Monday, June 6, 2011

Trend in Baseball

There is a trend that has developed in baseball over the past decade that is disruptive to my baseball analysis. It is not a shift in the in-field trend, it is not a base stealing trend, but it is a trend of players coming out of a game and throwing a temper tantrum. A Pirate pitcher the other day(Sunday vs the Phillies to be exact)came out of the game and visibly threw his glove as hard as he could against the back wall of the dugout. On numerous occasions, many players take a bat to the water cooler, and beat the cooler like a drum. Many players have been seen throwing their bats against dugout walls or even breaking a bat somewhere in the dugout. What is up with all of this? Does the managers and assistant coaches condone these actions acting like it does not matter. I know players are very competitive and want to win and be productive. I know players do not want to let their teammates down in certain situations. I know players get frustrated and upset with the mistakes they make. But going down the dugout runway and beating a locker with your bat does not make it better. Just think, if you have a .300 batting average which is good in Major League Baseball, for every 10 times you are up to the plate, 7 of those 10 are outs. Relax guys, stick about 10 pieces of bubble gum in your mouth and chew away hoping you do not pull any fillings out, and pull for your teammates to do well. Just remember, every team in baseball is going to win 50 games and every team in baseball is going to lose 50 games. It is the 62 game in between that count.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Spurrier Proposal

U. of South Carolina's Football Coach Steve Spurrier has put on the table at the Southeastern Conference(SEC)meetings recently in Destin, FL to give a $300. stipend for each game to 70 players on his football team. Spurrier says it would cost him, not the schools, $21,000. per game to pay these players. Therefore, the Division 1 coaches that make high salaries should take money out of there pocket and give 70 players this stipend. Well, I thought there were 85 players on scholarships at each Division 1A program. What about the other 15 and what about the walk-ons that are contributors to each program? Obviously, this opens up a Large can of Worms and probably will not be implemented. Take for example, former Kent State Football Coach Doug Martin who was reported by USA Today as the lowest paid coach in Division 1A in 2010. Coach Martin would have to take out a loan to pay his players $21,000. per game times 12 games. But maybe Spurrier is talking about only the Super Powers giving their players a stipend. In reality, there needs to be equality. If you give football players a stipend, then how about basketball players, baseball players, women basketball players, college golfers, and on and on. Pay for Play at the college level cannot be justified. This topic will surface every once and a while especially in college football, but in the overall scheme of things, the NFL needs a modified minor league system. Who knows what the answer is, but a NFL minor league would help eliminate some the problems of college football.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

25 and Twenty Eight Ain't Bad

This Pittsburgh Pirate team has a lot of upside. 25 and 28 in the merry month of May is not bad for the Buccos. Could we be headed for a June swoon? I hope not, their pitching is too good this 2011 campaign. On May 9, the Pirates beat the Dodgers and were over .500 for the first time in May since 2004. The big dis-appointment so far has been the weak bat of Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez has 42 strike outs in a 126 at bats. One out of 3 times he comes to the plate he strikes out. With only 2 home runs, Alvarez is certainly headed in the wrong direction. Pedro Alvarez' has a real long swing and he is really baffled by the sweeping curve ball from lefties. With my opinion, Alvarez should choke up on the bat and shorten his swing and maybe even move up in the batters box. The Bucs need a steady home run hitter and Andrew McCutchen is showing he can hit the long ball. What a sweet pick-up Kevin Correia was and in the long term, James McDonald looks like he has excellent potential on the mound. Hopefully when Steelers training camp arrives(it may never arrive this year), the Pittsburgh fans will not drop the guillotine on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Modern statistics are not on their side this year. By June 1, a team under .500 has a only a 9% chance of making the playoffs but the Pirates are playing real good baseball.