MLS 2010 - To Be Continued....?

Seriously, when I've never been more excited to start watching MLS, they start having financial issues and are threatening to go on strike since their collective bargaining agreement has expired.

Apparently they're nowhere near a new deal for the CBA, and with the season opener on March 25, the players are taking going on strike as an option. When players go on strike, it's never a fun thing. Remember the MLB fallout of '94? The NHL lockdown? When all the little girl soccer fans cried after the WUSA folded? (It's okay, girls, there's still WPS, which I probably won't watch even though Philly has a women's team now too) Anyway, it seems like nobody ever has a clue how to make a deal with money in organizations. C'mon, we've had professional sports teams for 125+ years now, and we still don't know how to manage all player salaries without having this big negotiation and putting the whole league and season into jeopardy? Last time I heard, they were willing to start the season under the old agreement, but supposedly that's no longer the case.

Seriously, this blows. I've got Philadelphia Union tickets for their inaugural home opener at Lincoln Financial Field on April 10. Can we not screw things up now, MLS? I know you guys aren't the strongest league in the United States, but can you at least think like one?

Here's a nice little article to read about it.

--AZ

Twitter Page?!

Yes, a Twitter page has been created.

Check it out.

--AZ

Edit: Oh, to clear things up, you might notice that I'll be updating Twitter more often with actual news than the home blog. That doesn't mean I won't be using this blog anymore. This blog is more for random musings and opinions than news. I will be using the Twitter account for random sports news, musings, as well as opinions.

Spring Training 2010: Believe the Hype!!

Okay, here's the info from Strasburg's outing today. If he continues to pitch like this, I don't think he'll be seeing the minors. With 2 IP 2 H 2 K and his fastball topping at 96 along with an 81 mph curve, he's pitching at Randy Johnson-like. Shame the Natinals couldn't back it up. [Now I get why the Phillies traded Tyler Walker...]

More info, yes?

Oh yeah, and Clifton's making a surprise start for the Mariners despite the minor foot surgery.
Why not mention it? He was only involved in a huge trade in December. Sheesh.

--AZ

Big "Bad Boy" Ben. Wow, say that five times fast.

When athletes win, they like to celebrate "the right way" and go out to the latest hotspot. Jeez, not like it's anything new[PS - the page is NSFW, but I'd like to get the point across].

Looks like Super Bowl XLIII champion QB Ben Roethlisberger (<-- His last name should be on the championship word list in the Scripps Howard National Bee) might be in some hot water after an incident while barhopping in Georgia on Friday night. Party girls, they're--well, I think you can pretty much put any adjective in here that you like when it comes to girls who party hard at nightclubs. Not my department.
Anyway, he has been accused of sexually assaulting a college girl (her name hasn't been released) and charges have not been filed on this account. On top of this, he's been accused of several other different things such as rape and whatnot. All of a sudden this all comes out at once. How does that happen, media? You like to throw all this dirty laundry out at once to make the guy sound that much more perverted? This is like the Tiger Woods case, where they decided to throw out information that he's been with all of these women and what have you. I'm not defending them or anything, but don't you notice that when an athlete does something questionable, all of these other allegations start popping up out of nowhere? It's a wonder they didn't bring back the story of Big Ben wrecking his motorcycle back during his rookie NFL season just for kicks (no pun intended). As a side note, these things probably didn't come up all at once in the news in the Pittsburgh area, but in a national spotlight, it always seems to.
Supposedly he will be interrogated about this and hopefully get everything straightened out about this. You kinda have to wonder, what are these guys thinking when they do certain things?

For the full article on NFL.com, go here.

Spring Training 2010 - Pitched, will be pitching, and well, less pitching

Pitched: Aroldis Chapman, the fiesty Cuban rounded up by the Cincy Reds during the offseason, made his ST debut yesterday against the Kansas City Royals. Yesterday showed Chapman hurl 2 scoreless innings with a hit, a walk, and three strikeouts. Believe the hype, my children. If you ever saw the movie Kicking and Screaming, he can be compared to the Italian boys that they get on the team just so they can start winning games. Don't really blame them in all honesty. Considering how Reds starting pitching was in a downward spiral by the second half of the season (Phillies fans will never forget that 22-1 blowout where everyone in the lineup got a hit), they somewhat limped out of the season with a 78-84 record. The Reds deserve a little something special this year. Good starting pitching may do the trick.

Article

Will Be Pitching: Okay kids, you've been waiting for this since the MLB Draft (well, maybe not, but let's make this sound a little more exciting, yes?) Stephen Strasburg will be making his ST debut against the Tigers at 1:05 this afternoon [side note: I'll miss most of it since I'm in school as I write this] and will be expected to pitch about 2 innings.

For more information, go here.

Well, Less Pitching: Ah, the closer. A very crucial position when your team is up by one run in the bottom of the 9th and the heart of the order is coming up to try and pulverize you. Looks like that might not be the case for Twins' closer Joe Nathan. Scar tissue from Nathan's previous elbow surgery suffered a much unwanted tear, and resulted in elbow soreness which ultimately benched him after one batter on Saturday against the Red Sox. With a closer like Nathan in the MLB, it's really sad to see that happen, especially in Spring Training. He had an excellent season last year (statistically doing better than Mariano-saurus, if you can believe that) and now he may not be able to pitch during the 2010 season in case of surgery. That just really blows, and there really isn't anything he can do to avoid it either. It's not like you can let it go. When you're a closer, you need to pump some effective stuff to get your job done, and if your elbow isn't up to that job, you might as well go home.

For the whole story on MLB.com, go here.

--AZ

Blue Screen of Death, Oh MY

Yeah...this is why I haven't updated in a little while....
This is a busy week so don't expect much here.

--AZ

Spring Training 2010 - I Shall Call Him...Doc Roy Toy

[Brief editorial statement alert] Doc isn't enough. You have to make up for the fact that there was such a huge feminine fan uprising after the sex symbol that was Cliff Lee. [End brief editorial statement]

Yesterday afternoon gave baseball fans the show of what's to come in April and beyond. Hugely hyped RHP Roy Halladay made a 2 inning start against the World Series Champion Yankees, and he shut down their offense during his short time on the mound. There was only one baserunner in those two innings, and that was so because of a throwing error by another Phillies acquisition (rather, a returning Phillie) Placido Polanco. Recording three strikeouts, he looked like a monster.

I would like to take this time to tear into a tiny piece of the Phillies' starting rotation. This was a bit of an issue in the 2009 postseason, and I'd like to make some points.

Picture it: Philadelphia, 2006

The Phillies organization announced the name Cole Hamels. With all of the talk of his intimidating pitching style, everyone was indirectly thrown the Hamels Hype and were insanely excited to see this guy pitch in the majors for a team that hadn't made postseason in nearly 15 years. After making it into the majors a few months later, he made an average rookie showing. In 2007 and 2008, he had even promised to work hard enough to win the NL Cy Young award.

Okay, fast forward a little bit. Picture it: Philadelphia, July 31, 2009

Four key prospects from the Phillies farm system were traded to the Cleveland Indians to acquire OF Ben Francisco and LHP Cliff Lee. Lee, a 2008 AL Cy Young award winner, had a load of hype behind him and threw die hard baseball fans into a frenzy. The Phillies were looking for a repeat--the first time a NL team would do so since the Reds in the late 70's. Cole Hamels, having a below-average season along with minor ankle problems (he took a nasty step off the hill to field a ground ball one game...I forget against what team) had a massive flame lit right under his fanny. "Oh no! An ace! B-but that's my job!! Must...impress...morrrre!!!" He didn't actually say that, but a lot of Phillies fans could tell that something was up with him during the last 3 months of the season.

Anyway, let's take a walk through the 2009 postseason. Good 'ole Cliffie, in his very first postseason appearance, practically glowed in his two starts with Philadelphia. For good measure, he actually stole a base in Game 1 of the NLDS. I laughed heartily [correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he pinch run in Game 2 in the 9th inning as well? We'll find out why now]. Cole, on the other hand, didn't have a clean mind with his start. Should he have been more focused on the game, or more focused with his wife Heidi who went into labor about halfway through the ballgame? Well, anyway, the Phils lost that lone game of the series.

2009 World Series: Remember Game 1, how Cliff Lee made the two nonchalant plays without panicking on the mound? Yeah. They were awesome. Game 5 was almost as fun despite Lee slipping a bit as the game went on. Alright, let's go back a wee bit to Game 3 on Halloween Night. Rainy night, nice and chilly, and those annoying brats from that show Glee sang the National Anthem. Can't really tell you what happened to Hamels that night, but people were pretty angry about his outing. Don't really blame them either. He looked like his head was in an egotistical fog or something. It was thicker than pea soup--no, it was thicker than that. It was thicker than a brick, and that's pretty thick.

Okay, here we are back in the present. Cliff Lee is only a legend now in Philadelphia and now we have the statistically better Roy Halladay in the #1 slot in the Phillies pitching rotation. Wouldn't you think this is a bigger flame under Hamels' behind now? I think so. Frankly, it makes me laugh a little. No, I'm not anti-Cole Hamels, but he's a hardcore whiner. After he won the 2008 NLCS/World Series MVP, he got so many commercial deals and so many public appearances it made some people dizzy. I just feel like he had a massive ego trip throughout 2009 and had to learn the hard way as to why that is never good in a professional sports environment.

I seriously hated the Lee/Halladay trade when it first happened, but it is what it is, and I'm slowly beginning to accept it. Halladay looks like he's in the best shape of his life, and he's going to get a lot of attention in Philadelphia. After all, if you're in Philly, you're clearly going to tell whether you're liked or not. Philly fans just happen to be like that. I mean, look at how they tore into JD Drew, Billy Wagner, and Scott Rolen. The fans are in a world of class on their own.

--AZ

EDIT: I was told about this blog last night by a few friends, and I have to share this with you since it pertains to Halladay. Kudos to Jim and Mike for this link.