The Starting Five

I am in a state of shock right now over the developments up north in Cleveland around by beloved Indians.
The Tribe has hired Manny Acta as their new field manager with a three-year contract and option for a fourth. Here is a guy that went 16-62 before he was finally canned after 2 1/2 years managing the Washington Natinals (intended). Something like 94 games below .500 on his record and suddenly he is the Indians new manager.
And even more, it came down to a bidding war with the Houston Astros.
Acta must have interview well with the Indians brass and said all the right things to general manager Mark Shapiro — YES, YES, YES. Everything Shapiro likes to hear, just like Eric Wedge.
The newspaper and online stories already today are reporting Acta says he is a “common sense” manager. The fans already are in an uproar. The ownership just can’t get it right — Shapiro should have been gone at the same time Wedge was fired and then everything could start over from square one — not just with Acta.
He couldn’t become a successful manager in Washington. What makes anyone think he will be one in Cleveland? If he is eventually the second coming of Mike Hargrove, or Lou Boudreau, then I’ll admit my sarcasm and disgust on this hiring was out of line.

And by the way, Wednesday night is the World Series opener and who are the starting pitchers? Cliff Lee for the Phillies and CC Sabathia for the Yankees…. MMM … former Cleveland pitchers.

And I can’t believe Tony LaRussa has hired Mark McGwire as a hitting coach. Without steroids, can he really teach someone how to hit, or just give them some pointers on how to not strike out as much?

I should send a thank you note to each and every member of the Baltimore Orioles this season, especially those that have been part of the big losing streak at the end of the year.

It is looking like a safe bet that the Orioles will have the fewest wins in the American League this year, thereby keeping my Cleveland Indians from that honor.

Way to go Orioles !!!

Could Pete Rose finally get a chance to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame? The New York Daily News is reporting that commissioner Bud Selig is considering lifting the lifetime ban on baseball’s all-time hit king (and all-time favorite player of yours truly).

Hank Aaron thinks Pete deserves to be in the Hall. I agree!

Need a remedy for your O’s blues? 

This video is worth a laugh. I just saw it for the first time.

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com wrote a nice piece about the O’s today. (Read it here.)

When the O’s called up Matt Wieters in late May, I thought that might be the spark they needed to finally put together a winning season this year. I think I might have been wrong — about this season, at least.

After they swept the Phillies two weeks ago at Philly, I thought that might finally be the turning point. I was wrong again, as they got swept by the Marlins the next series and haven’t played consistently well since.

Yes, my hopes are still high for the future. But I need to keep reminding myself that that future probably is not tomorrow, next week or next month.

Yet, there’s still an entire second half of the season to be played, and anything can happen. Hopefully there will be more to O’s magic than Nick Markakis balancing folding chairs on his chin.

I’ll make this real short because it’s late and doesn’t deserve alot of mention as far as I am concerned.

I hate talking about a player I once cheered in Cleveland — at least presuming he was clean back then.

Maybe I just don’t understand the priority of baseball fans these days. Friday night Manny Ramirez made his return to baseball following his 50-game suspension for violating MLB’s drug policy.

How is it that fans can cheer an individual that is making oodles and oodles of money, has missed 50 games and is pretty much a black spot? Beats me. The LA Dodgers went 29-21 without him in the lineup, Juan Pierre hit over .300 as his replacement — but yet, the star of cornrows is back in business, much to the delight of those I can’t understand.

I’m with everyone else that certainly was not at all shocked that Sammy Sosa is one of the names on the steroids list. I just wish the entire list would be released. It’s totally unfair to those players that are actually playing, and that have played in the past, that they continue to wonder if they are on the hit list but not guilty.

So, here we are. Sammy Sosa had 609 career home runs and is 6th on the all-time list. Hmmm. Mark McGwire is 8th, Rafael Palmeiro is 10th, Alex Rodriguez is 12th and Manny Ramirez is 17th. Gee, where do their names stand in baseball infamy right now?

Made me think. Ken Griffey is 5th all-time. Do you think he is guilty?

And being from Cleveland and the Indians fan I have always been, now I am beginning to get a little suspect over the man that is currently in 13th place — Jim Thome. Gee, I really hope he is not guilty. I’d take that as a personal pain, having dealt with him when I was in the Cleveland-area media.

I can only think how Thome was when he hit the majors — 185 pounds. We knew he would be a home run threat, but wouldn’t have thought 553 of them. And how big has he gotten over the years? Anything far from 185 pounds. I hope and pray he’s not.

How many of you didn’t see this coming?

The New York Times is reporting today that Sammy Sosa was one of the 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in the 2003 survey conducted by Major League Baseball to determine whether or not the league needed to enact a testing policy.

Of course, Sosa has long claimed that he never used steroids, including in sworn testimony before Congress.

Oopsie.

Some news today from the Orange County Register on the other driver in the crash that killed L.A. Angels pitcher and Williamsport HS grad Nick Adenhart. 

Here’s the story from the Associated Press.

We’ll try to keep you posted as this story continues to develop.

As you know (or may not) I am a Cleveland Indians baseball fan.

For most of last season and all of the current season I’ve been incensed at the performance of the Cleveland bullpen — none more than Tuesday when Kerry Wood came in and promptly gave up four runs to give Kansas City a 5-4 win and ruin a beautiful 8-inning performance by Cliff Lee. Geez, Wood nearly blew one on Wednesday night, but managed to get lucky and record a save.

Whatever happened to a complete game in major league baseball? I know, it is a situational game, 5-man rotations, more emphasis on the bullpen etc. etc. And you have minor league organizations — no doubt on directives from the big boys — to develop their arms of the future with 60, 65-pitch counts. All in hoping they can stretch their arms out to throw 85-90 pitches in the bigs. You know, you can’t ruin these investments. (continue reading…)