Long before Chase Utley wore Dodger blue, he wore Phillies red. Tonight’s game saw his return to the city he called home for twelve years. How would those ever-loving Phillies fans react? The first time Utley stepped to the plate, the fans stepped up big, with true brotherly love that brought goosebumps and thrills right through the screen.
Utley received a standing ovation from the crowd, both dugouts, and the opposing Phillies on the field.
After tipping his cap to every side of the stadium, he stepped back into the batters box. The applause just got louder. He tipped his cap to all once again, and returned to ready position at the plate as the ovation continued. It lasted 1 minute, 15 seconds in all. I think it’s safe to say, Philadelphia fans have never welcomed an opposing player so warmly.
And that was just the opening act.
2nd inning
The Dodgers were not starting out well. The first five Dodgers struck out.
Phils
Maeda gave up a solo homer. 0-1
4th inning 0-1
The Dodgers were still sputtering. Thy had five hits, but nothing to show for them.
Phils
1,2,3 inning for Maeda.
And then…it began.
5th inning 0-1
With Yasmani Grandal on base, Howie Kendrick blistered one over the CF wall, to give the Dodgers the lead for the first time. 2-1
Chase Utley came up and thrilled the fans with a home run! 3-1 Curtain call, Utley.
Phils
A scary, towering fly out by Ryan Howard, but nothing else.
6th inning 3-1
Yasmani Grandal jacked one out. A 400-footer that was good for two more Dodgers runs. 5-1
Phils
Maeda started the inning at just under 75 pitches.
With one out, Maeda gave up a line drive home run. 5-2
7th inning 5-2
Chase Utley singled and Joc Pederson doubled.
Justin Turner shot a base hit just past Ryan Howard at first to load the bases with no out.
Reddick hit into a FC. One out. Natch.
Adrian Gonzalez got plunked on his arm to bring in a run. 6-2
Whoa! Grandal walked on a pitch well off the plate for another run. 7-2
Another run walked in. 8-2
Rob Segedin PH for Maeda. Base hit! 9-2
And then Utley happened!
GRAND SLAM, UTLEY!! 13-2 Of course, another curtain call.
Phils
Pedro Baez in.
He gave up a two-run homer to Ryan Howard. 13-4
8th inning 13-4
J.P. Howell in.
After loading the bases with three straight hits, he gave up a sac fly. 13-5
9th inning 13-5
Joc Pederson with a gapper for a double.
Then red-hot Howie hit an RBI triple high off the RF scoreboard (leaving him a double shy of the cycle). 14-5
He later came around to score. 15-5
Phils
Casey Fien came in for his return from the DL. Job done!
Dodgers win! 15-5
Kenta Maeda once again pitched a solid game. He held the Phillies to one run through five innings, and two runs through six, with nine strike outs. For all the talk about how the Dodgers persevered after Clayton Kershaw went down, Kenta Maeda deserves much credit for picking up the Dodgers’ flag and absolutely filling in that number one pitching spot.
Look out: The once-dependable Pedro Baez is reverting back to that guy who gives up home runs in almost every outing. He’s given up three home runs over his past four games. Blame it on being overworked? That’s as good an explanation as any.
What’s with this Reddick dude? How long is he going to skate by on excuses like he’s trying too hard, and the sun is in his eyes? He continues to drop fly balls in the outfield and not hit the ball, especially with runners in scoring position.
Perhaps the larger question is, How much longer is this hole in the lineup going to continue to hit in the clean up spot?
Wow moment: Chase Utley getting a curtain call from the Philadelphia crowd after his first home run. A tip of the cap for a homer – against the home team! And Utley topped that two innings later with a grand slam!
Howie Kendrick has a modest six-game hitting streak. Tonight he was 4 for 5 with a 2-run home run, a triple and 2 singles.
The Dodgers now sit tied with the Giants for first place in the NL West.
Kenta Maeda went 6 innings with 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 HRs, 1 walk, 9 Ks ERA 3.29
Home runs: Yasmani Grandal, Chase Utley , Howie Kendrick
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
Follow Me:
Using my sons computer. Giants losing 4-3 in the 9th. Nice win and great games for Utley, Kendrick and Grandal….
Congrats to the team! Dodger bats blasting away. Imagine if we had good pitching!!
What a wonderful world that would be……….
Jeff
That is what I was thinking this morning.
We would be scary then.
Ok. Now the real season starts.
(And Scott/Oscar, keep the mojo going. Leave the rah rah articles to the other blogs ….)
Thanks Yueh for the kind words
We all appreciated you Scott, as well as Oscar Thanks .
Yeah they really do great work!
I’m a bit late, but I hope you see this one, Yueh Fei…
Thanks for the compliments!
We’ll keep on keepin’ it real here on LADR.
Wow! If the arrogant one actually listened to the broadcast last night, especially what was said to the star of the game, Utley, as a child , by his father, this blog would be a much better place. For now it remains simply a trailer trash neighborhood with an arrogant trashy word dispenser who I can only say that I have never meet someone who the childish saying “What you say is what you are” applies to more.
Bob,
Nobody over here has to listen or read your abuse any longer. Do not disparage this blog or this community that you are a part of. If you do not like this site or the people who comment over here then leave. LEAVE AND POST SOMEWHERE ELSE AND DO NOT EVER COME BACK. I grow tired of your insults towards me and this community. Consider this a warning. I have never censored or banned anyone here, but I am sick of your “trash talk”. If you disagree with something I wrote or something that somebody else has posted over here than that’s fine. Argue and prove your point in a respectful manner. Otherwise I will ban you from commenting here. You would become the first banned user in LAdodgerreport history. DO NOT PUT ME TO THE TEST. You have been warned.
Bob sounds very unhappy in life. Let him move on to a place he’ll be happier
See ya!
I respectfully submit you should read Mark’s comments on the prior post. He has become pretty much insufferable and his constant harang’s against those he deems to be to stupid to say anything constructive are getting pretty tiresome. MJ is an honest fan with opinions who never really disparages anyone, yet Mark felt like humiliating him for his take. I have gotten pretty heated towards Mark a few times but I have learned to take his bombast with a grain of salt. He does have knowledge, and he is pretty articulate, but his bullying has gone to far.
Joc may be a candidate for comeback player of the year. Take a look at where he stands against other Dodger hitters. For those that haven’t looked at this table, you can click on the various categories like OPS or SLG and the table will rearrange itself from high to low for that category.
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp?c_id=la#playerType=ALL&elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Player+hitting&game_type='R'&season=2016&season_type=ANY&league_code='MLB'§ionType=sp&statType=hitting&page=1&ts=1471436397893&sortColumn=ops&sortOrder='desc'&extended=0
He has increased his contact rate immensely. And that double he hit last night was a shot to left center field. I have always liked the kid, even when he was struggling because I knew with the right coaching he would figure it out. He is one of those hitters who is always going to need to be making adjustments. Corey on the other hand, makes them in game.
Not to mention playing a wonderful CF.
Bum
I don’t think Joc will get the come back player award, but he is going to get something better, from this year.
He has got his confidence back, and he is getting more respect from his team mates, and everyone that watches him play.
Mark is not the problem. Mark is not getting banned. You obviously don’t take what he says with a grain of salt or you wouldn’t be here misrepresenting what was written in the last thread in a pretty non transparent and clumsy attempt to convince Scott to ban him.
I read through the thread. He didn’t bully anyone. He did respond to someone who accused him of being gang raped in prison by calling him classless. You pretty much left out that part to paint your little narrative, didn’t you? That’s called a lie by omission. You’re not respectfully submitting anything, you’re misrepresenting in an attempt to manipulate.
I do not care if Mark is banned or not, and I am not trying to get him banned. I do not let what he says bother me, he has directed comments at me before and we got over it and through it. But I see it from a different angle I guess, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. You might not think it is bullying, but it sure sounds like it. And I was not reacting to what the other guy said, I was reacting to what he said to MJ. I did not believe the prison stuff and gave it no credence, so why in the hell would I mention it? I am not misrepresenting anything, I am giving my interpretation of what was said. Period.
When you “humbly submit” to Scott that he ought to do something about that Mark guy, it’s a call to action. You’re making a case and you want a person of authority to act on it.
If you don’t like the guy, fine. Deal with that on your own and be honest about it. Don’t angle for action based on some self righteous false notion that MJ was being bullied, which wasn’t the case. At least with Crazy BOB and TrueBlue, they’re honest about their disdain and their intentions.
Michael
Thanks!
Anytime MJ, I am just tired of his antic’s and vitriol. As for Dodgerpatch, he is entitled to his opinion and me to mine……..
Also his I have walked with the baddest of the bad act is getting old. He also boasted that he hates guns, but he carries one. Sounds to me like he is inviting confrontation…….
Michael, I prefer to enjoy Mark’s enthusiam for the Dodgers and ignore his positioning of others.
Enthusiasm is one thing, bullying and berating is another. The guy has good takes, he could lose the bombast and vitriol and be a lot more easy to stomach. Ignoring a constant problem does not make it go away, and his berating is getting very tiresome.
He’s not getting banned. Stop it!
Just because you don’t like him talking about his personal life in a way you interpret is bragging is not a reason to ban a poster from a blog, nor is a particular poster’s view of guns grounds for banning. No, he didn’t threaten anyone with a gun. To suggest otherwise is lying with the intent to smear…with the ultimate goal to ban. That’s the one type of lie I think is worse than all others, and anyone who does this in even a subtle way I lose all respect for.
I never said he threatened anyone, what I said, if you could read, was he said he hates guns but carries one. That is an invitation to confrontation by any standard. Not that he would actually use the thing. But just saying he carry’s one is boasting that he cannot be harmed. I could care less about his personal life, I do not know the man and he does not know me, but that baddest of the bad crap is old. I could care less how tough he thinks he is, what he is is a bully. That is my opinion of him and I doubt anything you or anyone else says would change my mind.
Oh, I can read, and I can read between the lines pretty effectively, too, and can recognize manipulating BS.
You’re free to call him out on things he actually does, as I’m doing to you. Don’t make stuff up.
“He’s inviting confrontation (code language for threatening people with violence). Scott, you better do something about that.”
Read between this line, and this is blunt. Mind your own damn business, and worry about what you say . He can defend himself, he does not need you baby sitting him. I don’t make stuff up. You read what he said different than I did, so do not try and tell me what to think. Mark is a big boy, and if he disputes something I say, fine I accept that, but you go to your own corner and stay out of my business.
You know what, kiss off ..I could care less what you think. And never call me a liar. Just because I interpret something different than you and see it in a different light does not make me a liar…………..you like the guy, fine. I respect his views, but I think sometimes he gets on a high horse, That is my opinion nothing else……..
His comments were more about Mark than you or the blog. He’s unbalanced.
Dodger patch
I think you are kind of insinuating something, about Michael that isn’t true.
And we both know, neither one of these guys, are threatening violence.
It is just words, so it would just be better to drop it I think.
Bite me dick head. If I was unbalanced you would fucking know it…….
I was referring to BOB.
Here is another stat table that is fun to play with:
http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/position/cf/sort/WARBR
Bum
Does Desmond and Kiermaier have better defensive stats then Joc, and that is why there war is higher.
Yep!!! Gotta lot of good baseball stuff going on so far!!!
First place, how sweet it is… Maeda deserves a mention on the ROY list…
Ohhhh! Good point. We don’t think of Maeda as a rookie, especially with Seager getting the accolades.
But Maeda has been solid. Didn’t even miss his start after taking a shot off his knee in AZ.
dodgerrick: “In response to Mr. Boxout’s hope that we will see what Friedman, et al will do after 2018 when they go shopping in the high-priced market, I suggest that he is assuming facts not in evidence.”
Boxout7: “Your Honor, Counsel knows there can be no facts that predict the future with absolute certainty. I was merely laying the “foundation” for my argument that FAZ would be doing some serious shopping post 2018 season.”
Dodgerrick: “Your Honor”
Judge: “Mr. dodgerrick, interesting objection, but, Overruled! Mr. Boxout7 you may continue.
Boxout7: “Thank you, Your Honor.”
As I was saying, We believe, FAZ was tasked with getting payroll below the luxury tax threshold. The Dodgers will probably be under that threshold during the 2018 season (Unless some irresistible bargain/opportunity pops up). Plaintiff, forgets that FAZ already has two high priced free-agents on the payroll, Crawford and Gonzalez. Additionally, FAZ inherited other high priced, inefficient, salaries, Either.
FAZ’s past actions, which are facts, give every indication that FAZ is working diligently, to position the Dodgers below the luxury tax threshold. Additionally, Your Honor, the past under the present ownership gives every indication that they will continue to spend the funds necessary to build a dominant baseball organization, albeit sometimes in ways not pleasing to some fans. These are the FACTS, your honor, Guggs has allowed the highest payroll (accrued under Ned), big spending on coaches, trainers, scouts, the park (including club house) and the farm.
Your Honor, Again I submit, that there is every indication that the Dodgers will continue to take the necessary steps to build and maintain a dominate baseball organization. We believe it is reasonable to project that the Dodger player budget will always be around the luxury tax threshold. Based on this “presumption”, and FAZ’s forward looking actions to date (i.e. acquiring numerous low priced, productive, players) indicate there will be room in the player budget to do some serious shopping in the high-priced market post 2018.
Before the defense rests, Your Honor, we would like to point out to the court, that Plaintiff’s argument that FAZ is incapable or unwilling to procure the aforementioned talent is based on Heresay, and is therefore, inadmissible.
The Defense Rests your honor!
Very good Box. You either have been to law school or watch a lot of TV.
Never been to law school, but, testified as an expert witness in over hundred cases. Enjoyed watching the lawyers in action.
Unfortuanately, dodgerrick, will probably tear me a new one on rebuttal.
I think it he is just auditioning for the remake of LA Law.
Good post…
The People Vs FAZ
Dodgerrick – “The Dodgers will let Kershaw walk in 2018 and won’t sign a free agent…and their prospects won’t pan out ..and the team will be bad.”
Boxout – “Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence.”
Judge – “Sustained.”
I used to watch a lot of court TV 🙂
Boxout
You better watch the Braves game today.
The Dbacks former number one pick, that was the number one pick in baseball, is starting today for the Braves at shortstop.
In response to your previous post, there is actually such a thing as injury prone-ness. There may be a genetic component:
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/the-genetics-of-being-injury-prone/385257/
The article notes a particular collagen gene may be involved but suggests that “However, because of the vast complexity of the human genome, it’s highly improbable that a single variant within a gene can determine a person’s genetic risk for a given soft-tissue injury. Researchers agree it’s much more likely that these injuries, like complex conditions such as obesity or type 2 diabetes, are influenced by multiple genes. ”
Another article cites studies that the way that certain athletes move may make them more prone to injury.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6211-why-some-athletes-are-injury-prone/
In any event, the stiffness of connective tissue can result in frequent and seemingly unrelated injuries. Check it out if you don’t believe me.
“If you’re rebutting my argument it would be more effective if it involved more than sarcasm.” I was rebutting your previous statement that we dummies just don’t understand that sports outcomes contain an element of randomness with sarcasm. I think that everyone hear understands that. NOT ONLY YOU.
“Players who are coming off a history of injury but who possess good fundamental metrics are often UNDERVALUED relative to their potential effectiveness.” Would you say that Anderson and McCarthy have performed as if they were undervalued relative to their effectiveness? I wouldn’t.
” You can use data and the most experiences scouts to evaluate a player to forecast their future performance, which gives you a statistical advantage when done well, and makes your educated guess a little more educated, but it doesn’t allow you to predict the future. ” Again, the Straw Man. I never said that data and experience allow you to “predict the future”; I said that the past was the best predictor of the future. Do you really want to disagree with that?
You cannot refute that injury prone players do not receive the kind of compensation and are not as desirable to teams looking to sign players than those who have been healthy. And you cannot refute that there is a good reason for that. And you cannot refute that the Braintrust has signed more of the infirm than most teams have. And you cannot refute that the reason for this is that they are less expensive. And you cannot refute that the experiment has not, generally, been successful.
You cannot refute that there is a reason that the David Prices of the world make more money than the Brandon McCarthys – they have had more successful careers and are generally healthy.
The Braintrust has made a decision to cut payroll and this has required them to hire someone other than the stars that you might think would populate the rotation of the Dodgers. From week to week, we don’t know what other team’s cast-offs will start – Kazmir, Hill, Wood, McCarthy, Anderson, Norris – none of these have had a stellar career. They have all had significant issues with health and/or effectiveness and all have found their way to the Dodgers, a team with “the highest payroll in baseball” as we are constantly reminded, as if this were an excuse for having a rotation of the old and infirm. Since Kershaw went down, Dodgers starters have averaged about 5 innings per game.
The Dodgers are 13th in the National League (out of 15 teams) with only 48 quality starts to date. (6 ip with 3 runs or less – not a high bar) And Kershaw has 14 of these, so the rest of the Dodger staff has 34 quality starts in 102 games. The Dodgers are 4th in team ERA, but non-Kershaw starters have an ERA of 4.46. This is no way to run a ballteam, but is what we have to expect given whom the Braintrust has signed to the Dodgers’ rotation.
I am one who predicted at the beginning of the season that the Dodgers’ rotation would be a problem for the team – yeah, I know, it’s all random and all of that – but my brain told me that the rotation would break down. It must gall you that many here could see that, since we are all too dumb to know about how random baseball is. Now that it has come to pass, how do you account for the predictions of those who made them?
By the way, this was intended to respond to your post from yesterday, not the post above – but learn what hearsay is. “The basic rule that testimony or documents which quote persons not in court are not admissible. Because the person who supposedly knew the facts is not in court to state his/her exact words, the trier of fact cannot judge the demeanor and credibility of the alleged first-hand witness, and the other party’s lawyer cannot cross-examine (ask questions of) him or her.”
MJ, I think you are upset with me for no reason. When I said:
“Reddick needs to get his ass to the bench for about three days. No excuse for that!”
That was not directed at you. It was directed to the fact that Reddick made the error. He was almost nonchalant in doing it. I would sit him down! It was not a jab at you.
Mark
I realize that now.
I didn’t see that error, so I thought you were still mad at me, for questioning his batting order.
Sorry about that.
Like I said, I like everyone here.
We are in first place and we look more like the Giants of those three series wins right now, then the Giants do.
But I never under estimate the Giants.
When Rosenthal wrote that article on the Dodgers last week, he gave this Dodger team the ultimate complement.
Rosenthal said this Dodger team has gotten the same back bone, that the Giant and Cardinal teams, always seems to have year after year.
And how a team does when adversity hits, tells you what the character of this team is.
And this team is fun watch, so I hope the pen can hold up.
A gazillion injuries and half game up and 3rd best record in NL. Injury free and the Dodgers have 7 to 10 more wins and are comfortably ahead in the div and probably the 2nd, or best record in NL, hell probably in MLB. Many MLB teams would love to have our starting pitcher subs. Lets face it, it’s all gravy from here. Any other team with the kind of injury problem Dodgers have had would be in the cellar and licking their wounds thinking about next season. Whoever made it possible to compete with all these injuries thank you so so much for the depth. Wonder who is responsible. Oh, and the farm is deep and talented, future is bright both short and long term. Whoever did that thanks. Enjoy the season, been a fun one so far.
We have climbed the mountain. Now to stay there. I am not a hitters’ fan, but I love these hitters, especially this year. Kendrick in the 8 hole. The Phillies’ young pitcher said after the game that no one knows how hard it is to pitch to this team. THAT’S a compliment. But we don’t play patsies all year, so a true measure will be when we play the playoff caliber teams, including the giants. Then the starting pitching will be tested, for sure. BTW: I think the bullpen sucked yesterday, but with a lead, maybe the focus wasn’t there. I hope. Go Pirates at noon PDT.
Puig at .481 with 3 HR’s. Should Reddick be looking over his shoulder? Can we stand another dose of Puig?
I wish he was in RF but I think he has to show for more than 10 days that he’s committed to being on the playing field. I would rather see him in starting lineup vs lefties than Reddick right now but he may be learning a valuable lesson.
Bobbie17
Have you heard anything on Toles?
Last thing I heard about him, was that he hurt his foot.
But I think Mark said it might be something else, going on with Toles.
Toles is playing in Okla City batting .318.
To bring Puig back up now probably would disrupt this team again. I say NO. NO.
I tend to agree with that.
Thanks to all the people who sent e-mails after last night. Here’s the best one (Name Redacted)
Good Morning Mark!
______________________ is the name is use to post my Dodger Thoughts, all for Ladodgertalk. Anyway my Name is _____________________________________________. I have followed your blog for about 12 years until you closed it, i just wanted to let you know that for the first time i was very angry yesterday with what trueblue wrote. I thought it was classless and a chicken shit thing to do. I know you’re A good person just on how you talk about your family on the blog, i was happy to read Scotts comments today , not that you need any help ha! , but it was the right thing to do.
I enjoyed your blog very much i really like what you write about the Dodgers. Hopefully you can start it up again Soon, anyway please keep my thoughts on this matter private, as i am a very private person.
Don’t EVER let any chicken shit hide behind A keyboard blogger get the best of you.
Remember that you had a huge group of followers in your blog and no matter what a few say a lot of them look up to you.
I won’t bother you with them all, but let’s just say I have a lot of support.
Best wishes to you and your family!
What is classless is posting promos and endorsements about yourself.
Sorry, you must have an IQ over 86 to post here. Ask for your money back. I suspected you might be smart. I am not usually this wrong!
Let’s be accurate with the facts. The first 5 Dodgers did not strike out. Reddick robbed of xtra bases by great catch at the wall in first at bat, and robbed of base hit later in the game, he looks good at the plate despite the results thus far. However, I would like to see him removed from clean up spot until results change.
I wrote the first five Dodgers struck out after hearing that quote from one of the broadcasters. I trusted it was accurate.
At times it’s difficult to catch every inning of every game, especially with games that start early on a weekday. When that happens I have to rely on other sources to fill in the gaps.
I know I can speak for Scott as well when I say it is never our intent to play fast and loose with facts. Sometimes we make a mistake in our attempts to bring you pre-and post-games every day of the season, but 99.9% of the time, it’s just an honest mistake. In the case of the strike outs, I figured the TV broadcaster was a source I could trust.
We’ll continue to do our best to bring you great Dodgers content all season long.
I just saw Reddick’s misplay, and he just must be letting his hitting, get to him on defense.
Even though he hasn’t hit that well, and I don’t see him as a fourth hitter, he did hit the ball hard twice yesterday.
His first hit would have been a double, if the Phillies outfielder, had not made a really good play on it.
I hope Reddick starts hitting, because he is going to be in the line up, and we need him to hit.
And if his hitting is getting in the way of his defense, we really need him to start hitting.
MJ, stay as avid and passionate fan as you are. Stick to your guns and do not let people try to change your opinions. You are a good person, and one reason I enjoyed coming on here…….
Michael
Thank you so much!
Out of here for good, I do not need the aggravation from someone, and to tell the truth I could care less of their opinion of me. I have a life that is pretty full and busy right now and I do not need someone who does not know me telling me how to think. I will enjoy my baseball and my Dodgers from afar. As for Mark, I respect your knowledge, I do not always agree with what you say, and sometimes I think you push it to far, but that is you. I respect your right to say and think what you want. In my opinion and it is just that, sometimes you come off as being a bully and trying to put people in their place. Maybe I am wrong, if so, well that is on me. But just because people do not agree with the FO and what they are doing does not make them stupid. They may be nothing more than avid fans and concerned. To all here, be well, and enjoy the final days of the season and Vinny’s final year.
Michael
Take the advice you gave me, don’t let anyone stop you from coming to this site and enjoying yourself.
That comment from Dodger patch, that mentioned someone being unbalanced, wasn’t about you.
He was talking about BOB, not you.
I could see how you would think different about that comment, but it was about BOB.
Don’t be a stranger, all of this will blow over, with the next article about the next game.
I for one urge you not to leave. I don’t think you are a quitter.
No, I am not, I do have a lot of other things on my plate right now including taking care of my room mates affairs after he dies, which by all accounts will be very soon. Thanks Mark
Relax. No one wants you to leave. If I come on too strong when arguing and making a point, then I apologize.
I like reading Mark’s post, but that’s not necessarily why I took issue with what you were doing. I just see Mark getting it from all sides, both directly from the likes of BOB and TrueBlue, and in more of a cleverly indirect way by folks such as you and Badger. Mark didn’t do anything wrong in that last thread. In fact, it was said that he lost his manhood by being gang raped in prison. That was pretty ugly and goes a lot further than Mark’s usual shtick of calling the naysayers morons.
I appreciate your candor. Probably me over reacting again. I actually got a nice e-mail from Scott. Lets put it this way, I thought Mark was attacking MJ, who for all practical purposes is the most laid back guy on here. I rushed to defend the guy. My bad. But that does not excuse trueblue for his off the wall comments nor me for letting myself get angry, and for that I apologize. BOB can be a royal pain sometimes too. I know Mark looks at things from angles I do not, and that is because I am pretty much old school baseball, and I do not think today’s game is better with all the BS statistics they use to rate players. I watch the game, and I see what guys do consistently or do not do, and I base my judgement on that….very old school. As for guys who use PED’s at any time I have no use for any of them and think they all should be out of baseball. Unfortunately that includes Grandal, and anyone else, including a former favorite Dee Gordon. I have a dear friend who’s son is in the White Sox system at AAA Charlotte. He is a pitcher and he has received 2 suspensions, one of them was questionable, the other was earned. But I told her what I thought about that stuff, and she agreed even though he was suspended. Lets let sleeping dogs lie and go from there……
Nice post. I can come on a little strong. After all, it’s just baseball. Welcome back.
Wish you the very best Michael as you are definitely one of the good guys. Your insightfulness, thoughts and experiences all were very uplifting. I enjoyed the stories. Thanks for sharing and God bless.
Why is my comment awaiting moderation?