9 MLB Musings

1. The Manny Ramirez show is almost back.  He'll be returning to the majors July 3rd at PETCO Park.  I'll be there to witness the debacle.  What makes me sick is that the Dodgers are organizing bus trips for fans to make the trip down to San Diego to see Manny.  Way to take a stand against cheaters, guys.  You railed against the Giants and Barry Bonds for years.  Sell your soul much?

2. What in the hell is going on in Philadelphia?  As of Monday, they were 23-9 on the road but an astonishing 13-22 at home!  A first place team nine games under at home?  Earlier this month, I listed the Phillies as a "pretender" because I didn't think they had the pitching to remain in first.  They just got swept at home by Toronto (acceptable) and Baltimore (embarrassing).  Only the Mets' ridiculous ER ward of injuries has kept New York from seizing the division.

3. Speaking of the Amazin's, these injuries are getting absurd.  Delgado out for months.  Reyes with a leg cramp that turns into much, much more, with no timetable to come back.  Ryan Church had a DL stint.  J.J. Putz out 3 months.  Now Carlos Beltran is tabled with a knee injury.  What else can the Mets endure?  If they ride this out this may actually make them stronger in September.

4. I have a friend who's a Rangers fan.  I know, what's a Rangers fan, right?  Anyways, he was fired up to see his team play ball in San Francisco last weekend.  My Giants, light-hitters that they are, managed to eek out 11 runs over 3 games in completing a sweep.  One of the wins was on a walk-off wild pitch during a swinging strike.  Not to brag (but to brag), San Francisco has won 7 in a row over Texas, and is a perfect 9-0 at home all-time vs. the Nolan Ryans.  That's 11-1 in the Bay (11 in a row), and winning 6 of 7 series all-time.

5. Here come the Angels.  Following a whipping in Tampa Bay and a close-door team meetings (do those ever really work?), the Angels of Wherever reeled off 7 straight wins.  They've stumbled against the Dodgers (baseball's best record) and lost the first against Colorado (baseball's hottest team).  But they are just a game back and about ready to overtake Texas and land in their rightful spot atop the AL West.

6. Grady Sizemore is back from the disabled list.  Welcome back. Your admirers missed you.

7. Don Fehr, head of the Players Union, is retiring.  See ya.  You may have been great at your job, given that your job was to do anything possible to help the players, but you're part of the reason there was no 1994 World Series.  You're a major reason why the union grew into a collection of have's (rich, 'roided-up stars) and have not's.  And you were the parent who could never admit that their child had ever done anything wrong.  It wouldn't have killed you to admit that maybe the union shouldn't have looked the other way regarding PED use.

8. It must be a great world that Alex Rodriguez lives in.  He can be benched for two games because of fatigue (read: he sucks right now) based on doctor's orders.  The same night, he can be seen after 2am partying with celebrities in Miami Beach.  Wonder if his 'roid-dealer cousin was driving the town car.  And he wonders why nobody likes him?  Well, except for desperate, rich, middle-aged women.

9. Wishing the best to Khalil Greene in his return to baseball.  We loved to hate Khalil in San Diego because of his inability to resist swinging at sliders 8 feet outside.  We admired his homers when the team was down by 7.  We never understood what made him so isolated and quirky and weird.  But you never want to hear about a guy hurting himself.  When it gets to that point, baseball is secondary.  Greene just returned from a 19-day DL stint to get his head together.  He homered in three straight starts to come back.  This may not be the permanent solution he needs, but it's nice to see he's having a little success.  He's a good guy.  And it was awesome that the fans gave him a warm ovation upon his return.