Tag: Bud Selig (Page 4 of 4)

      Media Link Dump: Wednesday

      October 29, 2008 /

      Here’s what sports columnists are saying around the country on a variety of topics:

      Bud Selig– Mike Celizic writes that Bud Selig is not cut out to be MLB’s commissioner. (NBC Sports)

      – Joe Henderson wonders aloud if this year’s World Series could get any worse. (St. Petersburg Times)

      – Hugh Falk lays out Part 1 of his blue print on how to fix the BCS. (RealClearSports.com)

      – Johnette Howard writes that Jerry Jones is running the Dallas Cowboys into the ground. (Newsday)

      – Bill Simmons hands out his predictions for the 2008-09 NBA Season. (ESPN.com)

      – Cedric Golden says that the San Antonio Spurs’ title window has already closed. (Austin American-Statesman)

      – Dave Kriger notes that a fixed site for future World Series would make more sense. (Rocky Mountain News)

      – Drew Sharp says the Lions should start second-year quarterback Drew Stanton on Sunday. (Detroit Free Press)

      – Peter King notes that we should expect the NFL Replay Rule to be tweaked. (Sports Illustrated)

      College Football, MLB, NBA, NFL

      Baseball tainted by Game 5 of Series

      October 28, 2008 /

      Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer blasts Major League Baseball for what transpired due to the driving rain that the Phillies and Rays had to play in before Game 5 of the World Series was finally called.

      2008 World SeriesSimply put, Game 5 is hopelessly tainted by what transpired between the time the game should have been called and the middle of the sixth inning, when it was finally suspended.

      Whatever happens when play resumes, whether the Phillies celebrate their first World Series championship or the Rays force a Game 6 in Florida, MLB can’t justify its decision or its decision-making process.

      The first problem here is TV’s insistence on scheduling these games for 8:30 p.m. or even later. There are plenty of lovely autumn afternoons – and yesterday was one of them – that give way to cold and blustery evenings. When baseball, like other sports, sold its soul to the networks and their craven need for prime-time sports programming, it created a situation where young fans couldn’t stay up to watch the most important games of the year.

      Rollins, rain pouring into his face, dropped that pop-up in the top of the fifth. The play was rather nastily ruled an error, as if it had occurred in acceptable conditions. Hamels got out of that inning without allowing a run. The Phillies led, 2-1, in the middle of the fifth.

      At that moment, a regular-season game would become official. A rainout would mean the game was over, with the Phillies winning.

      “This is not a way to end a World Series,” Selig said. “I would not allow a World Series to end this way.”

      Selig is right on that point. The problem is, it appears MLB allowed play to continue in unplayable conditions because the Phillies had a lead. It seems like more than a coincidence that play was suspended after the top of the sixth, when the Rays tied the game on a base hit by Carlos Pena.

      I agree with everything Sheridan said. I thought Selig would have made the right call not to allow the World Series to end that way, but if that was the decision anyway, why allow the game to continue? As Sheridan suggests, it’s almost like Selig was hoping the Rays tied the game so that he wouldn’t be under the microscope for having to change a rule. It’s just a mess.

      MLB

      World Series Game 5 suspended – Bud Selig actually would have made correct call

      October 27, 2008 /

      Game 5 of the World Series was suspended 2-2 Monday night in the sixth inning and will be resumed either Tuesday or Wednesday depending on the weather.

      The Rays scratched across a run in the sixth inning but interesting enough, had they not scored and tied the game, the Phillies would have won by rule because it would have been considering an official game. But baseball commissioner Bud Selig said he wouldn’t have allowed Philly to win that way.

      Carlos Pena hit a tying, two-out single in the sixth for the Rays, and the umpires called it moments later. By then, every ball and every pitch had become an adventure because of the miserable conditions.

      If Pena had not tied it, Selig said he would not have let the Phillies win with a game that was called after six innings.

      “It’s not a way to end a World Series,” he said. “I would not have allowed a World Series to end this way.”

      Had the Rays not scored to tie it and the game was called, then Selig allowed the Phillies to win that way, the baseball world would have been turned upside down. There’s no way that Selig could have allowed Philly to win that way had Tampa not scored because it would have been one of the biggest farces in sports history.

      Let’s just all take a moment and thank the baseball gods that the Rays scored and Selig didn’t have to make such a monumental decision, although he deserves credit for saying all the right things at the end of the game.

      MLB

      Silencing Tim McCarver

      October 10, 2008 /

      Tim McCarverTwo days before the Dodgers and the Phillies kick-start the NLDS, Fox broadcaster Tim McCarver told the Philadephia Inquier that Manny Ramirez was “despicable” in Boston. It’s been over two months since Manny’s trade and it appears as if the slugger’s being criticized now more than ever. Leave it to the confounding McCarver to give his two cents to a major Philadephia newspaper right before the Championship Series. His comments have been getting a good deal of attention, but Joe Sheehan over at BaseballProspectus.com has come to Manny’s defense.

      In July, when Ramirez was supposedly “refusing to play,” the Red Sox played 24 games. Ramirez played in 22 of them. This was tied for fourth on the team with J.D. Drew and Jacoby Ellsbury. He was sixth on the team in plate appearances (AB+BB) in July. Not quite Lou Gehrig’s numbers, but he helped out a bit more than David Ortiz (six games), and was in the lineup somewhat more often than peers such as Moises Alou (one game). Oh, he didn’t get three days off in the middle of the month-Ramirez played in the All-Star Game.

      When he played, Ramirez killed the league. He hit .347/.473/.587 in July. His OBP led the team, and his SLG led all Red Sox with at least 25 AB. The Sox, somewhat famously, went 11-13 in July. Lots of people want you to believe that was because Manny Ramirez is a bad guy. I’ll throw out the wildly implausible idea that the Sox went 11-13 because Ortiz played in six games and because veterans Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek has sub-600 OPSs for the month.

      Four days before he was traded, Manny Ramirez just about single-handedly saved the Red Sox from getting swept by the Yankees, with doubles in the first and third innings that helped the Sox get out to a 5-0 lead in a game they had to win to stay ahead of the Yankees in the wild-card race.
      If all of the above is “refusing to play,” I would sincerely like to see what “trying” looks like. It would be entertaining to see a player post a .600 OBP or .800 SLG.

      The entire article is worth reading, whether you can’t stand the beating Manny’s taken or if you just can’t get enough of bashing Tim McCarver. It’s funny how prominent Boston and Philadelphia publications are augmenting their unfavorable portrayal of Ramirez right as the Dodgers make their push towards the World Series. If Manny had floundered after his signing with Los Angeles, keeping the Dodgers out of the playoffs, this cruel opposition would have stopped a long time ago. I never heard the media give Manny anything but love when he was in Boston. Manny gave Bean Town seven great years and two World Series championships. Yet, in two weeks their relationship turned sour and he’s subsequently been blacklisted by a good chunk of sports analysts.

      Be that as it may, no athlete’s career is without its gaffes. It seems to me like the pundits are criticizing the same behavior and play they used to adore. Sheehan backs up this statement with statistics and a well-researched opinion.

      The Phillies played a great game yesterday, and I think it’s a fair assessment that both series will be neck and neck. Even so, Bud Selig is hoping the Dodgers meet the Red Sox in the World Series. If this happens, Manny will likely perform as he always has—phenomenally—regardless of the uniform he’s wearing.

      MLB

      Mark Cuban wants to own the Cubs

      August 4, 2008 /

      It died down for a while, but the Mark-Cuban-wants-to-own-the-Chicago-Cubs chatter has resurfaced. But once again, the talk has mostly centered on whether or not MLB wants to let Cuban into their owners’ fraternity.

      Cuban is loud, passionate and opinionated. He’s a media creature comfortable on multiple platforms, and he turned the once-comatose Mavericks into a perennial winner (though they have not won it all, just like the Cubbies, at least not since 1908). He has amassed nearly $1.7 million in fines, mostly for criticizing N.B.A. referees. As penance for insulting the chief of referees as incapable of managing a Dairy Queen, he spent a day at the chain serving up a promotional bonanza.

      Colangelo, who also owned the Arizona Diamondbacks, said baseball and basketball owners were different breeds. “Basketball is a little more cutting edge, and baseball has been stodgier,” he said. “Some people say it’s difficult to see him as a baseball owner, but times change, circumstances change and he’s done an incredible job in basketball.”

      The Cubs have always been owned by a company that cares more about putting fans in the seats than a winning team on the field. And the only reason they’ve won of late is because the Tribune Company wants to sell the club, so they’ve been willing to spend more to dress up their product.

      Cuban would be great for both the Cubs and baseball because he’s a passionate owner who wants to win. If baseball were lucky enough to have 30 owners who are as passionate about winning as they are turning a profit, than MLB would be a league to be admired. (Instead of being viewed as a “how to” on how not to run a league into the ground.)

      MLB

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