Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Here We Go Again

I understand that leagues need their stars and that injuries are bad for sports, but should freak accidents lead to absolute changes? It started when San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey got hurt in a freak accident and now the position of catcher hasn't been the same since. Now, St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright tore his achilles in another freak accident while hitting and now Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer proclaims that the National League should adopt the designated hitter so he wouldn't have to hit. Is watching pitchers hit boring? Sometimes, but there have been pitchers in the past that has made it entertaining since you know they worked on it. Apparently teams aren't emphasizing pitchers to work on their hitting. That may be fine and dandy in the American League, but if you're on a National League ball club that shouldn't be because a player is not going to have the preparation necessary and that's when the chances for injuries increases.

Call me old school, but the NL way of playing baseball has always been the more entertaining to me. Make these managers earn their million dollar contracts by making the right changes at the right times. The NL isn't as ready, set, go as the AL since managers really just have to set a lineup and worry about the bullpen. There's more to baseball than that and if the DH is adopted by the NL baseball will become a boring mess. The league is at an interesting intersection right now because the two things people complain about baseball is that there isn't enough action and that games take too long. If you have pitchers bat the game goes faster, but if you want more offense the DH should be implemented adding one more bat makes offense rise, but also makes the game last longer. As Madison Bumgarner mentioned "We’re not paid to steal bases and all that kind of stuff, but let’s be honest: How often do pitchers get hurt hitting?" Hopefully the league doesn't overreact by this freak accident and mess up the game I grew up loving with the pitcher in the 9 hole.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Fight on Royals

Since the start of this season Kansas City Royals hitters have been hit 16 times by opposing pitchers that is the second highest amount in the majors, with the Texas Rangers taking the top spot, but now the big name in the news is Yordano Ventura with him being at the center of several recent incidents where he's throwing at and some times spewing off at the mouth to several hitters. It all came to boil last night against the Chicago White Sox when the benches cleared and punches were thrown, but I don't think Ventura was completely to blame for the whole fracas. At the beginning of the season White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija hit several Royals hitters whether it was by accident or on purpose it got the attention of the Royals pitchers. Now that the Royals are backing up their teammates and hitting the other team's hitters they're wrong?

Alex Rios one of the Royals' more consistent power threats got hurt when he got hit on the hand by a pitch that went up and in when the Royals went against the Minnesota Twins. Eventually hitters get tired of getting hit and of the 16 times Royals hitters have gotten hit 14 have been to Mike Moustakas (5), Alex Gordon (5), and Lorenzo Cain (4). It's about time their pitchers have come to their defense. In a weekend series against the Oakland A's Brett Lawrie, third baseman of the Oakland A's, hurt shortstop Alcides Escobar using a dirty slide going into second base trying to breaking up a double play Lawrie slid into Escobar's leg spraining his knee. During his next at bat Lawrie got hit by Ventura and the next day Oakland A's pitcher Scott Kazmir hit Lorenzo Cain. In my opinion Kazmir did it on purpose as did Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera who then threw behind Lawrie with his 100 mph fastball which led to a bench clearing stare down between the A's and Royals. As long as Royals hitters are getting hit more Royals pitchers are going to retaliate, as they should.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

My NBA MVP

With all due respect to the best player on the best team, Stephen Curry, if I had an MVP vote it would go to James Harden of the Houston Rockets. Not only is James Harden second in the league in points per game he has done it without the help of Dwight Howard for most of the season. Stephen Curry is a great player in his own right and has broken his own record for most three pointers made in a season with 284, but with being on the best team he can have competition from his own teammates. Steph Curry's teammate Klay Thompson has played well enough that one can make an argument that he should get a vote or two for MVP enough votes to make a difference in the race but enough to make Curry the runner up. James Harden on the other hand hasn't had the supporting cast that Curry has enjoyed all season.

Consider this: if both the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors lost both James Harden and Stephen Curry for the whole season I believe the Warriors would still be a top 10 team in the NBA while the Rockets wouldn't be anywhere near their current rankings in the West or the NBA in general. Both Harden and Curry make their teams great, but the Warriors could live without Curry for a longer period of time than the Rockets could live without Harden. The Rockets were at one point the second seed in the whole Western Conference and there's no coincidence that since Howard has come back and the Rockets have taken the ball out of Harden's hands to incorporate Howard back into the flow of the offense they have fallen to the 5th seed in the West. In my opinion the MVP is in Houston and has a fantastic beard.