This Week in Baseball 4/9 - 4/15

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

No Jackie Robinson Day game can be complete without a Josh Groban song over the PA. My girl broke up with me in November, so I'm now free to say this.

 

FUCK Josh Groban.

[Guest Smues]

Is Josh Groban the "You raise me up" guy?

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Is Josh Groban the "You raise me up" guy?

Yeah.

 

That song will NOT be played at my wedding. Not anymore.

[Matt Young]

Yes.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Alan is so emo when his team sucks.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe]

Marco Scutaro sucks, he really does. But I'll be damned if he doesn't pull clutch hits out of his ass when you least expect it. Three run, walkoff homerun with two out off Mariano Rivera to win it.

 

Almost takes away the sting knowing Rich Harden might but hurt yet again.

 

#42 blew a 4-2 lead on Jackie Robinson Day.

[Danville_Wrestling]

This ESPN game is absolutley terrible. Errors being committed very early on and I feel that all the commentary on Jackie is distracting from the game. Then again, it's keeping me tuned in from the crap on my screen.

[Hawk 34]

I've been greatly bothered by every announcer saying "Wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson on Jackie Robinson Day" for each batter at every at-bat. I think people get it.

[vivalaultra]

I heard that Joe Morgan, in his commentary, called out the Astros for being the only major league without an African-American player. In my quick research a few minutes, I found that this...is not true. I didn't see an African-Americans on the Mets, Braves, or Rangers. I'm pretty sure the Mariners don't have any, either. I wonder if I just misunderstood Joe Morgan's comment or if he's a moron. Ok, so the 'Stros might mainly just have a buncha whitebread guys on the team, with the exception of Carlos Lee, but, come on...they signed Preston Wilson...and he sucked! That's why he was released. Joe Morgan irks me.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Morgan is an idiot. He's mentioned this before, and said a few other teams didn't have black players. Oh, and he's completely racist for saying that, but whatever...

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

I heard that Joe Morgan, in his commentary, called out the Astros for being the only major league without an African-American player. In my quick research a few minutes, I found that this...is not true. I didn't see an African-Americans on the Mets, Braves, or Rangers. I'm pretty sure the Mariners don't have any, either. I wonder if I just misunderstood Joe Morgan's comment or if he's a moron. Ok, so the 'Stros might mainly just have a buncha whitebread guys on the team, with the exception of Carlos Lee, but, come on...they signed Preston Wilson...and he sucked! That's why he was released. Joe Morgan irks me.

Mets have Lastings Milledge, Rangers have Kenny Lofton and the Mariners have Jason Ellison. The Braves don't have a black player, but we can rectify that by trading them Chris Roberson.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Milledge is currently a Zephyr.

[vivalaultra]

Yeah, I forgot about Lofton and Ellison hasn't been with the Mariners very long so I missed him. Milledge isn't on the 25-man roster, so I didn't count him because the 'Stros have African-Americans in the minors, too. Also, I'm pretty sure the Yankees don't have any African-Americans. Seriously, though, I respect the Hell out of Jackie Robinson and all that he did for the game of baseball and for humanity in general, but it just seems like they're taking this a bit too far, especially with Hank Aaron and Joe Morgan prattling on for 45 minutes about wondering why there aren't more minorities in baseball and how they're going to investigate it and all that. I abhor racism and I also abhor reverse racism. I love baseball, but my game wasn't on today so I'm ornery.

[Danville_Wrestling]

My black roomate was appalled when the pre-game had the church choir singing "Oh Happy Day" with some of the lyrics changed to say "Oh Jackie was walking tall!" He also wasn't a fan of Jesse Jackson being down on the field but he said that with baseball celebrating all of this now we'll probably be seeing big celebrations about Roberto Clemente in a few years with the growing Latino influence in the game.

 

I don't know where Morgan was going with all of those comments about teams that had no black players. I thought the Braves had Andruw Jones? Also, I dunno what Hank was saying about "investigating" about why blacks aren't playing the game. Hmmm....maybe because they don't want to or because they see football/basketball as more popular games? I think its a testament to how much baseball has fallen off the sports map as compared to other sports that more blacks aren't taking up the game.

 

It was nice that they had this tribute for Jackie Robinson because I respect what he did for the game but to be honest I was getting really sick of it by the middle of the week when they kept talking about it all on Sportscenter and playing the same clips every day. I think it took some of the "shine" off of the event since the MLB basically decided to declare Jackie Robinson week instead of day.

[Bored]

Aww now Joe is upset no one will give Dusty Baker a managing job. Rest easy young pitching arms, he won't harm you anymore.

 

I thought the Braves had Andruw Jones?

Jones is from Curacao. Remember only dark skinned people born in America actually count as real black people when it comes to baseball or at least that's what I've been told the last couple of weeks by ESPN.

[vivalaultra]

I think one of the reasons that there are fewer minorities in baseball as opposed to basketball or football is because the time it takes to actually get to the major leagues in baseball is infinitely longer than compared to football or basketball. If you're going to be a baseball player and try to make a living doing it, you're gonna have to LOVE it to spend 4 or 5 years or more in the minor leagues before you even get to the point where you're making something close to what a first year NFL or NBA player is making. And with all of this fanfare for Jackie Robinson, I certainly hope that Roberto Clemente gets similar treatment in a few years on the 40th anniversary or his passing. And another thing, if you look at the African-Americans that are in baseball, they're some of the best and most respected players in the game: Dontrelle Willis, Jimmy Rollins, Barry Bonds (for better or for worse), Torii Hunter, etc.

[Vern Gagne]

Aww now Joe is upset no one will give Dusty Baker a managing job. Rest easy young pitching arms, he won't harm you anymore.

 

I thought the Braves had Andruw Jones?

Jones is from Curacao. Remember only dark skinned people born in America actually count as real black people when it comes to baseball or at least that's what I've been told the last couple of weeks by ESPN.

 

 

Clemente and Sanguillen counted in the 1971 Pirate All-Black starting lineup they mentioned on BBTN.

 

Most of the time Steve Phillips is a moron, but I was glad he thought outside the box when he was asked who is most like Jackie Robinson.

[KingPK]

The gates for tomorrow's 10 AM game at Fenway open at 8 AM, so expect the bars to be open by 6:30.

 

If it happens at all, that is.

[Failed Bridge]

game's been pushed back to a "tentative noon start". I don't see it happening.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

I think the big advantage for football and basketball is that they offer more scholarship opportunities. I don't think it's a big problem. If black players aren't being systematically excluding from playing competitive baseball despite equal skill, there is no story. Now it might be a problem when it comes to marketing the game to african-americans. The problem there is that Major League Baseball has no interest in marketing the game to people who don't have big stacks of money. And the well-heeled customers, black, white or otherwise, are not going to be influenced by the skin color of the players.

 

Jones is from Curacao. Remember only dark skinned people born in America actually count as real black people when it comes to baseball or at least that's what I've been told the last couple of weeks by ESPN.

 

In fairness, most dark-skinned latinos do not consider themselves black. It's a fair distinction to make, in my opinion. The problem is that dark-skinned latinos were every bit as unwelcome as blacks in Major League Baseball. So to pretend they don't exist when discussing MLB's "diversity" is dishonest.