Baseball For Kids

Is there anything more painful than watching 7 year olds play baseball? Well, other than watching the Mets try and play baseball?  I know, I know, “but Moose, they are learning the game! You can’t expect them to be good at it right away!”  I agree with that 100%, I wasn’t talking about the kids though.  I expect them to be bad.

Yesterday afternoon we went to see my nephew play his first baseball game.  I assume all the kids on the team were about his age, right around 7 years old.  It was completely what I expected – most of the kids were lucky to make contact, and very few of them had a clue what they were doing in the field.  But they were having fun, and they were learning, so thats great.  What got on my nerves were the damn parents.  Holy shit, cheer your kid on, but otherwise, shut up.  One parent kept yelling at the kid CHOKE UP!! KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!! KEEP YOUR FEET APART!!! The kid looked miserable, and not surprisingly, struck out on five pitches (they get five strikes evidently).  I am all for working with your kid, but do it during practice and after the games at home, not in the middle of the game, that just takes the fun out of it for the kids.

You know how there is always one kid who looks completely clueless up there, and you sort of feel bad for him? That feeling is even worse when it is your kid (or in this case, my nephew).  He had two at bats and had a Ryan Howard like 2K’s on 10 pitches and didn’t even come close to making contact.  The frustrating thing is there really isn’t anyone to work with him, I mean I can only do so much because of my eyes, but something has to be done here, he looked worse than Monkey in the 2006 NLCS up there.  Do they make the clear and the cream for kids?

Until next time, the Mets kept Willie, so they deserve what they get.

Your NL All-Star Team?

Well, the first early results of the All-Star voting are in.  The AL looks pretty much as it should.  The NL, however…..what a mess!

1B: Berkman, Pujols, Lee – That looks about right.  All three are having great seasons, but Berkman is just far and away the better first baseman this season.

2B: OK, Chase Utley is the obvious choice and he is running away with the vote, but how in the Hell are Kaz “my anus hurts” Matsui and Mark DeRosa ahead of Dan Uggla?  Look, I love DeRo.  He’s on my team, but there’s no way he, let alone Matsui, deserves to be ahead of Uggla.

3B: Larry, Wright, and ARam – Pretty much how it should be.  Chipper is having a monster season, with Triple Crown implications, and deserves every vote he gets.

SS – The only problem I have with the voting here is Theriot over Jimmy Rollins.  Again, Theriot is on my team, so I would normally support him, but Rollins missed an entire month of the season and still  has Theriot beat in most statistics.  No way should Theriot even be considered for the All-Star team.

C – I loves me some Geovany Soto (but not in the same way Solly loves Mike Piazza).   I think he’s, far and away, your NL Rookie of the Year.  With his current age, I hope he keeps it up and becomes a perennial All-Star for the Cubs in the same way that guys like Banks, Santo, and Sandberg were.

OF – This is where the huge clusterfuck comes in.  Soriano had a horrible April, which doesn’t scream All-Star to me.  Sure, historically, he heats up and has a decent remainder of the season, but an All-Star needs to put up good to great numbers from Day One.  Fukudome, while having a great OBP and Avg. at home, really hasn’t done squat on the road.  Again, an All-Star needs to be able to produce both home and away.  (This is where the Japanese voting skews the totals, but that’s another rant altogether.)  Griffey – he’s getting in on name alone.  Guys like Braun, Frenchy, Mclouth – and how in the world is Chris Young not in the top 15? – all need to be considered over the top guys getting votes now.

The NL All-Star voting is a prime example of the reason the fans should not decide on the teams.