Something is not right

I have been thinking about this for a few weeks and I still can not get it out of my head. I know that I have talked about it in podcast 3 at www.u3ponline.com but the retirement of Ken Griffey Jr. is not sitting right with me. He was the greatest player of the nineties and a future hall of famer. I have a few nagging questions. Why no news conference? Why even play this season if this was an option? Why leave your fans feeling like something is incomplete? I have a few guesses on my first question, maybe he wasn't leaving on his own accord. Maybe the team decided that his time was done and he was a told to retire or he would be released. Maybe, as I have said before, he was facing so sort of suspension. This theory would have a little more validity if he actually conducted a news conference or maybe he didn't do it because he could not lie to his fans. I really don't understand why he would play this season if retirement was an option 50 games in. Why put yourself through the off season regiment and spring training? The true answer for all of this lies in my personal feelings. I feel like I have missed on something. I feel jaded of an ending fit for the king of the nineties.

To error is human

One of the more impressive feet's as a team has happened this season. Through 50 games the Minnesota Twins have committed only 12 errors. The previous record in this time span was 17. The Twins have two positions that have not committed an error, first and third base. What is impressive about third base is that 5 different players have maned this position. The only draw back for third is that they are getting zero production at the plate. Punto is great defensively but he really is only good for a sacrifice bunt. Look for the Twins to try to upgrade this position with a Mike Lowell type player or Mike Lowell.
You wonder with the Willis trade to the Diamondbacks if Arizona has starting to panic. A team that many (including myself) thought would contend this year has been awful. Most of that has to do with pitching. Willis is a former NL rookie of the year and can swing the bat. However he has had serious command issues in the last 3 years. In a way I like the gamble that they are taking. They really didn't have to give up anything (Buckner who has been awful) and the Tigers are picking up most of his salary. I cant help but to think that this guy needed some time in the minors with little to no pressure to work some stuff out.

Cal Ripken Jr. Is a fraud

When I stated thinking about what I was going to write this week I asked myself what do you think the greatest stat was of all time. Was it Ty Cobb's lifetime average of .364? Was it Cy Young's 511 career wins? Could it be Ricky Henderson's 1406 career stolen bases? Oddly enough it was none of these. It was that Cal Ripken Jr. grounded into a career 350 double plays. Now as a disclaimer the top six of all time in this category are all hall of farmers. Is it just the number of season that he played (20) or was it something else? Ripken hit into a double play 3% of the times that he came up to bat or about once every 8 games. I think this leads to a deeper issue. Is Cal Ripken Jr. overrated? Lets throw away the streak for now. He was a career .276 hitter with 431 career homeruns and 3184 hits. His best statistical season was in 1991 when he hit .323 with 34 homers and 114 rbis. Here is my argument shouldn't the hall of fame only have great players in it not players that were good and lasted a long time in the bigs? The simple answer to this is yes but the hall puts in players every year so the quality of player will get diluted. Do I think that Ripken deserves to be in the hall? Yes and No. I think that the streak definitely deserves mention but I think as a player he has no place there.

Something that I just hate

It is the time of year when both leagues start playing each other. This is something that I love. I love to see the Cubs vs the White Sox. I like to see the world series match up like the Twins vs the Braves. What I don't like is something that has become not just a baseball thing but a sport thing. This year the Yankees and Dodgers are playing a series against each other at Dodger Stadium. I like this because it is a renewal of one of the oldest rivalries in sports. So if I wanted to see one of these games I could but the Dodgers have thrown a wrench in. They have decided that if you want to see these games you have to buy a package of 10-15 games. How is this fair to the regular fan that can not afford that many games. Now I understand what you are thinking. Well this is a business and businesses must make money. It is a valid point but if that is what you are thinking then do not offer single game tickets to anyone for any series. Luckily we do have www.stubhub.com and many other sites to buy those tickets but expect to pay a good price.

This week has been a crazy week for team u3p. We have launched not only our show but the website and the social media blitz to try to promote it. We are fans here and we do not have a lot of money to promote the site. We were more than surprised when we saw the numbers for the first day of the site. It means an awful lot and there are a few partners I must mention. www.hideyourbooze.com came out huge for us. He gave us stuff to give away and supported us on his website and twitter and facebook. Thanks to all of you for reading this and please email me at lineup@u3ponline.com

Reflections and Corrections

Show number one is in the books and man are we proud of it. We talked about Big Papi. How much we dislike A rod. Why the Angeles are playing the way that they are. Also who is the best left fielder in the game. I do have one correction to make when I was talking about the best left fielder I said that he has 15 assists and the truth is he has five. You're going to have to listen in order to know who I am talking about. Please listen and email us lineup@u3ponline.com

Excited

I have to tell all of you that at the u3p podcast network we are very excited for the launch of the lineup. The show is launching as well as the website on Sunday morning. So much has been done over the last 4 weeks to make this possible and a few people must be thanked. Josh, Danny, and Joel you took my idea and have made it 100 times better. To my wife and son you have made my life complete and thanks for the feedback and the love. To Greg Smith thanks for the effort and the questions. We all look forward to the shows launch.

The State of Baseball

I dont think that there is any doubt that baseball has been greatly effected in the last ten years by scandals and contrversies. Really if you expand this you will find that it probably covered the last 20 to 25 years of baseball. The biggest of all the issues is how steriods has changed the game. I know what you think I am going to write here but before you tune out because you have heard it all before let me tell you how steriods saved baseball. Thats right steriods saved baseball. It all goes back to the summer of 1994 and the worst thing that could happen to baseball (and I am not talking about Ace of Base or OJ's arrest). The strike. The strike of that year crippled baseball it took Americas national past time and disintegrated what nearly 90 years had created. We live in a society that easily for gets and it took only 9 or so months for the nation to forget about baseball. So when baseball returned in the 95 season in reality very few cared. This continued for the next three seasons until the magical year of 98. Three men captured Americas attention with the greatest home run race since Mantel-Marris. These three men McGuire, Sosa, and Bonds. Many forget that bonds hit 50+ plus that year and was in the thick of it until late in the year. McGuire was the feel good story of baseball the everyman from southern California playing in St Louis with the power swing. Sosa was the heart of Chicago the immigrant with charisma and energy that carried into his swing. Bonds was, well Bonds was Bonds and I may get into him at a latter date. The ensuing race that eventually resulted in McGuire clubbing the record rejuvenated baseball and saved the sport. Now every time we talk about steroids three names always come up McGuire, Sosa, and Bonds. That's if folks. Steroids saved the game that I love.