The First Week...ummm...

So sports fans the first week of Baseball has officially come and gone leaving the Braves with a bad taste in their mouths following what looked to be like the start of the best season since... well ever.

On opening day, a sold out stadium of faithful and new Braves fans came out to witness the first of many curtain calls for legendary Manager Bobby Cox and the unveiling of future superstar Jason Heyward. The ovations from the crowd were deafening as Bobby was introduced, Hank Aaron (who threw out the ceremonial first pitch to who? Yes, that's right, Jason Heyward.), Heyward, McCann, Chipper, etc.

Ok, ok, ok, so as you have heard, Heyward hit his first career home run in his first career at bat against Carols Zambrano in the first inning that day, which was a Monday actually. McCann also hit his first bomb of the season that game too. Hurray!! We won 16-5, and I was there which was amazing!

Here is where things start to go down hill. The next game, still riding that high wave of emotion we pull out a come from behind "W" with a 2 run blast off of Chipper Jones' bat... HE'S BAAACK! Or so we thought. (Over the next couple days, Chipper hurt his toe then strained his right oblique and missed all of the San Fransisco series) We win the game 3-2. So far we're 2-0 on the season. Well, the next game we get blanked as we waste Tommy Hanson's first start of the season and lose 2-0, then fly out west to San Fransisco that night for a day game the very next day. Reportedly Bobby & co. got to the hotel at 3 am that day only to have to wake up at 6am. I'd call that a bit of a rude move by the MLB, but they can't even figure out their heads from a hole in the ground, but I digress.

We lost that game in 13 innings with terrible calls from the Umpiring crew and waste Tim Hudson's first start of the year, a gem of a start with 92 mph sinking fast balls and ground outs all over the place. But our new closer, who saved his first game that Wednesday, gave up a 2-run home run to the former Braves shortstop, Edgar Renteria. Blah, blah, blah bad calls, Bobby gets tossed and we lose. Game two of the three game set we win, 7-2, didn't watch it, i know i know, but I was at a wedding that didn't have a TV, oh well, cool note, Jason Heyward hit his 2nd home run. The third game, which was delayed 4 hours and 7 min. was against "The Freak", Tim Lincecum, yes 2-time Cy Young Award winner who fanned 10 Braves in 7 innings, but gave up a 2 run shot to McCann in the first and was really put to the test to be perfect by the "Dragon Slayer" Kenshin Kawakami of the Braves who has a history of shutting down the opposing team's Ace of the staff. An error here and an error there gave the Giants a 6-2 lead until Jason Heyward hit his third bomb, now leads the team... hmmmm... but we lost 6-3.

OK, we're 3-3.

Then there comes last night. Jair Jurrjens pitched his worst game in his professional career. 3.1 innings, 8 ER, 8 hits, 2 walks and 1 strikeout. Not to be outdone, Jo-Jo Reyes, the guy who for some reason is still around, went 3.1 innings, 9 ER, 10 hits, 3 walks and 2 strike outs. We lost that game to the San Diego Padres 17-2. We couldn't muster more than 2 runs on the worst hitting team in the Bigs. Our number 1 guys are the worst hitting hole in the majors, that would be Nate McLouth and the rather chunky Melky Cabrera. The latter having most of his ABs in the 1 hole while Nate is not doing too terrible in the 8 hole with a .348 OBP, but still churning butter to the tune of .118 batting average.

I go through all that to preach this, dear Braves fans, Terry Pendleton needs to be fired. Every time he gets his claws into a player in Atlanta, they turn into a terrible hitter. Why do you think it is that Chipper Jones and Brian McCann use their fathers as their personal hitting coaches. The two leaders of the club won't listen to their own coach. Martin Prado, the best hitter on the team, in my humble opinion, is leading the majors in avg. and I think is good enough to listen to himself and not Terry. Nate McLouth was a power hitter in Pittsburgh, now with an entire off season and Spring Training under Terry's eye, he has become almost ineffective.

Let's look at it this way: When Jeff Francoeur came up, he was a great hitter. The longer he spent with Terry, the worse be became at the plate. Kelly Johnson lost the ability here in Atlanta to make contact.

NEWS FLASH: Jeff Francoeur is hitting .476 with 2 home runs, and an OPS of 1.538 for the METS! Kelly is hitting .368 with 3 home runs with an OPS of 1.425 for the Dimondbacks.

That's number 1 and 3 for highest OPS in the NL.








Another note of interest, what has Derek Lowe done to gain all the run support? He was given the gift of a 6 run first inning on opening day after giving up a 3 run blast to Marlon Byrd of the Cubbies in the top of the first, then gets 7 runs of support from his hitters when he played the Giants on Saturday.

Lowe- 2-0 ( .380 BA against him and a .425 SLG% with a 4.5 ERA)
JJ- 0-1
Hanson- 0-1
Hudson- 0-0
Kawakami- 0-1

Just some food for thought:

Terry Pendleton: the bane of my existence

I love the Braves and may have the greatest Braves day of my life coming up very soon, but the fact remains: We need a hitting coach that has proven to be a positive influence on our players, or at least one that won't ruin a hitter's swing. Glaus has yet to do deep. Heyward, who is still on track with his swing that HE has been working on, would do wise to not listen to what TP has to say and listen to Chipper, McCann and Prado have to say.



Well sports fans, I hope that we at least take the Padres series with a couple of back to back wins on Wednesday and Thursday with Tommy Hanson pitching and then Tim Hudson, but you cannot win if you don't hit the ball. So until then, pray for HITTING!!!, be proud of the Tomahawk Chop, and if you need a smile, just remember when Sid Slid.

OPENING DAY!

It's a few minutes after the bewitching hour here in Atlanta and just finished watching the Red Sox/Yankees opening night game. I have to be honest, very disappointing. Both teams looked bad. CC Sabathia and Josh Beckett looked like they were still trying to pitch to the Single A talent they have been getting used to over the course of the last month and both bullpens were not that sharp. I'm glad the Sox won for my buddy Mike and the bar we used to go to sold Bud heavy in the bottle for $2 in his memory. Awesome move from the guys at Loco's on St. Simons Island.

Now onto the matter at hand: IT'S OPENING DAY!!! I cannot wait to take the MARTA train down to The Ted to go run around the stadium like a 3rd grader, honestly I am. The GF and I will be there in our newest of Braves clothing bought today.

Today at 4:10 pm, Derek Lowe is scheduled to make the first pitch of the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs season. For the players taking the field I am guessing that McLouth will start in Center Field, even though he has had some right hamstring soreness over the last few days. New addition Melky Cabrera will be starting in Left Field today, he is a switch hitter and the Cubs starting pitcher, Carlos Zambrano, is a right hander. Matt Diaz will be the starter on days the Braves play left handed pitching. Bobby has promised that all his Outfielders will get plenty of At Bats. Jason Heyward is our new starting Right Fielder and from the buzz around here in Atlanta, people are ready for this kid to preform on the big stage. The infield will go as usual around the horn: Chipper at Third, Escobar at Short, Prado at Second and our 11th opening day starter at First, Troy Glaus. McCann will be calling the game and good ol' Derek Lowe will try to toss like he did opening day last year against the Phillies

in an 8-inning shutout victory.

My Projected Line-Up:

1. Melky Cabrera- LF

2. Martin Prado- 2B

3. Chipper Jones- 3B

4. Troy Glaus- 1B

5. Brian McCann- C

6. Yunel Escobar- SS

7. Jason Heyward- RF

8. Nate McLouth- CF

9. Derek Lowe- P

Like a lot of teams, health will be the issue of the year for our boys of summer. Wagner, Hudson, Glaus, McLouth and Chipper's health will be scrutinized on a daily basis by all the bloggers, radio and TV personalities. If Jason Heyward has a year like Jordan Schafer did last year, will Braves Nation start sprinting toward a cliff? Only time will tell dear readers.

So in closing, pray for pitching, be proud of the Tomahawk Chop, and if you need a smile, just remember when Sid Slid.

Starting Rotation Notes

Our strongest factor in last years turn around was our pitching staff. We were stuck with automatic outs in CF for the first 50 games, RF till Frenchy was traded away, 2B until Kelly went on the DL and Prado took over and LF for the first couple of months while Anderson was playing and trying to recoup his hamstring. So with some actual consistency of the positive kind from those positions, we are looking at a very dangerous club, in the batters box or toeing the slab.

Fun fact, Jo Jo Reyes was our fifth starter last year until Kris Medlen took over in anticipation of Tommy Hanson's arrival. It literally took me a couple of hours to remember who we started with in our rotation at the beginning of the 2009 campaign. This year's opening day has a little bit of a different make up, but still solid to the core.

Derek Lowe-Opening Day pitcher, trying to shake off the .301 batting avg against him last year and his career high ERA. He still won 15 games, but this fan wonders how much was him and how much was he the beneficiary of those few times when our bats would pop. Lowe has been a work horse the majority of his career, thanks in large part to being a closer for many years, and will look to continue in that respect. Either way, he's been great in Spring Training and re-worked his delivery, so much so that Bobby named him the Opening Day Starter for his last season. Prediction: 13-9, 3.95 ERA

Tim Hudson- Huddy, the class clown, he and back up catcher David Ross, has been labeled the staff 'Ace' by Bobby. He's throwing very well and compares his reconstructed elbow with its motion as playing with "a new toy." Still taking it easy on Hudson, he has given us all every indication that he will be very solid for the next 3 years wearing the red, white and blue.
Prediction: 15-9, 3.35 ERA

Jair Jurrjens: The foundation of Braves Nation quaked when it was reported that he was having some shoulder inflammation early in the Spring season. People were calling Bobby to the mat for having him pitch so much last year, but as it turns out, JJ is fine and ready to resume his usual duties of dazzling hitters with his change, 2-seam, slider and curve. This humble pitcher will continue to develop and if he only had a few more runs in a couple of games, would have been a legit Cy Young candidate. Prediction: 15-6, 2.90 ERA

Tommy Hanson: The big kid from out West has been the quiet one this Spring Training. Last spring all anyone could talk about was Tommy this and Tommy that, now it's changed to Heyward this and J-Hey that. Oh how a year of dominance has made people so comfortable with you they just assume you will blow everyone away. I'm one of those people and think Hanson will have a break out year. After coming up in June and dominating, many people were wondering what if those starts that were wasted by Jo Jo Reyes at the start of last season had been pitched by Hanson. Oh how much closer to the playoffs we would have been last year. Prediction: 19-6, 3.45 ERA

Kenshin Kawakami: This Japanese All-Star has had his first full season of major league bats and will hopefully be able to show all his doubters of the stuff that made him a sought after free agent just a year ago for the Braves. No one is asking him to win 20 games, just keep us in them and let the bats do some work. KK had the worst run support for any starter for the first 3 to 4 months last year in the Majors. Tallying 7 wins and 12 losses was peculiar, most noteably because 1 of those wins was a 1-0 duel with Roy 'Doc' Halladay and against Johan Santana, two of his 7 wins. More run support, better understanding of the US strike zone and hitters will help him immensely. Also, having a fellow country man, Saito, in the bullpen will help him feel a little more like he is home and allow him to better acclimate to the life of a MLB'er. Prediction: 12-11 ERA 4.13

Total- 73 wins 41 losses from our starters. Not shabby at all.

As the Season Gets Ready to Begin

Well fans, the season is just around the corner and everything seems to be in place.
1. Nate McLouth-CF
2. Martin Prado- 2B
3. Chipper Jones- 3B
4. Troy Glaus- 4B
5. Brain McCann- C
6. Yunel Escobar- SS
7. Jason Heyward- RF
8. Matt Diaz- LF
9. Derek Lowe- P

This is what the opening day line up will more than likely look like Game 1 against the Cubbies next Monday.

Spring Training is Finally Here!!

Well hello again baseball fans, as you should hopefully know by now with the thawing of ice from the winter months, the leading into baseball season must pass one through one last check point on the road to summer nirvana: Spring Training!

A few days ago pitchers and catchers for the Bravos headed down the road to sunny Florida where they will get re-acquainted with the season's regiment and with each other. This will be the first chance that many of them will have to be looked over by Manager Bobby Cox, pitching coach Roger McDowell and bullpen coach Eddie Perez.

With the trade of Javier Vazquez to the Yankees there have been some concerns about our starting rotation and with the acquisition of LHP Billy Wagner, 37, to be our closer and Takashi Saito, 40, as our RHP set-up man, how effective our hurlers will be. Here I am going to look down the pros and cons of what we have and what we can expect from the Bullpen.

Starting Rotation:

1: Tim Hudson

2: Derek Lowe

3: Jair Jurrjens

4: Tommy Hanson

5: Kenshin Kawakami

Bullpen:

Ok, so with the bullpen we have a bit of a log jam with what appears to be several good arms and only seven spots to fill. The way things look now is to have Wagner close, Saito and Moylan set-up, Chavez and Proctor take the middle relief job, O'Flahrety do the lefties but he's not just a lefty specialist and Medlen to do some middle relief and also handle the task of spot starter if an injury to the starting 5 happens.

CL: Billy Wagner (L) - The Atlanta Braves new closer is a 37 year old vet. Billy Wagner who has converted 385 saves in 15 seasons with the Astros, Phillies, Mets and Red Sox(0 saves with them, just a middle relief/mop-up kind of guy for the BoSox). Wager seems to have recovered fully and his 1.72 ERA in 2009 with the Red Sox and the Mets has given hope to the coaches that Billy will be able to regain his form. When right, this lefty has a plus fastball, change-up and plus-slider that has earned him a career ERA of 2.39. Braves Manager Bobby Cox has reportedly said that Wagner looks like the closer of old and that he has been throwing really impressive stuff during the sessions in Florida. If all goes according to plan, which it rarely does, Billy will be able to bring some much vaunted intimidation to the end of the bullpen. While departed Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano were respected for their skills, Wagner has more dread associated with his name than the other two ever could. Mike was too wild and just tried to get the ball over the plate too much, while Soriano was just too inconsistent and didn't seem to care when he'd throw one of his patented fastballs down the heart of the plate to a dangerous hitter for a home run. I'll miss you Mike "Cobra" Gonzalez, Soriano on the other hand, I just plain never trusted you.

Set-up: Takashi Saito- This 40 year old Japanese set-up man is another new face in a Braves uniform. I am pretty excited about him for a few reasons, 1) he has closing experience in the NL with the Dodgers, so if something goes wrong with Billy's arm he can at least share the burden of closer, probably with Peter Moylan; 2) he's Japanese! Hear me out. For Kenshin Kawakami, I can tell you from my own experience that going to the other side of the world where everyone speaks a forigen language, it sucks not being able to talk to everyone around you, it must be worse when you can't really talk to your own teammates, therefore he will now have the ability to talk baseball, especially pitching with the newest fellow country man. Saito and Kawakami played for a long time in the Japanese baseball league before being lured to play for the MLB and honestly Kawakami's interpreter didn't seem like he was having fun sitting on the bench all game in a Braves warm-up. True Saito will be in the bullpen and KK on the bench when not pitching, but still, when you don't know the native tongue it's nice to be able to spend a lot of time with someone who knows exactly what you are going through. 3) He and Billy Wagner both played for the Red Sox last year. These guys have at least a little bit of experience together and hopefully that will make things better for the bullpen as a whole.

Set-up: Peter Moylan- This Aussie is coming off of a career high 87 appearances, one behind the most in 2009 (that was held by Pedro Feliciano of the Mets). Side note, of the top 10 in relief appearances for the NL, 4 were from ATL, Moylan, 87, Gonzalez, 80, O'Flahrety, 78 and Soriano, 70. Over the last 3 years Peter Moylan has been outstanding posting an ERA of 2.24 over 168.2 innings. That's 129 strike outs and 67 walks. Yes, two years ago, before his arm surgery, he posted a 1.80 ERA and had a couple of big game meltdowns, most remembered by me was game 3 last year, opening week against the Phillies where we lost a 10-3 lead thanks in large part to him. However, he spent the rest of

the year filling in that pit of non-confidence and made me remember how good he really can be. His submarine arm throw and his nasty sinker will go a long way to helping us out again. The main thing I want to see from Peter, who will probably serve as the main closer is Wagner is injured, will be to keep him out of as many games as he has been. If the rest of the bullpen can show it doesn't need Peter every other game, yes folks, for practical purposes, he got warmed up, did his stretching, threw in the 'pen, got a call from Bobby, ran out and pitched every other night for the entire year.

MR: Eric O'Flahrety (L) - Here's a kid (25 years old from Walla Walla, WA) who just finished his first tour with the Braves in 2009. He appeared in 79 games and faced 236 batters. 116 were lefties who hit .215 against him, gave up 2 home runs, struck out 24 and walked 6. Lefties slugged .290 and had an OPS of .559. 120 righties had plate appearances against him, they hit .282, so they got 6 more hits off of him, gave up 0 home runs, had a slugging % against of .301 and an OPS of .676, walked 12(4 IBB struck out 15. My overall take on this guy is he is a solid relief pitcher, he can seriously help and I can see him hopefully keeping his innings from 2009, 56.1, around the same because if the rest of the MR guys can pull their weight we can keep him fresh for the big lefty bats the NL East has- Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Adam Dunn, etc.

MR: Jesse Chavez- New kid on the block who has really been throwing gas in the sessions in Florida and has a pretty big chance to come up with the Braves to the Show at the start of the season. Traded from the Rays on December 10th to us when Rafael Soriano tried to squeeze us for more than he's worth. Spent all of his big league time with the Pirates and pitched against the Braves last year actually. Don't know too much about him but I can only hope he is good enough to take enough innings to make sure Moylan and Saito don't pitch every other day. If there are enough days where maybe he can take the 7th or if the MR guys can just handle more of the load, that'd be a really nice thing to see, because if you think about it, Wagner is coming off of injury, Saito is 40 and last year was Moylan's bounce back from Tommy John surgery and pitched in less than a full calendar year from when he had the operation. Just saying...

MR: Scott Proctor* (once he's done with rehabbing his arm)- Scott has been a workhorse before and hopefully he'll be once again ready to take that mantle. Bobby loves to use the bullpen, it's a scientific fact. The AT&T "Call to the Bullpen" keeps them in business in the vast number of minutes he racks up on the dugout phone. I can only hope that as Scotty rehabs, he'll be able to make the kind of bounce back that Moylan did and that Wager showed glimpses of last year.

Spot-start/LR: Kris Medlen- Kris is the oddest piece of all to me in the bullpen. Of course everyone needs a long reliever or a spot starter, but Kris is in my mind just too good to be used as infrequent as the position is allowed. He needs to always be fresh in case someone goes down in the rotation or if Derek Lowe has another episode like he did last year against the Mets and only goes 2 innings. He has to be able to go over scouting reports every day and be ready to face the entire line up that day perhaps more than just once. He's 24 and

was brought up lastyear to allow Tommy Hanson to not start his arbitration-eligible clock to allow him to not become a "Super 2" player. Kris started 4 games and made 33 relief appearances striking out 72 and walking 30. His ERA was a pretty high 4.26, but high bullpen ERAs can easily be misleading considering that he gave up 9 earned runs in 8.1 innings his first two started games and then had a consistently declining ERA except for a hiccup against the Orioles and Yankees(6.2 innings and 7 earned runs combined). After his last start on July 12th against the Rockies, he made 26 appearances, finished 7 games had 39 K's and 10 walks in 35.1 innings with an ERA of 2.80. So long story short, the kid is good, but can still start somewhat. As long as we have our rotation in place as is, he'll be forced to sharpen his skills in the bullpen and maybe can turn into an anchor back there that we have sorely lacked since John Smoltz was closing.

So until later when we go over the starting rotation, pray for pitching, be proud of the Tomahawk Chop and if you need a smile, just remember when Sid Slid.

New Job, Title, Team

Welcome back sports fans, yes it is I, your beautiful, boistrous, barely boorish, Braves Bender benefactor, beneveulently bringing back, braggingly, bounties 'bout the Braves. Whew, well aliteration not aside, that was awesome.

So with that, it's time to dive right in.

Firstly, I'd like to say congratulations to moi, for landing a job in politics, it's awesome and fulfilling, kind of if I owned the Braves, weak comparison, but the point is still valid. Legislative Aide is what I am, a gopher pretty much for a state representative, but hey, my foot is firmly in the door.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

It seems that the off season reconstructuring of the Braves roster is something, something, something, complete. (go watch "Family Guy" if you don't get understand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhnPaiSFVSE)

So to make us better, we added a potential 30 HR guy in Troy Glaus, added a closer in Billy Wagner and a set-up man in Takashi Saito, a 4th outfielder in Melky Cabrera and a bench bat/corner ourfield and infielder in Eric Hinske.

Matty Diaz (Charlie Hustle, Jr.) and Peter Moylan were both signed to 1-year deals since they are both in their arbitration years..

There have been talks about the Braves getting Johnny Damon, free-agent with Scott Boras as an agent, coming from writers not on the MLB payroll, but unless Damon will take a HUGE cut, I wouldn't get my hopes too high. I'd love to have the guy, a true lead-off hitter, not that Nate McLouth isn't, but I'd prefer to have him deeper in the lineup so he can hit some doubles with people on, like Damon, in front of him. McLouth has pop for a lead-off guy, but his career average is floating around the .260 mark, but does have a .450 slugging clip. So a versatile hitter like Damon could do wonders for us as he hits 20 points higher than McLouth.

However, even if we don't get him, which would be totally fine considering it would be the most crowded outfield in baseball, unless we could trade away Melky(please let that happen regardless), we still have a pretty solid outfield that is much better defensively without him. Not a lot of pop out there, but with Diaz's hitting and hustle, McLouth's speed, Melky's versatility and perhaps THE wild card for this season, much like Tommy Hanson last year, Jason Heyward who people are saying is the best thing since, well ever.

There have been talks about bringing Heyward up to start in Right Field, to platoon with Matt Diaz, to stay in the minors much a-kin to the Tommy Hanson was brought up, so that he would not start his arbitration eligible clock till the following year. Regardless, he will make his debut, barring injury, this year before the All-Star Break. I'd say around June 1st(My Birthday, for those of you keeping score at home, that's the same as Andy Griffith and Marilyn Monroe) , why? Well May 31st thru June 2nd is the end of a home stand against the Phillies and the next game is on the road, so a little home introduction against a division rival could be pretty dramatic. Yet, we'll just have to wait and see.

The "Hot Stove" season is always fun because we can all dream of landing a Matt Holiday and a Jason Bay, but you know what, I love the fact that we have a potential home run machine in Troy Glaus and if he totally flops, then we only wasted approx. $2MM, that's it. The benefits FAR outweigh the potential of failure here, and we only have him a year to help our 1st baseman in the minors, Freddie Freeman, get some more seasoning.

Anyway sports fans, remember pray for pitching, be proud of the Tomahawk Chop, and if you need a smile, just remember when Sid Slid.

Steroids...yikes.

So the last few days have been heart-wrenching for me and hopefully other baseball fans. Mark McGwire has admitted to using steroids during his career in Oakland and St. Louis, both under the watchful gaze of manager Tony La Russa...

Mark McGwire, the man who shattered Roger Maris' single season record for home runs, admitted to using steroids as early as 1989 and even during the magical chase for the single season home run record.

The 1998 season had McGwire and Sammy Sosa, of the Chicago Cubs, making baseball actually relevant again after it had started slipping in the television ratings. People were tuning in to watch these two divisional rivals face off as many times as possible. ESPN and FOX showed as many Cardinals and Cubs games and especially Cardinals vs. Cubs games, those were like ratings gold that year. That chase was so influential that even though McGwire beat out Sosa for the record, Sosa still won the National League MVP for that year. Also, neither of the two teams one the NL Central Division, the Cubs won the Wild Card but were thumped by the Atlanta Braves.

McGwire's apology for taking

them is fine, I'll accept that he is in fact sorry for taking them. I do believe that. However, he has waited so long that it doesn't even seem to mean anything anymore. He is a coward, and saying that his congressional "non" testimony was only because he couldn't be assured immunity is so far-fetched in my view. Had his attorney gone to the US Attorney's office and requested immunity for him coming forward with all that he knew, they would have given it to him in a heart beat. Do not let his "lack of immunity" hog-wash make you think he was this little man being bullied around by the courts or Congress. He is a liar and a cheat all the way back since 1989, if not earlier.

This is a three fold problem for me:

1) Mark McGwire is an admitted cheater and should be stricken from the records like "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the rest of the Chicago "Black Sox". This would mean that Sammy

Sosa was the first person to break the record in my eyes, of course until we prove that Sammy was a junkie too. We all know he is, then Barry Bonds would be next and he's a steroid freak too (Honestly, who's head can grow like that after the age of 21?)

2) Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was McGwire's manager in Oakland when he started using steroids, became very well known while on steroids and again his manager in St. Louis when McGwire broke the record. La Russa needs to be investigated and if nothing else criticized for either his allowance of steroids in TWO of his clubhouses or criticized because he must have been a bumbling, real-life version of Mr. Magoo, not being able to see what was going on right in front of him, especially in Oakland where he coached McGwire AND Jose Canseco, an admitted steroid user and injector who says he did it for many people including "Big Mac" in Oakland's locker rooms.

3) This means that Jose Canseco was right all along and he, McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, Rafael "Period" Palmero, Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez, and others, were in fact all taking steroids during the era. Although Commissioner Bud Selig would have us believe that the "Steroid Era" never actually existed.

I hope and pray every night that McGwire never gets into Cooperstown, that if he even walks in he will begin to feel like he's burning as a demon in that holy shrine of baseball. Tony La Russa is possibly the most evil man in baseball's history seeing as how it was his teams in two locations, that made steroids in baseball really explode onto the public stage.

I remember watching in 1998, being excited and loving each time those guys launched one over a wall. I had stopped playing baseball by that time, but I still loved the game. Sosa and McGwire were two titans dueling for all the world to see. Now, with this realization, they were no more than frauds. People may criticize me for occasionally watching professional wrestling, but at least with pro wrestling you know it's fake. More importantly...

They don't lie.