Idiosyncratic First Half

Baseball has been flowing with idiosyncrasy this season. The season's first half has no doubt been overshadowed by players who are team-less (namely LeBron James and Brett Favre), FIFA World Cup (namely Ghana and something known as the Oranje (it is supposedly orange...)), and Kobayashi not partaking in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (and subsequently being arrested for pooping on the event). Baseball, nonetheless, has been much more amusing than any of these sporting events, (but maybe in the case of Favre and Bron Bron non-events). The farce known as MLB 2010 has included the following:

-The Sand Diego Padres leading in ERA, Strikeouts, and shutouts in the National League (NL), but there are no Padre pitchers on the All-Star roster.

-Jose Bautista leads the Majors with 22 homers, his previous career high was 16.

-The Mets have 10 losses via walk-off

-Cliff Lee has 6 walks in 103 and 2/3 innings pitched which is less than the 8 Edwin Jackson had in his no-hitter on June 25th

-Nice intro: There have already been 4 no-no's. There were only 2 last season.

-There have also been 2 perfect games (within 20 days of each other), the same amount as last decade (2000-2009...)

-Kansas City has the best batting average in baseball (.283) and the Blue Jays have the most home runs (123), but both are in fourth place in their respective divisions

-Joey Votto leads the NL in Homers and OPS (on-base plus slugging...both of which he is also leading), is fifth in batting average and runs batted in, fourth in runs scored...but he was not selected to the All-Star team....Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel instead took his own 1st baseman Ryan Howard (9th in homers, 20th in OPS (36th in OBP and 15th in slugging), 16th in average, 2nd in RBI's, and 8th in runs scored)

-The Arizona Diamondbacks have struck out an astounding 783 times (117 times more than the second place Florida Marlins)

-The Reds have 26 comeback wins, most in the Majors

-The Cleveland Indians have the worst attendance in the MLB at 16,231 per game...The Indians had a sellout streak of 455 games dating back from 2001 until it was snapped earlier this year. Now Cleveland sports fans worry about LeBron

-Those home run leading Blue Jays have zero walk-offs. The Astros have the least amount of HR's but have walked off twice.

-The Pirates haven't hit a homer with a runner on since Delwyn Young took Stephen Strasburg deep on June 8th in Strasburg's debut to The Show.

-The National League East is 12-24 in extra inning games

-The Pirates were 5-20 in June whilst the White Sox were 18-9

-The Pirates were outscored 1-36 by the Brewers in a series from May 20-22

-The Padres have the MLB's second lowest payroll but have 49 wins and are in 1st place....The Cubs have the 3rd highest and have 37 wins and are tied for 3rd or 4th (however you look at it)

-Ken Griffey Jr. retired

-The Reds, Padres, and Braves lead their divisions in the NL...they finished a combined 40 games back last year.

In Conclusion: Watch Baseball :O

The best pitchers from the 2009 MLB Draft and the Shadow one casts:

Mike Leake is no Stephen Strasburg. Strasburg was the #1 overall pick in the 2009 draft. Spending just two months in the minor leagues (to avoid arbitration?) Strasburg made a much hyped debut last night, and it was beautiful. 7 innings pitched, only 2 earned runs. The proverbial cherry?, try 14 strikeouts. His 14 are the second most ever in a debut, (two pitchers are tied with 15). Everyone is aware Strasburg was facing the Pirates, not much different than the AAA minor league teams Strasburg had been obliterating. He throws 98 miles per hour, and has even reached 100. His Change-up sinks like the Lusitania and has a Slurve that moves from the strike-zone's top-right to bottom-left. He made the Pirates look foolish. They had no chance to beat Strasburg. Had he his Change-up not gone 91-mph. Delwyn Young would not have had the pop to hit a homerun and Strasburg probably would have shutout the Pirates. ESPN announced more than a week prior to his debut that Strasburg was pitching. National Stadium was standing room only (now that is amazing). ESPN ran countdowns to his first pitch, MLB Network picked up the game to show the country, and everyone wanted to see the first big league pitch of Stephen Strasburg. Even if Strasburg wanted to avoid the spotlight, he couldn't.

Leake on the other hand, had nearly no hype on his debut. It was the sixth game of the year. Leake did nothing impressive in the minor leagues.....wait, he skipped those. He came straight from Arizona State to the big leagues. He pitched 6.2 innings, garnered 5 k's, and allowed only one earned run. He did not get his first big league win, he only received a no decision. His Fastball goes 89-92, topping out at 92. He has a nice Change-up and a good Slider. He does not overpower, he does nothing to attract the hype that a fireballer like Strasburg does; however, Mike Leake is 5-0. He should have two or three more wins, and deserves every win he does have. His earned runs average is a minuscule 2.22. If it stays that way, He will be much higher than 7th in the National League. He makes every pitch with precision. He is reminiscent of Greg Maddux, who everyone remembers. Leake made his debut and there was hardly a whimper from ESPN or the press. He has taken care of business, but still the spotlight eludes him. Even if Leake doesn't want any attention he deserves it.

In Conclusion: Stephen Strasburg and Mike Leake were selected last year. Strasburg first overall by the Washington Nationals, Leake eight by the Cincinnati Reds. As first-rounders, they should both be expected to perform at a high level. They both have, but Strasburg's sample size is a little smaller. He certainly showed he has the stuff, but so has Leake. Strasburg will be the talk of the town, maybe for the rest of the year. Leake has slipped into Strasburg's shadow, and may remain there for the rest of his career. Leake deserves more publicity than he is getting.....Although I don't see a blog with two followers getting the job done. The news will not turn on Strasburg anytime soon, but it will be exciting to see who loses first.

Baseball Fans are Wrong:

Baseball fans think they are right. What a silly misconception. Fans everywhere think that it is a fantabulous idea to even the leagues with 15 teams (moving Houston to the NL West and the Arizona Diamondbacks to the AL West). Makes sense. I mean having 6 teams puts every member of the NL Central at a disadvantage, and obviously it is the opposite for the 4 teams in the AL West. Why not square up the odds? Make it fair for everyone? The blame should be placed on Connie Mack (who?) and John Claiborne. Mack was the manager of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1906. What does this early 20th century skipper have to do with today's league format? And what about Claiborne? He was the Philadelphia Phillies' G.M. in 1973. How can these two men be the cause of baseball's format conundrum? Easy for you fellow baseball buffs. Mack, as everyone knows, was the first to suggest the designated hitter. Ah, the DH, we have arrived at the cause. Because of the American League having a designated hitter, inter-league play has been reserved for the month of June. Baseball set up its divisions the way it did because the Designated Hitter made scheduling too hard. It meant that every series, a national league team would be playing an American League team and would have to deal with a DH. So, Mack is at fault because his Designated Hitter idea has bloomed into scheduling problems, but what about this Claiborne fellow? How is it his fault? Do not fear loyal reader(s?), i have the answer to that as well. Claiborne decided he did not need to vote on the National League's adoption of the designated hitter. Claiborne had been an open supporter of the N.L. adopting the position, but forwent voting anyway. From there you can probably assume the result. Not voting is equal to a "no" vote. The National League voted down the DH. Claiborne decided not to vote, and the DH fell. This left the Leagues unbalanced...resulting in the scheduling conflict that continues to this day. So, the DH is to blame (thus Mack and Claiborne). So if the DH was removed or put into the National League or the American League got rid of the DH (haha, good one!), the move could be made and a schedule like that of the NBA could be used. One other solution that is ridiculous would be to add two brand spankin' new teams to the American League, but i digress.

In Conclusion: Many baseball fans i talk to say, "Why do they not even up the leagues?" Well my loyal follower(s?) i have brought to you the reasoning for Bud Selig and Baseball's elite keeping the format the way it is. With the designated hitter being the way it is, scheduling inter-league series would become far too complex. It is already hard enough to schedule 162 games effectively, so adding this little problem is not worth it...Sorry Cincinnati, Chicago, Houston, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis...for now you will still have to beat out more teams than any other team in order to make the playoffs (wild card anyone?)

Chipper Jones: Atlanta's Larkin, Gwynn, etc.

Chipper Jones has made a name for himself playing a game his is good at. He is arguably the best switch-hitter of all-time and one hell of a deer hunter (not that as anything to do with baseball, but i digress). He has hit more long balls (426) than any switch hitter not named Micky Mantle or Eddie Murray. He has a career .307 batting average. Put together those two figures and Jones is the only switch hitter to have acquired more than 400 homers and higher than .300 career average. He was the MVP in 1999, a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and was a part of the 1995 World Series winning Braves. However, the 6-time all-star means more than the stats show.

Maybe the most surprising move of the 2002 campaign in the MLB included Chip being moved to left-field. He had been playing third base for the Braves since he broke into the League (although he was a Shortstop in the minors). Many people may think, "if it were the best move for the team, the Braves made the right decisions. The move, however, goes deeper than trading in the big third-baseman's glove for the outfield one. It was a matter of pride for Chipper. He decided that the Braves was more important than himself. To use the old cliché, he cared more about the name on the front than the name on the back. Chipper moving from a position he had played since his rookie year in 2005 to a run-of-the-mill left field where he had never played. Chipper showed great humility in this situation. Also, Chipper is one of the better influences in the entire league. His move to left field is a little bit of proof of this. Although he had never played for any team other than the Braves, Chipper was not guaranteed member of the 2002 campaign. There was mucho talk about him being moved by the Braves. However, the Braves felt he was such an important member of the clubhouse, instead of trading Chipper, the Braves asked him to move to left field. Chipper was a key to the Braves 11 straight division championships (1995-2005). He has made his name with the Braves, and really, has made the Braves back into a name. He is (less arguably) the greatest Brave of all-time. And this all comes after tearing his ACL in 1994's Spring Training...add perseverance to the list of qualities. He may not have the glorified number of homers like Ken Griffey Jr. or the continuous production of as that of Albert Pujols, but no player has meant more since he came into the league in 1993 in the recent times of free agency and trades to their respective organization than Chipper Jones has meant to the Braves.

In Conclusion: Chipper Jones deserves the praise that future Hall of Fame players such as Ken Griffey Jr. or Greg Maddux have gotten over the years. He may not have the greatest resumè or any player to have played, but he has Hall of Fame numbers and is a Hall of Fame character. So when Chipper is inducted into the Hall, I hope he gets the publicity that the others have gotten who have not been the leader, teammate, or character as Chipper Jones. I hope Chipper has a great 2010 and nabs himself a couple of deer during hunting season.