Miguel Cabrera was declared ready to play, today, for the first time this spring, thirteen days and three games after The Incident.
His employers, Major League Baseball, America's most powerful labor union (the MLBPA), the writers and broadcasters -- enablers all -- have spoken and said all the right things.
How unfortunate that Dmitri Young didn't get the same courtesy.
In 2006, his off-field antics rivaled Cabrera's and became a distraction of equal magnitude.
Instead of sympathy, he got his release; on September 6, right in the middle of that season's meltdown.
He missed playing time as well, but hadn't cost the Tigers six players, wasn't owed $154 million over the life of his contract, and hadn't posted MVP numbers (was hitting .250 with seven homers when cut loose).
The preachers in double-knits say that baseball is a reflection of life.
It does mirror life, where one's usefulness to society and worth as a human is directly proportional to one's bank balance.
Hit a thrown baseball hard, far, and often, but become a stumbling drunk, and you're protected, as you have been since the world discovered your special talent.
Hit .250 and you're gone.
The baseball fan wonders how Dombrowski, Leyland, Cabrera's fawning teammates, MLB's special assistant in charge of drunks, and all other defenders of the double standard including some well-meaning but misguided fans, are able to sleep at night.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
The Journey Starts Here
This season started downstairs.
I got zero WiFi in the second floor baseball bunker this morning. The router across the street did, however, put a big signal into the living room. So there I went with my laptop, and antenna on a long cable with its tinfoil-covered cardboard reflector, to listen to the first spring training broadcasts.
A wacky start to what promises to be an equally wacky season.
The acquisitions of set-up man Joaquin Benoit, and catcher-first baseman-DH Victor Martinez, turn Patch And Pray Version 2.011 into Win It All Now Titanium Edition, despite the permanent presence in left field of Ryan Raburn's cast iron glove.
But the big man who makes it all happen, Miguel Cabrera, was nailed for drunk driving two days before the first full-squad workout.
He already cost his team one division title -- that it admittedly didn't deserve -- in 2009 while playing under the influence of yeast excrement.
Now, each time he takes an oh-fer or strikes out when a hit is needed to save the game, fans -- and a cynical lot they are in the Motor City -- will not help but wonder if he was playing drunk.
Jim Leyland's contract expires this year. In his five seasons as manager, he's presided over two September meltdowns. A third, or a bad season played with a sub-par, distracted Cabrera, would seem to doom him.
They beat the Blue Jays this afternoon, but one spring training win does not a season make.
We need a good year from Brad Penny at the back of the rotation, comeback stats from Carlos Guillen at second, Danny Worth proving last year wasn't an illusion, and Magglio Ordonez providing offensive punch at age 37. And enough tinfoil and cardboard to make it through six months of Gameday Audio.
I still have enough of both to make a nice hat.
I got zero WiFi in the second floor baseball bunker this morning. The router across the street did, however, put a big signal into the living room. So there I went with my laptop, and antenna on a long cable with its tinfoil-covered cardboard reflector, to listen to the first spring training broadcasts.
A wacky start to what promises to be an equally wacky season.
The acquisitions of set-up man Joaquin Benoit, and catcher-first baseman-DH Victor Martinez, turn Patch And Pray Version 2.011 into Win It All Now Titanium Edition, despite the permanent presence in left field of Ryan Raburn's cast iron glove.
But the big man who makes it all happen, Miguel Cabrera, was nailed for drunk driving two days before the first full-squad workout.
He already cost his team one division title -- that it admittedly didn't deserve -- in 2009 while playing under the influence of yeast excrement.
Now, each time he takes an oh-fer or strikes out when a hit is needed to save the game, fans -- and a cynical lot they are in the Motor City -- will not help but wonder if he was playing drunk.
Jim Leyland's contract expires this year. In his five seasons as manager, he's presided over two September meltdowns. A third, or a bad season played with a sub-par, distracted Cabrera, would seem to doom him.
They beat the Blue Jays this afternoon, but one spring training win does not a season make.
We need a good year from Brad Penny at the back of the rotation, comeback stats from Carlos Guillen at second, Danny Worth proving last year wasn't an illusion, and Magglio Ordonez providing offensive punch at age 37. And enough tinfoil and cardboard to make it through six months of Gameday Audio.
I still have enough of both to make a nice hat.
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