The New York Yankees try to carry themselves with the belief that they are the classiest team in baseball. Earlier this week manager Joe Girardi took a stance that was not supported by many others in baseball when he harshly criticized a home plate collision in a game earlier this week, calling it dirty and something that you don’t do in Spring Training. If a young player trying to get noticed by his manager his coming into home and the plate is completely blocked, he has every right to barrel over the catcher. If Girardi doesn’t want such a thing to happen, he should tell his catcher not to block the plate in Spring Training. Nonetheless, I can understand Yankees pitcher Heath Phillips throwing at Evan Longoria in retaliation the next time the two teams met, that at least sends a statement to your teammates that you’ve got their backs. However, when Shelley Duncan slid into second base with his spikes high, that is just plain dirty and something that is unacceptable at anytime in the season. The home plate collision was a young kid trying to make a play, done with no malicious intent. Sliding into a base with your spikes in the air can only be seen as trying to injure another player.
Red Sox fans shouldn’t panic over Josh Beckett’s recent back problems. Reports seem to indicate that the problem is entirely muscular in nature and something that should resolve itself with rest and treatment, as opposed to a disc problem which could potentially require surgery. While this will set the ace righthander back in terms of preparing for the season and may even cause him to miss the first couple of weeks, there is no reason whatsoever to rush him back. The season is a marathon and Boston will need Beckett to be strong the whole way. Pushing him to be back by an arbitrary date such as Opening Day would be foolish and probably result in a recurring problem throughout the course of the season.
A recent report stated that federal investigators are looking into Ramon Scruggs, the physician who is said to have illegally prescribed performance enhancing drugs to Troy Glaus and Scott Schoeneweis and perhaps other Major Leagues. It is about time that federal investigators targeted people like Scruggs instead of individual players. If they really want to make any kind of progress in this battle against steroids, they need to start looking at how the players are getting them instead of the fact that they are using them. When it comes to the use of illegal narcotics, the federal government doesn’t waste its time going after individual addicts and recreational users, they attempt to apprehend the dealers and distributors who are the source. So why wouldn’t they focus on that in this case. Who cares who Kirk Radomski or Brian McNamee gave steroids to. I want to know who is supplying them. This might finally be a step in the right direction.
It was recently announced that Rocco Baldelli will start the season on the disabled list due to a condition that causes him to be extremely fatigued after short workouts. This is just the latest blow to the career of a player who when he hit .289 with 27 steals and 89 runs scored in his rookie season in 2003 at the age of 21 seemed bound to become one of the premier leadoff hitters in the game. He only played one more full season in 2004 and has been unable to stay on the field since, particularly due to a series of hamstring injuries that have been frequent and slow to heal. Baldelli’s enormous talent and potential have kept the Tampa Bay hopeful, and fantasy baseball owners always willing to take a chance on him, but one has to wonder if this might be the end. Baldelli has said that he is not going to retire, but with this latest set back, one can’t help but think the end is near.
Keywords: Boston Red Sox, Brian McNamee, Evan Longoria, home plate collision, Joe Girardi, Josh Beckett, Kirk Radomski, New York Yankees, Rocco Baldelli, Shelley Duncan, Steroids, Tampa Bay Rays, Troy Glaus
