Climbing Tal's Hill » playoffs

Yankees lose Jeter for remainder of post-season

Greg Thurston — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:43:51 +0000

The New York Yankees lost more than just a ballgame last night. They lost their captain. Derek Jeter suffered a fractured left ankle in the twelfth inning of a 6-4 loss to the Tigers in Game 1 of the ALCS. Jeter ranged to his left on what looked like a routine ground ball off the bat of Jhonny Peralta and collapsed to the ground as he fielded the ball. Jeter would have to be helped from the field in a scene that had to be bring back images of Mariano Rivera for Yankees fans. Rivera had to be helped from the field earlier this season when he blew out his ACL shagging fly ball during batting practice.

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How good are the Washington Nationals?

Greg Thurston — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:16:48 +0000

The Washington Nationals have to be considered one of the favorites to represent the National League in the 2012 World Series. The leaders of the N.L. East arrived in Houston this week sporting a .602 winning percentage. The Cincinnati Reds (.611) were the only team in baseball with a better winning percentage. The upstart Nats [...]

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Extra Wildcard spot will be available this year

Greg Thurston — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:38:45 +0000

Bud Selig’s dream of an extra wildcard team will come to fruition in 2012. The writing has been on the wall for some time and although an official announcement has yet to be made, the decision apparently has. This is according to Ken Rosenthal who tweeted the news earlier and made a failed attempt to elaborate when MLB Network’s telephone interface failed.

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Selig continues to drag our once proud sport to the depths of mediocrity by watering down the competitive balance to NBA and NFL type levels. Although last season provided a perfect example of a system that isn’t broken, Selig remains hell-bent on fixing it. If the new system was in place last year both the Red Sox and Braves would have earned the right to play a one-game elimination match against the teams that outplayed them to legitimately claim a playoff spot.

The last day of the 2011 regular season was one of the most dramatic and exciting that I can remember and I have been following the sport for over 40 years. Selig’s argument insists that one season doesn’t give us enough data to shoot down a rule change.He says we need to look at a number of seasons before making a decision. Apparently he forgot about the previous forty. This rule change is being driven by one thing, and one thing only, the almighty dollar sign. The thought of a single game elimination match has dollar signs dancing around in Selig’s head. And what Bud wants, Bud usually gets- forget about the best interest of baseball.