Opinion

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You know what?  I grew up in Red Sox Nation and I didn’t really like baseball.  Or the Red Sox.  It’s true.

Not that I rooted for another team, but in terms of my allegiances, the Sox trailed the Celtics and Patriots, and maybe even professional wrestling.

It wasn’t always that way.  When I was really young, I followed the Sox just like I did the other teams.  Dwight Evans was my favorite player.

In the day of blogging and the Internet, anyone with access to a computer can post anything they want about anything.

And in the case of MLB, we've got boatloads of bloggers doing just that—posting about whatever nonsense they can come up with.

For instance, on this website alone, I saw a headline proclaiming "Rangers proving they can win the West."

Hello?

The season is only three games in—four now. The Rangers lost 15-2 in Detroit after their 3-0 start, and suddenly people think a team has "proven" itself with some early-season success?

The Red Sox have dropped two of the first three games of the 2009 season. No cause for alarm; it's far to early for that.

But what makes it sting a bit is the fact that they were at home, where they have the best winning percentage in baseball over the past six seasons (.652), and they lost to their newest rival—the defending AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays.

We've all become accustomed to the Red Sox wining their home series, as well as beating up on the lowly Rays. Things are changing. At the least, the Rays have changed.

The baseball season has started, and when every team begins 0-0, it seems all clubs feel they have a shot at a magical year, if they have a good start.

And it's funny how people react when they do get off to say, a perfect start.

Take the Texas Rangers, for example.

They're off to a 3-0 start, and it's the first time they've begun a season with three-straight wins since 1996.

Develop, use, trade, and start over. That's the unofficial Florida Marlins team motto. 

We all know and appreciate that the Florida Marlins consistently have great young talent. But at some point, you have to wonder how the heck they got all this talent.

Sure, when you trade away anyone that gets too expensive for prospects, at least one of those prospects will probably pan out. But what are the chances of one of these guys becoming the top player in the game?

Maple bats have got to go! Sure, they may not splinter and may last longer, but when they do break, they are by far more dangerous.

This year alone we have seen an umpire get impaled in the neck, a base coach who needed stitches after he got hit in the head, a spectator incur a broken jaw, and a player who got hit in the shoulder by the broken off barrel of his own bat.

“I can drive.”

How many times have you heard people say that, even though they have had too much to drink? It is an all too common occurrence in America.

Too many people think they are capable of driving, ignoring the fact that they are impaired. You may have driven home drunk before and not been caught.

You may have not endangered your life or the life of another. On Thursday morning, April 9, 2009, drunk driving claimed another life, Nick Adenhart's.

To the majority of New York Yankees fans, CC Sabathia looked great in Pinstripes...until last Tuesday at roughly 5pm EST.

Ah, if only we could be transported back in time to a place where Sabathia was throwing darts at opposing hitters, and registering goose eggs on the scoreboard.

Say, 4pm EST.

Baseball fans are fickle—especially those who belong to the Pinstripe persuasion. And by April 13th, nobody will know that better than Sabathia, who incidentally, had his name legally changed from "C.C." to "CC".

The St. Louis Cardinals web site announced today that Minor League pitcher Deryk Hooker has been suspended for 50 games because of a violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program today.

In today's age of PEDs, I wish Minor League and Major League Baseball would distinguish between drug violations of PEDs and recreational drug use. Especially when you are dealing with a young kid, like Deryk Hooker, and with today's sensitivity to the use of PEDs in Major League Baseball.

Picture this: A chilly April day in Philadelphia. Phillies fans have packed into Citizens Bank Park to watch their beloved Phils get their World Series rings they deserve. The players begin to get called.

The PA announcer starts by naming the Phillies who could not attend. Then players who are in attendance, yet no longer members of the Phillies begin to hear their names. The PA announcer reads from his sheet, "Pitcher. Adam Eaton!"

Huh?