Bud Selig is expected to make a decision soon regarding instant replay.

It doesn’t take much to read between the lines to know that his mind is already made up.  He just needs the numbers and PR to back him up. 

From USA Today:

Selig was once a staunch opponent of replay, but a spate of missed home run calls this season has changed his stance.

This is faulty reasoning and bad logic.  If instant replay is a bad idea, then don’t let a few bad calls in one season change your opinion. 

And as I’ve said before, you certainly shouldn’t implement this mid-season.  MLB claims that teams don’t need to vote on this because this isn’t a "rule change" but it’s pretty dang close.

Paula Duffy from the Examiner has an interesting idea.  Start the experiment just before the 2008 playoffs.  I guess I would prefer that to doing it mid-season.

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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Last week, we were asking, "Who is Jeff Karstens?"  Now, I guess a better question is, "Is Jeff Karstens for real?".

Pirates hurler Jeff Karstens took a perfect game into the eighth inning against Arizona today.  He finished the game with a two-hit shutout.  Oh, for good measure, he also hit two singles and scored a run. 

This was Karstens’ second start this year (and second overall in the NL, his past two years were spent with the Yankees).  His first start was against the Cubs when he pitched six scoreless innings.  Karstens got the win in that game though it didn’t prevent some people (most likely Cub fans) to express some sour grapes skepticism that he didn’t have great stuff due to lack of control. 

No one can argue that Karstens was on his game today.  In addition to the two hits, he only allowed one walk. 

Pirates blog Bucs Dugout has the run down on today’s game. 

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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In his article, Why Jason Bay makes the Red Sox a better team, Alex Eisenberg from Hardball Times makes the argument that Jason Bay will help the Red Sox in the long term. 

Given Bay’s age (29, compared to Manny’s 36), I’d have to agree. 

Bay had an off year last year for Pittsburgh (21 HR, .247) but seemed to get out of his funk this season.  For Pittsburgh this season, he hit .290 and already exceeded last year’s homerun total. 

He seems to like playing for Boston.  In 5 games, he’s 9 for 21 with 6 rbis and 8 runs.  Playing his familiar position of left field, Boston is batting him 6th in the lineup which suits him well. 

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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A shot of Busch Stadium taken from the Arch

It’s been said before and I’m not going to deny it, St Louis is a baseball town.

I just spent two days there and though time prevented me from attending a ballgame, it’s obvious that St Louisans take the sport seriously.  Throughout town, I saw countless families who were ALL dressed in Cardinal red.  Dad, Mom, kids, everyone. 

“Albert Pujols” and his mini-me

They always say they Chicago is lucky to have two major league ballclubs and I suppose that is true.  The Sox and Cubs appeal to different audiences and draw well. 

Coming from the Chicago market (I actually live three hours south), the concept of one city, one team is quite foreign.  I have to admit it does sound quite appealing.  Encountering a fellow baseball fan on the street, it must bring some solace and comaderie to know that chances are high that he’s rooting for your team and that FIVE is his favorite number too.

I zoomed in on the field.  It looks like some of the ground crew were beginning to start work.

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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My friend from work, Steve Z, sent me these photos he took of Fenway Park. They were taken during a tour during an off-day. 

(Click to enlarge the photos)

Steve writes:

Here are some shots from my tour of Fenway Park on July 4th. The place looks like it was built last year. Exceptionally good condition, but I guess that’s what a couple of Championships will do for money! The Green Monster seats are cool. They are divied up by a lottery system…over 500,000 people are on the list! The same with the budweiser pary section in right field (don’t know the lottery numbers there). Hope the blog readers enjoy one or more of these. Can’t wait to get back to Boston for a game!

Oh, in the second photo, note the red “Williams” seat which shows where the 502 ft. longest blast in Fenway park history was hit by Ted Williams!

Here’s a close-up of Williams seat

Thanks, Steve!!

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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One series I’m keeping my eye on is the Red Sox-Rays matchup in Tampa.  With Tampa on top of the AL East, that’s gotta be one a lot of people are keeping their eyes on.

I can’t help but quietly root for the Rays this year.  Aside from the fact that any others in their division who have a shot (NY, Boston) have already seen their fair share of post season action (and all else equal, I tend to root for the underdog), it’s the Rays’ time to shine.  For the last 5-10 years, I’ve alays felt Tampa had plenty of young talent.  But for whatever reason, they couldn’t put it together.  Either it was lack of experience or lack of leadership from their management or both.

Last night, Tampa held off a Sox rally in the ninth to squeak by 5-4.

Roger Mooney writes an illuminating article in the Bradenton Herald detailing the history of bad blood between the Red Sox and the Rays.  According to him, 27 players have been ejected in games between the two teams since 2000.

The AL East is up for grabs.  I guess only time will tell if the Rays are for real.

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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Julio Franco is finally retiring from baseball at the age of 49.

It’s hard to believe that he started his pro career (in the Dominican Winter League) when I was a sophomore in high school. 

He became the oldest man to hit a homerun when he did it off Randy Johnson one year ago today. 

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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If you haven’t haven’t heard already, Albert Pujols played second base today for the St Louis Cardinals.  No, it’s not one of LaRussa’s crazy moves though when I first heard about this, that’s the first thing that crossed my mind.  No, to put it simply, injuries forced the move.  From MLB.comS:

The game ended with Pujols playing second base, the result of an injury to Cesar Izturis. The shortstop was hit by a pitch in the top of the ninth, and had to come out of the game. Because the Cardinals had only Yadier Molina left on the bench, Molina came in to catch, Jason LaRue played first base, Pujols moved from first to second and Aaron Miles moved from second to shortstop.

I got a few emails about this today.  See, Albert is on my APBA league team and his appearance at second base today will allow me to do the same next year.  Good.

In 2002, Pujols played two innings at shortstop so playing middle infield is not new.  That said, he was lucky enough not to have the ball hit to him then.  Apparently today, he had one total chance (and no error!).

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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No more free sweets for the Yankee players. 

Because Joe sez so.

Tags: General MLB by The Baseball Zealot
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There is something fundamentally wrong with America’s Pastime opening in Japan. You’d be hard pressed finding somebody who loves baseball more than I do. Since last year’s World Series I’ve already seen six games in the Arizona Fall League, five Grapefruit League games, and seven Cactus League games. In off seasons gone by I can remember watching Winter League games in Spanish via a very fuzzy UHF signal.

The excitement surrounding Opening Day was unreal! Trying to get a radio signal from Cincinnati in Chicago to catch the first pitch was a yearly challenge. Somehow opening MLB in Japan seems surreal to me, especially while 28 teams are still playing exhibition games. It doesn’t seem right that I should have to wake up at 5:00 AM, and frankly it doesn’t seem worth it. There used to be something special about Opening Day when all teams started off equal. And don’t even get me started about advertisement on the uniforms, likening MLB to NASCAR is very disturbing.

A note to MLB, bring back our national pastime, bring back Opening Day, to America, to Cincinnati, where it belongs!

Tags: General MLB by Teddy Ballgame
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