THE LIST

This will just be a quick post as I need to vent my frustration about the list of 103 names from 2003 of baseball players who tested positive for steroids.

Today, news broke about Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz being on the list of 103 names. Earlier this year it was Alex Rodriguez.

I have this simple plea, instead of slowly having names leaked, the whole list should be made public. AND IMMEDIATELY. It is not fair to those who have their names coming out when there are just less than 100 more players who are still hiding in the dark.

A Prospect on the Rise

This summer I am in a position to watch some of the top talent coming up to the major leagues, as I am the media relations intern for the Binghamton Mets, a AA minor league team in the Eastern League.

I’ve seen the Yankees number six prospect, according to Baseball America, in RHP Zach McAllister. I’ve seen the Mets own righthanders  Brad Holt, their number four prospect and  Henrry Mejia their number seven prospect a number of times. None were as impressive as the young man I saw pitch on Wednesday, July 22.

Madison Bumgarner, a 19-year old lefty, the number one prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization and the sixth-best prospect in all of the minor leagues coming into the 2009 season according to MLB.com, is who I am talking about.

Worth Watching

Last night as I watched the MLB All-Star Game on FOX, I actually enjoyed it. Since the MLB decided to make their game count by having the league that wins get home field for the World Series I have taken a much greater interest in the game.

The game itself last night felt like a playoff game. There was tension with every pitch and heroic plays made, i.e. Carl Crawford, who won the MVP for his leaping catch that brought back a home run off the bat of Brad Hawpe.

Yes, the American League won for the 12th time in 13 games, oh and the one they didn’t win was a tie, but the game was great. I think it is time that the NFL, NBA and NHL take a look and try to make their All-Star game more meaningful.

Is He Worth It?

In a few hours, his name will be called.  “With the first pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft, the Washington Nationals select Stephen Strasburg, San Diego State University.”  And so will begin another chapter in the life of the “greatest baseball prospect ever.”

I was first turned on to Strasburg in early May.  A friend of mine showed me his stats and they were pretty impressive.  A 6-4, 220 pound right hander that could throw over 100 mph, Strasburg had a 1.32 ERA in 15 starts.  But what really stood out were his 195 strikeouts and 19 walks in 109 innings pitched.

New York State of Mind

For years I have had numerous debates on whether someone is allowed to root for both the Yankees and the Mets.  A true fan would only root for one team, but there are some arguments that can be considered.  For example, “I’m a New York fan and I want to see both teams do well” or “You are allowed to have an AL team and an NL team.”

Let me just say that I don’t hate the Yankees.  It’s their fans that bother me.  Not all of their fans, just most of them.  I don’t have a problem with the ones who know something about baseball.  Or the ones who have been watching them play since they were a little kid because some family member would always have the game on TV or take them to the ballpark every so often.

There are a few types of fans that bother me.  The first are the ones that think the Yankees are the greatest team in baseball, but couldn’t name a single player on the roster other than Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez.  The next are the fans that started rooting for the Yankees right after they won their second World Series in 3 years (Also known as Front Runners).  The third are the ones that only root for the team because (insert player name) is hot.  It’s not just Yankee fans that do this, but it seems that most female Yankee fans I meet know nothing about baseball and are rooting more for Derek Jeter’s other features than his baseball talent.