Republicans: They Just Don’t Like You
The midterm elections are coming up in November and Republicans have all the momentum. The economy is bad and unemployment is still dangerously high. There’s a 40% chance of a double-dip recession.
Yes, even policy-wise, conservatives can make the case that Democrats have seriously screwed the pooch because, well, they have in a lot of respects. TARP may have created/saved 3 million jobs, but only few can see that result in real terms. The middle-class is still slowly dwindling away just like it did during Bush. Consumer confidence was rising, but the Deepwater Horizon exploded and put the kibosh on any economic momentum.
We have an extremely intelligent President that’s accomplished a ton considering one party is saying no to everything. The problem is that the stuff that he has gotten done has been unpopular. That’s why Democrats can’t boast about their victories when they go out to campaign. They instead have to blame the policies of our previous president and make the case that Democrats are on the right track.
It isn’t working, but liberals have one saving grace in this whole thing.
Republicans just don’t seem to care about widening their electorate to include anybody other than white Christians. Here’s a short list of who Republicans don’t like as a refresher course:
1.) Hispanics: Jan Brewer, Democrats thank you for trying to institute a law so racist and unconstitutional that it actually has some illegal immigrants deporting themselves voluntarily just to get out of Arizona.
- Also, some Republicans want to repeal the Fourteenth Amemdment (birthright citizenship). They’ve taken their stance against babies, little Hispanic babies. If that doesn’t make you want to vote Democrat if you’re hispanic, then I don’t know what would.
2.) Muslims: Ground Zero mosque anyone? Nope. Say sayonara to that block of voters now that Republicans have demonized all Muslims in their attempt block First Amendment (freedom of religion) rights to them because of what a bunch of Islamic terrorists did. What did ordinary Muslims have to do with what happened on 9/11?
- Yes, Republicans leaders have stated they have no problem with the First Amendment or ordinary Muslims. They don’t have a problem with the First Amendment, but in this case, they say it’s too close to Ground Zero. Like I asked before, what did ordinary Muslims have to do with what happened on 9/11? That’s 1.2 billion people you just offended.
3.) Black People: The Tea Party’s racist signs combined with Van Jones, Acorn, the New Black Panther Party and Shirley Sherrod has painted a bleak picture for conservatives.
- It doesn’t help that Fox News’ audience is only 2% black, either. I wonder why they don’t win over more black viewers by airing heavily edited video of Acorn and Sherrod and reporting it as actual news. They’d be better off not using the New Black Panthers (all 200 of them) as a way to scare white voters to the poles in November.
- RNC Chairman Michael Steele was exercising his natural right as a Republican (to say stupid shit) in front of an audience and got hammered for it by his own party. I thought you got lifetime free pass from Republicans in the saying stupid crap department, but not if you’re Michael Steele. He kept his job, but man did he feel the heat for awhile.
4.) Gays: Prop 8 gets overturned and what happens? Out come the crazies! “Homosexuality is not natural! They’re against families! They’re more likely to molest children! Marriage is between a man and a woman!” This is one where eventually the crazies are going to lose in a few years. Young people are overwhelmingly for gay marriage because they know gay people aren’t evil. They’re used homosexuality and don’t care whether they can get married.
- Monogamy isn’t natural. If any wife looks at their husband’s computer they’ll find porn somewhere whether it’s downloaded on a hard drive or is in their search history. Men fantasize about being with other women because it’s in our nature to want to be with many different partners. Homosexuals have every right to be just as miserable as straight people. Oh, and there’s that whole love thing people get married for.
- As a side note, Ann Coulter was dropped from being a speaker at WND conference because she plans to speak at GOproud conference. GoProud is a conservative organization for homosexuals. This is Ann freaking Coulter, the most conservative woman on the planet and she gets dropped because she’s getting paid to speak at a homosexual Republican conference? That says it all.
This isn’t to say that Republicans are racist. They’re not, but their base is incredibly ignorant and unwilling to embrace non-white Christian ideals. You win elections by expanding your base, not limiting it to one type of people.
Ultimately, this is what happens when mob rule takes over. Republican leaders should have figured out a way to reel back the extremist elements and tried to appeal to more people, but they decided to let the Tea Party make the rules. Lots of prominent Republicans like Ben Stein have said that this will help them in 2010, but hurt them in 2012. Maybe letting a populist anger movement take over an entire political party isn’t such a good idea in the short or long term.
Now Democrats have to take this and teach Republicans a lesson, which they’re too incompetent to do…
We’re still screwed.
Conspiracy Theory: Lindsey Graham
I’m creating a conspiracy theory about Lindsey Graham’s allegiance. Why? Because it’s fun going crazy. I admire the Sarah Palins of the world for straight-up lying to people for fun, so I’m going to join the party and lie one for the team.
Unlike Palin and the conservatives, I’ll actually issue a warning before I state my illogical case.
WARNING: THE FOLOWING THEORY IS AN ASSUMTPION BASED ON VERY LITTLE TRUTH.
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham has been called a bisexual (because he works “across the isle,” and a RINO (Republican in Name Only) He seems out of touch in the post-Bush conservative world because he’s not, well, crazy like Sharron Angle and Vaughn Ward.
(Quick tangent: Angle is either brilliant or mentally ill. I’m banking on the latter; just look at her eyes and tell me something’s not wrong there. No one and I mean no one in our fragmented media culture would run away from her own press conference or brag about not taking interviews because they would hurt her fundraising ability, but she did. She’s making Harry Reid look good and he’s NEVER looked good. Thanks Sharron!)
So anyway, Graham criticizes the Tea Party in an NY Times interview and now the conservative base doesn’t like him. People know for a fact that Graham works the polls like a stripper on a double-shift. He knows that immigration is a hot-button issue for conservatives, so what does he do?
He comes out and says he wants to repeal the Fourteenth Amendment! Remember folks, the Fourteenth Amendment gives birthright citizenship. Graham talked about how illegals would come here and have a kid just so it could be a citizen.
Some Republican congressmen and senators followed in Graham’s footsteps and wanted to amend the Constitution to stop the “anchor babies.” It is now an issue conservatives have to decide on when they’re campaigning.
This leads me to the conspiracy…Lindsey Graham HATES the Republican Party and wants Democrats to win the midterm elections.
Don’t you think Graham is angry with Republicans for not backing him up when the Tea Party was bashing him? There has to be some resentment there, right? Of course there is and Graham is in a perfect position to throw a monkey-wrench into his own party’s momentum heading into November. He isn’t up for reelection for another two years.
Maybe he sees where his party is going, farther and farther right. There’s already a political logjam in Washington and just imagine if people like Marco Rubio and Angle were in the Senate? Nothing would get done! Graham is essentially giving Democrats more fodder for them to make the case that conservatives are crazy and out of touch.
Graham can always back down from his position before his reelection, but now he looks like a hero among conservative base. Do they know it takes a 2/3 vote in the Senate to amend the Constitution and that it will never happen? It doesn’t matter!
This is a win-win for the Graham-dy man if his fake political posturing brings out even more loons in his own party for liberals to hammer. A well-respected, intelligent Republican in a party full of morons taking a crazy stance on immigration is just the type of thing someone would do if they wanted to bring down their party from the inside. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s your conservative double-agent.
Hey, maybe I’m wrong and this is just a conspiracy theory…
Jersey Shore Episode 1 Recap
“My bronzer is leaking off my face.”
Yep, they’re back.
The Jersey Shore returns for its second season and they’re in Miami this time, far away from the jowls of Chris Christie. Episode one was kind of an unnecessary reintroduction to these people/characters/idiots. They’re ignorant, I get it. Let’s get these people to Miami and see what kind of damage they can do to the local economy.
Here’s a recap of the most important events that happened in the epiosde:
- Angelina is back and everyone hates her. Hopefully MTV isn’t footing the bill for all the makeup she’s wearing. They’d be broke if they were because she seriously wears a lot of makeup. Did I mention she wears a ton of makeup because it’s astonishing how much makeup she puts on. Does she go into the MAC store and get two of everything?
- Sammie and Ronnie broke off their relationship for unknown reasons. They clearly have feelings for each other and won’t mention what happened after the first season ended. Hey, it’s tough not to fall in love with a guy who get plastered every night and dances like he’s having a seizure.
- Snookie doesn’t go tanning anymore because she can’t afford the 10% tax on tanning that Obama put in the health care bill. Wars have been started over less. She now sprays her face with bronzer to get that perfect dark leather tone. Excuse me while shutter in disgust.
- Paulie reveals that he and Angelina hooked up in LA and the next night Paulie moved on to another woman. She’s now hooked up with both the Situation and Paulie. She’s got 60 days to hook up with everyone else in the house or Jigsaw will remove her makeup, revealing her real face and turning everyone into stone.
- MTV tries to make it look like Sammie and Ronnie haven’t seen each other in forever while we know they’ve been booked in the same places for a year now. You’re not fooling me with that crap!
- Vinnie declares that he’s trying to hook-up with as many girls as possible. I’ve always liked him because he doesn’t have the dedication to the gym that the rest of the guys do, but manages to look smarter and have more fun. He can come over for dinner any time he wants.
- Angelina openly insults the girls’ in the cab on the way to the club and J-Woww nearly decks her. The boys’ cab is completely silent, showing us that men and women really are from different planets.
- Ronnie and Sammie get into a fight at the club. They proceed take the same cab (thank you Mr. Producer) and Ronnie calls her the “c word.” This is probably the highlight of the episode because Ronnie is stone drunk to the point that it looks like there’s no life behind his eyes. Zombie drunk, woman-hating Ronnie is better than monogamous Ronnie from last year.
- Situation points out the difference between landmines and grenades. Landmines are skinny ugly chicks while grenades are fat ugly chicks. Get it?
- Ronnie proceeds to hook up with both a landmine and a grenade, culminating in a triple-kiss to end the episode.
I know some people didn’t like the episode and thought it was contrived, but are you really going to criticize a reality show for not being real enough? Really? Yes, this season seems to be more staged than last season. However, what we’ve learned is that MTV really can’t handle these people when they get hammered. I assure you that they’ll be drunk 90% of the time and that’s all I need, baby.
Question of the week:
What was your favorite part of episode one and why?
Jersey Shore Preview
A young man stood outside club Karma Night Club in Seaside Heights, NJ with a wistful look in his eyes. He stared up at the sign in the midday sun imagining the blue neon sign illuminating the street below.
My friend, leaning against his tricked out 92’ Honda Civic, clenched his fist into a ball and bit down on his knuckles. “This,” he sobbed “Is my Graceland.”
We couldn’t stay long. A Jersey Shore marathon was playing on MTV that night and he’d rather watch the shenanigans of The Situation than enter the club that could barely hold his giant ego.
Some dragons just cannot be slain. He made the mistake of falling in love with the Jersey Shore.
***
They’re baaaaaaack.
Sammi, Snookie, J-Woww, Angelina, Vinny, Paulie, Ronnie and The Situation return for a new season of the Jersey Shore this Thursday on MTV. The twist? Like LeBron, they’ve taken their talents to South Beach.
The entire cast has become overnight superstars and won’t let go of their fifteen minutes of fame. Season 2 comes just in time to remind everyone that these people aren’t going away anytime soon. We should just tune in and enjoy the inebriated debauchery that ensues. It’s a heckuva lot better than discussing things that actually matter.
Here’s a quick recap of Season One:
- “The Situation,” kisses Sammi on the first night, but Ronnie ultimately steals her heart.
- Vinny gets pink-eye and hooks up with the boss’s daughter.
- Snookie talks about how her ideal guy is fake-tanned and on steroids. Maybe she and a certain Yankees third baseman are an ideal match.
- Vinny kisses a girl at a nightclub in Atlantic City. When he goes to the bathroom, The Situation steals her, coining the term “the robbery.”
- J-Woww, Ronnie and Paulie get into fistfights.
- Snookie gets punched in the face in such a violent manner that MTV gets in trouble for showing it.
And that doesn’t even tell the whole story.
Season 2 is trying to offer much of the same, but can the show avoid a sophomore slump? Are these people too big to be living normal lives? Will it feel scripted and manufactured like season 2 of the Real Houswives of NJ? How will the people of Miami react to them?
Admit it, you’ll be watching.
Question of the week:
Who’s your favorite cast member of the Jersey Shore and why?
The reader with the best answer gets to be quoted when I review the next episode. Also, be sure to share your thoughts on the other questions I ask. I’ll be doing live-chats on twitter during the shows, so follow me @MikeEsposito77 and let the fun begin!
A Pledge of Non-Violence
Dear Mr. Beck,
I watch your show every day (not really) and I would just like you to know that I took your pledge of non-violence because I too, am someone who believes that people have the right to stand up for what they believe in…even if those things are inherently stupid, unproductive and possibly dangerous.
Glenn, I fear that your “pledge” is just an excuse for you to cover your ass just in case something goes horribly wrong. If you have nothing to fear, then why post the pledge? Why preach non-violence if you don’t fear your words could incite it?
With that being said, can you please apologize to the police officers in California that were shot at by Byron Williams because he wanted to start a revolution by planning to kill a bunch of people at the Tides Foundation? You love to mention the Tides Foundation on your show and talk about how dangerous progressives are. I know you’re hoping this guy doesn’t mention you when he’s being interrogated about why he did what he did. You’re also probably praying that one or two of your books isn’t found in his home.
These organizations you attack, the things you say, scare the crap out of people. Our freedoms are not under attack. President Obama is not a Marxist. Stop having fiction writers on your show and stop writing books like the Overton Window that deal with issues like government takeovers and grassroots revolution. Your audience needs you to guide them because they can’t seem to guide themselves to the facts. “I’m a father, I’m tired,” is not a good excuse. Either man up and take responsibility or go home and sit on your millions.
What you’re doing is not helping the American people you claim to love so much. I can’t identify the purpose of what you do. It’s clearly not to educate people on the facts.
I’d rather be poor man with reason than a rich, ignorant buffoon like you.
Sincerely,
Civilized society.
Looking for the Next Economic Boom
Predicting the future is difficult and nearly impossible. Few people can do it, and oftentimes they aren’t listened to. Look at the housing boom. There were a select few that knew it was going to collapse and you know what? It still happened and roughly 8 million people lost their jobs, putting us in the worst economic hole since the Great Depression.
Every economic boom comes and goes. During the Clinton years we had the Internet tech boom, which created over 20 million jobs. People used their discretionary income to buy computers. The computers gave us the Internet, leading to online shopping. Online shopping led to identity theft and increased Internet security was created to protect users.
Let me put it this way, can you name a part of the technology sector that suffered from the Internet boom? Yes, a few companies like Amazon rose to the tippy top and put other websites out of business, Wall Mart style. You could probably say newspapers, but they weren’t in the tech sector until they started giving it away for free on the Internet (hussies!), allowing subscribers to cancel and still get the same content. We know all that stuff, though, because it’s in the past. No one could have predicted what was going to happen to the Internet when it first started.
What’s the next big thing? What part of the economy is going to expand and create millions of jobs?
This is the question that is plaguing our current President and will confound the next one. Whether or not to increase/decrease income taxes on the rich won’t matter unless you get lucky with a growing industry that you can capitalize on. More people at work in the private sector means more economic growth, a lower deficit and more confident consumers willing to spend.
Empowering entrepreneurs is a key in finding the next boom. In business you have the idea people, the implementers and analyzers. Think of an idea, test and analyze its potential. Only then can the entrepreneur come in with capital and grow the business to reach said potential.
That still doesn’t answer the question, though. Where the hell are all those jobs going to come from?
Some experts are saying Green energy will be the wave of the future. The problem is we’ve been waiting for that boom for 30 years! Solar panels and electric cars have been around for a long time. Only now are we starting to get serious about flooding the most unstable region on Earth (the Middle East) with billions and billions of dollars for their oh-so delicious oil. Part of the stimulus bill awarded $2 billion dollars to two companies who produce solar panels, one of which is in Arizona (don’t say the Obama never gave ya’ nothin’ Mrs. Brewer).
Green energy is great because it allows America to create jobs on our soil and corner the market. The electricity from large solar panels can be moved around to help power cities. People can put them on their house to drastically reduce their energy bills, which will give people more discretionary income. It’s all good, right?
Wrong! Solar panels are expensive, really expensive. Puzos Family Restaurant in Hawthorne, New Jersey just put solar panels on their roof. The cost was around $50,000. Granted it’s a pizzeria that consumes a massive amount of energy. The owner admitted that he would be able to pay off his loan in a few years because the savings would be so large, but $50 thousand plus interest in an uncertain economy with new bank regulations coming into place is a lot of money.
Still, even if the cost to power your home with solar panels was $20 thousand, would you head over to CitiBank and take out the loan? Aren’t there other things you could buy with that, like a car or new kitchen? Where’s the immediate gratification of buying solar panels? You don’t drive them to work every day like you would a hybrid car. They just sit there on top of your house collecting the suns rays and turning them into energy. It’s about as boring as photosynthesis, which isn’t exciting in a society of that feeds on self gratification.
And speaking of gratifying yourself; you can’t watch porn on a solar panel. It’d be awesome if you could, though. Porn was one of the benefactors of the Internet boom. As a result, men are becoming more domesticated and more deviant at the same time. Thank you Al Gore!
Green energy also has the distinction of being polarizing. Liberals seem to be the ones pushing green energy while conservatives are more “Drill baby drill!” Conservatives will go green if the savings are huge. They’re not allergic to progress when it’s profitable.
It seems like there’s also a lack of stable homeowners, and by stable I mean someone who can actually afford to pay their mortgage. The cost of owning a home is already huge. Putting $20 thousand worth of solar panels on your roof, exposed to the elements, could be nerve-wracking. Who can repair solar panels if they get cracked by hail? What part of the country isn’t exposed to extreme weather? The Gulf has hurricanes, the Northeast has blizzards, the Midwest has tornadoes and the West has earthquakes. You’d better get some serious insurance just in case. Putting the panels in the yard would be a good idea, but these things called trees would block the sunlight. In an ideal world, your neighbor won’t plant a weeping willow that covers your panels and then act like a jerk about how it’s not on your property (that sounds like a joke Daniel Tosh would make).
I’m only 23 years-old and unsure of whether seeing savings on my energy bill would lift my spirits. “Honey, we were spending X but now we’re spending X on energy this month! I’m so happy! After the loan is paid off, we can start enjoying each other’s company again!” I just don’t see it, because to get that type of satisfaction you’d need the panels to be really cheap (to make and to buy) and savings would have to be massive.
What about electric cars? The Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt will be released this year. The Leaf is an entirely electric car with no gas engine. It has to be plugged in and recharged. The Volt has a gas engine and Chevy claims that you won’t need to use it if your commute is 40 miles or fewer. The problem is that our electricity grids suck ass. Too much energy gets lost. I keep seeing IBM commercials saying their building a smarter grid. Where the frig is it? Why isn’t anyone investing in this stuff? It’s essential in getting people to buy electric cars. Maybe the car companies should band together and invest; spending money on upgrading the grids so electric charging stations can be built to help extend the mileage of the cars they’re building. Am I crazy to think that could help?
That’s where the whole $2 billion investment comes in. In reality, the US spends very little on green energy compared to say China, which is spending a ton on hybrid energy, solar panels and wind farms. The money is a step in the right direction, but stimulating demand is going to be really tough.
I honestly hope someone figures it out. As long there are financial incentives to ship work overseas, job creation will remain a serious concern in America. There’s not a quick fix out there or a boom we can look forward to.
America, we might just be screwed.
Subway Series Showed Us Something
Johan Santana could only look on in awe. Mark Teixiera’s grand slam along with a vintage C.C. performance sealed a Mets loss in Yankee Stadium. The Mets went 8-2 on their recent road trip that included two straight losses against those “damned Yankees.”
Even though Flushing and the Bronx are separated by just a few miles, Yankee Stadium and City Field might as well exist in different worlds.
Hisanori Takahashi and the Mets were all but flawless in a Friday night shutout. Mike Pelfrey gave up two home runs and surrendered 5 earned in 7 innings on Saturday. On Sunday, Johan Santana made one mistake and the Mets were shutout 4-0.
The laws that govern Yankee Stadium state that you must swing for the fences. They’re only 315 feet away, after all. Jason Bay hit a mere popup on Sunday that reached the warning track. Teixiera’s grand slam would have been a sac fly if the game were to take place in Citi field.
What we’ve learned from these games is this: both teams have the advantage at home. The Mets are a singles/doubles team while the Yankees are, well, bombers. Their stadiums dictate the style of play. What shocked me in this series was how many potential hits the Mets would have had if the Yankee outfield was bigger. The outfielders weren’t necessarily playing shallow; they were just playing shallow relative to the distance of the outfield walls. Bigger outfield equals fielders playing further away from home plate and vice versa. Yankee Stadium inherently limits shallow singles and allows short home runs while Citi Field allows more room for singles and negates short home runs. Citi is a triple haven while triples at Yankee Stadium are hard to come by.
Jason Bay has four triples and four homers, if that’s not an indication of how big Citi Field is than I don’t know what is.
While the Mets were mired in an awful 2009 season, people were screaming for them to get adjusted to their new digs. They have in 2010. Mike Pelfrey isn’t afraid of pitching to contact which is limiting the number of runners he puts on base. Hitters are finding out that an RBI double is just as good as, if not better, than a home run. Swings that used to look more like that of a golfer’s are starting to level off. Yes, it’s taken them a year, but the Mets have finally figured out that Citi Field is the best place they could possibly play.
They own the best home record in baseball and help is on the way. Jenry Mejia was finally sent down to the minors to become a starting pitcher and the timing was good, I guess. The Mets can monitor Mejia and can use him as leverage in late July. They can tell teams they don’t need a starter because they have Mejia coming up. Omar Minaya should have done this last month. Better late than never it seems. Maybe the Mets can psyche themselves into thinking they don’t need Roy Oswalt or Cliff Lee. Jake Westbrook would do just fine. A rotation of Santana, Pelfrey, Westbrook, Niese and Mejia is something Mets fans can live with. John Maine and Oliver Perez are all but out of the picture now. Dickey and Takashi could be valuable bullpen pieces come mid-September.
Carlos Beltran will soon be playing in minor league games. A healthy Beltran could certainly help the Mets. They, however, don’t have to rush him back as long as Pagan and Francoeur are healthy. Mets fans don’t know how Beltran’s brain is wired. Maybe he’ll come back and want to prove all the doubters dead wrong. We know what Beltran can do if he’s motivated, just look at the 05’ postseason where he cracked eight homers.
It’s an almost certainty that the Yankees will return to the World Series. Could the Mets join them like they did in 2000? It’d be a helluva 10-year anniversary.
The Steroid-Lite Era
“The night is always darkest just before the day…and the dawn is coming.”
-Harvey Dent
The sun is climbing over the horizon and morning dew is starting to glisten. It’s almost dawn and a new day is just about here. Changes are coming; heck, some are being seen today. Baseball fans everywhere looking for multiple 50 home run seasons are going to be sorely disappointed. Scouts who overrate left handed power hitting prospects are going to be disappointed.
The Steroid-Lite era has arrived.
No more amphetamines and no more anabolic steroids mean less power. It’s a huge advantage for pitchers such as Stephen Strasburg who throws 100 mph. Hitters will struggle to catch up with heat like that if they’re not juiced up. Amphetamines jack up your heart rate, allowing hitters to react faster. That’s good news for Starbucks, who can open up a stand in every MLB clubhouse. Triple-shots of espresso before every at-bat! Combine that with all the tobacco players chew and you’ve got a dangerous combination of nicotine and caffeine pumping through the bodies of major league players. Maybe the Janitor from “Scrubs” was on the right track when he invented the “smoke-achino.”
Players will always look for some edge, even if it’s not a legitimate one. Major leaguers are some of the most superstitious people on the planet. They won’t wash their socks or their underwear during long winning streaks. Jason Giambi even sported a porno mustache and wore women’s underwear. Jon Neise couldn’t heed the advice of Sandy Koufax when Koufax told him to stand on a different side of the rubber when he pitched. Neise felt weird and thought his pitches were tailing off. Baseball coaches often have a tough time coaching players because of their eccentricities. The players will try to cheat their way out of this and it won’t work unless they all jump on the HGH bandwagon. Guys aren’t getting caught for HGH usage because they don’t test for it. They are testing players for stuff that you’d take coming off a cycle of HGH. Steroid testing is on the right track.
One thing is for sure, though, pitchers are gaining an advantage. Some of it has to do with the lack of juice and some if has to do with coaches getting a better understanding of who they’re facing. The Mets have three lefties in their rotation and two in their bullpen. The Phillies, the Mets’ biggest rival, have a lineup full of lefties. It’s not a coincidence. In fact, it seems like there’s more left handed pitchers out there than in previous years, making it easier to get the drop on lefty power-bats.
Some teams are rifling through their minor league systems looking for south paws to plug into their bullpen. They don’t need to be the most electric pitchers. They just need to be able to get other lefties out. As of June 11, there is no lefty in the top 9 in home runs. Makes you think that maybe the league has adjusted. Florida’s Mike Stanton certainly looks a lot more valuable.
Home run totals are down, so what? Chicks dig the long ball and now chicks are going to have to dig the strikeout or the inning-ending double play. Real baseball is making a comeback and games are going to be quicker. An emphasis will be put on guys hitting for average and baserunning ability will be a prime commodity. American League managers might have to start giving the steal sign because a three-run homer may not come.
The Steroid-Lite era is going to be more fun than you’d expect.
Olly’s Plight
I have a lot of fond memories of watching Oliver Perez pitch. When the Mets traded for him on 2006, Oliver was just a throw in from Pittsburgh in the Xavier Nady trade. Olly got here a broken pitcher who had a great 04’ campaign in which he struck out 239 hitters in just 196 innings. Perez gave the Mets two solid starts in the 06’ postseason and showed promise. It seemed like he wanted to get better and regain his form.
Then 07’ happened and Perez won 15 games, looking brilliant in some games and awful in others. He was awarded a 3 year, $36 million dollar contract after the season. Most fans believed it was a bad contract at the time because Perez was too inconsistent, too shaky in important spots. He didn’t deserve all that money and came into the 09’ season completely out of shape. He pitched like he didn’t care and was sent to the “disabled list,” for a “knee injury,” and had a 6.82 ERA in the 14 games he started.
After seven starts this season, the Mets have had it with their $12 million dollar starter. They’ve relegated to him bullpen duty, just like the Cubs did with Carlos Zambrano. Now, Perez is just eating up a roster spot and won’t take a demotion to the minor leagues to get himself right again. The Mets have an overused bullpen and are wasting a roster spot on a guy they can’t use in close games.
You’d think a professional pitcher would want to learn and improve himself. Is pride holding him back or is it the way the Mets approached him? Either way, Perez is going to get paid his $36 million. Why not take the demotion?
Well, I think I have that answer. Oliver Perez doesn’t want to pitch, plain and simple. Let that resonate for a second. Maybe Perez is just lazy and doesn’t want to go to the minors because they’d actually throw him out there every fifth day. He’d have to work! Lazy, unmotivated people don’t want to do such things.
It’s sad, actually. Perez is someone who’s shown immense talent and no will to tap into it. He has great stuff, but his laziness has slowed the velocity on his fastball and taken the edge off his slider. As fans, we expect the players making the big money to, at the very least, give a damn. Olly is one of the few exceptions.
Oliver, if you’re reading this (and you probably aren’t), prove me wrong. Prove everyone wrong. Go to triple-A, dominate and get your rotation spot back. You should be angry; the whole baseball community is mocking you! The Mets are still in contention and they need a starter for the stretch run. You could be that guy.
You could be the hero…it all depends on you.
Crawford or Werth?
The Mets right field situation isn’t getting better anytime soon. Presumably, they’ll have a hole to fill in the offseason. The Amazins’ can convince themselves they need a big free agent if they finish near the top of the NL West. Carl Crawford and Jason Werth are going to be the two best free agent outfielders on the market. They’ll both command similar contracts.
Who would you sign…Crawford or Werth?
I’d go with Crawford if I were running the Mets. Yes, I know he’s a left fielder and the Mets need a right fielder, but the transistion isn’t so extreme. It’s not like the Mets are asking him to play shortstop if they sign him. What I see in Crawford is someone who hits over .300 every season like clockwork, steals a ton of bases and doesn’t kill your team with strikeouts.
No, Crawford isn’t the middle of the lineup force that you expect from a guy who will make between 17-19$ million per season, but the one ability that separates him (his speed) won’t truly fade for another three years. Crawford would be fast on any baseball field. Put him with Reyes and you have an insanely quick 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup. Crawford would be a triple hitting machine in Citi Field. He has the ability to extend innings and make opposing pitchers work harder when he’s on base.
It’s not that I hate Jason Werth. I actually love Werth’s quick bat and work ethic. The problem I have is that Werth isn’t a power hitter. Yes, he hits home runs, but that’s in a favorable home ballpark and his home run distances are something of a problem. He tends to hit his dingers jussssst over the wall, which leads me to believe that he wouldn’t be a perfect match for Citi Field.
Werth, however, would be a perfect fit for Yankee Stadium.
Both guys are going to get seriously paid and both might be $100 million richer by the time this all ends. I’m just saying, for the Mets, Carl Crawford would be my pick.
