Baseball Roundup: Jackie Robinson Day

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the day Major League Baseball corrected a major wrong created by a long-defunct baseball league, and solidified by racist men who abused their star power to promote their bigoted views. On this date in 1947, Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers chose to ignore (as best they could) the unofficial policy of baseball to exclude Black players from the Major and Minor Leagues.

Every athlete from that day forward should be grateful to Jack Roosevelt Robinson for paving the way to bring sports to its highest level by admitting the best athletes, without exception; but more importantly for helping to change race relations when most people in the public eye seemed content with the status quo. Today, MLB honors Robinson by unretiring No. 42 and allowing any player (and the entire Dodgers roster, among other teams) who wishes to pay homage to wear it. The game-worn 42's will then be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarship Fund.
On the Bomber front, the Yankees just wrapped up a six game road trip by dropping the rubber game vs. Oakland with Mo Rivera blowing his first save opportunity of the season. The Yanks went 3-3 for the road trip, which isn't bad, but heartbreaking considering they came within a strike of heading into their off-day on a good note.

On the pitching side of the picture, the staff did well against Minnesota, but by week's end New York was falling behind early in games and Sunday saw Mike Mussina and the uninsurable Carl Pavano hit the DL. The Yankee defense has been a train wreck, leading the Majors in errors (13), and in Saturday's game commiting 4 flubs (miraculously, this is the game they won).

In the rest of the AL East, the Toronto Blue Jays went on a tear, leading the pack in runs scored (38), hits (75), and OPS (.861) for the week, good for 4 wins and a share of the lead. Boston seems to have righted the ship on all fronts, with the pitching staff surrendering just 7 runs in the four games played. The offense is running on all cylinders, making blowouts of all last week's games except a one-hit loss to Seattle's young phenom Félix Rodríguez. Baltimore's pitching looked good last week, earning them 5 wins in 7 contests, putting the O's at 6-6 and 3rd place in the division.

In the Central, the Tigers are riding a wave of good pitching performances this week to compensate for mediocre hitting. Detroit's 5 victories for the week puts them within a half game of the Cleveland Indians and 1st place in the AL Central. The Chicago White Sox's lackluster hitting (.211 batting and 18 runs in 6 games) spoiled what should have been a good week for the pitching staff.

Out West, the Texas Rangers lineup finally woke up, clubbing 11 homeruns and scoring 35 runs for the week. But their 3-3 record for Week 2 proves yet again that pitching wins ballgames. Aside from the previously mentioned stellar outing from King Félix, the West is devoid of any noteworthy news.

Over at the Senior Circuit, the Mets' bats couldn't carry over the momentum from last week, going yard just twice all week and striking out 41 times. The Amazin's' pitching also faltered this week, which was to be expected, but not so precipitously. New York's staff held opponents to a .211 average for the week, but the 37 walks allowed (worst in ML) led to a 3-3 record for the week, keeping them a game behind the Braves in the East. The Phillies led the pack in run production (31) in the NL, but their dismal pitching (5.82 ERA, worst in ML for the week) limited "the team to beat" to 2 wins. In defense of Jimmy Rollins, aside from the costly error that opened the floodgates for the Mets on Monday, he's been pulling his weight on the team (6 HR, .411 OBP). The Marlins used solid pitching and hitting to match their Week 1 mark of 3-2.

Checking out the NL Central, Milwaukee's excellent offensive averages (.286 AVG, .361 OBP, .439 SLG%) didn't translate into a ton of runs (23), but superb pitching (2.06 ERA, 50 K's, 8 BB) made for a 4-1 week and a tie for 2nd slot in the division. The Redbirds displayed a similar inability to produce in critical spots, but kept the the opposition in check, allowing only 8 runs all week (1.50 ERA).

Pitching ruled Week 2 in the NL West, with only the Giants turning in a staff ERA above 3.20 (5.02). Colorado's dead bats (.213 AVG) spoiled an uncharacteristically good run for their pitchers. The D-Backs are totally dependent on their arms, while the Dodgers are getting it done on both sides of the game.


That's all for the baseball roundup this week. On an unrelated note, I'm boycotting the news in most forms in protest of the self-created media hype surrounding the Don Imus-Rutgers Women's Basketball scandal.

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