MLB Season

[DCHeather]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/77951 ... five-games

Well, it didn't take long for Ozzie to stick his foot in his mouth in Miami.

[SoCalJoe]

If you had the under at 3 games before Ozzie would say something stupid, the office pool is yours.

[VegasJustin]

I don't like the way Cuba is run, but this outrage is pretty pathetic. It was quite clear what he meant by his statement. He didn't mean that he literally loved Castro. He shouldn't have to apologize for something as silly as what he said.


This is why people avoid politics in sports. Every sportswriter should never bitch again when an athlete avoids politics. When they open their mouth, even if it's a harmless thought, people jump on them. This was clearly him respecting the fact that Castro is still alive and everybody got all pissed off. Muhammad Ali would be destroyed if he could speak out today. If everybody thought this was bad, Ali used to say shit far worse than this.

Sorry for the rant, but I hate when people get pissed over stuff like this.

[Clevelandmo]

Am I taking crazy pills? Or am I in the twilight zone. Isnt Fidel Castro dead and in fact no longer in power. It's his son in charge right, it's not really him.

I must say I kind of agree with Justin. The media and social pressure against people speaking their minds is getting so out of hand. At what point will our right to free speech even matter. On the other hand, what a stupid thing to say in Miami.

[DCHeather]

Nope, he's not dead...yet. Although every so often people jump the gun on twitter and newspapers. Fidel put his brother in charge.

For the most part I agree with you two. But when it came to this comment, in Miami of all places (who most wouldn't mind hearing the news of Fidel's death), it doesn't get any dumber and insensitive.

[Clevelandmo]

Nope, he's not dead...yet. Although every so often people jump the gun on twitter and newspapers. Fidel put his brother in charge.

For the most part I agree with you two. But when it came to this comment, in Miami of all places (who most wouldn't mind hearing the news of Fidel's death), it doesn't get any dumber and insensitive.

Well in my day, jocks were allowed to be stupid

[DCHeather]

Nope, he's not dead...yet. Although every so often people jump the gun on twitter and newspapers. Fidel put his brother in charge.

For the most part I agree with you two. But when it came to this comment, in Miami of all places (who most wouldn't mind hearing the news of Fidel's death), it doesn't get any dumber and insensitive.

Well in my day, jocks were allowed to be stupid

Yup, and they're still free to say dumb things. Nobody gets locked up in jail over that. But I think it's reasonable to assume to dumb comments can cause you grief (you can't exactly tell your employer's to f*$k off and expect nothing to happen because of free speech). If he had said what he did almost anywhere else, most likely nothing would have happened (except maybe a few blurbs in the media).

[SoCalJoe]

For those of us used to Ozzie's shoot from the hip, tongue in cheek style, we take his quotes with a grain of salt. However, you don't take a coaching job in Tel Aviv and use the words "respect" and "love" in the same sentence as Hitler (even if you call him an SOB in the same sentence). To Cuban Americans that's what Castro represents. If you aren't from Miami and/or not of Cuban descent you would think this was an overreaction. However, for the older generation of Cubans that call the Miami area home that have had loved ones, friends, property "disappear" aka KILLED/TAKEN this quote is going to be taken personally. Keep in mind the overwhelming majority of Cubans didn't immigrate here because they wanted to, they fleed. You don't yell "fire" in a theatre and you don't say you respect Castro in Miami.

Ozzie's quote would barely register a blip on the radar in Chicago or York, but as the new manager of Marlins, playing in the brand new stadium that is built in LITTLE HAVANA you are going to get justifiably roasted. Ozzie has that Charles Barkley-type quality where people can't stay mad at him, but he's lucky he didn't get fired. To his credit he came across in his press conference as genuine in his remorse (no script, both english and spanish, no time limit).

[Clevelandmo]

So Fulham doesnt have a game for ages; we need to talk about something. Joe what's the word with the Dodgers there in So Cal? I'm sure with the new management I'll like them again, but I dont think it will ever get to the level of where I'm a fan again. Too much time has passed from the days and influence of Branch Rickey, the O'Malleys, Walt Alston, Tommy Lasorda, Fernandomania, the ever present infield of Yeager, Garvey, Lopez, Russel, Cey etc. Sometimes there's no going back, at least for me. Does Vin Scully still call the games? Does anyone even listen to the games on the radio anymore? Wow I'm gettin'

Did you all realize that Branch Rickey was the first guy to come up with parity in sports and the basic strategy of evenly distributing media revenue. MLB didnt buy it but Lamar Hunt did when he was in charge of he AFL. No wonder that it found it's way to MLS.

[SoCalJoe]

Mo, Vin Scully still does the broadcasts. They switch it up where he does radio for 3 innings, then TV for 3, etc. He's a living legend and icon out here. Sadly he missed his second home opener in 63 years yesterday (let me repeat, he's been the voice of the Dodgers for 63 YEARS, that has to make you feel better Mo ) due to a severe head cold. He does limit his away games to only San francisco, San Diego, and Phoenix. Keep in mind I'm a hater when it comes to them, but they are off to a good start. Don Mattingly looks like he's really grown into the role as manager, and when you have one of the top pitchers Clayton Kershaw and best everyday players Matt Kemp you have a good place to start. Baseball will never have a system again that you can have a starting infield start for a decade + like the Dodgers did in the 70's and 80's, but make no mistake the Dodgers are going to return to prominence, they didn't shell out that kind of cash not to get a return, in LA that means $$ will be spent to make them a winner again.

[VegasJustin]

I guess I don't find Castro that bad. Considering that he's had a big powerful neighbor that's wanted him dead for 50 years, he could be far worse. I want the people to have even more freedom, but it seems to be moving that way. People forget that Castro replaced an actual dictator, Batista, but since he was friendly with us nobody cares.


Mo, his brother, Raul, runs things.

I agree with Joe, the Dodgers are well on their way to becoming relevant again. They have a superstar CF and a superstar pitcher. They also have a few players on the rise and a decent supporting cast. I think they will probably be contenders next year as the new money helps them in free agency.

[VegasJustin]

The Mariners had over 12,000 at the game last night in game pitched by Felix. Yeah, it was raining and cold, but that's pretty bad. It's a problem that management has caused and they need to fix.

I won't go into pissed off mode, we are 7-7, but I knew it would come to this and I hope Z has a plan or this could become normal.


Today is the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park. I don't really like the Red Sox, but that stadium has alot of history and it's pretty special to see such a milestone. Hopefully the Cubs can also get a World Series.

[DCHeather]

I'm glad Tito reconsidered and will be at the ceremonies. He was a big part of the two championship teams in the 2000s. But I certainly didn't begrudge him for initially saying he wouldn't attend. The way he was treated by the Red Sox organization in the offseason was a shame.

Welcome back Tito, most fans appreciate the work you did. And Happy 100 Fenway.

[VegasJustin]

It's a month into the season and the Mariners are 11-16. Our season is over, as it usually is at this point. I have always said we need to spend money, but that isn't going to happen. I thought we were serious about Prince Fielder and he said the talks weren't serious. We won't ever spend and are happy with averaging 20,000 fans a game. This was a city that supported the Mariners, but why should they go to games if ownership doesn't care?


If they did care, the GM should go. His biggest trade was giving away Cliff Lee for Smoak and Beaven. Now Beaven is a decent back of the rotation guy, but Smoak is below average at best. He has decent power, but doesn't make contact nearly enough to be good. When you trade away a guy like Cliff Lee, you must get somebody great in return and Smoak isn't a great player at all and probably won't ever be anything more than average. I know that Jack has made up for this by trading Pineda for Montero, but that was always a trade I would expect a GM to make since we needed hitting.



His other problems has been the lack of finding offense. We have known for two years that we needed a SS and LF. Ryan and Figgins are horrible offensively and Jack hasn't found replacements. We have a ton of pitching in the minor leagues, we have three guys in Double A that are probably going to be very good, so why can't we step up and trade one of them for some hitting? Why aren't we trading away League for hitting since we're out of it already? It's simply inexcusable to go this long without acquiring better bats and sending a below average offensive team out there every year.




This probably isn't all his fault as ownership hasn't exactly opened the checkbook, but responsibility for this has to start somewhere and I don't know what else to suggest. Right now we're a bottom ten franchise despite being in a top ten market. Something has to change. I have been watching the Mariners for 17 years and it's getting old watching the same story unfold every year.

[jumpkutz]

T-minus one month til our annual pilgrimmage to 700 Clark St.!