Jorge Posada is the Wimpiest Player in Baseball

That was quite the embarrassing display put on by Jorge Posada on Tuesday night as he came off looking like a punk, wuss, and coward in starting the bench clearing brawl with the Toronto Blue Jays. It all began when Toronto's Aaron Hill was drilled in the back by a pitch in the top of the 8th inning. While that hit by pitch was probably unintentional, Toronto pitcher Jesse Carlson perhaps felt that he wanted to defend his teammate and he proceeded to throw a pitch several feet behind Jorge Posada in the bottom of the 8th. I think the pitcher in these situations should just go ahead and hit the batter instead of throwing behind him, but either way this is pretty standard protocol in baseball. Yet Jorge Posada whines about it and he starts to act in a "fake tough guy" way. Posada yells at Carlson and walks toward the mound but he was more of less just walking down the 3rd base line with the bat in his hand as he was too much of a wimp to go directly towards Carlson or charge the mound. The pitch didn't even hit Posada; he had no right to be upset. Even if he is plunked, he should just realize it's part of the game and take his base. If I was Carlson I would've gone ahead and nailed Posada in the back with the next pitch, but nothing happened the rest of the at bat and Posada ended up drawing a walk

However, Posada is not satisfied and after scoring later in that inning he brushes against Carlson near home plate giving him the little chicken wing elbow. That was such a bush league and cowardly move as he knows Carlson would kick his rear end in a straight up fight. Carlson yelled back at him before Posada ran towards Carlson inciting a bench clearing brawl. Posada was not exactly intimidating when he went after Carlson as he was essentially curled up like a fetus when he reached Carlson.

If Posada felt he was so egregiously wronged by having a pitch thrown behind him, he should've manned up and went after the pitcher right then and there. But wimpy Jorge just ran his mouth and threw a wussy chicken wing elbow later in the inning. His antics just showed everyone that he is the wimpiest player in the league.

MLB's Biased Charity

I stumbled across the tidbit below from Phil Mushnick's column in the New York Post this week and I think he makes an outstanding point. Many people involved in MLB have lamented about the lack of blacks in MLB. Last year I am told that 8% of the players in the league were black. Now this only includes black Americans because black players from Dominican Republic and other foreign countries are not included in that figure. MLB has charity programs designed to attract more black Americans to baseball. CC Sabathia has even called the lack of blacks in MLB a "crisis". I don't see how it matters how many blacks are in the league and it is certainly not anything that should be called a crisis. I don't see the NBA or NFL implementing programs to stop the decline of white Americans in their leagues. Here is what Phil Mushnick wrote in his column:

"Let's see if we've got this right: MLB is financing initiatives to have more African-American kids play baseball. Meantime, the Mets have closed their Florida instructional league facility and will move it to the Dominican Republic. Soon, MLB can expand its "Play Baseball!" initiative to include all U.S. kids!"

MLB Progress Report - AL Central

American League Central
The AL Central race is shaping up to be a very tight race with the Tigers, White Sox, and Twins separated by only 2 and 1/2 games. The Tigers and White Sox each made a nice acquisition at the trading deadline to bolster their pitching staff. The Tigers picked up Jared Washburn and the White Sox traded for Padres ace Jake Peavy, who is currently injured but may me able to return later this season. These moves were important because both the Tigers and White Sox have not exactly distinguished themselves from the rest of the mediocre AL Central. The Tigers have the worst record of any division leader in baseball at 55-50 and the White Sox spent nearly all of May and June under the .500 mark. The Twins have not stood out from the pack either as they have been hovering around the .500 mark the entire season; they have been no worse than 5 games under .500 and no better than 3 games over .500.

In terms of pitching, the Tigers and White Sox have a clear edge over the Twins. The Tigers rotation with Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, rookie Rick Porcello, and newcomer Jared Washburn is strong and their closer Fernando Rodney has only blown 1 of 22 save opportunities this season. The White Sox starting staff might be even superior to the Tigers' if Jake Peavy can come back from his injury in September and regain his top form. Having Peavy and Mr. Perfect Mark Buehrle at the top of the rotation can not only vault the Sox to the division title but it can give them a puncher's chance to reach the World Series. The Twins on the other hand lack the front line starters that the Tigers and White Sox have. Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, and Kevin Slowey are, at best, slightly above average and Francisco Liriano has been a major injury-plagued disappointment after starting his career with an outstanding 2006 season. The Twins have 2 of the best position players in the American League in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, but I think their lack of pitching will keep them from getting into the postseason.

I predict that the White Sox will wind up on top of the AL Central for the 2nd year in a row. The Sox have a little more pop in the middle of their lineup than the Tigers with veteran sluggers Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, and Jim Thome, along with last year's 5th placed finisher in AL MVP voting, Carlos Quentin. Last year's AL Central race came down to the very end with the Sox beating the Twins in a one game playoff. One can hope that this year's race will come down to the final day of the season as well.

MLB Progress Report - AL East

As the 2009 calendar turns to August, we are close to two thirds of the way through this year's MLB regular season. The non-waiver trade deadline has passed and the pennant races are heating up. Over the next few days I will offer up my takes on the playoff races. Today I will discuss the AL East.

American League East
As it stands here on August 3rd, the Yankees and Red Sox are tied atop the AL East in the loss column with the Tampa Bay Rays 6 games back. I will dismiss the Rays as a contender because they have been inconsistent nearly the entire season. Their bullpen is shaky and while their starting rotation is nice, they lack the dominant starter or two that the Yankees and Red Sox have. In addition, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena have been major disappointments the past 2 months after each had red hot starts. The dropoff for Longoria has been particularly stunning. Longoria was on a record RBI pace in the middle of May and he finished May with 55 RBI's. In June and July he had 23 RBI's total. Even more discouraging for Rays fans is Longoria's .209 batting average in June and July. Carlos Pena has never hit for a high average but after hitting .231 in April and May, his batting average during June and July was .201, while his homerun production was cut in half during those months. When your #3 and #4 hitters are in major slumps, it puts you at big disadvantage and I don't see how the Rays can make up a 6 game deficit to catch either the Yankees or Red Sox in the standings.

The Yankees will host the Red Sox for a big 4 game series this upcoming weekend looking to finally beat the Red Sox after losing the first 8 meetings of the season. Despite their 0-8 record vs. Boston this year, I would favor the Yankees to win this weekend's series and ultimately outlast the Red Sox to win the AL East. The Red Sox have been struggling with their offense since the All Star Break and John Smoltz has not been good since making his Red Sox debut mid-season. The Red Sox did get healthy over the weekend though by sweeping their perennial whipping boys, the Baltimore Orioles. (Over the past 4 seasons, the Red Sox have a 50-17 record vs. the Orioles.)

The Yankees meanwhile have been red hot. Prior to losing 3 out of 4 to the White Sox this past weekend, the Yankees had won 9 of their previous 10 series. To be blunt, the Yankees should be in 1st place with the offseason moves that they made. The Yankees signed 3 of the top available free agents in the offseason, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixiera, and AJ Burnett, by throwing significantly more money at the players than their next best offers. Adding those big names to the stable of proven Yankee veterans and talented youngsters, the Yankees have the best team in the league on paper, as they have for much of this decade. While World Series championships are not won on paper, regular season games are and the Yankees are a virtual lock to reach the postseason. When it comes to the postseason, however, the Yankees have proven to be failures. Only 5 players remain from the 2004 team that choked away a 3 games to none ALCS lead to the Red Sox, but there have been several other players who have been with the Yankees for their 2006 and 2007 playoff flameouts.

The X-factors for the Yankees' postseason chances this year will be their strong young pitchers, Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes. Chamberlain has always had great stuff, but as a starting pitcher he has been mostly erratic, often struggling to reach the 7th inning. Since the All Star Break Chamberlain has been very good in his 3 starts, pitching 21 and 2/3 innings while giving up 2 runs and 8 hits combined in the 3 starts. A dominant Chamberlain would give the Yankees a huge edge in the postseason because Sabathia and Burnett have been just a little bit above average as starters this season and projected #2 starter Chien-Ming Wang is out for the season after having a pitched terribly all season long. Meanwhile, Phil Hughes has been great as the 8th inning reliever; he has given up only 1 run in his last 18 appearances spanning 23 and 2/3 innings. A dominant Hughes-Rivera combination will harken back to the days of the late 90's when the great Yankees bullpen was the biggest reason for their postseason success.

Even if the Red Sox can not beat out the Yankees for the AL East title, I do like their chances to win the wildcard, although the Texas Rangers have impressively hung around and only trail the Sox by 2 and 1/2 games. The Red Sox nucleus of Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz, Beckett, Wakefield, and Papelbon has only known success and the depth of their pitching staff and bullpen gives them an edge over the Rangers, in my eyes.

Random Musings

Here are a few random thoughts from the past few days in sports:

• The Penguins 4-2 victory in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night will hopefully add some juice to the series. The NHL Playoffs had seemingly peaked a few weeks ago at the conclusion of the 2nd round with three great 7-game series and an equally entertaining 6-game series. The conference finals and the first 2 Stanley Cup Final games had been lacking drama and been somewhat anti-climatic. Game 3 was an entertaining, back and forth game and it at least gives the impression that the outcome of the series is in doubt. The Penguins netted 2 power play goals and rode their raucous home crowd to the big victory. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby even got on the scoring sheet for the first time this series with 3 assists and 1 assist respectively. If the Pens can win Game 4 on Thursday night to tie the series, we should be headed for a quite a finish to the series.
• Mark Teixeira caused a bit of ruckus last night during the Rangers-Yankees game when he threw a hissy fit after being hit by a pitch for the 2nd time of the game by Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla. Teixeira thought it was intentional and proceeded to stare and jaw at Padilla before finally walking to 1st base. Teixeira, noticeably agitated, then broke up a potential double play by sliding hard into shortshop Elvis Andrus. While I would usually encourage plays like that, Teixeira's slide was borderline dirty. This was now the 2nd time in the past few weeks that Teixeira had a temper tantrum. He was upset when Carlos Gomez of the Twins made contact with his arm on a couple of plays at first base. How dare anyone make contact with the immortal Mark Teixeira. Do Padilla and Gomez know that Teixeira will be making $180 million over the next 8 years? I also love Teixeira's postgame quote last night when he said "We did the talking with our bats." Not really Mark since you were talking trash at Padilla as soon as you were hit. Teixeira has quickly blended in with New York to become an easily hateable Yankee.
• The semifinals of the French Open are set with Roger Federer being the only one of tennis's Big Four remaining. Federer has now reached the semifinals in 20 consecutive grand slam tournaments which is an extraordinary achievement and one of many reasons that I believe he is the greatest player of all-time. Federer had an easier than anticipated match with Gael Monfils in the quartefinals and will play Juan Martin Del Potro in the semifinals, a guy who he has dominated in the past. Federer has won all 12 sets he has ever played against Del Potro including the 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 whipping he administered in the quarterfinals of this year's Australian Open. With the other semifinal featuring surprising Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez, Federer has an excellent chance of completing the career Grand Slam and tying Sampras' career grand slam record of 14 titles. A Sunday morning championship match at Roland Garros with Roger Federer seeking history would be must-see television for even casual sports fans.
  

MLB Red Hat Disaster

I'm sure that there were many of you out there who were irritated by the red hats that were worn by all MLB teams on Memorial Day. The red hats were worn to "honor" America on Memorial Day, but all they did was make a mockery of the teams and the players wearing them. If I was MLB I would seriously consider abandoning the red hat promotion which is also scheduled for July 4th and September 11th. The person who was responsible for the idea should also be fired immediately.

The idea to dress every team in a red hat irregardless of the teams' color schemes is mindless. You don't need any fashion sense to realize that. Seeing teams like the Mets, Yankees, Orioles, etc. with clashing red hats was uncomfortable to watch. The players looked like absolute buffoons. If MLB wanted to honor veterans and fallen soldiers on Memorial Day, they should have had the teams wear understated patches or ribbons. The red hats are similar to the pink bats and arm bands worn by many players on Mother's Day to honor mothers and bring awareness to breast cancer. Just because it's for a good cause, it doesn't give MLB carte blanche to pull whatever dumb stunt they please. Many fans including myself were not able to enjoy the games as much on Memorial Day or Mother's Day because of the terrible asthetics and the fans should be respected more than this and not be subjected to disasters like this.