Now I don't want to get off on a rant here...

MLB: April Showers Bring May Flowers

The Elite Sports Programming Network or ESPN, formerly the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, has never been particularly high on the Orioles or Baltimore that much. And that’s fine because the blue collar town, despite its liberal bend, doesn’t much care for the “Elite” either.

I can recall during the 1997 season when the O’s went wire to wire, they owned the Yankees and pretty much everyone else in the division. Was this something that the Elite network gushed about or touted as being legitimate? Not really. There was always this air of “This just isn’t the Yankees year” and not, “Hey look at what the O’s are doing!”

This is the first season in a long while that the O’s have been doing well and we have every right to be excited about our team, and so does any other team that is doing well at this time. Sure the standings don’t amount to much right now and I don’t particularly start paying attention to that until late August. But in the words of Brian Billick, “A win at the beginning of the season counts as much as a win at the end of the season in the record book.”

So while I don’t expect much from ESPN, I was a little surprised to see this Page 2 article by David Schoenfield. Here is his assessment of why he hates April baseball and the breakdown of the AL East. There is a breakdown of every team in the league as well, with snippy remarks for everyone.

MLB’s April Showers

This is what bugs me about April baseball: Brian Roberts.

Look, I know you Orioles fans are all excited about Mr. Roberts. I'm tired of hearing of this guy. He's not going to be the AL MVP. He may not even be an All-Star. A guy who hits .273 with four home runs doesn't suddenly become one of baseball's best hitters.
…

AL East
Baltimore Orioles: And for the seventh straight season all the O's need is for Sidney Ponson to finally harness his "talent," win 24 games, capture the Cy Young Award and they will knock off the Yanks and Sox.

Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox are the greatest franchise in the history of sports. I have nothing negative to say about a team headed to its second straight World Series title. I'm glad they're finally getting some national exposure after all these years. I love this team!

New York Yankees: Baseball Prospectus keeps track of a statistic called "Defensive Efficiency," which is simply the percentage of batted balls in play that each team turns into outs. The top team through Sunday was the Marlins, who turn 74.75 percent of balls in play into outs. The league averages are 69.3 percent in the AL, 69.8 percent in the NL. No team is below 66.8 percent ... except the Yankees, who have turned just 63.87 percent of balls in play into outs. The Prospectus Web site lists this statistic back to 1972, and the worst team in that span has been the 1999 Devil Rays, at 66.17 percent. In other words, the 2005 Yankees are looking like a historically awful defensive team, one of the worst of all time. And that, Yankee fans, is why your team will miss the playoffs.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays: As ESPN.com's Jayson Stark has pointed out, the Devil Rays have a payroll of about $29 million. Yet they'll bring in about $30 million in revenue redistribution and another $30 million in various national television, radio and licensing deals. So they're $30 million ahead before selling one ticket. And you thought Vince Naimoli was a little cracked.

Toronto Blue Jays: This is your best pitcher right now.

This is his take on it and his prerogative to voice his opinions. But this is what bugs me about elite sports writers: David Schoenfield.

He would rather tear people down than build them up and this is what passes for sports writing. The great thing about sports is that every team has the same opportunity to play the game and win. Mr. Schoenfield gets to write about that opportunity; about men playing a game for a living. I won’t be looking for him to dispel much truth, just his elite opinion.

Posted by price at April 27, 2005 11:56 AM | TrackBack