Defending the Truth

Is anyone here an avid baseball fan like me? Favorite team? Thoughts on the season right now?

I am a total baseball fan. Minnesota Twins because I grew up only a few blocks from the old Met stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. That was back in the days when you could sneak in and get autographs from Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Harmon Killebew, Jim Kaat, Whitey Ford. I even got Willie Mays when they came for an exhibition game.

I live in Washington so I have to support the Seattle Mariners.

I have always liked the Atlanta Braves... but I am kind of rooting for the Texas Rangers this year.

Baseball is sooo boring to me.

You don't understand the game then. I'm not trying to be harsh or anything, that is classic response every single person gives who doesn't really know the game. I played it for a long time, want to play on a team again sometime, but I watch it all the time too. It is truly the greatest game.

I know people have been saying the same thing for the last 4 seasons in a row, and they keep being wrong, but I really do think this year is the year that the Braves streak of something like 15 consecutive Division titles will end. The Mets are very good and have a lot of depth. More importantly, they have a bullpen and the Braves don't. 12 blown saves already and an ERA over 4 for the ATL bullpen.

The question with the Rangers is always pitching, starting pitching to be more specific. It's too bad they lost Chris Young, he is doing very well for San Diego right now. (2 wins, 16 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs last week for Young in 2 starts) The AL West isn't really known for being weak, but currently all of the AL West teams have bad records. The division winner might have less than 90 wins, like the San Diego last year in the NL West. I wouldn't count the Angles or the A's out. Billy Beane is an excellent GM, changed the game in many ways with Moneyball. Still, I believe Texas is in first right now. They certainly have the bats. They always do.

Eh, no you don't, especially not this year. Unfortunately, Minnesota has Cleveland, best record in the league Detriot, and defending champs Chicago White Sox to deal with. Johan Santana and Brad Radke aren't going to be bringing a Division title this year. The AL Central will be a very exciting division to watch because there are three very good teams. Cleveland might fall off the pace because they have had an iffy bullpen. Detriot is very talented, as demonstrated by being the first team to reach 30 wins and have held best record in the league title for a few weeks. However, their talent is by and large pretty young. With the exception of Kenny Rogers, you're looking at a very talented but very young rotation. At the end of the day, the seasoned defending champs might take the division. But the AL East is almost the same way, with New York, Boston, and Toronto all with good teams and not separated by many games. It's quite possible that the race for the AL Wildcard will be even more competitive than the races for the Central and East titles.

Those are some great names for autographs. I've never been about the autographs. My grandfather used to send players letters and ask them to tear off a piece of the paper and mail it back with an autograph. A lot of guys did it. He grew up in the 30s and 40s, and supposedly has almost every great player you could think of. I don't know why I have never asked him specifically who he has. I'm going to do that next time. I do have my 2004 World Series Manny Ramirez jersey though. Pedro Martinez is my favorite player of all time, though, because I was a pitcher.

I think it is really fun to play, but it is just too slow paced for me to watch it. I know the rules and I feel like I understand the game well enough, but I am certainly not caught up with players or anything like that.

You have to understand the strategy. That makes it exciting. Once you understand what is really going on, then you can really enjoy it. 90% of the people who watch baseball have no idea what is going on unless someone hits a home run. They understand that.

good point

Go Red Sox!