They got skillz....

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. The Godfather of sports is back. Me and JP are in the midst of a heated debate in reference to my ideas for a baseball skills competition. I'll let you read below and respond accordingly. Let us know how you feel.

JP:

F I wrote a whole thing and my browser went nuts and lost it. I'll recap.

First I never said the NBA skills competition sucked. It's the best out of all of them, and receives by far the most media hype. The NFL does a skills thing, it's fairly dumb as they are all super athletes, fighting stand still dummies shows nothing. Fighting against Orlando Pace is a skill, anyone can swim move a padded dummy.

A) Hitting the hockey targets was cool to see once. They can all do it, all 4 targets get broken. Whoopiee do. It would be the same for pitchers. They can all hit targets with no pressure on them. It's part of weekly practice.... yipeeeee.

B) You can watch purpose hitting any day during normal BP. Players go oppo, move the runner over, bunt, pull balls, sac fly, home run. They practice a similar sequence everyday. The challenge is doing it with people throwing 95 mph heaters and 87mph sliders. That's why they are in the bigs...you get to see the true skills during games. Doing it with a 50 year old BP pitcher throwing 78 down the middle would get old in about 5minutes.

C) Speed challenges are dangerous to the speed guys, many of them (Like Jose) would be very likely to pull a hamstring or calf muscle (pulling a calf is hard, but jose does it every night). It would be just as effective for the teams to post all these times for you to read over since they do this crap in tryouts.

In short a skills challenge is a spring training practice. This may be exciting for a few minutes to people who don't know, but I couldnt careless.


The Godfather:

A. you played college baseball. which is awesome yet somewhere in between highschool and the pros. so honestly u fall somewhere inbetween John Massaro and Tim Lincecum which means although you and your team did these things in practice....no one would care. we wanna see the best of the best do it.... in front of national tv. with a time limit. if u disagree it could be cool i will gladly set up 4 targets the size of a baseball. pull out a stop watch and see how fast you can hit all 4. If hitting the bottom outside corner is so easy then why can't some major league players do it every time. its called missing location. it happens. didn't know u hit the spots every time. cool.

B. Purpose hitting has nothing to do it. a huge target in the outfield gaps is hardly purpose hitting. if u asked me to poke a 75 mph pitch to right field i could do it 5 out of 10 times. but hitting a line drive right in the gap at a target or maybe aiming specifically for certain targets that give u more points would be cool and would really test these guys. hitting opposite field : easy .... Being down 300 points in a competition and having 2 pitches to hit the right field wall with a line drive which is worth 350 points? exciting. sorry.

C. running around the bases 1 time and sprinting to 1st is no different then playing in the allstar game and trying to beat out a hit or stealing a base. Just because baseball players get hurt doesn't mean they wouldn't want to test there skills. they wouldn't have to do it. they'd have an option.

my point is the allstar game is boring. skills competitions are fun for the general public. honestly your reasoning had nothing to do with my ideas. you simplified everything. 99.9 percent of fans never played college baseball so these things would be fun to watch. end of story. not sure why you would even argue against that for no reason at all. do u just try to play devils advocate for everything?



Let us know your feelings on a skills challenge to go along with the home run derby. Lets get people to know and respect men like Freddy Sanchez.

Wlecome to the Phil Hughes show

Those of you who know me, and speak to me regularly have heard me say this before, but this time I think it might stick. I am been waiting for this type of start since he had his no-hitter injury. Since that injury he just has not been the same. Until yesterday.

People will point to Phil's less then stellar ERA of 5.16, but take away that one terrible outing and he is pitching respectably. He is certainly not a stud/star/ace yet but he could be on his way if he keeps it up. He is already the 4th best starter on that team, considering the great AJ Burnett is what anyone with brains would have expected. At least Hughes bought himself another start.

The question is going to be what do the Yankees do with Hughes and Wang if Hughes continues to pitch well. Do the Yankees leave Hughes in the rotation and Wang in the pen? Or vice versa? I think the real question is if Wang can pitch again, and which of the two would help the bullpen the most.

I am not sure if I trust Wang yet. He pitched OK, at best, in his return from the DL on Friday. His ERA dropped 10 runs, but 2 runs in 3 innings is nothing to be proud of. I think Wang needs to prove that he can put in a string of good outtings before he earns his rotation spot back.

In the end though, and I hate to say this, I think Hughes might be better for the team in the bullpen. Let Wang start, IF and only IF, he can show that he deserves it. Then let Phil be what Joba was for the Yankees the last few years. With Brueny out for who knows how long, Phil can go in the pen and get strikeouts, something Wang cannot do. I think that helps the Yankees the most, kills my fantasy squads, but helps the Yankees. But if Wang can show he can get guys out then let Phil rack up the innings, K's, and wins.

Either way people, Welcome to the Phil Hughes show!!

Where you at Matt?

Matt Holliday please come save the Mets. I know it's not up to you but I'm gonna appeal to you first. We need your professionalism and supreme gap power. Some people (no one I wanna be friends with anyway) have already given up on you this season, they forget we are barely 35 games into a 162 game season and you've already raised your average to the .270 area with 5 HRs after your worst start ever. How quickly they forget your 25/25 prowess or your 130 rbis and your batting title capabilities. Well Matt, I haven't forgotten and I can only hope Omar Minaya hasn't either.

You are wasting away on a team that can't protect you in the lineup, can't win games, and surely doesn't deserve you. The Mets have some trade chips that need to be used. Lets get the job done Omar. Cheers to starting the hype machine early.

Whats wrong with...

that manager?

That team is in some real trouble, because that manager seems to be turning his back on some players on his team. How can you single out one guy who made a a base running error, and go as far to not say his name, especially since there were 5 errors in that game, 2 that cost you the game.

Its a big mistake to miss third base, a huge mistake, but its not unheard of. I mean you have a not so fast guy hustling his ass off to score the go ahead run. I can understand in this situation where you could miss the bag. Its literally a .1 second play. Is it excusable? Not at all.

But you know what else is not excusable? Your star center fielder dropping a ball to setup the other team to score the winning run. And don't you tell me its that other outfielders fault. That center fielder should be the guy the manager doesn't acknowledge. He is supposed to be a leader on the team, a guy people look up to.

This isn't the first time this season he has done something lazy or lackadaisical either. Remember when he forgot to slide into home plate? I would have benched him then. That is unacceptable, that is pure laziness and not caring. Missing third base is a mistake that hustling caused.

Listen that manger, be a professional and treat your players like professionals. Bench the players that are lazy, make them know hustle is required. Or you can ignore me and I see you in September as your season slips away, again, and again.

Roid Raid Roger

Roger Clemens was on Mike and Mike yesterday trying to pre-emptively strike out against this new book published against him. Do I really care that Roger did steroids at this point? Or that he keeps denying it? No, I don't. I had a first hand look at steroid use in baseball and it's hurt a lot of people, more so the people who got looked over because they weren't throwing or hitting as hard as the juice head next to them. I'm over it, and I don't even bat an eye anymore when guys like Manny test positive.

What I do care about is Roger acting like a clown pretending he has no knowledge of the effects, benefits, or harm a steroid or HGH causes. Listen Roger, whether you took them or not you knew people and trainers who did. I know what they do, my mom knows what they do, and so do you. Anyone involved in a sport over the last 10 years has learned what steroids do, they don't dissolve ligaments Roger, they help you win 7 Cy Youngs, and if taken correctly they don't "kill you". Your public lack of knowledge of anything about performance enhancers has in my mind solidified the fact that you did take them.

You aren't making yourself look more innocent by saying crap like heart disease runs in my family so steroids would be suicide, or that you hope what A-Rod took won't harm his future career. You probably took ephedrine to lose weight when that was all the rage Roger; that's probably worse for the heart problems that run in your family. That didn't stop you then, and it didn't stop you when you and your buddy Andy were shooting up and throwing gems. Is Andy still alive Roger? Isn't Jose Canseco? (albeit with small balls, that's what chronic, improper use does Roger, it doesn't dissolve you like a disruptor cannon from Star Trek) Oh wait, that's only 2 names, how about 70% of all baseball players from college on up for the last 10 years Roger, are they all disintegrated?

Deny your use all you want, (no one believes you by the way) but don't act dumb like you don't know what they do. You're an idiot, you made money using your body, not your mind. Stop trying to trick people who are smarter than you. Also-idiot, no one even knew this book was coming out until you advertised it for them. Your attempt at being smart has just left you looking even dumber than before, and that's a feat you accomplished without the help of a needle.

Joba

So as I sit here and watch the Mets bullpen blow another Johan gem I am thinking about all this talk about Joba.

Just about evvvveryone in the greater NY area is talking about Joba and his fist pump and how Aubrey Huff fist pumped him back after is 3 run HR. Well I have a question for all of you, who the smurf cares? Does it reaaaaaaallly matter? Don't the Yankees have bigger things to worry about like Arod(pick 1 of 100 specific things), the shitty bullpen, Hughes/Wang, and the rest of the starting rotation?

People are apparently offended by the fact that Joba is "showing no class". Well people class left baseball a few decades ago, get over it. I mean is it classier for Albert Pujols to stand there and watch his HR? Is it classier for Derek Jeter to fist pump when someone K's a guy to end the inning? Oh you never saw Jeter do that? Well you haven't been watching, or maybe you have but neglected to remember.

As for Aubrey Huff, he can go smurf a goat. Who in the hell are you Aubrey Huff? You bat .268, and your team is in last place, again. Rather then calling team meetings to discuss how "Joba showed us up last time so lets do it to him" how about you get ready for the game or read the scouting report, because your team sucks and has for the last 11 years.

Just like you and I have different options, emotions, and personalities so do baseball players. Get over it people.

Brett Favre

You've had a great career. You don't want to stop playing. Fine! Just stop telling people you are retired. All you have to do is say I am taking this year to year and will reevaluate after each season. This selfish I'm retired until summer crap is getting old, only ESPN even cares anymore.

All week on ESPN is Brett Favre rumors; he's playing, he's not playing, he just went to the bathroom. No one cares, really ESPN, your own sportscasters are faking the enthusiasm while they read these tired, rehashed stories.

At this point I don't even know who to blame for this overblown Favre coverage. Is it driven by Brett Favre's huge ego? Driven by ESPN's man crush that they can't let go? Or is it by these teams that keep going after Favre, even though he doesn't want to participate in camps or be a real teammate other than picking some receiver up in the end zone to make sure people know he's playing for fun? If I had to guess I'd say it's Favre's inability to think about anyone but himself and ESPN's bromance for the old gunslinger.

Listen, Favre is a great quarterback, I'm just tired of hearing about him. What do you guys think?

Sports Brothel Is Back

Today Marks the full return of the Sports Brothel. Let us do what we do best. Talk sports in unreasonable style.