Mike Lowell's Home Run and A-Rod's Lack Thereof

Hi, I'm the Baseball Girl, or Lori as some people like to call me.  Tonight, as I was watching the Red Sox / Indians game and yelling at my TV, I realized I have no one to talk to and no outlet to express my frustration, jubilation or any of the other myriad feelings I encounter on a daily basis while watching baseball.  So, I decided to start a blog.  Let's see what happens...

The subjects of this blog entry are Mike Lowell and Alex Rodriguez.  First, Mike Lowell made his return to the Red Sox lineup today, which made me a very happy camper.  Lowell is my favorite player in all of Major League Baseball (with Tim Lincecum a close second), if not for his playing ability, for his great personality and sportsmanship.  An injury to Kevin Youkilis, as well as injuries to the Sox entire Major League starting lineup (who are they, the 2009 Mets?), left Terry Francona with no choice but to start Lowell at first base only 2 days after Lowell's future with the Red Sox organization seemed unlikely (again).  As Mike approached home plate for his first at bat, the crowd gave him a standing ovation and what did Mikey do?  He hit the first pitch he saw over the Green Monster for a home run. 
This is what frustrates me.  Why is Lowell constantly on the chopping block?  Yes, I understand he has been injured and cannot really be an every day player, but he is still an above average hitter and not too bad in the field, so platoon him.  The Red Sox have so many injuries that they need someone like Lowell right now, and yet, they are still trying to get rid of him.  Hopefully that changed tonight.  He not only drove in what would turn out to be the game winning RBI, but he made some great defensive plays at first base.  Theo Epstein needs to keep this guy.  This is the last season of his contract and he already said he will most likely retire this year, so just let him play where he loves to play and where the fans clearly love to watch him play. 

Also, speaking of Epstein...really Theo?  Jarrod Saltalamacchia is the best you could do at the trade deadline?  The Red Sox needed a bullpen pitcher, not an injury plagued catcher...the team already has enough of those.  But I digress...

On to Alex Rodriguez.  He hit home run number 599 twelve days ago and now holds the record for the most time between home runs 599 and 600 (although the fact that he is even qualified to hold that record is impressive as only 6 other players in baseball history have hit more than 600 home runs).  So you know what I say?  Leave A-Rod alone.  Stop with this whole "Road to 600" BS and just let the guy play baseball.  Switching out balls before his at-bats and bringing up home run 599 over and over again is just distracting, not only for A-Rod, but for the entire Yankee team.  Now I am no Yankee fan, but I do like A-Rod and I have liked him since his days with Seattle.  I even have a theory about him that involves Star Wars, Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, redemption, Scott Boras, and the Evil Emperor, but that's for another blog entry.  The point is, we have to let the guy play baseball.  He will eventually hit home run number 600.  Whether he does it tomorrow, 20 days from now or Sunday night when I am at the Yankees / Red Sox game (hint, hint...A-Rod, if you're reading this, hit it Sunday) he will hit number 600, so everyone should just back off. 

Last, but not least, I was reading Bill Simmons' article on ESPN.com's Page 2 today and he was explaining why the New England Sports Network's (NESN) ratings for Red Sox games have gone down this season.  One reason he gave was the large number of injured Red Sox, which goes without saying.  Unless you are a really die-hard fan, you are not going to watch a bunch of minor leaguers lose to the Kansas City Royals when you could be watching some other fabulous TV show like, oh, I don't know, America's Got Talent (that was sarcasm by the way.  I feel like I need to explain sarcasm for a while, until we get to know each other better).  Two other reasons Simmons listed for the decline were:

1) games have grown way too long over the past few years (almost every game is over 3 hours)
and 2) you never see a good old-fashioned fight anymore. 

Well, I think Simmon's should list the reasons why there is world hunger, violence in the Middle East, and global warming, because tonight, the night after I read his column, the Red Sox won a game in under 3 hours (it was 2:31 or so) and had a benches clearing brawl...so exciting! 

Until next time,

The Baseball Girl