we're at it, please bring back Jamie Sire.

** Annie-O is disgusted because the Yanks are in an extended slump. Take heart, girl, NY still has the 3rd best record in the American League. In the NL, they would have the 5th best record. Both situations mean they would be in the playoffs. And there's still 65 games to go. Could be worse: you could be rooting for the Mets.
I have a prediction: When Aaron Hicks is added back onto the 25-man roster, the Yankees will release Jacoby Ellsbury. You can't keep Frasier, Judge and Hicks out of the line up. They will also  keep Gardner.

** Another good game for Yankee rookie Clint Frasier and the Yankee announcers praised him to high heaven because...he slid into third base feet first. They even described it: right foot extended, spikes up and popped up onto the bag. Very dangerous, guys. He could have sprained an ankle. This business about sliding head first being so dangerous is starting to get to me. "Spikes up," yeah that's good. If the third baseman gets spiked, that's his problem I guess. Can we just let them play and not try to turn it into a geriatric softball game?

** "This will never happen" department. With all the worthless statistics that we have to listen to every night (Strike pct, exit velo, run saved,etc.), how about meaningful statistics only. I'm tired of hearing things like, "That's the most singles to left-center in a game where one team wears blue in a domed stadium on a week night by a left-handed hitter who recently shaved his mustache in the last 10 days."  By the time I figure out what that means and how many players actually meet that criteria, the game is over and I still haven't learned anything significant.

** If you really want to help, keep track of how many strikes and balls are mis-called by the umpire and publish those percentages. Every move the players make is catalogued, why not the umpires?
(Never happen #2)

***THEY SAID IT***
"Consider the most common complaint I’ve fielded since this column began in 1982: Broadcasters who just won’t shut up, every play leads to, is worth forced discussion, analysis, opinion, explanation and debate."  -- Phil Mushnick, NY Post [Amen, Brother - CP]
"The world's smelliest plant is now on display in Des Moines. This should be the worst odor in Des Moines until the Iowa State Fair food concessions open next month."  -- Brad Dickson
"Canadians   Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes won beach volleyball gold at the Porec Major — on Canada Day. Sometimes two thongs can make a right."  -- RJ Currie
"Astros players staged a mock funeral Monday for the glove of 40-year-old DH Carlos Beltran, who hadn’t played in the field in two months. Such events are becoming a habit in Houston. The Astros buried the AL West about a month and half ago."  -- Dwight Perry

"Lavar Ball finalizes 3-year, 3-son deal to date Kardashians."  -- SportsPickle.com
" SF Giants had   "Game of Thrones" night at AT&T Park. Well, with team on pace to lose 100 games not a bad idea to remind fans “Winter is coming.”  -- Janice Hough
"Viagra and Cialis said they'll no longer be advertising on NFL games. With cheaper generics flooding the market, competition is getting stiff"  -- RJ Currie
" A professional marathoner in Maine outran two bears. His big concern? That these were Kenyan bears."  -- Brad Dickson
"It seems only fitting that the Red Sox handed corpulent third baseman Pablo Sandoval a $90 million contract, then had to eat nearly half of it."  -- Dwight Perry
"Pablo Sandoval said “a few teams” were interested in signing him. Is he talking baseball or competitive eating?"  -- Janice Hough
"After the Knicks fired him, Phil Jackson tweeted a pic of his feet on a railing in front of a body of water. Knowing Jackson, it’s probably the Bermuda Triangle."  -- RJ Currie [Obviously, RJ was hot this week - CP]
"There is online video of a wild moose chasing skiers down a slope. If this becomes an official event, I’d start watching the Winter Olympics again."  -- Brad Dickson

CP- 




Sunday, July 16, 2017

THE ALL-STAR GAME: ANOTHER BASEBALL CLASSIC GONE

Actually, it's just misunderstood.  I've been reading that the All-Star game doesn't have the same zing it used to. They have tried to instill some life or urgency into it by making the game decide what team gets the home field advantage in the World Series. As with most major decisions the Commissioner's office makes, it was not well thought out. In fact, it seemed NO thought was put into it. How can you make an exhibition game decide something so important? You can't, and the baseball powers finally woke up to that fact and went back to the exhibition format.

The game has lost some of it's appeal and there is a very good reason that the Home Run Derby has taken over the excitement of the all-star break.  Originally, the game was meant to showcase the stars of the game and show off their unique skills to the fans. If you lived in an American League city, what chance did you have to see National League stars and vice-versa? How would Whitey Ford pitch to Willie Mays? (Not well, if I remember correctly) Can Mickey hit a homer against Warren Spahn? (Mantle could hit a homer against a howitzer.)  Baseball games were on National TV once a week and they usually featured big-market teams like the Dodgers or the Giants, Yankees or Cubs. The lowly Kansas City Athletics could have played in their skivvies and still not get those TV cameras in their stadium.  So the only place to see these players and match-ups, was the All-Star game.

But now, it's all different. ALL teams have their games on TV. Inter-league games are quite common.  ESPN and Fox Sports will show you every exciting play wherever it took place. You can see every team and every star play every single day. Where is that unique opportunity that created the all-star excitement?  Plus, it's still not a real game. Almost everybody plays. Pitchers pitch one inning or to just one batter. Position players change almost before you realize they were in the game. It used to be that the starters played at least three innings. Even the starting pitcher would often go three innings. As Jacques Clouseau (Pink Panther series) would say: "Not any more."  A lot of the players aren't really all-stars anyway, just the best player a particular team has. Don't get me wrong, the players try hard. That professional competitiveness is inherent in them, but that's the only motivation. It isn't the money (never thought I'd write that about professional sports), because they don't get any cash for winning or losing. They do get perks that are worth more than a factory worker makes in a year.

So forget the actual game. Make it skills contest only. A home run derby. Who has the most accurate outfield arm? Who runs the bases the fastest? Compare their paychecks. That will excite those $12-an-hour fast food workers.

It'll never happen.

Congratulations to those fans who witnessed another Yankee-Red Sox classic marathon. Sixteen innings and just a tad short of six hours. And just to see who has the stamina, the two teams will play a double header today. 34 innings of baseball in the space of about 30 hours. We could see two brand new teams on Monday.

***THEY SAID IT***
"Titans cornerback Logan Ryan wed former Rutgers softballer Ashley Bragg. I’m guessing he allowed her to complete a few passes and she let him get past first base."  -- RJ Currie
"So forget politics, let’s get a real argument going – should the SF Giants pick up Pablo Sandoval since the Red Sox are paying his salary?"  -- Janice Hough
" Los Angeles is expecting to host the 2024 or 2028 Summer Olympics. By that time, Trump’s border wall should be built and Mexico will be favored to win gold in the Pole Vault."  -- TC Chong
" Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said when he was a kid that he drank paint because he thought it’d make it harder to tackle him. Actually, this makes as much sense as Wheaties."  -- Brad Dickson
"Before Aaron Judge was given the starting right fielder’s job with the Yankees, before he became the star of his team, the star of this Yankee team was supposed to be its bullpen.How’s that working out for them?"  -- Mike Lupica

" MLB commissioner Rob Manfred – NY’s Aaron Judge “can become the face of the game.” Yankees fans are going, “You mean he isn’t already?  -- Janice Hough
"A good question for which there is no good answer: A reliever who enters the game in the ninth with a four-run lead is then destroyed [for four runs]. But he has not blown a save because he’s not eligible to blow a save. Who thinks this stuff up?”  -- NY Post reader Ronald Wieck
"Bills defensive lineman Adolphus Washington was arrested Sunday for improperly carrying a concealed firearm outside the Splash Park water park in Sharonville, Ohio. Unfortunately for Washington, it wasn’t a squirt gun."  -- Dwight Perry

"A Cleveland artist created a bust of LeBron James from dryer lint. The painstaking effort took months to perfect. Then LeBron shaved his head and so the artist has to start over."  -- Brad Dickson

"LPGA rookie player S. Santiwiwatthanaphong of Thailand, who finished 11th in last week’s tournament was almost assessed a 2 stroke penalty for taking too long to sign her scorecard. Not only that, but she also managed to crash the “Spellcheck” app on the LPGA computers."  -- TC Chong
"Packers TE Martellus Bennett’s top five QBs had Jay Cutler above two-time Super Bowl winner Eli Manning. At the risk of dating myself, that’s like ranking Phyliss Diller above Farrah Fawcett for best hair."  -- RJ Currie

CP-







Sunday, July 09, 2017

SEE HOW EASY THIS IS?

Major League Baseball has been talking for 2 years (longer, actually) about speeding up the game. The best minds in the front office have come up with some of the most ineffectual and inane suggestions you'd ever want to hear. such as these brilliant ideas:
**Institute a 20-second pitch clock.  On the face of it, a good idea, but when MLB got through with it, they've watered it down with details. When he steps off the rubber, the clock would restart. Or, the clock would just pause wherever the countdown happened to be. Didn't anyone realize what that meant? It's no pitch clock if the pitcher can pause it by stepping off.
**The batter must keep at least one foot in the batters box at all times. Then they "fixed" it by saying the batter could step out completely if he swung and fouled it off or swung and missed.  Oh yeah, the penalty for stepping out? They fine him a few hundred dollars. With the money these guys make, it's like fining me a buck and a quarter for shooting someone.
**Cut the time between innings by 20 seconds, Which amounts to about six minutes per game...if they enforce it. They won't, of course, because that means shortening commercial time and that will never happen.
**Eliminate the four-pitch intentional walk, just send him to first base. This works and saves maybe one whole hour a season. Wow.

Yesterday, the Yanks and the Brewers played 9 innings in 2 hours and 36 minutes. How did they do it? The Brewers pitcher, Brent Suter simply stayed on the mound after a pitch, took the return throw, stepped back on the rubber, got the sign and pitched. All of it was unforced by the umpire. In one at bat, Yankee outfielder Aaron Judge not only stayed in the box, he stayed in his pose to hit the ball. I believe his 6-pitch at bat took about two and a half minutes. Enforce the first two suggestions listed and this is what you get; a speedy game.

**Someone explain this to me.
The Brewers are in first place in the NL Central by four and a half games, heading toward a 90-win season. How are they doing this by fielding like they've never seen a glove before. They've made 69 errors so far, including SEVEN in the last two games.
Two of the "smartest" base runners on the Yankees, ran themselves into the dumbest double play I've seen since two Yankees were thrown out at home on one play. On a ball hit back to the pitcher, Didi Gregorious wandered too far of 2nd and got caught in a rundown. The batter, Chase Headley, tried to take second on the play, decided he couldn't make it and got nailed trying to get back to first.  When things go bad...

**Happy to hear that Terry Francona, Indians manager, is out of the hospital after a successful heart procedure. He is currently, in my opinion, the best manager in baseball. I think he's better managing while lying in a hospital bed than Girardi is in the dugout.

**There is always talk about players competing in the home run derby screwing up their swings and suffering through a poor 2nd half because of it. It has happened in the past. There are two guys in the contest this year that I don't believe will have that problem: Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. Why? Because neither guy has to over swing to hit the ball out. We will find out if I'm right.

***THEY SAID IT***
"Victoria Azarenka has advanced to the 4th round at Wimbledon. Azarenka gave birth to her 1st child in December  2016. Four words “Weaker sex my ass.”"  -- Janice Hough
"The Cincinnati Reds Billy Hamilton was finally tagged out by the Rays after a 6-5-2-4-5-7 rundown between third base and home. The good news for Hamilton is he was credited with completing his first 5K."  -- Brad Dickson
"Cornerback Shareece Wright took a 450-mile Uber ride to Buffalo to make the Bills' voluntary offseason workout. At the very least, he's a lock for the taxi squad."  -- RJ Currie
"Mets farmhand Tim Tebow hit his fourth career minor league homer Wednesday, passing Michael Jordan on the all-time list"  -- Dwight Perry
"The CFL has begun and Winnipeg starts their season with a bye. If the league gave them 2 bye weeks in a row, they could be mathematically eliminated after week 2."  -- TC Chong
"Cubs outfielder John Jay pitched a scoreless 9th despite throwing pitches in the 50s. In related news Jamie Moyer just unretired."  -- Janice Hough
"Frustrated Wimbledon player Daniil Medvedev threw money at the umpire’s chair. Throwing money at officials only works when you’re trying to host a World Cup."  -- Brad Dickson
"Odell Beckham reported to Giants minicamp with “Shhhhh!!!” on his Nikes. Not to be outdone, Browns players this season will have “Wake up!!!” on their cleats."  -- RJ Currie
"A charity hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., broke a record by lasting nearly 10½ days. Shattering the old mark set by a Yankees-Red Sox doubleheader."  -- Dwight Perry
"“Knicks admit concern that the only team dumb enough to trade for Carmelo Anthony might be the Knicks.”  -- SportsPickle. com

CP-