Hall of Fame Part 2: Who Should Go In

So as a follow-up to my Wednesday post on Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens' Hall of Fame candidacy, I'm going to submit a few names of first-timers and repeat candidates on the ballot this year and give my thoughts on why they should be in. Some quick rules on my logic.

First, I don't believe in waiting to be a HOFer. Either you're one or you're not (unless advanced stats prove otherwise that highlighted things that weren't known during your career). Second, no rules on how many guys I can vote for. My list is short but it'll have probably more than the average ballot. That said, here we go.

Why Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer (and Roger Clemens is not easily one)

I've long said that I would vote for Barry Bonds into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Now that he's on the ballot, it's about to be time to see if he, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and others did enough to prove they were HOF worthy minus the stain of steroids.

First a disclaimer. My policy on steroids has been that I don't support it and that the discussion on it was always way too simple. I never believed roids or PED's improved natural gifts but they enhanced muscle recovery and improved power. They couldn't help bat speed, hand-eye coordination, IQ or anything else that comes from hard work.

At the same time, the moral hand-wringing over steroids is funny because baseball has long benefited from some type of cheating or advantage. Whether it be banning Black and Latino players until 1947, using greenies or amphetamines to get through the drain of a long season, stealing signs, spitballs and other tricks of the trade, the game has never been pure. It was pure because of storytelling and mythmaking and a slew of other factors. But it was never 100% clean and wholesome.

That said, here's why my vote goes to Barry Bonds. He was already a Hall of Famer before he allegedly started taking steroids. Here's the breakdown that I've believed in for a few years.

Grinds My Gears: Overvaluing Preseason Football (Or Any Sport)

Been a while since I've had a reason to bring this back but this past week or so reminded me about something that has bugged me for years. Why do we place so much value on a preseason performance or game?

Every year, you hear "So-and-so is making their professional debut" but it's in a PRESEASON game. Andrew Luck, for example, played his first game as a professional last week and threw for a TD on his first pass. That's great but it's not his debut. It doesn't count in his stat sheet. Yes he got paid for it like everyone else but it's no different than a scrimmage in pads.

2010 Year in Review Part 2 (Music and Sports)

Music

Had a convo with Power 106 via Twitter voicing my disagreement over their music direction. It was a very civil convo and I felt they were honest with me but in the end, I think pop/urban radio is slowly moving away from my ears. Has been the last 3 years. The irony of this happening on the day we learned Guru died and reminisced how he fought “for 3 minutes of every rap radio hour.” But as a music fan, this was something that should happen more often - radio stations and their accountability.

TI and Wayne both screwed up their comebacks - TI by stupidly getting arrested again and Wayne dropping that awful 6-foot,7-foot song. Nice going, fellas. 

Only show I watched this year was Keith Murray showing up with boy my Destruct and Rock The Bells 2010. This RTB might be my last but if it is, I saw my favorite album performed live in Midnight Marauders, saw KRS live for the 1^st time and watched Snoop take it back to 93. Next year? Georgia Power with Big Boi and Cee-Lo!!

I discovered more older music this year. Finally got into Radiohead’s albums and hailed Kid A as one of my favorite albums ever. I discovered classic albums by Smashing Pumpkins and De La Soul. That was as big a part of 2010 year in music as anything I listened to. The Bends sounds like total 90’s alt-rock that got copied all decade, OK Computer sounded like depression but beautiful depression as outsiders. Kid A – too good for words. Siamese Dream – such a great guitar album that Billy Corgan dominated.

Oh yeah, discovered LCD Soundsystem finally. Epic music that I’ll take over the Arcade Fire anyday

Top Albums

Atlanta dominated the best of music for me. If it wasn't Cee-Lo's epic viral hit, it was Big Boi showing why music labels had no idea what they were thinking sleeping on his album. And it was OutKast protege Janelle Monae who showed why she is the most creative force in R&B in a long while.

I didn't get into much rock this year. Linkin Park's lead single was a huge disappointment as they tried to be Nine Inch Nails-lite and sounded so soulless. Kings of Leon flopped as well. Rock was so down that the local rock radio station went from 106.7 songs in their end-of-year countdown to only 30 and several artists repeated. Thank goodness for the Black Keys and the return of Social Distortion.

Top Albums

1. Big Boi – Sir Luscious Leftfoot (Best OutKast-related album since Stankonia)

2. Janelle Monae – The Archandroid (The best vocal album of the year)

3. Cee-Lo – The Lady Killer (Soul, funk, attitude from the South’s #1 Renaissance Man)

4. Nas + Damien Marley – Distant Relatives (A powerful statement!)

5. The Roots – How I Got Over (Balancing Depression w/Upliftment)

6. Reflection Eternal – Revolutions Per Minute (10 years off and they still sound great together)

7. Black Keys – Brothers (Straightforward blues based rock that hits ya ear perfectly)

8. Eminem – Recovery (Fantastic Comeback for Slim Shady)

9. J. Cole – Friday Night Lights (Please, don’t let his debut album disappoint like Wale’s)

10. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part 2
*special note to Lecrae - Rehab and Trip Lee - Between Two Worlds. Two of my favorite Christian rappers dropped great albums with excellent concepts.
**Also special note to HISD -The Weakend. One of the best under-the-radar albums

Yelawolf is my rookie of the year for making the biggest impact. Once I heard him on Peter Rosenberg's Late night show, I was hooked.

Florence + The Machine sound pretty awesome as well. Don’t know what to expect in 2011 but after Sade’s comeback (which is gonna be better when she goes on tour in 2011), can we get our first Red Hot Chili Peppers album in 5 years PLEASE?????

Favorite Songs (in no order)

Big Boi – Shutterbugg, General Patton (Shutterbugg's my single of the Year - the hit that wasnt)
Alicia Keys - Unthinkable

Dead Prez – Don’t Waste It
Sade - Soldier of Love (the 1st buzzed song of 2010 got slept on hard but she's back!)

Snoop Dogg – I Wanna Rock (3^rd decade with a hit)

Royce da 5-9 – Taxi Driver

Little Brother – Curtain Call (a great finale to a great group and the year)

Wale – Eyes of the Tiger
Trip Lee - Show's Over
Lecrae - God is Enough

B.O.B. f. Hayley Williams – Airplanes

Black Keys – Tighten Up (Danger Mouse produced another gem for my new favorite rock group)

Janelle Monae – Tightrope

Nas + Damian Marley – Strong Will Continue

Yelawolf – Pop the Trunk

Cee-Lo – F You

Reflection Eternal – Ballad of the Black Gold, Just Begun (w/ J. Cole, Mos Def and Jay Electronica)

J. Cole – Premeditated Murder

Eminem – Not Afraid, Seduction

The Roots – The Fire (w/John Legend), The Day (w/Blu and Phonte)

Erykah Badu – Window Seat

LCD Soundsystem  - Dance Yrself Clean

Lupe Fiasco – B.M.F. (Liked it way more than Rick Ross' version even if Lupe can do better)

Kanye West – Power/Blame Game w. John Legend

N.E.R.D. – Party People (f. T.I.)

Favorite Mixtapes
1. Friday Night Lights
2. Dead Prez - Revolutionary But Gangsta Grillz
3. Royce da 5-9 - Bar Exam 3
4. Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik 0-60
*Somebody needs to tell Wale to get back on his mixtape game. Last two have been disappointing and the sequel to Mixtape About Nothing had about 3-4 good songs.

Sports

Of course the Decision is the #1 moment – Twitter nearly exploded, non-fans had a say and LBJ went from beloved to hated. Hero to villain who changed the direction of the NBA and the power of the players. Hated how he did it but have no problem trying to win.

Late discovery was Bomani Jones and his morning podcast. Hands down was one of the best things this year and in a lilly-white radio field, it was refreshing to hear a brotha who was smart, funny, usually dead on and young enough to show why he, Michael Smith, Jemele Hill will be great to read/watch the next decade as the faces of Black sportswriters.

I threw away my Michael Vick jersey after he burned a $100M lottery ticket on some beasts. I wasn’t mad at what he did as much as  I was seeing an immature man wasting his God-given talents not leaving his boys alone. I’m more proud of him getting his life back and growing into maturity – he’s a lesson for young men that mistakes don’t have to define you. It helped that he’s turned into Steve Young Part 2 and entered The Matrix.

Favorite Moments

1. Isner-Mahut 3 day marathon at Wimbledon 

2. Lakers/Celtics Game 7 (greatest ugly game ever – this was our 85 Finals moment)

3. Meltdown at New Meadowlands (Vick’s MNF game was sick but this was even better) – welcome back #7

4. US in the World Cup. Ghana going far despite that late miss. David Villa dominating it for Spain

5. Super Bowl 43 (Tracy Porter, gutsy playcalling and Drew Brees holding his son – bigger than fball)

6. Duke winning the ship!

7. Baseball’s Year of the Pitcher (2 perfectos, several no-hitters, including Doc doing it twice, and a game for the memories in Andres Galarraga).

8. Spain won huge this year – World Cup, Pau Gasol, Rafa Nadal.
9. Mark Buherle's kick-save, through the legs play. One of the greatest plays I've ever seen.

*And low twos to the Dodgers beginning what’s sure to be a descent into despair. This Dodgers divorce set a pall over the season and it was terrible watching it unfold after watching a great Opening Day. No coincidence that I didn’t go to another game all year.

Oh yeah, went to my first-ever hockey game. That was one of the coolest things ever and I love the game live now.

I got quite a few things to look forward to 2011 – 10^th anniversary of my most life-changing year ever. The beginning of me growing out of my shell. Like Matchbox 20, I’m ready to see how far I’ve come looking back on it.

Aced in October

Any more doubts how special this year has been for pitchers? Two days into October baseball and we have two pitching debuts for the ages along with another solid outing from last year's October darling Cliff Lee.

On a night when Tim Lincecum pitches a 2-hit, 14-strikeout masterpiece against Atlanta, everyone's still buzzing about what Doc Halladay did yesterday. The best part of his no-hitter? He helped his own cause with an RBI single and he threw under 100 pitches.

As much as I respect CC Sabathia, Halladay's the best pitcher in baseball right now and had he not had great games spoiled by Toronto's lack of run support, he'd be closer to 200 wins than he is now. I honestly think that's one of the greatest postseason debuts in any sport I can recall. The only thing I can recall is Dwyane Wade hitting a buzzer beater to win his first playoff series. 

Two no-hitters in a season. 21 wins. An almost guaranteed Cy Young award for a great all-around season. Welcome to Doctober.

(Welcome to the Freak Show - October edition)

It's crazy that Timmy the Freak goes out, throws the 3rd most strikeouts in a shutout and yet he'll almost be overshadowed. Just a reminder that in a down year, he's still the Freak who throws like a young Pedro despite weighing less than most HS defensive backs. 

Cliff Lee picking up where he left off last year. Game 1 saw him pitch another 7 IP (minimum), 10 K game, setting a Rangers K record.. Ho-hum. Dude's pitched 3 of these games but it's still amazing because he's almost a guaranteed W when he steps on the mound. If he gets a lead, its a wrap. 

Sabathia's so-so performance in Game 1 was woefully overshadowed by these 3 brilliant starts. He was bailed out by 4 runs in the 6th inning so he didn't pitch his way to a win as much as he was saved. More ammo for the King Felix for Cy Young committee but one game is only one game.

Biggest surprise to me has been how bad the Rays have looked. There's a reason why they've been no-hit three times over the past season and a half and the Rangers pitching has found that magic. And I get having Matt Garza in Game 3 for a must-win on the road but 2nd guessing Joe Madden feels totally normal on saving him for that. You gotta go with your best weapons up front because nothing is guaranteed in October.

Well, except for the Yankees owning Minnesota. As happy as I am for Orlando Hudson reaching the postseason to stick it to the team that gave up on him, there's no chance they're coming back. 

It sickens me almost that the Dodgers had a chance to get CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee and somehow we didn't make it happen. Almost as bad as Cleveland watching 2/5 of their 2008 Opening Day lineup start in October without them. I digress, angry rant of a Dodger fan missing October baseball for the 1st time in 3 years.

Just a reminder that October is for aces, pretenders not need apply. Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson, Jack Morris, Orel Hershiser, Curt Schilling, Livan Hernandez approve of this statement.

Baseball's better when great pitching trumps great hitting and great hitting finds a way to shine around it. This year has been a great one in every sense of the word so October can only be better. And that's why it's the best month in sports. MLB postseason, NBA and NHL return, college and pro football in full swing. Wouldn't have it any other way.

20 for CC Sabathia - A Black Ace

When CC Sabathia lost on Monday, I was hoping he'd redeem himself this past weekend and add some more birthday mojo to a great weekend. Sitting in the karoake lounge Saturday, I was happy to see he did - finally winning his 20th game for the first time in his career.

In the past four seasons, Sabathia's become something we haven't seen in baseball since Dave Stewart in the late 80's/early 90's - a Black pitcher who's the proven ace of a staff. It's a tradition that started with Don Newcombe and continued with the likes Bob Gibson, Vida Blue, Fergie Jenkins and briefly Dwight Gooden.

With the number of Black players dwindling in baseball, the Black pitchers dropped severely. If you look at all the great pitchers from the mid-90's to 2007, there's nary a Black face in the bunch. Sabathia's changed that.

Over the past 3 years, he's won a Cy Young, nearly took Cleveland to their first WS since 1997, singlehandedly led the Milwaukee Brewers to the first playoff appearance since 1982, helped the Yankees win their first World Series since 2000 (shaking off his own postseason demons) and became the youngest pitcher to win 150 games.

Now he's finally a member of the Black Aces with the other 13 Black pitchers who have won 20 games. He may be with the Yankees but I always root for him because of what he represents.

He's a power pitcher with great control. He's a workhorse who can be counted on to go 7 innings or more - pitch counts be darned. He's also the only pitcher in my opinion who has a chance to win 300 games if he keeps it up for another decade.

(FYI. All-time winningest Black pitchers. Fergie Jenkis (284), Gibson (251), Blue (209), Doc Gooden (194), Dave Stewart (168). CC's gonna be top-5 next year at 156,)

Personal note, I worked with a cousin of his at my last job and when he started heating up in 07, we used to always talk about him and his family. In 2008, he pitched at Dodger Stadium and showed his brilliance on the mound (7 innings, 5 hits) and the plate (hitting a 440-foot shot to right field that nearly made me jump in the press box).

I wrote about that game as a potential showcase for the Dodgers acquiring him. CC was intimidating at 6-7, 290 lbs but he was also friendly to the press. It was a homecoming for him almost with 30 of his family from up North in Vallejo and down South in Louisiana.

Watching him pitch for the Yankees makes me a bit bitter because I wish the Dodgers acquired him in the winter of '08. He wanted to pitch on the West Coast, he wanted to pitch for the Dodgers, he told GM Ned Colletti he wanted to meet with them. But the team never even met with him or followed up.

Needless to say, I was disappointed. It prompted to me to write this furious response to the team (probably my best impression of LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke).

That aside, he's still my favorite pitcher and I root for him every time he takes the mound. I was privately happy when I watched him win Game 4 of the ALCS last year and I'll be rooting for him to have another great postseason this year, along with hopefully winning his second Cy Young award.

In the same way, I root for David Price - another upstanding young pitcher who throws hard with great control and has a great story.

He's a model of class (taking out a full page ad to thank Cleveland and Milwaukee), professionalism and service (constantly giving back to Oakland and other communities). Congrats but as he'll be the first to say, the job ain't done til he gets another ring.

(Apologies for the grammatical errors in those stories - the drawback of being your own proofreader and not having another pair of eyes see it)

Sooooooul Power FTW! (Loney Doin Work)

(The scene at home plate after James Loney's walkoff blast today)

Of all the Dodgers' top players - the last one I'd expect to hit a home run at Dodger Stadium is James Loney. He only hit one of his 13 there last season. He's far from a power hitter but he simply hits for average, drives in runs like crazy and plays Gold Glove caliber defense at first.

So imagine the shock and awe I had when Soul Brother #7 sent an Oliver Perez pitch in the 13th inning to the right field seats to beat the Mets. My favorite Dodger who's been the most consistent hitter for the team all season finally got a chance to earn some praise from the Dodger faithful.

On the field, he has great discipline at the plate, great timing and knows how to get on base. Joe Torre has often said he reminds him of his great Yankee centerfielder Bernie Williams.

Over the last two postseasons, no Dodgers hitter was more consistent and potent than Loney. Ask the Cubs against his grand slam in 2008 NLDS or the Phillies about his two homers in last year's NLCS.

You wanna talk about consistent? Dude's hit for 13 Homers and 90 RBI's in 2008 and 2009. He's on pace to possibly do that again with the chance to get 100 RBI's. That's throwback numbers to the days when non-power hitters found ways to win by get on base and driving in runs.

But it doesn't say why he's my favorite Dodger. It's because he's underrated despite the fact he's been our best first baseman since Eric Karros.

He's in the National League's top 5 in RBI's, doubles and hits and is hitting over .300 but because we're in an era of great power hitting first baseman (Pujols, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau, Miggy Cabrera, Kevin Youkilis, Adrian Gonzalez), he gets overshadowed. He's overshadowed on a team with stars like Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Manny Ramirez and Rafael Furcal.

But that's his nature. Quiet, professional, humble, goes about his business. Whenever I interviewed him in the clubhouse, he was chill and always answered questions in a laid-back manner. I respected him because he wasn't flashy and played the game the right way. A tribute to his upbringing in Houston.

That's why he's my favorite Dodger. He handles his business, jokes behind the scenes and embodies what it means to be a major leaguer. And that's why I'm so happy for him today! First career game winning shot and a bear hug from partner in crime Matt Kemp.

A Debut to Remember, A Career Worth Remembering

Stephen Strasburg was a San Diego legend. A kid with unbelievable heat, four pitches for strikes and great command/control. He played with poise and had a level head because of him being well-grounded in his faith.

Best of all, he had one of the greatest hitters alive as his college coach in Tony Gwynn to keep him cool and school him on how Major League hitters would pick him apart.

Yesterday, the #1 overall pick came to D.C. Tore up the minors like a whirlwind and came up with the greatest pitching hype since another San Diego native Mark Prior - still a curse word for Chicago. Who cares that it was against the Pirates, any rookie pitcher is supposed to do his job, escape with the win if lucky and just try to look good.

I never saw any of his minor league starts but if his debut was any indication, WOW! This kid is as special as they come. Behold the Phenom's line of work:

7 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, ZERO WALKS, 94 pitches and 14 K's!!!! Struck out the side 3 times, 9 of the last 10 batters

I saw a pitcher with poise step on the mound and take control. He didn't try to force his pitches thanks to the steady hand of Pudge Rodriguez in front of him. Barely got any 3-ball counts, threw a deadly curveball, threw crazy heat on his fastball (30 pitches in the 90+ mph range), and a solid breaking ball.

I don't care this was against the Pirates (who spanked my Dodgers in their season opener by the way). Rookies aren't supposed to do this in their debut, especially pitchers?

Without question, he's the biggest thing to hit D.C. Sports since Dan Snyder took over the Redskins. The biggest debut I've seen since LeBron James. The fans were starved for something like this and every pitch was greeted like a World Series moment. Now the real work begins.

He has to refine his pitches because now nobody will be surprised. He can be dominant like Curt Schilling said but now he has to work. He has the stuff, the command, the control - now he needs to show that he can be consistent. Jim Riggleman needs to make sure he's handled well because a decade ago, we gushed over Mark Prior only to see his arm get overused.

But wow! What a night. (And not to be outdone Mike Stanton went 3-for-5 in his debut for the Marlins. A great athlete when he was in high school out here and a highly touted prospect in his own right)

It got better for me later as Derek Fisher did what he does best, something I said last year after Game 4 of the Finals. Come up huge in the clutch and show his value. With Kobe struggling, he had 11 points in the 4th quarter to win Game 3 - including the dagger over KG, Big Baby and the Invisible Man Ray Allen*

Fisher's clutch is underrated because he plays alongside the Black Mamba. Lakers fans are always split on him because we respect his leadership and his role in our 4 titles but know he's a liability on defense in a point guard heavy league.

Nevermind that Fish has upped his scoring in the postseason (10.9 from 7.5 in the regular season). Nevermind that in Game 5 against Phoenix, he scored 22 points in a pivotal game to turn the series.

And once again, he was clutch ON THE ROAD. There's a difference between just being clutch and playoff clutch - clutch wins game during the regular season, playoff clutch takes it to another level to win games that matter.

Look at that critical play. He grabbed the rebound, brought it up court and then drove the hole when he saw Boston lollygagging on defense. That whole play was about heart and instinct. A coast-to-coast drive that once again showed that these Lakers aren't the soft team of two years ago. And as I pointed out yesterday, it's their 3rd straight win in Boston since the 08 Finals.

Those tears came from a man who loves the game and knows how much of a struggle it's been to be appreciated for his play, not just his intangibles. Thank you Derek Fisher - Advantage: Back to the Lakers.

*Speaking of Ray - John Starks is waiting on Line 3 to console you after missing all those shots as well as Hi-5's on the bench, the gas pedal in your car and your bed when you tried to fall in it.

Newsflash - Albert Pujols is only 29

Albert Pujols won his 3^rd MVP award (unanimous) at the ripe old age of…29? Is there any question who the player of the decade is? We are watching one of the greatest hitters of all time and there’s a chance he’s just now entering his prime.

How many more MVP’s can this guy win? He’ll win at least one more, joining him with Barry Bonds as the only 4+ MVP winner. We can’t even compare him to anyone in the game right now – it’s all about seeing where he ranks with the legendary hitters.

Just peep his crazy stats. As a rookie, he finished 4^th in the MVP voting (.329, 37 bombs, 130 RBI’s, 194 hits) – overshadowed of course by Barry Bonds’ murdering the record books. That just started the madness in his nine year career.

· Top 10 MVP finisher every year. Top 5 MVP finish in all but one years

· He’s the active leader in batting average (.331), slugging percentage (.628),on-base percentage (1.055)

· He’s led the majors in several categories at least once (home runs, batting average, on-base %, slugging %, hits, total bases, doubles, extra base hits, )

· 30 HR, 100 RBI’s in every season. He’s statiscally had a better career than Joe DiMaggio in 4 less seasons.

 

In the last 30 years, only Tony Gwynn and Ichiro can rival him as the best hitter in baseball and neither possessed his power. It's ridiculous what he's done in a short period of time.

I decided to look up the greatest Cardinal of them all, Stan Musial. It baffled me as a kid how I would hear how he’s the most underrated player in baseball history but looking at his stats, they are just looney. 3 MVP’s before 30. 24 All-Star Games, 3 World Series rings, seven batting titles, made his debut on my birthday in 1941, .331 career average, 3600+ hits, 475 home runs. 

Who knew that 60 years after his debut, a player would come along who dominated the game the same way. Not flashy but with machine-like productivity. By 2019, we could celebrate Pujols as one of the greatest players of all time and he might still be productive into the 2020’s.

All Hail King Albert. I can only pray this guy doesn't drop off in a new decade like my all-time favorite player Ken Griffey Jr. did.

VSR: Mark McGwire - A Hitting Coach??? I Got A Better Idea

So Big Mac has come out of hiding since the Congressional steroid hearings to....be the St. Louis Cardinals' hitting instructor. Now explain to me how this makes sense? As far as I could recall, McGwire was NEVER a great hitter - perhaps the most one-dimensional star of the 90's. In true Tim Russert fashion, let's go to the evidence courtesy of baseball-reference.com (i LOVE this site)

Only once did McGwire hit over .300 in one year (1996) and technically he hit .305 in 89 games in 2000. He hit .299 in that "magical" 1998 year. But take one look at his career batting average - a whopping .263. Does that scream hitting instructor? He's a great slugger (.588 slugging percentage is 9th best all time) but someone who can teach hitting?

Put it in perspective. Albert Pujols has a batting average nearly 70 points higher. What possibly could Big Mac teach him about hitting except to improve his power? And plate discipline? Dude averaged 130 strikeouts a season (over 100 times for 10 seasons). C'mon son.

I saw McGwire as a slugger when he played. A great power stroke but not exactly a great hitter. There's a difference between sending a ball to the bleachers and hitting a bunch of pop flies than knowing how to hit a ball and where to place it. Forget the steroid suspicion, the guy was one-dimensional before 1998 and even moreso afterwards. He got the job pure and simple because Tony La Russa is the manager and he's looking out for his former player.

Now if you want a guy who'd make a fine hitting instructor, I have a candidate. He batted over .300 11 times in his career with a .302 batting average during the 1990's (In all but one year, he batted better than .291). His career batting average is .298.

He also struck out fewer than 100 times every year in his career except his rookie year. All during his career, he was praised for his great batting eye. And now I present my best candidate to be a team hitting instructor.

Surprised? All of those numbers I mentioned belong to this guy. And for the ugly steroid argument, I threw in his 1990's totals when he along with Ken Griffey Jr. were the best players of the decade. Say what you want about him being a cheater, the guy could flat out hit and is better qualified to be a hitting instructor than McGwire.

VSR: Welcome Back, Pedro

I'd be remiss if I didn't shoutout Pedro Martinez for doing what he's doing right now. Two years, we thought he was injured, done and only a press conference away from the 5-year waiting period to Cooperstown. Last year, the Mets cast him off like he was finished.

It was the first time Pedro had been unwanted since the Dodgers traded him for the immortal Delino Deshields in 1993. The pitcher who Tommy Lasorda and them thought was too frail to be a pitcher was becoming frail and injury prone, no longer the dominant pitcher he was from 1997-2004.

Then he pitched in the World Baseball Classic....6 innings, 6 strikeouts, 0 runs. Could it be that the old arm had something left in him? Nobody took a chance and the Mets let him go but the Phillies thought maybe he could be a No. 4-5 guy.

His first start was shaky but he still picked up the W in 5 innings. The next three were even more shaky - one win in 3 appearances and just maybe, Pedro just didnt have it. 2 innings in his last August start. Nah, man. This guy will be a flash but not a consistent star.

All of a sudden, September struck and something happened. The pitch counts increased. The strikeouts increased, the innings eaten up. The W's being earned instead of given by the offense. And then came the motivation, Sunday against the Mets, the team that cast him off.

Read the box score. 8 IP, 0 runs, 6 Hits, 7 strikeouts - 130 PITCHES! He almost stayed in too long but worked his way out of the jam with some great defense behind him. It was vintage Pedro and now he's 5-0 with a 2.87 ERA.

Suddenly, the Phillies got a LOT scarier and Pedro just reminded everyone why he's been the best pitcher we've seen of his cloth since Bob Gibson. Intimidation, power, precision and just the chance to dominate on any given night. That's why I respected him so much in his prime when he should've won the 1999 MVP. He takes the ball and despite being 5-11 and 170 lbs dripping wet, he pitches with his heart.

Welcome Back, Pedro. I fear what will happen if you pitch the Dodgers and just use that trade as motivation.

VSR: On A-Rod and Baseball

The great clean hope for baseball is dirty. A-Rod admitted that he took performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003 with the Texas Rangers. Funny how the Rangers gave us two of the biggest stories of the decade – they gave us George Bush (their former owner in the 90’s) and now they give us BALCO south, the chemistry lab of Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro and now Rodriguez.

*Speaking of Presidents, whoever that reporter was that asked President Obama about A-Rod should have him Press-Corps badge revoked. Here comes the Commander-in-Chief talking about the economy and his stimulus plan and some reporter dares ask him about something frivolous like this??? SMH at the cult of his personality infiltrating the White House Press Corps, I wish Helen Thomas would put that dude in his place.*

Starting with A-Rod, he manned up and apologized for what he called stupid behavior. He blamed it on the pressure to live up to his contract and the climate of the day. Only problems I have are that he said the timetable was “pretty accurate”, didn’t know where he got them from or what he took, and took Sports Illustrated’s Selena Roberts to task for her reporting methods. Other than that, I give him props for coming out with the truth.

Here’s my problem with this whole thing. Folks wanna get mad and say A-Rod is a fraud, blah blah blah. Don’t forget that dude came into the league on fire. That 1996 MVP should have gone to him for killing it in his first full season (.358, 36 HRS, 123 RBI’s, 215 hits). From 1996-2000, he was consistently one of the best young players in the game (going 40-40 in 1998, top-3 in MVP vote in 2000, going 40+ HR, 110+ RBI’s from 1998-2000). My only problem, A-Rod, why do it?

His Texas numbers just look astronomical and you can’t ignore the irony is that his worst year there (2003 – 47 HR’s, 118 RBIs, .298 BA) won him the MVP. His numbers got incredibly great (although Torii Hunter reminded folks in the LA Times today that Arlington is a band-box and hitting bombs there is easy) but it wasn’t like dude was a scrub with the Yankees.

2 MVP’s (including his greatest season in 2007 – 54 HR’s, 156 RBI’s, .314 BA, lowest strikeout total in 8 years – where he carried the Yanks to the postseason), still hitting 35+ HR’s and 100+ RBI’s, average hovering around .300. If dude was clean like he said he was, that’s still quality numbers people would kill for.

My major beef in all this is how that confidential test report was unveiled. Whoever leaked it needs to be arrested for breaking that trust. And WHY aren’t the other 103 names being revealed? It appears that in all this, somebody had a vendetta against A-Rod and squealed on him to dash everyone’s hopes. All of the names need to be released because otherwise this looks like a case of “Calling Out Names” (no Kurupt).

The player’s union deserves blame for not destroying those records. How are you supposed to rep the player’s best interests if you can’t keep sealed records SEALED! They should catch hate for not allowing drug testing in the past and they darn sure better catch hell for this. It’s gross negligence and with this witch hunt to find the cheaters going on, who knows who else is going to see their career come undone.

Maybe it’s because I’m a young cat who grew up on basketball in 1994-95 when baseball was losing fans, but the whole steroids era doesn’t bother me that greatly. It frustrates me how many great accomplishments are tainted but how long were the fans misled by not just the players, but baseball itself. This culture of juicing was allowed to parade so people could either gain an edge or compete with cheaters. I had a roommate in college who told me that guys on his baseball team took stuff because they had to compete with other teams and other pitchers.

More than anything, the whole idea of purity in sports has taken another hit. Baseball is our national pastime because it’s the sport that many grew up with, the sport that was made a myth by radio and a few TV images and the sport that tells a lot about our racial history in this country. It was the sport that famously barred Blacks and Latinos from playing til’ Jackie came along to remind folks of Moses Walker’s journey, then limited how many could be on a team, then got mad when Black athletes dared show their style (believe it or not, Willie Mays caught hell early on for – gasp – diving after balls, playing with ease). It’s a sport of tradition so the gatekeepers are pissed when the rule of order is threatened.

Course, these are the same gatekeepers that refused to vote Mays, Stan Musial, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr. and Rickey Henderson in the HOF unanimously and kept Jim Rice and Goose Gossage out for years. *rolls eyes and SMH at the same time*

So pretty much, A-Rod’s revelations have tarnished his career although I would still call him a Hall of Famer and watch what he does. But Monday’s admission of guilt isn’t the only that should be made (PLAYERS UNION, MLB….i’m looking at you and throwing you LA Times’ columnist Bill Dwyre’s Modest Proposal from today’s paper).