MARCO'S BASEBALL
BLOG-O-ROONIE: DONNYBROOKS
Nothing seems to
perk up the fans like a good donnybrook early in the season. It makes
you look forward to the next series between the two clubs. OOOOOO! I
wonder if he's gonna hit him again?
Such is the
hullabaloo over Roooog-ned “Rugged Odor” Odor punching Jose
Bautista in the jaw.
First of all, what a
good guy to punch! Joey Bats has been strutting his stuff and
flipping his bat and celebrating the wonderful manliness of himself
like some baseball diamond version of Donald Trump. About time he got
his, right? I could watch it over and over. And I love it when all
the bullpen guys come running into the infield. They could just stay
out there in the bullpens and punch each other out, but no, they have
to come into the scrum and then get in some trouble.
And how about the
time Jason Varitek, the catcher of the Red Sox...stuck his glove in
Yankee ARod's face after Alex mouthed off at his pitcher. That
started a war between the Sox and Yanks that led to Pedro Martinez
bat-flipping Don Zimmer to the turf and hitting a few Yankees in the
butt with one of his well placed fastballs. Which in turn led to
Pedro getting chopped into mincemeat by the “Whose Yore Daaddy”
chants when the Sox got creamed in the seventh game of the 2003
playoffs. Which of course led to the great Sox comeback of 2004 when
they came from 3 down to sweep the hated Yanks on their way to their
first world title in seventy five odd years. And it all started with
that donnybrook.
Or remember when
Nolan Ryan hit Robin Ventura of the White Sox in a game in Arlington
and Jason charged the mound? And Nolan steer rassled him and gave him
a few noggin noogies? I could watch that all day.
Heck, Odor is a big
hero now...even though he got 8 games. How could they even suspend a
guy for such a good punch?
But then I remember
another famous donnybrook...in a different sport. Basketball. 1977.
Kermit Washington of the Lakers got in a fight and Rudy Tomjanovich
of the Rockets charged onto the floor. Kermit saw him coming up on
him out of the corner of his eye and just turned and reacted with a
straight right.
That punch broke
nearly every bone in Rudy's face and could have easily killed him. It
effectively ended his career. Kermit got the longest suspension for
fighting ever meted out...he never got over the stigma.
So that's why I feel
a little guilty celebrating the donnybrooks. What if somebody like
Giancarlo Stanton or Evan Gattis decided to land a haymaker on
someone. You could have a baseball death. That's some serious shit.
So let's keep it to
steer rasslin' guys. Just grab somebody and waltz around for while
until Don Baylor comes out of the dugout and everybody quits
fighting.
Some notes on the
season:
- There is only one team in the NL West with a winning record at home...San Francisco and just barely. There is only one team in the AL West with a winning record at home...the Texas Rangers. That's a lot of home team futility and a sign of weak divisions.
- The Mets just lost their left handed bat and first baseman Lucas “Camptown Races” Doodah. With Granderson hitting below the Mendoza line they will need a leftie hitter. They also need help at catcher and their starting pitching has been shaky when Thor or Matz ain't in there. Dark Knight Harvey is really screwed up. Why don't they sit him for one start? I think the manager is blowing it.
- The Nationals should pull away but they aren't letting Harper beat them and he'll get frustrated. He should start stealing a lot of bases to make them pay for walking him. Nobody else in the lineup scares anybody.
- My prediction that Frazier of the White Sox and Justin Upton of the Tigers having trouble adjusting to the AL after being National League guys their whole career is only half panning out. Frazier had a hot streak for two weeks and is now batting .238 but he leads the AL in homers with 14. Upton is south of the Mendoza and is striking out 37% of the time!
- NL Central. Watch Pittsburgh warm up as the weather does. Chicago is cooling off 'cause everybody is getting up when they play the precious little Adorable Annointed Ones. But they still have Arrieta and the best pitching. Go ahead and punch their ticket for the playoffs. But they better keep an eye out for the Pirates and Cards.
- Votto of the Reds is in a slump of slumps. I think he's trying to carry the team and they aren't giving him good enough pitches for him to do that. He's striking out a lot. Batting .205. He'll turn it around.
- In the AL East the Blue Jays pitching is being exposed. Baltimore is also pitching shaky behind Tillman. The Yanks aren't hitting near enough. But they are showing signs of life after getting their bullpen in order with the return of Chapman. The Rays are leading in homers (!!) Boston is looking awfully good offensively with the “B” boys...Betts, Bogaerts, Bradley and “Big” Papi.Their starting pitching is still a question...Bucholz is a complete head case. Oh well, he's due to get hurt any minute now anyway. They need a healthy and effective Rodriquez back and Kelly to actually be consistent. Porcello, Price and Wright have been fairly steady as of late.
- AL Central Detroit is hurting for starting pitching after Zimmerman and Verlander, even with great hitting. With Minnesota having an awful year Chicago is sneaking in...but they aren't for real. They only have two good starters...then nothing at 3, 4, 5. Cleveland is soft offensively. That means the Royals will eventually take command. At least that's my prediction and I'm sticking with it.
- San Francisco is similar to the White Sox over in the NL West. Bumgarner, Cueto and Samardzija are doing great. Cain and Peavy are Big Ls. If the Giants can bring some young arms up to fill those two starting slots they can take it because...instead of grabbing the ring, the Dodgers are losing games to the San Diego Padre-cakes. When are they going to bring up all that alleged talent from the minors? If not now, when? Come on Dodgeheads...it's time to win something.
- My Major League All Stars for the first third of the season: (NL then AL)
- 1B: Rizzo Hosmer
- 2B: Zobrist Altuve
- 3B: Arrenado Machado
- SS: Cozart Bogaerts
- C: Molina Sal Perez
- AL OF: Trout, Bradley, Cain
- NL OF: Cespedes, Marte, Fowler
- Dh: guess who! BIG PAPI!!!!
Later on Dudes....
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