Ok so I couldn't possibly bring up and give my take on all the events that have found their way into happening while I've been out, but what's really on my mind is the 600th bomb of Alex Rodriguez, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brendan Morrow almost throwing a no-no, with 17 strike outs! Finally my imagination caught up to me again, and I will consider the possibility of the Toronto Blue Jays making the playoffs this year.
First up to the plate is the not so recent 600th plateau of Alex Rodriguex. By hitting this monumental number he joins an elite group of 6 others who have hit over 600 homeruns in the history of Major League Baseball. The sad part is that this number was really only considered special for three of the group. Ken Griffey Jr, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth and Willy Mays are the clean members where as Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds have been linked to steroids and more importantly , Alex has actually admitted to using them BUT "only" while in Texas. In my opinion admitting he used them shows some maturity but in baseball retrospect doesn't take away from the fact he is a cheater, nothing more. The 600 club has never seemed less inviting because of PED's , and I'm behind the move of completly retiring the names of those who have used PED's directly from the stat books and the Hall of Fame altogether. Many people have been pouring over Alex's eventual historic homerun, and so have I for an extent but for different reasons. I know enough to realise that being able to witness someone hit their 600th homerun doesn't happen everyday, far from it, and I am glad to see something that will inevitabley stand as legit in the record books, I did not want to miss history , but with that said I won't have to worry about seeing A-Rod's record breaking 763rd homerun, because I unlike a lot of analysts and fans, believe he will not reach the milestone to set him at number one. At 35 years of age he has 6 or 7 years left, but if at the youngest he will be in those next years he can't top 35 how can he expect to hit the 160 he'll need over those years to break the record. Seeing a hitter blast 30 homers at the age of 40 is something off the top of my head I don't believe has been done. If he tops out at an average of 25 homeruns over the next 6 years he would come close, but Alex hasn't had the power the last 300 games that he has had the previous seasons of his career, especially three years ago or so when he hit over 50. I think the all-time homeruns leader, or the only star I forsee actually honestly hitting the 600 homerun barrier in the next 10 years would be the clean Albert Pujols...
Second, Brendan Morrow came literally this close to a no hitter Monday night when he went 8.2 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays, when Evan Longoria broke it up with a nasty in-field single. Morrow's performance wasn't to no avail as the Jays took the game 1-0, while striking out 17 Ray's batters as the streaking Jays improved their record to 59-52. Moving them four games behind the Red Sox and only 8.5 behind Tampa for the wild card. If all goes well, which never does the Jays could with a sweep of the Boston Red Sox hit 62-52, and while still at fourth in the AL East.. WTF? They would only be a game behind Boston and creep ever closer to the Wild Card. Though I know that is really unlikely to happen, it would greatly interest me to see how MLB Comissioner Bud Selig handles it when the AL east finishes the year with four of the five teams potential 90 game winners. In particular concern the Jays (4th in the division) would be second in the AL West, and third in the AL Central, behind the tied White Sox and Twins, both scenarios only 4 games out of a play off spot. If the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox and Blue Jays finish the year with playoff caliber records, I sincerely believe that Bud Selig will need to do something legitimate to help even out this competitive yet limiting division we know as the AL East...
On a side note, I hope to get back to regular postings, I know there are some of you who check the blog regularly , and I dont want to disappoint! And! The link down below states and backs me up that the Rays are the best team in baseball, just thought I should put that out there!
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