Thursday, April 10, 2008

Forgive Buckner, but Bartman?

Bill Buckner throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park?

Talk about fantasy baseball.

Let's take quick break from the steady stream of advice. This nugget just begs for comment.

Congrats to Red Sox Nation (and when did this Nation stuff all start, anyway?) for finally forgiving Buckner, at least to the point where it would invite him to throw out the first pitch for the Red Sox home opener this week.

For those of you who don't know the significance of Buckner and the Red Sox, well, I just can't help you. But it has something to do with the 1986 World Series.

OK, OK. Here's some video - and as good as YouTube is, this grainy footage is almost like watching the Zapruder film:



Of course, Buckner said it was never the fans he was mad at all these years. It was the media.

The media? Right.

To be fair to Billy Buck, there's no guarantee pitcher Calvin Schiraldi covers first in time to get Mookie Wilson. And there was still this thing called Game 7 to be played the next night.

But this whole thing has me thinking about a recent scapegoat, one Steve Bartman of 2003 Cubs fame.

This past week, Moises Alou came out and said there there was no way he would've caught that famous foul ball when the Cubs were five outs away from a World Series berth.

You can judge for yourself:

Steve Bartman Mr. Overzealous Foul Ball Catcher



But the real question is, when will the Cubs stop blaming Bartman for awakening the billy goat cries?

Will there ever come a time when the Cubs will invite Bartman to throw out the first pitch at Wrigley?

There's about as much chance as Harry Caray pronouncing Andres Galarraga's name right. Backwards.

Bartman couldn't even leave the game that day without being blasted. And the game wasn't over yet.



It's way too soon. And what surely helps Red Sox fans forgive, although probably not forget, was the two World Series titles in the last four years.

Maybe that's what it will take to free Bartman in Chicago: a World Series Championship.

Even that might not be enough.


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
  • Atlanta closer Rafael Soriano is on the DL with elbow tendinitis, making Manny Acosta the likely cheap saves option for those in the market.
  • Kerry Wood blew a save Wednesday night, giving up a Jason Bay HR. It's not like Wood struggled as he just gave up the one hit, so owners shouldn't hit the panic button. Plus, Carlos Marmol gave up 2 hits and 1 ER in the 8th.
  • Those looking for SP help, see if Zack Greinke's still on your wire. Guy is a legit 1-2 starter and had some personal problems in the past, but is looking good. He shutout the Jeter-less Yankees for 8 innings and now has a 0.60 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. He'll hurt you in K's though.
  • Don't get too caught up in the Zach Duke hype. Sure, there's talk that the velocity may be up and yes, the Pittsburgh lefty allowed just 1 run in 7 IP Wednesday, but for some reason he owns the Cubs. In 9 career starts, his ERA is 2.01. Remember in 2007, he was beyond awful. You can pick him up, but don't say I didn't warn you.
  • For those of you in AL-only leagues scraping the barrel for any kind of speed, give Nathan Haynes a spin. With Cliff Floyd on the DL for up to 6-8 weeks, according to Tampa radio, the speedy Haynes looks to get at-bats from the good side of an OF platoon.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Moises is cutting Bartman some major slack here, but I disagree. Look at his glove placement and the ball's trajectory. I think he could have made the catch. However, let's take another look at the play: Hey look, it wasn't just Bartman reaching for the ball. See the dimwit to his right reach across? Where is he today? Do we know who he is? He had as much to do with this infamous event than Bartman. Oh, and as a co-worker reminds folks: What happened later in that inning? Alex Gonzalez's misplay? Yeah, it's fun to pick on the guy for this, but come on, get over it.

Anonymous said...

Cubs fans are such idiots. Why don't you just face the facts - your team choked. Just like the Patriots, just like the Memphis Tigers, the Cubs CHOKED back in '03. If the rest of the team had done their job, ESPECIALLY Alex Gonzalez, the Cubs would have won that game. Just face the facts, Cubs fans, you and your team are losers.

Anonymous said...

A lot of other people would have done the same thing bartman did, having said that, it was still wrong, he should have gotten out of the way. But he didn't lose the game, Prior, Gonzalez and the rest of them should have overcome it. They could have won the next game too!
The main reason the Cubs haven't won is inept management and bad players for 85 of the past 100 years. They have only had a chance to win about 10 times out of the last 100 years. They had 3 (should be 4 with Santo) hall of famers on the same field during the 60's and 70's yet only got close once. The supporting cast and pitching just wasn't strong enough.

Its too easy to blame Bartman! Toss

Unknown said...

I've always found it interesting how Leon "Bull" Durham seems to get off the hook for his misplay in the '84 NLCS which totally redirected that series the Padres favor. God bless Billy Buckner, Donnie Moore, and Alex Gonzalez (who errored on the next play after "the Bartman play"). It's a beautiful game if you can be remembered like that for a blunder. Unless your last name's Norwood, you just don't find that as much in the other major sports.

P.S. Thanks for throwing Nathan Haynes some love.