DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW HOW TO PLAY THIS GAME?

** If you watch a game on TV, at some point the announcers will tell you about exit velocities and launch angles. Why? Because baseball today thinks it's sexy. We all love the three-run blast but we've turned the game into a home run derby and not the game of baseball. Broadcasters explain away strike outs because "they don't matter anymore."  Yes, they do. It's called an out and you only get 27 of them a game. Earl Weaver used to hate the bunt sacrifice for just that reason.  He never wanted to give an out away.

Then, out of the other side of their mouths, announcers will lament the lack of hitting and scoring. If you put the ball in play, things happen. Sure, you might make an out but somebody may misplay the ball or the ball might find a gap in the defense.  Either way, you get on base. That's important because NOBODY ever scored a run while sitting on the bench. If you strike out. neither of those two things can happen. Secondly, I was taught that if you do strike out, you immediately check to see if the catcher dropped the ball so you could run to first and perhaps get on. If the catcher throws you out, so what? You were already out, but you can force him to make the play and then things can go wrong.

If you swing from the heels on every pitch, your odds of hitting go down. If you swing at pitches that are out of the strike zone,  you've reduced your chances of hitting the ball. Pitchers are smart. If you swing at pitches that are low and away, out of the strike zone, count on seeing a lot of them. There's a reason they call it the Strike Zone. It's where it's easiest to strike the ball. These are the reasons  we've seen six no-hitters already this season. And I believe we will see more.

**Problem number two can be blamed on the people responsible for teaching the game. They aren't teaching the GAME, they're teaching Home run hitting and strike out pitching. To score a run, you need to touch all four bases - and I shouldn't have to say this - in order. It's called base running, boys and girls and there are maybe a dozen current players who know how to do it. 

MLB's answer, of course, is so silly it defies logic. "You want more base running in the game? Sure, it's easy. We'll make the bases 3 inches bigger so it will be easier to steal." Add to that the oven mitt players are allowed to wear and reaching 2nd base from first involves taking 4 steps and falling down with your arm outstretched and you're at 2nd base.

**I don't really follow Pro Basketball, but there's still time since the Championship games may last as long as July 22. If you miss that, training camps open on September 28. What are we going to do for those two months?

***THEY SAID IT***

"For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are in the all-yellow strip."  -- Comentator John Motson

"As MLB finalizes its memo on rule pitchers using foreign substances, reminded of Gaylord Perry when he was asked if he ever used a foreign substance on a baseball. "Nah, Vaseline is manufactured right here in the United States."  -- Janice Hough 

"Several years ago U.S. tennis star, Sloane Stephens, said she wished "boys weren’t so stupid." I'm guessing now that she has matured, she wishes men weren't so stupid."  -- RJ Currie 

"All CWS tickets are digital this year. You need a smart device to get into the stadium...it's just as well that Arkansas didn't qualify."  -- Brad Dickson

"I watched the excerpts of NBC reporter’s interview with Putin. I give Vlad credit. He answered all the tough geopolitical questions cogently, directly, thoroughly. But boy did he hem and haw when asked whether he’s ever used Spider Tack"  -- Marc Ragovin 

"Sure, there have been some injuries and deaths in boxing, but none of them really serious."  -- Boxer Alan Minter

 "CONCACAF Nations League final between United States & Mexico was marred Sunday by unruly fan behavior that included objects thrown on the field. Where did fans think they were, at an NBA playoff game?"  -- Janice Hough

 "CivicScience polled 2,621 adult Americans and they had Aaron Rogers trailing only all-time quiz whiz Ken Jennings as the preferred choice to succeed Alex Trebek. Meanwhile, in  POLL OD Green Bay Packer fans, Rogers was the number one choice to be tarred and feathered."  -- Patti Dawn Swansson

 "I saw where Joe West just set a MLB record by umpiring his 5376th game. By my calculations, that means he's been cussed at 1.978,455 times."  -- Mike Bianch

 "Reader Frank Macy, watching the College Softball World Series on ESPN, heard that thus far Oklahoma’s record is 56-4. “Sixty games! When do these student-athletes attend school?” You looking to make trouble, Frank? Sooners fans don’t take kindly to your type."  -- Phil Mushnick

Chad Picasner

THAT CRABBY OLD MAN IS BACK

 I can be really old fashioned, but sometimes, I not only enjoy it, but I insist other people act like that, too.

**What is with all the cursing? Why is a curse word a better adjective than the hundreds that are available that aren't profane. I understand that you're passionate about things, so am I. Read some of my blogs. You won't find one use of the "F" word. Oh, I've said it, but at home or alone and then very sparingly. CC Sabathia is a prime example of a celebrity who can't get through a sentence without profanity. Now, it's spread in stadiums and arenas. Do they think it's cute? A friend of mind owns a pub and I visited one time and noticed a couple of signs behind the bar. "Use of the F-Bomb will cost you a fine of 25 cents each time" I asked him if it was just a way to make a little extra money and he said, "No. It got so bad, I was embarrassed to be in my own bar. People laugh when they read it, but the cursing has pretty much stopped." Unfortunately, that won't work with these overpaid celebrities even if the fine was $100,000.

**If you buy a ticket to a sporting event, you have the right to cheer for a team or a player or to jeer for them (no cursing) if it's not the team you root for. You can wear clothing emblazoned with your team logos or names maybe even display a sign. But, you DO NOT have the right to throw things at the players. Anything! Would you dump a beer on your son because he made an error? Would you throw a battery at your daughter because she let in a goal? Of course not. However, the player you dumped a box of popcorn on is someone else's son.Would you do it if you were sitting next to the mother of that girl you threw a half-eaten hot dog at? It's just a game, it's not life or death. 

**We travel around the country on vacations and try to see baseball games in the cities we're in, and sometimes wear Yankee paraphernalia whether the Yanks are playing or not, because we like the sport. When people ask if we're Yankee fans, we like to respond, "No, we're baseball fans who happen to root for the Yankees."  People react well to that. My Dad once told me not to root against the other team but cheer for yours instead. I slip up sometimes, but it remains good advice.

**We have a problem, boys and girls. Jacob DeGrom, arguably the Best Pitcher On The Planet. was taped actually touching his belt on the mound after throwing a pitch. He then touched his glove. Do you know what this means? Yeah, I don't either. He doesn't need any artificial means when he pitches, but the use of stick-ems of some kind is in the news, so let's find somebody doing something and suggest some wrong-doing. This is what I call a "media blow -up." They can't just broadcast a sporting event, they have to create some major controversy so viewers won't become bored.  They tried the same tactic in the NY-Minn.game on Wednesday. Josh Donaldson of the Twins suggested the Gerrit Cole (another BPOTP) was using some illegal substance but quit for one game and got hammered, so obviously, in Donaldson's mind at least, he must have been cheating before. Broadcasters couldn't wait for Cole to pitch to Donaldson, suggesting that Cole would throw at him and benches would empty and there would be a brawl. How silly. Minnesota would love for that to happen so they could get Cole thrown out of the game. When that didn't happen and Cole struck out Donaldson, the clowns (sorry, don't mean to insult clowns) in the booth claim that Cole stared down Donaldson as he walked back to the booth. Listen David Cone, that didn't happen. no matter how many replays you show, there was no stare down.   I guess you're going to have to come up with different fake controversy.

***THEY SAID IT***

"Sign of returning to normalcy – Sunday night baseball Yankees -Red Sox."  -- Janice Hough

"Among the funniest things I’ve read was stenciled to a door in old Tiger Stadium. It read, “Visitors Clubhouse, No Visitors.”"  -- Phil Mushnick 

"Floyd Mayweather is expected to make between $50 million and $100 million tonight fighting a reality TV star whose record is 0-1, having lost to another reality star. Is this a great country or what?"  -- Brad Dickson

"MLB has 6 no-hitters all ready. Normally,they only have two no-hiters a year and sometimes none. Who would have guessed that a symptom of COVID-19 would be batters hitting like one of the Kardashian sisters.?"  -- Alex Kaseberg

"Show me a guy who thinks baseball statisticians are the most likely to throw obscure and irrelevant facts into an argument, and I'll show you a guy who's never had a wife."  -- RJ Currie 

"You’ll recall that Mark McGwire, questioned by Congress about steroid use, played dumb. Sammy Sosa came to the sudden, comical realization that he could no longer speak nor understand English, not even the plain kind."  -- Phil Mushnick

"NY Knicks are out, LA Lakers and Clippers each one game from elimination. ABC and ESPN now beginning to feel like FOX feels when the Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees and/or Red Sox aren’t in the World Series?"  -- Janice Hough

"The Cleveland Browns reportedly are passing on the prospect of Odell Beckham being joined by Julio Jones. Or as one veteran diva-watcher put it, ‘Why add Madonna when you already have Mariah Carey?’  -- Bill Littlejohn

 "The USA reportedly has the most billionaires of anywhere in the world. A close second is the New York Yankees clubhouse."  -- RJ Currie

"Finally, let me close with an observation from the noted satirist, Jonathan Swift, that may relate to those players in the NBA Draft pool who will end up undrafted:“Happiness is the perpetual possession of being well deceived.”"  -- Jack Finarelli

"Stop complaining about the regional the Nebraska baseball team was assigned. All they gotta do is beat Arkansas, the N.Y. Yankees & the Cuban Olympic team and they're in the College World Series."  -- Brad Dickson

 Chad Picasner