The Wonderful Blog Which You ve Never Seen

First things first for this edition of the Houston Astros, according to Manager Phil Garner, get to .500. If this squad can go 5-2 this upcoming week leading up to the All Star break, they will do just that. This minor goal, in turn, will also place them right with the Cubs for 2nd place in the NL Central. Granted, Houston is not gonna catch St. Louis, the Cards will be clinching the division sometime in early to mid September, but the NL Wild Card is not out of the question.

On Sunday afternoon, Roger Clemens shut down the Cincinnati Reds to move the Astros to four games below .500, and also within 6 games of the Atlanta Braves, the current Wild Card leader. All the talk of Clemens return to the NY Yankees, or even an in-state swap with the Texas Rangers have come to an abrupt halt. Considering the Rangers recent struggles, and the impending suspension of their ace, Kenny Rogers, looks like Houston has the best chance of the two Texas teams of making postseason play.

This feat is amazing for a team that began the season without Lance Berkman, forced to start basically an “all rookie” outfield to open the year, and losing team captain Jeff Bagwell for the season early on. The injuries to Berkman and Bagwell, coupled with the inability to resign the top catch in free agency, Carlos Beltran and allowing Jeff Kent to head West , left this teams offense in shambles. And it showed, until a few weeks ago.

The turnaround: Willie Taveras and Craig Biggio have been getting on base in front of Berkman, Ensberg, and Lane., Berkman is getting his swing back after missing the first month and a half of the season. Ensberg has began hitting for power again, and has solidified his hold on 3rd base (and what should have been an All Star game appearance, imo), and Lane has realized he can hit Major League pitching, and it’s built his confidence. Most importantly for the offense, Phil Garner has shown patience with these hitters, and allowed this lineup to take shape.

It also doesn’t hurt when you have three pitchers like Clemens, Oswalt, and Pettitte who can go deep into games and not expose a thin relief corps. And as a lineup, you know you don’t have to spot these guys 5 runs for them to win. Unfortunately, early in the year, these guys were getting very little (or no) run support.

It is still gonna be an uphill climb for Houston. By all indications, this will be the team that Management is gonna field the rest of the year, no blockbuster trade, like the one last year that brought in Beltran for the seecond half of 2004. The Astros are interested in bringing in a reliever or two to shore up the bullpen, but it’s still very well possible this team contends. They will be seeing a lot of teams that have thrown in the towel (Cincy, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee) and are looking towards “next year”. It’s also no sure bet that Chicago will stay healthy, or string together any sort of consistancy to shore up 2nd place. Couple that with the fact that no “dominant” teams exist in the East or West (Washington is not dominant, imo, but they are a gritty bunch), the NL Wild Card can conceivably be won with an 85-77 or 86-76 record.

The Astros have weathered the worst already in 2005, and I give them credit for not folding the tent and giving up on this season. But, I’m not surprised, considering that Phil Garner is the one leading them into battle.

John Onan (aka Ego74) is sports moderator at the Online Players Union http://www.theopu.com
and a football contributor at realfootball365.com

Tags: Baseball, News, recreation, sportsBaseball, News, recreation, sports

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Perhaps Johnny Damon’s in a panic (Why are you guys still petrified of the Yankees??) with the news of Curt Schilling’s return to the Red Sox in a bullpen role. But, this latest move by Boston, in the wake of Keith Foulke’s injury and ineffectiveness (4 blown saves and a 6.23 ERA), makes perfect sense. Granted, the Yankee will put together a run at Boston after the All Star break, regardless if Schilling is in the bullpen, rotation, or rehab. But, this bullpen is what is keeping the Yankees in the race, and I give Francona props for wanting to do something about it.

It’s apparent that Schilling’s ankle is not strong enough to pitch 6 or 7 innings at this time (see his last outing for Pawtucket), but he can be very valuable coming out of the pen, and giving the team a strong inning or two. The gutsy Schilling actually began his career as a reliever, before becoming one of the premier Starting Pitchers in baseball in the past decade. John Smoltz is living proof you can make a successful transformation from staff ace to closer. It doesn’t hurt that Schilling is a well respected veteran, and could provide a calming influence over a not-so-calm state of affairs.

Now, back to Damon’s comments before Wednesday’s game at Texas. “I don’t think he’s ready to be our closer,I think Bronson (Arroyo) would be our best choice as a closer. That’s if Mike Timlin’s not it.”. Okay Johnny, if Arroyo heads down to the bullpen, who takes his place in the rotation? Certainly not Schilling, he’d have to remain on the sidelines. Unless Boston goes exclusively to a four man rotation, they have to insert Jeremi Gonzalez (or another mediocre hurler) back into the “spot starter” role. That would be my idea of “panic”. If Timlin takes over for Foulke as team Fireman, then the entire bullpen will be forced to move up one spot. Like Rocket J Squirrel would say to Bullwinkle “Not again!! That trick never works!!!” Chances are, Theo Epstein will acquire an established middle reliever to help plug up the leaks in the bullpen boat.

Schilling, unlike too many of today’s players, is the true definition of at “team player”. If the mental picture of his bloody sock and decimated ankle last October in the ALCS doesn’t confirm that, I’m sorry for ya’. He has agreed to take on this role, which gets him back in the rotation without putting too much wear and tear on the ankle. In other words, Johnny, he’s doing this “for the team”. He will be a lot fresher than most starters when September rolls around, and if he’s healthy, more than likely he will be sharp (see Schilling’s past history).

Obviously, the Red Sox manager doesn’t see this as a reason for dissention. “This is not permanent,” Francona said of Schilling closing. “Whether it’s two weeks, two months, it’s not two years. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Two weeks ago, we weren’t having this conversation. We’re trying to do the best we can. I don’t think we have leeway to not win. Our job is to win. So we’re going to do the best we can to win.” Exactly!! Francona is smart enough to realize that if it’s not working, he’ll pull the plug on the experiment and go to plan B. Then, maybe Johnny Damon can set the pitching rotation and won’t be in such a panic over a team they eliminated from the Playoffs in 2004

John Onan (aka Ego74) is Sports Moderator at http://www.theopu.com and a regular Football Contributor at http://www.realfootball365.com

Tags: Baseball, boston, recreation, sportsBaseball, boston, recreation, sports

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Although many aspects of the early days of baseball have been well documented, historians are just beginning to chronicle the major role that Black athletes played in making professional baseball popular. Black ball players have played the game for about as many years as White players. Players of color, both Black and Hispanic, were on mostly White ball clubs in the first days of amateur ball, but when the majors started to become popular in the early 1900’s, an unwritten barbaric rule went into effect that kept players of color out of professional baseball.

At that time, segregation was the poison that had drained our society of its full potential. In baseball, it robbed us of the opportunity to witness some of the greatest athletes of all time on an even playing field. It was a time when legends such as Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and Cy Young came to light. What would be our perception of those legends if segregation had not skewed our vision?

Minority players who might have achieved greatness in the majors were relegated to the minor leagues or, as they were called, the Negro Leagues. Life was tough for the Black ball player in those days. There were many sordid incidents, including clashes with the Klan, spitting on players from the stands, and the throwing of rocks at team buses. Yes there was definitely a “color barrier,” not only for baseball but for America.

Many of the statistics and numbers from the Negro Leagues are unknown, and the talking points about greatness in the league cannot be verified because the games, events and incidents were not documented properly.

Until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, much of the history of players of color was forgotten and lost. Mostly, all we have as a resource are the stories of the players that played in the Negro Leagues.

Walter “Dirk” Gibbons, a pitcher with the Indianapolis Clowns, said, “Nobody wants to believe we were as good as they say we were, but I can vouch for it, I was there. I know these guys were really that good. All we wanted was a chance to prove we could play the game. I knew sooner or later it would happen, but we had to go through so much before it really did happen.” Walter Gibbons should know what good is; by his own account, he was a 19-game winner with 229 strikeouts in one season. The Indianapolis Clowns were also the team that produced Hank Aaron. In considering what happened, Gibbons succinctly noted, “It was segregation, and that is just the way it was.”

At one time, much of what went on in the Negro Leagues was ignored. In fact, Gibbons claimed that Jackie Robinson wasn’t the best player in the leagues. “He was good, but he wasn’t the best,” said Gibbons. Other players, like Satchel Paige and Larry Doby have a place in the history of baseball once they entered the majors, but what about their accomplishments when they were locked out of the all-White leagues?

At the end of the Civil War, the Negro Leagues started to develop with the creation of unofficial and unorganized teams. The first Black professional team took the field in 1885 in Babylon, New York. White reporters named the team the “Cuban Giants” in an attempt to attract White teams to play them. By the end of the 1860’s, there were a number of Black baseball teams in the Philadelphia area that would play against any other team, professional or not.

By 1885, Black baseball started to organize with the official formation of the Southern League of Base Ballists. In 1888, the Middle States League appeared and admitted two all-Black teams, the Cuban Giants and the New York Gorhams. After a long and blurry history of organizational forming, dissolving and reforming, Bill Veeck attempted to buy the Philadelphia Phillies, announcing that he would recruit Black players for his club. The National League stepped in and bought the Phillies, handing the club over to William Cox, who had no such intentions.

Finally in 1945, Branch Rickey, a member of the Major League Committee on Baseball Integration, searched the national and international baseball scene. He was looking for the best player candidate to break the color line in Major League Baseball. His perfect candidate turned out to be Jackie Robinson. It has been suggested that Robinson wasn’t the first player to break through the color barrier; that there were others before him. While there may be some truth to that, Jackie Robinson will always be remembered as the player who started to change the public’s attitude toward segregation.

Today, there’s a concerted effort to remember the past. In February 2006, a special 12-member panel was convened to start the electoral process of inducting players from the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Although so many players of color never participated in Major League Baseball, the greats are starting to be officially recognized for their athletic achievements.

This article was written by FR Penn sponsored by http://www.stubhub.com. If you’re looking for baseball tickets to see your favorite team live in action, look no further than Stubhub.com where fans buy and sell the hottest sports tickets. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://www.stubhub.com.

Tags: Baseball, Negro Leagues, recreation, sportsBaseball, Negro Leagues, recreation, sports

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