Home Run Derby

Tonight, President Barack Obama will throw out the first pitch at the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis.  He’ll be the first sitting president to throw out a pitch at an ASG since Gerald Ford in the 1970’s.

There will be much pomp and circumstance and many Cardinals fans will cheer very loudly for our Commander-in-Chief as he throws out the first pitch … even though it will kill any chance the Cardinals have for winning the World Series in 2009. 

Why?  

Well, no MLB team that’s had a sitting President throw out the first pitch at a game in their Home Stadium has won that year’s World Series in over 77 years.

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Everyone’s going La-La over the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 13-0 start at Dodger Stadium so far this season.  Even though it is indeed an MLB record for most consecutive wins at home to start a season … I would like to remind everyone that it’s how you finish, rather than how you start. 

And teams that start off REALLY hot at home … well, let’s just say that none of them have ever enjoyed a home-field advantage in October. 

So far as I can tell, there have been six MLB teams (including the 2008 Dodgers) who have started a season 10-0 or better at home.  The previous five didn’t make the playoffs.

Best MLB Home Starts

Mind you, most of those teams made their early run before the advent of Baseball’s current three-divisional format, and all but one of them would have made the playoffs if there was a WildCard playoff entry.  

That would be the 2003 Royals, who went 29-40 at home the rest of the season.  To make matter worse for the Royals – there was a WildCard that year … and they still couldn’t make the playoffs.

The near future doesn’t look so bright for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are very likely to set a very dubious sports record with an unprecedented 17th Consecutive Losing Season in 2009.  

Beyond that, the long-term future doesn’t look so bright either – because today, a team loaded with the Pirates’ top prospects lost to Manatee Community College by a score of 6-4. 

Let’s let that sink in.  
The Pirates lost to MANATEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE. 

Usually the Pirates wait until opening day to crush the hopes and dreams of their fans, but this year I guess they started a little early.

Oh the Huge Manatee!!  (Get it?  Oh the Humanity?  Manatee?  Oh forget it.) 

Now mind you, this was a split squad game and no one from the Pirates 25-man roster was playing in the game.  Just Minor League prospects.   So it was basically a team of guys in the Pirates’ dirty laundry who lost.   
But that’s still … simply put … just not acceptable. 

But I have something that’s even less acceptable.  Before this atrocity unfolded … Pirates fans were chirping about this game.  So much that they made T-Shirts trumpeting the fact that they had beaten the Manatee CC squad ten years straight.

Let’s take a look at that T-Shirt.  Front and Back.

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Earlier this year, Eddie Vedder - the lead singer of Pearl Jam and a former Chicago native – released “All the Way” – a catchy Irish Drinking Tune about the Chicago Cubs fans and how somehow, someday, the Cubs will win the World Series.

Here it is …

Pretty good. 

But as a lifelong Cub fan, I cringed a mighy shiver when I heard that song.  In my gut I knew that we could kiss the Cubs 2008 title hopes goodbye. 

And lo, combined with the Cubs’ pre-playoff cover of Sports Illustrated … the Cubs’ futility ododmeter across from Wrigley rolled over to 100.

Well, last night (11/19/08) during a break at the Smashing Pumpkins show at the Chicago Theater, lead singer and fellow Cub fan Billy Corgan waxed poetic about the Bears winning the Super Bowl in 2012, Mike Ditka coming out of retirement, and his beloved Cubs, while getting in some digs at White Sox fans – telling them to stay the F*ck out of his Cubs Fan conversations.

Then Corgan said that he might write a song about the Cubs …

God Bless Steve Goodman, but I think I can do better than ‘Go Cubs Go’

Really – I’ve been called a lot of things, arrogant is one of them.  I don’t think this is arrogance.  I think I can top ‘Go Cubs Go’

Still on the subject of Cub-themed songs … Corgan did what someone should have done a long time ago … he blamed Eddie Vedder for the Cubs’ 2008 playoff collapse. 

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You know, with the Cubs out of the playoffs – I was kinda leaning towards cheering for the Tampa Bay Rays the rest of the way.  And why not?  They’ve been a great story this season and it would just be another expansion team to make or win the World Series since the Cubs have gone to the October Classic.

But now .. I’m not so sure about that.  Scratch that – I don’t want them to win a single game against the Red Sox.  Why?  

Because of this shirt. 

Go Red Sox.  

And that’s not a fan-made T-Shirt.  That’s an official Tampa Bay Rays (and MLB) endorsed product. 

Act like you’ve been there before.  Even if you haven’t.  And don’t count your pennants before they fly.  I hated those stupid “It’s Gonna Happen” shirts and signs at Wrigley Field all summer long. 

It’s tempting fate … actually, it’s taunting fate.  

Mind you, I do like the color of the shirt.  It’s well documented that I love Powder Blue.  

But I’m just gonna stick with my original prediction from 10/29/2007 … the Red Sox will win the World Series.

Hat tip on the shirt to Center Field. 

Remember Sarah Spain? 

You know, the girl who tried to auction herself on eBay for a date to get free tickets to see the Chicago Bears in the 2007 Super Bowl?  And then wrote some Cub reporting stuff this spring for Babes Love Baseball and The Love of Sports?

Well, she and her chest are back again. 

This time with our friends over at Mouthpiece Sports - where she’s trying to what she can to help the Chicago Cubs break their centuries old drought …

By Fucking Steve Bartman – or so she and a reasonable facsimile claim …  (Sung to “F*cking Matt Damon by Sarah Silverman)
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I love witty T-Shirts.  Ask my wife – she’ll tell you I own way too many of them. 

I especially love shirts made by enterprising people (usually bloggers) who keep MLB’s copyright lawyers employed.   During my nearly-month long sabbatical from blogging, I chanced upon this shirt … made by people full of hope for the Autumn months of 2008. 

Hope for the Chicago Cubs in the 2008 MLB Postseason.
Hope for Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Uh oh.   One Down, One to Go?

The person who put that shirt together must be shivering in terror right now. 

Because now that the Cubs blew it … Obama could be jinxed.

If these T-Shirt makers wanted Barack Obama to be President of the United States, they wouldn’t have put Obama’s likeness anywhere near anything even remotely related to the Cubs – because as we all know - anything related to the Cubs seems to wither and die come Autumn.

Then again, maybe that’s Cubs relief pitcher Carlos Marmol on that shirt.  Marmol bears a striking resemblance to Obama.

Or maybe the Cubs’ jinxes don’t apply to White Sox fans.

Obama fans better hope so, anyway.