Manny v. Mitchell?

In the wake of Manny Ramirez's recent retirement, my friend Charles seems to think that the Mitchell Report and its list of names allegedly tied to steroids is crucial. "Release the complete list of 103 (names) and the truth will set you free," Charles says.

Hmm. What if the list leaves off players everyone knows is guilty? Wouldn't that invalidate the list? My friend Doug M concurs.

"Nobody (would) think Bonds & Sosa are clean because they don't appear on the list. We all know they used PEDs no matter what any document or press conference says!!"

-B. C. Helm

MBM and steroids ... an alternate opinion

Not all baseball fans are against the use of performance-enhancers. This is what my friend Doug I. had to say about the subject:

"It doesn't ruin a thing (for) me. I am not a stat hound, and the game is as entertaining as it ever was, maybe more so during the steroid era ... I think the old timers swallowing amphetamines by the handful to play games was cheating (just) as much, if not more, than (the use of) steroids. At least with steroids, you still have to put the work in at the gym."

-B. C Helm

More on the retirement of MBM

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Tom sent this email earlier today, sharing his thoughts on yesterday's retirement of Manny Ramirez:

 

Manny had one of the sweetest swings in baseball, I will miss watching it ...

 

However, as the news comes, I realize why I can't sell my kids on America's Pastime ... I wanted so much for them to play, enjoy and respect the game, as we once did, but they lost interest and honestly, I believe it has everything to do with what happened in the 1990s and early 2000s with the players' complete disrespect for the fans ...

 

The players lost sight, and my kids now skateboard ...Tony Hawk is more of a hero ...which is all good by me ...

 

Can't blame them...

 

All this as Bonds waits on a verdict ...

 

-B. C. Helm

Two strikes and Manny is out

Apparently, Manny Ramirez cannot count.

For the rest of the baseball world, three strikes means you are out. For Manny, two strikes - or two times busted for performance enhancing drugs - and Manny is out, retiring from Major League Baseball earlier today.

For Tampa Bay, this is addition by subtraction. After losing several key players this past off-season, Tampa Bay is hardly likely to do well, so Ramirez, who no longer can produce, was taking up a roster spot from a young player who may eventually be key to a future Rays' squad.

I sent a text to friends and family today, notifying them of this development. Here is what they said:

Says my brother-in-law Robert. "Matter of time. He was in a severe decline."

"Glad he's not on the (Red) Sox any longer," my friend Doug M. said.

Danny, my friend and fellow Brew Crew softballer says "Wow! That is crazy!"

The best response comes from my friend Robert. "What a dumb fuck!"

-B. C Helm

Talking about a short leash ...

After the first four games of the season, Angels manager Mike Scioscia has replaced closer Fernando Rodney with Jordan Walden. I am not sure I follow Scioscia's decision. To clarify, I am not sure I follow Scioscia's decision to begin the season with Rodney as the closer. 

If Rodney was that ill-suited to be our fireman, then why would Scioscia begin the season with him in the ninth-inning role? Can any player really prove he cannot do a job in four measly days? Clearly, Scioscia did not like how Rodney closed out games last season after we traded Brian "Fuck-Up" Fuentes. So if Scioscia did not think that Rodney should be our closer after our first four games, then why was Rodney beginning the season as the closer?

It is normally not like Scioscia to panic so early in a season. But demoting Rodney and wondering out loud about Scott Kazmir's fate as one of our starting pitchers has caused me to wonder out loud why Rodney did not begin the season as a middle reliever and why Kazmir is not in the bullpen. Why, after four games, is this all a concern? Why was it not a concern in Spring Training? Why was it not a concern during the off-season?

-B. C. Helm

p.s. I need to offer up proper attribution to Brian Fuentes' nick-name, "Fuck-up." My friend Robert first coined the nick-name in 2009, the year Fuentes proved time and time again that the save is the most meaningless statistic in all sports. How could a guy lead the majors in saves in 2009 and be so sub-mediocre?