The State of New York Baseball

Sorry I missed last week...finals took control of my life...lets get down to business.

Both New York baseball teams have it all.  The money, the fanfare, and the fan base.  Both are getting state of the art stadiums at the start of the 2009 season, Citi Field for the Mets and Yankee Stadium for the Yankees.  Personally, I don't like the name Citi Field, but that has to do with money and all that so, I guess I can live with it.  However, this is not the topic of this weeks entry.  As we all know, this past weekend kicked off round 1 of the Subway Series.  Last Friday, at Yankee Stadium the Mets will send their ace Johan Santana to the mound against Darrell Rasner, who the Yankees called up to help their pitching.  Personally, I like inter-league play.  I like to see National League teams have a DH in the American League park and American League pitchers hit at a National League park.  Anyway,  I'm here today to talk about the state of both teams.  Last year at this point when these two teams met, the Mets where flying high and the Yankees slumping.  This time it is different.

Both teams so far this year have UNDER-ACHIEVED.  Yes, I said it.  BOTH teams have not reached the expectations of the fans or all of the experts on ESPN and SNY and YES.   Now for an explanation.

The New York Mets.

22-22 

4th Place in the NL East

I think that says it all.  This is a team that was predicted to win the division and at least get to the World Series when Spring Training started.  When the Mets signed Johan Santana I was the happiest person on Earth.  I knew that all of the problems were not fixed but it was no doubt a huge step forward.  This team cannot get a clutch hit or any consistent efforts in the bullpen. The best player on the Mets right now is Ryan Church.  He is the right fielder traded to the Mets in the offseason along with Brian Schneider from the Nationals for outfielder Lastings Milledge.  He is batting over .300 with 9 home runs and 30+ RBIs.  This was a guy that was thought of as a person that cannot hit for average or power lefties or play everyday.  He has had the most consistent bat on the team.  But of course, he got a concussion and will miss a few games. Carlos Delgado is off  to a slow start.  Sadly, I don't think he is coming out of this funk any time soon.  I would write more about him but it is just painful to even think that such a great player could lose it just as fast.  His downfall was similar to Mets-fan favorite, Keith Hernandez.  After a rainout on Friday night, the Mets came out and won the two other games of the series.  The offense was firing on all cylinders and the Met fan got to thinking maybe this is the start of  a nice little run.  But, in typical Mets fashion they go down to Atlanta for a four game series and as of right now they have lost three of the four games and have fallen to just about the bottom of their division.  To most fans, the initial reaction is to fire the manager.  I never felt that this was the fair way to do things, but you cannot fire the team.  I will say this about firing Willie, if the team is so far behind by the All-Star break or if the Mets keep it close but fail to make the playoffs or at least get to the NLCS he will be fired.  Lets just see what happens.  

Next week is all about the Yankees

The First Post

Hey everyone...

This blog is about the opinion of the average sports fan.  The fan that goes to their favorite teams games no matter what.  The fan that pays $15.50 for a hotdog and a soda that sits in the upper deck of the stadium in the heat of August or the chills of December.  I will talk about current topics going on the world of sports.  For example, Roger Clemens and his situation, horse racing and PETA, baseball trades, NFL previews, NHL and NBA playoffs, etc.  It will be my own personal opinions and you can comment or add anything you would like.

I will post to this blog every Thursday. Obviously, I will make an exception today because this is the first post.

I'm going to jump right into my first post.

May 3rd was the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby.  This is the first of three horse races of the "Triple Crown" races.  The second race is called the Preakness, held at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland and the third race is called the Belmont Stakes, held at the Belmont Race Track in New York.

The winner of the Derby was, as most know by now, Big Brown.  However, the victory was overshadowed by something quite serious and sad.  The horse that came in second or "place" as its called in horse racing was named Eight Belles.  She was a female horse called a "Filly".  A Filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare, which means she was under four years old.  After running the race and coming in second, as the horses were slowing down to a stop, Eight Belles broke her two front ankles and fell straight to the ground and sent jockey Gabriel Saez flying over her head.  The horse was examined by the on-site doctors and physicians and it was determined that she could not be saved and was euthanized right on the track.  

It was at this time where all of the controversy started.  In case you are unaware, the bones of a horse's legs do not knit well after they are broken.  In most cases, the horse is euthanized.  This held true in the case of Barbaro.  Now, don't think that this was the old west and they shot Eight Belles.  It is similar to how dogs are euthanized.  This is where you would cue in all of the animal activist groups in America to step in.  PETA or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was the first group to jump on this story.  Mostly because they are the biggest and the most publicized animal activist group in the country.   They are calling for the suspension of Saez, saying that he should have noticed an injury and pulled the horse up instead of whipping the horse to go faster.  PETA is also calling for the banning of whips and wants the horses to race on softer synthetic surfaces.  Personally, I find that they are going too far with this.  Now, I am not for poor treatment of animals, and I feel that if you have to abuse an animal for pleasure then there is something wrong with you.  But in this case I find it very hard to believe that Saez was pushing the horse to far or treating it unethically.  The horses that are raced in these premier events have a worth in the multi-million dollar range.  The owners do not let any jockey race these horses.   Even when they pick a jockey, he or she must learn how the horse reacts to certain things such as tweaks or being tired after practice.  I am 99% confident that Saez raced that horse with full confidence that the horse had no pre-race injuries.  

PETA is also pushing for a ban in horse racing altogether.  I am confident in saying that there will not be a ban because of the fact that there is WAY to much money at stake.  The owners of the horses have net worths in the tens of millions of dollars if not hundreds.  In our day and age, money is the driving factor in most things.  I, personally cannot see horse racing come to an end because of this.  Finally, the last thing that owners want to see is one of their horses injured or euthanized.  Like I mentioned before, the horses have a worth of millions and it is the owners investment out there racing.  It would be like any one of us going out and buying a brand new Mercedes-Benz, and within the first week of owning the car, give it to an inexperienced driver and have it get into an accident and then that is the end of the car.  With the death of the horse or it being retired prematurely because of injury hurts an owner because they cannot get returns on their investment.  It is accurate to say that Saez was in his first Kentucky Derby, but this was not his first race ever or his first race with this horse.

I truly hope that the right thing is done because all of this controversy can only rehash the pain that is in the hearts of the owner, his family and everyone who worked with this horse.