OnTheBlack.com - Talking Baseball

Hi All,

Just want to let you know that this will be my last post about baseball at this url. I have started my own blog outside of WordPress at: http://www.ontheblack.com

I will continue to use http://kerelcooper.wordpress.com/ in another fashion (TBD) but if you want to continue to follow my baseball posts, please go to http://www.ontheblack.com or follow me on Twitter

Thanks

Kerel

Two Double Headers in New York

Today, both the Mets and the Yankees play double headers at home. It’s rare that both the Mets and Yankees play at home on the same day but I imagine it’s even that much more rare that both are playing double headers at home today. Does anyone know if that has ever happened before? If so, when?

SI Yankees

I kicked off my weekend yesterday by attending my first minor league game. About 20 co-workers and I went to see the SI Yanks vs Hudson Valley Renegades. The game was a complete blow-out as the Yanks won 17-0 but I have to admit it was one of the best times I have ever had at a game. For any baseball fan out there I highly recommend attending a minor league game. For starters it’s much much cheaper then a major league game.

I think the best thing about the game (besides hanging out with my co-workers) is the intimate, family-like atmostphere a minor league game provides. Every seat feels like your right on top of the field and the players do a great job of interacting with the fans. I was able to get a couple autographs before the game.

I had always heard that minor games were great but I never had the opportunity to attend. I’m glad I did and I plan on attending more minor league games in the future.

 

Check out some pics below:

Why Baseball Doesn’t Work in Florida

Here is a prime example why MLB should move the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays out of Florida and never bring another team back there again:

The Tampa Bay Rays are in 1st place, they have the 2nd best record in baseball, they are going to the playoffs for the 1st time in team history. They have a young team, with a bright future, and yesterday against the Blue Jays, they had a crowd of 14,039 (34% capacity). If this type of team can’t draw more fans in Florida, then nothing will. 

There are plenty of other states that would love to have a major league baseball team (Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina) and would support them greatly. Time to get out of Florida.

Baseball - What a Funny Game

Just about 24 hours ago I was watching the Mets blow a seven run lead and give away first place….and tonight the Mets finally score some runs late and comeback and win. Long story short, after two eventful nights of baseball, the Mets are leaving Philly with the same 1/2 game lead they came there with. What a funny Game!

MLB: Instant Replay Starting Thursday

Apparently MLB has decided to move forward with implementing instant on Thursday. See the story here. I think this is a huge mistake. I am all for instant replay but I just think too many things can go wrong if you implement this is the middle of the season like this. Why not wait until next year, test it out in spring training and work out all the kinks then?

Bad Loss: Mets loose 5-2 to the Pirates

The Mets ended their road trip today with a 5-2 loss to the Pirates. Even though the Mets will come home with a 6-1 road trip, I classify today’s loss as a bad one because today’s loss had all the ingredients that have made them an inconsistent team all year long:

1. Offense - scores early and does nothing late.
2. bullpen - gives the game away again
3. On top of the two points above, the Mets had a chance to completely bury the Pirates today and put more pressure on the Phillies and they failed to do so.

Hank Steinbrenner at it again…

With a quarter of the baseball season left to go, Hank Steinbrenner is making excuses for his $200 million team and completely making no sense while doing it. In today’s Daily News Steinbrenner is quoted saying ”If we don’t make it this year, I’m not going to explode,” …. ”Injuries are a part of the game, and in 35 years since we’ve owned the Yankees, I’ve never seen a rash of injuries like this.” Later in the same article he is also quoted saying ”Chamberlain had become the most dominant starting pitcher in baseball and Wang has been a 19-game winner every year,” Steinbrenner said. “You lose those two guys, it’s rough. If the Red Sox lost (Josh) Beckett and (Jon) Lester, the whole national media would be crying about it. We lose two guys better than Beckett and Lester and you don’t hear anything.”…..Really? Are you kidding me Hank? Cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it will you!

First of all, yes, injuries are apart of the game and every team has to deal with them, but a great team plays through injuries and doesn’t make excuses. You own one of the richest sports franchises in the world and have either a current or former all-star at almost every position. You have two first ballot future Hall of Fame players on the left side of your infield (Jeter and Arod) and one in the bullpen (Mariano Rivera), get over it and stop making excuses. 

Secondly, with all due respect to Wang and Chamberlain, they should not be mentioned in the same sentence as Josh Beckett. Beckett is one of the best big game pitchers of all time. In case you forgot, Beckett was the 2003 World Series MVP where he completely dominated the Yankees. He is 6-2 with a 1.73 ERA in the post season. On the other hand, Wang is 1-3 with a 7.58 ERA and completely killed the Yankees in the playoffs last year. While Chamberlain is young and looks like he is the real deal, it’s too early to compare him to Beckett and it’s absolute insanity to say he’s better then Beckett. If you spent less time in the papers and more time making better baseball moves, maybe your team would be in a better position at this time.

It’s Eddie Kunz Time

The Mets lost to the Pirates 7-5 today after taking a 5-1 lead into the 7th inning only to see Aaron Heilman and company blow it…again. If the Mets are going to win this division as I predicted they would, then the bullpen has got to turn it around now.

With that said, I think it’s time for Eddie Kunz to step into the closer role until Wagner returns from the DL. Kunz was leading the minor league in saves and if the Mets are going to blow these games in the late innings let’s see what the kids got. Enough of Heilman already, please.

Mel Stottlemyre

During today’s Mets/Marlins broadcast, Ron Darling noted that Mel Stottlemyre was under rated as a pitcher for the Yankees. So I decided to take a look at his stats. I must say, I agree with Darlings comments. Stottlemyre pitched 9 years for the Yankees and even though his career was cut short by injuries he has 164 career wins, 7 seasons of 15 wins or more and in 1969 had 24 complete games. Some pitchers in today’s game won’t get 24 complete games in their career. Stottlemyre has always been a great pitching coach, but I never realized how good of a pitcher he was.