 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 I was beginning to wonder why my team, my Giants, were on a losing streak. I was wondering why a team that had fought so gallantly last season was falling apart now, now that it was expected of them to succeed while there was still some momentum from last season. But now I know. I know why they're 3rd in their division and 8th in the whole of professional baseball. I know why they're a horrible four and a half games out, 3 games out of even having a decent chance. I know, I know, I know… Arrogance. Baseball's on its knees right now, and while it doesn't even know if it'll stand back up on its own two feet before the season's over, the few games we (the players and the fans) probably have left, these two shmucks have it out, in public, in their dugout, in the middle of a game. Barry's mad that nobody will pitch to him and, he thinks, that when they do eventually pitch to him they're trying to hit him. On top of that, with all the press Barry's received, especially with last year's home run chase, reports say that he's become full of himself - not interacting on a personal level with anybody on his team anymore. Jeff Kent and the other players are trying to play, but with a huge rip in the tender fabric of camaraderie often associated with a 'team', it doesn't matter if the tear is out there all by himself in left field. This is where salary caps come into play. This is where strict punishments need to be made and enforced. If I had any say, I'd keep these boys out of the next game AND dock their pay for that game. The only children in baseball are the kids in the stands watching the men they idolize do what they can only dream. Kids can't pull off the rare triple play or kit a ball over 400 feet or throw to home from center field just in time to beat a speeding runner. Professionals do that. Kids get mad and fight. Still, though, I can understand the pressures this team, and all the other teams, must be under, however, I haven't heard a peep out of the other teams not getting along. Well, there was this thing about some pitcher and a bean, but other than that, not a sound. And if there is any locking of horns going on in baseball, all of it, until now, took place in the locker room, out of sight of anyone other than the team. It's childish, and professionals need not 'play' that way. It's embarrassing for me, a Giants fan, to have to stand up for and explain the apparent shortcomings of my crew to my brother the Dodgers fan. |
