Author: John Blake (Page 3 of 6)

The 2006 Home Run Derby is upon us. Although it is entertaining for the fans and most of us will surely be tuned in tonight, the derby isn’t without its flaws. It needs improvement, starting with some rule changes.

First of all, baseball needs to eliminate the rule which only allows players to be derby participants if they are in the All-Star Game itself. The Home Run Derby is its own separate event and shoudn’t be limited to those players in the All-Star Game. Just take the top six (eight is too much) home run leaders in baseball and have them compete. It would be better for the fans and would provide for a more competitive event. Every season we see a few players invited to the derby who have no business being there. I’ll be eating my words if one of these two guys wins it tonight, but is there any reason David Wright (20 home runs) and Miguel Cabrera (15) are in the contest this year? Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for those individulas, their city and fans, but if you really want to provide the best derby possible, the game’s top boppers should be the only ones included.

Sure, some of the fault of the event lies with the players themselves, judging by the fact that several big name players choose not to participate. But if you want to have the best entertainment possible, players like Wright and Cabrera, who aren’t even in the top 20 in major league baseball in homers, should not even be considered. Secondly, the derby is way too long and should be limited to six hitters, not eight. You want to keep watching to see who wins but you end up pulling out your hair just waiting and waiting for it to end.

As for tonight’s Home Run Derby, David Ortiz and Ryan Howard are arguably the two favorites with 31 and 28 home runs, respectively. They join Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, Troy Glaus, Jermaine Dye, Wright and Cabrera in the field of derby participants. With the short right field porch in PNC Park, it should be a good night for the lefties in the competition. I’m going to take a stab and go with Lance Berkman as the winner.

Ozzie continues to be Ozzie. He’s a manager of the likes nobody has seen in quite a while. A manager with simply no regard for authority who thinks the baseball world somehow revolves around him. A manager who continues to press the button with Bud Selig and the league office and, as ESPN columninst Gene Wojciechowski writes, is a manager who needs to change, and change fast.

The Guillen old dependables: He was kidding … He said this, but he meant that … In his native Venezuela, (insert slur) has a different definition … Some of his best friends are (insert offended group) … He’s sorry.

The schtick isn’t working anymore. It’s like watching somebody learn how to drive a stick shift. All you hear are gears grinding. All you see is the car lurching forward and backward.

Guillen continues to live in the past with the outlandish way he chooses to manage his team. Ordering your rookie pitcher to intentionally hit a batter, and sending him back to the minors when he doesn’t? The way baseball used to be, retaliation was part of the game and when a pitcher hit your player, it was acceptable to dot one of the opposing batters the following inning. That’s the way baseball worked back in the day, but Ozzie has forgotten that it’s not the same anymore. Umpires these days are much more protective of players and won’t allow bean fests to take place anymore.

As for Guillen calling Mariotti a derogatory slur over his newspaper columns, that’s just unacceptable. Bud Selig can fine him and give him sensitivity training all he wants but do you really think that’s going to stop Ozzie from being Ozzie? He needs to be punished and perhaps the only way to get through to Guillen is by issuing a lengthy suspension. His antics have gone on long enough and it’s time for Major League Baseball to step in, lay down the law, and tame this wild beast. Guillen needs to look around and realize that he isn’t in Venezuela anymore. Start respecting the country you claim to be a citizen of.