Since joining the Red Sox, David "Big Papi" Ortiz has been known best for one thing: making big hits. He has a career 339 home runs (good for a 4-way tie for 85th place all time), he led the American League in homers in 2006, he showed everyone that his power hasn't diminished by winning the Home Run Derby this year with 32, the second most ever hit in the Derby, and most importantly, he's hit 12 walk-off dingers in his career to help his team win the game, second most all time, just 1 behind Mickey Mantle. With his 22 in regular games this year, it's pretty clear that Ortiz still packs a punch, even after 13 years in the big leagues. I'd like to know, how the hell does he still have so much power? Before you state the obvious and tell me it's because of his size (6'4 and a whopping 230 pounds, most of which look to be muscle), consider the fact that he's 34 years old. Even Ken Griffey Jr., one of the best home run hitters in the past 20 years, didn't win a Home Run Derby after 1999, ten years after he first came up. He was 29 when he won his last one. Many players have shown that they can play into their late 30's and even possibly early 40's, but their power greatly diminishes; baseball is certainly a game for young, healthy players. Why don't many players (such as Griffey Jr., Jim Thome, and even Ortiz himself) play any time in the field once they get older? They all stick to designated hitter before fading into the history books...however, it looks like Ortiz refuses to burn out just yet. Even in his 14th season, he's hit more homers to this point than he did in his first 4 seasons combined. And, believe it or not, I doubt the allegations that he tested positive for steroids. Even before their usage became popular, he was still smashing baseballs all the time. While he most likely won't end the season with numbers like his 54 in '06, even this Yankees fan has to admit that he's still one of the most intimidating players in the game.
Also speaking as a Yankees fan, I respect and admire Joe Torre almost as much as I do The Boss (R.I.P.), but let's face it: no matter how good of a coach he is (and, truly, he is), I don't think he'll ever win a championship with the Dodgers. It has very little to do with the fact that he left New York, actually. It has more to do with the fact that the Dodgers, while contenders, are far from being a team comparable to the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, or Cardinals. Hell, they're not even the best team in Los Angeles: this season, they're comparatively ahead in the standings, but if you see an LA team in the playoffs, it's likely the Angels. This isn't Torre's fault: with his best player, Manny Ramirez, on and off the disabled list more often than Cliff Lee gets traded to another team, and a supporting cast of Rafael Furcal, Andre Ethier, and the addition of veteran Scott Podsednik and ineffective Ryan Theriot on the field, and pitchers like Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, and Vicente Padilla not helping out defensively, this Dodgers team isn't performing anywhere as well as the team that got to the NLDS last season, even though it's basically the same players. This year, though, it looks like they won't even reach the playoffs, unless the San Francisco Giants (the current NL wild card frontrunners), the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds (constantly half a game behind one another), and the Philadelphia Phillies (who are finally making a comeback and are now only 3.5 games behind the division-leading Braves) suddenly going on simultaneous losing streaks while the Dodgers become unfathomably strong and have no injuries. One highlight of their team is new relief pitcher Kenley Jansen, who came out of seemingly nowhere by recording his first save in his second major league game. This 22-year-old wunderkind could add a little more needed defense to this team; if the batters start getting hot as well, the Blue Crew could return to form next year and maybe, just maybe, Joe Torre could win a World Series in a uniform with NY on it.
You know what manager is absolutely crazy? Ozzie Guillen (SURPRISE!). Yet again, he's made the news for saying something stupid and offensive; this time, it's really against his own kind. He's claimed that Latinos are underrepresented in Major League Baseball, that they're not treated like they should be. Hey, Oz, look at your own roster. Over half the players he manages are Latino. You want to know why most of them on his own team aren't recognizable? They're not good, or they don't do anything worth remembering. Mark Buerhle, his star pitcher, is white, and he pitched a perfect game. Their new pitcher, Edwin Jackson, is black, and he just pitched a no-hitter for another team. What have you heard about backup catcher Ramon Castro doing lately? Has Omar Vizquel made a difference in any games so far? Has Andruw Jones even played in half of the games this season? I truly believe, in this day and age, if a player is good, regardless of race, he'll be recognized and famous. Alex Rodriguez, a Latino, is 7th on the all-time home runs list (10 behind the only other Latino left to surpass on that list, Sammy Sosa) and is now a World Series champion. Vladimir Guerrero, a Latino, has helped the Rangers immensely to their first playoff run since 1999. Albert Pujols, a Latino, is by far the best player all around. For Guillen to say that Latinos are not properly represented is ridiculous. As short-sighted as Ozzie may be, this may be his dumbest remark yet. Another part of his idiotic rant claimed that Asian players get more help being translated and understood than Latinos who have a comparable grasp on the English language. As ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine said yesterday on Outside The Lines, the English and Spanish languages use almost all the same letters, and have many words and sounds in common; therefore, it's infinitely easier for Latinos to learn our native tongue than Asian players, who, whether they speak Chinese, Japanese, Korean or otherwise, come from speaking a language with literally thousands of characters, words, sounds, dialects and styles. Is anyone else confused as to why the Asian players need more help than the Spanish speakers? Since Guillen's remarks, players such as Alfonso Soriano have stated that their first few teams helped them learn and adjust very well, completely refuting Ozzie's ideas and making it lose whatever minimal credibility it had coming from him. So, as usual, let's do what we normally do when Ozzie Guillen talks and ignore it, unless he's speaking after a big postseason win.
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