Off the Top…A-Rod Returns, Fans, Questions

By Gary Armida

Welcome back to the 3^rd installment of “Off the top…”, FCP’s Saturday column that is all about my thoughts of baseball and whatever else pops into my head. Let’s get to it-The Alex Rodriguez Show began with a bang as the first pitch he saw was hit for a three run homerun. Sure, it makes for a great beginning, but it also gave the Yankees a lead for the first time in what seems like three years. Like I wrote on Thursday, Rodriguez can become a likeable person in New York, even a hero, if he can hit and the Yankees simultaneously take off. CC Sabathia gave the Yankees exactly what they needed-a bullpen free night. Rodriguez gets the headlines, but Sabathia is the more important story. He looks like he is ready to take off. Many are quick to write off the Yankees for the season, even their spoiled fans, but being one game under .500 while having their number three starter have a historically bad start, their best hitter play his first game on May 8^th, and have a bullpen, which was one of the best in Majors last season, completely implode, is a major accomplishment. The loss of Jorge Posada and Jose Molina is significant, but the addition of Rodriguez and the usual second half magic from Teixeira still allows the Yankees to compete. They do have to find at least two reliable arms, but a bad bullpen is tough to remake on the fly. The plan was for good starting pitching and a good offense. The Yankees have to hope to get that so the bullpen isn’t exposed as much.

Speaking of the Yankees, allow me a couple of lines to just express my disdain for the fans. Mark Teixeira was getting booed soundly at the Stadium Thursday night. New York fans are supposedly knowledgeable so one would think that they knew Teixeira always starts slow and is likely to come out of his early season swoon shortly. Mariano Rivera gets booed. Yes, he deserves that after coming off of surgery. Rivera said it correctly when he stated fans have been spoiled and that he simply building strength after shoulder surgery. Other fans are clamoring for the days of the “Old” George Steinbrenner when he would’ve fired a manager by now. It makes for a salacious column, but how many titles did the Yankees win the 80’s when he was at his infamous best? There is a reason why professional teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Angels are stable and win more often than not. Stability and a commitment to a plan is how teams when on a regular basis. Fans don’t seem to get that, especially since Joe Girardi (who I ripped quite a bit last season) doesn’t have a bullpen to manage. Remember, middle relief is very year to year.

The Diamondbacks fired Bob Melvin and hired AJ Hinch as their new manager. The hiring of Hinch will be dissected for two reasons. First, he has zero managing experience. Secondly, he is just 34 years old. Hinch, the former catcher for the Oakland A’s and five other teams, is another former catcher taking a managerial post. Many will speculate that he is too young, but age is not a factor. His litmus test will be whether or not he can get the young, seemingly talented, offense going while managing a pitching staff without its best pitcher. The Diamondbacks are correct for taking a chance with a young manager. They have a young team and perhaps a young manager can relate better. It’s one of those low risk, high reward moves. There will be many articles written discussing why it may be a mistake to hire a 34 year old, but the truth is nobody knows. The D-Backs play in a mediocre division where the division leader just lost its best hitter for a significant amount of time. The talent is there so perhaps a new approach ignites them.

Six Questions Floating in My Head

• Is it time to think about how good of a manager Cito Gaston is? He turned the Jays around last season and has them off to a good start this season despite thin talent. Perhaps all those teams that wouldn’t interview him can somewhat see his tremendous ability and influence now.
• Speaking of managers, how does Mike Scioscia do it every year? He loses his top two starting pitchers and loses his best hitter, and still has the Angels in perfect position to win another division title. With Lackey and Santana about a week away from returning, things may be looking up a bit.
• Zack Greinke has received much the attention for his season (which he deserves), but why are people forgetting Johan Santana? Is it just expected now? Greinke is elite right now, but Santana is all-time elite.
• Can Carl Crawford maintain his pace for the second half (which he historically doesn’t)? If he can put the entire season together, he’s one of the elite players in the game.
• Is Chad Billingsley quietly having a Cy Young Award season? Even though he lost last night, the answer is yes.
• Is second base the new shortstop of 10 years ago? Take a look around the league. There are some tremendous second basemen.

Link of the Week

You read the FCP take on the Manny Ramirez debacle, but check out friend of FCP, David Allan’s take as well. David makes some tremendous point, especially about the fan’s responsibility. It’s a great read.

Yes, well all need to move on, but not before we all show our displeasure. It’s not alright and it shouldn’t be accepted. Why? Well, my day job is a high school teacher. When I hear a 10^th grade student wonder aloud about how all the good players take drugs and maybe that’ll put him over the top too, it cannot be ignored. Think about the significance of that statement by a 15 year old. Simply, he (and the rest of his generation) believes that being elite equals taking performance enhancing drugs. So when the Nation’s columnists and talk show hosts say they want to move on and write about other things, perhaps they should begin to see the true culture and impact of drugs. Like I’ve said many times before, I know if someone offered me a pill as a college player, I wouldn’t have had the power to say no. Our culture needs to keep fighting this cheating.