Snow making you sick, depressed, or rowdy? Well, hang on Panama Blue, because spring training baseball is just around the corner, and by obvious extension, so is the spring.
Unfortunately, amidst the coming return of America's pastime, one team's fan-base knows that it has no hope of doing anything. That's right, D.C.: that team would be your Washington Nationals!
How bad is it for the Nationals? Well, the team's No. 1 pitcher, John Patterson, was injured for most of last year and won exactly one game.
At least Patterson is a known commodity with a very good, fast ball, but the rest of the rotation? We have no idea who they'll even be, but suffice to say, beautiful are bound to happen when guys like Jerome Williams (7.30 ERA) and Tim Redding (10.57 ERA) are your projected No. 2 and 3 starters.
Great scouting, Nationals. What happened, was Ryan Dempster not available?
Things will probably get so bad for the Nationals this year that instead of showing the score, RFK Stadium will probably just display a "watch out for flying objects" sign when the opposing team is at bat.
By the way, don't you love it how Red Sox fans are still pretending to be an oppressed minority? The scrappy, little underdog when compared to the Yankees? The rest of us have known for years that the Red Sox are about as much an underdog as Exxon, but the time for delusion is officially over when you sign a guy for $2.5 million a year who has never pitched an inning of professional baseball (Welcome to the major leagues, Hideki Okajima).
But while I am here to hate on their pompous and pretentious fans, I'm not here to hate on the team. As they say on the streets, (for which I am entirely well-known): "Don't hate the player, hate the game." But I won't do either.
The worst teams are those that have the money at their dispersal, yet won't spend. So if you have the money, like the Red Sox do, why not spend it on a guy like Okajima, a big left-hander who supposedly has a great curveball and good command? It certainly makes more sense to pay Okajima's salary than Julio Lugo, a career .277 hitter who is at best a speedy (yet average) gap hitter, who the Red Sox's are paying $36 million over four years.
Since Valentine's Day is officially over, let's just continue with this hate fest.
In my memory I can't recall a more boring or uninspired World Series champ than last years St. Louis Cardinals. Sure, everyone will talk about how special it was that midget shortstop David Eckstein won the World Series MVP. I mean, yes, Eckstein is great, and with him there are absolutely no surprises. On the field you know you get a steady hitting shortstop who will never hit a home-run, off the field you'll get a guy with less emotional range than Tim Duncan.
I still remember Major League Baseball doing a day-in-the-life on Eckstein after the Angels won the World Series. The cameras followed Eckstein to a public library, and after sitting down at a computer, the cameraman and Eckstein had this conversation for the ages:
Cameraman: "So is this what a normal day is like for you."
Eckstein: "Yes."
True inspiration from the reigning World Series MVP.
Anyway, let's finish here on a strong note. Go Nats, go A's, and since neither of those teams will win it all, here's to a World Series champ that is not the Red Sox, Yankees or Cardinals.
