The Hall Of Fame Vote

The Hall Of Fame Vote


I don’t have a Hall Of Fame Vote but if I did I would have taken it very seriously. I think there are some out there who don’t do that. I don’t think it is a majority though and most do take it very seriously. When you have to get 75 percent of anything it is going to draw a lot of debate, not everyone is going to agree and that is just fine. There is nothing wrong with debate over merit or non-merit but it should be kept civil. Everyone has a right to do what they feel is the right thing and they shouldn’t be killed for it.

There does need to be some change though, I think the 10-player limit should be taken away. I think you should be able to vote for whomever you want to vote for with no limit. If you feel someone is worthy you should be able to vote for that person. I think the BBWAA mostly does a good job but it should be opened up to more of the new age media like the bloggers, announcers and others in the baseball community. Why should just the card-carrying members of the BBWAA decide this? There are others out there who care just as much about the game. There are some out there who care more then some who are currently voting.

I don’t think the vote should be made as an example. Deadspin purchased a vote of a writer; I don’t think that is right. What did we learn in all of this today?? We learned that the PED issue is a very big issue and the writers are still struggling with how to handle it. Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza would be in the Hall already if it wasn’t for this issue. They both went upward, the only two on the ballot who did so. They clearly are being hurt by the suspicion of PED use even though there was never any evidence that these players have taken steroids. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are first ballot Hall Of Famers who can’t even crack 40 percent. The reason why is simple, it is because of the PED use or suspected use. I don’t think they are ever going to get in as they went backwards. Rafael Palmeiro didn’t pick up five percent and is off the ballot for good. Mark McGwire only got 11 percent and Sammy Sosa around seven percent. The point is that these steroid guys or suspected guys aren’t coming even close the Hall Of Fame. I do think that Piazza and probably Bagwell will get in soon but should they be punished on suspicion?? Should clean players from the so-called steroid era be singled out because of when they played?? I don’t think so but this is a very complex issue. It is hard to know who did and didn’t use. There are certain guys of course like Bonds and Clemens where the evidence is too great but really how do we know.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a guy already in the Hall who took something and if not I am sure there will be in the near future. The best thing of all of this is that baseball is in the spotlight again. There is no sport that draws so much attention to a hall of fame vote. The passion out there is real and the debate is real, this is a good thing for the sport of baseball. It will be interesting to see if anything changes going forward, in the mean time lets recognize the three very deserving members of the Hall Of Fame Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas. They will be the class of 2014 along with the three managers, Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre.

The New York Mets salvage the final game of the series in St. Louis

The New York Mets defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 6-2 on Wednesday afternoon. The game took place at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and pitched well. Mike Baxter and Ike Davis led the Mets offense. Adam Wainwright started for the Cardinals and didn’t pitch that well. Jon Jay and Descalso led the Cardinals offense.
Dickey pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and two runs with a walk and five strikeouts. Dickey picked up his 18^th win of the season, Josh Edgin struck out the only batter he faced and Jon Rauch pitched a perfect inning. Frank Francisco pitched an inning giving up a hit and struck out one. Wainwright pitched five innings giving up eight hits and five runs with two walks and five strikeouts. He lost his 12^th game of the season, Shelby Miller pitched two innings giving up a hit and striking out four and Victor Marte didn’t record an out giving up three hits and a run. Marc Rzepczynski pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Sam Freeman pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out the side.

Baxter had two hits, Daniel Murphy had three hits and Davis had a hit, three RBI and drew two walks. Lucas Duda had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Justin Turner had two hits and Josh Thole had two hits and an RBI. Andres Torres had a hit and an RBI, Turner hit two doubles and Duda hit a double. Davis hit a homerun, the Mets were 4-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Tejada committed an error and Baxter had an outfield assist.

Jay had two hits, Lance Berkman had a hit and Matt Carpenter drew a walk. Shane Chambers had a hit, Daniel Descalso had two hits and Tony Cruz had a hit. Wainwright had a hit and an RBI, Jackson had a hit and Wainwright hit a homerun. The Cardinals were 0-6 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.

In the second Thole hit an RBI single giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. Duda had an RBI walk in the third to give the Mets a 2-0 lead and Wainwright hit a solo homerun to make it a one run game in the third. Davis hit a three run homerun in the fifth to pad the Mets lead to 5-1. In the seventh Allen Craig hit into a double play scoring a run and making it a 5-2 game. Torres hit an RBI single in the eighth to push the lead to 6-2 and that was the final score.

The Mets lost two out of three in the series. The Mets record improved to 65-72 and the Cardinals record fell to 74-63. The Mets will have the day off on Thursday and then begin a three game series against the Atlanta Braves on Friday.

Grapefruit League Game 18-Mets at Cardinals

The New York Mets will take on the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter today at 1:05PM. John Maine will take on Adam Wainwright. Jenrry Mejia, Kiko Calero, Elmer Dessens, Francisco Rodriguez, Pat Misch and Sean Green are expected to pitch also. Mejia and Misch pitched yesterday so I don't know if they will pitch again today. Here are some of the media notes along with the lineup.

• Today is the 4th of 7 spring matchups these 2 teams will play. The Mets are 3-0 against the Cardinals so far.

• Fernando Martinez leads the grapefruit league with a 500 batting average, 969 slugging percentage and 16 hits. He is tied for second with 31 total bases. He is tied for third with 3 homeruns, tied for 5th with 11 rbi. He is tied for 1st with 2 triples.

• Pat Misch ran his scoreless streak to 9 games and in 4 games he has allowed 4 hits and struck out 5.

• This season marks the 22nd year the Mets have held spring training in Port St. Lucie. There are only 8 major league teams that have trained at their sites longer. The teams are the Cubs, Athletics, Giants, Tigers, Astros, Phillies, Pirates and Blue Jays.

I will have the lineup up as soon as possible, but it isn't available yet.

UPDATE:12:12PM-Here is the Mets lineup for today.

Gary Matthews Jr.(CF)

Luis Castillo(2B)

Fernando Tatis(3B)

Mike Jacobs(1B)

Fernando Martinez(RF)

Alex Cora(SS)

Jason Pridie(LF)

Chris Coste(C)

John Maine(P)

The Big Unit finally withdraws

Randy Johnson aka- The Big Unit announced his retirement this evening. He finished his career with 303 wins which is 22nd all time. Here are some more of his career accomplishments: His first game was with the Expos in Sept 1988 against the Pirates. 1st strikeout victim was Orestes Destrade He played 22 years for 6 teams 1999-2002 won 4 straight Cy Youngs-won 5 overall 2001 was a World Champion with Arizona and co MVP of the World Series along with Curt Shilling He won 17 games in back to back seasons with the Yankees in 2005-06. His 10.67 strikeouts per 9 innings were 1st all-time for starting pitchers 188 hitbatsmen is 3rd all-time 4.875 strikeouts are second all-time and 1st among left handed pitchers 7.24 hits allowed per 9 innings pitched is 10th all-time 37 shutouts is 57th all-time 20 strikeouts in a game on May 8, 2001 He pitched a perfect game on May 18, 2004 He is the 5th pitcher in MLB history to pitch a no-hitter in both leagues joining Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Nolan Ryan and Hideo Nomo. These stats were courtesy of Wikipedia. I will have more on Randy Johnson tomorrow, some comments he made at the press conference and other thoughts on his career.

Andy is Dandy as Yanks top Rangers

The New York Yankees defeated the Texas Rangers tonight by the score of 9-2. Andy Pettitte went 7 strong innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. Andy Pettitte with the win which was his 189th as a Yankee tied Lefty Gomez for 3rd on the alltime Yankees wins list. Brian Bruney pitched a scoreless 8th giving up a couple of hits and Phil Coke pitched a perfect ninth. A.J. Burnett will be on the hill tomorrow trying to get back in a grooved after a awful outing his last time out in Boston. Jorge Posada will not catch him tomorrow but that is because he is banged up not because of the percieved problems between the two. The offense got started early with a 3 run homer for Jorge Posada. Jerry Hairston had a solo homerun and then the Yankees really broke it open in the 7th with 5 runs, Derek Jeter had a 2 run single. Nick Swisher had a rbi double and Mark Teixeira had a 2 run single. Hideki Matsui had a couple of hits to continue his hot hitting and A-rod had a single and walk. Melky Cabrera was the only Yankee to not have a hit. The offense has really been rolling lately and it is good to see. The Yankees will try and win the series tomorrow afternoon.

Yanks take series

The New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 11-7 tonight taking 2 out of 3 in Atlanta. Andy Pettitte just didn't have it but the good news is the offense appears to be back. Alex Rodriguez had 3 hits and 4 rbi's and a walk. Derek Jeter had 4 hits and Johnny Damon had 3 hits and 4 rbi's. Brett Gardner and Cody Ransom had 2 hits each and Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada had a hit each. Alfredo Aceves did get the win out of the pen and is now tied for most wins out of the bullpen with 5. It is pretty late and it was a long night so I don't have much else to say. It is great to see Alex back and it sure looks like the offense is back and lets hope they carry it back to NY for the Subway Series at Citi Field. I will have more tomorrow with the Subway series, everyone rest up before a wild weekend. The Red Sox lost tonight so the Yankees are 4 out of first place.

Rays at Yankees

The New York Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at 7:00PM. Here are the pregame notes and lineup via Peter Abraham's Lohud Yankees Blog. The Yankees with a win tonight will have won 8 of their last 9 series. Andy Pettitte is tied with CC Sabathia for the team lead in wins with 5, he hopes he takes the lead tonight. He has been bothered by a bad back and given up a lot of hits and walks his last couple of starts but somehow survived, he is hoping to do better tonight though. Andy Sonnanstine has given up 78 hits and 16 walks in 56 innings this year. He is 3-1 with a 6.75 era in his last 4 starts which is an improvement. The Yankees need to make him throw pitches and hit the good ones they get. The Yankees have committed an error in 5 straight games. The Yankees are 17-11 at home after starting out so-so there. The best thing about the Yankees this year is their never say die attitude. They lead baseball with 20 come from behind wins and have won 11 games in their last at bat which leads the American league. The Yankees are 20-0 when holding opponents to 3 runs or less. They are the only team undefeated in this category, so if the Yankees get the pitching which they do more often then not they will win. If they ever get Wang going watch out with him CC and AJ and Andy and Joba on the backend that is a great staff. I think Joba is getting better and better and him being upset with his 6th inning yesterday is a good sign of that because he felt he should of gone at least 7. Nick Swisher has 11 homeruns, he did not get that until June 30th of last year. I love Swishers personality and intensity but Nady is just a better player and Swisher can really help this team coming off the bench and playing outfield and first base when guys need a rest. It will be interesting to see what happens when Nady does come back. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Big Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Posada(C) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF)